The ride through the wispy grass was easy and
rather pleasant, at least Hilt thought so. There was a gentle breeze that
carried the scent of dew and wild turkeys and the faintest waft of the final
wildflowers of the summer before the rains came.
It was beautiful out in the open. No crowds,
no orders, no rush to get anywhere. Well, that wasn’t entirely true. He needed
to get to the northern fortress before winter set in. The blizzards in the far
north could be deadly and their only chance would be to get there before winter
hit too hard.
Hilt turned in his saddle to ask the pasty
whelp about distance past the Capitol only to see her dozing, slumping forward
on the loyal little donkey. Her mouth was open and her body swayed lazily as her
eyes drifted closed for a moment before snapping back open.
“You can rest after the sun sets,” General
Hilt said loudly, dragging the poor girl back to the conscious world.
“I wasn’t sleeping,” the girl insisted.
“Good. If you fell off, I wouldn’t stop to
pick you back up again.” He grinned and settled back into his molded saddle. It
was much too easy to pick on this one. Even the smallest of jabs would send her
off like a whirling dervish. It was so entertaining.
“How much farther?” Kya asked curtly behind
him.
“Less than a league. It is just over that next
rise. We’re not stopping,” he reiterated. “We’re just gathering a few more
things then moving on. There is still daylight and I plan on using it.”
The donkey brayed and bucked up, snapping the
girl back again. As good of a babysitter as the ass was, Hilt needed to keep
her awake. She seemed to realize that as well.
“That… tunnel I went through, the one through
the mountain, what was it?” she asked.
“An escape route. It was originally designed
as the easiest route out of the city for the King, Nobles and highest ranking
officers if the city was attacked. It was supposed to be guarded by twenty men—both
at the entrance and exit—but many of the guards have grown quite complacent in
their duties. They simply wander around drunk now. The city hasn’t been
attacked directly for nearly ten years.”
“Be it by Velrin the Ephemeral that time is
fleeting,” the girl mumbled behind her.
“That’s one of your ‘spirits’, isn’t it?”
Hilt asked, turning to look back at her.
Kya looked surprised that he had heard her. “Er,
yes. I know Nibheis worships Gods, but some of us in the north still believe in
the old traditions.”
“Not many, if I have heard right. As more and
more of Elivagar is lost in war the citizens are turning to the new Gods in the
hopes that someone might actually listen to their prayers.”
Hilt could feel the glare on the back of his
head. “Some,” she emphasized, “still
pray to the Spirits and ask for guidance. Unlike your babe of a religion, mine
has stood the test of time. The ancient scriptures go back to the first
colonizers.”
Hilt stood up a bit straighter. This, this
was why he wanted to go to the north. They had history, they had information.
After the collapse of the Sapphire Era when the continent was united as
Aisgarde, the lands were split amongst dozens of different lords and kings and
others who felt they should have ownership. Over time they were absorbed into
two major countries: Nibheis and Elivagar. Ever since the two have been
bickering back and forth, both determined to unite the people back to the
wealth and prosperity of Aisgarde.
It was rumored the old country had vast
knowledge and technology that vgreatly surpassed their own. Magic, Hilt had heard
from the few peasants from the north who wandered into his own country.
Aisgarde had studied magic of the elements (hence their spirits) but they went
too far. Their own greed destroyed their civilization.
Unfortunately all artifacts or scrolls
regarding the time of the Sapphire Era were lost in Nibheis. To cover up for
this, Nibhein scholars wrote their own history. Hungry for information, Hilt
eagerly read it all. He was disgusted with the obvious lies that were scribbled
haphazardly on aged parchment. The scholars turned to the religion of the
country to fill in holes, making absurd claims about the creation of the
country and went so far as to explain why northerners were a substandard race. Religion
at its finest.
“The Spirits are mentioned in the ancient writings?”
“Of course,” Kya said. “Rubicon the Detached
was said to have carved the first rivers which allowed the colonizers to follow
the path inland. The river was deep enough to hold their ships and carry the
first people.”
“The Luisant.”
“Yes,” Kya said. “But then Rubicon the
Detached grew angry, why, we do not know, so she and Lylari the Belligerent forked
the river into hundreds of thousands of streams that snaked and crossed and
doubled back on each other. The marshes remain unexplored to this day.”
“Lylari was the plant one, yes?”
Kya looked at him queerly. “You don’t know
them?”
“We believe in the Gods,” Hilt defended.
“Yes, Lylari is the spirit of Earth, Rubicon
the spirit of Water. Then Karst represents Fire, Velrin, Air, and then Taerce
and Aru’mat are the spirits of Light and Shadow,” Kya explained, yawning
between the names.
“Right,” Hilt said, trying to memorize them
quickly.
“You don’t know the ancient tongue, do you?”
Hilt was silent and Kya seemed to find this
quite entertaining. She actually smiled and laughed, the first time she had
shown anything but a scowl.
“Nibheis has no need for obsolete texts. Only
fools live within the crevices of their past and refuse to see how it has
blinded them,” Hilt snapped.
“You were the one who asked about the
scriptures,” Kya said calmly.
“There,” Hilt said, pointing to a small
cottage of stone and thatch just coming round the bend. “There should already
be a pitcher of water inside. Clean yourself and put on a new set of clothes.
We’ll keep riding until nightfall.”
They stopped at the cottage and Hilt hopped
off his steed. He didn’t need to look back to know that his companion had
fallen off her ass. He snickered and shook his head.
This would be a very long
journey indeed. At least it would be entertaining.
Ready for more?
No comments:
Post a Comment