Crystal Gorge

The earth began to shudder violently under their feet as they ran off toward the comparative safety of the east rim of the grassy basin, and that convinced Ekial that he wanted no part of these wars in the Land of Dhrall. He was more than willing to take on people in any war in any part of the world, but when the world itself began to rumble and shudder, it was time to go home.

‘These geysers are not uncommon, I’ve been told,’ Keselo advised them all as they stood on top of the eastern-most tower of Gunda’s wall staring in awe at the thundering spout of water blasting out over the north slope. ‘They’re the result of vast pockets of water far below the surface of the earth – water that’s under extreme pressure. When there’s an earthquake in the region, the solid rock that’s holding all that water in place will crack, and the water will suddenly come blasting up from far down below.’

‘The next question is how long it’s going to take for that underground pond to run dry,’ Sorgan Hook-Beak said.

‘I wouldn’t hold my breath, Captain,’ Keselo replied. ‘I’ve heard that there’s a geyser off to the south of the empire that’s been spouting up into the air for several hundred years now. There’s no way that we could verify this, since those bodies of water are several miles below the surface, but some people who’ve studied them tell us that there are vast seas down there waiting for the chance to come up to the surface.’

‘Well, good for them,’ Padan said with a broad grin. ‘If that part of the Wasteland is lower than the rest of it, and the water’s going to keep spouting out the way it’s doing right now, there’ll be a lake down there by the end of the week, and by this time next year, the lake will have become an inland sea.’

‘Well, gentlemen,’ Dahlaine said then, ‘I guess that pretty much takes care of everything up here. I suppose we might as well pack up and go on back down the hill.’

There was a certain amount of celebration when they returned to the house of Veltan. They had won yet another war against the bug-people, but it seemed to Ekial that the celebrators all tended to gloss over the fact that ‘unknown friend’ had stepped around them and won the war all by herself.

There were some extended discussions about which part of the Land of Dhrall would be attacked by the bug-people next, but Ekial found the bickering between Dahlaine and his sister rather tiresome and more than a little silly – an opinion he was almost positive was shared by Zelana and Veltan.

Ekial began to avoid the map-room and frequently left Veltan’s house to look over the farmland nearby. It was late summer now, and the farmers had begun to harvest their crops. The concepts of plowing and planting were alien to Ekial, but he could understand the value of having enough food to get through the coming winter. Beef was pleasant to eat, but after a few months of a steady diet of nothing but beef, even a turnip might be a welcome change.

As he wandered through the nearby farms, he began to have some second thoughts about his decision to tell Dahlaine that he wanted no part of any war here in the Land of Dhrall. The earthquakes up in the basin had occurred for a specific purpose and hadn’t really threatened him. The gold Dahlaine had offered would greatly enrich the horsemen of the meadowland, and Ekial was fairly certain that if things began to get out of hand in the north, their ‘unknown friend’ would almost certainly step in and straighten them out. He might not understand just how she’d accomplish this, but she’d be there if he really needed her help. That more or less convinced him that it would be foolish to throw away what promised to be an easy war for good pay.

There was a certain problem, though, and he went back to the house of Veltan to discuss that problem with Dahlaine. He went directly to the map-room where Sorgan and Narasan were talking with each other.

‘I don’t want to intrude here,’ he said to them, ‘but how are we going to get my people – and their horses – up to Lord Dahlaine’s territory? Horses can run fast, but probably not quite fast enough to gallop across the top of the sea.’

Narasan squinted up at the ceiling of the map-room, and told Ekial that they could hire ships from Castano to transport the men and horses to Dahlaine’s Domain.

‘As long as we can get there before the war breaks out, everything should be all right,’ Ekial replied.

Then Veltan advised Narasan that he’d go along, since it would probably take quite a bit of gold to hire that many ships.

‘I take it that you’ve changed your mind, Ekial,’ Dahlaine said then. ‘You were looking quite doubtful when things started to get noisy up near the Falls of Vash.’

‘I’ve had time to think it over a bit,’ Ekial replied. ‘Things turned out quite well up there, and the pay you offered is very attractive. You people have already won two wars here in the Land of Dhrall, so there’s no real reason to think that you’ll lose the next one. Easy wars for good pay always get my attention.’ Then he looked at the balding Trogite Gunda. ‘When did you want to leave?’ he asked.

‘How does first thing tomorrow morning sound to you?’ Gunda asked.

‘About right,’ Ekial replied. ‘But let’s be sort of careful. I don’t really know how to swim, so I’d rather that you didn’t tip your little boat over.’

‘I wouldn’t dream of it, friend Ekial,’ Gunda replied with a broad grin.

4 (#ulink_a1788c99-d914-5acf-bec0-a4b0623addc5)

There was a steel-grey quality about the early morning light when Gunda led Veltan and Ekial out of Veltan’s house the next day, and Ekial felt that everything was flat for some reason. Then he realized that it was the lack of shadows that flattened things. Shadows don’t serve any purpose, but they do add a certain depth to the scenery.

When they crested the hill that stood between the house of Veltan and the beach, Ekial noticed that the sea was also grey.

‘The tide’s gone out,’ Gunda said when they reached his yawl. ‘We’ll have to drag the Albatross on down to the water.’

‘I know that the tides rise and fall as the day goes by,’ Ekial said to Veltan as the three of them took hold of the slender little boat, ‘but I have no idea of what causes that.’

‘The moon,’ Veltan replied. ‘It gives her something to do when she gets bored.’

‘I don’t exactly understand,’ Ekial admitted.

‘It’s a bit complicated,’ Veltan said. ‘Let’s get the Albatross out into deeper water first, and then I’ll see if I can explain it.’

It took the three of them a while to get the Albatross out into deeper water, and then, wet to their hips, they clambered into the narrow yawl. Gunda took his place at the oars and rowed them on out into the open sea. ‘That’s about far enough,’ he muttered half to himself. Then he laid the oars aside and pulled on a long rope that raised the sail. ‘The wind takes it from here,’ he explained to Ekial. ‘And the nice part of that is that I don’t even have to pay her.’

‘What if she’s not blowing in the direction you want her to?’ Ekial asked.

Gunda shrugged. ‘It’s back to the oars then. I haven’t found a way to bribe the wind yet, but I’m working on it.’

‘You were talking about how the moon makes the sea go up and down,’ Ekial said to Veltan then.

‘Oh, yes,’ Veltan said, ‘I was, wasn’t I?’ He squinted at the horizon. ‘I think that maybe the term “gravity” might make it more clear.’ Then he went on at some length about something that didn’t make much sense to Ekial.

It all became much more clear, however, when Veltan mentioned ‘attraction’.

‘Oh,’ Ekial said. ‘That makes much more sense than what you said before.’

‘It does?’Veltan seemed a bit surprised.

‘Of course. It’s a lot like what happens to a female cow at mating time. The sea notices that the moon’s passing by, and she gets those “urges” to – well –’ he faltered. ‘You know what I mean.’ He was just a bit embarrassed by what he’d just said.

‘Now that makes a lot more sense than all that talk about “gravity”, I’d say,’ Gunda added.

‘Are you saying that the sea gets mating urges twice a day?’ Ekial demanded with a certain surprise.

‘I most certainly wouldn’t,’ Veltan replied. ‘I learned a long time ago that nobody in his right mind offends Mother Sea. You don’t want to make her angry.’

‘It does make a certain amount of sense, though, Veltan,’ Gunda said. ‘I’ve heard that Mommy Sea is where all life comes from – people, animals, fish, and all that – so she’s probably getting urges all the time, wouldn’t you say?’

‘Not out loud when I’m sitting in a boat a mile from shore, I wouldn’t,’ Veltan replied.

It took them several days to reach the port city of Castano on the north coast of the empire, and Gunda led them to a place he called an ‘inn’. ‘I’ll spread the word along the waterfront that you’re hiring and that the pay’s good, Veltan,’ he said. ‘I’d make a point of letting them see those gold blocks.’ Then he looked at Ekial. ‘How many horse-soldiers are we talking about here?’

Ekial squinted at the busy street outside. ‘There are six clans along the north coast,’ he replied, ‘and if I understood what Dahlaine told me correctly, he might need us up in his part of the Land of Dhrall before too much longer. There are more clans farther south, but it might take a while to get word to them. I’m quite sure that the north clans can provide about fifty thousand men – and horses, of course. The clans have more men that, but they won’t let us have them all. Most of them will have to stay behind to tend to the cattle.’

Veltan scratched his cheek. ‘If we can crowd five hundred men on each ship, we’ll need a hundred ships.’

‘You’re forgetting the horses, I think,’ Ekial said. ‘Horses need more room than the men do.’

‘That’s going to be quite a large fleet, Veltan,’ Gunda said. ‘You’ll need a lot of those gold blocks.’

‘That’s not really a problem, Gunda,’ Veltan replied. ‘I can put my hands on as many as we’ll need.’

‘How? We’re here, and the gold’s back in your home country.’

‘I’ll have to cheat a little, that’s all. I’m an expert when it comes to cheating.’