Been and Gone – Journey of the Heroes

1629, Fire Season, Death Week, Fireday

Context

After striking out with finding Fazzur, the group has set off for Stone over Souls. S5-O-04.

Events

The group has travelled for much of Fireday morning, and a little of Fireday afternoon, when they reach the first of the markers or altars dedicated to the Dragonewts in these parts.

Berra, after considering it, reaches up a hand, touches it, and disappears. This causes some consternation…

Maalira lets out a sort of squawk. “Berra! Where are you?”

Obviously, she does not answer.

Maalira leans in to examine the altar more closely but carefully does not touch it.

It is old stone, weathered to all-get-out, but there are traces of carvings on it. The closer she leans to look, the more the carvings at the edge of vision seem to sharpen. There are odd frog-things and dragonewts and a winged thing like a small dragon. It is perhaps a blessing that none of the carvings look like Berra.

“If I were Berra, which one of these would I have touched?” Maalira says to herself, then carefully touches one of the dragonewt-ish things with the tip of her finger.

The guards hang back, either through respect or because, well, it’s a dragonewt altar. They seem to be ready to move in if necessary.

The sun-warmed stone is hard, and more textured than it seems.

The young Humakti who has been hanging around Berra is talking urgently with Irillo.

Since nothing happened, Maalira trails her fingertip over some of the other carvings at random.

Other than abrading her fingertip, the altar does nothing. The stones are sharp, even on the flat parts.

“Ouch.” Maalira scowls at the stone. “You’re not supposed to hurt me, you know, it’s against the rules.” She rubs at the sore spot with her thumb then sighs. “Why, Berra?”

…

After some initial alarm, Irillo is fatalistic about it. “She’s gone on to the Dragonewt city.” And he gets the mule train underway.¹

Maalira looks at him. “She’s taken a shortcut? Through a rock?”

There is a very Esrolian shrug. The mules keep moving.

Some time later, up ahead, the hills in the distance start to look triangular and flat-topped, and there is an odd distance-shimmer, like a mirage, but high in the air, where the tops of those strange hills should be.

Maalira gives them a narrow-eyed look. “Those don’t look natural?”

One of the guards looks up at her. “Do you want to stay back here? That place… it ain’t right.”

The newtlings with the party trill and whistle to each other.

Maalira shakes her head decisively. “No. If it’s unsafe I should be there.” She pats her scrip full of medicines.

He nods, and that seems to put backbone into him. Then distances start to seem optional, and a single step of Lofty’s puts them dozens of feet ahead. Lofty starts to panic.

Lofty backs up an impossible pace and then several normal ones. Bisons should not, apparently, be expected to join the cult of Mastakos the Leaper, Charioteer to the gods.

Maalira makes some soothing noises in Lofty’s ear. “Come on, we need to go with the mules.”

The mules are not enjoying themselves either. Many people are dismounting. The newtlings are blurring off into the distance ahead, arms waving in ritual confusion.

Maalira swings off Lofty’s back and grabs the bridle, walking forward slowly.

The mules ahead stretch away and then the road just stops under Maalira. Half of the caravan is still behind her, but Irillo, Nayale, and several of the mules have just gone.

Maalira’s face takes on an expression that could be described as ‘flinty’. “Stop being silly and let me use the road,” she says to the landscape at large in her best White Lady voice.

The landscape does not listen, unless of course it does. It would be hard to prove it either way. Certainly, there is no change.

Shoulders sagging a bit, Maalira tugs Lofty forwards again towards the place where Irillo et al disappeared.

The road feels gone, but Lofty’s hoofbeats echo for a step or two after the road fades under them. “Uh, White Lady?” One of the guards is worried. He is facing North off the road. “What now?”

We follow the road. The Dragonewts aren’t our enemies, so we will be fine.” She says it with a great deal of conviction none of which she is in fact feeling.

“I… wait, the road’s gone!” He is looking left and right now, and points off towards the direction he was looking, sideways off the road. “But they went that way!”

“No, they didn’t.” Maalira points ahead of her. “I haven’t turned aside and Lofty is still pointing that way. The road is over there.”

“I saw them all get big and then vanish?” another guard pipes up. “I’d swear to it.”

As these are Humakti under Berra’s command, they are probably not lying, even if they are not right.

“Size and direction are playing tricks on your eyes,” Maalira says very firmly. “Just keep going forwards and we will join them on the other side of this trick.”

The group look at each other, and the mules. “We’ve got to look after these…”

“We’ve got to find the boss,” says another. “Berra’ll be sharp if we don’t.”

They set off forward. For a moment it feels like the road is there, then it is gone again.

“That’s the way,” Maalira says encouragingly. “Straight ahead and ignore the tricks.”

It takes about five minutes of walking before there is a road under them again, and ahead there is a distant vista of squared-off hills and distance shimmer. The hills are about as big as they were before.

Maalira gives a satisfied nod then looks around for Irillo.

No Irillo. Just the road ahead, now plain and clear.

The guards are looking respectful, now that Maalira has been proved right.

Maalira examines the horizon. “Well, let’s carry on towards the hills,” she says.

…

They have been walking for some time when the caravan is spotted ahead. It is coming back towards them.

Maalira waves. “Irillo, where are you going?” she calls.

Berra runs forward. “Maalira!” Her horse got left behind with Maalira and the guards. Of course it did.

Maalira runs towards Berra. “You went INTO a STONE,” she says somewhat accusatorally.

“No, I went along a Dragonewt road!” Berra pauses on the road. “Uh, that might not have been clear.”

“No, it wasn’t. And it didn’t let me through!” Maalira is indignant about at least one of these things.

Berra stares for a moment. “Uh, that’s maybe good?” she suggests. “Because I remembered being a dragon from the river, and it’s… well, learning is awkward. Hey. I got a thing!”

“Ooh what?”

Berra puts her hand into a pouch at her side. “Alright, if this is not impressive, you have to just ask about it.” She holds out a Lunar.

It’s… a Lunar.²

“It’s… a Lunar?”

Berra grins and holds it up. The underside of it is gold. Lunars do not do that.

“Whoa.” Maalira stares at it. “What IS that?”

“It’s a coin. I flipped heads about twenty times while we were in a tunnel where I was walking on the ceiling. Catching it on edges was a mistake, though.” Berra looks at the coin. “Sometimes the gold side’s heads, sometimes it’s the silver side.”

Maalira stares at it. “How? And where did you get it?”

“Well, when we were going to see the Unhuman King, we were walking along a corridor, and I found I was going on the ceiling and Nayale and Irillo were on the floor. I was pretty sure it was the ceiling because I could sort of see the outside, so I started flipping the coin because I thought it would land on edges to be honest but it just landed head-up. Now I wonder if there was another tunnel on the other side that would just have been the other side.” Berra pauses to take a breath. “I had the coin with me all along.”

“So, the tunnel changed the coin into this coin?”

“Not quite. We saw the Unhuman King, and he started a ball game, between the Sun and the Moon. And then I got to thinking, and then I looked at him for a bit and flipped it. And then it started changing.”

“You did all of that while I coaxed the guards down that one little bit of invisible road?” Maalira sounds baffled.

“Uh?” Berra looks confused, then looks up towards Yelm. “It must’ve been about three-four hours? Not all that long once Irillo and Nayale arrived, but most of that I spent maditating… meditating.”

Maalira shakes her head. “This place makes no sense.”

“Well, yeah. Dragonewts.” Berra shoulders fall a little. “We saw some stuff that’s probably important, but I don’t know if I should tell you. I will if you ask but once you know you can’t not know.”

“You might as well tell me,” Maalira says. “I’ll only get confused if I don’t know.”

Berra nods. “Well. The game wasn’t just a game. The Unhuman King called it…” She quietens down as the caravan starts to unite around them, and steps aside after nodding to her guards. “This ain’t to travel to people who’ll panic about it. I probably ain’t telling anyone but the High Sword, and that’s because he’s nearby, and I might not manage that either. It was a game between the Sun and the Moon. I think Kallyr’s side was the Sun. The Air was getting in the way. It was a bit hard to tell. The other side was a lot more Lunar Empire. There were dragonewts playing with a ball of silver and gold. And I think it was real, one way or another. Either that it was making the world, or that it was showing how the world could be.”

“Who won?” Maalira asks, after taking that in for a few moments.

“We didn’t get that far.” Berra takes a deep breath. “I think Prince Kallyr got squashed, though.”

Maalira pulls a face. “That’s probably not a good sign.”

“Yeah. So… Lord Eril’s probably within a week’s ride from here, and we’re going back to Dunstop anyhow but I don’t know if I can get a message. I need to pray, I think, and let the Wyter know. But that means working out how to pray so people who hear it can’t understand it.”

“Maybe when we stop tonight you can find a quiet place away from everyone? I could stand watch to stop anyone getting too close.”

Berra gives Maalira a fond look. “White Ladies shouldn’t have to guard Temples.” Beat-pause. “Unless you’re protecting them?”

“I think making sure someone is safe to pray is a very White Lady thing to do,” Maalira muses. “But I was offering as a friend, not as a White Lady.”

Maalira is perhaps blushing slightly but it could be imaginary.

“I meant protecting other people from me, but yeah.” Berra looks back to the East. “We’ll probably get somewhere safe, but yeah. I’d need an hour or two. Animals don’t tend to blunder into the place. People might try.”

“I think if you tell the rest of the caravan that you’re praying and talking to the Wyter they will leave you alone anyway,” Maalira points out.

Berra sort-of grins. “The dead grass tends to give away where I’ve been,” she admits. “Were you alright? What do you mean by coaxing the guards?”

“Well, the road kept disappearing and they didn’t know which way to go, and they got confused and wanted to go where I knew was the wrong direction, so I told them which way to go.” Maalira considers. “There may have been more telling than coaxing.”

Berra nods. “Right. I’ll need to make sure they know I’m proud of them for listening.” She glances around, and looks back to Maalira. “I’m glad you’re alright. Sorry, I didn’t mean to disappear.”

“It’s okay. I tried to follow you but it didn’t work for me.”

“We should get a bit further away and then eat, and then think … oh, the Unhuman King said words which mean we can probably use any headwaters around here for what we want.

“Well that’s a good start,” Maalira says. “But yes let’s get away from the strangeness first.”

Berra shudders. “I ended up thinking I was a crocodile. One of the dragonewts danced for me.”

Maalira does not look jealous in the slightest about the dancing dragonewt.

Berra walks in silence for a bit, just being close.

en the Sun and the Moon. I think Kallyr’s side was the Sun. The Air was getting in the way. It was a bit hard to tell. The other side was a lot more Lunar Empire. There were dragonewts playing with a ball of silver and gold. And I think it was real, one way or another. Either that it was making the world, or that it was showing how the world could be.”