by C. Litka
04
Windvera emerged from the hazy atmosphere late in the third round, as a faint green line stretching across the sky ahead- a floating continent, a map torn out of a vast book. It was quiet - little more than the rush of wind rippling across the canvas hull. Our commercial travelers were sleeping in the sleeping compartment. The dragons were dozing in the lounge - stretched across the napping Py and Naylea. Trin and I were sitting in the bow with the canvas rolled up enough to allow us to look ahead.
'It's at least two or three thousand kilometers wide and from the maps I've seen, three times as long. I'm not familiar enough with the length of Windvera leagues, to say exactly. It is said to take a carriage a 100 rounds to travel the length of Long Street - from this coast to the far side. But as you can see, the island is no more that a hundred kilometers thick,' said Trin quietly. 'Still, it's large enough to have a gravity that keeps you from blowing away in a wind storm.'
'It looks like a piece of the outer shell reef,' I said. 'The outer shell has millions of such broken plates.'
'Well, this one is hardly in one piece either. If you look over to the far left, you can just make out where the island bends. There's a 140 degree angle between the two sides with a long central valley and a sea running the length of the island. I believe Marsh Waters lies along this sea. The two sections are also cracked and broken into pieces as well. There are mountain ranges and great chasms where these pieces don't quite match up, but nothing that can't be crossed.
'I'm pretty hazy on the gravitation contours of such an island, but wouldn't it pull you towards the center of the island - which wouldn't be under your feet unless you were in the center of the island? It must be strange - gravity pulling you not directly down, but rather to one side.'
'It's light enough that you'll not notice it. I suppose if you jump high enough, you'd land a little closer to the center of Windvera than where you started.'
'So what can we expect in our travels? I gather that the island is not under one rule.'
'There are eleven major kingdoms now, but there used to be hundreds. The four most powerful ones are on the side we're landing on. That's the side with the best angle to the brightest sky and so they have the most productive agriculture and the largest populations. The brightest sky is always very low on the horizon on both sides of the other half, so farming is less productive on the other half. There are, however, seven smaller kingdoms on that half. The remaining side is shadow lands inhabited by mostly nomadic tribes roaming the dim steppes with their herds of domesticated dragons. They're considered barbarians, because they occasionally manage to band together to raid the more brighter side kingdoms.'
'Barbarians from the shadow side, barbarians from the skies - it seems Windvera has its share of troubles. Do the kingdoms wage war between themselves as well?'
'In the past, but now they've been at peace for several generations. And the barbarian raids have grown rare, as well. We'll have little to fear in our travels, save for an occasional band of bandits in the mountain fringes of the kingdoms.'
'I'm glad to hear that. Py will be too, though unlike me, he'll be looking forward to the bandit parts. He has a mission to lead bandits to the Way.'
Trin gave me a questioning look. 'Really?'
I laughed. 'Not officially. But that was, and I believe, still is, his boyhood dream.'
Chapter 39 Devere