by Bob Blink
“Look at this,” Rifod said as he wandered over to where Jolan stood. He was carrying something as he approached.
“That’s Asari’s book,” Jolan said recognizing the book Asari had brought back with him when he last returned from Trailways. Ronoran had had no trouble breaking the wards and letting them have a look at what it contained, but they’d been disappointed by what they’d found. Inside the book was a series of maps. The Settled Lands had been broken into segments, and on each were the locations of cities, mostly unnamed as though it was assumed anyone using the book would know the names. Instead the space was used to show the locations of hundreds, if not thousands, of small dots. In a few places where the city or town was very small, a number was simply located there as if to indicate how many of the objects were to be found in that location. For the larger cities, separate maps were shown, giving more detailed location information for the dots.
They had decided after a lot of discussion and comparing the dots to locations they knew about, that the book was a map of locations for the large stone artifacts that Jolan had seen two of now, one by the lake in the mountains outside of Trailways, and the other near Dragon’s Hole outside of Seret. Both locations were shown in the maps, in fact a second one was shown by the lake, although he and Asari had seen only the one while they were there. Interesting as it was, they’d found no use for the book, since the artifacts seemed to be inert. The book suggested that there was more to them than was suspected, but that was yet another mystery that would have to wait.
The book had shown that half a dozen of the sites should be found in the vicinity of what they were calling Ygooro, and a few more locations were indicated in the remainder of the southwestern desert. The nearest one from the site of the city was a bit north and east, about two days ride from where the map said the city should be, and appeared to be on the edge of the mountain range. They’d brought the book because it had seemed right, but so far it had ridden out the trip on one of the pack horses.
“Have you found something?” Jolan asked hopefully.
“I think this map shows the city a bit closer to the mountains than we have been searching, and also a bit more to the north.”
The rest of the weary group had come over to have a look as well, and while the map wasn’t detailed, a case could be made that the mountain range depicted in the book nearest the city did appear to be the larger group that was a bit to the north of the passage through the hills. It was a different location than they had gotten from the map Jolan had copied, and now he wished he had the iPhone so he could look again at the pictures of the original. After a bit of discussion they agreed to make that location their next area of search. They could be there in two days if they went directly. Seeing the hope rekindled in the eyes of his friends, Jolan had to agree. They hadn’t found anything here.
The sand storms didn’t let up for another couple of hours, and when the winds finally did die away they elected to stay put for the night. They’d hit the mountains in the morning, replenish, and then ride along the foothills toward the new target site.
“What are you thinking?” asked Nerila as she walked over to where Jolan stood alone looking out across the sands.
“That I might have made a mistake bringing everyone here,” he replied softly. “Even if the city is out here somewhere, it’s got to be half buried and as Rifod said we will probably never find it.”
“Maybe the book is right and it’s in the new location.”
“If not, then we need to reconsider. We can’t stay out here looking forever.” It was hard for Jolan to admit this, since the feeling had been so strong back in Cobalo when he’d seen the map of Ygooro the first time.
“What will you do if we don’t find it?” she asked.
“Asari and I will go to Ale’ald. We both have reasons to go. There’s nothing else I can think of.”
“We’ll come along.”
“No you won’t. That will be a desperate mission, with little chance of success. I won’t have all of you getting killed. I have to go and find Shyar, no matter the risk.”
“Cheurt will be waiting. He’ll kill you if he can. You’ll go anyway?”
“Yeah. I still have to go. Asari will feel the same. He’s been wanting to go for more than a year.”
* * * *
They had been at the new location for three days now, and it was no different than the other places they’d searched. Jolan knew they had been beaten. Tonight he’d tell them. It was time to go home.
“Rockbuck,” said Asari suddenly, and spurred his horse forward.
Jolan and the others watched as Asari rode toward the small protrusion in the landscape that the swift little buck had run behind. It would be good, Jolan thought. Fresh meat, and with the mountains not too far they could have a bath and a comfortable dinner. Maybe they would rest a day before starting back.
He watched as the buck came streaking out from behind the little hill, expecting to see one of Asari’s arrows come flying out to bring their dinner down. It didn’t happen. Asari didn’t appear in pursuit either. After a few moments when the buck disappeared into the sands, Jolan started to become concerned. He was about to start forward to investigate when Asari came back into view, riding back along the way he had gone, not in the direction of the buck. His bow was strung over his shoulder, and he was hurrying back their way as if he had something on his mind.
“There’s something you need to see,” he said when he was close enough to talk without shouting.
Asari turned and headed back the way he’d come, as Jolan and the rest of the team followed along behind. When they rounded the little hill they found Asari standing on the ground, his horse waiting patiently behind him. Before Jolan could ask, Asari pointed and said, “There.”
Jolan looked where his friend was pointing and realized immediately what Asari had found. The hill on this side was incomplete, partially shielded by the hills and perhaps partially swept away by the fierce windstorm a few days back. Half buried in the sands were a series of squarish rocks, forming a partial circle perhaps twenty feet in diameter. At the far end, still mostly buried in the sand was a stone structure that rose out of the sand, with an outline on the surface that was far too regular to have been natural. It was rectangular in shape and a bit taller than a man. A door! It had to be.
Jolan walked over and ran his hands around the outline. He could see where Asari had already run his fingers along the edges and scraped away a bit of the sand. Partway down one side was a badly dinged up metal ring set into the door.
“I can’t open it,” Asari said. “I tried as hard as I could. It won’t budge.”
Finally feeling he was doing something productive, Jolan stepped back ten feet and used the power to grasp and pull at the heavy door. There were probably other ways to approach the problem, but he could see no reason not to use the simplest tool at his command. The door resisted at first, but the power had the advantage, and with a heavy groan and the grating of sand between the door and structure the two separated. The door swung open and slammed back against the wall. Inside was a dark opening, with the tops of the first steps of a stairway headed down barely visible.
“Dragons! What is it?” asked Asari.
“I think I know,” said Jolan excitedly.
He reached into his travel bag and pulled out the small Mage’s Box that he used to store the maps. He pulled out the drawing he’d made so long ago and spread it out so everyone could see.
“The city was surrounded by a large wall, with a number of large towers spotted around the perimeter. There were four or five along this side near the mountains. They stood fifty feet or more above the rest of the city, and gave the guard a clear view of anyone approaching. I think this is one of the towers.”
“If that’s true, then the city is out there,” said Ronoran, indicating the vast plane of sand stretching away from the hills.
“Under the sand,” added Luzoke.
“Even with magic we can’
t move all that sand,” said Ronoran.
He was right. The sand had to be almost a hundred feet deep over the entire city, which covered several square miles in its prime. Trying to grasp and move all those grains of sand was a task that would take them years, even if they were careless and moved it in blocks and didn’t take care to distinguish between sand and pieces of building.
“Maybe we won’t have to,” said Jolan hopefully. “Maybe we can get where we want to go by following through the walkways the city had in abundance. If only they haven’t collapsed or filled with sand.”
Jolan started forward, and Rifod grabbed his arm “You’re not going down there?”
“Just to have a quick look. Anyone else?”
There were a number of quick looks exchanged, but then they all followed after Jolan as he stuck his head inside the long unused doorway, initiated his mage’s light, and started down the heavy stone steps into the gloom.
Surprisingly little sand had leaked into the tower, and the steps were clear and easy to descend. Fortunately whoever had built the tower had made it without windows or the sand would have leaked in and filled the passage centuries ago. The deeper they went, the cooler it became. Jolan counted eight-six steps before he reached the bottom.
The group clustered together at the bottom of the long stairway and looked at the hallways headed off in two directions, roughly in opposite directions, but not quite. Jolan estimated an angle of one hundred and sixty degrees between the two pathways, and shining a light down showed the passageway open as far as he could see.
“I think this is the walk inside of the wall that surrounded Ygooro. It’s open at least here. I think we need to go back up, make camp, and plan how to approach this. If we can figure out which tower this is, we will know about where the building I want to find is located.”
Chapter 85
After returning to the surface everyone was in the mood for a celebration. They had somehow managed the impossible, and found the city that wasn’t there. It wasn’t clear how successful they would be in locating the buried buildings, but having come this far, the general consensus was that somehow there would be a way. Jolan was not as certain. He wasn’t sure what he’d expected; perhaps a crumbled and windblown series of old buildings, mostly so badly damaged there would be nothing to look at. He’d vaguely expected to find the one building he was most interested in somewhat intact, making their further search relatively simple. Clearly they had an entirely different set of problems ahead of them, and if they reached the area he most expected to find something of value, it was likely that everything there would have been preserved by having been protected under the sands. That meant sorting through and finding what was important was going to be another major task.
Even given these sobering facts, the rest of the day was a happy time. Everyone washed thoroughly knowing they wouldn’t simply be venturing back out into the desert the next day. Asari and Luzoke brought back fresh game and a bag of the Bintas fruits, and some of the tubers Jolan and Asari had first eaten together so long ago. If they’d had wine or ale everyone would have been drunk before dinner was ready. As it was they ate far more than made sense, and talked well into the night. Everyone was tired, but no one felt like sleeping, the anticipation of the next day on their minds.
A lot of discussion went into the planning for the lower level exploration, which could potentially be very dangerous. One thought was for everyone to go together, which would allow all to see what was uncovered. It also lent strength to the shield they could jointly create should it be needed. In the end, however, they decided on two groups, which would alternate going down into the ground. That would leave a team up top just in case, which seemed prudent although they were hard pressed to define what actions might be taken in an emergency.
Rifod and Nerila wanted to stay together, and Asari expected to go wherever Jolan went. That meant Luzoke was grouped with the two librarians since he and Jolan could create the strongest shields, and Ronoran came with Jolan and Asari. Either Jolan or Luzoke should be able to create enough of a shield to punch through to the surface if needed, although neither had ever attempted such a feat.
The teams would be on exploratory missions at first, so they could map out the area without taking any action. It might be that there were whole areas open to them, or they might quickly find that the buildings had collapsed or were filled with sand. If that were the case, they would have to plan accordingly. For now, however, no digging or moving of material. If the way was barred, mark it and seek out another way.
It was mid-morning before the group actually got moving, with Jolan’s team first to go down. It had been decided that since Asari had found the opening, he should have the honor of being on the first team to have a look around. Once again they started down the stairway, Jolan leading the way, with Ronoran bringing up the rear. That put Asari between the two since they were able to make mage’s lights to keep things illuminated. Before long they found themselves at the bottom of the stairs once again, the comfortably cool but musty air feeling close in the semi darkness after the bright sun up top.
“Which way?” asked Jolan, letting Asari choose.
“Right,” said Asari indicating simultaneously with his arm which way he meant. Jolan thought for a minute to orient himself, and decided that was roughly East.
The three of them headed down the tunnel after Jolan marked the wall with an arrow with the soft white rock he’d brought from above. There was nearly enough room to walk two abreast, but it was easier to go single file, so they retained the order they’d used coming down the stairway and marched into the darkness. They kept an eye out for snakes or other creatures, but the area had long been sealed, and it appeared that none of the local animals had found an alternate way into the area. It was dead and quiet and empty.
They’d gone a considerable distance, almost a thousand paces by Jolan’s count, when they came to another small room with a set of stairs like the one they’d used to climb down into the wall.
“The next tower,” Asari said, peering up the stairs. The stairway looked as clear as the one they’d used, but he knew the top had to be buried under an unknown depth of sand, since they hadn’t gone far enough to be out of view of their friends on the surface, and no other protrusions were showing from above.
“We can check up there later,” said Jolan. “Let’s see what else is down on this level.”
On the far side of the room was another dark hallway disappearing beyond the range of their lights. It also looked open, and angled a bit off of straight through as had the hallway on the first set of stairs. There was a third doorway here, however, located between the two hallways and in a direction which would point away from the mountains.
“Let’s check this one,” suggested Ronoran, already stepping into the hallway. “I think it opens up into a room a short distance ahead.”
Jolan marked the hallway and numbered it, recording the number on the sheet of paper he was using to create a map as they went.
The hallway did indeed open into a room in a short distance. The room was very large, with a ceiling that extended at least two floors over their heads. It also extended a significant distance in front of them and they ventured inside, flashing their lights to look at the scene that surrounded them. There were two staircases that headed up on either side of the walls about fifty feet in front of them. On the upper level a wide hallway, open to the central area extended all the way around the room with multiple doors along the walls. Rooms, their use unknown at this time. They’d have to go up and have a look later.
Continuing along the lower level, they worked their way toward the back of the room, checking the two doorways they found. Each of the doors opened into a room that was filled with old weapons. They had found an armory. It made sense, being this close to the wall and the guard towers. There was nothing else to be found on the lower level. They passed through a door at the far end of the room walking into a second area. Here their walk was b
rought to an abrupt halt because the wall and ceiling had collapsed at the far end. Massive pieces of stone had fallen, and sand from the surrounding area had worked its way into the crevices creating a seal that had prevented a further migration of the sand into the area.
By the time they had returned to the first room, climbed the stairs and made a careful check of all the rooms on the second level, it was time to return to the surface and report their progress. Several of the rooms on the upper level had partially filled with sand, and those on the side facing away from the mountains had walls that were badly cracked, and in one case, partially collapsed. For the time being they had agreed to limit the time below so those on top wouldn’t start to wonder. Once they knew the area below better, they might relax the rule. So far they had found nothing useful, since the rooms they had checked were all dead ends and nothing of importance was found inside.
They were met by anxious friends when they returned to the surface. For those below exploring, the time had passed quickly. For those waiting above, it had gone by painfully slowly. The team that had been waiting was curious what they had found, and after hearing a detailed description of the conditions Jolan and his group had found below, started down the stairs for their turn.
At the bottom Luzoke, who’d been put in charge by Jolan with the full agreement of Rifod and Nerila, led the way. They headed to the left, marking the tunnel with an arrow in the same manner Jolan had, showing the direction they had headed. Their walk was very much the same, and after approximately the same distance, measured by Luzoke’s counting of his steps, they started to see more sand in the tunnel. At one point the tunnel was half filled with sand, but they were able to slip past, coming in a few more steps to another of the small rooms with stairs headed upward.