by Allan Joyal
Hencktor came jogging back. “Ron, you heard about the sand?” he asked.
I looked forward. The carts appeared to be moving smoothly. “It doesn’t appear to be slowing us down,” I said.
“It’s wet,” Hencktor said. “And so far the carts aren’t sinking too badly. But it makes no sense. The soil under the grass is not sand, but once we were lined up with the pass, we ran into a wide expanse that is nothing but sand.”
“How wide?” I asked. “Wide enough to allow carts to pass each other?”
Hencktor frowned. “A bit wider I think. Why? Do you think the empire created it?”
“I’m not sure,” I said. “But it seems strange to run into sand here. If it was deliberately set up by the empire they must have had a reason.”
“Well, the carts are sinking,” Hencktor complained as the cart I was walking alongside entered the sand. The sand was wet after a week of rain. My boots still sank into the soft surface as I continued to walk.
The cart sank as well, but continued to roll forward. I looked to Ximenia and Borlan. “Is the sand going to slow us down?”
Ximenia looked at the horse that was pulling the cart. The creature tossed its head, but kept on pulling the cart. “I think the fact that the sand is wet will keep the cart from sinking too much,” she replied. “But it definitely is harder to move in for the horse. We will slow down.”
“But we have those Aztec Orcs following us,” Al called out. “If we slow down they will definitely catch us.”
“I know,” I said. “But they are far behind us, and perhaps the sand will slow them down too. It doesn’t change the fact that we need to cross the mountains and this looks like a pass over the mountains.”
Al frowned. Hencktor was looking at the sand as we walked through it. “The sand is loosening up,” he observed.
“After the herds pass over and then the carts I’d be surprised if it didn’t,” I replied.
Hencktor shrugged as he looked forward. I could see him squint a little. “It looks like the path turned left. I see the herds climbing some kind of path.”
I looked up. We were approaching a cliff. The sand covered path we followed curved sharply to the left. Another ramp led from the path and ascended the side of the cliff. I could see that our herds were moving up the slope.
“That is not natural,” I exclaimed. “The slope is smooth and steady. I think we are seeing the results of some empire based magic.”
“Even though the empire fell ages ago, their magic kept working,” Hencktor said in wonder. “I mean I figured out the roads and that school we ended up at was obvious, but to see that it held here…”
“They used a lot of magic,” I agreed. “But for now we need to make sure we keep moving forward quickly. We are being pursued, and I’d rather not get caught in the open where their numbers will make it impossible to survive.”
“It looks like they are definitely trying to track us,” Al said. “I’ve noticed they are following our route pretty much exactly.”
“Are they gaining?” I asked.
“Hard to say,” Al replied. “They were so far to begin with, and now with the fact that we are moving at such a sharp angle, the distance between us has been getting shorter. It’s definitely our Aztec Orc friends following us.
Al was pointing to the northwest. I looked back and realized that the distance between our group and theirs had dropped to about half what it had been. I was instantly worried, but they were moving southward. The interval between us began to open back up.
I turned back towards the cliff. Gertrilla had her herders pushing the animals quickly. The leading bull had reached the top of the first section of the ramp. As we continued to close I watched him follow the switchback trail and continue the ascent to the bluff.
Hencktor whistled. “I didn’t even see that from here.”
“Gives us a good chance we can get away,” I said. “Once we make the turn on the switchback, we’ll be very hard to attack with the thrown spears. The cliff will protect us. But we can just toss rocks off of the cliff, and they’d be dangerous to anyone approaching from below.”
“Too bad we don’t have a large spherical boulder to send down the hill. I’ve noticed that these Aztec Orcs run very slowly,” Al said. “I think they’ve only reduced the distance between us by a half-mile or so. We are probably still two miles ahead of them, and we’ll be at the base of the ramp before they are within a mile.”
“We need to keep moving,” I said. “That ramp isn’t even a quarter mile long. If we push the pace we might be off it by the time they reach the base. That would mean we are out of their sight and perhaps can escape without a fight.”
“You really don’t want to fight them,” Hencktor said.
“I’m not sure we can take many more casualties without having someone die,” I said sadly. “We’ve been extremely lucky. But Natalie hasn’t had an opportunity to make any healing potions. Right now a bad infection would kill any of us.”
“What do we do?” Hencktor asked worriedly. “I mean those Aztec Orcs could follow us over the mountains.”
I looked back. It took a moment to spot the horde following us. It looked smaller. I scanned the horizon and found that a large group had stopped moving.
“Not sure they can follow much more,” I said. “It looks like a third of them just abandoned the chase.”
Hencktor stumbled. I moved to help him, but he waved me off. “It’s just the sand. I’m not sure you noticed, but it’s dry underneath the crust. I slipped when it shifted.
I glanced over at the ramp and realized that the surface was made out of sand. As the mules strained to pull them, the wagons already on the ramp were sinking into the soft surface.
Gerit noticed me watching and waved. “It’s a little slow, but the carts can’t slide backwards through the sand,” He shouted. “It’s much safer than trying to pull them up hard stone.”
“Keep moving,” I called back.
“What is that?” Al suddenly shouted. I turned to look at him and found him staring off to the south out into the grasslands. I scanned the area, not finding anything until I noticed several trails being cut through the grass. They were too narrow to reveal what was moving.
“Not again,” Hencktor moaned. “Ron, do you think it might be?”
“It stands to reason that if the enchantment was successful, those landsharks would spread out. They do make this region of the plains off limits to us for now. I think we could wipe them out given time, but we don’t have it nor the tools we’d need to make it happen,” I replied.
“Think they can follow us up the ramp?” Al asked worriedly.
“They might, but they might also chase our entourage,” I said. “They are slower than we are.”
As I spoke three of the trails through the grass turned and started heading towards the Aztec Orcs. Hencktor and Al let out a cheer as the cart began to turn to the left. I glanced over my shoulder to see that Borlan was guiding the mules to start up the ramp.
“Ron,” I heard shouted down from above as we started up the ramp. I looked up to see Yveney waving from about seventy feet above me. “Those mongo men are getting closer. Hurry!”
I heard Borlan curse. “What’s wrong?” I shouted to him.
“The sand has been torn up a bit,” he complained. “The mules are having a bit of trouble. Their hooves are sinking.”
“Can they keep us moving?” I asked.
“I’m going to move to the other side where none of the other wagons went,” Borlan replied. “The rain should have firmed up the sand a bit.”
I looked up. “Yveney, we’ll move as fast as we can. Hopefully the landsharks will slow down the mongos.”
“No hopefully about it,” Al said. “The mongos just stopped. I count at least six fins heading for them. Where did they come from and how did they miss us?”
“The rain must have spoiled their ability to hear our footsteps,” I said. “At least that’s the only reason I can come up with
.”
“But it’s still raining,” Al pointed out. “So why would they find us now?”
“I’m not an expert,” I replied sharply.
“You just play one on TV?” Al said back with a laugh.
I shook my head as the first of the landsharks burst from the ground just in front of the mongos. One of the Aztec Orcs tried to spear him, but missed and was cut in half by the creature’s jaws as it returned to the earth. The formation scattered away from the corpse.
“That nearly happened to me,” Al said with a gasp. “I stood up to that?”
“Borlan,” I shouted. “More speed would be nice.”
The landsharks took advantage of the Aztec Orcs panic. As we continued our slow climb up the ramp, I saw five more spearmen taken down by attacks. One shark even went after a mongo, only to be clubbed to the ground.
I watched carefully as some of the fins began entering the strip of sand that led to the ramp. Most immediately turned to chase some of the Aztec Orcs, but one turned toward the ramp. “Ron!” Al screamed in panic.
I ran around the cart to stand behind it. I was backing up the ramp as the landshark approached the base only to turn back and start circling. “Ron?” Al called out.
“Don’t complain,” I said. “It gives us more time to get away.”
“But it might come back!” Al shrieked. I wanted to calm his terror, but there was no time as I walked backwards up the ramp.
The shark was making another charge toward the base of the ramp when a new light blossomed on the top of the cliff. It grew for several seconds and then fell from the precipice to land just in front of the charging shark where it went out.
I looked back to the top of the cliff to see Yveney grab Shaylin before the young enchantress could fall. She picked up Shaylin and began to carry her out of sight.
“What happened?” Al asked.
“Shaylin tried her fireball spell, but it didn’t work,” I said. “It looks like the failure knocked her out somehow.”
“What?” Al complained. “That makes no sense. How could it knock her out when all she was doing was casting a fireball?”
“I don’t know, but at least the shark turned back,” I said. The circling fin was now headed to the northwest, chasing after the mongos who continued to back away from the swarming landsharks.
“They are retreating,” Al noted. “They are going to allow us to leave.”
“For now,” I said. “It looks like the sharks decided the food on the plain was more important than what might be escaping up the ramp. Borlan how are we doing?”
“We’ll be turning in a moment,” the young man called back.
I nodded and then turned back to watch the last of the battle between the orcs and sharks play out as we escaped up the ramp and into the mountain pass.
Chapter 9: Stumbling Upon the Valley
The excitement we had upon entering the pass faded quickly. Shaylin had been unconscious for an hour. She woke and apologized for her failure, explaining that the rain had disrupted her spell somehow.
No one blamed her. As we climbed the pass, Cimbra and Victoria spent time with the young lady trying to cheer her up. The young enchantress was smiling by the end of the day, but the continuing rain kept her from studying her spell book.
We travelled for two more days before the rain finally stopped. By then everyone was looking forward to a warm meal and a roaring fire. We had run out of firewood early on, and as we climbed the pass, found few trees and no dry wood.
We reached the summit of the pass three days after the rain stopped. By then Cimbra was convinced that the empire had used magic prolifically. She noted that the path we were walking on was coated with sand. She claimed the sand had magical origins; as otherwise, it should have blown or washed away after the fall of the empire.
This was interesting, but the information did not help us as we crossed over the mountain range and began our descent. The pass had been barren of trees, and we never found enough grass to keep our entire herd fully fed. Our remaining supplies of hay dwindled rapidly.
Once we had passed over the summit, we found that the trail split. One path turned north and appeared to hug a ridgeline as it vanished into the mist that clung to the mountains. Another path turned southward. We could see that the initial descent on this path was steep.
We stuck to our original path that proved to be the narrowest of the three paths. The other two paths showed signs of the stone and sand structure we had come to recognize as the magical engineering favored by the empire. This path was barely wider than our carts and proved to be a rough track that twisted along a ridgeline as it made its way eastward.
We did find firewood and even a few early berries to supplement our stores of food. Soldrin and Krysbain would travel far ahead of the caravan, making sure the path was clear and seeking game to hunt. Over the next seven days, as the path started to widen, they came back with several well-fed deer. We crossed a stream as the path curved to the north and led us out into some rolling hills.
I was sitting with Lydia, Victoria, and Hencktor the evening after the last ridge line disappeared. Victoria was leading the conversation. “Ron, we need a break.”
“I know, but we needed a place where the herds would be able to graze. We just came out of a forested area. We were lucky that Krysbain found the meadows he did,” I replied.
Hencktor nodded. “Still, we do need some rest,” he pointed out.
I was going to say more when Konstanzia ran up. “I found it! Come quickly, you must see this!”
“What did you find?” Lydia asked.
“No time! Come see,” Konstanzia shouted excitedly. She grabbed my hands and started dragging me to the northwest. “Hurry!”
I tried to stand up only to be nearly pulled off my feet as Konstanzia jumped up and down. The woman had a huge smile on her face as she pulled me onward. “Konstanzia? What did you find?” I gasped out.
“You must see!” she said as she led me from the camp. We had to duck several tree branches as she raced through a grove and onto a patch of rock. I noticed that the rock ended abruptly just a short distance past the last of the trees. Konstanzia seemed unfazed as she brought me to the edge of the bluff and pointed to the north. “Look!”
I looked. There were long shadows as the sun had already started dropping behind the mountains to the west. At first I was confused, but then I noticed that we were standing on a bluff that stood forty or fifty feet high over what appeared to be a flat valley floor. In the distance I could see another bluff similar to the one we stood on.
“What did she find…Ron, this looks like a valley,” Heather said as she came up to join me.
“So it’s a valley,” Victoria said as she joined. “We’ve seen more than a few.”
I looked to the west. The fading light made it impossible to make out the shape of the valley, but it appeared that the mouth was perhaps four or five hundred feet wide. The valley widened as you headed west, up into the mountains.
I looked down to see that there was a small river flowing from the valley. It hugged the south wall as it exited between the two bluffs. There was one sizable pool just inside the mouth of the valley. It was hard to tell, but the water appeared to be clear.
“If the walls are vertical all the way back,” I mused. “I think Konstanzia just found our valley. This could be home.”
“What?” Victoria shrieked. “But.”
“Small entrance,” I said pointing to the bluff to the north. “We could definitely wall this off. It’s a bit larger than I’d like, but we could build a wall to cover that much of an opening.”
“Why wall it?” Victoria asked.
“Keep the herds inside,” I pointed out. “And defense against any wandering predators.”
“Gertrilla’s herders would love that,” Hencktor said. “Not having to have everyone watch every night would be a blessing. I can even see that there are plenty of trees near the entrance. We’ll have the wood we need
.”
“And I can see a large meadow right next to the pool. So we’ll have grazing for all the animals. It's even downstream from the rest of the valley so we can set up our homes upriver and not have to worry too much about the animals fouling the water,” I said.
“Ron,” Gertrilla said. I looked over at her, surprised that she had snuck over to join the gathering. “We’ll need to separate the cows and sheep. If both graze the same area, they’ll kill the grass. If they are grazing separate fields we can keep the grass alive for them.”
I leaned forward to look at the river. Just below us, it was hugging the south wall of the valley. However, as I followed its path to the west I saw that it meandered across the valley from the north wall. I pointed to the river. “We can use the river to separate the herds,” I said. “The sheep can have the south side of the valley and the cattle and goats the north.”
“Where will we live?” Victoria asked.
“I’d say while we set up we'll want to be near the pool,” I replied. “We’ll want water, and the pool should be a good place to start building from. But we'll probably want to put the houses upriver from the herds.”
“We actually found a place,” Lydia said in an awestruck voice. “I had a hard time imagining it.”
“Konstanzia found it,” I said. “I think she should get to name it.”
“But,” Konstanzia said. I noticed that her hands were tugging at the bottom of her blouse.
“Yes,” Lydia said happily. “She’s earned that right. She found the valley for us, so she gets to name it.”
Konstanzia looked at me. “I heard you registered as a trading guild. Is that true?”
“We did,” Lydia replied. “It was a protective measure so that we appeared legitimate while we traveled on the roads.”
“What were you called?” Konstanzia asked.
“Daytona Trade,” Victoria answered before I could say anything.
“Daytona,” Konstanzia said. “Let’s call the valley and our new Daytona.”
I glanced over at Lydia. My longtime friend shrugged. “So it’s not a beach. I think it’s an appropriate name.”