by Vic Broquard
Chapter 32 The Exploration of Voss
Zoran led the expedition to the only known location on Voss, the cavern complex where they had rescued the abducted women. They stepped out of the Shadows on top of the peak which held the caverns and took a look. Russet colored mountains with snowcapped peaks stretched as far as they could see. Picturesque. First, they stepped partially into the Shadows and moved out for an overview of Voss, circumnavigating the world, getting an overview.
They saw three large landmasses. One was roughly circular, centered on the north polar region. Here, the terrain was snow and ice, though rugged. It did not show promise of much. Ice flows predominated at its south pole, but no land masses. Two huge continents, roughly on either side of the globe, were the obvious choices for habitations. They called one of these the Zucchini Continent, because of its unique shape. From its narrow crooked northern most portion, the continent swept southward, crossing the equator with its rounded bottom in the far southern hemisphere. They guessed that it was perhaps seven thousand miles north-south, but only three thousand at its middle near the equator.
The other continent they called the Rectangle. Again, it was roughly centered along the equator, but was at least ten thousand miles from east to west and six thousand north to south. Dividing the Rectangle in half was a huge north-south range of mountains. Smack in the middle lay the russet peaks in which the caverns were located. In the vast oceans, they spotted a fair number of island groups. Now the question was where to begin their search.
Evsen took the Zucchini continent, while Zoran took the eastern half of the Rectangle, leaving Yada to search the western half. This first day, their sole objective was to rapidly sweep across these land masses and see roughly what they were facing and if there were dragons in the areas.
Zoran swooped over a vast arid plain which covered the northeastern section of his half of the continent. Further inland, cradled against the Russet Mountains, as they began calling the peaks, lay a vast desert land that stretched from about five hundred miles below the northern coast to an equal distance from the southern coast. Evidently, the Russet Mountains blocked rainfall here. In the southeastern corner lay a dense, sprawling forest region.
Zoran spotted numerous antelope and other herd animals roaming the arid plains and the edges of the forest. The only dragons his group spotted were a number of reds and blacks high in the skies over the Northern Russet Mountains. He saw no signs of human survivors — no smoke clouds curling into the blue skies. The rendezvous location that evening was the southern coast where the forest met the foothills of the Russet Mountains.
Yada’s group swept across the western half. In the far north, they encountered a vast marshland, which gave way to rolling hills. In the southern portion, another great forest stretched from the Russet Mountains down to the sea. Vast plains covered the entire western half of this half of the continent. His group too spotted the reds and blacks in the far northern Russet Mountains, but nothing further south or west, just desolate lands devoid of people, though teaming with wildlife.
Evsen’s group started in the north of the Zucchini, where plains predominated. Archmage Karel enjoyed himself immensely. He used his power spell to change into a giant falcon and spent most of the day circling high above the lands, his now keen eyes searching for clues. Further south, a thick forest took over, though it gave way to a marsh land and swamps on the eastern coast. The forest only grew denser the further south they went, until it became a thick jungle before thinning out as the Dividing Mountains — their name for the mountain range with sliced the Zucchini into the northern two thirds and the southern third. Another vast plain covered most of the southern third which gave way to another desert at the northeastern edge of this lower third. They spotted no dragons at all but much wildlife. No signs of human dwellers were seen.
At camp they discussed their findings. Two things were clear. Nearly all of the dragons of Voss had migrated to the Federation of the Sixteen Planets, only a few remained, unless they lived on the islands or oceans. The decimated herds of antelope and other wildlife had recovered during the last twenty-some years. Honani told everyone that this proves that Nature always wins in the long run.
The next day, the real work began, low level reconnaissance. The goal was to find traces of the lost human towns and cities. Once one was found, they were to search it for any clues to the location of Pacov. Pacov could be a fortress, a Circle of Ascension, a town or city, or even some special geographical feature. To their credit, no one suggested this was looking for a needle in a haystack.
As they prepared to begin their day, Zoran pointed out, “Our ancestors founded the Federation eighteen hundred years ago. If all of the humans on Voss left at that point, time and Nature will have taken its toll. Cities and towns may well be overgrown, perhaps not even recognizable.”
He began his search here in the dense southern forest. After a couple of hours, he halted. “Time for a new plan,” he suggested to everyone’s relief. The thick foliage prevented them from an aerial search. They couldn’t see through the green canopy. On foot, they encountered brown bears, black bears, poisonous snakes, and even wolves.
“Dad, if Pacov is in here, we’ll never find it,” Jarmila complained.
“Okay, let’s head back to the extreme northeastern corner and try the plains,” Zoran suggested. Now they had more luck. Here and there, they came across the ruins of a town or village, but they were little more than distinctive raised patterns on the ground. Time and the elements had worn the dwellings down to rubble. Try as they might, they could get no real clues from these finds. However, they were spotted several times by high flying dragons of the far north, several who came closer to get a look at the party. However, they did not seem threatening and left quickly.
Yada encountered similar findings on the vast western plains where he’d begun his low level searching. Evsen reported the same, since he too began systematically back at the extreme northern plains of the Zucchini. After a fruitless week, they concluded that the adobe dwellings found so frequently in the plains simply could not withstand time. “We need to look for stone buildings and forts. Forget these cities of adobe mounds,” Zoran ordered.
“Stone is more prevalent in the hills and mountains,” Kaya pointed out. “We should look there first.” Zoran agreed and the next day, Evsen took his group into the Dividing Mountains. Yada headed for the vast central western hills.
Zoran, on the other hand, had another idea. “Look, let’s check out the desert. There, dwellings may well have survived longer. The worst we might find is the sands have flowed over the towns, burying them. If we have no luck, we’ll start in on the Russet Mountains down at the southern edge of the Rectangle. I’d like to stay clear of the known dragons as long as possible.”
As they searched the sand dune covered central desert, once more the reds and blacks observed them from a high altitude. Evidently, they were content to merely watch and showed no signs of hostility, for which Zoran was thankful.
Kaya was the first to point out the significant signs that people used to dwell in this desert land. “Look. That is a road, paved at one time.”
“What’s it mean, Kaya?” asked Jarmila. “I didn’t know that there were actual paved roads in a desert land.”
“Ordinarily, we desert dwellers use well-worn paths and seldom build paved roads,” she replied.
“And that can mean only one thing, Zoran,” Honani added. “This road must have played a very significant role in these people’s lives. This route must have been so important that they went to a huge amount of work to make this a paved roadway. That means it must connect one or more very, very important sites. Of course, is it this way or that way,” he pointed in the two directions along the faint outlines of the tract.
They decided to head south away from the dragons. Near dusk, they were finally rewarded. They were about halfway through the desert land and midway through the continent where the Russet Mountains veered out int
o the desert land some three hundred miles, before returning back to its usual north-south line. Cradled against the rocky foothills of the Russet Mountains was most definitely a city and fortress built out of the russet colored stone! Sands had nearly covered the streets and many of the buildings had been knocked down as if some giant’s hand had played dominoes with the stonework. The outer walls of the fortress were unmistakable, though within the walls many of the building had crumbled. Still it was their first hopeful site to search.
Yada returned to camp enthused. They had come across three caverns which had once been occupied by dragons. They had recovered a large pile of loot, gold, gemstones, and jewelry. It was obvious that much had been looted from humans. Additionally, they had located four towns worth further exploration.
Evsen was equally enthused. “Look what we found,” dumping out a large sack of gold, jewels, and necklaces. They too found four dragon dens, long empty in the high mountains. Likewise, they found two cities to search.
Bernd suggested that once they finished the mission, they ought to search all of the dragon dens they could find. “We could be fabulously wealthy!” Everyone chuckled, this was so true.
The teams headed out the next day filled with excitement. The hunt was on, ruins to explore, and amazing things to find. “It sure is eerie walking these streets, imagining what this city would have been some two thousand years ago,” Jarmila broke the silence as the party walked over the thick deposits of sand covering in small drifts the paved streets of this once great desert city.
Anwen, who came from a desert planet, replied, “Yes, a city of this grandeur must have been a most important site for these people, rather like our fortress and Circle on Anwyn. We should look for a pair of statues whose arms form an arc over a doorway.”
“Why?” asked Jarmila.
“That would mark the entrance to the Holiest of Holies, where the High Priests carried out their religious duties for the people — that’s if they were anything like we Anwyn,” she answered. “If anything will tell us where this Pacov is located, it would be with the priests. They maintain our records on Anwyn.”
“Is that what you’re looking for?” Honani asked pointing to a pair of bronze relief statues etched into giant stone walls and surrounding a pair of rusted iron doors. “The paved road that we are following leads straight to these doors. Must be important.”
They had found the Holiest of Holies temple entrance. It took a number of Strength spells cast on everyone for them to finally pull the rusted doors open, breaking their hinges in the process, much to Anwen’s dismay. She felt this was somehow sacrilegious.
After casting a number of Light spells and placing them on the tips of their swords, the group entered the dark, but cool temple. None saw the Invisible red sitting on the remnants of the fortress wall watching them enter. After the last human entered, the dragon quietly took flight, heading north.
What had once been a great and holy temple had long ago been sacked, presumably by the dragons. Anything of value had either been smashed or taken away. However, none of that mattered to Zoran. What was left did.
“Wow! Look at that!” he exclaimed. All eyes and lights turned to examine one wall. Here a hundred foot long, fifty foot tall mural was etched into the wall, with gold inlays outlining inscriptions and lines. They quickly realized this was a map of Voss! The golden dots represented principle cities and the lines, territorial markings. They quickly used their spells to translate the huge lettering across the top and the smaller words scattered about the mural.
Democracy of the Sixteen read the title. “Now we are getting somewhere,” Jarmila exclaimed. “There must have been sixteen different groups or countries or kingdoms here, all united as one. See here. This is the mountain group; we’re standing in one of the two desert ones.”
“Interesting, so our founding fathers resettled on planets that were similar in nature to where they had lived on Voss,” Zoran concluded. “That makes sense. Look, there is even a dot out there in the ocean. Must be the Asami ancestors.”
“Oh my goodness! Cast your spells on the fine printing!” Anwen called out, terribly excited. “We are right in the Republic State of Anwyn! There is the Republic State of Adapazan! There is the Republic State of Gladno!”
“I’ll be! Our ancestors were not very inventive!” Zoran exclaimed, rapidly scanning the finer printing.
“Dad, there is not the slightest doubt that our founding fathers came from Voss!” Jarmila declared. “So they were here along with the dragons. Was there a war here too? What happened to all the people? Did they all migrate out to the sixteen planets leaving the dragons behind? I’ve got more questions than ever before!”
Zoran laughed, “This sure casts a whole new light on everything. I think it is even more important that we find those journals now. Look at the rest of the fine print and see if we can find city names or something. Dear, make a good drawing of this mural for future reference. We have our first map.”
While they spent the rest of the day searching the temple and the surrounding areas, they found nothing more. The fortress keep would have to wait until tomorrow. That evening they all shared notes. The other two groups had returned loaded with magical weapons. They had found stashes of them here and there in some of the ruins. They had found plenty of totally rusted normal weapons however. Evsen described one interesting room that he’d entered. He opened a door deep within a fortress keep. Inside the roughly twenty-foot square room, he saw tables, chairs, tapestries, books, a scroll, and wooden cups — all perfectly preserved, as if someone had just left the room. He sneezed from the dust. Right before his eyes the entire contents of the room collapsed into one giant dust cloud. He’d had to teleport out of there fast. Somehow the very molecules had retained their perfect balance for millennia before he opened the door and disturb their delicate balance.
“If nothing else, Zoran, we are finding enchanted blades that we can use to arm more fighters against the dragons,” Evsen stated what his fighters had declared.
The next day, everyone headed back to see the mural in the temple. All were impressed. Then, they searched the keep and uncovered a few gold coins and several enchanted weapons, including two daggers. However, they found nothing that identified any city by name.
A week later, the group was forced to make a return trip to Brn. They had accumulated so much gold, gems, jewelry, and enchanted weapons that they could not continue to keep them with them as they explored Voss. Dana was given charge of the new weapons and was extremely pleased with suddenly receiving so many ancient blades. After sharing all that they had found, the large group returned to Voss the following day.
Back on Voss, Zoran suggested, “Gang, during this respite, I have been doing some thinking about all this. Perhaps we are going about this backwards, searching randomly throughout the various areas. Seeing that large map in the temple got me thinking. Old Bandar Zar had close ties with our founder, Valentýn Vladislov, closer ties than with any other baron. He chose to make his private stashes on Adapazan. People are creatures of habit. If I had to guess, old Bandar Zar probably lived or worked somewhere around this Republic State of Adapazan here on Voss. He probably stored those journals somewhere in this territory. Pacov is very likely to be there too.”
“According to the map, the Republic State of Adapazan covers that section of the Russet Mountains from this eastward extension onto the desert south and westward for perhaps five hundred miles. The Republic of Rehor is the southernmost portion of the Russets, right below Adapazan. I think that we three groups should fan out and focus our searches in this roughly five hundred mile by five hundred mile zone of Adapazan.”
Jarmila concurred. The connection did make sense from all she understood of Bandar from his copious writings. He was a creature of habit. Zoran then ordered, “Okay, my group will head into the Russets from here at the temple, moving west and south. Yada, you take your group to the extreme southern border and work your way northward. Evsen,
your group starts on the far western edge and work your way eastward. We’ll meet somewhere in the central portion of this territory. Keep an eye out for the dragons. They are still watching us from afar. I don’t trust them.”
For the next few days, the groups entered caverns and searched through the ruins of numerous towns, yielding more treasure and a few more weapons, but little else. Well, there was one other thing. Yada’s group came across a stone pyramid but it had no discernable entrances and appeared to be some kind of possible religious structure.
Then on the 20th of December, Karel, in his giant falcon form out circling around looking for potential ruins, spotted a very large one, too large for one group to search. All three parties joined up there and surveyed the scene. Here was perhaps the largest of all the cities they’d so far found. Nestled on the top of a minor Russet peak in the extreme southwestern corner of the Republic State of Adapazan’s territory where the foothills began lay the walled city. It covered some twenty square miles, with stone homes and buildings flowing down the terraced slopes of the peak. A large keep sat on the very top surrounded by fortress walls reminiscent of those at Castle Dorumova. The parties scattered, searching the ruins for clues.
Honani wandered about on his own and made the discovery. His ambling brought him to the main entrance gates where the largest pave roadway, now completely overgrown with vegetation, stretched off to the west. He turned around to look back at what had once been an impressive sight and saw the ruins of an archway. He cast a few spells and cleaned the accumulated dirt, weeds, and thorn bushes off of the cracked stone and saw writing on along the arch. Pacov. He was heartily thanked for his discovery, with many hands slapping him on his back. Well done was echoed by many, none more so than Miroslav and Jarmila, who felt totally vindicated. There was a place called Pacov. Thus, the journals must be here somewhere!