by V. M. Sang
The next morning, equipped with two dozen iron-tipped arrows and more food than he thought he would need, Pettic and Cledo said farewell to the friendly couple and began walking westwards as they had directed.
He was not looking forward to a long walk, but he had no choice. He rounded a bend in the road and, to his surprise, standing in the middle was the pegasus mare and her foal. As Pettic approached, she trotted towards him and again, after a bow, knelt down for him to mount.
Pettic smiled at the thought that he did not now have a walk of several days and, hoisting Cledo in front of him, he mounted the horse. With a squeeze of his knees, the mare bounded into the air, followed, of course, by her foal.
They flew westwards until a gap appeared between two mountains to the south. Pettic guided the mare in the direction of the gap and she flew swiftly towards it. As it happened, this was a dead end valley and at the end, the horse began to climb. Cledo, who until that moment had been lying still, front legs on one side of the horse and hind legs on the other, chose that moment to move. As the horse was both changing direction and altitude at the same time, the dog started to slip.
Pettic panicked, but not as much as Cledo. The animal tried to scramble back onto the horse's back while Pettic tried to grab him. The harder Cledo tried to scramble back the more he seemed to slip. Pettic could not seem to get a firm grip on the wolfhound either, and it seemed as if the animal would plunge to his death.
The mare seemed to feel the dog slipping and began to make a rapid descent. She adjusted her direction to try to minimise the slippage as well.
As luck would have it, Cledo finally slipped from the horse's back when they were only about twenty feet from the ground, and although he landed hard, with the breath knocked out of him, he was otherwise unhurt.
When the pegasus touched the ground, Pettic leaped off and ran to his friend.
He felt Cledo all over but could find no broken bones and the dog seemed to be without any pain anywhere.
Pettic looked at the sky. The sun was slipping down in the west and he decided to stay for the night in order to let Cledo recover somewhat before continuing their journey.
The pegasus mare flew off into the distance. Pettic was still unsure of her. Would she come back tomorrow, or would she think her obligation to him was over. After all, she had helped them twice. Perhaps she thought that was enough.
As he gathered wood and lit a fire, Pettic considered his position. This valley was not the one that Joert told him to follow. If the pegasus did not return, then he would have to trek back to the road. How long that would take he had no idea. He had been unable to judge the distance they travelled while flying.
That was a problem for the next day, though and so he collected some water from a nearby stream and settled down to eat some of the beef that Maoni had given him.
He gave some to Cledo who seemed to be fast recovering from his ordeal, much to Pettic's relief, then he checked over his bow and ensured the string was not becoming too dry, and thus too brittle. He decided he should get some more of the vine if he could find it, just in case that string broke.
He spent the next few hours searching until he found plenty of the strong vine and then he and Cledo settled down to sleep.
The following morning, when he awoke, he ate some cheese and bread and then started to put the fire out before leaving.
He looked to the sky. There was no sign of a white creature arriving and he began to think the pegasus had decided not to return. He called to Cledo and they began to walk along a track in the opposite direction from that which they had flown in.
Suddenly he heard a snort from behind some bushes. He reached for his bow but then he saw a familiar head appear over the top of the bushes. It was the pegasus. She came out when she saw Pettic and knelt for him to mount.
Cledo flatly refused to go anywhere near the horse. All the pulling and coaxing would not budge the animal. Pettic sat on the ground to think. Then he had an idea.
He took the new vine he had gathered and wrapped it around Cledo to make a harness. He took another length, longer this time, and he asked permission of the horse to attach it to her. He did not know how much she understood, but it felt right to ask.
It was difficult to get Cledo to go anywhere near the Pegasus. In the end, Pettic had to lift the wolfhound onto the horse's back. This was a difficult job as Cledo struggled the whole of the time in spite of Pettic's soothing words that he would be secure this time.
Once he had the dog across the mare's back, Pettic fastened the two harnesses securely together and then mounted himself.
With a squeeze of his knees, the young man propelled the pegasus into the air and guided her in the direction he wanted to go. Cledo whined the whole of the time, looking over the horse's side at the ground passing beneath him. Soon they were flying over ridges and valleys once more, but never any sign of a village.
After half a day of flying, with Cledo's constant whining getting on his nerves, Pettic guided the flying horse round side of the mountain.
There was a plain on this side and he spotted several plumes of smoke coming from towards the horizon. A village.
Guiding the horse towards the ground, Pettic looked for a road. Sure enough, he spotted one about a mile to the west. He guided the pegasus towards it and got her to land among bushes at the side.
He slipped from her back and released a very relieved Cledo from the harness. On feeling solid ground beneath his feet, the dog began to jump around like a puppy, barking his relief. Pettic went over to the horse and bowed to her. She bowed back and then came towards him and pushed her nose into his shoulder.
He removed the harness, patted her neck and stroked her nose then said, 'Thank you. We wouldn't have got here so quickly without you.'
Then the horse and foal turned, ran a few paces and jumped once more into the air.
Taking to the road, Pettic and Cledo strode the mile or so towards where they saw the smoke rising. Pettic felt rather pleased with himself. He knew the aerials had not expected him to survive, and if he did, that he would not find the village, but here he was. Now they would have to take him back to their flying city where he could begin to look for the gem of this dimension.
The aerials had promised he would be the pet of the Princess Eloraine if he managed this task. What that meant he had no idea, but if he was in the city he could search for the gem and then make his escape.
Chapter 12
Pettic approached the village with caution. It was ringed round with earthworks. Outside the earthworks a ring of sharpened stakes rose and inside the earthworks a moat was fed by a river. This did not look very friendly, but the gate was open and so he carefully entered.
No one stopped him or challenged him on the way through the gates. As he walked down what must be the main street, he noticed almost every building that was not a dwelling was a smith of some sort.
He stopped at the first forge.
'Hello,' he said to the smith who was busy banging a piece of iron on his anvil.
The smith stopped and looked at him.
'Just a moment,' he said as he took the iron and plunged it into a tub of water.
The iron hissed and clouds of steam rose into the air obscuring the smith from view for a few minutes. When the steam cleared he looked at Pettic and frowned.
'Who are you? he asked. 'You don't live in Smithtown. Where've you come from?'
'It's a long story,' Pettic told him.
'You'd better start, then.'
Pettic began to tell the story from the beginning, ending up with his arrival at Smithtown. The smith sighed.
'That's a lot to take in, lad,' he said. 'It's an unbelievable story.'
He looked at Pettic and held up his hand.
'I'm not saying I don't believe you, but it's just not something I've ever heard of before. Still, you did come out of nowhere, aren't an aerial and no groundlings are allowed to leave their village without the aerials' permission, so I gues
s there must be at least some truth in it.'
'Every word is true,' Pettic told him.
'You look honest, and your eyes are looking straight at me, so I think I believe you. Still, what a story!'
'The aerials told me I was to get to the nearest village and then they'd come down for me. Princess Eloraine said she wants me to be her pet. I don't like the sound of that though.
The smith snorted. 'They'll come down for you, no doubt, but it'll be to hunt you. They like to hunt groundlings.'
Pettic raised his eyebrows. 'They hunt humans?'
'Not in their eyes they don't. We're not humans, see? Something between the animals and the aerials. They consider themselves to be the only true humans.'
Pettic frowned. 'How will they know where I am?'
'Did they give you anything when they brought you down?'
'Yes, this dagger,' replied Pettic.
'Then that's what they'll be using to track you. They've put some magic on it no doubt and can tell where you are at any time. You need to get rid of it. I must get on with this work now. It's for the aerials and they don't like it if the stuff isn't ready.'
He turned his back and picked up the quenched iron again.
As he did so he said, 'There's a tavern down the road. It doesn't have a sign though. Doesn't need one. Everyone here knows where it is and no one else comes.'
Pettic wandered out of the forge and down the main street. It seemed every building was a forge of some kind. Not all were blacksmiths. There were a few whitesmiths as well, working with pewter, and he even saw a silversmith or two and a goldsmith.
'So that's why it's called Smithtown,' he thought. 'All the smiths in one town. I wonder if that's the same in other towns too?'
Eventually he came to a house situated between a whitesmith and a silversmith. He had seen no other houses and so he decided this must be the tavern. He opened the door and entered.
It was indeed the tavern. It comprised one large room with a number of barrels at one end. Several tables were scattered around and a few men sat with tankards of ale in front of them. They all stared at Pettic and Cledo as they entered.
'What can I do for you?' asked a large man, getting up from where he had been sitting talking to three men.
'I was hoping for a drink,' Pettic answered, 'but I don't have any money.'
'Money? We don't use money here,' the large man replied. 'The aerials don't allow us money.'
'Then how do you make a living?'
The men, who were talking to the large man, laughed.
'We give something in return,' one of them told him. 'What've you got?'
'Anyhow,' said another, 'how come he don't know that? He's a groundling ain't he?'
Pettic gave a brief explanation, simply telling them he had come from another dimension and been condemned to the ground.
'You'se a groundling, though,' said another, older man who was missing several teeth. 'So this is where you should be. The aerials won't leave you be, though.'
'So I've heard. They gave me this dagger. I'd like to get rid of it. Would you like to trade it for a tankard of ale?'
'No.' The answer was adamant from all of them.
'I haven't got anything else. They took my sword.'
'What about that earring? That'd look good on my wife, it would.'
'Or that amulet round your neck,' said another.
Pettic sighed. He couldn't get rid of either of the two magic items. The earring was how he knew he was near to the gem and the amulet was what allowed him to understand and be understood.
He decided he'd have to explain the whole thing to them.
After telling the story, he removed his amulet. Immediately the speech around him became incomprehensible. He spoke to the men and they wrinkled their brows. He replaced it and everyone could understand each other again.
The men seemed to believe him, if a little reluctantly. The fat man, who seemed to be the tavern owner, dipped a ladle into one of the barrels and filled a tankard.
Handing it to Pettic, he said, 'The story was a good one, and it might be true. You've earned your drink. What about your dog?'
Pettic asked for some water and the innkeeper duly served Cledo too.
One of the men at the table leaned across to Pettic. 'I might be able to help you with yon dagger,' he said, nodding in the direction of the said article. 'I've an idea.'
Pettic followed the man out of the back of the tavern. They walked through the village, past some residential houses, until they came to the earthworks. Here they sat by the side of the moat.
Cledo sniffed the air, then settled down to wait. Soon, a dark shadow appeared in the water that filled the ditch below the earthworks. Slowly, the man slithered down and lay close to the edge. He slipped his hand into the water and carefully moved it towards the large shadow, waving his fingers as though they were fronds of reeds. Then, quick as a flash, he whipped his hand into the air and a large shape came flying out.
Pettic caught the large fish. It was long and slender and very slippery.
'Don't drop it,' called his companion. 'It can slither back into the water in a flash.'
Pettic struggled with the creature but managed to hang on to it until the other man came up. Between them, and with difficulty, they took the dagger and strapped it onto the fish's back.
'Are you sure this won't bring trouble on the village?' asked Pettic.
'No, these dagger fish travel miles. He'll be out of this moat and into the stream that feeds it in no time, especially now he's had a fright.'
The man slipped the fish, complete with dagger, into the water and watched him swim away.
'By the time they realize it's not you with the dagger, he'll be miles away. They'll have no idea where you attached it to him.'
Pettic grinned. 'Then I'd best be on my way. They said they'd come and get me. They know I made it to here, so the quicker I leave the better.'
The other man said, 'Come with me first. You need something to defend yourself with. There are bad things out there that'd like you for dinner, or breakfast, or just to kill you for fun.'
The pair of them went to the man's forge. He went to the back and picked up a sword. It was plain, but it had a good balance and was as sharp as it could possibly be made.
'Take this,' he said to Pettic. 'It'll help you defend yourself.'
Pettic thanked him and he and Cledo left Smithtown.
There were woods to the south of the village and Pettic made for them. He entered their depths and breathed a sigh of relief. He could not be seen from above, and there were plenty places to hide.
He peered out from a bush near the edge. When would the aerials come down to hunt for him? If what the smiths had said, it would not be long.
He walked carefully into the depths of the forest, trying to be as quiet as he could. He heard rustlings in the undergrowth and drew his sword. What was in these woods? He had already met three animals that he had not known about. How many more were there? How many were benign and how many were dangerous?
Then the next question entered his head. He had to get back to the city because he believed that was where the gem was. He also needed to be there in order to get back to Fusionem.
The only way was to go up with some aerials, and to do that he must be captured. Unless he could somehow disguise himself as an aerial. But how could he simulate the membrane?
He put the idea to one side for the moment and turned away from the village to walk into the forest to hide.
'I don't want him killed,' said Princess Eloraine, and she stamped her foot.
She was in the private quarters of her mother, the Queen. The queen paced the room, frowning, and her hands clenched and unclenched.
'We can't have groundlings wandering around the city willy-nilly,' she snapped.
She whirled to face her eldest daughter. 'They're to be sent to the ground. He's committed a crime coming here. He must pay for that crime.'
'Mother,' said Prince
ss Sprinkla, taking her sister's side for once, 'we've no idea how he got to the city. We ought to bring him here to find out. If he managed it, then other groundlings might manage it too. We could be overrun. The Air alone knows there are enough of them.'
'Thank, you, Sprinkla,' said Eloraine, turning to her sister.
She turned back to her mother. 'What if they did find a way to get here? They could foment a revolution and wipe us all out. If they managed to get here and kill the magicians that man the artifacts keeping us in flight, then the Cities would all fall to the ground and everyone would be killed. No, they could easily wipe us all out unless we find a way to prevent them from getting here.'
'Are you forgetting we can fly?' The Queen turned to the girls. 'We could easily glide down to the ground just before we hit. Then we'd all be safe—at least most of us.'
Sprinkla sighed. 'True enough, mother, but if it were a revolution by the groundlings, then we'd be in great danger on the ground. There are, as I said before, an awful lot of them.'
The Queen sat down and narrowed her eyes.
'Why would the groundlings revolt? It's their nature to serve us. They're quite happy doing what they were created to do.'
'Well, I want him as a pet, whatever you say. I'm going to give the hunters instructions to bring him back alive.'
The Queen shook her head as she looked at her elder daughter. She sighed.
'I could over-rule your order, you know. The hunters would obey me rather than you.'
Eloraine smiled sweetly at her mother. 'But you won't, will you? You know I'll be queen after you and it's important the people get to see me as a dominant figure. So you won't undermine my authority.'
The queen raised her eyebrows. 'You're so sure of that?'
'Yes.'
Princess Eloraine and her sister turned and left the room leaving the queen unsure whether she was proud of or exasperated with her daughters.
Eloraine walked along the corridor to an open area. She stood looking out over the city, then she and Sprinkla jumped into the air and glided down towards the area from where Pettic and Cledo had been taken down to the ground. Once there, she walked over to a group of six people with brown hair and membranes.