The Stones of Earth and Air (Elemental Worlds Book 1)

by V. M. Sang

  As usual, they landed about half a mile from the town and he walked in. Like Smithtown, Brewertown was ringed with earthworks, but unlike Smithtown, no river filled the deep moat. Instead, that moat was full of sharpened stakes.

  Pettic smelt the air. Yes indeed, this was Brewertown. He could smell the fermenting ale wafting towards him across the moat. The bridge was down and he crossed into the town.

  Unlike Smithtown, Brewertown had the residences on the main street and the breweries behind, on side roads and near the walls. As he walked up the road, eyes watched him from the windows. He felt them on his back as he made his slow progress, looking out for someone to speak to.

  Eventually he got to a square in the centre of the town. Here stood a building larger than the rest. It was not a brewery. It had windows down the sides and steps going up to double doors.

  As he was trying to decide whether or not to enter, a man came puffing out of a side street.

  'My wife came to tell me…' puff puff, 'that there's a stranger in town…' puff puff. The man put his hands on his knees and bent down to get his breath back.

  'Oh dear,' he said. 'I'm not as young as I was, and nowhere near as young as you.' He took a deep breath and stood up.

  Pettic looked at him. The man was in his early sixties and getting a little round in the middle. His hair was thinning and he wore spectacles. He now took them off, wiped them with a large piece of red cloth and replaced them.

  He smiled at Pettic. 'Look, we don't get strangers here. Or anywhere on the ground, come to think of it. 'People just don't leave their towns. Only the delivery folk, and they're known by the people in the towns they visit. So you're not a delivery man. Who are you?'

  Pettic looked down at the man, who was smaller than he was. 'My name's Pettic and I'm from another world.'

  The man laughed. 'Yes, a good one that. Not heard that before.'

  'It's true though. I come from a world called Fusionem. I take it you're the headman or some such. Is there somewhere we can talk.'

  The man, who said his name was Harip, led Pettic into the large building.

  'This is our council house. We hold council meetings here. People can come and watch if they wish. They sit over there.' He indicated a slightly raised area to the right of the doors. 'Come, let's go into the inner office. The chairs are more comfortable.'

  Passing through a door at the far end of the hall, Pettic found himself in a room about one quarter the size of the large hall. There was a fireplace on one outside wall and Harip bent down and lit the fire that was laid there.

  'Now, tell me all about yourself. No lies, mind.' He reached over to the mantle piece and lifted a pipe from a rack. Having filled it with tobacco, he tamped it down, then lit a spill from the fire and proceeded to light it. He indicated a chair to Pettic and sat down himself in another, crossing his legs and leaning back comfortably.

  Pettic leaned forward.

  'What I told you is the truth,' he said. He then related his story to Harip who listened with interest, interrupting every so often with a question.

  When Pettic had finished, Harip looked at him hard. Pettic felt he was being stripped of all his skin and that Harip was seeing right into the truth of what he had told him.

  'It's a strange story,' said Harip, 'but funnily enough, I believe you. No, not funnily at all. I asked you some questions that if you were lying you would have had at least to pause to think of a reply, but you didn't. You also didn't let me trip you up into contradicting yourself.'

  Pettic thought this man was smarter than he looked. He replied, 'Thank you sir. Now will you hear me out? I've come from Smithtown on a very important mission.'

  Harip stood up, knocked the ashes from his pipe into the fire and said, 'Just wait here for a bit, lad. I think everyone ought to know about this. I'll go and round up the rest of the council.' With that, he left Pettic sitting in the small room to wait.

  It didn't take long for Harip to round up the other councillors. There were ten in all. As there were too many for the small room, they adjourned to the large hall. To Pettic's surprise, several of the villagers sat in the public area.

  'People,' said Harip, when all were seated. 'This is Pettic. He's a very rare thing, a stranger. He says he's something of importance to discuss with us, from Smithtown.'

  He turned to Pettic, 'First tell us your story.'

  Harip sat, leaving the floor to Pettic. He looked around and then stood. He told his story to the assembled councillors and those of the public who managed to make it to the council house.

  Pettic received a lot of skeptical looks as he took his seat again, but Harip once more stood and looked at the assembled people.

  'I've talked to this young man and questioned him. I know his story sounds impossible, but I could find no flaws in it. I believe him. Now he says he has a message from Smithtown. I ask him to tell us what it is.'

  Pettic stood again. He looked at the assembly and took a deep breath.

  'I've just come from Smithtown as Harip told you. I arrived there, as I thought, to complete my punishment and be returned to Faoor to be the pet of Princess Eloraine, whatever that means. I discovered, though, that if any groundling manages to escape to a village, he or she is hunted by the aerials.'

  He looked round the assembled people before continuing.

  'I hid in the forest until the aerials went and then I went back to Smithtown. There I found the smith I first met had been badly beaten for not telling of my whereabouts. His apprentice too.'

  Pettic pressed his lips together and his fingers clenched into fists

  'I was very angry and when I found the aerials had turned the tavern keeper out of his bed, and all his family too, including his little three year old boy, I suggested they refuse to give their goods to the aerials.

  'They, of course, said it was impossible. The aerials would come with their soldiers and subdue them.'

  'Quite right,' called a voice from the back. 'That's exactly what would happen.'

  Pettic looked towards the speaker.

  'On Aeris, all one trade is gathered together into a separate village. This doesn't happen on other worlds. Each village or town has smiths, brewers, tanners, etc. They all live and work in the same place.'

  There was a murmur at this strange idea, but it soon died down when Pettic raised his hand.

  'This idea of keeping all of one trade in one place is a good one. You all rely on each other for what you need and so there's no fighting among the towns and villages. But it's also a weakness. If the smiths refuse to send the metal goods up to the Cities, then the aerials can't get them from anywhere else. The same for their ale, or their leather goods, or their food. You have power. You can starve them.'

  Here he paused. Some people looked interested, but others looked skeptical, and a few looked afraid.

  'From the little I saw while I was on Faoor, it seems they have no means of providing for themselves.'

  There was uproar then. Some people seemed to think Pettic was mad and the aerials would attack in force and wipe out all the groundlings.

  'How would they survive then,' asked another. 'They need us.'

  The village council house slowly filled up as night approached and people finished their day's work. As it did, so the arguments increased. Soon, just before it became truly dark, Harip stood again.

  'I think this needs a full village vote,' he said. 'In two days' time we will reassemble here. All those eligible to vote will be able to do so in answer to a question the council and I will set.

  Two days later, Harip placed a board outside the council house. On it was written 'Do you think we should withhold our goods from the aerials in order to get better treatment?'

  All day, people walked up to the building, entered and picked up two balls from a table near the entrance, one white and one black. Then they walked to another table with a large pot standing on it. They dropped one of the balls into the pot. White for agreement, black for disagreement. They plac
ed their unused ball in another pot then left. Pettic stood watching, hoping more white balls were going into the pot than black.

  At the end of the day, the councillors took the pot into the small room at the back and counted the white and black balls.

  They came out very quickly. This meant there was an overwhelming vote one way or the other. The councillors stood in a line and Harip stepped forward.

  'People of Brewertown,' he began. 'Pettic here has spoken to us about withholding our goods from the aerials in protest of their treatment of us. They treat groundlings like animals and give us no rights. We are people and should not be treated in this way.'

  'Get on with it,' thought Pettic.

  'We have held a vote and now we will give you the result. Immoli, tell us what we have decided.'

  A woman stepped forwards. She held a piece of paper in her hand, but did not look at it.

  'I don't need to look at this.' She flapped the paper. 'The result was overwhelming with only half a dozen people disagreeing with the majority.'

  Pettic was getting really anxious by now.

  'The result is this. We have overwhelmingly agreed we should withhold our ale from the aerials.'

  Pettic breathed a sigh of relief as cheering broke out in the hall. A few people with long faces left, but the majority remained to cheer and clap Pettic on the back.

  The next day, Pettic left. He whistled and the flying mare returned. He repeated the procedure at all the villages he could find. Tanners, shoemakers, potters, hunters, miners, glassmakers, and many more all agreed to join the strike. Pettic did not visit the farmers, though, because they did not have the protection of a village and walls.

  Finally, after a month of flying around, Pettic returned to Smithtown to report his success. The smith who had been beaten up had recovered, as had his apprentice, and everyone seemed anxious for the revolution to start.

  They decided everyone must start at the same time and birds took messages to every village stating when they would begin. To allow for every bird to get through, Pettic suggested three months from now.

  Chapter 14

  'Where's he got to?' wondered Princess Eloraine.

  'Stop worrying about your little groundling,' her sister snapped. 'I'm sick of hearing about him. Anyone would think you had a crush on him.

  Eloraine looked at her sister, fury in her eyes.

  'Don't be ridiculous. He's a groundling. Do you really think I'd be infatuated by an animal?'

  'Peace, girls,' said Bramnor. 'Is he worth fighting over? A groundling?'

  'No, not really,' replied Eloraine, 'it's just that I still can't make out how he got to Smithtown so quickly.'

  'Maybe he flew!' smirked Sprinkla. 'Maybe he's an aerial after all and has a membrane that he can hide.'

  'Shut up!' snapped Eloraine.

  Just then their mother entered the room.

  'Arguing again, girls?' she said. 'What's it about this time? Not that young boy from near the park? Although I can see why you might both be interested, He's very handsome.'

  Both girls looked at their mother and answered together, 'No, certainly not.'

  'Pity. Eloraine, you should be thinking of a mate, you know. You'll be queen one day and you'll need to ensure the succession. You need a daughter of your own.'

  'They were arguing about that groundling,' Bramnor told her. 'You, know, the one that seems to have disappeared. Sprinkla was teasing Eloraine, saying she thinks El fancies him.'

  The Queen looked shocked. 'I hope not, Eloraine,' she said. 'That would be the most terrible scandal and would probably bar you from the throne.'

  'Don't be stupid, mother. I only wondered how he managed to get to Smithtown as quickly as he did.'

  'We all wonder that, dear,' replied the Queen. 'Short of flying I really can't think of any other way.'

  'Well, he can't have flown, can he?' said Bramnor. 'So that's that.'

  Eloraine looked thoughtful.

  'You know, there's another possibility,' she said. 'We tracked him through his dagger, didn't we? Suppose he found out somehow, perhaps from the farmer he stayed with, that we could track him through the dagger. Then caught the fish, strapped the dagger to it and released it somewhere near the farm. Those fish travel long distances and are known to be quite fast. Perhaps it was the fish we were tracking and not the groundling.'

  'Hey, you might have something there, El.' Bramnor got to his feet and went and patted his sister on the back. 'That would explain how he got to Smithtown so quickly. He didn't, the fish did, so when you went to hunt him he wasn't there. He was still travelling. Perhaps he didn't get to Smithtown at all and the smith you had the hunters beat up was telling the truth after all.'

  Eloraine waved her hand. 'That's immaterial,' she said. 'The hunters enjoyed it. Since we had no one to hunt they needed some fun somehow. And we didn't know he was telling the truth.'

  'Anyway, children,' said the Queen, annoying her three offspring by calling them so, 'we've the ambassador from Kellor to eat with us and he's just arrived. We need to be nice to him if we're to make a treaty against Abrion. Don't be late. I've just heard he's landed, so come along and meet him.'

  The four members of the Royal Family left the room to greet the ambassador.

  The months passed quickly. The rebellion needed a lot of organisation. First, weapons were sent from one town to another. The smiths sent daggers and swords as well as spear and arrowheads.

  In return they received food from some of the farmers who had decided they would help even if they could not actually take part.

  The people from Arrowville made arrows and spears from the heads they received and sent them to every village and town. The bowyers in Bowham sent bows, the brewers sent ale to everyone. There was such a big transport of goods around it was a wonder the aerials did not see even from on high.

  All the towns and villages stacked up supplies. Each one also began to train its citizens in the use of the weapons. They hoped they would not need to use them, but they had to know how, just in case.

  Three months was not very long to learn, but all the citizens were motivated and practiced as much as they could. Even some of the children learned to use bows. The bowyers of Bowham made some smaller ones especially for the older children.

  Then there came an influx of farmers. Many arrived in the towns because they felt the aerials would take revenge on them, but others came because they wanted to actively help and not feel useless.

  One day, much to Pettic's delight, he saw Joert and Maoni along with their dog, approaching the town. He was pleased to see Maoni carrying the baby on her back. He had grown in the time since Pettic left them and appeared to be thriving.

  The couple drove a cow in front of them and they tethered her on the grass before the town gates.

  Pettic ran to the gate to greet the couple. They were as pleased to see him as he was to see them, but the two dogs growled at each other.

  'Down, Cledo,' snapped Pettic, as the dogs started squaring up to each other. Both dogs reluctantly lay down, but still eyed each other.

  'We may have to let them sort their differences out,' said Joert. 'One of them'll have to win or they'll never be able to live in the same town.'

  Pettic reluctantly agreed, but until such a time, he stood to one side and let the couple through the gates.

  Several of the townsfolk offered their homes to the farmers, some of whom had brought livestock with them, and others sacks of grain or other crops on wagons pulled by horses or oxen. This would all help if the aerials tried to lay a siege.

  Soon everything was ready. Aerials had been to collect goods during the preparations, but the townsfolk managed to hide what they were doing. The aerials never entered the towns, all the collections were done outside. They thought the towns beneath their notice, and that they might contract some disease from what they had already decided were insanitary conditions. They had no reason for this assumption, but since groundlings were involved, and they we
re almost animals, it must be insanitary.

  After three months of preparation, the sky overhead darkened. Pettic looked up. There, hovering above was one of the cities. He could not tell which city it was, but Natas, said that it was Hrondir they were expecting.

  The first aerials descended to pick up their goods only to find the gates of Smithtown barred.

  'Why are the gates closed?' demanded the leader of the delegation.

  Pettic climbed to the top of the ramparts.

  'We're not giving you any more goods until our demands are met,' he shouted.

  'Demands?' the leader shouted back. 'You have no right to make demands. You're only groundlings.'

  Pettic smiled. 'You're right. We have no rights. That's what this is all about. We demand the rights that any human being deserves.'

  The aerial laughed. 'You aren't humans though, so you don't deserve, as you put it, 'rights'.'

  'Think what you will,' Pettic called back. 'You're getting nothing until you negotiate.'

  With that he jumped down from the earthworks and went back into the town.

  The aerials hung around talking for a while, then they retreated to the pick-up point to the city. The ropes were lowered to pull them up and they left.

  Some of the people began to cheer, seeing the aerials leaving, but Pettic and Natas quickly quieted them.

  'This isn't the end,' Natas told them. 'They've just gone to report that we won't give them the goods. They'll be back to try to force us. This, people, is only the beginning.'

  Two days passed. Hrondir hung overhead, cutting out the sun for much of the day. This put a dampner on the mood of the people, and Pettic and Natas did a lot of talking in order to keep spirits up.

  Then, on the third day, the townsfolk saw several figures gliding down from the city. There were a dozen black soldiers and two gold high-ranking figures.

  The figures landed and walked over to where the bridge usually crossed the moat. One of the soldiers called out.

  'Hoy, Smithtown. We're here to give you warning. Listen to our Prince Ignormoran and take careful note of what he has to say.'