Yspaddaden - Chapter 25

 Ynwfn, Stone Tent.

"That, is the Stone Tent."

Yspaddaden pointed out the vast desert to Kady as they stood on the edge of the wasteland. The treeline ended behind them and the orange Tent stretched out in front. The sun was just rising over the horizon, casting strange shadows and an amazing orange glow over the entire landscape. They both stood in awe at the sight. The last month had seen them traversing the dangerous Preservation and nothing but trees and tall grass as far as the eye could see. Now they gazed at nothing. The dirt that covered the ground was brown and course and nothing grew there. But Yspa had to admit, it was beautiful. He turned to his equally beautiful companion.

"How much water do we have?"

He waited as she checked the levels. She held up a large canteen full of liquid and shook it. Water sloshed around in it.

"Maybe half. How long until we reach the other side?"

Yspaddaden grimaced at her assessment. At that rate they would be dead in just a few days.

"I reckon it should take at least a month to reach a place where we can become comfortable once again. Ten days doesn't seem like much, but if we run out of water, we're dead. We wont last more than two days, maybe three, without water. What we have might last three, if we're careful. I guess we just have to chance it."

"Why can't we travel along the treeline? Stay close enough to go back into the forrest for water if we need to?"

Yspaddaden shook his head.

"It won't work. The Tent is even more dangerous closer to the trees. If we want to be safe, we have to travel out into the open. I've come this way before so it should be alright. We just need to travel fast." He looked back over his shoulder at the forrest. "We can retreat back to that river we passed about an hour back, refill the canteens, maybe find some meat to cook and take with us. Then we head out again at midday. That should put us in a safe zone by nightfall."

Kady nodded and replaced the canteen in the large sack she had been carrying. She looked out over the landscape again.

"There's no fence here."

Yspaddaden turned at her question. She pointed.

"The fence that bites. It isn't built here. Do not the Dinas escape here and roam free?"

Yspaddaden shook his head.

"No, there's no need for the fence here. The Dinas are frightened of this place and do not go near it. None of the animals in the Preservation pass by this point. It's only us foolhardy humans that are dumb enough to travel this way." He smiled at her but it did not seem to placate her mood. She gave a quick, nervous smile back and glanced moodily at the place they would be traveling soon. She hefted the large sack again and turned back to the forrest.

"Then let us head back. The sooner we get this part of the journey over with, the happier I'll be."

Yspaddaden nodded and followed her back toward the trees. He took one last look behind him as they entered the forrest. He did not relish the thought of returning.

Kadyriath

The sun beat down heavily on Kady, making her sweat profusely. She had long given up on trying to keep her dress clean and groomed, but this was one time she felt particular distress over it. Her sweat stained the dress to unsightly proportions, the dust stuck to it like leeches and the sunlight would not be kind to the pigments. There seemed to be absolutely no wind in this place, and with every footfall the dust swirled upward and settled slowly, getting tossed around by the currents their bodies made. She had hours before torn the hem from her dress, holding the piece of cloth to her mouth as she walked, trying to filter the dust from her mouth and nose. Her sacrifice meant that her dress now sat quite high on her legs, just at mid thigh. It did not bother her, she had worn much less material in her lifetime and felt comfortable. But for some reason her thoughts went to Yspaddaden. She hoped it wasn't making him uncomfortable. But at the same time she enjoyed the thought of him inspecting her. Maybe just the one inch hadn't been enough? Ah well, he could look all he wanted to.

Yspaddaden followed her a few feet behind, his boots stomping through the dust without a care. He seemed un-afflicted by the cloud of dirt that swarmed up. Perhaps he was too tall for it to affect him. Kady glanced back at him and gave a small smile to let him know she was alright. He had told her of the dangers they might come across as he cooked the deer he caught in the forrest.

"Most of the Tent is covered in a fine dust that sits on top of the ground. If you ever come across a patch of ground that appears to be stone, tread carefully. Sometimes it is stone and can be walked across safely. But most often the 'stone' will crackle and decay, causing you to fall into a bottomless pit. There is no water there either, but sometimes it may appear as such. Sometimes you might see a patch of trees on the horizon and a lake, but do not believe your eyes. The still air and heat make your mind go crazy and see visions."

"So I'm to dismiss all I see with my eyes as nothing more then hoax?"

Yspaddaden had shaken his head firmly.

"Absolutely not. The trees you may see, and the water also, will not move, they will remain still. If you ever see movement out on the Tent, pay close attention. It is most likely one of the many creatures that live there. No one knows how anything survives in the wasteland, but they do. Have you ever heard of the wedgeworms of Idris?"

"Yes. Large worms sliding quickly over the ground, sometimes over ten feet tall."

"Something like that has been reported to be seen in the Tent. But much larger. Much more dangerous. It has never been confirmed, but there have been rumours. But the Callah Birds. Those are real. And very poisonous."

Kady thought back to that conversation and tried to shiver, but the heat of the desert made it impossible. Yspa had not told her exactly what a Callah Bird was, but she had no desire to find out. Sometimes, ignorance truly was bliss.

Kady drifted back to fall into step with Yspa. She wanted to reach out and grab his hand with hers, but she knew it would be a bad idea. She still had one hand holding the piece of cloth to her mouth, so she simply wrapped the other arm around her torso. She spoke through the cloth to him.

"What are your plans once we reach Finngal? I hope you have some idea as to how we are to find this Aszkastone. If it is as rare and mystical as you say it is, then even the populace of the minotaurs will not know of its existence. Do you know where you might go first to inquire of it?"

Yspaddaden was quiet for a moment before speaking. The dust he threw up with his large feet almost seeped through her makeshift filter and she pressed her torn dress harder to her mouth.

"I do have some idea. There are a few contacts that I want to follow up on once we reach the border and enter the country. The first stop I want to make is Tegarp. It's a new settlement and supposedly one where a lot of minotaur historians and scholars are traveling to live. It was founded on top of a ruin that was discovered a few years ago, no one knows exactly what it once was. It's a place we could more easily pass as mere travelers and tourists. I don't want to attract too much attention to ourselves. The minotaurs are not aware of our quest, as far as I know, but I don't want to raise any suspicions."

"Is there someone specific you need to talk to there?"

Again Yspaddaden was quiet for a moment before he spoke. He seemed to not want to tell her of his plans.

"Remember Yspa, we agreed to share everything about this quest. Who are we going to see?"

Yspaddaden turned to her then without breaking stride and looked down at her face. His grin made her leap inside with some unknown emotion. It made her feel good.

"A friend of Joyills. One who might know of the whereabouts of the Stone, or at least will be able to point us in the right direction. She gave me instructions before she died on who to talk to in Tegarp. She had a pretty good rapport with most people, but the minotaurs she seemed to enjoy the company of the most. Many would be the time I would visit her hut and find her entertaining a bull or three with her magic. Minotaurs generally don't believe in magical objects. They think them to be merely tricks and illusions. And to be honest, most of Joyills 'magic' was mere trick. She had a few rare artifacts, but nothing of real power that I knew of."

Kady smiled but then had a thought. She grabbed his arm and immediately regretted it. He glanced down at her hand in amusement for a second, then back at the endless desert. She lowered her hand quickly but continued on with her thought.

"What about that paper? The one with Popor's name on it? If we had that, we could have the third word translated by the minotaurs. Do you remember how the word went? You said you saw the parchment. Can you replicate it?"

Yspaddaden smiled down at her and started laughing slightly, chuckling to himself. Kady glared at him.

"What? Don't do that! What is it?"

Yspa reached to his side and put his hands into the folds of his shirt. He pulled out a small case, just large enough to hold a ring or piece of iron. He handed the tiny box to Kady and gestured.

"Go ahead. Open it."

She looked at him curiously, but did as he said. She opened the lid to the small box and took out a piece of parchment, folded up, seemingly very old. As soon as she saw it, she knew what it was. Her eyes went wide and her mouth dropped open.

"AethelKil gave it to you?! You had the parchment all along?"

She stopped in the middle of the desert, ignoring the beating heat, and gently unfolded it. Once she did, she could see three words, forming a triangle across the parchment. One she could read, the name Popor in the human script. The other two she could not read, but recognized as elvish and minotaur scripts. She marveled at it for a moment, then replaced the parchment back in the case, which she then handed back to Yspa.

"Why didn't you tell me you had this?"

"I didn't want anyone to know I had it."

Kady gave him an accusing look.

"Are you saying you didn't trust me?"

"No that's not it at all! I didn't want AethelBald's soldiers to learn of it from you. To be honest Kady, you've been in the hands of his men a few times now. If they had ever decided to try and torture you for information, I didn't want you to know anything that would be valuable to the quest."

"Is that why you hid the purpose from me in the beginning? So they wouldn't find out?"

Yspaddaden gave her a look and she smiled at him to tell him she wasn't angry.

"I'm sorry. I've already forgiven you for that, so I'm going to let it go. But that's good! Now we can translate it once we get to Finngal. You said that village is full of scholars? I'm sure we could find someone who knows what this says. We would have to be careful not to show them the real parchment obviously, but I'm sure we can transcribe this word on another parchment and…what is it?"

Yspaddaden had gazed off toward the horizon and stopped moving. He held up a hand for Kady to be quite. She knew that look so fell still, trying to see what it was he was seeing. He was so much taller though, she might not be able to. After a second, Yspa turned back to her very slowly, whispering as he did so.

"We need to find shelter."

Kady looked around the desert and could see nothing as far as her eyes let her. She gave a gesture.

"Shelter? The Stone Tent is a terrible name for this place. There's nothing around for miles! Why, what is it?"

Yspa looked around in obvious agitation and nodded.

"You're right, there's nothing. Come on."

"Where are we going?"

"We have to find the caverns. The decaying stone I told you about. Most people who find them fall through and are dashed to pieces at the bottom. There has to be a bottom. Maybe there's some back way in."

Kady followed him as he began to jog across the ground, raising a cloud of dust that made her cough.

"But what is it? What did you see?"

He didn't even stop as he answered.

"I don't know. I've only ever been across the Tent once. But I know that any movement out here is dangerous. We have to find shelter."

Kady knew better than to ask questions. She simply followed.