Skycities of Arhosa Read online

  At which, Canere began spluttering. “It was not vapours! It was a rigorous process of narrowing down the list of items that could conceivably have something of use. There has to be a reason why the arcanists of today aren’t as strong as those of yesteryear, and I am determined to find some source for it. Now I think I have. There’s a series of references to a particular training manual, entitled Keleborn’s Arcanum, as well as an item, perhaps an artefact, that was used to initiate children into the ranks of the arcanists. I’ve never heard of either of those things before this research, and so there has to be something there. Clearly, we’ve lost part of what our ancestor Hanians did to train mages!”

  Ira held up her hand, causing the rant to run out of steam. “Okay, fine. You appear to have found something. But according to Yaden, it’s not here. So… now what?”

  A certain look came into Canere’s eyes, and he turned so he faced out from the skycity, looking off the edge and towards the rippling mountain peaks to the north. The breezes of the aerial world ruffled his hair for a moment before he looked back to Ira and opened his mouth to speak.

  “Oh no. No no no. I can see exactly where you’re going with this, and I’m not following you.”

  Yaden appeared blank for a moment. “Wait… Canere, you want us to go out there? You think we need to go treasure hunting in another skycity. A fallen skycity. Why?”

  “Because Keleborn’s Arcanum refers to a skycity called Adweyed. Repeatedly. It’s even mentioned that that’s where Keleborn, whoever he was, lived. It stands to reason that not only would Adweyed have copies of his works, but also the initiation artefacts that were once used.”

  Pausing him there, Ira spoke. “You say that… but why don’t we have them here in Yn Dref?”

  “I don’t know, and I can’t know until I finish my research in the archives, but whatever they are, they’re not used anymore. A quick study of the entrance records of the arcanist school here shows no such item being mentioned for at least for the last hundred years.” Canere turned to Yaden. “What I’m offering is the chance to go on a grand adventure, one that could save Hania. After all your gazing over the edge of the world, are you really going to turn that down?”

  “The thing about gazing over the edge of the world is that gazing is all it is. You’re asking me to leap over the edge of the world. And to read another host of dusty old tomes before I get to the exciting part.”

  “Well, yes. Even so, it would be a remarkable find. And would help you turn from someone who does magic as a brief sleight of hand to a true user of the gift.”

  “Given all the work you have to do once that’s true? I might pass. But it’s intriguing. Let me think on it.”

  Both then looked to Ira, who had been watching the interplay between Canere and Yaden with some amusement. “Let me guess, you want someone who knows which end of a weapon goes into the other man.”

  “Excuse me, Ira, but I’m just as good with a blade as you are!” Yaden drew himself up to his entirely average height. Which still wasn’t enough to look down his nose at her. On the other hand, he was right. Yaden was almost certainly the only talented swordsman not in the Yn Dref guard.

  “Okay, I’ll give you that. But you still need me, all the more so because I can requisition supplies and the like. And because I bet neither of you have any idea how to spend a night roughing it.”

  The expressions she got in response were rather sheepish. It was quite probable that neither of them had ever slept anywhere aside from Yn Dref, their outdoor experience at best a night or two down in one of the farm villages below.

  “Right, so you need my expertise and supplies just as much as we’ll need Canere’s intelligence to get through this. Given I know you two idiots are going to try and set off with or without me, mostly because Canere has a giant bee up his bonnet, I’ll come along. But only, and I do mean only, after we spend a great deal of time planning on how to make the journey as safe as it can be. Because otherwise, all three of us are going to end up as a snack to some great beast.”

  The expressions of thanks that followed were effusive and heartfelt. Although they dried up quickly when she suggested that Yaden could best spend his time helping Canere in the archives. But with ill grace he acquiesced, and each went to contribute what they could to the final stages of planning and research.

  ***

  It had taken two weeks of wheedling, purchasing, and research, but at last the three friends were standing around the portal, each of them heavily laden with supplies and other materials.

  Canere, for his part, had spent those two weeks discovering everything he could about Keleborn’s Arcanum and Adweyed. Which, in the end, wasn’t much. Aside from being able to confirm that the skycity had generally been one of the most northerly. And yet one of the warmest – apparently the mages who had originally carved Adweyed from living rock had magically sealed the climate, or otherwise heated it, so that life upon the floating citadel was more akin to the balmy tropics of the far south than the more normal whipping winds of Hania.

  His more gallant and dashing friend had spent some of the time helping him, some of the time practicing his swordsmanship with Ira… and the rest of it attempting to woo the few girls around their age in Yn Dref. Yaden knew where his priorities lay, although he had turned up for the day of departure remarkably well organized for someone who had supposedly spent the night before chasing after a particular blonde.

  As for Ira, well, she had done exactly what she said she would by convincing Vendol to lend her the supplies necessary for such a trip. They were less than she personally would have brought, but, had she had unlimited time and resources to prepare, there might still be something missing that she considered a nice addition. And, for all that both Vendol and the arcanists had been convinced by Canere’s impassioned arguments and logical conclusions, Yn Dref simply did not have much in the way of resources to spare.

  But it had enough, and now a faint hope that one day, things might be better than they were before.

  Of course, said faint hope rested on Canere and Yaden, who were jostling one another like little boys as Ira watched.

  “I’m going to laugh when you can’t handle the magic! You’ve never been able to, so what makes you think you can now?”

  Canere glared at his friend. “Go first then, and stand your ground at the bottom.”

  “And let you unburden yourself at me? Not a chance. These leathers are worn enough without your assistance.”

  The young arcanist shook his head, then gave Yaden a push towards the portal. Which led to a mock shoving match, the two of them somehow managing to strip away all the dignity of the moment.

  Finally, Ira had had enough. “Canere, Yaden. We need to go if we want to get in a good day’s hike.” For it was the pre-dawn hour, that moment when the light glimmered behind the mountains, but the sun had not yet risen to spill golden warmth across the land.

  It was remarkable how quickly the two men settled down, sombre expressions affixing themselves where only seconds before there had been smiles and glee. And with the seriousness came a nervous glimmer in each of their eyes. For the first time, they were to leave Yn Dref, leave the comfortable squalor of the crumbling skycity and step out into the great wide world. The thoughts of what that might entail rested ill at ease in their stomachs.

  Acknowledging their seriousness but not their nerves, Ira threw a perfect salute to the guards of the portal. It was time the explorers were gone.

  Looking only straight ahead, the tall and muscular guardian of Yn Dref strode through and was gone.

  JOURNEY NORTH

  The days that followed that first step through the portal were tiring, but not especially noteworthy. Ira led the small group as it trudged through the wild but sparse terrain of a hidden valley, and then up a saddle between mountains and into another. Around them, the landscape was much as it had been when they set out, although without the giant shadow of Yn Dref floating overhead. There were tall peaks, edged about by lower hills and sheathed in a coat of purple and green, heather and bracken the only plants that grew in the higher alpine. Down on the valley floor, there were copses of trees and small running streams, some forming pools or even lakes, but little else.

  Of animals there were a few, although most were birds wheeling high overhead, safely out of range of any hunter’s arrow. Of those who dwelt on the ground there was little sight, for they were both small and timid, flitting away into the brush at the sound of an approaching footstep. But at night, the howls of wolves and the shriek of other, less pleasant, creatures could be heard. It was enough to keep one of the three awake at all times, despite the ever-present fire, and for Canere to wish he had learned how to lay magical wards about his encampment. But in the safe streets of Yn Dref, what need had he ever had of such a thing?

  Most prominent of all was the collapsed structures that lay hither and yon about the valleys through which they passed. Most were comprised of little more than fallen stone and timber and looked to be farmsteads, pastures, and other buildings of the sort one would find today in the villages beneath Yn Dref. No doubt they had served the same purpose, feeding whichever Hanian skycity had floated overhead. But with no more cities to serve, the people had drifted away, or been killed once the magical protections of their betters had departed. Either way, it was a dreary thing to pass through the lost villages of Hania.

  Not that that stopped them from using the structures as places to rest at night, for the protection offered by stone walls, even collapsed ones, far outstripped that of a few tree boles and a lit fire. And it served better to both disguise their fire, should such a thing prove necessary, and to retain the heat that its flames gave off.

  Currently, the three explorers were safely tucked into the
old greatroom of a farmhouse, four valleys and two weeks to the north of where they had set out. Around them, the land had begun to change into the utter emptiness of the northern tundra, still full of mountains but with plant and animal life growing scarcer by the day.

  “I must admit, of all the things I thought would be dangerous on this trip, boredom wasn’t the one I had in mind.” Yaden tossed a stone at the fire, making the wood crackle and snap. “You’re my best friends, and yet if I have to see nothing but your faces for the next week, I’ll fly into a murderous rage.”

  Canere chuckled, accepting the jest for what it was. “Perhaps we should have brought a mirror, so you could see the one person you loved.”

  The next stone bounced off the packed earth flooring by the mage’s chest.

  “Behave, children.” Ira shot an amused glare at them both. “You’re right, though. It’s been more drudgery and less excitement than I’d expected. Not that I particularly want to be fending off hordes of ravening monsters each night, but we’re journeying through a land that was once owned by the greatest of arcanists and is now returned to the wild. Shouldn’t there be something of that around here? Some ill-advised summoning spell or magical predators that have made their new home here?”

  Pondering the question, Canere responded. “I think… most of those died when the skycities fell. Either from the fall itself, because they were on the skycity, or from the impact, because having a mountaintop crash into a valley is going to eradicate most of the life on the ground. Plus, we were always the enchanting types. The Biyani are probably the ones who had to deal with hordes of monsters rushing about. But they never really understood magic.”

  Yaden stifled a laugh. There were several civilizations under the old Arhosan Empire that had risen to positions of power using magic, and of those, Biyan had been the greatest rivals to the Hanians. Not in proximity, for neither was located particularly close to one another, but in proclivities and talents, most certainly. Tinges of that rivalry had come through in Canere’s statement, dismissing their long-term foes in terms that any Hanian could understand.

  “Aside from that prejudice you snuck in at the end there, I’d say you’re most likely correct. Hanians did always love their enchanted trinkets. Their continued existence has done wonders to ease the ongoing lives of our people.”

  At the looks he got from both Ira and Canere, Yaden blushed slightly. “I did pay attention in school. And I’ve got eyes that work, as well.”

  “Yes, they always slide attentively over the nearest girl.”

  “Just without the courage to go talk to her.” Canere finished Ira’s thought.

  Stung by their remarks, Yaden disappeared from his spot by the fire, slipping away to stand outside, looking into the star filled sky, partially hidden behind the arching mountains that lived to the north. He was never quite sure where his reputation had come from. He’d earned parts of it, but it had ballooned into something beyond anything he’d done. Perhaps that was because in the dreary day to day life of Yn Dref, people needed something to gossip about, stories that would make them laugh and smile. And he’d become the object of those stories. Yaden had had tales repeated back to him about his exploits that were patently untrue. Like the one about him stepping off the edge of Yn Dref and floating to the ground.

  Not actually a particularly difficult task, that, provided one knew the right spell and could cast it a time or two. It was just that Yaden didn’t possess much in the way of magical talent, aside from a few minor tricks he could pull with illusions. Which, while not a rarity amongst the Hanians, was at least unusual enough to be noted when both of his parents had been magically inclined.

  Thus, he’d always had to be exceptional in other areas of life. Which was why his swordplay was good enough that only the best of the guards could defeat him, and even then they could only just manage it. If he was allowed to use the little flashes of light and other illusions that he could conjure during a training bout, he had no doubt he could overcome anyone in Yn Dref.

  From there, his maudlin thoughts turned inwards, twisting and twining about themselves until they resulted in a tangled web, one in which he was stuck.

  Now sitting on a large stone, eyes focused on nothing out there in the world around him, Yaden didn’t hear the approach of Canere, who settled himself to the ground next to his friend.

  “Yaden?”

  No response.

  “Yaden?” This time the question was followed with a little nudge, one that disturbed the flamboyant youth enough that he snapped out of the cycle of thoughts which he’d been stuck in.

  “Canere? What is it?”

  “Time for your watch to end, and for you to get some sleep. You’ve been thinking too hard tonight. Try not to do that, it’s not good for you.”

  At that, a little of Yaden’s normal spirit came back. “This coming from the man who spends his entire life buried into books and doing nothing but thinking.”

  “Do as I say, not as I do.” Canere accompanied the statement with a touch of a smirk, knowing how it sounded.

  All the same, Yaden chuckled, touching his friend on the shoulder before heading inside to find his blankets.

  ***

  The next morning felt like he’d had hardly any sleep at all, and the exhaustion stayed with Yaden all through that day as they ascended the last of the green saddles. As they reached the crest and received their first views of the other side, a series of low whistles and muttered curses drifted from their mouths.

  Before them, the landscape flattened and opened wide, the peaks now further apart, a vast plain taking its place between them. Rather than the scrub that they had traversed before coming to this point, the ground was now splotched with snow, and a carpet of low pines covered much of the land, filling the terrain from the expanse before them almost to the horizon.

  And it was on the horizon that the view grew even more desolate, for there, visible above the wooded terrain, was a massive glacier, its white bulk reflecting light even at this great distance. It was to that glacier that Canere had surmised they must go, for supposedly it marked the rough destination of the skycity for which they searched.

  “What do you think lives in that?” Ira glanced at Canere as she gestured over the vast expanse before them.

  “I wish I knew. The books speak of creatures who cannot tolerate any warmth, who live only in the coldest and most barren of the northern climes. It appears we are going to meet them soon.”

  “You’re saying there’s monsters in those woods. And possible elemental beings too.” Yaden’s expression was unhappy, to say the least.

  “Ice creatures, certainly. And the predators who feast on them. These northern wastes were poorly travelled even in the height of Hania’s glory, and with reason. They do not lend themselves to any productive use, except for the harvesting of those creatures, and perhaps some timber.”

  “Either way, you think we need to get all the way to that glacier. Which means we might as well get started. At least down there, there’s going to be wood for a good fire or two.” Ira shouldered her heavy pack once more, and trotted off down the saddle, the others reluctantly following.

  ***

  The first of those winter predators welcomed the visiting Hanians at twilight of the next day. Having spent the day fighting through the tightly packed branches of the pines, the three explorers were tired, and upon finding a small clearing, decided to set up camp at the base of the knoll that occupied the opening amidst the trees.

  As they spread out in search of wood, a roar sounded from the peak of the low mound. Atop it stood a massive furry thing, teeth drawn back in a feral grin.

  Cursing the creature, Ira ripped her blade from its scabbard and charged. Whatever the dangers, she had always been taught to meet them with the full fury and anger that she could summon when in a fight. That burst of strength and headlong resistance could often overwhelm opponents before they knew what the true balance of the encounter was.