Ascent
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"Adyeta?"
Xander turned from the fire to look at Mai'zi, who had
called his name. "Yeah?"
"Do we have to climb over those?" She asked,
pointing north. Xander looked at the horizon. Holy shit.
It had been overcast and foggy the day before, so Xander
hadn't really been able to see very far ahead of where they were on the road.
He had noticed that the terrain had become hillier during the latter part of
the day, but had thought little of it. Now, though, he saw that the change was,
in fact, significant.
The formerly smooth, curved line of the earth, dotted with
a tiny spot here and there, was gone. In its place rose the jagged, grey and
white teeth of a terrifying mountain range. "Fain?"
Xander called out weakly.
"Hm?" The dalhari murmured from the
fire. He was busy heating up his and Vaishi's breakfast.
"Um…we're going around that, right?" Xander
said, pointing at the mountains in front of them.
Fain looked up, squinting. "No, of
course not. Vaishi and I need to stop by Adaes
Der, which is in the mountains."
Xander shuddered. No wonder the dalhari had said it would
take them so long to cross the one region they had left to traverse. Even with
ifnan, what lay ahead of them looked deadly.
"When do we have to start that?"
Vaishi had returned to the campsite with some firewood
just in time to catch Xander's question. "We should make Baesraqc in a
couple of hours, and if we don't stop too long, we'll be in the mountains by
midday."
Xander thought the dalhari sounded just a bit too
enthusiastic about that. "Do we have to?"
Fain shook his head. "There's no way to get to La'iv
without crossing mountains, Xander. At least it is late enough that most of the
snows have already melted down, so we won't get caught by too much high water."
"Too much…" Xander whispered. What had they
gotten themselves into?
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A scant two hours later they were just within sight of
Baesraqc. Traffic on the road was heavy, so Vaishi led them toward down by
twos, instead of three or four across as they were wont to ride. Xander rode in
front with Vaishi, still ogling the mountains that just kept getting bigger and
bigger.
"Are you sure we can't stop in Baesraqc?" Xander
pleaded, wanting anything to put some time between him and the mountains.
To his surprise, Vaishi nodded. "We probably
should—Baesraqc is a unique hold, one that you should definitely explore, even
if only for a few hours."
"Why is that?" Xander asked, curious.
"It's one of the oldest holds in the area—and perhaps
in the world. No one knows exactly how old it is, since the first stronghold
built there was before written history, but the place has never been
abandoned," Vaishi replied. "It was founded by two ancient dalhari
houses, one from the Desa Ysdra
Mais, and one from the Ala Ysdra
Mais."
"The far and near
ranges?"
Xander asked. He was more familiar with the trade tongue terms for the
mountains.
"Yes," Vaishi replied. "Baesraqc sits at
the point where the two ranges meet. When it was founded, all of this area was
dominated by dalhari. Since then, of course, orth and siv have moved in. Now
Baesraqc is not only the southern gate to the near and far ranges, it is a
cultural center. There aren't many places where three species exist in such
proximity with anything approaching peace."
Xander nodded in understanding. Of course, had one of the
species here been maith or t'kth-vaali, peace would not be a word used to
describe Baesraqc. "What's it like?"
Vaishi grinned. "It's loud, very loud, and a lot of
fun. The residents are a fairly even mix of the three main species, although
there are a lot of the other species as well, particularly humans. The
architecture is unique—a melding of dalhari and orth you won't see anywhere
else."
"There are humans?" Xander said hopefully. Other
than the ones he'd seen before fleeing Ieccra, his exposure to his former
species had been quite limited.
Vaishi nodded. "Yes, as I said there are many humans
in Baesraqc—several tribes are represented. The three largest human regions are
west of here, and they are accessible through Jitalos.
Humans have well-established trade routes through that dalhari region."
Xander looked toward Baesraqc with more enthusiasm. The
place sounded neat—like a real melting pot of cultures and places. Maybe enjoying
the hold would bolster his resolve to actually make it through the mountains.
From here they looked a bit too much like the Himalayas for his peace of mind.
When they reached the main gates of Baesraqc, Xander was
in awe. Tall stone walls rose high above his head, and beyond them he could see
spires and towers reaching toward the sky. He waited impatiently as Fain and
Vaishi talked to the guards, not wanting to wait even a few moments to get
inside the hold.
Once they had passed the gates, Vaishi took the lead again
and led them through the streets, pointing out interesting sights and notable
places. Hainien and Mai'zi craned their necks looking at everything from their
perches on Saelen and Pairdra's ifnan. The kids had insisted on riding with their
fathers through Baesraqc since they were afraid of getting lost.
Xander goggled at everything. He'd never seen dalhari
other than Fain and Vaishi, but in Baesraqc they were everywhere—and in every
color as well. The bright creatures wore equally colorful clothing, as did the
orth and siv that mingled with them. Actually, other than the uniformly gray
stone buildings, nearly everything in Baesraqc was gaily colored—flowers grew
everywhere, each species clothing, while distinct, was almost gaudy, and streamers
filled the air, floating in the constant breeze that swept through the hold.
The group continued down what seemed to be the main street
until Vaishi abruptly turned onto a small alley. A block or so down it, he
stopped in front of a tall, long building with bright green windows.
"Where are we?" Xander asked.
"House," Vaishi responded cryptically as he
dismounted. A young dalhari appeared in a nearby doorway, walking over to
Vaishi. There was a brief conversation between the two, before the dalhari took
Vaishi's ifnan and disappeared through an archway in the wall.
"Not understanding," Xander muttered.
Fain walked up to Xander's ifnan and indicated that he
should dismount as well. "This is the Disiaron house in Baesraqc," he
explained. "Virtually every dalhari house is represented here. We can
leave our mounts while we walk through the hold."
Xander slid off the ifnan and joined Saelen, Pairdra and
the kids off to one side. The young dalhari reappeared and led the other four
ifnan into the house, while Vaishi urged them back toward the main street.
Saelen led his family after the dalhari, leaving Fain to follow behind.
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"Can I have one of those?" Mai'zi asked,
pointing at a display of glazed pastries done up to look like flowers. They
were the fourth or fifth type of confection the young siv had wanted to try.
Xander looked down at her, scowling.
"Y're
going to get sick, y'know. Y're not used to sweets like those," Xander
warned. Mai'zi looked longingly at the lovely food, but nodded. She certainly
didn't want to get sick and throw up later on. Maybe she could get one of those
thick wool hats instead. She was constantly cold now that they'd left the
always-warm forest.
Fortunately for the girl, her fathers were thinking along
just those lines. When they'd bought additional clothes in Reozyih,
they'd gotten everything they thought they'd need—but they couldn't have known
how chilly it would be in the mountains. Even though they were just starting
that part of their journey, the elevation had been climbing all along their
trip. As a result, all of them were in need of a little more padding.
Since the kids were so taken with the knitted hats and
mittens being sold all over the bazaar, the adults let them pick out the
family's new cold-weather gear. To their surprise, Mai'zi and Hainien quickly
chose things for the adults first. For Pairdra they got a funny-looking black
hat that covered his head, ears and neck, sort of billowing and folding around
his shoulders. Saelen's hat was a bit less big, but much brighter—a vivid
yellow that made everyone squint. For Xander, though, they went all-out. Mai'zi
insisted that he get the multicolored, striped hat with big red tassels hanging
all over it. Xander knew he looked like a clown. The kids settled on bright
purple hats that were easy to follow in the crowd—something for which their
parents were very grateful.
When Vaishi and Fain caught up with the siv, Xander headed
off any comments with a growled, "Not a word. Not one word, ok?" Vaishi
just grinned and nodded.
"I'm sure you'll appreciate the added warmth,"
Fain said, hiding behind Vaishi. Xander growled but said nothing. Now that the
hat-buying had occurred, the only thing the siv needed was food. Xander knew
that they were going to have to take dried food with them, since there was no
guarantee that any village they ran into would have fresh fruit. The only
problem he foresaw was the kids. They had never taken to dried fruit. Actually,
he was the only one of the family that really liked it at all. The siv of
Ieccra and Shaen were spoiled in that regard. Due to the constant warmth and
humidity from the surrounding oceans and seas, the growing season was year
round there. As a result, the siv rarely kept a lot of dried food, other than
for traveling—which was typically limited to sentries. The family hadn't done
any traveling since settling in Caildin, so the kids just weren't accustomed to
it.
Where they were going depended heavily on preserved food,
though, so the kids were going to have to get used to it—and to other types of
food, like vegetables that weren't sweet, and grains and grain products. Vaishi
led them down a street in the bazaar dominated by siv food vendors so that they
could pick out what they wanted.
Just as Xander had suspected, Mai'zi turned her nose up at
pretty much everything. "It's awful, Adyeta!" She said with a grimace
after trying dried yimkia. "It's all tough and
bland." Xander tried the fruit and found himself
agreeing with her, so they bypassed that one.
Hainien liked the dried berry things that Vaishi
identified as regu'infal, so Saelen acquired a large
bag of them. The dalhari explained that most of the food here was actually
native to dalhari and orth regions, which was why the names sounded strange to
them.
It took a while longer to find food that each of them
would eat, although Xander insisted that they stock up on the dense sweetcakes he'd found at a dalhari vender on their way out
of the bazaar. He liked them and could tell that they'd last a long time should
something happen to keep them from buying more food. Once the other siv got
over the fact that they were made of so many different things, and actually
cooked, they would probably like them fine.
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Xander was sorry to leave Baesraqc, and not just because
it meant entering the mountains. The hold was, as Vaishi had promised, an
interesting and fun place. The siv at the bazaar had quickly noticed that
Xander and the others were what they called 'treetop' siv, from the rainforests,
and had been free with mostly good advice for surviving in the mountains and
northern climates. Saelen had paid particular attention to that advice, storing
it away for future reference. Xander and Pairdra were busy keeping up with
their overactive and fascinated kids.
The path they were on split into several directions at a
crossroads just outside of Baesraqc. Xander and the others followed Vaishi as
he led them on the northern path, which quickly narrowed and steepened. The
ifnan trudged along slowly, carrying their burdens over each rise and fall.
Xander wasn't sure what he preferred—the slow and steady pace of climbing
treacherous mountain paths, or the less secure but more rapid canter the ifnan
used on the flat prairie.
One of Xander's arms shot around Hainien when the ifnan
under them hit a particularly rough spot on the path. The little boy jumped but
didn't cry out, a testament to how far he'd come with regards to his fear of
the ifnan and traveling on them. When they'd first stared out, he had cried at
the merest hint of movement. Xander had to admit that he was impressed with his
kids' handling of the whole situation. He'd sort of figured that they would've
changed their minds a few days in and wanted to go home. They hadn't, though,
which pleased him greatly. If all went well, he would be seeing Spike in about
a week—the first face from his old home he would have seen in almost a decade.
It had been so long that he couldn't picture Spike with complete clarity—just a
vague sketch of the vampire's angular face.
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Fain called a halt to their travels
about an hour before sunset. The mountains blocked the dying sunlight, so the path was
already becoming difficult to see, and since they had just gotten to a suitable
wide spot on the road, it was a good time to set up camp. Xander helped Fain tie off the ifnan while Saelen assisted Vaishi with the
fire. The dalhari was using small, compressed cakes of some sort of fuel to
start a tiny cooking fire in the ring of rocks Saelen had made. Xander had been
curious about the fuel when Vaishi had purchased it in Baesraqc, at which time
the dalhari had explained that fuel was not always plentiful on the mountain
paths, so they used this stuff made of ifnan dung and--, well, Xander had stopped
him after that.
Once the fire was started and water set up on the tripod
over it, Vaishi put Mai'zi in charge of adding dried food to it once it was
warmer, while he helped Fain and the adult siv set up the tent. It would get
cold enough in the mountains that they'd be using it every night. Xander was
pretty sure that on their own, Vaishi and Fain would only use it during storms,
but that they set it up for the siv's benefit. Xander didn't feel guilty,
though. It could get really cold after dark.
Hainien busied himself extracting blankets to put into the
tent once it was set up, while Mai'zi broke dried vegetables up into the water.
The dalhari ate very spicy, often pungent foods, but he liked them. The kids
promised to try and get used to them, since they would be the dominant food
where they were going. Xander set out a couple of sweetcakes
for them to share after dinner. If the kids balked at the vegetables, he'd
insist they eat the cakes. He didn't want to deplete their stocks of dried
fruit this quickly into the trip. At least water was plentiful; springs seemed
to seep and drip along everywhere.
The fire only lasted long enough to rehydrate
the dried vegetables, so the travelers ate by the light of the rising moon.
Mai'zi and Hainien choked down the unfamiliar food and also split a sweetcake, which they liked considerably better once there
weren't other food options. As soon as everyone had cleaned up, they piled into
the tent, where it was easier to share body heat. Vaishi and Fain stayed outside,
though, talking quietly under the stars. Xander did feel a little guilty about
butting in on their privacy; he got the impression that they liked space and
quiet time, which was difficult to get around his family as well as siv in
general. Unless something was bothering a siv, most liked to be around others,
both in terms of physical proximity and friendship. In fact, the only times
that siv were by themselves was when they needed to think about something
serious, or do something private.
"Y'think we'll survive
this, Pai?" Saelen whispered once everyone had
gotten comfortable in a pile on the floor of the tent.
"Yeah," Pairdra replied, shrugging. "It's
not much different from fighting or getting through the rainy season. Y'endure it, and eventually it gets better."
"Y'two seem *so* happy
we're here," Xander muttered sarcastically. He held out hopes that they
didn't decide that this whole excursion had been a big mistake. That would be
very bad indeed.
"Ah, it's fine, Xander. It's
just different, y'know? None of us have been this far
from home before," Saelen reassured him.
"Neither have I! I mean, other than coming over here,
I never got as far from home as Caildin is from Ieccra," Xander replied.
"And I've never been anywhere like this at all."
"I know," Saelen said softly. Sometimes he
forgot just what his mate's life had been like before he'd arrived in their
world. It seemed to him that just moving from there to here made Xander a
seasoned traveler—but that really wasn't true at all. Even his arrival here
hadn't been voluntary.
It was many hours later that Fain stuck his head in the
tent to rouse the siv. Pairdra opened one eye and growled softly before poking
the others to wake them. It was obvious from how the siv were draped over the
tent floor that the dalhari hadn't slept there the night before.
When the siv finally poured out of the tent, they saw that
it was just turning light outside. "Where did you sleep?" Pairdra
asked Vaishi, who was munching on chips of dried yimkia.
Vaishi indicated the ground near the tent. "It was a
mild evening, so we stayed out here," He said. Pairdra shrugged. If the
dalhari were so inured to the temperatures here that they liked the cold, so be
it. He was staying protected, though. In the forest, he would sleep outside.
Here, he wanted shelter. Mai'zi and Hainien found a bag of regu'infal
and passed it around the family, preferring the sweet berry fruits to anything
Xander would try to force on them.
The next leg of the trip began with little further
conversation; Xander helped the dalhari disassemble the tent and they were on
their way. A few hours after sunrise, they passed through a tiny village that
seemed to be carved right into the mountainside; houses whose fronts were flush
with the stone face of the mountain range were almost invisible, except for the
bright flashes of their owners as the dalhari flitted from place to place. Upon
inquiry, Xander found out that the dalhari here were all religious ascetics.
The homes he could barely see had been there for centuries, and the dalhari
that lived there existed by growing different types of hardy plants right on
the rocky slopes. According to Fain, they rarely touched flat ground,
preferring to remain clinging to their vertical homes.
Mai'zi simply stared up at the village and waved at a
passing dalhari, who peered at her for a moment before returning the gesture.
Hainien started asking Vaishi all sorts of questions about the dalhari that
lived there, continuing to press the warrior for answers well after they had
left the village behind.