A Place To Bloom

Unprepared

She perplexed me. Intrigued me. And then, she was gone.

Green-and-purple grasses reached several feet above our heads with thick stalks I couldn't wrap a hand around. Water had pooled in long, narrow troughs cut on both sides of the road and continued down parallel lines that stretched into the distance row after row after row. The road was set with irregular slats of gray-black slate amid tufts of herbs growing from the mud. Above, clouds formed a patchwork of white with gray spots. The hot, sticky air surrounded us, and all of our clothes were soaked through with sweat. The perfect, mildly sweet taste of fresh coconut lingered on my tongue, and my mind puzzled over that expression on her face.

Davod, Geraln, Ales, Faren, Rock, Kelint, and Northstar all stopped where the tall grass had ended and gaped.

A thousand yards of open field with uneven tufts of green grass gave way to a massive wall of stone mortared together in a patchwork of gray and yellow with rows of square crenelations at the top and towers every so often. This was surrounded by an expanse of black water that emerged from a river beyond on one side only to rejoin on the other. The whole place had to be at least a mile wide with walls wrapping around beyond view on both sides. On the left, behind the outer wall was a cluster of tall stone towers that reached even further into the sky with more crenelations encircling the top and set with narrow slits running down the sides and out of view. To the right, the purple rock wall of the Terbulin ridge faded into the mist. To the left, thick trees covered rolling hills that rose into the distance while a streak of dark gray clouds reached down from the sky and brushed its fingers upon the forest.

Carthia.

The rough, gray-black slate road cut through the clearing and led directly to the gate, a massive archway in the stone wall bridged by a wooden span that unfolded itself across the moat. All about the field on both sides, herds of goats and pigs grazed, tended by women with exceedingly dark-green skin and hair white as snow who wore naught but a simple cloth about their hips, leaving their bare chest and back exposed to the elements. Several of them turned and glanced our way as we emerged from the bush.

Up on the ramparts, men paced with bows in hand and arrows nocked.

I turned to look behind me. There was no sight of her. I lamented not having the words to wish her a safe journey. Father in heaven, keep her safe? For me?

From the archway ahead emerged a train of people—men who looked Herali, olive-green skin and long, straight, dark-green hair wearing chain armor over padded leather accompanied women with dark-green skin and white hair, mostly naked as the others. Three small bison pulled empty wooden carts. Women walked alongside the beasts with sticks in hand while the men walked the perimeter, keeping their eyes outward. Together they made their way across the field towards the tall grasses with a brief nod to us as they passed. I looked closely, and while one of the men kept his eyes to the bush with his hands on his weapon, one of the women came up and stroked his bum. He leaned down and kissed her lips, and they kept walking.

As we approached the bridge, I saw something long and bulky lying across the stone slats with a thick tail that reached onto the wooden bridge. Its heavy, armored, gray-black barrel of a body rose up about knee-height with four clawed tree-trunk hands out at its sides, but had to be at least six yards from the front of its snout to the end of its heavy tail. Two eyelets sat atop its head, and several fangs stuck out from its long mouth.

Rock's eyes bulged when he realized it was alive. "Holy fuck what that is being?"

Faren smirked and answered him in Goloagi. "That's a sign. It reads... 'No Swimming.'"

We stopped a good ten yards from the gargantuan alligator, and a man's voice called out from above the gate. "You'll have to pay the toll!"

Up on the rampart two men, Herali, stood gawking at us and sending words in our direction while laughing among themselves. The other man spoke through muted laughter. "Yeah! You'll have to feed him one of you!"