As Soal led his army across the orange rock of the canyon north of Meinhaym, behind the hills, his motives were interrupted by the thought of the cliff from his vision. Perhaps that was what would meet him next. The kiwi soldiers didn't seem to have a thought on their face, besides fear, and a touch of curiosity. But Soal was thinking hard, of a battle plan for when the time came. He schemed an outcome for every scenario. As Porter always said (again quoting The Art of War), "The general who wins the battle makes many a calculation in his temple before the battle is fought. The general who loses makes but few."
These thoughts were abruptly ended when Porter stopped right in his tracks next to Soal. "Halt!" he called for everyone's safety. Soal peered down, and observed an extremely deep, very broad ravine in the rock. It reminded Soal of earth's Grand Canyon, one of the surviving landmarks from his parents' time. There was a narrow stream running through the middle, and as he looked to his left, he spotted the great Dam of Meinhaym, severely blocking the River of Meinhaym it held behind it.
"Here lies the Canyon of Meinhaym, where the Dam intercepts the River. It is also a bridge, a wall that thwarts the river that is as deep as this ravine. We are to make our way to the Dam's bridge, where we will cross around the mountains in our way that cannot be climbed. In the meantime, we shall be making our way along to the bridge. This canal leads to the city, so it supplies and maintains their freshwater supply there. But we must be careful- any wrong move could lead to the flooding of the entire city! Anyway, we shall keep moving." Porter was enthusiastic to remind everyone about the Dam.
After an hour of strolling near the edge of the Canyon, they made it to the Dam. It reminded Soal of the long-gone Hoover Dam from earth. But Porter had not planned this out quite right. "This bridge has eroded since the city was destroyed," he told Soal, who was standing next to him, "and one step on this will collapse the whole Dam. I can tell. Therefore," he shouted his last sentence so that it could be heard by the whole army, "THIS DAM IS UNSAFE TO WALK ON. WE MUST FIND A SECURE ROUTE INSTEAD!"
Many moans and groans were heard from the army, but Soal was already scanning the horizon for a safer route. "Found one!" he shouted with a grin on his face. All the army turned to him, and he pointed to what appeared to be nothing, situated between the edges of the Canyon. Only those with the sharpest eyes could see he was referring to a clear, two-millimeter long string, connecting the two sides of the canyon. Everyone thought he was clearly crazy. And he was.
YOU ARE READING
The Sketch: The Voyage of Soal
Fantasía{Book One in the Sketch Trilogy} In a bleak future world, a timid boy named Samuel Lawrence is sent to yet another boarding school, where a strange secret awaits him. When a corporation known as Lint Corp. delivers him a seemingly unimportant cart...
