Engines & Demons - The Undestined

Chapter 3i

This chapter is dedicated to linahanson, not only for her reads and helpful comments but also for her commitment to. One of the co-founders of the Adventure Community who have dedicated themselves to finding tales of wonder and adventure. (WP forbids me to post a link here, but search for AdventureCommunity under users, and you'll find it).  There's also some adventure going down in modern day Egypt. If you haven't already, check out Lina's book, Cursed Times - What Now?

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There was nothing in the bottom of the defile that ran beneath the walls of the fortress-bailey except for dry crazed mud, sparse grass and the bones of some unfortunate creature. Whatever it was must have become trapped there and drowned sometime during the fallows, when the deep sided chasm would have been half filled with water. Tahlia balanced along the defile's edge, her arms outstretched, thinking about nothing more than the feeling of the warm stone beneath her naked feet, the fragrant scent of the dry grass around her, and the sound of the droning, ticking insects living within it.

In the muddy pit where the cleft beneath the walls deepened, and was shadowed by the lowered bridge of the fortress-bailey gatehouse, something slithered. The scrubby grass beside the dark pool rustled as some small creature fled from its threat. Tahlia ignored the noises and concentrated on her balance until she reached the bridge, where its end rested in a stone footing.

A road curved away from the bridge to a crossroads, where a single tall ascension marker stood. After the crossroads, the road ran north, over the horizon to the border of the Order's lands at the river Rhebus. Beyond that lay the Clan lands, that she knew to be a harsh place of crags and thrusting rock, rising to the mountains, whose heights were permanently snow-capped and swathed in cloud. She knew little else about them, other than the fact that they were governed by the Order of the Heights, who had once been the closest of allies but were now the bitterest of enemies.

The east road crossed the open plains to the town of Trehlsvale, and beyond lay the decadent disorderly remnants of the Provinces that Klinberg had once guarded. The road west was little used, but still kept in good repair by the Engineers. It had once been bordered by a broad area, where the grass had been cut back so as not to impede the passage of Klinberg's armies. More than two centuries had passed since the Predation war had ended and now it was the borders of the northern road that were marked by the passage of troops.

Tahlia followed the road's edge and stopped at the crossroads, from where she could see a solitary masdon cart approaching from the north; one of many bringing in the first of the summer's tithe. The sight made her a little sad because it reminded her that first summer was coming to an end. Second summer always seemed too short to her, and she had always preferred first summer, from the time of its slow reawakening at the end of the fallows, through to its languid calm months where the days seemed endless.

Of course, the second summer of that year would be dominated by the High-tourney, but despite her brother's growing enthusiasm, Tahlia could not muster any excitement for it, even with Grifford's assertions that their father would surely be standing for the position of Grand-commander. As she watched the masdon cart draw itself slowly towards the crossroads, Tahlia toyed with the idea of being the daughter of the Grand-commander of Klinberg. She played out the possibilities in her head, as she had done so many times before, and as before, could see no way that it would make the slightest difference to her life, other than to put more restrictions on her freedom.

She shrugged to herself. She wasn't much worried. First summer may have been ending, but another would soon come around, followed by countless more. She smiled to herself and ran across the road, its hard surface suddenly jolting at her heels before they found the softer earth again on the far side, with its swish of dry grass at her ankles. From there she ran on, still following the line of the fortress-bailey wall, towering on her right.