Chương 39: Chapter 34: Sun Sceptred and Jewelled

That evening we crest a gentle hill and I see that we have arrived at a town and I am delighted with it. The bird-people have made their homes and community buildings in the branches of a thick copse of trees. Giant spruce, fir and ash are linked together with walkways and ropeways and even mightier trees whose name I do not know – enormous, thick, ribbed trunks; no branches until after the midpoint, then arms raised upwards, not outwards, like a supplicant in a temple – support large houses and an entire hall.

Evening lanterns hang from the branches, stippling the trees with ovals of yellow light.

'Well, that's a sight worth travelling for,' says Lisandra.

'Useless,' Amaris shakes his head.

'In the Underworld, an invading army becomes lost and disorientated in tunnels we can close. Here, they are exposed. Why, just a Fireball or two and this whole town burns.'

'To live beneath an open sky, makes sense for those who all can fly. Perhaps these people care not for homes that can be built again, so long as they can escape, every one of them. While if trapped when attacked underground, what hope is there for those who are found?' Amaris just rolls his eyes in response. Much as I love the narrow alleys and uneven rooftops of Crumblin, this is an appealing place to my eyes. Much more so than any of the towns we have travelled through up until now.

It is busy, too, with bird-people circling the skies; landing on branches; taking off; gathering in small groups. Here, they are unconcerned with hiding from us. As I study the flight of these people (very little wing movement, mostly they glide), one of them begins to move in our direction and quickly descends to the ground just in front of Gerard, the foremost member of our party.

'Hello. Hello. Who are you? I don't mind talking to you. The others won't. Not them. But I don't mind. I'm not afraid. Who are you?' She turns her head rapidly back and forth and skips as she speaks, alert for threats. I like her, with her feathers of brown, black and grey; her red tunic; her melodious voice. She's small, about chest high to me, and might be a youth.

'We are… er… travellers,' says Gerard.

'Traders?' The birdperson hops from one leg to the other and back again.

'Did you bring grain? Seeds? Birdmeal? Where's your cart? What's on those mules? I don't smell any food? Why are you here? What do you want?' I take a slow step forward, hands visible, unthreatening.

'Your people can fly fast but we are slow when we roam; we want to pay for someone to carry a message to our home.' While I am speaking she stiffens, eyes blinking rapidly and fixed on mine. Then she dances again, looking at the ground as much as up at the sky.

'I see; I see. Yes, yes. One of our eagles would be best. He'll want at least a gold. Wait here, come no closer to our town. Sleep here. There's a stream for your water. Lovely stream. Refreshing. Never stops. Not even in the dry summer. You can splash in it too. There are pools. Little pools.' Her wings spread. She is about to fly off but remains with her clawed feet on the ground when Lisandra says.

'And also, we'd like to attempt your dragon's tooth challenge. Can you tell us where to find it?'

'Oh, now I see.' The birdwomen skips away and I regret Lisandra's words. Have we frightened her? Will we be attacked by her people? We would not have much hope against flying opponents. Before I can concern myself too much with this prospect, I am relieved to see her move rapidly around us, studying us, turning her head to view us from one eye and then the other.

'Shadowknight, assassin, mage, druid, rogue, fighter? No, paladin. And another rogue? No. Not quite. Not sure.

'You are adventurers. You want the dragon army. We all want the dragon army. Sartas will fly with dragons. You'll see. You are stuck on the ground and slow. You'll never solve the quest. But the rules mean you are allowed to try. It is at a lake. I'll show you the way. Slow as you are it might take two days. I'm allowed away for four days. So that's possible.' With a jump she floats in the air, wings outstretched. Not like the fluttering of a bird, her flight is steadier and more controlled. More magical.

A glance to the west, to where there is a line of dark clouds blocking the setting sun. Then she lands again near to us and I am glad. I am fascinated by this youth and envious that she can fly.

'Rain tomorrow. But Maghuk will not breathe hard upon us. Blessed Maghuk. God of flight and life. Best of gods. For everyone else belongs to the earth. We alone have the skies. I'm not afraid. I will show you. Stay here. Make your nests. I will come tomorrow and I will take your message to an eagle.' This said, the birdwoman flies away without looking back at us.

'I like her,' says Belle.

'I like her a lot. And wouldn't it be useful to have her help for our travels?'

'If you could put up with the chatter, maybe,' replies Gerard. Once our camp is made and we have eaten – the last of the bread, which was already hard, dipped in lentil stew – and at Lisandra's urging, I write a few lines to Mistress Withen and Master Cathaldus on our joint message to Nekis. Writing is not easy for me, despite having a priest as my tutor. Words on paper are heartless and intimidate me. Still, I must let them know I am thriving and that they must feel hope for our god, our city, and for themselves.

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. For Mistress Withen and Master Cathaldus. Be pleased to know, your adopted Crow is level four and four also is the number for the collection of dragon teeth forthcoming this far. I am as fine a fellow as Lord Scrithax could have hoped for.

For whatever the hardship, however many enemies press forward to the walls of the city, be sure that your fortunate Crow has not forsaken you and is trying his best to bring a dragon army forward to aid our people. The thought of you makes me homesick for Crumblin, yet my travels through foreign forests and over forty fords grant me the pleasure of seeing new realms and meeting new people. Remain hopeful. Our God's boon is proving to be formidable.

Pleased with my message, that night beneath my blanket I dream of the temple that is my home and of Mistress Withen, whose chores I do not object to, and of Master Cathaldus, maintaining the rituals of prayer, even though our god is too weak to grant him any spells. The three of us are happy and confident that our god will return one day. Yet as I sweep the entrance hall, I become aware I am being watched. Who is it? A friend? Lisandra? Belle? No, there is malice present. Amaris. I must be careful.

Amaris wants to enter the temple as a wolf and spill the blood of my adopted family. In the morning, the rain anticipated by our young birdperson has arrived: a misty drizzle that coats the trees and the ground in moisture. Under our capes then, we pack up and follow our new guide, once she has returned from taking our message and two gold coins back to her town. Whoever the courier is, they do not want to meet us and talk to us directly. Corwena is the name of our birdfriend.

Once our feet are on the right path, she flutters back and forth, side to side, landing to talk, then flying again. How slow we must seem to her. How limited. Like the worms she is always seeking with her pale-yellow beak. With abrupt turns and jerks of her head, Corwena lands near me and asks, 'Are you part bird?'

'My name is Crow, what makes you wonder so?'

'I cannot say. It's not something I even know myself. Why did I ask the question? You have no wings. You can't be a follower of Maghuk. There must be something in your manner. In the way you move. The way you constantly look around, up and down, side to side. Like a bird, it will be hard for a hunter to catch you unaware.'

'I wish I could fly; what joy to move through the sky.'

'Oh, indeed. Joy is the word. I still remember when I was a fledgling, hopping around on the ground with the other fledglings. Leaping. Trying so hard to fly. And our teacher was laughing at all our efforts.

"Not like that at all," she would say as we flapped our wings as fast as we could and made boasts that we had lifted ourselves.

"It's the flow of mana from Maghuk that you fly upon. Feel for that energy with your mind, with your whole body." But of course we were all too busy flapping. And then the quietest one of us all, the least boastful, the least vigorous, the one we all felt would be last to fly, she rose up to a branch and looked at the rest of us jumping around and she stepped off the branch.

Just for a moment I thought she would fall, but no, so beautiful now, she swerved through the air on long curves and soared into the town to show her parents.

'Well, soon after, I stopping lashing my wings at the air and with my eyes closed I imagined myself flying. Then it came to me, the beauty of the world, like a golden cloak flowing down from the treetops. Whispering, come, come find out. The skies soothed me; Maghuk surrounded me; the sun sceptred and jewelled beckoned me; until at last I was in the air. The air. I was fast and nimble. I was alive. I was flying. Joy. Oh yes, it is a joy to fly.'

As though even to speak of flying created an irresistible impulse, Corwena jumps away from me and gliding more than beating her wings, sweeps along the path ahead for about two hundred metres, before landing among bracken and searching with her beak beneath damp branches for a snack. Late afternoon on our second day of walking westwards the forest ends at the edge of a large lake, whose far shore is indistinct and made evident only by the treeline.

All about us are signs of former camps: the ash of at least three different campfires; boot prints in dried mud; trees with branches sawn through; a dozen stumps. There are also two canoes here drawn well away from the water, roughly made but long enough to take four people each. There is a small island in the middle of the lake, not much bigger than a rock. On that island is a plinth and in the yellow, late-afternoon light, gleaming as it slowly rotates above the plinth, is a dragon's tooth.

'There you see it. Your goal. Though it will not be easy to attain. If you try to approach over the water in those craft, you will be pushed away by a powerful wind.' Corwena hops along the shore of the lake, sometimes splashing in the gently lapping dark water. She turns and comes back when Amaris calls.

'Hey, bird, what happens if you fly over there?'

'If I try to fly there, the same magical wind will force me back, no matter what direction I approach from.'

'Thought so,' says the assassin.

'Just checking. Well, do you know how we are supposed to get that tooth?' After a little splash of her wings in the water, Corwena hops back to us.

'I believe you must go close enough to use a Teleport spell, one that will take you beyond the wall of winds. That's what our champions do. Our mages obtain all air domain spells as though three levels higher than humans, including Teleport. What level spell is it for you?' Lisandra answers, ' Teleport? I think perhaps I'd have to be Level Nine. It's so advanced though, I'm not sure it's even available to me.'

'Well that's the point of the challenge I suppose. To favour my people over all others. It's still fair though. Within the rules. No monsters. No traps, that I know of. Just turning there, so close. Yet protected by Maghuk's breath. Perhaps someone got there? Probably not. Level Nine is very hard to achieve. Are there even any Level Nines in the world? It is said that our high priest is Level Eight. What are you, mage? If you don't mind sharing?'

'Three,' says Lisandra, 'I'm Level Three. About halfway to Four.'

'Perhaps one day you can come back. For now though, you won't be able to get that tooth. I'm happy about that. Forgive me. You understand, I'm sure. You want to complete the quest first. Well, so do our champions. And our people need the dragons more than you.'

'Another realm we will have to conquer first,' says Amaris bitterly.

'Oh well, at least it will be easy.' Is our birdfriend troubled by such a statement? Perhaps, because for once she is silent, watching Amaris as the tips of her feathers tremble in a slight breeze.

'Seeing as we are here, we should at least row out and experience the defences for ourselves,' says Belle and she walks over to a canoe. I move to join her, as does Aarax, and together we push the boat along the muddy shore until it floats in shallow water. There is not much hope among my companions, I can tell. For my part though, I study the lengthening shadows of the trees on the far side of the lake and I do not despair.