The Lost Star's Sea

by C. Litka

  02

  We had set out on our journey across Windvera the previous round.

  Trin had arrived shortly before dinner of the round that CarVori and his crew had arrived, so we departed after breakfast the following round. CarVori said that if we didn't mind giving up the sights of Taravere, Taravin's capital city, we could save a round of travel. We decided we could give it a miss, and so we left Long Street after a few hours of travel to take Luan Street, a much less traveled road as a short cut around Taravere.

  We had now traveled far enough to have stopped three times at inns. The crew ate quickly and then took an hour's nap before setting out again. We'd be on the road for another round before this first stage ended with a long stop in the city of Luan.

  As advertised, CarVori kept conversation going as we rolled and bounded across the vast, monotonous landscape of Windvera's flat, plate-like surface. Where the plate buckled or cracked there were hills or small, steep mountains. But in between, the landscape was monotonously flat - farm fields, many with people working them, and small wooded copses stretching to the horizon line, peppered with the square fortress-villages, and sometimes, in the distance, standing like hunched giants against the sky were the "fallen-rocks" - little islands captured by Windvera's gravitational field.

  It took all three pedal-men to get the carriage up to speed, but once it was, it needed only two to keep it bounding along. And bounding along it went - every bump in the plank road would send it soaring for a moment or two. The pedal-men would pause to conserve their strength until the wheels touched down again.

  Like the cargo wagon, our carriage had two large fixed wheels forward, fitted with small barbs to grip the road's twin lines of planks. The pedal-men sat slightly behind and between these wheels, pedaling a chain-linked, geared drive axle. While two men pedaled, the third rested, often napping between shifts on the deck of a meter long cargo locker for our kits and supplies, immediately behind the seat for the pedal-men. The two meter long passenger compartment consisted of two benches, one on each side of the carriage facing inwards. There was room for two people to sit facing each other, knee to knee, but we had enough room to alternate seating that allowed everyone to stretch their legs onto the opposite seat. The dragons usually chose to lay across our laps so that we could preen them while they napped. A canvas canopy sheltered the passenger compartment, with side-flaps that rolled down to seal the compartment against rain and dust, when needed. CarVori stood and steered from a slightly raised platform behind the passenger compartment where he could see over the canopy. Not that he had much to do on the straight open roads, but he did have to navigate in the cities we passed through.

  Luan Street, was a single track road - just two planks and bordered with mossy margins for pedestrians and mounted travelers, and just wide enough to dodge around slower moving or oncoming vehicles. Both Luan and Long Street ran straight through the monotonous countryside hour after hour, round after round - the timelessness of the Pela made visible. Still, the timelessness passed quickly enough between CarVori's guided tour and his questions about our origins and adventures.

  I didn't mind the constant chatter. CarVori was a storehouse of knowledge. You could ask him anything, and he could tell you about it in great detail, citing his sources. Nor was he shy in asking questions of everyone. I learned more about Cimmadar and Trin's background during the first round than I had to date. Only when he took a nap and had one of the pedal-men steer, or during the frequent rain showers we passed through, when the canvas canopy was tightly secured about us did we travel in silence - usually taking the opportunity to try to sleep.