by C. Litka
03
Crossing a low line of pine forested hills - a minor fissure in the plate stretching away in both directions until it faded into the haze - we entered the province of Luan. From its modest heights we could see the ever familiar flat, field-checkered plain spreading out below us, fading, like the hills, into the haze. Half a dozen fallen rocks stood scattered across the plain like brooding giants, the largest of them, Luan. The city, built in this rock, rose nearly a kilometer into the sky - a vertical fortress-city carved out of the soft stone of the former little island. Like the village of Amorea in the Cataria Islands, these islands were made of a brittle, sponge-like rock - riddled with caves that could be enlarged and connected to form thousands of residences and many great caverns. Their outer surfaces were transformed into level upon levels of terraces between towers and redoubts, making them hard, if not impossible, to capture, save by siege and starvation.
Luan, was the capital city of the province, and the end point of our first stage. During the long peace, a new city had grown up at the foot of the great fallen-rock city, and we stayed in a stone-built inn on the edge of this new town. The pedal-men ate a hardy meal and slipped off to their room to sleep. CarVori, ever the eager guide, stayed up to show us around the new town - its broad streets radiating from the fortress-city that filled half the sky above us. The fallen-rock city rivaled the towers of the Unity in size and was far more picturesque with its terraces, hanging gardens, and massive half-round fortress towers. We walked through the lush park and around the lake on the edge of the town and then he offered to guide us to the top of the fortress-city. 'An hour's journey, no more,' he assured us. We declined, using the excuse that since it was nearing the local rest watch, we should probably take the opportunity of the quiet time to get a good sleep in. Which we did.
We departed Luan once everyone had all the sleep and food they could stand, and setting out, rejoined Long Street, sometime later. I'd given up keeping track of time, other than stage to stage. No other method mattered.
