Terraless

by Thorby Rudbek

  Eshezy turned to gaze where he pointed, her eyes zooming in automatically. “Those are eagles.” Her heart seemed to soar at the realisation.

  Gefforen could see nothing and turned a quizzical look at her heroine. Athanashal found even his eyes could not resolve the dark spots.

  Eshezy could see that the name, which had rather satisfyingly come as needed to her mind, meant nothing to her companions. “Eagles. Big birds! We’ll see them again sometime soon and you will see what I mean. They have brought you your arrows.”

  “I have a quiver, but I don’t have a bow anymore.” He bowed and smiled. “Why don’t you take them, Eshezy, at least until we get home?” I’d probably never hit anything again, anyway!

  “Indeed, I will. Thanks!” Eshezy accepted them gratefully. I’ll have to remember not to pull back too much, or I’ll run out of shaft!

  “I wonder, which way is it?” Gefforen looked around, noticing some clouds in the general vicinity of the birds which she accepted were visible to her companions, if not to her.

  Athanashal looked the same way, noting the tiny blobs one last time as they shrank to dots. Then he turned a little to the right, looking into the deeper distance as something glittered. “I can see the ocean!”

  Gefforen stared in the same direction, seeing only a slight glare on the horizon. “I think I can see it, too. That means… we have come a long way!”

  “We have indeed.” Eshezy smiled her gratitude as she turned a little further. “Longer than we could have hoped for. Our return has been made easy.”

  “How can you tell that?” Athanashal looked along her line of sight, trying to find something familiar, but not succeeding.

  “You can see much, and Gefforen and I are much impressed.” Eshezy slapped him on the back. “Aren’t we, Gefforen?”

  “Oh yes!” Gefforen grinned, unconcerned that her abilities in this area were rather modest.

  “It’s great you can see so far, so well, Athanashal! Those eyes of yours saved us from the soldiers, as did the one arrow that actually found its target!” Eshezy grinned at him, finally not intimidated by his icy eyes and enjoying the opportunity to tease.

  He shook his head, chagrined at his ineptness with the bow and humbled, at least momentarily, by the contrast between his talents and hers. Still, a smile could be seen on his face too, though he tried to hide it.

  Eshezy turned again to face the clue she had discovered and her eyes zoomed in once more, her face becoming relaxed, content. “And what can you see this way?”

  Athanashal stared, becoming frustrated as he realised his much-vaunted eyes could not discern whatever it was that Eshezy had detected.

  “Let me help you.” Eshezy put her free hand on his shoulder as a new idea came to her, happy that she could disguise her dizziness and demonstrate a newly discovered talent at the same time. “Now, what can you see?”

  “It’s tall, it’s white… Your tower!”

  Eshezy put the same hand on her most loyal disciple’s shoulder in turn.

  Gefforen stared long and hard. “Still can’t see it.” She shrugged as she turned to Eshezy, unconcerned. “But this means we can be there before the last meal of the day… And before the second star-dance! Doesn’t it?”

  “Yes.” Eshezy was satisfied. Satisfied doesn’t begin to express how I feel! She is the best friend I could ever have wished for! She looked at the confident, blue eyed blonde with more than a touch of admiration for her stalwart strength. I wonder: will I ever hear her scream again?

  “Let’s go home.” Gefforen hugged her. She stepped back, amending her day’s goal to the simple task of the walk ahead. She looked down at her feet, hoping they would be able to adjust to the full downward force that was normal at ground level but still made her feel like her feet were encased in something weighty – such a contrast to the effect on the mountain height. As she did so, she smiled one of the biggest smiles Eshezy and Athanashal had ever seen on her. “Hmm. I thought my feet felt heavy; looks like my boots and leggings got covered in mud again!”

  Eshezy deflected her attention lower, discovering that they were all somewhat muddied by their brief proximity to the spontaneous pool. She smiled, recalling the time, not so long before, when the circumstances were similar. “And no fast-flowing river to clean off in.”

  The brightness darkened.

  Athanashal looked up, trying to find the wondrous Waalaeth as a shadow covered the companions. He saw a huge cloud, stacked high and growing taller, forming rapidly as he watched in amazement – the top glaring whiter than he could look at, the bulging, purple-black bottom so dark as to be impenetrable, even by the now gloriously-reenergised Waalaeth. “I’ve never seen a cloud like that before!”

  Rauffaely meowed and jumped up, bouncing off Gefforen to reach Eshezy’s shoulder a moment later. Gefforen turned from her study of footwear to see what was causing the gloom.

  “I think we will soon be washed quite clean.” Eshezy looked up and shook her head, laughing inside at the anticipation of a heavy rainstorm after all the experiences she had been through in Terraless. “It will be my first rain – in Terraless.” She fondled Rauffaely’s ears as he settled in place for the walk. “I’m really sorry, Rauffaely!”

  “Rain?” Gefforen and Athanashal looked at each other, puzzled by this new word.

  “Ah…” Eshezy realised immediately why she had never seen water falling from the Terralessian sky. “You never had rain? I suppose the clouds just drop down low and the moisture in it gets over everything, is that it?”

  “Of course!”

  “How did you know?”

  “I didn’t know – until right now. Well, all I can say is, this is going to be one heck of a wet walk home!”

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Thorby Rudbek grew up in England, where, from an early age, he fell in love with reading. As a teenager, he often had three books on the go at once. (Is that a male kind of multitasking?) Science Fiction and Fantasy became his favourite kinds of novel, and he particularly enjoyed many of the works of Robert Heinlein and C.S. Lewis. Once he graduated from University, he found it a natural progression to pursue a career in science (there being no jobs available in fantasy at the time); he has worked around the world, dabbling in high vacuum physics, microwave, radar, laser and the highly beneficial and (unfortunately) misunderstood wonders of ionising radiation.

  As an adult, he found it harder and harder to locate novels that he enjoyed, and so, feeling inspired, he decided to write his own.

  Terraless is his first Fantasy story and follows the publication of the first three books of his Galactic Citadel series: 'Ascent', ‘Passage’, and ‘Impact’. His stories are about seemingly ordinary folks who find themselves tasked with extraordinary challenges. They might seem to harken from an earlier, more chivalrous time, when heroes were really heroes and the only wars worth fighting were ones which would protect the defenceless.

  If you can escape from reality for a while in his stories and come away with that 'feel good' sensation – Thorby will feel he has succeeded.

  Look for Terraless Night, the next volume in the story of Terraless, coming in 2018! Galactic Citadel fans need not worry about what comes next after volume four, ‘Cavalry’: finishing the next volume in that series will be Thorby’s next project…

  ABOUT THE ARTIST

  Thorby continues to express his gratitude for the creative talent of Donna Harriman Murillo, who provided the current artwork for this volume. The Terraless book cover has been reborn! Here is the lovely Eshezy, together with her furry companion, Rauffaely against a background of endless grasses, fading out at the edge of the forest… I love it! You can see other examples of Donna’s work on the 99designs website… and in other Thorby Rudbek stories!

 

 

 
are this book with friends