by J P Nelson
Fhascully heard someone had tried to disassemble one, and it blew up in the man’s face with a booby-trap.
Crunch … crunch … crunch … Fhascully had really hoped to examine some of the flora and fauna on this jaunt, but Toagun had maintained a steady, quick-moving pace. Fhascully plucked a bud and some needles from a spruce he walked past …
The word was an experimental Mark VII had been built, but that was only hearsay, as far as Fhascully knew. Overall, the Beckerson Crossbows were the best ever built … although, those weapons down in Keoghnariu were getting some attention. What was the fellow’s name, Dudlemoore? He was supposed to be some shiking good engineer.
Fhascully looked to the broad blade on the leader’s back, he called it a combachete. Toagun said it was a heavy blade machete with a chiseled tip and the modified grip of a great sword. And that stick thing on his side was called a tonfa.
The naturalist tasted one of the spruce needles, tore it off and savored it a moment, then spit it out. His eyebrows raised as he scrunched his forehead in thought, then shook his head violently and spit a couple more times.
Behind him Seedle laughed and asked, “What is the matter? Not enough sugar?”
The comment was ignored.
Fhascully had been to dinner at the commodore’s table when Toagun revealed a bit of his background. He had grown up in Hosh’Una, to the west of Lh’Gohria, and had spent much time spear fishing around the south-arctic waters of the Scaptul Islands. He was an accomplished diver and spent six years with Lh’Gohria’s Specialized Seaborne Military, rising to the rank of Chief Petty Officer aboard the GMS Dearborn. He then spent a couple of years on a merchant ship, landed in Lychiwal, then travelled to the Bay as a working sailor aboard the Sin’Cho. So he knew the vessel and her captain from years before.
Toagun met Hahry at Fort William and the two struck up a friendship. Hahry introduced the sailor to his son Orrin, and the three began a partnership hunting Meinkutt Seals amid the northern waters. Hahry provided the vessel, initial backing, and knowledge of the best places to hunt these seals.
Where he gained this knowledge, nobody was sure, but no other sailor had this information. The logical conclusion was that he learned this while serving with Captain Greybeard. The captain had spent much time in the northern sea, reputedly treasure hunting about Torsham’s Vault, but Hahry never divulged.
The Meinkutt Seal is the largest of all seals, ranging up to thirty feet in length, and extremely savage. Oils rendered from the fat have a variety of uses, the hide makes for the highest grade of leather, and the meat can be lived upon exclusively.
Catching them, however, is very difficult. Toagun experimented with diving into the frigid water to hunt them in their own surf. He became known for his ability to withstand the cold, not to mention skill in hunting underwater. Orrin labeled him with the nickname, Sealer, and it stuck.
For eight years the partnership flourished, then Orrin met an untimely death by knife in Peko, at the time a new mining town south of Indow. Toagun got himself appointed as Town Pohduf, the person with the law-enforcement badge, and not only found his partner’s killer, he cleaned out the whole town of riff-raff, thieves and killers.
For the next four years he had been taming towns and bringing law to the growing mining element of Kohnarahs Bay. The last two of those years, he also acted as sheriff of the entire J’Mieya Territory. Not that there were thousands of people in Bay West, but still …
Crunch … crunch … crunch … Three days of steady movement by snowshoe, and an estimated day more to go …
In any case, the man called Sealer had decided it was time to move on. He had returned to Bay East to complete some business, now he wished to pay his respects to his old friend before heading south.
Possessing an explorer’s heart, he had been longing to search for the mythical Rim-Rock Road, that ancient trail which reportedly followed the Sahrjiun Mountain skyline.
He had recognized Commodore Jha’Ley, in part by ship’s name, and knew his reputation, so it was easy to discuss escorting a small team to his friend’s dwelling. Jha’Ley’s reason for wanting to talk with Hahry was intriguing as well.
As they stopped to make camp, a distant peak loomed into prominence. Few words had been spoken on the hike other than camp talk, but Jha’Ley, being all nostalgic as he tends to be at times, made the comment while gazing at the mountain, “There it is, gentlemen. That is where lore says it all began for man on this world … over fifty-one centuries ago, according to the elves.”
Seedle shrugged his shoulders, “But, sir, do you think the elves have it right?”
Dessi asked into the air, “Are there not elves amid the Bay?”
Toagun answered, “There are a scattered few in the southwest, but not a community of any kind.”
Fhascully remarked, “But I was to the impression there was a tribe, or something similar …”
“You’re thinking of the Hai’Nois Ehlfann. Tribal is a good word for them. Between two, three hundred years ago …” he prepared some wood for a fire as he was talking, “… a man the elves would call a quarter-blood …” he kicked a stout limb into pieces, “… came into the southwestern Bay area and built a hunting lodge. No one’s sure exactly when it started, but elvin mix-bloods started migrating to his company from all over.”
As a fire was started he continued, “The word is, most elf and human mixes can’t reproduce.” He chuckled, “But don’t tell them that. They’re mating and having kids, good looking kids at that.
“There are five small bands of them out there, migrating into the Sahrjiun borders of the Kohnarahs Territory. Great hunters, born trackers, the elves up at Ch’Hahnju hate their guts.
“Down in the civilization they are called High Elves, but that’s because they have the name confused with the pronunciation … and … there’s the High Elvin Council at Ch’Hahnju Citadel.
“But the Ehlfann pert near keep to themselves.”
Seedle asked, “Do they mingle with the elves you talked about?”
“Naw, not really. They don’t see themselves as being elves. They’re their own group, and there’s bad blood between them and the ass-holes at the citadel.”
He began chewing on a twig, “Except for an elf-woman named U’Lahna, they like her pretty well.” Toagun looked around at the group with a snort and grin, “Now, there …” he lingered his words, “… is a kick-ass woman.”
Seedle asked in a serious tone, “Really? I heard Sergeant Dessi say something about being able to whip her can.”
Startled, Dessi replied, “Excuse me?”
Jha’Ley indicated back to the mountain and asked, “Have you been up there, Mister Sealer?”
Toagun shook his head, “No way up, unless you can fly. There’s no trails of any kind, even game trails. I looked one time.”
“Could a person scale it?”
“Don’t recommend it. Winds are atrocious up there … blow a man right off the side. The natives swear spirits live at the top, and no man has been there in thousands of years.
“I talked to an old elvin fella, name of Flagan, who was full of stories about this place. Said the first human dwelling was built up there. A lot of the names around here trace back to that time, including Fort William, Cape Victoria, Cape J’Mieya, Conjon Mountains, Johnstone Isle, even Kohnarahs Bay.
“On the west side of the island is a place called F’Nor Point, and at the top is Canth’s Cave. About forty miles south of here is Old Ben’s Valley, and another day’s hike that way,” he motioned to the east, “is a rock formation called Indiana’s Ark.”
Dessi asked, “Are those elvin names?”
Toagun gave a humorous snort and shrug of his shoulders, “No telling. I just know the names have lasted for thousands of years and haven’t changed. Just like the natives have worked to preserve the original Longish Language, as well as other things.
“The first monomoy and jonboats were built down there at Fort William. Later they b
uilt a schooner and called it the Enterprise. At least, that’s what Flagan told me.”
Dessi commented, “Enterprise … I saw a stone carving of a vessel with that name in Billy’s Tavern.”
“Said to be the same. Captain Billy was the name of her skipper, of the first one, anyway. Flagan said there’ve been several vessels to carry the name over the ages, but the last one sailed east looking for a passage … never came back. Severn found his route sixty years later.”
Seedle asked, “Do elves come around for any reason? Perhaps U’Lahna?”
Mischievously, Toagun asked, “Why?”
“I would like to meet an elf. There are many fantastic tales about them and their powers, and you say this U’Lahna is kick-ass?”
The fire was good and steady, and Carlson was thin slicing meat into a pan. The sizzle of rich seal flesh hitting the hot metal whetted everyone’s appetite. Fhascully was adding tea to the water pot as Jha’Ley was mixing cornmeal and herbs for pan-fried bread.
Toagun replied, “I wouldn’t pay attention to what you’ve heard. Elves are like anyone else, there are good and bad, they just have pointed ears and live longer. Some are born with gifts us humans don’t have, but most are just people like you and me. Because they live so long, their perspective on things are different.”
He chuckled again, his laugh was in the same league as Jha’Ley’s famous smile, “Of course, they don’t think they live a long time. They think we live short lives. A lot of ‘em think of our life-spans in the same way we think of dogs and cats.”
Seedle snapped his head back in exclamation, “Really?”
“Really. But to answer your question, no, the few elves I know of are in the southeastern regions of the Kohnarahs Territory. They rarely come up here.”
“What about U’Lahna?”
“You never know where she might be. I’ve only met her twice. I know she practices some kind of discipline dealing with nature and the weather. U’Lahna isn’t what you might call a cleric, but she isn’t a Druid, either, at least not in the legendary sense. She has a following of sorts in the Heathers, that’s a territory out in the middle of the Bay in the southeast.
“She conducted her own war with a vampire cult some time ago, but I hear she’s exploring deeper south …”
Seedle started to ask a question and Toagun raised his hands, “I have no idea what she is exploring or where.”
Fhascully was examining his piece of tree; casually inquisitive, he asked Toagun, “This is Liukena Spruce, is it not?”
“Uh, yeah, it is.”
The naturalist became lost in his thoughts as final camp preparations and a good meal took priority. It was after utensils were cleaned and secured that Jha’Ley offered Toagun a fresh cup of tea, “I have been meaning to ask you, Mister Sealer, what with your time in these arctic waters, do you have any experience with sharks?”
Toagun put some honey in his tea, stirred it, took a sip, then with a look of haunting memory replied, “Funny you should ask.”
“Oh?”
Holding his mug with both hands, the one-time seal hunter reminisced, “We were ten degrees northeast of Gibraltar Rock, just within sight of it … Orrin and me had been tracking a husky seal and were closing in. I was setting up to go in …”
Everyone was quiet and listening. The man wasn’t trembling in fear, but it was obvious this wasn’t his most pleasant memory.
“… Something hit the bottom of our hull and nearly capsized us. Me? I was knocked clear into the air and hit the water like a chunk of chum. If I hadn’t kept a tight grip on my weapon,” he glanced to his Beckerson, “I wouldn’t be here.”
Toagun glanced at Jha’Ley, “I don’t think the monster even knew we were there, least of all me. It brushed me as it went by as if I were a minnow, then it took our seal. That beast had to be all of sixty-five, seventy feet long.
“I was almost to the vessel when it came back around, right for us. Ours was a forty-seven-foot craft. There was no way we were going to survive if it went at us full on. I got my feet along the hull, and when it was almost on us I jumped out and across. I let both bolts loose into its left eye.”
Everyone was staring at Toagun with fascination. Seedle remarked, “Damn me, son, you are one gutsy son-or’a-jym.”
Carlson asked, “What then?”
“We got the Hades out of there.”
Dessi was curious, “Did it not follow you?”
Toagun shrugged, “Never saw it again, and we made as fast as we could to the nearest port, which was Peko. That’s before Indow was born, and that’s when Orrin was killed.”
Seedle looked to Fhascully, “Do you think it could be the same?”
“It is possible, but the events are hundreds of miles apart, and I surmise three years in difference,” he glanced to Toagun, “yes?”
Toagun nodded,” I’d say four and a quarter, four hundred and fifty miles, or so.”
Only the crackle of the fire could be heard as they began the night watch and sleep.
___________________________
On mid-afternoon of the fourth day of hiking, the men saw where the forest opened into an area several acres large. In the center of the clearing was a structure three levels tall with smoke rising from two chimneys. Lightly falling snow, the tree line, and mountains in the background made for a beautiful view.
The men came together around Toagun as he began talking, “This might not be the oldest, but it’s one of the oldest buildings on Johnstone …” he glanced around at his companions, “… I guess making it one of the oldest buildings in the world.
“If you measure it on the inside, the oldest part, the part in the middle, measures thirty feet across the front by thirty-five feet back, with two-foot-thick adobe walls all around the outside. Across the back is a barn forty-eight by twenty feet that fits snug against the house like a ‘T.’ All across the front and back on both sides, all the way to the barn is the wrap-around porch.”
He grinned, “Not a nail or anything similar to mortar in the place. You walk in the front door,” he pointed, “you can’t see it from here …” Jha’Ley was pulling his glass out, “… well, maybe you can … but the front door is on the left side. Go in there and the front room goes all the way across, thirty by twenty feet. As you go in, the ceiling is seven-foot-high halfway across, but on the other side the ceiling is open to twelve feet.”
Seedle remarked, “You have this down, do you not?”
Toagun replied, “I notice everything, I’m a detail man. You walk into the right side of the room and there’s a ladder going up into the loft. You can see a five-foot-tall door, but don’t ask what’s up there. No one goes into the loft without invitation.”
Dessi asked, “Even you?”
Toagun gave him an evil, whimsical eye and didn’t answer, “The big room has a fireplace on the left, comfortable chairs, shelves with things he sells to travelers---”
“Travelers?” Fhascully asked.
“Oh yeah. Old Man Hahry works this place as a kind of station.” He winked at everyone, “Be careful of his whisky. It’ll knock a Husky off its feet. He has an eating table … it’s the main room.
There’s a door on each side leading into other rooms. On the left is a sleeping and personal room for him and his wives---”
“Wives?” That was Seedle.
“Yeah, he has two wives. One is his long-time wife, the younger is like an assistant to the other. Here in the upper Kohnarahs there are like, four women for every man.”
Seedle remarked, “You could have fooled me.”
Toagun remarked slyly, “They just haven’t let you see them.
“On the right you have to step down into a working room. Another big fireplace is in there, with steps and a door leading to the sleeping room on the left, and outside onto the porch through the door on the right. Go out that way and there is a ladder leading to the next level on the top.”
Again, passing glance to his companions, “Now, tha
t main part is made of the adobe I told you about. An arrow fired at close range can’t even scratch it. Flagan told me that during the Kl’Duryq War, those Star Children had a particular interest in this place, but no one knows why. They even attacked it from the sky, somehow, and a huge explosion went off leveling trees all around, but nothing within a five hundred rod radius of this house was touched.”
He looked up at the sky, “Flagan had an ancestor here at the time, a warrior from the far west named, T’Nahja. He said there was fire in the shape of a dish all across the heavens, fire that hurt the eyes to see. Some of the people here were even blinded.”
Jha’Ley looked up and tried to imagine the event as Seedle exclaimed, “Damn!”
Dessi commented, “What kind of weapon? Magic?”
Carlson stood in amazement, then absently looked about into the spruce forest.
Toagun replied, “Flagan called it technology. Ancient magic created by humans long ago, now forgotten.”
Fhascully asked into the wind, “Forgotten? Could it be recovered?”
Everyone passed him a glance as he added, “It is only a question. Was all the ancient science evil?”
The question brought about silence, as nobody had an answer.
Jha’Ley asked, “Is there something special about the top?”
Another moment of pause, “Well, it depends on how you look at it. The top was built of perfectly hewn eighteen-inch logs, again, no nails or mortar. It is perfectly centered on the main structure, but smaller. It’s twenty-five feet by thirty feet and a five-foot-walkway all the way around. It’s one big room with a three-foot-diameter center-post and a seven-foot ceiling.
Toagun looked toward the building, “There is another fireplace up there, several bunks built into the wall for travelers, and skins all over the floor.”
He looked toward Jha’Ley, “I pulled some of those skins up just to see the underside. It is adobe, just like the bottom walls, but perfectly smooth … as if polished. And there were strange designs I was never able to make sense of. Even Hahry, when I asked him about them later, he wasn’t sure. He had always been told they were symbols for those who came from above.”
