Samen Crista, the avianosi librarian who had agreed to come on this likely suicidal expedition in the hopes of finding things about Einode that had been lost to the centuries, found herself in the most pain she’d felt in years. The fall hadn’t been that far, yet her kind had light and hollow bones that were easily shattered. But it wasn’t just the pain in her legs that ate at the bird woman right now. Wulfric Howell, her friend, was sitting with her in his lap trying to calm and console her after the fall. The blacksmith was kind and gentle, but the embarrassment at the treatment made her want to hide her head without being obvious she was hiding.
“Mr. Howell” The irwinian standing nearby finally approached the two. He didn’t like her, and she knew that. The old professor only tolerated her company because she was Wulfric’s friend. “Moving her like that, you’re more likely to aggravate any damage she’s already suffered.” She could tell he was looking at Wulfric, rather than her. Her friend’s rocking motion slowed to a stop as he sat there, staring at the older man. “Rocking her like that would jostle her legs. Any bone fragments that have splintered off could be moved around inside her legs. And there isn’t much meat on the legs for them to move in.”
Why did he have to call it ‘meat’, it made her sound like some kind of animal. He was always like this. From just the language he used it was clear how he thought about her, even if he didn’t think he thought like that. Wulfric nodded before looking away from the irwinian to speak directly to her. “I’m sorry.” She could feel a warm rush through her at the look in his eyes. The avianosi could always trust him to be genuine, if not always honest. Just as she could always trust the irwinian to be honest, if not always nice.
“I can fix them up.” finally the irwinian was looking at her as he spoke, though he was making some effort to conceal an expression. She could not tell what the expression would be, only that he was intentionally hiding it. “But it will hurt, a lot.” She nodded, watching as the irwinian moved away from the treeline to some exposed dirt near the coast. “Bring her over here, Howell.” her legs hurt as her friend stood up, lifting her easily in his arms as he did so. “Put her down so her legs are in this circle.” the arcane professor gestured to a circle he had drawn in the dirt, large enough for her legs to lay flat though she kept them bent as the blacksmith gently laid her on the ground.
“I’m sorry Samen. I didn’t mean to cause you more pain.” Her friend was exceptionally apologetic. She felt this pang of guilt for some reason, simply wanting to calm him.
“It’s okay Wlfrc, I’ll be fine.” She nodded, before glancing back to the circle in the dirt. The irwinian was drawing more symbols in the dirt, though she could only really see them when she lifted her front end with arms behind her back in order to see what was happening. The first symbol was a piece of magical instruction; ‘select; relative location, 59cm west, local radius 53cm’
It was the first time the irwinian had ever had some kind of apologetic tone when speaking to her; he placed a hand on her shoulder and looked into her eyes. “This is going to hurt. A lot.” She nodded a couple times, watching the patterns of runes he was drawing on the ground. The second; ‘connection; objective passage of time, relative entity time’ the irwinian looked from the birdwoman to the human. Finally a third symbol; ‘Ratio; 3:-3’.
The moment he finished the third gylph, the avianosi woman screeched in pain. She could feel pieces of bone in her legs moving seemingly of their own volition. They twisted and slid back through the small paths they had cut prior, leaving healthy flesh in the wake of their new paths. The greatest pain however was the moment she felt every piece rejoin as one solid bone once again. It was as if she had fallen from the tree all over again. Samen found herself laying flat on her back, hands gripping at small lengths of grass at the pain. When she finally managed to sit up and look at the symbols, she noticed the irwinian had since erased one of the lines. Resulting in the final symbol being ‘Ratio; 3:3’ meaning it was safe for her to leave the circle.
The librarian slid back in the dirt, making sure not to disturb any of the symbols the irwinian had drawn. She didn’t even break the circle that had been purely to mark where her legs could go. The professor was very careful about the order he removed the symbols and what parts of which symbols were removed first.
“So what just happened?” The blacksmith asked with a raised eyebrow. He’d never tried to learn that kind of magic, and it was a little complicated straight away. Knowing the irwinian though, he’d give some overly detailed answer. Wanting to feel smarter than everyone no doubt.
“The first symbol Kane Professor drew was so the magic only touched my legs. The other two were to rewind time.” She explained as calmly as she could, smiling in the way her species could before looking around. “Don’t worry, there’s no pain now, thank you for the concern Wlfrc” Samen cut in, knowing what he was going to start to say any minute. Perhaps he understood her motives? Or maybe he just knew not to press the topic of the irwinian’s magic when unnecessary as he changed the topic.
“So, two sets of buildings?” The group was mostly quiet as the human stepped forward, between the forest and his two companions. “We’re going to need shelter anyway, right? So what do you think? Should we go to one of them?” He stayed with his back facing them. At first she thought he was upset with her for some reason. Of course not, he’s watching. He was probably keeping an eye out for anything spying on them from the forest.
“If she’s right and there’s a wooden building. Wouldn’t it make more sense to go there?” Kane Professor clearly didn’t believe her, but it was a strange thing to say nonetheless.
“We only have enough daylight to reach one. Both places are old. Wood is more likely to collapse, right?” Samen tilted her head at him, as if daring the irwinian to dispute the idea.
“If there’s even one wood building still standing, it had to have been built in living memory. Right?” He had this smile, as if explaining something to a child. She hated that smirk every time she saw it. “Which means the occupants are either still alive or only recently, relatively speaking, dead. There’d be information on the island, notes on which plants to eat and which to avoid. As well as potentially evidence of what killed the previous occupants if they are dead; meaning information on more dangers.”
The muscles around her right eye twitched in frustration. If anyone lived long enough to make the wooden building she saw, they would have some knowledge on the dangers of the island. She didn’t want to agree with him, but he made a kind of sense that she knew Wlfrc would agree with.
“So it’s settled then, the stone buildings it is.” The human smiled, turning his back on the forest long enough to look at both of them. “Samen, could you lead the way please?” She blinked confused at him. Wasn’t he just convinced by the irwinian? He would normally have been! As if he knew what she was thinking, the blacksmith clarified. “You’re right, Garrett; a wood building means other people. But we don’t know anything about them and it’ll be dark by the time we get there. If they’re alive, they could be crazy or dangerous. If they were killed by some local predator, then that predator might see the building as a hunting ground. And I trust Samen’s judgment” He smiled, looking at her again. “If you think it could be potentially unsteady, I don’t want to risk it. Two against one; stone buildings” he stepped aside, turning so his left arm could gesture to the forest with the smallest bow. “Might you lead the way?”
“The stone buildings would make an easy home for predators too-” Kane Professor had begun to refute, but the other two had already set off into the forest. She wouldn’t mind too much if he didn’t follow. But he was Wulfric’s friend, and she didn’t want to make him have to choose between the two of them. Or maybe she just didn’t want to admit how useful the professor’s magic would be? There were many different kinds of magic. She had learned enough of the kind the professor used to understand some of his spells. And enough in general to suspect that the blacksmith practised the basics of another, even if he didn’t seem to realise it himself.
This forest was thicker than the one they had arrived near. The leaves on the trees grew closer to the ground in many cases, and small plants were common underfoot. Simultaneously, the woods were brighter and harder to see through. On occasion she could hear the shuffling of things in the brush around them, but nothing ever stayed long enough to be looked at. The bird woman shifted the bag hanging from her shoulder’s. The longer she carried it, the heavier it felt, but she had chosen to bring it, so it was her burden alone to bear.
“Stop!” The irwinian was blundering forward toward them, he had seemed content to keep his distance behind the two for this long. “Howell, stop.” Ms. Crista’s head tilted slightly, her neck stretching as the irwinian called her friend by his last name. Such was his custom, she understood that. But that didn’t make it feel right to hear it. The two had stopped to watch him stumble forward. Slowly, he reached down to touch something in among the leaves in front of Wulfric. It looked like a rope of some description. Freshly made, and set up in some form of makeshift animal snare.
“Looks like a trap?” She pondered, following the rope with her eyes. “But it’s new, so someone else is still alive here, right?” She smiled up at the human. They could potentially be rescuing someone who had become stranded. All they had to do was find them and keep them safe until the ship returned to pick them up. Slowly her eyes drifted to the professor. If they don’t explore, he won’t be satisfied. If he’s not satisfied, he won’t leave on the ship; and then Wulfric might not want to either.
“I’m more concerned about the counterweight.” The blacksmith pointed to the net of rocks suspended in the tree, awaiting the trap to be triggered. “Either there’s an animal in this area that’s roughly my weight, or we don’t have a friend waiting for us.” The irwinian released the rope, all three watching as the counterweight dropped among the bushes whereupon the rocks spilled out. “Well spotted Garrett! But we should keep moving.” He turned back to looking at her. “We need to get to the stone building’s before nightfall. I don’t want to be wandering around in the dark with these around."
The trees they passed grew larger on average, a thick and difficult to navigate mass of wood. Though they were not the same trees as the area Kane professor had become frightened of. The thickness of the canopy darkened the forest around them but for the godrays that broke through seemingly at random. Eventually, Samen’s food sank a little deeper into the ground than she had anticipated. The earth was muddy and soft, with small streams trickling along grooves and puddling near the roots of some trees. The sound of running water was clearer now that they knew to listen for it. Not a heavy sound, but with enough force to be noticeable.
“The flow of lei is uniform and directed here. There must be some permanent magical effect being made here.” The irwinian spoke up, looking at the air around them rather than the water flowing underfoot. The avianosi woman hopped to a flat rock nearby. It was long enough for her lay on and wide enough that her feet did not touch the water. In fact, the grooves the water flowed through moved around the stone on one side, while the ground rose as a small hill on the other. When her eyes fell upon the second large stone, she understood what she had stumbled upon.
The stairs weren’t really necessary for the gentle slope, but the water trickling down on either side of the stones would have made it difficult nonetheless. The wear on the stone was that of eons. About halfway up the small staircase she turned to look at the men. “Is it odd? That these stairs are because of the water flowing, but the water hasn’t destroyed the landscape or trees around here?”
“Sounds like Garrett’s right” Wlfrc nodded, smiling as he followed her onto the stairs. “Some kind of magical water feature maybe?” As she climbed to the top of the staircase, the musty smell of the forest hit her like a wave. What she could see in the scattered darkness and shards of light was a sight she’d never even read of; the water sat here like that of a marsh, but it flowed slowly in strange chaotic patterns. The marsh-like water swirled around the apparently cobblestone road, washing between the stones but not wearing away the rocks themselves. Plants grew through the water when they should drown beneath it. She could see small copses of flowers and the common bush around them. If she looked at everything before her as one frozen moment, Samen was certain she would believe the water was grass or leaf litter.
“A path, then it seems we’re going in the right direction.” The irwinian moved past Samen and Wlfrc, settling into a comfortable stride along the cobblestone path, apparently disinterested in the ecologically impossible sight. The three continued their trek along the ancient cobblestone, resigning themselves to follow it in hopes it would lead to shelter. Only Samen appeared to notice she sounds in the trees around them. The creaking of branches and the rustling of leaves far above them in the darkness of the canopy.
The path turned right when it abutted a large stone wall. Was it once the wall of a building? Small trickles of water poured from small grooves at it’s top, with bushes and trees growing behind it at its height, as if the stone was some massive retaining wall. Ahead, light washed through the forest from a passage broken into the stone wall. Wlfrc was the first to reach the break, glancing up at a stone bridging the top of the section before stepping over the threshold. Kane Professor was the next, clearly taking a step upward as he passed through the gap.
When Samen reached the ancient doorway, she could see her two friends at the top of a small staircase into the wall. The light around them carried a glimpse of some of the building’s she’d seen earlier. Rising to meet them, the avianosi was struck with awe at the sight unfolding before her. A great city; half forest, half lake, sitting with raised terraces separating different levels of water, while trees grew through crumbling buildings and broken stone walls.
Her mind found it hard to describe the architecture, finally settling on ‘a stone forest, full of arches among its branches and domed rooves.’ She had heard of Jent Ghun architecture, and this was clearly some extreme measure of it. Large metal pipes lay rusting in the water around each building, the holes they come from clearly the bottom of the shattered line of many rooves. At the centre of the sprawling city, stood a gigantic hemispherical building. The geometric patterns that are the structure of its adornments still visible after centuries of abandonment.
“It’s-”
“Something we can admire later, we need to find a building with a roof that’s not going to collapse any time soon.” The irwinian cut the blacksmith off, stepping forward onto the stone bridge extending out into the shifting garden lake. Now that she looked, trees only grew around the edge of the city and along the retaining walls of each terrace. The ground was mostly a strange garden blossoming in the flood that washed around it.
The first building they entered was a two story structure. No water lapped onto the bridge and therefore through the front door. Inside was dry and absent of mould or plantlife. At the top of the stairs, the left wall bore a doorway to a higher terrace, though no water flowed in from up here either. Much of the roof remained intact, though large sections allowed light to fall upon small piles of rubble and scattered leaves.
After the group had split up to check the building, Samen and Wlfrc found the professor standing silently in a roofless room, simply staring at a wall adjacent the entrance. As they entered, he passed a hand over a long stretch of wall that looked little different to her. “It’s blood. A lot of it.” neither the bird nor the human could see what he was tracing with his long fingers. “It’s been here for at least thirty years. And it’s elven.” He took a few steps back from the ancient stone wall of the room, only looking down at the sound of a snapping twig beneath his foot.
“Other than this room, the house looks in good condition.” Wlfrc placed a hand on the irwinian’s shoulder, gently leading him to the door. “Things happen, whatever it was, we can’t change it now.” the group moved downstairs as the blacksmith lead them into what might have once been a dining room. Or some ancient equivalent of one. As the professor lowered to sitting on the ground beside the large stone ‘table’, the bird moved one of her bags onto the stone and reached inside. She had enough food, even if they didn’t believe her. But only nuts, seeds, and leafy vegetables. They would have to hunt for meat the next day, when they could focus on the situation.