Rodario laughed. “Progress indeed. He actually got the name of the foreigners’ god right!”
“But it took second place to Vraccas, of course. That’ll never change.”
“I’m off to check on my troops. See you later!” Sirka rode back to join the undergroundling ranks.
Tungdil followed her with his eyes then looked ahead. The tension was mounting. Soon he would be seeing things no dwarf had seen before.
Every twist in the mountain roads made him hope for some revelation but it was several orbits before they had left the tortuous chasms behind.
By now he was riding out to reconnoiter with the ubariu scouts, so keen was he to catch a first glance of Sirka’s land.
He was so obsessed by the need to explore that he forgot everything else. He only wanted to get out of Girdlegard, away from a responsibility he now totally rejected.
T hey traveled through the maze of rocks and somber gorges, along giddying precipices, with dank fog swirling round them so that each step was a deadly risk.
The route for their return would have to be located anew, because the mountains refused to accept any guiding marks they tried to set, whether a painted or a chiseled sign. Some of the scouts claimed the rock walls even moved.
Tungdil caught himself wondering about turning back, but without a real reason. It was not that he was afraid. But there was something round him and the scouts that made him nervous. Impatience was getting the better of him. It demanded that he either arrive in Letefora immediately or else that they return to Girdlegard. If he turned round he could clearly see the path inviting him. Turning forward again, there was only fog and vague outlines of cloud and rocks. He must pull himself together.
From time to time the scouts pointed out dark side paths from where perhaps the monsters might have emerged to march off to the pass and toward Silverfast. Probably one of these paths led to the Black Abyss.
Tungdil sensed that he would have got hopelessly lost without their guidance. So it was with enormous relief that after fifteen orbits he noticed the landscape gradually changing.
The mountains became hills and grew broader and greener while bare rock was replaced by verdant slopes studded with windswept trees. A final twist in their road revealed a new world.
They were standing on a plateau, maybe two miles high, and the view took Tungdil’s breath away.
A broad plain spread at their feet and in the center lay a city of gigantic size. He had never seen so many buildings in one place. It was far bigger than any of the human cities in Girdlegard and was threaded through with wide straight streets bustling with activity; concentric rings of thick walls provided defensive ramparts. The highest buildings were in the middle; round, oval, or rectangular. The tallest must have been at least three hundred paces high. You could see the birds circling overhead and diving in great flocks down into the artificial canyons.
“How is that possible?” Tungdil was amazed. “Who lives there? Giants?”
A scout pointed out particular areas in the cityscape. “That is Letefora directly in front of us. There are some humans there, a few of my own kin, but mostly ubariu and a handful of acronta. All in all I’d say there were about two hundred thousand.” His hand was raised toward the west where, close to the horizon, they could see another city. “That one is the largest city this side of the ocean. It’s called Hophoca and it offers shelter to ten times a hundred thousand.” He turned to the east. “Over there is the region of the monsters. They’ve taken over the ruins of old settlements where humans used to live; they were abandoned when Letefora was built. The monsters defend the area stubbornly. We let them live there because the acronta enjoy hunting them.”
Tungdil surveyed the harvested fields, roads and streets running between the cities. There did not appear to be any villages to speak of, but a few extensive farmsteads here and there. Small forest areas ensured a green panorama.
“Where is the acronta army?” asked one of the guides.
“I don’t know. Perhaps they’re taking the mountain route and looking out for more monsters.”
In the far distance Tungdil could make out a silvery shimmer. That must be the sea. Sirka had told him about it: an endless expanse of water with storm winds and waves high enough to make ships and whole islands disappear without trace.
“Our first destination is Letefora,” said the ubari. “From there the road leads straight through monster territory toward the Black Abyss.”
“Why not use the paths you showed me back there? If we march up with all these troops the monsters might be alerted to the fact the artifact is not working.”
The ubari shook his head and patted the neck of his mount. “The paths are dangerous. You can easily get lost-worse than the roads we took-and then you won’t ever find the way out. The ubariu once lost a complete army. So did we. The ones who survived somehow were lucky enough to find their way back with tales of rocks that came alive, evil vapors and the most ghastly creatures that lay in wait for them. That’s why we took the other route. Nobody but the acronta dare go that way.” He grinned. “The monsters whose land we’ll go through are much too cowardly to stand up to us. Nobody challenges an army of one hundred thousand.” He dismounted. “We’ll wait here.” He sent two of his men back to inform Flagur and to guide them through the labyrinth.
“Where is the hidden road to Girdlegard?” Tungdil asked, sitting down on the ground, while the scout started laying a fire. He could not take his eyes off the city. He had noticed high masts with ropes spanned between them carrying cages above the streets. The wind, he fancied, was bringing him new sounds and smells.
“You’d have to go back half a star course toward the west, just short of the monsters’ land. The entrance is easy to miss in spite of the bastion we and the ubariu have erected. We don’t want it looking too obvious, otherwise there’d be even more of the beasts turning up.”
Tungdil was as excited as a small child, looking forward to the orbits he would be spending here with Sirka. Not for a moment did he regret having turned his back on Girdlegard. Forever, it seemed.
“What are those cages?” he asked.
The scout blew into the fire again to bring the flames to life. Blue and green flickered up. “Must be the wood,” he surmised, seeing the dwarf’s surprise. “I’ve seen yellow and red fire too.” Then he nodded over at the masts. “That’s how we get around. We’ve got these platforms in Letefora and the transport’s really easy going in straight lines. Saves a lot of time you’d waste going on foot, specially when the roads are crowded. You can get about fifty humans in one of those cages-less if it’s us, of course. And acronta prefer to walk.”
Tungdil had spotted a bridge of titanic proportions running directly to Letefora from the mountains in the southwest. “That connects with the mines, does it?”
The scout grinned. “Only a dwarf would ask about mines. No, it’s a water channel supplying the city. There are distribution points in the city itself taking the water in pipes to the various districts.”
“And how…?”
The ubari lifted a hand. “Tungdil, let me see to my mount. Then we can talk some more. But I’m sure Flagur and Sirka will want to explain the delights of Letefora to you.” He stood up to see to the wants of his befun.
Tungdil went over to his pony, lifted off its saddle and led it to where it could graze. Then he took out paper, inkwell and a quill pen and began to make a drawing of the strange town.
The Outer Lands,
City of Letefora,
Early Autumn, 6241st Solar Cycle
T ungdil was only to have this one short fascinating insight into life in Letefora for now.
Flagur took him and his friends into town to introduce him to the ruler, who watched over the fate of his subjects from his residence in the most impressive of the buildings.