063 – Melee And Magic Part 2

Caspian swung with the carved end, making Rox defend with just the raw stick. Rox took advantage of this and split her staff, and for about ten hits, pummeled Caspian’s shields silly, pushing him around more than Steven did. Caspian tried to cast several spells in that time before leaping thirty feet back, and pointing a flame jet at Rox.

Rox dodged, and started scrounging through her brain for all the spells she had learned so far, to see what she could use against him. She threw her ‘lights’ at him, using the last of the flame jet as the source, and it blew up in his face, temporarily blinding him.

She put her staff back together and slap-shotted a rock off to Caspian’s left, almost hitting Steven for her poor aim. Dismissing that, she pointed at a spot of ground, and used her ‘dig latrine’ spell, and made a hole with a pile of dirt next to it. She then closed and grabbed Caspian as he got over his flash-blindness and tossed him bodily into the fresh hole. Caspian almost hit the ground when he caught himself with a levitate spell, and floated quickly out of reach of Rox.

Rox was about to call no fair, when she remembered this was as much a powers test of Caspian as it was sparing for her, they would go until one or the other called an end. So she reenergized her staff, and waited.

Caspian cast a spell around her, and all the scrub grasped at her feet and legs. Rox struck at the magic field on the ground at her feet and dispelled it,

Steven called foul before things went further. “You could float above her all day; she can’t match that, yet. You have proven you can; now come back down and continue on the ground. Or call things here and teach Rox how to fly.”

Neither looked at Steven, but Caspian released his spell and settled to the ground. Rox cast next, stirring up the dust around Caspian, obscuring his vision. She moved in and swung through her own spell with her staff, negating it, and then connected with Caspian in a classic staff hit. He was prepared for this, with his shields back up, and only stepped back as Rox pushed her attack.

Caspian force-pushed her back, and cast a gate; the one locus directly behind Rox, the other behind Steven. The force-push propelled Rox though the gate and into Steven, knocking both over. Caspian dropped the gate, and turned as the Caplan's fumbled over each other to get back up.

Rox started to her feet to charge, but Caspian held up his hand. “Hold.”

Rox trotted past Caspian as she canceled her charge and changed course. She and Caspian were both breathing hard from effort, Roxanne more so than Caspian.

Caspian spoke again as Rox and Steven stood in loose circle with him. “We are done for now. It is evident to me that you need a wider diversity of spells to draw upon, or to be taught to use your innate skills to channel magic to what ever you need. As for me, I could show you more, but to do so, I would risk hurting you seriously, and healing magic is generally outside of my abilities. I can do some physical stuff, but not the spells.”

Steven muttered under his breath, lost in thought. “That was usually clerics that did that.”

The three of them started walking back towards the horses. Caspian did not hear Steven, and continued. “Steven, my question with you is can you handle multiple attackers? I don’t have the spells ready at hand to create some dummies for you to fight, but could in a few days. As for spells to teach you Roxanne, I am undecided. Elves are more the ‘shape magic by force of will’ type of casters, and at your freshness to magic, that may be the better way to go.”

Rox bristled some at this. “Don’t we have anything to say, about this?”

“Of course you do,” Caspian answered. “I just figured you wanted an evaluation, and I was the first to speak.”

Rox took up the conversation as Caspian let it go. “First off, you started dirty. In sparring the idea is to mutually test and improve. So each are aware when to begin. After that, it was quickly apparent that you were holding back some. On the other hand, I was gratified that Steven was able to disarm you. He has mentioned your previous escapades, and I figured you were a pragmatist. One thing I did sense you using was the shields. I want to learn that. You have seen Steven and I bang arms a few times to keep conditioning. I figure these magic shields could be something in a similar principle. Also at the end, you pushed me through a gate. Could we use those to get around, or are their principles of operation similar to teleport?”

Caspian had expected other of his spells to get her attention, but was not surprised at this. They untied their horses, but did not attempt to mount. Instead they walked, allowing the walk to stretch out their muscles and give them time to work out the bruises.

Caspian took up lecture mode as they went. “Shields and Gates. Well, you are peripherally right about the Gates. Gates are a hole from here to there, with no intervening space. Your physics calls it a ‘wormhole’ which I always thought was funny. To open one you need to know where you are doing so, and generally they are anchored in proximity to a target object or location. In this case I picked two rocks. If I had a specific target in Shalaia, I could open and anchor a gate to it. If I had that kind of target, I would have already teleported us to it. On the other hand, Gate Targets are much more flexible than Teleporting. I could make an arrow a gate target then shoot it out of my sight, and still open the gate to wherever it landed. Accurate and safe teleporting requires some idea of where you are going to land. Gates are more forgiving on that score.

“Both have variables or filters that can be set for what goes through. I irrigate my fields at home via gates to sea water. But I filter out the majority of the minerals, and all the living animals, while keeping the other organic material. Also I set the gate to allow a certain volume to pass through then shut off; that usually runs for some time. Teleport is all at one shot. If I tried to teleport that much water with those restrictions, I would be twice the time setting the parameters, then have all the water come through at once.

“I can teach you gates, but it will take some time. There are a few preliminaries to be done.”

Rox nodded. “And Shields?”

“Less time, much simpler. You already understand using small components to pattern the energy and scaling it to need; simply pattern energy off a solid material, and give it a location in space. I was projecting the metal of my knife, mixed with the fabric of my coat, so I effectively had a flexible metal shell around me. I could have chosen the rock or dirt around me, or some chunk of plastic from you world, if I could hold its pattern in my mind. There is part of the key, and reason for using ingredients. If one’s mind is powerful enough one can hold the source pattern in mind and desired effect. With ingredients, one uses them for the source pattern, and then only needs hold the desired effect in mind.”

Rox restated what she was hearing. “So I could take the hard leather of my belt as the source pattern, and have the shield effectively be a suit of hard leather around me, so long as I can hold or, or set it to run by itself.”

Caspian nodded. “Yes. That is essentially it.”

Rox went to a logical extreme. “Or I could hold in my mind the pattern of a thick steel plate reinforcing concrete, and that would be the source for a stronger shield, so long as I can form and maintain the spell.”

Caspian was used to these extensions by now. “Right. Easier to have something at hand, but willpower coupled with imagination are the limits.”

Not to Caspian’s surprise, Roxanne began using whatever rock was at hand as the focus of her shield base. It had a secondary effect that Caspian had not considered of anchoring Rox to the spot where the rock was, rather than leaving her to move, as his did. But while she could put the shield up, she was not yet able to move force around and redirect it.

Roxanne grudgingly tried it with the Sorceress’ chains on, and found the amount of power she could safely manipulate was dramatically increased. There after, she would practice the fundamentals without the chains, then once she had the pattern, try it with the chains.

Gates were still outside of her capacity.

Journal of Steven Caplan: Day 99

Something is changing in Caspian. I recognize now that the first weeks he was in an ill-mood, while he was deliberately blocking some of what I wanted to do to allow for time to acclimate. After picking up Rox, he seemed more than ready to charge ahead as fast as I wanted.

Now we are marching though these mountains to see his benefactors, and he seems to be back in his ill-mood. On the other hand, he and Rox are doing more practical magic; our pace has slowed a little to take time each day to spar or otherwise practice.

One topic that we keep pushing is going faster via magic, and he keeps either pushing back or finding excuses. As I write this I realize that either there is some base presumption that I have wrong about getting about by magic, or he is stalling without telling why.

The company road along, passing a Kingdom marker on the road. They had left the main highway behind a few days back where it turned more northerly and they took the south fork.

Now they were approaching the Kimid Mountains, finally. Once camp had been broken and the morning sparing and drills accomplished, they mounted and road on. The horses were all in even temper and used to each other. The mules used to the horses and all used to the group pace.

The magic drill had ended with Rox and Caspian in a discussion about how to accomplish a certain spell. Their central point came down to Rox doing a different spell and result than Caspian thought she was. Caspian was expecting a moving force wall, meaning a comparative wide field of effect over an unspecified distance; Rox was doing a pointed strike of limited field effect to a given distance. In physical terms their argument was a shove vs. a punch. Steven caught this point and defused the escalating tone of the discussion in pointing out that Rox as a trained fighter was of a mindset to stop and drop her opponent, as compared to Caspian’s of pushing the opponent to a distance to toss energy at them.

After some consideration, both sides yielded the argument’s cause and moved on to other topics. Rox had noticed over the weeks that Caspian always had spells at the ready. She wondered if it was equated to her training in martial arts where she just had all the moves already in her muscle memory; meaning that Caspian was so versed in the principles of magic and the spells that he was capable of, that he could essentially assemble them at will.

Caspian thought and then answered. “Sort of. I would consider it more like cooking food; knowing the available pieces, and how and in what ratio to combine them for the desired result. There are many recipes, but how many people actually follow them to the letter?”

Rox considered this and picked up on a side point. “Do you use or carry a book? I have not noticed you using one.”

Caspian shook his head. “Use? Some. Mostly as notes. I do carry a notebook. I also only use about half of the ingredients others may use for spells.”

“Then how do you cast so many different spells?”

“Like cooking, it’s from memory, from daily preparation and storage, some I make up as I go, building from starting principles.”

Rox shifted to an absurd tangent, from the cartoon’s the kids watched. “Can you shoot a ridiculously large blast of energy?”

Caspian considered this. “. . . Yes,” he finally answered.

Rox was curious. “Care to demonstrate?”

“No,” Caspian was quick to answer this.

064 – Welcome To Elf Country

The road turned south and followed a north flowing river through the highlands between a pair of tall mountain ranges, favoring the eastern range. They soon came to a village beside a small body of water held by a dam across the river, with a garrison of the local kings military. They were elves. In a few of the previous town and villages there had been a few elf families, and half-breeds living among the local humans. Now the elves were the dominant species.

These elves physically compared to Steven the way Rox did to an average woman on Terra: As broad around on average but stretched taller; they were broader than Caspian as a general rule. The shorter adults stood only head and shoulders taller than Steven. The taller ones were twice as tall as Caspian. The females were generally half a head shorter than their compatriot males, with the appropriate difference in build.

Their facial features matched Roxanne’s with almond shaped eyes that pointed to the side, with a noticeable variation to pointing slightly up. Their color range seamed to be an almost disconcerting orange through amber to green. Their average hair color was dirty-platinum blond, and ran from titanium white to medium blond. Most of the males wore only the mohawk that stood up between one and two hand spans and went from the forehead all the way around back to the neck, and they shaved the softer hair on the sides: the few that did not shave wore their side hair pulled into a tail under the mohawk. The females also wore their mohawks, usually with the sides in varying numbers of braids. Their ears, like Roxanne’s, all had a nearly flat front rising to a point, then curved back: Steven had early on remarked that they looked like Vulcan ears, as opposed to the usual back swept point portrayals in Terran fiction.

The local elves had the same general skin color as Rox, a blue tone under the Caucasian normal range. The local humans they had been among had all exhibited a general tone at the darker end of the Caucasian range, with occasional individuals or small groups going into the darker red and blacks. Caspian had passed in Carson City as unremarkable, despite having what some would call a Mediterranean tone, darker than average.

Their clothes were virtually indistinguishable in general material from anything the other natives had been seen to wear.

As far as things went, these elves were generally as interested in the travelers as the animal herds on the hills that surrounded the village were; just another unremarkable group passing though. The Garrison guards only asked for the usual boarder toll, and directed which forks on the road to take.

As they left the last of the farms that surrounded the village, Caspian unexpectedly turned on his lecture mode.

“I believe we have finally passed the northern boarder of our destination,” Caspian started. “It is now time that I tell you more. I have been looking for the right time to tell you, and now is as good as any. The elves probably don’t want me to tell you this and I expect won’t themselves. I did some checking in the time between when they first contacted me and I left this world to go to yours. Once I get a free moment, I will go check on a few inquiries I left hanging.”

Steven could hear a note of underlying irritation in Caspian’s tone. But he let it go, as this was a rare time for Caspian to freely give information. Rox‘s interest in her progenitors had been growing as she had gotten closer. Also to finally see others like herself was enlightening and relieving.

Caspian continued. “I was not the first person they contacted to try to hire. Several others turned them down. I am not certain of some of the reasoning, but I gather that these elves did not want to risk themselves going to a low-magic world. I guess it is for some similar reasons that they did not move to try to intercept the wagon train that is the current home to your children. Whatever their reasoning, they are keeping themselves out of this directly. I was tasked with getting you to this world, reunited with your kids, and then bring all to this city, and the elves.

“I would not trust them to tell you the whole truth. Most elves are like anybody. Decent enough individuals, particularly once you learn their individual moors and values. But as the locals we have been passing through have said, these people have a cultural superiorist attitude and stick to themselves to prove it. Most likely they will treat you as less than their dogs, but not as an enemy.

“I haven’t got the full satisfactory reason of why the excitement over your kids, but some of it has to do with some of their prophecies about a real nasty character called the ‘Chaos Bringer.’ The short version is that your son and daughter are this person’s harbingers. Lots of people argue over this, wondering whether they are good or bad. The few outside mentions of them say they are only the signs of the coming, with nothing more about them.”

Steven and Rox looked at each other as Caspian talked. That there should be some kind of scripture and prophecy about their family? Neither wanted to understand and accept this, yet.

Caspian continued. “That brings me to the next part. My instructions were to allow your children to be kidnapped. The elves were aware of the group that was going after your kids. I gather the elves know why they are, but neglected to tell me that reason. Their instructions were that I was to bring at least Rox here and come to Shalaia. They did not have much interest in Steven. Since I could not affect that situation without causing a lot of trouble, I magically tracked three of you and watched and waited. Steven I could not directly track, without getting close. I did not attempt that in the time that was available.”

The Caplan’s felt a bit of anger stir. It was not directed at Caspian. They had already learned his disposition and dislike of the situation he was in. These elves, on the other hand . . .

“On my own, I found out some of what the people of Krogg wanted, I believe. Their version somehow involves your kids and the leaders of that kingdom, and it says that both of you are along somehow. I have not yet figured out more. Perhaps once I get a chance to talk to one of my sources, I will be able to.

“I expect the elves will have a thing or two to say about my waiting around for you, Steven, to return here; but I don’t care. I am not going to let them damage your family any more than I can. At any rate, you know the rest of the events. Now you know more of the reasoning.

“I took this job, knowing that I was getting involved with a worlds-class conceited elf. But since this group in general has a reputation as that, I figured that I might be able to proverbially poke a few eyes, and run interference between them and you. As such, while I have not been as forth coming and useful as you have would have liked, the elves we are going to see, are magnitudes worse.”

Steven was quite angry, as he processed this. A few other memories and dreams that he had had since arriving on Tywacomb hung around on the sides, telling him that they fit in somehow, but not yet. Rox was livid, and was able to find her voice first.

“So, these elves, from whom I am supposed to be descended, wanted for me to be forced into some situation where I would have to come to them.” Rox scoffed. “Sounds like The Family. Manipulate people to do what you want, rather than ask them.”

It took Caspian a while to remember The Godfather movie he had been shown when in college on Terra, and what ‘The Family’ meant. Once he remembered it, he thought it an apt comparison.

Steven finally spoke. “So let me see if I have this right. There is a kingdom to the south somewhere that has a version of a prophecy that involves my children and the leaders of this kingdom somehow interacting, with a side detail that Rox and I are somehow involved. Then these elves, from whom Rox is descended, have another prophecy about our kids being the signposts that say some big bad guy is coming.

“The elves somehow learn that the kingdom is moving in response to their own prophecy and put it together with theirs and send you to help. You do your part and get us here. Now these elves want to interfere and contribute in some indirect way to getting the kids back.

“You have not bothered to tell us this in whole until now for whatever reason you have, and there is no reason to get mad at you over it now. Fine. Now I gather you are telling us this at least in part to warn us and prepare us for dealing with some jerks that make the mafia a good comparison.”

Caspian answered Steven. “Essentially correct. I expect these elves will try to dismiss me. But if they do so that will only set me free to help you of my own accord. I also expect that at least some of them will try exercise authority over you and give you orders telling you how and what you will do.”

Caspian steered the subject away some. “You have noticed that I have occasionally sent Cyrril on errands. He has been taking my requests to some of my contacts. Unfortunately this has not yet produced anything. This is partly as these elves keep to themselves and so past records that might give a hint of future behavior are not easy to come by. I am not certain yet, but I have a suspicion that they will try to have your children raised here among them.”

Rox looked at Steven. His expression was set. Someone was going to try to do him wrong? Steven would see about that. Rox felt her own feelings echo that sentiment. Then she had a mild doubt.

“And what if you are wrong about the motivations of these elves? In their real goals,” Rox asked.

Caspian shook his head. “I can’t say that I am, or not. Just that I was not given all the information at first by them, and what I have found, and their reputation, leads me to not trusting them. Or like them. I know that I like you, and will help you in what ever I can. I am sorry that it has taken this long for me to explain this, and accept whatever anger you have toward me for it. I apologize for holding back.”

Caspian paused as he thought “I might have still held something back, but I am not certain. I’ve told you about my first contact, generally about my last time here, and the instructions. I have filed in a little about the intervening time and getting with contacts and collecting information. I have told you the generals about my time on Terra. Yeah, that is about it.”

Rox was still in the conversation, as Steven was lost in though but probably still listening.

“That seams to cover most of it,” Rox answered.

065 – How Wide Is Their Range?

Journal of Steven Caplan: Day 106

A small city of elves. It is interesting; most of the structures are rough hewn stone in mortar. The city roads are cobbled, and worn smooth. It just rolls over the hills without much concern for leveling the general ground. Compared to the inhabitants, the scale of the places fits. On its own, it is odd. Most of the structures are two stories, with an exit on both levels as the land rolls.

In a different thought direction, Rox fits in very well. There are other half-breeds here, and a few local humans. The locals are as friendly as any town we have been through. Caspian has told us that this is not how we should expect to be treated in Shalaia.

We had to shop in a minor hurry as the markets were at the end of their week prior to the local Sabbath. I expect Caspian will be attending meeting somewhere.

We have been told that we have about a week to go to get to Shalaia.

The market was unremarkable, beyond the difference in the types of food available, the elevation changing the growing season some, as well as what plants thrive. They were able to get sufficient vegetables and flour and other essentials and get on their way with a minimum of fuss.

With each of them now versed in the Trader’s Cant, they were all able to communicate adequately. Rox again found herself able to hear and comprehend the elf tongue when it was spoken, but could not yet begin to coherently speak it.

One other thing that got their attention was again seeing synthetic materials in some of the costumes. This time, Steven brought it to Caspian’s attention.

“Why is that man wearing a webbed belt? It looks like nylon, or similar, not the leather or other local cloths. He is not the only one I have seen here.” Steven motioned toward an elf that was working a market stall.

Caspian glanced to identify the indicated belt and elf, and then turned back to browsing the vegetables. “Probably bought it from an off-world trader.”

“What?” Steven was shocked.

Caspian was not surprised, but switched to English to continue. “There are more worlds out there than yours and mine. Some are dominated by these peoples race; some dominated by humans. Some have developed the technology to travel across the void in their metal boxes, as opposed to how I brought you here. As I recall, elves are actually not native to this world. I have been on four other worlds besides yours and this, which is my home. That some trade goods should be left behind is not surprising.”

Rox had stopped to listen. “I think I saw something about that on a tapestry in Veradale, It looked like a variant of a sea-ship, but with some fire out its back. There was a star pattern on it that I have not seen in the sky here, or at home. And I have wondered where my clothes got to, after those slavers took them. What would a local think of spandex?”

As they ventured out of the city, Steven spotted one more anachronism. He let it go, until they were making camp. But it stirred up a lot of thought as he rode along.

“Caspian, I saw something that left me thinking.”

Caspian looked up from his turn to make dinner, frying some steaks and vegetables. “What was that?”

“I saw an elf carrying what appeared to be a gun on her hip.” Steven said it matter-of-factually.

Caspian shrugged. “So?”

Rox and Steven let go of the tent lines, and moved to sit near the fire.

“So, you told me not to bring any of mine. I don’t remember exactly why.” Steven fiddled with his binoculars briefly as he said this.

Caspian glanced at Steven as he did. Rox also looked at both men.

Rox had been apprised of how nothing with a battery worked after the stellar-teleport spell. This had left her to wonder if she should have any concern about whether she had brought anything with. Since she had been reduced to just her skin and what was within it, the question was really academic. On the other hand, since she had intended to shower after getting home and had therefore left everything in her gym bag, it was probably moot.

“The reason, as I recall, was that you would not be able to get fresh ammunition, and openly carrying a gun would just get you noticed, more than your sword does.” Caspian spoke as he watched the food cook.

Steven put his binoculars away. “It’s not like I can do anything about it now. I wonder where her gun came from and what principles it operates on.”

Caspian could answer this, somewhat. “Of the four worlds I have been on, that you have not, two were magic-based, as this one is. That seems to lock the society into a kind of pre-industrial stasis; perhaps the key ideas that do not take hold are medium and high order chemical reactions, and non-artisan construction of things.”

He dished up the vegetables and meat and handed the plates one at a time. Rox and then Steven took theirs, and then Caspian dished his own, and put the skillet and pot off the fire.

Caspian continued. “The other two: one was approximately the same level of advancement as yours, and the other at a level of technological interstellar travel. On both of these, like yours, the ambient fields that allow magic were significantly lower than here, so there was less magic. I have not taken time to do much investigation of the technology, but was given to understand that some of the higher order technological weapons appear to do things that magic can, in their effects.”

Steven had kept a proverbial passing ear to the ground of weapons research and development. No one had any production wonder-weapons yet, but there were a few prototypes and ideas that people were watching.

Rox for her part, started considering some of the various ideas that she had crossed about types of weapons, particularly the non-lethal. She wondered how she might produce some similar effects from her ignorance of magic. This born of the idea she had not fully expressed to Caspian ‘don’t’ tell me what I can’t do.’

Caspian finished between bites. “That elf that you saw with the weapon was probably not native to this world. Most of the magic-using community doesn’t bother with much tech-equipment because at some level electricity and magic interfere with each other, kind of like oil and water. On the other hand, Talents do like technology. The open secret there is that the communities of talents on this world are all immigrants some generations back, like the elves. The ambient magic fields interact with their machines in some ways that cause the machines to eventually become unusable, so they have ended up going native. Most people you have met by this time, don’t know that, and probably couldn’t care. The elves and talents generally segregate themselves into their own communities, and socially guard against interlopers. Though there are some areas where they have integrated.

“On the main continent, the elves keep to their own boarders, and surrounding communities. I am told that on the largest of the island-continents, there is free interaction, and a lot of half-breeds.

Rox stopped Caspian’s ramblings as he took a bite. “What is a Talent? They were mentioned from time to time in Veradale. It was said that their closest settlement was northeast from there.”

Caspian finished his bite. “A talent is a person with mind-powers. I am not sure of the word in English. Essentially where you are learning to use and harness energy from without in the forms of magic, a talent uses energy from within.”

Rox had heard this from the Sorceress. Lacking the vocabulary at ready command in the local language, she switched to English. “It sounds like a telekinetic, or a telepath. Is this like people who can touch a thing and know instantly who used it last and what the thing can do? Or also use their energy to blast things or move about real fast or use strength beyond what the physical body is supposed to normally be able to do?”

Steven interjected. “Are you talking about Ki?”

“Stuff like that,” Rox answered.

“I think the word is psionics.” Steven punctuated his sentence with a fork full of vegetables.

Caspian was temporarily lost for the vocabulary that Rox and Steven were sharing. But his magic sense was telling his they were on the right line of thought.

Cyrril came fluttering in from his hunting at this point, and the conversation drifted to other things, before they went to bed.

Caspian led them to the summit of this mountain. They had left the animals some ways below, and started up this peak shortly after lunch. The last days had been the rolling hills between mountain ranges. This peak had dominated their horizon, when visible, as the road pointed essentially at it. At the top the Caplan’s understood why.

All were puffing hard for the thin cool air. The world rolled out in all directions.

North were two ‘close’ peaks in line with this. South were more than half a dozen more in approximate line. West were the highland hills they had been crossing. East were high valleys, that were almost flat and drained to the northeast, then another range of mountains as tall and numerous as the ones they were on. Forest blanketed the highlands in a patchwork manor, with a few plumes of smoke here and there as far as the forest went.

Geologically these were up-thrust mountains, and so irregular in shape. But one mountain at the north end of the eastern line had the conical shape of a volcano. Caspian pointed to a peak to the south east, near the middle of both ranges. It looked radically different than its neighbors. Beyond the east mountains and their foot hills was a further batch of mountains, and beyond those the land settled into steppe similar to the high planes they had crossed coming east.

Steven looked through his binoculars at the irregular mountain. This looked like a short plateau, with terraces around its perimeter down into and as a feature of the valleys around it.

Caspian finally had breath to speak. “There, the flat one. That is Shalaia, our goal.”

Once everyone was mutually ready to leave, Caspian surprised the Caplan’s. He scratched a circle with an inscribed triangle on the ground.

“Steven stands at the point on my right, Rox on my left. Then hold on to my staff, but let me guide it.”

“I know this,” Steven answered.

“You should. You have asked about doing it often enough,” Caspian replied. “Roxanne, pay attention; this is how to do it without a specific object to act as a start or finish target.”

Caspian ran through the pattern for this teleport spell the requisite three times, setting all the parameters, and then they were off.

Rox had not teleported while really awake, or by this specific method. She wanted to gasp as her awareness suddenly accelerated at the staff, then arced up and over to land behind and a short ways from the horses. Their sudden appearance spooked the animals, and were they not tied, they might have bolted. As it was the Caplan’s and Caspian walked them off the hilltop they were currently on into a valley and around the north perimeter of the mountain they had just come from the summit of.

066 – The Last Leg, For Now

Rox found herself draining her water bag as they went, and stopped at a stream to fill it; she paused to remember the spell to filter the water as it went in, and was handed Steven’s and Caspian’s water bags as well while she was getting wet.

Rox got to the question before Steven did.

“Caspian, why did you not just teleport us to the top of the mountain in the first place?”

In a classroom setting Caspian might have taken a different approach, here he just went directly to it. “It is easier to teleport to someplace you have already been, than to teleport to someplace you have not ever been. It is also a lot safer.”

Steven had read enough and was experienced enough in his life to guess, and was sure he had covered this ground between himself and Caspian previously, but he still asked, for Rox’s sake and so as to be sure of being correct himself. “Why is that?”

“If you don’t know where you are landing, you might materialize with some thing stuck in or through you, or you in it.” Caspian started.

“In school, we are taught several theories of movement. One of the safety principles drilled in is not to do so blind, another is not to forget to have the spell clear the area before you land. For us, I would like to have just teleported us into Shalaia, but it would be a blind jump. I have some ability at scrying, but it is really limited, like looking at a map versus actually being there. The Sorceress, she displayed such skill as to make me think she might be able to instruct it. Add to my troubles that the elves value their privacy, and so shroud their lands, preventing me with my limited abilities from seeing anything useful.

“I could try a spell to put me down at a specific geographic location, and to clear the area before I land. But again in their shrouding they have wards against that, and I would land somewhere else; depending on the ward it could be a long way off, and usually with the safeties canceled. If I had a specific target it would bypass the wards. If I could teleport as the elves themselves do, we would have been there weeks ago.”

“You did try to ask that one elf, back there,” Rox remembered. “He acted as if you had not said anything.”

“Politely inconsiderate,” Steven muttered, in agreement with the shared frustration. Then remembering himself, Steven returned the conversation to topic. “Is there any other reason you have not tried to? I have been puzzling to myself why you have been reluctant, and it occurred to me that I may not have all my presumptions about magic travel correct to begin with.”

Caspian tossed that back to Steven. “What reasons and principles have I explained so far, so as to see if I have missed or been unclear about anything?”

Steven thought. “Safety in travel; knowing your destination; economy in energy use; that there are several methods, of which you seem to prefer a kind of compression and transmutation without loss of awareness; courtesy in using the modes; what kind of target is available to start and finish on. Usually you have deferred on the grounds of ignorance of potential safe landing sites. I have wondered if it is possible to say, jump from this hill top to the next, but presume that is not done simply for the sake of it being almost as fast and perhaps a better use of energy to walk the same distance.”

Caspian nodded as Steven ran his list. “That is most of it. As for your last, for most people that is all but the explicit reason. It is easier to walk.

“In theory, I could have teleported up the mountain, but not having ever been there, I was unsure of the landing spot. Through resonance a teleporter can always find the way back to someplace they have been. But blind jumps are just not as safe. Some with big egos do it anyway. I would rather not. I could have done it in short hops, but it’s less strenuous to walk.

“How would you have liked it if I had teleported us up, and left us all a hand’s span above the ground? Even if I had asked you to jump, it would be landing on uncertain ground. Do able, but not comfortable or advisable. Similar with a gate.

“The only other principle I can think of right off that I have not covered is theory and method of transit. You cited the one I prefer, there are also variations of mass to energy exchanges, and also the various methods of packing and unpacking the object being moved; inside to out, outside to in, top to bottom and so forth.

“The elves have a method where they visibly are there one moment and gone the next; or vice versa. That may be including an invisibility component to the spell, but I do not know, and have never been where or when I could ask. I think the one that you met actually uses some form of gate. He landed in my hay field at home that way.”

Steven interrupted Caspian as the latter drew a breath, and then a drink of water. “Some of the books I read as a child had magic characters teleporting around, without any concern for any of this. I suppose I have been operating on that presumption. What I am hearing you say is that doing that is just silly for safety reasons. Doable, but not advisable. All right, I can go with that. I will try not to bother you about teleporting again.”

Caspian thought about this over the rest of the afternoon, and also about what he expected would happen at Shalaia, and where the train with the Caplan’s son and daughter were. In his consideration, Caspian pulled the tracker disks he had made in Veradale out of a pouch, and looked at them, the color swirls holding steady in the southern direction and a long distance away. He made a decision. But there was no sense announcing it, until he had all the information, and that would require information from Shalaia, and time to remember.

For her part, Roxanne seamed to absorb all that was said. She understood what Caspian said about resonance to do with her sense of magic, or energy or mana, what ever it was called, and what this communicated. The Sorceress had drilled safety into Rox in some way in every lesson. As for the other things, like Steven she still had the notions from stories read. As Caspian instructed her, she came to understand that what she needed to do was figure out what theory of teleportation she most instinctively used, and learn to use it on command.

As they crossed the summit of the foot hill into the final set of valleys, they all smelled smoke, and the animals all began to spook from it. The trees broke open to a vista across the valley between the western and central Shalalerin Mountains. But the smoke from a downwind forest fire obscured everything, and left a heavy smell of burnt wood and ash in the air. Steven and Rox wrapped bandannas around their faces as they went. Caspian likewise put a wrap around his face, and cast a bit of magic for the animals, keeping the air around the animals moving.

As they descended altitude they got under the air current that was carrying the smoke.

Caspian being unimpressed by the situation kept going, but the Caplan’s were a bit excited.

Rox particularly. “Don’t we need to tell anybody about it, or do something about it?”

Caspian could hear a bit of unusual anxiety in her tone, and simply shook his head in negative. “No. The only people who really care are the timber-men, and they have enough timber to worry about. Sure they could employ someone like me to pop around and dumb water on them, but in the long run it would be detrimental.”

Caspian glanced over his shoulder at Rox, and could see her puzzlement. So he dredged up the lesson from his own childhood, and what he had seen as an adult.

“As it is, you see all the stages of the growth cycle around you. Fire cleans and strengthens the forest by consuming the decay and dead stuff, releasing the mass back into the soil. It takes the dead and diseased lower branches off the trees, and it keeps the yearly debris from building up on the ground. That lets the water get into the soil and roots more easily and keeps the fire from burning deep.”

“How do you know all this,” asked Rox. She had a cursory education in forestry at best, mostly extending to ‘trees are our friends.’

Caspian scoffed. “I was taught it by my father while a child, and wrote a research report on it while in school on your planet. Then I also saw it first hand here. There is a kingdom to the east; they have a similar timber management pattern to what your world practices in some extreme areas: that is, cut nothing that is not absolutely necessary and let nothing burn. I suppose it is born of an overwrought sense of respect for life coupled with a lack of understanding of the true cycle of it. This kingdom’s forests are all the same age, covering huge areas. When I was last there, they had at least one section that was a fire hazard. The debris on the ground was hip deep, half the trees roots did not get far into the actual soil. Only a quarter of the trees had close to healthy mana, and there were standing and fallen trees among the living that were dead and dying.

“A tree’s generation of being left alone and the forest might begin to recover.”

Caspian shook his head at what he considered a stupid practice, and remembered something he had heard on the road over the last weeks, and from some of his further contacts.

“I have heard rumor that the current crop of wars that are working their way east across the north, will probably kill that forest, and kingdom. ‘One properly, or improperly used torch will be all it needs’.”

Steven had seen part of the Yellowstone Park fires of some years back and remembered how that had gone. As well he had been back since and it was still a mess by his standards. He had also flown over the Mt. Saint Helens destruction area, and seen the patterns of growth vs. ‘management’ there. He had compared this to his experience on Tywacomb. “The forests we crossed to get to Rox, and even the ones since, the only dead falls were fresh. I don’t remember much from ground level for the new and young stuff, but it was all green. The older the tree, the higher it’s lowest branches and more fire scars it had.”

The valley they descended into was drained to the northeast by a pair of rivers, one fed from the west peaks, the other from the east, and merged into a lake at the north end. The intervening valley showed a lot of work had been done to shape the land, with terraces through out leveling the natural roll of the hills into steps rising and falling. The road wound down from its summit to a way station at the base of the foot hill, where the road separated to go east and south.

As it was, the Caplan’s and Caspian took opportunity to use the inn and let their animals loose in a corral, as opposed to always in harness or hobble. The elves that operated the inn were slightly put out at having a schwaer and her paramour and their retainer actually think themselves good enough to stay the night in respectable lodging, simply because they could pay for such.

067 – Welcome To Shalaia

This attitude was particularly picked up on the next morning as there was no food provided ready for them to purchase of share, or place in evidence for them to prepare their own, as opposed to the previous places the three had stayed in. Rox and Steven quickly collected their animals, and with Caspian headed east across the river and into the terraces between the rivers, and soon found a reasonable place to prepare breakfast.

“Are all the elves like them,” Rox asked as she tended some shredded potatoes and eggs.

Caspian nodded. “Yes. They were actually nice compared to some. There are those who would not have let us stay the night under their roof. The locals have warned you about this.”

Steven picked up on this, from a recent movie line, affecting a scratchy not-quite English accent. “My son, we are pilgrims in an unholy land. We must be careful.”

Rox chuckled at the line, having found that movie entertaining. “I don’t think the Doctors Jones would find these locals as dangerous as 1939 Berlin.”

As usual, Steven’s sense of humor completely bypassed Caspian’s understanding.

The day was spent walking along cobbled lanes between terraces lined by stone retaining walls that averaged twice Steven’s height. Irrigation canals and gates were more evident than the homes of the locals. Each terrace was nearly level, and most of them covered by some crop or another. The similarities of vegetables between Terra and Tywacomb made the identification of most crops little more than a passing curiosity to Rox, who had spent some of her youth in Nebraska corn fields and her grandmother’s vegetable garden, and had proven her own brown thumb. Caspian was less interested, as he was a lowland farmer from the equatorial region, so none of the plants here were of use or interest beyond immediate and near future use. Steven was interested in growing things on the high desert of the Sierra foothills. The various plants were of interest and how they had got them to grow and through what seasons. Above the plant fields were interspersed stock fields surrounded by fences according to the particular animal they were designed to contain.

The traffic they encountered was mostly singular elves in the local equivalent of coveralls going about their business. The shortest of these elves was taller than Steven when mounted. All had the bluish base skin tone, and white mohawk with assorted means of dealing with the sides. Several wore hats.

At the top of one hill they were able to look across the local area and finally see their first evidence of local housing, sitting at the top of the nearby terraces on either side. Looking south across the valley the look was uniformly that of terraces covered with summer crops, with stock interspersed, the lanes winding between the rolls of the hills. Many of the terraces also had stands of trees; the top levels were the most common ones to actually be devoted to trees.

Far to the south, on their east was the plateau they were heading toward. Even from this distance there was the developing skyline of a city in several terraced levels up to and covering the plateau.

They got most of the way across this valley before the sun dipped behind the western hills between the peaks. Here they found a travelers hostel, with corral for their animals. Again they were looked upon as unwanted interlopers at best. This time they were not allowed to sleep within the structure, but turned out to a corner of the corral with their animals.

Journal of Steven Caplan: Day 111

Our journey is ended, for the moment. This day we shall enter the city of Rox’s progenitors. However, there is a feeling of unease. These locals do not look kindly upon foreigners or strangers.

In the morning they were able to use the last of their food to make breakfast. They then departed and headed for the city that dominated the view to the south east.

The road ran along the foot of the mountains. To their west were the terraces stretching across the valley, to their east were sharp rises to structures that reminded Rox of the temples and monasteries of the monks of the eastern traditions of her imagination. Caspian noticed when they crossed the actual edge of the magical barrier that had prevented their targeting a landing spot within its boundaries. He had been feeling the emanations of the barrier since entering the valley. It never occurred to him to ask Roxanne if she could feel the same.

For her part, Rox was still so new to sensing magic, that she completely failed to notice anything until she actually crossed the barrier, but had no idea as yet what it was she felt, and since Caspian made no comment, she let it go.

The road leveled off and was soon among the typical single story structures that lined the outer reaches of cities. But these structures were scaled to the locals, taller than was initially comfortable to the three. They had been seeing this scale for the last weeks as they made their way to this valley and city, but here it was in such concentration as to be disconcerting. Also there were few structures with any external timber; rather it was stonework that made the walls. There were trees and other bits of wild shrubbery scattered about but most had been removed.

The road turned between the mountains into the city proper.  Here they could be in any city they had passed through to this point, save for the scale of the locals and structures. The city dominated the terrain to the right, and climbed the mountainside to the left. After several smaller side streets, they turned on a larger main one that climbed up the two visible major terrace levels to the flat of the mesa. Several lesser levels of terraces could be picked out after careful consideration and examination of the city. The structures here were much more of hewn stone on stone, rather than using mortar to hold regular or irregular stones together. The stone color here was mostly gray granite, even in the age worn cobbles that lined the streets. Many large multi-story structures were interspersed between smaller structures. The windows usually had stained glass in the lower half and clear in the upper, which appeared to open for ventilation.   Gutters and drains allowed water and filth to run off the streets, with sidewalks provided for pedestrians. Local pine trees lined the streets at irregular intervals.

Unlike many of the smaller cities they had been in, there were a significant number of carriages and carts in this city, drawn by teams of animals. Once they turned onto the spoke road from the perimeter the carriages outnumbered the merchandise carts.

The locals were dressed in what appeared to Steven and Rox to be Hollywood-Ali Baba mixed with Hollywood-Elizabethan, without all the extra petticoats under the skirts. The local law enforcement males and females wore a burgundy leather surcoat with silver trim, and a badge on the left breast, shaved their soft hair and buzz-cut their mohawks. The trades all seamed to wear a slightly different costume as a uniform. Remembering the districting in Veradale, Rox and Steven both looked around for the similar sign posts, but did not see enough to be certain of what they saw.

As she looked around, Rox finally spoke of the question that had been bothering her since first seeing this place.

“Caspian, I do not understand this place. There is not another mesa around here. Did they just top this mountain, and dump all the dirt and rock around the sides?”

Steven had been wondering similar things. He looked to Caspian to see if he had an answer.

Caspian answered. “I suppose. I have only been here the one time before now. I have not really had any reason to wonder about its geography. To be honest, I would not put it past them to have done that. You remember Veradale; they were carving that whole mountain range up, starting at the north end, and working south. We did not get very far into it, but on the west side they were fairly deep into where the mountain had been in converting it to usable structure, while mining out the commercial minerals.

He continued. “The report is that this city has been here thousands of years. With the general lifespan of these elves being about eight hundred years, and several generations reported to have lived here, I am inclined to give any theory the benefit of the doubt.”

Steven picked it up first. “Eight hundred years? But Rox’s great grandma died not long after her husband.”

Caspian nodded. “Yeah. I have not talked much about the interactions between the races and their mechanics. I can go into better detail once we get too where we are staying tonight.”

Caspian was not going to talk about things like that where the elves could potentially hear.

Caspian lead the Caplan’s to the gate on the road that led up to the upper terraces of the city. There was no martial wall, there being little need because of the terracing and terrain. But two guard houses stood on either side of the road, manned by members of the local law enforcement. The elves at the gate also looked almost like typical guards. With a difference being the general appearance of these elves, and instead of plate metal, they had lacquered wood and hard leather. The Guards watched the local traffic go through, but moved out to intercept the visitors. Even mounted, Steven had to look up slightly at the guard standing at his side.

The leader stood by Caspian’s right, and spoke in Traders Cant. “State your name and business.”

Caspian addressed them in the local elf dialect. “Gentleman. We are here, bidden by the Clan Nidaer. They sit in waiting of our arrival. My name is Caspian. The female is known to them as their Lost Daughter; the male is her mate. We have traveled long and are here to treat with them, at their convenience.”

Rox understood all the words Caspian said, and after review she also understood the concepts of what was said. This included Caspian’s subtle undertone that until introduced to the clan, neither she nor Steven rated a name. Also that he sent no greeting or graciousness to the clan, but simply announced that he was here. She smiled slightly at the veiled insult of not sending greetings.

For his part, Steven did not understand a word said, but grasping the situation, sat as quiet and dignified as he could.

The leader turned aside and back into his duty station. After a moment he returned.

“Caspian the Mage, you and your party are free to proceed. We are instructed to direct you to your previous lodging. Provision is waiting for you there.” The elf appeared to be bored with his job, but still formal in his presentation.

Caspian nodded. “Thank you, officer. Good day to you and yours.”

Caspian nudged his mount forward with the Caplan’s following, leading their laden mules. A crew of street sweepers moved into their wake, as two of the animals had taken the opportunity while stopped to relieve themselves.

The road leveled off at the mid-level terrace, then continued nearly level for several intersections before meeting the edge of the terrace onto the top tier of the city.

The larger buildings here on the mid-tier looked to be carved by stone cutters from the local rock rather than constructed by masons, as the smaller buildings exhibited. Also there was a bit more space between the structures, and more size to the individual components. Caspian led them past two cross roads, and left on a third.

This road had a slight turn to it as it followed the approximate line of the original mountain around. Two structures seemed out of place as they traveled this street. First, an aqueduct crossed the road overhead and appeared to empty into a cistern. Second, they passed a park, with grass and non-native leafy trees. Families were recreating in the manner that families anywhere are want to.

They turned into a courtyard bound on all the sides by a single structure. A three tiered round fountain marked the center of the drive-around. Square columns lined the three side’s two stories tall, covering porches.