061 – Bridges, Barges, and Local Politics

Journal of Steven Caplan: Day 80

This has been some vacation. Hike across the continent in one direction, only to reverse course once we get to the first stop. In the meantime the people with the real prize are running in a third direction. I have been doing some math - give or take, Caspian and I are in excess of 1500 miles since we started, and maybe more than that.

The last week has been nothing but rolling prairie. Open range for large herds, a few areas of fenced or walled farmlands, occasional stands of trees around pools on the streams that give shape to the land. A few towns here and there, though mostly little bigger than villages, where people congregate punctuated by irrigation and sanitation canals and pools. Most of the houses and barns are like those I saw in the Jemed Highlands – dug-out structures with sod or thatched roofs sticking out of the side of the tallest local hill. Caspian says that there are three such large expanses across the north half of this continent.

On one hand the boredom has given Rox and Caspian more time to practice her magic. Some things she is apparently very good at – others she is not. I have been practicing my sword as I could. Being astride is not conducive to that much, though.

We encountered some of the local racism: one town completely shunned Rox, and us for our affiliation with her. They would not even explain why.

The village we left this morning said we have two more days before we get to the mountains on the horizon. All the streams we cross flow increasingly to the east, and south. Caspian said there is a large river to cross before those mountains

The traffic brought them to their turn at the city gate after seeing it on the horizon for an hour. The way the hills rolled, the hill the road climbed after the gate was the only thing at their level that they could see beyond the gate. Little more than a couple of thatched dug-outs with uncut stone columns flanking the road; the gate was guarded by a handful of armed clerks.

At the top of the hill, the city beyond spread across the flood plane that flanked the side of a river that Steven judged to be comparable to the Missouri or any other large continental river.

Rox agreed, as she urged her horse forward, taking the lead.

The river valley itself was several miles wide. The river worked its way south in a leisurely pace, though not always in uniform fashion. The city was mostly wood framed structures, with some masonry here and there; cobbles lined the streets, boardwalks the sides. The hill they descended into the valley looked to Steven like a military creation, to defend the city from direct attack from the plains. Said hill stretched north and south, while the lay of the land was more flowing. The city spread north and south along the flood plane of the river as well with identifiable streets and districts. There were no bridges across the river, the cross traffic appearing to be all boats. Traffic was also plying up and down the length of the river.

On the far side the city appeared to be equal counterpart to this side.

Rox turned to Caspian as they came to the outer ranks of structures.

“Why are there no bridges across the river? It does not look to be more than several hundred yards across at some of the narrow points.”

Caspian shrugged. “I couldn’t tell you for sure. I can think of three reasons, outside of ‘politics.’ First, they lack the funds, materials and skills to build the bridges. Second, the ground is not able to support a stable bridge, which can be built for reasonable cost. Third, they cannot build a bridge sufficient for the larger boats to cross under.”

Rox nodded. “For politics, I guess the most quickly available answer is the shore workers raising a fuss about being put out of work.”

Steven tossed his two cents into the conversation. “Or any other group raising a fuss about costs. Or there has never been a military need for a bridge here.”

The main road quickly passed through the residential outskirts into the markets, warehouses, and dockyards. Here they were directly taken aboard a ferry barge. The traffic was such that they did not wait long before the barge cast off and started across the river. Pole men and oar men propelled the barge across the river.

Once unloaded, Caspian turned them aside from the main road on this side and into a market. “As we discussed, it is time to resupply.”

Rox looked at Steven. “It seems that all we are doing so far is traveling, and buying more supplies.”

Steven looked around. “Would you rather get in a fight? Or have some lovable street urchin make off with all your money? How about find a cave to crawl around in and find some mad creature with a magic ring?” As he said this, Steven remembered how an unguarded moment in a prior village had resulted in loosing a bit of money.

“On the other hand, neither of us knows exactly where we are going, or speaks any language that we can trust to get us all the way there. Already the people we are among are speaking a different language that what we were among two weeks ago.”

Rox had noticed. Caspian had slipped into a language that the Caplan’s had heard among the caravaner's they had mixed with. She meant to bring it up to Caspian, but had not got around to it, yet. It was time to do so.

They caught up to where Caspian was dismounted and bargaining to temporarily leave the horses and mules. He turned to them.

“We can leave the animals here, and go get the food we need, and be on our way in no time.” Caspian handed his reins to a woman at the paddock, and stood aside, waiting.

Steven dismounted and pulled the lead from the back of his saddle, and with the reins for his horse gave both animals to a young man. Rox followed suit, as Steven turned to her mule and pulled the bag with the money from it.

One of the first instances of advanced magic Caspian had shown Rox was disguising the bag. It did not clink; it looked like it was stuffed with clothes from the outside, and weighed as much as a laundry bag.

Rox stepped to Steven’s side, with the bag between them, and they followed Caspian into the market. Unlike some of the people on the plains, these took little notice of the Caplan’s. Then they saw them: about half a dozen very tall figures. These all had dark hair that hung down, were head and shoulders taller than Steven, nearly twice as tall as the shorter locals, and had darker skin tones. As the groups plied the market, they noticed and appraised Rox and Steven, but passed on without any making any kind of issue.

Steven noticed and called something to Rox’s attention later. Their cloaks looked to have nylon inner linings, and they wore webbing belts instead of leather. Two wore swords, one a single, the other a pair of long and short. The swords had a subtle ‘s’-curve to them that reminded Steven of Japanese swords, but with the handle curved against the direction of the blade. The group moved on and was not seen again, but as Steven spared the attention to watch, he noticed that the locals treated the tall figures as no more remarkable than each other.

Rox stopped a wandering minstrel and tried to communicate. Unfortunately the language barrier prevented anything useful. Caspian stepped in using the Traders Cant and translated Rox’s question about the commonality of elves in the city. The minstrel replied that tall elves were unusual, but common enough. The shorter underground elves were truly rare, but not unheard of, particularly around the slaver’s section.

With their shopping finished, they returned to the paddock where they had left their animals, loaded their supplies onto the mules, checked everything else back over, and with everything ready saddled up and headed out. Caspian rode to the back of the column, to watch that nothing was removed as they rode out. Nothing happened, though there was one attempt at steeling a bag of vegetables. Caspian smacked the hands with his staff, probably breaking a bone or two, and then dropped a few coins onto the boy’s arms as he clutched at his hurt hand.

They climbed the east side of the river valley and up onto the flats between the river and the foot hills. Leaving the city gates behind, the road headed south east across the foot hills. The next day they followed it up a river canyon into the mountains.

Journal of Steven Caplan: Day 84

Two days of climbing canyons, back into the high valleys.

On other subjects, Caspian has been teaching us the Merchant’s Cant, by magic and otherwise.

Rox took her turn making dinner in the pot, as the men put the rest of the camp together. Once camp was set, they turned to slaughtering another deer. This time Caspian watched, instructing as needed, as Steven worked his way through the process. A handful of the meat was given to Rox for the evening meal. The hide was set out for stretching and tanning, as the rest was sorted and put in a pit for burial, or wrapped for travel.

The dinner conversation turned to how much farther. Rox asked the direct question to Caspian. 

Caspian looked at the sky; Rox felt him cast a spell of some kind. Steven and Rox both continued eating. Then the spell came back, and Caspian returned to them.

“I sense we are a little over half way, straight line. Most of our travel now is going to be working our way through this and the connected mountain ranges into elf-country. We are done with the plains.”

Steven picked up his journal and paged through it, counting days. “We are some thirty days along. About 25 miles as an average, gives us about . . . “

Rox answered first. “750 plus miles. I would say about 650 of those moving away from the coast. And you say that we are about half way there?  So, another month of mountain travel. You once said Shalaia is a mountain city. I suppose this will help up to get acclimated to the altitude.”

Steven put his journal aside. “This time on top of the two months of time to get to Veradale. This is some summer vacation for the kids. Is there any way we can go faster?”

Caspian looked at the couple looking at him. He sighed.

“Yes, I can teleport, as I have previously said. But I cannot do so safely to the elf city, without a target to land on. I neglected to consider that I would want one when I was last there. I do not have the detailed scanning abilities that The Sorceress in Veradale has. Also the general area and the city we are going to in particular have protective spells that prevent me from finding anything in the area that I could use as a target. I could scan the area between here and there and try a few jumps, but that is dangerous to do, and I am not willing to risk your lives, let alone these animals with wild jumps. Therefore, without help from their end, we are left with getting there the traditional way.”

Rox deadpanned the end of the conversation. “I am guessing that is deliberate on their part. And that means another month on the road. There is a bug in your food.”

Steven and Caspian both checked their plates, and Steven flicked a chunk of vegetable out of his food into the fire.

Caspian put in the last word. “At least it’s summer time. Last time I was in the general area, it was still snow packed.”

062 – Melee And Magic

They marched along a high mountain valley, rolling hills to either side, craggy peaks beyond several of the rolls. Leafy trees mixed with pines in alternating stands. The road they traveled was above the usual flood level of the stream that carved this valley. They had been seeing one long valley like this after another, as the road wended its way across the mountain range. Generally they worked their way east, but the road went in all directions depending on which part they were on. It even regularly climbed up and over the hills as the terrain changed from drainage zone to zone.

They had passed some smaller bodies of water and two large lakes in their time. They stopped at one lake for baths and to wash their clothes. Rox and Steven swam across the comparatively narrow part of the lake and back. Caspian gave them respectful distance as they were stripped to their skins. The time in the water left the Caplan’s in a better mood than they had been previously. Caspian found the water to be too cool for his liking. Rox said it was warmer than Tahoe in May.

Steven and Rox had been taking turns hunting each week harvesting a medium sized animal; Steven with his crossbow, Rox with her bow. They used what they wanted of it and traded the rest off to others they encountered. Local traders and bards passed them on the road every so often; loggers, miners, quarrymen, and herders were in nearly equal distribution among the rest of their trading partners. The camps of men and women were at irregular intervals harvesting their specific resource. Twice they spent the evening with circuit riding ministers who graciously shared their fire. The hides were traded off, as neither the Caplan’s nor Caspian had any real skill in prepping and tanning.

One thing that was increasingly apparent among the locals was the underlying feeling of two camps about elves; one was neutral to vaguely positive, the other was openly hostile without being belligerent. One of the bards explained it as that the elves were condescendingly politely inconsiderate on the average, with the few hostile ones making up for the many benign ones. Caspian echoed this from his experience. There are enough benign ones that you could get along with for the most part, but when you found a hostile one, it made up for the rest.

Generally this left Rox doing her best to always be polite and gracious and Steven putting on his best good mood, and taking off his hat, to show his rounded ears.

Journal of Steven Caplan: Day 90

The mountains are getting a lot taller and craggier. The hills around them likewise taller, and less ‘rolling hills’ and more sharp angles. Likewise the trees of the forest are changing, fewer leaves, more evergreens.

I am a little surprised at how well the road appears to be maintained.

They spent one night at a camp that housed both a logging crew and quarry crew. It was soon apparent to the travelers that they were at the end of the week. As the evening went on, drink was passed around and a spirited debate between the two crews began. One side made a convincing presentation of their case followed by an equally spirited rebuttal, and counter argument. Rox found herself the target of enthusiastic participants willing to share their point of view with whoever could be seen, and she quickly disassembled the foundation of the arguments. Steven likewise was gathered into the spirit of things, and found himself defending his position from all comers. Caspian mainly found the loggers pressing their point of view on him, but was also able to hold his own against all arguments.

The debate wound down as the participants decided that their points had been proven, or were forgotten, the field littered with casualties from all sides. The women of the camp, those who had not been involved to this point, moved in and sorted the bodies attending to such wounds as needed, and sending the participants to their beds.

The next day was worship services, with many attending sporting assorted bruises and other minor wounds. Caspian joined the congregation, as Steven and Rox stood by at the back and listened to the message without comprehending a word of the language. Steven found he actually relaxed at the meeting; he appreciated that the audience participated by giving honest attention rather than calling out and adding to the noise. Rox was amused and pleased that her husband was actually having a good time at a worship service, though she found the speaker a bit long winded.

Services done and lunch being cleaned by the locals, the travelers took their leave and continued on their way.

At breakfast and as camp was broken the following morning, Rox mentioned to Caspian that she had sensed him using magic in the brawl, but had not had time to examine just what and how. As they walked Caspian talked about using personal body shields to counter various forms of attack.

Steven joined the conversation citing Caspian’s available spell assortment during the battle at Veradale. Specifically he mentioned Caspian’s saying he could brawl or do major property damage, so was reluctant to toss much magic around in the city.

As the discussion and lesson continued, the Caplan’s challenged Caspian to a sparring contest.

Caspian looked at them. “You are serious?”

Steven answered. “Yeah. You have seen how we can fight, but we have not really seen how you do. We clashed once, but I have not ever really seen you fight. I would kind of like to see that.”

“Also, I have not had a chance to really spar magically. I would like to do that,” Rox chimed in.

“You have a point. You want to joust, or put the animals aside and where they won’t be spooked?” Caspian looked around.

Rox answered. “Put them aside would be better, I think.”

Caspian nodded.

They soon passed into a meadow on the saddle of a hill and Caspian reined his mount in. He looked around and signaled to the Caplan’s that this would do.

“I think we can tie the horses here at the edge, then walk over there onto the point, and have our drill.” Caspian dismounted, and motioned for the Caplan’s to precede him. “It will be best for you to have the point to your backs, so I don’t inadvertently throw magic into the horses or whatever.”

They secured the horses at the edge of the meadow, and then Caspian cast a spell around them, and Cyrril perched on a branch above them. Rox sensed the result as a bubble of energy around the animals that was in motion and drawing energy from the world around it to maintain itself.

Caspian turned away from the horses to follow the Caplan’s “That should keep them from startling at any of our noise.”

They walked across to the far end of the point, trees coming up off the hills on all sides of them. Rox walked to Steven’s left and they spread out, giving each other room. Steven left his crossbow behind, Rox her bow, as they wanted to initially test melee fighting.

Caspian did not even give them the chance.

Steven did not get to begin to clear leather on his sword, Rox did not get to try anything with her staff, before everything around them went black. Steven felt the air around him solidify, holding him motionless. Rox felt a solid force shove her off her feet. A jet-blast of hot shot past Steven. A thunder crack deafened them from their left sides. Then nothing.

After a few more moments, to contemplate what was going on, light returned. The solid air vanished and Steven could move. A tree was on fire ahead of Steven, and off to their left two more had scorch marks, and some broken limbs were working their way down in the breeze that moved through the area.

Caspian spoke. “That demonstrated how I might start against a competitor in magic. Had I wanted to, Steven would have been hit by a flame blast and Roxanne by lightening.”

Caspian cast a short spell, and the fire on the tree died quickly.

Steven recalled the pit fight and tussle on the road, and turned drawing his sword and swinging through Caspian. Caspian blocked with his staff, and then moved into Steven with the two of them testing each other.

Roxanne watched, sensing that Caspian had some magic enveloping him. She applied to these senses and to all her prior experience to puzzle it out, and quickly saw that Caspian had a shield around him that redirected the kinetic energy from Steven’s strikes. She also watched as Steven practiced his own attacks from below, above, off hand and back hand, the intervening diagonals and straight ahead. He moved his left hand to the sword's blade griping it at its approximate middle, keeping his right at its normal place, and used it as a short staff, surprising Caspian. Steven used the crossbar to snag Caspian’s arm and then to yank his staff from his grip. Steven then closed in and tripped Caspian and put the flat of his sword to Caspian’s neck.

“I yield,” the mage said.

Both men were breathing heavier than normal, but not fully winded.

“You have been practicing, Steven. Also, that two hand stuff, very unorthodox to my experience. I think I should practice more against it.” Caspian critiqued, as he stepped to where his staff lay.

Steven smiled. “Thank you. The two hand stuff is partly a variation on staff techniques. You are using some kind of magic shield, at least on your arms, and torso.”

“Yeah; full body shield, redirecting your impacts. You could still push me directly on axis, but not from any other angle. Also it kept your cutting edge from connecting.” Caspian had his staff, brushing the scrub bits from it.

Steven sheathed his sword, and turned to his wife. “Your turn, Rox. Take him apart.”

Roxanne had her staff in loose ready, watching and listening to the men. The shorter one with the staff taller than her turned to her, fully warm and ready. Rox had come to understand that in a mana rich environment she could perceive the aura, or energy that a living thing put off. A healthy person was a swirl of reds and oranges normally, with injuries or other issues showing as a brighter intensity of color. Caspian normally had purples to blues in his aura as well, but at this moment, his arms and sides where Steven had managed to make contact now had brighter reds and oranges in the mix. Then Caspian reactivated his magic shields, and he took a blue tint, especially around his head.

As she looked him over she settled to a ready stance. Her hands found the outer carved spots and her staff extended its magic field, lengthening three fold. Caspian’s staff was enveloped in energy for its length, and the two stepped into each other.

They struck twice, one end then the other, and Rox was about to go for a third, when Caspian stepped off the proverbial mat.

“What was that?” he asked.

Rox looked back and realized that the magic enhancement around Caspian’s staff was gone, and for all intents at this moment it was just a tall stick. Her own staff was unchanged.

“I’m not sure. I struck with the one magic end, then the other. The Sorceress never gave me much instruction on this staff, insofar as actual hands on. She told me of its extending. And of its splitting,” Rox twisted the inner spots and the staff was now two sticks in her hands.

She put the ends back together. “Beyond that, she said it did not have any spells invested in it.”

Caspian looked his staff over. The first end she had hit was the carved end. That had been an intersection of energy fields. The second hit was at the butt end. There was a new slight dent in the wood, where the field of her staff had hit.

“Your first hit aligned all the energy I had invested around my staff. The second hit released all the energy back to mana, and hit the wood itself. That is why I backed off.”

Caspian stood for a moment, thinking, looking at and through her. Rox took the staff, and turned the length back on, and swung through a few bushes. These exploded in twigs and leaves as she went through them. Caspian tossed some magic fire into the bushes around her. The magic fire burned without consuming the plant. Rox’s staff passed through the bush. The fire was scooped out and tossed away, but the scrub exploded. The same result on several more scrubs, until a half dozen magical fires were merrily consuming energy around the area.

Caspian suggested at the same time Rox thought of it. “Hit the same one with both ends.”

Rox jabbed a fire with one end of her staff, then the other. It went out, both magic users sensing the organizing energy disrupted and dissipated. She tried it again on each of the remaining ones; no matter which end was used first, once both ends hit the second hit dispelled the spell. A single hit just moved the spell about, as magnets push each other about.

Caspian nodded. “That is what canceled all the magic around my staff. Useful indeed. I would need to look it over in more detail, but I suspect that is part of its intrinsic enchantments. So it won’t get in the way of putting other spells into it. So, now that we now that, I believe we were about here.”

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.

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.