Yousheng's stirrings woke me a couple of hours later. He wanted to know where he was, and once that was established how he'd gotten into my bed. He was less than amused when I told him I put him there. His annoyance was increased futher by the fact that both of us were naked and I was half lying on top of him.
Despite us having slept together on more than one occasion he was still uncomfortable in the current situation, now he was supposed to be my assistant come bodyguard. Saving him further discomfort I rolled across the bed, then walked across the room to the bathing pool, disappearing behind one of the dividing screens as I did so. With me in the pool he gathered up his things and made to leave. I said I'd see him in the stables in an hour.
By the time we left the stables at shortly after seven, the sky was brightening with the first hints of the rising sun. It was going to be a fine day. My riding skills had improved enough to exit the gates at a trot. We had a lot of distance to cover before I could even consider the Hellride I needed to make if we were to make Dakota in less than 36 hours.
Once out of the city on the Garnath road I picked up the pace. We would need to change horses at least twice on the trip, but the first inn was several hours away so I restricted the pace to a brisk canter. By the time we arrived shortly before 11 the horses were tired and distressed. We took the opportunity to feed and water ourselves before remounting and turning west once more.
For this stage of the journey it was necessary to ensure that Yousheng remained close to me and entailed riding stirup to stirup. As a precaution I fastened a rope to Yousheng's horse's bridle and looped it loosely around my saddle. It took me a while to get used to this style of riding and our progress during the first hour was slower than I'd hoped. By the time we stopped 4 hours later both I and the horses were nearing exhaustion, but we'd covered slightly more than half the distance to our destination. My original intention had been to stop for an hour, exchange horses an then press on arriving in Dakota late into the evening, thereby giving myself an extra day to resolve the situation Random had tasked me with. My state of mental fatigue scuppered this plan, and we settled in for a quiet evening with a view to leaving at 6 the following morning.
This morning's hellride proved to be slightly less tiring than yesterdays and we arrived in this city, if that is the correct term, at a little after 11. At first I thought we had just come across a small village but after a couple of miles the housing density increased and a more regular pattern emerged. This city is certainly unlike anything I've come across so far in my travels and is vastly different to the dense crowded Eurpoean style medieval cities or even their more open oriental counter parts. The best means of describing the city is as a set of interlocking large and small wheels. At the center of each large wheel are 20 or so houses arranged in a double concentric circle. Each house is seperated from the next by a largish garden or a large tree. From this radiate the spokes which form the road ways, those on the major axis leading to another large wheel whilst those on the diagonal leading to a smaller wheel. The spokes of the large wheels are approximately 1500 feet in length and each wheel is seperated from the next by either a 500 feet thick block of managed forest, forest intersperesed with open grass spaces, forest and water, or water.
Between each spoke are one or more fields either for agriculture or livestock. At the hub of each of the smaller wheels is a single building serving as either a meeting place, store house, home of an elder, or a collection of smaller dwellings serving non-native inhabitants or travellers. None of the native buildings are of more than 2 stories and most are built from mud and roofed with straw.
I was under specific instructions from Random not to identify myself as an Amberite, and not to use the Embassy as a hostelry or even to identify myself to the Ambassador until such a time as I thought suitable. Although Random had been specific in his instructions he had also said only that if I was astute as he believed me to be, that this time would become abundantly clear in due course.
To this end when we left the inn this morning I had foresaken my armour in favour of more traditional Ashan dress and we had taken the time to locate the local equivalent of an inn. That is to say we were not staying at an inn at all but what in the orient would be a ryokan, an enlarged family dwelling that provided lodgings to one to six travellers. The dwelling in which we found ourselves could cater for six travellers, although including Yousheng and I there were a total of 4 staying this evening. The other major difference between this hostelry and a Western or Oriental inn was that there were no separate sleeping rooms, in fact there were no separate rooms at all. The dwelling was a single open plan structure, equivalent to 3/4 of a circle with the entrance between the arms of the missing quadrant, so that you entered into the center of the building. Arrayed around the half of the circle between the outer wall and the ring of inner roof supports were 5 curtained areas, each of which functioned as a sleeping area. In front of these was the communal fire and living area, with what would have been a large 6th sleeping area functioning as the kitchen/pantry. An interesting adaptation to this was the stream that flowed into and out of this area similar in construction to that found in some Japanese mountain villages.
Having initially arrived at approaching 1pm and then inquired about places to eat, the inquiry had gained us an invite to eat lunch with the family. The sied effeof of which had gained us introductions to their two daughters, who seemed to take rather an interest in Yousheng, especially when we made it known that we were only traveling companions, Yousheng still acting in the capacity of body guard. Whilst not actually requiring any rest, I feigned weariness and retired to the sleeping furs, giving Yousheng the afternoon off, although he correctly read that he was to use the time to gain as much information about the local situation as he could.
It took Yousheng over an hour to get the daughters to suggest they show him the local highlights and markets and for them to disappear from both earshot and view leaving me free to also go exploring on my own. I wandered for a couple of hours with no particular destination in mind until I found myself in a small wheel hub somewhat different from those I'd so far encountered. The first impression was that this was a Shinto style garden formally rigid with sweeping swathes of gravel intermingled with cleverly placed rock shards and clumps of ground covering delicate flowers. On first discovering it I assumed it must belong to someone of oriental origin, most likely from Ashan. I was to be proved wrong on so many counts.
Having entered the hub, and being faced with a large swathe of neatly manicured gravel, raked to mimic the swirls and ripples in flowing water, I stopped. My instinct told me this was a test and that blundering across the gravel was definitely not the way to proceed. I looked around. There was an obvious path to my right which lead to a wooded deck enclosed by a pagoda. Too Obvious. Directly in front of me was a rather spikey piece of rock. It was certainly not the most comfortable place to sit, especially cross legged, but it was the only place that I could currently determine was the correct choice. I sat making myself as comfortable as possible and started to clear my mind. As I did so I unconsciously shifted my position until I felt a sharp stab of pain in my crotch. I ignored it and looked around. I could now see what I couldn't before. Laid very cleverly in the gravel was a path leading to the left. I uncurled my legs, causing the pressure of my body on the two rock prongs to increase significantly. Through streaming eyes, I removed my shoes, and stepped carefully onto the path. It was then a simple matter to follow it till its end upon a large slab of what was probably obsidian. As I stepped onto the slab, an eagle owl took wing from a tree behind me, and a large stag poked its head out from a stand of bamboo about 100 feet away, across another sea of gravel. The head gazed at me for several second before withdrawing.
Now devoid of pain, although the rock was surprisingly hot, I was better able to enter a meditative state. After sitting for perhaps 40 minutes, the rock growing increasingly hot all the while, I located another path, yet something told me this was to easy. Blocking the growing discomfort I returned to searching. A second path revealed itself but again something told me it was not the right one. The feeling that someone had shoved a white hot poker into me, told me that I'd located the right path. Forcing my protesting and shaking legs onto the path I stood and started walking. Again once on the path it was easy to follow. As I did so I could see that had I taken either the first or second paths I would have returned to the entrance. As I walked I approached and then passed through a pampas grass screen. Stopping just beyond it on the obsidian ledge, I scanned the pool, fed from the water falling from the rock crag some 50ft away. The path clearly led into the pool.
Hitching my dress up around my waist wasn't going to work this time so I stepped out of it, wrapped it around my sword and used the sash to fasten them across my shoulders. I hoped I wasn't going to have to swim. The water was ice cold and waist deep, taking my breath away as I stepped into it. Carefully feeling the way with my feet I made my way slowly across the pool inexorably towards the waterfall. I refused to become saturated however. Pushing aside the cold I summoned the pattern, and then built it into a physical shield above my head. I was starting to shiver by the time I managed it. Umbrella in place I moved into the stream of water until I was in the center of the flow. A rock its flat top six inches below the surface awaited me. I climbed up an sat cross legged once more. Apart from the fact that I was sitting in ice cold water I had another distraction, maintaining sufficient concentration on the pattern umbrella above my head to ensure I remained dry. In hindsight what I should have done was just use the pattern to show me the path but instead I chose the hard way. By the time I located the correct path it was starting to get dark, the approaching evening chill adding to the cold inflicted by the water I was sitting in. Sliding blue legs into the water once more I made my way out from under the water fall and onto dry land, emerging into the midst of the bamboo thicket, to be confronted by two men sitting cross legged in front of a tepee. The elder of the two, who I estimated to be at least 70 held a totem of a deer stag in his hands, whilst the younger, barely older than myself held a totem of an eagle owl. Both were naked.
As I moved to retrieve my dress the elder spoke. "Come sit. The fire is warm. Crys-like-owls is just leaving."
I felt a surge of power and the young man vanished. An eagle owl took wing and flew in the direction I'd just come.
A little stunned by what I'd just seen, I hesitated, then unstrapped the dress wrapped sword. My intuition told me there was no danger here, but I felt strangely naked. Unwrapping the sword I dropped the dress over my head and walked forward. As I sat the old man reached into the edge of the fire an withdrew a cup of steaming liquid. "You take your coffee sweet and black". It was half statement half question. He handed me the cup.
I sipped the coffee. It was slightly
stronger than I liked it but otherwise okay.
"Its good?"
"Yes"
"Good. Do you have a name?"
"You can call me Cordelia"
"So Cordelia of Amber, what brings you to my dwelling?"
"Who says I'm of Amber?"
"You walked the medicine path, the path that only a true medicine man
can walk, yet you are not a man. You sat on the rock of pain, the stone
of fire, and the pillar of ice, yet weren't bathed by the waters of
life. I have been expecting one such as you. One touched by the Unicorn
yet with the Fire-Birds totem."
"Curiosity"
"You endured much to satisfy your curiosity"
"Perhaps. But now I'm warmer and dryer I need to return to my dwelling
- I assume there's a shorter path"
He smiled. "It has been good to share your company. I will see you
again when the moon sinks over the bamboo."
I was about to make a retort then thought better of it. To my right, the movement of light had caught my attention. As I moved towards it, I saw more pin pricks of light, tiny bodies glowing in the gathering night, picking out a path back to the entrance.
By the time I reached the dwelling it was fully dark. I guessed it must have been around 10 o'clock, and my earlier exertions and the night chill were beginning to take their toll. I wasn't surprised to find Yousheng still awake, but the eldest of the two daughters attentions I wasn't expecting, although it was mostly for Yousheng's benefit. Given the company and the possible prying ears we exchanged minor small talk agreeing that Yousheng would show me around the markets in the morning. Happy that I'd returned safe and sound Yousheng made his excuses and retired to his sleeping furs. With no one to flirt with wind-through-moonbeams did likewise, leaving me alone to finish my meal in peace.
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