~
At last we came through the final mountain pass. By this time our elevation had dropped back down to warmer more pleasant climes, in fact we had been travelling downhill for the last three days, having passed back into the tree line two days previous. I noticed a spring return to Serinae’s step as if the return of the trees had somehow refreshed her. I had noticed the same lifting of my spirits to, but did not attribute the positive feeling to the trees but more to do with the warming of the air around us. It was good to be in the forest again though, to have broad leaves above our heads and soft grass beneath our feet. Serinae was positively happy humming that tune of hers again. I smiled and was almost tempted to join in.
Łĩnwéé seemed to be getting more excited by the minute, when I asked him about his happy demeanour he smiled up at me and said, “Ach lassie ‘tis the path ‘pon which we tread, ‘round here, within this valley, ‘tis where I spent m’ youth. I be a’gettin’ close t’ home.”
I smiled at him; perhaps I would feel a rush of elation if I ever returned to that place I called home, although with some trepidation I was beginning to wonder where that actually was. Unlike Master Łĩnwéé who had only been away for a few months, I had been away from my home for many years and it seemed almost lost in memory. I was returned out of my thoughts as I walked straight into Teouso’s broad form, he had stopped dead in his tracks. I began to exclaim my apologies but as I opened my mouth he grabbed my hand and looking at me placed a finger in front of his lips demanding silence. I was about to ask why when I noticed Serinae had her bow in hand an arrow already drawn. Łĩnwéé had his axe at the ready and even Tnie had un-shouldered his ri’fal. I had heard nothing as usual, but had learnt to remain quiet when asked to. Teouso led me gently by the hand as the fighters in our group went into a defensive stature that was second nature to them all. I mused that this meant everyone prepare for a fight and the one nearest Minervar was to shut her up and take her somewhere safe! I glanced at Jondris, no weapons for him but his fists, he looked back at me an alertness in his eyes, he decided to follow Teouso and me into the trees on the opposite side of the path to Serinae who remained with Łĩnwéé and Tnie.
Once concealed we waited for what seemed an eternity. But eventually three figures came into view on the path ahead. Each was very tall and slim and garbed entirely in a loose flowing robe, a large hood pulled over their heads, so large you could not see any of their features. I was reminded of Łĩnwéé’s tale of the figure he saw back in the mountains when we encountered the Sabre Tongues and the same figure perhaps that I had seen high on the crag, there could most definitely have been a similarity. A fear gripped my stomach. Each robe was so long that it covered their feet entirely so that even as they took each step I could not glimpse anything of their form as they strode towards where we remained hidden. They moved gracefully with a gate I did not recognise and they did not communicate as they approached our position. As they came to the section of path nearest to us they stopped as one, neither of the three glanced left or right or moved an inch. I got the distinct impression that they knew we were there. The foremost of their number suddenly moved like lightning, casting aside his robe at the waist he quickly withdrew a long curved sword from its hidden place within the flowing robe and raised the weapon two handed. An arrow swift as a beam of light shot towards the figure. I watched in fascinated horror as it flew swiftly towards its mark and was further fascinated by the way it seemed to be slowing down the nearer it got to its target. About one meter away from the figure with the raised sword the arrow stopped altogether and just hung in the air. I went to take a step backward, but when I tried to move my legs they would not respond to my thoughts for what seemed an age. When one leg eventually did respond it was so slowly that at this rate it would have taken me hours to get to make a single step. My eyes were attracted by another movement and I tried to get them to move towards this, but they wouldn’t move either, at least not immediately. Then as with my leg my eyes started to move but ever so sluggishly. I managed to see out of the corner of my eye the figure in front of the arrow raise its arm at normal speed and gently taking hold of the shaft and plucking it from the air held it up in front of the hood as if inspecting the arrow. By this time my eyes had moved to a position where I could make out the detail of the hand that held the arrow. Long slender fingers, pallid, ashen in colour and at the end of each finger a long curved finger nail, almost like a claw or talon.
All of a sudden I heard a voice, not in my ears but in my head.
“Peace to you long ears. We hold you no malice, put down your weapons for we would not fight you this day.”
Then without warning a shudder came to my body and my eyes swivelled quickly to the figures standing before us. I realised I could move normally again and almost stumbled backwards at the sudden movement of my leg still trying to take a step back. I shot a glance at Teouso and Jondris, both fell forward onto the path weapons still in their hands. Serinae and the other two stepped out from their hiding place weapons still drawn and a second arrow already fitted to Serinae’s bow.
Łĩnwéé broke the silence saying, “who are ye that walk these ‘ere lands unheralded and unescorted? These be Grûndén lands, answer by Øédréll or I’ll be of a mind t’ slice ye in two.”
One of the strangers said again directly our minds, “we know where we are stout one, for we have just been meeting with your kinsmen within your city of Gwéldølĩn. As for the slicing in half I would not recommend you take such a provocative action.”
Serinae lowered her bow and released the draw on the arrow, stepping forward she held up her hand palm forward and bowing slightly said, “forgive us Master Keeper, but few travel these roads it seems these days, and those that do so are not always welcoming to the Elder Races.”
A Keeper! I gasped in wonder, so they were real after all.
The figure holding her arrow moved slightly forward and handed it back to her. She bowed to the figure in front of her and touched her forehead in respect. The figure gave a short bow in return and stepped backwards to re-join his companions. The rest of our party still seemed unsure and although not in aggressive stance, weapons remained in view.
All three figures then as one removed their hoods from their heads, I took a sharp intake of breath as what was revealed were three faces and heads that looked human but the skin was the same ashen white in colour as the hand I had seen and no hair grew upon their heads or anywhere on their faces. The eyes though were what shocked me; they were the same blue within blue that I had seen in Solin’s gaze.
The one who had spoken before then said out loud this time, “be at peace travellers, make haste to Gwéldølĩn, the stout ones are expecting you.”
Then without so much of a nod and no hint of any further word or sound the three replaced their hoods and strode past us and on down the path.
Serinae spoke, “forgive me, but please, are you the only three that walk these lands?”
There was no response, they continued on their way as if they had not heard. Serinae looked angry, she made a few steps to follow them, but the voice spoke once again.
“Look to the stout one’s king long ear, he may hold the answer to your questions.”
Before we could say anything further I gasped for the figures seemed to waver and their outline fade. Then they disappeared before my eyes.
“Old Ones,” said Łĩnwéé with a hint of wonder in his tone. He was smiling and shaking his head from side to side slowly. “I dunny believe they existed but in children’s stories. None ‘ave been seen for so lang, they be but myth an’ legend even t’ me people. By t’ Lord Øédréll’s beard, an’ here be three o’ ‘em. I wonder what business they be ahavin’ in Gwéldølĩn?”
“Who knows Master Grûndén, but if we are expected in Gwéldølĩn as we were told then perhaps an answer does indeed lie there,” was Serinae’s response.
We continued onward, I slowed my pace to allow Serinae to catch up to me, t
hen falling in line with her I asked the question that is burning on my mind, “Keepers?”
She looked at me and smiled, “you are fortunate Minervar, not many people have seen them let alone been in their presence.”
“But why here?”
Serinae smiled again at me and said, “who knows. They are beings with a mysterious past, very wise and knowledgeable, but they keep themselves very much to themselves. They are reputed to be travellers; beings whose skill allows them to traverse freely the outer voids. They are few in number now having lost almost all the ability to reproduce. I have heard stories tell that long ago they traded love and the act of physical affection for immortality. But one thing is for sure Mini, something of great importance has surely happened, for they very rarely venture forth into this world. Only in great need or tumultuous times do they make their presence felt once again.”
“Maybe then that was what Łĩnwéé and I saw above our camp after we had the flight from the sabre tongues, a Keeper?” I asked.
“Maybe,” was the reply.
But something in Serinae’s tone made me think that she thought otherwise. Before I could ask another question Łĩnwéé shouted and ran forward pointing ahead, all eyes were turned to him.
“There,” he said pointing ahead. “There it be.”
As we turned another slight bend the path dropped down the mountainside to a valley below, at the head of the valley a river could be seen gushing from out of the rock flowing forth from a wide cave.
“What?” I asked. I could see nothing except the obvious.
Łĩnwéé laughed and clapping his hands together in glee said, “It be there, the south’n door, the gateway into the Grûndén realm an’ the lands o’ m’ fathers, there be the fare city o’ Gwéldølĩn under the mountain.”
I tried to see the gate and the city but couldn’t see anything that even resembled a construction if any sort, so shrugged and continued walking. Łĩnwéé leapt ahead of us all and went dancing down the path. We entered the valley and proceed to follow the path by the river up the vale along a well-worn way until we caught up with him at the rock wall in which was the cave out of which the river was flowing. The cave looked much bigger here up close and I thought this must be the door, or gate to which Łĩnwéé referred. “We will get our feet wet,” I said.
Suddenly a shout went up from above our heads. “ACRET!”
I looked for the person shouting the word but could see no one. Łĩnwéé puffed out his chest and shouted a response which I did not understand for he shouted words in his own language,
“Íscãtél, ĩnĩ röbûcd né shéll fãtéĩllé.”
Looking up I saw the features of a heavily armoured Grûndén soldier appear as if out of the rock face above. I took several steps backwards to get a better view. There about twenty metres or so above the ground on which we stood I could just perceive a sort of balcony set into the rock face, very cleverly disguised and I could see the Grûndén quickly followed by two others in similar armour look over the edge.
One of the soldiers shouted questioningly, “déh néf cétrûg?”
Łĩnwéé muttered to himself and shook his head. Then to no one in particular responded in the common tongue, “have I been a’gone s’ long then, that none a yee’s may remember me?”
But then another of the Grûndén suddenly shouted, “Łĩnwéé?”
To which our companion looked up and again reverting back to his own tongue shouted,
“Ayé néh förntöl Łĩnwéé. Ísk nãt Fééwiél?”
A shout came in reply from above, “Łĩnwéé, förntöl Łĩnwéé!”
Then after a few minutes we heard a deep rumbling sound and I could feel the earth start to shake beneath my feet, there was a noise like cracking stone and part of the rock wall to the left of the point where the river ran out, started to slide inwards and then after thirty seconds or so the wall changed direction sliding to one side revealing the mouth of a large cave big enough to let a column of soldiers pass with ease.
Łĩnwéé danced with glee again and said to us, “come, come my friends,” and pointing to the opening beckoned us to follow him inside the mountain.
As we passed between the gate and into the cavern darkness fell all around us. Only when our eyes adjusted did we become aware of a faint glow from the surrounding rocks and soon this glow was enough to see by. Stretching out in front of us was a large high tunnel obviously carved out of the mountain at some time past. The walls of the tunnel were perfectly smooth and regular; some great art was practiced and used here to work this wonder. I heard laughter and looking to my right I saw Łĩnwéé and another who I assume was the Grûndén Fééwiél clutching each other’s hands and jumping up and down in delight, quite a heartfelt reunion I thought. Serinae seemed to be chatting to one of the other Grûndén guards, remarkably he was saluting her and standing to attention. He stood on the bottom step of a flight of stairs that were set into a doorway entrance in the rock and disappeared upwards in a spiral within. I assumed these led to the terrace and balcony above where the Grûndén kept guard over the entrance and could watch over the surrounding countryside without being seen themselves. Serinae seemed to be in quite a lengthy conversation with the Grûndén she was talking with. Soon they nodded to each other, saluted and the conversation came to an end.
The Grûndén she had been talking to coughed and in a loud voice said in the common tongue, “welcome m’ lords an’ ladies to Gwéldølĩn, ye be honoured guests ‘specially as ye be in the company of one o’ our own.” At this he nodded to Łĩnwéé, and then continuing, “an, o’ course the Lady Serinae who be well known to us. We rejoice at her returning to Gwéldølĩn fo’ she be sorely missed these years past. Please follow. I be ‘priv’leged t’ escort ye with honour t’ the city an’ t’ make arrangements for your stay an’ audience with the Grâumin.”
At this he turned and shouting some departing orders to the other guards, beckoned us follow behind him as he walked away down the tunnel. I wondered what or who the Grâumin was and as if she read my mind Serinae whispered in my ear,
“the Grûndén king Mini,” and smiling winked at me.
Within a hundred metres or so we came to a junction where another tunnel joined from the left in a sort of sweeping fork. Along the floor of this tunnel lay two parallel metal bars that seemed to sing to me like the blade of a sword being sharpened. Looking up and down the tunnel I became aware of a bright light shining from beyond the bend in the fork. I watched this light became brighter and brighter until around the bend a small sort of cart or carriage came rattling along, its wheels astride the metal bars on the floor. The bright light was mounted on the front of this carriage and immediately behind I could make out a Grûndén in overalls sitting on a small seat sideways on, he held a long smouldering pipe in his teeth. In his hand he held some kind of lever device. The soldier that escorted us held up his hand and as the little carriage drew alongside us the Grûndén sitting in the carriage pushed on the lever gently and the carriage came to a slow halt right in front of us. I noticed that the carriage was not alone, following close behind were several other little carriages, but I noticed these, although having a seat and lever like the one in front did not have anyone controlling the lever.
Our escort said, “Come, sit,” and he proceeded to climb onto one of the carriages and sitting on the seat, beckoned to us to do likewise on the following carriages.
Once we were all seated I felt a jerk as the carriages moved off again I felt slightly uneasy at the jerking movement and grabbed at the lever in front of me to steady myself. But the lever moved and suddenly I was shaken by an awful grinding and vibrating from the carriage I was sitting on. The Grûndén in the lead carriage jerked us to a halt again and saying something in a loud voice looked at me in annoyance.
Łĩnwéé, who was in the carriage next to mine said in a slightly embarrassed tone, “Mini don’ ye touch tha’ brake lever lassie, lest ye ups
et the applecart.” He nodded towards my hands that were gripping the lever.
I immediately release the lever as if it were burning my hand. The Grûndén in the front carriage grunted something inaudible and releasing his lever, we again started to move off.
Slowly I got used to the jerking rattling mode of transport and started to look around at my surroundings. We had accelerated gently and now moved quite rapidly through the tunnel. I noticed many other tunnels branching off the one through which we travelled, most had a set of ‘rails’ as the Grûndén called the parallel metal bars. Sometimes a little carriage with its light was stationary at the mouth of a tunnel waiting for us to pass before pulling out behind us, sometimes following, sometimes going in the opposite direct or disappearing down another side tunnel after following us for a short while. We also passed through wide open caverns, each of these seemed to be full of activity. Many contained buildings and other structures, some of which were obviously workshops of some kind for sparks flew from many forges and many other industrious noises could be heard as we passed by. I felt astounded, so much was going on, so much was down here out of sight to the world above, it was after all a different world. At one point we stopped in one of the larger caverns and our driver climbed down from his carriage and walked towards one of the buildings. He went inside and reappeared minutes later with a wooden crate full of odd looking metal shapes. With the help of another Grûndén he placed this crate behind his seat before climbing back on board and we again resumed our journey. Time and again I was struck by the activity and ingenuity of the Grûndén as they worked at whatever they were doing.
After some hour or so of moving along the tunnel I began to notice a great golden coloured glow in front of us, this steadily increased in intensity the nearer we got and finally after leaving the tunnel through a very wide exit we burst forth into the widest open space this far and were bathed in the golden light.
I was astonished, at first I thought we had come back out of the mountain and were once more in daylight, in some enormous valley within the heart of the mountains, but as my eyes adjusted, the truth was even wilder for we had entered a colossal cavern. The space was so large it was beyond belief, at least a thousand times larger than any we had so far passed through, and that guess was being conservative I thought later. The golden glow emanated not from the sun but from a number of massive globes that hung way, way above us. I looked around and gaped at my surroundings. The cavern walls either side of us curved ever so slightly around and disappeared into a haze at the limit of my vision. I guessed that this was around ten or even maybe twenty kilometres on either side of the point where we exited the tunnel. The immense golden globes, six in all, also appeared to be many kilometres above my head which meant that they must be enormous themselves. We crossed a bridge and my face was pleasantly dampened from a fine spray of cool water as it rose from a deep chasm below us, looking around I could see a magnificent waterfall cascading down the wall of the cavern and falling into the depths of the chasm we were crossing. I guessed far below us somewhere lost to sight in the mist, this water must have continued on its course as a subterranean river going to I knew not where. We came to the end of the bridge and passing over a short section of ground densely populated by trees, found ourselves on another bridge identical to the first, when I glanced back I could see the piece of ground we had just passed over was the top of a tall narrow pinnacle of rock, the base of which could not be seen as it disappeared into the fine spray of water from the cascade far below us. Plants adorned the sides of the pinnacle, their roots gripping the rock face. I could see ferns, some of great size, far taller than I. Some climbing plants with pretty coloured variegated leaves hung in long fronds, the stems looked to be thicker than my arms and these disappeared into the water laden air below. Many vibrantly colourful birds of all sizes flew in and around the plants and some could be seen flying across the gulf below us, feathers spread wide and wings constantly adjusting to the turbulent air currents flowing below.
We continued and passed four such pinnacles protruding up from the depths. A couple of these were taller than the height of our passage, so we passed these pinnacles not across the top, but through them via a tunnel that had been cut clean through their centre, I was reminded of an eye of a needle, but many times bigger of course. We passed through one such enormous pinnacle, much larger than the rest. The tunnel within plunged us into darkness for three or four minutes. But nothing prepared me for the view we got upon exiting the tunnel. I gasped, for ahead of us I got my first glimpse of the city itself, the Grûndén city of Gwéldølĩn.
The city lay basking in the golden glow of the six great globes. Gwéldølĩn was a stunning surprise, it was truly beautiful, its buildings were works of architectural art and trees and shrubs grew everywhere. There were terraces and walkways, stair cases winding around, sloping pathways and avenues lined with trees and shrubs. Water ran and cascaded down little waterfalls, sometimes trickling down troughs in the middle of a road, sometimes pouring forth from circular holes at the base of a building into large bowl like structures obviously made to catch the water and gather it in pools before it flowed onwards on its way. Ornate bridges of beautifully designed wrought iron-work mimicked the branches of trees spanning across streams and roads and walkways between buildings. Fountains where everywhere, many different designs could be seen, some standalone some attached to the walls of buildings. The city itself spanned across many pinnacles of rock all massive in size and all at different levels giving the city the look of having been built across several large terraces at varying heights.
I was aghast, all I could say was, “it’s so beautiful.”
Łĩnwéé smiled up at me and leaning towards me said, “aye Mini, ‘tis a sight for these eyes, it feel good t’ be home again. Ye be very welcome in t’ the fair city o’ Gwéldølĩn, I hope yur stay be a pleasin’ one.”
I just looked at him and gave a slightly girlish giggle for I was so excited to be here in this beautiful place.
Once across the bridge we entered a lower district of the city, not the lowest, for windows and balconies could be seen disappearing down the sides of the rocky cliffs. Far, far below the windows weren’t glazed at all but just had ornate wrought iron works across them and below that the windows just had vertical bars. A couple of long rope bridges spanned the gulf between certain of the pinnacles of rock and some rickety looking wooden platforms and walkways clung to the vertical faces disappearing down into the watery mists below. Many of these walkways and bridges had planks missing and rotted rope hung form some parts, I suspected that these were no longer used.
The main city districts were built on a series of hills lower to our left and rising higher to our right. I learnt later that these hills were in fact indeed the tops of larger plateaus of rock, the tops of pinnacles which had their bases upon the floor of the cavern many hundreds of metres below in the depths of the water that flowed through this massive place somewhere far below. Many beautifully ornate bridges spanned between these plateaus joining up the various districts of the city.
Eventually we came to a grinding halt inside one of the buildings set within this lower district of the city. Again this seemed to be some kind of a workshop and possibly a terminal for the ‘applecarts’ as the Grûndén called the little carriages on which we had travelled. I noticed many pairs of metal rails ran in and out of this building in many directions and much activity is going on. I noticed some applecarts being rotated on large movable tables and I was reminded of the CaRTS in Scienocropolis. Similar to that transport system the rotating tables enabled the little applecarts to be turned and face back the way they had entered the building, or in another direction altogether. But unlike those in Scienocropolis these rotating tables were far smaller and had to be turned manually by a couple of Grûndén turning a handle off to one side.
Other areas of the building housed benches and many Grûndén were hard at work doing what looked like repairs to the a
pplecarts, others were fabricating things. I noticed one bench was piled high with levers matching the one in front of me, obviously the little applecarts were manufactured here. I suddenly heard someone call to me and looking around I noticed that we had actually stopped and everyone had dismounted the applecarts and were now walking away from me towards the far end of the building. I jumped down and ran to catch up still looking this way and that, marvelling at all the activity here in this place. I noticed a company of grim looking Grûndén soldiers wearing full armour and carrying weapons to one side lined up in order. The armour that they wore was not as sophisticated or as well worked as that which Łĩnwéé wore, or for that matter the uniforms that gate guards wore. As we walked by each soldier stood to attention and saluted, both Łĩnwéé and Serinae saluted in response. As I continued to watch the soldiers turned on their heels as one and faced one of the lines of applecarts. This one had at least thirty carts all joined behind one another and each soldier took a seat in turn and once mounted, the applecarts started to move away from us. I noticed then another group of soldiers marching away from the same spot, perhaps I had witnessed a changing of the guard or some such activity.
We exited the building back into the light of the globes, it occurred to me just how much like the Sun these globes were, but no sunlight would penetrate this far into solid rock, this made me wonder just how deep under the mountains we were. We found ourselves walking along a wide boulevard with trees growing either side, a clear little stream trickled along beside the road. I noticed that these trees were Sycamores and I was amazed to see them growing underground, I concluded that the light from the golden globes must replicate pure sunlight very accurately for this to happen, I wondered if some unseen force turned the brilliance of the globes down or even off altogether to replicate night time or maybe they just hung there shining like that all the time. But then lamp stands were prevalent along each road, so I assumed it must get dark here regularly.
Looking around me I looked at the buildings on either side of us and noticed actually how small they were, but then we were in a Grûndén city I supposed where everything most probably would be Grûndén sized much the same I mused as the Pnook size of everything in Scienocropolis, but somehow that place looked bigger, probably due to the sheer size of the buildings. I didn’t have the inclination to talk I was so full of wonder for this place, others were having conversations around me but I didn’t notice what is being said.
We had been walking uphill most of the way and had crossed several bridges and were obviously moving towards the more residential areas of the city. Everything was becoming more ornamental, less functional somehow. After about half an hour’s walk we came across a larger building, this one had larger doors than most of the buildings we had so far come across, T’Iea sized doors in fact, I was surprised to see them. We stopped outside this building and I was able to look up at the façade. Yes, this building was much taller than most others, although the number of floors, judging by the position of the windows, was similar to all other Grûndén architecture.
Serinae giggled at my open mouth and said, “never fear Mini, you are about to experience true Grûndén hospitality.”
Chapter 25 The House of Låûkénsåå
Extract from ‘The Hidden Peoples’ by Solin D’Teinde.
To shun the hospitality of the Grûndén has been likened to walking naked in a thunderstorm holding a long metal lance vertically into the air. Such arrogance resulting in certain deep embarrassment and a massive shock to the system, both will mark you as most foolish.