Rebel Dragon by Steve Turnbull

Author:Steve Turnbull [Turnbull, Steve]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781910342848
Publisher: Tau Press Ltd
Published: 2019-04-10T22:00:00+00:00

She let Sheesha choose their flying height once she had pointed him in the right direction—or the best approximation of ‘the right direction’ she could manage. She still did not know how big Esternes was and the trouble with using a patterner’s path—direct travel from ley-circle to ley-circle—was that it gave no indication of the true distance.

In the past, when they had gone to the races, they had always gone by the path. The patterners would chant and inscribe their patterns on the ground to create an invisible gate, you walked into the gate and through the World’s Pattern until you reached the gate at the end. The strangest thing about the journey was that you never knew how long it would take.

Even the journey from her old master to Jakalain had been by ley-circle. Her old master had maps but he kept them locked up because they were so valuable.

So, the matter of the size of Esternes was important. How long would it take for a ziri to cross it?

The wood where they had camped was swiftly lost to view. The ground appeared flat but it was an undulating surface cut by streams and rivers that flowed from the mountains. Yenteel had said the mountains went to the edge of the sea, so if they followed the mountains they would also reach the sea. Then they could follow the cliffs.

Or they could ask someone.

Villages, sometimes fewer than a dozen buildings grouped together, dotted the landscape. Now that they were travelling in daylight she could see that each village was surrounded by a high fence—which also enclosed areas for animals. Beyond the walls, in almost every case, were herds of fenichasa with men, sometimes boys, guarding them.

Just as she looked down, the herdsmen and the people in the villages looked up at the four ziri passing across the sky. She wondered what those people thought. Did they see the riders? They must. Sheesha was not flying very high and it was easy enough to see the people down there, so Kantees, Gally, Yenteel, and Daybian must be clearly visible.

Not that it mattered. It would be days before any of these people could pass on a message to someone who mattered even if they wanted to.

Then there was forest.

Almost as if there was a line across the land. Nothing lay below them but trees, and packed so close together only the tops were visible. The undulating green was cut by the occasional wide river. Birds and other flying creatures populated the upper reaches of the trees but what lay below she had no idea.

The sun told her it was getting towards midday. The ziri had been flying all that time and must be getting tired. But they were still over the forest, which now stretched from horizon to horizon in all directions except to the north, where the mountains grew out of the green.

She began to look in earnest for a place to land.

None of the rivers seemed to have any islands and she was concerned about what nasty things might live in their waters.

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