The one to his left helped P'nyssa onto her horse.The one to his left helped P'nyssa onto her horse. He wheeled the horse back towards the smoke. "Tell me," he said, "what brings you to D'israeli's home?" "It is a personal matter of my..." I searched for the word in Uncia to describe my relationship with P'nyssa. I couldn't find one, so I switched to Quen, "Coimelin," literally, "The love of my life." "I see. I would invite you to dinner, but I fear what we eat would not be palatable to you." In Quen, so P'nyssa would understand, I said "I could eat your food, RRawl," and out of the corner of my eye I could see P'nyssa making NO motions with her mittens. I laughed and continued, "but I'm afraid my coimelin's stomach is not so experienced." RRawl roared with laughter and said, "I appreciate that. Very well. You will dine with D'israeli tonight, but join us for a meal sometime." "I will do that. Would you wish me for a hunt?" "You will not slow us down?" "Do my best." "Rumor has it you once hunted with Lukas." Lukas was the only human who participated in the Uncia rituals of combat and territory. He rarely lost. "The rumor is true. With him I killed the pamthreats who threatened the centaur town of Minya." Yeah, and I almost died in the process. Lukas came out with nary a scratch. Bastard. "Then I would be pleased to have you hunt with us." "Thank you, Uncia." We had reached the outer fence of the encampment. We rode in and RRawl said, "You'll find the route to D'israeli's home over there," pointing to a short route that led... To a cliff. The "haze" I'd been noticing was a cliff. This enormous plain that stretched for apparently hundreds of miles was on top of a cliff, and D'israeli apparently lived at the bottom of this. "He lives in your Faryth?" I asked. RRawl nodded his affirmative. "But, what's down there?" "Rainforest." "You're kidding." "No. The drop is 2536 meters." I whistled. What sort of geologic oddity had created this? "How long does this rift run?" "There is a saltwater ocean 2500 klicks that way. The rift and the landbed below meet about 1800 klicks that way. The rift runs exactly along the northern border of the southern Uncia climate band." "I'm impressed. Wait. |