Khadi's Story 3: The Road |
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Today the first stage of my journey is ended, for I have arrived at Kred'Nos. Yesterday there was no Sending, for, as I shall relate, we were inside the Road. But I must be proper in my account, so that the Engravers do not Entwine. I awoke at dawn refreshed and renewed; as far as I can tell my body is healed completely, except that I have hair only on my head. I ate and fed the boy, who was at first reluctant to eat my Glorious Excrement, but quickly succumbed to some gentle Mind Control and licked me clean. The food helps to nourish him far more than the strands of carpet and dead rats he had been living on before. A while after we set off, the hills at the end of this strange room started to get noticeably larger. In this strange world beyond the Tunnel, that signifies that they have chosen to approach. We rode towards the start of the hills, although the exact point where the carpet gave way to hills was unclear; the carpet strands grew taller, and the soft-stone ruins more common. When the Second Orb was uppermost, we came upon a group of Outsiders sitting around a fire. They were burning pieces of the soft brown stone; it is useful to know that it can be used as a substitute for human fat. The Outsiders appeared greatly perturbed by our approach, for since the Bearing Beast is all but silent, they had not heard as, and we approached through dense ruins. I dismounted and stood in the Twelfth Posture of Arriving, which Arkiss always says is the best one to be used before unknown inferiors. They were bound up in klodes, very much like the ones the villagers had used to destroy my Power the day before. I wondered if they were being punished. One of them stood and walked towards me. Nearing me, he spoke, and I was relieved that his utterances were not more animal-noises. Wanna-you eat? he asked, and I realised that education must not be strong here. Later I came to discover that language has fallen greatly in the thousand years since the last Archivist, but here I reached up and grasped the boy's ankle to force him to dismount, then spoke, slowly and carefully. I am Prince Khadi of the Impregnable Fortress of Kehahn in the Hidden Sphere on the Border of the Forgotten Realm. I speak with the Voice of Authority and the Tone of Command. It is your pleasure to gaze upon me. These savages had the temerity to laugh, and the one who had approached then came yet closer and places his hand on my shoulder as if to comfort me, and said, And I am the woman who mends the sky when the Sun has fallen. I bowed deeply to the woman-who-mends-the-sky, for She is well known amongst us, and I knew that we could not stay, for to eat the food of the Gods is to live forever, a punishment worse than any other. I declined their offer and we went on our way. * By the middle of the afternoon we reached a circular stone tower that marks the entrance to the Road. The Bearing Beast Paha'Amit knows the way, but the tower stood now in a lake; it was deep and Paha'Amit swam to the centre where the tower stood. There were rocks piled high near the tower, but it was of Redstone that cannot be worked, and stood still smooth and firm. What had not occurred to me, nor to any who sent me and instructed me, Blessings upon them and may they drink the urine of their enemies, was that I would be unable to fly through the air! And so the entrance to the tower stood maybe five storeys above me. I tried to climb from the back of the Bearing Beast at the highest point, but the tower rock is too smooth for a finger or a toe. Here again the boy proved his usefulness, for he pointed to the edge of some brown and green ruins on the hill. The Bearing Beast was easily able to knock over several of the pillars and carry them back to the tower, but it was plain it would take days to build a structure tall enough to reach the entrance. Then, as we watched, the pillars we had leaned against the tower slowly sank into the mud and were gone. The lake burped loudly, and all three of us decided to leave it. The entrances to the Road were always built in threes, to reflect the Sacred Order; the Engravings tell us that sometimes they are concealed, so that I had been reluctant to search, but we came upon another tower after but a few Stanzas. This tower was in a marsh, but no lake, and there was an entrance at ground level. I had always known that I could not take my Bearing Beast with me on this part of the Quest, It is a sign of weakness that I felt a sadness; perhaps it is caused by being away from one's home, as the Art Lord had warned. Other travellers have made similar claims. None the less, I could sense that the Road was functioning, and so I Signed the Bearing Beast to wait until the Third Orb, and then to return to the Sacred and Impenetrable Fortress. The boy and I waded through slimy black mud and reached the tower. Later I would have the youth lick me clean, but for now, it was enough to be here. Soon we would be in the ancient city of Kred'Nos. The Road was in use: we saw several palanquins go past as we descended. Each is supported by four long poles on the shoulders of four slaves; a platform in the middle holds those who wish to travel. It is written, in the Room of Melting Dusk on the Third Wall, Lost are they that wear boots on the Road; this phrase was a mystery to us, but now I understand that boots are the foot-prisons that destroy the Power, and without the Power none could ever leave the Road, but would surely be doomed to wander forever. The people on the platforms of the palanquins, however, were wearing klodes, including boots, and I can only imagine that they were careful never to step on the actual Road. We arrived at the platform, where a palanquin awaited. I do not know how long those slaves had been standing there in readiness. The floor down by the platform has many small sharp tubes, and the slaves standing on it are fed through the soles of their feet. Anything dropped on the surface almost instantly vanishes. At any rate, we sat upon the platform, and took control of the reins that pass through the mouths of the slaves in the front and the testicles of those behind, and gave the sharp jerk that causes the slaves to awaken. They stepped silently onto the Road, and began to run. When I mentioned that the palanquins travel quickly, I do not think I made clear that at times they go so fast that all becomes a blur. Within the time it takes to recite three stanzas of the Raga of Swes'Praha, we had arrived. The slaves stood in their place by the platform, and we disembarked. I do not think the slaves have minds of their own, else they would surely be bored. They all appear to be male, but perhaps, like us, they keep their females hidden and use them only for breeding. We were in the city on the edge of the lake, the Red Jewel of legend. Here my instructions were that I was to find the Council of Mages and demand the Third Key. They will tell me where to find the key, and I shall retrieve it and return it to the Fortress. Every thousand years we have sent someone, even though it was written that it would take ten thousand years after the Second Key was found before the Gate could open. But I am the tenth to Search for the Third Key, and the thirtieth Searcher. I shall find the Key.
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