Waking Olympus (The Singers of the Dark Book 1) (17 page)

Sharing the night spectacle with him were Tarvis, Tei, Rijart, and Kay. They were pointing at stars and naming them, references to myths, general talk. Mikel had brought along his spyglass. He walked to the parapet and found a place where the artist's work and natural wear had created a nice stabilizing niche for his small telescope. He extended it and let the large end rest in the niche while he moved the eyepiece. It was not comfortable. If only the parapet was half a meter higher, and he had a chair, and a small light for his notebook, and a better telescope. He couldn't set the scope on Raytans, it was too close to the zenith, he could focus on a couple of the planets and the moon with its very odd markings.

"What do you see with that?" Tarvis asked.

He let the man have a look, carefully guiding him towards the moon, also called Tanis, it was half full.

"That is amazing. You can just make out the structures on Tanis."

"Structures?"

"Long story. You will get a chance to find out more when you get to Tanten. But in short, the surface of Tanis has the remains of old buildings. Very large buildings."

"Tanis doesn't have enough gravity to keep an atmosphere, how can it have buildings? How do you know about this? Who built it? Why so big?" He did a few quick calculations and was staggered at the numbers he got for the size of the 'structures'.

Tarvis shrugged. He could barely see that in the feeble moonlight, if there were facial expressions he didn't see them at all.

Tarvis' voice, "When humans first came to Neti they wanted to call Tanis: Thatsno Moon. Apparently, they thought it was funny, the authorities didn't and had the name changed later. Funny, the odd things that are remembered and the important things that are forgotten."

They used only camels for the last leg of the journey. Mikel was not prepared for it, he had become a reasonable horse rider, easier than expected but these camels were another matter. Still it wasn’t far and camels were safer in case something caused them to lose their way. One camel each, loaded with precious items, and some special goods owned by the rider. Mikel had received his share of the profits, he had a moment of lust for riches but knew he loved being a Wizard more. A brief flirtation.

The desert was a completely new experience, even stranger than his sea voyage to Bethor. It was frightening, not just because of its vastness but because it killed passively not actively. Against the desert there was no action you could take to defend yourself except prior preparation. If you got yourself lost here without water then you were as dead as if an arrow had hit you in the heart, but there would be no arrow, no aggressor, only the knowledge of being a condemned man without a prison cell and no reprieve.

They travelled mostly at night and sheltered in tents by day. After about a day and long after night had fallen Tei looked up and checked the position of the stars and Raytans, then headed on a new bearing. It would be dawn soon.

At first light, Tei stopped and got the box out of her saddle bag. Mikel was next to her looking on as she adjusted the very familiar item. It contained a delicately poised floating needle: a compass.

“I’m sure you’ve seen one of these before.” She said.

“Yes, we make and export them, we need them for our ships.”

“Tei, when we were in Sanfran,” he paused a moment remembering that night. “When we were in Sanfran you mentioned something about reading ‘Records’ when you were ten. What did you mean?”

“I was wondering when you would get around to that. All right, a bit of background first.”

She was quiet for a minute. Perhaps she was not just working out what to say but even whether it should be said. Sometimes a few words can save or destroy a relationship, or a nation.

”The possibility of the fall of the Cities was foreseen long before it happened. In fact the Center and Tanten were setup as part of the strategy to retain knowledge after the Great Battle.”

Mikel almost stopped his camel in surprise. “What? I mean, what do you mean? The Center was founded by the Society of Wizards for learning.” He said. Unusually he now found himself on the receiving end of new uncomfortable information.

“The Center was set up by and for a contingent of scientists and engineers. Wizards to you. Tanten was set up to retain the records, books and knowledge of the Terran Federation, or Human Nexus as they liked to call themselves. Apparently, they foresaw, accurately, that society and technology would continue to unravel for centuries in the wake of the damage after the Battle. So they used examples from their own history and mythology to create a long lived cultural identity for both of our societies. You would hold the scientific knowledge and more importantly the scientific process until the world could support advanced technology again while we would retain the history and scholarship. We Traders thought that the Cities would survive, though their continued decline finally did lead to the Fall. However, we still have the records from before the Battle, we still remember the history of Earth and the coming to Neti.”

Mikel was quiet for a moment. He had so many questions. He knew Tei didn’t talk much about this so he better pick his questions carefully in case she rationed the answers.

“What Battle?” He said.

“We don’t know exactly. A great battle occurred which destroyed starships and cities, made deserts and altered the weather. Many died. The Records say that the survivors were amazed that anyone survived it. It appears to have occurred in a single day. The few records about it are sealed. Well, sealed when I looked, I was much younger then. I may have enough respect and rank now to get permission.”

After a couple of hours he could see a green band on the horizon and in the distance beyond that a small mountain range.

“We are heading for the smudge of green on the right. Tanten. Home.” She said.

They moved towards the green haze of Tanten at a steady pace. Tei started to speak seemingly to the air but he was the intended audience.

“There is a story we tell our children. It is called ‘The Man in the Desert’.” She spoke with the well practiced skill and voice of someone who has taught it to many children.

Long ago, a Trader set out from the Caravanserai on the final leg of his trading mission back to Tanten. He carefully folded his compass in protective cloth, because back then they were more fragile than they are today. He took with him two camels one for him to ride and another for his personal goods and new wealth. He had been traveling for more than a day when in the distance he saw something, a dark shape in the dust. He rode up next to it. There was the prone figure of another Trader. He looked dead. The man on the camel was about to move off and continue, since there was nothing he could do, when he saw a movement. The man moved, opened his eyes and turned to the man on the camel.

"Please sir, help me, I need water. Take me with you. I was thrown and my camels ran off. You have water and two camels."

"I cannot spare my water, I may need it. My other camel has my hard earned profits which I need. I am sorry but I cannot help you."

The man in the desert collapsed back into his imitation of death. While the other turned his camels east, then later north-east, forgetting the other and heading to Tanten.

The time came around for the next trading mission. The man, gathered his provisions and planned his stops and the goods he intended to purchase. Yes, it would be very profitable. He left Tanten early morning on a day most of the other Traders would not leave. The weather was still a bit stormy but he had endured worse and it would give him a great advantage. As the sun started to rise higher he saw a cloud in the east, an orange wall of dust. Dust storms were something he had dealt with before so he was not unduly worried. He could push on further, at least get to the turning point. He continued, thinking more about some of the merchants in the Cities of the Plains that would be interested in some of the things he planned to acquire. It was getting dark, too early. He had forgotten about the dust storm and now it was upon him. He looked about, but there was nothing of course. No shelter, no assistance. He set the camels down, and was just getting off when the animal bolted upright and stamped the ground. The man was thrown off, he looked down where the camel had stamped, the crushed remains of a scorpion. It must have bitten the camel on the leg. Both camels were agitated. They ran off in random directions leaving the man standing there in the gathering storm incredulous. What was he to do? He hunkered down, covered himself in his cloak and endured while the storm passed. It was not a severe storm, merely a typical late winter squall. When he came out he found himself in an orange haze. The sun was not visible but soon the dust would settle. He had no water and he had lost his compass. He knew how far he was, in camel time, from the turning point. But he did not know how to convert that to a walking man, or more importantly which direction. Even while he thought about this he was losing water. He would have to walk. He must get to the turning point, there was a better chance of him being found there.

He walked the remaining daylight hours, and for a little while into the night. Then he suddenly knew he had not been paying enough attention to the moving stars or even the sun during the daylight. He was hopelessly off course. He was dizzy and weak and lay down to sleep through the bitterly cold night. In the morning he was under the full glare of the sun. He wandered further, half delirious, this time knowing he was lost and not caring. He was already dead the moment he lost his camels. This was just a shadow play that he must complete.

Tei continued, now in her ordinary voice, her own opinion. “The moral of the story? There are several. We are all the man in the desert, both of them. Helping the wanderer is helping ourselves. The desert will kill you through your negligence or through bad luck; all humans can do to oppose that is to plan, to work together, and aid each other. Individuals are easily laid low so do not travel alone. Lastly, knowledge is power and survival. Heh, and yes, maybe a little karma as well.”

Tanten is at the tip of a tongue of land that projects southwards from the Uuten Mountains. Through the middle runs the Tanuuten River trying to reach the dried Lake Despair to the southeast. Tei had been giving Mikel a guided tour of the city even before they had actually arrived. She clearly loved the city. He hoped he wasn't disappointed because he had no chance of hiding it.

"Most of the rivers from the Uutens flow north except for the Tanuuten. It flows through the Northern Pass to the southern side of the Uutens and creates the oasis of Tanten. There is little habitable land along the southern borders of the Uutens except for Tanten. Since we founded the city we have diverted the river into farmland and forests. We've created artificial rivers and expanded the oasis. None of the river now reaches the old Lake." She said.

"So Tanten isn't as old as the Cities?"

"No. It isn't an Original City. It was built as a refuge, and it is now our political and cultural capital. It is the heart of our culture and we are very proud of it."

"Yes I noticed that. So is that fort in the distance the city of Tanten?"

"Not strictly speaking. Actually, not at all. Tanten as a city doesn't exist." She said.

"What? Even when we talk among ourselves we treat it as a city."

"It isn't a city in the form you are used to. Tanten is made up of various
Strongholds
; forts, castles. The main stronghold is an octagonal fort simply called the Castle. Then there are Shwu, Mbele, and Sibl to the northwest, north and northeast of the central Stronghold of Aqua. Castle lies directly to the south. Aqua is not a large stronghold though it contains the largest of the water reservoirs and water is power in Tanten. Underground water pipes and tunnels connect the Strongholds, especially Aqua. Despite this interconnection, the Strongholds are run independently, though decisions affecting the city have to be ratified by the Council, which meets in the Castle."

"So everyone lives in these Strongholds?"

"No, there are suburbs that lie outside the Strongholds, with parkland between them," she said.

"And we are heading to... ?"

"Castle, my home."

They were headed for the front gate of the Castle, located on the southern side, facing the desert. To get there they had first had to go a bit north towards Shwu as they stepped from desert to grassy slopes, then along the western side of the Castle, to enter The Snake, a winding path to the gate, bounded by steep, grassy sides under the eyes of the Castle. One very long kill zone, winding north, then south along the western flank of the Castle. The head of the Snake came to the gates, which faced south into the desert. The gates looked almost like a beast’s mouth with iron teeth and surrounded by hidden attack points. The Snake had many fangs, all poisonous.

The Castle was staggering and beautiful. It stood on a hill in the middle of the green grass that surrounded it in seeming disdain of the nearby desert. Here stood a kind of building he had never seen before. Mikel had been awed by Bethor but this structure beat anything in Bethor, maybe the Palace in Sanfran would rival it but the Palace was really just a ruin with occupants, an observation he was careful to keep to himself. The Castle was a living city; the walls here were almost fifteen meters high with successive layers of dark gray and light pink rock and some cement. Stopping at the gate waiting for approval to enter he could now appreciate the city. There were features on the tops of the walls that he took for decoration until Tei explained that they were nooks for bowmen. He was full of questions but Tei signaled that they should talk about it later.

Inside the Castle there were more surprises because there was so much water in use. Fountains, small gardens with rivulets, common wells, water flowed everywhere. There were multi-storied houses and so much color everywhere: the clothes, banners, cloth in windows. So many wonders it was hard to see it all. Bethor had been a chaotic riot of color, this was a harmonious song of color. It was like another world. The team, they were not a caravan anymore, turned to the right down a short, dusty, pale-yellow, cobbled street and into some stables. Now, incredibly, surprisingly, their journey was at an end. Mikel stood by his camel for a moment trying to work out what had just happened. Tei was looking at him quizzically.