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The carriage travelled slowly as the horses hauled it steadily uphill. Lorkin had a now familiar look of boredom in his eyes, staring out of the window with a gloomy, resigned expression. They were both beyond conversation already, though it was not yet midday, and the silence only made the crawling pace more unbearable.
Then, without warning, the carriage abruptly turned and gained speed as the road levelled out. They began moving between two smooth walls of rock. Lorkin straightened, unlatched the window beside him and peered out.
“We’re here,” he said.
Da
A face appeared at the window beside Lorkin. A man in red robes looked from Lorkin to Da
“Welcome to the Fort, Ambassador Da
“Unfortunately we ca
The man smiled sympathetically. “Then I invite you to stretch your legs and look around as we change your horses for fresh ones.”
“We will gladly accept.”
Lorkin unlatched the door and then followed as Da
“Ah, yes. It is an impressive structure,” Orton said, following Lorkin’s gaze.
Da
“Was that damage from the Ichani Invasion?” Lorkin asked.
“Yes, though it was worse inside,” Orton replied. He started forward, leading them into a cavernous opening. It took a few moments for Da
“Did we replace the traps that were originally here?” Da
“Some.” Orton shrugged. “Most were simple barriers, designed to delay and use up an attacker’s strength. We have installed more complex systems of defence to replace them. Tricks that might catch an invader if their guard was lowered. Illusions that will waste his power. But nothing that could hold off a group of powerful Sachakan black magicians for long, which is why we have spent as much time and energy creating means of escaping the Fort as well. Too many died in the Invasion who need not have, for lack of escape routes. Ah – here we have a memorial to those who gave up their lives bravely defending the Pass.”
Between two lamps a list of names had been carved into the wall. Da
They stood in silence for a while, then the sound of hooves and the creak of wheels and springs echoed in the tu
“You must see the Fort from the Sachakan side,” Orton told him, continuing down the tu
Da
“That was once a door of sorts,” Orton told them. “It was dropped down to block the tu
“Every little bit of power used by the enemy might be a life saved,” Lorkin said.
Orton looked at the young man and nodded. “Perhaps.” The carriage emerged from the tu
“Thank you, Watcher Orton.”
The man smiled. “My pleasure, Ambassador Da
Da
Orton chuckled and turned to the carriage. “I know you will.”
The carriage door swung open, no doubt by Orton’s magic. Da
Da
“I suspect Watcher Orton doesn’t get many visitors,” Lorkin said quietly.
“No. You look a lot more cheerful than you were this morning,” Da
Lorkin’s grin widened. “We’re in Sachaka now.”
A shiver ran down Da
This must be what it felt like to be a trader or diplomat who dealt with magicians in the Allied Lands, always aware how helpless they’d be in the face of magic, but relying on diplomacy and the threat of retaliation from their homeland to keep them safe from harm. Da
Suddenly the wall of rock beside him was gone, and in its place was a great, pale expanse. Lorkin made a wordless exclamation, changed to the seat opposite Da
“So that’s the wasteland,” he breathed.
A treeless slope fell steeply from the edge of the road down to rocky, eroded hills below. Lapping around them like a frozen sea was a desert, dunes rippling across the land. The air was dry, Da
“I guess it is,” he replied.
“It’s… bigger than I thought,” Lorkin said.
“We are taught that it was meant to be a barrier,” Da
“So nobody knows for sure why it was created, let alone how?”