Windcatcher: Book I of the Stone War Chronicles (32 page)

The cove, where they spent the night, appeared to have another exit in the back. It led through a series of narrow tunnels that barely accommodated the always growing Galirras. The dragon had awakened well rested. During breakfast, he happily exaggerated to Gavin and Xi’Lao about his hunts the previous day and how he protected Raylan from the wolf, which, he swore, had been at least twice his size.

They had been walking upward for some time, when they turned a corner and saw light at the end of the corridor. Stepping into the open air, Raylan heard Galirras, in his head.

“
It’s a dead end. Where do we go from here?
”

It took a moment for his eyes to adjust before he saw what Galirras meant. They walked onto a rock terrace, just big enough to fit their group and higher up than Raylan would have guessed. It seemed the lower branches of the trees ran on the same level as the terrace.

“
I’ve got no clue,
”
he answered.

He approached Sebastian, who was waiting for everyone to exit the cave; but just before Raylan could ask what was going on, he started to speak.

“Alright, things will now get a bit tricky, so listen up. Your boots will only get in the way from this point on. Since I don’t have any spare leather ones with me, you’ll have to go barefoot from here on.”

“What do you mean barefoot? Where are we going?” asked Gavin.

“Up there.”

Sebastian turned around and pointed at one of the massive branches that had grown from the trunk straight onto the rock terrace. From the ground, the branches had already looked big, but this was something else. The branch was so wide it could almost be called a road, and was large enough for two people to pass each other without touching or falling off for lack of room.

“What? The tree?” asked Raylan.

“It’s much safer than traveling on the ground, especially now that we’re reaching the soft, sandy parts of the forest. Better tie your laces together and hang your boots around your neck. You don’t want to drop them while walking up there,” Sebastian said, with a smile.

At that, Sebastian jumped onto the branch and walked toward the trunk of the tree. Once above the precipice, he turned around.

“It will probably take us a good deal of the morning to reach our settlement, so let’s get moving. But watch your step…some places can be quite slippery.”

They saw no choice but to follow his example. Taking off his boots, Raylan was the first to follow. The tree bark felt cold to his feet; and he felt every crack, bump, and cavity of the branch under his feet.

Galirras followed Raylan onto the branch. His claws dug into the bark with ease, allowing him to move easily over its surface. He looked down to the far away ground and instinctively stirred his wings. Using his tail for balance, Galirras felt as sure of his footing as he would on the ground.

It did not take Raylan long to get accustomed to the feel of the tree. His years at sea allowed him to develop a confident stride while the ground constantly moved below him. As the branches swayed ever so softly from the wind, he saw other people were less at ease with their new high road.

Xi’Lao and Gavin seemed to be doing okay. Peadar walked uncertain, his legs shook. Raylan heard him mutter his dislike of heights. The young lad made sure he kept close to Twan, who assisted people in the middle of the group. Both archers and Ca’lek found their way okay, but Harwin had some trouble with parts of the path. Otis and Martin helped him constantly, as he muttered that men were made for walking on solid ground. Richard closed the ranks. He did alright, but walked slower than the rest, suggesting he was a bit more nervous than the others.

The morning flowed by slowly as they systematically made their way from branch to branch. Sometimes, sliding down to a lower crossing branch; other times, climbing higher. Often, they walked all the way to the center of the tree, moved around the trunk, and continued on to another branch on the other side.

The party was happy to find steps carved into the wood, from time to time, creating crude stairs to move around on. Some were wide steps; others were nothing more than chunks taken out of the side of the massive tree trunks. The latter proved quite a challenge for Harwin and Peadar to get across. Each person was secured with a rope and spotted by two people for each crossing.

Galirras was enjoying this new adventure, clawing around on the branches and tree trunks, chasing small lizards or insects living in the canopy. It was like they entered a completely new world. As empty as the forest was on the ground, the trees were buzzing with life. Life that made excellent snacks, according to Galirras. He had seen some sort of black squirrels, caterpillars, centipedes as big as an arm, lizards, and spiders; but also larger animals, like the thing that looked like a climbing badger—small furry creatures living in holes—and the large eagles they came across earlier. Raylan was sure lots of other animals remained undetected. Most were harmless, but Sebastian checked each handgrip hole thoroughly to make sure no poisonous spider or other harmful insect occupied it.

Galirras moved more swiftly than Raylan felt comfortable with. Sometimes, he was two trees over. Then, all of a sudden, he was above them, moving along a higher branch and disappearing from sight. He always climbed though, never jumped, tried to glide, or fly with his wings. Thankfully, his movements looked confident, and Raylan had not seen him make a mistake, yet.

Their progress was slow. They often had to wait for the entire group to move along one of the tree trunk steps. Their feet were getting numb from the cold, which only increased the chance of mistakes.

Waiting for the last of their group to cross, Raylan wondered how Sebastian knew where to go, as all trees looked the same to him.

“
There are small carvings in the bark of the trees. Just keep an eye on Sebastian and you’ll see it.
”

Raylan looked up to Galirras, who clung to the tree some twenty feet above them. Following his advice, Raylan noticed Sebastian’s hand slide over the bark of a tree trunk when they set out again. On closer inspection, Raylan saw a small symbol carved into the trunk, clearly put there to indicate which way to move forward.

Walking behind Sebastian, Raylan noticed the flexible leather boots that their guide wore. The soles appeared to have a rough surface, increasing grip on the tree bark as much as possible. Each of their new friends, Sebastian included, had strapped on that strange backpack again. The device covered more than their entire backs and had a hook sticking out of the top. They looked heavy, but Sebastian did not seem bothered by the weight at all.

“Hey, Sebastian? What are those packs you’re carrying? How do they work?” Raylan asked, when they were walking next to each other across an especially long branch.

“These things? They’re our stolen life savers.”

“Where’d they come from?”

“We got a few of them some years ago during one of our warehouse raids. The guys that went out on that trip didn’t know what they were, but luckily they decided to bring some back with them. Once back at base, one of the older men recognized the device.

“We didn’t know it at the time, but Old Luke is a real tinkerer. He told us that he and a younger slave had been working for a group of weird people. These people did nothing else but try and come up with all kind of strange contraptions and devices. He said he’d never seen metal like the one they worked with in those workshops. It was very flexible and strong at the same time.

“Apparently, Old Luke had very steady hands in creating the smallest things. His job was to build the things they’d think of and help them test it out. It was only luck that he’d been with us in the mines the day we made our escape. Normally, he worked somewhere in the palace, but he’d been sent to check up on some kind of metal delivery or something.”

“He built them?”

“Parts of it, I believe. He took one apart to take a closer look and worked out how to use it…might’ve even made some adjustments. During that time, we were still forced to move around on ground level, which was dangerous. We’d lose people to predators or quicksand, especially during the nights…”

“So, how do they work?”

“He showed me once how this strange metal band is curled up inside. That band is attached to a rope. Pulling the rope tightens the band inside, allows the rope to retract if let go. I’ve got no idea how that strange metal keeps its curled shape. I’ve never seen something like it before in my life. Normal iron is dull and heavy, but this metal has a strange greenish glow over it and feels incredibly light. It’s almost like it has no weight at all.”

“So what…? You just hook it to something and jump down?”

Sebastian laughed.

“That’s pretty much it, yeah. It took me a while to get the courage to do so, though.”

“But how is it you don’t smash into the ground?”

Sebastian pointed to either side.

“See this lever? That’s the brake. Pull it and you stop the rope from coming out. The dial adjusts the tension on the metal curl, allowing you to adjust for higher or lower heights. It’s not without fault though. Jump from too high a branch and you’ll end up dangling helplessly in the air, or adjust the tension wrong and you’ll hit the ground hard. It took us a lot of trial and error to get things right. Poor Crippled Claude will never be able to walk right again.

“But we wouldn’t be able to do without them, now. Once we figured out how they worked, we were able to come down from the trees wherever we liked, giving us the element of surprise and a much safer travel route in this forest of giant trees. We went back several times to steal more, before they caught on to them disappearing and moved the stockpile away.”

“Unreal. I seem to run into impossible things all the time, lately.”

“Ah, it seems that we’re almost there,” said Sebastian, as he pointed ahead.

In front of them. Raylan saw a rope bridge, connecting two trees, in a place where none of the branches crossed each other. As they moved across it, Raylan looked down, expecting to see a massive depth, opening to an unwelcoming ground down below. In fact, he barely saw the ground, as branches and leaves ran under the entire bridge. It kept everything out of sight for anyone on ground level who would look upward, by chance.

They crossed another five rope bridges, before they were eventually greeted by a dark-haired man with a large bow on his back, and two short axes at the ready, in case the rope bridge would need to be cut.

Sebastian greeted the man with a slap on the shoulder and something said in a non-Terran language. The man pointed toward them, asking him a question. After some back and forth, Sebastian threw his hands in the air.

“Oh come on, Ratjic! They’re kullah…,” Sebastian said. “Guests! From my homeland! We’ve been on the road for weeks, and it was a long trip. I want them to meet with the council.”

“
It seems like this man doesn’t like us entering the village,
”
said Galirras, as he jumped down from the spot, higher up, where he had been waiting.

The guard gave a short outcry and grabbed for his bow. Sebastian quickly put his hand on Ratjic’s arm, pushing down the bow. He added something in the unknown language.

The guard looked bewildered, taking in Galirras and their entire travel group from head to toe, for some time.

Finally, the man called Ratjic said something to Sebastian as he gestured to Galirras.

“
Excuse me
.
I am not a lizard!
”
said Galirras suddenly, as he swung his head close to the guard.

The guard jumped backward, even Sebastian and his companions had a look of surprise on their faces. Most of their own group had been introduced to Galirras ‘speaking’ during the morning travel. Harwin had happily grumbled about the surprises in the world. Kevhin and Rohan briefly talked about hunting prey with him. Peadar on the other hand got startled and almost lost his balance. He gave everyone quite a scare by almost plummeting to the ground, but afterward had been delighted to talk to the dragon about all kinds of things like the biology of his body. Ca’lek had shown very little surprise, as if he had expected the possibility of communication all along.

“You understand what he is saying, Galirras?” asked Raylan.

“
They were talking the same language when I was in the egg.
”

“You were aware of the outside while you were in your egg?”

“
Of course, I felt you, did I not? Words reached my ears, images flowed into my head. I think that’s how I learned.
”

“So you
can
hear other people’s thoughts? Are you able to hear his thoughts now?” said Xi’Lao, who had come to see what was going on.

“
No, I cannot. Everything turned much quieter after Raylan became mine and I became his.
”

“But he couldn’t have understood you. You spoke Terran, just now,” remarked Raylan.

“
I spoke to him in his own dialect. I merely just spoke to you in your own language, too.
”

Galirras looked apologetically at Xi’Lao, for a second.