Ashd flapped his wings, taking them up and over the top of the escarpment. The gorge opened out into a wide pocket just past the narrow opening, and Koradan could see a series of huts and wooden structures down in the gorge. That must be the entrance to the mine. Further up, the escarpment rose in towering peaks and plunged in jagged ravines. There were wide plateaus where gnarled trees grew on top of the rock and cascading rivers where water slowly eroded channels for itself.
The ragions would love this place, Koradan said to Ashd.It’s much like their mountain home.
Vreki love too, Ashd replied.Stay here please.
Koradan felt his heart squeeze.I’m working on it, buddy. But the first thing we need to do is make a good impression with these miners. So let’s go and land, and remember to play nice when you meet them.
Ashd flew in a wide circle, gliding back down towards the road and the entrance to the gorge.Landing, he said, a warning intended for Paul.
“Hold on,” Koradan yelled back to the young man, hoping he could hear him over the rushing of the wind. He heard a vague yell in reply and figured Paul probably got the message.
Ashd dipped down below the road, increasing in speed, then he pulled up sharply. He used his wings to guide them, but made no more effort to gain height. In a move that had been practiced a thousand times, Ashd waited until they were almost at a stop, just about to fall back down the cliff, then he thrust his legs out and dug his claws into the rocks. The wind stopped and silence descended, aside from a few errant pebbles skittering down the cliff.
“Holy shit,” Paul muttered from behind him. “That was awesome.”
“You okay?” Koradan asked, peering back at him. Paul looked flushed, but otherwise fine.
“Fantastic. That was amazing. But… how do you tell him where you want to go?”
“Telepathy,” Koradan answered. “Salases aren’t telepathic but vreki are. Salas warriors learn from a young age to communicate with them when they’re chosen for training.”
Ashd began the careful climb downwards – careful so as to avoid scaring Paul, rather than because he had any doubts about his footing.
“Um… you say vreki when you mean vrekis. Why is that?”
“Nope, the plural of vreki is vreki,” Koradan explained. “Or rather, in the vreki language, they don’t actually recognise plurals. If you have one of something or a lot of it, the word is the same.”
“Hold on… They have a language?”
Koradan chuckled, then gripped the saddle as they lurched to the side. Ashd found his footing on the road and sank down onto his belly so they could climb off. “It’s not a language you or I could speak. The few words we speak in the vreki language have been heavily modified to allow us to pronounce them. And the vreki are very forgiving about us mangling their words.”
“Mum said last night that one of them said his own name for her. Can Ashd say his name in the vreki language for me? I’d love to hear it.”
“What do you think, Ashd?” Koradan asked. “You want to show off a bit?”
He received a disdainful snort in his mind. Ashd was not a vreki prone to showing off, taking a far more pragmatic approach to life. But he was willing to oblige, if only to make the small human happy. Happy humans meant the vreki had a better chance of staying in this nice mountain range.
Ashd turned to face them, then he made a sound that could easily have been interpreted as a sneeze. There was a slight groan at the start and a faint click at the end, but it was not what most people would have considered a word.
Paul tilted his head, pondering the sound for a moment. “Yeah, I can kind of see how you get Ashd out of that.”
Koradan grinned. “Most people need to hear it three or four times before it makes any sense. But that’s probably enough of a lesson into vreki culture for now. We have some miners to woo. Shall I let you lead the way?”
Paul nodded and headed off towards the entrance to the gorge. The rocks loomed dark and jagged above them, and Koradan concluded that this entrance must have formed naturally, rather than being cut away by people.
The gorge was filled with mosses and ferns, bushes with thick, dark green leaves to capture as much sunlight as possible. The sight made Koradan’s chest tighten. How long had it been since he’d seen such plants in Chalandros? When he’d been a child, a few damp gullies had still existed where succulent plants grew, but before he’d reached adulthood, the rising temperatures had killed the last of the moisture-loving plants. It felt surreal to be here, in this other world, where the plants caused such powerful nostalgic longings for home.Homedidn’t exist anymore.
“Probably best if you and Ashd wait here,” Paul said, as they passed the narrow entrance and the gorge began to open up again. “If you go just around this corner, the miners will be able to see you, and they’ll panic if I haven’t explained what’s going on first. I’ll come and get you when it’s all clear.”
Koradan nodded, and then he pulled the bag of supplies out of Ashd’s saddle. “Take this with you,” he said. “Even if they decide they don’t want to meet me and Ashd, we can at least pass the food along to them.”
Paul took the bag and hurried off. Wanting to keep an eye on proceedings – in case the miners took exception to the news and came looking for them – Koradan pressed himself up against the rock wall and peered around the corner. With his black skin, he more or less blended into the dark rocks, and the only way anyone would spot him was if they already knew he was there.
In his mind, he felt Ashd’s interest perk up.Food?he inquired, and Koradan glanced back to find him eyeing one of the shrubs eagerly.
“Later,” he said. “We’ve got work to do now. But you can go and forage in the forest once we’ve finished here. I’m sure there’s lots of tasty plants to eat in there.”
Hungry, Ashd said, sounding disappointed. He hadn’t eaten in four days, since they’d left Iddishmeil to journey across the desert to the gate. Vreki were robust creatures and could go for a week or more without eating, but that didn’t mean Ashd was above complaining about it.
