Penumbra - Book 1 (3)

The bell had ceased its toll, but its ring still held in the air, amidst the quiet shaking and creaking that was ever present within the moving tower. Alys had realized over time that this bell was rung every time the great wheels of the tower made a complete revolution. Time was not an entirely important concept in her ever lit world, the natural rhythms of sleep and hunger were all she was used to, but to a military operation like the Frontier, keeping exact time was essential, and the slow crawl of the Frontier, in lockstep with the endless march of the umbra, was a natural timepiece.

Alys blinked the sleep out of her eyes, feeling more refreshed than recent memory permitted, and regarded her surroundings. She was in a large circular room that took up the entire level of the tower that it occupied. It was almost wholly filled with several dozen straw-lined bunks, the majority of which were occupied by sleeping soldiers, who were having a rare respite from the vigilance of their patrols. Including the top, the tower consisted of five levels, a stable for animals at the base, the barracks Alys had just awoken with above that, an odd combination of mess, storeroom, kitchen and tavern for the soldiers to drink and eat in above that, and an armory and watchtower occupying the fourth and fifth levels above that, respectively. A simple enough building to you or I, but to Alys it was one of the grandest and strangest buildings in her world, outside the Great City itself, of course.

Alys swung her legs out of her cot and stood up, rocking in time with the gentle sway of the tower's movement. She was immediately surprised to find that, with a whispered "Thankee ma'am," her place in the cot was quickly taken in it by a soldier who appeared from a ladder coming from the lower level. She supposed sleeping places must be in high demand, and wondered if the man had been dozing in the stables below before his rapid materialization.

Although she dearly wanted to go and visit Atrius in the stables below, Alys decided instead to ascend the ladder to the soldier's mess, to see if she could find Ganroc and thank him for his kindness over her stay at the tower. Sure enough, he was sitting with an enormous tankard of ale, laughing quietly but with great mirth with a small group of soldiers, some of whom Alys recognized as being part of Ganroc's squad. On catching her eye, Ganroc spoke a few words to his men, slapped one of them on the back and then came over to her side with a warm smile.

"Good wakening to you, traveler Alys." he said. "I expect you shall be wanting to break your fast about now?"

Alys heartily agreed that she did, and Ganroc began to assemble a collection of breads, cheeses and meats, many of which looked unfamiliar to Alys, but smelled delicious. She ate greedily while Ganroc spoke.

"I must apolgize for the lack of bathing facilities at our humble establishment. There are two lakes nearby that I could direct you to, but I would not recommend that you risk traveling to them alone this close to the border, and I am afraid I cannot spare the men to escort you, much as I would wish to. We were supposed to be reinforced over half a moon ago, but none of the watchtowers have had word of them. I'd like to think that they're just late, but in these dark parts, the imagination tends to dwell on less cheery alternatives."

Alys spoke betwixt great mouthfuls of vinegared bread. "Does the Enemy press us greatly?"

Ganroc sighed and started scratching a fat, stubbed fingernail into the lines tracing the thick wood of the table at which they sat. "No, there've been no direct assaults on the Frontier for some time. But not a day goes by when they don't pick off a few men somewhere along the line. Sometimes just one man disappears before his compatriots realize he has gone, at other times entire squads fail to return to their towers. The most worrying part is that sometimes the attacks have been occurring on our side of the line, which means the Enemy has been crossing the Frontier without being observed by us. Many men feel we should bring the watchtowers closer together, to close the gap, but it would be such a major change in the way we have operated since the Frontier was established there may be unintended consequences we can't foresee. And it would dramatically reduce the area we are trying to keep safe for the foragers. It could bring down a major blow to the economy of the kingdom. And yet...it feels like they are whittling away at us, slowly but surely. Taking us near the breaking point. And just when we are as stretched as thinly as the Frontier can manage..." at this point Ganroc brought his fist down on the table, hard, causing the wooden spoon Alys had been neglecting to use to leap half an inch into the air with a ligneous clatter. "...they'll strike."

A few men stopped talking and looked over their shoulder's at Ganroc's outburst before returning to their ales, prompting Ganroc to look sheepish about his overly dramatic turn of phrase.

"Forgive an old soldier his paranoid musings. Attacks have been light, the threat from the Enemy seems to be on a low ebb. Good times for men like me, who are tired of war, and enjoy frightening young girls in dark taverns." Alys could see her was trying to downplay his earlier fears, but it was clear that they vexed him still. She considered this for a moment, then attempted a change of topic:

"I wanted to thank you so much for allowing me to rest here, for feeding me and looking after Atrius."

Ganroc's easy joviality returned instantly. "Think nothing of it! If we don't look out for each other here, why, we'd be as evil as the Enemy ourselves!" He clapped her on the back, rather harder than she wished he would. "I suppose you shall be wanting to get on to our brother's company soon?"

Alys nodded agreement as she stuffed a boiled egg into her mouth. "Yes, I shall depart shortly- after all, if the arm of the Frontier is short on men, perhaps they would be looking forward to my presence?"

Ganroc laughed heartily and stomped his foot up and down. "I like your spirit, young rider! I am sure they would, at that. Very well. Traveling along the line is different to traveling the path of Helios, but nonetheless similar in principle. Look for the topflame of the nearest tower, and head straight for it. Make sure you stay on the sunward side of the line, and when in doubt always arc your travels in that direction. You shouldn't come across any forests or lakes if you're only going four towers down, but if you do, for the Skywarden's sake go around on our side of them, no matter how close you think the next tower looks. Better to travel for nine moons on our side of the line than half a turn on theirs, d'ye understand?"

Alys nodded that she did.

"Good. Now, d'ye have any weapons to speak of?"

"I have a dagger that used to belong my father."

"That paper-cutter I saw at your side? Pretty enough for a blade, but you'll need sharper teeth than that in these parts, my girl. I wouldn't go ten feet outside this tower with a good bow at my side, let's get you up to the armory and see what we can find."

Together they ascended to the next level via the strapped-bamboo ladders that served as the main means of getting from level to level within the tower. Ganroc explained that every soldier assigned to the Frontier watch had two sets of equipment, one he kept on him, and a second set kept on rotation in the tower. With all the soldiers missing in action in recent times, finding spare equipment was not a concern.

"Have you ever used a bow before?"

"Yes, many times." This was not uncommon- even the most common of citizens in the King's empire needed a variety of skills simply to stay alive, equestrianism being the most important, but a familiarity with plants, animals, and more importantly ways to kill and consume them, was also mandatory. More than this, Alys had grown up in a martial family, although she did not mention this to Banroc now.

"Here's one that looks about your size." Banroc said, taking one of the smaller bows from it's rack and drawing some horse sinew. "Remember to keep it unstrung until you need it, else you'll stretch the bowstring and lose power." he said unnecessarily, as even the most unskilled bowman knew this as a first principle. "Now, let's see how fast you are."

Banroc went to a wooden shutter and opened a window to the exterior of the tower while Alys found and fitted and archer's belt, which strapped the unstrung bow and a quiver of a dozen thin wooden arrows to her back. Before she holstered the bow (which at this time simply resembled a long, straight piece of turned wood), she fitted one end of the bowstring and then twined it many times around the bow to keep it from coming loose.

Banroc looked out of the window, over the rolling terrain outside the tower. "Okay, let's find you a target. There!" he gestured towards a small tree stump that had clearly failed to make the most of the temperature climes provided by the penumbra- it had barely made its way out fo the ground. "That looks a likely target. See if you can get it before it passes out of view."

Alysa stepped forward and quickly, but without undue haste, drew the bow, rolling it between her two palms to cause the bowstring to unravel. She then caught the end of the unraveling string, like catching a buzzing insect between two fingers, and bent the bow, looping the string around the end as she did so. She cast the bow upwards slightly, caught it by the middle, then drew and notched an arrow. She drew the arrow back, feeling the creak of the wood as it tensed, took a few moments to focus on the tree stump, compensated for the movement of the tower (which was easy for her, as she was used to firing arrows from horseback), then let fly. With a high pitched whistle, the arrow arced across the space between the window and the stump, embedding itself firmly in the base of the wasted plant.

Ganroc clapped and laughed. "Very good! You'd make a fine watchman, if you should find medicine not to be your calling." Alys welcomed the comment quietly while unstringing her new bow and reslinging it behind her. There was a the noise of small commotion outside the window and someone shouted up: "Target practice, cap'n?" and Banroc leaned his head out of the tower and shouted down his apologies.

Ganroc equipped Alys with some light armour, made of beaten leather and emblazoned with the symbol of the Frontier's army, telling her she would find her travels up and down the line much easier if she appeared as though she belonged there. Alys tried not to think of the lost man who once owned what she was wearing in his stead. After gathering some provisions from the store, they then descended to the lowest level of the tower, the stables, where Alys was delighted to find Atrius brushed and reshod. He too seemed pleased to see her, and whinnied pleasantly.

"Lovely horse he has been, my lady." said a young stable boy, who seemed to be in training as a soldier. "I've rarely seen such a nice coat."

"Thank you, he looks fine, you've done very well with him." The stable boy beamed at her compliment before Banroc barked at him to get back to work.

Banroc and a few of his deputies rode out with Alys for about half the distance to the first tower- companies were usually responsible for this space, a moving sphere of influence that ended where the next towers' began. When they reached this halfway point where Banroc's dominion ended, with his own tower only partially visible to the south, and the next tower equally apparent to the north, Banroc called the small party to a halt and looked about them.

"Here is where we part ways, my new friend. I hope we meet again."

"I too would enjoy that, Banroc."

He looked about him, first sunward, where the horizon blazed orange, then into the inky miasma of the night. His brow furrowed.

"There shouldn't be any forests between you and your brother's company, so getting lost should not be an issue. However it is not unknown for vegetation to spring up unbidden in the twilight, so be on your wits and heed my advice about staying on our side of the line! I believe the valley of Onruus is a little to the northwest, so you may have to pass through that, but it is not an arduous crossing."

His forehead creased further and he lifted his head slightly and sniffed.

"Have you been told of fog?"

Alys did not recognize the word.

"Fog?"

Banroc sighed. "Aye, fog. It is a sort of...how to say it? A cloud that comes down from the skies and travels along the ground as you or I would do. It only seems to occur in the penumbra. It cuts down visibility, turns you about, hides the light of the sun and the topflames of the towers. It has been responsible for the loss of many fine men. The Enemy seems to understand it better than we, aye, I sometimes wonder if they do not create it, control it. If you see it, start heading sunward and do not look back until you are shot of it. That is the most I can say to help, for I do not fully understand it myself. I wish I could send men with you to your destination, but my duty is to my tower, and I must see to it."

"Thank you Banroc, I understand. Thank you for everything."

"Helios watch over you, though he may not watch over this damned place. Farewell!"

With that he spurred his horse who lifted up onto two legs and turned about, galloping back to the tower from whence they came.

Alys regarded them quietly for a few moments, felt the chill of the air for the first time since she had awoken, then continued her journey.