The Last Lowlander

Chapter 6: The Ferry

After they had gone through the river town just beyond the bridge, a few days of walking passed. They went through another small, dilapidated town with sweaty buildings and their sagging roofs. Streets of dried mud made their passage through them easier.

There were many more towns, all with similar dispositions and conditions. And as they went through each one, they made a point to stop at the wells and look inside for water. Most often there was nothing at all, and occasionally there were small puddles of brackish water at the very bottom. Granite seemed to have no worry about this, suggesting her water supply was plenty.

When Caryll challenged her on this, Granite set out to prove her point. She lay Ankles on his back by the well, fetched the pail from it, and then withdrew a cup from her traveling satchel. She poured some of the dark water into the cup, dropped a small glinting stone into the water, then tapped the bottom of the cup a few times. She then passed it to Caryll. Caryll looked into the cup, the water was clear.

"Do not drink to the bottom," she said. Caryll sniffed the water, then took a small sip. It tasted fine.

"What'd you do?" Caryll asked.

"A small blessing. A pulse of good will, if you like."

Caryll chuckled incredulously.

"What?"

"Nothing. I've said it before already."

Granite took the cup from Caryll's outstretched hand, drank the rest. She pulled the cup away from her mouth, then revealed the glinting stone wedged between her teeth.

All this time they walked through the Lowlands, they could not see anything in the wider region. The region known as the Lowlands sat to the Southwest of the Buring Strait. Which, long after it was discovered, turned out not to be a strait, at least, not a complete one. The continent seemed to be separated by a huge mountain range which, for the longest time, was in dispute as to whom it belonged. The Lowlanders believed for millennia that the mountains were part of their territory while those who lived in the capital cities on the other side of the strait believed the mountains belonged to their side of the strait. It turned out, though, that neither was true. The strait was no strait at all. The one mountain, of which the peak connected the two halves, belonged half to the Lowlands and half to the capital cities. The sea had weathered the mountain, weathered so much so that it gave the impression of a long, long strait separating the two sides of the continent. But the sea had not yet gone all the way through. No one had yet found just how deep the sea ran into the mighty mountain on either side, only that no one had passed through.

To the West of the Lowlands was vast expanse. North West were the ancient Forests of Smoke, and the South West the plains. Beyond them a large steppe region where there was meant to be a civilization, but how advanced or populated no one was sure. Only a few travelers had come from there to the Lowlands, and were most often killed along the way, or by the Lowlanders themselves.

To get from the Lowlands to the capital cities, Ankles, Granite, and Caryll would have to travel along the Eastern side of the lowlands, nearly at the base of the mountain, all the way to the Northeastern side. This is where the capital cities had staged their invasion of the Lowlands. After the invasion failed, they established a ferry route into a small region on the Lowland side. This area was known as the 5 miles. The Karmanians had taken 5 miles of the Lowlands.

It took nearly a month of daily walking, but the three made it to 5 miles. The nights before, Granite had told stories of it being a bustling place where the Karmanian friendly Lowlanders had established trade with the Karmanians and other capital cities. When they arrived in 5 miles, though, it was barren. Granite was stone-faced, eyes wide as they went through the city. The cobblestone buildings were covered in holes. Some walls had completely collapsed and lay in piles of rubble in the streets. Bodies overhung the exposed floors of the buildings. Carriages were toppled over, missing wheels, eaten away by bugs.