12

New Realizations

Saber was two days' southwest of the Unicorn Guardians' abode. He had asked them what the great structure in the distance was, but they had not told him. They had said he should find that out for himself.

The boy hadn't been sure how to take that at first, but finally took it to mean that they simply thought him able to make the journey on his own, and that maybe they weren't supposed to give too much away. What he did not know was that the kind eternals understood that he needed to do it on his own.

He was now almost two months from his home and it was getting easier to be alone. He no longer felt such a crushing loneliness at night. The homesickness did not leave, and never would, but he was better able to handle it when it came. And that was good.

He never did encounter any more of the Bolkin beasts; he could not think of the feral little manikins as sentient beings, and for that he was glad. He had seen quite enough of those for a few years. He looked down to the scars on his body, and thought that a few of them might stay there visible, even through his light fur. He felt kind of proud. They would be battle scars! At least they did not hurt anymore. That had been horrible.

It was a week later when he arrived, or rather almost arrived. The supplies that had been given to him by the guardians had run out, and he was back to fruits, berries, and hunting small animals. They had shown him how to make a spear out of a long, slim, sturdy branch, how to strip and sharpen it, and he had made one, and now carried it along with his pack.

But now he faced a cliff. It was a long cliff, stretching as far as his eyes could see in either direction. It was steep. It was tall. And Saber was not happy to see it!

The boy scowled at the intimidating wall of dirt, and kicked its base, as if that would do it any good. It only got him a hurt foot. "Well how do I get up this thing?" he wondered aloud, and sighed in aggravation.

He guessed he would have to climb.

The boy backed away several yards to look at it. There were many different platform type areas where the cliff leveled out. Some were less than a foot wide, some were a few yards. He could use those to rest on.

Saber had rock climbed before. On one of his more adventurous days, he had tried to climb the cliff that made the eastern boarder, at the edge of Nenda's village. He had not gotten too far on the sheer cliff, but it had been fun. He still wondered what was on the other side of it.

This cliff was not nearly so sheer. It had many handholds, and was on a slight angle, and so Saber was able to climb it.

Had he come across this a month ago, he would not have had the strength to make it as far as the first platform. However, his physical strength had grown in those weeks, and he was able to make it, and rested there for a brief rest. When he felt able, he went on, careful not to look down at any point although he was tempted.

But it was getting late, and he had to find a place where he could safely spend the night He was starting to panic a little bit as it started to get too dark to see. "I can't go back!" he had cried at one point, when he saw how far he had climbed. But he found one of the larger platforms of dirt and rock, and curled up as far from the edge as he could get. To be safe he built a fire on the non-flammable dirt, knowing that his body, even in sleep, would not let him roil across the fire. If he did roll that far, it would wake him before he rolled off the edge. He hoped.

Saber survived the night.

Trying to keep the vague memories of a dream where he fell screaming to his death to the back of his mind, Saber resumed his weary climb. Although his was exhausted and his muscles screamed with thin pain from overtaxing them, he made it to the top after the one-and-a-half day climb.

With the extraordinary balance his people had, Saber stood near the edge and looked out across the vista of trees and clearings that spread out before him. He stared, enrapt, for a long, long time at the view, and of what he could see.

He could see for miles! He was high enough to look the birds in the eye! Never before had the young boy seen such a sight, and a wonderful sight it was to him. He had known nothing but the security of the valley, that somehow seemed confining now, looking out across such a vast landscape. Never before had he felt such freedom as he took a big breath of the fresh air.

Although his direction-sense told him where his home was, he could not see it; although he did faintly see the outlines of the mountains he had seen in the bleak rock lands they had traveled into for Gathering Day. He could estimate. As he gazed, a realization struck the boy: this was a part of the valley! The cliffs of the Eastern and the Southern Boarders were one end of the valley, with the rock lands of the north and this endless forest of the west being the only ways out and this was the other end! This was a part of his valley! The little villages of his home were only one little part of a huge area.

Oh, if only his people knew! Grinning he said in a low tone, "Hope you're looking up too, little brother. I've been drawing for you. I can't wait to get back and show you."

It was true he could not wait to get home, but he was also thirsty for adventure, to see more lands, to see more creatures, and wonders of the worlds before this one. With that thought, he turned around. It was a little intimidating, this strange fortress. It looked kind of like a sitting dog, but not quite. He thought it a similar animal however. As he looked closely at the vast fortress, he could see that it had once been blue and white, but the white was grayish and dull now, cracking in so many places he could not count them all.

The blue had faded to a twilight-gray color, like the sky before a storm, or right before nightfall. he looked to the left and saw three gigantic pieces of the gray-blue sunken into the ground, and looked up to the head of the beast. Most of it was not there, and what he could see of it looked jagged, as if the beast was hollow! Of course it was hollow, he realized. It was a fortress. He had been right! A fortress shaped like a beast! A curious examination of the blue pieces had shown them to be walls inside, little more, but the fortress had doors.

Saber began to walk towards the fortress, at an eager pace, trembling with excitement as he neared it He already was thinking of what kinds of new things would be inside, what kind of objects would be in there, maybe even a clue as to whom might have built such a thing, and who might have lived there!

Thinking only of this as he almost ran for the building, he did not see at first what happened. He only knew that some unseen force of air had all of a sudden thrown him to the ground, tumbling a few feet away. he blinked and shook his head. What had that been?

He looked up to see the remains of the head moving! They were moving!! "By the sky..." the child whispered in awe. He had never seen a building move before! One eye and part of the side of the face was all that was left up there, and Saber could see red, blue, and green...ropes? They looked like little ropes coming from the eye to somewhere inside. He could not see from the ground. But as he walked closer again, another of those explosions knocked him off his feet.

Feeling somewhat alarmed now, Saber scrambled back to see the dirt had been blasted. He looked up and as he watched, a beam of red fire lanced down to strike the earth! Fire as straight and seemingly solid as the spear he carried!

Saber backed off several yards as he watched this demon's eye fire its unnatural fire, then stop. It saw him! It must! Was it part living after all then?

The boy eyed the door, then looked up again as the eye fired on a creature that happened to pass. He winced as the large canine thing yelped loudly, and sprawled in the dirt. He did not have to look at his breathing to tell he was dead. Saber gulped. He would have to figure out another way in.

Part 13: Remnants

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