Crystal Gorge

THE WAR CHAMBER

There was an alien quality about the Domain of Veltan’s older brother that Omago found to be just a bit disturbing. The huge evergreen trees in the Tonthakan region filled Omago with awe, and that might have had something to do with his problem, but the more he thought about it, the more convinced he became that it was people rather than the trees or mountains that concerned him so much. It seemed to Omago that they didn’t behave the way that people were supposed to. He knew that Longbow and Red-Beard were hunters rather than farmers, but after a while he’d grown accustomed to their peculiarities, and they’d actually become fairly close friends. The outlanders were very different, but that was to be expected. They came from different parts of the world, after all. Even so, Omago found that there were several of the Trogites and Maags that he thought of as friends.

The natives of the Domain of Veltan’s older brother, however, baffled Omago. There was a belligerence about them that seemed most unnatural, and it appeared that the slightest disagreement could start a war up here.

As it turned out, however, that belligerence had been the result of what Veltan had always referred to as “tampering.” Veltan himself was a master tamperer. He altered many things, usually to make the lives of the people of his Domain more pleasant. The tampering up in that part of Dahlaine’s Domain called Tonthakan, however, had evidently been the work of their enemies, and it had obviously been designed to stir up conflict between the various tribes, and thereby to reduce the size of the force that would be needed to hold back the invasion of the creatures of the Wasteland.

All had turned out very well in Tonthakan, but it appeared that their enemies were far more clever than they’d been in the earlier wars in the Domains of Veltan and his sister Zelana. Omago remembered something that Veltan had told him when he’d been just a boy. Most creatures, Veltan had said, developed very slowly, and a minor change could take thousands of years to become common in all members of that species. The creatures of the Wasteland, however, could change significantly almost overnight. It was that peculiarity which made the servants of the Vlagh so dangerous.

After Sorgan’s friend Ox had eliminated the two creatures who’d been causing the dissension in Tonthakan, things went much more smoothly, and Veltan’s older brother decided that they should all go on down to his home in a place called “Mount Shrak.” They left the village of Statha and crossed the mountains that the archer Athlan called “Bear Hunter Territory” and came to the lands of Matakan.

The vast prairie-land of Matakan filled Omago with awe. The tall yellow grass strongly suggested that the soil was very fertile, and Dahlaine told them that the grain-fields to the north were extensive. The Matans of this southern region, however, concentrated on hunting the huge bison that grazed here and were the primary meat source in the lands of the Matans.

Omago had a bit of trouble with that idea, of course. There had always been a certain amount of trouble in the Domain of Veltan because of the grazing habits of sheep. A herd of hungry sheep could devour vast stretches of wheat and other crops in the space of just a few days, and Omago was quite sure that a herd of bison, an animal that appeared to be ten times larger than a sheep, could strip away an entire season’s worth of hard work almost overnight. That probably caused a lot of problems.

It took them a couple more days to reach Dahlaine’s home under the towering Mount Shrak. The notion of sleeping in a hole in the ground disturbed Omago more than a little. Hadn’t Dahlaine ever seen a house?

As usual, however, Ara took everything in stride—right up until they reached Dahlaine’s main underground chamber and she saw Dahlaine’s rudimentary kitchen. She spoke with Veltan’s older brother at some length about stoves and ovens, pots, pans, plates, cups, spoons, and other utensils.

Omago had to cover his mouth with one hand to keep Dahlaine from seeing his broad grin as Ara continued to scold him.

It was early on the following morning when Zelana’s little girl Eleria came out into the main chamber of Dahlaine’s cave looking for her “Beloved.” Omago saw a certain charm in the child’s use of that term, but he’d had just a bit of trouble with Zelana’s explanation that the word had been derived from the term used by her pet pink dolphins. The concept of talking animals disturbed Omago more than just a little. If dolphins could talk, that probably meant that they could also think. And if they could think—? Omago shuddered back from that possibility.

Both Zelana and Dahlaine seemed to be quite troubled when Eleria advised them that the children “shared” their Dreams with each other. The notion that the children were able to step over vast distances with their minds didn’t really seem all that remarkable to Omago. They were brothers and sisters, after all, and, given their importance in the current situation here in the Land of Dhrall, communication between them could very well be absolutely essential. Yaltar had never quite come right out and told Omago and Ara that he’d known exactly what his sister Eleria had seen in one of “those” Dreams, but he’d quite obviously been aware of the more significant details.

It was the decision of their sister Aracia to conceal Lillabeth’s Dream from the other members of her family that outraged Dahlaine and Zelana the most, however. In their eyes this was an out-and-out betrayal. Omago wasn’t really all that surprised, however; Aracia’s arrogant, self-centered behavior during the war in Veltan’s Domain quite strongly suggested that she devoutly believed that she was by far the most important creature in the entire world, and that her brothers and sister were not really all that significant.

Omago found that to be moderately offensive.

Zelana’s immediate reaction was anything but moderate, however; Omago was quite certain that “divine” Aracia was likely to have a very bad day when Zelana confronted her.

“Don’t concern yourself, dear heart,” Ara said with a faint smile. “I’m quite sure that Zelana’s just about to go turn her sister’s world upside down, and then everything should be all right again.”

“If you say so, dear,” Omago said, but he did have a few doubts.

I’m not too sure that the idiocy down there was entirely Aracia’s fault, Dahlaine,” Zelana told her brother after she and Eleria had returned to the cavern later that day. “There’s a priest down there who’s almost as fat—and dishonest—as Adnari Estarg of the Trogite Church was, and he has our sister neatly wrapped around his finger. His main goal in life is to make sure that he’s protected from honest work—and living in luxury, of course. Once he starts talking, Aracia’s mind goes to sleep. She adores being adored, and Takal Bersla piles adoration on her for all he’s worth for hours and hours every day. I wouldn’t be at all surprised to find out that our dear sister ‘just happened’ to tell him about Aracia’s Dream, and then he could very well have been the one who persuaded her to try to hide it from the rest of us.” Then she laughed. “Do you happen to remember that fellow in Narasan’s army who goes by the name of Andar? The one with the deep voice?”