81st Turn, Seventh Year, Thirteenth Cycle, Skalday

Previous Entry

Next Entry

From the Journal of Aframos Longjourney, Pilgrim

With notes by Avos Torr, Scholar of Rheve Library

Skalday, Thirteenth Cycle, Seventh Year, 81st Turn

I have reached the Fardowns this afternoon. There is scattered grass on the rolling hills, covering them like mold. The ground is firm, and slightly damp beneath my feet. It is a little bit like the Oases, or near the Trescu River, but it is also cool, even though it is afternoon. It is nice, I think, though I wonder what winters are like¹. Well, it gets cold in the desert. My robes are thick. If I become too cold, I will simply need to buy thicker ones.

In the distance, I can see a great darkness just over the horizon. At first I believed it to be a storm. However, it hasn't moved all day. I think I may be seeing mountains. They say there are mountains beyond the Fardowns², where the wild trolls live. Wild trolls are large, nearly as big as I am³, and supposedly tremendously strong, even compared to their cousins. I will need to plan my route carefully, once I have a clearer idea of where I can go from here. Hopefully the goatherds can tell me where to go, and how to avoid their dangerous cousins.

Where should I go? I still don't know. I could go to the cities in the east. Strong metals come from the east, and the tribe could certainly use the secret of that work. But does it need it? Or I could go to the north. They know powerful magics in the northlands, and there are certainly things that could benefit my people. But I am not a mage. Could I learn enough? Or I could circle the Desert, and learn the mysteries of the spirit. But neither am I a priest. I have spoken with my second-father enough to know that. How can I seperate which mysteries are valuable, and which are not?

At least I may ignore the west. There is nothing in that direction but ghosts and demons⁴. I will learn nothing of value there.

+Translations

More From This Author

DrEverettMann's Other Works
Entries	81st Turn, Seventh Year, Fourteenth Cycle, Skalday • The Six Day Week, Being an Account of Simon Heller's Last Days in the Unwaking, Part One • 81st Turn, Seventh Year, Nineteenth Cycle, Skalday • 81st Turn, Seventh Year, Seventeenth Cycle, Byrday • 81st Turn, Seventh Year, Eighteenth Cycle, Tresday • 81st Turn, Seventh Year, Thirteenth Cycle, Chroday • 81st Turn, Seventh Year, Summer Solstice • 81st Turn, Seventh Year, Sixteenth Cycle, Byrday • 81st Turn, Seventh Year, Fifteenth Cycle, Skyday • Grandfather Scorpion • 81st Turn, Seventh Year, Fifteenth Cycle, Rokday, Evening • 81st Turn, Seventh Year, Twenty-First Cycle, Skalday • 81st Turn, Seventh Year, Twenty-First Cycle, Erevday • 81st Turn, Seventh Year, Twenty Fourth Cycle, Chroday • 81st Turn, Seventh Year, Seventeenth Cycle, Tresday •
Other

Footnotes

1. Despite their appearance, the Baro Nomads are warm-blooded. Indeed, they are very good at regulating their body temperatures, often learning to do so on a conscious level.

2. The Varidan's Crest Range

3. A male mountain troll of the Varidan's Crest subspecies generally attains a height of eight to nine feet. The females are somewhat larger.

4. As a westerner, I hardly need mention that Aframos was wrong about this, the revision and oversight committee notwithstanding.