Sorry for the odd interlude. But when the muse knocks, it’s a good idea to answer.
But here we are! Back to the Wandering Mountains! It started with Child of the Plains and continued in Man of the Mountain, then again in Legends of Old. Here’s the fourth installment!
I got the idea for this particular story during our drive to Calgary. It was my first time passing through the Canadian Rockies and I was stunned by the majesty and diversity of the mountain faces. In fact, the more I looked at them, the more I saw faces. Each mountain looked like it’s own odd creature with its own unique characteristics.
Of course, being a writer, my mind went to work on this idea. Could these faces come from the spirits of the mountains? Or could the mountains be giant sleeping creatures? I actually have a ton of different ideas related to these concepts that might get sprinkled into a couple different fantasy worlds. As for this particular story, I think it might be the prologue for a future series.
Please leave a comment and let me know what you think of the series so far!
. . .
The Council of Elders carved a stark contrast compared to the colorful tent in which they met. Here, and only here, were the full riches of the homestead on display for visitors to see. Each craftsman displayed their wares, of course, and each common house made known its specialty. But only in the tent of the elders could one view it all at once. The rich tapestries. The fine weapons. The softest weaves of wool and the finest animal pelts. Even the table was intricately carved, worked by several generations of carpenters until not an inch of it was left without decoration.
The elders themselves were as varied as their surroundings, each of their former crafts easily identified by their clothing. Swidra, the mistress of horses, wore leathers, well broken from years of use and decorated with subtle but elegant embroidery of horses in motion. Ghad, still head of the blacksmiths, dressed in coal grey so that the residue of his work would never be visible against his fine clothing. His long hair, he kept braided tightly against his head so that it could never be singed. On the far side of the table, Polasta, the scout master, wore clothing as green as the grassy plains, her hair decorated with a complicated dapple pattern that would allow her to blend into the natural foliage, though the roots revealed the natural silver of her locks with each inch of new growth.
All of them kept at least part of their plait silver, in fact. For silver was a mark of honor among the plains people. A sign of the wisdom only old age and experience could bring. Ylyea was at least two decades away from her first distinctive strands, but she hoped one day to sit among such esteemed company. The Council of Silver they were sometimes called. Their collective wisdom guided the homesteaders through good times and bad, though no one had yet determined which these days would prove to be.
Ylyea had already passed her samples on to the shaman, Musuuk, along with a few scribbled notes the old man of the mountain had gifted her before her departure. A guide, he said, to the herbs they would find most useful during their initial days of exploration. She expected it included a list of poisonous plants to be avoided, so that they would not have to suffer deaths to gain the knowledge. If they wanted a full understanding of what the mountains held, they would have to gain it themselves. The old man’s price would prove too high otherwise. At least until the Summer Caravan made its way to the city and back.
Now she passed a pair of hastily, but carefully, copied maps across the table, each carved onto a scrap of hide. Real paper maps would have to come later, when they had a chance to organize their newly gained information and the cartographers had time to work their craft upon the most expensive of their resources. Paper was hard enough to come by; they couldn’t afford to waste the large sheets they would need to map this new world. Keep Reading.
As always tagging: @merigreenleaf, @dreameronthewind and @ilioneus
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