Chapter 2 Part 1

WEBS OF WINTER

In spite of all that had happened, the trip back across the lake was fairly uneventful. Armegon used what magic was available in the vicinity of the tower to distill a wax based coating from local plants to cover the underside of the raft. New oars were cut and shaped and by late afternoon they were ready to set out across the lake again. The only trying moment came when Ganatar stepped onto the craft and almost upset it. They quickly restored the equilibrium and were soon back out on the water.

They wasted no time in making for the nearest shore. When they finally beached, they were glad to be rid of the sailing vessel. Not that it was not liked, but that its desertion signaled the end of a fairly trying stage of their journey. Lakes of acid were not for cruising across at one’s leisure.

They left the raft near a jetty of rock that jutted out from the bank and settled down for the night on the shore. The decision was made to travel next to the icy area. The island had been symbolized on the tapestry with a tetrahedron, the most simple regular solid. Armegon and Ultrecht agreed that the cube was the next logical choice since it was the next most simple solid on the map. Avery had questioned whether the order was important, and Armegon had stated that if they assumed it was then it did not matter whether it was or not.

Calista and Ruk spent much of the evening talking to Ganatar. Unicorn, woman and minotaan created a rapport of their own. All had sensed the special ages old friendship of Armegon, Avery, and Ultrecht. By getting to know each other more closely, Calista, Ruk, and Ganatar gave each other a sense of belonging.

Ganatar proved not to be the mystical and mighty creature that Calista had taken him for. The unicorn, it turned out, was a coward who had hidden from the wrath of the gods until he was the last male of his kind. She discovered from his stories that the gods had tried to subdue the prismatic unicorns by slaying their king. Ganatar spoke reverently as he remembered the magnificent creature with its unblemished white coat, snowy mane, and diamond horn.

Ganatar told them the tale of how the king of all unicorns and the Grand Dragon stood together with Blandir, the king of the fire birds and leader of the rebellion against the gods. The gods had struck with egotistically charged anger and beat the free peoples back until they were separate tribes struggling to survive. Then the huntings began.

With a vengeance, the gods hunted the fire birds into extinction and then turned their attentions to the dragons and the unicorns. But the fire birds had made an unselfish sacrifice. By fighting the gods to the very end, they had bought time for the dragons and unicorns to hide their young and make plans to save themselves. The common unicorns and the chromatic dragons were the result.

The dragons were attacked first. The adults were hunted ruthlessly to last. Without the parental guidance of the adult dragons, their young had to create their own philosophies and morals. Ganatar told them that he remembered the day that the chromatic dragons turned away from, their kin, the lusters, and embraced evil.

When the gods gave up on the dragons and turned against the unicorns, the only surviving adult dragons were two elderly female gold dragons. The chromatics felt that their cousins had been cowardly and renounced their kinship. The chromatic dragons abandoned their heritage and sought their own path.

The prismatic unicorns fought long but they too were doomed. By the time the pheoni, dragons, and unicorns were defeated, only three gods had been slain. Ganatar sadly admitted that it was partially due to fear of his own life that led him to flee and hide. He claimed that it was after the defeat of the unicorns that he was captured. In return for their obedience, the remaining females would be allowed to live. Ganatar would be locked away against the day that they might renege on their promise. Ganatar was the last hope of their species' carrying on.

Ruk and Calista glanced at each other only briefly during the story. The others had confided in them that they were from another world, so only Calista and Ruk were the inheritors of Ganatar and his people's failure, for it was their boredom with the unicorns that turned the gods' attentions to the human and quasi-human races. It was not that the gods were entirely evil. Many of the gods were good and benevolent, but they were all demanding of obedience and ruthlessly egotistical. It was one thing to love one's god, and entirely another to be forced to worship out of fear.

Ganatar spoke on far into the night and the others listened. Finally they all turned in and left the unicorn mumbling lightly with Avery who had taken the first watch. The darkness was broken only by the glow of the firelight and the shimmering red line stretching across the sky from the island.

When Calista woke, it was daylight. Apparently Ganatar had taken her watch for her. She was not ungrateful. She noted that the creature was dozing next to a tree. Even in sleep it was a magnificent beast of mystery and power. In spite of the story she had heard the night before, she could hardly contain her awe of the graceful unicorn. She believed that her feelings were not the only ones in the group. Ruk too was reverent around Ganatar. The others were polite and amiable, but not subservient.

Calista rolled out of her blanket and warmed herself by the fire. Not that it was cold, but a sleeping body tends to cool off. Avery had explained it to her one morning when she questioned their statement that the temperature was constant. She had sworn that she was cold, and Avery told her that sleep slowed down the speed at which her body burned food, and thus she felt cold.

When she had eaten some berries, and drank some warmed juice, she felt better and soon they were departing the lake. They headed in the general direction of north. Since there were no true cardinal directions, Avery and Ruk decided that the ice region would be north and the island was west. That meant the desert on the map was east and the jungle was south.

Since they still had no real scale for distances. The map in the volcano had been designed for a purpose other that geography. So it was not surprising when the first day passed and they still had no sign of the realm of ice. In fact, it was almost three days later when they finally broke over a rolling hill to gaze down onto the frozen tundra.