By
the afternoon the landscape had transformed from dead pillars of trees to dead
pillars of metal. The pipes and vents twisting around each other criss-crossing
the landscape, leading to and from various tanks and valves. Ellyn turned to
Seth who merely shrugged, “It’s called the industrial plains” he explained, “I
have no idea what they were for”. There were still some fires burning from some
of the tallest chimneys burning off something left inside the pipes, producing
points of fire floating in the smog that seemed to never leave the plains. Some
of the sections of pipes had been removed by looters or destroyed by some
ancient explosion. They passed a few turn-off roads as well as small camps,
which inhabitants either wave them by or just ignored them. After what seemed
like forever to Ellyn, Seth pulled the cart over to one of said small camps for
some food. Seth seemed to prefer food other people make fresh rather than
digging in to his own supplies though Ellyn, who had seen a barrel full of
preserved food on the cart.
As
they continued through the plains they both fell into silence, in awe of the
mad destruction that had occurred at some point, both of them considering the
motives behind such an event. As they continued to progress towards what Ellyn
presumed was the other side of the plains, the damage to the “buildings”
increased to the point that there were large craters in place of a group of the
buildings, the road, which was more of a track now, winding around, up and down
more of the craters and smaller ones. At one point the track narrowed so much
that Ellyn had to get out and help direct Seth onwards to ensure that the cart didn’t
end up as a pile of debris at the bottom of a hole. After continuing once more
the terrain smoothed out and the craters disappeared and they began down a
hill. Down this hill trees started to be seen as there was none of the industrial
mess of before, Ellyn assumed they were out of the plains at this point.
At
the base of the hill there was a trading post and small free house. Seth pulled
up into a parking booth outside and jumped off. Now closer to the free house
Ellyn saw that it had a sign on it, calling itself “the pit” with a picture of
an arrow pointing into a hole. Seth beckoned for Ellyn to follow him in, she
climbed down from the cart after patting Acorn on the head. As soon as the
front door opened with the sound of a bell, a warm smell of something sweet hit
them.
“Ah
Seth welcome back to the pit!” the barkeep exclaimed
“Eeyy….dude….good
to be back” Seth replied, having forgotten the barkeeps name. “Two of your
finest please!”
“Right
away Seth” Said the barkeep disappearing under the counter. When he returned he
came holding two metal tankards, he placed the tankards down of the counter in
front of them, Seth reached into his pocket and pulled out two gold coins, the
barkeep waved them away, “these are on the house” the barkeep said.
“Business
that good eh?” Replied Seth taking a large swig from one of the tankards,
producing a foam moustache on his lips, which were stretched into a grin
directed at Ellyn. Ellyn picked up the remaining tankard and peered into it. It
contained a foaming brown liquid that was clearly the source of the smell.
Ellyn took a tentative sip, careful not to get foam on her face. The drink was incredibly
sweet, with a flavour that was both familiar and alien to her. She looked at
Seth and the barkeep for an explanation, and after a pause Seth caught gist and
said “Du Beurre Bière” nodding to the tankards. “Don’t worry it’s got nothing
bad in it, not even alcohol!” continued the barkeep. Ellyn took a larger drink
and let the strange but not unpleasant sweetness fill her mouth. “Should I ask
what it does contain?” Ellyn asked
the barkeep. “Tis a secret family recipe” replied the barkeep. Seth drained his
tankard and slid the barkeep three gold coins as well as a red disc with a
picture of a trident on it; the barkeep held up two fingers at his side, Seth nodded
and the barkeep disappeared below the counter once more. This time he returned
only with two small glass vials, which both contained a bright blue substance,
and two cards that had the same trident symbol on it, Ellyn looked to Seth but
he offered no explanation as he quickly placed the vials into specially build holders
in his satchel and the cards into a pocket on his jumper. Seth crossed his arms
and waited for Ellyn to finish her drink, she was however finding it harder to drink
it in large quantities. After one of her larger sips, Seth looked into her
tankard and saw she was only half done, Ellyn pushed the tankard towards him,
who shrugged then downed the rest. They both got up and walked to the door; the
barkeep said a quick “Good luck” to them as they left. Acorn barked excitedly
as they approached the cart. Only once on the cart and moving did Seth speak
up.
“The
trident represents the tree factions and that they are really all part of one unit”
Explained Seth “Anyway it is the logo of a clan that I uh, attend, members can
be part of any faction, or none at all, at the meetings and in the safe houses
it doesn’t matter what faction you belong to, what you believe in or what you
do as long as you abide by the rules. Those cards and vials are our way in;
no-one can enter without one of those cards.”
“And
the vials?” asked Ellyn
“The
vials are special, they contain a specific and rarer form of byronium, which is
blue. They are part of a ritual that takes place in certain meetings.”
“What
sort of ritual?” Ellyn asked,
“You’ll
see” Seth said with a grin. He focused back on the road, which was now going
back up and pushed the cart for more speed.
When
they reached the top Ellyn looked out the back of the cart, and from this side
she could see that what they had just gone through was no hill. It was one massive
crater.
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