The Unfinished Land

The First Krater

ANDALO AND SANY rode ahead and around an old wall of bone-colored blocks. When they returned, their eyes were wide and voices subdued. “We have a few miles before we must abandon the wagon,” Andalo said. “And we need guidance.”

“Why is that?” Nikolias asked.

“There is indeed a krater ahead,” Andalo said, and Sany nodded.

“Ah,” Nikolias said. “The Crafter the city served.”

“But they kept it at a distance!” Sany said. “Do we proceed? Do we go to the edge and look in?”

“Is it like the jars of dead Crafters… bringing on madness?” Andalo asked.

Yuchil, Bela, Kaiholo, and Kern approached them, and Yuchil asked, “What did you hear, what did you see?”

“There was a cloud over the land, casting a long shadow… but we heard nothing. A few hundred yards from the krater, beyond the last of the road, there is a cleft in the earth and jumbles of gold-flecked granite.”

“A quarry of souls, likely,” Yuchil said.

“Now depleted and no longer mined,” Kaiholo concluded.

“The houses of those who served the miners, those are empty and in ruins,” Andalo said.

“And still no bodies,” Sany said, looking askance. “But all along the way… footprints.”

Yuchil said. “Where there are no servants, likely there is no living Crafter.”

“But even dead Crafters bring on madness!” Andalo said.

To which Sany ventured, “Mayhaps the Crafter is merely hiding! It could jump out at us…”

“Crafters are not bogey spirits,” Kaiholo said. “They likely had a hand in your history and lineage, and even your reason for being. Respect them.”

“Then what do we do?”

“Observe that cloud,” Nikolias said. “I have heard of such. The breath of Crafters makes its own weather, which can last for many seasons.”

Yuchil withdrew to the wagon and joined Calafi.

Reynard looked to the path ahead. A tall candle burned in the middle of the rocky way. Widsith saw it as well, but none of the others.