The month was almost over. She had spent most of that time traveling along the mountains, and following the ocean around to the northwest. Ahead of her, she could see a great river and herds of four legged animals, larger than deer, that she didn"t know the name of. They tasted great, and she had taken to eating them, instead of the bear she had in her cave. The water of the river beckoned her, as the ocean"s salty waters tasted horrible. Unfortunately, as she tasted the water from the river, it too had a salty taste to it. With a sigh, she gathered up more snow and melted it with her fire.Beyond the river, the land rose again, forming mountains again, but these weren"t as high as the ones she had been traveling along. The land was lush here, even in the dead of winter, and thick snow covering it, she could see the ma.s.sive herds that managed to survive here. She intended to travel over the mountains today, and see what lay beyond. The river was large enough, she wondered if the cartographer who had made that ancient map, had decided not to cross it.
Teleporting to the furthest point she could see, Aella wanted to get over the mountains and explore the other side before she had to return to being a king again. Flying over the mountains, she gazed at the other side of them. Her hair had grown out longer, and blew in the breeze, tickling her ears. The white hide, she now wore as a cape, also flapped in the breeze, as she gazed at the wonderful sight before her.
As far as she could see were gently rolling hills, with small rivers running from the mountains to a distant ocean. She was sure she could only see the ocean because she was so high in the air. It was easily a good hundred, or more, miles away. Flying over the land, she couldn"t help but laugh in delight. This place was perfect for her people! The mountains curved around the entire inner valley, providing protection from the elements. Trees grew at the bases of the mountains, and if they were careful about them, would supply her people for a long time with all the wood they could need.
Over the next couple of days, she flew over the area, checking the mountains for monsters, and found them lacking. The few animals that might pose a hazard was nothing they couldn"t handle. The ocean surrounded the giant peninsula, affording them only one route by land for the humans to attack them, and the mountains provided them with perfect lookout points to watch for water attacks. If she counted the river as a part of the ocean, since it had salt water in it, rather than fresh water, she could almost claim this place as an island. Hovering near the middle of it, she wondered if the realm had created this place just for her people.
Spying movement below, she dropped to check it out, and was surprised to find a woman standing alone, looking around.
"Ah, Aella, how are you doing? I managed to clear a few things on my to-do list, and decided to swing by. Do you have any plans for this area?" asked the woman.
Aella suddenly remembered who she was. She was the one from Bob"s bar, who had said she was going to bring a world tree to the realm.
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"I thought you said it would be a hundred years or so, before you got to my realm?"
"Yeah, well, my husband likes your chickens so much, that I decided to b.u.mp it up on the list. Your realm didn"t mind. So, do you have plans for it, or not?"
"I was actually thinking of having my people move here, to live," Aella said.
"Here? Really? Why not the next continent?" she asked, pointing at the ocean to the west.
"The next continent?" Aella repeated, frowning because she didn"t know what a continent was.
"Across that ocean, there"s another land, half the size of the one you live on now, that has a giant lake in the middle of it. I was going to put the world tree here, and create a magical briar in the mountains to prevent anyone from getting to it, until it"s old enough to protect itself."
Aella sighed as she looked around, then back towards the ocean. She didn"t have time to investigate across the water! She was hoping to head back to the palace tonight.
"Look, I can show it to you, if you can wait a few minutes?" asked the woman, pulling out a seed from her pocket. It sparkled in the sunlight, giving off a sheen of greens.
"Alright," Aella grudgingly agreed. This woman was powerful enough to frighten Bob, and he scared her, so she could only step aside and watch as she placed the seed onto the ground, and began to cast magic.
All around them, from the mountains, a rumble shook the ground. Aella watched as brown and green appeared, too far away for her to see what it was exactly, in the mountains, and their valleys. She could only a.s.sume it was the magical briar the woman spoke of.
"Alright. That should keep those pesky humans away from it until it"s old enough. Let"s go," she said, holding out a hand to Aella.
Aella took it, feeling like the roles were reversed. She normally held out her hand to teleport people.
The moment she touched the woman"s hand, the area around them shifted and then stabilized.
"This area would make a much better location for your people, I think. There"re mountains to the west, to keep the humans from gaining access to your home easily, as they"re pretty sheer over there. The rest of the place is pretty good for whatever. You have trees and farmland, and there"s plenty of animals to hunt."
"To the west? Aren"t the humans to the east?" asked Aella, confused.
"No, dear. The world is round, like a ball. We"ve traveled far enough west that the humans are actually closer to the west."
"The world is a ball?" Aella had never thought of that before. She had seen maps, but they were flat.
"Hmm, I"ll probably get in trouble for telling you that, but I don"t care. Count that as payment for taking the spot you were going to use for your people to settle. I can probably give you something else, if you don"t think that"s enough?"
Aella looked at this super-powerful woman, who was offering her whatever she wanted, and thought hard. All of the questions she had, that she had asked the realm, popped into her head, but they seemed petty.
"Could you teach me magic?" she asked, hopefully.
"No," the woman laughed. "I suck at it, but my husband could. He"s pretty busy himself. Is there anything else?"
"Unless you could help me move everyone here, not really," said Aella with a shake to her head. This would take her forever to get everyone moved over, teleporting them, but it would have to do, as it was the best she could do.
"I"ll see what I can do," laughed the woman, before disappearing.
Checking out the area as best she could, before the sun began to sink below the horizon, Aella teleported back to the throne room. It must be later than she had thought here, because no one was there. Heading over to the dining room, there was one lone servant, moping the floor. When he saw her, he dropped his mop in shock.
"Your Majesty?" he whispered, with wide eyes.
"Yes? Where is everyone?" she asked.
"It"s the middle of the night. Almost dawn, actually, everyone"s still asleep," he said, stumbling over his words.
"Do you always mop in the night?" she asked, motioning to the dropped mop.
Scrambling to pick it up, he nodded furiously. "It"s the only time there"s no one here to slip on the wet floors."
She glanced down where she was standing, and frowned. She had left muddy footprints.
"Sorry, I"ll leave you to it, then," she said, teleporting to the library. Even if everyone was sleeping, she imagined Bridgette would be awake.
"Aella! Thank goodness! I was starting to worry! Yesterday was the first day after the full moon, but you never showed. I was wondering what you were up to!"
Bridgette had gotten a little wider around the hips, but otherwise looked the same as she remembered her. Felix was asleep on the floor, snoring softly.
"I was taking the time I couldn"t be here, to look for a good place to move the kingdom," said Aella, sitting on the edge of the desk.
"Are you still planning on doing that?" asked Bridgette, looking around at the books painfully. "I thought since the wall was in place, you might have changed your mind on it."
"Bridgette, you know as well as I do, that just because the wall is there, doesn"t change the fact that the church hates us. If we stay here, they will forever be trying to cause us trouble, and I would rather not have them release that mountain monster. Is there any way we could kill it? I stopped that storm monster, even though I apparently only made it two smaller ones, instead of actually killing it."
"I know they hate you, but I really don"t think they"re going to release the monster. It would kill them first."
"But Bridgette, it only takes one person to decide they want it free, and that it doesn"t matter how many it kills. If I can move my people away from them, even if they do release it, my people will be safe. Besides, I want to head south again, once I have everything taken care of here, and try to see the elves and dwarves. They may have a solution to how to kill it, if you don"t know a way."
"I don"t, sorry. They also are supposed to have the information about the heroes," added Bridgette, sighing and touching her books as if they were doomed.
"Bridgette, I don"t plan to destroy your books. I want to move them too. Besides, I already learned about the heroes."
"What?! How?"