Chương 320: 4.i

The vault of Sindhu was a place of wonders and contrasts. Its heavens are one of the tallest I have ever witnessed, held up by such a towering wall in the north that if it was to the east or west it would cast all the land and sea under the vault in shadow for half the day.

After the vast and overwhelming heights of stone north, the lands then settle into mountains and great steps of plateaus that in any other land the inhabitants would call the vault walls themselves but in this land of vast heights are merely termed foothills. All of this northern land is then run through by rivers, lakes and treacherously deep canyons. Which eventually in a meandering way all feed together into the River Sindhu to the west from which this vault takes its name.

Other lesser rivers flow to the east and south, gathering from the rains caught on the lesser 'hills' of Sindhu away from the great vault wall. We came into the lands by a short underway that was well traveled, beautifully carved, wide and entirely lit by the efforts of a chain of caretaker temples along its length who I am told have practiced their service in maintaining it for generations immemorial.

The stone work of this passage was so intricate as to be fit for a palace and to this day I find it was the finest kept underway I have ever traveled. We were fortunate I would find with our timing, for if we had been a season later or earlier we might very well have been trapped by flooding and rain at the small outpost on the exit of that tunnel.

For the sunblessed lands stormy winter or baking summer might be the basis of the seasons, but in the Sindhu vault all time is dominated by the absolute overpowering of rain and water. The rains are so torrential in the farthest northern kingdoms of Sindhu that no work of man in stone or dead timbers can stand even a single season of the deluge. Only the shaping of living wood and trees can survive the test of such trials against open sky.

All habitation in the far north is thus either carved deeply into overhangs where available, or made of living trees. On our journey down from the 'foothills' of northern Sindhu I saw villages, bridges and even great fortresses made by craft of local magicians out of forests to provide shelter or support to its inhabitants. Heaven's fortunes while seeing fit not to strand us on the side of the vault wall immediately did not hold entirely to our convenience.

Our stay in Sindhu lasted for a full year and half due to the power of the seasons. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. The great great rains came while we were just coming down from the northern highlands. Thus our party was trapped from departing by land and so Father bid we play trade between the kingdoms south of the Vault Wall and its many cliff kingdoms.

But even where the heavens dip ever lower until they hang above a vast sea for lack of any pillar to prop it higher so is the height of the vault so great that the weather was warm if not overpoweringly sweltering for all seasons that we saw in Sindhu even at the southernmost peninsula. As one reaches lower elevations, the middle land cities (which are some of the cleanest and most orderly I have ever witnessed in my travels) shift from living trees to great constructions of painted wood and stone walls.

They are almost entirely rectangular affairs and the efforts to maintain these rows and grids is to an admirable precision. Stone temples and palaces are also prominent but there are ever fine wood crafts used in the structures around such. Further south the stone works become more common but even there wood construction is the fashion as siding and framing around it. Of the people they are such a wide blend, many men and women are colored by the heat of the sun to a deep brown.

Cynocephali all are with shining fur so dark as to be blue and with fearsome jaws greater than any I have seen of the dog men in other lands. But beyond these two common groups even more varied folk are there such as those whose hair grows as shining and lustrous feathers, in reds, greens and blues! I also witnessed several times men with tusks akin to that of a boar or the great elephants that are common beasts of burden north to south in Sindhu.

The tusked men are very striking for possessing a height that has their shoulders equal that of the great elephants and skin ranging between vibrantly red, through bruised purple into the color of clear blue sky. All of these people mingle and are found in all stations of life, although the giant tusk-men often hold positions of authority, the feathered folk trade and the Cynocephali ranks as guards and military.

The clothing of the people regardless of class is sumptuous for the eyes, the rich are adorned in gold, silks and all the colors of the world! But even the laborers and slaves will have some finery in base metals or colored sash to their name in garments. It made for an overwhelming experience when we first arrived in a middle-land city. Like an overturned parade set loose freely upon the streets. However It was also a boisterous welcome!

The Sindhu people are on the whole friendly, eager to trade and I can only complain that all of them, from the tallest tusked-man to the smallest dog face are distressingly loud and fast spoken. -Excerpt from the travel log Pythra of Veracules