Crystal Fall

[Rerogo]

Ok, so I\'d been toying with some of these ideas for a while, but then I came up with the Birdhouse, and decided to start writing it down. So, here you go, the first part of my first story.

Crystal Fall
by Rerogo
many thanks to De_Gopher and some websites for helping with names

  The Birdhouse was the Xacha\'s greatest achievement. High above the floor of the 4th level, it had taken over
fifty years to construct. The Climbers had braved the ceiling of Yliakum for years before that, hanging in their skin
tents, which were more like hammocks, on the edge of survival. This, however, was an altogether new stage in the
ceiling\'s exploration. 300 meters across, the Birdhouse was almost a full town. A specialiy designed lift system ran
over to a small platform above the first level, then down to the ground. Nine people inhabited it: a dwarf, 2 Enkidukai,
renowned for their ability to balance on open girders, a Xacha and a Demorian, both scientists
2 mages studying the crystal, and 4 Klyros, highly trained members of the
Octarchs\' personal guards.
  Osaki Jarka walked the girders. The open beams formed much of the structure, and were its structural supports.
Any crack in them would lead to an immediate evactuation of the Birdhouse. Fortunately, these were dwarven steel, and
neither rusted nor cracked. A metal cable as thick as Osaki\'s arm was attached to the end of the girder. He checked it
to ensure it was secure, and turned around to go back to start the next beam.
    The entire Birdhouse was in front of him. It didn\'t look so much like a house for birds as a fish on a platter.
The thought made Osaki salivate. In the twilight caused by by the crystal\'s position relative to the structure, the back
half of it was dark, but he saw the doorway that led in. He only had time to walk one more before the dwarves served lunch, and
he didn\'t want to miss it. Their lift had just brought in new supplies, and fish was on the menu.
  Osaki enjoyed walking the girders, though. He and his wife were the only civilians there cleared for girder
duty, and he used his time out here to get some solitude. The Birdhouse was too small for ten people. He walked the next
girder and returned inside.

****

    Naren Idara gripped the Azure glyph. This was the easiest way to communicate with home. There were lanterns for signalling,
but this small stone-like glyph transmitted ones words to its pair on the ground. Naren was using it to talk to her
husband.
    \"I love you too. I\'ll try to be down in a month, but I can\'t promise anything.\" There was a pause as she heard
the reply. \"May Laanx light your path.\"
    She walked out the door to lunch.


****

   Fodor Skyforger pushed the cart out of the small kitchen. He grumbled. There wasn\'t enough metal to smith or
rock to tunnel up here. Not that the being kilometers above the ground helped. This was menial labor, but he endured it
because it would bring honor to his clan. The Birdhouse was some of the best steelwork his clan had ever done. He didn\'t
particularly like being here, but that had to be accepted.
  As he reached the table, Osaki\'s wife, Orun, stepped in. \"Can I help you with that?\" Together they slid the
heavy pan containing the huge fish onto the table. Orun had been patrolling the girders on the other side of the
Birdhouse. Both sides had to be patrolled once a week. A Ylian who had ridden up with the lift was conversing with the
Xacha leader of the civilians, Anesh, in the other room.
   \"There are rumors of a dark mage down there. We think he intends to harm the crystal.\"
    \"It would be near impossible to harm the crystal. It is massive, and magic permeates it,\" chuckled the Xacha.
 Just then, Naren came down from the labs at the crystal end of the Birdhouse. \"I wouldn\'t be so sure. The Lemur
and Kran have legends.\"
    Anesh just laughed, but Orun and Fodor looked at each other and shuddered.

Thanks in advance for any reviews.

[lanser]

Hi
it\'s very descriptive and if this is the first part we may be in for a long read let you know more after the next episode

[Rerogo]

I managed to get some more written. Enjoy.

 \"Osaki, these rumors have me scared.\" It was after lunch, and too hot, due to the Birdhouse\'s short distance
from the crystal, to walk the girders. \"The Lemur are afraid sections of the crystal will fall.\"
    \"Orun, you heard how Anesh laughed at those rumors. I, personally, am inclined to believe what a Xacha tells
me. We should go help move crates.\" They moved back to the rear of the Birdhouse, where it opened to the lifts. Fodor
refused to enter this room, as one whole end of it was open to the sky, to allow the lift to easily enter and exit.
    As they entered the room, they saw 4 Klyros unloading a crate full of scientific instruments. Naren was handed
the equipment, and layed it on the floor to be carried to the lab, where the crystal was studied. The enkidukai did not
know what to make of the various objects, but Osaki knew what needed doing. He grabbed a rope and tossed another to
Orun. He turned to Naren \"We\'re going down to get the shrooms.\" Orun and Osaki both rapelled to a wide net 12 feet or so
below the girders. Their weight created a depression, causing hundreds of small mushrooms to roll and land on them,
knee deep.
 Certain mushrooms, valuable to alchemists everywhere, grew only on the ceiling of Yliakum. The Climbers had been
the only source of these until the Birdhouse had been built. The birdhouse\'s net caught huge numbers of mushrooms that
would normally burn up or splatter after falling from the ceiling to the ground. The Birdhouse doubled or tripled the
number of these mushrooms available. These mushrooms made the Birdhouse a profitable venture. Orun and Osaki took some
bags attached to the ropes and began to fill them with mushrooms of various types.
  When they were done, 45 minutes later, they climbed up the ropes, and hoisted the mushrooms back up to the
Birdhouse, where they were put on the lift platform. Osaki walked over to talk to the four Klyros, who had finished
unloading, while Orun moved to ask the Ylian news of the Jarka clan.
 As she approached the courier, he noticed her and became apprehensive, looking away. \"Do you bring news of my
clan?\" she asked.
   \"No,\" he said, turning back towards her, \"But I was approached by a menki as I had a drink in the Broken Door
soon before I left.\" The lift touched down in Akkio, and The Broken Door tavern was where Orun and Osaki had celebrated
as they prepared for the lift to leave as well. \"He gave me this, and told me to give it to the enkis of the Birdhouse.\"
Orun accepted the small leather pouch. \"He called it \'Pulsar\'.\"

****

    The Lemur looked out of his cave in the cliff face. His megara had faithfully transported him from the floor to
this remote place just below the second level for several years now. He looked up at the crystal. He was one of the most
powerful mages in Yliakum, and his agents were currently spreading rumors exaggerating even that. Only one thing could
allow him to fulfill those rumors. And that was up there.

****

   When Osaki and Orun were back in their room, she pulled out the pouch. \"The courier gave this to me. He said a
menki gave it to him just before he came up.\" She opened it, and pulled out a glyph. \"It\'s called Pulsar, whatever that
is.\"
  \"I think it\'s some Xacha word. I\'m not sure what that does, but it is certainly a glyph.\"
   \"It seems as though we should keep it secret.\"
    \"Agreed. I\'m not sure why the clan gave it to us, but by how we got it, we likely shouldn\'t reveal it.\"

****

 Corporal Wynn was sparring with Lt. Gramblyn, his commander, in the private room on the Birdhouse the Octarchs
paid large sums of money for. He and the three other Klyros of the station were highly trained, and formed the Octarchs\'
elite strike force for responding to emergencies. Wynn backed up against some shelves, jumped up backwards, spread his
wings, and swooped down, knocking Gramblyn over. He pulled a knife, the biggest weapon ever used by this team, and held
it to his commander\'s neck. Gramblyn simply threw him off and said, \"This session is over for today.\"
    At exactly that moment, a light coming out of one end of a silver tube mounted on the window and focused on the
ceiling began to blink. It was focused on a lantern on the ground below that was shaded. A lantern also in the
Birdhouse\'s window completed the system, and allowed for two-way communication.
   Gramblyn reached over to the lantern and blinked it twice in acknowledgement. He grabbed a wax tablet and
scratched down a series of slashes and dashes. He yelled for Flynn, also a corporal, and the Birdhouse\'s resident
codemaster. Flynn looked at the tablet, wrote some more writing below it, and suddenly had his face go wide with shock.
  Gramblyn took the tablet, had the same reaction, and summoned Krynn, the third corporal. Krynn read it, to much
the same effect. Wynn looked at the tablet. Underneath the coded shorthand was Flynn\'s writing. It was short, but it
read, \"News of threat to all Yliakum. Suspected plot against the crystal. Beware activity 3 degrees west of Hydlaa on
the cliff face.\"
    The news was disturbing to him. A threat to the Azure Sun was unheard of. But there were rumors about a
powerful mage, and Command believed them. \"We have to tell the civillians.\"
   \"We can\'t,\" replied Gramblyn. \"It was transmitted with a Level 3 header. That is very secret intelligence.\"
  \"They deserve to know\"
    \"Command doesn\'t think so,\" interjected Flynn. \"It is our duty to obey them. Besides, whatever happens there is
out of our control until it reaches the conditions at which we deploy.\"
  \"Get some rest. We\'re increasing to full watch. I\'ll take the first one.\" At Gramblyn\'s orders, they all
returned to their bunks on the other side of the hall.

****

  Osaki woke early and went to the mess hall, where he took a loaf of bread and some cheese. He went out and ate it at
the end of the first girder. He walked the beams routinely, as he had every morning for the past nine months. He was almost
done with his checking when, suddenly, he noticed a streak crossing the sky, which was actually below him, emanating from a
dwarven quarry on the edge of the second level. It extinguished itself in the sea below him.
    He wasn\'t sure what it was, but he resolved to ask either Naren or Anesh, or possibly Fodor, over lunch. He went back inside to eat.

edit: formatting issues