Petrified Wood

While her sight was better than anyone else's, glare from the sun obscured details even from her. She hunched forward and shaded her eyes to get a better view of the river scene. She started to slide forward, down into the ground. For a fleeting moment she thought that she had sunk into a patch of quicksand, but then she caught a whiff of musty air on the way down, and knew that she had fallen into a hollow in the ground that had been covered by a thin layer of grass, soil, and maybe an artificial support. And then the darkness overcame her.

"You have had a nasty fall, Your Royal Highness. If you are Princess Astra."

A bowl of extraordinarily white light cleared the cobwebs from Astra's mind. She shaded her eyes to cut its brilliance. She nodded her head to signify, "Yes," and then pointed to her throat and shook her head.

The voice said, "Yes, Ma'am, I have been told that you cannot speak. I am going to try to get word back to the College of Seers that we need someone who knows about the legend of the steingewesers. Rose may be a couple of days away - I will see if we can get someone to get her to make haste. I am Gloria, by the way. Just a moment. Balischo, could you move the kettle down to a point just below Astra's eyes? The glare appears to be bothering her."

The bowl of light shifted, and Astra's eyes adjusted. She could see something that looked like a red marble facing, but cleverly fashioned so that they looked like planks. She thought that she must have broken through the roof of a buried chamber of some sort.

"How are you feeling, Ma'am? Can you walk?"

Astra tested herself by walking to the "woodwork". She had never seen anything like it. The grain and rough exterior was exactly like that of a plank, but it was as if the plank were made of glass and rock, with clear bits of glass embedded in a pink stone.

"Ah, Princess, I was wondering about that myself. We are still trying to figure that out. Some of the people that live near here thought that this was your temple, and the wood-like stone had something to do with you. We let them think that. The digging has stopped until the natives of this land see what you will do."

"The Dunchovians are less surprised. Somewhere in the north of their land there is wood-like stone similar to this, but the wood there looked more like trees. What we are in appears to be a wooden building of some sort. Part of it rotted away, but before it could all rot away, some of it turned to stone."

Astra's eyes widened. What sort of magic was this?

Another voice said, "Miss Gloria, I found something interesting. We were also wondering about that big hook."

"Yes, Carduman. It was far too big to be a fishhook. Did you find what it goes to?"

"Come over here."

Astra, Balischo, and Gloria followed Carduman to a wall. Judging by the names and their dress, Gloria had to be from the Aqualarian court, and Carduman had to be from one of the Dunchovians that was not part of Radagaisic's own tribe. Balischo had obviously returned from Aqualaria. There was a large chest next to the wall. Balischo backed off so that the light would strike both Astra and the trunk.

1. The hook was once part of a latch that held the chest closed. The wood had probably petrified by now, but Astra should be able to open it.
2. There was an illustration on the chest. This buried chamber was once the lowest floor of a warehouse with a stepped gable. The hook was a lifting hook used to haul containers from rafts.

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