Chapter Twenty-Seven - Overlooking Nasala

 Now they were only a few weeks away from Chith-oo-bra, Anglorae and others were anxious to get there as quickly as possible. Kyosti, hiding the issue of the knife hidden at the bottom of his bag, couldn’t help dragging his feet a bit. The terrain wasn’t the easiest in this part of the world; they crossed Tenash to the shore of the Bengal Ocean, trying to stay away from the snowy south, then reached a huge strand of mountains they had to cross to get to the Ben Sea. And from there, Chith-oo-bra.

There was no easy pass through the mountains, and it took all of Kyosti’s and Anglorae’s cold-weather know-how to keep them from freezing in the short days and long nights.

Around halfway through their journey across the mountain, Kyosti found the perfect delaying tactic.

“Have you guys ever heard of…” Here he paused for dramatic effect. “...the Nasala Overlook?”

It was barely past noon, but already the sun was sinking low on the horizon. Soon they would have to stop and build a fire to keep warm.

Sanji, as ever holding his arm, hmmmed. “Nasala...isn’t that what you call the islands in the Bengal Ocean? The ones that hate the Empire?”

“Tusu Nasala, yes,” Kyosti confirmed. “The Nasala Overlook isn’t far from here, if my memory is correct. We just passed Regal Mountain, so it should be around here somewhere. It’s a break in the mountains where you can see out into the Bengal Ocean perfectly, far enough to spy the southern-most islands. The Empire had a fort there to watch for Nasala raids, a long time ago.”

“Used to?” Anglorae asked. “Tusu Nasala is still enemies with the Chith. Why doesn’t the Empire maintain it?”

“Ah, well,” Kyosti grinned. “They can’t. Something happened.”

There was a pause.

“‘Something’?” Sanji asked, her voice amused.

“Yeah, something. The only thing is, no one knows what happened. One day, the fort stopped reporting to the Empire, so they thought the Nasala had attacked. They sent a whole army to head them off, but when they got there, there were no Nasala waiting. Instead, half of the army got sick before they even reached the fort and died. They were forced to turn back.”

“Sick? Sick with what?”

Kyosti shook his head, trying not to laugh at the avid interest in Anglorae’s voice. “No one could figure it out. But since then, anyone approaching the fort gets the same sickness. No one has set foot inside there for over two thousand years.”

He didn’t have to wait very long for the bait to catch. Anglorae was always looking for a new adventure. Sanji, on the other hand, wasn’t too excited.

“So, everyone who goes there gets sick and maybe dies, and you want to go there?”

Kyosti shrugged. “Sounds fun, right? If we get sick, we’ll just turn around. I know a lot about plants! See, I have lots of medicine that could help us if we get sick.”

In the end, Sanji decided to stay behind at the camp, and Anglorae demanded that John stay with her.

“Let it be known that I disapprove,” Sanji called after them. She sounded worried, but Kyosti didn’t think she was angry.

Checking to make sure he still had his bag with the knife, he followed Anglorae’s lead into the woods toward Nasala Outlook. She wasn’t anywhere near as careful a guide as Sanji; he lost count how many times he tripped over a branch, or bumped into a tree, because she forgot she was leading him. Finally, bruised all over, they broke through the snow-covered trees into the plateau.

Anglorae gasped. “I can see Tusu Nasala! It looks so…” She paused. “It looks like a far, green country. Warm.”

Kyosti laughed at that. “And do you see the fort?”

“Yes, it’s just below us. There’s a lake almost surrounding it. It looks, well, like a building that hasn’t been maintained in two thousand years.”

They descended into the plateau, carefully checking each other’s health every few minutes as they drew nearer to the lake. The ground grew spongy under their feet and Kyosti stumbled even more, but finally they reached the edge.

“Are you sure you feel ok?” he gasped, clutching her arm and drawing her to a stop. Anglorae shrugged him off impatiently.

“I feel fine! You’re starting to be a headache, though.”

Kyosti grimaced. “The Queen will have my head if you die on the way back.” He reflected that it didn’t really matter, because the queen would have his head anyway.

“Yeah, whatever. I’m more interested in this lake.”

He looked where he thought the lake was, uselessly. He could feel a lazy breeze passing over his face, pleasantly warm despite the cold. “Why is it interesting? Describe it to me.”

She didn’t even scoff, which should have been his first clue. “Glittering blue, like the ocean. It seems to be snowmelt. Part of the fort is sunk into it. The air...Kyosti, it’s almost warm.”

“Yes, it does feel warm,” he agreed, then realized how odd that was. “Wait, we’re still so high up...Why is the air so warm?”

“And how is the lake still liquid?” Anglorae demanded. “We’ve passed other lakes on the way here. They’re frozen solid! An Innis wouldn’t pass over them for fear of angering the Leopard Queen!”

“Well,” Kyosti scrambled, “you know, warm air from the Bengal Ocean, it probably keeps this area warm.”

But all the same he drew right up to the lakeside and stuck his hand in the water. Anglorae followed suit.

“The water is warm,” she stated. “How is it so warm?”

For a long time, neither of them said anything. He could feel her looking at him.

“Do you feel sick?” he asked, one last desperate attempt.

“No,” she snapped. “I feel fine.”

Another long silence. Kyosti gazed out in the direction of the fort, a horrible, horrible feeling like hope growing in his chest.

“Take me to the fort,” he ordered.

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Photo by Richard Clark on Unsplash