The Eighth Warden Bk. 04 Ch. 09-10

"I can't give a precise answer, but I'll tell you what I know," Hildra said. "Scholars who've heard of the Chosar usually consider them to be one of the tribes among the first peoples, which is just a way to informally refer to different groups that existed a long time ago. Not many historians have heard of the Burning, but from the name, I suspect there was a large fire--most likely somewhere here in Cordaea. Maybe that's what happened to the tershaya forests you told Ellerie about. In any case, there was a long period where little written material was produced, and the label of first peoples isn't applied to any groups appearing after that time. The Chosar themselves are usually thought to be a human tribe, or perhaps an elven offshoot, or even stoneborn."

"We are our own people," Ariadne pointed out.

"I can see that, though is it possible you're related to the seaborn?"

"I've never met any seaborn," Ariadne said. "Is it true that Irisis created them from the ocean? The new gods didn't exist in my time." At least not as you know them, she added silently. Sarette had told her the story of the seaborn, which paralleled the story of how Sarette's own people had come to be.

"Sometimes a legend is just a legend," Hildra said. "I suspect the origins of the seaborn are rather more mundane, just as I suspect that my own people were not birthed from the stone itself. As for the new gods, are they truly new? Or did we simply learn of their existence more recently?"

Ariadne nodded, but didn't try to explain who the gods actually were. What if the new wardens thought they could do the same thing? She didn't know Hildra well enough to trust her.

Ellerie's gaze darted back and forth between the two of them as she tried to follow along, a growing look of exasperation on her face. It was satisfying to see someone else have trouble understanding the conversation for a change.

Hildra continued, "The other thing we know--though only because it's been passed down by earlier wardens--is that the people who we were meant to protect disappeared after the Burning. The story doesn't say they died, but only that they scattered or vanished. Were the Chosar the people who were protected by the wardens?"

"Yes."

"Protected from what?"

"Demons. The original wardens were chosen during the First Demon War. Or, at least, that's what our histories say."

Hildra stared off into the distance. "Ellerie told me about your demon wars, but demons no longer cross over in large numbers." She sighed. "I guess it's true that we don't have a purpose anymore. I was right, but I was hoping..." She shook her head. "No matter."

"The wardens took on other responsibilities over time," Ariadne said. "But why do demons no longer wage war on the world?" Neither Ellerie or Bobo had been able to provide an answer.

The dwarven woman shrugged. "I don't know. Could it be that your wardens stopped them permanently?"

That hadn't been the reason given for the ritual, but the reason given had obviously been a lie. By turning themselves into whatever it was they'd become, had the wardens prevented later wars? It was possible. But then, it was also possible that the demons had held to Captain Hera's armistice. Still, regardless of the outcome, could it be that the wardens hadn't intended to betray The People after all? Maybe it had all just been some sort of misunderstanding. That seemed like such a weak thing to hope for, but any sort of hope was better than none.

Hildra didn't wait for an answer. "Ellerie mentioned that you said the Chosar built the Tirs," she said. "A long time ago, I owned two books that survived the Burning. They suggested it was an alliance of different peoples that built the great cities, and then the Chosar drove the others away."

Ariadne scowled at the woman. "Your books were wrong," she said flatly. "It was the Chosar who brought civilization to the world." She was keenly aware she was lecturing a warden, but plunged forward anyway. "Humans and elves are primitives. Were primitives. Elves live in trees! Humans have trouble building anything more complicated than a tent or a mud hut! We had to protect them, both from the demons and from themselves. They had no part in building the Tirs."

"My apologies," Hildra said. "It's certainly possible my sources weren't accurate. Unfortunately, they were destroyed so long ago I don't remember all the details."

"What about your people?" Ariadne asked. "You weren't in Van Kiradaea when the Chosar lived here. Did you come to take our lands after we'd fled?"

"No one knows where we came from, beyond the old stories about being born from the stone. Our earliest surviving written histories were from right here, in the Skotinos Mountains. That was at least four thousand years ago, but we can't say exactly when because the calendars have changed so much. Our own histories don't mention the Burning, so it must have happened before we came about, or before we learned how to preserve our writings."

Ariadne nodded. The dwarves had likely taken advantage of what the Chosar had left behind. Just before the end of the war, construction had begun on a new underground city in the mountains, along with an underground passage between the mountains and Tir Yadar. The new city, meant to be as impregnable as Tir Yadar once it was finished, would have offered a second bastion in the fight against the demons, as well as a safe place of refuge for those fleeing from the destruction of the aboveground cities.

"You've mentioned both Van Kir and Van Kiradaea," Hildra said. "Are they the same place?"

"No. Van Kir is the first land of the Chosar. The first kingdom. We spread out from there. Van Kiradaea is the continent, The Place of Van Kir. You call it Cordaea."

Ellerie spoke up then, in halting Stoneborn. "What of... lands... other?" the elven woman attempted, then shook her head in irritation and switched to trade tongue. "What about other continents? Are there places the Chosar could have gone?"

Hildra started to reply to her, then switched back to Stoneborn and spoke to Ariadne instead. "Did you understand her?"

"Well enough," Ariadne said.

"I've spent most of my life in Cordaea. I'm sure Ellerie and Corec can tell you more about Aravor than I could, but I've traveled a bit in Vestath, and I visited western Ewori once. I've never been to Cetos."

"Have you seen anything of my people?"

"No, but there's more out there than any one person can ever learn. I went to Ewori to investigate a region where magic doesn't work right, but did you know there's a nation of giant humans there? The men are seven feet tall. And in Vestath, people talk about the sunborn. Nobody will admit to having met one, but they all claim to know someone who has."

"Sunborn?"

"Supposedly they live deep in a desert somewhere. I'm afraid that's all I know. I'm not sure if they even exist or if they're just a story."

"I don't think my people would live in a desert," Ariadne said. Though they might if they'd built another underground city--it was something to look into eventually. "You didn't mention Donvar." There were six continents, but the dwarven woman had only listed five. The necklace didn't provide a translation for the name.

Hildra wrinkled her brow. "Where is Donvar?"

"Far to the west."

"If it's farther west than Pado, you should ask the seaborn. The storms are too rough for any ships but theirs to get through. There aren't any maps of that area."

The necklace translated Pado as Paraido. "Do you mean the big island west of Aravor?" Ariadne asked.

"Yes, the seaborn homeland."

The navy's initial explorations had indicated that Paraido was uninhabited, which suggested the seaborn had arrived later.

"Is there anything else you can tell me?"

"There are so many stories in the world, but most are just fables," Hildra said. "I can't think of any that sound like your people, but how could I say for sure? I don't leave Bancyra very often, you see. I wish I knew more."

"It's enough," Ariadne said. "It's been helpful." The task ahead of her seemed daunting, maybe futile, yet she found herself feeling optimistic for the first time.

"It has?" Hildra sounded truly puzzled.

"There will always be somewhere else to look," Ariadne told her.

The seaborn and the stormborn. Tir Sal, Tir Navis, and the rest of Aravadora. Thedan and Ephrenia, the Mage Knights who'd managed to escape from the stasis pods. Paraido and the region farther west. Donvar, if The People had managed to chase off the scourlings. The sunborn in the Vestathi desert. The old wardens--the new gods--if Ariadne could figure out a way to talk to them. And then, perhaps, on to lands that even the Chosar knew little about.

Maybe she would never find what she was looking for.

But maybe she would.