Ventus by Karl Schroeder

Karl Schroeder / Ventus / Page 357
that Suneil had said nothing in the past days to his niece or
Jordan about any such worries.
In the middle of nowhere, with scattered fields to the left
and right, Suneil said, "This is the city of Rhiene."
"Huh?" Jordan stared at a slovenly peasant’s cottage
mired in its own pigsty near the road. "That?" He had heard of
Rhiene all his life. It was one of the great cities of Iapysia,
fabled for its gardens and university. There was supposed to be
a desal at Rhiene too, and great religious colleges devoted to its
study.
Suneil laughed. They were seated together at the front of
the wagon. Tamsin had decided to walk for a while, and at
present she was a few meters ahead, tilting her head back and
forth to some internal rhyme, her hands fluttering at her sides
in time.
Suneil pointed to a tumble of low hills ahead. "There."
The hills made an odd arc on the otherwise flat plain,
dwindling in either direction. None was more than twenty
meters high, and now that he looked more closely Jordan could
see numerous buildings dotting the farther ones, and thin trails
of smoke rising beyond them. A stone tower stood near the
road ahead. Traffic on the road had increased during the past
day until now they were part of a steady stream of wagons,
horses and walking people, all headed towards the hills. Far
off to the south, he could see another such road, converging on
what he was beginning to realize was a long rampart of
wavelike hills.
There was no city, however. Just those scattered
buildings.
"I don’t understand. It’s underground?"
Again Suneil laughed. "No. Well, yes, parts of it.