Asa's Journey Chapter 4
The Platforms
Asa flew parallel to the side of one of the platforms. It appeared to be built out of the hillside behind it. On looking underneath, it was around a metre thick and there were no visible support structures that Kendle could see. She was reluctant to fly underneath it because he didn't understand its purpose or even if it was permanent. It was some 200 metres deep, and looked to be made from some sort of metal. She ws increasingly intrigued, and after several minutes more she coaxed Asa to fly above it inwards so she could examine the point from where it originated.
From the distance she had seen four of these platforms at varying heights next to each other in row. Now they were above one she realised just how large each one must be. The surface looked like burnished copper, and was pitted and dented in places. She had no idea why some was smooth and unblemished, yet other parts looked so different. Asa was now above the hill top from which the platform was extending from. Kendle decided they could land atop the hill and she would walk down and examine the platform from its edge.
Kendle dismounted and left Asa to rest and graze on the hill top. She gingerly made her way down the hill to the very edge of the platform, and walked along the side of it trying to decide if it might be unwise or not to step onto it to examine it further. Eventually she lay on her front at the very edge of the hill and reached out with her arm and allowed he hand to make contact with it. It felt solid and strangely warm to her touch. That was unexpected to her and she recoiled her hand lest it got too hot. Se gazed out over the platform from her low level view, and as she looked down she noticed that the platform was slowly being drawn backwards into the hill itself. Indeed, it was now much less than the 200 meters or so she had estimated when flying on the other side of it. It was now less than 150 meters to the outer edge.
Kendle pressed her ear to the ground, expecting to hear something, anything. But there was no noise, nor any vibration of any sort. So she could only wonder at the way the platform moved so imperceptibly back inside the hill. She stayed laid down, and over to her right she noticed more and more dents and pits appear almost before her eyes. She was now beginning to feel a trickle of fear run down her spine, and she stood and ran back to where Asa was grazing, and mounted him and urged Asa to fly out over the platform away from the sense of danger she felt atop the hill.
As they cleared the edge of the platform Kendle urged Asa to fly lower so she could see the under side of the ledge without them having to fly beneath it. She was aghast now as she saw with her own eyes small creatures from the marsh below being drawn up towards the underside of the platform, and hitting it with such a force that they caused the dents and pits on the surface of the metal. It would appear that some type of force was at work to attract life from below, almost as a magnet attracts metals. The realisation again caused pangs of fear in Kendle and she urged Asa forwards with renewed determination to be clear of all the platforms, no longer caring what their purpose might be. She just felt the need to be far from them.
Once they had cleared the platforms the ground beneath looked firm and lush with vegetation, and in the distance she saw tall trees and guessed this must be the forest of Strasanskog. When they were within a mile of the forest Kendle allowed Asa to land again, and she dismounted and surveyed the trees in the distance. She knew they must enter this forest to continue their journey, and she also knew they both needed to rest before they undertook the next part of their journey. So, amongst the vegetation she and Asa slept through the dark hours, sleeping from exhaustion more than anything else, and the twin moons of Alborassi shone their glow upon them as they slept their weary slumber.
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