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Poisoned Ground

  Set in BE 5544, beinor 190 to BE 5545, beinor 8, Poisoned Ground tells the story of Lady Abbess Cara’s (born BE 5434, beinor 3, died BE 5838, beinor 5) investigation into an alarming health epidemic that threatens not only the residents of Nan-li City, but the political stability of Beinan’s constitutional monarchy.

  The city of Nan-li in the southwestern continent of Xi-Nan Fang glittered dimly over the smog, its silver-white porphyritic granite glinting weakly in the blue-white light of B345A15, the Beinarian sun. Two li outside of the city of five hundred eighty nine thousand residents, a thick cloud of dark smoke hovered over the massive strip mine run by house Ana.

  Lady Abbess Cara’s eyes widened from the back seat of her low altitude shuttle as Lord Knight Ronel expertly piloted the shuttle towards the mine. Where clearly over six hundred thousand ancient trees once stood, only the barest of roots and twigs remained, turning the once lush forest into red-black barren wasteland. Instinctively tears fell from her eyes. As Lord Ronel lowered the shuttle to the ground, parking it ten zhang from the mine he noticed her tears, “Why do you weep, Your Excellency?”

  “Can you not feel it, Ronel? The air, the land, even the Amba Mederi Ocean from three hundred li away – all that was good and healthy here is gone,” lamented Cara.

  “Your Excellency, Lady Rachel is expecting you. You did call this meeting with her at the mine, remember?”

  “To verify the reports, yes, of course. When we are done here, I want to meet with Lady Healer Gwyneth of house Gurun at Nan-li Central Healing Center. She is still head researcher investigating brown-eye syndrome, is she not?”

  Ronel turned on his touch pad computer, looking up the information for Lady Cara, “I believe so, yes. Will shir-or 5.25 be convenient?”

  “Make it so,” commanded Lady Cara, disembarking from the shuttle and striding towards the mine entrance.

  At the mine, Lady Engineer Rachel of house Ana waited sternly for Lady Cara’s arrival, annoyed that her rival in the Great Council insisted on inspecting her mine. As Lady Cara reached her, Rachel offered the Anan gesture of respect half-heartedly, “Welcome to Nan-li, lady abbess of house Ten-Ar.”

  Lady Abbess Cara offered Rachel the Ten-Arian gesture of respect, “Thank you for receiving me on such short notice.”

  “Given the public accusations you made on the floor of the Great Hall of the Assembly, how could I refuse?” sniped Rachel curtly, leading Lady Abbess Cara into a compact surveying cart. As Rachel piloted the small craft designed to navigate the mining strata, Cara took atmospheric and mineral readings with her tablet computer. Stopping Rachel every hundred zhang to collect mineral samples from the only mostly stable back walls and floor, Cara studied the readings carefully, the occasional surviving root twig or nut making it into her sampling. Each time Cara stopped Rachel to collect another soil sample, Rachel’s irritation grew, the flecks of brown in her grey eyes glowing as her anger increased. Finally, the survey completed, Cara aimed her computer at Rachel for a full medical scan. Rachel growled at her, “What are you doing now?”

  “Running a preliminary health scan on you,” answered Lady Healer Cara absentmindedly.

  “You do not have my permission to examine me, healer. I really do not care that you are the head of the healers of Ten-Ar or what your baby-sitting knights may think. Call them all if you like; the law stands with me on this.”

  “Lady Engineer Rachel, are you aware that you are dying?”

  Rachel guffawed at her sarcastically, “Really? What kind of Ten-Arian nonsense is this?”

  “With all due respect, Lady Rachel, recognizing your position as one of house Ana’s representatives on the Great Council, how old are you?”

  “One hundred sixty eight yen-ars, eighty nine beinors – why?” growled Rachel.

  “You have the body of a woman twice your age. I am detecting early and middle stage cancers across your body’s systems, including two tumors in your brain and the beginning of lung cancer.”

  “I am fine,” reassured Rachel.

  “That is not what my scans indicate.”

  “What scans? You came here to verify reports you received at the last session of the Great Council!”

  “I head the healers of Ten-Ar, Lady Engineer Rachel. For over fifty yen-ars I have researched and healed countless patients across all strata of Beinarian society.”

  “You know nothing about me – or my people,” asserted Rachel.

  “We shall see,” challenged Lady Cara, taking her leave and heading back to Lord Knight Ronel.

  “Are we done here?” asked Lord Knight Ronel as Cara approached him.

  “I want to run some detailed scans on nearby foliage and walk through the nearest forest if there is time. I have a theory, Lord Ronel; one that makes me very uneasy based on my readings so far this trip.”

  “As you wish, Your Excellency,” complied Ronel, firing up the engines of the shuttle and expertly piloting it to accommodate Cara’s instructions.

  On the edge of a large forest consisting mostly of Nara, Kara, and nanla trees, Cara stepped out, Ronel guarding her carefully as the distracted healer worked. Overhead fabku chirped unseen until landing on a branch above them to dine on kara berries, their zygodactyl feet expertly positioning the choicest fruits on each cluster, dropping each fruit half eaten to forest floor. A wild konyn hopped across their path to the fruit, munching greedily at the bird-harvested feast, its ears and long tail twitching as it listened for predators. Ronel beamed at the beautiful sight. Nature in all its magnificence lay around him. With fewer cities and industry, Xi-Nan Fang was one of the most beautiful places on the entire planet, filled with glaciers in the southeastern polar region, glorious mountain chains, and spectacular canyons creating icy cold rainbow waterfalls and raging rapids to challenge even the best navigator from house Cashmarie. Tourists from across Beinan flocked to Xi-Nan Fang to enjoy both its beauty and its many sporting opportunities.

  A stream raged suddenly at their feet. A powerful salmon-like fish called a łosoś leapt and twisted into the air like a powerful gymnast. Twelve zhang ahead of them, Lady Healer Cara spotted a small waterfall eight zhang tall behind which she noticed a small cave. Careful of her Ten-Arian crimson-edged kirtle gown, she collected water from the falls, scanning it with her computer before returning her equipment to the pouch on her belt. Smiling, she filled her hands with the water and drank deeply, Ronel following suit and satiating his thirst, “Dong-Bei has nothing like this! I have never seen so much beauty, Your Excellency.”

  “Forests are some of the most beautiful places in all the universe. They say other worlds have forests just as beautiful as this one – some even kol-based, not silizium-based as all life on Beinan is,” replied Cara, equally awed by the nature around her.

  “Kol-based life?” puzzled Ronel.

  “Yes! Long ago we traded with a number of kol-based societies across a dozen galaxies – now such journeys are the stuff of legends,” mused Cara, her eyes darting back down to the readings on her computer. Alarm filled her eyes, “Ronel – we must cut this short. I must conference with Lady Healer Gwyneth immediately!”