Chapter 3-Locals

the hero's meet a few People (and... variations) that live in the mountains and Valleys.

Chapter 3

Locals

I opened my eyes slowly but immediately regretted the small slit as the sun shone directly in my eyes, and they snapped shut again. Changing the angle of my head so I was looking down, I opened my eyes again and after a moment my eyes adjusted to the bright sun. I looked around at my surroundings and sighed in resignation. I was lying on the ground on a flat circle of grass approximately ten meters wide with mountains all around and a tree in the middle. But what had brought forth the sigh was the fact that this flat piece of land seemed to be on a naturally formed pillar of rock dirt and mud the sides were vertical and flat the only sign of the roughness I felt as I reached down to feel the side were the small air pockets similar to what you see in cement that has set. I judged it to be approxamatly15,000 ft in height, the same height as the tallest mountain in Australia, Mount Kosciuszko. I looked around the small platform again Daniel Emily Ryan and Amy all Lay in different places  Daniel was Partly obscured behind the tree but one thing with all of them was the same their attire was exactly the same as what we had worn four months ago when we were here. I looked down at myself taking stock I had my hooded cloak specially fitted so it would not get in the way of the quiver of arrows and bow also across my back. At my waist hung my sword which I could wield with one hand or two. Checking my pockets I also found the pocket rope, rope that was 30cm long but could extend endlessly, and the bedrolls that got bigger as they were unrolled and smaller as they were rolled up again. I reached up to my chest my hand stopped and hovered just above it as I hesitated. This more than anything depending on what I found would tell me if this was a dream or not, then my hand brushed against the square pendant hanging around my neck. We were definitely back and this wasn’t a dream. I heard a groan and turned in its direction.

“My head hurts” Amy said as she sat up. I walked over and offered her my hand but she brushed it away trying to stand by herself but she placed her hands awkwardly and fell so I offered my hand again and grudgingly she took it and I pulled her up.

“Where are we?” Amy asked looking around.

“Germo” Ryan said making us both jump. I hadn’t noticed him waking up. “I thought that would have been obvious from the strange door we stepped through”

“If you’re such an expert” Amy said “then tell us exactly where in Germo we are” Amy said. Ryan looked around but stayed silent. A hand appeared on my shoulder and I immediately grabbed it flipping the owner over my shoulder.

“Sheesh Matt! Could you NOT do that!” Daniel said from his back. I gave him an apologetic look.

“When did you become an expert in hand to hand no one has ever shown us that move” Emily said as she sat up. I shrugged.

“When I was little I wanted to do Martial arts but there was no whare to do it. My mother knew a little Tykwondo and taught me what she knew. I haven’t done that in a long time” I explained

“You will have to teach us” Daniel said getting up “but lets not do it here… you almost threw me over the edge Matt!”

“Sorry” suddenly the ground shook.

“Uhhh did anyone else see that mountain move?” Amy asked pointing. I looked and sure enough a mountain in the distance moved and then the ground shook again. It came closer and closer getting bigger and bigger and as it did it resolved itself into a more familiar shape. The shape of a man

“Giants” I breathed. We had heard they existed in Germo but never seen them before. I realised only a moment later that the ground was shaking because of the giant’s steps but it was moving very quietly. It came closer and closer and was going to move past us until it got so close it couldn’t miss seeing us and it stopped, and then slowly turned to look directly at us. We all stood still looking at the giant as it looked at us. Then it came up to us. Its head was the only part we could see from the pillar which was shoulder high on him.

“Hello hello hello what have we here” he asked.

“We want no trouble just a way down and to know where we are. We went to sleep and woke up here” I said taking the lead as I was closest to him.

“I’ll give you no trouble but I can’t help you down. I might crush you. You’re in the Sintla mountains on top of something known as the Tower. No one knows anything more about it not how it got here or came to have its current shape. What life form are you?”

“Were human why?” Emily asked.

“Is it true you have a celebration of your birth every twelve months? And count yourself older every time?”

“Uhh yeah” Amy said “don’t you?” The giant shook his head.

“No we don’t. I am only 13 but my people, those you call giants only live to 30 years of age and we celebrate our birth once every year.”

“And how many months is a year?” Daniel asked.

“1200 months” the giant replied.

“But that’s 100 of our years” Amy said

“She’s right our years only last 12 months” Ryan said

“What a strange notion.” The giant said mildly “well I must be off I hope you find a way down soon. Bye uhhh… your names?” we all spoke our name in turns before Amy asked

“And yours?”

“My name is Hurokun. Bye my new friends and if you ever need a hand with something I could help with. See if you can find me and I will do my best as a way to make up for not being able to help you now” and with that he was gone. We all stood a moment then I undid my belt and readied my bow.

“Matt what are you doing?” Ryan asked

“He’s preparing to shoot you Ryan” Amy told him “but why he needs to take of his belt I’m not sure”

“Perhaps he wants to be comfortable while he does it” I heard Emily whisper in Amy’s ear. I smiled slightly but turned to Daniel

“Give me one of the Toxxetc Arrows Daniel” I said holding out my hand, a smile started to spread across his face.

“You clever Bugger: Daniel said handing me the arrow. I nocked the arrow and took aim at a tree on a the side of a mountain next to us it was well out of bow range if  I had been firing on level ground but the tree I was aiming for was below our current height. After Aiming at the tree I elevated my shot a little.

“Make it count Matt we only have one more” Daniel said. I took a deep breath and fired. Immediately I knew I had missed and watched in dismay as the arrow flew it would still serve its purpose if it hit the mountain side but it would make the task harder. The Arrow struck and I sighed in relief as it struck the centre of a tree not too far from the tree I had aimed for.

“That accomplished what?” Ryan asked.

“Watch” told him walking over to the strange tree we had awoken beneath. “Toxxetc” I said touching the trunk and a single string appeared under my hand. I took my hand away and saw it looked as if it was fused to the tree. And I knew it stretched all the way to the tip of the other arrow.

“I know that bit but how does it help us?” Ryan said

“Like this” Daniel said sitting on the edge of the Tower he slung his belt over the rope and dropped over the edge and began sliding down the rope to the mountain. I sat down and slung my belt over as the others undid their belt and Ryan stared open mouth for a moment after Daniel.

“Cool he said finally. I smiled and dropped over the edge my legs dangling I began sliding down to join Daniel gathering speed

“Wooohooo!” I yelled. I crossed my wrists so my belt was tight against the rope slowing me down a little then before I hit the tree I let go of one end of my belt and dropped the last two feet to the ground I did up my belt as Emily came down followed by Amy. I watched as her hand slipped a little and I hurriedly came forward a little and caught her as she fell still with a few feet to go before she could drop from where I had. Where she would have a certainty of sustaining nothing worse than a sprained ankle if anything at all. I put her down as Ryan joined us.

“That” he said “was fun”

“That” said a new voice “was something to watch” it was at this point that we all noticed a man with a spear in his hand a hunting bow on his back, and a hip quiver of arrows. My hand flew to the hilt of my sword but I didn’t draw it. I was ready if this man proved to be hostile but so far there was no reason to fight with this man but his relaxed manor of leaning on his spear as he was unnerved me.

“Who are you?” Ryan demanded.

“My name is Kyle I live in the village not too far from here”

“What are you doing here with the spear?” Emily asked.

“Hunting or about to” Kyle said “I was heading out when I looked up and chanced upon seeing one of you fire an arrow at the tree and then I watched as you slid down the rope that appeared on the arrow”

“You mentioned a Village?” Daniel asked. I nodded to myself. The sooner we were around others the sooner we could figure out what to do, where we were and where to go next.

“Karloome” Kyle said “my village is called Karloome, if you follow me I can take you back there now it’s not too far” Kyle turned and headed off in the opposite direction he had been facing when talking to us. We followed warily slightly behind. We walked for only a few minutes before reaching the bottom of the valley and it was there a small dirt path slightly wound its way through about 100 meters of trees to a large clearing and small wooden houses most with a thatched roof (however two I could see had wooden planked roofs). The Village was Fairly small with only about 17 buildings in total there were two roads arranged in a T shape along which the buildings were lined there were three buildings on each side of the stalk we were walking up with a large Building on the right which from the size and multiple floors I guessed was the inn at the top of the stalk were two buildings at the corners and then two more buildings  making the underside of the T’s cross bar and the top of the cross bar had five Buildings with the biggest Building in the middle. He headed toward what I had guessed to be the inn my guess proved correct when Kyle said “this is my family’s Inn” he pointed directly across the road to one of the houses. “That is where you can find my wife two sons and daughter and most of the time me... that’s my house” no sooner did he say this than 4 people came out and came hurrying toward us. A woman, a girl who I judged to be a year younger than Amy (placing her age around 14), and two armed boys I judged to be about the same age as us (either 15 or 16 years). The woman was leading and yelling across the road at us. The sight of people yelling and hurrying towards us with two young armed men in their company caused all of us to move our hands to our weapons while none of us drew I noticed Ryan and Amy loosen their swords. It wasn’t until they reached us that I heard what was being yelled “Kyle.” The woman said fear emanating from her voice “soldiers are coming” she was pointing to a spot behind her where I guessed the left side of the T junctions cross bar started. Kyle’s smiling face dropped away and was replaced with horror. He looked at us. “I hope you know how to use them” he said indicating our weapons “your going to have to if you want to live... besides we need your help, Renmear’s soldiers are coming” I looked at the others as he mentioned Renmear. Lucretia had mentioned that Renmear was a leader that needed to be neutralised.

“Return to your homes all except you” Daniel said indicating the older looking armed boy. “You need to run around the town telling them to return home but be ready to defend themselves”

“Are you mad? They’ll torch our homes!”

“Tell you what if it starts to get a bit hot run out side and kill them for torching your home” I said

“Oh great and what are you going to do greet them and ask them not to and if they decline fight until they do?” Kyle said with sarcasm. I ran a hand over my chin and down my neck before answering

“Yep, pretty much”

“Should be fun!” Ryan added with a hint of maniacal glee in his voice.

“Your mad” Kyle muttered and then sighed “but we don’t have a better plan. Tom, do as they suggested.” The older boy nodded and ran off “Your all dead once you go to meet them but I’ve seen you do one impossible thing today maybe I’ll get lucky and see another maybe I’ll see 5 dead people walking” Emily Ryan Daniel and I turned away and started walking towards where the woman had pointed But before Amy joined us she had one thing to add

“Actually dead people walking is more common than you would think especially with us around” I heard her tell Kyle then she caught up with us. I resisted the urge to take her right hand in my left and then laughed inwardly at the thought of the soldiers we were about to meet being told to leave by a young boy and girl holding hands. We walked to the edge of the Town and stopped spreading out to block the road and face the dust cloud and oncoming riders. Ryan picked a handful of grass from the side of the road and after a momentary blur of his hands he was holding a piece of rope made from grass which he strung across the road about 20 meters in front of us and fastened in place at each ends with an arrow which he fired into the ground at either side of the road then he returned to his place in “the human roadblock” Between Emily and Daniel, and we waited. Eventually the 22 riders stopped about 50 meters in front of us and the obvious leader rode forward

“Stand aside peasants” he spat. I stayed calm but ignored his command.

“Hello” I said brightly. The lead rider looked confused at this and cocked his head to one side for a moment before repeating his order

“Peasants I said stand aside” I sighed turning to the others.

“He doesn’t seem to get it does he?” I asked

“And he’s being awfully rude too isn’t he?” Daniel added. As the others nodded their heads and mumbled their agreement I turned back to the lead rider “the correct response to my greeting is to return the greeting” I told him. “In this case you reply back with Hello or variations of the same equivalent” the leader again cocked his head to the side as I continued “in this case though let’s simply move along. Now… firstly, we are not peasants. Secondly, you will move through peacefully or turn back”

“you’re welcome to come in in violence” Ryan said and Emily punched him on the shoulder as he continued “but if you do we will whip you all like dogs and send you back the way you came with your new tails between your legs”

“You’re as diplomatic as ever Ryan” Amy told him.

“And your tongue as sharp” I whispered to her around my muted chuckling. Amy didn’t have time to reply however because at that moment the leader ordered the attack “KILL THEM!” he screamed pointing his sword at us and the riders charged forward. Knowing what to expect all five of us stood our ground calmly hands empty. A few of the riders seemed nervous charging at five young people who were standing still in front of them remaining calm without even drawing a weapon however they continued to charge. Then the first rider reached the grass line Ryan had strung across the road and as he did the grass that had been woven to add strength rather than break tripped the horse pulling rider and horse down causing the same to happen to the riders behind as they sorted themselves out I drew my sword and handed it to Emily standing on my right then I redyed my bow and knocked an arrow while I activated my pendant with a single mumbled word

“Hinrkixn” the riders had sorted themselves out now leaving six dead Trampled men and two badly wounded horses on the ground. The leader turned to a man who had stayed next to him rather than joining the initial charge

“Tell them to attack again”

“CHARRR…!” the man (who I guessed to be second in command of this company) never finished his order as my arrow slammed into his throat with so much force he rolled of the back of his horse I had nocked and drawn my bow before he fell but he was dead before he hit the ground. The riders however seemed to understand the half given order and began charging again. I shot the foremost man the arrow flew true and slipped through the small gap left in his helmet so he can see and struck him in the right eye. He fell screaming but I knew he would soon die of the fatal wound if he wasn’t crushed by the other riders and horses first. The other riders however simply went around as I slung my bow over my back and took back my sword. As the riders reached us I ducked under the swing of a riders sword and spun my sword catching the legs of a few of the horses and riders bringing both down so that rider and horse fell and because they were carried past me from the force of their charge the worst I received from the fall was a shallow nick in my arm. While the others went around knocking out the dazed soldiers and then tying them up (except Ryan who waited for them to stand before he hit them on the head) I stood my ground sword drawn and ready to meet the leader and who I guessed to be his ‘Promoted as of moment ago’ second in command.

“The chance to run” I said “is over now you will come with us quietly”

“Done!” I heard Emily say and turned to see all the men tied up then I cursed quietly as I heard hooves pound the ground I whirld back around to see the two remaining riders galloping away. Ryan came and stood next to me as we both nocked a single arrow and drew. We let fly at the same time but I relized he had aimed for the same rider as me. I quickly nocked drew and fired but I knew it was too late and my arrow fell short as the only free surviving rider… the leader got smaller and smaller on the road heading west.