Spring Festival - Part 2

Clouds dotted the blue sky, the sun shined brightly overhead, and a 20 foot tall stone wall stood before Carlie and Roland.  Roland let out an excited whistle.  Gaging the wall he asked “think you can scale the wall with that dress on?”

“Insulting me already? Who do you think I am, some kind of helpless dame?  You only get five long counts before I head towards my victory.”  There was nothing wrong with using the front gates to enter the town. Everyone else used the front entrance and no one would stop you from passing through that way. But Roland had to have his adventure, even if it was climbing over the walls to a city ‘like an imperial invader’.  Roland and Carlie had used this method of entering the city for seven years now.  The guards did not like the sibling’s attempts and they hated the successes.

“Maybe I should bring your head out of the clouds this time.” Roland teased.  He continued in a more serious tone “The howling wolf is our agreed upon destination.  Last one there buys the drinks.  Loser buys everyone in the tavern one drink for each time the bell rings during the race. Start the counts now.”  Roland rushed the wall and started climbing as fast as he could. 

 “One.” Roland had managed to get half-way up the wall. Shouts erupted from guards at the gate.

“Two.” He was now two arms lengths from reaching the top.

“Three.” The guards on top of the wall started rushing to where they expected Roland to appear.  Unfortunately for them he started shimmying towards the gatehouse.  The guards would have to climb the walls like Roland to be able to catch him.

“Four.” It seems that the guards had prepared this year.  They procured long sticks from along the wall and attempted the brush Roland away like an unwanted spider.

“Five.” Carlie rushed to a wall segment away from the commotion and started her own adventure.  The ascent started easily with Carlie carefully placing her hand in the rough grooves of the wall.  A startled shout erupted as her arm reached the over the top and slapped something fleshy.  Instead of backing down like a normal person Carlie threw herself over the wall and tackled the unwelcome person.  The guy tried to throw Carlie off, but before he could do anything damaging to her dress she jumped backwards bumping into another person.

“We’ve got you now Missy,” The person on the ground gave a mischievous grin and said in a familiar yet sinister voice, “No one breaks into our city and makes fools of us.  Especially not without our permission.” The big man behind her picked her up, threw her over his shoulder and started carrying her to a nearby staircase.  Carlie was too busy kicking and screaming at her assailants to pay much attention to who they were.  The smaller man deftly covered her eyes with a blindfold and stuck what tasted like a sock in her mouth. 

“If you stay quiet I’ll take out the gag and not show you what went into your mouth,” a rough voice whispered into her ear.  Slowly the gag came out while Carlie simmered quietly. Stealthily, the two men headed towards their destination at a brisk pace.  She easily counted the steps as her stomach got jammed by the muscle man’s shoulder with every other step, just in case she had to make her escape blindfolded.

The two men had greeted a few people while heading towards their destination.  These men sounded worse than the two holding her, so Carlie kept quiet.  Today the appearance of a woman (or man) slung over a man’s (or woman’s) shoulder would become increasingly common as the day progressed and stills ran dry.  Angry spouses would carry their inebriated lovers home, drunken friends would carry each other away from fights, practical jokes would be performed, and more sinister acts would sometimes happen.

After what felt like an eternity Carlie was gently placed on the ground.  Then the men spun her around ten times as bells chimed in the distance four times.  Quickly the men removed her blindfold and pushed her into a brightly lit room. 

Loud cheers erupted as Carlie stumbled around dizzy from spinning and out of breath from her jarring ride.  Moments later another person burst in behind her causing the cheering to escalate. 

Roland’s voice called out, “I’ll be damned.  I was sure I’d beat you this time.”  Carlie was speechless.  The two guys who kidnapped her must have been Roland’s friends.  They loved to prevent Roland’s victories by any means possible.  They would also explain her dirty sock breath.  Someone shoved a mug into Carlie’s hands. She took a quick gulp to vanquish the taste of sweaty feet from her mouth.

“There’s no need to sip lass.  There’ll three more of those plus your victory drink” said the rough voice of one of her captors in her ear.

“Johna! Don’t you ever take me like that again.  You were lucky to have your friend with you.  Who knows what I would have done if he hadn’t restrained me!”

Letting loose a smile full of guile, Jonah replied “I know what you could have done, which is exactly why I brought Greg along.” Roland’s ears twitched, he turned and approached group of three.

“What did you do this time?” Roland asked everyone in the group.  Jonah and Greg kept quiet and stared expectantly at Carlie.  Greg and Jonah could get in big trouble if their actions got found out.

“They stuck a sock in my mouth!” Carlie opened.  Jonah and Greg, mainly Jonah, deserved what would come from that action, but Carlie did not want them to get punished for pulling a harmless prank.  Rolands’ friends often pulled pranks on Carlie when they failed to get Roland.  Interfering in the race would get Jonah in some trouble, but carrying Carlie to victory would hold much worse consequences.  Jonah could be forced to clean Rolands room and do his laundry for ensuring Carlie’s victory.  That was not sarcasm, each task alone would take at least one week of diligent work to complete.

“When did they do this?  Everyone here says Carlie won by only a few breaths.” Roland queried.

“It was a joke,” Jonah replied, “she was obviously winning when Greg and I saw her approaching the inn.  So we decided to pull a prank on her.” Jonah finished.  Nothing else needed to be said.

Roland sighed and said “You two know to lay off my little sis.  Someday she may be the cause of your untimely demise.” Then Roland whispered something into Jonah’s ear and walked away.  Jonah looked visibly shaken.

Greg asked first “What did he say to ya’ Jonah?  Did he figure out what we did?”

“No he didn’t say he knew what happened,” replied Jonah, “but his punishment show he ‘spects something’s up.  I have to stay sober tonight and make sure both Roland and Carlie get home safely.”

“Ouch, sorry man.  I’ll stick around if you need help pulling Roland away from anything, or just knocking his head to finish off the night early.”

Carlie burst out laughing.  She remembered all the morning Roland nursed a headache after a drunken night and wondered aloud “how many nights have you two forced Roland to end early?”

Jonah and Greg looked at each other, looked back at Carlie, and smiled innocently.