A mission

Sharif is sent on an important mission and discovers a terrifying secret.

Maleia: Nodmez

 

            It had been a few weeks since the man said he would return for the scroll and still it sat in his secret compartment. The scroll remained in the desk waiting for his friend to return he was tempted to check the scroll but knew it was best not to. The scroll was safely hidden where no one would find it. He suspected if anyone came looking for it they would never find it. He was a failed writer and his entire little shop was filled with pieces of writing he had written or writings he’d collected from others. There were tons of shelves someone would have to go through to be able to tell if the scroll was in his possession or not. Today was a quiet one at his little shop then again all days were like this. He only had one customer who always came in and took the pleasure in reading the unfinished work. Like clockwork that one customer was in today. He was sitting where he always sat the table that was by the window that gave the best view of the sun. The man felt he could talk to him freely so he decided to ask a favor.

            “Excuse me Sharif (Sha-reef)”, his light skin and grey eyes arose to meet the man the man’s.

            “Yes. Drerry (Dri-re)”, he said. His voice shook as he began to speak Sharif couldn’t tell if it was worry or old age.

            “I wondered if you would do me a favor. See I am an old man and it would take me days to make a journey. I am worried about a friend who I haven’t spoken to in awhile. It is unlike him to not come by. Would you mind traveling to the next village and sending him a message for me?” The man asked the last question in a way that made it seem like he meant to ask another one.

            Sharif arose to his feet to face the man face to face.

 “Which village would that be Ereyci (Eur-e-ce) to the East or Maleio (Mal-e-o) to the West or.” “

            Sharif, my boy the village of Syceria (Sigh-sear-a) is where my friend is. His name is Mokei (Mo-Ki)”.

             “Oh okay I go there sometimes it is only a little ways. I will find your friend.” Drerry had hoped the man would agree so he had prepared a map in advance. Drerry gave the man the map to his friends home and a message to give his friend should he meet him.

            The next day Sharif woke up with just as the sun began to rise. He had been doing some work for a man in Nodmez so he was allowed to sleep in the servants section which was outside in the far right corner of the field. He wasn’t the first to awake since the two house servants were already up and gone to the house to get breakfast ready for the master of the house. Sharif went to the lavatory to wash himself up. The room was nothing special it only had a two bowls and a hole in the ground. One bowl was located left of the door reached up to his knees and was for washing. The other bowl sitting next to the hole in the ground was for washing to help with the sewage. Sharif walked directly to the bowl to his left and from what he could tell the big round bowl seemed full of clear water. He used a bit so he could wash himself off. Then he went back to his bed which was located right in front of the door and grabbed his belongings. He only had another outfit with him and some bread to eat along with a few apples. All the items he decided to put in his brown satchel and hung it just off his shoulder.

            The only thing left for him to do was get his pay from the owner of the house. This was his last day of work he had finished plowing the field between the home and barn, where the seeds could be planted. He had also rebuilt the entire fence that encased the yard. Sharif walked out of the door and headed directly across to the barn to retrieve his horse. There were a few other horses in the barn as well as some chickens and pigs. They all made noises and the whole place stunk very badly. He tried not to breathe and watched his step as there was wet straw hay laying just about everywhere. He wasn’t sure if it was water or something else. He found his horse near the back right of the barn and it seemed as though his horse recognized him or at least his touch because it came forward. “That’s a good boy.” Sharif said as his horse moved its head up and down as Sharif’s hand rubbed it. Sharif opened up the cage that his horse was in and grabbed the reins and led him outside of the barn. He walked the horse over to the dirt path that he himself had to redo. Then he tied him up by a rail near the owner’s stagecoach. Sharif walked a little ways back up the house. He knocked on the door and waited silently to see if he could hear noise.

            He wasn’t sure if he could hear any noise so he raised his left hand to a fist and was about to press it towards the door when he heard footsteps. A young girl opened the door with pale skin and green eyes she was wearing a white apron and a white hair net that was covering her hair. “May I help you”, she said softly while opening her big green eyes even wider and almost making Sharif forget what he meant to say.

             “Yes. I’m here to see Mr. Olendar.”

            The young girl glanced behind her. “Wait here a moment Mr. Ells.” The young girl left Sharif standing in the doorway with the door open and headed for a door located at the back of the house. The house was pretty nice considering some of the shacks that were nearby. Just beyond the doorway Sharif could see the glossy brown staircase that led to the second floor. He could see the marble flooring that was usually only supposed to be used the castle. He look in envy at the house because he himself had never been accustomed to the better thing in life. He noticed the servant coming out of the room closing the door behind her.

            “Mr. Ellis”, she said her voice sounded so proper and just completely seemed out of character like she wasn’t really a servant at all. She was someone who held a position in society. Her clothing and hands were the only thing that would make someone think twice. Her clothing looked dirty even though it was clean it just had been worn too many times. Her hands were rough and not soft they were the hands of a woman who’d had to work in the kitchen or in the fields with the animals. “Right this way-he’s waiting for you”, she said using her left hand to wave him over.

            Sharif saw that she meant for him to go through the door so he walked into the home and made sure he held the door behind him so it wouldn’t slam. He noticed to the right of him was obviously the family room he could see a big brown comfy couch that he would like to have sat in and a nice wooden floor with a few carpeted areas surrounding the couch. He loved the way the three windows let the light bounce off the room. He continued walking the hallway was white and didn’t show much decoration it was all very plain, too plain. He paused near an opening in the hallway. Although it looked more like there was meant to be a door there and no one got around to it. He could see the back of the lady of the house and over her right shoulder a little girl with curly brown hair. The girl gave him a little smile as he passed the room. He finally got to the room where Mr. Olendar must’ve been and the servant opened up the door and went inside as Sharif followed her. Mr. Olendar was sitting at a wide desk that seemed only to have an ink cup and pen sitting in the middle. There was a smaller desk beside him that was the same color as the staircase he just passed.

            “Mr. Olendar.” Sharif stated walking to the front of the desk. He always felt it was best to address people of title in such a way. Mr. Olendar didn’t really have a specific title, but he had the biggest land of all the people except the King himself.

            Mr. Olendar didn’t take notice when Sharif said his name. He was too busy looking at the servant girl who had her back to him as was cleaning off the desk behind him. Sharif looked to see what he was looking at as well and noticed that the girls bottom did in fact shake a bit. He was too embarrassed to continue looking and turned away to look down at the worn brown sandals he was wearing that were near tearing. “There you are finally.” Mr. Olendar finally said when the girl abruptly turned around. Sharif gave a half smile towards the man with the big round lips. “You have done fine work for me. I hope I can trust that you wont be gone long I may need to call on you.”

            Sharif was ecstatic by the news he’s been waiting a long time to have a job that he could depend on. Too long had gone by since he didn’t have a home to go and ever since then he had to work to get by like so many others in Maleia. The only problem was for him work didn’t always come by and he had many hungry nights. That is probably the cause for his slender athletic frame. “I hope you do sir. I’ll only be gone for a few nights as a favor to a friend. I will return shortly.” He said barely able to contain the fact that he was proud of himself for having Mr. Olendar want him to come back.

            Mr. Olendar leaned toward his right side and pulled open the drawer and Sharif could hear coins clattering. The servant who had begun cleaning the walls with a white rag slowed her scrubbing because she too could hear it and she’d been right by the door. Mr. Olendar noticed her too Sharif could see that while he kept glancing near the coins he kept looking up to notice her butt move. “This is your payment. There is plenty more if you come back to work for me.” Mr. Olendar said laying the coins down on the edge of the table toward Sharif.

            Sharif hadn’t been able to get paid since he started working for Mr. Olendar a good month ago. He was only given food and shelter which of course he knew Mr. Olendar deducted out of his pay, but it didn’t bother him much. Sharif picked up the coins: two gold piece, two silver pieces and six bronze coins. As he held them in his hands he reached to his right where his satchel was and lifted the top flap and put the money into the back open little flap. “Thank you sir,” he said to Mr. Olendar with a smile although he could see Mr. Olendar was no longer paying attention to him and had something else in his mind.

            “Good day.” Mr. Olendar said and Sharif began to walk out the servant was about to follow. “No you stay here for a just a moment. These floors didn’t get cleaned.”

            Sharif thought he could hear the young girl swallow hard because I think they both knew what Mr. Olendar wanted. She looked at Sharif with those beautiful big green eyes pleadingly, but what could he do about it. He watched as the door shut between the two of them and continued walking outside to his horse. He wasn’t sure what the situation was, but he knew for a fact that he was definitely not about to get involved in any of it.

           

           

            Sharif walked the path and untied his horse’s reins from the fence and climbed on him and rode away from Nodmez to Syceria. Luckily they weren’t that far away from Syceria. He felt so proud to help the old man out. He was tempted as to what the message was that Drerry needed to get through but he dared not read it. The next village was only a day’s ride from Nodmez. Sharif rode for most of the day he loved the open air and the smell of the trees and grass. He had brought some bread for his trip and a few apples for his horse. He made sure to give his horse adequate breaks from being ridden and time to eat. He was able to make it into the borders of the town by night fall. When it got late he made sure he made camp in some shadowy bushes. He felt they kept the people who wanted to rob you away and shielded from the cold of the night. After all he only had a light blanket to cover himself with. In the early morning hours he awoke and got some bread to eat, fed his horse and continued on his journey.

 

Maleia: Syceria

 

 Sharif arrived in the village of Syceria and followed the directions to get to Drerry’s friends house. The directions were easy considering he rode straight into the village of about ten houses and one shop. The directions told him that he’d have to ride past the village and into the wooded area. That was easy considering it only took him about twenty minutes to get past the village due to so many carriages in the dirt road. He still really didn’t understand the meaning of it, but gave it no later thought. After the village to west just like the directions said, he would see the woods he would have to go into. He wasn’t too thrilled with the idea of going into the woods considering that they were full of dangerous animals. The woods covered the entire west side of the land. The trees he knew were old as they appeared to be reaching to the sky. It took him a mile to ride past the stretches of green grass with only a small foot path to ride in. When he arrived toward the entrance of the woods he pulled the reins of his horse causing the black beauty to pout at him. He assumed it was because she too felt the fear of the woods. He put aside his fears because he hoped Drerry wouldn’t send him into any danger. He came through the woods slowly making sure he looked in all direction. If he were attacked he wanted to see it coming. So far so good. He thought to himself at least he didn’t see any animals. Finally he saw the two trees that seemed to be leaning toward each other. Drerry had written on the directions that his friends place was only about fifty feet from the leaning trees. “Were here girl.” He said in a heightened tone as he rubbed his hands on the horses back then pulled her reins so she would go faster.

His horse started going in a run and they passed under the leaning trees and he suddenly came to an abrupt halt. He had his horse approach the scene slowly. He noticed the brown grass and the charred remains of the wood that once was a home to someone. Some villagers were there to mourn the family. He could see all around the grounds were a variety of flowers spread around from roses, lilies and daisies. Shocked and in a moment of disbelief he wanted to be sure he was at the right place. He dismounted from his horse and walked with his horse walking with him toward a kneeling woman crying by the brown grass. The woman was in her late ages and he could see her tears falling silently. She touched the grass in such a way that he knew she had to be close to who lived there.

 “Excuse me miss, could you tell me what occurred here”, he felt ashamed for disturbing her grieving.

“You do not know”, she asked puzzled by his inquiry. He shook his head and informed her that he was a friend of a friend.

She looked to the ground again fiddling with a rose flower as if she didn’t want to speak. “They were friends of mine”, she said. “Mokei and Lori, he was the Kings advisor. The King is irate that someone would be disloyal to him. He is searching for the murderers and when he locates them hell, they will have to pay.”

“Did you just say murderer?” Sharif asked.

“Oh yes they came in the night they killed Mokei and his wife. There daughter was lucky to survive. The king is taking care of her. She will reside in safe hands.”      Sharif expressed his thanks to the woman and got back on his horse he had to get this information back to Drerry. After that the next morning on the way back he pulled his horse to the side of the road, so much information was going through his head, something wasn’t right. He pulled the paper from his brown satchel, he had to read it. He remembered how Drerry acted and the vicious murder of Mokei something was occurring and he was way too curious to not know about it. He detached the seal and examined the contents:

            My dear friend

 

            It has been so long I was concerned something awful might have taken place. Do not be troubled I continue to keep your scroll securely concealed away amongst my most worthless work. Please I lose sleep that you might not be returning. I have not untied it for I dread what I may discover. I am familiar with your strategy to dethrone the King. Do you actually suppose magic will rise once more? I hear chatter of a new King the rightful heir intensifying up in the West and in the North. My friend be safe. Send word to me with my friend Sharif. He is a kind man with a true heart. He will never deceive me thus not betray you.

 

            Drerry.