Stranded - Chapter 11

The man dreams again, his nightmare haunts him.

Of a visage, an image, one that is daunting,

Of a jester who dances, on a world that is dying.

Of the earth that is razed, pierced by the trees, unforgiving.

The man cries, his eyes blinded,

By grief, regret, and of his fate, doomed.

—-

“—”

“Chi—”

The man slipped off into his daydream, the mask blurring his vision a bit.

“—-!”

He heard some slight disturbance. He could taste the air’s thickness. This damn woods is truly cursed.

What is that buzzing sound on his ears again?

“—!!”

“Chief!!”

The man snapped awake from his daydream, being shaken a bit. The buzzing was from his underling, Marley. Talkative, little Marley. He could feel the younger man’s eager eyes under the crude mask’s gaze.

And he could feel a colder gaze from the other one, the smaller, keener Lisa.

Their lord has given them the very sacred task to trace and reach the weapon, and patiently have they bided their time, until the weapon is alone, except he was with one of the Children. But the Child girl would pose no harm.  That was until the Sword Saint and a Maiden approached the weapon, and the girl. Now the man and his underlings had to wait again, silently and methodically tracing the footsteps of their target.

The man could feel his blood pumping. He has never felt so thrilled since his fight against the Spear. One glance from the Sword Saint and they would be all dead meat. One yelp from the Maiden and they would also be dead.

“Lisa, how many casts do you have left?”

Lisa raised her fingers. Six casts left.

“Should be enough.” The man grunted. His eyes traced towards the weapon and the Child. The Child was chatting amicably with the Saint and his Maiden, while the weapon silently trod behind.

“What should we do if we fail, Brant?”

Lisa’s voice pulled at the man’s attention again. The man, Brant, groaned and gazed at the entourage before them. He then looked at Marley and Lisa.

They won’t fail. Of that the man was sure.

“Don’t worry. Our noble cause would surely bring us success.”

—-

Sword Saint Ordovis felt deeply intrigued. The strange girl, whose name was Sasha, could speak fluent Elysion and made for quite a fascinating conversation partner. According to her, she lived with her tribe in a mountain inside the forest, and they found and picked up the Outworlder unconscious inside the forest.

“So, there is a hidden tribe in this forest? And there is a mountain here, too?”

Ordovis’ companion and Blade Maiden, Clarisse, inquired. Sasha had exited herself from her conversation with Ordovis and went back to chat with the Outworlder.

“Apparently so. Perhaps the mountain is hidden behind that thing?”

Ordovis looked up. Amidst the leaves and the vines, they could make out a silhouette of the giant Earthbane, demonic trees that were consuming their world. The forest’s Earthbane, also known as Millas Grand Bane, was a particularly dangerous Earthbane, its growth and influence had shaped Millas Woods into a dangerous, mythical eco-system, with odd beasts romping around.

“You reckon we could ask the girl about that mountain later? Her tribe could make for valuable allies with Elysion.”

“I will consider that. But you know we do have more pressing matters at hand, right?”

Ordovis glanced at the Outworlder and signalled at him. Clarisse stole a glance at the Outworlder and Sasha.

“And how do you intend to convince him? From the looks of it, he does not know a lick of your language.”

“Perhaps Sasha can translate for us? If not, then I can just communicate via drawings and hand signs. Men are simple. Do you bring any gold on you, Clarisse?”

“Surely the Outworlder is not that simple, right? How could a mere bag of gold convince him to go with strangers, you dunce?”

“Any men would fall for women, wealth, food and booze, Clarisse. You have no idea how many times I have caught the Hero fresh out of the brothel. If I were to present such luxuries to a man who has been living with an exotic tribe-”

Ordovis drew with his hands a figure of eight.

“-then do you think he would refuse? Free food, money and sex? Along with status and fame?”

“Do you know how shady you are sounding right now?”

“Uhhh… I mean, it worked pretty well with the other guys…”

“But we are in the middle of a forest, Ordovis. Only way for you to get him to the nearest brothel is to carry him like a sack of wheat and run to the nearest town nearby, which would still take you…”

Clarisse glared at Ordovis. His eyes drooped like a scolded puppy.

“… A whole evening.”

“Exactly.”

Clarisse sighed and looked up. The sky was steadily darkening. The strange girl, Sasha rushed up to Clarisse and Ordovis, signalling them to follow her. The Outworlder also brushed past Ordovis.

“This way, lost strangers. A nearby cave can give both of you much-needed respite for your departure tomorrow from the forest.”

—-

“Curses!”

Brant grunted. The darkening sky was proving very unfavourable for their trailing of the target. They are very close to the target, but the dim surroundings were making their job harder.

“What are we gonna do, Chief? Should we just retreat?”

“Hush, child. Let me think.”

Brant ruminated. This is a golden chance if they could manage to drive the Saint and the Maiden away. However, knowing their purposes, one would surely stay behind to guard the weapon, while the other investigates.

“What if we draw out the weapon and the girl, and distract the other two?”

“Good idea, Lisa, but how are we going to pull it off?”

“Do you know what makes animals go wild in darkness, Marley?”

“What, Chief?”

Constant evasion of the beasts has lent one’s sense of smell a certain sense of recognition towards beasts, particularly the apex predators. Brant sniffed the air and turned slowly turned his head towards the smell he wanted to detect. The source of the smell was emitting wet, muffled snores of the strange boars.

—-

Crackling flame illuminated dim patches of the cave. Sasha and the pretty lady were chatting away, their soft giggles accompanied with the handsome man, whose name is Ordovis, trying to converse with me.

“You. Come. Uhhhhh…”

Laying on the ground before us were drawings he made with a random branch, and upon the flickering light, I can discern shapes that resembled women and some strange bag-like objects. Ordovis kept pointing at the drawings on the ground and at me, his hands moving in animated ways.

“You. Get. Miro var masvik var buvika!”

The pretty lady’s laughter rang out and as I turned back, she was holding her mouth, while Sasha was looking at us with questioning eyes, her head tilting adorably. Ordovis turned and yelled something at the lady, of which she curtly responded to him with some short, abrupt dialogue that I couldn’t catch on.

Ordovis quickly got on his foot and faced the pretty lady, both glaring at each other. Quickly afterwards, an argument broke out, however, they were using a seemingly different language, as I could not make out the “you” or “I” or anything basic from the Elysion language. Sasha seemed to be clueless about this language too, as she then scooted away from the unravelling conflict in front of us and tended to the flame again. The argument from our two companions raged on for what seemed like an eternity, until suddenly we heard a loud booming noise outside of the cave.

Ordovis and his companion stopped immediately, with the lady putting her hand on the hilt of her sword, while Ordovis signalled for me and Sasha to stay put. The lady inched towards the entrance of the cave, her cape billowing, casting a long shadow from the faint light of the cave. I could feel Sasha’s breathing against my neck.

Boom!

The loud noise was accompanied by a blinding, purple ray of light as a grunt erupted from the lady’s position. Ordovis’s back now completely shadowed over me and Sasha, his body tensing up.

Faintly, I could hear the growl of a certain beast, one that I have heard not too long ago. The growl of a Thunderboar.