Stranded - Chapter 9

Eleven days until the Reckoning

“Argh!”

My leg gave in from the sharp blow and I tasted dirt for the umpteenth time of the day.

“C’mon, kiddo! Ye are still too predictable!”

It has been quite some time since I was stranded in this strange world. And Billy has taken up the role of being my combat trainer, mainly in how to use spears and in archery. I slowly stood up, my clothes all dirty and a bit battered from the blows I have received, while Billy looked as fresh as he has just woken up. His clothes were still in immaculate condition.

“Huff… huff…a-again.”

“Woah-hoh, easy fella. Take a breather. And ye still have the bad habit of thinking too much y’know. Sometimes it’s a bit better to let yer bod’ moves with instinct. Thinking for too long will expose ya for…”

Billy droned on and on about my potential improvements. I gave him some light nods as I slumped down. I still couldn’t find out the reason behind my transportation to this world. Surely I didn’t die from the snow storm of that hiking trip, right? I was also as curious about Billy’s appearance here, too. But all what I could ever get was a dry “I dunno either, kiddo. It was ages ago.” Or some other variations of that answer.

I slowly stood up a while later, as I could feel my strength returning. Billy readied his staff, entering his stance. I assumed the same stance, our eyes locked at each other. After a moment, I lunged at Billy, spearing my staff towards him. As Billy angled his staff to parry away my stab, I transitioned the spearing motion into a downward swing, aiming at his arms. Billy smirked, as he shifted his body sideways, avoiding my blow. I swung my staff following Billy’s sidestep, only for it to be easily blocked, and Billy quickly lunged at me, his staff readied to spear at me. However, as I was anticipating the stabbing motion from his staff, Billy smirked, and his lunge simply turned into Billy using his whole body’s weight to crash into me, using his shoulder and arm.

“Oof!”

I was caught by surprise and Billy’s momentum, which sent me tumbling away. I tried to get up as quickly as possible, only to be greeted by Billy’s staff pointing at me.

“Looks like somebody needs ter work on their strength hereee!”

“S-shut up…! Huff… huff… y-you… literally crushed one of those… things’ skull with your bare hands the other day.”

I was taken out for my first hunt the other day, in which Billy simply killed one of the strange boars we were hunting with a single punch into its head. We also managed to save a man attacked by those boars. He was searching for some herbs as we could see he was leaving behind trails of strange flowers and leaves on his run from one of the boars. The boar chasing the poor man was also my first kill, albeit with the other hunters weakening the boar with their arrows, so I could spear it through. Billy later told me that the man came from a country called Elysion, based on the ragged man’s cries for help.

“Good morning Frail One, and Billy…”

“Oh good morning, Lady Sasha.”

“Good morning, young lady!”

Sasha came and greeted us, carrying with her the jerky that the villagers made from the boars. She has been teaching me the language of the Shangri-lan, and I have progressed enough to be able to listen to basic conversations. Billy initially was my teacher until Sasha gave him one of her funny glares on one day. Since then, Billy has switched to teaching me the language of the strange country named Elysion instead.

Sasha handed us each some slices of the jerky, and we both devoured it quickly. As soon as we finished our meal, Sasha handed me the weird gooey bar that served as the painkiller the other day with some bandages. The spar with Billy has left my body aching all over with some scratches. As I was bandaging myself, I heard a loud clanging noise. Billy has fetched me my hunting weapons, a spear, an axe and a knife, along with the climbing tool.

“Where are the bow and arrows?”

“You are not huntin’ today kiddo. You are to aid Sasha on the scavengin’ today.”

“I see…”

After equipping myself with the weapons and the tool, which is a strange hook-like contraption with a rope and a string attached to it, Billy handed me a set of leather armour and a metal bracer. The bracer will be equipped on the left hand, while the leather armour is mostly for shoulders and knee protection.

“Where do you guys even made these weapons and the bracer by the way? I don’t see any smiths in the village…”

“Oh you will know soon, kiddo. In about 2 days I think…?”

“What?”

“Oh, never mind, off you go kid!”

Billy shoved me towards Sasha. She was waiting patiently nearby, despite the basket and the bag on her shoulder were dangling excitedly.

“Let’s go, Frail One.”

“U-Uh, yes, let’s.”

Sasha smiled and led me from Billy’s hut towards the waterfall that they called Mirak. Sasha was smiling and humming a strange song, the basket and the bag on her now dangling happily. We walked past the working villagers on the field, who bowed to Sasha, and kids running around with their weird toys.

“Frail One! Frail One! Come play with us!”

“Yes! You can play the monster today!”

“N-Not now kids, I am going to uhhhhh”

The sentence was left lingering in my mouth as I realized I have not learned about words related to outdoor activities.

“Doldrak. Doldrak means to go and collect items. Scavenge”

Sasha said as she mimicked the action of picking up things and putting them into her basket.

“O-oh yes, I am going to go scab- scavenge.”

I bit my tongue in the answer, and the kids with Sasha giggled. The kids kept following us until we reach the waterfall, laughing and joking. When the sounds of the waterfall have drowned out the voices of the kids, they left us and waved at us, with some of them waving the strange flower that resembles Sasha’s brooch.

We waded into the harsh streams of the waterfall, holding each other’s hands so as not to slip and fall from the slippery rock formation underneath it. After getting drummed on by the seemingly endless, heavy cascade of the waterfall, we entered a tunnel-like area, with an abundant source of light illuminating the tunnel. And as we reached the end of the tunnel, the light source revealed itself to be a vast space ahead of us. Before us was a breathtaking scenery, with the vast stretch of blue sky before us, accompanied by the lush forest underneath, from which strange silhouettes of birds can be seen flying around. The hidden village was situated on what seemed to be a mountain.

“Let’s go, Frail One.”

I nodded, as I brought out the strange tool for climbing and hooked it into the sturdy stone bed we were standing on. After making sure the hook part of the tool was firmly secured into the stone bed, I clicked the bracer as Billy had instructed me to reveal a holster for the spear, in which I strapped the spear onto. Afterwards, I held onto the rope part of the climbing tool and slipped and secured the loose end of the rope into a contraption resembling a pulley on the wrist of the bracer. The string part of the tool was to be let loose, but still had to be kept track of, so Sasha held onto it loosely.

After the preparation was done, I took a deep breath, and angled myself so my back was facing towards the cliff, and slowly and carefully crawled backwards. As soon as I could feel my body getting pulled down by the gravity, I quickly find a groove to stabilize my footing. After securing myself against the cliff, I used my left hand to hold onto the rope, and my left leg as the anchor for the footing. I arched my right leg up, so as to my thigh formed a ninety-degree angle with my torso, with my right arm dangling loosely. I called out to Sasha, to which she looked down as if to make sure I was secured. She then hovered down towards me, perhaps using her magic. Sasha angled herself so that she could land onto my right thigh, with her legs sticking out on my right side too, and as soon as she reached me, she wrapped her arms around my neck. She was breathing heavily. Sasha was then positioned on my right thigh, with my right arm supporting her body.

“Huff… Huff… thanks F-Frail One.”

“No problem, Lady Sasha.”

I replied, trying to not be conscious of her sweet scent. We slowly descended down the cliff in this position, which proved to be quite strenuous for me due to having to carry Sasha. I secretly felt grateful for all those intense sparring sessions and all the farm work I have been doing until then, as those activities have built up my stamina quite a bit.

“So… Huff… how you get uhhhh… down… Huf… in other… scab-scavenge?”

I asked Sasha in my broken Shangri-lan.

“Billy put me on his Milna.”

I tilted my head in confusion. Sasha looked at me back, also tilting her head back. She looked adorable.

“Milna?”

“Oh… um… this-”

Sasha patted her hand on my shoulder.

“-is Milna. Shoulder.”

“Thank you.”

I nodded to her and resumed our descent. The ground was looking quite close, but it never harms to be careful.

“Excuse me.”

The shoulder armour came with a small pouch on its right side, in which Billy put in what he called his “measuring rocks”. I took my right arm away from Sasha’s back, making her wobble a little, and snaked it in-between our bodies to reach the pouch and took out one of the rocks. Then I dropped the rock down. It fell in a straight trajectory, and as soon as it hit the ground beneath, it crumbled. Our distance to the ground was still unsafe. I took out a second rock and held onto it as I resumed the support of Sasha’s body with my right arm again. We descended a bit further, and when I felt like my left leg was close to giving out, I dropped the second rock. This time, the rock stayed in one piece after the drop, signalling that it was safe to drop down.

“Please hold tight.”

I said as I reached towards the bracer with my right hand, to where the rope is secured within the pulley of the bracer. I could feel Sasha’s tightening her hold on my neck, her… lower body also nestling closer to me. I clicked and unravelled the pulley, and soon we were speeding down towards the ground, with me using my left foot as semi-brakes with occasional jumps against the cliff to leverage the drop. Soon, we were very close to the ground, and I could feel my left arm being assaulted by the torn sensation of being hung up. The rope has reached its maximum length. Sasha seemed to have noticed it, and she pulled the string that she was holding loosely. My left arm no longer felt the weight, and I tumbled onto the ground beneath, as my right leg was dead from having to support Sasha.

“Oof!”

I fell into an uncomfortable upside-down position. From my upside-down vision, I could see Sasha’s legs slowly and gracefully touched the ground before me. She has used magic to levitate towards the ground. A short moment later, I could hear the clattering of the hook part of the climbing tool falling with me, and it plopped itself right next to me with a heavy thud. Sasha returned the string part to me, which was connected to the retraction mechanism of the hook, or more accurately a pike now, as the hook was retracted by the tug of the string. I stumbled and got up and could hear Sasha’s giggle. Before us was the forest that surrounded the mountain hiding Sasha’s village, and according to Billy, this forest was called Millas.