by Allan Joyal
Muted cheers and groans were the only response. Dusty giggled and turned back to the group. "Oh, in case you're wondering, we did ask Lisa Little if she had any good nicknames. She didn't have any she'd admit to. Although she did brag that one guy tried to use her last name, but the others in school got on him because her best feature didn't fit."
She dashed back to the others, stopping to check on Natalie, who was sleeping while Lisa and Jennifer struggled to carry her. Steve was arguing with Eddie. I shook my head and continued the last few steps until I emerged into the sunlight. I had forgotten to check the time when we started, but my best estimate was that we had been traveling for over two hours since the morning and over one hour since Natalie was attacked. My feet were sore, so I collapsed onto one of the stones and removed my shoes to massage the aching bones.
The rest of the band staggered out of the tunnel. Esme scanned the stones quickly and then insisted that the litter be brought to one and carefully set down upon it. It was a bit short, but it was able to support Natalie from her head down to her knees. Once it was stationary, I called out. "How is she?"
Esme had her hand on Natalie's wrist. She kept her eyes closed for a short time. When she opened her eyes, she turned to me with a smile on her face. "She's definitely going to make it."
"You're sure?" I asked, as there was a gasp from behind me.
Esme smiled even bigger. "Her pulse is strong, and the wounds have closed up. Whatever was in the medical kit definitely sped the initial healing."
"So we don't have to carry her around like some battlefield casualty?" William interrupted with a growl.
Esme frowned just a little. "Did I say that? She's not that strong yet. The slashes were deep and cut through a lot of muscle. Natalie did lose a lot of blood. And while the medical kit stuff sped the healing up, it didn't make it happen instantly. If Natalie was to walk on the leg right now, the wounds would probably tear open again."
"Don't worry about it, Natalie," Steve called out. "Carrying you has been a rare privilege."
Esme giggled. "That's the other thing I was going to say. The same stuff has Natalie sleeping right now. It's good for her as she'll heal a bit faster, but we'll have to carry her for the rest of the day, at least."
William looked ready to protest, but I held a hand up. "Don't bother. Everyone here knows how you feel about things. I think we'll all agree that we don't want to hear it again."
The man blushed slightly, but sank back against the stone he was leaning on, arms crossed in front of his body. His expression darkened as he closed his eyes. He turned away from me muttering something under his breath.
I thought of saying more when the loud gurgle of an empty stomach burst through the silence. Everyone one turned to see Eddie holding his stomach. "I'm hungry," he moaned needlessly.
I looked over at the people wearing packs. "We know there are pouches of dried foods in the packs. How about we select one of fruit and one of meat and divide them equally? Make sure everyone gets some of each."
There was a chorus of assent and the packs were dropped to the ground. Jennifer took charge of dividing the food. Once she had portioned it out, she and Martha started passing it out. I took the time to pull out one of the water bottles and drink about half of it down. The feeling of the water going down my throat was refreshing, and I closed my eyes as I lowered the bottle.
"You might want to wait on that," Heather told me. "You'll need some liquid to wash down lunch."
I opened my eyes to find the blond standing in front of me. She had her left fist out, palm down, and when I reached out, she deposited a handful of dried foods into my hand. It was not a large amount; about four pieces of dried meat and two spongy items that resembled dried apricots. Once I had accepted the food, she spun around and sat down to my right. She shifted slightly so that her left hip was pushing into my side.
I tried a bite from the dried meat to find that it had an extremely smoky flavor. It was a bit of a surprise, but not unpleasant. My first taste also allowed me to realize just how hungry I was. I turned my attention to the food.
The handful of meat and fruit did not last long. When the food was done, I put my hands on the stone behind me and closed my eyes. The current situation worried me, and I tried to think of a solution. A severe lack of knowledge of where we were limited the options available. My first concern had to be discovering more of this world. I finally decided that I needed to get Steve and probably Albert to agree to do some scouting.
"Hey! Is that a bridge up there in the cliffs?" Martha cried out, breaking my reverie.
I opened my eyes to glance at her, and found her pointing toward the cliffs that had been to the left of our path since we left the stream. Following her guidance, I stared off at the cliffs.
The first thing I noticed was that the cliffs were quite a bit shorter than they had been. When we first encountered them past the stream, the cliffs were several hundred feet tall. Now, the tops of some of the trees in the canyon were almost level with the cliffs. I noticed that the trees in the canyon stopped near a stream. The stream was descending through a deep crevice cut into the cliffside. Martha's hand was pointing to a wooden bridge crossing the gorge.
Steve was also looking at the bridge. "Do you think it might be an extension of the road we were once on?"
"If it is, our path might rejoin it," I mused. "Hopefully it means we'll find a settlement of some kind soon."
"Who cares what we do legally?" William snapped. "We aren't here to file a lawsuit."
Everyone turned to look at the man. "How the hell do you make money?" Elizabeth asked. "You can't really be that stupid. He means a town or a village. God, I'm a lawyer and I realized what he meant using the word in that context."
I could see William's face redden. The man spat towards Elizabeth. When no one rose up to speak again, the man got up and stalked back towards the canopied tunnel, turning his back on everyone.
"That man is going to be a problem," Lydia sighed.
"Yes, but he's still from Earth, and until he finds a place he wants to call home, I won't force him from the group. It wouldn't be right," I replied. I then looked up at the bridge again. There was no activity.
Albert got up and started to walk around. He was shaking his arms and legs with each step.
"What are you doing?" Dusty asked.
"My arms feel like they are about to cramp up," Albert replied. "Walking and carrying Natalie is hard, and my muscles are a bit sore already."
Esme picked up a water bottle and tossed it to him. "Drink more water. That will help. And don't worry about us running out, there is a stream right over there we can use to refill any empty bottle."
Heather stood up. "I can take care of that. Toss me your empties, and I'll fill them up."
Everyone tossed at least one empty bottle to Heather. Esme added two of the leather bladders we had found to hold liquid. When I raised my eyebrow at her action she smiled. "They held a rather weak wine. It was probably used for wine once, and then refilled with water. I've been giving it to Natalie when she stirs."
Heather said nothing as she walked over to the stream. I could feel my legs cramping up a little and got to my feet to stretch them out. I had just finished rising when Heather cried out. "Footprints! I've found some footprints."
Everyone scrambled to their feet. I tried to run to Heather, but my legs felt heavy. The others must have felt the same, because only Albert reached Heather before me. He stopped and knelt, gazing forward at a spot in the mud.
I arrived and looked at the same point. The imprint was indistinct, but it appeared to be a single depression in the mud about a foot long. The shape of the depression vaguely resembled that of a shoe, but there was no tread pattern.
"That doesn't look much like a footprint," Eddie said scornfully when he arrived. The others had spread out. Some were gazing at the print; others were searching the ground around the stream.
Nothing more was said. The excitement of seeing a f
ootprint had been muted by the discovery that none of us were sure what we saw. I could see Heather frowning as she got to her feet and I gave her a gentle smile. She looked at the ground.
"Well, we all seem to be back on our feet except for Natalie. Since we've all had something to eat and drink, why don't we work together to fill the bottles and then be on our way," I said.
After speaking, I walked back to the stones to check on Natalie. She was sleeping peacefully. Part of me wanted to check under her bandages, but I left them alone. Esme followed me a moment later, handing me a filled water bottle before putting a hand on Natalie's forehead.
"She's doing better than I expected," she admitted as she pulled her hand away. "I don't expect her to be dancing soon, but I'm positive she'll recover. It would be nice to allow her to sleep in a bed though."
"If they have them here," I whispered. The others now gathered at the stones. There was a flurry of activity as everyone put full water bottles into bags. I waited through this until Steve and Albert walked up and put their hands on Natalie's litter.
Nothing was said. Natalie was lifted from the rock, and I started back down the path. Once again I followed a trail that paralleled the cliffs. We had traveled for less than five minutes when the trail crossed a stream. Here the stream was rather feeble and slow. Crossing did not delay us, as most of the group could just step over the bare trickle that flowed. Only Steve and Albert struggled a little due to the litter. Both finally just waded through the stream, allowing their shoes to be soaked.
Across the stream, we discovered that the trail met another. At the crossroads, I stopped and looked. To the right, the new path followed the stream. This path was well worn. The other fork led the way we had been traveling. I smiled to think that we had once again found a road.
"I hope we are close to a town," I heard one of the coeds mutter. "I'm tired, I'm dirty, I want a hot meal, and I want to have a roof over my head tonight."
Finding the larger path seemed to buoy everyone's spirits. The coeds started a discussion about music and bands. They quickly agreed that they found the new teen heartthrob shallow and unexciting. Eddie tried to interject some thoughts into the conversation, but was laughed off. Usually this would have started a rant, but the man merely joined in the laughter, admitting that he had no idea who the girls were talking about.
Chapter 3 – A Settlement
The conversation distracted me. I had been trying to follow what was being said, and realized my attention was distracted when I heard a shout from in front of us. The accent and language sounded strange, but my mind immediately translated what should have been gibberish into English.
"Halt! Who are you to enter our town!" the challenge rang out.
The whole group stopped behind me. I relaxed my pose slightly, allowing the butt of the spear to land in the dirt and pointing the tip to the sky. Looking forward, I could see a man wearing stained and dirty clothes standing in the center of the road. He held a spear with both hands. His stance was not aggressive, but the tip of the spear was pointing directly at me.
"We are lost travelers," I replied. Someone behind me hissed as my words came out in the same language as the guard had shouted. I realized that I had to say more to the guard and continued. "I cannot tell you how we came to be here, or even how far we have traveled for I do not know. Right now we seek a warm meal and shelter from the chill of the night. We will not harm you, nor anyone in the village."
The man cocked his head. He seemed to be looking closely at the outfits everyone was wearing.
"Your garb is strange," the man spoke. It was both a statement and a question.
I nodded. "We are from a land far from here. In our land this garb would not be considered outlandish, but we were brought to this land by a force we do not understand. One thing we hope to do is to find new clothing that will better protect us."
The man continued to look. "Are the women selling themselves? Or are you their pimp?"
Elizabeth hissed behind me. I felt her take a step toward the man, but Eddie roused himself and grabbed her, holding her back. "Don't do it," he cried.
I thrust my left arm out, palm parallel to the ground. Elizabeth growled in frustration, but did not attempt to move past me. "Neither," I replied. "Like I said, a force we do not understand brought us here. Where we are from, the garb of our ladies is not a sign that they are looking to sell their bodies. However, from what you said, it's clear that they are improperly dressed. Perhaps you could find a lady of good repute in your town who would assist in garbing the ladies properly."
The man snorted. "Like you have money. You look like a bunch of vagrants."
I waved Steve forward. There was a moment's delay as he and Albert carefully set the litter down on the ground. He then trotted up to me. I held the spear out to him. "Hold this," I whispered.
Steve took the spear and stepped back. I held both hands in the air and called to the guard. "Can I approach?"
The man scowled. He turned away to look at the town. "Versil! I need help!" he shouted.
I waited for a response. The man had turned back to look at me, a frown on his face. His stance was stiffer than it was at the start. Since it was clear he was waiting for someone else to approach, I looked beyond him.
The village spread out behind the man. I was a bit surprised that I had not noticed the stone buildings with their roofs of brown straw as we approached. Along the road I could count four that appeared to be small cottages. Beyond them there was one larger stone building. It was tall enough to have a second story and was the only building I could see with a wooden roof.
The road to the village was empty of people. I could see a couple of children peeking around one of the cottages. Shadows in doorways suggested that there were a few more people. There were a few sickly looking birds of some kind wandering the streets.
"My god," I heard William mutter behind me. "What is this place? It looks like it's out of some bad historical drama."
Steve snorted. "We said we weren't in Kansas anymore. And the strange sun made it clear we weren't on Earth. I guess this proves to us what kind of world. I wouldn't expect to find electricity in town."
Just then a man emerged from the two-story building and walked down the road. He stopped by the guard. I stood silently, listening to worried whispers from the coeds. The conversation in front of us appeared to require a large amount of pointing at our group. Finally the new man looked directly at me. "You! Do you have a name?" he snapped.
"I do," I replied curtly. My arms were getting tired, but I remained standing with my arms in the air. The man's eyes narrowed.
"I see you are willing to only answer the question. Stranger, what is your name?"
"You can call me Ron."
The guard hissed, but the other man nodded. "Interesting. Loufus here believes you are trying to sneak into the village to attack it. I'm not sure I can agree. Ron, come forward, but only you. Tell the others to wait for you there."
I took a step forward. As I did, Lydia whispered, "I'm going to set up the crossbow. If he tries to hurt you, I'm going to shoot."
"Oh, joy, friendly fire," I whispered back. As I did, I noticed that all of our speech was now in the language of the villagers. In my mind I still thought in English, but every word I spoke was in this new language.
The new man stepped forward. As he did he shifted to my right. Beyond him, I noticed a pair of men. They were holding bows. As I approached, one raised the bow and pulled back on the string. My shoulders tensed as he aimed the arrow at me.
No shot was fired, and I reached the man. I was staring at the two bowmen. "Not exactly a friendly welcome," I said with a nod towards the bowmen.
"Bandits are common in these lands," the man said. "Now why did you ask to approach?"
I sighed and slowly brought my arms down. I halted my right arm at my waist, but reached back to my rear pocket with my left. Carefully and slowly I pulled out the pouch and brought it forward. "As I told your guar
d, we came from a land so far away that the journey is basically impossible to describe. I'm not sure that I have anything you would recognize as money, but I do have this pouch. I have reason to believe what it contains does hold value here. I just couldn't figure out how to explain that through shouts."
The man looked puzzled. "I've never seen clothing like yours. The stitches are impossibly tight. And where did you bring that pouch from, it doesn't appear to have been attached to your belt."
"I believe the seamstresses and tailors of my land know techniques that are unthought of in this land," I prevaricated. "However, I'm not here to discuss my clothing. I do need to purchase modest clothing for the ladies with me." I fumbled with the knot holding the pouch closed. The thick leather cord had swollen a little from some liquid, but after tearing the nail on my right index finger, I was able to worry it free. The pouch opened and I reached in to pull out a coin made of reddish metal. "I hoped this would pay for everything my group needs for one night."
There was a flash of avarice in the eyes of the man in front of me. "That coin definitely would interest some in this town," he said slowly. "Do you have more?"
I held the pouch strings in my right hand and released it with my left. The pouch dropped and closed up with a jingle. "Not unless I have first received value for this one," I said.
The man looked over at the guard. "Loufus, we can allow them into the town." He turned back to the two men holding bows. "We can let them in. Call Madam Wessera. She can attend to their clothing."
Loufus relaxed, and the two bow wielders turned and dashed off. My back and shoulders relaxed, and I turned back to the others and waved. "We can enter!" I shouted.
I could see Steve handing the spear to Jennifer. She started running towards me as he headed back to the litter. Loufus cursed, and I held out my arm. "Jennifer, stop! You don't run with a weapon. If you want to bring it to me, walk slowly and keep the tip pointed away from the village."