by S D Huss
A flood of different emotions came rushing into all of them; uncertainty, fear, and confusion being the most apparent. However, as they scanned the hills that surrounded them, all disappeared except for fear. A small group of creatures came over the hump of a hill at a fast speed. They were large reptilian creatures slightly bigger than an ostrich, hunched over with two powerful legs tearing chunks of dirt up as they darted toward the stunned humans. What was even more alarming were the beings that sat upon them, bobbing up and down with each stride, billowing long crimson cloaks behind them.
Daniel glanced back to the forest, weighing their options heavily. The steady thumping of talons on the rolling hills grew louder and louder with each passing second. His mind started to slow down as adrenaline pumped through his body. He needed to make a decision.
“Back into the forest!” Daniel shouted, pivoting to re-enter the strange wooded prison.
But before even one foot could be advanced, the rumbling returned, shaking the humans to their knees. Daniels' eyes darkened with despair as the trees uprooted themselves again, this time blocking their path.
"Daniel!" Katrina cried as the large creatures skidded to a halt before them.
Daniel turned to face them, his cheeks white with fear. Now standing in front of them were six large and fearsome steeds. They could see the detail of the scaled bodies; large hind legs that were thick with muscles, still pulsing from the exertion. A lengthy body that had small human-sized arms hanging from the chest, all leading to a slender neck which, at the end of it, was an enormous maw that held hundreds of razor-sharp teeth. The creatures had bulky and muscled heads with wide and fearsome jaws. But above them, sitting with smooth white helmets, face masks and crimson cloaks atop the monsters, were riders of some kind. They each had an elaborate spear in hand, and bone like armor covering their chests.
Moments passed painfully slowly as Daniel, Robert, and Katrina stared frozen with fear
-What do I do?- Daniel thought to himself, looking from rider to rider, and at their mounts and weapons.
He swallowed hard past the iron lump in his throat and stepped forward.
“He… Hello” Was all that managed to creep from his lips at first.
"I… uh… we are lost here in this strange land." Daniel looked back to Robert and Katrina for support but only saw stone faces. "We need food... and water." He continued.
"We mean you no harm." Desperation bore itself in Daniel's voice. The riders before him seemed unwavering. Staring down at the three small and frightened humans through their pale masks. Their helmets rested easily on their heads with small openings for their ears and a full mask that covered their faces entirely, except for eye holes. The dreadful silence carried on, letting fear and uncertainty take hold.
“They don’t understand me…” Daniel concluded, stiffening his posture.
“We need help!” Robert finally called out assertively. All six of the rider’s heads looked to him almost in unison. “We woke up in this forest and have no idea where we are, or how we got here!”
Silence again fell. Katrina looked at Robert, surprised by the outburst.
“Vudarr gue mangurath espiritos.” Said one of the crimson riders, who advanced with this mount; its feet thumping hard into the ground with each step.
Robert and Katrina stepped back as he approached. Daniel stood where he was, not sensing hostility in the rider’s voice, but curiosity.
“Vudarr gue satomo mangurath espiritos?” He said again slightly louder, now clearly looking straight past Daniel to Robert.
Roberts’s eyes blinked nervously as he glanced to Daniel, who looked confused as well. “Uh… yeah… like I said we… need food and water… and beds... and… uh…”
The rider leaned forward on his mount and looked into Robert's eyes. Robert could see pale yellow eyes and small black pupils that seemed to pierce his mind behind the shaded holes of the rider’s mask.
“Vudarr… gue satomo mangurath espiritos?” It said again, this time with a slow and stern tone.
Robert paused, clearly picking up a bit of annoyance in the rider’s voice.
“Uh….” He said glancing again to Daniel and Katrina. “Yes...?”
The riders in the back began to chuckle amongst each other, speaking in a strange language. But the one that had stepped forward still stared at Robert, only grunting as if acknowledging his words.
He sat up on the creature he rode, hooking his spear into a clip on the side of his saddle which held it in place. He removed his mask to reveal his alien features. His skin was a brick red, with long silver hair that was pulled back into a ponytail. He had a stern brow and thin eyebrows, that relaxed as a friendly smile crossed his face revealing four sharp canine teeth.
“Coumeck gue vieta espiritos.” The strange man said with a slight chuckle.
Chapter 3
Daniel smirked to himself as he walked in tow of the riders. Their situation was still puzzling, questions and doubts bouncing around within, yet still, he was content. Looking down, He admired his new footwear, boots made of some strange leather. They were a brown so dark they looked almost black. Daniels smirk split into a full smile as he took each step.
-Thank God… for shoes.- He thought to himself.
Daniel was interrupted by a slight nudge from his companions, who were at his sides.
"Kinda makes me wish I lost my shoes too," Robert said, looking down at them.
Katrina mirrored him and looked down as well.
Daniel chuckled and looked to the six strange riders before them. "Well, at least we know they are friendly. Otherwise, I would still be cursing up a storm with each step." He scanned each one and assessed the clothing and weaponry more closely, now that they weren't in imminent danger. The crimson cloaks that hung around them were the first to be inspected. Only two seemed different from the rest; a deeper red, with golden embroidery around the hems. Of the two, one had more. This was worn by the creature that stepped forward and spoke, so he was clearly the leader.
There was a sudden stop as the creature taking point raised his hand, signaling a halt. He turned his head slightly and grumbled in a younger sounding voice, something in his language. The leader nodded and turned to the rest, relaying the message.
-So he is the younger… And still has a fine cloak, an officer maybe?- Daniel thought
The lead creature trotted with his mount to the three humans. Looking at Robert, he spoke. His tone was sharper and with a little more authority.
Robert stood with a puzzled look on his face, his eyes wide, and his eyebrows up. There was a pause, then the creature spoke again as if asking a question.
Robert was silent for a moment, then cleared his throat.
“Uh… Yeah… I got it.”
The creature pulled on the reins of his mount, turned it around, and galloped back to his peers.
Daniel and Katrina both stared inquisitively at Robert.
“I think… I mean, I’m sure that I understood what he said…” Robert put his hand on his forehead and looked to his companions. “Did you guys understand anything?”
Daniel shook his head and looked to Katrina, who did the same.
“Well, what did he say?” Daniel finally asked.
“He said that there are some important people ahead or something. I didn’t catch the last part.” Robert sighed after running his fingers through his hair. “This is a fucking nightmare, I just want some goddamn food and water.”
Before they could moan in agreement, there was a low horn blast that blew from beyond a small hill before them. Daniel looked over quickly toward the direction of the noise, and then to the riders, attempting to judge their reaction. -Are we under attack?- Daniel thought, instinctively running scenarios through his head. The riders turned and faced the hill just as another group of crimson riders broke the crest. There were eight this time, all wearing the same cloaks and bone helmets. The two groups approached each other familiarly and exchanged greetings and laughs.<
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All the riders dismounted and continued the pleasantries. Daniel and Robert looked at each other. There was an enormous amount of uncertainty in both men’s eyes. They were completely at these creatures’ mercy, starving and dehydrated.
“What do we do now?” Katrina asked softly from behind the two.
“I’m not sure, there isn’t much we can do at the moment. They could just run us down with those creatures if we tried to escape.” Daniel said
"That's assuming we're prisoners, they might just let us go," Robert interjected.
Daniel scoffed and smiled a bit. “They are clearly warriors, and this is their territory, I don’t think they are going to let three strange little monsters run around their lands unchecked. Our best bet is to go along with this, we have no chance of survival otherwise.”
Robert nodded in agreement. “You’re right, we should see where they lead us.”
The two men gave a quick glance at Katrina who just nodded drearily, too tired and hungry to give her opinion.
As they three humans conversed, Daniel saw out of the corner of his eye several of the creatures approaching them.
The leader they recognized was walking in the center, to his left was the younger creature, and to his right were two they did not recognize. All of them had removed their helmets and hung them on clips they had fastened to their belts.
They stopped before them, and the two sides studied each other for several moments. Their faces were so very alien to Daniel. The younger one to the left had the same brick red complexion as the leader, whereas the two unrecognized creatures to the right shared a paler blue complexion. All of them shared snow-white hair that draped down the sides of their heads behind their ears, tied in the back to keep it out of their eyes. Daniel tried with all his might, all of his discipline and training, to remain unfazed in the face of these alien looking creatures. Fear, however, is a difficult thing to mask when faced with such uncertainty. Daniel clenched his jaw and stared back, doing what he was trained to do, turning his fear into anger.
The leader gave a similar look back to Daniel, recognizing the challenge and accepting it gladly. Then a sudden and deliberate cough interrupted the stare down. Robert stepped in front of Daniel and patted his shoulder. “I think they react differently toward me, let me take it from here.”
As soon as Robert did so, the creature smiled, showing his sharp canines again. The sight sent shivers down Daniel’s spine.
The creature began to speak as if introducing himself and pointed to his comrades. Robert took a second and looked to his companions. "My name is Robert." He said, pointing to his chest. "And this is Daniel and Katrina". As Robert shared their names, the creatures said them aloud to themselves, pronouncing them fairly well.
"The one in the middle's name is Oros," Robert said pointing. "The one on the left is his brother Boros, and the other two are Eslan and Vikko."
Daniel looked at Robert, still completely confused as to why the man was able to understand this alien language. “So, you can understand them…” Daniel moved his hand up to massage his chin while he thought. “Can they understand you?” He finally said.
Robert just turned to Oros and blatantly asked. “Can you understand what I’m saying?”
Oros chuckled at the comfortable and forward question but acknowledged that he could, in fact, understand Robert. "What about them?" Robert asked, referring to his companions. Oros paused, then began to speak a few sentences.
Robert turned to Daniel and shrugged. “He says that they can only understand me, that I am the only one that is emitting some sort of energy or something.”
Daniel rubbed his brow in confusion. “That doesn’t make any fucking sense at all, we’re speaking the same goddamn language.”
Boros interrupted Daniel by stepping forward and speaking to Robert.
"He is inviting us to eat with them tonight around a fire," Robert said with a big smile across his face.
The thought of food made Daniel’s mouth water. He looked to Katrina who nodded her head vigorously. “Tell him we would be more than happy to join him, and that we would like to ask him questions about where we are. Maybe finally get some answers.”
Daniel then looked to the sky while Robert relayed the message, and observed that it was darkening. -It seems they follow a similar day cycle here.- He thought to himself.
Chapter 4
Robert raised a canteen of water to his lips, the cool and refreshing liquid brought insurmountable relief to him as he drank it greedily; Daniel and Katrina did the same with their own. Oros and his warriors laughed and cheered as the humans indulged themselves. The smell of roasting meat filled the air as well. A strange creature that resembled an armadillo, only much larger, was on the fire, held up by a large stone device. All seemed normal except for the flame, which was seemingly burning with no fuel or wood beneath it. It just floated and raged as if encouraged by some invisible force.
“Tell us, friends, where do you come from?” Boros asked, sitting down with a filled canteen. The young warrior pulled the cap and smelled the contents, closing his eyes and admiring it. It was most definitely alcohol from the intense and pungent aroma.
“Well…” Robert said gathering himself for what was sure to be an interesting conversation. There was so much he didn’t understand; why he was the only one who could communicate with these creatures, for example. Beginning from when he first heard them speak, gradually, their words began to sound as familiar to him as his own language, English.
“Honestly, I don’t know how we got here, or where we are. You see… there was a bright light where we were, and…” Robert struggled to find the words to describe their situation. He looked to Daniel for reinforcement, relayed the question, and he took over.
“It looks like we’re from a different world and have been transported here somehow. We woke up in that forest, and… found them.” He gestured to Robert and Katrina. “We met a strange creature, there…, it spoke to us, led us out by moving the trees.” Daniel grimaced at the thought and looked intently into the fire. “It doesn’t seem real.”
Robert quickly relayed this message to Boros. The creature looked puzzled, giving a glance to his older brother Oros who sat lazily to his left against his gear. There were a few seconds of silence while his words were processed.
“Well, we have never come across creatures that look as you do, so perhaps that explains that would explain it,” Oros said, leaning forward to slice the meat on the fire for consumption.
“You say the forest led you out.? None can enter that sacred place who do not possess impressive power.” Boros said curiously. “The Spirts do not allow any who they deem unworthy to enter there. It is their haven. None have been able to in hundreds of years.”
Robert shrugged. “Well, we didn’t have much of a choice. As I said, we just woke up there.”
Boros then directed his attention to Daniel and Katrina, who sat to the side, somewhat removed from the conversation. Robert translated every chance he could get, but still, the conversation was much less engaging from their perspective.
“Why do your companions not possess the ability to speak proper words?” Boros asked, looking directly at Daniel.
Daniel made eye contact with him, his expression a defensive one.
“What is wrong with him?” He asked, looking to Robert, then to his older brother again.
“This one has seen battle,” Oros said in a low and weary voice. “Be careful Boros. We don’t know what these creatures are, or what they might be capable of.”
“Are you sure?” The young creature asked, looking closer at the human, but this time more cautiously. Robert also couldn’t help but look at his companion.
“I can see it in his eyes,” Oros said, standing with a large slice of meat in a bowl. The creature walked over to Daniel and handed it to him. “Tell him we are not enemies here and would break bread.”
Robert relayed the message, and Daniel took the bowl with a nod but
needed clarification.
“Ask Oros why we are not enemies, and why he is being so friendly to strange creatures in his land.”