World of Taroo

by Jimmy Eriksson

  King Lenchi said he would send a letter to Arobe and ask for the reason of attack. Kemi said she thought they should do more as the forest people were part of the land and anyone that was being threatened should be helped. They should demand an answer and make consequences for Darcolia. Her father told her to be silenced, and she did not know how to properly respond. She left and brought Chalse to his carriage. She said she knew his country was neutral but would they help if war came. He said there were divisions in the country of Ocenia that feel the same. But unless the people agreed, there would be no help from the kingdom of Ocenia. She said goodbye and walked up to one of the forest people that was getting treatment for injuries. She asked the man to tell more about the prince’s methods at his castle. Back at Kiwen Castle, the mood was about to change drastically. The prince’s guards rode back to the prince that sat on his throne. He was told what had happened and could only wait with anxiety for his father to come and inspect his newly gained wealth that then was turned to dust.

  When a guard of the castle finally informed the prince about his father being sighted, Theran was ready for his judgement. His father, the king of Darcolia, finally arrived to the castle to inspect the damage he had then heard about. He knew the earth stone was gone, and the forest people were taking refuge in the Grasoll lands kingdom. It had all been told to him by the people who supplied him with information. The soldiers working for Theran were mostly young, and people the prince had chosen himself to join his army. Some had been in the Darcolian army before to be asked to join Theran but most were new. Theran had surrounded himself with men who were strong and took knowledge from his father on how to train them. He did divert his opinions about having women join as he never saw the use for it. He always thought of it being a distraction, and throughout the kingdoms very few women were seen wearing armour.

  The king of Darcolia had a different view, and as his soldiers marched forward many females could be seen. They wore different armour, and most of them carried bows. In the minds of many of the men seeing them, they would want to gain their attention. Some would even wish to disrespect them with wile gestures or words of abuse. However, doing so would certainly cause them to be thrown in prison, or worse, as the king would never approve of it.

  The king met his son outside the kingdom and anyone could tell that the prince was less than happy his father had come then that he didn’t have the magical stone anymore. King Arobe had brought with him a large army and looked at the broken castle that the prince was trying to save from complete disaster. Theran had trouble looking at his father but moved his eyes up to show respect. Arobe jumped off his horse and told his troops to set up a camp. He said to his son they would leave in the morning next day. He asked his son if he knew why he was so happy that he got the Alumrylite stone. Theran said it was because of the trees that could make a lot of money for them. King Arobe said no and said his father and grandfather had told him and his brother about the power of the stone. He poured some wine for himself and said there were supposedly seven in total. The stone was made of Alumrylite and was as pure as possible.

  Arobe swiped the cup and told his son he had found the earth stone and was taken from their birth land hundreds of years ago. When he found out that his lazy son had found it, he was overjoyed and got ready. Theran remembered his father talking about some magic but thought it was children’s stories when he was young. When he got a little older, he started to believe the stories after spending some time in Redonia with his uncle. He saw things he couldn’t explain and remembered a fire and wind magic. Arobe said it didn’t matter that he then lost the magical stone since they knew where it was held. King Lenchi might wish to hand it over peacefully to avoid risking the Darcolian kingdom to aim arms at Grasoll. Arobe hoped Lenchi was foolish enough to refuse, so he had a great reason for starting the war that had been on the way for many years then. Theran asked his father what he wanted him to do and Arobe looked at him. He said the earth stone was more important than Theran could believe and that Theran must provoke the King of the Grasoll lands to start a war.

  When Theran heard his father speak about war. He was smiling a little but didn’t know what his father wish for him to do. Arobe said that Theran must take 100 men to bring chaos and destruction to the Grasoll lands as much as possible but not to kill unnecessarily. If they provoked the king with perhaps burning down houses and taking over land, it might just be enough. They must then return fast into Darcolia where they would wait to see what the response would be. Theran smiled, and later when his father was in his tent with the other officers, he told his men to come with him to prepare the horses. That night, he talked to his own advisors that told him he was right not to listen to his father in not killing anyone. They told him the impact would be far greater if lives were lost because King Lenchi would have no choice but to answer, unless he wished to create anger towards himself by the people. Theran hated the Grasoll land and would make a mark on it whether his father liked it or not.

  The 100 soldiers were fully packed with arrows and swords. They would ride through the villagers and destroy the land. When Arobe left in the morning, he told his son that he did not want any more disappointments and rode off. Theran made a fist in anger after his father was further away and told his men to continue repairing the castle. He wanted the 100 soldiers to mount the horses immediately to head off with him. He rode away and had his sights on the Grasoll land that he had his own plans for.

  Terror in the Grasoll Land

  The prince and his men had found their first stop on the way. They set up camp on the outskirts of Darcolia, and the soldiers got told that anything was acceptable but defeat. They would, for the next month, gather information about the villages and other settlements in the land. They must be careful as the soldiers in the Grasoll land were on guard and would surely be expecting some more trouble from Theran. They went through the maps they had and decided to go north of the land towards the Domoro Land and came through another way going into the land. The Domoro Land had no issues with either of the lands. They first rode closer to the Grasoll land but had to retreat as they spotted a camp standing in the way and hid away in an abandoned village next to the border. They looked over to the camp and could detect a flag from King Lenchi’s guards.

  The prince told his men they would have to go back and find another opening to the Domoro Land. They rode further away, and finally stood, after a two days ride, in front of the mountain. They found an old track with bad roads that had to be closed down due to the Domoro Land’s water making the road open up sink holes. They walked carefully and soon saw signs of people that tried to cross with wagons. They could see the bones of a horse in a hole that had a carriage in it as well. There was a broken wheel next to a cliff, and when they went further in, they found a skeleton. The clothes were gone so it must had been there for a long time. They continued in and found more broken bones of animals and people.

  There was an old sign that said to stay away from certain tracks that lead further into the mountain. One of the soldiers wondered why the mountain was so much more brittle in this part and nowhere else but Theran didn’t care and told them to focus on the mission rather than the stupid mountain. They finally got out after being forced to walk all night. Luckily, the moon was lighting the way for them so no horse or soldier was lost. They looked upon the Domoro Land and could see a small village in the distance. They would have to avoid it and continued on to the other way through the mountain. They rode along, and they were able to stay away from the people of the land by sticking to the mountain. After some time, they still managed to run into some people that were having some crops harvested. The men hurried away but since they had already been seen, they figured they might be intercepted by the guards of the land. No sleep was taken until they reached the mountain path a day later.

  Still able to avoid the Domoro Land’s army, they were happy and relieved. The mountain then offered some protection, and they set up camp in the big open gro
unds in the mountain. It was a short sleep as they needed to move further in and took instead rest outside in Shamo desert that was starting just at the foot of the mountain. The Shamo desert had some bad areas, so they set up camp where the ground was not in motion. When Theran woke up, he got furious when he learnt that one man left in the night. He did get confused when they inspected the horses, and the one man had left his horse. There was another question lingering and it was why there were no tracks showing the direction the man left. The order came that they would leave and to bring the extra horse as it might be needed in case they found the runaway man.

  They came to a ruin in the desert, and the men looked around. There were stories about Shamo desert and about people getting lost in it. As they rode along, one of the men saw something on the ground and shouted to the prince. A soldier grabbed a piece of cloth on the ground. They all got shocked to learn that it was the fabric of their own uniform. They looked around for the man, and one of the soldiers spotted a helmet on the ground further away. They rode up, and when they lifted the helmet they could see the blood inside it. Theran ordered the men to draw swords and searched the ruin for more clues. They spread around but soon got drawn to a sound coming from underneath them. There were several small sand piles, and one of them then moved and a boom came and shot up sand and air from the ground and other parts of the sand did so as well.

  Suddenly, a bounce could be heard behind them, and when they looked behind them they could see the remains of the soldier. He looked like he had been eaten and half his face was gone. The men and horses were on the edge and then heard another sound of clicking. They moved around on the horses, and suddenly, they found out the noise. From an opening that had been revealed after an explosion of sand and salty water came up. There were huge crawling worms coming towards them, so they all took off immediately and ran the other way through the desert.

  The men rode fast, but the geysers started to erupt. As they ran, one of the soldiers got attacked when one of the geysers shot a couple of the worms out that hit him. He got taken down and the horse too. Another soldier got surrounded and decided to abandon his horse and ran as it was attacked. He hid around a pillar of old rock that was once the side of a house and then stood by itself. He looked and tried to see any worms but his heart stopped a beat as he could hear something behind him. He looked slowly around, and there was a giant worm with at least 20 legs. He growled and when the soldier took up the sword against the animal, he took off towards the soldier.

  The last thing heard was a scream from behind the pillar. The other soldiers shook off the worms and headed out to the open desert. They walked a while and saw a sign that warned of not staying inside of the walking path as the sand was unstable and might swallow anyone that venture out in it. They also saw a sign warning for the animals that lived in the Shamo desert. They finally came out and reached the kingdom of Ocenia where they were met by some soldiers that looked at them as they walked past.

  The kingdom of Ocenia was neutral to any war and stayed out of affairs regarding the differences of the countries, but they had rules that said anyone causing trouble in the land would be handled appropriately. The prince knew how strong the Kingdom of Ocenia really was since his father had bought many inventions from them and used them to improve the castle. They slept outside and for a while stayed in the land. With no one pressuring them to leave, and no one allowed to fight them, they could stay by themselves. They tried to stay away as much as possible though as they didn’t want to create suspicion and stayed near the beach close to some caves and kept watch for peeking eyes.

  In the caves, they had finally set up a plan. They had marked out several villages and even a small town. They had set the track for how much they would be able to damage, and the route they had set was the best one. They left in the afternoon as the nightfall would cover them as they entered the lands of Grasoll. They moved fast and through the Kingdom of Ocenia. They ran past a forest but not through it. The longer way would get them to the first village and it was at the outmost point to the Grasoll land. It would take several hours before they could reach the village, but they made good time and after the moon had hit its highest point, they reached the village. They rested the horses for 30 minutes and got the weapons ready.

  The plan was to burn down the village, but Theran told them they would do more than burning then. The village was home to about 80 people. Most of them were old and being cared by some people from the castle. Some of the soldiers were reluctant to attack but had no choice since Theran was in charge. Theran gave the signal, and they rushed towards the village. They came in and the people that were sleeping soon woke up by the screaming coming from some of the houses. Theran was fierce and killed an old woman that opened the door to find out what the screams were. Her husband was still in bed and got killed by Theran as well. The soldiers went through the village and killed anyone they found. One of the people sent to care for the elderly was bravely trying to protect some of the old people by holding the door hard and putting heavy furniture in front of the door.

  The soldiers set fire to the house and other buildings in the village. The soldiers killed without conscience, and the night that was supposed to bring peace was instead full of screams. The attack took only under an hour, and when they were finished, the blood was filling the streets and houses. Theran was enjoying himself more than he thought he would and licked the blood off of his sword. Some of the soldiers looked terrified on what they just had done and tried to not think about it. They took off in the night just as the colour in the sky started to became lighter, and the stars were disappearing. They continued down in the land and then they had a half a day to get to the next village that was a little bigger but was also cut off from others that could come to their aid.

  Around 250 people lived in it and were all farmers that cut the crops. In the village that was just attacked, some movement was still present. One of the care people from the castle had hidden amongst the dead to save his own life. There was another old man still alive but he had deep cuts and would soon die. The person left alive knew what to do and took a horse from the stable and rode towards one of the kingdom outpost. He had blood all over him and blood dripped from him. The soldiers had come to the next village and as the sun then was up, the villagers were out and working the fields. Theran told them to target the village first as the men would be on the field, and the women and children would be in the village.

  They rode in and killed the first woman who was turning around to see who was coming. The other people were fast to react and screams were heard out towards the fields. Theran and his men killed women, children and old people without conscience. The men at the fields rushed back with their tools, but the fields were far and Theran’s soldiers quick. The people that were lucky to reach the safety of the houses were for the time being safe. Anyone outside got cut down mercilessly. The soldiers blocked the entrance of the village, and locked out the people coming from the fields. When they reached the locked door, they feared they might be too late. They started to break down the door but every second counted as the soldiers broke down house doors and killed the people inside. Some of the men acted disgracefully and stripped a woman until she was naked.

  When she bit a man on the hand, he cut her down by stabbing her in the head. The door finally broke down for the people outside, but as they came in, the soldiers went to attack. The farmers only had tools while the soldiers had swords and arrows. The farmers got slaughtered, and only six of the soldiers got taken down and killed. When the struggle was over, 63 farmers lay dead. Theran knew they were running out of time and ordered the men to ride to the next point. They left the village that then lost 142 of the people living there. There was crying and screaming. Others left to let the kingdom know as the time was important. The man from the first village had finally reached the outpost and screamed for help. It didn’t take long until a large crowd of highly skilled soldiers came out.

  There was a message that
was carried by birds that flew towards the kingdom. They set off towards the direction of the men as fast as the horses could ride. Theran’s soldiers were known to have little to no conscience, and they showed it off greatly to everyone that was in the way of them. Only some of them were having trouble with Theran’s orders, but soon, they too fell in line with the others. They saw three wagons in front of them, and they closed in. As one of the people looked out to see what the noise was that was coming closer, and as soon as his head came out, he got an arrow in the throat. The carriages increased the speed, and one of the men in the carriages had a bow and shot at the soldiers. The man was not able to hit anyone and instead got to see a wagon flip on its side as one of the soldiers’ struck at one of its wheels.

  The wagon flew up in the air and fell hard on the ground. One soldier jumped off and stabbed two people that were trying to move in the broken carriage. Another soldier jumped on another wagon and killed the person in the wagon that was driving then jumping back onto his horse. The last wagon got taken down quick after many arrows hit the people as they go through the fabric. The horse continued to run, but since no one was driving, it ran straight until it tired. Theran told the men the next settlement was in a small valley coming up in three hours, and then they would head for the exit of the land.