World of Taroo

by Jimmy Eriksson

  The wagon was also quite heavy and the road was also slightly going up so pulling it themselves was hard. Sophia was waiting and listened to the people upstairs. She could hear laughter and cheerful people. She almost felt guilty to ruin this day for them but she reminded herself it was for her country. As she stood against a wall, she heard a noise coming from the end of one of the tunnels. She listened and it came closer. She wondered what it was but got chills as she suddenly heard a voice. She looked around for somewhere to hide and saw a small opening in the wall that would cover her. She had no time to hide the explosives and hoped they walk another way. She was not as lucky as she realised two people that could be heard were coming towards her.

  She didn’t bring any weapon and she would have to stay quiet and watch what they would do. As they came around the corner, they stopped talking and ran up to the explosives. They had never seen anything like it and looked around. They talked and decided the discovery needed to be reported and an alarm raised. Sophia knew that if anyone found out then they would lock down the city. She made a decision and walked out from the shadows. The two men who looked like some sort of guards became surprised and stood silently. They both brought their swords out as they realised she was not one of the island people. They told her to stand still and get on her knees. She knew what to do and brought her hands up and got ready.

  One of the men rushed up to Sophia and struck at her trying to take her down. She avoided it and elbowed him in the head. As he tried to strike again, she grabbed him over his wrist and twisted it. He lost his grip and the sword fell down. She kneed him in the stomach really hard and then pushed him away and round kicked him in the head. He fell down unconscious and the other man looked at her. He attacked and she moved away. Sophia was fast and found it easy to avoid the strike. The man said he would be happy to remove her clothes to search her later.

  Sophia took that as a perfect timing to not show restraint and kicked him between his legs. He fell down groaning and then she punched him out with one strike. Gon was finally in the wagon and would have Eesa next to him that was going to be let off later at the edge of the city to head out towards the beach. They needed to drop off Gon first and as luck would have it, they could travel with great speed. Gon opened the lid to the sewer and began to head down but turned his head back towards the others. He told Fon who leaned down to came back in three hours to pick them up. Fon nodded and began the path towards the edge of the city to let Eesa off.

  Gon ran towards where he was to meet Sophia and arrived just as she had tied up the soldiers. He wondered what happened and she told him. She said she tied them up using the rope that was used to lower the explosives. They covered up the mouth of the men by putting their own shirts over their heads and took off towards the tower. They arrived soon and Gon placed the explosives next to the grid that he broke the wall off. They set up everything and wasted no time to get back to the meeting point. The sewer was long and it took a while to navigate through the tunnels.

  When they arrived at the meeting point, the others had not arrived so they waited. They listened to the people and the music that was being played. Sophia told her father she felt bad about taking the magic stones from the people. Gon understood and said he promised to return the Alumrylite stones to the island as soon they were finished with them. She nodded and kept listening to the music above. Finally, the wagon rolled up over them and stopped with Luma making a whistling sound to give them a signal to ascend. They opened the lid and climbed up under the cloth. They were able to see through some holes in the cloth that there were markets and entertainment everywhere. The smell from the stands selling food felt great and both of them would have loved to join and to have tried the different foods.

  In the house the others had prepared for the night already and they suspected Eesa had reached far towards the beach. In the forest, Eesa had just come down the mountain and found himself in loss of time. He was spotted by a guard as he went into the forest and had to take a longer route until he knew he would not be seen. He knew he had to make up time and must hurry to set up the traps. Tiger sat ready and was excited for what was about to happen. He was very happy he came. Aido would take the wagon and the remaining explosives. He would set them off after Fon and Luma had done theirs. The wagon would be parked next to the house and would probably get damaged as well.

  The noise of the people outside never died down until dawn and they all walked towards the tower. The street was finally empty and this meant the evening was truly about to begin. They all left towards their intended destinations. There was no turning back after they separated. Tiger, Gon and Sophia had arrived back at the tower. They sat and waited for the magical stones to be revealed. When they did, they heard many prayers and happy voices. The Alumrylite stones were presented one after the other but in a language they didn’t understand.

  Gon asked Tiger if he could hear something coming from underneath them and Tiger said it sounded like a tiny humming. Sophia said it must be something under the tower that was making the sound that perhaps had something to do with the water in the city. They ignored it and continued to listen to the outside again. The Alumrylite stones were not visible for them from the sewer grid but after two hours, they were brought back into the tower. As soon as they were, the three broke down the fake wall that Gon built up. Tiger listened for movement above the grid in the room and when he believed there was no one, he then pushed it up.

  The room was dark and only lights from under the door going out to the hall were giving some ease from the darkness. Sophia peeked out through the door as they opened it slightly. There were only a handful people inside and they were only priests. She could see the priests gathering in a line and ascend the stairs. They quickly left the room and hid behind the pillars. They had to move quickly then and they took the side stairs to the second floor. When they looked up, they saw the lights from at least 100 meters up and heard the voices of the priest that just started the way up just above them. The small stair case only took them up ten floors and then stopped. The priests had all stopped on the next floor and they could hear doors open and close. It was silent then except for on the very top where some small sounds were made and the light then had reached the top floor.

  The magical stones must have had a lift as it reached the top very fast and then they could see the small elevator next to the big staircase on the same floor as the one with many doors. Speed was of the essence and with no one in the way, they could ascend fast. Tiger used the pillars to jump between and reached the top floor faster than the others. Sophia joined him as he hid in the shadows of some marble altars. Gon was not far behind and stood on the stairs looking towards the massive wooden doors. They walked close to the door and listened. There were several voices inside and they all looked at each other as they knew this was the time.

  There was a noise coming from under them in form of a door opening and closing. It was followed by the same grunting noise they heard before they were there. Sophia wondered what it was but they had no time to figure it out as a voice suddenly came closer to the door and whoever was there would open the door. The door opened and the priest looked upon three people not from his island. Before he could say anything, Tiger knocked him out. They rushed in as there were others that had witnessed what just happened. The three were fast to look around and saw some priests get into a corner. They were left alone but there was some running towards another room. Sophia took care of two priests that had swords. They were obviously not used to combat as they were taken out quick and easy with just two moves that knocked them out.

  Tiger ran towards the room and managed to get the man before he reached a horn pointing out to the city. Everything was resolved quickly and Gon grabbed one of the priests and asked for the magic stones. He refused to answer and they all said they would rather die before telling them. Sophia looked around while the others kept the priest in one side of the room. She pointed to the wall and said there was something strange with it.
The room was big but where the wall was, there was supposed to be more of the room as it was not at the edge of the tower. She looked at the priests who seemed nervous. One of them looked over to a lever on the wall that had a chain attached to the wall. She walked up to the priests and told them what they would feel about her pulling the lever. They instantly started to ramble and told her it was nothing. She walked up to it and two of the priests tried to get past Gon but were pushed down to the ground.

  Sophia pulled the lever and the wall started to move. As it came down, they could see the Alumrylite stones shine. There was, indeed, a whole set of the other magic stones and the remaining two that were left from the other set. The priests then made a lot of noise and protested. Tiger had to push them back but it seemed the Alumrylite stones meant more to them than previously thought as they all rushed Gon and Tiger. They were easy enough to handle but they were making too much noise and they would have to knock some of them out. They finally quieted down and sat down again. They talked in a different language than before so they did not understand them anymore.

  Sophia took the two Alumrylite stones that she placed in different pockets and felt warm in her hands. She asked if perhaps they should borrow the other ones to win more easily and Gon was thinking perhaps it would be a good idea and told the priests he would return all magic stones, including the missing ones if they let them take them. The priests had no interest to make any deal with them and looked at a window not far from where they were sitting. They made a move not predicted by anyone. There were six priests left that were conscious and they all stood up and rushed Tiger.

  Tiger had no problem taking them down but when one of the priests suddenly jumped out the window behind them, he became surprised. The priest fell to his death and screamed all the way down that there were people stealing the holy stones. There were soldiers on the bottom who noticed the priest as he slammed against the ground and an alarm went off. Tiger told Sophia to grab the rest of the magical stones and she took all of them. As soon as she touched one of them, she got an uneasy feeling about it but removed and put the magic stone in her bag. She could feel the energy of it and for some reason, it felt different than the other two Alumrylite stones she got. It was the wind stone and she reached over to grab the fire stone. She took the other Alumrylite stone but when she put it in the same bag, the Alumrylite stones started to activate and glow bright.

  Sophia remembered Aido saying something about the magic stones would react to each other. She got to see this first-hand as the wind stone and fire stone burned the bag and started to create a strong wind in the room. She moved the magical stones away from each other and the room became still again. The priest had then reached the ground and an alarm had alerted the soldiers underneath. It didn’t take long until a heavy sound echoed through the city and all the people looked towards the tower.

  Gon said that they would only take the light and the unknown Alumrylite stone. He would take the unknown one and took it up from where Sophia put it. Sophia would hold on to the light stone until they were clear of the island. Tiger picked up the fire stone from the ground and took it with him but he as well got an uncomfortable feeling from it. They opened the door to listen to the guards that were rushing up the stairs. They were far below and they could perhaps ride the elevator down fast to go past them. That idea was abandoned when a roar from the elevator was heard.

  They looked at the place where the elevator was before and was now coming back to them. Gon ran up and looked down. He was quick running towards them and told them to run back in. Just as he run past them, the elevator came back up. Out came a creature they had never seen before. He was over 3 meters tall and was grunting like a bull. They closed the door fast and tried to hold it locked. The creature made a hole in the door with one hit with its hand. Tiger said it must be the protector or Bhelu the man they captured talked about. He roared to them on the inside and took aim again. They moved away and Sophia signalled them to come to another window. They ran towards her and she said there was a ledge outside. She jumped out and landed on the ledge outside.

  The two champions were soon after and jumped out the window just as the Bhelu broke down the door. As soon as he saw them jump out the window, he followed them and broke down the walls around the window by smashing through them. He landed on the ledge as well and they had to quickly descend. They jumped down the side beams but soon ran out of ways to go and had to get into a room at the end. They crashed through the window and ran fast away out from the room they were in closing the door behind them. The Bhelu was not as quick and had a little problem to follow but continued on. As soon as they came out the hallway, they met some soldiers coming up the tower. Rather than fighting, they avoided to confront them and said to themselves to meet at the bottom.

  The Bhelu smashed through the door to come out and followed Gon. The others went for Tiger and Sophia who were heading down fast. Tiger was cornered by some of the soldiers but beat them down to get away. Sophia was able to slip past them all and slid down a pillar to a couple of floors below. Gon was having some trouble with the Bhelu that was very fast for his size. Gon had to duck to avoid being hit by him and then he was cornered between some soldiers and the Bhelu. Gon looked over the edge and saw the bottom far below. He decided to jump and waved to those following him.

  The soldiers’ looked at each other but the Bhelu followed without hesitation. Gon saw Tiger and told him the Bhelu was on the way and had fallen past Sophia that was working her way down. Tiger grabbed him as he came close and swung him towards the side of the wall were he could land on a ledge. The Bhelu had no one to help him so he continued straight down but also Sophia was behind him that had seen her father fall beside her and followed the Bhelu as soon as he went past. She got help from Tiger as well and caught up to her father right away landing on the same ledge. The Bhelu grabbed a pillar further down and started to run up again. Sophia quickly put her spear together and made herself ready to fight.

  They met a couple of the soldiers on the way down but took them out quickly thanks to them fighting well together and soon stood eye to eye with the Bhelu again. Gon avoided a grab that was coming and let one of his hardest punches hit the Bhelu in the side of the body. The Bhelu was strong and felt the punch only a little. He tried to grab him again but missed and got a hard kick in the head by Sophia. She drew his attention by cutting him on the arm but his skin was tough so no blood came out. With his long arms, she had to be careful not to get too close and he tried to grab her but he missed. She moved closer to the edge and told him to come for her.

  When he rushed to get a hold of her, she moved and tried to get on the other side of him. Gon performed a hard kick so the Bhelu lost his balance and even more so as Sophia double kicked him to help push him over the edge. He was about to fall but managed to get a hold of Sophia’s bag and she followed him down. Gon never hesitated as he jumped straight after. They went only a few floors until Gon caught up to them. Sophia reached out her spear that her father grabbed and pulled himself towards her.

  The Bhelu never let go of the bag but as soon as Gon slammed his staff on his hand, he did so and made a painful sound. As soon as he let go of the bag, Gon took aim and jumped to the side while holding Sophia by kicking the Bhelu hard. They landed on the third floor and they heard the Bhelu slam the floor below. They continued down and then there were many soldiers on the stairs. They cleared the stairs and made good time. When they hit second floor, they got helped by Tiger who had used the elevator to get down the rest of the way. Then the soldiers were overwhelmed despite being ten times more. When they came to the ground floor, they could see the Bhelu lying on the floor but it looked like he was still breathing and there were more soldiers coming in and they had to make it to the room quick.

  With some great effort, they were able to get to the room and hold the door in place. Sophia opened the lid and jumped down. She started to run towards the explosives in the sewer. Tiger told Gon to be the next one down
as Tiger was faster. When Gon had come down, Tiger let the door go and jumped down the hole. The room filled quickly with men and they followed down the ladder to the sewer. Gon ran past Sophia who looked towards the direction where she hoped Tiger would come from. He did and as soon as he did, she lit the fuse and started running.

  Tiger was fast for his age and caught up to Sophia soon after she lit the fuse. There was a loud bang coming from the explosives and the walls fell down blocking the way. From the surface, they could see a hole opening up at the area the explosives were heard. Some of the people standing above fell down in the hole. From where Luma and Fon stood, they could hear the blast and lit the fuses on the jars then ran towards the east side of the city.

  After a minute, the jars lit up the sky as two fire balls shot up from the jars. Tiger could see the light and told the others what happened. They ran through the sewer and Gon led them out towards the east side of the city. When they had come close, they could hear the last explosive go off and they hoped then they had created enough distraction for them to run away. They were able to exit the sewer through a side of the city and started running up the mountain. Gon’s pupils had no problem getting out as the entire city was in confusion and scared. They exited through the city entry and headed up towards the mountain. Both ran through the night and soon came to the forest. They were behind the others and soon, the sun started to rise again.

  Gon could see signs of Eesa and called out for him with some whistling. He was responded with another whistling and he saw Eesa further ahead. They all stopped next to him and waited for the rest of the party. Luma showed up soon with Fon right after but Aido was taking his time but it was to be expected as the city was then in uproar. Eesa took them through the traps. He took them to the beach and they made the boats ready to move as soon as Aido came. They waited for another hour but then they wondered if he might have ended up in trouble. They kept a look out but if he didn’t come back soon, they would have to leave.