Journey Across Jord

by Allan Joyal

  There was another cry of pain from the rocks. I ignored it as I grabbed the club the slaver had dropped and charged forward. Only two slavers were still standing and both turned and ran as I approached the slaves.

  "Ron!" I heard Jeff shout. "The slavers from behind are closing."

  I looked back to see that the flock was just reaching a strange spot in the hillside. The way the rocks stood it looked like a solid wall, but it soon became clear that there was a hidden opening to the right that must lead into the tunnel.

  I took a quick look at the slaves. There was at least twelve in the line. The line itself was a thick and heavy rope that had leather wrapped around it. It was clear that cutting through it would take time. I went to the first one in the line and looked at how they were attached.

  The ropes were looped through a ring attached to a leather ankle binding. The binding had no buckles or locks. Instead it had been closed by weaving a series of leather strips that were further sealed with some kind of metal. The leather itself was rather thin so I risked using my knife to cut through the bindings.

  The leather was somewhat old and after a minute I had cut the first slave free. This slave was wearing some kind of ankle length robe and a cowl. I could see nothing except dirt covered hands and feet. The slave seemed surprised to be free.

  "More slavers come," I said as I turned to look at the next slave in line. I was going to free them when Al handed the slave a knife.

  "We don't have time to free them all, but they can free themselves," he said. "You showed them the way. We need to check the next group."

  I nodded and we got up to charge towards the back of our little caravan. I could see that the flock had entered the passage. "Henck! Aine!" I shouted. "Someone needs to get in front of Victoria just in case there are slavers at the other end of the tunnel."

  "Ron," I heard from behind me. I glanced back to see Steve holding his right hand against his side. His pants were coated in blood and from the look on Steve's face he was in great pain.

  "Steve?" I asked as I watched the second cart vanished into the passage.

  "I was too slow on the last slaver," Steve said. "Esme can't save me."

  "Don't think that way," I said. "We still have that potion."

  "I'll try to get to the tunnel. Check on the others," Steve said.

  I ran off to check behind the carts. Esme was checking on Gorm, but I saw her get up and shake her head.

  "He's dead," she called to me as I ran up.

  "Check Steve," I said and get my spear. "I need to see the next group."

  The clatter of the moving carts made it hard to hear what was being said in front of me. I looked around to see that Al was to my right. Lydia was kneeling down to our left and aiming her crossbow. She took a shot, but then had to dive to her right.

  Several arrows covered the ground. A female screamed in pain. I moved forward to look around our last cart and found Jennifer lying on the ground. Two arrows had struck her from behind. One stuck out from her left shoulder. It looked painful, but survivable. The second was embedded in her right knee. The coed looked up at me as I dashed up to her.

  "I'm done for," she said.

  "We can save you," I protested.

  "Ron, if you try to carry me I'll slow you down and they can fire again. There is no way you can escape them if you save me."

  "But they'll enslave you," I protested weakly.

  Jennifer smiled grimly. "Remember what I said long ago, that I'd cut my throat before that happens?"

  "Jennifer…" I gasped. I tried to grab her hand, but Jennifer lifted her head and drew the knife I had not seen in her right hand across her throat. Blood poured from the wound.

  I wanted to save the young woman, but two more arrows struck the ground near me. I glanced up to see that seven men with bows were standing about a hundred yards away. They were loading their bows as I watched.

  I got up and dashed for the entrance to the tunnel.

  Behind me, I could hear someone shout a command. I ignored it. My back tensed up waiting for another set of arrows to strike. Nothing hit me, but I reached the gap in the rocks to find Steve leaning on the rocks. Lydia and Esme were standing next to him crying.

  "I can't save him," she said. "I don't think we can even with the potion."

  "The slavers are coming," I said. "We have to move."

  "I've got an idea," Steve said. "I've looked at the tunnel entrance. The ground above it is soft dirt; they used a wooden archway to keep the tunnel from collapsing."

  "Steve, you can't" Lydia cried. "I can't lose you too."

  "I'm already dead," Steve said. "And those slavers will be coming soon. I'm surprised they risked using arrows."

  I reached out and clamped hands with Steve. "The problem is we need that hammer," I said.

  Steve laughed. "I'll try to throw it to you. Now go, you don't want to be near when I do this."

  Esme and Lydia ran ahead. I jogged more slowly as Steve carefully walked to one of the wooden pillars holding up the opening archway. He looked back at me as I ran fifty feet into the cave.

  Steve much have been waiting for me to reach what he thought was a safe distance because I took a step and he turned and swung the hammer at the pillar. He was swinging the bat as if he was trying to hit a baseball and trying to knock the pillar out of the tunnel. The first strike just shook the pillar.

  A torrent of dirt and dust came down near Steve. I could see a wild smile on his face as he pulled the hammer back again and struck at the pillar. This time the wood shattered with a loud crack.

  Steve turned towards me and heaved the hammer down the tunnel. It fell to the ground about halfway between us. I rushed to grab it as the wood archway at the entrance collapsed.

  The archway failing worked exactly as Steve predicted. Just as my fingers touched the hammer, the ceiling of the tunnel began to collapse. I grabbed the hammer and sprinted down the tunnel. The roar of falling rock followed me.

  There was a faint light ahead that I headed for. I stumbled in the dim light, but I cannot remember ever running faster. The tunnel seemed to go on forever, but finally I burst out into the afternoon sunshine. The roar had faded and only a few dust and dirt particles followed me out immediately. I could see everyone gathered a short distance away. Tears covered the faces I could see as I slowed to a walk.

  "Steve?" I heard Al ask.

  "He collapsed the tunnel to prevent the slavers from following," I said. "He gave his life for us."

  "Jennifer?" Heather asked.

  "I saw her hit by two arrows," Lydia said. "Ron went to save her, but she cut her own throat to prevent Ron from being captured.

  "And Gorm, killed by a slaver's arrow," Lenoir said sadly.

  "A sad day," Victoria said. "And we should mourn, but the slavers might try to catch us."

  I looked around. We were again on the road and next to the river. The surprise was the large raft bobbing against the shore. "Think we can all fit on that, carts and herds?"

  Gerit turned to look and nodded. "We'll have to unhitch the mules and pack the carts in tight, but we can do it."

  "It's a day's float to Saraloncto if the current catches us," said the unnamed boy who had joined as we left Crayolyn Falls.

  "Let's board. Tomorrow we'll find a place to camp near Saraloncto and prepare to cross the plains," I said.

  Everyone nodded. With a grim and heavy heart, I headed over to the raft, prepared to help the others board. Our thoughts were clearly with our lost friends, but they had sacrificed their lives so that we could still reach for tomorrow. And I was going to make sure the rest of the group would grasp it.

  Appendix

  Character List

  Ronald Dawkins –He worked as a salesman for Hughes and was in Daytona for the semi-annual sales meeting.

  Lydia Huff - young, personable and pretty, but skittish around strangers. She was raped while on a business trip for Hughes. After that she worked hard to learn to defend herself while provid
ing sales support from the main office.

  Heather Volmund - She was a coed on the same elevator as Ron and Lydia. She was slender and pretty with long blond hair, but also insightful and caring.

  Natalie Ginn –She was a botany student and in the elevator in Daytona.

  Esme Leland – Esme grew up in France before returning to the United States to enter into a nursing school. She was enjoying spring break and was in the elevator with Ron and the others.

  Albert (Al) Davidson – Al was in the Daytona elevator. He knows he lacks many of the skills for Jord and has largely remained in the background.

  Victoria Healey – She was in the Liverpool elevator. In the UK, she was a shopgirl for a womens' boutique and she’s seen class discrimination in action.

  Steve Johnson – dashing, handsome and smart, another salesman for Hughes who was in the elevator.

  Lisa Little – young secretary from the NYC elevator. She seemed intimidated by the others, in particular William Tuttle and Elizabeth Martin, who arrived in the same elevator.

  Jennifer Hamilton – another coed from the Daytona elevator. She's remained quiet and in the background most of the time.

  Hencktor – He met the group in the first village they visited. As a young man, he witnessed his father being killed by a collapsing mine tunnel and after that he refused to enter any cave. The village struggled to find work for a young man unwilling to mine. His aunt asked Ron and the group to allow him to join. The man has grown tremendously. Lydia claimed him as her husband, a fact that appears to embarrass the young man to no end.

  Kariy – She grew up in the same village as Hencktor, but while Hencktor was helped by the village, it was the “mayor” of the village that used the indenture laws to enslave a young Kariy to the owner of the one inn in the village. Ron and Elizabeth worked together to force the man to free her, and she left the village with the group for her own protection. Despite the group not wanting to take advantage of the young woman, she insists on cooking for them and has not sought to leave when the opportunity was available.

  Former Members of the Group

  Edward (Eddie) Hughes – eldest son of the owner of Hughes Engineering. Was placed in charge of the sales department because his four employees were all self-starters who could normally ignore him, but he demands that they attend his semi-annual meetings so he can write off his travels as a business expense. He insulted a sorceress during their hike to the Wizard's Academy and was turned into a pig. The group left him with the sorceress.

  Martha Lewis – another coed who was in the elevator in Daytona. She was killed when the group wandered too close to a battle.

  Elizabeth Martin – She was a corporate lawyer and in the New York City elevator. She clashed quite a bit with Ron, but eventually began to relax and allow him to lead. She tried to talk to an officer of an army the group encountered and was killed.

  William Tuttle – He claimed to be a wealthy and powerful man, but the coeds disliked him and he left the group voluntarily after just one day.

  Dave Chase – He worked at Hughes as a salesman. He refused to join the group when they left the initial clearing and was killed by the creatures that attacked when the spell collapsed.

  Lisa Rhodes – another coed who was in the elevator for spring break. She later accepted the nickname Dusty to distinguish herself from Lisa Little. She chose to remain in a town along the way.

  New Members

  Aine – She was in the Liverpool elevator, but left the clearing with a different group.

  Verval – A young farmer who had his fiancée stolen from him by the son of the village mayor, he asked to join the group after they had spent the night in the town where he lived.

  Jeff – At first he was just a voice calling for help while the group travelled underground. Ron saved him and they discovered that the young man had been in the New York City Elevator.

  Gerit – A young journeyman cart-maker who met Ron and the others when they visited Purahomp.

  Amalya – The young and sturdy wife of Gerit, she found that her family would have prevented the marriage in the hopes of collecting a dowry for her.

  Lenoir – A young woman from Purahomp who saw her family farm struggle.

  Gorm - A young farmer from Purahomp. His family had died leaving him alone on the farm.

  Mary – Another Earthling, she was on the New York City elevator.

  Children (members of the caravan – in order of joining)

  Shaylin – a twelve year old woman who has the ability to use magic. Her father asked the group to accept her to prevent her from being seized by the wizards, who claim that any woman using magic is evil.

  Gertrilla – Shaylin’s childhood friend who met the group as they were escaping the Wizard’s Academy and joined the group then.

  Corwar – Verval’s younger brother. He followed his brother.

  Yveney – Tall, willowy and beautiful at a young age, Yveney’s parents approached Ron while he was in Purahomp and asked him to take their daughter as a slaver had said he was going to seize her the next time he visited the city.

  Piemal – He’s a small boy who got a break when Ron offered to take him with the group.

  Dafalia – A young woman who approaches Ron when the ground is in in Crayolyn Falls.

  About the Author

  Allan Joyal is one of those people who has lived multiple places and worked for many companies during his time on Earth. During his travels, he discovered that he loved to write tales of adventure as a way of forgetting the stress that comes with everyday life. The only problem is that Allan has discovered that the characters in his books rarely want to keep to the original outline.

  Allan can be found on Facebook, or you can e-mail him at aj_author@earthlink.net

  Upcoming books by Allan Joyal

  Pioneering on Jord (Jord Book 3)

  Homesteading on Jord (Jord Book 4)