Avarii- the Golden Child

by Mark A Herring

  Ugh! Is it supposed to smell like that? Oh, well. The cut is finished, now I use my index finger to probe inside the body of the fish (good thing I haven't eaten; I may vomit yet!), and feel for the— yep! Found them! I pull the long, stringy guts from the fish— dry heaving as I do—-

  I swear I'm going to get this done; I'm hungry!

  Whew! Finally! I take my hard-won prize, and taking my arrow out of the carcass, I use another stick to put into the mouth of the fish, push it a little further to make sure it doesn't come off and go into the fire, and hold it over the fire....

  Mmmm...! Now it smells great. Much better than before when I was cleaning it. My hunger is too powerful to let the memory of that smell make me sick now. It has been replaced by the heavenly aroma of meat over a fire...

  As I'm waiting for my meal to cook, I consider that I will probably have to leave this shelter and look for.... what? Other people? Are there other people here? Or am I the only one? Ugh! That's a terrible thought. What if I was the only person on this.... world? I sigh from that thought and wonder how much longer before my meal is done.

  I'm guessing its done now? Don't want to burn it... that would be terrible! How do I know if its been cooked enough?

  Uh.....

  OK, let me give it a try now.

  Oh, yes! Grilled to perfection. At least, I think, anyway...

  Got to watch out for the bones and not swallow them— can fish bones be used as hooks? I don't know, but I plan to find out later. Be nice to have some string long enough and strong enough for a fishing line.

  Perhaps I should have gotten more than one.... I'm full now, and wonderfully so, but I could cook another one and put it away in my leather bees wax-lined satchel here for later.

  Ugh! I love my new clothes, but the part of my kilt that goes over my shoulder is rubbing my neck raw! What can I use to remedy that? Well, let me rummage through some of these things here, a few trunks.... a leather thong tied up at the shoulder would work; keep it off my neck.

  Goodness! Look at all these coins! Is that what they are; coins? Money? What do I know of money? Gold ones, silver ones.... some of the silver ones look a little strange, maybe something else instead of silver. Copper ones—

  Wait.

  Something here.... made of metal.... a brown-ish type of metal? Not copper. Bronze? Is that what its called? Its round, with some kind of pattern etched into the surface, similar in design to the gold embroidery on my long-sleeved tunics. There is a large red rock mounted in the center of it... a ruby? And there's a pin on the back of it. Let's see.....

  Huh! Not bad; keeps my kilt from rubbing against my neck, and its not too heavy to stay perched on my shoulder. Great!

  I take a drink of water from my water skin, wondering what I should do next....

  Eh, maybe I should go ahead and get another fish for later— no, 2.... oh, just see if I can get 3 of them out of that stream, hunter/fisherman that I am....

  Fisher... man?

  Meh!

  I shrug and fetch my gear, and check just to make sure I still have enough firewood. Uh.... No, go ahead and get more firewood first, then get a few more fish.

  I gather more firewood and place it by the fire, but not too close, I then gather my gear and set off for the stream again, carefully looking out and listening for any signs of danger in my immediate area.

  My next little trip is uneventful, and as I stand at the edge of the stream looking for any signs of fish, I happen to see myself in the reflection of the water again, now fully dressed in my knee high brown boots, brown and green and black kilt, and my tan short sleeved tunic on. My straight, shoulder length brown hair is not a complete mess, surprising enough, and my bright brown eyes peer back up at me from the water.

  Wow.... I look even better than I thought before.... huh...

  The great hunter, out on his hunt! I strike a heroic pose along the water's edge, holding my bow expertly in my hand with an arrow at the ready.

  I target a tree trunk on my side of the stream and let loose—

  I forgot this thing punishes you for using it! I need to find something that can keep the bow's string from hitting my forearm. There's probably something for that very thing where I found the arrows at the ruins....

  OK, that's the next thing to do. So I go back to the ruins and look about the place, and sure enough, there are some items made of leather that can go over the forearm to protect it from the bow string. I also found a leather strap, cloth lined, with softer leather ends, and braided leather strips on the front.... a warriors headband? I quickly put the forearm guard and headband on and once more head to the stream.

  I spy a few more fish in the stream, swimming around lazily without a care in the world, and they end up finding themselves on one of my arrows. There were a few times that I missed, OK, but I was able to recover my arrows and try again. Of course, having to wade out to retrieve my arrows.... cost me as I didn't bother to take off my clothes this time. My boots I took off, yes, but my kilt and tunic didn't fall apart as I had feared they might, but now they are wet and cold.

  Need to make a bigger fire when I get back and put on the dry ones.

  Back at my camp, and I go ahead and change clothes and hang up the wet tunic and kilt to dry by the fire, then I go out to look for more firewood. Once I think I should have enough to last, I clean my catch and cook them, then put them away in my satchel for later use. I wonder how long they'll last in there....

  Well, I think as the sun goes back down towards the horizon and I lay down on my cloak by the fire, should I make plans to leave tomorrow? I don't think I can stay here forever....

  Yes.... go exploring.... go and see the world....

  I drift off to a comfortable sleep...

  Chapter Three

  Three months later...

  I don't know why, but I arbitrarily chose to head south after I packed all my stuff in my bag from the ruins. I decided to add a spear to my collection, found a saw, and cut the staff down to my size, so that the spear head was just above my head. I noticed too that the spear head had that same watery type patterns in it, and had a cross bar at the base of the head very similar to the cross bar on my short sword. I also decided to take the few strips of white cloth I had seen earlier and roll them up, perhaps use them as bandages if I need them. I also grabbed a handful of coins and stuffed them in my bag; gold, silver, and copper. I don't know why, I just liked them. Then I strapped on my sword sheath across my back, accompanied with my small quiver of arrows, grabbed my bag with my cloak rolled up and tucked away in it, food satchel and water skin, bow and spear, and I headed out.

  I just looked up to the clear, cloudless sky, noticed the sun coming up from the left, the rings straight ahead way up in the sky, it looked inviting to me as if to say, “Come this way...”

  So I did.

  ….

  At least, I think I headed south....

  I gazed all around me at this fantastic world I found myself in, with awe and wonder. The trees with their vibrant colors I had no words to describe. The plumage's of birds ranged from one side of the spectrum to the other. Animals of seemingly every kind, including one's I can't even describe with various colors and patterns in their fur, and the ones that had no fur at all. And at night time, the skies was lit up with glow-flies... or, fireflies, in hues of green, orange, or blue, all in the trees and twinkling.

  I had learned to hunt small game with my arrows; rabbits... at least, I think they were rabbit-like, and some kind of small deer-like creatures, and I discovered that the small deer-like creatures were the source for the horns that the handles of my weapons were made from. There were also a few breeds of large flightless birds nearly my height that were good to eat. There were larger creatures, too, but I never felt like pushing my luck with them. I had my spear, but I didn't want to break it the first time I used it.

  During my time out in this wilderness, I had the time to really study the construction of my tools. The knife and sword
I had already described, and the spear a little, but the arrows were heavy but solid, the wood used a dark color. The feathers being two blue and one purple color, and its arrowhead is metal, shaped almost in a diamond pattern.

  I suppose the spear was really more for my peace of mind, for defense against certain creatures if they thought I looked edible.... and it came in handy as a walking stick as I made my way though forests, valleys, and... areas. And I noticed that the shaft of the spear was of the same dark, solid wood, only thicker than the shafts of my arrows.

  I also learned I had a voice. Dare I say it? A cute little boy's voice. Just beautiful. I just don't remember it sounding that way before.... and I could use my voice to mimic a number of different animals and birds. I spent so much time in the wilderness, and paid so much attention to the animals around me that I began to learn not just the sounds different animals made, but also the nuances of those sounds, as though they were signals to others.... a language, I guess? And the animals also seemed to like it when I hummed a melodic tune with my voice. Scared ones became calm, predators on the prowl would stop for a moment to listen.

  But because of my age, I started getting a little mischievous, and wondered what would happen if I made certain sounds, in certain areas.... and I got caught making animal noises I shouldn't have, and could have had dire consequences if I didn't move fast enough and was at the ready. It was all in good fun, but certain creatures that my calls bothered didn't think so, and gave me looks that could boil water, or freeze it solid.... that was filed away for future reference, and now I knew enough what not to do in these forests.

  * * * * * * *

  In my travels I did run across a few villages, inhabited, but I couldn't bring myself to going in and meeting people. I wasn't too sure about them. I was glad that now I know I wasn't alone here, but now seeing other inhabitants, I became hesitant to approach them. If I approach them, would they try to communicate with me, and would I even understand them?

  Shy, perhaps? A shy 8 to 10 year old little boy, lost and all alone out in the wilderness, and I seemed to be more shy of people.... at least I think they were people.... Several of the villages I saw from the forest line of trees had people walking around on 2 legs like me, wore some kind of clothing (none of which were anything like mine), used beasts of burden, and went about their business, but I never got close enough to really observe them. I just didn't know what they would do if I wandered into their villages. Would they try to help me, or take me away and throw me in a dungeon? Or just toss me into a dark, dank hole in the ground until I learned my manners about not knowing a password to gain entrance to their village.... or even turned me into an entree... yeah, my imagination got the better of me, and kept me wary of people and their villages. Or, was it because I just didn't recognize any of them as my village? Is there some deeply ingrained teaching that my parents gave me about wandering into a village that wasn't mine? Possibly...

  There were roads I came across too, between some of the villages, just dirt trails, really. And I made sure there was no traffic on them before I crossed to the other side.

  Most of the time I wore one of the short sleeved tunics, the tan one or dark brown one I had with me, and the brown and green kilt as it blended in with my surroundings. And I bathed in streams and washed my clothes, with no damage done to them. I don't know why I thought they would fall apart if I got them wet....

  And during all this time I was no closer to solving the puzzle as to why I was here, where I was before, who I was before, and how I seem to have knowledge beyond my obvious years... I still have no direct memories about myself, anything about my history, or anything else. I just appeared in the forest within walking distance to those ruins, and had everything I needed to survive..... coincidence? Or planned?

  As to my name, if I never had one before, I picked Sean.... it just seemed right to me, and easy enough to pronounce for anyone. I am Sean. Sean is me.

  And Sean, the lonely little boy, lost in this huge world, seemed to like and trust his animal friends more so than any person or village of persons he had seen so far... at least he knew where he stood with the animals.

  And I also noticed, over the past few months, that part of the rings up high in the sky above the clouds started disappearing, or it seemed to always disappear right at about midnight. It was just this, shadow, that moved from east to west along the rings at night. As the sun moved to the north of the rings during the day, the smaller the shadow became on the rings at night. And I recently noticed that the sun is starting to get just a little closer to the rings again, making the midnight shadow larger. And it was darkest at midnight. I didn't think it could get that dark outside at night, but it did. Also, as the rings got dark at night, more and more stars were now visible during the night.

  I did get to wonder, though, what if the sun goes behind the rings during the day? What would happen then? What would that look like?

  * * * * * * *

  In another valley, continuing towards the south, is a thickly wooded forest and a meandering stream or river going down the middle. It looks peaceful enough, and no smoke that I could see from any villages, farms, or the odd hermit living alone in the woods.....— never mind.

  I don't know how long I was going to be heading in this direction, I guess until I had a good reason why I should stop going in this direction. So, still heading south, I go down into the valley and approach the tree line, careful to look and listen for any signs of trouble. Reaching the trees, I pause just inside the tree line and look around. I breathe in the smell of the air, listen for the sounds of this forest....

  Well, I would have listened to the sounds of the forest if there were sounds to be heard. And the air itself was deathly still, silent. And— is that the smell of decay I smell? Its pretty powerful... and....

  Something isn't right, and I don't like it. Warning signs pop up all around me, even though I can not exactly put my finger on it—

  Then I see it: webs.

  Lots of webs... large webs, all around and winding up into the trees.

  Ugh!

  I probe one with my spear, thinking they are just cobwebs, and instantly regret my decision as a flurry of motion erupt all around me. My senses are already on high alert, and as soon as I see a large branch from the nearest tree bend under the weight of a single demon-spawn I turn tail and get out of there as quickly as my little legs can carry me! I get out of the tree line, run a good ways away from the forest, don't hear any signs of pursuit, and wheel around with my spear at the ready.

  Spiders!

  Gigantic... huge... hideously, monstrously... ENORMOUS!!! How did they get that big?!? What kind of world is this??

  None of them are coming after me, and I am glad of that. But seeing how they moved the limbs and branches and the trunks of the trees around them as they moved around, they must have been... disgustingly.... I'm running out of a way to describe their size! Strange how a forest like that would be infested with these things. No wonder nothing else lives in there. Do they prey upon each other if there is nothing else to hunt? It sends shivers down my spine.

  Now, in the past few months that I've been here, I was educated into the ways of the forests; which trees I could pluck fruit from, and which ones not to. Which berries and nuts to eat. Fish and animals the easiest to obtain. I learned to not be so afraid of the dark as I had mastered fire and knew how to defend myself. I had a healthy respect for creatures that were larger than me, and there were a lot! And I just seemed to be at one with this.... nature.

  Me, Sean, nature boy, with animals for friends. A few times I even rescued a couple of those deer-like animals from a larger predator, and had to deal with that predator myself. No small feat considering my size, but with my trusty spear, sword, bow and arrows, I was more than a match for many of the top-dog predators in this wilderness. I had become a warrior, a child warrior of renown in these parts! At least.... among the animals and my own imagination.

  Seemingly fearles
s when it came to the creatures here.... but for spiders— forget it! I don't care how small, or large they are, they are the scum of the earth and deserve to be destroyed.

  I stared at that forest for a good long while before turning my back to it and going back the way I had come (I guess I found a good enough reason to stop going south!), and I considered that I could set fire to the whole forest in this valley and be done with them.... but that would be too much, even for me to actually carry out. I would end up burning myself to death in the process.

  Eh... let them devour each other if that's the only food they can get until no more remain!

  Chapter Four

  So, considering the size of the valley to the south, which stretches on for miles to the east and west that I can see, I guess I found the limit that I can travel to the south. Now which way? East? West? Or go back the way I had come back up north?

  I wait until I had gotten on the other side of the mountain pass from Spider Valley before I sit down to rest. I take stock of what I have to eat; a couple of golden apples (I call them, anyway), a plum of some kind, and half of a roasted rabbit-like thing.

  I take out my knife and start peeling one of the apples to eat, when I feel a presence behind me, then I hear it: the soft padding of a large carnivore on light feet. Like lightning I whip around with my knife in a throwing position—

  A monstrous creature, all glistening black with no fur and reminding me of a panther (…. whatever a panther is), is sitting on its haunches gazing calmly at me with golden eyes, sizing me up, as if to say, “Brave of you, boy, to go down into that valley. Or very foolish. Not even I would venture down there.” the skin of this creature is so black, that it even looks a little violet at certain angles with the sun shining on him. Not to mention the well-proportioned and rippling muscles under the skin of this specimen. Powerfully built. And the way he sits there; so majestic and regal! So... I meet the king of the jungle after all?