Junkland (The Hoarding Book 1)

by Patrick Johns

  “Ah, yes. This here guy is the next one for sale. Will you be needing anything today, my good boy?” The chicken cocked an upside-down-eye at Jahrys and squawked at him. “Usually I be selling them for fifty pooles but for you, my dear lad, I’ll give you this fine chicken for only five.”

  “Erh, no thanks. Not today. We already have one at home to deal with.” He pushed the chicken away from his face. It squawked again, her head moving in all directions. “I’m actually meeting up with someone down the road.”

  “Aye, it wouldn’t be that girl now would it?” Frayel gave Jahrys a playful nudge. Frayel gave a chuckle after seeing how red Jahrys had gotten. “So be it, my boy. Keep your secrets. Tell your father to keep that wine coming. Me and Astonia, we finished all three bottles the night of the wedding. That wine is sweeter than a woman’s kiss.” Frayel chuckled.

  “I will tell him.” Jahrys actually had never tasted the wine before. He wanted to save his first taste with his father, but his father and mother assumed he didn’t drink yet.

  “Your father was blessed with that small piece of land of his. You can’t make wine like that anywhere else in all of Astenpoole and the Four Cities. Not even up in Danor where the farmland is fair and moist. What’s his secret, aye? I’m guessing it’s from living so damn close to that mountain.”

  “No secret. It’s just his passion. He spends hours out in the yard when he isn’t in the shop,” Jahrys explained.

  “Hmm. Well, you’re a good lad, O’Jahrys. Don’t ya forget that.” Frayel pointed at Jahrys’s chest with his hand holding the chicken.

  Jahrys cringed at the sound of his name, and at the poor chicken.

  “You best be off. Don’t want to be keeping the lady waiting.” Frayel gave a wink and chuckled to himself. “Tell your folks good ol’ Frayel said hello.”

  “I will. It was nice seeing you.” Jahrys waved goodbye. He turned to continue his trip up the road to meet Lily.

  A crowd was forming outside The Arcalane when he arrived. Everyone was talking loudly and enjoying themselves.

  Jahrys plopped into a chair outside, taking in the beautiful day. He peered inside a window to see the inn filled with people, but saw no sign of Kevrin.

  Jahrys fumbled with Lily’s necklace inside his pocket; the gem was smooth against his thumb. His heart jumped with every brunette girl that passed him. It was close to late afternoon, and the sun was beginning to set behind the Western Mountains. Jahrys was beginning to worry.

  She should be here by now. Jahrys turned his head, looking up and down the road. What if she doesn’t come?

  Jahrys shook his head to throw away those thoughts. He sat back in his chair and waited. She will come.

  He watched people push carts back and forth on the road, mothers tugging on their crying children, men and women shouting, trying to get their final sales in before sundown, and horses clacking with their carts around the streets.

  Jahrys let out a long sigh. He was now officially worried. The sun had completly set behind the mountains. Maybe Lily wasn’t interested in seeing him again? Maybe he had come on too strong? Why am I such an idiot? I should have called it a night after the drinks. I probably scared her off. Jahrys knew the boat ride was a bit excessive, but he couldn’t help being a hopeless romantic.

  Suddenly, a loud hum echoed from the mountains, shaking the table in front of Jahrys. Jahrys felt the vibration beneath his feet. The metal of the chair quivered against his back.

  Jahrys looked up, towards the mountains. A yellow light glowed above the rooftops of the houses at the end of the road. He looked around to see if anyone else had noticed, but everyone was busy with their drinks and their conversations. It’s probably just fireworks, Jahrys tried to tell himself, but he wasn’t so sure.

  There was another hum, but this time, it was much louder and more distinct. Definitely not fireworks.

  The sky down the road flashed a blazing yellow. The earth shook again around Jahrys.

  The crowd suddenly went silent, everyone’s attention turned towards the mountains. Some people were even smiling, thinking it was some kind of show.

  Something didn’t feel right, however. It was now three days after the wedding. All the fireworks had already been used up. There was nothing left to celebrate.

  “RUN!” a voice screamed from the dark road ahead.

  Everyone stared down the road with curious faces.

  Jahrys pushed his chair back and rose to his feet to join the crowd.

  A man appeared from the darkness of the road. He was limping, but trying to run. He was holding his arm, and blood was dripping from his face and neck. His ear was missing. It was hard to make out who it was.

  “RUN!” the man yelled again as he came into view.

  Jahrys’s stomach dropped. Frayel.

  “RUN TO THE CAS—”

  A yellow blast appeared at the center of Frayel’s stomach. He let out a frightening scream as his insides exploded onto the road. Frayel’s blood sprayed Jahrys and those near him.

  Frayel’s face went white as he fell to his knees and toppled over to his side.

  Jahrys heard another deep, low hum that shook the earth.

  VHRUUUUMMMM.

  A beam of yellow light shot out from the darkness behind Frayel, encompassing his body like a bubble.

  Jahrys’s world was blinded.

  When his sight came back, Frayel’s body was gone.

  That was when the screaming began. Everyone pushed and shoved in all directions. More light was shooting from the darkness.

  Jahrys turned and ran. If Lily was still meeting up with him, she might be up the road. He had to find her.

  People were dropping left and right when the yellow blasts hit them. Jahrys pushed his way through the chaotic crowd. Blasts flew over his head. The heat tickled the side of his face. Buildings began to flame and the fallen bodies disappeared around him.

  He didn’t slow down. He ran as fast as he could towards the castle gate up the road, keeping an eye out for Lily.

  “Lily!” Jahrys screamed over the cries for help. “LILY!”

  No answer.

  A blast hit inches from his foot and Jahrys went flying into the air. The breath was taken from him as he landed hard on his stomach. He pushed himself back up, heart pounding in his chest.

  “LILY!” he yelled louder this time.

  “Over here, Jahrys! I’m over here!”

  Jahrys spun his head in all directions, searching for the sound of her voice. He had to shield his eyes to cover himself from the blinding light and fires from all the buildings. He coughed from the smoke.

  And then he saw her. She was on the other side of the chaotic crowd, standing below a tall shop.

  Jahrys dove into the crowd. He was bounced around left and right, left and right. Someone’s elbow smashed against his face, but he pushed through and broke free of the crowd.

  “Jahrys!” Lily yelled over the screams. She was only twenty feet away.

  A blast exploded into the building above Lily’s head. Heavy debris tumbled down, heading straight for her.

  “Look out!” Jahrys sprinted forward, the debris about to crush Lily’s body. Jahrys dove into her, wrapping his arms around her as they went flying. Jahrys pushed her to the ground, covering her with his body. The debris from the house crashed onto the road behind them.

  Jahrys lifted himself off her. “Are you hurt?”

  “I’m fine. Jahrys…your face, it’s covered in blood!” Lily brushed his face with her fingers. “Are you okay? What’s happening?”

  “Yes. Yes! We have to go!” Jahrys grabbed her hand and pulled her up the road towards the castle.

  They ran together hand-in-hand as fast as they could. They were heading towards the castle gate. It was the only place he could think to go.

  They made it to the Western Gate, but they were still a hundred feet away. A frightened mob of people blocked their path to the entrance. Yelling and shouting filled the air.

 
“Let us in! We’ll die out here! You have to let us in!” the crowd yelled.

  “What’s happening?” Jahrys turned to a frightened old lady next to him. “Why can’t we go through?”

  “Tis’ the guards. They won’t let us pass. By Zalus, we’re all doomed!” she wailed, her hands waving madly in the air.

  “Come on.” Jahrys grabbed Lily’s hand, pushing his way to the front. He had to get them through the gates to safety.

  “By the order of King Leoné Poole, you must step back! No one else is allowed inside the castle!” it was a knight who spoke. Jahrys recognized him from The Arcalane. Innkeeper Willem refered to him as Old Lan. He was the previous Captain of the Poolesguard.

  “Step back!” the old knight yelled again.

  Jahrys saw a wall of knights on both sides of Old Lan. They were holding spears and shields, blocking the entrance to the castle.

  The crowd was getting violent. People were throwing rocks at the knights and screaming, “Let us in! Let us in!”

  The screams and yells behind them were getting louder as the earth continued to shake—the humming blasts were getting closer.

  “Follow me. I have a plan,” Lily said, pulling Jahrys through the crowd, closer to the castle gate.

  Jahrys didn’t know what she planned on doing, but he followed. He held tightly onto her hand, staying close behind her.

  A man bumped hard into Jahrys.

  “Get out of my way, will ya?” the man yelled, shoving Jahrys.

  Jahrys stumbled backwards and felt Lily’s hand slip away.

  “NO!” Lily screamed. “NO! JAHRYS!”

  Jahrys didn’t know what was happening. He regained his balance and looked around for Lily—but she was gone.

  He panicked, trying to push through the crowd, trying to catch a glimpse of her.

  “Lily!” he yelled out. “LILY!”

  “JAHRYS! HELP!”

  Jahrys saw her brown hair through the crowd.

  “Move out of the way!” Jahrys yelled to a man and a woman standing in front of him. He had to get to her.

  “Aye, watch yourself, boy,” the man glared at him in anger.

  “JAHRYS!” Lily’s scream drowned out the chaos around him.

  Two knights were dragging her towards the castle gate. She was kicking and screaming, trying to get away.

  Craaack.

  The gates slowly began to rotate together.

  No! Jahrys pushed as hard as he could through the crowd, but it was no use. The more he pushed, the farther back he went. He was helpless, watching Lily disappear as the gates inched closer together.

  Everyone was still screaming and begging for help. Even the knights began to give worried faces when they realized the gates were pushing them outside the castle. Everyone began to fight for the remaining space behind the closing doors.

  Boom!

  The gates slammed shut and everyone was silent.

  Chapter 11

  Piller

  THE DICE WERE bouncing back and forth while Piller shook them vigorously from hand to hand. By the palms of Zalus, he thought, give me something good. He gave his cupped hands one last shake and sent the dice bouncing across the tabletop. The first die landed on a two. The second was spinning on its corner. Four pairs of eyes were watching it carefully as it spun and spun and spun.

  It landed on a one.

  “That makes three!” Piller shouted.

  “I could have sworn that was going to land on a two. Damn you, Piller,” said Devan as he sat back in disgust.

  “You want me to lose points on myself?” asked Piller in disbelief.

  He reached his right hand over to his personal deck on the table. He counted aloud as he went through the cards. “One, two, three.” He pulled the third card from his shuffled deck.

  “A five.” He placed it in front of his king. He now had an army of five to protect his king and castle if one of his brothers attacked.

  “At this point, I just want to win my pooles back,” groaned Devan. “You guys have been running me dry all night.”

  “You have been running yourself dry all night,” said Hollow. He turned to Piller. “Pass the dice if you’re done, Captain.” He held his right hand out. Piller passed him the dice.

  “I’m going to start my turn by attacking my army of ten on Devan’s defenseless castle,” Hollow said, as he talked through his turn.

  “Damn you all,” mumbled Devan as he took away one of his large clear red rocks from his castle. He now only had one remaining. “Would you like to take the other one while you’re at it?”

  Hollow took the dice and rolled a three and a five. He took the eighth card from the top of his deck. It turned out to be an army of three. He placed it on the table next to his current army of ten.

  “Give me those damn dice will ya?” Devan grabbed the dice from the young knight. He began to shake them back and forth. “I’ll show all of you. This will be my come back and you’ll all be sorry when I take all of your pooles.”

  “By Zalus! Just roll the dice,” yelled an impatient Arnold, who was the fourth player at the table.

  Devan tossed the dice. All eyes were glued to them as they went spinning across the table. When they stopped, Devan’s jaw dropped at the outcome. “Ah! By the palms of Zalus, you’ve got to be kidding me.”

  “Looks like you lose,” Arnold smirked.

  Everyone tried to hold in their laughter.

  “It’s like the dice are working against me. Two fives? Are you kidding me? Two fives? I want a reroll.” Devan was furious.

  “There will be no reroll, Devan,” said Piller.

  Devan grunted, taking the dice anyway and rolling them.

  “This…this must be some sick joke.” The dice landed on two fives again. “You guys have rigged the dice. Let’s pull a number on poor old Devan. And here I thought we were brothers.”

  Hollow let out a laugh that he was trying desperately to hold.

  “Oh, you think this is funny?” Devan pushed his chair back and stood up over the boy, “robbing from a good old friend? Well it ain’t!”

  “There won’t be much left of a Poolesguard if you guys keep playing this stupid game,” remarked Krist from the corner of the room. He was sitting on a chair, sharpening his sword with a whetstone.

  “Yea, it’ll just be me, good old Krist, and the princess lover, Sir Benjamin the Beautiful,” Martellus chimed in from the other corner of the room, looking up from his book called The Tales and Myths of the Western Mountains.

  “I’ll run away if that’s ever the outcome,” Krist said to his brother.

  “One less soul to be humiliated by the new queen,” chuckled Martellus, as he raised his feet back up onto the chair beside him.

  “By Zalus,” Devan grunted, his long beard giving a bounce, “don’t you get me started on that foreign broad, boy. She has no reason to be here. I don’t like to be told what to do, especially by a woman. Especially a woman like her! She has Leoné tied up like a puppy.”

  “I kind of like her,” said Hollow, placing his cards face down onto the table.

  Arnold chimed in. “We know you like her. We’ve all caught you staring at her ass during—”

  “That’s enough!” Piller yelled as he stood up, “I will not have you insult our new queen.” He gazed around at his brothers of the Poolesguard. What kind of fools have I gotten myself involved with?

  “Devan, either put down some more pooles or leave the game. We don’t—”

  The door of the common room burst open. A young boy flew in. He was panting and sweating. “S-S-Sir Piller,” the boy said, gasping for air.

  “Settle down, lad. Catch your breath.” He walked over to the boy and placed a hand on his skinny shoulder. “Krist, get Zatum some water, will you?” He looked into the frighten boy’s face. “What is it? What’s wrong?”

  Krist brought over a cup of water and handed it to Zatum. The boy took it and brought it up to his mouth with shaking hands. It spilled on his ch
in and down his neck. He managed to get in two gulps before he was ready to talk. Zatum wiped his mouth clean.

  “The king…the king needs…he needs to see you. Now! We are under attack!”

  “Attack?” Piller repeated as if it was a word he had never heard before.

  “Don’t ya hear the horn, Sir?” the boy asked, surprised.

  They all stopped to listen.

  AHWOOO, AHWOOO, AHWOOO, AHWOOO.

  Four times means outside the walls. But we haven’t been attacked from outside the walls since the War of the Great Pact, when the group of Kalukians thought King Galagar Poole was a traitor. But that was almost three hundred years ago! “Outlaws? Is it outlaws, boy? From the Farrest Sea?” Piller asked the frightened boy.

  “N-n-no Sir. Not outlaws, Sir. They came from the mountains.” The boy looked around nervously. All eyes were on him.

  “By Zalus…” Devan’s eyes went wide.

  Piller could feel the fear in the room.

  “The mountains?” Martellus repeated. He put his book down. “No one’s ever come from those mountains. The tales say there are demons over there. Demons that can blow your head off with a snap of a finger. Demons that can—”

  “That’s enough,” Piller yelled at Martellus, silencing him. He turned to his brothers. “Krist, Martellus, make sure Zatum stays safe in the common room.” There was a moan coming from Krist, but a gasp of happiness from Martellus. “Hollow, Arnold, and Devan grab your swords and come with me.”

  “Aye, Captain,” they all said in unison.

  Piller fixed the pin on his brown leather tunic and grabbed his sword that was leaning against the wall by the door.

  They marched down the long circular steps of the northwest tower. When they were outside, the ringing of the bells and the sound of the horn echoed loudly off the walls. They heard screaming far off in the distance, and the night sky was tinged with yellow.

  The king was waiting for them across the yard. He was sitting on his horse on King’s Way. They crossed to meet him.

  “Your Grace,” all four brothers took a knee.

  King Leoné jumped off his horse. He towered over them.

  “Get up, get up. We have no time for this.” Leoné sounded frightened.