Talip walked down the hall and went straight into her room. She plopped down on her lumpy and dirty mattress and tried to suppress the happy feelings bubbling inside of her at the thought of being home. Home was home no matter how grimy, but she couldn’t let home be home forever. She didn’t want to be like the sad people who never escaped. She listened for the footsteps of her parents coming to ask her all about the trip, but they never came. She went down the hallway toward the kitchen where she found the two of them sitting at the table slurping their stew.
“You didn’t call me to tell me it was ready?” Talip grabbed a wooden bowl from the cupboard and went over to the cauldron. It was empty.
“You didn’t save me any?” She looked at her parents. “You knew I was coming home today.” Her mother and father looked at each other and shrugged. “What am I going to eat now?” Talip dropped her bowl on the table and slumped in her chair. She looked at both of them. “Well? Aren’t you going to ask me about the trip? What’s wrong with the two of you?”
Her parents looked at each other again and shrugged. Talip was about to start screaming at them when a blue light from outside pierced the windows. Her parents rose to their feet and started for the door.
“Where are you going? Hello? I just got home. Pay attention to me!” She followed them outside and saw all of the villagers leaving their homes and walking towards the blue light in the center of the village.
“What are you doing?” Talip chased her parents and followed them until they reached the edge of the village square and stood in a line with all of the other villagers. Seated on a pedestal in the middle of the square stood a pulsating and glowing blue orb. The crowd stood around it, their eyes transfixed on it, their mouths hanging open.
Talip tugged on her father’s sleeve and looked at her mother. Their eyes stayed fixed on the orb as if she wasn’t even there. “Nice decoration. What is this?” she asked. “Is this some sort of joke? Har…har…okay, I’m home now. You can knock it off.”
Through the crowd she spotted a few of the village kids that were her own age. Their eyes, too, were glued to the glowing orb. “Ginon, what are you doing?” she asked the boy with the bowl haircut. The boy shrugged without looking at her.
“This isn’t funny,” she shouted. “Not funny at all. What is that thing?” She turned to look at the glowing orb. Each wave of light hit her like an ocean wave. She wanted to get back to her parents to kick her mother in the shin and slap her father, but she found herself taking a spot around the village square where she could see the orb unobstructed. “This is ridiculous,” she told herself and then shrugged and continued watching the orb.
The sun began to set and only when the orb ceased glowing did Talip turn her gaze away from it. “What is going on?” she asked. The crowd around her began to disperse and return to their homes. Talip chased after her parents who were walking into their house. “Mother, Father, the orb…I don’t understand. The words to describe it are not there. I…I…”
Her father set a pot of water over the fire while her mother began to chop up some meat and vegetables. “Answer me,” Talip said. She screamed when she saw the shoulders of her parents go up in a shrug. She grabbed her mom by the shoulders and shook the woman as hard and as fast as she could. When she let go and the woman went right back to chopping a beet, tears welled up in Talip’s eyes.
She rushed through the door and took another look at the dormant orb before she ran down the dirt path. She had to get to the main road and find help before the sun completely set. There had to be some traders still on the road that could help her, that could make sense of what was going on.
Her mud caked shoes thudded against the dirt road as she ran. All those months of fine pastries had made running difficult and left her breathing like an overworked animal. She stopped for a moment to chase away the dizziness that threatened to drop her.
From the edge of the forest, a robed figure in a black hood emerged. On the other side of the road, another figure emerged and then five more figures appeared to block her way. In the shadows of the setting sun, their black robes made them appear part of the shadows.
“Hello?” Talip said, feeling her stomach churning at the sight of the figures. Their hoods shrouded their faces in darkness. “What are you doing?”
The figures looked at each other. “She appears to be outside of the influence,” one of them said.
“Influence? What is this? What are you talking about?” Talip started to back away from them. Every step she took backwards, the hooded figures took one step forward in unison to match her.
“Stop,” she shouted at them.
“We cannot allow this,” one of them said. Their hands came up, palms facing forward. A blue light began to swirl in each of their palms, growing larger and larger until the swirling balls shot forward at Talip. She dropped to the ground and pressed her face against the dirt a moment before the balls screamed past her with intense heat.
Talip jumped to her feet and ran for the woods. She could feel the heat behind her as the robed figures launched more of the swirling blue fireballs at her. They crashed into trees, scorching the bark and bringing down branches all around her. They slammed into the mud at her heels and sent scores of mud balls into the air. Talip kept running and screamed and cried for help in the empty forest. She kept her focus forward and refused to look back for fear of catching one of the fireballs in the face. If she was going to go out, she didn’t want to see it coming.
She ducked behind a cluster of rocks and tried to breathe. Her breath was ragged and shallow and she felt like she couldn’t get enough air into her lungs no matter how hard she tried. She strained her ears, listening for more of the fireballs but she heard none. Instead, she heard the sounds of twigs snapping and leaves crunching, sounds that increasingly crept towards her.
Ahead of her she could see the dirty, old shack that belonged to the hag and she knew she had to just get past the shack and past the pond and she would be close to the village. Whatever trance had fallen upon the villagers, she hoped the sight of strangers throwing blue fire would snap them out of it.
With her body pressed against the rock, she peered over the side. She could see the hooded figures in the distance wandering through the forest looking for her. Talip took a deep breath and then started to tip toe towards the shack. If she could just get behind it, she figured she would have enough cover to make it back to the village.
As she approached the shack, a storm of fireballs rained down in front of her and lit the wet leaves and twigs as if they had been baking in the summer sun for weeks. A fire spread and engulfed the nearby trees, blocking her escape. Burning bark and branches and leaves fell from the sky in a fury of blue flame.
Talip covered her head and ran towards the shack, bursting through the front door and closing it behind her. The inside of the shack had been destroyed. Tables and chairs and bookcases had been overturned, spilling their contents all over the dirt floor. Vases had been smashed and picture frames had been broken, but there was no sign of the old hag. Talip crouched in the corner and hoped beyond reason that they hadn’t seen her come inside or that they would forget about her.
What little hope she had disappeared when one of the hooded figures appeared in the window. When it disappeared, a column of blue fire appeared on the wall of the shack and spread quickly. Every inch of her body poured out sweat from the heat. Before long, all four walls of the shack and the ceiling came alive with blue flame. Talip cried and moaned hoping to awake from this nightmare back at the city with her relatives.
There was a loud crack at the back wall. The ceiling would collapse at any moment. Two more cracks followed, each louder than the last. An armored fist jutted through the back wall and ripped a hole open. An old woman clad in rusted armor stood in the opening amidst the swirling blue fire.
“This way,” the old woman yelled.
Talip jumped through the hole and followed the old woman past the pond and through the fores
t, running as fast as her tired legs would carry her. She heard shouts and could feel the heat at her back, but did not stop running. If the old woman in all that armor could keep running, then so could she.
Only when the burning shack disappeared into the forest behind them and the shouts faded did Talip stop to catch her breath. “I think we lost…”
“Quiet,” the old woman said. The two of them listened to the sounds of leaves rustling and ancient trees groaning. Satisfied, the old woman leaned her sword and shield against the base of a tree. The latter’s surface had been previously charred black.
Talip watched the old woman remove her helm and let her grey hair fall down to her shoulders. She could see her long nose and the warts all over her face.
“You…you…” Talip started to back away. “You’re…You’re the old hag.” Talip tried to run, but the old hag grabbed her arm and before Talip could scream, an armored hand clamped down over her mouth.
“Would you be quiet?” the old hag said. “You are going to get us killed. If I let go, will you promise not to scream?”
Her hand smelled like an old foot, but Talip nodded. The old hag removed her hand and Talip proceeded to scream.
“What did I just say?” The old hag clamped her hand over Talip’s mouth again, muffling her screams. “My name is not “old hag”. My name is Milta and if you want to survive out here you will start trusting me and you will stop screaming. Do you understand, girl?”
Talip nodded and this time she did not scream when Milta removed her hand. “What did you do to everyone in the village? You’ve made everyone lose their minds.”
“Do you see that shield? Do you see this armor? It has been a long time since I’ve had to carry these. They are trying to kill me as well. I do not know what is going on. Did you not come from the village?”
“Yes, I did,” Talip said, “But I just returned today. I was in Haver City for the last few months visiting relatives.”
“Then you are not under the orb’s influence.” Milta managed a dry-skinned smile.
“Neither are you.”
Milta picked up her shield and sheathed her dull sword. “My home is far from the village, presumably outside of the orb’s influence. I noticed the men in the black hoods months ago. They crept around the woods and on the outskirts of the village, but I thought them to be just curious travelers. Had I known what they were, I would have done something. I would have said something. I only knew when they came for me and I had to flee my home.”
“Where are you hiding out now?”
Milta jerked her head towards the forest. “I will show you. We should not stay out in the open any longer.”
Talip followed Milta deeper into the woods, staying well behind her in case the old hag tried any of the tricks she was known for in the stories.
“You’re not going to turn me into a rock or something, are you?” Talip asked.
Milta sighed. “If I wanted to turn you into a rock, I would have done so already. Besides, I only turn people into leaves.” Talip gasped, but Milta let out a giggle that unfroze her.
The older woman led Talip to the base of the mountains and to a cave that contained a fire pit and a few scant possessions. The entrance to the cave was barely a slit in the rock that both of them could barely fit through. Inside, a terrible stench filled the cave and Talip could feel the dampness of the cave crawling over her skin. In the corner of the room sat a tremendous pile of dead rats. Some of them had been skinned, but more of them sat soaking wet with matted fur. Talip pretended to ignore the rats and said nothing about them. “You live here now?”
“It is only temporary until I take my home back,” Milta said.
“You saw those hooded people. Your home is destroyed. Look at your shield!” Talip looked at the burn marks on the shield and shivers ran through her body.
“My home is not destroyed. My house is destroyed. My home is there, occupied by intruders. My house can be rebuilt.”
“What are you going to do?”
“It is a good thing you are here. Two are better than one if we are going to save the village.”
Talip’s eyes went wide. “Me? I can’t help! I don’t even know how I could help. We need to get onto the main road and call for help.”
Milta took a seat on a rock and slouched against the cave wall. A heavy wind funneled through the tiny opening and blasted them with cold air. Leaves rode the wind and filled the cave, but so did other visitors. A blue and yellow butterfly touched down on Milta’s knee. She scooped it up with a finger to examine it closely.
“So pretty. So complex. Look at all of the colors. Extraordinary creatures.”
Talip waved her hand in front of Milta’s face and sent the butterfly scurrying to the air. “Hey. Focus. How are we going to get to the road?”
“We are not going to the road. We will never make it. I have tried. They guard the road in all directions. They do not want anyone leaving. They want the orb to continue to do whatever it is doing.”
“So then what? We sit in this cave and die? I’d rather you turn me into a rock.”
“No. We armor you and arm you and we storm the village. The orb came first and destabilized the village. It was only after the orb sat in the village square that these strangers came. We remove the orb and perhaps everything will return to normal.”
“I don’t know how to fight,” Talip said. Milta did not answer her. Instead, she got to her feet and went deeper into the cave. She returned with a few flat pieces of rock and a branch that had been sharpened at one end.
“These will make no blacksmith jealous, but they should suffice.” She handed Talip the sharpened stick. “Now we just need to fasten these to your body.”
With some vines and stray pieces of rope, Milta secured the slabs against Talip’s chest and back as a makeshift breast plate. “It’s heavy,” Talip complained.
Milta pressed the tip of her sword against the front rock. “And it will protect you from stabbings and hopefully it will offer some protection against blue flame as well. Let us waste no more time.”
The two women trudged through the forest towards the village. With heavy rock strapped to her, Talip struggled to navigate the terrain and often stopped to catch her breath. Talip had no idea where she was and Milta refused to stop.
“Please wait. Two seconds,” Talip said. She wanted to put her hands on her knees and rest, but bending over was not an option at the moment. “Why are you doing this?” Talip asked. “Why do you even care? You can just run from here.”
“What do you mean?”
“Most of the village hates you. They think you trick children and harm them. They don’t consider you part of the village.”
“Perhaps I do things more unconventionally than most, but this is still my home. I will protect it. Just like everyone in the village would protect it if they were able.”
By the time the village came into view, night had chased away the light. The blue light ebbed and flowed over the trees and brush and it seemed to have grown in intensity from the last time that Talip had seen it. Even from a distance she could feel its pull.
“No matter what,” Milta whispered, “We must destroy the orb. We must–”
“They are outside the influence,” a voice shouted. A group of hooded figures appeared behind them, their black robes and hoods cloaking them in the darkness. A blue fireball raced past Talip’s face. She dove behind a tree while Milta charged straight at the invaders with her dull sword.
Talip crawled on her belly and searched for a safe place to hide, but the grunts and screams of Milta stopped her. “I need to help her,” Talip said out loud. Her heart beat loud enough that she could feel its vibrations in the back of her throat. She rushed out from behind the tree in time to see Milta stick one of the strangers with her sword. The figure moaned and collapsed into a pile of ash.
Talip ran towards the nearest stranger and aimed her sharpened stick at its back. A fireball exploded the ground in front of he
r and sent her stumbling. She could still feel the heat from the blue flame as a figure stood above her. Its hands came together and the swirling genesis of a fireball appeared. Talip closed her eyes and screamed until she felt the heavy metal footsteps of Milta rush across the forest floor to cut into the figure. The blue flame died and a shower of ash covered Talip.
Milta deflected a fireball with her shield and went after another figure. A second one appeared behind her, conspiring to blast her from behind. Talip jumped to her feet and ran the stick through the stranger’s back before it could harm Milta. As soon as the tip pierced the skin, it erupted into a plume of ash.
“There are too many,” Milta said, her face darkened by soot and ash. Despite the number of strangers she dispatched, more and more of them continued to emerge from the darkness of the forest. “We have to run. Go, girl!”
With enemies closing all around, the two women swung their weapons wildly to create space before they turned and ran towards the village. Fireballs sailed overhead, smacking treetops and thatched rooftops. In the center of the village, they found the entire village gathered in the square, mesmerized by the orb. Talip spotted her mother and father among the crowd, their faces even more gaunt and lifeless than before.
The two women edged their way through the crowd and stood before the orb, its glow too bright to look at directly. “What is it?” Talip asked.
“Does it matter?”
“Where did it come from?”
“Does it matter?”
Milta raised her sword and brought it down atop the orb with all of her fury. The sword clanged against the orb and bounced off. She tried it again. The orb continued its steady pulsating glow uninterrupted. For good measure, Talip smacked it with her stick which did nothing except shatter her stick.
“What do we do?” Talip asked.
Milta looked behind them. A group of hooded men appeared at the back of the crowd and began weaving their way towards them. “We will have to figure it out later.” Milta reached down and plucked the orb from its pedestal. “This way.” She clutched the orb against her side and sprinted through the crowd towards the forest. The eyes of everyone in the village followed her and when she reached the edge of the village a great cry rose up amongst the villagers
Young Adventurers Page 32