Achil & The Kingdom of Jin
Page 14
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Nishga woke before dawn with a start; she thought she had seen something staring at her in the darkness. Her eyes adjusted to the deep gloom turning over she saw Achil awake crouching against the rough bark of the tree, Andreas was by his side they had yet to notice she was awake. Nicholas was lying on his back asleep. Nishga sat up, without realising how high they were in the branches of the tree. For a moment she felt a bit disoriented and required a few calming deep breaths before feeling settled once more. She noticed that the trees must have been chosen for the settlement because they were on high ground. From where they were they could see over the canopy of the forest. The sun rise was one of the most spectacular she had ever seen, it was as though golden plumes of fire were racing towards them. The three of them took a moment to take in the sight; staring out over the canopy of trees they could see the rising sun appearing from the dark, rays of mixed crimson and cobalt light streaked the sky.
“If you look over there you can see the mountain. It’s still quite far,” said Andreas.
They sat staring at the distant mountain between them and it was an endless ocean of trees, like a vast ancient expanse within which were many dark secrets. They could see, now far off, the pass where they had come from, a narrow strip of land between what seemed to be two rocky sentinels. Achil did not care to look behind them; he was now looking forward, at the way they were going. Trying to gauge how long it would take to reach the mountain. In the sunlight, its peek shone like a sapphire, beneath a clear blue sky. Nicholas began to wake the movement of the others causing him to stir. He seemed to be grinding his teeth as he slept as though some inner unconscious debate were going on. He rubbed his leg hard preventing the first twinges of cramp settling in. He gave out a loud yawn and stretched, Nicholas turned on his side and promptly fell back to sleep. Achil got what food stuffs they had with them out of the holdalls, so that they could have a breakfast of sorts. Waking Nicholas back up in the process and making sure he stayed awake. Achil noticed something he had not seen the previous night, he gestured for the others to join him. He pointed at a large aged grand looking building built into the tops of many trees, to the front of it were at least a hundred colossal crafted branches acting as columns. There was an interconnecting path through the trees that, if sturdy enough, could be easily negotiated.
“Look at that,” said Achil. “It looks huge in comparison to these others. I think we should investigate. We might find some clue as to what happened to the forest people. If we follow the platforms that seem to act as a pathway between each tree, we should be able to reach it without much difficulty.”
Before the others could even disagree he had begun to test how secure the path was. When he was sure it was safe, he carefully stole across, the others warily followed on behind.
They reached what must have been in its day a grand palace in the emerald and ruby world of the trees. The trees branches had somehow been grown so that they curved upwards like pillars and had been ornately carved with woodland creatures. The people that had once lived among the trees had been unlike other tree folk these had been a people deeply cultured and complex. Although a lot of the things had deteriorated some even turning to dust, it was still possible to make out the source of the peoples energies from their carvings and tapestries on one of them they could just make out a tree with a deer and a bear on either side, above it a hawk below a snake, Nishga reached out to touch it, as she did so it crumpled in her hands.
“Look at this,” cried Nicholas. “Whoever these people were they left in a real hurry.”
Nicholas was standing by a collapsed table, listing to one side. On the floor bones of animals that had been feasted on. There were some thin wooden platters that broke when picked up. Achil began searching some of the chambers on either side of the great hall. Calling the others over he had found what must have been the guard room. Inside were two skeletons in full armour each with a two headed axe. Each axe was crafted in shape like a two headed Griffin. In another room they found a sealed chest covered by some banners. They hauled the chest out, and found it had been sealed shut; the lock had been sealed over by wax.
“Nishga will you be able to open this,” said Achil, hoping to find some clue as to what had driven the people away.
“Give me a moment,” Nishga took out her dagger and clawed the wax away. She then placed her crystal next to the lock. A light emanated from it seemed to solidify and embraced the mechanism within it. There was a sharp click as it opened; then a whirring sound. As the four gathered round the chest, its sides began to release, the lid slowly lifted up revealing something that lifted up on a platform. It was a simple bowl, layered all around with symbols. Nishga seemed to recognise its purpose at once. Took out her water bottle and poured water into the bowl. As they stared into it the water seemed to darken as though someone had added a dark purplish ink to it. Then it revealed a picture of a city among the trees. They could see a Shaman standing over something a piece of parchment. One word was recognisable and stood out in large bold letters. ‘MANITOU’. Again the bowl darkened and then cleared revealing something that sent a shudder down their spines. It was a Manitou, a real Spirit of the forest, and by all accounts it did not look friendly, its red eyes revealed an anger towards those that had summoned it. They watched as it changed shape first into a bear, then a wolf. Finally into some wild demon of the forest which fought against the tree people, eventually forcing them to flee and causing their downfall. The four of them took a sharp intake of breath as the bowl cleared. They now knew what darkness it was that lived in the forest. At least they understood how the tale of the forest being haunted by a dark presence had grown up.
“Right it appears from what we’ve just seen that it's this Manitou that destroyed the people here. It looks like one of those creatures you don’t really want to upset or meet for that matter. As far as I’m concerned the longer it knows we’re not here the better. I suggest we travel along the pathway that runs along the branches of the trees. I think back in their day they acted like some roadway. When we have no further choice we can continue along the ground on foot.” As Achil spoke they could all feel the tension grow. All feel that danger was not too far away. None of them wanted to entertain the notion of running into something that could devour them.
Achil led the way with Andreas at the rear. Their going was unsteady at first, their feelings of unease not helped by missing floor panels. They sidled their way passed every gaping hole. Nicholas had the unfortunate experience of slipping through one void. He hung on by his finger tips to the connecting vines until Andreas rushed back to aid him.
“Stop messing around and catch up with the others,” cried Andreas.
As for Achil and Nishga they had not even noticed Nicholas’s dilemma.
***
Deep in the forest something moved at the distant clatter of wooden planks bouncing off branches before crashing to the ground. What was a tree cloaked in shadow seemed to turn to a vapour and then solidify in the form of a Black Wolf with menacing red eyes staring toward where the sound had come from. The Wolf leapt forward moving with an unnatural speed, a hunter closing in on its prey.