The four friends soon settled into a sustainable walking tempo. None of them was used to traveling by foot, generally preferring the convenience of cars, but the journey was agreeable all the same; each spoke with his neighbor from time to time, and as they began to feel fatigue, silence installed itself, only to be broken again a few minutes later. They noticed that the farther they traveled from the Forest of the Worlds, the higher the sun stood in the sky. And as the forest disappeared completely from their view, the sun flooded them with its light and its warmth: they had left the perimeters of that magical realm, and so their adventure had begun.
The sudden change warmed their hearts and lifted their spirits, and to celebrate the event, they decided to allow themselves a short rest. They were tired, and saw not the slightest sign of life on the horizon.
Glaide glanced at his watch. It still functioned, and the time drew near to 7 o’clock in the evening. But could he rely on that? That time on Galadria advanced with the same speed as on Earth? Did the days, the months, the years – if those existed – all have the same durations? The sun seemed to match the time on his watch, more or less, but no one could really say for sure. In any case, he and his friends didn’t seem to have any other way to track time.
Suddenly, Gwenn got up and alerted her companions to a suspicious rustling sound. They crouched down to hide themselves in the foliage and listened: a deafening rumble resonated from not far away. “It’s the sound of hooves striking the ground, without a doubt,” thought Glaide. “How many? There’s no way to say for sure, but there must be many of them.” The teens, still hidden in the vegetation, tried to look around themselves to see what was happening, and suddenly a group of horsemen entered their field of vision. They advanced tranquilly, idling along unhurriedly. They were still far away, but one could make out their gleaming armor. The group spoke quickly:
“Do you see those men,” exclaimed Glaide joyously. “They’re all dressed in armor!”
“What a useful observation, Glaide. Thanks for making it,” commented Emily, bitingly.
“So, what are we going to do?” demanded Jeremy. “We don’t know what their intentions are. I don’t see why they’d attack us, but you never know.”
“True,” agreed Gwenn. Then, seeing the weapons of the two teens, she added, “Assuming, of course, you make those disappear.”
Glaide reflected for a moment. “If we appear unarmed, we do have a better chance of appearing innocent. In the worst case scenario, we can always try to make them reappear if we have to fight.”
“Then we have to contain our emotions. I think as long as we remain calm, our swords shouldn’t be visible,” concluded Jeremy.
The two boys concentrated with all their strength, trying to ignore the dull sound as it approached, bit by bit. Glaide tried to forget the weight of the sword attached to his belt. But he couldn’t help but feel the cold leather at his side. It was just as he decided to give up the effort, and instead hide his weapon in the weeds, that he realized he’d succeeded; he appeared to wear neither a sword nor a belt. Jeremy had also succeeded.
“Well done,” said Gwenn with a sigh of relief. Unfortunately, just then Emily felt a soft tingling that tickled her nose, and she sneezed. One of the horsemen – one who seemed to be the leader, if one believed the heavy decorations on his armor – turned his head in their direction. The sneeze had not gone unnoticed. He made a sign to four of the soldiers to follow him, and to the others to draw their bows. The orders were executed with a disconcerting rapidity. In seconds, the group had divided into two parts, and five arrows were pointed towards the teens.
To avoid an element of surprise that would certainly play in their disfavor, and that could perhaps earn them an arrow through the body, Glaide, still appearing unarmed, decided to speak. “Hello,” he began in a calm voice. “We’re here, covered by the plants. We’re humans, and we wish you no harm. Could you perhaps lower your bows?” The four horsemen didn’t seem to know where the voice came from, and stopped, hesitant. Glaide continued, “There are four of us, and we’re unarmed. We’re going to come out, slowly. Please don’t fire.”
The approaching group of men drew back a few feet farther from the hiding place of the four companions, but the archers maintained their positions. “Well, we really don’t have much of a choice,” Glaide thought to himself. “If we don’t show ourselves, they’ll attack.” So, slowly, the adolescent got up, followed by his three friends. None of the soldiers stirred, and no bow string moved; they seemed perfectly trained. The four companions noted all the same that the soldiers’ faces were tense. Faces that relaxed immediately once they realized what they were facing. However, before anyone could speak, Glaide and Jeremy relaxed their focus, and their swords suddenly appeared.
“Ah, no!” exclaimed Jeremy. “No, wait!”
“But what on earth...” groaned Glaide at his side. Then, realizing that he, too, was showing his sword, he paled. “Get down,” he cried, pulling Emily down with him as he dropped to the ground, while Jeremy continued to check the presence of his sword. No arrows whistled by, however, and no soldier fell on them; instead, the soldiers burst out in laughter.
“I think we found what we were looking for,” proclaimed the apparent leader. At his side, his companions appeared visibly pleased to have completed their quest. The group approached. The man who had spoken dismounted and bowed low to the young people, before asking for the reason for their presence in this remote region. Ignoring the signals of her companions, Emily recounted the whole story: the fact that they’d come from another world, that they’d arrived a few hours earlier, that they were hungry, and that they didn’t know where they were going. The leader listened without interrupting, then began to speak.
“If what you are saying is true, then our mission is in fact finished, because we have come to look for you. The man of whom you speak visited us a week ago and instructed us to come today and roam the plain in search of some adolescents. He told us who you were, and your story matches his. However, I’m surprised he isn’t accompanying you.”
The four friends looked at each other, ill at ease. Finally, it was Jeremy who responded, saying, “Actually, he was killed in the Forest of the Worlds. We were attacked by orks, and he fell in the fight.”
The man raised his eyebrows, visibly concerned. “I didn’t think things would happen like that. And especially that he might die,” he groaned. “However, there is nothing that can be done now. What has happened has happened, but we shouldn’t stay here much longer. Come. We’ll bring you to the safety of the village to discuss all of this. It’s getting late and we’ll have to get moving right away if we want to arrive before night falls.” At this, the four horsemen each took one of the friends on his horse, and they began to move; they left behind the immense plain and began to see little stands of trees, and high mountain chains in the distance. They saw nothing but the untamed wilderness, and they all felt a sense of well-being in discovering and admiring the solitary immensity that was there only to be passed through. Added to this, the speed of the horses, the noise of the hooves, and the gleaming armor in the light of the setting sun made the journey seem magical.
Glaide asked the man accompanying him how time passed where they were from: the sooner he knew that, the sooner he could anticipate how events would unfold, and organize what they would do. His listener didn’t seem surprised at his question, and responded that they had a year of 365 days, each composed of twenty-four hours, and that each hour was made up of sixty minutes divided into sixty seconds. He added that they had a week of seven days, and a month of thirty or thirty-one, and that there were twelve months in the year. “Exactly as at home,” thought Glaide. “But what is this place, then? An alternate universe that exists in the same time as ours, but that we normally can’t access? But here they have magic.”
So many questions, and so few answers.
Night fell, making it three hours in all that the group rode before they at last arrived. From
a distance, Glaide could distinguish nothing but a small wall, and he doubted that it could protect a city. However, he was now facing two gigantic wooden doors that indeed marked the entrance of what was more a village than a city. The two doors were incredibly massive, and when they pivoted to allow passage, they gave off a thick cloud of dust. The horsemen approached slowly, and the four friends, despite the darkness of night, could distinguish soldiers posted on the wall. They motioned to their comrades. Two watch towers framed the immense gate and on each, three archers scanned the horizon. Glaide could hardly believe it. Before him was an authentic village, like one from the Middle Ages. He was surprised however, not to see a castle or even a moat.
The teens dismounted, but their legs refused to carry them – so much so, that they collapsed to the ground. The soldiers, used to these long horseback rides, jumped down beside their horses, and laughed heartily to see the four friends trying to stand up, but with great difficulty. Once they were finally on their feet again, they too broke out in laughter. The stress and agitation that had accumulated up to that point evaporated instantly, leaving each of them with a profound feeling of comfort and tranquility.
After this joyous interlude, the group entered the village ready to fall asleep. “Welcome to Rackk,” declared the leader proudly. All around them, the teens could see houses in an oriental style, with facades of lacquered wood, and doors of a simple, western style. They could distinguish candles through some of the windows, and the light illuminated their faces. At that moment, having arrived in this calm and serene village, accompanied by men who seemed to know who they were, the four companions couldn’t help but smile. The horsemen led them to a tavern.
As they opened the door, a gust of warmth and good cheer struck the young people. Before them were round tables, spread out everywhere across the floor. Men and women were gathered around them, chatting, laughing, and singing. None of the teens asked what they were celebrating. Instead, they gazed about at the candles dispersed throughout the room, whose light reflected on the innumerable steins of beer that never seemed to stay empty for long.
The teens had no interest in partying this evening, however; they were exhausted. The soldiers rented them a room, then – after having fixed a time to meet up the following morning and wishing them goodnight – they took their leave. The tavern owner, a man with a friendly and jovial face, showed them to their room: a single room on the floor above. They entered the room with its four walls of undecorated wood. The beds looked perfectly adequate. The light of the moon filtered in through spaces between the wooden planks, and a window opened out upon the village. The moon bathed the room with a soft blue light, making the space seem somehow ethereal.
They dug through their pockets and pulled out the cookies from the old man. Although they hadn’t eaten in what seemed like an eternity, they were so exhausted that they decided the meager provisions would have to last them until the next morning. Then they all laid down – except for Glaide, who approached the window to look out on the village for a moment. From here, he could see everything. “It’s beautiful,” he thought simply. Then he took a moment to organize his thoughts. “It seems like things are getting better,” he told himself. “The others should feel reassured. I have to admit, I prefer to have these soldiers – who know where we are from – by our sides, rather than having to figure everything out myself.” He turned to get into bed, saying, “It seems nice here, doesn't it?”
“It’s more welcoming than the forest, swarming with... what were they, orks?” grumbled Emily.
“I think this village is really pretty,” exclaimed Gwenn. “It has an air of authenticity, a far cry from the reenactment villages that I’ve seen. And it seems like we are welcome here. At any rate, the soldiers knew who we were, and I found that reassuring.”
Jeremy agreed. “It’s true. But I’m waiting to see what the rest of the inhabitants are like. Tomorrow, I’ll try to meet a few.”
“Well, don’t get lost,” responded his friend, laughing.
The filtered sounds of conversation and exclamations from below calmed the friends like a lullaby, and soon, they slept.
Chapter 5
WHEN Glaide awoke, Jeremy was already preparing to go out. The young man informed him that he would be back in time for their meeting, then he left, and Glaide heard him going down the stairs. He got up quickly, full of energy, and ready for anything. The sun flooded the room, and he couldn’t help but smile, a smile that lasted throughout the morning. He descended the stairs to the common room and found the innkeeper behind his counter. He greeted him, along with the other clients of the tavern, less numerous this morning. The teen remarked, with a certain amusement, that this morning they contented themselves with water or fruit juice.
When he’d left the room, Glaide hadn’t noticed that Emily was already up, but he noticed her sitting at a table. He greeted her, then joined her at the table. Her face looked more amiable than the evening before. When he had barely seated himself, he was asked what he wanted for breakfast, and his magg informed him that the sum given by the guardsmen covered their stay and their morning meal. She had already eaten. Glaide asked for a glass of orange juice, bread, and a little jam. He watched carefully for the reaction of the server, curious to see if the food would be similar to what he knew, but she simply gave him a smile and moved away. A little disappointed, the teen turned to his companion.
“I was wondering if the food here was the same as back home.”
“Well, I think that it is. I ordered the same as you this morning, and it tasted just as I’d expected.”
“Hmm... Did you see Jeremy this morning?”
“Yes, he said good morning, then he left.”
“Just as I thought. Good. I don’t know about you, but I feel great.”
The young woman nodded her head without responding. Glaide thought that he had committed some faux pas, but finally she added softly, “I do feel better than yesterday. The village seems nice. However, I refuse to think about what is to come, and I’m doing my best to forget what has happened so far.”
“In that case, you can be content to live in the present. I’ll worry about planning for the future and remembering the past.”
Gwenn came down in turn, and sat down with the other two just as the server brought Glaide’s order. She wasn’t hungry, so as Glaide attacked his meal voraciously, Emily told her where Jeremy was. After the protector had emptied his plate, the three friends remained seated, waiting for their companion, who returned soon after.
He seemed pleased, saying, “This village is great! It’s not very big, but it has lots of shops, and the people are very friendly. I noticed that the whole area is surrounded by a wall, plus a permanent guard. It seems like the orks, or something else, are an ever present menace here. Our escort slept in a military camp. I was just there, and apparently, the soldiers rarely get to relax, because those monsters attack unceasingly. The guards welcomed me like a prince; I don’t know if it’s because we come from a different world, or because we’re maggs and protectors, but it seems like we’re very important.”
“I wonder myself if that isn’t the reason for this seeming infatuation with us,” murmured Glaide. “Our guardian didn’t seem to have a lot to say on the subject, and if he planned to tell us more once we reached Rackk, the chance for that has passed.”
“Look, it’s time. Can you show us where to go, Jeremy?” asked Gwenn. They left, taking a moment to look at the street, full of life. Then the young man led them through the village to the military camp, where the horsemen from the night before were already waiting for them. They greeted them, then their leader spoke, saying, “Good morning. You look well this morning. My name is Drekhor, and I’m the general of the militia of this village, and its leader. One of the soldiers told me you’d passed through the camp this morning,” he said to Jeremy. “So you had a chance to see how our defenses are organized here.”
“I did, yes. You work in shifts to have constant s
urveillance during the night, and you never open the gate without a document of authorization. It is as though you expect an attack at any time.”
“And I think you will understand why we do that, as you come to better understand our enemy. As for the authorization document: it is specific to this village; that is to say that anyone who has one must be connected to Rackk. The document could include a message that we are sending to the king, or vice-versa. Our most experienced sorcerers created the paper years ago, and it cannot be reproduced. Not being a mage myself, though, I would be hard pressed to explain to you exactly how it works. You should know that this village is special; because it is so close to the Forest of the Worlds, our village must be especially cautious to escape unnecessary attention from Baras. Our mission is to watch the magical woods and to ward off the monsters that approach us. To our great dishonor, we have failed, and the death of the Guardian is the sad result.” At these words, the soldiers nearby hung their heads, signaling that they shared the dishonor.
“Before I continue,” continued Drekhor, “You should know that only three people outside of the inhabitants of this village know about your origins. They include the king and his two counselors. In fact, for the moment, the members of that group from this village include only these men,” and here he pointed to his companions of the day before, “and myself. Our Lord knows that you should be coming, as he learned of it from the very mouth of the Guardian. You’ll soon have the chance to present yourselves at the capital, and we’ll send a message to that effect in a few days.”
Chronicles of Galadria I - The Other World Page 5