“I don’t like this,” Brother Dog said quietly. “It is too dangerous.”
“There is nowhere to hide, my friend,” Uncle said, “We can be stumbled on at any time.
There are too many people in the countryside and as you can see even in this waypoint, it is crowded, with all sorts.”
“Has it not occurred to you, that you killed a member of the high court and then just wandered away?” Brother Dog said. Not appeased by Uncles explanation. “And the girl here she managed to murder a whole squad, a whole squad! Do you think we are safe? I have heard things as I wondered about the camps, no one notices if a dog is listening. It is known what we have done, even how many of us have done it. We were indiscreet and that we are still at loose is amazing to me! Our luck is running exceedingly well, but it can’t last!”
“Yeah, and what about that magic falls you blew up.” Billy said “I can’t believe no one noticed that. I mean, wouldn’t someone notice something like that?”
“Yes,” Zhoulin said quietly. “You are correct, it was very famous. I am surprised as well.
Certainly, there have been visitors since we left. It was a special place to many people. Not even with the best of luck could its disappearance be missed, there is something not right.”
“What do you suggest?” Uncle asked quietly, “we have no choice but to carry on to our destination.”
“I am uneasy!” Brother Dog said “Something is stirring. I just want to run, as foolish as that might sound. I feel like I am walking into a trap.”
They sat quietly for a while glancing about nervously. Now that it was out in the air Billy felt a little better. At least he wasn't crazy. Unless this was all a big dream and he would wake up… He let the thought go. If it was a dream he was sure he would have come to, long ago. He sighed and went to put some more wood on the fire. No sense worrying what he couldn't change, he had spent enough nights curled up in his blanket scared to death already. He shook himself to break the spell of doldrums.
The sword practice had been taking his mind off his situation for the past several weeks and some of the wonder of where he was helped. The society was… well, weird, was the only word he could think of.
Compared to the fairly modern life of his home. This country's food was basic rice, and whatever they could kill. Songbirds were caught in nets and eaten for lunch.
It seemed the people of this country would eat about anything. But the architecture, it was so elaborate the closer they got to the cities. Many of the buildings had pillars and wide verandas running around them. There were gardens everywhere. Some places were decorated with huge dragon carvings. There were so many Colorful and exotic things, he wished he could throw off this cloak and explore everything.
His ability to understand the local language was wonderful. It allowed him to listen in on conversations as they wandered about, and the most amazing thing was the simplest. Even in this ancient time, they were talking about their children, and their children's education and someone was sick and this person was in trouble, etc.
Somehow it was comforting to know that the people in such a strange land, that he had always thought would be so different, cared about exactly the same things that Canadians care about. If it wasn't for the clothing and what not, he could be at home listening to the old ladies in one of Mom's ladies nights. Except for the emperor bits, and the occasional murder. It made him feel a little at home and a lot less scared than he would have been had he not had this thing attached to him helping him, god knows how.
But, he was dealing with doubts that he would ever get home. And now they were in hiding in plain sight it was unnerving, there was no relief for it. Just trudge on through the scattered outcroppings of civilization and hope the old sorcerer could really get him home.
Zhoulin was tending the fire when he returned with the few twigs he could scrounge up in the near woods. He was afraid to wander too far. He remembered reading books about being Shanghaied, an old term for kidnapping, as once upon a time they had kidnapped people and sold them for slaves to the British and Spanish Fleets as deck hands or worse rowers, in Shanghai. He laughed as he realized he was already in China. What could they do? Kidnap him and take him to Canada?
“What’s so funny?” Zhoulin said as he set the wood down.
“Nothing,” he said. “You wouldn’t understand, and I don’t want to explain. I am so tired.”
“Well then get some sleep.”
"No!" he said "I mean am tired! I mean I am tired of all this. I just want to go home, I didn't ask for all this!" He felt emotions bubbling up inside, that he hadn't realized were there. "Jeez, do you have any idea what I am going through? This is ridiculous, it's crazy! You guys kidnapped me, almost got me killed a couple times, and then you blew up my only way home! And none of it is my fault. Now we are hiding and skulking around like bandits, and I didn't do anything. It's like a crazy nightmare that just never ends. So you guys were trying to save some lost kingdom or something. How is it up to me to save your stupid Kingdom anyway? I haven't had a good meal in weeks and my clothes are almost in tatters and still, he says, 5 more days and through this, this filth, and murderers and, outlaws, and some kind of civil war! What? What do you expect me to do? And on top of all that; some alien thing is attached to my ribs, and it’s only good for me being able to understand you guys. I mean you'd think, I would get a superpower or something. I mean… God-damn-it, I am so pissed off, I want to kill someone!"
Billy stopped his tirade and realized he was standing in front of the fire with his hood thrown back, shouting. He was as surprised by his outburst as Zhoulin was. It had just all come out. He looked around the camp, everyone was staring at him.
“What are you lookin' at!?” He shouted at them all. He didn’t care anymore enough was enough! I mean, how much was a kid supposed to take anyway?
Someone shouted “A foreigner! Get him! It’s them! The ones who killed the guards.”
Zhoulin jumped to her feet, grabbing Billy “what have you done?” she growled at him. She grabbed the nearest bag and gave him a shove
"Run!" she yelled. As he hesitated for a moment, he picked up his bag looking around at the still staring and quickly multiplying crowd.
“Go!” She shrieked. “They will kill us!”
There was a shout from the crowd, something long and sharp flew past him and there was an audible "THUNK!!!" as an arrow buried itself in a tree inches from his head. He jumped after the already running Zhoulin and they fled into the night. There was more shouting from somewhere and they heard. “Wait, there is a wizard and some strange dog! Where are they? Get torches! After them."
“What will they do?” Billy asked desperately, as he stumbled after Zhoulin.
“I don’t know and I don’t want to know.” She said as she dodged the lower limb of a tree. “After all we have done?”
All of a sudden Billy stopped and grabbed her
“Where’s Uncle? Where’s Brother Dog?”
“Go!” she shoved him again into the trees. They were ahead for now, but they could hear people following them and shouting crashing through the forest.
"I don't know," she said as they ran through the forest. They were losing light fast and soon it would be too dark to see. Perhaps they could make their escape after dark, but they needed a shelter now.
"Uncle went to try to get information and Brother Dog I don't know, he wandered off." They came through the trees to a little clearing and saw an old farmhouse, whose dilapidated gate was a little ajar. The stone outer wall was leaning precariously.
They stood in the trees for a moment. The last rays of sunlight faded and there were torches being lit in the near distance. They could hear scattered voices as they hid in the bushes.
"Go!" Zhoulin said and they scurried across the small meadow. The voices seemed to be coming closer.
They squeezed through the gate just as the now bright torches came into view. Zhoulin stopped to drop a plank behind the gate wedging
it in between the posts. It was a stop-gap measure at best. But it was the best they could manage.
They stumbled across the yard as vagrant rays of moonlight guided them. The door of the house was open as well. They stumbled in.
“So? Hiding place or trap?” He said quietly.
“Shush!” Zhoulin said, putting her hand over his mouth.
Billy pulled away irritably “You really think they won’t notice the house and no kids? Duh!
Even an idiot could figure out we are here.”
“Shut up,” she said with a hiss. “Even a small moment might save us.”
Billy leaned against the stone wall. Enough moonlight was coming through and their eyes began to adjust to the darkness.
“You don’t have any good disappearing spells lying around do you?” He whispered. Her glare answered the question. They could hear voices near the building they were muffled, but it was obvious Billy was correct.
He looked around the structure's interior. There were holes in the roof leaking moonlight, but the roof was made of tiles laid on flat sticks. One step up there would mean a lot of noise and no sure footing.
Billy shook his head “What will they do to us?”
The voices were getting louder outside and the glow from the torches could be seen through the cracks of the old building. Someone shouted for more light. A voice made a comment something about why were they so afraid of a boy and a girl. They heard someone shout "Haven't you heard? They killed the emperor's wizard and maybe even a platoon of the guard with some kind of magic.” There were a few laughs and then quiet as that sunk in.
“The Emperors wizard?” someone said.
"Well, now I know how Frankenstein felt!" Billy said.
Zhoulin looked at him oddly.
“You know villagers, pitchforks, torches?”
More quiet, then a sound that Billy had only heard in the movies. It wasn't the sound of pitchforks at all but the sound of sword and knife being drawn from leather scabbards.
He swallowed and looked at Zhoulin, she looked sick. She came beside him and held his arm.
“What will we do?” she said shaking.
He was surprised by this. Since when was he anywise in control? It frightened him that she was so frightened.
He noticed an old wooden implement handle lying up against the wall and picked it up. He bounced it in his hand it was heavy, maybe oak.
“You don’t have any magic?” he asked her.
“What are you going to do with that?” she said.
“You!" In there!” A voice boomed in the night, making them both jump. “Come out!”
That was all for a minute. Billy looked at Zhoulin and shrugged. A large stone crashed through the roof just a few feet from them. If it had hit them it might have caved in their skulls.
“We’re not afraid of you witch.” Another voice cried out. There was a pounding on the gate now and the sound of what could only be rocks, being pulled from walls. There was crashing as the people outside tried to bring down the gate.
Billy was quietly bouncing the old handle in his palm.
“What are you thinking?” she said.
“Well a few years ago I was playing with some other kids and I wanted to be Robin Hood, but they wanted to play something else.”
"So?" she said impatiently.
"Well, I guess I was being a bit… pushy. They all picked up sticks and surrounded me."
"And!?" She said still impatient.
“Well, I had no choice, and I just dove into them swinging my stick.”
“So you were beaten half to death, no doubt,” she said. “I’ve seen you fight.”
He hesitated a moment “No, it was weird they all threw their sticks in the air and ran. No way I could’ve beat them all, I was so surprised.”
“So are you suggesting we run out of here with some sticks waving in the air? Are you insane? These aren’t children at play. They’re grown men with god knows what kind of weapons, they will kill us.”
"Well, what chance do we have? I just don't want to sit here and wait and either way, we are caught. Maybe we could run out and get through these guys get away somehow."
“The roof?”
Billy looked at her then, “The roof is tile, I'm way too heavy, but I guess… Ok.” They found a fairly sturdy board and leaned it into the rafters which creaked and complained as Zhoulin tried to climb up standing on his shoulders and using the board, she managed to get into the rafters. Then they tried pulling Billy up, but it was no use. There was a sudden booming sound from the outside it sounded like a wall being knocked down. Obviously, the men had decided to come in and get them. Just then before they could think the door burst open and several men came tumbling in. Zhoulin tried to reach down for Billy
"Go!" he yelled. She hesitated "I'll get help," she said, as a hand ax flew past her head. “Surrender!” she said. “Surrender or they will kill you. I can find the others and get you out.” She leaped out of the hole in the roof. Billy could hear her scampering over the tiles, he knew she would try to find Uncle and Brother Dog. He only had the stick next to him. He picked it up. The men coming toward him were ugly in the torchlight. They had bad teeth and smelled of many days without a bath.
"Man you guys stink!" came out of his mouth before he could stop it. He hadn't intended on saying anything. They looked at him in shock probably as much because they understood him as because of what he said. “Ok, OK, I surrender,” he said with a bit of a laugh. “Come on I’m a kid. You don’t want to kill a kid!”
The two men looked at each other “And then how do we split the reward?” One man roared and charged, his knife barely missed Billy’s neck as he dodged out of the way. He spun around and kicked the man in the head. He saw rotten teeth spatter out of the man’s mouth
"Holy!" He said as an arrow whirred past him. He knew he was as good as dead as he swung his old stick and cracked the man's head. To his surprise the man went down, maybe some of those lessons were paying off, after all, still, there was no chance. There were too many.
He felt a sharp pain in his side and fell to the ground. There was a bloody gash in his shirt he felt nauseous and dizzy. Three men were in the small doorway. The man who stabbed him was coming at him again. He rolled as the man stabbed at him and missed.
He kicked at the man desperately, but the knife went into his side and he screamed at the searing pain. For a moment he lay there bleeding.
He had no weapon. He could see more men crowding into the small room, it was bright with torchlight now. The man who had stabbed him was coming at him again.
He put up his hands to defend himself, then he realized the man had stopped. He was staring at the area of Billy's shirt with a shocked look on his face.
Billy began to feel a strange sensation in his gut. He rolled over and moaned. He vomited on the ground as his shirt moved.
It moved by itself like something was alive inside. He felt a strange tugging on his skin like pulling off an old scab to reveal new flesh. He vomited again as a strange creature stuck a finely toothed head out of a tear in his shirt.
Then the thing hissed and crawled up on his shoulder. He wanted to brush it off, but those teeth and claws looked deadly. It looked him in the eye its eyes were dark and big like a cat's eye in the night time. All of a sudden something in Billy's mind shifted. The creature turned in what seemed was slow motion and flew at the man's face. The man jumped back screaming as it tore at him. First, an eye was ripped out as the thing savaged the man who screamed clawing at the little creature. He watched the man go down in horror, but he felt energy coursing through him like never before.
It seemed his body was working without his control running on instinct as he jumped at the man, his simple stick whirling through the air. It caught the man under the chin and he flipped backwards, blood spewing from his mouth. Billy didn't even notice as more men came through the doorway and entered the fray, he was beyond realization everything was a blur. Something smac
ked him in the side of the head, he whirled around to put the broken end of his stick through a man's eye.
More men in the doorway as he beat another man back. Deep down, he knew he couldn't win this fight. The strange little creature beside him was fighting like a wild thing however, and in unison, they tore at the men around them there was a feral smell in the air and Billy could taste the death, as his stick smashed a man's head into a pulp. He jumped through the air, grabbing a sword from a man's hand, and a head rolled eerily in darkness, and confusion of torches and moonlight. He couldn't help but glory in the sheer power that was coursing through him.
Now he saw genuine fear in the eyes of the next man as he lopped off his head. The little creature ripped a man’s throat wide open and jumped onto the next as the former man fell choking.
There was pandemonium now, as the men began to realize what they were up against. Some were trying to push their way back out the door as their comrades outside were trying to push their way in, unaware of what was really happening.
Then of a sudden, there was a new commotion, and several of the men at the doorway were ripped away screaming, several men burst into flame. Billy heard yelling from outside. More men crashed into the building.
As he and the creature continued fighting the small horde. He grabbed a small hand ax and started in on another man. The room was suddenly alight as men came rushing in but their backs were to him and he killed everyone he could.
Light flashed again and a man near him burst into flames. All of a sudden Zhoulin was there, her fire and sword trick in full use. Now he knew how she had defeated those guards as man after man, burst into screaming flames. Brother Dog was there as well, swinging his sword, killing easily in the bedlam of the now crowded room.
There was yelling and what sounded like cursing as Uncle appeared hurling men aside with some kind of spell Billy had never seen before. His new magic rod glowing a deep blue he had an odd look in his eye as if he wasn’t in his right mind then the flicker died out. It was odd it was like for that one moment it wasn’t uncle at all but a younger more powerful being.
The Jewel of Nirune (The Sword of Time Book 1) Page 16