by Brian Nyaude
2
The screeching noise of the night creatures woke me violently. I got up to my feet quickly and realized I had slept past the night. How could I have been so careless? With a duo of treasure dogs on my tail, I had to keep moving. The only problem is that I was lost. I scratched my head a little bit, confused and tired like a slave. My body had not yet fully recovered from my recent encounter. I felt my muscles stiffen up whenever I moved my legs. Every part of my body was screaming in agonizing pain. I pried my mind away from it and focused on my surroundings. Where was I to be precise? At night, even the most experienced huntsmen could get lost through the deep forests of Yogo. But it was dawn now, so it wasn’t as bad to see what was around me. Dragging my feet, I began to move East in the opposite direction at a slow steady pace. My head felt like a watermelon and it throbbed very hard frequently. I wanted to stop and rest; however, I couldn’t. As long as the dogs were after me, I couldn’t afford to relax and sleep. By now, Paul and Tye were halfway to Okaya waiting for me somewhere along the way. I smiled at the thought of us reunited and saying stupid jokes to each other. Thinking back, I really wished I had voiced my opinion and stopped them from going forward with their plan to rob the caravan. No doubt, our actions were going to change our future in a good or bad way. I halted and looked up in every direction. Was I going east or north? I was definitely lost and possibly going in circles.
The trees all looked the same in every direction I looked. Nonetheless, I had to keep moving until I reached Okaya and met up with my friends. Finally, I came to the end of the dark forest and gazed further along the road. A band of caravans were approaching steadily across the road headed in the east direction. What great fortune!
Limping and dizzy, I proceeded towards them only to fall down before I could reach them. There were so close and yet so far. I had to yell in order to get their attention. Oddly enough, they weren’t normal nomads I was accustomed to. More like soldiers and merchants guarding something very priceless and valuable. What could it be? What were they guarding? There were quite a few dozen of them and all heavily armed with swords, crossbows, and long spears. In my current condition, I couldn’t afford to ambush them since I needed their aid.
“Help,” I screamed at the top of my voice from the ground
They noticed me and stopped. At first they were reluctant to approach me because to them a possibility it was a trap were great. Very smart in my opinion!
I gazed up at them and smiled hoping to prove to them that I wasn’t a threat. There was no response to my gesture for a few seconds. It was then, one is them approached and poked me with a spear. Ow! That really hurt more than the fatigue that I was feeling. What kind of response was this? Didn’t they consider me a human or did they think I was just playing dead?
“He is still alive,” the man with the spear yelled to the others.
“Of course I am you fool!” I snapped at him.
How else could I have called out to them like I had? There was a lot of commotion between the men as they were deciding my fate.
“Please someone save me from these idiots,” I whispered silently.
They were well organized and armed, but certainly looked like imbeciles to me. I got a frightening chill at the thought of putting my life into their hands. What was to become of me?
“Put him with the others,” one of the men said. He looked like the boss or man in charge. For some reason he had a whip in his hands and he was sitting on a chair with four people carrying the end of it. Wait a minute!
“A whip, people chained down, and multiple guards!”
It took me a short second to put the pieces together and figure out exactly who these people were. As soon as I did I tried to make a run for it, but my body was too weak to move anymore. These people were not nomads, but slave traders coming from a country called Danku. They captured people and sold them for labor, entertainment and even food. How could I have been so stupid? I had to leave somehow before I became one of their thousands of victims. Beyond a doubt, an impossible task to accomplish at the moment. It was through sheer will power that I could keep my eyes open at all. Every part of my body had gone numb and stiff from pain. Two men approached me and raised me up roughly, dragging me towards their caravan. They opened a large caged caravan door and threw me inside, without any mercy or remorse and closed it shut tight. There was hardly any room inside, but that all didn’t matter to me. In that moment they put me down I instantly fell asleep, it was uncomfortable, and yet peaceful.
(6 years ago)
“Riyo come quickly at once,” my mother said.
She was faintly smiling like usual as she grabbed my curtains and opened them to let the light in.
I got out of the sheets and headed towards my mother.
“Your father wishes to see you at once,” she said fixing my clothes.
What was this all about early in the morning that demanded my presence? I was arrogant and didn’t do anything unless I was asked to by either my father or mother. They were the only people I listened to, everyone else was just amusement for my pleasure. I sighed out loud and put on my shoes slowly. For father to call me, it must have been really serious. Quickly, I moved through the castle headed outside to meet my father. So early in the morning, everything around me was barely visible. There was an ominous fog surrounding the castle, limiting my gaze beyond what was in front of me. I yawned out loud as I thought of just retreating back to my bed and pretending like my mother had not informed me. Wait, something was hidden in the mist. It was a feeling I had in my stomach. I tensed my body down and looked in every direction in sheer anticipation. All of sudden, a short combat blade appeared out of nowhere coming towards me from the left side. Someone had thrown it aiming for my chest. Thanks to my harsh training, I barely managed to avoid a fatal hit as I ducked and rolled out of its way. I couldn’t see who had thrown it and why so early in the morning.
“You call yourself the future King of Rogue?” a voice spoke from within the mist.
It was one person I disliked the most who would do such a thing against me. I could recognize this voice even from miles away literally speaking of course.
“Hello James,” I said sounding calmly, brushing dirt off my chest. “Yes I am the future king of Rogue, something that you will never be, not in a million years.”
“Well Riyo, I will let you in on a secret. The future is unpredictable, you might become the king or you might not. If I were you I would watch my every step from now on carefully.”
“Is that a threat James?”
“No Riyo, just a bit of brotherly advice. Take it any way you see fit.”
A boy with black hair and red sidelines came out of the shadow. As usual he had a mean face that would scare most people. To my father he was the ideal figure for a Rogue king. There was something sinister about my stepbrother I noticed since we had become siblings. My father had married again and had two wives, my mother and his. Even though we had stayed together for a decade we had never gotten along not even once. However, there was one thing we both shared in common and that was to win Daphne’s affection. James tried to kill me not once, but numerous times when he saw me walking with Daphne. She was the daughter of the chief of arms in Rogue and the only girl our age allowed in the palace. The servant girls were too old for us and a bit boring if you would ask me. Daphne was different. I enjoyed being in her company even though half the time I didn’t know what she was talking about. She would sometimes zone out and just stare into the sky whenever you were in a middle of a conversation. And like the rest of Rogue she had an anger management problem. When she snapped no one was safe.
“Riyo what were you doing?” my father spoke to me from inside the fog. “You can’t allow yourself to be caught off guard by anyone not even in the comfort of your own home.”
So early in the morning I didn’t feel like using any part of my brain to do anything mentally challenging and definitely physically straining.
; “Come on father it’s too early in the morning and I don’t feel like working up a sweat,” I whined out loud yawning at the same time.
Suddenly I felt a rage build up from within the fog. Father seemed angry with me, I could tell without having to see his face. It was followed by a loud growl that almost shook the sky apart. I moved away sensing the impending danger slowly. My father was the most dangerous man in Rogue when angered. His wrath brought forth destruction of catastrophic proportions and it seemed I had seriously angered him.
“The next time I wish for a son someone please give me a sword instead,” my father yelled at the top of his lungs.
Okay! That really hurt, I think everyone in Rogue heard that remark. James was laughing in tears which really bothered me. As the fog cleared up I could now see my father’s face clearly. His eyes were glowing red with anger like he had finally snapped. In Rogue when people snapped it was best to just run and avoid death at all cost. My father pulled out his short sword and came out after me. He moved in fast with his sword raised up high. My eyes almost popped out in shock. I quickly turned around and started to flee. Father chased me all over the palace and into the inner-city. It was nice to be finally outside the palace walls, but what soiled my joyful nature was my father’s intent to kill and him also calling me an ungrateful son in public.
“Wake up,” someone said shaking me roughly.
The voice belonged to one of the slave traders. I opened my eyes and saw that I was still in the crowded caravan and I had been shackled. My neck and muscles felt stiff like I hadn’t moved in days while my stomach growled painfully. Just how long had I been asleep? It now seemed my past life was beginning to resurface in forms of dreams whenever I closed my eyes to sleep. Almost every night for the past few weeks, I relived every part of my past life detail for detail, and it tormented me deeply. Maybe I really did miss home. I truly wished there was a way I could turn back time and make everything right. Yes! If there was a way I would find it, I was not about to give up despite the obstacles that lay ahead of me. Putting my thoughts aside, I turned my head sideways and looked around at my new surroundings. The sun on my left side was about to set beyond the horizon as it lit a colorful pattern throughout the sky.
“Where are we?” I asked one of the slaves who were next to me while rubbing my left wrist constantly to ease the itching pain.
The cold chains were so tight they were peeling our skins off. The slave next to me was an old man. He was in his ripe old age and he looked like he was suffering from a bad case of malnutrition. Not just him, but almost all of them. I could see the shape of their bones, there was hardly any meat on them. It seemed like they hadn’t eaten in weeks.
“This is Rigudaya the city next to Okaya,” the old man said.
He started panting heavily after saying that. Clearly he didn’t even have a lot of energy left to even speak. What horrible monsters these slave traders were. Why was such an atrocity left unchecked and allowed to continue? The bad things that happened in Danku were among some of the other heinous things to happen after the appearance of the Rainku. The world was descending into turmoil and those monsters were to blame for all of this. I could only hope one day someone powerful enough would rise up and stop those fiends before it was too late. A noise distracted me and I turned my head back to look behind. Rigudaya seemed to be a very busy city from what I could see. Merchants and traders from all over the world were gathered to buy, sell, and trade stuff. There was also a horrible stench in the air all over Rigudaya. I tried to close my nose, but the smell was just too strong. I overheard one of the merchants say that there was a terrible accident that had befallen the city mine a day before we had arrived. A lot of people had died and some had claimed to have gotten strange powers while others claimed mental hallucinations. According to another miner who claimed he was down there, the Rainku had opened the white water mist in effort to attain great power. However, things had not gone according to their plan. Which might explain this terrible stench engulfing the city and spreading fast everywhere. They were fools in my eyes. My whole world was filled with them. There were even instructions from ancient times warning people not to temper with the mist and yet they had ignored them. I noticed some of the merchants leaving as the strong smell of the mist began to thicken heavily everywhere. This was not good for any of us at all. It seemed to also contain a poison too inside because a few of the captives alongside me were collapsing from being exposed to it. I was affected too, but fortunately I didn’t collapse like the others.
“Everyone try to hold your breath,” the old man next to me whispered to the other captives. What! Those words seemed pretty vain to me. It was futile to hold our breath because there was no telling when the mist would disappear.
“Trust me on this,” he reassured us.
I still didn’t listen to him. In my mind I had already given up hope and realized that I was going to die here. All of sudden, a wormhole or black abyss as we called it opened right close to our position in the center of the city. It was the size of a small pond and growing in size and power slowly. I had never seen one up so close, only in books and stories. It swallowed down everything around it and we seemed to be on its next list of fatalities. I doubted that this wormhole was on a strict diet so that meant we had to act fast to save ourselves. The guards who were stationed near the door of the caravan fled giving us a chance to get out of the crowded caravan. Some of the captives who could still move grabbed the ones who had fallen unconsciousness and dragged them out of the caravan to seek refuge away from the strong winds. What on earth was going on? Something like this was very unusual and just downright creepy. Without warning, I felt my eyes become itchy and painful, a kind of sensation that deserved my utmost attention. One problem, my mobility was limited due to my shackles binding me. I wanted to rub them, but couldn’t, not unless I could somehow break these chains that bound me like a slave. I could barely see now as it seemed something was affecting my sight. Although, there was one good thing happening in our favor. The strange mist, it was weakening due to the effects of the dangerous wormhole close to our location. Still our situation did not changed one bit. We were in trouble because the wormhole kept getting bigger and stronger. Its destructive power unrivaled, none of us could do anything but hold on tightly for dear life. It was embarrassing enough that I had managed to get myself caught by slave traders without putting up a fight, but now I had regained my strength and still I wasn’t putting up a fight. The thought of it all only further angered me into remorse. A whirl of a scream passed by close to my ears, I looked up to see who it belonged to. It was then I noticed some of the slave traders being swept away into the dark abyss. It was a frightening sight that I looked away. Were we going to survive this?
“Everyone keep holding on and don’t let go,” the old man yelled.
I felt sorry for him. He must have been fatigued from all that yelling. His strength was failing him and yet he did not stop caring for his fellow captives even though we all barely knew each other. I had to trust in him, I didn’t see any option other than do what he said. We kept hanging on for more than half an hour. A few objects came our way like swords, shields, guards and even house windows and somehow we all managed to evade them thanks to the old man’s instructions. I think he could see into the future or something like that and I was really sure of it. On second thought, if he could see into the future how in his right mind had he gotten himself caught by these Danku slave traders? Suddenly, I felt the strong winds start to disappear into the air slowly. It appeared as if the wormhole was losing its power and vanishing. I could not explain what just had happened and asking others about this seemed somewhat stupid. I mean who could explain any of this? Not me, that’s for sure!
To be honest, I don’t think I wanted to know the truth in the matter, it seemed rather knotty. Finally, I released my grasp from the poll I had held onto for dear life and stood straight up. The others followed suit, gathering what they could from t
he wreckage. The city looked deserted now. Not a plain merchant or citizen in sight. The remainders were slaves and guards who had failed to escape in time. I walked closer to the guards and noticed that they were in terrible condition. Their wounds looked deep, requiring immediate attention as soon as possible.
“Yes there is justice in this world,” I whispered to myself not wanting anyone to hear.
I did feel some sympathy for the fools, but not a lot. They deserved their fate because trading and selling humans was a sin and just pure evil. With my limited vision, I managed to spot a key next to one of the slave guards’ sword sheath. I limped towards him and extended my arm to grab a hold of it. Using my left hand, I took his key and yanked it away roughly. In that instant, he woke up and tried to stop me by grabbing my hand. But I managed to break free and hit him with my elbow on the head rendering him unconscious. I quickly freed myself and threw the key to the other captives. With this deed, my debt to the old man had been repaid. I owed him debt of gratitude for helping me during the bizarre wormhole incident. That being said, I had never seen anything like it before. What could have caused it? Was it an illusion or a work of magic or some other unnatural force? Seeing those flying swords, shields, and windows almost made me pee my pants. Well, that nightmare was over, best not to linger in the past. I reckon it was time to head for Okaya and rejoin my companions. I sat down for a little bit and relaxed my arms and legs. The road to Okaya was rough and I was going to need all my strength if I was to make it there.