by Ryan Sova
Fargh read the look on his brothers face. “What’s wrong?” he asked in concern.
“I’m not taking one step closer to that woman!” Eliak stated loudly. Eliak continued, “Can’t you feel it, Fargh?”
“Feel what?” Fargh asked now confused.
“There is something wrong with that woman, there is something REALLY wrong with her!” Eliak stated now, almost in a frenzied panic.
The Sorcerer approached Eliak, clearly startled by the exchange that he had just had with Fargh. “Does this woman frighten you?” the sorcerer asked Eliak. He looked deeply into Eliak’s eyes when he talked to him and studied his response intently.
“No she doesn’t frighten me. She scares the SHIT out of me!” Eliak responded.
The sorcerer now turned his full attention to Nephal. “And what about you, does she frighten you too?”
Nephal was so blinded by fear that he almost couldn’t think of an answer. He simply nodded and said, “Yes.”
“Hmmmmm. Interesting, very interesting,” the sorcerer said quietly to himself. The sorcerer spoke to both Nephal and Eliak, “You two could be very useful,” he said in a quiet tone.
The sorcerer then turned to another soldier in the group and spoke to him in a loud voice, “Captain Ollendar, these two are coming with us.”
CHAPTER 6
Upon awakening, Garry laid frozen in his bed. He didn’t want to believe what his dream had just told him. Over the last few weeks, his dream world had been his escape from all this strange unexplainable horror. He was just starting to get used to a life where he didn’t have to fear going to sleep. This dream ended all of that. They're linked, Garry realized as his conscious mind started taking over. The dreams that I have been having these past few weeks, they’re linked somehow to what is going on right now. Garry could scarcely even begin to comprehend how some ancient world with swords, shields, and sorcery could be in any way related to the events going on right now in 2017, Norfolk Virginia. But it is real, somehow it is just as real as any other murder vision I have ever had. This new knowledge frightened Garry more than anything else he had faced thus far since these strange feelings and dreams started a little more than a month and a half ago. Garry was still no closer to figuring out why these people were so frightening, though, or how many more of them he could expect to encounter. He was also no closer to learning the truth about the Dalen, Sarah case either. The only thing that he did know of a surety is that there is some REAL reason to be frightened of these people, a knowledge that didn’t offer Garry any sort of comfort.
After several minutes of contemplating the events of last night’s dream, Garry got up and went to the kitchen to get himself some breakfast. He immediately noticed what was on the table when he reached the kitchen. It was the pictures and case file for the high-speed accident and drowning that occurred two nights ago. Detective Grant was going to want to know if Garry had any information on this case yet. As Garry started thinking about how he was going to explain his dream to the detective, though, he became more unsure than ever about what he was going to say. I could just tell him that I didn’t see anything, Garry thought. It was true, at least about the police case it was. But then, Garry knew that he would ask him about his farming dream, something that Garry did not feel comfortable talking about, and for good reason. What am I going to tell him, Garry asked himself? That there is some REAL reason that we should all be concerned about all the random people that freak me out for no reason at all? Even a twelve-year-old-girl that I cussed out in my store just two weeks ago? And why is that, he might ask? Oh, because some SORCEROR from my dream world had some creepy person just like this all chained up!!!
Garry could not think about it any longer. There were plenty of examples in Garry’s past where he didn’t get any insight on a case after the first night due to the simple fact that he could not sleep. So there was no reason for Detective Grant to expect Garry to have any answers yet. After considering it in his mind a moment longer, Garry finally came to his conclusion. They can all just wait for me to make sense of all of this before I am going to tell them anything.
Garry’s morning was slow. He tried to do things to entertain himself, but the only thing that he could think about was his disturbing dream from last night. As today was Saturday, Garry didn’t even have work to distract him from the boring events of the day.
Finally, Garry started feeling tired as night approached. A whole entire day of mulling over this dream from last night was now finally just about over. He was unsure, though, whether to be frightened or excited about the prospect of sleep. There was one feeling, though, that he most certainly had in regards to tonight’s dream, curiosity. As frightening as it was, Garry’s dream was finally starting to cover something that might be of use to him in uncovering what is going on in his own life. He had no idea, though, if his dream was going to be giving him anymore answers about these strange creepy people. He hoped that with the level of interest that the Sorcerer had with Nephal and Eliak, that they might be getting some answers soon.
Garry started preparing himself for bed by getting a glass of water and pills for the morning, but then paused and reflected. I am not going to necessarily be dying in this dream. I am just going to be possibly facing some creepy people, which is something that I have to deal with anyways while I am awake. Garry decided that he was not, in fact, going to need those pills after all. He put them back where they came from and started preparing himself for bed.
****
Nephal woke up and gazed at his wife Debra. He knew that he didn’t have much longer to be with her. He didn’t know when he was going to be able to see his beautiful wife or even his child ever again after tonight.
When the sorcerer, a man he now knew as Atonick, decided that he and Eliak were coming to the capital with them, Nephal had begged him to let him say goodbye to his wife first before departing. He hadn’t expected anything to come from his pleadings, but to his surprise, Atonick actually agreed to delay their journey for one more night before departing, a surprisingly generous offer which allowed Nephal to return to his wife for one more night. Atonick’s generosity did not end there, though. He also hired four more farm hands to assist Debra, Jestal, and Gabriel in managing the farm in Nephal’s absence. These men were offered a substantial sum of money from the king's treasury in return for their service.
Atonick had told Nephal before they parted, “You're not a prisoner Nephal. The kingdom needs you and your friend Eliak more than you could possibly know. I will give you this time to say goodbye to your wife and I will also find you some more farm hands to manage the affairs of the farm in your absence. We don’t need you worrying about back home once we reach the capital. Trust me, there will be much more important things for you to worry about once we arrive and you are briefed on the current affairs of the kingdom.”
Nephal continued to lay in bed. There were still several hours left, he reckoned, until he had to leave to meet up with the detachment of soldiers. So he lay in bed watching his wife sleep quietly in bed beside him. After a short while, he was carried away back to sleep.
Nephal was awoken to the sound of pounding on the door. He opened his eyes and looked out the window. The sun hadn’t even begun yet to rise. Then Nephal remembered. The detachment of soldiers was leaving town well before the break of day, so he had made that clear the night before to the village Knocker and told him to adjust his coming accordingly.
Any established village, town, or city had a group of Knockers that were for hire. To be a Knocker, you needed to be very well trained in astronomy. People of this trade could track the movement of the stars and constellations in order to keep an accurate tracking of the passage of time at night. They also kept a number of hourglasses on hand as well, which were for use on cloudy nights where the night-time sky was not visible. Their preferred method of telling time, though, was through astronomy because to a trained eye, you could easily determine what time it was by just looking up at the stars.
Typically, using hourglasses to tell the time was a very meticulous and time-consuming task that required one to reset the timer continuously throughout the night and track how many times that the timer needed to be reset. Not only was this task meticulous and time-consuming, it was also prone to facing human error. Knockers would usually sleep during the day and remain awake throughout the night. They would then act as a human alarm clock for any person or family who hired them for their services.
In the Homestead village, the Knockers were used primarily by the merchants and store owners of the village. Occasionally, a farmer like Nephal would also request their services, but that was not usually the norm. Legend had it that in the capital city of Bragsdale, they used fancy mechanical clocks that were created by the sorcerers and their magic. These clocks could supposedly tell the time accurately throughout the day and night and would even let out a loud chime at a preset time in the morning if the clock’s owner wanted to get up that morning.
Nephal got up and answered the door. He greeted the man at his door and thanked him for his service (he had already paid him the night before). The man returned Nephal’s courtesy and left, satisfied that he had accomplished his job of waking Nephal up at the appointed hour.
Nephal returned to his bedroom and woke Debra up so that he could say goodbye to her before leaving. The two shared a long and tearful embrace before parting. Debra had wanted to come with Nephal to see him off but knew that she couldn’t. She was large with child now and knew that such a journey would be too much of a strain on her body.
The journey to meet up with the soldiers felt much longer than it actually was. Nephal had taken a horse to speed his journey, but still, it seemed unusually long. When am I ever going to see her again, he quietly wondered to himself as he rode to meet up with the soldiers?
The same horror feeling from yesterday accompanied the prisoner as Nephal approached her cage. The soldiers were now all gathered into formation. A little over twenty soldiers were formed up behind the prisoner cart with the same number in front. Leading the detachment of soldiers at the very front was Atonick (the sorcerer from yesterday), Captain Ollendar (the company commander), and Eliak. Everyone in the detachment was on foot with the exception of the soldier who was driving the prisoner cart, Atonick, who was on horseback, and Captain Ollendar, who was also on horseback.
Nephal continued to approach the detachment of soldiers and, as he drew closer, the feeling of horror intensified. While fighting to maintain his sanity, he took a moment to look down at his horse and marvel. Not even his horse was spooked by this woman.
“Nephal, over here!” Atonick yelled, signaling him to come and join them at the front of the detachment.
As Nephal’s horse carried him away from the prisoner's cart, the feeling of horror gradually subsided. At the front of the detachment, the horror feeling was only a slight discomfort, rather than the overpowering feeling that it was just moments before.
Atonick was in his mid-thirties and looked to be around the same age as Nephal. He carried a very friendly and jovial demeanor, but could be stern and even intimidating if he wanted to be. He had long blonde hair, blue eyes, and a clean-cut face. He had a thin, healthy figure but was not very muscular or athletic. He wore black robes that were embroidered with golden runes, just as he had worn yesterday.
Captain Ollendar was in his mid-sixties. He was completely bald, had green eyes, and carried a fierce commanding presence. He had a slim figure and was very muscular. Beneath his armor on his arms, legs, chest, and back were multiple scars from the many battles he had participated in over the years. The most noticeable of these was a large scar that covered the left side of his face. While the captain had never actually been in a war, the last war having ended just around the time that he was born. That by no means meant that soldiers never fought in battles. There were plenty of reasons that a soldier would be called to fight during times of peace. These reasons could range from family disputes, rioting, tracking down outlaws, fighting groups of bandits, rebel factions, wild animals, and so on. Captain Ollendar had been in the king's army for long enough to have become very seasoned in battle and, as a result, had become hardened because of it.
“Are we ready to go yet?” Nephal asked.
“Yes, we are all formed up and ready to go,” Captain Ollendar answered.
“Your friend Eliak was hoping that you were going to bring a horse,” Atonick said smiling.
After loading his bags on the horse's saddle, Eliak jumped onto the back of Nephal’s horse and took a seat right behind him, “Yes, the idea of traveling all the way to the capital city on foot was not very appealing to me.”
Nephal turned his head to Eliak smiling and said, “And what about Fargh, you're not at all worried about your brother having to walk all the way to the capital while you get to ride there in comfort?”
Eliak responded, “Oh well, that’s what he signed up for when he joined the army. As for me, I never made such an agreement and I don’t know about you Nephal, but I like my feet blister free.”
A voice from the formation of soldiers responded, “And what about the clout on the right side of your head that you're going to get the next time we stop, how do you feel about that big brother.”
“You have to catch me first!” Eliak yelled back with a smile.
“Oh no, I wouldn't want you to hurt your delicate feet,” Fargh responded.
“Quiet back there!” Captain Ollendar yelled.
Nephal looked back and observed the detachment of soldiers. Now that the overpowering fear had subsided, he could take in a better view of his surroundings. After observing the group that he was going to be traveling with for a few moments, he began to grow curious. There didn’t seem to be any wagons or heavy luggage anywhere that would normally be associated with a long trip such as this.
“Are we not bringing any provisions with us?” Nephal asked.
Captain Ollendar responded, “No need to, there are plenty of villages and towns between here and Bragsdale.”
“I am sure that the two of you will appreciate sleeping in a bed at night as opposed to a tent,” Atonick added.
The day progressed slowly. Shortly after starting his journey, Nephal was handed a water skin, of which he was very grateful for. Water it seemed was the only provision that this detachment had brought with them aside from their clothing. The soldiers who were marching in formation packed all of their personal luggage into bags. These bags were attached to a wooden pole they had slung over their shoulders and carried with them while they marched. Those who were fortunate enough to be on horseback had their bags attached to their horse's saddle, Nephal and Eliak included.
Cragword would be the next town that they would reach and was just over fifty miles away from the Homestead Village. Captain Ollendar hoped to reach this town by sundown, which meant that the soldiers on foot would need to keep a fast marching pace throughout the day. It wasn't hard to motivate them, though. Not reaching their destination would mean sleeping on the dirt with no meals for the day.
The Journey to Cragword ended up taking the detachment almost fifteen hours to complete. There was still just over an hour of daylight left when they arrived due to how early they started their journey.
Cragword was located on the bank of the Celsprine Lake. There were many lakes in the kingdom of Noah, but the Celsprine Lake was one of the largest in the kingdom. Cragword started off as a small fishing village and grew over time into a large and well-developed town.
Nephal had never left the Homestead village before, so as the town of Cragword started to come into view, he immediately noticed an immense difference from the village that he grew up in. For one, Cragword was at least six times the size of the Homestead village, as opposed to having all the shops in the village all lining the main road, as was the case in the Homestead Village. At Cragword, there were a number of streets that were located within the town that led to all the different shops and inns. The town had a total of three inn
s and a much larger array of shops than what the Homestead village offered to travelers. There were also a very large number of private homes that were located within the town limits as well. The western end of the town held the town’s fishing harbor along with many private fishing docks as well. With all of these differences though, there was still only one main road that ran through the town.
There was also another very important distinction between the Homestead village and Cragword. Cragword had no farms. Farmers could not live near Cragword, even if they wanted to because the terrain around the town would not have supported farming. The town was surrounded on three sides by water with the land east of Cragword being composed of mostly forest. The Celsprine Lake covered a much larger area than what could be seen from Cragword and filled much of the area to the north and south of the town. When Cragword was first founded, its builders chose the part of the lake that had the shortest crossing from east to west. The crossing by Cragword is only about a half-mile across as opposed to some parts of the lake that are more than twenty miles apart.
Almost two-hundred years ago, the kingdom undertook a massive endeavor and built a bridge that covered the span of this section of the lake. This bridge was constructed of a wooden walkway that was supported by steel posts and steel supports. It was built as a very large and sturdy bridge that could safely carry thousands of people over the Celsprine Lake without the need of ferries. The steel posts of the bridge were said to have been hammered into the floor bed of the lake by giants and the steel itself was made of a special alloy that never corroded. In the present day, this bridge has been incorporated into the main road.
Any time both day and night you could always spot fishing boats sailing in the Celsprine Lake, as fishing was what the people of Cragword were known for throughout the land. Anywhere in the kingdom, people always knew that if you wanted to try the best freshwater fish around, Cragword was the place to go.