Relonor's Journal

by River Gheuens

  “Nope. Sorry Alex. You know me,” Naujee said, as she was batting her eyes while showing off a little smile.

  “Father, we found them. Lexi is hurt, which the medics have her. The hunting band was dead. Some people in metal wagons attacked us. We ran,” Zalm cut in curtly, as his chin dipped a little, while his eyes were cast down to the dirt in a show of respect.

  “What colors were these others dressed in?” Naujee and Morgan yelled out together, as their minds came to a thought, at the same time. The same thought. See? Weird, I tell you.

  “Green,” Zalm instantly reported.

  “Not one of the Gypsies,” Morgan almost whispered. This was lost to me at that moment, but it left me curious on the other Romani secrets.

  Naujee replied in a voice which seemed to come from far off, “No. It is not the way of the Gypsies to attack first.”

  Thomas looked to Zalm before asking quietly, “Show us. W..w..wait, G..g..gypsies? What a..a..are you on about now,” Thomas’ head was turning to Naujee as he asked her the question.

  She smiled at him while she batted her eyelashes, before waving her hand to show Thomas the matter was closed for debate and discussion, as she usually did when she would not talk more on a subject. As I have said, the Romani hold their secrets to themselves.

  The group walked towards Father Sea, which is a rock garden, in the center of the courtyard. There were wood timbers, which had been cut long ago, surrounding the rock garden. The small silver stones flowed throughout the garden with four, five hand high by six hands long stones. Those bigger stones reflected back the light and images. They were said to be the villages of our land, which effectively made this a map of our lands.

  I followed them as Nikki, a small brown and tan wolf, jogged past to catch up with Zalm.

  Those with disabilities, like me, are not assigned a formation when an alarm is set. We wander to find the place where we belong. Alexandrew explained it as a person, who has scars, may feel out of place, and with letting them choose where they want to be, it adds to their confidence. This made me feel safe, being in the middle of the village. My sight is not what it used to be. Fine, it is more, but it is so different and confusing. To add to my wandering, I am a Samurai. I would be one of the first to deal with this problem.

  The only other Samurai, who was in the village, was paying close attention with his bodyguards, as my bodyguards payed attention from their positions around me. They had melted into the group without a sound. It spoke volumes to their stealth capability.

  We all knelt at the North side of Father Sea, while Zalm walked into the rock garden towards Groenplaats representation. He stopped eight hands North from Groenplaats. “Here is where we found the party. And here,” he stuck his finger just North of his boot, “Is where the metal conveyances were.”

  He looked at Nikki, as he locked his eyes with her ice blue eyes, after she trotted up to him in Father Sea. His face softened while he spoke in a growling voice, “They follow us. The conveyances with their burning pitch. Not far.”

  “Rahat! Why did you not tell us sooner? Heh?” Naujee yelled as her free hand flew to rub her forehead.

  Completely ignoring Naujee’s outburst, Thomas asked while he petted his wolf’s neck, “This is what your wolf showed you son?”

  “Yes,” Zalm answered simply.

  “Focus primarily on the North for defense! East and West beware of maneuvering enemies!” Alexandrew yelled to the defenders. He had not raise his head while he looked into Father Sea. More quietly, he added to us, “We must be ready to retreat. Send runners to the other lands, while sending the ones incapable of battle with the children to Centraleplaats?”

  “Agreed,” Naujee replied instantly.

  Thomas looked thoughtful for a moment and stuttered out, “A..a..agreed. Do we s..s..stand and fight?”

  Naujee let her words roll out of her mouth with a smile to her lips “Hells yea! I do not plan on laying down while fighting Thomas. That is just stupid. I mean, really, who would not stand to fight?” I smirked to myself, while I silently translated the conversation with my hands, before adding at the end of the translation for Spencer, ‘Spencer would.’

  We all chuckled at the joke Naujee had made, while my bodyguards and I laughed at the truth of my added words. In the most stressful moments, Naujee throws out jokes like they grew on her tongue.

  “Smoke on the North horizon! Smoke! North,” Vadoma cried out in warning for everyone. The towers on the West and East copied her cries towards the southern people of the village.

  Grand Master Alexandrew stood while his jaw set, “Well then, Thomas, gather the ones who can not fight and head to Centraleplaats. Zalm, take control of the defensive force to the North. Naujee, send your fastest riders to the other lands, then take your people to support Zalm at the North defense. I will coordinate with the archers.”

  I swear he must have practiced this in front of a mirror. Maybe he read it in the tomes of the Old People, or the tomes from before the Eruption. It sounded like what a general would have said to his men in one of those World War Two tomes.

  Everyone followed his commands, as he was the Eldest of the village. The only thing which would change his order is if a Shogun countermanded the order, and they were willing to die for countermanding the order. The title of Shogun was meant for only one battle, as there must be a limit to the power one can reach for. Only once in our history has there been a Shogun, who died for taking the power to lead the battle. That was over six hundred years past.

  Chaos broke out with people moving towards the North. I let Father Sea pull me into a meditation. I let my left hand fall to the saber on my left hip, while my right hand fell to the rapier on my right hip. I felt calm flow through my mind, as the meditation was cutting out the thoughts of why, the thoughts of doubt and my insecurities from my mind, to let them fall away from my thoughts.

  I let time slip away as I listened to the wind. She is strong, yet fluid, in her sound. I could hear a rumble like a pack of wolves ready to fight, of metal grinding on metal, like that of sharpening a blade, and of an oily bubbling in the distance. Then the air screamed as a massive explosion rang through the air.

  My eye popped open, as they had closed while I centered myself in my meditation. I turned while I stood, as I had been the last one kneeling by Father Sea. Everyone else had abandoned me to carry out their tasks. Spencer, papa, Ben and Peter, my bodyguards, stood in an outward guard position from me. I focused my eye on the North watchtower, as I was ready for a report.

  The watchtower exploded. Vadoma, who had been turning to yell out a report, was flung from the watchtower. Her body was limp and flailing, like a leaf in the wind.

  My stomach turned to ice, while my skin felt like it was on fire. The feeling felt like I was burning away my skin, while I froze inside.

  I heard David, my hawk, screeching in pain from the sky, far above the village. Everything in my mind turned to black and pain. I reached out to Vadoma as she fell to the ground ,while my vision turned to shades of blue.

  Entry 2

  14 Hours Before

  Groenplaats

  I sat up on my sleeping mat. I tried rubbing the sleep from my eyelids. Finally! It was meditation day with Grand Master Alexandrew and Elder Thomas. I have been on the list to see them for months, since the medical people said it was safe to start training again, with there being nothing left to do for my left eye. I needed someone to talk to about my eyes and the magik I have found. They were the prized instructors of magik philosophy of Groenplaats, who only saw pupils one day out of the seven. What I mean to say is, they have a very good grip on natural sciences and maybe, can come up with other theories than I have been able to produce. While I lost one of mine, I think I can postulate that I actually exchanged it with some kind of magik of the Old People. It being magik, as we yet to understand the science behind the phenomena.

  I sighed into the darkness, with just the hints of white showing from my breath. It illum
inated the way for me, behind my closed right eyelid. I looked towards the window, to see the wind slipping through the cracks of the shutters.

  I got up out of my sleeping mat, before I slowly stretched. I made sure the quilts did not try to kill me again, by intertwining themselves between my feet. That would lead to a epic struggle with gravity, before leading to my death on this wooden floor. It has happened before.

  Walking slowly in the darkness, a darkness which was so complete in it’s absolute blackness were no light shone to interrupt the darkness, I moved towards the window. In front of the window, there was a table, upon which sat the lamp. Carefully, I raised the glass cover before setting it to the side, as I tried to be as quiet as possible. I did not want to wake Vadoma or Spencer in the next rooms, or papa, Ben or Peter in the room to the other side. Though Spencer is deaf, so maybe, I need to take her off that list. Though she always knew what was going on, so, she goes back onto that list.

  I took the flint and steel carefully into my hands, from where they laid upon the desk. I watched as the wind flew around the wick, while I positioned the flint and stone near the wick. Deftly, I struck the flint to the steel, which produced a tiny rasp and spark. The wick burst into flames, as it cast the room into a soft light.

  “Thank you, Mother Spark, for the light you bestow unto us,” I whispered to the flame, as it is the traditional thanks we give when lighting a fire.

  It was still dark outside, way before the morning bell, which would signal the start of the day. I was fully awake now, as I was too excited to sleep. Finally, I would get to talk to two of the most wise instructors of these days. Our magik is nothing compared to the Old People. I hoped these instructors had answers for me. They had wizards whom could throw fire, wagons which flew through the air, avatars of the gods whom took spirits to their final resting place, and Gunslingers whom roamed the world setting wrongs to right with their Widow Makers. At least, this is what the tomes in the Centraleplaats Repository tell us. So, in theory, they could help finish my theory about this magik I had found.

  I looked around the sparse room with my normal vision which the lantern’s light supplied to the room. Besides the desk with a chair slid underneath it by the sleeping mat, there was a mirror in the corner with a weapons rack next to the mirror, and by the wash basin, a chamber pot sat on the floor. Two shelves held my clothes on them with the armor stand sitting next to the shelves which held my Kikko gambeson armor. The walls were bare wood planks except for a hook by the door which held my sword belt.

  I went to the shelves to retrieve a nice black chemise and black pants, as they were the only ones on the shelf. I slipped out of my sleeping chemise, before quickly slipping into the clean chemise, then the pants. I folded the sleeping chemise, before I put it in place of the chemise I had taken.

  I walked over to the my Kikko armor, which is a heavy quilted vest, with metal plates sewn into the inside of the vest in an overlapping pattern, with metal rings which held the plates together. This would keep any weapon from penetrating the armor. I would not need my full armor for today, but I felt safe in my Kikko gambeson vest. I slid it on before lacing up the front. I did not use the buttons, as today my armor would be underneath my doublet. I would need to take in the slack of the armor. Lacing, instead of buttoning, the armor would take in the slack of the vest.

  I left the rest of the armor on the stand while I slipped on my dark burgundy and black doublet. I buttoned up the front, before I retrieved the sleeves. I had to tie each sleeve onto the doublet before buttoning the first layer of cloth over my arms. The second layer of the sleeves hung like a cloak for my arms, from where it was tied to the doublet, which gave the sleeves a flowing feel. They were used when it was cold, although, it would not be cold on this late autumn day.

  I looked into the mirror as I straightened the doublet, before dipping my hands into the wash basin, to wash my face of the residual sweat from my night terrors. The night terrors of the blade coming in to take my eye. After I pulled the towel on the side of the wash basin, I dried my face.

  I did not think that I was overly beautiful. My brown eye stared over my face. My left eye was an empty socket, with a lot of scaring around it. A delicate, slightly upturned nose, bushy eyebrows and a round jaw stared back at me. I pulled my black hair behind my head, while using a cord of rope to tie back my hair from my face.

  I walked to my sword belt, which hung on a hook by the door. Hefting it in a swift motion, I pulled the belt behind me, as my fingers found each end of the belt. I pulled it around my waist, while cinching the belt in the process. I reached behind me to the swords on the belt. I pulled each one, the left being my grandfather’s saber, and the right being my rapier, to my hips. I straightened out the frogs, which hung off from my belt, which held my main gauche behind my back on the ideal angle, so when drawn, the main gauche would easily come free.

  Still dark. I have gotten myself all excited, and it will be hours before they see me. I guess I could always walk out to Father Sea to meditate. I have been doing a lot of that, since I lost my eye. Meditation, to look into myself and understand myself, to quiet all the voices in my head, is what I sought. Once I thought I had known myself, but eight months ago that perception of myself was shattered.

  I lost my fucking eye for what I thought was right, for being who I am! Angry tears fell down my face, as I was not able to control the anger which the thought brought to me.

  “Just be,” Vadoma whispered from a memory of the night before. “Who you were, or who you will be does not matter to me. Just be you in the now.” Spencer’s hands had agreed with the wench.

  My anger subsided as I let out a sigh, with a smile to my lips. Vadoma. I cared for her deeply. That is the truth. Her words held deep wisdom. I missed her so much, but she insisted we sleep in different rooms while in Groenplaats. She had said something about not wanting everyone in the village to know what we were up to.

  I slipped on my boots as I slid them side to side, so the metal plates fell into place around my foot and shin. I nimbly laced up the boots on the side. These are the traditional ones worn by us. They were boots made for running fast, not to protect your feet from a sword. Though they did have some protection woven into them. The heavily plated boots were atrocious for my foot work, when I needed to do something which required dexterity with my feet.

  I walked over to the table to take a piece of dried bison meat off of it. I closed my eyelid over my good eye as I watched for a moment how the air flew around the wick, before she flowed into flame, then rose to the ceiling. Bending slightly at the waist, I blew out the lamp, as I watched the wind blow across the wick. She snuffed out the flame while taking the hot air away.

  I reached out between the shutters, above the desk, to flick the little bar which was holding them closed. The bar went around, before the bar hit the underside of the lock with a tiny clink. I opened the window. With my eyelid still shut, I watched as the wind came into the room, as she showed me the surfaces of everything in a gray white light. The cracks of the walls turned a bright white, as she found the holes to slip between the planks.

  I still would not give up my eye for this beautiful sight, but I could accept this.

  I walked over to the door as I followed the wind to the door. Unbarring the door, I opened it to watch the wind rush through the door, as she was almost singing in the fact of she was free to explore the hallway beyond. Walking out of the room while securing the door, I flipped the red sign, which hung on the door, to the green side.

  While we each have our own rooms, or a joint room if you have a partner or partners and children, we use signs on the doors to warn people if the room is occupied or unoccupied. If a fire ever broke out, it was the best way to clear the building quickly, rather than searching each room.

  I opened my eye while looking to my left at the candle, which burned on a little shelf, which was half way down the hall. It was layered with black wax and iron nails. Each layer of wax would burn for an
hour before a nail would fall. There were two nails left, with the flame starting into the second to last layer. The candle told me it was about two hours before sun’s rise.

  I turned right, as I walked past my Spencer’s, father’s, Ben’s and two other rooms, before coming to a door which led outside. We had quarters on the first floor, so I did not have to worry about the ladders or stairs, which went to the second or third floor. The medical people said it was not safe for me to be on any other floor than the ground, as I might fall if I miss a rung or a stair. Granted with one eye, it is hard to distinguish distance. It is not common knowledge of how I see things with the wind.

  Light from the moons played over the village, which was arranged in a circle fashion, with Father Sea sitting in the middle. Teepees were arranged between the buildings and Father Sea, as the Tribe of the Wolf live with the village.

  The Tribe of the Wolf do all the hunting and scavenging of herbs and wild things. They help with the fields. They studied the life sciences and are masters of the things which grow and live. Clan Dieren are people who are skilled with the medical arts. They help with the fields. The difference in our peoples are the specialties we have studied. While I have not studied the medical or life sciences, I am good with natural sciences, as I studies them when I went to Groenplaats.

  We live in harmony with each other, while we want for nothing. If you do not have something, you go to the market building, where people leave what they have made, grown, harvested or do not need. Of course for armor, clothing, shoes or weapons, you can have it made for you, though you must wait until it is your turn to make a request, unless you were a Samurai. The protection of our villages comes before the needs of the people. Everyone chips in to do the work when it is needed, especially in harvest season. The entire village, be you of Clan, Tribe or Romani, helps in the harvesting. The same is applied for building of a building, or raising of a teepee. Though, the teepees are much quicker to raise than a building.