4
I looked right quickly and noticed a person standing close by me. It was a man roughly my age dressed in a dark coat and with a three bladed sword on his back. The serious look in his eyes was enough to fog up the tension in the atmosphere. I instantly recognized him, although we didn’t talk when we were both slaves in Rigudaya. His presence had been the one that had been following me since Rigudaya and he was probably the person who had rescued me from the treasure dogs. He was light on his feet that much I’m certain and extremely fast. Strangely I could not tell when he had gotten behind me. Clearly he wasn’t someone to underestimate at all costs.
“Thanks for the assistance,” I said extending a hand of gratitude. “Where is Ken headed?”
He did not answer as he took his sword out and checked its sharp blades.
He took one glimpse of my arm and said, “nice tattoo.”
I wasn’t sure to thank him or be disgusted. I hated body art because it tarnished the body. Father always said, “a warrior must remain clean in mind and body otherwise he would fall into misfortune.”
I wonder what would happen if he saw it, probably his anger would rise past its peek causing him to disown me completely as his son. I mean if he hadn’t already done that.
“So you are here to help me get to Okaya?” I asked him stretching my numb leg.
He looked pretty occupied with the sky. It was as if he was expecting something. Could I honestly trust him? If Ken sent him then it meant my future was intertwined with his. Meaning what exactly?
“I owe Ken my life,” he responded without looking at me. “And for that I will accompany you to Okaya. Don’t get the wrong idea, I am only doing to repay my debt to him.”
That was great! It seemed I had gained a new traveling buddy and companion. At this point in my life, I couldn’t afford to be picky in who I made allies with.
“So what is your name?” I asked first. “My name is Riyo. But everyone calls me Rid.”
I told him a little about myself, although he didn’t look interested at all. Okay! It seemed this was the beginning of the worst friendship ever. We walked beside each other for a half a mile and none of us said a thing. Those were the worst few moments of my life. My runaway horse seemed like great company compared to him. He couldn’t talk, but at least he grunted to my bad jokes as if he understood. We kept going for a while without saying a thing. Suddenly a strange loud noise broke our silence and pace. I became a little scared and also curious to what was making that noise.
As the saying goes “curiosity killed the cat.”
I wondered if it was true. I had been fortunate all along, but now I wondered how long my luck would last. An animal came dashing out, it was my horse Tom. He had abandoned me and run ahead and yet now he was coming to apologize. I clearly thought that was the case; however, he was about to run past me when I stopped him by yanking the rope around his mouth. He was panicking and in a state of shock. Something had freaked him out and I wondered what it was? “We are not alone,” I said to my new companion.
It seemed he had already noticed too. “Do you always mention the obvious?” he hissed at me. “Wake up, this is the road to Okaya of course we are not alone.”
This guy was such a bunion! I would rather have been traveling with my horse or by myself. Unfortunately it seemed that was out of the option. Typical bunion dilemma! Bunion, a fine name for him considering how rude and difficult he was to be around.
“Calm your horse or he will draw attention,” he said taking out his sword from its sheath on his back. I hardly felt any presence around us, but up ahead there was definitely something.
“Just let him go already we are almost to Okaya,” the bunion hissed with eyes full of content.
Although I didn’t want to part with my horse, it seemed this was the most suitable option. Letting go off his rope was the hardest decision I had ever made. Tom was like a best friend I had ever had although we had known each other for half a day. Watching him run off the opposite direction made my heart splatter. People and animals were going to come and go and there was nothing I could do about that. That was the last lesson I felt he taught me before his shadow vanished going towards Rigudaya. The only things in my hand now were a sack with food and water and some kind of cotton cloak. I didn’t like the cloak, but I figured I might need it in case Okaya was a cold area.
“Let’s go already,” bunion said running cautiously ahead of me.
I didn’t know his name so I figured calling him “bunion” would fit well with his personality. As I followed behind, I felt a presence unlike anything I had ever felt before. It felt like an abyss, very dark and empty inside. I could not explain the feeling. It was an infuriating feeling of loneliness and sadness combined. What sort of madness was this? I stopped moving as I noticed something ahead. From the looks of things it could see me too.
“What do you see?” the bunion nudged me quickly. “There is something ahead isn’t there?”
I nodded not blinking. It was like the stare off competition all over again. Whatever it was, it was huge and massive and its frightening green eyes looked sinister.
“Let’s keep going,” bunion pushed me forward.
I think it was just a coincidence that our eyes met because it kept looking at that very same spot way after I left.
“Do we really have to go to Okaya this way?” I asked him rather trembling in my boots.
He nodded and kept moving. Not very much of a talker was he? I could respect that. There was nothing to be gained by helping me reach Okaya. I wondered what he was really after. Was it possible he knew I had the gauntlet? I couldn’t possibly come out and ask him because the chances of him telling me the truth were possibly zero. We were nearing the location of the thing I saw, and there were bones scattered all over the place. Somehow I figured it was its doing. There was also a foul stench of rotten flesh in the air. I could barely breathe as it was almost suffocating. The forest trees surrounding this place had been cut off, and the ground was completely smooth and dusty. We saw it finally, a creature of such magnitude. It was a tree giant. I thought they were extinct and yet here I was seeing it for the first time. The whole body was human; however, the hairs on its body were made from branches and tree. I had never thought of them as meat loving monsters, but then again I had been wrong on a lot of stuff.
“Let’s attack it now while its guard is still down,” bunion echoed creeping forward silently.
There was no cover for a long or short distance attack so it had to be done fast and straight for a vital organ. Wait! Something was not right. The ground beneath us was shaking a little. I could feel presence of creatures below our feet. It had been the giant’s presence I was concentrating on that I had ignored everything else in my surrounding.
“Stop,” I yelled to him getting off the smooth ground.
We had walked into a trap. I doubted it was intended for us to begin with. It was too late, I had yelled a little too late for comfort. The trap was in motion and we were now the prey. Strange creatures dug out of the smooth ground; they were averaged height creatures and roughly dressed in ragged shorts. There was something strange about the energy they were emitting that had me concerned. Their appearance was very intimidating and they barely looked human. Their ears were pointed, eyes with no emotion in them, and they also had tails on them with spikes on the end. A fight broke out and I could barely see what was going on from where I was hiding. Speed for speed they were neck to neck with that insensitive Bunion. There was just too many of them and he was barely holding them off. I had to help him, but what could I do? If I tried to help him I would only get in the way. Clearly my fighting skills were a joke and my weapon was barely sharp enough to cut a slice of bread.
In my dilemma, the only thing that came to mind was these words “Courage is power.”
I didn’t know why at such a moment, but they meant something. One of the creatures spotted me and so did a few. They came f
or me and I started running. At least my evading skills seemed to have been perfected from all the fleeing I had done in the past. As I ran for my life, I had a sudden flashback from my past. It was for an instant second, but I saw my family and then Daphne’ face. They looked at me with utter distaste of my cowardice. Why was I such a coward? Why didn’t I have the guts to fight? I stopped caring that a horde of monsters were behind me. An emotion I had held back for so long resurfaced. It was my anger. I had buried it down for so long that it was about to explode. The banishment, the tattoo, and all those bad things that had occurred to me only made it stronger. One of the creatures grabbed onto me. In that moment, I yanked it off and turned around quickly lashing out a kick so powerful, it split the creature in half. Everything stopped moving in my eyes as I began my offensive attack. It felt good to release all my anger at once onto them. I went into a daze where everything around was at my mercy and mine to destroy.
My speed seemed to have increased tenfold and so did my strength. Such power was beyond dreams and it was the reason why many people feared Rogue. The creatures didn’t stand a chance and I was going to make sure they tasted my wrath to its full extent.
“Stop,” bunion said holding my hands. “You got them all.”
I felt like lashing out at him too, but something stopped me. It was my deep sense of gratitude I owed him for saving my life once. Every surge of anger inside me seemed to fade into nothing. The creatures were all lying on the ground and some of them were turning into blue light and vanishing. It was almost the same as what happened when we destroyed the treasure dogs. What did it all mean? What had I done? My hands had done this atrocity. I could not forgive myself as I looked away. Clearly I was the same as my nation, or perhaps I was worse than them. I had let my emotion go out of control like that and that was nothing worth being happy about.
“Are you from Rogue?” he asked me stepping back a little.
At first, I was hesitant to answer, but I realized I had no choice, but to tell me. I nodded and he just snapped out of control.
“Are you kidding me?” he yelled looking in the sky. “Why a Roguean for crying out loud?”
Clearly he didn’t like my country, but so did the rest of the world. Nevertheless this reaction was rather normal considering our history. One time our ambassador was called to a meeting for the world peace foundation and it didn’t turn out well. He snapped because the servant had served him the wrong beverage and he beat up everyone in the room very badly. There were many more events involving Roguean warriors attacking people for no reasons which only made people despise Rogue and stayed away from it. We were not crazy, but it was because the food we ate in our certain region. It had been a part of our culture since ancient time and the elders had seen no reason to take it out of our food.
“Well since I know about you I might as well tell you about myself,” he said going towards one of the fallen creatures and delivering the final blow.
He was not the type to take chances or turn his back to the enemy due to some unknown reasons. I was eager to know more about him, his history intrigued my curiosity and I just had to know who he was. There was a long silence as I waited, seconds went by and even minutes as I waited.
“Anytime today would do,” I said impatiently.
I wondered what was going on in his head. He was hiding something and I wondered what though. I doubted he would tell me.
“Just call me Dashe and I’m from Iyenka,” he said.