Chapter 4
Encounter at the Ruins
We stayed in an inn called The Pigs Belly, the room was basic but the bed was comfortable and I slept like a log that night, better than I did at Godwin's. The sound of bubbling woke me from my sleep, I looked over to Godwin's bed and he was gone. His cases were still here and one was open with its contents taken out, glass tubes and vials were set up and a small portable heater was sitting under a pan with bubbling liquid in it, the steam traveled up a tube and into a vial of blue water, this in turn slowly dripped into another vial of aluminous yellow goo. The smell in the air was of rotting eggs. I quickly got dressed and left the room as fast as I could before I threw up everywhere; I headed down the stairs into the main bar. There were a few people sitting around scattered tables eating food that smelled a hundred times better then the room we stayed in. In the corner sitting on his own was Godwin reading a data slate, I ventured over to him and sat down opposite. I saw the empty plate by him then heard my belly grumble.
"Good morning Lemon," He said. "Are you hungry?" He looked up to the bar man. "One of your finest loaves please." He called out; the man nodded and disappeared into a back room.
I looked back at his plate and saw remains of meat and juice on it. He obviously didn't have just a loaf himself.
"How's the cooking going in the room?" He asked.
"How am I meant to know? There is bright yellow goo in one of the vials and the room smells awful."
"That's good, that means it's done, now I need to head out for a bit, there is someone I need to see to find out where we have to meet our guide. When you have had your breakfast, pack up the room and meet me outside in an hour. And be careful with the yellow goo, you wouldn't want to drop it, it would make a complete mess of the inn." He got up and made to leave.
"Hold on! where are we going?"
Godwin leaned in close to my ear. "We are off to the mountains of Kalth." He whispered then left placing the slate on the bar as he went.
It didn't take me long to pack away everything in the room, I surprised myself by not spilling or dropping anything. I was now waiting with Blaze and the wagon out the front of The Pig's Belly, an hour had passed and there was still no sign of the alchemist. I was starting to worry; Godwin seemed like a very punctual person. I was just about to go back in The Pig's Belly and find out if the man at the bar knew where Godwin had gone, when I saw the man himself, he was running down the road towards me.
"It’s time to go, time to go!" He said in a hurry as he climbed onto the wagon.
"Where were you? I was getting concerned." I joined him on the wagon and got Blaze moving.
"I have spoken to a friend here in Bleakwood, and we need to leave now, we have been here too long." He seems to be a bit panicked.
"We have only stayed a night, how can that be too long?" I was a little confused.
Godwin was watching the people we passed as we made our way through the centre of the village.
He leaned towards me. "We are being followed." He whispered.
"Followed? Who would want to follow us?"
"Shh, keep it down." He looked about nervously. "Follow this road until you get to the ruins on the outskirts. And act normal."
I thought I was, he was the one looking strange and nervous, watching everyone we passed with suspicion.
We traveled in silence for over an hour; Godwin was constantly looking over his shoulder the whole time. "Who is following us?" I asked him.
"Never you mind, concentrate on not crashing the wagon." He replied, I had never seen him so jittery before.
The ruins appeared as we made our way in to a clearing; they looked like they were once part of a magnificent castle sitting on a small hill, but war and time had destroyed it into rubble of broken battlements and spires. What surprised me was that it was built of stone and not wood, just about everything in the Wood Rider's realm was built using the trees. Maybe it was because we were so close to the mountains of Kalth which loomed up ominously on the horizon. "Why are we here?" I asked Godwin.
"I need to meet someone who will be our guide over the mountains, I am told they will be here," he replied climbing down from the wagon. "Bring the brown case, we shall need that one and unhitch Blaze, he will wait for us here."
I did as he said; I gave Blaze a pat on the neck when I released him from the wagon, he just snorted at me and plodded off to nibble the grass. The brown case was the heavy one; it contained all of Godwin's alchemy equipment.
"Come on! He's probably already here waiting." Godwin said urgently as he headed off towards the ruins. I followed behind dragging the heavy case.
We entered though an archway that was still intact into an open grassy space, nature was claiming the area back; ivy climbed up the broken stones and smothered the sides of the crumbling walls.
"Put the case on that stone." Godwin told me pointing to a large flat stone that looked like it had once been a table. I heaved it on and opened it up, Godwin was straight in it dividing up some green powder and wrapping them in individual pieces of grey parchment then sticking them in a small bag. All the while his eyes were darting here and there watching the surroundings. "Are you taking notes Lemon?" He said without looking at me.
I was more fascinated with what he was doing and forgot. I pulled out my pad and started scribbling down what the alchemist was doing.
I heard a twig snap behind us, Godwin heard it too and he froze. "Get behind this stone and don't move." He whispered to me then slowly drew out the pistol I gave him out from the back of his waist belt. I was starting to get scared now as I crouched behind the stone; I reached inside my tunic and pulled out the vibo blade, slid it out of its sheath and looked at it. The blade was seven inches long with a black leather handle, my hand was shaking as a hit the switch at its base and the blade glowed a subtle blue. I listened to what the alchemist was doing, not daring to look over the stone, I could hear him shuffling and then the quiet hum as he powered up his weapon.
"I said you should come alone." I heard him say quite loudly. I couldn't make out what the reply was, it was mumbled in a deep voice and was too far away. "If this is going to happen I need what I say to be followed correctly. Is that understood?" He sounded angry, I was tempted to peer around the stone table but I was too frightened.
Godwin's head suddenly appeared above me looking over the table. "You can come out now." He said making me jump out of my skin. I slowly raised myself up and looked towards the people Godwin was talking to. To my horror three massive Ogres stood in front of me, two were carrying giant guns and the one in the middle held a large hammer. I stood there with my mouth open.
"You can put that away now." Godwin said pointing to the blade in my hand. I didn't really want to with these beasts in front of us. Godwin saw my hesitation. "They are friends Lemon." He said.
"My name is Lem, not Lemon." I replied not taking my eyes off of the Ogres.
"You tell me come alone. You didn't." The Middle Ogre said waving his hammer in my direction.
"Well we are both as bad as each other." Godwin said rummaging in his case again and lifting out three small packets of the green powder. He threw the packets at the Ogre. "There you are, they should help."
The Ogre caught them and passed two to his companions, they tipped the powder into their mouths.
"How is it in Kalth?" Godwin asked.
"Not good," the rumbling voice of the Ogre replied. "The king has been taken; the sickness is bad amongst our people. We will fall soon."
The alchemist leaned back against the stone. "The king has been taken? Then we must hurry."
I grabbed Godwin's arm. "Can you please explain why we are talking to Ogres? They are raiding our villages," I paused then said. "Are you helping them?"
Godwin shook out of my grip angrily. "Know your place apprentice!" He shouted at me and then realized he was being too harsh as I took a step backwards nervously.
"Lem, we are going to be entering a dangerous ti
me, you must trust me and my actions."
I was more shocked that he actually got my name right. "If you are taking me into danger don't you think I have the right to know why?"
Godwin’s head sagged. "I will do my best to explain," he indicated to the Ogres to give them a moment. The three Ogres shrugged and moved away. "Yes, I have been helping the Ogres." He said it like it wasn't a big thing.
"Why would you help them? They have been ransacking our villages!"
"Now listen to me apprentice, let me finish. There is a war going on in the Kalth kingdom, an Ogre warlord is trying to overthrow the king to rule the kingdom himself. If he succeeds it will have major repercussions for the Wood Rider's realm and beyond," he started to put little packages of goo into his pockets from the case. "The raids are by his Ogres not the Kings."
"How does this need an alchemist’s involvement?" I couldn't see the reasoning behind it. "Don't they need warriors and fighters?"
"The kings Ogres have been cursed by a sorcerer, they are sick and can't fight allowing the warlord to take over, I have created a potion that can temporarily make them feel better, but it doesn't last long. I need to get one very important ingredient and I could possibly cure the entire curse."
The Ogres were watching us talk and looked visibly nervous being so exposed. "Where do we find this ingredient?" I asked.
"That is the problem we have, it is a moss that only grows on the eastern side of the Kalth Mountains and that is in the warlord's territories. The Ogre Brock is going to be our guide." He packed up the rest of his case and called the Ogres over. "I have been doing my best providing the Ogres with my potion but they now fear crossing the border in case they are attacked. With the warlords raids they could be targeted by mistake."
"We must go now." Brock said acting all fidgety.
"Carry my case and we shall..." Godwin stopped mid sentence, we all heard the stampeding hooves of the horses galloping up the hill. "Green riders!" Godwin shouted. "Go now!"
I didn't know what to do; I was in a state of panic. The other two Ogres ran passed us with their weapons up, they sheltered by the arch and began firing down at the oncoming green riders. Godwin grabbed my arm and dragged me in the other direction; Brock was behind us with the case on his shoulder. "You were followed?" He yelled.
"Apparently so, just get us out of here!" Godwin shouted back at him.
"Get to the outcrop ahead, behind is my transport." Brock said as his feet pounded the ground. We were now out of the ruins and descending down the other side of the hill. Godwin suddenly stopped just beyond the castle, so I stopped with him. "What are you doing?" I screamed.
"Get your vehicle started, we will slow them down." He called to Brock. The big Ogre nodded and ran on.
Godwin rummaged in his pockets and brought out a black pouch, he then proceeded to scatter a fine powder in a large circle on the floor.
The other two Ogres were now running towards us, they shot straight by totally ignoring Godwin and myself heading to the outcrop. The alchemist pulled me back out of the circle and we stood there waiting for the green riders to appear. Why are we not running? I thought. This is ridiculous standing here with armed men coming for us.
I heard them before I saw them, the horses hooves running towards us, then they appeared, there were four of them all dressed in hooded dark green cloaks riding big powerful black horses. They slowed when they saw us standing there. Godwin had his arms folded definitely and I was shaking with fear.
The lead rider raised his hand and they all came to stop just in front of us inside the powdered circle. One of the riders removed his hood and stared over our heads at the Ogres disappearing behind the rocky outcrop. He then looked down meaningfully at me. "Do you plan to use that?" He asked. I was in shock and wondered what he was talking about. Then I realized that I was still holding the glowing vibo blade, I quickly switched it off and tucked it back in my tunic. The man looked at me through narrow eyes. I knew of these men, they are the green riders that protect the realm of the Wood Riders and from what I had been told they were not to be trifled with. "We have met before." He said. I thought he was talking to Godwin but he directed it at me.
"Err, have we?" I asked confused. Godwin gave me a funny look.
""Yes, in the forest by the river." He stated.
I remembered, I wouldn't have thought he would have recognized me. "You tried to shoot that Ogre." I said.
The man nodded. "I could tell that was you there, you wasn't very well hidden." He then sniffed the air. "You smell the same." He turned to face Godwin. "You will be coming with us old man." He said.
Godwin looked the green rider in the eye. "Why would that be?" He asked him.
"We have been tracking your movement’s alchemist, we know you have been dealing with the Ogres, and that cannot be allowed." The other riders pulled their pistols out and pointed them at us.
Godwin stood there unfazed. "There are things happening here that you are oblivious to, what we do is of great importance to the realm."
The green rider laughed. "An old man and a boy are the realms saviors!" Suddenly he was very serious. "You two are in cohorts with the Ogres and that is a threat to the realm." The green rider didn't sound convinced of this himself.
"Do you know of my work?" Godwin asked.
"I have been following your movements for a while alchemist. I know of your dealings."
"Then you must know I am not a threat to the realm, I am the only one who can save it!" Godwin was very forceful.
The lead green rider signaled to his men to lower their weapons. "I understand what you do but with the Ogres raids I cannot take any chances," he looked a little disappointed. "I have no choice; I have to take you in."
"So be it." Godwin said raising his arms in the air. “But I will not be held responsible for what will happen.” As he spoke he also dropped a small glowing ball that hit the ground and rolled onto the circle of powder. The green rider watched it roll, before he saw the danger the circle erupted in green flames five feet high encircling the green riders inside. I fell backwards on to my rump in shock.
“What the…” I began to say.
"Get up and run!" shouted Godwin, he didn't have to tell me twice, I was already up and running towards the outcrop. Just before reaching it a bulky black vehicle pulled out from behind, it slew to a stop in front of us, a door in the side swung open and Brock reached out and dragged us both in just as we saw the green riders leap through the flames. The tracked vehicle turned and roared off in the direction of the mountains.
The green riders gave chase and they soon gained on us, there were no windows in the vehicle but I could hear the pulse shots hitting its armoured exterior, they didn't seem to be doing any damage though. It wasn't long before the shots stopped, the green riders and their large steeds couldn't keep up with the pace of the noisy transport and soon they gave up the chase and watched us disappear into the distance.