Hi everyone,
Exploring Kal-Arath - Episode 2 - The Stranger
Day two - The weather is going to be stormy, with the wind coming from the south. Mel makes his farewells early after breakfast and is soon on his way. He enters a thick wooded area and loses the track. He has to hack his way through the brush, which is thick in places. Living and dead fallen logs are twisted into odd shapes and obscure his view of the direction he needs to follow. Later, he is very pleased to come upon some more open ground that he can move through better and reaches a small rocky stream, which gradually turns to the east and then back north again. H quenches his thirst and refills his waterbag when he can.
Further along the trail, he sees a stout fellow emerge from the tree line, carrying a makeshift staff and a club. The figure comes towards him, limping slightly on his left leg. He stops a few paces to one side, "Can you spare some food ?"
Mal nods, "I am Mal-Shui," he motioned towards a fallen tree lying among others that would shelter them slightly from the wind, "Let's get comfortable."
The stranger replies," Ya, I am Yamil-Torl, Chi...", he stutters, "Well," he paused, "I was chief of the Remiki clan, over in the hills.", pointing vaguely south-east.
He continued over lunch, "I was challenged for leadershipby Ernmas-Bask, one of the younger warriors of my tribe. He had some fancy new ideas about raiding other clans and gaining more power. I don't mind going raiding when there is a need for it, but not when the other clan has not done anything to deserve it. That's how your people and their people die for no reason. I am not a glory seeker who rushes hea dlong into battle just for the sake of it."
Mal agreed, "You are a wise man, there are always hotheads who are only too willing to lead others into trouble. Let your mind be at peace, for that is not your worry now; you are free of them and their desires for riches and power. Others will see their folly in choosing a bad leader, and then they will depose him, or worse. For now, the Fates have decided to set you on another path, like myself", he drank from his waterskin and offered it to Yamil-Torl, "The saying is two are better than one when you are out on the grasslands, at least until we find another settlement? Agreed?"
"Ya, tis a good omen meeting you this day. Agreed. I will get wood for tonight."
They soon had two bundles of sticks tied with twigs and bushes. Mal topped up his waterskin again, and they set off towards the rolling mountains about three miles away. The storm blew itself out, and the afternoon turned sunny, if not exactly warm, and their steady pace thawed them out. They did not make good time because of Yamil's wounded leg slowing him down, but the staff helped.
Striding in the foothills of a nearby looming mountain, they came across a lone, large, mantis-like creature with yellow stripes on its abdomen and a smooth red skin on the rest of its body. The pair froze in their tracks.
Yamil whispered, "Be very careful of those creatures, it's an Eucarya, but I've never seen one that big before or marked like that. It is deadly in a fight".
Regards,
Ivor Cogdell