The boys talked about meeting the people riding inside the carriage. When evening came, the boys were eating and talking. From outside, a noise came from the road, which sounded like a horse coming. The noise stopped, and the boys looked outside the window. There was someone coming towards them. The door got knocked on and Gon opened the door.
The man standing in front of him was known to Gon. It was the rental collector, and he told Gon that he had only a short while left and would have to pay before the time was up to keep the farm. Gon said his Uncle Endo had not come back yet, but they would try to come up with the money.
The collector was not a nice man, and Gon knew he would not hesitate to throw them out. After some discussion, the man agreed to give Gon some extra time to come up with the money. Jay could see that Gon was angry about the situation, and when he tried to say something, Gon stopped him and told Jay he needed to think. Gon went to bed, without saying another word, and did not come out until the next morning.
Jay asked if he was okay when he came out from the bedroom. Gon looked at Jay and asked him to come with him. The boys walked up the hill where Gon always went up during the mornings, but Jay never saw what he was doing there. Up on the hill, there was a small pit, and the boys jumped down into it. There was nothing there other than some broken barrels and other wooden boards. Gon walked to the corner and lifted one of the boards. He lifted up a chest and had something hidden in a cloth. He brought out a sword that he had hidden in the fabric.
The sword, he said, was given to his uncle for a job he did in the town, but his uncle didn’t like weapons so he told Gon to get rid of it. He had kept it for years, but never used it and handed it to Jay. As he held the sword, the weight felt light. It was not a big sword and the blade was smaller than regular swords. Gon said he would like to give him the sword to thank him, and tell him why he disappeared so fast after the man visited last night. If his uncle did not come back before the next two months, he would leave and since Jay did not have anyone, maybe he would like to go with him. Jay looked at the sword and told Gon he would be happy to go with him and was glad he asked. However, he wondered if he really didn’t mind giving him the nice sword and Gon said he would never use it. He told him he had something else to show him. The two boys helped out in carrying the chest and when they arrived at the house, they put it down on the table.
Inside the chest, there was a bag containing the money that he had saved during the time he had been selling buns, apples and the shoes his uncle left him to sell before he left. He revealed his plan that they would leave before the collector came back and they would head off to somewhere else, where they could build something for themselves. Jay thanked him for the offer to be included to travel, and they started to plan for the coming weeks. On the same day, they had collected anything owned by them that was worth keeping and planned to sell some of their things off in the markets.
Jay asked Gon if he would buy another weapon so that both of them had protection against thieves or killers. Gon remembered he was supposed to show Jay something else and looked at the curtains hanging in the window. He took it down and removed the fabric. The staff holding the curtains looked very different after being removed and Gon told Jay to follow him. The staff seemed strong, and when Gon started to wield the staff, it became one with him. It was clear he had some talents other than cooking also. It had a rounded tip on both ends and was being wielded as if it was always a part of him. Kicks and punches were also being added, and when he finished, he said he had been practising since he was a child and every day before the sun came up, he practised. He had put the staff up a week before Jay came as the old wooden stick broke and the curtain fell down. He had focused more on hand combat the past month to mix up his training. Impressed by what had happened in front of him, Jay said he was sure they would be all right now, and they both went back inside as the sun went down. There was deep snoring coming from inside the house and the next day, they took one of the two horses, together with some other things and headed off to the town. They managed to sell off everything they brought and even the horse.
The boys picked up a cheap wagon with a cover on to protect them from rain and pulled it all the way home. When they actually decided to buy it, they regretted not taking the other horse to drag it, but they were happy and took it as a challenge. Heavy though it was, the boys were happy and spoke excitedly about what to do when they left.
They made it almost all the way home when they heard three horses coming from behind. They moved to the side, but the horses were all of a sudden upon them, and the 3 horsemen jumped off. Without warning and with a surprise attack, one of the men grabbed Jay and held a knife to his throat. They demanded money and said they saw that they sold a lot at the market. With a situation like this, there was not much to do, and Gon threw a bag of coins in front of one of the men.
While the man was grabbing the bag, Gon noticed he had a brand on his clothes that he had never seen before, but it didn’t look like it would be from the Grasoll Lands. His voice was also very deep, and he told them he would not hesitate to kill them. When he had put the money on him and jumped back up on his horse, they released Jay and kicked him in to the mud then rode off.
Jay was not seriously hurt and apologised for what had happened, but Gon didn’t care about the money and was more relieved that his friend was not hurt. They had more money at home, he said and would find a way to get more. They continued on and Jay asked if they should tell the town guard, but Gon knew they would not be able to do much.
Jay hoped there was already a bounty on the men and Gon nodded as he believed there probably was one. The bounties for anyone wanted were few where they were but there were a couple that anyone could sign up to go for. He had seen people sometimes come to search for their targets, but never actually seen anyone being caught. Gon was once going to sign up for a hunt for an animal that was responsible for killing many farm animals, but someone beat him to it.
After walking for a while, they arrived at the farm. When they went inside, they talked about what happened and decided to make sure they were ready in case they would run in to people like those again. Jay said he had heard that the kingdom of Redonia had very few bandits on their island because of the tough laws in the land. Gon didn’t know and said he didn’t really care, but he found it interesting to hear Jay speak about weapons that were, supposedly, more advanced than anywhere else.
Gon had heard that there were primitive machines that helped with everyday work on the fields and also rumours about the Ocenian kingdom using them for their army. Machines were relatively new and had become more common to see, but in Dofamu, it was still rare to see even one. He didn’t believe Jay had got the right information off the people he listened to because some of it sounded impossible. Something about machines being used to dig under the earth had also been mentioned, and Jay himself didn’t fully believe what he had heard.
They stopped talking about it, and instead, they planned for the future of where they should travel. Every day, they spoke about where they should go and the time for leaving came closer every day. Five weeks had passed since the attack, and in those weeks, Jay had been training hard every day for six hours with his new friend. With each day, he got better and the sword became easier to wield. It started to become one with him. Gon said to himself that he could see Jay also enjoyed using it. Time continued to pass by quickly, and very soon, the time for them in the house was up.
On the morning of the day that they were leaving, Gon went through the house one last time looking around it. He had some good memories of the house and was sad to have to leave, but more excited to finally get away to find a new life. There was not much that they had left that would stay in the house as they had been very busy with selling everything off that could be sold.
The farm looked, for the first time in many years, like an empty home with the exception for some of the bigger furniture. Gon decided to leave all the beds and other things that either wou
ld be too hard to sell or too hard to transport all the way to the city. The chest with all of the money they had made during the sales of apples, buns and breads as well as some of the things that were in the house, were first to take place inside the wagon. There were lamps, cooking gear and sleeping bags with anything else they thought would be of use. Before taking off, Gon and Jay walked up the hill again with a smaller chest and entered the area where Gon trained and brought the sword out for Jay. They had dug a hole already and put a few coins in a bag together with a note from both Jay and Gon. They had agreed that if they were not successful, they would return and try again but the chest was a symbol of them leaving.
When they returned down again, they rode away and there was excitement in the air. It was sunny and the air was warm with a gentle wind that was pleasant to both of them. Their journey began finally and after some time, they had travelled in a direction Gon had never been before. He looked behind them and could still see the farm from far away. When coming far up on a hill, Gon looked back once more to then see a pile of smoke coming closer to the farm. He said to Jay he thought the collector was coming and would soon know he had to find new people to move into the farm. Jay asked if Gon would ever come back, but Gon said he would try not to.
Taking Back the Money
The boys were on the road and had just left a smaller village where they had stopped and refilled some supplies. On the road, the last couple of days, they met other people that had come to trade or were going home to their families. They talked about anything and everything and had a great time with those they met. At the moment, it was still day time for a while longer, and they would get far before they had to stop. They saw a sign that said there was a small town not far off and the boys decided to head towards it.
As they entered the town, they saw a busy place that looked like a market and parked the wagon next to some others. There was a guard that watched over the wagons for a small fee so no one stole anything from them, so they could easily move around without any concern for their possessions.
Gon was not as worried anyway as he felt confident that if there were thieves they would not find their wagon very interesting. Gon had made a little safe box that looked like it was part of the wagon, and, in there, he had the money they made.
In the town, they heard about another city famous for tournaments and wild nights, Shetana. Jay and Gon had heard much about this city. They were both very intrigued by the tournament, and there were several smaller ones that they could join to test their skills.
They met another couple of travellers that were headed to the Domoro Land and told the boys about the water that was supposed to be everywhere and about the villages that had irrigation systems in them. They all swapped stories, and other travellers came and talked to the boys. Some stories told by those they met sounded incredible, but they also knew not to believe everything they heard.
They had a great time in the town where they ended up staying for six days. Some small jobs to cover the cost of the stay were taken, and they actually managed to leave the town with some extra money. They weren’t supposed to stay, but they enjoyed it so much that there was no reason to leave so quickly. But in the end, both of them finally decided that they had stayed long enough. The decision was made easy after an argument had erupted between the boys and another couple of boys.
After leaving the small town, they stayed on the road for many days, and, so far, it had been a good trip with some great friends made and a new goal. Both of them would like to see the big arena in Shetana where the champions became famous. Soon, they would leave for the great city to perhaps fight in the arena themselves. Or if not, ‘At least watch some of the fights,’ said Gon.
None of them knew if they would be able to make it into the tournaments, but they would like to try. ‘Maybe there would be a line of people that was too long,’ said Jay, and then they had to wait until the following year. They both hoped not and had heard there were many different competitions they could enter.
Gon believed he would do well, but Jay was not so sure of himself. Gon said he would help Jay to get his confidence up, and they would, every day, for the whole time they were travelling, spend time to improve themselves. The tournaments in the great city would not commenced for a while, so they had time. They were not in a hurry and spent, sometimes, several days at one place.
Two weeks came and went and true to his word, Gon sped Jay’s knowledge up fast. However, Jay also had a talent, Gon thought he would only need to be shown the way as he increased his skills by himself. New skills were acquired both in cooking and fighting by Gon also, in case he had the need to use herbs he found in nature. Some animals that he caught became amazing dishes despite the lack of equipment, thought Jay. On the road, the darkness had then shown itself and the boys set up camp. The night became a little brighter with the moon appearing above their heads. The conversations between them soon turned into snoring and another night came to an end.
The following day, when the boys entered a valley, they noticed smoke coming from behind some trees. They were curious about what it was and soon saw a wagon burnt almost to the ground. From where they were, it just looked strange that someone would just put it on fire, but soon, they discovered why.
As they arrived, they discovered the horror that was then in front of them. There were five bodies lying on the ground and were all, seemingly, dead. They looked upon what had happened, and not all seemed lost, for there was movement in one of the bodies. There was an old man still drawing breath. They rushed up to him, and when he asked for water, he got it right away.
After he had his fill, Gon asked him what had happened and the old man mumbled out that there were a couple of masked men. He took another sip of the water and continued that they met the men that had followed them down the valley, who, at first, seemed nice. They spoke about how they were tradesmen, but then they suddenly began to attack them. They killed the others and took all their money afterwards.
He himself had only lived because he had pretended that he was dead after the knife that struck him hit him in the wrong place. He said he tried to move, but the knife hit something in his back that made him unable to move much at all. Jay asked if he wanted to be taken to the closest town to be treated by the local medicine man. The man said he would most likely not make the road there and would rather stay with his friends.
He then asked them to, please, lay him next to the others because he had no strength left. They did as he wished and placed him amongst the others. He closed his eyes and told them to be careful as the masked men, most certainly, were somewhere not too far off.
They walked away, and as they arrived to the wagon, Jay believed that this was probably not the first time the masked men had done something like this. Gon thought they both should be careful and left and tried to avoid going after the bandits. However, they had no idea as to where they were and how many they were. There was a possibility that they might run in to them. If they did, it could prove difficult to win in combat, even if they would both be able to give great resistance then. Jay had improved so much everyday with the sword that he was able to back Gon up.
They rode on the road that went down the valley, and they both had their eyes peeled on their surroundings. There was nothing else on the road, but the boys decided still to seek cover a little earlier. They headed to the side further away from the road to not be seen. They found some room under a tree and sat up their equipment for the night. The sun was barely visible, and soon, all light would be gone. They scouted the surroundings for firewood and made sure they wouldn’t be seen from the road, but there were also several big rocks covering them, so they found themselves in a good place.
As they walked around, Jay founds a cliff leading down to a lower plane and told Gon that they might use the cliff as an emergency exit if they ran into trouble. The small sparks from the tiny fire were the only noise for a long time, and both the boys talked about what happened earlier. Here and there aro
und them, there were some sounds coming that made them silent and listening, but they were always from animals.
However, something did sound strange and even if the small fire made some noise, there was something new coming up from the cliff’s direction. Both boys got up quickly to seek out the new sound and walked over to the cliff. ‘It can be nothing, but it is better to make sure,’ both of them said at the same time.
As they got closer, they could hear voices from underneath. The voices were not loud, but there were some of them coming from down there. They listened, but could only make out some words and not from everyone who spoke. They wondered who the owners of these voices were, and Gon said to Jay that they should check it out. ‘Perhaps, the voices belonged to some farmers or travellers, but they wouldn’t know for sure unless they made sure of it,’ he added.
At first, Jay hesitated, but was easily persuaded by Gon, who started to move down the cliff very slowly. Jay was fast and easy on his feet, so he got down fast to the middle of the cliff. While he waited for Gon, he looked around the trees for movement, but there were only the voices and trees. Gon came down and they moved towards the voices. There was another smaller cliff leading down, but this time, they didn’t go down because below them was a fire set up in the middle of the trees and next to the fire were some familiar characters.
Even if the faces were not visible, they could clearly recognise the clothes. These were the same sort of bandits that stole from them before they started the journey. At the first encounter, there were three of the men, but there were now six of them. It could very well be the bandits, but they needed to get closer to see their faces.
Jay and Gon whispered to each other about what to do and also figured these were the men responsible for killing the other travellers. The camp below was full of movement and it would be foolish to climb down and engage in a confrontation with them right now. They climbed back up to their own camp to decide on what their strategy would be.
World of Taroo Page 2
