Soon the boys were all hunched over, trying to get a spot of sunlight to focus perfectly onto a small bunch of tinder that the boys had placed into a concave rock. After what felt like an age, a wisp of smoke began to rise.
Skill boost! You have developed your survival skills. +5XP
“It’s starting,” said Troy, grinning, and Plato nodded eagerly, a serious look across his face as he tried to hold the little gem still and keep the tiny dot of sunlight focused. Glaucus, who was holding a handful of scraps of grass and splinters, began to add more pieces to the tiny flame. Cautiously, Troy added a couple of the smallest pieces of kindling that he had cut from his wooden club, placing them in a cross formation above the flame.
“It’s really catching now,” said Glaucus.
And indeed, soon the pieces of wood were blackening. Troy then added two larger pieces on top. There was the slightest breeze, and the flame appeared to be threatened for a moment, but it rose up larger and stronger, filling the area of rock. Glaucus added more dry grass around the edges, while Plato reached for the meat skewers.
“You know, I’m still not sure that those bits of snake are going to taste good,” said Ajax with his arms folded. “I don’t fancy it at all.”
“More for the rest of us then,” muttered Troy.
Level: Hoplite (Level 3)
XP: 0560 (unspent: 0110)
Hit points: 25/25
Luck points: 1
Equipment: belt; canvas bag; coin pouch; dagger; greaves; iron hatchet; rations (1); unidentified potion (4); waterskin (82%).
Chapter 19: Shields
Soon it was time to move on. The snake had proved more palatable than he had expected, Troy reflected, but he didn’t really want to repeat the experience. Ajax had only eaten one piece, and was grouchier than ever.
As a group, the hoplites rose and began to walk away from the hut and from their makeshift fire. Troy picked up the remnants of his wooden club – now just a foot long, and coming to a point where they had scraped away shavings of wood with their knives. It would, in a pinch, make an acceptable shiv.
Soon they fell into two pairs, with Ajax and Glaucus in the lead. Looking ahead, Troy saw that they were approaching a narrow sandy trail, no wider than his own forearm was long. The sea was visible off to their right, still churning and unsettled, and it was clear that while they had previously looped inland, they were now once again getting close to the coast.
Troy took one last glance back at the hut, pulling his newly-acquired cloak around him, when he thought he saw a figure in the distance.
“Plato, look,” he said, shading his eyes from the afternoon sun and patting at his friend’s arm. But as he looked back, the figure vanished below a ridge. Had the man crouched down to avoid being seen?
“What is it?” Plato was now looking round. He stared in the same direction, but gave no sign of having seen anything.
“I’m sure I saw a traveler,” said Troy. “I’ll go and look.”
“We’re all going, then,” Plato replied. “Guys, stop for a minute!”
But Ajax and Glaucus just shrugged. “The swamp’s that way, fool,” muttered Ajax, turning to glare back at the pair behind him.
Troy scowled back at the big hoplite. “There was someone over there, I am sure of it,” he said. “He just moved out of sight for a moment. If I’m right, and he’s a local, then he could be our best chance of getting some more precise directions.”
“Yeah, man,” said Plato. “Directions. Or do you want to just wander around in the swamplands going from one ridge to the next until you fall into some quicksand or something?”
“Is there quicksand in a swamp?” asked Glaucus frowning. “Shit. Maybe we should go a different way.”
Ajax said nothing, peering from one to the other of his companions, and then taking a long, hard look at the swamp that sat to the north of them. Eventually he shrugged. “Very well,” he said. “Let’s go see whether Troy was imagining things or not.”
The boys moved uphill together over marshy ground covered with more long grass as well as some low-lying plants that reminded Troy of the heather which some people planted at the front of their residences back in Technoburbia. It was dark-colored, and springy to walk on.
He had begun to convince himself that he must have been seeing things – that it was just hunger and hopefulness playing with his senses – when he caught a glimpse of the figure once again. And this time, the others did too.
“There he is!” said Plato sharply, pointing.
“Hey, there, come and speak to us!” called out Glaucus.
Troy frowned around at their companion, realizing that if the stranger had evil intent, it was too late to hide from him now. The man had noticed them, and he began walking over. He was beardless, had long Grey hair, and was wearing a dirty-looking outfit of brown canvas that was cinched tightly at the waist, wrists and legs. There was a short-sword hanging from his belt, and he had a strange sort of backpack over both shoulders.
“Greetings, young men,” said the man as he came closer. He spoke in a wavering, slightly high-pitched voice which Troy found surprising. What had he expected? A croaking voice, like an animal of the swamp, perhaps?
None of them responded at first; instead they stopped, hands resting cautiously on the hilts of their own weapons.
“So quiet?” continued the traveler. “I would have assumed that having come all the way out here to see me, you would have a lot of questions.”
“Very well,” said Troy, speaking up. “But we are not looking for you specifically. We seek the legendary hydra. We plan to kill the beast – don’t try to talk us out of it. But we are not natives of this area.”
“We are of mighty Sparta,” added Ajax. The tall boy was clutching his bow.
“Ah, Spartan hoplites,” said the man, still walking closer.
It was apparent now that despite his Grey hair, the traveler was younger than Troy had first thought. Not as young as them or the other recruits, certainly, but no more than forty years old. “Do you live out here?” he asked the man. “We saw a hut, but it looked deserted.”
“No, that hut is not mine, though I have sheltered in it from time to time. I live in the mountains, or at least, that is where I spend most of my days. But before the hydra, there were many settlements here. Indeed, I sometimes leave things at that hut – a cloak for example.” As he said the latter, he gazed meaningfully at Troy, who reluctantly unclipped and took off the cloak which he had taken from the hut door, and handed it over to the traveler.
The man smiled, and then bowed to Troy in thanks.
“So… you can guide us, and keep us out of danger?” asked Glaucus hopefully.
The man shrugged, looking out across the swamp. “No, for I will not return there myself, not in this lifetime. Besides, this area does not have paths any more, or at least, not much is left of what paths and buildings were once there,” he said. “Nobody is here to maintain them, and much of what was once here has been lost.”
The boys looked at each other, waiting to hear if he would have something more constructive to say.
“But…?” prompted Troy.
Skill boost! You have developed your interpersonal skills. +5XP
The man looked directly at Troy, a slight sparkle in his eye. “But I do know the area well, even after all these years. I can set you in the right direction… which you are not going in now, by the way.”
“If there is any information you can give to us, we’ll be grateful,” said Troy.
The man looked around the group of hoplites. “Tell me – did you get any advice from the fishing village?”
“We spoke to the village headman,” said Plato with a shrug, “but he wasn’t all that helpful.”
“He did say to aim for a ridge of granite in the shape of a horse’s mane,” added Glaucus.
“Ah, yes,” said the man. “That is a fine place to start. But sadly, you won’t find it easily, for the swamp is vast. Look now, t
o your right.”
He held out his arm, and the boys clustered around to look the way he was indicating. “There was once a road that ran this way, leading to my village. There were olive trees to the left of the road. Now they are but rotting stumps, tragically, but keep to the right side of them and follow the row as far as it goes.”
Troy nodded eagerly. That didn’t sound too hard. “Go on,” he said.
“After that, you will come to the remains of a group of settlements. Like I say, not much is left, but some foundations, and some stones from the house walls…” The man tailed off, looking beyond them, his eyes misty. “Keep the sea to your back at this point, and you will go past the remnants of all four former villages. The hydra fed from the people, you see, and the swamp took the land soon enough after that.”
Troy nodded. He didn’t feel like prompting the stranger again this time, but fortunately the man kept talking regardless.
“After that, look for the white lilies. They grow across the pools of stagnant water, and are very easy to spot – big flat leaves and spiked white flowers. By this time you’ll be in hydra territory, so be alert. Mind where you walk, too. Go straight on, and soon you will see the beginnings of the granite ridge and the river beyond.”
WORLD EVENT UPDATE: Better directions. You gain 20xp!
“Thanks, stranger,” said Plato, stepping up and taking the stranger’s hand, then shaking it. “We won’t forget it.”
The man shook Plato’s hand with a wry smile, then tucked both of his hands inside his loose brown tunic.
“Yes, thank you,” said Troy.
“You’re welcome. Just stick to the ridges. They are the only way to make it north from here without traveling a very long way inland, or going along the sea cliffs by boat. And neither of those options are much safer. Dangers lie everywhere.” The man looked from one hoplite to the other for a moment. “I see weapons but no shields,” he added after a pause.
They looked at one another. “We are quite new,” said Ajax.
“Yes. Our captains say that we have to earn our equipment,” added Troy. “Spears first, and perhaps after that…”
Without replying, the man strode towards the wooden hut. “Look at the way the hut is constructed,” he said, pointing. “It was made by former hoplites like yourself, people who had turned their back on ways of war.” He turned, upon reaching the building. “Do you know where the name ‘hoplite’ comes from, boys?”
“No,” said Troy and Glaucus at once. Troy was staring at the moldering hut again, wondering what detail he had missed.
But Plato said, “It is the name of the shield used by Greek foot soldiers. A hoplon.”
The man nodded with a half smile, his long Grey hair falling over his face as he nodded. “Right. And the former owners of this hut used such shields in its construction. The walls are made of oak, but not the roof.”
“It’s actually made of shields,” said Troy, looking up and feeling excitement course through him at the discovery. Yes – he could see it now. Rather than the clay tiles that were popular in the houses around Sparta, this roof was constructed of two rows of rounded, slightly domed wooden panels, which he could now see were near identical to the shield that he had often seen Andros carrying.
Skill boost! You have developed your quick thinking. +5XP
“But the hut will be ruined if we take them off,” said Plato.
“Taking them will damage it for sure,” said the wanderer, “but just look at it; it is too late for this place in any case. It wouldn’t last more than another year or two even with the roof intact. Better to save a life than preserve a few more months of this structure. For without doubt, you will need to protect your faces in the battle to come.”
Plato and Glaucus cupped their hands to allow Troy and Ajax to step onto them, and boosted them up on top of the rickety structure.
“Be wary of snakes as you lift them,” called out the wanderer, and Troy gave a wry smile, removing his dagger and using this to lift the topmost shield of the row. It had been pegged down, leaving a hole in its edge, but looked otherwise sound, and gleamed in the afternoon light.
Soon the young men had pulled four shields clear from the structure and passed them down to their companions, leaving a large gap in the roof. Underneath was more decaying wood, and Troy could see that the hut was already not watertight, even when the shields had been in place.
“They’re not perfect,” said Plato, now turning one of the shields over in his hand, “but it’s still really strong. There is a bronze layer over the wood which has kept it mostly dry. And there is even still a leather strap inside, which has been protected from the weather.”
Troy let himself down, and turned to look. “There’s an arrowhead symbol on that one,” he said, nodding towards the one that Plato was holding.
“Indeed,” said the wanderer. “That one was a Spartan shield. You will find symbols of many cities, some of which are now vanished.”
Skill boost! You have developed your knowledge. +5XP
“Yes. The others are different,” Plato added, pointing.
As the boys tried the shields on, strapping them over their arms, the wanderer began to step away. “Good luck,” he said, turning away from them with another half smile. “You’ll need it. And if you manage this task, you will have avenged my people, and will be worthy of being called hoplites in truth.”
Level: Hoplite (Level 3)
XP: 0595 (unspent: 0145)
Hit points: 25/25
Luck points: 1
Equipment: belt; canvas bag; coin pouch; dagger; greaves; hoplon shield; iron hatchet; rations (1); unidentified potion (4); waterskin (82%); wooden club (short).
Chapter 20: Deep Water
“What now? I don’t see those lily flowers,” said Glaucus, standing on a rock and staring ahead of them and to both sides.
“I don’t either.”
Troy stood just behind. He felt frustrated. His feet and legs were wet, his muscles ached, and the canvas bag had begun to cut into his shoulder. For the first time since the race, he felt pleased that he wasn’t wearing his helmet.
They continued, although there was no longer anything resembling a path. After they had followed the line of tree stumps and seen the tragic crumbling ruins of the four villages, the area had become progressively flatter and wetter, with fewer trees and a distinct lack of rocky high ground on which to walk.
Their surroundings now resembled a vast river delta. The area to their left was covered in green scum, with broken pieces of branch protruding. It was more lake than river, a stagnant morass. The trees above it were intertwined, and vines hung low, sometimes touching the water. They had seen further snakes swimming on the surface of the water, as well as a great many frogs.
To their right there were some hillocks, with sporadic grassy tufts sticking out from what was overall a soft and treacherous surface. Troy saw a pure white heron pause on one of the hillocks, stab its head downwards into a pool three or four times, and then fly off with a fish struggling in its beak.
They continued.
Time and again the recruits had to leap small streams or wade through larger ones. It was still the early afternoon, but it wouldn’t be too long before the evening would be approaching again. For a large part of the day they had been walking up to their knees in mud, doing their best to navigate past the deeper areas. And on one occasion, Troy saw a crocodile basking on a rock, no more than fifty yards from them. As they came closer, it slipped into the water and disappeared from sight.
“Keep your weapons handy,” called out Plato as they proceeded on, unslinging his own bow.
Ajax pulled his sword.
“What exactly did that village headman say?” asked Troy, for what felt like the fourth or fifth time. “I don’t want to still be in here when it gets dark.”
“That there was a rocky crest in the shape of a horse’s mane, alongside the river,” replied Plato patiently. “One that’s the size of a large
house.”
“Right.”
“Is that the river, though?” asked Glaucus, pointing to the left and then to the right, “or that over there?” There was a note of panic in the boy’s voice; he was apparently considering the prospect of being irredeemably lost in the swamplands as night fell.
Troy began to regret mentioning the coming darkness. “It’ll be all right, Glaucus,” he said. “I am sure we will find this ridge of rocks, and somewhere around there we will probably find a cave where we can shelter overnight. And if we walked in here today, you know that we can walk right back out again tomorrow. You’ll see.”
“I guess.”
Skill boost! You have developed your interpersonal skills. +5XP
The boys’ path increasingly veered to the left as the multiple rivulets and ponds that blocked their way gradually transformed into a river. There were rocks now, certainly, but none that were as large as the one that had been described to the three hoplites during the time that Troy was meeting with Harmonia, and nothing that could be described as a ridge.
All the same, the rocks provided the easiest way to make progress, and the four recruits began to step and leap from one boulder to the next.
“I’m hungry,” muttered Ajax from his position at the back of the group, and Troy could certainly feel a pit in his stomach, too. The cooked meat that they had was wholesome enough, but it wasn’t much, and they had now been walking for a long while since. “Health,” he muttered.
Current health level: Healthy
Nemesis (Sparta Online Book 1) Page 15
