by Brett Vonsik
Kardul had them hustle down a wide game trail marked with fresh tracks and droppings looking and smelling to be from longnecks and maybe a trailing pair of ravers followed by leapers. Rogaan felt proud of himself for being able to read the tracks and dung signs. Broken and felled trees were all about them, lining the pathway. In-between, the buzz of biters and bloodsuckers were ever present. Rogaan tried swiveling his head every which way, hoping not to see teeth and claws. It made him dizzy and nauseated, forcing him to scan the forest with more thought and discipline. Still, it was unnerving and exhausting. Kardul and his men seemed alert . . . on edge, if Rogaan read them right. They actively scrutinized the forest as they went, each member of the team with their part of the wilds to keep watch over. They worked as a team. That did not give rise to a sense of comfort for Rogaan; instead, making him even more nervous that they were so on edge. Looking ahead, Suhd seemed to be fighting sleep with her head bobbing up and down and her swaying in the saddle a little side to side. Falling off the sarig now would be bad at best and maybe deadly. Rogaan wanted to help Suhd . . . keep her from falling and was about to yell out to her when Trundiir gave her a gentle elbow. Rogaan felt that jealousy roil again in his chest. He chastised himself for feeling this way, but was not able to shake the thought of Trundiir getting to touch her where he could not. Rogaan sought something else to fill his thoughts with. Pax looked alert and nervously scanning the forest, as well. He seemed more helpful than troublesome to the Sharurs. An interesting turn. Everyone appeared to be nervous of their surroundings, except Suhd, who still looked tired. Rogaan’s heart ached for her. He wished for her arms to be around him and his around her.
Broken trees, tracks, and fresh droppings continued marking the recently used trail by a number of large and dangerous animals. The scent of the wilderness had a pungent yet sweet smell to it as the odor from fresh dung mixed with new growths of colorful and aromatic flowers. Rogaan did not know whether he should wrinkle his nose or sneeze at the barrage of smells hitting him. At this point in their travels, the wide game trail was the only passable way through this wilderness; the rest of the forest loomed thick with dark stands of tall trees mingling with dense underbrush and tangle bush where the sun penetrated. This pattern of foliage kept on for marches before the trail forked. The main trail with the fresh animal signs forked left, and a smaller, less-used trail by the far reduced evidence of tracks and dung, went right. The Kiuri’Ner led them right. Rogaan felt relieved. Less chance of meeting a hungry animal with teeth and claws, he tried to convince himself. No longer feeling as much on edge, he spied Suhd riding behind Trundiir. He stole looks at her as often as he could, both so he could feel recharged at seeing her again and again, and to make sure all hands were where they should be. Rogaan could no longer deny he was jealous of Trundiir having Suhd on his sarig when she should be with him. Jealously roared inside Rogaan, nearing a rage, each time Suhd placed a hand on Trundiir’s arm or shoulder as she shifted in her saddle to get more comfortable. He did not like these uncontrolled feelings, but did not know what to do about them. Looking for another distraction, he found Pax and Adul looking all the bit at odds with each other atop the sarig they shared. Adul, wide awake and alert, scanning his surroundings, and Pax now appearing as if trying to sleep in the saddle by the way his chin frequently rested on his chest and body swayed. Only an occasional stiffening of his back, as if suddenly waking enough to catch himself from falling out of the saddle, made Pax look aware of his surroundings. Adul seemed annoyed by his saddle mate’s lack of interest in staying alive and jabbed him with an occasional elbow to add to the times Pax’s back stiffened. Pax then pretended to look about for a few moments before repeating the cycle. It was amusing watching the two. Rogaan chuckled to himself. This was more like the Pax he knew. Ruumoor glanced back at Rogaan with a confused scrunch of the eyes until the Sharur realized what Rogaan was looking at, then chuckled a little himself.
Kardul pressed on, down game trails, and then through light forest thickets when the trails were undiscernible. Not long after plunging into the aromatic flower-filled thickets, Kardul signaled for all to stop in the late-afternoon sunlight, his right fist snapped into the air as he reigned up his sarig. Rogaan had drifted off, mostly daydreaming about pleasant things . . . Suhd’s embrace, when his sarig came to an abrupt halt. He immediately went fully awake and at alert looking around for the danger. The forest looked vibrant with significant contrasts between the greens and browns of the underbrush, the browns, grays, and yellows of the trees, and the mixed colors of their steeds and his companions. His surroundings looked somehow . . . unnatural. The scent of sarig and flowers filled his nose so powerfully he almost could not suppress a sneeze. Even the scent of Ruumoor now offended him so much he wrinkled his nose. Rogaan wondered if the Sharur practiced any sense of hygiene. Looking around, Rogaan wondered what forced Kardul to bring their line to a halt. He could see little with the brush and small trees level to his eyes, but his ears located heavy footsteps on dirt, breaking branches . . . and logs, toppling the small trees, and low grunts of what Rogaan took for large animals ahead and to their left. Kardul redirected their line of sarigs to the right, then moved deeper into the thickets at a cautious pace. It appeared Kardul picked a path that would take them away from the unseen danger and split two thick stands of tall pine trees off in the distance. Kardul’s and Adul’s heads were on swivels, looking left and right in urgency. With such limited visibility, travel through these sweet-smelling thickets felt unnerving to Rogaan. Kardul and his sarig suddenly side-stepped left as Adul pulled up short his sarig. A low, rumbling bellow reverberated through the air that Rogaan more felt than heard. Adul kicked his and Pax’s sarig into a gallop off to the left following Kardul. Trundiir, with Suhd now fully awake and clinging to the Sharur’s back, did the same as Ruumoor followed suit, with Rogaan hanging on to his saddle. As they passed the spot Kardul and sarig jumped, Rogaan came eye level with a huge bulk of sinew and bone, a dark yellowish and red-brown shieldback. The animal seemed alarmed . . . almost panicked slightly crouching in a defensive posture. The beast bellowed, then grunted as Ruumoor and Rogaan passed within several strides of it, its body a muscular wall of danger filling Rogaan’s vision and nearly bringing his heart to a stop.
“No . . .” Ruumoor moaned as he kicked hard into their sarig’s flanks. Rogaan strained to hold onto the saddle and stay seated as the sarig lurched and sped forward. At first, Rogaan heard the breaking of bush and small trees making up the thickets, all coming at him, then he saw the shadow of the massive tail, with boney blades edge on, sweeping toward him. Rogaan ducked as quickly as he could, pulling himself down flat behind Ruumoor. Plant debris slammed into his right shoulder, arm, and leg, and the sarig under him as the shieldback’s tail passed right atop of him with frightening speed. He felt the glancing strike of the tail brush his neck and shoulders, heavy enough to almost unseat him. Looking back, Rogaan found the shieldback enraged and bellowing and stomping, turned in the opposite direction with its tail sweeping back toward Ishmu and his sarig, who were following them in an unsettled trot. Ishmu urged his steed into a gallop, but was too late. The shieldback’s bone-bladed tail struck the sarig under Ishmu, launching both steed and rider into the air. The sarig flew over Rogaan broken and twisted in odd ways, landing in a mix of thrown brush and dust just to his left. Its body unrecognizable as a sarig. Ishmu launched high into the air with him, letting out a long, wavering yell until he hit hard onto the ground a half-dozen strides behind Rogaan and Ruumoor. Rogaan yelled to Ruumoor to stop, but the Sharur did not hear him and kept their sarig moving at a fast pace. Rogaan thought to jump from the steed and go back to help Ishmu, but Ruumoor kept their sarig twisting and turning through the thickets, not allowing him to dismount without getting injured. In a short time, they emerged from the thickets, making the tree line where the rest of their companions pulled up their steeds.
“Where’s Ishmu?” Adul asked with a concerned tone.
“He fell when the shieldback killed his sarig,” Rogaan answered honestly.
“Why didn’t you aid him?” Kardul accused Rogaan and Ruumoor with his eyes.
“I had no knowledge of him falling,” Ruumoor answered as he twisted to glare at Rogaan.
“Stay here.” Kardul commanded with a frustrated expression as he urged his sarig back into the thickets.
Bellows and grunts from the shieldback herd filled the thickets between the stand of tall pine trees now looming over the companions and the far stands of trees they came from. Kardul was nowhere to be seen or heard. His voice may have been lost in the bellows, and they would never know he yelled out. While waiting for Kardul and, hopefully, Ishmu to return, Adul chewed on Ruumoor for not stopping and aiding their fellow Sharur. Ruumoor argued back before falling silent and accepting the rebuke. Then Adul started chewing on Rogaan for not telling Ruumoor of their fallen companion. Rogaan too started arguing back that he had tried alerting his saddle-mate when Kardul and Ishmu emerged from the thickets mounted on a single steed. Ishmu looked in pain, but sat upright, holding onto the saddle and Kardul. Kardul did not bother to stop. He kept his sarig moving at a quick walking pace.
“Let’s remove ourselves from these wilds before nightfall,” Kardul growled as he passed the six of them seated on three of the four remaining steeds they started off with on this journey.
Trundiir stolidly kept his eyes focused forward and to the ground as he lightly kicked his sarig into moving out. Adul glared at Ruumoor and Rogaan as he urged his steed to follow Trundiir and Suhd. Pax wore the look of an uncaring observer as his and Adul’s steed carried them off in-between the stands of pines after Kardul and Ishmu. Ruumoor turned back to glare at Rogaan one more time before spurring their sarig to the rear of the line of companions.
“What?” Rogaan felt he needed to defend himself before getting cut off. “I tried to—”
“I’m not hearing any of your lies,” Ruumoor spoke with a vicious tone. “You’ve been enough trouble. I’ll be glad when you’re taken care of.”
Rogaan did not know what to make of Ruumoor’s comments. What does he mean ‘taken care of’? He wanted to ask, but knew he would get just more non-answers; instead, Rogaan settled into his saddle for the rest of their afternoon travels. Kardul continued leading them at a hard pace, on lesser traveled trails and through more thickets. As the sunlight started fading in the late afternoon, Rogaan felt the sarig under him and Ruumoor laboring with each step, and did not know if it would survive much more of this pace. Ruumoor sensed the animal struggling as well, and started talking to the steed while patting its shoulders and neck. Rogaan hoped Ruumoor’s encouragement would keep the sarig upright. Nightfall approached quickly and they were not yet clear of the forest. In truth, Rogaan had no idea where they were or how far it was to the di’tij Kardul and his men spoke of . . . the Last Stop. He was totally dependent on the Kiuri’Ner and his Sharurs, and he realized he did not like it. Worse, he did not know how far to trust anyone. It seemed everyone, Kardul included, had plans for him that he did not understand. Rogaan decided he did not like that, either. He just wanted his father free from his Farratum captors . . . and Pax and Suhd’s parents too. But he felt not a bit in control of this “rescue,” and it started to grate on him as they closed on what Kardul described as their ambush location.
At the gloomy hour of dusk, the feet of their sarigs struck the hard-packed dirt of a road. Relief washed over Rogaan and, from what he could tell, everyone else at the sight of the wide dirt road running through the forest wilds. They were alone on the road in the final light of the day.
Kardul surveyed their surroundings and seemed satisfied. “We’re just a few marches to the Last Stop. Keep moving or our steeds might not get us there.”
Again, they pressed on, their sarigs sounding exhausted by the labored breathing of the animals. Kardul kept their pace slow and steady to what Rogaan thought they could walk. He guessed Kardul did not feel so much in danger as they were while in the forest and that their steeds just could not survive anything faster. Rogaan nodded silently in agreement, yet worried his sarig might fall over with its next step. Looking to his friends, Rogaan saw Pax and Suhd with smiles as they looked around in the failing light. Rogaan too felt relieved to be out of the forest and onto a piece of civilization. He never thought before how vulnerable folks were out in the wilds and just how important Kiuri’Ner were to their safe travels and their very lives outside the safety of stone and timber walls of Brigum. There was more to being a Kiuri’Ner than filling meat racks and making stories for others to embellish . . . a difficult and enormous responsibility protecting the folks they serve.
The hard-packed dirt road took them north and east for a short time in almost complete darkness before the moon rose above the trees and bathed everything in an eerie blue. Unsettled by the pitch-black darkness they traveled in, Rogaan started his practiced and controlled breathing used for calming himself before a long or difficult bow shot. Ruumoor looked back at him with an expression he could not read, but a disapproving grunt from the Sharur told Rogaan his saddle-mate was not impressed. Rogaan’s eyes adjusted to the new light, allowing him to see colorless details almost as sharp as if in daylight, but only for short distances before all blurred and faded into shadows. His improved sight helped calm his fear of the unseen and unknown, but only a little in truth. The rest that kept Rogaan from jumping out of his skin at every screech, howl, or growl was Ruumoor and the others sharing his experience, though none of them seemed to share his angst. A short time traveling on the road after the moon rose brought them in sight of what appeared to be lights in the distance. Kardul kept them at the slow and steady pace as the sarigs still suffered labored breathing, and Rogaan continued anticipating the animal under him to collapse with each and every step. As they closed on the light points, Rogaan found the torches lit along a stoutly built bridge of wood timbers. It spanned a break in the land more than a stone throw wide. Beyond, the road led to a torch-lit citadel Rogaan hoped was the di’tij. Kardul kept them at the slow and steady pace onto the well-kept bridge, the sarig foot pads nearly silent on the wood. The only sounds telling of their presence beyond breathing of the steeds was the creaking and groaning of the bridge under the weight of four sarigs and the eight companions. Kiuri’Ner and Sharur showed little interest at what lay below the bridge as they crossed, but Pax and Suhd were like curious younglings trying to look over the edge of the structure into the below where Rogaan heard splashing, hissing, and deep growling. Looking with the aid of moonlight, Rogaan made out a river flowing with objects moving against the current causing ripples and splashes of notice. In places, the forms of snapjaws he could make out both on the banks and in the water, some larger than seven or eight strides. A chill ran through him at seeing so many flesh-eating animals in one place and wondered if anyone or anything could survive a river crossing here without the bridge. After passing over the bridge, they came to a halt in between two sets of stone walls guarding each side of the road and forming the outer boundary of the compounds inside. Almost-still flags flew atop both walls. The top baring the lightning bolt crest of Shuruppak above another baring the crossed spears and towers crest of the city Farratum. On their left, a mortared stone wall stood eight strides tall and almost two hundred strides long. Wooden watchtowers sat at the corners of the rectangular-shaped structure. In them, watchmen armed with spears and bows warily observed their approach. To their right, a ten-stride high wall of mortared stone stood at the south side of the road. A manned stone watchtower at the corner closest to their approach extended the height of the wall to almost eighteen strides high. The wall also ran some two hundred strides in both directions, along the road and parallel to the river. A handful of wood watchtowers sat atop each wall at near evenly spaced intervals. A growing number of watchmen, also armed with spears and bows, observed their approach. Entering the road channel the walls formed, Kar
dul led them to a spot halfway along the stone and mortar where timbered gates stood astride the road, one in each wall facing each other.
“Hail to the Keeper of the Watch,” Kardul spoke loudly and deeply after he signaled the line of sarigs to come to a stop. “We seek shelter within the walls of the Last Stop.”
Rogaan felt himself falling to the left. Both he and Ruumoor cursed in surprise as their sarig toppled. Rogaan suffered a jarring impact as the sarig struck the ground bouncing him upward and to the side of the road where he came to a painful stop face down in the dirt. Rogaan’s left shoulder and ribs ached, and his head throbbed. A bit disoriented at first, he shook off a light-headed sensation as he stumbled to his feet . . . all the while spitting dirt and what he suspected was dried bits of dung from his mouth. Ruumoor stood near Rogaan simply looking at their sarig with what Rogaan thought was a sorrowful expression. The animal had been pushed past its limits bringing them to the safety of this place. If an animal could have honor, this beast of burden demonstrated it . . . to its last breath. Rogaan too felt sorrow at its passing.
“Dinner!” a voice bellowed from somewhere above on the torch-lit ramparts. “Open the gate!”
At first, Rogaan was uncertain if the pronouncement of an evening meal was meant as a general call or that their fallen sarig was to be feasted upon. When Kardul and his Sharur showed no reactions to the gate to the north compound creaking open, he confirmed with assuredness it was the sarig they meant to carve up and put over a spit. Rogaan caught a glimpse of Pax smiling at all the blunt talk. Suhd seeming not to understand the subtle banter looked blankly at the two of them.
