by Paul Edwards
Chapter Seven
We continued traveling in silence for another hour, I noticed that the black line of people had completely disappeared off of the horizon. I was still cautious since the sun had risen high in the sky and no longer showed them in silhouette.
We soon reached the edge of the forest and turned traveling on the edge of it. The forest consisted mainly of many very large and old hardwoods such as oak, elm and maple. I could not see more than a few feet into the dark and ominous combination of tree trunks and foliage.
"Kinda spooky," Shelley said.
"Yes, also perfect for an ambush of unwary travelers."
We traveled another hour before we intersected the path the ships passengers had been herded down. It had widened as soon as it entered the forest to about ten feet across, it had been churned to mud from the hundreds of feet that had just trodden on it.
"We will rest here, and have some lunch. I don't think we'll have any problem following them," I said.
We climbed off of our mounts, I reached into one of my saddle bags and pulled out a bag of beef jerky and a bottle of chocolate milk, I also pulled out a small folding stool opened it up and sat on it.
The others soon followed my example and we were all sitting in a circle eating the food that had been in the saddlebags, the others were eating dried fruit and nuts.
I had had my back towards the forest and was looking over the flat grass land when I saw a small black dot flying high in the sky. I thought at first it must have been one of the great ships, but then it turned sharply and accelerated to a great speed, I could make out what looked like large flapping wings.
"What's that?" I asked.
Gwen turned and looked, her expression changed to awe.
"Dragon...." she said breathlessly.
The dragon turned again and started flying in a straight line towards the forest, it seemed to fly faster and faster until it passed high overhead and was obscured by the trees. I heard a sound in the distance like someone banging a large drum twice in succession
"Sonic boom," Shelley said.
"Sonic what?" Gwen asked.
"It's flying faster than sound," Harry said, his eyes wide with excitement.
I unsheathed my sword and used it to did a small hole in the ground, I reached down and grabbed a handful of dirt and looked at it.
"This looks like pretty good soil and there's lots of moisture in it, what do you think Harry?"
I showed Harry the soil.
"I guess so, why do you ask?"
"There are no farms here, and they sure didn't waste any time marching the passengers into the forest."
"You think the dragons are forcing them to live in hiding," Shelley said.
"I wonder... what do you know about dragons Gwen?"
"Um... well they fly... obviously, and they breathe fire... and they live in the mountains."
"Do they attack people?"
"I've heard stories of treasure seekers, trying to find the Ka of the mountains being burned to ashes, but they are just stories."
"Ka of the mountains, what is that?" I asked.
"It is supposed to be a place of wonder... where the three sorcerers Jambres, Jannes and Moses created their greatest spells."
"What mountains?"
"It is said the range is due East, ten days travel, it is called the Bones of Hathor."
"So we have to trek through this forest first," I said.
We finished our small meal, put away our folding stools and climbed back onto our steeds. I unsheathed my sword and laid it across my saddle in front of me, I then prodded my horse into a slow trot and steered it down the wide path and into the forest. The others followed behind me in single file.
The trees soon formed a leafy canopy overhead blocking much of the suns light, my eyes adjusted quickly to the shade and shadow of the forest, there was still enough light to see things clearly.
The forest was noisy with the sound of birds and other animals, it made me relax for I knew that if there were men hidden in ambush they would have scared many of them away.
I increased the speed of my horse to a quick gallop, I looked behind me to make sure the others were still following, they were, I wanted to spend as little time in this place as possible.
It took about an hour of travel before we arrived at the gates of a high wall constructed of wood poles lashed together and buried in the ground. The wood looked quite old, I could see many spots were the poles had been replaced with newer ones which still had bark on them.
I heard someone yell from above, I looked up and saw two armed men looking down at us from over the top of the wall.
"What did he say?" I asked Gwen.
"He asked who we were," she replied.
"Tell them we are travelers, and we are looking for lodgings."
I heard Gwen yell at them in their local language, and then one of the men yelled back.
"He said he'll let us in, but there is a fee, it's quite expensive," she said.
I reached into my cloak and grabbed the small sack of coins Gwen had given back to me after she had purchased our tickets, I tossed it to Gwen.
"That's not enough," Gwen said after opening the sack and looking inside.
"Tell them it's all we have," I looked at Gwen with a serious expression, "make sure they think we're broke, otherwise they try to will rob us."
An expression of alarm appeared on Gwen's face.
"Don't worry, we are sorcerer's," I said.
Gwen turned and yelled at the two men and then tossed the coin sack up for them to catch, the men yelled back I could tell they were swearing and threatening us just from their tone and gestures.
"They say this will do for now but we will have to pay more when we leave," Gwen said.
I smiled to myself, corruption had changed so little over the centuries, I knew this fee would be split among the guards and they would keep no record of the balance of our bill.
The rickety wooden gate slowly started to swing inwards, I prodded my horse and we slowly walked through the gate and into the area beyond.
The smell assaulted us like a punch to the face, it was a mix of urine, feces and general decomposition. I looked back at the others, they all had a hand over their nose and mouth, I had spent much time in cities of antiquity and the smell here was very similar. There were obviously no sewers or plumbing here.
I surveyed the area around us and saw many one and two story ramshackle wooden buildings. There were narrow muddy streets between the buildings filled with throngs of dour people wearing drab clothing.
"God... this is like... New York in the eighteen hundreds," Harry said.
"Don't eat or drink anything... or touch anything... we can't stay here..." I said.
"How can people live like this?" Shelley said.
"I think they have no choice," I said.
I steered my horse towards the widest street I could find, thankfully there appeared to be many other horses so we did not look out of place. I traveled as fast as I dared, the street was full of people so I could not go much faster than walking speed.
The buildings did not change in appearance, they were all made of grey unpainted wood and were falling apart. I did not see any signs of wealth or even just minor prosperity, the people were unsmiling and looked miserable.
We came upon an open area after thirty minutes of traveling, it looked like a market square, I saw stalls selling food and other goods. I also saw a small gathering of people, they were listening to a short, bald, middle aged man with a goatee, he was standing on a wooden crate.
The bald man was speaking loudly and shaking a fist to punctuate each phrase, the people in the audience would yell back at him occasionally.
"What is he saying?" I asked Gwen.
Gwen listened for a moment.
"Um... they control the trees... um... we work and starve.... they get the benefits... need a new system.... people should get what they need... and provide what they can..."
&
nbsp; "Oh my God," Shelley said as she rolled her eyes, "it won't work! It's been tried!" She yelled at the crowd.
"What's been tried?" I asked Shelley, confused.
"It's a long story."
I saw three armed soldiers run out of an alleyway and seize the bald speaker, he didn't try to resist them, he actually seemed pleased, he yelled a short phrase as they led him away.
I looked at the crowd and saw anger in their faces, I heard murmurs from them that gave me the impression of conspiracy and violence. I also noticed that the other people in the square had stopped what they were doing and were staring at the soldiers escorting the speaker away.
"I smell a revolt," Harry said with a grim look on his face.
"We should get going," I said as I spurred my horse into a walk.
Shelley trotted up next to me.
"This is going to be very bad," she said.
"I think so too, I sense violent anger from these people."
We were soon back into a narrow street with more drab buildings lining each side, I started to notice other tall wooden walls that seemed to enclose large areas in the city itself, these walls were well maintained and the soldiers guarding them wore bright colorful garb.
I noticed one of the people on the street had been a passenger on the ship, I had spoken briefly to him when I had toured the lower decks.
I stopped my horse and beckoned him over.
"Gred... how are things?"
"Not good... we are trapped here... we must either join the military or work in the forest to cut wood."
"How do they get food here?" I asked.
"They trade with other forest cities, some have farms, and there are deer in the forest."
"Can't you just leave?"
"The entire city is walled and guarded, I have already tried."
"Follow me," I said, I felt an intense anger build in my chest.
It took another thirty minutes to cross the city and reach the far gate, I saw fifty or so heavily armed soldiers guarding it as well as two high towers with archers perched on top.
As we approached the gate a stern looking soldier stood in front of my horse causing me to stop.
"Go back... you are a forbidden to leave," he said in Egyptian.
He unsheathed his sword and looked at me with menacing stare.
"You have ten seconds to get out of my way," I stared back at him.
I saw the confidence in his stare flicker for a second, he then steeled himself and his expression changed to arrogance, he swore at me and then charged.
I flicked the squares on my bracelet and he flew backwards twenty feet, dropping his sword. I stared at the archers and then at the soldiers.
"You have thirty seconds to move," I yelled.
I saw the archers nock their bows with arrows and start to pull back their strings, the soldiers stood fast and drew their weapons.
I had lost my patience, I flicked the squares on my bracelet one more time, the large wall exploded away from me in a tumult of dust and poles, the towers went with it.
The dust settled after about thirty seconds revealing a twenty foot gap in the wall, I saw the forest and the road beyond it, the soldiers were strewn about on the ground, I felt a pang of guilt as I saw some of them nursing obviously broken bones.
The crowd around us started running towards the hole in the wall screaming and yelling, they pulled us along in the tide and we were soon standing by ourselves on the road looking back at the city. There was a steady stream of people still emerging from the gap and running off into the forest.
We turned and continued our journey.
"How are we going to fix this?" Shelley was beside me as we trotted down the road.
"I don't know, I'm beginning to see why Moses and his people wanted to leave this place."
"Maybe the answer is at the Ka of the Mountains... if we can find it."
