Merchtion

We rested on the edge of the cow graveyard that day until the sun was fully out. No one, not even Amber, could stay there for long. Chris slept well, exhausted from mourning for cows who were long dead. He could still be heard whimpering every so often while he slept, his dreams must not have been pleasant sleeping here with the cold air piercing through cloth.
         
The barbarian tribe couldn't find us here, Brittany and Jordie explained, only the two of them knew how to use magic. "When we were younger, the oldest person in the village was Grandpa's mother." The barbarian woman told us while Chris slept.
         
They paused here giving Stuart a chance to speak up "So, your great Grandmother was the oldest person in the village before your Grandpa?" The admiral sat with his legs bent slightly, moving his legs every so often to keep his 'busted wheel' from growing stiff.
         
"Heavens, no!" Brittney exclaimed, shocked at the question.
         
"Grandpa is simply what we call him." Her brother explained "Grandpa is simply what we call him, being older than many of the others he assumed the role of a kind of father to everyone, or in his case Grandfather." Stuart nodded understanding. I'm still a little confused about it all but their culture is odd.
         
"Well," Brittney continued "Grandpa's mother taught us how to bring down the wall, she died only days after passing on the knowledge. The elders were very shaken up about the loss, it was believed that when she died the tribe would fall apart. An ancient prophesy that one of the witch doctors told her mother when Grandpa's mother was only a baby. 'When this child dies' The witch doctor has said 'Our land will be invaded, we will lose our most prized possession and thee tribe will slowly give way to chaos.'" She recited it from memory, though short the words seemed to have a deep meaning to her. She opened her eyes slowly and looked at me "I'm beginning to wonder if, maybe the witch doctor wasn't all wrong. Grandpas slowly beginning to use his power to suppress the weak and there are people going missing while they sleep, vanishing without a trace. Chaos seems just around the corner, I know that we had been planning to leave for a long time now, but we had nowhere to go. When you arrived it seemed like the best way out."
         
Now it's my turn "So were indebted to each other. Does that make us even?"
         
"We still need each other it seems." Jordie corrected me "Until everyone is safe I think no one is even." This really confused me. Brittney nodded, I looked to Stuart who looked back and shrugged.
         
Jordie stood up; the sun was now nearly half to above us. He slapped the dirt from his fur shorts and walked over to his black unicorn. "Strap you bags on and mount up." He ordered.
         
I put my book away and swing the bag onto my back and tighten it around my shoulders and waist. Stuart throws their bag at Chris who wakes up startled. "Were heading out." Stuart informed him; he and Ryan simply put their bags over one shoulder and hop up on the frog and gorilla.
         
When everyone is on their own animal Jordie moves his unicorn forward, Brittney following closely and the rest of us trail casually behind. After a short distance we reach the wall. "Everybody hold on!" Brittney shouts. Raising their hands above their heads the two barbarians begin to chant, the brightness causes us to close our eyes and turn away. Wind brushed past us as the wall came down letting natural air back in. Suddenly I hear the shouts of a hundred men and as my vision clears my frog starts running hard. Opening my eyes for a second I notice that we are weaving in and out of many angry look barbarians, each of them hold either a spear or a bow and all of them are on gorillas. I hear Stuart let out a shout as he and his gorilla make a gorilla and its mount to fly back into a tree.
         
Suddenly I look ahead to see a line of gorillas blocking our path, the unicorns jump with all their might but Brittney’s is stabbed in the belly as they fly over head. She is tossed to the ground unconscious, her dying unicorn nearby. Jordies unicorn is forced to jump over its companions body and Brittney’s, incapable of making both jump the unicorn barely makes it over Brittney before falling forward head over heels, Jordie hits his head on a tree and slumps to the ground. My stomach suddenly finds itself in my shoes as my frog jump high above the guards, and high above the trees. I hold on tightly to it, looking around I see the other two have done the same thing. I realize all too soon that we are coming back down, the ground approaches very fast.
         
         

I woke up to a sharp pain in my shoulder. My owl had landed, suddenly it all came rushing back, the barbarians, the wall, jumping above my area of comfort. Looking around quickly I get my bearings; I am on the back of a turtle, the vast ocean opening up in front of me.
         
Everyone else is sitting up, basking in the last rays of the day as the sun begins to dip down below the horizon. I sit up. "Boy, you were out cold Deany." Chris commented when he noticed me moving.
         
"What happened?" I asked, we were all in a tight formation with Ryan farthest to the left, Brittney to his right and Jordie nest to her. I was behind Jordie with Chris then Amber, riding the smallest turtle, to my left and Stuart behind Ryan. The ride would likely be more comfortable than our trip here. It may end with a better landing too. "Where'd these turtles come from?" They weren't the same turtles we had came to Xtand on two days earlier.
         
"From a cave to the east of the island." Ryan answered staring straight ahead into the blazing sunset.
         
Stuart smiled and nodded. "Same place me and Chris found the other turtles, it seems that they always come there over time."
         
"How did we make it through?" I asked remembering how badly out numbered we were.
         
"You have your friend Ryan here to thank for that." Jordie said "The animals understood that they had to follow me and Brittney, Ryan had his gorilla pick the two of us up and continue on."
         
"Really?" I asked shocked, generally Ryan's not that quick to act. "What about everyone else, how'd the rest of you get out?"
         
Amber was the first to speak up "Chris and me fainted when we fell through the tree tops on the frogs."
         
"I did not!" Chris bellowed defensively "I was... resting." Amber smiled at me and shook her head "Shut up!" Chris slinked back watching where we had come from. Suddenly my head hurt, as though I had hit a branch on the way down.
         
Brittney explained that she had been hit when she tried getting her unicorn to jump over the tribesmen and Jordie made it over the spears but couldn't safely continue over the body of his sister.
         
Stuart explained next what happened to him. "My gorilla climbed up a tree, one of the barbarian arrows hit a branch above me and shattered it, the branch fell on my head and knocked me out. I'm just glad that the arrow didn't hit me, that would have hurt." He shook his head like he might force the thought out of his mind.
         
"After I swung by and picked up Brittney and Jordie I turned east hoping for some luck. Looks like I found it, didn't take much to loose the tribe however."
         
Brittney and Jordie turned to Ryan at this point, "What?" Brittney said confused "They've got trackers who could follow a bird after it passed an hour before, how could you possibly have lost them on gorillas and frogs?"
         
Ryan glanced over, then he looked back to the setting sun, "I've always been lucky." Luck seemed to fall away from us all at that point however. The water began stirring unusually as though wind was pushing the water towards us, but there was no wind. Soon the waves move as though in a storm, though the sky was clear. The turtles start moving faster and the ocean turns red from the sun as though blood flowed instead of water.
         
"What's going on?" Chris asks hearing the silence that suddenly fell, he sits up and looks around, "What’s that?" He asks pointing behind us, we look but there is nothing there.
         
Stuart stands up on his turtle, spinning around surveying the ocean. "There!" He shouts pointing beyond Jordie on the opposite side of our small rectangle caravan. We turn and look, but there is nothing there either. "It was there, I swear!" I send my owl up to look down on us. It does but doesn't appear to notice anything, it spins looking in all directions gradually gaining height.
         
A slapping sound is heard as a wave rolls up much higher than any of its companions. My owl panics and quickly fly’s out of the way as it begins lowering on us like a book closing on a fly. Trapped in the middle of the wave’s path, I lower down and cling to the shell of the turtle. Expecting to be hit from above, it came as a surprise when the blow came from below as a creature whipped up from out of the ocean. It emerged almost directly below Brittney causing her, Ryan and Jordie to fall off of their turtles. It reminded me of a giant snake with scales coming off of its back in such a way that it looked almost like swords piercing it from the inside out. Larger than the turtles in width that when it shook its head the water that was about to come down on us was scattered and showered us in a cold mist. Surfacing again, Brittney looks to the beast and screams "Merchtion!" Amber’s turtle suddenly dove into the water leaving Amber floating next to Chris and Stuart; she shouted something to her turtle but her voice was drowned out by a scream from the creature that sounded like a thousand frightened bats fleeing from a dark cave.
         
Once the sound died down, a ringing was all I could hear. Diving into the water the monster caused a wave large enough to make me loose my balance and near fall into the water. Stuart however was unable to keep steady enough and was soon underwater. The tip of its tail slashed at Chris and knocked him into the water as well. Ryan looks at the beast stunned at its attack. Stuart flailing around grabs onto the side of his turtle and scurries up. Finally the beast is completely underwater and the ocean still, but only for a moment. The serpent reemerged behind us but we could not hear it. Ryan was the first to see it; he pointed and must have shouted because his mouth was opened wide. I turned just in time to duck before my head was severed from my body by it's razor sharp teeth. Thinking fast I unstrap my pack and reach out to grab one of the scales on the beasts back as it dives under water.
         
My hand stings as salt water gets into my fresh wound. I climb my way up its back trying to reach its head. Using my feet to push myself up the soles of my shoes are soon destroyed and fall into the water, now my feet are getting cut up as badly as my hands. Rising high out of the water I soon find myself a victim of gravity and fall off of the creatures back. I notice as I fall my owl begins to attack the beast scratching at its eyes, the monster thrashes and bites at the bird but quick movements keep my pet out of harms way. I land hard on my back, the air forced out of my lungs on impact. I begin to sink, my body not responding to my commands. A hand reaches down and pulls me out of the water. Amber had found her way onto the back of another turtle and was now helping the others back onto theirs.
         
My legs still in the water, I clung to the animal for dear life. My blood drips down off the back of the turtle and into the thirsty black waters. I try to say something but my words are not heard by Amber or even by myself. The words form in my mind and take shape on my tongue but they have no substance. I brush the water out of my eyes, I try to concentrate on fighting this thing, but the shill sound reverberating in my mind cancels out all logical thought.
         
The monster takes a swing at Jordie with its tail, turning quickly he swims hard away from where the tail will come down but it hits him in the back pushing him underwater with it. Brittney finally makes her way up to onto the back of a turtle and shakes off the water, Ryan reaches into his bag and pulls out the dagger with a bead in the hilt. Waving to Brittney, he tosses her the short sword when he finally had her attention. The giant serpent soon charged her heading straight for her with no intention of stopping, but Brittney stood her ground. Her cold black stare looking the monster right in its uninjured right eye, it opened its mouth wide enough to swallow her and the turtle whole. After it had almost seemed too late, she jump high into the air, the creature focused its attack on her snapping its powerful jaws into the air after her, she landed gracefully on the back of its neck and with one smooth motion drove the blade deep into the beast spine. With a cry that was loud enough to hear over the noise in my head, the creature wailed its final scream and thrashed about wildly as the blade turned to fire and burned our foe with a heat as hot as any star. The noise died, and the serpent went with it.
         
I grasp the side of the turtle with all my strength, Amber stares at the body of the giant as it slow sinks. Pulling the blade out Brittney stays standing on it, her turtle swims over to her and just as the water is about to touch her feet she steps of it and onto the damp back of the creatures shell.
         
Amber helps me get on the turtle properly and then we silently head over to my turtle. I step onto mine and check my bags to make sure the books are fine, satisfied that they had not gotten wet, I turned to say a word of gratitude to Amber but her back was to me and I knew that the ringing was in her ears as much as it was in mine. Nodding my head I turn my attention to my books, I begin to write, but blood drips from my palms onto the paper blotting out the words. Sadly I put them away again and watch as everyone gets helped back onto their turtles. Jordie appears to be hurt but not to badly, soon we are back under way, our turtles taking us in the direction of home, guided by the stars. Jordie sits on his turtle watching each of us very suspiciously.
         
         

I wake up the next morning to sound, at first I feel very excited to be able to hear and be heard again but I soon realize that the voices I hear are not very happy voices at all. I sit up and see Ryan standing on Jordies turtle; Chris, Amber and the Brittney are already awake as well. "There is no way Ryan would do that!" Amber shouted.
         
"Listen, all of us were unconscious between the attack and being on the turtles. Suddenly it's evening and Merchtion attacks!" Jordie turns to Ryan "How could you have managed to escape my tribe?"          
         
"Are you accusing Ryan of turning against us?" I asked, everyone jumped slightly not having noticed I was awake.
         
Jordie faltered, but only for a moment. "Yes!" He turned back to Ryan and continued his accusations. Brittney sits on her turtle staring at nothing, thinking. "Merchtion is a pet of my tribe and needs time to get into position when ambushing a company and it needs to know where they are going." He stands and waits for Ryan’s response, but none came. Amber and Chris stand still, unmoving, barely breathing "What about you?" He asks turning to Chris, "You were the first to 'wake up' what if you were a part of this too? Is this why you came to our village? To try and kill us?" Chris' face burned red with anger, Amber's hand twitched slightly even I was taken aback at this comment.
         
"We came here when our land was taken from us to look for something to help us take it back," Amber said defending all of us "Please you must believe me!" Jordie shook his head and stalked to the end of his turtle.
         
"And what about these turtles?" He continued, "You seemed to know exactly where they were, this place that harbours many sea turtles as you say, and yet I have never heard of it! My people have never seen it! We must have explored the entire island a thousand times since I was born and you claim to know more about it than we do!" Ryan remains silent, he turns again and shouts to me as Stuart begins to wake up "You people claim that some of you were here before and that you found turtles here then too! How should I believe that? You brought them with you to kill us, when your country goes up in flames you expect to hurt as many people as you can! You call us Barbarians?" He practically screams the last sentence.
         
Finally Ryan speaks cutting off Jordie and speaking with authority, "I had no choice." He stated plainly, Jordie seemed satisfied, the rest of us however were shocked. "I'm sorry, you were all unconscious. They were going to kill you all, I begged them for our lives. They were finally beginning to understand what I was saying. 'We don't deserve this' I told them, 'please, we only want to go home.'" Ryan shook his head in shame. "They said that the two of you couldn't leave the island, to do so goes against everything that they believe in. They said that they would allow me, and Deany and Amber and Stuart and Chris to go, but that they would give the two of you a warriors rest. You have to understand, they would have killed us all!"
         
Jordie goes silent now. Brittney stands up, "I think I understand." She said slowly "I think, any of us would have done that." Jordie nods his head.
         
Stuart sits, confused and dazed still unsure of what had just happened. "So, you... turned on us?"
         
Ryan hangs his head, "I'm sorry, I did what I thought was best."
         
"Well," Amber says, "Were all alive. I think you did the right thing." Everyone returns to their own turtles, I record the events that had just taken place massaging my hands that had begun to heal. Lying on my back I look at the blue morning sky.
         
I close my eyes, around evening we are going to arrive in Yadout and we are all going to need every ounce of strength we have to retake a broken land. I wonder how Gordon and Kevin have been doing as my mind slow drifts off back to sleep.