Chapter 3
As they come over the hill John instantly catches the glint of light reflecting off armor and takes pause. The others quickly appear behind him and he hears Sal yell out, “Holy shit!”. Before them are soldiers in armor carrying long sharp spears that are serrated on one side. They are standing alongside three coaches which are all hooked up to lizards the size of horses. As soon as the soldiers see them they start rushing up to them brandishing their weapons.
Milenas stops them, “It’s ok, they aren’t enemies. They need help. Where is Zoeborh?”
No sooner has she asked the question then a tall older looking gentleman in garments with the same coloring as Milenas rushes up to them, “Milenas! What is the meaning of this? Who are these people? What kingdom are they from? Have they hurt you?”
“I take it a thousand and one questions over here is our man Zoeborh”, whispers Sal.
“No they haven’t hurt me. They are from a different planet and need our assistance. They got here by accident and I told them we would help them. This is John and that female over there is Karen and he is Michael and that is Sal over there.”
Sal gives a jerk to his head, “What’s up?”
“This is Zoeborh who I was telling you about.”
Zoeborh pulls Milenas away and scolds her, “Milenas you are too childish sometimes. For everyone’s good get away from them this instant and wait in the coach.” Milenas protests but the soldiers quickly grab her from Zoeborh and begin ushering her towards one of the coaches. Zoeborh then turns to face the others and unsheathes his sword, “Now that story may have fooled the princess because she is gullible but you will have to do better to fool someone such as myself. I have been around for a long time and have seen all the tricks. So tell me which kingdom shall I send your dismembered remains?”
Michael raises his bow and arrow, “Damn, is every planet all about fighting these days?”
Karen steps forward and gently lowers Michael’s bow, “Cool it boys.” She then speaks directly to Zoeborh, “Despite trigger happy over here we do not wish to fight. We have all done enough of that for a lifetime. We just want to find out where we are.” She then takes a deep breath and says, “Can’t believe I am about to say this but we come in peace.”
“Lying will help you not”, sneers Zoeborh, “Some of your weapons may be strange and you wear odd garments but you are clearly warriors.”
John sees that he is going to have to pull out his old debate team tricks to try and avoid a battle. Luckily he has always been very observant and good at assessing people and situations. So he takes a deep breath and gives it a try for his friends and for Milenas. “We had to be on our home planet but we don’t relish war. We are not warriors of this world. You seem like a logical man so think about it for a second. If we wanted to hurt you we could have snuck up on you. We were alone with Milenas down there and could have easily killed her or taken her hostage if we were enemies. She is a princess right? And if we were spies trying to fool you why would we appear like this with weapons. You said yourself we clearly look like warriors. Why would we try to fool you as warriors from a distant planet. The only scenario that makes sense is the one Milenas told you.” John hopes that was enough but he holds his staff tight just in case.
“You do make a few good points I must admit. What is it you want then?”
“Like Karen said to find a way to peacefully exist here.”
“Well peacefully may be difficult since the kingdoms are at war. But if you truly come from another planet wouldn’t you want to try and return home.”
“The planet we came from was a hellscape.”
Zoeborh ponders this for a few moments and then says, “Very well get in the front coach and we will sort this out back at the castle.”
John begins walking to the coach, “Thank you.”
Karen touches John’s arm, “Um sweety, maybe we should discuss this.
John stops and turns towards them, “What’s the matter?”
“What’s the matter? Are you kidding me dude?”, says Sal.
Michael turns to Zoeborh, “Uh, can you excuse us for just one moment.” The foursome then walk a few feet over the hill and huddle.
“Ok before we go into why the hell we are considering going with someone who just threatened to tear us limb from limb can we discuss how we ended up in some medieval prehistoric fantasy camp?”, says Sal.
“Your stretching there”, says John.
“For crying out loud we have flying dragons, giant lizards, knights and queens not to mention your crush over there claims to do magic”, says Sal.
“Back up there. My what?”, says John getting defensive at his friend seeing through him so easily.
“Alright let’s break this down. Unless we are all having the same delusion we somehow got transported from Earth to this planet which fortunately for us seems to sustain similar life”, says Karen.
“How is that freakin possible?”, says Sal.
“Same way the inhabitants speak our language. Don’t think about it too hard and just go with it”, answers John.
“Aren’t you supposed to be logical?”
“Yes and sometimes what seems the strangest makes the most sense logically given the evidence.”
“Well if we are on a different planet shouldn’t we be weighing less or something. Like the astronauts on the moon.”
“Perhaps this is not only a different planet but a different dimension.”
“Regardless let’s all agree we want to stay and try to make this our new home”, says Karen.
“That’s a beautiful thought”, says John.
“Guess it’s gotta be better than where we came from”, says Sal.
“First appearances can be deceiving”, says Michael cautious as always.
“You’re saying you want to go back to the cesspool we came from?”, says John.
“I am saying we should tread carefully till we have all of the facts.”
“Which is why I am advocating we go with these people to learn more about where we are.”
“They did try and kill us.”
“That was a misunderstanding. They are clearly involved in a very active war. As long as we don’t get involved we will be fine.”
“We all know from direct experience how well that usually goes.”
They all go silent until Karen chimes in, “Look the bottom line is we are someplace new and unfamiliar and the natives are our best hope to get a grip on everything.”
“We just need to be careful is all I am saying”, says Michael.
John puts a hand on Michael’s shoulder, “Always. We got this far didn’t we.”
“Are we all ok then going with these people?”, asks Karen.
Michael and John nod and then all three turn towards Sal. “Feel better about it if my gun was working but what the hell. Why should we stop living on a wing and prayer now.”
The foursome break their huddle and approach Zoeborh. “Ok we are ready.”
“Good hand me your weapons and climb in.”
“I don’t think so bro. No offense but we don’t go anywhere without our weapons”, says Sal.
“It’s not that we don’t trust you. We have just been through a lot. It’s a safety thing just so we can always defend ourselves”, says Karen.
“Our weapons only leave us from our cold dead fingers”, Michael coldly says.
“That’s another way of putting it”, says Karen.
John tries to diffuse the tension with logic once more, “As a fellow warrior would you give your weapon up to someone you just met.” Much to John’s surprise and relief it worked.
“Very well but you will be watched closely. Fair warning.” With that the foursome climbs in the coach as guards flank it. Milenas finally satisfied that John and the others are coming climbs in her coach. Zoeborh takes a long look over the hill from where the mysterious foursome first appeared suspiciously scanning for clues to their identities. He then climbs in the coach with Milenas. As the coaches begin moving Zoeborh says to the two guards sitting across from him and Milenas, “Don’t let these strangers out of your sights at any time. I want constant surveillance of them.”
“Yes sir.”
“I think you are overeacting they are just a little odd but that is because they came from a different world”, says Milenas.
Zoeborh turns to her and says, “There you go my dear again getting carried away with fantasy stories and always being too sentimental. Just because you want to believe them doesn’t mean they are telling the truth.”
“But..”
“I didn’t get this far without being cautious, young lady.”
“So you don’t believe they came from another planet?”
“Bah, absurd children stories.”
“But what about the stories of our kind?”
“When will you grow up? Stories of fanciful journeys and wishful thinking are for children. Just because we can do magic doesn’t mean the world is magical and bright.”
“What about my…condition?”
“A glitch of nature. Just let your sister and I handle our guests.”
Meanwhile in the coach with our four earthlings Sal asks, “So what’s the plan when we get to the castle?”
John exudes optimism as he says, “We just stick with honesty. We explain what happened and state our desire to live here. We then respectfully request to set up residence.”
“Oh yea that seem like a no fail plan to me”, Sal says with no attempts to hide the sarcasm in his voice. “What’s Plan B?”
“Same thing it always is. We improvise”, says John hoping it doesn’t come to that. For he is tired of the struggles of his life. He didn’t know how good he had it till things went to hell in a hand basket back on Earth. All he wants is for life to be simple again.
No comments:
Post a Comment