By: Omegon
Harry rummaged through the charred remnants of the castle’s basement, finding poorly kept knives, a hammer head, a few square headed nails, and general garbage. Not much had survived whatever fire occurred down here. What he did find though he decided to keep, a few nails might come in handy and one needs a hammer for nails. He could try to refurbish the knife as well if the time could be found, one can never have too many knives out in the bush.
With the ruins now thoroughly searched, he set his sights on the horizon. Behind him and the ruins were rolling hills, and in front of him was a heavily forested lowlands with extremely tall trees. Off in the distance somewhere deep in the forest, he heard a pop, an obvious gunshot. Harry had half a mind to duck slightly but he was immediately drawn to it. Another person was out there and blasting away at something and he wanted to find whoever it was. Shoving his findings into his pack as he slowly walked towards the woods, he began to make his way to the general direction of the shot.
The woods themselves were a range of colors, the trees themselves were just green with bark that had an amber tinge, but under the trees was a world of strangeness that he had never seen before. Around rotting fallen branches he saw large mushrooms with star-shaped web patterns on their tops. Tall stalks rose from small bushes that were topped with long, colorful, sticky strands of some stiff material that were in all ranges of purples and oranges. Other plants with long curled leaves with red tips seemed to be a favorite of some small vibrantly colored insects. It all looked very tropical and lively.
A few deer ran away as he passed, revealing their own odd patterns, and colorful purple birds that looked like birds of paradise flew overhead between the trees. The birds grew silent again as he heard some shouting. It wasn’t from the same direction as the gunshot either, hinting that it was two people he now knew the general location of. With the new one sounding closer, he changed his course and picked up the pace a little bit, his strides being longer than they would be in normal gravity.
Harry shouted in return, “hello?!” It was almost like two hillbillies shouting over the hills in place of a phone. “Don’t move, I’m coming!”
The other person shouted back as he grew nearer, “not like I really can!”
He shook his head and broke out into a light run, his pack bouncing around to spite him.
Alfonso leaned over and threw up his last meal on Earth. He could hear Oberto fair better than he did and his twin brother wasted no time in pulling Alfonso back up to his feet. “Don’t lose all your energy Alf, we should be setting out to hunt for the others immediately. We both heard the spirit speak, seventeen others out there.”
He wiped his mouth and ripped up a tuft of soft moss to clean the back of his hand. “Yeah yeah I know. I’m gonna take a leak over by that tree, go check out that berry bush or something, then we can set out.”
“Aye aye, don’t take long.”
Alfonso tightened the straps on his second-hand hiking pack and walked about twenty feet away from where he first stepped into this world. He saw Oberto go around to the other side of the bush picking the largest berries as he went. As he zipped up his pants again, he heard a woosh then the crunching of leaves and twigs. He froze in place, slowly moving his right hand up to unbuckle the center straps so he could ditch his pack if need be. Making sure he didn’t make any sudden movements, he slowly turned his head to see what was waiting behind him.
Staring directly at the surprise visitor so as to not betray that he wasn’t alone, he spoke in a level voice that didn’t reveal how panicked he was. “Oberto, stay still and keep hidden, someone is right next to me. As soon as possible, I will find you again so stay around this area. You will remain secret so do not reveal yourself. If I am not back here by the time your food supply runs out, do what you must to acquire more and find the others.”
“Do you think this’ll leave us a surplus after Hatih’s spring tithe?” Lady Ketna tallied up the heads of livestock and bushels of barley to feed them.
Korele snorted, “she’s been lightening up on this island, she’s either harassing the bugs or keeping darklings at bay to the Small End, one of the two. You also forgot to consider the dried meat stores so this is far more than enough to see us through, probably to the summer even. I don’t think your mother has ever gotten such a bountiful harvest in her time so you’re off to an auspicious start.”
“Hmm, perhaps. A good harvest doesn’t really mean anything though with the soil being as rich as it is.” The lady finished with the general farming inventory and tucked the leather sheet away. It was a good year overall and her first year of running the keep herself after her mother’s passing. It made her feel foolish for wanting to slip away and leave the Farkeeps, the Southern Chain Islands. She had heard many things about the far away cities, about how they were a kingdom and had armies of dragons, and near unimaginable wealth and trade. That was only what she heard though, meanwhile she can see Izniri Keep, why her mother, and grandmother, and ancestors before that all stayed here. The same could be said for all the keeps on this island in particular, all five others that lord over the greatest of the chain islands. Sure, the kingdom had no power here, there was no safety coming from them, and they probably didn’t even have the Farkeeps on their maps with how often traders come by, which was never. They probably thought it was bug territory, but it has been centuries since those pests lived here.
Ketna perked up and turned towards the woods just to the side of the keep, “did you hear that? That didn’t sound like an animal at all.” She listened closer and could make out what seemed to be mumbled talking, but she couldn’t make sense of what it was. “Back to your usual, I’m going to check this out,” with a couple steps, she took to the wing to make the short walk even faster and landed right behind the suspect. A person, that much was obvious, who was facing a tree. Is it talking to the damned tree? It was garbed in blue and grey so that much was fine, but everything else was just… off. It wasn’t a dragonette and it had hair on its head. It had no wings, and instead carried a large back covered in strange objects. What it wore looked very fancy and foreign, straight from the kingdom’s capitol probably, and it was a small thing with the top of its hornless head reaching her shoulders. It slowly turned around with green eyes wide open, then started talking to her in some gibberish. She could understand about as much as its speech as she understood why and how it was outside her keep.
She tilted her head, “I can’t understand you. Speak normally.” It just replied in that same nonsense outsider babble and her shoulders slumped a little. “Come with me, you have some explaining to do,” Ketna grabbed its arm and led it back to her keep. “Korele! Go fetch the scrollworm Hykol and have him meet me in the library, and tell him to find his book on rituals!”
Izniri Keep itself was nothing grand, it was the smallest of the now four keeps on the island of Big End. The keep was unique though among its peers with roofs made of half-domes and peculiar star-shaped arrow slits; it was designed to be very difficult to land directly on in the event of an attack. She presumed so at least, the only spots on the roofs she could land on herself were directly in front of a slit. The keep was also built right next to where the stone was quarried from, making for a really inconvenient area of barren ground. She practically dragged the strange person into the greeting hall of her keep, but it became much better about following along after that, making the trip to the library an effortless affair.
“Hykol? Where are-“
“Coming!” A middle aged male dragonette came swooping down into the main hall and through the doors of the library, scrolls and books in hand. “You have need of me? Oh… woah. Did Hatih get new blood to do her bidding?”
“That’s what I want to find out but I can’t understand a word of what it says. Do you know how to do a ritual of translation?”
Hykol flipped through a few pages fully knowing where everything was in that book,” as a matter of fact I do. However, read the requirements.” He handed the aged open book to Ketna.
She read through it, mentally recounting what she had on hand, “shit, we don’t have enough irikotha do we? Hmm, no. I know for a fact lady Heskanid doesn’t use any of this stuff. Send Alyakut to fetch everything on that list from them, and with that hammer they’d sent here to get fixed. Go on, hurry, this isn’t the time to procrastinate.”
He sat down in the nearest chair, he knew the moment had come. He didn’t know what it was, but at a minimum it was first contact, and first impressions were always important, disregarding being caught pissing on a tree of course. He watched the smaller reptilian person run out of the room as quickly as it came in, the person dressed in rough looking blue leather with bright feathers seemed to be a peculiar character but ultimately not the important one in the room. In front of him was a larger person dressed in nicer clothes, even if it was dyed blue leather with a well decorated skirt, but it had a massive plume of feathers on its shoulders and horns. They were odd looking to be sure, like small dragons that walked like men rather than animals, and their white and grey scales with their larger blue scales that he saw on the front of their necks and chest with blue horns made them look more like a fantasy race than anything he would expect to find back home. He supposed that the larger one was the one who was in charge around here, and it looked to be trying to piece together a way to introduce itself judging by the talking and pointing, but it seemed to have trouble getting to the point. Taking the initiative instead, he pointed at himself, “Alpharius. I am Alpharius.”
In one breath he had just established his identity. It was just that simple. It made him feel a little bad that the first thing he had told it was a lie, but he would be lying if it wasn’t tempting to add on ‘this is a lie’ to the end of it so he would be telling the truth. He also knew that a good person wouldn’t be doing this, but was he a bad person? It wasn’t a lie out of malice, he was just a product of his environment, and sometimes deception is the best defense against the present predicament and the future as he had learned many times. Likewise he was sure as day that Oberto would also say he was Alpharius so with a little awareness and initiative no one would be none the wiser about him and they both would have each other as their escape card if things went south.
The dragon-like person understood and pointed at him, “Alpharius,” she said with stunning smoothness that the other person lacked. She then pointed at herself, “Ketna, Ketna Izniri.” Ketna tapped its chin a couple times, then pointed off to someplace behind him, “Hatih?”
Alpharius raised a brow and looked behind him, “uhh… what?”
Ketna sighed and sat down across from him. He sat there twiddling his thumbs for a moment, uncertain of what to do, and Ketna was in the same position. They had no way to really communicate beyond names and gestures, Ketna obviously didn’t want to leave him by himself because why would she, that would be stupid at best, and it felt like they were waiting for something, probably for the smaller person to come back or something.
Marcus sat against the side of a tree, yelling back and forth with someone else who was on his way towards him. He bided his time until a man burst through some of the brush to to left. He was well enough built but clearly a decade or so older than himself, sporting a flattop with his brown hair, and wearing brown and green camouflage clothes. He was pale, whiter than Marcus’ own tan skin, and held a mace in one hand. Why he had a mace, he had no idea, but odd choice of self defense didn’t matter so much as being rescued from his own predicament. “A little help? Oh, my name is Marcus by the way.”
“Harry, nice to meet you. So, whatchya need help with?”
“I might have fucked up a little when I jumped out of that place up there,” he pointed up the cliff at the entrance to whatever strange hidden compound he was transported into.
Harry stared at the opening on the side of a flat cliff, “well you got boned with that. Anyways, here, get to your feet,” he offered a hand to Marcus who was quick to accept. “Here, take your stuff, we have a third soul to find!”
The walk through the forest was slow and tiring, if it could be called a walk. Marcus instead was supported by a quite generous Harry as he hopped along. He did decline to make a splint, it wasn’t so bad as to need such a thing but his ankle was still extremely bothersome. “Everyone seemed to be placed in different spots. Is that on purpose or just happenstance?”
“Surely just coincidence. I hope so at least, or else I have some words to say to the offeror. Hey, what was in that cave up there anyways? Bat shit?”
Marcus shook his head, “nah, some magic stuff I think. Glowing symbols, basins with color changing liquid, walls that fell down and turned into passageways when you touched the right thing. Something to definitely come back to later but I can’t make heads nor tails of it. What about you, anything less dark and creepy?”
His face darkened slightly, “dark maybe, certainly frustrating. I was portaled into the ruins of a castle, so intelligent life confirmed, but it looked like it was just destroyed yesterday. Found a person too, looked like a small bipedal dragon black as night, claws and wings and all, but the dude was insane. It just screeched and screeched as it lunged at me with a knife. Madman must’ve not seen the mace I just found in my hand so I put him down after a few swings. So stay alert, you can’t let your guard down for a moment or some batshit insane dragonette may go for your throat.”
“Oh… what the fuck. I kinda don’t like being here anymore.”
Harry snorted, “even paradise has it’s troubles. Look at that bird, you won’t find anything so beautiful in Ohio now would you?” He pointed at a blue and shimmering green bird flying low, the two nearly meter long tail feathers flowing behind from its tail. After it landed on a tree branch, part of the branch moved as a very well camouflaged lizard raised its wrinkled head and extended its long neck rapidly, catching the bird in its toothy mouth. “On second thought, don’t think about doing any tree climbing.”
“There’s probably piranhas in the water too, and every other plant and animal is probably poisonous. Ugh, hate tropical stuff.”
“Ahh it’s not all bad. Good weather, generally good food, and good beaches. Tell me, where are you from Marcus?”
“Arizona, the Phoenix suburbs.”
“Yeah, you’ll be fine here, you living there was an affront to God the entire time already so this isn’t any rougher.”
Alfonso Alpharius turned the page on the single physical book he’d brought, but far from the only one. He and Oberto had downloaded a great many more books for whenever they had downtime, mostly being novels. Anything survival related were PDF documents or physical printouts that Oberto had on him. He had only brought The Davinci Code as a last minute thought as he wanted to finish the book.
Ketna looked at the cover curiously, not having much interest in the text itself. He tried to ignore her staring and focus on his reading, as much as he could anyways, Ketna was not making it easy. When the smaller person flew back into the room finally, several hours after he had left, he finally said to hell with it and put the book back in his pack. As the person began laying out a series of random objects on the ground, an entire group of people entered the room, chattering and talking in their harsh language. Most of them wore a crude looking armor made of large curved plates of some dark material he couldn’t recognize with white paint splashed over the top of it. Blue leather straps held it all together, and the smooth spikes of some of the parts were painted blue, and all the people adorned themselves with extravagant feathers of different colors and sizes. A couple of the smaller ones carried large shields that looked like they were halves of the back of a giant beetle, and on them were blue painted designs of birds or flowers against the faded white background.
Ketna pointed for him to sit in the middle of the floor where the items had been laid out, and the person who had brought the stuff uttered a few words. “Do you understand?”
His eyes went wide open, “what the fuck?”
“Translation ritual, now you have some questions to answer outlander, important ones,” Ketna stated plainly.
He held up his hand, “wait, wait… what do you mean ritual?” Magic? Actual sorcery? And I’m not learning this immediately? Unacceptable, we will change that in due time because damn do I want to do some magical tomfoolery.
“I am the one asking the questions. Your name, you are Alpharius but do you also have a house name?”
House name, does Ketna mean a surname? Hmm, I suppose I do then. “Yes, I am Alpharius Omegon.” This is a lie.
“And what are you outlander, and where are you from?” Ketna leaned forward, putting him under her piercing gaze.
“I am a Human, from the United States of America.” Cuz ‘Murica, fuck yeah, saving the motherfucking day yeah!
This left Ketna with more questions than she had before. One of the armored ones spoke, “Lady, this person has no wings, he couldn’t have gotten here from off-island.”
“Indeed, so Alpharius, more questions. Where is this United States of America, how did you get here, and why are you here? I’m certain one of Hatih’s dragons didn’t drop you next to my keep so who else brought you here?”
Oooh I don’t even know that answer to that one. “Uhm… America is far away, very far away. You wouldn’t know of it I guarantee you. As to the rest, I don’t really know. I mean, I’m here because I was offered to be taken here, and a new life sounds a lot better than my old one, but I really don’t know. Some otherworldly means, that’s all I know.” This is… the truth.
Ketna stared at him for a moment, “that is a lot of words with little meaning Alpharius. Are you saying something just said ‘hey, want to go to another place’? Then just dropped you here?” If her skills at perception were still sharp, then she felt like she got that right. Her mother was just as annoying about vagueness. Alpharius sat there and tilted his head back and forth. “Is that a yes?”
“Correct Ma’am.”
But he has manners, that’s something rare. “Alright, you’re an unknown person, came here by unknown means, I know absolutely nothing about you other than your name, and you don’t have a clue either. Great… great… however,” Alpharius held his breath, “I always have need of more hands and more importantly, hands that are willing to hold a blade. If you wish to stay at my keep, you must swear the Korrestadti to me and my keep.”
Huh? That last bit didn’t translate at all, this translation magic is lacking. “What is this core stahdy?”
“You will swear with your life to uphold the duties and honor of the keep and your lady, which is me. You in particular will mainly guard the keep, along with performing general maintenance, cooking, and other various between jobs to keep this place running. In return, you will have shelter here, general purpose, food, water, all the niceties that you can find on these islands as it’s just keeps like this one. I’m going to be honest with you Alpharius, we need every hand we can get and I am not exaggerating, this is a harsh place, and for the sake of keeping our tithes nice and low, we will keep you hidden for now at the risk of angering the suzerain but she’s been slacking lately so she can go to hell.” Ketna wouldn’t dare say that to any of the other ladies of the islands, they already considered her naive as it is, but she wouldn’t let new manpower slip away. The other keeps were growing, she wanted to keep up with them, it wouldn’t do to be seen as not very worthwhile to defend at any cost by Hatih. Everyone here has Mershid Keep on their minds, the fall of a keep just ten days ago. A failure like that by everyone on the island, not just Hatih, mustn’t be repeated. Not again, never again.
“Oh, well, okay then. I’ll take your oath, not like there is really any alternatives.”
“Good, repeat after me,” Ketna sat up to formally receive the Korrestadti. “By my being and my honor, as seen and affirmed by the gods, I do so swear that I will serve Izniri Keep as a part of Izniri Keep. With blood and blade, with labor and toil, with earnest loyalty, I will uphold the keep and my fellow dragonettes. Should I rob the keep of her wealth, should I deprive the keep of what is owed, should I betray the keep and her members, may I be struck down with swiftness and certainty.”
Alpharius repeated every line, finding that Ketna put emphasis on the robbing and betraying parts. They seem to take that part seriously. Now, he has sworn his fealty to a woman he had met mere hours ago, gotten himself a place to live, and a job in a not-so-competitive job market, he had to bring Oberto in later, probably at night, and deliver the news. Maybe switch places with him every day so they are both caught up and learning the flow of things. When he learns more and can trust it, maybe then they will lay all their cards on the table. For now though, he must learn more of Ketna herself as she is the boss around here, and maybe a little bit of magic.
Ketna stomped a foot on the ground, “Then it is my right and duty to announce you as a member of this keep. I am lady Izniri, the owner of this keep. The man performing the ritual is Hykol, our loremaster and magi. The woman in the armor with the orange astrapia feathers is my daughter and lead huntress, Iskara. The muscular man there is my husband, smith, and armsmaster, Keros. Korele there is the woman in charge of our food production. Be nice to her, she may be old but she can beat you half to death with anything in arm’s reach. If you need anything, find me or them, they know everything. Our guard captain Jurikos is your immediate superior, he will get you situated and ready for duty. Tomorrow, Hykol and I will teach you to speak properly in our language, I won’t allow you to go around without being able to understand anyone. I hope you learn quickly.”
Hykol ended the ritual, it appeared to have been a drain on the guy as he sluggishly got up. Alpharius was a little intrigued as to the drive to instate him as a part of the keep and he could say some wild nonsense as reasons for it in a decent Alex Jones impersonation, but he doubted he would be right on any of it. He grabbed his pack and was led to a small empty room, one of many it seemed, that was on the large ground floor of the building. Jurikos, a male dragonette around the same size as Alpharius, tried saying something and gesturing with his hands but gave up and waved it off.
With Jurikos gone, he laid out his sleeping bag and took a peak outside the window in his new room. The rest of the keep seemed to be retiring to their beds except for the nightshift guards who went to some places upstairs. It seemed a bit early for him to go to sleep though, he was a night owl and a very busy bee. He waited a while, making sure everyone was sleeping as they should. There were many things to do, and first on the list was to inform his brother of every little detail.
While being led to his room, he noticed a small ladder stored in the one next to his, so that was the first thing he went for. He slipped out of his room and requisitioned it for the time being. Next was the window, it was had a copper latch and copper frame, it was meant to be opened along with a small opening above his door to allow airflow. It was also big enough for him to slip in and out of. He looked out the window for anyone that would be looking and could see the ground area by his room but found nothing, so he tied a rope to the top of the latter and lowered it down, finding that it too was just perfect for his needs. It was just tall enough for him to get back inside the keep and the rope long enough to pull it up behind him. It was all just so perfect, now he needed to execute.
He leaned the ladder against the wall and dropped the rope, then climbed out of the window and dropped. Quickly finding the side of the keep where his brother was waiting, he dashed with soft and quiet steps to the tree line and whispered Oberto’s name. A couple moments later, he got his reply and Oberto stepped out from the brush to greet him.
Hunter or Huntress 
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