The city of Midrod -part 2

Part 2 (Part 1)

The trio waited silently in the dark basement. They heard when the outer wall of the building crumbled to bits and pieces. From the they could see how a large portion of the houses ceiling fell down, crushing everything on the floor above them, the room they were in became pitch dark. They waited in silence, as the noises of stone crumbling and woodbeams breaking continued. The beast seemed to be determined to ”meet” them, and the sounds indicated that it was removing wreckage between it and them.

Suddenly the trio saw a ray of light. A shadow and a large noise later, the opening grew to a large hole, bursting with sunlight at them. Then suddenly the light become blocked again, not by wreckage, but by a silhouette of the beast. Myrosi seemed to see a large eye staring at them for a moment. This was followed by much noise and movement. But the sounds and noises faded away, indicating that the beast was moving away from them. Awhile later the room stood all silent. No growling, no crumbling of stone, nothing to indicate of the large presence that had visited them.

In Myrosis mind this created a mass off confusion. Shouldn’t they be dead by now?

”What happened?” Bareks question broke the silence.

”Sssh, be silent, it may still lurk somewhere nearby”, Salena whispered.

”But why aren’t we dead? Why didn’t it dig us up, and maul us”, Myrosi added to Bareks question.

”I don’t know, maybe it didn’t see us, or we were not worth the effort. This is not the first time it has happened to me” Salena answered.

Myrosi was not satisfied with the explanation, he was sure that they had been exposed, and had been seen by the beast. And why give up the effort when they were just a few scratches away? It was like a cat giving up on a mouse, when having it cornered.

”Anyway, let us wait here for a moment to be sure it’s not waiting in ambush for us outside.”

Salena understood the silence as an consent to her suggestion.

”Hey, Myrosi, could you pass the water to me? all that running and this dusty air makes my throat feel like an desert.” Barek uttered. Myrosi started to dig in the bag with supplies. But he didn’t seem to find any water bottle in the bag.

”I need more light, I don’t seem to find the water supplies.” Myrosi stated. ”No need to search for it, I didn’t pack any water with us” Salena said with a smirk on her face. The both men started to express their protest on how a big mistake it was, and how they were accompanied by an most incompetent guide...

”You guys seem not to understand where you are, as long as we are in this city, we will have running water everywhere, as long as the pipes aren’t damaged by that beast.” Salena stated. Barek seemed to calm down, but Myrosi had it hard to contain his dissatisfaction, and concepts like running water was foreign to him. But only after a while, Salena had found an metal object settled in the wall, and after a swift movement, the room filled with the sound of water flowing through the object. Myrosi was slightly amazed, but more than that, his mind was filled with discontent. He deemed that the city had enslaved the water. ”This magic must be one of the reasons this city was judged by the gods, you use magic to enslave the river, and draw it here from its natural habitat” Myrosi spoke out in a slight enrage. This awoke a slight smile on both Barek and Salena. ”You simple minded foreigner, don’t you understand that this is just a small well, drawing water from the ground around us” Barek informed Myrosi. But Salena seemed to be quite unsatisfied with the explanation. ”Actually, this is a work of engineering; With gravitation, the water is pressurized and led with pipes to every household”, she explained. Both men stared at her in disbelief, but they didn’t seem interested in questioning her further. After sating their thirst, they started move.

The three figures crawled up from the basement, through the hole the beast had tired up just a couple of moments ago.

-Barek seemed to be interested in visiting a library, but both Salena and Myrosi deemed it to be a waste of time, since they both agreed that a formula to turn diamonds into coal didn’t exist. But Barek had insisted that it was the only place he wanted to visit, and he would pay a great amount, regardless of if the diamond-creation formula was found or not. Myrosi also seemed to be interested in the library for a reason that he would not reveal

Now when they had reached the city, moving from building to building seemed to be much less dangerous than their initial run from the wall. The houses were fairly close to each other, and Salena seemed to be aware of all the places that were safe and out of reach by the beast. This included other basements, military buildings and other kinds of sturdy locations. Other places she deemed to be safe were locations with a strong scent. This included latrines, places she called ’perfume shops’, and a place where she explained was the source of all the water in the city..

The library was located near the citys water source, which offered a good shelter for them. This gave Barek enough time to search the library for his diamond formula, they would stay the night at the water-source building.

The three figures dashed from house to house. In the buildings they searched for a hiding place and waited in silence a couple of minutes before continuing to next building. This would be their main way of moving through the city. Dashing, hiding and waiting, dashing, hiding and waiting. A couple of times they had to wait a longer period, since they could hear the beast nearby. While they were quiet most of the time, sometimes Salena broke the silence and explained something around their surroundings, about the city and its culture; there were lights that could be light by a mere twisting of a button, there were examples of art and furniture that seemed like from another world. But in everything they saw, there was something odd. Everything was in a good order. In a couple of houses it seemed like there were dinner tables decorated in an orderly fashion, ready for a dinner, except that the food had since years ago turned into moldy clumps. The floors were covered in dust, but underneath it could white marble stone be dimly seen, and walls were decorated with silver and gold plating. Myrosi wondered why everything wasn’t scavenged yet, clearly they weren’t the only scavenger group to explore these parts. A couple of instances while passing by, Myrosi took a knife and scrapped away the gold plating, but Salena and Barek seemed to not care about the gold plating. It was true that the plating was thinner than hair, but Myrosi thought it should still be worth something.  

It took almost a half day to reach the library. It was a large building, big enough to fit the beast inside, and a missing wall indicated that the beast had at least visited it. Large golden decorations on the pillars indicated that this was not a mere library, it had been a center of knowledge, and a pride of the citizens.  On the outside, several heaps of armor lay on the ground. Emblems of them indicated that they were originated from southern countries, Palor, Indor and Donir. But the armors were empty, and no corpses were to be seen. “They were probably eaten by the beast”, Barek stated. A shiver went down Myrosis back. And soon enough they were again spurting. Inside, and into hiding from the potential prying eyes of the beast. Both Myrosi and Barek were amazed by how easy it had been to infiltrate the city. Salena acted like a professional, and knew every corner of the city like her own pockets. After hiding in the library for a while. The trio started to search for Bareks diamond formula. Myrosi stated that he would be completely useless in searching for it, he was a simple man, and therefore quite illiterate. Well he could read a couple of letters, but not fast enough for a fast searching operation. So he got the position to guard near the library entrance, so he could warn the two others if the beast would come. Strangely enough Barek didn’t seem to be really enthusiastic about the task of searching for his precious book. After a while he stated that they should stop searching, since he was too tired from all the running earlier, and he suggested that they should search for shelter before sunset. The other two agreed, but both felt that something wasn’t right with Bareks unenthusiastic search for his treasure. Soon enough they had find a shelter that Salena deemed to be out of reach for the beast, a underground room in the vicinity of the water facility. Myrosi caught a glimpse of the sunset before going inside their shelter: The white city reflecting the last sunlight gave away the same feeling as an sunset at the sea. They divided the night in three different guard duty shifts, first turn was Barek, then Salena and lastly Myrosi.  

Myrosi didn’t sleep well,  but he had experienced far worse nights. At least this night he wasn’t alone. How much time had passed since he had experienced company? It gave him a feeling of comfort, despite being in one of the most dangerous places in the known world. He was awakened from his light sleep when Salena gave him a gentle puff on his side. “Your turn, Myrosi” She added. Quite quickly Myrosi rose up, and took his position near the shelter entrance. But Salena stayed at his side. “I don’t think I will benefit anything if I go to sleep now, since the night is short. Do you mind company while guarding?” Salena asked. Myrosi didn’t mind, and it didn’t cross his mind that he could have asked Salena to take the rest of the guard duty and let him sleep. “What are you really searching for here?” Salena asked, staring straight into Myrosis eyes. Somehow Myrosi felt an obligation to answer her thruthfully. After all, he could not afford mistrust between him and his guide at a location like this. Throughout his life he had learned to not trust people, but somewhere inside him were still a glimpse of something. It may be called naivety or goodwill, but the effect were the same. “Well, to be honest, I’m not really sure myself. I have lost everything dear to me, by the hands of bandits. My village was plundered and burned, and I was sold as a slave. I managed to escape, but the southern world didn’t offer a place where my owners hand could not reach me. So I considered that this was my best option, find something valuable here, sell it and start a new life.” Myrosi told Salena. She was silent a minute. Then she stated ”We seem to have a lot in common. I have also lost my home, twice in fact. First Thi’betor, fell to the hordes of Goblins, and then this city, my birthplace, in ruins…” This came as a chock to Myrosi. He, like many else had believed that all of the inner city citizens had disappeared seven years ago. “Are there others like you” Myrosi asked. Salena was quiet a while. “ I don’t know… I haven’t encountered anyone from the inner city in several years. But it’s hard to believe that the beast ate everyone. But so far, I’m the last living inner city Midrodian.” 

A silence followed her confession. “Could you be on the lookout for a moment while I go get some water” Salena asked, as trying to change the topic to something else. Somewhere in the night Salena could hear a large growl from the beast. But it sounded far enough that they could feel quite secure for the moment. As Myrosi stared in the night, Salena reached her hand towards the water and filled with crystal clear water, Myrosi could hear how she took a couple of gulps, followed by the noise of her collapsing on the floor. Myrosi stared at her in shock. She was trembling, and out of her mouth came white foam. Myrosi grabbed her, tried to get her attention to ask what was going on, but she was unconscious. Myrosi lifted her up and run inside the shelter shouting with a large voice; “Barek, Help! Salena is dying!” Barek awoke in panic and tried to calm Myrosi down ”Shut up, or you will  awaken the beast’s attention!”. He then saw Salenas condition. Without hesitation he picked up from his pocket a black flask, and poured some of its contents inside Salenas mouth. Salenas spasms calmed down. For a moment Salena seemed  so calm that Myrosi feared that Barek had killed her. But then he noticed how Salena took a deep breath. “I cannot guarantee her survival, but if gods will, then she will awaken in the morning. To Myrosi nothing made any sense, but Bareks calm attitude calmed him down a little.  

Somewhere in the night, the beast screamed loudly… 

In the morning, Salena regained her consciousness. She looked confused at Myrosi and Barek. “What happened?” Myrosi explained to her what had happened, and Barek continued: I’m sorry for deceiving you. I was sent here on a mission from the King to kill the beast, and you happened to drink from the water source I had poisoned… Salena asked calmly: “you tried to kill the beast?” Barek answered: “Yes, and judging by all the screaming it did last night, I probably succeeded.” Salenas face turned more bleak than before. “You and your King should know what that means. The beast is the only thing that hinders the goblins from invading our city.” she said in a loud hostile voice. “The goblins are of no threat. In fact, our beloved king is at the moment on an campaign, getting rid of the goblin infestation.” Barek answered. “That idiot kid of a King is probably dead by now. You have no idea. I was in the kingdom of Thi’bethor a while before it was overrun by goblins, and this city's sack of armor wielders are nothing compared to Thi’bethors dwarf army, or the inner Midrods military might seven years ago…” Salena shouted. 

Meanwhile, far outside the city, the screams of a dying beast had attracted an army of onlookers. One of the onlookers wore a gold-plated armor and his green hand raised towards the city of Midrod, followed by a large noise of shouting goblins. The time of the city guardian was almost over; that meant that the city of Midrod were to be almost unprotected… 

End of part 2 

To be continued... 

-Sanlade   

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