The Dark Tower

Matt~~

I leaned back against the wall we were sitting on, "I mean what am I going to do?I have no idea how i'm going to get food, I have no idea where Im going to live..."

"What about where you are?"

"That comes next."

She raises an eyebrow, then points her hand in an easterly direction, "There's a inn over there... do you 'ave any money though?"
She rubs a speck of deer blood from the metal of her outfit, and stuffs another piece of meat into her mouth, her onyx locks blowing in the air. She turns her head to him, examining him slowly and swallowing her food, "Need anythin' jus' ask me. I've been livin' 'ere my whole life, so you'd be safer wi'h some 'un from 'ere than on yer own."

Matt~~

I pulled out my wallet and took out the wad of bills in my wallet, "This is all the money I have, and it is undoubtably not the money you use."

She examined it for a second and then handed it back, "Nope. We use coins. Gold."

I sighed and threw my money into the fire, "wonderful."

I sat there looking into the fire, thinking about what I was going to do. "I need to go to the capital, or something. Somewhere that I can get answers."

Bliss shrugs and stands up quickly, kicking dust over the fire, "Well come on then." She strides a few feet ahead, and then turns to see if he's following,
"Le's go ter Gilead." She gives him another crooked smile.
"Where's that?"
"Follow me an' you'll see." She laughs and starts to walk away again, looking back only once.

Matt~~

I stood up and ran after her, "How far do we have to walk?"

"Its over the mountain. We can make it by nightfall."

I shrugged, "Oh." This was awkward.

We walked all day, stopping twice to eat before we saw the city. It was enormous. A large wall surrounded the entire city and then two more inside the first dividing it into sections. The first section was the biggest, and on ground level. Every section behind it got smaller and higher up. I guessed that it was built on a mountain. At the top of the hill was what I presumed was the kings castle. It consisted of four towers that rose around one center one so tall that I had to crane my neck to see the top of it.

"Welcome to Gilead. Let's go down and see about finding a place to stay the night. You can start looking for answers tomorrow."

I stammered out a thanks and followed her down the hill to the city. As we neared the gates a man started walking towards us.

He was an imposing figure. He was of average height, but so muscular it made him seem like a giant. He had on a long brown leather coat that covered most of his body and a silver breastplate on over that. Twin revolvers hung from belts at his hips and a sword poked over his shoulder.

"Hold it." He had a gruff voice that was familiar and yet at the same time very strange for someone his size.

Bliss spoke up, "We are just passing through."

He nodded to her, "you may be, but he's not. I'm taking him into custody. You may come as well."

"Why? On what grounds are you taking him?"

"Several. First, his clothes. Their craftsmanship is not of our country. Second, he was in the wilderness without a weapon; I a sure you are a good fighter, but you can not protect two people. Third, he is dead. I can feel it on him. So. As I said, you may follow me to the prison where you will have to fill out some papers."


*Maybe we should wait for the others now. Or at least slow down the posting.*

*Yerr, I gotta go now anyway*

April~~

"April!"

Darkness swallowed the brunette like a blanket. The throbbing pain of her side slowly disappeared as she floated to the surface gradually, then quickly. Like the blanket was yanked off of her, the darcy jolted to the surface, like trying to leap away from a bad dream.

"Oh- My," April breathed. Where was she? the room smelled of spices and fresh herbs, sunlight streamed through the window hitting the worn wooden floor. her skin itched and smelled of wet grass, oh right April was allergic. The wood door creaked open letting more sunlight stream in, a hag of a lady walked in with a basket twice her size.

"Oh I see you have risen!" She seemed joyous.

April didn't answer her and the stout woman didn't notice.

"You see I have been noticing strange people suddenly appearing in the field nearby," She squinted her eyes and looked April in the eye, "You are not sent from our god trying to kill us all and curse us damnation are you?"

April looked scared and the lady burst out a croaky laugh.

"Local people must be gettin' to me!" She wiped a fake tear of her cheek, "I'm Zoraida the evil witch in the forest." She wiggled her fingers as if to be casting a spell.

"April..." April whispered, her head down.

"What's in April?" The old lady drew closer.

"I'm April,"She whispered again.

"The goddess of spring has bowed her head in my sanctum! I must be going to he-"

"I'm April! That's my name," She stammered out.

"Oh well April welcome to my home! I must be going then!" She motioned to go out the door and April grabbed at the Zoraida's ragtag of a dress.

"Where am I?! This isn't the SKAD campus!" She cried, "Savannah Georgia? That place in America?!"

"SO you are the one," She smirked as if she had cheated at old people bingo, "The one sent to help Midland, one of the saviors of us all, the one blessed with majic, the end of the greatest Mage's in all of Midland."

She grabbed April's hand and held it to her chest, chanting in a completely different dialect.

"Get off of me!" April struggled but she couldn't get out of the grasp of the woman.

"fin," The woman fell like a ragdoll disappearing like melted snowflakes as they touched the surface. April was speachless.

*someone can run into the house or something...*

Henry

The two of them had been riding for a few hours, Agravaine trying to explain to Henry what was different between Midland and Earth. However, neither of them could work out where the relevant differences were.

Finally, Agravaine said, "Well, you must have Gunslingers and Riders, at the least. That's one thing your world couldn't go without."

Henry paused, "Actually..." Agravaine shot him an astonished look. "We have cops and stuff, who I guess are kind of like the gunslingers you were talking about. But the only people who get referred to as gunslingers and look like you are in movies."

"Movies?" Agravaine asked.

"Jeez!" Henry chuckled, "You guys really are backward! Guess I'll just have to pick everything up as I go along."

Just as he finished, Agravaine threw himself sideways off his horse, drawing both pistols with blinding speed as he hit the ground and rolled. He came to one knee, arms extended outwards, the hammers of both guns drawn back, the weapons themselves pointing into the trees.

"Not fast enough, Agravaine." A voice said.

The gunslinger sighed, straightening as he slid the pistols back into their holsters, "Y'oughta be more careful, Xadrian. What if I'd fired?"

"Then you'd be dead." Came the reply, as a man dressed in much the same attire as Agravaine stepped out. His own weapons were all sheathed, and yet somehow Henry knew that he would have been able to kill Agravaine if the gunslinger had shot at him.

Xadrian looked at Henry, "Who's this?"

"Henry." Agravaine replied, "A stranger." There was an odd emphasis he put on that word, as though 'stranger' meant something more here than what it did on Earth. "We're heading to Gilead." Agravaine finished.

Li~

I smiled this human was an interesting one. . .what am I talking about I'm human. . .or I was.

"So do you know how we got here?" I asked while slowly sitting down in front of him.

"I don't know the last thing I remember is drowning." he said a bit confused.

"The last I remember is lighting." I chuckled. "So were both dead."

"Yeah. . .so were you a big wolf thing in the life before this or what?" he asked causally, as if everyday you talk to a giant monster thing.

"No I was human. When I woke up this is what I was." I said with a flick of my tail.

"So what did you look like?" he asked making polite conversation.

"This." I replied with a wolfish grin, as I changed into my human form.

"Oh. . .I thought you would be older." he commented.

"Why do you say that?" I asked while changing back.

"You just seem like it." he shrugged. I laughed this guy sure was an interesting fellow, maybe I should stick with him.

Xadrian

"A stranger."

The words make his hand drift to his weapon after all, though his slouch remains lazy and relaxed. He raises a brow at his friend, then lets out a low breath, something that's almost a sigh but not quite heavy enough. "Hell, that's just a kid." He mutters, eyeballing the boy seated awkwardly at best on the back of the horse. A low chuckle escapes him, and he makes a 'follow' motion. "Takin' the long way to Gilead, you wandering past my place. I know what you're up to, Agravine, you just can't keep away from me."

"More like I wish I could get away from you." Xadrian chuckles at that, tucking his hands in his pockets.


"Aww, you don't mean that." A smirk curls up his lips. "Gimme a second, I'll come with you."

"I don't remember inviting you." The reply is not particularly angry or passionate. The other man half turns, eyes dancing.

"I don't remember when I ever needed to be invited. I'm curious." He dips his head to Henry, in a 'hello'. The expression on his face is different then when he looks at the boy; while not unfriendly, it's closed off and reserved. The play and good humor that dances over his expression when talking to the other gunslinger is nonexistent; in fact, there is little trace of personality there at all.

Alack:

The old man in the doorway stared angrily at the stranger. "Well, what do you want boy" he said looking Alack up and down.

"Um, where am I?" Alack asked, he felt extremely stupid. "Midland" the old man grunted.

"By any chance were you in a place named America, then died and woke up here?" said the home owner. Alack was bewildered, "How do you know that?" Alack asked.

"Come inside and I will explain" the man said.

Alack wandered into the small hut. The small hut was smoky from the fire place. Candles burned and a table holding books and bottles stood next to it. The man gestured to a table with two chairs, "Sit" he said and walked off into the next room.

Alack looked around in wonder. This place is so strange he thought

Henry

Henry offered Xadrian a slight smile and a nod in return. He knew exactly what this guy was doing, Henry did it himself all the time. Playing the leader type. Of course, there was every chance that this Xadrian was that type, but Henry doubted it. Back on Earth, everything had been starting to go sour, and true leaders were becoming scarce. If Agravaine hadn't been exaggerating when he talked about the same sort of thing happening in Midland, then Henry doubted there'd be too many leaders left there as well.

The two gunslingers rode ahead of Henry for a time, speaking in hushed tones, their heads bowed together. Occasionally, one or both would shoot a brief glance at Henry. He picked up snippets of their conversation, little more than single words, ‘gunslinger’ and ‘talent’ among them. And then, at the end of Agravaine’s speech, “…as your ‘prentice?”

Xadrian cast another glance back at Henry, his face completely impassive. Then he looked back at Agravaine. Henry concentrated more now, guessing that they were deciding something for him. “Why don’t you?” Xadian asked.

The question earned nothing more than a shrug from Agravaine, “I’m no good as a teacher.”

Henry bumped his heels lightly against Sables flanks, and the mare trotted forward, drawing alongside the gunslingers. “Is there something I should know?” He asked.

They reached a ridge in the forest, more trees about and below them, but sheer rock leading downwards from a few strides in front of them. At the edge of the forest, only a few kilometers from the base of the ridge, Henry could see a fairly large city, surrounded by a wall. Two concentric walls further divided the city, with a large castle sitting within the innermost ring.

“Not really.” Said Agravaine casually, “Except that we’re pretty much in Gilead now. They’re going to want to meet you, Henry, but the fact that you’re with two gunslingers should allay most suspicion. Right Xadrian?”

Tahakiel -

It was quite a ways until I was out of the forest. Getting lost three or four times didn't help much. I generally didn't venture out of my area, because not all the animals were friendly. Well, getting closer to a town, I could see there was a hut isolated from everywhere else. According to one or two of the raptors flying overhead, it was supposedly the home of one of the mages. Well, that would hopefully prove to be no problem. I had dealt with mages before.

Imagine my surprise when all I found was a young girl, only a year or two younger than I. She was dressed strangely, and seemed absolutely lost. There was a blank space still fizzling with excess magic. Seemed that somebody teleported out of here recently.

"Who are you?" the girl demanded. I held up my hands. The snake warned me to be wary.

"My name is Tahakiel. I come from the forest." I squinted and looked over the girl again. She didn't seem to be a threat, but nobody could ever be too sure in the Midlands. Appearances were always deceiving. "Who are you?"

She regarded me with suspicious eyes. "I'm April. What do you want?"

"I was just investigating an energy surge. I felt that it came from this area. Would that happen to be you?" I questioned. She didn't answer for a while.

Bliss narrows her eyes at the man, then looks at Matt, realizing what he’s wearing. She nods unwillingly,
“I’ll come.” Her face hardens slightly. She follows the man as he drags Matt along, giving him a reassuring look, to say she wasn’t going to leave him on his own, she knew he’d find it hard to cope. What was the worst that could happen?
*Sorry it’s short, o.o*

Matt~~

I let out a grunt as the man threw me into the small prison cell ass hole I thought.

I stood up and dusted myself off. The cell was filthy. Dirt covered the floor in an inch thick layer and spiders clung to webs in the corners. I shuddered and moved to the bench on the far wall. I didn't sit, because the bench was worse than the floor, but I stood on it to get a view of the city. Even as we walked here I was mesmerized. It was a beautiful place, and I was beginning to think that it wouldn't be a bad place to live. But if this was how they treated their people, maybe I did want to leave.

The view from my prison was surprisingly spectacular. We were in the second section and I could see out over the first section and the wilderness beyond the walls. For possibly an hour I watched the people of the first section go about their business. As I watched I got a general feel for their technology. They seemed like a mix of our western (cowboy) culture and the culture of the Middle Ages in Europe. It was big culture shock.

I looked out over the city to the forests and mountains on the other side of the wall. They were beautiful. Larger than anything in our world could ever be. It was almost perfect, except for one thing. A large fire was growing in the forest. Smoke rose in blankets skyward, but I didn't see any people.

When the gate behind me opened I turned and asked, "Is there a war going on?"

The man rushed past me to the window and looked out. He cussed when he saw the flames and ran outside, muttering a "stay here" before he left.

I looked at the still open gate and weighted my odds of getting out. Even though the guy in the coat was an asshole he radiated danger, and if there were more of him, than I would probably make it a step before a bullet tore through my head. I sighed and went back to the window.

*Sorry its short, Ill write more later. I think either Agravaine or Xadrian should find me.*