Beyond the Hills - Chapter 11

CHAPTER XI

Dran looked out over the valley. It looked different. There was no turf. Only black. Dran didn't even know what it was, it was just...black. He took out his looking glass, and spotted Rachel's willow. It was burnt. Everything was just dead and black. Dran moved the spyglass to the edge of the blackness. He saw...yes, it was growing! Soon the hills too will be black! The world is dying. Dran thought. The blackness was growing quickly, and was now at the foot of the hills. It was coming. Dran was again faced with three choices. He could stand still, and see what happened if the blackness touched him, or he could make his way down the hills, where he would move slower than the blackness and risk it catching him. Or, he could jump, and risk breaking his entire body, but he would move faster than the blackness... It was already less than twenty steps from him. His choice was obvious. He jumped.

* * *

What Rachel didn't know, was that it was the dinner horn. She thought the ship was sinking or something. She rushed out of her room, and through the double doors. Outside, there was a massive table, with the crew of easily fifty sitting at it. Even Elvy was there. From that moment, she couldn't remember anything.

Rachel woke up, Elvy leaning over her. She lay in her hammock.

"Hello sister...might you be able to tell me where Rachel is?" Elvy asked.

"Elvy, I am Rachel," She replied, sitting up. She had a massive headache. She groaned.

"What happened...how did I get in my hammock?"

"Awy carried you," Elvy replied.

"What?" Rachel asked, her mouth open.

"Can't you remember?"

"No," Rachel replied.

"Well then, I'll tell you!"Elvy called out, and started. "Well, firstly, you sat. Then you ate a bit. Captain Black Rose then asked you if you wanted some rum. You said no, but he insisted, you took a sip, and another sip, and another, till you were drunk! You jumped on the table, and started singing some rubbish, the glass of rum in your hand. Everyone was entertained! Till you fell. You just kind of collapsed on the table. Black Rose then told Awy to get you to bed, but since you didn't wake up, he carried you. "

"What?" Rachel asked, not believing him.

"And when he walked out, you called him hunny bun!" Elvy cried out. This is not going to be a good day... Rachel thought to herself.

"And, you blew kisses to him!"

"But...I hate Awy!" Rachel called out.

"You were drunk. That's good enough an explanation for me," Elvy said. Rachel stood, groaning.

"Elvy, if you are more than two feet away from me to day, I'll kill you," Rachel said.

* * *

"Hoist the anchor, hoist the staysails, the mizzenmast, foremast, all jibs, the mainsail, main royal, main topgallant, lower the main upper topsail, hoist the main lower topsail and hoist the main course. Awy and Stiller get up in the crow's nest! Lower the spanker, secure the bobstay, and would someone please check the hold? I swear there's rats in there! Mat, I want you up the foot rope, I see a tear in the fore topgallant! Hal, secure the clew line!" The captain shouted out. "Gunner! Where's Gunner? Oh there you are, check the cannons, Stiller, still see that ship?"

"Yes sir!" Came a call.

"Then, Gunner, load all the cannons with gunpowder! Yould, show Rachel and Elvy what to do when we get attacked!"

A tall dark man walked up to Rachel and Elvy standing on the center deck, under the mainmast.

"Follow me," The man said.

* * *

The man walked around the ship.

"You see here, all these bags hanging around the railings?" He asked. Strangely, Rachel hadn't noticed them, but now that she looked closer, she saw them.

"Yes," Rachel and Elvy replied in unison.

"In them there is a sword, a bow, and a few arrows. It's for those who lose theirs in battle. You two don't have any. That's one of the reasons you have to follow me," The man said, walking to the big double doors, and going through. he took the first door left, unlocked it, and stepped inside.

"Come on in!" He said, and Rachel and Elvy went in. The cabin was the same as their own cabin, the only difference was that the one wall was one massive cupboard.

"That cupboard has all the things in I have accumulated on our travels across many worlds. Once, in a nameless world, I met a woman. She told me that two children shall come, they shall save the worlds from a terrible fate, and that I should give them these," He said, rummaging in the cupboard. Then, he produced two swords.

"These," He said holding them out.

* * *

The scabbards were gold and embedded with emeralds and rubies. Rachel and Elvy both took one sword.

"She told me I must tell them to go to Blest, the land of gods. There, they shall meet a group of people who are called the Elders. They shall help them further. I'm not saying you two are those children, but I think you are," Yould said. Elvy drew the sword. it wasn't much longer than a dagger, and was leaf shaped. On it were many runes that Elvy didn't understand.

"Their for your protection," Yould said, seeing their expressions.

"Where's Blest?" Rachel asked.

"Just beyond the sea of grass. Luckily for you two, we're going to the sea of grass," Yould said.

* * *

Esmassma sat on a sedan chair, carried by four Akhluts. The order he had given to the Akhluts was simple. Search the worlds for nomad man. He must b alone. he had said. Esmassma himself was going to Tronke with eighteen other Akhluts. If it had to come to a duel between Ro and himself, he was sure he would win. Anyway, Ro would be caught on his unawares.