The trip to the nearest town was a little difficult. With the slower, still recovering people, the trip took almost a week longer than what Geoff had predicted. Sarah and I didn't mind. Every person we saved from this insanity was worth the time.
The trip was south west of the village, taking us to warmer climes, but the slight chill of winter was still there. Thankfully, the snow we had come to hate was gone from this region.
"Where are we Geoff? Miki and I never traveled so far out from our village. So all these places are new to us." Sarah asked as we started to see man-made clearings.
"It would be fun, under different circumstances too." I added a little bitterly, earning me a bap on the shoulder.
"Well my friends," Geoff started, stopping and turning at the top of the last hill before the town. "Welcome to Morx." As we reached the top of the hill, the seven of us paused, and took it all in.
The town was far from 'sprawling' but it was certainly large. Spread out enough so that it wasn't 'small' but not crowded enough to call it a large city. The most impressive things were the trees. It was as if they had forgotten how to grow ponderously, and had their own dreams of reaching the sky. The largest trees were hundreds of feet tall, and included things like houses, shops, small parks, even a ranch on the outskirts of town. Another thing, equally impressive, were the mushrooms. They seemed like small trees in size, some even larger, accommodating actual people inside, if the doors, windows and small chimney were any indication.
"What's... With the trees here?" Sarah asked breathlessly. "They're HUGE!" Angel and I nodded in agreement, our spirits lightened by the sheer wonder here.
"The people here..." Started the other hunter, before Geoff could answer, "Think it's the mushrooms. They feed from the trees, and the spores from the mushrooms make them grow faster." Geoff nodded at the other hunter's explanation.
"Nature in harmony son! And people who respect that too." Geoff pointed at the huge tree in the middle of the town. "See how not a single cut or burn mark scars the surface? How everything follows the natural curves of the trees and mushrooms?"
Sarah and I followed Geoff's pointing finger, following it and marveling at the near seamless mesh of human and nature. "Even the monsters they use respect the trees too." Sarah added, just before the child in the woman's arms started to cry quietly.
"Aye, as the child says, we should hurry. I'm sure the people will take in a new family, eh?" Geoff said to the other hunter, wife and child. "But for that, we have another mile to walk."
So with much lighter hearts, we walked the last mile, down the huge hill, to the tree city of Morx.
Our arrival was met with a short elderly man, hunched over with age, held up with a stout cane. He looked almost comical, with a long white beard and mustache hanging almost to the ground, yet impeccably clean. His bushy eyebrows were also long and snow white, framing his face and melding into his beard some how.
"Ah, travelers! Welcome to Morx." He greeted, meeting us with a deceptive speed for his age, his eyes sharp, and observing us closely. "You must be from the Brilla continent." He stated, his head turning slightly to look at Geoff and the family.
"We are." Geoff nodded, taking a half step forward. "I am Geoff, these are my friends, Miki, Sarah, Angel, Zan..." Geoff trailed off as the child made another quiet mewl. "Um... Not to be impolite. But its been a long three week hike, and..."
"I understand. Please, come with me and you can tell me all about it over tea." The old man smiled brightly and turned, heading away at a decent pace.
We walked a short distance to one of the many mushroom houses. Standing next to one made it seem even bigger, the natural 'house' shape holding two floors, nice large windows, and large enough around to be almost as big as a barn inside. Sarah had to elbow me to get me to stop staring.
Upon entering, we were greeted by a Golem, dressed in, of all things, a tuxedo. Beside the massive butler, stood a short elderly woman, who instantly made me feel warm inside with her welcoming smile. "Oh, we have company. I'll fix some tea. Hanz, please show our guests to the living room." She said, giving a fond pat on the leg of Hanz, the golem, who bowed deeply, and motioned for us to follow him. Again, we had found another rare person, teaching a monster a unique and useful skill, not just throwing them into an arena to fight. Every motion of the butler/golem was perfect, as if taught by the strictest of teachers.
We talked long into the evening, the old man introduced himself as Strauss. 'But call me Straw, everyone else does.' His wife, after a polite little laugh, introduced herself as Kai. We paused in our story several times, though, only to get new refreshments. Not once was our story questioned, until the very end.
"And here we are now. Trying to get the last family from the village settled here." I finished, setting down my tea cup with a sort of 'that's it' gesture.
"I see, I see." Strauss nodded, also setting down his cup and letting out a ponderous, 'hm' noise. "I can arrange some thing for them I'm sure. Hard working hunters are a rarity in these parts." I felt myself smile, seeing Geoff and Sarah smile as well. "As for your that man..." He trailed off with another 'hm'.
We were all silent a while, looking into our cups as we, Sarah, Geoff and myself, thought about what to say. With near silence, Angel and Zan stepped into the room, Sarah spoke to them, "Ah good. They are sleeping well then?" Angel nodded, while Zan just stood a half pace behind and to the right of her.
"Ah yes. You were telling me about that one." Strauss said suddenly, standing up and walking over to Angel and Zan. "Ah pardon me ma'am." He said to Angel as he approached, talking to her as he would any human. "My my. You are a dark looking one, aren't you." He said to Zan as Angel stepped aside and came over to me, taking my chair as I stood up to get another. "Hm. I've never seen anything like you before." Zan didn't even look at him as Strauss walked around him looking at all of Zan's sharp angles and smooth surfaces. "Interesting." He said after a complete circle
This raised a few eyebrows. We were sure that Strauss wouldn't like what he saw in Zan. But our worries were unfounded.
"He needs to be more personable." He said finally. "He's so uptight he gives me the chills!" This comment actually got a reaction out of Zan, who looked down at old man Strauss with his 'full attention' look. "Oh! He does have some spirit after all!"
Not even a shiver from the old man. Zan's full attention 'look' had nearly frozen all of us at one point or another. "Maybe you should try a couple of battles with him. Let him work off that stored energy in one of the smaller arenas."
"But we really shouldn't..." I started, but was cut off with a polite cough.
"Well, if you win, you could help that poor family start out fresh, eh?" Strauss said with a wink and a smile from under his long eyebrows and mustache.
He had a point...
So the next day, we ended up registered in a non-official tournament. Small time battles didn't always mean small time arenas. This particular battlefield was a nice wide place, set in the V of part of the monstrous center tree's roots. The natural shape of the roots made the perfect place to hold such an event, with the large roots being used as a place for spectator stands and booth's. All the usual trimmings of a official arena were here too. Vendor's selling small 'honeyshrooms' (cared for and raised by the most diligent of Nightingale Pixie.) Or juices and mild spirituous drinks. My registration was a little awkward, but I was saved from the unanswerable question of 'what's a Zan?' By Strauss when he patted me on the arm and signed up as my sponsor.
Phew. How could I tell them the truth about Zan? I mean, how well would saying "he's the last hope of the ancients made for killing monsters by the dozens" go over with the officials? Feeling a chill creep up my left arm reminded me of one more thing. Looking to Zan, who was my only companion at that moment, as the others had left to find seats.
"Zan." I started, doing my best to return the 'full attention' look he gave me in return. "You must not kill here. Understand?" This got me no response from him. Again, I felt my left arm chill. "Zan. You can not kill the ones you fight here. Subdue, or knock out. Understand?" I tried my best to make my voice sharp, unwavering, with no room for questioning. "No mistakes. You can not do lasting harm here."
Zan blinked slowly at me, then did his very first 'wasted' motion. He nodded, just as the announcer's voice called out.
"Welcome ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, and monsters of all shapes and sizes, to the Morx Exhibition, three stage elimination tournament! We have some interesting people competing today, and are sure you folks out there won't be bored! Not a single trainer has the same breed of monster today!" A dramatic pause as the crowd made an appreciative noise. "And the mix of trainers today seems like a battle of generations! Four faces you might know, and four possible rising stars!"
I focused my mind away from the announcers voice, looking to Zan, trying to read his body language. But, I couldn't. All I could do then, was feel the alert aura around him, and the fading chill in my left arm. I hoped then, that he really did understand me, and would pull his punches.
"And facing the veteran Aegis in the first round, we have, Miki Rudora and his shadowy companion, Zan!"
The mention of my name snapped me back into reality, and we stepped out of the waiting room, into the light of day on the smooth arena floor.
***
There you have it, finally. :)
Sorry for the delay, my muse has been fickle, but I finally figured out what I should pay her. *sigh*
Lots of fight scenes coming up for all you blood thirsty peoples out there too. :)
By Da_Mullet on Friday, February 13, 2004 - 05:56 pm:
ABOUT. FREAKING. TIME! Well, apart from having to read 19 again to understand this, it was a nice chapter. Zan is such an interesting guy when you describe him like that. VERY NICE.
By Jeagar on Monday, February 16, 2004 - 08:30 pm:
Another excellent chapter, Daeore. It was quite a wait for this installation, but it was well worth it. I'm really looking forward chapter 21. Keep up the good work.
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