Sentria: The Age of Adventure (Book 2)

Chapter Thirty-Four: Many Happy Returns

"Please," I said, staying perfectly still. "We mean no harm." I looked behind us and the Gray Woman's house was nowhere to be found. It was unsettling, but I hadn't the time to think on that now. 

The mountainmen laughed at us loudly as their leader spoke over them, "We don't fear you. You're all too small to fear. What are you doing here?"

"We need to speak to your leader," I said. "There's a war coming and we wish to come to an understanding with the mountainmen."

"You must think we're some grodding fools," said the man, turning around to look at his six mountainmen behind him, then back at us. "You only want us because you're in a war that You'll lose. The answer is no."

"You come from the mountain region of Truid, correct?" asked Prince Lucas. "I'm familiar with your symbols."

The mountainmen didn't answer.

Prince Lucas spoke again, "We are princes from the southern realms, and we have much to offer. If you would just let us—"

"Let you?!" said the mountainman, stomping his foot and shaking the ground. "Our ancestors were driven from our home in Belderaan. The royals offered no support to help us tend to the land that was rotting away. We had to take to the mountains and build our own lives from nothing. I will take you to the leaders and they will decide your fate. Maybe you'll live. Maybe you'll be eaten alive. We'll see."

They pulled out rope from a bag one of them was carrying and I turned to Prince Lucas. I didn't want him to be taken again. I didn't want him to go through that, and with Eldwyn just having recovered, this wasn't a good time to get into a brawl. 

"Lucas, take Eldwyn and run," I said, and pulled out my sword.

"It's all well," Lucas said, and grabbed my hand to stop me from striking. "You'll die if you fight them all. Let's go with them and speak to their leaders. There's still hope yet."

"Listen to yellow-hair," said the mountainman. "He's got more brains than you."

The mountainmen took our weapons and belongings and tied our necks, leading us through the mountains. Our hands were free only so that we could climb and move around more freely, but we were not free. They took us up the Invar Mountain, grabbing flint along the way. The trail wrapped around like a spiral and I listened to the mountainmen's conversation. Their accent was heavy and half of their words were grunts, but I discerned enough details to make out a story. The one that had been talking to us was called Ledd and they had just returned from mining for gnose minerals in Invar when they came upon us. I just hoped that their leader was more open-minded than his people.

We reached a high plateau facing north where four long bridges stretched over the Continental River to the other four mountains. To the west was Tarkarus, the north had Baynard and Grishelm, and to the east was Truid. They yanked us along and we crossed the bridge to Baynard. I looked at Prince Lucas in confusion. We weren't going to their home of Truid. The mountains had been divided for centuries. They had gone to war with each other time after time. Invar was their only middle-ground, and sometimes that even created conflict. This story wasn't yet making sense.

"Are you well?" I whispered to Eldwyn.

"I'm well, knight," said Eldwyn. "We'll find a way out of this. We always do."

We crossed the bridge and made it to middle of the Baynard Mountains. It was the biggest mountain of the five and the landscape was much less forgiving than Invar. It was steeper and had sharper rocks and obscured the broken paths. We had to step more carefully there and we tripped many times as the mountainmen kept going as if it wasn't a problem.

"Hurry up, slugs!" said Ledd, yanking us along.

It was harder to breathe the further up we went. We weren't accustomed to this kind of journey. Each step along the way felt heavier and the air was thinner up on this mountain. We rounded a cliff trail where a large white stone stood by an entrance of a cave and we were pulled inside of it.

"We'll rest for a little," said Ledd as one of his men lit a torch with flint and a swing of the ax. "Then we'll move again."

"Could you take ropes off?" I asked. "We won't try to run away. We wouldn't know where o go."

Ledd and the mountainmen just laughed and continued to talk.

Eldwyn, Prince Lucas, and I sat next to each other away from the mountainmen. They kept us tied to a post like we were hounds. As I looked around I saw carvings and paintings all over the walls of the cave. Nearby was a depiction of Askeran, only this was before the Continental River had separated the north from the south and when it was still connected to Cairon. It showed a unity of crudely drawn people coming together and dancing in a time before there were differences. It reminded me when Eldwyn said me that we were all relics once until my people forgot who they were. It was hard to believe at the time, but with my connection with animals, it didn't seem so far off.

A few mountainmen had left and caught deer for dinner. After they cooked it on the fire, they threw some pieces of cooked meat at us.

"If our leader decides to eat you," said Ledd, "it's best to have some meat on you."

I solemnly grabbed a piece for myself and Prince Lucas. "I'm sorry, Eldwyn. Perhaps we can find some mushrooms along the way."

"It's fine, knight," Eldwyn said. "I'm not that hungry." 

As Lucas and I ate, Eldwyn started laughing and it concerned me. I thought that perhaps the Gray Woman had sent him into madness in return for his life and I stopped eating.

"Eldwyn, are you well?"

"O, yes knight." He calmed down and caught his breath. "It's just that everything is coming together. I can't control the winds right now, but Bronte is speaking to me louder than ever."

"What are you hearing?" asked Prince Lucas leaning forward.

"I keep hearing peace," Eldwyn replied. "There will be peace."

We huddled close and slept on the cold hard cave floor. We weren't close enough to feel the warmth from the flames, but all that mattered was that we were together.

The mountainmen woke us up in the middle of the night. They weren't ones to sleep for very long. Prince Lucas told me that they were prone to taking naps throughout the day instead, and continued up the mountain. We went into a cavern and traversed the treacherous tunnels. We kept close to the mountainmen to share in their torchlight. I didn't know how they knew where to go without a map. There were so many paths that split off and they twisted all around like snakes. I cut myself a few times on the rocks as I tried not to fall on my face from the rough and uneven ground and just when I thought I had had enough, I saw the light of day through the opening up ahead. I almost smiled.

We walked out of the tunnels and into a mountain town surrounded by rock walls of the Baynard Mountains. There were about one-hundred houses made of stone with one in the center that was four times the size of the standard house. There was an area for blacksmithing, a pen for horses, and a few service and food shops. 

"Pray to your gods," said Ledd. "This could be it for you."

They pulled us through the town and mountainman, woman, and child stopped and stared at us as if we were prized animals. They brought us to the big establishment in the center of the town. It had a single high tower with an open area at the top to look over the mountain edges. One of our captors knocked on the door. I prepared myself to see their leader, a big, hulking mountain of a man ready to bash our heads together. Instead, it was...a woman. She was slender and wore a flowing white dress...and her hair was dark red, the colors of a powerful flame.

"I'm glad you're here," said Princess Ilya. "I've missed you so much."