Our Destiny: Bearers of the Dagger

Impossible, Part 4

Well this was something you didn't see every day.

Malik had seen a lot of crazy stuff and not just on this island. He'd watched guys jump off roofs and land on concrete unharmed. He'd seen dogs bouncing on trampolines, juggling balls with their noses. And once he saw a drunk man running naked through town, convinced he was a wizard. But this was beyond any kind of weird he'd ever witnessed.

This was a medieval community. There was no better way to describe it. The tools, the clothes, the houses, God, there was a genuine blacksmith down there. That in itself warranted his full attention. The buildings looked worn and old. How long had this community been here? Have they always been lived here? Where do they come from? Where did they get their resources? Do they have technology?

And then of course you had the livestock. Malik wasn't exactly dumb. He knew the animal kingdom. And he'd played enough fantasy games in his life to know he was looking at alien animals. What else were they? They did not exist in the world. But here they were, grazing and grunting in these bizarre and unfamiliar noises. Have they always been on this island?

Was this island a lost world? Were these people from a ship wreck? But this place is too big. How does no one know about it?

A million questions flooded his mind. And the martial artist inside him felt cautious. Malik was never anxious usually. Not at home. And even when the giant crabs attacked, it was weird, but not enough to make him question himself.

But this.

This was something else entirely.

Malik hands felt sweaty. His grip on the bamboo was sliding. The village had unnerved him and he was struggling to get a handle on it.

'What the hell's going on?' Chris said a hushed voice. The athlete was shaking his head in disbelief, stunned by the valley below.

'Village,' was about all Malik could say. He swallowed.

'Who are those people?' Sophie demanded.

She was turning each of the others in turn, somehow expecting one of them would know the answers. Was she for real? Did she think any of them would be able to explain this?

'They must be locals,' Steve muttered with a shrug.

Michelle frowned. 'Are those swords?'

Malik's attention immediately focused on the people below. He hadn't spotted them in his first inspection but on his second observation he saw them too. A handful of the villagers were carrying daggers in their belts. One tall man had a longsword strapped to his back. The kind a medieval crusader would carry.

Weapons...

The possible danger helped Malik regain control of his nerves.

He took a deep breath and calmed down. His hands relaxed and gripped the bamboo spear with new purpose.

A tiny voice at the back of his mind reminded him that a stick versus iron contest could have only one victor but that wasn't something he wanted to dwell on. Besides it might make the others panic.

'How far from home are we?' Emma's voice echoed Malik's previous thoughts. It was what everyone had been thinking.

They were far.

They had to be very far.

This place was nothing like home. Nothing like any place Malik had ever heard of. No one had ever heard of this, he was sure of it. This island in the middle of the tropical oceans.