Shift World Chapter 7
by Christopher W Gamsby
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Part 1
Karp, Slart, and Nort prepared to enter the Rocky Valley as the sun rose. Karp placed her hand on the tent where they had spent the night, and it disappeared. She put her hand on the side of a supply jar, and it went away too. The trio headed into the mouth of the valley, which was an old river bed cutting through a medium-sized hill. Layered clay spotted with black lichen formed the walls. Loose dirt and rocks made crossing over the cliffs treacherous, but circumventing the climb could take several days. Karp decided to risk passing through the valley.
Five hundred years ago, the valley spanned approximately ten feet wide. After the discovery of metals, local lords quarried clay from the hill’s walls and doubled the valley’s width. The valley walls became unstable, dashing the local lords’ hopes of becoming self-reliant on clay goods. Operations eventually stopped after frequent collapses cost more than imports. Every year, small sections of the valley wall collapsed. Cautious locals frequently checked the walls for signs of weakness or change while traversing the valley. Karp, Nort, and Slart entered the valley and Karp surveyed the valley walls. With every step, Karp kicked up dust and pebbles.
˝this almost feels like being in the arid desert.”
Nort and Slart gazed around the walls and river bed. Neither had ever seen the Arid Desert, since the entrance to the Crossroads was heavily controlled by the royal family and only a privileged few crossed between the world’s regions. Dirt and rocks fell from atop the valley wall. Karp stopped and inspected the wall where the stones fell, but there were no cracks or changes. The still valley air hadn’t blown the dirt and rocks off the wall.
˝What?”
˝it’s probably nothing. let’s go.”
Near the valley’s exit, a man in seashell steel armor ate a handful of dried food, drank from a small gourd, wiped a drop of water from his mouth, and replaced the container on his belt. He turned and marched off at the sight of the strangers approaching. Just outside the valley, the man met a beggar. The beggar clutched his arm, raised her hand, and placed it on his face. Her ragged riding cloak stood in stark contrast to his merchant’s armor. The man spoke to the woman, and she glanced back at Karp and the others. He reached for her hand, but she pulled it away and descended into the valley. The man continued up the road.
The beggar met Karp, Slart, and Nort at the valley’s mouth and approached Karp. As the beggar reached out her hand from a tattered travel cloak, Nort lunged in front of Karp and gabbed the beggar’s wrist.
˝i know what it’s like to be desperate.”
Nort eased and released the woman’s wrist. The beggar smiled and reached past Nort, but he kept her from moving any farther forward. Karp fished around under her travel cloak where she kept her coin purse. She looked up the road, and the man in white stood watching the interaction. The woman slowly turned her hand toward Karp, and a slight yellow gleam emanated from under her beggar’s cloak.
˝Thank you for everything, Scorpion.”
The woman straightened her back and raised her eyes. Karp reached her right hand from under her cloak, and her whip shot forward, wrapped around the woman’s neck, and its blade sunk into her right shoulder. The woman’s smile twisted to a scowl. The woman clawed at the whip digging into her throat with her left hand as her right arm hung limp. The man in white, Nort, and Slart all stood in shock, but then the man in white merchant's armor. Nort rushed out to meet him. A third person wearing leathers jumped from the valley wall and headed for Karp. Slart drew a steel knife and threw it into the man’s thigh. The man initially dropped to the ground but rose again. Slart threw another knife into his other leg, and he fell to his back and weakly pushed himself to a nearby boulder.
˝who are you people?”
The woman clawed at the whip, but she couldn’t get under the leather and steel. Nort met the merchant near the valley entrance and butted him in the face with his shield. The merchant tumbled and rolled around clutching his head. His open helmet didn’t protect his exposed face, and Nort’s strike had broken his nose. The man rolled onto his stomach and watched the beggar. His eyes teared and reddened.
The beggar jerked, and the whip fell from Karp’s hand. The woman stared past Karp and shouted.
˝NO... NO... STOP...”
The man cautiously found his feet and stared down Karp and the beggar. A bloodless hole gaped from the woman’s chest, and she slipped to her knees. She checked her wound and eyed Karp one more time before collapsing. The merchant looked over to the man in leathers propped up against a boulder. Tears and blood freely flowed down his cheeks, and he turned and fled. Nort started to pursue but decided to check on Slart and Karp instead.
Slart investigated the man in leathers. She had cut a major artery in his left leg when attempting to disable him, and he had succumbed to blood loss. Karp recovered her whip from the body and removed the corpse’s travel cloak. The beggar wore a sunshine steel hauberk under a breastplate. A large hole despoiled the center, and a gash cut into the right shoulder.
Then, the group traveled on, continuing until dusk, and camped in a small cave on the edge of a forest. They built a fire, cooked dinner, and discussed the events from the Rocky Valley.
˝So uh how did you know? About the ambush, I mean.”
˝i didn’t. i just often kill vagrants.”
Slart didn’t appreciate Karp's flippant answer.
˝i spent years begging for coin so i could eat or stay at an inn. that cloak could have fed her for a month. even if it had some sentimental value, that sunshine steel she wore could supply and shelter her for years. plus, there was that merchant; he clearly was interested in our meeting. i had the feeling we were being followed from the valley wall since something kept knocking dirt and rocks off the ledge. the clincher, though, is when she called me ‘scorpion.’ there’s no way she could have seen the whip under my cloak, which means either the merchant told her or she knew in advance.”
˝What did you do to her?”
˝do to her?”
Slart put her palms on her chest and fanned out her fingers.
˝i didn’t do that. i don’t know why that happened.”
˝Well...at least it didn’t uh ruin the armor.”
Nort shuttered.
˝Did you really have to loot the bodies?”
˝It’s not like they need it.”
˝just like i told wili when he had the same complaint, every piece of armor or weapon you use has come from a corpse, one way or the other.”
The next day, Karp, Nort, and Slart walked along the main trade route. Traveling was relaxed when the road snaked along open fields, but the group tensed when enclosed by woods. The specter of another ambush haunted them from tree to tree. Karp especially tensed when a bush rustled or the wind blew, even when no one appeared. By evening, the group had reached an offshoot road. Two brown pillars with white stripes rolling down the outside edges held aloft a navy-blue crossbeam covered in gold stars. The large gate spanning the way symbolized the Village of the Bog Djinn. The sun set, and the travelers searched for a place to spend the night.
Night had fallen by the time the group made camp in a clearing in the woods just off the main road. The group barely fit a fire and Karp’s tent in the clearing. Slart killed a rabbit with a throwing knife and roasted it on a spit. A day spent on constant guard had strained the whole group, and the burden continued into the night.
˝What do you think we’ll find there?”
˝i don’t know, but we’ll find out tomorrow.”
˝Why don’t we just go there tonight?”
˝we don’t want to walk around a destroyed village in the dark.”
˝But we could stay in the inn or something.”
˝look. if we showed up in the middle of the night and started breaking into buildings, then any survivors would probably attack us. plus, if any of those shifters were around...”
˝Yeah, but...”
˝ENOUGH!”
Nort and Karp glared at each other. Singing cracked the tension.
Broken light, The Scorpion’s sting
Couldn’t save the merchant king
No maul hit
No sword slit
Fell in a comrade’s clutch
Killed by a betrayer’s touch
Mandrake killed an envoy
Next up was just a boy
There he ran
With a plan
That The Whitecoat came close to foil
Until The Sunflower did spoil
While two enemies assail
Apprentice almost did fail
Times to blame
An ally came
The Morning Shield rose to meet
Bringing in the enemies’ defeat
Broken light, The Scorpion’s sting
Couldn’t save the merchant king
No maul hit
No sword slit
Fell in a comrade’s clutch
Killed by a betrayer’s touch.
Slart generally only sang when she was drunk or depressed, and Karp’s own frustration turned to guilt since she knew that spending the last month putting on a brave face for Nort had worn Slart out.
˝I uh was thinking about making a song about what happened.”
Nort got up and walked behind Slart, and the bushes behind them rustled.
˝be careful, nort.”
Nort turned around just as a devil flew from behind the bush and tackled him. Nort and the devil rolled over the fire and landed near the tent. The devil clawed and tore at Nort’s hauberk with its bare hands. Links in the armor snapped and twisted. Karp jumped up, unsheathed her water dagger, and thrust the blade into the side of the devil’s head. Blood shot from the wound, and the devil’s corpse dropped to the dirt. Karp rolled the body over, and a red oblong crystal about the size of half a pinky fell from its mouth. After examining it, Karp placed the gem in her coin pouch.
Blood covered Nort’s chainmail, and several links had snapped. The devil had scratched its fingers from raking them over Nort’s armor and bled on him. Karp grabbed the bloody dagger, placed her hand on the devil’s temple, and pulled the blade free with a wet crunch. The devil’s head was not only moist from blood, but the black scales felt softer than the ones in the Shift World. Slart moved Nort away from the corpse.
˝how is this possible?”
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