A temple in the jungle

[Chrisb78]

We stood there, weapons in hand, ready to defend the camp. I looked out into the jungle and saw only trees in the darkness.

“Do you think it will be spiders, or something worse,” whispered Sybbyl?”

“Be quiet so that we can hear if anything is approaching,” Rose whispered back.
We stood quietly in the darkness. We had no idea what was approaching, but we could hear foot steps in the trees ahead.

“It’s just us!” a voice called out. It sounded like Emline. “We’ve brought some others with us.” Emeline emerged from the woods followed by Auldaeil. Right behind Auldael was another elf, who was followed by three more people. Behind them a weird mechanical contraption was rolling along the ground.

“Dwarves,” said the new elf and looked over at the contraption that we had all been staring at. “My name is Gilthion. Auldaeil says you got food here.”

We welcomed everyone into camp and sat around the fire. We offered our food to the group that had just come to our camp. They told us a story that we had heard before. Goblins had attacked their village and they had sought refuge in the jungle.

“This is most disturbing,” said Auldaeil. “Rarely do the goblins venture out of their mountain caves. For them to have come this far does not bode well.”

One of the dwarves stood up. “The goblins, while many in number, have never been able to organize themselves. It appears that they are many tribes that have unified under one banner. How else would they be able to crush so many towns in the kingdom?”

It was Ysmay who stood up next and spoke, “We’ve heard now of several towns being raided by the goblins now. Many of us here came escaped certain death at the hands of the goblins who had destroyed our homes. What if fate lead us all to this place so that we could join together to fight the goblins? To stop their rampage across the country side?”

Everyone was quitly watching Ysmay as she spoke. “A goblin army will not move quickly through the jungle. We destroyed the froggies, we can stop the goblins too.”

“The goblins destroyed our town and we had knights there to to fight them. Stone walls too. I don’t think our wooden walls will stop the goblin hordes,” said Tybalt. The group nodded and quietly voiced agreement with what Tybalt had said.

“We can build stronger walls. We can build stronger buildings too so that we can have something more sturdy to live in then these shacks and bamboo huts. What do you think, Walter?” Ysmay stopped talking and looked at me. I became very aware of everyone’s eyes on me.

“Well, uhm, I think that if people are planning to stay here then you should build something stronger, but…”

Ysmay interrupted me before I could continue, “ Walter, tomorrow morning, you and Emeline should look for a good location for us to build a more permanent building.”

The dwarf spoke again, “You’ll be needing lots of materials. I’ve got some stone for trade. I’ve also got some iron, coal and an anvil that I’d be willing to part with.”

Hadron stood up, “An anvil would be great. I can use that iron to smith some armor. That should be helpful should the goblins attack.”

The whole camp by now was talking about how they could contribute to the project. People talked of planting a grove of banana trees to feed a much larger population, and maybe even domesticating some of the animals so that we could eat something other then baked bananas and fish. Anastas and Fendril started discussing what they could make if they had a real work shop. Beatrix and Amelia chatted about having a real kitchen area.

Ysmay stood silently watching and listening. She caught me looking at her and stared back at me. The fire light flickered on her wooden mask, and though I couldn’t see her mouth, I knew she was smiling under that mask.

[Chrisb78]

The next morning, the camp was in good spirits. We were all gathered around the camp fire finalizing the plans for today. I had decided last night that I would help Emiline find a location today, then tommorow morning, I was leaving. I wanted to get back to a normal life. Amelia, Beatrix, and one of our new additions who went by the name Peter, were serving up baked bananas while everyone talked. Sybbyl and Margaret were discussing how many trees would be needed to have enough bananas for the group. They asked that we look for a large flat area where they could plant enough trees. Hadron was talking with the dwarves and discussing the terms of a trade so that he could get his hands on that anvil along with some iron and other materials. Tybalt was going to organize a mining crew. Another new comer, Brom, who luckily for us happened to be a skilled stone worker and his sister Alice offered to come with us. After all, should we find some decent locations to build, having someone with building experience to help evaluate the site would come in handy. The others in the camp set about gathering some additional food as well as hauling supplies to the dwarves that Hadron had offered up in trade.




The elves, barbarians, and Forthwind all sat around the camp. After all, with all the froggies dead there wasn’t much for them to do. They did offer to cover guarding the camp just in case.

Emeline and I grabbed our swords and got read to set out into the jungle. While we were waiting for Brom and Alice to grab their spears, Althalos came over to me and grabbed my arm.

“You have to stop this,” he whispered into my ear. “Ysmay must come with me to the Oracle. Her destiny is not to oversee the building of a fortress in the middle of the jungle.”

I looked at the barbarian in the eyes. “Look, no one knows this yet, but I’m leaving tomorrow. If you will help me reach a safe village outside of this jungle, I promise I will help you to take Ysmay.” The promise was as much to him as it was to myself. I’d put off leaving long enough.

“If she doesn’t go willingly, it may be difficult to force her to come. She is much stronger then she lets on. There is much about her you do not know.”

“Walter, come on!” Emiline called out from the entrance to the camp. Brom and Alice were standing near by.

“I have to go. We’ll figure out how to get Ysmay out of the jungle tonight after I return.” I turned away from Althalos and ran to catch up with Emiline and the others.

[Chrisb78]

The four of us walked away from the camp. While we walked, Brom and Alice told us a little bit about themselves. Brom had been a member of the stone masons guild and had been assisting in the building of a small fortress when the goblins had attacked and destroyed their town. He and Alice escaped into the jungle where they met up with a few others and eventually found their way to our camp. Emiline told them of our adventures in the jungle so far and how she had lead a scorched earth campaign against the froggies. We came to the edge of the river that was to the north of the camp.

“There’s a hill on the other side of this river that might be a good place to look at,” said Emiline as she started to wade into the river. “I’ve crossed it here before, It’s not all that deep.” We followed her into the river and carefully waded across it. While we crossed I could see schools of fish swimming away from us. When we got to the other side, Emeline wasted no time treking futher into the jungle.

It was slow going as the trees were very thick here. We hacked our way through the trees and vines until we made our way to a clearing. The grass and dirt of the jungle floor gave way to solid stone. Emeline walked out to the middle of the stony area. “This area isn’t too far from the hill I was talking about. If we choose it as a building site…”

Brom continued her thought, “this would be a good source of stone.” He ran his hands along the surface and examined it closely. “I think this would be good building material. I wonder how deep it goes. Might be a good place to dig a quarry.”




“I thought the same thing when I came across it the other day,” said Emiline.

I looked at her, “the other day?” I asked. “Why would you have been looking for a source of stone the other day?”

“Ysmay and I started talking about this while you were resting from the spider attack. We were thinking that we would need to build something more permananet then the bamboo huts. When we were done practicing our combat skills each day I would explore the nearby areas of the jungle.”

I didn’t like that she and Ysmay seemed to already have things planned out. The way things played out last night around the camp fire seemed somewhat spontanious with the rest of the camp getting on board with the idea of building. Now it seemed like Ysmay had already figured it out and had already sent Emeline out to scout out locations.

“Have you and Ysmay already chosen a place to build?” I asked her.

“No of course not. Ysmay doesn’t come out into the jungle. I just thought that this hill would be a good place. Come on, it’s not that far away.”

“Hang on a minute, you two, “ said Brom. He looked around. “You said the froggies are all dead now? It’s pretty much just us and the skootenbeeten out here, right?” Emeline confirmed that to her knowledge there wasn’t anything dangerous out here. Brom turned to his sister asking if she knew remembered how to get back to camp.

“Yep. Just cross back over the river. I think from the river you can see the watch tower. It’s really not even all that far.”

“Alice, you think you could go back to camp and bring a few of the others out here. Let them know I want them to dig up some of this stone. I want to get a better look at it to see if it would be suitable for building. “

Alice smiled at her brother and turned and ran off into the jungle back towards camp. I was a little uneasy about the idea of her running off by herself, but Emeline had cleared the jungle of the froggies. I tried not to think about it and walked with Emeline and Brom in the opposite direction.

We kept walking and I could feel the ground start to rise. We must be getting close. As we walked, we passed by the hollowed out trees of a brownie village. Emiline smiled and kicked one of the stumps as she wallked past it. “Came across this village while I was hunting froggies.”

She continued walking and I could see the hill ahead of us rising above the trees. We kept walking up the hill. The steep sides were difficult to climb and it was slow going. After what seemed like forever we reached the top. It did command a good view of the surrounding area. I could see the smoke off in the distance from our camp fire to the south. We could see over the tree tops and if an army of goblins was approaching, they would have a hard time sneaking up on us, and they’d have to deal with climbing the hill to reach us.

Brom was looking it over and thinking out loud. “We could put walls down there and level things off to put another building up here. Put some stairs there.”

“You like it, Brom?” Asked Emeline. Brom nodded a yes and started drawing in the dirt with a stick. “What about you. Walter?”

“It has promise. I think you might be able to make a good home here. Are there any other nearby areas that you have in mind?”

“A few, but I think this is probably the best one. I can show you them if you like.”

Brom and I followed Emiline deeper into the jungle. We went past the empty wooden walls of a deserted froggie village. We found a froggie totem that had been pushed over on it’s side. In the end, the searching was for naught because none of the other locations we looked at were as good as the hill we had first looked at. It was starting to get late in the afternoon and the sun was beginning to set. We decided to return to the stone area that we had found earlier so that Brom could inspect the stone that we had hoped the others had dug up.

As we approached the stone we could hear the sounds of picks on rock. We entered the clearing and saw Tybalt standing on a large rock giving orders to a few of the others who were loosening the stone.

“Look, Walter and Emeline are back,” shouted one of the miners.

Tybalt looked up. “Walter! I’m glad to see you! We’ve got a problem.”

My heart sank in my chest. “What is it? Is there no stone here?”

“Oh no, there’s plenty of stone. It’s what else we found.” I walked over to him and he pointed down into the ground. I looked down and saw where they had dug a hole. Down in the hole I saw Rose standing there in her armor holding her sword and looking around. “We started digging here where Alice showed us. It was going well at first. This seems to be good solid granite here. Problem is, we dug down a bit and hit a hole. We thought it was just a small cave or some such. We lowered a few folks down to check it out, and were attacked by some slimes and a spider.”




“We made quick work of them,” he continued. “That’s not all though, seems that our little cave is actually a pretty large network of tunnels. Auldeil, Forthind and Althalos went in to check it out. They’ve been gone a few hours. We haven’t heard back from them. They should have come back by now. I’m starting to worry.”

I was starting to worry too.

[Chrisb78]

Emeline jumped down into the hole that Tybalt and the miners had dug. “Walter, come on!” She called up to me.

“Be careful down there,” Tybalt said as I climbed down after Emeline.

“What is this place?” I wondered out loud.

“I don’t know. Seems like a cave I guess. What’s that over there?” Emline asked, looking at a red glowing orb that was on the ground.

Rose spoke up. “We’re not sure. When we killed the spider that orb was left behind.”

I looked around, there seemed to be tunnels going in every direction. Rose pointed down one of the tunnels. “They went down that way.”

We thanked Rose and started down the tunnel in search of Auldaeil, Forthwind and Althalos. Emeline and I had our swords drawn as we walked through the dark tunnel. Periodically we’d step in green goo and hacked off spider legs, evidence that we were on the right path.

It was a twisting maze of rock and I wondered if we’d ever find the others. More importantly, I wondered if we would find our way back to the surface. Emeline and I kept walking through the damp tunnels. We turned a corner and ahead saw several spiders in the room before us. They didn’t seem to notice us so we quietly backed up and chose a different tunnel to go down. Afterall, based on what we had seen so far, if the others had come this way, we would have seen a room full of glowing red orbs and not living spiders. The two of us continued searching, following the trail of destruction. It was dark, but the tunnels glowed with an eerie red light that the orbs cast off. We’d been down here a while and I was pretty sure we were lost. The only clue we had to follow was the green goo and spider corpses that lined the floor. We turned another corner, then another, and walked down a long passageway. The tunnel opened into a large chamber. The large room had several new tunnels to choose from. We stood in the middle of the room trying to decide which one to choose. I could hear foot steps coming from one of the tunnels. I started to point it out to Emeline, who seemed to have heard the foot steps also.

“That must be them,” I whispered to Emeline.

“Who is there,” demanded a voice that echoed from the tunnel that was the source of the foot steps.”

Emeline relaxed. “That sounds like Jury. He’s one of the barbarians that came to us while you were recovering from the spider attack. It’s us! It’s Emline and Walter!” She shouted down the tunnel.

The footsteps got closer and from the tunnel emerged the figure of a man. It was one of the barbarians. “I came down to help.” He said.
I started to say something, but he quickly silenced us and looked towards one of the other tunnels. “Danger approaches,” he whispered to us.

I could hear it now. The sound of clicking on stone was getting closer to us. Jury the barbarian charged in the direction of the sound. Emeline and I ran after him. In the tunnel ahead of us was a large spider. Jury lept at it and slammed his fist into the spider’s eye. He punched and punched repeatedly. While the spider was distraced with the barbarian, Emeline and I rushed in and swung our swords wildly at the spider’s body. We hacked and Jury punched. The creature was no match for the three of us and the fight was over almost as quickly as It started. One of those red orbs was left behind as the spider was killed.

Jury reached down and picked up the orb. “Spiderite,” he said. “Worthless by itself, but in the hands of a skilled smith can be used to enchant armor and weapons with the strength of the spider.” He threw down the orb and started walking down the passageway. “This way.”

We followed the barbarian. I was a lot less worried about what we might find down here since we had the skilled fighter with us. We continued down the tunnel, the three of us quickly dispatching any green slimes or spiders that we came across. The tunnels twisted and turned in the darkness. After going around several corners and through several tunnels we entered another chamber. This one full of spiders and slimes. And in the middle of the room, laying on the floor, was the motionless body of Althalos. I watched in horror as the spiders were feasting on it.

Jury, Emeline and I stood in the entrace to the room, our weapons raised. The creatures took notice of us and started to come towards us.

[Chrisb78]

The barbarian lead the charge, slamming into the nearest spider. Emeline and I followed Jury into battle. We took down that first spider before even had a chance to fightback. I turned to face face another of the creatures. It came at me with it’s huge fangs and clawed legs. I slashed at one of it’s legs then stabbed at it’s face as it tried to bite me. The spider swiped at me with one of it’s legs, but it bounced harmlessly off my iron armor. I felt a new wave of courage come ove me as I realized how protected I was against the spider’s attacks. I attacked with a renewed fury and after several slashes and stabs with my iron sword, the spider fell before me. I looked around and saw that Jury and Emeline were busy with another spider. I turned to attack another. As I ran at it with my sword raised, I saw several arrows strike it in the side. The spider and I both turned to see the source of the arrows. Auldaeil was standing in a side tunnel, another arrow at the ready that she let fly as the spider turned towards her. The arrow struck the spider in it’s eye and I saw my opening to charge in and hack at the beast’s legs.
Seeing that this spider was done for, I turned just in time to dodge the attack of another. I found myself on my back as the spider raised itself over me, slime from it’s mandibles dripped over my face. First one arrow hit it in it’s exposed underside, then another, and I saw Jury leap on the spider’s back and begin bashing his fists against the spider’s head. I picked myself up and ran my sword into the spider’s hairy body. I nodded a quick thanks to the barbarian then turned to find another foe.

“Behind you!” I called out spotting a spider just a few feet from Auldaeil. The elf turned as the spider’s claw struck her in the face. I ran over to block the spider from reaching Auldaeil. She backed away and just a quick moment later I heard arrows flying past my head and into the spider’s body.

“I’m fine, go help her!” Auldaeil called out. I looked around and on the other side of the room, I saw Emeline had fallen and two spiders were standing over her body clawing and biting.

I ran over and threw all my momentum behind my sword as I drove it deep into the spider’s body. Jury charged into the second spider. We fought them hand to hand while Auldaeil shot her arrows into the creatures. Emeline struggled to stand up but was able to lend her sword to the fight. Forthwind appeared seemingly out of no where and swiped at the spiders with his long curved blade. The spider’s were no match for all of us and the room was cleared of all present dangers.

We all looked around at each other to make sure everyone was okay. No one appeared to have more then just a few scratches on them. I turned to the middle of the room where lay the body of Althalos. “We got seperated in the darkness,” offered Auldaeil. “He must of come in here and gotten overwhelmed by the spiders.”

It was then that I realized that Althalos’ death meant that he wasn’t going to be able to finish telling me about Ysmay. It also meant that our plan to leave together in the morning was no more.

“We should get him out of here. Give him a proper burial,” Jury quietly said. We nodded in agreement and started to lift the barbarian’s body. As we were lifting, Emeline collapsed on the floor.

[Chrisb78]

We carried Althalos and Emeline through the tunnels back to the surface. Forthwind guessed that Emeline was suffering from a poison from the spider. I hoped that we could get her to help before it was too late.

It was slow going, but it was easy enough to follow the red glow of the spiderite orbs and the trail of green gel back to where we had left Rose at the entrance. Rose ran to us to help us reach the entrance to the hole. I climbed up and back to the surface. I looked up and saw the moon high in the sky.

“About time,” Tybalt said. “You been gone for hours. What did you find down there?” He looked down and saw Forthwind and Jury lifting Emeline’s unconsious body up. “They need a little help boys. Get on it.” The miners, who had still been digging into the night dropped their picks and rushed over to help lift Emeline out of the hole. They then helped pull Althalos’ body up. “Take her back to camp. Quickly.” The rest of us carried Althalos back to camp.

We arrived back at camp and were greeted with a crowd and lots of questions. I saw Amelia in the crowd, when she saw me, she ran forward and threw her arms around me despite my armor being covered in spider blood and green goo. “I was so worried. When I heard you had gone underground I feared the worst.”

I wasn’t really sure how to respond so I said nothing. I watched as Tybalt made sure that his crew took Emeline over to the hospital shack and ordered another to start digging a grave for Althalos. It had been a long day so I sat down by the camp fire. Amelia brought over some food then sat next to me.

The rest of the camp followed us asking questions all the way. Forthwind stood before the crowd and relayed to all the story of how he, Auldaeil and Althalos entered the tunnels that the miners had discovered. How they fought through hordes of spiders and slimes and became seperated in the darkness. He told of our final battle where we avenged the death of Althalos and of how Emeline had fallen victim to the spider’s toxin. He added a lot of drama to the entire story and much of the details were embellished, if not completely made up. I realized I had been holding Amelia’s hand while listening to the story, and felt happy despite the day I’d had.

Forthwind bowed as he finished his story. “Oh, one most thing, there are treasures in the tunnels below.” He smiled and pulled something from his belt. “Behold, the magic.” He waved the wand and a green bolt flew from the wand.

[Chrisb78]

I awoke the next day feeling refreshed but confused about what to do. Althalos and I had planned to force Ysmay out of the camp so that he could take her to the Oracle to fulfill her destiny and bring honor to the gods. I was going to be safely dropped off in the first settlement we came across to start a new life. Since some others in the camp were now planning to build a statue in rememberance of the barbarian since he’d been killed by the spiders underground, my plan was no longer in effect.

I looked around the camp, there were several people who I did not recognize since we’d had what seemed like a steady stream of refugees fleeing the goblin hordes. Since I had been intending to leave, I hadn’t taken the time to get to know them. But was leaving something I still wanted? I wasn’t sure. It seemed like every time I made a plan to leave, something happened that caused me to stay. Maybe I didn’t know what I wanted…
The camp was bustling with activity. Apparently Brom had stayed up most of the night and was drawing out plans for a more permanent structure on the hill that we had looked at yesterday. He’d even built a small little model of it using scraps of wood from Anastas’ carpentry. His plan was rather simple. We were going to build up the sides of the hill with masonry to in effect have flat wall. The hill would give us an elevated area to build another building as well as have some farmland. From the raised area, we would be able to look out over the tree tops and have plenty of warning should the goblins choose to attack. We also planned to dig out part of the hill and use the additional space underground. It was going to require a lot of work and stone.

Tybalt had already taken a group out to the quarry to start mining the rocks that would be used to build the structure. Auldaeil, Gilthion, Forthwind and Jury made plans to continue exploring the tunnels and keep watch over the miners to ensure their safety. Everyone else was going to assist where ever they were needed most to make sure the project was moving along.

I decided to check on Emeline. While I was walking across the camp to see her, Rose approached. “Walter, will you be in charge of training and the duty roster since Emeline is…” She looked down at her feet rather then speaking more on Emeline’s condition.

Training? Duty rosters? I knew that a few of the people in camp had been practicing with the weapons. I had even participated before my run in with the spiders that left me unable to move for a few days. But I had no idea that Emeline had set up duty rosters for the group. Maybe this is just what I needed to distract me from wanting to leave. Emeline had said that she wanted to stay here because being in the jungle gave her a purpose. Perhaps I needed a new purpose.

“Yes, have everyone meet in the clearing outside the gate. I’ll oversee the guard.”

[evaldazz]

I think this is a great series, you should definitely keep doing these. Well done mate.

[Chrisb78]

Rose and the other members of the guard were waiting for me outside the camp. There were a few people who I didn’t know so we quickly exchanged introductions. Rose, Eleanor, Edmund, William, Charles, and myself were all at different levels of skill when it came to fighting, but none of us were very good. I wished that we had someone with a little more experience with us, like Auldaeil or Forthwind with us to show us more, but they were busy fighting underground.

The six of us paired off and began sparring with each other using wooden weapons. We took turns being on offense and defense. We had been practicing for what seemed like hours when I heard someone say “You are doing it wrong. Your technique needs a lot of work.” I looked up to see who had spoken. At the edge of the clearing stood a stranger wearing a suit of armor, a sword hung at his side.

The stranger bowed towards us, “Hello. I am Sir Borin de Challon. Knight of the realm and defender of the weak. I am looking for one called Walter Marches.”

I stepped forward. “I’m Walter. What can I do for you?”

“I was told by the miners across the river that I’d find you here. I travelled here because I had heard a rumor of a army in this jungle who had built a fortress to withstand the goblin attacks.”

“Building, “ I corrected him. “We’re building a more permanent home then the bamboo and wooden shacks we’ve been living in.”

“I see. And have you an army here to fight the goblins should they come?” the knight asked.

“We haven’t any army. We have a few warriors who are fighting spiders and slimes underground. And we are practicing to be able to fight anything that comes.”

Borin looked us over. “I was told that there was an army out here gathering to fight the goblin horde so that I might lend my sword to the cause. Instead I find a simple wooden palaside manned by just six people armed with wooden weapons. Hardly the army I expected.”

Even though what he said was true enough, I was very offended at him so clearly insulting us. I was about to speak up to defend those with me when Rose stepped forward and began shouting at the knight.

“Listen up Sir Borin. Whatever you’ve heard was wrong. But how dare you come to our home and insult us because we aren’t what you expected. What gives you the right?”

“I am a knight of the realm. And as a nobleman I will do and say as I please,” he said calmly.

“A knight of the realm?” She shouted back at him. “Maybe you haven’t heard, but the realm is apparently collapsing under the goblin hordes. You can either stay and help us fight them, or you can wander off into the jungle in seach of this army you’ve heard about!” I’d never seen Rose like this. She continued yelling at the knight while he stood calmly listening. I looked around and could tell that everyone was quite amused by the show she was putting on. I was only half listening to everything she was saying until I heard my name. “And Walter may not be a knight like you, but he defeated an entire nest full of spiders and he’s a pretty good warrior.”

“Oh is he?” Borin asked and looked over at me. “Well then, lets see what you got.” He moved quickly and disarmed Rose taking her wooden sword and then turned to face me. “A duel then, Walter?”

I gave Rose a dirty look, who had a very appologtic look on her face. I raised by sword to duel with the knight. He came at me quickly and I barely had time to raise my sword to block his attack. The impact of his wooden sword on mine caused splinters to fly from both blades. I stumbled back from the impact. Borin pushed on and slashed at me again and again. I kept my sword up to block his attacks but he was relentless in his assault. My hand and arm were tingling from the constant battering my sword was taking. I was tiring quickly while the knight seemed to be exerting no effort. Then, just as suddenly as his barrage of attacks began, he stopped and took a step back. I was releaved and lowered my sword. Borin took advantage of the openeing and lunged forward. I tried to defend myself, but the quickness of his attack knocked me off balance and I fell on my back. I landed with the knight’s foot on my chest and his sword at my neck.

“NO!” Rose screamed.

“Do you yield?” the knight laughed.

I nodded yes and he extended his hand. I reluctantly took it and he helped me to my feet. “A warrior you are not. But you lasted longer then I thought you would against a trained knight. And she has real spirit.” He said giving a nod to Rose.

Sir Borin handed the wooden sword back to Rose and turned without saying another word and walked towards the camp. The others gathered around me to make sure I was okay. The only thing the knight had wounded of mine was my pride. I broke away from the group and walked off towards the river.

When I get to the river’s edge, I found Fendril there. More surprisingly, I found a log bridge spanning the river. It was narrow, but looked sturdy enough.



“The knight find you?” He asked.

I nodded yes and walked across the bridge. I followed the sounds of metal on stone to the quarry and found that several masonry benches had been set up and a wooden roof set up over them so that Brom wouldn’t have to work in the heat of the sun.



Tybalt gave me a nod then returned to barking orders to his crew. They were hauling up lots of stone from below. I worried that the miners might run into more spiders and hoped that Auldaeil and her company weren’t running into any problems in the tunnels. I wouldn't have been too upset if Sir Borin de Challon ran into trouble underground though.

[Chrisb78]

Tybalt told me that there had been no sign of spiders or anything else in the tunnels where his mining crew had been digging. I wandered over to where Brom had set up shop near the quarry. He was teaching Alice and few others how to shape and lay the stones to build a sturdy wall. I thought it was best to stay out of the way and decided to head back to camp. After all, I wasn’t as concerned about the progress of the mining crew as I was about just getting away from Sir Borin.

As I started walking back, Hadron came out of the quarry carrying one of those red glowing orbs of spiderite. “Hey Walter, good to see you again, friend.”

“What are you doing with that spiderite?” I wondered and asked of the smith.

“I overheard some of the others talking last night about the spiderite and how it could be used to enchant weapons. I wanted to have a look at it myself. If we ever get any weapons, or a steady supply of iron to make some, being able to enchant them would be pretty useful, don’t you think?”

I admitted he had a point. The two of us walked back to camp together. We talked about our village that we had lived in that was no more. We talked about the froggies and the goblins and some of the things that had happened since we got here. I expected that talking to Hadron would make me miss my farm, my home. But strangely it did not.

We arrived back in camp. Hadron went over to the little work area he had set up with the anvil we’d traded off the dwarves to examine the spiderite further. I decided to go check on Emeline. I found her right where I expected her to be, I in the shack that we were using as a hospital. Ysmay was at her side. This was a good sign, she could heal Emeline and ensure her well being.

Ysmay was wearing her wooden mask. Oh how I hated the sight of that thing. She also carried the wand that Forthwind had shown everyone last night. The rogue had promised us a share of any treasure he might find, and Ysmay claimed the wand. He was all to happy to hand it over to her claiming that he preferred his sword to any magic.

“Is she going to be okay?” I asked of Ysmay.

“She will. The jungle provides an endless supply of herbs that can be used to remedy that spider’s venom.”

“You can’t heal her through magic?” I asked.

Ysmay stood there silently a moment before answering, “I can not use magic to heal her, and I did not use magic to help you before. Magic requires the use of spells or enchanted items. Items and spells which I do not possess. Herbs from the jungle will meet our needs here. Emeline needs my attention, so if there is nothing else you need, you may leave, Walter.”

“Leave?” I asked, not sure what she meant. Did Ysmay mean to tell me to leave the camp as I had been planning to do this morning?

“Yes, Walter. Leave. Has it not been your intention to leave the jungle since you got here? Have you not been planning to return to the trappings of civilazation?”

“I, uh… I had thought about trying to find a new village to live in.”

“Very well, Walter. You should at least say good bye to Amelia before you go. I’m sure she will miss you. You should ask her for some extra food for your journey.”

I was unsure of what was going on. Was Ysmay telling me to leave the camp? Did she really want me to go? I know we had talked about this before, but never had she been so direct about it. “I’m not sure that I…”

“Not sure about what?” She interrupted. “Not sure if you can make it alone? Not sure that we can make it without you? Not sure what will happen to us if you leave? Walter, you need to decide. No one has forced you to stay. If you want to go, you should go. If you want to stay, then you should stay. The choice is yours. But if you stay, then I ask that you remain loyal to us. Loyal to me. Loyal to, “she paused,” Amelia…”

I blushed slightly when Ysmay said her servent’s name.
Ysmay turned back towards Emeline and placed a damp cloth over her forehead.
“I’ve grown tired of this. You need to make a decision. Stay or go. It really is that simple.”

I stood there a moment not sure how to respond, but Ysmay ignored my presence and busied herself with tending to the poisoned Emeline. I did want to stay, thought I wasn’t entirely sure why. It did feel good to train with the others today, that is, until the knight showed up and bested me. I didn’t miss my village earlier when Hadron and I were talking about old times on our way back from the quarry. And Amelia, I wasn’t sure how I felt about her, but I was starting to think that maybe this is where I belonged. I thought about it further as I stood there watching Ysmay tend to the sleeping Emeline.

“Ysmay. I think I’m going to stay here. My contributions may not be much, but I think I can help here.” I felt a surge of relief flow over me as I said the words. As if a giant weight had been lifted off me. What I was saying felt right.

Ysmay stood there a moment, and looked at me before speaking. “Are you sure, Walter?”

“Yes.”

“Very well. Will you continue to be leader of our guards while Emeline is unable to perform that duty?” I nodded yes to her. “This is good news Walter. I’m glad that you have decided to stay with us. I believe you should go tell Amelia. I’m sure she’ll be relieved to know that you intend to stay here with us… with her.”

I started to turn to leave. I did want to tell Amelia that I was going to stay.

“Oh, Walter. One more thing.” I stopped to hear what Ysmay had to say. “Someone has come to train you and the other guards. To make real warriors out of you so that you don’t fall on your back the next time spiders or anything else threaten our safety.” I suspected I knew who she meant. “Ahh, here he is now. Behind you. I want you to meet Sir Borin de Challon.”

I turned around and saw the knight standing before me. That weight that had been lifted returned.