The Elderkin Prophet

Chapter 18

Ino is sleeping peacefully in a corner of the room, wrapped up in his bedroll. He is awoken by Nita.

“We’re here.”

Ino squints his eyes to see.

“Give me a minute.”

“Freshen up and come up on deck.”

Nita takes her leave. Ino slowly gets up on his feet. There was a lot of noise coming from outside the thin walls of the ship. He gets dressed into a loose cloth and puts on a short coat. He searches for his satchel. Once he was ready he began to head upstairs. He climbed the busy staircase filled with workers transporting all the cargo. It was still early during the day.

Ino makes his way up and is surprised. The ship was in a far worse condition than he had expected. There were broken rails and chips of wood everywhere. The ship struggled to stay afloat. There were workers all over the deck. Mixed in the crowd were several dwarves as well. Ino had never seen that many dwarves together in his life. Everyone was busy doing something, whether it was assisting the injured or helping to unload all the cargo.

Ino looks around. He finds his ship in sitting in the centre of a long arching coastline sitting perfectly between two cliffs. There were two watchtowers on either end of the cliffs; One made of stone and the other, wood. There were near a hundred ships that drifted in the ocean around him. Only a few ships were docked since the harbour was not big enough for so many. Some of the most damaged ships were being repaired on one side of the coast. A few birds dotted the skies above as their shadows swept over the bustling fields below.

He is suddenly bumped on his shoulder by Nita. She looks like she had retired out of her heavy armour into much more lighter leather armour. Her hair was unbound and flowed freely in the wind. Her twin spear was hoistered onto her back.

“We’re finally here! Looks good right?” Nita tries to cheer Ino up.

“It is indeed.”

“Come, let’s look around.”

Ino follows Nita onto the shore. There was a rough path that lead up a hill towards a decent sized village built on the foot of a large mountain.

“Dwarves..” Ino spoke out loud.

“Yea, a whole bunch of them that too.”

“Did you get any word on Jayyed?”

“No not yet, I believe that he will take a few more hours to reach Brigna.”

“Alright… So, what are we doing. What’s the plan?”

“The plan is to establish a large campsite and slowly upgrade it into livable huts. We have plentiful of supplies to establish ourselves quickly.”

Nita points to an ark in the pathway. “There. We started to clear out the forest to create space for the camps.”

The two begin to move towards the campsite. Ino was baffled by the natural features of this location. There were many split pathways that lead higher up the hills into passageways between the mountains. The way the paths looked suggested that there were numerous rivers and streams that once flowed through here but now were dry. Farmlands and fishing huts lined the coast and were blooming with activity. They were protected and separated from the coast by a small worn out set of stone fences and posts. Few antique pillars and ruins decorated the path towards the village. Rolling lines of hills and mountain ranges were in abundance all around. In a few places, the mountains almost kissed the storm off clouds above. The ground was still damp from the night before.

As they neared the camp, they could see a large river that looped around the location of the camp. A small flimsy bridge deemed the only way to cross it. Several unique trees grew outwards from the side of the hills and mountain cliffs. Their healthy branches gracefully spread out far and wide, creating platforms of lush yellows and greens. Nita and Ino walk into the busy camp. There were people scattered everywhere. Many plots of land had already been marked as sites for building larger buildings. They walk into this large circular tent that sat on the eastern corner of the camp. Nita assumed command over everything. Upon entering, she quickly asks for a report.

“Most of our forces have assembled milady. We have begun to flatten the nearby hills for future farms and animal pens.”

“What about the ships?”

“Report says that all but fifteen ships have reached Brigna and are currently anchored.”

“Do we know where the last few ships are?”

“No Milady.”

“Then go and look for them quickly.”

“At once.”

Ino tugs at Nita.

“Jayyed?”

Nita looked a little worried.

“I’m sure he just hit a little detour… I’ve been trying to get rid of the cocky fool for years now... He is an excellent captain, I’m sure he will be here any moment. He is one tough mule after all.” She spoke very confidently.

Ino makes a grim face.

 “Look, there is no use in worrying about things we still don’t have light of… Anyways, you can stay here with me or go outside and have a look around to check if everything is in order.” Nita continues to speak.

“Are you not at all affected by everything that happened?” Ino spoke softly.

Nita kneels down.

“Hey, there will be enough time to grieve later okay? ... I need you to be strong for me, just this once. Can you do that for me please?” Nita encourages Ino.

He nods his head timidly and heads outside the tent. Nita returns to her duties.

Once Ino was outside, he could finally take a look at his people. There were several families sitting around a large fire near the centre. A lot of building work was being done next to each tent. The men were carrying heavy logs and bags of stone to a big pile while the women were tending to the children and also were helping to build the huts and houses. Most of the children were helping their parents with the duties while some of the younger ones were playing games while running around the camp. The people looked unhappy, sad and upset. Ino could see some of them taking out their possesions from their bags and immediately breaking into tears. A lot of women were left as widows and were weeping their husbands. Some of the folk tried to be happy and tried their best to cheer up the rest around them but deep down, they too were sad and hopeless.

As Ino walked around, he only felt more and more devastated with each step. He felt like crying and letting out his emotions but couldn’t. He was then bumped on his shoulder. He felt a warm hand resting on his shoulder. He turned around to a familiar face.

“Hey… I’m glad you’re here.” Deolan spoke.

“Oh…” Ino was surprised. “I’m glad you made it too.”

Deolan looked like he was in really good health. He had recovered from his wounds. He notices Ino looking incredibly sad.

“What’s wrong? Looks like something is bothering you.”

Ino hesitated to speak. Deolan could only guess what was wrong, but he had a hunch.

“Come with me…” He grabs Ino’s hand and takes him to a makeshift stable. They were surrounded by plentiful horses.

“Why did you bring me here?”

“Do you want to go back?”

“No… It’s okay. I like horses.”

Deolan smiles. “They are better than humans. Such majestic creatures. So much power in their legs.”

Ino remains silent. All he could think was about the past events. All the death and screams. He barely could sleep peacefully at night.

“Guess what?”

Ino looks puzzled.

“They made me the official stable master and told me to look after all the horses. They could find no one better for the job. And they have got one of the best too!” He speaks comically.

“That’s nice Deolan. I’m glad to hear that…”

“I guess the previous stable master died in the battle …You know? There are over two hundred and seventy three horses that they brought aboard the ships? That’s crazy.”

Ino doesn’t respond.

Deolan continues to blabber on. He finally takes aminute to realise that Ino was unaffected by his talking. He nudges him on the shoulder and asks.

“Hey, what’s going on… You can talk to me y’know.”

Ino bursts into tears. He hides his face between his palm, tucked between his curled up legs.

Deolan doesn’t know how to respond. There was little he could do. He decides to get closer to Ino and gives him a comforting long hug.

Ino continues to cry. Every passing minute the crying became louder and louder.

“I wish none of this ever happened…” Ino speaks out in frustration.

“Hey…”

“What did we ever even do to them? Why…. First they stole my mother from me… And now…”

He bursts into further tears.

“There is little that you could have done about it… It’s going to be alright, I’m here for you whenever you need me.”

Deolan hugs him once more. He manages to calm down Ino successfully.

They spend the next hour silently looking at the horses as they sprinted across the open fields. The sun was hot and the wind was blowing steadily. After some time, Ino and Deolan get up and return to the camp. They began to help others in the camp.

Nita sent a messenger to find Ino.

“Your sister is looking for you, young prince. She is waiting outside the large tent.”

Ino nods and begins to search for his sister. He finds her leaning on a tall wooden post stuck into the ground as support.

“You called for me?”

“Yes, I did. Come with me.” She grumbles.

“What’s wrong? May I ask?”

“Ugh… Don’t even get me started. That stupid mentally impaired mayor.”

“Who?”

“God… That dumb mayor of the dwarfs… He is threatening to close the gates to the village.”

“Wait … Why?”

“Because we are striking down his precious little forests. The nerve he has…”

“He is not wrong..”

“Oh.. Don’t even side with him. He has been creating issues the moment we got here. Someone has to go and teach that stubborn ass about who runs this place.”

Ino looks at Nita who is furious. He often gets scared to talk to her when she is upset because she can be very spiteful.

“He needs to know that Brigna is under Feregar’s protection. The dwarves signed a treaty with us long back.” She muttered on.

The two made their way into the village through the fat wooden gates.