[Hey everyone, firstly, thank you to everyone who has kept track of the story to now, I truly hope you've enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.
I've had to change Joana's name to Jhona, as his original name was taken in game and the GMs won't help me out with it *glares at Hanix*.
Now then, here's part 3. For those of you who don't have time to sit and read this right now,
here is a PDF containing the whole story, so you can read it any time you like.]
~Grounded~
Part 3A soft whispery breeze blew over the camp, and Jhona opened his eyes. For a moment he just lay there, not quite remembering why he was there. He felt his brother lying tightly against his back, and as he turned his head towards the sky, the memories of the day before started filtering into his head.
As he sat up, Valiki stirred and opened his eyes as well. Jhona looked around and saw the remainders of their camp fire smoking slightly, and Kaniha was standing under a nearby tree with her eyes closed, taking in the morning air.
The two boys, who were a little disorientated by the lack of the morning tea they were used to, slowly got up and walked towards their new friend. As they drew close behind her she turned around and looked at them intently. "Me must leave now."
The two brothers looked at each other sleepily. Jhona sighed heavily and went to pack the bag.
"There's no time to lose now, we must go and find your brother, it has already been longer than I wanted" she continued, her face growing more and more serious.
Valiki and Jhona both realised the seriousness of their situation, they didn't like to think of what their poor brother was going through. Jhona rushed to pack their things into the bag, which Kaniha then carried (much to the his relief).
If they were in any other situation, Jhona and Valiki would have been glad to be walking the outdoors. It was an absolutely gorgeous day, the azure sun shone brightly, doing its best to raise the spirits of the two little boys. But the twins were in no mood to smile just now. They missed their mother, and wondered what she was doing at that moment. She must be worried sick, they thought.
Kaniha studied the ground carefully as they went along, sniffing the air and expertly tracing the footsteps of the kidnapper. The two boys were amazed at the woman's skill. As the hours rolled on however, the two Stonebreaker boys were becoming more and more fatigued. They were both walking like drone behind Kaniha, completely lost in their own thoughts.
All at once she stopped, and the twins bumped into the back of her legs.
"We're getting close," she said.
*****
It was cold, damp and dark... Declan sat shivering on a muddy cavern floor, his knees pulled up tightly to his chest. He was terribly confused and disorientated, his cheeks were caked in the salt from his dried tears. It felt like a life time ago when he was sitting safe and warm on the floor of his bedroom. Tears started welling up again as he thought of his mother. He wanted to go home now, he was hungry and cold.
As he started sobbing again, he heard someone enter the cavern, looked up and saw the man who had taken him. All at once his heart started pounding and he screamed in terror. But then something happened, the same thing that happened when he was first taken... no more sound came out of his mouth. Slowly his vision blurred and he fell unconscious.
*****
Sarine was exhausted, she was dreadfully scared yet unbelievably enraged all at the same time. She hacked aggressively at the bushes in her way. This was NOT going to happen, she would overthrow the death realm before allowing harm to come to her children, who meant more that life itself to her!
She screamed and swore furiously as she thrust her sword recklessly at a clacker which had tried to get in her way. She stabbed and hacked at it with all her strength, making sure there was no recognisable part of it left.
As she walked on, she noticed blood streaming down her arm. She felt nothing. She was too tired and too angry to care about herself or anyone else for that matter. Her thoughts were fixed firmly on getting her children back safely.
The azure sun shone brightly above her, making her realise how long she had been traveling... she had left long before the Crystal started shining day light.
She hadn't got far before she found a butchered Tefusang carcass, and explored the immediate area to find a recently abandoned camp site. Her gut told her that this was where they had been, not too long before.
She screamed in frustration after trying to discover the direction in which they had gone, but she had no clue. She had no tracking skills, she was a baker for Talad's sake. She looked around hopelessly, all she needed was a clue,
one clue. Her heart fell as her thoughts raced in her mind, and she fell to her knees. Her tears soaked her face as she gazed up to the disgustingly happy azure sun.
She rolled onto her side and pulled herself into a ball, a prickling in her mind told her this wasn't a good idea, but she didn't care, and silently she begged for some hungry beast to come along and end her misery. She cursed the useless Hydlaa Guard, who were still fooling about in town.
There had been a knock at the door, Sarine raced to answer it. She opened the door to reveal an Enkidukai guard, looking solemn. "Miss Arquet..." he started.
"Please... please tell you've found them!" cried Sarine desperately, she didn't dare to hoped.
"Well... may I come in?" he said, his hesitation not giving Sarine much hope, and she just nodded sadly. The guard walked passed her and took off his helmet, gazing quickly around the room before turning back to Sarine, who had closed the door.
"There are very few leads Miss Arquet," he started, but Sarine was hardly listening, she knew what he was going to say. They hadn't found anything in Hydlaa itself, so the next step was to start searching outside the city. She knew however that were going to wait for morning, as there was little hope in finding anything at night, especially in the forests.
"You must understand we're doing everything possible, but they simply vanished, no body saw them... at all." It was clear that this Enkidukai was new, he hadn't the slightest idea on how to handle the distraught woman he was faced with. Sarine felt like taking the sword he was carrying and shoving it through his incompetent head. She looked up at him and noticed he was still talking.
"Excuse me sir," she interrupted him, "But would you be so kind as to leave? I am tired and wish to go to bed."
"Of course, Miss Arquet," he said, walking towards the door. As he stepped through the threshold, he turned back and said, "I assure you we will continue our search as soon as light breaks." Sarine gazed up at him briefly, she felt she needed to smile, to acknowledge his effort somehow, but all she could do was close the door.
She wandered aimlessly into her kitchen, finding a chair to sit on. She closed her eyes and rested her head on her hands, her mind too numb to do anything else. She felt sick, she wanted to sleep and never wake up again. Slowly she got up from the chair and started towards the stairs, not even bothering to blow out the candles.
As she stepped through the kitchen doorway, she noticed something about the cupboard in the living area... the door was ever so slightly ajar. Odd, she thought, that cupboard was almost always locked. She walked over curiously and opened the door. "The bag! It's gone!" she exclaimed out loud. The only reason that bag would be gone is if someone knew it was there, and took on purpose for a long journey.
The thought hit her... Jhona and Valiki took the bag! They weren't kidnapped at all! Sarine's mind was racing, why did they leave? Where did they go? Why didn't they tell her? Her poor children were out there alone! Alone at night!
Her body was ahead of her mind when she bounded up the stairs to her own bedroom. She grabbed her sword and daggers, put on warm clothing and sprinted out again. Her boys needed her! Stuff the Hydlaa Guard, useless bastards! Sarine, the best baker in Hydlaa was going to rescue her own children's lives, even if it cost her own.
A few hours later and she was scaling the country side, with a bleeding arm and a scorn that would make Talad himself shudder. She couldn't be sure she was on the right path, but she had decided to go with her instincts on this. She was certain that she would find her children.
A little way on she passed another Tefusang carcass, which lifted her spirits somewhat. As she reached the top of the next hill her heart almost stopped. There, in the far distance, only just big enough to make out, were three figures, one considerably bigger than the other two.
Tears welled up in Sarine's eyes once more, hardly daring to believe what she was seeing. Forgetting her exhaustion and wound completely, she started sprinting in the direction of her beloved twin boys.
*****
Darkness faded slightly, the azure sun shone brightly in Declan's eyes, the wind blew violently through his hair and around his ears. Turning his head slightly he found himself looking up at a man, a different man. The man caught his eye and smiled warmly. All at once the darkness took over and he was again unconscious.
*****
Jhona's feet were aching, and he felt dirty. The thought was strange to him, normally he would delight in getting as dirty as possible, but now he found himself longing for him and his brother to climb into a nice hot bath, and to rinse off the filth that caked their bodies. They had been walking for quite a while now and he felt like telling Kaniha that he and Valiki would sit there and wait for her to come back.
Just then Kaniha slowed down, Valiki and Jhona looked up at her quizzically, and she turned to them, pointing to a small clump of trees up ahead. She gestured for them to stay where they were, dropping the bag and sprinting ahead to the trees.
As she approached the shade she almost giggled at the poor attempt to cover the entrance to a cave. The branches were quite clearly from an entirely different tree than what was around the opening, plus the foot prints were crudely wiped with a cluster of leaves. She quickly got rid of the obstruction and entered the small cave entrance, drawing her daggers.
It took a moment for her eyes to adjust to the darkness, but pretty soon the cave opened up in front of her. The chamber was relatively large, and she could stand up quite comfortably without having to bend. She guessed the chamber to be about as large as Kada-El's and there was nothing in it save for a large rock at the back near the wall.
Again she chuckled at this "secret" cave when she saw the ground beside the rock was disturbed, obviously by the rock itself being moved. It was however, not an encouraging thought, as it was unlikely that anyone would close up the whole if there was someone still down there. Her suspicions were of course confirmed when she moved the rock to reveal a small, damp, cold and empty chamber below. It stank strongly of urine and something else... she wasn't sure what.
Kaniha sighed heavily, this was not good news at all.
Valiki and Jhona sat up against a rock, saying nothing. Valiki was falling asleep and then nodding awake every so often, and Jhona was playing absently with a bug that had crawled onto his leg. They both jumped up however when they heard someone approaching from the direction they had come. They spun around quickly, expecting some new terrible danger, but seeing something which made them cry spontaneously.
There, not too far away, was their mother, running as fast as she could towards them. They were taken aback at first, because Sarine looked dreadful. Her hair was a tangled mess, her cloths were torn, her arm was completely drenched in blood and her face was as white as their sheets at home.
The twins stood still, shocked, refusing to believe what their eyes were clearly seeing. Sarine came to only a few feet away before she dropped to her knees, too tired to speak, or even to smile. She breathed heavily, trying her best to get some sort of audible sound from her mouth. Finally she was able to utter "My boys..."
At the sound of her voice, the two filthy dirty, hungry, exhausted and terrified little boys ran into their mother's outstretched arms. The three Arquet's embraced for what seemed like a life time to Sarine, her relief at finding the twins was indescribable. At long last she gathered herself and let go of the boys, who were still sobbing slightly.
"You little monsters!" exclaimed Sarine, "Why in Talad's name did you go off on your own like that!?"
"They were worried about their brother" came another, unfamiliar voice. Without thinking Sarine jumped up and pulled out a dagger, jabbing it angrily in Kaniha's direction as she screamed "WHERE'S DECLAN!?" The twins were trying to tell her that it was ok, but Sarine was too enraged to listen.
Kaniha easily dodged the crazy woman's clumsy attacks, grabbing and twisting her wrist, causing the dagger to drop from her hand. Finally Sarine noticed her boys' pleas and calmed down, falling once again to her knees.
"I do not know where you son is, dwarf. Whoever took him left here some time back." Kaniha was somewhat annoyed at the Stonebreaker womans reaction to her, but could not help but pity the poor distraught creature kneeling on the ground in front of her. She was about to explain further when she saw Sarine dropped to the ground, unconscious. Only then did Kaniha notice the severe wound on her left arm. She worked quickly to bind and heal the wound as best she could, and then to calm the frantic boys who thought their mom had just died.
Kaniha picked Sarine up, telling Jhona to take the bag, and together they walk towards Hydlaa.
*****
Sarine woke up, her head throbbing and her arm numb. She noticed the familiar surroundings of her room. She sat up slowly, holding a hand to her head. Then she saw an Enkidukai woman sitting on a chair in the corner, by the window, watching her intently.
As if reading the questions from her very mind, Kaniha said, "We didn't find him." Sarine suspected as much, and simply nodded sadly. "Judging by the complete lack of tracks," she continued, "I would say they left the cave on a Pterosaur." Kaniha stood up and went to sit next to the Stonebreaker woman. She gazed out of the window into the darkened streets below, "The only thing I did find was this," she said, digging into her pocket and pulling out a stone on a string. There was nothing special about this stone, except that it was shaped somewhat like an axe. All at once Sarine was hit by a flood of memories.
She was much younger then, she was on her way to meet with the man of her dreams, the man her father strongly disapproved of. Sarine was feeling frustrated as she walked the underground paths. She had just left home after having a heated argument with her father. "I will not let any daughter of MINE marry an Arquet!" he had said, "He will take everything and leave you with nothing, as is their way!" Sarine had stormed out of the cavern announcing that she intended on marrying this dreaded Arquet whether he approved or not.
As she walked the path to her beloved's home she kicked up a stone that shot up and knocked a nearby lamp, killing the flame. Feeling somewhat foolish, she went over to light the lamp again. She looked down at the bothersome stone and noticed its odd shape. An axe, if you looked at it from a certain angle. She picked the stone up and continued on her way.
It was on that night that she presented her fiance with the stone, who promised to treasure it forever. It was also on that night that a child was conceived, a child that would later be named Declan Brodan Arquet, and a child that would later die as a result of a terrible flu-like illness that swept through the underground caverns.
Sarine looked up at the Enkidukai woman, disbelief clearly showing on her face. Kaniha frowned, saying "It means something to you then?" as she handed it to Sarine.
"Yes I... yes, it does," replied Sarine, moving the stone around in her hand and gazing at it intently. She looked up at the stranger again and asked "Where are Jhona and Valiki?"
"They are in their beds, already cleaned and fed," replied Kaniha, not without a little sympathetic warmth. Sarine smiled slightly at this person to whom she owed a lot, without even knowing her name.
"Kaniha Suzat," she said, as if reading Sarine's mind, and after a pause continued, "You have remarkable boys Miss Arquet, they may be foolish for doing what they did, but it also shows courage." Kaniha tried her best to sound comforting, but she had to admit that she was not good at it. Never before had she been faced with a situation like this, she only ever had herself to look after.
Sarine couldn't help but smile at the kind stranger. "Miss Suzat... I..." she was at a loss for words, surely nothing she could say would accurately express her appreciation to this woman for keeping her little boys safe from harm.
Kaniha simply smiled and put up her hand, saying, "Now now, there's no need for that." She stood up and took hold of Sarine's good arm, helping her out of bed. "Go now, see you sons," she said, gesturing towards the door. As she watched the poor mother leave the room, Kaniha sat down once again on the chair in the corner, gazing thoughtfully out into the azure sky.
As she pushed the door open, Sarine caught sight of two angelic figures lying together in Valiki's bed. She walked up to the side of their bed and knelt down, gazing lovingly at the two brothers slumbering peacefully. For a long time she just sat there, watching the rise and fall of her sons' breathing, seeing them twitch every so often as their dreams took them on untold adventures.
Finally she got up and walked slowly towards the empty bed in the corner, which would normally hold an even smaller little boy. She smiled sadly at the thought of her youngest son and his joyful spirit. Slowly she lowered herself onto the bed, once again curling into a ball. And with a single tear running down her cheek, she slept.
[And they all lived happily ever after ^^ *sigh* I wish, I so badly wanted Declan to be found, in fact I litrally cried while writing this.
Anyway I've left the ending open for an RP. As always, comments and criticism are welcome. Thanks for reading
]