Disclaimer: er... Drachma and co. are property of the guys who made Skies
of Arcadia (o.@) but Marlen was made by me :)
Like... OMG! I'm sooo glad somebody actually read my loada b******t and actually reviewed it! Wow thanx a million ^.^! but (again) like... OMG! I know... I didn't exactly pull up a cliff-hanger or anything .!
Hawaaw!
Welcome to,
chapter two,
I hope its cool,
so have a ball!
he he!
*******************************
Chapter two
Drachma grunted. He felt a roaring pain in his arm and one of his eyes. He opened his eyes, but he could only see out of one of them.
"Wha... what happened to me?" he whispered to himself, sitting up, his hand on his head. "Where am I?"
Drachma was lying alone in a bed invaded with pink and blue cushions. The bed was surrounded with a light, see-through net. He focused on looking past the net and saw that he was in a small white room with shapes such as triangles painted on the walls. He figured that he was now in a Nasrean room. It sure looks like a Nasrean room, he thought to himself.
He looked in front of him. There was a small high window, almost beside a tall drooping plant which stood in one corner of the room. He looked to the left and saw a small doorway. Instead of a door, another light curtain was delicately held above the walk-through doorway. He looked to the right and to his horror, instead of seeing his arm, he saw a huge chunk of metal. He moved his ^ arm ^ and it amazingly responded.
"I'm goin' to have a-lump-o-metal-of-an-arm for the rest of my life!?!" he moaned to himself. "Well... better than nothin' I s'pose. Jack would have loved to see..." All of a sudden, his memory returned to him. The huge Archwhale attacking the ship. His crew, dying one by one. The ship breaking up. His son falling...
Drachma broke into tears. It was all his fault. If he hadn't challenged the Archwhale, he would still be alive... so would his crew, and his ship. What am I goin' to do!
"I havn' got anythin'. I havn' got anythin' left... not even a picture..." He cried, not caring on who heard him. He held his head in his hands as if he had an eternal head-ache. But he did have a head-ache, a head-ache that would never leave him.
As all the details were still flooding back to him, something important came streaming into his head. The box! Jack's box! I still have it! He gave it to me! It's in my... he looked to his right again and this time, saw a small, low table. It was amazingly pretty. It had been carved out of wood and had all sorts of little shapes. The table was in fact designed in the shape of a Dhabu. So I must be in Nasr... he thought to himself. On the table lay his neatly folded clothes. He ripped back the netting around the bed.
He seized his clothes immediately and shook them up until Jack's box did in fact fall out onto the soft bed. A huge smile slowly crept across his features. He opened the box gently and gazed at all of the beautiful feathers for a long while. He picked the feathers one by one out of the box, occasionally whispering something like ahh, he found this one when he was seven years old or he used to love this one... there is one that looks just like it somewhere. After studying them for a while, he lay all of the delicate feathers back into the box and closed it the lid gently, now looking at something past the box.
He clenched his fists, his knuckles going white. None of this was my fault he said to himself, forcing himself to believe it If that damned Archwhale wasn't there in the first place, none of this would have happened. I'm goin' to track him... I'm goin' to track him down, and when in do... it will suffer...I'm goin' to get my revenge! Drachma was now breathing deep and angrily.
Just then, a slightly plump woman bustled into the room carrying a little silver tray supporting several cups. That woman is God damn Beautiful... he thought to himself. She was wearing a belly-dancer type outfit. It was all pink. Her baggy trousers tucked in just above her ankles and at the top, another see-through material, quite like a shawl delicately suspended from gold clips that were dotted across the rim. Her top that basically resembled a bra, was also pink. As expected for a Nasrean woman, she wore another see-through cloth over her mouth and her dark hair was held in a high pony-tail and still trailed down upon her bare, middle-back.
"I knew you would have woken up by now. I expected the pain-killer to wear off hours ago..." the young woman said in her strong Nasrean accent. She had stopped next to the bed to speak to him, so continued walking towards the small, pretty Dhabu table.
She giggled "You look like a Dhabu just given birth, you look awful. Well, I suppose the pain-killer has worn off then..." she continued towards the table and stopped again to give a disgusted look at the now creased up clothes spread across the bed. She lay the small tray onto the Dhabu table and sat on the bed next to him. She turned to face the tray and started fussing with the small jugs and Drachma spotted some purple leaves with yellow spots.
What the hell is she goin' to do with them?!? thought Drachma, gulping.
"Er..." Drachma started but was cut short as the woman butted in.
"You may have guessed, you are in Nasr, land of the red moon. Well, Maramba to be precise. Me and my brother were sailing through North Ocean to reach Ixa-taka, and we saw your ship and found you..." she paused. " I'm sorry to tell you this but... you were the only person we found on board. You originally had a crew, am I right?" she asked, turning her head with a serious look on her face.
"... Yes, I know. They were thrown overboard... I saw it happen..." he didn't dare mention the part about challenging the Archwhale.
"I'm sorry... if there was something I could do..."
"It's all right." Drachma looked down "There's nothin' nobody can do..."
There was an uncomfortable pause and Drachma continued "I suppose my ship didn't make it either..."
The woman slowly shook her head. Drachma could just about catch her whispering "sorry..."
There was another pause and the woman, obviously very upset, decided to change the subject.
"My name is Marlen," she was smiling brightly "and, you are?"
"Drachma. I was a fisherman... in quite good business too before..." Marlen could see where the conversation was leading and so quickly added,
"-I work with my brother and father, my father is a merchant. They aren't here at the moment though. They left me in charge of the house," more clinking came from the little silver pots and cups "We are beginning a good trade with Ixa-t..." she gave a worried look but managed to wipe it off and found her bright smile again. She stood up and continued to do things with the tray on the Dhabu table.
Drachma looked down his body and saw that he was dressed in what he would call a huge shirt for a baby giant.
"Er... who dressed me in this?" he asked pointing to the strange dress he was wearing.
"Oh, it was me." she said, now mushing the leaves up.
Drachma felt his face burn.
"Oh, I have brothers..." she said, waving it away with her hand.
"Now, you should drink this. It'll soothe the pain." she said, plonking onto the bed beside him and passing him a cup. Drachma excepted the little cup and drank it slowly. When he was just about to say something the woman butted in.
"Just thought you would want to know that we have heard of green moonstones..." she said, now taking the empty cup from Drachma's hands and placing it back onto the tray. "We did actually use some but your case was very serious and..." her expression was thoughtful "Well... can I be honest with you. Please don't be mad with me..."
"Er... course. Go ahead..." he didn't really want to disagree with her.
"Well..." she looked uncomfortable, she took a deep breath and lowered her voice, a frightened look on her face. "Nasr and Valua are going into war... at least, that's what my father told me... and I believe it too... why else would all the Maramban merchants be hiding their goods in the passages that run below the town... my father and brother are rather worried actually... they don't think they'll ever find them again... those passages are like a bloody labyrinth."
Drahcma gave her a puzzled expression. What did this have to do with green moonstones? But she continued.
"Of course, the war hasn't started yet, but it will... that's why you must leave Nasr tomorrow. The Valuans are unaware that we are very ready for them. Our spys found out that they will be leaving Valua tonight."
"How will I leave Nasr Marlen? I haven't got anything... no ship, money, nothing..." Marlen gave a kind smile.
"Ah, my family is very rich. I've already told you, my father is a successful merchant... we would be happy to lend you a ship... and some gold. I suppose he would see you as a fellow merchant."
"Your father would be willing to help me. Because I'm a fisherman?"
"Well yes... but mainly because... no offence, but... you are not from Nasr, and many Nasreans would want foreigners out of their country... so that the real Nasreans wouldn't run out of resources... my father doesn't exactly want to get on the wrong side of anyone... I hope you understand..."
"Yes I do... It's perfectly understandable... I mean, what country would want to run out of Loqua?" said Drachma. Marlen giggled.
"You'll be leaving Nasr too won't you?" Drachma was curious. Marlen looked hurt, not by what he had said, but from the truth.
"No. I must stay in Nasr."
"But it's dangerous! You can't be left in the open like a sitting duck!"
"No, no! I have to stay. I need to take care of the injured soldiers. You see... this is the point that I'm trying to get at! The reason that I didn't use a green moonstone on you was to practice for the war... If Nasr ran out of green moonstones, we wouldn't know what to heal people with... We might even run out of moonstones for fuel, leading us to using the green moonstones for energy, instead of using them for healing... Not everyone in Nasr can do green magic. I can personally, but not many woman can. That's why I studied herbs and medicines and created a medicine of well known herbs and ingredients that I know Nasr contains allot of! I used this medicine on you and it worked, it makes me happy! Not just for the war, but for you... because you're all right!" Marlen eyes began flooding with tears.
Drachma did what he thought was natural, he wrapped his arms around her and Marlen pulled herself closer to him.
"Oh! I don't know what to feel! I'm dreading staying here in Nasr, but I'm also happy that my medicine worked!" she sobbed.
They were still in each other's arms and Drachma had to cheer her up. "Er..." he started "Hey! If I'd know it was this easy to get this close to a Maramban woman, I would have come here yonks ago!"
Marlen giggled.
Well, that cheered her up
They both pulled away and Marlen whiped the remaining tears from her tear- streaked face. "My father will be wondering where I am..." she stood up and with the tray in her arms, walked out of the room, leaving Drachma with allot of thought. But she just said that her father wasn't here. He looked to his right and saw that Marlen had left him a cup of some milky liquid and something that looked like flat bread.
He stood up and walked around the room. He noticed a mirror hidden in the dark corner of the room. He watched his reflection and saw a man with a big metal arm and an eye-patch. He sighed. So much had happened in such a short time.
He plopped back onto the bed and slowly drifted off to sleep.
*********
"Daddy!" the three year old cried, running towards him.
"Jack. What've you gart there?" he said.
"A feza" Jack beamed.
Drachma chuckled.
"Oh it's a feezaar is it!" Drachma was only teasing him.
"Daddy! It's not funny!" Jack laughed.
"It's a fea-th-er. Can you say that?"
"Feva!" Jack cried.
Drachma chuckled again "That's my boy!" he said scruffing up Jack's hair.
"I love you daddy."
"I love you too son."
Drachma put his arms around the little child and Jack followed. But now, Jack wasn't three years old, he was exactly as he had been the last time Drachma saw him. He spoke, this time with his lower, teenage voice.
"It's all right father."
*********
Drachma woke up. He heard a rumble of talking and people running around outside. He leapt out of bed and ran to the small window. The window only gave him access to sight on a large pathway leading beside the building he was in and an opposite one. There he saw people running around, carrying large amounts in baskets, wooden boxes, in their arms. Most people were forcing a terrified Dhabu along with them. Cries echoed through the streets. The town was in a panic. Something important must be happening.
Just then, Marlen burst into the room.
"Drachma! It's the Valuans! They're here!"
*********
Chapter 3 coming soon. (well in fact, probably very soon as it's the hols and I have a lot of time) I prefer this chapter waaaay more than the first one. The first one is boring. Well, hope you enjoyed. Plz review.
Like... OMG! I'm sooo glad somebody actually read my loada b******t and actually reviewed it! Wow thanx a million ^.^! but (again) like... OMG! I know... I didn't exactly pull up a cliff-hanger or anything .!
Hawaaw!
Welcome to,
chapter two,
I hope its cool,
so have a ball!
he he!
*******************************
Chapter two
Drachma grunted. He felt a roaring pain in his arm and one of his eyes. He opened his eyes, but he could only see out of one of them.
"Wha... what happened to me?" he whispered to himself, sitting up, his hand on his head. "Where am I?"
Drachma was lying alone in a bed invaded with pink and blue cushions. The bed was surrounded with a light, see-through net. He focused on looking past the net and saw that he was in a small white room with shapes such as triangles painted on the walls. He figured that he was now in a Nasrean room. It sure looks like a Nasrean room, he thought to himself.
He looked in front of him. There was a small high window, almost beside a tall drooping plant which stood in one corner of the room. He looked to the left and saw a small doorway. Instead of a door, another light curtain was delicately held above the walk-through doorway. He looked to the right and to his horror, instead of seeing his arm, he saw a huge chunk of metal. He moved his ^ arm ^ and it amazingly responded.
"I'm goin' to have a-lump-o-metal-of-an-arm for the rest of my life!?!" he moaned to himself. "Well... better than nothin' I s'pose. Jack would have loved to see..." All of a sudden, his memory returned to him. The huge Archwhale attacking the ship. His crew, dying one by one. The ship breaking up. His son falling...
Drachma broke into tears. It was all his fault. If he hadn't challenged the Archwhale, he would still be alive... so would his crew, and his ship. What am I goin' to do!
"I havn' got anythin'. I havn' got anythin' left... not even a picture..." He cried, not caring on who heard him. He held his head in his hands as if he had an eternal head-ache. But he did have a head-ache, a head-ache that would never leave him.
As all the details were still flooding back to him, something important came streaming into his head. The box! Jack's box! I still have it! He gave it to me! It's in my... he looked to his right again and this time, saw a small, low table. It was amazingly pretty. It had been carved out of wood and had all sorts of little shapes. The table was in fact designed in the shape of a Dhabu. So I must be in Nasr... he thought to himself. On the table lay his neatly folded clothes. He ripped back the netting around the bed.
He seized his clothes immediately and shook them up until Jack's box did in fact fall out onto the soft bed. A huge smile slowly crept across his features. He opened the box gently and gazed at all of the beautiful feathers for a long while. He picked the feathers one by one out of the box, occasionally whispering something like ahh, he found this one when he was seven years old or he used to love this one... there is one that looks just like it somewhere. After studying them for a while, he lay all of the delicate feathers back into the box and closed it the lid gently, now looking at something past the box.
He clenched his fists, his knuckles going white. None of this was my fault he said to himself, forcing himself to believe it If that damned Archwhale wasn't there in the first place, none of this would have happened. I'm goin' to track him... I'm goin' to track him down, and when in do... it will suffer...I'm goin' to get my revenge! Drachma was now breathing deep and angrily.
Just then, a slightly plump woman bustled into the room carrying a little silver tray supporting several cups. That woman is God damn Beautiful... he thought to himself. She was wearing a belly-dancer type outfit. It was all pink. Her baggy trousers tucked in just above her ankles and at the top, another see-through material, quite like a shawl delicately suspended from gold clips that were dotted across the rim. Her top that basically resembled a bra, was also pink. As expected for a Nasrean woman, she wore another see-through cloth over her mouth and her dark hair was held in a high pony-tail and still trailed down upon her bare, middle-back.
"I knew you would have woken up by now. I expected the pain-killer to wear off hours ago..." the young woman said in her strong Nasrean accent. She had stopped next to the bed to speak to him, so continued walking towards the small, pretty Dhabu table.
She giggled "You look like a Dhabu just given birth, you look awful. Well, I suppose the pain-killer has worn off then..." she continued towards the table and stopped again to give a disgusted look at the now creased up clothes spread across the bed. She lay the small tray onto the Dhabu table and sat on the bed next to him. She turned to face the tray and started fussing with the small jugs and Drachma spotted some purple leaves with yellow spots.
What the hell is she goin' to do with them?!? thought Drachma, gulping.
"Er..." Drachma started but was cut short as the woman butted in.
"You may have guessed, you are in Nasr, land of the red moon. Well, Maramba to be precise. Me and my brother were sailing through North Ocean to reach Ixa-taka, and we saw your ship and found you..." she paused. " I'm sorry to tell you this but... you were the only person we found on board. You originally had a crew, am I right?" she asked, turning her head with a serious look on her face.
"... Yes, I know. They were thrown overboard... I saw it happen..." he didn't dare mention the part about challenging the Archwhale.
"I'm sorry... if there was something I could do..."
"It's all right." Drachma looked down "There's nothin' nobody can do..."
There was an uncomfortable pause and Drachma continued "I suppose my ship didn't make it either..."
The woman slowly shook her head. Drachma could just about catch her whispering "sorry..."
There was another pause and the woman, obviously very upset, decided to change the subject.
"My name is Marlen," she was smiling brightly "and, you are?"
"Drachma. I was a fisherman... in quite good business too before..." Marlen could see where the conversation was leading and so quickly added,
"-I work with my brother and father, my father is a merchant. They aren't here at the moment though. They left me in charge of the house," more clinking came from the little silver pots and cups "We are beginning a good trade with Ixa-t..." she gave a worried look but managed to wipe it off and found her bright smile again. She stood up and continued to do things with the tray on the Dhabu table.
Drachma looked down his body and saw that he was dressed in what he would call a huge shirt for a baby giant.
"Er... who dressed me in this?" he asked pointing to the strange dress he was wearing.
"Oh, it was me." she said, now mushing the leaves up.
Drachma felt his face burn.
"Oh, I have brothers..." she said, waving it away with her hand.
"Now, you should drink this. It'll soothe the pain." she said, plonking onto the bed beside him and passing him a cup. Drachma excepted the little cup and drank it slowly. When he was just about to say something the woman butted in.
"Just thought you would want to know that we have heard of green moonstones..." she said, now taking the empty cup from Drachma's hands and placing it back onto the tray. "We did actually use some but your case was very serious and..." her expression was thoughtful "Well... can I be honest with you. Please don't be mad with me..."
"Er... course. Go ahead..." he didn't really want to disagree with her.
"Well..." she looked uncomfortable, she took a deep breath and lowered her voice, a frightened look on her face. "Nasr and Valua are going into war... at least, that's what my father told me... and I believe it too... why else would all the Maramban merchants be hiding their goods in the passages that run below the town... my father and brother are rather worried actually... they don't think they'll ever find them again... those passages are like a bloody labyrinth."
Drahcma gave her a puzzled expression. What did this have to do with green moonstones? But she continued.
"Of course, the war hasn't started yet, but it will... that's why you must leave Nasr tomorrow. The Valuans are unaware that we are very ready for them. Our spys found out that they will be leaving Valua tonight."
"How will I leave Nasr Marlen? I haven't got anything... no ship, money, nothing..." Marlen gave a kind smile.
"Ah, my family is very rich. I've already told you, my father is a successful merchant... we would be happy to lend you a ship... and some gold. I suppose he would see you as a fellow merchant."
"Your father would be willing to help me. Because I'm a fisherman?"
"Well yes... but mainly because... no offence, but... you are not from Nasr, and many Nasreans would want foreigners out of their country... so that the real Nasreans wouldn't run out of resources... my father doesn't exactly want to get on the wrong side of anyone... I hope you understand..."
"Yes I do... It's perfectly understandable... I mean, what country would want to run out of Loqua?" said Drachma. Marlen giggled.
"You'll be leaving Nasr too won't you?" Drachma was curious. Marlen looked hurt, not by what he had said, but from the truth.
"No. I must stay in Nasr."
"But it's dangerous! You can't be left in the open like a sitting duck!"
"No, no! I have to stay. I need to take care of the injured soldiers. You see... this is the point that I'm trying to get at! The reason that I didn't use a green moonstone on you was to practice for the war... If Nasr ran out of green moonstones, we wouldn't know what to heal people with... We might even run out of moonstones for fuel, leading us to using the green moonstones for energy, instead of using them for healing... Not everyone in Nasr can do green magic. I can personally, but not many woman can. That's why I studied herbs and medicines and created a medicine of well known herbs and ingredients that I know Nasr contains allot of! I used this medicine on you and it worked, it makes me happy! Not just for the war, but for you... because you're all right!" Marlen eyes began flooding with tears.
Drachma did what he thought was natural, he wrapped his arms around her and Marlen pulled herself closer to him.
"Oh! I don't know what to feel! I'm dreading staying here in Nasr, but I'm also happy that my medicine worked!" she sobbed.
They were still in each other's arms and Drachma had to cheer her up. "Er..." he started "Hey! If I'd know it was this easy to get this close to a Maramban woman, I would have come here yonks ago!"
Marlen giggled.
Well, that cheered her up
They both pulled away and Marlen whiped the remaining tears from her tear- streaked face. "My father will be wondering where I am..." she stood up and with the tray in her arms, walked out of the room, leaving Drachma with allot of thought. But she just said that her father wasn't here. He looked to his right and saw that Marlen had left him a cup of some milky liquid and something that looked like flat bread.
He stood up and walked around the room. He noticed a mirror hidden in the dark corner of the room. He watched his reflection and saw a man with a big metal arm and an eye-patch. He sighed. So much had happened in such a short time.
He plopped back onto the bed and slowly drifted off to sleep.
*********
"Daddy!" the three year old cried, running towards him.
"Jack. What've you gart there?" he said.
"A feza" Jack beamed.
Drachma chuckled.
"Oh it's a feezaar is it!" Drachma was only teasing him.
"Daddy! It's not funny!" Jack laughed.
"It's a fea-th-er. Can you say that?"
"Feva!" Jack cried.
Drachma chuckled again "That's my boy!" he said scruffing up Jack's hair.
"I love you daddy."
"I love you too son."
Drachma put his arms around the little child and Jack followed. But now, Jack wasn't three years old, he was exactly as he had been the last time Drachma saw him. He spoke, this time with his lower, teenage voice.
"It's all right father."
*********
Drachma woke up. He heard a rumble of talking and people running around outside. He leapt out of bed and ran to the small window. The window only gave him access to sight on a large pathway leading beside the building he was in and an opposite one. There he saw people running around, carrying large amounts in baskets, wooden boxes, in their arms. Most people were forcing a terrified Dhabu along with them. Cries echoed through the streets. The town was in a panic. Something important must be happening.
Just then, Marlen burst into the room.
"Drachma! It's the Valuans! They're here!"
*********
Chapter 3 coming soon. (well in fact, probably very soon as it's the hols and I have a lot of time) I prefer this chapter waaaay more than the first one. The first one is boring. Well, hope you enjoyed. Plz review.
