Chapter 4: Hope Within Youth
After taking the orb, the group quickly moved on. The year wasn't going to wait for them after all; they needed to move. They moved on, slaying a few more goblins, but stopped at an odd sort of pedestal. The manner of the pedestal confused the caravanners; it looked so strange to them. It looked like some sort of birdbath, as there was bright blue water like liquids within a sort of bowl. They all questioned its meaning, and then looked over at Senken. The Yuke was by far the brightest, but even he was looking at it, rubbing the beak of his helmet while holding the chalice tucked under one of his arms.
"Senken?" Kaegomé spoke up. "What is this thing?"
"I don't know what it is." Kazuo said. "But we can't stick around. Hurry up so we can keep going."
"Give him a second this may be important." Kaegomé said, keeping Kazuo in line.
After a few moments of thinking, the Yuke stepped forwards. Everyone watched as he stepped up to the pedestal and looked at it. He reached out and traced his feathered digit over an arch that seemed to be protruding from the back of the bowl. He then looked down at the chalice, which looked very similar. He then nodded and took the chalice, moving to set it on the pedestal. When he did. He let it sit in the water, and it reacted to the chalice by glowing. A bright light illuminated from within the chalice, and when it finally cleared, the small jewel on the top of it turned from white, to blue.
Everyone was confused to say the least. They weren't as wise as the Yuke, so Senken had to explain. But he knew he couldn't speak, he had to find some other way to communicate. Though he had no spare paper, or anything to write with. He began to get somewhat frustrated as he thought, running his digit along the beak of his helmet again. He then snapped his fingers and took the chalice, moving away towards the river. The other three were forced to follow him, as he held their only protection against the miasma. He then pointed back at the pedestal, moving his hand as if her was trying to tell them something.
"Umm... the pedestal?" Snow said, looking back at it.
Senken nodded and then pointed into the river. The rushing water made a blissful sound as it ran through nature.
"Water." Kaegomé said. "The pedestal, and water."
Then Senken pointed to the chalice.
"The pedestal, water, chalice." Kazuo said with his head tilted in confusion. "What are you trying to say, Yuke?"
Senken then looked to a blank spot in the grass and cast lightning. Some of the grass was singed, though there was no real damage. He then snapped his fingers and pointed over at the remains of the spell.
"Lightning?" Snow said. Senken shook his head.
"Um, grass?" Kazuo inquired. Senken shook his head again.
"Magic?" Kaegomé tried next. Deciphering what the Yuke had to say was surprisingly difficult. Senken nodded and gestured for her to go on with the point she'd achieved.
"Magic, umm..." Kazuo said out loud, thinking. "Enchantment?"
Senken nodded quickly then.
"Oh well let's see." Snow said, looking back and forth. "Pedestal, water, chalice, enchantment."
Senken nodded and then made a gesture; pointing his two index digits towards each other. He moved one behind the other and spun them around, switching their places.
"Switch? Move?" Kazuo asked aloud, seeming to have the hardest time figuring Senken out.
"Move the words around?" Kaegomé asked, Senken returning the inquiry with a nod.
They tried every combination they could think of, enchantment, water, pedestal, chalice, and so on and so forth. It took them only a few moments before one of them got the order. Kazuo said the order: Pedestal, enchantment, chalice, and water. Senken nodded quickly with a sigh at this, happy, maybe even overjoyed that he was finally understood. After that, it was only a matter of piecing the words together with what they saw. The Yuke could have sworn it was all too obvious by then, but then again, he had to keep in mind that his friends were not as smart as he. Oh if only he could speak!
"The pedestal enchants the chalice with water." Snow said silently, piecing it together.
Senken clapped his hands together enthusiastically.
"With the water property." Kazuo said. "In order to get through miasma streams."
Senken snapped his fingers and pointed to Kazuo with his thumb digit up as well. It was obvious, that gesture means something like "he's the man." It made a lot of sense now that the small riddle was found. They all sighed, taking a load off their strained brains. Communication with Senken was far too difficult, and everyone realized this. Kaegomé took it upon herself at that moment to tell Senken that she would attempt to teach him their language, with Snow's help. Senken was pleased to hear this, but that would have to start after they got out of the River Path.
Moving on, they were faced with an obstacle. There was a large wooden door blocking the pass up ahead. It stopped them completely from moving on. They had to kill more monsters, which they seemed to be everywhere. Not just goblins either, there were other things called Hedgehog Pies that the group had to look out for. Surely if one thought about a Hedgehog, they would get the idea as to what one looks like. Just think of it able to walk on two legs instead, and a lot meaner. They weren't a problem though; the group easily took them out with teamwork and a combination of attacks.
Though then there was the problem with the large wooden door. It was certainly large, too big to climb over. Going around wasn't any good either. Around that part, a current picked up in the river, and going around could risk falling into the water. They looked around for any means to open it. It appeared to the young Clavat blacksmith, that a sort of pulley operated the door, making it open and close. But there seemed to be no manual way to control it. This boggled the lot of them.
"Why can't this thing get any easier?" Kazuo asked. "What are we supposed to do?"
They all looked to Senken again. But this time, he just shrugged.
"Even YOU don't know?" Kazuo asked in disbelief. "Great, wonderful! We're going to be stopped by a DOOR!"
"Hold on." Snow said. "What's that?"
He pointed over to a small hint of marble over in the corner beside the door, near a mountain. Walking over to it, they blinked and looked at it. Senken looked at it very closely. It seemed to have a space to hold something, seemingly an octagonal disk of sorts. The inside of the space had a pattern on it, no doubt a distinct pattern used for that space only. The rest of the caravanners saw this as well, and knew they had to find a large disk of sorts to fit in there. Not for any particular reason, just for curiosity's sake. It appeared to be about as large as a Frisbee.
They looked about anywhere they could, in tall patches of grass, around the dead corpses of monsters, anywhere really. That's when the Selkie farm girl found the small object they must have been looking for. Picking it up, she dusted it off, wiping some blood off of it. She found it in a smelly goblin's corpse, as displeasing as that sounds. She smiled and called over to Kazuo then, who looked over.
"Catch!" She said with a smile as she threw the disk like a Frisbee.
He caught it with a grin and a laugh. He nodded and looked at Senken, who picked up the chalice again. They all moved together to the small pedestal and placed the disk in the slot. Naturally, the wheels and gears on the pulley system controlling the door began to move. The door pulled open, and the way was set. With newfound confidence, they moved through, walking over a rickety bridge to the other side of the river. Most seemed fairly quiet there, until they ran into some more monsters. They fought, of course, needing to get them out of the way. Senken easily disposed of them with magic that he'd picked up from other dead monsters before. He set them ablaze with fire, which worked rather well.
"Those monsters are tough!" Kaegomé said. "It's hard to stay out of their way."
"Yeah." Kazuo said, looking at the sleeve of his shirt. "They cut my arm."
"Oh? Are you alright?" Kaegomé asked as she walked over to Kazuo and took hold of his arm, looking at it.
"Yeah I'm fine!" Kazuo huffed, pulling his arm away from his Selkie ex-friend. "I'm not a wuss."
"You've never fought goblins before, how do you know whether or not you're fine?" Kaegomé scolded, suddenly cross as the Clavat. "You could be really hurt! Let me see! Now!"
"No way!" Kazuo said, crossing his arms. "It's just a scratch! I can take care of myself!"
"You can't even take care of a pet!" Kaegomé stated. "How can you POSSIBLY take care of yourself?"
"Enough bickering, please..." Snow groaned. "We have a job to do, and the year's not going to wait for us."
Senken nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, he's right." Kaegomé sighed. "Have it your way, Kazuo."
"Right." Kazuo said. "Come on."
"Well let's see." Snow said, looking at a sign. "Left, lots of monsters... Right, lots of monsters."
Senken looked at this sign too and shrugged.
They decided to go right first. Though it did lead to a dead end, littered with the occasional Goblin and Goblin Chieftain, there was a treasure chest, too. Opening it, they took out a small scroll. They immediately handed it to Senken, who unrolled it while having the chalice under his arm. He then looked at it questionably. After a moment, he pointed to Snow, and mimed himself forging something. He then handed the scroll to Snow. Snow took it and looked at it, his face lighting up.
"What's that?" Kaegomé asked.
"It's a design for an iron shield." Snow said. "I have no idea why it's out here... but we could get shields forged for us."
"Well, Snow and I are the only ones who use shields." Kazuo pointed out. "So I guess that's all ours! I can't wait to get a new shield."
"Well, you need the proper materials to make the shield."
"So... Iron?" Kaegomé asked aloud.
"Yes, and an Alloy." Snow said. "We'll find some eventually, come on."
They pressed on, having found another of those odd disks. They took it, and a bit further up the path, there was another wooden gate. Placing the stone in the pedestal, they opened the door and moved onward. A maybe two goblins and a couple of Hedgehog Pies met them. Making quick work of them, they continued onward. They came to an old wooden bridge, which seemed to be very battered. At this, they stopped, looking about the bank. There was a treasure chest along the bank on the other side.
"That bridge looks kind of rickety." Kaegomé said. "I don't like it."
"Me neither." Snow added.
Taking a first bold step, Senken walked onto the bridge. Taking hold of the rope tying the bridge from one side to another, he moved along. The others were forced to follow this example, as Senken had the chalice still tucked under one of his arms. They each moved slowly, watching their feet as they walked. Though about three quarters of the way across, Kaegomé's foot slipped, and it plunged into the water. She let out a slight shriek, as it caught her by surprise, though luckily, Kazuo was behind her. He quickly reached around her and held her up before she could fall and hurt herself, his arms tucked securely under hers.
"Hey are you okay?" The Clavat rancher asked as h pulled his ex-friend up.
"Yeah..." Kaegomé said with a slight smile. "Thanks Kazuo."
"No problem." Kazuo said with a nod as he let her go. "Wouldn't want you to bruise that pretty body of yours."
"Thanks." She simple said before crossing the river.
It was a surprise she didn't get mad at him. His comments on her body usually got him a scolding. Perhaps she'd finally loosened up? Regardless, they pressed on to the chest on the bank of the river. Opening it up, Kaegomé found a strange yellow orb. She blinked at it; it seemed to react in her hands. She then looked to Senken and shrugged. Senken just nodded to her and gestured her to raise it into the air in her hand. So she did, though nothing happened. Senken tapped the side of his head a few times, as if asking her to think.
"Think?" Kaegomé asked aloud.
"Concentrate." Snow said, apparently getting it right.
"On what?" Kaegomé asked.
Senken thought for a moment before looking down at his feet. He nodded then and squat down, his feet being in fresh sand, like mud. He kept the chalice under his arm as he ran his digit through the sand. As he took his hand away, what he traced was a message. It wrote: "Concentrate on one that you wish to bring back after death. It is a life orb, it can revive people." It made sense then, and Kaegomé nodded in understanding, smiling softly as she kept the orb with her. They then moved on, slaying more goblins until they passed a bride and saw a sign.
They looked to their left and down a path. They then looked to one another and smiled, nodding. They had all decided the myrrh tree was that way. They began walking towards it slowly, calmly. It was to be their first myrrh drop of the year. But then, Kaegomé stopped suddenly, stopping everyone else. Something seemed wrong. Every one was confused. Snow stepped forwards and blinked at her.
"What's wrong, Kaegomé?" He asked quietly.
"Monsters." Kaegomé said. "Monsters guard the myrrh trees, remember Kazuo?"
"Yeah that's right." Kazuo said. "But you're the leader of the caravan, you can't be afraid of it."
"Yes I can." Kaegomé said. "I can be scared of giant monsters."
"Well, okay. I'll give that one to you." Kazuo said. "But you can't let that get to you. We have a job to do."
"Kazuo's right." Snow said. "We can't show it that we're afraid, no matter what."
Senken walked over to Kaegomé then and raised a fist confidently. He wasn't afraid either.
"Even the Yuke isn't afraid." Kazuo said. "And he has the strength of a small girl."
Senken rubbed the back of his head, saying something in his ancient tongue.
"Kazuo, Senken will do just fine." Kaegomé said, sounding cross. "He'll help."
"Suuure." Kazuo said with an over-enthusiastic nod.
"Just you wait!" Kaegomé shouted, grabbing hold of Senken's arm as she began dragging him further along the path. "Come on Senken!"
Kazuo smirked as he looked over his shoulder and watched them go. Kaegomé seemed as anxious as ever to prove him wrong. Snow, who watched that whole scene quietly, stepped up to Kazuo. The two Clavats looked at one another for a moment. Snow was the first to shed a small smile. Kazuo looked at him curiously, raising an eyebrow.
"What?" Kazuo asked.
"You did that on purpose." Snow said.
"Yeah well, if I didn't do that, she probably wouldn't have gone." The rancher responded. "I knew she'd go if I gave her a reason to prove me wrong."
"Heh. You're brighter than you seem." Snow said.
"Hm? Really?" Kazuo asked.
"Only when it comes to Kaegomé." Snow said. "I think she needs you around more than she lets on."
With that, the quiet blacksmith moved on. Walking past Kazuo to leave him for a second. Kazuo just chuckled and shook his head. He doubted it. But then again, it was half true at the same time. He did know a lot about Kaegomé, what sort of a friend would he have been if he didn't? He couldn't really forget anything about her anyways; it was all just so easy. She wasn't predictable, no, though he knew her like the back of his hand. Funny thing to him was, as he walked along the path, he knew it wasn't the same way with her.
