Child of Freedom
Chapter 16- Riddles
A/N: Just so everyone knows, I don't own most of the riddles that I'm using. Rebecca has read The Hobbit, and she's memorized the riddles that Gollum asked Bilbo, and vice versa. So I don't own a lot of the riddles. JRR Tolkien does.
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I sat in the center of a large crowd. Across from me sat The Chieftain. He was wearing an even more colorful robe, and his headdress was even more elaborate.
Unlike most crowds, this one was silent, waiting. They waited for one of us to make the first move. Of course, there wasn't any physical harm that would come to either of us in this battle. This was a battle of wits. This was to see who could ask cleverest riddle.
"You go first," The Chieftain offered.
"Alright," I said. "A box without hinges, key, or lid, yet golden treasure inside is hid."
The Chieftain was obviously puzzled. He had no idea what I was talking about. I smiled. "Ready to give up, yet?" I asked. I wanted to make him mad, so he would make a mistake.
"Golden treasure, golden treasure," he murmured to himself. "I know!" He exclaimed. "An egg."
My heart sank. The sudden way in which he answered told me that he had known the whole time. He just liked to perform for the crowd.
"My turn," he said. "What is brown, white, yellow, red, and black, but none of these colors at once?" He asked. I frowned.
What was he talking about? I tried to recall all the riddles I'd ever heard of that included colors. I couldn't think of anything.
I looked around at all the faces that were waiting for my answer. Some were brown, some were red from the heat, and some were white. Suddenly, the answer came to me.
"People." I replied. He frowned deeply. I wasn't sure whether or not he was trying to look disappointed, or if he really was.
"Thirty white horses on a red hill," I began my next riddle. "First they champ, then they stamp, then they stand still."
"That's not fair," said one person. "We don't know anything about animals."
The Chieftain held up a hand. Then he looked at me. "Teeth," he said. I growled at him.
"What is it that a beggar has, a rich man needs, and the dead eat?" He asked.
I smiled in relief. I had heard this riddle before. "Nothing," I replied.
The Chieftain glared at me and growled. I concealed my delight at his anger, and asked my next riddle.
"What has roots as nobody sees, is taller than trees? Up, up it goes, and yet never grows." I thought that he wouldn't be able to get the answer, seeing as how we were in the prairies at the moment, and the answer wasn't for miles around.
Unfortunately, he knew the answer. "Mountain," he said after a moment of thinking. I was disappointed, but I was careful not to let it show.
"What is it that can be given away, and that everyone has; can be foolishly lost, and cruelly sold?" The Chieftain asked. I thought long and hard about the question, but couldn't think of the answer.
Please, let me think of the answer, I silently prayed. I don't want to lose my freedom. Suddenly, I knew the answer. "Freedom," I said. The Chieftain scowled furiously at me and I immediately asked my next riddle.
"An eye in a blue face saw an eye in a green face. 'That eye is like to this eye,' said the first eye. 'But in a low place, not in a high place.'"
The Chieftain gave me a puzzled look. He looked up at the sky. I bit my lip. When he looked back at me, he smiled. "Sun on the daisies," he said. Then he asked his riddle.
"This thing all things devours. Birds, beasts, trees flowers. Gnaws iron, bites steel, and grinds hard stones to meal. Slays king, ruins town, and beats high mountain down."
I hid my smile with a cough. This was one of the riddles that I had memorized. "Time," I answered. Then I asked, "A life without breath, as cold as death. Never thirsty, ever drinking. All in mail, never clinking." The air around us smelled of the answer, so I figured it was an easy one. I hadn't had time to recall any other riddles.
The Chieftain sniffed indignantly. Then he sniffed again. Smiling, he said, "Fish." Then he asked his next question, "You cannot see it, but you can hear it. You can feel it, but you cannot touch it. What is it?"
"Wind," I asked immediately. I was going to ask the same riddle next, although in different words. Instead I asked, "No legs lay on one leg. Two legs sat near on three legs. Four legs got some."
The Chieftain spluttered and cursed under his breath. This made the people shift uncomfortably.
"Well?" I asked after a time. "What is it?" I crossed my arms over my chest and glared at him indignantly.
"Um," he said. "Uh, let me think for a moment. I know! This is a trick question. There is no straight answer." He folded his arms across his chest.
"Aw, darn." I said in mock defeat. "Too bad for you. That's wrong." I smiled. "I win. That means that you have to admit defeat and allow yourself to be put on trial."
"Never," he spat, and jumped up out of his chair. He threw down his headdress and dashed out of the room. The people in the crowd let him part. They were still afraid of him.
Before I could say anything, Erik had jumped up and run after him. I followed close behind with Henri and M. Didier.
When we caught up to The Chieftain, he was wrestling with Erik for control. I tried to get in between them, and help Erik, but I was only in the way, so I backed off. Finally, Erik had him pinned down onto his stomach with his hands held firmly behind him.
Erik stood up and dragged the former chieftain with him. Henri brought forth a rope and securely tied the man up. Then M. Didier and Erik carried the man to the wagon.
"Wait!" Someone cried. I turned.
"What?" I asked.
"What do we do now?" A woman asked. "We have nowhere to go."
"You can stay here," I offered. "But you no longer have to give up you money." I went through the prisoner's pockets. I pulled out a key and handed it to the woman. "Here," I said. "This is probably what opens the place where he keeps the money."
"But what about our children?" A man asked. "Many of them were cast out."
"Where do they go when they're cast out?" I asked.
"They are sent away to live in the wilderness beyond," the man replied. "They don't go very far. They stay near the border so they can still have food. We have told our children that if ever they are cast out, that is what they should do."
"Then look to the border," I said. They seemed confused by my statement at first. But then one woman broke away and ran to the other edge of the fields. I peeked over at Erik and saw surprise on his face.
"What is it?" I asked.
"That was the mother of the little girl who was at the trial," He replied.
A/N: I hope you liked that. There's one or two more chapters left. Then I'll start on the next in the trilogy. It will be called, A Gift For Charity. I've already planned most of it out. Review, please, and tell me what you think.
