The Journal
Author's Note: One does not simply gain inspiration by looking at the wall. I'd like to thank my friend for giving me lots of inspiration. This chapter may contain weirdness and less Crusoe-ish style. You have been warned.
Chapter 2: The Town
Day 3
Me and Brodun saw a path of gravel and cobblestone today. So we decided to follow where it leads. We followed the it for a couple of hours and it lead us to a town. A sign read 'Welcome to Alemond, we brew the finest potions!'
We shrugged at each other and just walked past the gates to the town. A few guards in iron armor were stationed at the gates. They smiled at us.
One of them said "Enjoy your stay sir.'" We just smiled back. They didn't know Brodun was a skeleton because he wore a robe I made for him from the wool of the sheeps I shaved using my knife.
As we reached the first shop, a florist. The shopkeeper smiled at us. She was a blonde woman in her late 20's I figured. She had a nice face and was slim. She was really attractive. But I needed to know what the magical white powder did, not flirt with her. Since Brodun didn't know what it was. She's a florist, maybe she knows right?
"Hi." I said to her warmly.
"Hello. What can I do for you?" She replied arranging some flowers I'm not familiar with.
"Um.. Can you tell me what this is?" I asked taking out a bag of the white powder .
"Oh! How did you- You must be explorers. This thing is a very important for anything related to agriculture. Come in, I'll show you both." She said as she dragged us in and closed the door behind her.
She brought us to the back of the shop, it was bright from the light of a thing, I don't know what it was. It looked glassy but it was yellow in color. It looked pretty. There was an open window, but it didn't give much light unlike the yellow glass. Below the light there was a dead plant in a pot.
"Poor little thing." I said to her.
"Yeah. I know. But look-" She stopped and poured some of the white powder on the plant.
Several seconds later, a miracle happened, the dead plant slowly rose back up and regained it's color. Me and Brodun were shocked. His jaw dropped. Literally.
"Isn't it pretty? It's called bone- EEK!" She shrieked at the sight of jawless Brodun. She jumped right next to me. I felt different.. All of sudden.
"OOS! SOHHY!" Brodun mumbled as he picked up his jaw and placed it back to where it was.
"Could you keep a secret, miss...?" I asked looking at her with a calm expression.
"U-um. It's Loraine. But you c-could call me, Raine." She stutttered, scared that Brodun might harm her.
"It's alright Raine, this is my friend, Brodun. As you already know, he is a skeleton. But he's the good kind. He won't even harm a chicken." I said trying to convince her. I slapped Brodun in the back and his left arm came off. She smiled at the sight of it.
"O-okay. Promise?" She said as she distanced herself to look at me.
"Yes. I promise. If he does hurt you, I'll tie him to a pole under the sun." I laughed. The fear within her vanished and she giggled along.
"But y-you wouldn't d-do t-that, right-t?" Brodun asked me. I shrugged at him, he frowned at me. Somehow.
"So, back to the powder. What is it exactly?" I asked after we had our laughs.
"It's called Bone Meal. It speeds the growth of plants. Trees, wheat, carrots, even pumpkins. The effects are almost immediate like the flower just now." She said changing into a serious expression.
"I see. So, do you have partner?"
'WHAT? What the heck was that? Dammit brain! Crap. Hope she doesn't feel awkward.'
"Excuse me?" She said shyly, she looked down not making eye contact with me.
"I mean, do you wanna go to the bar? Tonight? If you're free?"
'Ok. Just keep your head together. Whoever I am. It's just a few drinks with her and Brodun.'
"Um. Sure?" She giggled. "Come back here at 6?"
"Sure, sure." I smiled. She smiled back.
"So, see you later?" I asked.
"Yeah." She hugged me which felt so warm. DAMN BRAIN!
"Ok then. Bye." I said and she broke the hug and she waved at me and Brodun. The warmth from her body slowly faded, and that somehow made me feel said
As we walked out of the shop, Brodun said to me,
"Wow, that was.. No words can express what you did to her, your Highness." Brodun said to me as he covered his head with the hood.
"Yeah, it was. And if you harm her, I will tie you to a tree in a forest filled with wolves. Understood?" He nodded and I could hear his body rattle.
We continued to walk around town. I traded all of my unused leather for a shirt an pants and a pair of shoes. Now, I didn't have to feel the skin of another animal against mine. The sun was setting soon, and my date with Raine was gonna happen. So, I went a river near the outskirts of town to take a bath. As I took of my leather tunic and pants, I smelled like.. Rotting skin.. I have to admit I didn't really have time to tan or harden the leather over a fire.
I took out the soap Brodun taught me to make using the sweet smell of rose and animal fat. I never knew you could extract the smell of a flower. After a few minutes of washing myself from head to toe, I got out and wore the new clothes I got. I smelled like roses. Which made me feel.. Weak..
As I walked back to the gates, I saw something from the trees looking at me. It appeared to be crouching from my point of view. At first I thought it was Brodun playing a joke on me.
"Ha ha. Real funny Brodun, now come out here. We've got to go get Raine." The thing didn't reply. This is when I got nervous, but I felt the need to see what the thing was. It didn't move at all. It just sat there.
I heard the sound of the bushes rustling as I got closer. Then, when I was a few feet away, the thing ran towards me from the trees and pounced me. I fell to the ground. I felt the breath of the beast that was on top of me. I reached out to to find a rock when suddenly, it licked me. I could feel the drool of it on my face. I stopped trying to look for the rock and held the beast. To my surprise, it was actually a wolf! It was still young, about 2-3 months old but it was strong.
"Hey, boy. Where's your mom?" I asked the little wolf.
It just barked in response.
I placed him down on the ground and searched for a bone in the bag. I couldn't seem to find it. Nevermind, I thought.
"Go home boy. Now get!" I shooed him away. But he won't budge. He wrapped himself on my left leg. I felt like leaving him back in the woods, but he whimpered to me as if he was pleading wanting to stay.
"Ok. But you keep quiet and stay in my bag. Got it?" He barked twice.
"Guess that means yes. Let's go."
A few minutes later, we arrived at the gates. The guard was different now and he had a mean demeanour. He saw the puppy and snarled at it. I just ignored it and continued walking to Raine's shop. As we arrived there, Brodun was leaning on the wall still wearing the robes but Raine was nowhere to be seen.
"Your Highness, don't let that.. that abomination near me." Brodun said as he backed away from the puppy. I just laughed at him, and the puppy ran over to Brodun and sniffed him. Brodun slowly crouched and patted the puppy on the head.
"I guess, not all these creatures are bad." He commented pointing at the puppy. The puppy bit his finger and caused him to yelp.
"I take it back. They're still abominations." He said as he rubbed his finger. I just smiled at the little pup.
Raine came out of her shop a few minutes later in a plain blue shirt and some tight jeans. She smiled at me and my head suddenly hurt. Real bad. I fell to ground. Everything went dark. The last thing I heard was Raine scream, Brodun screaming 'SIRE!' and the puppy barking.
I opened my eyes.
"Glad to see your back us." A voice I didn't know spoke. A man in a white coat in his late 50's stood infront of me.
"Where am I?" I asked as if it was by instinct.
"Don't you remember? Ah. Short term memory loss. Common in your case. You were knocked out by a thug." He said.
"Thug? What happened afterwards?" I asked him trying to get up.
"Easy does it now. Wouldn't want to fracture your ribs even more now. Do we?" He said as he slowly pushed me back down.
"Your daughter called 211 after the thug left. Lucky for you, you only received a minor concussion, a few broken ribs and a black eye. Nothing too serious." The man told me.
"Daughter?" I asked. Then a figure appeared beside me. She looked to be in her teens. Perhaps 16 or 17.
"Yeah, dad. Daughter." She said to me as I faced her. I looked at her with confusion. She gave me a 'Seriously?' look.
"I, don't, remember?" I said looking at her, hoping she would remind me.
"It's me Emma. Emma what? Guess dad." She told me.
'Emma Emma Emma Emma Emma. Bingo! Emma Sapphire. That it. That's her name. but I can't remember the surname. Dammit.'
"Sapphire?" I said trying to smile.
She smiled widely and jumped on the bed next to me. She hugged so tightly my ribs hurt. But I didn't care. I had a daugther. Somehow.
My eyelids were getting heavy. Getting heavier every second. She must've been sitting on the morphine dispenser button. I closed my eyes.
I opened my eyes.
Raine was standing beside me. It appears that I am in some sort of place. It smelled funny. I must be in the shaman shack me and Brodun visited earlier. I still felt groggy. Damn morphine.