Chapter 18 - Kill Ten Hordelings (Part Four).

Søren was both elated and saddened to finally reach something akin to civilization, but worried about his traveling companion, Neeka. The title attached to her name when he had been given the option to bring her back to life, it felt like it was important. Speaker. That was her title. Speaker of the Water Finders. Could be a leader of the clan or tribe. The village is amazing still, despite its state of disrepair. I imagined her people were good at climbing.

At the unguarded entrance they passed through, the barrier wall had been overrun by shrub grasses, weeds, vines, and small trees. It looks like at least a decade had passed since it had been cleared. Well... based on my experience with growth rates of similar style plants on Earth. I suppose it could be a few years to a few dozen. Only a couple more hours until the upgrade is complete.

[Universal Translation Interface and Node Integration]

2 hours 13 minutes 44 seconds remaining (90.71% complete)

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Søren swiped the progress window back into its minimized state in the corner of his interface and hurried to catch up to Neeka. His eyes wandered over the dilapidated homes built on stands attached to three to five of the tall, spindly trees. Despite their narrowness, they were apparently fairly sturdy. The bottom half of each tree had hundreds of thorns jutting out from it, spaced apart just wide enough for the Fuerven finger-claws and toe-claws to fit between them. Søren was sure he wouldn't have been able to climb more than a foot or two before being torn to shreds by the spikes.

The unadorned platforms were crafted from roughly hewn wood, but a few here and there bore traces of dyes or paints to individualize them from similar platforms nearby. The sides of the dwellings built on top of them appeared to be a coarse leather covered in multicolored geometric designs painted onto the fabric. He could see into some of the dwellings, where they had partially collapsed or the leather was torn. The construction was done with sticks and twine to create a frame and the leather hide tied down around the outside. Openings in the hide walls were heavily stitched around the wooden frames. A few of the abandoned dwellings had knotted ropes hanging from the platform near the entryway of the dwelling.

Based on the decay and signs of abandonment, I'd have to say this village has not fared well at all since Neeka somehow found her way onto the Gateway station. Curious how that happened, but that's a mystery to sort out later. Søren held back a few steps to give Neeka time to interact with the villagers when they reached the active area of the small settlement.

Neeka spotted a single sentry posted next to a small bush she knew to flower prettily in the cool and rainy season and bear hundreds of sweet berries at the start of the warm and rainy season. The berries were a useful ingredient for sleeping draughts and sedation for setting broken bones or cleaning wounds. The soporific effect of the berry when chewed was mild, but highly addicting as well. For this reason, cultivation of the plants was carefully controlled by the Elders of the tribes. Those that made use of the berries in this fashion had teeth and lips stained dark red. They were often ostracized from their clans since they were unreliable at best and a danger to others at their worst. Withdrawal from the addiction made them desperate.

The sentry Neeka spotted had dozed off on their watch, using their tail and a crude fire-hardened spear to balance themselves. Neeka growled quietly and stalked forward. A single sweep of her spear was all she needed to upend the sentry and send them crashing onto the ground. The sentry's crude spear tumbled away from them.

"You are more useless than Dirt," Neeka hissed, tacking on a derogatory cough her people used as a form of punctuation and shorthand. The sentry tried to scramble to his feet, but Neeka had planted her toe-claws on his chest, the largest fore-claw poised above his neck in a threatening manner.

"Who are you? You wear Water Finder colors, but you no Water Finder I know," the sentry sputtered out. Neeka leaned close, keeping her toe-claw steady next to the large artery that fed the brain. She lifted the blue crystal shard in the shape of a lightning bolt and dangled it where the sentry could see it more clearly.

"I am your Speaker, bezatten. You will take me to sorry excuse of a fowda that claim to be Speaker for clan," Neeka growled and pressed down with her foot on the sentry's chest. She then shoved off the sentry and took a step back, her darkwood spear with the shaped crystal blade at one end held ready in front of her.

The sentry stammered and scrambled to their feet. His toe-claws dug into the loam and left deep furrows as he stumbled past Neeka towards the center of activity nearby. Others of her kind appeared around the edges of thickets interspersed among the trees. The brief combat and dressing down had not gone unnoticed. Neeka slammed the butt of her spear onto the ground and spoke the Word of Power for light, igniting the crystal blade of her darkwood spear. A burst of light shined brighter than the light of the Lifegiver momentarily.

"People of Home! Neeka, Speaker of the Water Finders, returns. Who among you dare claim Speaker yet live like this?" Neeka shouted at the approaching Fuerven and gestured at the dilapidated and rundown appearance of the village with a wide sweep of her arms.

"Ah. Neeka. Name like that not heard round here in long time," one of the Fuerven nearby said after a few tense moments of silence. She coughed short and sharp, to punctuate the end of her declaration. Her dull scales reflected little of the daylight and she walked with a hunched over gait that made it difficult for Neeka to see her face. The scale patterns she could see were similar to her own however.

"Granddaughter? Is that you?" Neeka asked. Her keen sight had picked the patterns out despite the faded colors and The astonishment in her voice was echoed by the drooped tail and sagging arms.

"Yes, Neeka. Torza greets you," she said bowing her head. "You been gone long. Many turns of the night sky." The hunched over Fuerven stepped into the fading light of Neeka's spear and lifted her gaze to meet Neeka's. The eyes of Torza matched Neeka's. A brilliant green flecked with blue.

"Little more than a hatchling when I left. You got old," Neeka observed. She looked at her granddaughter with both eyes, a sign of respect amongst the Fuerven.

"You didn't. What happened to you?" Torza finished shuffling close to Neeka and lowered her head, the crest of scales worn and faded with age. Neeka stepped closer to Torza and lowered her own head to touch Torza's.

"It is a long story. I imagine we both have many tales to share," Neeka said.

"Yes, would say we do," Torza replied. "Could start with the one in white behind you. Looks like ready to fall over."

"Ah, that is Dirt. From a place called Earth," Neeka explained and waved Søren forward.

Søren had watched the two speak, the language full of small gestures and other physical nuances he would not have caught without seeing two speakers in person. More of the Fuerven appeared from the other side of the village, gathering in a semi-circle around the two, but staying quiet. Neeka waved him forward. He shuffled closer, one hand hanging at his side, conveniently near the pulse plasma pistol.

"Hi... uh hello," Søren said to the elderly Fuerven on front of Neeka, careful not to make any gestures or excessive movements. I really should have paid more attention in Professor o'Riley's class. However, he couldn't stop his eyes from darting around looking at the other Fuerven that had gathered around them. All of them had one eye on him. The other focused on Neeka. "So, uh while I am extraordinarily thrilled to meet you all, I think I'm going to go have a sit down now. It's been a very long and eventful day."

Søren walked back a few steps and sat down heavily on a rounded rock covered with patches of moss and thin, leafy vines. Beneath the covering of plants, carvings of Atlantean runes encircled the stone. His eyes widened with a wince of both pain and surprise. A window popped up into his interface.

"Whoa."

Congratulations Traveler! You have discovered an unbound [Waystone]. An unbound stone can be activated in order to establish a Village. Would you like to bind the [Waystone]? Y/N

"Strange sounds he makes," Torza said after she listened to Neeka's traveling companion, the one Neeka called Dirt.

"Yes. Many, many strange sounds," Neeka said with a weary sigh. She then let the light from her spear fade out, recovering a portion of the essence she had spent to create the light. She rested a hand on Torza's shoulder. "What happened to Home? To our clan?"

"The Surge. After you vanished, we fought hard. Rebuilt after each Surge, but none could match you. Your Words." Torza coughed, a wet, phlegm filled cough of long term illness. "After mother died, many wounded chewed somni berries. I failed. Could not heal them. Never could master [Herbalism]. Not like you. Not like mother."

"I tried to get back, little one... Torza. Not so little now." Neeka hissed, a sad laugh of her kind. "I fought. Tooth and claw against an endless cycle of hordelings in a place I cannot describe. Each time I died, they brought me back. White walls, bright lights. An unseen speaker sent hordelings after me. Time and time again. For more cycles than can remember, I fought and died and fought and died. Then nothing. Made it to a Ring of the Gods, like what Thunderhorns guarded. The voice was gone. No food, no water. Nowhere to go. I died again and next I see, a floating square of blue and white asking me if Dirt can bring me back to life.

"Would be foolish not to. Worse that happen, I die again. Now... here Neeka be," she said with a bittersweet note in her voice, her shoulders slumped slightly. Torza nodded and the two entwined their hands together. "Did not know it would be so long since I left." Neeka lifted her gaze to the Destroyer and the Eyes of the Destroyer.

"Not your fault grandmother," Torza said. Another wet cough wracked her torso. "We saw the runes of the Gods. Shone bright as day, deep in the Mourning Cave. You were gone when we could see again. Mother stayed there for months, waiting. Holding vigil."

"What happened to Eieela, to my daughter?" Neeka said, her voice faltered as she squeezed Torza's hand.

"A Hunter found Home. Hordelings delayed our warriors. Hunter got away. Brought back so many. And a Brute. Mother died that day. Home not recovered since," said Torza. Neeka gently squeezed Torza's hand again and then let her hand drop. She glanced behind her at Dirt, who had that faraway look in his eyes he sometimes got.

"Maybe things about to change for --- " A blue window appeared in front of Neeka. "What in the name of the Devourer?!"

[Søren Quinn, Archaeologist of Earth] has invited you to become a Citizen of Caisleán. Do you accept? Y/N