Chapter 5

The Game Changer

The next day the three headed out toward the northeast. Torger said there is a mountain pass they would need to cross, and the back side of the mountain was desolate desert. Food and water would be scarce. Graul argued to head towards the San Bernardino mountains and go to Lake Arrowhead for water, but it was well out of their way. Torger knew once they made it through the pass it was a two day walk to the silver mines, or what would become mines. He reluctantly agreed.

Travel was much easier since they didn’t have to carry everything in their hands. The sword had a belt and scabbard, the bow went over a shoulder, the water skins went over the other shoulder, and the tablet was all they had to carry. As they walked the brothers took turns carving arrows with Baybil’s knife. They didn’t bother making arrowheads from rocks because the bows weren’t very powerful anyways. They would shoot at trees for practice and along the way.

After a few hours they saw a rabbit. Torger pulled back the bow string, aimed and released. The sharpened stick he used for an arrow had little penetrating force, and the bow had little power, but the arrow did impale the rabbit’s hind leg, only going in an inch. But that was enough to keep it from hopping away. Graul charged it and cut it in half at the middle. Bile spilled all over, tainting the meat. As the blade struck the rabbit Graul’s weak grip caused him to drop the blade. He picked it up and struck again by stabbing it. Again his weakling strength caused him to drop the blade, but his hand continued forward and he sliced open his palm.

“Chop off the head, not the middle. You ruined the pelt and the meat,” Torger reprimanded Graul.

“Hey you’re the hunter, not me. I’ve never killed an animal until two days ago. At least I’m not squeamish,” Graul said while pouring water over the new wound. Baybil sighed and shook his head but said nothing.

They continued on and during the journey they cleanly killed two more rabbits and a coyote.

When they came to the foothills the following day Torger saw they didn’t have to go all the way to the lake. The sun was out once again and snow was melting from the peaks. They found a small stream and filled their water skins. They stopped in the shade for the rest of the day to skin the rabbits and make them into three more water skins. Baybil had to explain the tanning process, and he was no expert at it either, but he said in a couple of days with direct sunlight the skins would be able to be sewn together, using the rabbit intestines.

The next morning they backtracked a few miles and headed for the pass that led to Hesperia. Going through the pass they were suddenly surrounded by a bunch of dwarves which had jumped out from behind rocks! Baybil looked at them with anger then smiled when he recognized one of them. They began speaking in dwarvish too fast for Translate to work. After a minute Baybil smiled and patted Torger on the back and said “This is my cousin Small Foot. Small Foot this is Torger and that is Graul. They are the new prey and we are passing through.”

Small Foot said “I know you are not their tour guide for free Baybil. We want a cut of the profit. A small gift for family you understand.”

Baybil frowned. “This journey will not yield me any great reward. They have nothing. We need food and water. What do you want from us?”

Small Foot looked at the men and said “If you have no possessions, maybe you could point us in the right direction Torger. What resources are around here? All we’ve found in this mountain is granite. The desert looks brutal to the north. You have to be going there for a reason.”

Torger looked at Graul. Then he responded “Can we talk for a minute Small Foot?”

“Why would you keep a secret from me Torger? I’ve done nothing wrong to you. Tell us where you’re going, or give us something useful, or be our slaves for the next two years. Talk to Graul openly for all of us to hear.”

Reluctantly Torger said “Should we tell him about eighteen forty-eight?”

“Torger, that could be useful to us one day. The only thing useful around here in the future is oil wells. That won’t be helpful to them or us.”

“Don’t hold out on me guys. All we’re asking for is a fair toll fee.”

Torger became angry with Small Foot, but was still afraid. “We’ve been here for less than a week. As Baybil said, we have nothing. We’ll just backtrack and go over the mountain.”

He turned to walk away knowing they couldn’t cross in the winter, but he hated taxes and extortion. Torger was an idealist and wouldn’t pay even if he had the money. He had no idea how this would play out. Small Foot called from behind him “I didn’t give you permission to leave!”

A rock hit Torger in the back and hurt him. He spun around quickly with his sword drawn. Graul had drawn his sword too, ready to fight and die with his brother. Baybil looked at them and said “That was stupid, boys.”

The band of dwarves surrounded them but didn’t pull out any weapons; they just crossed their arms over their chests and shook their heads in dismay. Both brothers had no swordsmanship experience and stood with their hand grips too tight and their feet were firmly planted, making any lunge or slicing motion slow and predictable, and their now emaciated arms in their scrawny bodies were far from formidable.

Small Foot said “Have it your way. Slavery it is.” He withdrew his axe and stepped towards them with a rope in his other hand. Suddenly both tablets blared out and red lights flashed on the screens. Torger dropped his sword and picked up his tablet. A second later in the distance to the south there was a flash of pale green, then another to the north, and another. The men and dwarves were all at the top of the pass and these far away flashes kept coming on both sides of mountain range.

Small Foot looked at Baybil and asked “What was that?”

Baybil shrugged his shoulders and Torger spoke up “Listen to this!” pointing to the tablet. His and Graul’s were saying the same thing in sync.

RED ALPHA ONE! RED ALPHA ONE! RED ALPHA ONE!

System Malfunction Activation from solar system XA34

System Malfunction Activation from solar system PT46

System Malfunction Activation from solar system LF84

System Malfunction Activation from solar system GC59

…..

System Malfunction Activation from solar system KF21

“Evacuate Now! Complete shut down in ten seconds. Extraction team unavailable. Evacuate now! Extraction team ETA is in three years. Shutting down now. Three, two, one. Shutdown complete.”

Graul asked the obvious question “What just happened?”

Before anyone could answer a video loaded on to the tablets. A dark face that looked like an ape covered in scales and with antennae sprouting from its head like medusa appeared on the screen. A “play” icon appeared on the screens. Graul touched his. The face began speaking “Ruckfit grum agredle krok misdle…”

Torger stopped his video, pushed his home page then Translate. As Graul’s tablet played the message, Torger’s translated it. “…it seems every portal trap in our prey farming grounds was triggered, trapping and teleporting whichever creatures were near them to this battle planet, LK sixteen. For the safety of our homeland a global shield has been raised preventing all teleporting to or from the area. You are on your own mighty warriors, until the extraction team can arrive and reset the portal traps. In the event of this kind of emergency, supply caches have been hidden around the land. Use your camera to take a picture of the following map. This device cannot fall into the hands of our semi intelligent prey, and will self destruct in ten seconds. Stay strong and brave, and you will have honor heaped upon you at your return.”

Torger frantically looked for a picture button on his tablet but couldn’t find it quickly. Graul’s tablet showed a picture of a map. It roughly covered California, Nevada, and Arizona. First there appeared a picture of a bed near Yuma. Next showed a picture of a pale green sphere over Catalina. Next was a picture of a vial near Lake Havasu. Finally, there was a picture of a grenade in Yosemite.

Graul then threw the tablet and they jumped behind a rock. Then they waited. Still nothing happened. Graul peeked his head over and then stood up. Torger and the dwarves followed suit. The solar panel was visibly sucking in sunlight and overheating. The panel showed heat waves coming off it then all the plastic melted. Finally the circuitry sparked and fizzled, leaving a heap of gooey mess.

Small Foot said “That wasn’t impressive. Quite anti climactic. Now you two, what just happened? What did that tyter say?”

Torger realized his Translate only translated for him, meaning into English, and the dwarves understood none of what was said. “Small Foot, you will want to know this. It’s very important. So important that after I tell you, you will owe me money.”

Two of the dwarves drew their bows and knocked an arrow. “Torger, you are in no position to negotiate. Tell me what they said and you will be free to pass.”

The brothers looked at Baybil who nodded.

Torger took the bold approach. “We can’t trust you to keep your word Small Foot, but Graul and I need to come up with an emergency plan. Your weak little clan here is about to become food for monsters. We need to hold a war council tonight. Like it or not, we become allies or we die.”

“OK Torger, I’ll listen to your story. We will hold council in a nearby cave in one hour. We will prepare food and shelter for you tonight. For now sit down and relax, and consider yourselves our… prisoners. Whether we become allies is yet to be determined.”

Small Foot gave a few commands and two dwarves walked away. Baybil walked away with Small Foot leaving Torger and Graul guarded by two more dwarves. Torger turned off his Translate and the brothers began discussing their escape strategy.

Chapter 6

Loose Plans

The cave was the beginning of a mine the dwarves had started, and only went in the mountain a few dozen feet. There was a fire near the mouth and they all sat on the floor. Older dwarves had assembled for the war council, and Torger and Graul once again ate unseasoned roasted rabbit, while the dwarves ate rabbit stew with an assortment of vegetables and herbs. It was clear the brothers were not honored guests, rather they were little better than slaves. Halfway through the meal Graul broke the tense silence. “The tyters’ technology went haywire. We need to team up, or die.”

One of the new dwarves with grey sprinkled in his beard answered “We have always been fine. We don’t need your help to survive. What do you have to offer us?”

“We thought that would be your answer. We will tell you where we were going and what is there. For this information, let us pass through.”

Baybil quickly interjected “That information is for me. You owe me. If you tell them then you need to give me something better.”

Graul nodded for Torger to answer. “Baybil, we will tell you about something better.”

“Yeah? And how could I trust you two?”

“We will give you an option for what information you would rather have.”

Another older dwarf spoke up “This is the dumbest war council ever. Do we have enemies or not? If we’re just talking about unconfirmed secrets then I’m going home to my wife and kids.”

“If you want to talk about enemies, then we need to be allies, if we’re not allies then we just want to be on our way.” Torger gave each dwarf a stern look, trying his best to mask his fear.

Small Foot entered the conversation. “You didn’t see the tyter face on that bewitched device of theirs. Something very serious happened. A few of us were outside when the green balls of light appeared in the distance. More prey has arrived, but that’s all I know. We need to know what the tyters told them. I say we bargain for the message.”

An old dwarf looked down in defeat and fear of Small Foot. Mustering bravery he said “The tyters leave us alone. We just need to hide from their monsters until they come and kill them, then everything will be back to normal, probably in a month, at most.”

Torger spoke “Things won’t be back to normal in a month. If you want to know what’s going on with the tyters, become our allies. If you want to give us food, water, and let us go, we will tell you where we were heading with Baybil. Oh wipe that scowl off your face Baybil, we’ll make you a better offer.”

“Hrmph. I guess I’m not too heavily invested in you or this journey. And I would like to know all about them new monsters of prey. Fine. Tell them where we were going. We will talk about new terms of our agreement later.”

“Ok. Well Small Foot, here is the information you were holding us for. Agree to give us food, water, and let us pass through, and we are prepared to tell you.”

“Agreed. We have no real concern that we are in any danger. What is your secret?”

“We were taking Baybil to a location that contains silver ore.”

“What!” All the dwarves jumped to their feet and began yelling with each other. “He has to be lying! There has to be more to it than that!”

“Silver Ore! The most common of the dwarven riches!”

“I’m not going! I have no interest in a lot of work for mere silver!”

“Listen up boy. That information isn’t worth food and water.”

Graul yelled back at the last comment. “We had a deal! If you don’t want to go after it, fine. Give us our stuff and we’ll leave in the morning.”

Baybil eventually convinced Small Foot to honor his word. It seemed honor was respected among dwarves, though Small Foot only grudgingly agreed it was important. The trade was agreed upon after all, and it would be a bad mark on the family and tribe to go back on his word. That line of reasoning won the argument, and the dwarves all left, except Baybil.

“You guys better have something good for me. I know something is terribly wrong with the tyters. What are my choices? Information about the tyters, or something else?”

“The something else is gold far from here. Which one do you want?”

“How far is the gold?”

“About five hundred miles away, and we don’t know exactly where it’s at.”

“So I’m in a stuck position. The dealings with tyters may be meaningless, or it may take a month to find the gold once we get there. I guess I’ll take the sure thing. Tell me about that message you got from them.”

Torger answered “Apparently their system malfunctioned. Every single monster of prey is now here, and the tyters won’t be here for three years to clean up their mess. We’re stuck with these creatures. That’s why we were trying to coax Small Foot into becoming allies. We’ll all need to help each other to survive. That’s what all those flashes of green light were in the distance to our north and south, monsters arriving. It’s dangerous to travel anywhere, but we can’t just stay here.” Torger thought about adding that they knew where caches were and that they had friends somewhere, but decided they couldn’t trust Baybil just yet.

It turned out Torger was right not to trust him. Baybil immediately left to go find Small Foot and tell him what he just learned, or rather sell him the information. A half hour later Baybil returned with a small leather pouch that jingled when he walked and a big smile on his face. Small Foot came in right behind him and grew very serious.

“My understanding is we’ve got mountain peaks to our east and west with a snow storm coming in, and dangerous monsters to our north and south. Does that about sum up what you didn’t tell me?”

Graul nodded. “Are you still interested in the silver ore?”

“Yes! I’m a dwarf. Of course I’m interested in gaining wealth. How far is it?”

“About two days walk, nearly due north. It’s a desolate desert there with no water.”

Small Foot replied “We can’t just stay here and wait it out for three years. We have to keep living. We’ll leave at first light. We need you to show us the location, and you need us to protect your sorry asses. Is there anything else we need to know?”

“Just to watch out for rattle snakes.”

“What’s a rattle snake?”

“A small venomous creature. I don’t know how to make the antidote.”

“Don’t worry about that. We have a potion master and a white mage. We need to know about big threats like a pack of cottols. A cat like creature that sends a psychic blast to their prey confusing them, then the four foot tall feline attacks them from the back. They’re usually level fourteen. Three cottols could take out Baybil’s entire village. Isn’t that right cousin?”

Baybil ignored the jab and changed the subject. “Where am I staying tonight? And more importantly, where’s your ale?”

Graul asked “What do you mean, level fourteen?”

“Don’t you know what levels are? By the looks of it you’re level one. As you gain experience, you earn ability points, then you invest your ability points into different characteristics or attributes. Every time you invest ability points into yourself, you gain a level. Gaining a level in and of itself does you no good, but it gives everyone an idea of how strong you are. Once you gain an ability point, I’ll teach you more about it, for a small fee of course.” Small Foot couldn’t help but grin at his own luck for possibly getting paid for something every child knows.

Graul muttered “Once we figure out how to make money Small Foot, you’re going to bleed us dry.”