Chartile: Prophecy (3 page)

“
Search every house, every
building. Kill anyone who stands in your way. I will not tolerate
this any longer.”

It was not a man’s voice that commanded the
horsemen, but a young woman.

“
Your Highness, this is
the last village between our kingdom and Chamberlain Herodan.
Wouldn’t it be better served to… revitalize it as a major trade
route?” a man’s voice suggested.

There was the creak of cured leather, and
the shifting of chainmail. Someone cried out in pain and a horse
snorted.

“
In case you have
forgotten, Valar, you are only here because my father ordered it
so. You would do well to remain silent.” The young woman’s voice
rose above the clatter of the horses and their riders. “These
people refuse to obey the law. They aren’t turning over their
portion of food or taxes, and they led a rebellion against us three
winters past. Do you forget?” A murmur spread throughout the
company. Jayson, Jack and Leo huddled closer together. “These sort
of people cause pain and problem in a kingdom, and it must be
stopped immediately!”

“
The only pain and problem
in this kingdom is you, Taraniz.” Another female voice spoke, this
time closer to the boulder the boys hid behind. The company of
riders hushed into an eerie silence.

“
Ah, Piper, the rebel
leader herself. Not looking so good these days. I hear your village
turned their backs on you after the attack. Yet, after all this
time, you still defend them. Why?”

“
I fight against the
tyranny and injustice you have brought to all of Chartile, Taraniz.
Unless you have an official order signed by the King and the
Captain of the Royal army, you cannot touch this place. You would
commit an act of near war against your own people, and yet call us
rebels and traitors.”

The men grew restless and spoke in whispers.
One of the women screamed, and there was the clash of metal on
metal.

“
Stay your weapons,” the
man who had first opposed Taraniz said.

Jayson dared a peek around the boulder. A
thin woman hair and furs fought a tall blonde in a long green
dress. The horses stamped their feet as their riders waited with
their hands on their sword hilts.

“
Come on, we have to
help,” whispered Jayson as he whipped back behind the
boulder.

“
How? Throw rocks at
them?” Leo suggested sarcastically.

“
Good idea!” Jayson smiled
and picked up a fist-sized rock at his feet.

“
Jayson, are you nuts?
Those people have swords!” Jack clutched at Jayson’s
forearm.

“
You heard what that one
chick planned to do to those people down there,” Jayson protested.
“We have to help them!”

“
Jayson, we don’t know the
laws here. We don’t even know where we are! We can’t interfere!”
said Leo. “Dude, we could die! This isn’t a game!”

“
I’m not gunna stand here
and let some innocent people get — get slaughtered. Jack, you
wanted this to be real. Well now’s your chance to do something!”
Jayson pulled his arm from Jack’s grasp, shoved the rock in his
pocket and began to climb to the top of the boulder.

Jack and Leo watched him go, then turned to
each other.

“
We can’t be separated,”
Leo whispered. Jack nodded and picked up a rock. He ran out from
the side of the boulder as Leo did the same on the left.

The sudden appearance of the three boys,
with their jeans and brightly colored t-shirts, made the men on
horseback point and murmur. Jayson, Jack and Leo now saw the two
women fighting were not much older than themselves. They did not
seem to have noticed the boys.

Jayson took aim, and threw the rock as hard
as he could. He narrowly missed Taraniz by inches.

“
Hey! Tar-bees!” Jayson
called, “Why don’t you go back where you came from and leave these
poor people alone!”

The distraction was enough for the girl
called Piper to disarm Taraniz. She kicked the blonde to her back
and held her sword at Taraniz’s throat.

“
Your father is not dead,
yet. Until then, his law still reigns,” said Piper through clenched
teeth.

Taraniz pulled a dagger from her belt and
pushed Piper’s blade aside to slice her across the cheek.

“
Not yet, but soon,” she
said so quietly only Piper and the boys heard. She jumped to her
feet as Piper staggered back. She pulled a handkerchief from the
pocket of her riding jacket and wiped her dagger clean. She glared
for a moment longer at Piper before tossing the handkerchief at the
girl’s feet. They watched as she mounted her horse, nose in the air
and dirt and leaves all over her embroidered dress.

“
Back to the camp, all of
you, until you can learn to defend your princess against
rock-throwing peasants!” With one last glare at Piper, who stood at
the base of the boulder clutching her face, the company rode back
around the mountain trail.

Jayson, Jack and Leo let out a cry of
victory.

“
Ya bunch’a wusses!”
Jayson taunted after them. He leapt from the boulder and gave Jack
a high-five. Their celebration, however, was short lived. Piper
stepped toward them and pointed her sword to Jayson’s throat. Her
green eyes were as hard as when she had looked at
Taraniz.

“
Who are you? Speak
swiftly!” she demanded.

“
Whoa, take it easy,” said
Leo, holding his hands up in surrender. “We were just trying to
help—”

Piper pressed the blade against Jayson’s
skin now. “I asked, who are you?”

“
My name is Jack. This is
Leo and… that’s Jayson. We’re from Swansdale. Um, we really don’t
know how we got here. We just want to go home, so, if you have a
phone around here or something…”

Piper narrowed her eyes, and slowly lowered
her blade. Jayson sighed in relief.

“
Where did you say you
were from?” She asked.

“
Uh, Swansdale. Ohio. Um,
America?” said Jayson.

“
Is that north of here?”
Piper continued to furrow her brow.

“
Uh… where is here
exactly?” asked Leo.

“
Chartile,” she said, not
bothering to hide the suspicion in her voice, “Kingdom of the
Elves. Beyond that last hill…” She pointed to the far side of the
little village. “There begins the territory of Humans. You are
Human, are you not?”

It was the boys’ turn to be confused. The
idea of a government conspiracy was beginning to sound more
believable by the minute.

“
So where are we in
relation to say, the Atlantic Ocean, or Russia? Australia, maybe?”
Leo asked.

Piper did not answer. The group continued to
look at each other in an awkward silence.

Jayson’s stomach made a terrible gurgling
sound.

“
Sorry.” He patted his
stomach. “Do you have anything to eat?”

Piper looked back up the path Taraniz and
the horseman had left by, and sheathed her sword. “Follow me,” she
whispered. “This is a conversation to be had under cover.”

She headed down the steep hill toward the
mountain, not the village. The boys looked longingly the cozy huts
below, and trudged begrudgingly after her. She led them up and down
steep and winding roads, narrow squeezes between large boulders and
toe paths full of loose pebble under foot. She ducked beneath a low
hanging outcrop and seemed to disappear. Jack, Leo and Jayson
followed and found themselves in a small cave. A stone fire ring
lay in the middle of the room. A few natural shelves in the cave
wall held a collection of bowls, utensils and two water skins.
Another large natural shelf closer to the ground was covered in
blankets and furs.

The boys stood just inside the mouth of the
cave as their eyes adjusted to the darkness. Neither of them had
ever been in a girl’s room before. Piper moved to the back of the
cave and pushed a large rock from over a hole in the cave floor.
She lowered herself through until only her head and shoulders could
be seen.

“
Um… where…are we supposed
—” Jayson stammered.

“
I’ll be right back. I’m
getting some water,” she said and disappeared.

They listened until they could no longer
hear her. They stepped cautiously further into Piper’s cave and sat
around the fire ring. A few embers glowed from the charred logs in
its center. Their eyes began to wander from the fire ring to the
rest of the cave. An assortment of worn weapons sat in one corner.
Jayson stood for a better look, but immediately turned back when he
saw the dead game animals hanging from the ceiling.

“
What have we gotten
ourselves into?” he whispered and nodded toward his
discovery.

Jack and Leo did not answer. This was
definitely not Swansdale.

“
You could have started
the fire,” said a voice behind them. They jumped and watched Piper
push the boulder back over the hole. She slung a gigantic water
skin over her shoulder and reached for a large pot that had sat
beside the hole. “Potatoes are in the rucksack over there.” She
pointed to the corner where the animals hung. The boys did not
move.

“
Uh, we’d love to help,
but…uh — we,” Leo stammered, “We make our food a bit different back
home.”

They all felt rather ridiculous and blushed.
None of them had ever done more than heat a frozen Hot Pocket in
the microwave. Piper furrowed her brow again. When the boys
continued to do nothing but look at her with shame, she busied
herself with preparing the meal.

Soon, a roaring fire blazed beneath a kettle
full of stew. The boys ate as if it could be their last meal.
Jayson sighed and leaned back, rubbing his now bulging belly. “So,
why do you live here? Aren’t your parents worried about you?” he
asked.

“
My parents are dead,”
Piper said.

“
Oh,” said Jayson
blushing. “How?”

“
It is a long story.” she
replied and tossed a bit of bone into the fire.

“
We’ve got time,” said
Jack with a shrug.

Piper gave a small, sad smile and
sighed.

Chapter Three

Piper

“
My parents were not my
birth mother and father.” Piper stoked the logs in the fire with a
long stick. She stared at the flames as she spoke, the light of the
fire turning her green eyes golden. “I was less than a day old when
a soldier rode into the village. He claimed he had found me
abandoned in the forest. My mother said he was fearful and left in
a hurry. In his haste to be rid of me, he never raised his helmet.
My parents never saw the face of the man who gave them a
daughter.

“
My father was a
blacksmith, and my mother was a healer. Outland Post is very
isolated from the rest of the elven cities. Most of the people in
the village knew my parents had taken me in, though I was never
treated any different.

“
When I was fourteen, a
messenger from the palace came to Outland Post demanding all men,
young and old, were to report to the palace. Princess Taraniz was
organizing an army to drive all Dwarves and Humans from the
kingdom. She sought to first take Mount Kelsii from the dwarves
before bringing the rest of Chartile under Elven rule. She claimed
to be doing so in the name of her father, King Aramor, who had
begun to fall ill. She said it was for the good of all Elven
kind.”

Piper looked up from the fire and sighed.
She leaned back and ran the ends of her hair through her
fingers.

“
My gran had worked at the
palace as a scribe and errant. My mother taught me the laws of our
kingdom as passed down from her. I knew that without an official
order of mandatory recruitment, no one was obligated to go. I said
as such to the messenger. He struck me and it roused my village
into tumult.”

“
Wait a minute,” Leo
interrupted. He immediately blushed and swallowed hard before
continuing. “Did you say dwarves? Like from The Lord of the Rings
or something?”

Piper narrowed her eyes and studied Leo for
several long seconds. “I’m afraid I do not understand your
question.”

“
What do you mean by
dwarves?” asked Jack. He did not want to offend anyone. “Like,
little people?”

The scowl and confusion on Piper’s face
deepened. “There are many races in Chartile. Dwarves, Elves,
Humans. Of course, the Merfolk haven’t been seen for many
centuries. Most certainly the dwarves are not little. They are a
strong people who live in this very mountain.”

“
So, what are you?” asked
Jayson.

“
Me? I am elven, of
course.”

“
Why aren’t your ears
pointy then?” Jayson smiled and raised his eyebrows.

Piper’s expression relaxed and she sighed.
“I have heard my people had tipped ears at one time, but this is a
legend.” she paused. “Have I answered your questions?”

“
Yeah, sorry,” said Leo.
“Uh, go ahead. You were saying your village started to fight
back?”

“
Yes,” Piper said,
crossing her legs. She resumed staring into the fire and poking at
the logs with the stick. “We drove the messenger and his soldiers
back to the palace, but at a great cost. My mother and father,
along with countless others were dead. Taraniz declared the
uprising at Outland Post treason, and the remaining members of
Outland Post turned me over to her as the instigator. I nearly lost
my life that day. A man, a knight I presume, stopped Taraniz. He
said would be a greater punishment to cast me out into the wild.
Taraniz agreed, and here I have lived for the last three
years.