Survivor

“Hey Phillip, we ought to go!” Teeg shouted at Phillip as he ran towards the carriage.

“Where to now, old man?” Phillip asked as he followed closely behind him. “What did the letter say?”

Teeg jumped into the rider’s seat and Phillip sat beside him.

“We’re heading to the Merchant City of the North. There we shall get permission to go towards the Western district.”

“You got business in the western district?”

“Yeah! My grandkids! I have to make sure that they face no trouble.” Teeg said while looking around.

“What were you waiting for? To go there, I mean.”

Teeg didn’t respond, but instead gave Phillip the letter from Frank. Phillip opened the letter and read it out loud.

Greetings, Old man Teeg

I hope you get this message.

A storm is coming in Baizefield.

I don’t know what exactly, but be prepared.

And I’m sorry for leaving you alone.

I’m on an urgent mission searching for some girl called Vicky,

Peace on your journey.

I hope that we meet soon.

Your gutsy apprentice ,

Frank.

“A storm is coming?” Phillip thought deeply before being interrupted by Teeg.

“Aha! Here it is!”

Looking aside beyond Teeg, Phillip saw a wide river having wonderful leafy vegetation by its banks.

“The river, you mean?” Phillip asked with a confused expression.

“Of course! We do not have a map that would have guided us to Merchant city. So we are going to use this river that’ll take us to the village of Roses. Then we shall continue to Merchant City.” .

Teeg and Phillip rode their wagon along the river banks. Teeg whistled a slow orchestral tune along the way as Phillip, intrigued by the Ristir, kept on peeping in different far away areas. They had just entered the forest when Phillip suddenly stood on his feet and shouted out, shocking the old man in the process.

“Look, Teeg! There’s a person lying by the banks of the river.”

Teeg shifted his eyes towards the direction that Phillip pointed to. The girl lay on her belly with her head facing the side. Her silky black hair covered half of her face revealing one of her eyes and part of her lips visible in between the strands of her hair. Her black dress was filled with cuts and scratches from claw marks. She looked like a survivor trying to run from a predator.

“Poor girl! Seems that she’s been through a lot!” Teeg said with an expression of sympathy.

“Why do you sympathize with everyone you meet, old man? This can be a trap.”

“Can’t you see how beaten up she is? You should learn to—”

“Shh!” Phillip placed his pointing finger on his lips as a gesture for Teeg to stop speaking. “Seems that she’s waking up!”

The girl groaned as she shifted her position to lie on her back. Slowly opening her eyes, she saw the two men looking down at her.

“Are you okay, young lady?” Teeg asked with sympathy in his voice.

Startled, the black haired girl quickly tried to get to her feet, only to be stopped by the intense pain that coursed through her body. Nonetheless, she wriggled on all fours, backing away from the strange company.

“Seems she doesn’t trust us, old man!” Phillip whispered to Teeg, showing an appreciable amount of mock.

Teeg, not returning even a single glare towards Phillip continued to confront the scared girl.

“Don’t worry, we aren’t going to hurt you!” Teeg said in a calm voice as he gently approached her. “I’m Teeg and this is Phillip. What’s your name, lass?”

The girl hesitated. A stream of memories clouded her head, those that reminded her that this place was dangerous, let alone a couple of strangers who might be putting up a smile in front of a shadow of thorns. Whoever they were, she didn’t want to get involved with anyone.

“Hello? You deaf, girl?” Phillip, who had lost his patience, lashed out at the girl.

“Could you shut up for a while, kid?” Teeg spoke to Phillip through the gaps of his teeth, his face showing no other emotion but anger. Turning to the young girl, a smiling mask surfaced on his face showing a gentle expression.

“Don’t listen to this fool. We mean you no harm.”

The young black haired girl backed off even more. The damage had already been done. She shivered profusely not only due to the cold wind that penetrated the holes on her dress but also the intense fear that overcame her after Phillip literally barked at her. She immediately knew that these people were bad news.

“D-don’t come near me?” The poor girl gathered all the strength that she could get to speak with an authoritative voice like she usually does, but the non stop shaking seemed to reduce the effort drastically.

“Adorable!” Phillip said with an evil smirk causing the lass to flinch a little. “Why do you insist, Teeg? The kid has declined your greeting.”

“And whose fault do you think it is?” Teeg fired back at Phillip.

“Don’t worry about it. But instead of talking to her, eager to get some answers, you can help her with her immediate needs.”

“How should I do that if I don’t hear it from her at all?” Teeg couldn’t help but pinch the bridge on his nose, looking down in disappointment.

Phillip smiled and raced back to the wagon. He brought out a large brown coat and tossed it to her.

“Here you go, brat! At least with this, you won’t be an easier target for bad company than you are right now.” Phillip said, pointing to the worn out dress. “We don’t have ladies’ clothes, but I’m sure at least that coat reaches your ankles.”

“I-I’m not a …” the young girl muttered silently, her words barely reaching their intended destination.

“Huh? What did you say, brat?” Phillip prompted.

“I said that I’M NOT A BRAT!” The girl yelled at the duo, startling them speechless.

“You’re very welcome, brat!” Phillip continued mocking as if he hadn’t heard anything. Teeg stood in one place, stunned. He wondered how the little girl had opened up more to the ‘villainous’ companion of his, nonetheless, a smile appeared on his face, relieved that the girl had chosen to trust them.

“I said, I'M NOT A BRAT, Drool Face! I am Emmy, Emmy Jasons!” Emmy shouted, even louder than before.

“And finally, you say your name! And who told you to call me Drool Face?”

“Who told YOU to call me ‘brat’?” Emmy retaliated with an emphasis on the ‘you.’

“You wouldn’t dare!” Phillip growled, as now the tables were tending to turn against him.

“Oh! Just watch me!” Emmy, with a vicious smile, spoke up.

“Enough with your fights!” Teeg suddenly reappeared in the spotlight after being ignored for long. “Miss Jasons, care to tell us what actually happened to you? After cleaning up of course.”

Emmy looked down for a while. She opened her mouth to speak only to close it right away. Words formed in her head seemed to be translated in gibberish on her tongue. Her lips couldn’t help but shake. Her eyes dampened, filled with tears.

“If you’re not okay with it, you don’t have to!” Teeg consoled the lass.

“I’d like to clean up.” Emmy picked up the coat and disappeared through the trees, heading towards the river.

***

Back in the mountains, a bright morning sun flare landed on Frank’s eyes causing him to squint. He slowly opened his itchy eyes, looking around in a blurry scene.

Frank’s vision gradually sharpened. He looked around the room, but could make out nothing except for his backpack and some rocks.

‘Don’t tell me that he left earlier!’ Frank thought. ‘He would have at least woken me up! Urg!’

Frank packed his belongings that were scattered all over the floor and packed them in his large rucksack. Melvin was not the kind of person who would leave without notifying anyone and the fact that he had left earlier without telling him bothered him.

“No time to worry about the little things though! Let’s focus on finding the blonde.”

After words of self advice, Frank left the cave and headed south, farther into the mountains.

***

Meanwhile, somewhere in the mountains, a group of trekkers, about 500, moved with their property in carts or on horseback coming from the village of Thorne that had become a monster battlefield.

A man of distinct appearance and character walking beside his black horse led the pack. He had well brushed medium length brown hair just reaching the base of his neck accompanied by a short well groomed brown beard. Despite his stern expression, he had quite a good looking appearance and he gave off a feeling of nobility.

“What a long journey it has been so far, right Chief?” The leader talked to an old short man sitting under a certain tree.

The leader decided to let the people rest after they had reached a place with a spring where they could get some water and for drinking, for both their animals and themselves.

“What are you saying, Hall?” The chief shouted as if he wanted to swallow the big man whole. “We should have just waited for Teeg and his men to handle the situation.”

“To hell with that, Chief. You don’t know what we, who went to scout our ruined village, saw! If we’d remained there, we’d be worse than corpses.”

Hall shouted at the top of his voice only realizing, shortly after, that a good number of people had turned towards them, gazing in surprise. Shying away for a bit, Hall faced the Chief again with a determined look.

“Chief! There’s no way that we could’ve stayed there. Even the Extorters couldn’t stand a chance.”

The chief opened his eyes wider, enveloping his face in sudden streams of disbelief, shock and worry.

“Teeg! What happened to old Teeg?”

“I can’t say that he’s dead, but he was extremely overwhelmed by his opponent. So, there’s no way he could’ve survived.”

The chief remained stiff. Not even a muscle he flexed as he fixed his gaze at Hall who was standing in front of him.

“No… No… This can’t be… Were there any survivors?” The Chief’s voice was inconsistently shaking.

The Chief had a heart problem that made him vulnerable to sudden shock. Hall knew and did not intend to tell him anything, but since he was pestering him all journey long, he gave in and told him that he couldn’t be such a bother.

“There was none but one girl. Melvin told us to look for her and protect her.”

“And Melvin? What about Melvin? Is he okay?”

The Chief said as he suddenly got up to his feet, but in the process, he hurt his back leaving him crouching on the ground.

“Ahh… my goodness. Ahh…”

“Chief!” Hall shouted in concern. He helped him to sit up into his former position.

“Be careful, Chief.”

“Just answer me, Hall. What happened to Melvin?”

Hall didn’t respond, but instead stood back up, looked down and slowly shook his head sideways. The Chief said nothing but only looked down. His face, void of all emotion and his strength, reduced to nothingness.

Melvin looked back at the Chief to tell him what they had seen on their scouting expedition, but decided not to, to allow him process the information that he had just received. Hall turned his back towards him and walked away.

“I’m sorry, Chief!”

“For being so helpless, for being so weak!”

***

“Yet another thing that they dare to send to rival me!

I warn you girl!

You’re on the wrong side!”

“Who are you?” The blonde girl asked. She stood at the center of a dim room illuminated by a few candle lights. Its walls were made of large stones and there was nothing else but her in that room. “Where am I even?”

“Too curious, I see! But fret not! All shall be answered with time.”

The surrounding warped in a spiral, leaving nothing beneath, above and by the sides. The girl fell in the endless spiraling abyss.

***

“Welcome back from the land of dreams, um… Vicky? Vicky, I suppose.” Hall, from the other side in a cream colored square tent, spoke to a young blonde, who was sweating profusely and panting as hard as if she had just run a marathon.

“Who are you and where’s old man Melvin?”

“I’m Hall, acting leader of the villagers of Thorne during their migration.” Hall’s expression became gloomy. “Young Miss, Melvin is gone…”