TifTwo
Without the barrels the cart was much lighter and TifTwo was finding he could push it faster. The green goblin, Adam, lounging in the bed of the cart must have felt the increase in speed as he popped up and shouted, “Get us back to the castle now! I know you can go faster you lazy lump!”
So TifTwo gave him what he wanted and started to push much harder. Soon the cart was rumbling and bouncing along at a pretty good pace. Tiftwo looked ahead of the cart and saw a root sticking up. Giving it a little more speed he aimed for the root. The front wheels struck the root squarely. The whole cart left the ground, but not for long, with a bang it slammed back to earth. Adam was almost thrown from the cart, squawked as he landed in a tumble. Holding the swaying side of the cart he rose, painfully to his knees and began to berate TifTwo.
TifTwo wasn't paying him any mind, he was lining the cart up with the next root. Which the cart hit going full speed. Once again all four wheels left the ground, only to come crashing down. Another root and another shuddering crash. The goblin being thrown all over the bed of the cart was having a bad time. He tried to hang on to one of the sides of the cart, only to end up upside down against the opposite side. Any pause brought a flood of insults, curses, and threats. At one such moment Adam managed to get out, “this isn’t a game you blockhead!” He was wrong.
In fact as soon as TifTwo heard that, that is exactly what it became. The ultimate goal was get the goblin fully ou…
Then the smell of mint
The cart slowly came to a stop in the courtyard, boxed in by the four stone walls. The goblin sat groaning in the bed of the cart, rubbing at numerous purple bruises. A brown goblin was walking towards them, when Adam saw this he stood up. “This one is defective.” He shouted, then awkwardly climbed to the ground. “He is lazy and doesn't listen. He’s useless. It’s like he’s laughing at me.”
The brown goblin walked up and slapped Adam across the face. “It doesn’t matter,” he said coldly, “you completed your mission right? You set up a route, correct? So you’re done with him. It doesn’t matter.”
Adam rubbed the bruise on the back of his head. “This guy is going to be a problem. I don’t think we can send him out unsupervised. I’m serious this guy is thinking.”
Then the smell of mint.
“You. are you there?” the brown goblin was very close to TifTwo’s face when he spoke; Adam was nowhere in sight.. TifTwo blinked. “Ahh, good,” The brown goblin said. “Now listen well, I’m only going to tell you this once. You will first push your cart to that loading bay. Blink if you see the bay I’m talking about. Good. Once it’s been loaded, arrows will lead you to the buildings where you are to deliver the barrels of Tonic. Payments get placed in the box in the cart at each stop, your are not responsible for the payment. After the fourth stop you will return here. Blink if you followed all that. Good, when your cart is loaded you will be given a treat.” He smiled thinly then turned on his heel and stalked back into the castle.
TifTwo wasted no time in pushing the cart to the indicated bay, he was hoping they would give him that drink again. But first he needed to load the cart. He pushed the cart into the bay. Its was a simple door set in one of the tall walls. The door was hinged so the cart pushed it open. The bay was perfectly sized to the cart and it fit snugly with just the back side of the cart emerging from the wall. There was a rumble, the cart shook on its wheels. When there had been a few minutes of silence TifTwo pulled the cart out of the bay to see that it had been loaded with twelve barrels, a small box with four slots was now attached to the cart. A mug was sitting on top of one of the barrels. He pick it up carefully and then drank deep.
Delicious. Incredible, light refreshing. Then at the end, a slightly metallic finish. The name of the drink returned to him as he drank,Tonic: the goblin had called it Tonic. He finished the Tonic and placed the mug in front of the door to the loading bay. As he straightened, the world twisted a little, everything moved. He looked at the empty courtyard.
Nothing moved, the walls were so tall they even blocked the wind. Impossibly high. He looked low, the grass lay unnaturally still. Then the grass breathed. In, out. TifTwo breathed with the grass. In, out. The silence hung over the courtyard like a blanket, almost visible in its completeness.A blue arrow hung in the air before him, pointing to the open gateway out of the castle. TifTwo found that with a full load he couldn’t simply push the cart with his hands. It took pushing with his shoulder to get the cart moving. A second arrow hung in the gateway beckoning him out into outside world. He left the castle without a backwards glance, on a mission following the arrows without a thought of where they might be taking him.
It was on this mindless Tonic fueled thought-path that found some memories, memories that had been left, these were selective memories. The first was the building where he was to make the delivery in the town of Orup. The next were the two stone towers that was his second delivery point. There was something about this memory that stuck him. Literally, it was as if he had walked through something shocking. He stopped short and again tried to focus his thoughts. He thought back to that second delivery point. It was there in the shadow of the tower he saw what he knew was there, The person he knew was there. It was her face is was familiar, he knew that face. Somewhere/time he knew that face. He knew that face and it meant the world to him
Then the smell of mint.
Soon the arrows led him into the town of Orup. Continuing to follow the arrows TifTwo found the building he had stuck in his memory. Two principles who had been leaning against the building, approached the cart as it neared. TifTwo stopped the cart and tapped the money box, one of the principles came forward and dropped some coins into the box, the stepped back. TifTwo casually reached into the cart and pulled three barrels out one after the other stacking them into a small pyramid next to the building. With the delivery complete, and cries of thanks sounding behind him, he pushed the cart out of town.
The arrows led him ever forward. The Tonic focused him, driving him forward relentlessly to the next arrow. ever forward. Contrary to this he found himself more easily distracted. Looking at a leaf took down a spiral of thoughts some concerning the wonder of photosynthesis, he pondered the different patterns the leaves formed and how that affected the amount of sun which was able to reach the forest floor, and on and on.
In this way the time and distance passed quickly and soon he could see his second delivery spot. His pulse quickened as he remembered that this was where he’d seen that face. A face he knew a face he loved. He looked carefully at each principle he saw as he made the delivery. She wasn’t here, her absence like a blow. Then it was time to move on to the next delivery.
So it was in a bit of a funk that he and the cart trundled across the bridge and down the path. A few minutes of mindless pushing passed the path turned. Following the curve Tiftwo saw that ahead there was a principle on the road. It was standing arms crossed, giving no indication that it was going to move out of the way of the cart. This did nothing to help his funk, which right now felt more like simmering anger. He contemplated running the principle over until it put it’s hand out in the universal stop sign. Out of curiosity, more than any other emotion, TifTwo stopped.
Now three more principles emerged on to the path. The original stepped forward with an ugly sneer. “Thank you for stopping. To show our appreciation we are only going to take your cart. You get to keep your pathetic life. Now if you would please step back, we will be on our way.” As he spoke he climbed up on the cart. When TifTwo made no move he drew a sword from his hip, sounds from the direction of the other principles indicated that they too were drawing weapons. “Look you seem kind of simple, but nice enough,” The principle on the cart gestured with his arms in a dismissive gesture as he spoke. “We don’t want to hurt you. Just step away from the cart.”
TifTwo breathed heavily through his nose, almost a snort. He pointed to the ground. The
principle in the cart didn’t take the hint. So TifTwo punched it, in the face. The principle saw the punch coming and tried to raise its sword. It didn’t help him. The big fist hit with a crunch, with a muffled squawk the principle went tumbling heels over head. Coming to a limp, limbs splayed stop. 1 kill +1 xp.
There was a slight irritation on TifTwo’s hand. Who, upon investigation, found that the sword had stabbed between two knuckles. He pulled it out then turned his attention back to the principles who were trying to rob him. Two had run to their fallen comrade, the others were slowly advancing slowly on TifTwo their weapons drawn.
TifTwo holding the sword with two big fingers, flipped it end over end towards the principles who were now pretty close to him. The hilt of the flying sword struck one of them in the head, it collapsed in a heap. In two quick steps TifTwo was on the inert body. He picked up the body with one hand and the sword with the other. The other principle who had been menacing him was now backing away. TifTwo placed the body against the front of the cart and then slammed the sword through the body pinning it to the cart. 1 kill +1 xp.
TifTwo then spun to glower at the remaining would be thieves. Only one was still standing, and that one wouldn’t be standing long. A new figure spun and twirled around the staggering survivor. Sparks literally flew as the mystery figure rained blows upon the over matched thief. It was over in a moment, the new figure stepped away and all four wannabe thieves were down.
TifTwo stoically watched as the figure approached. He found he was holding his breath, he was pretty sure he knew who it was. His heart beat increased, it was pounding in his ears. Now she was close enough that he could see. It was her. That face that stuck in his mind. Of all the principles he had seen, this was the only one he could see clearly. That face held some deep meaning for him he knew it, if only he could put it together.
She was speaking to him softly. “Calm, be calm. I don’t want to fight you. I’m not with those Red Army guys. Calm, calm.” When she finished speaking she was very close, their eyes locked together; searching beyond the pupils, looking for the mind deeper. She reached one hand and maintaining eye contact, she stroked his cheek. “Is that you? Could it be you? How? What did they do to you?”
TifTwo heard the pain in her voice. It struck something deep in him, it broke something. He knew who she was, and with that a whole flood of memories struck him full force. He was on his knees trying to speak,but nothing came out. He touched her face gently with one finger.
Then the smell of mint.
