P2: Chapter Ten

KnightShade

KnightShade followed the principle more with his ear then his eyes. It was making no effort to hide as it ran through the woods. As had been his custom since entering AntruA, KnightShade was hiding in the upper branches of a tree. The sound of the running principle had sparked his curiosity.

As it came into view, KnightShade saw that it was female and she seemed to be fleeing as opposed to just out for a run in the woods. Her hair, flying out behind her as she ran caught on her face as she turned her head to look behind. She reached up to pull the hair from her face still running full speed. These few moments of distraction were enough and she clipped a tree trunk with her shoulder. The blow sent her spinning to the ground with a cry of pain.

She struggled to her feet, her armor clattering, as the reason for her flight walked into KnightShade's view. A man and a woman stepped out of the woods. The woman was dressed in tight black body suit, the man was a thin gold skinned elf holding a sword. As they drew closer to the fallen woman, the elf’s sword began to burn.

The women struggled to turn over and face her pursuers. She was blond and curvy, with legs so long she struggled to get them under herself to rise. KnightShade almost scoffed out loud when he saw her name.

Barbie

Level 3

Wallet-5Au

Using a tree to reach her feet she spoke tremulously, “What do you want? Why are you chasing me. I don’t even know you!”

“You’re right you don’t know us.” The golden skinned elf spoke, “My associate,” he gestured to the woman standing next to him, “and I were hired to hunt you down..and kill you.” He shrugged as his sword flared up, “We’ve accomplished the first part.”

KnightShade in the tree above could see Barbie shaking in how she held her sword before her. “Wait! Hired? Someone hired you to kill Me? Who? Nobody knows me, I don’t know anyone. Who wants me dead?” There was a bit of hysteria in her voice as she finished speaking.

“We’re hunters with The Band of the Golden hand, we are executing a bounty taken out by one KnotKen.” As he spoke the elf, who KnightShade saw was called MoProbs, raised his hand and the woman, whose name was aSTARTe, dropped into a fighting stance. Barbie’s face drained of blood.

“Ken? No way. I mean, I guess…” From the way her sword now pointed limply to the ground KnightShade knew Barbie was defeated. Without her help he didn’t think he could take both bounty hunters. But maybe there was still a chance she would rise up if he attacked.

As soon as MoProbs’ arm dropped, this stopped being a possibility. As the arm came down aSTARTe’s arm snapped forward whipping a black lash around Barbie’s neck. Barbie dropped her sword bringing her hands up to her throat. Then aSTARTe’s arm whipped back pulling Barbie to her knees and elbows who hands were still frantically trying to free her neck from the cruel lash.

“I’ll make this quick.” KnightShade heard aSTARTe say as she stepped forward and drove her short sword though Barbie’s neck. As soon a the body was still aSTARTe started looting it. In a few short moments the light show that indicated a tokening began. KnightShade felt a slight spark of fear thinking that the bright lights would show his shadow and reveal his presence. Apparently he had nothing to fear as the two bounty hunters put their heads together, and walked off whispering. KnightShade gave one last thought on dropping out of the tree and attacking them, but he felt that the chance they would win was way too high. Annoying.

He waited till he was sure they were gone, the moment before he dropped from the tree a new principle walked into sight. Knightshade froze,the principle looked directly at him, it smiled then waved. Not one muscle moved as KnightShade examined the principle, when he saw her name he recognized her. DreamCatCher86 cocked her hip holding her bow with one hand, she glared at him. She lifted her free hand to her mouth whistling sharply. “I know you’re there. Come down here, we need to speak. Don’t make me shoot you, I just want to talk.” She said loudly.      

KnightShade, thinking that if it came down to it he could take her, dropped from his perch and stood up straight looking at her silently. Waiting to see if she would recognize him, waiting to see what the next move was. While she examined him, he note a small tattooed tear below her right eye. The moment didn’t last long, recognition reflected in her eyes as they took in his mask. “You! Why am I not surprised. You were mute in the bank, is that still your thing?”

KnightShade nodded affirmative.

“Oh that’s good, you answer yes or no questions?”

Again he nodded.

She smiled, “I can work with that,” She paused as if thinking then said, “if you don’t speak, have you spent any time with, uh I guess, anyone?”

Shakes his head no.

“So you don’t know anything about what’s going on, in AnturA I mean.”

No.

“It seems you found out about Tokening just fine.”

Nod, yes.

“Well, I’d say that’s the most pertinent matter for us. There is other stuff, like the color war between the Red and Blue army, and TZ. But it’s the Tokening that bring us together. Those bounty hunter, they are with the Band of the Golden Hand, they have everyone riled up against us. Man they hate us. It happened fast, first I was respected, feared yes, but also respected and left to my own devices. Then one day everyone is talking about this Band of the Golden Hand, I could feel the attention then, I heard people whispering. The next day they attacked, I barely escaped with my life and my Token. I waited a few hours and went back. They attacked again, they wouldn’t let me back into the town at all. I had to quit my job at the bank.”

KnightShade pointed to the tattoo high on her cheek.

“Yeah,” DreamCatCher86 touched the tattoo softly with the tips of the fingers on her right hand. She smiled sadly, “my Token item. By the way I think that your cape, it’s pretty cool.”

He touched it.

“Right, so after Norca was closed to me I started to look for other Tokeners,” she said. “I was trying to talk with Barbie before the hunters came for her. You saw how well that went. Then I saw you hiding. So here we are, what I want is to work together.” She paused and looked at KnightShade, he shrugged. “I can’t offer you anything, just some level of protection. I’m a range fighter so I can support you, also I can see principles’ heat signature that’s how I found you. Here’s the best part Tokeners burn hotter than other principles, I’m the perfect look out, So what do you say?”

KnightShade rubbed his chin with his right hand to indicate he was thinking. It was a lot to consider. On one hand he didn’t like being around other principles, but DreamCatCher86 was cute, even more with the tattoo. Her offer was good. He nodded.

Her face lit up , “great! We stand such a better chance together and I really don’t want to be Tokened.”

He nodded.

“Right,” She smiled, “I Think we need to set up a home base or a safe house, a place to go. I heard rumors that there you can find places that will allow you to sculpt buildings out the landscape. Uh do you want to pick the direction we go in?”                 

KnightShade didn’t think about it for long before pointing to the north east. DreamCatCher86 agreed and they set off in that direction. It wasn’t long before the could hear the river. Before they could see the river they heard another sound, this one was definitely not a natural sound. At first it was just shouting, as they moved closer they could hear the sounds of weapons striking weapons, the conconphiny of battle. KnightShade put his paw on DreamCatCher86’s shoulder, stopping her.

When she turned to him, he pointed his finger to the tree top above them then pointed with two fingers to the eye-holes in his mask. She nodded and he was quickly perched on branch looking down on a three on three battle on the banks of the river. With half the combatants  wearing red and the other half dressed in blue, KnightShade figured this must be that color war that DreamCatCher86 had spoken about.

She was seated, waiting, at the base of the tree when he dropped down. “How many?” she asked.

He held up six claws.

“Was it three against three?”

Yes

“Red versus blue, right?”

Yes.

“I don’t see any reason to get involved, do you?”

No.

Okay, good. Let’s just give them some space, they seem pretty occupied at moment I doubt that they would notice us. Then, I think, we should find a way to ford the river. I have never been across it, have you?”

No.

“Oh! Let’s go! I can’t wait to see what’s on the other shore.” She grabbed his arm and almost pulled him off his feet as the started the hike around the small battle. As she hurried them on, KnightShade was surprised to find that he wasn’t annoyed by DreamCatCher86. If any other principle had grabbed his arm like this, he would have killed them without a second thought. But he found DreamCatCher86’s energy infectious. She was so caught up in her story, her drama; he was finding himself caught up in it, and that didn’t annoy him.

She let go of his arm when they reached shallow banks on the river. She skipped across the river leaping from one exposed stone to the next. KnightShade seeing that the trees on the far bank had big branches high up unlike the pine trees on this side which had it biggest branches low to the ground. He quickly scampered up the tree closest to the river and out to the highest branch that he thought would hold his weight. He should have taken a few more moments to chose his route, because the gap between this branch and the corresponding branch across the river was big. Maybe too big. But he was committed, running full speed along the branch, As the branch got thinner it began to bend under his weight. Waiting till he was sure it was about to drop him unceremoniously into the river, he lept.

Right away he knew he was going to be short. Cursing himself for being a show off, he stretched out and just managed to grab the branch with both paws. Though now he held the branch, he held the very end of it, where it was thinner than the branch he had just left. Miraculously it didn’t break, it bent swinging him like a pendulum, depositing him almost gracefully on the far bank.

DreamCatCher86 walked up to him, laughing. “That was amazing! Don’t tell me you planned that?”

KnightShade shrugged.

She laughed again. “Right that’s what I thought.” He looked around them thinking that the deciduous trees opened up the forest. Then suddenly DreamCatCher86 moved and she was off running through the woods, her laughter floating back to him like the sound of small bells.  He took off after her, as he caught up she started running even faster, he kept pace and soon they were both running at full sprints, dodging trees, ducking branches, leaping fallen trunks and rocks. As he ran he could hear her laughter tinkling in the crisp forest air, he thought it was beautiful.  

When she stopped suddenly it took all of his control to not run her over. He needed to stop short to avoid knocking them both into a small pond. As it was he managed to halt his momentum just shy of bumping her, ending his run pressed up against her back. She didn’t move. She stood still looking out at the pond as it sparked merrily in the sun.

In the stillness of the woods KnightShade could hear the sound of falling water. The pond DeamCatCher86 stopped at was in a small clearing, roots of the trees growing into the water, barely big enough that the forest canopy didn’t meet above, it letting the sun stream in. At the north end of the clearing a wall of stone rose almost vertically from the relatively flat the forest floor. Way up the cliff face a waterfall fell in a flashing curtin, upsetting the surface of the pond reflecting the sun in a million bright flashes,

“How beautiful,” DreamCatCher86 breathed.

KnightShade nodded. She couldn’t see it, she still stood with her back pressed against him. They stood like this for a little while, the beauty all encompassing, leaving no room for awkward silence. Reluctantly he stepped back and without a word she took his hand and led him along the shore to the waterfall. Upon reaching it she slipped behind it, disappearing. A tug on his arm pulled him through.

If the clearing had been beautiful, than the cavern he found himself in was transcendent. What on the other side if the falls had been bright flashes came through the water as dancing rainbows. The small rainbows moved on all the surfaces making it difficult to tell the actual dimensions of the cavern. He got the feeling it was plenty big. It was empty and devoid of anything, just three stone walls, a ceiling and floor also stone. They took the first step further in together, then separated as DreamCatCher86 walked to the back wall. He turned and watched the waterfall, it was hypnotic, like fire, and his mind wondered. his thoughts examining how a waterfall could be like a flame. “‘Shade!” DreamCatCher86 suddenly called, and he spun thinking she was being attacked. Her face glowing she waved him over, “Come over here, quick!”

It only took a few steps to reach her, when he did he immediately saw what has gotten her so excited. Being that the light was all filtered through the waterfall, the pedestal had no shadow and with it being formed from the same material as the walls was invisible from entrance of the cavern. Up close KnightShade could see it clearly, a rectangular block of stone. It was almost as tall as his belt buckle, the surface was smooth, wider than it was long. Spread across the pedestal’s surface, as if it was a desk, was an unrolled scroll.

DreamCatCher86 was engrossed in the scroll and ignored him when he stepped behind her. Peeking over her shoulder, KnightShade saw what looked to be a blueprint. Specifically the floor print of the cavern, that is to say a horseshoe shape the waterfall entrance labeled at the open end. Really it was just two lines, one curved like a U the other a ~. The border of the scroll was made up of icons which were slightly moving, dancing in place. The majority of the icons we symbols for furniture, tables and chairs of various designs. The rest were hammers with a secondary emblem; a hammer with a sword, a hammer and a shield, there were a few more that took more than a single glance to recognize.

DreamCatCher86 leaned back, resting her body against his. She wasn’t heavy, but the physical contact almost staggered him. She twisted slightly to find a more comfortable position, “This is it! We found our hideout! Look, are for crafting don’t you think?” she said.

He nodded.

“Okay! So, what do you think we should first?”

He shrugged.

“No, that’s not going to work for me. I can deal with the silent thing. But I’m going to need you to participate. Okay?” She reached her hand up and placed it behind his head.

He nodded.

“Good.” she scratched him behind his ear,

He almost purred, instead he reached over her and touched the scroll a few times. Behind them there was the grinding of stone. As DreamCatCher86 sunk into the couch her laughter echoed off the walls, KnightShade thought it was beautiful. KnightShade sat down on the couch next to her, a grin on his face behind the mask. She signed then casually reached over and scratched him behind the ear again. He didn’t pull away.

“This,” she said gesturing to the couch in which they sat, “this was brilliant,”