I tried to reach out to Meso. I wanted to try and have a private conversation with him as I walked across the yard from the river.
'What do you want, boy?!' -Meso.
'Tell them to send it back. Bel had his fun. The Magmus does not belong here, and I have put out its fire. It would be a bother to anyone for a long time, and it will die if it stays here.'
There was a long pause as I walked up to my friends, and then it was gone like it was never there. Stell looked over at me with a strange look on his pale face. Kade and the people behind her stood wide-eyed in shock.
"I had a talk with our friend about our other friend's uninvited guest, and they agreed that he wouldn't do so well here," I said out loud.
"That is a relief." Stell sighed. He was still looking pale. I think that was the first time Stell had ever seen someone killed, which was not a good first time.
"Are you are right, Stell?" I asked him.
"I'll live, that was disgusting. I didn't expect it to happen, so it caught me by surprise." He said, rubbing his stomach.
I looked over to see four men in dark cloaks with their hoods up. Their hands were bound, and they were all tied together. None of them seemed to be making any noise.
"Why are they all being so quiet?" I asked Kade.
"I'm not sure."
The two of us walked over to the group of them, and they made no motion.
"What are your names?"
Nothing.
"Wake up, you cowards!" Kade shouted at them.
Still no sounds or movements from any of them, so I moved forward and lifted the cloak of one. The man's head hung down, but from a first glance, they had similar features as Kade's people but ashen skin. I reached forward and touched the man's face, and it was cold to the touch.
" I think they're dead," I said as I moved forward to touch the man's neck to feel for a pulse. He was dead alright, and after we checked the others, it was the same for all. All but one had stab marks in his back. The one that had no wound in his back held the knife drove into his stomach, hidden under the man's robe and hands.
Great. These people were fanatics. Why couldn't they just be stupid mindless monsters? These were just monsters with brains that didn't know how to use them.
The farm was a mess. The barn and field still hissed and steamed, but the fires had gone out. The area that caught fire had been ruined but not destroyed. They still would be able to harvest a large part of the crop.
"Is everyone alright?" I asked
"Yes, but my family is very shaken by the whole experience." The man at the front of the group said.
"We can not thank you enough for your help. That fiery beast came out of nowhere, and then the Dark-Eyed-Ones attacked." Said the woman standing beside the man. "They had us at sword point before we could react."
"What did they want?" Stell asked. He had started getting some color back.
"They wouldn't speak to us besides telling us to stay still and quiet, or we would die." The woman said. Kade walked over to the woman and took her hand.
"This is Mediru and her husband Talic," Kade said as she introduced the farmhands behind them as well.
After that, the people started to clean up and begin repairs. According to Talic, raiding parties had been coming more often, but the older and stronger helpers we worked in the pastures were a long way from here. The raiding parties were hitting there far harder than here.
Kade was helping the women in the house get supper prepared. Talic offered for us to stay the night, and Mediru insisted that we must eat as well. I was exhausted after the day we had, I was almost ready to pass out on my feet, but then I noticed Stell was sitting down at the edge of the stream across from the large rock.
I walked over and sat down beside him. I looked around, and he had a very distant look in his eyes. We sat for a while before either of us broke the silence.
"I have never seen anyone die before," Stell said as he continued to stare at the stream.
"Neither have I, my friend, but I think this journey will only get worse from here. These dark ones don't want us to find out what they are doing. Bad enough that they killed each other instead of giving any a chance to leak information to us." I said, and then I turned to Stell. "I know you don't like this, and neither do I, but the universe seems to think we can handle this. We would not have been picked for this task if they didn't believe we could do it."
"That doesn't make it any easier, Dak," Stell said, hanging his head and sighing.
"It's not supposed to, Stell, we either fight for everything we are worth, or we are going to die," I said to him, looking directly into his eyes. "We will win, and we will stop idiots from being idiots. I'm not going to let you die, Stell. We will be together till we get to see what The End of Time looks like. Then we will continue on fighting when no one else can, and we will get these gods back for this."
He smiles at my last comment. I clapped on the back and motioned towards the house.
" I'd bet that Kade and Mediru have the food almost ready," I said as we got up.
" I almost forgot; I wanted to talk to you about her," Stell said.
"Who?" I asked with a puzzled look.
"Kade, you should have seen her, Dak. She was like death on the wind. She had disarmed and subdued four of them before I even caught up to her. I had to throw up a wall between her and the fourth one, or she would have killed him." Stell said, sounding worried.
"We are from a different place, Stell. We have no concept of what these dark eyes have been doing to Kade's people before we came. We just had to stop some from attacking a helpless farm. I think these guys have her wrath coming." I said as we started to walk.
"But her eyes Dak, they scared me. She looked as if she would have just as sooner killed them, then look at them. All I'm saying is keep an eye on her." Stell said as we reached the end of our short walk and arrived at the house.
It was a cute little home; sparkling vines crawled up the house's right side and on to the glimmering tile roof. As we walked up and opened the door, a barrage of mouth-watering scents filled our noses. The interior shined and sparkle like everything in this world, and as far as farmhouses go, it was pretty standard.
The front hallway opened into the dining room, and the kitchen was to the left. I could see the women cooking and decide to sit at the table. Talic was already seated at the large table's head, so I took a seat next to his.
"We can't thank you enough great ones. You were able to stop the beast and put out the fires. We all thought we were lost." Talic said
"Do you know why they were attacking you?" Stell asked Talic.
"I'm not sure why they came. The Dark Ones seemed to want to destroy our farm," Talic said.
"Do you know which way they came from?" I asked.
"I'm not sure. The Dark Ones have been coming from over the mountains lately, destroying farms and villages. We have lost contact with a lot of the villages closer to the mountains." Talic said.
After we had supper, Mediru showed us to our rooms. As Stell and I got ourselves into bed, I sprawled out completely exhausted. The weight of the day bore down, and I closed my eyes.