I woke up near the crack of dawn, I have always been a light sleeper and the shutters didn’t really provide any sort of sound insulation from the activity that was going on outside. I didn’t get enough sleep to be considered well-rested, but it was enough to allow me to function properly throughout the day. Brian, Max, and Louis were still curled up on the wooden benches we were using as beds throughout the night, seemingly having more luck sleeping in than I did. I headed to the shutters and opened them, hoping to get a better overview of my surroundings. The town was blanketed in a slight fog that was not too dense so I could still see for a decent distance, smoke trails reaching out to the sky from the multitude of houses in the town, probably using the fires for heating or cooking people’s morning meals. There was some movement near the building we used as our accommodation, some wagons carrying some cargo being unloaded by what I assume were the workers in this building. After turning around to look at the room I noticed it was quite dark, the candles that we were using yesterday having expired. I decided to keep the shutters open, so that I could see if there was anything in this room which I could find to pass the time. I noticed that under the bench Max was using as his bed, was a piece of paper so I decided to quietly approach and have a look.
The piece of paper was very crudely made, unlike the standardized paper I was used to. I suppose it was not even paper, but some kind of parchment instead. Letters were written on this piece of paper with some numbers here and there. At the bottom of this piece of paper was some kind of seal, in the shape of a four-pointed star. I couldn’t understand what was written on this paper but I committed every detail to memory so that I could use it as a reference for when I could actually comprehend its contents.
I decided to hide the paper exactly where I found it, holding on to it would not be the smartest move on my part, perhaps this was some kind of document that was being used by the workers of this building, and stealing it from them could invite undue trouble upon myself, and the others. Half an hour or so later the others began waking up one by one, everyone’s necks and backs sore from the lackluster beds and our muscles sore from our exertions during Athletics Day. What rotten luck for me to be thrown into this predicament on the day that I was the most fatigued. It would take a few days for the soreness to wear off, but for that I would need a shower, and a proper bed. The room stank quite badly of sweat, and unfortunately there was no shower for us to get rid of the stench.
A knock on our door led to a repeat of yesterday’s dinner, with the women bringing in a pot of gruel and us eating it with sour expressions. Eventually one of the teachers came by to inform us that we would all be gathering in the courtyard once again, I just hoped it wouldn’t be to get back on those uncomfortable wagons. Everyone gathered in the courtyard and Mr. Hendricks stood upon one of the wagons and raised his voice to address everyone.
“Good morning, Kuvira informed us that she would like to take us to a larger city than the one we are in currently, we have found out it’s name is Thacks but it is not large enough to accommodate all of us for a long period of time so we shall be heading elsewhere on the wagons we used yesterday. I understand that the journey will be difficult for us who are used to modern comforts, but we cannot remain here, and so far, Kuvira is the only person who seems to have any interest in helping us out, without her we would most likely not have fared as well… so grit your teeth, and we will all get through this together, alright break up into the same groups you were in yesterday, if any of you need to go to the bathroom before we depart I can show you where it is, although it is not as clean and sanitary as you might be used to” Mr. Hendricks finished his speech.
The bathroom was more akin to a latrine or an outhouse, and I honestly would rather forget the details. Everyone began embarking on the wagons once more, and I gave Brian a pained smile as I sat down on the bench inside the wagon. Our group of wagons was now accompanied by another batch of wagons filled with other goods, most likely foodstuffs and such. This journey might even be longer than the one we took to Thacks. As we passed the fields on the dirt road that lead throughout the countryside I managed to see some people here and there. Every time we passed they would bow towards the convoy of wagons, and I noticed that this time around some of our escorting soldiers carried flags instead of lances, and it was those flags that were the reason for the change in attitude. The flag was truly beautiful, with some kind of bird in flight wearing a crown, with a yellow background and intricate patterns weaved all around the edge of the flag. It was not in a square shape, but rather in a triangle shape, the bird itself looked like an eagle or hawk of some sort, but larger and it was painted in orange which made me think it was some exotic bird of some kind.
What made me wonder is that if this was a medieval style world as we had assumed, why were we being treated so nicely? The farmers who we passed by on our journey were not even acknowledged by the accompanying soldiers, but when we passed wooded areas the soldiers stayed on alert keeping an eye on our surroundings as if there could be danger lurking behind every fern. Were we really being helped for no reason whatsoever? Did they want something from us? I stayed on this train of thought for quite a while trying to understand what the purpose of all of this fanfare was.
We stayed on our journey for a few hours, and the horses were definitely getting tired as I noticed the speed of the convoy as a whole begin to decrease, as we neared the first river I have seen since arriving here, the convoy ground to a halt and everyone was allowed to disembark, and people begin to gather near the river to perhaps wash up a little, while the horses were being given some time to rest. I decided to do the same, and after washing up while keeping my clothes dry I noticed Mr. Hendricks, Ms. Cardoza, and the other teachers were talking to Kuvira nearby. They were trying to ask her how long the journey to this large city was going to be, but having a hard time conveying the concept of a day to her. Mr. Reuter eventually got the point across by pointing at the sun and then drawing an arc from the sun to the horizon at which point she held up two fingers which caused me to feel a pit in my stomach.
Since this was a medieval-like world, where would we sleep tonight? It’s not like population density was that large in medieval societies, as food supply was a major issue and large farming communities would have to support larger towns and cities with sustenance. There wasn’t a chance we could find some kind of inn or the like on the way. Would we have to camp out? I assumed that would be the case, but I have never gone camping in all my life. I just hoped the armed men and Kuvira knew what they were doing and as such I let the grown-ups worry about this problem, since I couldn’t even speak to the locals to try and offer suggestions.
We were allowed to keep the cloth we used as blankets last night on our journey, and Brian and I were using ours as a cushion to mitigate some of the soreness that would come from sitting on wood that was rocking here and there for hours on end. We were all provided with a half-loaf of stale bread and a waterskin for lunch, and the journey resumed after about an hour of respite. There was no bridge to cross the river, but there was a place where the water was knee-high and the convoy slowly forded across before gathering once more on the other side and continuing our journey. The road was dirt and gravel here and there, and there were no direction markers on either side so far. I didn’t even see any other travelers until we saw another convoy of wagons heading in the direction of Thacks by the side of the road, the people in this convoy bowed down like the farmers we saw before the river crossing, and I assume they cleared the road after witnessing the flag carried at the front of the convoy.
Kuvira was riding in a covered carriage instead of an open wagon like the rest of us and she invited Mr. Hendricks, Ms. Cardoza, and the soldier in the yellow cape to ride with her. I assume they were using the time on our journey to learn one anothers languages, so that we would have some workable means of communication by the time our journey ended.
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As the sun began inching closer to the horizon the convoy stopped atop an elevated patch of ground near the road and this was where I assumed we would be setting up camp. The wagons were formed in a circular shape with the carriage in the middle, and the soldiers began to set up fires inside the circle of wagons. Mr. Hendricks, seeing that we would be camping out today, offered his and his students’ help in gathering firewood, as this was a much easier task than setting up the tents that were loaded in the cargo wagons at the back of the formation. Kuvira acquiesced and Mr. Hendricks gathered all the students before requesting our help.
“Listen up, we will be camping out here tonight before continuing our journey tomorrow morning, I want you all to help out with gathering firewood for the night as due to the size of our group we will need multiple fires going all night to provide some light. While this is going on Kuvira said the soldiers will set up tents for us to be able to have some cover since who knows if there’s going to be any rain. The sleeping arrangements will be split by gender as it was yesterday, but there will be about ten people per tent, so about double of what we had last night”
This announcement was accompanied by groans and huffs of dissatisfaction among the students, Mr. Hendricks began asking around if any of us had camping experience before assigning someone to each group that went foraging for firewood to determine if the wood was dry enough and usable for the fires.
The soldiers started the fires by striking what looked like flint with small knives before igniting the kindling and blowing the fire to make sure it stays lit until enough firewood could be brought back. I was assigned to a group with Brian, Max, Louis, and a few others before departing into the woods to search for firewood. As we walked through the dense forest, a senior named Edward explained to us what to look for, and that just breaking off branches would not be ideal. We were looking for sticks and logs that were dried out, as they could remain lit for longer than wood that was comparatively ‘wet’.
The atmosphere in the forest was very serene, and its beauty distracted me from the task of searching for firewood more than once. The flowers and bushes in this forest were very varied, and some were even of such vibrant colors that I had a hard time believing I was not hallucinating. One flower for example, was a small vibrant blue flower, but the color looked as if it was an LED light, glowing as its filaments sparkled. Water condensation on its petals refracted the sunlight painting such a beautiful scene that I stopped in my tracks and just admired the beauty for a moment. Brian noticing that I stopped moving, looked back at me and noticed the same flower as I did.
“Woah dude, what is that thing? I’ve never seen anything like it" He stated.
“My thoughts exactly, and it's just sitting here in the forest… I don’t think I could have seen such a thing back home” I replied.
Seeing this flower reinforced my theory that this was another world, if such a flower existed on Earth you could almost guarantee pictures of it would be online, and it would be sold by florists by the handful. Considering that both Brian and I have never seen this flower before, chances were it wasn’t our world and that being able to see it here was a fortunate moment in an unfortunate situation.
Brian wanted to pluck the flower and bring it back to show the others but I stopped him as we have no use for it and it would be better to leave it be to continue growing in the forest, we spent about an hour gathering firewood and on our way back every member of our group carried a few pounds of sticks which would hopefully be enough for our group to bring back. I was beginning to look forward to sleeping, even though I imagined it would be quite cramped tonight. I prayed on our way back that none of the people in our group snored, as I would be unable to fall asleep beside a snorer without earplugs.
As we approached the camp we noticed some of the soldiers digging a pit, away from the wagon-surrounded camp, which is where the latrine pit would be I assume. The soldiers, noticing our arrival, pointed towards the existing pile of firewood and said something which I didn’t understand. I could infer what he wanted us to do, it seems we weren’t the first ones to return, so after putting away the firewood I decided to find Kuvira and the teachers to hopefully gain some information by eavesdropping.
Mr. Hendricks, Ms. Cardoza, and Kuvira were sitting on some stools near one of the fires, and I sat down on the grass at a nearby fireplace and closed my eyes to give others the impression I was taking it easy until dinner. They were exchanging words in our language and hers while trying to find out the meaning of those they don't yet understand. While listening in on their conversation I decided to open my eyes and examine the carriage that Kuvira rode on. It looked very sturdy, and was painted decoratively with wooden carvings on the sides and on its top which made me think that perhaps Kuvira was a person of status in this land. Since it's a medieval society, then the system of classes definitely was present. Did this mean that the first person we saw as we appeared in this world was a member of nobility accompanied by an armed guard?
After seeing the platinum-haired Kuvira, my first impression was that she was either some kind of scholar or religious figure, her embroidered clothes which heavily emphasized lighter colors gave off that kind of vibe. Of course she wasn’t dressed as some kind of christian priest, but more akin to some kind of pagan one, there was no christian imagery on any of her clothing so she definitely was not being so welcoming to us to talk to us about our lord and savior, Jesus Christ.
While following this train of thought I glanced at the yellow-caped soldier standing behind her, who I now assume was her knight, if an equivalent of a knight existed in this land, so probably some form of warrior-noble. This would explain why he dressed more pompously, and the fact that his equipment was a grade above what the other soldiers were wearing, I mean come on he is the only one here with a cape.
The sun setting beneath the horizon signaled the beginning of dinnertime and we all sat down on the grass near the campfires to keep ourselves warm, the temperature definitely dropped as the sun disappeared and I was now thankful that Brian and I keep the cloth from last night with us as I can wrap myself with it while waiting for the food to be ready. The soldiers were preparing a variant of the gruel that we ate this morning but it was noticeably worse than the ones in Thacks, talk about a woman’s touch. After getting up to grab a portion I ate it before placing the bowls where the soldiers who finished their food did, I decided to take the approach of ‘monkey see, monkey do’ until I could learn their language.
As I sat back down near the fire I heard an ear-splitting scream about one hundred meters away, followed by an animalistic roar. The soldiers not on nightwatch immediately sprung into action grabbing their spears and shields and moving in the direction of the scream. The students were in a full-blown panic, and the teachers had to shout at us at the top of their lungs in order to snap them out of their panicked state. They told us to stay by the fires while Mr. Hendricks would go and find out what happened, the students obeyed, not understanding what would be the cause of such a scream and roar was terrifying and I myself was quite afraid although I did not let myself panic in this dangerous situation. Ms. Cardoza tried to ask Kuvira what the scream and roar were but she herself seemed tense and just gestured for us to remain calm as the fifty-plus soldiers under her command would take care of their safety. The yellow-caped knight stood watch next to his mistress looking not in the direction of the screams but in the opposite direction, he seemed to think that the soldiers would be able to handle any threat in that direction, while he would need to keep an eye out elsewhere.
About a minute later we heard more screams coming from the direction of what I now realized was the latrine pit, the first scream seemed to be human, but the following roar was definitely not. Was there some sort of animal that attacked one of the soldiers while they were taking a leak? At this point the panic was gone and I could hear quiet conversations going on around me, so I decided to start one of my own. I searched around for Brian to see if my theory of what was happening could be confirmed but he was nowhere to be found. There were quite a lot of people so I told myself he was probably just on the other side of the crowd and I could ask him about it later.
The screams continued, now noticeably coming from more than one person interspersed in between them were the sounds of metal striking metal, and wood shattering. Did some sort of animal or animals attack our camp? There were more than three hundred of us here so any animal that was intelligent would not decide to continue the fight after its ambush on a lone individual near the latrine pit failed. The fight continued on for a few minutes and as I heard the sounds of combat going on in the dark, my gut felt more and more distressed. My instincts were telling me there was something wrong with this situation, but what was wrong still eluded my mind.
The soldiers streamed back into the camp at this point looking noticeably more haggard and some of them were bleeding from their wounds while others had blood on their clothes and armor. The one in the front walked up to Kuvira and handed her some kind of transparent rock, before speaking to her in hushed tones about what had transpired. Her facial expression immediately darkened before she gave the man some orders, before turning to Ms. Cardoza with an apologetic expression. I turned my head to the entrance of the wagon camp where I saw Mr. Hendricks was approaching carrying someone in his hands. As he reached the edge of where the fires lit up the surroundings, I saw the bloodied corpse of my classmate, Brian.