Max walked back into the hamlet. He had wondered at one point if he would ever see this humble little place again. Now he was here and in a way he felt comforted to be surrounded by so much he was intimately familiar with. In another way though, it made him feel empty and the place now felt so small.
He stopped for a moment before crossing the threshold of the tree line that surrounded the sunset side of the settlement. He never truly took in all those surroundings. Outside of his perfect spot at the base of his tree where he liked to relax, passing many lonely days in the small community, he never took in the comfort of the community and its surroundings.
The hamlet had generally left the trees out here untouched unless the situation during a winter became dire. So, all the trees had formed such a thick canopy as to be like twilight at all times. They were large and old trees, forming a natural border and giving a home to the beast that haunted the hamlet late at night. Beyond those trees that he stood at the edge of now, he could see the circle of buildings that was his home. He’d never known a life outside of those old wooden wonders. They were so lovingly cared for and maintained, rotting woods replaced each winter when the fields didn’t consume all of the population’s time.
At this time of year, the shimmering gold of the crops blowing in the wind were absent. Everything was a brown muck and the manure that had been added to the rows of plowed ground only added to the dreary appearance. Yet, somehow, what it brought to Max’s mind was the thought of comforting evenings around the fire with his mother and father. It was some of the only time he could think of that were pleasant memories with them.
His father had always been so hard on Max, wanting him to be more involved with all the boys in the community. His mother had been hard working and made his hours at home a comfort, up until his brother had perished at a young age. And, at that moment, his mother had never really recovered. Yet still, those cold evenings around the fire pit had been something that warmed his heart as he saw this fallow brown mire.
As he walked down the path between the fields, workers started to pop up from their toil and approach the path. He was reminded of the time he walked through his first town with The Brigand. The people all whispered and pointed. They seemed shocked to see him; he was sure he would do the same if he was in their shoes. After his showman’s walk down the path he entered the edge of the hamlet. Everything was almost exactly as he had remembered.
Max noticed one of the older boys, Wade, leaning against a tree at the edge of the woods. Many of the kids younger than Wade pulled extra work in the fields because Wade claimed he kept watch on the outskirts of the safety of their home. Here he leaned, and he did notice Max, straightaway. Wade moved to intercept, “Max. Holy Goddess. You’d better avoid your parents for a bit. Your ma had a nervous breakdown after you never came home after the fire. You’re in serious shluping trouble with your pa.”
Max scratched his head, surprised that Wade cared. “Why are you telling me this?”
“Why not? No skin off my back. Doing my job. I always thought there was something more out there. Tell me what you’ve seen.”
“I’m quite tired and I’d really like to get something to eat.”
“Oh come on. I helped you, now you help me.” Wade tugged on Max’s tunic after closing the distance.
“Look, there are rivers, there are villages, there are more people, there is nothing but trouble out there.” Max shook off Wade’s loose hold.
“Suppose that’s all I’m getting out of you then.” Wade headed back over to the spot where Max first spotted him.
Even with Wade passing on the information to Max, Max still got an uneasy sense that Wade wanted something or hoped to gain something. Best to avoid him, Max thought.
Max’s walk turned into a confident saunter, and that each step he took into his familiar and old world made him realize his new found strength from when last he set foot in the hamlet. His time here was spent in solitude. He thought that the only thing he could contribute to the world was tending to the easily grown and harvested wheat and sometimes corn. Now, he was special, and he knew things that no one else here in his home knew about.
Belka had appeared from the meal house. She was dirty from cleaning and cooking with a wrap holding up her hair. She approached Max at a quick pace. He smiled and wondered what words she would try to use on him this time to tear him down. As she arrived directly in front of his path, she quickly reached out and slapped him. The touch stung, but not so much as Belka’s seeming lack of concern. He couldn’t believe after all this time that she still was going to resort to the “push him around” method to degrade him. But wait; there was a different emotion emanating from her right now.
“You, you... Max. I thought you were dead. Oh my goddess, I can’t believe you are real. It’s so good to see you.”
“Yeah, here I am. I’m still alive. It’s good to see you too.”
“You know, you just about killed me. You do look like you’ll die of starvation if you don’t eat soon. Come on. Let’s get you fed.” She grabbed his arm and pulled him into the meal house.
One of the boys that always used to pick on Max pulled a chair out from a table for him after a nasty look from Belka. She went into the back to throw together some stew and fresh baked bread. The smell of home filled Max’s nostrils. It was a wonderful scent, one he had almost forgotten for the smell of a campfire devoid of finely cooked foods.
While Belka was still out of sight, the front door opened again and there was ole’ gran Valia. She had the standard broom in her hand and her typical hostile look towards the kids. She shooed all the other people, not just the kids, out of the meal house. She started to approach Max, and he prepared himself to get up and head out the door as well. As he started to stand, ole’ gran quickly used the handle of the broom to push Max’s lap back into the seat.
“It’s time you and I had a real talk, Maximillian.”
“Please, just call me Max. Even my parents just call me Max.”
“You don’t tell your elders what to do. You have gotten quite bold haven’t you? I know you’ve come back for more than just a visit. I’m going to tell you right now, Maximillian, if you ‘rescue’ this place from what you think is dangerous to it, you will be opening up a whole new world of dangers.”
Max contemplated a response rather than just filling the air with blather. “I’ll also open a strange new world of possibilities. What we have here isn’t even a life. We are prisoners here.”
“Being isolated isn’t always as bad as you might think, Maximillian.”
“What are you both talking about?” Belka had come back into the room with a bowl of food without either of them noticing.
“You need to get out of here missy. This is a conversation for just the two of us.” Granny reached for her broom that she had set against a nearby table.
Belka set down the bowl and started to walk away, with her hands in the air in surrender.
“At least be useful and put that bowl of food over here so we don’t have to be interrupted further.” Granny had command of the folks of the hamlet, that much was certain. Belka picked up the bowl and placed it on the table in front of Max, eyeing him with concern. She then made her way quietly out of the meal house with Valia watching her every move. Once the door was shut, the old woman looked back towards Max.
“Relationships are not always as they seem it appears.” She said as if it was more for Max’s benefit than her own. “I’m just going to say this once, Maximillian. You leave be the way things are here. Leave if you must, but you had best not disrupt this place if you hold any respect still for your elders. Of course, if your wanderlust has gotten the best of you, these words might hold little more meaning for you.”
“Alright, I hear you. I don’t want to disrespect you. At the same time, I have my own feelings and ideas. I will do my best to honor both of those aspects.” Max spoke with surety. Valia seemed to find that answer only marginally acceptable and continued to lecture Max about the history of the hamlet and the great things that the people of the hamlet had. After what seemed like hours of this one sided conversation, Max was finally allowed to leave.
It was at this point that Max realized how hungry he was and that he had completely forgotten to delve into the stew and bread. The stew was now ice cold, so he just grabbed the hunk of bread, gave it one good dunk in the stew and left with just the piece to chow down on. As he left the meal house, everyone was waiting outside the building, obviously expecting to eat dinner before now, but Valia wouldn’t have any interruptions and no one dared to defy her. Would Max do so?
Although he was surprised by the warm reception from Belka, seeing her as anything other than a bully would take time. And sure, ole’ gran had turned out to be more than a crabby lady with a broom, but that was just a strange circumstance all its own. His parents were pleased to see him upon first reaction, but they quickly turned to their darker and stranger natures quickly after the return. If there was anybody in town that Max was really happy to see, it was Brian and Mathew.
The two boys cornered Max after he left the meal hall. Everyone else rushed in to eat, but they did not seem to care about food. Max put his hands up in a defensive fashion. “Hey guys. It’s been a while. How’s it going?” They both advanced on him and he backed into the wall. Each of them raised a hand and grabbed onto one of his shoulders.
“You’ve got to tell us what you saw out there! We have always tried to test the limits and get out as far as we could before being forced back at dusk,” Brian said in a friendly tone with a big smile.
“We just have to know. You lucky dog!” Mathew gave Max a friendly jab with his second hand.
Max relaxed the tension out of his shoulders and smiled. “For a second there, I thought I was getting a welcome back beating.”
Brian shook his head vigorously. “No way. We’ve never had a problem with you. But we might have to beat the details out of you if you don’t share.” It was obvious that he was joking, or was it? Even outcasts such as these two never really associated with Maximillian before. All three of them shared a laugh.
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
“Well, I was kidnapped. I was knocked around by multitudes of branches in the forest. I almost got run over by a man who was thrown by another man. I was grabbed and forced to go where I didn’t want to. I almost got burned by a beam of light. Then I watched as my captor fought someone else that I thought was looking to kill me. Turns out, she was the highlight of the trip. She brought me back here under a safe guard. She also told me a lot about the world that I just had no idea about. For starters, this place is apparently called the Old World. Makes me wonder a little bit what a New World would be.”
The two prodded him for more details. He went into as much detail as they wanted. They completely skipped dinner. The three of them went out by Max’s favorite big tree and looked out on the fields beyond. He shared his experience with the beast that hunted the fields at night. They both shuttered a bit at the tale. He also shared the good news that the thing was not some living being. Also, it wasn’t a goddess that protected the hamlet; the thing that cleared out the fields at night had protocols that it was supposed to follow. He also excitedly told them that they could modify those protocols and learn more about the beast. Max’s two new friends were practically bursting with energy. He fed them his and out it came from them in whoops and hollers.
“Ole’ Gran did share with me that I shouldn’t disrupt the way of things here. I am fairly certain she mostly was referring to the beast and leaving it alone. It keeps out bad things just as much as it also oppresses us and keeps us in.”
Brian and Mathew were both shifting back and forth with excitement. Mathew seemed quite intrigued. “I want to see the source of the beast,” he said. “I want to learn about why it stays outside the hamlet. We don’t have to change it, let’s just learn how it works. Then, we will be able to leave and come back without any need to worry about that. I can see now all the explorations we will carry out.”
“Yeah, like some sort of visionary, right?” Brian started to laugh and gave Mathew a jab.
“I hope you’ll both follow my lead on this. Let’s get into as little trouble as possible.” Max chided them and tried to bring the humor back down into a more serious realm.
They both agreed.
Max had never been great friends with Brian and Mathew, but there had always been the fact that Brian and Mathew were the other outcasts. They had at least given each a respectful nod or a courteous hello when meeting each other in the fields or learning the various crafts that the hamlet relied upon to survive. One aspect that made Brian and Mathew appear closer to Max now was that of curiosity. They had been assumed nearly killed on a couple of occasions while they had all been growing up. They were outside of the hamlet right up to the last moments before sunset. They were always punished by their parents, and they had always been viewed as notorious trouble makers. As a result, they stuck to themselves and never caused any real trouble outside of social stigma.
Many of the local folk saw Brian as a bit queer as his profession had become one under the stewardship of Lelamar, the head of the theatre. He did little in what many considered useful professions.
Mathew, on the other hand, was a fairly educated member of the community. His excessive weight is what kept him estranged from the rest of the community. He was respected by some of the elders, but almost everyone saw him as exceedingly fat and lazy.
Max realized he’d eaten, spent time with the boys, and chatted with ole’ gran, but all this time after being gone and he still hadn’t gone home. He didn’t allow himself to read into that sign much. He needed to get some rest and going home to do it made the most sense. He got to the door of the meager home with wood paneled walls and hay roof. He braced himself before pulling the door open and heading inside. In the hamlet, just like in this home, the family shared a mostly communal space and slept in the same chambers.
Max took purposeful steps toward the sleeping chamber to pull a blanket over his face and get to sleep. A hefty, calloused farmer’s hand stopped his progress. His father, Lorn Mortan, intercepted him, “You’ve been gone since that fire in the western field” The hand compressed, hurting his shoulder.
“I want to go sleep.” Max tried to wiggle his way out of his father’s grasp, but a boy of his age could not match a working father’s strength.
“Your mother has been forced to listen to the gossip of all the other women of the hamlet. Talking of you causing trouble of your disturbed nature, of the damage you sow upon our home.” He raised his other hand authoritatively, making Max wince.
“I didn’t cause any trouble.”
His mother’s drunken voice entered the fray, barely coherent, “You drive us to the depths of insanity, the goddess punished my body with this elixir. You are doing this to us.”
“I just want to sleep. I’ll repent in the morning. I just haven’t had a good sleep.” Max just wanted any way to get out of this and to approach the conversation with a fresh mind.
Lorn shook his head, “you’re always putting these things off. You need to be disciplined again? You still act like a little child.”
“Please. I promise.”
Lorn’s fingers dug into the flesh of Max’s shoulder painfully, “You never listen.”
“You wouldn’t even understand so I won’t waste the time explaining it to you.” Max found the courage to reach his arms up around his body and then slammed them down onto his father’s grasping arm.
Lorn yelped from surprise and pain, letting go of his son. His brow furrowed and his eyes got dark, like shadows from his deep brow fell upon his pupils.
“You are both so ignorant. I don’t even care to try. I’ll sleep in the common room over this if I have to.”
His mother tried to grab his arm then, but she did not possess the motor control to actually make contact, falling to the ground instead.
Max left in a huff, vowing never to return. He sought the comfort of the common room, where he could sleep at least until early morning.
#
The next afternoon, they searched right along the edge of the fields. They masqueraded their search as some preparatory work for the fields. They did their digging and searching as far out of sight from the main clearing of the hamlet to attract less attention. After digging a couple of feet down in one point right along the edge of the now-cropped wheat field, Brian called for the other two to come over. He pulled up a very elaborate looking stake that had bright lights swirling on it from no apparent source. Attached to that device was a length of cord that went up and down the field along the edge of the hamlet. Each of them took turns quietly studying the little piece of treasure they found. They did not learn much from it.
They studied that thing for another day, but more time studying it would not be possible without raising further unwanted attention. There were already a few people skulking nearby trying to get an idea of what the three companions were actually doing.
The next day, they headed out to the forest bright and early, so early in fact that they probably tempted fate with the beast. The sun was not even peeking over the horizon; its light was just starting to clear out the darkness. They tried to make their exit as quietly as possible. With all the interest people were starting to have in their digging activities it was for the best. Once they arrived at the forest, they continued to keep a low profile. They didn’t make it look foolish, jumping from tree to tree or rock to rock, but they did their best to always stand with some trees blocking the view of the hamlet. Only the most adamant of spies would have noticed their departure.
Just in case they had run into trouble, Brian brought his stage sword, Mathew brought a hefty walking staff, and Max brought a knife. It was not that the three of them wanted that sort of trouble; it was more that they wanted to be ready for whatever followed today. Mathew also brought a piece of wood with cloth drenched in animal fat. It would give them light if they were forced underground, which from what Phaedra told Max, would probably be the case.
Max led them in the direction that Phaedra had suggested. This path led deeper into the forest. There was a trail there, but not the kind of trail that was typical. There were no footsteps, hoof prints, or any other visible evidence of a being moving along the ground. Instead, Max pointed out the warping of the trees at about shoulder height. They bowed out from the “path” and the leaves and twigs on the ground were disturbed. There was a trench in the thick leafy foliage where it almost looked like they were kicked away. The earth itself was blank of tracks.
The three of them followed the path for almost an hour. Max noted that they never crossed the wider stream where the beast stopped when he was kidnapped. They must have headed parallel to the stream. Finally, the path stopped. The three spread out and started looking around. It was not long before Brian drew his sword, putting the other two on immediate alert.
“Oh, um. Sorry. No sign of danger, I just thought I’d be lazy and use this instead of getting on my knees.” With that statement Brian used the sword to brush away some leaves and loose dirt. It was quickly apparent that there was a hatch of some kind in the ground.
“Ah ha.” Max came over quickly. “Good thing we brought that torch. Are we ready for a little exploring an’ adventuring?”
Mathew quickly moved to the side of his friends. “You bet we are ready. Let’s see how to open this thing,” he stated excitedly.
The three got down on their hands and knees and cleared away the rest of the debris until the entire door was revealed. There was a strange pattern on the central part of the gate, with numerous holes in that area in the pattern that must have given the beast a way to get in and out. Since its form was not exactly solid, the beast would never even have to open the grated door. Around the outside of this pattern, there was writing in a language none of the three understood.
Brian looked like he recognized the symbology and spoke up. “I’ve seen these in some of the stage plays that Lelamar. I don’t know what they mean.” He shrugged, “but that is familiar. They are from the last age. The age before our hamlet became isolated.”
Mathew was the first to get his hands on the newly revealed hatch. He boldly stuck his fingers into the openings and gave a hefty tug, putting his entire weight against it. It did not even make the sound of a budge. He tried again, straining reading all across his face, and still nothing. One final try and no different result came of it, except the effort ended with him losing his grip as his own weight carried him to the ground with a plop.
“Well... that approach isn’t going to work.” Max said, as Mathew made his way over to help Brian out.
Brian thought for a moment after letting go of Mathew’s arm. “There was that play a few seasons back that reminds me of this situation. It is when the main character is trying to find a way to the damsel and there is a seamless door between him and his destination. Upon searching for a while, he finds a lever that does the work for him.”
Mathew nodded, “that play was said to be a remnant of the last age, isn’t that right?”
“Most of them are. Most writings are, at least that is what ole’ gran says.” Brian walked away from the hatch and started looking for landmarks.
A few minutes of searching finally yielded results. Max thought logically about the things he saw during his encounters with the beast. He also thought about the logic of building a creation like this. If it started to malfunction, wouldn’t it be a good idea for someone to be able to at least open the hatch without worrying about getting eaten alive by this thing? With that, he headed to the nearest part of the wide stream that was the border between where the beast could go and where it couldn’t.
“Hey guys! Come over here. I’ve found something.” Max called out from the stream bed. He watched in the distance for his friends, who finally came into view after several minutes, appearing to scour the woods for Max.
They came stumbling through the woods for a few minutes until the stream came into view. They continued to call out for Max until his head popped up from the stream bed, surprising them both into jumping. “Hey. So I think I found it.”
The look on Max’s face was one of exhilaration. The other two boys were filled with that energy that peeks out in such a way that only a boys can. They rushed, pushing on each other and approaching Max with laughter.
The boys hopped down into the stream bed and turned to face the direction they came from. Under a natural ledge there was a strange set of very unnatural looking levers, buttons, panels, and dim lights. “To get a good look, you’ve really got to get down and in there,” Max advised, so all three of them crawled in side by side with boyish glee on their faces.
Mathew touched one of the lights, wincing unnecessarily because he was expecting to get burned. They were cool to the touch. “I bet we can modify its behavior right out here somehow. Look at the number of controls this thing has.”
Brian and Max both nodded and hit their heads against the top of the ledge at the same time and all three of them laughed. The three of them poked and prodded at much of the panel in front of them. They did not depress any of the buttons or pull any levers. They were just curious and the main priority must be not to screw anything up. First, they needed to learn as much as they could about the contraption. With all of their boyish enthusiasm, this thing in front of them was pretty much from another world. They didn’t have much chance of knowing anything about it or figuring it out without some base of knowledge to work from.
They decided that it might be the best strategy to go back to the hamlet and start doing some research in the old town book collections. They would need to stay as hushed about the actual reason as they could. It was best that they come up with some excuses that would sound plausible. Boyish curiosity seemed to be the easiest excuse and that is what they decided to stick with.