It turned out that we weren’t very far from the cave that these people had claimed for their home. We only walked up the mountain for another twenty minutes before we intersected a small game trail, which led to the cavern. A couple of people in the rear tried to obscure evidence of our passing but I could tell they really didn’t know what they were doing. Even my rudimentary skills at tracking allowed me to note previous signs of passage on the trail. Of course there weren’t any boot prints because footwear was seen more as a luxury than a need for these folks, but even with all the sweeping and tossing brush and debris, it was pretty apparent that the trail was well trafficked by something. Curious people would definitely want to know what that something was.

The cave itself had all the amenities of home, provided your definition of home is a narrow craggy passage that fed into a larger chamber that spanned a few hundred square feet. Honestly, it looked like they packed a couple of dozen people into a space the size of a small studio apartment. Water trickled down the walls in some places, the leached minerals from the surrounding rocks leaving chalky white streaks in the places that it frequently dripped. The place stunk. The air flow in the area was not great. The sole torch that served as a light source barely flickered. The area was suffused by the somewhat acrid, earthy odor of a damp cave, and the dense smell of too many unwashed humans and their waste permeated the air as well. Then, there was the issue of the poorly tanned skins that some of them wore. I don’t know what these people ate, but the odor hinted that it made many of them prone to flatulence. Apparently, a small section was tarped off with animal skins for privacy and used to take care of biological necessities. All in all, it was a primitive, disgusting way to live.

As we headed in, we encountered several more people. Many of them skewed older, although I did see a couple of children as well. That broke me. How heartless was the universe that it would pluck kids that had not even had much of a chance to live and deposit them in this hellhole. I assumed the majority of the hale and hearty were out trying to hunt or gather. Trying to keep this many people fed must have been an epic challenge. Some of the people were dressed like Sawwar, in clothing cobbled together from animal skins, but others still donned the clothing they had arrived in this world in. Several of the older people must have been taken while they napped because they were wearing manufactured daywear in a variety of styles. Segerick quickly tried to explain to everyone that we passed that we were allies but many people stared at him blankly. The language barrier was a very real consideration. I stepped in several times and repeated what he said, and to see people’s faces light up when they heard someone speaking their language was both gratifying and heartbreaking. Segerick’s actions allowed me to relax a little bit, though. So far he was playing everything straight.

I wandered around the cave a little and noticed that there was a small passage that fed deeper into the mountain. I could only see the edges of it as a makeshift barricade made of stones and timber from outside had been erected to block it off.

“Segerick,” I said. “Have you explored this passage?”

“No,” he said. “Some of my people have wanted to from time to time but we are more than a little afraid of what we might find. We have no idea whether this cave system has other outlets and you never know what might have made its den deeper in the mountain. We blocked it off and someone always stands guard at night. If something comes for us, we should have enough time to escape.”

I was intrigued by the idea of a little exploration. Maybe we could find another chamber and improve the living conditions here a little bit. As poorly armed as they were, I could understand their reluctance to invite trouble. We, however, were better armed and trained. We couldn’t contribute a lot to their community, but maybe we could find some small ways to help.

“You don’t mind if my friends and I do a little spelunking before we leave, do you?” I said.

“That’s an excellent idea,” Segerick replied. “If you could find another area for us to expand to, it would make everyone’s lives here better.”

“Have you heard anything moving down the passage at all?”

“No, it has been quiet,” he responded.

“Do you mind if we step out into the fresh air and sunshine for our conversation?” I said. He looked at me quizzically. I assume most of his people had become nose blind to the smell.

“No, that’s fine,” he replied. He led us out of the cavern to a fairly flat area on the right side of the entrance. This high on the mountain, the view of the glimmering ocean through the sparse trees was spectacular. I sat silently for a few moments, watching the waves crest, the sea birds hunt, and the light dance. Finally, I turned to Segerick and spoke.

“I come from a planet we call Earth. How about you?”

“I also come from Earth,” he said excitedly. That excitement died, however, when we began comparing details. My Earth was in the Information Age. His Earth was pre-Industrial Revolution. From what I could gather, he came from what would be Northern Europe in my world. He mentioned that he was a barge captain, hauling goods up and down the waterways that were the arteries of commerce in his world. I explained to him that there were many different Earths in many different universes that fed this place, as well as some places that were not Earth-like at all. I expected this information to blow his mind but it didn’t make him nonplussed at all. I assume that in his world belief in other dimensions was a thing. Soon, however, it was time to get down to brass tacks.

“What do you need to survive?” I asked.

“We are chronically short on food and we have few decent weapons,” he replied. “We lose too many people. Some fall into a state of despair and just wander off. Others are slain by the local wildlife or are taken by slavers when they find their way too far down the mountain. We can’t communicate with each other very well, which tends to make people feel isolated from each other. Several of my people are either too young or too old to work which puts pressure on the others to provide for them. We can’t build any real continuity in our community. If you visit a month from now, half the people you have met will have been replaced by others. Even though we have several skilled crafters, we have no real tools for them. That makes improving our standard of living very difficult. From time to time, new arrivals bring sickness and sometimes that sickness leads to more death. Every day, I feel like I am hanging on by my fingertips.”

“How long have you been doing this?” I asked.

“I have lost count of the days, but I think it has been nearly a year.”

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

A year? That was quite impressive. For all my previous anger at the man, I had to respect that level of competence and his willingness to fight against the myriad of obstacles that were placed in his path.

“Did you form this community?” I asked.

“Yes,” he said. “Luckily I came into this world almost exactly where we are sitting now. I found the cave on my first day here. I felt so alone, so whenever I would encounter others of our kind I would invite them to come back and join me in my shelter. Sadly, some of the people decided they wanted to fight me for the little that I had. Obviously, I prevailed and they didn’t. But over time, I was able to build up to the point we are at now.”

“How many people do you rescue every week?”

“Sometimes it is none. Other weeks it can be three or four. I tried to lead a virtuous life. Why is God punishing me like this?”

That led me into a long explanation of how it was that people found their way into this world. At the end, I mentioned that I didn’t think he was being punished but was just unlucky, as was everyone else who found their way here.

“Why do you suppose so many people appear on this island?” he asked.

“That I don’t know,” I replied. “Obviously, though, given the number of five-fingered people I saw back on the mainland, this isn’t the only place that our people appear. Maybe it is seasonal. When the cosmic forces align in a certain way, people show up one place. When those forces shift, they pop in somewhere else. Or maybe there is something special about this island. I have no real way of knowing. Given that this island was only discovered by the people on the mainland sometime in the last decade, I wonder how many of our people lived out their lives here undisturbed by others, however long those lives were.”

“That’s a somber thought,” he said.

“Before we can even begin planning how to get you off this island, we are going to have to improve your ability to survive. That means obtaining weapons, generating a surplus of food and trying to find some tools. I can probably purchase a few tools in town. I didn’t bring a lot of money but we have acquired a few things to sell. Weapons, though, we will have to take from those who have them. Not all the companies on this island get along. There are skirmishes all of the time. Not every expedition up the mountain returns. We are going to need to locate one, or several such expeditions and ambush them. Ordinarily, I would feel terrible about contemplating cold blooded murder and robbery but these people are here to subjugate us, to throw us into a life of servitude. That changes the equation in my mind.”

“Sadly, I have to agree with you,” he said. “We are at war. They just don’t expect us to have the means to fight back.”

“If we acquire weapons for you, do you have anyone that can train others to effectively use them?” I asked.

“Not many,” he replied. “I have a little experience and there are a couple of others who do as well, but we have nobody who could fairly be called a soldier or warrior.”

“Well, maybe one will wander in soon,” I said optimistically. “If not, we can provide a little training but we won’t be able to stay here very long. If we don’t check in with our company and they leave without us, nobody benefits. How many others have been here for an appreciable length of time?”

“Five or so,” he responded.

“Do you have anyone who can scout for expeditions? To find us some targets for ambush?”

“Yes, a couple have become fairly adept at moving through the forest. Experience is a great teacher in that way. Those who are less adept haven’t survived.”

“Before we go any further on this plan, I need to admit something,” I said. “My initial impression of you and your people was not good, although this conversation has done a little to repair some of that damage. Do you intend to deal with us honestly? If so, I will do everything I can to help you. If not, I will do everything I can to survive and if that means putting a bunch of you in the ground, so be it. I agree that experience is a good teacher, and we have a lot of it. I have struggled since I arrived here but I also have become stronger. I am trying to deal with all of this with an open mind but trust is a fragile thing. It is hard to earn and easy to waste. And if we do this, I am going to have to trust you and your people. I have to trust you to keep things together and survive until we can get you off this island. I have to trust that none of you will sell me out.”

“I can understand why you feel the way you do,” Segerick replied. “We weren’t very welcoming back on the trail. Your appearance was a shock to us all. We thought we were safe up here. From what you have said, though, that safety is an illusion. What you do offer us, though, is the faintest glimmer of hope. None of us enjoy living like this. We never know where our next meal is going to come from. We live in a cave like animals. We can’t grow too attached to one another because so many people are here one day and then gone forever. There is no way we can keep this going for very long. A couple of bad breaks in a row and there will be nothing left of us. Even though the hope you offer is faint and seems so far away, it’s better than having none at all. I don’t intend to attack you or try to use you. If we do that, this is all we will ever have. A slim chance at something always trumps the certainty of failure.”

“Alright,” I said. “Surprisingly, I believe you. I know you can’t speak for everyone else though. I will address all of your people tonight. Tomorrow, you need to get your scouts out looking for targets that we can ambush. While we do that, though, my friends and I are going to explore the rest of the cave.”

I spent the rest of the day circulating and talking to the other people in the camp. Although he was nursing a swollen jaw, even the man who I had bashed to the ground with the pommel of my sword and then threatened was friendly to me, at least after we talked things out a little. I let him know that it was nothing personal but he was trying to control me and that I didn’t take well to being controlled.

As the day passed, more and more people started filtering into the camp. When night fell, I got ready to speak to the twenty three people who were assembled but people kept delaying me, telling me that I had to wait for Alfons so I wouldn’t have to repeat myself. I waited. Then I waited some more. Alfons never made it back to camp. I assumed the island had claimed another casualty.

I didn’t speak for long. As you know by now, public speaking is not my forte. I told them that I had a plan to get them off the island and that Segerick and I had done some scheming to improve their quality of life in the meantime. I let them know that their lives wouldn’t be great if I got them to the mainland but they would be better. I didn’t go into very many details. Any one of them might be captured and could ruin everything if they talked. When I was done, the crowd was still subdued but I sensed a faint undercurrent of excitement from some of them.

After declining the shelter of the cave, we set up camp where I had talked to Segerick earlier that day. Bethany had tossed her lot in with ours, so she was with us as well. Sawwar hadn’t said much to me for the rest of the day. He obviously had conflicted loyalties.

“Do you think this has a chance of working?” Bowen asked.

“I do,” I replied. “There are no guarantees, obviously. Everything is going to take a lot of work on our end. As soon as we get back we are going to have to grab a couple of others and start plundering the redoubt. Then we will have to sell what we harvest, which won’t be easy without arousing suspicion. There are far too many moving parts, too many contingencies with this plan to make me fully comfortable with it. But we do what we always have. We take things one step at a time.”

“What are we doing tomorrow?” Aleyda said. “Do you want me to start some training?”

“No,” I responded. “Tomorrow we are going to explore the rest of the cave. Who knows the wonders we might find deep under the mountain? I hope at least to find some stuff we can sell. These people need some tools badly.”