“I don’t know how much longer Bren can go on,” Pru panted.
She was struggling to help the old man keep moving.
Jak looked back.
“We’re already going too slow. They’re catching up.”
The crowd of Gray Walkers coming after them were definitely closer. They didn’t seem to be running, they were just marching along together, making no noise, and never stopping even once.
To make it worse, the sun was past noon. They had to think about what they were going to do when the night came.
“Just keep going,” Jak said. “Fast as you can. I need time to think.”
Ell stopped dead in her tracks.
“No,” she said. “They’re catching us.”
Jak whirled around on her.
“And what? You want to get it over with?”
“No, but we can’t beat them. Not like this.”
Mat glanced nervously at the creatures. They were close enough now that he could see their weapons – shining gold swords. He could see them swinging and glinting in the sunlight.
“We can’t beat them by fighting them, either,” he said.
“No,” said Ell. “But if we stay together, we’re finished.”
Pru looked frightened.
“Ell, you can’t. We need Bren.”
Ell shook her head.
“Not Bren. But someone. Someone has to try to lead them off in another direction.”
Mat realized that he was the only one who didn’t have a real role. They needed Jak, whatever Ell thought. Bren had to stay for some reason – something to do with making the new village. Pru took care of him. Ell was the builder.
What was Mat?
Nothing much.
“Can’t you just build us another shelter?” he said. He was really hoping the answer was yes.
Ell shook her head angrily.
“And then do what?”
Jak kept glancing over towards the crowd that was coming after them. He looked like he was hoping to see something that might give him an idea.
“Wouldn’t help anyway. They’re out in sunlight. They don’t fall apart. They could just wait. Or set it on fire.”
Ell looked at Mat.
“Someone needs to lead them away from us.”
Jak stared at her like she was insane.
“Let them catch Mat?”
“He can run. He might get away. We won’t if we’re all together.”
“No way,” Jak said. “That’s not going to happen.”
“Do you have a better idea?”
“They’re getting closer,” Pru said.
Jak grabbed Bren.
“I’ll help him. You all get going.”
They ran on and on, but they weren’t fast enough. The Gray Walkers never stopped coming and never got tired. The villagers couldn’t do that. They had to stop now and then and have a quick rest. They couldn’t just run forever. And every time they did it, the group following them got a little closer.
It went on like that all afternoon. Mat's legs burned from the running, and the others were all breathing heavily. Bren stumbled as he moved along. They could see what was ahead of them now, too. They had nearly reached the end of the grassy plains that they’d been running along all day. It was almost dusk and the sky was turning orange.
The sun was low, and it reflected and twinkled on the water that stretched out in front of them. They were heading towards a sandy beach, and after that there was nothing but water. It looked like it went on and on forever. To the left was the rocky cliffs stretching up high. To the right, more open plains and more sand and more water. Not even a tree in sight.
“There’s nowhere to go,” Pru said. She sounded exhausted.
“Keep moving,” Jak said. He was nearly carrying Bren.
“We’ll think of something,” Mat said.
He saw the way Ell looked at him and he knew what she was thinking.
He didn’t want to do it. But once they reached the water there was going to be nowhere left to run. It was going to be night soon. The mobs would be out.
They were all out of luck no matter what happened. But if he did that – if he tried to lead the Walkers away into the the night – then the others might have a chance. Jak would think of something. He could give them that chance. He could do that much for them. He kept going, but he already knew what he was going to do.
They all stopped on the sand. It was squishy and soft. Mat thought it would be the nicest thing in the world to just lie down on it and fall asleep. But that wasn’t going to happen.
Jak was scrambling up the rocks of the cliff.
“We have to go up,” he said. “Maybe we can find somewhere safe to spend the night.”
“I can hear them!” Pru said.
It was true. The clank clank clank of their swords swinging and clattering against their bones was getting louder.
“Just start climbing,” Jak growled. “Maybe they can't do that.”
He jumped up onto a rocky ledge and motioned for them to follow up.
Mat ran up to the rocks, and looked back to see the Walkers. They were so close!
He’d left it too late. His only choice was to run right at them. That might make them follow him.
He hoped it would, anyway.
He pushed Bren up for Jak to grab, and then helped Pru and then finally Ell up onto the cliffs.
Ell turned to look down at him.
“It was my choice, tell Jak,” he said.
She suddenly looked embarrassed and couldn’t meet his eyes.
“I didn’t want it to be like this,” she said. “There's just no other way.”
“I know,” he said. Then he turned around and got ready to run. They weren’t very far away at all. He was definitely going to run right through the middle of them. There was enough room. That should give them a surprise, anyway.
He heard someone yelling. Maybe Jak saw what he was doing.
Doesn't matter now.
He ran.
Something flitted in front of him, and then whatever it was, it hit a Walker, which flashed and vanished.
Mat had no time left to worry about it.
He was nearly at them. They were tall. Taller than a villager. He could smell them. Dust and sulphur.
Something else buzzed past his shoulder and another one of the Gray Walkers flickered and was gone.
He stopped dead in his tracks, and looked around.
What’s happening?
He turned to look and someone ran past him. Whoever it was, they had a sword. He saw the bright silver-blue flash of it raised high.
The stranger leapt into the middle of the mobs – right where Mat had been heading. He twirled around, and with two fast slashes, two more of them were gone.
There were only three left.
Another something whirred past him – he hadn't seen anyone near the beach, he was sure of it. But that was the direction they were coming from. Another Walker was gone, and now there were only two.
“I hate these things,” the stranger muttered.
He stabbed hard, twice, at one of them. It blocked his sword, forcing it to clang away so hard that it nearly flew out of his hand. The Walker raised its sword, and the stranger jumped aside and rolled under the blade's swing. He popped up behind it and stabbed it in the back.
One left.
Mat felt like he should do something, but there wasn't anything obvious that he could do. He stepped back a little so he wouldn't be in the way.
“Look at you, all alone,” the stranger said to the last mob.
The creature didn't respond. It just shuffled forward, swinging blindly.
The stranger jumped away from it and readied himself to attack after the sword whizzed past him again. But before he could move there was a thwack... thwack as something hit the creature twice, still from coming from behind Mat.
Arrows. It could only be arrows.
The last Bonewalker flashed and was gone.
“Rapid fire!” yelled the stranger. “You're getting better.”
“Practice, practice,” said a voice – a girl’s voice.
Mat finally felt like it was safe to turn his attention away and look over at the source of the mysterious arrows. A villager stood outlined against the setting sun. She was holding a bow. He couldn't see her face in the glare, but the way she was standing somehow looked smug. She was wearing dented armor.
A villager wearing armor!
“I'm Rab,” said the stranger. He had walked right up beside Mat.
“Mat.”
The swordsman was wearing armor too. It was even more scratched and dented than the girl's but it shimmered. It was obviously protected with magic of some kind.
“We've been watching your group for a while. Looked like you could use some help,” Rab said.
Mat nodded.
“That's the least you could say.” He pointed up at the cliff, where he could see the others staring down at the scene below with their mouths hanging open. “I was trying to...”
“I saw what you were trying to do. Pretty brave.”
“I didn't feel brave.”
Rab smirked.
“That's the way it goes. This is Nem.”
The girl – she wasn't all that old – stood beside them now. She was thin and fierce-looking, and held her bow over her shoulder and she was looking at Mat with a strange expression.
“Can you use a weapon?” she said.
“A weapon? Like a sword?”
“Or a bow. A pointed stick. Whatever.”
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.
“I don't know. I've never tried.”
Jak had been making his way down the cliff again, and he finally thumped down onto the plain beside them.
“Whoever you are,” he said, “Thank you.”
The swordsman – Rab – nodded.
“It's not a problem. Helping villagers is what we're trying to do.”
Ell had lowered herself down to the ground again as well. Pru was slowly helping Bren back down.
“I'm Ell,” she said. She nodded at their weapons. “You can use those. Really well.”
She was obviously surprised to see someone else with an ability like hers.
The girl, Nem, nodded.
“It's a long story,” she said. “But it really makes all the difference.”
Mat pointed at Ell.
“She can build things. Walls and torches.”
Rab's eyebrows shot up and he looked at Nem.
“Is that right?” he said.
“I can make more than that,” Ell said. “Thanks for the help, really, but we need to be setting up for the night. You’re welcome to join us, obviously.”
It was definitely almost night. There was only a sliver of sun left setting going down across the water.
“Actually we thought you should come with us,” Nem said.
“With you? Where?” said Ell.
“We have a place,” said Rab.
“A village?” said Pru. She looked excited.
“Well, no, not exactly. But it’s safe. More or less.”
“But we need to get going right away,” said Nem. “We don’t want to have to fight mobs all the way back.”
Rab nodded.
“There’s more villagers with us. Quite a few actually.”
“We’ve been sort of picking them up as we went along,” Nem said.
Ell looked like she approved.
“That’s great,” she said. “That’s more than I hoped for. How many?”
“I guess... twenty?” Rab said. “Unless more have come while we were away.”
“How would more come?”
“We’ve been to a few villages that are still standing,” Rab said. “We left word about where to head to reach us.”
“West of here,” Nem said, waving her arm across the plain, “From what we’ve heard everything up north where you came from is gone. Wrecked. That’s why we were heading along the cliffs.”
“Looking for the wanderers,” Nem said. “Like you.”
Ell looked like she was about to start clapping and cheering.
“That’s fabulous! I’ve been looking for people just like you!”
“Looking for us?” Nem said.
“We thought we were looking for you,” Rab said.
Mat shrugged.
“Does it matter?” he said. “I think we can help each other.”
“Ell can make things,” said Pru. “She's going to start making a new village.”
“Have you actually made a house before?” said Nem, frowning.
“I’m sure I can make a house,” Ell said. She looked like she didn't doubt it for a second.
Rab and Nem looked at each other.
“That... that might be a really good thing,” Nem said.
“We can keep the mobs from spawning with torches,” Rab said, “But I don’t know what we’re going to do when the food runs out.”
“Can you make a farm?” Nem said.
Ell hesitated and looked up at Bren. The old man was watching all of them from the edge of the cliff where Pru was holding on to him. Bren nodded. Ell looked confident again.
“I can build. Bren there -” she pointed at him - “He’ll make sure I know how.”
Rab and Nem both looked at the old villager but before they could say anything Pru gasped.
“Mobs!” she shouted.
Two Ashmen were shuffling towards the group.
Jak jumped into action.
“Up!” he said. “Up the rocks, fast!”
But Rab looked at Nem.
“You want to take care of it?”
She didn’t answer him, she just fired two quick shots with her bow – thwap, thwap – and the mobs flashed and stopped for a moment, then kept coming.
“Tough ones,” she muttered.
Two more arrows flew and the mobs vanished.
“That’s incredible,” Jak said.
“You don’t have to worry about mobs at all!” Mat said.
Rab shook his head.
“Yes and no. We only have so many arrows.”
Nem was already running to collect the ones she’d shot.
Rab hefted his sword.
“After that it’s up to me, and I’d rather not spend all night fighting, if it’s all the same to you.”
The mobs were getting thick across the grassland. Thicker than usual, it seemed like.
Ell looked impatient to get going.
“I agree,” she said. “And I can’t wait to see your place. We can finally start putting things back together again.”
As they climbed slowly up into the mountains, Rab leaned in to Mat and said, “Who’s in charge? Is it Jak or Ell?”
“If you asked I think they’d both say it was them.”
“Hmph. Well if she can build a house to keep everyone safe and a garden to feed them, then I’m happy to let her be the boss. Taking care of everyone is a lot of work.”
“Jak’s pretty good at being outside,” Mat said.
“I noticed. We need villagers who aren't afraid to be out here. We need them badly.”
Eventually they reached level ground, and could walk again, on a dirt path that had tall rocks on either side, and started heading downhill. It was impossible to see anything about where they were – the path was surrounded by rock on both sides, and twisted and turned so that they could never see where they were headed.
“This place must be well hidden,” Jak said.
“Not so much,” said Nem. “We’re just taking the fastest route. It’s actually pretty open to the plains on the other side of these mountains.”
“We don’t want to be too secret,” Rab said. “People need to find us. But I was excited when we found the spot. We’re almost there, you’ll see.”
Ell stomped along impatiently while Pru trailed them all, helping Bren. Mat had dropped back and tried to give her a break, but she just shook her head.
“We have a way of doing this that works,” she said. “Plenty of practice. But thanks.”
She gave him a shy smile.
Pru seemed a lot more confident when she was busy taking care of someone. Whenever Bren was asleep she kind of faded into the background and just did whatever Ell told her to do.
But give her someone who needs help and she does whatever she has to, no matter how hard it is.
He had to admire that.
Rab walked ahead to catch up with Nem, and Jak and Mat trudged along together silently for a while.
“This has been a busy day,” Mat said. “Yesterday there was only the two of us.”
“Now we’re seven, and there’s twenty more up ahead,” Jak said.
“You sound worried.”
“That’s a lot of people to feed. To keep safe.”
“It’s better than not finding anyone,” Mat said.
His vision of walking through an empty land was fading. Now there were villagers. Lots of them.
Of course that made things a lot more complicated too, but it was definitely better than not finding anyone.
Jak shrugged.
“Maybe we’ll get lucky. Maybe somebody else from the village made it there too.”
Mat tried not to get too excited at the thought.
“Maybe,” he said. “But I don’t want to get my hopes up.”
Jak nodded grimly.
“Anyone is better than nobody.”
“Even Ell?”
Jak snorted.
“I don’t like it. It doesn’t seem natural. But if we can’t find a village then building one will do. For now, anyway.”
“What’s the alternative?”
“We keep going until we find a village that will take us in. A real village. They said they’d been to some.”
He nodded towards Rab and Nem.
“Why didn't they stay at those, I wonder?”
“I plan to find out. But one way or another we need somewhere for tonight.”
Nem dropped back towards them again.
“Are you watching out for those two?” she said, pointed behind to Pru and Bren. They were following along as fast as they could.
“We won't leave them behind,” Mat said.
Nem was the strangest villager he'd ever seen. She carried her bow and a quiver full of arrows like she’d been using them all her life. Her hair was a mess, like she hadn't even worried about taking care of it in days. But her eyes were bright. She was looking at them both like she was still evaluating them.
“How long have the two of you been away from your village?” Mat said.
She shrugged.
“I haven't counted. It's been a while.”
“You said you've been to other villages,” Jak said.
Nem nodded again.
“Three now. All of them over that way.”
She pointed in the direction of the mountains.
“There's more grassy plains on the other side. We came over some other kind of hills, then through a long tunnel, but I think we started out way over there, too.”
She pointed back in the direction Mat and Jak and the others had come from.
“Whatever is going on, it's villages up that way that are getting burned.”
Jak frowned.
“Why didn't you stay at them? At the villages you found?”
She gave him a sour smile.
“We tried to at first. Thing is, not everybody is ready to take in new villagers.”
Mat didn't like the sound of that.
“Why not?” Jak said.
“Too many people, not enough food. That's what they said, anyway.”
“So that means...” said Mat.
She nodded.
“We weren't the first. Sounds like there have been a lot of lost villagers.”
“That's terrible,” Mat said. “They just turn them away?”
“Truth is, I think they're afraid.”
Jak snorted and rolled his eyes.
“Afraid of what?”
“Not enough to eat, maybe. Or maybe what they might be letting in.”
“What does that mean?”
But suddenly Nem looked like she thought she'd said too much.
“We can talk about it later. We're almost there.”
She trotted ahead to catch up with Rab and Ell.
Mat and Jak looked at each other.
“What did she mean?” Jak said. He looked like he thought Mat might have an answer.
“I don't know. But there's something strange going on.”
Not that they needed anyone to tell them that. What they'd seen at the village full of Gray Walkers was more than enough to make that clear.
Nem was kind of like Jak, Mat realized. She seemed almost at home out here. Outside. Away from the village. He never stopped feeling lost, feeling like he wanted to run into a house and shut the door, but Jak and Nem didn't give him that feeling. Pru seemed more like Mat. He'd seen her looking all around, like she was hoping to suddenly see the light of a torch somewhere in the distance.
Though from what Nem said, even if that happened, they might not be able to stay. Of course, if a village wouldn't take them in, they had Ell now. Making a village seemed like a crazy idea, but then again just about everything that they were doing was nuts. So maybe making their own village was a good crazy thing to think about doing.
“Here we are,” Mat heard Rab said as he and Ell disappeared around another bend in the path ahead.
He heard Ell make a surprised noise.
Nem grinned back at him and Jak.
“We’re a little bit proud of this,” she said.
Mat glanced back at Pru and Bren again but she seemed to be getting along without too much trouble. So he jogged a bit and turned the corner with Rab.
They were at the top of a long slope.
At the bottom of the slope there was a thin, grassy bit of land going out into the water. It ended in an island. Not a huge island - it was probably about the size of a village. There was a hill covered with trees in the middle.
Torches lit up the whole thing, so that it glowed bright in the darkness.
“Look at that,” Jak said. It was the first time he'd heard Jak sound impressed with something.
Nem was still grinning.
“No dark spots, so no mobs spawning! We knew this was the perfect spot as soon as we saw it.”
“It's amazing,” Mat said.
“Where did you get all the torches?” Jak said.
“Same place that we've been getting food. The burned villages.”
There were villagers on the island. Mat could see them sitting together in little groups.
He almost wanted to cry.
There were no houses, true. But it was basically a village apart from that.
Pru came up behind them, leading Bren. Mat could see the look in her eyes. He knew how she was feeling.
“I can't believe it,” she said. “I thought...”
She shook her head.
“I know,” Mat said. “Do you think Ell will be able to do what she says?”
“Yes,” she said. There was no doubt in her voice. “This is it. This is the place we've been looking for.”
Bren was looking at the island too. It was the first time Mat had seen him interested in something.
“Are you coming?” Ell yelled at them. She was standing with Rab at the bottom of the slope, watching them all.
On the far side of the trail of land leading out to the island, there was a swamp. Mat could see mossy trees in the last dim orange light of the sunset.
“We should hurry,” Pru said.
Mat wanted to start running down the slope and out towards the light and safety of the island, but he couldn't do that. He couldn't leave Pru behind taking care of Bren. So he walked along slowly beside the two of them until they were all at the bottom of the hill.
Ell looked impatient to get out to the island.
“Okay, lets go,” she said the second they were all together.
But before they even started moving Rab held up his hand for her to stop.
“What?” she said, staring at him.
She looked a bit offended that he was telling her what to do.
“Um, let's just wait here for a second, okay?” Nem said.
“You want to give the mobs a fair chance at catching us?” Jak said.
“No,” Nem said. “We just have to do one more thing.”
Rab suddenly yelled out towards the swamp.
“Rezab!”
Pru jumped at the sound. Jak suddenly looked suspicious and he stared hard at Mat. Mat knew that look.
Get ready to run.
That's what it meant. But if this was all somehow... what? A trap? What then?
He wasn't going to turn and run away. There was no way he could leave Pru and Ell and even Bren behind. On the other hand, what could he do?
“Rezab!” Rab yelled again. “Getting kind of dark out here. Can you hurry?”
There was a splashing sound out in the swamp.
Something was coming towards them.
Jak took a step backwards.
Mat knew he was getting ready. He just didn't know if he was going to follow.
I'm not just leaving them behind.
He could see that the villagers on the island were watching, too.
What is this?
Then he heard the sound. He'd only read about it, but he knew what it was the second he heard it. Laughing. Something was laughing to itself. Cackling, even.
A witch emerged from the swamp, headed straight for them with a nasty smile on her face.