 | Antaran's Journal |
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We... lost.
When I came into the office today, everything was gone. Every package, every letter - disappeared. Tartek was standing in front of his table, watching a person who was sitting in his chair. Officer Weiler. "You're late for work, Sir Sivand! This is not a good sign of responsibility," came through his fat throat. The following laughter almost sounded like he was gargling. I went closer to Tartek. He didn't look at me. His eyes were fixated on the floor in front of his feet. "Where is Bikk? And Jonar?" I asked. "They have been promoted," Weiler answered. He scratched his chin, which resulted in an ugly sound. "Promoted?" "Yes. You see, Sir Sivand, there are three different kinds of people. Those who follow orders, those who don't and those who give them. Most people who follow orders by the people who create those usually have better chances in life. You, however, have decided to let that chance go away and slip through your fingers." He laughed so hard, that his whole body seemed to be one giant collection of ripples. "What does this mean?" I asked impatiently. Tartek looked at me and slowly shook his head, then continued staring at the floor. "Well, to put it in words even you will understand, your actions, or rather, your not-actions, have been the cause of various complaints throughout Insomida and even damaged Insomida's image in other cities and villages. We have received a very angry message directly from a servant of a priest of Namtolan, who just spent two nights in Insomida on his way back home." Officer Weiler stood up - it must have taken the strength of ten horses to get his weight off the chair - and walked towards us with both arms folded behind his back. "And that was not the only message we got. Apart from politically important persons, the casual people were really upset as well, naturally. When they heard that the workers of the Insomida Delivery Service were on strike, they couldn't believe it! They requested immediate exchange of workers." I didn't really want to believe what I had heard either, it just hurt too much. This was one of those situations in which I wanted to wake up and realize that it was just a nightmare. "Since you have not only denied your work, but also poisoned the opinion which people in this country have of Insomida, you fall under paragraph 61 of the Insomida Law - a major threat to the city, and therefore to the townsfolk and especially, the royal family. A damaged image will have affect on political influence, as well as on a merchant's decision whether to sell goods here or elsewhere, leading to less money for the commonality." He made a small break and still continued to grin. "In this case, the law offers you the choice between the honorable way of execution, or to go into exile and forever dream of your embarrassing deeds." Tartek didn't hesitate any moment, quickly drew a small knife out of a small sheath on the back of his right leg and forced the tiny blade upwards through Officer Weiler's chin. Gargling and still grinning, Weiler fell down on the ground, spilling blood like the fountain on the Insomida Market would spill water out of its three mouths. Almost at the same moment four Insomida Guards stormed the room through the front entrance. "Get behind me!" Tartek yelled. I jumped behind his back, when Tartek grabbed a chair and smashed it into pieces on the head of the first guard, used the remaining pieces to stab the second man into his neck from the left and right side, followed by a hard kick on the chest with Tartek's right foot, which let the second man fall on the other two. All three guards fell down the few stairs outside the post office, the third got his neck broken by the weight of the fourth guard and the corpse of the second. I could hear him desperately trying to breath and choking painfully on his own blood. Tartek nodded at me. "Get Carana, I will pick up Sereliaen. We'll meet at the stables. Take this." He drew a sword out of the sheath of the first Insomida Guard and gave it to me. "I haven't swung a sword in years!" I said. "Congratulations. Let's celebrate later," he mumbled and jumped over the three guards lying on the stairs, killing the fourth guard with a simple cut through the chest. Then he ran away. Everything felt unreal. I moved my legs so fast that I could have sworn that I was already flying. My heart was about to explode, it pumped so much blood through my veins that it hurt. I arrived at home, kicked the door in and called for Carana. She looked up from her new painting, saw the sword in my hand, Weiler's blood on my clothes, stood up and nodded. She perfectly understood everything within the blink of an eye. It took her a small moment to get her dagger, her coat, a small bag with bread and a small piece of cheese and my journal. She put on her boots and followed me outside. We took a quick and probably last look at our house and ran to the stables. Almost there we crossed the way of three guards, who drew their swords immediately. Carana jumped to the right, dodging a sword blow, drawing her dagger, holding it with both hands and stabbing the guard who just attacked her between his shoulder blades. Holding my sword with both hands I parried an attack from another guard, which sent an unbearable amount of pain through my arms. I tried to ignore it, parried again, and again, until I almost fainted because of the pain. I heard the third guard who was trying to fight against Carana, and I countered yet another attack. I felt tears of pain rolling down my face. I fell on my back and with my last strength and closed eyes I held my sword against what should be the final stroke of my life - but then I heard her steps, graceful jumps and the horrible gargling sound of a cut throat. I opened my eyes and saw Carana's inviting left hand. She helped me getting up on my feet again. Everything from my head downwards felt absolutely numb, but we had to move on. At the stables we saw Tartek and his wife sitting on two horses. "Hurry up!" he yelled from afar. In the corner of my eyes I saw two old people, the owners of the stables, lying on the ground. Carana chose a black horse and quickly sat on top of it. I had no idea how I got up my horse, but the dozen Insomida Guards that were coming towards us gave me strength. We rode away, ran over a few guards, passed Scarlat's Inn, crossed the market place where everyone screamed and jumped out of the way. We reached the gate that lead outside the walls of Insomida, saw about two dozen Insomida Guards waiting for us and - just rode right through them. Swords cut wounds into the flesh of our horses, four guards got crushed beneath the hooves, Tartek decapitated four or five men, my sword cut off an arm or two and slipped through the breast plate of yet another Insomida soldier. Arrows got shot down on us from the top of the gate. With an unbelievably quick move I saw Carana dodging one arrow before it could hit her in her forehead. One arrow hit Tartek's left arm and his painful scream let his anger kill one more of the guards. We were through. Our horses rode as fast as possible. A few arrows still tried to desperately hit our flesh, but they all hit the ground around us. I saw Sereliaen bleeding on her right leg and Tartek looking at her with a worried face, then concentrating on riding again. We rode into the Insomida Woods. It must have been almost midday when we reached a small clearing. Our horses were noticeably exhausted. All of them were bleeding out of at least four or five wounds. We spotted a pond near the edge of the clearing and let our horses drink out of it. With a few shreds of cloth we took care of some of the wounds of our horses and the heavy wound on Tartek's left arm after he had taken the arrow out by himself. We didn't speak for a long time. After we had rested for a bit, we continued to ride through the woods until late at night. We still had not reached the end of the forest and it was really hard to see where we were riding. Finally, Tartek suggested to take a break for the rest of the night. The ground is quite dry, considering the current season. Tartek even succeeded in making a fire out of the wood higher up in the trees. It took him quite a while though. We couldn't find any sleep, even though we all tried. Once we were almost asleep Tartek suddenly stood up and yelled: "Who's there?" I quickly got up on my feet as well, ran to him and shut his mouth with my right hand. With the other one I pointed at Carana. Tartek raised his eyebrows when he heard her whispering. Sereliaen woke up and touched Tartek's left hand. He sighed and lied down again. I still can't sleep so I'm probably the one guarding the others while they are asleep, although I find that kind of ironic. I have serious problems writing with my right hand, I hope it's still readable for whoever is reading this. I don't know how I feel, or how I should feel. I'm sitting very close to Carana, so that we can share warmth. She stopped whispering a while ago, this usually means that she doesn't dream anymore. I never really found out if that is true though... The fire is still burning well, I don't think it will go out before morning. Hm... I wonder where we will go now ... I have to take a short break from writing now, my hand is about to fall off... |
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