Roots of Earth ~ A Ninjago Fanfiction

Chapter 98: Getting into Jëmlen

Yarida tittered, "You've just had seven!"

"I'z need one fer the'h road." He staggered to his feet and leaned on the mantle. "Jus' one more."

"He's been seeing for hours," Yarida scoffed. She used her spoon to gesture to the entrance. "Just take him out into the sunlight. That'll help him come to."

"Seeing? Seeing what?" She did not reply, however, instead returning to her chores, so Kai snatched Garagan's arm and tugged him out of the kitchen. Garagan snorted and rubbed his eyes as they stepped into the courtyard and warm sunlight bathed over them.

"Hey, c'mon!" Kai snapped. "We were supposed to leave an hour ago!"

Garagan waved him off. "A'right, a'right, ease up there, lad—gimme a minute. Bit dizzy." He inhaled deeply and stared straight ahead of himself, blinking slowly. The glazed look in his eyes seemed to melt away, although they left his once-blissful expression now looking sad.

"Are we going or what?"

"I know, I know, oi!" He grimaced, as if the sound of Kai's voice hurt his ears. "Just shut up and get on yer horse."

Kai bit back a scathing retort. He saw two horses saddled and tethered to a post by the gates of the castle; one was the large chestnut bay Garagan had ridden the other day, the other being a shorter, black-pelted beast with a white star in the middle of its forehead. Garagan took the reins of the bay and swung himself into the saddle with a low grunt.

I've never gotten on a horse before, Kai realized. He pushed aside the feeling of uncertainty that immediately began to nag him. "Can't be that different from riding a dragon..." he muttered to himself as he walked up to the black horse. Its ear twitched as it looked at him inquisitively.

This feels like the time we had to ride those wollopers. "OK, stay still, big guy," he muttered. He took the reins and made a large, awkward jump; he landed with his belly on the saddle and already sliding out. He scrabbled frantically at the reins, pommel and the horse's mane for a moment before managing to pull himself up into a suitable sitting position.

"Ha!" Garagan heaved a rasping chuckle. "You look like you've never been horseback before."

Kai felt his face burn, but he curled his lip. "Where I come from, I don't need to ride a horse."

"Sure, sure." The man was still chuckling when he nudged his horse and made his way down the path out of the open gates. Hastily Kai imitated his kicking motion into the horse's belly; his steed took off with a jolt and quickly joined Garagan.

The two horses clip-clopped their way briskly down the broken path until they hit the grass and delved in between the trees. Kai looked back one last time at the dilapidated castle sitting atop the hillside, then turned in the saddle to face Garagan, who rode beside him.

After several minutes of silence, he spoke up. "So, uhh— what's the plan, exactly?"

Garagan responded without looking at him. "We get to the country. I've got a friend who'll get us into Jëmlen. That'll be risky, but once we're in, we'll basically have run o' the place so long as we don't attract unwanted attention to ourselves. We wait for the signal, then open the way for our pals to get in. Slishy-slash here, stabby-stab there, and boom, we've got the whole city under siege."

"Right. Cool." Another minute of silence fell between them.

Chatty. Kai ventured to say, "So, I heard that you were once a Pingouser?"

Garagan shot him a nasty look—Kai almost shrank back from the force. Then he snorted and rolled his eyes. "Kids' gossip spreads faster than a summer forest fire, don't it? Aye. Still am a Pingouser. I'm not one to forget my roots."