The Split World

Chapter III

Ꮖt had been exactly four days since the attack. The air was thin higher on the mountain. We stayed in a cave- inside of it was cheese that someone had been making.
A stream ran by the side of the cave, and a berry bush stood 10 meters away from the entrance to the cave.

Life was good. That was, except for the fact we had no home and our faction was destroyed, the magic smith having betrayed us.
Jen guarded the cave while I left to hunt animals in the forest and check the traps. The way to the forest at the foot of the mountain takes about 15 minutes to get to at walk.
At the bottom, I stood on the river bank and holding a spear, waited for fish to swim by.
After an hour, I had 3 fresh fish laying in my basket. Not a good day. Instead of continuing, I gave up fishing and checked all the traps.

Into the basket, accompanying the fish, I threw in 3 rabbits. All the other traps had been pried open- someone had stole my catches.

Back at the cave, I began to roast the fish and rabbits, while Jen went to collect berries. When she got back, we had lunch.
"This is delicious," Jen said, biting into a rabbit.
"Indeed. Alas, someone had been stealing from our traps." I replied.
"That's okay," Jen commented. "As long as they leave enough for us. There's lots of people who can't get food in this world."

But after a few days, the food had ran out. The people who stole from us seemed to get hungrier and hungrier, taking it all.
The only thing we could rely on was the fish, cheese, and berries, but the berries weren't plentiful, the fish were hard to get, and there was little cheese.

"We should catch the thieves," I thought one night as we lay in our sleeping bags in the cave.
"No!" Jen cried. "What if they try to kill us?"
I thought about it. "They'll kill us anyways, out of starvation."
"Maybe not," Jen said. "We can relocate the traps or move."
"I'll keep guard tonight,".I said getting out of the bag. "You did it yesterday."
"Okay..." Jen sounded unsure. It's not like I would try to catch the thief, right?

The moon was out and cast light through the dark night. I sat on a rock right outside the gaping mouth of the cave. The dripping of water inside our home could be heard.
I could almost see the rippling of the water down in the river. Picking up my spear and sliding my sword into my scabbard, I soundlessly got up and began to walk down to the river.

I'll admit, I had second thoughts. I owed so much to Jen after she had healed me and helped me so many times. And here I was, breaking one of her only requests.
Quietly, I got down to the river bed. Two traps had rabbits in them, ensnared and strangled. I began to climb up a tree on which I had a good view of both rabbit traps.

The water ran gently over the rocks, and reflected the white moonlight. The grass in the forest swayed gently in the cool breeze. I never appreciated nature much when I kept guard, but now I did.
A frog jumped along the sand and then plopped into the water.
After two hours, I heard the steps. A boy was walking across the river bank.
The boy had a levitating orb in his I hand that radiated light- he was a magician.
I tensed up and rubbed my eyes. I was tired.
It was around midnight. That meant Jen would wake up soon- I gasped.
And the boy heard. He stopped walking and narrowed his naturally narrow eyes.
To make it worse, he looked straight at me. My heart skipped a beat. I turned pale.
The next thing I knew, cold water was rushing over me. Picking up my head, I was in the river. The tree I was in had exploded from one single orb he had thrown. Then he pulled me up to my feet by my hair.
"Uh," I grunted. He threw me back down into the cold water. My muscles were numb and screamed for warmth.
Quickly, he put a knife to my neck.
I was out of breath and every time I inhaled I could feel the cold edge of the blade touch my neck. Cold water dripped from my hair, and the creek water ran across my lap.
I dared to speak. "How's life?"
He scoffed. "Interesting."
"What do you like to do?"
"Find the meaning of life."
"And half-murder people?"
"No, only if you're a threat."He brought he sword closer to my throat.
"I'm guessing you consider me a threat." I frowned.
"Sort of," he said. "You haven't proved yourself safe."
"And how would you do that? And why do you even care?" I crossed my arms. My teeth were chattering. "And can we get out of the water?"
"No."
"You're acting like you have control over me." I stated.
"I have a knife to your throat." He pressed it against my skin to reassure and remind me it was there.
"You take my food and then proceed to kill me?" I asked.
"What food? The rabbits in the snares?"
"Yeah."
"Nexellus doesn't need food. We have farms. We take so many factions, we get food ALL the time."
"Okay." Being part of Nexellus explained his hostility. "Can I go now?"
"No! Let me explain," he said. "Nexellus is running out of people. Other factions are becoming more powerful, and we're losing lots of battles. We're going to take you to our faction and brainwash you using powerful magic. We're doing it to lots and lots of people."

And with that he banged the hilt of his knife into my head and I blacked out.

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ᎣᏏᏲ,ᏙᎯᏧ? I'm learning Cherokee, yup. It's a Native American language. Do any of my readers speak it?