ChiarOscuro/Book One/Episode Three - A Snake Eating It's Own Tail

VIII - Five

VIII - Five

(2,992 Words)

THE SEARCH FOR BARUTO

-DAKAR-

'This place is so dark and filthy, how has this man lived here all these years” he thought to himself as he strode into the lower west wing and stumbled into the cooking area to find plates, boiling pots, cups and glasses all left dirty, piled up on a worm ridden shelf, with flies circling about the room and he pinched his nose as the smell made him almost wretch.

“Aughk” he said out loud as he sprinted out the room, his flame flickering as he ran down a short corridor before emerging into a bamboo built room with a large table, a couple of plates left on the table with rotted food and he shook his head a the sight although the bamboo interested him. Bamboo only grew to the south and was rumoured to grow in Decabia too and was hard to come by. He stroked it and felt it, checking the sturdiness and quality.

'This is what dad should be investing in, we would make a killing in the market' he thought to himself as he walked about the room and approached another arch.

There was a small flight of steps which he had to climb up and if it wasn't for the candle, he would have smashed face first into a wooden door. He pushed it open, needing some force before it dislodged and he stumbled into a library.

It was an insane collection of books and tomes, scrolls and maps, which filled all the bookcases which were lined up against all four sides of the wall and blocked out the window. Tables and cushions took up the centre of the room with several tomes left lying about. He knelt down and picked one up, looking at the yellow pages but the writing was one he didn't recognise.

'If that egg head Wexell was here now, he would be telling us the history of this poxy library. He always has something to say about everything, I'm sure he makes most of it up, just to sound intelligent' he thought to himself 'Might be that I'll have to read one of those books he's always going on about someday, see if he's telling the truth but..ugh, the thought of doing so bores me'

He walked around the the library realising there were no further corridors or rooms when the door slammed shut behind him, the force of the wind blowing out his candle.

“Well that's just great” he said as he waved his hands about in the darkness in despair.

'Once I find my way out of here, I'll let the others find the old man, this is not what I agreed to' he thought to himself as he felt his way along the bookshelves when his head banged against something hard and he collapsed to the floor with a loud thud, shouting in pain.

-WEX-

He had walked through several rooms already but had found no trace of the old man but what he had found now was a room full of weapons. Sword and spears stacked up on pegs and wooden shelves on the wall held bows and arrows, crossbows and full suits of armour from all corners of the world hung on hooks on the wall.

He looked around at each of them with wonder, stroking and holding each one when he heard a bang. He jumped and turned round, thinking he had dropped something but realised that wasn't the case.

He shrugged his shoulders as he went back to examining the delightful weapons. He imagined himself as a brave knight, travelling the lands and taking on all the enemies of the realm with an ebony glimmering sword in his hand as he span it about. After defeating the horrible beasts which threatened the realm, the king would shower him with gold, Dakar would have to bow down to kiss his boots and the princess's would all flock to him in awe but he would act like it was nothing to him, just a regular day in the life of Wex, the knight.