Chapter 8: Crossroads (Part 1)​
328 4 4
X
Reading Options
Font Size
A- 15px A+
Width
Reset
X
Table of Contents
Loading... please wait.

(Author's Notes: Since someone pointed out a big plot hole in some future content, Mark is 30 now. Sorry about the Mix up, Lets pretend this did not happen.)

Chapter 8: Crossroads (Part 1)

Time passed and as the road improved the group made steady progress along the highway. Despite spending two more nights traveling, they’d yet to see another living soul. Alex frowned to himself as he watched the abandoned highway. They were nearing a major intersection that divided into the north and south; by all accounts, the road should be bustling with caravans and adventures as they went on their way. Alex looked over at Mark; the older man’s eyes were sharp and focused as he kept watch over the surrounding area, it seemed he’d noticed as well. Alex spoke, his voice almost a whisper as he stopped the carriage near the intersection,

“This isn’t right. What is going on here?”

Mark looked out into the trees off the side of the road and squinted he eyes are he attempted to see past the dark shadows they cast. He couldn’t see anything, but he felt a chill run down his back as he watched the tree branches sway in the light wind. His instincts were screaming at him to leave, yet he could not tell where the feeling was coming from. Mark looked towards the back of the carriage and made eye contact with Tsutsuji. The little Guide sat cross legged near Merry as the child slept in the back, a contemplating look on her face. He turned back and Alex spoke,

“Let’s get out of here. The quicker we make it to town, the quicker we can find out what’s going on.”

Alex nodded before flicking the reins. The carriage shook slightly as it started up again, the quickly started on its way past the intersection and towards Whitewood. Shortly after the carriage passed by, there was movement from either end of the intersection heading towards the north and south. A few moments passed and close to a dozen short figures stepped out from the deep shadows; the cloaks they wore patched with green and brown and covered in branches, leaves, and other such things.

The tallest of the newcomers was no more than 5’3, and as he walked towards the road leading to Whitewood, the others quickly moved out of the way. He stared after the long gone carriage for a moment, as a wide mouth evil grin slip his face in two, thin needle like teeth visible from under the heavy hood.

___________________

~~~~ At the Carriage ~~~~

Mark rubbed his tired eyes; as they got farther from the intersection, he could feel the sense of danger lessening yet he couldn’t help but sigh. Ever since he’d come to this world he could feel his fatigue building up. It did not help that the little girl had made him read with her for the past few nights. He looked back at the peacefully sleeping girl and frowned a little. When he turned his eyes back towards the road, they went wide in shock. As they came around the bend, the distant dark brown and greens of the forest were replaced by rows and rows of large white objects.

At first glance, Mark was not sure what he was looking at. It appeared as though he’d stepped into a field of rough marble pillars, streaked with dark veins. He could not help but stare, mouth agape when he realized what they were. Trees. Rows of neatly organized trees, roughly 4 meters tall. The branches at their top were crossed and woven together as they stretched towards the sky, reminding Mark of the Dragon’s Blood Trees he’d seen once while on deployment.

From the branches of several trees, dark, blood red flowers hung down, similar to a Wisteria, swaying gently in the wind.

“Wow, Pretty.”

Mark looked down at the sudden voice to find Tsutsuji laying on Merry’s head as the two peaked out of the back. While Tsutsuji’s eyes were sparkling as her mouth hung open, Merry watched in silence; though there was excitement her eyes, there was a shadow of sadness as well. Mark turned back around and nodded his head. He focused his mind on one of the large trees and activated Examine;

--------------------------------------------------
Whitewood Tree
Index Entry
: The namesake of the Western Trade City, Whitewood, as well as one of its major exports. The Whitewood tree has been cultivated for centuries and is said to have been the result of experiments carried out by the Ancients. Whitewood is extremely durable and almost as hard as steel as well being extremely beautiful, made famous around the world. The slight metallic properties of the wood even allow it to be beaten into shape to some extent, allowing weapons and armor to be ‘forged’ from it. The fruit of this tree is considered a delicacy among the wealthy, and its sap and flowers have extensive use as medicine. All of this results in the price of even a single Whitewood tree being astronomical, and a large portion of the city Whitewood’s wealth is owed to this plant.
--------------------------------------------------

Mark raised an eyebrow as he read through the text. While he hadn’t expected the trees to be normal, he had to admit he was surprised. He was shaken from his thoughts a moment later, as Merry tugged on his sleeve and pointed down the road. Though still some distance away, Mark could make out the figure of people walking around a barrier in the road. He turned to Alex, only to the young man frown. As they neared the barricade, a large rough looking man standing a little over 6 feet walked forward. He was an older man somewhere between his late 40s or early 50s given the streaks of white that marred his short brown beard and cropped hair. The man stopped in the middle of the road and called out to them.

“Halt! State your names and origin!”

Alex stopped the carriage some distance away before standing on the seat and pulling a scroll case from under his coat. He held it up so that the large black and gold seal could be seen, before speaking in a loud voice.

“I am Alexander Lūceō of Grandeur. I am correct in assuming that you are Duchess Whitewood’s men?”

At Alex’s words, the group behind the large man broke out in the sound of chatter. The Large man raised his hand to silence the commotion before carefully walked towards the carriage, his hand never leaving the hilt of the long sword at his waist. The man gave Mark a suspicious glance as he reached up and took the scroll case. He looked over the seal in detail, before popping the end of the case open and withdrawing a thick parchment.

He unfurled the parchment and read its contents, his brow furrowing as he did. He finally rolled the parchment up and placed it back into the scroll case. Handing the case back to Alex, the man turned towards the men standing on the road and called out in a loud voice,

“Move the barricade!”

Before turning back to Alex and motioning for them to follow. Alex gave a sigh of relief, then taking up the reins, he drove the carriage slowly behind the large Man. As they passed the barricade they arrived in a small military style camp. Several soldiers approached the carriage leading it to the side so that it could go through inspection. At first, the soldiers were surprised when they found the small injured girl resting in the back, but after Alex had explained the events of the last week, their looks of suspicion turned into pity. As for Tsutsuji, while Mark could hear the odd whisper from the surrounding men, he was surprised at how calm they were, given Alex’s initial reaction.

The group now waited as the camp medic examined Merry in a nearby tent, Tsutsuji remaining with her. As they waited, the Large man who introduced himself as Jonathan, motioned the two men towards the largest tent in the middle of the camp. Entering in, they found contained only a small cot and dresser taking up one corner while most of the floor space was taken up by a large desk in the back and a long table sitting in the middle. Both the desk and the table were filled with paperwork and several soldiers bustled around as they worked.

Jonathan led them towards the back and motioned for them to sit down, before taking a seat behind it. After a moment of moving papers around, Jonathan had Alex recount the events leading up to this point in detail. Mark, for his part, simply sat quietly with his arms crossed, content to be ignored. Alex proceeded to tell their story, omitting or changing some details in light of Mark’s situation. Jonathan’s frown depend as he listened to the story, as he began to grumble in frustration,

“Forest Goblins, on the Trade road? Well, at least it is starting to make some sense now.”

Alex tilted his head and asked in a questioning tone,

“You already had some information?”

Jonathan sighed and leaned forward before shaking his head.

“Some, but not much. Since about ten days ago there have been several reports of attacks by bandits along the route. Any convoys that left the City would be ambushed from the shadows and forced back. The strange thing was, the attackers would never show themselves; normal bandits would approach and demand a toll or goods, no reason to fight if you can intimidate the other side into giving up. But whoever was behind the recent string of attacks would do so without warning, firing bows from the shadows or attacking at night. Those that survived could not give a proper description. Eventually, the mercenaries and adventurers stopped taking the escort jobs and the caravans were stranded.”

Alex looked down as he leaned back in contemplation. If that was true, then it would explain why they hadn’t seen anyone along the roads. More so if it was happening at the other ends of the highway as well. But something still didn’t sit right with Him. Why were Forest Goblins, a race that should not have any foothold in this area, attacking the trade route? And if they were, then…..

“...Barring the first attack, why did we not see them again? They had nearly a week to finish the job, but they never did.”

“That is what I would like to know. What makes this instance different?”

“Could the first fight have scared them off?”

“Unlikely. Even given the fact that you managed to kill a good number, an injured man and a random passerby should not have posed much of a challenge if they had gathered reinforcements. It’s possible that their attention was drawn elsewhere and you simply got lucky. Or it may be…”

“…They’d finished what they were there to do.”

Mark spoke out for the first time since sitting down. Jonathan gave Mark a silent gaze before nodding his head.

“Yes. It’s possible that yours was simply the last one before they completed their objective or they had done so in-between then and now. Whatever the case, we’ll not know until we send out a scouting party. As for you lot, you are free to head on to Whitewood as soon as the inspection is done.”

Jonathan shifted through the papers on his desk as he spoke, before pulling out one and handing it to Alex. Alex looked down to find it was a gate pass for their clearance into the city. At that time, a small voice called from the front of the tent,

“Hey, we’re back!”

The three men looked over to see Tsutsuji laying on top of Merry’s head, as the little guide called out, ignoring the glances from the surrounding soldiers. Merry was wearing a clean new dress and bandages; the dirt and grime from the road had been wash clean and her shoulder length chestnut hair was still slightly wet. The little girl seems slightly nervous from the stares of the soldiers, as she clung to the leg of the older female medic who walked beside her, the woman holding Merry’s ever present book in her other arm.

The Medic gave the watching soldiers a threatening glare as they broke out in a cold sweat and quickly turned back to their work. The three ladies made their way to the back of the tent and met with the waiting men. Jonathan looked at the medic with a gentle smile and asked,

“Thank you, Sam. I hope she was not much trouble?”

Samantha looked down at Merry with a smile and patted the side of her head,

“It was fine, we just had a little girl talk. She’s a very smart young lady.”

Jonathan looked up at Samantha and gave her a wide grin. The little girl reminded him of their own daughter when she was her age; he could just imagine his Wife and Chief Medical Officer chatting the girl’s ear off. Samantha bent down to look a Merry and handed her the book with a smile. The little girl latched onto the book and quickly moved to a nearby corner, sitting down with Tsutsuji as she opened it up.

Samantha watched the girl for a moment, before standing and turning back to her Husband with professional eyes. Jonathan met her eyes and asked in a low tone,

“So, how was she?”

“Better than I imagine she was before, but she’s still in rough shape. Her bruising has started to lessen and the internal damage was minor for the most part, though her shoulder will still take a few days to heal. I guess we should be grateful for the healing ability of a young body, though it's thanks in part to the fact that she was strong, to begin with. I say all of this, but unfortunately her eye….”

She slowly turned around to look at Merry reading her book, a sad look crossing the Medic’s face as her voice trailed off. Mark could guess what she wanted to say; He’d seen similar wounds during his time; they never ended on a happy note. Samantha turned back and sighed, speaking in a sad voice,

“Honestly, I’d want her to stay her for at least another week. She’s fine now, but without adequate rest, there could be complications.”

“Unfortunately, I can’t allow that. Given the current situation, there is no telling what may happen. It’s best to send her off to town for the time being. We can check up on her later if you wish. I’ll send someone ahead to inform the Duchess of this matter as well as the new Information. Anyway, the inspections should be finished by now. I do hope you forgive the inconvenience, it’s simply regulation.”

As he finished speaking, Jonathan stood and walked around his desk, gesturing for the group to follow him out. Merry and Tsutsuji, seeing the group move, closed the book and quickly followed. At the tent entrance, Samantha parted from the rest; she first said her goodbyes to the men then bent down and wrapped Merry in a long embrace, before patting Tsutsuji on the head.

Jonathan leant in and gave her a light peck on the cheek as she passed. The soldiers working on their paper work began to boo and jeer at their commander as he did; the burning glare from Samantha quickly silenced their heckling, though her face had turned a bright red before she exited the tent and headed back towards the medic tents.

Jonathan watched her go, then turned back to his guests and led them to the Inspection area. By the time they arrived, the inspection team had finished their work and was prepping the Carriage for departure. Seeing Jonathan walk up, a nearby soldier quickly headed in their direction, handing him a clipboard with several pieces of parchment attached. He flipped through the information before stopping on a certain page. Jonathan looked at the page for a long while, muttering to himself in a voice Mark was barely able to make out,

“So it was there after all. Is there a connection? Or just coincidence?”

Shaking his head as if to clear a fog, he motioned for the nearby Quartermaster and pointed to a few items on the list, then turned to Alex.

“Speak to my Quartermaster before you head off. We’re short on supplies since the caravans stopped coming, so we’ll buy what you have at a premium. Just don’t tell me, Boss.”

He finished with a chuckle before saying his goodbyes, patting Merry gently on the head and heading back to the command tent. Alex walked over to the Quartermaster and began to discuss their trade, while Mark brought Merry to the Carriage, Tsutsuji leisurely hovering after them. Mark lifted the little girl into the back and sat her in her spot. He frowned as the new bandage covering one side of her head caught his eye as it peeked out from under her hair. He did not know if she fully understood what it meant for her yet, but he still could not help but feel his shoulders sag, as if under some immense weight.

Turning around and leaving the girls to their play, Mark caught sight of Alex as he walked back towards them, a large grin on his face. The Quartermaster had not bought everything, but now only a few small boxes sat inside the carriage. Mark raised an eye at the three bags in Alex’s hands; peering inside, he found each contained a jumble of strange coins. The largest bag contained a large number of small gold coins, slightly larger than a US Nickel, but twice as thick, making Mark’s eyes bulge. As a man who grew up in the era of credit cards and paper bills, He’d rarely seen real gold if it was not in the form of jewelry. He did not know how his modern understanding of gold translated to this world, but he could recognize that this was a huge amount of money.

Alex discreetly took this bad and stashed it under the Driver’s Box, in the same hidden compartment that had held the Apothecary’s Kit and Merry’s book. The next back was slightly larger than a grapefruit and contained 50/50 split of large and small silver coins; the small silver coins were the same size as the gold coins, while the larger silver was between a US Quarter and US Half Dollar in size, again twice as thick, but the edges had a slight round bulge to then, as if they were cut from the center of a sphere. This bag, Alex split roughly in two and handed one-half to Mark, who followed Alex in tucking it securely away on their person.

The third bag was a small purse like pouch filled with a mix of large and small strange azure colored coins, the same size and shape as the silver ones. On closer inspection though, he realized that they were in fact oxidized bronze coins. This one he again split and handed one-half to Mark. Mark would later learn that it had become customary to split funds among party members when entering a new town, that way if one person happened to be targeted by a pickpocket or the like, then they would not lose everything.

Mark pulled out one of the smaller coins and activated Examine.

--------------------------------------------------
Trade Weight (Large Bronze, 10w)
Index Entry
: Standard Currency used by Traders throughout the world. Issued by the Global Trade Initiative. They are double stamped with a complex scale symbol, causing their edges to bulge and round.
6 standard denominations
Small bronze -- Large bronze -- Small Silver -- Large Silver -- Small Gold -- Large Gold.
Non-Standard denominations include high-value bank notes and regional coinage.

Global trade Initiative was established by allied countries on all 4 Continents to standardize international trade. Trade Weights follow strict regulation and are accepted in most countries.
Their use has become so prevalent by the common man, many countries have discontinued the stamping of their own coins.
--------------------------------------------------

Examining each in turn, he saw that the value of each coin was as follows,

1 weight = 1 Small Bronze
10-W = 1 Large Bronze
100-W = 1 Small Silver
1,000-W = 1 Larger Silver

Using those number, he could infer that the small gold coins were worth 10,000w and the yet to appear Large Gold was 100,000w. While He still did not know what that value implied, Mark felt that his initial assumption was correct.

Hiding the bags one more, Mark and Alex began the final preparations for their departure, then headed back on the road to Whitewood.

(Author’s Note: Mark will figure it out later along the way, but for the reader’s sake; 1 small Bronze is valued roughly $0.10 USD, so 1 Large Bronze is $1.00 USD, 1 Small Silver is $10.00 USD etc)
___________________________________________

Roughly 30 minutes later, the carriage approached the City walls. To Mark’s surprise, what he saw was not the classical rough stone or brick walks one would expect from an Otherworld setting; what met him was dark Grey, almost black slabs that to his surprise, appeared to be made of some kind of concrete. Alex gave a laugh as he saw Mark gawking at the strange sight,

“Ugly, aren’t they? Not many people know, but Whitewood, before it was Whitewood, was a Grandeur Fortress built to keep Malignant hoards out of the South Continent. Not particularly sure how it’s done, but the walls are made with the Ancient’s technology and have stood longer than the oldest Whitewood tree in the Grove.”

Mark simply nodded his head as he looked at the massive 15-meter tall walls. The Carriage approached the city gates, and Alex called out to the surprised Gate Guards. Since the traffic had stopped some time ago, and combined with the pass from Jonathan, the gates were quickly opened and Alex drove into the City, Whitewood spreading scenically out in front of them.

4