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Post by Ethereal Panda on Jul 23, 2009 12:48:22 GMT 9.5
Cliff lifted his chin and squinted at her giving a brisk nod. It didn't take long for Tex to reach the top. Once his ascension was complete, Cliff took hold of the rope giving it a firm tug. Satisfied, he turned to the other two for a moment before taking his first step. Being completely honest with himself, he acknowledged the fact that he had never done anything like this before. However, it didn't stop him from acting sure of himself. He turned back looking at his feet and said, "See you at the top."
The climb went mostly smooth the first quarter of the way. A few pebbles bounced down making audible clicks at the bottom and providing a not so subtle reminder of the consequence of failure. Shaking the thought from his mind, he continued climbing without pause until he made it half way.
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Post by Treijim on Jul 23, 2009 12:54:06 GMT 9.5
"You're doing good!" Tex called out from the top. "Watch our for the avalanche though!"
Laughing, he knocked some pebbles down with his shoes. They rolled past Cliff harmlessly. A moment later, a stone the size of a fist slammed into the stone beside Cliff.
"Tex!" Monopa yelled, much more intense than usual. "You're going home! Right now!"
"I can't," Tex teased. "Cliff is using the rope."
"Secure your own rope. Jump down. Roll down. I don't care. Get down here NOW!"
Tex shrugged and walked away, out of sight. Monopa sighed loudly and folded her arms. Jed shook his head and took to sitting down, assuming Cliff would take a while, having now being shaken up like that. None of the children noticed a great winged figure circling above, riding the silent wind like a leaf.
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Post by Ethereal Panda on Jul 23, 2009 13:10:09 GMT 9.5
The transaction of dialog went unnoticed to Cliff who was indeed now shaken up. His eyes were squeezed shut and he held the rope so tight his knuckles turned a milky shade of white. Taking a few breaths, he shook off the panic that had swept him. Looking to his right, he could see a powdery white from where the rock had crashed. He tried to inform Monopa that he was fine but his voice came out as a whisper.
After what felt like an eternity had passed, he slowly began his ascent once again. While climbing, he did notice the large bird, but the boy thought little of it, marking it as just one more unfamiliar creature of the valley. He remained attentive of moving his feet so as to not seem any more frightened than he already was.
At the top, he was relieved to not find Tex immediately in sight. The blond boy had wondered off ahead into a distant field. Cliff welcomed the privacy, sitting down trying to calm down from what felt like a near death experience. Calling over the edge in his best attempt of a manly voice he announced, "I am at the top! Tex has gone ahead!"
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Post by Treijim on Jul 23, 2009 13:19:39 GMT 9.5
"Good job!" Monopa called out from below.
From the top, the cliff didn't actually seem that high. It almost seemed short enough to be able to jump off, provided there was ample cushioning on the ground below. The land on top of the cliff was much like the land below; wide fields separating thick forests. From the top of the cliff, one could see most of the lower lands. To the west was a river coming from out of sight, and Gondarash was a tiny platter of beige shapes beside it, surrounded by open forest. Past that was a huge forest, and beyond that was the sparkle of a mass of water. Behind that, alpine forest rose sharply and mountains came from behind them. It seemed that the valley was separated into multiple levels, separated by cliffs. An even taller cliff sat on the east and went from south to north, again framed by conifers and mountains beyond. To the northeast was another forest, yet this one was different. There was a giant dead tree in the midst of it, visible from where Cliff stood, which was several kilometers away. Tex was heading towards it.
The bird-like creature began to descend gently in a spiral, and as it did so, it became clear that it was actually quite large -- at least as big as a horse. To boot, it had massive wings and a long tail, as well as four limbs with hands and claws like giant hooks... and it was heading for Tex.
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Post by Ethereal Panda on Jul 23, 2009 13:33:08 GMT 9.5
The boy sat for a moment watching the bird in awe. Only when he realized what was happening did Cliff spring to his feet. He spent a few seconds sprinting between Tex and then the cliff edge, uncertain of where he should go and what he should say next. Then in a moment of decision he ran as fast as he could towards Tex. Not able to remember the name of the bird Tex had told him the previous night, he just scream, "Bird! Biiird!" while waving his arms frantically. "Tex! Look up!" Cliff didn't know that his words would travel the distance. Instead, he ran as fast as his legs would take him.
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Post by Treijim on Jul 23, 2009 13:44:07 GMT 9.5
Tex stopped walking but didn't turn around. He'd either stood still to enjoy the scenery, or had heard Cliff but didn't want to entertain what would possible be a counter-joke. The bird began to edge down to swoop but something whirled past Cliff and almost struck the bird. Jed stood where the rope was secured; he had scaled the rocks in mere seconds.
He drew back another arrow and yelled surprisingly loudly, "Hen! Hen! You're just a chicken!"
It seemed that, at that moment, Tex realised what was happening. He spun round in time to see black talons reach for him. He dropped into the grass and the creature beat its wings and heave itself up into the sky again.
"Hen! Hen!" Jed kept taunting, his voice travelling farther than Cliff's. Eventually the creature -- the ferehen -- become bothered enough by the calling to change its target. It flew between the sun and Jed and then began to dive. Jed let loose an arrow into the blinding light and jumped to the side as the huge monster, evidently larger than a horse, crashed into the ground and then was launched over the edge of the cliff. It spun round in the air a few times, maintained flight, and screeched as it sped off into the distance.
Jed went to Cliff. "Are you all right?"
Monopa had now reached the top and she looked about slowly. "Where's Tex gone?"
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Post by Ethereal Panda on Jul 23, 2009 13:55:50 GMT 9.5
Any embarrassment Cliff may have normally felt after his erratic behavior was suppressed for the time being. "What do you mean am I alright?" Cliff stood stunned. "It tried to kill him," pointing over in Tex's general direction. Not only was the quickness of the whole event disorienting to Cliff, but the relative calm of the other two left him speechless. After the other two had walked past him, Cliff tried to reclaim his calm by standing upright and dusting of his shorts. He hastily shuffled his feet to catch up with the other two. "Do those, um, fer-," he paused, "attack often?" He asked with a forced disinterest in his voice.
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Post by Treijim on Jul 23, 2009 14:05:01 GMT 9.5
"Ferehen. No," Monopa said as she and Jed stormed forward to find Tex. "Normally at dawn or dusk, when the other animals are out. That's another reason why we always have fires going. Ugh, where is Tex?"
"Hiding," Jed said. "He's laughing."
Sure enough, somewhere on the wind, was the sound of suppressed laughter.
"Rawr!" Tex sprung up beside them. Monopa jumped. "Scared ya!" he teased.
"Go home, Tex," Monopa ordered. "I've had enough of you."
"I can't," Tex said innocently. "I might get eated. Do you want me to get eated?"
"Sometimes," Monopa said, turning back to the forest with the skeleton tree. "Fine, come with us. But if you mess around one more time, I'm going to let the king deal with you."
Tex just grinned at Cliff.
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Post by Ethereal Panda on Jul 23, 2009 14:12:11 GMT 9.5
Cliff, promptly forgetting the danger that just took place, sent Tex a cold glare for his antics on the cliff. Fortunately Monopa's large jump, masked Cliff's more subtle startled reaction. He huffed as he passed Tex, and took his place beside Monopa.
"Is that it?" he inquired. "It is... somewhat ominous," the boy commented on the skeleton tree without expression.
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Post by Treijim on Jul 23, 2009 14:26:26 GMT 9.5
"That's where we're going, yes," Monopa said. "Don't let the appearance trick you; the king is as old as the mountains. He's the one who gave us life. Rean is the one who ordered it to be so. I thank you, Rean, for the life you gave us." She held up one hand towards the tree but there was nobody else around.
"Hold on," Tex said, suddenly thinking. "Doesn't all that mean Cliff is on our side? I mean, if the ferehen attacked him, how could he have come from the water?"
"Aldon could have told it to," Monopa said. "We can only trust the king, not our own assumptions and reasoning. Aldon is deceitful and he could be trying to trick us. We're going to see the king, Tex, and you can't stop us. Why did you even want to come?"
"Because," Tex said, not finishing his sentence. He went and walked beside Cliff instead.
They eventually crossed the field and reached the forest surrounding the tree, aptly named Kingswood, and began to find their way into the twisted foliage. The sun was now getting quite high in the sky, and Tex had eaten all the food he brought with him. It had been a very long walk consisting of several hours now, and they had yet to even reach the king.
"One day I'm gonna train a remehen and teach it to fly me around," Tex said thoughtfully. He looked at Cliff. "Wouldn't that be awesome?"
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Post by Ethereal Panda on Jul 23, 2009 14:37:55 GMT 9.5
Cliff did what he was best at and remained quiet, just listening. Unsure of how to interpret their conversation, he simply committed it to memory assuming it would make more sense after the meeting with the king. He tried to ignore the continued lack of faith in him, but it pestered the back of his mind.
"Until it ate you," Cliff said plainly and then mimicked the claw motion Tex had previously taunted him with. Cliff hid a smirk in his eyes.
Instead of following up on the previous conversation, he asked a seemingly unprompted question. Once again feigning disinterest, as though making small talk, he asked, "What did the last strangers do?"
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Post by Treijim on Jul 23, 2009 14:50:26 GMT 9.5
Tex shoved Cliff gently when he taunted him but he laughed it off.
"What strangers?" Monopa asked, looking ahead and with her back to Cliff. Jed turned his head and gave Cliff a strange look which seemed to be a mix of 'where did you hear about that' and 'how dare you talk to us like that' but he showed no other signs of wanting to smack the boy over the head or anything violent.
They went deeper and deeper into the forest, again, walking for some hours, until the sun was well and truly above them. They came into a vast clearing which rose into a rocky hill. The hill was covered in thorny brambles and enormous roots grasped the whole bump in the earth like a wooden octopus. On top of it all, the dead tree rose up into the sky, seeming to scrape the clouds with its spine-like branches. Monopa told the three of them to stay where they were and then she approached the tree and threw back her head, raising both arms towards the heavens. She stayed like that for a minute and then turned back to face them.
"The king will have your offering now," she said, motioning for Cliff to come to her. She pointed to a flat slab of stone before her which looked like a seat. "Place your offering on the slab, and say this: 'Mighty king, I come before you to face your judgement'. Then you tell him what your name is, and you go up and touch him." She indicated a portion of bark behind her which seemed smoothed out. It looked as though someone had cleared away the thorns so that that part could be reached especially for some occasions.
"Begin."
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Post by Ethereal Panda on Jul 23, 2009 15:10:16 GMT 9.5
Perplexed, Cliff simply didn't inquire about the strangers any further, but he was pretty certain he hadn't misremembered.
"The king is a tree?" he inquired with some genuine surprise. Looking between the three to see if this was some form of practical joke, he received nothing but serious expressions. Figuring it was best to not tempt their god, or at least disobey them and get hurled off a cliff, he proceeded as they instructed.
Cliff approached the rock and gently placed the cloth wrapped offering on the smooth surface of the slap. He felt rediculous, but in a neutral voice, followed Monopa's instructions.
"Mighty king," he paused as though for effect, "I come before you to face your judgment. My name is Clifford Rammes."
He waited a moment in silence as though expecting to be struck down by lighting. After looking back for a moment at the other children for approval, he stepped around the slab and approached the tree. He reached out his hand and held it a few centimeters from the tree's wood. The hairs on the back of his neck rose up and he grew uneasy. Shaking his head with a smirk, he disregarded his discomfort as childish and placed his hand on the king.
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Post by Treijim on Jul 23, 2009 15:17:47 GMT 9.5
"Mighty king," Monopa began, "tell me now, is Clifford Rammes of the water? Is he our friend or our enemy?"
She turned around to face Cliff and continued to gaze skyward. She did so for a short while and at one point she frowned as though confused or unsure of something. Finally, after what seemed like a taunting length of silence, she let down her arms, went to Cliff, and placed her hand on his shoulder, meeting his eyes with hers. Her hand was unusually warm.
"You have been accepted," she said with a smile. "But don't lie to me again. Though I know you mean no harm, I cannot let you be one of us. I am told you are looking for something and that, to find it, you must eventually leave us. But in the meantime, I consider you safe enough to stay with us until you are ready to continue on your journey."
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Post by Ethereal Panda on Jul 24, 2009 4:06:05 GMT 9.5
Cliff stood confused for a moment. He hastily moved to Monopa's side tilting his head in an attempt to make eye contact. With a furrowed brow and an inquisitive look he asked, "Lie? What did I lie to you about?" He looked back over his shoulder at the skeleton structure with a dazed wonder.
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