Soul Caller 1 - Chapter 14 (Patreon)

As they got down from their horses to make camp, Merrick saw that they began to pull something out of their bags. Again, knowledge sprang to his mind. He didn't know how he knew that these were tents, but they were. He even knew what they were for. As soon as he saw them, it was like he had used them himself a million times.

Setting up the tents was a fairly simple task, and Evan and Dugan handled it by themselves. There were three small tents, one for each of them, and though Merrick didn't have a tent of his own, he didn't mind it too much. The air was starting to get cold as winter approached, but it wasn't so cold that he would freeze. And besides, this time he had brought a blanket. Getting ready to start the fire, Merrick gathered some wood and brought it to the middle of camp when he saw Dugan getting a small square box out of one of the bags the strangers had brought. Placing the square box on the ground, Dugan looked up and smiled at Merrick.

"We don't need your firewood, kid," he said, even though he didn't believe that Merrick could understand him. "Here, let me show you some magic."

Pressing the box on three sides, Dugan held it for a few seconds and then let go as the top of the box began to glow red with heat. Merrick crouched down next to him, looking at the box in confusion. He could feel the heat coming off of the top of it, though he had no idea how it had worked. Reaching out, he was about to touch it when Dugan slapped his hand away.

"That's hot! Hot, kid. I should have brought a translator, too. It's hot. Don't touch it. Evan, get over here."

Walking over, Evan looked at Merrick and then at Dugan and then down at the burner. Realizing what had happened, he laughed and pressed his translator.

"Listen, kid, you can't touch that. It'll burn you."

"How did he make the flame come on?" Merrick asked, looking up at Evan and then looking down at the burner.

Grinning, Evan crouched down next to him and pointed at it.

"That's because it's magic. It's got a manastone. Here, look."

Reaching out, he pressed the three sides, turning the stove off and flipped it over. There, embedded in the bottom, was another manastone, similar to the one he wore on the translator on his neck.

"See this stone? It gives power, big power. If you press here, here, and here, big power turns into big fire."

Merrick wanted to roll his eyes, wishing he could just ask Evan to explain it in his original language, as listening to the broken speech of the translator made him feel like an idiot.

"Can I use it?" he asked, crouching there with his arms crossed as he stared at the device.

"Yeah, anyone can use it. Just touch here, here, here. You try."

Nodding, Merrick reached out as he had seen the others do and held the box on three sides, waiting for the flame to come on. After five seconds, it did, and his eyes widened with surprise. Seeing his look, Evan laughed, tapping on his translator.

"I love seeing these guys surprised," he said to Dugan with a grin. "They've never seen anything like this stuff. They must think it's witchcraft."

"Well, it sort of is," Vale said, climbing out of his tent and brushing his hands off. "I mean, it is magic, after all."

"Oh, you know what I meant," Evan replied.

"Stop trying to impress the native and get dinner on," Vale said, "I'm hungry."

"Yes, boss," Dugan replied, standing up to fetch supplies from his bag.

That night, Merrick had his first taste of the strangers' food. It was strangely textured and much too salty, but he still ate it anyways. After all, food was food, and it was important to get it when you could. It had been a fairly long day, and so Vale turned in soon after dinner, crawling into his tent. Dugan and Evan, on the other hand, sat up by the fire Merrick had made for them by lighting a stick on the top of the stove. As they chatted, each man took the long, thin stick that they carried with a strap on their backs and put it on their laps, beginning to carefully clean them.

The sticks were roughly two inches in diameter and around five feet long, with a metal band running down their length and bands spaced every twelve inches. One end of the sticks was wider, looking like the head of a shovel with a curve in it’s end and there was a manastone set at the base of the wide part. Merrick had been wondering what the sticks were, and so, after watching them for a while, he waved his hand to get Evan's attention.

"What is that? Is that some sort of tool like the stove?" he asked.

Laughing, Evan shook his head.

"No, this is a weapon. Much dangerous. Very bad."

Though Dugan couldn't tell what Evan had said, he still frowned and shook his head.

"You shouldn't be talking about this to a native," he said.

Shrugging, Evan looked like he didn't care.

"Oh, come on. It's not like these savages are going to be able to learn how to operate them. Plus, like I said, they don't even know what a manastone is, let alone how to use one. We could leave these things all over this world, and they'd probably never figure it out."

Chuckling, Dugan nodded, "Yeah, you're probably right. Surprising how backwards they are."

"Is this your first time visiting a savage world?" Evan asked.

"Yes, most of my training I spent in the city, working as a guard. But Master Vale wanted to come out and try his luck prospecting, so here we are."

"Well, one of the things you'll quickly find," Evan said, "is that the savages who live on these worlds are not smart enough to operate manatech. Has something to do with their physiology, I think. I've been to three worlds before this, and all of them are the same. We come, we find the mines, and we get out before the swarm shows up."

Shuddering at the mention of the swarm, Dugan spat to the side.

"I'd be perfectly fine if we didn't see one of them," he said.

"Well, as long as we can find a mine, we won't have to," Evan said with a grin. "And I have a good feeling about this trip."

"Yeah, me too," Dugan replied. "Master Vale's got some real high-powered tech, so I'll be surprised if we don't find something."

Sitting silently, Merrick listened to the conversation with rapt attention. Most of the words they spoke were confusing to him, but slowly he felt as if he was starting to piece together a picture. It was strange, almost like he was waking up to another life, waking up from a dream and remembering bits and pieces of it. They spoke of the land as a savage world, and when they mentioned the swarm, a shiver of disgust rolled through him. The next morning he woke up early and took the stove to get the fire started. Just as he was lighting it, Barak came back and saw him with the manatech device.

“What is that?”

Looking up, Merrick lifted the stove to show it to Barak.

“It's a stove. It produces flame.”

The word for the device was unfamiliar in Merrick's mouth, and even more unfamiliar to Barak's ears.

"A what?" he asked. "Never mind. I don't want to know. You should not rely on external tools. You should start the fire the traditional way."

Pausing, Merrick thought about it for a moment and then nodded.

"Okay, I can see the wisdom in that."

Putting the stove down, he took out the flint and steel that he carried in his belt pouch and started the fire. It took a little bit longer than the instantly lighting stove, but he did understand where Barak was coming from. He wouldn't always have a stove after the strangers left, and so it made sense to him that he would want to practice how to do this the proper way. Barak had brought a deer, already dressed, to the camp, and Merrick hurried to cook it. The smell of the roasted venison steaks brought the others from their tents, and it wasn't long before they had all had breakfast and cleaned up the camp. The tents were folded up neatly and packed away while the stove and the other devices they had gotten out were stored in their bags. Before they left, Vale took out the small stone that he often looked at and spoke quietly with Evan.

"The way they're taking us isn't the way we want to go. We need to head straight north."

Evan looked at Vale skeptically.

"You mean you want to go over the mountains?"

"Yes. I think what we're looking for is somewhere in the middle of those peaks."

Vale pointed into the distance and looking at the spot he was pointing, Evan shook his head.

"Somehow, I doubt they're going to want to take us in there," he said.

"Why? What do you mean?"

"I'll ask, but didn't you hear that elder from the village? Warning us not to go into the wild lands. That looks pretty wild to me."

Frowning, Vale put his manatech device away.

"Look, I don't care how you work it out, but work it out. We need to go straight north."

Sighing, Evan nodded and walked over to where Merrick and Barak were crouched, grumbling under his breath about how all of the difficult jobs fell to him. He crouched down and tapped on his translator.

"The boss," he said, pointing to Vale, "wants to go that way."

Merrick and Barak both narrowed their eyes as they followed Evan's pointing finger. He was pointing directly into the mountains that lay north of their position, a deadly, wild land filled with a thousand kinds of danger. The landscape itself was treacherous, and the creatures that inhabited it were no less dangerous.

"No," came the answer from Barak. "We agreed to take you to the next village. That we will do. We will leave once we reach their hunting grounds. You can make your way from there."

Sighing, Evan shook his head.

"No, I don't think you understand. Vale, the boss, wants to go there. We aren't going to the other hunting grounds. We're going that way."

Frowning, Barak stood up, gazing down with cold eyes at Evan. It was clear that he took the man's words as an insult, and Merrick quickly jumped up to intervene before the conflict escalated.

"Why does Vale want to go into the wilds?" He asked Evan. "There's nothing in there but beasts. The terrain is too difficult for anyone to live and both the plants and insects in that region are poisonous, even the regular plants. If we go in there all we will find is danger. There isn’t anything worth discovering there."

A faintly interested expression appeared on Evan’s face and he stood up, looking to the north.

“You said that everything there is poisonous? What sort of poison?”

Sharing a glance with Barak, Merrick saw that the veteran warrior had no interest in speaking up, so he answered.

“It is said that every living thing in the wilds could be poisoned. If you eat any of the plants, you will grow terribly ill, and boils will break out on your skin. But that is just a story. The wilds are too dangerous for us to enter.”

“If that story is true, then we have to go there. What we are looking for is in those mountains," Evan said, looking interested. “We have to go.”

Tapping his translation device off, he hurried back to Vale to speak to him quietly. Watching him go, Merrick suddenly turned to Barak and bowed his head.

"Sir, I can lead them."

Barak's eyes opened wide, and he stared at Merrick for a second.

"That is not wise. We do not know these people."

"Yes, that is true, but as warriors of the Sky Mountain tribe, we are not afraid of anything."

"There is a difference between courage and foolhardiness, young warrior."

Bowing his head again, Merrick agreed.

"I understand, but still, I would like to go with them into the wilds. Once they find what they are looking for, I will return."

Clearly uncomfortable, Barak shook his head again. He could tell, however, that Merrick had already made up his mind and after a moment he sighed.

"No, you cannot go. Alone, at least. I cannot stop you from making the choice to lead them into the wilds, but soul warriors do not let our brothers and sisters walk alone. I can walk beside you in case of danger. Fine, we will go. However, you must promise me that if I call for retreat, you will retreat."

Grinning widely, Merrick rapidly nodded his head and turned to Evan as the prospector came back, looking at him expectantly.

"We will lead you," he said, causing the trapper to smile widely.

"Great, I'll tell Vale and Dugan."

Though Barak was obviously unhappy with the decision they had made, he didn't say anything else. He knew what it was like to be a young warrior, eager for adventure and so he quietly walked beside Merrick as they turned from the path and began making their way deep into the mountains. It quickly became apparent that the horses were not suited for this type of terrain and after half a day's travel they pulled the packs off of them, turning them free. As best they could, the strangers all shouldered their packs, but none of them were as strong as the people so Merrick quickly volunteered to take them.

Carrying them on his shoulders over the uneven terrain, Merrick was still able to move faster than the strangers, so he didn’t mind the extra weight. Barak, on the other hand, was unable to understand why Merrick would do such a thing and kept looking at him, faint scorn appearing hidden deep in his eyes. Merrick didn't care, however. He was more than willing to carry the stranger's packs if it meant he could stand nearby and peek at the manatech artifact that Vale looked at almost constantly. It had images on it and every so often Vale would press the side and the image that appeared on it would shift, moving this way and that. It didn't take long before Merrick realized that he was looking at a map. But this map was different from the ones he had seen before. No matter how skilled a map maker, it was impossible for them to accurately represent the rise and fall of the land. However, this map seemed able to do it without issue. Furthermore, by pressing on the side of the artifact, Vale was able to move closer and further away.