Üral Series Chapter 3
Üral left the house, he did not lock the door because it didn't have a lock. He took one last long look at the house made out of green planks, he didn't know what tree produces those. They came across this empty house and started living in it many years ago, they renovated it over the years but some harder to reach areas were still covered in dirt and moisture. Valen used to live on the second floor, the window to the left opened to his room, while the window on the right was right beside Üral's bed.
The first floor was one big room that had a kitchen area and a guest area. They used the empty room in the corner for storage.
Did Valen actually leave all of this behind? Did Valen leave... me? Üral wanted to keep admiring the house they lived in, he wanted the image of that house burnt in his head, but it was time to go.
He started following the dirt road that led east, he knew it would reach some kind of settlement because they had seen a traveller from that area before.
It was about 4 years ago, Üral was cutting wood in the garden when he saw someone walking towards them. This was the first human he had seen for many years, so he was anxious, he called for Valen.
Valen came out of the house but right as he did the man approaching them collapsed to the ground. Valen heard this and turned his head. He started walking towards the man.
Üral jumped, "Where are you going!?"
Valen was calmer, "He might need help."
"He could be dangerous."
"A sleeping man can't be dangerous. Are you gonna help me carry him inside or not?"
Üral jogged behind Valen.
They carried the mysterious traveller inside and let him rest on the floor.
When he woke he muttered some words in a language they couldn't understand, but he didn't seem to be threatening. Valen offered the man some food. His clothing was dirty and wet so Üral brought one of his shirts (he didn't have many to spare but at least he could use the man's robe after cleaning it). The mysterious man refused to change.
Valen talked without knowing if the man could understand him or not, "You are going to get sick if you keep wearing that robe, if moving hurts I can remove it for you." Valen reached for the man's hood after saying this.
The mysterious man seemed defeated, he helped Valen take off the robe. His pale white skin was covered in markings and cryptic symbols. He looked at the brothers like he was expecting something.
"What are those?" Üral said.
Valen spoke after a few seconds, "He doesn't understand us."
To their surprise the mysterious man started talking, "My eastern accent is bad."
"What is an eastern accent?" asked Valen.
The man seemed surprised but he quickly explained, "You speak eastern accent, I speak western accent."
Valen had heard this from his father before, "Human language has multiple accents, their sayings and words are pretty different but they are all still the human language." He explained to his brother.
Valen shook his head in an affirming way and started talking again, "What is your name?"
The man answered while still looking shook, "Jhaled"
"I haven't heard a name like that before."
"It is an western name."
"What are those markings on your arms?"
"Sigils"
"What?"
"Sigils, spell contracts, this is magic." The man pointed to his arm. He seemed even more confused.
"Nice, our father was a sorcerer."
"I assume he was from the Aula Kingdom."
"We don't know about the kingdoms-" Üral cut off Valen.
"Our father told us about the kingdom of the east, have you forgotten?" and added "We are from a remote village."
"A sorcerer from a remote village huh, he must have been a smart man."
"He was." Üral sighed in sadness.
"I am coming from the Aula Kingdom." claimed Jhaled.
"We never travel" said Valen.
They let him stay with them for the night, in the morning he shook hands with Üral and said, "Do a sigil transfer with me."
"I don't know what that is."
"It is a gift, just think about accepting it."
Just like that, one of the sigils on the man's arm disappeared and reappeared on Üral's arm. Jhaled, the mysterious man, waved and left.
Üral was now wearing that man's robe, he didn't know anything about the kingdom he was travelling to so he assumed that would be the appropriate clothing. He was travelling without any supplies so the kingdom can't be that far, but considering he passed out it is not that close either.
Üral had put some food in his backpack, he was careful to pick the ones that would last long.
He followed the dirt road for a few hours without losing pace. Once he saw branching roads where the wooden cart tracks started, it seemed nobody travelled far enough down the middle road to visit them. These other roads probably lead to important places, only a lost man like that sorcerer would come across our house.
He spent the night resting between the bushes, his robe protected him from the cold and the bugs. This is quite handy, I should thank that sorcerer. He thought.
He started walking early in the morning, sleeping for too long in a strange environment like this felt wrong. After a few hours he heard leaf movement, it felt reaffirming to know that animals still come near this road. Before nightfall he went deeper into the forest to check out the plants, it was mostly the same stuff that grew around their house but he found some new very vibrant berries. He remembered his father's rule Dont eat something that animals dont eat. He decided to nest near there and watch the berries. Right as he was about to fall asleep he noticed 2 small pigs smelling the berries. One of the pigs shaked and they quickly walked away.
"Even the pigs don't eat it, those berries are definitely poisonous. You saved me once again dad." He talked to himself in a joking way, ignoring the tears filling his eyes as he fell asleep.
He woke up with a sore throat but that wasn't going to stop him. He kept walking for hours until he had his first encounter, he heard wooden wheels rolling on the dirt road. I'm about to see someone around that corner, maybe a guard, or multiple. Thoughts rushed through his brain. Maybe I should hide, but that would make me more suspicious, I'm not a criminal. What if the ones in the car are criminals? What if I get kidnapped again? The thought of being kidnapped again awoke his childish side, he jumped in the bushes and stayed there without making a sound.
He saw a wooden cart slowly coming towards him, it had an open front section where 2 men sat and a closed interior.
A head appeared behind the cart, it was a knight, he yelled "One of them is vomiting!"
The man with a long mustache sitting in front yelled back, "They are slaves you idiot, just hit them or something!"
Slaves...
They are just slaves.
Like my mother was.
Just hit them?
They are property, worthless property.
How could someone hit another human being?
Just kill them, they are spendable.
Was my mother also spendable?
Did she deserve to die?
Do they deserve to die?
Are they dying?
They are dying!
I need to do something.
Üral couldn't keep track of his thoughts, with a quick decision he jumped in the middle of the road and drew the rusty sword that was left to them by whoever lived in their house before them.
Üral shouted, "Stop! Identify yourselves." He didn't know if this was the right way to talk, he just thought it would be intimidating.
The car stopped and the man with the long mustache jumped out along with 2 armored knights from the back of the car. Shit, what was I thinking?
"Who do you think you are?" The man with the long mustache spoke up.
"It doesn't matter, are those slaves?" Üral pointed at the closed cart with the tip of his sword.
"Yes, are you gonna steal them by yourself or what?"
"Im going to free them."
"That would cost you 25 square schdinks."
"Sorry but I only have..." Üral reached into his pockets and searched around "...zero!"
"Get out of my way or you are going to end up paralyzed." Two knights started approaching Üral with their swords drawn.
Üral took a fighting stance, his heart was beating like crazy, he was calculating where to run when they attacked. He might have acted like a hero but he wasn't ready to die yet.
One of the knights suddenly stopped and gasped. "Sorcerer! He is a sorcerer!"
Üral noticed they were looking at his arm that had the sigil. Oh, the guy who gave this to me was a sorcerer, I hope this is not a gang sign, maybe I should cover it like he did.
Üral wasn't gonna waste this moment, he threatened the men. "Run away right this moment or I'm going to turn you into stone."
The knights hesitated but they knew they couldn't run away, so one of them suddenly charged. Üral didn't know what to do in the heat of the moment, he put up his hand in an attempt to block the sword, he wanted them to believe he was casting something. He felt adrenaline rush through his veins and exit from his hands, he heard a whoosh sound and the knight was suddenly on the ground, covered in blood. That wasn't adrenaline, I think I just casted a spell, holy shit!
The other knight took his chance and swung towards the distracted Üral, this hit landed on his shoulder. Üral repeated the same movement he just did and a sudden burst of condensed air left from his hand to strike the knight, it tore through his weak armor and ripped his arm off. The guard screamed in agony and stepped back. "We aren't being paid enough to kill a sorcerer, please forgive us, I swear I will never come here again, I will even quit being a mercenary."
Üral ignored the man begging for his life because he was too focused on the fact that he could cast spells. He walked towards the slave trader and raised his hand without the sword this time. "Release all of the slaves or I'm ripping your head off."
The slave trader suddenly dashed towards the forest and never stopped running. Üral was relieved he didn't have to fight him, when he turned behind he saw the two mercenaries covered in blood, slowly walking away. He decided not to interfere.
Now for the slaves...
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