Kilimor, Chapter 2—The Caravan

Written by Dronin Gammerson

Bang! Bang! I woke up to loud knocking on my door and guard walked in.
“We are setting up a search party to check out what is happening to the supplies”, the guard said, “The King says you are to be the leader. Meet us at the bungle berry grove”
“Us?”, I said, “Your one of them?”
“Yes sir”, he said, “I'm going to investigate with you guys.” He grinned at the thought.
“Well than better get ready”, I said getting out of bed.
The guard walked out of my house still smiling. After getting my armor on and strapping my sword and knife on, I walked out.
I knew that the people who were going to check out the supplies were made up of the most elite soldiers and would be able to work together very well. So I set my standards high for who was coming with me.
I got to the bungle berry grove later than everyone else. There were four men there including the man who woke me up. Each man had a different set of weapons. The one who woke me up had two swords sheathed in his belt with a knife as well. He was wearing chain mail under his black shirt and pants. He also had a hood put back behind his head that was also black.
The man right next to him had a very large pack with a hand-cannon resting next to him. He also was wearing chain mail armor. His build was one of a muscular and large with a barreled chest while the other man had a slim build and was relatively short.
The third man was carrying a high power long bow that was almost as tall as he was. His armor was not chain but rather leather that had been boiled for only a short time so that it retained it's flowing movement. This man was slightly skinny and had a good deal of height on him. The fourth man, who was standing in the back of the group, was even larger than the second man and was decked out in full plate armor with a heavy battle axe in his hand. He was what some people might call a giant. Although not one of the true giants, he was only seven and a half feet tall, but his muscular build made him look even bigger.
I walked up to them and the man in the black suit walked up to me with a large smile on his face.
“Welcome Kilimor!” He said happily, “We were wondering how long it would take you to make it here. I took ten minutes, Buster here chose twenty.” He indicated the man with the hand-cannon, “Long-shot Chose twenty-five,” He pointed to the man with the longbow, “And Juggernaut chose forty. None of us thought Juggernaut had a chance at all.”
“Some men be very late,” Juggernaut said shrugging his sholders.
“Looks like Long-shot won,” He said, “Long-shot was always good with judging time.”
“I got everyone else's names but I don't think I got yours,” I said.
“Oh it's Night Hawk,” He said confidently.
“Yeah right,” said Buster, “His name is Mouse. Cause he doesn't make a sound.”
“I don't like that name,” said Mouse.
“Well I'm sorry but that's the name you were given,” Buster responded. “If you guys are done debating what the other's name is than I think that we should be going to check out what is stopping the supplies.”
“That might be a good idea,” said Buster.
We headed out into one of the tunnels leading away from the bungle berry grove. It did not take long for Mouse to start whistling a tune as they were walking, and after only about a minute Buster started to get annoyed.
“Would you stop that insufferable noise!” Buster said heatedly.
“I was only whistling,” said Mouse defensively.
“Well don't,” said Buster. And the whistling stopped.
For about five minutes
“Stop whistling!” said Buster louder this time.
“Sorry,” Mouse responded.
This kept going for a long time until finally we reached the site where the caravan was last seen.
“Okay lets just look at the tracks for now and not worry about whistling or others whistling please,” I said softly.
“Works for me,” said Buster.
“Fine,” said Mouse sadly.
“Long-shot, are you able to track the caravan?” I said.
“Sure thing,” said Long-shot.
We followed the tracks for some time watching them twist and turn along with the road. At one point there was a huge gouge in the dirt where the caravan must have fallen and hit the ground, but they quickly recovered and continued.
Eventually we came to where the tracks changed direction in a ninety degree angle and went off the road. We looked closer and found tracks of another band of people who intercepted the caravan and changed it's course. There was obviously a huge struggle.
After a while of following the tracks some more we rounded a corner and found a castle with men lining the walls and people busy at work all throughout. We looked closer and found the carts that were stolen.
“We should probably camp here tonight,” I said, “We'll set a watch taking two hour shifts. Long-shot you take first watch, Buster you take second, Juggernaut you take third, Mouse will take fourth, and I will take fifth.” They all nodded and went to sleep, all except Long-shot of course.