At long last I've got it done! Some one give Fuzzleman a bandage, he has a chapter to read!
Chapter 2, If you can’t go over it…
A lamp was on in Jason’s tent when Barry arrived. Occasionally he saw the silhouette of a limb flash on the tent wall but it seemed that Jason was on the further side of the light.
Barry approached the front of the tent and knocked on a wooden plaque hanging over the door. All the tents in the village had one of these, both for greeting and also they had carved into them the owner and the position where they went in the camp, so it was easier to shift and erect them where the owner would be able to remember where they were. Other people, including Edam, had carved messages into them. Edam used his to display the "Philosophy of the Month", the current one being, "There are no happy endings for nothing ever truly ends."
When Barry knocked there was a sudden scuffle within and Jason’s voice called out nervously, "W-who’s there?"
"It’s Barry. The warrior. Edam sent me to talk to you."
"Barry… Edam Greatfeather?"
"Yeah." Barry decided against continuing the conversation through the tent wall so instead stepped inside.
As previously mentioned, Edam Greatfeather owned more stuff than another third of the village put together. So stepping into any other mudokons tent was not like stepping into Edam’s. For one thing Barry had to kneel down to get through the door. The tent was basic: one stick across the top was rested on 2 upright sticks driven into the ground. A rectangular sheet of animal skin was draped over the top post and held away from the centre by several wooden pegs hammered into the soil. Another blank sheet was laid down inside and hooked onto the walls so the owner’s things weren’t lying on the ground. Inside there wouldn’t have been room for 2 beds. As it was there was one bed and at the far end form the door a small wooden box that most people placed on its side so it formed two small shelves to keep various treasures, food and drink and whatever else the mudokon chose to keep. Barry himself of course kept his bow on his, as well as the skull from the first scrab he’d killed, the mask of his first slig and various other trophies. Jason had very little in his and he was using it simply as a box. The cloth lid was strapped over it so Barry couldn’t see the contents.
The whole thing could be packed away in less that 5 minutes and reassembled in at least thirty. But as they were constantly reminded, if they were attacked they were more likely to want to get their tents down than up.
"What does he want?" Jason asked Barry as he sat down on the considerably newer sheet than the worn one in Barry’s own tent.
"It’s not Edam really, it’s me." Barry answered. "I need your – well, some help, and Edam said you were the guy to ask."
Jason looked as surprised Barry had initially felt by this news. "What does he think I can do?"
"Odd knows, but I might as well ask. The thing is, I’ve gotta leave the village and-"
"Leave? You can’t leave can you? You’re the chief warrior!"
"I know, but… It’s a long story. But the only reason I escaped… I was helped to escape, was so I could eventually leave the forest and head South into Mudos." Jason was still looking confused and almost let down. Barry decided it would be best to enlighten him a little more on what was going on.
"Look Jase, you know that mudokon who turned up here today?" Jason nodded. "Well he was carrying a weapon for us to use against the glukkons. It can… The guy who helped us escape and helped someone else steal it from the factory where it was kept believes it can save the whole mudokon race. I have to take it South so it can be used."
"Why can’t we just use it here? Surely if it works somewhere it would work here just as well."
"Look Jason," How was he going to explain this. "It was… You know how powerful Edam is? A great shaman. Well it was made using power double Edam’s. Once activated it can save us all within, say, a few hours." Barry struggled to answer a question he didn’t know the answer to himself. "But, say the glukkons got hold of this thing and found a way to use it for themselves. If it an only be worked in one place… well that stops them using it against us if working it is really complicated. So I have to go."
Jason seemed at last to accept this. "So how am I meant to help you?"
"I don’t know… To the south of here are miles and miles of glukkon-run land. Getting through with the- with this weapon would be… well; it would be all but impossible! I need to find another way and Edam said you might know one…" Barry trailed off into silence.
For a while Jason looked like he was thinking hard. Then suddenly he looked up, grinning. "I’ve got it! There are these caves below the factory I escaped from. The glukkons sometimes chucked prisoners down there if they really broke the rules. Glukkons say that people just wonder round there for days and days until they starve and die…" He hesitated, "But some of the mudokons used to say… used to believe that if you kept going southwards through the caves, if you made it, you know, without starving or dying or whatever, you would come out in a safe place where there are no glukkons for miles and miles."
For a few seconds Barry thought there might be something in that, but then, caves that lead to freedom. It was a shot even to long for him to make. If All Jason knew were some stories from some freedom-obsessed prisoners.
But then Jason went on. "I never really believed it myself, but then this guy was brought to the factory who’d been found on the edge of a forest miles to the south. This guy had been chucked into the caves a year before; loads of people remembered him. They fed him to slogs but everybody heard about him. There was a bunch of people who kept trying to get themselves thrown into the caves. The glukkons killed some of them but some of them were dropped down."
Barry didn’t really hear the second part; his mind had stopped at the bit about the guy that had been recaptured. If someone had really made it out… It sounded perfect. If he could smuggle the Orb in, maybe some food and drink as well… Or perhaps force his way into the caves on his own… It still sounded a little wild but Edam would be able to tell whether it was true all not.
Barry stepped backwards out of the tent: "Ok, cheers Jase, that’s great. I’ll talk to you again tomorrow, thanks a ton." And that said, he stepped backwards out of the tent and ran away into the night, leaving Jason alone with his nightmares.
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