RuneScape Forum Archive | Feel the Silence

Crystal Smee

Posts: 7,994 Rune Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

They continued through the jungle all that afternoon and soon began climbing up into the mountains again. Although overgrown, Lucas could tell they were following what must have once been a path – what would have become a paved road, perhaps, facilitating commerce and travel between two bustling cities, had things gone differently. But thanks to Gray, that would never come to pass.

Was mankind more prone to war than peace? Would people always choose to fight, if given a reason? That did*’t sit right with Lucas. Why would anyone choose this life willingly?

He thought of Jonah, a career soldier. Jonah fought because he had lost all else. A lifetime of service, following the orders of others. But what was he fighting for? He had nothing back home to protect. Did that make him a better soldier, for having less stake in if he lived or died? Or a worse one, for having no stake at all in the outcomes of the wars he fought?

Lucas supposed he might find out soon. He had given Jonah something to fight for after all, a reason to get back home. Jonah would have his vengeance, kill Gray, and Lucas would be free to marry Justine.

Removing Gray from the picture was never an option that occurred to Lucas before. The boy he was then – killing someone never crossed his mind. Now, he has stunned by the simplicity of it. He did*’t have to win Gray over, to win his respect. He just had to remove the problem from the equation. This kind of thinking bothered him some, but he knew without a doubt that Gray deserved to die. His betrayal of Jonah made Lucas feel sick. What gave this man the right to play at being a god, to manipulate who lived and who died for his own pleasure or personal gain? He did*’t deserve that kind of power.

16-Aug-2013 16:23:29

Crystal Smee

Posts: 7,994 Rune Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

It occurred to Lucas that he had been playing at being a god too, with the lives he had taken in this war. But wasn’t that different? That’s what war was – people signed on for it when they donned a uniform and strapped on a sword belt. But what about the natives, he asked himself. They hadn’t signed on for invaders in their land. But, he reminded himself, Lucas and his fellows were attacked first. Lucas and the others would have done them no harm. They had one purpose: get to Brimhaven. But based on past history, Lucas understood the natives’ hostility.

So was killing always reprehensible, no matter who did it and for what reason? Was taking another life always an abuse of power? Did Lucas himself, too, deserve to die? It had to be different – he had to be different than Gray. He had to be better than him.

The column halted, jarring Lucas from these unsettling thoughts. Two soldiers, Athyr and Keyne, Lucas’ mind supplied, had returned from scouting ahead. They were both red-faced, bursting with energy as they shared words with Jonah. Lucas’ stomach dropped – had thye reached Brimhaven already? They were high up in the mountains now * but perhaps closer to the water than he had thought.

Everyone gathered close by to hear what they were saying. “…maybe a mile and a half, two miles south. There’s a little valley,” Keyne said eagerly. “Whole bunch of ‘em down there. Mostly women and children.”

Travis shared a look with Jonah, then said, “Good to know. We’ll arc north, try to stay out of their way.”

“No – we don’t want to stay out of their way – sir,” Athyr tacked on. “We’ve got to go over there!”

“The only thing you have to do is follow my instructions,” Jonah snapped. “We continue on. Those are orders. We keep on our way.”

16-Aug-2013 16:24:22

Crystal Smee

Posts: 7,994 Rune Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

The grumbling scouts fell in line, and they began moving again. Lucas saw them drop further back in the column, whispering to Nathan and some of the other men. Their faces were dark, and Lucas fought the urge to keep glancing over his shoulder and staring. He found Sorokin alongside him and nodded in his direction.

“How’s the stomach? And the leg?”

“All right, thanks.”

“Heard you and Jonah had an interesting talk back at the ruins,” Sorokin said.

“The great mystery has been solved,” he admitted. “It’s a ridiculously small world, isn’t it?”

“I suppose so.” They walked in silence for a few minutes. “If he goes to Varrock with you after this, I’m coming,” he said finally.

Sorokin’s tone was odd – quivering, containing a great energy just beneath the surface. He sounded almost angry. “Do you have a problem with this?” Lucas asked.

“You’ve seen how he’s been on this island. Bringing all this back to the surface – I don’t know if he can handle it. If he goes through with it and kills him, I don’t know what happens after. How he’ll be. I want to be there.”

“Fair enough.”

“Besides, maybe I can meet this girl of yours,” Sorokin teased, nudging him playfully in the shoulder.

“Hope so,” Lucas said.

Sorokin gripped his shoulder comfortingly. “Everything will work out, trust me.” Lucas nodded. Sorokin looked up and down the line. “Hey, where’s Athyr?”

Lucas glanced back. *Keyne too. And Nathan and Jain.”

Sorokin swore and ran toward Jonah. They stopped immediately. Jonah had turned red, scowling, his gray eyebrows pulled tight over his eyes. He motioned for everyone to follow and charged off the path into the jungle without a word. He did*’t need to track the deserters – he knew exactly where they had gone and how to get there. Lucas ran with the group, branches whipping at his face and tearing his skin. He stumbled once or twice as they slid downhill, grabbing at tree trunks and protruding roots for support.

16-Aug-2013 16:25:08

Crystal Smee

Posts: 7,994 Rune Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

They were making a lot of noise, and Lucas feared the natives would follow. He checked his quiver – full of arrows.

They plunged downhill for many minutes before bursting into the aforementioned valley. Looking down, they were too late. Wind blew the thick clouds of black smoke away from them, south over the island. The entire village was ablaze. Women and children fled in all directions, chased by the maniacal laughter of Lucas’ fellow soldiers.

Jonah roared and ran towards the town. The men followed. Lucas wasn’t sure what to do – fight, put out fires, rescue people – but his instincts told him to help. He saw no way to stop the fires, no nearby water. There was no way to stop the chaos.

Jonah had been chasing down his soldiers when a house collapsed near him. he threw himself on the ground, shuddering. Lucas dodged the exploding sparks and chased Nathan, diving between him and a young woman. Nathan advanced, blade raised.

“Get out of the way,” he snarled.

“I won’t let you kill her.” He drew his own sword, holding it shakily with both hands. He stood his ground, the girl cowering somewhere behind him.

“She’s the enemy, Lucas!”

“She’s done nothing to harm you!”

“Who do you think makes the poison? Fletches their arrows? Carves the arrowheads?”

“Nathan, don’t, please.”

“You have a good heart, Lucas, but you can** stop this,” Nathan said.

“Are you so angry that you’d kill one of your own?” Lucas said, startling himself with his courage. He tried to stand up straight and brandished his sword.

“Don’t make me,” Nathan said.”

Lucas turned his back on Nathan to face the girl, who was frozen. She stared at him with wide hazel eyes. There was blood on one of her cheeks and matting her hair. She was stick-thin, clad in a worn shirt that reached her knees.

16-Aug-2013 16:26:02

Crystal Smee

Posts: 7,994 Rune Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

He thought of Varrock, of natives storming the city walls to exact their vengeance. He saw Justine, outside her manor home, a poison-tipped spear at her throat. He thought of Falador, ransacked, burning, the Kandarins roaming the streets much as Nathan and his cohorts were now. Too many innocents – this was not their war.

“Go!” he shouted at the girl. Of course she did*’t understand. He flung an arm toward the jungle. “Run! Flee!”

There was a roar behind him, seconds before Nathan collided with his back. Lucas’ cheek hit the dirt and he tasted metal and sand. He squirmed, twisting away, and managed to sock Nathan in the face with his elbow. He was able to break free. He could feel cuts burning on his cheek and arms. He rolled to a half-kneel, spitting blood and dirt.

Somewhere in this, the girl had finally fled – he saw her running toward the trees and imagined he could hear the slap of her sandals. Nathan stood, blood dripping from his nose. “Mistake, Myren,” he snarled, his face twisted in an ugly grimace. Before Lucas could stand, Nathan’s boot hit him square in the gut and all breath left his body. He crumpled in the dirt, tasting acid and bile in the back of his throat. He curled in the fetal position, wheezing, and watched events from the ground.

Nathan quickly outpaced the fleeing girl. With his knife between his teeth, he gripped her long hair in one hand and yanked her back toward Lucas. When he was right in front of Lucas, Nathan halted her, her hair wrapped around his fist. With his free hand, he took the knife from his teeth and casually slid it across her throat. Hot blood sprayed outward toward Lucas, spattering his face and clothes.

Nathan shoved the body toward Lucas and it collapsed half on top of him. He wiped his knife on Lucas’ shirt and walked away.

16-Aug-2013 16:26:36

Crystal Smee

Posts: 7,994 Rune Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

Lucas sobbed and wriggled until she slid off him. He couldn’t quite find the energy to stand. By now, most of the living natives appeared to have fled. He hoped they had somewhere to go. They must have other villages; this one was only twenty or so huts from what he’d counted looking down from the hill. The buildings continued to burn, and only the dead remained. Another figure entered Lucas’ hazy vision.

“You alive, kid?”

A slap on the head helped Lucas focus. “Gavin?” he sputtered.

“Travis wants everyone gathered. Jonah’s about to lose it.”

Gavin helped him upright. Lucas checked the ground, finding his discarded sword under the body of the dead girl.

“That you?” Gavin asked.

“Nathan. I tried to stop him.”

“Nice job.”

Lucas rolled his eyes and strode ahead of Gavin toward the gathered knot of soldiers. Travis and the rest of the men were in a loose circle around Nathan, Athyr, Jain, and Keyne, who knelt before Jonah. Their hands had been tied behind their backs and they stared at the ground.

“Do you have any idea what you’ve done?” Jonah roared into the uncomfortable silence. “We have one job here. One. Get to Brimhaven. Destroy it. Go home. That is all. Not to antagonize the natives. I gave you a direct order!” he shouted, slapping the side of Athyr’s head. “And you disobeyed. They will come after us. What they have done is nothing compared to what comes now. I should leave you for them to devour and hope to the Gods that we can outrun them. You have sentenced all of us to near certain death. But I can’t afford to lose four men right now.” He took a deep breath. “Which one of you idiots came up with the idea?”

“Sir?” Nathan asked.

“Which one of you first suggested killing a bunch of innocent women and children like barbarians?”

The three men looked at each other and shifted uncomfortably.

“Would you prefer I pick one at random?”

16-Aug-2013 16:27:25

Crystal Smee

Posts: 7,994 Rune Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

“It was Athyr, sir,” Keyne cried. “When we saw ‘em, he got all fired up and suggested we go burn it.”

“Keyne!” Athyr hissed.

“Is it true?” Jonah growled.

Athyr’s pale face said it all. He couldn’t meet Jonah’s eyes.

“Athyr, consider yourself no longer a citizen of Asgarnia or a member of the Asgarnian army. You will stay here, bound to the remains of a home that you destroyed. Either you will starve to death or they will find you. I don’t particularly care. If, somehow, you break free, and I ever find you following us or near us, I will kill you myself.”

Athyr had crumpled. He was sobbing. “Sir, please, don’t,” he begged. “Don’t leave me here. I got a wife. I got a kid.”

“Let this be a lesson to you all,” Jonah said. “Do not disobey me again. Do not engage the natives. End of story. Travis, if you would.”

Travis grabbed Athyr and walked him forward, guiding him with a large hand gripping the back of his neck. The circle parted to let them through. Everyone remained silent as Travis walked him to the smoldering remains of a hut and found a sturdy post sticking up from the ground. He nodded to himself as he tested it. He shoved Athyr so his back was to the post and began to tie his hands to it.

Nathan, Jain, and Keyne looked sick. “Sir, maybe—“ Jain began. Jonah glared. Jain dropped his head.

“Don’t be that man, Jonah. Don’t leave me here. Please, sir, please!” Athyr begged, his cries getting louder each time. “Don’t do this to me! They’ll kill me!”
When Travis was finished, Jonah beckoned for the others to stand and cut the ropes binding their wrists. “If you ever pull something like this again, you’ll meet the same fate as him. And when they come for us, I’ll throw you three in front of their arrows first.”

16-Aug-2013 16:28:02

Crystal Smee

Posts: 7,994 Rune Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

He turned and walked down the road toward the jungle. It was a long moment before it occurred to the stunned squadron to follow. Athyr’s desperate cries hounded them long after he was out of sight. Lucas averted his eyes as they left the village to avoid seeing the bodies on the ground. He touched Sorokin’s elbow.

“Shouldn’t we, um, bury them? I just * it’d be a nice gesture, maybe.”

Sorokin shook his head. “We’d best be gone from this place.”

Lucas did*’t speak again. He tried really hard not to think, either, as they once more began their ascent into the mountains. Thinking was dangerous – it just created a deep ache in his chest area and made tears sting his eyes. Thinking was no good – not about Athyr, not about the town, not about Jonah’s story, or Justine, or Brimhaven, or any of it. He focused hard on putting one foot in front of the other, trying to aim his steps so they made the least noise, to stay light on his feet, and tuned his senses in to the jungle around him. He listened to the birds chirping, the cry of an animal far off, the ragged breathing of the other men. He lost all sense of time – in the thick canopy, there was no tracking the sun. The air was heavy and sweat ran in crooked tracks down his cheeks and into his eyes.

He was so sick of walking. Who knew the life of a soldier just meant walking all day long? Why was this island so unbearably huge? And they hadn’t even seen most of it – this was just the northern tip. How many days since he’d slept in a real bed with a roof over his head? His leg ached sometimes, at the end of a long day like this. It was the only way he could ever really track the distances the passing of time – when his leg hurt, they must be nearing the end of the day. Or so he hoped. His stomach wound was still aching as well, more so as the incline of the mountain increased.

16-Aug-2013 16:28:33

Crystal Smee

Posts: 7,994 Rune Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

They must have walked for hours when Lucas finally noticed the trees were thinning and the light was failing. The ground became rockier, the air a little cooler. A breeze ruffled his shirt. They reached a clearing and shuffled to a halt. Travis called for them to break camp, and no fires. As the men settled in, laying their bedrolls in small clumps of three or four, Lucas awkwardly looked for a place to lay his own. Sorokin had gone to Jonah and Travis; Lucas was on his own this night. He spied Rohan and Brennan; curiously, he searched about for Nathan, and found him with Jain and Keyne. The guilty men sat silently, glowering at everyone else. He went to the two younger men and Rohan gestured for him to join. He tossed down his pack and unhooked his bow, quiver, and sword, then shook out the thin blanket and sunk down with a groan.

“Rough day, Myren?” Rohan asked.

Lucas cracked a smile. “I’ve had better, for sure.” He rooted around in his pack and found a small wrapped bunch of jerky. He carefully selected one piece and put the rest away. What he would give for a cooked meal – roast pork, the way his father made it with a carefully selected array of spices and served over a bed of lemon rice. He shook the thought away. Soon enough. Maybe after this they’d be allowed to return home for a bit.

The others were eating similarly disappointing meals, staring thoughtfully into the growing darkness. Finally Rohan said, “You think he’s still alive?”

Lucas did*’t want to think about it. He heard Athyr’s voice in his mind, cracking with fear and desperation.

Brennan seemed to share his thoughts. “Noise he was makin’, something must’ve got him by now.*

*Like a native, or like…a jungle cat? You think they got those here?”

“I’ve heard ‘em.”

“Myren, do they have jungle cats here?”

“What?”

“C’mon, everybody knows you read books and stuff. Do they have giant jungle cats – mountain lions or whatever – here?”

16-Aug-2013 16:29:26

Crystal Smee

Posts: 7,994 Rune Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

I’ve never read about Karamja , he wanted to say. But Rohan’s eyes gleamed expectantly in the dark. He did*’t know he had a reputation now as the only one who could read. He’d heard sounds too, hadn’t he? “Big ones,” he heard himself say. *The size of a small horse. With yellow eyes and huge claws. You look them in the eye; they tear you to pieces.”

Brennan cursed. “Hope it wasn’t one of those that found him, then.”

“You think natives would be any better?” Rohan scoffed. “You saw that guy with the arrow. All foaming and…” he shook his head. “That’d be pretty rough.”

“Maybe he’s still alive,” Lucas said hopefully, and instantly regretted it. He pictured Athyr alone in the center of the ruined town, surrounded by the bodies, the smoking ruins, just alone under the stars. His voice would be raw with screaming by now. He’d be thirsty, hungry, have to relieve himself.

The silence suggested they were all thinking the same thing.

“I’d rather it be quick,” said Rohan finally. “Waiting…I’d go mad.”

“Yeah.” Brennan said thoughtfully. “Poor guy.”

“Poor guy? You heard the commander. They’ll be coming for us with a vengeance, on account of his brilliant ideas,” Rohan spat.

“Hopefully we’ll get to Brimhaven before they catch up to us,” Lucas mused. “Sorokin says we’re close.”

“Close like tomorrow, close? Or a week?”

“A couple days, maybe? I don’t know.”

Travis walked by their little enclave and slapped Lucas on the shoulder. “You’re it. Watch. Wake Brennan in a couple hours.” He moved on before Lucas could react. Lucas bent his head. His whole body was exhausted, burning with pain, and all he wanted was to curl up on his bedroll and rest. It was dark, but Brennan must have seen the look on his face.

“You want company?”

“Oh, you don’t have to—”

“I don’t sleep well, I’ll be up anyway.”

Lucas nodded. “Yeah, thanks.”

16-Aug-2013 16:30:17

Forums

Feel the Silence