Chapter 9

A knock on the door woke me from my sleep. I sat up and looked around disoriented from not being fully awake, shook my head a few times and noticed Forina beside me still asleep. I heard the knock a second time. " COME IN"

It was Andres. "Rock..." He stopped what he was saying when his eyes took in Forina sprawled on the big bed. "I see you uh..." He had that wicked grin on his face again. " ... I can come back later if you're not done!"

"I think I'll have a long talk with Maia when we get back to camp if you keep teasing me like that!"

"Ah Rock, now you go and get brutal on me." And damn if he didn't pout. "I just wanted to make sure you had the time to fully profit from your new accommodation." He shrugged and raise his hand up wanting to look innocent. Yea right! I started laughing at him and he started laughing with me which in turn woke up Forina.

"What ... huu ... where ... oh yes. Are we there yet? Why are you guys laughing?"

"I was just here to tell Rock that we were getting close to the land. We can see what they use as camp."

"Are you telling me you were laughing at what they use for camp?" She looked at him with a raised eye.

I chose to rescue him at that point, even if I like to see the little fucker squirm. "Let's go see that land." I got up, grabbed her hand and pulled her up. "Hurry, I'm anxious to see this camp Andres is talking about" He had a thankful look as I passed him by.

As soon as we got outside I noticed that the land in question was closer than I would have liked. I was seeing shapes waiting for us on the sand. "Andres, get the men to bring down the sails please. I'll be right back." I went back into the cabin where I had left my A-R.

Looking at the shore, I was thinking of how I would like a telescope, like the old sailors had and it reminded me of the scope on the rifle again, damn. How stupid can one get!

When I first glimpse at the shapes on the shore, I noticed that they were mounted but the distance was too great to make out what they used as mounts. That far away it's practically impossible to tell between a donkey, a mule or a horse.

When I looked into the scope of the rifle the surprise on my face most of been evident.

"What's wrong Rock?" I handed him the rifle.

"Look through here..." pointing at the lens. " ... and point the rifle at the group there." Now pointing at the shore.

"This magic Rock!" He looked back at me and I just pointed at the group on the shore.

"What is the animal they are sitting on?"

"I have no clue but I'll go ask Madril?" He passed me back the rifle and went to find him.

I raised the rifle up again to take a good look and the beast they were riding. Those were no beasts I had ever seen even if they slightly looked like horses. The big difference was the head. It was much larger and shorter than a horse and protruding from the forehead was a horn. Nothing like the unicorn of fairytales, this one was wide at the base and hooked up. It looked like a good weapon to pick and throw a predator. I'm sure it would kill a man just as fast if it came to close. The back of the animal was wide with shorter legs that were bent the wrong way. The front legs where slim and twice as long as the back one. Add the long neck and it looked like a creature from Star Wars. The beast looked to be much taller than the black men riding them. "Can I look Rock?" Forina said to me, almost whispering.

She's so quiet that I forget that she's beside me at times. "Absolutely!" I made sure the safety was on and gave her the rifle. I helped place her hands and let her do the rest. She looked into the lens and back up quickly. She looked at me, at the rifle and handed it to me like it was a snake. "What ... I saw ... How... ?"

"It's just..." I didn't have time to continue when Andres interrupted me.

"Rock, those beasts are call Dramaks."

I was looking back at Andres and away from the shore When Forina spoke. "What is that?" She was pointing way behind the men where dust was picking up.

I looked through the scope and got another surprise. On top of the Dramak was another being that looked human but was definitely not. First he was sitting higher on the beast then the black men on the beach, which meat he was at least a foot taller and his skin color was more yellow then white and on his shoulders I can see light brown fur on it. Two front teeth were sticking out of his mouth and instead of a nose he had two vertical slits above his lips. The emplacement of the eyes was almost to the side of the head giving him a better peripheral view. From here it looked fearsome and up close it must be even more so.

The momentum we had when the sails were brought down kept us going till we were close enough and I got the men to throw the anchors in the water. We ended up about 600 feet from the sand and by that time we were close enough to see all the men in front of us including the yellow fellow.

"I've never seen that one before." That came from Madril who was beside Andres.

"Watch him carefully." I was saying that for Madril but everyone who heard looked at the man.

I had him in my sight and I decided that he was the lucky winner. I felt for the wind, a small breeze right to left.

Adjusted the scope for the distance. Expelled the air from my lungs and slowly pressed the trigger.

"BOOM"

The only one that didn't jump in shock was Andres. Forina let out a shriek almost painful to the ears and I suspect a few men almost shit where they stood. (They don't wear pants)

My eye never left the scope and I saw the man topple over backward.

Andres shouted "YES!"

I was looking at the rest of the men on the beach. They looked at the guy on the ground and at the ship not understanding what had just happened. One of the men got down from his Dramak and looking at the ship took his sword out and made an obvious gesture of laying it down in surrender. The others looked at him and I could see one was talking to him. The one who had dropped his sword pointed at the ship and at the man on the ground. The one that was arguing took a step forward and went for his sword. He took too long doing it because on his first step, the man beside him, in one movement, pulled his sword from his waist with his right hand and swung it in an arc that took the top of the man's head. It's like the guy didn't noticed that his head had been loped off for his next step but fell face first after that. There was more talking for a while but after 5 minutes all the swords were on the sand and the men were sitting down.

I looked around me and everyone was stunned. They were fixated on the man on the ground, his blue-black skin contrasting brightly with the sand. Forina took my arm and place it around her shoulder. I don't think she like what she saw.

"I think they want us to go talk to them?" I broke the silence that had fallen around us and startled Andres in the process. "Close your mouth Andres. It's wide enough to catch flies." He looked at me obviously still shocked.

"What did we just see Rock?"

"This is just thinking on my part but when the yellow guy fell from his horse..."

"Yea ... fell. I like that!" Andres was being a wiseass again. I looked and pointed at him.

"One word for you my friend ... Maia!" The smile on my face got him to come back from the shock more than anything. Forina looked up at me. "Later dear." She nodded but she had a determined look on her face telling me that she wouldn't forget.

"What do you say Andres, feel like meeting our new friends?"

"Are you going with me?"

"No. I need to be here with my rifle to defend you in case something goes wrong." I pointed at the men. "They're sitting down and just looking at us. I'm almost certain there's no danger with these men." The fact that they were just sitting down and not heading back to the fort was intriguing to me. I was expecting them to bolt when the yellow guy died but no. They just stayed there and even surrendered from the looks of it. There has to be something at the fort stopping them from going back.

Andres gave me the shotgun, called Madril and Carlo to him and all 3 dove in the water. I would have went down the rope but they just jumped. With the rail, this ship is at least 25 feet out of the water from where we stand, which made the dive impressive.

I was looking at the men on the beach and they never moved to get up when Andres got close. He talked with them and there was lots of pointing going on, most towards the fort and after what seemed like 15 minutes Andres started back leaving the other two with the Crow men.

I was right there to pull him up the last step of the ladder. "You will not believe this Rock but those Crow people are on our side." He saw the surprise on my face. Surrendering and being on the same side is two different things. "It's true Rock. The argument between the one that dropped his sword first, his name is Aldread by the way, was about the punishment they would get when they returned to their fort. Aldread was sure they would be killed by one of the other Barrial, that's what the yellow furry people are called, present at the fort. The dead one wanted to go anyway calling Aldread a coward for not wanting to. Then Aldread pointed at you and said you were the one his people were waiting for and that you killing the Barrial from so far away just proved it. That's when the dead one took a step forward and the one beside him cut part of his head off. Gruesome sight that was! ... Where was I? Oh yes, now the men down there are waiting for you to go save their families also."

I think the fucker said all that on one breathe. "Calm down my friend. You didn't even give yourself time to recover from the swim back. He waved my argument off.

"I'm just excited at all that's happening?" A moment ago he was on this deck in shock and now he's practically jumping in place.

"What's got you so excited?"

"YOU! It's you!"

"What's me, did the swim make you lose your mind Andres?"

"You don't understand Rock. The Crow people were waiting for a man with white hair for a long time. For as long as we've been waiting for the son of Nadato."

I had put all that talk about the white hair out of my mind on the account of coincidence but now with this revelation, I was having a hard time thinking of it as just coincidence. "What am I supposed to do for the Crow people?"

He gave me one of those "are you stupid look" "Save their people from the Barrial!" I must of made a face because he started laughing at me.

"It's not that funny!" I told him with a smile.

"The look on your face was worth it." I wiggled my finger at him again but that only got the others to laugh also.

"Ok, here's what we'll do. I'm gonna go down and swim to shore on my back with both rifles and you follow me in case I drown myself." I got a tug on my arm for that. She didn't like me making fun that. "You my love need to stay here with the other men." She was about to argue but my finger on her lips stopped her. "This is not for debate Forina.

I need to know you are safe and these men will protect you till I get back. And Forina ... I will get back ok!?" She nodded once and I bent down to kiss her.

I looked at the 4 men on deck. "You will protect her with your lives?" I got back 4 quick nods. With that said, I went down the rope ladder and started my swim on my back towards the shore, with both weapons in my arms. Luckily for me the swim wasn't that long because of the low slope of the beach and the shallow waters that occasioned.

We both made it to shore without problems and I handed to shotgun to Andres again. When we got close to the Crow people they changed from sitting to kneeling with their heads touching the sand.

"Master please don't be mad at us. We only do what the Barrial forces us to do. They come here take our food and sometimes our people to. They force us to look for other people for them to take or they take our people." He talked never lifting his head from the ground.

"All of you get up please." They hesitated but lifted their heads enough to look at me. I waved them up with my hand.