Ch 7 - The inn
After travelling for a long time they reach an inn in the middle of nowhere. It is huge and the window lights can be seen.
‘I can feel the warmth coming from inside’.
They go in and the inn owner welcomes them. She is a tall and slightly chubby woman.
‘Come here lads and lassie, do you want to hear my story?’ says a guest. The guests are all crowded around each other talking about past adventures.
‘I was listening to their stories myself’, says the inn owner.
They sit down to listen.
Stories:
A man got chased by a shark
A man catches a phoenix.
I set out on a journey for 100 days and 100 nights, in search of a never-ending fire. There was a legend in my village of a fire that would never go out. If I found this fire, we would never be cold again.
After 100 days and 100 nights had passed, I reached a stone tower surrounded by deep snow. I trudged over, and opened the door. I then climbed the stairs. What I saw at the top was spectacular.
In the middle of the floor, there was a huge fire blazing. Surrounding it were miniature creatures. They scurried away when they saw me.
Back in the middle, I saw a bird in the fire. It was… a phoenix.
It looked at me with its sharp eyes. Surprisingly, it spoke.
‘State your business’, it said.
‘I was wondering if you could come with me’.
‘Where?’
‘I want you to move to our village, and give us eternal warmth’.
‘Impossible. This is my home and this is where I stay’.
‘But may I offer you a gift?’
He opens a box of crystal jewels.
‘Impossible… Where did you find such rare jewels?’
‘They grow outside my village. Please, take them, and in exchange come to my village. It would be an honour.’
‘But no, I still cannot come. This is where I live and this is where I remain’.
‘So stubborn. But very well. I see how things are.’
I was just about to leave when there was a gust of wind, and I saw something fly outside the tower window. I looked out and it was a giant, ice-like bird.
‘Bird of Fire, I know you’re in there!’ said the bird. ‘Come out!’
The phoenix poked its head out. ‘Bird of Ice. It’s been a long time’.
‘I am claiming this territory. Please, leave. There can only be one of us here.’
‘Not without a fight!’
The two birds soar into the sky.
They clash and scrape at each other. It looked like the phoenix would win.
But the bird of ice outsmarted it.
It threw a sharp peace of ice into the phoenix’s chest, and it fell.
When I ran downstairs to find it, all that was left were feathers. I scooped them up in my hand.
‘I can at least bring these as a souvenir’, I said.
‘Traveller, you must leave’, says the ice bird.
The creatures that had been living in the tower scurried out.
As I was walking back, I felt something warm in my backpack.
I emptied it to find a baby phoenix where the feathers used to be.
It let out a cry and sat in the snow, which started steaming. I ran away as the snow disappeared behind me. When I had covered enough distance, I looked behind at a steaming snowscape. Then, out of the steam emerged the beautiful phoenix. It took off to who knows where. And I never saw it again.
A woman mingled in with a pack of snow monkeys.
Next, a woman stood up. ‘I have another story’.
It was a snowy, stormy night. I was travelling from one village to the next, when a snowstorm came and it became too frosty to move on. I thought I might die. Then, from the corner of my eye I saw something white moving. It was a snow monkey.
They huddled up around me and led me to their home. By now the storm had cooled down.
It was beautiful. They lived on tree-like forms covered in snow. It was like a little snow jungle.
There, they fed me and kept me warm. The young ones played with me. I was blessed to have arrived at such a place.
Then, there was a group assembly. All the snow monkeys gathered and I noticed there was one empty space. They started speaking in monkey talk, until finally one pointed to me. They pointed towards the empty space and then pointed upwards to a cave in the distance. They all gathered around me as if pleading for my help. It seemed like they wanted me to help them rescue a lost monkey.
After the favour they did for me, I could not turn them down. I nodded to them in agreement.
The snow monkeys all prepared to set off. We climbed a mountain, getting nearer and nearer to the cave. Finally, we reached the entrance. We could hear a monkey’s cries.
‘That’s it!’
We gathered around the cave. From it came the cry of a beast.
Luckily, I’m a skilled hunter.
A monkey through a rock. The beast came outside and just then, I threw my spear and pierced It in its eye.
The monkeys rushed into the cave and the monkey was trapped in a makeshift cage. They worked on breaking it open while I kept the beast busy. It lashed at me and I dodged, using my other spear to defend myself. Meanwhile the monkeys came out with the captured monkey, and I ran with them. The beast let out a big roar as we left.
And look now, at what they gave me!
She shows a little rock statue.
That was what they gave me for helping them. They’re a smart bunch, aren’t they?
A man met a young sorcerer in a neighbouring town. She taught him all about magic.
‘That’s not all! Look at what I got from a sorcerer I met in a neighbouring town!’
He shows them a few pages clipped together.
‘It’s a basic chant. He told me if I practiced every day, I might be able to unleash the magic within me. But only very few people can learn magic, so it will probably turn out like a souvenir more than anything.
‘Still, that’s pretty impressive!’
Then everyone turns to Ashim and Nima. ‘What about you?’
‘Well…’
Ashim and Nima talk about a time their corneorite was stolen by a small speedy corneorite thief. It stored it in an underground den full of corneorites.
‘There was this one time when a snobbit stole my corneorite… I chased it and it ran into its den. When I looked in I saw a hoard of corneorites. Pretty cool, huh?
‘I’m sure as you get older you’ll have more interesting stories to tell.
‘Heheh’.
‘Yeah, like listen to me!’ said the man. I had a near death experience when I rode a whailo and got chased by a shark!’
‘Always full of action, huh’, says Nima.
Finally, a woman says she got near the Lost Land.
‘Wait til you hear my story’, says another woman. ‘I got near to the Lost Land’.
Ashim and Nima turn silent and listen closely.
‘It was up on a mountain range. A very tall one. I had no idea where I was. I was lost. I had no idea where to go so I trudged along, until I was close to one mountain peak. The rest is a blur’.
‘I remember something about meeting a girl or a woman, and her telling me that I have not been chosen to find the Lost Land. That’s all I remember. My next memory is of me waking up outside the mountain range. I returned home safely and that was it’.
Ashim stares intently.
On their way onward from the inn, they have a conversation.
‘So now we know the key to the Lost Land is on a mountain range.’
‘If she’s telling the truth, that is’.
‘But what’s this about being chosen? I hope we won’t be turned down when we get close enough.’
‘The only way is to wait and see. We’ve come this far. And I don’t want to turn back now!’
As they walk, they see a phoenix flying through the sky.
Ch 7-2
Stranger: Leaves the inn. ‘Wait for me!’
What is it?
Here, take this.
At the end they’re given a map of the areas ahead, and a key.
‘The map is self-explanatory. The key on the other hand…’
Not far from here, there is a lake with a vault in the middle. If you open it, you should find something that will help you get to the Lost Land. That’s what they say anyway.
I couldn’t open the vault, but maybe you could.
Nima: Thanks.
Ch 7-3
Mist around the place
So this is the vault.
It looks small.
How do you think we get inside?
They walk across the ice lake up to the entrance.
‘There’s a puzzle’.
They solve a riddle
The door opens up and they walk inside. Inside is a multicoloured glowing key.
Ashim: I don’t know what this is for, but we might need it for something later. Let’s hold on to it.
With a new clue to their destination, our heroes continue their journey to the Lost Land.
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