Mosa

  Chapter 27

  The Village

  Sharine went outside and found out they were inside the cave. Although sunlight was shining from above, from the big hole, it was not possible for anyone to climb over and go up to the surface.

  “Rise and shine Sharine,” said Glock, grinning.

  The cool air from the gigantic cave came from one side. Sharine sensed the tides, the low grumbling of water swinging the vessel. There are huge sucking sounds coming out from in the furthest corner of the cave. Glock threw a sandwich to her. She caught it in the air.

  “Nick made it!” shouted Glock. He fastened the extra rope to the rock pillars to hold the vessels in place.

  “Who?” Sharine shouted.

  “The skinny old man who gave you the breakfast this morning!” said Glock.

  “Oh yeah! Where is he?” Sharine frowned at the sandwich, getting nauseated from the huge wave. She jumped to the rock nearby.

  “He’s finishing up the cargo! Should come back by now!” said Glock, he carried some small boat from the hole in the cave, and splashed it under the water.

  “Uhh, is that for a ride?” said Sharine, looking at the piece of woods a flattering against the black water.

  “What, you think this boat can’t handle three people? She is pretty strong, although quite old,” muttered Glock. “If it doesn’t work out, we can hang Nick on the back with the rope!”

  At that time, Nick appeared from the hole above and dived in, hardly splashing the water. Nick looked like some orange fish leaping and playing in the water.

  “It is time to go Nick!” Glock roared. He was now on the small boat, swinging his big hands at Nick like a hungry bear. Nick grabbed Glock’s hand and Glock snatched him from the water. Nick almost flew into the air and landed right in the middle of the boat, grinning, waving at Sharine to come.

  “Come on Sharine, you don’t want to miss the ride!” shouted Glock.

  Sharine jumped to the boat, it swung! Glock started rowing with the massive wooden paddle, Nick carried out the big lamp hiding in the boat; it was about the size of his head. Nick, filled with excitement, shone the lamp at the dark side of the cave; the pile of bats startled and flew outside of the cave. Glock laughed loudly he sailed his boat with the cool breezing wind from the back.

  After a while, Glock stopped at the rocky places, he stepped into the shallow water and tied the boat on the rock pillar. With a splashing sound they walked through the cave, Glock’s massive foot squirted on the water. Three went deeper into the cave. After a long dark trail, the land became higher, and the ceiling became lower, Sharine felt like she is being compressed. Glock was grumbling as he had to crouch to get through, but they’ve saw the light coming out of the end of the cave, Chris turned off the lamp and walked faster. The light became brighter and brighter, eventually, Sharine stepped outside, feeling the gush of wind and the brightness. She saw the forest and the green meadow, and in the place not far, she saw the village. They walked toward the grass full of daisies and violet, trigs made a snapping sound.

  It was a very small village which Glock showed the way. Most of them were small houses and huts; there are few shops and restaurants, also barns and farms.

  “Nick has to drop by the tower. Bye Nick.” Glock handed Nick some small device, Nick grabbed it, grinning and bowed to the Sharine, as if hosting a show, and ran to the corner of the street and disappeared.

  “Nick can talk, right?” asked Sharine.

  “Oh yes, he is just shy, normally he is really talkative,” said Glock. There were few cows mooing for milk, the man with a giant scissor was greeting at them.

  “Hello there Glock!” shouted the man,

  “Hello Simon. Cutting your yard eh?” said Glock.

  “Yes I am, these trees are breeding nasty insects. Got yourself a girl, I see? Welcome lady!” he chuckled and tried to cut the thick trigs with his massive arm.

  “His name is the Simon, the gardener,” said Glock

  Sharine looked at him, looked overly muscular. As he was frustrated at the trig not cutting well, he grabbed the saw started kicking the trees, a group of sparrows flew away from the tree.

  “Did you get the chainsaw I’ve asked? It’s broken!” Simon grunted.

  “I already gave you the chainsaw,” said Glock.

  “Yeah, that one broke few days ago! I see those merchants are selling us shit!” Simon shouted, struggling and eventually cutting down the thick branch of the tree. It made a massive sound as it came down. Simon wiped his forehead with his towel.

  “Just hang in there Simon, only six month left to go!” Glock chuckled, tapping Sharine’s shoulder and walk passed him. Simon grumbled.

  “We trade some goods with the foreigners every six month. When you were asleep, I had to straddle around more to confirm the quantity,” said Glock to Sharine.

  “Uh huh, are they hostile? I mean that is some heavy clothes you are wearing,” murmured Sharine.

  “Oh yes, it is! It is strong, can protect me from the bear claws!” said Glock, hitting his chest with his massive fist.

  “Is this town supposed to be hidden from outside?” said Sharine looking at the thick trees beyond the village.

  “It is not perfect. But yes, we put our every effort to make it that way. The town was designed by the man named Ricky Guido, who we often refer to him as the Riddle Man. It required a great amount of planning and resources, he spent all of his wealth to build it. After he bought this huge island, he said he is going to build a resort of some kind, for his retirement. He ended up spending all his wealth to build this town. Ricky must have been lonely for all those years. His wife died many years ago, and he had no children. Ricky used to live in a big castle, which he said it had a beautiful ceiling, only comfort he had was to stare at it when having a break from his work. But now, he lives here and adopted three children.” said Glock.

  Sharine nodded, although the village just looked like a poor refugee camp, she didn’t ask further about the village; she smelt a freshly cut grass everywhere in the town, and sharply cut down woods.

  “And that’s a café, it is small but the food is the best. Ha! It has some nice view of the sunrise from there! And the cargo ship left the dock a week ago. It will come after six month. I’ll take you to the merchants if you want to leave,” Glock chuckled and tapped Sharine’s back, with his huge hands.

  “So I have to stay here about six month?” questioned Sharine, frowning.

  “Yes.” Glock grinned.

  “Great,” said Sharine.

  “I’m talking to my good old friend, Rove; he runs hotel and also the restaurant on the first floor. But you just ate, and I’m pretty sure they have a room there,” said Glock.

  “Does he take gold?” said Sharine, reaching inside her pocket to see how much money she had it on her, making a jingling sound.

  “No need. Rove is my good old friend,” Glock waved his big hand.

  “But if there is anything to help…” murmured Sharine.

  “Just, get your arm healed, alright?” said Glock.

  “Ok there is a town hall, that big ugly tower, has a quite contrasting look than the rest of the town. But there it is; we did a little election too! But well, it supposed to change every five years, but no one wants to work there anyway, so the current holder is just sitting there for seven years now,” Glock chuckled, pointing at the old wooden building. “And there is the hunter’s chamber! They provide us with food they caught from outside. Also they bring some treasures.”

  “Treasures?” Sharine inquired.

  “Yes! you’re interested aren’t you?” said Glock, excitingly.

  “Why are there any treasures around here?” said Sharine, curious.

  “You’ll know it soon. Well, it is fun to hunt wild boars or deer. I’ll take you to the hunters’ club, surly you got the talent for it! They are pretty proud and stubborn. They won’t let you work there unless I go with you, especially with that arm.” Glock smiled. r />
  Sharine just kept walking along with him, seeing the sunlight coming through the leaves in the tree.

  “Aha!” exclaimed Glock, pointing at the square building in the front, Sharine startled. “This is an herb garden; they sell herbs to help you recover. I have enough to treat yours though; she gave the nice herbs before I left this town, in case something goes wrong while bargaining with those merchants. Well, sometimes the merchants can get mad and start shooting at us. Whatever, the thing you had inside your arm was pretty messed up! Nick almost passed out when I made him to hold your arm. It looked like a hook. After hours of bloody mess, we managed to pull it out,” said Glock, with a little disgusted look,

  “You saved my life,” said Sharine.

  “Nah, I do it all the time when I catch a wild boar,” murmured Glock. “You should visit the herb garden, she loves newcomers! And around the corner over there, there is a shop which sells weaponries. They sell all the stuffs you need for hunting. And I guess that is about it… Oh, don’t go out in the town alone, it is pretty dangerous.”

  “Do you mean I should be afraid of wild animals?” said Sharine, smiling.

  “You’ll find out soon enough, if you do want to go out, go join the hunters’ club. They are blunt blockheads, freedom intoxicated people,” Glock’s eyes gleaned with excitement.

  Glock later got her a small, cozy room with a bed with the reading table. Sharine thought the structure of the town was bit odd. But she didn’t sense anything bad, but only excitement and hope.

  Somewhere in her mind, she had it too. She couldn’t wait to see what tomorrow will bring! She knocked herself on the bed, staring at the ceiling and fell asleep.