It was an absolutely beautiful morning that fateful day. The gentle heat of the sun gradually caressed my feet, making its way up to my face from the window opposite of my bed. I rubbed my eyes and forced myself to sit upright with a grunt and stretch as I awoke fully from my slumber. I slowly walked to my window and looked out to our quaint, half-ling village. Everyone has already started their day without me. People are already out and about in the streets, making their way to the marketplace to buy their needs for today. Like an arrow shot straight to my head, I was suddenly struck by the memory that I was supposed to attend to my mother’s shoe shop there. “Oh the lady might not but beest absolutely fell by anon!” I exclaimed in my thought as I threw myself from the window and ran as fast as I could downstairs. I found my mother and father in the dining room that smelled of citrus. As I stopped behind them, my mom was having a coughing fit, my father tapping her back. He momentarily stopped to face me as he heard my footsteps and continued as he greeted me. “Fain to seeth thou art awaketh this early, mine own lief” He happily greeted me denoting a bit of sarcasm. My mother followed suit and faced me with a look of anger. ”Didn't I bid thee yond thou art in chargeth of the shopeth the present day, Hilda?" Her voice was sour to the ears as her voice was raspy, her throat full of phlegm. She tried to utter something else before she was cut off by another coughing fit, my father giving her more of the liquid in the mug on the table. He beckoned me to come to the table, pointing to a plate of chicken and mashed potatoes. “Doth tryeth to consume thy breakfast apace, thy moth'r is already cross.” My father said as he continued to comfort my mother. I nodded and proceeded to eat my breakfast quickly.
I ran as fast as I could to the marketplace, my mother’s tools clanking and shifting in the satchel I was bringing it in. This was one of the instances where I wished I wasn’t born a Halfling. The marketplace was about seven-hundred yards away, and my very short legs made it feel that it was double that distance. I am not certain of how long it took me to finally get to the spot, but I was breathless, knees shaky, and my whole body sweaty when I came upon my best friend, Diana, who was attending to my mother’s waiting customers. It appears I had startled her when I collapsed face first on the ground in front of her and the customers. “Hilda?! Hilda! By the gods, art thee well?! prithee speaketh to me!” She rushed to my collapsed body and shook it vigorously. I took her hand as she pulled my upright, her wiping away the dirt on my face and clothes with her apron. “Diana? What art thee doing h're? Aren't thee did suppose to beest in the alehouse?” I asked her in between breaths as I gasped for air. "Mine own w'rk isn't due 'til the middle of the day, Hilda. What hath happened to thee?" She replied as she continued to clean my face. By this time, my mother's customers have grown impatient of me, and started to show their frustration. "Art thee going to ope the shopeth 'r what?!", Spouted one. "We has't oth'r things to doth this busy day, young wench!" Shouted another. Still breathless, I quickly apologized to my mother's patrons and opened the shop with haste. There she proceeded to write down the customers' requests and collected the payments while I measured and sliced away at the leather and hammered down the nails and metal sheets. I was sure that I wouldn't have accomplished even half the orders if Diana wasn't there. Bless her soul.
As Diana and I found our rhythm, everything seemed to die down as the noon approached. However, almost everyone in the village was suddenly disturbed or awoken by the shouts that weaved its way across the buildings. Me and Diana went to the shop's window and saw that it was, yet again, old lady Odicaryn . She has garnered the reputation of being an absolute nutter and earned the title as the village's fool. Mother had told me that old lady Odicaryn was actually revered rather than ridiculed when she was my age. She had the ability to predict the harsh storms and dry spells so that our village may prepare for such calamities. It was hard to believe that the person running amok in front of us and the person from mother's stories were the same person. By now, almost everyone had been fed up by her non-nonsensical jibber-jabber and there have been requests to the chief to kick her out. I was lost in my thought and was unable to see that old lady Odicaryn was making her way to both of us. Both me and Diana jumped out of our skins as she slammed her old, wrinkly hands on the window's frame. She stared at us with fearful eyes, beads of sweat running down from her forehead to her cheeks. "He'd mine own warning to those presenteth and nev'r f'rget t!", she yelled at us at the top of her voice. She ran from our shop and unto the center of the street where she continued to yell."A castle! I did dream of a flying castle from hell! A f'rtification so big 'twill block out the travelling lamp and leaveth entire kingdoms in darkness! t's h'rrible walls lin'd with catapults yond shooteth green balls of devilish fireth" she screamed as her whole body shook. We were sure she had lost her sanity. "From deep within this f'rtress of death is a beast so t'rrifying, that gent can inflict death upon those who is't seeth that gent! That gent shalt scout the lands f'r men and distaff to imprison in his palace of s'rrow and h'rr'r!" she let out a final scream of terror before she fainted, lying flat on the rocky road. A silence covered the entire area as no one dared to speak. It was finally broken when the our blacksmith, Garret Dunbar, shouted saying "Alright, everyone. The show is over." before the noise of the town finally came to our ears again as he carried away the sleeping elder. Me and Diana shared glances before shrugging shoulders and returning to our work.
The clock tower struck three hours past noon when I finally finish all of the orders for the shop. I sat on the edge of the work table and wiped the sweat off my forehead with my arm. Diana had already took off to her husband's alehouse an hour ago and I planned to visit as I had already finished. I pack up my mother's tools and headed out of the shop, locking its door before I went on my way. I first headed to master Dunbar's shop to ask about what happened to old lady Odicaryn. "Thee has't not to w'rry about yond bufoon, mistress. I hadst h'r son picketh h'r up from h're not longeth aft'r h'r displayeth this day." Master Dunbar replied to me as he continued to work in his forge, to which I thanked him for entertaining me and went on my way. The alehouse was just a short walk away, and I quickly found Diana conversing with someone right outside the building. I yelled her name to which she turned to me and waved. I also caught a glimpse of her companion, which was our friend, Marna, who was expecting her third child. Both of them walked up to me and exchanged greetings with me. We conversed about how our day went among other things. This was when Marna brought up that the mermaids were coming into the gulf to perform a display as to show thanks to their deities, and that many were attending. "Mine own husband hath heard t from his saileth'r cater-cousins, and I planeth to cometh with that gent and seeth those folk. Wouldst thee liketh to cometh with?" she asked us. We were instantly swayed by the invitation and said yes. "Alloweth's asketh mine own husband then. Cometh, alloweth's wend." She replied. She lead the way to her house a few blocks down from the alehouse. There, we met Marna's husband, Finos, fresh from the boat and their two young children. She conversed with her husband about the mermaids, to which he happily obliged.
A little over half an hour after we were at Marna's home, we were riding Finos's mules to the gulf. Along the dirt trail, we came across humans, elves, and ogres who had the same intention as us. We exhanged waves and salutations as we went along. I looked up to the skies and saw that the sun have been completely blocked out by clouds and the horizon was enveloped in fog. Marna, Finos, and Diana all shared the same confused look on our faces. It was a strange happening, indeed. It had been bright and sunny this whole day, with little to no clouds to be seen in the clear, blue sky. Puzzling even more is the fact that the rains wouldn't come for another two months. Regardless, Finos reassured us that it must've been because of the mermaids and we continued. When we came upon the shores of the gulf, the thousands that wanted to see the mermaids had formed a blockade that restricted us from proceeding further. We did find a higher spot that gave us a pretty good view, but the festivities had already started before we were able to reach it. It was absolutely beautiful. Thousands of fishes, sharks, and other sea creatures entered the gulf and swirled in groups as the mermaids danced and controlled the water. They surfaced statues and idols adorned with flower crowns and circled them, cheering filling the air. Marna and Diana had ear-to-ear smiles asbthhey watched, and I can't blame them. The mermaid procession was one of those spectacles that were so marvelous where if you told someone about it, they won't believe you.
Suddenly, the ground started to tremble. The tiny rocks on the ground shook as the entire ground shook father and higher. The cheers of glee were replaced by screams of fear and panic. However, as soon as the earthquake started, it ended. Deafening silence ensued. Everyone exchanged glances, curious as to what had caused the disturbance. A voice broke the silence screaming "Behold! Behold to the flote!" pointing to an area beyond the gulf where something was emerging from the water. The water foamed where a grey object pierced the water's surface. "Is yond a bould'r?" Marna asked, which was greeted with silence as the rest of us watched with mouths agape. When the boulder got bigger and bigger, people started to panic and ran. We saw several mermen diving and swimming to where the rock was surfacing. A minute passes and the boulder was bigger than any of us had ever imagined was possible. What was scarier was the fact that it was still rising. It took several moments before the massive structure we believed was a rock to fully lift itself from the water's surface, thin streams of water flowing down from it's form and falling back to the sea. The object was easily more than two thousand yards across; casting a shadow on everything as it floated above. Chaos reigned supreme over the crowd below us as people tripped and got trampled by the creatures behind them blinded in the darkness. Genuine fear struck and embedded itself deep within our hearts. Me, Diana, and Marna wanted to flee, but Finos prevented us from doing so. "Unless thee wanteth to kicketh the bucket in yond stampede below, waiteth." He yelled over the roaring of the stampede. I looked back to the giant object floating above the water and gasped, looking to the three. "The castle. . ." I softly uttered to them as I came to the realization. "What?" Diana replied as Marna and Finos shot me looks of confusion. "Yond's the castle yond fusty mistress Odicaryn did warn us about! The lady wast right!" I shouted to them, to which their eyes widened and looked to the flying castle as well in disbelief. "By the gods. We has't to receiveth backeth to the village apace!" Marna replied as she held her unborn child. Finos looked below and saw that most of the attendees have already fled the scene. He nodded and got us on the mules and we rode back to the village as fast as we could.
When we got to the village, it was desolate. It looked like a ghost town and everyone left in a hurry. Tables were overturned, hay was scattered on the road and property was smashed. We stood at the gates for a moment before we looked at each other and nodded. Diana, Marna and Finos went to their respective houses as I ran for my dear life back to my house. I looked up to the dark and cloudy sky and saw that the flying castle was as high as the clouds, and yet it looked as massive as it was still hovering back to the gulf. I reached the house and was greeted by the locked front door. I knocked as fast and as hard as I could. "Moth'r! fath'r! t's I, Hilda. Oh prithee ope the doth'r! I begeth of thee! ope the doth'r!" I screamed at the top of my lungs and on the verge of tears as I banged on the door repeatedly. I mustered the courage to once again look up to the skies to see the flying castle, and what I saw will never leave my mind 'til my last breath. Dragons flocked around the castle, attacking it with balls of fire that erased its massive shadow. It seemed to have no effect, as every attack the dragons threw at it, several fireballs of green came from the castle, killing dozens of the flying lizards. It was then that the door opened and two pairs of hands pulled me inside. Me, my mother, and my father fell flat on the floor, but they got up quickly and locked the door. "Moth'r! Fath'r! T's h'rrible!" I exclaimed at them at a loss for words to say what had happened. "We doth not knoweth how, but t seemeth yond mistress Odicaryn hast madeth a true prediction aft'r all these years. What's imp'rtant anon is we hideth. Cometh, to the cellar!" My father replied, my mother nodding as she covered her mouth. We proceeded to the dark cellar below our home, uncertain of what will become of us, the village, and the entire kingdom. In these desperate times, we could only pray to the All-father Bathala and beg that he and shall not forsake us.
Submitted October 24, 2018 at 01:48PM by RPG_Wannabe https://ift.tt/2Ap62nk
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