Necropolis (Book One of Book One), Penn Fawn [e book reader android .TXT] 📗

their respective districts’ natural resources is what led them to develop a burgeoning trade route.

“Whether it is providence or not, I, of course, don’t know,” Bosi replied. “Nor do I know whether to believe if it is. I can only say I look forward to an association with them on a deeper level.”

“Okay,” Thoroughmann replied.

“A negative situation may have started this, but I don’t see why the consequence can’t be a more positive and stronger union,” Bosi said.

“Very well,” Thoroughmann replied.

Chapter V – Kimbilio

KEITA FELT SO WEARY that he began entertaining thoughts of falling onto the ground with a resolve to let whatever fate that may come his way befall him.

He wondered where this village they had spoken about might be. Apparently, it was not within an eternity’s travel.

They arrived at what to him was yet another spectacularly uniform and indistinguishable part of the forest. Still, there was no suggestion of a village anywhere.

The leaders began to shorten their stride and slow their pace. They stopped dead in their tracks, and he, Ossouna, then Aswad, followed suit.

Zaeim made a sharp, piercing sound they thought sounded very birdlike in tone. They looked about in awe and wonder when within a fraction of a second later, similar sounds echoed from the canopy.

Apparently, or so they believed, these men could communicate with birds.

The truth is, no bird answered Zaeim’s call.

The replies they heard came from other men. These were guards, lookouts inconspicuously garbed in camouflage, perched high above them, armed with quivers full of poison arrows.

“Go,” Zaeim said, and they watched the men head toward a nearby thicket and seemingly disappear into the ground.

“Follow me,” Noor said, and they did as they were told.

Keita drew nearer to where he saw the others appear to vanish below ground and was alarmed to notice a door. It was covered with leaves and earth but now moved aside, revealing what he discerned was a hole.

He followed Noor down into the darkness. His eyes widened. His heart rate increased.

Ossouna and Aswad followed closely behind. The weary sensation they were so cognizant of just moments before suddenly disappeared.

They were surprised to find themselves walking on solid rock after getting past a mere couple of feet of earth. It was bedrock over which the great river in the distance flowed. It extended from the tip of the river to where they presently were and beyond. It stretched for countless miles below them. For their predecessors, ’twas conveniently near the surface in that particular part of the forest.

Legions of the damned who came before and suffered greatly at the hands of the ghoul hordes were the first to notice the small cave into which the men continued to enter.

In centuries past, their main base of operation was in the vicinity of this cave. They established lookout posts there and all along the river’s length to make use of the bedrock. Their masons taught many of their compatriots who specialized in other trades to cut and work stone, then set them to extend and expand the underground cavern’s width and length.

There were a total of three of them at varying distances along the river’s edge. All were given the same treatment as the one Zaeim and his men entered. That is to say, they were worked until the men created a passageway running underneath the river.

“Incredible,” Aswad remarked after descending a flight of stairs carved out of the surrounding rock.

“Times ten,” said Ossouna.

Keita’s eyes met his, and they smiled.

The distance from the floor to the roof was around twenty feet. Keita felt it must have been at least sixty wide.

The stonework was impeccably cut and shaped to straight lines and at ninety-degree angles in the main. The masons or artists also went to great pains to furnish the place with decorative patterns and carvings, all etched out of the surrounding bedrock.

Lighting fixtures were placed at evenly spaced intervals in etched areas along the walls. These were earthen vessels shaped like vases. They had a wide bottom and a narrow opening and were filled with some type of flammable liquid. A piece of cloth that served as a wick was placed into the tiny openings, and the parts which protruded beyond the vessels’ tops carried the flames.

Keita, Aswad, and Ossouna felt energized. They traversed the length of the passageway without complaint of being overburdened by weariness and were instead intrigued and eager to see what was on the other side.

“Welcome back,” a fellow who stood at the stairway near the exit said.

“Thank you, Oluso,” Zaeim replied.

“I see you found him,” Oluso remarked, looking at Noor.

Noor looked at him, and a smile appeared on his face.

“We did,” Zaeim said.

“Good,” Oluso said and tried in vain to repress a smirk.

“Welcome back, Mbou,” Oluso said.

“Thank you, my brother,” Mbou replied.

“I see we have guests,” Oluso added, looking at Keita, Aswad, and Ossouna.

“We do,” Zaeim said.

“Lost ones, given a chance at salvation,” Noor interjected.

Oluso looked him in the eye then he greeted the guests.

“Oluso’s our chief marksman here,” Noor said. “You can search the whole village and beyond, and you’ll never find one more accurate with the bow.”

Oluso laughed, and a smile or grin appeared on many a face.

“Maybe after their training, one of them will be my better,” Oluso said.

“Training?” Aswad said. “We’re going to get training?”

“Everyone who comes here is taught how to fight and defend himself,” Zaeim replied. “Everyone from the most effeminate of men to the most feminine woman must learn how to fight and make use of the technology. Your survival depends on it.”

The newcomers looked at each other.

“Good,” Ossouna said. “We are already skilled with the bow and arrow. Any further training will be an enhancement.”

The men smiled.

“Let’s be on our way then,” Oluso said.

The stairway they mounted on the side of the river where the village lay was a bit wider, wide enough to accommodate four men, should that many have desired to walk side by side on it.

Oluso led the way.

Zaeim, Mbou, the newcomers,