NaNo ‘08 – Chapter Two: Ambition

Mindez’s NaNo ‘08 – Chapter Two

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2 – Ambition

Kain looked at <[char1]>, concerned.  “You’re not–”

“I’ve decided.  I don’t want to let my dad down, but like.. I don’t think we’re supposed to.”

Kain thinks about this for a couple of seconds, before shrugging.  “Your choice.”

“Just the way he was talking about his work to me today, it’s like he’s.. obsessed.  With his work, his… he doesn’t have time for anybody else.”

“Then tell him.”

Eh.. it’s not that easy.  It’s like.. I’m letting down the family or something.”

Kain shrugged, “You don’t want to do it, you shouldn’t.”

“I guess..” <[char1]> closed his eyes and lifted his head before announcing, “I’m going to tell him.  Soon as he comes down, I’m going to tell him.”

“That’s the spirit!” Kain cheered.  <[char1]> looked unsure, but he’d made his mind.

A moments silence came, followed by <[char1]> smiling again and asking “So.. wanna see my Dad’s workshop?”

“Thought you’d never ask!” came the reply, Kain hopping down off the rock in one clear action.  <[char1]> laughed slightly and climbed clumsily down from the rock.  “Scenic route?” asked Kain, knowing of <[char1]>’s preference over walking through the middle of the houses.

“As always!” exclaimed <[char1]> as he started walking off with Kain, down the grassy hill and to the north path leading from the square.

The scenic route took them all the way around the cluster of houses that formed the village, walking north to the outskirts of the village and then following the perimeter around to the west where the Inores house was.  The village was bordered on its entire north side by a thin wood that certainly was more scenic than the other way.  The boys walked under these trees, chatting together.  <[char1]> hadn’t been allowed into his father’s workshop before today, but since he’d been given the full tour of what to touch and what not to touch he figured it would be okay.  He usually let Kain stay at his house while his dad was away and Kain was always happy to keep him company.

It was late in the year, and the leaves from the trees were golden and yellow in colour, and falling from the branches around them.  As they waded through the thin layer of leaves on the ground, <[char1]> looked up to Kain who was leading the way and realised at that moment that he was lucky to have a friend like him.  When they reached a clearing in the trees, <[char1]> dug through his pockets and produced a pocket telescope that he always carried around with him, and used it to see if he could see where the workers were up the mountain.  He managed to make them out around a third of the way up the winding path.

“Yeah, doesn’t look like he’ll be back tonight.”

“The usual then?” asked Kain, referring to him staying at the Inores house with <[char1]> overnight.  <[char1]> nodded and they continued on.  Kain’s parents never minded; in fact <[char1]> had never even met Kain’s parents, but he stayed at <[char1]>’s house so often that he assumed they just didn’t mind.  Before long, they turned back into the village, emerging out of the woods to the sight of the Inores house.

Meanwhile, the expedition on the mountain had slowed to a halt.  One of the carts had broken down so a couple of workers were redistributing the load between the other carts.  They always brought more carts than they needed; the road was well travelled but still it was extremely dangerous and a cart would break fairly frequently.  The rest of the workers were sat crosslegged on the side of the road, Artel included.  He’d got out the new tool that <[char1]> had designed and helped build the previous day, and showed it to the others, explaining it to them in the terms <[char1]> had used to explain it to him.

The workers looked at each other and talked amongst themselves, they were sceptical of the change.  Artel seemed to believe in it though, and he was the foremost expert in the village, so they trusted him.  Deep down he was troubled though; that <[char1]> had seen the improvement so quickly..  But he paid no mind to it as the shout came that they were ready to set off again, dumping the broken cart at the side of the road to be picked up again on the way down for repairs.

At the bottom of the mountain, Kain and <[char1]> were standing at the entrance to Artel’s workshop, a small building with a locked door on the front situated just behind the Inores house.  <[char1]> fished in his pocket for the small key that opened it, and unlocked the door.

The workshop was lit by the light from high windows on all sides, high enough that people couldn’t look in. Tables covered in half finished tools and scribbled-on paper ran all around three walls of the room.  A sawing table in the centre was what <[char1]> had helped Artel build the new tools on the day before.  One of the walls was covered with a number of other devices that are used to refine the creations.  Each wall contained shelves and racks displaying a wide array of the products of previous attempts, including varying sizes of rocks chipped from the stone slab.

Kain entered first, excited by the prospect of stepping into this workshop.  He walked into the middle, looking all around and taking in the sights of the various items.  <[char1]> followed, closing the door behind him and watching his friend walk around the room inspecting things.

After a few moments Kain got over the initial awe and started inspecting things one by one, reaching over and picking up a small chunk of rock from the slab.  <[char1]> explained to him what it was, from what Artel had told him, and so it went on around the room, explaining everything to Kain.  <[char1]> got the impression that it would have been better for Kain to inherit the job rather than him; he certainly seemed to have the inquisitiveness and enthusiasm for it.

Once they’d got all the way around the room, the sun had passed over the slab of rock above them and the room was dark.  They left, Kain somewhat reluctantly, to go into the main house, <[char1]> locking the door behind them.

<[char1]> set up the spare bed for Kain and they just sat and chatted, about the workshop, about the expedition, about <[char1]>’s future..

“So, what are you gonna do if you’re not going to carry on what your dad’s doing?

“Hm.. I dunno.  I’ve not thought about that. I just don’t want to turn into someone as obsessive about it as him..”

“Yeah.. Hey, you could come with me, we could–” Kain trailed off mid-sentence.

“Could what?”

“Eh.. promise you won’t laugh?”

“Uh.. sure.  Course I won’t laugh.”

“I wanna leave this village when I’m older, move to somewhere bigger..” Kain began, pausing slightly before exclaiming, “And sing!”

<[char1]> couldn’t help but snicker a bit at this.  “Sing?”

Kain pouted.  “You said you wouldn’t laugh!”

“Alright, yeah.  You and me, when we’re older we’ll move to the city and sing together.  It’s a plan!”

This caused a massive grin on his friends face again.  “Seriously?  I used to love when the minstrels came round and we’d sit on the hill and listen..”

“Yeah, I’m up for it if you are.  Get older, then leave and sing together.”

“Okay!  It’s a plan.”

They sat talking about their plan for a good few hours, and even tried singing together a couple of times.  They had fun that afternoon.

But it was all interrupted by a rattle at the door.  <[char1]> heard it first, and put his hand up toward Kain and ’shh’d him.  The rattling continued, and got louder.  They moved slowly toward the door, when suddenly it burst open.

“<[char1]>!!!!” came a shout through the door.

“…Dad?” says <[char1]>, taking a step forward.

NaNo ‘08 – Chapter One: The Stone Circle

I’ve not decided on a name for <[char1]> yet, so sue me. Anyway, proof read and provide criticism. This is my NaNo so far.

It is said that heroes are a product of necessity; that when a hero is needed badly enough, that one will rise up and take the challenge.  Heroes are heralded as wonderful things, vanquishers of the shadows and destroyers of evil.  But they can only exist in a world so far gone into darkness that it takes such a valiant knight to bring them back into the light.  What if one man causes the world to fall into darkness and becomes the one to save it; is he then a saint or a sinner?  Indeed, could any man that desires power cause others to look to him for guidance by changing the world and then leading others into attempting to change it back?  And how can we differentiate between one that darkens the world for his own ends, or one that innocently does it through bad decisions?

1

The Ruxalok mountain range was quite curious, and the source of many human myths and legends across the land.  It was not because it consisted of a wide field of mountains, situated right on the corner of the three main countries of the land; Althuon in the north, Castel in the east, and Thena in the southwest.  It was not even because every one of the 285 mountains in the range was exactly the same height, or that the whole range was perfectly circular, consisting of evenly spread rings of mountains.  No, the truly strange part that most people notice as soon as they see is the huge thick circular piece of rock that sits on top, supported evenly by the might of the Ruxalok mountains.  The entire range was in perpetual shadow from the unnatural looking slab, the top of which no human in the land had ever discovered.

There had been attempts, made evident by the dents that had started to show in the parts accessible from the top of the outer ring of mountains, to bore through the rock.  The curiosity of the humans was powerful, their technological advancement was less so.  But another important quality of man is their determination.  Even after such failure, they still persevere to learn more.  To this end, the three countries were playing an unspoken game.  A race of development to discover what is up there, to be the first to get through and step onto the new world and claim it as theirs.

Many of the mountains of the outer ring have acquired settlements at their bases, originally designed to house the families of those that worked on the mountain that have since grown into reasonable sized towns.  It was a time of relative peace in the world, and in the safety of these towns the problems of the lands beyond were simply unnoticed.  The people lived in contentment, working hard and playing hard.  Life was good.

One particular mountain, the easternmost of the outer ring within the boundaries of the country of Castel, had at its base the town of Aruan.  Aruan was a small quiet village, home to just over 200 residents.  For most of the day it lived in the shade of the stone slab of Ruxalok, though the short time of daylight was uniquely good for the crops they grew.  The effects of the shadows cast by the rock showed very clear differences in the climate of each side of the Ruxaloks.

This town was home to the family of Inores, and the Inores’ were the primary family hired by the capital of Castel to keep trying to get through the rock.  This gave them quite a high status in the community, it was after all the Inores that founded the settlement in the first place.  They were famed and respected for this and never a bad word was spoken about them.  Artel Inores was the main head of the family, and it was him that led other workers in the town to the top of the mountain to work and provided the main ideas for the tools they would use.  Sometimes they’d spend days up there, after developing new tools and technology.

The heir to the Inores title was Artel’s son, <[char1]> Inores.  He was aged 14 at this time, with windswept jet black hair and average height.  Artel had begun teaching him about the various tools that he’s crafted in his workshop.  It was <[char1]>, in fact, that suggested to Artel as he was showing him one of his more recent creations how it could be improved upon.  Artel thought about it for a good few minutes, before realising that it might actually work.  He spent that evening crafting the upgraded tool – with <[char1]>’s help – and the very next day, Artel left the house as he frequently did.  <[char1]> had gotten used to living on his own for days at a time, and the rest of the village empathised with how hard it was and was in general very supporting.

He usually took the opportunities in the morning to get as much benefit from what little sunlight they had by going down to the village square to meet with friends.  It was odd, he considered as he pulled on his shoes, that he considered these people people his friends and yet.. he didn’t feel that he fit in.  Like he was an outsider.  He’d always blamed it on his status in the town as an Inores.  His house wasn’t any bigger than others, and he dressed no differently, but somehow he felt different in a way he couldn’t explain.

He got up and left the house as the sun was coming over the eastern horizon, and he turned to the west to see his father and the workers behind him beginning their long trek up the mountain.  One of their carts was noticably loaded with tents.  He recognised that sign; his father wouldn’t be back that evening.  He turned and continued towards the village square.  It wasn’t a long walk from his house in a straight line, but he preferred to go the less populated longer way.  He used the excuse that it was more scenic, but really it was to avoid people staring at him.

The village square of Aruan was a small grassy hill surrounded by cobbled streets.  There were a number of large rocks around the sides of the hill that <[char1]> and his friends climbed or sat on.  It was surrounded by various houses and on its west side was a collection of market stalls.  The entire place looked deserted though, only one person sitting on the side of the hill atop a rock when <[char1]> arrived.

“<[char1]>!”

He heard the shout before he’d seen his friends, he’d been looking down, deeply immersed in his thoughts.  He looked up now, and saw the familiar sight of Kain waving at him from one of the rocks, sitting on top of it with a wide grin.  Kain was 12 and he and <[char1]> were very close friends.  He had similar black hair to <[char1]> while being a good few inches shorter, and somehow managed to constantly maintain a playful happy expression on his face.  That was one of the reasons <[char1]> enjoyed his company so much, he just had a contagious feeling of playfulness that had the ability to make <[char1]> forget about his thoughts.

Seeing Kain sitting so carefree on the rock gave <[char1]> a nice boost.  He walked at a faster pace towards him, waving back.

“Hey Kain,” said <[char1]> as he got to him, clambering up onto the rock to sit beside him.

“Looks like your dad got a new idea then..” said Kain, gesturing toward the workers, barely visible on the well trodden mountain path.  <[char1]> didn’t even bother looking up, he knew to what Kain was referring and just nodded.

“You ever get the feeling like.. we’re not meant to know what’s up there?  Like.. it’s all pointless.  Solid rock, and nobody knows what’s on top..”

“Mm.. but they say they’re close to a breakthrough, like..”

“They’ve been saying that every day.” interrupted <[char1]>.  “Like.. every day for three generations of my family, it’s just been the same…”

Kain recognised this from <[char1]>, he got in this hopeless mood every time his father was staying out on the mountain, leaving him alone.  “Your dad…?”

“Yeah, he’s staying out tonight.  Didn’t say when he’d be back or anything,” explained <[char1]>, slight evidence of resentment in his voice.

Kain nodded, and reached his hand over and put it on <[char1]>’s shoulder. “Need company?” he offered, the staple grin returning.

<[char1]> turned and smiled at Kain.  “I’d love some!  You’re a good friend, thanks..” said <[char1]> sincerely.

Kain shrugged, “It’s what I’m here for!” he exclaimed.  He retracted his hand quickly and looked at <[char1]> seriously for a second, before returning to his usual playful expression.  <[char1]> didn’t notice, he was back to staring at the grass below.

“…I’ve been thinking…” said <[char1]> after a moments silence. “It’ll be my turn to.. do what my dad does now.. before too long.  He’s already started showing me the ropes and stuff.. He showed me around his workshop and what the tools do today.”

“Yeah.. I guess so.  You’ll be up the mountain a lot, or working on stuff, we’ll not get to see each other very oft–”

“I’m not going to do it.”