The Drogen's Law

The Misty Hills (Edwin)

Once Chris stopped laughing, she looked at Edwin, her lips still twitched now and then, probably with laughter she was trying to control.

“One good thing about being the hair of the tribe is that you can know things, learn things. The Aether tribe is real, Edwin.”

“It Is?” Edwin said.

“Yes, and from what I know, the Aether tribe is not the only strongest tribe on the continent. Two more tribes rival the Aether tribe in strength, though I do not know their name.”

“If they are real, why don’t we know about them?” Edwin said, apprehensively. He still did not believe in the Aether tribe. “Why is it just a rumour?”

“Of course, it’s just a rumour,” Chris said in an exasperated tone.

“The world is too dangerous. Even though there are hundreds if not thousands of tribes out there, we only have contact with four other tribes. The other tribes are either too far or too dangerous to travel to. The rumour flies, however, during the trade with those other four tribes. However, my father quickly suppresses them. So that it remains just that—a rumour.”

“Why?” Edwin said, a bit annoyed. “Isn’t it better to have hope? To know there are tribes out there strong enough for them to someday liberate mankind from the confines of a wall?”

“But that’s not how the system works.” Chris smiled at Jimmy, who had fallen asleep. “People in power don’t want to liberate the world from monsters. Why would they? They are benefiting from it. It is allowing them to take absolute control over the people. Why would they want to change that? But that’s not the only reason Father hides the truth.”

“What do you mean?”

“You see, the Aether tribe has been recruiting people from other smaller tribes every three years. People they can groom, people no older than seventeen. If our tribe learns about it, they might want to join them. Father doesn’t want to lose his potential warriors. He doesn’t want to lose his power—his control but increase it. He someday wants to rival them, though he isn’t even close. However, he has plans to achieve that. Daring plans.”

“I don’t want to hear about your father’s plan. I want to hear yours. How are we going to reach the Aether Tribe?”

She gave him a mysterious smile and fished out a map from her saddlebag. “We don’t have to reach there. This is the Vancorg tribe.”

She pointed at the location on the map. “This is the krozon tribe.” She pointed east of their own Tribe. “We just have to reach there.”

“Once, we used to have trade relations with five tribes, not four.” She tapped at the location of the krozon tribe.

“I have heard of the name before. We will have to go through the misty hills to reach there. Isn’t that dangerous?”

Chris nodded. “The trade with the tribe was dropped because of those mysterious deaths at the Misty Hills. Some people drop dead for no reason, bleeding blue blood from their eyes, ears, nose and even mounts. Yes, it is dangerous. But what choice do we have? It is the only path to the Aether tribe. And even if we forfeit the plan for the Aether tribe, the Krozon tribe is still the best option. Father can easily track us down to another tribe. Even though it is dangerous, it is the best option we have.”

“I still think going through Misty Hills is a—”

“Are you saying we’re going to the misty hills, which are directly east of here?” Jimmy said, who was already in front of him. His red eyes stared at Edwin.

Edwin screamed. He had nearly jumped out of his own skin. Appearing in front of his face so suddenly like that. Does he want to give me a heart attack? Edwin thought. “Why did you do that?”

“I asked If we are going to Misty Hills.” Why was Jimmy ignoring his question? “I think we should go there.”

“Why?” His brother’s determination royally confused Edwin. He could see the determination simmering in Jimmy’s eyes.

“I just think... we... should,” Jimmy said, looking at his shifting feet. “You won’t believe me when I told you,” Jimmy muttered under his breath. Edwin did not think he meant it for his ears.

Edwin remembered Jimmy talking about the voices in his mind. “Are the voices in your mind telling you-“

“Well then, it is settled,” Chris interrupted before he could complete his question to Jimmy. “We are going through the misty hills.”

“Nothing is settled, Chris,” Edwin said, rounding the woman. “We still have to discuss-“

“What is there to discuss?” Chris took her stubborn pose, hands on hips, chin raised. “He wants to go.” She pointed at Jimmy. “I want to go.” She pointed at herself. “That’s the majority and majority rules. We are going to the krozon tribe.”

Edwin’s mouth worked, but nothing came out. “Fine,” he snarled.

After preparing everything, the three of them mounted their horses and began their journey. They had four horses. They are using the fourth horse to carry the tents and a few other things. As the horse trotted forward, nobody spoke. Jimmy wasn’t much of a talker. While Edwin was in no mood to talk to anyone. He still did not like the idea of going through the Misty Hills. What was Chris Thinking? They were marching to their deaths. Muttering under his breath, Edwin rode his horse, a scowl planted on his face. An awkward silence hung around them for hours.

They camped in a small clearing in the forest before sundown. Edwin had learned to ride the horse, true—however, he had never travelled this long on a horse. His buttocks felt like—he didn’t know what it felt like, but it wasn’t pleasant.

Jimmy and Chris busied themselves erecting the camp. Edwin ventured into the forest to collect wood and nuts. He had to admit that Chris’s Maps were very accurate. As long as they avoided the red spot, they were pretty much safe. Monsters were territorial creatures. They rarely ventured outside their territory. As long as they followed the map correctly, this should be as safe as one could be outside the wall. They did not encounter a single beast today.

Two hours later, Edwin and two others were eating steaming broth—sitting in front of the crackling fire. Edwin had thought none of them in the group knew how to cook. Chris, however, had a delicious surprise for them.

When Jimmy and Edwin gave her a questioning look, she just shrugged and said, “I thought to myself—this world is a dangerous place. What would I do if I were stranded alone in the forest? And there was none to cook for me? So I learned it myself.”

Edwin said something to her—he did not know what and continued to eat his food. Chris watched the camp for the first-half of the night and Edwin watched for the second-half of the night. Jimmy wanted to join the watch duty but both Edwin and Chris gave him a big fat, NO, at the same time.

The next day, they broke Camp before sunrise and continued their journey. Over the week of their travel, they spotted a few monsters, but they were too far to be any threat to them. As they got closer to the misty hills, Jimmy seemed more and more eager, and a strange air surrounded him. This unnerved Edwin.

Every time Edwin wanted to ask his brother—If his eagerness had something to do with the voice in his mind, something always seemed to stop him. This made Edwin sweat rivers. And it had nothing to do with the heat of the journey. What if the voice was leading them to a trap? Why anyone wanted to trap someone who hadn’t evolved a single time, Edwin did not know. But it could still be possible, Couldn’t it? Of course, the voices could just be Jimmy’s imagination, or perhaps hallucination. Which was more probable, but something—a gut feeling told him it wasn’t a hallucination.

It took the group about a week to reach the misty hills. Once there, they decided to rest. They wanted to enter the misty hills in the best possible condition.