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He stumbled with an oof and came to a halt, casting an apologetic glance at Rebka, who was now the only one free. "Looks like you're on your own, kid."
Rebka took one look at her odds and held up her hands in surrender, grinning ruefully. "I give up! The Monster wins! Sorry guys, haha."
Tanrial purred happily, trotting over to Rebka and tapping her to make sure she was effectively tagged. Hah! I told you guys I was going to win! She projected into the three of their minds.
"Yeah, we were warned," Bernon chuckled, slogging out of the water and wringing out his clothes. "Good game, guys. Who else is ready for the picnic? I'm starving."
Tanrial waded her way out of the water, standing a little way always so she could shake herself off. She shifted back, her hair slightly damp and clothes just a little wet but not as bad as the others, “Yeah, I’m ready to go eat.”
Mike nodded at a cluster of trees closer to the water. Several kids and villagers had stared to gather in the shade around them and set up places to eat. "Looks like people have started to gather. I can see some familiar faces already."
"Yeah," Snatch said happily, leading the way. "There's Jackie! I guess she got back from helpin' clear trails. Let's go say hi!"
Tanrial grabbed her shoes from where she laid them nearby, following Snatch, “We’re coming Snatch, don’t forget we’re older then you.”
Snatch snorted. "Pfff, right, I forgot. You guys are geezers. Hi Jackie! Look who's back!"
Jackie looked up from her seat at the base of a tree, where she was being swarmed by her younger siblings. "Hey Snatch…..oh hey! Tanrial! You guys made it!" She stood up, still being used as a jungle gym by a couple small children. "How are ya today?"
(I gtg to bed early tonight, I'll see you tomorrow! ^^)
(yepp! I may be around tonight if I have my laptop but no promises)
Tanrial went in for a half hug, being careful of the children around her, "Hey Jackie, long time no see! I'm aight thanks, bit wet so sorry about that but good. How are you? How you been the past few days?"
(Okie!)
"Not too shabby," Jackie grinned. "This place is great. The kids are learning so much just by living here, way more than they did in our original home. When did you guys get here?"
"Yesterday evening," Bernon said, coming up beside them. "We pretty much went straight to bed, though. It's good to hear that you guys are liking the village so far. Just don't go too far into the woods….there are definitely bandits out there. We learned that one the hard way."
Jackie's expression set in determination. "Well, call me ambitious, but those bandits shouldn't be a problem in a year or two. Wren and Polla and I are talking about ways to clean out the mountains so good people can settle there permanently."
(yeah I fell asleep, oops)
Tanrial raised a brow, smiling widely, “Seriously? That’s great! Honestly it would be amazing if you did and if you ever need any help later on down the line I’ll always be happy to help, not like I’m doing anything else anyways.”
(lol no worries, sleep is good)
Jackie grinned. "I'll keep you posted. Aren't you guy going on some kind of quest pretty soon though?"
Bernon shrugged. "I mean, yes, but there's always the chance we'll come back afterwards. Traveling across country and back shouldn't take us too long, right?" He cast a hopeful glance at Mike, who shrugged in a less-than-optimistic way. "Well, our point is, we wish you the best of luck, Jackie, and we'd love to help if we get the chance."
Jackie clapped him on the back, and judging by how much he stumbled, the girl hit as hard as someone Rick's size. "Much appreciated, you three. But enough about that. Why don't we sit down and get ready to eat? There's plenty of food to go around, and I thin I see more coming from the tavern."
(lol true)
"Considering we were all just running around in the water because Snatch wanted to play some game I think we're all pretty hungry." She chuckled lightly, heading over to join the rest of the group and sitting down by Rebka and Snatch.
Jackie flopped down as well, and instantly the other kids dog-piled her again. "Try hauling rocks and fallen trees off a trail for most of the morning," she sighed. "I could eat every fish in the lake right now."
"Please don't," Peter said, walking up to them with a basket of food and drinks. "Here you go, guys–this should be enough for everyone sitting over here. There'll be more on that table we're setting up if you need it."
(I have to go to work now, seeya later!)
(Okie, I'll try and be on again tonight!)
There was an array of different foods. Various small fruits, breads and quite a large amount of fish for the group to share. Most of the group dug in as soon as it was placed down, eager to get a share before it all disappeared into the hungry mouths of the kids.
(oof I slept in, mighta missed ya sorry)
Jackie did her best not to devour more than her share, although it was clear that she was used to eating much more in a sitting. "So," she said between mouthfuls, "did you guys manage to get that map you were wanting? I heard that was what you went to the other village for."
(all good)
Tanrial nodded, swallowing a piece of bread she'd shoved into her mouth a second before, "Yea, somehow with some bribing and persuading we did. It was getting back here that was the problem."
"And what a map!" Bernon enthused, shifting around to join their conversation. "It's really a whole book of maps and it shows all the roads, and towns, and natural landmarks and pre-war ruins and ground elevation and so much other stuff. Plus it's enchanted, so it always shows you where you are, and it updates itself if you find a new area….." He trailed off in a rather lovestruck way.
"Wow." Jackie raised an eyebrow. "I bet that didn't come cheap. Who on earth was skilled enough to make such a crazy cool map? And around here, of all places?"
"Some older guy. Can't remember his name but he seemed to be pretty well versed in magical artifacts. In fact, I wouldn't doubt if he head magic himself… plus we had a hunch it was him that created that huge storm that split us up, no proof though." She shrugged.
Jackie narrowed her eyes. "Wait really? You mean the hurricane a few days ago?"
"Yup," Bernon replied. "I don't know what that guy's game is, but I have a sneaking suspicion we haven't seen the last of him yet."
Jackie looked troubled. "I knew there were some pretty powerful magic-users here on the surface, but…..that's intense. Do you think he was working with the bandits? W could run into trouble if he is….."
"I don't think so….." Bernon tilted his head thoughtfully. "I'm guessing his plans are above and beyond anything to do with bandits. But I could be wrong….what do you think, Tanrial?"
(I'm off to work now, seeya!)
(Okie, seeya later :)
Again, she shrugged, leaning back on her hands, "I doubt he wants to have anything to do with those guys. If anything he's working with someone or something else. Those bandits have nothing to offer him and barely keep their own camp together."
Mike had been silently leaning against the tree next to them while he ate, and now he spoke up. "Bernon, do you still have that note he gave us as we were leaving Den Ys? I think I remember he left us some clues in that."
"Oh yeah…..it should still be in my backpack somewhere. Now you mention it, didn't the note say he used to work with Ryker?"
Jackie stiffened. "He worked with my dad? Wait minute….are we talking about the mayor of Den Ys, Zachry Torres? Eric and I used to supervise supply trades with him sometimes. I didn't know he made maps too….?"
"So he wasn't lying when he said he knew you all then," Tanrial tilted her head slightly, "Honestly the crap that man said I didn't believe him, guess I was wrong. Clearly that man is more talented then we all thought and I wouldn't doubt if he was finding a way to talk to Ryker right now."
"Hang on," Bernon said, getting up. "I'm gonna run back and grab the note from my room real quick."
While he was doing that, Mike finished eating and dusted the crumbs off his hands. "To answer your question, Jackie, Torres was playing two roles in his village. Somehow he'd managed to trick his people into thinking that the mayor and the map-maker were separate guys–he had to be using magic, since he didn't disguise himself at all. Who knows why. He seemed to just enjoy the trickery of it."
Jackie shook her head. "I always knew there was something off about him. Knowing he's a magic-user makes so much sense…..he used to do some pretty crazy favors for Dad that don't seem possible without mysterious powers."
"And now he's taken an interest in us, of all people," Mike said darkly. "You can see why I might think that map wasn't worth the trouble after all."
"I think you might be right there, Mike," Tanrial nodded in agreement, "If he could somehow manage to convince an entire village of people that he was two separate people for who knows how long, what's to say that map isn't tracking our movements so he could report our whereabouts to Ryker?"
"He could be……I think I remember he said he didn't really care for Ryker though." Mike spotted Bernon coming back from his trip to the tavern and straightened. "Let's see if the note can shed any light on the situation."
"I found it," Bernon puffed once he was within earshot. Unfolding the paper, he scanned the message carefully, frowning.
Mike waited. "Does he say anything about Ryker in there?"
"Hold on…..yeah, he seems to be saying that it's a good thing Ryer's gone. In fact I think he's trying to warn us that the guy won't give up easily."
"So he's trying to win our trust," Mike said thoughtfully. "Does it say why? What does he want from us?"
Bernon read a little further. "Here we go. He says he knows about our plan to take the data drive west, and wants to help us. In return, he wants us to be his…..debt collectors or something? Apparently somebody on the west coast named Blake owes him a lot of money." Bernon scratched his head. "I mean….all of this could be lies, but so far it's the only story that explains his weird behavior so I dunno what to think."
(I gotta work today and tomorrow, seeya when I seeya!)
(Okie dokie, have fun at work! I’m pretty much on holidays now so I’ll be more active form now on apart from Wednesday)
“Well… the only way to figure out if he is lying is to find whoever this Blake person is and ask if he knows him. If he doesn’t then it was a lie and we should destroy the map but if not then maybe we can trust him a little,” She shrugged, “Bit risky but what else are we gonna do? Go west with no sense of direction? That’s the only map we’ve got.”
(Alrighty!)
Bernon nodded. "And it's a–"
"–A dang good map, yeah, we know," Mike finished for him. "Of course, by the time we get all the way west and find Blake, it won't matter whether Torres was lying or not because we'll have already done the entire job for him by then. But I agree that we don't seem to have any other options."
Jackie listened quietly for a minute, then took a long swig of water. "I'll tell Polla and Wren about Torres once you guys set out, and we'll do our own investigation of him. If we discover that he's up to no good, we'll take care of him, don't worry. We would have been pestering him anyway to see how much he knows about Dad's plans."
(Nvm, I'm off school for four weeks now… love that - still gotta do some work from home though)
"Hopefully this isn't all one big scheme of Rykers. Torres seemed like a pretty powerful magic user. And the skills you'd need to construct a map of that detail is beyond me," Tanrial looked to Jackie, "Just be extra careful around him from now on."
(ah okay, is that because of a certain very famous virus? Gosh I sure hope we're out of this crazy mess before much longer)
Jackie nodded. "I don't mean to doubt you when you say Torres is dangerous, but every time we dealt with him before, he was very friendly with us. Almost as eccentric as Dad, but in a more harmless way, I guess. Hopefully we'll be able to have a civil talk with him about all this without starting a fight."
"Well, good luck," Mike said. "We appreciate your help."
Just then Snatch dashed over and tugged at Tanrial's sleeve. "Tanrial, c'mere! There's something flying way up in the sky, come see!"