Terra Magicae: Chapter 6

Read Chapter 5 HERE

It’s been a few weeks since I worked on this, so I’m going to start with a little recap. This is as much for my benefit as it is for someone who might be reading this.

Roughly in the year 100 C.E. (as we would reckon) the Roman Empire is searching far and wide for a mysterious red ore that “fell from the sky”. Their search takes them far beyond the borders of their empire as we knew it, in our history. They are lead by mysterious sorcerers, who can control the elements and summon destruction with a word.  It is rumored that they can even see into the future or see far off events beyond their natural sight.

A group of disparate slaves from across the empire, and beyond, are packed aboard ships and sailed west across the great sea to an unknown land, where they are forced to dig in a crater rich with this mysterious red ore. Among these slaves are Aržak, Sigeberht, and Meleke.

They soon realize exposure to the red ore has given them some of the power the Romans are able to wield. Not long after that discovery, they find a little in-human creature, called Chobo, who wants to eat the red ore, believing it will make him big and strong. He claims to be a member of a tribe of creatures from “another world”. In exchange for some red ore agrees to help the slaves escape.

The three are able to escape, along with many of their fellow slaves, but not without causing a riot in the Roman mine.

And that is where our story resumes.

The Characters (so far)

• Aržak – A Parthian (modern day Iran) Scholar enslaved by the Romans
• Sigeberht – A warrior of the Anglii (modern day Denmark)
• Meleke – A merchant from (modern day Guinea/Mali) beyond the deserts south of Mauretania
• Chobo – A strange little creature with even stranger hair.
• Zarl – The “chief” of a tribe from another world.

Chapter 6

Aržak and his band were not the only group to escape. Across the mine secret plans had been laid and were hastily enacted when the riot erupted. At the time, there was no way to know how many had made it to freedom, but within two days around one hundred had formed a group west of the mine and were following Aržak’s group north toward a river they hoped existed.

After three days, the swamps gave way to dense forest, and not long after they found the river Chobo described, but no other humans. By this point the group was exhausted, and lacking knowledge of the local flora and fauna, were unable to easily provide for themselves while on the move.

They scouted the area, looking for any signs that the Romans might have been there, but found nothing. It seemed like a good of a place as any to set up a temporary encampment.

Without proper tools, they were starting from scratch, but they weren’t helpless. Among their ranks were a cross section of professions and people from all over the Roman world. They didn’t know much about where they were, but they had the accumulated knowledge between them to start to figure it out.

One of their first challenges was obtaining wood without saws or hatchets. This problem resolved itself after Sigeberht, in a fit of rage at trying to use a makeshift stone axe, lashed out at the tree with his bare hands, shattering it and felling it in one blow. Aržak and Meleke made good use of their mysterious power as well. Aržak was able to conjure energies that could easily light fires, as well as melt trace ores they had scraped together. With patience, and concentration, Meleke was able to divine sources of edible flora and even predict where animals were grazing for easy hunting.

They began to see how the Romans had come to master this strange place so easily, given their much more advanced understanding of how to use the power conveyed by the red ore.

Two weeks had passed in their temporary home and they still had no sight of Romans or the local people. Around the fires at night they would contemplate where they might be. While they still had no idea how far west they had come, several of their band noted that the nighttime stars, and the rising and setting of the sun, for the time of year, matched that of Jerusalem and Alexandria. So not only had they gone a good distance west, but also had been tracking quite a bit south in their time at sea.

Deep in one of these discussions, Meleke motioned for everyone to be quiet. She listened for a moment then signaled for Sigeberht and Aržak to follow her into the darkness, away from the fire. Chobo, never far from Sigeberht’s side, followed.

“What has you spooked?” Sigeberht asked.

Meleke scanned the area. “I cannot explain it. I feel odd. Like something is here that shouldn’t be.”

“Is it Chobo?” Aržak questioned with a chuckle.

“Chobo?” the little creature questioned.

Aržak waved him off. “Quiet, Chobo.” He said in Latin, having already taught the creature some words, so he wouldn’t have to constantly call on his power to communicate with him.

“It’s not Chobo.” Meleke said dryly. “It’s a presence. Human, but not entirely human. It’s just a feeling, I can’t really convey it in words.”

“Are we in danger?” Sigeberht asked.

Meleke squeezed at her temples, as if trying to force the premonition to work better. “I don’t think so, but let’s pass along to everyone to be on the lookout for anything strange.”

“Like Chobo.” Sigeberht said with a grin.

Soon the fires were put out and the members of their band began to settle into their makeshift lodgings, which at this stage were hobbled together from sticks and brush.

Sigeberht and Aržak patrolled the perimeter. They had no indication that the Romans knew where they went, or would even expend resources looking for them, but they weren’t going to just assume they were free just yet.

From the darkness a whine could be heard. Both readied their stolen Roman spears. Slowly from the undergrowth a canine emerged. It was a breed neither man had seen before. It sniffed at them and cautiously approached.

“Should we spear it and eat it?” Sigeberht pondered.

“No!” Aržak gasped. “We’ve found bigger game to eat than him. This guy is probably just curious about us.”

Aržak knelt down and offered out his hand. The dog came forward and sniffed it. Aržak reached into his bag and produced a piece of dried fish.

“We barely have enough to eat.” Sigeberht cautioned. “Now you’re feeding the wildlife?”

Aržak handed the fish to the dog, who happily took it. “Dogs are good to keep around, if you can tame them. They’re loyal and fierce, if their master is threatened. We need all the help we can get.”

“This may amaze you, Parthian, but we have dogs where I come from.” Sigeberht said with an eye roll.

“And yet your first instinct was to eat this little fellow.” Aržak mused.

With the fish firmly in its jaws the dog darted back off into the darkness, not to be seen for the rest of the evening.

Aržak and Sigeberht would have slept late, having spent the night patrolling the camp, if Meleke hadn’t awakened them early. “Someone is coming” she said.

They scrambled to their feet and grabbed their spears. Sigeberht looked for Chobo, but he was nowhere to be found. Being no fan of the sunlight, he was likely cowering in the woods somewhere.

From the north, along the same side of the river as the camp, three people approached. Rather than let them enter the camp, Aržak and the others sprinted out to meet them.

Roughly what the Hataccii looked like. They didn’t have cameras then, cut me some slack.

As they got closer, they could see it was three men with the look of the local people that had visited the Roman mine, the Hattacii. One of them was older, wearing an elaborate chest decoration made of bones and polished stones. He carried at his side a gnarled wooden staff with bright feathers attached at the top. The other two bore no weapons.

“Romanoos?” the elder asked, once they were close enough to hear one another.

“No.” Aržak replied in Latin. “But we know the Roman tongue. Do you understand?”

“Make some Romanoos words.” The elder replied. “Have trade Romanoos. Who are?”

Aržak whispered the memorized words he’d used to understand Chobo, and waved his hands in the direction of the Elder. “Is this better?” he asked.

The elder smiled. “You know something of their magic, I see?”

“Indeed, but we are not Roman.”

The elder looked to Sigeberht and Meleke. “But can they understand me?”

Aržak shook his head. “Sorry, no. I don’t yet fully understand how these gifts work.”

The elder nodded. “What were those strange words you said to make us understand each other?”

Aržak repeated the words, though they were nonsense, in no language he understood, even when under the influence of the spell they invoked. “An tend wegh”

The elder looked confused. “An tend wekyu?”

Aržak shook his head. “No. An tend wegh.”

“An tend wekyu?” the elder repeated.

“It’s not An tend wekyu.” Aržak said with frustration. “I suspect this is a problem of our tongues not having the same sounds.”

“My mistake.” The elder said with a smile.

“Hells!” Meleke exclaimed, reflexively in her native tongue. “How do you understand my language?”

Sigeberht looked to Meleke with astonishment. “Hells indeed, how do you suddenly know my language?”

Aržak could feel his spell had somehow extended to them, and he suspected this Hattacii was the cause, though the elder still looked about innocently.

“What miracles we have witnessed this day.” The elder said with a grin. “Now that we can all hear each other, let it be known we are not here as enemies. We are looking for some of our people who have gone missing. Kidnapped by the Ko-plens.”

Aržak, Sigeberht, and Meleke looked to each other in confusion.

“What, or who, are Ko-plens?” Meleke asked. “This word isn’t understood, despite the enchantment.”

One of the other two men spoke up. “Disturbing little green men. They are not from this place. They were brought here by the Romans, we think, but the Romans have no love for them either. They are vicious little beasts who have routinely kidnapped our people. We tracked them south along the river, but lost their trail.”

“We’ve seen nothing like that.” Sigeberht quickly protested. He sensed they were talking about whatever creature Chobo was. And he was, for once, thankful Chobo wasn’t around.

Aržak could feel the tension in Sigeberht. “We’ll keep a lookout for these beasts and your people. How do we find you if we encounter them?”

“Follow the river.” The elder said with a laugh. “We’ll find you before you find us.”

“And what may we call you?” Meleke asked.

“I am Running Dog.” The elder said with a slight bow. “We would rather not scare your people, we’ll cross at the shallow here and continue our search on the other side. We’ll see you again soon, Aržak. Health to you and your people.”

Aržak nodded and kept eyes on the three as they waded into the river.

“Hey, Aržak.” Sigeberht began. “I don’t recall you telling him your name. Did that happen before the spell was cast on us?”

“No.” Aržak said, frustrated. “We, and the Romans, aren’t the only sorcerers in this land.”

EDIT (2024-10-02): Circled back to add links to previous chapters to all these older entries.