The Road to Nowhere (Avalanchemike)

The sun hung low in the sky, slowly rising over the eastern horizon. A small figure trudged wearily down the long dirt road, hand shielding his eyes from the sun ahead of him. He'd been walking all night, resting only a couple times. He would have stopped to sleep hours ago, but a certain someone insisted he keep going.

“How much longer, Toofy?” Rush rubbed his stomach to ease its growling. “I'm getting hungry and we ran out of food forever ago.”

Toofy let out an irritated groan from within Rush's bag. “I can't believe how weak you are!”

“Hey, you've got it easy, you're a freakin' skull who doesn't need to eat or sleep.”

Toofy sighed. The main thing that annoyed him about this kid was that he was mortal. If he was immortal, he would at least stop complaining about food every couple of hours. “Pop your bag open, kid, I want to see the sky.”

Rush absently obeyed, flipping his satchel open. Toofy's empty eyes filled with sunlight. “It's only been one night? With all your complaining it felt like weeks.”

“Damn it, Toofy, I'm stopping at the next sign of civilization.”

“It's not like I really have a choice.” Toofy grumbled. “Could you at least 'accidentally' drop me under the skirt of a nice looking lass?”

Rush chuckled, stopping in his tracks to glance down at his friend. “Maybe, though don't blame me if it's another man in a kilt.”

“Damn you, Rush. Forget it, just keep walking.”

Rush's legs forced themselves forward, moving down the road that simply seemed to stretch for eternity. Every time he stopped to rest his legs, the little guy in his bag would get angrier and angrier. He didn't want to test his patience, so he simply pressed forward.

He was keeping his eyes open for civilization, but there simply didn't seem to be any anywhere. He constantly wondered if Toofy had somehow made a mistake in his directions, but that couldn't be the case: He was an immortal being, certainly his memory would be excellent.

After another another hour of walking, Rush had fallen into auto-pilot. It took him a while before he suddenly noticed he was gaining ground on another traveler. He slapped the side of his bag to get Toofy's attention. “Look alive, numbskull, we have a heading.”

“Holy crap, Rush, three puns in one sentence?”

“Well yeah, I thought it up an hour ago and was waiting to use it. Actually, I simply see someone up ahead. I'm going to catch up with him and see what's up.”

“Whatever.” Toofy mumbled.

Rush picked up the pace, closing ground between him and the stranger. He closed his satchel up to conceal Toofy's shiny head. He'd learned from experience that people don't normally carry disembodied, talking skulls around.

Mael grumbled as he wandered back onto the road. He’d just woken up from a rather long night’s sleep under a bush near a little stream just beyond sight of the tree line, and was frustrated he lost precious hours of daylight to his slumber. He’d been wandering along the road for two days now and it didn’t truly seem as though he was getting anywhere. That old man he had passed must be laughing at him now somewhere. Only a couple hours down the road, he said. Just keep following the path, he said.

He reached down into his satchel and pulled out a loaf of bread, splitting it in half and putting one half back in the bag for later. He ripped into it with his teeth and slowly munched on it. The bread was hard, but food was food and his rumbling stomach was satisfied with anything he’d surrender to it. Mael put the bread into his mouth and held it there as he stretched his arms over his head and sighed. He wished he had a good hobby to ride right then. It would make the trip so much faster.

His ears perked up as he heard a pitter-patter along the dirt road of someone approaching behind him, and his hand went instinctively for his knife hidden beneath his cloak. When he thought the person coming up on him was close to him, he spun around and began to draw on his – standing before him was a kid.

The child was maybe a foot shorter than him, with spiky red hair and dressed familiarly. His mouth nearly dropped the bread in his mouth, when he thought about drawing his knife on a child. It wouldn’t be the first time a kid stole though, and his eye didn’t ignore the blade at the child’s side. Something between a knife, and sword, too long or short to be called one or the other.

His hand didn’t leave his knife, but he relaxed his grip on it. Mael raised his free hand to wave at the kid. He wondered why the child hastened to catch up to him, but didn’t voice it. It was probably better for a kid to be travelling with someone older, even on a deserted road.

(OOC: Eh, I'm not satisfied, but better than nothing I guess! I didn't want to keep you waiting too long. UHHH. Hobby is a reference to an old type of Irish horse, infamous for their speed and endurance. Apparently Longshanks considered them quite crucial to the war effort.)

Instantly Rush zeroed in on the bread hanging from the stranger's mouth. Finally some food! Trying not to sound like a desperate beggar, Rush pushed the gnawing thoughts of hunger out of his head. “Well hello, stranger!” Rush greeted with a weak wave. “Do you happen to know where the nearest village is located? I've been traveling for quite a while and need some rest and... food.” His stomach ended the sentence with a disturbed growl for attention.

By the looks of him, this stranger also appeared to have been traveling for quite a while. His clothes were definitely not meant for leisure, neither was the blade his hand rested on.

Suddenly noticing the knife, Rush quickly lurched his own hand to the hilt of his sword almost as an afterthought to the kind greeting he just presented. His movement may have been a bit too fast, possibly threatening, but he couldn't help the sudden nervousness at seeing the stranger with his hand on a blade.

Mael would have chuckled at the child’s stomach punctuating the end of his sentence, were it not for the bread in his mouth. Mael frowned when the boy suddenly gripped the hilt of his blade. Only his confidence that with the distance between the two of them, he would be able to drub the boy on the head before he could strike with his blade prevented him from drawing either of his weapons. He cautiously studied the boy and then looked to his eyes and noticed him fixated on Mael’s hand on his own blade. He assumed that his cloak would have hid it. Oh well.

Carefully, he removed the knife his belt and taking the bread from his mouth cut it in half, before replacing the knife in its sheath. His eyes quickly scanned around the landscape until he spotted a fallen tree, wide enough to support his bottom and long enough for several large men to sit down upon. He slowly walked over to it and sat down; he glanced back at the boy still standing in the road with his hand still on the hilt of his weapon watching him carefully.

An eyebrow rose slightly and with a carefully practiced coolness, he spoke holding out one of the halves of the bread. “Do you truly intend to use that?”

OOC: I'm sad because yesterday the server shut off as I posted this the first time. It was better then, but I put in what I remembered ;_;

Upon seeing the man with his arm extended, succulent bread in hand, Rush's mind couldn't think of anything but food. Letting go of his blade, he eagerly rushed over to the stranger on the rock. Realizing how childish he must have appeared, he quickly slowed himself a few feet from the man and straightened his posture. He could barely hear the annoyed sigh of Toofy coming from his bag.

Rush cleared his throat before grabbing the bread as coolly as he possibly could. He turned his back to the stranger and huddled next to the nearest tree. He dug his teeth into the bread and began scarfing it down. Having mostly eaten stale bread his entire life, this loaf was just as good as any he'd ever had. In mere seconds, it was all gone.

Rush spread his legs out on the ground and rested his hands behind his head. He took a deep breath of the fresh air and closed his eyes, smile spreading across his face. He could sense Toofy's urge to move on, but he knew he wouldn't say anything in the presence of a stranger. “Do you know where the nearest village is?” Rush asked the stranger. If he could manage, he would continue traveling with this guy. Odds were that he had more food, and could probably fend off any bandits and wild animals better than he could.

Mael watched the boy as he scurried – wasn’t the right word, just the only that came to mind – to a nearby tree and made quick work of the bread he’d been given. Carefully, he studied the boy, reading as much as he could from face value presented to him. The hesitation, dirty clothes and skin, no food, and the most key point the boy was on his own.

So he had a poor, probably orphaned or more probably runaway, city boy. Not much use for travelling, yet alone the wilderness. He silently suppressed a sigh as he put the remainder of his bread back in his bag. He didn’t know where his appétit went, but it was probably a good thing if he was going to have to be providing food for two now, as he suspected he would have to. And for who knows how long?

And as if the boy was reading his thoughts, he echoed the question. “Well, two days ago it was several hours away,” he answered wryly, smiling a little at the look of confusion that came upon the boy’s face. “I met an old man an hour outside of Elearen, the last village I passed through, who told me I only had a few hours of travel before I’d reached the next village, Aeram’s Crossing. But I’ve travelled for two days, and for those two days I have seen no sign of civilization, save the road we were walking on.”

Offering his hand, he added in a more normal tone, “My name is Mael-tuili Ua Conchobair.”

The last of the bread disappeared into Rush's mouth by the time the stranger had introduced himself. “My name is Mael-tuili Ua Conchobair.” He extended his hand in a friendly greeting. Rush eyed him blankly. He took a moment to finish swallowing his bread as this man's name was a mouthful by itself. Regardless, the man had just fed him. He wouldn't poke fun at his name.

"Cool." He reached out and shook Mael's hand. He quickly let go and returned to his tree, casually resting his arm over his bag with the subconscious fear that its contents would start talking. "My name's Rush. Just Rush. No last or middle name."

“It’s nice to meet you Rush,” Mael said with a short smile, trying to ease the boy. The kid seemed to be a bit nervous, understandable given the circumstances. Rising up he wandered to the road, looking up and down it in both directions. No one in sight, he thought to himself glumly. He’d hoped that a local or at least someone who knew the area would happen to pass by.

He looked over to where the boy was seated against the tree and called out to him. “I’ll go on ahead, I shouldn’t be too long, you can wait here or catch up.”

Walking down the hard packed dirt path, Mael wondered how the boy came into his circumstances and if it was common for boys his age to live alone on the streets. He did not think that orphaned children was a large problem, but it was one that should be addressed. Perhaps a series of homes could be built in correlation with the Church, so that children could be raised in a home of some sort, rather than living on the streets. Bah! It was no problem of him, not yet anyways.

Twenty minutes or so had passed and he was thinking of going back to pick up the kid, but decided against it. Instead he continued onward, walking around a small bend in the path around a large stone. He should be fine for a few more minutes. The forest around him opened up a bit into a small corridor of clear grass, and looking up ahead, he noticed a person resting against a tree. Finally. He thought to himself in relief. Maybe someone could finally tell him where he was and point him in the right direction. Quickening his pace to a brisk jog he hurried over to the person.

As he got closer he slowed as he recognized the person’s distinctive spiked red hair. “Rush?” He asked perplexedly. “How did you get ahead of me?” Mael hadn’t exactly hurried but the child would have needed to run in the bush in order to have beaten him here.

“I’ll go on ahead, I shouldn’t be too long, you can wait here or catch up.” Mael spoke up. With that, he got up and began moving down the road.

Rush decided to wait for him to return, as he hadn't gotten a good rest in a long while. He leaned back and stretched his legs, getting a comfortable as he possibly could so he could take a nice nap.

Waiting until the stranger was out of earshot, Toofy finally spoke up again. “Rush, you twat, you know that guy just ditched you, right?”

“What?” He laughed. “Not Mael tooly conchberry, he's not that kind of guy. I think he's just checking up the road for something.”

Toofy sighed, “I doubt it. Unless he knows the way to somewhere of significance, there's no reason for him to go on ahead.”

Rush sat up, eyes wide. Was it true? “Dang it, Toofy, do you really think he played me for a chump?”

This kid was just too easy. Sometimes it payed to be an evil little talking skull. “Yeah, Rush, I think he did.”

Rush was about to jump up from his spot, but stopped himself. He chuckled. “No, you idiot. He's coming back, see?”

“I can't really see from inside this bag.”

He quickly patted on the bag to shut the skull up. Mael walked around the bend and stopped for a moment, a look of confusion falling across his face. He continued up to the tree, looking down at Rush from his spot. “Rush?”

The boy gave him a short salute gesture, “What's up, homie?”

“How did you get ahead of me?”

Rush eyed him blankly. “Heh, what do you mean?”

“You know what I mean,” He answered, still sounding very confused, “how did you get up here so fast?”

If this was some sort of joke, Rush didn't get it. “Um, I've been here the whole time.”

“Um, I've been here the whole time,” Rush said with blank look. Mael frowned, not sure what to think. There was no way the boy could have outran him here, not without being doubled up out of breath, but at the same time he wanted to believe Rush. He watched the child for a moment before turning and heading back to the road.

“Come on, we’d better get a move on,” he said trying not to sound too sharp.

He didn’t enjoy the idea of the boy making fun of him, but that wasn’t a reason to be indignant with him. Sooner or later the boy would break out in laughter over the thing and Mael would laugh just so that the child knew he wasn’t too angry with him. Then they would continue on their way and eventually get to the next village, where hopefully he could find someone to watch the kid, while he enjoyed a pint by a warm fire and spent the night in a bed, a real bed, and continued on his way.

The quiet walk passed slowly, or seemingly so. Little conversation passed between the two of them, so Mael took to watching the forested landscape. Oddly, he didn’t hear any birds singing or squirrels chattering from tree branches. It wasn’t unusual for a frequently travelled highway to be silent, but this was little more than a path through some woods.

The silence soon began unnerved him. Their footsteps seemed almost loud compared to the empty trees that hung around them. He thought of nocking his bow, so that it could be drawn quickly, but he didn’t want to scare the boy.

“So Rush, are you out here all on your own?” He asked walking around a small bend in the path shaped around a large stone, with his eyes darting back and forth across his field of vision. Perhaps conversation would lessen the mood. Perhaps.

“So Rush, are you out here all on your own?” Mael asked him, breaking a rather boring period of silence.

“Oh of course not.” Rush responded simply. A few seconds passed before he realized what he had said. He could almost hear Toofy screaming at him through his sheer carelessness. “Ah, I mean no! Haha, of course I'm not out here all alone, you're here with me.” He continued laughing as if it were some sort of poor joke, but he was scratching the back of his neck nervously.

His attention snapped back to the road, hoping Mael wouldn't say anything else about the matter. Searching for a way to change the subject, his eyes darted around the horizon for something to talk about. “Well it sure is strange that there's no--”

Rush suddenly fell face first on the dirt. Something grabbed his ankle. “Crap!” His head snapped back up to Mael just as he felt himself skid rapidly across the dirt, pulled backward by something he couldn't quite see. “Help!”

The ground cracked beneath him and he felt his legs get sucked into the dirt. He got stuck for a moment, just long enough for Mael to grab his hand. The dirt gave way around Rush's body, forming a hole big enough for him to be pulled through, but Mael kept him from falling. “Don't let go!” Rush screamed. “Something's got my foot!”

A thin, tentacle like limb whipped out from the darkness below him, wrapping around Rush's upper torso.

Ooc: This monster can look like whatever you want it to. It's just got tentacles... or a long tongue... or something.

The boy didn’t seem to be phased at all. Maybe youth was a blessing. He turned frowning at the boy, as he cut off mid-sentence only to see he wasn’t there. One second Rush was there and the next he simply wasn’t. Head bobbing around trying to find the boy, he quickly noticed him on the ground sliding away. Reacting without thinking, Mael leapt at the boy grabbing hold of his arm, but slowly he too began to slide along the ground.

The ground beneath the boy quickly vanished, opening a chasm large enough to swallow either of them and from it darted an earth coloured limb that reached out and wrapped itself around the upper body of Rush. Rush began shouting and nothing happened for a moment, but soon the tug-of-war for the boy renewed and a deafening, sucking wind began to blow and seemed to come from the hole in the ground. Biting back obscenities, he hesitated a moment before reaching into his cloak and pulling out his knife.

“Hold on, I’ll get you out of this,” he shouted over the bellowing sucking breath, unsure if he was reassuring the boy or himself.

He firmly placed the knife against the tendril around Rush’s chest and began to saw into it, and the howling wind was interrupted by a shriek of pain that seemed to rock the earth. Keeping a firm grip on the boy, he crawled to the edge of the hole where the boy’s leg hung over, where the second appendage was wrapped around his ankle. A glance into the hole revealed layers of teeth glistening in the sunlight that flooded into the darkness.

Suddenly his mouth felt really dry, staring down at death. Come on, this is no time to dawdle, he thought to himself, trying to think of what was important. Ignore the thing that’s going to eat you if you screw up. He put his knife against the limb and began sawing, causing that rocking shriek once again and the limb, and adjunctly Rush, to flail around.

Kneeling down on the boy’s leg in an effort to slow the movement, he cut through the rest of the arm and stared for at the hole for a moment before leaping up, pulling Rush with him. He didn’t stop running backwards until he tripped several feet away and fell down onto his bottom.

Panting, unsure if it was from fear, or the fight with … whatever he cut up, he looked over at Rush. The boy seemed a little worse for wear, scraped and maybe bruised, but overall fine. I did it. It took a moment for that thought to sink in, and when it did he could have laughed. He almost did – and if he had it would have been cut short by the groaning of the earth and an odd burrowing noise coming from the hole in the ground.

Standing back up quickly, so quickly his head spun, he motioned for Rush to do the same. “I hope you can actually use that thing,” Mael whispered in reference to the long knife at the boy’s side.

OoC: You’d have had this days earlier if it wasn’t for Castlevania 64, my mother and mandatory hangout night with the guys.

“I hope you can actually use that thing.”

Rush looked down at his sheathed blade, somehow almost forgetting he had it. He scrambled to his feet, backing away from the source of the noises coming from beneath the ground. He fumbled for his hilt, unsheathing it with a shaky hand. That was one of the most scary things that he'd ever experienced.

He patted his bag with his free hand, feeling around to be sure Toofy was still there. Unsatisfied, he opened the knapsack, but nothing was inside. He must have fallen out! He looked up, eyes frantically darting around for his comrade. “Toofy!”

The dirt road exploded with earth, a long form leaping from a freshly burrowed hole. The beast landed on all fours, back arched like a hungry lioness. Its head was supported by a long, muscled neck. Its maw gnashed eagerly with multiple circular rows of teeth. At its rear were three tails, all longer than the creature's actual body; one of the tails severed in half, blood seeping.

Both of the travelers had their blades drawn and poised, but they themselves weren't sure if they were capable of killing such a monster.