"Bekker! Bekker!" Surri screamed, and Bekker jumped down from the bed instantly, then rushed to the parlour."
"What...what is it?"
"I can't find him."
"Find who?"
"Him! The lad you brought home yesterday"
"Oh' my goodness! Where did he go?"
"How am I supposed to know?"
"Surri, it's not a question. I'm shocked."
"Yes, yes, go on. Go look for him. Is that not what you are supposed to do, husband?" Bekker hurriedly stumbled towards the door, held the knob but felt something dangling between his legs.
"Are you going out like that?" Surri laughed before handing him clothes to put on.
"Thanks, Surri. What can I do without you?"
"Nothing... Absolutely, nothing! So go find him, my husband"
Bekker put on the clothes and stumbled outside. He held on to the zipper of his pants, trying to zip his pants as he moved across the first seven houses. He heard playful screams coming from a distance. He hastened his pace towards the direction where the screams came from. It happened to be the orchard. He saw the village kids in a cycle; he quickly climbed an oak tree to have a view of what the gathering of the kids could be all about, and luckily for him, he saw the lad sitting in the midst of the kids. The lad sat on a log, and the kids surrounded him. He was still filthy, hair grossly unkempt and very long, including his beard. His skin was pale with small, obvious aquatic scales all over his body. His eyebrows are very full, making his countenance look indescribable. His clothes hung all over him like tattered rags. He was barefoot. He sat there with his hands placed on both knees with his eyes gazing straight at nothing. When the breeze started blowing, his hairs were immovable because they were more like dreadlocks. As the breeze continued blowing, it swayed his tattered clothes backwards. Still, he was there looking at nothing. There was a long, loud trumpet sound. The same sounds of the Vile War.
"Move kids! Move, kids! You all should give way so I can pass. Move! Move away!" Bekker said to the kids as he tried to walk through a clear path. When he finally got to where the lad was, Bekker practically followed his eyes to know the direction he was looking at. He couldn't see anything standing as trees obstructed his view, so he climbed a tree and looked straight and saw thousands of warships, banners, vulture crafts, and unimaginable counts of soldiers.
"This cannot be! No, this cannot be!". Bekker said to himself. Again, the warships began making prolonged blast sounds. Bekker hurried down from the tree.
"Kids go home! The vultures are coming! Go home! He has come again. The barbarian emperor is here. Kids, be quick; run to your parents." Bekker screamed; quickly the kids started running in different directions; those who fell rose up immediately and continued running. A sudden shock gripped the lad, and he started convulsing.
"What now?" Bekker cried out. The lad continued convulsing and shaking until he fell down from the wood log. Bekker was panicked, not knowing how he would be able to carry the lad who is three times his own size. Luckily, Harry had come looking for him at the orchard, and he saw him moving about biting his fingers.
"Oh, my goodness. My beloved friend. Thank the Land gods you are here, Harry." Bekker said and quickly embraced Harry.
"Your wife said you had gone out to look for him. I asked some of the kids running home. They said you're here," Harry said, trying to free himself from Bekker's tight embrace.
"Yes, yes. I don't know how we are going to carry him. He fell down just like that," said Bekker, finally freeing Harry from his embrace.
"Is it true what the kids said? Is it true that the barbarian emperor has arrived in Tij, which means the vultures and hollow beasts are coming again?" Harry asked as he tried helping Bekker with the lad, but his effort and Bekker's effort proved futile.
"Didn't you hear the trumpet sounds and the ships blasts?"
"I was woken up by trembling footsteps all over the village. I didn't ask anyone questions, besides no dwarven person I could talk to. It was obvious they heard something, and I went to your house to find out from you, and that was when your wife said you had gone searching for him. I heard it from the kids I asked that you are here and the vultures are coming to Felix Town."
"Oh' my lovely wife. Was she afraid when you met her?"
"She does not look like she was."
"That woman would kill me someday. She put me up for this. Now I am here stuck trying to carry this large figure of a man who is three times my size."
"Don't be too hard on her. Surri means you good, my friend. Besides, you were the one who brought this burden upon yourself in the first place."
"You should be on my side, Harry. You are my best friend. Don't say something like that ever again."
"Why is he heavier?" Harry asked as he tried to lift the lad's legs.
"I don't know. I met him here doubled in size."
"How could that be? We both lifted him on the handcart yesterday, right?"
"Yes, we did. But now, we can observe that he weighs totally different compared to yesterday. Isn't that strange?"
"Strange. So strange, my friend. But what if Wilos was right? Arle Craig at the seashore could only mean one thing. Terror!"
"Harry, Wilos is a drunkard who believes he hears from the gods. One thing is certain: the land gods wouldn't allow such to happen. Aye, terror, but the sea would rather dry up than Felix Town be turned to dust. We have been surviving despite the terror for seven horrifying years, so why would this time be our end?"
"Whatever you say, my friend, I agree with you. What do we do? We two can't obviously carry him."
"I don't know. We can't leave him here either. I wish three more men could join us," Bekker said, closing his eyes a little longer than he opened them. They stood there cracking their brains for about minutes when suddenly three horrid and dusty-looking men in sweat-wetted cloaks stumbled on them in great haze.