Five characters

Five characters Mar 4, 2010 18:06:33 GMT -6

Quote

Post by Edward Cheever on Mar 4, 2010 18:06:33 GMT -6

Here's Mine!:

Wallace Beem raised his torch up high so he could see the carvings on the wall better. It didn’t work as well as he had hoped, so he leaned closer, squinting.
“Dost ye need aid?”
Wallace sighed. He was far to old for this. “Boy, if you don’t stop that “ye old language” crap I’m going to leave you behind in this place.”
“Truly, I am most sorry.” Isaac Horton said quickly, “And yet this is the only tongue I knowest to speak.”
“Sounds Shakespearian.” Aria said in her Romanian accent. Wallace glanced at her. In the light of the torch it was harder to make out her appearance than it was outside the temple, but even through his foggy old eyes he could tell the light from the flame exaggerated her dark and exotic looks.
He cleared his throat. “Yeah, sure. I know it does. Just gets on my nerves, is all.” He turned back to the highly decorated wall. When he got close enough he could just make out the images and symbols.
“Huh.” He muttered.
“Yes?” Aria asked. “What do you think?”
“Well, I’ll be blasted.” He breathed. “This makes not a lick of sense.”
“If thou dost not understand it…” Isaac began.
“No, no.” He said waving impatiently over his shoulder, “I understand it all right, and that’s what’s so weird about it.”
“Why?” Aria asked.
“It’s Voodoo.” Wallace replied.
Isaac’s eyes widened. “Voodoo?”
“Yeah.” Wallace nodded grimly. “I, uh… I kinda absorbed it while I was out on missionary trips to the Caribbean. Not exactly the sort of expanded skill-set the conference would approve of, of course, but… well you see and do a lot of strange things when you find yourself out in the foreign jungles.”
“But this!” He waved around at the temple they were in, “This is ridiculous. Voodoo’s kinda a mix between old African bush religions and Catholisism. It’s local, small and almost cult like in many ways. This… well this is institutionalized. Voodoo types never built anything like this place so far as I’m aware of. Monumental temples are completely out of the question.”
“So now we really don’t know where we are.” Aria sighed.
“Uncertainty dost chill the heart.” Isaac agreed.
“Well, let’s get back outside.” Wallace grumbled. “Maybe we’ll see something we didn’t notice last time. Worst comes to worst, we’ll just have to hoof-it through the jungle to the nearest outpost.”
They both followed Wallace as they traced their way back through the dark passageways, walking to the rhythm of his cane as it clacked on the ancient stone floor. Finally light spilled in from the far distance, widening as they grew near, resolving into a high view of what seemed an endless expanse of jungle. The trees and vines pushed in close, right up to the slopped walls of the temple, their uppermost leaves brushing the underside of the balcony surrounding the entrance.
As they exited a voice called from above them, “Hey now! Hold right there.” They looked up to see a tall, thin and very blond man standing on a parapet just above and behind them. He was dressed in a long blood-red coat that brushed against his shins, along with what appeared to be leather armor underneath. In each hand he held a small crossbow, one pointed at Isaac and one at Aria. He gave them a big smile.
“Hello everyone, I don’t suppose any of you three might know where we are, would you?
Wallace eyed the crossbows. “Put down the weapons, boy. We don’t know where we are neither.”
The man raised an eyebrow. “Don’t know neither?” He shrugged and lifted the crossbows, “What, these? These aren’t so bad, once you get to know them.”
Wallace frowned, “Don’t be insulting me, boy. Now cut that out, we’re not looking for a fight.” Aria and Isaac eyes the points of the bows nervously.
The man eyed them for a minute, his smile fixed in place. “What do you say, Barty? Should we trust them?”
Surprising the three below, a teenage boy stood up from behind the parapet and looked down. He was slight, but not nearly as skinny as the blond man, with chocolate brown skin and thoughtful eyes behind a pair of glasses. “Please don’t call me that.” He said with a grimace. He looked down at them for a moment before finally nodding. “They look alright to me, Henenjee,” He said quietly.
Henenjee’s smile widened slightly, “Alright then,” he slipped the crossbows under his coat, seemingly making them utterly disappear.
Wallace couldn’t believe how the man could hide anything between his thin frame and that coat. There shouldn’t be enough room.
Henenjee leapt down the parapet and slid on the angled walls to land in front of them. The teenager followed along, and though he wasn’t as graceful about it, he was also surprisingly competent riding the stone down.
Henenjee extended his gloved hand, “I’m sure you caught my name already, but since it’s time for a little formality… the name’s Henenjee, what’s yours old timer?”
Wallace grimaced at ‘old timer’ but took the hand and shook it anyway. “Wallace Beem,” He said gruffly. “So I take it you two got dumped here too, eh?”
“If dumped is right word for… whatever that was, then yeah.” He grinned. “Felt like I’d been beaten all the way to Varken and back, you know what I mean?”
“Uh, I guess. What’s Varken?”
Henenjee eyed him up and down. “Yeah, you wouldn’t know either, would you? Barty over there didn’t know Anderoth from Molyein’Shear.”
“What from what now?”
Henenjee laughed. “Yeah, that’s just what I mean.”
The teenager had just introduced himself to Isaac and Aria and was now extending his hand to Wallace, “Please, call me Bartholomew,” He said.
Wallace detected a bit of pleading in that and smirked a little.
“None of us recognize this place.” Aria said sullenly, “What are we supposed to do now.”
“Prayer, perhaps?” Isaac mused.
Wallace scratched his head idly, looking awkwardly over his shoulder. It’d been a while since he’d really prayed about anything.
“Yeah, well…” Henenjee said lightly, “While you pray to your god or whatever, I’ll be tryin’ to find the exit. I’ll be sure to tell you guys if I see anything.” He headed back into the entrance. “You coming Barty? You knew the way out somehow, and if the stones keep talking to you, we might just find a way out of this place.”
Bartholomew’s mouth twisted at the nickname but he got up and jogged over to him. Wallace looked at the sky for a minute, then looked at Isaac and Aria. They were both watching him.
He sighed. “First rule,” he grumbled, “Never split the party.” He stumped along after Henenjee and Bartholomew. “Come on, you two. I don’t know if they’ll find the way out or not, but I ain’t got any better ideas at the moment.”
Aria looked at Isaac who shrugged in return. They both got up and followed the old man into the darkness of the temple.

Post by Sarah on Feb 25, 2010 17:57:33 GMT -6

Post by Edward Cheever on Mar 4, 2010 18:06:33 GMT -6