In an attempt to get myself going I'm going to start documenting my progress here. I will post pages and hopefully even chapters of my work here. By doing this maybe I'll get to a full novel. I'm also going to be posting idea on how this all could be made into a video game (another thing that I would like to see happen with my ideas).
Without any further ado here is the first part of what I have written so far, enjoy.
The Aurora Chronicles
By
Joshua Chumbley
How Kyle Got His Start in the World
The noise from the
village green indicated that the preparations for the harvest festival were in
full swing. Kyle sneered at the scene from under the tree he was leaning
against. All he saw were people who complained about the weather and would work
themselves in the fields till they died.
From the gray rock to the weathered shake shingles, all
the buildings looked as if they had been in place for eons. The only patch of
color, the green, was quickly being trampled into the gray ubiquitousness that
defined the village. Women carried trays of food from the tavern to the tables
the men had set up earlier. It was late in the day and things were starting to
cool off. The men, taking a break from work, were gathered around a keg
boisterously talking with each other. Kyle's thoughts were black as he studied
the activity. It was time to get out of this insignificant village.
He turned his back to the bustle and strode towards the
woods that bordered the north edge of town. As he passed the inn he heard Tina
call out, "Kyle, what's the rush?"
Her voice stopped him, "I think it's time for us to
leave."
"What? No. Come inside and let's talk about this,"
she said as he approached her. "I thought we hadn't decided anything yet.
Besides, you don't have enough money to travel do you?"
Kyle bent and gave her a kiss. As they entered the inn's
kitchen Kyle said, "I have the money needed to travel and I can join a
Controller guard when I get there. That should be enough."
"But my father is finally starting to like you. If
we marry I'm sure he will allow you to take over the inn when the time
comes."
"I want nothing to do with this place! I thought we
had agreed we are leaving when we have a chance. I have the money for travel
and I will find work when we get to Norlen."
Tina turned away and leaned against the counter in the
center of the room. "Why do we have to leave? We can have a life here.
Everybody will warm up to you if you would let them." She turned back, wet
trails on her face. "Haven't I been good to you? I gave you my maidenhood.
I…"
"WHAT!" Tina's father wasn't a small man; he
came through the door leading to the beer hall so fast that he hit his head on
the door frame. He went to his knees. "Boy if what my daughter just said
is true I will kill you!"
He slowly rose to his feet he reach for a carving knife
and looked at his daughter, "Didn't I tell he was bastard and now you'll
be carrying one of his spawn."
"Don't hurt him. I love Kyle."
The wordless bellow that came forth was Kyle's cue to
leave. He turned and sprinted out the door. He wasn't sure how he'd come back
for Tina but there was nothing he could do at the moment. As he got to the tree
line he looked back. Tina was standing in the back door to the kitchen using
her apron to wipe her eyes. Of more immediate concern was her father steaming
towards him.
Kyle was large for his age but still smaller than the
innkeeper. He started to work his way deeper into the woods using the
underbrush as cover. Eventually the sounds of pursuit deadened. Kyle stopped
for a moment to catch his breath. In the distance he heard the innkeeper,
"Boy, you are a man now and you had better live up to the responsibility.
If you don't return before dark I will make sure you and your mother have no
place here!"
Kyle took a few deep breaths. He needed to get to the
clearing where the money and all the things he and Lem had collected were
hidden. Between Kyle's hard work and Lem's thefts over the past year there was
probably enough to buy all the needs for a trip to Norlen. His mother would
need warned of what had happened too.
It took Kyle almost an hour to find the trail to the
clearing. As he entered he saw Lem crouched over facing the stump where the
money was hidden.
"What did you find Lem?"
Lem stood up quickly turning to Kyle. The box that had
the money was behind him, open. Lem kept his hands hidden, "I was just
making sure I get my share Kyle."
"Show me what you're hiding Lem."
"I'm not hiding anything Kyle. I was just looking at
our haul. There's a lot of money and jewelry here. I think we could split it
now and be free of this place" There was a clink as something fell into
the box. Lem smiled and slowly brought out his left hand. "Come on, Kyle.
Let's split this and leave."
Kyle started to walk towards Lem. "Drop whatever is
in your other hand then we'll talk about splitting it."
As Kyle got closer Lem started to grin bigger. Kyle
stopped short just as Lem's right hard came out in an arcing motion towards
Kyle's face. He threw his hand up and felt a line of fire cut across his left
palm. Lem finished his swing and Kyle pulled his hand back to gape at the blood
pooling in his palm. He looked up in time to see the knife coming point first
towards him.
"The stuff is mine! They hate you because you're a
bastard but they hate me because they know I'm the thief! They are going to
have the sheriff arrest me tonight! In front of everybody! I heard them
talking!"
Kyle threw himself out of the way feeling another line
blaze across his upper arm as he went to the ground. He rolled and tried to
scramble to his feet. As his hands moved across the ground of the clearing he
felt a fallen branch. He grabbed it with his uninjured hand and swung it in an
arc as he came to his feet. The branch broke as it hit Lem's hand, knocking the
knife away and throwing him off balance as he barreled into Kyle. Kyle spun
keeping his feet as Lem went down on his face. Kyle jumped on Lem's back and
brought the rest of the branch down on Lem's head. Lem went limp.
Kyle dropped the remains of the branch. Trembling he
walked toward the money box and sat down next to it leaning against the stump.
He looked down at the box a saw his mother's pendant. I was a simple piece of
jewelry, a black square no bigger than his thumgnail with a silver loop at the
top where it attached to the chain. She didn't wear it often but he knew it was
important to her. Lem had been through with his thievery. Kyle had never like
Lem but he had been useful and easy to control. Lem was right about not being
well liked but he had family in the village and if Lem wasn't around tonight
when the festivities kicked off Kyle would be the first suspect.
Kyle grabbed his mother's pendant stuffing it in a pocket
on his pants and closed the lid to the money box. He got up with the box under
his arm, walked over to Lem and gave him a kick to the ribs getting no
reaction. He bent over and ripped off a strip from Lem's shirt. Grabbing the
box again, he wrapped the strip of cloth around his hand and started on the
trail that led back towards home. Hopefully there was a way out of this mess.
It was late in the day, the sun creeping towards the
horizon, by the time Kyle made it back to his house. He peeked in a window as
he went to the door to the one room shack he and his mother called home. His
mother was at her work bench making clothes. She looked up as the door opened.
"Kyle! You are a mess what have – You're bleeding! What happened?"
She sat Kyle on her stool and examined the cut on his arm.
"This is a clean cut. How did you get a slash on your arm?"
"I have one on my hand too, ma." She unwrapped
his hand.
"What happened? I'm going have to stitch both of
these. I'm going to the mayor about this tonight. This is serious."
"You can't. He's not too happy with me. And the cuts
are from Lem. He pulled a knife on me when I caught him with this." He
pulled the pendant from his pocket.
"How did he get that?"
"Probably the same way he got the rest of this
stuff." He opened the box showing her the money and valuables inside.
"I had planned on leaving this village today and had been saving money
from my work. Lem was going around collecting things that might be worth money.
It looks like he stole everything of value that he could move easily. We were going
to split it and leave but now I'm not so sure. I think I killed Lem. I can't
let anybody see me and I have got to go. Tina's dad wants kill me; he thinks I
have taken Tina's maidenhood."
"Kyle, you haven't exactly given me any hope here
but we might be able to make things right. If you have Taken Tina's maidenhood
you'll have to marry her. If Lem and you did steal all this you'll have to make
it up to everybody but if Lem is truly dead… Oh, son, why do you do these
things?" She looked haggard.
"It's not my fault, ma. Look at how they have
treated us here. If my father was here –"
"Your father isn't here. That pendant was the last
thing he gave me before he left. He said it was the most valuable thing he
could give me and that we would not see each other again. Those were bad days
with the Controllers fighting because Aurora's Administrator had
disappeared."
"Yeah, yeah, he left you pregnant and me a bastard.
I don't want to do that to Tina but I will not stay here as well. I'm leaving.
You can give all this stuff back to everyone but I'm taking the money."
"Wait, Kyle, let me talk with the mayor."
"No. I'm getting Tina and leaving. I'm going to join
a Controller guard in Norlen. Maybe I'll become a Controlled myself."
Kyle stood, grabbed all the money from the box and turned
to his mother holding the pendant out to her. She shook her head. "Keep it
Kyle. Maybe it will be useful to you. Where is the clearing where you left Lem?
Someone will have to see to him."
Kyle provided the directions to the clearing. As he went
out the door he turned back, "I'll return someday. I'll be somebody and I
will make sure you never have to sew anything again."
"Son, this isn't a solution. There is a place for
you here if you would just stop and think for a second."
"I hate this place. I'll take care of Lem. I don't
need help." Kyle slammed the door and stomped back towards the clearing.
Kyle heard the sound of voices as he approached the
clearing. The jingle of equipment carried through the forest. He crouched into
the brush and got off the trail; as he got closer the voices resolved into
laughter and coarse jokes.
"Cut his balls off, Garth. He doesn't need
them," came one call. "Yeah, he had a knife and still got
whipped," came another.
"No! I just got unlucky. It's not my fault!" yelled
Lem.
"Yes, luck is a good scapegoat isn't it? I don't
believe in luck. I thought you might be a good addition to my motley band but
your friend seem better suited to joining us than you do. Now where's is the
money and valuables you promised us?"
As Kyle got closer he saw that the last speaker was a
Controller, but his uniform wasn't the pristine white and gold normally
associated with Controllers, it was dingy and stained. The men with him looked
nothing like Enforcers or Controller guards though they were carrying the black
arm-length fire lances and the shorter sheriff's guns.
"I'm not sure. He was hiding it in the stump but he
must have taken it after our fight. Maybe he took it home."
"Well I guess we'll be paying him a house call won't
we?" As the Controller said this he raised his hand. A dark cloud formed
around it. The cloud extended towards Lem's neck. He tried to back away.
"Don't move! I don't want to hurt you yet,"
said Garth. The cloud resolved itself into a silvery collar attached to a leash
that the Controller held. "Let's go," he said.
"Don't hurt my family. We have a sheriff," Lem
whined.
"If you don't start moving I'll kill everyone
including you. Now move."
Kyle crept back deeper into the underbrush of the woods.
He had to get home quickly but if he made too much noisy these rebels would
kill him. The trail wasn't an option that would be the route that Lem would
lead them on. Kyle moved slowly till he judged himself to be out of earshot. He
moved as fast as he could through the brush and trees taking the most direct
route he could home.
The sun was going down as he came to the edge of the
woods. Through the trees he could an orange glow. Kyle wiped the sweat from his
eyes as he worked his way out of the forest. Seeing the house on fire he
yelled, "Ma! Mother! Where are you?"
He ran closer but the heat stopped him. Circling the
building he kept calling for his mother. The house had collapsed into a pile of
blackened timbers and ash. Anything or anyone inside was beyond saving. Then
Kyle remembered his mother's statement about talking with the mayor. He turned
towards the village and saw an orange glow and several columns of smoke in the
twilight. He took off at a sprint.
As Kyle reached the edge of the village he moved close to
the building and hoped no one would see him. The town meeting hall was on fire
and as he got sight of the green he saw that everything was in disarray. He
moved behind the blacksmith's to get a better view. Some tables had been overturned
and the food scattered and there were scorch marks in the grass. Some of the
men he'd seen earlier with Lem were standing at the edge of the green with
their back to Kyle. As Kyle looked past them he saw the bodies. It looked like
the whole village. They were in a large pile in front of the inn. Kyle felt
tears come. He move out of sight and was sick. As he regained his senses he
heard a voice. It was Garth.
"… years to find out where it went. Now we're here
and nobody seems to have it. You said you found all the jewelry and that you
would deliver it to me. You have not followed through on your portion of this
agreement now I don't think I need you."
"P-please don't kill me! Kyle has it!" Lem was
there in the middle of the green sobbing. Garth stood over him.
"Boy you have explained this already. We found no
one at the house you led us to and no box with my jewels in it. We are
done." Garth released the leash that was connected to the collar around
Lem's neck. "Run." Lem took off at a sprint but before he had gone
two steps he stopped bringing his hands up to his neck where the collar was. He
opened his mouth in a scream but no sound came out. His eyes started to bulge
and he fell over. He writhed on the ground for a few minutes and then stopped.
Garth turned to his men. "Alright, his friend is the
one who had the artifact last. He will probably return here. I want a perimeter
around the village and anyone who enters to be brought here." The men
began to disperse but then Garth spoke again, "Stop. We have incoming.
It's time to leave."
As the last bandits disappeared past the inn and into the
woods Kyle slowly walked from behind the blacksmith and surveyed the green.
Nothing moved and the fires cast stark shadows. He walked past Lem whose hands
were still at his neck and face had turned black. Kyle walked towards the pile
of bodies. As he looked on his heart froze. Halfway behind her father was Tina.
There would be no more hiding in the inn's hayloft. Kyle turned and fell to his
hands and knees. Once the retching stopped Kyle. Kyle got up walked a few steps
then sat on the green with his back to the massacre. He looked down at his
hands. He had hated this place but now it was gone.
A muffled sound came from the pile. Kyle jumped up and
ran back to the pile. There he saw a hand sticking out. It was moving. He
grabbed it and pulled. It was his mother. She looked up at him and smiled. He
pulled her free and dragged her to a clear spot on the green. He sat and
cradled her head in his lap.
"Ma, I'm so sorry. Tina's dead. This wasn't supposed
to happen."
"Kyle it's not your fault those men or someone like
them would have come eventually. The want what you father gave to me and what I
have given to you." Her face twisted in a grimace. There was a black cut
angling from the bottom of the left side of her ribcage to her right shoulder.
When he touched it, it crumbled like charcoal.
"Leave it be Kyle. I have seen men with injuries
like mine… they never last long unless a Controller is near. It doesn't hurt
that much. I just want to sleep a little now. I'm glad you are okay, son."
"Boy… boy. Boy! Wake up!"
Kyle jumped as a hand shook his shoulder. As he looked
around he saw that his mother was gone. "Where is she?!" He screamed
as he leapt to his feet. He turned to attack the person who had woke him but
stopped short when he saw the pristine white with gold embroidery of a
Controller. Behind the Controller were four Enforcers their matte black armor
spoke of shadows and death. They had leveled their fire lances at him. The
burning buildings still illuminated the green. All the bodied that had been
piled in front of the meeting hall were also gone. Kyle slumped back down.
"They have gone to the Aurora. She will see to them
now. You will tell me what has happened here." As the Controller said this
he gestured for the Enforcers to put their weapons away.
"They killed them all and a Controller led them. He
said he was looking for something. He was called Garth. Is my mother
alive?"
"The woman you were holding? She was sent with the
rest. Aurora will decide their fates. Which way did this 'Controller' go?"
"They went north into the woods. They have fire
lances and sheriff guns. How come they came here? Why did they kill
everyone?" The Controller made some gestures towards the woods as Kyle
told him which way the bandits had gone.
The Enforcers formed up and the Controlled told Kyle,
"We are going and you should leave too. There is nothing here for you now
and I don't have time to watch you. Go to the closest village and make a new
life there." The Controller turned and led the Enforcers towards the
trees.
"Wait! Let me join you! I know what they look
like!" Kyle got up and ran toward their departing backs.
The Controlled turned and raised his hand. The Enforcers
brought their lances back to bear on Kyle. "I told you, I will not waste
my time on an orphan boy who will get in my way. Now leave and don't follow."
Kyle had come to a sudden stop and collapsed back to the
ground. He didn't watch as the Controller and his Enforcer squad disappeared in
to the woods. He felt tears running down his cheeks.
Kyle woke to find the sun beating on his face. He got up
from where he had passed out and surveyed the ruin before him. Most of the
fires had burned out and the ashes just smoldered. Flies buzzed around the food
that sat on the tables that were still upright. Kyle's stomach rumbled. He
walked over to the remains of the unfinished feast and started to gather the
best looking portions of food gathering it into a one of the cleaner looking
cloths that had covered the tables.
After he had gathered what he hoped was enough to last
till the next village he checked his pockets. His mother's pendant was still there.
He put it around his neck then started walking the road out of the village.
