The Broken Gate

*this one was different for me...enjoy*

The fair of Se’Kara was in the process of being set up and everyone was bustling to get the stalls built and filled with goods from clothing to baked goods. Excitement filled the air as they were only days away from the celebration and they made sure to set up a few extra stalls for the villagers that come from the base of the Sardar mountains because they always came with a fresh supply of thick wool from their verr, bosk hides as well as Sa-tarna and suls but the past few fairs no one had seen or heard from any of them which was quite odd. They were usually the first to arrive and set up and always had interesting stories to share. This was becoming a concern for some of the citizens so they thought that perhaps it was best if they set a group to ride out on draft tharlarions to navigate the  remote path that led to them and asked for volunteers. Marcus a well distinguished warrior who did not have a home stone to claim offered to go followed by a builder named Anthony and finally a physician named Mara. They seemed like an unlikely trio but they were willing to make the trek.

The ride was long and cumbersome, the path had not seen wear in many seasons and for a while they thought that maybe they had taken the wrong route. They had to stop a few times to stretch their legs, take a drink of water from a bota and stare at their surroundings while listening for any unwanted guests along the way. 

After what felt like an eternity, the warrior pointed ahead to a gate that looked like it had seen better days, the builder noted that it looked like something or some one had rushed through it, nearly ripping it off its hinges. They slowed down as they rode through the gate noticing that there was not a single soul in sight for a place such as this, their lives depending on work getting done. As they rode farther in they could hear music coming from their local tavern and they approached it cautiously, getting down from their mounts with Marcus motioning to the other two to get behind him because he did not know what they were going to stumble in on. He slowly pushed open the doors, hand on his weapon as he stepped inside but was not expecting to come across what he saw. The other two pushed in behind him and all three stared in disbelief. There were men sitting at the table with their hands on vessels filled with paga, plates of food in front of them but nothing was touched. They all stared off into space with a blank look like they had been posing for a picture but were still waiting for it to be taken. Anthony glanced around the room, looking at the structure of the building but seeing no cracks to indicate something had leaked in to cause such a scene, the smoke above the fire had paused in mid air. He pointed to one of the villagers before speaking” Mara, check to see if they are even still alive” She nodded then stepped up closer to the man sitting at the table in front of her and she touched his skin which felt warm, then listened to his heart and it was still beating.

Marcus now very guarded thinks some sort of magic has been cast on everything and knew that his weapon would be no match for whatever had taken over this place. He stepped closer to one of the slaves who was knelt on the furs and leaned down to get a closer look at her face and saw her mouth partially open and a look of complete terror in her eyes. The music suddenly stopped and the tavern became eerily silent so quiet that their beasts could be heard outside the door, agitated and restless as if they sensed something in the air that they did not like. The door to the tavern violently swings shut and the entire room suddenly erupts into chaos as the villagers begin flipping tables, paga spilling everywhere , the slave girls screaming as they all ran around trying to find a way out of the trap they found themselves in. The warrior grabs one of the panicking villagers by the throat, an older man and demands” what is going on” the mans eyes widen even more as he sputters”you should not have come, you should not have come” over and over. Marcus, completely frustrated by now, gives the man a shake trying to snap him out of it” who did this to you?” The man stares back at him with his eyes dilated and whispers hoarsely “ we broke the seal and now they will come.”

Marcus shouts” What seal? Who will come?” but the man growing weaker simply points to an object laying on the table where he used to sit before he blacks out completely.  Mara and Anthony were busy trying to find an escape route when Marcus calls them to the table and points to the object laying there not willing to actually touch it. The building begins to shake and the object begins to emit a vibrating sound, one they were not familiar with but they knew it could not be good news. Another villager, running around, passes by them shouting” it was taken from the mountains.” and that is when time seemed to tilt sideways because they knew the stories and none of them ended well. Panic sets in because they know their time now is very limited and they have to get out. The builder snaps one of the legs off of a table that had been over turned and heads for the fireplace, stomping out the fire before smashing the wooden leg into the mortar that held it together over and over till he was able to create a hole big enough to crawl through, feeling the cool air from outside rush in. He grabbed Mara by the arm and shoved her through, not being gentle about it, pushing himself right after her and shouting to Marcus” we need to go…NOW!” 

Once their feet hit the ground, they scramble to get up, almost dragging each other to the front of the tavern where they had left their mounts. They had broken free from their tethers but had not wandered far and they hopped on, forcing the beasts to move with a speed that was unnatural to them, heading for the broken gate as fast as possible. They knew that at any moment the blue flame would be upon that village and there would be nothing left of it. They could feel the vibrations, feel some of the searing heat against their backs and they pushed ahead faster and harder, no one daring to look behind having left the stolen artifact behind. They do not stop for any breaks, riding hard determined to make it back to the fair before they could even allow themselves to think about what had just happened.

When they arrived at the gates of the fair, they were exhausted, disheveled, covered in soot and looked like they had seen a ghost and perhaps they had. A few came up to them knowing where they had gone and of course asked what they had learned. They all gave each other a look before the builder was the one to say “ They must have packed up and moved on because the village was empty” That ended the curiosity of most but the three of them would always know the truth.