They called us best friends, but little did we realize that in thirty short minutes, they would call us heroes. I, Luke Galilae, grew up here in Rhoedia village. My best friend is Aedrius Hahn. He is a few years older than me, but we learned that it takes more than time to separate a friendship. We both grew up in the village of Rhoedia. Rhoedia is among the Dellecker trees. The trees grow to be dozens of yards tall. They grow no branches on the lower 10 feet of their trunk. Rhoedians have also built many houses up among these Dellecker trees, these houses are supported by the high up, stronger branches. There are also the houses on the ground, mostly for the elderly. The higher up houses can usually be reached by a rope ladder.
The village was always quite foggy. The greatest meteorologists in the land still cannot determine where the fog comes from and why it doesn't lift. Several scholars have even searched for a possible intervention of magic forces. Some suggest that the fact that Rhoedia is the only land with Dellecker trees, that the trees themselves may somehow be the source of the fog. You can still see the Rhoedians who chart the weather and even the stars at the highest of the tree-tops still looking for answers. But I, for one, have learned that some mysteries may have never had the intention of being solved.
The village of Rhoedia is a small portion in the northeastern part of The Land of Rocks. Yes, The Land of Rocks. You see, Long ago, the man who discovered this country also was the one who discovered a natural phenomenon. He discovered mountains of rocks, these mountains were indeed comprised of individual rocks, that were piled in the form of a mountain. This man, according to scholars and historians, was a very simple person who never liked anything but the basics, and he named it The Land of Rocks. Anyway, it was on my birthday that something out of the ordinary occurred.
Yes, it was my birthday, and the whole village was invited. Not only is everyone friends with everyone, but we Rhoedians never miss a chance for a feast and archery contest. You see, Rhoedia is very centered on archery, almost everyone is good at it. It was now in the final round my birthday archery contest. The sun was just beginning to disappear over the foggy horizon. I took aim at the fogged target 40 yards away. The next thing I knew, there was an arrow in the bulls-eye. There was much cheering, I think the cheers were more for the feast that was about to begin. Just before the feast, I unwrapped all of my gifts, including a 7-inch hunting knife from Aedrius. This, I knew, was going to be quite useful in what Aedrius and I like to do. Now after gift-opening, was the feast. Aedrius and I had already eaten, so we decided to go about the hobby of ours.
We like to hunt widgeons. Widgeons are small, two-legged, furry creatures. Their bones can be ground up and used as a delightful spice that is used as a rare delicacy in the finest Rhoedia kitchens. Hunting widgeons is quite profitable for the few Rhoedians that do. Aedrius and I knew where and when the widgeons come out. So a few years ago, we built a tree house right above a common widgeon gathering area near the border of Rhoedia. I would shoot arrows at the widgeons below, Aedrius would hide in a hollowed part at the bottom of the tree and run and grab the ones that I shot. But on that night of my birthday is when I noticed lit torches across Grundler Gorge. You see, Grundler Gorge is a large chasm that serves as the southwest border of Rhoedia. I then yelled down to my friend.
"Aedrius! Do you see the torches across the gorge?"
He looked over and noticed who was carrying the torches, and he uttered one word. "Decrin."
"Quick! Drop your new hunting knife down to me!"
I could tell by his voice that he meant for me to waste no time. He then raced to the rope bridge as the Decrin were making their way across. Just before the rope split, a Decrin leaped from the bridge and landed next to Aedrius. They were engaged in a struggle for quite a while when Aedrius shouted to me again.
"Shoot it!" "I don't want to hit you!" "Then you better aim carefully!"
Thoughts were racing through my head, and my brain had no room left to command my body to react. I stood and watched while my friend was battling for his life. Aedrius dropped the knife while he got a blow on the chest which knocked him down next to where he had just dropped the knife. He seized the knife and had another go at attacking the monster. Aedrius slit the knife on the Decrin's leg while ducking to avoid a punch. The beast fell on it's back and had no time to react as Aedrius jumped and landed on both of the Decrin's arms which rendered it helpless. My friend then ran the knife through it's chest. The fight was over, or so we thought.. Aedrius turned his back on the gorge, but I saw that another Decrin was just making it's way over the ledge of the gorge. It also must have leaped from the bridge, only to have grabbed the edge of the cliff. Just as it stood up and glanced fiercely at Aedrius, I took aim and put an arrow through it's neck. Aedrius was shocked to see an arrow fly past him, he turned around and saw that I saved his life by not letting the Decrin get him with his back turned. He motioned me to come down from the tree house.
"What were those things?" I asked
"Luke, those were Decrin. They are half man, half lobster. They have the head of a lobster and claws instead of hands. They never attack without a purpose. But I can't imagine why they came here. I notice they were lightly armored, my guess is that this was supposed to be a quick sneak attack."
"How did you know so much about them?"
"My forefathers fought against them many, many years ago, I hear only stories about them."
"I think we should consult the Rhoedian council to decide what to do next."
Thus we made tracks back to the village. Now, we both knew that it was way past the village sleeping hours, even on a festival night, but we returned to find many lanterns lit and villagers suiting up for battle. My friend and I were very perplexed to say the least.
"What's going on here?" I said in a raised voice to the nearest member of the Rhoedia council I could find, who happened to be my mother's uncle, Jayrus.
"We are preparing for battle. What does it look like?" he replied
"Why?" I asked.
"I have received word that four other villages were already attacked, and only one stood their ground, the rest were captured."
"I beg your pardon, sir, but your information is flawed. Five villages were attacked, and two have defended."
"Who were the other lucky survivors?"
"We are, sir."
He was naturally shocked by my words. Aedrius explained everything that had happened. We then took Jayrus to the bridge and proved our victory. He rushed us back to the village in joy.
"These brave heroes are saviors of Rhoedia! They have already fended off the enemy from our fair land!"
There was much cheering, applause and whistling. Jayrus then continued.
"Tomorrow we shall have a feast and celebration in their honor!"
I love books with maps and other sources to reference to while I read. The story was good but I feel as if it was left undone and some hints on how some of the names are so pose to be pronounced would be good.
