Across the rift 3
Chapter 3
Council
As Sean neared the clearing he caught glimpse of the village Arutha was taking him to. After almost an hour of walking in silence and watching each other warily they had now gotten to where they were now. Now glancing at the walled village in front of them Sean's years as a combat engineer allowed him to make several observations to himself. They had good clear fields of fire almost fifty yards from the walls, and right before the wall was a pit about four feet wide and three feet deep. Filling the pit was three rows of sharpened spikes. The walls themselves were made of two rows of large logs about ten inches wide shoved into the ground in a line and tied together by some type of rope.
Standing almost twenty feet high and with other creatures like Arutha, Cheetah like bipeds standing almost eight feet tall, walking along he guessed there would be a platform slightly below the top of the wall to allow guards to patrol. In the front there was a single entrance the only place near the wall that wasn't spike filled. As Sean and Arutha stepped out of the forest they immediately drew the attention of the guards who called out a challenge that Arutha answered. Although staring a bit suspiciously at Sean's strange appearance, standing several feet shorter than them and covered from neck to toe in woodland patterned combat armor, they opened the gates and waved them through.
Inside was a collection of small huts made out of thatch and wood. Sean saw other Meechan, as Arutha referred to his people, going about daily tasks tending cooking fires and working the hides of some animals which looked like a deer if it was covered in scales. Here, Sean also drew stares from almost everyone in sight. He also noticed a few other Animals like Meechan that were black like a panther instead of Arutha's golden fur. Arutha noticed Sean looking around and said in a low voice.
"Come, I must present you to the elder council and they will decide what to do with you." Sean merely shrugged and nodded his assent and the two set off, once more drawing stares of suspicion from the inhabitants of the camp. Arutha then picked his way, with Sean following close behind, to a larger hut. Outside was another meechan, standing almost eight and a half feet tall. It moved in front of them and blocked their way. A second meechan, the same size as the other guard, went inside the hut, presumably to announce their approach to the inhabitants inside. A short while later he emerged and the two guards had a quick conference. Then the first one straightened up.
"The elders will see you, you will leave you weapons outside with us." The guard said pointing at Arutha's short sword and Sean's hatchet, obviously not recognizing the rifle slung across his back or the pistol holstered at his hip as a weapon. Sean saw no reason to correct his mistake and simply handed his hatchet to the guard who was nearly twice his size. The other guard held the flap over the door to the hut and motioned for them to enter. Inside seated in a semicircle before them was five grizzled old meechan. Arutha sat down before them about five feet away and motioned for Sean to do the same. When everyone was sitting and the guards retreated outside the middle elder spoke.
"Arutha, why have you brought this outsider among us?"
"I found him outside wandering in the forest I approached him and decided to bring him back here." Sean snorted at this, 'approached' Arutha had jumped him and nearly killed him, but kept his silence.
"He says he doesn't know how he got here, he might've come through a rift." Arutha babbled excitedly. At this the elders perked up and whispered to each other for a few seconds and then the center elder cleared his throat and addressed Sean directly.
"Outsider, how came you to be here." Sean looked up at the elders at this sudden turn of events and spoke clearly.
"I don't know I was knocked unconscious and when I came to I was here." Sean replied honestly.
"Where am I by the way." Sean asked suddenly curious for answers. The elder regarded him for a moment then spoke.
"You are in the forests of Meech, homeland of the Meechan." He said gesturing to himself and others. Sean looked at him in disbelief, he had never heard of Meech and having encountered the meechan he knew he wasn't in the land he knew anymore.
"Yes you are on a different world, probably brought here by a rift, tell me was there any great catalyst before you lost consciousness?" the elder asked seeing the disbelief on Sean's face.
"There was an explosion, probably nuclear, that was the last thing I knew, when I woke up I was here." Sean said his voice hollow as his mind tried to process what had happened to him. The elder simply nodded as if that had confirmed his thoughts.
"I'm afraid there is no way back to your realm, You are welcome to stay here for as long as you wish although we are currently under threat from a rival village." Sean nodded at this and made up his mind.
"I will stay."
"Excellent, Arutha will be your guide around the village for the next few weeks, you will live with him and he shall provide for you as a guest." As the elder pronounced this Sean glanced over at Arutha and was unsurprised to see the meechan looking thrilled at getting to know an outsider. By his actions and excitability Sean guessed him to be no more than 20, or whatever the equivalent age was for the meechan.
"Know that we cannot guarantee your safety if we are attacked." the elder said with sudden gravity. At once Arutha settled down and began to look serious.
"Where I came from I was a warrior, if you are attacked I will help you." Sean said. The elders looked slightly amused at this coming from someone a bit more than half their size. However no one said anything and Arutha and Sean rose after a little while and left. After exiting the tent and retrieving Arutha's sword and Sean's hatchet from the guard they set off towards Arutha's hut. After a while Sean's thoughts turned to his boat Springer beached not far from where he encountered Arutha. Frowning he turned to Arutha and asked
"Do you think we could go back to where we met? I have some stuff that came through the rift with me." Arutha paused to consider this.
"We would have to get the elders consent to go on this journey, and right now when we are under threat of an attack it would be too dangerous, But later I am sure the elders will permit us to go." Sean thought about this and nodded. His stuff would still be there, while his boat was beached, he had dropped anchor anyways just in case the tide came up before he was back and moved the boat. This decision proved to be fortunate. After only a few more minutes of walking, all the while Sean was stared at by villagers, they came to Arutha's hut.
"is this all to yourself? or do you share it or have family?" Sean asked after a moment. Arutha merely shook his head and replied
"When a male comes of age, he moves out of his parents hut and the other males help build a new one, It is a time of celebration and feasting for it marks ones passage into manhood. If I find a mate then she will move in with me, females live with their parents until they find a mate. This has been my house for nearly four years." Arutha finished proudly. Then they stepped into it and Sean took in the layout. It was a dark room about fifteen by fifteen. Sections were divided off by hides hung from the ceiling. There was one bed in the corner. Just Sean was about to comment on this the door flap was flung aside by a female meechan, identifiable by being a head shorter and wearing skins on both her upper and lower body.
"Greetings Arutha, Outsider." She said with a polite nod of her head.
"The elders have sent me with a load of bedding for the Outsider." Arutha looked a little flustered at her appearance.
"Uh...thanks for the...um...uh...thanks Syphis." He said blushing. Sean looked at Arutha quizzically who was looking awkward as Syphis gave another polite nod of her head then left. Arutha noticed this look and blushed all the brighter as he moved to set up the bed. The bed was made of thin strips of wood to provide a framework and elevate the user about a foot off the ground. Stretched between the sides was another scale hide that Sean had seen them working before. Sean unslung his rifle and set down on the bed to test it. Made for the huge Meechan it was more than big enough for Sean to rest in relative comfort.
Suddenly, they heard a shout and then a scream. Sean looked up startled.
"The hell is that?" He exclaimed. Walking all day, finally able to rest, and now this.
"We must be under attack come one we have to get to the wall!" Arutha shouted. Sean grabbed his rifle, checked to make sure it was loaded. He realized he only had four magazines on his web gear for his rifle and only two for his pistol. Then he raced after Arutha, the Meechan's larger stride quickly pulling ahead of him. Finally Sean reached the wall, climbing up the palisade to the walk he looked over the side to see a force of almost one hundred meechan outside the wall, their fur painted red and blue. Sean looked along the wall and saw Arutha. Running over to him Sean saw that along the wall there was only about fifty meechan ready to fight.
At some unseen signal the Raiders moved forward to attack. each one holding a spear and some short weapon. Once they were in range they threw their spears and then moved in to try and batter down the walls.
Most of the Meechan on the walls waited till the enemy was less than fifteen yards away before throwing, and as a result almost twenty five raiders went down with a spear in them. However ten or so meechan on the walls were injured. These were carried away back into the village. Sean saw a large raider, nearly nine and a half feet tall and wielding a large axe, start chopping away at the gates. Within a few minutes they crashed down and the raiders began to pour into the village.
Sean leaped down from the wall landing in a crouch in front of the broken gates, ignoring a startled cry from Arutha. The large raider, seeing someone half his size in front of him gave a great laugh and started forward. Sean calmly put his CAR-15 HBAR to his shoulder and stroked the trigger twice. The large .458 SOCOM round hit the large raider in the chest, the hollow point round began to spread and when the round blew out the back of the raider it left an exit wound the size of a hand span. The raider staggered back and the second round hit it in the throat, ripping it out leaving the raider to lie in a pool of his own blood.
At the sharp report of firing almost all combat stopped. Sean stepped toward the gap and began calmly and efficiently putting two shots in all the raiders. Before he had killed his tenth raider and without even yet needing to reload, the raiders were beginning to withdraw. They had lost more than half their number, and now they faced this small person who would simply point and someone would die. It was too much for them when one raider flung his spear at Sean. Sean felt the spear hit him harder than any bullet and knock him down. For a few seconds he lay there and the raiders looked like they were about to rally, then he slowly pushed himself to his feet and resumed shooting. Five more raiders fell to his rifle before the survivors scattered only thirty or so remaining. Arutha ran up with wonder in his eyes, but didn't let that distract him from the matter at hand.
"A few made it into the village." Sean merely nodded and motioned for Arutha to lead the way, his ribs killing him from the sheer kinetic energy of the spear even through his combat armor. Above the din there rang out a scream and Arutha and Sean both sprinted towards it. They ran into a hut and saw three raiders inside advancing on Syphis.
She screamed again and Sean acted, bring his rifle up at the closest raider to her and firing. Suddenly his rifle locked back empty, Sean had rather foolishly forgotten to reload when he had a chance. The raider he hit stumbled bleeding from its shoulder but not down. Dropping his empty rifle Sean drew his MK23 in one hand and his hatchet in the other. The laser dot centered on the chest of the injured raider and Sean fired off four quick rounds, not trusting the lower power of the pistol against the eight foot tall meechan. The four rounds staggered the raider but didn't put him down until Sean added another four. He sent his last four rounds into a raider coming at him with a sword raised, putting all four rounds into its shoulder, making it drop the sword. Letting go of his pistol, he pulled out his hatchet in one quick, smooth move. Sean swung two handed, slamming the hatchet into its chest, the raider fell to its knees and Sean swung again burying the hatchet in its neck. He had only a few brief seconds to yank the hatchet free and roll away from the final raider brandishing a large wooden club.
Having missed his target, the raider overbalanced and Sean took the time to dart forward and embed the hatchet in its side. Roaring the raider lashed out and knocked Sean away and off his feet. Outside Arutha could be heard yelling Sean's name. The raider swung his club down at Sean's head. He attempted to move out of the way but not quick enough. The club glanced into the left side of his head then continued down to smash into his left should. Sean fell limply into a heap and heard the sickening crunch of his shoulder moving in ways it was never designed to. As everything seemed to suddenly tinge black and fade away he heard Arutha rush into the hut and attack the larger raider. Suddenly there was intense feeling of heat and an agonized howl before everything became darkness.