Flashes in Time

[unscratchedfoot]

I hope a war is coming!

[Kaos XIII]

The flashbacks are Now let's here about the meeting with the French.

[ChrisiusMaximus]

Good stuff Pauly, damn fine idea with the librarians flashbacks.

[Paulypav]

It's been hard to find time to write, but I finally have gotten another section written. It's getting more action oriented and the next section will have even more action.

[Paulypav]

Chapter 3 Part 1: The Farmer(The Warrior)

Rantu shuffled behind his pair of oxen as they plodded across the field, breaking the soil for the coming years’ planting. The sun glared down upon the sturdy farmer, baking his skin in the noontime daylight. Rantu was taking advantage of an extremely early weeklong break in the spring temperature, which had allowed the ground to thaw early. Normally, this time of year there would have been frost on the ground in the morning, if not snow, and the day would have been cold, damp and windy. Rantu’s gnarled hands gripped the yoke tightly as he prepared to turn his oxen at the edge of the plowed field. This was the point where his property came closest to that of his neighbor and long-time friend, Didrian.

Suddenly, the oxen shifted in their traces, jerking Rantu to full awareness. He looked about to see what had startled the oxen, expecting to see a squirrel or some other tiny forest creature darting in their path. He did not see any small creature, nor did he see or hear anything unusual. He was about to resume his work when he detected a hint of smoke in the air. “That fool, Didrian. Lighting a fire on such a fine day. Certainly, nothing to worry about.” Like many a farmer, Rantu talked to his beasts to calm them and to pass the time. He pushed hard on the yoke to inspire the oxen to move forward again.

He managed a few more steps, when it became obvious that the smoke came from more than a hearth fire. Didrian’s farmhouse was nearly two miles away through the woods that separated their farms. As he gazed through the trees in the general direction of his friend’s home he began to notice smoke creeping through the trees.

“Merciful God.” Rantu thought to himself at the sight of the smoke. Before it really registered in his mind, he was crashing through the trees towards his friend and neighbor’s home. Rantu was not worried about his own home as it lay well away from the woods and was in no immediate danger from a fire. His friend liked being close to the woods and so had built his home right up against the forest edge and a forest in the woods would endanger the home. Luckily, the main path to his friend’s home appeared to lie well away from the fire and the thick smoke did not yet choke the path. As he grew nearer to the house, wisps of smoke had reached the path and the clearing was engulfed in smoke.

Rantu could hear the crackling and roaring of the fire from the general direction of his Didrian’s home, several hundred yards away. He tore a strip from his shirt and covered his mouth, then he bolted frantically towards his neighbor’s house in what was sure to be a vain effort to save Didrian and his family from the roaring inferno. It seemed fairly obvious that the source of the fire had to have been relatively close to the house if it wasn’t the house itself.

Halfway across the hazy clearing he tripped and fell over what seemed to be a fallen log. He scrambled quickly to his feet and kept running. His legs were damp from the combination of sweat and dampness from the fall. As he got clearer it became painfully obvious that the house was engulfed and flame and the nearby woods had not caught fire.

“Didrian!” Rantu screamed. “Marcius! Antonia! Anybody!” Rantu wailed as he tried to get near to the house, but the heat was far too intense. If Rantu had been thinking rationally it would have been immediately clear that there was nothing he could do to save the house or his friends if they had been trapped inside. All too soon, Rantu was choking on the smoke through his hastily improvised mask and he collapsed to the ground. He began crawling away from the house in an attempt to get some clearer air to breath. Behind him there was a great groaning noise and the house collapsed upon itself, Rantu felt searing heat along his back and he began rolling over afraid he had caught fire.

Rantu resumed crawling, sobbing all the way, mourning the loss of his long-time friend. Through the haze, he could began to make out an indistinct lump on the ground ahead of him. It was unusual enough that he decided to investigate, the air was clear enough that he could breath without too much effort. As he approached the shape it became readily apparent that the shape was that of a man crumpled on his side. Dread clutched his innards and his greatest fears were confirmed when he saw that the body was that of his friend, Didrian. Hoping against hope that Didrian had passed out from smoke inhalation, he scrambled to his friend’s side prepared to help him. His friend’s shirt was soaked in blood and the body was twisted awkwardly on the ground. He could also see that two feathered arrow protruded from his friend’s back, his friend was not unconscious and fire and smoke had not caused his death. With great certainty, Rantu felt that the bodies of Didrian’s wife and daughters were burned in the house or laying somewhere out in the field.

Rantu had spent five years as an archer in the Carthaginian Army and these arrows were like nothing he had ever seen. The shaft was slightly longer than the ones he had used and the fletching was made of brightly colored feathers, the likes of which he or no other Carthaginian had ever seen. Although, 20 years had passed since he had left his archer regiment to start his farm (sacking barbarian villages had been sickening, but highly profitable), his military training kicked in and he began to think of protecting his home and warning the nearby village and the small garrison located there. It was clear that Didrian’s training had not saved him, but he had not been prepared, Rantu was.

Rantu knew that the path he had taken between Didrian’s farm and his own was barely noticeable, and looked like nothing more than a deer run at the point it connected to the clearing. It should be safe for him to return to his own farm via that path. He hoped that the invaders who had slaughtered his friend had traveled away from his farm and not towards it. The smoke would work to conceal his own movements from anyone who might be looking for him or anyone like him. He was not worried about making noise as the path he was taking was well away from any other paths, nor was he particularly loud when traveling through the forest. Rantu hunted to supplement the harvests from his farm and had learned how to move silently through the forest even at speed. He needed to return to his home so he could retrieve his bow, arrows and sword to protect himself and his wife whom he had to get away from his home and to a place of safety. Rantu considered himself a fairly good archer, although not nearly as good as he had been 20 years earlier.

When he emerged from the woods close to his own home he was startled at movement in the fields right where he intended to leave the forest. A quick glance told him that his oxen had remained placidly standing where he had left them. Seeing no sign of the enemy about his fields he decided to make a mad dash for his farmhouse. It was nearly half a mile from the woods to his front door and he had a dreadful feeling that a dozen archers were going to spring up from nowhere just as he got to his home. No such invaders were waiting for him and he burst through his front door without incident.

“Lucia, Lucia,” he called delicately; afraid his voice would carry to unfriendly ears. His heart skipped a beat when he heard her call back softly.

“Yes, my dear.” His wife’s voice came weakly from the bedroom. He had forgotten that she had not been feeling well when he left this morning to plow the fields. She had probably been lying in bed taking an early afternoon nap after completing the morning’s chores.

“Lucia, we must leave immediately. We are in grave danger.”

“What!” She bolted up in her bed, the previous malaise gone as the shock energized her system.

“Didrian’s farm has been burned to the ground. Someone put a couple of arrows in his back before that. I couldn’t find Marcius or Antonia, but I fear the worst for them as well. We must leave before they find us here.” Rantu could see a thousand questions on his wife’s face, but she got up and began changing into clothes suitable for the road. He began rummaging through his belongings stuffing clothing and other useful items into a small sack. “Go to the kitchen, grab as much useful food as you can and put it in this sack.” He handed her another small sack, large enough to carry a few days supply of food. “I’ll pack some clothing for both of us and a few other necessities, but we must move quickly and quietly.”

As Lucia moved to the kitchen, Rantu reached under their bed and pulled out the oilskin, which contained his polished Yew Longbow and a quiver with 25 arrows. He also pulled out his scabbard and short sword from under the bed. He was not well trained in the use of the sword, and if it came to hand – to – hand fighting, he was in trouble, but the feel of it on his hip comforted him, nonetheless. He slung the bow and quiver over his back, stuffed some clothing for his wife into a separate sack and returned to the kitchen he had passed through only minutes earlier.

Rantu had finished quickly, his years in the army had taught him to travel quickly and lightly. Lucia had nearly completed packing the food when he entered the kitchen, selecting those foods that would be best preserved while on the road. Rantu helped her to pack the last few items of food and picked up the pack of food, he handed her the sack with her clothing and personal items and motioned silently for her to leave by the back door. At this point, he wanted to minimize the noise that they made to prevent their unknown enemies from being alerted to their presence. More importantly there were a number of trails that led from the woods that lay behind the farmhouse. They formed a maze of paths that would require time for even an expert tracker to follow and would hopefully give the couple a fair head start if they were chased. Additionally, he intended to double back and create a few false trails, which would further delay any unwanted pursuers. The woods began nearly a thousand yards from the farmhouse and Rantu headed towards what he considered the main trail from the woods. None of the trail were obvious from as close as the farmhouse, but upon close inspection could be seen with little difficulty. The couple walked in silence down the main trail, Lucia was fairly teeming with questions, but she knew that the time to ask them had not come. After about 10 minutes of walking down the trail, he stopped his wife to explain his plan.

“What are you doing?” Lucia whispered.

“I am going back to set some false trails to confuse and delay them. I want you to head for the small clearing further down this path. It should take a few hours for you to get there, and I should arrive within an hour after you. If I’m not there within two hours after you get there, head for your sister’s home in Utica.” He embraced his wife of 17 wonderful years. “Go now, I Love You, and I will be with you in a few hours.”

“I Love you too.” She kissed him and turned and headed down the trail. Rantu turned and headed back to take care of concealing their trail.

[unscratchedfoot]

Are you running from INTERPOL or something? You seem to know good about shaking off pursuers. That episode was fine but I'm wondering how these 3 pretty much unrelated parts fit together.

[ChrisiusMaximus]

Yes that was a nice addition and as Scratch says how these three parts fit together needs to be explained.

I will add however that youre last part has the makings of a story in its own right.

Looking forward to more .

[Paulypav]

Each of these stories are intended to comprise the history of the Carthaginian people through a sequence of characters. We first saw the establishment of the Carthaginian people through Hannibal, now we see the Carthaginians facing perhaps their first invasion as alluded to by the words of the librarian.

[ChrisiusMaximus]

Ive just realised that you had already made that clear after part 2, and as such I would definitely like to see part three continued as a seperate tale as and when you see fit

[Paulypav]

Don't worry I intend to continue part 3. I expected the parts to be shorter when I first conceived of them, but I have found upon writing them that I had more to say than I thought I did. It had been a while since I had posted something, so I decided to find a convenient place to make a break. When I get more time I will certainly continue the storyline.