Summoned! To Grimworld

Chapter 6: 'Take me with you, I'm begging you!'

After Marcus had handed over his sculpture in return for tools, the atmosphere of the meeting changed; now there was no more bargaining. Perhaps the Kangarans would have left, but their leader, Lupelele, explained that they had to wait for the tide to turn. While they did so, the other members of the tribe asked questions, mostly about the planet that Marcus and Sina had come from. Now and then, Marcus noticed Lupelele taking a discreet look at her sculpture and always it made her smile.

The relaxed conversation was also an opportunity for Marcus to learn as much as he could about Grimworld, starting with the region they were in. And what the Kangarans told him led him to spring to his feet and find a stick and a patch of sandy dirt to draw in. 'Please,' he said, 'show me on a map.'

He drew a curve for the two headlands. 'This is us, here, now. You say that the Red Moon tribe are cannibals, and they are north? Where exactly?'

The youngest of the Kangarans, a male probably just out of his teens, got up and took the stick. After a pause to check and receive a nod from Lupelele, he drew two more bays, a smaller one to the south and a larger one to the north.

A menu alert flashed briefly at the corner of his vision and Marcus opened it.

Congratulations! You have discovered Mapmaking

You have a map that will automatically update as you learn about new regions

As Marcus found his new map, which blocked half his vision until he flicked it away, the young man was stabbing the stick repeatedly into an area inland of the top bay. His face was contorted with sudden anger. 'There. There are the killers.'

'And the slavers? Ark-Andulan, I think you called them?'

'Here.' This time the youth drew a river some distance to the south, dragged it inland and made a sweeping circle. 'They have their fort on the riverbank. And they sail even as far as our islands trying to capture us.' He was about to mark the Kangaran island or islands, almost directly to the east, when Lupelele shouted at him and young man dropped the stick with a guilty expression.

'We are no threat to you,' said Marcus to their leader.

'What you don't know, you cannot reveal under torture.'

'Oh God.' Sina, who had been standing watching as the map took shape, suddenly squatted back down. 'Cannibals; slavers; torturers. I want to go home.'

'I know,' said Marcus sympathetically, trying to disguise the fact that in his own heart a delight at being young again outweighed his fears of cannibals and slavers. Every day here on this world, with this body, gave him more pleasure than he could have dreamed of back on Earth.

'I have a good idea,' Sina looked up hopefully at Lupelele, 'why don't you take us with you?'

There was a stillness among all the people of Kangara now and the youth who had been drawing the map looked at Sina open-mouthed with an expression that Marcus judged to be one of considerable desire.

'We can help you. Marcus can make more of those birds. I have... well, dancing and music skills.'

Lupelele stood up and crossed her arms, the lines of the tattoos on each meeting to create an impression of an uneven row of fence posts. 'My God-view says your standing with us is now seven. We will not trust you to come among us until that standing is fifty.'

'What can we do to make it fifty?' asked Sina immediately.

'More trades. Help in battles. Quests to bring us information or items we need.'