My name doesn't matter

Part 9

It took us weeks to find out where Darren was.  I remember it feeling like the wait for Christmas Break but streched out forever.  I remember Key growing more and more frustrated with me as we walked from town to town.

All of the "upper world," as he called it, was connected by rope bridges and thick branches.  Sometimes, the walk from one town to the next was fast and over in a day.  Other times, we would have to sleep on the bridges.

Everyone we met looked like Key in some way.  Big eyes, little mouth, weird teeth, same clothes.  At first, I hated it, and they all looked scary, but over time, I got used to it.  It was like meeting a weird family member from somewhere really far away.  Like, Alabama or something.  The more you see them, the less weird they look.

After way too long and too many nights of sleeping on branches, we finally found a lead.  Darren might be in the beast settlement under a town called Low Branch.  Key didn't like that very much, but I was thrilled.

The journey to Low Branch took us back across our winding path.  We passed Mother's cabin on the way, and Key looked sad.  I was too scared to look at the cabin.

The closer we got to Low Branch, the lower we got in elevation.  I remember my ears popping like when my family would have to cross over the mountains on vacation.  That's how far down we had to go.

I didn't realize it until we had reached Low Branch, but I hadn't seen the forest floor since the first day.  Below us, maybe forty feet, I could see "horses" walking around.  Not a lot of them, but enough.  Some of them had riders that were part rat or part lizard.  I hated them.

Low Branch smelled bad.  Key said the smell came from the settlement below, but I knew it would have smelled bad either way.  You can't say a smell like that came from just one spot.  It was from everywhere.

Walking into town, the people were the first thing I noticed.  They all seemed less happy than people here usually looked.  Key seemed grim about the whole thing and said a lot of swears.  Way more than his usual.

As we passed something Key called a "tap house," I heard two people talking through the window.

"They've been doing it over by the meadow.  The bastard has them killing each other for fun!  Even I don't hate them that much."

I froze in place and listened.

"True, it is.  I think he's just some kind of charlatan that's got them all dazzled."

I motioned for Key to join me, and he did.