The Others

Chapter 5: Cylendrium

Nicole and her friends found themselves in an orchard of sorts on the other side of the first wall. There were three rows of apple trees lined up what looked like all the way around the second wall. There wasn't a visible face on this one. There was a stone plaque on a pedestal next to a trail leading between the orchard rows. Nicole walked up to the pedestal. "I can't read what's written on the plaque. It doesn't look like English to me," she said. They each looked at the plaque in turn, then Elizabeth said, "I haven't seen this language before, but it uses our alphabet, and it's a Latin-based language, so I might be able to make it out. It might actually be Latin. I really wouldn't know. Let me see, 'Look for', it could be 'Find', 'the white tree of fruit.', but it could be more along the lines of, 'the tree bearing white fruit.' or 'the fruit that is found on the white tree.', but give me a break, this is a new language for me." The rest of the group was looking at Elizabeth, wide-eyed and quite impressed at her ability to identify the message of the tablet. After a few seconds, Nicole finally spoke, "All right then guys. Let's find this white apple tree." "Should we split up or stick together?" Michelle asked. "Stick together. We don't know what we're going to find in here, and none of us have any weapons training," Nicole replied. They nodded and followed her along the orchard trail. Soon they started to jog, then sprint down the rows of apple trees, only stopping to turn and look around. After ten minutes of vigorous searching with no result, they stopped, out of breath, and assessed their situation. "Why can't we find it!" Andy exclaimed. "The tree is probably near the center of the orchard, close to the next wall," said Michelle. " But we've been going that direction and we still don't seem any closer," Sam argued. "We've been following the direct paths, right?" Nicole pondered. The rest of them nodded. "What if we need to walk off the path? The trees are in segments, divided by the path. Maybe we need to walk through those segments opposite the path, and then cross the path the wrong way," she said. "I don't understand half of what you said," replied Andy, "but it sounds like a plan to me." The rest agreed and followed Nicole through the trees. They avoided the path the best the could, and soon found themselves making good time towards the second wall. Suddenly, an odd flying serpent dropped down in front of them blocking their way. It was the size of a regular sized garter snake, but it had wings like a bat. It was black and green and bobbed up and down with each flap of its wings. "You are sstanding on my turf," it said. "Excuse me?" Nicole asked, surprised. "I ssaid you are ssstanding on my TURF! You musst be punished for tresspasssing on my turf," it said. "Out of the way everybody, I can handle this," Andy said as he pushed towards the creature. "Hello, my name is Andy, I take law class, and I would like to hear what you have to say about the matter." "Andy, what are you doing?" Michelle exclaimed. "I am a protector of justice," he replied. Michelle put her head in her hands. The snake creature spoke. "I am Ryx, and these mongrelsss have tresspassssed on my turf that ssolely belongss to me! They should be punished by sservice to me forever." Andy raised his eyebrows. "Interesting. Now what does the accused say?" he asked, gesturing to Nicole. Of all the ridiculous things Andy has done, this surpasses them all, she thought. She had a sudden urge to clop him on the ears, but she resisted the urge and played along. "Um, Ryx, I'm Nicole, and my friends and I never meant to do you harm by stepping on your turf. We didn't know it belonged to you, and we're really sorry." "Alright, then, pleading ignorance. Let me think...you are guilty of trespassing unintentionally and your punishment is watering the turf." "I agree to thessse termss," said Ryx. "You do know that you're one of the 'mongrels' who have 'trespassed on the turf', don't you?" Nicole asked Andy. "Um, yeah," he said. "Then I vote Andy has to water the patch of grass," replied Nicole. The rest of them agreed. "Hey! That's not how this works!" Andy protested. "Sure it is," said Nicole. "It's called democracy. And if you waste our time having a little court session again, we may have to find a harsher punishment for you." "I like thiss mongrel. She hass good tasste," Ryx said "Ok, now this isn't fair," Andy complained. There was hurt on his face. Nicole loosened up a bit. "What I'm trying to say is, if you find a situation where we actually need your skills of 'protecting justice' and negotiation, then tell us. Until then, no more games," Nicole said. "Ok, mom," said Andy, sulking. "That isn't funny. You know it isn't," Nicole said, her face so serious it could make a prankster like Andy crawl into a corner. Andy left to find a water source, and everyone said goodbye to Ryx and kept moving. Not another word was said.