Nentarli [COMPLETE]

~ Fifteen ~

Everyone in the group tensed and from what I could see of Merkell through a gap under Kaleb's arm, his head was bowed forward and he had lowered his arms.

Only a few seconds passed until the owners of the footsteps appeared, six people were striding towards us between the houses. Two of them were wearing what looked like chain mail armour, two wore full leather outfits and the two in front were wearing long, light coloured robes that fell to the ground.

The first four had weapons drawn and pointed towards us while the two in robes were empty handed; they walked calmly ahead of the others with their hands raised and their palms facing us. When they got close enough for me to see them all more clearly, I noticed in each of the groups, one was male and the other female. The first two looked well over middle aged but who could tell how old they actually were in this world. Their hair glinted silver in places but their faces showed no age, their expressions impassive while they looked upon Merkell.

"State your reason for being here at this hour and how you knew to call on us in that manner, do it with haste."

They spoke in unison and their voices complimented each other so beautifully, it made me want to tell them all of my secrets. Something stopped me from speaking however and I realised there was magic at work.

Merkell stepped forward and I could hear a tone of authority in his voice again. "I am Merkell of the Western Sector, Man of the Mountains and Creator of this Wall of Protection."

He seemed to stand straighter and somehow grow taller while he spoke, the faces of the people inside of the wall had become shocked and almost fearful, which I found intriguing.

"I called on the two of you because I believed you would know me on sight, that you would not keep us out here for any longer than was necessary." 

He finished on a cold note and they all recoiled like he had reached through the wall and slapped them. It took a moment for them to recover and the two people in robes took a step forward. They bowed their heads to Merkell and I couldn't understand why they reacted to him in that way. It made sense for the guys to do it, if he was their 'commanding officer', or whatever they had called him, but these two looked twice his age and in those robes it look like they should have been the ones being bowed to. 

"We are sorry, it is a new security measure that was put in place after the recent outbreak of raids and trouble, not to mention the attacks..." the man said and he held up his hands to the air.

"...they have attempted on the wall. We must be sure it is really you." The woman finished off his sentence and held her hands up over the man's.

I raised a brow, I should have known that things would only get stranger the further we went. I wasn't sure I was ever going to stop being surprised by this world and its people.  

Merkell considered them for a few seconds then stepped forward, raising his hands to match up with theirs through the space between them, he didn't lose any of his composure. The three of them stood still for barely a few seconds, then the man and woman backed away slowly. Their mouths had dropped and they nodded in unison without looking away from Merkell.

The other four people who had arrived with them, stepped forward and held their hands up as well, all six stood motionless for a minute or two. Suddenly a cold wind swept across my face, like a door had just swung open and I assumed that it was the entrance opening through the magic wall. It pushed my hood back off my head, Emy's too.

We quickly pulled them back up, seeing Merkell nod to us and he beckoned for us to go to him. Blaike and Kaleb visibly relaxed and I heard Kayle let out a small gust of breath. None of them had seemed convinced we would get through this part, maybe they didn't have as much confidence in Merkell as they claimed to.