Interface

Mara

The old man's voice is like needles stabbing into my brain.
" hello little ones. Do you know where you are?"
I shake my head, and force myself to concentrate on figuring out what this creature is.
He might be a Bocoblin- one of the Other races, who are infamous for mutilating human travelers along the backways of towns.
The old man exposes his teeth in an unsettling imitation of a smile, and I resist the urge to run away screaming.
This little man is probably a Bocoblin, and he must be plotting to destroy us even as we speak.
I stand up straighter and look the Bocoblin dead in the eyes before backing up into Mila.
He sneers before fiddling with a small bone.
" you two are a long way from home. Only halfway through the Garden, and yet you think that you must be close to escaping. You humans are honestly a pitiful species."
He throws the bone into the space separating us from him, and then produces more bones to throw until we are surrounded by the tiny bones.
" give me a riddle, something to occupy the time before I send you to the earth. If I can't solve it, then I swear on the river Stithe that I will release you."
I flinch, then think for a while.
" what was my father's greatest fear?" I ask.
The man seems taken aback, and I wonder if I gave him a riddle that he can't solve.
" uhh.... Your father... ummm........" he's stumbling over his words like a child over stray piping.
" he feared the Other People?" he stumbles out.
I shake my head, and I'm wonder if this little man is not one of the Other People, because- to my knowledge- they never address themselves by that title.
His face turns even redder, and he tosses another bone towards the circle, and this breaks the circle of bones.
" what did your father fear then?" he asks.
I shrug and can't help smirking a little.
" I don't know. I never met him."
The little man screams as his body starts to combust, and I shrug again.
" that's a bit dramatic, but okay."
The old man's feeble form finally burns away, revealing a larger- though equally ugly- creature with spiralling horns and a nasty looking studded club. His fists are bigger than my head, and he looks like he could easily reach the tree branches at the edge of the clearing- the ones that tower a good ten feet above the ground.
He sneers down at us and hefts his club to his shoulder.
" you can't tell a good riddle if you don't know what the answer is." he growls.
I decide to stand my ground, though this might end badly for Mila and me.
" and what was your riddle? Something about grasshoppers and stupid little bones?" I challenge.
The monster growls, and his eyes seem to burn in the early morning light- wait, my mistake, they ARE burning.
This thing must be a nocturnal variety, one who cannot stand to be in the light of day simply because their bodies would combust.
He tunnels into the ground in the blink of an eye, and I look at the ground suspiciously.
Mila is still giggling like an idiot, and I make a mental note to keep her away from any blackberry vines we find once we are safe again. I don't want to deal with a drunk Mila.
The earth starts shaking beneath my feet, and I barely have time to leap out of the way before the giant erupts from the ground like a volcano with no sense of personal hygiene.
He is accompanied by a pair of Skalks- fearsome cave dwellers best known for stealing babies from their cradles, and having the unsettling ability to unhinge their jaws to a full one hundred and eighty degrees.
They look like large black dogs that are covered in thick, fleshy spines, and their color closely matches the mottled grey of their subterranean home. Their bulging eyes glow in order to help them find their way around the caves, and long, knife-like claws jut out from their forepaws on the ends of their mismatched legs.
The Skalks whine before trying to escape the light, but the man keeps them in place with a few harsh words spoken in a language that I've never heard before. No doubt he is threatening them with unimaginable pain if they don't obey his bidding. Old man Striker always told me that only cowards use other beings to do their dirty work, so this man must not be any different. He doesn't want to risk being hurt even a little bit, so he uses creatures he doesn't care about to do his bidding instead.
The creatures cower before advancing towards us, and I wonder what the man promised them to make them so aggressive.
It is a well known fact that Skalks are cowardly creatures that will run off if confronted by another being.There's even a rumor that the only reason they steal children is because they are lonely and wish for company, but only widows and those who have lost their own children believe those rumors.
There have been no reported attacks on adults, or even larger children from Skalks.
So this means that they are being manipulated somehow... being forced to work for this monster. They don't deserve this fate, but I don't know what I can do to help them escape from their prison of fear.
The sun hits the Skalks dead on, and they spring forward with jagged strides that jar their uneven legs in a way that is painful to watch.
They are approaching at an unnatural pace, their jaws hinged open as wide as nature allows- which is still much wider than I am comfortable with.
The Skalk's jaws are filled with diseased, perse-hued gums and slavering yellow teeth as long as my hand and more pointed than any knife that a market butcher might wield.