Chapter 2: Chapter 2 – Desert Crawlers

A cold breeze whipped around the carriages, blowing the white sand around the large wooden wheels. The natives who had lined the top of the canyon where gone. Now the caravan was left to themselves. At the front of the caravan were several men in green & white striped jackets with iron helmets and swords on their belts These were mercenaries of the merchant union. With pistols holstered across their chests, they rode gallantly on their large, thorough-bred horses. They turned and galloped towards the carriage containing the head merchant and Charlie. 

“SIR!” The first man called, waving his hand towards the head merchant. 

“What is it? We are near the Desert Ghost village, and I’d rather not be late to such an important meeting!” The head merchant yelled back, always concerned more about his pockets than anything else.  The men finally reached the side of the carriage. Swiftly they turned their horses to ride along side. 

“Yes sir, but we have news the natives are gone!” The man yelled back as the wind started to whip sand up into their faces. 

“I can see that!” The head merchant replied as he gestured to the top of the canyon. 

“No sire, rather it is the reason they are gone. We have news a large pack of Desert crawlers are coming,” the man said with a deadly seriousness. Swearing and muttering under his breath, the head merchant gave an order. 

“Have the caravan form a circle with the carriages, get the rifles forward and get me a gun!” The head merchant yelled. Charlie froze in his seat as the men started to spread the message to the soldiers. Swiftly, the carriages formed themselves into a large circle. 

The horses were taken from their reigns and brought to the centre of the circle. Jumping off his seat, the head merchant grabbed Charlie by the arm. 

“Come, let’s get you to safety,” he said as she dragged a confused and terrified Charlie to the circle of soldiers that had now formed around the main cargo carriage. They climbed onto the tall wooden structure. The main carriage used for storage was much larger than the rest, more like a house on wheels, making it more than able to accommodate the small army of mercenaries and merchants. 

The mercenaries loaded their long-lever-action rifles and round-cylinder cycle revolvers. Packing themselves into the wooden shelter, the mercenaries quickly took their positions at the windows and doors to block all possible points of entry. Charlie could barely see in the darkness. He positioned himself on a pile of wooden crates next to the head merchant and a few lesser merchants. They were passed extra rifles and rounds of ammunition. 

“Here, keep this on you,” the Head merchant said, shoving one of the large round-cylinder revolvers into Charlie’s chest. He looked down with confusion at the contraption. It wasn’t like the fancy, one-barrel revolvers the royals or merchants usually carried. This pistol had four barrels and the clip was composed of six separate circles. Carefully he positioned his finger over the trigger. 

“Point and shoot,” his voice wobbled. Being sheltered as a child, he knew little of how to use a regular weapon, let alone one like this. 

“Quite!” A mercenary whispered harshly. Charlie fell silent as he listened to the sounds outside. Only the wind and scratching of sand particles along the side of the wooden wall was audible. Nothing that would sound like the Desert crawlers the man had mentioned. 

‘Click’ 

A single click sounded from the wall next to him. Another… then another. It sounded like a bugs. But if it were simply bugs, then why were the soldiers so scared. The clicking sound moved along the wall. Everyone’s eyes tracked where the sound was coming from until it reached the front door. Two mercenaries that guarded the door raised their rifles. Charlie instinctively took in a deep breath, finding himself scared of what would happen if the creature was to find him. 

A single paw appeared around the doorway, illuminated by the moon. The paw was covered in a thick white fur, its claws unsheathed, glinting in the light, perfectly curved for slicing. One of the mercenaries raised his rifle. Taking aim, he fired into the head of the creature as it appeared into view. The cracking of the gun made Charlie flinch; his eyes were still locked onto the paw as the rest of the creature slumped into view. The creature looked more like a wolf than a bug. It’s long snout, thick, yet slick white fur and clawed paws, this was defiantly more wolf than bug. 

Silence hung in the air along with the smell of cordite but only for a moment. More of the clicking noises started up surround them. The mercenaries moved back from the windows, not wanting to be attacked by the approaching horde. Charlie aimed his weapon towards the open door, his finger lightly pressed onto the trigger. 

With a soft thud, another of the Desert walkers landed in front of the doorway. Looking through the small slit-like windows, Charlie could see flashes of white as more of the creatures dropped down into view. Another creature in the doorway sniffed its dead comrade. Placing a paw onto its head, it gave its former friend a gentle nudge. 

Seeing its friend dead, the creature snapped its head towards the cowering Charlie. Using what intelligence the creature had, it rapidly came to the conclusion that since Charlie was the one pointing his weapon at the door, he had to have been who’d made the kill. Bastard. Unforgivable. Tensing his finger on the trigger, Charlie watched as the creature threw back its head. A deafening howl filled the sky as the creature called to the rest of its pack. On hearing the howled response from its pack mates, the wolf threw itself forward. 

Charlie pointed the pistol towards the wolf. ‘Point and shoot’ he thought as he clamped his eyes shut and pulled the trigger. A loud bang, a crack of bone, then the sound of clanging metal as one of the round disks ejected from the gun and onto the floor. Carefully he opened his eyes. First, he looked to the large, round metal disk and the pinkie sized bullet its casings, then upwards to the smoking barrel of his gun. Then lastly his eyes fell onto the bloody and hole-riddled corpse of the Desert crawler. 

The victory was short lived though. The howling ceased, only to be replaced by growling and clicking again, the Desert crawlers scampered into the doorway. The merchants and mercenaries alike began to fire as the wolves attacked, trying to barge their way through the doors. Larger wolves started to attempt to make their way into the room. Clambering over the bodies of their fallen, the desert crawlers exploded into the room. Charlie fired again, then again, then again. Only two shots left.

“FUCK!” a mercenary screamed as one of the creatures wrapped their jaws around his legs. Instinctively Charlie sprinted forward. Reaching the man, he fired one of his rounds into the side of the wolf, killing it instantly. Without thinking, Charlie dropped his gun as he grabbed the man. Using what strength his scrawny arms could muster, he dragged the man back to the relative safety of the wall of men, who were firing hundreds of rounds of ammunition into the wolves.

“Hey, you alright?” Charlie said, slapping the man a few times to keep him awake.

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“Get a fucking weapon you bastard!” The man croaked. Jumping, Charlie only now realised his weapon was gone.

“I…think I’ll be fine,” he said, looking to the pile of bodies that now blocked the doorway. There was no hope in hell anything was getting passed that mound of death.

Gathering what amunition and weapons they could, the mercenaries checked defences while the merchants and servants treated the injured. Charlie sat back as the medics and servants made quick work tending to the man he’d rescued. Gagging slightly, Charlie threw his hands over his mouth. Fuck, he wasn’t good with blood. His face grew pale as he shuffled into the corner of the room. Pulling his legs into his chest, he sat still, saying nothing. Not daring to lift his head out of fear of what he might see, he listened to the sounds of men screaming as medics treated their mangled arms and legs.

After a while the sounds of the Desert Crawlers faded. The yelling and cheering of people echoed from around the wooden huts. Listening carefully, Charlie could hear what sounded like large animals chasing off the remaining Desert Crawlers. Slowly getting to his feet, Charlie pressed his ear against the wooden wall. He could hear what sounded like women with thick native accents. Mercenaries started to rip down the wall of bodies, allowing the moonlight to filter through the doorway.

Walking over the bloody remains of the Crawlers, a woman entered the room. Charlie lowered his head, copying the Head Merchant. The Head Merchant greeted the woman as she approached them. Saying nothing, the tall woman walked past the Head Merchant. Charlie didn’t lift his head as she moved towards him. Keeping his gaze focussed downwards, Charlie saw the moonlight that had lit the floor was now blocked as the woman stood over him.

Carefully a soft hand moved down onto the top of his head. Running her fingers through his hair, she admired its strange foreign colour. He couldn’t blame her; it was probably the first time the native woman had come across someone with his mix of devilish red hair. Once seemingly satisfied with her examination, her hand moved down the side of his head. Examining all the small, minor details of his complexion, her hand soon rested on his face.

Gripping the sides of his face tightly, she raised his head. Not stopping the woman, through fear of offending her, Charlie willingly moved his head along with her grip. His soft green eyes were soon fixed onto the woman’s face. Now she was closer he could make out much more detail on her. She wore little except a long, tanned, corded grass skirt and top to match. She had a thick, white, powder-like paint smeared on her skin. Red stripes of a similar mixture were probably signs of her skills as a warrior.

Observing her closely he took note of her long, flowing black hair and deep brown eyes. Her calm, relaxed gaze stared into his face. His palms started to sweat as she continued to stare at him without speaking. 

“Hello Mrs, how may I help you?” Charlie asked, breaking his gaze from the woman and instead choosing to stare at the wall.

Her grip on his face tightened as she shook his face. Saying something in her thick native tongue, the Head Merchant quickly responded.

“She wants you to look at her,” He said, glancing at Charlie. At that point Charlie realised that everyone had paused what they were doing and instead looked upon Charlie and the native woman.

Charlie started to blush slightly and sweat more from embarrassment as his gaze fixed back onto the eyes of the woman. Noticing his face grow red, the woman gave her first hint of expression as she gave a small chuckle followed by an even smaller grin. Still gripping him by the face, the woman turned and started to walk back towards the door, dragging Charlie with her.

Once outside, the woman stopped. Still holding onto Charlie’s face, she spun around to look at him. Charlie could finally fully see the woman clearly. He stared in awe at her as he could now fully appreciate her beauty. Smiling, the woman gave another small chuckle. It took a few seconds for Charlie to realise how red his face had become. Instinctively he leapt from her grasp. He moved a little too fast as he tumbled back into the white, blood splattered sand. A little bit of sick rose in his throat as he noticed his hand covered in the blood of a dead Desert Crawler that lay next to him.

Crouching down, the woman put a hand out to Charlie. Taking her hand with his blood-soaked hand, the native woman dragged him closer to her. Charlie’s face grew even hotter, and even more red as his face was only a few inches away from the woman’s. Placing a hand onto his forehead, the woman made a look of confusion. Wrapping one of her strong arms around his waist, she threw the young man deftly over her shoulder.

Hurriedly she carried Charlie past the merchants, mercenaries, and other members of their caravan. She carried him past other painted warriors, Charlie took note that all of them seemed to be women, all in the same white and red paint. Glancing over his shoulder to look at where they were heading, it took a few seconds for Charlie to realise what he was looking at. What looked to be a large, white, fur covered, centipede. It’s black, beady eyes being just visible under grey scales that covered its face.

Reaching the creature, the woman threw a confused, embarrassed and incredibly scared Charlie onto the soft fur of the creature. Climbing on after him, she started to ruffle through the creature’s fur. Once she had found a long piece of what looked to be leather, she followed the strand until she reached a saddle which was covered by the fur. Grabbing Charlie, she dragged him into a leather seat of his own behind her. With a few whips of the reigns, the creature started to move.

“Sorry, wait a second, my stuff…” Charlie stopped his complaints as the native woman snapped her head to face him. Seeing her glare, he decided it was best to shut up and just follow her.

Hay! Hope you liked the story,  trying to think of ways to make images for the chapters as I think that will help to explain some parts of the story. I want to try to learn at some point how to draw or add filers to these images as I think that could make them look really good. But any way thanks for reading! 

 

 

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