Lird: Lord of the Lizardmen
Written By: Simon ‘newguy2445’ Hales
Chapter 2: Young Lird (Not actual title)
‘Ready or not here I come’ Lird yelled out.
He opened his eyes as he withdrew his hands from his face. In front of Lird stood a guard, with a very displeased evil look on his face.
‘Quiet you little rascal’ the Guard growled.
Lird just laughed, dodged the guard’s angry hands and ran off down the street. He was playing ‘Hide and Seek’, his favourite game in the world. Lird weaved in and out of the villagers as they went about their daily lives. Some of them were talking with each other, explaining how they were going, others were exchanging items, and the occasional one was quickly hurrying about, minding their own business.
Lird was looking for his brother, he had decided with his brother that he were only allowed to hide in the centre of the marketplace, so as to not drag out the game, so Lird was eyeing every possible hiding spot he saw as he ran along the street. His feet were moving quickly so as to avoid the very hot pavement that had absorbed all of the sun’s heat. Standing to long on it with Lird’s unhardened feet would burn him, something that he had experienced, all too often.
It was the afternoon, and there was still plenty of light in the sky, the sun was still visible above the city walls. Lird continued through the streets, checking behind stalls, in crates, under bushes, yet he still could not find his brother. It had been nearly 10 minutes now since Lird had set off, and he searched generally all of the market-place, where could his brother be? Lird knew it was not like his brother to cheat and hide somewhere else, no, he would just have to look harder.
Eventually the sun had lowered beneath the walls of the city, and darkness was beginning to spread throughout the city. And yet Lird had still not found his brother, he had searched every nook and cranny of the city, to no avail. In the end he decided that his brother must have gotten bored and returned home, so Lird ran off in the direction of his home, after all, he wouldn’t want to be caught by a guard at night and face the consequences.
Over a fence Lird jumped, he slid under a poorly built wall and sprinted across a street, he checked behind him for any pursuing guards, there were none. Eventually he reached the fence of his backyard, and with his tail he wrapped it around the big Oak tree growing in his yard, and pulled himself up over the fence. With a great big splat Lird hit the ground.
‘What was that’ exclaimed a scared voice from inside of his house.
‘Nothing dear, I’m sure it was just a pest making some noise’ replied another voice, also with a hint of fear and urgency.
Lird slowly approached the back of his house and peered in through a window, something felt wrong.
There inside was his mother and father standing with a guard, not just any guard, a royal guard. Lird gulped, if he got caught arriving now, late, he would surely be punished.
‘Well then, as long as you keep your two young boys under control, then I should not have to visit you again’ snarled the guard.
‘Yes sir, of course sir, both of them are sleeping now, we’ll speak to them in the morning’ his dad replied, his voice quivering. The guard walked out of the front door and slammed it shut.
‘They are in so much trouble for this’ his dad angrily spoke aloud. Lird trembled; he did not like it when his father was angry. But he knew that the sooner he faced his parents, the less horrible it would be.
Lird gripped the wooden handle of the door with his hand and twisted, the door slowly creaked open. His dad spun at the noise, his eyes squinting to see through the darkness, then his face hardened, and then he scowled. ‘Lird’ he shouted angrily. Lird avoided eye contact and dragged himself towards him.
‘Why are you so late? And where is your brother!’ his father demanded.
‘What! He’s not back?’ exclaimed Lird.
‘No he is not, now start explaining’ his Dad growled.
Lird shook his head, no time, he made for the door. His dad moved forward to grab him, but not before Lird could roll underneath his clutch and open the door.
‘Lird! Get back here this instance, before one of the guards catches you out at night’ his Dad yelled, but Lird ignored him and ran out the door, something was wrong, his brother was never late home, something had happened.
Lird charged down the street, looking left right and centre for his brother, but to no avail. Where could he be!
Lird ran up and down the streets, checking everywhere, he couldn’t find his brother. As Lird rounded another corner of a street he spotted his friend’s house, Mich. He ran for the house and slowed at the front door. He was tempted to knock, but knew that Mich’s parents would not take lightly to his rude awakening. So Lird climbed into the backyard and ran towards Mich’s bedroom window.
Peering in Lird could see Mich’s small body lying in bed, his chest raising and lowering as he breathed in and out. Lird tapped on the window, Mich tossed in his sleep but did not wake. Lird knocked on the window, yet Mich still did not awaken. Lird frantic to get his friend’s help grabbed a branch from a tree and smashed the window open. Mich immediately woke from his sleep and jumped out of bed. He turned towards the window, a look of fear on his face. He relaxed when he saw it was Lird and quickly moved to the window.
‘What are you doing?’ asked Mich sleepily, ‘It’s past bedtime’.
‘I know, but I need your help’ Lird replied urgently, ‘It’s my brother, he’s been missing for a few hours now, I can’t find him anywhere, I need your help!’
‘If we get caught…’ Mich replied with a yawn.
‘We won’t, I promise, now please, we need to find him’ Lird butted in.
‘Well, all right’ Mich replied, ‘Now move out of the way’.
Lird backed away from the window as Mich hefted himself onto the window ledge and pushed himself through. Together they climbed back into the front part of Mich’s property.
‘Well where is it you last saw your brother?’ Mich asked as they ran through some streets.
‘I don’t know, we were playing hide and seek, and I haven’t seem him since he left to hide’ answered Lird, fear in his voice.
‘Have you checked the Market Place?’
‘Yes’.
‘The outer streets?’
‘Of course.’
‘The outskirts?’
‘Yes, they’re right next to the outer streets’ snapped Lird.
‘Alright, alright, calm down, could he have left the city?’
‘He promised he wouldn’t, it would have broken the game rules’ answered Lird.
‘Hang on, do you see that?’ asked Mich, as he stopped and looked East.
‘Yes, what is it? It looks like a red cloud or something’ said Lird, also looking in the direction of Mich’s gaze.
‘Could it be?’ asked Mich.
‘I don’t know, but let’s go anyway’.
They both ran off towards the Eastern Gate, tails flapping behind them as they sprinted. Lird was starting to feel exhausted already but he couldn’t stop for a rest, not while his brother could very well be in trouble. Mich was grinning, it had been awhile since he had had a good adventure in the night. Eventually the two reached the Eastern Gate.
‘The smoke, it’s coming from the other side of the wall’ stated Lird.
‘Follow me, I know a way to get over’ Mich said coolly, running south along the wall. After a few minutes they had reached what appeared to be a grate. Mich grabbed onto the edges and started beginning to lift, to no avail.
‘Well don’t just stand there, help me’ Mich grunted.
Lird crouched down and grabbed hold of one of the sides, together they grunted and groaned as they lifted the grate off the ground and laid it to the side. Where the grate had been, there was now a metal chute going down with handles to climb down on.
‘Where’s this go?’ asked Lird as he peered down the hole, he could hear what sounded like rushing water below him.
‘It leads to the underground part of the river, the part which goes from one side of the city to the other’ Mich answered smugly.
‘And you know this how?’ Lird asked, surprised that Mich would know of a place like this.
‘My cousin, he was a bit like us, showed me a few special places in the city’ Mich replied winking.
Lird nodded, he then walked to the chute. ‘Well I’m going down’. Mich wished him luck.
He lowered his feet to the first handles and began to climb down, once he was far enough down Mich began to climb down to.
After around 20 rungs Lird had reached the end, down below him, 5 meters away was water. ‘Drop’ yelled Mich. Lird hesitated, then took a deep breath and let go of the metal handle. Down he fell towards the water, his feet entering the cold river first. Lird was fully under, when he suddenly realised he would need to swim to the side so that Mich did not land on him. He began his fish swim as he pushed through the water, seconds later Mich landed in behind him. Lird submerged and spun, spotting Mich spitting out a mouthful of water. ‘Which way?’ yelled Lird, his voice echoing in the underground river. Mich pointed in front of him, Lird spun in the water and then he saw light in the distance. ‘Come on’ shouted Mich who was already heading off. Lird followed him through the cold dark water.
As Lird pushed on he kept thinking of his parents, how he had just ditched them without a proper explanation, he hoped they would forgive him once he returned. But he knew that it would all be okay once he found his brother, his brother had always looked after him.
By now the water was starting to feel slightly warmer to Lird, no wonder, he was less then 50 meters away from being outside. He swam hard and then he was out in the open. Mich slowed just behind him, treading water.
As the two treaded water Lird could hear voices.
‘Shhh, listen’ Lird whispered.
‘Please, spare me, I’ve done nothing to harm you’ whimpered somebody from a short distance.
Mich looked at Lird alarmed. Lird returned the worried look. Then he pointed to the left bank and they both swam to the side of the river. Water dripped off their bodies as they climbed out of the river, it was a good thing he had worn his old clothes today, Lird thought to himself. They quickly and quietly walked to the trees surrounding the river. Through the gaps in the branches Lird could make out a red glow. He pulled himself close to some trees and pulled the branches apart.
To his shock there in front of him was his brother.
‘Ragna!’ yelled Lird.
His brother turned to look at him.
‘I’ve been looking for you everywhere’ exclaimed Lird, his face riddled with a puzzled expression. Then even more confusing to Lird was a red gem he could see in the hand of Ragna.
Ragna returned his gaze forward, Lird tilted his head to see a guard lying on the ground whimpering. ‘What are you doing Brother?’ Lird yelled, his eyes widening.
Ragna then thrust his hand containing the red gem forward, and out of the gem streamed a red trail of smoke, the smoke flew directly towards the guard. ‘Stop it now!’ Lird pleaded. Ragna continued until nothing came out of the gem. Then the guard rose from the ground, perfectly emotionless. He turned and looked at Lird.
Lird gasped, the guard’s eyes, they were now glowing a bright red colour. The guard however did not move. Ragna then also turned to Lird, Mich behind Lird who had also been watching tried to pull Lird away, but Lird couldn’t move, he didn’t understand what was happening, he was scared stiff. Ragna paused, it looked to Lird like he was struggling against something.
‘Ragna?’ Lird spoke cautiously.
Ragna raised the gem.
‘Ragna!’ this time Lird spoke louder, with fear and confusion in his voice.
Smoke began to seep out of the gem towards Lird. Suddenly Lird saw movement to the side, he turned in time to see Mich diving at Lird sending the two of them flying sideways into a tree.
Everything went dark.
The guard walked over to their bodies and checked their pulses. Alive, but unconscious. The guard looked at Ragna, waiting for orders, his face still emotionless. Ragna turned his head to the City. The guard nodded, then the two of them left in the direction of the City wall.
Thoughts swam through Lird’s head as he lay there on the cold damp ground. Something was controlling his brother, most definitely the gem. Not only was it controlling him, but it was controlling others, that Guard most certainly not acting upon free will. His parents, the city, he needed to get to them, they would know what to do.
Then, Lird could hear some noises, quiet whispers he heard, and they were getting louder. Lird forced his eyes open slowly, it was early morning, his body was covered in a thin layer of dew. Lird rolled on his side, facing Mich’s motionless body. Lird reached out and shook Mich’s body, he felt the moisture on his hands, they must have been there for quite sometime.
‘Mich’ Lird whispered as he shook Mich’s body. Mich mumbled but continued to lay there with his eyes closed. Lird grunted with frustration and shook harder this time.
‘Mich!’ he spoke, this time Mich’s eyelids started to ease open.
‘Mich’ Lird muttered one last time, rather loudly.
‘Huh, what, what’s happening, what’s happened, can you hear something?’ Mich groaned.
‘Yes I can hear something, I don’t what happened, I just woke up, now get up, I can hear the people coming, good or bad people, I don’t know’ Lird replied, he got to his feet and pulled Mich up. Mich wiped the mud off his body and stifled a yawn.
‘Follow me’ said Lird as he quickly walked off to some of the trees surrounding the river. Mich shrugged and followed him. They both hid quietly behind a tree listening.
The voices were continuing to get louder until Lird could see movement in some trees in front of him. He crouched down low and signalled for Mich to do the same, then they watched as into the open came a group of children, children his age. Mich was about to move forward out into the open but Lird grabbed his leg and kept him back.
‘What?’ Mich huffed.
‘We don’t know if they’re good or bad’ Lird replied angrily.
‘Of course they’re good, don’t you recognise them’ Mich snapped back, and then he broke from Lird’s grip and strode forward. ‘Mich!’ Lird hissed angrily.
The group of children saw Mich approaching them and quickly formed a tight group with the smaller kids moving to the back and the bigger ones edging to the front. The biggest of them whom held a blunt sword yelled out.
‘Keep back!’
‘Woah hold on there, I’m not armed’ Mich replied, opening his hands in the air to show that he wasn’t holding a weapon.
‘Not you, Lird!’ snarled the child.
Lird’s eyes widened in shock, how had he been spotted? He thought he was hidden, and most of all how did these kids know his name, why were they afraid of him?
‘Lird? he ain’t going to do anything to you’ Mich laughed. ‘His brother tried to’ the Lizardchild responded with a growl.
Lird walked out from the cover of the trees, also opening his hands in the air.
The group stuttered backwards, some of the smaller children whimpering.
‘What did my brother do?’ demanded Lird.
‘He, he’ muttered one of the Children who was obviously to scared to talk.
‘He took over the city’ the big Lizardchild answered for the smaller one.
Lird quickly glanced at Mich and then back at the children.
‘You must understand, I had nothing to do this, in fact my brother attacked me and Mich’ Lird reasoned.
‘*** right both us didn’t have anything to do with it’ said Mich as he folded his arms, he studied the group with his eyes. Some of them were beginning to relax, the youngest ones were easily only three years old, then there was at least another ten between five years old and Mich’s age. ‘His eyes aren’t red Wol’ murmured one of the female children. Wol nodded and relaxed his stance. Mich walked forward and stuck a hand out, Wol shook it with a tight grip. ‘Mich’s the name’.
‘Wol’.
Lird then also stuck his hand out, Wol hesitated, eyed it suspiciously then shook it.
A few of the older Lizardchildren introduced themselves, the second eldest was Wol’s sister, Michelle.
‘So what are we going to do now?’ Mich asked.
Lird looked at Mich.
‘Hold on, before we do anything, I need to know what happened in the City’ Lird demanded as he turned to Wol. Wol nodded, he motioned to Michelle to move the younger kids away, ‘They need not know all the details, most of them are still confused as to what was happening’ he explained.
‘Your brother, Ragna, he entered the City just before dawn, his eyes were glowing an odd red colour’ Wol began to explain as Lird visualised this in his head, ‘As he went through the city he shot red smoke at people as he passed them, with the adults the smoke entered their bodies and then they themselves also gained red glowing eyes, people began running away from Ragna as he came towards him, but the more people he controlled with the smoke, the harder it was too escape’.
Lird continued picturing all of this in his head, the people running away in terror, not understanding what was happening, it would have been truly terrifying. ‘However when the smoke came upon us children, it did nothing, we were not harmed, Ragna mustn’t have been expecting this as we managed to get away, however it also seemed that the elder Lizardmen were not effected by the smoke as well, but due to their age they were unable to escape’ Wol continued.
‘What happened to them?’ interrupted Mich, who had been listening from a distance. Wol turned to Mich, a sad look passed over his face. ‘We do not know, but we could hear them as we left the city, it did not sound good’. Lird faced the ground, he was guttered, something terrible was going on, and by the sounds of it, the worse was yet to come’.
‘But what I want to know, is how your brother turned into this freak, he can take control of other Lizardmen’ said Wol as he stared at Lird’s depressed face. Lird looked up and glared at Wol. ‘It was some gem, when we found him he had some weird red gem in his hands’ Lird snarled back. Wol nodded and pondered this silently.
Michelle walked over to the three of them hurriedly. ‘We’ve wasted enough time already, we need to get further away from the City, before anybody comes looking for us’ she said. Wol nodded, he turned to Lird and Mich.
‘You guys coming with us?’ he asked. Mich turned to Lird then nodded. ‘Alright then, let’s head off’.
Wol headed back to the main group and told them that they were going to continue onwards. Michelle followed Wol over, leaving Mich and Lird by themselves. Mich walked over to Lird and put a hand on his shoulder. ‘I’m sorry about your brother’ said Mich. Lird nodded, he turned to face the city wall. ‘I’m sorry too’. Then the two of them set off after the group.