Alone And Surrounded

After the initial shock wore off, James calmed down slightly realising that at least the danger came from humans; 'I can't reason with wolves'. James nodded his head politely, sheathing his knife, and ignoring the hostile tones, understanding that this was most likely some form of misconception. Moreover, as a teenage boy with a knife, he couldn't win against ten grown men with spears; let alone the fact that according to Antonio, even a normal child of this world could make short work of him back when he was an adult.

"Sorry to intrude" he began, "I had no idea that this land belonged to your tribe, I'm a wanderer, and my path happened to cross this forest. I hope you can forgive me for this, and let me continue on my way, I promise to make no trouble".

"Hmph" snorted the leader, "A mortal child claims to be a wanderer, and even has an exquisite blade.", pausing to glance at the sheathed knife hanging from James' cloak. "That same wanderer happens through my land and claims to feign ignorance. Do you take me for a fool!?" yelled the man, spinning his spear in a circle and slamming it point first into the ground.

At this signal, the remaining 9 warriors quickly surrounded James, each pointing their spears such that the tip lay only a foot away from his throat as their leader quickly confiscated his knife. At this turn of events, James' expression turned to one of helplessness as he understood that there was nowhere to run.

With a jab from the back of his spear, the man directly behind James pushed him forward, and the encircling party, along with their commander and captive continued through the forest for nearly an hour, nobody making any noises besides the occasional orders to stop and continue.

Orange beams of light shone from the cloudless sky on to the clearing in front as the commander ordered the group of warriors to stop. "Bring the spy to the barracks for questioning" said the commander, not looking back and walking forwards towards the opening in the shoddy wooden fence surrounding the tribe.

Clear Sky Tribe was a village tribe, built in a 2 kilometre by 2 kilometre square clearing in the forest. The thousand or so tribespeople mulled about busily, in and out of various thatch-roofed mud huts carrying wicker baskets of expected items such as clothes, grains, and wood; what caught James' eye was the large number of people bringing baskets full of sky blue flowers hurriedly into a tent.

The tent in question was a wide, animal-skin cone, around 20 metres in diameter, and 5 metres tall, with a circular hole in the top constantly emitting plumes of steam, spreading a pleasant flowery aroma throughout the entire village. The atmosphere in the entire village was one of jubilance, everyone merrily preparing for some sort of event.

As James continued to march through the village escorted by the party of warriors, no longer pointing their spears but instead carrying them by their sides, he noticed the warriors drawing various awe-filled gazes from the villagers as they walked down a dirt path towards a huge, wooden cuboid.

"You guys must have pretty high status in the tribe huh?" quipped James, finally breaking the silence out of sheer boredom.

"Of course, our order of brothers and sisters is called the Cloud Banishing Order, from the inception of our tribe we have protected our tribe from invaders and beasts from the forest, as well as dirty spies from the Purple Cloud Tribe such as yourself" sneered the same guard who hit him earlier, a look of pride across his face.

Taking a look around, although the warriors surrounding him were all well-toned with muscles rippling under their pelts, James still didn't feel the same pressure as when facing the old police officer, making him wonder just how strong that old man was.

'Dan would probably know…' he thought to himself, before quickly shaking his head and reminding himself, 'No, I can't rely on Antonio or Dan or anyone else, I'm on my own'. With a sharp shove, James' thoughts were abruptly disturbed as he felt his knees hit the wooden floor as a cage door slammed behind him.

Large metal bars as thick as a goalpost surrounded James on 3 sides, with the back side of the cage constructed of a thick stone slab embedded deeply into the ground. The floor was bare, with a small clay chamberpot inside the cage, a few thin slits high up in the stone wall to allow some light to enter, and a rickety three-legged wooden stool outside being the only "furnishings" present. The ceiling and floor were both flush with the tightly-packed bars, so even if James had an inkling of a chance of escaping, he'd first have to be strong enough to physically bend the bars far enough apart to escape.

'Well, I might as well sleep, I haven't had an opportunity to rest all this time' thought James, still mentally and physically exhausted from his absorbing of the Ironsoul Pond as well as the failed attempt to enter the library in his mind. Spreading out his cloak as a blanket and taking off his boots, James quickly fell asleep in the cage without a care in the world.