Chapter 39:

With the fragments of the skeliton infont of him Vincent decided that that was a bad place to stay. thr earie silence of this place was bad enough as is and so he left towards the hill.

Vincent climbed up the hill. it was surprisingly steep and reaching its top took longer than expected, yet the view from ontop was quite beautiful. the forredt englufef the hill as far ad the eye could see with a small hill range to the distance.

Vincent: "Is that..? Smoke!"

Vincent sas it. smoke kn the distance it ws unmistakable. It wasn't to far away either yet Vincent had his doubts.

Vincent: "What if its not manmade but is instead a fire? If i go there i may be going to my doom... But what if there are people there? would they help me? what if they're bad people?"

Vincent struggled to make up his mind as he sat at the top of the hill staring at the smokr in the distance.

Vincent: "I cant stay here and that is that. I'll just have to see what happens when i get there, worst comes to worst ill have to run."

After resting a little longer Vincrnt ran down the hill to the opasitr direction of the swamp. this time he would head to inspect the origon of the smoke.

he rushed between the trees jumped over the bushes, leaped abouve some mounds and charged across a extremely shallow river. He would not stop until he found the sorce of the smoke. he continued to dart through the greenery until he could finally see it. A small wooden wall surrounding what looked like a dozen or so buildings. however before he could aproch Vincent saw a black line flying into the air from behind the village. it slowly turned down and was starting to fall towards his direction. Vincent jumped back just intime for the black line to strike the groun right infront of where he just stood.

there he saw it. the black line had a sharp tip. it was a spear. somone or somthing threw a spear at Vincent!

Before Vincent could speek he saw a Few more black lines fly out from behind the small wooden wall. Vincent cured out loudly as he just barely managed to dodge them again. it was already evening and it was getting dark. Vincent was anout to retreat back into the night until he heard shouting.

soon he saw a bunch of armed teenagers armed with spears cautiously walking towards him. once they saw him the tallest one who looked like the leader asked.

Tall Teenager: "You are human"

Vincent: "What else could i be?"

Tall teenager: "Not a human."

Vincent: "Clearly im a human."

Tall teenager: "I dont see your bones so i would agee."

Vincent was internally happy to see that they could speek his language. this ment he mustn't have been sent to a place too far away. He cpuld also infer that the locals here seemed to be in some sort of conflict with the skeliton he saw earlier. It was possible there were more. Vincent started to think thst maybe the reason he was attacked to begin with may have been since he was armed and mistaken for one of these teens.

Fortunately for Vincent the teens broght him into thier village. unfortunately they surrounded him with spears pointed at him as they brought him infornt of the largets hut in the village. A old man stepped out of the a Hut.

Old man: "Whats all this noise about?

Tall teenager: "Chief we have found this human beyond the fence."

Old man (Chief): "Beyond the fence you say? How did he survive and why is he here?"

Tall teenager: "I dont know ask him."

Old man (Chief): "That is your job not doing it is a failure on your part. Anyways if you are able to spreek visitor, maybe tell me the answer yo my questions?

Vincent didn't want to reveal his whole story to these strangers aiming spests at him thus he deicide to slightly alter the story while mostly sticking to the truth.

Vincent: "I was kidnapped and left in this forrest. I don't know why im here i just eventually stumbled onto your village. "

Old man (Chief): "Stumbled onto our Village Ey! Stumbled onto OUR VILLAGE EY!!! HOW DID YOU STUMBLE ONTO OUR VILLAGE!"

Vincent did not like the attitude of the old man but he decided not to play tricks when surrounded as the risks weren't worth it.

Vincent: "I saw smoke. nie thay in here i can tell you its the smoke from the chimneys of these huts."

Chief: "The Huts‽"

Vincent: "Yes the huts."

Chief: "Where did you see it from?"

Vincent pointed at the hill in the distance as he said.

Vincent: "from rigth up there, on that hill next to the swamp."

Tall teen: "Impossible you would've been attscked and killed"

Vincent: "By what? that moving skeliton over there?"

Tall Teen: "Impossible."

Chief: "You saw a Skeliton."

Vincent: "So there are more than one?"

Tall teen: "They come every once in a seemingly random period of time."

Chief: "But how did you survive? You may be able to run faster than them but they never get tiered and eventually younwill be caught. Wait! YOU RAN HERE LEADING THEM TO US YOU TRIED TO DOOM THE VILLAGE!!!!!"

Vincent: "I destroyed the only one i encountered i slashef it to bits with this sword."

Vincent than raised Titerron up to show it to the Chief.

Chief: "I will take your word for it i am too tired to continue this conversation... my old bones will require rest before we continue this tomorrow.

i shell let you stay in Zitreas house for this evening. we shall meet again in the morning. "

with the the chief disappeared back into his home. Vincent truend around to the tall teen as he asked.

Vincent: "Who's Zitrea?"

Tall Teen: "My mother."

Vincent: "Ah, I see."

With that theother four armed teenagers scattered as the Tall teen led Vincent to the hut closest to the chiefs home. After opening the door a blond woman was seen resting inside. After thenTall teen explained the situation to his Mother she greeted Vincent and let him in.

Vincent was actually greeted far more warmly than he expected as Zitrea also cooked a meal for the three of them.

Vincent: "When is your father also a spear thrower like you?"

The Tall teen frowned as he glared into Vincent's eyes.

Tall Teen: "Those Skelitons Killed him."

Vincent hurried to change subject.

Vincent: Well i cant keep calling you You how are you called.

Tall Teen: "You can call me Shak. how should i refer to you?"

Vincent: "Nice to meet you Shak im Vincent."

Tall Teen (Shak): "What do yoy meen nice to meet you? we've already met infrontof the village fence."

Vincent: "Its a polite expression. "

Shak: "You talk like that fat lord who comes here like twice a year."

Vincent: "Fat Lord?"

Shak: "Yes theres a town aboutbhalf a days walk from here and our villages lord lives there as hes incharge of both that town and some if the villages near it like our village here."

Vincent: "You dont seem to like him."

Shak: "That lasy lord didnt even clme tk the village in ghe last week despite it being one of the once in never that he's suposed to come here. it's litteraly his job!"

Vincent: "Strange i thought you guy's wouldn't want him to come since that meens you need to pay taxes."

Shak: "If he dosnt come now he'll just ask for extra taxes next time. atleast when hes here he makes sure everything is in order and if somthings not he makes sure to fix it sincenit will also affect his own interests if we cant pay our texes."

Zitrea: "Dinners ready"

The blond woman brought a bowl of soup to each the two boys. Vincent was glad to atlast eat somthing other than cooked birds and raw forrest berries. After eating the delicious meal he was brought to a spare mat to sleep on. Vincent was mildly suprised to see both Shak and Zitrea also slept on similar matts. while it did take Vincent a while to fall asleep, (especially after he was used to sleep on trees) once he did fall asleep he had the best sleep he had since he first apeared in the forrest.