Capala Shurin: Chapter Two

This is the final copy of this chapter, it stills needs little things done, like formalizing the now and then grammar that's mixed up through it. It's supposed to be now. But somehow changed itself. The story plotline, and otherwise how it's told, minus grammar issues, is how it's going to stay.

Desolation. One figure left. Tremors wrack the body. Movement.

Foot.

Foot.

Foot.

A wry smile. Exit stage left. The body retrieves the discarded pack. Hidden outside of the battle. Away from the desolation. A mile. Body collapses.

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The weather slowly becomes cooler now as the sun ends it’s marathon days. Only half the trees in the area have begun to change colors. Those gifted enough to be in the woods could gaze at the awe-inspiring, picturesque woods. The woods held an appeal that could not be captured in any painting. Perhaps it was the way that the wind moved the branches so that the leaves could boast loudly of their changing colors as the sun reflected off the leaves brightly.

The little girl could stand for hours and stare at the leaves of the trees as they changed their colors in honor of the Fall. She had grown with the speed that all toddlers do. She was now tall enough that her head came above the women’s knee. The frown that the girl had used to continuously wear had, at first faded, then vanished. The women too began to frown less as she became accustomed to the sounds of the forest. When they had first arrived the women had jumped at any loud sound. Now the women only startled at sounds that did not appear to belong in the forest. When startled, if in the clearing, the women would grab the child and hide in the bush.

As Autumn began to gain a hold on nature the animals once again began to prepare for winter. The frolicking that had been done in spring now led to heavily pregnant females and over protective males. Animals that hibernated were nearly done collecting food for Winter; the noises in the forest were beginning to change. The women became more and more suspicious as the forest became quieter. Again she would jump at any unusual, or loud sounds.

While the women primarily took note of the animals, the girl continued her study of the trees; fascinated. The trees that had captured her attention most were the ones that at the height of summer had purple leaves. As the trees prepared to shed their leaves or the long sleep of winter, the leaves would change color. The trees with the purple leaves would create the most amazing combination of colors. Purple would turn to black, edged with brilliant red. Oranges and yellows in various shades and combinations with the other colors would make an appearance, creating miniature, temporary portraits of the spirit of the Autumn.

Under the tees whose leaves did turn, and those that kept their leaves was movement. The movement was different from the animals who lived in the area. The sounds that accompanied the movement would have sent the women for the deepest part of the under bush. The sound came:

Tramp.

Tramp.

Tramp.

Tramp.

Tramp.

This is the sound of boots heavily hitting the forest floor. These boots were filled with men. These men were covered in army green; the color of those who do not care if they blend in. Hands shift as men signal. A man passes under one of the girl’s beloved purple leaved trees. He has a limp from walking to long without prolonged rest. Emphasis is put on the lack of rest as you look at the man next to the one under the tree. This is a man whose only distinguishing feature is sunken and shadowed eyes.

The man with the limp led the way, breaking from the cover of trees to cross a small meadow that had trees growing in it sporadically. The man with sunken eyes followed ten feet behind and to the limped man’s right. To the leading man’s left was another man. This man sometimes came even with the limping man, but frequently fell behind. His tiredness was characterized by short burst of excessive energy. The last man stood behind the leading man to the right of the man who so often lagged behind. He moved so lethargically that it was a wonder that he kept up with the other men at all. From an ariel view, the men made a deformed square.

As the men walked they grumbled. Snatches of their conversation could be heard. Pieced together it told a tale of their appointed leader abusing his rights and leaving early, forcing the rest of the men to move faster to take his slack. The leader of the squad also held a different rank. He was also the appointed representative of three other squads. The four squads together formed a troop of twenty men. Each troop leader represented their soldiers in the Band Council. The Council’s main objective was to advise the higher ranking officers on how to use each squad to full capacity, what the squad was specialized in. They also oversaw the care and maintenance of their soldiers. The council was made up of many different officers with varying ranks. The total number of the Council was five hundred. When not in session the members held regular duties as according to their rank.

The man who had raised his arm to put his hand in his pocket. Withdrawing the hand a piece of paper followed. The paper was straightened to reveal a map. On the map was marked a spiral. Each piece of the spiral searched had been marked off into a grid. The spiral covered an immense amount of land. A full regiment had been assigned to the search. A regiment contained ten thousand men, composed of ten companies, which breaks down to ten divisions, made up of five troops. There are five hundred troops to a regiment.

The beginning of the spiral was marked in the middle of the woods, six days away from the nearest town, as the crow flies, but an eight day journey on horse back. This town as the trading capital of the region, it was newly built, due to the Lord of the area’s command. To build the town, and other ambitious projects, the area was under a forced change, homesteads were burned and torn down, and good farm land lay in ruins with the travel of building supplies over the shortest route possible, old roads and been made obsolete, as new roads were developed, directing buying customers away from previously well off businesses. It one had been a months hard ride on a kept road to the old town in the north. A new road had been built spanning the river. The Lord continued pushing forward with his projects, even though the people of the area were largely against it. In the new town they brought in modern convinces that the old town did not have room for inside it’s walls. When the people continued to stand against the new projects, sometimes taking shape in mild sabotage, their homes and fields were scorched to the ground, and livelihoods ruined. This action displaced many of the people in the north, the ones that had not been made examples of. The town of the North now became known as the dying town, all roads into it except for one leading south to the new town, fell into heavy disrepair.

The new town was built much like a fortress, near the mountains. A five day ride from the new town the road split. A crossroad was formed by a third road. One lead southeast, toward the new town, one southwest to the plains, and one north over the bridge spanning the river. The road over the bridge slowly bent east, then more north west, before straightening out and heading almost due north. From the crossroads it was almost another five day journey on horse back to Old Town.

Once across the bridge, the limping man lead his soldiers west to search the forest, while others went east, and others still searching the river its self, and the lake that the river pooled into in the east, past the bridge. Other soldiers had joined them to look, but then had moved off in different directions. They had been searching the forest for all of ten days before their right leader abused his privilege and left. Thirteen days after that they continued their duty. They were slow due to missing a body and the thick forest that they were unused to.

After putting in a fifteen hour search they all would meet at the end of the day to make camp. All the soldiers had become very superstitious after searching so much forest. Before meeting together again at night, other troops had lost soldiers, some who had injured themselves and could not find their way back again nor were near enough to call for help, dying of exposure before the others realized they were not keeping pace. The one funding the search had been displeased with this behavior, as it cost more time, but the solider’s superiors were unable to break them of this habit.

Wrestling with the paper so that it remained flat the man with the limp pointed at the map and gestured to the men where to go. After confirming directions he pointed out where they would meet at the end of the day. The time set to meet at the site was one hour before sunset. The men then went off to search their part of the grid as they saw best.

Before Dawn broke the next morning the men were up, and they had broken camp. At the break off dawn the men had entered the new grid and again split up to search. The man with the limp moved east through the overgrowth, moving with the ease of training that they all had received to cope with traveling through the untamed land.

The solider then turns north and begins searching his own part of the grid. The further north the man turns the more difficult it is to continue. Entire trees had been consumed by brambles, making land mines in an already dangerous area. You could never tell where pushing through blindly would gain a few feet or find a tree, and quickly arrest any progress.

The next day all the men had grouped together to try and find a way through. This is what they would have used the fifth solider for. He would have helped search for a way through the day before while the rest were searching, and they would have been able to simply continue. Instead they were stuck searching and falling even further behind the schedule.

After a day and a half of all of them looking, a way through is found. Deep breaths, sighs, stretches and other ways to relax muscles are preformed. The soldiers look to where they've come. Muscles again tighten, along with tight mouths, lips pressed together. A single strip of land runs in a relatively straight line between two near solid walls formed by vegetation, the strip turning some twenty feet left and near hundred feet right. Tall grass up to the men’s waist grows in the strip of land. Tree limbs cross at odd angles, dripping with ivy.

The soldiers hastily push forward across the grass, tripping over the uneven land. The soldiers wildly turn their heads, bodies acting as if without thought as they scrutinized the new wall of trees, brambles and vines. Quick, jerky movements become characteristic of the soldiers. Eyes wide, the skin around them tight, Jaws clenched, with lips relaxed, muscles twitching. Frantically they dodge obstacles of limbs and broom, ripping from the captors of bramble weeds, and shying from stinging nettle. The rush continued until the men broke their way through the traps Mother Nature had so carelessly strewn.

In a short passage of time you could no longer count the men's heart beats by looking at the pulse o their necks. Their movements too had become again more fluid and controlled. Again the men separated to continue to search the grid. All attempts to move faster were wallowed by overwhelming weariness. The forest on this side of the break was filled with much more undergrowth, but nearly no tree limbs were near the ground. The men separated again to finish searching out the last of this grid

Almost finished, and turning tower the meting point of the other soldiers, the limped man chanced upon a variation o the undergrowth. Parts of the ground were visible, and the undergrowth wasn't as nearly as thick over this oddity. The solider had found a path.