The Jaharyn Girl Chapter 1
By Gryphon Rampant
Six youths stood in a large square room. It was dark despite the single light in the center. Near the north wall stood a bucket, which would soon take the youths in their fates.
“So, we go now?” a brown haired girl asked the group, pacing around the room.
“It’s now or later when Lavos comes and fries the world to a crisp!” a red haired boy cried.
“But Crono, you just got revived-“ a blonde haired girl began to say but was interrupted.
“But nothing! Marle, Belthasar said everything is left in our hands. And I’m not going to let it slip through mine.”
“Crono right.” Another blonde girl pointed out. “We go! We strong!”
“Ayla’s right, everyone.” The brown haired girl said. Her name was Lucca.
“Why are we sitting around here then?” Crono exclaimed. “Let’s go!”
“Hold your horses, Crono.” Lucca said. “Which three of us is going?”
Everyone looked at each other. Who should go? Suddenly, an old man came into the room. He was carrying a slip of tattered old paper.
“This is from the old man in the commons of 12000 B.C.” He told them handing it to Crono.
“Thanks, Gasper.” He said taking the paper. He opened up to read its contents. Curiosity was soon replaced with concern, as he folded it up and handed it to Marle.
“Read this. Soon we all are going to be needed.” He told her.
“Disturbances in the peace of Earthbound village?” she asked. “Need help getting rid of terrorists?” She passed the note along to Lucca.
“I thought it was peaceful there.” Lucca said.
“Well, evidently not, let’s go. It’ll give us some time to think on who’ll fight Lavos, come on.” Crono said.
Eager to do something other than sit around waiting nervously for a million year old Earth destroying seed to battle, everyone filed out of the room and into the repaired Epoch.
“This is going to be boring.” Lucca pointed out.
“It’ll give us something to do.” Crono told her as he set the controls for the right era and place.
À À À
12,000 B.C.
While in the commons, the old man discussed the situation of raiders and thieves in the area. They had been killing the few livestock that remained after the Disaster of the Ocean Palace.
“They live up there.” The old man pointed to a winding trail that lead up the large mountain behind the commons. Crono looked at everyone, looking uncomfortable in fleece-lined leather and hooded cloaks. They preferred the mild weather of their own times.
“We’ll take a look.” Crono said. “We’ll need horses, though.”
“That will be difficult.” The old man replied. “We could get three or maybe four, but not a full six.”
“That’ll be fine.” Crono said.
After several minutes three horses bore the group on their backs. Marle and Crono, led the group on their horse, followed by Ayla and Glenn and Lucca and Robo. About an hour into the hike, they first received
evidence of life on the mountain. Small tents dotted the landscape, but all the people in them could not give them a good description of the thieves, except one, which said they were women warriors and that they lived farther up.
Another hour passed and the group took a rest. Marle had dosed during the trip so she could not sleep as the others had fallen into deep, dreamless, slumbers. She mounted the horse she and Crono had been riding and kicked it to a gallop. She rode around and thought about the mission they were going to set out for after this skirmish with thieves. It had only been a few weeks since they had resurrected Crono using the Guru of Time’s Chrono Trigger.
She was so absorbed in her thoughts that she had not noticed the group of burly looking people on horses surround her. She had become aware of her surroundings when one of them shouted at her.
“What’re you doing here, little girl?” it demanded. It was a woman’s voice.
“My companions and I are here to help get rid of Earthbound village’s terrorists.” Marle told them. When the group burst into laughter, Marle began to get nervous, and shifted anxiously in her saddle.
“You’d like to think you could get rid of us.” The woman said. “But trust me, it would be hard. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Kara leader of the tribe, Manesh, within the Jaharyn nation.”
When Marle reached for her crossbow, the lead woman cried out.
“Attack her!” With command given, the entire group drew their swords and galloped to Marle.
“Meet your death, little girl!” Kara shouted to her, grimly, as she was catching up to her.
Getting her crossbow out and steering her horse with her knees alone she loaded an arrow and fired it at Kara, hitting her in the shoulder.
“I am not a little girl!” she called to Kara.
“Remember that or the next one will be in your heart!”
“I doubt that!” Kara shouted, as she started to remove the arrow. Then Kara rode hard until she was side by side with Marle. She brought her sword up, looking forward to see where they were riding. She stopped her horse suddenly, but Marle rode on. She was now on a frozen pond, Kara had chased her to this spot.
“Have fun on the ice, little girl!” Kara sneered. After she said that, the weight of the horse and Marle caused the ice beneath her to break and she and he horse fell into bone cold water. Letting out a cry of fear, she tried to grab for her horses reins but they were lying on the unbroken ice in front of her.
All the Manesh laughed at her and started to leave. When they had all left someone jumped from a tree onto the ground. Judging by the clothes it wore, Marle could tell it was a Jaharyn woman. She walked onto the ice as if it were solid ground and grabbed the reins.
“Hold on, I’m getting you out.” She said. Marle nodded and grabbed a hold of the horse’s saddle horn. The woman pulled and yanked until the horse was far enough that it could step onto solid ground.
To Marle’s embarrassment she fell off the horse while the woman was leading the horse to solid ground, and fell into the water again. Fighting to keep her head above the freezing cold water, she grabbed frantically for the edge of the ice. This is very ironic, she thought, I attack people with ice and now I feel like I’m being attack with my own magic.
The woman, trying to hide her smile, tossed Marle a rope from her pack she carried on her back. Soaking wet she was pulled to shore with the help of the rope and the woman pulling it. The woman then gave Marle her heavy coat to keep herself warm with.
She beckoned Marle to follow her. Marle took the horses reins and reluctantly followed. She wasn’t too sure about this strange woman. Although she did save her life, and the horses, she still had a bad feeling about her.
Following her through a small forest, she many animals that weren’t present nearer the bottom of the mountain. She found it odd, but shrugged and kept following the woman.
Suddenly the forest opening up into a large clearing, which held a village of some sort; rather than small tents, there were small cabins and lodges. Everyone greeting the woman cheerfully as they passed. They stopped at a large cabin.
“Home sweet home.” The woman said, flopping into a chair.
“You live here?” Marle asked.
“Of course.” She answered. “Don’t you?”
“No…” Marle said.
“Well, that explains the horse thing.” The woman replied.
“Oh…well, I haven’t ridden since I was little.” Marle said quickly, blushing. “Anyways, who are you anyway?” she asked.
“Oh, how rude of me, so busy saving you I forgot to say,” the woman jumped up out of her chair, holding out her hand. “My name is Gabrielle, I’m chief here of the Samara tribe-“
“Of the Jaharyn, yeah, I met a few of your buddies…nice people…” Marle said.
“Oh, yeah.” Gabrielle replied. “They’re a different tribe thank goodness. They live to the west of us. I have no idea what they’re doing out here.”
“How did you become chief of this tribe?” Marle asked.
“You’re so young.”
“Well, for starters I’m fifteen, also it’s because I have magic.” Gabrielle answered.
“What?!”
“Magic.” Gabrielle repeated.
“That’s impossible! You can’t have magic unless you-“
“Unless what?” Gabrielle asked sharply.
“Unless…you visited Spekkio or you’re an Enlightnened One, but their magic is gone now…how could this be?” Marle rambled.
“What are you dithering about?” Gabrielle asked tartly. “And who the hell is Spekkio?”
“Um…can’t really explain.” Marle said. “Um…could you show me your magic?”
“Now?” Gabrielle asked.
“Yes, now! I need to see what kind it is.” Marle cried out.
“I could just tell you, you know.” Gabrielle said, calmly. “It’s acid.”
“Acid?”
“Yes, acid.” Gabrielle answered. “Watch.” Gabrielle lead Marle back outside and took her to a small field of vegetables. She plucked a small squash out of the patch and out it on the ground.
With a swirl of red light, clear liquid was thrown from Gabrielle’s fingers and the squash sputtered and shriveled into an inedible mass. Marle raised her eyebrows.
“Doesn’t it hurt when it comes out your fingers?” She asked. Gabrielle held out her left hand, and showed her the thick calluses that covered each fingertip. There were also some on her right hand as well.
“They make it not hurt as much, they also protect my hands from getting blisters from my staff.” She explained.
“Your staff?” Marle wondered.
“Yeah, I don’t do well, with a sword, but I can sure beat someone to a pulp with my staff.” Gabrielle said.
“Oh.” Marle replied. She patted the crossbow still at her side under the coat Gabrielle gave her. “That’s what I use.” She told her.
“May I?” Gabrielle asked. When Marle nodded and handed it to her, she looked at it.
“That’s a well made crossbow.” Gabrielle finally said, handing it back to Marle. “Where’d you get it? There’s nothing out here but merchants with wooden, small little pea shooters.”
“I don’t know how to explain this but…” Marle started to say, but then grabbed Gabrielle’s arm and took her behind a large tree. “I’m not from this time period at all…” she said quickly.
“Say what?” Gabrielle screeched. “How the hell did you get here then? Why are you here?”
“Let me explain.” Marle said. “My name is Princess Nadia, I’m princess of Guardia, in the year A.D 1000.”
“You’re a princess?” Gabrielle asked.
“Yeah, but call me Marle, all my friends do. Anyways, a long time ago I went to the Millennia Fair our kingdom was celebrating and I was sucked in this time portal my friend, Lucca, calls a ‘gate’.” When Gabrielle didn’t look like she thought she was lying she went on.
“I had met a boy named, Crono, and when I was sucked into the gate he went after me. Turns out we were in the year A.D 600. I looked so much like my great grandmother, who was missing at the time, they called off the search party for her.”
“While disappeared because of her capture, Lucca and Crono met a man named Frog-“
“The man’s name was Frog?” Gabrielle asked.
“Yes, he was a man, but he was turned into a frog by Magus, a sorcerer, but Lucca has made him human with one of her crazy inventions.”
“Magus was his name?” Gabrielle asked.
“Well, yes, when Glenn-that’s his name-and the knight Cyrus fought him.” Marle explained. “Anyways as I was saying, with the help of Frog they killed Yakra, the creature that was planning to kill Queen Leene. Then we made it back to our time, but when Crono escorted me home, the Chancellor put him on trial for supposedly ‘abducting’ me. He ended up breaking out of jail and Lucca and him ran out of the palace. I ran with them…I hated palace life.”
“I think you’ve got the hots for this, Crono, guy.” Gabrielle said. When Marle blushed, Gabrielle laughed.
“We found another gate that led into the future, and found out about Lavos.” Marle said quickly wanting to get her story over.
“What did you say?” Gabrielle asked, almost demanded.
“Lavos, why?”
“That…thing-person, whatever it is…ruined my childhood!” Gabrielle cried.
“What? How-could it do that?” Marle asked. Before Gabrielle could answer they were interrupted by the sounds of horses and the warning cries form the Jaharyns. Marle looked at the new visitors of the tribe and her eyes brightened.
“Crono!” she called. The lead rider dismounted and ran to Marle and fiercely embraced her.
“How’d you know I was here?” Marle wanted to know.
“We followed your footprints, but they’re were two tracks, who else was…” He looked at Gabrielle, who was walking from behind the tree.
“Who’re you?” Crono wanted to know.
“My name is Gabrielle, and I’m chief here of this tribe.” She answered.
“Glad to meet you.” Crono told her. “But we need to be going.”
“Where?” Gabrielle wanted to know. Crono gathered up his horse’s reins and helped Marle up onto the horse.
“We’re here to help get rid of the thieves the people at the bottom of this mountain have been facing.” He said.
“Oh the Manesh.” Gabrielle replied. “Yeah, they hate those people down there. They think they rule this whole land.”
“You know them?” Crono said, mounting the horse.
“Yeah.” Gabrielle answered.
“You think you could help us?” Crono asked, looking at his companions who were nodding their approval of this possibly new member to their group.
“Sure, I could help. Looks like you guys could use some more horses. And some rest.” Gabrielle replied.
“That would be really good, actually.” Crono said.
“Then come on, I’ll show you to the stables.” Gabrielle told them, turning around to lead them to the stables.
When they had proper mounts they set off, having refused Gabrielle’s offer to house them. The trip west was quite fun for the group with Gabrielle along. She told them stories of the landmarks they passed, and told them legends of the Jaharyns.
“The Manesh have always wanted to conquer the whole Jaharyn nation. Once Kara’s mother, Yuri drew nonsense into the children of their tribe. It was a load of crock, saying that the Manesh was the Chosen by Shatara, the chief Jaharyn god.” Gabrielle explained.
“Personally, I think Yuri was crazy and passed it on to Kara.”
“I got to meet Kara, earlier.” Marle told everyone. “She was crazy. I wounded her shoulder, but she rode me into ice and-“ she blushed. “I fell in, horse and all. Then Gabrielle came to my rescue; she had been watching in a tree.” Everyone looked happy that Marle was rescued.
“Yeah, and then she showed me that she-“ Marle went on but was interrupted by Gabrielle hushing her. They had stopped before a wall of trees that crowned the hill; the hill then descended into the village of the Manesh.
“We’re here.” She whispered, pointing behind the trees. “Just beyond that boulder.”
“Hey, that boulder is perfect for my plan.” Lucca said behind them. “Follow me.” She said, dismounting. She crept up to the boulder, examining it.
“It’ll do.” Lucca said finally. Standing up, but still being careful not to be seen by the people below the hill.
“Would you mind telling us what your plan is?” Marle asked, quietly.
“Ok, we push the boulder down the hill and it’ll hit the main house. See? Look, there it is, right there.” She whispered and pointed to a log cabin at the base of the hill. Each person took a position behind the boulder.
“Ok,” Lucca whispered. “On three…one…two…three.” On three everyone pushed on the boulder. Within a few seconds the boulder began to budge.
“Come on!” Gabrielle cried. “It’s almost loose!” Then the boulder started to move and roll down the hill; unfortunately, a rugged spot on the boulder had caught on Glenn’s clothing and he tumbled along behind the boulder.
“Glenn!” Lucca cried as he descended towards the village.
“Oh no!” Gabrielle cried. “Hurry! Down the hill, we got to get him before they do.”
With that said, everybody ran for all they were worth down the hill to catch up to Glenn and the boulder. The hill was very steep so it made their journey very difficult.
It was a good thing that Glenn saw he was approaching the cabin and he jerked to the right to avoid it, while the boulder maintained its course into the cabin. It hit and tore through the cabin, practically tearing it apart.
A group was gathering around Glenn; placing spears at his throat and barking out his rights as to being arrested for intruding on Manesh land. The others hurried to get to him, before they killed him. Already many were gathering around the destroyed cabin and pulling people from the wreckage.
“Halt!” Gabrielle called to them. “There is no such law forbidding people from your land! You don’t have the right.”
“Get to your own land, Samara!” Kara shouted. She was leading the mob that was going to lynch Glenn. Kara drew her sword with a demonic gleam in her eye.
“Or it will be our land!” Kara challenged.
“It will never be yours, and with your attitude the Decider, will take away all your lands.” Gabrielle snapped.
“She has no voice against the Chosen tribe!” Kara shouted.
“ You’re not the Chosen tribe, Kara! The sooner you realize that the sooner your tribe will be happier.”
“Oh, and I suppose your tribe is?” Kara snapped.
“It could be, considering we actually have crops and livestock!” Gabrielle shouted; she drew her sword.
“You challenge me?” Gabrielle asked.
“Yes, I do!” Kara snapped.
À À À
The whole tribe gathered at the tribe’s meeting spot, later that night. The fire was huge to fit the Samara tribe to witness their chief fight. Gabrielle sat with her new friends.
“So, who is this Decider?” Robo asked. Lucca and Robo had already explained about Robo being a humanoid.
“She’s kind of like the leader of the entire Jaharyn nation. She decides all.” Gabrielle answered.
“Everything?” Lucca asked.
“Everything.” Gabrielle repeated. “She supposedly walks with the gods and has their divine guidance.” Kara walked to the fire and all conversation ceased. She held up her hands to the gods.
“Here I go…” Gabrielle said as she walked to stand with Kara, after everyone wished her luck.
“I, the chief of the Manesh tribe, challenge Gabrielle, chief of the Samara tribe.” She said loud and clear so everyone could hear. “If I win, Gabrielle is killed and so are her friends. But if she wins, I will stop my crusade to conquer any neighboring lands that rightfully belong to another tribe.”
“Mine guess is that the lass is lying.” Glenn whispered to Crono. “She’ll conquer all she pleases. Let’s hope Gabrielle wins.”
“Yeah, our necks are on the line.” Crono whispered.
“Aye.” He replied.
Kara and Gabrielle took positions on opposite sides of the fire. They crossed their swords then said the ritual sayings for the beginning of traditional Jaharyn combat.
“Begin!” the referee barked
Crono and his friends held their breath, and the combat began.
TO BE CONTINUED…