The Mountain Prophecy: Chapter 6

  "HEY WATCH IT DOOFUS!" We were on our way down the mountainside, finally on our quest. Red was helping us down, or she thought she was helping. "YOU'RE GONNA FALL IF YOU STEP THERE!" So far, the only thing she had helped with was shouting at us and calling us doofus. I was getting sick of it.

  "RED, IT YOU WANT TO HELP US, GO AWAY! YOU'RE DISTRACTING US!" 

  "Speak for yourself, Nolan." 

  "Oh, I'm sorry Louie, I didn't know you liked her yelling at us."

  "That's not what I am saying!"

  "Then what are you saying?"
  He glared at the rock in front of him. Meanwhile, May was already halfway down, and we were still at the top. Climbing was not my strong suit. I was terrified of the height, and the potential of falling. Don't look down, Nolan. Don't. Look. Down.

  "Hey boys, down here!" May had finally made it down. I looked at Louie wide-eyed. We both knew what the other was thinking. How had she gotten down so fast? 

  "If you rig a pulley, I can pull you down, and you won't have to climb." Louie and I immediately set to work If you are as afraid of heights as we were, you would have too! Finally, a few minuets later that felt like HOURS, we were safely on the ground. I breathed a sigh of relief. We quickly packed up our ropes, and got on our way. In a few minuets, we would reach a wood, the very same wood that I had come from. I planned on stopping at my old cave to get some more supplies.
                                                   මමමමමමමමමම
 "Well, here we are, guys. My old home." I sighed. I had missed being here, but at the same time, I hadn't missed it. I had missed being secluded, and I missed the quiet. But at the same time, I loved that there was activity and life at the village. Watching the little kids run around playing games made me so happy.
  "Hey!" I was pulled out of my reminiscing by May.
  "We need to get going, Nolan. Get your stuff so we can go."
  "Alright, sorry. I was just thinking."
  "You know, you don't have to go through with this. You can just stay here and not do the quest. The only thing we know is that it will be dangerous, and we need to go to the 'distant lands.' What does that even mean?"
  "I thought you had lived in that village since you were little, May." Louie jumped in. "You of all people should know.
  "Yeah well, I don't." She was starting to turn a bright pink, like cupcake frosting.
  "You mean to tell me, that you don't know where we are going?" I said harshly.
  "Ye- NO. I know where we are going." She yelled.
  "Well then why don't you tell us? Cause I would really like to know."
  "GUYS GUYS. We don't need to fight! I will tell you where you are going."
  "AAAAAAAUG!" We all shrieked.
  "Who are you?" Louie asked.
  "Where did you come from?" May asked.
  "Tempest? Where did you come from?" I asked, confused.
  "I've been here for your whole fight. And, can I ask why Quest is here? I haven't seen you since-"
  "-Since the accident! The accident." May said.
  "Who is Quest? I've never heard of a Quest." I said, baffled. Was Tempest the person who had talked to me in my dream? Was Quest? I looked around my small cave, confused.
  "Why don't you tell them, May." Tempest said. May gulped. She looked quite nervous, as if she had just witnessed Servahcah threaten to murder someone.
  "Guys, before you like, freak out or anything, all the little, innocent, sweet girl thing, that was just and act."
  "We know, May. Or is it Quest?" Louie said. May stared at the ground. Then the sky. Then the ground again. Anywhere but at us. She cleared her throat and opened her mouth as if she was going to say something, then closed it again.
 "I- I'm- well..." She sighed. "My name is Quest and I am on a quest to find the forgotten scrolls." As soon as she finished speaking, her faced closed again. She just clammed up. We couldn't get a word out of her for two hours.
                                                    මම
 As we walked, I thought. And thought, and thought. When The Boss mentioned the forgotten, did he mean scrolls? I didn't know what he had meant, but I sure wasn't expecting scrolls. When were they forgotten? Were they like, laws of spells or something? Did they have something to do with that guy in my dream when I was on my way to the village I so thought I wanted to be in? As I thought, I realized that I didn't really know If that village was good for me. I realized that I was so tired of living alone that I was desperate and would jump into anything. Which was why I didn't give it any thought when Cooper suddenly changed his mind and decided to let me come to the village. As these realizations sank in, I stopped, and turned to May/Quest.
 "Um, so, can you tell me why you are looking for these scrolls?" I asked, stammering a little. May just looked at me, her eyes a little less bright. She shook her head and didn't look at me. I sighed. I guess I'll have to try this a little differently. I cleared my throat and began to talk. I told her about living in a cave for nine years by myself, and having travelers stop by once and a while so I never forgot how to talk. When I told her how Cooper had been my favorite traveler, she looked at me as if I was crazy. Which, at the time, I probably was. I told her how, before I had come to the village, Cooper had stopped by and I had pleaded with him If I could return to the village with him, and he gave me a hard NO. But then he changed his mind, as if he had someone whispering in his ear. Then I told her what I had just realized, and she sighed.
 "Nolan, I am supposed to be working for that guy. You know, him. My quest was to find the Forgotten Scrolls of the Beyond. The Uncharted Beyond. The Beyond that is hardly ever thought about or talked about because no-one can comprehend it. Those scrolls have everything there is to know about the Beyond, the people, the places, the history. He wants me to find them so that he can take over the it and its people." She sighed and looked away, forlorn. I knew I shouldn't prod, but I was so curious that I couldn't help my stupid cave-headed self.
 "Why are you working for him?"
 "I was  working for him. Now I am not. I can't handle working for evil anymore. I've been in too many scrapes where I make deals with powerful beings, and must work for them for an amount of time. Of course, he doesn't know that. I hope. I am still pretending to work for him. But now all I want is to disappear. I don't like being trapped here." She lowered her eyes and sighed again. I was starting to get a little worried about Quest/May.
 "Um, What is this guy's name? Why are you working for him?" I questioned her. I was genuinely wondering this, I was not trying to prod her. I knew this was sensitive information, but important if we wanted to figure out what was going on with Cooper and Sylvester and all the other strange stuff that had happened to me recently.
 Quest/May rolled her eyes at me.
 "You know I really shouldn't say his name. Names have power. And Why should I tell you why I was working for him?"
 I waited for her to tell me. She sighed and began.
 " When I was 9, my mother was taken away by him to become another one of his wives. Or should I say slaves? I so desperately wanted to save her, but my father wouldn't let me. My father is Nicholas, the one who is in charge of the council. He wouldn't let me, so he went after her himself. But-" her voice cracked. "But her was killed. Brutally murdered by he himself. I was crushed when I heard the news. I'm sure I cried for a week. But I knew what I had to do. I was- and still am- good at making deals. So I went to his cave, and told him outright that if he would let my mother go I would stay and be his personal assistant for five years. Well, its been almost five years, and my sentence should be up soon. But I don't know if he will keep his promise."
 I looked at her sympathetically.
 "One more question though. What name do you want to be called?" She laughed and looked over at me.
 "Quest please. It's the name my mother gave me."