have to live with.”
“But why? Why would he make the gauntlet?” Silas was confused by Alric’s callousness.
“It’s a survival of the fittest mentality, I think,” Alric said. “His view is that if you get too many weaklings in here, using up all of our resources, then we’ll get wiped out. It is widely believed that we’re not even supposed to be here. The only rightful people in Marenon are the Erellens, and maybe the Anwyns. Somewhere along the way, the Stühocs came in and tried to make Marenon their own. Then there were the Nestorians and no one really knows what or who they are. I personally don’t care about any of it. I’m here and I’m going to do what I can to get by,” he said.
“Stühocs?” Silas said, remembering his last fight on Earth.
“Right, I don’t suppose you’ve heard of them,” Alric replied.
I’ve heard of them more than I wish, Silas thought. “What about those other groups you mentioned? They aren’t Human either?”
“Nestorians could be Human,” Alric said as they walked through the city. “They always wear wooden masks to hide their appearance. Theories about who they actually are vary. You’ll learn more about the Anwyns soon enough. And you’ll meet an Erellen tonight.”
Silas was baffled at the mention of so many different types of beings that were not Human. He was lost in thought for several long moments until Alric’s voice brought back his attention.
“As far as the Stühocs go, well, they’re scary buggers. If you ever see one, you’ll know.”
Tell me about it, Silas thought.
The day was fading and they soon found their way close to the edge of town. Alric told him that his residence was just on the outskirts of the city and into the forest a bit. It provided privacy as well as some room to stretch, he explained. Alric told him about his comrades that were waiting for them and how they began their band of mercenary work.
“It started with me and the Erellen you’ll meet tonight, named Lorcan,” Alric said. “We wanted to search Marenon for ancient artifacts and sell them. We were pretty good at it too. It wasn’t long until word got out about our work.”
“Soon”, Alric told him, “our skills were for hire. Later, we came to the conclusion that we needed more qualified people to help us on our missions. We eventually picked up a girl named Inga and a muscleman name Coffman. And for this particular job we need a fifth person.”
“What exactly is planned for this job?” Silas asked.
Alric thought a moment then answered. “I think it’s best we wait and talk about it when we get to the residence.”
After several more minutes they made it past the city gates and onto a path in the forest beyond. A thought came to Silas as he remembered some of his earlier questions.
“Where is all of the technology, like radios or weapons or guns?”
“You’ll find none of that here,” Alric answered.
“Why?”
“There’s no use for it,” he said. “For one thing it doesn’t serve its purpose here like it did on Earth. There are a few conveniences that people haven’t given up. There’s still plumbing for the most part, but you won’t find airplanes or anything. In Marenon people want to better themselves. Technology was making people lazy on Earth.” Alric paused and they both stopped walking for a moment. “It also interferes with the magic.”
“Magic?”
Alric nodded. “Magic is what runs this land. It’s the lifeblood of Marenon and if technology were to advance, eventually all of the magic would be lost. The Erellens claim that much of it has been lost since the entrance of other races, but I think they are full of themselves.”
“Can you do magic?” Silas asked, intrigued.
“A little,” he shrugged. “The girl you’re about to meet is one of the best magic users I’ve ever seen. I can’t do anything even close to what she can do, but she’s shown me a few things. That’s why she’s with us.”
“What sort of things can you do?”
“Shoot some fire, move things, stuff like that. My abilities are miniscule at best, you know.”
“Can you show me?”
Alric looked at the falling sun almost annoyed that he might not make it back before dark. Silas could feel a slight tension, but was too curious about the use of magic to care what Alric thought at the moment. This could be used as a completely different aspect of fighting that his grandfather was never able to teach him on