The Raft!

[Kai NRG]

The Log of Ageven Deraim

July 31st. Preparations have commenced! We have begun building today. I have saved for many years in expectation. I do not expect the raft to be done in any less than two weeks, since we must work only in spare time; none of us have enough to take a break from our regular work.

August 4th. Very busy. Wood is not as easily attainable as I had thought. Still, we have enough for our needs. At present.

August 11th. It has been rainy, with intermittent thunderstorms, almost all this week. Not entirely a bad thing, since we needed time to gather food and supplies. The bottom of the raft is almost complete. I am presently engaged in designing the covering, but I will have time later this week to introduce the members of my band.

August 13th. I am called Ageven Deraim, third lord of Calamaton in this impoverished kingdom of Captsaw. The land where I live is on the edge of civilization. The skills of my people are still very slight, and so only a short dry spell causes the crops to fail - we are on the verge of starvation almost every year. Many are used to this - they have lived in the same circumstances for all their lives, but I can not adapt myself to it. The ancients tell our story this way:

Men came down from the north

To find a home and hearth

In chariots and in wagons

Braving beasts as big as dragons

Traveling as far as man durst.

They came from all groups and nations,

They were forced to eat only by rations

They slept in dens and caverns,

Journeying in all different environs -

Things seemed to be at their worst.

They had come from the land of the Captdaw,

And arrived finally in the land of Captsaw,

So named because,

(As a true leader does,)

Their captain saw it first.

They settled in the land,

They worked hard, every hand.

The land gave back its wealth,

And they lived in peace and health,

They could eat until they burst.

And as the years went by,

They built cities far and nigh -

But gradually they arrived at depravation,

And now we are near starvation,

For things are at their worst.

My men are of many places - as are we all. Perhaps the most interesting is Azc - a man who can hammer wood or act as a scribe with equal ease. He has some curious habits - such as continuously dragging a teddy bear along with him (for which, as you may well imagine, he receives constant ridicule), but he is very honest and, I believe, entirely trustworthy. Gad is a hard worker, noted for his skill, as well as his prowess with the sword. He has none of the scribe learning of Azc, but also none of the strange habits. Raz, on the other hand, has great talent in almost all areas - except cooking, as I have come to learn the hard way. He has a great will to become a cook, but never any success. We plan to leave this land by September, for many reasons. Suffice it to say that although the country is rich, the leaders are greedy, and the common people are left almost nothing. Through neglect, much of the land is overrun with weeds, and now all of us face starvation. Many have yet to realize it - they laugh away all prophets of doom - but they have no objection to me "drowning myself," as they say. We shall see.

August 17th. The raft is complete! Provisions must still be gathered and stored away, but time is now plentiful.

August 23rd. It is at once with excitement and fear that I write these words - we have embarked! It is the day I have been waiting for, but what is in store for us I know not. There can be no turning back - if anything has been forgotten, it can never be retrieved. As yet I can think of nothing omitted, but time will no doubt tell. I tried - entirely without success - to persuade Azc to leave his bear - but that he will on no condition do. I suppose it does not matter. In my heart I must say I enjoy the bantering that goes on because of it. Will we be able to laugh so in the days to come? I must stop this train of thought - I am gone not for days, not for months, not for years even - we have left forever!

September 2nd. It is hot, very hot. Back in Captsaw this would scarcely be noticeable, there is such a breeze, but here on the glassy sea it is dreadful.

September 6th. Less than two weeks after our start, and already we have no idea of how to pass our time. The monotonous regularity of getting up, eating breakfast, polishing our arms, eating lunch, taking a nap (if one can), eating supper, then going to rest leaves far too much time on our hands. At first we had much to talk about, but now we sit idle. Oh for an island, or a floating branch - even a bird! Anything to break the blue, blue, blue of the ocean and sky!

September 9th. I will have to eat my words - we have encountered a shark! It came up with incredible silence - we knew nothing of it until it swallowed the bait on the end of Azc's fishing pole (he has begun to fish for a pastime), taking the hook and half the line down with it. We were all thrown into a tremendous state of excitement, supposing at first that it was a fish - or something of the sort - but we were soon undeceived. The shark's fin made itself immediately visible, indeed, it is likely that we would have seen it earlier had we been watching. But the truth is, we had never imagined such a thing occurring - we were all lounging about (no one expected Azc to catch a fish), some of us admiring our weapons (for the thousandth time), myself dozing over the map (which has it that the ocean is covered with islands, a vision which I am beginning to think was only invented by the ancients), and Azc apparently staring intently at his pole (but really, I make no doubt, sleeping), when the shark so rudely awakened us. The moment its fin was visible we all sprang back from the side, leaving the shark with the pole dangling from his mouth. This seemed to entertain him for a second, while we all held our breath - for there was no place to run to, and it had not occurred to us to grab our weapons. Had we had time to think, we would probably have lost some of our scare, for we were on a sturdy raft, and it was unlikely that a shark could do anything - but we had never encountered a shark in such circumstances! Be that as it may, the shark continued to swim round our boat, almost as though he was daring us to attack him. I could see Gad's blood boiling inside him - even my ire was rising at his challenging behavior. Suddenly we could brook it no longer; I sprang to the corner - the spot where he happened to be when I made up my mind - Gad, with more reason, made a rush at the place where we stored our weapons, and, not stopping to consider, grasped the giant club Raz had insisted upon our taking (I agreed, thinking that it might one day serve for firewood). I was, of course, too slow - besides that I had nothing to hit the shark with anyways - but Gad made a furious throw, caught the shark upon the snout, ruined the club, and made us all jump with surprise and excitement! The shark must have been equally surprised and not a little mortified - he uttered a sound that seemed like it must have been a horrified sneeze - the next instant he flourished his tail, and disappeared into the sea! So we found that we had foiled a shark, loosing a fishing pole and a club in the process!

September 14th. Extremely hot. Our water supply is running low, but I expect it to rain soon. What worries me more is our food - we must be careful to use it sparingly.

September 16th. Rain! It is good since we can replenish our water, but we are all very cramped inside such a small living space.

September 20th. I feel certain we must be nearing land now. In three more days it will have been a month. How far does this ocean extend, I wonder? How fast are we traveling? I have a sail, which I hoist when the wind is good. I am heading due west - not for any reason in particular - but I have no doubt that we are being carried off our course occasionally. It does not matter - I have ceased to put any trust in the map. I believe it was a mere fabrication to give our people the semblance of intelligence.

September 23rd. One month! We are all excited, for some reason.

October 1st. How long can we travel without seeing anything? Even a shark would be a welcome diversion. I believe we would gladly eat him, we are so desirous of fresh meat - the miniscule fish Azc occasionally catches no longer satisfy us. The heat saps all our will - we all long for a breeze.

October 4th. Birds! Seagulls are circling our heads once again. We all hope that we have neared land. As of now we look forward to it - it would be at least a different kind of danger.

October 7th. I can scarcely believe my eyes - we have reached an island! This map must be entirely false, unless we are on the other side of the earth already. We are all so eager that Gad and Raz have begun to row the boat in the hope of towing us to the island more speedily. From what I can tell it seems uninhabited.

-Later- It is either uninhabited or the inhabitants are at once extremely shy and sly. I believe I will send Gad and Raz on ahead with some provisions in the small boat, to see if we are near a mainland. If they are at sea for more than two days, I will tell them to come back. In any case, they are to be back within the week. It may seem risky, but I think the risk is less than it appears, and the gain would be great.

October 9th. Raz and Gad have left, but there is still plenty to do. This seems a nice island, but it is very small, and certainly has no inhabitants. I climbed to the highest point today (not very high by any means) and fancied I could see mountains in the distance. I am not sure, but I hope my eyes do not deceive me. If this island is any indication, the place it seems we have arrived at has fair soil, though not rich, and a favorable though warm (some might say hot) climate.

October 13th. Gad has returned with Raz! They tell me that we are close to a peninsula, and although they saw no inhabitants it seems like it is part of a much bigger land. We will sail the day after tomorrow.

October 16th. We have arrived at this peninsula - it is indeed part of a great land. Even far off in the East we had heard of rich lands across the sea - in part, this motivated me to search for a place to live. We have no immediate neighbors, but not far off live many different people - through them I have come to know that this place is called Kaliphlin, a name which is not entirely unfamiliar. I believe it is in some way connected with the lands of Historica. If this is indeed Kaliphlin, as I have no reason to doubt, I will be pleased to take up my abode here.

May 6th. It has been more than six months since I last wrote, so much has happened. Kaliphlin forms one of the guilds of Historica, a wealthy land but one which has fallen, it appears, on evil days. It is said that "treacherous assassins have tried to murder the King! The capital is in shock and there will be repercussions; the Four Regions assemble their forces as the balance of power shifts, and blame is passed around. For the first time in a century, the guilds of Historica build up old defenses and prepare for the inevitable confrontation; everything hangs in the balance, and Historica is on the verge of chaos once more…" I hope that, regardless, it will resolve itself peacefully - this is a rich country, one which, it seems, cannot be destined for war once again. But at present there is no need to worry. Tensions are stressed, it is true, but we are at the very limit of the land, and here I intend to stay. We are busy building ourselves a home, and I hope to soon become part of the Kaliphlin guild. I believe that such a new stage in my life requires a change, and I will end my diary here (I am also running out of space, but that is not poetic), with the song Azc has composed to tell of our journeys (it must be said that he has a talent for overdrawing things):

Life in Captsaw was leaking

There seemed less help for the seeking

For Captsaw was dying

And we all sat there sighing.

Then arose the brave Ageven

With the power of the raven* *That was (unfortunately) the only bird that rhymed.

"We'll leave upon a raft

We'll seek new lands fore and aft!"

The rulers made objections

"We are living to perfection -

There is no need to go

It would only make more worries - no?"

"But you do not understand -

We must seek a better land!

We can not sit here with the best!"

He became to them quite a pest.

Then finally they said to him

"Go! Go ahead and swim -

Drown yourself! - we do not mind."

They were not very kind.

And so upon a time

With his three warriors fine

He set off for another land

A land where he could live with his band.

He sailed for many days -

He had need of being brave -

For one day something happened to pass

It was a fish larger than even a bass!

In fact it was so big -

It was a shark! (And it also was a pig!)

One of his men had been a fishing

When suddenly his bait went missing.

Then up there came a shark

With half the line in his mouth so very dark

He swam around the raft

(He seemed a little daft)

Suddenly Ageven made a dart

He aimed right at the beast's heart

But he had nothing with which to hit it -

In fact it is quite obvious he missed it!

But one of his men jumped for the club

(A stick that we had not ceased to rub*) *polish, in this case

And then he let it fly

But it caught the shark's nose on the sly!

The shark was much amazed

He had never been so dazed

With a flourish he swung his tail

And for another earth made sail!

And so for many days they sailed

So tired they began to fancy themselves tailed!

Until finally they saw some land

Though it was no more than a strip of sand.

Still with speed they landed

They were no longer on a raft stranded

And in only days they sent a few

To go and see the mainland dew.

And when they arrived what did they find?

They found a land where oil is mined

A land where treasures can be had

A land where we need be no longer sad!

It is in this land where we now live

And to it our allegiance do we give

A land where rafts are out (and castles are in) -

This is the guild of Kaliphlin!

More pictures of the raft on my Flickr

[robuko]

What an introduction! Great story Agaven. I am sure you will have much better luck to seek happiness and fortune in Kaliphlin.

[Maxim I]

Wow indeed a very interesting introduction!

Well written and nicely accompagnied by pictures

I recommend you to also give this story a very own GoH-wikia page so it will not become lost in the future

[Mike S]

Most excellent story! Hope to hear more of your adventures, now that you have arrived in Kaliphlin.

[soccerkid6]

Neat little raft, great fig posing in the shark attack scene too

[Erynlasgalen]

Great introduction! I love that you put the story in diary form with photos.

Can't wait to hear some more of your adventures when you get settled in. Kaliphlin has a lot of land to get lost in

[Kai NRG]

I recommend you to also give this story a very own GoH-wikia page so it will not become lost in the future

Thanks for the idea, I'll work on that!

And everyone else, thanks! I'm planning on following this up with another story (probably in september) too.

[Gabe]

Nice story Kai, and a great way to introduce your characters. I look forward to hearing of thier further adventures.