Ealderen

“Ealderen, how many years have passed since the last time I saw you”

After this cryptic, at least for Estal, words, Al’Areon came in their direction. But he passed the Kelhi and saluted Methilab in a strange way, after which he hugged him.

“Al’Areon, old friend. Two years are pretty long, apperntly!”

Then they both started laughing. Coudl it be? could Methilab.. no, that was impossible. Methilab was just a old, crazy, drunk kelha. Or wasen’t he? Estal suddenly realized that Methilab appeared higher, stronger and somehow.. younger. And he spoke the same dialect as the Alligeri. When he tought this, suddenly he remembered where he already heared that name: one of his first adventures with Eilga was it to try to learn to read. Methilab helped them, and they found an old scroll in a cave, but it was all burned, and you could only read four words:

wait for the Alligeri

Suddenly he realized all the Ekills that where outside, mixed with the kows, and thousands of this strange beings covering the hill behind. He couldn’t understand where all the kows and the beings hidden for the past years.. Estal turned around and found everyone starring at him (except for the kelhi’s wife, who passed out). The kelhi looked at Methilab, then at Al’Areon, back to Estal and started:

“Well, as you probably understood, Ealderen hides here.” Wait.. what did he say? Theres a Ealderen here? He looked at Methilab, who just stood there, and looked stronger and younger then ever.

“Estal, take the pipe. sit down. Al’Areon, Ealderen, come here, everyone else, get out to greet the Alligeri”. Methilab and Al’Areon came, and sat down. Without thinking, Estal accepted the pipe, and started to smoke his first weed. He just couldnt belive it.. Methilab was this Ealderen person? No way!

“Estal, listen, listen carefully. Al’Areon here is a old friend of Ealderen, or Methilab, as you know him. All he told you, all the stories, tales and legends, the palces, the animals.. that was all true. ok, I think that’s pretty shokign to hear, but there’s something outside the valley. In fact, the Valley is just a really really smallvalley on a really small island in this gigantic World. And there’s more: you are Ealderen’s nephew, the rightful leader of the Alligeri.”

Old friends never disappear

When he woke up, Estal was in Metilhab’s house. He was lying on the floor, and a bunch of people circled him. How long was he gone? Was it all a dream? He stood up, and still everything was immerged in deep silence. He looked and their faces, and realized that except Methilab all of them where part of the family.. why where they here? They should all be in theyr palace, at the bottom of the five-finger-mountain. And Methilab was.. smoking. From the smell he was defintely smoking weed. How could that be? In the presence of the kelha and the whole family? Methilab, the old, drunk, kelhi, smoking like a kelha? Now that he looked at him.. methilab didn’t look that old, witouth his hat and mantle..

The kelha suddenly stood up, went to the window, looked out and started speaking.

“Kelha, I hope that you are awere that in my presence you should only say the truth, and nothing but the truth? Because you know, if you lie, my revenge will be insane. So, what happend to the Ekills? Where are they?”

Estal was confused, but started to remember everything.. the kows!

“The kelha was bringing them back, when suddenly kows appered! The kelha then saw strange speaking humanoid beings, and started to flee, but the Ekils where faster. The kelha is sorry and asks for a debit punishment”

Methilab and the kelhi looked at each other, then the kelhi contiued:

“Well, are you shure you saw kows? Because if not, i am going to hang you in the Gran Roa!”

Estal was wondering what was happening, Methilab acting strange, the kelhi speking to him.. anyway, he answered:

“I grant it by the life of Eliga, there where kows adn strange beings. They spoke a strange dialekt, and asked to speak to “Ealderen”, and that they’re sorry for being late. Their leader claimed to be named Al’Areon, and they made, somehow, strange sounds like a Cryltump. I can’t remember more”

The reactions as Estal kept on talking where wery diversified. Methilab started loughing when Estal said dialekt, became serious when he heared Ealderen, and started laughing without being able to stop when he heared about the apology. The kelhi remained serious the whole time, and now looked immerged in toughts. The wife rised here eyebrows as he kept on going, and blushed when he mentioned Al’Areon, lightly smiling. Their bigger doughter Smiled the whole time, and when she heared about the strange sounds, she hopefully stared at here big brother, who just nodded while stil caressing his sword and smiling, at which she stood up and ran out of the room. The kelhis brother just looked angry at Estal, like it was his fault htat the sterangers where here, and when he heared the name Al’Areon, he nearly screamed. The rest of the family was divided in two groups: the older ones talked to each other, now that Estal finished talking, and the children looked as confused as Estal felt.

Methilab stood up, went to the kelhi, and said, lowering his voice:

“Änel, it’s time to reveal it”

Änel? Estal thought Methilab must have become really crazy, calling the kelhi by his name! like he would be at the same level! But instead of the indignation estal was expecting on the kelhis face, he just looked at Estal, and nodded. Then he went outside, coming back with two smoking pipes fileld with weed, and then offered one the the now completley stunned Estal. What was happening? He coulden’t belive anything that was happening! Estal nearly fell wehn he tried to crawl to the other corner of the small house. Methilab follewd him, and also the kelhi. Just as the kelhi was again offering his pipe to Estal, the door opened, and the being who called himself Al’Areon looked inside.

Don’t trust the appearance

Alligeri.. Estal already heared this name before.. but when? The first of the strangers took out a incredibly long and complicated horn, and put it to his mouth. He took a deep breath, and started to make a loud and deep noise. Suddenly the animals that seemed kows started to split in two groups, leaving a small passage open. On the horizon, thousends of this alligeri appeared, all riding on mighty horses. They all where clothed in shiny metal, and wielded all the same long, recurved swords. They also had some strange curved sticks in their backs. The stranger with the horn presented himself as “Al’Areon, first of the Alligeri”.

Estal got panic, turned around and ran down to the house of Metlihab. He just heared the Aliigeri lough, but he yelled, screamed and cried until he reached his house. Methilab was outside, lying in the grass, with a jar of wine. When Methilab heared the noise Estal made, he stood up, went in his direction and said:

What’s this noise, Estal? Didn’t I explained that with this noise you’ll attract the kows?

Estal nearly passed away, then he caught himself, and brablled confuesed words. But he managed, somehow, to calm down a bit, adn just said:

I saw the kows!

Then he definetly passed away.

Alligeri

Suddenly Estal heared a bang. Followed soon by two others. And then even others. He promptly tried to run away, fearing this strange thunders, but the ekills where faster then him, and ran away, back to the top of the grasses. There he was: Estal, the kelhi, standing alone in the middle of a open sport, and thousands of kows in front of him. His heart began to sound similar to the Cryltump of Metlihab, and he thought that he was going to die soon.

Right when he was trying to take breath so that he could scream, two .. humanoids, coverd with some sort of long clothes, and they.. they.. they spoke! Estal could barely understand what they spoke, they spoke a strange dialect, but he could nunderstand what they said. They greeted him. They greeted him! Like he would be some sort of kelha.. and then they asked him how they could get to Milubumpe. Milubumpe.. thats exactly how Metilhab calls the Valley when he speaks of the old times! Estal told the strange beings that logically they where in the Valley, and then the strangers, after having confirmed this, said:

“We are the Alligeri.. we are sorry for being late.. can we speak to Ealderen?”

Kows? In the Valley?

Estal was, as every evening, bringing back the ekills to his house. He could walk the whoule way with closed eyes: down the grass until the road, then through the Cave Forest, across the bridge over the Gran Roa, and then down to the Valley. He down the same path walks every day , every evening, with his kelha’s ekills.

This was no special day, a day like each other. The clouds on top of the five-finger-mountain where getting bigger, probably it was going to rain during the night. Estal was happy that his kelha allows him to sleep with the ekills: he heared that kelhas often force their kelhi to sleep outside. Obvoiusly in a story: he could not imagine other kelhi besides himself. How could there exist something outside the valley?
Thinking about how ridiculous it is to think that you can leave the valley, he started downwards. It was a week since he last saw Eilega, so he hoped that today he would meet her today. Where is she beeing all the time?
Suddenly, he heared bells, but neither the usual ekill bells, nor the temple bell: much deeper bells. And much more bells. In fear he stopped. After some seconds of panic, he searched for a place to hide: but he didn’t found anything. So he simply lied down, and hoped that whatever was the cause of this bell-ringing, wouldn’t see him. But the bells became slowly louder and louder. He couldn’t hold it anymore, he wanted to see what kind of bells could make a sound like that. And the he saw it…

Kows. Hunderds of kows. O at least he tought that it was kows: until ten seconds before, he imagined that cows are only a invention of Metlihab to scare him. But this animals looked exactly like Metilhab described them: Big, Brown, with to horns, like a really big ekill but without the hair and with smaller ears. First he feared for his life: this terrible monsters where certanly going to kill him as soon as they saw him. Then he noticed that something was… wrong with the cows. They.. they.. they ate grass!

But his primary question now was: where did the kows come from?