{"id":54,"date":"2018-09-26T14:19:30","date_gmt":"2018-09-26T18:19:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/butlerbridgeprogram\/?page_id=54"},"modified":"2018-09-26T16:16:51","modified_gmt":"2018-09-26T20:16:51","slug":"heroes-for-hire-by-tannon-jaye-rogers","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/butlerbridgeprogram\/heroes-for-hire-by-tannon-jaye-rogers\/","title":{"rendered":"“Heroes for Hire” by Tannon Jaye Rogers"},"content":{"rendered":"
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2018 Winner, Middle School Fiction<\/h4>\n

Prologue<\/strong><\/p>\n

A low, steady growl echoed from within the center of the large woodland maze. I clutched onto my Skyland Sword tightly as my team and I continued onward.<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst we have to travel through this huge maze, then we have to fight a nokk, all while not ending up as a roasted corpse because of all of these Firebirds. Why couldn\u2019t we have just asked for a map or an ax or just avoided this area completely? Or maybe, when you and Dillin were fighting that cave troll at the village, just grabbed some of the weapons that it stole?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cC\u2019mon Ria, we\u2019re almost there.\u201d Ria continued moping until suddenly the ground rumbled. A loud roar echoed through the labyrinth.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re close,\u201d Tiar said, putting a finger over her lips. We crept forward until finding a large room with a gigantic leathery snake with spines lining its back. It had a bottom jaw that jutted about a foot outwards with sharp black teeth jutting out of it. Thankfully, it seemed to be asleep.<\/p>\n

The wooden walls of the room had multiple holes which seemed to have been scratched out. They weren\u2019t too large, but were probably big enough to fit a skinny person in them (if the person was lying face down). Now we had to think of a plan.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe nokk looks like it’s covered with some pretty tough skin. I don\u2019t know if Sky is gonna be able to cut it,\u201d I whispered to the team, studying the nokk\u2019s body.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe we can try hitting its underside,\u201d suggested Ria. \u201cThat\u2019s usually the softest part. Of course, an arrow probably couldn\u2019t pierce it, but one of you guys\u2019 swords probably could,\u201d Ria said. Ria wasn\u2019t as skilled at fighting as Tiar and I were, but she was exceptional at coming up with plans and making traps. Plus, she took two courses in monster anatomy in school, so she gave us a huge advantage on our bounty missions.<\/p>\n

Every second feels like an hour when danger is staring you down, but after an intense, 30-second whisper-debate, we finally came up with a plan. Ria would climb on the wall and provide a distraction, Tiar and I would hide in one of the holes, and Ria would try to lead the nokk up the wall so one of us could stab it. I wasn\u2019t positive, but I thought it might work. I squeezed into a hole. It was noticeably deep, so I was able to scoot back far enough that I was almost unseeable and able to drive my sword into the nokk. Tiar crawled into a hole on the opposite side of the wall and readied her daggers.<\/p>\n

We both gave Ria a thumbs-up, and she began scaling the wall. After about a minute, I heard a loud breath and then Ria let out a blood-curdling scream from above, followed by an arrow which whistled through the sky and hit the nokk in the eye. It jolted upward, looking around.<\/p>\n

\u201cHey! I\u2019m up here! Come at me!\u201d I heard Ria shouting and shooting arrows as the nokk slithered toward her. The nokk pressed its belly against the wall and began slithering upward. Its underside blocked my view. Just as I was about to stab it, I noticed a problem. I didn\u2019t know where this area was. If I stabbed it now, I might just end up hitting its tail, which would give away my position, and literally do nothing but slightly harm it. I had to take it out in one hit. There would be no second chances. I just stared at the nokk and watched it move side to side trying to reach Ria.<\/p>\n

Eventually, the nokk stopped. It slithered toward the middle of the room, curled into a ball, and got ready to fall back asleep.<\/p>\n

\u201cHey, idiot! You can\u2019t just fall asleep! C\u2019mon!\u201d I was surprised Ria hadn\u2019t lost her voice yet. The nokk let out a small growl. Ria then chucked a rock at full speed at the nokk\u2019s head. It bounced off and hit the ground with a thud. The nokk got up again and let out a loud roar. Then, the nokk reared its head and sniffed the air.<\/p>\n

The nokk continued sniffing, then it turned toward Tiar. I pushed my way outside of the chasm and saw the nokk sniffing and heading in Tiar\u2019s direction. On one hand, I didn\u2019t want to possibly get chewed to bits by the nokk.<\/p>\n

But, without thinking, I let out a loud yelp. The nokk turned towards me, emitting a loud roar. I shimmied back into the hole just as the nokk began to tear at the wood with its large teeth, taking out chunk after chunk. I tried to stab its head, but the sword didn\u2019t seem to do anything.<\/p>\n

Suddenly, the nokk made a gagging noise, and pulled its head out of the hole, and disappeared from sight. I didn\u2019t know what happened and I didn\u2019t care. I stayed in the hole for a while longer until I saw Tiar\u2019s head pop up in front of the hole.<\/p>\n

\u201c Haraz ! You\u2019re not dead!\u201d I squirmed out of the hole. Tiar gave me a small hug and ruffled my hair. Ria climbed off of the wall and pushed past Tiar and me so she could survey the nokk\u2019s carcass.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe should cut it up so we can carry it easier,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo. We get more money if it\u2019s in one piece,\u201d Ria said, \u201cI\u2019ll grab the head. Tiar, you grab the tail. Dillin, you grab the middle.\u201d I heaved the nokk\u2019s huge carcass onto my back, and we carried it out of the maze, and back to Shavari, the Village of the Woods.<\/p>\n

All of the buildings were built into trees. Even the empress\u2019 palace was built into the base of a massive maidenhair tree. We walked over to the village trade market, which was built into one of the roots of the empress’ palace. A short, slender man welcomed us from behind the counter.<\/p>\n

\u201cHello,\u201d he said, revealing his beaver-like teeth, \u201cwelcome to the Shavair Village Trade Market. I\u2019m Sha\u2019api. What would you like to trade?\u201d His squinted eyes then focused on the large nokk we were dragging behind us. \u201cWoah! Is that a nokk?\u201d He asked, leaning over the front of the counter.<\/p>\n

\u201cSure is,\u201d replied Ria, holding up the nokk head as though it was a trophy.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve only seen those in stories! Hah! I never actually thought I\u2019d be able to–\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSorry for interrupting, but my friends here almost died by this thing.\u201d She motioned to us. \u201cI think we\u2019d like to just collect our money and leave, if that\u2019s alright.\u201d Ria held out her hand.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh! Yes yes yes. Here\u2019s the money. All 500,000 ticas.\u201d He put a large pouch on the counter, and Ria picked it up. Then, she placed the nokk’s head on the counter and we all left. We left and bought some food from the local market and some arrows and elixirs form a traveling merchant. Then, we found a nice place to stay for the night.<\/p>\n

We hitched a ride back to Akal with a trader, who sold me some new clothing and Ria and Tiar some armor. On the way there, we discussed what we were going to do with the rest of the money.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we should put some of the money into finding new recruits for our team,\u201d suggested Ria. \u201cIt would be better to have some more teammates for the more dangerous quests.\u201d<\/p>\n

“I think that we should get more powerful weapons,” suggested Tiar, “mainly for creatures like nokks, where they have some sort of… seemingly impenetrable protection.” We nodded our heads. Both of these sounded like good ideas. \u201cThat\u2019s a good idea,\u201d Tiar said.<\/p>\n

We finally arrived at Akal. The city was buzzing, as always. The roads were full of people going in and out of work, getting goods and just touring. We stopped by the Quest Board, which, as always, was full of quests. None of them looked too interesting, though. Most of them were infestation removal along with the occasional dungeon quests.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe should drop the ticas off at base,\u201d Tiar said. We followed her over to a towering house. As we stood in front of it, someone called my name. A woman with light green skin, brown eyes, and hair the color of tree bark ran up to us.<\/p>\n

\u201cAre you Dillin of the questers who killed the nokk?\u201d She said, grabbing my shoulders. \u201cU-uh yes. I\u2019m Dillin. These are my friends, Ria and Tiar.\u201d The woman let out a breath she was holding in.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have been trying to find you a\u2019aku laaike ! I\u2019m Javari from the Akkia village. There was a beast, we don\u2019t know where it came from. It destroyed most of the village and killed multiple ovei. I left very quickly, and I do not know if the beast still lurks nearby, but my sister Asika fled when it arrived and I must find her! Will you three please help?” We all exchanged glances. Then Ria sighed.<\/p>\n

\u201cCan you give us a description of the beast?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo. I am sorry. I did not stay long enough to see it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo need to apologize. We\u2019ll find it, and kill it,\u201d declared Ria. \u201cFor now, you can stay here. We get a lot of outsiders here, anyway, so you being here shouldn\u2019t be too much of a problem.\u201d We took a carriage to Maz Forest, the closest we could get to Akkia before the coachman dropped us off with the sudden sound of booms and splintering wood. We turned towards the forest, took a deep breath, and walked in.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

2018 Winner, Middle School Fiction Prologue A low, steady growl echoed from within the center of the large woodland maze. I clutched onto my Skyland Sword tightly as my team and I continued onward. \u201cFirst we have to travel through this huge maze, then we have to fight a nokk, …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9195514,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-54","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","column","twocol"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/butlerbridgeprogram\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/54","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/butlerbridgeprogram\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/butlerbridgeprogram\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/butlerbridgeprogram\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9195514"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/butlerbridgeprogram\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/butlerbridgeprogram\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/54\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/butlerbridgeprogram\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/54\/revisions\/77"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/butlerbridgeprogram\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}