Monsters At The Gate (CHAPTER 6) (Patreon)

Monsters At The Gate

CHAPTER 6:

"Noruh"

Kat had arrived at the hidden village of VILLA SWAMP, its scenery along with its jungle decor had left Kat dazzled who couldn't look away in awe at the most exotic place she had ever seen in her life. They both walk between the wooden bridges while some people stare at Kat in moments, just because they are not used to receive visitors from the outside, but nothing else happens just a few short glances and each inhabitant went back to their own.

"don't worry, we don't usually see many outsiders from outside, but trust me it's in your home now"- Noruh takes Kat's hand while giving an impromptu sightseeing tour to the useless fire mage, "the houses upstairs connect directly between all the bridges you see hanging up there, while down here we can find some markets of all kinds, clothing, food, home accessories, totems, amulets, crafts and medicine. Here you'll be able to find everything Kat, so you have nothing to worry about! and also look!".

Noruh comes to a stall where someone is selling skewers with different insects of all kinds and also of all sizes.

"YOUR FAVORITES, KAT!!! "- Noruh takes out two big skewers of freshly baked insects dipped in their sauce which seemed to be Honey, or so Kat prefers to believe, but the size of those insects which seemed to be cockroaches was really big, easily the size of a human hand, but again, just by looking at them, Kat already has the desire to vomit, except there is nothing in her stomach, just a hunger which was starting to threaten to make her give in to Noruh's tempting "food offers".

"come on, say Aaaaaa"- Noruh tries to make Kat eat one of the cockroach skewers who only turns away with a disgusted expression.

"I'd rather start eating wet wood than your insect!, you won't make me eat any of those things!"- Kat gestures with her hand to push the cockroach skewers away, but someone else pushes the "swamp delicacies" away from Noruh's hands.

"if you have nothing to barter with, you don't eat!"- a man completely covered by the purple fur robe and also covering his face with a huge skull of an unknown animal, takes the skewers away from Noruh who grimaces a little and protests.

"oh come on, you know I can pay later, just give me one of those complimentary tasty treats for me and my friend Kat!"- Noruh tries to take the skewers again, but the store owner stops him.

"sure, and this way you also take the opportunity to pay me the other 4 times you owe me!"- the store man scolds Noruh throwing in Noruh's face a debt he has with his "exotic delicacies" stall, "you know the price, just bring something with the same value or that is at least interesting!".

"okay, okay, I'll come back later when he brings something interesting, but I want the double skewered cockroaches with honey!"- Noruh and Kat walk away from the "candy bugs" stall.

"what do you mean by something 'interesting', don't they use money or credit card here, or maybe check?"- Kat can't deny her curiosity at the form of trade in the village and asks Noruh for an answer.

"here we use exchange, we always use crafts, garments, medicinal herbs, precious jewelry or even amulets and accessories of all kinds to get other goods, here you don't see much use for money from the outside world, unless you want to go get something from the city"- Noruh explains in a brief summary how the exchange of goods works in VILLA SWAMP, simply everything is an exchange of any object, and you could get whatever you want.

"that's a shame, I was planning to bring those cockroach skewers to my kids and dad, but it seems we only have these 'precious' ones for dinner!"- Noruh shows a bag full of bugs he had gotten in the swamp along with Kat, making her almost vomit just by reflex.

"Yuck, yuck!"- Kat averts her gaze in disgust, but someone stops her by holding her military aviator jacket.

"what are you asking for the jacket?"- a woman with long, messy, dark red hair grabs Kat unkindly and begins to examine her jacket, "it really is a real aviator jacket, I've always wanted one of these, what are you asking for, come see my store".

"hey wait!"- Kat tries to protest, but the somewhat disheveled looking woman refuses to let her go, while Noruh looks on with a smile and trying to hide his laughter.

"just look at this!, here I have protection charms, healing and dolls with which you could decorate your beautiful house!, ask for whatever you want, but give me that jacket!"- the woman's insistence starts to get annoying, until finally Kat stops her.

"it's not for sale, my father gave it to me! so stop bothering, wild woman!"- Kat shouts with anger leaving the wild haired woman silent and surprised, but her look reflects more another feeling, rather than something negative.

"I see, a hard price"- with a thoughtful look the woman starts to look for another form of price, "let me think of another price".

"Shud, leave Kat alone, she's my guest, besides I doubt you can trade anything good with those stuffed animals you make, well, not her jacket at least"- Noruh speaks to the woman at the stuffed animal stall by her name who happens to be Shud.

"stuffed toys, these are crafts of the finest quality, just look at them, they are completely made by these fine and skilled hands, every stitching is positioned perfectly, and every design carefully chosen!!!, you won't find a greater toy or decoration anywhere else, that I assure you!"- Shud extends a small box of stuffed animals which are of different animals, in a somewhat desperate way to prove that her creations are suitable for any exchange, but still Kat takes refuge behind Noruh from the disturbing personality of the woman at the stuffed animals and other toys stall.

"oh they're so cute, I'll trade you for a beer cap I found on the way"- Noruh subtly teases Shud's creations, who just frowns in reaction, which makes Noruh quickly retract his comment, "I was joking, I was joking!".

"but well, anyway, I haven't formally introduced them yet, this crazy stuffed animal's name is Shud, she's my Cousin"- Noruh introduces his cousin who simply greets with a sharp-toothed smile.

"if you change your mind about the jacket, I'll be here!".

Finally, Noruh and Kat finish their little "Tour" inside the lower part of VILLA SWAMP, now both are on their way to Noruh's house.

"well it's time to go home so you can meet the rest of my family and my little ones!"- Noruh again holds Kat to avoid falling into the hands of the merchants who had already set their eyes on offering all kinds of objects to the stranger, an easy business for them.

Before saying goodbye to her cousin Shud, Shud throws one of her stuffed animals into Noruh's hands.

"hey, take this, Nubeh had already laid eyes on the snail stuffed animal, tell her that her favorite aunt Shud, sent it to her".

Noruh smiles and says goodbye to her Cousin, While Kat watches as Shud makes the last proposal showing her a small mountain of stuffed animals as an exchange for her jacket, which she only declines with a tired expression at Shud's insistence and both women finally go to Noruh's house.

In a large tree house, a different situation was taking place. A grandfather and his grandson were desperately searching through the objects in the house.

The grandfather had a slightly stooped posture and helped himself with a cane to move around, his face denoted his age with some wrinkles, a gray hair and long to the neck, accompanied with a short gray beard that adorned his chin, and the rest of his wardrobe wore a black sweater, but the most striking as all swamp dwellers, was the huge purple mane coat accompanied by a skull of an animal which resembled a bird on his head.

"Keep looking, that invader won't get very far, as I always say, they go in, but they don't come out!"- with a serious, but at the same time very calm voice, the grandfather begins to search through all the things in the house, tables and furniture of delicate workmanship, but very detailed and denoting elegance, are set aside.

"yep!"- the little grandson followed his grandfather's orders to the letter in order to find the "invader" who had sneaked into the house.

The Grandson's appearance was that of a boy of about 5 years old, and his clothing, simple but very much in keeping with that of the swamp, except for a few details. His face was covered by a large skull mask that was adorned with a set of 2 oval earrings on each side, followed with a huge navy blue mane that easily covered his entire back down to his feet, his torso was bare and he was wearing shorts and his feet were bare.

The search had been going on for a few minutes until finally, the grandson finds the "invader", which turned out to be some sort of frog easily the size of a puppy, hiding under Grandpa's favorite armchair.

"The game is over," Grandpa exclaims with an angry expression.

The frog, upon being discovered, starts jumping all over the place to escape from his pursuers.

"This slug has been sleeping in my bed and soiled my floor!"- the grandfather begins to use his cane as a kind of hammer to scare away the frog, which manages to dodge the attacks of the angry old man with some ease, but with the grandson, it's different.

With fairly polished speed and agility, the Grandson manages to keep up with the frog which starts to get nervous about being about to be cornered.

"yep." Grandson ascends with a peculiar way of saying "got it".

"That's it! show that rebel who's in charge, bring him to grandfather, bring him to me, catch him Nubeh!"- the grandfather shouts encouragement to his grandson called Nubeh, who runs around the house trying to catch the frog, in a few attempts he manages to catch it, but being a slimy animal, it manages to slip from his arms a couple of times.

"I'll cover the exits, it's yours!" - sliding at a limited speed with his cane, the grandfather obstructs the way out of the door, so that finally his grandson manages to catch the big frog.

"Way to go Nubeh! good job, good job, good job!"- the grandfather congratulates his grandson who holds the swampy frog in his hands, this time with no chance to escape.

"yep!"- with a joyful noise coming out of his mask, Nubeh "smiles".

"very well, then you are the slug that spoils and dirties our house!, I wonder, what shall we do with you now?"- the grandfather shows a threatening look to the poor unfortunate animal.

The frog looks with a terrified expression to see his two captors, just by seeing their threatening and annoying faces, in his simple mind the swamp animal can feel the worst.

But it's all simple imagination.

"Go away and drool on someone else's house!!!, and don't come back!"

"yep!"

With a funny and unexpected resolution, the frog is simply left outside the entrance of the house and even left carefully on the floor by Nubeh, while Grandpa sends it away and warns it not to come back.

The grandfather and his grandson are back home after dealing with the "invader", the house is a mess due to the search and final chase, the furniture is scattered and some wooden plates are scattered on the floor, also some spices, as the kitchen was the most affected part.

"The whole house is a mess, but we managed to expel the thief, good job"- despite the small mess, the situation is no longer seen with annoyance, the grandfather caresses his grandson's head affectionately for his effort.

"yep!"- Nubeh makes a small noise of joy through his mask, something his grandfather understands perfectly despite not seeing his grandson's face.

Without doing much else, not even in cleaning the house much, Grandpa sits down on his favorite couch next to some books, just to relax after the hunting session at home.

Nubeh does the same, but looking around the house with some concern.

"Grandpa, house, not tidy"- with a somewhat limited language for his age, Nubeh manages to give other words besides a characteristic "yep", these for the big mess they have left in the house.

"well, your mother will tidy it up when she comes back"- without looking for another solution, Grandfather just continues his reading in his books.

At his grandfather's relaxation, Nubeh does the same, relaxing on a sofa trying to read a book like his grandfather.

"Uhm?"- but the rest ends up interrupted when the little masked boy feels a presence close to his home, almost as if it were super sharp instincts, the little boy follows his instincts and intuition to move quickly outside the house.

"Hehe, he's young"- the grandfather laughs without taking his eyes off his reading, but noticing his grandson's speed as he exits through one of the windows.

While outside.

Finally, both women had arrived outside the house.

A large tree house which matched the others in the swamp, but its appearance looked like it belonged to the swamp chief, large luminous ornaments and several talisman and totem-like decorations on each of its sides, the huge house was divided into 4 floors which were also connected with bridges and some stairs, giving the perfect image of a kind of "swamp mansion", which was supported by a huge trunk protruding from the large lake of the swamp village.

"wow, this house has nothing to envy to the resort that is on the beach. I must confess, I didn't expect to encounter anything I've seen so far"- Kat is as surprised as by Noruh's house and the whole small swamp village, recognizing that the image she expected to find is very different from the one she had in mind regarding the swamp.

"uh, really, it's really just tree houses and some trading posts and a lake, if you put it that way it's no big deal"- Noruh doesn't seem to give much importance to the design of his home, even knowing that it looked like a place out of a "fairy tale".

"eh well..., for someone coming here for the first time, it is"- Kat responds nervously.

But her nervousness isn't just about being a stranger in a strange place, she still couldn't figure out how to ask the swamp slayer to take on the job of Monster slayer again, but that decision will have to wait, because of an inconvenience steps away from home. Noruh has noticed that not only is she watching the door, a presence is watching them both.

"Katherine, I need you not to move, we've already been detected"- Noruh sharpens her gaze and instincts while Kat watches in fear.

"wait, what are you talking about, who detected us!?"- Kat asks frightened by Noruh's sudden reaction to revealing her battle "aura".

"please try not to move, let alone take your eyes off the door, trust me, he's already ready to complete his hunt, I'll take care of it"- Noruh carefully leaves his bag with some goodies on the floor, but inside, his hand moves to extract something from the bag.

"you're as stealthy as usual, I'm glad to know that"- Noruh looks over his shoulders to see the presence which was already detected and prepares to attack.

(DAMN IT, DAMN IT, DAMN IT, DAMN IT!).

In her mind Kat has begun to think that it's probably that red-skinned, thunder-powered Monster, Mistyk.

(did he follow me?!? we are so fucking dead!!!!)

A subtle sound of wind breaking gives hints that the "hunter" has moved towards them, but instead of releasing any weapons or attacking, Noruh had extracted two skewers of cockroaches with Honey (which he had stolen from the previous store) and they are displayed with a big smile of joy.

"WHO WANTS TO EAT THESE DELICIOUS ROACH KEBBLES TOGETHER WITH MOMMY!!!?"- amusedly Noruh extends his arms to receive the small and agile "hunter" who turns out to be little Nubeh, Noruh's youngest son.

"YEEEPPPP!!!"- Nubeh falls into his mother's arms with great joy as the two melt into a warm and sweet mother-son embrace.

 Surprise caused Kat to fall backwards in fear as she saw the strange creature emerge from the shadows of the tree, who turned out to be a small boy in a mask who had sensed his mother's presence.

"I didn't even notice until I got here, you have become very good at stealth, my little cricket, you caught mom!!!"- Noruh continues hugging her son Nubeh, but without noticing that Kat was almost fainting from fear.

"oh I almost forgot, Kat look, this is my youngest son Nubeh, the second of the litter"- Noruh slowly removes his son's mask so Kat can meet the little boy's face.

His features were clearly taken from his mother, a fine face and somewhat long hair down to his neck, while his eyes were of a kind and sweet expression, accompanied by turquoise color like his mother's.

"oh I see, she looks a lot like you"- Kat smiles in an almost annoyed way from the scare to death she received.

"oh, do you think so too, I get that a lot"- Noruh blushes at Kat's compliments to her and her son for finding certain traits similar. "Nubeh, this is Kat, Mama's friend from the old job she had, I know they're going to get along!".

(truly she is quite the mother, she certainly makes motherly love glow, I feel it burn!)

Kat observes the warm scene with which she can't help but let out a small smile for her friend's happiness, and also convince herself not to recruit her friend back to the agency, even for the emergency completely unrelated to this island.

(I don't think it's right to insist on that anymore).

"play!"- Nubeh pulls out of his mask what appears to be a small club and launches into "play" with Kat, but a game that consists more of running and avoiding getting hit.

"Hey wait!, don't chase me with that thing!"- Kat starts running between the tree to avoid being "married" by Nubeh in game mode, and next to them Noruh also does the same to stop his son.

"Nubeh no!, Kat is a friend of Mama's!"- Noruh tries to catch Nubeh, but her son doesn't take his distance from Kat.

The three of them run through the small corridors of the huge tree in a comical chase.

"Play, Play, Play!"- Nubeh lunges to finally catch Kat, but someone inside the house shouts to put an end to the game.

"what's going on here!?"- Grandpa had come out of his home to stop all the commotion going on outside his home.

"Oh dad, only Nubeh is meeting mom's friend, don't tell me you are a little grumpy today too?"- Noruh scolds the old man who just came out of his home.

Noruh takes Nubeh in his arms and goes to greet his father, the old man with the cane and gray hair.

"uh, Dad?"- Kat asks somewhat surprised to see the elderly man with a grumpy expression.

"I still have to introduce you to the rest of the family, the old curmudgeon here is my father, and also the chief of the village, his name is Barret"- Noruh introduces his father to Kat and also the chief and main ringleader of the swamp village.

"call me boss, or big boss Barret or also supreme majesty Barret"- Noruh laughs while Kat expresses a confused face.

"huh, it's kind of confusing, I guess I'm not someone very cultured to take it with those names, Noruh's father sir, or great chief Barret, or great magnificent chief Barret?"- Kat looks quite nervous not knowing how to address a village chief, even knowing that she is just an outsider and never thought that Noruh would actually be some kind of "princess" of the swamp.

"hehe, Kat just call him Mr. Barry, now let's go inside the house I want to introduce you to my eldest son"- Noruh invites Kat to finally enter his home in order to introduce her eldest son and also to throw a big welcome party for her friend.

"Benuh is not home"- Chief Barret, stops his daughter's mood for a few moments.

"what, where did that kid go now, I brought you both several gifts, including cockroach skewers with honey!"- Noruh shows a sad face while holding her bag with gifts and also insect candies.

"I only know that he went to the lake together with your cousin Canela to repair that old canoe and bridge machine he's been working on for weeks"- putting aside his cane and settling into an old and well decorated sofa made of branches and enjoying smoking his pipe which is carefully carved, giving shape to a bird's skull.

"what a thoughtless child not to wait for his mother at home"- Noruh sighs ruefully, but quickly pulls himself together as he grabs a cooking apron, "Well, he'll have to put that aside for a moment, Nubeh, go find your brother, and bring him along no matter what he's doing." 

Noruh had sent his son Nubeh for his brother, but also, upon reaching the kitchen he had finally realized what a mess it was, "Hey wait a minute, what happened in the kitchen!?".

Old Barret covers his face with one of his books while little Nubeh speeds down even faster at the sound of his mother's annoyed voice.

Using great agility, the little guy slips through one of the windows and begins to move quickly across the bridges connecting the tree houses, in the direction of one of the docks connecting to the lake.

"wow he's pretty nimble, is he really only 5 years old?"-Kat watches in amazement as Noruh's youngest son moves so deftly through the trees as if he were a nimble ape over the years.

"it's great, isn't it, even I at his age had a hard time moving like that, they really learn very fast, but I'll tell you more during lunch, now I have to prepare a big feast for our guest"- Noruh smiles while fixing the mess in the kitchen, just with a few seconds and a great speed, Noruh fixes the mess. Finally getting down to business as he grabs his bag where he had collected many insects during his walk in the swamp with Kat.

"wait...what are you preparing?"- Kat starts to feel a chill all over her body as she watches her friend start to put insects in the pits and use a knife to cut some of them, "what kind of feast?".

"oh come on, don't play dumb"- Noruh smiles mischievously and in order to scare Kat even more, makes her give her a little peek at what she is preparing inside her pans and stove, "why do you think we picked up so many of these little guys on the way here?".

With a terrifying and sadistic expression, Noruh shows Kat how he cooks insects to prepare lunch, a scene that Kat can't manage to endure and ends up fainting from fear.

Watching the whole scene, Chief Barret keeps his expression serene and bored, and without taking his eyes off his reading, except for a comment regarding the guest. "Dear, your friend is very weird"

"Kat?"- Noruh pokes Kat's face with a wooden spoon to try to wake up her friend who couldn't seem to wake up from the shock of knowing she will have to eat bugs.