ã€ŠA Place To Bloomã€‹


 Called

    I''d never defiled myself with a girl.  I still hadn''t¡ªlines were not crossed.

    "You Caleb?"

    I ended my prayer and turned to the visitor.  It was a man of state.  He stood beneath the wooden door frame dressed in mail armor with a red sash over one shoulder bearing the gold-woven lettering that identified him as a servant of the Count.  He stood, holding out a small, folded piece of paper.

    ¡°I am he.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re called to arms.  Take your sword, your bow, and set out for Carthia at once."

    I took the paper and opened it.  "I have neither sword nor bow, and where is Carthia?"

    The man took a deep breath and groaned.  "I¡¯m the messenger."

    With that, he turned and clomped his heavy boots across the wood floor of the church on his way out.  Then, as quick as he could pass, a face peeked out from the last doorway.  She darted out and flitted over to me; her simple white robe bounced spritely as she came.  "What was that about?"

    "I''ve been called to arms."

    "No!"  Sarina''s black eyes locked onto mine and her face sank.  "You mustn''t!"

    "I have a duty¡­"

    "No!  You can''t go!  We¡­ we¡¯ll run away together¡­"

    The thought of it made me smile, to run away with Sarina, dance together on a rainbow bridge across the sky, sleep atop a castle suite overlooking the sea where the sound of rumbling waves massage your ears into a dreamy sleep. Together we would dine on the finest riches, drink wine together on the rooftop, and live out our lives away from it all.

    She threw her arms about me, I rested my chin atop her head, and so we embraced.  I turned my head to take in the tiny curls of her hair in my cheek as she pulled me in close to her body and squeezed.

    We stayed there a good while until the old friar came out shuffling along on his cane.

    "Ahh," his voice creaked as if it were one with the floor.  "Sarina, is the dough being proofed for this evening?"

    She pulled away from me.  "Not yet, Father."

    "The poor come for alms.  Will there be no bread to give them?"

    "I''m sorry, Father.  Caleb has been called to arms."

    He stared at me a moment and nodded his withered chin slowly before speaking again.  "I knew this day would come."

    "He can''t go!" Sarina protested.

    The old man took her hand in his.  "I know, child, but Caleb is a grown man now.  T''is a sacred duty.  He must serve¡­"

    "NO!!!"  She threw his hand aside and stormed off, away from the kitchen and out of the church entirely.

    "Sarina!"  I tried calling after her.

    "Let her be; she needs time with this."  He shook his head with a smile and added, "that girl adores you.¡±

    I tried to laugh that off.  ¡°We¡¯re just friends.¡±

    The old man raised one eyebrow high above the other and stared at me a moment before shaking his head.  ¡°Come.  I have something for you.¡±

    The old friar¡¯s private study was a world cast in yellow through amber windows set in a hashed frame.  Rows and rows of books and curiosities filled the shelves opposite his desk, a simple wooden plank set atop four legs that wobbled in one corner no matter how much paper you tried to set under them.  Beneath that, Father hammered at a loose floorboard until it gave, and he lifted it up.  From there, he reached down into the darkness to pull out a long mass of gray, withered cloth beset with faded red ribbon spiraled about the length of it, and at one end it gave the shape of a cross beneath.

    ¡°This belonged to Sir Haltha.¡±  He undid the ribbon at one end, slowly unwrapping it as he spoke.  ¡°That¡¯s his tomb in the garden, the same one you and Sarina used to play hide-and-seek around.  When I was a young man he gave everything to the orphanage.¡±

    When the cloth was finally unwrapped, a dull-gray instrument appeared with a worn leather handle at one end beset with a tarnished cross guard.

    ¡°Take it,¡± he said.

    I did.  The thing was heavy.  Not that I was a weakling, for I¡¯d grown accustomed to carrying my weight and then some throughout my chores, but I wasn¡¯t accustomed to wielding such things.  I pulled the handle from its wooden scabbard, and a plain, unpretentious blade emerged, as sharp as it was heavy, with nicks and scratches from years of untold battles.  In the stories, a sword was always magical, a shimmering, bejeweled icon of purity that glowed when it met its rightful wielder.  This, however, was crass and brutal, devoid of so much as an etching on the blade and given wholly to its true purpose: murder.

    ¡°This should suffice for a sword," Father said. ¡°I suggest you begin practice with it immediately.  Hone your skills now while you have time, lest you need them and have no time.¡±

    That made me smile.  ¡°You¡¯ve told me that a thousand times, Father.¡±

    He smiled.  ¡°It bears repeating!  Now, for a bow.  You may take mine¡ªyou always do anyway."

    Holding the sword in my hand, examining the scratches on the blade, the worn leatherwork about the handle, the weight of what I''d been asked to do fell upon me like an avalanche of emotion.

    Father must have seen my face change at the thought of it.  "Are you frightened?"

    My mind was a sea of emotion, swirling and darting in and about tempting me to grasp and yet elusive.  But fear¡­ that one was most certainly there.  "I am."

    He rested his hand on my shoulder.  "This is right.  It''s a frightening thing."

    "What if¡­" I swallowed, struggling to come to the words.  "What if I end up killing someone?"

    Father relaxed and let out a breath.  He then moved his hand to my cheek and smiled.  "If that is what you''re afraid of, then I am deeply proud of the man you''ve become.  Now go.  Enjoy your day and say goodbye to your friends.  I shall make arrangements for this evening, and you may set out in the morning.¡±

    Enjoy my day.  And do what?  Climb over the rocks beside the creek?  Hide in the forest?  Run along the terraced farmlands that climb up the mountains surrounding the village?  Run through the orchard in search of berries that needed picking?  Climb the garden wall to the Baron¡¯s manse and light a paper bag filled with dog poo at his door, hoping to run fast enough that his guards won¡¯t recognize me this time?  Take a raft down the waterfall only to climb back up and do it again?  Or say goodbye to my friends.

    The first thing anyone saw upon exiting the main door was the massive, twenty-foot totem beside the hot bath bearing the carvings of ancestral spirits¡ªthe serpent, mountain goat, the trout, mountain hare, and perched at the apex with its wings spread was the falcon, all freshly painted and facing the church directly.

    I started my way across the bridge and heard above the rumbling water the hooting sounds of children playing at being a monster.  That brought a smile to my face, and so I knelt beside the edge and thrust my head underneath to get a good look at my tormentors.  Of course I added a growl of my own for good measure and was rewarded with peals of laughter.  Teryn from the orphanage, Jule and Xander the tanner¡¯s children looked back at me.  ¡°Where are you off to, Caleb?  Have you no chores?¡±

    ¡°Been called to arms.  And what about your chores, Teryn?¡±

    ¡°Please don¡¯t tell Mother where I¡¯m at?¡±

    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t dream of it!  Have you done your lessons?"

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°You need to do your lessons.¡±

    ¡°They need to do themselves.¡±  I wasn¡¯t sure if I¡¯d heard her correctly; the water rushing over the rocks may have changed her words before they reached me.

    ¡°Teryn!¡±

    "I don''t want to!"

    "We all must do things we don¡¯t want to, Teryn, and you must do your lessons.  Why don¡¯t you get started, and I¡¯ll come by later and help you finish up.  Fair enough?¡±

    ¡°Fine."

    Up ahead was the massive stone foundry with plumes of black smoke reaching into the sky.  By the arched stone doorway I saw that man again, the messenger from the Count.  He looked up at me, turned, and then walked off.  I ran.  As I came to the archway, Davod was standing there holding that same piece of paper I¡¯d gotten.

    A large, burly man he was, with muscles rippling across his body.  His olive-green skin was drenched in sweat that reflected the red glow of hot coals nearby.  A blast of heat met me along with the wretched stench of burning coals as soon as I¡¯d entered, and Davod turned his eyes to me while slicking back his long, dark-green hair with his free hand.  ¡°What¡¯s it say?¡±

    I didn¡¯t look.  I didn¡¯t need to.  ¡°We¡¯ve been called to arms.  We have to go to Carthia.¡±

    ¡°Where¡¯s that?¡±

    ¡°You know?  I bet Dariana would know.  Let¡¯s go ask her!¡±

    He shook his head.  ¡°I¡¯ve got chores.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re leaving tomorrow to go die in battle and you¡¯ve got chores?¡±

    He shrugged his giant, meaty shoulders and looked away.

    "Please come with me," I said.  "I really shouldn''t be alone with her."

    ¡°I¡¯ve got chores.¡±

    ¡°Fine,¡± I said.  ¡°Suit yourself.¡±

    As I left the smoky stench of the foundry behind, I noticed Talys tending her flowers across the cobbled street and tried to hurry past, hoping she wouldn''t see me.  A cold gust of air came off the mountains and brought a drizzle with it, and I thought I''d gotten away when I heard her call out in her melodious voice.  "Hello there!"

    Too late.  There was a good chance I''d never see her again, so I might as well.

    Talys was short, rather scant among girls years her junior, though her generous curves suggested anything but.  She had light olive-green skin with wavy green-black hair and eyes a deep emerald-green.

    ¡°Good morning, Talys,¡± I said.  ¡°How goes the store?¡±

    ¡°Quite well,¡± she turned her shoulders to the side and arched her back while lifting a watering can to a small clay pot with bright blue flowers.  Her dress that morning was a sheer white gown that ended just above her knees and hinted at what lay beneath if the sunlight caught it just right.  Thankfully the clouds had descended from the mountains and settled on the village with a fine mist.

    She turned her neck to face me and addressed me in quick tones that made full use of the register, lilting up and down across the musical scale as she spoke.  ¡°Where are you off to with that manly sword you¡¯ve got?¡±

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    I couldn¡¯t help but chuckle.  ¡°I¡¯ve been called to arms.¡±

    Her chin dropped and she quickly floated over to me, wrapped her arm around my waist, and tugged me back over to where she was before.  ¡°Come spend time with me.  When are you leaving?¡±

    ¡°On the morrow.¡±

    ¡°And where¡¯d you get that sword?  Good God, you look handsome.¡±  She lifted her hand and with a finger stroked my hair away from my face.  ¡°Are you headed for Kulun?¡±

    ¡°No, some place called Carthia.¡±

    Talys furled her eyebrows.  ¡°Where''s that?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve no idea.  I never heard of the place.¡±

    ¡°You should talk to Dariana; she might have heard of it.  I know she''d love to see you.¡±  Then she wrapped her arm around me, looked up into my eyes and purred, ¡°of course there is Naveris¡­"

    ¡°I¡¯m chaste, and you know that.  Besides, I don¡¯t do pagan traditions.¡±

    ¡°Why not?  We could finish what we started.¡±

    I had to pull away.  The sensation of her breasts pressed into my body was tempting, but I didn''t want to go down that road, not again.  "You told me that was to get Geraln to leave you alone; we didn''t start anything."

    "Aww," she pouted her lips at me. She''d tilted her head back to look up at me and rested her chin in the center of my chest.  Her arms had ensnared me in place, and she spoke as in a half-whisper.  "Tell me you felt nothing."

    "I have to go," I said.

    "Do I make you uncomfortable?" she sang.  Then she smiled and said with a wink, "should I check you for leeches?"

    I laughed, then took hold of her arm and gently removed myself from her grasp.  "That¡¯s fine; I¡¯m fairly sure there aren¡¯t any."

    She giggled and released me.  "You sure?"

    I couldn''t help but smile a little.  "How are things?"

    "Ehh," she brushed me off and went over to tend a plant she''d kept in a pot.  She brought it down and showed it to me.  ¡°Sarina found these for me.  They¡¯re so beautiful when they bloom.   They only grow high up, above the treeline, and I can''t get them to bloom here in the valley¡ªthey love direct sunlight, but don''t tolerate the heat very well."

    "They sound finicky."

    She pursed her lips at me.  "A flower has needs.  It''s up to me to meet those needs if I want it to bloom; calling it names won''t do any good.  Now, they seem to like the morning mist so I try to bring them out when it gets like this.  You''ll help me?"

    "Of course."

    It wasn''t much, about half a dozen pots, each with delicate, light-green leaves poking out of the ground and a few stalks of unopened buds.  We brought them out to the street and headed back into her flower shop, out of the rain.  I tried not to notice, truly, but as I followed her, my attention was ensnared by the way that white dress hung over her body.

    I looked up as she turned back to me and asked, "have you got armor?"

    "Of course not."

    "You can''t go to war without it.  What about a bow?"

    "Father is giving me his."

    "You practice with that sword much?"

    "Never."

    "Oh, goodness!  You can''t go off to war like this!"

    "I''ll practice this evening."

    "Caleb!"  She swooned.

    "I''ll be fine!" I assured her.

    Talys pursed her plush lips and came up close to me once more, taking hold of both my hands and bringing them to rest on her hips.  "And Naveris?"

    "I¡¯m fine."

    "Well I see you looking over my arse; there must be something you like about it."

    With that she brought her hands in and grabbed at me.  I pulled back as quick as I could.  "I think I should go now."

    "You know you¡¯re entitled to it, right?"

    "Thank you, Talys."  With that, I headed for the street where the haze still hung heavy in the air.

    It was a light, mountain drizzle, the kind that misted your hair as you walked, just enough to make the cobbled stones of the main road treacherous as the descent grew steep leading down and towards the outside of town.

    There, across from Makon''s still was Yenia''s bakery where the bouquet of fresh rolled cake called me in¡­ to get out of the rain of course.

    I remember as a young boy I once watched her work her magic.  She had a large, flat iron pan, and she would pour out some batter and let it cook, then roll it up into a straw.  Then once that was cool and hard, she would dip it into cake batter and turn it on a spit over hot coals for about a minute.  Then she dipped again and turned it again, dip, then turn, then dip, then turn, until she built up a cake with a good six inches in diameter.  Finally, she would take a razor sharp knife and cut it into slices and drizzle the whole thing with honey.

    "Skipping your chores are you?"  The old woman shot me a sideways grin and winked as I reached into my pocket for some coins.  Her hair had turned silver since those years, but her face was still kind as it always had been.

    "I''m called to arms.  I leave out on the morrow."

    Her face sank at the news.  "Oh dear, put your money away," she said, and handed me a small paper with two cakes in it.  I had to pass it back and forth between my hands lest they burn, though the fumes of fresh honey enticed me to punish my lips at the taste.

    "Thank you," I said, and made for the door.

    "Don''t thank me.  Just keep yourself safe, boy!  Guenevieve would die of grief if something should happen to you.  And make sure you call upon her before you leave!"

    "I''ll look for her.  Thank you."

    Further down was the Flaming Wyvern, an inn two stories high on the outskirts of Gath right next to the totem that introduced visitors coming to our humble village from the south.

    Her place was built of old oaken planks long bleached by the weather, yet the sign outside was freshly painted.  Inside, darkness was the rule but for a few small windows barely opened so as to allow light without too much rain.  Yet in this dimly lit, empty pub I could easily see Dariana overturning chairs to sweep beneath them.

    Dariana liked to wear her long, sandy-green hair in a single braid about her crown and let the rest fall loose down her back.  She had a face that seemed ever cheerful as if she smiled even when she wasn¡¯t smiling, with delicate, light-green eyes that locked onto you as she listened to you speak.

    ¡°Caleb!¡±

    She ran up to me and threw her arms over my shoulders, then lifted herself up on her toes to kiss my cheek.  There, she rested those light-green eyes on mine, still grasping at the back of my neck with both hands.  I wrapped my hands about her and pulled her in close for a warm embrace.

    ¡°What brings you here my darling?¡±

    ¡°Have you ever heard of a place called Carthia?¡±

    At that word she winced.  ¡°Don¡¯t go there.  Why do you ask?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve been called to arms.¡±

    She released me and backed away slowly with a look of deep concern.  Her eyes fixed off into oblivion. Then with a voice hollowed out and quivering with terror, she spoke.  "Why there?"

    "Is there something wrong?"

    Finally she looked up at me.  "They''ve been calling up men for Carthia a few years now.  They never come back."

    We stood in silence for a moment.  Then she turned and made her way over to the bar where she bent over the counter to take up a glass and pour.  I couldn''t help but notice the way she looked.  Her round, womanly form tantalized my mind into daydreams just as it had the day I returned from Kyoen.  Thoughts I needed to put out of my mind.

    I had to lower my gaze to the floor until she turned back round, handed me the glass, and bid me sit with her.  I tried to smile through my embarrassment, hoping she hadn''t noticed.  Then I reached for those few coins.

    "You owe me nothing.  Drink it."

    I did.  The ale she served was as always, sharp and bitter, with a light tang and very strong.  I tried a few sips, tilted it up some to pour through a strong head of bitter foam before the liquid bit down hard on my tongue.  I set my cup down.

    "Drink it up, darling, you''re a man called to arms."

    I tried.  I really did, but I wasn''t quite grown enough for all that at once.  "What can you tell me about Carthia?"

    Her eyes darted off then came back.  With a deep breath she spoke.  "It''s far south at the end of the world, beyond the Terbulin mountains where the empire''s got no business being.  It''ll take you two days to reach Ulum, then five more to breach the pass.  Drink it all, darling.  That''s it.  You go down the mountain and if you survive the road you enter another world entirely."

    "You ever been there?"

    "Never.  Tales I heard are bad enough."

    "Tales like what?"

    "Let me pour you another."

    By this time I was feeling a bit dizzy.  She got up and went back to the counter and bent over it the same way as she had before.  I had, however, resolved that I would not look at her that way as I didn''t need the trouble.  No less, I did catch from the side of my eye her peeking back at me to see if I was looking.  She sat down and passed me a second cup.

    "I don''t know if I can handle another¡­"

    "Drink it."

    I took a sip.  "What sort of tales have you heard about Carthia?"

    "Tales of monsters in the woods.  Black magic.  Men don''t come back, Caleb."

    "Maybe they don''t come back because it''s wonderful there and they don''t want to leave."

    She pursed her lips.  "They die.  They''ve been doing this for a while now, call up some men to fight, they get killed, and they call up some more, then they get killed.  Drink some more."

    I did.  "Who are they fighting?"

    I started to notice her dress.  She had on a simple blue apron with large, bulging front pockets over a light-yellow shirt and dark-blue, knee-length, flared skirt.  The top several buttons were undone, as far down as the apron would allow me to see, and the fabric was pulled aside enough for me to take in the crease of her generous bosom.  I couldn''t recall if her shirt had been so undone when I walked in.  "Drink it up, darling."

    At last I was able to drain the last few drops of ale from my cup, and set it down.  Dariana got up and took my hand, and started to lead me across the bar.

    "Where are you taking me?"  My head was reeling from the drink already.

    She giggled, then spoke with a half smile as she led me towards the stairs off to the side of the bar.  ¡°Where do you think, darling?¡±

    The old wooden floor creaked as we climbed, then creaked even more as we made our way across the dark hallway with doors arranged on both sides.  There, she chose one and opened, and daylight flooded the hallway.  I made to follow as she led me by my hand into the room but bumped my head hard on the door frame.

    That pain shook me from my dizzy spell and she led me in, then guided me to sit down.  "I''m so sorry, let me look at you."

    And so she straddled me, resting her legs on each side of my hips and pressed her breasts into my cheeks as she took hold of my forehead.  There, she examined the spot where I''d bumped myself before kissing me on the lips.  It felt nice, and my body grew excited, but I couldn''t.  I tried to gently push her away.

    "Dariana, what are you doing?"

    She didn''t pause.  Rather, she grasped at my belt and pulled my pants loose, tugging at them to bring them down.

    And while I sat with my hands on the bed trying to keep my balance and get the room to stop spinning, she¡¯d pulled out my cock and started stroking.

    "Dariana, what are you doing?"

    "Shhhh," she whispered.  "Don''t speak."

    Don¡¯t speak.  I was erect, but I didn¡¯t feel excited.  She put her fingers around it and started stroking.  I didn¡¯t know what to do.  It was that familiar feeling where I knew it was wrong, I knew I shouldn¡¯t have been there, and I should have stopped her, but I couldn¡¯t.  I froze.  My heart was plodding along and I watched as she knelt before me, stroking vigorously across my skin, locking those light-green eyes onto mine and smiling wide.

    I was afraid.  I knew exactly what she¡¯d had in mind; she¡¯d been making overtures to me all summer.  Now, this would be the last chance for us.  For her.  I was afraid she¡¯d be disappointed.

    And so, I sat there.  The window was open.  The sunlight had begun to cast swords of light through the clouds and the rain dried up, and she kept at it, pumping away at me like a machine.  She whispered, ¡°do you like this?¡±

    ¡°We shouldn¡¯t be doing this.¡±  I made to stand up.  No sooner than I did, she pressed my hips back down with both hands and resumed her grasp on me.  But instead she took hold of it firmly, leaned over, and kissed it, still with her eyes locked onto mine.  Still frozen, all I could manage to do was take in a deep breath and let it out.  I wanted to go.  Why couldn¡¯t I go?

    Dariana let out a giggle, then wrapped her lips over the crown of my cock and pressed down.  The sensation of her lips on my skin was nice; I felt her tongue glide over me.  She then bit down with her lips, firmly into my skin and she brought her whole mouth down some, allowing her tongue to wrap over it and then I felt a squeeze for a brief moment before she whispered, ¡°just relax.¡±

    I tried to.  It did feel nice, but I couldn¡¯t escape the knowledge that I shouldn¡¯t have allowed this to happen.  Shame crept into the edges of my mind and mingled with the sensation of her toying with me, and I heard my name called out from the pub.

    ¡°Again?¡±  Dariana sighed.  ¡°Hasn¡¯t she got chores?¡±

    I was in a daze.  Somewhere between the dizzying effect of the ale and the sensation of her lips on my cock, I knew not which way to look let alone make cohesive thought enough to speak.

    ¡°Caleb!¡±  Sarina¡¯s voice called out once more, and I could hear footfalls on the wooden steps leading up to where we were.  I grasped about trying to pull my pants back up.

    "Why can''t she just let you have a little fun?" Dariana whispered to me.

    ¡°She¡¯s protecting me.¡±

    ¡°Protecting you?¡±  Dariana smirked, raising one eyebrow high above the other and pursed her lips.  ¡°From me?¡±

    I smiled.  The thought of Sarina breaking me out of my paralysis to bring me home safely made me feel warm all over.

    ¡°Caleb?¡± she called out from the hallway.

    ¡°We¡¯re in here.¡±  Dariana twisted her jaw and glared at me sideways before standing up and moving over to sit next to me as though she¡¯d been there the whole time.

    The door opened, and Sarina¡¯s small stature scarcely filled the frame with as much gusto as her spirit.  She reached out her hand for me to take, and I stood to accept it.

    ¡°We were just talking,¡± Dariana said.

    ¡°Uh-huh,¡± Sarina replied, then led me out of the room and back down the stairs.

    Behind me I could hear Dariana¡¯s footfalls drumming on the wooden steps as she followed us.  ¡°Seriously, Sarina, he came to ask me about Carthia.  We were just talking.¡±

    Without missing a step, Sarina said ¡°that¡¯s nice,¡± and led me back out onto the street where the clouds remained as islands in the sea of blue sky.

    "Come see me again as you leave," Dariana called out as we exited the inn.

    Sarina used my arm as a leash and led me back towards the entrance to the main road of Gath where the cobbled stones began.  ¡°Sarina, I¡­¡±

    "I¡¯ve already spoken to her; she should know better.  Come on.¡±

 The Best Friend

    Sarina looked different from everyone else.  The people of Gath were mostly Herali; we had olive-green skin.  Most of us had straight, dark-green hair, while Talys¡¯s hair was a bit wavy and Dariana¡¯s had streaks of yellow.  Most of us had deep emerald-green eyes, but Sarina looked very different.  Her skin was a light yellow¡ªI liked to say it was because of all the sunshine she carried with her.  Her hair was golden-bronze and given to tiny curls that fell into a mass all about her face.  She used to ¡®torture¡¯ me¡ªher hair would get tangled up and she ¡®made¡¯ me spend hours helping her comb it out while I savored every moment of those soft curls in my fingers.  Her eyes looked black like coals even when the summer sun caught her face directly.  Her cheeks were soft, her nose was round, her lips were absolutely flawless.

    She was my first kiss.  I remember that day; we had all gone up the Mousehead¡ªan easy climb that we could summit and be back home before nightfall.  Geraln decided he was too tired and left about a quarter of the way up.  Later we found out he¡¯d eaten all the minicakes Guenevieve¡¯s mum had made for us himself.  I was so mad!

    Tor and I led the way.  We were at a decision point; we could either continue the trail around for about an hour and a half, or climb up the old rockslide and be up in about twenty minutes.  We knew what we wanted to do, but the question was whether everyone else would be up to it.  So we went back and found the girls had gotten into some kind of game where they¡¯d put all the boys¡¯ names into a hat and took turns prognosticating on who was going to kiss who first.  Runya went, and she pulled Davod¡¯s name.  She was so livid!  ¡°I¡¯m never going to kiss that bloated buffoon!  I¡¯d sooner kiss a goat¡¯s arse!¡± and she picked up Sarina¡¯s hat with all the names in it and tossed it down the ravine.

    Late that night, Sarina came to lie down next to me.  That was nothing unusual; since we were little kids she would wake up in the night hearing voices and come stay with me.

    ¡°Can I do an experiment?¡± she whispered.

    ¡°Sure,¡± I said, and she kissed me.

    Just like that.  She met her lips to mine for a fleeting moment, then curled up in my arms and went to sleep.  My world was forever changed.

    The day I was called, after we left Dariana¡¯s place, she led me back to the church.  We went around to the side door and behind the chapel to the narrow, winding staircase that creaked as it led us up to the belfry where we could look out and see the entire village of thatched roofs and the terraced farmland reaching up the mountains on both sides like giant staircases.  There we listened to the water rushing over the rocks as the creek ran through the center of town, and I stole a moment to look upon her face.

    I was still reeling from the ale Dariana had given me, yet Sarina produced a small wineskin and offered it to me.

    ¡°Who¡¯d you steal this one from?¡±

    She giggled and brushed a tuft of hair over her ear.  My eyes settled on her soft cheeks, bathed in the warm air of high noon cut briefly by a cool breeze blowing off the mountains.

    ¡°How far did she get with you?¡± she asked, still smiling.

    I winced at the question, unsure how much I should even share.

    ¡°I bet she was excited to see you,¡± she said.

    ¡°She did seem that way.¡±

    ¡°How far did she get with you?¡±

    ¡°Not as far as¡­ I mean¡­ I didn¡¯t touch her.  I¡¯ve never¡­¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not your wife, Caleb, you can do whatever you like.¡±

    ¡°I know that!¡±

    She grinned wide and watched as I took a good swig of the wine she brought.  Red, and lacking the maturity of a well-oaked batch, yet sweet on the palate.  Sarina took a swig, and we shared a few more sips together as we watched the crows carry some prize to a small nook by a gray-brick chimney on a rooftop below only to fight over it.

    ¡°You know she doesn''t give a lick about you,¡± she said.  ¡°She just wants to break you in.  I get it, though, she''s pretty.  Exotic eyes.  Glorious tits.¡±

    I broke out laughing at that remark.

    She turned into me.  ¡°I thought you above those pagan traditions."

    ¡°I wasn''t thinking about Naveris at all.  I merely thought she''d know about Carthia.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t believe you.¡±

    ¡°I swear it!  I¡¯d never heard of Carthia, I knew she spoke to a lot of travelers, so I thought she might know something.¡±

    ¡°Uh-huh.¡±

    ¡°If I''d thought about that, I¡¯d have¡­¡± I hesitated to speak further.  Unsure how to fill in the silence, I took another drink from the wine.  By this time, I was feeling rather dizzy.

    ¡°You¡¯d have what?¡± she said.

    ¡°I um¡­ I mean¡­ it''s a pagan tradition; I wouldn''t partake regardless."

    ¡°And if you did?¡±

    "I am a chaste man.  I can''t make an exception for some pagan tradition."

    "Obviously."  She smirked.  "That wasn¡¯t my question, though.  Who would you pick?  If you weren''t?"

    "Hmm¡­ What are the rules?"

    "Oh come, now.  It''s Naveris¡ªdon''t make it complicated."

    "Is she allowed to refuse me?"

    She laughed.  "There''s not one girl in Osenia who''d refuse you."

    "What if she''s chaste?"

    "It''s a hypothetical, Caleb, don''t make it complicated.¡±

    ¡°What if we grew up together and she¡¯s my best friend?¡±

    Sarina laughed.  Then, she sat up straight, pursed her lips, and punched my arm.  ¡°Didn''t you kiss Talys just the other day?¡±

    I smiled.  ¡°That was to make Geraln leave her alone.¡±

    ¡°Is that what she told you?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°And you fell for it?¡±

    ¡°Fell for it?  What¡¯s that supposed to mean?¡±

    Sarina giggled.  ¡°What do you think it means?  Either you kissed her because you love her, in which case you can¡¯t be in love with me, or you¡¯re as na?ve as you claim, which is even worse.¡±

    ¡°Why is that worse?¡±

    She chuckled.  ¡°Let me think.  Hmm¡­ you love me, we¡¯re married, we belong to each other, everything is wonderful.¡±  She turned her back to me and wrapped her arms round herself, mocking a lovers¡¯ embrace and making kissing sounds.

    I laughed.

    ¡°Mmmmm, I love you so much.  Oh, hey Talys, sure, check me over for leeches, you¡¯re so kind.¡±  She turned around and pursed her lips at me for dramatic effect.  ¡°Just a perfectly innocent, strictly-platonic reason for a girl to put her hands all over my husband¡¯s naked body and he¡¯s too dim to see what¡¯s really going on.¡±  At that, she turned around and glared at me.  ¡°Tell me the truth.  Were you truly that clueless?¡±

    ¡°I didn''t think anything of it when we started.¡±

    ¡°I wonder where I¡¯ve heard that before?  Hmm.  Let me think¡­¡±

    ¡°I mean¡­ it¡­ took me a while.  She insisted it wasn¡¯t anything, but I did eventually start to see what her motives were.¡±

    ¡°And you still allowed it.¡±

    I looked down.  ¡°I didn¡¯t want to hurt her feelings.¡±

    Sarina stared at me with a blank face.  ¡°You sure?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sure.¡±

    ¡°You sure it wasn¡¯t her being fun-sized with tits like melons?¡±

    That cracked me up.

    ¡°I hear the way men talk; you forget I''m invisible.¡±

    ¡°Right.  Anyway, no, that''s not it.  I didn''t want to hurt her feelings.¡±

    "Well,¡± she shrugged.  ¡°I think you wanted to.  On some level, you wanted to go along with it.  We all do it¡ªwe make excuses, we find reasons to justify doing things we feel we shouldn¡¯t in order to shirk responsibility for our bad behavior.  But you wanted to kiss Talys, just like you wanted to go see Dariana just now, and the sooner you admit that to yourself, the better it will go for you.¡±

    Sharing a skin of wine with Sarina in the belfry overlooking the village, the water rushing over the rocks beside the mill, the warm sunshine massaging my face with the cool breeze carrying a hint of high-mountain herbs, the baron¡¯s manse behind a veil of trees off in the distance.  A crow flew by to greet us and cocked his head.

    ¡°Hello Rayu,¡± I said.

    Sarina giggled, then he turned around and flew off, only to perch himself atop the falcon¡¯s wing on the totem outside the hot bath.

    I leaned forward to bring my face close to hers.  The world was spinning, but her face was the most beautiful thing I¡¯d ever seen.  ¡°Right here, right now, what I want, is to stay here with you.¡±

    If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    Sarina sighed, finished the wine, and laid her head on my chest.  Just the feel of her weight as I lifted her up and down with each breath was sublime.  I wrapped my arms about her and held her there, wishing to never let go.

    <hr>

    That evening, I stood in the doorway to the dining hall of the church, half bathed in the warm afternoon sun and half indoors watching Sarina as she danced from the kitchen wearing a loose white tunic and long brown skirt that teased her ankles as she carried a stack of plates.  She set them at the table, saw me watching her, and twirled around before winking at me and bounding back into the kitchen.

    Outside, Guenevieve approached the church.  The late afternoon sun behind her cast a halo of orange light that seemed to set her dark hair on fire.  Her dress was black silk that draped over her neck and fell over the front of her long, lean body, across her chest and down to her ankles but left her sides exposed.  Her arms, her waist, her hips, her legs, from her shoulders to her feet the whole side of her body was naked but for a belt made of rough diamond-tree stones, with a necklace and earrings to match, and black lipstick.

    "Hello, Wen."

    She blushed and lowered her green eyes, pulled a lock of hair behind her ear and spoke through a smile.  "When you call me that¡­"

    "I''ve never seen that dress before."

    She beamed as she spoke, "I feel naked."

    "Well, I think that uh¡­ you look¡­ I mean, it uh¡­ You look¡­ uh¡­"

    I felt a hand on my shoulder.  Sarina leaned into my side, resting her head against my arm and mocked my voice.  "Wow Wen!  Your body is so long I could fuck you and kiss you at the same time!"

    Then she scrunched her nose, slapped my chest twice, and wandered off.

    I stood dumbfounded, looking back at Sarina with my eyes about to pop before turning back to Guenevieve.  My breath grew heavy so as to block any useful words.  "That''s not what I was going to say.  I wasn¡¯t going to say that, I swear."

    Guenevieve laughed and stepped up.  "She does that because she gets a reaction out of you.  Every time."

    With that she passed by and went inside.  I caught the scent of the lemonberry pie she carried and stole a glance at her back side¡ªthat same dress left her rich, olive-green skin bare from the waist up but for that cascade of straight, dark hair that draped down and mingled with the silk.  She turned round and smiled upon catching me admiring her slim figure.  I had to peel my gaze from her as she disappeared into the kitchen, turned round and saw Davod and Runya at the corner along the pebble path leading up to where I stood.

    I stood up straight and bent over at my waist, stretching out one hand and spoke with as much elegance as I could gather.  "Good evening lady, good evening gentleman."

    Davod laughed to himself and shook his head with a smile.  "Whatever."

    "May I take your coat?"

    "Why certainly!" Runya smiled and indulged my very important role in the evening''s festivities.  Her red fur evening coat was heavy, but it was very soft, and I couldn''t stop myself from stroking it on my way over to the hanger.

    "Stop doing that!" Davod chided me.

    Runya laughed and poked him in his side.  "It''s a coat, and you do that all the time."

    His giant, meaty figure filled up the door frame behind her.  Then, she tilted her head all the way back and reached up to kiss that bloated buffoon on the lips before floating off to the kitchen.  Davod put a hand on my shoulder and grinned.  ¡°You ready to die?¡±

    ¡°Eh,¡± I shrugged.  ¡°I¡¯m still wavering between eating a sword and getting shot.¡±

    ¡°If you get out-ranged, I will lose all respect for you!¡± he laughed.  Then he made his way over to a hearth and reclined in a large, cushioned chair while Sarina brought him a wooden mug with steam coming off it.

    I turned my attention back outside and caught a glimpse of little Teryn creeping through the garden with a mass of blue fabric in her hand.

    "Teryn, what''s that in your hand?"

    The girl hid the thing behind her back and plastered innocence across her face, smiling through pox scars leftover from infancy.  "Nothing."

    "Let me see."

    She darted off as fast as she could.  I went into the closet and took up one of the devotional robes¡ªa simple, brown garment of woven hemp¡ªand brought it across the courtyard, past the giant totem, and into the hot bath.  There, I saw the elder lady Wynice, her hair mixed of gray and green slicked back and glued to her neck, enjoying a book in peaceful solitude with the steam rising from the water around her and carrying the astringent scent of birch oil.

    "Good evening," I said.

    She smiled at me and answered in relaxed tones.  "Good evening.  I thought you''d be enjoying your party by now."

    "I am.¡±

    ¡°You packed up your sword, everything you need?¡±

    ¡°I did.¡±

    ¡°Make sure to write.  It¡¯s a war you¡¯re going off to; if we don¡¯t hear from you¡­¡±

    ¡°I will.  I was just wondering, where are your clothes?"

    "Right over there," she pointed to an empty stone bench and took a moment to put the pieces together.  "That little fink!"

    I laughed.  "I brought you this."

    She covered her face with her wrinkled hands and shook her head.

    "Try and keep an eye out,¡± I warned her.  ¡°I''ve known her to come back."

    "Thank you," she smiled.  ¡°Take good care of Guenevieve tonight,¡± she added with a wink before returning to her book.

    As I left the hot bath, the earliest fringes of dusk began to settle across the courtyard.  Over the bridge I saw Talys struggling with both hands full of baskets overflowing with flowers of all colors and shapes and altogether more voluminous than she was.  I came up to her.  "Let me help."

    She giggled.  Her voice danced up and down the musical register as she spoke.  "I''ve climbed up half the village already and the church is right there.  Now you want to help!"

    Despite the protest, she handed me one armfull of baskets, a dizzying array of smells and colors I split evenly between both hands while she carried the rest.  "You look handsome,¡± she said.  ¡°I like how you put yourself together this evening.  Almost like you''re trying to impress someone."

    I was.  As for Talys, she had on the same white cotton minidress she¡¯d had on earlier.  It wasn¡¯t fancy or elegant, but it draped nicely over her petite figure.  There were subtle differences, though, from this morning.  She had on a pair of jeweled sandals, and her wavy hair had been tied at the back with a gold brace beset with gems of red, blue, and white.  "How are you feeling?" she said.

    "I''m fine."

    ¡°It¡¯s OK to be scared, you know.  War is a scary thing.¡±

    ¡°Thanks.¡±

    From the side, I could see her eyes glancing all up and down my body, and she smirked.  ¡°Can I give you some advice?¡±

    I turned to face her.  We were almost at the door, and she slowed down, leaning in close to speak almost in a whisper.  ¡°We might never see you again.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s advice?¡±

    She stopped and turned to face me directly, gazing up at me through those emerald-green doe eyes.  ¡°I might never see you again.  I¡­ I just would like you to keep that in mind?¡±

    ¡°I will.¡±

    ¡°May I be your Naveris?¡±

    ¡°Talys!¡± I blushed.

    ¡°Look,¡± she said.  ¡°You don''t have to if you don''t want to, but would you at least let Geraln believe otherwise?¡±

    I shook my head.  ¡°I''m not going through that again.¡±

    ¡°Please, Caleb?  I really don''t want to be anywhere else this evening.  If he thinks you''ve chosen me, that would make my life so much easier.  I promise I won''t get between you and Guenevieve.¡±

    ¡°Talys¡­¡±

    ¡°Please?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±

    ¡°Think about it?¡±

    As we came into the church, she caught sight of Geraln sitting with Davod by the hearth.  She then immediately crept up close to me and bumped my hip, letting out a light giggle.  I saw Sarina emerge from the kitchen carrying more wine goblets than she should have carried, and my heart let out a flutter.  Talys set her flowers on the table and directed me to do the same, then came up close to me, wrapped her arms tight around my waist, looked up at me and spoke in a half-whisper.  ¡°If I were as tall as Guenevieve I could kiss you without warning, and there¡¯d be nothing you could do to stop me.¡±

    ¡°Nothing?¡± I laughed.

    ¡°Nothing at all!  So you owe me.¡±

    ¡°What?  How do I owe you?¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s looking.¡±

    ¡°Hey!¡± Geraln called out.  He held out his hands and plastered the role of inquisitor across his chubby face.  Across the dining hall, Sarina was arranging the wine goblets with painstaking precision, taking her sweet time to shift each one an inch to the left, another slightly to the right, and rotating a few.

    I told Talys, ¡°I¡¯m going to sit with the boys.  We¡¯ll talk later?¡±

    ¡°We don¡¯t have to do anything,¡± her eyes pleaded with me.  ¡°Just please?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll think about it.¡±

    As soon as I turned, I heard Sarina behind me offering to help Talys arrange the flowers.  I made my way over to the hearth, where the other two men who¡¯d gotten the call sat nursing wooden mugs that reeked strong of hard, warm cider.  No sooner than I could find my seat, Teryn appeared seemingly out of nowhere and plopped her little self onto my lap, wrapped an arm over my shoulder, turned her good eye to me and asked, ¡°what¡¯s Naveris?¡±

    I heard Davod chuckle at that question, and I sought an appropriate explanation.  ¡°It¡¯s an old Herali tradition where a man who¡¯s about to go off to war shares a special night with his lady love.  In turn, she promises to¡­¡±

    ¡°Is there sex involved?¡±

    Davod laughed a bit more loudly at that.  The alcohol coming off his breath was pronounced.

    ¡°Remind me how old you are?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Twelve.¡±

    ¡°Right.  What do you even know about that?¡±

    ¡°The ladies in the kitchen were talking about who you were going to pick.  I think you should pick Guenevieve, she¡¯s so lovely.¡±

    ¡°You think so, huh?¡±

    ¡°I think she¡¯s dressed like that because she wants you to pick her.¡±

    Davod spoke up to that.  ¡°That¡¯s very astute of you, Teryn.  I think you might be onto something.¡±

    "I think Talys wants you to pick her, too.¡±

    Geraln scratched the back of his neck and made sure to point out his own thoughts.  ¡°I already picked her, and I told her that.¡±

    Little Teryn didn¡¯t hesitate.  ¡°But she doesn''t like you.  I don¡¯t think you should go picking a lady who doesn¡¯t want you to pick her.¡±

    ¡°Teryn,¡± Davod answered, ¡°I believe you¡¯re absolutely right.¡±  He then turned to face Geraln directly and sipped from his mug without another word.

    Geraln sucked his teeth and muttered, as to himself, ¡°It¡¯s not that simple.¡±

    Teryn then turned her attention back to me, but before she could say anything further Guenevieve stood before us.

    "Teryn," she said, "Father Yewan is looking for you in his study."

    "Why is he looking for me there when I¡¯m here?"

    Davod laughed some more.

    Guenevieve crossed her arms and added a sternness to her voice.  "I think you know what I mean."

    Teryn sucked her teeth.

    "You''d better go," I said.  "It''ll go much worse for you if you don''t."

    "Fine."  With that she accepted her fate and got up from my lap, then disappeared into the dark hallway.

    Guenevieve sat down next to me and smiled.  She crossed one knee over the other and held them together in one hand with a goblet of red in the other.  The black silk of her gown draped over her thigh on my side, a scant veil over smooth skin from her hips upwards.  She sat up straight, gracing my eyes with the curvature of her back, her front, the delicate mounds of her breasts.

    "That girl needs to learn some respect," she said.

    ¡°She¡¯s a good kid.  Just a bit playful is all.¡±

    Guenevieve huffed at that remark.  ¡°You don¡¯t understand.  When you¡¯re not around, she¡¯s an absolute menace.¡±

    "Maybe that''s because I don''t talk to her like she''s an absolute menace."

    "She has a crush on you."

    "She''s twelve."

    "Is that so hard to believe?  I was a twelve-year-old girl once."

    "Oh, come on.  Who''d you have a crush on when you were twelve?"

    Her black lips cracked open slightly, and her dark green eyes meandered all over my face for a moment before she answered.  "That hasn''t changed."

    "Ahem."  Sarina stood staring at Guenevieve, who looked up at her in turn.  "Guenevieve, would you mind putting the butter into ramekins?"

    She stood, turned back to face me, smiled, and walked off towards the kitchen.  Sarina then sauntered up and sat down in the same spot, crossed her legs and held her knees in one hand, holding a flagon of mead in the other while arching her back.  The way she looked at me fighting back a smile, I couldn''t help but break out laughing.  Then she started laughing and we kept that up until our eyes met.

    "Sorry that I don''t have a silk ribbon to wear," she said.

    "You don''t need one."  I fixed my eyes upon hers as they glanced back and forth between mine.  Then after a moment she bit her bottom lip and blushed through a giggle.

    "Sarina?" Guenevieve called out for her.

    "Work to do!"  With that she planted a hand on my thigh and lifted herself up.  As she walked off, I marveled silently at the form of her, her lean athletic figure barely discernible through that loose tunic and long skirt.

    "Damn, man!" Geraln exclaimed.  ¡°What the hell is wrong with you?¡±

    I turned to face him.

    ¡°I¡¯m just saying.  Make up your damn mind is all.¡±

    Davod chuckled.  ¡°You forget who you¡¯re talking to!¡±

 Naveris

    I sat in the herb garden outside the kitchen facing the stone tomb of Sir Haltha, surrounded by tufts of lavender.  I needed to be alone with my thoughts.

    ¡°Caleb?¡± Sarina called out from the kitchen.  ¡°It''s time.¡±

    She stood in the doorway, two steps up from the outside.  I took the first step up and lowered my gaze to meet her eyes; she hadn''t moved but rather stared at me with a blank expression.

    ¡°What¡¯s up?¡± I said.

    ¡°You coming?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re blocking the way.¡±

    ¡°Am I?¡±  She smiled.

    We were close such that I could feel the heat of her body, and when she looked up at me, there wasn¡¯t so much distance that I couldn¡¯t reach down and kiss her lips without straining my neck.

    But as I wrapped my arm around her waist, she turned her face to the side and giggled.  "What are you doing?"

    "Trying to kiss you."

    "Oh!" Her eyes opened wide and she smiled.  "Why would you do such a thing?  Do you kiss all your friends?"

    "I was hoping that, uh¡­ what I said to you earlier.  In the belfry.  Do you¡­"

    She poked my chest with her finger and spoke, still smiling wide.  "That was a hypothetical.  If you were to ask me something, truly, then that''s a conversation we would need to have then.  But since you haven''t asked¡­"

    "What about Naveris?"

    She giggled lightly.  "What about it?"

    My heart felt as if it was about to burst; it wasn''t meant to be so abused.  "Sarina, we may never get another chance.  Will you be my Naveris?"

    She searched my face and bit her lower lip as she toyed with my shirt, flattening out the breast across my chest.  She then reached up and rested both her hands on my shoulders, and fixed her beautiful black eyes onto mine for a moment.  The anticipation on her face was bleeding out as surely as it was mine.  Finally she leaned in close and whispered in my ear, "that''s a pagan tradition!"

    With that she broke out laughing, took my hand, and led me through the kitchen into the dining hall.

    The dining hall was filled with guests.  The three long tables had been rearranged into a horseshoe, with three big, cushioned chairs at the center.  Easily two-dozen places had been set with plates, cups, and silver along with cloth napkins.  Most of them had been taken up by the villagers we''d grown up to know, while some of the places were vacant.

    ¡°Ahh!¡± Father called out to me.  ¡°There you are!  Come sit up here at the place of honor."  Father took my hand, led me over to the center table and sat me on the right, with Davod in the center and Geraln on the left.

    Geraln leaned over as if to call out to me, but then Father stood at the floor before everyone.  "Friends, thank you all for coming.  It is with celebration and sadness, grief and gratitude, that we invited all of you to send off our three boys¡­ men¡­ to fight for the preservation of peace within the Empire.  Geraln, Davod, and Caleb,¡± he nodded to each of us as he spoke, ¡°we wish you victory, we wish you health.  Tonight, fill your bellies and enjoy this taste of Gath.  We are a small village, but we love the three of you dearly, and we wish for your safe return.  Thank you."

    As the audience cheered, girls poured out from the kitchen carrying platters of our meal and began portioning out servings for the guests.  There didn¡¯t seem to be any organization as to who would get served first or in which order, but rather they went all about the table and bounced from guest to guest.  Guenevieve brought a plate of stuffed mushrooms swimming in a pool of molten cheese that let off fumes of nice pepper.

    ¡°Careful with these ones,¡± she winked at me.

    ¡°Wen, what kind of mushrooms are these?¡±

    She looked at me sideways.  ¡°Normal mushrooms¡­?¡±

    I leaned in a little towards her.  ¡°Are you sure?¡±

    She fought back a giggle and whispered, ¡°shut up!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s just that¡­¡±

    ¡°Shh!¡±  she smiled wide and shifted her eyes about to see who else might have been privy to our conversation.

    Runya came to me next.  She stood dignified with a metal bowl and a large spoon.  ¡°Would you like some mashed gyeza?¡±

    ¡°Yes, please.¡±

    She lifted up the spoon and placed a dollop of white, buttery goop on my plate.  Then she went over to Davod and bent over so as to be inches from his face.  ¡°And would you like some mashed gyeza?¡±

    Her shirt was open, and his eyes had clearly gotten lost.  ¡°I¡¯ll take anything you serve me.¡±

    ¡°Good boy!¡± she said, then gave her bloated buffoon a generous mass of food.

    Talys had worked her way from the opposite side of the table, but then skipped over Geraln entirely to serve Davod.

    ¡°Hey!¡± he protested.

    Talys danced her words up and down the musical register as she spoke, ¡°didn¡¯t know you liked vegetables.¡±

    ¡°I want some vegetables.¡±

    ¡°Fine.¡±

    She went back over to his seat and dropped a spoonful of peppered carrots, dripping of pork fat, onto his plate without so much as looking in his direction.  He scowled, but his eyes never left her face.  She moved on as soon as she¡¯d finished.  Davod leaned over to him and whispered something, but I couldn¡¯t hear what it was. I heard Geraln¡¯s reply, though.  ¡°Stay out of it.¡±

    Sarina came out and made a straight line in my direction carrying a wooden mug with steam coming off it, and brought it over to me.  ¡°Sorry I neglected you earlier.¡±

    ¡°In the doorway to the herb garden?¡± I said.

    ¡°No, fool!  Hot cider.  You were supposed to get some earlier.¡±

    ¡°Oh.  All right, then.¡±

    She excused herself, ¡°I couldn¡¯t hear what you¡¯d said in the herb garden.¡±

    ¡°You answered me!¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s that?  It¡¯s loud in here.¡±

    ¡°Sarina, you can hear me just fine.¡±

    With that she winked, turned, and walked back to the kitchen only to peek over her shoulder before disappearing behind the door.  I was still trying to figure out what that meant when Varilne came up to me with a spoonful of mixed rice that gave off lavender.  A plump girl she was, with a kind face who locked her eyes onto me and smiled shyly as she walked off towards Geraln.

    My plate was getting filled up.  As if there¡¯d been room, Dariana brought over a basket of sour breads and gazed at me lovingly while placing one on my plate, then another, smiling wide and not removing her light-green eyes from mine even for a second.

    ¡°Why does he get two?¡± Geraln protested.  ¡°Why do I only get one?¡±

    Dariana turned to him and spoke smoothly.  ¡°You didn¡¯t ask nicely.¡±

    ¡°Can I get another?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not nice enough.¡±

    ¡°May I please get another?¡±

    ¡°Still not nice.¡±

    ¡°What the hell?¡±

    Davod started laughing.  ¡°There¡¯s plenty of food, man.¡±

    Dariana pursed her lips, looked back at me, then placed a third roll on my plate before resuming her journey around the guests.

    Davod, still laughing, leaned over to me.  ¡°How did it go with her earlier?¡±

    ¡°I went to go ask about Carthia.¡±

    ¡°Bullshit, man.  We all used to go see her, and it was never to ask about no Carthia, so don¡¯t lie.  How¡¯d it go?¡±

    Geraln leaned over and looked at me, wanting to be a part of that conversation.

    ¡°She said it¡¯s a death trap and begged me not to go.  We go south to Ulum, over the mountains and it should take us about a week to get there.¡±

    The two of them shared a muted laugh, then Geraln clarified.  ¡°That¡¯s not all she said, man.¡±

    I looked at him, unsure what I should follow that with, when Juliara came by with a scoop of shredded meat soaked in thick, brown gravy and dotted with sliced olives.

    ¡°Thank you Juliara,¡± I said.

    ¡°Fuck off,¡± and she walked away.  Davod broke out laughing and took another sip of his drink.

    By the time the girls sat down for their own meal, most of the guests were well into stuffing themselves full.  The older men of the village brought out the drums, cymbals, and flutes and began to play.  The mood was cheerful.  Kely went around keeping everyone¡¯s wine cup full; she¡¯d filled Geraln¡¯s cup twice already, and Mother Searnie pushed out from the kitchen a wheeled cart, atop which slept a roast hog beset with herbs and glistening in the firelight.  She brought it over to Father first.

    ¡°You should serve the honored, first.¡±

    She ignored him and bent her withered frame over to him for a kiss before cutting him a generous slab of meat.

    I was getting into the music when Talys and Guenevieve emerged from a doorway with Guenevieve carrying a large bundle wrapped up in brown paper.  They made their way around the table and stopped in front of me.  Sarina was behind them asking the musicians to pause for a moment.

    Then, with everyone''s eyes on me, Talys began.  "If I were to dream, I may be a bird.  I''d fly through the sky, hop from tree to tree, and sing my way about.  Might as well be a magical goyin¡­ or at least a little bit taller."

    She got some muted laughter for that

    "But dreams and flights of fancy, sweet as they are, pale against hope.  To live in that sweet, sweet bliss of where hopes and dreams intersect, Caleb, we simply must keep you alive."

    Geraln slammed his cup on the table such that his wine spilled over the rim and drenched his fingers in red.  "What are you talking about?"

    She turned directly to him.  "I dream of fucking him, not you."

    This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

    "Talys!" Father chided her while the rest of the table erupted in laughter.  I tried to cover my face and disappear.

    She turned briefly to him and answered.  "Chide me for speaking the truth in a church, Father?  Do we not celebrate courage?  Is this not why we''re here¡ªto speak the unspoken lest the listener never return to hear it."

    She then turned back to me.  "In that spirit, we¡ªall of us¡ªpooled our funds to buy you this."

    From behind her, Guenevieve brought up the package.  It was wrapped in brown paper and tied with a deep-red ribbon that ended with a bow.  The paper was decorated with a handful of red kisses and smelt of mountain lilies after a spring rain.

    I hadn''t expected anything like that.  Geraln continued to glare at me, while Father himself was baffled as well.

    "Open it!" Sarina beamed with joy.  Her face was all I needed.

    It was heavy.  And malleable.

    I found a seam in the paper, tore it away, and unfolded the garments inside.  One was a long tunic made of fine metal rings, and the other a vest of thick, hardened leather.

    I turned to Sarina.  "You bought me armor?"

    "We all did."  She gestured with her hand around the table at the numerous ladies in attendance.

    "Where the fuck is mine?" Geraln spat.

    "Geraln!" Father shouted at him.

    Dariana answered, though.  "We¡­ thought¡­ that your mother would take care of you¡­ as she always does."

    "Yes," Varilne added.  "It''s because Caleb is an orphan.  He has no family, poor thing."

    Geraln breathed in audibly and sat still, picking up his wine and downing it in one gulp before setting it back down and tapping at it.  He then waited a moment while the musicians resumed, then cleared his throat and tapped at his wine glass a second time.

    "Will one of you girls fill my son''s cup?"  His mother shot a look at Talys as if she expected her to do the honors.

    While Talys wandered elsewhere, Sarina brought out a carafe to fill his cup with.  He swallowed that one just as quick and let streams of excess dribble down his chin before snapping his fingers at her.

    "You don''t have to be rude," I told him.

    He sucked his teeth and took another decisive gulp before turning away to look off in the other direction.  I thought he was done, but he swallowed the rest of his drink and turned back to me.  "And you don''t have to be a selfish cunt!"

    "What the hell are you talking about?"

    "I picked Talys, and you''re leading her on.  And everyone saw you with her by the pool when you knew I loved her, and you don''t give a shit about her!"

    "Calm yourself!" Father stood.  Once more, the music stopped.

    "I''m tired of calming myself!"  He then pointed at me while he spoke, "why don''t you chide this slut for kissing every fucking girl in the barony to feed his selfish ego!  You fucking KNEW I loved her!"

    While the rest of the dining hall fell silent, Talys''s voice cut through his tirade.  "I kiss who I want, you fat petulant shit!¡±

    His mother spoke up again.  "You talk to my son that way?  He''s been nothing but nice to you!"

    "Your son has been an absolute cunt."

    Geraln stood and answered that.  "Maybe if you''d have given me what I asked for¡­"

    Talys turned back to him.  "You''re repugnant!  The thought of you on top of me is nauseating!  I don''t want you, I NEVER wanted you, and I NEVER WILL!"

    "I WANT MY NAVERIS!"

    "Grow a spine!  Maybe then you could ask your left hand for a change!"

    "I want my FUCKING NAVERIS!"

    "NO!"

    His mother spoke up again.  "The boy is going off to war.  You should be honored!  Stop being a bitch and just give it to him!"

    Father tried to set out his hands and cool the situation, but it was clear he¡¯d lost control already.

    ¡°NO!¡± Talys shouted.  ¡°You want your son¡¯s cock wet so bad, spread your own damn legs!  He''s a fat weakling and you should have culled him!¡±

    Geraln laughed and looked around the room, holding his cup aloft.  ¡°Get a load of this slut!  You know Talys, he¡¯ll never look at you the way he looks at the mutt.¡±

    Everything went silent but for the crackling of the fire.  I glared at him so, I¡¯d have sliced his throat open right then and there if I could.  Talys¡¯s voice was low and careful, and her face grew still.  ¡°I wouldn¡¯t talk about her like that if I were you.¡±

    But Geraln did not silence himself.  "Why the fuck not?  You say what everyone thinks, so can I."  He then pointed at Sarina while looking directly at me.  "I bet she''s not even an orphan.  I bet her whore mother abandoned her because she didn''t want to raise a halfbreed."

    That was all I could tolerate.  Davod saw me coming right across from him and caught me in his giant arms.

    ¡°Come on!¡±  Geraln goaded me further.  Then, seeing I was restrained, he turned and took another swig from his cup.  But I would not be restrained.  Instead, I dropped down low and slipped free from Davod, then lunged at Geraln with all my strength.  He hadn¡¯t seen that, and my fist caught him square on the nose.  He doubled back, and my other fist caught him on the side of his jaw.

    ¡°Hold him back!¡± I heard Father shout, but I was not done.

    As Geraln fell backwards onto the floor, I was over him landing more punches when I felt strong arms wrap around me once more.  My next few blows found air as I was pulled from him, and so I kicked, landing a boot into his side.

    Davod pulled me back and far away from the man.  When I shook the haze from my eyes, I saw Geraln on his back coughing, then turning to the side to spit out blood onto the floor.  He wouldn¡¯t get up, but rather lay there, a quivering mass, sobbing into the blood pooling out from his nose and mouth.

    ¡°CALEB!¡± Father shouted.  ¡°Go to your room at once!¡±

    My heart was still thundering, and my breath was still heavy, but I took up my cup of hot cider and left with the sensation of a room full of eyes following my every step.  Down the corridor I made it to my bedroom while the musicians started up again.  I closed the door; I didn''t want to hear the rest of the evening.  People talking, music playing, and soon they would start to dance.  I''d have asked Sarina to dance with me, we''d have shown everyone how we truly felt and we wouldn''t be just friends anymore.  And I''d missed it.  Geraln was drunk.  I should have let him ramble on, vomit, and then wake in the morning with regret.  Instead I gave up my evening for that.  I gave up dancing with her.

    I sipped my cider.  The warmness of the drink had long surrendered to the sharp bite of alcohol that had previously been masked, and I leaned back to allow the taste to linger.

    I had my own regrets.

    She''d been right¡ªit was a pagan tradition.  It didn''t matter.  It shouldn''t have mattered.  I should have been above it, above such desire.  I should have desired chastity but instead I desired her.

    I had a candle beside me on the nightstand, a lonely candle that I watched.  The flame danced to its own music, alone, and as it burned down my mind raced through what I would soon be going through: Carthia.  A war.  A world of darkness, terror, and death.  A war in a different universe shrouded in mystery, into which many go and none return.

    Would I?

    What if this was my last chance with her?

    The noise from outside had long died down, I''d long since drained my cider, and I could hear the crickets outside when a knock came to my door.  I sat up on the bed.  "Come in."

    The hallway was dim with only the distant hearth casting a faint orange glow on the wall that flickered behind the tall, slim silhouette of a girl wearing a ribbon of black silk for an evening gown and a belt of uncut diamond-tree stones that shimmered in the light.  It was Guenevieve, and as she stepped into my room, the candle light reflected off the smooth skin she¡¯d given to my eyes.

    "Hello," she said.  In her hands, she carried the gifts I''d gotten earlier¡ªthe heavy bundle of armor that strained her arms I could tell.  I got up to take it from her and set it atop the wardrobe opposite my bed.

    "Thanks, Wen."

    "May I sit with you?" she asked.

    "Sure."  We sat down together on the bed.  My eyes traced her skin from her side across her hips.  The black silk fell between her legs, leaving her thighs to me fully, though despite still feeling dizzy from the cider I managed to linger on the curvature of her back.

    "There''s something I never told you."  Her voice was soft and resolute and echoed of deep concern.  "About my dad."

    "What about him"

    "I watched him do it."

    "What?  You said you found him¡ªthat you heard something and ran in, and found him on the floor."

    "That was a lie.  I watched him do it."  A solemn tear meandered down her beautiful cheek, and she raised a hand to wipe it away.

    "Why did you¡­"

    "Just listen.¡±  She wiped another tear away, then took in a deep breath and let it out slowly.  Her voice quivered as she spoke.  ¡°This is important.  I came in and he had the knife in his hand.  He looked at me¡­ he was crying and he looked at me.  I asked him what he was doing, and he just sobbed.  He said he was following orders.  Those words¡­ they haunt me.  He kept saying it and he was crying.  Following orders.  I had to follow orders.  He just kept saying it.  I asked him what he was doing and he said he was just following orders.  Then¡­"

    She wiped the tears from her cheeks.

    "That''s when¡­"

    She couldn''t speak any more for the tears.  I grasped for something I could comfort her with, and took to stroking her back beneath her hair.  "I''m sorry¡­"

    "Just listen!"

    I did.  I leaned in close to her and listened.

    "War changes a man.  Even before¡­" she wiped away more tears.  "He used to carry me on his shoulders, throw me in the air.  I''d sit on his lap and we would read together.  When he came back, he wasn''t him anymore.  He was¡­ changed.  He wouldn''t laugh, he wouldn''t talk.  He barely came out, and he¡­ he drank.  A lot.  I¡­ he¡­ I''m scared.  I''m terrified that you won''t come back, and then I''m terrified that you will come back but you won''t be Caleb anymore."

    I didn''t know what else to do so I embraced her.  I set my arms about her body and held her close.  Then, as surely as the storm carries rain, we brought our lips together and kissed.  I felt her hand behind my neck and the pull of desire to reach over to her body, but I couldn''t.  I wanted to feel her.  Be one with her, but I couldn¡¯t.  I pulled apart.

    "I heard," she whispered, "that skinny girls¡­ feel better."

    "What do you mean?"

    "Well I don''t know, obviously, because I''m not a man, but I heard.  I heard that we''re¡­ tighter¡­ maybe you''d like it."

    Thoughts of Sarina shot through my skull and I pulled away from her.  My heart dreaded what I had to say, though I would have to force the words out no less.  "Um¡­ Wen¡­ I''m so sorry.  It''s¡­ it''s just not you.  I''m sorry."

    Her face froze.  Then, without a word she stood and ran out of the door.  I got up and looked around the corner for her, only to catch a flash of her dress billowing behind her.

    "Wen!" I called out.  Nothing.  That was the last I saw of her.

    The expression on her face broke my heart, and it hurt to see her look at me that way.  I needed a moment, so I stared at the wall until my room went dark leaving only the ambient light from the distant hearth coming in from the doorway.

    It was quiet.

    I set about in my mind to think that perhaps Sarina was still in the dining hall, but when I got there all I found were a few stray cups and the faint glow of embers popping every few minutes.

    I figured she must have gone to bed, so I made my way down the hall and knocked on her door ever so gently.  I was afraid I''d awaken her if she''d gone to sleep.  Then the door opened and she stood before me wearing a silk nightgown with lace trim that hugged her lean, athletic figure perfectly and a hem that hung barely enough to cover anything.  Her legs, her thighs looked phenomenal, and I fought hard to bring my eyes from her breasts poking out from beneath the garment.  I could scarcely catch my breath.

    "You look absolutely beautiful."

    She smiled and took my hand, and led me into her bedroom.  She''d had a candelabra lit with a half-dozen candles casting enough light to sate my addiction to her sublime figure.  She then directed me to sit on the bed, and I watched her back side as she closed the door and secured the dead bolt.  Then she turned around.  "You said I look beautiful."

    "Yeah."

    "What is that in crude-man-speak?"

    She always made me laugh.  "Your legs look fucking delicious.  Make me want to get between them and lick you clean."

    She smiled.  "Sounds like fun.  Anything else?"

    "Your breasts¡­"

    "Breasts?  What''s that?"

    "Tits, sorry.  So perky.  They''re hypnotic."

    "What do you want to do with them?"

    "Rub my face in them.  Bite down on your nipples and suck on them for hours.  And I love the muscles in your thighs, excites me¡­"

    She looked down at her legs.

    "... Your gorgeous¡­ toned thighs."

    "Are you excited?"

    "I am excited.  Just looking at you gets me excited."

    "Do you envision me lifting up the hem of my nightgown?"

    That got my attention.  "Mm-hmm."

    "Yeah?"  And she toyed with it.  Her fingers, flitting about, tugging at both sides she pulled it taut over her legs, only to release and pass her fingers in front, beneath the hem.  I couldn''t stop breathing hard over her.  "You want to see?"

    "I do."

    "I''ve got nothing on under here."  And she kept playing, teasing my eyes with it.

    "Can we do an experiment?"

    She broke out laughing at that remark.  "The only experiment we''ve got left is for you to enter me."

    I lost all my words.

    "After you said what you said in the belfry I couldn''t stop thinking about it."  She kept at it.  I stood mesmerized by the way she tugged at the hem of her nightgown, flitting it about, lifting ever so slightly only to let go.  My eyes were glued.  She knew exactly how to excite me, and she was doing it.  My heart thundered wild.

    "Mmmmm," she moaned.  "I know, chastity, pagan traditions, whatever.  I just wanted to, nothing more.  Then you asked me in the garden, I can''t begin to tell you how excited that got me.  I thought about what it would feel like to make love to you; I was even touching myself to the thought of it right when Talys came to the door and told me she saw you kissing Guenevieve.  Just a moment ago."

    Oh.  That.  "I, uh¡­"

    "Some things don''t change, do they?"

    "I told Guenevieve¡­"

    ¡°I don¡¯t care.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t?¡±

    ¡°No.  I don¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°So¡­¡±

    ¡°I want you to go to her.  Ask her for Naveris.  Ask Talys.  Ask anyone else.  I don¡¯t care.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s you I want!¡±

    ¡°You can¡¯t have me.  We¡¯re just friends, and that¡¯s a pagan tradition anyway.¡±

    ¡°But¡­¡±

    ¡°Please go.¡±

 Drunk

    Geraln glared at me.  The morning sunlight cast him in orange highlights, accentuating the bruises on his face, dark black smudges beneath his skin along his nose and cheek.  He frowned through a swollen lip, then shook his head and turned down the road without a word to me.

    I¡¯d be spending a week on the road with him and Davod.

    Davod stood, wrapped up with Runya in an embrace.  She stood on a large boulder and reached her arms up over his shoulders to wrap around his neck and kiss him on the lips.  The two of them shared muted giggles, sweet moments of remembrance with his hand splayed out over her arse before he pulled away towards the road, only for her to tug that bloated buffoon back to her for one more kiss.

    As for me, I lowered my cheek into Sarina¡¯s hair, feeling for the last time those soft, tiny curls in my skin as she wrapped her arms around me.  She didn¡¯t press.  She used to press her whole body into mine, enfolding me into her and making us one.

    I¡¯d ruined that.

    It was a friendly hug, one that ended with her setting those black eyes at me devoid of the longing I¡¯d longed for.  ¡°Goodbye, Caleb.¡±

    I didn¡¯t want to tear away.  I wanted to tell her I was sorry, to make her understand.  ¡°I¡¯ll come back.  Things will be different.¡±

    She gave a cursory smile.  ¡°Don¡¯t wait for me.¡±

    ¡°But¡­¡±

    ¡°I know you, Caleb; you¡¯ve been a brother to me and I¡¯ve known you my whole life.  You¡¯re going to ¡®behave yourself¡¯ for a little while, then you¡¯ll get distracted.¡±

    ¡°I won¡¯t!  I promise!¡±

    She smirked.  ¡°You will.  And stop acting like you made a mistake.¡±

    ¡°But, I did!  It was a mistake!¡±

    ¡°No.¡±  She rested her hand on my cheek.  ¡°God made you exactly as you were meant to be, and there¡¯s a girl out there who¡¯ll grab your attention so well that you can¡¯t even see any other.  I love you so much.  You have given me so much more than words can say, shown me so much more than you can know.  You will always hold a special place in my heart, but I cannot be the sun in your sky.  I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    I fought back a tear, then another.  A third one escaped my grasp, and the weight of whatever war was going on in the world suddenly meant nothing to me.  ¡°If God wills it,¡± I said, ¡°we will be together.¡±

    She smiled and looked down.  ¡°I¡¯m not waiting for you.¡±

    ¡°But¡­¡±

    She returned her gaze to me.  ¡°It would break my heart if you wait for me.¡±

    ¡°If God wills it¡­¡± words escaped me, drained out from my eyes.

    Sarina took one last hug from me and said it.  ¡°Goodbye, Caleb.¡±

    With that, I took in the last remnant of mountain lily oil she liked to put in her hair, ripped my attention from her, and turned down the road.  I didn¡¯t get a few steps before I heard rapid footfalls brushing through the grass behind me.  I turned around in time for the blur of little Teryn to throw her arms about me and squeeze me tight.  I embraced her in turn while she pleaded, ¡°I don¡¯t want you to go!  Everyone else is so mean to me!¡±

    After a full minute, I crouched down low so as to look into her watery eyes¡ªhard to believe she¡¯d gotten so tall that I¡¯d be looking up from here.  ¡°Hey!¡±

    She wiped her cheeks and sniffled as she looked at me.

    ¡°Can you do something for me while I¡¯m gone?¡±

    She nodded.

    ¡°I need you to look after the little ones.  Make sure they¡¯re doing their lessons every day, and don¡¯t let them skip out on their chores all the time.  Just sometimes.  Look out for them the same way Sarina and I look out for you.  Can you do that for me?¡±

    Teryn sobbed, then tried to nod again as she wiped away more tears.  ¡°I don¡¯t want you to go!¡±

    That hurt.  ¡°I don¡¯t want me to go, either, but sometimes we have to do things we don¡¯t want to do.  Come on.¡±

    I stood and took her hand, and led her over to where Sarina gazed at me with a warm smile.

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°Nothing,¡± she laughed.  ¡°Come Teryn,¡± she said, ¡°let¡¯s go braid some pretties into your hair.¡±

    As they walked off, Teryn glanced back at me, turning more than most so as to see me with her good eye and continued to sniffle.  Sarina glanced back once more before rounding the corner of the church just as I was passing my eyes up and down her backside one last time.  ¡°I saw that!¡±

    With that they disappeared, and Teryn¡¯s words echoed deep within my soul.  I turned and made my way towards the bridge at the center of Gath, towards the path I was to follow.

    Davod and Geraln had long since set about down the hill and were near the end of the village where the beige cobbled street gave way to the muddy road leading us south.  I caught up with them at the Flaming Wyvern where Dariana stood talking with them.  The morning sun bathed her sandy-green hair in yellow light and she ushered me in for a hug, still wearing a simple cotton nightgown stained from years of wear.

    At length, she pulled her body away and held onto my hands, fixing her bright green eyes up into mine.  ¡°Take care,¡± she said.  ¡°It would break my heart if I lost any one of you three idiots.¡±

    Davod laughed.  ¡°Such a kind thing to say.¡±

    She smiled, then turned to Geraln, who hadn¡¯t removed his eyes from her once.  ¡°Go on, then.  Go¡­ kill your enemy or¡­ whatever.¡±

    He responded, ¡°We¡¯ll do a proper burning, looting, raping, and pillaging.  Don¡¯t worry.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t rape anyone.¡±

    ¡°OK.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m serious,¡± she passed her eyes one by one to each of us.  ¡°I know what men do when they go off to war.  If any one of you does that, I¡¯ll carve you up, eat you, shit you out, then grow a tree out of your shit, chop it down and burn it to the ground.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a bit¡­¡±

    ¡°... Then I¡¯ll piss on the ashes and salt the ground to make sure nothing ever grows from you.  I¡¯m fucking serious.¡±  She pointed her finger at each of us in turn.  ¡°Don¡¯t rape anyone.  Don¡¯t do anything like that.  You hear me?¡±

    ¡°We won¡¯t,¡± Davod assured her.

    Geraln wasn¡¯t finished joking, though.  ¡°Not even a little bit?¡±

    She stepped over to slap him, but he dodged out of her way.  ¡°I¡¯m warning you!¡±

    ¡°All right, all right,¡± he conceded.  That made me smile.  Then he caught a glimpse of me again and turned away, dropping his playful self completely.

    Dariana turned back to me.  ¡°I know you won¡¯t.¡±

    I shrugged.

    ¡°Go on, now,¡± she said, ¡°and please come back, all of you.¡±  Then she swatted my arse as we headed out.

    And that was the end of Gath.  Dariana stood at the doorway to her tavern and watched as Davod, Geraln and myself took the road away from the only home we knew.  I turned round to see the top of her head peeking over the dirt road watching until the very last as we descended into the forest gully.  The trees were small at this part of the road, a young forest just one generation removed from having been harvested, but tall enough to block the morning sun while yielding to the blue sky above.

    Davod¡¯s voice cut through the chorus of birds singing over the accompaniment of wind in the trees.  ¡°I know you¡¯re not going to wear that chain mail all the way to Carthia.¡±

    I answered him.  ¡°I can¡¯t figure if that was supposed to be a question.¡±

    ¡°Why are you wearing that armor?¡±

    ¡°Because it¡¯s heavy.  If I put it in my pack, I¡¯ll strain my shoulders.  If I wear it, I spread the weight around.¡±

    Geraln shook his head and spat out, ¡°stupid.¡±

    Davod looked at him, but didn¡¯t address the word.  He turned back to me.  ¡°Has it started pinching your skin yet?¡±

    ¡°Is it supposed to?¡±

    ¡°Look, man, I was raised by a smith.  You understand what I¡¯m saying?¡±

    It took me a minute.  ¡°You¡¯re saying I should pack it up.¡±

    ¡°Nah, man.  Go ahead and wear it.  Then every night, you¡¯ll get to spend an hour cleaning the sweat off and oiling it up unless you want it to rust before someone tries to stab you.  Not to mention eight days of that heavy pack over your shoulders, those rings are going to dig into your skin something fierce.  But, it¡¯s up to you.¡±

    I could hear Geraln murmur under his breath, ¡°fucking idiot.¡±

    I stopped, while the two of them kept walking.  I took off my pack, took off my armor, and carefully folded it into my pack.  By the time that was done, the two of them had gone far ahead of me.

    Off to my right, a small dirt trail led into some heavy underbrush, a small enough hole for a deer to fit through.  As I descended further, the sound of rushing water began to overpower the birds in the trees, and a cool breeze met my face.  Off to my left, a giant oak had been left alone while a modest grove of diamond trees paid tribute to its overpowering branches.  There was a cut branch from one that had previously loomed over the road too low to allow a cart to pass, and the wound had grown gnarled with splotches of wood to where one could hardly see the smooth remnant of a saw cut.

    Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

    Further down one could barely see the remnant of the old shack Doren the Hermit once called home, the same man who once tried to get a little too friendly with Guenevieve when she was only ten.  The roof had caved in and the walls were torn apart by vines.  What stood was an old stone chimney that was covered in bright green moss.  A bird flew into it, and I kept walking.

    He¡¯d said a thing to Sarina once, too, something not worth repeating.

    The symphony of rushing water crescendoed as I reached the bridge Hakon built.  All of us, really, but while Ryoan and Tor were busy sword-fighting with sticks they¡¯d found, Davod and I helped set stones in place.  It seemed stronger than it had the day we finished it¡ªa wide, stone masterpiece that stood a relic meant to outlast him and become a permanent fixture of the landscape for time immemorial, just like the carved totem that matched the one outside the Flaming Wyvern with the falcon sitting atop the mountain goat with its wings spread wide.

    I caught a glimpse of my travel companions up ahead as the road turned left and followed the hill as it climbed through pine and eupin trees standing as tall toothpicks with a canopy of needled branches overhead.  Up and up the road went until I found Geraln sitting on a section of a giant boulder split in two with a young diamond tree growing from the crack and whorling its roots all over the pieces like some greedy miser.

    "... I''m just saying," he was talking to Davod, "it''s got uses."

    "I¡¯m fine without it."

    "What''s going on?" I asked.

    Geraln turned to face me; his chubby cheeks were flush.  "I wasn''t talking to you."

    With that, he stood up, grabbed this pack, and faced Davod.  "I''m good.  You ready?"

    With that, we set off again.  The packed-dirt road meandered around the side of a mountain on the left, with trees climbing up beyond where eyes were permitted to go.  To the right a small, flat plain filled with grass that hosted a noisy creek, beyond which the ground rose up once more untold distances with snow-capped rocky saw blades at the horizon.

    The two of them walked ahead, while I stayed several steps behind.  I could scarcely hear the topic of conversation, but whenever the wind died down I could make it out.  Unwittingly, I found myself walking a little faster so as to insert my thoughts into the conversation.

    Geraln was talking about economics.  ¡°... no, no, not the most wealth.  We¡¯ve got the highest wealth per capita.¡±

    Davod answered.  ¡°What¡¯s the difference?¡±

    ¡°OK, look.  Golago is the wealthiest, but also the highest population.  Heralia has about half as many people, but if you look at wealth per capita, we have the highest in the empire.¡±

    ¡°So?¡±

    I answered him.  ¡°He means per person.¡±

    Geraln turned.  "Was I talking to you?"

    ¡°Well¡­¡±

    ¡°I wasn¡¯t talking to you.¡±

    Davod resumed their conversation.  ¡°Why don¡¯t you just say per person?  To me that makes more sense.  I don¡¯t see why you have to make up a new fancy word just to confuse everyone.¡±

    Geraln tried to continue.  ¡°What it means is that if you take the wealth of the entire duchy and spread it out evenly so that everyone has the same amount¡­¡±

    ¡°Why would you do that?¡±

    ¡°Well, you don¡¯t.¡±

    Davod answered with total confidence.  ¡°I hope not; that wouldn¡¯t be fair.  Not everyone works the same.  I don¡¯t see why the loafs should get an equal share as those who work hard.¡±

    Geraln shook his head incredulously.  ¡°They don¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°But you just said you take the wealth and spread it out so that everyone gets the same amount.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a hypothetical, Davod!  You don¡¯t actually do that!¡±

    ¡°Well what¡¯s the point of planning to do that if you never intend on doing it then?¡±

    ¡°No one¡¯s planning on doing it!¡±

    ¡°Well then why consider it?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not¡­¡±  Geraln shook his head in frustration.

    I tried to explain.  ¡°It¡¯s just a number.  It helps to understand the health of the economy, like taking a pulse.¡±

    Geraln turned around and glared at me again.  ¡°You¡¯re still here?¡±

    I turned and looked off to the side of the road as it twisted through the woods.  The trees grew more and more ancient, with thick, gnarly trunks and branches untended, growing the way they willed without the undue influence of men to chop at them.  Above, the forest canopy cast such a shadow on the floor that there was scarcely any underbrush.

    ¡°I¡¯m just saying,¡± Geraln continued.  ¡°The numbers tell us how we¡¯re doing.  Overall wealth is one, taken with population you have the wealth per capita, and then you have the mean split.¡±

    ¡°The what?¡±  Davod still walked ahead of me and so his face was forward, but I could still hear the muted laughter in his voice.

    ¡°It¡¯s the proportional difference between the mean and the median wealth of the duchy.  We use it to get an idea of the relative skew of the data.¡±

    Davod was sincerely confused.  ¡°The what-what with the what?¡±

    I had to stifle a laugh at that.  Geraln turned and glared at me for a moment, then turned back to his explanation.  ¡°OK, so¡­ let¡¯s say you have a kingdom with only three people in it.  Two people each have a hundred kren, and the third one has twenty-eight-hundred.¡±

    ¡°What kind of kingdom is that?¡± Davod laughed.

    ¡°It¡¯s an imaginary one used to illustrate a concept, nothing more.  Now suppose¡­¡±

    Davod broke out laughing.  ¡°Just give it up, man.  I¡¯m not gonna understand it no matter what you say.¡±

    ¡°Davod, this is important!¡± Geraln pleaded.

    ¡°Look, man.  I work in a foundry; I smith metal.  I don¡¯t need to know all that fancy stuff.¡±

    ¡°But¡­¡±

    ¡°How is it practical?  Tell me that.¡±

    Geraln had to take a moment to consider that question.  ¡°The Duke!  The Duke of Heralia has people who look at the numbers like these and uses that to drive decisions.  Those decisions affect all of us.¡±

    ¡°And you think people like us are ever going to be in a position to make decisions on that level?¡±

    ¡°Well¡­¡±

    Davod turned to me for a moment.  ¡°Do you understand any of this nonsense?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m the one who helped him study for the knowledge tourney in the capital last winter.¡±

    ¡°Right, but¡­¡±

    I tried to explain.  ¡°If the split is two, that says the mean is twice the median.  A number like that says all the money is hoarded by a couple of rich assholes.  It¡¯s not robust because without a healthy working class any little shock, like a plague or whatever, is amplified by¡­¡±

    ¡°Well obviously if there¡¯s a plague they won¡¯t be very healthy; I don¡¯t see what that has to do with the economy.¡±

    I laughed at that.

    ¡°OK, Davod, look,¡± Geraln tried again.  ¡°Poor region, plague, nobody can afford medicine, no doctors, everybody dies.  There¡¯s not enough seed capital to regrow the economy¡­¡±

    ¡°Why would you need to regrow the economy if everybody dies?  Seems to me there won¡¯t be no need for an economy after that.¡±  Davod just turned to him with a great big grin across his face.

    ¡°You¡¯re joking.  Please tell me you¡¯re joking!¡±

    Davod slapped his shoulder.  ¡°Look, man.  I don¡¯t need to know any of this.  You might, sure.  You was always the smartest of all of us, especially that runt behind us.¡±  He turned and shot a quick glance at me.  ¡°I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll end up in service to a powerful lord somewhere, and you¡¯ll be in a position to do all the good stuff you want to do with the fancy numbers.  As for me, I know my path and I¡¯m happy with it.  I¡¯m gonna smith, same as my dad, then go home and make ten babies with Runya, grow old in the mountains of Gath while I sit back with a mug of ale and watch the children weasel their way out of some sort of mischief.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s it?¡± Geraln inquired.  ¡°That¡¯s the limit of your ambitions?¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Davod answered without the slightest hesitation.  ¡°That sounds like a good life to me.  If the gods allow it, I¡¯ll take it no question.¡±

    Geraln answered, ¡°not me, man.  I want to make a difference.¡±

    ¡°What are you going to do?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know yet.  Maybe¡­ I¡¯ve always had this idea that maybe I could study law and go to Golago, make a case for ending slavery throughout the whole empire.¡±

    ¡°That would be really good,¡± I said.

    Geraln shot a quick glare at me.  ¡°I wasn¡¯t talking to you before, and I¡¯m not talking to you now.  Can you please butt out?¡±

    I shrugged, but then Davod asked me, ¡°what about you?  Where you going if we survive this war?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know.  I pray that God will show me the way I¡¯m to go, and that I¡¯ll be able to hear Him when He calls me.¡±

    Geraln turned to the side of the road and spat.  ¡°Fuking traitor.  Born Herali, doesn¡¯t believe in his own gods.¡±

    ¡°I was raised in that church.¡±

    ¡°We all know that, man.¡±

    ¡°Listen, man, Falcon didn¡¯t feed me, didn¡¯t clothe me, and didn¡¯t give me a place to sleep at night.  None of your gods did.  Father Yewan and Mother Searnie gave me all that and taught me my lessons, too.¡±

    ¡°And some devout shit you turned out to be!¡± Geraln continued.  ¡°Name one girl in the whole barony¡­ in the whole county you didn¡¯t fuck around with!¡±

    ¡°I never went all the way.¡±

    Geraln was incredulous.  ¡°Like that matters, man!  You keep playing around the hole, sooner or later you¡¯re going to fall in.¡±

    Davod turned to face him directly.  ¡°I thought you said you wasn¡¯t talking to him?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not!¡± he protested.  ¡°I¡¯m just saying, he knows all that idiotic Goloagi scripture and what good is it if he still goes around kissing every damned girl he sees?  Oh, wait, that¡¯s perfectly fine because he doesn¡¯t go all the way.  Just¡­ you know¡­ most of the way.  And then he wonders why they get so pissy at him.¡±  He then turned back to me.  ¡°Like seriously, man, why would Sarina ever warm to you when you and Guenevieve are out walking around the courtyard naked together?¡±

    ¡°I told you.  Teryn took our clothes.¡±

    Davod smirked.  ¡°Did you explain why you were naked with her in the hot bath to begin with?¡±

    ¡°Teryn took her clothes, and so I went to bring her a robe.  She invited me in, then Teryn came back and took mine.  Nothing happened.¡±

    The two of them looked at one another and laughed.  Then Davod turned back to me.  ¡°Didn¡¯t work, did it?¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s that supposed to mean?¡±

    Geraln answered.  ¡°How long did it take you to convince Sarina you were serious about her after that?  And, did she actually start to fall for your bullshit before you were kissing Talys by the pool with everyone, including Sarina, seeing your dick sticking out?¡±

    It took me a moment to respond.  ¡°I never lied to her.¡±

    Geraln stopped altogether and pointed a finger at me.  ¡°You lied to Talys.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°Fucking what to I mean!  You told Talys you wanted her to be your Naveris!  Why did you fucking lie to her like that?¡±

    ¡°Because I was drunk.¡±

    Geraln stood and studied my face for a moment.  He had a line of dried blood running down across his lower lip and he clenched his jaw as his eyelid twitched.  It was Davod who broke the silence.  ¡°We was all a bit drunk, wasn¡¯t we?¡±

    Geraln stood and stared.  I stood and stared.  I hadn¡¯t known if he¡¯d have been willing to accept that meaningless explanation.  The audacity of the word, the insult, the immediacy of the moment, all of it could be washed away with a simple explanation.  I was drunk.  He was drunk.  And with that, all would be well.  Rather, Geraln stood with a lock of dark hair drifting lazily down framing his round face in earnest, and he refused to break.

    ¡°We was all drunk,¡± Davod insisted, a little more forcefully this time.

    I shook my head.  ¡°I had way too much last night.  I don¡¯t know about you¡­¡±

    Images of wine dribbling down his cheeks refreshed themselves in my mind¡¯s eye, and this man snapping his fingers at her, the hate that welled up inside me as he shot such derision in her direction only to swallow his wine with gross contempt only to ask¡­ demand¡­ his cup be filled with more and more hate as the evening wore on.

    He clearly wasn¡¯t satisfied.  Davod then slapped his arm.  ¡°You!¡±

    Geraln broke from his spell and looked at him.  ¡°What?  I¡¯m not willing to¡­¡±

    ¡°You petulant shit.  Did you even hear what you said about Sarina last night?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t see what that has to¡­¡±

    Davod shouted at him.  ¡°She¡¯s one of ours, man!  I don¡¯t give a rat¡¯s shit whoever wherever her people came from or what color her skin is; she¡¯s one of ours.  We¡¯re her people.  She grew up with us and she¡¯s one of us.  That girl never said anything unkind to you for you to cut into her like that?  I should have got my own licks in, you ungrateful pest.¡±

    Geraln stood still, staring at him with a blank expression.  His chest lifted up and down as the air wheezed through his nose.

    Davod then took a deep breath and reiterated his point.  ¡°I think we all had too much to drink last night.  Wouldn¡¯t you say?¡±

    At length, Geraln let out a deep breath and looked towards his feet.  ¡°Yeah, I don¡¯t usually drink that much.  I was pretty out of it.¡±

    ¡°See?¡± Davod slapped both of us on our shoulders and kept walking.

    With that concession, Geraln smiled, even broke out laughing at the absurdity of the situation.  He then shook his head and almost laughed, ¡°I was so drunk, man!¡±

    I couldn¡¯t help but to laugh it off as well.

 The Gods

    Ahead of us, the road was blocked by some large boulders that had fallen from the hillside.  Davod and Geraln stepped around the pile, but I stooped low to pick up a few rocks and rolled them off to the right and into the ravine.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡± Davod stopped to ask.  His giant, meaty figure eclipsed a nearby tree.

    ¡°This road leads to Gath, right?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, so?¡± Geraln said.  He was average height, but next to Davod he was short and plump.

    ¡°Well, suppose there¡¯s a merchant heading towards Gath with a cart of goods.  They won¡¯t be able to go past these rocks.¡±

    Davod dropped his pack and stooped down on the opposite side, lifting up another giant rock and rolling it off.  It crunched a few twigs as it tumbled.

    Geraln protested, ¡°why don¡¯t they clear the way themselves?¡±

    ¡°What if it¡¯s an old man who¡¯s not strong enough?  We can do it right now.¡±

    I dropped my pack and everything else I could lose to prepare for the work that lay ahead.  Davod grabbed a few smaller rocks and launched them far into the ravine.  It was quite a few seconds before we heard rocks crashing against other rocks amid the steady chorus of water somewhere below.

    ¡°Nah,¡± I said.  ¡°Try and keep them right over here, off the side.  The mud seeps into the cracks as it rains, and that¡¯ll reinforce the road, keep it from collapsing.  Help me with this big one.¡±

    And a giant boulder it was.  Between Davod and myself, straining every muscle in my body, we managed to roll it off the roadway.  It fell a little further than I''d hoped and rolled down the hill until it thudded against a large tree.

    Geraln protested further, ¡°I don¡¯t understand why we have to do this.¡±

    Davod answered him.  ¡°Look, man.  All your ramblings about our glorious economy, this road brings travelers into Gath and that helps our economy.  Our families.  Our home.  Come on, then.¡±

    Davod and I together got behind a large boulder and wrestled it out of place, letting it fall over and roll down the side of the road.  That one left my arms burning, and by this time my fingers were covered in scratches and dirt, promising to callous over in the coming hours.  I took a break by tossing down some of the smaller ones.

    Geraln continued to talk.  "Why don''t we let the people back home take care of this?"

    "Because we''re here," I said.

    "So?"

    My hands were tired from working on the pile, and I''d broken a sweat.  Still there were more.  I looked at Davod, who''d taken on the same yet continued to lift, hoist, and roll rocks from the roadway.  "You could help," he snapped at Geraln.

    I struggled with a large boulder that was blocking an even bigger one, as it had snagged on a smaller rock beneath it.  I pushed, and every time it felt as if it would give way, it refused.  Davod came over and pushed his meaty hands in my way, and gave it a solid yank.  Still it refused to budge.  I then counted from three, and with the both of us we managed to dislodge the thing and send it down the ravine.  It rolled and bounced, crunching through low bushes until it thudded against a tree.

    I looked up at him.  "That was a deeply satisfying sound."

    He laughed, then tried to repeat it as best he could.  ¡°Bunk!¡±

    We both laughed at that, then we each tossed away some more of the smaller ones while Geraln continued to watch.  Then there was a big one.  One giant boulder had been hidden beneath the rest, and it didn''t seem as though we''d be able to dislodge the thing.  For though we tried, it didn''t budge, not even a little.

    "Look," Geraln said, "we did enough.  Let''s just leave it, alright?"

    "Or you could help," Davod snapped.

    "I can''t move that damn thing!"

    "You could try."

    "Let Marsans and Korel get a lever up here and remove it themselves."

    "Go get one, then."

    "I still don''t see why this is our responsibility."

    Davod had had enough.  "You know what your problem is, you fat fuck?  You''re entitled.  You think you''re entitled to Talys, and you never stop to think that maybe, just maybe she''s a human being with her own wants, and she don''t want you because you''re fucking entitled."

    "Why are you¡­"

    "Because I''m sick and tired of your bullshit, man!  When Caleb climbs out of the water with his muddy clothes clinging to his skin, girls notice.  Meanwhile you run off to eat all the mini-cakes Guenevieve''s mum made for all of us.  Then you get all pissy because you can¡¯t figure out why Talys likes him and not you.¡±

    ¡°But¡­¡±

    ¡°Can¡¯t even lift a few rocks.  You book-smart fucking worm!  You''re so fond of reminding everyone how smart you are, figure out a way to get this boulder out the road."

    Geraln stood and blinked; he wasn''t expecting Davod to unload on him like that.  I, myself, was exhausted.  No less, we''d committed to moving the thing, so I took a moment to look over the rock and see if an idea presented itself.

    Then it came to me.  "This whole side is nice and round; it should roll easy if we can just get it going on this side.  What if we dig out under it?  Let it drop, and use that momentum to push it over."

    Davod nodded and began to scrape away at the road beneath it.

    That''s when Geraln finally spoke.  "We can use that branch as a lever, and this other rock as a fulcrum.  It''s probably not strong enough by itself, but if we time it right that might be enough."

    With that, he wandered over to a large broken branch from a tree that had taken damage from the rock slide and brought it over.  He then studied the boulder and carefully placed the instrument at the appropriate spot.  With the way prepared, we took a moment to plan which angles Davod and I would push from.

    "We have to push hard as it''s falling over, or we lose momentum," I said.

    Davod nodded.  We both turned to Geraln who nodded his understanding of the plan.

    And so we did it.  With Geraln lifting and Davod and I pushing, we managed to tip the thing over.  As planned, we pushed hard before it hit, but it wasn''t quite enough.  I could feel the weight of it wanting to fall back down on our side, and if we''d let go it would do exactly that.  Yet no matter how hard I pushed, I couldn''t get it over the corner. I looked at Davod, whose eyes were closed and he grunted as he strained.  My muscles were failing me, and I was about to give up when a new force entered the equation.  Geraln had shoved the branch deep under the thing and kicked at the fulcrum to push it lower, and the whole thing rocked over to its side and rolled over and down the hill, off the roadway.

    We shared a smile, a laugh, and exhausted deep breaths among us. The way was clear but for a few small rocks and a deep rut that needed to be repacked, and there was a consensus among us to let the good people of Gath finish that part up.

    Davod took out his canteen to wash the dirt from his hands, then doused his face with the rest.  There was a waterfall up ahead where we were able to wash up and change, and from there we continued on.

    After some hours, the road surrendered to a high, flat dome of a plain with a smooth grassy knoll the center of which hosted the village of Treanet.  Around this on three sides, the mountains stretched up into the sky like giant tombstones, earning the name graveyard of the gods.  To the west, the hill overlooked a lush valley of forest, covered in mist.  Some distance beyond that would be the coastal villages of Heralia.

    As for Treanet, a collection of gray stone houses clustered together amid the stench of cattle as they grazed on oats and barley, staring at us as we walked by.  Then, at the entrance of the village stood a forty-foot totem, freshly painted, the cougar graced the pinnacle, its mouth agape as if to roar out in warning to all who dared to cross his domain.

    From an open doorway, a figure appeared like a blur of white fabric billowing in the wind and started to run across the dirt towards us.  It was Melyce.  Her long, straight hair danced behind her as she ran, like a green shade of black as it waved.  Her olive-green skin glowed in the mid-afternoon sun, and as she approached she jumped up on me, wrapping her legs around my hips and throwing her arms about my shoulders.  I set my arms under her to support her weight, and she devoured my lips.

    Sarina.  I shouldn''t have let Melyce kiss me.

    After a moment¡¯s greeting, I turned away and set my arms down to my sides, allowing her to slide down onto her feet, where she kept her arms about me and tilted her head all the way back so as to lock her emerald-green eyes onto mine.  ¡°Hi!¡±

    ¡°Hi, Mel.¡±  The advent of adulthood had been kind to Melyce.  She was about average height for a girl, with generous hips and a supple body that felt delicious as she pressed into me.  Her hooded eyes, high cheeks and plush lips made it difficult to tear my gaze from her.

    The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    She hadn¡¯t so much as turned her attention to the simple truth that I''d traveled with two others, but rather spoke to me and me alone.  ¡°I¡¯ve missed you so much, my love!  Gods, look at you!¡± She took a moment to look me up and down with her fingers.  ¡°How do you get even more handsome every time I see you?  And what brings you to Treanet?¡±

    Her voice was rich, and smooth like velvet; I couldn¡¯t help but smile.  ¡°Is it hard to believe that I merely wanted to see you?¡±

    With that, she lifted up a finger and poked me in the center of my chest as hard as she could.  It actually hurt.  ¡°Fuck around with my emotions, and I¡¯ll make you wish you wasn¡¯t born, fool!  Tell me true!¡±

    ¡°We¡­¡± Davod began.

    Melyce cut him off before he could speak.  ¡°Wait.  Come in for lunch, then tell me.  OK?¡±

    Davod and Geraln managed to stride along as she took my hand and towed me back towards her house.  We climbed the short hill to her place, past a small coup where the chickens clucked out in greeting, and into a small shack of stones cemented together with a simple, wood-shingled roof.  Inside, one could see the wood frame holding it all together, and Melyce was busy setting pillows on the floor around a small, rough-hewn wooden table.  Then she''d gone to an iron stove upon which rested a cauldron, and portioned out a generous serving into each of four ceramic bowls.

    She then stood with a nervous expression on her face.  "Come and sit down?"

    We did.  I sat down first, while Davod took the seat to my left.  Geraln was about to sit at my right, when I presume he remembered he didn''t like me and chose the seat across the table instead.  Melyce took to my right and maneuvered her pillow so as to cozy her hip up with mine.  She was close, such that I had to try and eat with my left hand.

    As for the soup, the broth was water with some fat melted into it.  That hosted some hefty chunks of potatoes and carrots, shredded scraps of chicken, with dots of pearl barley swimming around the surface.  I took a sip.

    She spoke to Geraln first.  ¡°What happened to your face?  You look like you was in a fight.¡±

    He glanced up at me, then back down to his soup.  ¡°I slipped.  It rained yesterday, and when it does the cobbled street gets slippery.¡±

    ¡°Uh-huh,¡± she nodded as though sensing right through him.  ¡°How¡¯s the soup?¡±

    ¡°You want me to be honest?¡± he said.

    ¡°Of course.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s, uh¡­ you¡¯ve done better.  Could use a roux, some chopped parsley, caramelized onions, maybe a pint of stout to give it some kick, and yeah, desperately cries out for some salt.

    "Mmm," she nodded.  "I''m actually all out of salt at the moment.  You know, it''s not even a money situation, it''s just¡­ so I went to the market up in Gravis the other day and I had a list of everything I needed.  But I slipped along the way and I lost it.  No problem, I said, I can remember.  So I get there, oh my goodness there was a merchant from Saen there, had a spice mix soooooo good!  Unbelievable, you''d absolutely love it.  Hold on¡­"

    She got up and went for the pantry, a wooden shelf fixed to the stone wall.  It was hard not to notice her round figure, but thoughts of Sarina rent my eyes from her.  There, she brought back a small burlap satchel and offered it to me.  I took one whiff and right away my senses lit up.  I could tell the hellroot¡ªwithout even tasting it my whole sinuses felt the burn.  But then, as the blast abated, a symphony of oregano, dmusu, and something¡­ else massaged my mind into sweet relaxation.

    Geraln took it up and with one sniff his head shot back.  "Gods, man!"

    Melyse''s eyes were wide with expectation, and she spoke through a warm smile.  "I told you, didn''t I?"

    "You did!  Damn!  You need to rub some meat in that and roast it on a spit."

    "That''s exactly what they do!"  She was excited.  "It takes on a whole different character when you cook it, too.  Anyway, like I was saying, I was there talking to my friend Dayane, you remember her, don''t you Davod?"

    Davod blushed and lowered his eyes with a smile.

    "And we just got to talking, we spent the whole day together catching up, you know.  Anyway I left in time to make it back before sundown and it wasn''t until I started unpacking all my bags when I realized I forgot about salt altogether.  Kind of an important thing to forget, you know?  Anyway, what is it that brings you boys out this way?  I forgot to ask earlier."

    She looked at me as she asked, but I turned to Davod.

    "We been called to arms," he said.

    In less than a second, Melyse''s face turned to stone and I could feel her trembling as she pressed into me.  "But¡­ you''re¡­ heading south."  Her voice shook with terror.  "Why are you heading south?"

    I told her, "we¡¯re supposed to go to a place called Carthia."

    "Gods!" she cried.  She covered her face in her hands and stood up, turned around, and stepped away from us entirely.  There, she set her hands on the wood plank that served as a countertop and wept.

    "Melyce?" I said.

    "WHY?"

    Davod shook his head and shrugged.  "I suppose they need men there and felt we were well suited¡­"

    "Shavod and Darius got called to Carthia last spring."

    "Shavod is in Carthia?" I spoke.

    "The letter came over the summer,¡± she continued to weep.   ¡°Both of them.  They¡¯re never coming home."

    The three of us needed a moment to take that in.  Those two boys were like far-away cousins¡ªevery few seasons we would gather to trade stories and dirty jokes, play capture the totem, and talk about how boring the grown-ups were while those same boring grown-ups busied themselves preparing feasts and decorations for the holidays.  Darius and Geraln used to quiz each other to see who knew more stuff while Shavod and I would take a boat through the rapids all the way to Zoinia only to get chased away for spending way too much time talking to Kraya¡¯s daughters.

    Geraln broke the silence, "did it say how they died?"

    Melyce wiped tears from her cheeks and sobbed.  "Battle.  You go off to war, you die in battle.  That''s how it works.  Oh, gods, please don''t go!"

    Davod huffed.  "We have a duty.  We''ll be alright; we take care of each other."

    With that, Melyce came back towards us and resumed the seat she had before, only this time draping an arm over my shoulders and bringing her face close to mine.  She spoke almost in a whisper.  "Put a baby in me."

    My two friends laughed, but she glued her emerald-green eyes to mine with the utmost sincerity.  Memories of the soft skin of her thighs in my cheeks titillated my mind, but this was something else entirely.  ¡°Melyce, I can¡¯t.  You know that.¡±

    A solemn tear meandered down her cheek as she pleaded with me.  ¡°This is different, Caleb.  You have to make an exception in times like this.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m chaste.  There are no exceptions.¡±

    ¡°Bullshit.  Who¡¯d you pick for Naveris?¡±

    Davod huffed, while I sought a suitable answer.  ¡°I¡­ actually didn¡¯t.¡±

    She pulled her face back in shock, then squinted up at me.  ¡°Guenevieve?¡±

    ¡°Eh¡­¡± I sought words appropriate, lest rumors find their way back home.  ¡°She might have been willing, I suppose, but remember I grew up in the church.  That¡¯s more of a pagan tradition.¡±

    ¡°Pagan!¡± she scoffed.  She passed her eyes about the table once more before coming back to me.  ¡°You look so far down your nose at our ancestral gods!¡±

    ¡°Well¡­¡±

    ¡°At your ancestral gods!¡±

    I took in a deep breath while Geraln smirked at me.  Melyce rather shook in her seat and rocked back and forth while studying my face immemorial.  Her lip quivered.  I thought she was about to shed another tear when instead she turned away from me completely.  ¡°Davod.  Put a baby in me.¡±

    He chuckled to himself and stood.  ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡±

    Melyce stood and took his hand, casting a cursory glare down at me as she led him off towards a pile of hides and woolen blankets assembled in the corner.  She spoke to Geraln, not to me.  ¡°You two gents mind stepping outside for a bit?¡±

    Geraln moved slowly and mumbled with his eyes wide.  ¡°Maybe I¡¯d like to put a baby in you.¡±

    She didn¡¯t answer, neither did she speak one more word to me.  I sat still, trying to work out exactly what had just happened, or what was clearly about to happen.

    Melyce cleared her throat audibly and stared as I continued to sit.  I looked up, then turned to Geraln whose whole body shook with unstifled laughter. Then, like some forlorn thing I rose and shuffled myself out of Melyce¡¯s house only to catch her reaching her hands behind Davod¡¯s neck and pulling him down to kiss her lips before closing the door on her for good.

    Outside, the midday sun cast a blinding glare that saturated the world, and Geraln and I glanced at one another while he broke out laughing.

    ¡°What so funny?¡±

    ¡°You, man!¡±  He pulled his hair from the sides of his face and slicked all of it behind him.

    ¡°I¡¯m trying to figure this out¡­ did what just happen¡­ did what I think just happened¡­ happen?¡±

    He laughed again.  ¡°You mean, did you just now do a Caleb again?  Yes.  You most certainly did.  No worries, man, you got some last night.¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± he smirked.

    I smiled.  ¡°Screwed up with four girls in two days.  I think that¡¯s a record.¡±

    He pulled his face back.  ¡°Huh?  What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°Well, I had three chances last night and blew all three, and now this.¡±

    ¡°Wait¡­ I thought you chose Talys last night?¡±

    ¡°I did.  I mean¡­ I told her that.  Then she saw me kissing Guenevieve.  I suppose she lost interest after that.¡±

    ¡°Why the bloody hell would you kiss Guenevieve if you picked Talys?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know, man.  I was drunk¡­ she was there¡­¡±

    He shook his head and smiled.  ¡°I can¡¯t fault you there; she did look fucking sexy last night.  Why didn¡¯t you just take her, then?¡±

    ¡°I told her I wanted Sarina.¡±

    He laughed again.  Then, from an open window Melyse''s rich voice drifted through the air, a calm exhalation.  ¡°Mmmmm¡­.¡±

    That soon gave way to more of those, and she¡¯d settled into a rhythm of moans, ¡°uh¡­ uh¡­ uh¡­ uh¡­¡±

    It felt as if a dagger was twisting around in my heart, and I had to step away.

    Geraln laughed.  ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡±

    ¡°Do I have to stand here and listen to this?¡±

    ¡°Uh¡­ uh¡­ uh¡­ uh¡­¡±

    Geraln couldn¡¯t help his amusement.  Between his smug grin, chuckling, he managed to eek out some words.  ¡°She did ask you first, man.¡±

    ¡°Uh¡­ uh¡­ uh¡­¡±

    I protested.  ¡°How is it I¡¯m the one that has this reputation with girls, he¡¯s in there not even twenty-four hours after pledging himself to Runya like it¡¯s nothing?¡±

    Geraln said nothing.  He merely continued to smile at me.

    ¡°Uh¡­ uh¡­ uh¡­ oh gods, fuck me¡­ oh yes, fuck me¡­ uh¡­ uhhh¡­ oh¡­ oh¡­¡±

    I sucked my teeth. I began to hear Davod grunting in concert with her.

    Geraln kept watching me, and though he tried, couldn¡¯t quite stifle his laughter.  ¡°That should have been you, man.¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t believe he treats Runya like that; she¡¯s a sweet girl.  She doesn¡¯t deserve this.¡±

    ¡°You going to run back to Gath and tell her?¡±

    ¡°Uhhuhuh¡­ uhhuhuh¡­ oh yes¡­ oh yes¡­ ohhhh gods yes¡­¡±

    I stepped away further.  Geraln shook his head and laughed at me further.  ¡°Let me ask you this¡­ why¡¯d you tell Guenevieve you picked Sarina when you picked Talys?¡±

    I didn¡¯t need to answer that question.  Moreover, I didn¡¯t need to stand there and continue to listen to what was going on between Davod and Melyce.  It hurt.  But, she¡¯d made her choice, and I¡¯d made mine, and that would of course be the way I''d get over it.

    It still hurt.

    There was a bridge that separated the clearing where the village of Treanet stood from the sharp rise in the mountainside, and it was there I chose to wait, far enough from Melyce¡¯s house that the murmuring of the brook drowned out the sound of fucking nearby.

    There, I sat down, closed my eyes, and felt the cool air on my face as I let out a prayer.

    Father, I would like to see Sarina again.  If it¡¯s your will, grant me this?  Please?

 Ulum

    The city of Ulum stretched across the valley below us; rows and rows of buildings four or even five stories high hugged narrow, cobbled streets that fanned out in all directions and rose or sank with the land.  To the east and to the west, the city continued for miles.  To the south, the jagged white teeth of the Terbulin ridge forbade us from Carthia but for a single narrow pass.

    ¡°How¡­ high¡­ are we?¡± Geraln sat on a large stone that rested in the shade of a sparse pine with drifts of dirty snow all about us, letting out white puffs of breath as he spoke.

    I answered.  ¡°I know that Ulum is about twelve-thousand feet, so we¡¯re probably about thirteen where we stand?¡±

    Davod stood leaning his hand against a pine tree; he couldn¡¯t stop gaping at the view below us.  Geraln shook his head and pushed out his words between labored breaths, ¡°what kind of¡­ lunatic¡­ would build¡­ a city up here?¡±

    That made me laugh.  ¡°Well, remember we have to go over that pass over there,¡± I pointed.  ¡°Just looking at it from here, that¡¯s got to be at least sixteen-thousand feet.  This is nothing.¡±

    Geraln looked at me with his eyes bulged wide, huffed out a few breaths, and then rubbed his face in his hands a bit.

    He didn¡¯t say anything, but I answered no less.  ¡°I say we rest the night in Ulum and set out in the morning.¡±

    Davod protested.  ¡°It¡¯s not even noon.  It looks like we can make it through the city in an hour; we should make it a good ways before nightfall.¡±

    ¡°Geraln needs time to get acclimated.  A day of rest for him, we¡¯re also going to need some supplies.  Dariana told me it would take about five days to breach the pass, and seeing it now for myself I believe her.  It looks like the road is well-maintained, but we¡¯re still going to need fuel, some extra food¡­¡±

    ¡°Why don¡¯t we just hunt for meat like we been doing?¡±

    ¡°Won¡¯t be anything up there.  Once we go beyond the treeline, we¡¯ll be lucky to find so much as a hare.¡±

    Davod reached into his purse, pulled out a few coins, and looked them over.  ¡°If I give you thirty-five kren, will that be enough?¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± I nodded.  ¡°Sure.¡±

    Geraln sat still with his eyes closed, rubbing the sides of his nose up to his eyes and back while Davod counted out the coins and handed them to me.

    ¡°Come on,¡± I said.  ¡°It should be a lot warmer down there.¡±

    So we set out.  The road hugged the side of a steep, rocky incline¡ªpacked dirt amid rocks and snowdrift at both sides mixed with craggy pines and small wildflowers with tiny purple blooms that filled the cold air with a sweetness like honey.  As we descended, the forest grew sparse and our view gave way to the imposing buildings of the city, with a few small shacks built into the steep sides of the cliff, worn with years of moss and half-torn apart while a plump old woman looked up from a wash basin and said nothing as we passed by.

    We continued, and the chill air took on a warm undertone as the bright sunlight uninterrupted by so much as a hint of cloud dominated the sky and made the whole valley rather comfortable.  The road took a sharp drop into some more shacks, before the outskirts surrendered to giant towers crowded together amid busy streets with throngs of people pushing their way through.

    As the narrow street descended further, sounds of all kinds filled our ears, from the calling of merchants, echoes of conversations long dissolved into a mass of sound.  Water splashed on stone, drops hit my face from a woman three stories up tossing out the wash, and some man behind us shouting curses at her only for her to accuse his mother of something horrid before disappearing into her window.  We muscled through another crowd of people gathered around a shop where the scent of fresh sour bread conquered all within its grasp.

    ¡°Gods, that smells good!¡± Geraln exclaimed.

    Davod smiled.  ¡°Yeah, but look at that line.  Let¡¯s get settled and come back.¡±

    ¡°Definitely,¡± I echoed.

    Another block down, the fresh bread surrendered to the odiferous call of shit piled onto a cart driven by an old man with sandy-green hair and light-green eyes as it passed by before us.  All around, people held their noses; some looked around and shared a laugh together while others couldn¡¯t mask their disgust.

    Most of the people we saw were like the three of us with the same olive-green skin, emerald-green eyes, and long, straight, dark-green hair though some cut it short.  A good handful of the people we saw were more like Talys, with skin a slight shade lighter and hair in loose curls.  Those men mostly wore their hair in a mass of curls atop their heads while the women would let it cascade down their backs in waves, all of them dressed in the kind of finery that precluded any useful labor.  Before us, a couple looked us up and down as they walked by and went into an open double-doorway.  The woman was a young Herali, probably the same age as Melyce, while the man was Goloagi and much older.  His curly hair had turned mostly gray, but his clothes were held together with fine silk threads and his polished brown shoes reflected the morning sun.  They walked by a Saeni doorman who stood at attention in a pressed uniform of whites and reds, sandy-green hair and light-green eyes with years written on his face.  He bowed low as they entered.

    As for Davod, his eyes bulged moreso than I¡¯d ever seen.  I don¡¯t think he managed to blink once.  Rather, he looked up at the tops of the buildings where stone gargoyles depicting the totem spirits graced every corner, at least five or six stories up atop buildings of stonework that boasted a largesse from ages past.  He turned to look down alleyways where teams of women with sandy-green hair and light-green eyes sat together at washbasins or hanging laundry on strings stretched across the narrow gap between towering buildings, or carrying large bundles of burlap sacks over their shoulders.  Out on the street, the masses of people would sometimes congeal into a muddle of dark-haired, fine-dressed citydwellers who would mostly ignore the three travelers in their midst but for the occasional look of derision cast our way.

    ¡°This place is crazy!¡± Davod exclaimed.  ¡°The people look so weird.¡±

    Geraln smiled and answered him, ¡°they probably think you look weird.¡±

    Davod didn¡¯t answer.  Four girls walked by before us.  Each of them had very light skin, alabaster white they were, with bright yellow hair and black eyes.  They looked the three of us up and down, then two of them made eye contact with me before looking away and giggling.

    Ahead of us, the narrow street opened up to an intersection centered by a round circle of carved stone about two feet high, with rough hewn rock that led up to the centerpiece, a brown carved stone statue of Falcon with his wings spread wide enough to rest in the shade and his head swooped down low enough to set one¡¯s canteen beneath the stream of fresh water that poured out from his beak.  Around the circle, at the head of each street that set forth from it was a totem about twenty feet high with all sorts of animal spirits, some of which I didn¡¯t recognize.

    As there was a throng of people waiting to fill their buckets, jars, flasks, and canteens, we sat down to rest a moment.

    ¡°Gods,¡± Davod still couldn¡¯t stop looking in every direction.  Something distracted him long enough for something else to distract him, which held his attention long enough for him to get distracted by something else.  ¡°Have you ever seen any place like this?¡±

    ¡°Kyoen is like this,¡± I said.  ¡°A little different, but crowded just the same.  It¡¯s bigger, though.¡±

    Geraln added his own.  ¡°Heralia City, too.  If I recall correctly, Ulum is home to about two-hundred-thousand people; Heralia City is one-point-three-million.  When we left the Duke¡¯s manse it was high noon; we¡¯d barely made it out of the city by nightfall.¡±

    ¡°It was like that when I left Kyoen,¡± I said.  ¡°Do you know how many people live there?¡±

    ¡°A lot.  Kyoen is on the coast, though, so it has that going for it.  I think it might be around one-point-two.¡±

    Davod shook his head in disbelief.  ¡°I can¡¯t even imagine that.¡±

    Then, as Davod took our canteens and got in line, Geraln saw something else.  ¡°Damn, dibs on righty.¡±

    I turned to see what he was looking at.  There, crouched at the foot of one of the totems beside a metal drain were three girls who couldn¡¯t have been more than sixteen.  Like Dariana back home, they had light-green eyes with skin a darker shade of olive-green than the three of us had.  Two of them boasted the same light sandy-green hair while the one on the left had a hint of bronze.  The one in the middle had her eyes closed and seemed out of it, as though she were half asleep while the other two hovered, locking her in an embrace.

    Righty, as he¡¯d called her, had soft cheeks and high eyebrows with large, doe eyes.  And, though she was dressed in rough rags of dirty, torn cotton, there was no hiding her bosom.

    ¡°Something¡¯s not right,¡± I said.

    ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    As we came up close it was even more apparent, as the girl in the middle had a pale color to her skin that didn¡¯t look natural, and her forehead was covered in droplets of sweat. The girl on the left, the one with the bronze hair, looked up with deep sadness in her eyes as we approached.  Dried tears and dirt had crusted over her wide, flat cheeks, and she seemed overall weak and defeated.

    ¡°Are you alright?¡± I said.

    This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

    Lefty and Righty glanced at one another and then looked up at me together, but it was Lefty who spoke.  ¡°You are speaking the Goloagi?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re both fluent,¡± Geraln¡¯s voice came from behind me.

    ¡°What happened?¡± I said.

    ¡°She was being hurt.¡±

    I knelt and tried to get a closer look.  ¡°May I see?¡±

    With that, the girl on the left looked at her friend, stroked her hair, then turned back to me.  ¡°You are being the doctor?¡±

    Geraln answered for me.  ¡°My man Caleb here apprenticed under the best doctor in the world at the church where he grew up.  I¡¯m Geraln.  What are your names?¡±

    ¡°I am naming Oasis.¡±  She pointed to Righty, ¡°she is naming Sage.¡±  Then she turned to her other friend, the one in the middle.  ¡°She is naming Dune.  Dune, pa-ish sha-as ¡®sto ko¡¯ane vu-ude.¡±

    Dune¡¯s eyes opened for a brief moment, long enough for her to blink a few times, only to lock them closed once more.

    ¡°Pa-ish!¡± she nudged her a second time.

    ¡°It¡¯s alright,¡± I said.  Then I reached out.  She¡¯d clutched her right arm close to her body, but her whole hand was limp.  I could see tucked beneath her shirt sleeve was a bandage loosely wrapped that had been white once upon a time but had now crusted over with dried blood and dirt and had a loose end dangling out.  Oasis made some room for me as I leaned in close to examine her.  There was a faint stench of rot, and there was way too much fluidity in her elbow¡ªthe bone was broken.

    ¡°How did this happen?¡± Geraln asked.

    His face was directed at Sage, but it was Oasis, Lefty, who answered.  ¡°We were hiking from the Saen.  We were wanting to see the Heralia because we never were seeing here.  She was falling.¡±

    ¡°We need to get her to a doctor,¡± I said.

    Oasis closed her eyes and shook her head.  ¡°We were trying it.  Three doctor were telling go away at us.¡±

    That shook me.  ¡°Why?¡±

    She looked away.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, nevermind.  What about the Daenma church?¡±

    Oasis sucked her teeth at that last word.  ¡°The church were saying we will praying for you and good luck.¡±

    I wrestled with my thoughts.  I couldn¡¯t grasp what these girls had been through, and I wanted to do whatever I could to make up for it, when Geraln rested his hand on my shoulder and spoke.  ¡°Right now, we need to get her someplace safe.  You stay here with them and let Davod know what¡¯s going on while I find a room.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll need lots of sunlight if you can,¡± I said.

    With that, his eyes explored Sage one last time before he walked off.  With him gone, with Davod standing in line to get some fresh water, my mind had a minute to take in all that had happened to these girls, and a rage welled up in my gut.  It wasn¡¯t fair.  It wasn¡¯t right.  Why would all three doctors turn them away?  Was it money?  The Baron of Gath gave the church something for every person who couldn¡¯t pay.  It wasn¡¯t much, but Ulum was the seat of a county, not a barony.  Surely they could have afforded it.

    As if it mattered, I hoped it was the money.  I knew people could be shits to each other, but the alternative gave me the urge to break something.

    It had to be the money.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡±  Davod¡¯s voice cut through my thoughts and leveled me to where I could see the horizon.

    ¡°This girl¡¯s named Dune,¡± I said.  ¡°She¡¯s hurt real bad.  She needs a doctor, but they¡¯re telling me three different doctors here refused to see her.  It¡¯s fucking bullshit.  It¡¯s not fair.  She should have got care several days ago and now because of that most likely she¡¯s going to have to lose her arm.  It¡¯s not right.  I feel like I want to talk to these fucking doctors and tell them something¡­ I don¡¯t know¡­ something.¡±

    Davod held up his hand.  ¡°Can¡¯t take you anywhere, can I?¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s that supposed to mean?¡±

    ¡°Nothing.  There¡¯s a pub right over there, I¡¯m told they got an amber that¡¯ll set you up right and a barmaid that¡¯ll finish you off if you¡¯re nice enough.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re serious?  Dune needs help!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s nice.  When you¡¯re done playing hero, you know where to find me.¡±

    With that he gave me my and Geraln¡¯s canteens and walked off.

    The water from the fountain might as well have been ice for how cold it was, which made it perfect.  I took a rag out from my pack and poured a little into it, then brought it up to Dune¡¯s forehead.  Her skin was hot, and as soon as I touched her with it she winced and opened her eyes as though awakened from a dream.  With her good hand, she reached up to try and block me, but couldn¡¯t quite find my arm.

    ¡°Wha?¡± she slurred.

    Oasis grabbed my hand.  ¡°What you are doing?¡±

    ¡°Her fever is bad.  Very bad.  It could kill her at this point.  A little cold water, wipe across her head, her neck.  It¡¯s not much, but anything we can do to try and get it under control would be a good thing.¡±

    Oasis nodded, took the rag from me, and started wiping Dune¡¯s neck and forehead.  Dune reached up, tried to knock her hand out of the way and slurred out, ¡°duok¡¯oh!¡±

    ¡°Nagewa ¡®asate-eba¡¯a pa-ish!¡± Oasis replied.

    ¡°What did she say?¡±

    Oasis kept at it and didn¡¯t meet my eyes as she spoke.  ¡°She is being stubborn.¡±

    The next order of business was to put her arm in a splint.  The bone was broken, and I didn''t want to risk damaging it further when we moved her.  I didn¡¯t know how long Geraln would be, but I wanted to be ready to move her as soon as he came back.  I didn¡¯t like the position we were in.  The totem under which they sat didn¡¯t offer much in terms of anything¡ªit didn¡¯t even look like a comfortable pole to lean up against.  But, the rock rising from the street was perfect.

    ¡°Can we move her?¡± I said.

    Oasis and Sage looked at me.

    I stood.  ¡°We¡¯re going to move her to some place more comfortable as soon as my friend comes back.  Any little bump could damage her arm further, so I need to put it in a splint.  To do that, we need to sit her down here on the street and lay her arm across this wall.¡±

    At that, Oasis looked at Sage and they nodded.  I took hold of Dune¡¯s shoulder and forearm so as to try and steady it as much as possible, while Oasis slapped her friend awake and Sage began to tug at her good arm.  Dune was lucid enough to ooze over to where I¡¯d asked her to be, and I gently, slowly, allowed her arm to rest on the rocks, being careful to mind the angle.  ¡°I need her a little lower.¡±

    Oasis nodded and spoke to Dune.  ¡°Shabu-ukune.¡±

    Then she and Sage helped her along.  I watched as the inches waned until she was in the perfect position.  ¡°Stop right there.¡±

    Oasis kept wiping cold water over Dune¡¯s head until my canteen had emptied.  Without a thought I handed her Geraln¡¯s, and she continued.  She then spoke to Sage.  ¡°Sakou ba-a zhad¡¯ao basi.¡±

    Sage nodded and took up my empty canteen, then got in line to fill it.

    With Dune¡¯s arm in a good position, I took a moment to try and get a better idea of what was going on.  When I picked at the bandage, I noticed it had become fused to a mass of clot, slime, and dirt.  Leaning in close, I could smell the sour of rot that had begun to claim it.  Exactly how far it had gone I¡¯d have to remove the bandage to tell, and that wasn¡¯t something I wanted to do out on the street.  Even so, I already had a good idea of what needed to happen.  ¡°I think we¡¯re going to have to cut off her arm.¡±

    As from nowhere, Dune summoned the strength of a thousand warriors to shoot one word at me.  In Herali, no less.  ¡°No!¡±

    Oasis looked at me with eyes wide, but said nothing.  Rather, she kept wiping cold water on her friend¡¯s skin.

    ¡°Maybe,¡± I tried to diffuse the situation.

    ¡°Maybe?¡± Oasis replied.

    ¡°No!¡± Dune shouted.

    ¡°Maybe,¡± I repeated.

    ¡°No!¡± Dune insisted.

    Oasis turned to her and spoke.  ¡°Du-uwa koyisi shi¡¯a-a pa-ish.¡±

    ¡°Vuh!¡± Dune persisted.

    ¡°OK, well¡­ either way I need to put your arm in a splint.¡±

    As I rummaged through my pack for some tent spikes and rope, Dune slurred out ¡°no will cutting arm,¡± before closing her eyes and dropping her head back onto the rocks behind her.

    I set the rope beneath her, up at her shoulder with another line around her elbow, then set two spikes below, one on each side, with two above, and tied them all together.  As I tightened the rope, Dune groaned out.

    ¡°She is hurting,¡± Oasis said.

    ¡°She can still feel pain here¡ªthat¡¯s a good sign.¡±

    ¡°Is being too tight,¡± Oasis protested.

    ¡°It needs to be tight.  We don¡¯t want the arm to move.  It¡¯s temporary, only until we can get her to a better location where I can take this bandage off.¡±

    Oasis nodded and looked back at her friend with a deep sadness.  All around us the people of Ulum went about their business.  Across the street, a pack of men were busy urging an ox to pull a cart loaded with heavy, hewn stones.  They were mostly Saeni, like the girls before me, wearing rough overalls smudged with years of dirt and other stains and armored hats dinged with years of abuse.  Three stories up, a young Herali woman stood at a balcony with the door open behind her.  She had long, straight, dark-green hair and wore nothing but a white bed sheet wrapped around her.  She¡¯d watched us along with everyone else who chanced through the plaza until a young man, himself with the same hair, came up and stood behind her, wrapping his arms around her body.  She turned her neck up to kiss him, and they both disappeared into the room beyond.  In a shop on the other side, an older Saeni woman wiped down tables while a Herali woman was busy drinking tea.

 Dune

    The place Geraln found was beset with columns painted in gold aside a pair of massive double-doors, both of which were fully opened and slid off to the side revealing plush chairs of red velvet and carved wood arranged around woven, woolen rugs of delicate patterns.  The walls were covered in fine, green paper with flecks of gold patterns painted on, and interspersed between more gold columns, sculpted iron sconces graced the walls with low candles on each.  At one end abutting the far wall was a water organ like the one I¡¯d seen in the Count of Osenia¡¯s manse, set with glass jewels stained in a rich variety of colors, and across from that was a dark, stained-wooden desk behind which stood an elder Herali gentleman in a stiff pressed uniform that resembled that of an official from the Imperial Navy and a small, white tag on his chest that had his name on it.

    ¡°They can¡¯t come in here!¡± he barked.

    I¡¯d hoped he was talking to someone else, but he looked right at me, with Dune¡¯s good arm draped over my shoulder, Oasis and Sage in tow.

    Geraln turned and looked at me with a look of frustration on his face.  ¡°I¡¯ve got this.  Room sixty-four upstairs.¡±

    He gave Sage the key and walked over to the man beside the desk and, with a quick glance my way, he leaned in close to have a private conversation with him while we made our way towards a staircase beset with wrought-iron balusters that spiraled up and into the heart of the hotel.

    Dune struggled.

    I had her good arm lifted up and wrapped over my neck, carrying her as she practically dangled from me.  Oasis took her other side, held onto her waist, and mostly steadied Dune as she struggled to put one foot in front of the other.  Oasis and I put our heads down and kept our way towards the stairs without making too much eye contact with anyone while Geraln tried to work whatever magic he could.

    ¡°Up here!¡± Sage spoke down to us from the floor above.  I could then hear her footfalls as she scurried up the next flight.

    As for Dune, her whole weight dangled over my shoulder, as she no longer had the strength to feign standing¡ªwe hadn¡¯t even started on the first step.  The heat coming off her was far too intense for comfort.  I glanced back at the front desk.  The concierge looked at me for a second, then turned back to Geraln as he brushed the man¡¯s shoulder, leaning in close to say something else.

    ¡°Oasis,¡± I said.  She looked up at me.  ¡°Dune won¡¯t make it up these stairs.  I¡¯m going to have to carry her.  As I lift her up, I need you to hold her arm here, and here.  Then I need you to lay it across her body and tuck it in so that it doesn¡¯t fall.  Understand?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± she nodded.

    With that, I wrapped one arm around Dune¡¯s shoulder and knelt low enough to wrap my other behind her knees.  She fell into my arms.  Oasis did exactly as I asked, catching her broken arm before it could drop down, then held it steady as I lifted her up and finally graced it over her friend¡¯s body with the utmost care.

    Oasis took the lead, walking backwards up the stairs in anticipation of any little bump that might occur and keeping a close eye on Dune¡¯s arm.  Up and up we climbed, and soon the floor leveled off into a dark hallway set with a dark-green rug with a yellow outline.  The end of the hall hosted a large window that cast enough light to see the numbers on the doors: twenty-one, twenty-two, twenty-three, all the way to twenty-eight.

    ¡°Up here!  I find!¡± Sage called down from four floors above us.

    Dune wasn¡¯t heavy, but even so four more flights of stairs were bound to tax my arms if I wasted any time, so we set out on the next flight.

    On the third floor was an old woman with sandy-green hair and eyes the same color as Dune¡¯s.  She was dressed in a gray frock with a light-blue apron and was busy dusting the ledging that ran the length of the walls.  She looked at us with a curious expression, and didn¡¯t break her stare until we were up the next flight of stairs.  Up above, an older couple was on their way down.  As the way was too narrow to accommodate two under normal circumstances, there wouldn¡¯t be any hope of squeezing past them while carrying a girl.  So, Oasis and I stepped back down and waited for them to pass.  As they stepped into the light from the window, one could easily see their Goloagi features¡ªcurly hair, light olive-green skin, and eyes a deep emerald color.  The man looked me up and down from beneath his ornate hat and gave a ¡°hmmpfh¡± as he passed.  The woman squinted at me, passed her eyes over Dune¡¯s limp body, and sucked her teeth as the two of them continued their journey down.

    I was about to continue forward when I saw Oasis talking to the maid we¡¯d seen earlier.  She urged me to keep going, so I did.

    By the fourth floor, I was starting to feel a strain in my arms, but not enough to distract me from her burning skin.  Her hand had come loose where Oasis had tucked it in earlier, and I had to curl my arms up some to prevent it from dropping down.

    I heard Sage call down from above.  ¡°Up here!¡±  Then a door slid open.

    I climbed up the last two flights of stairs and saw the open door belonging to room 64.  Had I much longer to go, my arms would have teetered on the brink, and I just needed to set her down somewhere.

    As I stepped inside, I stepped outside.  There were no walls.  The bright afternoon sunlight was muted by a vine that had been trained along a wooden frame that sufficed for a ceiling and covered us in bright, green leaves.

    In one corner was a large, bronze tub with a valve at one end, set overlooking the city¡ªtops of buildings stretching out over the horizon.  In the other corner was a soft mattress laid out over a dias for a bed that offered the same commanding view.  There were pillows and blankets, but Sage had moved those aside.  She held onto Dune¡¯s feet while Oasis kept watch over her arm as I lowered her onto the bed.

    Before doing anything, I had a sheet of canvas in my sack that would suffice as a means of keeping blood from spilling everywhere. I folded that up and slowly, carefully, I laid out Dune¡¯s arm at her side and began to work it beneath her shoulder.  I had to turn her arm slightly, making sure to hold onto it so as to avoid jarring the wound.  I felt Oasis¡¯s presence beside me as I untied the rope holding the splint in place.  I checked again before the last tie was removed to make sure her arm could rest without moving any further.  Then I took out my knife and began to slice her shirt sleeve up to her shoulder.

    ¡°Why you are cutting her shirt?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s in the way.¡±

    Oasis held onto Dune¡¯s good hand.  For a brief moment I saw Dune¡¯s eyes crack open, and the two of them gazed at one another.  I kept at what I was doing, slicing away the whole sleeve and most of the fabric around her shoulder.  Then, I started with the top of the bandage, since that seemed to be the part least crusted over.  Without pressing too hard, I ran the tip of the knife over the top layer of gauze and peeled that away, pulling until I could set it aside.  By the bottom, it had fused to the layer below, so I sliced, bringing my face close to it so as to avoid molesting the skin beneath while still applying enough pressure to move through the bandage.

    Right away, that smell greeted me, the sweet-sour stench of rotting meat.

    I took my knife along the lower edge of the bandage, where the crust of scabbed dirt had accumulated into one solid mass.  I sliced, pulled up, then made another slice, little by little until I could lift the bandage away from her skin.  Then I cut it along the top and peeled it away from the wound completely.

    What I found underneath was not pretty.  An open gash traversed her arm from her elbow to about halfway towards her shoulder, jagged as though it had been ripped open, with globs of slimy skin that had taken on a greenish hue with black tips.  The whole of her arm away from the wound was saturated in that orange blackness of faded bruises and swollen deep within the gash, the exposed flesh had turned black and was covered in slime.

    As for the rest of the arm, I probed along the bone; Dune didn''t react at all.  Didn''t stir, didn''t groan, didn''t give any indication she felt what I was doing.  There was a longitudinal, oblique displaced fracture that began a few inches above the elbow.  The arm was twisted, and the bone had begun to fuse in that position.

    ¡°Dune, I¡¯m sorry.  We¡¯re going to have to cut off your arm.¡±

    ¡°NO!¡±  As though some burst of energy shot forth from her, she opened her eyes wide and shouted her protest.

    ¡°It¡¯s too far gone.¡±

    ¡°No!¡± she cried.  ¡°No taking arm!¡±  I saw some twitch in her fingers, and she struggled to try and move herself further away from me.

    ¡°You¡¯re going to die.¡±

    ¡°No!¡±

    Oasis held her hand and stroked her hair.  ¡°Pa-ish ge sowa ¡®a ¡®a nabiu po newasdo kanihe re¡¯a asdo mafui.¡±

    ¡°Vunge go¡¯im,¡± Dune replied.  ¡°No taking arm.¡±

    I had to try to think about that one.  I knew the fate.  I¡¯d seen wounds like this before, and it never ended well.  And every time, there was resistance.  Negotiation.  Not always in words or action, but in spirit.  You could see it in the way they try to move their bodies.  Some of them get quite agitated and threaten to hurt you if you tried.  A select few offer up a sense of bravado and tell you to do it, but you can still see it in their eyes.  And Dune was no different.

    Who was different, was Oasis.  She exuded caring like you wouldn¡¯t believe.  In the way she looked at her, the way she held onto her, and yet she was lucid enough to hear my words and tell her the truth.  Sage, I looked around, I didn¡¯t know where Sage went, but Oasis was right there.  She made me wish I knew the kind of girl Dune was, and that intrigued me.  I had to figure out a way to get through to her.  So, I stood.  I took a few steps back and grasped the wooden frame of the would-be wall and took a glance out over the city.  ¡°Will you please come over here for a moment?¡±

    Oasis looked at me and stroked Dune¡¯s hair, whispered something into her ear and then came over.

    ¡°Oasis,¡± I said, ¡°this is normal.  This¡­¡±

    ¡°We must respecting.  Is being very important.¡±

    ¡°I know.¡±  I took hold of her arms.  ¡°I know it¡¯s very important, but listen.  The window is closing.  We need to make a decision right now.  If she does not lose her arm, she will die.  Within a day, maybe two, tops.  I promise you, I have seen this before.  I¡¯m going to be honest; it might already be too late.¡±

    Oasis¡¯s eyes darted about, then she blinked and a tear fell down her cheek.  She wiped it away and said, ¡°What do I doing¡­¡± she shook.  ¡°What can I willing do?¡±

    ¡°OK.  I need you to explain to her that if she doesn¡¯t agree to lose her arm, she will die.  I need her to understand that.  Do you think you can explain that to her?¡±

    Oasis glanced towards Dune a moment, then turned back to me.  ¡°Yes.  I will doing this.  OK.¡±

    At that, she turned and went back over to Dune.  I looked closely.  Dune¡¯s mouth quivered as she spoke.  Oasis looked up at me.  ¡°You will waiting outside?¡±

    I stepped outside the room and slid the door shut.  There was a window at the end of the hall where I could make out through the distorted glass, people rushing along with their lives.

    Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

    On the shelf beside the window was a book from renowned Tobori scholar Zayueshawani Yaananuus, How Economies Work.  He was the one who¡¯d originally suggested using the proportional difference between the mean and the median as a way to measure inequality.  I fucking loved his work.  The one time Sarina ever got bored with me was when I was addicted to that book.

    As for that other thing, I didn¡¯t know anything about Carthia.  I was supposed to go there and fight in some war in some place I¡¯d never heard of.  Worse, everyone I¡¯d asked had nothing nice to say about that place.  Earlier we¡¯d passed by a salt trader and stopped to see if we could get a better idea of which way to go.  The man told us it was in the Valley of Suffering, on the banks of the River of Unending Torment.  Then he laughed his arse off and went about his way.

    The low thrum of the door sliding open turned my attention to Oasis¡¯s light-green eyes.  She had a round face with flat cheeks, a face that belied a welcoming smile hidden beneath her sadness.  She closed the door and sat down next to me.  Then, with a deep breath, she spoke.  ¡°She is saying no.  Please you will finding another way?¡±

    My heart broke.  ¡°This is life or death; there is no other way.  She knows that if she dies, she still won¡¯t get to keep her arm.  You did tell her that, right?¡±

    Oasis cried several tears as she spoke, with each tear falling several seconds apart.  ¡°I am knowing this.  I was saying this at her but she is making choice.  She was saying you cannot taking arm.¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s going to die.¡±

    ¡°Trying another way?¡±  Another tear meandered down her cheek and fell to the floor.

    ¡°There¡¯s no other way!¡±

    ¡°You are thinking.  Maybe you are being wrong!  There needs will being another way because she not will allowing it.  You are saying you be apprentice, yes?  Maybe you are not knowing the other way.¡±

    No.  There wasn¡¯t.  That broke my heart as much as anything else.  I wanted there to be.  There had to be.  There had to be something we could try.  ¡°Maybe¡­ we could try maggots?¡±

    I betrayed her.  As soon as the words escaped my mouth, I regretted each of them.  There was no other way, and anything less would be a death sentence.  If I¡¯d stuck to that basic truth, maybe she¡¯d have understood.  Instead, I was a coward, and I betrayed her.  Oasis¡¯s eyes lit up and she shot a glimmer of hope my way.  She was completely ignorant of my sin, but it felt good to see that hope across her face.

    ¡°We could, um¡­ put maggots on the wound and¡­ I could set the bone, then give her something to help her sleep.  I don¡¯t know if that will do anything, but I suppose it¡¯s a better shot than nothing?  But look, if it doesn¡¯t work¡­¡±

    I¡¯d betrayed her.  I murdered her friend, and she smiled at me.  ¡°If not will working, then you can taking arm.¡±

    ¡°If it doesn''t work, she dies.¡±

    I had, in all, twelve kren to my name.  Oasis gave me eight from all she was able to scrape together, and I¡¯d no idea if twenty would be enough for a respectable amount of fresh maggots.

    The apothecary, I was told, was right across the street and down at the end of the block.  The glare of the mid-afternoon sun and the maze of people I had to push through to get there didn¡¯t present much of a challenge, and I was able to find it easy enough.  The shop itself had large windows facing the outside on both corners where passersby could look in and see the various remedies they¡¯d kept in jars.  Dried frogs, sprigs of herbs, vials of varying colors, things of white stringy-looking stuff decorated the shelves.  There were tufts of vines tied together and dried, hanging from a higher level, wooden boxes with the names of their contents burned into them¡ªrosemary, thistle, asafran, aserkin whatever that was, a whole host of variety of things I¡¯d never seen in Gath.

    ¡°Good afternoon!  What can I help you with?¡±  An old, hunched woman with a smile permanently etched into the wrinkles on her face greeted me.  She wore a green scarf around her shoulders, and a simple, white cotton dress.  A Herali woman, I could tell, though her long hair had long turned gray, kept in a single braid down her back.

    ¡°I need maggots.¡±

    She smiled.  ¡°How many?¡±

    ¡°A couple ounces.  Are they fresh?¡±

    ¡°Every day, boy.  Give me a few minutes, and feel free to browse around.  Take one of those sacks there if you need anything.¡±

    She pointed me towards a stack of small paper satchels, the perfect size for carrying herbs in.  I took that invitation and did as she suggested.  It was, in fact, quite a fruitful endeavor, as I found not only dewas, but powdered liuwenia, which as far as I knew could only be had on the islands of Tobor or port cities like Kyoen.  I also found some dried maurutus to help her relax.

    While I was portioning out herbs, the old woman came back with a small wooden box.  She then came over to me and looked over what I¡¯d selected.  ¡°Hmmm,¡± she said.  ¡°Man or woman?¡±

    ¡°Girl.  She¡¯s¡­ I don¡¯t know exactly, maybe fifteen, sixteen?¡±

    ¡°How bad is the fever?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s bad.  It¡¯s very bad.¡±

    ¡°Hmm.  The liuwenia should help with that.  Let me show you something.  Over here.¡±

    Opposite the window was a small shelf built into the wall.  There, she had an assortment of small, ceramic jars marbled brown and white with wooden stoppers.  She took one down and brought it over to me.

    ¡°This,¡± she pointed at the thing that scarcely filled my hand.  ¡°This is a miracle.¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°It comes from Uhui.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve no idea where that is.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s called gebu¡¯i.¡±

    ¡°Gebui?¡± I repeated.

    ¡°No.  You say it with the glottal stop, like the sound you make in the middle of uh-oh.  Gebu¡¯i.¡±

    ¡°O¡­K¡­ what does it do?¡±

    She was effusive in her response, widening her eyes and leaning in for effect.  ¡°It cures you!¡±

    ¡°Of what?¡±

    She pulled back.  ¡°Of what!  Of what doesn¡¯t it cure you?  I told you it¡¯s a miracle!  Your girl has an open gash that¡¯s taken the foul or else you wouldn¡¯t be asking for maggots.  And if her fever is high, then the foul has begun to traverse her body.  This will kill it.  Cure her of the foul.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s impossible!¡± I told her.

    She smiled.  ¡°Come.¡±

    With that, she wandered back over to a wooden desk and opened it up, pouring out a small amount onto a piece of paper.  ¡°Take a look.¡±

    It was a flaky, whitish powder interspersed with flecks of green¡­ blue¡­ either a greenish shade of blue or a bluish shade of green.  The old woman continued.  ¡°It¡¯s a delicate balance, this one; you want a generous dose, but it taxes the body.  Too much and you¡¯ll lose her, not enough and the foul will take her.  And this is important: she must continue the course even after she gets better.  She must complete it.  How fat is she?¡±

    ¡°Not at all.¡±

    The old woman nodded and scratched her chin.  ¡°Two pinches in warm water, stir, let it rest for ten minutes, then make sure she drinks all of it.  Do that every day for seven days, even if she starts to get better.  This last part bears repeating¡ªyou must complete the treatment.  Seven days, every day, even if she starts to get better.  Now, is there a bone broken?¡±

    ¡°Yeah.  I haven¡¯t set it yet.¡±

    ¡°Hmm.  Over here.¡±

    I once again followed her over to another shelf, where she introduced me to a glass vial the size of a pencil and barely an inch long, filled with an amber fluid and stopped up with a small wooden cork.

    ¡°Kuluni adder venom?¡± I asked.

    ¡°You know of it?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve used it before.  How much is all this?¡±  That probably should have been the first thing I spoke of when I walked in.

    ¡°Let us see here¡­ the maggots¡­ dewas¡­ marutus¡­ liuwenia¡­ the gebu¡¯i, and the venom¡­ you¡¯ll need some light gauze.  All together¡­ sixty-eight kren.¡±

    My heart sank.  ¡°Uh¡­ how much for just the maggots?¡±

    The old woman looked at me sideways, then let her eyes traverse me for a moment.  ¡°I can¡¯t let you do that.  If you mean to take care of someone, do it right.  How much have you got?¡±

    I went into my coin purse to count out all the fractions, and poured it all out.  My twelve was there along with the money Oasis had given me, along with some quarters, a few sixty-fourths and a sixteenth.  I realized I¡¯d forgotten all about the thirty-five Davod had given me for supplies and that spilled out as well.

    The woman sorted through it all.  ¡°Fifty-five¡­ fifty-six, three quarters, and a sixteenth.  Looks like we¡¯re close¡­¡±

    Thirty-five of that wasn¡¯t mine to spend.  I should have said something.

    ¡°... you won¡¯t need the dewas if you¡¯re using liuwenia, liuwenia is better anyway.  And the marutus just helps her sleep; beyond that it won¡¯t heal anything.  Everything else, I can let it go for what you¡¯ve got here.¡±

    And what of the supplies Davod had asked me to buy with his money?  I spoke a silent prayer.  God will provide.

    Back at the room, I saw that Oasis had gotten a tray of food.  There was a bowl of yellow soup that looked like it had a few bites taken from it, but also warm sourbreads drizzled with melted butter.  They¡¯d also included some things I hadn¡¯t seen since I¡¯d taken that trip to Saen with Tor and Sarina.  There were these flatbreads drizzled in honey, the kind you have to fight over to get your fair share.  And when you did, it was like biting into a fiery heaven-puff.  One of those remained, along with a small bowl of meaty-gravy looking dark reddish-brown thing that gave off spice that promised severe torture with every savory bite.  They had a glass bowl about a quarter-full with bits of assorted fruit soaked in a syrup laced with some kind of hard liquor, and two glasses that had some pink residue at the bottom.  A separate tray included a teapot that let off steam from its mouth and some upside-down ceramic cups.

    ¡°You are being hungry?¡± Oasis said to me as I came in.  I was, but that wasn¡¯t the priority.

    I took a cup and mixed some hot water with the cold until it felt the right warmness, not that I was sure of what the right warmness would be, and set about with two pinches of the miracle herb I¡¯d gotten from the apothecary.  Ten minutes, she¡¯d said.  I could use that time to set the bone and introduce the maggots.  This required care.  The pain she would experience would be severe, and the tendency would be to try and jerk away, to pull her arm from me.  That would make matters worse, so I needed to hold her down.  To that end, I set my knee over her shoulder, when Oasis pushed me aside.  She insisted on being the one to hold her down.  From there, I probed along the fracture to get a clear picture on how the bone was broken, where it was separated, and how best to maneuver the pieces back together.

    Dune¡¯s pulse was rapid, and her skin blazing.  The sun, however muted by the vines trained along what sufficed for a roof, still seemed to bother her, so we¡¯d set a pillow over her eyes, and as I probed along the fracture, she didn¡¯t react.  At all.

    ¡°This will hurt,¡± I said.  ¡°A lot.¡±

    Oasis took a deep breath and looked at me, then nodded.  Dune, her breath was quick and shallow, and I wasn¡¯t sure if she even heard me.  Then, as I started to pull, no reaction.  She didn¡¯t flinch, didn¡¯t wince, nothing.  No less, I took advantage of her lack of reflex and closed my eyes to focus on what my fingers were telling me, then carefully slid the broken splinters into their rightful place.  I then made a slit inside the wound deep enough to expose the bone, and put a few drops of the adder venom directly on the fracture.  Then, I pressed the bone together and set about putting a more permanent splint back into place.

    I opened the small, wooden box and brought the colony of tiny white squigglers into view.  Oasis took one look and turned away, grasping at her stomach.  I then pulled at the edges of Dune¡¯s skin so as to try and open up her wound as much as possible, then dropped the maggots in.  A few had fallen to the side and squirmed along on the bed, so I carefully scooped them up and added them to the party.

    Dune mumbled out something, barely audible, so I had to bring my ear close to her so as to hear what she was trying to say.  ¡°No take arm.  Is mine.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re going to try and save your arm.¡±

    ¡°No take arm¡­¡±

    Oasis couldn¡¯t stop staring at it.  Her eyes gaped, and she held one hand over her mouth, watching the little bugs crawl around inside her friend¡¯s arm.  ¡°Is being disgusting.¡±

    ¡°Dune has the foul,¡± I said.  ¡°It¡¯s coming from this wound.  The maggots are going to eat away all the dead, rotting tissue and leave behind the healthy flesh.  Once the source is cleaned up, we ask God to grant her the strength to fight against the foul that¡¯s already in her.  Maybe he will listen, and maybe he has other plans.  The apothecary gave me this, she needs to drink it.¡±

    Oasis took the cup with the miracle herb.  ¡°What it is being?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know, but it¡¯s supposed to help.¡±

    She then brought it up to Dune¡¯s lips and helped her to take a sip.  After two sips, Dune dropped her head back down.  I spoke to Oasis.  ¡°She needs to drink all of it.¡±

    To that end, she slapped Dune¡¯s cheek a few times and shouted at her.  ¡°Do- wsa!¡±

    Dune opened her eyes and looked at her friend.

    ¡°Do- wsa!  Nagani-i ame¡¯he ta-azu!¡±

    Dune took another small sip, then closed her eyes and dropped her head again.

    ¡°Drink all of it, or we will cutting off the arm!¡±

    Dune still didn¡¯t lift her head.

    Oasis turned to me.  ¡°OK.  Cut the arm.¡±

    ¡°No!¡± Dune shouted.

    ¡°You will drinking!  Now!¡±

    At that, Dune finally woke herself up enough to take a couple good swigs.  She got about half way through the glass before wincing and turning away.

    ¡°All of it!¡± Oasis chided her.

    Dune then took in a deep breath and drank the rest of it without further complaint.  Finally, we let her lay her head back down and close her eyes.

    ¡°What we will doing now?¡± Oasis asked.

    ¡°Now, we wait.  We pray, and we wait.¡±

 Janju Cakes

    I¡¯d spent all of Davod¡¯s money.  I had to tell him.

    The sun began to trace its arc westward, where the city of Ulum dropped down with the valley into a hazy oblivion of blue sky.  The warm sunshine muted by the vines trained along the framework of the room, the cold air coming off the mountains, cotton bedsheets threaded so fine as to rival silk and plush pillows covered in woven yarn, the heated floor under the bed, all of it made the room about as comfortable as I could imagine.

    I couldn¡¯t blame Oasis for drifting off; she¡¯d been exhausted.  I hadn¡¯t thought she¡¯d slept in days, and this was the first moment where the only thing to do for Dune was wait.  I made sure to tuck her in with a few pillows between them so as to keep them from bumping into one another as they stirred.  Other than that I took a few bites of the leftovers, starting with that meaty-gravy thing that burned my tongue and sent fumes through my sinuses reminiscent of the first time I tried hellroot.  As my eyes watered, I swallowed what was left of the fruit cup, and the strong liquor it was soaked in did nothing to put out the fire.  It was delicious, but damn was it punishing.  I finished that up, took a good swig of water, then gently slid the door closed on my way out.

    In the hallway, the air was thick and warm, and the song of the water organ downstairs echoed through the staircase.

    Down in the lobby, a middle-aged Goloagi woman dressed in a gown with layers of sheer white tulle set with woven red and pink flowers sat playing.  Her eyes were closed, and her curly hair moved with her shoulders as she massaged the keys, inciting melodious tunes of dizzying complexity.  I sat in one of the plush chairs and listened, trying to work out in my mind how to explain the money.

    She was a practiced virtuoso.  Her fingers danced across the keys as her whole body flowed into the melody.  She changed the tone of the music entirely with her mastery of technique and blended herself into the thing as though the instrument was an extension of herself.

    If it was one in the afternoon, how many beers would Davod be into, and how many would it take to have him in a forgiving mood?

    I sat and listened.  When she was done she turned to face me and smiled before floating up the spiral staircase.

    I needed to go meet with Davod.  I couldn¡¯t wait any longer.

    Out on the street, I stood and stared.  Over people¡¯s heads I could see the pub that graced Falcon Plaza where he¡¯d said he would be.  So, with my heart racing and a deep breath, I mustered up the courage, crossed the street, and entered a totally different shop.

    Beside the door was a light-colored wooden table with some curiosities on it.  One of them had a large cylinder with a hand crank, and that was connected to another cylinder through a series of belts and gears.  Inside that was a fan, and when I turned the crank, the fan started turning.  Then, as I turned the crank further I heard a click, and suddenly the fan started turning faster and faster with each crank.  It clicked again, the tension in the crank grew, and the fan turned ever faster even though I turned it slower.  I knelt down to try and get a closer look, see if I could make out how it was doing that when a voice came from behind me.

    ¡°Can I help you?¡±  The voice came from an older man with long, straight hair that hosted streaks of gray and cascaded down his shoulders.  He studied me through emerald-green eyes.

    Through his intimidating disposition I managed to force some words out.  ¡°What is this place?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re engineers.  We engineer things.  Don¡¯t touch any more of the demos.¡±

    With that, he disappeared behind a gray curtain that filled a doorway to the rear of the shop.  I looked around.  Mounted on the wall was an insect made of wood and paper, easily three feet from wingtip to wingtip, that had an open casing on its back with a box of strange gears and levers along with a coil connected to a small knob that I badly wanted to turn if only I was allowed to touch it.  Another exhibit was a long metal railing the width of a marble, several of which were held in a pool.  The rail ran the length of the wall and followed a series of jumps, bridges, and other obstacles.  I wanted to touch that one, too.

    The one that truly grabbed my attention stood alone in the corner, easily five feet tall.  At the bottom was a tub filled with tiny glass beads and a scooper, and at the top was a chute.  My eyes traced the chute downwards past a wheel with paddles that was connected to another box of gears and levers that didn¡¯t appear to do anything at all, but rather ended in two small copper spikes about a quarter of an inch apart.

    I needed to know what it did, and I couldn¡¯t tell by looking.  So, I scooped up a cupful of the beads and fed them into the chute.  They fell through a hole in the bottom and dropped down a slide, clattering against the wheel paddles like rain, turning it.  Then, as it gathered speed, I heard a sound like a loud popping that rattled off, several times a second.  I looked, and between the copper spikes, tiny shards of lightning split the air.  I was spellbound.  I had to feed another cup full of beads into the chute, desperate to see it again.

    ¡°DIDN¡¯T I TELL YOU NOT TO TOUCH ANYTHING?¡± the man returned.

    ¡°This is amazing!¡± I said.  ¡°How¡­¡±

    ¡°GET OUT!¡±

    ¡°Sorry.  I¡­¡±

    ¡°GET!  OUT!¡±

    With that, he shoved me out of his shop and slammed the door.

    I was back out on the street, looking over at the pub.  I took a few steps.  Beside me on the left was a large, flat, wooden board that was home to several pieces of paper arranged in a haphazard mess with older, faded ones hidden beneath freshly written messages.  There was a loft on the fourth floor of a building with a view of Serpent Plaza for the price of one-hundred-seventy-eight kren per month.

    I¡¯d never seen that much money in person before.

    There was a competition the following day where organists from throughout the empire had come to see who was the best.  The paper didn¡¯t say anything about the prize, but tickets to see the event were twenty-two kren.  Another paper had someone selling fine wooden sculptures.  A crisp, white paper with a silver seal on the top right corner and formally-crafted calligraphy listed out several prostitutes who had lover¡¯s-pox and warned me not to lay with them.  Another one was from someone selling a plow; they wanted twenty kren for it but were willing to take the best offer.  Someone else was giving puppies away.  A small piece of paper tucked away at the side and written in fine handwriting asked me how many more men needed to die in Carthia before the Count¡¯s greedy, egotistical ambitions were sated.

    Yes, it asked me that.

    Another paper was written by someone with a very poor understanding of the grammar and spelling conventions of Herali offering Goloagi language lessons at six kren for an hour.  Another paper informed me that the Kuyue to adopt Jorel into the Duvan family was going to be¡­ three days ago.

    Outside the pub, I heard Davod¡¯s hearty laughter come from within, and my heart stabbed against my chest.  How was I going to explain it to him?  I felt like I couldn¡¯t breathe.  How could I have been so stupid?

    Next door was a shop, so I went in there.

    The first thing I noticed was a silver tray set atop a clean, light-colored wood table that was home to a pyramid stack of small white cakes, and my eyes coveted them dearly.  Outside that the walls were painted an off-white shade of yellow but mostly covered in woven rugs, each depicting a scene of some kind.  There were family portraits, a man embracing a woman holding a baby while the three of them gazed out at me.  There were landscapes, some islands, a scene of a woman sitting on the beach in Tobor drinking from a coconut and watching the waves roll by, and another with the same mountains that surrounded Ulum and a flock of birds in a V-formation flying above them.  Others were filled with giant calligraphy in one language or another.  There was one in Herali that said knowledge is freedom, and freedom is the requisite of peace.  Another, in Goloagi, said Man¡¯s power is wealth, God¡¯s power is love.  Many were the totem spirits¡ªTurtle, Serpent, Rabbit, Falcon, Cougar, all of them, plus some others I didn¡¯t know.  I¡¯d had no idea simple rug-weaving could make such intricate designs.

    ¡°Do you see anything you like?¡±

    I turned.  There before me was a girl with skin like pure alabaster and long, wavy yellow hair.  She had an otherworldly beauty to her; her complexion was pristine and the curves of her cheeks were clearly defined yet elegantly soft.  She looked me up and down through dark-green eyes that exuded curiosity.

    I smiled.  It was worth a shot.  ¡°To you¡­ hello¡­ nice¡­ uh¡­ the meeting.¡±

    She smiled wide through plush, ruby lips and flawless teeth, and spoke with a pinch of island accent.  ¡°I won¡¯t speak Tobori with you, sorry, but it¡¯s nice of you to try.  Would you like some cake?¡±

    That grabbed my attention.  ¡°I wish.  Alas, I¡¯m not here to buy anything; I¡¯m afraid to face my friend because I spent all his money.¡±

    At that, she laughed.  Her laughter was like music unto itself.  ¡°So you¡¯re hiding in here!  Worse, you spent all the money you could have used to buy one of these fine pieces!¡±  Her delicate fingers stroked the tufts of a portrait of some nobleman in elegant regalia standing with one foot on a stool and an ornate scabbard hanging from his side.

    I lowered my eyes.  ¡°Something like that.¡±

    Her eyes passed up and down my body, and she smiled wide.  ¡°In that case, come.  I have something to show you.¡±

    ¡°You do?¡±

    ¡°But first, have some cake.  You know you want to.¡±

    I took a deep breath.  ¡°I can¡¯t.  I really can¡¯t buy anything, I¡¯m sorry.  I wish I could¡­¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it,¡± she swooned.  ¡°We usually throw it away at the end of the day.¡±

    At that, I took one and swallowed it whole.  Goodness, it was still warm!  The dry outer cake-shell had kept the inner goo from leaking out, the sweet, syrupy ooze of cream mixed with Tobori Janju liquor.  It burst into my mouth with the most satisfying dance of sweet and sharp just as I¡¯d remembered, and I couldn¡¯t stop myself from having another.

    ¡°Come on,¡± she smiled.  Then she giggled and shook her head when I snuck a third.

    There was a blue velvet curtain at the back of the shop beyond which some rolls were packed away on high shelves along with some boxes filled with things, and in one corner stood a broom, dusting mop, and some jars.  Following her was¡­ I wasn¡¯t blind.  The way that blue silk dress fell over her body, gently hugging her waist ensnared me better than any amount of cake ever could.

    ¡°I always love to unpack new material, to be the first one to see it, I just love it.  It¡¯s hard to explain.¡±  She peeked over her shoulder just as my eyes were soaking in her curves.  ¡°Would you like to see it?¡±

    ¡°Uh¡­ the tapestries?¡±

    Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.

    She giggled again and spoke through a wicked smile.  ¡°Of course the tapestries!¡±  Her Tobori accent hooked my ears and drew me into her beyond my wildest fantasies.  ¡°My father travels to Saen every few months to seek out new product.  This roll here, he brought it just last night.  Will you help me?¡±

    I¡¯d have done anything and everything she asked of me.  Her hand rested on a large roll of black paper tied up with brown twine set on a shelf about as high as her piercing eyes.  At the front was a small paper tag with some writing on it.  I looked.  I recognized the Saeni script, but I didn¡¯t know any of the words.

    She looked at it closely and turned to me with her lips cracked open in an expectant gaze.

    ¡°What¡¯s it say?¡±

    ¡°Sai-iwa nau¡¯ye annu-ui.  It¡¯s a lover that you let go of long ago and you can¡¯t stop thinking about them.  Do you want to see it?¡±

    ¡°Yeah.  Yeah, let¡¯s do it.¡±

    ¡°Grab this end.¡±

    I did, and it was quite heavy.  I pulled and pulled until the whole roll, about six feet in length, was nearly down.  She then stood behind it and grabbed the other end, lifting it off the shelf and bringing it down to her level.  We then carried it over to a nearby table and set it down.  I could feel the strain in my shoulders already, but she didn¡¯t seem at all affected by the weight of the thing.  There, she pushed so that it rolled over to where the paper met with a seam of wax down the length of it.  She then grabbed a small knife and started working it under the seal, pulling all the way down until the paper could be peeled away with ease.

    Beneath that, a massive roll of rug was compacted together, easily two feet in diameter.  She turned it slightly and found the edge of the outermost one, then peeled it away and stretched it out onto the table, smoothing out tufts of fabric and fluffing them up as she went until the image sewn into it was clear.

    There was an infant lying in a wicker basket that was half covered in a white sheet and set out on the stone step before a wooden door.  The level of detail showed the texture of the stone walls of the building, the grooves and tiny pocket holes in the cobbled doorstep, and a stone archway beyond which people walked by in the street.  A ray of yellow sunlight passed through the arch and landed on the baby.  In my fingers, the picture was soft as rabbit fur.

    ¡°This is extraordinary,¡± I said.  ¡°It¡¯s so detailed.¡±  The baby¡¯s hand reached out of the basket, grasping in the open air.  The little wrinkles, tiny fingernails, all of it was meticulously embroidered into the image.

    The girl giggled.  ¡°Would you like to see what comes next?¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    She had to push hard to roll the thing over to find the edge of the next rug, then pull it down and hold it flat while she rolled the rest of them out of the way.  Woven into the fabric was a cozy village with a waterfall beneath a bridge at the center of town just like in Gath.  In the pool beneath the waterfall beside an old mill, children played at splashing one another while distant mountains framed the sky.

    ¡°That looks so peaceful,¡± she said.

    ¡°I love this.  What¡¯s next?¡±

    She peeled away the next one and unfurled it before us.  There was a girl with skin darker than I¡¯d ever seen, like a green so deep as to flirt with shades of black.  She wore nothing but a necklace of wooden beads that left her breasts exposed and a small strap around her waist that hosted an incidental loincloth.  She rode atop some strange kind of creature with a long neck, and a blue stripe that ran from below its eye down across its body, standing on its hind legs and showing talons on its stretched out forelimbs.  She held a bow as she looked out over an endless sea of forest that covered hills and valleys like a blanket, all under a cloudy sky.

    ¡°What is that?¡±

    She pursed her lips and shook her head.  ¡°I¡¯ve no idea.¡±

    That made me laugh.  ¡°I¡¯ve never seen anyone that color, and what kind of creature is that?¡±

    She giggled.  ¡°The people who make these, uh¡­ let¡¯s just say they have a cactus in Saen that will¡­ show you things.¡±

    The next image woven into the fabric, like the others, was flattened out from being packed so tightly though a simple stroke of my hand across its soft fur was enough to restore the tufts.  It showed two men wrestling on a stone circle while others watched.  One of the men was my color, with long hair flailing about, while the other had the same unusually dark green skin as the girl on the previous one.  Among the spectators, that girl again.  She stood with that creature by her side, standing on its hind legs and watching the fight with everyone else.  In the background, lush trees filled the expanse.

    ¡°You say these came from Saen?¡±

    ¡°Yeah.  You ever been there?¡±

    ¡°Once, but this doesn¡¯t look anything like the place I visited.¡±

    ¡°Saen is huge,¡± she reminded me.  ¡°Four-hundred-thousand square miles.¡±

    ¡°Of mostly desert, and that''s not a desert.  Where is this from?¡±

    She shrugged and peeled away the next one.  At the center of the sky, the gargantuan gray balloon of an imperial zeppelin loomed.  On the ground, more of those dark-green people looked up from the rocks and trees, some of them pointing while mothers shielded their children.  Opposite them, men stood in formation, also looking up at it with their spears drawn and shields raised.  Between them, tents burned and there were bodies on the ground, more of those dark green people, lying amid tufts of crimson fabric.

    ¡°What language is that?¡± I pointed at the top left corner, where a string of glyphs ran down the whole side in a straight column.

    Her eyes opened wide and she shook her head.  ¡°I¡¯ve never seen anything like that before.¡±

    As she pushed the roll back to the beginning so as to grasp at the next one, I stuffed the last of the cakes into my mouth and squeezed it with my tongue until it burst.  She glanced at me and giggled slightly.  ¡°Someone likes janju cakes!¡±

    ¡°Listen,¡± I laughed, though my mouth was full.  ¡°You grew up with this stuff.¡±

    She smiled at me and then turned her gaze at the next tapestry as it unfurled before us.

    It was a girl.  She had that same exceedingly dark-green skin.  She wore a belt inlaid with gold studs, from across which was a white silk that fell down to cover her privates, but her breasts were out and, as with everything else, details were woven into the image with sublime precision.  She wore a gold band on one wrist, silver on the other.  She wore a band on her leg and a few on each arm in a dizzying array of colors, with another a golden band about her head set with jewels that seemed to sparkle.  She wore a necklace, another necklace, and then a third necklace that somehow tied the other two together through a net of delicate gold chains, and earrings that seemed to wrap all over her ears with gold chains dangling with brightly-colored jewels at the end of each.  Behind her, long tufts of straight ivory-white hair seemed to flow everywhere, well down past her knees and off the edge of the picture.  She stared at me through hypnotic eyes as yellow as the sun, her fingernails were black and sharpened into claws, and in one hand she held fire.

    I had no words.  She mesmerized me.  I wanted to study the image, keep it in my mind forever, and never let it go.  In every corner of the fabric, the image of this strange dark-green girl captivated my attention.

    ¡°Do you want to see the next one?¡± she said.

    I had to shake myself to come back to reality.  I couldn¡¯t even answer until a minute later when she started to giggle.  ¡°Yeah.¡±

    I¡¯d never regretted being broke so much in my life.

    She peeled at the next one and ran her hands along the soft fabric.  A band of men, worn and haggard, crouched in the shadows of the forest with bows drawn and arrows nocked.  They hid behind some bushes looking out onto the dirt road where, bathed in sunlight, a column of armored men marched in formation.  In the distance, snow-capped mountains filled the sky.  After a while of studying this image, I saw in the corner beside the men was a woman, barely visible as she blended in with the trees, clutching an infant close to her body.

    ¡°Wow,¡± was all I managed to say.

    She giggled and revealed the next one.  Most of the color was beige that tapered off into a darker tan around the corners.  In the center of the frame, rows and rows of beds lined up into the distance with people lying down.  Some of them let their arms, gray with boils on their skin, fall off the bed and drop to the floor while others had sheets covering their faces.  Some were turned to the side, curled up into fetal position while others gaped their mouths open and their eyes closed.  Boys walked down the rows with basins in hand; one knelt beside a bed wiping the person with a rag.  Off to the side, a man pushed a wheelbarrow with a leg draped over the side and flies hovering above, and in the top right corner, a collection of three large, squarish glyphs dominated the space.

    ¡°I know this one,¡± she tapped at the symbols.  ¡°I¡¯ve seen this same set of symbols on graffiti in the city.  It¡¯s an ancient Umeazi script that fell out of use generations before the Empire enfolded their lands.  It says, ¡®we will never forget.¡¯¡±

    ¡°Was this the plague?¡± I said.

    ¡°That makes sense,¡± she nodded.

    ¡°But that was twenty years ago.¡±

    She looked up at me and smirked.  ¡°It may surprise you to learn that there are people in this world who are older than you!¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡±

    In the next image, a man was in a metal cage in the middle of the desert.  There was sand all around, and the edges trailed off into a cacophony of reds, blues, purples, and yellows.  Beside the cage, a figure dressed in white cloth lay just outside, reaching in to hold his hand while the relentless sun beat him.  A lone falcon perched atop the cage staring out into the sand while off to the side, a grove of date palms shaded a cool spring.  As I looked closer, illusions seemed to blend into the sand; I saw the shape of a hand that looked as though it moved, sifting through the desert while the falcon followed it with its eyes.

    I stood and stared speechless, trying to make sense of what I was looking at while the girl standing next to me gazed at me with an expectant smile.  Then without a word, she rolled the whole thing back over to grab the next one, peeled it away from the dwindling mass, and unfurled it.

    There was a large outcropping of rock from which arrows rained down.  A man, a woman, and a boy were running through sparse trees.  The man held a small child in his hands while the woman was holding a baby.  On the ground all about them, bodies of men lay scattered and broken while tufts of crimson fabric watered the soil.  The terror on the boy¡¯s face was my terror.

    ¡°I wish I knew where these were from.¡±

    She answered me.  ¡°There¡¯s a region in Saen where this is an art.  It takes a lifetime to master the technique.¡±

    ¡°No, these images.  What is this?  What am I looking at?¡±

    She smiled and glanced back at the scene.  ¡°I suppose they weave what they see.  What else could they do?¡±

    ¡°But where was this?  Who were these people?  Is this the war in Kulun?¡±

    She shrugged, not once tearing her eyes from my face, and spoke not a word.

    ¡°This happened.  This was a battle; who were these people?¡±

    She unfurled the next one.  It was a great field of green grass.  Two masses of men in armor, each clustered together with spears pointed out at the other group and shields raised, and they moved towards one another.  Amid each crowd, banners flew atop poles while rolling hills took up the backdrop, and above each army not one, but three Imperial zeppelins advanced on one another.  Off in the distance, on each side was a small hill.  On the right stood a beast like a giant man with two heads¡ªone of a bull with horns, and the other a lamb. In one hand it held a sythe that reached above its head, and in the other a leash, the end of which was a lion standing with one paw reached out and his mouth agape and belching fire. On the left hill stood a figure whose head was the sun with one arm outstretched, on which perched a falcon.

    I said nothing.  She said nothing and separated the last two, gently pulling them apart and unfurling one, flattening it out.  It was the Emperor, but it wasn¡¯t him.  The man sitting on the Imperial throne wearing the Imperial robe with the Imperial crown on his head wasn¡¯t Goloagi at all, but a Herali, with straight, dark-green hair cascading over his shoulders.

    I laughed at first.  ¡°You¡¯d better not let anybody see that!¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± she chuckled.  ¡°Are you going to tattle?¡±

    ¡°No!  Of course not!¡±

    ¡°Good!¡± she smiled then turned to the very last one.  It was a map of the whole Empire.  There were no words, but I knew my duchies.  All fifteen were there, Heralia, Golago, the Islands of Tobor, Umaz, the expansive desert of Saen that dwarfed them all, Jinata, Bozan, Kulun that reached out to touch the Agarthan Sea all the way east, Wozuen, Zanala, the tiny Duchy of Krovass, Mayeno, Galaneao, Showan, and Piandrass.  They were all there, but there was another that didn¡¯t belong.  South of Heralia, beyond the Terbulin ridge, was a sixteenth duchy.

    ¡°What is that?  Why is that there?¡± I pointed at the extra province that wasn¡¯t supposed to exist.  ¡°Is that Carthia?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± she said.  ¡°Carthia is right here,¡± she pointed at the very northern edge of this additional duchy, not even an inch south of the border with Heralia.

    I turned to her directly.  ¡°Do you know anything about Carthia?  I was called to arms; that¡¯s why I¡¯m here.  But I don¡¯t know anything about the place.¡±

    Her face sank.  ¡°Oh.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean, oh?¡±

    She looked up.  Her eyes suddenly grew distant, and a sadness filled the air around her.  She stood, then made her way back through the velvet curtain to the front of the store without looking back.

    I followed her.  ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    She slowly turned her gaze back to me.  There was an invisible wall between us.  ¡°I¡¯ve never been there.  Good luck to you.¡±

    I lifted my hands to take her shoulders, and she stepped back from me with a weary smile.

    ¡°I never got your name,¡± I said.

    ¡°That¡¯s true.¡±

    As I tried to wrap my head around her sudden change in demeanor, she put her hand on my back and ushered me towards the door.

    ¡°I don¡¯t understand.  Did I say something wrong?¡±

    At that her eyes met mine one last time as I stepped out onto the street.  ¡°Goodbye, heartbreaker.  Go fess up to your friend.¡±

    And she closed the door on me.

 Prayer

    ¡°HEY!¡± Geraln called to me from inside the pub.  ¡°What are you doing, man?  Come on!  Get in here!¡±

    I¡¯d been outside looking in, trying to muster up the courage to admit to Davod that I¡¯d spent all his money.  I saw him sitting with Geraln and two other men I¡¯d never seen before.

    The pub was lit by red candles set about the tables along with whatever daylight made its way through the front door.  Several tables and chairs were laid out throughout the place, though most of these were empty.  A Goloagi girl stood behind a bar wearing a blue apron that accentuated her ample bosom, with locks of wavy dark-green hair that tufted up in curls as it fell past her shoulders.  She glanced up at me through emerald-green eyes and smiled wide as I walked in.

    ¡°Caleb!¡± Davod shouted.  ¡°Get over here, man!  You got to meet my new friends!¡±

    From the slur, he had to have been at least four or five beers in.  Geraln had a look of a cat satisfied with his mischief stretched across his face, and there was a brown piece of paper with scraps of bread intermixed with some crumbs.  As for the two other men, the one closest to the door looked up at me with a perfunctory smile and his knee shook as he spoke.  ¡°I¡¯m Ales.¡±

    The other leaned back in his chair with one arm draped over the backrest and gave me a smooth nod, holding his eyes steady as he gazed at me.  ¡°I¡¯m Faren.¡±

    Geraln resumed the introduction.  ¡°They were called to Carthia just like us.¡±

    Ales added, ¡°I thought for sure we''d be headed for Kulun.  Where the hell is fucking Carthia?¡±

    I asked him directly, ¡°you don¡¯t know anything about the place, either?¡±

    Faren gazed at me through droopy eyes and answered.  ¡°I asked around.  Apparently of all the conflict zones throughout the Empire, Carthia is the bastard child among them.  They said don¡¯t go there, that we¡¯d be better off taking our chances with the Invisible Hand.¡±

    Davod smirked and let out a ¡°hmpfh!¡±

    ¡°But there¡¯s hope!¡± Faren added, raising a finger.  He took a slow sip from his mug and set it back down.  ¡°You see, we can escape the Invisible Hand by hiding out in the one place they¡¯re too scared to go.¡±

    ¡°Where¡¯s that?¡± I asked.

    Davod smiled, shaking his head side to side as though stifling a laugh.  Geraln giggled lightly to himself, and Faren answered.  ¡°Carthia.¡±

    Davod chuckled while Geraln gave off a half-smile.

    I couldn¡¯t help but nod.  ¡°Well, uh¡­ I bet the girls there are gorgeous.¡±

    ¡°Here we go!¡± Davod lifted his mug to me, took a good drink, and set it back down.  Ales nodded and laughed lightly to himself.

    Faren smiled and kicked under the table so that an empty chair skidded across the floor towards me.  ¡°Sit down, man.  Tell us your side of the story.¡±

    ¡°What story?¡±

    Ales spoke to that.  ¡°Your friends tell us you''re some kind of doctor, got yourself a patient and everything.¡±

    ¡°I don''t know about that¡­¡±

    Davod slurred out his own explanation, ¡°he''s working on that, gods man, she''s got thee most incredible fucking legs you ever seen!¡±  He turned to Geraln.  ¡°Don¡¯t get me wrong¡ªSage is a beauty, but you guys should see¡­ what''s her name?¡±

    My eyes went wide.  ¡°You can¡¯t be serious?¡±

    Geraln answered.  ¡°Oasis.¡±

    Faren asked his own question.  ¡°What kind of name is Oasis?¡±

    Geraln answered him.  ¡°They''re Saeni.  They hate when you mispronounce their names, so they usually give you the translation.¡±

    Davod repeated.  ¡°Oasis.  Gods I''d like to get between that. Thick, meaty thighs push back on you like a spring, man, she is something else entirely!  You make any progress on that yet?¡±

    I nearly froze.  ¡°Her friend is dying!¡±

    ¡°Sit down, man.¡±  Ales spoke to me. I did.

    Davod slapped my shoulder.  ¡°You can¡¯t let that go to waste.  You got the perfect in on that girl.  You screw that up, I will lose all faith in you from now on.¡±

    I took a deep breath and let it out slowly.  I still needed to tell him about the money.  ¡°It¡¯s not¡­¡±

    ¡°Xello zere, xandsome!  Vat can ve get for zhu?¡±

    It was the girl from behind the bar.  She spoke with a thick Goloagi accent, rolling her Rs and contorting some words as to be barely recognizable.  She stood beside me, bent over slightly so that her breasts were level with my eyes, and wiped the table.

    ¡°I¡¯m good,¡± I shook my head and smiled.  ¡°Thank you.¡±

    Geraln leaned back in his chair and grinned. ¡°That''s Caleb-speak for I''m broke and can''t afford a beer at the moment.  He¡¯ll have a syrup.  On me.¡±

    The girl dropped her fingers into eight different mugs and picked them all up at once.  Then she stood and smiled wide without moving her eyes from mine.  ¡°Are zhu man enough to xandal zat?¡±

    Davod smirked.  ¡°You gonna love this beer, man, it¡¯s hard core.  Let me get another as well, miss.¡±

    ¡°Me too,¡± Ales added.  Then Faren.

    Geraln finished.  ¡°I guess it¡¯s my turn, then?  Fine.  Make that a round, love.¡±

    ¡°Got it,¡± she nodded while gazing at him before turning and walking back towards the bar, and I couldn''t help but notice she had plenty of backside to appreciate.  Davod wiped his lips appreciating the same thing; he and I glanced at one another and just about shared a laugh at that.  Then she turned and looked at each of us, giggled, and walked off.

    Faren stretched his arms out and looked at me through droopy eyes.  ¡°So tell us about this girl, man.¡±

    ¡°Uh¡­¡± I still needed to tell Davod about the money.  ¡°Well, her name is Dune.  The three of them had taken the pass from Saen, and she fell.  Hard.  There was a cut, and she broke a bone.  No big deal.  You clean the wound and set the bone, maybe twenty, thirty minutes, it¡¯s not difficult.  You come back every day for a few days¡­¡±

    Ales interrupted.  ¡°Is that the one you¡¯re trying to get with?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not trying to get with anyone!¡±

    ¡°Nah,¡± Geraln added.  ¡°Oasis.  Dune is the one with the injury.¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s going to die,¡± I said.

    They all looked at me.

    ¡°They didn¡¯t take care of it, and it¡¯s gotten the foul.¡±

    ¡°They tried to take care of it,¡± Geraln clarified.  ¡°The first doctor they went to had them waiting all day, then at the end of the day they were told the doctor had left.  They went through that shit for two days before trying another¡­¡±

    I had to interrupt him.  ¡°I¡¯m not trying to get with anyone.  Look.  This is a life-and-death situation; Dune is in really, really bad shape.  If I were trying to get with anyone, then at the very least I¡¯d wait until the urgent situation is resolved, but until then I can¡¯t even think about that.  And right now, Dune is going to die.  Tonight or tomorrow, likely, the next day if God wants to procrastinate about it.  I don¡¯t know what else I can do for her.¡±

    Faren spoke to that.  ¡°It sounds like you need to talk to this Oasis girl and see if you can warm her up to reality.¡±

    ¡°I spent the money.¡± I felt my heart slam against my chest as soon as the words left me.

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    I turned to Davod.  ¡°The thirty-five kren you gave me.  I spent it.  On supplies to try and save Dune.¡±

    There was silence.  Geraln started to chuckle while Davod tilted his head to the side.  Then he tilted his head to the other side.

    Geraln smirked as he spoke.  ¡°Honestly, Davod, you¡¯ve known this kid your whole life and you still gave him money!¡±

    Davod glared at him for a moment, then turned back to looking at me.  He then took in a deep breath and let it out slowly.  I wasn¡¯t sure if he was going to say something or if I was supposed to say more.  ¡°Uh¡­ I had a few coins, that wasn¡¯t enough.  Oasis gave me eight kren¡ªthat was all she had¡ªand it still wasn¡¯t nearly enough.  Uh¡­ yeah.¡±

    Davod took in a deep breath and covered his face in his hands.

    ¡°It was, uh¡­ maggots to try and clean the wound, some liuwenia for the fever, Kuluni adder venom that¡¯s to help the bone heal¡­¡±

    ¡°Caleb?¡± Davod spoke slowly, still burying his face in his hands.

    ¡°Yeah?¡±

    At this point, the barmaid returned with five glass mugs filled with a dark brown beer that had a strong head of foam and began setting them about the table.  She set one before Davod, and he didn¡¯t move.  Rather he spoke as though she weren¡¯t there, still holding his hands before his eyes.  ¡°I¡¯m going to forgive you for this.  I¡¯m going to let it go.  But if I see your fucking face again before tomorrow, I¡¯ll bash it in, so help me!¡±

    Geraln spoke to me.  ¡°I think you¡¯d better go.¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    And so I left without so much as a sip of the syrup.  I¡¯d had in mind to do as Faren suggested, to try and warm Oasis up to reality, but figured she was probably still sleeping.  Another option, I figured, was to go to the church and pray about it.  At that point, there really wasn¡¯t anything more I could do for her.

    There had to be a church in Ulum, possibly more than one.  I imagined a massive, towering monument to God with stained-glass windows like the one in Kyoen, a grandiose example of magnificent architecture to match the rest of the city.  Of course I had no idea where it would be, but that wouldn¡¯t be difficult.  ¡°Excuse me, do you know where the Daenma church is?¡±

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    A Herali man, maybe in his thirties, answered me.  ¡°We have one here?¡±

    Then he shrugged and moved off without another word.

    ¡°Pardon me, I¡¯m looking for the Daenma church.¡±

    A stout, older Herali woman answered me.  Her long, dark-green hair had streaks of gray that she¡¯d braided together, her gray hairs as one lock intertwined with the rest.  ¡°Oh, uh¡­ I don¡¯t know¡­ for sure¡­ It¡¯s that way¡­ I think.¡±

    That way I think was east.  I went back over to the center of the plaza and stood next to the massive stone Falcon sculpture with a perfectly steady stream of water pouring out from its mouth.  Looking west, the city dropped down the valley and disappeared into the hazy blue horizon.  To the south and east, the Terbulin mountains wrapped themselves around the city like a mother cradling her baby.  To the north were the relatively tame mountains that led one into the rest of Heralia.

    I sought another passerby, a pair of Goloagi girls with perfectly coiffed curly hair, dressed in fine silk.  ¡°Sorry ladies, do you know where the Daenma church is?¡±

    They looked at one another and smiled between them.  The girl on the left had lush, dark-green eyebrows, wide lips, and a darling figure.  She looked me up and down and smiled.  ¡°It¡¯s uh¡­ I¡¯m pretty sure it¡¯s that way.¡±

    She then turned to her friend, a petite girl with a set of diamond tree stone earrings dangling down to her neck while she¡¯d tied her hair in the back.  She giggled, then bit her lip.  As she spoke through a smile, her eyes traversed my body several times.  ¡°Yeah, you go down that way, about half an hour, and it¡¯s on Pelahosa Street.¡±

    ¡°Thank you.  Thank you very much.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re welcome,¡± they sang in unison.  Then, as I took the main road east, I turned back to see the two of them still looking at me, only to break into a giggle as I did.

    In the distance, white-capped mountains like molars gave way to brown grass and rock.  I went about a block down a street divided in two by large, wooden planters that hosted all manner of herbs that smelled absolutely divine.  Basil mixed with lavender mixed with rosemary, mixed with just about whatever else you could imagine painted an herbal story as the road dipped down a steep embankment.  The way was crowded, but it moved a lot faster, with people moving in one direction taking to one side of the street while people moving the other way took to the other in some unspoken rule that they all agreed to follow.

    I went a block down, and the street bottomed out into a gully.  Down a nearby alley, I saw someone had painted a message on the walls of a building.  Boros, where the fuck is my money?

    I kept on a few more blocks.  By the side of the road, the street climbed so steep that buildings had one door at the road, then the other half of the floor was taken by the street as it climbed out of the gully.  Several shops had windows half buried into the ground where you could look down into the first floor,  except one had a red-and-white striped curtain over it.

    I passed by a jewelry shop on the right.  They had a necklace made of cut diamond-tree stones, one that grew out from the neck in a triangle shape of smaller stones strung together in a swirl pattern, to meet at the center where a circle of stones was left open, the center of which was a large stone that had to be at least an A4.  It gave off colors that seemed to shift at will, as if the stone itself glowed with the story it told from reflected sunlight.  The handiwork rivaled the best I¡¯d seen back home in Gath, and they wanted thirteen-thousand kren for it.

    Ryoen¡¯s dad used to pay us two kren for a sack full of the things every spring.

    Thirteen-thousand. I shook my head and walked along.

    Up several more blocks, the stone buildings grew darker, but with brighter highlights.  I passed by a screened-in area with several tables just outside a shop with bright-yellow, patterned awning over the main door where people dined on plates that smelled strong of onions sauteed in butter.  A Saeni gentleman came outside carrying a wooden board that hosted a cast iron skillet that sizzled and gave off a hefty amount of steam along with the scent of brandy.

    A few more blocks, and I came to another circle plaza where the street wrapped around a carved stone monument to Goat set atop a column of polished white marble, surrounded by a garden on all sides.  A footpath made of tiny brown pebbles was separated from the planters with a wooden border, planters that were home to a host of different herbs and spices.  I passed by a young Goloagi girl searching through a patch of basil.  On the next turn, an older Herali gentleman worked at feeling the soil and pulling weeds.

    ¡°Excuse me, sir, but do you know how far it is to the Daenma church?¡±

    He scratched his head.  ¡°We have one here?¡±

    The plaza offered three different streets that led East.  I needed to find someone who knew which way to go.

    ¡°Excuse me, I¡¯m sorry, but do you know the way to the Daenma church?¡±

    It was a Herali man about my age, some inches shorter.  ¡°I don¡¯t know.  Maybe that way?¡±  He pointed north.

    I found another.  A young Herali couple walking arm-in-arm.

    ¡°Uh¡­ maybe that way?¡±  The man pointed south, while the woman pointed towards the direction I¡¯d come.

    I found a Saeni woman wearing an apron smeared with a year¡¯s worth of stains mostly faded carrying a large basket with a lid on it.  ¡°Excuse me, but do you know where the Daenma church is?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± she nodded, answering me in fluent Herali with a sharp accent.  ¡°Go down that way,¡± she pointed to the east route that climbed a hill as it trailed slightly to the south.  ¡°When you cross over the bridge, turn right, then go up the hill and turn left at the top of the hill.  Turn right at the goat farm, go up the hill some more and it¡¯s on the right.¡±  She smiled and reassured me, ¡°you can¡¯t miss it.¡±

    Then she went about her way, turning back to shoot me a wide smile, wish me luck and wave ¡°bye.¡±

    I found myself on a wide corridor.  It was less dense with people, and the central walkway was dotted with huge ceramic pots that hosted diamond trees large enough to climb on.  Lush with leaves, the trees were dense enough to block the view upwards to a degree and mute the hot sun that would have otherwise blasted the street.  The gray stone buildings were as tall as everywhere else, though some of the shops looked a little older with faded paint on the wood, and large wooden shutters in place of glass like there had been around the place we were staying.  Several blocks down, I passed by a bakery that announced the smell of warm sour bread to all who passed by, and the street began to rise sharply.  In the narrow space between two buildings, I saw a small door open.  A middle-aged woman with medium olive skin, sandy-green hair, and light green eyes wearing a dirtied-up apron and a blue hair cap stepped out.  She glanced at me briefly before setting the tray she¡¯d held on top of a large can and scraping the charred remains of animal bones with scraps of meat to the rats, who eagerly gobbled them up.  Then she went back inside.

    Further up the hill, between two more buildings I saw an old man lying down beneath a tattered blanket that left his crusty feet exposed.  Beside his hand, an empty wine bottle had broken and shattered over the cobblestones while rats scurried about in the corner.  Along the side of the adjacent building, someone had scrawled in white chalk with rough handwriting, Giselya will suck you dry, ten kren for half an hour.  Next to that was another message written in a Saeni script.

    I came to the bridge.  All along one side of the beige stonework and facing out against an expanse of city in the valley below, someone had painted in black using Goloagi, Go home sand-rats!

    I crossed over the bridge and headed up the hill.  Shattered jars and torn clothes were strewn through the street where one store front had been ripped apart.  Doors were missing, torn from shattered wooden frames, and numerous doors and windows had trails of soot reaching up the wall above them.  Every few feet, there was a pile of rubble¡ªbroken bricks, shattered wood, shards of broken glass, charred remains of some construction, and in one corner I saw a trail of dried blood with a handprint on the adjacent wall.  All throughout, I saw Saeni people busy cleaning up the mess.  They all looked up at me with apprehension as I walked by.  On several buildings, I saw messages in sloppy, painted letters in the Saeni script.

    At the top of the hill, I turned, and the cobbled stones gave way to a bare dirt road as it dropped down and came to a large fenced-in area where a large number of goats had stripped the ground bare leaving piles of tiny black pebbles of manure all about.  The sharp livestock stench dominated the air, and I hurried along to get away from it.  At the end I turned right, and followed the road up another hill.  There was a stretch of wood fence to separate the road from the goats, where someone had painted another message.  Toren¡¯s mother sucks dog dick.

    Several small shacks dotted the sides of the road, most of them with red paint peeling away to reveal sun-bleached, half-rotted wood beneath.  I followed that road as it led me up the hill and twisted around the corner, to where a large blue building rested ahead on the right with the large, four-point triangle of the faith made of wrought-iron and mounted on an overhang that stuck out over a wooden porch that held the front door.

    There were numerous small holes in the wall where the plaster had peeled away to reveal the building¡¯s wood construction beneath, many of them bleached by the sun.  To the side lay the remnants of a wooden gate that had been smashed to bits, and beside the front door I saw those symbols, those three large, squarish glyphs I¡¯d seen in the tapestry shop in relatively fresh white paint, that Umeazi script that meant we will never forget.

    The front door itself was heavy wood reinforced with riveted iron planks, and not a hint of life could be discerned beyond the building¡¯s face.

    I knocked.

    I waited.  I stood while a gust of air came off the mountains and brought the ice with it.  I waited, and I shivered.  I knocked again, louder.

    Eventually, a faint shudder of footfalls came up from behind the door.  The door cracked open, and a figure appeared behind it.  It was a middle-aged man with a strip of hair that wrapped around the back of his head with just enough curl to tell he was Goloagi.  He stood in ornate woven clothes with a giant gut, and held the door mere inches open.

    He stared and said nothing.

    I decided to initiate the conversation in Goloagi, unsure if he would understand me otherwise.  ¡°Good afternoon, sir.  Are you open for prayer?¡±

    He blinked his eyes several times and scratched his chin.  ¡°Who¡¯s asking?¡±

    ¡°I am Caleb of Gath.  I was passing through, and I would like to pray here, if that¡¯s alright?¡±

    He furrowed his eyebrows and the glob of flesh that was his neck stayed put as he turned to look behind him.  Then he turned his face back to me and passed his eyes over me, looking close at my hair as it fell down over my shoulders.

    ¡°I¡¯m not from here.  I was raised at the church in Gath by Mother Searnie and Father Yewan.  Perhaps you¡¯ve heard of them?  It¡¯s in Osenia.¡±

    ¡°You just said you¡¯re from Gath.¡±

    ¡°Barony of Gath, County of Osenia.  Uh¡­ Duchy of Heralia.  Obviously.  M-maybe not obviously.  I don¡¯t know, maybe that¡¯s obvious?¡±

    At that, he raised one eyebrow high above the other, took a sip from a cup he held in his hand, and opened the door.

    He moved his round self to the side as I stepped in.  ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡±

    ¡°Father Gerson,¡± he replied.  ¡°Right this way.¡±

    The reception room was spacious, with a torn red rug at the center and several wooden tables along the walls.  One hosted stacks of books that had been overtaken by cobwebs, while another hosted large rolls covered in dust beneath an open window.  A fat, brown rat scurried along and disappeared into a corner when I walked in.

    Father Gerson led me down a dark corridor to the right that ended with a heavy wooden door.  He opened that, and we came to a courtyard with a covered walkway on both sides, strewn with shattered pieces of wood and broken bricks.  At the next building, on the second floor, the black remnant of soot reached from an open window along the wall to the roof.

    The door at the other end of the courtyard was hanging on by the lower hinge and completely separated at the top.  Father Gerson had to lift it and hold it steady in order to open the way into the next hallway.  All along the walls, I could see dents from where an axe had chopped into the wood, and on the right the friar led me to a tiny room with stone walls.  At one wall was a small glass window with a circular hole in it the size of a potato and cracks trailing into the edges.  There was another four-point triangle made of wrought-iron at one wall, and a prayer bench opposite a small rug.

    ¡°Sorry we don¡¯t have anything more comfortable,¡± he said.

    ¡°This is beautiful, thank you.¡±

    At that, his chin wobbled as he nodded, and then he walked off.

    And so I knelt, closed my eyes, and clasped my hands together.

    Heavenly Father, I am scared.  I¡¯m worried about Dune.  I¡¯m afraid she¡¯s not going to make it.  Without your help she definitely won¡¯t.  If you have a strain of mercy for her, then perhaps you will see fit to heal her?  I¡¯ve nothing else I can do.  I¡¯m also scared of Carthia.  Everything I¡¯m told about this place says it''s a death trap, and I don¡¯t want to go.  I know that you will look out for me and guide me in the direction you want me to go in, so that is all I ask.  I thank you for bringing me here safely.  I thank you for putting kindness in Davod¡¯s heart enough to forgive me.  I hope you find me worthy of serving you, Lord.  Please take care of Sarina for me?  Amen.

    After I was done with my prayer, I went back out into the hallway.  I heard a ruckus at the end of the hall that sounded like a hammer banging away at some nails.  I followed it until Father Gerson was in view, piecing together a wooden gate.

    ¡°May I ask,¡± I said, ¡°do you have any plaster?  I¡¯d like to fix some of those holes out front if you don¡¯t mind.¡±

    He looked up at me in intense curiosity and set his hammer down.

 The Church

    My plan was to spend a few hours helping to fix up the church, then go back and check on Dune before nightfall.

    The priority was the front of the building, as the holes in the plaster made the place look dilapidated.  Father Gerson had some plaster in a large paper package in a supply closet along with all the tools I needed: a hammer and chisel, prybar, broom, bucket, and a trowel. There was even half a brick of blue paint, which would prove more than enough.

    Outside, I started with the biggest. The wood beneath was bleached by the sun and worn smooth.  I chiseled away at the edges to make a clean join and swept away any dust or loose debris before slathering a thick layer of white goo over it.  Once that was smooth and the corners looked good and weren''t about to peel over, I started on the next one.  I continued to patch holes when I heard a voice behind me.  Coming around from the side of the building was Father Gerson along with two boys, I guessed eight and ten.  ¡°Roederek,¡± the friar said with a thick Goloagi accent, ¡°you and Walren clean up all the debris you can see.  Caleb here has knocked out a bit, and there¡¯s more here,¡± he pointed, ¡°and over there as well.¡±

    He pushed along a wheelbarrow, and the two boys began to toss in pieces of broken wood, tar, and broken plaster.  He then set about hammering away at the hinges of the destroyed gate, clearing away the remnant of broken pieces while I continued to work on patching holes.

    ¡°What happened here?¡± I said.

    Father Gerson continued hammering as he spoke.  ¡°Rioters.¡±

    ¡°They set fire to Walren¡¯s bedroom!¡± Roederek complained as he tossed some debris into the wheelbarrow.  He was a stocky Herali boy with his hair tied in a ponytail at the back.

    I turned to the smaller one, a Saeni boy with sandy-green hair cut short.  ¡°You must have been scared.¡±

    The smaller boy stood and looked at me without speaking.

    ¡°He don¡¯t talk,¡± Roederek explained.  ¡°I wasn¡¯t scared; I coulda taken ¡®em.¡±

    I smiled at him.  ¡°Oh yeah?  How many were there?¡±

    Roederek shrugged.  ¡°I didn¡¯t get a look.  Father Gerson made us hide in the cellar while him and Anyanna put out the fire.¡±

    ¡°What were they rioting for?¡±

    ¡°Who knows?¡± the friar replied.  ¡°Caleb, do you mind helping me with this?¡±

    I went over to where he stood, at the side of the building adjacent to a rotted-out wooden fence overgrown with dried, dead vines.  There I held the new gate in place while he aligned it to the hinges and hammered down the pegs.  He then swung it in and out, good as new.  ¡°Very nice!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± I said, ¡°but how can you be in this community and oblivious to the point where you don¡¯t know what the rioters were upset about?  I don¡¯t say that to judge; I just don¡¯t understand how that can happen.  These things don¡¯t just spark from nowhere; they build.  Don¡¯t they?¡±

    He let out a humpfh and straightened his rotund self out.  ¡°You won¡¯t get any answers from these people.  The ones who¡¯ll talk to you don¡¯t know, and the ones who know are the ones responsible.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not what I mean.  I¡¯d¡­ I mean¡­ if it were me, I¡¯d be reaching out to the community.  Regularly.  When I came up here, everything was closed and locked up.  I¡¯d have the door open.¡±

    ¡°They¡¯ll steal things,¡± Roederek explained.

    ¡°Then they¡¯ll set foot in God¡¯s house.  Besides, I didn¡¯t see anything irreplaceable in the front lobby, and that¡¯s probably the worst that¡¯s going to happen.  More to the point, opening up to the community gives you visibility into what¡¯s going on before things flare up, maybe even give you an opportunity to step in and see if you can help work something out so that the riot never happens.  I don¡¯t know, but I feel like that¡¯s a better way to go.  Were you able to shelter anyone hiding from the violence?¡±

    Roederek looked at Father Gerson, whose blubbery neck wobbled as he thought on the matter.  ¡°You can¡¯t let anybody in when it¡¯s like that.  You won¡¯t be able to tell who¡¯s safe and who isn¡¯t.¡±

    I shrugged.  ¡°I guess.  But if you¡¯re alive in the community, wouldn¡¯t you know who¡¯s safe and, more importantly, who needs safety?¡±

    ¡°I suppose,¡± he nodded, then went back inside, taking the boys with him.

    I couldn¡¯t find any more holes to patch, and the fresh plaster needed some time before it was painted, so I went back to the courtyard to try and make sense of the mess there.  Scraps of wood that could be salvaged I piled into one corner, while pieces that only had firewood left in them went in a separate pile.  Most of the planks I found were torn apart, practically shredded.  Plants were uprooted, and stones tossed about where once there had been some kind of order.  In the midst of making sense of what had been there before, I heard a girl¡¯s voice behind me.  ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡±

    I looked up.  She was about my age, maybe a year or two younger, average height and skinny with straight, dark green hair down to her shoulders, round eyes a deep emerald-green, and skin a light olive-green color.

    ¡°I¡¯m Caleb.  And you?¡±  I stooped down to pick up another plank of wood.  It was a bit dinged up, but with some sanding it would make a decent pole.

    ¡°Where are you from?¡± she said.  She was Herali, but she spoke with a hint of a Goloagi accent.

    I stood still for a moment to catch my breath.  ¡°Gath.  I didn¡¯t get your name?¡±

    ¡°Anyanna.  Where¡¯s Gath?  I¡¯ve never heard of it before.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a few days north from here, in Osenia.  What about you?  Where are you from?¡±

    ¡°Why are you here?¡± she said.

    ¡°I was called to arms, to fight in Carthia.¡±

    ¡°Where¡¯s that?¡± she said.

    ¡°It¡¯s on the other side of those mountains,¡± I pointed.  There wasn¡¯t much to be seen of them but the tops of some peaks looked over the southern wall of the courtyard.  I had to work out what to do with the broken bricks.  There weren¡¯t a lot, but perhaps enough that, with a little cement, might make a cute planter for some herbs.

    She turned to look.

    ¡°What about you?¡± I asked a second time.  ¡°Are you from Ulum?¡±

    She looked me over, not once bringing her eyes to meet mine.  ¡°The city?¡±

    That almost made me laugh.  ¡°Yes, the city.¡±

    ¡°Father says the city is a cesspool of debauchery.¡±

    I laughed.  ¡°I wouldn¡¯t know about that. I only just arrived this morning.¡±

    I was trying to make sense of this girl when the friar¡¯s voice called out from the hallway beside the rear building.  ¡°Anyanna, would you mind helping the children set the table?¡±

    She bowed her head low and floated past him without another word in my direction.  He smiled as she passed, then turned to me.  ¡°I hope she wasn¡¯t a bother to you.¡±

    ¡°Not a bother at all; she seems friendly.¡±

    ¡°Well that¡¯s good, then¡ªshe has someone who doesn¡¯t mind talking to her.  She could use more of that.¡±  He had a wooden mug in his hand and took a good drag from it before he disappeared down the hallway.

    I''d spent the next half hour sorting through a pile of rubble and began to piece together what it had looked like before.  There had been a trellis that climbed above the courtyard and offered what was probably a good amount of shade over a series of large, hexagonal stone planters.  I''d managed to clear the remnants of the trellis and get some sunlight to the planters beneath.  Then that girl appeared again.  ¡°Your bath is ready.¡±

    I chuckled.  ¡°My bath?¡±

    ¡°You need to wash up before dinner.¡±

    ¡°I don''t want to impose.  I just thought that¡­¡±

    ¡°Come this way,¡± she commanded.

    Might as well, I figured, I was getting rather sweaty.  I followed her to the other side of the courtyard and through the door to the rear hallway.  She slid open a door on the left and we entered into a small room with a stone floor that recessed towards a metal drain in the center.  In one corner was a large, wooden tub with iron braces wrapped around it that let off a good amount of steam that hinted of rosemary oil.  The room was dark but for a small open window near the ceiling that let in a gust of cold air and three candles in the opposite corner set atop a wrought-iron stand.

    ¡°Go ahead,¡± she said to me.  She¡¯d closed the door behind her leaving us alone together and stood before me with a rough rag in one hand and a bar of dark brown soap in the other.

    ¡°Uh¡­ Thank you, this is beautiful.¡±

    ¡°Do you bathe with your clothes on?¡±

    ¡°No?¡±

    ¡°Take your clothes off.¡±  She gazed at me through large, round eyes that betrayed not a hint that anything was amiss.

    ¡°Well¡­ you¡¯re¡­ standing right there.¡±

    She looked around, then shuffled her feet closer to one corner.  ¡°Is this better?¡±

    ¡°Well, I¡­ uh¡­¡±

    Then I noticed that some clothes from my pack were folded neatly in a wooden stand beneath a shelf with some ceramic jars on top.

    ¡°Did you go through my things?¡±

    At that, she set down the rag and soap and stepped up to me.  I had on a brown, padded-leather jacket, and she reached her hands up and set them firmly on my chest, then worked her fingers beneath and started to slide them over my shoulders and work my jacket off.  I stood like a statue, unsure what she intended to do.  She worked the sleeves over my hands until the jacket fell lifeless, draped over one arm, and she set it down in a corner closest to the door.

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    ¡°OK, well¡­¡±

    She then came back to me, reached her hands up, and began to work on the top button of my shirt.

    ¡°It¡¯s alright, I can do that¡­¡±

    As I brought my hands in close to hers, she swatted them away and began to work on the next button.

    ¡°I can unbutton my own shirt.¡±

    Her eyes fixed on her handiwork and she moved on to the next one.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think this is a good idea.¡±

    She ignored me and kept at it, unbuttoning one after another, all the way down until she could pull my shirt past my arms, drape it over her shoulder, and then set it on top of my jacket.  The chill air met my skin, and I had to cover myself with my arms a bit.  Anyanna came back over to me, took hold of my arms, and pulled them down to my sides.  She then traced the tip of her fingers along my torso until she reached my belt and began to tug at it.  I tried to step back, but she grasped on tight and pulled me back.

    ¡°Anyanna, we just met.  This is not a good idea.¡±

    I lifted my hands to grasp at hers, and she slapped them hard, over and over again until I rested them back down at my sides.  Then she pulled at my belt once more until it came loose, and she pulled it away from my pants, folded it up, and set it atop my shirt.

    By this time, I¡¯d begun to freeze.  I had no more words for the moment.  She dug her fingers into my pants and slid them down, wrapping her arms around me to grasp at my bum, sliding my pants down as she went, only to bring them forward once more to pull my pants down past my cock and let them fall down to my knees.

    ¡°Oops!¡± she said, staring at my exposed manhood.  ¡°I forgot to take off your boots first.¡±

    I should have told her I could take my own boots off, but instead she crouched down low and tugged at one foot, untying the laces, and then pulling hard in multiple directions until my boot could slide over my socks and off my feet.  Then the other.  Then she pulled my pants off the rest of the way, taking my socks with them, folded it all together, and set them atop the rest of my clothes.

    I was completely naked and wondering how this had happened.  I could scarcely will my body to move in any direction, but as she glanced down at my cock I felt a tingle that didn¡¯t belong.

    ¡°Get in the bath now,¡± she said.

    She was a lithe girl, average height but scant of figure. Her simple white cotton dress hung loose over her body.  Her hair hosted rough tangles and split ends, and her jaw allowed a pronounced underbite.

    ¡°Come on,¡± she commanded me, then set one hand firmly over my arse and pushed.  I still wasn''t sure about any of this, so I resisted some. Then she swatted me.  Hard.  ¡°Get in the bath.¡±

    I didn''t like this weird interaction with this girl I''d only just met, but my cock seemed to have other ideas.  I felt the swelling grow as tension throbbed into my shaft and by the time I''d set my feet into the hot water I was fully erect.

    I hadn''t the time to figure out what I wanted from her, if anything at all, at least not in that regard.

    ¡°Sit down,¡± Anyanna commanded me, ¡°we need to wash your hair.¡±

    I did as she bid and tilted my head back, allowing her to stroke her fingers through my hair.  As I closed my eyes, Sarina entered my thoughts.  Around the time when I was sent off to Kyoen, things were moving with her.  I didn¡¯t know where they were moving to and I certainly had no idea what that even meant, but they were moving.  Then, when I came back, things had moved on.  She never said it explicitly, but I always knew it was because of how I¡¯d conducted myself with the girls in Kyoen.

    Anyanna was a pretty girl, but she wasn¡¯t Sarina.  I could hear her rubbing the soap vigorously in her hand, then feel her fingers begin to massage my scalp.  She dug in, too, with her fingernails, scratching everywhere along the skin beneath my hair, all the way down and built up a lather to fall down my hair beyond my shoulders.  Then I felt a tug as a brush was being pulled through.

    ¡°Not so many tangles,¡± she said.  ¡°You¡¯ve been brushing.  Good job.¡±

    I started to laugh at that remark.  ¡°I try.¡±

    ¡°Rinse.¡±

    And so I leaned back in the water as Anyanna¡¯s fingers pulled out all of my hair, working it back and forth to get all the soap out.  After a while I felt her hand beneath my neck, pulling me back up.  I wiped my eyes and looked.  She knelt beside the tub¡ªtaut nipples poked out from her otherwise flat chest¡ªholding the rag in one hand and the soap in the other, scrubbing back and forth to get up a good lather.

    ¡°Your face now.¡±

    I reached for the rag, but she moved her hands faster and plastered the thing all over my face with both hands.  Then she scrubbed everywhere.  My forehead, my nose, beneath my eyebrow, my cheeks, I had no say in the matter but could only hold my breath until she was finished.  After that I dipped my face in the water and rinsed.

    ¡°Stand up.¡±

    I felt a pang of nervousness as I wasn¡¯t sure how thorough she¡¯d planned to be.  ¡°I can bathe myself, it¡¯s fine.¡±

    ¡°I said, stand up.¡±

    And so I stood, making sure to turn my back to her.

    Right away, she tossed my hair over one shoulder to expose my skin, and I felt the rough rag being pressed hard against me.  Starting with the back of my neck, the sensation of being scrubbed clean, across my shoulders one at a time, down my spine, the rag running circles over me while her other hand, slippery with soap, slid gently after.  From left to right, up and down, her hand caressed my skin with a smooth gentleness right after the rough rag was finished punishing me.

    Then, after she scrubbed my arse clean, I felt both of her hands with soapy fingers glide all over, cupping and splaying out, giving me a good squeeze. I peeked over my shoulder, and her eyes were wide, her lips cracked open as she stared at my bum, caressing every inch of my skin from the small of my back to my thighs and everything in-between.  My body got excited again at the sensation of her fingers appreciating me, and my heart started to panic over the prospect of her bathing my front side.

    Instead, she crouched down low and began to scrub away at my thighs.  I felt her hand tapping at my knees, prying me to stand further apart, and she scrubbed between my legs, including my balls.  As with everywhere else, she followed the rag with her smooth, soapy fingers, caressing my skin.  She even cradled my balls in her hand, gently massaging, pulling, stroking, and nearly sending me over the edge before squeezing down hard.

    ¡°OW!¡± I nearly jumped.

    ¡°Hold still!¡± she snapped.

    ¡°That hurt!¡±

    She said nothing to that and moved on to the rest of my legs, always holding on with one hand while scrubbing with the rag on the opposite side.

    She''d finished scrubbing my calves and commanded me further.  ¡°Turn around.¡±

    I was petrified.  My member might as well have been solid rock, sticking out and promising to betray what had welled up into sinful desire.  ¡°Anyanna, I''m a chaste man.  I can''t¡­¡±

    She tugged at one knee and huffed, before reaching up and grasping at my hips, pushing in on my bum while tugging at the other side of me until I was turned to face her.  Then as she brought her hands down to dip the rag in the water, she bumped against my cock, wrapped her soapy fingers around my shaft only to pull away and let it snap back up. The shock of pleasure was brief but so intense I could scarcely catch my breath.  Anyanna stared at it and fought back a grin as she rubbed the soap vigorously in the soaking rag before standing up to face me.  Then, she bumped it again reaching her hands up to my shoulders and began scrubbing hard.

    Her cheeks were flush, her breath was heavy, and her nipples stuck out prominently through her dress.  Every piece of my skin, as soon as she''d scraped it clean with the rough rag, she followed along with her smooth fingers, stroking, along my collarbone, across my chest, then she pinched my nipple.

    Hard.

    I flinched from the shock of it and escaped easily as her soapy fingers slipped right away from my skin. She smiled and let out a light giggle before reaching down for the soap, only to bump her hand against my solid cock once more on her way back up.  She began to scrub across my stomach, tracing every muscle with her fingers, reaching behind me to pull me in close and press in hard with the rag, not missing one piece of me.  She kept that up, cupping one hand firmly over my arse and began scrubbing around my hips, running the rag in circles and inching closer and closer to my increasing excitement.

    I desired to touch her.  I didn''t want to, but I needed to.  So I brought my hands up to her hips with a mind to caress her sides and let my thumbs encircle her breasts.  Right as my fingers were about to make contact, she spanked my hands away.  I didn¡¯t move away at first, so she slapped my wrists, one-by-one, not reserving any force, until I settled my hands back down at my sides with the sting lingering over my skin.  Then as soon as that was done, she came back up to my arms, lifting each one to scrub under my armpits, lowering them back down, all the while brushing her smooth fingers all along the length of each muscle, wrapping behind and caressing my arms from top to bottom with an excited smile on her face, never once making eye contact.

    Then she grabbed my cock.  With her bare hand, she wrapped her fingers over my shaft, stroked gently back and forth, then reached down to fill her hand with water and then grabbed me again, slipping her fingers down my shaft and pulling them back again.  The sensation of her slippery fingers gliding over the crown of my cock, then wrapping around and squeezing tight sent my heart racing.  Then, I watched her breath heave and she bit her lip as she brought the rag up and began to scrub.  All around the base and in my hair, she lifted me up and scrubbed beneath.  All along the shaft top and bottom while holding onto the tip with her free hand.  Then she wrapped her fingers all around it and brought them down along my shaft, squeezing tight as she went, slipping along a fresh lather of soap.  Then she took the rag and scrubbed hard all around the tip and down the shaft to where her fingers rested.

    I felt like I was about to explode, yet all I could do was stand there and allow it to happen.

    Then she moved on with the rag.  She¡¯d crouched down low, holding my cock as a brace to balance herself.  I felt her soapy fingers twist across my skin, tickling me in unexpected ways. She then held on tight and began to scrub in large circles all over my hips.  When she switched the rag to her other hand to scrub the other side, she reached around and wrapped her fingers over my arse, slipping up and down across the curvature of my muscles so as to brace herself as she scrubbed away at the front of me.  She kept staring at my cock, inches from her face and hard as I¡¯d ever been.

    At last she scrubbed down each leg.  ¡°Lift up your foot.¡±

    I did as she said, and she scrubbed hard at my heel, between my toes, all over.

    ¡°You keep your toenails trimmed.  Good job.¡±

    Then the other, I sat down to rinse, and she stood and stepped back.  I was at a loss for words, for actions, for anything.  I didn¡¯t know what to think about what had just happened, let alone what to do next.

    ¡°Come out so we can dry you off.¡±

    I wanted our eyes to meet.  I wanted to see this girl, but I couldn¡¯t.  She wouldn¡¯t let me.  I watched her eyes as they passed over my chest, over my stomach, looked over my cock, traversed my legs, came back to my cock, settled on my shoulders, my arms, then back to my cock again.  She looked everywhere but my face, and I didn¡¯t know how I felt about that.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡± she said, stretching a light brown towel of woven cotton for me to come into.  So I did.  I stepped out of the tub with water trailing down all over my body, and allowed her to wrap me up.  I felt her hands behind the towel wipe me all along my shoulders, down my back, across the front, her fingers once again wrapped around my swollen, solid member, and squeezed the towel against my skin, working her fingers around and under my balls, to rub everything dry.

    Then she squeezed me hard again.  That hurt.  That hurt a lot.  I yelped and tried to jump back, then looked back at her as she¡¯d plastered a satisfied grin across her face.

    ¡°Turn around.¡±

    I did.  I couldn¡¯t explain why.

    ¡°Kneel down,¡± she said.

    I did.  I couldn¡¯t explain that, either.

    Then I felt her fingers work the towel through my hair, tugging hard at the locks so that I had to tilt my head as she pulled.  She kept that up for a little while, then I felt the even tug of a brush being worked through, all the way to the end, lock by lock, until she was done.

    ¡°Stand up.¡±

    She took my towel away, leaving me to stand naked with the cold air brushing across my skin.  She then went back to the corner stand and took up a small ceramic bottle, popped a cork from the lid, poured out something into her hand, and started rubbing it across my skin.  It smelled strong of olive oil, and the sensation of her smooth fingers gliding over my shoulders, my back, all across the curve of my bum as she massaged the oil into my skin was divine.

    Then she turned me around again.

    This time, she started with my cock.  With a generous pool of oil in her palm, she took hold of me and began stroking, twisting her wrist, pushing her fingers deep into my hips only to pull back again, squeezing tight over my crown, then thrust them back down again.  With that motion, she lingered, stroking hard, then soft, slow, then fast, then oiling up her fingers for another round.

    It felt amazing, but I couldn¡¯t get thoughts of Sarina out of my mind.  I shouldn¡¯t have allowed things to get this far to begin with, but I had to stop it somewhere.

    ¡°Anyanna, we can¡¯t¡­ do this.  I can¡¯t do this.  Please.¡±  My words asked her to stop, but my body did not.  Rather, I stood still and did nothing as she continued stroking, back and forth until the oil was absorbed into our skin once more.  Then she oiled up the rest of my body, my chest, my shoulders, my arms, my stomach, my legs, and passed her fingers along my cock once more.

    She smiled wide as if to near a laugh, then wiped her fingers in the towel.

    ¡°You¡¯re all clean now.  Get dressed for dinner.¡±

    With that, she took up my dirty clothes and left, sliding the door closed behind her.

 The Miracle

    As I got dressed, I heard a knock on the door.  Not long after she¡¯d finished doing¡­ whatever it was she did to me¡­ Anyanna was back.  She¡¯d changed into a long black dress that hung loose over her body and came down to her ankles, simple wooden sandals, and over her shoulders she wore a gray shawl of knitted wool.  I also noticed her hair fell smoother than it had before and hinted of lavender oil reminiscent of Sarina.

    Her dark green eyes studied me as I tied my boots, never once meeting mine.

    Then she led me down the hall towards the back of the church and took a left turn to the far side of the building where dinner had been laid out.

    In a room barely enough size for the rough-hewn wooden table, Father Gerson sat at the center adjacent to the two boys from earlier.  On the opposite corner was a young girl with a rather odd look to her.  Her head was too small for her body, her face was unusually flat and round, and her eyes were set narrow.  She might not have been more than six, but by her look she might have been stunted.

    Anyanna bid me sit, then took the seat directly to my left.

    Six spun-wooden plates were set out along with a spoon and a rough ceramic cup for each.  The center of the table hosted a large ceramic pot with a wooden lid that leaked out steam and carried the strong scent of cooked garlic, along with a glass pitcher that was home to something orange that had a layer of foam at the top of it.

    The friar had a large, wooden mug as well.

    There was a large, dark-wooden carving board atop which set a loaf of bread along with a small ramekin of oil, and at the very center of the table stood a thin, clay vase dented by the fingers that had crafted it and painted in bright reds and yellows, and this was home to a single, long stem of a small yellow flower that tilted its head to one side and was missing a few petals.

    ¡°Let us bow our heads,¡± Father Gerson spoke in Herali, rolling his Rs and holding his vowels longer than usual, ¡°Father, we thank you for bringing Caleb to us today.  His help fixing up your house has been a blessing beyond anything we could have asked for.  We hope this simple meal should restore his strength, and we ask that you keep him safe on his journey.  We thank you for helping Trunlia to find this beautiful flower for the table...¡±

    I peeked.  The little girl to my right beamed with joy.

    ¡°... We ask that you guide Roederek to find the strength and courage to deal with the boys in the neighborhood so that he may find respect worthy of the great man I know he will become.  We ask that you help Walren to find the words to speak to you through his heart.  I know that you hear him even as he does not speak.  And we ask that you help Anyanna find her answers so that she will know peace within her heart.  You have crafted her into a remarkable and courageous young woman, and we ask that you continue to guide her as you have done so far.  We thank you that you have graced us with provision for this meal, and humbly ask that you show us how you plan to provide for us in the coming winter.  Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who have sinned against us.  Lead us not into temptation.  All honor and glory be in your name, Amen.¡±

    We all repeated the Amen, and the friar opened the wooden lid to the pot.  I leaned in and saw a glistening brown surface dotted with chunks while little Walren tore off a chunk of the bread and passed it to Trunlia.

    ¡°Pass me your plate, Caleb.¡±  Father reached in with a large spoon and dug up a healthy, semi-solid mass of brown stew with bits of semi-congealed sauce along with chunks of potatoes, carrots, bright green peas, and scraps of meat.

    It wanted salt, and there was a hint of something sweet laced throughout along with a chorus of herbs led by lavender, whose large sprigs stuck out on my plate.  Anyanna began to pour some of the drink into my cup when Father stood.

    ¡°Please excuse my manners!¡± he said.  ¡°Caleb, would you like some ale?¡±

    Not after what happened in the bath.  ¡°I¡¯m good, thank you.¡±

    ¡°You sure?¡±

    ¡°I still have to make it back to the Falcon Plaza this evening; there¡¯s someone I need to check in on.¡±

    ¡°Hmm,¡± he grunted and sat back down.  ¡°That¡¯s far.¡±

    Anyanna spoke up after tearing off a chunk of bread for her own plate.  ¡°Who do you have to check in on?¡±

    I looked at her, but she still didn¡¯t meet my eyes with her own.  ¡°A friend took a fall and got hurt real bad.  I just want to make sure she¡¯s OK.¡±

    ¡°She?¡±

    I nodded.  ¡°Yeah.¡±

    ¡°Oh.¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s the reason I came here to pray.  I don¡¯t think she¡¯s going to make it.¡±

    Everyone looked at me but it was Trunlia, the little girl to my right who spoke, with an unusual slur to her words, as though she didn¡¯t engage her tongue to form them.  ¡°What happened?¡±

    ¡°Well, her injury has taken the foul.  I put maggots in the wound and gave her something to help, but she¡¯s already very, very far gone.  I did what I could for her, but at this point it¡¯s going to take a miracle.¡±

    Father Gerson answered me, ¡°you should give her gebuwi.¡±

    I noticed from the periphery of my eye that as I faced Father Gerson, Anyanna was looking at me directly.  But when I turned to her, she was looking at her food.  It took a minute for me to make the connection between the word he spoke and the name the apothecary had given me for the miracle herb.  ¡°Gebu-E?¡±

    The friar smiled and chuckled lightly to himself.  ¡°You¡¯ve heard of it.¡±

    ¡°I did give her some.  What do you know about it?¡±

    He took in a deep breath and looked around the table while running his hand over the smooth dome of his head.  Little Walren was busy stuffing his face with masses of food, Roederek stared at me directly without taking a bite, and little Trunlia would glance up at me only to look down at her food and smile whenever I turned to her.  Anyanna didn¡¯t look at me at all.  Rather, she took a sip from her cup while her eyes studied the scrap of bread on her plate.

    Father Gerson answered me.  ¡°Well, they say it cures everything.  I don¡¯t know about that, but¡­¡± he shook his head.

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°... it cures the lover¡¯s pox.¡±

    I was confused.  ¡°You say that like it¡¯s a bad thing.¡±

    ¡°Hmm,¡± he took a bite from his stew.  ¡°The lover¡¯s pox is God¡¯s righteous judgment against adulterers.  It¡¯s a natural consequence.  Take that away and people turn into wild animals.  I don¡¯t want to get into too much detail with the children present; I think you can use your imagination.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know about all that,¡± I said.  ¡°They were probably already unhinged, else there wouldn¡¯t be a lover¡¯s pox to cure.  If anything, a cure would be a mercy¡ªan opportunity at a second chance.¡±

    ¡°Actions have consequences, Caleb.  There need be consequences.  What¡¯s happening in Ulum is¡­¡± he shook his head and closed his eyes.  ¡°You talk of mercy; these people brought wrath upon themselves, rightfully deserved.  What good can come of taking that consequence away?¡±

    ¡°Grace.¡±

    ¡°What grace?¡±

    ¡°Well, uh¡­ OK.  So there¡¯s a girl in Gath, her name is Teryn.  Last spring, she was upset over her lessons and ran off.  Two days we were all looking for her.  I finally found her hiding under a bridge about a mile outside the village.  Poor thing was cold, tired, and hungry, and terrified that she didn¡¯t know how to get out of where she¡¯d hidden herself.  On top of that, she was terrified of what was going to happen to her once we got home.  I could have said to her, actions have consequences, that she¡¯d got herself into that situation and that¡¯s God¡¯s righteous judgment that she should suffer, but that¡¯s not grace, is it?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s different.¡±  Father Gerson took a good drag from his cup and set it down with a smooth grin across his face.  The stench of alcohol came pronounced off him as he spoke.  ¡°You¡¯re talking about a child.¡±

    ¡°Are we not all God''s children?  He gives us grace and asks that we show grace to one another.  Else what¡¯s the point of praying, forgive us our sins as we forgive those who have sinned against us?  It¡¯s not my responsibility to judge, or to cheer on when the wicked call down wrath upon themselves.  My responsibility, at least as far as I read in Scripture, is to give love to all, freely, without finding fault, to extend His grace and to show mercy knowing that I have received it in kind.¡±

    ¡°What happened to her?¡± Anyanna¡¯s voice cut through.

    When I turned to her, she looked about my face, still without meeting my eyes.  ¡°You mean like a punishment?¡±

    She nodded.

    ¡°I convinced Father Yewan that she didn¡¯t need a punishment, that she¡¯d suffered enough already.  And, you know what?  She never ran off like that again.¡±

    ¡°What if that doesn¡¯t work?¡± little Roederek asserted his question, moving his food about his plate with his spoon.  ¡°What if you go easy on ¡®em and they keep on doing bad things to you?¡±

    ¡°You know what?¡± I said, ¡°I don¡¯t know!  I do understand what you mean, though¡ªI went through a bit of that myself.  Scripture says that if someone strikes you on one cheek, you turn to them the other cheek, that if your brother sins against you a hundred times, you forgive them a hundred times, but how can you live when someone just won¡¯t let you have a little peace?  Like they¡¯re just bent on hurting you for no reason?  I remember when I was about your age, there was this kid, Davod, who used to push me around, and I hated him.  He was my height, and I¡¯ve always been tall, but he was much bigger.  His dad was a smith, so he had these arms like you wouldn¡¯t believe, and I was afraid of him.

    ¡°He would say nasty things out of nowhere.  Geraln, he was this other kid, his dad was explaining to all of us how cooking diamond-tree stones worked, he was explaining how sometimes when we see something working, the temptation is to just put more of it on.  He called it the moron principle.  Davod shouts out, ¡®that¡¯s what Caleb uses.¡¯  Then, I¡¯d be walking by minding my own business and he just pegs me with a clod of dirt.  It just felt like everything came out of nowhere.

    ¡°My heart used to shoot off like crazy whenever I was about to see him, because I knew he was going to have something nasty going on.  Then, one day, I punched him in the face.  I reeled back so hard, and I got him right in the nose.  In my mind I¡¯d had it all ready to go; he was supposed to fall down, cry, I dunno, back off.  Nope.  He launched himself right at me, and we messed each other up real bad.

    ¡°First I spoke to Father Yewan.  He was mad.  All this stuff he¡¯d taught me about blessed are the peacemakers, walk away, and I go and do that.¡±

    I turned to face little Walren directly and continued.  ¡°I was grounded!  For two weeks he forbade me to leave the church.  Then I spoke to Mother Searnie, and you know what she said to me?¡±

    He shook his head.  Trunlia¡¯s eyes were glued to me, as were Roedrek¡¯s.  Anyanna¡¯s eyes seemed transfixed on Roederek¡¯s shirt, and Father Gerson took a sip from his mug.

    You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

    ¡°First, she said that there is a season, a time for every purpose under the sun.  A time to cheer, a time to weep, a time to kill, a time to heal, a time to give, and a time to steal.  To everything a time, and to everything a purpose.  Then, she said let Scripture be my map, and prayer be my guide.  That is how I will discern whether it¡¯s a time to turn the other cheek, or punch him in the face.¡±

    The children were silent.  Father Gerson let out a ¡°hmm¡± and set down his mug.  I thought he was going to say something, but if so he took his sweet time.

    ¡°You want to know what happened next?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Trunlia answered me.  Roederek gazed at me without a word.

    ¡°Davod changed.  Overnight.  The next time I saw him, he showed me around his home and asked me what it was like growing up in the church.  We played together, explored the mountains together.  There was this girl, Runya, who used to do all sorts of mean things to him¡ªshe put poison ivy in his shoes once.  I made him sit down with her, and the three of us figured out that the reason she did all that was because she was afraid everyone would know she had a crush on him.  Next thing you know they¡¯re together.¡±

    Roederek nodded and smiled a little, then took a bite from his plate.  I felt Anyanna¡¯s leg relax into mine beneath the table, and little Walren lifted himself up to put his mouth to the Friar¡¯s ear.

    I sifted through the attempted halvystra¡ªit¡¯s supposed to be solid¡ªand found a piece of salted meat.  Make that very salted meat.

    The friar spoke to me.  ¡°Walren would like to know how long you plan on staying with us?¡±

    I laughed.  ¡°I wasn¡¯t planning on staying for dinner!  I have to get back and look in on someone.¡±

    ¡°That girl?¡± Anyanna asked.

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Is she the one who put poison ivy in your friend¡¯s shoes?¡±

    ¡°No!¡± I laughed.  ¡°She¡¯s Saeni, her name is Dune.  I actually only met her this morning.¡±

    Little Trunlia spoke up at the mention.  ¡°We prayed for her!¡±

    ¡°She broke her right arm?¡± the friar asked with one eyebrow raised high.  ¡°She¡¯s traveling with two friends?¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± I said.  ¡°They told me they brought her here, that you couldn¡¯t do anything for her?¡±

    The friar took another drag from his mug and set it down.  ¡°I told her that her arm had taken the foul, and that the only way to save her life was to cut it off.  She refused, and they left.¡±

    I nodded.  ¡°That¡¯s her.¡±

    Anyanna asked, ¡°why are you taking care of her if you only just met her?¡±

    ¡°Because she needed it.  That¡¯s what Scripture says to do, isn¡¯t it?  You see someone who needs help, you do what you can to help them.¡±

    The friar narrowed his eyes and asked, ¡°Caleb, why did you come to Ulum?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m just passing through.  I was called to arms; I have to go fight a war in some place called Carthia.¡±

    The friar wrapped his fingers over his plump chin and took a deep breath while looking off in the distance.

    ¡°Have you heard of the place?¡±

    He brought his eyes back to me.  ¡°It¡¯s a very, very dangerous place.¡±

    I tried to smile that off.  ¡°Wars do tend to make places dangerous.¡±

    ¡°That was before the war.¡±

    ¡°Why?  Why is it dangerous?  How is it so bad?  No one will tell me anything!¡±

    He took a deep breath and stared at the ceiling.  Then after a moment, he came back and spoke.  ¡°I haven¡¯t been there.  I¡¯ve heard tales, things I¡¯d assumed God had cleansed the world of long ago.  For ten years now men have come through here to feed that war.  Few, very few return¡ªI can name only one of them.  I spoke to him.  I asked him what he saw.¡±

    ¡°What did he say?¡±

    ¡°Nothing.  He shook his head and left.  But there are merchants who go there.  Salt traders going over the mountain have come back with more money than they could make in a year.  Tell me something, Caleb,¡± he let out a low burp and set his cup down.  ¡°Do you read Scripture much?¡±

    ¡°Daily.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s your favorite verse?¡±

    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t say verse so much as a passage.  Do you know The Called Man?¡±

    ¡°Teach me,¡± he said, leaning back in his chair and clasping his hands over his rotund belly.  ¡°Pretend I¡¯ve never heard of it.¡±

    I looked around the table.  Trunlia gazed at me directly, as did the boys, Walren and Roederek.  Anyanna tilted her head and looked at my face, still refusing to meet my eyes with her own.

    ¡°OK¡­ so in the Book of Maijzu, there was a man named Syrus.  The Kulun had been conquered and ruled by the Daijji, who were oppressive and mean¡­¡± I turned to Walren and put emphasis on my words.

    Trunlia spoke to me.  ¡°What did they do?¡±

    ¡°Well, for starters, they would track mud all throughout the house and blame it on the children!¡±

    I checked the three of them, each in turn to make sure they believed me before I continued.  ¡°Then they forbade them minicakes; if you ate one, that would be ten lashes.  Then, they took away their lessons and made them do double chores!¡±

    The friar let out a light chuckle and smiled, ¡°that¡¯s one¡¯s probably true!¡±

    ¡°No,¡± I said, ¡°triple chores.  Made them work, all day and all night.  All sorts of mean things they did.  So this Syrus guy is there, and an angel from God appeared saying, Syrus, you¡¯ve been chosen to lead a rebellion against the evil Daijji and liberate the Kulun from oppression.¡±

    Trunlia looked up at me, ¡°and give the children back their minicakes?¡±

    ¡°Yes.  I believe the angel specifically said to give the children back their minicakes.  Maybe.  It might say that, I¡¯d have to check¡­ or perhaps you could read it and find out for yourself.¡±

    Anyanna then spoke up.  ¡°I would think it¡¯s implied¡­ that the children would get their minicakes back.¡±

    I tried smiling at her, but she would not look at my eyes.  ¡°Something like that, maybe.  So anyway, this Syrus looks up and says, I hear you Lord, but I need proof that it¡¯s you who''s chosen me.  And I just love that.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± Roederek asked.

    ¡°Because I hear stuff all the time¡ªdon¡¯t question the Lord, don¡¯t challenge His authority.  When God says to do this, you don¡¯t hesitate, you don¡¯t ask questions, that sort of thing.  And that''s wrong.  This verse, this passage, tells me that it¡¯s OK to ask for proof.  It¡¯s OK to not understand, to get confirmation.  If something is true, then it should hold up to scrutiny.  If something or someone is afraid of being held up to scrutiny, then that¡¯s almost proof it¡¯s a lie.  If I say to God, show me your presence and he doesn¡¯t, then we start to disbelieve in Him.  That¡¯s not a sin; that¡¯s human nature.  But if I pray and ask God, show me you, I need proof that you¡¯re here with me, I need to see you, I need to feel your presence in my life, it is absolutely OK to do that.¡±

    The friar nodded.  The children seemed happy with that response as well, but then Anyanna had another question.  ¡°Why does God allow suffering in the world?¡±

    The friar nodded and took another sip from his mug, then looked at me with an expectant smile.

    ¡°Well,¡± I actually had a practiced response to that.  ¡°It¡¯s because suffering invokes challenge, and to overcome is the nature of beauty.¡±

    ¡°Is that from Falcon?¡± Father Gerson asked.

    I shrugged.  ¡°Truth is true, does it matter who says it?  Besides, I believe the same sentiment is borne out through Scripture.¡±

    ¡°How?  Where?¡±

    ¡°Well, there''s the man who was born blind so that the power of God''s grace can be shown through his life.  But it''s all of it, really.  We are not meant to sit idle; we are given this life and charged with a purpose. It is through the fulfillment of that purpose where we find meaning. That''s something I see echoed throughout scripture, but honestly, it''s difficult to pin it down to one verse.¡±

    By the time everyone had finished eating, the dusk outside was fading into darkness.  Father Gerson turned to the children, ¡°Walren, Roederek, Trunlia, would you mind clearing the table, please?  Anyanna, would you mind making up a room for Caleb?¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t stay,¡± I stood.

    He glanced at the window and turned to me.  ¡°You won¡¯t make it to Falcon Plaza at this hour, the neighborhoods you¡¯d have to walk through, no.  You¡¯ll have to check on Dune in the morning.  Please sit down.¡±

    I held my breath and tried to find a thought to answer that with.

    ¡°Caleb, with those riots two days ago, someone who¡­ looks¡­ like you, I don¡¯t think you should go out there at this hour.  Please sit down.¡±

    That broke my heart.  Just the thought of it made me feel like I¡¯d betrayed Dune, but I had to trust his judgment.  I sat.

    ¡°Please,¡± he said.  ¡°Have a beer with me.¡±

    I wanted to.  I really wanted to, but remembering what Anyanna had done to me in the bath, not knowing what else she may or may not have had in mind considering I was to stay the night, so much as one drop of alcohol was probably too much.  ¡°I really can¡¯t, I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    He smiled and leaned in close.  ¡°Anyanna seems awfully fond of you.  She¡¯s a lovely girl, isn¡¯t she?¡±

    I hesitated to speak on that, afraid of where those words might lead.

    ¡°I¡¯ve never seen her open up like that.  Not with anyone.¡±

    ¡°That was her opening up?¡±

    He laughed.  ¡°Guests come and go; many stay for days without speaking to her once.  Some don¡¯t even notice she¡¯s here.  I have never seen her like that, not with anyone.¡±

    ¡°I see.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s Trunlia who breaks my heart the most, though.¡±

    I hesitated to ask, ¡°why is she¡­ why does she look like that?¡±

    ¡°Some children are born like that.  I¡¯ve seen it before, and they never survive to adulthood.  I know it¡¯s coming for her, too.  It may come tomorrow, it may come next year¡ªit usually comes when her body begins to change.  She will grow weaker and weaker, until after some months, she will die.  And I have to watch it, knowing what¡¯s about to happen.¡±

    He wiped a tear away from his cheek and continued.  ¡°That¡­ geboo-ee.  It¡¯s not just the lover¡¯s pox; I¡¯ve seen it bring people back from the brink, people with nothing left in them but to wait for death to call their names.  They¡¯re given the geboo-ee, and¡­ I couldn¡¯t believe it.  I saw it with my own eyes.  I gave some to Trunlia, hoping it might save her from what was to come.  All it did was make her sick.¡±

    He waited and watched as the children finished gathering up all the plates and bowls.  Little Trunlia reached for my cup, but I was still sipping at it, so she smiled and bowed her head low.  Then, after they¡¯d all gone off I sat with Father Gerson alone at the table when he finally spoke.  ¡°I¡¯m going to write the Archbishop in Golago to have your military summons canceled.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°You need to take up the cloth.¡±

    ¡°I¡­¡± I shook my head in disbelief.  ¡°You¡¯ve got to be joking.¡±

    ¡°You have a gift.¡±

    ¡°No no, no.  I don¡¯t.  Me?  A priest?¡±

    ¡°Yes, Caleb.  You have the gift.  You can transform this church, right here in Ulum.¡±

    I laughed.  ¡°You clearly don¡¯t know me very well!  Trust me, I don¡¯t have what it takes¡­¡±

    ¡°You do.¡±

    ¡°Listen,¡± I said.  ¡°You don¡¯t know the real me.  I¡¯ve done some really bad things.  All throughout growing up¡­¡±

    ¡°So?¡±

    ¡°What would I even do?  Deliver a sermon on punching people in the face?¡±

    ¡°All have sinned,¡± he smiled at me.  ¡°What makes you less worthy than anyone else?  You say you¡¯ve done bad things, we all have.  It¡¯s not about that.  It¡¯s about the difference you make in people¡¯s lives.  Look around you.  Why is Walren asking me how long you plan on staying?  Think about it!  You could open up these doors and get out in the community.  Caleb, these people need help.  You could make this place into your vision.¡±

    ¡°I¡­¡± I stumbled over my words.  ¡°I have to go to Carthia.¡±

    ¡°I told you I''d take care of that.¡±

    ¡°But how is that fair?  My friends have to risk their lives for the good of the Empire but I get a free pass?  I can¡¯t do that.  No.¡±

    ¡°We all are called to our own purpose, Caleb.  Some are called to one, and some are called to another.  What if God allowed your summons in order to bring you here and show you this place?¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t do it.  You said that I would make this place into my vision, that vision does not include abandoning the people I care about, not when they''re being sent off to die.  I can not do that.¡±

    ¡°I believe God is calling you, Caleb.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know about that.¡±

    He stretched out his fingers and let out a yawn before taking another sip from his mug.  ¡°You said that Dune needed a miracle.¡±

    ¡°Yes?¡±

    ¡°What if the geboo-ee works on her?  Would that be miracle enough?¡±

    I considered it for a moment.  Ulum wasn¡¯t so far from Gath that I couldn¡¯t write Father Yewan for advice or go back to visit, or perhaps ask Sarina to come join me and we would work on this place together.

    What if Sarina came to Ulum with me?  ¡°That would be a miracle.¡±

    He smiled and reached out his hands for me to take.  Then, we closed our eyes and bowed our heads as he spoke.  ¡°Father in heaven, I have your servant Caleb here.  I believe you have called him, and that you have chosen this church for him as a place to bloom.  We need proof that you have spoken this, and so we ask that you reach out your merciful hand, to heal Dune of her injury and restore her health.  If instead you allow Dune to perish, we will know that you release your servant Caleb to go as he wills.  For thine is the blah blah blah, all that stuff, Amen.¡±

    ¡°Amen.¡±

 Anyanna

    I felt Anyanna''s body slide between the sheets and lie down next to me.  All along the length of my body, skin on skin, I felt her weight.  I felt as she rested her breast against my chest, her taut nipple pressing into my skin.  She brought one leg up over my thighs and rested it over my cock, moving her thigh back and forth, stroking me with her leg and pressing in so that I could feel the hairs of her pussy grinding on my hips.  I brought my hands down over the small of her back and over the curve of her butt, then sent my fingers beyond, allowing my middle finger to slip between her wet folds.  In the still darkness, I kissed her, and she pinched my nipple.  The weight of her leg pressing down on my cock grinding back and forth was sending me into a frenzy.  I wrapped my elbow firmly around the back of her neck and kissed her with desperation in my heart, and she lifted herself up to straddle me.  She planted her hands on my chest while I caressed her hips with mine, wrapping my fingers around her thighs and over her butt and I felt her body lift up slowly, allowing the skin of my cock to glide across the inside of her thigh and along her mound.

    Then I woke up, and I was alone with a throbbing erection.

    If by some miracle Dune survived, I¡¯d be seeing a lot of her.

    I wanted her to bathe me again.

    I wanted to return the favor.

    And how would that go?  With Sarina?

    Sarina thought she was broken; I told her she was whole.  The scariest moment of my life was when we were climbing The Punisher¡¯s sheer, thousand-foot face together.  I was first, and got up onto a small ledge.  She was still on the cliff.

    ¡°It¡¯s happening again,¡± Sarina had cried out.  ¡°Oh God, it¡¯s happening again!  Caleb, it¡¯s happening again, it¡¯s happening again!  I can feel it; it¡¯s happening again!¡±

    ¡°Take the rope!¡± I¡¯d yelled.

    In her waning moments of lucidity, I''d been able to pull her up and onto the ledge.  No sooner than I¡¯d gotten her up, she started to tremble.  Her hands shook, her feet shook, her head shook, her whole body seized up and trembled violently.  I wrapped my arms around her so tight.  I¡¯d decided in that moment I would do anything, anything at all to hold on to her.  Soon she would start rolling back and forth, and if I hadn¡¯t held on tight, she''d have rolled right off the edge.  I held onto her.  While she was moaning and grumbling, tossing, shaking, and frothing at the mouth, I was crying and I was praying.  But I held onto her.  If it cost me my life and she ended up taking us both, I would hold on to her.

    Sarina needed me to love her, and I failed.  Again and again, I failed.

    When I¡¯d gotten back from the apothecary, Oasis had on a white, simple cotton robe with the hotel¡¯s logo on the breast that came down to the middle of her muscular thighs.  I tried to watch the gebu¡¯i as tiny white circles began to form on the surface of the water, but then Oasis crouched down and bent over to talk to Dune.  Davod did not lie¡ªshe had truly, truly magnificent legs.

    I¡¯d struggled to rip my eyes from her; fucking sublime.

    What a loathsome creature I was!  With what she was going through, the last thing she needed was for me to drool over her like that.  The last thing Sarina needed was for me to involve myself with even more girls.  I had to behave myself.

    There was also that girl in the tapestry shop.  I held her waist in my mind, tracing the outline of her curves, resting my hands on her round hips, felt her firm arse in mine, basked in the sultry way she turned round to glance at me, smiling through plush lips.  I had to try and find her again.

    Why did she react that way?

    With that thought the feeling had slipped from me completely and, unable to finish, my erection began to abate¡ªnot that I had anywhere to put the mess anyway.

    Why did she react that way?  No sooner than I¡¯d told her about being called to Carthia it was as though a light had burned out.  One minute flirtatious and friendly, then in the blink of an eye cold and disconnected.

    I sat up to check the sky.  The night¡¯s air was freezing, but I¡¯d had enough blankets to keep warm.  I opened the bottom corner of the flap over the window and pushed the shutters open, and that bitter cold nipped hard.  The world outside was black but for the stars that outlined the jagged peaks of the Terbulin ridge.

    I had no idea what time it was, but my body was done sleeping.  I needed to check on Dune first thing in the morning, else it would be too late.

    Too late for what?  She was good as dead whether I checked on her or not.

    No less, I got up and got dressed, brushed my teeth and washed my face with ice-cold water from the well in the courtyard, packed my things, and headed out.  I went out into the hall and guessed my way through the dark corridor to the kitchen where I found some of the stew¡ªI refuse to call it halvystra¡ªwe¡¯d had the night before.  My tongue found a stray chunk of nice-pepper, and by time I realized what I¡¯d bitten into, it was far too late.  I went about in a frenzy looking for water, a chunk of dried bread, something, anything to mitigate the burn.

    I was in the middle of trying to cool my mouth off when I heard her.

    ¡°Is it true that you¡¯ll be staying with us if Dune survives?¡±

    Anyanna¡¯s voice cut through my thoughts, and I turned to look.  The light from my oil lamp cast her in an orange hue as she stood beside the door.  She was wearing a thick, black woolen shawl that she held tight to her body with both hands, brown leather boots, and a fur hat.  Her eyes had settled on the low flame from my lamp.

    I sniffled and my eyes watered, and I answered her.  ¡°In a word, yes.  Father Gerson believes¡­¡±

    ¡°When are you leaving to check on her?¡±

    I shrugged.  ¡°As soon as morning comes, I suppose.¡±

    ¡°We should go now.  The streets get crowded once the sun rises.¡±

    We.  I hadn¡¯t made room in my mind for that word.  What it meant was clear enough, though.  And so, we set out.

    She walked quickly, and I struggled to make her out in the cold darkness.  Then, rather than turn left at the end of the noxious goat farm, she kept straight on the road leading us downhill into the dark silhouette of the city.  Stars had begun to slip from the sky¡¯s grasp as the world shifted from black to blue.  To the east, jagged peaks looked black against the shifting sky.  To the west, billowing clouds reached high above the dark haze to be painted with orange and purple highlights.

    The streets of Ulum were dark, with cold towers hosting the occasional window lit by the faint glow of an oil lamp somewhere within.  Up ahead, Anyanna stopped at an intersection and turned around to wait for me.  A wisp of white breath puffed out before her skinny face.

    When I caught up to her, she slowed a bit so that we could walk together.

    ¡°We make a lot of tar,¡± she said.  ¡°In Ulum.  Here, I mean.  In Ulum, they make a lot of tar.¡±

    ¡°Uh¡­ OK?¡±

    She continued.  ¡°So, everyone knows about diamond-tree stones, and of course that¡¯s huge, but most people don¡¯t know that in terms of raw industrial output, Ulum makes a lot of tar.¡±

    I nodded, unsure how to engage.  ¡°I lived in Kyoen for two years; we bought a lot of tar.  They used it to waterproof ships.  Some people think that¡¯s a useful quality for ships to have, I guess.¡±

    I¡¯d grown accustomed to understatements like that eliciting amusement from girls.  A giggle, a sigh, Mebibi used to rest her hand on my arm and gaze into my eyes whenever I said something along those lines.  Anyanna didn¡¯t react at all, but rather continued the conversation on her own terms.  ¡°That¡¯s an example of intra-provincial commerce.  Since Kyoen and Ulum are both in the Duchy of Heralia, trade-barriers are low.¡±

    That made me smile.  ¡°So I take it you¡¯ve read Zayueshawani.¡±

    She smiled effusively, glancing her eyes in my direction as we walked past a press that was still shuttered from the evening.  Apparently, the emperor¡¯s youngest son rejected yet another courtier.  I think.  We walked fast and it was still dusk, but I think that was what it said.

    Anyanna got quiet, but as I glanced at her, she was still smiling and still darting her eyes in my direction every now and then.

    ¡°What¡¯s up?¡±

    ¡°Mmm?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re smiling.  What¡¯s on your mind?¡±

    ¡°Uh¡­¡± she let out a strong puff of air that misted before her face, lit by a candle outside a shop up ahead, and disappeared.  ¡°I was just thinking, hypothetically, of course.  Not that this is even the same situation, because it isn¡¯t.  Obviously it¡¯s not.  It¡¯s not that at all.  So, uh¡­ you understand that, right?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not sure what I understand, but go on?¡±

    ¡°OK, so¡­ hypothetically¡­ uh¡­ if you were to court someone, and this is nothing like that at all, because obviously there are things going on.  So it can¡¯t be that.  So that¡¯s why I say hypothetically, if you were to court someone, you know¡­ then an early morning walk through the city as it¡¯s just waking up would be, I think¡­ romantic.  Maybe.  I don¡¯t know.  Maybe,¡± and she looked away; her smile had faded.

    That brought a smile to my face.  Anyanna was different.  She would take some getting used to, but I thought, perhaps, I could get used to her.  ¡°You know what I think?  I think that could be very romantic.  I could definitely use my imagination.  Like maybe take a break under a bridge where it¡¯s quiet and still too dark for anyone else to see.  Hypothetically, of course!¡±

    She laughed.  ¡°Right!¡±

    I loved seeing her smile come back to me.

    ¡°Down there,¡± she pointed down a dark alley.  Up above, the black shadow of buildings carved a river of dark blue with amber lines of cloud bridging the sky.  On the street were piles of rubbish strewn about with some defiant plants growing in the cracks of stone.  I saw one fat rat bully the other rats around, and they all basically followed him.

    She continued.  ¡°Third door on the left.  They make apple tarts.  They won¡¯t be open for hours, but if you go to the back door in maybe thirty minutes they¡¯ll have the first batch fresh out of the oven.¡±

    ¡°OK, so this is why I¡¯m very happy to have you as my guide.  Tell me more.¡±

    She laughed again.  ¡°They also have a maple-cream cake that¡¯s the best in Ulum¡ªand I know because I¡¯ve tried them all¡ªbut they won¡¯t have that until late afternoon.¡±

    The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    ¡°I¡¯m surprised you can even get maple here.  It¡¯s very expensive, isn¡¯t it?¡±

    ¡°Yes, but it¡¯s soooooooooo good!¡±

    That made me laugh.  We kept walking.  The sky above us was turning daylight-blue.  Behind us, the black silhouette of mountains was set against a yellow sky.

    After a while, she stopped and stared down an alleyway.  In the morning¡¯s dusk, I could see the movement of small rodents scurrying in the corners of the street amid piles of rubbish and broken ceramics.  The door to one shop had half-broken off and hung precariously off its remaining hinge, and high up between the towers, clothes hung from drying lines.  ¡°I used to live down there with my mother.¡±

    ¡°What happened to her?¡±

    She turned and continued along her way, leading me down a narrow corridor with scattered pedestrians to greet the coming sunrise.  ¡°She¡¯s probably still there.¡±

    She suddenly started walking fast.  I spoke between breaths and struggled to keep up with her.  ¡°How did you end up at the church?¡±

    ¡°I walked there.¡±

    Beside us, a cafe¡¯s door had been left open, and the inviting smell of bread being proofed carried out onto the street.  We kept walking, nearly running.  ¡°What I mean is, if your mother was still there, why did you leave?¡±

    She turned to face me for a brief moment.  ¡°I was afraid she¡¯d find out.¡±

    ¡°Find out what?¡±

    ¡°That I killed him.¡±

    ¡°Killed who?¡±

    Before us, an ox pulled a cart laden with goods beneath a large canvas tied up at the corners.  I couldn¡¯t make out the driver beneath layers of woolen rags, but they paid us no mind.  I took hold of Anyanna¡¯s arm, hoping to stop her at that moment.  Instead she shook her arm free and kept walking.

    ¡°Killed who?¡±

    ¡°It was a long time ago.  I understand now.¡±

    ¡°What do you understand?¡±  As the words left me, she¡¯d already moved on.  Without warning, she turned right and floated down a narrow alleyway.  On the left was a heavy, oaken door closed shut, with six or seven men waiting outside wearing rough rags that smelt sharp of the unbathed.

    ¡°Anyanna wait!  What do you understand?¡±

    She turned to face me.  ¡°You¡¯ll have to walk faster.  Once the sun rises, the streets get crowded.¡±

    She told me nothing further.  Rather, she moved quickly down the street as the sky turned to amber, and people began to fill in the space.  By the time we reached the Falcon, the streets were packed with people elbowing their way about in every direction at once.

    Anyanna reached her hand beneath the stream of frigid water pouring out from the massive, brown-stone Falcon¡¯s beak and took a drink.  I did as well.  We stood face-to-face¡ªI peered down at her while she lowered her eyes and looked off to her right.  Her smile was gone.

    ¡°Who did you¡­¡±

    ¡°We should go to Turtle plaza!¡± she said effusively.  ¡°I mean¡­ if, uh¡­ if there¡¯s time.  I mean, maybe when you¡¯re done.  If you have nothing to do.  I don¡¯t know what you have to do.  So maybe.  I don¡¯t know.¡±

    ¡°Uh¡­ OK?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not far from here.¡±  She turned and pointed to the west, just beyond a tall totem headed by the Turtle spirit.  ¡°It¡¯s just down that way.¡±

    ¡°Maybe,¡± I said.  ¡°We¡¯ll see.¡±

    She smiled lightly and relaxed her shoulder.

    ¡°It¡¯s this hotel,¡± I said.  Outside the front entrance, a canvas awning was stretched over a wrought-iron frame that hosted a small candle that gave the whole assembly a glow.  That was beside a pair of iron sconces buried into the stone, each hosting an oil lamp that gave off extra light for passersby in the night.

    Inside, the clerk didn¡¯t bother to look up from his papers as we entered.  The lobby was still dim but for a paper lantern beside the front desk that flickered from the candle within.  The plush, green chairs offered a nice respite from the walk.

    I leaned in to whisper, ¡°who did you kill?¡±

    Anyanna lowered her face and turned away from me completely.

    ¡°Do you not want to tell me?¡±

    She sat still and took in a deep breath before forcing her gaze out through the front of the hotel, an array of double-doors held open.  There, her eyes followed the people as they passed by in the street.

    ¡°Alright.  If you don¡¯t feel comfortable sharing that with me, perhaps later on when you¡¯re ready.  OK?¡±

    She angled her face slightly in my direction and nodded with an ¡°mm-hmm¡± before turning her attention back outside.

    ¡°I¡¯m going upstairs to check on Dune.  Will you be alright down here?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    With that, I darted up the spiral staircase.  Each floor hosted a generous window with nine small panes of distorted glass, but at this hour in the morning the interior was still relatively dark.  I ran, unsure what I would find once I got to the top floor, hoping it wasn¡¯t already too late.

    I knocked.

    I waited, panting for breath for a minute or so before I heard footfalls beyond the door.  The door slid open, and Oasis''s round face greeted me with the morning sun casting a shine in her bronze curls.  She was barefoot and had on that same white cotton robe with the hotel¡¯s logo.

    ¡°I was thinking that you did abandoning us.  Please you come in.¡±

    ¡°How is she?¡±

    ¡°She not was bettering.¡±

    We walked in together.  Oasis took up a tea cup that stood beside a plate with stray crumbs and a yellow smear of egg yolk left behind while I knelt to get a good look at the wound.

    Up on the open penthouse, the sunrise brought more light than it had on the shaded streets below.  On Dune¡¯s arm I could see bits of pink flesh where the maggots had cleared away small scraps of rotting tissue, but most of it was still covered up by the squiggly mass.  Her fever still raged hotter than the floor, and she lay still with her mouth fixed in an eerie grin beneath a thick layer of blankets with only a pulse to indicate she still lived.

    ¡°She needs to take her medicine,¡± I said.  ¡°It has to be every day, first thing in the morning, even if I¡¯m not here.  Come, let me show you how to make it.¡±

    Oasis came over and watched as I mixed the hot water from a tea kettle with cold water until it felt right.  Then I added one spoonful of the gebu¡¯i powder and stirred.  I turned to Oasis, who¡¯d bundled her arms close to her body and shivered from the frigid air coming off the mountains.  ¡°We wait about ten minutes.¡±

    ¡°Let us waking her,¡± she said, and turned back towards Dune.  ¡°She was being difficult for wake up.¡±

    Oasis knelt beside her friend and slapped her foot.  ¡°Dune, wake up.¡±

    I knew it was wrong.  Her best friend¡¯s life hung in the balance, and the last thing she needed was for me to look at her in that way.  I wanted to look away, truly, but the way the hem of that robe crept up the back of her thighs as she crouched on her knees, bending over to tap Dune¡¯s cheek had hooked my eyes and would not release me.

    ¡°Pa-ish!  Gowa to-usyi me!  Wake up for taking medicine!¡±

    Oasis shook her, slapped her, stuck a finger in her ear, and more or less did as best she could to make her friend uncomfortable.  Dune didn¡¯t respond.  I looked away, then leered at her some more, then looked away again.  I succumbed to the curvature of her back, then forced myself to look at the gebu¡¯i.  Tiny, gossamer threads had begun to stretch across the water beneath the surface, with small, fuzzy patches of green clinging to anything that would host them.

    I heard Dune slur something, which gave me a pretext to turn my gaze back in Oasis¡¯s direction once more.

    Her voice sang sweetly, ¡°Pa-iiiiiish,¡± from the side of the bed.  She¡¯d rested her fingers at the center of Dune¡¯s chest and held her face inches away, fixing her gaze on Dune¡¯s scarcely cracked eyelids.  She then purred out, ¡°gayiwi ta-a sok¡¯anaga jayin?¡±

    Dune''s eyes cracked open for a fleeting moment.

    Oasis then turned to me.  ¡°Caleb, please you will waiting outside?¡±

    ¡°Uh, OK.¡±

    ¡°She needs drinking all of it, yes?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°OK.  Please you will waiting outside?¡±

    I did.  Outside in the hallway, my heart couldn''t break free from the shame of having ogled her like that.  She surely saw me.

    That was not how I wanted this to go.

    I heard the click of a lock, followed by the low rumble of a door sliding open.

    Adjacent to where I sat, a young Goloagi man with his hair in a curly mass at the top of his head stepped out into the hallway.  He was dressed in a fine, black woolen coat and tunic, and he walked past me without a word.

    My eyes glanced at the book, undisturbed on the sill beside the window, and allowed my mind to linger on what Anyanna had said to me on the way over.

    A moment later, Oasis¡¯s door opened and she stepped out.  Her face was sunk, her mouth turned down, and tears lingered on her cheeks.  She sniffled when she saw me.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± I said.

    ¡°She did drinking the medicine and now is sleeping.¡±  Then she wiped her tears away and sobbed as she spoke, ¡°she is fighting everything!  Why she needs doing this?¡±

    I tried to think of something to reassure her, but deep down I knew what would soon come to pass.  I had to find a way to prepare her for that eventuality.  ¡°What about you?  How are you doing?¡±

    Oasis looked up at me and passed her light-green eyes back and forth between mine.

    ¡°When was the last time you had a chance to relax?¡±

    She shook her head and looked away.  ¡°I cannot.¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s sleeping.  That¡¯s the best thing she can do right now.  There¡¯s nothing you can do for her, but you need a break.¡±

    She shook her head vigorously.  ¡°I not will leaving her.¡±

    ¡°Oasis, I can see it in your eyes; you¡¯re at your end.  She needs you, and she needs you to be OK.  I think, and this is just me being honest here, I think you could use a chance to unwind a little bit.  You¡¯ll come back, and hopefully you¡¯ll have more strength to be patient with her.¡±

    She fixed her eyes on mine for a brief moment before turning her gaze to the window.  She took in a deep breath and let it out slowly.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go explore the city for a bit.  Give it an hour, try and relax, and then we¡¯ll come back and check on her.¡±

    At first she shrugged.  Then, she squinted her eyes and looked at me sideways.

    ¡°Trust me, you need a break.  You¡¯ll feel better, I promise.¡±

    ¡°I am not having money,¡± she shook her head.

    ¡°You don¡¯t need money to enjoy a place like this, just a little creativity.¡±

    Finally, she closed her eyes and shrugged.  ¡°I need dressing to myself.  You will waiting for me down the stairs?¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡±

    Downstairs, I saw Anyanna sitting on one of the plush chairs, perfectly still with her hands clasped together over her knees and her back straight, following people with her eyes as they passed by on the street outside while the chill air brought with it the call of apples baked in butter and cloves.  The concierge stood behind his desk, an old man with regality etched into his wrinkled face, who turned to face me as I came down only to look back down at his papers.  He gave no hint of awareness to Anyanna¡¯s presence, and neither did a pair of Goloagi children with curly hair, a girl and a boy, sitting down at the water organ together plinking a song of complete chaos.

    I¡¯d made it halfway down the spiral staircase when Anyanna turned to face me and stood with her eyes fixed at my feet.  She said nothing, and I came down and sat beside her.  She sat down with me and kept her eyes at my neck, my mouth, my ears, everywhere except my eyes she looked at me.  ¡°Is she healed of her injury?¡±

    I leaned back in the chair and rested one leg over my knee, stretching my arms out across the ridge so that my hand would touch her shoulder if only she leaned back.  ¡°No.  Not yet.  Not likely, either.  It doesn¡¯t look good.¡±

    ¡°Oh.¡±

    ¡°If God has a miracle in mind for her, he¡¯d better hurry.¡±

    ¡°Oh.¡±  She turned away and allowed her eyes to settle on the corner of the room.

    ¡°Did you meet them when they came to the church?¡± I said.

    ¡°No, I wasn¡¯t there.¡±

    I nodded.  ¡°Dune¡¯s best friend is named Oasis.  She¡¯s not taking this well.  I thought it would be good for her to get out, explore the city for an hour or so, get a chance to relax.  So¡­ what if we take her to Turtle Plaza?¡±

 Oasis

    Oasis came downstairs wearing a printed shawl of reds, whites, and yellows swirled together in square patterns that wrapped over her body and hugged her waist leaving her dark-olive skin exposed at the sides of her breasts along with her phenomenal legs.  She¡¯d tied her hair back on one side with a white lace scarf and silver hair pin, but left a twisting lock of bronze hair to fall beside her round face, with her exposed ear decorated by several tiny silver ringlets and a delicate chain that had a small diamond-tree stone dangling at the end carved into hundreds of tiny facets that glittered like a rainbow.  About her feet she had black sandals that webbed over her toes all the way up her calves.  Her light-green eyes met mine directly as soon as she appeared.

    Anyanna fixed her eyes to mine as Oasis came downstairs, then she looked away as soon as I turned to face her.

    ¡°Oasis, this is Anyanna.  She says there¡¯s a place called Turtle Plaza that promises to be fun.¡±

    Anyanna angled her face towards her, but didn¡¯t raise her eyes up to meet.  Oasis smiled and nodded.  As we turned towards the door, Anyanna leaned close to me.  ¡°I don¡¯t speak Goloagi very well.¡±

    ¡°Nothing at all?¡±

    Anyanna shrugged.  ¡°A few simple phrases, but not enough to hold a conversation.¡±

    ¡°Well that''s a conundrum.  She doesn¡¯t speak Herali.¡±

    At that, Anyanna glanced over at Oasis and stepped forward to lead the way without another word.

    Through the crowded plaza, Oasis and I followed Anyanna down a westward street with the midmorning sun casting its warmth on our backs.  The street dropped down, taking us with it.  Up above, a stone Cougar six stories up kept watch over the passersby, with the building on the opposite side hosting a stone Alligator doing the same.  In a shop on the left, the fragrant invitation of fresh cut flowers called out, and at one corner a boy stood quietly holding up a folded stack of paper pressed with the day¡¯s news.  He just stood there and said nothing.

    I turned to Oasis.  ¡°I was that boy in Kyoen for a few weeks; they made us shout the headlines as loud as we could.¡±

    Oasis smiled and nodded, glancing over her shoulder at him before he was out of view.  Anyanna glanced back at me over the remark, then turned back ahead of us and kept walking.

    As for Turtle Plaza, we could hear it well before we got there.  Above the bustling noise of the street below, the thunderous boom of a bass drum echoed off the stone walls of the towering buildings as it curved round and to the left.

    By the time we rounded the turn, I could hear other instruments join in.  Strings, horns, rattles, a song of every color echoed off the stones, but Anyanna led us down a side-street small enough that we could have easily walked past and not noticed it was there.  About ten yards down amid a handful of makeshift stalls of rough-hewn planks of wood showing wares of dyed cottons, carved wooden beads and other wares was an old man with dark-green skin.

    I¡¯d only ever seen people that color before in the tapestries from the day before.  It was real.  Wherever he came from, people had that color¡ªdark green like the color of seaweed and wrinkled from his years.  His hair was long and ivory colored with streaks of gray, braided down his back beneath a black cap that fitted over his head like a rag, and his eyes were golden yellow.  He wore a simple brown tunic made of burlap, and I could almost make out beneath the collar the tip of a white tattoo peeking from underneath.

    Oasis didn¡¯t seem to mind him all that much, but I could scarcely take my eyes from him.  He spoke not a word to me, but nodded and smiled with what little teeth he had left.  Before him on the stand was a series of brown cups made of pressed coconut husk, along with a series of ornate tins.  Behind him, he had a small brick fire over which rested a large metal cauldron filled with sand that let off a sharp, nutty aroma unlike anything I¡¯d ever experienced that dominated everything around us.

    Anyanna spoke to him.  ¡°??si kafi¦È?ma?¡±

    I turned perplexed to Oasis, who shrugged back at me and smiled.

    Anyanna reached into a pocket and pulled out some coins, then set them on the stand for the man as he turned around.  Then she passed her fingers through her hair while glancing in my direction and smiled.

    ¡°What are we in for?¡± I said.

    Anyanna answered me.  ¡°It¡¯s called kafi.  You¡¯re going to love it!¡±

    The old man pulled a small, silver pot from the sand and opened it.  He then took three of the cups and poured into each of them a dark-brown almost black steamy drink and handed one to each of us.

    I wasn¡¯t sure if he would understand me.  ¡°Thank you.¡±

    He nodded and smiled proudly with all three of his teeth.

    ¡°Where are you from?¡± I asked him.

    I felt Anyanna¡¯s eyes on me as he answered, ¡°na¡¯uhuide.¡±

    I tried my best to repeat it.  ¡°Na¡¯uhuuwee-day?  Where¡¯s that?¡±

    He laughed and nodded some more.

    Anyanna clarified.  ¡°He¡¯s from Uhui.  Come, drink it.¡±

    So I did.  The heat was bearable, and the taste on the tongue was sweet like candy with a hint of something pleasantly bitter, and a strong nutty afternote that fully justified the intense smell.  I sipped again.  Oasis did the same, grinning wide with each taste.  Anyanna watched though she¡¯d introduced us to the promised land and savored our reaction.

    Oasis then spoke to Anyanna in Herali.  ¡°What, uh¡­ what¡­ call is?¡±

    Anyanna smiled and tried her best to answer in Gologagi.  ¡°It calls kafi.  Very good is yes?¡±

    I¡¯d managed to sip my way through about half of my kafi when I began to notice a strange sense of energy lace throughout my body.  It was as though the whole world surged through my veins, and I merely wanted to move.  A quick glance at the two girls, and I could tell they felt it too.

    After a few minutes the three of us finished, then set back on our journey.

    The Turtle was a massive stone circle in the middle of the plaza that set his four legs out onto the street with a staircase on each leading up to a flat platform on the top of his shell covered in a white canvas awning.  It was there that a dazzling array of musicians with all sorts of instruments played together in a song they all seemed to make up as they went along.

    A Herali lyrist sat in one corner strumming a rhythm to a nearby drummer from Kulun, who stood next to a Goloagi flutist who tooted out his own accompaniment.

    Anyanna turned and beamed with joy, shouting above the music. ¡°Isn''t it amazing?¡±

    There was something magical about it.  People of all colors, all manner of dress playing drums, strumming stringed boxes decorated with fine carvings and glass jewels, various flutes, even an old Goloagi man had a long brass trumpet.  Then, half the musicians stopped and turned towards a Tobori man in the center with a pair of drums tied around his shoulder who then went crazy banging out a melody.  This for a good minute before the rest of them cheered and started back up again.

    All around the plaza there were a handful of couples dancing.  That strange energy pulsed through my veins, and I turned to Oasis.  ¡°Let¡¯s dance!¡±

    By the time Oasis gave me her hand, I saw Anyanna turn and face me directly.  Then she turned away, and Oasis and I started to figure out what steps we both knew.

    Of course it was awkward, but that wasn¡¯t the point.  I tossed her about and watched as her face lit up in joyous laughter.  The music quieted, and a young Herali boy stepped forward with a dasegwa, strumming through some chords that didn¡¯t quite sound right to a rhythm that didn¡¯t quite align with the rest of the troop.  None of that mattered, and they all cheered him anyway before going back to full ensemble.

    In the corner of my eye I saw an elderly couple dancing with all the vigor of youth in them.  From my other eye, I saw Anyanna watching our every move.

    We twisted around.  Oasis then turned, swiveled her hips and turned round again, only to come up beside me and bump her hips into mine and break out laughing.  I held her hands, brought her in close, only to lift her up, spin around and set her feet back down.  She stepped away, turned, then twirled into my arm, only to drop down low, taking me with her.  Then I lifted her back up and twirled her around again.  We held hands, arms stretched out one each so as to press together but offset, then dance around in a circle then reverse and prance around together once more.

    Oasis was beaming; it was nice to see her that way for a change.  It was also nice to feel her taut waist, her breast squished against my chest as we danced.

    At length, she stepped back from me and bowed.  I turned to Anyanna and reached my hand out for her to take.

    She shook her head and turned away.

    ¡°Let¡¯s dance,¡± I said.

    Instead she turned around and fixed her gaze upon the musicians.

    I wasn¡¯t sure how I should take that.  When I turned, I saw Oasis looking longingly at a shop on the corner.  In a display at the window was a wooden form with a dress of red silk draped over it.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go have a look,¡± I shouted.

    Oasis shook her head and smiled, then shouted back.  ¡°I am not having money.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t need money; just tell them you want to try it on.  Go on, I¡¯ll be right behind you.¡±

    As she went off, I brushed Anyanna¡¯s shoulder.  I startled her, and she backed away, turning to face me.  I leaned in so she could hear me over the music.  ¡°We¡¯re going into that store to try on a dress.  Will you come with us?¡±

    She nodded lightly and spoke not a word.

    I checked behind me to see that she was coming, and we followed Oasis through the door.

    Inside, several wooden forms were set up wearing dresses of all colors.  Greens were arranged in a row from light yellow shades to the off-black with every shade in-between, and in the next row light pink faded into dark crimson.  Anyanna came in behind me and walked among the blues.

    The clerk was a Herali woman a few years older than me with long, straight hair that matched the darkest of greens.  She herself was decorated in a red silk that flared at the sleeves and around the hem, with black leather sandals on her feet.  She glanced up at me and smirked, allowing her eyes to traverse my body before turning back to Oasis and speaking Herali.  ¡°I¡¯m sorry, we wouldn¡¯t have anything your size.¡±

    Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

    She held out her hand as if to usher Oasis out the door without deigning to touch her.

    I had to think quickly; Oasis deserved to try on a dress as much as anyone else.  So, I came up and faced Oasis directly, bowing my head low and speaking quietly, just loud enough to be sure I was overheard.  ¡°Your grace, you can''t wander off like that!  These streets¡­¡±

    Oasis picked up the cue with the same ease with which we danced and snapped her fingers at me.  ¡°You not will talking at me in this way!¡±

    ¡°I apologize¡­¡±

    She held up a finger, and I stopped talking.

    Oasis then turned to the clerk and spoke, her tone dripping with entitlement.  ¡°Are you speaking the Goloagi?  I want trying on this dress!¡±

    At that, the clerk hesitated, then painted a smile across her face and shifted her stance so as to face Oasis directly, gesturing to the dark red Oasis held.  ¡°That, uh¡­ this not¡­ is for the tall ones.¡±  Oasis being on the shorter side of average.  ¡±Not being to¡­ uh¡­ the you have color I think.  I know that you will like, wait please?¡±

    ¡°Fine,¡± she spat with her chin high.

    As the clerk disappeared beyond a blue velvet curtain, I couldn¡¯t help but smile.  Oasis scrunched her nose up to smile back at me over the game we¡¯d made up together.  I turned to Anyanna, who''d hidden herself in a corner behind another form that was host to a white silk with pleated flares around the hips and necklace of rough diamond-tree stones.

    ¡°Are you OK?¡± I said.

    ¡°Mm-hmm,¡± Anyanna nodded.

    I leaned in close.  ¡°I don''t know how much you understand, but this lady was being a cunt when we walked in.  We''re pretending Oasis is nobility so she thinks we have money.¡±

    ¡°Oh,¡± she nodded.

    ¡°You want to play?¡±

    ¡°I, uh¡­ I don¡¯t know¡­¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s easy.  Just nod when she says something to you, hold her clothes, that sort of thing.¡±

    ¡°OK,¡± Anyanna shrugged, then came up and stood next to Oasis as the clerk came back with an armful of different outfits.

    The clerk made a passing glance at Oasis¡¯s new handmaid, then held up next to her a blue woolen dress with black stripes, then winced and set it aside.  Oasis¡¯s eyes perused the options and pointed at a burnt-orange flap of silk hidden beneath a black long-dress.  The clerk pulled that one out and held it next to her, squinting her eyes at the possibility.

    Oasis then glanced at Anyanna, who nodded without a word.  ¡°I will trying on this one.¡±

    The clerk nodded and ushered her over to a corner where stood a large, folded screen decorated with a watercolor of swampy waterways with birds flitting about amid mountains in the backdrop.  Anyanna stood, lowering her eyes every few moments as if struggling to remember to be the servant in our game.  After a moment, she received Oasis¡¯s printed shawl and laid it over one arm while the clerk stood beside me.  I hadn¡¯t turned to face her directly, but I could see from my periphery her eyes scanning my body up and down every few moments until Oasis reappeared.

    The dress was a simple burnt-orange fine-silk mini that shimmered in the daylight with thin straps over her athletic shoulders, a waist that hugged her gorgeous figure, and a hem that scarcely covered her luscious arse.  And¡­ I mean¡­ I knew she was fit, but¡­ damn.  With those arms, she could probably have wrestled me to the ground.  Her breasts were just the perfect size for her figure.  There was a full-body mirror on the wall, and as she turned her back to look at herself, my eyes were gifted with the most¡­

    She was an attractive female.

    I had to take a deep breath and wrestle my eyes from her for a moment.  Anyanna averted her eyes from mine the moment I turned to her, and I felt a pang of irritation over that.  It seemed the only time she made eye contact with me was when I was burning Oasis¡¯s sublime figure into memory.

    Then, not even a minute later, Anyanna handed Oasis back her clothes.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± she said, ¡°I can¡¯t do this.¡±  Then she walked out the door.

    Oasis turned and looked at me wide-eyed.

    ¡°I¡¯ll be back,¡± I said.

    By the time I¡¯d gotten outside, I caught a glimpse of Anyanna dashing across the plaza and towards a street on the far side.  I ran to catch up to her, but the bustling crowd blocked me several times.  I had to dodge through people, almost trip over someone, then sprint through a straight line of street before catching up to her.  ¡°Anyanna, wait!¡±

    She didn¡¯t.  She kept walking.

    I continued to run until I was able to take hold of her arm.  She turned to face me, then tried to wrestle her arm free, but I held on tight.  ¡°Let go of me!¡±

    ¡°Stop, please.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re hurting my arm.¡±

    ¡°Anyanna, please.¡±

    She kept pulling, kept trying to walk away, but I still held onto her.

    ¡°Talk to me.¡±

    ¡°Let go!¡±

    ¡°Promise to talk to me and I¡¯ll let go.¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t do this¡­¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re hurting my arm.¡±

    I tried to loosen a little without letting go, she continued to try and pull.  ¡°Look at me.  Stop walking away and look at me.¡±

    ¡°I¡­¡± she set her eyes at my neck.  ¡°I can¡¯t do this.  Please let go of me.¡±

    I did.  Then I watched helpless as she pulled the black woolen shawl tight over her shoulders and walked off.  After about half a block, she turned around and glanced at me, stood still and stared at me for almost half a minute, then turned and disappeared down a side street.

    If by some miracle Dune survived, I¡¯d be seeing a lot of her.

    I needed the world to stop turning for a moment.  But, I couldn¡¯t leave Oasis alone.  So I went back to the plaza and sifted through my mind for clarity on what a complete shit I was.

    I found Oasis waiting outside the dress shop in the same printed wrap she¡¯d had on before.  She looked up at me with a puzzled expression.  ¡°What did happening?¡±

    How could I explain?  ¡°I don¡¯t know how to translate.  We should go check on Dune.¡±

    She gave me a side-eye, then we walked together.  After a moment, she beamed.  ¡°I need thanking to you.  I was thinking, how I will saying to this woman, I am not having money to this dress.  She was wanting three-hundred kren for this!¡±

    ¡°It did look good on you.¡±

    ¡°I am wishing Dune was seeing this dress with me.¡±

    The way back was easy enough.  Down streets of gray stone with bright fabrics hanging from overhead windows, the steady drum beat echoing behind us, Oasis had a relaxed disposition I hadn¡¯t seen in her before.

    ¡°What¡¯s she like?¡± I said.

    Oasis looked up at me as we passed by an open shop with a dazzling array of perfumed candles that wafted out onto the street.  She smiled at the thought.  Her smile had a way of filling her whole face when she relaxed a bit.  ¡°Dune so much is being smart, but always she was fighting the lessons.  Why I need learning this.  No I not will sitting down, no I not will quiet the talking.  She always was being punished to disobey the rules, this was being the whole time we were growing up!¡±

    That made me smile.  ¡°I used to be like that.¡±

    ¡°Yes?¡± she looked at my eyes and nodded as we walked past another dressmaker on the left.  ¡°I am knowing that she is needing the love but it is being difficult because so much people not liking to her being this way.  But she not can helping to be in this way so very is being sad for me for watching this.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s nice that she has you to care about her.¡±

    We got back to the hotel and went upstairs.

    We slid the door open, and bright sunlight filled our eyes as shadows from the leaves in the trellis above danced across the room.  The warm sunshine and the bitter mountain cold mingled with one another to the music of the city below, and Dune lay perfectly still beneath a thick layer of woolen covers.  Her eyes were closed, and the arm with the gaping, maggot-infested wound stretched out.

    I came up to her with Oasis by my side, and we knelt beside her.  I first checked her fever by setting my hand gently to the side of her neck.  She didn¡¯t feel hot anymore.

    Immediately my heart leapt with the joy of disbelief, and I went about checking over the rest of her.  Her fever broke!  Her pulse was still weak.

    I couldn¡¯t feel it.

    At all.

    I pressed my fingers into the side of her neck, desperate to find what was not there, and her lifeless head fell to the side in response.

    ¡°What what?¡± Oasis¡¯s voice carried the desperation of denial as she leaned in close.

    My fingers shook.  My mind grappled with the truth, and I stood, taking in a deep breath and letting it out slowly.

    ¡°Dune?¡± Oasis spoke.  ¡°Pa-ish?¡±

    I heard her slapping at Dune¡¯s cheek as her calls grew more and more desperate.  ¡°Pa-ish?¡± she began to cry.  ¡°Pa-ish?¡±

    I took a step back and looked out over the rooftops of the city, trying to wrap my head around the truth.  Then at last, the words materialized.  Dune was dead.

    ¡°PA-ISH???¡± Oasis screamed.

    I reached out a hand to try and rest it on Oasis¡¯s shoulder.  As soon as my fingers found her, she looked up at me as though startled.  Tears were falling down her cheeks, and she looked back down at her friend, still trying to wake her.

    ¡°PA-ISH!!!!¡± she screamed, slapping Dune¡¯s cheek hard many times over.  The body recoiled with every slap, but returned nothing.  Oasis then turned back to me with pleading eyes and her whole body shook.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± I whispered.

    ¡°VUH!¡±  She turned back to Dune and tried to shake her some more, slapping and pushing at her arms and side.  ¡°VUH!  Pa-ish!  So-wadha mashi!  Pa-ish!¡±

    A girl¡¯s voice came from behind me, ¡°what has happened?¡±

    It was Sage.  She stood barefoot in the doorway with a white bed sheet wrapped over her body and her hair in a frazzled mess.  Geraln stood behind her wearing the same.

    Oasis looked up at her and cried.  ¡°Pa-ish tare-an!¡±

    Sage ran up beside them and knelt.

    Oasis paused.  She looked at Geraln strangely, then looked at Sage.  Then she narrowed her eyes and looked at Geraln again, then looked at Sage again.  Then she looked at me, tilted her head, and looked at Dune.  Then she looked at Geraln again and Sage again, then back to me and huffed out, ¡°you did killing her!¡±

    ¡°What?¡± I eeked out from the shock that filled my thoughts.  We all looked at her.

    ¡°You did killing her!  You doing this on deliberate!  You did killing her!¡±

    ¡°No!¡± I shook my head.

    That seemed to make her more upset.  She shot up at once and lunged at me.  I tried to back up, but she was quick and tossed herself at me with all the force she could muster, slamming her shoulder into my body.  I reeled back from that, and she came with me, flailing her fists and screaming out, ¡°YOU WANTING FUCK!  YOU HAVING PLAN!¡±

    In the blur of the moment, Sage was behind her trying to pull her away from me.  No sooner than there was space between us, Oasis¡¯s fist came around and caught me square on the nose.

    ¡°YOU WAS HAVING PLAN YOU DID KILLING HER FOR WANTING FUCK!  LET ME GO!¡±

    Sage held onto her tight as she continued to scream.  Through Oasis¡¯s accusations, Sage managed a small handful of words.  ¡°Just go!¡±

    I turned to Geraln who stood still as though trying to understand the situation himself, and took him by the arm.  ¡°Come on.¡±

    Sage¡¯s smooth voice cooing at Oasis filled the air behind us as Geraln and I went to the room next door.  He rushed about to pack up his things, going back to grab one item or another, when Oasis appeared at the door.  She pointed a finger at me and spat, ¡°you was having plan!  You was wanting dead-Dune because you was wanting fuck to me!¡±

    ¡°No!  That¡¯s not true!¡±

    She raised her voice again.  ¡°I was seeing you to look on me!  You never was helping!  You did killing her!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not true!¡±

    ¡°YOU did killing her!¡±

    Once again, Sage came up behind her and wrapped her arms around Oasis¡¯s body to pull her away just as Oasis started shouting again.  Geraln didn¡¯t waste time folding things up neatly, but rather stuffed whatever he could into his pack and held his pants up with his hand.

    And so we made our way down the spiral staircase.  Up above, Sage continued to hold onto Oasis as she tried to wrestle free.  ¡°I WILL FINDING YOU CALEB OF GATH!  I WILL KILLING YOU!  I WILL KILLING YOU!¡±

 High in the Mountains

    After Oasis promised to kill me, Geraln and I joined up with Davod and the two men we¡¯d met in the pub.  Together we took the road towards Carthia so we could all die there instead.

    For several hours, we hiked as the road led us up, then down, then up again, twisting around the side of a mountain, then leveling off again as it led us through forests thick with pine trees broken by huge piles of dirty snow.  We crossed an old stone bridge that arched over a deep ravine with the sound of crashing water below us.  We climbed up some more, and the road beneath our feet was strewn with rocks of a multitude of colors and shapes, only to return to the glittery gray-gold dirt with tufts of yellow grass that filled the air with mountain sage.

    Ales found a nice piece of pyrite with several tiny, golden cubes growing out from a marbled mass of white and beige.

    We came to a gully on the right with a roaring creek in the trees just beyond and a steep incline on both sides.  Several trees had been torn to shreds by snow drifts from ages past and left there, bleached gray by the sun, with piles and piles of white-and-black speckled rocks strewn about.  Up ahead, the road climbed sharp above the treeline, where rocks were broken up by ice and snow in the jagged peaks beyond.  Above us, the sun had passed its apex some hours prior, and the wind coming off the high ground was cold.

    ¡°We should camp here,¡± I said.

    Ales looked at Faren, then turned to me and spoke.  ¡°We¡¯ve still got hours of daylight left.¡±

    Davod stopped and looked around.  ¡°Caleb is right.  Fresh water, ample wood, shelter from the wind, enough forage around here to support game, it won¡¯t get no better than this.  Geraln, you and Caleb go find us some dinner, I¡¯ll teach these two how to set up camp.¡±

    Ales protested, ¡°I know how to set up a camp, man!¡±

    Faren laughed and spoke through an easy smile.  ¡°It¡¯s alright.  We¡¯re going to need a lot of wood, so there¡¯s three of us to gather it up.¡±

    Ales sucked his teeth.

    Geraln and I set our packs down, strung our bows, and set off up the hill to the left of the road through a thick grove of pine trees.  The hill wasn¡¯t too high, and we began our descent into the valley beyond before climbing up the other side.  I passed my fingers along the soft leaves of a dmusu, whose delicate purple flowers showed no sign of being chewed recently.

    ¡°What¡¯s gotten into you?¡± Geraln said.  ¡°You¡¯ve been morose ever since we left.¡±

    I shrugged him off.  ¡°It¡¯s nothing.¡±

    He stretched his arm out and waved it across the empty forest around us.  ¡°It¡¯s just us, man.  Are you scared of what awaits us in Carthia?  We all are; you knew about that when we left Gath.  Something¡¯s changed.  Is it Oasis?  You know she¡¯s not coming after you, right?  She¡¯ll probably calm down, realize it wasn¡¯t your fault, and move on.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not that.¡±

    ¡°Well, I know you didn¡¯t get anywhere with her.¡±

    I squinted my eyes and gazed at him.  ¡°Maybe I did, maybe I didn¡¯t.  You don¡¯t know that.¡±

    ¡°Hah!¡± Geraln huffed.  ¡°I do know.  Sage told me a few things; trust me, you never had a shot with her.¡±

    ¡°What did she tell you?¡±

    ¡°Private things I¡¯m not at liberty to repeat.¡±

    ¡°I see,¡± I nodded.  ¡°Well, it¡¯s not that.¡±

    We resumed our trek through another pine grove before coming to a small clearing with tall green-yellow grass just below a steep rock jutting out of the dirt.  At the base of a giant boulder I found another patch of dmusu and knelt to get a closer look.  Teeth markings on the stalks had dried, but there was no sign of new growth buds yet.

    Geraln looked at it and nodded.  ¡°It wasn¡¯t your fault, man.  You did the best you could.¡±

    ¡°I know that!  Dune¡¯s own stubbornness cost her her life.¡±

    He looked away as though talking more to himself, and I was merely there overhearing him.  ¡°I¡¯m just going to say this, but those people in Ulum killed her.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    He turned to me.  ¡°All the doctors they went to, they all turned them away.  She could have¡­ should have gotten care days before we found them.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sure if they¡¯d had more money¡­¡±

    Geraln spat.  ¡°Yeah, the money.  Keep telling yourself that.¡±

    I was about to respond when he stood still, pointing at a nearby pine tree.  There, caught in the bark were a few strands of white hair about knee-height.  We looked around and saw, trailing off to the right and up a steep hill, a few leaves looked as though they¡¯d recently been disturbed, so we followed that.

    ¡°I was looking her over,¡± I confessed.  Memories of being scrubbed down in the bath while Anyanna gazed longingly at my cock flirted with my mind.  I couldn¡¯t tell him.  That was a precious secret that belonged to me and her alone.  So, I kept it on Oasis.

    Geraln laughed.  ¡°You and everyone else, man!  She¡¯s not allowed to have a body like that and hold it against every man who notices; it wouldn¡¯t be fair.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not even about that.  I just¡­ it¡¯s not fair to Sarina.¡±

    Geraln stopped and looked at me wide-eyed.  ¡°Please tell me you¡¯re joking.¡±

    ¡°Look,¡± I said.  ¡°When I was in Kyoen, I¡­ misbehaved.  A little.¡±

    Geraln laughed.  We kept walking.  The hill climbed sharply as it wrapped around a pile of giant boulders, leading to a small recess filled with islands of pine trees amid waves of yellow grass and dirty snow drifts.

    ¡°Look.  When I got back, Sarina¡­ couldn¡¯t¡­ with me.  Not anymore.  It¡¯s taken me years to try and build that back with her, and I can¡¯t put her through that again.¡±

    ¡°If that¡¯s true, why did you kiss Zania?¡±

    ¡°That was¡­¡± I shrugged.  ¡°I mean¡­¡±

    ¡°Why did you kiss Melyce last winter?¡±

    ¡°Look¡­¡±

    ¡°Why did you go down on Juliara?¡±

    ¡°OK.  So that was¡­ I really hadn¡¯t intended¡­¡±

    ¡°Why did you let Talys stroke your cock, while you were kissing her, with everyone watching, including Sarina?¡±

    ¡°You know, you get caught up in the moment¡­¡±

    ¡°Why did you kiss Gueneveive while Sarina was waiting for you to make love to her?¡±

    ¡°That was a mistake.¡±

    ¡°Look, man.  I don¡¯t know how else to tell you this, but Sarina is done with you.  Learn from it, let her go, and move on.  Think about it this way, you get a clean slate.  Start fresh.¡±

    Up ahead, in the meltwater pool of a pine island, I saw another patch of dmusu that looked freshly chewed.  My heart dared let a pang of hope slip through, and I knelt in the shady mud to examine.  The stalks bore teeth marks, and the wound on the plant was still moist.  ¡°This is fresh.  And there are prints in the mud, look.¡±

    Geraln scanned the hill around the island, then squinted as he studied the far side.  ¡°That way.¡±

    A faint trail of pressed grass wandered off from the island of pine trees, with the occasional clod of mud clinging to stalks of yellow grass and still moist.  We followed that to a small pile of black pebbles.  I knelt to investigate, then looked up at him and smirked.  ¡°Here, pick one of these up.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not picking up that shit!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s your turn.¡±

    He shook his head.  ¡°This is our first droppings.  We haven¡¯t taken turns yet.¡±

    ¡°Well then I get the first shot.¡±

    ¡°Why do you get the first shot?¡±

    ¡°Come on and test the poo, then.¡±

    Geraln threw his hands up and looked away.  ¡°First shot is yours.¡±

    I pressed one finger into a small pebble.  Geraln winced.  ¡°That¡¯s disgusting!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s still warm,¡± I whispered, then wiped my finger on the grass.

    We stepped quietly along the embankment until we came to a ledge.  Down below, sparse trees dotted a small basin where a trickle of meltwater gurgled as it tumbled over rocks.  Just beyond, beside a steep drop, a small, fluffy white ram was busy tugging at a worn canvas sack that had snagged in a dead tree.

    I whispered, ¡°about two-hundred-twenty yards would you say?¡±

    ¡°Looks about right,¡± he whispered back.

    With that, I nocked an arrow and drew.  I took careful aim when Gerlan whispered, ¡°look at that crosswind!¡±

    Before his words could register in my mind, I loosed, only to watch my arrow fly upwards, then take a sharp left-hand turn and disappear down the ravine on the far side.  I¡¯d missed so badly that the goat didn¡¯t even notice he¡¯d been shot at.

    ¡°Amateur!¡± Geraln smiled.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t see it!¡±

    ¡°Whatever, man.¡±  He nocked an arrow, drew, and took careful aim.

    ¡°Watch out, there¡¯s a crosswind.¡±

    ¡°No shit!¡± he laughed.  ¡°Where do you want it?  The heart?¡±

    ¡°Nah, he¡¯ll jump down that ravine.  Get him right in the back of the skull.¡±

    Geraln smirked.  ¡°That¡¯s extra.¡±

    ¡°In that case, shave his balls while you¡¯re at it.¡±

    At that he cracked up laughing.  The ram continued to tug at the bag, nearly ripping it from its place, unaware of what awaited him.  Geraln finally calmed down, let out a few more chortles of laughter, then took a deep breath and loosed.  His arrow went up and to the right, following the mountain slope before catching the crosswind and falling on top of its mark.  I could tell even from where we stood that the broadhead had split the spine right at the base of the skull, felling the beast in an instant.

    We climbed over the ridge and saw how steep the drop was.  Geraln jumped down while I stood with my next arrow nocked, looking around.  He turned and looked up at me.  ¡°You coming?¡±

    ¡°You go.  I¡¯ll watch for cougars.¡±

    He nodded and made his way across the basin, stepped over the creek, and reached our ram before I followed.  By the time I made it to where he was, he¡¯d already tied the beast¡¯s hind legs and hoisted him up a tree branch.

    ¡°You want to know what Sage told me?¡± he said.  ¡°About Carthia?¡±

    No.

    ¡°She said that two summers ago, they called up five men from her village.  Five.  The letters came one by one.  One guy didn¡¯t survive the road in, she said.  Then another two weeks later was killed in battle.  Then another, then another, and then another.  By winter, they¡¯d all been killed.  You want to know what else?¡±

    This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

    ¡°Not really.¡±

    ¡°You remember that one Sarina told us about where she was being chased through the forest by giant lizards?  That.  Sage said that before he died, one of the men wrote saying they had giant fucking lizards in Carthia.¡±

    I shrugged.  ¡°Probably just alligators; they have them in Kyoen.  I can¡¯t imagine a Saeni had ever seen one before.¡±

    ¡°OK, sure.  Point is, I don¡¯t want to go to this fucking place.¡±

    He wasn¡¯t alone in that.

    Geraln and I worked together to prepare our kill.  He slit the belly open and gutted the carcass, while I peeled the hide away, being careful to keep it in one piece.  Then, he reached into a pocket and pulled out a small, brown paper bag.  ¡°Close your eyes.¡±

    ¡°Wha?¡± I did as he asked.

    ¡°Smell this.¡±

    Right away, my nostrils lit up from the fire of hellroot, the leading instrument in a symphony of spices.  I looked.  Inside the paper was a generous amount of red powder intermixed with a healthy array of spots of colors.  ¡°Is this the same stuff Melyce showed us?¡±

    ¡°Hell yeah, man!  Sage said they mix it right in her village.  It¡¯s got hellroot¡­¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡±

    ¡°Garlic, oregano, dmusu, nice pepper, salt, and believe it or not, powdered tomato.¡±

    I spoke in a solemn and dignified tone and bowed to the ram we¡¯d just killed.  ¡°And with this, we honor our dear friend.¡±

    Gerlan laughed and began to slather the seasoning all over the meat.  We worked together, pressing in, rubbing the spice all over, in-between muscles, inside, outside, along the neck, until the whole carcass glowed a ruddy shade of orange with globs of moistened spice throughout.  We made deep slits into the large muscles to ensure it was incorporated through.  After that we washed our hands in the creek and wrapped him up in a canvas bag, dumping in the remnant of the spice before tying it shut.

    ¡°You¡¯re carrying him,¡± Geraln said to me.

    ¡°Why do I have to carry him?¡±

    ¡°Because you missed.¡±

    I sucked my teeth.  ¡°Fine.¡±

    In the distance to the east, a snow-capped triangle of a peak dominated the horizon, painted a bright amber by the late-afternoon sun.  To the west, that same sun crept beyond a giant set of molars leaving them in the muted blue of shade.  With the sun promising to dip below the horizon soon, night had reached its fingers through the prison of daytime to catch weary stragglers in its icy grasp.

    It was a good half hour for us to make it back to camp.  By the time we got there, the others had assembled a circle of stones for a campfire with a generous amount of wood piled up.  Around this, they¡¯d arranged some logs padded with blankets and covered the ground with woven mats.  Beyond this, three tents had been pitched.

    Davod emerged from behind a tree with a generous heap of branches, and set them in a pile beside where we would rest, then looked up at us.  He took note of the sack I¡¯d slung over my shoulder and nodded with a satisfied grin.  ¡°What did we get?¡±

    Geraln answered for me.  ¡°A young ram.  Your boy Caleb here can¡¯t shoot through a crosswind, either.¡±

    I turned to face him.  ¡°You had to tell him, didn¡¯t you?¡±

    He laughed.

    We set up the meat on a spit, and we all settled down to relax.  I leaned back against a log with a blanket over my body, allowing my toes to peek out from under the cover and reach all the way up to the campfire.  Geraln gave the spit a good half-turn and poked at the meat, and the thought passed through my mind that he could very easily die when we got to Carthia.

    Davod asked him, ¡°how¡¯s it coming along?¡±  He could die, too.

    ¡°Got at least another hour.¡±

    So could I.

    Ales lifted up a blanket to cover his shoulders and shook his knees, and Faren went into his backpack.  I watched as he rummaged through, then pulled out a small burlap bag tied with a string.  He opened it and pulled out a small, wooden sculpture in the shape of an orca, painted in black and white lacquer, with its tail wrapped around a tiny, wooden bowl.  He then reached into the bag and pulled out a mass of fuzzy green florets, holding that in the palm of one hand while breaking it apart with his fingernails.

    I leaned in to get a look.  ¡°Is that what I think it is?¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡± Davod looked.

    Faren grinned and glanced at him through droopy eyes.  ¡°Happy cabbage, my friend.¡±  He then picked up a tiny black seed and tossed it away.

    ¡°What if that grows up here?¡± I said.

    Faren glanced over his shoulder, then turned back to his work.  ¡°Then future generations will be sent to die with something to ease their journey.¡±

    Ales nodded.  ¡°How thoughtful!¡±

    Faren laughed, filled up the pipe, and packed it down with his thumb.  Then, he plucked a twig from the blazing fire, put the orca¡¯s mouth up to his lips, and lit.  He took a long, slow drag from it, then sat still for a moment.  Smoke began to pour out from his nose as he passed it along to Ales, who did the same before passing it to Davod.

    Davod reached out and took it, then studied it for a moment.

    Ales leaned in.  ¡°Put this end up to your mouth, and just suck it in.¡±

    ¡°Right here?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s it.¡±

    Davod did.  He didn¡¯t last but a few seconds before erupting in a violent fit of coughing.  The smoke spurted out of his mouth.  ¡°Gods!¡±

    Ales began to laugh, and Faren smiled at him.  ¡°Go easy; it¡¯s your first time.¡±

    At last, Davod shook his head vigorously and blinked several times to try and regain his senses.  Then, he looked up at me and passed it along.

    The front was warm, and there was a faint orange glow in the bowl.  I brought it to my lips, kissed the orca, and took a long, slow drag.  The flowers crackled and glowed bright orange, and the hot smoke burned the back of my throat on its way down.

    Faren smiled at me, ¡°someone¡¯s done this before.¡±

    I could see the smoke exit my mouth, feeling its smooth texture as I spoke.  ¡°A girl in Kyoen introduced me.¡±

    Ales¡¯s eyes perked up at me.  ¡°You¡¯re from Kyoen?¡±

    As I passed the pipe to Geraln, Davod chuckled and elaborated for me.  ¡°Our boy Caleb, here, got caught playing around with Sarina.  The old friar sent him away to Kyoen as punishment.¡±

    I tried to gaze at him with daggers, but he didn¡¯t see me.  It didn¡¯t feel good to have my personal history blurted out like that, but there wasn¡¯t much I could do.  Ales asked further.  ¡°Who¡¯s Sarina?¡±

    Geraln explained.  ¡°She¡¯s a friend of ours.  Apparently, he and her used to do these ¡®experiments.¡¯¡±

    Faren answered.  ¡°That¡¯s real nice, man.  There was a girl I used to experiment with back home in Suuya.¡±

    ¡°Trini!¡± Ales smiled wide.  ¡°Damn, she liked you!¡±

    ¡°Gods, I miss her.¡±

    A gust of wind brushed its long fingers through the trees around us, barely strong enough to be heard over the rushing creek and the crackling fire.  Faren leaned forward to turn the spit, and a drop of fat fell down and fizzled as it landed on a bright red coal.  By this time, the world felt like it was at the end of a tunnel, and I was watching from within.  Davod stared at the fire, and as Faren passed the pipe back to Ales, Geraln asked him, ¡°what happened to her?¡±

    Faren stared at him and blinked for a moment before asking, ¡°to who?¡±

    ¡°To your girl.¡±

    ¡°What girl?¡±

    ¡°You said you had a girl back home.¡±

    Faren continued to stare as he tried to reconnect to the conversation.  It was Ales who reminded him, ¡°Trini.  He¡¯s asking what happened to Trini.¡±

    Faren laughed and shook his head with a smile.  ¡°Moved away, man.  Her parents loaded up the boat with everything they had, and they sailed off to somewhere, I don¡¯t know.¡±  He then turned to Davod.  ¡°What about you, man?¡±

    Davod¡¯s eyes lingered on the flames and his whole face was frozen.

    Geraln called out to him.  ¡°Davod?¡±

    He spoke slow and steady.  ¡°It¡¯s dancing.¡±  He pointed at the campfire.  ¡°It¡¯s dancing, and that creek over there is the music.  It¡¯s soooo beautiful.¡±

    Ales began to chuckle, and soon Geraln broke out laughing.  I couldn¡¯t help it either.  Faren laughed and took in a deep breath, then let out a sigh of satisfaction.  ¡°Gods, what is that glorious smell?¡±

    I answered.  ¡°Hellroot.¡±

    Geraln took a deep drag from the pipe and passed it along.  ¡°There was this kid in Heralia City, I offered him five kren to eat one.  He refused, so the rest of us chipped in.  Poor thing was staring down all of thirty-eight kren.  Poor thing.¡±

    Faren laughed.

    Ales laughed and shook his head.  ¡°Would I eat a fresh hellroot for thirty-eight kren?  Hmm.  I¡¯d have to be really, really drunk.¡±

    Davod spoke up at that.  ¡°What about nice pepper?  How much would you charge to eat one of those things?¡±

    Geraln answered instead.  ¡°Hellroot¡¯s worse.¡±

    Ales added, ¡°that¡¯s debatable.  I¡¯m not saying it isn¡¯t, just¡­ debatable.¡±

    I had to get into that conversation.  ¡°OK, so thirty-eight kren.  You have to eat either a nice pepper or a hellroot.  Which do you choose?¡±

    They all looked at me.

    I looked at Geraln first.  ¡°Which do you choose?¡±

    He shook his head.  ¡°That¡¯s tough.  I think hellroot burns much worse, but nice pepper burns for longer.¡±

    Davod added, ¡°it also burns your arse on the way out.¡±

    We all laughed.

    By this time, the meat was looking decent on the outside, but by a poke it wasn¡¯t quite cooked all the way through.  No less, the spice gave off clues of what it would soon deliver.  We threw some more wood onto the fire, and the night¡¯s air began to bite hard.  I snuggled under my blanket and closed my eyes for a moment, allowing the smooth sounds of the creek rumbling to massage my ears.

    A drop of fat fell from the meat and caught fire as smoke rose from the rest of it.  Ales gazed into the fire and spoke.  ¡°I don¡¯t want to go die in some fucking war.¡±

    I hadn¡¯t wished to rue my decision to leave the church in Ulum behind.

    ¡°You know,¡± Faren answered first, ¡°I bet there¡¯s not even a war.¡±

    Davod huffed.  ¡°Everyone says it¡¯s a fucking death trap¡­¡±

    ¡°Nah, man.  It¡¯s a paradise.¡±

    Geraln furrowed his brow.  ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°Carthia is so nice that they all say, ¡®tell everyone I¡¯m dead.¡¯  That way they don¡¯t ever have to leave.¡±

    I chuckled a little to myself, while Ales shook his head in disbelief.

    ¡°Listen,¡± Faren sat up and looked at each of us in turn.  ¡°They have this spice mix in Carthia.  They also have smoke-salt, and they put it in mashed gyeza and they also have that syrup beer we had at the pub.  Anything you like.  Then for breakfast, they make a smoked-salmon-and-nori omelette, and they serve it with fresh sour bread so hot it melts the butter as soon as it touches the thing.¡±

    Davod looked at him skeptically.  ¡°Where, exactly, did you hear all this?¡±

    ¡°Listen,¡± Faren continued.  ¡°They have wine of all kinds.  You want dry, sweet, aged, reds, whites, sparkling, plum, blackberry, grape, whatever kind of wine you¡¯re in the mood for, they have it all in Carthia.¡±

    Davod furrowed his eyebrows and turned to me, while Faren continued to gaze into the fire.

    It took me a minute to understand what he was saying, but it was beginning to make sense.  I decided to play along.  ¡°You know what else they got in Carthia?¡±

    They all turned to me.

    ¡°Gorgeous, absolutely the most beautiful girls you could imagine wait on your every wish.  You wake up, and they give you a massage before breakfast, then they bring you that omelette, along with anything you desire.  You¡¯re going to have a hard time focusing on your food because of those girls.  And they¡¯re everywhere.  At night, they bathe you.  They get a rag and lather you up, scrub you down, and they don¡¯t miss a spot.  And, if you¡¯re nice about it, they do a little extra while they¡¯re rubbing olive oil into your skin.¡±

    Geraln shook his head and looked at me strangely.  ¡°OK, so no more happy cabbage for you, man.¡±

    Ales leaned back with a big smile on his face.  ¡°I bet they fight over you, too.¡±

    Geraln turned to look at him.  Davod still didn¡¯t understand the game, either.

    Ales continued.  ¡°In Carthia, you got the wind on the way out and on the way back in.  A good, strong one that nearly knocks your boat over; you¡¯re standing out over the edge with the tiller in one hand and the main sheet in the other flying.  Just flying.  Then they got fish that¡¯ll fight you for twelve hours straight.  When you come back, those girls, you can hear them.  It¡¯s my turn to bathe him.  No, it¡¯s my turn.  No, it¡¯s my turn.  The only way out of it is to let them all have a go at you at the same time.  Then, after the bath, you curl up in a big chair by the hearth with a warm beer while your favorite girl sits on your lap and feeds you janju cakes.¡±

    I nodded.  ¡°I hear they¡¯ve got high mountain passes that no one has ever breached, and whitewater rapids that¡¯ll kill a man.¡±

    Faren smiled, and we looked at Geraln, who still stared at us in confusion.  ¡°What is wrong with you guys?¡±

    Davod nodded.  ¡°You gotta watch out for them cakes, man.  ¡®Cause it''s way too easy for you to eat too much.  They got this one girl, in Carthia, face like Runya but tits like Orenya.¡±  He turned to me.  ¡°That¡¯s the barmaid in that pub we just left; her name¡¯s Orenya.  Anyway, this girl in Carthia, glorious fucking tits, man, like an ancient goddess, walks around completely naked with a silver tray full of cakes.  Roll cakes, minicakes, maple cakes, milk cakes, cakes filled with candied fruit, slathered in whipped cream.  And she bends over, got that delicious accent, ¡®vould zhu like a treat?¡¯  And her tits drop right into the whipped cream.  You just gotta lick them clean, you know?¡±

    Ales shrugged.  ¡°Well, she¡¯s got to get clean somehow!¡±

    I laughed.

    ¡°It¡¯s important,¡± Davod concluded.

    I sent a quick glance over to Geraln.  He had his head tilted to one side and he blinked a bit.  I could tell he was teetering on the edge of playing along, so I decided to help him out.  ¡°You know, the library in Carthia is four stories high and goes on for miles.¡±

    Geraln opened his eyes wide and stared at me with a still face.  He was almost there.

    I decided to push a little further.  ¡°They got cats that curl up to you and purr while you¡¯re reading, hot tea, and the librarian is this cute Goloagi girl with curly hair down to her shoulders.  She¡¯s a bit of a bookworm, but those fucking legs, man!  Anyway¡­¡±

    ¡°I see what you¡¯re doing.¡±

    I smiled wide.

    ¡°The problem is¡­¡± he shook his finger.  ¡°The problem is I''ve been asking her for one book or another just to get her to turn around again¡­ you know¡­ and I¡¯m running out of books to ask for.¡±

    I offered him a solution.  ¡°You remember Zayueshawani?  She¡¯s got every book he''s ever written, and others like him that you¡¯ve never heard of.¡±

    Faren spoke into that one, ¡°you know he¡¯s got another one coming out.¡±

    Geraln and I perked up at that and spoke in unison.  ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s going to be called The Role of Government.¡±

    Geraln shot his words at him, ¡°wait, you¡¯re not playing.  Don¡¯t play with me on that.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re serious?¡± I added.

    ¡°I¡¯m dead serious.  Apparently he finished it a while ago but the publisher dropped it.  He¡¯s looking for a new publisher.¡±

    ¡°Well,¡± Geraln concluded.  ¡°They¡¯ve got an advance copy in Carthia.¡±

    ¡°Absolutely!¡± Faren smiled.

    The fire cracked, the creek rumbled, and the wind blew through the trees.  The dizzying effects of the happy cabbage laced through my veins, and I was cozy beneath my blanket.  Stars filled the night sky, and the air was bitter cold just beyond the reach of our camp.

    It was Ales who finally said what we were all thinking.  ¡°Is that meat ready?  I¡¯m starving!¡±

 Three Days

    Our second day in the pass, the road took a sharp incline that went for miles bringing us alongside gray rock capped by a snowy peak on the left, and dropped down on the right into a deep ravine dense with trees, beneath which we could hear the roar of water.

    Ales wasn''t so impressed by the view but rather vomited out everything he¡¯d eaten from the night before. He crouched low and heaved out a soup with globs of white goo in a slimy base. Faren and Geraln stayed with him while Davod and I took the road up to what looked like the height of the current section. Up ahead, the road dropped a little then leveled off, and there was a flat spot with an abandoned campsite on the left, tucked in a ravine between two massive rock faces that offered good shelter from the freezing wind.

    Davod called back to the other three, ¡°there¡¯s a good spot to rest up ahead. Come on.¡±

    With that, Faren and Geraln helped Ales to get up and the three of them slowly made their way to where Davod and I stood. I looked over the valley below us. Steep inclines of rock covered in ice and snow with battered trees in the gully gave way to an expansive view of the valley beyond, a lush garden at the base of a high mountain ridge with a shimmering creek peeking its way through the trees.

    ¡°This is beautiful,¡± I said.

    Davod smirked. ¡°Oasis was beautiful.¡±

    I shook my head. ¡°It¡¯s not about that.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s your problem; it is about that. It¡¯s always about that; it¡¯s never not about that. You let your foreign god tell you otherwise, and then you miss out on opportunities like her and Melyce. Falcon watches over you, you know, whether you believe in Him or not, and life is about experiences. If I die in this war, I don¡¯t want to fade away thinking, I shoulda made love to that girl. I only get one life; I¡¯m going to enjoy it while I still have it.¡±

    ¡°And how does Runya feel about you having that attitude? With other girls?¡±

    He looked me square in the face and smiled. ¡°She and I, we¡¯re not like you. Your religion tells you your girl has to be a virgin, yeah? Fuck that. I don¡¯t need to be her first, but by the gods if I put it down right I¡¯ll be her last. Besides, if I¡¯m the only man she¡¯s ever fucked, she¡¯s always going to wonder, you know?¡±

    ¡°I see.¡±

    He glanced at the other three as they crept up to where we were and continued. ¡°So you know, we did talk about it. I¡¯m going to enjoy myself with other girls, and she¡¯s going to do the same. If Falcon brings us back together¡­¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s going to sleep with other girls?¡±

    He laughed. ¡°No, man!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s what you said!¡±

    ¡°Whatever!¡± he slapped my shoulder hard as the other three caught up to where we were.

    That evening, as the western horizon turned pink and the shadows of impending dusk approached, the road led us through a narrow passage between a rock cliff on the left and a massive ice shelf on the right. We set up our tents in a corner between giant blocks of ice with the wind above us whistling through the cracks.

    We had ten fuel pods for all of five nights which, for the blessing of dry wood the previous evening, we now had ten for four nights; that gave us two extra. Ales wanted to use them.

    Davod refused.

    ¡°It¡¯s fucking cold, man!¡±

    I told him myself, ¡°it¡¯ll get worse. It¡¯s best to save them¡­¡±

    Faren shivered. ¡°I¡¯ve never been so cold.¡±

    Geraln tried to offer a compromise. ¡°Why don¡¯t we use three tonight, then tomorrow we look for a spot with some better shelter?¡±

    ¡°No!¡± Davod commanded. ¡°We¡¯ve still got a couple thousand more feet to climb up; it¡¯ll only get colder. We save the extras until we absolutely need them.¡±

    ¡°But¡­¡± Ales shivered.

    ¡°We save them,¡± Davod spoke forcefully. His voice carried the assumption that he would be obeyed.

    Ales was not a tall man. He wasn¡¯t a short man either, but facing off Davod he looked puny. Only after a good length of time, his face fell and he sucked his teeth, then looked away.

    Dinner that evening was the leftover goat, which had nearly frozen by then. Faren tried to hold his over the fuel pod for a little bit, but the rest of us were too cold and too hungry to care.

    ¡°In Carthia,¡± Geraln tucked his fingers between his legs, ¡°it¡¯s fucking warm.¡±

    <hr>

    Our third day in the pass, the road took us up a steep rise and climbed for a good while before leveling off at a tabletop of a mountain covered in snow, and the road was cut through it. Davod and I took a moment to wait for the others to catch up.

    When Ales reached us, he stood still and panted for breath for a moment before wheezing out, ¡°how¡­ the fuck¡­ high¡­ are we?¡±

    His face was red. Faren was straining, too, but he said nothing. Rather, he and Geraln sat down and closed their eyes while Ales clutched his knees and gazed at Davod as though there were something merciful to say.

    I couldn¡¯t see the gully before us beyond the flat top of the hill we were on, but there were no trees in sight. All around us, we were in the center of a giant bowl with towering spires reaching into the sky. Like a sea of ice and rock with crests of waves in every direction. I answered him, ¡°I¡¯m just guessing here, but I¡¯d say we¡¯re standing at around fifteen-thousand feet?¡±

    ¡°I feel dizzy,¡± Faren held his hand over his forehead and closed his eyes.

    ¡°Try not to throw up,¡± I said. ¡°You need the energy.¡±

    He looked at me with pleading eyes.

    ¡°Just think,¡± Davod added with a smile. His words came out as a puff of white. ¡°We¡¯ve got three more days of this!¡±

    After a short break, we continued forward. The sun was warm on our faces, but the air was cold and dry. The road dropped down steep into a gully where it ended at a massive river of ice, only to continue on the other side. We crossed over, and at the base of a cliff we found an abandoned campsite with scraps of wood with charred edges left behind.

    Ales went about gathering up the leftovers.

    ¡°It¡¯s barely noon,¡± Davod said to him. ¡°It¡¯s too early to set up camp.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m taking this with me.¡±

    ¡°You gonna carry all of that?¡±

    I decided to help. ¡°It¡¯s not a lot; I think we can all carry some of it.¡±

    Geraln set down his pack and rummaged through it, taking out a rope. ¡°Here.¡±

    We climbed up and around the next rise, and after that the road dropped for several miles. We descended down a slope as it clung to the side of a steep cliff. The sky began to turn amber, and on the left we found ourselves overlooking a wide, flat plain covered in gravel with sparse trees and a river cutting through it. At the end of the plain the whole thing dropped off into a waterfall, and on the other side, the mountains rose sharp. Several small tufts of greenery were scattered about.

    ¡°This looks comfortable,¡± Faren said. He was right. The air was still cold, but not freezing as it had been higher up, and the plain had tufts of trees enough to break the wind a little.

    We¡¯d almost got all the way down when Davod stuck his hand out and stopped, his gaze fixed off to the left.

    Ales protested, ¡°what¡¯s going¡­¡±

    ¡°Shh,¡± Davod silenced him. Then, he reached behind his back for his bow and strung it slowly, keeping an eye glued on something I couldn¡¯t see.

    ¡°I¡¯ve got a hare,¡± Faren whispered. About a hundred-sixty yards out, beside the creek was a gray-brown hare that blended with the rocks so well that I kept losing it even though it didn¡¯t move.

    Davod nocked an arrow, drew, and impaled the creature. The poor thing jumped, then flipped over completely as the arrowhead snagged in the pebbles beside it, and thudded back down as it landed on its back. We came up to it, and I watched as its furry little chest grasped desperately for one more breath only to grow shallower with each pull until it was gone. Its¡­ her tiny black eyes turned motionless as they reflected our faces.

    Davod put his hand over her tiny head and muttered a silent prayer.

    Faren spoke to Geraln. ¡°You got any more of that magic spice? All I¡¯ve got are some of smoked peppercorns.¡±

    Geraln shook his head and smiled. ¡°Just a block of salt, man.¡±

    I looked around. Small patches of dmusu grew scattered amid the pebbles, with most of them crowded around the creek. It wasn¡¯t much, but it would do, and we set up camp. We roasted the salted hare on a spit and pitched our tents beside the densest patch of trees we could find. Faren passed around the happy cabbage, and we ate some trail rolls while we waited for the meat to cook.

    Ales took a good drag from the orca and let the smoke ease out through his nose like a chimney. Usually, he was jittery, flitting about his eyes and shaking his knee. As he smoked the herb, his whole body fell still. ¡°Our emperor,¡± he spoke. ¡°Our beloved¡­ long may he reign emperor¡­ is a cunt.¡±

    We all broke out laughing at that. Davod took the pipe and tried to smoke from it, but couldn¡¯t stop shaking with fits of laughter at the sentiment.

    It was Faren who answered him first. ¡°Be careful, man,¡± he said with a smile. ¡°We don¡¯t know if any of these guys are the Invisible Hand.¡±

    If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

    Ales looked at myself, Geraln, and Davod in turn, squinting at each of us before laughing.

    ¡°I¡¯m not the Invisible Hand,¡± I said.

    Davod passed me the pipe and laughed. ¡°That¡¯s definitely something the Invisible Hand would say.¡±

    Geraln took the orca from me and pulled a good drag from it, allowing the smoke to escape through his words, ¡°and how do we know one of you two isn¡¯t the Invisible Hand?¡±

    Faren nodded and put a finger to his chin, gazing at the waning blue of sky. As cold as it was, the extra scraps of wood combined well with the two fuel pods, and the nearby trees offered a nice shade from the wind. ¡°Well, you country boys are fifty per-cent more likely to be the Invisible Hand than us.¡±

    Ales scratched his head. ¡°Wait a minute. There¡¯s three of them and two of us. Where did you get fifty from?¡±

    Geraln answered. ¡°Three out of five is sixty per-cent, and two out of five is forty per-cent.¡±

    Ales still looked confused, so I finished. ¡°Half of two is one, and three is one more than two. So, three is half of two more than two. One-half is fifty per-cent.¡±

    Ales nodded. His eyes searched the ground beside him as he spoke. ¡°Well, he¡¯s still a cunt.¡±

    ¡°Alright,¡± Davod chuckled. ¡°Why don¡¯t you share with us what cunty thing our beloved cunt emperor long may he reign cuntilly has done this time?¡±

    Ales shot a glance at Faren, then spoke. ¡°So we¡¯ve had a problem with pirates. You know the Finger?¡±

    Davod looked confused at his hand.

    I let out a chortle and explained. ¡°On the coast, there¡¯s a long spit of land that juts out into the sea for hundreds of miles.¡±

    Ales continued. ¡°It¡¯s pure mountainous rock, basically. Nothing grows there, but there¡¯s all these caves and inlets.¡± He took the pipe from Geraln and smoked. I could hear the crackling of flowers burn over the steady trickle of water from the creek nearby. He then passed the pipe along and spoke through puffs of smoke. ¡°They hide there. In the caves. The whole strait between the Finger and the Tobori Islands, you can¡¯t go through there. You can¡¯t fish, can¡¯t do anything without them bothering you.¡±

    Faren added, ¡°and if you¡¯ve got a girl on board, forget it.¡±

    Ales huffed. ¡°Can¡¯t let girls go out for that reason. We sent a petitioner to Golago to ask for help. You know that fucking cunt does? He sends an envoy to the pirates to demand his cut, then leaves them alone.¡±

    ¡°Wait,¡± I couldn¡¯t believe it. ¡°You¡¯re saying he lets the pirates keep at it?¡±

    Faren continued. ¡°The only reason the Imperial Navy is even there is to enforce the tax. They don¡¯t pay, of course he deals with them, then. Otherwise, I mean¡­

    I looked at Davod. He nodded and spoke to me, ¡°what a cunt!¡±

    I nodded in affirmation, ¡°long may he reign.¡±

    Geraln responded. ¡°That¡¯s not the cuntiest thing he¡¯s done.¡±

    We all turned our attention to him. It was Davod who spoke, ¡°do tell.¡±

    ¡°Last winter when I was in Heralia City for the knowledge tourney¡­¡±

    Faren¡¯s eyes perked up. ¡°You were at the knowledge tourney?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, man, listen to this bullshit. So the old Imperial Voice in Heralia City got old, and they replaced him with this new guy. He¡¯s there talking to the Duke, and the Duke comes out and invites us all in. Says he wants us all to be part of the conversation. This guy¡¯s there talking all this shit about how we could be making so much more of the diamond tree stones. He¡¯s got a plan. He wants to basically chop down the forest, plow up all our farmland, and have us grow nothing but diamond trees.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re joking,¡± I said.

    Davod¡¯s jaw dropped. ¡°That has got to be the stupidest thing I¡¯ve ever heard.¡±

    I shook my head in disbelief. ¡°Is he an idiot? I mean, I know he¡¯s a cunt, but this is just¡­¡±

    ¡°Forgive me,¡± Ales tilted his head to one side and raised a finger. ¡°Why is it a bad idea?¡±

    Faren echoed his ignorance. ¡°Seriously. You guys make a fortune from those things. Wouldn¡¯t you make even more? It¡¯s the sap, isn¡¯t it?¡±

    Geraln nodded, ¡°yeah, it¡¯s the sap.¡±

    Davod huffed in incredulity. ¡°Let me go first. Starting with plowing up all our farmland. What are we supposed to eat?¡±

    Geraln mocked the Voice¡¯s tone in a sharp, nasally voice and thick Goloagi accent. ¡°Yar going to make soooo mach maney you can buy evan bettar food.¡±

    ¡°OK,¡± I tried to mock agreement. ¡°So, we already have some of the best food in the empire, but we should get rid of all the fresh fruits and vegetables, fine wines, meats and cheeses, so that we can make enough money to buy dried, preserved food from elsewhere. Please, enlighten us on how else this would benefit us?¡±

    Geraln shook his head and turned to the two men from the coastal village. ¡°How¡¯s this. Let¡¯s assume it works. It won¡¯t, but hypothetically, let¡¯s assume we boost production and sell more stones. Best case scenario, we flood the market with cheap stones, which drives the price down. We destroy everything that makes our lives comfortable in order to do twice as much work for the same money. That, with the added benefit of losing economic diversity¡ªbecause we do a lot more than just stones. We make wines, cheeses, perfumes¡­¡±

    Davod added, ¡°Baron gives Nandi top kren for every bottle of wine she makes. He used to sell it for profit, now he just drinks it all.¡±

    I took the baton. ¡°Then there¡¯s the reasons why it wouldn¡¯t work. The forest is as a whole, a living thing. Every tree, every plant plays a role. The diamond trees produce stones, sure, but other trees resist blight, other trees feed and shelter wild animals. There¡¯s fruit trees, there¡¯s medicinal herbs, there¡¯s the Eupin, don¡¯t forget that, there¡¯s so much there, and it all works together. Squirrels to spread seeds, wolves to keep the squirrels in check. It¡¯s a balance. Streants only nest in oak trees, and they eat insects. Take the oaks away and plant only diamond trees, where will the streants go? Without the streants, your precious diamond tree farm gets devastated by locusts. Whoever lives there has no food because you¡¯ve destroyed the farmland, and no money because you¡¯ve destroyed their income.¡±

    Geraln nodded. ¡°Well, the Duke, and this guy is so articulate. He explained all of that and more. He even offered to give a tour of the counties where it grows.¡±

    Davod huffed. ¡°I¡¯d have told him to fuck right off.¡±

    Faren smiled at that. ¡°That¡¯s why he¡¯s the Duke, and not you.¡±

    <hr>

    Our fourth day in the pass, we continued to follow the road as it rose sharply up the other side of the plain. It kept that up throughout the whole morning, and we found ourselves encircling one mountain on the left, and all around us on the right the world expanded into a maze of rock and snow towering into the sky.

    About maybe an hour after high noon, as we passed over a stone bridge that spanned a wide chasm cut through by a creek of meltwater. Far below us was a lone diamond tree about my height with tall rocks rising sharply on both sides so as to cast the thing in shade for all but the highest of noons each day. Its branches hosted tiny green leaves, defiant of the freezing wind that surrounded it.

    From there, the road rose sharply for a couple more hours, and we had to take several breaks with the two coast dwellers feeling dizzy and short of breath. I¡¯d exerted myself enough on the climb that I didn¡¯t mind the cold so much, but it was still tough.

    As evening approached, we couldn¡¯t find good shelter. We walked, then kept walking in hopes of finding a cave or something, but the road kept going along a wide expanse of rock and snow.

    ¡°What about right here?¡± I said, looking over a vast snowbank at the top of a mound of rock with more jagged rocks in the distance all around us.

    Geraln looked around, struggling for breath. ¡°Please¡­ tell me¡­ you¡¯re joking.¡±

    Davod looked at me with an exasperated sigh. ¡°Caleb, there¡¯s nothing here for shelter.¡±

    Ales stood and shivered. Dusk fast approached, and the punitive wind refused to relent even for a moment. I knelt to get a good look at the snow. It was wind-blasted enough and had good structure. ¡°This is perfect.¡±

    Ales spoke up through chattering teeth. ¡°We¡¯ve got to keep going. It may be dark before¡­ we find a good spot, but at least¡­ there¡¯s hope. Here¡­¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s shelter all around us,¡± I told him. ¡°We just have to build it.¡±

    Geraln pleaded with me. ¡°Come on¡­ man, you see¡­ we¡¯re on a tabletop¡­ mountain; there¡¯s nothing up here¡­ but rocks and snow. It can¡¯t¡­ get any worse.¡±

    ¡°Look around,¡± I said. ¡°We carve up these snow banks and use that to build a shelter. All around us. Come, let¡¯s start with these rocks¡­¡±

    ¡°Caleb,¡± Davod started.

    ¡°We build it up, like an arch on all sides. A dome. It¡¯ll be warm. I promise.¡±

    Faren said not a word. Rather, he doubled over, grasping at his knees and trying to breathe.

    ¡°I¡¯ve done it before.¡±

    Geraln peered at me close.

    Ales spoke up. ¡°I say we keep going.¡±

    ¡°Me too,¡± Geraln added.

    Faren looked at me directly. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, man.¡±

    As they turned to continue down the road, Davod stood and stared at me. I lowered my head and took a step forward, when he held out his hand and stopped me. ¡°No,¡± he turned and spoke to the others. ¡°We go with Caleb¡¯s plan.¡±

    Geraln pleaded with him. ¡°You can¡¯t¡­ be serious!¡±

    Davod explained. ¡°If Caleb says this will work, it will work. Let¡¯s get started.¡±

    The other three glanced at one another. Faren¡¯s eyes bulged, but Ales protested. ¡°That¡¯s not how this works. It¡¯s three against two.¡±

    Davod answered him. ¡°If I need to fold up a sail or tie a fishing line, I¡¯m asking you how it¡¯s done. I known this kid my whole life¡ªIf he says this is the best way to find shelter, then this is the best way. Come on.¡±

    Geraln nodded, then lowered his head and came back to our side. Faren soon followed. Ales stood alone and gazed at me. ¡°Can you at least¡­ tell me how this is supposed to work?¡±

    ¡°We start by elevating a small section where we¡¯re going to sleep¡ªwe can pile some flat rocks up over here and cover them with those mats. Then we cut blocks from the snow and set them in a circle, piling one layer on top of another, on top of another. It arches in on all sides and makes a dome. We leave a small circle in the roof for smoke to get out, and a tunnel large enough for us to come in and out of it. We can use this goat skin for a door to keep out the wind, and with three fuel pods it¡¯ll be very comfortable.¡±

    He blinked a few times, then looked at Davod again. ¡°We get to use three this time?¡±

    ¡°Tonight and tomorrow night,¡± he reassured him.

    With that, we set about working. We found a ledge of rock with a lower recess, and expanded that out with some other rocks we were able to roll into place. Then, we cut blocks of snow from a nearby embankment, keeping the top of our exit tunnel at a lower level than where we¡¯d be sleeping. Ordinarily this would take a few hours, but between the five of us we managed to finish our construction just as dusk was making the work difficult. I held a metal canteen in place in the center of the roof while Davod packed snow around it, then removed it leaving a perfect hole about five inches in diameter.

    Inside, the first fuel pod gave off enough light for us to set out padding and roll out the mats. It was cramped, but it was indeed warm. Not summer day in the Tobori Islands warm, but probably the best shelter we¡¯d had the whole trip.

    Ales took a deep drag from the orca and passed it along, then asked, ¡°alright gentlemen, knock-kneed or bowlegged?¡±

    Davod laughed at that one. ¡°My man here asking the important questions! Bowlegged. Definitely bowlegged.¡±

    Geraln shook his head and passed the pipe along. ¡°Why can¡¯t she have normal legs?¡±

    Faren explained. ¡°That¡¯s the parameters of the question. It¡¯s got to be one or the other. Knock-kneed for me.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± Ales looked at him. ¡°I thought I knew you, man!¡±

    Faren laughed. We all gave our preferences as the distinctively sweet smell of the herb filled our tiny space. Wind howled just outside, and the fire from the fuel pod was perfect¡ªsmall enough so as to not crowd our space, yet warm enough to make the room comfortable.

    Ales looked at the wall of ice behind him. ¡°Is this thing going to hold?¡±

    ¡°Of course,¡± I assured him.

    Geraln touched his fingers to the walls and spoke, ¡°I''m actually deeply curious as to why this works.¡±

    Faren nodded, taking a deep drag from the orca. ¡°Yeah, man. Feels like the ice should be melting all around us.¡±

    ¡°It does,¡± I explained. ¡°It¡¯s cold enough outside that it refreezes as fast as it melts. The air pockets trapped in the snow¡­¡±

    Geraln nodded and gazed at the fire, ¡°too fat or too skinny?¡±

    ¡°Too fat,¡± Davod didn¡¯t hesitate.

    Faren squinted. ¡°How fat are we talking about, here?¡±

    ¡°Too much so,¡± he said. ¡°Whatever that means in your mind.¡±

    Faren spoke smoothly with smoke pouring out from his mouth, watching the fire through droopy eyes. ¡°So, like some gargantuan blob of flesh so massive she¡¯s a girl in name only?¡±

    We started laughing. Ales smiled and added, ¡°like if you let her go on top you¡¯d get crushed? Nah, I¡¯m going with too skinny.¡±

    Reminiscent images of Anyanna rubbing oil between her hands flirted with my mind. ¡°Too skinny,¡± I echoed.

    Davod spoke slowly. ¡°Like a rail, loose flaps of skin hanging over her like a laundry line and you can see every bone.¡±

    I laughed at that, too. Geraln twisted his face up. ¡°Gods, is that what you¡¯ve reduced this to?¡±

    I laughed and turned to him. ¡°It has to be one or the other.¡±

    He shook his head. ¡°Better to be fat, I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    We all had a good laugh and settled down. Overhead, the small hole in the ceiling was filled with stars that waved from the heat of the fuel pod. As I lay down ready to close my eyes and drift off, I caught a glimpse of the Wandering Star as it drifted slowly across the sky.

 The Gate

    The day¡¯s hiking had been brutal.  The road had taken us up a steep incline and led us along a ridge with a sheer drop on both sides.  More than twice we had to hold hands; not that the road was narrow, but we were exhausted and vertigo had begun to set in.  Yet even at that immense elevation, towers of pointy rock shot up into the sky for several more thousands of feet, raw and unbroken.  So many beautiful peaks no one had ever climbed.

    It was to be our last night in the wilderness.  We¡¯d found a deep bowl of a cavity in a near-perfect circle some sixty feet in diameter at the rim with steep walls and a spiral pathway cut along the interior leading us at least sixty feet down towards the bottom where a lush green garden was warm and moist.  Someone had planted tomatoes, basil, and garlic among other things, and we had with us some salt blocks leftover from before and dried bread crisps.

    At last, something besides strips of smoked meat and crushed maple-almond trail rolls.

    Ales kept holding out his hand and moving it through the air while Faren glanced around at the interior walls, in some places carved out from rock with chisel markings still on the wall, and in other places giant unhewn stones were mortared together.  The floor was leveled with black dirt, warm and moist, amid trails of gray, irregular sheets of slate.  ¡°How is this place possible?¡±

    Geraln sat on his mat and leaned his back against the stone wall, trying to rub the exhaustion out of his temples.  He yawned and got into the physics of it.  ¡°The stone walls collect heat from the sun and shield it from the wind.¡±  He grabbed the orca being handed to him and took a deep drag.  I could hear the crackling flowers of the happy cabbage.  Then he resumed his explanation with smoke pouring from his mouth.  ¡°Moisture comes from snow melting higher up, which further traps heat.¡±

    Davod took the pipe and added, ¡°high up in Osenia, they got places like this all over.  Some of them ancient clans still don¡¯t believe in the Empire, so¡­ you know.¡±

    It occurred to me that he¡¯d blabbed about me and Sarina, so it was only fair.  ¡°One of those clans is a few hours east from Gath; Davod had a huuuuge crush on this girl¡­¡±

    ¡°Shut up!¡± he blushed, almost laughing.

    ¡°Oh, yeah!¡± Geraln continued.  ¡°Naleen?  Nali?¡±

    ¡°Na-la-nya,¡± Davod corrected him, still laughing.

    I continued.  ¡°Her brother told him he couldn¡¯t court his sister unless Davod beat him in a fair fight.¡±

    Davod shook his head with a smile.  ¡°Scrappy five-foot runt; gods, he was tough!¡±

    Faren smiled.  ¡°Got your arse kicked, didn¡¯t you?¡±

    ¡°Damn right, I did!¡±

    We all laughed.

    Davod continued.  ¡°Chief¡¯s the one gave the old friar that bow Caleb¡¯s got with him.¡±

    ¡°Oh yeah?¡± Ales glanced at me and passed the pipe along.

    I confirmed, ¡°his wife fell ill during childbirth so they sent someone down to get Mother Searnie.  The bow was their idea of payment.¡±

    Geraln bit into our unexpected delicacy and groaned.  ¡°Some olive oil would make this!¡±

    Faren answered, ¡°you got any?¡±

    ¡°You think I¡¯d hold out on you, man?¡±

    Conversation that evening didn¡¯t last long.  Mostly, we were all tired and went to sleep.  We were awakened by the warmth of the sun on our faces; we¡¯d slept so long.  After a quick meal of dried berries and more rolls, we packed up and climbed the spiral trail out of the warm bowl and back onto the frigid road.

    The road was smooth rock interspersed with small pockets of gravel and pebbles, some of which had frozen together in sheets of ice.  With the sheer drop on the right leading down into a steep wall of snow and rock, we had to be very careful where we stepped.

    And we continued to climb.

    We passed by a small footpath leading around a ridge on the right, then went up a steep embankment.  The road led us through a tunnel carved from a giant block of ice with chisel markings all up and down throughout.  At length that opened up, and we saw it.

    Beside another footpath, the road continued up as it curved around the side of a mountain on the left and led to a small landing where awaited a wall of stone and mortar with a gaping archway in the center.  Nestled between peaks that towered upward on the right and left, the stone wall hosted a small bronze plate beside the archway that held some writing.

    Terbulin Pass, 17,889 feet.  Beyond this gate, the Empire cannot protect you.

    To the right of the archway was a totem reaching some fifteen feet with Goat at the apex, atop Serpent, Falcon, Cougar, and Wolf.  At the foundation, and I hadn¡¯t recognized him before but bore an uncanny resemblance to a pipe we¡¯d been smoking from, was Orca.

    We entered through the archway and into a courtyard scarcely twenty by twenty feet as an oblong square built more out of respect to the adjacent mountains with only a cursory nod to geometry.  On the far end was another wall with another archway, only this one was barricaded with a heavy oaken door set with iron braces and rivets, held fast with three, heavy iron bars behind not one, but two closed, iron portcullises.  Portculli.  Portcullix.  Whatever.  On each side were narrow, vertical slits that let through slivers of blue sky beyond, angled on the interior for archers to have any attack they desired, and adjacent each were baskets and baskets of arrows, spears, bows, and other weapons.

    The rampart was set with stone crenellations that came up shoulder height, and there were two men up there.  Each was adorned in a heavy black fur coat, with metal armored plates peeking out from beneath.  They turned to look at us as we came up; the bottom halves of their faces were covered in woolen cloth.  One of them called out, ¡°Zaken!  Fresh meat!¡±

    Davod turned and looked at me with his brow furrowed and his eyes wide.  From the side, we heard the creak of iron hinges as an oaken door swung open and smacked against the stone, and another man emerged.  He, too, had a heavy fur coat, but his face placed him well into his middling years.  His long, dark-green hair hosted a few strands of white and was pulled to rest behind his shoulders, and his lips were held fast in the freezing cold and gave off a gruff mixture of apathy and sternness.  Yet the collar where his coat and armor ended hinted at muscles enough for a man not to be trifled with.

    ¡°Y¡¯all eat any o my tomatoes?¡±  His voice was a deep baritone with the thick accent of the Beaver Clan, and his shifty eyes passed among the five of us each in turn.

    We glanced at one another and almost spoke in chorus.

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°No!¡±

    ¡°Of course not!¡±

    ¡°What tomatoes?¡±

    ¡°Why would we?¡±

    ¡°You have tomatoes?¡±

    ¡°We had a few.¡±  It was Ales who confessed.  While Geraln slapped his arm, Zaken stepped up close to him, passing his eyes up and down over his body, taking note of his clothes and physique.  ¡°Honesty.  Good quality.¡±  Then he turned to the rest of us.  ¡°What o the rest o y¡¯all?¡±

    We glanced around at one another.  Geraln went next, lowering his eyes as he spoke.  ¡°We also took some garlic and basil.¡±

    Zaken turned and stepped up to him, then snarled.  ¡°Ye got olive oil?¡±

    Geraln shook his head.  ¡°No, sir.¡±

    Zaken nodded.  ¡°We got plenty.¡±  Then he stepped around among us and turned to face me.  ¡°And ye?  What o ye?¡±

    I hesitated.  Geraln spoke for me, ¡°he¡¯s a Daenma.¡±

    Zaken faced him, then turned back to me and looked me up and down.  ¡°That¡¯s it?¡±

    I shrugged.  ¡°I don¡¯t know¡­ I suppose.¡±

    Davod spoke up next.  ¡°We been called to arms.  We¡¯re to go to a place called Carthia.¡±

    Zaken grunted and smiled.  ¡°Obviously.  Y¡¯all wash up and spend the night here.¡±

    Ales spoke up to that.  ¡°We got plenty of daylight left¡­¡±

    Geraln slapped his arm again while Davod and I smirked.  Zaken didn¡¯t react so much as answer him directly, ¡°y¡¯all won¡¯t make the Lake o Doom before nightfall¡­¡±

    ¡°Uh¡­¡±

    ¡°... Do NOT be out after dark.  Y¡¯all hear?¡±

    Even with the ramparts surrounding the small courtyard, the wind coming off the high mountains bit hard and nearly froze me in place, but those words sent an unnatural shiver all over my skin.  I looked around, and it was clear we all felt the same.

    ¡°Sir,¡± Ales tried to speak.  ¡°What¡¯s wrong with¡­¡±

    Zaken turned towards the door and interrupted him.  ¡°Come.  We got a fawn been marinating in ale for days.  Got warm beds, but first wash up¡­¡±

    We began to step with him when Faren spoke up excitedly, ¡°I have happy cabbage.¡±

    We all giggled, but the older man stopped and turned to him directly.  ¡°Don¡¯t be that man.¡±

    Faren looked at him confused and bewildered.

    ¡°Keep yer mind sharp.  At all times.¡±  He then turned to each of us as he spoke, ¡°that man¡¯ll get ye killed.  And no drinking, neither.  Survive down there, and ye get to stay up here.¡±

    It wasn¡¯t lost on me that this cramped, frigid outpost standing at ungodly heights untold miles from civilization he found preferable to being down there.  ¡°Sir,¡± I said.  ¡°May we see what¡¯s on the other side of that wall?¡±

    The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    The man looked me up and down, then pointed at a heavy, oaken door tucked into a corner that was short enough that it would force most children to duck through it.  ¡°Through there.¡±

    Faren looked sullen and withdrawn.  He and Geraln went along with the older man, while Davod was just hungry.  Ales and I went to have a look.

    The door itself was set with iron braces and rivets, and there was a sealed barrel beside, half buried in snow long since iced over.  As we pulled at the door, the hinges cried out in protest.  Inside was a dark, cold column with a spiral staircase that went up to the left and down on the right.  The space was tight, and I nearly tripped several times thinking I could get the rhythm of the steps, but they were horribly uneven.  The staircase wrapped around one time and brought us to a small landing where, in a small stone recess in the center column a solitary candle clung to the remnant of what wick it had left amid a pool of solid wax.  Opposite that was another heavy wooden door with a thick iron bar at the side, and we pushed that open.

    Our eyes were flooded with sunlight, and out before us between the stone crenelations was an endless expanse of clouds.

    The Terbulin ridge could be seen extending out to the east and to the west, a sheer cliff face of rock curved inward for hundreds of miles as far as the eye could see, marbled in gray and black and too steep to host any snow caps save for what little that was saddled between peaks that reached heights I couldn¡¯t grasp with my mind.  Everything else was beneath a blanket of clouds.  The side of the cliff hosted a long outcropping of rock that angled down sharply to suffice for a road that dipped beneath the clouds, but otherwise fell straight down who knew how far.

    Ales¡¯s eyes were wide as they scanned the endless sea of clouds before us.  He chuckled lightly.  ¡°I never seen clouds from this side before.¡±

    That made me smile.  ¡°It¡¯s surreal, isn¡¯t it?¡±

    He nodded emphatically.  Before us, waves seemed almost frozen in time, as though they swelled and flowed in slow motion, fluffy pillows of cotton that refused to give us so much as a hint of what lay beneath be it hills or valleys, farms or cities.  White mixed with shades of gray with touches of amber kissed by the overhead sun, all beneath the pristine blue sky, hemmed in by the endless gray-black wall of rock towering above us.

    I mustered some words.  ¡°I feel so small.¡±

    Ales smiled.  ¡°It looks like you could just take a boat through it.  Listen, man, I¡¯m sorry for ratting us out like that.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    Ales lowered his eyes.  He had a wide, stocky face that wore a look of shame and introspection.  ¡°About the tomatoes.¡±

    I smiled.  ¡°Come on!  I know you see they¡¯re fine with that.¡±

    Ales shook his head; that wasn¡¯t what worried him.  ¡°I know¡­ it¡¯s just¡­ I keep blabbering like that¡­¡±

    ¡°Nah, man.  I¡¯m jealous.¡±

    Ales raised an eyebrow at me and tilted his head a little.

    ¡°I wish I had the courage to be honest on that level.  You¡¯ll get no complaint from me.¡±

    Ales huffed a little and smiled from one corner of his mouth before turning his attention back out over the expanse of clouds.  ¡°I don¡¯t know what I was expecting, but it wasn¡¯t this.¡±

    A voice came from the side.  One of the men with us on the rampart, draped in a dark fur coat over heavy armor, had his dark-green hair cascading down his back.  ¡°On a clear day, you can see Carthia right over there,¡± he pointed.

    He was a sturdy man of average height, Herali without question, with a line of scar trailing down the left side of his otherwise soft face.  He wasn¡¯t much older than us, if at all.

    Ales and I looked.  The place where he pointed was but a crest of pillowy clouds.

    ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡± I said.

    ¡°Timeu of Raouna.¡±

    ¡°Where¡¯s that?¡± Ales asked.

    ¡°It¡¯s in Ozaria.¡±

    Ales huffed.  ¡°You¡¯re from diamond-tree country, too.¡±

    Timeu nodded.  ¡°Yeah, there¡¯s a lot of us.¡±

    ¡°Is it like this all the time?¡± Ales asked.

    ¡°This time of year?¡± he nodded.  ¡°All day every day.   In winter you can see everything.  The River of Unending Torment, all the way to the sea.¡±  His finger traced a wavy pattern in the air and led our eyes off to the right, towards more clouds.

    I winced at the name, then shook it off.  ¡°You survived down there?¡±

    Timeu lifted his eyebrows for a fleeting moment, then scratched at the scar running down the side of his face.  ¡°Barely.¡±

    Ales quizzed him, ¡°what¡¯s the secret?¡±

    Timeu glanced his dark-green eyes back and forth between us and leaned in close.  ¡°They¡¯re going to tell you a whole bunch of shit, and it¡¯s good shit, but honestly¡­ just¡­ whatever the natives tell you, listen.  Learn the language, talk to the natives.  They¡¯re¡­ most of them are good people, and they know what¡¯s what¡­¡±

    ¡°OK,¡± I nodded.

    ¡°... but no matter what, don¡¯t be out after dark.¡±

    Ales and I looked at one another; a cold feeling of concern passed between us.  We almost asked together, ¡°what happens after dark?¡±

    Timeu shook his head and took a deep breath.  ¡°How¡¯s this: during the day, your enemy is other people.¡±

    ¡°And at night?¡±

    ¡°Hey!¡± Davod called out to us from the courtyard below.  ¡°What do you cocksuckers see up there?¡±

    Ales shook his head.  ¡°Nothing but clouds, dunderhead.¡±

    ¡°Uh-huh.  Need you to run an errand.  He says they got a bowl with some thyme and onions nearby.  Need you to go get some.¡±

    Timeu slapped my shoulder and, though his mouth was covered in black wool I could see the sides of his eyes smiling.  ¡°Looks like it¡¯s your turn.  We¡¯ll talk later.¡±

    The bowl in question was easy to find.  Ales and I left the gate and headed back along the road through the rugged terrain, making our way along the narrow footpath leading us down a spiral trail into the belly of another bowl, where we found what they¡¯d asked for along with some blackberries trained on a wooden trellis.  I had one.

    ¡°Those any good?¡± Ales asked me.

    ¡°I can¡¯t tell.  I think I need to try another to be sure.¡±

    Ales nodded and came over.  ¡°Sounds like you could use a second opinion.¡±

    Together we managed to pluck blackberries from the vine, incurring more than a few thorns, only to end up painting our olive-green an incriminating purple.

    I spent the whole time on the trail back trying to pick those seeds out of my teeth.

    Absolutely worth it.

    Zaken had said we could wash up.  The bath was but a small washbasin scarcely large enough to sit in, tucked into a closet with a drain in the middle of the floor, buried deep within the mountain with naught but an oil lamp for light, and the water had a thin sheet of ice over it.  A rag and soap had been provided, and with it I scrubbed as quickly as possible to try and mitigate the cold all over my skin.

    It didn¡¯t work.

    Faren had been drafted into laundry duty with some other men from the garrison, which was fortunate as I was on my last change of clothes.

    That evening, dinner included blackberry marmalade with fresh sour bread, sweet potato mashed up with a torturous amount of nice pepper, some kind of cavernous vegetable I¡¯d never seen before filled up with a slurry of rice, cheese, and other stuff, and that venison he¡¯d promised from before along with a bowl of chopped tomatoes and basil with dots of black pepper and white specks of garlic swimming in olive oil.  They also had pitchers of some yellow-orange colored juice that was as sweet as anything I¡¯d ever tasted and tart, and we managed to empty the first one within seconds while the men of the garrison laughed at us.

    The room was small, walled with rough-hewn solid stone on one side and mortared blocks on the other that held a window of amber-colored glass in a hashed frame.  The dark, wooden table filled the space, and all the meal was set in the center alongside an iron candelabra with numerous fresh candles.  It was the five of us along with Timeu, Zaken, and three other men of the garrison.  One of them was a burly Herali man with a tattoo over his brow marking him from the Porcupine Clan in Lavega County.  He had only a thumb and two fingers remaining on his left hand, with a scar that ran the length of his forearm.

    Faren was silent while Davod, seated at the head of the table, grabbed up a generous serving of food.

    It was Ales who spoke first.  ¡°What¡¯s down there?¡±

    The men of the garrison glanced at one another and smiled.  The Porcupine man grimaced and spoke.  ¡°Well, there are only three things you need to watch out for.¡±  We watched him closely as he held up his hand and counted them off on the three fingers he had left.  ¡°There¡¯s the things that¡¯ll eat you but won¡¯t bother to kill you first, there¡¯s the things that¡¯ll kill you but don¡¯t care to eat you, and then there are the things that¡¯ll kill you and eat you.  That¡¯s it.  You watch out for those three things.¡±

    The others laughed, but we didn¡¯t.  Another man added, ¡°there¡¯s a hundred different kinds of snakes down there.  But don¡¯t worry, only ninety-nine of them are poisonous!¡±

    Another man chuckled, ¡°the other one will swallow you whole!¡±

    Geraln had a mass of sweet potato on his fork and was about to bite it, only to freeze in that position and look over at me with his eyes wide open and his mouth gaped.

    Zaken, seated opposite Davod, chuckled heartily with a satisfied grin while his men tormented us.  Timeu continued, ¡°don¡¯t touch the yellow vine.¡±

    The porcupine man continued, laughing, ¡°and don¡¯t let it touch you, either!¡±

    Davod pulled the slab of meat from his face; a patina of fat saturated his cheeks while a tiny glob of meat clung to his lips.  ¡°What do you mean ¡®don¡¯t let it touch you¡¯?¡±

    Another man turned to Ales and spoke to him directly.  ¡°You¡¯re from the coast; you ever seen a twenty-foot alligator?¡±

    My jaw dropped.  ¡°How big?¡±

    The others laughed.  It was Timeu¡¯s turn again.  ¡°The ants will kill you.  The mosquitoes will kill you.  The bees will kill you.  The heat will kill you.  Drinking the water will kill you.  The mud will kill you¡­¡±

    Another man interrupted, ¡°packs of wild dogs.  Had a guy tried to pet one of them; he¡¯s dead now.  You know what a d?guwa is?¡±

    None of us did.

    ¡°It¡¯s like a cougar, but bigger and stronger, and yellow with spots.¡±

    Another took the baton.  ¡°You could be walking along, thinking you¡¯re on a trail.  Bushes and trees are so thick you don¡¯t see the edge until you walk right off it.  Then you fall, hurt so bad you can¡¯t move, waiting for your friends to come help, and some random thing comes along and takes a bite out of you.¡±

    ¡°Stay on the main road, but the main road is boobytrapped.  Move slowly to avoid traps, but move quickly else the Sewu¡¯oni will find you.¡±

    Ales spoke up to that.  ¡°Is that the enemy we¡¯ll be fighting?¡±

    It was Zaken who answered.  As he spoke, the whole table fell silent.  ¡°Carthia been there over a century.  Started as a trading outpost, grew into a refuge for pirates, runaway slaves, and other outcasts.  Then, about twenty years ago, the Great Umeazi Plague swept through Uhui.  Lots o people died, and the survivors blamed us.  The Sewu¡¯o?i are one tribe, but they built an alliance throughout the whole region hellbent on getting rid o us.¡±

    ¡°What about after dark?¡±  Ales asked.

    The men of the garrison exchanged fearful glances.  Then the Porcupine Clan guy said it.  ¡°v?ta¡¯o.¡±

    Geraln spoke up.  ¡°What¡¯s v?ta¡¯o?¡±

    As before, the men took turns layering their words on top of one another.  ¡°Picture giant lizards.  Tall as a man.¡±

    ¡°With talons like an eagle, several inches long and razor sharp.¡±

    Another took the baton.  ¡°And serrated teeth.  When they bite you, they shake their heads like this,¡± he bobbed his head back and forth, ¡°carve right through you like a saw blade.¡±

    ¡°They move through the forest, quieter than the wind, and they blend in with the trees.  You could have one right next to you and you won¡¯t see him.  Until it¡¯s too late.¡±

    ¡°... and faster than anything you¡¯ve ever seen.  You ever seen a cougar barrel down the side of a mountain at full clip?  Faster than that.  And, they¡¯re smart.¡±

    ¡°Real smart.  They hunt in packs, talk to each other through chirps and clicks¡ªsounds just like the rest of the forest.  And, they know we can¡¯t see shit after dark.¡±

    ¡°They don¡¯t much care for human politics, neither; we¡¯re meat.¡±

    The mood fell silent.  I tried to will myself to take a bite of something, then it occurred to me to ask, ¡°these v?ta¡¯o¡­ do they go after the enemy the, uh¡­¡±

    ¡°Sewu¡¯o?i,¡± they reminded me.

    ¡°Will they go after the Seu-oni after dark?  Are both sides subject to the same rules?¡±

    The men nodded a strong affirmation.

    Then, finally, Davod remembered his priorities.  ¡°What about girls?¡±

    The men of the garrison looked at one another as if shocked we still had the nerve to ask such a thing.

    Ales¡¯s eyes perked up and he stared at Davod wide-eyed, his eyebrows raised.  Faren still stared empty at his plate of untouched food as though lost in thought, but Geraln leaned forward and listened.  I doubled down, ¡°what kind of girls do they have down there?  What are they like?¡±

    Zaken let out a wry smile while the man from the Porcupine Clan grinned wide and spoke.  ¡°Man, they got women down there that¡¯ll absolutely blow your mind.¡±

    Ales spoke, ¡°in a good way or a bad way?¡±

    ¡°Both!¡±

    Another clarified, ¡°at the same time!¡±

 Yonim

    The garrison had a generous stockpile of woolen blankets that made for a very cozy bed.  As soon as I closed my eyes, I opened them and felt rested.

    I got up and went outside.  I was alone in the freezing cold.  The courtyard was cast in blue, and the sky, turning amber, clung to what remnant of stars it had left.  Up on the rampart, waves with pink and yellow highlights seemed motionless, like a painting as they crashed against the black wall of the Terbulin ridge that wrapped around all the way to the eastern horizon where behind the jagged line of gray-purple was the bright glow of the rising sun with lances of yellow beaming out across the sea of clouds before me.

    Breakfast that morning was salted pork sauteed with spinach and cheese, corn muffins hot from the oven and slathered in butter, and a peculiar drink with an unmistakable strong, nutty aroma I would never forget.

    ¡°What is this?¡± Geraln asked.  The men of the garrison laughed as they watched us sip from our mugs.

    I answered him myself.  ¡°They have this in Ulum.  They call it kafi.¡±

    Davod sipped, then turned to face me with his eyes wide.  ¡°Where the hell did you find this in Ulum?¡±

    Faren sipped, closed his eyes, and marveled, ¡°where has this been my whole life?¡±

    Zaken explained.  ¡°It¡¯s two things.  The k?fi is bitter by itself, and they add something called azuk? to make it sweet.  I hear the Emperor can¡¯t get enough of the stuff.¡±

    Geraln nodded.  ¡°I can¡¯t blame him.¡±

    Ales¡¯s fingers trembled.  ¡°Is this right?  It¡¯s like a jolt of energy; I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve ever felt so awake!¡±

    The man from the porcupine clan slapped his meaty hand on Ales¡¯s shoulder.  ¡°Truth be told, man, Carthia¡¯s not all monsters.¡±

    Timeu smiled.  ¡°Wait until you try dokono!¡±

    The others laughed in agreement.

    Eventually, the five of us gathered in the courtyard while the heavy iron portculliexeusesai creaked open, heavy steel chains whined in protest, and a thin layer of ice shattered across the stone floor.  The bars were pulled, two to the left and one to the right, the door farted open in spurts, and we found ourselves on the small landing at the top of the pass, set with gravel and black ice scarcely ten feet from oblivion.

    ¡°Fuck it,¡± Davod proclaimed, ¡°let¡¯s go.¡±

    Tucked off to the side, we passed by a serpent totem that matched the one at the front gate, and set off along the ¡®road¡¯ as it dropped sharply, clinging to the mountain on the left and dropping down through the clouds on the right.  It wasn¡¯t even a road so much as a slanted outcropping of rock that people walked over.  How in the world a merchant could get an ox-drawn cart up this way considering how steep the incline and how narrow the passage I couldn¡¯t imagine, but they¡¯d done it¡ªI could see the wheel wells impacted into the black-and-gray gravel.

    Then we saw some wheel scuffings that went right over the edge.

    ¡°Watch for ice,¡± I reminded everyone.  We clung to the other side like it was our mother¡¯s teat, each of us too scared to speak one word lest we lose focus on where we were.  Above the sound of boots crunching tiny pebbles covered in icicles was the high-pitched whistle of the wind as it swept across the rock face we traveled.

    We kept on the road for hours as it dropped down, inching us closer and closer to the clouds.  We¡¯d descended to where we were almost level and found a small shelf of rock that seemed to have broken off from the main wall and settled a few feet above the ground, so we sat for a while.  Geraln opened up his pack and brought out the trail rolls.  ¡°This is the last of them.  We have two maple-almond, a cherry-hazelnut, and two honey-coconuts left.¡±

    Ales spoke first, ¡°I didn¡¯t get any of the hazelnuts.¡±

    Faren, too.  ¡°I didn¡¯t either.¡±

    I also added, ¡°we had hazelnut?¡±

    Davod answered me, ¡°those ones are the best.¡±

    Geraln looked at him directly.  ¡°How many did you have?¡±

    Davod shrugged.  ¡°I mean¡­¡±

    Ales protested, ¡°we were supposed to get an equal amount, man!  Come on!¡±

    Davod smiled.  ¡°Alright.  Give me one of the maples.¡±

    Geraln sneered, ¡°you get last pick.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Davod smiled.

    Ales shook his head.  ¡°It¡¯s only fair.¡±

    Faren spoke up.  ¡°Who gets the hazelnut, though?¡±

    Ales and I looked at each other, then back to Faren.  Geraln spoke to that.  ¡°OK, I¡¯m thinking of a number between one and ten, inclusive.  Ales?¡±

    Ales turned to Faren.  ¡°You pick first.¡±

    Faren shot back, ¡°no, you go.¡±

    ¡°Go ahead,¡± Ales replied.

    ¡°I¡¯m fine.  You first.¡±

    I broke the discussion.  ¡°I¡¯ll pick first.  Five.¡±

    Ales went second.  ¡°Six.¡±

    Then Faren, ¡°four.¡±

    I managed out, ¡°what the fuck?¡±

    Before I could process what I¡¯d just fallen for, Geraln spoke.  ¡°Eight.  Ales, hazelnut is yours.¡±

    Faren followed, ¡°I¡¯ll take a maple.¡±

    Geraln reached in, ¡°maple for me, too.¡±

    ¡°Hey!¡±

    Then he handed me and Davod each a honey-coconut roll.

    In truth, they were delicious, all of them.  Except maybe the hazelnut rolls; I had no knowledge on that.  Ales closed his eyes and hummed, then gave a nod to Davod, ¡°you were right, man, these ones are the best!¡±

    Truth was, the sweet, chewy honey-coconut rolls were delicious in their own right.  Davod shook his head in ecstatic reverie and spoke.  ¡°So¡­ apparently, there¡¯s this girl down there they call The Teacher.  They say she¡¯s pure fucking fire, man.¡±

    Ales broke out laughing.  Geraln shook his head and scolded him, ¡°priorities, man!  Why is that what you¡¯re thinking about?¡±

    I jumped in.  ¡°You know, Geraln, it¡¯s always about that.  In fact it¡¯s never not about that.¡±

    Davod laughed and raised his trail roll to me, and we toasted.

    ¡°Anyway,¡± Geraln continued, ¡°I¡¯m kinda concerned about staying alive, you know?  Girls¡­ staying alive¡­¡± he¡¯d lifted both hands in the air as if he were a scale with two sides in balance.

    ¡°I don''t know,¡± I said, ¡°I don''t see why these things are incongruous.  Guy up on the rampart said all we have to do to survive is listen to the natives.  So, you find yourself a nice native girl and listen to her.¡±

    Ales cracked up laughing.  ¡°That''s gotta be absolutely the most fool-proof plan I''ve ever heard.  I can just hear it now: darling, I need you to¡­ string up the laundry, polish the silver, pick up these socks, bathe the hound, detangle the nets, and while you''re at it rethatch the roof, the garden needs weeding, wash these cups, and if I catch you looking at that tramp down the road one more time so help me¡­¡±

    Davod laughed.  ¡°Oh snookums, you¡¯re such a good listener!¡±

    Ales assured him, ¡°just trying to stay alive, dear!¡±

    I couldn''t help but laugh.  Geraln covered his face in his hands, trying not to laugh, but it escaped from him no less.

    Faren shook his head and smiled.  ¡°Last night, one of them told me the Marquis of Ulum is down there, personally overseeing the place.¡±

    Ales furrowed his eyebrows.  ¡°What¡¯s a marquis?¡±

    Faren tilted his head and looked at him.  ¡°You don¡¯t know your ranks, man?¡±

    Ales shot back, ¡°I know my ranks, man.  A baron answers to a count, a count answers to a duke, a duke answers to the Emperor.  What the fuck is a marquis?¡±

    Geraln explained.  ¡°A marquis is a count; he¡¯s the Count of Ulum, but he¡¯s given special military privileges.¡±

    ¡°Like what?¡± I said.

    ¡°Well for one, you know how under Herali law the barons under a count can vote to get rid of him?  A marquis is protected from that.¡±

    Ales pulled his face back.  ¡°How the hell?¡±

    Geraln explained.  ¡°It''s an Imperial designation, so¡­ you know¡­¡±

    Faren nodded and continued.  ¡°Zaken said that twice the Barons in Ulum tried to do that.¡±

    Ales nodded.  ¡°So that makes him the Emperor¡¯s bitch, then, doesn¡¯t it.¡±

    ¡°Pretty much,¡± Geraln replied.

    After a while we felt rested.  I began to stretch, while Davod took up his pack and stood.  ¡°You guys ready?¡±

    Geraln muttered, ¡°no.¡±

    ¡°Alright, let''s go then.¡±

    With that we stood, stretched, and continued along our journey.

    It wasn''t more than a few hundred yards ahead that the road dipped into the white mist.  We were at a level such that towering before us was a billowing cloud that had grown considerably since morning.  And, we descended.

    We felt the mist as much as we saw it; the moist air surrounded our skin.  While it was still somewhat cold, I¡¯d noticed a welcome respite from the frigid high altitudes of the gate we¡¯d left behind.  Rather than be home to sheets of treacherous ice, the loose gravel grew wet, crunching beneath our boots.  As we began to dip, I turned and took one last glance at the road behind us as it climbed steeply up for miles, and the tiny gate beyond was scarcely visible.

    We spoke not a word of normal conversation.  Between the sheer drop on the right and what soon became such a heavy fog that we could scarcely see the road beneath our feet, a silent understanding overtook us that every ounce of concentration needed to be reserved for the task at hand.

    Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

    It was quiet.  The wind could no longer be heard against the rocks above us.  Right in front of me, coming from the figure whose dark outline faded in and out of visibility, I heard ¡°Ales here.¡±

    Behind me, another voice echoed.  ¡°Faren here.¡±

    Behind him, I heard Geraln¡¯s voice cut through the mist.  ¡°What is that?  What are you doing?¡±

    Faren answered him.  ¡°It¡¯s what we do in the fog when we can¡¯t see anything.¡±

    ¡°Caleb here,¡± I echoed.

    ¡°Davod here,¡± I heard coming from somewhere ahead of me.

    We continued our way for what felt like at least an hour as the fog grew darker and thicker, with roll being called every few minutes.  Then suddenly, I heard a sound like some gravel being thrown about, and a voice cried out ¡°FUCK!¡±

    Somewhere ahead of me, I heard Ales¡¯s voice.  ¡°What happened?¡±

    Then, a moan of a man in pain, then grunting, then ¡°Davod here.  Fuck!¡±

    We came up to him.  Beside the disturbed gravel was a large, smooth stone that looked wet but for some fresh scratches where gravel had been run across it.  Davod took a minute to clutch his knee, and I bent over to take a look.

    ¡°I¡¯m fine,¡± he said, shaking me off.

    ¡°Let him look at it,¡± Geraln insisted.

    He did.  He had a nice bruise and his ankle was stiff, but other than that nothing serious.  ¡°You¡¯re good,¡± I said, ¡°but let Ales take the lead.¡±

    Davod looked at me with his eyes wide as though I¡¯d spoken some heresy.

    So, I clarified.  ¡°It¡¯s just that it¡¯s his turn to slip on the next one.  Gotta spread it out, you know?¡±

    At that, Ales chuckled, ¡°gee, thanks.¡±

    Then Davod started laughing, before shaking his head and taking in a deep breath.  ¡°Man, I thought I was fucked.  I started heading towards that edge over there, gods.  There¡¯s nothing to hold onto up here!¡±

    Faren raised his hand.  ¡°I vote we be careful.¡±

    I couldn¡¯t help but smile at the sentiment.  Geraln raised his hand, too.  ¡°All in favor of being careful?¡±

    ¡°Aye!¡± we all repeated, before shaking it off with a fresh round of laughter.

    We continued our descent.  Being careful.

    After a time, the road started to transition from moist to wet, and the cold air had begun to surrender to a profound sense of moisture as well.  Beside us throughout the road, small tufts of grass began to emerge through cracks in the rock.  Off to the right, I saw a glimpse of some dark color seeping through the clouds, and the mist around us began to abate such that we could see each other well enough without all being close together.

    We kept walking, and I saw another patch of dark color making its way through the clouds, only this time I could see the outline of trees in a nearby mountainside.  Then, the clouds around us grew thick once more.

    ¡°What the?¡± Ales¡¯s voice came from ahead of me, and he stopped.

    I came up to him and he was looking at a fern growing in the cracks of the rock wall to our left.  ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    ¡°This fucking fern brushed my face, scared the shit out of me!¡±

    Faren laughed.  ¡°Thought it was some giant lizard, aye?¡±

    We all shared some nervous laughter.  Then, Ales shook it off and took a deep breath.  The thick air was a welcome respite from higher up, and but for the intense moisture it was fairly comfortable.  We continued our descent.

    Then, we came out of the clouds entirely, and there were trees everywhere.

    The cliff wasn¡¯t so high by this point, and led down to a gorge thick with green of a density I¡¯d never imagined possible.  Up the side of another mountain, trees blanketed the world like a carpet in all directions with not a hint of any towns, villages, farms, roads, or anything human.  This world carried with it the steady chorus of chirping insects in the distance that blended into a unified sound.  Above it all, dark clouds gathered in blocks of gray and darker gray with no pattern I could discern.

    ¡°Wow!¡± Geraln¡¯s eyes bulged.  We all felt the same.

    We continued along the road, descending into this strange world of primeval wilderness, and the chorus grew louder.  Soon, we saw a tree on the right, stretching its high branches defiantly towards the height we were at, while its trunk descended beyond a canopy dense with other trees.

    The air grew thick and warm, moist, but decidedly warm, and for the first time sweat began to bead on my forehead.  All around us, the chattering chorus of insects started to include chirps and whistles of some otherworldly variety.

    I felt tiny droplets on my skin as a herald of an incoming rain.  Then, not so much as a few seconds later, we were deluged.  All around us, buckets of rain clattered on the leaves, in the road, on the rocks, and all over us.  We were soaked through, with water pouring off the rocks and rushing down the side of the road all around us.  Then again, not a minute later, the rain stopped.

    The sudden storm left pockets of muddy gravel all around us all along the road, making it treacherous.  It was Faren who spoke first.  ¡°We should stop and dry off.¡±

    And so we did.  We found ourselves in the middle of thick forest on both sides of the road, with long, smooth leaves of trees I¡¯d never seen before amid palm trees with vines climbing up the top only to disappear beyond more trees.  Strange animal noises called out in every direction, still with that same chorus of insects grinding in our ears.

    We took off our shirts and boots, trying to ring them dry as best we could, when I felt something soft and light on my arm.  It was a tiny black mosquito that whisked away before I could swat the thing.  I heard a smack, and Geraln¡¯s hand was on his neck.  All about, tiny blurs began to converge upon us, and that unmistakable buzz crescendoed in my ear enticing me to swat it away.

    The assault grew more and more fierce.  Faren spoke with urgency, ¡°we have to move.¡±

    Not quite dry enough for some degree of comfort, I tried to pull my wet socks over my feet, and those bugs attacked my ankles.  I wrestled my boots on, and they attacked my wrists.  I swatted one, leaving behind a small splattering of red in my palm, only to see ten more come for the feast.

    We kept walking, trying to keep a good clip in hopes of moving past any more squadrons lurking in the trees.  By this time, we were in near darkness for the dense canopy of leaves above us with only the occasional break above which showed nothing but dark gray clouds.

    Then, the leaves above us began to clatter once more as more rain fell, and our boots began to stick in the mud.  We were drenched in sweat and rainwater.  Then a minute later the rain stopped, and the air felt hot and sticky.

    ¡°What¡­ is¡­ that?¡±  Geraln pointed to a nearby tree with his eyes open wide.  As he gaped, a mosquito had landed on the lower part of his eyelid.

    I looked, but it was Ales who answered him.  ¡°That, is a BIG fucking snake.¡±

    There in a tree branch, scarcely visible in the black shade was a dark brown snake with black diamond patterns along its back that draped its body over the branch, letting itself fall down on both sides several feet many times over.  Its body had to be at least a foot in diameter, and its head lay perfectly still, gazing at us out of one eye as if judging whether it was in the mood to eat one of us.

    But for a flick of its tongue, it didn¡¯t move, and we resumed our trek.  The road grew decorated by large slats of flat black stone interspersed with tufts of grass and vines that fought to reclaim it for the forest and led us up another hill with trees so thick we couldn¡¯t see more than a few feet into them.  We saw a train of black ants with blue stripes, each one easily an inch long with the ones traveling off to the left carrying scraps of what looked like meat and those moving towards the right empty-handed.  Unwilling to get into an argument with them, we stepped over gingerly, then continued to climb up the road as it drifted further and further into this primal world.

    Then, she appeared.

    As if in one motion, scarcely five feet in front of us and silent as a calm breeze amid the cacophony of the forest around us, a tall lizard stepped out onto the road carrying a girl on its back.

    The creature¡¯s head hovered at my eye level above the ground, with tiny scales all about its body and a blue stripe running from its eye down its neck and all the way to the end of its tail that swept about behind it, in all easily three yards in length and standing on two massive, powerful legs that ended in curved talons some inches long.  It had muscular forelimbs that dangled down before its body that also ended in sharp talons, and its mouth hung slightly ajar, revealing a zigzag of ominous teeth.  As it moved, its head held still while its body repositioned, only to move of its own a moment later.  The beast turned its narrow face to the side so as to fix one eye on us directly, a blue-yellow eye with a narrow black slit running from top to bottom.

    At the back of its head was a scant harness of some kind of leather with metal balls at the side, with reins trailing back along its neck to the girl¡¯s hand, and on its back and tied around its chest was a saddle of simple cotton and leather set with small pockets about.

    As for the girl, she was dark.  Skin so dark as to flirt with shades of black, and green as that man I met in Ulum.  Her eyes were yellow as the sun, and her hair was ivory white with streaks that hinted at shades of yellow, and cropped into a bob about her ears.  She sat upon the beast, making her taller than myself by at least a foot, but from the way her feet fell to the side I could tell she''d have been short if she were standing.  She was almost naked; her clothes consisted merely of a strap about her waist with a cotton loincloth, a necklace of large, carved wooden beads, and another strap over her shoulder that held at her back a short bow and a quiver of arrows with fletchings in a rainbow of colors.

    Behind me, I heard metal scrape against leather.

    Immediately, the beast turned and faced Davod, getting down on all fours and letting out a sharp hiss, coiling its long neck and gaping its mouth wide to display a mouth full of jagged saw blades that could likely sever a man¡¯s arm within a second.

    ¡°v?!¡± she shouted, and pressed her hand on the beast¡¯s haunch.  Her fingernails were covered in some kind of black lacquer and sharpened into claws, and she had the outline of a bat¡¯s wing on her right shoulder like a tattoo but white on her dark green skin.

    Davod stood wide-eyed and trembled with his sword in both hands.  Ales stood beside him, his sword in one hand while his other hand was stretched out beside him, grasping at nothing.  Geraln stood like a statue, unable to move while his mouth was fixed open and another mosquito decorated his earlobe.

    I couldn¡¯t remove my eyes from her or her mount.  She was fit as any girl I¡¯d ever seen, with muscles chiseled into her dark-green skin.  Her bare breasts scarcely tiny mounds in her bare chest and nipples poking prominently outward.  She grasped at the reins of the beast tugging as if trying to restrain the thing.

    ¡°Put that away,¡± I said.  ¡°She¡¯s a friendly.¡±

    Davod trembled and allowed his eyes to meet mine for a split second before returning to her.  Ales spoke, but didn¡¯t tear his eyes from her one bit.  ¡°How do you know?¡±

    Faren answered, ¡°because we¡¯re still alive, man.¡±  He was as relaxed as I¡¯d ever seen him.

    At length, Davod and Ales abided and began to sheath their swords, and I watched as the lizard lifted its head, then hoisted itself on its hind legs, keeping its head perfectly still as it moved its body, turning to keep one eye trained on the two men who¡¯d threatened it moments before.

    The girl then turned her neck to face me directly with those bright yellow eyes, then stretched her arm out to point at me and shouted, ¡°yonim!¡±

    The word rent my mind in search of meaning while the high-pitched whine of a mosquito settled in my ear.  I swatted at it but caught nothing but air while the girl continued her unsettling gaze upon me.  Her mouth was fixed in an expression I could not read.  Her beast paced the ground in front of me before turning its whole body round and turning its head so that it faced Davod with its other piercing eye, again, allowing its whole head to hover in place while its body moved around it.

    ¡°Yonim!¡± she said again.  Her eyes were glued to mine in total focus.  Her voice was high in the register, yet endowed with authority.  I tried to mouth the word, digging through my thoughts for some shred of meaning.

    ¡°Yonim?¡± Faren tilted his head, gazing at her through droopy eyes while Geraln remained as a statue.

    Ales answered him.  ¡°Do you know what she¡¯s saying?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± he shook his head.

    The lizard took a step towards me, then stretched its neck out and brought its snout directly to me, brushing against my chest and sniffing about.  The girl continued to stare at me.  ¡°Yonim!¡±

    I mouthed at the word several times over, chewing it up for meaning while Faren repeated it a second time.  I looked around.  Ales stood dumbfounded, shaking his head while Davod continued to keep his eyes on the beast.  It pulled its head back some, then yawned its mouth full of jagged teeth open and let out a string of clicks followed by a most peculiar chirp.  Then it stepped around to my left over to where Faren stood and sniffed at him.

    ¡°Hello there,¡± he said, then lifted his hand up as if to pet the thing, when it snapped its head towards him and lunged.  No sooner had it got its mouth open than the girl yanked hard on the reins and pulled back before it could clamp its jaws down on his hand.

    Its whole body turned away from him, and she reached out to slap his hand away while shouting, ¡°v? t?xo?eza!  ?u!  ?u!¡±

    Then she turned round to face me one more time.  ¡°Yonim!¡±

    Ales spoke in frustration.  ¡°What the hell does she want, man?¡±

    But there was something in her tone.  Something was different.  That command, I¡¯d assumed was something along the lines of asking us not to touch the creature, had rolled off her tongue as though she¡¯d been born to it.  There was a smooth confidence to her cadence that betrayed fluency.  Not so with the word, yonim.  It didn¡¯t come out the same.  I reasoned, therefore, that she must have assumed it meant something in our language, and began to pick it apart quietly.  ¡°Yonim.  Yo¡­nim.  Yo-nim.  Yo nem¡­¡±

    The beast stepped towards Geraln, who responded by trembling in terror and remaining absolutely still.  His voice let out a light whimper as the thing touched its nose to his arm and sniffed.  He shook, breathed heavily, and a dark wet spot spontaneously appeared in the center of his trousers then grew outwards and down his leg.

    ¡°Gods!¡± Davod shook his head in utter disbelief.

    I kept at it, turning her word around trying to see what it was.  ¡°Yoh nim.  Yoh nem  Yoh¡­¡± I had it.  ¡°Name!¡±  I looked up at her.  ¡°Name?¡±

    She looked directly at me and smiled.  Her eyes went wide.  ¡°Nay-yeem.  Yo nay-yeem!¡±

    ¡°Caleb of Gath.¡±

    She repeated it.  ¡°Kaydibuvgath.¡±

    She then turned to Faren.  ¡°Yo nay-yeem!¡±

    ¡°Faren of Suuya.¡±

    ¡°Fa-dhe-nuv-su-ya.¡±  She turned to Davod.  ¡°Yo nay-yeem!¡±

    Davod stood and stared.

    Faren urged him, ¡°tell her your name, man.¡±

    Davod glanced at him, then turned to face her directly as she stared at him.  ¡°I''m Davod of Gath.¡±

    ¡°Amdavoduvgath.¡± She turned.  ¡°Yo nayeem?¡±

    Geraln trembled as she faced him.  Her lizard sniffed at Davod, and Geraln''s words shook with the rest of him.  ¡°Geraln¡­¡± he shook his head, and drops of sweat flung from his chubby face.  ¡°Of Gath.¡±

    ¡°Jedanuvgath.¡±

    Ales spoke through the tension he wore all over his face.  ¡°This is weird.¡±

    She looked directly at him.  ¡°Thisizweed.¡±

    Then as quickly as she''d appeared, she urged her beast to the side and disappeared into the forest.

    ¡°Wait!¡± I called out, ¡°what about your name?¡±

    But she was gone.

 A Woman

    If that girl could lurk so close to us and we never knew she was there, an enemy could as well, and I suspected an enemy might go beyond coming out and asking us our names.  Judging from the silence we shared and the way we kept our eyes on the trees that surrounded us, I wasn¡¯t alone in that line of thinking.

    We were drenched in sweat.  The heat grew intense, and the mosquitoes continued their relentless assault.  Slapping became part of the chorus that surrounded us, a percussion to go with the symphony of loud chirps, clicks, whistles, and strings played by some distant multitude of insects.

    A rustling of trees up ahead sent a shock through my heart.

    The road dropped down further.  The ground beside us was scarcely visible beyond the thick underbrush, and we came to a lower basin where the bright green leaves all about us could hardly be seen in the dense shade above.  We came to a waterfall on our left that tumbled violently over black rocks covered in moss and roared out loud enough to drown the forest.  There was a bridge of stone, ancient and pockmarked, and covered in moss with two wheel ruts running the length of it.  The road then curved around to the right alongside a mass of rock covered in wet plants and mosses of every kind.  We descended further through thick underbrush on both sides, still beneath a dark canopy, and up ahead was a grove where the trees gave way to a field of bright green grasses tall as a man.

    I looked up at the scarce dots of sky that managed to break through the trees hoping to get some idea of the time and earned nothing but thick, dark clouds.  Davod spoke so excitedly he nearly slurred through his words.  ¡°Gods, that is a sexy fucking girl!¡±

    Up ahead, she stood beside the road, barefoot with a brown burlap dress that scarcely came down below her hips and a black rope tied around her waist.  She was Goloagi, light olive-green skin and dark-green hair that cascaded down her back in curls.  Through large, doe eyes of a deep emerald-green color and full lips she looked at us and smiled.

    Ales leaned into me.  ¡°Are you seeing this?¡±

    We all were.  She had a face that belied an inner happiness.  Her arms were exposed, revealing a number branded into each, scars long distorted as though they¡¯d been seared into her skin as a young child but still legible: 773-614.

    Standing beside her was a boy who couldn¡¯t have been more than ten.  He had the same dark-green skin as the girl riding the lizard, with long, white hair pulled behind his back, and bright yellow eyes.  He was mostly naked but for a strap about his waist and a loincloth to cover his privates.  He, too, was barefoot, and in his hand he held a large satchel of brown paper.

    As we descended towards them, the girl continued to gaze upon us.  Drenched in sweat as I was, the warmth of her smile felt good all over.

    It was Davod who came up to her first.  ¡°Hello, love.  I¡¯m¡­¡±

    ¡°Davod of Gath.  I know.¡±  She was Goloagi, but spoke Herali with only a faint hint of accent.

    He pulled his face back in shock, then turned to look at me dumbfounded.

    Then she continued, looking at each of us in turn.  ¡°Caleb, Geraln, also from Gath, Faren of Suuya¡­¡±  She turned to Ales and gave off a wicked grin.  ¡°And you must be Thisisweird.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not my name!¡± Ales protested.

    She lilted out a light giggle as he continued.  ¡°It¡¯s Ales.  Ahh-less.  It¡¯s not¡­¡±

    Faren interrupted him.  ¡°Come on, Thisisweird, be nice.¡±

    ¡°Be quiet!¡± he snapped.  Faren laughed, then swatted his ear.

    Davod spoke to her again.  ¡°And what¡¯s your name, love?¡±

    ¡°Ran¨ªa.¡±

    ¡°Ran¨ªa,¡± Davod smirked.  ¡°A pretty name for a pretty girl.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not a girl.¡±

    Impossible.  We glanced at one another in confusion.  Davod turned to me, and I shrugged.  Geraln shook his head.  How she could, with such an enticing figure, assert such a thing perplexed us until Ales asked, ¡°if you¡¯re not a girl, then¡­¡±

    ¡°A woman.¡±

    We let out a collective breath and a few chortles of laughter.  Ran¨ªa then rested her hand on the boy¡¯s shoulder and introduced him.  ¡°And this is Dayu¡¯u.¡±

    The boy nodded and passed his eyes to each of us with a smile of his own.  He then turned his attention up to her and spoke, ¡°¡®i?e dowa?o t?ve?a''abo?i?¡±

    Ran¨ªa then looked at us and spoke.  ¡°Dayu¡¯u would like to know if you¡¯re interested in purchasing some mosquito ward.  It¡¯s very effective, I assure you.¡±

    Geraln didn¡¯t hesitate.  One of his eyelids had nearly swollen shut by then, and he had welts all up and down his arms and along his neck.  He pulled out his coin purse and dug his hand into it.  ¡°How much are we talking about, here?¡±

    The boy didn¡¯t say a word, and neither did Ran¨ªa.  Geraln set some coins in his palm, then picked up a five and offered it to him with a questioning look on his face while another mosquito landed on his neck.

    The boy looked at his hand, pointed at a bright red quarter, and looked up at Ran¨ªa once more.  ¡°dow?dexa.¡±

    Geraln didn¡¯t wait for a translation.  ¡°This is five kren.  It¡¯s worth twenty of those.¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Ran¨ªa answered, ¡°but that one is prettier.¡±

    Geraln looked around flabbergasted, but finally conceded.  ¡°At least¡­ here, let me give you two quarters, then.  How do you say thank you?¡±

    She answered, ¡°??v?desa.¡±

    Geraln turned to the boy and spoke directly to him.  ¡°Nuvidesa.¡±

    With that the boy nodded, then reached into his satchel and pulled out an ovular white bar of what looked like soap, half wrapped in brown paper.

    Geraln took it and followed along as Ran¨ªa explained.  ¡°Rub it on your skin.  You don¡¯t have to cover every inch.  It lasts for several hours, but if it rains or you sweat too much, it won¡¯t hurt to put more of it on.  That bar should last you a few weeks, and when you run out they will have more in Carthia.  It won¡¯t dissolve in water, but it will melt if it gets too hot.¡±

    Davod paid a quarter for his, as did Ales.  Faren offered two, but the boy protested.  Ran¨ªa leaned in close to look.  ¡°That one is chipped and tarnished.  Do you have a nicer one?¡±

    Faren raised one eyebrow high above the other, then searched his coin purse for a different quarter, which the boy accepted.

    I watched as my friends couldn¡¯t wait to slather the stuff all over themselves, much to the amusement of our hosts.  Then, it came to me to figure out how to explain that I didn¡¯t have any money.  ¡°I think I¡¯ll manage.¡±

    Ran¨ªa tilted her head to the side and gazed at me through those doe eyes.  The boy queried her, ¡°¡®i?e v? dowaei?¡±

    Ran¨ªa smiled at him and explained, ¡°v? ?o¡¯oze ka¦Èizu.¡±

    The boy nodded, then reached into his satchel and handed me a bar.  ¡°OK.  Hiyigo.¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    Ran¨ªa clarified.  ¡°He¡¯s giving it to you.¡±

    ¡°Hiyigo,¡± the boy repeated.

    ¡°Nuvidesa,¡± I bowed my head and took it from him.  He nodded to me with a warm, welcoming smile.

    ¡°What the hell, man?¡± Ales was upset.  ¡°Why he gets it for free and the rest of us have to pay?  That¡¯s not fair!¡±

    While Geraln turned to him, the boy looked up at Ran¨ªa.

    ¡°I want my money back!  Tell him I want my money back!¡±

    She answered.  ¡°It¡¯s pronounced, ??v?desa.¡±

    ¡°What?  No no no.  Tell him¡­¡±

    She cut him off again.  ¡°??v?, is gratitude, de is I, sa is you.  ??v?-de-sa.  That¡¯s how you say it.¡±

    Ales shook his head through her words.  ¡°No, you¡¯re not listening¡­¡±

    ¡°Ales,¡± Faren called out to him.  ¡°I think¡­ you might be the one not listening.¡±

    I looked at Ran¨ªa.  She stood unshaken, perfectly calm against whatever storm he may have been ready to unleash while the boy looked up at her as if waiting for a translation.  Ales turned to look at me with his face fixed in shock, then looked at Davod, then Geraln, and then Faren before turning his attention back to the girl.

    Davod stepped forward and bowed his head a little, ¡°nuviii-dessa.¡±

    Ran¨ªa blinked and nodded her chin ever so slightly, still smiling wide.

    Faren then stepped up.  ¡°Can you say it again for me, love?  Slowly?¡±

    She turned to him.  ¡°/?/ is different from /n/.  It¡¯s the sound you hear at the end of song.  It¡¯s a subtle difference, and honestly, no one will correct you.  Also the vowels are /?/ like you hear in but, and /?/ like you hear in fit.  ??-v?-de-sa.¡±

    Faren took a moment to put it together in his mind, then repeated it exactly as she¡¯d instructed.  ¡°??v?desa.¡±

    We all turned to Ales.  He wiped sweat from his brow and allowed his eyes to bounce from among us.  ¡°I just don¡¯t think it¡¯s fair, is all.¡±

    Then Davod slapped him on his back and urged him forward.  ¡°Come on, man.  It¡¯ll cost you nothing to say thanks to the boy.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯ll cost a quarter kren!¡±

    ¡°Just say it, man.¡±

    Ales stared him up and down before taking a deep breath and finally turning to the boy.  ¡°Nguv???-dessa.¡±

    After that, Ran¨ªa turned and led the boy through the bush with a hand gently on his back.  Davod shouted after her, ¡°will I see you again?¡±

    She didn¡¯t answer, but turned her neck so as to glance at him over her shoulder and smile before disappearing into the forest.

    We continued along the road through thick forest, walking in silence for a good hundred yards before Geraln turned to look back and finally broke.  ¡°Did you see the arse on that thing?¡±

    Ales shook his head vigorously.  ¡°Gods it feels good to be a man!¡±  He turned to look behind him one more time.  ¡°Any more of that and I could get used to this place!¡±

    Faren smiled.  ¡°Was that a good way or a bad way?¡±

    ¡°Good,¡± I said.  ¡°Definitely good!¡±

    Davod said nothing.  He just smiled, chuckled lightly to himself, and kept walking.  Geraln kept at it, ¡°I¡¯d have a hard time with that.  Front or back, gods I don¡¯t think I could choose.¡±

    Ales chuckled and echoed his sentiment.  ¡°Front, back, side, I¡¯d take it all if she let me.¡±

    I turned to Davod.  ¡°You alright, man?¡±

    He turned to me and grinned, then shook his head as a man trying to free himself of the delirium.

    Faren added.  ¡°She hit him hard, man.  Look at him!¡±

    Davod turned briefly and answered.  ¡°Do you think she liked me?¡±

    Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

    Ales nudged, ¡°she did seem a bit friendly on you.¡±

    ¡°Careful,¡± I added.  ¡°She seemed like she was just friendly overall.  I fell for that once.¡±

    Geraln slapped my arm.  ¡°Once?¡±

    ¡°Maybe twice.¡±

    ¡°Maybe twice!¡± Geraln growled incredulously.  ¡°Will you listen to this kid?¡±

    I lowered my head and blushed.

    Davod reached out and tapped my arm.  ¡°You gotta help me.  You¡¯ve got to help me out.  Next time we see her, I don¡¯t know, something.  Put in a good word, I don¡¯t know.¡±

    I nodded.  ¡°I¡¯ll do what I can.¡±

    As for the mosquito ward, it worked very, very well.  We kept on for another hour or so without even one of those bloodthirsty savages landing on us.

    The road climbed, then descended once again and we came to an open field.  We emerged from the trees, and some five-hundred yards ahead of us was an expansive building of gray-black stones mortared together into walls easily twenty feet high topped with rows of square teeth and separated by towers encircled with crenellations and arrow slits down the sides, stretched out for easily a quarter mile end-to-end and surrounded on all sides by a ribbon of black water without so much as a sandbar to mark from whence it all rose.

    The road forked from the edge of the water where a long, wooden plank held fast by heavy iron chains glistening in oil had been laid across, the right length to cover a massive stone archway in the center of two imposing towers.

    As for the field, to the left the road forked away through a village of broken blocks of earth scattered amid black, charred wooden posts, and to the right the black water of the lake continued on while trees cauliflowered over the edge on all sides.  A score of goats grazed about, herded by two women with the same exceedingly dark-green skin as we''d seen before, and as before wearing naught but a loincloth, leaving their breasts, their hips, legs, shoulders, their backs exposed to the elements but for the cascade of ivory hair that fell between their shoulderblades.  One of them looked a little older, while the other had a dark-green infant sitting in her arms with one chubby hand at her shoulder staring at us.

    The older one looked up at us and waved as we made our way towards the bridge.

    We waved back, and she resumed her attention elsewhere.  Ales spoke first, ¡°are they all going to be naked like that?  I could get used to this place!¡±

    Geraln echoed, ¡°you¡¯re not alone, my friend.¡±

    His eyes tracked them as we walked.  I stole a glance or two myself.  The one with the baby had a long, wooden staff in her other hand, while the other also held a staff and kept glancing at the trees beyond the clearing.  Up on the rampart, two armored Herali men stood overlooking them with bows strung and arrows nocked.

    When we came up to the bridge, a man stood in the center of the archway wearing heavy chain armor over padded leather with heavy boots and trousers, a eupin longbow over his back, and a sword dangling from his belt.  His skin was the same as ours; olive-green with dark-green eyes, and a long cascade of straight, dark hair down his back.

    Davod asked, ¡°is this Carthia?¡±

    ¡°Nah, man, you got about three or four hours that way,¡± he pointed across the field where the road led past the ruined village.  ¡°You''re at the Lake of Doom.¡±

    Geraln spoke next.  ¡°Why is it called that?¡±

    He looked off the side of the bridge.  As he turned, I saw a jagged scar running from his ear down the side of his cheek and down his neck.  He then turned back to us and answered.  ¡°Don''t swim in it.¡±

    We glanced at one another.  Don¡¯t swim in the Lake of Doom.  Good to know.

    ¡°Which one of you is Thisisweird?¡±

    Ales¡¯s head fell straight down.  ¡°Ales.¡±

    The man smiled.  ¡°I''m the quartermaster of this outpost, my name is Hoden of Sayin.¡±

    ¡°Seriously?¡± Davod smiled and reached out his hand.

    ¡°Yeah, man!¡±

    Davod was first to embrace the man, but me and Geraln also took turns.

    Ales sneered, ¡°let me guess.  Sayin is diamond-tree country too.¡±

    Geraln confirmed.  ¡°It¡¯s in Osenia right next to Gath.  He¡¯s Falcon.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, man; there¡¯s a lot of us!¡± Hoden confirmed.  ¡°Come on, then, let''s get on with the tour.¡±

    He led us inside.  An expansive courtyard opened up, surrounded by the same high walls but empty.  Rows of wooden stalls left bare dotted the sides, several of which hosted piles of refuse grown over with mold while others were home to barrels, boxes, and tools.  Few people could be seen, mostly men pacing the rampart above us but for one old woman with dark-green skin who sat in a garden pulling weeds.  In the center of the courtyard, a massive tree with long, narrow leaves hosted hundreds of green globes, some of which had a red hue to one side.  Other trees also grew nearby, tall skinny ones with an umbrella of a canopy at the top and massive green-yellow fruits hanging down, along with short ones with small red-yellow fruits.

    Hoden led us towards a stone doorway at the foot of a nearby tower that looked far too short to step through comfortably.  ¡°So the river bends around.  We¡¯ve got six towers along the river bank, plus Carthia and this place, all of it surrounds an area that¡¯s ours.  Each has its own standing garrison, with other units rotating in and out every few days.  You can expect to spend a lot of time on tower duty.  It¡¯s easy, a bit boring sometimes, but you don¡¯t get killed so much.¡±

    Geraln spoke to that, ¡°I like not getting killed.¡±

    Ales added, ¡°me too!¡±

    Hoden chuckled lightly.  ¡°Also, take your boots off.  It rains a lot this time of year, and if you don¡¯t let your feet dry out you¡¯re in real trouble.¡±

    We did as instructed.  My feet had grown considerably upset over being saturated from the rain earlier, and I presumed the rest of us were in the same situation.  Davod spoke up.  ¡°We met a girl coming in.  Goloagi, about yay high¡­¡±

    ¡°Ran¨ªa,¡± Hoden smiled.

    Ales added, ¡°who¡¯s her master?¡±

    Hoden fixed his jaw and shook his head, ¡°no slaves here.  It¡¯s against their religion.¡±

    Davod replied.  ¡°So she¡¯s a runaway then?¡±

    He nodded and led us through the low arch of the doorway and into the belly of a tower where, inside, a staircase spiraled up to the left and, as with the gate in the pass, the steps were horribly uneven.  This was compounded by the sweltering heat and by the darkness cut only by a handful of tall, narrow slits that offered a generous field of view to the outside.  Geraln tripped, then complained, ¡°what kind of idiot built these stairs, man?¡±

    Hoden laughed.  ¡°It''s like that on purpose.  You spend time here, you get used to it.  That gives you an advantage over the bad guy trying to rush up after you.  The other nice thing is if you¡¯re on the high ground you get to fight right-handed.¡±

    ¡°Oh,¡± Geraln said.

    I poked him in his side.  ¡°I thought you were supposed to know that, Booksmart.¡±

    ¡°Did you know that?¡± he sneered.

    ¡°Of course I did!¡±

    ¡°No you didn''t.¡±

    ¡°I absolutely knew that.¡±

    Geraln shook his head and glared back at me for a moment.  ¡°You did not know that.¡±

    At the top of the steps, an open archway led us out onto the top of the rampart facing the sheer gray-black wall of the Terbulin ridge in the distance, sheets of rock escaping the clutches of the forest into the dense clouds above.  Before that, hills carpeted over with trees rolled away in every direction.

    I could see the Lake of Doom.  We were at the far end of a long, narrow finger of water that wrapped around to the left and disappeared beyond more trees, and on the other side a flat expanse of trees with hills on both sides rose up.

    ¡°Alright,¡± he said.  ¡°These guys over here,¡± he pointed in the direction of the land sandwiched between the lake and the imposing Terbulin ridge.  ¡°They''re OK.  They''re the enemy, but if you stay on our side of the lake and let them count your fish, you shouldn''t have any trouble.  I keep count for them when they¡¯re not around, and they seem to appreciate that.¡±

    He turned and gestured beyond the road we''d come in on, the other side from the ridge and out into the forest.  ¡°Over there, they got some real hard-core fanatics.  Don''t mess with those guys.  Down that way¡­¡± he pointed towards the direction of Carthia.  ¡°Fuck those guys.¡±

    Faren glanced at me, and the rest of us glanced around.

    ¡°I''m sorry,¡± Geraln raised a hand.  ¡°What do you mean by that?¡±

    Hoden smiled as he led us along the rampart in continuance of his tour.  ¡°OK, so on this side of the river they''ll kill you, but in a normal way.  Them on the other side, they''ll eat you.  Literally.  They use poison darts and shit, and they''ll do all sorts of things just to mess with you.¡±

    We kept on, and Hoden led us up a small staircase to the top of a tower directly overlooking the ruined village.  In the center of the stone floor and covered in a canvas awning was some kind of machine.  It had a metal tube some two yards in length connected to various levers and pulleys and a series of hand cranks mounted atop a rotating wooden platform.  At the base of the tube was a bundle of sharp iron spikes with fletchings at one end, easily fifty or sixty of them tied together with a thin thread.  Along the wall were several more bundles alongside some larger, heavier blocks tipped with iron heads in the shape of a blunted spike some inches in diameter.

    Davod spoke up again.  ¡°What more can you tell us about Rania?¡±

    Faren laughed under his breath while Geraln shook his head and covered his eyes.  Hoden chuckled lightly.  ¡°Ran¨ªa.  She¡¯s uh¡­ let me think.  She¡¯s not on our side.¡±

    Davod pulled his face back in concern.

    Hoden clarified.  ¡°She¡¯s not on theirs, either.  More like¡­ not really a take-sides kind of woman is all.  You¡¯ll find a lot of the people here are like that.  They¡­ the Na¡¯uhui have a saying.  Just because we fight doesn¡¯t make us enemies.¡±

    Geraln¡¯s eyes bulged and he pulled his face back.  ¡°I thought that was the definition of enemies.¡±

    Hoden laughed.  ¡°The way their culture works, war is mostly a my-dad-hates-your-dad arrangement, if that makes any sense.  They¡¯ll try to kill each other one day, best friends the next.  And they all understand that, so they fight accordingly.¡±

    ¡°Is that what happened out there?¡± Faren asked, looking over the charred, broken village.

    Hoden took a moment to allow his eyes to pass over the destruction.  His gaze fell and his tone grew somber.  ¡°Their world is changing.¡±

    He continued to show us around, the sky began to darken, and we heard a horn bellow out behind us.  At that, the women outside started to urge the goats towards the gate, and Hoden led us back through another tower.  As we climbed down the stairs, I imagined myself with sword in hand fending off some invaders, when I tripped on a step that dropped down much farther than I¡¯d expected and fell over.

    I heard Davod¡¯s voice, ¡°klutz!¡±

    Hoden added, ¡°yeah, that happens.¡±

    I hoisted myself up, and we came out into the courtyard.  Hoden gathered us around.  ¡°Alright,¡± he said.  ¡°Three of you for laundry, the other two can take kitchen duty¡­¡±

    ¡°Look!¡± Faren called out, ¡°it¡¯s the Yonim girl!¡±

    We all turned.  Standing outside the gate was the same girl we''d seen on the road riding the same lizard.  In its mouth it carried the limp carcass of some small furry animal with an arrow shaft protruding from its back.  The girl kept glancing about behind her, bow in hand and arrow nocked, while the herd passed before her.  Then, only after the last goat had entered and the two women we¡¯d seen before had passed, she urged her lizard forward, and with the heavy noise of rattling iron chains, the gate rose.

    ¡°Gentlemen,¡± Hoden said with a nod to her, ¡°the reason you made it here alive.  Come.¡±

    But I didn¡¯t come.  The others went with Hoden.  I, instead, walked up to her as she urged the beast towards a nearby stall covered in a canvas awning set with padding of some brown, threaded plant material.   As I approached, she turned to face me with her bright yellow eyes wide.

    ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡±

    She smiled effusively.  ¡°m?ya?i!¡±

    I tried.  ¡°Miyani?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± she nodded, smiling wide.  Her white teeth made a resounding contrast against her dark green skin.  ¡°Uh¡­ Blue.¡±

    ¡°Blue?¡± I echoed in confusion.

    She leaned forward and stroked the lizard''s neck.  ¡°Neim-he Blue.¡±

    After the blue stripe that ran the length of his body, I presumed.  ¡°His name is Blue?¡±

    She laughed nervously and repeated, ¡°his-name-is-Blue.  Yes.¡±

    As for Blue, he didn''t seem too interested in talking at the moment.  Rather, he turned his neck round and let out a few clicks, muffled behind the animal he held in his mouth.  Myani spoke again, lifting her hand to me.  ¡°Wait.¡±

    Mounted atop Blue, she was a head taller than me, though her bare feet dangled only as far as my waist.  She swung one leg around and jumped down, and the top of her head scarcely reached my chest.  She lifted up her hand once more, gluing her bright yellow eyes to mine.  ¡°Pliz wait.¡±

    I waited.  She brushed her fingers along Blue¡¯s neck, and he lowered his head for her to work on a tie that held the harness in place.

    A part of me knew I should have turned my gaze away, but every other part of me outvoted him. I stood waiting, studying her body.  Her back was turned to me.  But for a strip of white cloth that hung down the center of her chiseled, muscular arse and a bow quiver that somewhat covered her masterfully sculpted back, everywhere else was skin.  Her off-black green skin held a thin sheen of sweat over sleek muscle from her legs to her shoulders and ensnared my eyes.

    She moved over to the padded saddle and undid that, then peeked over her shoulder to me and grinned.  ¡°?? ?uvude ??¡¯uti¡± she said and let out a light giggle.

    I scratched my head and shrugged.  ¡°Maybe?¡±

    Blue tried to step away, but Myani held him there.  He let out a muffled chirp that I presumed was some impatient protest, while she reached over to grasp at the arrow buried into his dinner.  He tried to pull his head away, then she snapped at him, ¡°??tixe ?emaease ya??visa? tuzubo!¡±

    He responded with a peculiar string of muffled clicks and waited while she carefully pulled the arrow out.  Once it was free she released him, giving him a gentle swat on the rear as he rushed over to the bedding that had been prepared for him.  There, he lay down and dug into the feast, holding it down with his forelimbs and tearing off strips of meat.

    Myani then took off her necklace of giant wooden beads and hung it over a hook on the post beside him, and did the same with her bow quiver.  Then she came back over to stand before me, holding her hands together before her.

    I fought the urge and I lost.  My eyes traversed her, from her feet, up along her powerful legs, toned stomach, small mounds at her chest punctuated by taut black nipples pointing directly at me.  I¡¯d seen girls in burlesque more modestly covered, yet Myani wore her near nudity with utter normality.

    She watched my eyes closely as I looked her over, and a pang of shame washed over me.  This was her culture.  Girls simply dressed this way, probably because that was most comfortable in the sweltering heat, and there I was ogling her like some rabid beast.

    I needed a word.  Something to wrestle my eyes over to somewhere appropriate that allowed me to fix upon her face.  ¡°Tuzubo?¡±

    ¡°Hehe,¡± she smiled and let out a shy giggle, brushing her hair over one ear.  ¡°Uh¡­ meen big, uh¡­ no theengk¡­¡± then she shrugged and shook her head, still smiling.

    I had to chew that one up a bit.  ¡°Big, doesn¡¯t think?  Like¡­ you big dummy?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± she nodded.  ¡°Zhok.¡±

    ¡°Thank you for¡­ uh¡­ nuveedassa¡­¡±

    She giggled lightly and her smile never ceased.  ¡°?uv?desa, yes.¡±

    I tried to copy the word as best I could, thinking back on how Ran¨ªa had taught us to pronounce it.  ¡°?uv?desa.¡±

    She continued smiling.  She had an easy confidence that drew me in further, and I wanted to keep the conversation going somehow.

    ¡°How do you say, hello?¡±

    ¡°Xelo,¡± she grinned effusively.  ¡°Eh¡­ zawa.¡±

    ¡°zawa?¡±

    ¡°ti,¡± she nodded.  ¡°zawa.¡±

    ¡°OK.  What about, uh¡­¡±

    ¡°Caleb!¡± Ales called out to me from across the way.  ¡°Am I doing laundry myself, man?  Come on!¡±

    I turned towards him, then turned back to her and smiled, pointing at him with my thumb.  ¡°Chores.¡±

    ¡°Shoz,¡± she nodded.  ¡°v? koeosa.¡±

    ¡°vukodosa?  Is that goodbye?¡±

    ¡°Bye-bye,¡± she nodded.  As I walked off I turned round several times, and she¡¯d kept her eyes on me the whole way, still smiling wide.

 m?ya?i

    A cold bath in the sweltering, muggy heat of the jungle wasn¡¯t so torturous as it had been at eighteen-thousand feet the night before.  Dinner was a mass of gray chunky something dotted with bits of something salty and crusted over with sharp cheese.  That was given to us with flat breads to use in place of cutlery and served with what Hoden had called Uhui avocado.

    We grew avocado in Heralia, and this was not it.  Rather, this thing was bigger than my whole hand and green.  It was somewhat avocado-like, though the flesh was a fair bit yellower and had a light buttery flavor to it.

    We were joined by three new men who would accompany us to Carthia in the morning, but as they talked, my mind lingered on Miyani.  She sat next to Hoden looking around the table and following the conversation with her yellow eyes but saying nothing, and I couldn¡¯t get over her face.  She had a round face with wide lips and eyes full of pain and life, the face of a girl who in another lifetime would have sufficed for high nobility who wasn¡¯t afraid to muddy her finery only to laugh off whatever trouble she¡¯d have gotten into.

    The dinner table itself was a long slab of gray-black slate set atop cut wooden tree trunks to suffice for legs beneath a canopy of stone roof held up by several stone columns that arched inwards leaving most of the wallspace open to the elements.  Several chickens wandered about, and more than once I saw Hoden drop scraps to them beneath the table.

    Kelint was one of the three new guys.  He was Herali, with the same olive-green skin as us and long, dark-green hair, but his eyes were a lighter shade of green.  He was on the shorter side of average, and his face was still filled in with baby fat.  He hailed from the Barony of Dignestran.  ¡°It¡¯s in Ulum County.  Not the city.  We¡¯re right across the border from Saen and a good half-day¡¯s walk from the city.¡±

    Ales nodded.  ¡°Is that diamond-tree country, too?¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Kelint confirmed.

    Davod added, ¡°and what should we know about you?¡±

    Kelint smirked.  ¡°Well for one, I¡¯m a finer shot than the lot of you.¡±

    Geraln huffed.  ¡°I¡¯ve got five kren that says otherwise.¡±

    Kelint smiled wide and narrowed his eyes at that.  ¡°Cheapskate!¡±

    The rest of us laughed.  I watched as Miyani contrived some laughter after everyone else had started.

    Kelint turned to Davod.  ¡°What about you?¡±

    I answered for him, ¡°tuzubo.¡±

    Miyani giggled quietly, and a genuine smile stretched across her face while everyone else ignored me.  Davod shrugged it off and turned back to Kelint.  ¡°I¡¯ll put in on that.¡±

    The other two men were Saeni.  The short, stout one was named Rock, while the tall, skinny one was Northstar.  Northstar was mostly quiet throughout the evening, while Rock seemed eager to join in the banter despite not understanding very well.

    Faren spoke slowly to him, giving him time to process each word.  ¡°How much¡­ Herali¡­ do you¡­ know?¡±

    Miyani turned to face Rock as well and watched as he listed out words he knew in a thick Saeni accent.  ¡°I know a lot word.  Uh¡­ wine¡­ beer¡­ cheese¡­ potato¡­ meat¡­ sour bred¡­ cake¡­ honey¡­¡±

    Faren chuckled.  ¡°I¡¯m sensing a pattern, here!¡±

    Rock then turned to Ales, ¡°what¡­ uh¡­ name you have?¡±

    ¡°Ales.¡±

    I answered that, too.  ¡°I thought your name was Thisisweird?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m gonna smack you!¡±

    The rest of the table started laughing, but Miyani furrowed her brow in confusion.  She leaned in close to Hoden who whispered something in her ear, then she covered her face in both hands and breathed in deep.  Then she faced him and said, ¡°I soly!  I soly!¡±

    Ales waved her off and went back to the banter.

    Late that evening, I wanted to look for her.  I wanted to learn some more of her language, perhaps get an idea of¡­ I don¡¯t know¡­ something.  I couldn¡¯t explain it.

    After everyone else had gone off to bed, I found a small, candle lantern set with thin white paper, and brought it out to the courtyard.  Not that I¡¯d had any idea where she slept.  Worse, they said those lizards could see in the dark, and I wasn¡¯t sure how Blue would receive me poking around.

    But I had to see her again.

    She wasn¡¯t difficult to find.  Rather, she and Blue were in the same stall I¡¯d spoken with her earlier, fast asleep.  She lay on her back with her head propped up on the creature¡¯s shoulder while his long neck snaked around and rested his head across her chest.  Her hand rested on the back of his neck, while one of his forelimbs had nestled in her arm.

    The faint candle glow shimmered all over her dark skin.  I knew I should have just gone off to bed, but my eyes shamefully discovered the front flap of her loincloth had pulled to the side just enough for me to see thin cloth stretched taut over her sex.

    I swallowed and left, having lingered far too long.  I should have left as soon as I¡¯d realized she was asleep rather than end up walking back through the courtyard trying to adjust a throbbing erection.

    Ogling a girl as she slept¡ªthat was perverted beyond redemption.

    <hr>

    The morning air at the Lake of Doom was thick and muggy, and the day had promised to be the same.  There was no sunshine, only thick clouds that slowly brightened from darkness.

    Breakfast was a dark gray-brown bread filled with sharp cheese and an opaque red sauce that had a sweet, smooth character I¡¯d never encountered before, all baked together and glazed with a sheen of more sweetness that left a sticky residue on my fingers.  That, and kafi.  Wonderful, wonderful kafi whose nutty aroma reached out its invisible fingers and lifted me up, carrying me into it like a siren.

    I sat down with Davod, Geraln, Ales, and Faren, along with Hoden, and Kelint, Rock, and Northstar.  Beside us was a patch of vines that crept along the ground and grew large, green globes on tough, needly stems, while several chickens went through clucking and pecking at caterpillars.  Above us, men paced the ramparts while to my left I could see clear across the courtyard through the stone archway of the gate, the open field, and the forbidding jungle beyond.

    Rock¡¯s eyes were home to dark circles, and his sandy green hair was left in a sweaty, frazzled mess.    ¡°This place is being hated by me.  It was being miserable the heat all of the night, I hating to the weather!¡±

    This was a guy who grew up in the desert.  Northstar nodded in agreement, Hoden smirked, and Davod leaned into me.  ¡°What are they saying?¡±

    It was Faren who answered him.  ¡°They don¡¯t like the weather.¡±

    Davod smiled and raised a pastry to them, ¡°I¡¯m with you, man!¡±  Despite the early hour, beads of sweat had begun to form across his forehead.

    Geraln sat across from me; his shirt around the collar was already wet.  ¡°Gods, this is going to take some getting used to.¡±

    Suddenly, the nearby chickens all scurried about and ran off in every direction; some hid under the table and brushed against my legs.  A few seconds later, buckets of rain clattered all over the stone roof above us, splashed into pools throughout the grassy courtyard, falling into a violent torrent and drenching everything around us for about a minute before it stopped again.

    Rock sneered at the world around us, the air once more thick with hot, lingering moisture and muttered, ¡°fucking this place!¡±

    I turned to Davod, ¡°He said¡­¡±

    Davod chuckled.  ¡°I know that word!¡±

    Hoden hadn¡¯t reacted at all.  Rather, he held his kafi mug with both hands and lingered on the scent before taking a sip.  ¡°I forgot to mention, and this is important.  Oil your bows.  Eupin doesn¡¯t grow here, and the humidity will split the wood.  Every morning, don¡¯t skip one day, oil up every inch of the wood.  The Na¡¯uhui bows don¡¯t need it, but yours do.  Don¡¯t forget that.¡±

    He checked his eyes on myself, Geraln, Davod, and Kelint to make sure we¡¯d all heard him.

    I heard a thumping on the wooden drawbridge and turned to see Blue running across carrying Miyani on his back.  They darted towards us and had reached our table before I could blink twice.  In one motion, Miyani swung her tiny self from his back and stood before us, naked as before, her skin still wet and pixie-cut white hair clinging to her scalp with trails of water meandering down to her shoulders.

    I lowered my gaze, half ashamed to look at her after what I¡¯d done last night.

    She addressed Hoden directly, ¡°???ed? ??¡¯uti¡­ p? meziei be??¡­ kemoye¦È?x? za?i.¡±

    All around me, the other men were staring at her bare chest.  I stole a glance myself; black nipples poked out from her dark-green skin.  Hoden looked up at her face, not her breasts, and answered her, ¡°te¡¯a¡¯e kemoye¦È?g? fayi ???ed?t?tebu?? bevem??a¡±

    Then I mustered up the courage to speak.  ¡°Zawa.¡±

    She fixed her bright yellow eyes on me for a brief moment and answered, ¡°zawa!¡± before turning her attention back to Hoden.  ¡°dima ze??de?u ka¦Èiya¡­ ko¡¯o go¡¯ude tisa se?a?u xae? vek?to... ??si ??gobose?u te¡¯a¡¯e be??¡±

    At that, Hoden nodded and set his cup down.  ¡°Gentlemen, are you ready?¡±  Then to Rock and Northstar he said the same in Goloagi.

    Miyani glanced at the table, grabbed up one of the cheesy fruit bread thingies, and bit into it before turning back to Blue.  I needed to say something else to her.  ¡°Vukodosa!¡±

    By the time I got the word out, she¡¯d launched herself on top of Blue¡¯s back.  She looked at me and smiled before turning around and jetting out the gate as quickly as she¡¯d come.

    Geraln¡¯s eyes gaped.  ¡°Gods, that thing is fast!¡±

    Davod chuckled while Rock stood, took up his pack, and spoke his mind, ¡°when we can riding one of them?¡±

    My eyes perked up.

    Hoden waved his hand in the air and shook his head some.  ¡°You don''t.  Only women ride them.¡±

    I raised an eyebrow at that.  ¡°Why?¡±  Then I remembered Davod didn''t speak Goloagi, ¡°how come only women ride them?¡±

    Ales raised an eyebrow while Hoden answered me in Herali.  ¡°Men are too heavy.¡±

    That was disappointing; I hadn''t considered it, but given time surely I would have.  The rest of us tied up little bits of what we¡¯d had left, Geraln grabbed another pastry, and we all headed out towards the gate.

    Outside, the ¡®lawnmowers¡¯ were busy at work.  The same two women we¡¯d seen as we came in were out tending the goats once more.  They glanced our way briefly, then resumed their conversation, keeping their eyes to the trees every few moments.  There, standing in the grass between parallel lines of packed dirt that made up the road was the same girl we¡¯d seen the day before, the Goloagi runaway slave who¡¯d helped us buy the most blessed mosquito ward, Ran¨ªa.

    She had on a dark-blue cotton dress set with lace trim that accentuated her hourglass figure yet she was still barefoot, and wore a necklace of opaque red gemstones threaded together by a delicate gold chain.  Davod glanced at me with a nervous smile, then stepped ahead of us towards her while she gazed up at his towering figure with the same smooth smile and soft, doe eyes.

    Stolen story; please report.

    ¡°You look beautiful,¡± he said.  I could tell he was nervous.  His bumbling demeanor made him look awkward next to her, but she exuded a polished calmness just the same.

    She let out a light chortle of laughter, then responded in the same hint of an accent she¡¯d had the day before.  ¡°I have a gift for you.¡±

    She then lifted her hand and showed him a thin wooden box about a hand-span long.  He took it and opened.  Inside were two small things that looked like darts with thin, hollow bones about an inch long and sharpened to a fine needle adjoined to what looked like a pouch inside a wire mesh.  He looked up at her, perplexed.

    She explained.  ¡°The venom the peeaya?a use is quite lethal; a simple graze upon your hand and you¡¯ll be dead within minutes.  If one of those darts should find you, take one of these and stab yourself in the thigh as hard as you can.  Squeeze down on this bladder, here, to make sure the antivenin gets into you all the way.  Do that, and you might live.  But be careful; the antivenin will kill you much, much worse without the venom to counteract it.¡±

    Davod was wide-eyed and frozen.  He looked at me as if to try and mitigate his panic, before returning his attention to her.  ¡°Uh¡­ thank you?¡±

    She nodded, still looking up at his face calm as ever.

    I stepped close to him, ¡°nuveedessa.¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± he said.  ¡°That.¡±

    Ran¨ªa¡¯s constant smile grew wide, and she placed a hand on his chest, leaning close to him.  ¡°Men who survive here learn the language.¡±

    With that, Davod took in a deep breath and ran his fingers through his hair, all the way down to his chest where he twirled a lock in his fingers.  ¡°I¡¯ll try.¡±

    As for Ran¨ªa, she merely smiled and slowly turned her gaze towards Northstar.  ¡°Shadhu pa-ai ga¡¯oso-ene na.¡±

    He smiled, and she turned and started walking away.

    I nudged Davod in his side and urged him.  ¡°Vukodosa.¡±

    He turned to face me.  ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°You said help you out, right?¡±

    He nodded.

    ¡°Say it.  Vukodosa.  It means goodbye.¡±

    He nodded, then called after her, ¡°vukodosa!¡±

    She turned and giggled.  ¡°I won¡¯t!¡±

    He turned to me with his brow furrowed; I looked away and pretended that hadn¡¯t just happened.

    We walked slowly, each of us pretending we weren¡¯t stealing glances at her backside until she disappeared into the trees.  Kelint spoke his thoughts, ¡°that is a woman.  Gods, that¡¯s a woman.¡±

    ¡°You said it, man!¡± Geraln echoed.

    Up ahead, the thick bush of the forest opened a narrow slit for us to enter but was otherwise so dense with trees that we could see nothing at all.  Overhead, the clouds gave me no hint as to the time.

    As before, we heard the forest well before we entered.  Once through the trees, chirps, clicks, and whistles filled our ears to the accompaniment of insects that blended together.  The road was wet, and slogging through the mud added its own difficulties.  Strange leaves from plants of all kinds grasped out towards us trying to reclaim the road, and once again Miyani stepped out in front of us, scarcely a few feet from where we were.

    ¡°Gods!¡± Ales exclaimed, holding a hand to his chest.  Blue lowered his nose to the ground and traced an invisible line leading off in one direction.

    ¡°Lisse?,¡± she said, ¡°no tahk rode.  U?dasta??¡±

    Davod furrowed his brow, but I spoke slowly, pausing between words to give her time to process each one.  ¡°No¡­ talking¡­ between¡­ here¡­ and¡­ Carthia.  Yes?¡±

    She nodded her head on each word, then nodded fully.  ¡°ti.  Yes.¡±

    We all nodded.  We could do that.  Blue moved his head about, lifting his nose up to sniff at the air only to move his head to a different spot and sniff the air again.

    Then she added, ¡°bo.¡±

    We stood, confused.

    Then she pointed at myself, Geraln, Davod, and Kelint, and showed us the bow in her hand.  ¡°Bo.¡±

    Davod reached behind his back to grab his and turned to the other three of us.  ¡°String your bows.¡±  He then turned to Rock and Northstar, each of whom had large, full-body shields slung over their backs.  ¡°Get those shields out.¡±

    They looked at one another until Kelint translated for them.  Then, their eyes went wide, and they each took hold of a heavy, iron shield set with braces and rivets that in their arms ran from their necks down below their knees.

    Miyani looked us over, then led Blue back into the trees.  The two Saeni with shields, four of us with bows strung, and the two coast dwellers walked.  Ales unsheathed his sword, a light, curved cutlass, but Faren had no weapons beyond a heavy work-knife.

    The road began by climbing up a steep hill.  All around us, the sounds of the jungle filled the air with a chorus of chirps, clicks, whistles, and that ever-present grinding screech of insects.  Birds a multitude of colors hopped from tree branch to tree branch, calling out to one another with the most peculiar arrangements of strange, guttural yawning noises.  The hot, sticky air lingered on my skin and my shirt was drenched from sweat; I wasn¡¯t even exerting myself.  I looked around, and all of us had the same experience.  Rock shifted his shield to his other hand and whirled his now-free arm in a circle; Northstar did the same.

    None of us spoke a word.

    Kelint walked, glancing wearily from right to left all the while keeping an arrow nocked and ready to draw.  The road wasn¡¯t so much packed mud through this section, but sheets of gray-black slate laid out, leaving tufts of grass to fill the gaps while vines crept across the way as tendrils of jungle reaching out to reclaim what was hers.  Northstar shifted his shield back to his original hand.  Different kinds of trees lined the sides, blocking everything else from view, and all along the sides of the road, ferns and other shrubs fought one another for what scraps of daylight had fallen from the canopy of trees above.

    The hill climbed with no hint of visibility or change that we could discern until the road began to descend.  Rock and Northstar switched shield-hands again.  We were all sweating profusely.  Before us, small gaps in the trees that promised a glimpse of a world beyond the thick we traveled through revealed only more trees off in the distance and dark clouds above.

    Something whizzed past my face.

    Before my mind could assemble the pieces, an animal screeched on my left, and Blue crashed through the trees from my right bearing Miyani with her bow drawn and a second arrow nocked shouting, ¡°XEWEK?DESA BAYI!¡±

    Silence.

    The reality of her sudden appearance began to emerge from the shock with her directly in front of me, easily within arm¡¯s reach.  The muscles in her arms and shoulders and all down her back were taut from holding her bowstring back, bulging beneath dark-green skin.

    Davod shouted.  ¡°You!  Come this way!¡±

    He was pointing at Rock and Northstar, showing with his hands where he wanted them to hold their shields.  They looked a bit disoriented at first, but slowly the realization of what was being asked emerged, and they came up to crouch side-by-side, setting the lower edge of their shields in the dirt directly in front of Blue and holding them there as a miniature wall.

    Blue bobbed his head around them for a moment before crouching low and snaking his long neck up so as to peek one eye over the top edge.  As for the rest of us, Davod and Kelint had arrows nocked and drawn, standing half-concealed at the edges of the shield wall while I took way too long to realize that I should probably do the same.  Ales stood behind Davod, peeking around him to glimpse at what Miyani had shot moments before, while Geraln stood trembling and Faren crouched low.

    It felt as if the world grew quiet.  Birds in the trees stopped chirping, random groans, croaks, clicks, chirps, and whistles seemed to die down.  Rock and Northstar knelt, their eyes wide and breath heavy, and their hands shook, but they held those shields, one edge overlapping the other.

    As for Miyani, her focus was ahead of her.  I couldn¡¯t tell how she saw whatever it was she was looking at, but it had locked her attention.  She scrunched her body so as to lower herself along with Blue behind the shield wall, but kept her bow fully drawn and ready to fire a second shot.

    I heard a muffled grunt followed by a labored exhale.

    Again, Miyani yelled at the trees.  ¡°zevo?i! p? bayise!  dima xewek?de!¡±

    Another minute passed, and I heard a grunt like someone in pain amid a low grumble, followed by a girl¡¯s voice.  ¡°?oz?¡¯?!¡±

    Then, I heard a low, agonized croak followed by slight rustling of leaves followed by a snapped twig.  This was then followed by an uneven thumping that trailed off into the distance.

    Miyani relaxed, released her draw, and let out a deep breath.  The rest of us followed suit.  She then reached out to touch Rock and Northstar as if to usher them apart.  As they stood, Ales blurted out, ¡°so that¡¯s comforting; our enemy has girls just like her.¡±

    Miyani snapped towards him, ¡°No I gul.  I woman.¡±

    With that, Blue lurched forward in the direction of their target and they disappeared into the trees.

    Ales pursed his lips at the correction.  He was right, though; whoever it was had stalked us and, judging from her voice, couldn¡¯t have been more than ten feet from the side of the road yet none of us had the slightest clue she was there.

    The hill descended sharply through more undistilled wildness, and the tension throughout my body was beginning to take its toll.  No less, we continued with arrows nocked, swords drawn, and shields facing the forest always.  I kept my eyes on the trees.  Every now and then a shadow moved or some leaves rustled, which jolted my nerves every time.  How many more of them were out there?

    Then, the forest changed.  Along both sides of the road, troughs had been cut through the mud and filled with standing water, with other troughs leading off in parallel lines broken up by rows and rows of brown-green grass growing in stalks three yards high like thick reeds.  Several of those had nodes cut low with some cuts fresher than others.

    We passed by something that looked like it used to be a small mill.  Stone columns held up the remnant of a roof that had caved in with vines wrapped around strangling what little evidence of human presence it had left, with old wooden tools half rotted out and ferns growing from them.  At the corner was a tall, thin pole of a tree with a dense canopy of huge fronds at the top fanning out in all directions.  Beneath that, clusters of giant bright-green globes dangled down.  Ales stopped and stared up at it.

    I stopped, along with everyone else.  We all looked at Ales hoping to understand what had captivated him so.  He then sheathed his sword and dropped his pack, opened it up, and started digging through it.

    Davod looked at him in grave concern.  ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡±

    Ales didn¡¯t answer.  Rather, he found a coil of rope and let it out to detangle any kinks that had threatened to take hold.  I scanned the tall grasses around us; I couldn¡¯t see anything beyond ten feet, and the rustling of the leaves in the wind could have easily been another one of those lizards nearby.

    Kelint whispered frantically, ¡°you¡¯re going to get us all killed, man!  What are you doing?¡±

    Ales didn¡¯t look at him.  ¡°I want one of those coconuts.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡± Davod urged him.  ¡°We have to keep moving!¡±

    Ales ignored him and tied a loop around one end of the rope, then held it in one hand and leaned back, looking up into the tree.

    My heart started to race.  ¡°Ales?¡± I pleaded.

    He ignored me and launched his rope upwards, catching the loop around one of the green globes, and worked it back and forth to tighten around the stem.  Faren then walked up and stood ready to catch it while Ales tugged.

    Davod looked at me with deep worry across his face, while Kelint shook his head nervously.

    ¡°Alright,¡± Davod said.  ¡°Make a perimeter.  Geraln, over there, Caleb you on that side, Kelint, over here.¡±

    And so we stood.  I kept watch over my arc with an arrow ready to draw as Faren caught the next coconut Ales pulled from the tree.

    ¡°Gods!¡± Geraln cried out.  I turned, and Miyani was there before him with Blue staring up at the tree Ales was working on.  She reached out one hand and pushed her palm downwards as though pressing on something.  Geraln responded by lowering his bow.

    Ales turned to face her and smiled, then nodded to Faren, who took up one of the coconuts and chopped at one end, turned and chopped again, until drops of fluid splattered out, leaving a hole about an inch in diameter.

    Blue looked at it and chirped, then stepped towards him, bounding from one foot to the other and letting out more excited chirps.

    Faren smiled at the creature.  ¡°You want one?¡±

    Blue chirped again.  Miyani reached out her hand to take it from him, then held it out for Blue to snake his long neck around and tilt under it while she poured into his mouth.  Blue stretched out his tongue to lap up as much of the stray fluid as possible, then yawned wide to grasp the whole thing in his teeth, tilted it up, and held it there while the last drips fell into his mouth.

    A part of me knew it was fine to relax at that point.  Miyani knew these woods; if she felt safe enough to join us, then it probably was.  No less, I kept watch over the tall grass around us with an arrow nocked and ready to draw.

    Faren handed the next one to Rock.

    Rock stared at it with a look of curiosity on his rugged face.  ¡°What is being?¡±

    Ales grinned and prepared for another throw while Faren spoke in Goloagi, ¡°drink it.¡±

    Rock took the green globe of a fruit, shifting his eyes around before gingerly sipping at the edge.  ¡°Mmm!¡± he exclaimed, then tipped the whole thing upwards to pour into his mouth, gulping it down in fits while streams of excess dribbled down both sides of his chin.  At last he wiped his mouth with an ¡°ahh,¡± and shook his head excitedly.  He then turned to Northstar and spoke.  ¡°Gish a-ato wa!¡±

    Northstar drank with the same enthusiasm.  I maintained my position, trying to keep my focus on the tall grass around us, not knowing if another one of those enemies were lurking just beyond sight.

    She did have gorgeous legs, though.

    Davod drank his, as did Kelint and Geraln.  We all got one except for Blue who drank two.  Ales reached inside his after drinking it, scooped up some whitish sludge, and sucked that off his fingers before tossing it to the side.

    Then, Miyani pointed towards where the road brought the end of the forest into a clearing some fifty yards ahead and spoke to all of us.  ¡°Carthia there.  Bye-bye.¡±

    Everyone else had walked off, but I lingered.  She turned and was about to head back from whence we¡¯d come when I spoke to her.  ¡°Nuvidesa.¡±

    She nodded with a smile.  ¡°OK.¡±

    ¡°Do you know who was stalking us?¡±

    She furrowed her eyebrows at me and tilted her head to the side.  I tried again, pointing back at the road we¡¯d come from.  ¡°Who¡­ who was that?  You shot¡­ who¡­¡±

    ¡°Ahh,¡± she nodded.  ¡°????ye zevo?i peeaya?a sewu¡¯o?i?azid?¡±

    ¡°Right¡­¡± I tried to smile that one off.  I had to start with something simple.  ¡°What do you call this¡­ coconut?¡±

    ¡°Ahh,¡± she smiled.  ¡°Sem¡­ koka?o.¡±

    ¡°OK, so¡­ I like to drink coconut.¡±

    ¡°Hmm?¡±

    ¡°How do you say that?  I like to drink coconut.¡±

    She nodded confidently.  ¡°tixe bobade koka?o.¡±

    ¡°Tihe¡­ is that like?¡±

    ¡°tixe¡­ like¡­ boba duink¡­ de I, koka?o.¡±

    I tried to copy her.  ¡°tihe bobasday koknao.¡±

    She laughed lightly and nodded.  ¡°ti. Yes.  Eh¡­ I shoz.  Bye-bye, OK?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re cute.¡±

    At that, her eyes bulged and her whole face froze.  She turned and rode Blue back towards the tall grass stalks, turned to look back at me, took a few more steps, then turned and looked at me again before disappearing into the woods.

    What the hell was I thinking?

 Unprepared

    She perplexed me. Intrigued me. And then, she was gone.

    Green-and-purple grasses reached several feet above our heads with thick stalks I couldn¡¯t wrap a hand around. Water had pooled in long, narrow troughs cut on both sides of the road and continued down parallel lines that stretched into the distance row after row after row. The road was set with irregular slats of gray-black slate amid tufts of herbs growing from the mud. Above, clouds formed a patchwork of white with gray spots. The hot, sticky air surrounded us, and all of our clothes were soaked through with sweat. The perfect, mildly sweet taste of fresh coconut lingered on my tongue, and my mind puzzled over that expression on her face.

    Davod, Geraln, Ales, Faren, Rock, Kelint, and Northstar all stopped where the tall grass had ended and gaped.

    A thousand yards of open field with uneven tufts of green grass gave way to a massive wall of stone mortared together in a patchwork of gray and yellow with rows of square crenelations at the top and towers every so often. This was surrounded by an expanse of black water that emerged from a river beyond on one side only to rejoin on the other. The whole place had to be at least a mile wide with walls wrapping around beyond view on both sides. On the left, behind the outer wall was a cluster of tall stone towers that reached even further into the sky with more crenelations encircling the top and set with narrow slits running down the sides and out of view. To the right, the purple rock wall of the Terbulin ridge faded into the mist. To the left, thick trees covered rolling hills that rose into the distance while a streak of dark gray clouds reached down from the sky and brushed its fingers upon the forest.

    Carthia.

    The rough, gray-black slate road cut through the clearing and led directly to the gate, a massive archway in the stone wall bridged by a wooden span that unfolded itself across the moat. All about the field on both sides, herds of goats and pigs grazed, tended by women with exceedingly dark-green skin and hair white as snow who wore naught but a simple cloth about their hips, leaving their bare chest and back exposed to the elements. Several of them turned and glanced our way as we emerged from the bush.

    Up on the ramparts, men paced with bows in hand and arrows nocked.

    I turned to look behind me. There was no sight of her. I lamented not having the words to wish her a safe journey. Father in heaven, keep her safe? For me?

    From the archway ahead emerged a train of people¡ªmen who looked Herali, olive-green skin and long, straight, dark-green hair wearing chain armor over padded leather accompanied women with dark-green skin and white hair, mostly naked as the others. Three small bison pulled empty wooden carts. Women walked alongside the beasts with sticks in hand while the men walked the perimeter, keeping their eyes outward. Together they made their way across the field towards the tall grasses with a brief nod to us as they passed. I looked closely, and while one of the men kept his eyes to the bush with his hands on his weapon, one of the women came up and stroked his bum. He leaned down and kissed her lips, and they kept walking.

    As we approached the bridge, I saw something long and bulky lying across the stone slats with a thick tail that reached onto the wooden bridge. Its heavy, armored, gray-black barrel of a body rose up about knee-height with four clawed tree-trunk hands out at its sides, but had to be at least six yards from the front of its snout to the end of its heavy tail. Two eyelets sat atop its head, and several fangs stuck out from its long mouth.

    Rock¡¯s eyes bulged when he realized it was alive. ¡°Holy fuck what that is being?¡±

    Faren smirked and answered him in Goloagi. ¡°That¡¯s a sign. It reads¡­ ¡®No Swimming.¡¯¡±

    We stopped a good ten yards from the gargantuan alligator, and a man¡¯s voice called out from above the gate. ¡°You¡¯ll have to pay the toll!¡±

    Up on the rampart two men, Herali, stood gawking at us and sending words in our direction while laughing among themselves. The other man spoke through muted laughter. ¡°Yeah! You¡¯ll have to feed him one of you!¡±

    At that, another man came out from under the archway and looked up at our tormentors. As soon as they saw him, they looked away and wandered off.

    This man was average height with a sharp jaw and lean build. His skin was dark, not so dark as the others, but darker than ours. His hair had a sandy-green color like the Saeni, but his eyes were bright yellow. His sharp features and widow¡¯s peak hairline placed him into his thirties, with wide, full lips and high cheeks. A bright-yellow loincloth set with silver embroidery along the edges hung front and back from a leather strap about his waist, but other than that he was naked. He wasn''t bulky, but finely chiseled muscles graced his knees, his stomach, his chest, shoulders, and arms. He had a handful of circular scars on one thigh and a line of scar on his opposite shoulder.

    ¡°Come around this way,¡± he spoke Herali with a hint of accent, gesturing for us to go around the No Swimming sign.

    Davod refused to take his eyes off the monster. His voice oozed apprehension. ¡°Are you sure?¡±

    The man smiled. ¡°Well, his teeth are on that end. Isn¡¯t that right, Peti?¡± He pursed his lips as he spoke that last part, cooing out some weird affectation for the beast, who didn¡¯t react to him at all even as he crouched low to slap the alligator¡¯s tail. He then smiled at us and moved his arms in an ark.

    Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

    We took his suggestion and walked around, and Peti didn¡¯t react to us, either.

    Ales remarked, ¡°he must like those stones. He¡¯s just basking.¡±

    Rock, Northstar, Davod, Geraln, and Kelint couldn¡¯t stop gawking at the beast. They gingerly stepped around him, onto the wooden planks before rushing to get clear.

    Through the archway I heard men grunting and sticks clattering against one another. I looked off to the right, and through a passage between a large stone building and the recessed gate there was an open field where lines of men, Herali like us, attacked one another with long staffs tipped with padded cloth at one end. A series of pops sounded off, and in another section of the clearing was another group of men lined up with bows who shot at an opposing line of burlap men raised on sticks some twenty yards away. At the end of the yard, mortared gray and yellow stones of the outer walls rose up from tall grass.

    The man led us directly ahead, towards an imposing structure of the same yellow-and-gray stone as the outer walls, three stories high with wrap-around balconies on the second and third floors covering a verandah on the ground level. Walls weren¡¯t more than a line of open archways, some of which had sheer curtains to obscure the interior. Looking down upon us from the second floor were three people, a man and two girls.

    The man was Goloagi and taller than the girls by a head. Lines of silver dotted his otherwise dark-green, curly hair. He had a long nose with a rounded bridge, and his square chin seemed fixed in consternation. He wore no shirt, but a long, black rectangle of a loincloth set with gold embroidery, and about his shoulders was an ornate silk scarf with bands of colors behind black lettering sewn in to indicate his rank, the Imperial Voice.

    To his left stood a girl with skin the same color as the man who¡¯d greeted us at the gate¡ªdark, but not so dark as the others. She was likely our age with yellow eyes and hair with streaks of white amid dark green set in braids that incidentally covered her bare breasts and dangled down to her waist. The only clothes she had on were a white silk loincloth with a golden flower print that hung down to her knees, and leather sandals that webbed over her feet and up beyond her ankles.

    The other girl was one of the natives. Noticeably shorter than the other, her skin was the same green shade of black as Miyani¡¯s, and her eyes were the same bright yellow, too. Her ivory-white hair was a little longer, falling just over her shoulders. She¡¯d dressed in a white cotton sleeveless robe of a dress that left a plunging V-line at the center of her body and had a hem that scarcely covered her marvelous toned thighs.

    I turned around to look behind us on an off chance that Miyani had decided to come through the gate behind us at that moment. She wasn¡¯t there.

    Then I heard a screech, followed by a rapid thumping across rustling leaves.

    To the left, an open expanse cordoned off by a line of pillars with no fence between them held groves of coconut trees, large shady trees, and a few small sheds. From this area, a blur of a thing zoomed towards us kicking up clods of mud behind it. It was one of those lizards like the one Miyani rode, only small, scarcely knee high with bright green scales, flitting about on two gangly legs. It raced up to Davod, bobbing its head about rapidly and chirped, sniffing all up and down his leg before bounding over to Faren. Faren could scarcely greet the creature before, moving its snout around frantically and sniffing everything it could reach, it darted over to Northstar to sniff at him.

    ¡°Don¡¯t try to pet her,¡± the man grinned, ¡°just stand perfectly still.¡±

    I looked up, and the girl with the dress had leaned over to rest her arms on a handrail. She watched the small creature as it flitted about among us with a wide smile across her strikingly beautiful face. She turned to look off to her right.

    I looked, and another lizard stepped towards us, only much bigger. This one stood as tall as Blue, probably taller, and was light brown in color with a dark-brown diamond pattern on its back. It let out another screech as it came close to us but then stopped about ten feet from where we stood.

    The little one bounded over to Geraln, sniffed his feet, then his knees, then jumped up at him several times and chirped in rapid succession. Geraln looked down, furrowed his brow, then looked up at me as if to beg for some kind of help before turning around to look at our host.

    The man laughed. ¡°She likes you!¡±

    The big lizard took two more steps towards us and screeched again, holding its body still while snaking its long neck so as to turn its head towards the little one. A flap of skin under its neck wiggled as it let out a string of clicks.

    I stepped back and glanced up at our three onlookers, who¡¯d kept their attention on this event as it unfolded.

    The little one flitted about as though the big one wasn¡¯t there growling and chirping to get its attention. It darted over to Kelint and sniffed his feet. Kelint tried to back away, but the creature followed him, craning her tiny neck up to sniff his knees before frolicking over to Ales.

    The large one stepped forward to stand between me and the rest of our group, then let out a sharp caw followed by more clicks.

    The little one turned to face it, then opened its tiny jaws wide and hissed before turning away and rushing over to Rock to sniff up and down his leg. Rock lifted his meaty hands and tried to watch as she ran in circles around his feet.

    I looked around. The man who¡¯d greeted us at the gate stood with his arms folded and smiling wide. Davod¡¯s eyes bulged and he glanced at me, then back to the large lizard, while Geraln kept watching the little one. Ales stood like a statue with a look of great confusion on his face while Faren looked back and forth between the two lizards. Northstar kept glancing up at the three on the balcony, Kelint was trembling, and Rock had his attention ensnared by the tiny creature at his feet.

    The big one then got down on all fours and let out a loud screech, then started to rush towards the little one.

    The tiny creature then ran straight over to our host and jumped up into his waiting arms. He caught her and lifted her up, laughing while the little thing nestled its tiny head in the crook of his neck. The larger one then stood on its hind legs and pulled its head back while the man brought the little one over to it. Finally he set her back down, and she spirited off into the wide expanse of fruit trees while the bigger one followed.

    Ales looked at Faren. Rock looked at Northstar, and Davod looked at me while a wave of tension passed through us. None of us were prepared for what we¡¯d walked into.

 Next

    I turned to look behind me, hoping if Miyani had come through at that moment I would see her. She wasn¡¯t there. This was silly; she¡¯d gone somewhere else. If God wanted me to ever see her again, surely He would make it happen in His own time.

    In the distance, the tall towers were shrouded in a dark mist that came down from the cloudy sky. Then I realized the mist was like a wall approaching us. Quickly.

    The man who¡¯d greeted us at the gate and taught us how to walk around a giant alligator also noticed. He turned to us and smiled. ¡°You¡¯d better come this way!¡±

    From the open area, we followed him into the building just in time for a chorus of clattering to fill the expanse outside. White lines fell from the sky and splashed into pools throughout the grounds all around us.

    ¡°My name is Taga?u,¡± the man said. ¡°Please come this way.¡±

    Inside, the air felt sticky and hot despite the rain. Three walls were naught but open archways separated by thick columns of gray-and-yellow stones mortared together half covered by sheer curtains that seemed frozen in place. Elsewhere, a wooden partition, painted in a variety of colors with some kind of abstract imagery, was unfolded across the floor leaving space enough for a stone staircase leading upwards.

    While Taganu moved around and sat down behind a rough wooden desk, my mind raced over how I might ask someone if they knew about Miyani.

    ¡°Alright,¡± he said, ¡°who¡¯s first?¡±

    ¡°First for what?¡± I said.

    There was a book atop the desk adjacent to a glass vial with a long white feather reaching up from it. Taganu opened the book and began rifling through. Names. Rows and rows of names filled the pages, many of them crossed out. He kept at it until he came to a page where the names ended, leaving blank space. Then he picked up the feather, tapped it against the rim of the vial, and looked up at us in expectation. At least a dozen names were on the page where the tip of his pen rested.

    ¡°I¡¯ll go first,¡± Davod stepped up. ¡°Davod of Gath.¡±

    The man wrote. ¡°Who¡¯s your Naveris?¡±

    Davod glanced at me, shrugged, then spoke. ¡°Runya of Gath.¡±

    ¡°Any special skills?¡±

    Davod shrugged. ¡°I smith.¡±

    Taganu nodded, wrote that down and called out, ¡°next?¡±

    Davod looked at me and shrugged me forward, but Ales stepped up. ¡°Ales of Suuya, Naveris is Tanee of Suuya.¡±

    I looked back out towards the gate on the off chance that Miyani might pass through at that moment. I didn¡¯t see her. Half of me hoped to see her coming in from the rain; my minds eye envisioned the glistening shimmer of water all over her dark skin, filling the lines of muscles in her legs, droplets peppering her small breasts, taut arms, and every curve of her back. Fresh images of her coming down from Blue and turning her back to me, the way that scant cloth covered merely the center of her arse leaving such delicious curves to my eyes tickled my thoughts. The other half normally would have flagellated my emotions as atonement for such thoughts but rather rested in silent awe of her.

    Taganu looked up at Ales. ¡°Skills?¡±

    Ales shrugged. ¡°I sail, I fish. I clean fish, I cook fish, I eat fish.¡±

    Faren added, ¡°he¡¯s very good at eating fish.¡±

    Ales smirked. ¡°Very good. Very good. Lots of practice.¡±

    Taganu nodded with a smile of his own. ¡°The Yasivu?a used to make a squid souffle that was just unbelievable.¡± Then he shrugged, ¡°they probably still do.¡±

    Ales¡¯s eyes perked up. ¡°Is it anything like the one they make in Tobor?¡±

    Taganu smiled and nodded. ¡°Similar. They spice it differently; soak it in lemongrass and basil, and not so heavy-handed with the nice pepper. Next?¡±

    ¡°Geraln of Gath.¡±

    ¡°Naveris?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t have one.¡± He shot a glare in my direction and locked his jaw. I looked away; several spiders had woven their webs across one of the archways. Strings of tiny droplets fanned out towards the columns making an otherwise invisible wall. Outside, the rain stopped.

    Taganu smirked. ¡°You¡¯re going to be popular.¡±

    Geraln turned to him. ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    Taganu raised one eyebrow and spoke through a wry grin. ¡°I¡¯m sure you can figure it out.¡±

    Geraln shook his head. ¡°I don¡¯t know. What do you mean?¡±

    Taganu laughed. ¡°Let¡¯s see here¡­ there''s been a war going on for ten years now; there aren¡¯t many men left. What¡¯s one thing a woman can¡¯t do without a man¡¯s help, except for the problem of there being some Naveris coming over the mountains to claim your child. I¡¯m sure you can figure it out.¡±

    Geraln¡¯s eyes bulged as he began to put the pieces together. He turned to look at me in shock. I could tell he fought it, but a grin was beginning to form across his face.

    Taganu looked at him directly. ¡°Any skills?¡±

    Geraln¡¯s eyes were fixed at some point that didn¡¯t exist in our world. He shook it off slightly and turned back to Taganu. ¡°Huh?¡±

    Taganu chuckled and spoke to him through a wide grin. ¡°Let me give you some advice: there is no greater curse than to get everything you think you want, so be careful. Any skills?¡±

    Geraln shrugged. He hesitated, so I spoke up for him. ¡°He took gold at the knowledge tourney last winter.¡±

    Taganu nodded and wrote that down. ¡°Next?¡±

    Kelint muscled forward to wedge his small frame between us and stepped up. ¡°Kelint of Dignestran. Naveris is Gitteilat of Dignestran. For skills, I won gold at the Ulum County archery championship three years running.¡± Kelint then glanced around at Geraln, Davod, and myself with a smug grin.

    There was something about the way she tilted her face I couldn¡¯t get over. Last night over dinner, she would look at whoever was talking, probably trying to understand the words, her eyes were so beautiful. Her lips so soft, and when she smiled it was enchanting. She had a wide, round face with soft cheeks that scrunched in the most adorable of ways when she smiled; I could look at her endlessly. Every now and then she would glance at me and catch me looking. I know that when a girl catches you looking you¡¯re supposed to look away as though you hadn¡¯t been staring at her just then, but I didn¡¯t. And she would lower her eyes and smile a little.

    ¡°Next?¡±

    Rock stepped up, as did Faren. They glanced at one another, and Faren waved him on. Rock then approached the desk. ¡°Are you speaking the Goloagi?¡±

    Taganu nodded. ¡°Tell to me your the name?¡±

    ¡°Rock of Tortiess.¡±

    ¡°Is Naveris tradition at you have part of the Saen?¡±

    ¡°Yes. She is naming Sanjani of Dignestran.¡±

    Taganu glanced up at him and raised an eyebrow. It was Kelint who filled in the details, ¡°that¡¯s my sister.¡±

    ¡°Are you have the skills to be special?¡±

    Rock bobbed his head back and forth. ¡°I am building things.¡±

    ¡°Next?¡±

    ¡°Faren of Suuya, Naveris is Shiree of Suuya. Skills¡­¡± Faren scrunched his chin and looked at Ales.

    Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

    Ales grinned. ¡°Purveyor of fine¡­ herbal intoxicants?¡±

    The two shared a laugh. Geraln, Davod, and I shared a light giggle of our own as well.

    Taganu tilted his head to the side and wrote in his book. ¡°Nothing wrong with that, normally, but remember we¡¯re at war¡­¡±

    ¡°I know.¡±

    ¡°... if it takes you a fraction of a second longer to react to something, that fraction of a second will get you killed. That detail on the road you weren¡¯t paying attention to may be a spike trap; if you¡¯re lucky, you¡¯ll only lose a leg. Men who stay alive down here stay sharp at all times. Do you understand?¡±

    Faren shrugged. ¡°I haven¡¯t¡­ since before we came to the pass.¡±

    ¡°Good. Because even the gators in the moat can tell when a man isn¡¯t walking right. Next?¡±

    That left me and Northstar. Northstar glanced at me and urged me forward, so I stepped up. ¡°Caleb of Gath. No Naveris.¡±

    ¡°Any skills?¡±

    A growing obsession with a girl I had no way of talking to, though that probably didn¡¯t count as a skill. ¡°No, not really.¡±

    Davod spoke up with a firm hand across my back, ¡°he¡¯s a medic.¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Geraln confirmed.

    I added, ¡°I¡¯m really not.¡±

    Davod insisted, ¡°yes, he is.¡±

    Taganu passed his yellow eyes back and forth between us, and Geraln spoke up. ¡°Write that down. He¡¯s a medic.¡±

    Taganu then looked at me directly.

    ¡°I have some¡­ limited¡­ medical training. That¡¯s all, really.¡±

    With that, the man tapped his finger down the list, counting out the names, then looked up and counted us. Then he faced Northstar directly. ¡°Are you have speak the Goloagi? What you have name?¡±

    We cleared the way for him, and he stepped up to the table. He¡¯d spoken so little before that I hadn¡¯t noticed his deep baritone. ¡°I am Northstar. I am having Naveris she is Wind.¡±

    ¡°Any skills?¡±

    Northstar turned to Rock and spoke. ¡°Da-ayi ka awu¡¯ne save-edi shabo?¡±

    Rock looked upwards as if searching for the words before turning to Kelint, who then translated. ¡°He¡¯s a weaver; he makes tapestries, rugs, that sort of thing.¡±

    With that, Taganu set the feather back into the vial and blew on the fresh ink before pulling the book to the side. He then reached down and pulled up a brown burlap sack tied at the top that chinked from the coins within as he set it down. He then opened it and turned it down, and a sizable pile of coins clattered all over the wooden table. He dug his fingers through it, pulling out a pair of sixteens and set them aside. Then he set aside another pair, then a sixteen, three fives, and a one, then six fives and two ones. Then he found two more sixteens, then another sixteen with two fives and six ones, followed by two more stacks of six fives with two ones. Finally he put the rest of the coins back in the bag and looked up at us. ¡°Your first month¡¯s wages.¡±

    I reached for a stack, but Geraln protested. ¡°Thirty-two kren for the month? That¡¯s it?¡±

    Taganu excused himself, ¡°soldiers'' wages are set by your Emperor.¡±

    Geraln looked around wide-eyed. ¡°This is ridiculous! What are we supposed to do with thirty-two kren, man?¡±

    Taganu shrugged. ¡°Buy something? I don¡¯t know. Come this way.¡±

    We left through archways on a different side from the one we¡¯d come in. We hadn¡¯t filed out in a proper line, but rather as a cluster. Ales walked along the side through a different archway only to reach his hands out vigorously, trying to peel the spider web from his face. Outside, there was a path of beaten grass through the field towards the cluster of old wooden buildings. While Taganu stepped his bare feet through fresh puddles without a thought, water had soaked through my boots and seeped into my toes.

    I heard a splash behind me, followed by Geraln crying out in protest. ¡°Really, man?¡±

    I turned, and Rock had jumped into a puddle, splashing everyone around him. His answer for Geraln was a big smile across his meaty face. Davod tried to get around the puddles by stepping on the thicker grass, only to catch his foot in a deep pocket of mud. Men filed out of a stone shed from having waited out the rain and resumed their training. Some of them waved at us as we passed.

    As for me, I turned to look towards the gate again. And again, I didn¡¯t see her come through at that moment, either.

    ¡°These are the barracks.¡± We stood in the center of a wide corridor of beaten grass abutted on both sides by rows of long buildings made of dark wood set atop stone piles with some inches of clearance above the ground. Several of the planks had worn away from rot towards the bottom or had otherwise been decorated with green moss, and each had a few steps leading up to an open doorway at one end. The old, water-logged wooden steps bowed and creaked as we stepped up, and I saw a family of small pigs scurry beneath the building.

    Inside, the air was hot and musty and carried the stench of mold. The wood floors protested loudly at being walked over, and a long, narrow path cut through rows of beds stacked two high with the lower on the floor and the upper on a small, elevated bunk above it. Light came from a series of windows that lacked any kind of closure save for the spiderwebs stretched across. In one corner, a trickle of water from the rain moments before ran down along the wall and pooled on the floor before draining through a pinhole in the wood.

    Taganu then reached down and grabbed up a pack that had been left on one of the beds along with a stack of fresh laundry. He tucked that under his arms and pointed as he spoke. ¡°So¡­ the spiders are your friends¡­¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Kelint gaped.

    ¡°If the web looks old, clean it out so they can make a new one. Always check for snakes; the little green ones you need a rod to chase them out, the others you can pick up like normal.¡±

    Geraln gaped. ¡°What do you mean pick up?¡±

    ¡°If you see any fat white ones with a yellow diamond pattern, bring those ones to the kitchen; they¡¯re delicious. I¡¯ll show you where that is later. Go ahead and pick a bed, any bed. None of them have names. You should be able to leave your things here; no one will disturb them.¡±

    ¡°What about that guy¡¯s things?¡± Ales pointed to the pack he¡¯d picked up moments before.

    Taganu looked at his arms, then back. ¡°He¡¯s dead. Over here¡­¡±

    He walked over to a wall beside the entrance. Faren and I lingered, staring at the empty bed where the pack had been removed from. We glanced at one another; he had a sense of foreboding on his face.

    ¡°Gentlemen?¡± he said. Beside him was a board with several columns separated by thin wooden lines, with rows under each holding several wooden blocks with names written on them. At the top of each column was a chore¡ªlaundry, dishes, cleaning, bath water, and so forth. ¡°Every morning, the slots get emptied. First one to put their name up gets the first pick. If it¡¯s full, pick a different one, and if you don¡¯t pick you get whatever¡¯s left over. Over here¡­¡±

    Whoever doesn¡¯t pick gets to empty the latrine.

    Beside the chore board, a small table was set with ceramic jars and a stack of oily rags stained with rust. ¡°If you brought a eupin longbow, you need to oil it up or the wood will split. Those of you who brought chain armor, especially during the rainy season, make sure to dry off the links completely and oil them up after because they¡¯ll rust as well. Use plenty and don¡¯t worry about your shirt; oil comes out easier than blood.¡±

    I looked at Kelint. He let out a slow exhalation and ran his fingers through his hair. We were all silent.

    ¡°This way.¡±

    We followed him towards the end of the corridor. My eyes once again passed over the vacant bed before following Taganu over to a side room where several wooden tubs were laid out.

    ¡°Bathe daily,¡± he held up a finger. ¡°Bathe with a partner. I know men bathing one another is weird in your culture, but do it anyway. Those little white bumps under your skin, those are worm eggs; you can get them out with your fingernail, but do it before they hatch, trust me. There¡¯s also ticks, leeches, fleas, foot rot, and thorns that¡¯ll make you very sick. You see a rash, anything unusual, see the medic.¡±

    We all glanced at one another. All our eyes were wide with horror.

    With that, he led us outside once more, where the hot, humid air was a welcome respite from the stale mustiness of the wooden barracks. I looked at the gate again. She wasn¡¯t there this time, either.

    We gathered around.

    From the stone building, another man emerged and made his way towards us. Taganu nodded to him, then turned to us. ¡°The kitchen is there,¡± he pointed. ¡°Breakfast at daybreak, dinner after the gate closes. Food in the old city is much better, but that¡¯ll run you a few kren; this you don¡¯t have to pay for. Miyani should bring five more men in the morning; training begins tomorrow at noon. What else¡­ what else¡­ ahh. OK. This is important. The women here¡­¡±

    I glanced around. Eyes perked up throughout our little group. Taganu, however, looked serious.

    ¡°... it¡¯s a different culture from what you¡¯re used to, but let¡¯s simplify it this way: she comes to you. Stick to that rule and you¡¯ll be fine; she comes to you. If she doesn¡¯t, another one will. And if that doesn¡¯t work, brush your teeth¡ªsometimes that helps. Anyway, the Marquis wants a word with you all. After that you¡¯re welcome to enjoy the city.¡±

    With that, he turned and left.

    This other man, the Marquis, was fairly tall¡ªnot so much as Davod and Northstar, but still tall, and lean. He had the same olive-green skin as us with long, straight, dark-green hair he''d let fall behind his back though his face bore the age of a man into his forties. His brow, his lips, seemed fixed in consternation as though he hadn''t smiled in years. He had on a torn white shirt pulled reluctantly over his shoulders and left open revealing hard muscle all up and down his chest, with a black loincloth with gold trim that hemmed about his knees held up by a simple leather belt.

    He came up and stood, glancing around before speaking. His voice had a raspy, breathy tone to it. ¡°A couple months ago we had a guy, had a thing for one of our scouts. She didn¡¯t want nothin to do with him. He refused to leave her alone, so her v?ta¡¯o knocks him down, rips out his liver, and eats it right in front of him while he¡¯s still breathing.¡±

    The Marquis then looked each of us in the eyes before finishing. ¡°Welcome to Carthia.¡±

    Then he turned and walked off. Everyone turned to face me.

    Rock turned to Kelint. ¡°What he did saying?¡±

    Kelint plastered a wide smirk all over his baby face with a glance in my direction. ¡°That girl brought us over here, the one this guy Caleb been drooling over? Stay away from her.¡±

    Geraln corrected him with a cruel grimace, ¡°that''s not what he said! He merely said that if Caleb spoke to her again, that lizard was going to eat his liver; that''s all.¡±

    Kelint laughed. Faren slapped my back and corrected both of them with a smile. ¡°A better translation would be, ¡®rip his liver out, and then eat it.¡¯ Get it right.¡±

    Geraln chuckled while Northstar looked at me with a smug grin. At that, all of them started to walk off while Davod stared at me and shook his head, nearly laughing. ¡°Only you, man! Only you!¡±

 Other Outcasts

    I knelt in the church to pray.  Father, thank you for granting us safe passage to Carthia.  Though, if I¡¯m being honest, safe passage to a war, I¡¯m not sure the value of that.  I don¡¯t want to be ungrateful, so thank you.  I¡¯m scared.  Only today the things I¡¯ve seen, I don¡¯t know how anyone could survive with your enemies lurking in the trees ten feet from you and you can¡¯t see them.  I pray that you guide my hand, lead me in the direction you would have me go in, that is all I ask.  I pray that you watch over my friends and keep them safe.

    I opened my eyes for a brief moment.  Cracks broke through mortar leaving trails of green algae to seep down the walls of yellow and gray stones with pools of water scattered about the floor.  The four-point-triangle of the Deanma hung on one wall, rusted with two brackets pulling from their place and threatening to fall to the floor.  Overhead, a vast open window let in a large, leafy vine with tendrils reaching out in the open air.

    Father, I¡¯m sorry.  I feel¡­ deep down I know that in my own selfishness¡­ my terror, reaching out for some way to weasel out of my duty cost Dune her life.  I should have prayed that her survival was a sign that you wanted me to come here instead of the other way around.  And for lust.  Stupid, stupid lust, lusting after Oasis, lusting after Anyanna, why am I like this?  Why can¡¯t I control my thoughts?  These stupid urges, and look how I¡¯ve offended Miyani and I only just got here.  I want her to know that I¡¯m sorry.  I feel like I want to tell her, but I¡¯m afraid to tell her.  I¡¯m afraid that if I try to talk to her that would be even more offensive seeing how I¡¯ve already put her off.

    I lifted my head for a moment and stretched my neck out, fighting back tears.  To the side was a wooden shelf, atop which was a book of Scripture with black mold spots creeping up along the pages.

    I took a deep breath and let it out.  I¡¯ll leave her alone.  Father, if I see her again, give me the strength to look the other way.  I should have never noticed her like that in the first place.  That¡¯s how I screwed things up with Sarina, isn¡¯t it?  Will she ever forgive me?  God, please look after Sarina.  Can you introduce her to a man worthy of her love?  Someone who deserves her.  Someone¡­ not like me.

    ¡°Caleb!¡± Faren¡¯s voice called out.  He stood beneath the open archway that sufficed for a door with overgrown trees behind him.  He hadn¡¯t smoked in several days, yet his face still carried a serenity punctuated by his droopy eyelids and easy smile.

    Show me your truth, for thine is the honor, the glory¡­ amen.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t mean to interrupt.¡±

    I stood.  ¡°I was done.¡±

    He looked around, tracing the small room with his eyes.  ¡°So this is the Daenma church?¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡±  A large crack in one corner of the ceiling was still dripping water from the rain earlier, and chips of faded paint littered the floor on one side of the room.  I set four kren beside the book on the top of the shelf, itself half rotted out with mold up and down the sides.

    ¡°What¡¯s that for?¡±

    ¡°Tithe.¡±

    He stared at the coins for a moment.  ¡°No priest, no nothing, not even a drop box.  Who are you tithing to?¡±

    I turned around to glance back as we left.  ¡°Well¡­ I suppose God will lure someone in here who needs it.¡±

    Faren smirked, then turned back.  ¡°I could use it¡­¡±

    I laughed.  ¡°Come on, man!¡±

    He smiled and returned to me.  ¡°What if your god found you a sack of fresh mortar to fix that roof for four kren, but then some child came in here and took it to buy some cake?¡±

    I shrugged.  ¡°Then¡­ I suppose¡­ a child will have the sweet memory of cake to hold them over in dark times.¡±

    Outside, a scraggly tree bearing dozens of small yellow globes had reached its branches out to partially block the path from the road¡ªI almost hadn¡¯t seen the place for this tree.  Elsewhere in the garden, thick tufts of grass and other bushes with woody stems and long, narrow leaves fought with vines for space enough to thrive.

    Faren looked over the tree with interest.  Then he picked a few of the globes, enough for a modest handful, and ate one of them.

    I raised an eyebrow at him.  ¡°How do you know that¡¯s not poisonous?¡±

    Faren smiled.  ¡°Where¡¯s your faith, man?  I¡¯m sure your god wouldn¡¯t let poisoned guavas grow in His divine courtyard.¡±

    ¡°Oh.  Are they good?¡±

    He handed me one.  It was, in fact, quite sweet.  It had a gentle flavor, lacking the sharp tartness of some other fruits, but a rather unassuming deliciousness with hard seeds that I ended up working around to get at the soft flesh.  It was the same flavor from those pastries we¡¯d had at the Lake of Doom, in fact.

    We walked out onto the street, a narrow line set with broken slats of gray-black slate with tiny gravel between them.  Opposite the church was a stone building three stories high with a balcony on the second and third floors, and an open porch on the ground level.  At the top floor, sounds of laughing and chatting filled the air, and on the second level three girls stood in a circle.  Two of them had exceedingly dark-green skin and long, white hair.  The other was Tobori¡ªalabaster-white skin with golden-yellow hair; she also had a number branded into her arm.

    The three of them glanced down at us, paused their conversation, then came forward to the stone handrail and leaned over.

    Glorious, pendulous breasts, all three.  Nearly naked, all three.  Each had an embroidered loincloth that hung down from her marvelous hips to the middle of her beautiful thighs, and left smooth skin everywhere else to our viewing pleasure.  Faren looked up at them, then faced me with excitement plastered all over his face.

    The girl in the middle called down to us in Herali with a thick accent.  ¡°Hello, new men!¡±

    I answered back, ¡°hello, new girls!¡±

    The Tobori girl sucked her teeth.  The other two dropped their inviting smiles, and all three of them turned, stepped away, and went back to whatever they¡¯d been up to before.

    I looked at Faren.  He stared up at them, scratching his head for a moment before turning to me.  ¡°What was that about?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know, but that was quick.¡±

    Perplexed, we both shook it off and went about our way.  ¡°Anyway,¡± he said, ¡°you have got to see this library, man.  It¡¯s insane!¡±

    The street followed the curve of the outer wall with stone buildings on both sides.  Then on the right was a large canvas awning stretched over several stone columns with a stone framework for a roof.  Multiple large vats were suspended over coals tended by women wearing long-sleeve shirts with leather about the wrists, while women working in other areas wore nothing but loincloths.  Most had dark-green skin, white hair, and yellow eyes, though others were like Faren and me, olive-green with dark-green hair.  Others had pristine white skin, and still others were colored somewhere between.  Many of them looked up at us and smiled as we walked past, some of whom let their eyes linger on us quite a bit.  At one end was a large wheel connected to a line of giant stone pistons that lifted up and smashed some of those grasses we¡¯d seen out beyond the field.  A clear fluid oozed out from the mash, and a woman took up the refuse in a large basket, passed by before Faren and me and gave us a wide smile with a wink before tossing it to a pack of pigs on the opposite side of the street.

    At the other end of the business, two women held open a large, burlap sack while two more opened a clay vat and poured a fine, white powder into it.  One of them, a thick, older woman with dark-green skin looked up at me and smiled, calling out, ¡°v? da¡¯u?o fufuvisa!¡±

    The others giggled, then she blew me a kiss and kept watching as we walked by.

    Next, a giant wooden door in the outer wall, barred shut, was adjacent several empty wooden crates and pallets, and another canvas awning stretched over piles of filled burlap sacks.  Two more women carried over filled sacks towards the pile.  There was a green-brown snake easily ten feet long with a black diamond pattern all along its back sprawled over the sacks.  As the women came up, one of them reached out and gently pushed the snake out of her way.  ¡°p? ?a?o!¡±

    Then she set the sack down and went back.

    I turned to Faren.  ¡°I¡¯m seeing very few men here.¡±

    He nodded and looked up and down one of the ladies who was gazing back at him.  ¡°A fact I hope to exploit to the fullest extent possible.¡±

    ¡°Faren, why do you think that is?¡±

    He looked at me with a serious expression.  ¡°I know why it is, man.  All the more reason to take advantage while I still can.¡±

    On the left side of the street was another commotion.  About a half-dozen children were gathered around something.  Most of them had a peculiar color halfway between the dark-green of the natives and the olive-green of a Herali, with hair of all kinds.  Faren and I stepped closer to see what they were all so interested in, and they parted for us.  Another child, maybe twelve or so, had dark-green skin and dark-green hair, with black eyes.  While most of the children wore simple loincloths and nothing more, she sat wearing a rough brown hat and long-sleeve shirt with leather about the wrists, and behind her was another one of those vita¡¯o lizards.  This one was a little bigger than Blue and had burnt-orange scales speckled with black spots down its back, and it rested its neck all over the girl¡¯s back with its head on her shoulder.  She sat before a small, wooden box with three cards face-down side-by-side while another child pointed at the one in the center and flipped it over, revealing a small, gray-brown goblin creature with fangs carrying a sack over its back.  The child cheered, the girl pursed her lips and handed over a small stack of coins.

    ¡°Do you want to play, mister?¡± one of them said to me.

    ¡°Sure.¡±  I crouched down.

    The girl spoke fluent Herali without a hint of accent.  ¡°You in for twenty-one kren, mister?¡±

    ¡°OK,¡± I said, and pulled out a sixteen and a five from my purse.  She then added twenty-one of her own and turned the goblin back down, turned to kiss the lizard on the side of its head, and shuffled the three cards about.  The lizard cracked its mouth open, then rubbed its head against her cheek.

    I felt bad.  She wasn¡¯t very skilled, and I was able to follow it easily.  I didn¡¯t want to take the child¡¯s money, so I resolved to keep only my original coin and let her keep hers.  But when I flipped over the goblin, it wasn¡¯t the goblin.  Rather, the card was a lion with a billowing mane breathing fire.

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    ¡°Bathi¡¯s coming!¡± another child called out from the side, and with that the girl quickly took up all the coins, the wooden crate, and the whole crowd of children along with the lizard scattered down the street.

    I stood and looked at Faren.  ¡°What just happened?¡±

    He doubled over laughing.  I turned back to look again; they¡¯d disappeared.  I scratched my head trying to make sense of what I¡¯d just fallen for, only to feel nothing short of embarrassment.  Behind me, the women working had all taken a short break to laugh at me.

    Finally, I took a deep breath and let it out, and stared at the empty nook where the girl had sat, a narrow alleyway between two stone buildings darkened by shade.  A line of small pigs crept out from beneath one building and crossed over to duck down beneath the other.  I looked at Faren.  He looked back at me, still smirking, and still chuckling with laughter.  ¡°I¡¯m sorry, man!¡±

    ¡°Where¡¯d you say this library was?¡±

    He kept laughing.  ¡°This way.¡±

    We turned down a street on the left and headed towards the city center.  Two more dark-green girls stood at the corner, and I could not get over their state of undress.

    They were both about average height.  The girl on the left had a sleek figure.  A soft, red leather strap around her waist held a burnt-orange cloth that hung down about mid-thigh, but from the side, my eyes took in the graceful curvature of her lean legs, pert little arse, flat tummy, and delicate breasts.  She allowed a lock of long, white hair to fall over each shoulder and drape the top half of her nipples, and she turned her neck to face me.  Her bright yellow eyes had locked onto mine a good while before I was aware she was looking at me.  I took a moment to meet her eyes before the urge to survey her body once more overwhelmed me.

    I needed to stop noticing such things.

    The other girl was a fair bit curvier.  Faren and I walked around, directly behind her rotund figure, covered only by a white, cotton loincloth with a black swirl pattern that followed the curve of her glorious arse and hung down from there.

    The lean girl¡¯s eyes hadn¡¯t left mine alone for so much as a second.  I smiled at her, then ripped my attention away and turned to Faren, who was still looking over his shoulder behind us.  He then looked forward and took a deep breath before speaking, ¡°I¡¯m getting an erection just walking down the street.  Gods, how is this place real?¡±

    I shook my head and took in a deep breath, wondering what Sarina would say to me if she saw me looking so hard at all these girls.  ¡°Simple.  We''ll be dead soon.¡±

    Up ahead, two more ladies, likely a bit older, carried heavy rolls of something on their shoulders into a nearby building.  Nearly naked, as the others, and very nicely built.

    Faren shook his head vigorously.  ¡°At least we''ll die happy!¡±

    He then glanced over his shoulder behind us one more time before facing forward.  ¡°They¡¯re following us.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±  I turned.

    The same two girls we¡¯d seen on the corner were directly behind us.  My heart set to racing, unsure as to where this would go.  Faren swallowed, and together we turned to face them.

    The girl on the right stood up straight so as to lift up her chest some, allowing her generous breasts to hang before us.  Her bright yellow eyes passed back and forth between me and Faren, occasionally dipping down to pass over our bodies.  She smiled and spoke Herali through an accent as thick as her figure.  ¡°Helo!  Welkum tu Kathya.  I is p??i, she is mexu?i.¡±

    Mehuni gave a slight wave, ¡°xelo!¡±  Her eyes grasped onto mine and would not let go.  She didn¡¯t look at Faren, or my body, or her friend, or the street, or anything else in our world around us.  She¡¯d locked her eyes onto mine and that was it.

    Faren looked Mehuni up and down, then settled his eyes on Puni, studying her curvaceous frame, pausing at her breasts before bringing his gaze up to her face.  ¡°I¡¯m Faren, and this is Caleb.¡±

    I nodded, ¡°zawa.¡±

    Mehuni smiled and answered me.  ¡°?? f?ease ¡®uxuwida¡±

    She was beautiful.  She didn''t strike me the same way Miyani had, but her intense, unwavering eye contact was beginning to inspire a certain physical reaction in me.  ¡°Uh¡­¡± I blushed, passing my fingers through my hair.  ¡°Tihay bobaday kokano.¡±

    They glanced at one another and giggled.  Mehuni then returned to me with a wide smile and batted her eyelashes.  ¡°?? tixe bobawe pe?e¡±

    Puni broke out laughing.  Her eyes bulged, her mouth gaped open, and she doubled over.  I glanced at Faren, who glanced back at me with his eyebrows raised.  Mehuni continued her intense stare; her lips cracked open in an expectant smile, and Puni managed to contain herself long enough to ask, ¡°will you answer her?¡±

    ¡°Oh,¡± I said, trying to consider the possibilities.  She might have asked if I like to drink worm piss for all I knew, so I just nodded and answered, ¡°uh¡­ yes.  Ti.  Absolutely ti.¡±

    Faren nodded, ¡°ti for me as well.  Both of us, ti.¡±

    Mehuni grinned wide.  Puni grinned wide; her eyes had begun to settle on Faren.  ¡°Does you know she ask what to you?¡±

    He smiled back at her.  ¡°No, but my answer is still ti.¡±

    Puni turned to Mehuni, still smiling wide, and they both giggled.

    Faren then asked, ¡°are you girls from here, originally?¡±

    They both frowned.  Mehuni¡¯s eyes went wide, and she turned to Puni, ¡°?? ????zeda fedami¦È?¡±

    Puni shook her head, pursed her lips, and the both of them turned and walked away.  Gorgeous, both of them, and utterly done with us before we could blink.  I stood in shock, searching Faren¡¯s face for some explanation.  He looked at me with one eyebrow raised.  ¡°OK¡­ that keeps happening.¡±

    I shook my head, kicking myself for noticing Mehuni¡¯s pert body and digging for a connection with the look on Miyani¡¯s face from earlier that day.  ¡°At least they didn¡¯t have one of those lizards with them to rip our livers out.¡±

    Faren bobbed his head back and forth.  ¡°There¡¯s that.  The way that one was looking at you, though.  Gods!  Also, where¡¯d you get all these words from?  I feel like I¡¯m falling behind.¡±

    ¡°Well,¡± I assured him, ¡°it¡¯s not a race, but I am winning.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll see about that!¡±

    We continued our walk.  The street gave way on both sides to a bustling area where women walked about, talking to one another in a cacophony of languages all around us.  One stood beside a wooden cart filled with bright green coconuts, holding one out for us.  Next to her stood another woman who had several oblong red fruits covered in grooves that ran the length of them, followed by another with a cauldron filled with sand over a fire pit¡ªand that unmistakable scent of kafi.  On the opposite side, a woman sat amid a collection of delicate carved wooden animals, next to another surrounded by bright woven rugs clipped to a string that surrounded her area.  The next one had several baskets with powders of reds, yellows, and greens that let off a mishmash of aromas in all directions.  Goloagi women, Saeni women, Tobori women young and old, many had numbers branded into their arms and intermingled with natives with dark-green skin, and together with children almost all of them walked about wearing nothing but loincloths about their waists.

    Faren kept glancing around with his eyes wide.  ¡°Man, I am in titty heaven!¡±

    I added, glancing at another with her back turned.  ¡°Hindquarters on full display!  Legs, arse, hips¡­¡±

    ¡°Tummies, back, girls, girls everywhere!  Every color, any size, any age, how come I never heard of this place?¡±

    ¡°I do not know.¡±  I tried to behave myself, but every few steps I found another looking our way.  Two girls stood talking, and both gazed at us as we passed by.  One whispered in the other¡¯s ear, and they shared a giggle before smiling at us.

    I saw no men, save for a few elders and a handful of others like us.

    Another girl approached in the opposite direction.  She had dark skin, but not so dark as the others, with sandy-green hair and bright yellow eyes.  She was a little taller than average, with hypnotic curves all up and down her body, and she smiled at me as we came close.

    ¡°Zawa,¡± I said to her.

    ¡°Zawa!¡± she echoed back as we passed by.

    I glanced over my shoulder only to see her glancing back at me just the same and let out laughing.  She sang, ¡°v? koeosa¡± before turning back around.

    The library was in the center of town, scarcely ten minutes walk from the church¡­ barring distractions.

    Like most of the buildings in the Old City, it was a mix of yellow and gray stones mortared together, three stories high and long, with stained-glass windows.  The building stood alone at the center of a circular dais and was surrounded by carefully manicured trees and shrubs, with pristine stone walkways with small nooks where beautiful girls sat down to read.  Along the walls, open balconies hosted more reading areas beneath a generous overhang of a tile roof decorated with animal spirits along the edge.

    To the right, more stone buildings of a similar style but not quite so grandiose as the library; to the left, clusters of domes covered in grass stacked three high with an opening at the ground where people came in and out; and beyond the library were tall towers reaching into the sky.

    The front entrance was graced on both sides by stone columns leading to a high arch filled with a stained-glass flower a multitude of colors, and intricate stone sculptures depicting men, women, children, animals, in all sorts of arrangements as though each told a story.  Inside, we were greeted by the music of a water organ.  Stone pillars held up meticulously crafted stone floors of smooth slate with rows and rows of wooden shelves stuffed full of books.  The foyer was home to several tables where people gathered, Goloagi, Herali, Tobori, Saeni, and an equal number of the natives, along with a multitude of people who boasted features blending all into one.  One cluster held women half standing while others sat, engaged in a lively discussion, while another table was home to several women who read quietly.  A woman with dark-green skin, as with the others wearing naught but an ornate, woven loincloth and a gold chain around her neck, sat perusing an open book with a stack of other books on each side of her, while a young half-herali looking boy brought her several more.

    Faren¡¯s eyes were wide with excitement.  ¡°Never in all my days have I imagined a library such as this!¡±

    I couldn¡¯t stop gaping.  ¡°This puts Kyoen Central to shame.¡±

    ¡°Borrowing fee is only one kren.  You haven¡¯t even seen the good part!  This way¡­¡±

    He led me over to a staircase with iron balusters at the side and up as it wrapped around in a curve to the second floor.  ¡°Wait until you see this!¡±

    Then, to the far wall he led me down towards a section where wooden bookcases had been arranged to cordon off the area and make a secluded nook surrounded by more books.  Above the entrance was a sign written in six different languages, including Herali.  Forbidden Books.

    I glanced at Faren with one eyebrow raised.

    He was giddy with excitement.  ¡°In the Empire, these books will get you killed!  But not just that, there was a lady here earlier, said those over there,¡± he pointed.  ¡°Those books are banned by the Sewu¡¯oni.  Those ones are banned by the Southern Kingdoms, and these are illegal in the Northern Alliance.  And those¡­¡± he pointed to a small section where only a handful of books rested bearing swirly symbols on the cover.  ¡°Those are illegal somewhere!  Isn¡¯t this fucking incredible?  Every book in this section holds knowledge that pissed off someone really powerful.¡±

    ¡°Oh my God,¡± I gritted my teeth and pulled a small, red tome with black lettering for a title that had been seared into the spine.  Goosebumps crawled all over my skin.

    ¡°What''s that?¡±

    I looked at him with my eyes wide.  My heart thundered and my breath grew heavy just holding it in my hand.  ¡°Indictment Against the Orthodox Daenma Church.  Blood has been spilled over this book. Lots and lots and lots of it.  I''ve never seen it before; just owning it will get you burned at the stake.  The Emperor sent out the Invisible Hand to gather up all copies and had them all destroyed.¡±

    Faren nodded and took it from me, opening it up to skim through it.  ¡°This is a book worth reading!  What are you going to check out, though?¡±

    ¡°What?¡± I protested.  ¡°I found it first!¡±

    As I reached, he pulled it away and turned.  ¡°Careful, you¡¯ll rip it!¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    He laughed and turned to the front page.

    My eyes then found a small, unassuming tome of tanned leather with painted-black lettering written in Goloagi called The Truth of the Great Plague.  I pulled it from the shelf, opened it to the introductory page, and read it aloud.  ¡°The Great Plague was not an accident.  The Emperor planted it in Umaz, deliberately, hoping to wipe out the Umeazi people.¡±

    I looked up at Faren with my eyes wide.  ¡°I wonder why this was banned.¡±

    Faren chuckled.

    ¡°That can¡¯t be true, though; no one is that evil!¡±

    Faren breathed in through his teeth and let it out.  He leaned in close to look, ¡°that¡¯d be pretty fucking crazy if it is.¡±

    Footfalls rushed down the hall towards us, and suddenly Geraln appeared, panting heavily.  He rested his hand on a nearby wall frame, took a moment to catch his breath, and spoke.  ¡°Gods, I¡¯ve been looking everywhere for you!  Ales has been stabbed!¡±

 Man Enough

    By the time Faren and I had arrived at the medical ward, Ales was asleep.  He¡¯d had a small cut on the side of his back with a handful of stitches beside round leech scars.  I¡¯d stayed with him long enough for Faren to get something from the mess, and then he stayed the night with him while everyone else went off to bed.

    Geraln¡¯s whisper-scream cut through my sleep.  ¡°CALEB!¡±

    I woke drenched in sweat with purple morning hues flooding through the windows.  I rubbed my eyes and looked.  Geraln lay on his back, and a green mass was on his chest.  Davod got up and came closer to look, as did Rock.  It was that creature that sniffed us all at the gate as we came in the day before.

    Geraln lifted his head up and crossed his eyes to look.  It had curled up with its tail and long neck wrapped around its body, and its legs and forelimbs tucked under.  He lifted the whole thing up and down with each breath while his fingers trembled.  He cried nervously, ¡°why is it here!¡±

    Rock tilted his whole body to the side and knelt down to get a closer look.  ¡°She sleep.¡±

    Geraln¡¯s voice quivered, ¡°get it off me!¡±

    The creature lifted its tiny head and stretched its mouth open, showing rows of needles on both sides top and bottom before closing, then turned its head to face him and chirped.

    Davod reached out his hands to scoop it up.  It looked at his hands, then coiled its neck and snapped, clamping its tiny jaws close to his fingers.  Davod jerked his hands away fast, and the creature hissed at him.  Then it turned its tiny face to Geraln once more and chirped.

    ¡°What do you want?¡± he pleaded.

    I shrugged.  ¡°Have you tried sitting up?¡±

    Geraln turned to face me; his eyes were wide.  With that, he took in a deep breath and let it out, then slowly propped up on his elbows while the thing stared at him.  He kept raising up, and soon the creature chirped again, then jumped off him and stepped onto the floor.  As he sat up completely, it continued to stand before him, snaking its neck upwards to look at him, and chirped.

    Someone laughed elsewhere in the barracks.  It was another man, Herali, who¡¯d watched this ordeal with a smile on his face.  ¡°Yeah,¡± he said, ¡°you¡¯ll get used to those things.¡±

    ¡°Get used to it!¡± Geraln huffed.  ¡°Have you woken up with one of them sleeping on you?¡±

    The man cocked his head and grinned.  ¡°Nope.¡±  He then went about stretching his arms and torso, rolling his neck around in all directions.  On one shoulder he had a tattoo of Cougar with his mouth open wide showing his fangs.

    I asked, ¡°how long have you been here?¡±

    ¡°About a month.  Let me tell you this, though¡­¡± he stood and picked up a long shirt of toughened leather that was laid out beside another of ring mail.  ¡°Whatever you do, don¡¯t pull a weapon on them.¡±

    I looked at Davod, who¡¯d raised an eyebrow in my direction.  Rock lifted his chin.  ¡°What he say?¡±

    As I translated, another man came around, cinching his belt as he spoke.  ¡°Vita¡¯o are honest creatures.  If they like you, they¡¯ll let you know.  And if they don¡¯t like you¡­ they¡¯ll let you know.  They got rules, though; one of them is if you pull a weapon on them, they¡¯re allowed to mess you up.  And believe me, I seen ¡®em get pissed off, too.  They¡¯ll growl, hiss, scream, bare their teeth and snap at you.  It¡¯s scary as shit, and you can¡¯t do nothing¡ªjust stand there and take it.¡±

    Davod nodded.  ¡°Oh, so just like women.¡±

    He earned quite a few laughs for that.

    Another man chimed in, chuckling.  ¡°You should see what the females do.¡±

    Kelint asked, ¡°what do you mean?¡±

    The man grinned.  ¡°Ahmi says to get the male''s attention she has to show off how lethal she is.  It''s like saying ¡®look what I''ll do to anybody tries to mess with our kids.¡¯ When that happens, just back away, find yourself a nice, comfortable distance.¡±

    The man from the Cougar clan headed out along with several others who¡¯d shared our quarters while one man lingered a bit.  He was Herali, but his skin was perhaps a shade lighter than ours and his hair had a hint of wave as it fell down to his chest.  On his shoulder was a tattoo of Opossum.  Davod nodded to him as he got dressed.  ¡°How long have you been here?¡±

    ¡°A couple months.¡±

    Kelint asked, ¡°you see any action?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, man,¡± he shook his head.  ¡°It¡¯s scary out there.  They train you, but honestly, training in the yard with spears and shit, that¡¯s a waste of time.  Out there in the jungle, that¡¯s not what you¡¯ll be facing.  You could be walking on the road, and arrows come out at you from nowhere.  You just run.  Turn around, half the men you went out with don¡¯t come back and all you can do is move on like it¡¯s nothing.  There were four of us called up from my village, six more from the village over.  I''m the only one left.¡±

    ¡°Why is that happening?¡± I asked.

    Geraln added, ¡°why are they only pulling men from Heralia?  Where¡¯s the Imperial army?¡±

    The man huffed.  ¡°Probably in Kulun fighting the important war.  We make due with what we¡¯ve got.  Couple things, those native bows don¡¯t get better than fifty yards, so we got ¡®em that.  Our scout led us to an outcropping, clean view some two-hundred yards out over a war party trying to ambush us, we took out half those assholes before the rest went crying home to mama.  We can also use those towers, too; you find a small party you can chase them right into the field and them guys up on the ramparts¡¯ll pick ¡®em off.  Two tried to escape across the river, damned gators took ¡®em; that¡¯s not a fun way to go.  Thing is, them eupin bows we got, that¡¯s a hell of a trophy.  So if they catch you unaware, who you think they¡¯re going to take out first?¡±

    I glanced at my bow, at the etching of Bear and Cougar fighting over the golden acorns while Falcon cried, and wondered if some enemy took it as a trophy, would they know the story behind it?  Would they wonder?  Geraln¡¯s bow was etched with a field of flowers in the forest and the mountains and decorated with ancient Herali runes from generations before the conquest that spelled out the last line of Falcon¡¯s Epic, for every flower a place to bloom.  If they took that as a trophy, who would read it?  Geraln sat cross-legged with the creature in his lap looking up into his face while he looked down, and I felt a stabbing pain in my heart that something could happen to him.

    Breakfast that morning was a slimy, grainy mass of paper-flavored goop with bits of shredded coconut mixed in.  That was served with clusters of long, yellow fruit they called banana and some off-yellow tea that smelt strong of citrus but had a strange flavor I couldn¡¯t place.  After that, Davod, myself, Rock, Northstar, and Kelint along with Geraln and that baby vita¡¯o lizard prancing around beside his feet all left for the medical ward to check in on Ales.

    The medical ward was a long building beside the mess hall and the open administration building we¡¯d given our names in, made of the same yellow and gray stones mortared together with smooth ceramic tiles overhanging the roof.  Inside was a room off to the left, and to the right it was open, with three rows of cots.  Light came through several large, open windows that hosted spider webs each.

    The first man I noticed lay down flat in the cot, naked but for a white sheet covering his privates. His body was covered in black from his toes to his face and all inbetween, and his skin hung like a sheet over his bones, with his facial bones clearly visible though he was likely our age.  He lay still with his mouth and eyes open, unmoving but for a faint lifting and falling of his chest.  A fly landed on his eye and walked around, and the man didn¡¯t so much as blink until the man lying in the next cot waved it away.

    Northstar glanced at me; his eyes bulged, and his mouth was drawn with sorrow.

    The next man had a bandaged stump where his right arm used to be.  Another bandage wrapped around his head and came down to cover his right eye, with crusted blood all around his cheek and more bandages wrapped around his torso.  Long, straight, dark green hair fell over the padding he¡¯d been propped on, and he stared at me through the eye he still had.

    Other men lay about on several cots.  One had a bandage wrapped around his arm, another about his knee.  Still another had a bandage wrapped all around his torso with a large pad at the side of his chest.  One man didn¡¯t move at all, but rather had flies buzzing around his gaping mouth and eyes along with more flies around an open gash in his belly.  Another cot was surrounded by a wooden frame that had a white curtain hanging down on all sides.

    Ales was on the fifth cot on the right between two large windows, propped up and awake.  Faren sat next to him.  Ales turned to look at us, but other than that he didn¡¯t seem to react.

    We came up, and I spoke first.  ¡°Good to see you alive, man.¡±

    Ales grinned lightly, then returned to his somber expression.

    ¡°It¡¯s just¡­ we came all this way here, and you know, with the giant alligators, vita¡¯o, all the ways they told us the jungle was going to eat us for you to get shanked in the market?  You could have just gone to Kyoen for that.¡±

    I''d waited all morning to tell that joke, and no one laughed.  Instead they all stared at me.  Faren furrowed his brow while Ales tilted his head in confusion, and Kelint shook his head.  Rock leaned in to ask him for a translation, but Kelint sucked his teeth and waved him off.

    Stolen story; please report.

    Geraln sat on the bed opposite Faren while the rest of us stood.  No sooner than he did, that lizard started chirping and jumping up, looking longingly into his chubby face.  Geraln hesitated and gazed at the creature with a blank expression.  Finally he let out an exasperated sigh.  ¡°You want to come up here?¡±

    She chirped.

    He reached down, carefully picked her up, and set her down on the bed.  She bounded over to Ales and sniffed around him, sniffed his wound and let out a chirp, then came back over to Geraln to sit in his lap.

    Ales said nothing but half smiled in confusion while watching the creature.  Davod chuckled lightly to himself and explained, ¡°would you believe, they¡¯ve already slept together!¡±

    ¡°Be quiet!¡± Geraln snapped.

    Everyone else laughed a little, but Ales squinted his eyes and turned to look up at him without saying a word.  Then he shook his head vigorously and brought his fingers up to his eyes.  ¡°I¡¯m freezing.¡±  The air was hot and muggy.  ¡°Anybody want to ask that nurse if they got some more blankets or something?¡±

    Faren answered him.  ¡°She¡¯s a doctor, and I asked five minutes ago.  She said no.¡±

    Ales closed his eyes and leaned his head back.

    ¡°Let me see.¡±  I put my hand on Faren¡¯s shoulder to usher him out of the way and leaned down to get a closer look.  The cut was small, but the entry was swollen, and purple bruises beneath ran deep.  I set my fingers around his neck, on his chest and forehead, and he felt hot.  Very hot.

    ¡°Look at me,¡± I told him.

    Ales didn¡¯t.  Rather, he closed his eyes and rested his head back down against the padding, and took in a deep breath, wincing as he let it out slowly.

    ¡°Ales, look at me,¡± I insisted.

    Finally he wrenched his head forward and opened his eyes.  He didn¡¯t settle on me, though, but rather gazed off in the general direction of my face.

    ¡°Does it hurt?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, man, it fucking hurts.¡±

    I tapped the skin around the wound where the swelling was a lot worse than I¡¯d have liked.  ¡°Where?  Here?¡±

    ¡°My fucking fingers and toes, man.  Everywhere it hurts.¡±  With that, he closed his eyes and rested his head back down once more.

    Shit.  I stood and stepped away, unwilling to accept what my mind was telling me¡ªhe would be dead by nightfall, and there was nothing anyone could do for him.  Davod followed me and leaned in close to whisper.  ¡°Caleb?  What is it?¡±

    Before I could say anything, two women approached us from a doorway at the end of the hall.

    Both were natives; they had dark-green skin, white hair, and yellow eyes.  The woman on the left was rather short and wore a hard expression on her face.  She''d dressed in a blue silk loincloth around a belt with several pouches and pockets, a blue silk band wrapped around each arm embroidered with a yellow, white, and red emblem, and a leather harness that criss-crossed between her bare breasts and held a sword and miniature bow on her back.  In her hand she carried a mass of different fabrics.  As she came up, she handed out the pouches to those who¡¯d been there.

    Kelint spoke up, still leering at her breasts.  ¡°You found our money!¡±

    The smaller woman nodded.  She spoke Herali with confidence but a thick accent.  ¡°Most of it.  I have tha boy that stab you.  He expect consequences.  Tha others also.¡±

    Northstar then looked at his relatively empty sack and spoke something to Kelint, who translated.  ¡°What about that girl with the card game?¡±

    The woman¡¯s eyes went wide.  ¡°I telled you!  You puted your money at tha table!¡±

    With that, the short woman turned and walked off.  Kelint¡¯s eyes studied her muscular, dark-green legs on her way out.  I¡­ may have stolen a glance myself.

    The other woman was average height and had a rather flat face with soft, gentle yellow eyes.  She wore her white hair in a series of cornrows that hung down over her shoulders.  Barely covering her generous bosom was a beige apron with some old, bronze stains that refused to wash out and several pockets that held an assortment of instruments.

    ¡°Excuse me,¡± she spoke Herali with no accent I could discern.  The men moved out of her way and she knelt down to examine Ales, poking around his wound.  Her voice was high and girlish despite her middling years.  ¡°How are you feeling?¡±

    ¡°Like shit,¡± he answered.

    From a pocket she pulled out a crystal cylinder about the size of a fat finger and held one end up to the side of his neck.  ¡°Hold still.¡±  I watched as the crystal changed color.  First a dark, cloudy purple appeared, then blue, then green, which then faded into yellow, then continued to shift until it settled on a deep shade somewhere between orange and red.

    ¡°Can I get some more blankets, miss?¡±

    ¡°Nope.  Watch my finger.¡±

    ¡°Ugh¡­¡± Ales sighed and set his head back down.

    The woman tapped the side of his cheek and insisted, ¡°watch my finger.¡±

    He tried.  He hoisted his head back up and opened his eyes, but as she moved her fingers around in front of his face, I could tell he wasn¡¯t following.  After a moment, she nodded quietly to herself and stood.  Faren stood with her and stepped close to say something, but I couldn¡¯t hear.

    She replied, ¡°today¡¯s going to be tough.  He should be fine, but there''s a chance he won''t make it.  We''ll know for sure by this afternoon.  For now, he needs to rest.¡±

    He said something else to her that I also couldn''t hear.  She shook her head and answered, ¡°It¡¯s difficult to predict; I¡¯d say¡­ maybe¡­ three-to-one?¡±

    With that, she stepped away and looked around.  She¡¯d made it halfway across the room when I walked up to her.  I sought to keep my voice low.  ¡°Why did you tell him that?¡±

    She looked up at me with a warm expression on her face.

    ¡°Why?  Why are you giving him odds like that?¡±

    She smiled wide and leaned in close.  ¡°Because I''m afraid of being too optimistic.  I think his chances are good though¡­¡±

    ¡°Chances!?!  He''ll be dead within hours!¡± The other men glanced in our direction; they''d heard me.  I tried to lower my voice some.  ¡°There¡¯s nothing anyone can do.  The foul has gotten into his blood; if he makes it to lunch, that''ll be a miracle.¡±

    ¡°I gave him gebu''i; he should be fine¡­¡±

    ¡°Gebu''i!¡± I nearly shouted.  The other men kept looking at us with grave concern.  ¡°What''s that supposed to even do?¡±

    She raised her eyebrows and looked up, directly into my eyes.  ¡°Are you Caleb?¡±

    ¡°What?¡± The question threw me off.  ¡°Uh¡­ yeah.  What''s that got to do with¡­¡±

    ¡°Come.  I have something for you.¡±

    A quick glance over at the men, and Davod urged me on.  So I followed.  ¡°What about Ales?¡±

    She turned and smiled at me.  ¡°You said yourself there''s nothing anyone can do.  This way.  My name is z??i, by the way.¡±

    She led me through an open doorway to a small room with a desk and a shelf filled with books and leather cases.  A large window covered in multiple spider webs took up most of one wall, and the clattering of rain started suddenly outside.  There on the desk sat a leather satchel with a brass buckle on one side.  She picked that up and handed it to me.  ¡°They said you¡¯re the field medic for your unit.¡±

    I returned the satchel to the desk and pulled my face back.  ¡°Who said that?¡±

    ¡°Hmm.¡±  She furrowed her eyebrows.  Then, she opened up the satchel and reached in, pulled out a bone saw, an arrowhead clamp, a scalpel, and numerous other tools, and arrayed them on the table.  Then, she reached down from behind the desk and found a small glass vial with a cork stopper.  She opened it and held it up to her forearm, then tilted it as she dragged, allowing black ink to spill in a line along her dark green skin all the way to her wrist.  Then she looked up at me with a serious expression.  ¡°I¡¯m bleeding profusely.¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡± I looked at her, confused.

    She blinked a few times and waited while the sound of rain crashing onto the roof continued.  ¡°I¡¯m about to bleed out.  I¡¯m going to die.¡±

    ¡°Uh¡­¡± I tried to figure out what she was doing.  ¡°Is this a test or something?¡±

    ¡°Uhh,¡± her voice quivered and she held her other hand over her forehead, still reaching her wounded arm out towards me.  ¡°Mother in heaven!  The light, I can see it!¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    She waved her head back and forth.  ¡°I''m feeling delirious.  Oh, I''ve had a good life¡­¡±

    ¡°OK, fine,¡± I said, and looked over all the implements she¡¯d laid out over the table.  I needed a tourniquet, and found a mass of cloth strips beside a stack of metal sticks.  I took up one and unrolled it.

    ¡°... no regrets.  Except sleeping with that one guy; he was so fine.  I can¡¯t tell if I regret hitting it, or not hitting it again?  Still struggling with that.¡±

    That got me laughing, and I needed a moment to settle down.

    ¡°If you think that¡¯s distracting, try doing this while getting shot at.¡±

    Right.  I shook it off and wrapped the cloth around her arm, just above the elbow, and fitted the rod inside the knot, twisting it around to tighten it.  She winced.

    ¡°Sorry¡­¡±

    ¡°Don''t apologize.¡±

    Then I looked around for something to ¡®clean¡¯ the wound while she looked up at me expectantly.  Outside, the rain had stopped.

    ¡°Um¡­¡± I said.  ¡°I¡¯d¡­ try to clean off the wound, see if I can get it to clot.¡±

    She looked off.  ¡°Oh, forgive me Mother, for I have sinned.  I ate way too much cake last night.  And the night before¡­ and the night before that¡­ it¡¯s not my fault.  I don¡¯t understand why they have to make it soooo good?¡±

    ¡°Fine,¡± I laughed, unable to get over her girlish voice.  Then I took up a roll of gauze and set about dabbing up the wet ink, being careful not to pull at her skin.

    At that, she turned her arm and looked at it, nodded, and undid the tourniquet.  ¡°Seriously, though, those maple-cream cakes you people have¡­ I do wish we could get maple here.  I will never get over that taste.¡±

    That made me smile, but it didn''t change anything.  ¡°Look,¡± I said.  ¡°I don¡¯t know if I can do this.  I¡¯m not a real medic.  I don¡¯t have any real training¡­¡±

    As she packed up everything back into the field kit, she handed me a small, folded piece of paper filled with some kind of powder and sealed with wax.  ¡°This is gebu¡¯i.  After you cut off circulation and clean up the area, make them eat it.  It¡¯s disgusting.  If you have clean water you can mix it with, that will help it go down easier, but make sure they take all of it.  Any time you think you¡¯re dealing with a wound that might take the foul, give it to them.  The sooner the better.¡±

    Except it did nothing for Dune, and I had no reason to believe it would do anything for Ales.  ¡°I grew up in a church, alright?  The friar¡¯s wife was a doctor in the Great Plague; she brought home my best friend when she was an infant, actually.  Her parents died, Sarina barely survived.  Sorry, that''s beside the point.  Anyway, Mother Searnie helped anyone in the village who needed it, and she had me help out.  That''s all, really.  I''m not qualified to be a field medic.¡±

    ¡°So¡­ you¡¯re a boy.¡±

    That took me aback.  ¡°Uh¡­ no, I didn¡¯t say that.¡±

    ¡°You did.¡±

    I shook my head.  ¡°No, I didn¡¯t.  I¡¯m a grown man¡­¡±

    ¡°A man steps up to responsibility; a boy says he is not qualified.  Which one are you?¡±

    I looked at the satchel as if the answer was there.

    z??i smiled and rested her hand on my arm.  ¡°I don''t need you to open anyone''s brain up and do surgery; I can do the heavy stuff.  What I need you to do is patch them up well enough to bring them back here.  That''s all.  And if you can help me teach the others how to tie a tourniquet, that would be nice, too.  Are you man enough for that?¡±

 Orientation

    Five new men joined us in the training yard; one of them I knew.  ¡°Gino?¡±

    A man of average height, half-Herali with a Goloagi father and the curly hair to prove it looked back at me with a wide smile I hadn¡¯t seen in years.  ¡°Holy shit, man!  No fucking way!¡±

    I ran up and threw my arms about him, and he did the same.  It felt good to embrace him; I hadn¡¯t imagined I¡¯d ever see him again.  ¡°How the hell are you, man?¡±

    He cocked his head and looked me up and down.  ¡°Scared.  Ain¡¯t heard nothin nice about this place.¡±

    Another one of the new guys added, ¡°there ain''t nothin nice, especially this fucking heat!¡±

    Davod stood next to me.  ¡°Girls here walk around with their titties hanging out, and that¡¯s nice.¡±

    Gino laughed.  The man standing next to him was almost as tall as Davod, Northstar, and myself, with a heavy figure and long, straight, dark-green hair.  He nodded.  ¡°Noticed that.  Very nice!  Gino, you know this kid?¡±

    ¡°This is Caleb of Gath; he spent a few years in Kyoen back in the day.  Caleb, this is Borel.¡±  He turned and pointed to the other three men who¡¯d come with him.  ¡°That¡¯s Massi, Jame, and Renou.¡±

    All three were Herali and wore their hair long.  Massi was average height, muscular build, and had a tattoo of Orca on his neck.  His eyes were narrow, and he bore some scars that cut through his left eyebrow.  Jame was on the shorter side of average and carried a eupin longbow on his back decorated with an etching of Orca with a shark in his mouth bringing it to the humans on shore.  Renou was short, slight of build, quiet, and carried no weapons.

    I answered.  ¡°These are my best friends growing up, Davod and Geraln.¡±  Geraln nodded.  On his shoulder, with her tiny claws dug into the leather sling that held his bow, was the green vita¡¯o lizard who¡¯d woken up on his chest that morning.  All five of the new men stared at the creature, unable to mask their shock.

    Davod resumed the introductions for Rock, Northstar, and Kelint while from the side, my eyes found Miyani.  She was in the expansive area to the left of the main gate cordoned off with fenceless posts, going about her business of scrubbing white soap suds all over Blue, oblivious to how insanely gorgeous her toned body looked from behind.

    I knew I had to look away, but I couldn''t.

    Blue raised his head and clicked.  She turned, and I immediately snapped back around hoping she hadn¡¯t caught me looking.

    Borel pursed his lips.  ¡°What kind of name is Rock and Northstar?¡±

    Kelint lifted his chin.  ¡°They¡¯re Saeni.¡±  Then he looked at Jame with the bow on his back.  ¡°What do you hunt in Kyoen; you even know how to use that thing?¡±

    Jame huffed, and Borel patted his friend¡¯s back.  ¡°My man¡¯s a master archer, right here.¡±

    I turned to face Davod directly.  ¡°Did he just say that out loud to three men from Osenia?¡±

    Davod chuckled, reached behind his back to grab his bow, and strung it.  Geraln smiled wide and did the same, while Kelint reached into his coin purse, found a five-kren, and tossed it on the ground in the center of our gathering.  The rest of us put in, Gino stooped down to gather up the coins, and we looked about.

    There was a line of practice dummies along the outer wall at the end of the training ground, about fifty yards out.  The hot, sticky air from the morning rain left the ground muddy between tufts of beaten grass, and Gino carved a line with his boot.  Kelint then stepped up, drew back his bow, and loosed.  His arrow popped in the burlap of the practice dummy.  He then shrugged and stepped aside.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t this supposed to be difficult?¡± Davod quipped.  Then he placed his arrow right next to Kelint''s.

    Geraln then stepped up.  But as he drew back his bow, the baby vita¡¯o lizard on his shoulder chirped and stretched her neck out too close to the string.  ¡°Back up,¡± he said, then he gently lowered his bow.

    The creature tilted her head to the side and looked at him.

    ¡°You have to move out of the way; I don¡¯t want you to get hurt.¡±  Then he drew his bow once more and took aim, and once more the creature stretched her neck out.  ¡°You have to move.¡±

    The man with the Orca tattoo on his neck and the scars across his eyebrow snickered and grinned wide.  ¡°Go ahead and shoot.  If you take its head off, we¡¯ll have a nice dinner!¡±

    Gino answered him, ¡°don¡¯t be cruel, Massi.¡±

    Massi giggled lightly to himself without answering.

    Geraln lowered his bow and tried to talk to the creature once more.

    ¡°Let me help,¡± I said, and reached my hands up to take hold of her while he shot.  She pulled her head back, hissed, then snapped at my fingers.  ¡°OK, you know what?  I¡­ I don¡¯t know.¡±

    Geraln tried talking to her again, holding his hand up to push her head out of the way as he spoke, ¡°you have to move back.  Understand?  Move back.  OK?¡±

    He drew his bow a third time.  As he took aim, the creature once again started to inch her head forward, and he loosed.  His arrow flew far to the left and way off target.  ¡°FUCK!¡± he shouted.  Then he turned his head to glare at the creature, who merely looked back at him and chirped.

    Massi doubled over laughing, as did Borel.  Jame gave him a smirk.  ¡°Fatso is out already?  I¡¯m disappointed!¡±

    I stepped up.  Geraln¡¯s voice came from behind me, ¡°Come on Caleb.  You got this.¡±

    I took aim and turned to face him.  ¡°You talk like this is a difficult shot.¡±  Then, without turning my gaze from his eyes and without looking at the target, I loosed.  I still didn¡¯t look, even as I heard my arrow pop into the dummy.

    Davod chuckled.  Gino clapped, ¡°damn!  I didn¡¯t know you could do that!¡±

    Jame nodded with a grin and stepped up.  ¡°Alright, it¡¯s on.  Let¡¯s see you do this!¡±  With that, he tilted his aim at a steep angle and shot almost straight up into the sky.  I could barely see his arrow until, after a few seconds, it fell hard, and impaled the top of the dummy¡¯s head, leaving the shaft with red-and-white vanes sticking out.

    ¡°YEAH!¡± Borel cheered.  Gino clapped, and Massi slapped his back.  Renou smiled and pumped his fist in the air.

    Davod furrowed his brow, drew back his bow, and mocked us.  ¡°Trick shots, now?  What ever shall I do?¡±  Then he switched his bow to his right hand and drew back with his left, chuckled lightly, and popped an arrow into the dummy, looking at the rest of us with a wry grin.

    A shallow baritone spoke from behind me.  ¡°Impressive.¡±

    A man of middling years stood, resting his hands behind his back.  He was on the tall side of average and wore a white loincloth with silver embroidery around the edges leaving hard muscles exposed all over his body along with scars enough for a whole evening of stories.  About his belt on the right hung a knee-length scabbard with a handle that held a deep red gemstone, with another, smaller knife on the other side.  What struck me the most, though, was that his skin was yellow, his hair was short and dark bronze given to tight curls, and his eyes were black as pitch.

    Davod, Geraln, and I all glanced at one another; they¡¯d seen the same thing I saw.

    ¡°Don¡¯t let me stop you,¡± he said.  ¡°What¡¯s the pot?¡±

    Gino opened his fingers and showed him the coins.  ¡°Twenty-five kren.¡±

    The man pursed his lips and nodded.  Then he looked around at each of us.  ¡°Can¡¯t shoot far in here.¡±

    Most of us shrugged.  The man then stepped up to Geraln and looked directly at the creature, still perched on his shoulder.  She chirped as he came close, and he cooed, ¡°shumbudy¡¯sh found a friend!¡±

    Geraln spoke up to him.  ¡°Where are you from?¡±

    ¡°Here.¡±

    Davod followed up, ¡°no¡­ what¡¯s your ethnicity?¡±

    The man faced him and raised an eyebrow.  ¡°Hello, what¡¯s your name, how can I survive this place, where¡¯s the best place to eat, and why do the girls here keep rejecting me?  That''s such a good question; I''m glad you asked.  I enjoy long, moonlit walks on the beach, and my favorite color is yellow¡­ orange¡­ yellow-orange¡­ mango-colored, whatever that is.  Actually, forget the color; I just like mangoes.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s just,¡± I added, ¡°we knew a girl back home who looked like you, and we could never figure out¡­¡±

    ¡°Commander.¡±

    All of us glanced at one another.

    ¡°Or Sir, if that¡¯s easier.¡±

    I tried again.  ¡°Commander?¡±

    Commander faced Davod directly and spoke, ¡°Davod of Gath.¡±

    Davod stepped forward.  ¡°Yes, sir?¡±

    He pointed to a stone shed at the side of the training grounds.  ¡°In there you¡¯ll find more practice dummies.  Please bring one of them and meet us outside.¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir.¡±

    As Davod walked off, Massi snickered under his breath and squeaked out, ¡°errand boy!¡±

    ¡°Fetch!¡± Borel laughed with him.  Then, he slapped Renou¡¯s arm, and Renou let out a few chortles of his own.

    Without another word, Commander turned and made his way towards the gate.

    We walked in clusters.  Northstar and Rock each took one side of Kelint, while Massi, Jame, and Renou clustered around Borel. Geraln walked alongside me, as did Gino.  Borel turned to glance at Gino with an eyebrow raised, but Gino wasn¡¯t paying attention.  Rather, he stepped close to me and asked, ¡°when did you get here, man?¡±

    ¡°Yesterday.¡±

    ¡°You seen anything crazy yet?¡±  With that, he glanced up at the lizard, still riding on Geraln¡¯s shoulder.  I turned to face him with my eyes bulging wide.

    As we reached the gate, Commander stopped and came up to Geraln.  He then looked directly at the creature on his shoulder and cooed, ¡°you can¡¯t go out there.¡±

    She chirped.

    He scrunched up his voice and walked his words up and down the musical register.  ¡°No, you¡¯re jusht a baby.  You can¡¯t go out there.¡±

    She chirped again.

    ¡°Oh, no.  Your mommy would evisherate me if I let you go out there.¡±

    She tilted her head to the side.  Then he reached up and took hold of her tiny body, lifted her up and set her down on the ground.  She ran in a circle around Geraln¡¯s feet, then stopped, looked up at Geraln, and chipred.

    Commander knelt low and looked directly at her with a wide, warm smile.  ¡°No, you can¡¯t go out there.  You¡¯re jusht a baby!¡±

    If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

    She chirped again.

    As though she¡¯d walked among us the whole time, the much bigger lizard, the same one as before with the light brown color and black diamond-pattern over her back, reached her head down to usher the little one away.  Then, she stepped towards Geraln and sniffed him up and down, along his arms, his torso, his feet, then his neck.  He stood perfectly still with his hands at his side and watched her the whole time without changing the expression on his face.  Then, she turned her head to fix one eye on his face for a few seconds, turned, and walked off with the little one prancing around her feet.

    I turned to Gino, who¡¯d watched with his eyes wide and his jaw clenched.  ¡°You were asking if I¡¯d seen anything crazy, yet?¡±

    Gino turned to face me with his eyes even wider and spoke not a word.  Geraln and I laughed.

    After we made our way around the giant alligator, Borel turned to Massi and said something quietly, and the two of them giggled to one another.  Then, Massi took a few steps back towards the alligator, tiptoed close, reached out his foot, and tapped the beast at the back end of its mouth.  He jumped back fast, barely faster than the massive creature who turned in his direction and snapped its massive jaws at him.  Then he ran back towards us giggling and smiling wide.  He bobbed his shoulders back and forth, still grinning while Borel slapped his back, Jame grinned, and Renou gave an obligatory applause.

    Outside the gate, a dark-green woman with long, white hair tied in a ponytail at her back wearing nothing but a simple cotton loincloth tended four large bison as they grazed on the open field.  All of us stole more than a few glances at her bare chest.  Except Commander; every time I noticed his quiet presence, he was watching each of us closely, and every time my eyes found his, he was looking at me.

    Borel slapped Renou on his arm, ¡°like you got a shot, man!¡±

    Massi laughed, and Renou lowered his gaze after that.

    I spoke up.  ¡°Is that necessary?¡±

    Borel then looked me up and down with a smug expression all over his meaty face and spoke, ¡°I get more bitches than you!¡±

    Davod and Geraln glanced at one another and snorted a few chortles of laughter, but it was Gino who answered him.  ¡°Guess I should tell you why he got exiled from Kyoen, then.¡±

    I tried, ¡°Please don¡¯t¡­¡±

    Davod nearly tripped over his own laughter.  ¡°Wait, what?¡±  He turned to me.  ¡°You were exiled?¡±

    Geraln faced me directly.  ¡°You never mentioned that, man.¡±

    Gino nodded, ¡°over some hedonistic debauchery with twenty girls at the same time!¡±

    I felt my face turn red.  Borel and Massi glanced at one another before Borel turned back to Gino and smiled.  ¡°Bullshit!¡±

    Davod snickered and reached an arm over my shoulders.  ¡°You don''t know; this kid had four girls for Naveris!¡±

    Gino smiled and nodded.  ¡°Sounds about right.¡±

    I looked at Davod.  I wanted to clarify; it wasn''t like that, not in Kyoen, and not back home.  I wasn''t like that.  But I was afraid that trying to clarify what happened would only make things worse.  So I kept silent, hoping the conversation would move on.

    Eventually we stopped.  Commander looked around among us and settled his eyes on Borel.  ¡°Borel of Kyoen.¡±

    Borel stepped forward and nodded; it wasn''t lost on me that none of us had given this man our names.  He then handed Borel the practice dummy Davod had brought previously and pointed down the field towards the river, beside the trees.  ¡°Will you please set this up down there for us?¡±

    Borel then handed the dummy to Renou and swatted his back.  ¡°Go on, then.¡±

    The smaller man took it and ran off.  Borel watched, but Commander stared directly at him.  When Borel turned around with a smirk on his face, he saw Commander staring and glanced around before asking, ¡°what?¡±

    Commander answered.  ¡°¡®amu?axat?.¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s what she said about you¡ª¡®amu?axat?.¡±

    Borel looked left and right before coming back to Commander.  ¡°What¡¯s that mean?¡±

    Commander smiled.  ¡°You¡¯ll figure it out.¡±

    Borel furrowed his eyebrows and shrugged.

    With the dummy in place, we stood at one-hundred yards.  Davod, Kelint, Jame, and I all made our shots easily.  Commander walked us out to a hundred-fifty, when Davod protested, ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but isn¡¯t this a waste of time?  Let¡¯s go back another hundred.¡±

    The rest of us nodded.  Commander laughed, then looked at the four of us with a smile.

    We got to two-fifty, and Davod grinned.  He stepped to the line, drew back his bow, and let his arrow sail.  It arched up, turned down, and nailed the dummy.

    I stepped forward and drew.

    Geraln needled me, ¡°watch out for a crosswind.¡±

    ¡°Be quiet!¡± I snapped, then loosed.  My arrow also found its mark.

    Kelint smirked.  ¡°You didn¡¯t call headshot.¡±

    ¡°I was aiming for the head.¡±

    ¡°Bullshit.¡±  Kelint humphed, stepped forward, and turned to face me.  ¡°Headshot.¡±  Then he loosed and nailed the dummy in the head, right next to my arrow.

    Kelint turned to Jame of Kyoen.  ¡°What have you got?¡±

    Jame sucked his teeth and called out, ¡°neck shot,¡± and loosed.  When his arrow came down, the broadhead sliced right through the burlap connecting the head to the body, decapitating the poor thing.  We all watched as the small brown padded thing with two long shafts protruding from it dropped to the ground.

    Jame then looked at Kelint with a smug grin, and Borel pumped his fist while Massi smiled and nodded, and Renou applauded quietly.

    We stepped back to three-hundred yards.  Kelint, Jame, and I all perforated the poor dummy easily.  When it was Davod¡¯s turn, his arrow sailed, then snagged on the edge of the burlap, swung around, and hung loose from a flap of fabric.

    Jame smirked.  ¡°Looks like you¡¯re out!¡±

    Geraln spoke up for him.  ¡°He hit it.¡±

    Borel spoke up.  ¡°He just grazed it.  That¡¯s a miss.¡±

    Massi echoed.  ¡°A miss for the Mrs.¡±

    I chimed in.  ¡°It¡¯s a hit.  You can see it from here.¡±

    Borel shook his head and stood smug with his arms crossed.  ¡°Graze don¡¯t count.  He missed it.¡±

    I glanced at Commander, who stood with his hands clasped behind his back, passing his eyes around the group of us as the situation escalated.  He didn¡¯t look at whoever was speaking, though.  Rather, he watched everyone else as they spoke.

    Davod nodded, then took a deep breath and passed his bow to Geraln.  Then he unsheathed his sword and tossed it to the ground behind him, turned to Borel and answered.  ¡°I hit the fucking thing.¡±

    Borel stepped up to him.  ¡°No, you didn¡¯t.¡±

    While everyone else stepped back, Massi stepped up and stood beside Borel, waving his hand about as if to usher Davod off.  ¡°You fucking missed it, hillbilly.  Go have a sob, now.¡±

    I handed my bow to Geraln as well, tossed my own sword on the ground beside Davod¡¯s, and came up to stand next to him.  ¡°He hit it.¡±

    Massi fixed his eyes on me and chewed his jaw about.  The scar that split his left eyebrow twitched, and he reached his right hand slightly behind him, where he¡¯d kept a knife in a sheath strapped around his thigh.

    My heart set to thundering.  My skin crawled.  My breath quickened.  The four of us stood, faces within inches of one another, and I could smell Massi¡¯s breath amid the sweat, and for a moment I forgot about the humidity.  Davod and Borel spoke not a word to one another, but Massi twitched his lip and taunted, ¡°come on!¡±

    I kept one eye on the knife and envisioned in my mind that I could kick it from him before it became a problem.  Geraln¡¯s voice came from behind me, talking to Commander.  ¡°You going to do something about this?¡±

    I heard Commander reply through a satisfied grin.  ¡°Nope.¡±

    I couldn¡¯t say how many seconds passed, when I heard Jame speak next.  ¡°I can beat this yokel.¡±

    Borel licked his lips but didn¡¯t break eye contact with Davod.  ¡°What¡¯s that?¡±

    Jame answered.  ¡°Let him keep the hit.  I¡¯ll still beat him.¡±

    At that, Everyone turned to face him.  Borel then returned his attention to Davod and stepped back, holding his hands out.  ¡°Fine.¡±

    ¡°Come on!¡± Massi grinned in protest.  ¡°I was just about to have some fun!¡±

    Borel tapped his friend¡¯s shoulder.  ¡°It¡¯s good; we¡¯re all on the same side.  Right?¡±

    Davod nodded.  ¡°Something like that.¡±

    As we stepped back further, Borel shoved Renou in his chest, almost knocking him over.  ¡°Pussy.¡±

    At three-hundred-twenty yards, Davod stepped up for the first shot.  We were all covered in sweat from the heat, and Davod was no different.  But I looked close, and his fingers trembled.  I glanced at Commander, who gave no tell as to what he was thinking, but his eyes were on Davod¡¯s fingers as well.  As he drew back his bow, he took in a deep breath but his rhythm wasn¡¯t right.  His fingers continued to tremble as he took aim, and when he loosed, his arrow fell to the ground a foot short of the dummy.

    Davod winced, let out a deep breath, and stretched out his fingers.  Borel smiled and chuckled lightly to himself, and Jame spoke to his friend.  ¡°Told you.¡±

    Then Jame stepped up and drew back, loosed, and buried his arrow in the practice dummy.  Kelint did the same.  When it was my turn, I heard a kissing noise; it was Massi grinning at me.

    Borel added, ¡°don¡¯t choke on it, man!¡±

    ¡°Sorry,¡± I answered them both.  ¡°You¡¯re not my type.¡±  Then I hit the dummy right next to the other arrows.

    Geraln shouted, ¡°yes!¡± while Davod patted my arm.

    At three-hundred-forty yards, Kelint stepped up, took his shot, looked at me, and yawned as his arrow popped into the dummy.  Jame went next.  He drew, then shouted, ¡°FUCK!¡± as soon as he loosed.  As his arrow came down, a light breeze carried it a foot to the left.

    Kelint glanced at me with a wry grin.  ¡°Your shot.¡±

    I stepped up, but then as Jame went back to stand beside Borel, Borel pushed him hard, throwing him to the ground.

    Jame looked up at him and protested.  ¡°What the fuck, man?¡±

    Borel sucked his teeth and let out a deep breath, then turned as if to walk off.  Massi pressed his hand into Borel¡¯s chest and spoke softly to him, and Borel then stood staring at me with his arms crossed.

    Geraln spoke, ¡°come on, Caleb, you got this!¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± I shrugged.  I pulled back and took aim.  Then I heard a whooping noise as Massi jeered in my direction.  I ignored him and loosed, and my arrow found its mark right next to Kelint¡¯s.

    Davod pointed at Borel with a big smile on his face.  ¡°You see that?  That¡¯s my man!¡±

    At three-hundred-fifty yards, as Gino dug a line in the grass with his boot, I felt something on my shoulder.  I turned, and it was a vita¡¯o lizard, three yards in length with a blue stripe running from his eye down the length of his body to the end of his tail.  My heart stabbed me with the shock of his sudden presence, and Blue looked at me and let out a guttural caw followed by several clicks.

    ¡°Don¡¯t pull a weapon, Caleb!¡± Geraln reminded me.

    I looked at my bow.  ¡°I literally already have a weapon in my hand.¡±

    ¡°Well, then¡­¡± he shrugged.  ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±

    I stood perfectly still hoping, against what I already knew full well, that his presence had nothing to do with the fact that I''d been looking over his rider earlier.

    Borel grinned wide.  ¡°You going to take your shot, man?¡±

    Massi let out a light chuckle to go with it.

    Blue stepped close, curled his long neck, and turned one eye towards me.

    ¡°I''ll leave her alone, I swear it!  I won''t talk to her again!¡±

    Blue turned his head one-eighty to face downrange, opened his jaws, and clicked.

    ¡°Wait,¡± Massi said, nearly giggling.  ¡°That¡¯s the same one that girl was riding, the one who asked our names when we came down from the pass.  This is the guy that earned us that little speech from the Marquis!¡±

    Jame looked at him.  ¡°No¡­ wait, what?¡±

    ¡°Think about it!¡± Massi added.

    Borel snickered, ¡°did you say something to that girl?¡±

    Davod cleared his throat and stifled a laugh, and Geraln answered him. ¡°He may have said something to her.¡±

    Borel chuckled heartily. ¡°I underestimated you, man!  Go on and take your shot!¡±

    Massi added, cackling, ¡°wouldn''t be the first miss since he got here!¡±

    Davod chuckled, but Blue raised his head up and rubbed against my cheek.  Surprisingly, I didn''t feel like I was being threatened.  Rather, Blue turned the side of his head back towards me, opened his jaws, and let out a string of clicks.

    Unsure what else to do, I squared up to the line and drew back my bow.  Blue took a step back, and I breathed in and aimed.

    ¡°Come on, Caleb!¡± Davod muttered. ¡°You got this!¡±

    I took a second to guess at the strength of the breeze downrange, began my exhale, and loosed.  Immediately, Blue stood tall and craned his neck up all the way, watching as my arrow sailed down and perforated the dummy¡¯s heart.

    ¡°YEAH!¡± Geraln shouted.  Davod pumped his fist, and even Jame nodded and clapped.  Loudest of all was Blue, who hopped from one foot to the other vigorously and cawed, then let out a string of clicks before bumping his body into me.  My heart began to relax, and I couldn¡¯t help but smile at him.

    Kelint stepped up and pursed his lips with a firm nod.  He pursed his lips and looked at Blue as he spoke to me.  ¡°Nice shot.  No one in Ulum could beat me at three-fifty.  Very nice.¡±

    Then he drew back, took aim, and loosed.  His arrow, too, buried in the dummy right next to mine.  He, Rock, and Northstar clasped hands and danced around in a circle while chanting something in Saeni.

    We stepped back to three-hundred-sixty yards, where Gino cut a line in the grass once more.  I''d never shot that distance.

    Geraln patted my arm, while Davod slapped my back.  I looked at Blue, who cawed and rested his head on my shoulder, curled his long neck around mine, and let out several clicks.

    ¡°Alright, then,¡± I told him.

    Blue stood perfectly still and watched as I drew, took aim, exhaled, and loosed.  Then he lifted his head, and I could feel Davod beside me gritting his teeth.  When my arrow fell, it clattered against the wooden post that held the dummy and ricocheted a few feet to the right.

    Blue squawked, I shook my head.

    ¡°It doesn''t count!¡± Borel shouted.

    Davod shot back, ¡°he still grazed it!¡±

    Jame held his hands up and stepped between them.  ¡°It''s not a hit, but it''s not a clean miss, either.  Kelint has to at least graze it.¡±

    He then looked around at each of us for agreement.  Borel nodded, as did Davod.  I nodded and looked at Kelint.

    Kelint nodded as well, ¡°that''s fair.¡±

    Rock stood behind him, knife-handing his shoulders while Northstar rubbed his arms.  Then, he stepped up to the line.  Everyone else was silent while he raised his bow and drew back.  Then, before he loosed, he turned and spoke to me.  ¡°How come I never saw you in Heralia City?¡±

    ¡°The old friar forbade me to compete.¡±

    ¡°That''s a shame.¡±

    With that, he loosed.  Right away, he pumped his fist and shouted, ¡°YEAH!¡±

    His arrow sailed, and then popped dead center into the dummy''s heart.

    Rock cheered, Northstar clapped, and the two of them lifted Kelint on their shoulders while Gino handed him the twenty-five kren.

 A Friend Like Chirpy

    I couldn''t tell the time for the thick clouds overhead, but the day¡¯s training was over and all of us were drenched in sweat with hardly an exertion.  That baby vita¡¯o lizard creature thing ran up to Geraln and circled around at his feet, and he picked her up and put her back on his shoulder.  ¡°Here you go, Chirpy.¡±

    She rubbed her tiny head in his cheek.

    ¡°Chirpy?¡± I asked.

    Geraln answered, but his attention was on her.  ¡°They haven¡¯t given her a name yet; I¡¯m just calling her that for now.¡±

    Davod furrowed his brow.  Kelint, Rock, and Northstar had gone off to spend the money, and the five men from Kyoen looked on in disbelief.

    As we gathered in the practice yard, Ales emerged from the medical ward with a smile on his face.  I ran up and gave him an effusive hug.

    ¡°Ouch!¡± he cried.

    ¡°Sorry.  I can¡¯t believe you¡¯re alive, man!  You should be dead right now!¡±

    He smirked, ¡°well fuck you too, man!¡±

    ¡°Consider me fucked, then!¡±  I couldn¡¯t help but chuckle.  I looked all over his face.  His cheeks were flush, his heavy brow and deep-set eyes peered back at me, and his strong lips fixed in a solid grin.  ¡°I¡¯m glad you''re alive, but it''s still a miracle.¡±

    Geraln spoke between us, ¡°maybe, Caleb, you don¡¯t know everything you think you know.¡±

    His imp chirped in agreement.

    Massi stepped close to join us; the scars that split his eyebrows glistened of sweat.  ¡°Yeah, man.  He got stabbed; what¡¯s the big deal?¡±

    I turned to him.  ¡°Do you know what sepsis is?¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± Massi grinned.  ¡°Is she pretty?¡±

    The others laughed.  They didn¡¯t know.  How could I explain?  The friar in Ulum had said gebu¡¯i could cure the lover¡¯s pox; he didn¡¯t say anything about sepsis, and none of these men had the slightest idea how revolutionary that was.  Revolutionary was an understatement.  Everything I knew¡ªeverything I thought I knew¡ªwas turned upside-down the moment I saw Ales emerge from the medical ward.  If the secret got out, millions upon millions of lives could be spared.

    The old woman at the apothecary was right¡ªgebu¡¯i was a miracle.

    A man came from around the building and approached us, and Massi¡¯s eyes shifted from Chirpy to him for a moment.  He was a native¡ªaverage height with exceedingly dark green skin, long white hair, and bright yellow eyes.  He was about our age, I guessed, with a sturdy, muscular build and wore nothing but a black silk rectangle for a loincloth embroidered in gold thread with the image of a snake fighting an alligator.  As he approached, his bright yellow eyes bulged for a moment as he looked at me, Geraln, and Davod, then back to me again.  Then, he shook his head vigorously and faced Davod.  ¡°Davod of Gath.¡±

    Davod stepped forward.  ¡°I am he.¡±

    ¡°??si xe?ise¡­ dowa ??gosa peyumi¡±

    Davod raised one corner of his lips and looked at me with his brow furrowed.  I shrugged.

    Faren answered him with a smooth vibe.  ¡°??si means please, and se is you.  So he¡¯s asking you to do something.  I think.¡±

    Geraln added, ¡°se is the subject form of you, sa is the object form.  dowa is want¡­ uh¡­ that¡¯s all I got.¡±

    I gaped at how much those two knew already; I was falling behind.  The man passed his eyes back and forth between Geraln and myself, then faced Davod and repeated in Herali with a fluency as though he¡¯d been born in the mountains alongside us.  ¡°Please come.  Peyumi wants to speak with you.¡±

    ¡°I knew all that,¡± I said.  ¡°I was waiting to see if you two would figure it out.¡±

    Faren chuckled.  Geraln shook his head and smiled.  ¡°You¡¯re lagging.  I¡¯m disappointed.¡±

    A hiss filled my ears, and I turned to face it.  Massi¡¯s eyes were wide and fixated on Chirpy.  By the time I looked, he¡¯d snapped his hand back from her tiny jaws.

    Geraln shifted his body to move the shoulder she sat upon to the opposite side.  ¡°She doesn¡¯t like that.¡±

    ¡°Come on!¡± he said, then shuffled around Geraln to come over to her side.  Geraln kept turning to avoid him while she dug her tiny claws into his shoulder strap and her legs trembled.  Massi grinned wide and lifted his finger again, and started moving it closer to her body.  She hissed at him and snapped her jaws next to his hand once more.

    Our visitor looked squarely at Massi.  ¡°I wouldn¡¯t do that.¡±

    ¡°Aww, I''m just playing,¡± Massi pursed his lips and turned to face Borel, who stood smiling with his arms crossed next to Jame, who was busy inspecting the arrows he¡¯d recovered from our little tournament.

    As Davod left with the man.  Geraln had stepped away from Massi to unstring his bow, and we all thought Massi was finished, when instead he once again crept close to Geraln and shot his finger up to poke Chirpy in the side.  But before he could pull his hand away, she whipped her neck around and clamped her jaws around his finger.

    ¡°AAAAAAAAHHHHH!¡± Massi screamed.

    Geraln snapped at him, ¡°serves you right!¡±

    But as Massi tried to pull his hand away, Chirpy didn¡¯t let go.  Blood began to trickle down his finger and over his wrist.  He tried jerking away, but she¡¯d latched on tight.  More blood flowed from his finger.  He shouted at her, ¡°FUCKING LET GO!¡±

    But she didn¡¯t.

    He tried waving his hand back and forth; that didn¡¯t work.  Instead, blood poured out from his finger where she¡¯d latched on; the more he moved about, the worse it got.  ¡°LET GO!¡±

    Geraln tried to pull away, but she held on tight.  Massi yanked, trying to pull his finger, only for more blood to squirt out.  Chirpy dug her claws deep into Geraln¡¯s shoulder strap and wouldn¡¯t let go.

    ¡°COME ON!¡±  Massi slapped her head hard, and more blood flowed down his wrist and all over his arm.

    A loud shriek bellowed across the training ground, and at once everyone¡¯s attention was turned towards the administration building from where emerged Chirpy¡¯s mother, who then took several strides towards him.  Men pacing the ramparts turned to watch, others in the practice yard stopped and looked our way, and two figures appeared on the balcony.  Not three yards from where Massi stood struggling with the baby, a large brown lizard with a black diamond pattern on her back roared out.

    Chirpy released him and pointed her head towards the ground.  Geraln knelt low, she then jumped off his shoulder and scurried over to her mother.

    ¡°FUCK!¡± Massi screamed and looked longingly at his finger where the skin had been shredded and blood oozed out.  Borel and Jame stood laughing at him, while Geraln merely shook his head.  I opened my field kit and started towards him.

    Mum lowered her head to receive her child and turned away to usher her off.  She''d made it three steps when Massi screeched out, ¡°I¡¯m gonna kill that fucking thing!¡±

    Immediately, mum turned back around and crouched on all fours, coiled her neck and hissed hard at him.  She hissed and hissed again, snapping her teeth and pawing at the ground with her forelimbs.

    Everyone backed away, myself included.  Jame blurted out, ¡°I think she heard you.¡±

    ¡°No shit!¡±

    Mum lifted one paw up and stretched out her claws, then bared her teeth and hissed again.  She continued to step, crouching low to the ground and coiling her neck, and hissed hard at him again.

    Massi fixed his eyes on her completely and reached his bloodied hand behind his right thigh where his knife awaited.  Then, no sooner than he could unsheath the blade, she pounced.

    It happened so fast.  With all four legs, she launched herself at him, snapping her neck out and clamping her teeth around his throat.  She knocked him clean onto his back and passed over him, moving her whole body away as he swung his knife around.  Then, with a few rapid shakes of her head, she sliced through his throat and ran off.

    Massi lay on the ground with a gaping mass of torn skin, broken sinew, and scraps of connective tissue where his throat had been.  A geyser of blood sprayed out from the base of his neck and flooded the ground about his head.  He opened his mouth and his chest heaved, only for another splattering of blood to spray out from the gaping hole where his trachea used to be.

    ¡°MASSI!¡± Borel ran up to him with Jame in tow.

    His chest heaved several times in rapid succession, only for more blood to spray from the wound.  His body turned to the side, but his head flopped about while gallons of blood flooded the grass beneath him.  His eyes and mouth gaped, and he reached trembling fingers up to the hole, covering them with blood as well, and his whole body tensed.  His chest heaved, and another geyser of blood sprayed out in response.

    I couldn¡¯t move.  I couldn''t turn away.  I couldn''t blink, and I could scarcely breathe.

    Massi¡¯s body jerked, more blood poured out from him, and his eyes blinked only to open wide once more.  Borel knelt beside him with his hands over his body, his fingers trembling hard.  He cried, ¡°what the fuuuuuuuuuck!¡±

    Massi¡¯s mouth gaped.  He tried to close it somewhat, only for it to open once more.  His body jerked and rolled onto his back, and once more his head flopped around.

    Borel looked at me and screamed.  ¡°AREN¡¯T YOU A MEDIC?  DO SOMETHING!!!¡±

    ¡°The fuck,¡± I said.  ¡°You want me to put some ice on it?¡±

    The pool of blood beneath Massi¡¯s head had saturated his hair and the grass all around for several feet, and his spasms began to abate.  He continued to move his jaw up and down while his eyes stared blankly into the cloudy sky, the blood pouring out from his body devolved to a trickle.  The spasms grew weak and infrequent.

    ¡°No¡­¡± Borel whimpered and stroked his friend¡¯s face.  ¡°What the hell, man?  Not like this!¡±

    Geraln slipped away.  I caught sight of him just as he dipped behind the medical ward, and decided to rush after him.  As I turned the corner, I saw him leaning his back against the stone building, looking at nothing in particular while breathing heavily.

    Behind me, I heard someone heave.  Gino had doubled over, clasped his knees, and wretched, leaving a pool of yellow sludge with bits of partially-digested food on the grass.  I couldn¡¯t breathe.  When I turned back to Geraln, he¡¯d turned and started walking away again.

    ¡°Geraln!  Wait!¡±

    He turned and shouted at me, ¡°HE ASKED FOR IT!¡± but his hands trembled hard.

    Behind me, Gino was still doubled over, coughing and heaving out the last of whatever had been in his stomach.  ¡°What the fuck just happened??¡±

    Geraln got angry and pointed at me.  ¡°He fucking asked for it!  He fucking asked for it!  He FUCKING ASKED for it!¡±

    ¡°Yeah, man,¡± I assured him.  ¡°Sure he did.¡±

    At that, Geraln squeezed his eyes shut and gritted his teeth.  Tears flowed down his chubby cheeks.

    I felt Gino¡¯s hand on my shoulder.  His eyes were wide with panic, and his whole body heaved up and down with every breath.  Then he scrunched his eyes and turned away, bared his teeth, and tried to shake it off.  ¡°Gods!  What the fuck, man!¡±

    My voice wavered as I tried to speak.  ¡°Let¡¯s¡­ let¡¯s just sit down a moment.¡±

    Geraln¡¯s chest heaved and he shook, but he nodded, as did Gino.  We tucked into the corner behind a wooden shed of sorts, with the front end open filled with food scraps and covered in fuzzy green mold.  I peeked all around us but didn¡¯t see any of the other men.

    I closed my eyes.  Then, unable to get the image of Massi¡¯s gaping neck out of my mind, I opened them again and watched my fingers shake.  She¡¯d sliced right through the Orca tattoo on his neck, leaving a bloody mass of ripped flesh behind.  It all happened so fast.

    The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

    Gino had pulled his knees up to his chest, buried his face in his hands, and whimpered, then turned to the side and wretched again.  Geraln leaned back against the stone wall with his eyes glazed open and looking off in the distance, when we heard a familiar chirp.

    The little green baby was back, standing next to Geraln on her gangly legs, looking up at him, and chirped again.

    Geraln looked at her and swallowed.  Gino gazed at her with his eyes bulged, and his chin trembled.  I looked as well, while Chirpy gazed up at Geraln and chirped again.

    He then wiped the sweat from his brow and took in a deep breath while looking down at her.  ¡°What now?¡±

    She chirped.

    Geraln stared at her.  He blinked several times in rapid succession, then stood.  She scampered around his feet, looked up at him, and chirped again.  Then, he reached down to pick her up, and set her back on his shoulder.

    ¡°You can¡¯t be serious!¡± I said.

    Chirpy rubbed her head in his cheek.

    Gino looked at me with his eyes wide, and we both stood.  ¡°Your friend is insane!  After what just happened¡­¡±

    Geraln tilted his head into her for her to rub his cheek again, closed his eyes, and answered.  ¡°It¡¯s not her fault.¡±

    ¡°Like that matters!¡± I nearly shouted.

    Geraln opened his eyes and looked at me directly.  ¡°She¡¯s bonded to me.  I don¡¯t know why, but she is.  If I took that away from her now, after what just happened, I think that would damage her.¡±

    Gino answered, ¡°it¡¯s an animal.¡±

    ¡°In case you haven¡¯t noticed,¡± Geraln continued, ¡°they¡¯re intelligent, emotional creatures with strong instincts for social connection.  Chirpy needs to know that I still accept her.¡±

    Gino shook his head.  ¡°How can you trust them?  She¡­ the other one¡­ you saw what she did!¡±

    ¡°I agree,¡± I said.  ¡°How are we supposed to manage when that shit just happens randomly¡­¡±

    ¡°It wasn''t random,¡± Geraln reached his hand up to stroke Chirpy''s neck.  ¡°Generally speaking, taunting a baby whose mother is a four-hundred pound apex predator is not a good idea.¡±

    My mouth gaped, and Gino and I looked at one another in disbelief.

    ¡°Point is¡­¡± Geraln shook his head and took in a deep breath, blowing it out slowly.

    Gino pursed his lips.

    I looked at him.

    Geraln continued.  ¡°These people¡­ the Na¡¯uhui¡­ they grew up here.  Look at them; they act like nothing¡¯s amiss.  The vita''o aren''t fenced in; they can go wherever they want, and no one here is afraid of them.  Why should we be?¡±

    Gino asserted his chin towards him.  ¡°Because we just watched a guy get his throat ripped out?  That sort of thing makes me afraid.¡±

    Geraln shrugged.  ¡°They told us, don''t pull a weapon.  Massi went for his knife.  If he hadn''t¡­ I don''t know, she was pretty upset at him, but maybe we''d have been able to talk sense into the situation.  Maybe.¡±

    I shook my head; I had my own liver to worry about.  ¡°I don¡¯t know, man.  I just don¡¯t know.¡±

    ¡°Come on,¡± Geraln said, then turned away.

    ¡°Where are you going?¡± I said.

    ¡°Away from here.  I¡¯d like to avoid those other Kyoni if I can.¡±  With that, he shot a glare at Gino for a moment.

    Gino excused himself.  ¡°Borel, Massi, and Jame grew up together; I only met them the day I was called.  Same with Renou.¡±

    With that, Geraln nodded and wandered towards the old city while Gino and I followed.  We soon came to the library, and while Gino marveled at the place, Geraln approached a cart on the street opposite the building where an old native woman was selling bright-green coconuts.  Before he could reach her, a cute young Tobori woman with alabaster skin and a number branded into her arm wearing nothing but a black silk loincloth with small tassels at the hem approached him and cooed, ¡°oooooooh, she adorable!¡±

    Chirpy looked at the woman and tilted her head some.

    The woman smiled.  ¡°So cute!¡±

    She¡¯d tied her wavy golden hair in the back, allowing Gino to stare at her bare breasts.  His eyes traversed up and down her body and he grinned.  I could tell he tried to fight it, but he glanced at me and blushed.

    The woman curled her voice up and spoke to Chirpy, ¡°hi there!¡± before turning to Geraln.  ¡°What you name?¡±

    ¡°Geraln of Gath¡­¡±

    Another woman approached, ¡°awwwwww!¡±

    This one was a native whose bare chest wore a necklace of silver threads woven in the shape of a spider¡¯s web.  Geraln passed his eyes back and forth between them and smiled nervously before glancing over at me with the two women fawning over the friend perched on his shoulder.  I couldn¡¯t help but laugh that off.

    The Tobori woman spoke, ¡°I Sarewisa.¡±

    The native woman nodded and batted her eyelids slowly, showing silver eyeshadow.  ¡°gu¡¯emide.¡±

    ¡°Uh¡­¡± Geraln answered.

    The two of them glanced at one another briefly and smiled back at him.  Sarewisa continued, ¡°maybe if you like you to help at us, yes?¡±

    Geraln shrugged.  ¡°I suppose?¡±

    ¡°We want sibling me and Gu¡¯emi.  You give us this, yes?¡±

    It took a while for what she was asking to register in his mind, but I could see the moment he figured it out.  His whole face turned red and he pulled back.  ¡°Uh¡­ uh¡­ I¡­ I can''t. Right now.  I can''t talk right now.  I''m sorry.¡±

    ¡°Think about it,¡± Sarewisa pursed her lips and pointed at one of the grassy dome clusters to our left.  ¡°We live there.¡±

    With that, the two women said goodbye to Chirpy and walked off.  Gino¡¯s eyes followed the Tobori woman while Geraln stood like a statue with his eyes wide.

    ¡°You alright?¡± I asked him.

    ¡°Did they¡­ were they offering¡­¡±

    Gino rested his hand on Geraln''s left shoulder, keeping himself opposite the finger-snatcher.  ¡°Yes, man.  You heard it right.¡±

    ¡°I just watched a man die, and then two random women walked up to me¡­ offering¡­¡± he swallowed and shook his head vigorously.  Then with a quick glance at the direction they¡¯d gone off to, Geraln approached the coconut vendor.  She was a stout old woman wearing an embroidered cotton loincloth, leaving her wrinkled, sagging breasts out in the open.  As he came close, she looked at us with a warm smile less a few teeth.

    Geraln spoke, ¡°zhipi pozu¡­ uh¡­¡±

    The old woman nodded to Chirpy, laughed, and sounded it out slowly for him.  ¡°??-p? ko-ka-?o po-z?.¡±

    Geraln repeated it a few times.  After he¡¯d gotten it down, she smiled and nodded.  ¡°zadu¦È?pi¡­ Haff kren.¡±

    He took two metallic-red quarters from his purse and handed them to her.  ¡°Zaduthupi?  That¡¯s half a kren?¡±

    The old woman smiled and selected a prime coconut for him, then held up a knife to chop it open.  ¡°za is piece, make fraction.  ¦È? is number thing.  Two-piece, one of them.  zadu¦È?pi, one-haff.  Here you go!¡±

    ¡°??v?desa,¡± he smiled.

    The green globe was chopped at one end, leaving a brown circle about an inch wide with a layer of white coconut meat on the inside surrounding a pool of fresh juice.  Geraln lifted it to his mouth and tilted it up for a drink, and then he held it up for Chirpy.  The creature brought her nose close to it, stretched out her tongue to taste it, and then dove her whole head into the thing only to lift up after several seconds and allow coconut water to drip down her neck and dive in for more.

    Geraln laughed lightly to himself, and then continued his way across the street to the library as though Gino and I weren¡¯t even there.

    Inside, an older Goloagi woman, naked as everyone else but with a number branded into each arm, sat at the water organ plinking a melody that echoed off the stone walls and filled the space with music.  Gino gaped at the majesty of the second and third-story balconies overlooking the central area beside the front desk flooded in multicolored light coming through massive stained-glass windows.  I nudged him in the side.  ¡°They have a whole section dedicated to illegal books upstairs!¡±

    Geraln turned towards us and pointed down one of the halls on the ground floor.  ¡°I¡¯m going to look over there.  I¡¯ll meet you two back here?¡±

    ¡°Alright,¡± I said.

    Gino followed me up the curved staircase and down the hall past iron sconces embedded in the stone walls, past balconies with gorgeous half-naked women reading to the view of the towering walls of the inner sanctum beyond.  I led him to the forbidden books section and directly to the shelf where the most forbidden of tomes had rested the day prior.

    But it wasn¡¯t there.

    ¡°What are you looking for?¡± Gino asked with his eyes surveying the numerous titles in that section.

    ¡°Indictment.¡±

    He pulled his face back and opened his eyes wide.  ¡°No way!  It¡¯s here?¡±

    ¡°I saw it yesterday; I held it in my hands.¡±

    His eyes went wide and his cheeks flushed.  ¡°The Indictment.  They have a copy here, in Carthia?¡±

    ¡°The one and only!  Someone must have checked it out, though.¡±

    ¡°Damn,¡± he shook his head.  ¡°Something always burned me about that book¡­¡±

    That made me laugh.

    Gino giggled and smiled wide. ¡°Why does it have to be checked out?  I feel like that¡¯s cruelty beyond measure.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± I shook my head, ¡°but when I find out who took it¡­¡±

    Gino laughed and began to look around at some of the other titles.  ¡°Oh,¡± his eyes found something.  ¡°What¡¯s this?¡±

    He pulled a brown, leather-bound tome from the shelf.  Imperial Caste.

    ¡°You''ll probably get locked in the tower for reading that.¡±

    He smiled and leafed open the front cover.  I, on the other hand, found a tome of black pages written in white ink with vertical stick-like letters and picked that up.

    ¡°What''s that?¡± Gino asked.

    I shrugged.  ¡°I dunno, but I''m going to read it.¡±

    ¡°Can you read that?¡± he smirked.

    ¡°This is the language the natives here speak.  I saw a pronunciation guide downstairs by the front desk.¡±

    Gino laughed and shook his head.  On several pages were drawings of plants and animals, and many of the words were separated by lines and grouped into boxes.  ¡°It¡¯s probably a cook book.¡±

    I laughed.  ¡°Whatever it is, the Sweu¡¯oni banned it, or it wouldn¡¯t be here.  Anyway, I have to do something; you heard my friend Geraln with the coconut vendor.  I''m falling behind.¡±

    Downstairs, we approached the desk to check out our books when I heard a woman¡¯s voice to my side.  ¡°New man!¡±

    It was one of the women who¡¯d greeted me from the second floor balcony as Faren and I came out of the church.  She was average height and wore a white silk loincloth with a circle pattern embroidered in black and gold thread that didn''t even come down mid-thigh.  I was still getting used to this¡ªshe wore nothing else beyond a necklace of silver chain with a pendant of a silver claw holding a teardrop ruby to dangle between her bare breasts.

    She put a finger beneath my chin to lift my gaze to her face.  ¡°What I¡¯m?¡±

    ¡°Trouble.  You¡¯re trouble.¡±

    Her face was round with flat cheeks and doe eyes, and she¡¯d pulled her long, white hair behind her shoulders, but what captivated me the most were her large, flat lips which she cracked open in a smile and spoke with a delicious accent.  ¡°I¡¯m trouble?  And what does this make you?¡±

    ¡°Lost,¡± I fought back a smile.  ¡°My friend Gino and I, we¡¯re so new.  We only just arrived here, we don¡¯t know the language, and we don¡¯t know where anything is.  I wish we had someone to¡­¡±

    Suddenly, she looked off to her left and gasped.  She then stepped away from me and right up to Geraln, gazed up at Chirpy, and cooed.  ¡°zawa!  ??d? ??d? ??d? ?e¦Èu?ise!  Awwww.¡±

    I froze, unsure what to make of that.  Gino stood with one eyebrow raised and watched silently as the woman held up her wrist for Chirpy to sniff.  She chirped at her, and the woman then rubbed a finger under her chin.

    ¡°I¡¯m S?wi,¡± she turned to Geraln.  ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡±

    ¡°Geraln of Gath.¡±

    ¡°Gath,¡± she repeated.  ¡°That¡¯s in Osenia?¡±

    I asked, ¡°you''ve been there?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± she glanced at me briefly before returning her attention back to Geraln.  ¡°I hear the whole side of the mountain sparkles, that the wind passes over the trees like a wave of glitter¡¯n the sun.¡±

    Geraln explained, ¡°that¡¯s the diamond trees.  It¡¯s only like that in early spring; the sap exudes from tiny fractures in the bark and hardens in the winter.¡±

    ¡°It sounds beautiful.¡±

    ¡°Not as beautiful as you,¡± I quipped.

    S?wi scrunched up her eyebrows at me and turned back to Geraln.  ¡°He¡¯s always like this?¡±

    He and Gino answered her in unison, ¡°yes.¡±

    ¡°That''s what you¡¯re reading?¡±

    Geraln looked at the book in his hand and blushed.  Principles of Vapor Mechanics.  ¡°Hehe¡­ it''s not supposed to be.  I¡­ I came in here to look for a story book or¡­ something for my friend, here.¡±  Chirpy held still during their conversation, turning her head so as to keep one eye on each of them.  ¡°I mean¡­ I was looking at this one for a little bit, and she just¡­ started getting excited.  I''ve no idea why.¡±

    S?wi smiled.  ¡°She wants t¡¯read what interests you.  Tell me, this¡¯s physical science; you''re an intellectual?¡±

    ¡°Uh¡­¡± Geraln brushed his fingers through his hair.  I¡¯d never seen a girl¡­ or a woman act that way around him before.

    I answered for him.  ¡°He won the knowledge tournament for the entire Duchy last winter.¡±

    He blushed and lowered his eyes.  ¡°I took third.¡±

    S?wi smiled wide at that and rested her hand on his arm.  ¡°You should know that Carthia women love intellectual men.¡±

    ¡°Oh, really?¡±

    ¡°Of course!  I like t¡¯have something interesting t¡¯talk about besides how pretty he thinks I¡¯m.¡±

    Of course.  Geraln asked, ¡°do you mind if I ask, what do you¡­ uh¡­ what do you do here?¡±

    ¡°Of course I don¡¯t mind!  I¡¯m inspector.  Ships come in, I inspect.  They go out, I inspect.  Most of what I do¡¯s counting things.  Very exciting.  What about you?  You''re what kind of man before you came here?¡±

    Geraln looked at me briefly; I could see his heart fluttering through his flush cheeks.  ¡°I uh¡­ I read a lot.  Mostly I cook diamond tree stones while I try to figure out what I want to do.¡±

    ¡°Cook?¡± she asked.

    ¡°Yeah.  The raw sap dissolves in water, so they have to be stabilized.  Basically that means cooked in fine sand with lye, chalk, some other minerals.  Every family has their own secret recipe, and it¡¯s a very delicate process.  The temperature has to be just right¡­¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± I still tried to insert myself into the conversation though it was clear where things were going.  ¡°I burnt mine once.¡±

    Geraln smirked at me, ¡°you ruined an A6, man!  That thing would have been beautiful!¡±

    S?wi continued, ¡°that¡¯s why th¡¯stones from Ozaria are a yellow color?¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Geraln smiled.  ¡°A lot of the clans there add potassium salts.  They have a trick in Ulum, I still haven¡¯t figured out how they do this, but it¡¯s some combination of malachite, lapis lazuli, iron ore, some other stuff.  You look at the stone from one angle, and it¡¯s perfectly clear.  Turn it, and it¡¯s like a rainbow prism.¡±

    ¡°Maybe you¡¯ll figure¡¯t out one day,¡± she smiled.

    ¡°Maybe,¡± he smiled back.

    S?wi glanced back and forth between me and Gino before turning her attention back to Geraln.  ¡°May I warn you?¡± she said.

    Geraln furrowed his eyebrows.  Gino and I leaned in.

    ¡°I¡¯m sure you¡¯ve noticed that relative to the women from your home, Carthia women¡¯re more forward.¡±  She checked all three of us as she spoke.

    Geraln chuckled.  Gino and I did as well.  ¡°We¡¯ve noticed!¡±

    ¡°Be careful with that; it¡¯s a different culture.  A lot of your men come here¡¯n don¡¯t understand until it¡¯s too late.  They¡¯ll put you into three categories: those who¡¯re useless, those who¡¯re good for stud, and those who¡¯re husband material.  If you don¡¯t know how to respect a lover, you¡¯re useless¡­¡± she glanced at me, ¡°calling grown women girls among other immaturities.  That, you may grow out of it.  But once you¡¯re called stud, that''s all you¡¯ll ever be.  Many men fuck every woman who came to him thinking that''s what he wanted and was left feeling empty.  But they¡¯ve no use for you after that.¡±

    She glanced briefly at Gino and I and continued.  ¡°You can have whichever you want, but not both.  If you want to fuck a hundred women, you can do that¡­ until they''re bored of you and then you¡¯ll sleep alone.  But if you want to feel love, to feel companionship, closeness, that you must earn.¡±

 Alls Fair

    I snuck out during the night to stroke myself to Miyani¡¯s sublime physique.  I wanted to lay her face-down on the bed and kiss her up and down her neck, then slap my dick on her butt and rest my whole body weight on her arse.

    Before I could finish, my mind shifted to images of Blue ripping my liver out and leaving me a mass of shredded flesh to seize up while the remnant of me dumped gallons of blood onto the grass.

    I had a problem, and I needed to stop.  I''d lusted after Guenevieve, and it cost me Sarina.  I''d lusted after Alys and it cost me all my friends in Kyoen.  I''d lusted after Oasis, and it cost me the church in Ulum.  May well cost me my life if she caught up with me in Carthia; wouldn''t that be a way to go out?  Giant alligators, lizards that rip your throat out, venomous snakes, an invisible enemy lying in ambush in the jungle¡ªsurvive all that for one really pissed off girl to get you.

    She did promise.

    Carthia wasn''t helping.  Everywhere I went, women of every color, every shape, every size, every age walked around with their breasts out in the open, hips on full display, legs, arse, back, arms, bare feet, skin everywhere.  My eyes were in heaven.

    But lust was a sin.

    Breakfast was the same grainy, paper-flavored slop and came with some large, green-red fruits that had a wonderfully sweet-tart yellow meat inside with a stringy texture and made a sticky, glorious mess.  ma?o, they¡¯d called it, and it was beyond delicious.

    Borel was silent; he spent the morning glaring at Chirpy as she clung to Geraln''s shoulder.

    Northstar sat with his hands behind his head and an easy grin plastered all over his long face.  Faren nodded towards him, ¡°somebody had fun last night!¡±

    Northstar¡¯s eyes popped.  He blew out and shook his head vigorously.

    Kelint''s whole baby face smirked.  ¡°This place is insane, man!  These girls, fucking unbelievable!¡±

    ¡°Women,¡± Davod corrected him.

    ¡°Yeah yeah, that.  So last night, and they''ve got some incredible food here if you got the kren¡ªway better than this rubbish.  We''re just having a meal, and this girl¡­¡±

    ¡°Woman,¡± we corrected him.

    ¡°Gorgeous.  Simply gorgeous.  Tobori, nice and plump.  What was her name?¡± he looked up.

    Rock stood beside him with a satisfied grin.  ¡°Two six two, eleven nine.¡±

    Kelint laughed, as did Northstar.  Jame smirked.  ¡°Didn¡¯t get her name, did you?¡±

    ¡°Nah, nah, we did.  Whatever it was.¡±

    Northstar remembered, ¡°Isa.¡±

    ¡°Isa,¡± Kelint snapped his fingers.  ¡°Anyway, I¡¯m trying to see if maybe she¡¯ll talk to one of us, you know?  See if maybe we might get somewhere with her.  She just comes right out with it; does you all wanting to have turns?¡±

    Gino furrowed his brow.  Davod shook his head.  ¡°Please tell me you didn¡¯t go along with that.¡±

    ¡°The fuck not, we ain''t no chastity virgins, man.¡±  Everyone glanced at me for some reason.  ¡°Of course we did!  She was clear about it, too; I never heard of anything like that in my life!¡±

    Rock waved his meaty hands side to side.  ¡°No brag.  No brag!¡±  Then he switched to Goloagi, ¡°she was saying, you are wanting wait?  Why not same time?¡±

    Jame¡¯s eyes nearly popped out of his head.  ¡°You have got to be kidding me!¡±

    ¡°No brag!¡± he said again.

    Faren listened quietly, while Ales¡¯s jaw dropped.  ¡°So you¡¯re there¡­ the three of you with this woman¡­ you¡¯re all there¡­ together¡­¡±

    Kelint leaned in close.  ¡°How¡¯s this for clarity, man?¡±  He lifted his chin towards Northstar.  ¡°She sucked him off while I fucked her from behind.  She tells me to finish in her, then he¡¯s about to blow his load so she gets up and sits on it.  He pumps her full, she lies down and tells Rock to have his way.  Is that clear enough?¡±

    ¡°That can¡¯t be real,¡± I shook my head.

    Rock pursed his lips.  ¡°No joke.  No brag.¡±

    Jame lowered his eyes.  ¡°Damn, that¡¯s some freakish weird shit, man.  I don¡¯t know if I could go through with that.  My man here lost half his money to some kid in a card game,¡± he slapped Borel''s back.  ¡°By the time we figured out what happened mum shows up and they''ve all scattered.¡± Borel closed his eyes and fixed his lips hard before muttering, ¡°fuck this place!¡±

    Gino slapped Geraln¡¯s back.  ¡°Well this one here met the love of is life last night¡­¡±

    Geraln blushed and smiled.  Borel continued to glare at Chirpy.

    S?wi was beautiful.  Her face was the one in the grand ballroom where the crowd parts, clearing the way to the other end of the hall where, bathed in a halo of soft moonlight, she stands in a sparkly blue gown gazing at you with those lustrous eyes and tempting you with those large, flat lips.

    Why she chose him over me.

    Outside, Commander stood in the practice yard staring at us with the heavy rain clattering in pools around him.  He smiled while streams of water flowed over his muscles and dripped down from his kinky, dark-bronze hair.  The rest of us crowded beneath the stone awning outside the entrance to the mess hall.

    After a minute the rain stopped, and the twelve of us slogged through the muddy grass to form a circle with him at one end.  Jame and Borel stood together with arms crossed.  Opposite them, Renou had taken the side of Kelint while Rock and Northstar stood beside him.  Ales stood looking strong as ever.  Beside him was Faren with his hands at his sides gazing at Commander through droopy eyes.  Geraln and I each took one side of Davod, with Gino beside me.  At the center, few blades of grass clung to specks of blackened blood while the remnant of Massi had washed away with the rain.

    Borel locked his jaw and continued to glare at the friend on Geraln''s shoulder.

    A splattering of water crashed into the muddy grass as Commander reached forward to ring out the front flap of his loincloth, and he bellowed out in his deep baritone, ¡°I love war.¡±

    I looked around.  Everyone else was taken aback as I was.

    ¡°Who wants to guess why I love war so much?¡± Commander grinned.

    Kelint spoke first.  ¡°Because you get to kill your enemies?¡±

    Commander looked at him and grinned.  ¡°I hate killing.  If any one of you gets to a point where you enjoy it¡­¡± he shook his head.  ¡°I pray you never do.  Guess again.¡±

    Ales smirked.  ¡°Comfort women!¡±

    He earned a few giggles for that, but Commander shook his head and scowled.  He then lifted a finger and checked each one of us.  ¡°I don''t know what you heard.  I don''t know what you were expecting, but if any one of you tries to force yourself on a woman, ours, theirs, doesn''t matter, I''ll carve your shit off and feed it to the gators, then make you show the stump to every other man who comes through here.¡±

    None of us dared speak, but we checked one another no less.

    ¡°This bears repeating,¡± Commander continued.  ¡°We don''t take comfort women.  Is that clear?¡±

    We all stared blankly while about half of us nodded.

    ¡°I said, IS¡­ THAT¡­ CLEAR?¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir,¡± we called out.

    Commander turned to face Borel.  ¡°What¡¯s clear?¡±

    Borel¡¯s tall, meaty frame stood with his chest up, arms crossed, and legs apart.  Long, straight, dark green hair flowed down his back and he scowled at Chirpy.

    Commander stepped up to him directly.  ¡°I¡¯ll gut you right here and now.  I¡¯ll ask you one more time.  WHAT is clear?¡±

    Borel chewed his meaty face and spat on the ground.  ¡°No comfort women.¡±

    Commander nodded and turned back around.  ¡°Who else wants to guess why I love war so much?¡±

    I looked around; we all did.  Most of us shrugged.

    Commander smiled wide.  ¡°I love war because it cuts through the bullshit¡­¡±

    Gino furrowed his eyebrows; I did too.

    ¡°... Out there in the real world, bullshit is the currency that makes the world go around.  I have my bullshit, you have yours, and so does everyone else.  It doesn''t matter if you''re incompetent as long as you can convince everyone you know what you''re doing.  Similarly, you can be an unparalleled master¡ªan expert in your field¡ªbut if you can''t master convincing everyone you are, what good is it?  It''s bullshit!

    ¡°But not war.  In war, be incompetent, and you will get yourself killed along with anyone stupid enough to follow you.  No.  War is proof.  It''s the decider.  The ultimate judge.  Tax the rich, or tax the poor; which one''s better?  War reveals the truth.  Imperial authority or self-governance?  My god or your god?  Slavery or freedom?  War decides.  Always has, always will.  War decides because war doesn''t leave room for bullshit¡­¡±

    Beside him appeared three of those lizards along with a woman who looked up at him and smiled.  She was a native, dark-green skin with a soft, angular face beset with bright yellow eyes and deliciously soft lips.  She was very short, maybe an inch or two taller than Miyani if that, and had the most marvelous legs the world had ever known.

    Commander faced her.  ¡°Are you ready?¡±

    She answered him in Herali with a voice perfectly balanced between alto and soprano and an exotic accent dripping of pure sex.  ¡°I see you philosophizing to a captive audience again.¡±

    He chuckled lightly and turned towards us.  ¡°Gentlemen, this is Ahmi.  Unless you want to go the way of your friend yesterday, listen to her.¡±

    The day we arrived at Carthia, she¡¯d overlooked us from the balcony of the administration building, standing alongside the Imperial Voice and the woman with the braids.  Today, the dress she wore was simple tanned linen, buttoned along the front from her modest neckline all the way down to the hem that wrapped around about mid-thigh.  She wore no jewelry but a black robe tied around her waist, her long white hair feral behind her back, and she stood barefoot in the grass.

    ¡°Good morning to you all.¡±  As she spoke, my mind lingered on her figure¡ªhips of a goddess, delicate breasts, lean arms, and absolutely phenomenal legs that carried me away in unspeakable fantasies.

    Rock spoke what we were all thinking, holding his hands out before his chest and grinning wide.  ¡°Why cover you titties because every Carthia girl don¡¯t?¡±

    She answered, ¡°because I do not need to justify my choice of attire to you.¡±

    ¡°Bu-u sa¡¯ao ga!¡±

    At that, she stepped up to him and looked up at his face, then answered in his language, ¡°fam faboush she¡­ gayiwi au-u¡¯se mama?¡±

    At that, Rock''s eyes went wide, Northstar snorted hard, and both he and Kelint stepped away from their stocky friend.  Then, Rock turned his head down and gazed at his feet.

    Ahmi said it again, ¡°tiiai gayiwi au-u¡¯se mama, hak sa-a boti?¡±

    Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.

    ¡°Vu,¡± he mumbled.

    ¡°Eh?¡±

    I looked at Kelint and tried to mouth the words, what did she say.  He looked back, shook his head, and looked down.

    Rock mumbled again, still keeping his eyes on his feet.  ¡°Hodo be-e na¡­¡±

    ¡°I don''t want an apology.¡±

    One of the lizards she¡¯d brought with her had a dark green color across its back and a light blue underbelly.  It wandered around and turned its head to look at each of us, keeping within arms reach of her the whole time.  As my eyes traced the muscles in her thighs, the creature stepped between us, bared its jagged, serrated teeth, and clicked.

    Borel interrupted, ¡°do those things need to be here?¡±

    Ahmi walked up towards Borel.  The green-and-blue lizard kept in front of her until she tapped the side of its neck, then it stepped to the side and allowed her to stand close to him and look up into his face.  ¡°I am sorry about your friend.  I know how it feels to lose someone that you care about.¡±

    Borel closed his eyes and lowered his face towards the ground.  The angle at which she stood gave me the most perfect view of that dress as it fell over her body.  Davod elbowed me in my side and whispered, ¡°stop looking!¡± I glanced at him with incredulity; I''d known him my whole life.

    Jame held his arms crossed and snapped at Ahmi, ¡°yeah, well that bitch is a fucking menace that needs to be put down.¡±

    She turned to face him.  ¡°Maybe you should be put down.¡±

    Jame pulled his face back and frowned.

    ¡°I was raised by vita¡¯o, and as you can see, I still have my throat.  But you know more than me, so go ahead and teach your friends how to not get killed.  I will wait.¡±

    With that, she stepped to the side as though she were one of us and stood with her arms crossed, looking at Jame in expectation.  Ales covered his mouth to stifle a chuckle, while Jame pursed his lips and set his hands out.  ¡°Sorry.  I mean, sorry, you don''t want¡­ uh¡­ I''ll be quiet, now.¡±

    After a minute, Ahmi stepped towards the center of our gathering and explained.  ¡°There is a difference in mentality between your people and ours.  In your culture, when an alligator eats a child, you kill the alligator.  In our culture, we teach our children how to not get eaten.  This is why I am here.  What happened to your friend yesterday did not need to happen.¡±

    She then walked around, checking each of us.  ¡°Vita¡¯o are my life.  I can promise you that if you adhere to the rules I give you, you will not have any problems.¡±

    As before, the green-and-blue lizard kept close to her side the whole time, stepping where she stepped and never permitting more than a few feet of distance from her.  The second one had a white underbelly and a light-brown color over its back with white spots.  That one stood like a statue, not moving its neck, a claw, or anything.  I couldn¡¯t discern if it was breathing.  The third one lay down in the grass and stuck its claw in front of a beetle.  The beetle wandered in the opposite direction, and it stuck its claw in front of it again only for the beetle to wander off again.

    When Ahmi approached Geraln, the blue-and-green lizard came around and stood directly between me and her and wiggled its talons while Chirpy stretched her long neck out and chirped.  Ahmi then reached her arm up, and Chirpy jumped from him onto her shoulder and settled down, rubbing her tiny head in Ahmi¡¯s cheek.

    ¡°Hey!¡± Geraln protested.

    Ahmi smiled and continued.  ¡°The three rules I want you all to understand are these.  Do not pull a weapon on a vita¡¯o, do not assault their friends, and the ones who live out there are not your friends.¡±

    She¡¯d pointed out towards the wilderness beyond the main gate.  She was close enough that I could take in the smell of her¡ªwild, like the untamed jungle itself dabbed over her skin like a perfume.  As I listened to that delicious accent of hers, that man appeared, the same native man who¡¯d led Davod to go talk to someone the previous day.  Ahmi turned towards him.  ¡°Which one?¡±

    He nodded towards Borel, ¡°za.¡±

    Ahmi nodded.  ¡°She will wait.¡±

    The man chuckled.  ¡°x?¡¯? g?euse xe??¡­¡±

    Ahmi interrupted him, ¡°it is rude to exclude people from the conversation.¡±

    He smiled wide.  ¡°You mean to tell me that Peyumi should¡­ wait?¡±

    ¡°I will not be long.¡±

    The man smiled and stood beside Davod as though he were one of us.

    ¡°Each of you,¡± she said, ¡°I want you to hold out your wrist like this.¡±  Kelint and his friends glanced at one another and obeyed, as did Renou.  Rock was slow to comply; he still hadn''t taken his eyes from his feet.  Faren and Ales did, as did Geraln, Gino, and Davod.  Jame did as well, but Borel did not move.  I¡¯d have done anything she asked.  Ahmi stared at Borel for a moment.  He looked left and right, then back at her, still holding his arms crossed.  She continued to stare at him and spoke not a word to anyone for a full minute before Borel finally complied.

    The blue lizard let out a sharp caw, then a string of clicks.  Ahmi reached up and tapped the top of his head, then stroked the side of his neck and whispered something to it in that native language.  With that, the blue one made rounds, sniffing each of our wrists while she spoke.  ¡°His name is Zhagu¡¯u.  In Dayuda this means Thunder.  We named him this because when he was a baby he would hide under me every time it was storm outside.¡±

    She then walked towards the second one, the brown one with white spots who still hadn¡¯t moved.  This was away from where I stood, and I was quite happy over the view.  Davod slapped my arm.  When I turned to face him, he widened his eyes and held his hands out as if to ask what I was so interested in.

    I whispered back at him, ¡°what happened to always about that, huh?  Like you''re blind!¡±

    He lowered his eyes and shook his head.

    Ahmi then whistled and clicked her tongue, and the second vita¡¯o lizard creature stepped directly to Borel, sniffing his wrist, up along his arm, and then rubbed its head in his cheek.

    Borel stepped back with his eyes wide and mouth agape.

    The lizard clicked, then sniffed his shoulder.

    ¡°She is named Fluffy.¡±

    Davod chuckled, ¡°Fluffy?  You serious?¡±

    Ahmi let out a light chuckle.  ¡°She asked for a name that would cause her enemies to underestimate her.¡±

    Fluffy stepped to Borel¡¯s side and wrapped her long neck behind him, then rested her head on his shoulder while Borel stood with terror on his face.  She then let out a long chirp and clicked.  Borel furrowed his eyebrows and pleaded, ¡°why is she on me like this?¡±

    Ahmi answered him, ¡°she feels very sad for you that you lost your friend and she wants to make it up to you.¡±

    Borel turned to face the creature, who opened her jaws wide and chirped before wandering to Jame to smell his wrist.

    ¡°This one,¡± Ahmi went over to the third one, who lay with its back in the grass, holding one claw up in the air while a beetle crawled over it.  ¡°He is named Du-u gati¡¯ada.¡±

    Northstar erupted in laughter while Kelint lowered his face and chuckled.  Even Rock let out a smile.  Then she gave him a light kick in the side, to which he groaned and then ignored her.

    Gino looked at Kelint, ¡°what¡¯s that mean?¡±

    Kelint smiled.  ¡°Best way to translate that¡­ Lazy Bum.¡±

    Ahmi giggled lightly.  ¡°We told him that if he did not choose a name, that this would be his name.¡±

    Half of us laughed at that, but Lazybum didn¡¯t seem to care.  Rather, he twisted his claw around to watch close as the beetle crawled over him.  Then the beetle fell and bounced across his light-green scales onto the ground.  Lazybum then turned over and probed his nose around to look for the thing.

    Ahmi kicked him in the side again.  ¡°p? ba?ese tuzubo!  g?euse zawa!¡±

    He yawned his jaw open and croaked, then peeled himself off the ground only to slog through the grass towards us, bobbing his head lazily with each step.  He came up to Renou first and sniffed his arm.

    The brown one with white spots, Fluffy, came up to Ales and sniffed him around, then turned to the others and gurgled out a strange series of clicks.  Immediately, the others rushed over to him and sniffed about him.  Ales grinned, a nervous veil over the terror that held him while three monstrous lizards crowded him, opening their jaws to bare serrated teeth while they clicked and chirped.  Thunder then turned one eye towards Ahmi, who smiled wide.  ¡°They want to know if they should call you Thisisweird, or Coconut Guy.¡±

    ¡°Those are my choices?¡± Ales echoed, then chuckled.  Lazybum reached out and rubbed his head in Ales¡¯s cheek before letting out a string of clicks.  ¡°Sure, Coconut Guy.  Let¡¯s go with that.¡±

    ¡°So¡­¡± Ahmi continued, ¡°I want you all to understand.  The way the mind of a vita¡¯o works is different from ours.  They do not have a hierarchy, and they do not work in dominance.  It is important to remember that they do not serve us any more than we serve them.  It is a cooperative arrangement that begins with respect, but the foundation of respect is trust.  They choose to abide by the rules we have, or they are free to leave.  In this framework, we are mindful of the rules we establish.  It is a beneficial arrangement¡­¡±

    As she spoke, her eyes went about our gathering, checking each of us.  When her eyes came to mine, they lingered just a little longer.

    ¡°...to be able to rest here within the safety of these walls is a privilege for them.  And so, they abide.  If they feel the rule is unfair, they leave.¡±

    Geraln raised a hand.  ¡°Does that happen often?¡±

    Ahmi nodded.  ¡°I will not say often, but sometimes one of them prefers to be with a tribe out there.  When the war started, a lot of them left because they did not want to take part in it.  The reverse is also true; this one¡¯s mother,¡± she stroked Chirpy¡¯s back, ¡°lost three babies to the jungle.  When she was ready to lay again, she came here.¡±

    Everything about her.  Her calves, perfectly lean.  Her thighs, sculpted by God himself.  Her hips, her waist, her shoulders, her arms, her fingers, every curve absolutely flawless.  Her dark, dark skin, her rough white hair, her eyes, she had everything.

    Thunder brought the side of his head inches from my face and leaned one eye into me so close that I had to lean back some.

    Ahmi smirked at me and continued.  ¡°Here is where you should pay attention.  To understand how rules work.  The imperative not to pull a weapon is not a rule for you; it is a rule for them.  If you choose to make home at Carthia, and this is a standard rule that all human tribes have, then you may not harm a human unless they pull a weapon.  That is the rule they must follow.¡±

    ¡°What if they break it?¡± Jame asked.  Borel humpfhed in agreement.

    Ahmi nodded.  ¡°They will not.  Their minds do not work that way.  Be warned, however.  Some of them can be temperamental, and if they are angry enough they will try to convince you to draw a weapon.  But even then, words will remain as words, and they will answer choice words with choice words.  If you do not cross the line into weapons and violence, they will not as well.  That is the rule, and they are creatures very much governed by rules.¡±

    Lazybum sniffed around my arm, then moved on to Davod.

    ¡°Now there is one exception to that rule.  They are allowed to act in defense of their loved ones.  So if you attack their friends, even if you do not use a weapon, they are allowed to protect them.   And a special warning about this: everyone who lives in Carthia, they consider their friends.  So basically do not attack anyone.  Do not menace anyone, and do not threaten anyone.  There will be no need for that, here.

    ¡°It is important to remember that they are not service animals.  They do not understand authority, not like we do, and they will not accept it.  They thrive on trust and respect, and in that framework, they will always obey rules.  Now¡­ they do understand that humans have a fluid relationship with rules, and some of them are¡­ more patient than others.¡±

    Her voice was like smooth silk.  As she spoke, my mind carried my cheeks between the skin of her thighs and created the sound of her voice crying out, begging me not to stop in that delicious accent she spoke with.

    ¡°Are there other rules?¡± Faren asked.

    She smiled.  ¡°Of course!  But these I think are the ones that will get you killed.  Yes we have others¡ªdo not eat the opossums.  Eh¡­ I hope this does not need to apply to you?¡± she furrowed her brow and looked around, earning a few laughs.  ¡°Please do not eat the opossums.¡±

    Kelint translated; she pulled a lock of hair behind her ear and shot a glance at me only to resume her attention on all of us.  ¡°I want to draw attention to these points, now, because this is very, very important.  Out there, in the jungle, they are not bound by any of our rules.  In here, you will make friends with them.  Play games.  They want to be your friend; they love to do things for us that we cannot do and to have us do things for them that they cannot do¡­¡±

    ¡°Like lasso coconuts,¡± Faren inserted.

    She smiled, ¡°yes.  Like that.  But my point is that you should understand this.  The ones out there are not your friends.  The Sweu¡¯oni have vita¡¯o like we do.  They have allied with our enemies; they will hunt you down and kill you.  And there are tribes that don¡¯t like any humans; they will hunt you down for meat.  Vita¡¯o politics is often complex and dynamic, and while some of the ones here may have a positive relationship with the ones out there, they may also have a negative relationship.¡±

    Jame scratched his head while Thunder sniffed around his arm.  ¡°We¡¯re going to be fighting these things¡­ out there, where we can¡¯t see ten feet?¡±

    She hesitated a moment.  ¡°You shouldn¡¯t.  Vita¡¯o in the jungle are aware that the human tribes are at war and they mostly prefer not to be involved.  Most of the time, we are allowed to trespass on their territory during the day while they are allowed to trespass on our territory during the night.  It is a delicate balance, and so when you are out there, be mindful that you might be trespassing and act accordingly.¡±

    ¡°Ahem,¡± the native man standing next to Geraln cleared his throat.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Ahmi said.  She then stepped close to Borel and looked up at him.  ¡°You may go.  To reiterate the important points, number one do not pull a weapon on a vita¡¯o who lives here in Carthia, number two do not try to overpower their friends with violence, and number three out there,¡± she pointed towards the main gate, ¡°those ones are not your friends and are not bound by any of our rules.¡±

    Borel looked up into the cloudy sky and blinked as he took in a deep breath.  Then he turned to our visitor.  ¡°Where am I going?¡±

    ¡°Peyumi wants to talk to you.¡±

    As they went off, Fluffy walked with them.  The visitor brushed the side of her neck and laughed while Borel still gaped his eyes at her.

    Lazybum was on his back, rubbing back and forth in the grass.  Ahmi stepped close to Geraln and allowed Chirpy to return to his shoulder.  She then tapped Thunder on the top of his neck, he crouched low, and she swung herself onto his back.  I watched her glorious thighs as she rode him bareback and away from us, around the corner and out of view only for Lazybum to follow a minute later.

    Gino waved his fingers in front of my face.

    I looked at him and smirked.

    ¡°I dare you to go talk to her!¡±

    He earned a few laughs at that.  Jame smiled wide, then reached into his coin purse and tossed a kren on the ground.  Ales tossed a kren of his own along with it.  ¡°Don¡¯t pull a weapon, man!¡±

    Kelint followed with another, then looked at me and grinned.

    Davod pulled me by my arm and spoke softly.  ¡°You don¡¯t have to do this.¡±

    ¡°What''s gotten into you?¡± I said.  ¡°You let that go¡­ shoulda made love to her¡­ you''re always the one pushing me into this sort of thing.¡±

    ¡°This place¡­¡± Davod shook his head.  ¡°It''s not what you think.¡±

    But I looked around at the others.  Faren was rifling through his own coin purse, Gino grinned wide, and Ales, Jame, and Northstar were all looking at me.  ¡°Keep your money.  I will go talk to her.¡±

 Pure Fucking Fire

    I was going to talk to Ahmi anyway, but I only had one kren left.  I should have just taken the money.

    My assumption was that she¡¯d gone off to the vita¡¯o yard¡ªthat area to the left as you walked in through the main gate that stretched for a full mile all the way to the south wall, cordoned off by a line of old wooden posts without so much as a rope to stop anyone or anything from walking through.  Thick fruit trees took up the space, massive mango trees, coconut trees, trees bearing red spiky fruits, trees with yellow fruits in a star shape, one tree had green spiky fruits larger than a baby, bundle and all, while below on the floor were thick ferns and vines fighting for scraps of sunlight beneath.

    I saw no vita¡¯o, but I knew they were there.

    I looked at the stone shed where the day before I¡¯d seen Miyani scrubbing Blue down with soap and looked around to make sure I couldn''t see her again.

    I wouldn¡¯t mind scrubbing her down with soap; if only.  Maybe if I hadn''t been so stupid as to say that to her.

    Maybe I never had a chance to begin with.

    I still had a chance with Ahmi, though.

    I passed between two posts and hadn¡¯t made it two steps when I heard a sharp caw.  Not twenty feet from me, two vita¡¯o emerged from the ferns, ran up to me, and hissed.  One of them was full gray with a light underbelly.  That one was on all fours and dug its talons into the dirt, coiling its neck upward and bared its teeth at me, hissing hard.  The other was dark gray with green vertical stripes along its body.  It walked right up to me on its hind legs, bumped its body into mine, stretched its long neck to peer down upon me from several feet up, and hissed at me while resting its three-inch talons on my shoulder.  As I looked up with my mind frozen, Light-gray brought its snout inches from my ear and hissed long and low.

    Don¡¯t pull a weapon.  My heart thundered, and I took several steps back.  Then, as though following some unseen cue, they relaxed on their hind legs with their forelimbs out front, then brought their heads to my eye level and stared at me.  I looked left and right; I was back behind the posts.

    I lowered my gaze some, trying to slow down my racing heartbeat.  Then with a deep breath, I looked back up and spoke.  ¡°I¡¯m looking for Ahmi.¡±

    The light-gray one chirped.  Then, it stretched out its neck towards the direction of the tall towers of the inner sanctum in the distance.

    ¡°That way?¡±

    They both clicked.  Then, the light-gray one accompanied me as I walked, keeping its body between me and the posts.  Past thick trees and brush I walked.  I knew there had to be other vita¡¯o lurking in the shadows, but I couldn¡¯t see them.  I spied what I thought was one crouched beside a large tree, only to find an old stump covered in yellow mushrooms.

    After a time, we came to a narrow footpath of beaten grass between two posts where my guard stopped and chirped at me.

    ¡°Through here?¡±

    It clicked.  But when I tried to enter, it stood in the path blocking my way and peered at me through one gray eye with a black vertical stripe.

    I wasn¡¯t sure what that was about.  ¡°May I enter?¡±

    It clicked twice.  I stood still for a moment, trying to work out what that meant.  Then, the thing lifted its head around and sniffed at my arms and my neck before pulling away again.

    ¡°What¡¯s the point of showing me where she is only to tell me I¡¯m not allowed through?¡±

    It tilted its head slightly and shifted its body around without moving its head.

    ¡°I, uh¡­ had some questions.  She just spoke to us about how amazing you guys are, and I had some questions to follow up with. That''s all.  Is that alright?¡±

    I tried stepping to my left, and the creature stepped with me, continuing to block my path.  I looked around.  Beyond the trees, I could see the hint of the yellow-and-gray stones that made up the outer wall.  To my right, the tall towers of the inner sanctum reached towards the clouds, and somewhere to my left, wrapped around the line of posts and beyond where the trees permitted vision, was the main gate.  Drops of sweat soaked through my collar as the intense heat mingled with the floral scent of fruit trees before me, and the light-gray lizard continued to block the very path it had shown me.

    ¡°May I please see her?¡±

    Quite unexpectedly, the thing moved out of the way and lowered its head towards the ground where the beaten grass began, then gestured forward along the path.

    The path was a narrow gap with small tufts of beaten grass to suffice for a vale between tall ferns on both sides.  My trousers took water from brushing against the bushes and clung to my skin, and that light-gray vita¡¯o continued alongside me the whole way.

    It wasn¡¯t far.  In a flat area beside a stone shed about twenty yards from the outer walls towering above a line of more trees, Ahmi sat upon one vita¡¯o facing six young girls who couldn¡¯t have been more than six or seven years old, each sitting upon a miniature vita''o lizard of their own.  Three were natives, dark-green skin, white hair, and yellow eyes.  One was Goloagi, light green skin and curly hair, and at that age had a number seared into the skin of her arm.  The other two had to be mixed in some way, with one sporting hair dark as mine with skin almost as dark as Ahmi''s while the other looked more like the man who''d greeted us at the gate, with sandy-green hair and bright yellow eyes.  All of them were dressed the same, including Ahmi, who¡¯d shed her dress from earlier in favor of a white cotton loincloth leaving her top half exposed though her back was turned to me.

    One of the girls looked at me, and Ahmi snapped her fingers to wrangle her attention back.

    ¡°I appreciate your punctuality,¡± Ahmi spoke in that delicious accent without turning to face me.  ¡°Please sit down.¡±

    ¡°If you¡¯re busy I could¡­¡±

    ¡°Do not speak.  Please sit down.¡±

    She hadn¡¯t turned to face me, let alone make some gesture to indicate where I was supposed to sit.  Beside the stone shed was a wooden railing with numerous straps and implements draped over it, and beside that was a large wooden bucket turned upside-down, so I made my way over there when it occurred to me.  I glanced up at the guard vita¡¯o who¡¯d escorted me in and whispered, ¡°thank you.¡±

    The thing shook its head vigorously before turning and disappearing into the woods.

    The bucket was still moist from the morning rain, but I sat down anyway and watched.

    Ahmi held up a hand as she spoke to the girls.  I found her cadence intriguing; she spoke slow and deliberate, with emphasis on the ups and downs.  ¡°mif? g?eude... v? p? k?''as?ei v?ta''o. k?de xe?eeose v?ta''ovisa ?a xe?eeoyedu.  ba ye¦È?z?ye bav? ye¦È?z?we ''??e, go?i xemaye ??gu.  zoti ?o''ibiye bav? ?o''ibiwe ''??e ?? tu?? ''??e.  ¡®u?i z?ta ¡®as?se de?e ?a de?e po¦È?zo?a v? ko''o de?e v?ta''ovisa.   v? ?o''ibide po¦È?zo.  mewa maeade ?a v? k?ki¡®as?yedu. samewa¡­ ''??e w?f?ea.¡±

    One of the little native girls replied in a high, childish voice, ¡°v? p? k?''as?ei v?ta''o. xe?eeoei?u.¡±

    ¡°do''i ??¡¯uti,¡± Ahmi nodded, her tone satisfied with the girl''s answer.

    Of course I felt lost.  Like a blur of gibberish, her words flowed out from her like water from a fountain.  I tried to listen, see if I could pick out anything I did know, but I didn''t get far.  S?wi had said the night before that the verb comes first, followed by the subject and then the object.  And the way Ahmi spoke was so gentle and deliberate that I felt like I could pick out those pieces even if I didn''t know what they meant.

    ¡°... v? p? k?''as?ei v?ta''o.  ¦È??ode dowaviya.  ¦È??oye dowavidu¡­¡±

    She was teaching them.  She was Teacher.  She wasn''t just beautiful; she held a commanding presence I found irresistible, and I was desperate to get a lesson with her alone.  But I waited.  I watched as she rode her vita''o bareback, moving it about left and right without so much as a word or gesture I could discern while she instructed the girls to do the same.  At the center of her gorgeous toned belly her skin betrayed a few stretch marks, with a few more around the underside of her breasts, which sagged a little more than a woman my own age.  She had a small, round scar on her hip about the size of a thumb print, and oh, those muscular legs!

    Her vita''o crouched down on all fours, and she spoke some more words to her students.

    The girl furthest on the left, a native, shifted her hips some, and her vita''o crouched down as well.  The girl tumbled forward and rolled off the side of her creature''s neck, then landed arms first in the mud.  Her vita''o nudged her with its nose and made a long, low caw.

    Ahmi urged her mount forward and commanded her, ¡°weyi??se¡±

    The girl shook her head hard and pouted.  ¡°??si b?¡¯apesedu¡­¡±

    Then Ahmi answered her¡­ in Herali.  ¡°I do not want apologies.  What I want is to see growth in my students.  Remember that.  Get up and practice again.¡±

    At that, the girl wrestled herself off the ground and climbed back onto the lizard creature.

    Ahmi then spoke to her softly once again in the natives¡¯ language and helped her balance as the creature once again dropped down and rose again.  She moved on to the next student, watching close as the girl did as instructed, then the next.

    The fourth was a young Goloagi girl with light-green skin and curly hair who couldn''t have been more than six and had a number seared into her skin on each arm.  Ahmi addressed her in Goloagi, ¡°is the you ready?  Let the me see.¡±

    And the beast dropped down hard.  The little girl shrieked, but held on and didn''t fall.  Ahmi put her hand gently beneath the creature''s snout and lifted its head to speak to it.  ¡°vi. ¡®a.  do.  pa.  za.¡±

    The creature twisted its head side to side and gave off a long, drawn out chirp before gurgling some strange noise and ending that with a whistle.

    Ahmi then nodded and moved on to the next girl.

    She might have been seven?  Maybe?  It was hard to tell.  A native girl, she looked at me and smirked before urging her vita''o to drop down low, and she held her balance perfectly as far as I could tell.  From the smug confidence plastered on her face, she certainly felt that way.

    This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

    Ahmi beamed, ¡°do''i ??¡¯uti!  ¡®idoz? be??.¡±

    The lizard then lifted back up on its hind legs, and the girl fell back, rolled off its tail, and landed her shoulder in the mud with her legs to follow.

    The other girls snickered under their breath, while Ahmi snapped at them all.  Her words, her cadence was about as easy as it could possibly be.  If all the people I¡¯d heard in Carthia spoke like her, I¡¯d pick up the language in no time.  I was able to pick out words even if I didn¡¯t know what they meant.  People slur, generally, but Ahmi pronounced every syllable for these girls, and they hung on her every breath.  I imagined she¡¯d told them something along the lines of not laughing at the one who was more advanced merely because her ambition caused her to fall.

    The dark-skinned girl said nothing but stood and got back onto her vita''o.  Then, the creature reared up, slowly this time, while the girl¡¯s feet shook in the stirrups as she stood with it.  It craned its long neck around to rub its snout in the girl¡¯s cheek.  She shook, but she held her balance and looked at Ahmi with a big smile.

    Satisfied, Ahmi then worked with the last girl before returning to the first.  I watched, half mesmerized by her gorgeous figure and half awestruck by the calm force with which she guided her students through one maneuver or another.  The lot of them could, at such a young age, guide a vita''o to walk, turn, back up, and now drop down on all fours only to rear back up to where the girl stood with the beast.

    Except when Ahmi¡¯s vita¡¯o reared up, she maintained her balance effortlessly and stood with it despite not having any saddle or stirrups to steady herself in.

    Then the same confident one from before fell once again in the mud after a few more trials.  Her vita¡¯o reached down to tickle her some, and she started laughing.  Then the girl reached up and tickled under its belly, only for it to crane its neck up and let out a string of clicks.

    ¡°temayi!¡± Ahmi snapped.  At that, the girl once again mounted the creature and resumed practice.  That wasn¡¯t the last time she fell.  Rather, every time, she got right back up and tried again.  By the time the lesson was over some hours later, she was covered in mud.  She was probably covered in bruises, too, but didn¡¯t seem to care.

    Through it all, I watched and I listened, at times trying to repeat words I¡¯d heard in hopes of being able to figure out what they meant.  A thought passed by that I was neglecting whatever training my friends were involved in, but then every time I was distracted by a slice of Ahmi.  And yet she scarcely acknowledged my presence.  At one point I stood to stretch, and she turned to glance at me for a second before resuming her attention to her students.  That was all I got from her.

    After a time the girls all lined up in a row and faced towards the direction of the city, and she turned to face me.  ¡°I will return.  Please wait.¡±

    ¡°OK¡­¡±

    But she didn''t wait for a reply from me.  Rather, she led the girls through the ferns, beneath the fruit trees, and beyond sight.

    Some minutes later, I decided to challenge myself to a game.  I had to believe that somewhere in the shadows, a vita¡¯o was watching me.  Perhaps not, but I took the time to challenge myself and see if I could spot them.  I listened.  Sounds of grinding insects all about me blended with a faint brushing of wind across the treetops.  I heard no sound of something stepping along beneath the canopy.  I wiped the sweat from my brow and covered my forehead like a visor, trying to peer into the shadows.  It took an uncomfortable number of minutes, but I finally saw one.

    ¡°Found you!¡± I grinned.  It didn''t move.  Then to prove it, I walked up close and pointed directly at the branch leaning against a tree.

    Then behind me a clattering of stone tiles being pressed against one another.  Ahmi was still mounted atop her vita¡¯o, on top of the shed.  It stepped across the roofing tiles, clinking them together with each step, then jumped down and landed directly before me.  Just as quick, Ahmi threw herself from its back and stood; the top of her head barely came up to my chest.

    Her vita¡¯o sniffed around my arms and shoulders and groaned, yawning its jaws open to reveal jagged, serrated teeth.  Ahmi smiled and chuckled slightly, then brought its head over to her so she could rub her nose in the creature¡¯s cheek.  Then she swatted its bum, and it ran off into the woods.

    She watched the creature disappear with warm affection in her eyes, and I asked, ¡°what does visa mean?¡±

    She didn¡¯t tilt her face, but rather moved her eyes onto me and looked at me with one eyebrow raised, still with a warm smile fixed upon her delicious lips.

    ¡°I know vita''o, that''s probably the only word I could pick out, but you often said vita''o visa.  So I was wondering¡­¡±

    ¡°It is a possessive.  visa is yours, vidu is mine.¡±

    ¡°Oh, OK¡­¡±

    ¡°Now it is my turn,¡± she turned her whole body to face me.  What are the three rules I told you to remember from earlier?¡±

    ¡°Oh, that?¡± I had to shift my mind some.  ¡°Don¡¯t pull a weapon, uh¡­ don''t attack their friends, or anyone really¡­ and the ones outside are not your friends.  See? I was listening!¡±

    I wanted to show off I was a good student.  I wasn''t expecting¡­

    ¡°You are very handsome.¡±

    I blushed.  ¡°Thanks¡­¡±

    ¡°That was not a compliment.¡±  With that, she turned towards the wooden railing and gathered up some of the harness straps laid out over the thing.

    ¡°What?  How is that not¡­¡±

    ¡°Your face is a curse.  I believe that as you grew up, girls came to you, yes?¡±

    I shrugged.  ¡°I suppose¡­ some did.¡±

    Ahmi shook her head.  ¡°I think they climbed over each other to get your attention.  You never needed to learn how to treat a woman with respect.  You got away with too many things.¡±

    ¡°I¡­ I¡¯m respectful!¡±

    ¡°I am not interested in you.¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°Not as a lover, not as a partner, not in any way.  Not now, not ever.  Nothing will ever happen between you and me.  Ever.  Do you accept this?¡±

    ¡°W¡­ why?¡±

    ¡°Because I do not need to justify my romantic choices to you.¡±

    ¡°Oh.¡±  With that, I picked up the piece that had broken off from my heart and sulked off towards the path to leave.

    ¡°Sit down!¡±

    That shook me.  The force of her words hit me like a gust from a raging storm and I faced her.  ¡°I am sorry,¡± I said.  ¡°I won¡¯t waste your time¡­¡±

    ¡°I did not dismiss you.  Sit down.¡±

    My heart plodded so hard at her command I could hear it.  The look on her face was stern.  Her jaw was fixed and she glared directly at me, pointing towards the bucket upon which I¡¯d rested earlier.  And so, I obeyed.

    ¡°I need to hear from you a yes or a no.  Do you accept what I have told you, that nothing will ever happen between us?¡±

    I shrugged.  ¡°Do I have a choice?¡±

    ¡°Yes or no?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±  Miyani was one.  S?wi and her two friends on the balcony as I left the church was two.  Or four.  If three women reject me at the same time, does that count as one or three?  Then there were those two in the market, so that¡­ that was one.  It wasn¡¯t two because Mehuni rejected me while Puni rejected Faren.  Then S?wi rejected me a second time; do I count her twice?

    ¡°Now,¡± Ahmi began, ¡°a lot of people here will not have the patience to hold your hand through the realization that women are people too.  I am a teacher and I have long accepted that I do not control which students come to me, also I do not control the skills they come to me with.  So to the extent that my patience will allow, I will try.¡±

    ¡°I don''t understand.¡±

    ¡°You reduced me.¡±

    ¡°I did?¡±

    ¡°Yes.  You did.  You reduced me in your mind to a collection of body parts to appreciate, and in your mind that was what you wanted.  That is why you came here to look for me.  You did not seek my knowledge, or my wisdom, or anything.  You were not interested in these things.¡±

    ¡°Well, I don''t know about that¡­¡±

    ¡°Let me ask you this.  What do you think about the vita''o?¡±

    ¡°Huh?  Uh¡­ they seem¡­¡± I shrugged.  Images of Massi''s body dumping buckets of blood onto the grass snapped into my mind.  ¡°I don''t know.¡±

    ¡°What are they useful for?¡±

    ¡°Oh.  Well, they can sniff things out pretty good.¡±

    She nodded.  ¡°What else?¡±

    ¡°They''re fast.  They can carry you through the jungle¡­¡± I shrugged again.  ¡°They see in the dark?¡±

    ¡°Is that all?¡±

    I watched her dark-green face as she gazed at me expecting some answer.  I heard nothing in the air but the constant screeching of insects grinding their wings.  ¡°I guess?  They''re protective?¡±

    ¡°Then you do not understand.  The value of a relationship is the relationship.  It is not a collection of what you can do for her or what she can do for you.  It is companionship.  It is acceptance, and the feeling of being accepted.  If I am nothing but a firm round ass to you, then why should I expect you to appreciate me for who I am?  What should I expect from you by way of companionship as I grow old and my ass is no longer firm and round?¡±

    I shrugged.

    ¡°What so many of you fail to understand is that when you reduce someone to what they can do for you it is not they who suffer, it is you.  Most of the time you do not even see that you suffer for it because what you miss can not be seen.  She is a pretty face.  You love her for her pretty face, and that is all you choose to see.  Then everything else she is you will be denied.  You are with her, but you are still alone because all you can see is her pretty face.  But even more perilous for you, what if she is not good for you?  What if she makes you feel low, and most of the time you wish you could be alone instead of being around her, but oooooh, such a pretty face.

    ¡°It is not different.  Your emperor wants to reduce Carthia to azuka, and he will like to tear down the jungle to get more of it but this place is so beautiful!  In so many ways, it is a jewel.  It is your falcon god that says every flower has a place to bloom, yes?  This is my place!  And so many others, so many people who can not exist anywhere else, why do we deserve to be erased?  Why does not your emperor commit to proper defense of Carthia why can not he see the profound beauty that is this place but all he says is more azuka if he sends half of what he sends to defend Kulun¡­ a quarter, I know we can turn things around!  Why do we deserve destruction simply because he is not satisfied with the amount of azuka¡­¡±

    She closed her eyes.  Her fingers trembled.  After a moment she looked at her hands and breathed in deep, then let it out slowly, pulled her hands behind her back, and looked at me.  ¡°I believe it is the same mentality.  What can you do for me?  What is in it for me?  What do I get?  When you reduce people to this, you will never know their true potential because you blind yourself to who they truly are.  And it will only hold you back.  It will hold you back because you will never see the full beauty of a person, you will never gain the full benefit of the relationship, that companionship that we all seek.  Do not you see?

    ¡°It is fear that drives you.  You fear betrayal.  You fear loneliness.  You fear loss, being less, having less.  And so, you begin a new relationship with the drive to extract the useful parts and discard the rest.  But this fear drives you to unhappiness!  You do not appreciate her beyond her tits?  You only ever see her tits?  Of course you will be lonely!  Of course you will be betrayed because she will never warm to you when you treat her this way!  And your emperor will never truly have Carthia.  Can you understand these things?¡±

    ¡°I think so?¡±

    ¡°When you do this, you also reduce yourself.  That is the other peril.  If you only choose to see others as what they can do for you, then you will begin to only see yourself that way.  You diminish your own value because the value of a person is what they can do.  What useful traits do they have, and we will discard the rest.  I see you.  I know that you can shoot three-hundred-sixty yards; Blue told me this.  I know that you are a field medic, and women talk¡ªhave you seen that one Caleb of Gath? He is so fine; I will get a baby from him just you watch!

    ¡°And now what?  What good are you?  Have you no thoughts beyond this?  Have you no value beyond this?  What is your worth beyond this?  Break your hands and scar your face.  Now tell me, who are you?¡±

    I shrugged.

    ¡°I am more than my body.  You are more than your pretty face.  Vita''o are more than a beast to ride.  Carthia is more than azuka.  Please do not reduce people to what one thing you want from them.  Do you think you can do that?¡±

    ¡°I¡­ I guess?¡±

    ¡°It begins with respect.  Earlier, you were very disrespectful.¡±

    ¡°What?  How?  Why?¡±  I''d always been very respectful to women.

    ¡°The whole time I was talking, your eyes were like this¡­¡± and she looked me up and down, smacking her lips and groaning in feigned interest.  Then she returned her gaze to my eyes.

    ¡°In my defense, you do have gorgeous legs.¡±

    At that, she lowered her gaze to the muddy ground and pursed her lips in thought.  ¡°I think¡­ perhaps¡­ you should take some time to think about what I have said to you.  Alone.¡±

    ¡°Uh¡­ OK?¡±

    ¡°Go.  Away.¡±

    ¡°Oh,¡± I said.  I wasn''t expecting that.

    ¡°Now.¡±

 Actions

    After leaving the vita¡¯o yard, I headed for the church.  I should have returned to the training grounds, but what Ahmi said to me weighed heavily on my heart, and I needed some time alone with my thoughts.

    Was she right?

    I passed through the market.  One woman, a native, held an infant in one arm as he suckled her breast; her yellow eyes looked me up and down and she smirked.  Other women looked my way, but I couldn''t look back.

    Not now.

    Outside the church, I had a passing thought to pick one of the guavas from the overgrown tree in the grounds, but the thought of food made me want to throw up.

    I noticed that the money I¡¯d left for the tithe was gone, but the book of Scripture remained unmoved, with the same black mold spots creeping up along the white pages as before.  I thought to perhaps pick it up and turn to the passage that reminded me that lust was the deadliest of sins, that told me to run away from temptation, and further flagellate myself in penitence for my disgusting conduct.

    I didn¡¯t need to; Father had made me memorize that verse.

    So I found a spot on the floor that didn¡¯t have a pool of water from the rain earlier and sat, leaning my back against the crumbling wall.

    Alone.

    Overhead, the vine that crept through the opening high up on the far wall sent out thin, yellow tendrils to grasp at the empty air, and I wondered how such a fitting example of my mind could have found itself here with me.

    So cluttered were my thoughts that I could scarcely tell which ones to ignore.

    Was she right?

    She was right, wasn¡¯t she?

    It was that night over dinner at the Lake of Doom.  Miyani had joined us.  Her eyes followed the banter.  Her cheeks, her nose, her broad mouth ensnared me.  Her beautiful neck.  Her muscled, chiseled shoulders.  Her cropped, white, pixie-cut hair, her cute ears, her soft lips enchanted me.  Her smile felt so natural, so pure.  I remember thinking, here was a girl¡­ a woman¡­ in the heart of death¡¯s grasp and yet so full of life, and I obsessed over her.

    I¡¯d thought it was what I said to her the moment we¡¯d arrived at Carthia, but it wasn''t words at all.  It was my gaze.  My look offended her.

    Never in my life had I considered that my eyes alone could be so offensive.  The simple matter of where I put them was the problem.  And, thinking back, it wasn¡¯t just Carthia.  Oasis saw me looking at her.  Anyanna saw me looking at Oasis.  Sarina saw me looking at Guenevieve, and Mebibi saw me looking at Alys.  How many more?  Saewi saw me looking, and that put her off such that she preferred to spend the night talking with Geraln over me.

    How many more?

    Miyani caught me looking at her.  I hadn¡¯t looked away.  At first she looked away.  At someone else.  Then she looked to the other side, only to bring her eyes back on me.  She met my eyes with her own for what felt like an eternal moment frozen in time, then turned around to look behind her only to check me once again.  At length she lowered her gaze to somewhere in her lap, wiped her brow, fixed a lock of hair behind her ear, and glanced back up at me and I swore I saw her give me a sheepish smile before I finally broke my gaze.

    And now with everything Ahmi said to me, I saw it all for what was truly going on.

    She saw me staring and felt uncomfortable, and I kept staring.  I should have picked up on that.  She didn¡¯t have the words to tell me to leave her alone; she shouldn¡¯t have needed to.  I should have seen how uneasy I¡¯d made her feel and looked away.  Instead¡­

    ¡°You¡¯re cute.¡±

    God, how could I have been so stupid?

    Did I even see her?

    Did I not reduce her to her body, her face, her bare skin?  And that was all I allowed myself to see in her.  I couldn¡¯t be bothered to see the unease I¡¯d put her in.

    I hated myself.

    I hated myself for making her feel that way.

    I hated myself for putting her in that position.

    I lusted after her.  I sinned.

    This was why God commanded chastity.  I liked to console myself with the idea that I was obedient on that, but was I?  Truly?  Beyond all the girls I¡¯d played edge-games with, which by itself ought to disqualify me from chastity, I lusted.

    I¡¯d missed the point of chastity entirely.

    I never stopped to appreciate the relationship.

    I had to do better.

    Control my gaze.

    Control my thoughts.

    Control my stupid, stupid mouth, behave myself and stop acting like a fucking animal.

    Maybe then Sarina could forgive me.

    ¡°Hello?¡±

    It was a woman.  A native woman with the same dark-green skin who''d let her white hair fall before her shoulders to dangle just above her¡­ chest.  She was dressed as they all dressed.  Her loincloth consisted of a red silk rectangle with a black circle pattern in the center and tiny black tassels to decorate the edge that hung down to her knees.  She stood in the doorway, otherwise naked, as they all were.

    I lowered my eyes.  She was gorgeous; I wished I hadn''t noticed.  I had to stop noticing these things.

    ¡°Question I uh¡­ at you,¡± she pieced words together in the same accent Ahmi used, though her voice was low like soft velvet.  ¡°Was put you money at the¡­ uh¡­ place?¡± She pointed at the shelf on the opposite side of the room.

    ¡°Yes, that was me.¡±

    She smiled and sighed.  ¡°Please forgive you me, uh¡­ sorry.  I¡¯m sorry.  Was take my son money.¡±

    I waved it off.  ¡°It''s fine.¡±

    ¡°No,¡± she shook her head and stepped her bare feet towards me.  ¡°Bad take my son money.  Uh¡­ no is he¡­ his money.  Bad.  I''m sorry.  Pay I you¡­¡± she looked down at a small pouch hidden beneath the front flap of her garment.

    I stopped her before she could take anything from it.  ¡°Please don''t.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fine, truly.  God guided your son here because He wanted him to have it.  OK?¡±

    She looked left, then swung her eyes around and looked right before fixing them back on mine.  I noticed how she watched my eyes closely.  I could have looked her over, drooled over her figure, and she''d have seen that¡ªseen my disrespect.  ¡°No falcon god you?¡±

    That made me smile a little.  ¡°No¡­  Yes and no.  Uh, no, but not entirely no, if that makes any sense.¡±

    ¡°No and yes¡­ means maybe?¡±

    ¡°Maybe.  Let''s go with that.¡±

    ¡°Eh¡­¡± She smiled and nodded on each word,  ¡°what¡­ is¡­ your¡­ name?¡±

    ¡°Caleb.  Caleb of Gath.  You?¡±

    ¡°ta?i!¡±

    ¡°Tani?¡± I said.

    At that, she crouched low and joined me on the floor, sitting beside me with one leg stretched out and her other knee up to support her elbow.  I fought the urge to study her soft skin, inches from my face.  I couldn''t.  I ended up looking away and staring at my feet instead.

    Sarina.

    How many times had she tried to tell me?

    ¡°Howmuch like you Carthia?¡±

    ¡°It''s different.  Not what I''m used to.¡±

    Tani rested her hand on my arm and leaned in close.  ¡°Say you what uh¡­ most like?¡±

    ¡°Hmm,¡± I said.  ¡°What do I most like about Carthia?¡±

    Some hours ago I¡¯d have said the juvenile thing¡ªthat women felt free to dress comfortably in the sweltering heat.  I was wrong to appreciate that.  ¡°I¡¯m¡­ I don¡¯t know yet.  Still new.¡±

    She pursed her lips and looked up in thought.  ¡°Uh¡­ like you food?¡±

    That made me chuckle a little.  ¡°You know, I¡¯m told it¡¯s good, but so far all I¡¯ve had is the grainy slop they give us soldiers.  I don¡¯t know anything else.¡±

    She giggled lightly and set her eyes on mine.  I had to fight the urge.  ¡°Need try you.  Very is good.  Show I you¡­ maybe?¡±

    I studied her handsome face; she smiled wide.  ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Tani, but may I ask?  Do you feel¡­ warm¡­ to me?¡±

    She tilted her head slightly and studied my face further.  ¡°Warm?  Eh¡­ is mean hot?  Is cold your home.  Need dress you like this!¡± she lifted up a flap of red silk to show off her loincloth.

    ¡°No!¡± I laughed.  ¡°What I mean is¡­ are you flirting with me?¡±

    ¡°Flirting!¡± she smiled and her eyes opened wide.

    ¡°Never mind,¡± I looked away.  ¡°Don¡¯t answer that.  I¡¯m sorry, stupid question.  Please don¡¯t answer that.  I wish I hadn¡¯t asked.  It¡¯s a stupid question.  I¡¯m so sorry¡­¡±

    She let out a playful huff and leaned in close, smiling wider.  ¡°Why stupid?  Why say you this?¡±

    I took in a deep breath and let it out slowly, very slowly, closing my eyes as I counted out the number of ways I had been¡ªand continue to be¡ªa complete shit.  ¡°I¡¯m struggling.  I grew up, I thought one thing meant something, and now I¡¯m grappling with all of it.  I used to think I could tell these things, but now I think that I was wrong.  Just¡­ wrong.  How am I supposed to know when a woman is flirting with me and when she¡¯s just being friendly?  I feel like I¡¯ve always gotten it wrong.  Or, at least I didn¡¯t see why it was so bad when I got it wrong.  I guess¡­ I¡¯m starting to see the problem with it.  Now I¡¯m just here trying to separate the shame from what I need to change, and I just feel lost.¡±

    You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

    Tani shifted her eyes about as I spoke.  I could tell she struggled to follow my words.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± I said.  ¡°That¡¯s too much, isn¡¯t it?¡±

    ¡°zo?u¡¯use eope,¡± she said.

    ¡°What¡¯s that mean?¡±

    ¡°Eh¡­ think break.  You.¡±  She nodded for emphasis.

    ¡°That¡¯s a good word for it.  Zoshu¡¯use dope?¡±

    She smiled wide and corrected me, ¡°eope.  Need time.  Need you time.  OK bye bye.  Nice to meet you!¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± I lowered my gaze.  I had to be careful not to look at her backside as she walked off.  From my periphery, I saw her glance over one shoulder at me before disappearing beyond the guava tree.

    These base urges, I had to get myself under control.  It shouldn''t have taken some monumental effort to avoid ogling her like some slab of meat; respect should come normal.

    Like a reflex.

    A part of me craved the sight of her figure, her generous hips.  I needed to take that part of myself and strangle it.  Behead it.  Shoot it in the head from three-hundred-sixty yards.

    Burn it at the stake for heresy.

    I continued to stare at the wall when rain clattered over the stone rooftop and all around me.  Sprays of water dashed in from the same opening that let in the vine, while other drops splashed into pools beside the open entrance.  Trickles of water seeped in through cracks in the ceiling and ran down the walls.  I suddenly felt a jolt of cool water through my shirt as one of them found my back, yet I stayed.

    I hadn¡¯t known how long I stayed in the church, but by the time I got back to the training grounds the sky had begun to turn and everyone was gone.  So, I went to the barracks in hope of drying off my toes.

    Faren was there reading a book, as was Gino, along with some other guy I didn¡¯t know.

    ¡°Damn!¡± Faren looked up at me.  ¡°We thought you weren¡¯t coming back!¡±

    Gino looked up from his book and smirked at me.  ¡°How did it go with Ahmi?¡±

    Faren and the other guy exchanged glances and shared a laugh between them.

    ¡°Well,¡± I scratched my head.  ¡°I think I¡¯m going to give her some time to come around on her own¡­ when she¡¯s ready.¡±

    The three of them chuckled heartily between each other.  Then Gino spoke through a grin, ¡°was it as bad as Melyana?¡±

    ¡°Nothing could be that bad,¡± I shook him off.  ¡°We actually had a very enlightening conversation¡­¡± I counted hours in my mind, ¡°that took up the whole day.¡±  Then I noticed the book Faren was reading.  ¡°Wait a second.  You!¡±

    He opened his eyes wide.  ¡°Me what?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re the one who checked out that book!¡±

    Faren lifted it up for a moment and showed off the cover.  ¡°You, of all people, need to read this book, man!¡±

    I ran up to him.  ¡°Tell me!  Tell me!  Tell me!¡±

    ¡°I won¡¯t spoil it for you.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    Faren chuckled.

    ¡°OK, well tell me something.¡±

    ¡°Nope.¡±

    ¡°Come on, man!  I¡¯m the one who told you about it!¡±

    Faren grinned wide and held it up.  ¡°This book will open your eyes, man!  But I can¡¯t explain it.  You¡¯ll have to read it for yourself!¡±

    Gino added, ¡°he won¡¯t tell me nothing, either.¡±

    The other man in the room spoke up.  ¡°Indictment, yeah?¡±

    Faren nodded, ¡°yeah.¡±

    ¡°Fucked up book, that one, man.  Couple years ago, inquisitor in my village catches a guy with that book.  Great guy, never hurt nobody.  Nails the book to his hand, then burns him at the stake for that shit.  Made us all watch.  Still the most horrifying shit I ever saw, and I been here almost a year now.¡±

    ¡°I believe it, man,¡± Faren nodded.  ¡°This thing is just¡­ hey,¡± he turned to me.  ¡°What do you know about a guy named Hano?¡±

    ¡°I can recite the verse for you if you like.¡±

    ¡°OK?¡±

    ¡°What will you give me?¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°Tell me why it¡¯s banned in our empire.¡±

    ¡°Uh¡­¡± Faren hesitated.

    I clarified, ¡°the Orthodox church rules the Southern Kingdoms Alliance, who we¡¯re at war with in Kulun.  So if it makes our enemies look bad, why is it banned in our empire?¡±

    Faren nodded.  ¡°You¡¯ll just have to read it.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t know, do you?¡±

    ¡°Oh, it¡¯s pretty clear why.  I think you don¡¯t know anything about this Hano guy it keeps talking about.¡±

    ¡°Oh, I know, trust me.¡±

    ¡°Nah, I don¡¯t think you do.¡±

    ¡°I do know, and I think you don¡¯t know.¡±

    Gino started laughing, then explained.  ¡°Hano is this guy who hid in a cave for forty days and forty nights while the world burned.  He had two of every animal¡­¡±

    ¡°Seriously?¡± I looked at him.

    Gino laughed, and I heard a clomping of boots on the wooden steps outside.  I turned to look, and Geraln had come in.  He went for his bunk without stopping.  ¡°Where the hell have you been?¡±

    ¡°You know where I went; I spent the day talking with Ahmi.¡±

    ¡°How did that go?¡±  He gently set Chirpy down on the floor while he bent over to go through his pack.

    ¡°Um¡­ it¡¯s a process.¡±

    Faren chuckled; Gino shook his head and smiled.

    Geraln didn¡¯t look up from rummaging through his things.  ¡°Worse than Juliara?¡±

    ¡°Be quiet.¡±

    The three of them laughed while Chirpy scampered around to Faren and sniffed at his hands; he rubbed a finger under her chin and spoke to Geraln, ¡°how did it go with the old woman?¡±

    Geraln¡¯s eyes popped and he cocked his head.  ¡°She''s crazy, man.¡±

    The other man spoke up, ¡°you went to see Peyumi today?¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Geraln nodded.  ¡°I''m still not sure what to think about that.¡±

    The man laughed.  ¡°She¡¯s a bit crazy.¡±

    Crazy enough that Davod came back from her admonishing everyone on their language as though he hadn¡¯t cussed right along with the best of us.

    ¡°I¡¯ve got new words for you two,¡± I said.  ¡°visa is yours, vidu is mine.  That¡¯s how you make a possessive.¡±

    Geraln and Faren glanced at one another.  It was Faren who spoke.  ¡°Caleb, that¡¯s basic.  Where have you been?¡±

    Geraln spoke while gathering up some things in a small sack.  ¡°vi makes a possessive; you splice it to the noun.  z?xevifaren, Faren¡¯s bed.  k?fivi?i, their coffee.¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Faren clarified, ¡°?i if it¡¯s the subject, ?u for the object.  Seriously, Caleb, it¡¯s not a race, but I am winning.¡±

    I sat dumbfounded.

    The other guy chuckled, then looked directly at me and gave his own lesson.  ¡°OK, listen.  keme k?fivi?i their coffee is hot.  bobade k?fivi?u I¡¯m drinking their coffee.  Subject¡­ object.  Got it?¡±

    Chirpy meandered over to another bed and sniffed at it while my friends laughed at me.  Then, she tugged at the sheet before facing Geraln and chirped at him.

    ¡°I¡¯m done,¡± he said without looking at her.  But as he walked by, she stayed, tugged at the sheet, and chirped at him again.

    I asked, ¡°Where are you off to?¡±

    ¡°Saewi offered to let me stay the night with her.  Her place is so much more comfortable than this sweatbox.¡±  He then looked down at Chirpy.  ¡°You coming?¡±

    Chirpy looked at him, then tugged at the sheet once more, then looked back at him and chirped.

    Faren asked, ¡°so are you getting serious with her, man?¡±

    Geraln smiled sheepishly, then looked down at Chirpy.  ¡°That¡¯s not my bed.¡±

    Gino added, ¡°she¡¯s a looker, I¡¯ll grant, but don¡¯t you want to trade up at some point?¡±

    Geraln turned to answer him, but his tiny lizard friend chirped at him again, still tugging at the bed sheet.  ¡°I don¡¯t know what you want me to do; that¡¯s not my bed.¡±

    She chirped again, still looking up at him in expectation.

    ¡°Fine,¡± he sighed.  ¡°You know this isn¡¯t my bed.¡±

    As soon as he pulled the sheet away, we all saw it.  Against the yellow lamplight upon the white sheets, a small green snake had coiled up beneath.  It hissed and tried to move its body away under the covers at the corner.

    All three of us snapped to attention.  The other man in the room got up from where he¡¯d reclined and made his way towards the corner.  ¡°Watch out for those ones, man.  What you need is a good, long stick¡­¡±

    But Chirpy fixed her eyes on the thing, hopping back and forth between her two tiny feet and keeping her head still while inching her body closer.  Then, quick as lightning, she whipped her long neck out and snatched the creature right behind its head.

    The other man scratched the back of his head and sat back down.  ¡°Or that works, too.¡±

    ¡°Caleb of Gath!¡± I heard my name from the door.  It was a lean man of average height with medium-dark green skin, yellow eyes, long, sandy green hair, and a sharp jawline.  It was Taganu, the same man who¡¯d greeted us as we first arrived, and I couldn¡¯t tell from his face what he wanted.

    ¡°Yes?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re in deep shit.¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡±

    ¡°Come with me.¡±

    I hesitated.  Geraln picked up Chirpy and set her on his shoulder with the still-wriggling snake dangling from her mouth.  Faren and Gino returned to their books as though I wasn¡¯t there, and the other guy smirked at me.

    Taganu reiterated, ¡°unless you want to be in deeper shit.¡±

    At that, I sat up and reached for my boots.

    ¡°You won¡¯t need those.¡±

    ¡°Go barefoot across the yard?¡±

    Taganu glanced down at his own bare feet, then back at me with an impatient stare.

    ¡°OK.¡±  And I followed him.  In his hand he held an oil lamp set with frosted glass that cast an orange eclipse on the grass as we made our way towards the main building beside the gate, long since barred shut.  Elsewhere, a few torches lit up the distance, some candles in windows by the old city.  Overhead was black, and beyond the walls the eerie sounds of chirps, whistles, strange animals calling out amid the chorus of insects in the jungle reminded me where I was.

    The air felt like it was supposed to be cool, but chose to be hot and sticky instead.  Taganu paused to turn towards me.  ¡°You¡¯re going to have to explain where you were today.¡±

    I shrugged.  ¡°I went to go see¡­¡±

    He shook his head.  ¡°Not to me.¡±

    He stepped up and lifted his lamp to look closely at the dark archway.  Then, seeing it was covered in spider webs, he moved to a different archway and went through that.  Inside was black but for a faint orange glow from a stone staircase leading upwards, on the other side of a wooden partition that separated it from the desk where we¡¯d all given our names.

    At the base of the stairs was a rough mat where he wiped his feet, then paused for me to do the same.  Then we climbed up into a narrow passage between wooden accordion partitions, at the end of which was an opening from where the orange glow of candlelight came.

    Taganu came to the far end of the doorway and looked in.  ¡°He¡¯s here.¡±

    Then, he stepped aside and gave me enough space to enter.

    Inside was a woman with hair in streaks of white with dark-green, set in braids that fell behind her back, the same woman who¡¯d stood with Ahmi and the Imperial Voice on the balcony as we¡¯d arrived.  Her clothes consisted of a black silk loincloth with gold embroidery in the shape of a lotus, gold armbands, a silver bracelet of delicate chain with the head of a snake clasping at the other end, and a delicate gold chain necklace with a spider for a pendant that had a diamond-tree stone for an abdomen and hung between her bare breasts.

    Behind her, open archways led to the black world outside.  In each corner, tall pots hosted plants that rose up to the top of the wooden partition, and the center of the room was a woven rug.  She sat upon a giant bag of a chair that molded to her body, holding a glass in one hand with some amber drink in it.  Light came from a pair of tall, iron candelabras beside the door that cast a yellow hue over her otherwise medium-dark-green complexion.

    The only movement was her toes brushing through tufts of the rug at her feet.  ¡°Where were you?¡±

    ¡°Well, I¡­¡± I moved around to one of the other plush bag-chairs and readied to sit down.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t tell you to sit.¡±  Her Herali was clean and polished, with no hint of a foreign accent.

    I glanced at Taganu, who stifled a laugh as he watched.  Then I turned my attention back to her.  ¡°Have we met?  I¡¯m Caleb¡­¡±

    ¡°Where did you go?¡±

    She assaulted me with that question as though I were an ant.  Her light-green eyes watched mine as she spoke.  Had I lost the battle against the urge to look her body up and down, that would have proved disastrous.  ¡°I went to talk to Ahmi.  She spoke to us about the vita''o this morning, and I had some questions about¡­¡±

    ¡°And after?¡±

    ¡°I didn''t get your name?¡±

    The woman took a sip from her glass and set it on a nearby table.  Then she stared at me a moment further before repeating her question, ¡°where did you go after you spoke with Ahmi?¡±

    ¡°We¡­ actually¡­ had a very long conversation that ended up touching on a variety of topics.¡±

    She didn''t say anything to that.  I tried to add up the hours as if I could somehow account for them with that explanation.  What I should have done was consider the possibility that Ahmi had already told her what time it was when I left.

    ¡°So, when I got there, she was teaching her students.  She didn''t want to interrupt her class, and so I watched that for a while.  Felt like a long time, actually.  Then, we spoke.  Probably hours, I mean, we spoke for a very, very long time.¡±

    She took up her glass, took a long sip from it, then set it back on the table and resumed glaring at me without another word.

    I felt unsettled by her silence.  ¡°After that¡­ uh¡­ I came back, but it was already late.  I''ve actually¡­¡± I turned as if to point towards the barracks, ¡°I¡¯ve been talking with my friends in the barracks for a while.¡±

    The hours didn''t add up even in my own mind. The woman continued to glare at me while drumming her fingernails on the wooden table.

 Consequences

    The Sling, they called it.  It was four heavy wooden posts tucked away at the end of the barracks and beside the north wall, each hosting an iron shackle connected to a chain with a crank, two for your hands and two for your feet.  What you do is you hang there, face-down and naked until they decide you don¡¯t need to anymore.

    The pain starts in your wrists, with the shackles digging into your skin and rubbing against your bones.  You have three options.  You can try to twist your wrist in some unnatural angle so that it digs into a different bone, you can pull hard with all your strength to bring your arms inward¡ªthis doesn¡¯t help your wrists but it does make it easier to breathe, or you can give up and become one with the pain.  As the hours wear you down, you find yourself cycling through all three options.

    You can¡¯t tell if it¡¯s been thirty seconds or thirty hours, and you notice the same pain in your ankles.  You have the same iron thing pressing into your shin while the other end digs hard at your heel, and you feel like you¡¯re on the verge of being ripped apart.  Half the muscles in your legs are stretched beyond capacity while the other half wish they could stretch but can¡¯t.

    Then some time later, the strain begins.  You can¡¯t relax.  Your shoulders strain from shifting what tiny fraction of movement the chains allow in desperate hope for some scrap of comfort, and exhaustion takes its toll.  You feel it in your back, in your hips, in your arms, everywhere.  Keep tugging, keep stressing, hoping that the sliver of respite you can afford your tortured wrists and ankles is worth what rapidly depleting energy you have left.

    The most sore of all is your neck.  Try to hold your head up, and the sharp pain of muscles being overworked shoots throughout your body.  Let your head fall, and you get dizzy from the blood rush.

    I tried to focus on gratitude; I hadn''t gotten my liver ripped out yet.

    It didn¡¯t help that I hadn¡¯t eaten since breakfast some twelve hours earlier.

    The sound of men laughing around the corner rose above the crickets and cut through the darkness.  I could see nothing but the faint light of an oil lamp around the corner casting drops of yellow onto the grass that had crept around the corner.  Then, the laughing stopped.

    Centuries later, the chatter of more men around the corner, voices I didn¡¯t recognize then went off to bed.

    I¡¯d probably hung there all of ten minutes for all I knew.

    No, it must have been hours.

    Maybe.

    I heard footfalls in the grass.  I had my head low, trying to give my neck a break, but the footfalls grew louder as someone approached me.

    Might have been one of Ahmi¡¯s friends coming for an easy snack.  Maybe if it ate one arm, my other arm could get a rest.

    I refused to look up.  Not that I¡¯d have been able to see who it was for the darkness, but I was busy.  I was counting how long it took to get high off the blood rush to my head.

    I heard someone sit down in the grass and felt the sudden jerk in my right arm as they leaned against the post.  Then I heard a yawn, followed by a sip from a drink.

    I yanked my shoulders forward to free up enough breath to speak.  ¡°I lost count.¡±

    ¡°What were you counting?¡±  Commander¡¯s deep baritone and deliberate cadence rose above the crickets to fill the night.  I could smell the alcohol on his breath from several feet away.

    I tried to grasp the question but it slipped from me.  ¡°I don¡¯t remember.¡±

    I heard a chuckle followed by another sipping noise.  I could scarcely see anything for the darkness, and the strain in my chest continued.

    ¡°Are you comfortable?¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°So you can be honest.¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± I grunted.

    He got up and crawled over to my face, then I felt something poking into my cheek.  ¡°Drink this.¡±

    It took me a moment to realize it was a reed straw and mustered up the strength to move my lips over the thing to take a sip.  Right away my mouth set fire to the strongest liquor I¡¯d ever tasted.  My whole self shot up and I started to cough.

    He laughed.  Then without another word, he helped reposition the straw to my lips.  I tried to take a strong swig, but that stuff was hard.  Then after several sips, he pulled away and leaned back against the post, and took another sip for himself.

    His smooth voice once again filled the night, ¡°taga?u spoke to the princess and convinced her that you can come out tomorrow evening.  His way of saying thank you for not making his life difficult.  That makes three things I like about you.¡±

    I pulled in some to allow my wrists to carry the weight of the shackles and give my chest enough room to make breath for words.  ¡°I don¡¯t understand?¡±

    ¡°Well, you went right after Ahmi; usually they wait until the end of the day.  Two, she says you were respectful about it when she said she wasn¡¯t interested.  Usually they argue, try to push, then her husband gets involved, and he can be¡­ messy.  Anyway¡­¡± he took another sip, ¡°I see potential in you.¡±

    ¡°Thanks,¡± I grunted.

    He leaned in close to offer me another sip, which I gladly took.  I might have weighed the consequences of being inebriated in a place where they¡¯d explicitly warned me not to be with the reality that if one of the alligators decided to come over for a snack there¡¯d be nothing I could do about it.  I wish I could say I had that level of cognition, but in reality I was hoping for something, anything to pass the time more smoothly.

    ¡°You going to tell me where you went?¡± he said.

    I fought the chains for as deep a breath as would allow, and found the dizzying effect of alcohol made the task somewhat easier.  ¡°I¡¯m afraid you¡¯ll judge me.¡±

    ¡°Is that because you judge yourself?¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°Are you ashamed of where you went?  Is that why you¡¯re afraid?¡±

    It took me a moment.  I wanted the ground to spin, and tried to figure in my mind if I¡¯d consumed enough of that ridiculously strong drink and if I¡¯d waited long enough for it to do its job.  ¡°I went to the church.  I needed to be alone with my thoughts.¡±

    ¡°Is that the truth?¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t ¡®sir¡¯ me; I¡¯m drunk,¡± he leaned in closer and helped me take another sip before settling back down and taking another sip of his own.

    ¡°I wanted to¡­¡±

    ¡°I understand,¡± he said.  ¡°Ahmi said some things that were hard to hear, and you felt like you needed a moment to sort through it all.¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t judge you for that.¡±

    ¡°No?¡±

    ¡°No, I don¡¯t.  The jungle will judge you, though¡­ if you don¡¯t.  I know too much the value of a clean mind, and the best way to have a clean mind is to clean it when you¡¯re not surrounded by things that want to eat you.  The next time you feel like you need to be alone with your thoughts, let me know.  Can you do that?¡±

    The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°And for Mother¡¯s sake don¡¯t lie to the princess?  She¡¯s testy about that sort of thing.¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    Then he took another sip.  I relaxed my shoulders and allowed the world to blend into a chorus of crickets.  Other sounds filled the night and crept into my ears¡ªhoots of unseen birds, howls, chirps, and growls.  I could only imagine how loud it would have been without the forty-foot stone wall to break it.

    ¡°Tell me about your friend.¡±

    ¡°My friend?¡±

    ¡°You said you had a friend back home growing up, who looks like me?¡±

    ¡°Sarina.¡±

    He chuckled.  ¡°And her name rolls right off your tongue!¡±

    ¡°She was like a sister to me.¡±

    ¡°How did that happen?  No¡­¡± he shook his head.  ¡°How did she end up in a place like Gath?¡±

    ¡°Mother Searnie was a doctor¡­ OK, so no.  She was a midwife, and then the plague happened and they said to her you¡¯re a doctor now, and she said OK fine.  Sarina had gotten very, very sick and they brought her¡­¡±

    ¡°From the plague?¡±

    ¡°Yeah.  Except she got better while her parents got worse.  They died, and then Mother Searnie brought her to the orphanage in Gath.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s what you were told?¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    ¡°And this Mother Searnie never said where she came from?¡±

    ¡°No.  We asked, all of us did at one point or another, and the answer was always the same.  She is our sister, she is our daughter, she is home now that¡¯s what matters.¡±

    ¡°I see,¡± he took another sip.  ¡°Did they at least tell her?¡±

    ¡°If they did, she never said anything to me about it.¡±

    ¡°And you have no idea.¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°So you never traveled anywhere, then?¡±

    ¡°I spent about two years at the church in Kyoen.¡±

    He laughed.  ¡°The one you were exiled from?¡±

    He remembered that.  ¡°Yeah.¡±

    ¡°And you never saw someone like her when you were there?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± I said.  ¡°I stayed at the church, and the friar there used to send me on odd jobs in exchange for a donation.  Usually it was at the docks loading or unloading ships, that sort of thing.  I met a lot of Tobori, lots of Goloagi were there, some other people I had no idea where they came from, but no one like her.¡±

    ¡°OK¡­ so this is your first time outside Heralia, then.¡±

    That made me smile a little.  ¡°Can I get another drink?¡±

    He laughed, ¡°the cost of a good story!¡±  Then he leaned over to offer me another sip.

    By this time I was hammered, and happily so.  How long that would last, and whether it would be enough to take the edge off the strain my body was under didn¡¯t matter at that moment.  All I knew was it worked.  ¡°There''s a pass into Saen from Gath, but the adults always told us never to attempt it.  They said it was too dangerous.¡±

    I could hear the smile in his voice.  ¡°And?¡±

    ¡°One summer, Sarina, Tor, and I breached it.¡±

    ¡°Tor is another kid you grew up with?¡±

    ¡°Yeah.  One winter he got the chill and didn¡¯t make it.  Anyway the pass took us about a week and a half.  We found a small Saeni village on the other side.  Tor met a girl.  She was making eyes at me, but Sarina wasn''t having that, so she went with him.  We stayed a few days, then we went home.  We told everyone we''d gotten lost in the woods.  Father Yewan didn''t believe me.  Sarina told him the truth, and I got double chores for a month!¡±

    ¡°That''s very interesting!¡± he mused.  ¡°How old were you?¡±

    ¡°We must have been¡­ I don''t know, thirteen? Fourteen?  That was before I got sent away to Kyoen.¡±

    ¡°You weren''t upset that she ratted you out?¡±

    ¡°I was!  I was very upset.  She was upset, too, told me I wasn''t mad that she''d told the truth, only ashamed that I hadn''t the courage to, and she refused to speak with me.  She made me apologize.¡±

    He laughed a good, hearty laugh.  ¡°She made you apologize?  And what leverage did she have over you?¡±

    ¡°I liked her,¡± I said.  ¡°I didn''t want her to be mad at me.  I knew she needed me to stay with her at night sometimes because¡­¡±

    I stopped; I''d already said too much.  Commander heard the reticence in me.  ¡°What happened at night?¡±

    I needed a moment to figure out a better reason for what I''d almost spoken.  ¡°She had trouble sleeping sometimes.¡±

    At that, I heard a sip.  Then he leaned in close to offer me another.  ¡°You had a thing for her, didn''t you?¡±

    ¡°I did.¡±

    ¡°Can you keep a secret?¡±

    I tried to lift my head some to look at him despite the darkness of night.  ¡°Yeah?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t tell this to people, but I''m Mayeni.¡±

    ¡°You came from Mayeno?¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± he took a sip.  ¡°My mother brought us here to escape the lottery.¡±

    ¡°The lottery?¡± I asked.

    He chuckled lightly.  ¡°I wouldn''t expect you to understand.  The Emperor demands an annual slave quota from every Duchy, except Heralia.  You being an orphan, you would have been culled first; you should have a number on your arms.  Instead you grew up in the heart of diamond-tree country.  Lucky you.  Tell me something.  Why is slavery outlawed in Heralia?¡±

    ¡°That was the condition.  The Bear clan finally sat down with the Falcon clan to talk about what kind of peace they''d be willing to accept¡­¡±

    ¡°Spare me the history lesson.  I didn''t ask how, I asked why.¡±

    ¡°Because it''s abhorrent; the very existence of the institution invites abuse.  That was in the Epic.  Elk had enslaved all the other animals.  He¡¯d made agreements with them all, but once he had power over them he broke those agreements and said, ¡®who¡¯s going to stop me?¡¯  It was Cougar who set fire to the world¡­¡±

    ¡°I thought you were Daenma?¡±

    ¡°I am.¡±

    ¡°That doesn''t sound like Daenma scripture.¡±

    ¡°You know what, Scripture does appear to condone slavery.  That''s true.  It also says that when one thing is a problem, when something gets to a point where it doesn¡¯t matter how many rules you put around it it¡¯s still a problem, when it breeds anger, hatred, invites people to look down on one another, then it needs to be gouged out and thrown into the fire.  We are born with a responsibility to know right from wrong and act accordingly, and slavery is wrong.  It''s wrong because it''s wrong; there is no moral argument to justify it.¡±

    Commander laughed.  ¡°I dare you to say all that to a Daenma priest!¡±

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter.¡±

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter?¡± he laughed further.  ¡°You have the Parable of the Golden Acorns etched on your bow!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s just a myth.¡±

    ¡°Then why do you repeat it?¡±

    ¡°Because it has metaphorical value.¡±

    ¡°And what if I told you your Daenma scripture was also a myth with metaphorical value.¡±

    ¡°That stuff actually happened.¡±

    ¡°Why?  Because it''s your god?¡±

    ¡°No.  Because¡­ I don¡¯t know how to explain.  I just know in my heart it¡¯s true.¡±

    Commander laughed again.  Then he took another sip from his drink and offered me another.  After a time he settled back down and asked, ¡°you want to know why it''s illegal here?¡±

    ¡°Sure?¡±

    ¡°Their argument goes like this.  Mother owns you.  Your body, your spirit, your soul, the forest, the sky, the mountains, everything belongs to Her.  So, the reasoning goes, if She owns you, then how can someone else own you?  For them, the very idea is heresy¡­¡±

    By this time, the ground was spinning, as was my whole body.  I drifted through clouds of dizzyness as my body carried me to a better place.  Commander¡¯s words came through muffled, as though he spoke to me through a long tunnel, and for a fleeting moment I was calm.

    ¡°... I¡¯m sure you can imagine.  Needing protection from what¡¯s out there, and having no one else to turn to but the emperor, slavery is an absolute heresy, and yet the emperor wants to bring in slaves to increase the azuka harvest¡­¡±

    ¡°Sir,¡± I asked.  ¡°What¡¯s out there?¡±

    ¡°The Sewu¡¯oni.¡±

    ¡°Why are we fighting them?¡±

    ¡°Because if we don¡¯t, they¡¯d kill us.¡±

    ¡°But why?¡±

    ¡°Because one asshole decided that Carthia is the embodiment of all that is corrupt and evil in the world, and she convinced a whole lot of people she was right.  That¡¯s why.  We have a different skin color, we bring foreign gods, we don¡¯t even speak Uhuida, and when we do we use /n/ instead of /?/, that sort of thing.  Carthian men prefer children to grown women, we force ourselves on women, that sort of thing.  Her solution is to exterminate us; we¡¯re untermensch.  But, we have a secret weapon.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s that?¡±

    ¡°If I told you, it wouldn¡¯t be a secret!¡± he laughed.  Then he sipped his drink again and continued.  ¡°I¡¯m joking.  The long and short of it is that Kaxawi could, if she wanted to, assemble fifty-thousand men¡ªenough to storm these walls and butcher everyone here¡ªbut she can¡¯t.  She can¡¯t because her alliance exists on the principle of wiping us out.  Once we¡¯re good and wiped out, job done.  Work complete.  She will have made ¡®uxuwi great again, and all the tribes can go back to killing each other as before.  The thing about power is that once you get a taste, it¡¯s hard to let go.  So, the simple awareness that once she¡¯s won the war she loses everything gives her cause to commit war on a more¡­ ongoing basis.  Not all of her people have figured that out yet, so they go hard anyway, and Carthia can¡¯t stand alone against the entire Uhui region.  So we need support from an emperor who has his own reasons to keep the war going indefinitely.  That¡¯s what you¡¯ve been conscripted into¡ªwe¡¯re pawns in an endless war between two powerful forces who have no incentive to win and every reason to keep going.  How does that make you feel?¡±

    ¡°Can I have another drink?¡±

 The Returned

    Ales tapped my cheek. ¡°Wake up! It¡¯s your turn to see the old woman.¡±

    I hurt. My arms hurt. My shoulders hurt. My back hurt. My neck hurt. My wrists, my ankles, my hips, everything hurt.

    My brain hurt.

    I had pain throughout my insides, my outsides, and my in-betweens.

    And it was morning. I rubbed my eyes enough to see clearly. Overhead, a large, black-and-brown spider fanned its legs out in mid-air at the center of a window. Beyond this, thick clouds filled the sky in a patchwork of grays, darker grays, and really dark grays.

    Ales tapped my cheek. ¡°Come on, man. You have to get up; everyone else is at breakfast.¡±

    Lifting my arms was laborious. My muscles and bones ached, and I had welts all about my wrists where the iron shackles had dug in. I tried to sit up, but my muscles forbade it.

    ¡°Come on, let¡¯s go!¡± He tapped me again, then took hold of my arm and pulled.

    ¡°I¡¯m coming,¡± I said. The air was thick and musty, but I didn¡¯t feel hot. Rather, my fingers were cold and trembling from having fasted for nearly two days, but the pit in my stomach stood in queue behind the pain in my bones.

    With Ales¡¯s help, I was able to stand, somewhat, only I needed a few minutes for the dizziness to abate. I looked down once more at my bed with the feeling that I could simply collapse and stay there a few more years. By the time I was able to force some clothes on, I caught a glimpse of Ales rubbing his side, the spot where he¡¯d been stabbed. ¡°How are you feeling, man?¡±

    ¡°Ehh,¡± he looked up at me. ¡°Still hurts. Doctor still makes me drink that slimy weird shit. Earlier this morning I forgot; she sent your boy Taganu to remind me. They don¡¯t play here, man.¡±

    We stepped out of the old wooden barracks and onto the grass, and he continued. ¡°Some milf came looking for you yesterday.¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know how the hell you go off to flirt with one lady and end up with another one bringing you gifts. Also, your boy Davod is no longer with us.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± I stopped. My heart slammed against my chest.

    Ales turned and laughed. ¡°He¡¯s fine! Gods, you should see your face! Nah, man, so right after you left we was all standing around looking at one another. Davod goes to the shed to get a couple of those native bows and says we ought to get some practice in while we wait for Commander. Turns out Commander was up on the balcony watching to see what we would do. Now he¡¯s gonna be our captain, so Commander came and got him real early for some special training.¡±

    ¡°Nice!¡±

    A peal of thunder cracked overhead, and Ales started counting off on his fingers, ¡°Geraln¡¯s in the medical ward with mosquito sickness; doc says he¡¯ll be fine in a few days. Kelint is on permanent wall duty. He¡¯s gonna serve his two years sniping fools who get too close then go home¡­ bastard. We also got a couple new guys. Tobori kid, probably too young for this shit but he¡¯s a local, and some Goloagi dude fought in Kulun. Then they put some weirdo in charge of training us¡ªBear clan, loves the sound of his own voice. What else¡­ what else¡­¡±

    A sudden downpouring of rain filled the yard, and we were drenched. The thought of making a run for the nearest shelter crossed his face, followed by the realization that we were already too late. I was soaked through. My trousers, my shirt, my hair, and all in my boots were drenched.

    ¡°Oh yeah,¡± Ales shouted above the clattering of drops filling pools around us. Water ran down his hair on all sides and sloshed across his face. ¡°It rains a lot here.¡±

    That made me laugh.

    Breakfast was the usual slop of grainy globs of brown paper. They¡¯d also had bowls of mixed fruit that, allegedly, was very good, but those were gone by the time I arrived. There was also an older woman, native, nearly naked as everyone else, who was about to leave with a metal pot that gave off that miraculous smell of coffee. She wanted my last kren for the dregs, but I needed it.

    ¡°Over here,¡± Ales ushered me to our table, though I already knew most of them. Renou was there, quiet as ever, same as Northstar. Rock, Jame, Gino, Borel, and Faren had all finished eating and sat listening to a burly Herali man with a bear spirit inked into his neck. He himself was the human equivalent of a bison, hair and smell included. To his left sat a small blonde-headed, white-skinned Tobori boy dressed in a brown cotton loincloth and the number 411417 branded into each arm. To his right was as Ales said, Goloagi you could tell from his hook nose though he¡¯d kept his otherwise curly hair cropped short. He had a scar down his face from his forehead, across his bridge, and down the side of his nose, and he looked up at me as we walked in before returning his attention to the bear guy, in the middle of his speech.

    ¡°... so then we came to this open area. Like jungle everywhere else, but a flat open grass, maybe five, four-hundred yards across. We stop right at the edge of the trees, and there¡¯s four of them in the middle just standin¡¯ around. Gamus takes a shot, nails one of them shits right in the neck and the rest of them scatter. Stupid shit Maris, he was a Falcon guy,¡± he glanced up at me, ¡°says, ¡®we got em on the run! Let¡¯s go!¡¯ I was like, are you stupid, but of course you don¡¯t say that to your commanding officer. So me and three other guys set up to cover while him and the rest of them charge right across the field and get mowed down ¡®cause they got three bloody war parties just waitin¡¯ in the trees. Sami comes up, they gonna circle ¡®round you. Best go back to Carthia, and stay off the bloody main road this time. We¡¯s trompin¡¯ through the woods, but you know they¡¯s trompin¡¯ faster, and them pick off Rayul before we get back. Thirteen of us went out that day, three come back. Welcome to bloody Carthia. You must be Caleb?¡±

    I nodded, then sipped, allowing the sweetened coffee to resurrect me in-between trying to wring my clothes dry.

    ¡°Alright, so field medic. My name¡¯s Daren, and I¡¯m still alive so it looks like I¡¯ll be training you. Half of you won¡¯t live to see your second month¡¯s wages, so don¡¯t get too attached. This here¡¯s Jezi,¡± he patted the Tobori kid¡¯s back so hard that he lurched forward in recoil, ¡°what can I say but he grew up here and he speaks the language. His woman is one of Ahmi¡¯s so don¡¯t get any ideas. This other guy here is Malchuk,¡± he pointed at the Goloagi man with the scar down his face, but didn¡¯t touch him. ¡°He fought in Kulun, now he¡¯s here. Anyway, we¡¯re about to go outside so hurry up, finish your goop, and come join us.¡±

    I wanted nothing more than to put my head down on the table and take a nap. I knew I couldn¡¯t, so my second best option was to put something in my stomach. The slop was bland and grainy, like globs of stuff in a sticky goo that tasted like food. But at that hour it was delicious enough, and I scraped every last line of goo that my bowl would allow and turned around to see if there were any more.

    There might have been, but by this time men from other units had begun to clean out the morning¡¯s pots and pans, while others took a rag to the wooden tables throughout the hall. The walls, like most stone buildings in Carthia, were more open than not, with several columns to lift up the roof, and I could easily see whatever was going on outside. Beside the vita¡¯o yard everything was quiet, while in the cluster of grassy domes people went about their day. In the training yard, men faced off one another with spears tipped with bags of red chalk.

    By the time I¡¯d finished and joined them, we¡¯d all stood in a line to take turns against the reigning champion, who at that moment was Fluffy, the vita¡¯o Ahmi had introduced us to the other day, the light-brown one with the white spots along her back and white underbelly. She had a contraption in her mouth like a wooden frame that had a small bag of red chalk at the tip of her snout.

    Borel was up against her. He held his spear at the butt end so as to give him the best reach, leaving the tip less than a yard from where she stood, shifting side to side on her hind legs. Then in one motion, she lunged forward, batted the spear to one side with her forelimbs, and snapped her neck out to tag him on his shoulder.

    ¡°Dammit!¡± he shouted. Fluffy stepped close to him and rubbed her head in his cheek. He responded by gently stroking under her chin, and she returned to her original spot while Borel passed the spear to Faren.

    Faren stood, shaking nervously.

    Ales smirked, ¡°she won¡¯t hurt you, man!¡±

    ¡°I know that!¡± he said. ¡°That doesn¡¯t change anything.¡±

    As Fluffy inched forward, Faren trembled, trying to keep the spear tip towards her.

    Malchuk spoke to him in Goloagi, ¡°lower your stance.¡±

    This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    Faren did.

    ¡°Pull back some if it¡¯s too heavy, you¡¯ll get a better swing on the front end¡­ steady with your front arm¡­ bend your right elbow¡­¡±

    Fluffy watched and waited as Faren shifted around trying to follow the veteran¡¯s advice, then swayed her head back and forth, only to lift up one of her hind legs, swat the spear down into the ground, and jump high in the air towards him. Faren squealed and dropped the spear altogether, then tripped and fell on his back while Fluffy landed beside him.

    ¡°Gimme that thing!¡±

    We all watched as Malchuk took no time in readying himself. I tried to notice what he¡¯d been talking about. He stood with his left side facing his opponent, holding his left hand up with his elbow up and his right hand further back, leaving about a foot of spear behind him. As she tried to inch her way past, he kept the spear trained on her. She waved her head to his left to get around him, and he stepped with her, keeping his back protected, all the while keeping the weapon trained on her body. Fluffy tried to swat the spear to one side, but Malchuk pulled it back. Then she swatted it again, only for him to resume his position before she could get around him. Two things I noticed; he held the spear loose in his left hand. This enabled him to maneuver it better, sliding it forwards and backwards with his right hand. Then, he kept his right arm bent, leaving enough space between hands to thrust forward some, but also enough space to pull it back, all the while using his left hand as a fulcrum.

    Then he thrust it at her, and she jumped back. As she stepped closer, he thrust at her again, only for her to tap the spear with her head just behind the chalk bag. Malchuk then tried to yank the spear back, but she¡¯d grasped a forelimb around it, and she reached in to tag him on the cheek.

    To my left, I heard someone laughing. ¡°Relax. Don¡¯t attack. Try and force her to give you opportunities.¡±

    It was that man again, the native who¡¯d ushered us all one-by-one to talk to Peyumi. Davod went with him cussing with the best of us, only to come back correcting us all on our language. Borel went with him hating the vita¡¯o, and now Fluffy was his new best friend. Today, he wore nothing but a black silk loincloth with silver embroidery in the shape of a big cat covered in spots roaring and reaching out with its paw.

    Malchuk, still breathing heavily, snarled at him, ¡°can you take her?¡±

    The man smiled wide. Fluffy let out a gurgle, muffled through her mouthpiece, then I heard two clicks.

    ¡°p? ??mi?isa¡± he said, gently brushing the side of her neck, ¡°k??? eiz?de.¡±

    I glanced at Faren to see if I could glean whether he¡¯d understood that. He glanced back at me and shrugged.

    The man then came over to the spot where we¡¯d decided the challenger should stand, and faced her. She looked at him and groaned. Malchuk handed him the spear with a smirk across his face, then opened his eyes wide when the man refused it, choosing instead to face her with his bare hands. Then, Fluffy lowered her face to the ground and opened her jaws, dropping the mouthpiece.

    My mouth gaped open in shock, and as I looked around, I wasn¡¯t the only one. This man, wore nothing but a silk cloth dangling from his belt, leaving his dark-green skin open to the elements. Rippling muscles crossed his chest, his stomach, his legs, his arms, his shoulders; every bit of him bulged of raw power. That, versus a lizard gaping her jaws open revealing jagged, serrated teeth that could rip a man¡¯s throat out in under a second, pacing left and right on claws that ended in talons easily three inches long.

    Fluffy inched her body forward while holding her head in place and coiling her neck. The man stood, angled slightly to one side, with both hands open and up beside his face.

    He also kept his chin down to protect his neck.

    Fluffy chirped, then clicked, then let out a string of gargles followed by another chirp.

    ¡°Come on,¡± he smiled at her, speaking calmly as though he¡¯d done this a thousand times before.

    She swayed her body left and right, keeping her head still in front of her, and he matched her movements with his hips, then took two small steps closer. She held still, he took two more steps closer, leaning his body back some.

    Then, quick as lightning, she snapped her open jaws forward at him. A flurry of long, white hair poofed as he reached across and caught the side of her mouth, then rolled around taking her head with him. She tried to lift one of her hind legs up, but he¡¯d already trapped her neck in the crook of his elbow just behind her skull and leaned back, putting his entire weight on her. With her forelimbs trapped behind his back and unable to get leverage, she lifted up one of her hind legs and tried to swipe at him with those three-inch talons. The man lifted one leg and caught her foot before she could set it down, bending his knee inwards to trap her leg in position.

    Then, teetering on one hind leg, he pushed back and she toppled over, landing on her side while he kept her neck locked tight under his bulging, muscular arm. Her forelimbs were stuck beneath his back, her one hind leg was trapped in his knee, and she let out a shrill caw.

    ¡°?o¡¯odesa,¡± he cooed. ¡°k??? v? ?emaeadesa.¡±

    Fluffy then let out a long groan as the man faced us with a smile across his lips. ¡°OK,¡± he looked around at all of us. ¡°Questions?¡±

    ¡°What the hell, man?¡± Jame blurted out.

    The man laughed, then kissed Fluffy on the top of her nose. She groaned, and he explained, ¡°notice the twist in her neck. If you come around to this side, you can see it better.¡±

    I shuffled around along with Rock, who bent over to study the position.

    ¡°She can bend her neck easily, so if I don¡¯t twist her like this, she can cut me up pretty bad. The other thing is don¡¯t forget about claws. I¡¯ve seen men figure out how to control their neck, only to find out the hard way that she has talons, too.¡±

    Fluffy groaned again, then let out a long string of clicks.

    Borel stepped close, ¡°you¡¯re hurting her!¡±

    The man laughed. He then looked at Fluffy, still with her head still locked in one arm, ¡°?? zudase?¡±

    She let out a click, and he released her. Immediately, she rolled away from him and hopped up on her hind legs as she¡¯d been before, then shook her whole body and stretched out. As for the man, his chest heaved from heavy breaths and he stood, checking himself over and dusting grass shreds from the incidental flap of fabric that sufficed for clothes. He then twisted around to check out his back side while the rest of us came up to him.

    ¡°Gods!¡± Jame shook his head wide-eyed.

    Rock spoke to him in Goloagi, ¡°need teaching you me for this!¡±

    Others patted his back. I was still shocked. ¡°That was incredible. I can''t believe that!¡±

    From the side of my eye, I caught Borel looking over Fluffy to make sure she was fine and stroking her neck.

    I tried not to fawn too hard, ¡°what did you say your name was?¡±

    The man smiled and turned to me. ¡°Ta¡¯o. Are you ready?¡±

    I still couldn¡¯t get over his foreign look, exceedingly dark-green skin, bright yellow eyes, and straight, white hair that fell down past his shoulders, and yet he spoke Herali as if he were one of us. ¡°Uh¡­ I guess?¡±

    ¡°The Elder of Elders is eager to meet you,¡± he smirked. ¡°She¡¯s been waiting.¡± Then he turned to walk away, checking over his shoulder to be sure I was coming with him.

    I followed. I hadn¡¯t known what Fluffy was trying to say to the man, but I can¡¯t say I¡¯d have wanted to fight him, either. His back, his legs, his arms were about as muscled as any man I¡¯d ever seen. As with all the women, as with everyone else, he was basically naked but for the black silk hanging down from his waist and walked barefoot in the grass.

    We made our way to the end of the mess hall and around the corner, where we walked towards the center of town. ¡°Are you like a general or something?¡±

    Ta¡¯o laughed, then turned to face me. ¡°No, man, they won¡¯t let me fight.¡±

    ¡°Why not?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m one of The Returned.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s that?¡±

    We passed by a cluster of grassy domes on the left with a small handful of stone buildings on the right. A young native woman came around the corner; she looked up at him and smiled as we passed. ¡°ko''o ?o¡¯imesedu ??s?¡¯?!¡±

    He blushed hard and grinned, ¡°k??? zo?u¡¯udexa!¡±

    At that she pursed her lips. Ta¡¯o glanced over his shoulder at her back side ever so briefly just as she did the same, and the two of them giggled it off. Then, he looked at me with a pang of embarrassment.

    ¡°What did she say?¡±

    He smiled, then looked at her once more. ¡°Uh¡­ she said you¡¯re almost as good-looking as I am.¡±

    With that, we resumed our walk. ¡°That¡¯s not what she said, man!¡±

    ¡°OK, what did she say, then?¡±

    ¡°Well, I don¡¯t know.¡±

    ¡°So how do you know she didn¡¯t say that?¡± he smirked.

    ¡°Because¡­¡± I sought an explanation. ¡°Because I know.¡±

    Ta¡¯o laughed.

    ¡°She seems fond of you.¡±

    Ta¡¯o laughed again, then turned to me briefly. ¡°You¡¯d better be careful with that, man. I heard you tried to flirt with Ahmi.¡±

    I lowered my eyes, and he broke out laughing as we made our way to the left of the massive library.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. There isn¡¯t a man here who hasn¡¯t had a crush on her at some point, myself included. You know she¡¯s married, right?¡±

    ¡°Commander may have mentioned that after-the-fact. Anyway, you didn¡¯t say what that returned thing is all about.¡±

    His expression grew serious. ¡°Alright, listen. I know that for you Carthia is just some place you were told to come serve for two years, but this place is everything to me, and I would do anything to save it. They won¡¯t let me fight, but I do get to serve the Elder of Elders, which is a pretty big deal. That probably doesn¡¯t mean anything in your culture.¡±

    ¡°It sounds important.¡±

    He stopped beside the tall towers of the inner sanctum and faced me directly. ¡°In the traditional ?a¡¯uxuwi way, when you have a child with a¡­ problem¡­ you take them out and return them to the jungle. My parents loved me enough to bring me here instead. You see people with numbers in their skin, they had the option of life as a slave somewhere else. For people like me, people like Peyumi, so many of us, there is nowhere else we can live, and more come to us all the time. If Carthia falls¡­¡±

    Ta¡¯o shook his head. He was shorter than me, but not by much, and still on the tall side of average. He had a handsome, yet kind face that belied the laughter he held within, and it wasn¡¯t difficult to see why that woman, and others we passed by, were so clearly fond of him. I could discern no defect in him. ¡°What was wrong with you that you were returned?¡±

    Ta¡¯o popped his eyebrows and looked away to resume our journey. ¡°We¡¯re not having that conversation.¡±

    Thick trees and the unconnected posts of the vita¡¯o yard continued on our left as far as space would allow, even as the outer wall could be seen above the trees wrapping around towards the right. Another cluster of grass-covered domes stood before me, and we kept to the left where a narrow corridor between the tall towers of the inner sanctum and the outer wall was home to a small handful of mud hovels between. Overhead, a stone walkway scarcely wide enough to walk spanned the corridor, with a vertical wooden beam interrupting the stone arch on the side where it connected to the sanctum.

    At length, we came to a small mud hut with a grass roof surrounded by a garden of a great variety of shrubs. Tomatoes grew beside thick tufts of grass that gave off a strong citrusy scent, and corn grew with beans trained along their stalks while large, green vegetables took to a vine woven between them on the ground. Stone hexagons maybe three feet across were teeming with herbs, some I knew while others I didn¡¯t, and beside the entrance a small tree held pendulous purple fruits the size of a small apple.

    Ta¡¯o led me along a narrow footpath and stood beside the opening that sufficed for a front door. There, he picked one of the fruits and bit into its soft, white flesh, then turned to look inside. ¡°v?wede Caleb of Gath.¡±

 Intentions

    ¡°¡®uzi zub? ?axe?i ¦Èemovevisa!¡± The old woman spoke effusively, reaching up to grasp my face in her withered hand and smiled wide with the teeth she had left.

    ¡°O.. K¡­¡± I said, ¡°so¡­ those were words.¡±

    She hunched over and cackled, then rested her hand on my shoulder, slapping gently a few times.  Then she lifted her yellow eyes to me and spoke in clean Herali, almost as a whisper, ¡°come and sit down.  Listen.  ¡®uzi is like a past tense, but only when we need to express the origin of something.  How things came to be.¡±

    ¡°¡®uzi,¡± I nodded.  ¡°OK?¡±

    She nodded.  ¡°zub? is the action.  Make sure to hear the vowel, /?/.  It''s the same vowel you hear in the fat cat shat on the mat.¡±

    That made me laugh.  Hard.

    The old woman poked her finger into my chest and grinned wide, ¡°I have jokes too, young man!  You''d better watch it!¡±

    That made me smile.  ¡°I will.¡±

    ¡°So,¡± she turned towards a small iron stove in the corner beside the open window where three baby green spiders had made their home.  She was dressed as everyone else, her shriveled body nearly naked and sagging breasts exposed to the world.  ¡°zub? means to make something.  To carve, to sculpt, like a work of art.¡±

    ¡°zub?,¡± I repeated.  ¡°To make.  OK?¡±

    Her hovel wasn''t large.  Inside I could see wooden frames surrounded by mud with roots creeping down from the roof like fur.  Inside, it was comfortable.  Not trying to find some way to beat this horrid humidity and this is the least intolerable comfortable, but it was nice.  The air was crisp and had a delightful earthy scent that made you feel connected to the world, and it was cool as the shade beneath an oak tree in the mountains of Osenia on a summer day.

    ¡°?axe?i,¡± she continued.  She took up a pot from the stove and set it on a tray with two cups and plates of other things.

    ¡°Let me carry that for you,¡± I moved over to her.

    ¡°Oh, no!¡± her voice quivered.  ¡°Every day my body asks me ¡®do you still need this?¡¯  And if I say no, I''ll lose it forever.  Please, sit down.¡±

    Beside the earthen wall were two bag chairs like the one I''d seen that braided woman sitting on the other day.  They were set apart with a small, round wooden table between them.

    She wobbled a bit as she walked ever so slowly towards me.  ¡°That''s the subject.  You know, the one doing the action.  ?axe?i is the one doing the carving.¡±

    ¡°Shaheni,¡± I nodded.  ¡°What does it mean?¡±

    ¡°The Devil!¡±

    ¡°Oh, wow.  OK?¡±

    She leaned over and set the tray down, then carefully lowered herself into the chair opposite me.  ¡°The next one is the object¡ªthe thing that was carved.  ¦Èemovevisa.¡±

    I nodded and made a mental note of what she''d said so far, wishing I¡¯d had a notebook to write these down.  ¡°What does that one mean?¡±

    ¡°Well,¡± she picked up the pot and poured out a steaming cup of tea into each of the cups, then set it down.  I couldn''t place what kind of tea it was, but it had a sharp head to it.  ¡°Pay attention to this.¡±

    ¡°I''m listening?¡±

    ¡°No, look,¡± she pointed.  ¡°Do you see how neither of these two cups is closer to you, or to me?  They¡¯re side by side between us.  Whenever you pour, always arrange the cups this way.¡±

    ¡°Hmm,¡± I raised an eyebrow.  ¡°What if there are three people?¡±

    She smiled wide and nodded.  ¡°Very good!  Very good!  I love the way you question!  Then you must place them all in the center.¡±

    I studied the arrangement, then looked around.  There was an old, tired dog with grayed, matted fur sleeping in the corner beside the door, and in the other corner a tousled bed small enough for my tiny host.  I looked back at the Elder of Elders.

    She laughed and squinted her eyes at me.  ¡°Also, you must choose first.¡±

    ¡°Oh,¡± I laughed, then picked up the teacup on the left.

    She pointed out a small plate with three ceramic ramekins, each with a miniature spoon.  ¡°This is ¡®az?ka, lemon, and bison cream.  Take as much as you like.¡±

    ¡°nuvidesa,¡± I felt at ease with her.  She wore her emotions as naked as her old, wrinkled body.  The flap of fabric she wore about her waist wasn¡¯t fine silk and had no gold or silver embroidery.  Rather, her loincloth was a simple, undyed cotton with the thread on one side woven a little too taut, and had a small flower in one corner of pink yarn with the rough, haphazard stitching of a child.

    ¡°Now,¡± she continued, ¡°¦Èemovevisa can break down like this.  vi makes a possessive¡­¡±

    ¡°Wait, I know this!  visa is yours, isn''t it?¡±

    ¡°Ahh,¡± she nodded and smiled wide.  ¡°Yes!  Very good!  And ¦Èemove is a face. Appearance, in general, but we usually mean face.¡±

    ¡°Your face,¡± I tapped my chin and put the words together in my mind.  ¡°Uh¡­ the Devil has carved your face into being?¡±

    ¡°Not my face,¡± she lifted a hand to her chest in exaggerated denial, then leaned into me, ¡°your face!¡±

    I smiled, but the words didn''t make sense.  ¡°The Devil carved my face?¡±

    She leaned in close and whispered, ¡°to tempt women!¡±

    That made me blush hard.  I don''t think I''d ever heard anything like that before, but she meant it.  I tried to laugh off a pang of embarrassment.  ¡°Well thank you¡­ I think.¡±

    She giggled under her breath and sipped her tea.  ¡°You have options, boy.¡±

    ¡°OK¡­ well¡­ since we''re talking about language, do you mind if I ask, what does amunahata mean?¡±

    She laughed hard and slapped her knee, lifted up her head and leaned back.  After a while, she settled down.  ¡°That one''s easy.  ¡®amu is a fly, ?a means on, and xat? means shit.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± I giggled.  ¡°Fly on shit?  That''s what it means?¡±

    ¡°It means, you must think you¡¯re important.¡±

    ¡°Uh-huh,¡± I nodded.

    ¡°Here¡¯s another one you can use.  xat??aya??.¡±

    ¡°Shit¡­ on¡­?¡±

    ¡°ya??.  Tongue,¡± she said.  ¡°Shit on your tongue.  It means you don¡¯t know what you¡¯re doing.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s¡­ interesting?¡±

    She giggled under her breath and sipped her tea.  ¡°It means you were going down on your lover and ended up in the wrong spot.¡±

    ¡°Oh my God!¡± I cried.  ¡°That¡¯s what it means?¡±

    She laughed hard and slapped her knee, then smiled at me.  ¡°Oh, but here¡¯s a nasty one.  d?sek? dam?vise.  That¡¯s a real classic; it means your wife uses a dildo.¡±

    ¡°Good God!¡± I broke out laughing.  ¡°I can''t believe you''re teaching me these; I should be writing them down!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ll get it,¡± she assured me.  ¡°There¡¯s plenty more.  Here¡¯s a basic one¡ª?owi.  It means stupid, incompetent, sloppy, lazy, absent-minded, pathetic, all that.¡±

    ¡°All that?¡±

    She nodded, ¡°it means meat, but yes, it means all that when you use it as an insult.¡±

    ¡°How?  Why would¡­¡±

    She leaned back and stared at me in shock as if it were obvious, ¡°because the jungle will eat you!¡±

    ¡°OK,¡± I laughed, ¡°well that makes sense.  What about¡­ uh¡­¡± I bit my teeth, unsure if it would be too much.

    ¡°Ask me anything.¡±

    ¡°Um¡­ OK¡­ the F-word?¡±

    She grinned wide.  ¡°Fuck?¡±

    I winced.  ¡°Heh!  You say it so casually!¡±

    ¡°For a little old lady, hmm?¡± she smiled again.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± I shrugged.

    ¡°Listen, boy!  I had five children, nine grandchildren, twenty-three great-grandchildren, seventeen great-great grandchildren with more on the way, and last month I held my great-great-great grandson.  You think I don''t know how fucking works?¡±

    I chuckled, ¡°I guess you do!¡±

    ¡°First, listen carefully; it''s not an insult.  We don¡¯t use it like that.  Fuck off, get fucked, fuck you, none of that; a lot of your usual insults just won''t translate.  Same thing with sucking cock¡­¡±

    I couldn¡¯t help but smirk.

    She grinned.  ¡°It¡¯s a beautiful thing!  The asymmetry, the selflessness, the pure altruism that you offer to your lover; I always took great pride in bringing him to that place.  Your language says ¡®suck my dick¡¯ with such derision; why should anyone want to do that for you?¡±

    I had to pause to consider that.  Peyumi sat smiling and sipping her tea while my eyes meandered around searching for a response, and I felt a pang of shame over the truth of it.  ¡°You know, I don''t think I''ve ever looked at it that way before.¡±

    ¡°Hmm!¡± she only smiled at me.  ¡°Well, in response to your question, ??k? is like smashing into your lover.  It''s when you just need them, right then and there, and you don''t care about anything else.  ??¡¯aso is to make love, slow and smooth, long and deliberate.  If it''s a special anticipation, mig?d???.  That''s for the first time¡­ or the first time in a long time, when your heart races at the thought of being with them again.  Routine sex is puyo??¡­¡±

    I shook my head, still in shock over it all and still chuckling through my embarrassment.  ¡°I¡­ actually¡­ don''t know about any of that.  I''m chaste.¡±

    She opened her eyes wide and pulled her face back and smiled at me without another word.

    I felt like I had to break the silence.  ¡°I, uh¡­ I¡¯m an orphan; I was raised in the Daenma church, so¡­ you know¡­ I suppose one day if I get married, then¡­ you know.¡±

    The old woman giggled lightly under her breath.  ¡°So that¡¯s why you don¡¯t have a Naveris.¡±

    ¡°Uh¡­¡± I hesitated.  I never mentioned that to anyone, not since the day we arrived.

    ¡°Uh-oh,¡± she read another reason on my face.  ¡°There¡¯s more to it, isn¡¯t there?¡±

    ¡°Well, um¡­ OK.  So there¡¯s this girl¡­ woman, back home, and we grew up together.  She¡¯s an orphan, too.  I really liked her; she¡¯s such a sweetheart, I just love her.¡±

    Peyumi leaned in close; a permanent smile was fixed into her wrinkles.  ¡°What does she look like?¡±

    That got me smiling.  ¡°She¡¯s beautiful!  She¡­ she actually looks like Commander.  Same yellow skin, same kinky bronze hair, same pitch black eyes, only she wears it with such style and grace, there¡¯s no comparison.  Sometimes people of the village would talk as though they expected me to marry Guenevieve¡­ she¡¯s another girl we grew up with.  She¡¯s¡­ they call her a pureblooded Herali girl.  For them, Sarina was invisible; they never suspected¡­ we got away with so much!¡±

    ¡°Oh, really?¡±

    Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

    ¡°Yeah.  We used to try things out on each other, learning what feels good, that sort of thing.¡±  I checked the door, not that this was a secret anymore.  ¡°One time, she came to me saying she¡¯d seen Dariana in the pub sitting on some man¡¯s lap while he kissed her breasts, and wanted to see what that was about.  That sort of thing.¡±

    The old woman laughed.  ¡°So not completely chaste, then.¡±

    ¡°We never went all the way.¡±

    ¡°So what happened?¡±

    ¡°I screwed up.  We talked about Naveris the day I was called, and I ended up kissing Guenevieve instead.¡±

    She smiled and rested a hand on my arm.  ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    ¡°Everything according to God¡¯s plan, right?¡±

    ¡°Tell me, have any of the women here at Carthia caught your eye?¡±

    I winced.  I wasn¡¯t ready to go back to thinking about that.  ¡°I don¡¯t know.  I think I need to focus on training and set that part of me aside for a while.¡±

    ¡°Why would you say that?¡±

    I sighed.  ¡°Because I don¡¯t want to put anyone else off.  I¡¯ve been a complete jerk since I got here.  You know, yeah.  There¡¯ve been a couple, but I can¡¯t think about that.  I need to just focus on being a better man, learn how to act appropriately, stop being so¡­¡± I shrugged.  The words escaped me.  ¡°I need to fix myself before I entertain those thoughts again.¡±

    ¡°No,¡± she shook her head and smiled.

    ¡°No?¡±

    She chuckled again.  ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s that supposed to mean, no?¡±

    ¡°You deserve to love, and to be loved, right now.  Today.  Work on being a better man, do that, but don¡¯t deprive yourself of what¡¯s right in front of you.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s nothing in front of me!  There¡­ I mean¡­ I screwed up every opportunity I¡­ I didn¡¯t even have any opportunities, but I still screwed up.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re going to screw up; that¡¯s life.  If you wait until perfect, you¡¯ll spend your whole life waiting.  Even more, you¡¯ll miss the whole point.  Loving your partner is forgiving them when they make a mistake and having the grace to forgive yourself and allow them to forgive you.  This is how we grow.  We learn to be better people through our relationships; how can you ever learn these things all by yourself?¡±

    I shrugged.  ¡°I guess¡­ I could keep my eyes open?¡±

    She laughed, then took another sip of her tea.  My thoughts ruminated on what she¡¯d said, yet she had more.  ¡°What do you want from Carthia?¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡± I said.  ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°Well, think about it for a moment and tell me, what do you want from Carthia?¡±

    ¡°You mean like what do I want to accomplish?  Well¡­ I guess¡­ that depends on what''s possible.¡±

    ¡°Don''t let ¡®impossible¡¯ stop you, child.  You have no idea what''s possible.  Tell me what you want, and then we''ll talk about how possible it is.¡±

    ¡°OK,¡± I nodded.  Then a smile crept across my cheek as thoughts of pure fantasy danced across my mind.  ¡°How big can I get?¡±

    ¡°Let your ambitions know no bounds.¡±

    ¡°I suppose I''d end the war.  Let people¡­ uh¡­ find a peaceful solution that works for both sides.¡±

    She grinned wide and wiggled her nose, ¡°and what if there are three sides?¡±

    That made me smile deep.  I set my cup down so that I could better talk with my hands.  ¡°It would have to work for all parties.  It would have to be an arrangement that allowed all sides to maintain their dignity and a good degree of autonomy while also addressing the reasons why there was conflict to begin with.¡±

    ¡°Hmm,¡± she grinned wide.  ¡°Now that is ambitious.  Most of your friends said they just wanted to survive and go home.¡±

    ¡°Well, that, obviously!¡±

    ¡°No,¡± she shook her head.  ¡°Take nothing for granted, including that.¡±

    ¡°OK?¡±

    ¡°Let me tell you something.  When I was a little girl, I used to play in the construction site, this was back when they were still building these walls.  There was this one foreman, big giant man.  And every time he saw me swinging from the scaffolds, he would bellow out, ¡®get away from there!¡¯¡±  She laughed and slapped her knee at the memory.  ¡°Oh, but they never did catch me!  Then one time, he was sitting down with his lunch, and I was swinging from the bars like I liked to do.  He didn¡¯t say anything.  I was perplexed.¡±

    ¡°He was on break.¡±

    She laughed.  ¡°After he got up, he left some bread and cheese behind, and some grapes, and went back to work.  He went back to yelling at me and telling me to go away, but every day he saved some of his lunch for me.¡±

    That made me smile.  ¡°Nice!¡±

    She looked up and tapped her chin.  ¡°If I were to choose one thing that makes the most difference between those who thrive here and those who don''t, it¡¯s respect.¡±

    The tea bit hard on my tongue, but the sweetness had me craving for another sip.  ¡°What does respect mean to you?¡±

    ¡°Oh!¡± She smiled wide.  ¡°Another brilliant question!  I love it!  To me, respect is an act of appreciation.  To respect something is to say, I don''t know what value you serve, but I appreciate your existence.  I know I may be angry sometimes, but I still appreciate you.  Some people conflate respect with fear.  They think that threatening to beat someone over the head with a beehive will make you respect them.  They think you can force someone to respect you, but making someone fear you only gives them reason to hate you, and no one appreciates people they¡¯re afraid of.¡±

    I nodded.  ¡°That makes sense.¡±

    ¡°Acting upon appreciation.  That would be how I define respect.  Now.  Let''s think about what a peace that works for all sides would look like.  Do you have any ideas?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± I shook my head.  ¡°To be honest, I barely know what''s going on here.¡±

    ¡°My, my, your fruit does grow on a different tree!¡±

    ¡°What does that mean?¡±

    ¡°Let''s start at the beginning.  You know this is the River of Unending Torment,¡± she pointed towards the wall, ¡°right?¡±

    I nodded.

    ¡°Would you like to know how it got that name?¡±

    ¡°Maybe?¡± I shifted nervously.

    ¡°Well.  Long, long ago, and this was a very, very long time ago, so definitely before yesterday.¡±

    I laughed at that.

    ¡°Pirates used to sail up the river and let the current carry them back out to sea.  This island was perfect for them, being able to rest and resupply on land, far away from the Empire and all.  For just as long, mountaineers came over the pass, the same one you came in on.  For them, too, this island was a safe place to rest from packs of wild vita¡¯o that prowl the jungle at night.  The locals knew this island was a favorite place for visitors, and so they knew where to go to trade.  You can imagine¡ªover time, Carthia became a settlement.  Now, the story goes that there was a guide who took the visitors around to trade and teach them how to pour tea, all that wonderful stuff.¡±

    ¡°Right.  OK?¡±

    ¡°And one day, they said to her, ¡®what is the name of this river?¡¯  Now.  At first she thought, name a river?  Who would do such a silly thing?  But then, she realized they were serious, so she told them, ¡®this is the River of Unending Torment!¡¯  I''m sure you can imagine!  They were cross; they thought she was playing a joke on them.  She was, of course, but that''s not the important part. They went to her elders and told them what she''d said, and they demanded to know the true name of the river.  So the elders talked among themselves and figured out what was going on.  The fact alone that this was so important to them was hilarious, so they reaffirmed the name she''d given them: the River of Unending Torment.¡±

    ¡°You have got to be kidding me!¡±

    ¡°True story!¡±

    ¡°That''s it?¡±

    ¡°That''s it!¡±  She laughed hard.  ¡°The Lake of Doom, Valley of Suffering, over that way is the Hill of the Damned.¡±

    ¡°It was all a joke!¡±

    ¡°Well,¡± she grinned wide.  ¡°Over that way is the Valley of Orgasms¡ªfor some reason they get more visitors than we do.¡±

    ¡°I can''t imagine why!¡±

    She laughed lightly, then continued.  ¡°So time passed, and Carthia grew.  One pirate had attacked a slave ship and managed to rescue quite a few people.  They didn''t know where else to bring them, so they brought them here.  Then the surrounding tribes began bringing their Returned here.  I''m one of them; look close,¡± she pointed at her lip.

    It was difficult to see for the wrinkles covering her dark-green skin, but I could make out a scar that ran from her nose to her mouth.

    ¡°I was born with a hairlip.  You''re supposed to take children like that into the jungle and let whatever eats them eat them.  My mother didn''t do that.  She found someone willing to take care of me, who stitched my lip together.¡±

    ¡°And you''ve been here ever since?¡±

    ¡°Mm-hmm,¡± she nodded.  ¡°Of course there¡¯s always hostile neighbors no matter who you are.  The Duke of Heralia built these walls along with the towers throughout the river bend, and for a long time, Carthia was fine.  Then the plague happened.¡±

    ¡°I heard that plagues tend to screw things up.¡±

    ¡°Sometimes they do that, yes¡± she nodded, then giggled lightly.  ¡°Yes, well you weren''t there!  Oh, it was terrible!  We tried everything.  Nothing helped.  It was the hand of Mother herself tossing a coin for everyone.  But we tried everything just the same.  You know, that''s actually how we found gebu''i.¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡±

    ¡°We were desperate.  We had a bunch of volunteers.  We''re going to try a bunch of random crap on each of you, and write down who lives and who dies.  Then we do the same with another group, and then another.  But I noticed something.  Strange things happened to the people we gave mold to.¡±

    ¡°Mold?¡±

    ¡°Oh, yes.  That same green mold that grows on fruit.  When we gave it to someone, it didn''t do anything for the plague, but it did other things.  For one man, he''d gotten the lesions all over his body, and they''d festered.  Gebu''i took care of that, and his body eventually started to fight the plague itself.¡±

    ¡°Wait¡­¡± I lifted both hands.  ¡°You''re telling me, that gebu''i is just¡­ mold?  That''s all it is?¡±

    ¡°Scrape it from your culture, dry it out, and pinch it into a powder¡ªyou don''t want to damage the spores.  Anyway, I was saying.  The plague.  So, there was a woman, her name is kaxawi.  She''s from the sewu¡¯o?i.  She lost both her children to the plague, and her response was to blame it on us, these outsiders.¡±

    That reminded me of that book I''d seen in the library.  ¡°Is it true that the Emperor planted the plague?¡±

    ¡°Oh,¡± she waved that off and shook her head.  ¡°Volcanoes don''t just erupt; it must be someone''s fault.¡±

    ¡°You don''t think that''s true?¡±

    ¡°They blamed everyone!  There wasn''t one person in the world whose fault it wasn''t.  But kaxawi insisted it was us.  She convinced a few people, but most chased her away.  Of course that wasn''t the end, though.  Would you like some treats?¡±

    ¡°Treats?¡±

    She gestured to a small plate beside the teapot where tiny morsels awaited.  One was covered in a smooth, brown shell.

    ¡°What is this?¡±

    ¡°Oh, you''ll like that one!¡±

    I did.  I still didn''t know what it was, but the shell part melted in my mouth with a rich, buttery texture and sweet, nutty taste I couldn''t place, yet it brought me to heaven.  ¡°What is this?¡±

    She smiled wide and nodded.  ¡°I''ll tell you the next time you visit me.  Where was I?¡±

    ¡°You were talking about Kahawi.¡±

    ¡°Oh, that''s right.  Goodness!  How could I forget?  You know my granddaughter made me take a memory test the other day.¡±

    ¡°How''d you do?¡±

    ¡°On what?¡±

    ¡°The test?¡±

    ¡°What test?¡±

    ¡°You just said you took a memory test.¡±

    ¡°I did?¡±

    ¡°Yes, you¡­¡±

    As I spoke, she shook with laughter, then started to chuckle heartily and slapped her knee.  ¡°Your face!¡±

    ¡°Good one.  You got me!¡±

    We laughed together a little more.  ¡°So anyway.  At first, kaxawi went around and told everyone that Carthia was the cause of the plague.  We brought it upon them, it¡¯s our fault, and so forth.  She managed to get a few small tribes to follow her, but soon the peeaxosa attacked them and shut that down.  That¡¯s another tribe, very powerful back in the day.

    ¡°And then she noticed something.  When she talked about the plague, most people didn¡¯t seem to care.  They were done with it; they didn¡¯t want to be reminded of it constantly.  Better to pick up the pieces and move on.  But when she talked about other things, that got people''s attention.¡±

    ¡°What other things?¡±

    ¡°Well, some men from your culture don¡¯t understand what it means when a woman says ¡®no,¡¯ and some of them can be forceful about it.  Traditionally, such men were killed along with any sons they had.  Quite a few children over the years have been brought here to escape their fathers¡¯ executions.

    ¡°Carthia, she believes, is the cause of all that behavior, and says it should be wiped out.  She tells everyone that the men of your culture prefer girls to women.  She talked about your foreign gods, she made fun of your language, and painted a picture of a corrupt city corrupting the world with its filth.  ¡®Look at what happens when you don¡¯t return the defective!¡¯ she would say.  The only time she even mentions the plague anymore is when rattling off a litany of other sins.

    ¡°Nowadays, we threaten their culture, their way of life, their language, religion, everything that soothes the edge off the innate human fear of existence.  Carthia has corrupted everything, and it¡¯s time we were exterminated like the parasites we are.  ¡®ab?ko, that''s the word she uses¡ªparasite.¡±

    ¡°And the people responded to that?¡±

    ¡°Oh, yes!  Kill me, and I will be sad.  Make me learn a new word, and I will send you to the bowels of hell.  There are some things I still don¡¯t understand.  I think when death calls my name and I¡¯m drifting away towards the light, then I¡¯ll have it all figured out.¡±

    ¡°Of course!¡± I smiled.  ¡°Why sooner?¡±

    We ended up talking for hours, and she fed me lunch.  Not the usual dried bread crisps and brown mush with a few slices of mango like they gave us in the mess, either.  She had sweet peppers stuffed with all manner of deliciousness and baked.  She made that with a cold soup made of tomato, sweet onions, cucumber, and some herbs like garlic and long, prickly leaves that smelt of coriander but stronger.  I''d never tasted anything like it, and I couldn''t eat it fast enough.  The old woman watched me devour my serving and offered me more.  I was afraid of overstepping my welcome.

    ¡°Don''t be silly!¡± she said.  ¡°I know you''re hungry after being chained up to that thing all day yesterday.  Please, have some more.  And let me get you something to drink; there''s one more thing we need to discuss.¡±

    ¡°Thanks,¡± I said.

    ¡°It''s the most important thing.¡±

    I sat up and looked intently at her as she shuffled her venerable self over to a wooden countertop where a steel pitcher awaited.  She then poured out something dark and purple into my cup and brought it over.  It tasted like tart liquid candy.

    ¡°It''s the reason I wanted to save you for last,¡± she said.

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    She narrowed her eyes and spoke.  ¡°What are your intentions with Miyani?¡±

    ¡°Ugh!¡± My heart leaped and fell down hard.  ¡°I am so sorry.  Please, tell her, I am sorry.  I never meant to offend her; I didn''t know.  I will leave her alone, I promise.  I won''t¡­ I will keep my eyes to myself, I won''t talk to her.  I''m not that guy who can''t take a hint¡­¡±

    She studied my face closely as I spoke and held a big smile across her lips.  ¡°Don''t want your liver ripped out, hmm?¡±

    ¡°OK, so there''s that.  That''s, you know¡­ Blue seems like a nice lizard, if anyone is going to eat my liver it might as well go to him, but¡­ I plan to use it at some point, so if it''s a possibility I''d kinda like to keep it, you know?¡±

    ¡°Of course!¡±

    ¡°Honestly, it wasn''t necessary.  I get it, she doesn''t know my language well enough to tell me to go piss off, so she asked the Marquis to relay the message.  But I do understand, and I will respect her and leave her alone.  Threats aren''t necessary.¡±

    ¡°So unnecessary!¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± I nodded and sipped my soup.

    She grinned further and leaned in, speaking almost as a whisper.  ¡°You told her she was cute.¡±

    I winced.  ¡°You know, I don''t even know why I said that.  I just¡­¡±

    ¡°Do you still feel that way?¡±

    ¡°OK¡­¡± I ran my fingers through my hair and scratched the back of my head, hoping to stumble across some useful words.  ¡°Look, I¡­ I mean¡­ I didn''t act appropriately, I wasn''t respectful, I know that.  I can¡­ uh, I will¡­¡±

    ¡°I told Hakkon a thousand times to stop telling that story.¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°Every man who comes through here, he tells them what happened.  He thinks that''s the best way to teach your people to respect boundaries.¡±

    She gazed at me, watching me stuff another pepper into my mouth, waiting to see if I would make the connection.  ¡°He''s been giving that same speech for months.¡±

    ¡°So¡­ wait a minute.  Did she even complain about me?¡±

    ¡°She didn''t even come back to Carthia that evening.¡±  Peyumi leaned in close and grinned wide, ¡°do you still think she''s cute?¡±

 Gifts

    Daren, that burly, hairy, bear-clan man who was now in charge of training us, handed me one of the native bows.  He and the Tobori kid each had six¡ªenough for every man in our unit.

    I didn¡¯t take it.  ¡°I have a bow.¡±

    Daren barked, ¡°you need to learn this one.  Them important assholes was talkin¡¯ that we ought to leave the eupins here when we go out¡­¡±

    Jame stepped up and soured his face.  ¡°I¡¯m not leaving my bow with anyone!¡±

    I pulled mine close to my chest and glared at the man.  Malchuk, the Goloagi man with the scar down the center of his face, chuckled and refused one as well.  ¡°I don''t know what them two said, but that''s not a bow¡ªit looks like a big dessicated turd.¡±

    Jame and I laughed.  I shouldn''t have allowed that; it was the same kind of bow Miyani used.

    Oh, she was gorgeous!  The Elder of Elders told me she needed to make sure Miyani understood a few things, and that she may choose not to pursue a relationship with me because of it.  And I had to be OK with that if she did.

    My heart stabbed me from within at the thought, despite being now closer to talking with her than I''d been that morning.

    Who was I kidding?  I didn''t know anything about her.  What interested me was her sweet face and her sublime, muscular arse.  Ahmi was right; how could I appreciate anything about who she was as a person when neither of us spoke the other''s language?  I probably should have deferred to common sense, but instead thinking about her made my dick hard.

    Malchuk refused to take one of the native bows.  Daren stood staring at the man holding it out for him, but instead Malchuk displayed the Imperial standard-issue longbow he''d brought with him.  ¡°I''m good.¡±

    Daren cleared his throat and answered in Goloagi, ¡°today we learn the ways of the enemy.¡±

    Faren took his bow and studied it as if he¡¯d never seen a weapon before.  Ales tried pulling at the string a little, then winced at the pain of his wound.  Rock took his and pulled the string back, peering at Northstar with one eye open as he took aim with an imaginary arrow, then snapped the string hard.  Northstar ignored him, standing at attention and holding it at his side.

    Malchuk sucked his teeth and continued to refuse, while Jame and I joined him.

    Then Daren walked over to the Tobori kid and took the rest of the bows from him save one.  The kid then drew back an arrow and placed it into a dummy dead-center without taking a second to aim.

    I hadn''t thought he had muscles enough to draw the thing.

    Jame clapped his hands slowly and spoke with absolute boredom.  ¡°He hit a target scarcely twenty yards out.  So impressive.  So impressive.  We should all celebrate. Yay.¡±

    Malchuk grinned and joined in slow applause.  I clapped with the same lack of enthusiasm, ¡°so amazing. Truly.¡±

    While Malchuk laughed, Jezi glanced between the three of us.  ¡°Can you with bow this you do?¡±

    Jame sucked his teeth and grinned, then took one.  He nocked an arrow and gave a nod to the Tobori kid.  ¡°What¡¯s your name again?¡±

    ¡°Jezi.¡±

    ¡°Jezi?¡±

    The kid nodded.  Then Jame loosed.  His arrow flew off to the right and twisted around to land in the grass beyond the dummy.  Jezi smirked but Jame excused himself, ¡°the balance is completely screwed!¡±

    Then Jezi took the bow from him and drew another arrow, and again without bothering to aim, placed another arrow in the dummy close enough to the other that the shafts touched.  ¡°Seems fine to me.¡±

    Malchuk and I glanced at one another and laughed, then we each took one.  My shot fell short and buried in the grass at the dummy¡¯s foot.  Malchuk slapped my shoulder, then sent an arrow sailing above the dummy to the far end of the practice yard.

    Daren¡¯s voice, like sandpaper, scraped my ears as we all lined up.  ¡°These bows are not like what you¡¯re used to.  They¡¯re waterproof.  One time we set up an ambush by hiding in a pool of mud¡ªonly our eyes we kept above the water.  When them fools came by, we lifted our bows out of the mud and took all them shits out.  Mud everywhere.  All over the wood, dripping down the string, all over the arrow, all up in the fletching, and they shoot just fine.  These bows don¡¯t get good range.  Top shooters maybe sixty-seventy yards on a good day, but that¡¯s about it.  But they¡¯re tough, rugged, and they thrive on abuse and neglect¡­¡±

    Rock fired an arrow that took a sharp left-hand turn and fell short.

    Daren continued his lecture.  ¡°... They¡¯re unbreakable.  Had a guy got into an argument with an alligator over who was going to keep his foot, pried the beasts¡¯s mouth open with his bow, then shot the thing.  They don¡¯t need oil, and they don¡¯t need to be unstrung.  Also take a look right here¡­¡±

    At the end, there was a metal bracket buried into the wood.  Daren pulled a long, curved, double-edged knife from his belt, slid the hilt into the bracket, and gave it a turn until it clicked.  ¡°... it doubles as a melee weapon.¡±

    Miyani had a knife just like it hanging from her belt.  It was hard for me to imagine if I¡¯d have noticed her absolutely flawless physique had she dressed any differently.  I think so; she was so built.  Whatever tiredness I¡¯d had from hanging in the sling was overridden by the thought of her luscious body in my hands.  I wanted to feel her.  Touch her.  Stand in front of her and gaze into that sublime face, rest my hands on her hips, then lean down and kiss her lips.

    If only.

    What if she didn¡¯t want to?

    I felt a hand slap my arm, and Ales looked at me, ¡°you paying attention, man?¡±

    Daren handed me one of those knives and showed me how to slide the hilt into the bracket.  Rock had his ready and was swinging it around, practicing thrusting it in the air a little too close for some, and several men backed away from him.

    Jame, Malchuk, and I had each taken several shots with the Na¡¯uhui bows before we were able to consistently place our arrows.  We then tried with the knives in the brackets throwing off the balance.

    Jame¡¯s arrow flew up and sailed far beyond the practice dummy.  ¡°These bows are shit, man.¡±

    He glanced at me.  I tried to undershoot, only for my arrow to fly off to the right and fall short.  ¡°It¡­ doesn¡¯t have the same physics.¡±

    Malchuk grinned.  Jame chuckled, ¡°nice euphemism!¡±

    As for everyone else, Ales tried and missed a small handful of shots before his injury forced him to sit out the rest of training.  Faren took about fifty shots and didn¡¯t hit any of them.

    Rock managed to hit the target twice out of a hundred shots.  Jame and I each missed the first several rounds before finding our rhythms, and by the end of practice we were both able to consistently hit the target where we wanted to, with and without the knife fixed.  Gino¡¯s arm got tired after about forty shots.  Borel mocked him for that, only for his arm to get tired ten shots later.  Renou struggled with pulling back the string, and wasn¡¯t able to get a single shot off that day.  Jezi took the bow he¡¯d grown up with and hit every single shot without breaking a sweat.

    The day wore down.  We loitered about discussing what we should do with the evening, and Faren slapped my shoulder with a big smile.  ¡°She¡¯s back for you, man.¡±

    My heart slammed against the inside of my chest in anticipation.  I¡¯d hoped.  I¡¯d dreamed, and I doubted, and here she was.  Borel smirked at me and then shifted his eyes off to his right.  I turned.

    It wasn¡¯t Miyani.

    It was Tani, the woman I¡¯d met in the church.  She stood, naked as all the others and handsome enough in her own right.  She smiled wide as I came up to her and handed me a small, white paper box with a pink kiss imprinted on the outside.

    You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

    ¡°What¡¯s this?¡±

    She pushed it towards me.  ¡°Gift I at you,¡± she said.

    I shook my hands in front of her, ¡°I can¡¯t.  Really¡­¡±

    ¡°Uh¡­ yes,¡± she nodded.  ¡°You can.¡±

    That made me laugh a little, but I didn¡¯t want to give her the wrong idea.  ¡°No, really.  I can¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°Take you,¡± she pursed her lips and continued to smile at me.  ¡°Because steal my son money that gift I at you.  Take you.  Please.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t owe me anything.  Truly.  It¡¯s fine.¡±

    ¡°No,¡± she insisted.  ¡°Take you eh¡­ the gift.¡±

    That''s when I felt a thick, heavy arm over my shoulder.  It was Borel.  ¡°He absolutely accepts the gift.  Thank you so much!¡±

    I turned to him incredulously.  ¡°Really?¡±

    He pointed at the package.  ¡°She even kissed it for you, man.  Let us not be ungrateful!¡±

    It felt weird, but I took the box and opened it.  Inside was a garment of fine, ivory-colored silk with gold thread embroidery depicting a spider straddling continents with a mountain range beneath its body.

    ¡°Hot you,¡± Tani nodded with a big smile.  ¡°Now com-for-ta-ble, yes?¡±

    Ales poked me in the side.  ¡°You should try it on.¡±

    Gino added with a big smile of his own, while his eyes passed up and down Tani several times over.  ¡°Yeah, man.  Don¡¯t you want to be comfortable?¡±

    As the men crowded around me to gawk at the gift, Tani took a step back and bowed her head.  Then she pointed to me, then herself.  ¡°Eh¡­ again, time.  Talk I with you.  Alone.  Yes?¡±

    ¡°Uh¡­¡± I shrugged.  ¡°OK?¡±

    She smiled, then turned around and walked off while the men all gazed at her back side.  She was very attractive, but she wasn¡¯t Miyani.  And while Gino slapped my chest and grinned at me, I had to pull my eyes away.

    ¡°Gods!¡± Borel shook the shock from his head.  ¡°Where the hell did you find that one?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not like that,¡± I said.  ¡°I left a tithe in the church, her son took it, and she felt bad about it so she wanted to make it up to me.¡±

    ¡°Bullshit!¡± Borel chuckled.

    Gino added, ¡°and you know that¡¯s bullshit!¡±

    I scratched my head.  ¡°It¡¯s a different culture here.  She said¡­¡±

    Jame interrupted with a sly nod, ¡°how much did the kid take?¡±

    ¡°Four kren.¡±

    Half the men snorted and laughed at that.  Faren passed his droopy eyes over the loincloth she¡¯d given me.  ¡°Do you have any idea how much this cost?¡±

    ¡°Well¡­¡±

    A young woman¡¯s voice came from beside us, ¡°it was very expensive.¡±

    We all turned.  Before us stood the face we¡¯d seen on the road down from the pass, the one who¡¯d sold us the mosquito ward.

    ¡°BITCH!¡± Borel shouted, pointing an accusing finger at her.

    She looked as though she was about to say something else, when Jame, Gino, and Renou all pulled in towards her with apprehension.  Gino shook his head and lay a hand on my shoulder, leaning in, ¡°fucking witch, man!¡±

    Ran¨ªa didn¡¯t break her calm appearance but tilted her head slightly and smiled at Borel as he lurched towards her.  Rock and Malchuk stepped up, holding their hands out to block them.

    Ran¨ªa grinned wide at Rock and cooed, ¡°geyu¡¯u nu-udy mdati¡­. Sam shamara-du-u fe!¡±

    Rock¡¯s eyes bulged and he turned to glare at her.

    Borel then pointed at her, ¡°you need to go to fucking hell, bitch!¡±

    I stepped up between them, ¡°what happened, man?¡±  I then turned to face Ran¨ªa, who smiled wide at me.

    Gino came up to me and stretched out his arm to point at her.  ¡°She spoke Massi¡¯s death, man.  Looked him dead in the eye, told him he won¡¯t survive his first day at Carthia.¡±

    Before I could turn and face her, Ran¨ªa answered in Herali with a light accent.  ¡°No one can predict the future.  I saw the road he traveled, and I knew where it led.¡±

    Rock squinted his face and looked at Northstar, who shrugged.  She repeated the same thing in their language before facing me directly.  She pointed towards the gate.  ¡°If I take that road through the pass and head north for about a week, where will I end up?¡±

    I shrugged.  ¡°Ulum?¡±

    ¡°Are you predicting the future, or do you simply know where the road leads?¡±  She then faced Borel directly.  ¡°I meant to warn him.  You were there; you saw for yourself.¡±

    Borel shook his head.  ¡°I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about.¡±

    ¡°I tried several times to warn him, but he interrupted me at every opportunity.¡±

    Jame stepped closer to her with his chest high.  ¡°You could have insisted your point!¡±

    ¡°Why would I?¡±

    Gino opened his hands in confusion, but before he could get his question out, she answered him.  ¡°I know my words have value.  If you don¡¯t value them, it¡¯s not my responsibility what happens to you.¡±

    The four men from Kyoen glanced at one another.  Gino shook his head.  ¡°No.  No¡­ I don¡¯t buy it.¡±  He turned to face me, then back to her.  ¡°You called that shit way too close.  There¡¯s no way.¡±

    She glanced up and down over him and answered.  ¡°I know what Carthia is.  Do you?¡±

    While Gino reeled from the question, Ran¨ªa turned and walked away.  Rock followed her with his eyes, barely able to stop drooling, but other than that, I was the only one who ran after her.  ¡°Ran¨ªa!¡±

    She kept walking.

    ¡°Ran¨ªa!¡± I said again as she turned to the side of the outer wall opposite the main building where we first saw Ahmi and the princess standing next to the Imperial Voice.  She glanced behind at me but then kept walking.  No faster, and no slower.

    ¡°Ran¨ªa!¡± I said again.  ¡°I need to talk to you!¡±

    She kept walking, again peeking over her shoulder.  I couldn¡¯t tell what game she was playing until I¡¯d followed her completely out the front gate and a good hundred-fifty yards from the moat.  There, she stopped and turned to face me.  She had on a white robe of a tunic that scarcely covered her legs and did nothing to hide her voluminous curves.  Other than that she was barefoot, and her long, dark-green hair cascaded in heavy curls down her back.  She smiled and gazed up at me with her emerald-green eyes.  ¡°This is a good place to talk.¡±

    I looked around.  Two half-naked women herded goats further down by the sugar fields while another tended to a trio of large bison.

    Ran¨ªa¡¯s face was serene.  For someone just accused of witchcraft, I¡¯d have thought her more distraught.  ¡°The wide-open field prevents anyone from getting close.  It¡¯s far enough from the wall that no one can hear us, but still within a bowshot should something happen.¡±

    ¡°Wow,¡± I said.  ¡°So¡­ yes.¡±

    ¡°You said you needed to talk to me.¡±

    ¡°Right,¡± I straightened up.  ¡°So.  I wanted to tell you about my friend, Davod.¡±

    ¡°I spoke with him earlier today.¡±

    ¡°Oh!  You did¡­¡±

    She laughed lightly, ¡°I find him sexually attractive.¡±

    I lifted my brow, unable to grasp at something to answer that with.

    ¡°I believe a relationship with him would be long bouts of crippling depression separated by short bursts of pleasure, and I¡¯m not in the mood for that right now.¡±

    ¡°Well,¡± I grasped at some kind of response that could fit that explanation, then grinned as I found one.  ¡°No one can predict the future.¡±

    ¡°I see the road you travel,¡± she smirked, gazing at me.

    That shook me.  That shook me way more than it should have.  I didn¡¯t want to ask.  Daenma teaches that one should avoid¡­ certain things, and I got a feeling that this might be one of them, but I asked anyway.  ¡°Will I be dead in a day, or something?¡±

    Ran¨ªa let out a light chortle and smiled some more.  ¡°There¡¯s a scout; her name is Teyumi.  Her enemies call her The Ghost.  She¡¯s¡­ she struggles with human friendships.¡±

    Then she turned and walked off towards the forest, but I followed her.  ¡°Uh¡­ OK, so maybe there¡¯s a way you could be just a little more cryptic?  Because I almost understood something there.¡±

    She laughed and kept walking.  ¡°I wouldn¡¯t want to be caught out here when that gate closes if I were you!¡±

    ¡°What about you?¡± I kept walking.

    ¡°I¡¯m not you!¡± she said.

    I stopped, choosing to take the warning, yet unable to believe the conversation was over.  It made no sense.

    I came back towards the gate trying to wrap my head around the fact that that was the entirety of our conversation.  I then woke from the dizzying haze of thoughts she¡¯d left me with long enough to remember the twenty-foot alligator who sat beside the entrance.  The creature wobbled its head and yawned its massive jaws open for a moment, then settled back down.  I walked around the same way as before but watched closely, unsure if it was about to decide it was hungry.

    Inside, the men hadn¡¯t dispersed.  Instead, they were talking to another woman.  This one was the same color as Tani, but while Tani wore her white hair long, this one had a pixie cut, a white bat¡¯s wing tattoo on her shoulder, and the most glorious, muscular arse I¡¯d ever seen only half covered by a cotton loincloth.

    No.  I couldn¡¯t look at her like that.  I had to focus on what the relationship meant, and try to ignore her small yet firm-looking breasts naked and open before me God, she was something else.

    Her eyes lit up and she smiled, stepping close as I approached.  The men all gathered around.  She looked among them for a second before turning to face me with an effusive smile.  ¡°Cadeb uv Gath.  I gifff at you!¡±

    Then she held out her hands and offered me a pendant.

    ¡°Let¡¯s see!¡± Gino snuck in close.  Borel leaned in, Rock got down to get a good look at it, Renou stood and looked, while Northstar, several inches taller than the others, watched from behind them all.

    I took it and raised it up to look for myself.  It was a soft, leather strap long enough to go around my neck, and dangling from it was something dark and round.

    Rock looked up at her.  ¡°What is?¡±

    ¡°Is that¡­¡± Jame leaned in close and studied it.  He seemed reluctant to touch it.  ¡°It¡¯s an ear.¡±

    Borel laughed.  ¡°What?¡±

    I held it close to my eyes.  The skin was dark, and at the wound where it had been carved from its owner, salt crystals had mingled with black, crusted blood.  Dangling from the necklace was a human ear for a pendant.

    Borel laughed out loud and came over to slap Gino¡¯s shoulder.  ¡°Gods!  You were right about him!  I didn¡¯t understand before, but gods I see it now!  Come on, all you ?owi, let¡¯s allow these lovebirds some privacy,¡± he mocked.  Then everyone followed as he went off.

    Miyani stood facing me with a big smile.

 The Scout

    Miyani gave me a severed human ear as a gift.

    I knew there would be cultural differences, so¡­ yeah.

    No, that¡¯s not it.

    Miyani was Na¡¯uhui, which gave her exceptionally dark green skin, bright yellow eyes, and straight white hair that gave off a slight yellow sheen when the light hit it just right.

    But her skin looked smooth and soft, pulled taut over sleek muscles bearing a faint sheen all over, and she smelled of honey and coconut blossom.  Her eyes were set wide apart in her circular face and had a way of darting about as you were with her.  She would look off to the left, to the right, every which way, then come back to you only to erupt in a warm smile and lock your attention to her, only to dart off once more.  Her hair she kept short, cut about her ears and left to fall where it willed.

    She was short.  Ahmi was short, but Miyani was shorter by an inch or two.  The top of her head scarcely came up to my chest, and I loved the way she would crane her neck all the way and lift her chin to look at me directly with that magical smile.

    She wore next to nothing.  Everyone at Carthia did; men, women, children and elders, all of them wore nothing but a strap for a belt with some flap of cloth in front and another in the back.  But Miyani wore it so much better than everyone else.  Her tiny yet firm breasts, taut black nipples pointing directly at me, her hard, chiseled body, round hips that promised things my body craved to explore, and when she turned around, I couldn¡¯t decide where to look.

    So what if there were cultural differences?

    The only thing that conflicted me about her was the matter of whether I should hurry up with a bath so as to maximize my time with her, or to be extra thorough so as to minimize the risk of putting her off.

    When I came out, Miyani sat cross-legged on my bed, leafing through that book I¡¯d borrowed from the library.  She looked up and smiled, then looked up and down my body several times and smiled wider.

    ¡°You?¡± she said, pointing at a page in the book.

    I shifted my voice into feigned snobbery, ¡°yes, I am reading that!  I find the author''s treatise on art and philosophy rather enlightening.¡±

    She lowered her eyes and looked about as though searching her mind for something, before shrugging and shaking her head with a nervous smile.  Oh, her lips looked delicious.

    I walked up to her and sat down, tried to ignore her breasts out in the open like it was nothing, turned to the cover where bold gold glyphs ran in a column on green felt, and pointed to them as I spoke, ¡°ge-ha-¡®u sh?-za.¡±

    Her eyes popped and she smiled at me.  Then she pointed to the second glyph down.  ¡°xa.¡±

    ¡°ha?¡± I said.

    She lifted her chin, pointed to the back of her neck, and made a sound like a hiss.  ¡°xa.¡±

    I tried to raise my tongue.  ¡°x¡­ x¡­ xa.¡±

    ¡°tixede!¡± she smiled.

    ¡°ti-x-ede,¡± I said back.

    She shook her head, ¡°v?, v?, tixede,¡± she rested her hand on her chest, then moved her hand to mine, ¡°tixe-se.¡±

    The sensation of her fingers on me sent my skin in a frenzy, begging for more.  I craved her skin in my fingertips, yet caution called me to sobriety; I didn¡¯t want to risk offending her.  So instead I pointed, ¡°de,¡± then to myself, ¡°se.¡±

    She moved my hand back to my own chest, ¡°de,¡± and then to hers, ¡°se.¡±

    ¡°I, you?¡±

    ¡°Ti!  I, you.  De, se.¡± Then quickly back and forth between us with both hands at the same time, ¡°di.¡±

    ¡°Tixe¡­ di?¡±

    She grinned wide and nodded vigorously.  Then after quickly passing her yellow eyes back and forth between mine, she glanced off to the side and back, opened the book, and started skimming through the pages.  After a moment, she stopped at one and pointed to a glyph.

    She looked up at me expectantly.

    ¡°Oh,¡± I looked closely, trying to remember.  It was three horizontal lines stacked on top of one another, and the bottom one had a line descending on the right-hand side that curved inward as it dropped.  ¡°Ge.¡±

    ¡°?e,¡± she corrected me.  Her eyes looked over my collarbone, neck, and shoulders where my shirt peeled away; I¡¯d taken to leaving the top half of my shirt open for the damned humidity.

    I tried.  ¡°Gggghhhhe?¡±

    She slowed it down, but I still couldn¡¯t understand that sound.  Then her eyes darted out the window to the side and came back to me.  She lifted a finger to her ear.  ¡°pe, be.¡±

    She rolled her hand at me, so I repeated.  ¡°pe, be.¡±

    ¡°te, de.¡±

    I tried to recognize what she was getting at, but couldn¡¯t do more than repeat at this point, ¡°te, de.¡±

    ¡°?e, ?e.  OK?¡±

    I nodded slowly.  ¡°she, zhe.¡±

    She nodded vigorously with an effusive smile that I could easily get addicted to.  ¡°se¡­?¡±

    She brought her hand forward as if expecting me to fill in the blank.  I felt a pang of horror.  I wanted to impress her.  I needed to hear what she was getting at, but all I could muster was to repeat it, ¡°se.¡±

    I could see the disappointment in her eyes.  She tried again, shifting her hands from left to right with each pairing, ¡°pe, be¡­ te, de¡­ ?e, ?e¡­ se¡­?¡±

    I took a guess.  ¡°ze?¡±

    She nodded excitedly and tried another one.  ¡°fe?¡±

    I had it.  ¡°ve.¡±

    Miyani rewarded my efforts with the sweetest smile I¡¯d ever seen.  I could lose myself in her face.  I wanted to sit closer, just to be in her aura, but I had to try and not come on too strong lest I chase her away.  So I remained still while she nodded and gave me the next one, ¡°xe?¡±

    I played with the sound.  I¡¯d got the pattern, so I knew in theory how it was supposed to go.  You make the same sound with and without engaging your vocal chords, and it¡¯s two different sounds.  Like thick and thin versus this and that.  One voiceless, the other voiced.  What she sought was the voiced version of a cat hissing.

    It didn¡¯t come out at first but I felt like I¡¯d gotten it, ¡°?e.¡±

    ¡°ti!¡± She was excited.  I was excited.  Then she pointed out the glyph once more, and I said it.  ¡°?e.¡±

    I took hold of the book, looking throughout the page for that same glyph.  Some drawings of trees took up one corner, another picture showed a cluster of tiny mushrooms.  There was a four-point star on the top right, and the title of the page with the glyph she¡¯d pointed at took up the outer edge on both the left and right sides. Amid all that, columns of text filled the space.

    I held up the book.  ¡°What is this?¡±

    Miyani looked at me directly and locked her eyes onto mine.  ¡°Wat¡­ is¡­ this.¡±

    ¡°This.  Book.  How do you say book?  What is this?¡±

    ¡°Eh¡­¡± Miyani leaned in close and looked down at the page.  Then she glanced up and out the window.  ¡°OK.¡±

    She stood, looking down to me and extended her hand, ¡°p? xe?ise.¡±

    Faren had told me that starting a statement with p? made an imperative, but the rest I struggled with.  She seemed to want me to stand up, so I did.  As I was getting up, I snuck in a moment to soak my eyes upon the line of muscles in her thighs only to get snared by the smooth skin of her hips.

    I shook that off and gave her my hand.  ¡°pu¡­ heni¡­¡±

    ¡°xe?i,¡± she corrected me and led me towards the door.

    ¡°xeni¡­ uh, what was the rest?¡±

    She tilted her head and smiled with the cutest squint in her gorgeous eyes, then repeated it slowly for me.  ¡°p?¡­ xe?i-se.¡±

    It took me a moment.  ¡°se is you.¡±

    She smiled wide as we stepped down the creaky wood stairs of the barracks and out onto the beaten green grass of the yard.  There, she led me towards the training grounds and explained.  ¡°xe?i.  OK.  Uh¡­¡±

    She clasped our hands together and pushed forward while repeating it.  ¡°xe?i.¡±

    I figured that must have meant, ¡°to go together?¡±

    She squinted, ¡°tugo¡­ tuge-huh?¡±

    I wasn¡¯t sure if we were making any progress, but I was happy to be holding her hand.  We continued to butcher our way through a conversation as we crossed the main gate.  Then she put a hand on my arm as we approached the tail end of the gargantuan alligator and ushered me wide, far away from the beast.  She didn''t once pull her eyes from the thing until we were a good dozen yards away, when she glanced up at me with a warm smile only to shift her eyes around the treeline at the far end of the field.  ¡°p? v? ?owise!¡±

    ¡°Wait,¡± I said.  ¡°?owi?  Like, idiot?¡±

    ¡°I-dee-yu-t?¡±

    I sounded it out, ¡°?owi-se.¡±

    ¡°v?,¡± she corrected me, meaning no.  ¡°p? v? ?owise.¡±

    ¡°Uh¡­?¡±

    ¡°Eh¡­¡± she pointed back at the monster.  Then she walked her fingers along her arm until she came to her palm, then kicked it with her finger.  That made me laugh, and she repeated it slowly.  ¡°p?¡­ v?¡­ ?owi-se.¡±

    This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    When she said it slowly, I recognized the words.  p? the imperative, v? was no, ?owi was meat, and se was you.  So imperative no meat you.  Of course ?owi was also used for stupid, so maybe don''t be stupid.  Now, I didn''t need to be told not to harass a twenty-foot log with teeth, but did appreciate her grasp of common sense.  ¡°Don''t touch the alligator.¡±

    She nodded as she whispered out each word, looking all throughout the treeline as we walked.  ¡°¡®?vigeto,¡± she said.  ¡°Eh¡­ wat is tush?¡±

    I slowed it down for her, ¡°tut-sh.¡±

    ¡°tut-sh?  Wat is?¡±

    I poked her in the side of her arm.  ¡°Touch.¡±

    She opened her eyes wide.  ¡°Touch?¡±  Then she poked me in my side.  ¡°Touch?¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± I smiled, then I tapped the top of her shoulder.  ¡°Touch.¡±

    She poked me in my side again, ¡°touch,¡± and grinned wide.

    We didn''t follow the road.  Rather, she took a sharp turn off to the right towards a section of the jungle that was left to wild.  We''d made it about halfway across the grass, past an older woman grazing some goats, when a sinister thought slithered into my mind.  She¡¯d already gotten the word down, but as we approached the trees, I lifted my arm and tapped her on her back, just below her neck.  ¡°Touch.¡±

    Miyani¡¯s eyes shot up at me and she grinned wide. Then she flung both hands at me, one by one, poking me in my chest, in my stomach, the side of my hip, laughing the whole time, ¡°touch, touch, touch, touch!¡±

    I laughed hard and tried to poke her back, but she pulled away, laughing and taunting me.  Then she calmed down long enough to draw closer to me once more, so I poked her in her side one more, ¡°touch!¡±

    She scrunched her eyes and smiled wide, then stopped.  She stood facing me for a moment, raising a finger to her lips with a somber expression while pointing off to the trees with her other hand.  I understood and calmed down, and gave her a nod.  ¡°OK.¡±

    She nodded in kind, then snapped her hand out and poked my stomach once more, ¡°touch!¡± then darted off before I could retaliate.

    As we drew close.  I lifted a hand to try and poke her back, but she was done playing.  She rested her hand on my arm once again with one finger to her lips.  She was serious this time, so I took her cue.  Then she stepped barefoot through the ferns and shrubs without slowing one bit.

    A twig snapped loud under my boot.

    She turned around and held a finger to her lips, smiling wide.

    ¡°Sorry,¡± I whispered.

    I stepped where she stepped, making all manner of raucous while she passed quietly before me.  I pulled the same giant leaves and branches from my path that she did, all the while the chorus of chirps and whistles filled the canopy above.  My trousers clung to my skin for the water on the leaves as I brushed past, while the water on her bare legs left an alluring sheen I couldn¡¯t peel my gaze from.

    She brought me to a small grove of tall trees that reached high up into the canopy leaving only trunks at our level.  There, she stood to face me and looked around.  Still holding up a hand, her eyes scanned the trees all around us.  Finally, she faced me, grinned wide, and pressed her fingers flat against my chest.  ¡°Touch.¡±

    My heart chose a different order of chambers to pump blood through for a moment.  That one was different.  It felt different.  The way she¡¯d locked her eyes onto me, the way her hand lingered on me a fraction of a second longer than it needed to¡ªshe was a slice of heaven.

    I was drunk on her.  We stood together, and I leaned in just to be closer as she opened the book and flipped to the same page she¡¯d shown me before, the one with the drawing of trees.  Then, she pointed out the trees beside us and brought my attention to something black around the trunk.  ¡°f??efi?a?a.¡±

    I tried repeating it, but she silenced me and stood, pointing off in one direction.  ¡°?a?a.¡±

    I repeated, ¡°nana.¡±

    ¡°?a?a.¡±  Then she pointed in the opposite direction, ¡°wu?i.¡± Then she pointed perpendicular to that, ¡°?aze,¡± and then its opposite, ¡°v?fa.¡±

    I nodded.  ¡°OK, so¡­ North, South, East, West.¡±

    She pointed them out again.  ¡°?a?a, wu?i, ?aze, v?fa.¡±

    ¡°Which one''s North?¡±

    ¡°?oth¡­¡± she looked around, pursed her lips, and studied the ground a moment, looking around while tapping a finger to her chin in thought.

    Then it occurred to me, ¡°Carthia is west of here.  Which way is Carthia?¡±

    ¡°ka¦Èiya,¡± she pointed.  ¡°?a?a.¡±

    ¡°West.  Nana.¡±

    ¡°Wess?¡±

    I said it again for her, drawing out the t sound at the end. As she repeated it again, I thought to reach out and touch her again.

    She blocked me, ¡°v?¡­ ??s?¡¯?.¡±  With that, she pointed out something in the trees with a serious expression, turned to me, and put a finger to her lips.

    I nodded.  I didn¡¯t know what was there, but I trusted her enough to not want to find out.  Then she stooped down to show me the black on the tree trunk again.  I came in close to look; it had to be some kind of mushroom.  Miyani pointed out the direction again.  ¡°West.  ?a?a.¡±

    She pointed to the mushrooms, ¡°f??efi?a?a,¡± then to the west.  ¡°?a?a.¡±

    I looked closely, then I noticed they all grew on only one side of the tree, and it was the same side for all trees.  ¡°Woah!¡± I looked up at her.  ¡°You get West from a mushroom!¡±

    She smiled, then pointed into the book again.  I looked at the glyphs as she read them to me, ¡°f?-?e-fi-?a-?a.¡±

    Then as I gaped at the book, I felt something grab at the front of my hip.  Miyani pressed her fingers into me, lifted those beautiful eyes, and said, ¡°touch.¡±

    Then she smirked and walked off beneath a wooden frame that straddled a narrow foot path with several others making a line into the distance.  She was directly in front of me. The waning daylight muted by the canopy of trees above made it difficult to see all the curves over her dark skin, so I ogled her even harder.  The form of her, a simple cotton cloth draped over her delicious arse, I needed to touch her again.

    I waited until she slowed, stepping beneath another one of those frames like it was nothing while I had to duck down low.  I came up beside her and reached my hand out, daring to take a feel of her skin once more when she swatted my hand away.

    She looked up with a smile and lifted a finger to her lips, once again pointing at something in the forest.

    ¡°OK,¡± I whispered.  ¡°What''s there?¡±

    I pointed and said it again, slowly, ¡°what¡­ is¡­ there?¡±

    She leaned in and covered her brow with one hand as a visor, then smiled and looked up at me.  ¡°Blue.¡±

    I pointed, ¡°Blue is there?¡±

    ¡°Bluuuuue,¡± she called out.

    A squawk erupted from the trees, and the lizard came towards us seemingly out of nowhere.  He walked up to her and rubbed his face in her cheek, nudged her chin, then rubbed the side of his face in her other cheek.  She lifted her hand to his chin and rubbed gently, letting out a light giggle.

    The creature capable of ripping my throat out in under a second then maneuvered his body behind her and crouched low, wrapping his tail around her on one side, and his long neck around her on the other.  He cracked open his jaws to display a mouthful of serrated teeth, then turned his lizard face to me and hissed.

    I took a step back and lowered my gaze.

    Miyani laughed lightly, and with a warm smile patted Blue on his neck.  ¡°tixe ?o¡¯imedeza!  p? v? z?bixa?edu!¡±

    Blue let out a chirp followed by a gargle and some clicks before stepping away from her.  He then lifted his head to press one eye directly in front of me and held it there while the rest of his body kept moving, only to trot off into the trees and disappear.

    I was petrified.  I¡¯d overstepped.  Blue must have seen her swat my hand away and felt he needed to punctuate the matter.  It worked.  I liked her, very very much, and she seemed to like me, but I didn''t want to lose my liver over a misunderstanding.

    I had to stop looking; I had to stop playing touch games with her.  Ahmi was right; I looked at her like some piece of meat and I needed to stop.  I¡¯d reduced her.  I needed to look beyond the physical and appreciate her for who she was, stop acting like such an animal.

    I¡¯d already done enough damage.  I had to change my focus.  ¡°How did you know he was there?¡±

    She furrowed her brow and studied my face closely.  ¡°Ha¡­?¡±

    ¡°How¡­ did¡­ you¡­ know¡­¡±

    ¡°Know?¡± she nodded.

    ¡°Yes!  How¡­ did¡­ you¡­ know¡­¡±

    ¡°OK?¡±

    ¡°That Blue was there?¡± I pointed.

    ¡°Blue!¡±

    ¡°Yes.  How did you know he¡­ was there?¡± I pointed.

    She grinned wide, nodding her understanding.  Then she lifted a finger to her ear.  ¡°Lissin.¡±

    I tried to pick through the noise.  Whistles, chirps, and the wind in the leaves played over the steady grinding and chirping of insects. None of it sounded like a vita¡¯o.  Or it all did.  It was all background noise to me, the sound of the jungle filling my ears with chaos.

    Then she whistled out a peculiar chirp, like an up-down-up-down followed by a warble.

    There was no way I could hope to replicate it.

    She did it again, circling the trees above with one finger.  I tried listening for it.  Still nothing.  Then she pointed towards a grove with heavy leaves still dripping water set against a patch of green.   It took me a while to hear it, but far off in the distance that same up-down-up-down-warble she''d made.  ¡°Blue.¡±

    ¡°Oh, wow!  Blue is there?¡±

    ¡°ti,¡± she nodded, still pointing towards where that bird was chirping.  ¡°vita¡¯o¡­ is¡­ there.  Is Blue.¡±

    ¡°Uh-huh,¡± I nodded, trying to acclimate my ears to the sound.  I could hear it well, up-down-up-down-warble.  Miyani then opened the book once more and found a page that showed a drawing of a small bird.  ¡°woe?fif?ea,¡± she pointed to the glyphs that ran down the outer edge of the pages.

    To one side, there was a chart with strange symbols next to more of those glyphs.  She pointed out the symbols that followed the up-down-up-down-warble pattern next to the glyphs for vi-ta-¡¯o, but there were at least a dozen other listings in that chart.

    I felt her hand cup my bum.  She splayed out her fingers and gave me a good squeeze, then stroked all up and down my arse, and looked up at me with a big smile, ¡°touch!¡±

    That.  Felt.  Good.

    She''d captured me. She had me in every way.  I didn''t know if this was what being in love felt like, but I liked this feeling.

    We came to a small nook in the trees where a brown, burlap practice dummy stood with an arrow dropping down from its eye.  She pointed at it, ¡°ded.¡±

    I laughed.  ¡°He''s dead?¡±

    She smiled wide and gazed up into my eyes.  ¡°Xeeez ded.  Yes.¡±

    ¡°From the headshot, huh?  I don''t know, maybe put a bandage over it, give him some rest, he''ll be fine.¡± I nodded.

    Miyani tilted her head to the side and furrowed her brow.  So, I lifted up my hand and moved it towards her shoulder.  She blocked me and pushed it away, pointing out some trees to the side.  Then she lifted her finger to her lips, ¡°shhh.¡±

    Something about the way she giggled through that made me wonder if there was anything at all in the trees.  So I touched her shoulder anyway, resting my hand on her skin.  ¡°Touch.¡±

    She laughed lightly, still holding a finger over her lips.  ¡°Shhh!¡±  but she still smiled wide and gazed up into my eyes.  Then she rested her hands around my sides, stroking upward to wrap her fingers over my chest.  ¡°Touch,¡± she smiled wide.

    Her breath grew heavy and I could see her nipples grow erect.  She then stroked my chest all along my muscles and down my stomach, only to bring them back up and brush her fingers over my nipples.  I watched her face as she bit her bottom lip and grinned wide.

    How far this would go, I had no idea, but I brought my hands to the front of her, traced my fingers along her skin down across her chest.  My heart started thundering, and I couldn¡¯t catch my breath.

    She allowed me.

    She allowed me to brush my fingers over her nipples, and my mind went crazy.  She locked her eyes onto mine and continued to stroke her hands all over my body, wrapped around my back and groping up and down, taking in the small of my back, the curve of my arse, my hips, and all along my side.  I felt the massive swelling in my loins as excitement shot through me.  I opened my fingers and brushed her nipples between them, one by one and spinning them around in my thumbs; she allowed me to take her breasts in my covetous hands.

    Suddenly she whisper-shouted, ¡°z?v??e ??gu!¡±

    Blue cawed from behind me.  He¡¯d been sniffing me up and down, then snapped his neck up and scampered off into the forest.

    The shock of his presence sent waves of terror rippling through me.  I had to take in a deep breath and let it out slowly, trying to wrap my head around the fact that he¡¯d been able to sneak up on me like that.

    Miyani resumed, caressing my body up and down, then grasped at my bum again, still smiling wide and gazing up at me, but I struggled.  My hands shook.  I wanted more, but I didn¡¯t know if that was a good idea.  I tried, but I couldn¡¯t muster the urge.

    A horn blasted long and low in the distance, and Miyani released me.  Then she took my hand and led me back to where it came from.  The sky had turned to dusk by then, and a jolt of nervousness shot through me at the thought of being caught outside the walls after dark.

    I knew I could trust her, though.

    Then I heard a chirp to my side, and Blue was there gargling and chirping, and pointing his body towards the same direction she''d begun to lead me.  She glanced at him, ¡°f? tu??dexe.  ??v?de?a.¡±

    Blue ran ahead.  As we walked, I challenged myself to see if I could hear that bird over the cacophony surrounding us.  Surprisingly enough, once I knew what to listen for, I could hear it.  First he was in front, then I heard that bird again off to the left.  Miyani peeked over her shoulder at me and smiled.  I looked over her whole backside wishing I¡¯d had the nerve to touch her and yet grateful that I didn¡¯t, still trying to remember to see her as a whole person and not be so obsessed with how beautiful she was and still reeling from Blue¡¯s display of protection over her.  Then I heard that call behind me a good fifty yards or so.

    A twig snapped beneath my boots, and Miyani turned to shush me once more, laughing with her eyes.

    ¡°OK,¡± I nodded, placing a finger over my lips.

    Then she reached out her hand and grabbed me directly in the center of my trousers, pinching her fingers around the form of my still-swollen shaft.  ¡°Touch!¡±

    I never did get the word for book.

 Nuggets

    Images of Miyani dominated my thoughts, and I couldn¡¯t sleep.  Enough with her delicious, delicious body, just the way she looked at me drove me insane.  The look in her eyes as she gazed up at me, the way she held her lips when she reached out to me and touched me.  I knew it was just a game, but damn.

    We¡¯d made it out of the trees when I snapped my hand towards her, ¡°touch,¡± and ran off towards the gate.  She chased after me, and I''d made it to about a hundred yards from the giant alligator when I peeked around.  No sooner than I had, and she caught me, about a tenth as winded as I was and looking at me with a smile that gave off the deepest of sincerities.  We started to work our way around the No Swimming sign, keeping a glance at one another daring each to get a touch in and taking turns pointing at the beast with one finger over our giggling lips.

    I wanted to kiss her.  We¡¯d gotten back to her apartment, a large cluster of grass-covered domes, where we taught each other the words for good-night, and ended that with a long hug.  She lowered her arms and ran her fingers all over my bum being absolutely unshy about it, and I couldn¡¯t help but feel the invitation.  I had to bend over to reach down some, but I took her delicious round arse in my covetous hands.

    We hugged until dark.

    It rained through the night.  Thunder cracked hard overhead to herald the waxing blue of morning, punctuated by flashes of lightning and the unceasing sound of rain clattering into pools outside.

    And with that came Sarina.

    Days chasing one another across the stone walls of the terraces that climbed up the mountainside back home in Gath, only to reach the top and sit together overlooking the valley below with the cool breeze flitting my hair about and it was just the two of us, lying down together.  Her black eyes, her soft lips that only in time as I grew I understood the meaning of, yet from the time we hid from our chores when we were six, running through the garden and hiding beneath the cool shade of a grape vine, she was always my one.

    It¡¯s called a nightmare.  Mother says that''s what you call it when you have a dream and the dream is scary.  She says the plague left an ouchie on my brain and I will always have them.  I¡¯m scared¡­

    I¡¯d written to Sarina about Mebibi¡ªabout all the girls I¡¯d met in Kyoen.  I told her how I''d met Mebibi in the marketplace where the bishop would send me out on deliveries.  Her father had a stall, and she used to glance at me sheepishly until I went over to talk to her.  I told her about Alys, who brought me gifts and invited me to watch her dance recital.

    Sarina wrote me back.

    Caleb, you¡¯re an idiot.  If you like this Mebibi, you need to stop entertaining Alys.  She¡¯s trying to pull you away from her.  You need to make a decision and stick with it or else you¡¯re bound to lose them both.

    She was right, and I should have listened.  I wondered what she''d have to say about Miyani?

    Caleb, you don¡¯t know this woman.  She could be some controlling psychobitch, and you literally can¡¯t ask her favorite color!  You need to stop thinking about her arse and pay attention¡ªshe¡¯s got a jealous lizard that can rip your throat out in under a second, and she thinks a severed human body part makes a nice gift.  I say this because you¡¯re my best friend and I love you, but exactly which mushrooms have you been eating?

    Miyani did have a beautiful arse, though.

    Water droplets sprayed through the open window where a fresh spider web filled the space like gossamer crystals in the morning cloudlight.  Outside, the rain began to abate, leaving a lake where the yard used to be with tufts of grass peeking above the surface all around.

    The thought of walking through that with my boots and soaking my toes for the next several hours made me understand why the natives walked around barefoot.  And so, without Mother Searnie to chastise me, I went as they did.  Then it occurred to me that I also had the garment Tani had given me the evening prior¡ªa silk strap to go between my legs with a flap at the front and back, set about a soft, silk belt around my waist.  I felt naked.  I also put on the necklace Miyani had given me, though I wasn¡¯t sure if that was a good idea given how macabre it was, and my bow sling over my shoulder.  I also had the leather satchel that held my medical kit, but other than that I was naked¡ªthis would take some getting used to.  There was a nook in my bow sling that I threaded my hair through to keep it out of the way, and without my shirt on I could feel the ends tickle the small of my back.

    Most of the other men were still sleeping.  I stepped outside and sloshed my feet into the grass as the contiguous lake had degraded into a series of connected puddles with islands throughout.  The rain was naught but a light sprinkle by then, and the dark clouds above had moved along towards the east.

    wu?i.  The rain moved off to the wu?i.

    The men on kitchen duty were still preparing for breakfast, so I took the time to visit Geraln in the medical ward.  On my way over, I shifted my neck around just to feel my hair dance along my skin.

    Davod was there sitting next to him, and Chirpy lay on his chest.  She looked up at me in expectation as I walked in, following me with her eyes as I approached.

    ¡°How are you feeling?¡± I said.

    Geraln¡¯s body had taken a hit.  He was always chubby, but he looked gaunt and his skin sagged over his cheeks.  He rubbed the sides of his nose, digging in his fingers as though to pull his skin apart.  ¡°Like shit.¡±

    Davod chuckled lightly.  ¡°Yeah,¡± he echoed.  ¡°Commander says don¡¯t ever forget your mosquito ward.¡±

    Geraln wheezed out.  ¡°My head feels like it''s about to explode.¡±

    I opened the medical kit and unraveled the paper that held the temperature glass.  After a moment to remember which end I was supposed to use, I held it up to his neck and watched as the clear crystal shifted through blues and greens to settle on a deep orange-yellow.  I then took up the board that held his notes and studied it.  Chirpy lifted her tiny head to see for herself.

    Davod grinned, ¡°if you die, can I have your bow?¡±

    ¡°Hush!¡± Geraln snapped.  Chirpy hissed in agreement.

    ¡°What?¡±  Davod laughed and shrugged.  ¡°It was supposed to be mine, anyway.¡±

    I couldn''t help but laugh a little myself.  ¡°How long ago was this?¡±

    Geraln shook his head and let out a labored sigh, still pressing his fingers into his face just beneath his eyes.

    Davod let out a light chuckle and held out his hand for Chirpy to sniff, then stroked under her chin.  As for me, z??i had insisted on writing everything in Uhuida, so I first had to figure out if I was staring at the thing upside-down.  Then, after a minute or so of going back and forth between the translation guide, I saw that despite his temperature having improved from last night, it was the same as it had been yesterday morning.

    I went over to the next man¡¯s bed; he and several others were also being treated for the mosquito pox.  Their morning temperatures hadn''t been taken, so I took care of it.  His was bright red, also no improvement from yesterday.

    ¡°Guess what,¡± Geraln wheezed out, ¡°I found out that Sarina is Showani.¡±

    Davod raised an eyebrow.  ¡°What do you mean?  Where¡¯d you hear that from?¡±

    ¡°I¡­¡± Geraln hesitated.  ¡°It¡¯s reliable.¡±

    ¡°Are you sure?¡± I countered.

    Davod echoed.  ¡°I don¡¯t think that¡¯s right.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, man,¡± Geraln insisted.  ¡°The Commander is Showani.¡±

    The man I was looking over lay still but for shallow breaths; his temperature was a deep, ruddy orange.  I shook my head and turned to Geraln.  ¡°Who told you that, though?  Because that¡¯s not true.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s true, man.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s Mayeni.¡±

    Geraln argued, ¡°He¡¯s Showani.¡±

    Davod sat silent and watched us argue, pulling his face back in thought.  I moved over to the next patient, a young child with the dark-green skin of the Na¡¯uhui who¡ªI was told¡ªdidn''t feel like listening to his mother.  He now had beads of sweat across his brow and slept through shallow breaths with a fever of solid crimson.

    ¡°No,¡± I said.  ¡°He told me himself, he¡¯s from Mayeno.¡±

    ¡°That doesn''t make any sense.¡±  Geraln furrowed his brow and glared at me.  ¡°He told me he came from Showan.¡±

    We both turned to Davod, who shrugged.

    I twisted my neck a little to feel my hair tickle my back again, then spoke what we both thought.  ¡°What did he tell you?¡±

    Davod shook his head and smiled.  ¡°I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about.¡±

    I pressed, ¡°he told you something, didn¡¯t he?¡±

    Davod wasn¡¯t good at hiding it, ¡°I¡¯ve no idea what you¡¯re talking about!¡±

    Geraln poked him in his side, ¡°what did he tell you?¡±

    ¡°Nothing, man!¡±

    I added, ¡°he told you something.  What did he tell you?¡±

    Davod grinned wide and fought back a giggle, ¡°I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about!¡±

    I moved onto another man, a Herali with a fresh Falcon tattoo on his right shoulder.  Except he was cold.  The muscles in his face and hands were stiff leaving him with a ghastly grin, and he had no pulse or breath.  My heart jumped at the realization, and my face froze.

    Davod turned to me.  ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s dead.¡±

    Geraln snapped to attention and gazed at me in shock.  His voice was hollowed out.  ¡°Klaudus is dead?¡±

    I turned to face him slowly, unable to wipe the shock from my own face.  ¡°Yeah, man.¡±

    Geraln''s eyes bulged and his jaw gaped.  ¡°He got here the day before I did.¡±

    Davod lifted his chin at me.  ¡°What was his temperature yesterday morning?¡±

    I looked at Klaudus¡¯s chart, and a pang of terror rippled over my skin.  I looked up at Geraln.  ¡°Same orange-yellow as you.¡±

    Geraln whispered into the distance, ¡°fuck.¡±

    A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

    Dr. z??i had said his chances were better because Chirpy¡¯s mother had smelled it on him earlier than usual, but she still only gave him eighty percent.  There was a one-in-five chance that one of my best friends would die of mosquito pox before we got a chance to die in battle.  Rest was what he needed, so rest was what we gave him.  That, and copious amounts of water.

    Davod and I then left to get breakfast.

    Beside the gate, we saw Jezi, the alabaster Tobori kid with his old slave number branded into his arm standing next to a young, dark-green woman with her white hair in a single braid down her back riding on a vita¡¯o about to head out of the gate alongside two others.  She leaned down to kiss him on the lips while he caressed her leg.

    ¡°dayumi!¡± Ahmi snapped from behind them, ¡°p? fayise!¡±

    Ahmi then glanced at me for a brief moment as the girl removed herself from him and followed the others out.  I tilted my neck slightly to feel soft hair on my back again.

    Jezi watched them leave for a moment before making his way towards where we stood, while Davod rested his heavy, meaty arm over my shoulder.  ¡°You see?¡± he said.  ¡°That''s how it¡¯s done.¡±

    That made me laugh.  ¡°Whatever!¡± I shook my head.  ¡°I spoke to Ran¨ªa.¡±

    Davod sucked his teeth and turned away.  ¡°That''s going nowhere.¡±

    ¡°I think it could.  She''s very attracted to you; she told me.  If you just¡­¡±

    ¡°Not gonna happen.¡±

    ¡°OK,¡± I insisted.  ¡°She has reservations.  That¡¯s fine.  It¡¯s nothing you can¡¯t¡­¡±

    Davod shook his head and scrunched his lips, waving one hand in front of me.  ¡°What¡¯s this I hear about you and Yonim?¡±

    I smirked.  ¡°Her name is Miyani, and don¡¯t change the subject.¡±

    Jezi came up to us with a satisfied grin across his face and looked up, passing his gaze back and forth between us.  ¡°Good morning!¡±

    I nodded.  ¡°Same to you.  You joining us for breakfast?¡±

    Jezi shook his head and started to walk with us.  ¡°My mother makes the way better food.¡±

    Davod gave a nod back towards the gate.  ¡°So that¡¯s your woman, there?¡±

    Jezi smiled and glanced behind him, though by then she was gone.  He then ran his fingers through his long, bright-yellow hair and blushed.  ¡°She is Dayumi.  We are close.¡±

    Davod chuckled, while Jezi glanced at the ear pendant I wore.  ¡°She says to my mother that she will bring me Apex ear and then we hope to marriage.¡±

    A flash of apprehension crossed his face for a moment and then vanished.  It was Davod who asked, ¡°What¡¯s the Apex ear?¡±

    ¡°Who,¡± Jezi corrected him.  ¡°If your enemy likes you they will name you.  Ahmi is called Teacher.  zevo?i is called Apex¡ªshe is the enemy scout most very dangerous.¡±

    I couldn¡¯t help it.  ¡°Does Miyani have a name like that?¡±

    Jezi smirked, then smiled wide.  ¡°Oh, yes.  She is called ?oz?¡¯?.  This is difficult to translate.  Maybe the closest meaning would be¡­ let me think.  I think it will mean¡­ that bitch!  Do you know that she shot Apex one time?¡±

    ¡°Damn!¡± Davod grinned and slapped my shoulder.  ¡°So your girl did that¡­¡±

    Jezi shook his head.  ¡°She is the woman.  No girl.¡±

    ¡°Sorry,¡± Davod chuckled.

    I continued, ¡°how much do you know about her?¡±

    Jezi faced forward as we approached the mess.  ¡°Not much.  She is new.  She arrives at Carthia maybe two weeks before now?¡±

    ¡°Do you know where she came from?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Jezi nodded, ¡°everyone knows this.  She is sa??wesa tribe.  The sewu¡¯o?i massacred them and she makes many to escaped.  She leads them all here.¡±

    ¡°Wow,¡± I said.  ¡°So she¡¯s¡­¡±

    Jezi smiled and chuckled lightly.  ¡°You ask about Miyani, she asks about you.¡±

    ¡°She did?¡± I asked.

    Davod tapped his shoulder, grinning wide.  ¡°What did she ask, and what did you tell her?¡±

    ¡°We have bro-codes, yes?¡± Jezi cocked his eyebrow at me.  ¡°She wants to know did I hear you say the F-word.  I tell her I don¡¯t remember to hear it.¡±

    Davod shrugged.  ¡°The F-word is that serious?¡±

    ¡°Hah!¡± Jezi giggled.  ¡°They say this to me my whole time growing up.  My mother, my teacher, Ahmi says this, Dayumi mother says this, everyone says that when you hear a man say this word, it means do not expect to trust him.¡±

    I shrugged, ¡°why?¡±

    ¡°GODS!¡± Borel shouted at me from inside the mess hall.  ¡°What the fuck are you wearing, man?¡±

    Jame slapped him in his arm.  Borel turned to him briefly, ¡°sorry,¡± before walking up to me with half our unit in tow.  He chuckled out loud, glancing back and forth between my loincloth and the ear.  ¡°What the hell, man?¡±

    Gino was beside him.  He came closer to me and rested his hand on my shoulder, passing his eyes up and down my barefoot, half-naked body.  ¡°Are you joking, man?¡±

    Never mind that Jezi was dressed the same and Commander was as well whenever he was around.  When I looked, both of them had sweat stains on their shirt collars despite the early morning hour.  And for that matter, so did Davod.  So, I answered them accordingly, passing my hands up and down my body as I spoke, ¡°you¡¯re jealous, because you don¡¯t have a body like this.¡±

    Borel cracked up laughing, as did most of the men present.  Rock, however, pulled up close to me and took his shirt off, flexing to reveal rippling, powerful muscle all across his shoulders, his arms, down his chest and back.  Some of the men cracked up as he popped his pectoral muscles one-by-one.  Kelint still dined with us despite not being in our unit any longer; he pulled Rock to the side and spoke something in his native language, to which Rock nodded and put his shirt back on.

    Then Borel turned his face to Davod, ¡°how are things with the elites, man?  I haven¡¯t seen you.¡±

    Davod cocked his chin to the side.  ¡°And that¡¯s bullshit, too.  They said I¡¯m supposed to be the unit commander for all you juvenile delinquents, but I feel like I ought to be training with you.  Instead Commander takes all of us other captains out as one unit.¡±

    Faren spoke up, ¡°what¡¯s it like out there, man?¡±

    Everyone got quiet.  Davod led us over to the table where we sat down.  ¡°It¡¯s scary as shit.¡±

    I sat next to him, while Ales sat across, with Borel standing next to Jame to his right.  Rock stood with Northstar next to Kelint.  Malchuk eased his way over to Kelint as well, while Jezi sat down on Davod¡¯s other side and Gino and Faren stood behind me.  Renou tucked himself away; I almost didn¡¯t see him standing behind everyone else.

    Davod continued.  ¡°Each unit gets a scout.  Yesterday, we¡¯re walking through the jungle on some side route and you can¡¯t see anything.  There¡¯s trees, vines, leaves everywhere.  In some places you get good visibility, but for the most part it¡¯s pure jungle.  And it¡¯s loud.  Everywhere around you is noise.  Chirps, whistles, everything.  It¡¯s so loud you can¡¯t hear anything that¡¯s trying to sneak up on you.  It¡¯s like this constant state of terror over something that may or may not be about to happen.¡±

    Ales shrugged.  ¡°Like when we came in, yeah?¡±

    ¡°Basically,¡± Davod nodded.  He gave Kelint a moment to translate into Goloagi, and I took a moment to stretch my neck so as to tickle my back once more.  Davod continued.  ¡°So Ahmi steps out from the middle of it; she¡¯s riding Falconator.¡±

    Borel smirked.  ¡°What?¡±

    Davod laughed.  ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s his name.¡±

    Borel laughed while Davod continued.  ¡°So yeah, my heart just sinks, she¡¯s invisible out there, you have no idea what¡¯s going on, and then suddenly she¡¯s there.  So she says there¡¯s an enemy war party that landed across the river and tells us to go this way.¡±

    Faren inserted, ¡°what did they want?¡±

    Davod shook his head.  ¡°Who knows.  She appears a couple more times, go this way, through there, that sort of thing, and we end up on a ledge overlooking the main road, some two-hundred yards out.  And most of us are diamond-tree-country men so we¡¯ve got about ten bows on us.  And so¡­ we wait.  And we wait, and we wait, and we wait.  Maybe about four hours later she comes to get us and says follow her.  So we all head to the river where there¡¯s some boat tracks in the sand with footprints leading into the water.  She tells us to take some time searching the area and she¡¯ll be back.  We do that, she comes back, and we came home.¡±

    Jame lifted his chin.  ¡°Did you find anything?¡±

    Davod shook his head.  ¡°We tracked their route, but they''d just walked around a bit and left.¡±

    Jezi nodded with a sly grin.  ¡°They figure out that Ahmi has the class and they don''t want to be the exam!¡±

    Davod chuckled with a prominent grin.  After that, he got up.  He made his way towards the stone staircase beside the kitchen that led up to the officer¡¯s hall.  ¡°Anyway, the food is much better up there, and I¡¯m hungry.  So¡­¡±

    Ales shouted after him, ¡°oh, so you¡¯re just going to leave us down here to starve, is that it?¡±

    Davod turned briefly and grinned, ¡°begone, peasant!¡±

    The food for us peasants was the usual brown-gray mash with goopy globs of goop.  It wanted salt, perhaps some honey and almonds.  Maybe some raisins or dried dates with crushed walnuts.  And a touch of cream.  That was it.  Chopped dates and walnuts, a touch of cream, and copious, copious amounts of honey.

    If only.

    I¡¯d arrived early enough this time to get a bowl of fruit.  What they offered that morning was chunks of something purple that had a strong grain to its texture, and it was sweet beyond sweet.  Like if you take all the sour, all the fruitiness, all the everything that comprises a flavor and squeeze them all out leaving some trace remnant overpowered by the sweet left behind, that was what it tasted like.

    When the lady came around with the coffee carafe, every man in our unit pulled out a kren except of course myself.

    And I really could have used some.  I sat, coveting the smell of warm coffee all around me while shielding my feelings from the shame of not being able to provide for myself.

    Rock pulled out a coin and handed it to her, pointing at me.  ¡°For him.¡±  Then he turned his round face to me and smiled wide, lifting his cup.

    ¡°Thanks, man,¡± I said.

    Rock smiled.  ¡°Nuvi-de-sa!¡±

    Jezi hadn¡¯t gotten in line for food.  Rather, he sat alone in the middle of the table facing us as we made our way through the serving line.  As we came up, he pointed at Malchuk, the Goloagi man with short, curly hair and the scar that ran down from his forehead, across his nose, and onto his cheek.  Jezi spoke to him in Goloagi.  ¡°You will sit here now please.¡±

    The rest of us sat down wherever, though I was close enough to overhear what was going on.  Jezi warned the man, ¡°you are in danger.¡±

    We fell silent.  Faces from around the table, including my own, tuned into that conversation.  Malchuk furrowed his eyebrows and pulled his face back.

    Jezi continued.  ¡°The women here do not like you.  They say you look rapey¡­¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Malchuk shrugged.  Confused faces surrounded them both.

    Jezi continued.  ¡°This is not good.  My mother tells me talk to you about this.¡±

    Borel leaned in and held his hands up.  ¡°Yeah, but what¡¯s that supposed to mean?  How are they¡­¡±

    Jezi cut him off.  ¡°Listen.  You do not understand.  A man does not rape¡­¡±

    I wasn''t sure what a rapey man looked like.  Malchuk was about average height, and aside from the scar across his face, his features were heavy with a hook nose and strong brow line.  He wasn''t big, but you could tell he was strong for his size.  He wore a frown mostly, and I hadn''t seen him smile or laugh, but he stayed around us most of the time.  Malchuk shook his head and crossed his arms, ¡°I never raped anybody¡­¡±

    Jezi shook his hand in front of him.  ¡°Be quiet and listen.  A man does not rape a woman at Carthia.  If he survives the attempt, he will not see the sunrise.  But wait,¡± Jezi held up one finger and looked around at all of us.  ¡°I have a better idea.  Let us say this man looks rapey, and let us deal with him before he tries.  This is Carthia.  Can you hear me?¡±

    Jame shook his head.  ¡°Just because of the way he looks?  That¡¯s ridiculous!¡±

    Ales crossed his arms and shook his head, ¡°no.  No.  That¡¯s not fair¡­¡±

    Jezi pulled his lips wide and nodded.  ¡°My mother says to me that life is not fair.  But this is Carthia, and these are the rules.¡±

    Malchuk shook his head.  ¡°What am I supposed to do?¡±

    Jezi lowered his face in thought, then shook his head.  ¡°Sometimes they say this maybe because you look too long at the wrong woman, or if you say the f-word too many times, or it can be some other reason.  Let me see if I can find this out, and you will stay in this area with the barracks and the training grounds for now.  Do not go to the library or anywhere else for now.  OK?¡±

    Malchuk sniffed and shrugged.  ¡°What about the church?  Am I allowed¡­¡±

    A horn bellowed out from the gate, a short blast followed by a long blast.

    Immediately, half the men in the mess got up and ran out the door.  The men in the kitchen filed out with weapons in hand, and all the men upstairs in the officers¡¯ hall ran downstairs.

    Daren of the bear clan stood at the end of our table and growled, ¡°GET UP!  All of you!  On the wall, NOW!¡±

    We stood and started moving, and Daren continued to shout at ours, and another group of men across the room.  ¡°Get your bows, and get up on the wall!  Let''s go!  Let''s go, let''s go!¡±

    Men rushed past, right through the open walls and ran across the training grounds towards the wall.  Some headed for the barracks, others towards the main gate.  I went with the rest of my unit until Daren stopped me.  ¡°Not you.  You, to the medical ward.¡±

    I started to rush past but then turned to ask, ¡°what''s going on?¡±

    Daren barked back, ¡°we''ll find out soon enough.¡±

 Alarm

    ¡°Caleb, come here, please?¡±  It was Dr. z??i.  She stood with three girls and an older woman¡ªall of them the same dark-green skin¡ªbeside a stack of shelves where sheets were folded above an assortment of boxes and jars.

    I couldn¡¯t get over her high, girlish voice.  ¡°Alright, listen.  We don¡¯t know what¡¯s going on.  We might get nothing, but we could get wounded.  Everyone, this is Caleb; he¡¯s never dealt with combat medicine before.¡±  She turned to face me directly.  ¡°First, control the bleeding.  Then, administer gebu¡¯i.  ?am??i, you¡¯re in charge of triage¡­¡±

    A tall, lanky girl of perhaps thirteen wearing an undyed cotton loincloth nodded, then glanced me up and down with discerning yellow eyes.

    z??i continued, talking directly to Shamuni.  ¡°Caleb can handle bleeding, broken bones, most basic injuries, but if we need to pull an arrow, let me show him how to do it.  Anything venom-related, go directly to pusumi as fast as you can.  You got all that?¡±

    Shamuni nodded.

    z??i then turned to the older woman, well into her sixties with a woven-hemp loincloth and sporting a white vita¡¯o-claw tattoo on her shoulder.  ¡°t? g?yi??ei ?a za?e ?uve.  z?to yuv?woxe.  k?de dowa me¦Èizuse te¡¯o ?a ko¡¯o ??v?sedu.  p? zudase.  go?i v? g?yi??de ?a samiei Caleb ?uve.¡±

    With that, the older woman nodded and left down the hall towards the office.

    z??i then turned to the next girl, perhaps a year or two younger than Shamuni, wearing a dark-blue silk loincloth covered in silver embroidery of Uhuida writing decorated in spiral calligraphy.  ¡°Besami, you¡¯re in charge of nursing.  Make sure everyone is comfortable.¡±

    The girl smiled and looked me up and down.

    z??i then crouched down low to talk to the third girl who couldn¡¯t have been more than six or seven.  Unlike the rest of the natives, she sported dark-green hair the same color as her skin, and eyes of silver.  ¡°I¡¯m depending on you to keep order.  Anything out of place, anything that needs to be put away or cleaned up, you¡¯re the best there is.  I also need you to keep an eye out for Caleb, and help him find anything he needs.  Can you do that for me?¡±

    The little girl nodded enthusiastically, then fixed her silver eyes on me with a gentle smile.

    By that time, Geraln was asleep.  A fly tried buzzing around his face until Chirpy snapped her long neck out and snatched it from the air.  She gave it two good chews before swallowing and setting her head back down onto his chest.

    The rush of men clamoring up to their defensive positions had died down to an eerie stillness.  From the medical ward, all I could see were a handful of men some forty feet up, standing on the wall and facing outwards towards the main gate.  I stepped through one of the archways that made up the north wall of the medical ward.  Up on the wall, clusters of two or three men had gathered, while every now and then a man would walk between them.

    What if it was Miyani?  God, what if something happened to her?

    My heart wretched.  Images of her being carried in ripped through my mind, and my skin crawled.  I tried desperately to shake it, but I couldn¡¯t stop seeing her.  I broke.  I shook my head and looked for anything that might distract me from those thoughts.  Beside me was a fresh web with a spider the size of my palm working on a finger-sized lizard that fought hard against the fibers that ensnared it.  The spider sunk its fangs into its belly, and the tiny lizard turned stiff.  I watched as the spider waited a whole minute before wrapping up its prize in a cocoon of silk.

    ¡°Caleb, come over here.¡±

    I turned to Shamuni, the eldest of the three girls in the medical ward.  She stood beside the sunken man I¡¯d seen the other day.  He was still gaunt, still weak, but his color had returned.  I tried not to gawk.  ¡°What happened to him?¡±

    Shamuni smirked at me.  ¡°He took a dart.¡±

    My eyes bulged.  ¡°A dart did that to him?¡±

    Shamuni¡¯s eyes judged me from my feet to the silk piece of clothing over my hip, the ear pendant Miyani had given me, my leather bow sling, and my face.  ¡°The antivenin did that to him, otherwise he¡¯d be dead.  He needs a bath.  Rags and wash basins are over there,¡± she pointed.  Beside her, the younger Besami fixed her yellow eyes to mine, only to glance down my body and back up for a moment.

    ¡°Oh,¡± I said.

    Shamuni cocked her chin side to side in deep satisfaction, ¡°you heard it yourself; I¡¯m in charge!¡± before wandering off.

    Besami tugged at my elbow.  ¡°Come,¡± she said with sheepish eyes and a warm smile.  ¡°Let me show you where it is.¡±

    The little girl then shouted, ¡°that¡¯s my job!¡± before taking my hand and leading me towards a small area closeted off by a tall, folded black-paper partition covered in white calligraphy and a painting of the mountain ridge.  A stone fire pit burned with bright-red coals over which rested a massive iron cauldron.

    The little girl then shook her finger at me and commanded in her little girl voice, ¡°now pay attention!  We always keep the water hot in case we need it.  If you see the fire go down, tell a grown-up.¡±

    I raised my eyebrows.  ¡°I should tell a grown-up, huh?¡±

    ¡°Yes.  Now.  You need a rag and soap, and wash basins are over here.¡±

    As I started gathering up supplies, she continued, shaking her finger at me once again.  ¡°You also have to change their sheets!  Don¡¯t forget that!¡±

    I smiled.  ¡°I won¡¯t.  Thank you; you¡¯re very helpful!  I didn¡¯t get your name?¡±

    The little girl smiled up at me.  ¡°I¡¯m ''?kimi.  p? xe?ise.  Sheets are this way.¡±

    ¡°Alright,¡± I nodded.

    The man¡¯s name was Hynmatio, and he wasn¡¯t much for conversation.  Besami and I lifted him up to roll him over onto one side, and he barely reached a hand out to steady himself.  All along his back, his skin was red, especially his shoulder blades.  I thought to scrub his skin to be extra thorough given how long it had likely been since he¡¯d had a proper bath.

    Besami took the rag, ¡°here, let me show you.¡± She raised her eyes at me for a moment, then looked back at the man as soon as I turned to her.  She started to dab at the red spots gently.  ¡°You have to be gentle.  If you scrub too hard, you''ll open up a blister.¡±

    I nodded and went to take the rag back from her, but she made no hint that she might return it.  So, I merely helped. Sometimes, I would see her in my periphery, looking over my body or gazing at my face, only to turn away when I faced her directly.

    My mind drifted back to Miyani.  I still couldn¡¯t get over what Peyumi, Elder of Elders, had said of her.  You lit her up!  From the moment you told her she was cute, she couldn¡¯t stop thinking about you.  She asked me to give her an opinion on you.  Every day, several times a day, did you talk to him yet?  Did you talk to him yet?  Did you talk to him yet?  I told her I was saving you for last and oh, she was cross!

    I couldn¡¯t wait to see her again.  Just an image of her in my mind brought a smile to my face.  To see her joyous face erupting in laughter when she touched me only to dodge away when I tried to touch her back.  Then, and I knew it was wrong.  I tried not to think of the sensation of her muscular arse in my hands as she groped me, but damn that was intense.  I had to keep lust under control; I didn¡¯t want to lose her.

    Perhaps another hour or so had passed, and we still had no word of what was going on outside.  No one brought word to the medical ward, and we heard nothing.  Men up on the ramparts continued to pace around, gathering in small clusters from time to time, and generally continued to face outwards.

    Then some of them directed their gaze to the interior, following with bows in hand and arrows nocked at something that made its way towards our direction.  I then heard footfalls in the grass coming from around the corner.  Four men appeared, carrying two more on stretchers.

    The two men on stretchers were ours, but the four carrying them were not.  Each of them had skin of the darkest green and wore a tan-colored spun-hemp loincloth with several pockets hanging from the belt along with two large knives, one on each side.  Each of them wore a hide strap over one shoulder and across his chest that held a bow and several arrows¡ªthree of them over their right shoulders, and one over the left.  All four had long, white hair and golden-yellow eyes, and were about the same range in height as us Herali with taut muscle rippling over their chests.  Three of them wore a white tattoo on their right shoulders in the shape of a cloud like how a child might draw one with two lightning bolts coming down from it.

    This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

    The two men on stretchers had skin the color of mine and hair that had been haphazardly shaved off.  Each had a bloody stump where their right hand used to be, and didn¡¯t so much as open their eyes as they were moved about.

    z??i approached them directly and spoke, ¡°zawa.  p? vi?use?i ?a¡¯e,¡± pointing towards an empty corner.

    The men said nothing, walked over to the area she¡¯d pointed out, and set our men down.  Shamuni stood beside their path with her arms crossed.  They glared at her as they walked past, and she glared back, defiantly shoving her face at them while Besami stood beside her with terror barely concealed on her face and little ''?kimi stood behind her, grasping at Shamuni¡¯s leg and looking timidly up at them.

    One of the men stepped up to me and paused in front of my face.  He scowled as he glanced down at my ear pendant, then looked directly into my face.  He stared up at me a good while before lifting his hand and extending his middle finger in the air.

    Then he shook his head and walked off, not once breaking his scowl.

    The second man came up to me and stopped directly in front of me as had the first.  He looked me up and down, smacked his lips, and threw some words at me, ¡°?eeok?se¡­ ?? abo?ise?¡±

    I didn¡¯t know what that meant, but by the way he spoke it was along the lines of ¡®you think you can take me¡¯ or something to that effect.

    I turned to the side and winced, waving my hand in front of my nose.  ¡°Eww, God!  Your mother let you go out like that?¡±  I then leaned back into him for a moment, took two sniffs, then shook my head in disgust, still waving my hand in front of my face.

    From the side, I saw Shamuni laughing, while the other two girls smiled wide.  The other two men who hadn¡¯t stepped up to me yet smirked, and one of them elbowed the other, barely concealing a light giggle.

    The man glanced at his friends with a dark scowl, then returned his attention to me and pushed hard at my shoulders.  ¡°?? ko¡¯o xayae?sedu?¡±

    He''d pushed hard enough that I had to take two steps back to steady myself, And right away, a string of loud, high-pitched whistles filled the medical ward.  I turned to look; Chirpy¡¯s neck stood straight up, writhing with each call of alarm.

    It wasn¡¯t a fraction of a second later, and some ten feet behind the man, Chirpy¡¯s mother was on all fours, coiling her neck and screaming out a deafening roar of her own.  Two more hisses rang out in tandem beside her, and Fluffy appeared alongside the gray vita¡¯o who¡¯d escorted me to meet Ahmi.  Then, by the time the man had turned to look, three more vita¡¯o had come in through the walls on the opposite side closer to where we stood, with another directly behind me cawing out several gutteral noises, and Lazybum stretched his neck directly over my shoulder, thrusting his face into the man, opening his jaws wide and hissing hard at him.

    The man stepped back, lowered his gaze, and held his empty hands out far to his sides.  Another, smaller vita¡¯o paced around the first man, sniffing his body up and down while two more investigated the men who had yet to approach me.

    Outside on the wall, a dozen men faced the medical ward with their bows drawn fully.

    Fluffy then grabbed the man¡¯s arm in her serrated teeth and ushered him towards the exit.

    The third man was a little taller than the others and almost my height.  As he stepped up to me, Lazybum rested his head on my shoulder and the other vita¡¯o stood perfectly still.  He had a pronounced jaw, and his smooth white hair was parted down the center and fell down both sides of his face.  His chest muscles were well defined, and his bow strap had a polished sheen to it.  He looked me directly in one eye and moved his face back and forth, then down some, then back up.  I couldn¡¯t figure out why he bobbed about in front of me until he leaned in close, still gazing at one of my eyes, coiffed his hair, looked at my eye again, then nodded and walked off.

    The first two men watched that and started to giggle under their breath even as Fluffy still clung to the second man¡¯s arm.  Then the fourth came up and chewed his jaw a little before looking me up and down.  He cast a quick glance at Lazybum before turning back to me.  ¡°?? m?s?vu ?uve?  z?ta fe?eeude ?uvu ka¦Èiya ??¡¯uv? ?a sowose.¡±  He then nodded at me, passing his eyes down and back up once more.  ¡°k?de ¡®uzi xat? mamavisa ¦Èemovevisa ?a y?xaxe.¡±

    The first three men snickered hard, with the one who''d used my eye as a mirror leaning over to laugh even harder.

    The man then looked at Shamuni and gave a nod in my direction.  ¡°do¡¯i g?zebuwoseza.¡±

    She leaned towards him and spat, ¡°p? ??wose xat?!¡±

    At that, the man smirked and turned away from me.  I answered him with the only weapon I had, ¡°d?sek? dam?vise¡±

    The man snorted, ¡°?owi.  ?? zoked?sexe po?ewe?¡±  Then he shook his head and chuckled as he walked off.

    At that, the four men left the medical ward with double their number in throat-ripping lizards to escort them out.  When I turned around, z??i was beside one of the men they¡¯d brought in while Shamuni held her two forefingers to the other man¡¯s neck

    ¡°What happened?¡± I grappled for words.  ¡°What was that all about?¡±

    Besami stood beside me, shaking silently as she gaped at them.

    ¡°Why¡­¡± I couldn¡¯t stop staring at their wrists, at the stumps where their hands once were.  Both had been cut, leaving dried meat and chopped bone to the elements.

    z??i scarcely addressed my presence, but spoke to Besami instead.  ¡°p? xesabese ?? f?eu fi keme ?a ¡®awa ?a duvu ?a gebu¡¯i.¡±  Then she leaned in to look closely at the man¡¯s hand before turning to ''?kimi.  ¡°ki¡¯i xesabese ?? ¡®a?i ?a kove¦È?du.  ??v?desa.¡±

    At best, I stood and gawked.  I wanted to help somehow, but my feet wouldn¡¯t move.  After a minute or so, Dr. z??i glanced in my direction.  ¡°You should probably go back to training; we can handle this from here.¡±

    I nodded then left the medical ward feeling useless.  At the very least I should have involved myself in learning the correct way to take care of these men; that would have been better than standing there like an idiot.

    Men still paced the ramparts in much greater numbers than usual, mostly talking among themselves though still casting the occasional glance outside.  No one was in the yard.  I rummaged through my thoughts for something useful to do, and found the possibility of finding someone willing to share with me greater detail on what had just occurred.  So, I passed over the grass onto the main administration building.

    The downstairs was devoid of people, but I heard some conversation coming from upstairs.  I wiped my bare feet on the thick, woven-hemp rug before the first step and followed it.  At the end of a hallway made of paper-framed partitions, the wall opened up to a clear view of the gate where I saw nothing unusual.  To the right I heard women¡¯s voices engaged in a serious conversation.  When I peeked around the corner, all of that fell silent and three faces gazed up at me.

    One of them was the princess with her hair cornrowed in streaks of white amid dark-green strands wrapped into a single braid down her back.  She sat on the same bag chair as I¡¯d last seen her, wearing a burnt-orange silk loincloth with golden embroidery, and a gold chain necklace with a metal artifact for a pendant in the shape of a crescent moon.  Ahmi sat to her left, while to her right was an older woman I didn¡¯t know, whose breasts rested on crossed arms as she scowled at me.

    ¡°Uh¡­¡± I wasn¡¯t sure how to begin.  ¡°Sorry for interrupting¡­¡±

    Ahmi cut me off in a stern tone.  ¡°What do you want?¡±

    ¡°Well¡­ I was wondering¡­¡±

    The princess cocked her head to one side and gazed at me, still talking to Ahmi.  ¡°I don¡¯t see it.¡±

    Ahmi smirked and turned to face her directly.  ¡°It is simple.  Miyani thinks between her legs.¡±

    The older woman chuckled, and the princess danced her head back and forth in feigned understanding.

    ¡°That was rude,¡± I shot back.

    Ahmi lifted her eyebrows and smiled at me.  ¡°Hmm?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t talk about her like that!¡±

    Ahmni opened her eyes wide and smiled at me.  The princess mocked a cat yowling and followed it with a hiss.  The three of them shared a laugh at that.

    I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, hoping to start over.  ¡°I had a question.  I was wondering¡­¡±

    ¡°Oooh,¡± the princess mocked, glancing between the other two women.  ¡°He has a question!  Let us answer it!¡±

    The older woman still held her arms across her chest and smirked at me, ¡°yes, she wants to have sex with you.  Anything else?¡±

    Ahmi and the princess both laughed at that remark.

    ¡°That wasn¡¯t my question.  I wanted to know¡­¡±

    The princess then fixed her head in an impatient stare.  ¡°Is there anything else?¡±

    ¡°Well, as I was just saying¡­¡±

    Ahmi interrupted me, holding up a finger.  Her whole demeanor shifted into genuine interest.  ¡°I have to know something.¡±  She glanced at the princess, ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± then returned to me.  ¡°Excuse me if this is off-topic, but did the commander tell you he was from Galaneo?¡±

    That shook me.  ¡°No, he said he was from Mayeno.  But that¡¯s weird.  Earlier, my friend said he¡¯d told him he was Showani.¡±

    ¡°Uh-huh,¡± Ahmi nodded, looking at me with a blank stare.

    There was a silence.  All three of them were staring at me, so I tried asking again.  ¡°What was that alarm about?¡±

    They glanced at one another, passing silent giggles among them.  It was the princess who answered.  ¡°What do you want it to be about?¡±

    Ahmi chuckled at that, as did the older woman.

    ¡°Well, two of our men were brought into the clinic, and they¡¯d had their right hands chopped off.  Like it wasn''t cut or tended to or anything, like they just took an axe or something and here you go.  They didn''t even wrap it up, nothing.  I mean, that''s¡­¡± I shook my head trying to wrap my thoughts around it.

    Ahmi answered me with the driest of tones.  ¡°If you get captured, you may have to think about Miyani with your left hand.¡±

    At that, all three of them broke out laughing.

    My pride was fallen to the floor and trampled upon until it was indiscernible from whatever dirt was already there.  I had nothing left but to try and salvage some sliver of dignity, so once their laughter died down I looked at Ahmi directly.  ¡°Someone once said to me that when you reduce a person to what you see in front of you, you¡¯re the one who suffers.¡±

    Meaningless words.

 Apology

    We spent the afternoon in the great field outside the wall with those of us skilled in archery coaching those of us who weren¡¯t.  That was until Daren was summoned back inside.

    Borel, Faren, and Gino took that time to talk to a pair of native women who¡¯d chosen to graze their goats beside the edge of the forest nearby, while Rock and Ales spent the time wrestling.  Ales had to stop and soothe the wound at his side, then gathered with the others around Jezi while he taught them some local dirty jokes.  Jame and I had taken to goading Malchuk to show us what kind of range he could get out of his Imperial Army longbow¡ªaround two-twenty, but if you tried to go beyond that it just didn¡¯t offer the draw.

    Eventually Daren came back and gave us all a mouthful.  We hung our heads in shame for a minute and then spent the rest of the day doing what we were supposed to be doing.

    Evening came, but I would have to wait to see Miyani again.

    Two days.

    Where they sent her, I was not told.  But, I should hope to see her in two days.

    And hopefully, she would be alive.

    I tried not to think about it.

    Dinner was some lumpy brown mash with bits of caramelized tomatoes and onions that desperately cried out for salt.  That was served with plain brown rice that was also devoid of salt, and to the side were green leaves saute¨¦d with bits of chopped red stuff and I think slivered almonds, and altogether dripping in oil.  Jame went to the kitchen to ask for salt for the table but was sent back empty-handed.

    As we gathered, we tried to piece together what the alarm earlier might have been about.  Kelint had been stationed a few towers down and saw someone come in through the front gate.  ¡°It was a train of them, like some entourage or something.  They had some creature¡ªit wasn''t a vita''o¡ªsome other kind of giant lizard tethered to a carriage.  And this thing was covered in bright red mesh with jewelry and beads and shit, and I couldn''t see anything inside.  There were two of those, and on each side they had six warriors walking a perimeter.  We let the whole lot of them through the gate.¡±

    Gino looked at Jezi.  ¡°You ever seen anything like that before?¡±

    The Tobori kid nodded.  ¡°Ti.  Yes.  This is someone very important from one of the tribes.¡±

    Jame spoke up.  ¡°Tribes?  You mean like the people we''re at war against?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Jezi nodded.

    I shared my own experience, hoping to add some clue to the stew.  ¡°Four of those enemy warriors came into the medical ward carrying two of our guys on stretchers.  Both our guys had their right hands lopped off, maybe a couple hours before.  No bandages, nothing.¡±

    Jezi looked up at me with hopeful green eyes, gesturing to his right shoulder.  ¡°Did you see any tattoos?¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± I answered.  ¡°It was like a cloud with two lightning bolts coming down.  Three of them had that, and the other guy didn''t have anything.¡±

    Jezi nodded.  ¡°That one is the m?we¡¯i?i.  They control the region east of here beyond the river bend and north towards the mountains; the pass from Saen runs directly through their territory¡­¡±

    Faren looked up, scanned the ceiling, and lifted a finger.  ¡°So¡­ at the Lake of Doom, that region, that guy Hoden said don¡¯t mess with them; he called them ¡®true believers?¡¯¡±

    Jezi nodded.  ¡°Sounds right.  They have always hated us, even since before the war.  Right now, they are very, very powerful.  But¡­ I have never known them to take prisoners.¡±

    Jame set his hands on the table.  ¡°OK.  So we''ve got a regional powerhouse¡­ allied with the enemy¡­ gifting us with POWs they¡¯d normally just kill.  They¡­ they want something they can''t get through the alliance.¡±

    ¡°Aye,¡± there were nods all around.

    Faren shook his head.  ¡°Like what?¡±

    Jame shrugged.  Jezi shrugged.  Ales started, ¡°well, it won¡¯t be azuka or coffee, or gods be blessed that delicious brown stuff.¡±

    Rock laughed at that.  ¡°Dokono!¡±

    Ales pointed and smiled at him.  ¡°Anyway, my point is they can grow all that themselves.  There¡¯s got to be something they can only get through Carthia.¡±

    Borel shrugged.  ¡°Could be the women.¡±

    Half the table chuckled at that.  Malchuk furrowed his eyebrows while Northstar turned to look at Kelint.  Kelint didn¡¯t translate so much as answer him with a frown, ¡°they can keep them.¡±

    Faren chuckled at that.  ¡°What¡¯s wrong, man?  I''ve never had it so easy!¡±

    Kelint shrugged that off with a sour expression across his babyface.  ¡°Lucky you.¡±

    Borel tapped Kelint in his shoulder.  ¡°What happened?  Didn''t you three get it on with that thick Tobori runaway?¡±

    Rock sucked his teeth.  Northstar shook his head and reminded everyone what his deep baritone sounded like.  ¡°We have nothing.¡±

    Jame raised an eyebrow at that.  ¡°Nothing?¡±

    Kelint explained.  ¡°Nothing.  Like night and day, man.  They won¡¯t even look at us.¡±

    Jezi nodded.  ¡°They will wait to see if Isa is pregnant.  If she is not, she might use you again.¡±  It wasn''t lost on me that Jezi joined us after Kelint had already told us about that evening.

    ¡°Use?¡± Malchuk laughed at that.

    Jezi smirked and elaborated further, glancing between Rock, Northstar, and Kelint.  ¡°A lot of men are dead, so some of the women here will improvise.  You people have that stupid Naveris tradition, but if no one knows who the father is that no longer matters.¡±

    Faren smirked at him.  ¡°Come on, you guys have your own weird traditions, like ¡®?mi??ei.¡±

    ¡°What''s that?¡± Gino asked.

    Jezi grinned.  ¡°It is where you choose a lover to welcome you to adulthood.¡±

    My eyes bulged.  ¡°What?¡±

    Faren smirked at me.  ¡°Come on, Caleb, I thought you would know about that.¡±

    ¡°Why would I know about that?¡±

    ¡°It''s alright,¡± he shrugged.  ¡°It''s not a race.¡±

    Borel lifted his chin towards Jezi and grinned.  ¡°Who¡¯d you pick?¡±

    Jezi smirked back.  ¡°This is not a thing we discuss.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± Malchuk interrupted and turned to Jezi.  ¡°This is all fine and good, and I¡¯m sorry for being selfish about this, but have you found out anything about my situation yet?¡±

    Jezi shook his head.  ¡°I haven¡¯t spoken to anyone since this morning.¡±

    Malchuk added, ¡°I would like to go to the church.¡±

    Jezi looked apprehensive, so Gino spoke up to that.  ¡°What if Caleb and I go with him?¡±

    I shrugged, ¡°surely he¡¯d be safe with us, yes?¡±

    At that, Malchuk looked hopefully at Jezi, who bobbed his head back and forth.  But it was Ales who answered.  ¡°Yeah.  Groups are so safe; surely no one is going to stick a knife in you if you¡¯re in a group, am I right gentlemen?¡±

    With that matter decided, Malchuk dropped his hand into his lap and spent the rest of dinner staring at the wall while the banter continued around him.  Then, as everyone else was leaving, he took up his plate still with food on it,  and headed in the opposite direction.

    Gino looked at me, then urged me to accompany him.

    Malchuk stood just outside one of the archways that made up the walls of the mess, cast in the blue of waning daylight muted by heavy clouds above.  He crouched low towards a small herd of pigs and scraped his leftovers for them.  Numerous snorts followed along with several squeals as they pushed one another out of the way to gobble it up.  Malchuk reached his hand out to pet one of them, and Gino and I glanced at one another in understanding.

    Gino spoke first.  ¡°I was thinking.  Since the three of us all go to the same church, why don¡¯t we have a little study of our own, just the three of us?¡±

    My eyes lit up.  ¡°That¡¯s a great idea!¡±

    Malchuk nodded, then smiled.  That was the first time I¡¯d seen that in him.

    First, I wanted to look in on Geraln, so the three of us made our way to the medical ward.  When we got there, he was sitting up with a plate of food in his lap while a familiar native woman with large, flat lips and doe eyes sat beside him dressed in a small rectangle of fabric with tufts of fluff in a criss-cross pattern over her lap.  Gino couldn¡¯t get over her generous bosom, split by a necklace of soft leather with a silver medallion of a crescent moon sparkling with tiny diamond-tree stones.

    I turned to the new guy.  ¡°Malchuk, have you met s?wi?¡±

    Chirpy was sitting on her lap when we approached.  She jumped down onto the floor and scampered up to him, circling around his feet and sniffing at his knees.  Gino added with a warm smile, ¡°and this is Chirpy.¡±

    The baby lizard craned her neck up at him and let out three light chirps before jumping back onto the bed and curling up on Geraln¡¯s feet.

    Saewi smiled when we came in, then looked up and down the man without smiling.

    Geraln had a spun-wood plate with a variety of stuff on it.  There was a mound of brown lumpy stuff smothered in cheese with half of it missing.  Some yellow buttery-looking stuff, some shredded green stuff, and some red mix that looked like maybe tomatoes and onions with specks of green that judging from the smell had to be coriander.  It probably had salt in it.

    He also had a small stack of flat cakes that he used in place of cutlery, folding up a mass of food into a roll that he clearly enjoyed.  He looked up and spoke to me between chews.  ¡°Gods!  You need to try this!¡±

    He took up one of the flat cakes, used it to scoop a bunch of stuff and handed it to me.  Saewi put her hand out to block him.  ¡°Please, no.  You need t¡¯eat.¡±

    Then she looked at me briefly.  ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but he needs t¡¯eat if he¡¯s t¡¯recover¡­¡±

    I answered her in Goloagi, ¡°I understand.¡±

    Saewi looked briefly at Malchuk and answered; her Goloagi was clean as a native speaker.  ¡°Miyani asked about you.¡±  She was looking at me.

    I raised my eyebrows.  ¡°She did?  What did she say?  What did you tell her?¡±

    Saewi let out a light chuckle and returned her gaze to my friend, stroking his knee as he stuffed his face.  He took a brief moment to pause and looked at her.  ¡°Tell her¡­¡± Geraln grinned at me.  ¡°Tell her¡­ that my friend here is the kindest guy you¡¯ll ever meet.  He¡¯ll do anything for you if you need.  He¡¯s that guy.  Tell her that.  Oh¡­ believe me.  In fact, he¡¯s so kind, that he¡¯ll spend money that isn¡¯t his to help you out.  He¡¯s that nice.  Tell her that!¡±

    My heart sank as he gazed up at me with a wide grin.

    Saewi shook her head and smiled.  ¡°I told her that you are a pup.¡±

    Before I could process the meaning of that, Gino lifted a finger and looked at her, pausing as if to wait for the words to catch up to where his mind was at.  Then, he spoke.  ¡°Saewi, I¡¯m sorry, I have a question for you.  You work on the dock, right?  You¡¯re an inspector?¡±

    She glanced at Geraln, then back to him in the same serious tone.  ¡°Yes.  Why?¡±

    Gino straightened himself out.  ¡°I was wondering if you¡¯ve seen anything unusual coming in or something.¡±

    She shrugged and looked up.  ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°Well,¡± Gino began, ¡°there was an alarm earlier.¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± she nodded.  ¡°They would not let me see him.¡±

    I spoke up, ¡°we were trying to figure out why.  Do you know anything?¡±

    She shook her head.  ¡°No.¡±

    Gino then elaborated.  ¡°OK.  Here¡¯s what we¡¯ve got so far.  Some fancy carriage was brought in through the gate, and those two men over there,¡± he pointed, ¡°Caleb was here when four enemy soldiers brought them in.  Jezi says that they were from the m?we¡¯i?i.¡±

    This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

    Saewi¡¯s eyebrows popped.

    I interrupted.  ¡°You know about them?¡±

    Saewi nodded.  ¡°They are evil.  They are not to be trusted.  They want to exterminate us by any means necessary.  They will say they don¡¯t actually believe this, but some of us have been to their village.  The people there, they openly speak of it.  They joke about what they will do to our bodies when we have been exterminated, and they boast of how many of us they have killed.  And to their people, their leaders daily promise to do this¡ªto wipe us out.  They say we are stupid, that they will trick us into believing otherwise.  This is their rhetoric.  Whatever they tell you, just know, they are planning to kill everyone here.¡±

    Gino and I glanced at each other, then to Malchuk, who shook his head.

    Then Gino concluded, ¡°We were thinking.  Based on what we¡¯ve managed to piece together, they want something from us.¡±

    Saewi shook her head and leaned in.  ¡°They want to kill you.  If they are offering a deal, it is to kill you.¡±

    ¡°Well,¡± I figured out where Gino was going.  ¡°Maybe.  We have ships coming in and out of that port.  If they could get something¡­¡±

    Saewi shook her head.  ¡°They don¡¯t care.  They never traded with Carthia before, and they don¡¯t care to now.  They say we are a disease.  Untermensch.  You cannot negotiate with such people.¡±

    Geraln raised a finger, ¡°wait a bit, let¡¯s think about this.¡±  He chewed a morsel of food and swallowed.  ¡°Perhaps there is something Carthia can offer them that they can¡¯t get through the alliance.  Not Carthia, but the Empire.  I get what you¡¯re saying about the rhetoric, but at the same time anyone with power and influence has to know that the Empire dwarfs the whole Uhui region by order of magnitude in terms of geography, manpower, and resources.  If the Emperor wanted to, he could snap his fingers and this whole place would be razed to the ground.  Someone high up in Miwe¡¯ishi leadership could very plausibly want to get on the Emperor¡¯s good side.  If that¡¯s the case, Carthia would be a way to get a message through.¡±

    We all looked at him as he licked the grease off his fingers.

    Saewi shook her head.  ¡°It¡¯s a trap.  If they wanted to talk to your emperor, they could send a pigeon to him directly.  Why go through Carthia?¡±

    I asked, ¡°they have pigeons, too?¡±

    Saewi frowned at me.  ¡°Why would they not?¡±

    I felt stupid.  Gino furthered his line of reasoning.  ¡°OK, so let¡¯s ask that question.  Maybe they¡¯ve been talking to the Emperor, then they send an emissary here.  Maybe they need access to the port if the Emperor wants to send them a shipment or something.¡±  He faced Saewi, ¡°do you suppose you could look out for anything unusual?¡±

    She nodded.  ¡°I could, but I promise you, they will kill all of us as soon as they can.¡±

    I scratched my chin.  ¡°OK, so it¡¯s my turn.  Saewi.  In your personal opinion, would you say that Malchuk, here, looks¡­ rapey?¡±

    Malchuk raised an eyebrow, then gazed at her directly.

    Saewi chuckled lightly and shook her head.  ¡°You want to know what that is about.  First, I am not the one saying this.  I have spoken to the one who did, but I don¡¯t agree with everything she says.¡±

    Gino nodded to her, ¡°who¡¯s the one saying it?¡±

    Saewi shook her head.  ¡°I do not believe it will go well if I share her identity with you, but I can explain what she is referring to.¡±  She faced Malchuk, ¡°she believes you are a war junkie.¡±

    Malchuk pulled his face back.  ¡°A what?¡±

    ¡°She says that you finished your tour in Kulun and that you volunteered to come here. Is this true?¡±

    He nodded. ¡°Yes.  What''s that¡­¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    Malchuk blinked a moment.

    Saewi expounded her question.  ¡°Why did you complete your tour of duty and, instead of taking your veterans payment to live out your life in peace, you come here where I''m sure everyone told you is a death trap?¡±

    Malchuk shook his head and shrugged.  ¡°I don¡¯t see how that means anything?¡±

    Saewi held her face perfectly still and watched him for a response.  ¡°She thinks you raped war victims in Kulun.¡±

    ¡°NO!¡± Malchuk shouted.

    ¡°She believes you liked doing that so much that you came here to do the same.¡±

    Malchuk stepped closer and threw his hands up.  ¡°That¡¯s ridiculous!  Why would you¡­¡±

    Saewi held up one hand and shook her head calmly.  After a moment, Malchuk took a deep breath and let it out.

    Saewi continued.  ¡°Don¡¯t be angry with me for extending the kindness of relaying a message to you; I¡¯m not obligated to tell you anything.  This is what she has been saying.  There are some who believe she is right, and some who don¡¯t.  Perhaps, if you explain to me why you chose to come here, I can have that conversation on your behalf?¡±

    Malchuk ran his fingers through his curly hair and scratched at his scalp some.  ¡°I did take my veterans pay.  Got a nice plot of land in Umaz.  Thought it would be great.  It wasn¡¯t.¡±

    Gino faced him with a sincere look in his eyes.  ¡°What went wrong?¡±

    Malchuk sucked his teeth.  ¡°Nothing.  Nothing went wrong.  Everything was right.  But something just felt¡­ off.  I don¡¯t know.  It¡¯s hard to explain.  I don¡¯t know what it was, but I just couldn¡¯t do it.¡±

    Gino spoke up, ¡°couldn¡¯t do what?¡±

    Malchuk scrunched his lips and shrugged.  ¡°I don¡¯t know.  I still don¡¯t know.  All I knew was I didn¡¯t feel the way that¡­ I thought I would.  I heard there was a war going on here, and I thought that maybe I could¡­ I don¡¯t know¡­ bring my experience or something.  But it wasn¡¯t no raping or anything.  You know what, add this¡ªbecause the General Commander strictly forbade it.  And he would do inspections, too, of the places we¡¯d liberated and asked the locals how his men behaved, and if some girl said one of our guys raped her, that was it.  He was done.  He didn¡¯t tolerate that sort of thing.  So no, even if I wanted to, and I never did, it wasn¡¯t allowed.¡±

    Saewi nodded.

    After a while, Geraln had finished his meal and closed his eyes.  He then yawned hard and leaned back in his bed and groaned.

    Saewi took his hand in hers, then stroked his hair with the other.  ¡°You ready f¡¯sleep, darling?¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± he wheezed out.

    At that he closed his eyes, and Chirpy resumed her favorite place curled up on his chest.  Saewi gave her one last rub under her chin and we all stood to leave.  While s?wi went back to wherever she went, Gino and Malchuk followed her with their eyes and don''t get me wrong¡ªshe did look nice¡ªbut she wasn''t Miyani.

    Another woman met us as we made to leave.  It was Tani, the same one who''d given me that most comfortable of garments.  I remembered she''d said we would talk later.  She came up close and looked me over, ¡°I sorry¡­ uh¡­ no is good time.  Later.¡±  And she disappeared.

    ¡°Wait¡­ Huh?¡±

    Gino laughed then lifted up the ear pendant.  ¡°At least now we know why Miyani gave you this!¡±

    ¡°What?¡±  It didn''t make sense to me.

    When we came into the barracks, Faren was there reading the book that I found, and he didn''t even know about it until I told him, so then why was it fair that he gets to check it out first?

    ¡°Is that?¡± Malchuk furrowed his eyebrows and gaped at the title on the cover.

    Faren grinned, ¡°the one and only, my friend!¡± and he went back to reading.

    Gino bubbled with excitement.  ¡°You haven''t seen the library yet?  They''ve got a whole section dedicated to illegal books!¡±

    ¡°OK, then!¡± Malchuk opened his eyes wide and shook that off.  Then he turned to Gino and I and said, ¡°how should we begin?¡±

    At that, we all sat down.  I on my bed, Gino on his with Malchuk next to him.  We each had our own Scripture.  Gino looked up at me, ¡°how''s this: you and I each share something we''ve learned since we last saw each other in Kyoen, and then Malchuk, you share with us something you know?¡±

    Malchuk and I glanced at one another and shrugged.

    Gino nodded.  ¡°I''ll go first.  After you left, the bishop of Kyoen was replaced.  Some rumors went around that he''d been pocketing the tithe, but we never got a chance to find out if that''s true.  The new guy they brought in was this regular guy, super friendly, talked non-stop and always offered you a drink.  He was like that with everyone, made you feel special.  Something I really liked about him, he always had something for you.  No matter who you were or what you were going through, he took it upon himself to figure out a way for you to get what you needed.

    ¡°I asked him what his secret was, and this is what he told me.  He said it all goes back to the very beginning of scripture, the very first lesson.  He said we keep that in mind, and everything else falls into place.¡±

    I was intrigued. ¡°Which lesson is this?¡±

    Malchuk turned to me, ¡°the golden seal.  God broke it in half and made man and woman from the two halves¡­¡±

    Gino stopped him, ¡°no, after that.  In the garden was the forbidden tree.  I never paid attention to it, but Scripture names it the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.  Once you eat of it, you know right from wrong.  They ate.¡±

    ¡°Right,¡± I nodded.  ¡°Adam blames Eve, and Eve blames the serpent.¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Malchuk took over, ¡°take responsibility.¡±

    Gino looked among us, ¡°it goes deeper than that.  Think about what that means.  We have the responsibility whether we choose to take it or not.  Through this lesson, we understand that the knowledge of right from wrong lives within us, and that''s independent of whatever else Scripture says.  And, we¡¯re responsible to it even where Scripture is wrong.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± I pulled my face back.  ¡°No, Scripture is the Word of God.  How are you going to say¡­¡±

    ¡°Think about it,¡± Gino said, looking at me.  ¡°Even you said to me that there are passages in Scripture that don''t feel like justice.  But God is just, so how does that work?  Are we supposed to follow Scripture on blind faith and ignore what our heart tells us?  Ignore the truth within us?  No.  If something doesn''t feel right, then something isn''t right.¡±

    I shook my head.  ¡°That''s very dangerous.¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± he said, ¡°but that''s how it is.  We want some concrete law, but there is none.¡±

    Malchuk shook his head.  ¡°God¡¯s law is concrete!  If you''re going to discount Scripture like that, then what?¡±

    Gino nodded and glanced between us.  ¡°Then we discount everything beneath it.  That''s the lesson.  Right here, God is telling us that His spirit that lives within us is the ultimate authority on what is right and what is wrong.  Not Scripture.  And, by extension, everything that falls beneath it.  The Emperor, the Archbishop of Golago, every Duke, every priest, Commander, there is no authority greater than the Spirit of Truth.¡±

    Faren spoke up from his book, ¡°you want to hear something funny?  That''s exactly what this book talks about.¡±

    We all turned to face him.  He set the book on his lap and looked up at us for a moment.  ¡°Your ¡®scripture¡¯ tells you that you should blindly accept some authority because it''s greater than you.  And that, right there, is the reason why the world goes to shit.¡±

    ¡°No,¡± I shook my head.  ¡°Without an eternal law, there is no order.  Scripture is permanent. Unchanging. Unyielding.¡±

    Faren pointed at me and smiled.  ¡°That, right there, is your problem.  Life is dynamic.  The world changes.  That''s reality.  You spend your whole life looking for something permanent, but only the dead are permanent.  You need to embrace disorder.  Chaos.  Be flexible!¡±

    Gino smirked.  ¡°I don''t know about all that.  The point is, how many times do we hear, ¡®I was just following orders¡¯ or ¡®he made me do it, I had no choice,¡¯ whatever.  That''s why that act of disobedience was a sin¡ªbecause it opened our eyes to the truth, which made us responsible for it.¡±

    ¡°Sin!¡±  Another man spoke up from the upper bunk several beds down.  The head of his mattress had a mass of spider webs, and he sat up, allowing the sheet to cover his legs and showing a chest decorated with scars and lean muscle.  He had long, straight, dark-green hair and light olive-green skin like me.

    We all turned to face him.  I looked around and saw two other men sleeping with their backs turned; the place was otherwise empty.

    The man elaborated.  ¡°Sin is the equivalent of your mother telling you that Turtle brings gifts for Bawseth.¡±

    Gino smiled at the man.  ¡°You don''t think sin is real?¡±

    The man smiled.  ¡°I don''t think there''s an invisible man living in the sky shaking his holy finger at you every time you break one of his asinine rules.¡±

    I answered him, ¡°it''s not about that¡­¡±

    Gino cut me off.  ¡°What''s your name?¡±

    The man sucked his teeth and looked to the side.  ¡°My name is my foot up your arse if you think you can convert me to your superstition.¡±

    Faren laughed and looked up from his book.  ¡°His name''s Rolf.¡±

    ¡°Whatever.¡±  At that, he lay back down and turned his back to us.

    I resumed my attention to my friends.  ¡°I guess it''s my turn, then?¡±

    Malchuk looked pensive.  ¡°What I want to know is, why doesn''t God give you what you ask for?¡±

    He glanced between me and Gino and continued, ¡°it says He gives to all without finding fault, ask in His name and it''ll be given to us, but that never seems to do anything.¡±

    Rolf rolled towards us again, ¡°that''s because there is no God.¡±

    Gino looked at him and smiled.  ¡°I understand why you''d feel¡­¡±

    Rolf interrupted, ¡°sorry to be a shit about this, but I was trying to relax before the three of you came in talking fairy tales so if you don''t mind?¡±

    I sat up straight.  ¡°We have as much right to be here as you!¡±

    Malchuk rested his hand on my knee.  ¡°It''s fine.  I''m tired anyway.¡±

    ¡ª

    The next morning, the sky kept a light sprinkle throughout a breakfast of unsalted goo.

    Out on the training grounds, we set up the dummies against the outer wall and went about grouping ourselves for archery practice.  I was working with Gino and Faren.  Gino was able to mostly hit the target, but Faren still held his fingers too close to the nock, pinching the arrow and pulling it away from the bow.

    I heard a whistle off to my right.

    We all turned, and it was Ahmi.  She stood with her white hair in a feral mass about her shoulders and down her back.  Her breasts were covered each by a lock of hair that came over her shoulders.  She was looking directly at me and made a come hither gesture with her finger.

    I sucked my teeth and went back to coaching Faren on his technique.  The pinching he would learn to control, but in the meantime I was showing him to use a guide finger to keep the shaft in place.

    Daren slapped his meaty hand on my shoulders and barked.  ¡°What''s wrong with you?  Ahmi says ¡®come,¡¯ you come.  Got that?¡±

    I shook that off.  ¡°I don''t feel like talking to her.¡±

    ¡°Go, man.  That''s a bloody order.¡±

    At that, Faren smirked, and half the unit chuckled under their breath.  And as I walked past, I could feel their eyes taunting me.  I should have taken the money; at least then I''d have been able to buy some coffee.

    I came up to her and stopped a good ten feet away, then took a deep breath and stared without speaking a word.

    She looked up at me with her eyes wide and a warm smile, then took a few paces to close the distance.  ¡°I am sorry for yesterday.  My conduct was disgusting and unprofessional.  You deserve better.¡±

    That shook me.  ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°You are worthy of my respect, and I did not afford that to you as I should have done.  You are also correct in pointing out that I was rude to Miyani in her absence, and I admire your courage for speaking up about this.  I am deeply, deeply sorry, and if you will accept my apology, I would like to make it up to you.¡±

    ¡°Uh¡­¡± I scoured my mind for words.  ¡°OK?¡±

    ¡°You came with a question.  I strive to encourage my students to ask questions and not shame them for it.  So, I have made myself available to you for the remainder of the day.  Any questions you have, I will do my best to answer them.  I am sure you would like to know more about the alarm yesterday, and we have discussed what is acceptable for you to know.  I also have a nice lunch prepared for us if you like.¡±

    My first question, ¡°do you have any salt?¡±

 The Teacher

    Questions flooded my mind; I wasn''t sure what to ask first.  ¡°What does ??wo mean?¡±

    ¡°That depends,¡± Ahmi said.  She stood about as tall as my chest, but her presence didn¡¯t feel as small as her stature.  She wore a cream-colored cotton loincloth with sharp corners over a brown belt that also held a knife.  Aside from that her dark-green skin was exposed from her hips to her bare feet and toned tummy.  Her breasts were covered each by a lock of feral white hair and she gazed warmly at me through bright yellow eyes.  ¡°How is it used?¡±

    I glanced at the paper where I¡¯d written it down and said the whole phrase.  ¡°p? ??wose xat?.¡±

    Ahmi laughed hard, scrunching her eyes and smiling wide through her thick accent.  ¡°Who said that to you?¡±

    ¡°One of the girls in the medical ward said that to the guys that came in the other day.¡±

    ¡°Ahh,¡± she shook her head, still smiling wide.  ¡°Yes, Shamuni is quite eloquent.  ??wo is food, used as a verb here it means to eat.  It is imperative, so¡­ eat shit.¡±

    ¡°Oh, OK.¡±  I couldn¡¯t help but laugh at that.

    ¡°Next question.¡±

    ¡°The other day I was out with Miyani, and she said something to Blue, ??v?de?a.  But I thought it was ??v?desa?¡±

    Ahmi smiled.  ¡°?a and ?e are the familiar form of sa and se.  Use them among family or your closest friends.  I would recommend, for cultural reasons, that you avoid using them unless you hear someone use them with you, first.  These are good; you are learning.¡±

    I turned to the side and squinted.  ¡°Am I allowed to ask anything?¡±

    She gave off a warm smile with a light giggle.  ¡°I trust you recall where you accepted that nothing sexual will ever happen between us.  Please keep that in mind.  Aside from that you may ask anything you like.¡±

    I scratched my head.  So many.  ¡°Miyani showed me a bird that made a peculiar whistle when a vita''o was nearby.  It was uh¡­¡±

    Ahmi pursed her lips and whistled the sound perfectly, up-down-up-down-warble.

    ¡°That¡¯s it!¡±

    Her eyes popped.  ¡°She showed you that?¡±

    ¡°Yeah.  But the book had a bunch of other calls I couldn''t figure out¡­¡±

    ¡°Come,¡± she gestured towards the gate, still with a warm smile.

    And so we headed out.  We made our way around the giant alligator.  I looked behind us and saw Thunder and Lazybum racing one another.  They zoomed past, one on each side of us only to jet across the field and scare some goats that were grazing about two-hundred yards down.  The herder shouted some insults at them.  They turned and rounded up the goats, snapping and hissing at the ones who refused to move, and brought them back to her.

    ¡°How long have you known Miyani?  Was she one of your students?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Ahmi smiled as she watched the two lizards play.  ¡°I have been acquainted with her for years, but she only came to Carthia a month ago.  I can tell you she is very traditional; if you learn the language from her, she will not allow you to mispronounce anything.¡±

    ¡°Well that''s good.  Does she have a lot of family?¡±

    ¡°Not anymore,¡± Ahmi shook her head.  ¡°They were massacred by the sewu¡¯o?i.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± I said.  ¡°How?  Why?¡±

    ¡°The sa??wesa were allied with the sewu¡¯o?i, and I don''t know the whole story, but the elders ran afoul of kaxawi vi temper.  To hear m?ya?i tell it, she understood they were about to be betrayed while the elders refused to believe it.  Her brother stayed behind to try and convince the others while she gathered as many of her people as she could and led them to the only place she could imagine where they might be safe, here.  I went back with her to help gather the rest, and everyone was killed.  Everything was destroyed.  Her whole family.  Their houses were smashed and burned, and all their bodies thrown all about and covered in lye.  That was what we found.¡±

    I winced.  ¡°Her whole family?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Ahmi said.  ¡°And also pay attention to this because you need to understand what we are up against.  The burial rite for us ?a¡¯uxuwi is to feed our dead to the jungle.¡±

    ¡°Wait¡­ you take their bodies and¡­¡±

    ¡°Allow the jungle to consume them; so that our spirits may return to where we came from.  Do you understand?¡±

    ¡°OK?  I think so?¡±

    ¡°Yes.  So this is why she covers them with lye.  No animal will eat them, no vine will touch them, they are trapped.  This is what she means by this.¡±

    ¡°She wanted to make a statement.¡±

    ¡°This is what we are up against.  Next question.¡±

    Ahmi led me into a section of the forest not far from where Miyani had brought me.  As we walked, I took a moment to listen for that bird.  I heard it twice; once it was about fifty yards to my left, and then again ahead to my right.  It was hard not to notice the way the muscles in her thighs flexed as she stepped up onto a massive tree root.  Miyani had the same legs, only better.  All the scouts had, it seemed, and I liked it.  As in, really, really liked.

    Then I heard that whistle, that up-down-up-down-warble right behind me. I turned quickly and saw the body of a bright green lizard flash between trees behind me.  ¡°I see you!¡±

    Ahmi stopped and turned.

    I spoke to the tree to my right.  ¡°Lazybum!  Got you. That''s a point for me!¡±

    A squawk erupted from the trees, and a tall lizard bounded over, turning his eye towards me with his mouth agape displaying jagged serrated teeth.  He ran up to Ahmi and nudged her chin.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Ahmi giggled.  ¡°I am impressed, too.¡±  Ahmi stroked the beast¡¯s neck and looked up at me.  ¡°You were listening for the woe?fif?ea?¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± I nodded, still admiring the smooth scales of our friend.  ¡°The wo-e?-fi-f?ea bird.¡±

    Ahmi giggled.  ¡°f?ea means bird.  You might as well say woe? bird bird.¡±

    ¡°Oh.¡±

    She still beamed.  ¡°Tell me, what else do you hear?¡±

    I looked around me.

    ¡°Close your eyes.  Close your eyes and tell me.  What do you hear?¡±

    I did.  Chirps of some insect sang out in a rhythm.  The trees rustled in the wind.  Countless chirps, caws, and whistles filled the sky and seemed so entangled that I couldn''t tell what was where or when.  ¡°I don''t know.  It just feels¡­¡±

    ¡°Do you hear this?¡±  Then she whistled out a strange tune, like an up whistle that started off slow then rose up sharply, twice in succession.  She repeated that, then paused, and again.

    I listened.  It wasn¡¯t hard to find, and it was loud.  I looked up and pointed, ¡°it''s right above us.¡±

    Ahmi nodded.  ¡°That one means human.¡±

    ¡°OK, that''s a good one to know!¡±

    She smiled and turned.  ¡°Be warned that after six or seven people she loses count.  So if she goes that high, just know it is a large group.

    Then as I followed her, I thought about probing more about what she meant when she''d offered to answer any of my questions.  ¡°Do you mind if I ask you a personal question?¡±

    She glanced back at me and smiled, then stood still for a moment for me to catch up to her.  ¡°As long as it is not sensitive information.¡±

    ¡°Sensitive information?¡±

    ¡°Commander Rayitiu told you explicitly not to discuss his ethnicity with anyone.  You ignored that and blabbered to your friend and then to me.  That kind of sensitive information.¡±

    Oops.  ¡°Oh.¡±

    She shook her head.  ¡°Right now, you are not the most trusted individual when it comes to sensitive information.  I hope you understand.¡±

    ¡°I''m sorry about that.  God, I feel stupid.¡±

    ¡°Don''t feel stupid.  Learn from it.¡±

    I nodded and looked around, unsure what to fill the space with.  Then I saw that black mushroom growing on a tree, pointing off towards the path behind us and to the left.  ¡°OK, so Carthia is that way.  Right?¡±

    Ahmi smiled and glanced at the mushrooms, then looked at me.  ¡°m?ya?i showed you that?¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    Ahmi laughed for a moment, then smiled at me.  ¡°And what direction is that?¡±

    I answerd, ¡°West.¡±

    ¡°West?¡± Ahmi tilted her head, ¡°what is that?  I do not know that word?  What is west?¡±

    ¡°Oh,¡± I needed time to think about it.  ¡°Uh¡­ wait, don''t tell me¡­ nana?¡±

    Her eyes beamed.  ¡°Very good!  ?a?a.  And which way is this?¡±

    She pointed east.  I scoured my thoughts.  Nothing.  ¡°Ok, so I don''t think it''s xatu,¡±

    ¡°xat?!¡±  She giggled hard.  ¡°No, it is not xat?!¡±

    ¡°I have no idea.¡±

    ¡°You will have to try harder than that.¡±

    With that, we continued along our journey with her leading me along some unseen route through a dark canopy overhead with large, flat leaves that covered everything below our hips in mystery.  Something punched into my back.  It wasn''t hard enough to hurt, but it was strong.  I looked in that direction and saw nothing.  Then I heard a low squawk grumble out behind me.  It was a tall, heavy lizard with light green scales covering his body, standing on his hind legs and curling his long neck around to turn one side of his face to me, then he squawked again.

    Ahmi laughed and turned to me, ¡°he wants you to know that you are even, now.¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± I squinted at him and nodded slowly.  ¡°I figured.¡±

    Ahmi gazed at me with a warm smile.  ¡°woe?fif?ea is not everywhere.  If she does not announce your presence, that is something you should pay attention to.¡±

    The lizard then gurgled out a strange string of chirps and clicks and darted his head about, ending that with a sharp hiss.

    Ahmi laughed lightly and smirked.  ¡°He says that you lost one-to-three against the enemy soldiers in the medical ward.¡±

    I held up a finger.  ¡°No, that last one didn¡¯t count.  He couldn''t get his insult translated, so it was a draw.¡±

    ¡°I believe it!¡±  She smirked and giggled.  ¡°Tell me something.  What was it you wanted to know earlier?  That personal thing?¡±

    I stood still for a moment.  There was a lot I wanted to know, but I had to start somewhere.  ¡°Um¡­ what was it that, uh¡­ let me think how to put this.¡±  Then it occurred to me, ¡°what was it that convinced you that your husband was the guy you wanted to spend the rest of your life with?¡±

    Ahmi stood and looked up at me with a curious expression.  ¡°Well,¡± she said with a smile, ¡°I suppose I felt like I could be who I wanted to be around him.  That was it.¡±

    ¡°Can you explain?¡±

    ¡°Well¡­ there is who I think I am and there is who I want to be.  Life is difficult when these things are incongruous.  When I am with him I don''t have to pretend to be something else.  He helps me find that, and I like who it is.  That was what did it for me.¡±

    ¡°Oh.  Wow, that sounds nice.  I hope I find that someday.¡±

    ¡°You find it in yourself.  Maybe you meet someone who shows it to you, maybe you don''t, but it is already within you.  Does that answer your question?¡±

    ¡°I think so.¡±

    ¡°Take a look!¡±  She pointed.

    I looked.  Through a tunnel of canopy, perched on a tree branch high up was some furry, spotted creature.  It was a cat.  It had a dark yellow coat with black and green spots, and it was big.  It lay across the branch licking its massive paws and yawned before turning to face us and resting its head back down.

    ¡°d?gewa!¡± She whispered.

    ¡°Dagewa?¡±

    ¡°Yes.  Now.  Close your eyes and listen.¡±

    I did, and focused my attention towards the direction of the monster.  I tried to pick through the noise and guessed, ¡°is it the high-pitch wavering?¡±

    ¡°Good!¡± Ahmi beamed.  ¡°You are learning!¡±  Yes.  When you hear that sound, do not walk beneath it.  In case she is hungry.¡±

    I nodded.  ¡°Ok, now that¡¯s another good thing to know.¡±

    She smiled and allowed her eyes to traverse my chest.  ¡°Next question.¡±

    I paused for a moment and thought about it.  ¡°Do you know Commander¡¯s ethnicity?¡±

    She settled her eyes on the ear pendant Miyani had given me.  ¡°Yes.  Behind you.¡±

    I felt that tap against my back again.  Then a squawk.  I caught a glimpse of Lazybum wiggling his head at me before disappearing behind the bush.

    Ahmi laughed.  ¡°That is two!¡±The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

    I tried to grin that one off.  ¡°Mm-hmm!¡±

    We resumed our trek through a thicket packed tight with reeds twice as tall as a man.  Leaves were so dense as to cast the whole place in darkness, and several times my boot stuck in the mud.  Ahmi turned and looked at me with a solemn face.  ¡°If you do not have mosquito ward, you must avoid places like this.  This is very important!¡±

    ¡°Yes, my friend got the mosquito pox.¡±

    ¡°I heard.  How is he eating?¡±

    ¡°Uh¡­ s?wi brings him a feast for every meal.  I¡¯m a bit jealous, actually.  This morning, I don¡¯t know; it looked like pickled lemons stuffed with cheese curds.¡±

    ¡°¡®esaee!¡± she smiled.  ¡°Those are delicious.  It is good for him to eat as much as he can; that is very important.¡±

    ¡°You didn¡¯t quite answer me about Commander''s ethnicity.  Is it really that big of a secret?¡±

    She smiled.  ¡°You asked me if I know, and so I answered your question¡ªyes, I know.¡±

    I scrunched my nose at that.  ¡°What is his ethnicity?  His actual ethnicity?¡±

    Ahmi let her mouth lightly open and passed her eyes up and down my body.  ¡°First tell me why it is so important to you.¡±

    ¡°Well, uh¡­. I don''t know?  I just want to know for some reason.¡±

    ¡°What is the some reason?¡±

    ¡°Well, for one, I had a friend back home who looked just like him.  Same light yellow skin, same black eyes, same tight curly hair¡­¡±

    Ahmi grinned wide.  ¡°Sarina.¡±

    I raised an eyebrow at that.  ¡°You know about her?¡±

    ¡°Davod spoke at length about her.  I believe he has a secret crush on her.¡±

    ¡°Does he?¡± my eyes went wide.

    Ahmi chuckled lightly.  ¡°He refused to admit it, but you can tell.  The way he spoke of her, you can tell.¡±

    ¡°OK,¡± I nodded.  ¡°Well, I don¡¯t know about that, but we always wondered where she came from.  Mother Searnie brought her to Gath when she was a baby, that¡¯s all anyone would ever tell us.  I don¡¯t know, I just¡­¡±

    ¡°Listen.  This cannot come out, even in casual conversation, even when you think you are safe and among friends.  Suppose you incidentally mention that you met someone who was Umeazi, and someone else overhears you.  This someone else, or it could be someone you thought was a friend but they are from the Invisible Hand.  And now, you will have to answer a whole lot of questions you may not want to answer.¡±

    ¡°Yes, but¡­ Umeazi?   Weren¡¯t they all killed in the plague?¡±

    ¡°A lot of them, yes, but did you hear the part about having a conversation with the Invisible Hand?¡±

    ¡°Oh, that,¡± I took a deep breath.

    ¡°So listen.  Here is your test.  And the consequence of failure are that.  The plague did not come first.  I was only ten when it swept through here, but even I was aware of the rebellion in Umaz.  They were winning.  There was open talk about getting rid of the Emperor, and the plague erased all of that.  Now the leaders of that rebellion, you know that the plague did not kill everyone, but it is impossible to know who survived and who escaped.  So for that reason, the Invisible Hand would like to have a conversation with a man who was in his early twenties at the time, who despite never serving in the Imperial Army seems to know an awful lot about arms, tactics, and strategy.  Come to think of it, where did he get those scars from?  I don''t know¡­ maybe they would not want to talk to him, in which case, go ahead and tell everyone what I said to you.¡±  She looked up at me with a cat''s face, ¡°but I''m sure they will want to talk to you, either way.¡±

    ¡°No, I''m good.¡±  I shook my head and looked out at a tree half fallen, with new growth towering up into the canopy while the broken piece sent out its own roots where it fell and grew from there, still with the broken truck angled up and not-quite torn off from the rest.

    Ahmi nodded.  ¡°Of all secrets, this one is minor¡ªit was so long ago.  But you now have a second chance to prove to me that you''re capable of keeping sensitive information sensitive.¡±

    ¡°I can handle that.  Thank you.  Uh¡­ nuvidesa.¡±

    Ahmi looked up into my face and smiled with her cheeks, casting her eyes between mine.  ¡°Next question!¡±

    We took a step down over a broken, rotted-out tree stump, then over several others with dark branches that crumbled in my hand.  We skidded into a puddle of mud and dredged our way through.  She turned back to me, ¡°this is how you get ki?e¦Èu eggs.  We will stop soon to check our feet.¡±

    As we stepped up on the other side, I said what I really wanted.  ¡°What can you tell me about Miyani?¡±

    Ahmi smiled and pointed, ¡°''??e z?v??¡±

    ¡°Uh¡­¡±

    ¡°Which way is that?¡±

    I looked where she pointed.  I looked around for the mushrooms and found them easily.  Ahmi pointed in the opposite direction.  ¡°East.¡±

    ¡°?uve.  ''??e z?v??¡±

    I stood up straight.  ¡°Oh, uh¡­ I really don''t remember.¡±

    ¡°Hmm,¡± Ahmi nodded.  ¡°v?.¡±

    ¡°v?,¡± I repeated.  ¡°You mean like no?¡±

    ¡°I mean like if you want me to tell you anything about Miyani, you must first tell me what direction that is.¡±

    I sank in that.  ¡°But I don''t remember!¡±

    She lifted on her toes and set her hand on my chest, leaning into me to whisper, ¡°neither do I!¡±

    And she walked off.

    ¡°But that''s not fair!¡± I followed.

    I scoured my mind.  It had to be in there somewhere.

    Ahmi stopped and set one arm out towards me with one finger over her lips as she studied a bush off to our left.  Then she looked at me with a wide smile and cocked her head to that side.

    I looked.  I studied it close.  It was some feet taller than a man and covered in leaves that ended in a red stem.  It had flowers of yellow spikes in some areas and clusters of round, black berries.

    She whispered.  ¡°Do you see anything?¡±

    I shook my head.

    She shook hers as well.  Then she grabbed a small cluster of berries and continued walking, stuffing one of them into her mouth.

    ¡°Are those any good?¡±

    She peeked over her shoulder and smirked.  ¡°There is one way to find out.¡±

    I took one.  It wasn''t juicy so much as fleshy, with a strange after-sweetness that lingered on the tongue.  ¡°Alright, so what about Miyani, though?¡±

    She pointed off to the left and slightly towards me.  ¡°''??e z?v??¡±

    I pushed out an exasperated breath.  ¡°I don''t know!¡±

    She turned around and kept walking.

    I had to remember.  With stakes like that, I needed to.  I tried to settle my mind back to that moment I stood with her in the grotto, her trying to be serious while I tried to not be so enraptured by those glorious legs.  Dear God, please help me remember the word that came after nana.  ¡°Wushi?¡±

    Ahmi laughed.  ¡°No.  That is ?a?a,¡± she turned around, ¡°and that is wu?i.  But very good you remembered.  And this?¡±

    I shrugged, lifting my hands.  ¡°I¡­¡±

    Ahmi nodded.  ¡°Try to remember.¡±

    ¡°Wait¡­ ?aze?  North?  ?aze?¡±

    She popped her eyes and smiled.  Then pointed opposite.  ¡°And?¡±

    I had nothing.  I shook my head.

    ¡°v?fa,¡± she said.  ¡°?a?a, wu?i, ?aze, v?fa.  Got it?¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    ¡°Say it.¡±

    I did.  ¡°Nana, wushi, gaze, vafa.  Nana, wushi, gaze¡­ uh, ?aze, and vafa.  v?fa.¡±

    Ahmi nodded.  ¡°Very good!  Now. What would you like to know about her?¡±

    ¡°Well,¡± I got excited.  ¡°How is she?  What is she like?  Does she say anything about me?  I don''t know.  Anything?¡±

    ¡°Well,¡± she thought about it for a moment.  ¡°She says she can teach you.¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡± I sneered.  ¡°What does that mean?¡±

    Ahmi nodded lightly and smiled.  ¡°It is a good thing.  Next question?¡±

    ¡°No, wait.  What do you mean it''s a good thing?¡±

    She looked sharply to the right, then leaned to her side, stretching her neck out to see.  I didn''t see anything, so I looked around behind us.  Then I heard that bird again.  Up-down-up-down-warble, perhaps twenty feet directly in front of where I was looking.

    I felt Ahmi stand next to me and lean in.  ¡°You have a good instinct!¡±

    We kept walking and she continued.  ¡°You come here with a lot of very difficult things to work with.  Men of your culture often refuse to understand.¡±

    ¡°Understand what?¡±

    ¡°Well, your people often have some very toxic ideas about sex.  We see it as a partnership¡ªwe together are working to make this the most pleasurable experience for us both.  Your people consider it a means of dominance and control.  You count your conquests like victories and treat your lovers with contempt, like you take something from her.  It is difficult to explain, but a lot of men from your culture do not want to change this mentality.  Miyani believes she can teach you, and if you are serious about her this is a very good thing for you.  For what it''s worth, I felt the same way about my husband¡ªand you were asking earlier¡ªthat was very important to me.  Next question.¡±

    Behind me, I felt that punch again, only much harder.  It hurt this time, and I had to take a minute to let that settle.  Meanwhile a blue-green vita¡¯o settled up to her and dropped his neck below her face only to lift his head on the other side and squawked.

    Ahmi giggled, ¡°we are losing points!¡±

    I grinned and gazed at the ground. ¡°So it seems.¡±

    ¡°Tell me,¡± Ahmi said.  ¡°What do you like about her?¡±

    Wow, what a question.  I dropped my gaze to the ground and tried to hold back the flood of shame.  ¡°Well, uh¡­ we can''t talk much, I know that.  But, I mean¡­¡± I shook my head.  ¡°I mean she''s very¡­ pretty.¡±

    Ahmi laughed.  ¡°OK, you like her ass.  But what do you like about her?¡±

    I tilted my head.  ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°I am sure there have been plenty of girls who pleased your eyes, and I am also sure that some of them you did not want to see a second time.  So then, what do you like about this one?¡±

    I hadn¡¯t thought about it before, but it wasn¡¯t a difficult task.  ¡°It seems like she welcomes me.  It''s hard to explain.  I know there¡¯s so much we can¡¯t talk about, and I wish we could, but there''s a part of her that just¡­ welcomes me, and I like that.¡±

    ¡°Ahh!¡± Ahmi nodded.  ¡°That is good!¡±

    Then she held up a finger and tapped her temple, gesturing for me to close my eyes.

    I listened.  Those birds were all over.  ¡°It''s like a chorus of them.  A multitude fanning out in all directions, and they''re all singing the same tune.  It''s everywhere, and it''s loud.  It drowns out everything else.¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± she nodded.  ¡°There is a confrontation in the forest below.¡±

    Then she teased her eyebrows at me and glanced to her left, resting one hand on her arm while subtly pointing her finger in that direction.  I looked, trying to figure out what she saw when she whistled.  Like a super-high wavering that she held for a few seconds.  Suddenly the whole chorus stopped and the jungle fell silent all around.

    Where I faced, a snapped twig directed my eyes at a narrow gap, through which I caught a glimpse of light-green scales.  ¡°Lazybum, got you!¡±

    Ahmi stood facing a twisting vine with fanned leaves like a palm tree that hung over a fallen log and ended in the only bush around.  She had her hands on her hips and said, ¡°come now.  You really think I don''t see you?¡±

    Thunder squawked, then hissed and ran off.

    Ahmi and I then walked over towards a small cliff and sat down on a tree that had grown sideways.  I watched the forest for anything I could discern about anything, while Ahmi lifted one foot over her knee and studied it.  ¡°Look here!¡±

    I leaned in.  Clustered around her ankle, in clear contrast to her dark-green skin were about a dozen tiny white pellets that stood up from just beneath her skin.

    ¡°ki?e¦Èu eggs.¡±

    I winced.  ¡°Those are eggs?¡±

    ¡°You will want to get these out.  I will show you how to do that.¡±

    ¡°Wow,¡± I keep looking at it.

    She looked up as she spoke, ¡°tell me something.  What is the most pressing question you have for me?  Anything.¡±

    I thought about it.  I tried to think of something deeply profound, or perhaps even appropriate.  Instead all I could come up with was, ¡°why did you wear a dress the day we met you?¡±

    Ahmi sneered and shot back, ¡°and first, why do you truly want to know this?  I will answer you, but the why depends on why you need to know.  I know that does not sound right, but that''s it.  Think about it and tell me..¡±

    It was an important question that gave me pause, but I already knew the answer.  ¡°Everywhere at Carthia, we see women with their breasts out.  Except you.  Take away the whole ¡®oh my holy got I''m surrounded by naked breasts¡¯ phase, and it still stands out as unusual.  I just want to know why.¡±

    ¡°Hmm!¡± She shrugged.  ¡°Let me tell you this.  Some years ago, one of your people told me that your kind would show me more respect if I covered up when I greeted you.  That was the bet.¡±

    ¡°The bet?¡± I laughed.

    ¡°Mm-hmm,¡± she smiled wide and looked off for a moment.  Yes, the bet was that if he was right, I had to kiss him.¡±

    ¡°Oh really?¡±  I nearly doubled over.  ¡°And if he was wrong?¡±

    She smirked. ¡°Then he had to kiss me!  So the stakes were very high!¡±

    I laughed.  ¡°I can see that!¡±

    Then she rested her hand on my arm and looked back and forth between both sides of us.  Then she shook her head and turned.  We climbed over a pile of mossy stones with scant trees on all sides that split the horizon perfectly between upper and lower canopies and gave us a decent view for hundreds of yards in all directions.  We even had a few windows to the clouds above.

    We sat and looked around for a moment.  ¡°What do I need to know about her?¡±

    Ahmi glanced at me with a serious face.  ¡°Can you explain the question?¡±

    ¡°Well, you know her better than I do.  What, in your opinion, is the most important thing about her that I probably should know in case I don''t?¡±

    Ahmi scratched at her head and looked around.  Then she pointed off to one side, ¡°Thunder, I see you!  That''s two for us, don''t make this so easy; you know we are up here!¡±

    Thunder chirped and let out a string of clicks.

    ¡°No, I expect better from you!¡±

    She looked up at me sheepishly and giggled, ¡°was that too much?¡±

    ¡°Not at all,¡± I shrugged.  ¡°It''s about learning, right?¡±

    ¡°Exactly!¡±  She grinned with eyes wide.

    Then she nodded.  ¡°One thing you should probably know about Miyani.  How''s this: she believes in you.¡±

    I furrowed my brow.  ¡°What does that mean?¡±

    ¡°It means she believes in you!  Beyond the physical attraction which I can tell you she feels very sharply, she believes in you.  In every way, she feels no caution with you.  None.  I find that hard to accept given how much you two have spoken, but she does.  Now I am not equipped to tell you how you should feel about that or what you should do, but there it is.  She believes in you.  That is what you need to know.  Now, watch.¡±

    With that, she lifted her ankle to me and showed me how to get my fingernail under the egg to pop it out.  Then she directed me to take off my boots and examined my feet, only to find two clusters of those eggs on my skin, one just above where the boots ended, and another one on top of my foot right where my big toe began.  We worked on those as well.

    ¡°What happens if you don''t get them out?¡±

    She smiled.  ¡°They hatch.¡±

    ¡°And?¡±

    She humphed.  ¡°You will feel very, very sick for a very, very long time.  They say that you have twenty-four hours, but I don''t like to push my luck.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, that doesn''t sound like something to test your luck with.¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    She continued to coach me on getting the eggs out when I asked, ¡°so what happened to that guy?¡±

    ¡°What guy?¡±

    ¡°The one you had the bet with.  Is he your husband?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± she shook her head.  ¡°No, he was killed.¡±

    ¡°How?¡±

    Ahmi¡¯s face grew solemn as she spoke through the memories.  ¡°The Mewi''ishi offered us a deal, these are the same people who met with us yesterday, that you came to ask about.  They offered us safe passage to the salt mines along the ridge in exchange for safe passage along the river.  They double crossed us and sent back the severed heads of every man in his company¡ªa hundred-fifty men.  Later on they claimed it was some radical extremists.¡±

    ¡°Ouch!¡± I couldn¡¯t tell where to look.

    ¡°War sucks,¡± she smiled from one side of her lips.

    ¡°So, wait¡­ I''m sorry, change of subject.  What did happen yesterday?¡±

    Ahmi huffed.  ¡°They came to offer the same kind of deal.¡±

    ¡°Oh.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t waste your time on the details; it is a trap, and they want to kill you.  Next question!¡±

    ¡°How¡¯d you meet your husband?¡±

    She smirked.  ¡°Same as how I met you; he was summoned for war.  We got along very well, he finished his tour, then said to me that he cannot go anywhere where I am not.  So we got married.  Now, here is something you need to know.  It is very disrespectful for you to go flirting with a married woman; please do not do this again.¡±

    I lowered my eyes.  ¡°How was I supposed to know?¡±

    ¡°Look,¡± she pointed at the round, thumb-sized scar on her hip

    ¡°If you see a woman with this scar, she is married.  During the marriage vows, they will carve a piece of your flesh for her to eat, and they will carve a piece of her flesh for you to eat.¡±

    ¡°To eat?¡± I pulled my face back in disgust.

    Ahmi smirked.

    My eyes popped.  ¡°You''re joking!¡±

    She laughed.  ¡°Whatever you do, don''t vomit!¡±

    I nodded.  ¡°Good to know.¡±

    ¡°Now it is my turn.  How far could you conceivably go with Miyani?¡±

    ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°She is not of your ethnicity.  Could you¡ªhypothetically¡ªcommit your love to a woman who is not of pure Herali blood?¡±

    ¡°Oh, that.¡±  I looked away towards a bare tree branch nearby.

    ¡°Have you thought about it?¡±

    ¡°I don''t need to.  I feel like if it''s right, it''s right; I''m not going to let something like that get in the way.¡±

    ¡°I''ve had men say this to me only to later on cite it as a reason why it would never work.¡±  At that, Ahmi fixed her eyes at me in stern inquisition.

    I tried to give her more.  ¡°I suppose you never truly know until you''re in that situation, but I''m also an orphan, so I have no family to appease.  Also, you know what?  There is that friend I told you about.¡±

    Ahmi laughed.  ¡°Sarina?¡±

    ¡°We were serious.¡±

    Ahmi grinned.  ¡°Uh-huh?  Go on?¡±

    ¡°Why do you say it like that?¡±

    ¡°Davod has a very different view, but go on?¡±

    ¡°What view could he possibly have?  What did he tell you?¡±

    ¡°It is OK, go on?  You were serious?¡±

    ¡°Well¡­¡± I shrugged.  ¡°I was serious.¡±

    ¡°Uh-huh,¡± Ahmi kept grinning, ¡°go on?¡±

    ¡°OK, what did he tell you?¡±

    ¡°Don''t worry about it,¡± she laughed.

    I laughed.  I tried not to, but whatever Davod told her was probably true.  ¡°Look, the part you''re talking about, that was never an issue.  Yes, we heard it all the time.  When we were kids it was ¡®whose mutt is this?¡¯ shit like that made me so angry.  There was this one kid, Shonan, he was especially mean so Davod, Tor, and I messed him up real bad.  He went to go live with his aunt in another village after that.  And I loved her.  It took me way too long to see it, and by then it was too late.  But no, that Herali blood bullshit was never a problem between us.¡±

    Ahmi nodded.  ¡°OK, then.  I have one more for you.  Are you hungry?¡±

    My eyes lit up. ¡°Very much so!¡±

    She smiled wide and we stood.  We stepped down and back into the dark forest when she turned back to me, ¡°we must be cautious.  They have a very nice ambush for us, and I would hate to disappoint them!¡±

 Translation Needed

    I could scarcely breathe.  I could scarcely hear over my own heartbeat for I would see her again.

    Miyani.

    Just saying her name sent chills over my skin.

    m?-ya-?i

    Everything had to be right.  That silk loincloth, I''d washed it by hand and strung it up to dry early that morning.  I combed my hair, scrubbed every inch of my skin¡ªnearly gave myself a rash.  I brushed my teeth twice.  Dariana had slipped me a vial of yastzi dust the day we left.  This¡¯ll win you any girl!

    Her home was in one of the grass-covered clusters of domes between the vita¡¯o yard and the library¡ªa tower with mud apartments reaching five stories high stacked one atop another and thick grass growing all over it.  Several windows on the higher levels gave hints that someone lived within¡ªbright colored cloths hung over the sill or iron pots steaming with some tea.  Three of those giant mud apartment houses formed a courtyard dominated by the smoke of seared spices that came from everywhere all at once, accompanied by the sound of children chasing each other amid drums and pipes being practiced off to the side.

    People with dark green skin and white hair were everywhere; most were women.  I saw one old man sitting beside a brick fire pit nursing an iron pot suspended over a trio of cut branches.  His skin wrinkled him well into his elder years, and his hair had thinned long ago.  He toked from a long wooden pipe, looked up at me as I came in, and nodded, smiling with the teeth he had left.

    On his shoulder was a white tattoo in the shape of a bat¡¯s wing just as Miyani had.

    Several children bumped into me as they rushed past trying to tag one another with sticks, while a few women shouted at them something in Na¡¯uhui.  A few of those children had the same dark-green skin and white hair, while easily three of every four had the dark hair and green eyes of their Herali fathers.

    I heard a voice call out, ¡°m?ya?i!¡±

    Beside the gaping entrance of one of the clusters an old woman sat, facing inside.  Her face had aged into a permanent scowl, and she kept at it as her eyes traversed my body.

    She also had a bat¡¯s wing inked on her right shoulder.

    Then she appeared.  She had on a narrow, cream-colored silk flap that fell over her belt and ended in a sharp hem that tickled at her knees.  A silver chain necklace dangled between her breasts, and I bathed my eyes in her.  She had the most delicious thighs I could ever hope to dream of.  Her whole body was toned and fit, in the most perfect way possible.  And her face, damn!  I couldn¡¯t get over those effusive yellow eyes smiling as wide as her lips amid the most adorable round face, framed by her pixie-cut white hair.

    The old woman leaned in and spoke to her, ¡°¡®uzi baxa?a dam?fidoba y?¦Èi!¡±

    Miyani¡¯s eyes popped and her whole face dropped into alarm.  She looked at the old woman.  ¡°??si ¡®o¡¯okosedu?¡±

    The old woman stabbed me with her eyes as she elaborated further.  ¡°?o¡¯imeze dam?fidoba!  baxa?ayeza y?¦Èi!¡±

    Miyani furrowed her eyebrows at me and shouted, ¡°?? xe?eeoxe?¡±

    ¡°Uh¡­¡± I shook my head, unsure what was going on.

    She stepped towards me quite aggressively, ¡°?? xe?eeoxe?¡± shouting it out.  ¡°?? xe?eeoxe?¡±

    Several faces turned towards me.  I shook my head in desperation.  ¡°I don¡¯t know¡­?¡±

    Miyani stepped up closer, sneered at me, and shouted ¡°?? xe?eeoxe?  ?? xe?eeoye?  ?? xe?eeodeya?¡±

    I shrugged.

    Her eyes stabbed me and she shouted, ¡°¡®as? ??gosedu!  ?? xe?eeose!¡±

    I furrowed my eyebrows and shrugged, holding my hands up in confusion.  ¡°Maybe?¡±

    I stood with my mouth open adjacent a small scraggly tree with light blue leaves where a small boy sat in a high branch.  A young Na¡¯uhui woman came up to grab him and carry him off while giving me the evil eye.  Others stood in a perimeter and watched Miyani continue to shout at me.

    My heart raced and I felt stupid.

    Then another woman emerged from the crowd.  Her left leg was made of wood below her knee, her left hand was shriveled and distorted, and on her right shoulder was a white crescent moon tattoo.  She was a native woman, and she hobbled between us and held out her good hand to give Miyani pause.

    Miyani stood fuming, then turned to face her with her eyes wide.  This woman whispered something quietly to her, then turned her amber eyes towards me.  Her Herali was clean as a native speaker, ¡°she asks if it''s true that another woman gave you that,¡± pointing at the silk loincloth about my waist.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± I shrugged.

    Miyani didn¡¯t wait for a translation.  She growled and lunged at me, only to snatch the ear pendant she¡¯d given to me right off my neck.  She then screamed, ¡°p? ??wose xat?!¡± and stormed back into her apartment.

    ¡°It wasn''t like that!¡± I tried, but she didn''t understand me.  The crowd began to disperse.

    ¡°No!¡± I said.  I turned my attention to the woman with the wooden leg.  ¡°Tell her it¡¯s not like that!¡±

    I heard a shrill caw behind me.  The woman squinted and eyed me with a smug grin.  I turned.  About twenty feet behind me, Blue stood low on all fours facing me.   He let out several guttural clicks before coiling his neck and ending that with a sharp hiss.

    My heart raced.  I had then to weigh the very real warning that I was about to get my liver ripped out against the need to talk things over with Miyani.  It wasn¡¯t what it looked like.

    Blue took several steps towards me and dug his claws into the ground, and everyone got out of his way.  He continued to hiss and snarl at me.  I could imagine his teeth digging into my neck already.  I needed to step off, but I had to smooth things over with Miyani.  Somehow.  It was a misunderstanding.  It wasn¡¯t what it looked like.

    The woman with the wooden leg rested her good hand in the branch of that scraggly tree and spoke to me.  ¡°He says go away.  You should probably listen.¡±

    But I couldn''t.  I couldn''t just let things die where they were.  There was something about her, something¡­ Ahmi was right.  She drew me in like no one ever had.  She''d set a place for me at her heart and invited me to sit.  I begged for the skill to simply talk to her, know her hopes and ambitions, her fears and apprehensions.  What were the challenges in her life and how did she feel about them?  I couldn''t just drop everything and let it go, not like this.  I turned to the woman with the stunted left arm, ¡°it¡¯s not what you think!  I just need to talk to her.  Tell her¡­¡±

    She smirked as Blue continued to menace me.  ¡°You have more urgent matters.¡±

    Blue shrieked and rested one forelimb on my shoulder, allowing his claws to settle on my skin and set his face inches from mine.  Then he yawned open wide and, amid the array of teeth before my eyes I could feel his breath as he hissed at me.

    I pretended to be calm.  I wasn¡¯t calm, but I pretended to be.  How well that worked, I didn¡¯t know, but he likely felt my heart thundering beneath my skin.  I held still as best I could, knowing the cost of misunderstanding.  ¡°Please let me talk to her?¡±

    The woman with the wooden leg nearly giggled as she spoke.  ¡°Go away.¡±

    I turned to face her.  ¡°It¡¯s not what it looks like.  I know¡­¡±

    Blue turned one eye to me and pressed his face into mine.

    The woman spoke again.  ¡°He¡¯s growing impatient.¡±

    I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, hoping that if I could just remain calm, I might be able to go to bed that evening with all my internal organs where they were supposed to be.  I swallowed.  ¡°I understand what it looks like.  I cannot hurt her; I could never do that.  I only want to talk to her, that¡¯s all.  Maybe you could explain¡­¡±

    ¡°Explain what?¡± the woman snapped.  ¡°That another kokaxa can¡¯t wait to shove his dick in some native girl?¡±  My eyes went wide as she continued.  ¡°A little trophy for your friends?  I said go away!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not¡­¡±

    At that, Blue clasped his teeth around my arm and pulled.  He didn¡¯t clamp down enough to tear through the flesh, but he pulled with enough force that if I didn¡¯t go with him there would be consequences.

    The woman laughed, ¡°bye!¡±

    Blue shoved me away from the clustered buildings and across the grass towards the barracks a good fifty yards before he finally released me.  I turned and saw him hiss at my face again, only to walk off towards the edge of the vita¡¯o yard and sit down, resting his head over a forelimb and keeping one eye trained on me.

    I didn¡¯t know what to do.

    There was no one else around, so I sat.

    It wasn¡¯t over.  It couldn¡¯t be.  It wasn¡¯t what it looked like; it wasn¡¯t like that.

    I cried.

    I sat cross-legged in the grass and watched as twilight waned.  Several open windows throughout the building offered up the faint glow of an oil lamp or some candle within, and the wind in the trees danced to the music of my breath.  Several children wandered outside to point at me, only for their mothers to gawk and usher them back inside.  All the while Blue didn¡¯t move.  He kept his eye on me.

    I had an idea.

    What if I could talk to him?

    I didn¡¯t know how much he understood me, but it was worth a shot.

    I stood and looked at him.  He lifted his head and held still.

    I didn¡¯t know why this didn¡¯t occur to me before; she was close with him.  They spent their day together roving through the forest.  Who better than Blue to tell her that I was sorry, that it was all a misunderstanding, and that I was willing to do whatever it took to make it up to her, to show her I was serious?If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

    I started to walk towards him.

    After a few steps, he raised his head further and cracked his mouth open.

    ¡°I want to talk to you.¡±

    A few steps later, and he jumped up onto his hind legs, turned his face towards me, and hissed.

    ¡°No,¡± I said.  ¡°I just want to talk.¡±

    At that, he barreled straight at me, stretching his neck out and in a few strides rammed his head into my belly, knocking me clean to the ground.

    On my back, I tried to sort through the myriad of sensations, from the shock of pain to my arse, the thud of my head against the ground, or the overall fight to breathe while my muscles struggled to reset.  Amid all that, I felt something sharp on my wrist.  Out of instinct, I tried to jerk my hand away, only to get caught in his teeth.  A searing pain focused all my attention to where he¡¯d held my wrist in his jaws and, still struggling to breathe, a trickle of blood oozing down my arm sent a shock of terror through my heart.

    I panicked.  I froze.  I didn¡¯t know what was going to happen next.

    At that, Blue released my arm and brought one eye close to the site of the injury before turning back to face me and letting out a sharp caw followed by a string of guttural clicks.  Then he stepped away from me completely, raised his head to the sky and cawed again, only to loom back over me and hiss, only to step away again, bobbing his head about in earnest.  I could see his eyes scanning the forest of the vita¡¯o yard.

    Another voice called out, ¡°v? xewek?!¡±

    It was Ta¡¯o, the same man known for wrestling liver-eating lizards to the ground.  He¡¯d approached from the clustered building with the wooden-legged woman by his side.  In his hand was a stick laden with skewered food glistening of sauce

    Blue looked at him, cawed, then ran off behind a nearby bush.

    All my strength left me, and I collapsed into the grass.  The pain was everywhere.  I still couldn''t breathe let alone determine if I would still have a right hand in the morning.

    ¡°What the hell were you thinking, bro?¡±

    I took as deep a breath as my body would allow.  ¡°Who says I was thinking?¡±

    The woman with him rested her weight on her wooden leg and crossed one arm over her chest to grab at her stunted arm.  She sneered at me, ¡°are you ready to try going away, yet?¡±

    Ta¡¯o glanced at her and smirked, then came over to me and offered his hand.  ¡°Come on.¡±

    I took it with my left and, without dropping his stick full of food, he hoisted me up to stand.  Immediately I felt dizzy.  I tried to take a deep breath but ended up coughing.  Blood dripped onto the grass from my fingers, and I felt some kind of sharp pain in the small of my back.  ¡°There has to be a way to talk to her.  Smooth things over.  I know¡­¡±

    Ta¡¯o gazed at my mangled hand and broke out laughing.  The woman stepped up to me and poked a finger from her good hand in the center of my chest.  ¡°You must be a special kind of stupid!¡±

    I reeled some.  ¡°I¡¯m probably stupider than you think.  I thought it was some cultural difference, something I didn¡¯t understand.  I¡¯ve been so wrong about so much since I got here that¡­¡±

    The woman poked her finger into my chest again and snapped while Ta¡¯o stared off into the distance between us.  ¡°You arrogant racist fuckbag!  Us primitive savages, we¡¯re so dumb, we¡¯ll believe any amount of bullshit you throw at us, is that right?¡±

    I shook my head, ¡°no¡­¡±

    Ta¡¯o continued to stare into the distance with a blank expression as she continued.  ¡°Oh, those poor little uncivilized creatures!  Let us show them the way!  Oooh, look!  Fire!  That must be some super advanced technology, I wonder if I can eat it.  Just make sure you bag a few of those naked savages while you¡¯re here¡­¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t know me!¡±

    ¡°I don''t need to¡ªyou¡¯re all the same!¡±  She lifted her wooden leg through the grass and leaned into me, thrusting her face up in defiance.  ¡°GO AWAY!¡±

    I couldn¡¯t take my eyes from Ta¡¯o.  His whole face went blank and he was frozen in that position, as though his mind was lost in another world.

    The woman turned to look at him, and a flash of panic crossed her face.  She forgot about me entirely and went towards him.

    Ta¡¯o turned to face her, and a warm smile stretched across his face.  He then faced me while speaking to her.  ¡°No, he is that stupid.  He¡¯s actually stupider than that by order of magnitude.¡±

    While he bit down on a morsel of food and slid it off the stick with his teeth, The woman rested her good hand on his chest and pleaded up at him with her eyes.

    Ta¡¯o swallowed and smiled at her.  ¡°¡®e?ude.¡±

    She leaned in close, draped her arm across his chest wrapping her fingers over his shoulder and whispered,  ¡°?? gaso?e?¡±

    ¡°Yup!¡±  Then he looked back at me.  ¡°No, uh¡­ I was just realizing that this man you see before you,¡± he used his dinner as a pointer.  ¡°This man is the stupidest thing the universe has ever created.  She created mugworms and said, ¡®surely there must be a way to create something stupider than that.¡¯  So for seven days and seven nights, Mother crafted this man right here, whose sole purpose is to serve as a baseline for stupidity.  A mathematical zero, if you will.¡±

    Ta¡¯o gazed at me with a wide grin.  The woman looked at me briefly before turning back to him, ¡°to ?avodi?e¡­ ?? ¡®e?u?e?¡±

    I was desperate.  ¡°If there¡¯s any chance I could talk things over with Miyani, you can write all that on my tombstone once Blue finishes off with my liver.¡±

    Ta¡¯o smiled wide and laughed.  ¡°Awesome!¡±  Then he leaned down to whisper something in the woman¡¯s ear.

    She leaned her whole body into him and smiled, looking longingly into his eyes, ¡°k????¡±

    ¡°k??? ¡®e?ude,¡± he purred.  ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it.  So¡­ Caleb, this is Dashuni, da?u?i, this is Caleb.  He¡¯s one of the new¡­¡±

    ¡°I know where he¡¯s from.¡±

    ¡°??si xewek??e ??godeza.  ti?¡±

    ¡°Fine.¡±  At that, she hobbled back towards the entrance to her cluster building.  I watched his eyes traverse her backside as she left¡ªshe turned and smiled at him over her shoulder before disappearing behind the mud building.

    He then turned to me and bit down on another morsel of food, ripping it clean off the stick this time, allowing the sharp smell of roast onion to fill the air.  ¡°Alright, so you want to talk things over with Miyani, is that right?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± I nodded.  My heart dared sing a flutter of hope.

    ¡°Even though Blue nearly ripped your hand off?¡±

    I turned towards the trees in the yard nearby and found no sign of him.  I looked at the wound on my wrist; the blood had stopped oozing and crusted over.  I shrugged.  ¡°He¡¯s protecting her.  I can''t blame him.¡±

    Ta¡¯o nodded.  ¡°You understand that you''ll never come between them.¡±

    I furrowed my eyebrows.  He took another bite and continued.

    ¡°A scout and her vita''o are like¡­ she''ll be the most loyal, most loving, most supportive, most respectful, and most honest woman you''ll ever meet.  But you can be together, have five kids together, married fifty years, and if she has to choose between you and him, she''ll choose him.  Every time.  That''s how it is.  And believe me, I''ve seen plenty of men struggle with that¡ªNa¡¯uhui men who grew up around it¡ªwho think they can handle not being the center of her world, only to find out the hard way that it''s not that simple.  My observation is if what you''re looking for in a relationship is someone to make you feel like you''re the center of the universe, then maybe someone like Miyani isn''t for you.  But if you''re looking for a partner, someone who challenges you, who inspires you, someone who isn¡¯t afraid to tell you the dirty truth when you need to hear it but still loves you no matter what, then,¡± he shrugged.

    I nodded.  In truth, I didn''t hear half of what he said; I really just wanted to see her again. ¡°So does this mean you''ll help me?¡±

    Ta¡¯o laughed hard and slapped his hand on my shoulder.  ¡°You think you''re up for it, huh?  Alright, well¡­ let''s start with why are you wearing this?¡±

    I looked down at the silk garment between my legs.  ¡°It''s comfortable.¡±

    He shook his head as he surveyed the remaining options on the stick, settling on what looked like a charred tomato.  ¡°No¡­ no.  Wrong answer.  Try again.¡±

    I studied the thing, feeling the smooth silk in my fingertips.  ¡°It''s not like that.  I left a tithe in the church, Tani said her son took it and she gave this to me to make up for it.¡±

    Ta¡¯o stood with a grin.  ¡°OK¡­ we might be able to work with that.  Did this ta?i tell you that was the reason why she gave it to you?¡±

    I nodded.

    Ta¡¯o nodded in kind.  ¡°So¡­ you¡¯re saying that you didn''t know ta?i was flirting with you, is that right?¡±

    ¡°No.  I mean yes, that¡¯s what I¡¯m saying.  I didn¡¯t know.¡±  Images flooded my mind of Tani sitting down next to me in the church and resting her hand on my knee as we spoke.  There was a look in her eyes as she gave me the gift, and a peculiar way of peeking over her shoulder at me as she walked off.

    ¡°How much did the kid take?¡±

    ¡°Four kren.¡±

    He snorted out a hard chortle of laughter.  ¡°Right.  So that''s a problem.  Do you have any idea how much a y?¦Èi like this costs?¡±

    I looked down at it again.  My thumb traced a line of gold thread as it spiraled around.  Ran¨ªa did say it was very expensive.  ¡°No?¡±

    He smiled.  ¡°Think about it.  How much do you think it costs?¡±

    I shrugged.  ¡°I don¡¯t know; I¡¯ve never bought anything like this before.¡±

    ¡°Oh, come on!  Feel the silk.  All over your skin, where it counts the most.  Feel the fine texture of the fabric.  Tell me how much do you think that costs?  Look at the gold embroidery.  Look closely.  Who stitched the hair on this spider¡¯s legs?  Do you think some amateur did that?¡±

    ¡°Uh¡­ no?¡±

    ¡°OK.  So how much do you think something like this is going to cost?¡±

    I shrugged.  ¡°I don¡¯t know?  A lot?¡±

    Ta¡¯o nodded.  ¡°A lot.¡±

    I looked at it again.  ¡°How much does something like this cost?¡±

    Ta¡¯o opened his eyes wide for emphasis.  ¡°A LOT!¡±  He bit down on the next morsel of food and slid it off his stick, leaving a shimmering trail of grease behind.

    ¡°Oh.¡± I looked down at the offending garment once more.  ¡°I thought she was being friendly.¡±

    ¡°Yeah¡­ when a Na''uhui woman gives you something to wear, she''s not thinking ¡®friends.¡¯ But that''s good¡ªwe can use that.  We''ll call it a cultural difference.¡±

    I rubbed the fine silk between my fingers and studied the intricate gold stitching.  ¡°I should probably change out of this.¡±

    Ta¡¯o smirked.  ¡°That would be a good start!  So you do that,¡± he lifted my hand and studied the wound, ¡°might want to clean this up, and then come back.  I will talk to her, and you''re going to owe me one.¡±

    I wasted no time.  Back at the barracks, I shuffled out of the silk y?¦Èi and tossed it in the dirty pile.  I then rummaged through whatever was clean, opting for simple trousers and skipped a shirt.  I found a basin in the wash room where I scrubbed the dried blood from my arm.  Once clean, it didn¡¯t look nearly as bad, so I raced back over to the area where I¡¯d left Ta¡¯o.

    I slowed as I approached, trying to look if I could see Blue lurking in the trees somewhere, hoping if I didn¡¯t walk too aggressively he might not feel the need to finish making me left-handed.  I didn¡¯t see him, but I saw Miyani talking with Ta¡¯o just outside the clusters of mud huts.  I¡¯d got about twenty yards away when I heard that loud squawk again.

    I stopped and stood still with my hands up¡­ and my chin down to cover my neck, just in case.

    Blue strode towards me quickly, hissing as he went, then got down on all fours and snarled at me.

    ¡°BLUE!¡± Miyani called out to him.

    He turned his lizard face towards her, and she made a come-hither with her finger.  At that, he stood up again and darted over to her, then rubbed his face in her cheek.  She smiled and stroked his neck and spoke softly to him things I wouldn¡¯t have understood even if I could hear from where I stood.

    Then she and Blue walked over to me with Ta¡¯o closely behind.  As she got close, she saw the cuts all over my wrist and turned to look at Blue.  He squawked and looked away, and she pursed her lips before looking at me again.

    Ta¡¯o laughed.  ¡°You said you wanted to talk to her, here she is!¡±

    Here was my chance.  I couldn¡¯t mess this up.  I decided I would pour my heart out, be totally honest and tell her everything.  She tilted her head up at me and fixed those adorable eyes on mine.  ¡°I¡¯m¡­ OK, so¡­ I''m sorry.  I''m deeply, deeply sorry.  I didn''t mean anything by it, I tell you the truth I didn''t know she''d given it to me as a flirt, I should have known. Thinking back, I definitely should have known, but I honestly didn''t think of it like that.  I should have¡­¡±

    Miyani looked at me with her brow furrowed before turning to Ta¡¯o.  I felt like a complete arse.

    Ta¡¯o looked back at her with a warm smile but shrugged and said nothing.

    I looked down.  I had to scour my mind for what little I knew.  So, I looked at her and said, ¡°go¡­ uh¡­ ?owide.  I''m an idiot.  ?owide.¡±

    She laughed.  Good sign?  Then she shook her head.  ¡°kupa ¡®avidide.  xemiyu pe?evide ve?e x?tidesa ?a dowa xemasedu.  t? ¡®esapadesa.  f??ode mewa yu??fise ?a ko¡¯o w?eoxosa¡­¡±

    ¡°Bro!¡± Ta¡¯o widened his eyes at me.  ¡°You''re a virgin?¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡± I looked at him.  ¡°Wait, what is she saying?¡±

    ¡°Is that true, though?¡±

    ¡°I don''t see what that has to do¡­¡± I shook off the question.  ¡°What did she say?¡±

    Miyani turned to Ta¡¯o in expectation.  He ignored her and pulled the last morsel from his stick, popped it into his mouth, and licked his fingers.

    She urged him, ¡°?? zebuwose?¡±

    Ta¡¯o nibbled at some caramelized sauce that clung to his stick before looking at her and acting as if he hadn''t heard anything.

    I understood what he meant.  So, I stepped up to her.  I checked Blue to see if he would allow it, then took her hand and peered down into her beautiful face.  ¡°I really, really like you.  Uh¡­ ??d? k?wi?edesa.  tuzubode¡­¡±

    ¡°tuzubose!¡±  She laughed hard at that.  ¡°v?.  v? tuzubose.  No, I d-zheloos.  I soly.  ?? ??d? k?wi?edesa really-really.¡±

 Taste

    Breakfast was the usual slop.

    The bowl of lumpy, gray-brown goop was paired with some smooth, plump, bright red berries that exploded with sweet, sticky juice as you pressed into them.  When the lady came around with the coffee urn, I dug through my coin purse even though I knew it was empty.

    Rock nodded in my direction and gave her a kren for me.  That was two; I had to make it up to him.

    Chirpy, perched on Geraln¡¯s shoulder, tilted her head down and pointed her nose at his bowl.  Geraln picked up a berry and offered it to her.  She took it and clamped down, only for it to burst and spray droplets of juice everywhere, including my face.  Jame got some, too, and winced at having to wipe his face off.  Geraln laughed and wiped his arm.

    Geraln offered Chirpy another berry, but cupped his hands around her so it wouldn''t go everywhere this time.  Chirpy then craned her neck up high above his hands before clamping down and splattering everyone a second time.

    Jame twisted his face and sneered, ¡°seriously?¡±

    Chirpy let out a joyous string of clicks and pointed down for another berry.

    Geraln glared at her, ¡°you did that on purpose.¡±

    At that, Rock slid over with a berry from his own plate and with a huge grin held it close to her.  Chirpy held still as he squeezed down, splattering juice all over her tiny lizard face and all over Geraln.  ¡°You''ve got to be kidding me!¡±

    She let out another string of clicks and chirped, then looked excitedly down at the berries while Rock chuckled heartily and grabbed another one.

    Jame got up.  ¡°I''m leaving.¡±

    Geraln, too, shook his head with an exasperated sigh, set her on the table, and most of us stepped away.  Chirpy grabbed another berry and scampered over to Rock who closed his eyes with a smile to receive the juice all over his face.

    ¡°There he is!¡± Jame looked towards the archway that wasn''t filled with spider webs.

    Borel stood with a native woman I didn''t recognize, wrapped up in each other''s arms.  He took a lower step, and she still needed to stand on her toes to kiss him on the lips.  He wore a black silk loincloth with a long flap at the front and back that was decorated in silver embroidery, and this woman¡¯s dark-green hands covered every slice of his muscled back.  After a moment he stepped up and headed inside, only for her to swat his bum and wave goodbye with a seductive grin.  Borel turned towards us with a big smile across his face.

    Jame looked up at him.  ¡°Is that that dancer from last night?¡±

    Borel grinned.  Before he could answer, a new band of men was escorted into the mess by Taganu, the same man who knew the names of every alligator who lived in the moat.  He gestured towards the breakfast line and faced them, ¡°as soon as you¡¯re finished, come back out to the training grounds.  Ahmi has some friends she¡¯d like to introduce you to.¡±

    That gave me a good chuckle.  I looked around and half our unit smirked with me.  Geraln looked at the new men and exclaimed, ¡°Racius?¡±

    A tall, lanky Herali with his head low perked up and looked over at us with his eyes wide.  ¡°Gods!¡±

    The same man tapped the shoulder of another who¡¯d had his back turned.  Oren''s meaty face lit up when he saw us.  ¡°Holy fucking shit, man!¡±

    The two clambered over to where we stood.  Racius spoke first.  ¡°When did you miscreants get here?¡±

    Oren added, ¡°fucking hell, man, I wasn¡¯t sure about this place for all them horror stories, but now that I see you twats, we''re definitely fucked!¡±

    I sniffed the air and turned to Geraln.  ¡°You smell something?¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Geraln grinned.  ¡°It was fresh and clean a minute ago, now it smells like¡­ gods, what is that?¡±

    Oren grinned, ¡°probably your mum''s cunt.¡±

    Racius stifled a giggle at that.

    ¡°Gods!¡± Davod¡¯s excited voice flew down the stairs from the officer''s mess.  He carried a half-eaten leg of crispy fried chicken and raced over to where we stood.  ¡°Is this the trash they''re sending us now?¡±

    Oren chuckled and looked him over with his eyes wide.  Davod wore a dyed cotton loincloth and was otherwise naked but for his boots, a leather bow strap over his left shoulder, and on his right was a fresh, black tattoo of Falcon with His wings swept in a dive that wasn''t there yesterday.  His hair was also braided into cornrows that fell down his back.

    Racius smiled and nodded, then turned to the rest of the new men.  ¡°Falcon''s back, baby!¡±

    The others looked at one another.  Borel gave off a wry grin and turned to Jame.  ¡°What he say?¡±

    Jame smirked.  ¡°He said Falcon¡¯s back on the menu.¡±

    Half the room laughed at that, and even Renou added in a sheepish voice, ¡°yeah, I heard that too!¡±

    Several of the new men turned to Borel while one of the taller ones pointed.  ¡°Orca?¡±

    Borel, Jame, Ales, Faren, Gino, and Renou all raised a fist.  ¡°Through and through!¡±

    While the others gathered, Racius and Oren came in close to the three of us.  Oren¡¯s face dropped and he spoke quietly.  ¡°What can you guys tell us about this place, man?¡±

    Davod, Geraln, and I glanced at one another.  It was Davod who went first.  ¡°Ahmi is going to tell you how to not get your throat ripped out by one of those lizards.  Very important.¡±

    I inserted, ¡°don''t call them ¡®girls.¡¯  They hate that.  Also don''t use the F-word¡­¡±

    As I spoke, Racius¡¯s eyes lingered on the pendant dangling around my neck.  ¡°What¡­ the hell¡­ is¡­ are you¡­¡±

    Geraln snickered under his breath.  ¡°Have you met Miyani?¡±

    The two men glanced at one another.  Oren nodded, ¡°that pint-sized cutie met us coming down from the pass riding one of those¡­ things?¡±

    Davod chuckled and rested his arm on my shoulder.  ¡°Meet her boyfriend.¡±

    Geraln filled in the details, ¡°she killed an enemy in battle and gave Caleb this ear to wear in case some other woman tries to talk to him.¡±

    Oren nodded, but couldn''t help but laugh as he turned to me.  ¡°Well, she''s perfect for you, then!¡±

    I sucked my teeth and looked away.

    ¡°THE FUCK YOU LOOKING AT?¡±

    Two men from the new group did not look like the others.  They had deep yellow skin and kinky bronze hair, and their eyes were black like coal.  Each of them dressed in the most tattered rags you¡¯d ever seen and were barefoot.  Each had a number branded into their arms, 858-471 and 858-472.  472 was a few inches shorter and young like perhaps Jezi¡¯s age, while 471 might have been a year or two older than myself.  Their faces each had the same jaw line, the same brow, and the same down-turned eyes.

    They faced off against Malchuk, who stood like a statue betraying not even a twitch in the scar that ran down his face.  He said nothing but crossed his arms, took in a deep breath, and let it out slowly, betraying no hint of emotion.

    471 stood with his fists clenched and lurched forward, ¡°I¡¯m talking to you¡­¡±

    By then, Davod was upon him.  He loomed easily half a foot taller, and his bare chest rippled of powerful muscle.  He pushed his tree-trunk arms in the way and gave the man a light shove.  ¡°I DON¡¯T GIVE A SHIT who you think you are or what beef you think you have with one of MY men, but you take that shit up with me FIRST!¡±

    The man looked up at him in shock.  By the time I caught up to them, he¡¯d looked at 472 and back to Davod, only for both of them to stand beside one another.  I leaned into Davod, ¡°I don¡¯t think either of them understand Herali.¡±

    Davod glanced at me and tilted his head towards them.  ¡°So translate.¡±

    ¡°Right.¡±  With that, I stepped in front of him and thought about how I might communicate the sentiment without escalating things further.  ¡°OK, so¡­¡±

    Blue snaked his head between them, turned his head slightly towards 471, and squawked.  Then he yawned his mouth full of jagged, serrated teeth open before turning his head to look at 472, only to look at 471 and squawk again.

    The two mens¡¯ eyes gaped and their faces fell to horror, and they backed away, holding their hands out as they stepped.  Every man in the new group stood trembling, while Blue strode up to me and rubbed his lizard face in my cheek.  He squawked again, lifted his head high and turned his face to give everyone in the room his eye for a moment, then rubbed his face in my cheek once more before letting out a string of clicks and stepping out of the mess hall entirely.

    Oren stepped beside me and lifted an elbow to my shoulder, nodding towards the giant lizard.  ¡°That¡¯s quite a girlfriend you got there!¡±

    Rock and Chirpy were a total mess.

    Later on, I was working with Faren to fix his bow technique.  He could now draw back the string without pulling the arrow away from its rest, but he still couldn¡¯t hit anything.  His first several shots were in the dirt.  Every time he corrected for it, it still wound up in the dirt.  Then finally he sent an arrow sailing about twenty feet above the target to smack against the stone walls surrounding the city.

    Off to one side I saw the same group of new men standing in a circle while Ahmi introduced them to Thunder, Blue, and some other vita¡¯o I didn¡¯t know.  I watched as Blue stood still to allow 472 to stroke along his neck¡ªunder Ahmi¡¯s close supervision.

    Then I saw Ta¡¯o turn the corner and make his way towards them, and there was something I needed to talk to him about.  He stopped and looked at me as I came near.  As I got close, he gave off his usual easy smile.  ¡°What¡¯s up?¡±If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    ¡°I need to talk to you about last night.¡±

    He laughed and waved his hand in front of him.  ¡°Don''t worry about it, bro.  She likes you.  A lot.  Like, a lot a lot.¡±

    I scratched at an itch in my hair.  ¡°It¡¯s not about that¡­¡±

    ¡°Look,¡± he leaned in.  ¡°I wasn¡¯t going to tell you this, but there¡¯s a¡­ it¡¯s a phrase.  OK?  It kinda means what you think it means, but not really.  I mean¡­ it does, but only if you¡¯re good about it, if you know what I mean.¡±

    I shook my head.  ¡°No?  What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°OK,¡± he straightened himself up.  ¡°So, one of the things she said was, xemiyu pe?evide.¡±

    ¡°Um¡­ OK?¡±

    He giggled.  ¡°What do you think that means?¡±

    I shook my head and shrugged.  ¡°I don¡¯t know?  Hemi-yu¡­.¡±

    ¡°xemiyu pe?evide,¡± he nodded.

    ¡°OK, well vide is possessive, meaning something that¡¯s hers?¡±

    ¡°Do you know xemiyu?¡±

    I had to think about that one.  ¡°-yu is a pronoun, right?  Like she?  I think?¡±

    He shook his head.  ¡°No, she is -ye.  xemiyu means to uh¡­ sing praises.  Like to celebrate something, but with gusto.¡±

    I nodded.  ¡°xemiyu.  Sing praises.  Got it.¡±

    He grinned.  ¡°And what¡¯s pe?e?¡±

    I shook my head.

    ¡°Oh, come on!  That¡¯s the first word you people want to know!¡±

    I shrugged.

    ¡°It means pussy!  Speaking of which, why the hell are you a virgin?  I know you had options.¡±

    ¡°Maybe I did and screwed them all up.¡±

    ¡°Sure, uh-huh,¡± he shrugged, then laughed it off.

    ¡°I¡¯m Daenma.¡±

    ¡°Bullshit.  I¡¯ve known plenty of Daenma who play around.¡±

    I shrugged.  ¡°God demands chastity.  That doesn¡¯t mean everyone does it, but that¡¯s His command and I¡­ do try.  To follow it.¡±

    ¡°Uh-huh,¡± he nodded.

    ¡°So wait¡­ my pussy sings praises?¡±  My eyes popped¡ªthat couldn''t be right.

    He laughed.  ¡°That¡¯s what the words mean.  It really is just a saying, but in your culture that stuff is taboo so you people always think it¡¯s funny.  It doesn¡¯t actually mean that literally.  Sometimes.  Sometimes it does.  But yeah.  Anyway, she was just saying that she¡¯s very happy that you kept trying last night, that you wouldn''t give up.  You have no idea how much that meant to her.¡±

    ¡°Wow.¡±

    He then slapped my arm.  ¡°Anything else?¡±

    ¡°You spaced out.¡±

    He laughed, but I could see through the veil of comfort he wore.

    ¡°I¡¯m just going to speak.  You don¡¯t have to say anything if you don¡¯t want to, but I¡¯ve seen that before.¡±

    He furrowed his brow at me and fixed his lips.

    ¡°I have a friend back home; we grew up together.  We were both orphans in the church, so she was like a sister to me¡ªthey used to put us in the same crib together.  And she would do that.  Sometimes you¡¯re talking to her, and she just goes.  Where she goes, no one knows, but her mind goes somewhere and leaves her body behind.  Just like you did last night.  You know what else?¡±

    He looked at me and blinked.

    ¡°She would have nightmares.  She would hear voices, like people talking in a room down the hall and then she goes into the room and there''s no one there.  One time she heard a baby crying in the oven, burnt her hand trying to rescue it.  And sometimes, it got real bad.  She would seize up.  Fall to the floor.  Shake violently, flail her arms and legs about, froth at the mouth.  I grew up watching that.  Now, I don¡¯t know if what you go through is as bad as that, but the way Dashuni reacted to you and the look on your face right now tells me that it gets bad for you, too.¡±

    He pursed his lips and sniffed the air.

    ¡°And I wanted to talk to you about that because I think that¡¯s the reason you were returned, isn¡¯t it?¡±

    He blinked his eyes at me but kept his lips taut.  His shoulders were tense as was the rest of his body.  He gave me no hint of a yes or no.

    ¡°For all I know I¡¯m a complete arse because everything here I¡¯m saying is wrong and whatever you¡¯ve got going on is nothing like that at all.  In which case, you can write that on my tombstone once Blue finishes off with my spleen.¡±

    He didn¡¯t laugh; he continued to glare at me.

    ¡°My point is, Sarina always thought she was defective, but she¡¯s not defective¡ªshe¡¯s incredible.  Probably the most amazing person you could ever meet.  The day we went to see Peyumi, you told me you¡¯re a liability.  You told me that they won¡¯t let you fight because of it.  Well, I wanted to tell you that you¡¯re not a liability.  You¡¯re not defective.  Like her, you had the plague when you were an infant and it made you that way, and like her, you have to keep it a secret in case some idiot comes along and accuses you of witchcraft or some other nonsense.¡±

    At that he took a deep breath and lowered his eyes a moment.

    ¡°For what it¡¯s worth, I¡¯d let you fight.  Believe me, I dealt with that growing up, so I know just how much of a liability you¡¯re not.  If it were up to me, I¡¯d have you out there protecting my stupid arse.¡±

    At that he laughed and looked away.

    ¡°Just know that I got you.  In case¡­ you know.  I know what you go through, I know what it means, and I know what to do if that happens, I got you.  I just wanted to tell you that is all.¡±

    He smiled a little and nodded.  ¡°Your friends¡­ do they know?¡±

    I took a deep breath.  ¡°OK.  Two new guys, Oren and Racius, that''s him and him,¡± I pointed.  ¡°They''re from Quesas which is in Gath Barony, maybe an hour¡¯s walk down the road.  I don''t think they know about Sarina, but she did space out around them one winter.  Geraln and Davod grew up with her¡ªthey know what¡¯s what.  I didn''t tell them about you.¡±

    ¡°Please don¡¯t.¡±

    I nodded.  ¡°Of course.¡±

    He looked down.  ¡°It does get bad.¡±

    ¡°How bad?¡±

    ¡°Everything you described.  Everything she¡­ all of it.¡±

    Towards the end of the day, Miyani came by to watch us practice.  She gave me a little wave and smiled wide, and of course my heart went crazy.  I got looks from some of the guys, but I didn''t care.  As far as I was concerned, I had the most awesome lady in Carthia¡¯s attention.  I didn''t know what it was she liked about me, but I did not, did not want to spoil it.

    I looked at the cuts all over my wrist and understood that I needed to have my own relationship with Blue else I would always be on the outside looking in.  When I saw him next, he was crouched low, nearly dragging his body over the ground as he slowly, very quietly stalked forward, popping his head above the grass like a periscope with his eyes fixed on a pig about three hands high some forty yards away.

    I watched as he sprang at the beast, only for the fat pig to scurry beneath the barracks nearby.  Blue chased it hard, then thrust his neck under the side of the building and stopped when his body got too big to fit.  I heard a hiss, followed by a series of squawks, followed by another hiss.  He pulled his head out from under the building, then hissed again.  Then he paced around the front, the opposite side, and back to the first hole, lowering his head to the ground every time the gap below the rotted-wood building offered room enough to look.

    Then he hissed at it again.

    I looked around me.  No one else seemed to pay him any attention, and thoughts of back bacon knocked on my mind.

    I made my way towards him while Miyani came with me, wearing amusement on her beautiful face.  Blue turned his face to me and clicked, then looked beneath the barracks once more and hissed at the animal.

    I crouched low and had a look for myself.  There was the pig, with a gaping gap on the opposite side of the building.  Beyond that was the wall, with enough open space for Blue to catch him if he made a run for it.  There was another hole beside the stairs leading to the entrance, but the rear of the building was closed off.

    There was, however, enough crawl space for me to fit.  I looked at Blue.  ¡°Come this way.¡±

    He squawked at me and clicked twice.

    ¡°I have an idea.¡±

    At that, he looked at Miyani who urged him forward, still with a smile across her face.  He then peeked at his reluctant dinner and followed me to the front of the building.

    ¡°OK, so you step up here¡­¡± I ushered him onto the steps.  He hesitated at first, but then stepped up onto the creaky wood floors of the barracks and blocked the entrance for two men who were trying to get inside.

    Miyani held out a hand and looked at them, ¡°wait pliz.¡±

    I crouched low and checked the animal again before making my way towards the maintenance shed to grab two long, wooden poles.  Then, I crouched low and crawled beneath the barracks, slithering on my belly while holding out the poles before me.

    The back bacon snorted as I came to join him, then paced around in a small circle.

    I set the poles out at both sides, making a funnel with myself at the center, and slithered towards the creature.

    He snorted, then took a few steps back towards the gap beside the stairs, only to lunge at me.  It was so sudden, all I could do was lift up the pole to block the creature.  It squealed loud as it tried to attack me again, but that time I punched the thing on its snout.  It squealed again and trotted off to one side, towards the gap where he¡¯d come in on.

    I lifted the pole and wiggled it in front of him, then gave him a good swat.  He¡­ wait.  Yeah, he inched towards the other side, so I brought the pole towards him on that side.

    I slithered forward a few more feet, when the back bacon made a run for it.  Only instead of going out the exit he was supposed to go, he went around my pole and made for the gap at the side.

    I heard a rough growl, and saw Miyani on her knees with her hands out brandishing the black claws she wore on her fingernails.

    At that, the pig squealed and raced off in the opposite direction, only to earn another swat from the pole in my left hand.  It squealed again and made a beeline for the larger gap to the left of the stairs.

    Once free, the poor thing didn¡¯t make three strides before a giant lizard mouth snatched him up at the back of his neck.  I heard a few panicked squeals, followed by a muted crack, and then silence.

    At that, I scurried out from beneath the barracks as fast as I could; I¡¯d retrieve the poles later.  I saw Blue¡¯s feet walking off, so I called out ¡°wait!¡±

    Blue took a few more steps before I heard Miyani call after him, ¡°p? xe???e!  fe?eeude ?a dowa z?¡¯?ze.¡±

    At that I heard him groan, but at least he stopped.

    She spoke to him again, ¡°v? z?bixa?e!  v? xewek?deza vodo ?owo¦Èaze toto.¡±

    He whined again and groaned, then let out a muffled click.

    Back out on the grass, I saw Davod talking with Commander at the end of the training ground.  I saw Blue standing with one eye fixed at me as I dusted myself off.  I walked up to him and reached out for the pig, and he pulled away and groaned again.

    ¡°Alright,¡± I said.  ¡°How¡¯s this.  I cut, you choose.  Fair?  Uh¡­ ?ozude¡­ and uh¡­ xae?-se.¡±

    Miyani laughed hard and shook her head while Blue looked at her.  She then pointed up at the sky, ¡°xae?.¡±

    Cloud.  I searched my mind for the word.  ¡°Uh¡­¡±

    Miyani looked up into my face and nodded each word.  ¡°y?pi ?ozude¡­¡±

    I nodded, ¡°y?pi ?ozude¡­¡±

    Then she added, ¡°?a¡­ xap?se.¡±

    ¡°OK,¡± I turned to Blue.  ¡°y?pi ?ozude ?a xap?se.¡±

    She urged him on, and he slowly set the pig down in the grass and stepped away.

    I took out my knife and knelt.  A proper butchering should have been more involved, but I suspected Blue wouldn¡¯t be interested in waiting around for that.  Besides I knew what I wanted, and carved out the tenderloin in its entirety with the glorious back bacon and set it aside in one pile, leaving a generous carcass of ham, shank, shoulder, chops, ribs, butt, and everything else in a separate pile for him.

    Whatever Davod was telling Commander, he looked upset, waving his hands about while Commander stood still with his arms crossed.

    When I was done, I stepped back and nodded.  ¡°See?¡±

    Blue passed his nose between the two piles, then snatched up the tenderloin and darted off.

    ¡°HEY!¡± I shouted, but he was gone.

    Miyani doubled over laughing while I shook my head and gaped in disappointment at the improperly butchered pig carcass with the best part removed.  Miyani, still laughing, rested her hand on my arm and smiled wide.  ¡°dowawe puyo.  You¡­ want¡­ same!¡±

    ¡°Yep,¡± I nodded.  With nothing else to do, I picked up what remained of our kill and we headed towards the mess hall.  I saw Commander walk off leaving Davod with his head hung low and gritting his teeth.

    Miyani and I went over to him.  ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    Davod passed his eyes between us and snorted.  He let out a huff and explained, ¡°training is over.  Tomorrow, we go out.¡±

 Touch

    ¡°What the hell do you expect me to do with this?¡±  The man in charge of the kitchen was Herali.  He was about my height, a bit older, maybe thirties, and wore an apron over his otherwise bare chest with his long, dark-green hair tied behind his back.  His skin was covered in various scars and tattoos, including a falcon on his left shoulder and a crescent moon on his right, and around his left arm was a cluster of scars that looked awfully familiar to the wound around my wrist.  He wore a black eye-patch over his right and glared at me through his left.

    I shrugged.  ¡°I don¡¯t know?  Make a ham or something?¡±

    The man blinked his left eye and stared at me, then stood up straight and crossed his arms.

    I glanced back down at the pig carcass with the tenderloin carved out of it.  ¡°Um¡­¡±

    Two more men came up, one on each side of him.  One of them looked down at my offering while wiping his fingers on a wet rag, then looked up at me.  ¡°What kind of Falcon doesn¡¯t know how to clean a pig?¡±

    ¡°I know how to clean a pig!  I just¡­¡±

    The other man leaned down to look at it closely.  ¡°Are those teeth marks?¡±

    Miyani leaned in close to the man in charge and set her hand on his arm, looking up at him with pleading eyes.  ¡°I soly.  Uh¡­ we need¡­ uh¡­ ha to say, uh¡­¡± she shook her head.  ¡°??si v? maeaseea.  ??d? pozowa ?ogu¡¯uviei.  ??si¡­ ¡®u?i b?¡¯apesedu ?a ??si ??si, ??si ???avesexa?  Uh¡­¡± she scratched her head and looked up at me with an embarrassed smile.

    I had nothing, but the man with the eye patch bobbed his head back and forth and lifted the pig¡¯s foot, then leaned down and smelled it.  ¡°Sure.  Why not.¡±

    My eyes went wide.  ¡°Thank you!¡±

    I couldn¡¯t help but laugh as we walked out of there.  We¡¯d got a few steps when Miyani turned to look back and nodded with a big smile, ¡°thank you!  Thank very much at you!¡±

    The man with the tattoos over his arms stood and nodded.  I echoed her, ¡°thank you!¡±

    And so we walked.  Towards the library, she led me across the grass.  She was quick; I had to run to catch up to her and take her hand.  She looked up at me and smiled, then slowed to a more leisurely pace.  ¡°Where are we going?¡±

    She echoed my words quietly to herself before looking up at me.  ¡°I is¡­ uh¡­ you are hungry, yes?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± I blurted out.  ¡°Oh, I mean¡­ ti, dowa ??wode.¡±

    She nodded vigorously and smiled wide, god she was adorable.  ¡°tixe!  tixe!¡±

    We walked around the library towards the direction of the tall towers of the inner sanctum by now cast in the shadow of early dusk with dark clouds behind them.  My eyes refused to exert one ounce of self-control.  I looked up and down her curvaceous body, allowing my eyes to linger on her muscular arse and thighs, her pert little breasts and toned shoulders, she was insane.  She watched my eyes explore her and grinned wide.  ¡°You like?¡±

    I did.  I most certainly did!

    I stopped and turned to look at her, holding my hands out in urgency.  ¡°Wait!  I forgot something!¡±

    Miyani stopped and looked at me with concern.

    ¡°This is very, very important.  This is urgent.  I need to tell you something right now.  I completely forgot; this is important!¡±

    Miyani leaned in close with her eyes fixed up into mine in deep concern.

    So I tapped her shoulder and said, ¡°touch.¡±

    I backed off quickly, but she launched herself at me.  I tried to dodge, but she wrapped both arms around my body and squeezed tight, laughing, ¡°I touch you!¡±

    I spun her around and set her down.  She splayed her hands all over my back, I settled mine on her hips, and we lingered there for a moment.  I felt her hand trail down the small of my back and cup my bum, only for her other hand to do the same while she rested her face in my chest.

    She led me around the inner sanctum, past some shops that looked like they were just opening up.  One of them had barrels of something, the next one had those loincloths.  The next one had crystal gemstones of all kinds laid out in trays, and the one after that had herbs, with a small porcelain bowl with a cone that let off a sweet, extra spicy aroma as it burned.

    She tugged my arm a little and picked up the pace.  She looked up at me, ¡°we¡­ fast go.  OK?¡±

    I tried to keep up, but she was quick.  We made our way down a wider street with beaten grass between two stone boardwalks easily a foot-and-a-half up from the street with stone buildings reaching three or four stories high.  She glanced up at me with eyes like amber gemstones and smiled wide, and I had an idea.

    ¡°Wait,¡± I said.  ¡°Step up here.¡±

    She stopped for a moment and looked into my face.

    ¡°Right here,¡± I ushered her over to the miniature wall beside us with a candle shop on the stone boardwalk.  ¡°Step up.¡±

    She understood at least that much and raised one thigh to lift up onto the platform.  Then she looked at me in anticipation, so I leveled my hand from my head to hers; we were just about the same height.  ¡°Perfect.¡±

    At that she giggled a little, and I kissed her.

    Not a lot.  I¡¯d learned years ago not to go in too hard at first in case she wasn¡¯t¡­

    Miyani launched her lips at mine and threw her arms about my neck, and my heart went absolutely crazy.  The sensation of her lips probing around mine with her arms around my neck, her erect nipples against my skin, her firm round arse in my hands, I got excited.

    Very excited.

    She felt my erection poke into her skin through my trousers and looked down at it only to break out laughing.  ¡°You like!¡±

    ¡°Uh,¡± I scratched my head and tried to laugh that off.  ¡°Yeah.¡±

    She sided up next to me, took my hand, and smiled wide.  ¡°I like!¡±

    Oh, that sent a flutter over my skin; I could scarcely catch my breath.

    We kept walking.

    We turned left down a narrow alleyway with a line of iron sconces with oil lamps buried into the stone walls.  Two large sconces graced the sides of a wide, red double-door with a high arch at the top, and kept walking.  We crossed another larger avenue with a merchant at the corner selling wicker baskets of intricate designs and colors, and entered another narrow alleyway on the other side.

    We approached an open porchway on the right that was lit from somewhere within when she turned around and looked up at me.  She wore a nervous smile, and her fingers shook as she tugged at a lock of my hair, reaching up.

    I knelt down low.

    She giggled lightly and set about grooming my hair, my shoulders, then looked at the trousers I wore, covered in dirt from going after that pig, and winced.  I tried to brush them off as best I could, but she shook her head and giggled, ¡°no.  Is OK.¡±

    I looked her over in turn.  Her pixie-cut hair was a little flat on one side so I fluffed it up to make it more even, and she had a speck of grass on her shoulder.

    She lifted her finger to one eye and tapped at the bridge of her nose.  ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°Eye.¡±

    ¡°No,¡± she shook her head and leaned in.  ¡°You see at.¡±

    ¡°You want me to look at it.¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± she nodded vigorously.  ¡°Look.¡±

    I came in close to see what she was pointing at.  I didn¡¯t see anything.

    Then she kissed me and giggled hard, scrunching her face in deep amusement.

    I nodded.  ¡°Oh, that¡¯s a good one.  I like that game!  We can play, we can definitely play that game!¡±

    The place was a small cafe that took up half the ground floor of a small building tucked between two larger ones.  The light was dim yellow coming from several folded-paper  lanterns like large spheres with candles inside.  Several short tables occupied the space, each with those bag chairs hosting people, all of them Na¡¯uhui with the same dark-green skin, white hair, and yellow eyes with not one of them showing any different colors.  Two were old men, each with a bat¡¯s wing tattoo on his shoulder the same as Miyani¡¯s.  One of them looked up at us and snapped his fingers.  ¡°''?ki m?ya?i!¡±

    Everyone turned to look at us.  A young mother with a baby suckling at her teat and a white bat¡¯s wing inked on her shoulder looked up and grinned wide.  A little girl beside her shouted, ¡°m?ya?i!  m?ya?i!  m?ya?i!¡±  There was an older boy with a tray in one hand who stopped picking up empty plates from one table.  His eyes went wide and he smiled at her, only to bow his head low.

    From a narrow passageway in the back of the dining room, an older couple emerged.  The woman was plump and wore a huge smile across her effusive face.  She let out her hands and approached my girlfriend, then smothered her in her loving arms while the man, stout and rotund, looked around at all the guests in attendance and lifted his hands, ¡°''?ki m?ya?i!  ''?ki m?ya?i!

    But everyone was already smiling.  The older woman then held Miyani in both hands and looked her over with a warm smile.  ¡°mewa ?o¡¯aseea vodo ?a xemiyuei mama!¡±

    Miyani smiled wide and furrowed her brow, and gave the old woman a shy nod.  Then she but her lower lip and glanced at me.  ¡°v?wede Caleb.¡±

    At that, the older woman raised an eyebrow and came up to me, lifting her gaze to my face and taking hold of my arms.  ¡°?? ??¡¯utize?  xewek?se ?uvudeza!¡±If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    At that, she squeezed my arms, tapped my tummy, then turned me around and pinched my bum.

    That made me jump.

    ¡°Hello, Caleb, it¡¯s nice to meet you.¡±  The voice came from one of the tables towards the front where two young women sat.  One of them had a white bat''s wing on her shoulder.  The other had a crescent moon, and her left hand was shriveled and distorted.  Dashuni sat with her wooden leg detached, and on the stump below her knee she wore a padded garment of shimmering red silk with a fine gold thread that wrapped around the hem.

    I waved, ¡°hello.¡± She watched in amusement as the old woman dug her fingers into the skin of my chest and leaned in to smell me.  Miyani also giggled in amusement before taking my hand and pulling me back to her.

    The old woman nodded and swatted my bum.  ¡°ko¡¯o weyi??dewa sete ¡®ixo!¡±

    Miyani giggled and nodded.  ¡°t?.  t?.¡±

    I tapped my mind hoping to remember the words for I like to drink coconut.

    The older couple ushered us towards the back of the cafe to a smaller room directly adjacent the open kitchen where a chorus of spices mingled with boiling wine and coal smoke.  A round wooden table was set with two large bag chairs, and a pair of iron stands each held a trio of lanterns, one in each corner.  An older boy, perhaps a man by then or very close to it, also with a bat¡¯s wing on his shoulder came out with a gallon iron pot that let off a good amount of steam.  A younger girl stood beside him with an iron stand, but the old man turned to them, ¡°xe??!  p? go¡¯uwe ??mowo!  ki¡¯i ?o¡¯eeaeI!¡±

    The two went back to the kitchen area and stood, both looking at Miyani with their eyes wide.

    The older man then ushered me towards the table.  I made to sit on the bag closer to the back corner.

    ¡°v?,¡± he said, urging me to the other.  ¡°¡®oto ?a¡¯e dam?ee da?iviya.¡±

    Miyani buried her face in one hand and giggled, while I moved to the other bag chair.

    ¡°ti,¡± he nodded.  ¡°??¡¯uti.¡±  He then turned to Miyani and bowed low with one arm stretched.

    She laughed and moved around the table to sit next to me.  I watched her beautiful face as she settled, and the girl came back to set the iron frame on the table.  Within that she set a stone crucible with a handful of glowing orange coals at the center.  She left while the boy came back and set the iron pot on top of that.

    But before he could walk off, the old man snapped his fingers, ¡°p? ¦È?vovoxa!¡±

    The boy nodded and turned the pot so that the handles were at the sides instead of one of them facing us.  Then his eyes wandered over Miyani¡¯s body for a moment before he saw me glaring at him and walked back to the kitchen.

    We leaned in.  Amid the sharp aroma of cheese and wine was a white, creamy sauce that bubbled from the heat.  Then the girl returned, and set a small, spun-wooden plate before us with an implement like a long, miniature trident with a handle at one end that clattered when she set them down.

    The old man snapped his fingers.  ¡°v? v?!  p? yo?u?exa!¡±

    The girl looked up, ¡°f? dimade!¡±

    The old man then shook his head and looked at the floor, and took in a deep breath while the girl took her time to set each utensil at the side of each plate, shifting it an inch to this side of that before moving along.

    As she kept at it, the old woman bought out a massive round metal platter decorated with all manner of food things arranged in colorful patterns.

    ¡°Wow!¡± I looked at it, unsure where to even begin when a young woman with her white hair in a single braid, also with a white bat¡¯s wing inked on her shoulder, came from the front and knelt down next to Miyani.  She bowed her head low and spoke softly to her so that I couldn¡¯t hear.

    Miyani furrowed her brow and opened her eyes wide.  ¡°?uve?¡±

    The young woman then passed her eyes up and down my body and sneered, ¡°x?¡¯? zo?u¡¯use wa?aseya?¡±

    Whatever that meant, I nodded.  ¡°tixe bobade kokano.¡±

    At that her eyes went wide and she gaped at Miyani, who let out a light giggle.  Then she turned back to me, ¡°?? f?ease ¡®uxuwida?¡±

    I actually understood that.  ¡°?a?a, wu?i, ?aze, xat?.¡±

    The woman then gaped at Miyani, who broke out laughing, only to settle her eyes on our visitor and purr, ¡°?uve?¡±

    At that, the woman stook back up and shook her head, ¡°¡®e?u,¡± and went back through the corridor to the front of the cafe.

    Miyani, still giggling, looked at me with stars in her eyes.  ¡°v?fa.  v? xat?.¡±

    I scratched my chin.  ¡°Oh yeah.  Of course.  Got it.¡±

    Miyani then straightened herself up, pointing to the food.  ¡°I¡­ I was this¡­ I was child I was this.¡±  She then shook her head and said, ¡°I don no ha to say this!¡±

    I thought about it.  ¡°Well¡­ when I was a child, I ate this.  Right?¡±

    ¡°Yes.  When I was¡­¡±

    ¡°OK, so¡­¡± I thought about it for a moment and put the pieces together.  I made sure to speak with my hands, ¡°two options.  You could say I used to eat this as a child, or¡­ you could say I¡¯ve eaten this since I was a child.¡±

    She nodded.  ¡°I-vvv¡­¡±

    I held up a finger.  ¡°Difference is, do you eat it now, today, or only then?  So,¡± I shifted my hands back and forth, ¡°when I was a child and now, or¡­ only when I was a child?¡±

    She nodded.  ¡°Oh, uh¡­ onee.¡±

    ¡°What was that?¡± I held a hand to my ear.

    ¡°Onee I was sha¡­¡±

    ¡°No,¡± I raised my voice a little and swept my hand before the kitchen.  ¡°It¡¯s loud.  Come closer.¡±  I leaned in gesturing towards my ear.  She leaned in, but before she spoke, I kissed her.

    Her eyes went wide in shock, and she looked over to our hosts.  The older woman was watching us.  She smirked, raised an eyebrow, and went back into the kitchen.  Miyan opened her lips wide to laugh.  Then she took up the trident-fork thing and gestured for me to do the same.  She went about naming items on the platter, but that was complete scrabble to me.  Then she stuck her fork into a small, black marble.  A line of purple juice oozed out of the site she¡¯d skewered it, and she urged me to do the same.  Then we dipped it into that molten cheese sauce and ate it.

    Good God, that thing was delicious.  Sharp cheese nearly burned my tongue, leaving behind a sweet, tart blur of juiciness that mingled with the cheese to make the most melodious thing I¡¯d ever tasted.

    The next one she showed me was like a massive bean some two inches around.  We dipped that into the sauce and were rewarded with a pure sense of just what they put in that cheese.  Wine mixed with the sea, mixed with heavy, heavy cream and a dash of the jungle.  Another morsel was a dark brown heavy bread that had a syrupy bouquet to it.  The one after that was a small cube of soft yellow cheese.

    Yes, that''s correct¡ªcheese dipped in cheese.

    I looked around the plate.  ¡°Is there meat in here?  I don¡¯t see any.¡±

    ¡°Meat?¡±  Miyani looked up at me.

    ¡°?owi.¡±

    ¡°Ahh,¡± she sat up.  ¡°Meat.  v? ??wo ?a¡¯uxuwi ?owi.¡±

    My eyes popped.  ¡°You don¡¯t eat meat?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± she shook her head.  ¡°No meat.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± I asked.

    That older boy who¡¯d been looking over my girlfriend came back with a pair of steel chalices and a bottle wrapped in twine.  As he poured a bright amber fluid, the scent of alcohol betrayed its true nature.

    Miyani held out her hand to stop him.  ¡°v? ba duvuei.  ko¡¯o z?v?se ??gu ma?a.¡±

    At that, the old man stepped up and nearly shouted at the lad and sent him off before taking up both chalices.  ¡°kupa!  kupa!¡±

    A moment later, the girl came back with two more chalices with something sweet and purple that didn¡¯t give off any liquor.  We tried a few more nibbles of food dipped in that glorious, glorious cheese.  They had these fried balls of something, I don¡¯t know what it was, but it was delicious.  Another was like a tiny bundle of leaves tied tight with a stem.  That, too, was delicious, though I had to work around the stem to get at the good stuff.

    The woman from the front with the baby in her arm emerged from the passageway, bringing the little girl with her.  She rounded the table and knelt next to Miyani, bowing her head low.  ¡°kupa x?fodesa.  dowa ga??sa fedamivide.  ??si g?euseya?¡±

    At that, Miyani turned to the little girl and gave her a nod.  ¡°dowase ?uve?¡±

    The little girl raised her eyes sheepishly.  ¡°?? mewa ba sek?wade ?a t? ?uku??desa?¡±

    ¡°Awwwww,¡± Miyani furrowed her brow and reached out to take the little girl¡¯s hand.  She glanced at me for a moment and lowered her eyes, then gave the girl a big smile.  ¡°ki¡¯i ga??se Ahmi. w?f?eaye ''?ki.¡±  Then she looked at the girl seriously.  ¡°mewa ¡®e?ise ?a ki¡¯i yepase!¡±

    The girl beamed, and her mother bowed low, ¡°??v?desa, ??v?desa!¡± before making their way back to the front of the cafe.  I watched them leave as my mind tried to piece together whatever they were talking about; I was completely lost.  Then when I turned back around, Miyani kissed me.

    Suddenly I felt found.

    I don¡¯t think I felt half as full since the day we left Gath.  We got up to leave the cafe, and Miyani gave the older couple a hug.  Then the girl wanted a hug as well, and then the boy who was almost a grown man.  He hugged her a little too¡­ I mean he lingered.  A bit.  She had to peel him off her to be allowed to leave, and I know I saw his eyes traverse her as we left.

    In the front of the dining room were some new guests while some of the old ones were finishing up their meal.  It was dark outside but for a handful of oil lamps burning in the narrow alleyway, and Blue was there.  He perked his head up when we came out, and I saw what looked like a rat in his mouth.  While the guests didn¡¯t allow Miyani to leave, I stepped up to him and grinned.  ¡°Look at you.  You could have had a whole pig, and here you are eating junk food.¡±

    He lifted his head up and swallowed the thing.  I watched as the lump travelled down his long neck, and he finished that with a string of short clicks and a chirp.  Miyani managed to escape somehow; she came up to him and rested her forehead on his.  He then rubbed his face in her cheek, and we walked.

    ¡°Miyani, that was really good.  Thank you so much for bringing me here.¡±

    She looked up at me and smiled, still holding my hand.  Behind us, I heard Blue let out a squawk followed by a jumble of chirps and clicks.  Miyani turned around and looked at him, ¡°¡®e?uei!  ??v?de?a!¡±

    ¡°Yeah, man,¡± I echoed.  ¡°No need to worry.  Look, I¡¯ve got her.  See?¡±

    At that I stepped in front of her and crouched down low.

    Miyani giggled and covered her face for a moment.  ¡°?uve?¡±

    ¡°Come on,¡± I urged her and reached out for her arm, pulling her over my back.

    Blue squawked and shifted his nose up and down us.  I felt Miyani rest her weight over me, then her thighs rested over my hips and squeezed hard.  I stood, and she didn¡¯t sit, neither did she rest any weight on her arms.  She held herself up entirely by squeezing her thighs tight onto my hips, then thrust herself forward, ¡°means go!¡±

    Blue squawked, still shifting his head up and down, and I started walking.  ¡°See?¡± I turned to face him.

    Then she thrust herself upwards again and tapped her hand on my shoulder twice and laughed out, ¡°means fast!¡±

    ¡°Oh fast is it?¡±  So I took off running.

    She laughed ¡°yes!¡±

    As we came to the main street, she pushed in with her left leg and pulled with her right, shifting her weight to that side, still giggling, ¡°means da?ise!¡±

    ¡°Turn right.  Got it!¡± and I continued running.  Blue trotted beside me, turning his lizard face towards me and squawked, then circled behind me and squawked again.  Miyani continued to laugh, until he stepped in front of me altogether and let out two guttural clicks and squawked again.

    I had to stop, then.  Miyani slid down from me and let her hands trail along my body as she stepped in front of me to tickle Blue beneath his chin.  I actually understood her, ¡°Are you OK?  What''s wrong?¡±

    ¡°He''s jealous.¡±

    Blue groaned and rubbed his face in her cheek.  She smiled.  ¡°You d-zheloos, yes?¡±

    Blue squawked and looked over a small group of men from the barracks who ogled us as they passed.

    I nodded, ¡°he''s jealous.  Alright then, come on.¡±  With that, I stepped in front of him and crouched low.

    Miyani laughed, ¡°?uve!¡±

    I reached up for his forelimb, and he squawked at me, darted his head about and squawked again.  Miyani kept laughing, barely able to get her words out, ¡°v? base!  vofoze toto!¡±

    No matter, I helped Blue to rest his lizard paws on my shoulder while I reached back to grasp at his legs, making sure his body was well balanced over my back, and lifted him up.

    God, he was heavy.  He had to be at least three-hundred pounds, and my back swore to punish me by morning just for trying.  He squawked and lowered his eye to my face, and with a grunt I set about pushing my wobbly legs forward.  Then I dug down for some strength and found enough to push myself forward, gaining enough momentum to almost pick up a run.

    Miyani chased after us, laughing as she came, and Blue let out all manner of chirps, clicks, whistles, and squawks.

    I hadn''t made it far before my body refused to keep at it, and I doubled over, landing on my hands and knees trying to catch my breath while Blue trotted around to my side and reached down to rub his face in my cheek.

    I felt her hand on my back.  She smiled wide at me, ¡°?? ¡®e?use?¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± I panted for breath and nearly broke out laughing.

    We came to the same mud building where her apartment was.  There, she rested her forehead onto Blue¡¯s, and he rubbed his face in her cheek.  He then came over to me and did the same, squawked, and walked off towards the vita¡¯o yard.

    Miyani led me inside¡­

 Look

    Miyani led me into the great mud building where, inside, it was cool and comfortable.  Light came from several of those spherical paper lanterns hanging from strings all around.  A few women sat beneath the lanterns reading, while an old man had leaned his head back and slept.  There was a large open space in the center where several older children were bossing one another around over something.  An older girl glanced between Miyani and me and gave off a wry grin, elbowing her friend to point and giggle at us as well.

    Miyani ignored them, and I had bigger priorities.  It was the perfect amount of light to shimmer off Miyani¡¯s dark skin and gift my eyes with every muscle in her glorious back.  And oh, how the cotton flap in the back of her loincloth did bounce over her arse as she walked.

    Miyani grabbed a stick from a small basket beneath one of the lanterns.  I watched her adorable face, peering up into the lantern to get a flame, and with the shape of her face, the way she smiled with her eyes, my heart fluttered.  She peeked at me, then smiled wide, gesturing with her neck to follow her.

    There was a dark, narrow corridor beneath a wood frame amid the mud walls with a closed curtain on each side, beyond which was a stone flight of stairs leading up.  Everything was dark but for the oiled stick she carried, which cast barely enough light for me to study her sublime silhouette.  Her hips, her thighs, God her legs looked delicious.  The passageway led us past a few more curtains, and she stopped at one on the right.  I came up, and she pressed her hand on my chest.  I thought she was about to say something, but instead her fingers meandered down over my stomach and wrapped around my side before sliding down over the curve of my butt.  Her face tilted all the way back to look up at me.  It was dark, but I could see she was smiling.

    I bent down to kiss her.

    Her lips pawed at mine, and I was on fire.  I couldn¡¯t believe it.  This wasn¡¯t happening.  I heard a slight moan, and she brought her hand up to grasp at the back of my head and pull me into her.  My heart froze.  What if I screwed this up?  What if I disappointed her?

    What even was about to happen, and would I even be ready?

    She pushed me into her apartment and pulled a curtain over the entryway.  Then she lifted the flame into a white sphere of a lantern, and the whole thing began to glow a muted orange.  Then another in the corner beside a thick padding that sufficed for a bed.  With that, she blew out the stick and set it down, then came to stand before me.

    She giggled, ¡°dowa ??d? ??¡¯asodesa!¡± and set her hands to meander across my chest and up to my shoulders.  I could see her smiling wide.

    My heart thudded against my chest.  ¡°OK¡­¡± I had to think about that one.  ¡°dowa.  You want something.  ??d?, you want it really bad.¡±  Miyani gazed up into my eyes as I put the pieces together.  ¡°Uh¡­¡±

    ¡°??¡¯aso,¡± she nodded expectantly, still beaming and looking up into me.

    I¡¯d got it.  ¡°Wait, I know what that means.  You¡­ ¡°oh!¡±

    She giggled and continued to gaze up at me.

    ¡°Oh!¡± I nodded, though I couldn¡¯t help a grin.  ¡°I understood that!¡±

    Miyani lowered her eyes, still giggling.  ¡°I soly!  I respek chaste.  OK?¡±  She set her hands in the center of my chest and looked serious at me.  ¡°Plomiss.  Uh¡­ plomiss I respek chaste at you.  Plomiss.  OK?¡±

    No girl had ever said that to me before.  And I¡¯d had situations¡­ where¡­ let me say it was evident that respect was not there.  A part of me was able to relax.  I couldn¡¯t help but grin at the thought of it.  ¡°So you promise to respect my chastity, do you?¡±

    ¡°Pa¡­ param¡­ paro¡­ yes.¡±  She slid her hands just above my belt and around to my back side, gently dipping the tips of her fingers beneath my belt.  ¡°I wan look.  Is OK?¡±

    ¡°You want to look?¡± I said.

    ¡°Pliz?¡± her eyes pleaded with me.  ¡°Is OK?¡±

    I couldn¡¯t wait.  I undid my belt and wiggled my trousers down past my feet and kicked them away and stood before her naked.  Her eyes popped and she smiled, and I stepped up to her.  ¡°Can I look, too?¡±

    She nodded and popped her eyebrows, and set her fingers to the front of the scant outfit she wore.

    ¡°No,¡± I said, taking hold of her hands.  ¡°Let me.¡±

    With that, I knelt.  I set my fingers at the sides of her hips, splayed my thumbs across her thighs, and drunk in the feel of her skin.  I memorized the way the top of her loincloth dropped down from her tummy and allowed my fingers a peek at the skin between her thighs, daring them to slide close to her sex.  She let out a breath and ran her fingers in my hair, groping locks, pulling them up only to let my hair fall down over my back.

    I then passed my hands across her body around to her back side where my fingers slithered up her thighs and along her arse until I could cup her completely and give her roundness a good squeeze.  I looked up into her face as she watched me, then kissed her skin at the side of her leg where that loincloth hung down.  I sat up a little and kissed her tummy and began to work my fingers beneath her garment and up towards her belt.  I felt her fingers trail all through my skin and down behind the back of my head, then along my shoulders.  I took hold of her belt and slid it slowly, allowing it to follow my fingers as they dripped down over her succulent arse.  I kissed her tummy again.  Then again.

    She brought her hands in, pulled at the front of her yithi, and undid some kind of fastener.  Right away, the whole thing came loose and fell down before my face, hanging from my fingers behind her.  Inches from my face, the soft white hair of her pussy glistened in the candlelight.

    She giggled.  I looked up, and she smiled, then giggled some more.

    I couldn¡¯t help but laugh as well, ¡°I was getting there!¡±

    I knelt and gazed at her sex, studied the way her skin folded, then leaned in to smell her.  ¡°Mmm!¡± I looked up and smiled wide.

    She looked down and gazed at me with loving eyes, still stroking her fingers through my hair.

    I leaned in and kissed her in the center of her mound.

    ¡°No,¡± she pushed my head away, then laughed.  ¡°I respek chaste, OK?¡±

    I grinned.  ¡°I never said I couldn¡¯t go there¡­¡±

    She smiled further, then looked away for the words.  ¡°Eh¡­ OK.  If¡­ you, uh¡­ this,¡± she pointed at her beautiful pussy, ¡°then uh¡­ no respek chaste.  ki¡¯i ??k?di.¡±

    That made me laugh.  ¡°Oh, we would need to, is that it?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± she nodded with a big smile, ¡°need.¡±

    As she giggled, I stood.  My erection was so full I felt like I was about to burst.  Just the sensation of moving my cock through the air tickled excited pleasure into my skin.  Miyani set her hands out and ushered me towards the wall, then backed off a little.  ¡°I wan look, OK?¡±

    We stood, naked, in the dim lamplight of her small, mud apartment, facing each other.

    I watched as her eyes meandered all over my body, from my arms and shoulders, down across my chest and over my stomach to my swollen cock, where she cocked her head slightly and bit her lip.  She took in a deep breath and scanned up and down my legs, then side to side across my chest and traversed my arms.  Her eyes paused briefly at the dark lines of scars about my wrist, where she giggled lightly and shook her head, only to break out laughing.

    I started with her tiny breasts, just barely lump enough to discern her womanness and perfectly perky.  It felt different.  She wore her breasts out normally.  Every other woman at Carthia also wore their breasts out, even Ahmi once she got to know you, and I barely noticed anymore, but Miyani, I couldn¡¯t stop stealing glances.  She never seemed upset about it, but it still felt like something I ought to have better control over.  But this¡ªthis was a blank check.  This was an invitation.  Permission to stop worrying, stressing, and feeling anxious over that and just appreciate her body.  No limits.

    She had a scar on her belly, at the side just beneath her rib cage.  Another line of scar in the shape of a vita¡¯o¡¯s mouth came down from her shoulder on the side opposite where she¡¯d had the white bat¡¯s wing tattoo.  And the muscles in those insanely ridiculous thighs.

    She held one hand at the center of her tummy and allowed her fingers to cover half of her pubic hair.  I watched mesmerized as she pressed in, pulling at the skin close to her clitoris.  ¡°I soly,¡± she stopped.  ¡°You wan look?¡±

    I nodded enthusiastically.  ¡°No, you do that.¡±

    ¡°Is OK?¡±

    ¡°PLEASE do that!¡±

    She grinned wide.  ¡°You like?¡±

    ¡°Yes!  I like!¡±

    At that, she sided over to the bed and sat down with her legs spread wide, propping her back against a pillow.

    ¡°You,¡± she gave me a come hither with both hands, so I knelt.  ¡°Come.¡±

    I crouched closer to her, still kneeling, and she stopped me when I¡¯d set my knees directly between her feet.  Once there, she let her eyes fall all over me again, staring at my cock, she brushed her finger along the crease of her pussy.  Gently at first, then she moved a little faster, using two, then three to swirl around at the top of her mound before gliding down once more.

    I set one hand on her knee and the other I encircled the crown of my member and gently stroked around it.  I¡¯d grown so excited that as soon as I circled my fingers around my shaft and slid them down, I burst.  My whole body crescendoed, and I panicked.  I tried to cup my hand over the thing to catch the mess in my palm, but a shot of slimy goo sprayed onto her.Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry!¡± I said.  ¡°Oh, God, I¡¯m so sorry!¡±

    Miyani looked at me with her mouth wide, then broke out laughing.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± I cried.  ¡°I¡¯m so sorry¡­¡± That was supposed to last longer.  I looked around for something to clean off with.

    Miyani then smiled and set her hand on my wrist.  ¡°Is OK.  Come.¡±

    She directed me to lean over and prop myself up on my left hand while my right still cupped beneath the tip of my cock and was filled with warm slime.  ¡°Wait.¡±

    Then she moved my hand aside and wrapped one hand around my cock while stroking herself with the other.  She let out a slight moan and closed her eyes, then pushed one finger deeper into her slit, brought it back up, and encircled her clit vigorously.  All the while probing the contours of my manhood, sticky cum and all.

    It wasn¡¯t even half a minute and she took in a sharp breath while her whole body tensed.  She squeezed down hard on my cock which still hadn¡¯t gone down, and then she relaxed, allowing her arms to still.  I bent down and kissed her.  She lifted her face into mine and pressed hard, massaging my lips with her own while I returned the favor.

    Eventually we cleaned up.  She had a small washbasin in one corner and some rags, along with a clean sheet to set over the stiff mattress, and we laid down together.  Skin to skin, all along the length of our bodies, I felt her pressing into me.  I had my arm under her head, she had hers over my side.  I kissed her again.  My other arm draped over her side and pulled her by the small of her back into me.

    ¡°No,¡± she shook her head with a wicked grin.  ¡°I respek chaste!¡±

    We both laughed at that, and she found another sheet to go between us.

    Once again we lay down, and we both took a deep breath.  The dim lamplight made a line across the curves of her face and I watched her eyes pass down to my lips and back.

    She brushed a lock of hair from my eyes, and I leaned in to kiss her.  A quick peck, and we both gazed and giggled before I sunk in to probe her lips with my tongue.  She probed me back, and we found each other twirling our tongues together.  Through the sheet I could feel her nipples go erect against my chest.

    Then we settled down and just gazed.  I didn''t know what she had in mind, but I was content to look at her until the candle burnt out.

    She spoke softly, ¡°ki¡¯i g?eudesa toto.¡±

    Need, say, I, you, a lot.  ¡°There¡¯s a lot you need to tell me?¡±

    ¡°A lot,¡± she nodded.  ¡°Yes.  I dun no ha to say.  Am a lot.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll get there,¡± I nodded, then kissed her.

    <hr>

    Morning¡¯s dusk brought with it chill air with the splashing hum of heavy rain outside.  I opened my eyes to her gazing at my face.  I leaned in to kiss her, but she sat up.  I could see the alarm in her eyes, and I sat up hoping to figure out what was wrong.

    ¡°p? xe?ise,¡± and she stood.

    I wrestled on my trousers while she selected a clean yithi from a wicker basket in the corner, and she led me back out down the corridor.  Light crept in from a handful of doors where the curtain had been left open to allow sunlight.  She led me to the main hall, where perhaps half a dozen people did morning stuff.  Miyani glanced around as if searching for something, then led me over to a large bag chair the size of a bed beneath a paper lantern tucked away in a nook off to the side.  There, a woman reclined, sipping at a mug of that wonderful coffee with a book open and turned down in her lap.

    Her left arm was shriveled and distorted, and her left leg ended at a stump just below her knee.

    ¡°da?u?i,¡± Miyani began.  ¡°z?ta kupade ?a ??d? pozowaxe.  ??si zebuwosedu?¡±

    Dashuni shrugged and took a sip from her coffee, but didn¡¯t set it down.

    Miyani set her hands at my arms and looked up into my face.  ¡°pozowaxe.  ??si ve?odu ya¡¯u¡¯u.¡±

    She then glanced over at Dashuni, who replied, ¡°this is important, please pay attention.¡±

    Miyani nodded and returned her attention to my face.  Her eyes pleaded up into me as words cascaded forth.  She spoke so fast I could scarcely latch onto one word before I could figure out what it meant.

    Dashuni then looked to the side.  ¡°OK, so¡­ wow.  OK, let me think.  So, uh¡­ she¡¯s worried about you because she¡¯s afraid you know too much.¡±

    I looked at Dashuni.  ¡°What does that mean?¡±

    ¡°She thinks¡­ uh¡­¡± she turned to Miyani.  ¡°taye?¡±

    Miyani looked at her and nodded, and returned her gaze to me before looking back to her.  ¡°xe??.  Uh¡­¡± she scratched her head before looking confidently in my eyes.  ¡°ti.  taye.¡±

    Dashuni exuded a light chortle of laughter and popped her eyes, shaking her head.  She once again spoke to Miyani.  ¡°?? ya¡¯ueeze?¡±

    Miyani shook her head.  ¡°wa?a ya¡¯ueeze xe?eeo.  taye.¡±

    Dashuni spoke as Miyani gazed into my eyes with a sprinkle of apprehension.  ¡°Um¡­ OK.  So, she says that when she hunts you, that¡¯s -wa by the way, plural you, so your group.  When she hunts y¡¯all, she looks out for any man who seems to read the forest better than the others and target him first.¡±

    ¡°Oh, wow.  OK¡­¡±

    Another round came forth.  ¡°She says that she knows your kind isn¡¯t acclimated to the jungle, so she¡¯s a bit more careless, more aggressive than she normally would be.  She has a tactic she calls scare-and-scatter.  She shoots one man, usually in the leg.  Then about a hundred yards further down, she¡¯ll kill one of them.  After another two or three, they panic, and whoever she doesn¡¯t clean up, the jungle claims.¡±

    My eyes bulged.  ¡°Ouch.¡±

    ¡°She says her primary targets are the commander and men who look like they can read the jungle.  Do you understand what she¡¯s saying to you?¡±

    ¡°Uh, yeah.  She¡¯s saying that¡¯s what I need to watch out for.¡±

    Dashuni shook her head and sipped her coffee, then returned her eyes to me.  ¡°OK, so you¡¯re lucky Ta¡¯o likes you, but you are a complete idiot.  Look.  You spend a couple days with her and you think you learned something, but do you actually think you can compete with a scout who¡¯s been doing this her whole life?¡±

    I shrugged, ¡°well¡­¡±

    Dashuni set her cup down and sat up.  ¡°You have a difficult time accepting the idea that a woman can be better than you at something.  I understand¡­¡±

    ¡°What?¡± I shook my head.  Miyani glanced back and forth between us.

    Dashuni held up a finger.  ¡°I get that you don¡¯t believe it, and that¡¯s OK.  You need to hear it first before it sinks in.  And this is not an indictment against you¡ªthis is a prepared speech by the way so I am working on it¡ªyour whole culture is misogynistic.  Your attitudes towards women, in general, are disgusting.  I can never get over some of the bullshit women have to deal with in your culture.  I know that you have no ill intentions, and this is the culture you were raised in.  You¡¯re so used to it that it doesn¡¯t even register.  It¡¯s embedded in your language.  Just listen to the way you people talk.  The words you choose as insults are the perfect example of the misogyny hypocrisy you take for granted.  If you think about it, you will see.  And this is why your society sucks.  But as your own scripture says, the way of the wicked is deep darkness; they don¡¯t see what makes them stumble.

    ¡°Anyway, we are willing to work with you.  If you are willing to learn, we will work with you, but that kind of attitude will get you killed around here, directly and indirectly.¡±

    I had no idea what I¡¯d just been smacked with.

    Miyani held up her hands and pleaded at Dashuni who answered with a big smile, ¡°te¡¯a¡¯eze.¡±  He understands.  I actually understood that.

    At that, Miyani threw her arms about me and squeezed tight.  I set my hands around her, and she held on even tighter.  So, I lifted her up.  She jumped up and wrapped her legs around my body, draping her arms over my shoulders, and I spun her around.  She laughed at first, then leaned in close to kiss my lips.

    ¡°OK,¡± Dashuni waved us off, ¡°thank you.  Bye-bye now.¡±

    By then, morning broke.  The people who lived in Miyani¡¯s building had set out boiled eggs sliced in half with the yolks whipped together and topped with tiny little fish eggs and a leaf of some herb atop.  Beside this was an iron pot that was cold somehow.  It held a thick cream that smelt strong like sweet liquor, and sat aside a tray of assorted fruits laid out with several of those trident forks.  They also had a coffee pot that anyone could take from; Miyani helped herself to a cup, then took the ladle from the pot and poured in a generous amount of that sweet-liquor-cream, and urged me to do the same.  ¡°You like!¡±

    As for how it tasted, I have no words for that.  Sorry.

    Bread was pucks of dark brown like mud and mildly sweet with a heavy, hidden deliciousness that nearly sent my head to spin.  Miyani smiled up at me and urged me to take a few more, even found a small cloth bag to stuff full of the things.

    Outside by the practice yard, Davod stood with Jezi while the rest of the men were still eating the usual gruel.  Faren limped out from the barracks and hurried across the grass towards the mess.

    Davod barked at him, ¡°you¡¯re just getting up?¡±

    Faren said nothing and went into the mess.

    Miyani stood beside another scout who''d led her vita¡¯o up to Jezi and leaned in to kiss him on the lips.  She then sat up and glanced at me before turning to Miyani with a smile.  ¡°?? f? ??k?we¡±

    Miyani blushed and looked down for a moment with a smile, and brushed her fingers through her hair.

    The other scout¡¯s eyes perked up and she smiled wide.  ¡°ti?¡±

    Miyani looked back at her.  ¡°?uve ?? ya¡¯ueese yo sek?wa?u?¡±

    The other scout smirked.  ¡°ti ¡®o v??¡±

    At that Miyani scowled at her, and the other scout giggled.  Jezi then answered, ¡®it¡¯s Yumi.¡±

    While Dayumi gave him a string of what felt like profanity, Jezi laughed and kissed her.  She returned that, and Davod turned to Miyani.  ¡°Yumi¡¯s good, yeah?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Miyani smiled.  ¡°Yumi¡¯s good-yeah.  Um¡­¡± she shook her hand as shuffling through pages in her mind.  ¡°Yumi¡¯s good-yeah.¡±

    Davod shrugged and took a deep breath as he looked down.  ¡°It¡¯s fine.  You say she''s good, I¡¯ll take that.¡±

    I went to the barracks to put that armor on and grabbed my things.  When I came out, most of our unit had gathered.  Ales was there; he had a chain shirt just like mine, and sheathed his cutlass at his side.  Malchuk had a steel plate to cover his chest and back with chain rings down his arms and legs.  His Imperial-army longbow slung on his back, and he held a tall spear in one hand with an evil-looking tip.  Jezi carried his native bow in his hand and wore nothing but his loincloth and a sling with a generous amount of arrows over his back.  Rock and Northstar each had those massive shields with swords at their sides, and carried the native bow in a sling over their backs.  Jame had simple clothes, with a short sword at one side and his eupin longbow with etchings of Orca¡¯s Struggle slung on his back.  Renou wore simple clothes and also carried a native short bow with a quiver slung over one shoulder.  Borel wore a silk loincloth with his boots, himself with a strap over one shoulder carrying the native short bow, and on one shoulder was a fresh tattoo of Orca that he didn¡¯t have the day before.  Like Davod¡¯s, his hair was now braided into dark-green cornrows that trailed down his back.

    Faren and Gino were still in the mess, but they joined us shortly, while Geraln stood with his eupin longbow in hand while Chirpy still rode on his shoulder.

    Blue stepped towards me and rubbed his face in my cheek.  Then again on the other side.  He squawked, then rubbed his face in my cheek again, so I stroked beneath his chin.  At that, he rested his neck on my shoulder and allowed his head to drop, so I stroked along his neck.  He then stepped away and squawked at Chirpy, who slowly rose up, calculated the angle while steadying her feet on Geraln''s shoulder, then leaped onto Blue''s back.

    Miyani held my hand as Davod then stood before all of us and took a deep breath, ¡°long-winded speech number four.  Let¡¯s go.¡±

    As we walked, I stepped with him.  ¡°That was a good speech.¡±

    Jame echoed, ¡°it was wonderful.¡±

    Davod chuckled, then feigned acceptance of our praise.  ¡°Aww, you really think so?¡±

    Malchuk tapped his shoulder and smiled wide, ¡°that was the best speech I''ve ever heard.  I''m not even joking¡ªyou have no idea!¡±

 Someone

    Two native women talked ahead of us beneath the tall azuka grass.  They each sat atop a vita¡¯o lizard adjacent one another with bows in hand and arrows nocked.  One of them was older¡ªshe was the same woman who sat with Ahmi and the princess mocking me the day of the alarm.  The other was young, perhaps the same age as Dayumi, Jezi¡¯s girlfriend.  The two of them took turns pointing at us as they spoke.

    To the left, women went about working at the green-purple grass.  They chopped, gathered into bunches, and brought the thick stalks over to a bison-drawn cart.  About half of them were Na¡¯uhui.  Two were Goloagi and had numbers seared into their arms, as did a handful of the others.  A Tobori girl who couldn''t have been fourteen carried one end of a bundle while the other was carried by the Saniwesa woman from the cafe, the one who''d looked incredulously between me and Miyani.  She smiled at me and sang, ¡°v? ??wo?iwa!¡±

    I answered her, ¡°v? koeosa.¡±

    At that she giggled and went about her work.  Faren stepped beside me, ¡°did you ever figure out what that means, exactly?¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± I smiled.  ¡°It means don''t get lost.¡±

    ¡°You joking?¡± he laughed.  ¡°That''s how they say goodbye?  Don''t get lost?¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± I smiled wide.  ¡°Apparently she just told us not to get eaten.¡±

    ¡°Oh, well¡­ I suppose that''s better than the alternative.¡±

    I turned to him with a sly grin.  ¡°Good thing it''s not a race, right?¡±

    Faren scrunched his jaw and nodded, then answered in deep seriousness, ¡°uh-huh.¡±

    I heard Jame¡¯s voice as he walked alongside Davod.  ¡°What¡¯s our mission, man?¡±

    Davod answered, ¡°we go to Tower One.¡±

    ¡°And then?¡±

    I added, ¡°we also have to find the magic scroll and rescue the princess.¡±

    Jame blinked his eyes at me and squinted.

    I elaborated, ¡°first we go over the ruby bridge and answer the three questions.  From there we enter the enchanted forest and slay the goyin¡­¡±

    Davod turned to me and snapped, ¡°can you be serious for once?¡±  A bead of sweat meandered down his cheek and dripped over his neck.  He took a deep breath and swallowed, then turned back to Jame, ¡°we go to Tower One and we stay there until further notice.  That¡¯s all.¡±

    Jame nodded, then looked at me and shook his head.  I looked at Davod, ¡°I was just getting to the good part!¡±

    Davod shook his head and huffed.  ¡°I need you to be serious.¡±

    ¡°OK,¡± I nodded.  I stepped close to him.  ¡°What''s going on?¡±

    He locked his jaw for a moment before repeating, ¡°I told you; we go to Tower One.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s fine,¡± I said, ¡°but you¡¯re acting like a rat crawled up your arse and died.¡±

    He stopped and faced me directly, clenching his jaw and shaking his head with his eyes closed.  Then he took in a deep breath and settled his emerald green eyes on mine.  ¡°Look.  I don¡¯t have time for your shit.  I¡¯m responsible for these men.  If something happens to them, any of them, it¡¯s my fault.¡±

    I made to speak, but he held up his hand and cut me off.  ¡°I just need you to be serious.  Can you please be serious?¡±

    I nodded.  ¡°OK, then.¡± So I took his hand, ¡°let us pray¡­¡±

    Davod raised a finger and grimaced hard, shaking his head, then walked off without saying another word.

    ¡°What?¡± I laughed.

    As we came up to the two scouts, the older woman stepped off into the bush on the right and disappeared while the younger one urged her throat-ripping lizard forward.  She was as they all were, short and incredibly fit.  She wore her white hair in two heavy braids, one over each shoulder to end just above her bare nipples.  She wore the same cotton loincloth as the others along with the same necklace of large, carved wooden beads and a leather strap over one shoulder that held a quiver well-stocked with arrows.  Other than that she was naked down to her bare feet.  Her vita¡¯o was a bit larger than the others, dark with vertical green stripes along the length of its body.  It was the same one who with Gray had greeted me the day I made an arse out of myself with Ahmi.

    Davod stood beside her and turned to face us.  ¡°Gentlemen, this is Yumi.  Yumi, this is us.¡±

    She ran her yellow eyes over our troupe and then turned to him.  ¡°Where are more?¡±

    ¡°Shht,¡± Davod shook his head rapidly.  ¡°Just us.¡±

    Yumi stared at him a moment, then looked us over again, gave a nod to Jezi, and turned back to Davod.  She pointed down a narrow foot path of irregular sheets of black slate through a dark tunnel of sugarcane on both sides.  ¡°Go.¡±

    Davod looked us over before we could file into a line.  ¡°Borel, you last, Jame, you with him.¡±

    Borel protested, ¡°why am I last?¡±

    ¡°Because that''s where I put you.  Northstar, you with them.  Rock, you stay up front with me and Caleb.  Geraln, you and Malchuk you take the middle, and the rest of you with him.  Let''s go.¡±

    Over the path we walked.  I felt hard sweat beneath my padded armor, and we scarcely went anywhere.  Beyond the azuka grass we came to a grove of mixed trees¡ªsome bore those hand-sized fruits with the yellow stringy flesh, others were tall and bore those big fruits with the red flesh.  Some coconut trees, a tree with pendulous head-sized green avocados, other fruits I''d never seen before passed by us as we walked.  In a small grove in the distance, a group of women were busy harvesting globular spiky fruits the size of a man¡¯s head¡ªa native woman straddled a high branch and reached those higher up with a pole while several young girls ran about trying to catch them as they fell.  Beside them, three Herali men covered in chain armor stood with arrows nocked as they looked about.  One of them waved at us, then returned his attention to the trees about him.

    Davod couldn''t stop looking around at the forest.  Every chirp, every whistle, he would seek it out with his eyes.  We heard that bird overhead making the human sound signalling seven despite there being thirteen of us.

    Then we heard vita''o ahead and to the left.  Davod immediately turned to look towards it.

    I nudged him.  ¡°Miyani said don''t make it look like you can read the forest.  She says that''s how they pick out who to kill first.¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±  He looked at me with death in his eyes.

    A moment later, Yumi stepped out from the direction of where we''d heard it.  I faced Davod with a smile.  ¡°How did you know about the bird, anyway?¡±

    Davod fixed his face as though he wanted to smile but couldn¡¯t.  ¡°Ahmi said it was your idea.¡±

    ¡°What was my idea?¡±

    Davod blinked rapidly and breathed heavily.  ¡°She said there were some things we should all know about and gave all us captains a class about it.  She said it was your idea.¡±

    ¡°Shhh!¡± Yumi glanced between us, holding a finger to her lips.  Then she pointed at Ales and spoke, ¡°you.  Front.¡±

    Ales furrowed his brow.  ¡°What?  Why me?¡±

    Davod snapped at him, ¡°do as she says, man!¡±

    Ales huffed out a heavy breath, then trodded up to where Davod and I stood, taking the lead as we continued our journey.

    Yumi directed us down a narrow passage of foliage that had overgrown the shale foot path despite having been chopped as recently as yesterday before she disappeared.  Overhead, giant leaves of a tall tree cast everything in shadow, and the road began to drop down a steep incline.  A deafening rush of water crashing over rocks beneath a stone bridge emptied into an expanse of swamp.  The road followed a causeway that dropped down into standing reedy water on both sides, with grass tall enough to hide an army in and thick trees easily within a bowshot to our left while the expansive swamp stretched out on the right.This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

    ¡°Gods!¡± Ales nearly shook, and unsheathed his cutlass, pointing it at the water line.  There, the black head of an alligator lay in wait.  Its head alone had to be a good three feet long and hungry, yet perfectly still and nearly invisible in the swamp grass.  Its slitted eyes perused us as we walked by.  ¡°Got another!¡±

    Faren spoke up to remind everyone, ¡°remember to make eye contact.¡±

    Ales spoke again a moment later, ¡°two more on the right!¡±

    We came out of the swamp and climbed up an embankment where the ground was on two different levels as though a shelf had lifted half of it up and left the remnant where it was.  At the top, a tree had fallen over leaving a massive ball of roots five yards high, covered in vines yet still reaching a new trunk up into the forest.  Its old trunk lay across the road, having been tunneled through with an axe yet still sprouted a dozen new trees forth.  Beyond the tunnel, I envisioned a band of enemy soldiers waiting in ambush¡ªwe¡¯d have had no hope of seeing them.

    An expanse of low bushes with huge, flat leaves covered the ground hip high for hundreds of yards all around, with plenty of space beneath those massive leaves to conceal three companies of men.  Above, the trees shielded the forest in a dense canopy filled with a myriad of chirps and whistles.  One heavy tree branch was moving¡­ slithering slowly up along the tree and flitting its tongue out in search of a meal.  The road led us past a narrow gap in the trees above and gave us a clear view of a nearby ledge that looked like the perfect spot to host a few archers as there¡¯d be no way to defend ourselves.  Then the trees grew extra thick on both sides such that if something were to lurk just on the other side we¡¯d have no hope to see them.

    Davod jerked his head to the left.  The veins in his neck popped in rapid succession as sweat poured down his neck and his shirt was soaked through.

    Without looking up I whispered, ¡°you hear something?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± he shook his head.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on, man?  Why are you so on edge?¡±

    At that, Davod stopped and looked around.  His eyes were wide, his breath heavy, and he clenched his jaw.  He surveyed the jungle in every direction, while Ales furrowed his brow, ¡°what¡¯s going on?¡±

    Davod held up his hand to silence him.  Visibility was poor.  All around us not ten yards away, heavy bushes camouflaged whatever might have been behind them while overhead, thick trees cast the whole jungle in twilight despite the midmorning clouds beyond.  Noise was everywhere.  If that bird was calling out anything, I couldn¡¯t make it out for the cacophony of whistles, chirps, random caws, and the steady grinding of insects that surrounded us.

    Borel crossed his arms, Jame stared at Davod, while Malchuk started to shift his eyes around in every direction.  Geraln took Malchuk¡¯s cue and nocked an arrow, himself looking around in every direction.  Jezi did the same.

    We were all drenched in sweat.  At length, Davod took in a deep breath and let it out slowly, then pulled me in close by my arm.  ¡°I need to talk to you.  Alone.¡±

    He led me a few yards behind a thick hedge with long, flat leaves large enough to roll up as a blanket that stuck up from the ground and fanned out easily three yards high.  There, he checked round to make sure none of the others were listening before leaning in to whisper.  ¡°Where¡¯s Yumi?¡±

    ¡°Uh¡­¡± I shrugged.

    His fingers shook and his voice quivered.  ¡°She¡¯s supposed to check in.  We should have seen her.  I don¡¯t know where she is.  She¡¯s supposed to check in.  Why hasn¡¯t she checked in?  She¡¯s supposed¡­¡±

    I took hold of his shoulders and whispered.  ¡°OK.  Take a deep breath.¡±

    He did, then shook his head vigorously.

    I raised my voice enough for the others to hear, ¡°it¡¯s just a rash, man¡ªtry not to stroke it so hard.¡±

    Some of the others laughed a bit, while I heard Geraln translating into Goloagi.

    Davod¡¯s eyes popped.  ¡°I¡¯m going to kill you.  I swear to Falcon, I¡¯m going to bloody kill you!¡±

    ¡°Alright,¡± I nodded.  ¡°Let¡¯s get to Tower One first.  How often is she supposed to check in?¡±

    He opened his mouth and shook his head vigorously.  ¡°Uh¡­ I don¡¯t know.  Maybe¡­ I don¡¯t know?  She should have by now¡­¡±

    I emphasized that word, ¡°maybe.  This could be normal.  Alright?  Could be nothing.¡±

    Davod blew out and tried to steady his fingers.

    ¡°How¡¯s this,¡± I offered.  ¡°Do you know how much farther it is?¡±

    ¡°Mmm,¡± he shrugged.  ¡°It¡¯s about ten miles on the map.  The road twists around, so¡­¡±

    ¡°OK, so we¡¯ve got a good few more hours.  Let¡¯s go another thousand yards or so, and if we don¡¯t see her, we¡¯ll revisit this conversation.¡±

    Davod nodded slightly, then shifted his head side to side.  Then he countered, ¡°five-hundred.¡±

    I shrugged.  ¡°Fine.  But let¡¯s bring Jezi in on this; he might know a thing or two.¡±

    While Davod nodded, I called the boy over.  He glanced down at Davod¡¯s pants, then looked between us.  I leaned in close to whisper.  ¡°Yumi hasn¡¯t checked in on us for a while.  Do you know anything about how often they¡¯re supposed to, or has Dayumi ever said anything to you about it?¡±

    Jezi shook his head.  ¡°No.  But she still has training so maybe she not has the experience.¡±

    Davod nodded.  ¡°Alright.¡±  With a deep breath he instructed the kid, ¡°we need to keep moving.  Tell everyone to nock arrows and be ready for anything.¡±

    I added, ¡°and if you hear something, try not to look like you can read the forest.¡±

    Jezi sucked his teeth at me, ¡°I have the better idea.¡±

    Jezi¡¯s better idea was to instruct everyone to act like they can read the jungle.  Every chirp, every whistle, every random call, every snapped twig, every rustled leaf, look at it.  Study it.  He then filed the men into two columns to march side-by-side so that each man could focus their attention in one direction.  The nerves on everyone¡¯s faces were apparent.  My own heart sent me a shot of adrenaline, and we continued forward.

    Up ahead, the road turned to the right to rise up along a hill.  Beside us was one of those trees with the red stems and marble-sized black berries.  I stepped off to grab a cluster and popped one into my mouth.  Davod scrunched his lips and looked at me with stern derision, holding his hands out at the side.

    I looked around.  ¡°Everyone get some energy.  We might need it.¡±

    Faren and Malchuk glanced at one another, then shrugged and moved forward.  Rock took down a huge cluster and stuffed several into his mouth at the same time.  Gino followed my lead, Jame and Borel stood with their arms crossed while Renou stood beside them.  Jame spoke up, ¡°how do you know those aren¡¯t poisonous?¡±

    Jezi sucked his teeth and took a few himself, and there were more than enough berries on the tree for everyone.  Then I remembered the dokono breads Miyani had given me.  I hadn¡¯t one for everyone, but breaking off a few pieces made it enough.  Ales looked at it with his brow furrowed.  ¡°Where the hell did you get this, man?¡±

    Faren smiled, ¡°you don¡¯t like it?¡±

    Ales huffed.  ¡°It¡¯s the most delicious thing in the universe!  This is a whole nother category¡ªwhere the hell did you get this?¡±

    Borel stepped up and slapped his arm around him.  ¡°Fringe benefits of native pussy, man.  You have no idea!¡±

    Fed, we continued our journey.  The road led us sideways up a steep incline covered in ferns so thick you couldn¡¯t see the rock behind them.  Ahead of us, the ledge offered whoever stood upon it the perfect place to conceal an ambush.  I glanced at Davod and nodded him to follow, and drew our bows.  At full draw, we crept above the ledge and slowly peered over with weapons trained on nothing.  Trees were sparse up there, and there wasn¡¯t anything beyond the ledge for cover, so we relaxed.  Davod turned around and lowered his hand, nodding for the others who¡¯d drawn as well that we were clear.

    We continued.  The slate of the road was barely visible beneath countless vines that stretched across the way.  Several others lined the sides, piling layer upon layer of vines three feet high, all chopped within a few days.  Ahead about two-hundred yards, the forest got dense once more, so Davod turned around.  ¡°Alright, listen up.¡±

    The men all gathered around him.  His words felt strong and sincere, the nervous panic was gone, and he stood with his chest high.  ¡°Yumi has not checked in.  We don¡¯t know how often she¡¯s supposed to, but when Ahmi was training us, it was way more often than this.  She¡¯s not as experienced, and right now we haven¡¯t seen her.¡±

    Jame¡¯s voice held a faint quiver.  ¡°What the hell does that mean.¡±

    I stepped beside Davod.  ¡°We don¡¯t know.  It¡¯s possible she¡¯s trying to have a shit, but is just really, really backed up.¡±

    Rock giggled to himself, Geraln shook his head and covered his eyes, but I could tell he was laughing.  Davod looked at me in shock.

    I shrugged.  ¡°It¡¯s true.  That is a possibility.¡±

    Davod tried to fight it, but he chuckled heartily and smiled.  Then he shook his head and looked over the men once more.  ¡°That is one possibility.¡±

    Malchuk listened as Jame translated for him, Rock, and Northstar.  Then he nodded and looked around us.  ¡°When I was in Kulun, sometimes this happened.  You miss a checkpoint.  Sometimes somebody¡¯s walking too slow, sometimes the people you¡¯re looking for got massacred.  Sometimes the idiot giving orders can¡¯t do basic math, and sometimes you never find out.¡±

    I translated for Davod, and he nodded.  ¡°Alright.  We keep going.¡±

    As we started to move, I couldn¡¯t help but point out, ¡°it¡¯s possible she¡¯s killed an enemy and is in the process of harvesting an ear for her boyfriend.¡±

    Davod chuckled at that, then held a finger to his lips with a smile.

    Jezi ignored that, ¡°Yumi is single.¡±

    ¡°Well there it is!¡± I said.  ¡°How is she going to convince a man she''s serious without a severed human body part?  She has a crush on someone!  Why else would she be harvesting an ear right now?¡±

    Ales sucked his teeth, ¡°you gonna mock your woman¡¯s culture like that, man?¡±

    Davod stopped and turned to Ales, then looked at me directly.  ¡°We¡¯ve got about six or seven miles to go, and we need to cut the conversation.  Got it?¡±

    We passed beside a thick bush decorated with clusters of tiny light-purple berries that could have easily hidden an ambush on the other side.  Overhead, I heard that bird again, making the call for humans in bursts of six or sometimes seven.  I tried to listen out if I could hear it elsewhere in the trees, but there was so much noise with random hoots and calls I couldn¡¯t discern anything.

    To my right, something rustled quickly through the branches.  I drew and took aim, and I felt Rock directly beside me with his bow drawn as well.  A moment later, I could make out a thing like a giant striped squirrel thing clinging to a tree and half scampered up, frozen in place, and staring at us with large white eyes.  I relaxed my arm and we kept walking.

    Then I heard Geraln behind me whispering to Rock, ¡°don¡¯t hold the draw, man.  Your arm¡¯s going to get tire

    Rock took a deep breath and his eyes shuttered.  Then he relaxed his arm, and we kept walking.

    The road widened a bit, and we passed by a structure on the right overtaken almost completely by vines save one corner of large black stones mortared together.

    Someone screamed.

 Medical Kit

    Cries of a man shrieking in pain filled the forest behind me, silencing everything around us, and we all turned to see what happened.

    Behind Rock, Renou was on the ground, still screaming in blood-curdling agony¡ªhis right foot was buried in a hole in the ground halfway to his knee.  He cried loud and hard, ¡°OH GODS!  OH GODS!  AHH!¡±

    Borel slapped the back of his head, ¡°get up, man!  Just stand up!  Come on!¡±

    He tried to lift it out, then shrieked again.  Gino and Jame each took one shoulder and tried to pull him up, but he shrieked even harder, screaming out as no man I¡¯d ever heard before.

    ¡°STOP!¡± I shouted, then ran over for a closer look.

    Borel stood with his arms crossed.  ¡°It¡¯s just a mud hole, man, what¡¯s going on?¡±

    But there was blood.

    Malchuk then waved his arms at the whole group and spoke forcefully, ¡°it¡¯s a trap!  Everyone, make a perimeter!¡±

    Davod nodded, then directed men around us in a circle, facing outward with bows drawn.

    As for Renou, he sat down in the mud with his right leg caught in the hole and tears cascading down his cheeks, still whimpering hard.  There were tufts of moss around, and when I moved those out of the way, I saw it.  Buried in the ground was a wooden box the size of a human foot.  A large knife had stuck upwards through the center of his boot, and blood was oozing out to make a slurry with the mud beneath.  At the sides of the box were three more blades angled down, each of which had dug into the leather of his boot, each letting more blood and keeping his foot trapped.

    Davod turned from the jungle to face me.  ¡°How bad is it?¡±

    I breathed out slowly and tried to figure out the best way to go about the situation.  ¡°It¡¯s bad.  This is going to take some time.¡±

    ¡°We don¡¯t have time.  We have to move.  Now.¡±

    I looked up at Davod.  ¡°He can¡¯t move.  There¡¯s knives everywhere dug into him, this big one is barbed, we¡¯re stuck here.  I can get him out, but this is going to be a while.¡±

    Davod swallowed.  ¡°This is the tactic, Caleb.  Trap one man, he screams, now they know our position.  We stay to look after him, they sneak up and kill us all.  We have to move.¡±

    I shook my head.  ¡°I told you, Renou can¡¯t move.  I need time¡­¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no time!  We have to go, now!¡±

    ¡°And what about Renou?¡±

    Davod blinked a few times and swallowed.  Then with a deep breath, ¡°we have to leave him.¡±  He turned to Renou, who was so buried in pain that he scarcely heard what was being said.  ¡°I¡¯m sorry, man.  I¡¯m sorry.  I have to look out¡­¡±

    I nearly shouted, ¡°are you out of your bloody mind, man?  We can¡¯t just¡­¡±

    Borel stepped beside Davod, ¡°we can, and we bloody will.  I¡¯m not sticking around to get ambushed.  Let¡¯s go.¡±  He took Jame¡¯s arm and they started to walk off.

    Davod nearly shouted after him, ¡°anyone who separates from the group is dead!¡±

    Geraln shook his head and closed his eyes.  Then with a deep breath, he knelt and put a hand on Renou¡¯s shoulder.  ¡°I¡¯m sorry, man, but Davod is right.  We stick around, we¡¯re all dead.¡±

    I glared at Geraln, ¡°if it were your foot caught in the trap?¡±

    Davod slapped my shoulder, ¡°we don¡¯t have time for this, man!¡±

    I didn¡¯t feel like looking at him.  ¡°I¡¯m not leaving him.¡±

    Davod insisted, ¡°you have to.¡±

    ¡°Do what you must.  I¡¯m not leaving him.¡±

    At that his eyes popped and he pulled his face back.  His voice was hollowed out with terror.  ¡°You¡¯re going to get killed.¡±

    Borel crossed his arms, ¡°he¡¯s going to get us all killed!  He wants to stay, let¡¯s go!¡±

    Renou rested his hand on mine and spoke softly though I could see the pain he was in.  ¡°It¡¯s OK¡­¡±

    ¡°Be quiet,¡± I told him.

    Borel mocked, ¡°even the dead guy gets it.  Come on!¡±

    I took hold of Renou¡¯s hand and looked deep into his eyes.  ¡°I¡¯m not leaving you.¡±

    Davod shook his head vigorously, ¡°Caleb, man, I get it.  I understand, but this is more than you.  This is bigger.  I can¡¯t let these men get slaughtered.  We have to go!¡±

    ¡°Go, then.¡±

    He leaned in, ¡°you have to come with us!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not leaving him.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re gonna get KILLED, man!  Anyone who stays is DEAD!¡±  He looked around at the forest in all directions.  ¡°They¡¯re probably almost here already!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not leaving him.¡±

    Faren stood beside Borel.  ¡°Think about Miyani, man; that girl loves the hell out of you.¡±

    I shrugged.  ¡°She¡¯s a woman.¡±

    Gino stepped up to me and knelt low, resting a hand on his shoulder.  ¡°Don¡¯t throw your life away, man.  God has a plan for you!¡±

    I smirked.  ¡°He¡¯s going to need me alive for that, won¡¯t he?¡±

    In truth, I shook.  My whole body trembled and I felt like I was about to break.  How far the ambush party was, I didn¡¯t know.  How long it would take for them to get here, I didn¡¯t know.  How many of them there were, whether they would find taking me captive and chopping off my hand more profitable than killing me, I didn¡¯t know.  But in my heart I knew I couldn¡¯t abandon Renou.

    Davod tried one last time, ¡°I order you.¡±

    I furrowed my brow.

    ¡°Get up and let¡¯s go.  That is a direct order.  As your commander, I order you.¡±

    I took a deep breath.  ¡°Next time you see me, put me in the sling.¡±

    Jezi looked around and leaned in close to Davod, worry painted all over his alabaster face.  ¡°We have no time for this!¡±

    At that, the men began to file down the road.  Malchuk stepped up to me and crouched down, resting his forehead on mine.  ¡°God keep you, friend.  All according to His plan.  Thy kingdom come, thy will be done.  Amen.¡±

    I opened my eyes and looked up at him.  ¡°Amen.¡±

    Davod was the last to go.  He stood, still looking at me, and a tear meandered down his cheek.  His hands shook.  Geraln called back, ¡°come on!¡±

    I looked up at him.  Inside my body thundered and wailed, but I tried to pretend calm.  ¡°You¡¯re responsible to those men.  Get them to Tower One.¡±

    His lip quivered, and more tears streamed down his cheek.  He whimpered, ¡°Falcon watches over you!¡±

    And with that, I died.  The logistics of that didn¡¯t matter.  Perhaps an arrow would come out of nowhere and punch through my head.  Perhaps some wild animals would come by and eat me.  Either way, I was already dead, and the rest was merely a formality.

    The road from Ulum had been cold.  I remembered standing with Davod overlooking a green basin below us while high mountains reached up from dirty snow drifts.  His nose was red and his cheeks were flush, and his long hair danced in the freezing wind while a frantic creek rushed over rocks somewhere nearby.  I don¡¯t want to fade away thinking I shoulda made love to that girl.

    I looked at Renou and smiled.  ¡°Just us, now.¡±

    He was still.  His eyes were open, though I could tell there was a layer of agony just beneath the surface.  ¡°Why did you do that?¡±

    ¡°Why not?¡± I smiled.  I knelt low to examine the trap closely.

    Renou spoke almost to himself.  ¡°I¡¯m not worth saving.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± I glanced at him.

    His eyes were off to the side, looking over a small bush with bright red leaves being overtaken by a young vine with tiny black berries.

    I asked, ¡°why would you say that?¡±

    He shrugged, then winced.

    ¡°Try not to move.¡±  I looked back down into the trap.  The three side blades had all snagged on his boot and buried into his skin beneath.  They all had some kind of rivet that I couldn¡¯t get a blade under, but likely had some kind of fastener on the outside of the box.  I felt around beside his foot and tried to get an idea of how difficult it would be to lift up the box entirely.

    ¡°I¡¯m nobody,¡± he said.  ¡°I¡¯ve never been anybody, and I never will.  I don¡¯t mean anything to anyone,¡± he cried a tear, then wiped it clean.

    I sat up a moment.  ¡°Who says?¡±

    He huffed.  ¡°Everyone says so.  My whole life.¡±

    ¡°Listen.  No one¡¯s qualified to make that kind of judgment.  Not Borel, not Davod, not your mum, not your dad, no teacher, no priest, not me, and not even you.¡±

    He laughed lightly at that.  ¡°Not even me, huh?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± I said.  ¡°You¡¯re not.  You don¡¯t have clairvoyance into how everything fits together¡ªyou can never truly grasp the impact you have on this world.  This forest,¡± I looked around.  ¡°Every rock, every bush, every vine, every tree, no matter how small, or ugly, or gangly, or whatever, plays a role.  And it¡¯s an important role.  Humans don¡¯t like mosquitoes, but you know what?  That doesn¡¯t make mosquitoes meaningless; it simply means humans don¡¯t like them.  Are you less than a mosquito?¡±

    He shrugged.

    ¡°I went through a bit of that myself.¡±

    He tilted his head and nearly laughed.  ¡°You?¡±

    I laughed as well.  ¡°Yeah, man.  Look, no one can predict the future.  You play a role.  I don¡¯t know what it is, and neither do you.  You''re going to let these guys tell you otherwise like they know a thing.  Trust me, they don¡¯t know anything.  We¡¯re all just as scared as you, and that includes myself.  Help me dig this out.¡±

    We set about trying to unearth the box.  The dirt around it was soft with only a handful of feathery roots reaching fine tendrils into the wood.  As we got towards the bottom, we found some wide paddles that stuck out from the frame to help anchor it in the ground.  We continued to work on that, then tried to lift.  The paddles snagged on some dirt, jarring it about, and Renou winced hard as more blood seeped out from the blade dug into his ankle.  Then he leaned his head back and sucked in through his teeth.  I tried to hold it steady, but there was no helping the matter.

    We set it down.  I found the rivets on the outside holding the side blades in place¡ªthey looked like they should break off easy, so I took my knife and popped the first one off.  When I pulled the first blade out of him, he let out a cry of anguished relief, and a generous trickle of blood spilled out from the spot.

    Then I paused before looking at the next one.  ¡°I almost forgot.¡±  I went into my medical kit and took out a pouch of gebu¡¯i powder, then opened my canteen and poured it in, swirling it around.  ¡°You need to drink this.  It tastes horrible, but you might get to keep your foot.¡±

    He smiled, ¡°if we don¡¯t get ambushed, you mean?¡±

    I smiled, too.  ¡°Well, we¡¯re already dead, so whatever.¡±

    He laughed at that.

    The next blade thrust downwards and into the back of his leg just beneath the calf.  I broke the rivets off that one and pulled it out as well.  Renou held his breath, then groaned.  Then with a deep breath he said, ¡°I¡¯ve never been with a girl¡­ a woman, sorry.¡±This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

    ¡°Neither have I.¡±

    He furrowed his brow and looked at me wide-eyed.  ¡°What?  I thought you were with that scout?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m Daenma.  Chastity is a religious edict I follow.¡±

    He nodded, ¡°Oh, I see.  Well at least you have options; I¡¯ve never even kissed a girl.¡±  He shook his head, ¡°woman.¡±

    ¡°So?¡± I said.  ¡°You¡¯ll get there.  Stick around in Carthia¡ªthere are way too many ladies there for you to keep on like that.  You just need to believe in yourself.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s hard to do.  It¡¯s easy when you have something to draw confidence from, but what do I even have?  I have nothing.  I¡¯m not good at anything.¡±

    I looked at him.  ¡°Just find your niche, man.  Find a place to bloom and you¡¯ll get there..¡±

    Renou shook with laughter, then winced at the pain.

    ¡°Hold still while I pull this one.¡±

    After I got the last one on the side, I tore off the rivets holding the box together and wiped away the blood-soaked dirt until it was just the bottom panel with the big, barbed knife thrust through his boot to come out the top of his foot.  I broke off the rivets and removed the wood, and the knife had a flat plane at the bottom where it had been fastened to the box that prevented me from pushing it the rest of the way through.

    The barbs were a problem.  I had to pull the knife out the way it had gone in, but several barbs promised to snag on a nerve, a tendon, anything that might catch.  I rummaged through the medical kit in search of a solution and found a pair of heavy forceps that may or may not have been strong enough to snap the barbs from the rest of the metal.  Dr. Zuggi would likely issue the pointy-finger of shame at me for abusing her equipment like this, but I had to try something.

    Renou took another swig of the drink.  ¡°Gods, this stuff is disgusting!¡±

    I pulled hard at one of the barbs, hoping it worked, and Renou winced from the pain.

    ¡°Sorry,¡± I said.

    He took a deep breath, then nodded me to continue.  Then, holding the knife as still as I could at the bottom end, I snapped the first barb off leaving jagged metal behind.  It would cut bad on its way out, but at least it wouldn¡¯t rip his whole foot apart.  Easy enough.  I snapped the next one off.

    ¡°You know this is going to leave a scar, right?¡±

    He chuckled.  ¡°We¡¯re already dead, so what difference does it make?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s the spirit!¡±  I smiled and pulled the knife slowly out, using the heel of his boot to stabilize it.  As it came, it brought another ooze of blood, and I used my own knife to carve his boot off completely.  I then took his canteen and washed the whole foot off with water.  Two lacerations decorated his ankle on both sides with a third digging into his achilles.  The main wound left a hole at the top of his foot with an exit through the center of his arch at the bottom, and on each of them blood continued to leak out.  ¡°zoked?.¡±

    He watched me work, resting his hands at his sides.  ¡°What¡¯s that mean?¡±

    ¡°It means memory, but it also means scar.  I was confused because the subject doesn¡¯t work.  I thought zoked?sedu translates as you remember me, but no, it means I remember you.  That¡¯s because it literally means you scar me.  Speaking of which, Na¡¯uhui women love a good scar.  They think it¡¯s sexy.¡±

    Renou''s eyes perked up.  ¡°Really?¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± I couldn''t help but chuckle.  ¡°So you drink some more of that nasty stuff, and if we make it back alive, when this heals up, you¡¯ll have to walk around barefoot so that all the women can see it.¡±  I had a small bottle of grain alcohol I used to dab at the wounds and wipe away any excess dirt.

    ¡°Caleb?¡±

    I was rummaging for some gauze.

    ¡°B¡­ behind you!¡±

    It was a scout, but she wasn''t one of ours.

    Her vita''o was black all over and peered at me through one opaline-white eye with a black slit running vertically down the center, and held its mouth open to display those teeth.  The woman had her bow drawn back full and pointed an arrow directly at my face.

    I froze.

    She froze.

    Renou froze.

    I tried to look around.  I didn¡¯t see anyone else.  That black vita¡¯o lizard raised its face up and brought it close enough to mine that I could touch my nose to it just by getting tired.  Its white eye shimmered in the green light of the forest, and it held itself there.  And still, the woman held her aim at me close enough that had she shot, I¡¯d have had a spike through my skull before the shaft left the bow.

    I took a deep breath and tried to settle from the shock.

    Renou waved his hand with a friendly smile, ¡°zawa!¡±

    I nodded in turn, ¡°zawa.¡±

    Still she didn¡¯t flinch.  Renou looked desperately at me and whispered, ¡°what do we do?¡±

    I held my hands still and resisted the urge to shrug or look remotely guilty of anything.  On her left shoulder she had a white tattoo I hadn''t seen before¡ªlike a coiled snake with its head tilted up.  With a deep breath I looked back down.  ¡°Well, we¡¯re already dead.  I¡¯m going to finish bandaging this up and we¡¯re going to get you back home.  Um¡­¡± I looked up at the woman, herself almost as dark as her vita¡¯o.  The broadhead she aimed at my face didn''t look one bit like a pleasant experience.  ¡°Yeah.¡±

    I went back to Renou''s foot.  I put some woven cotton over the lacerations and held them there while I wrapped it in linen.  Once they were in place I looked back, and she was gone.

    And so I hoisted him up and held his arm over my shoulder, and with that we were able to walk.  We studied the road as it led off in two directions¡ªone way to Tower One while the other back to Carthia.  ¡°Uh¡­¡±

    ¡°p? ???ed?we!¡± that scout appeared again, pointing down the road back to Carthia.

    Renou pointed.  ¡°I think we should go that way.¡±

    And so we hobbled.  We passed by that old, vine-covered building.  I nodded towards it, ¡°I wonder what¡¯s inside there?¡±

    Renou thought about it.  ¡°It¡¯s probably just trees and stuff.  Maybe some broken roots or whatever.¡±

    ¡°Na,¡± I said with a smile.  ¡°I bet there¡¯s a secret lair there.  I bet there¡¯s gold, so much gold you could hardly see the floor.  And it¡¯s watched over by a sadirac.¡±

    Renou looked up.  ¡°What¡¯s that?¡±

    I looked at him with a smile.  ¡°It¡¯s an old Falcon legend.  There was this doom, and it was held in a box.  And if anyone opened the doom, the whole world would become filled with poison.   Bear was so angry at seeing Cougar get the last acorn that he broke open the doom.  That¡¯s how evil entered the world, of course.  Naveris saw this and she created the sadirac, these ghost-like etherial creatures that can move in and out of worlds at will, so if you tried to strike them, they would shift into the etherium.  Then they would shift back in to strike you.  Of course they can fly and move through walls and all that.  Anyway, she made a law that whenever someone does evil, the price tag is to be tied around their neck for the rest of their lives.  Anyone who refuses has to face the sadirac.  So yeah, that¡¯s what that is.  It¡¯s a secret sadirac lair.¡±

    Renou shook his head as we hobbled beyond view of the place.  ¡°I don¡¯t think that¡¯s what it is.¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡± my eyes perked up.  ¡°What is it, then?¡±

    He looked around.  ¡°Shouldn¡¯t we be quiet?¡±

    I sucked my teeth.  ¡°We¡¯re already dead, so no, you can¡¯t get out of it so easily.  You have to tell me what¡¯s in there?¡±

    He bobbed his head about.  ¡°It¡¯s not about what¡¯s in there now, but what was in there.¡±

    That brought a smile to my face.  ¡°Of course these things are not mutually exclusive!¡±

    ¡°Hmm,¡± he smiled, then nodded.  ¡°OK, I think we can do that.  So there was this old couple.  Very, very old, and they were sitting beside the fire on the¡­ does it even get cold here?¡±

    I offered, ¡°they were cooking something!¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡± he nodded.  ¡°They were cooking their favorite meal.  It was the meal they had the day they both realized they were in love.  They¡¯d known each other before, but this was the moment.  This was the moment when he looked at her and she looked at him, and they both¡­ knew.  They just knew, and that was it.  And they were cooking the thing they had for dinner that night way back when they were young.¡±

    ¡°What was it?¡± I asked.

    He looked up.  ¡°Uh¡­ let¡¯s go with something¡­ oh, yes!  They were making jaloopa.¡±

    My eyes perked up at the memory.  ¡°Oh God!  Oh my God, I miss that stuff!¡±

    ¡°Oh yeah!¡± he smiled.  ¡°So they were making it because they knew that this was likely going to be the last time they¡¯ll ever have to share jaloopa together.¡±

    ¡°They were dying.¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡±

    Renou smiled wide.  ¡°They did something.  Long, long ago, and that price tag was getting heavy, so they knew their time was at an end.  So they''re making jaloopa.  And she made it perfect, too.  Onions sauteed in butter until they¡¯re the perfect brown, and you dump in a quart of white wine with mushrooms and rosemary, and then simmer that down.  Then you add your rice and heavy cream¡­¡±

    I nearly laughed.

    We¡¯d hobbled our way through the trough carved through chopped vines piled three feet high towards the embankment when we saw that scout again.  She had her bow drawn and pointed at me at first, then relaxed her arm and urged her vita¡¯o towards us.  The creature¡­ it was a she, came close and sniffed me over.  She frantically brought her lizard nose all up and down me, paying close attention to my cheeks and to the wound on my wrist.  Then she croaked and chirped, then let out a gargle followed by a click.

    The woman then leaned down and brought her face to within inches from mine, passing her yellow eyes all over me and smiling wide.  ¡°??k?sa m?ya?i!  Hehehehe!¡±

    She giggled hard, then a fraction of a second later she jerked up and looked at something, darted off towards it, and disappeared behind another tree.

    I looked, but didn¡¯t see anything.  We kept walking, and I couldn¡¯t help but ponder about that.  ¡°She knows Miyani.¡±

    Renou broke out laughing.  ¡°She knows you¡¯re fucking Miyani!  Er¡­ thinks anyway.¡±

    I smirked.  ¡°So you did understand that.¡±

    He chuckled, ¡°come on!  That¡¯s the first word anybody learns.¡±

    ¡°Ahh,¡± I bowed low and thought about it.  ¡°But if I heard her correctly, she said -sa, not -se.  That would make me the object and her the subject, so Miyani is fucking me.  Same thing, I guess.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Renou pondered for a moment.  ¡°Can we logically deduce from her fucking you that you¡¯re fucking her?¡±

    That made me laugh.  ¡°I would make that assumption!¡±

    ¡°Well, let¡¯s see here,¡± he scratched his chin.  ¡°The hypothesis claims the statement is bidirectional, meaning that if person A is fucking person B, then person B is fucking person A.  How can we prove that?¡±

    I shook my head and laughed, ¡°I hated proofs!  God, I hated that crap!¡±

    Renou assured me, ¡°This one¡¯s easy.  Let¡¯s start with can we disprove it?  Can you think of a counterexample?¡±

    I looked up.  ¡°Well, let¡¯s see here.  Um¡­ rape?¡±

    He winced and tried to shake off the shock of the word.  ¡°OK!¡± he tried to smile it off.  ¡°So that would be a counterexample.  That proves the underlying assumption false.  It would be incorrect to translate that as you¡¯re fucking Miyani, but that Miyani is fucking you. These things are not the same.¡±

    I laughed.  ¡°That is exactly the kind of bullshit that made me hate those lessons!¡±

    Renou laughed hard, but checked himself and looked around the forest.  Then he nodded.  ¡°But it¡¯s true, though.¡±

    I winced.  ¡°I know it¡¯s true!  That was the problem.  It twisted my brain in knots for no reason.  And I don¡¯t think that¡¯s fair.  I should have got something for it.¡±

    Renou laughed.  We hobbled past the tree with the berries and kept going past the hedge with the massive, rolled-up leaves.  Renou spoke next, but his tone grew sober.  ¡°My dad used to beat the shit out of me if I got one bad mark in school.¡±

    I answered.  ¡°Davod¡¯s dad was like that.  Not even over school, but anything.  Anything at all set that man off.  One time he hurt Davod really bad.  Neighbor caught him in the vegetable garden with this girl we grew up with, and his dad bashes him in the head with a shovel.  Like, he¡¯s out.  Hit him so bad he¡¯s unconscious.  He wakes up later, Mother Searnie is there, I¡¯m with her, and he wakes up.  His dad starts eating into him all this bullshit about pure Herali blood.  Can¡¯t spare one second for a ¡®hi son, glad you¡¯re still alive.¡¯¡±

    ¡°He sounds like a nice guy.¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± I nodded.

    As we approached the causeway through the swamp, my mind set about figuring out a way to convince the hungry dinosaurs we didn¡¯t look delicious, when she appeared again.

    The woman looked over the causeway, then looked at us, paying close attention to Renou¡¯s bandaged foot dangling just above the ground between us.  She then held up her hand and looked again before stepping down from her mount.  Then she took up her necklace and sorted through the giant beads before settling on one of them.  She then opened a panel and pulled out a strap of sorts.  On the end of her bow, she pushed something into the knife bracket so that the strap hung down from there.  Then she reached into a leather pouch at her side and pulled a small stone from it.  She set it in the strap and pulled back, then slingshotted a middle-sized alligator who¡¯d taken up residence along the path.  The beast jerked away, splashed into the water, and vanished.  She looked back at me, ¡°p? xe?ise.¡±

    We followed her, and her vita¡¯o crossed the causeway behind us.  She slingshotted another one.  It bellowed out in protest then lurched away and dipped beneath the water.  Behind me, I heard a splash.  We turned, and her vita¡¯o¡¯s head was beneath the water.  A second later, she had a six-foot alligator¡¯s neck in her mouth.  The poor thing¡¯s jaws opened and closed, then locked open as she wiggled her head back and forth.  Then she tossed it up, flipped it over, and caught it in her jaws once more.

    As we hobbled across the causeway, my eyes landed on the enemy scout before us.  She had a small round scar on the side of her hip, and by the hang of her breasts she was probably around Ahmi¡¯s age.  From behind, however¡­ ¡°they all look like that.  God, I love this place!¡±

    Renou giggled and allowed his eyes to pass up and down her back side as well.  He nodded, ¡°the things you allow your eyes to see when you''re dead!¡±

    I continued.  ¡°It¡¯s just¡­ I¡¯ve never seen women so¡­ built.  I grew up, I¡¯d always liked fit girls, but damn!¡±

    She shot another alligator who had its giant head just beneath the water.  It quietly slinked away.  Then she turned around briefly and glared at us, passing her eyes back and forth between us.

    I smiled.  Renou smiled at her, ¡°zawa!¡±

    I leaned in to whisper, ¡°don¡¯t get any ideas; she''s married!¡±

    Once we were across the swamp, she re-mounted the big, black lizard and disappeared into the forest.

    Renou and I hobbled over the stone bridge and made our way up the incline that seemed a lot steeper going up than it had been going down.  ¡°What did you mean about what you said earlier?¡±

    I thought about it.  ¡°Which part?¡±

    ¡°You said you went through times when you doubted yourself?¡±

    I shook my head and smiled.  ¡°OK, well first off, I''m required to tell you that I find peace in God¡¯s grace.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    I laughed.  ¡°As a Daenma, I¡¯m required to tell you that.¡±

    Renou smiled. ¡°It''s in the contract?¡±

    I smiled back.  ¡°It''s in the contract!  But there are days, man.  Sometimes I just don''t see it.  But anyway, yeah.  From before I can remember.  One of my first and oldest memories was wondering what was wrong with me that my parents didn¡¯t want me around.

    ¡°But there¡¯s this guy, he¡¯s the chief of one of the highland clans way, way up in the mountains around Gath.  He¡¯s the same guy who gave Father Yewan this bow, in fact.  Anyway he used to talk about how shameful it was for a true Falcon boy to grow up in a foreign church, and he would invite me to spend time with his clan.  He always said it was to make sure I learned the proper truth of our ancestors, but there was one thing he taught that always stuck with me.

    ¡°He said that your haters have a job, and it¡¯s a very important job.  He said their job is to put you down, to mock you, to try and make you feel low.  He said it¡¯s important that they do that because it challenges you.  Makes you stronger.  Reminds you of your humanity, forces you to examine your worth in this world.  Then,¡± I laughed at the thought of it even now, ¡°he said it¡¯s very important that you don¡¯t do their job for them because then they get lazy.  And we mustn''t let our haters get lazy else they won¡¯t do a proper job.  So don''t do their job for them!¡±  I looked at Renou, who despite the exhaustion of having hopped every step for miles, was beaming.

    We made it around the bend beneath the tree with the giant leaves, when she emerged from the shade of a mango tree.  She had an alligator¡¯s tail rubbed in salt and tied up at the side of the saddle she sat upon, and her eyes darted about frantically..

    She looked back over her shoulder, then turned to me quickly and pointed at my side, ¡°be?? baxa?asedu!¡±

    ¡°Wait,¡± I searched my mind for the word.  ¡°Give?¡±

    ¡°be??!¡± she shouted, pointing at my side, once again looking over her shoulder while her vita¡¯o paced the ground, also turning her face to check behind them.

    She then reached out and grabbed at my medical kit.  I looked at it and tried.  ¡°dowa-se¡­ uh¡­¡±

    She yanked at it, once again checking over her shoulder.  I lifted the strap over my head, and she snatched it from me, then darted off behind the trees once more.

    It wasn¡¯t a minute later when I heard a squawk to my right.  The old woman scout rode up on her own vita¡¯o with an arrow nocked, looking at us.

 Wait

    At the medical ward, Dr Zughi unwrapped Renou''s foot and examined it, then looked at me in astonishment.  ¡°You freed him from a box trap?¡±

    Shamuni, the Eat-shit girl asked, ¡°why didn''t you just cut his foot off?¡±

    Renou''s eyes bulged at her, and she walked off.  Plump eleven year-old Besami threw her arms around me.  ¡°I''m so glad you''re OK!¡±

    I rested my hand at the back of her head.  ¡°I''m glad I''m OK, too!¡±

    A woman''s voice came in from the far side of the medical ward, ¡°what happened?¡±

    The princess was a tall woman.  Her skin wasn¡¯t as dark a green as the pure-blooded Na¡¯uhui, and her father''s dark-green hair had streaks of white.  She wore a silken sash wrapped around her waist that glimmered like rose gold with a flap that hung down to her knees and ended in delicate blue embroidery, held together with a silver clasp at the center of her waist that had a crescent moon inlaid with tiny diamond-tree stones.  That same spider pendant hung between her bare breasts, and on her left hand she wore a ring of twisted copper.

    I looked up at her and asked, ¡°have you heard from my friends?¡±

    She held up one hand and glared at me through eyes like dark amber, then turned to Renou.  Dr Zughi was examining his lacerations with some metal instrument.

    Renou''s eyes were wide and he wore a big smile.  He called the Princess over to him, ¡°come over here!  Let me tell you what happened!¡±

    As she made her way over to him, I stepped up to her.  ¡°Have you heard from Yumi?¡±

    She waved me off.  ¡°I''ll talk to you.  Can you wait, please?¡±

    ¡°What about¡­¡±

    She glared at me, ¡°can you go, please?¡±

    With that, she turned back towards Renou, took a few steps, then glared at me again, ushering me off with her fingers.

    I took that as a cue to leave.

    As for where I''d go, I hadn''t considered it.  Miyani had said she wouldn''t be back until late in the afternoon, but that she would try to meet me at Tower One, at least I think that was what she said.

    I''m pretty sure.

    I wanted to go to the church.  A part of me was still unable to accept the idea that I somehow survived, and felt it prudent to thank God for his hand in that.  But then my stomach cast a deciding vote, and I drifted towards the mess instead.

    Surely God knew I was hungry, right?

    The place smelled like seared olive oil and rosemary.  As I walked in, I saw three men about in the kitchen while another swept the floor of the dining room.  He glanced up at me and taunted, ¡°ain¡¯t nothin¡¯ left, man, you''re late!¡±

    Within the kitchen on the right, one man tended to a fire beneath a giant stone oven, while on the left was a rotund man stirring a steel pot over a brick fire.  They were both new to my eyes, but a third man looked familiar, the man covered in tattoos.  Except his eye patch was turned up, and he could clearly see just fine.

    They all glared at me when I walked in.

    I furrowed my brow.  ¡°Is there truly nothing here to eat?¡±

    The man with the tattoos stood up straight, looked around with both eyes, then turned to the man stirring the pot with a big smile.  ¡°Shayden!  You have a customer!¡±

    The big guy¡¯s chin wobbled as he turned to look at me.  He then ladled a good portion of something brown and soupy into a ceramic bowl and brought it over.  It smelt like warm butter and had a massive ball of dough swimming in a thick gravy of carrots, beans, and corn.

    The tattooed man sat down across from me and smiled wide-eyed.  ¡°Go on!  Try it!¡±

    I did.

    ¡°Well?¡±

    I struggled to find tactful words for it, so I took another bite.  It was palatable, ¡°it wants salt.¡±

    The man had a falcon tattooed on one shoulder and the crescent moon on the other.  He waved that off ¡°besides that.¡±

    I had to search for something.  ¡°The carrots are well-cooked.¡±

    The big man stood in the kitchen squinting his eyes at me with his arms crossed.  The tattooed man had a scar like a straight line from his temple that ran across his eyelid, but it had healed long ago.

    I couldn¡¯t help but ask, ¡°why do you wear an eyepatch?¡±

    ¡°Wife thinks it looks sexy.  Anyway, the stew?  I want you to be brutally honest.¡±  He gave a grin to Shayden who hadn¡¯t moved from his spot.

    I furrowed my brow.  ¡°Brutally honest?¡±

    The tattooed man leaned in.  ¡°Extra brutal!¡±

    I gave the broth a good test and mashed up a bean in my tongue.  ¡°It¡¯s a bit grainy.¡±

    ¡°Grainy?¡± the tattooed man smiled and glanced at Shayden, ¡°that¡¯s interesting!  He says it¡¯s grainy.  Isn¡¯t that interesting?¡±

    Shayden pursed his lips.

    The man¡¯s chest was covered in tattoos.  One of them was of Elk with all the animals gathering at his feet while Cougar and Falcon spoke to one another at the side.  He had a strange symbol tucked away beneath his left arm made of black and white ink¡ªlike a circle with two halves devouring one another.

    ¡°Go on,¡± he said, still giddy at me to test the stew.

    The dumplings were the size of a man¡¯s fist.  I cut into one of them and sliced off a piece.  There was about an inch of good bread, but the dough was still raw on the inside.  I showed my host.

    Shayden snapped in a nasally voice, ¡°it¡¯s not done yet!¡±

    The tattooed man then sniffed the air and shouted, ¡°Sand!  The bread!¡±

    A short, stocky Saeni man had awaited the verdict on the stew.  He shot up, ¡°oh shit!¡± and ran back to the oven.

    The tattooed man stood and made to leave.  On the back of his right arm beneath the scar that matched the one on my wrist, he had columns of skulls¡ªeight groups of six with three more on the side.

    Then it occurred to me, ¡°may I ask you a question?¡±

    He turned and looked down at me.  ¡°You just did.¡±

    It was true.  My mind needed a second to absorb that.  ¡°May I ask you another question?¡±

    He turned his body and gazed at me through dark green eyes with a warm smile, ¡°that¡¯s two already.¡±

    I tasked my mind with assembling the correct words in the correct order.  ¡°May I question you further?¡±

    He laughed, then sat back down across from me.  I took a moment to shout out to Shayden, ¡°you know, the done part of the dumplings is pretty good.¡±

    Shayden nodded, and the Tattooed man asked, ¡°what¡¯s your question?

    But before I could speak, he added, ¡°I¡¯m Lacius, by the way.¡±

    I nodded, ¡°I¡¯m¡­¡±

    ¡°Caleb.  I know.  And if you hit on my wife again, I''ll kill you.¡±

    I froze, stuck between the revelation and the threat.  ¡°I am¡­ so sorry.  I¡­¡±

    He laughed.  ¡°You didn''t know, don''t worry about it.  Anyway, I''m just joking,¡± he leaned in for emphasis, ¡°Blue would get to you long before I do!¡± He popped his eyebrows; his face told me that part wasn''t a joke.

    All I could say was, ¡°oh.¡±

    He had a green snake tattoo that started at his elbow and coiled around his arm, draped over the back of his shoulders and coiled around his other arm, and flitted its tongue about on his opposite elbow.  He sat up and smiled.  ¡°What was your question?¡±

    I took a deep breath and tried to reset.  ¡°How much do you know about the tribal markings people wear?¡±

    He pointed at the glyphs on his shoulder.  ¡°You mean this stuff?¡±

    I nodded.

    ¡°OK, well up North, the tribes around Carthia, pretty much everyone wears their vayi?o.  As you go further south, it¡¯s more of a personal preference.  I hope you know this guy,¡± he pointed at the Falcon.  It was the exact same falcon drawing I¡¯d seen on Davod¡¯s and Borel¡¯s shoulder.  ¡°Obviously.¡±

    He laughed.  Then he pointed at the crescent moon.  ¡°And this is Carthia.¡±

    I tilted my head.  ¡°They have their own tribe here?¡±

    ¡°We,¡± he nodded.  ¡°We have our own tribe here.¡±  He rested his weight on his shoulders and leaned in.  ¡°Carthia is home to the homeless.  People who cannot exist anywhere else¡­ are welcome here.  And I think that¡¯s beautiful.  I believe this place is worth protecting, and so I fight.  And I will fight every day of my life to protect this place if I have to.¡±

    I held that in for a moment.  ¡°OK.¡±

    ¡°In fact,¡± he held up a finger.  ¡°If you¡¯d like to know, the crescent moon was Dovann¡¯s sigil.¡±

    ¡°Who¡¯s that?¡±

    ¡°He was a sea captain.  He was the bad guy for whoever paid him a whole lot of money to be the bad guy.  He was that guy.  One day he captured a ship, but it was loaded with slaves.  Hundreds upon hundreds of people chained together below deck.  Half of them were dead, and the other half were on their way.  So this Dovann, he sees this and his heart breaks.  He brings them all to the only place in the world they would be safe, Carthia.  This was hundreds of years ago, by the way.  Anyway, the crescent moon was his sigil.¡±

    ¡°Wow,¡± I shook my head.  ¡°I didn¡¯t know any of that.¡±

    ¡°Alright.  So, the main enemy is the Sewu¡¯oni.  Theirs is the head of a jaguar with its mouth open in a roar.  I¡¯m sure you¡¯ve figured out that the bat¡¯s wing is what''s left of Miyani¡¯s people.  Did Ahmi tell you what they did to the dead after they were massacred?¡±

    ¡°She said they covered them in lye to prevent their spirits from returning home.¡±Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

    ¡°Right,¡± he nodded.  ¡°That¡¯s what we¡¯re up against.  They¡¯re further south, so we don¡¯t interact with them much.  Cornerstone in their alliance, however, is the Mewi¡¯ishi.¡±

    ¡°Those are the ones who lopped off those guys¡¯ hands¡­¡±

    ¡°They¡¯ve done worse than that, trust me.  You probably saw the cloud thingy with the lightning coming down.¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± I nodded.

    He continued.  ¡°OK.  The one that looks like a vita¡¯o talon, those are the Yanasayu.  They live by the coast, and they¡¯re assholes.  Big-time assholes.  If you must know, they¡¯re the reason I¡¯ve been so careful with the salt lately.¡±

    ¡°What about one that looks like a coiled snake¡­¡±

    ¡°Fuck those guys.¡±  He shook his hands before me.  Then he giggled lightly, ¡°don¡¯t tell my wife I said that!  But seriously, fuck those guys.¡±

    ¡°Who are they?¡±

    ¡°The peeaya?a.¡±

    ¡°Are they the enemy?¡±

    He chuckled, then smiled and shook his head.  ¡°Yeah.  Uh¡­ they¡¯re in the alliance.¡±

    ¡°Why do you say it like that?¡±

    A voice bellowed out from an archway at the south side of the mess.  ¡°Caleb of Gath!¡±

    It was Taganu, the man with the widow¡¯s peak hairline who knew the names of every alligator in the moat.  He stood wearing a light-blue silk that draped over the front of his toughened-leather belt.  ¡°The princess would like a word.¡±

    Lacius laughed, ¡°if you see any others, don''t be shy,¡± then went back into the kitchen.  I came up to Taganu.  Instead of turning to lead me off, he fixed his yellow eyes on mine and smiled.

    I stared at him.  He stared back at me through bright yellow eyes and laughed.  ¡°Come!¡± before turning away and leading me out of the mess.

    His skin was not as dark as the others.  he''d tied his sandy-green hair at the back, leaving curls to dangle down his muscular back and the lines of scar across his left shoulder blade.

    Outside waiting for us was a voluptuous young Goloagi woman wearing a tied burlap dress over her shoulders that scarcely covered her hips and left her arms exposed bearing the number seared into her skin when she was a child, 773-614.  She¡¯d sold us the mosquito ward on our way down from the pass.

    I spoke to her, ¡°Ran¨ªa?¡±

    Her emerald eyes exploded with wonder at me.  ¡°Wow!  So this is the moment!¡±

    Taganu looked at me, smiling.  I answered, ¡°what moment?¡±

    She shook her head and beamed with joy.  ¡°I can¡¯t believe this!  I came down here to meet the Umeazi slave brothers.  They¡¯d come by ship, so I wanted to see them for myself, but you!¡±

    My eyes went back to Taganu, who looked at her.  ¡°And what about him?¡±

    Ran¨ªa stepped effusively up to me, resting her hand on my cheek.  ¡°This is the moment!  I¡¯m so happy!¡±

    ¡°O¡­ K?¡± I nodded, still confused.

    Then she pointed a finger at me and got serious.  ¡°I¡¯m worried about Davod.¡±  Then she turned and smiled, ¡°Anyway, I see them over there!  Goodbye now!¡±

    I called out, ¡°v? ??wo?isa!¡±

    She laughed and called back ¡°p? xe??se v?voya!¡±

    Taganu laughed and shook his head.

    I glanced at him and furrowed my brow.  ¡°Wait for¡­ something?

    He chuckled, ¡°I¡¯ll let you figure that one out on your own.  This way.¡±

    As he led me towards the library, he slowed and glanced behind me.  ¡°May I ask you something,¡± he spoke as we walked.

    I grinned.  ¡°You just did!¡±

    He raised an eyebrow.  ¡°You¡¯re a medic.  Tell me, have you ever encountered anyone¡­ like¡­ her?¡±

    I furrowed my brow.  ¡°Like her?   What do you mean?¡±

    He nodded.  ¡°She says things.  Just¡­ I don¡¯t know.  I was just wondering is all.¡±  Then he held out his hands, ¡°I don¡¯t have a problem with her, trust me.  But¡­ I worry.  That¡¯s all.  I was wondering if¡ªin all your medical experience¡ªyou¡¯ve ever met with her¡­ someone like her before.¡±

    ¡°No,¡± I shook my head.  ¡°What do you mean she says things?¡±

    ¡°Mmm,¡± he bobbed his head back and forth.  Then he chuckled.  ¡°Did anything she just said make sense to you?¡±

    I laughed, ¡°no!¡±

    We rounded the library and made our way past the nook where I¡¯d reminded Miyani of our touch game.  In the market was the boy from the cafe with the bat¡¯s wing inked on his shoulder.  He carried a burlap sack bulging of something draped over his shoulder front and back.  When he saw me, he smiled and took a step towards us, ¡°hey!¡± pointing one fist out towards me with his free hand.

    Taganu leaned in.  ¡°Touch your fist to his.¡±

    I shrugged, then raised my fist to bump against his.  The boy nodded with an enthusiastic grin, ¡°ariee!¡±

    As we neared the tall towers of the inner sanctum, Taganu grinned at me once more.  ¡°You should probably talk to Miyani about ¡®?mi??ei.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s that?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a ?a¡¯uxuwi custom where on a child¡¯s ascension to adulthood, they choose their first lover.¡±

    ¡°Wait¡­ I heard of that¡­¡±

    Taganu continued.  ¡°It''s a sacred honor.  And, as I understand it, Miyani is quite traditional.¡±

    I hesitated.  ¡°What are you saying?¡±

    He chuckled lightly.  ¡°The boy you just met has been making eyes at her.¡±

    My eyes popped as I put the pieces together.  I looked back, but he¡¯d long turned the corner.  ¡°So she¡­¡±

    Taganu smiled.  ¡°If you were of this culture, you would understand.  Your people are¡­ I would recommend that if you''re not comfortable with her taking an evening to show him how to have sex, you should have that conversation with her before he does.  Assuming he hasn''t asked already.¡±

    Images of that boy¡ªhe was almost my age¡ªon top of her, listening to her moan as he¡­ I felt my heart twist into knots and I couldn¡¯t breathe.

    We came to the gate outside the tall towers of the inner sanctum.  Two armored men stood one on each side with spears in hand watching everyone who passed.  They nodded at Taganu as we walked by, and I wondered if either of them were involved with a native woman, and how they¡¯d feel about sharing her with some kid.

    And he acted so friendly with me.

    In the shade of the gate were two more men, with passages inside beyond iron portculliexeusesaieses leading who-knows-where.

    The towers gave way to a small, open courtyard with stone walls on all sides reaching up until only a window remained at the top to let the clouds in.  Vines crept along the walls bearing dark purple fruits higher up.  Taganu led me within an arched doorway to the right that was too short to enter without ducking low.  He then took a paper lantern on a long stick from a basket beside the entrance and led me up a dark stairway past stones with trickles of water seeping down on one side.  After what felt like three or four flights, we came to a narrow passageway with an open door on the right.

    Inside was a generous window with enough light to see clearly.  There was a heavy wooden desk laid out with papers and things, with a bag chair on each side.  The princess sat on the one opposite the door.  She glanced up ¡°come in.¡±

    As I walked in, she set a stack of papers down and looked up at me.  ¡°Please sit down.  Would you like something to drink?¡±

    ¡°Please,¡± I said.  How would I talk to Miyani?  What would I say to her?  I wasn¡¯t comfortable with it; how would I say that to her?  And what if she insisted?  What would I do?  Sounds of her voice making fucking noises ricocheted within my skull and refused to stop.

    The princess poured from a steel pitcher a dull orange drink into two glasses, then set them side-by-side in front of me, such that each was the same distance from either of us.  I chose one and sipped.

    She explained, ¡°that¡¯s padeshika.  It¡¯s good, isn¡¯t it?¡±

    ¡°It is,¡± I nodded.  It was delicately sweet with a hint of sour that lingered on the tongue.  In the reflection of the glass, I could see his hands all over her body, touching her in all the places I liked to touch while her hands grasped at his bum and pulled him in to hold her body close to his. My fingers shook.

    The princess sat with her arms on the table and leaned in to me.  ¡°I¡¯d like to hear what happened from your point of view?¡±

    ¡°From my point of view,¡± I shook my head, trying to break free from the storm that gripped my breath.  ¡°Have you heard from my friends?  Have you heard from Yumi?¡±

    Without speaking, she handed me a small, brown piece of paper that curled in tight on both sides.  I unfurled it and read.

    Praying Mantis¡ª  Davod arrives short two trapped near Old Joint.

    ¡°Does this mean they¡¯re OK?¡±

    The princess smirked.  ¡°Your friends made it to Tower One; that¡¯s what that means.¡±

    ¡°What about Yumi?¡±

    She shook her head.  ¡°We haven''t heard anything; Ahmi went to go look for her.  Do you mind telling me what happened?¡±

    I relaxed and took a deep breath.  I closed my eyes and watched as he leaned down to kiss her lips.  I watched her bring her hand behind his head to hold him in place while she kissed him back.  I couldn¡¯t shake it.  ¡°Well, uh¡­ we were walking through the forest and we didn¡¯t see Yumi for a while.  We started to worry; we didn¡¯t know if that was normal.¡±  One of his hands had cupped her breast, stroking her nipple between his fingers.  ¡°Then Renou falls into this trap thing, there¡¯s knives all over inside it, one went through his foot, and there''s blood everywhere.  We all talked about it, and it was decided that the rest of them should continue on to Tower One while I stayed behind to get Renou out.¡±

    The princess blinked.  Then she tilted her head to the side.

    I heard Miyani exhale as he entered her.  My knee shook; I tried to steady it.  ¡°Um¡­¡±

    ¡°Is that how it went down?¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± I scratched my head.  My eyes searched for anything that might distract me from something that hadn¡¯t even happened yet.  There was a map on the wall behind the princess, the kind with sea monsters in the deep ocean that showed the whole Uhui region south of the Empire with names of places written in that Uhuida script.

    The princess asked me, ¡°whose idea was it to have you stay behind?¡±

    I shrugged.  ¡°Well, I¡¯m supposed to be the medic, so¡­¡±

    ¡°Why did the rest of them leave?¡±

    ¡°They were¡­ we were afraid that if the whole unit stuck around, that we might get ambushed, so¡­¡±

    She set her drink on the table and sat up, covering her eyes as she shook her head.  ¡°Tell me again how it went?  Renou fell into a trap, and then what?¡±

    ¡°Well,¡± I was unsure what detail she sought, but the line of questioning focused my attention on the moment.  ¡°The rest of them made a perimeter while I checked him out.  I told Davod it would be a while.  We were afraid of an ambush, because that¡¯s their tactic¡ªman screams, they have our position, you know.  We discussed the matter.  We knew it would be a risk, but it was a lesser risk than to put the whole unit in danger.  We uh¡­ I mean, I¡¯m supposed to be a medic, so I stayed with Renou.¡±

    The princess crossed her arms, allowing her breasts to settle in the nook.  She stared at me dumbfounded.  ¡°Why are you lying to me?¡±

    ¡°What?¡± I was shocked.  ¡°I¡¯m telling you the truth!¡±

    She shook her head, ¡°no, you¡¯re not.  I want you to tell me what really happened.¡±

    ¡°I just did!¡±

    ¡°You lied to me.  That¡¯s what you just did; you lied to me.¡±

    ¡°I did not!¡±

    She opened her eyes wide and grimaced.  ¡°And he keeps denying it!  I¡¯m going to give you one more chance.¡±

    I sat up straight.  ¡°I told you already.  I¡¯m not changing the truth.¡±

    She scowled at me.  ¡°Is it true you disobeyed a direct order?¡±

    ¡°Yes, it¡¯s true.¡±

    My fingers shook.  The princess frowned and glared at me for at least a minute before either of us spoke.  Finally she took another sip from her drink and set it down, resuming her attention to the stack of papers she¡¯d had when I came in.  ¡°You can spend the night in the sling.  In the morning, you¡¯ll go with another unit to Praying Mantis where you¡¯ll rejoin your friends.  You¡¯re dismissed.¡±

    My head sank.

    Hanging by my arms and legs face-down half a yard from the ground was every bit as miserable as it had been the last time.  I fought with my arms to gain some breath, hoping to distract my body long enough to meditate through the mess that was my mind.

    How would it work?  Was I supposed to just kiss her goodnight, maybe give her a hug, knowing she was about to share her bed with that kid?  And I suppose I would recline somewhere, probably in the barracks, and stare at the wall imagining it, waiting for it to be over.

    There had to be something else for me to think about.

    As Renou and I hobbled towards Carthia, there was a gargantuan cloud in the west like a giant pyramid that cast everything beneath it in darkness and haze.  Later on while I was in the mess, it rained hard with thunder and lightning, and it carried on like that for a good while until Taganu showed up.  Even now, the grass was wet and let off fragrant hints of fresh coriander.

    I felt something under me.

    Like the tap of a wrist against my belly.  I looked down, and it was Blue¡¯s head.  He squawked, then pushed himself beneath me, wedging himself between me and the ground until my body lay across his back, hoisted up a good several inches.  I wasn¡¯t sure why he did that, but he released the strain on my arms completely and I could breathe for once.

    ¡°Hel-lo!¡± Miyani¡¯s melodic voice cupped my soul in her delicate fingers.

    ¡°Zawa!¡± I looked up.  God, she was pretty.  She had a sheen all over her dark-green skin that flowed over glorious muscles.  Her face was home to the most beautiful smile there ever was.

    She unrolled a mat of sorts made of carved sticks knotted together, covered by a dense-looking pad covered in a simple cotton sheet.  Then she lay down and shuffled herself beneath me, and leaned up to kiss me on the lips.

    Blue nuzzled his head over to a corner of the padding and rested his head there.

    Then she took out a woven wicker basket and unfolded a cloth flap to show me steaming, moist masses of what looked like cornmeal that let off pepper, coriander, and something else I couldn¡¯t place, but it made bold promises whatever it was.

    Miyani nodded on each word, ¡°or, now, then, uh¡­?¡±

    ¡°Later,¡± I said.

    She laughed.  ¡°Later!¡±

    My heart leaped.  I couldn''t believe she''d arranged all this.  ¡°Thank you.  Nuvidesa.¡±

    She smiled, ¡°OK.¡±

    Her sublime face as she looked up at me, her magical smile, her effusive eyes.  Would she look up at him like that if he were on top of her, feeling her thighs at his hips as she opened herself for him?

    Miyani pulled out from the basket a wooden box filled with easily two-hundred cards.  She then drew one and showed me one side of it with two words written in Herali; chair, and sit.  I tried to think of the word in her language, but all I could think of was how I could talk to her about that boy.

    In truth, it wasn''t the language barrier.  I couldn''t muster the nerve to broach the topic.

    She guessed my side ¡°sit?¡±

    I pursed my lips.  She turned it over, ¡°sit!  T-shair.¡±

    I read the glyphs in her language.  ¡°xeeu.¡±

    She nodded, ¡°xeeu,¡± and pulled the next one.

    I should have said something.

 Abomination

    Footfalls in the grass.

    It was still dark, but in the morning¡¯s dusk I could make out Miyani¡¯s hand creeping towards the knife at her belt while her eyes remained closed.

    A rattle of metal keys came with Taganu¡¯s smiling voice.  ¡°I see you had company.¡±

    Miyani relaxed and sat up, stretching her arms and legs out as one by one, my limbs were freed from the chains.  I hadn¡¯t yet the strength to do more than let them fall and drape myself over the log that was Blue¡¯s body such that my hands and feet dropped to the grass on both sides of him.  By the time I mustered up the strength to do something, all I could manage was to roll over onto my back onto the grass.

    Taganu knelt beside me.  ¡°You need to get ready¡ªKylen likes to leave first thing in the morning.¡±

    I wheezed out, ¡°I¡¯m getting up.¡±

    Miyani tapped Blue¡¯s cheek and called his name a few times, but he didn¡¯t budge.  A pang of worry shot through me.  ¡°Is he OK?¡±

    ¡°Uh¡­¡± Miyani smiled.  She then turned to Taganu, ¡°g?eude ?ayi vem??a¦È?¡¯a???¡±

    Taganu chuckled lightly.  ¡°Every morning.¡±

    She put the words together, ¡°he¡­ laktheesss¡­ evvrieee moaning.  Blue!¡±

    My lizard friend croaked long and low, then curled his neck away from her and tucked his head between his body and mine.  I needed to talk to her about that boy.

    She giggled lightly and kissed him on his haunch.  ¡°Is OK.¡¯

    We made our way towards the mess, and she looked up at me with a warm smile.  I loved her eyes.  I loved the way her eyes widened when she was happy.  I loved her perfect lips.  Every time I kissed her, the whole world felt right.  I didn''t know why, but God, I''d have given anything just to hang on to that.

    What did it mean, this custom?  I tried to imagine how I might feel if she went through with it and even knowing it''s supposed to be just a thing in her culture, I just couldn''t settle my mind on it.  I had to wonder if Lacius went through any of that with Ahmi.

    I tried to understand.  Miyani chose someone when she became a woman.  That was one.  I had no idea how many lovers she''d had since then.  I really needed to talk to her.

    After scarfing down some saltless goop from the mess I went to grab my things.  As I changed my clothes, Miyani stood and watched with a big smile on her face.  I smiled.  ¡°Oh, so you''re just going to watch, I see.¡±

    She held up a finger.  ¡°Watch, see.  I learn.  ?o''ibi, ke?o''ibi.¡±

    I dropped my filthy clothes to the floor and stood before her.  ¡°That''s interesting.  ?o''ibi, that''s¡­¡±

    She grinned, gazing all over my naked body.  ¡°?o''ibi, watch, ke?o''ibi, see.¡±

    As I started to look over my armor, she shook her hands and stopped me, ¡°no.¡±

    I looked at her, confused.  ¡°You''re saying don''t put my armor on?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± she shook her head.  ¡°No ama put.¡±

    At her instruction, I went topless with my thin trousers and boots.  She saw the silk loincloth Tani had given me lying in the dirty pile and tilted her head at me, pursing her lips.

    ¡°Oh,¡± I shrugged.  I felt stupid.  I struggled for words and looked down.  ¡°I, just¡­ I don''t¡­¡±

    Miyani shook it off.  Then she grinned, ¡°I watch you!¡±

    That made me laugh.  ¡°Oh, you''re going to watch me?¡±

    ¡°I watch you!¡± She giggled.  We left the barracks and made our way across the training grounds, and by God''s mercy the sun had risen enough for me to absorb those delicious curves she had, barely visible on her dark skin.

    We joined a gathering of men beside the gate.  One of them I¡¯d met before; he¡¯d chased away our prayer group from the barracks the other day.  He froze, glaring at Miyani with his brow furrowed and lips pursed.

    She turned away, then looked up at me with a sheepish smile.

    Another man, Herali, an inch or two taller than me with his hair tied into a ponytail behind his back wearing a cotton loincloth and a cougar tattoo on his shoulder gave her a friendly nod.  ¡°bevem??a, ko¡¯o sek?waseea?¡±

    Rolf Foot-in-my-arse turned to him with his eyes wide in shock.  A couple others chuckled lightly and shook their heads, glancing over at my girlfriend.

    Miyani shook her head and smiled, nearly laughing.  ¡°No¡±

    The Cougar guy smirked.  ¡°Damn shame.¡±  Then he turned to me, ¡°you must be Caleb.  I¡¯m Kylen¡ªI¡¯m the captain of this rabble.¡±

    He then wrapped his arm around the neck of a man standing next to him and pulled him in close.  ¡°This here¡¯s Tobi.¡±

    Tobi was short, muscular, also Herali with his hair in braids down his back and a cougar tattoo on his shoulder, and wore a cotton loincloth with three blades around the belt.  About half the men had eupin longbows like mine; Tobi¡¯s was etched with an image of the epic battle between Bear and Cougar just before the Doom was opened.

    Kylen continued his introduction, ¡°this is Samaius, Jaysa, Rolf, Wedsen, Dyson¡­¡±

    He continued rattling off names faster than I could connect them to faces.  After Rolf, Tobi, and Kylen, there were five other Herali, one of whom wore a Falcon tattoo, an older Goloagi man with a number branded on each arm, and a man who had the dark green skin of the natives with the dark green hair and eyes of his Herali father.  Every one of them wore the cotton yithi leaving their skin exposed but for a cotton flap hanging from his belt at the front with another over his arse.

    The three other guys were from the Orca clan¡ªthey wore no ink, but I¡¯d seen them hanging out with Borel after training.

    Kylen plastered a great big grin across his face and introduced the three Orca men and myself to his veterans as ¡®noobs.¡¯  One of his veterans scowled at Miyani, and I felt her wrap her hands around my arm and pull her body close to mine.

    It felt weird knowing that she might hold his hand that way, if even for a night.  And worse, what if that was a regular thing?  Would I have to just accept that about my girlfriend?

    I really needed to talk to her.  In the meantime, I wrapped that arm behind her shoulder and pulled her in close so that her body was against mine.  She slithered her arm around my waist and looked up at me with that smile.

    I may have accidentally allowed my fingers to creep in and brush against her nipple.

    Miyani gently swatted my hand and squinted up at me with her lips pursed.

    When I looked up, a scout had emerged from the vita¡¯o yard riding the same dark-colored lizard with the vertical green stripes down her body as the day before.  She wore the same cotton loincloth, same necklace of giant wooden beads, and wore her hair in the same two long white braids, one over each shoulder that ended in jeweled butterfly beads that dangled about her breasts.  On her fingernails she wore the same sharpened black claws as most of the women at Carthia.  She glanced at Miyani as she rode up and nodded with a smile.  Miyani smiled back at her and nodded as well.

    Kylen nodded.  ¡°Gentlemen, looks like we get Yumi today.¡±

    I stepped towards her vita''o, the same one who, the day I went to look for Ahmi, had rested her claws on my shoulders and stretched her neck way up to peer down on me from above with those jagged teeth.

    I spoke to the creature.  ¡°I never did get your name?¡±

    She chirped, clicked, and jerked her head up a few inches.

    Yumi answered, using the Goloagi word for ¡°Queen.¡±

    Rolf shook his head and frowned at us before lifting his chin towards our scout.  He spoke in a raspy baritone, ¡°???use ?uve?¡±

    Yumi then looked up and whistled a strange tune, like a flip followed by a streak upwards ending in a brief warble.

    I asked, ¡°what''s that?¡±

    Miyani looked up at me and explained, ¡°???uviye.¡±

    ¡°Her what?¡±

    Rolf spat on the ground and mumbled, ¡°bloody amateur!¡±

    Kylen ignored him and explained, ¡°you hear that call, that''s Yumi.  You don''t hear that call, it ain''t Yumi.¡±

    Tobi added with a light chuckle, ¡°you don¡¯t hear that call, you shoot it!¡±

    Kylen nodded, ¡°Very simple.  Go again, love?¡±

    Yumi nodded and repeated her call.  I held Miyani in front of me with my arms over her shoulders and pulled her in close enough to tilt my head down and smell her hair.  Kylen was going over more instructions when I felt something very nice pressing into the front of my thighs.  Back and forth Miyani worked her arse into my lap, and I had lost all ability to pay attention to the conversation after that.

    I wondered if that boy was going to ask her after I left, and because I''d been such a coward, I missed the chance to talk to her about it.

    I really, really needed to talk to her.

    Yumi and Queen raced out across the thousand yards of cleared grass at some ungodly speed I never imagined possible before disappearing into the dark forest, and the men filed out.

    I turned to Miyani.  Before I could lean down to kiss her, she jumped into my arms and squeezed her thighs around my waist, draping her arms around my shoulders.  We took turns pressing our lips into one another and trading giggles until I had to run to catch up to them. This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

    What if she kissed him that way?

    When I caught up with the others, Rolf had hung back to walk among the three guys from the Orca clan.  He had a long line of a scar that ran clean across his chest.  ¡°We walk single-file.  One man out front checks for traps, every fifteen minutes we rotate.  You won''t have to do that yet, but you need to learn how¡­¡±

    I stepped closer to hear him better, and he glared at me, looking me up and down with his brow furrowed.  I got uncomfortable with him just glaring at me like that, and I wasn''t sure what to do about it.

    Foot-in-my-arse shook his head and continued.  ¡°Everyone else, we alternate.  Right, left, right, left, you keep watch on your side.  If you hear a whistle that''s not high up in the trees, sounds like it don''t belong there, draw.  Each man aims two feet from where the next man aims.¡±

    Tobi walked next to Kylen.  He turned back to us and added, ¡°wild vita''o still hunt for another hour or so, but once it''s daylight they won''t go after large groups.  Also ain''t no enemy war parties made it this far by morning, so right now enemy scouts are what we need to worry about.¡±

    One of the Orca men asked Rolf, ¡°how long you been here, man?¡±

    Rolf pursed his lips and cocked his head to one side.  ¡°Maybe five?  Six years?¡±

    Another one of the new guys answered, ¡°gods, man!  Why didn''t you go home when your tour was over?¡±

    Rolf looked ahead and smiled warmly.  ¡°I am home!¡±

    Tobi, a man of average height dwarfed by his friend Kylen, held up his hand and counted off on his fingers for us.  ¡°Number one rule for survival here is respect, number two is humility.  Number three is luck.  Actually that¡¯s probably number one.¡±

    I stepped closer to Rolf, and he glowered at me.  My heart slammed as a shot of adrenaline precluded my talking to him.  ¡°May I ask you a question?¡±

    We walked for quite a ways with him staring at me before he finally asked in a gruff tone, ¡°what?¡±

    ¡°Why do you have a problem with Miyani?¡±

    Rolf pursed his lips, and two more of the veterans huffed while the guy with the Falcon tattoo shook his head and grimaced.  Kylen turned around to walk backwards and answered for him.  ¡°He doesn''t, because she''s on our side now.¡±

    Tobi added, ¡°Rule number four is don''t let things get personal.¡± He glared at Rolf.  ¡°Isn''t that right?¡±

    Rolf looked away and sucked his teeth.

    ¡°Wait.¡±  My eyes wandered over the nibbled grass as we approached the line of trees.  I wasn''t asking any of them in particular, rather thinking out loud.  ¡°Does that mean she was on their side?¡±

    Aside from Rolf, the Falcon guy was the only one barefoot.  He lifted his arm and pointed at two small lines of scars over his ribcage, each about the width of an arrowhead.  ¡°These are from your girlfriend.¡±

    We stopped seventy yards short of the azuka grass, just outside the range of those native bows. Kylen raised his hand and turned to face us.  ¡°Time to nock arrows and cut the conversation.  Noobs, listen up.  Take out the rider, you''ve got a pissed-off lizard coming at you faster than you can reload.  Take out the mount, the rider goes down.  Your aim is hip height.  Siren bird makes this sound,¡± he whistled the up-down-up-down-warble fairly well, ¡°draw.  If you don''t hear Yumi''s call, shoot.¡±

    Tobi added, ¡°even if you miss, you''ll teach her to keep her distance.¡±

    Rolf spoke last, ¡°eyes and ears on the trees at all times.¡±

    And we entered the dark forest.

    Through the azuka grass we walked as morning''s dusk slipped away, and dew covered all around us.  We reached the groves of fruit trees, but there were no gatherers about so early in the morning.

    I heard an up-down-up-down-warble suddenly about twenty feet to my right, behind a thick grove of mango trees.  Just as sudden, half the men in the unit drew their bows and faced the same direction.  I took their cue and drew as well.

    Then we heard a whistle like a flip followed by a streak upwards ending in a brief warble.

    We relaxed, and Yumi emerged from the foliage, nodding her approval just as the sky dumped rain all over us.

    I ran for the nearest tree, a giant umbrella with massive leaves to hide under though I''d already been soaked through.  I found myself with the three men from the Orca clan looking out at the rest of Kylen''s men standing in the deluge like it was nothing.

    Yumi also ignored the rain and urged Queen towards Kylen and Rolf for a quiet discussion that I couldn''t hear over the water pelting everything around me, then she darted off ahead.

    We came to the alligator swamp.  Half the veterans unsheathed their swords and made threats at the giant monsters while the other half kept their bows trained on the woods nearby.  When we came to the tree with the berries, I picked one.

    Rolf slapped my hand, knocking my snack to the ground.  He whispered, ¡°idiot!  They''ll know we passed through here!¡±

    I tried to remain focused.  In reality, my mind went over and over the revelation from earlier, that Miyani had been an enemy scout, which drowned out the earlier revelation that she may well accept some boy¡¯s request to take her from me for an evening.

    I really, really, really needed to talk to her.

    We climbed the embankment with nothing to hide behind at the top, and Yumi was there waiting for us.  She spoke not to any of us, but nodded as we passed.

    By then the rainwater sloshing around in my boots grew very difficult on my toes.

    We came to the open canopy that gave us a clean view for hundreds of yards in all directions.  That same tree-branch of a snake had coiled its thick, endless body around another branch and rested its head¡­ somewhere.  Kylen stopped and put his hand up.  Then he started looking around in all directions, pointing to Tobi with two fingers to his eyes and then turning them out.

    Rolf and the others stooped down below the bushes, and we all looked around.  Off to my right, vision ended at a grove of palm trees that grew hundreds of new stalks so dense as to be nearly impassable.  To my left, two-hundred yards away was a thicket of those berry trees covered in bright yellow stick-like flowers.

    Kylen raised his hand high and gave two bold waves before crouching down once more.  Far in the distance ahead, we heard Yumi''s whistle again.

    At that, Kylen stood and turned to us.  ¡°We rest here.  Tobi, Caleb, Palo, Wedsen, you take first watch.¡±

    Wedsen was that old Goloagi guy with streaks of gray in his short, curly hair and his old slave number branded into his arms, 221-989.  Palo was Herali, but had no tattoos or anything to tell me what clan he was from.  The four of us arranged ourselves as points in a square around the rest of the men while they sat and took their boots off.

    On one of the Orca men''s feet, I saw a cluster of white pellets beneath his skin at the bottom of his calf that he clearly hadn''t noticed.

    I pointed, ¡°you got eggs, man!¡±

    Rolf snapped at me and pointed, ¡°you need to be looking out there!¡±

    I turned and looked back out.  Behind me, I heard Kylen¡¯s voice.  ¡°Good eye, Caleb.  Rolf is right, but that''s good of you to notice.¡±

    Rolf grumbled something, to which Kylen replied, ¡°he''s learning.¡±

    When it was our turn to rest, I couldn''t wait to rip my boots off and ring my socks dry.  Tobi sat across from me and watched as I twisted a generous amount of water from my socks.  Then he folded his own together and wrung out more, and flashed me a big smile.

    I couldn''t let myself get outdone, not like that.  ¡°Let''s see what''s in your boot.¡±

    Tobi chuckled and lifted his to pour.

    Wedsen grinned at us, ¡°wait up!¡± He lifted his own boot, and the three of us poured together while Palo leaned back and closed his eyes.

    The half-Herali guy with the dark skin and dark hair had lain across the packs with his arms spread and his eyes closed, snoring, one of the noobs from the Orca clan sat rummaging through his pack.

    Kylen kept watch to the south.  v?fa.  I mean v?fa.  I glanced between him and Tobi, ¡°how long have you guys known each other?¡±

    Tobi stuffed a cloth of sorts down into his boot with one hand and answered.  ¡°Whole lives, man.  Grew up together in Suplenty.¡±

    ¡°Suplenty?¡± I raised an eyebrow at that.  ¡°Have you ever been to Treanet?¡±

    Tobi grinned wide, ¡°every winter, man!  Kylen¡¯s got a woman there¡ªname''s Melyce.¡±

    I nearly laughed.  ¡°You know Melyce?¡±

    Tobi grinned and opened his eyes wide.  ¡°You know her?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, man,¡± I said.  ¡°My friend Davod slept with her on our way here.¡±

    A pang of shame swept through me; I shouldn''t have aired her business like that.  I shouldn''t have aired Davod''s business like that.

    Tobi covered his face and giggled, looking up at Kylen, who kept his eye on the jungle.  I heard him take a deep breath, though, and could see on the side of his face a hard grimace as he shook his head.

    I tried to change the subject, ¡°how long ago did they call you two?  Do you know what happened to Shavod and Darius?¡±

    Before Tobi could answer, Rolf inserted, ¡°Miyani killed them both.¡±

    My eyes popped.  ¡°What?¡±

    Rolf turned back to face me and clarified.  ¡°Shavod of Treanet was on the road to Tower Three when your girlfriend killed their scout and started copying her signal.  She led his whole unit right into an ambush.  Darius of Treanet was in my unit when we were sent to investigate a boat landing.  Your girlfriend keeps our scout busy with cat-and-mouse games, then tries to draw her out of hiding by shooting Darius in the head.  That''s what happened to them.  Since you want to know so much.¡±

    The conversation continued around me until our break had ended, but I spoke nothing further.

    Heavenly Father, I don''t know how to feel about this.

    We passed by the sadirac lair, where broken pieces of a box with blades remained at the side of the road.  Kylen glanced down at it and held up one hand, searching the trees all around.

    We kept moving.

    ¡°Got a trap!¡± the lead man called back to us.  He then found a stick off to the side and thrust it down into the moss that covered it, leaving it there as a mark.¡±

    Kylen rested his hand on the man''s shoulder and whispered something in his ear.

    The man nodded.

    Fifty yards later, we all gathered around a small patch of rough green moss.  Rolf knelt close to it and looked up at the three men from the Orca clan.  He didn''t look at me once.  ¡°You see how this moss isn''t attached to anything beneath it?  You see how loose it is?¡±

    He pulled it aside to reveal an empty hole with blades at the sides pointed down towards a central, barbed blade sticking up from the bottom.  ¡°Step in there, we lop your foot off and carry you the rest of the way.  Any questions?¡±

    The Orca guys¡¯ eyes bulged.  The short, slim one couldn''t rip his eyes from the thing.

    Further ahead, the trees grew thick on all sides.  We kept walking until Yumi and Queen blocked the way.  Kylen gaped at her.  ¡°What''s wrong?¡±

    Queen lowered her head and traced an invisible line shin-high across the black slate road.

    Tobi knelt for a closer look.  ¡°Gods!¡±

    A tiny thread stretched across the road from a nearby bush on both sides, completely invisible if your eyes weren''t inches from it.  It went across a stick and reached high up into a nearby tree so thick with foliage we couldn''t see what was at the end of it.

    One by one, we stepped over the wire and kept walking.

    The road led us along a ridge where up ahead the sound of crashing water drowned out everything else.  Rolf, Kylen, Tobi, and the other veterans shifted their bows towards the dense forest around us and lifted an elbow ready to draw, and we continued to walk.  We passed over a stone bridge that led us over tumbling rocks, and the ridge on the left gave way to a narrow gap where one could see the waterfall some twenty yards above us.

    Rolf looked at something on the right and drew his bow.  As he did, three of the other veterans followed, standing beside him.  Their eyes scanned the trees for nearly two minutes before they relaxed.  Rolf then gave me a nasty glare and shook his head.  ¡°Draw, you dummy!¡±

    We kept walking.  It wasn¡¯t lost on me that we¡¯d gone at least another hour or so with no sign of Yumi, and none of the veterans looked concerned.

    We came to an open field.  Five-hundred yards ahead and surrounded by a branch of a river, a curtain wall fifteen yards high made of the same gray and yellow mortared stones as the walls at Carthia and the Lake of Doom.  At the center was one tall tower that bulged out at the top with two buttresses reaching out towards two smaller towers in a manner quite like a praying mantis.  A massive wooden gate beyond the river was closed, above which men paced the ramparts.

    Yumi materialized from the trees and stood beside us, counting us as we walked by.  In Queen¡¯s jaws was a human leg cut off at the top of the thigh with dark-green skin peeling away from raw meat still dripping blood.  The three noobs gaped and glanced at one another in horror.  Yumi looked at Queen¡¯s lunch and explained, ¡°¡®uzi ?o¡¯ok?ye.¡±

    Rolf translated, ¡°she found out.¡±

    As we drew near, heavy metal chains creaked to herald the drawbridge opening for us.

    Still reeling from the sight of Yumi¡¯s vita¡¯o with a human leg in her mouth, I approached Rolf.  ¡°I think we should talk.  I understand that Miyani wasn''t always on our side, I believe she hurt someone very dear to you.  I know the past is difficult¡­¡±

    Rolf stopped walking and turned to face me with his arms at his sides.  He shook his head, ¡°it''s not her I have a problem with; it''s you.¡±

    ¡°Me?¡±

    Rolf sneered.  ¡°I''m not your friend.  I don''t like you.¡±  He turned to leave.  ¡°There.  We talked.¡±

 Up on the Roof

    I ascended a spiral staircase shrouded in darkness¡ªmy mind was a slurry of emotions.

    Rolf gave me zero clue as to why he abhorred me so much, neither would his friends speak on it.  That bothered me.  I hadn¡¯t interacted with the man enough to justify his hatred towards me.  With his experience, I should have been learning from him, instead he despised my bones.  Why did he hate me so?  When they told him he was on watch duty with me, he begged to switch with someone else.

    I passed by a small room with tall slits half-overgrown with moss that were responsible for what little light seeped into the staircase.  Then I tripped on a step that was much shorter than it should have been and bashed my knee against the hard stone.  It took nearly a minute to rub the pain out and continue my ascent.

    Geraln was up there.  The same kid who¡¯d hidden me in his wardrobe when Father Yewan came to ask why I¡¯d smashed every bottle in the church wine cellar.  The same man who¡¯d abandoned me and Renou to die in the jungle.

    It didn¡¯t help that the interior of the tower was like a furnace¡ªa dank, muggy furnace that made the weather outside seem pleasant.  I was drenched in sweat, the bruise on my knee punished me with every step, yet the dark staircase continued further up.  The next flight offered a piquant bouquet somewhere between rot, piss, and body odor.

    I had to forgive him.  Scripture said I had to forgive him.  Perhaps it was my fault anyway¡ªI¡¯d forced him to make that choice.

    A square of light in the ceiling broke the darkness above.  I ascended towards a heavy wooden hatch soaked through from the rain earlier, then slipped on some wet algae when the next step was much higher than it should have been.  I smacked that same knee against the stone and had to sit down for a minute to try and rub the pain out once more.

    Miyani.  God, how I loved her.  Every minute I spent with her, I loved her even more.  I¡¯d never felt this way, not with anyone, not even Sarina.  She looked up at me while we guessed which word meant what in each others¡¯ language until daylight receded and she kissed me.  I fell harder and harder with every adorable blink of her bright yellow eyes.

    I couldn''t blame that boy in the cafe for appreciating her sublime figure, but that ¡®?mi??ei tradition made my skin crawl.  That I¡¯d been too big of a coward to broach that with her twisted my gut into knots and made my soul feel sour.

    Scarcely a month prior, she was the enemy hunting down men like me and killing us.  ?oz?¡¯?, they¡¯d called her.  That Bitch.  Kylen said he¡¯d had nightmares of her tracking him.

    I really, really, REALLY needed to talk to her.

    I hoisted the hatch overhead, and the wood clanked onto the stone floor above.  The excited voice of a Herali man called out, ¡°bye!¡± and a guy I¡¯d never seen before sporting a bare chest with a bear-clan tattoo on his right shoulder maneuvered past me before I could climb my way up completely.

    I was in a stone circle about ten feet in diameter with crenelations like massive stone teeth as high as my chin separated by gaps a foot wide that gave a commanding view of the world outside.  At the center were the burnt remains of one of those tube weapons like those at the Lake of Doom.

    Geraln stood to one side and stared blankly at me.  The chubbiness of his face returned, though his shirt still hung loose.  His eyes met mine in silence, his face frozen in time.  He blinked.  His chest heaved.  He swallowed, then turned his gaze out through one of the gaps in stone.

    ¡°Helo!¡±  A voice came from the opposite side.

    The man who greeted me was Na¡¯uhui.  Same dark-green skin with bright yellow eyes, though he kept his white hair cropped short.  He was well-built, about my age, about average height, and wore a white bat¡¯s wing tattoo on his bare shoulder.  He smiled and stepped towards me with his fist out in front of him.  ¡°I¡­ nem¡­ izzz¡­ ¡®ude.¡±

    He also carried a longbow made of Herali eupin with etchings from Cougar¡¯s Lament.  I tapped my fist into his and nodded.  ¡°Ude.  I¡¯m Caleb.¡±

    His eyes went wide and his face lit up in surprise.  ¡°Kedib?  Kedib uv Gath?¡±

    I shrugged.  ¡°Yeah.¡±

    He smiled wide and slapped the side of my arm, ¡°??k?su m?ya?i!¡±

    Right.  He continued.  ¡°?o¡¯o satuse good!  mewa t? s?eiseya ?a she deserves zuwiya.  ya¡¯ueese yu!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡±  Geraln¡¯s voice cut through our introduction.

    Ude and I turned to face him, but his eyes were on me alone.  ¡°I shouldn¡¯t have left you behind.  We shouldn¡¯t have left you behind.  I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    Geraln resumed his attention to the world outside.  Ude glanced between us, then pointed outside as well, ¡°see,¡± and went back to the side to look out.

    I told my best friend, ¡°no worries, man.  All according to God¡¯s plan, right?¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± he lowered his eyes.

    There was a river beside the tower, with a branched carved out and laid with stone such that the tower was on an island by itself.  Upstream and to the North¡­ I mean ?aze, the lazy current left the waters murky and reedy for miles, and a family of alligators had taken up refuge on the left bank some four-hundred yards out.  Right where the tower stood, the river bent southeast, crashed over an escarpment, and tumbled over massive rocks covered in moss on both sides.

    The side we¡¯d come in from, ?a?a, the grass had been kept low for a good five-hundred yards in all directions before surrendering to the lower canopy of the jungle beyond.  On the left-hand side where the grass fought to claim the rocks, a native woman herded some goats.

    On the other side of the river, dense trees and shrubs some ten feet high fought to reclaim their rightful place for five-hundred yards before the towering heights of the forest primeval mocked our puny human construction.  All around us, above the crashing of water, chirps, whistles, and calls of all kinds filled the distance.

    ¡°How¡­¡± Geraln glanced at me and swallowed.  ¡°How''s Renou?¡±

    ¡°Huh!¡± I smiled wide.  ¡°It¡¯s a bloody miracle, man.  I still can¡¯t believe it.  He should have lost his foot.  A wound like that he¡¯s got no right to ever walk again, but Dr. Zughi says he¡¯ll start recovery in a week.  Give him three or four weeks, he¡¯ll be one-hundred percent.  That''s gebu¡¯i.  I¡¯m telling you, this stuff will change the world, you have no idea!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s good,¡± Geraln nodded, then looked out once more.

    I shrugged.  ¡°How¡¯s Saewi?¡±

    Geraln grinned at that.  ¡°Gods!¡±

    I raised my eyebrows.  ¡°Good news?¡±

    Geraln shook his head and smiled wide.  ¡°I have never met anyone like her before!  These Carthian women, gods, I don''t know what it is about them, but I like it.¡±

    ¡°Definitely,¡± I nodded.

    He continued, ¡°it¡¯s like she¡¯s¡­ I don¡¯t know.  She¡¯s got her own thing, and she doesn¡¯t need me.  Like she could get by just fine without me, but she simply chooses to be close with me.  I can¡¯t begin to tell you how good that feels.¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± I nodded.  ¡°It takes the pressure off.¡±

    ¡°That''s it!¡± he pointed at me.  ¡°It feels¡­ authentic.¡±

    I shrugged.  ¡°Well, I like that they walk around almost completely naked.  To me, that''s a big plus.¡±

    Geraln laughed and shook his head.

    Ude called out to us, ¡°p? ?o''ibiwe!¡±

    Outside, a gray-green vita¡¯o with tiny spikes down the length of its spine raced across the grass towards the goatherd, herself nearly naked with pendulous breasts that hung halfway down her belly.  The three of us watched as the lizard stepped up to her.  She reached out a hand and stroked the creature beneath its chin.  It responded by pulling in close and rubbing its face in her cheek before stepping around her and sniffing at one of the goats.  The goat stepped away quickly, the creature stepped after it, and the woman called it back to her.  In the next moment, it turned and darted off, zooming back to the forest ridiculously fast.

    After it had gone, the woman turned towards us and held up one hand, dropping it to her head twice.

    Ude stepped away and glanced between me and Geraln, ¡°means aklear.¡±

    I asked, ¡°gada todo?  All clear?¡±

    Ude nodded, ¡°gada todo.  Yes.  Aklear.¡±

    We all went back to keeping watch.  Down below, adjacent the tower but in the middle of the murky river, the shattered remnants of a bridge had been taken over by a gargantuan brown snake with a black diamond pattern on its back that had to be at least ten yards in length.  Its belly had bulged from something as large as a man.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

    Geraln spoke to me.  ¡°Have you thought about it?¡±

    I shrugged.  ¡°Thought about what?¡±

    ¡°About you and Miyani.  As in, seriously.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m very serious about her.¡±

    ¡°No,¡± he said.  ¡°I mean kids.  Marriage.  Spending a life together.  How would that work?  What would that even look like?¡±

    ¡°Uh¡­¡± I looked outside.  I shrugged.  ¡°I don¡¯t know?  Not really.¡±

    He nodded and cast his gaze back to the jungle.  ¡°I have.¡±

    ¡°And?¡±

    Geraln took a deep breath.  ¡°I don¡¯t know, man.  You''ve never had this problem, but I worry about what my mum would say; you know how she is.¡±

    I shook my head.  ¡°No?  What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°Come on, man.  Half of Gath would come down on me about polluting the pure Herali blood.  You think maybe I should bring s?wi  home to meet my family?¡±

    I shrugged.  ¡°I don¡¯t think they¡¯d be that bad¡ªno one had a problem with you going after Talys.¡±

    Geraln huffed and shook his head, ¡°you¡¯ve always been blind.  Lucky you not having any parents to fuck you up¡­¡±

    Ude snapped his face towards us and furrowed his eyebrows at that word.

    Geraln turned to him and bowed his head low.  ¡°I¡¯m sorry, man.  kupade.  weyi?? ??¡¯uv?.  I''m sorry.¡±

    Ude smirked.  ¡°Is OK.  Uh¡­ g?yi??se.  xam?e? weyi?? ??¡¯uti ?a g?yi??se.¡±

    Geraln smiled and nodded, ¡°??v?desa.¡±

    My eyes went wide.  ¡°How the hell¡­¡±

    Geraln smirked and slapped my arm.  ¡°Like I told Faren: it''s not a race, but I am winning.¡±

    I¡¯d been up on the roof about an hour when something thudded against the hatch in the floor.  It lifted, and a man stepped up onto the roof with us.  He was in the unit I¡¯d come with, the guy with the falcon tattoo who walked barefoot in the jungle.

    Ude stepped eagerly to the staircase and greeted him, ¡°??v?desa!  ??v?desa!¡± Then he waved us goodbye and disappeared down the dark corridor, closing the hatch behind him.

    I spoke first.  ¡°Geraln, I¡¯d like you to meet¡­ uh¡­ ¡°

    The man smiled.  ¡°Jaysa.¡±

    Jaysa had a handsome, angular face and stood the same height as Geraln but with a lean build.  Like me and Geraln he was Falcon clan, but from Ozaria county.  You could always tell Ozarians from the bows they carried¡ªthey embedded diamond-tree stones into the wood.  Of course whenever you ask, they''ll tell you it''s to improve the balance, but the reality is they did it because it looked sick.

    Geraln asked, ¡°how long have you been here, man?¡±

    Jaysa''s steely green eyes scanned the trees.  ¡°Maybe a year?  I came in the rainy season, so about a year.¡±

    I swooned.  ¡°And you survived that long?¡±

    Jaysa smirked.  ¡°Yeah.  Look, if you want to know anything, don¡¯t hesitate.  I can tell you the important people have something big going on in this area; we¡¯re the third unit sent here in as many days¡­¡±

    A voice shouted from the distance.

    Geraln''s face dropped and he turned to look.  ¡°Again?¡±

    The three of us gathered at the north where a man stood three-hundred-sixty yards out on a fallen log that reached to the riverbank on one end and disappeared into a thick bush on the other.  The man was a native, though from that distance I couldn¡¯t make out the tattoo on his shoulder.  He wore a patterned material for a loincloth and held a long stick in one hand with some kind of something red and fluffy dangling from one end.  About his head he wore something like a black headband with colorful feathers coming out in all directions.  He faced us.  In his other hand he held a cone half as big as he was, brought it to his mouth, and shouted through it

    He spoke a good length.  I tried to listen, but between the noise of the jungle and the distance, I¡¯d have struggled with Herali.  After he finished shouting at us, Jaysa¡¯s eyes popped and he pulled his face back.

    Geraln asked, ¡°what¡¯d he say?¡±

    Jaysa smirked.  ¡°He says that he¡¯s uh¡­ surprised?  I think that¡¯s it.  He¡¯s saying he''s surprised that anything could survive coming out of your mother¡¯s piggy cunt, but here you are wasting perfectly good air.¡±

    The man continued to shout, and Jaysa lowered his eyes to listen.  ¡°He says all his life there¡¯s been a horrid stench in the world.  He says he grew up with it, and sometimes it was so bad it made you vomit, and¡­ you couldn¡¯t appreciate anything because of how disgusting and putrid that stench was.¡±

    Jaysa laughing as the man shouted at us.  ¡°He says that when he became an adult, he vowed to find the origin of that horrible stench, and that his quest has led him to you.¡±

    I looked at the man, then back to Jaysa.  ¡°I¡¯m really sorry he said those things to you, man.  That must hurt¡­¡±

    Jaysa laughed.  ¡°No, he was talking to you.¡±

    I replied, ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure he was talking to you¡­¡±

    Jaysa grinned.  ¡°Yeah¡­ dam?eefi¡®eto.  The tall man.  It¡¯s you he¡¯s talking about.¡±

    Geraln shook his finger and looked at Jaysa.  ¡°No, no, he said dam?ee vodo vayi?o, guy with the tattoo.¡±

    I nodded.  ¡°Yep.  That¡¯s what I heard.  I heard him say that.¡±

    Jaysa glanced back and forth between us and laughed.  ¡°Gods!¡±  Then still smiling, he reached behind his back for an arrow and nocked.

    The man turned around briefly and lowered his loincloth, baring his arse at us before turning around and shouting something else.  I turned to Jaysa.  ¡°You¡¯re going to shoot him over some insults?¡±

    Jaysa drew back and aimed.  ¡°They''re running an op.  He''s part of it.  Look over those bushes; they probably got someone else close by.¡±

    I tried to, but as the veteran loosed, my eyes followed his arrow.  The man at the receiving end took a few steps to the side and watched as Jaysa¡¯s arrow blew right through where he used to be.  He lifted his cone to his face once more, ¡°yo ?uve!  z?ta v? s?k??i ?a pe?evi dam?visa za?i!¡±

    Geraln''s eyes bulged and he turned to face me.

    I shrugged.  ¡°I got the first part, what was that.  The rest¡­¡±

    Geraln shook his head.  ¡°Something about dry season, and then¡­ I think¡­ something about your woman''s pussy?¡± He turned to Jaysa, ¡°is that what that means?¡±

    Jaysa laughed and shook his head, then nocked another arrow.

    ¡°Hold up,¡± Geraln strung his bow.  ¡°It''s my turn.¡±

    Jaysa grinned and stepped aside, while Geraln drew back and took aim.  The enemy warrior fanned his fingers out with his thumbs in his ears and blew raspberries with his tongue.

    The three of us watched as his arrow flew off towards him.  He stepped back to where he''d stood before and watched Geraln''s arrow crash into the mud behind him.  ¡°¡®uzi ¦Èemovevisa ??¡¯uv? ?a xoso go¡¯iyo¡¯ise ?uku!  veke ?? te¡¯a¡¯esa dam?visa ?a go¡¯iyo¡¯i d?sek?viye!¡±

    Jaysa laughed and shook his head.  Geraln scratched his head and stared at his target.  Then he glanced at Jaysa, ¡°too much for me.  What''d he say?

    Jaysa chuckled.  ¡°He said¡­ your ugly-arse should never get married because your wife would divorce you and marry her dildo.¡±

    Geraln nodded.  ¡°Worth it.  Absolutely worth it.¡±  He nocked another, ¡°if he keeps at it, we¡¯ll have a whole library!¡±

    I set my hand on his shoulder.  ¡°Come on, man, it''s my turn!¡±

    I stepped up to the gap between stone  crenellations, nocked an arrow, and drew.

    I had to think about this.  He might surmise by this point that I''d aim for where I expected him to go and not move at all.  Or he might anticipate me anticipating that and move anyway.  Unless he anticipated that.  I ended up picking some random spot on the log.

    As I stared down the shaft, Geraln grinned at me, ¡°watch out for a crosswind!¡±

    I smirked,¡±p? ??wose xat?,¡± and loosed.

    The man saw my arrow go up and shuffled over to the far side of the log closest to the bush.  When my arrow came down, it punched through his foot and nailed him to that spot.  He let out a blood-curdling scream.

    Geraln''s face lit up in shock, ¡°you got him!  Holy shit, you got him!¡±

    Jaysa grinned and rested his hand over my back.  ¡°Nice shot!  He''s all yours.¡±

    ¡°All mine?¡±

    ¡°Didn¡¯t know you''d pop your cherry when you woke up this morning, did you?¡±

    The shock of what Jaysa meant thrashed at my mind and sent a chill down my spine and across my skin.  I would kill a man.

    The enemy warrior sat down on the log with his knees up to his chest.  I could make out where the wooden arrow shaft darkened in blood, and he pulled at it.  It wouldn''t move.  He kept pulling, only to lean back and cry out in terrible pain.

    I swallowed my breath and tried to steady my fingers.  I would kill a man.  This man who''d made such an effective distraction that an entire army could have lurked in the woods on the other side of the river and none of us would have noticed, I would kill him.  He likely had a woman who loved him, children who jumped for joy when he came home, and a few chores around the house he''d been putting off.

    And I would take all of that away.

    I nocked my next arrow and drew back.  I took a deep breath and closed my eyes for a moment.

    Father in heaven, I don''t know this man.  I have no quarrel with him, I don''t know his name.  He''s the enemy, and so I''m supposed to kill him.  I don''t want to.  I trust in you, Lord, to guide my hand according to your divine judgement.  Amen.

    The man hadn''t paid attention as my next arrow flew, not that he''d have been able to move.  Instead he tried to bend the shaft once more only to let go and lean back again.

    My next arrow came down and nailed his other foot to the log.

    Once again he screamed.

    Geraln exclaimed, ¡°gods!¡±  Then he turned to face me with his mouth gaped.

    Jaysa laughed and stared at the man with his eyes wide.  ¡°You are beyond cruel, man!  Go on, play with your food!¡±

    At that, Jaysa led Geraln to the other side of the tower, and their conversation blended into the sounds of the forest and the waterfall downstream.  I stood watch over my victim.

    The enemy soldier stopped moving.  Rather he sat hunched over with his head down and his arms at his sides.  A few jerks of his chest told me he hadn''t bled out, but other than that he just sat there.  His cone had fallen in the mud before him, and his staff had fallen behind with the bottom end propped up on the log beside him.  There were no more insults.

    Across the river, an alligator that had to be at least ten feet slogged across the mud and into the water.

    Someone tapped my shoulder.  I turned to meet Geraln''s face.  He pointed towards the sky, where a dark cloud covering everything in mist rapidly approached us.  ¡°We''re going below.  You coming?

    I found no words.  I couldn''t move.  I wanted to nock an arrow, either save him from one alligator or spare him the terror of being ripped apart, but I couldn''t do that.

    And then the rain came.  In a matter of seconds, a heavy downpour soaked my skin and glued my hair to my back.  Water poured down my brow, and I continued to watch the man.  He lifted his head and looked up at the sky to let water smash onto his face, then looked down again.  All around us, the orchestra of raindrops on the surface of the water filled my ears.

    Then I saw something in the trees nearby.

    It was hard to make out at that distance, but it was someone''s hand reaching out, holding a rag of sorts.  I wiped the rain from my brow only for more rain to wash down my face, and another man stepped out.  He was another native.  He stood in the mud, facing me and holding up the rag, waving it at me.

    I waved back.

    At that, the new man turned and went to crouch low beside the one nailed to the log.  He looked over his shoulder at me and stared, and I waved at him again.

    With the rain crashing down he''d snapped both arrows and lifted his friend free, cradling him in his arms.

    He stood and turned once more to face me while our taunter draped his arm over his shoulder.  Finally, with rain coming down in sheets upon us both, he bowed his head low and disappeared into the forest.

 A Man

    I gazed at the massive planks pulled tight against the stone archway, and watched the men on the ramparts for some sign that she might have arrived.  Miyani had said that she¡¯d try to meet me at Praying Mantis.

    Maybe.

    I could wait all night and she might not come.  What if she was busy?  What if she was making love to that boy right now, lying down on her back and looking up at his face, calling out his name at this very moment?

    My knee hurt from tripping on those steps earlier, but my head felt like it was about to explode.  I needed to do something¡ªanything¡ªto free my mind from these chains.

    The mess hall was about a third the size of the one at Carthia with the same open walls, but the ceiling had those fur-like roots hanging down that cooled the air and gave a calming earthy scent.

    Geraln sat with Davod over hammered-copper mugs.  He raised his hand and called me over, so I sat.  His chubby cheeks smiled, and he poked his finger into my arm.  ¡°Tell him it¡¯s true!¡±

    ¡°Uh¡­¡± I looked back and forth between them and assured Davod, ¡±it¡¯s absolutely true.  Whatever it is.¡±

    Davod¡¯s face was buried in his cup.  Geraln explained.  ¡°That they¡¯d been taking shots at that guy all day.  Jaysa¡ªthat¡¯s that guy over there¡ªhe missed, even I missed.  Your boy Caleb comes up, nails both his feet to the log.  Shut him the hell up, man!¡±

    Davod set his cup down and shrugged.  ¡°I believe you.¡±

    From another table, men erupted in laughter.  Ales, Faren, Gino, Jame, Northstar, Jezi, and the three Orca men from Kylen¡¯s group all gathered around Borel ¡®More-Bitches-Than-You,¡¯ who had a wisp of a young native woman sitting on his lap with one arm draped over his muscular shoulders.

    Another young native woman, average height with a soft build and generous hips, set a hammered-copper mug before me with another each for my friends.  She then came closer to brush her hand across my shoulder and leaned in close with an inviting smile.  ¡°hewo!  I ?em sofiya!¡±

    ¡°zawa,¡± I answered.  ¡°????de Caleb.¡±

    Geraln shook his head and chuckled to himself while Davod swallowed hard from his mug.  sofiya smiled wide, stroking along the back of my neck, and bent over to allow her pendulous breasts to hang before me; her skin smelt like some kind of wildflower.  She passed eyes all around my face and down my chest until she found the ear pendant Miyani had given me.  Immediately her face reeled from shock.  She stood up straight, clasped her hands together and bowed, ¡°kupade!  kupade!¡± before scurrying back to the kitchen.

    Davod doubled over, banging his fist against the table between fits of laughter.  Geraln chuckled hard, then squeaked out, ¡°so¡­ Sarina.  Here''s what you need to do.  Go kill an enemy in battle¡­¡±

    Davod lifted himself up and chuckled out loud, slapping his chair.

    I wondered if some boy would ask sofiya for ¡®?mi??ei.  Or what about the woman in Borel¡¯s lap?  She clung to the back of his neck and giggled into his eyes, leaning her lithe body into his and stroked his back.  If some boy were to ask her, what would Borel say about it?  Likely he¡¯d be man enough to put his foot down over it.

    I sipped my drink.  Right away, a dazzling ribbon of fruity sweetness wrapped around my tongue and distracted me so that I almost missed the strong undertone of alcohol as it snuck past my senses.

    Borel called out to us.  ¡°You three!  Get over here!¡±

    Davod glanced between me and Geraln and shrugged, then swallowed the rest of his drink and stood.  I brought mine over, and Borel held up some coins for sofiya, who took them and disappeared into the kitchen.

    Borel then looked around the table with smug confidence plastered over his meaty face.  The young woman on his lap probed his chest with her fingers as he began.  ¡°I have decided that you all need to know who Massi was.¡±

    Geraln hadn¡¯t sat.  He shook his head and turned to leave.

    ¡°Nah,¡± Borel snapped, ¡°especially you.¡±

    Geraln crossed his arms.

    Borel smiled.  ¡°He was more than that guy who Diamond ripped his throat out, yeah?  Ain¡¯t your fault, man¡ªhe had it coming.  Sit down.¡±

    Geraln glanced at me and took a seat next to mine.  Jame sat across from Borel.  His lean face carried an easy smile and he chuckled, ¡°Massi had it coming a thousand times over¡ªthat was before he got here!¡±

    Borel laughed and sipped from his cup.  He turned to me with a serious face.  ¡°He¡¯d have stayed with you and Renou, you know.  Massi would have stayed behind with you.  He¡¯d have told the rest of us chicken-shits to fuck right off.¡±

    The woman on Borel¡¯s lap pulled her face back and scowled at him.  Borel bounced his leg up and down and consoled her, ¡°just telling a story, love; that¡¯s how he¡¯d have said it.¡±  Borel sipped from his cup, then continued.  ¡°Massi was an abject asshole.¡±

    sofiya returned with a tray full of cups and set one before me, Davod, Geraln, and several of the other men.  I didn¡¯t touch it as I was still sipping my first, but Davod took a generous swig from his.

    Borel continued his eulogy.  ¡°One time, there was this kid, real ¡®amu?axat?¡­¡±

    Half the men giggled lightly.

    ¡°... favorite thing this kid liked to talk about was how his family had all this money, and somehow that gave him the right to treat everyone else like shit.  So I punched his arse in the face.¡±

    The woman on his lap pulled her face back.  ¡°You punch ass and face, what?¡±

    ¡°In the face, love.¡±  He kissed her lips and continued, ¡°everyone was there.  Everyone saw, including the headmistress.  I get hauled off to this lady¡¯s office, and Massi comes along talking like he¡¯s an eyewitness.  Kid has the audacity to tell her it wasn¡¯t me!¡±

    ¡°What?¡± some of the other men laughed.

    ¡°Yeah man!  So Massi¡¯s there swearing up and down it wasn¡¯t me, and this lady¡¯s pissed¡ªshe was there; she saw it herself.  He says, ¡®you old bag, you need to get your eyes checked!¡¯  I¡¯m trying, man, I¡¯m trying; it took all of my strength not to crack up laughing!  Oh, she cuts into him so hard, man!  She sends me away without even a detention while he gets suspended for two weeks.¡±

    Several of the men laughed; Davod emptied his cup and clanked it onto the table.

    While Borel took a moment to study his lover¡¯s skinny body, Jame took the baton.  ¡°There was this time he really pissed me off.  So there was this tournament.  Some kind of, uh¡­ charity thing.  Winner got a crack at the princess.¡±  Jame looked around the table, ¡°you guys ever laid eyes on Davina?  The Count''s daughter?¡±

    A few of the other men huffed, while I answered.  ¡°I liked her; she used to come by the church all the time.¡±

    Gino sniggered and smirked at me, ¡°when you were there!¡±

    Jame shook his head and smiled.  ¡°Yeah, well, Massi and I were there, he started talking like he was going to cut a few strands from this other guy¡¯s bowstring.  I told that bastard he¡¯d better not.  I¡¯m trying to explain to this kid, now you all know, I¡¯d rather lose with honor than cheat.  But does he listen?  He tries it anyway, gets caught, and we both got kicked out.  I couldn¡¯t believe that shit!¡±

    Flower of the Orca clan, if I¡¯d asked Davina to not give her body to some boy for the night, she¡¯d have obliged me.  She probably never heard of the rite.

    Davod tapped my hand and nudged his chin towards the extra drink before me, so I passed it to him.

    Gino took up the eulogy.  ¡°I didn¡¯t know him long.  I only met him the day we left Kyoen, but in that short time he was a complete shit.¡±

    Half the table laughed.

    Gino continued.  ¡°Man treated Renou like a scab he couldn¡¯t stop picking¡­¡±

    Borel cocked his head to the side.

    ¡°... Even as we started through those high mountains, Massi kept picking on the guy.  But at night, Renou was cold, and Massi gave him one of his blankets.¡±

    Borel furrowed his brow, ¡°when did that happen?¡±

    Jame answered, ¡°every night after you fell asleep.¡±

    Gino continued.  ¡°One night it was getting late and we couldn¡¯t find shelter.  Renou points out some dome-looking thing made of snow, says let¡¯s sleep in there.¡±

    I glanced at Ales and Faren, who smiled at me in return.

    ¡°This guy,¡± Gino gave a nod to Borel, ¡°brushed him off, but Massi speaks up, let¡¯s go have a look.  That was probably the most comfortable¡­¡±

    A loud, guttural croak filled the air, followed by a sequence of low clicks.  We all turned.  At the end of the table stood a grizzled vita¡¯o lizard creature beside a native woman.

    The lizard had scars about his body with more than a few scales missing and hard, toughened scales on his back, and long whiskers like a beard beneath his chin.  He moved with the slowness of an elder, and when he opened his jaws, a handful of his jagged teeth were chipped.

    The woman was petite with streaks of gray in her otherwise white hair.  Her legs bore the powerful muscles of a scout, though her worn skin and sagging breasts heralded a great number of years.  She''d dressed in a white silk flap over the front of her belt with blue embroidery in the image of a tree surrounded by a circle of animals trying to eat one another.  On her left shoulder was a white crescent moon tattoo.

    This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    Immediately, the woman on Borel''s lap stood, straightened out the flap of her loincloth, and bowed her head low before shuffling off into the kitchen.

    The old scout''s eyes followed her before turning to face me directly. She then extended her hand and made a come-hither with the stub that remained of her index finger.

    Without speaking, she led me towards a far corner of the mess where just outside, the yellow-and-gray stones of the curtain wall rose up to the dense clouds above, and off to the side the sounds of children playing filled the courtyard.  Beyond that, the gate still hadn¡¯t opened for anyone to come in.  The elder lizard raised his snout to my arm for a slow sniff.

    The old woman was Miyani''s height and had a scar about her right arm just above her elbow not unlike the one Blue had given me.  She glanced at my wrist and smirked, then lifted her face and addressed me in Herali with a thick accent, ¡°I''m Pu''iyo.  I¡¯m the quarte?maste? at P?aying Ma?tis.  Yu a? Kaleb of Ga¦È?¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    ¡°Is it t?u that yu allowed a? e?emy tau?te? tu eskape?¡±

    xat?.  ¡°Uh¡­¡± I ran a hand through my hair and twisted a lock around one finger.  The woman looked up into my face and questioned me further with her yellow eyes, not speaking a word.

    ¡°Well¡­¡± I tried to excuse myself.  ¡°It was a difficult shot.  It had to be at least three-hundred-sixty yards; at that range I¡¯d be lucky to hit anything¡­¡±

    ¡°Yu ?ot him i? the f?t.  The? to make you? poi?t klea?, yu ?ot him i? the othe? f?t.¡±

    I lowered my eyes.  ¡°I don¡¯t know that I was trying to make a point¡­¡±

    ¡°The?, I¡¯m told, yu st?d by a?d ?efuzed tu kill him¡­¡±

    At that moment, Davod threw his arm over the back of my neck and leaned his weight on me, staggering to stay upright.  He looked at the woman and slurred, ¡°you got a problem with my man?¡±

    The quartermaster squinted at him.  The old lizard brought his snout close to Davod¡¯s breath and sniffed, then groaned and twisted his head back and forth and gave a low chirp.  Pu¡¯iyo scowled at Davod.  ¡°How much did yu d?ink?¡±

    Davod chuckled and looked away.

    She then called out to our waitress.  ¡°sofiya!  p? xewek?seza duvu¦È?yu!¡±

    sofiya glanced at my friend and nodded before picking up several cups from an empty table.

    Davod slurred, ¡°z¡­ zero?  Zero drinks?  Is that what that means?¡±

    The woman raised one white eyebrow high above the other while stroking the elder lizard gently on his neck and pointed back to our table.  ¡°Davod.  I wa?t yu to chooze o?e ma? f?om you? u?it.¡±

    He turned and gave a big, dumb smile.  ¡°Geraln!  Get over here!¡±

    Geraln came up and glanced between us, then settled his eyes on the quartermaster.

    Pu¡¯iyo explained.  ¡°Hee? iz what yu kan expekt.  That ma? yu let go, he''s going tu heal.  He''ll get bette?, ?etu?? to ?u?i?g ops, setti?g amb??ez, all that g?d stuff.  A?d ?ow,¡± she poked Geraln in the center of his chest, ¡°yu''?e ded.¡±

    She passed her yellow eyes between me and Davod, ¡°a?d yu get tu live wi¦È that.¡±

    With that, she turned and walked with her lizard companion out of the mess and out of sight.

    Geraln smirked and turned to Davod.  ¡°Come on, man, why''d you have to get me killed?¡±

    Davod laughed and shook his head, ¡°I''m sorry, man, it won''t happen again!¡±  The two of them laughed it off and went back to sit down with the others.

    I wished I could have done the same, but my mind tormented me.  Where was Miyani, and what was taking her so long?  What if she was making arrangements with that boy?  God, what if something happened to her along the way, and I never saw her again, and my selfish arse couldn''t stop blathering about that damned boy?  What if I did speak to her, and she refused to make any concessions on any rites and rituals?  What if this turned out OK, and there was some other weirdness in her culture that was even worse?  What if the old woman was right and that man I spared ended up killing her?

    What if I never saw her again?

    Outside, goats browsed tufts of grass near the stone walls that rose up all around the muddy courtyard.  About half a dozen native children ran around while Rock chased after them.  He had a red collar around his neck, and every time he got close, they ran away and laughed.

    One little girl who couldn''t have been more than six wasn''t fast enough to escape.  When Rock tagged her, another boy pointed and taunted, ¡°you got the pla-ague!  You got the pla-ague!¡±

    She started to cry, but Rock crouched down to her level.  With a big smile he fitted a red collar around her neck so that they both had one, and pointed at the boy who''d mocked her, speaking low and gentle.  The girl sniffled.  Then he held up one hand and drew lines and circles on it with his finger.  A moment later, she ran after the boy with a big smile on her face.  The boy turned and stuck his tongue out at her until Rock crept up behind him and tagged him as well; he already had a collar in hand for him.

    Across from them, Queen lay down in a bed of shredded coconut-husk and arched her long neck to gnaw at the human leg-bone she''d held beneath her talons.  By then she''d already stripped the person''s flesh away but for scraps of meat in their foot.  Yumi reclined against her lizard friend''s side with her knees up, butterfly beads at the end of her long, white braids, and she was entranced in a book.  The title was Herali: His Forbidden Lust.

    A man called out from the ramparts, ¡°open the gate!¡±

    My heart slammed against my chest.  Heavy chains rattled, and the massive wooden door creaked as it began to fall open.  The old lizard zoomed past me carrying the quartermaster on his back and raced up to the gate.  ¡°Eve?yo?e iz i?!  What''s goi?g o??¡±

    Men filed into the courtyard from the mess, and children stopped their games to watch.

    As the massive wooden plank lowered, a lizard¡¯s snout peeked in from outside to reveal a blue-yellow eye with a black vertical slit.  A vita¡¯o face appeared, with a blue stripe down the length of his snout and down his neck.  He chirped loud and croaked, and Miyani¡¯s face appeared.  Her adorable yellow eyes found me, and her whole face glowed.

    Pu¡¯iyo glanced at me, then back to her, and then to me again before she erupted in laughter, only to dismount from her aging vita¡¯o and return from whence she¡¯d come.  Everyone else went back to their business except one, the man who¡¯d been on the roof with me earlier, Ude.  His face beamed with joy.

    Blue leaped onto the massive wooden plank before it could drop down all the way and skidded down into the courtyard by the time it thudded to a stop.  He raced up, then turned his lizard face back and forth between me and Ude, still carrying Miyani¡¯s giggly self on his back.  He looked at me, he looked at Ude, looked at me again, then him again, and I nearly laughed.  Then he strode up to him and rubbed his lizard face in the man¡¯s cheek.

    Miyani glanced at me with a warm smile, not peeling her gaze from me for a second as she dismounted.  Then she held up a hand and nodded, and turned her attention to Ude.  Blue smothered him in affection, wrapping his long neck around him and pulling him in close.  He rubbed his body into his shoulder, chirped, and bumped into him again while Ude laughed and tried stroking him in reply.  Miyani stood laughing and tried to step in herself.

    Finally, Ude freed himself from Blue¡¯s affections and pulled Miyani in for a hug.

    She embraced him in kind, and a jolt shot throughout my body.  My heart thundered, and not in a good way.  This man wrapped one arm around her waist, his other around her shoulders, and he wiggled her back and forth.  I froze.  My blood boiled.  Seeing this man embrace her like that, after all the shit going through my head over that boy, I felt like I was about to explode.

    Blue thrust his face in front of mine and chirped.  He broke my trance and rubbed his face in my cheek, pushing into my skin with effervescent enthusiasm, then continued to brush his body against mine and chirped again.  I took a deep breath and tried to relax, and ended up stroking the smooth scales of his neck.  He pushed in some and brought his snout towards a spot on his shoulder, so I stroked him there.  He yawned his mouth wide and gave off two more chirps, twice tapping the tip of his nose to the same spot.

    ¡°Oh,¡± I smiled.  ¡°Like this?¡±  I pushed in some and felt the muscles beneath his skin, massaging them down to a tendon deep within.  He let out a string of clicks, and so I pressed in deeper and worked out a tense spot just behind his shoulder.  Blue tapped his foot against the ground excitedly and clicked some more.  Meanwhile I watched as that man held her arms in his hands, and the two of them spoke softly, deep into some serious eye contact.  I clenched my jaw trying to contain what was welling up inside me.

    After far too long, he released her.  I stepped up immediately and took hold of her arms, pulling her in close and leaning down to kiss her lips.  I felt her smile as she pecked at my lips a few times and reached her arms over my neck, and I reached behind to grasp at the full roundness of her arse, making sure Ude wouldn¡¯t miss that.

    Miyani pulled from me briefly and traced her fingers down my chest, peering up into my eyes and giggling.  ¡°You like!¡±

    I shot a glance at Ude, only for him to tilt his head to one side, laugh, and turn around, shaking his head as he walked back to the mess.

    Blue chose a stall directly adjacent to where Yumi sat with Queen and nuzzled his body down into a mass of bedding.  A small, gray opossum snuck out from a hole in the wood and sniffed over the lizard¡¯s skin.  He¡¯d had a few patches of tiny brown clusters that I hadn¡¯t noticed until the opossum started nibbling them off him.

    Miyani undid the strap about his waist and hung it on a hook next to her necklace of giant wooden beads when I mustered the courage to broach what tortured me.  ¡°ki¡¯i ??godi.¡±

    ¡°Mmm?¡±  She faced me and tilted her head to the side, furrowing her brow.

    ¡°We need to talk.¡±

    She nodded, still smiling.  ¡°ki¡¯i ??godi, ti.  I undastan.  z?bixase ?uve?¡±

    My heart thundered.  My breath quickened.  ¡°I don¡¯t want you to do amishudi.¡±

    She pulled her face back in shock.  ¡°¡®?mi??ei?¡±

    ¡°Right,¡± I said.  ¡°v? ¡®?mi??ei.  I forbid it.  No.¡±

    I heard a stifled giggle off to my side.  I flashed my gaze at Yumi, and she returned her eyes to her book as soon as I did.

    Miyani stared at me, blinked her eyes for a bit, and came back.  ¡°kaye?¡±

    ¡°Kaye?¡± I shook my head.  ¡°What¡¯s kaye?¡±

    ¡°Eh¡­ boy at cafe.  Nem kaye.  He want.¡±

    ¡°God, you already know!  Absolutely not!  No.  Tell him, I said no.  I forbid it.  No amishudi.¡±

    ¡°Eh¡­¡± she scratched her head.  ¡°No ask.¡±

    My fingers trembled.  ¡°Well, tell him no.  I said no.¡±

    Miyani raised her eyebrows and stared at me blankly.  I caught Yumi once again staring at us from the corner of my eye.  She smiled wide and shook her head, then went back to her book.

    Miyani squinted at me and asked, ¡°you odo?¡±

    ¡°Odo?¡±

    Miyani crossed her arms.  ¡°?? ¡®as?sedu?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I order you.  Uh¡­¡®as?¡­ v?¡­¡±

    Miyani shook her head and scowled.  Yumi sniggered under her breath and watched.  I kept at it, though.  ¡°I forbid it.  I cannot.  Tell him I said¡­¡±

    Miyani held up a hand and shook her head, ¡°no, no.  No this way I like you talk.  No.  I no like.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s great, but this amishudi thing is¡­¡±

    ¡°No,¡± she pursed her lips and shook her head.  ¡°Plan-to I suk dik at you, then no.  No I like this way you talk.¡±

    That froze me in place, and I felt like an idiot.  ¡°I¡­ I don¡¯t want to interrupt your plans¡­¡±

    ¡°v?!¡± she shouted.  ¡°z?ta xoso ¡®imogadesa ?a v? tuv?de!  mama!  poke v? tuv?de?  wo¦Èo ?a¡¯ukase ??godu?  ?? ¡®amu?axat?se?  p? te¡¯a¡¯ese!¡±  She turned to our neighbor, who grinned wide watching this exchange, ¡°yumi!  Please translate for me?¡±

    Yumi giggled and shook her head; she couldn¡¯t stop smiling.  ¡°kupade!  v?.¡±

    Miyani scowled at her.

    Yumi excused herself, ¡°¡®u?i you don¡¯t understand each other ?a poke k?mavisu?  kupade.  v?.  You guys are too funny.¡±

    I stepped closer to Miyani, ¡°I¡­¡±

    ¡°Go away!¡±

    I pulled my face back in incredulity.  ¡°What do you mean, go away?  I need to talk to you¡­¡±

    She waved her hand at me and turned her attention to Blue, who¡¯d rolled over and was busy rubbing his back in the mass of shredded coconut-husk.  She turned back to me.  ¡°Go away.¡±

    And so I stepped off.  My brain was numb, and I managed twenty paces towards the mess when an idea materialized.  I wished I could just start over, and so that was exactly what I intended to do.  Somehow.  I needed a better way to approach her, and so I pondered the matter.  What would Sarina advise me to do?

    Caleb, I¡¯m going to sit right here with Yumi and watch because she¡¯s right; you guys are too funny.

    If I¡¯m being honest, that¡¯s exactly what she¡¯d have said.  She¡¯d probably break out a wine skin for the two of them to pass back and forth while Miyani and I argued through a language barrier.

    Alone, I went back to the stall, trying to act like I was just strolling along.  Miyani held her arms crossed and didn¡¯t break her deadly scowl.

    ¡°Oh,¡± I tried to act surprised, but dragged my words out slowly to give her time on each one.  ¡°Miyani!  I, didn¡¯t, know, you, were, here!  When, did, you, arrive?¡±

    Yumi giggled and continued to watch.  Miyani raised one eyebrow high above the other and pulled her lips to one side.

 Not Mad

    Davod sat over his breakfast with his hands over his face, rubbing his eyes and temples while Rock failed to get his attention.

    Rock was trying to ask Davod if he wanted all of his dumplings.  I couldn¡¯t blame him.  They gave us smoked fish sauteed with onions, caramelized tomatoes, and dotted with specks of some herb that lent a bitter spice, and these fiery heaven puffs were balls of dough fried in orange-colored oil that were crispy on the outside, soft and fluffy on the inside.  Rock had torn his dumplings in half and used them to sop up the tomato gravy on his plate until not even a streak remained.  When Davod didn¡¯t answer, he looked around and saw Jame nibbling gingerly at his and asked for an extra.  Jame furrowed his brow and pulled his plate into himself, guarding it with his arm.

    I laughed.  Then I remembered the coffee he¡¯d bought for me and gave him two of mine.  Miyani smiled up at me and gave him two from her plate as well.

    Rain clattered hard outside the mess hall.  The quartermaster walked in alongside the elder bearded vita¡¯o, carrying a hammered-copper pot with a hole barely larger than a fist.  With streaks of water meandering down her wrinkled, dark-green skin, she gestured for Davod and Kylen to come join her at the center along with a tall, thin Herali with an elegant grace and a wolf-clan tattoo on his shoulder, a heavy-set Na¡¯uhui sporting a crescent moon same as hers, and another Herali with no ink but years etched into his face.

    I leaned into Gino.  ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡±

    Tobi heard me from his seat at Kylen''s table and answered me with enough volume for everyone to hear.  ¡°Two units get wall duty, three go out on patrol.¡±

    I felt Miyani¡¯s hand creep up along my back, so I leaned over and closed my eyes to smell the coconut oil in her hair again.  She giggled and nuzzled her face in my arm as giant Kylen pulled a small, wooden tile from the pitcher and looked at it.  He held it up and nodded at Tobi.  ¡°West patrol.¡±

    Jaysa and Rolf leaned in towards one another and started to talk quietly among themselves.

    Then Kylen looked at my girlfriend and smirked.  ¡°Dibs on Miyani!¡±

    His men chuckled.  Rolf leaned back and grinned, crossing his arms.  She furrowed her brow and lifted her face to me, ¡°dibzz?¡±

    Tobi smiled wide and gave her the word, ¡°x?e?.¡±

    ¡°Oh,¡± she looked at Kylen and shook her head in protest.  ¡°ki¡¯i go¡¯ude Carthia.¡±

    The elder Pu¡¯iyo chuckled, smiling at her.  ¡°v?.  v? ki¡¯ise.  g? sek?wasedu xo¡¯i.¡±

    The wolf guy reached into the pitcher and chuckled, ¡°Ahmi¡¯s going to be pissed.¡±

    Pu¡¯iyo smirked.  ¡°Ahmi can kiss my ass!¡±

    The wolf guy laughed and showed his tile to his unit across the room.  ¡°Wall duty!¡±

    The men exhaled and relaxed.  One of them shook a fist in the air triumphantly and took another bite from his plate.

    Davod was next.  He¡¯d closed his eyes and rubbed his temples, then groaned and tried to shake it off, dug his hand into the pitcher, pulled out a tile, and looked at it.  He didn¡¯t say anything but blinked at it slowly, not quite opening his eyes all the way.

    The heavy Na¡¯uhui captain leaned in.  ¡°North.¡±  He turned to his men, ¡°fifty-fifty, boys!¡±

    Miyani looked up at me.  ¡°?oth?¡±

    I smiled.  ¡°?aze.  Point for me.¡±

    She opened her mouth wide and scoffed, and I could tell she fought off a smile.

    Grass runners shot across the muddy courtyard.  It was me, Geraln, Ales, Faren, Rock, Northstar, Jezi, Malchuk, Borel, Gino, Jame, and our glorious captain, Davod.  Kylen and his unit of Tobi, Rolf, Jaysa, Wedsen the Goloagi runaway slave, the mixed dude from Carthia, the three noobs of the Orca clan, and the rest of his unit crowded around Blue with Miyani on his back.  Kylen addressed his men in Uhuida, passing a glance at her every few words, and I approached.

    She turned to face me.

    Blue cawed, almost like a low screech, and wrapped his neck around my body to pull me into her.  She giggled and smiled wide, passing her beautiful yellow eyes up and down my face.  I spoke, ¡°just in case,¡± and kissed her.

    She pushed her lips into mine, wrapping her hands behind my shoulders.  For a moment she pulled away and smiled, ¡°zhuss inkayes.¡±

    I light peck, then another, and another, until we¡¯d made an endless rhythm of small kisses intermixed with shared giggles.

    Kylen interrupted us, ¡°alright, alright.  Save some for later.¡±

    I gave her one last kiss that lasted several seconds before we pulled away.

    Ude was in the unit commanded by the heavy guy with the crescent moon on his shoulder, along with more than a handful of rough-looking Herali men carrying eupin longbows.  Among them, Yumi sat atop Queen¡¯s back, staring at my best friend, Davod.  He stood beside Borel, a tower of muscle rippling over his bare chest bearing the still-fresh Falcon tattoo on his shoulder.  He squeezed his eyes closed hard and shook his head, massaging at the bridge of his nose for a moment, and her attention was fixed.  He shook his head vigorously and opened his eyes, and Yumi snapped her gaze away.

    Her eyes found me and her face froze.  I glanced at him ever so briefly and back to her, and she looked out the gate.

    Our scout was an older woman with the dark-green skin of her Na¡¯uhui mother and dark-green hair and eyes of her Herali father.  She rode atop a gray-green vita¡¯o that had tiny spike-looking nodes on her back and what looked like whiskers beneath her chin; she was the same woman I¡¯d seen herding goats when I was on the roof.  She also had a thumb-sized scar on her hip.  ¡°I¡¯m Marya,¡± she looked around at each of us, ¡°and this is Ace.  Are we ready to go?¡±

    Most of us spoke up, ¡°yeah!¡± but Davod was silent.  Blue and Queen raced out across the wooden drawbridge and stopped in the middle of the field, but Marya sat still and gazed at him with her brow furrowed and her lips in a frown.

    He lifted his head and met her gaze.  ¡°Mmm?¡±

    Her eyes were wide.  She shook her head and then raced out to join the other two scouts.  And with that, we all filed out, across the wooden drawbridge, and out onto the open plain that separated Praying Mantis from the expanse of trees towering into the sky.

    Borel, Jame, and Geraln strode alongside Davod.  I had to wedge my way in to speak to him.  ¡°Yumi is looking you over.¡±

    Borel laughed.  ¡°You saw that, too?¡±

    Davod glared at me.  ¡°Is that all you think about?¡±

    I shrugged.  ¡°It''s always about that, you know.  In fact, it''s never not about that.¡±

    Davod lowered his eyes and chuckled.  ¡°That was a different time.¡±

    Borel elbowed him in the side.  ¡°He''s got a point, man.  I could die tomorrow; am I supposed to just ignore all these gorgeous ladies?¡±

    Jame smiled, ¡°and Yumi, too!  A man could do much, much worse.¡±

    Borel smirked hard, ¡°I like the quiet ones¡ªthey think things.¡±

    Davod shook his head and ran his fingers across the cornrows that lined his scalp.  ¡°Thank you all, now let''s¡­¡±

    Geraln chuckled and elbowed me in my side.  ¡°I wonder what his dad would say.¡±  He turned to the two Kyoni and explained, ¡°man lost his shit over him talking to this girl, Sarina.  She''s¡­ you know¡­ not Herali.¡±

    Davod stopped and glared down at Geraln.  ¡°You have no boundaries, do you?¡±

    I slapped Davod''s shoulder.  ¡°I wouldn''t worry; if your old man gets too rough, Queen would¡­ hmm.  I don''t know what Queen would do.¡±

    Jame giggled, ¡°mum, dad, this is the wife.  As you can see she''s not like other girls, but if you give us any shit about it, this fifteen-stone lizard¡¯ll rip your throat out.¡±

    The rest of us laughed.  Davod started to laugh, too, only to bow his head low and squeeze his eyes shut, massaging his temples.

    Ales walked up to me with his eyes wide.  ¡°Is he alright, man?¡±

    Geraln assured him, ¡°he''s just hungover; for him, this is normal.¡±

    Ales raised his eyebrows and pushed into me a little more, ¡°you got to do something, man.¡±

    ¡°Do something?¡± I asked.  ¡°Like what?¡±

    Ales hushed his voice, ¡°aren''t you the bloody medic?  How about, I medically order you to go back and get some rest?¡±

    I shrugged that off, ¡°he''ll be fine.¡±

    The ground sloped up as we entered the forest.  There was a clear delineation between the open plain kept clear from the tower and the jungle, that we hadn''t made it twenty paces in before turning around, and trees were so thick that there was no sign a tower was there.

    There was no road to follow.  I looked around for that mushroom and found it everywhere, marking the northern end of the plain beside the murky river.  Bushes around us were so thick as to block our path in most directions.  Then we passed into a grove of darkness with tree trunks scarcely half a foot in diameter but so numerous as to make walls like a dark maze, and many of us tripped on roots that criss-crossed the floor so thick we couldn¡¯t see the ground.

    Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

    Overhead, noise filled the canopy.  Chirps, growls, whistles, and grinding of insects were altogether deafening such that I couldn''t tell what was where.

    Then we heard that up-down-up-down-warble off to the left.

    Jame, Geraln, Jezi, Malchuk, and I drew our bows and faced that direction, but a woman''s voice came from behind us.  ¡°I could have shot one of you and covered my position by now.¡±

    Marya stood holding her bow in one hand, her dark skin and hair a perfect camouflage against the trees.  We relaxed.  A squawk called out from above.  Where we''d heard the bird call, with her talons dug into a branch high in the trees was Ace.  She jumped down and stepped between us, and nudged her lizard head in Marya¡¯s cheek.  ¡°This is a lesson for you: a scout and her vita''o are not glued together.¡±

    I took a deep breath and tried to shake that off.  Looking around, I wasn''t alone in that.

    She pointed to our left, ¡°go this way.  You will find a giant boulder at the base of a hill.  Summit the hill, and you will see another hill in the West with a sharp ledge on the northside about three miles away, overlooking the banks of a creek.  Set up there and keep watch.  If you see an enemy war party, snipe them without mercy.  Count four hours past noon, then go back to the tower.  Are there any questions?¡±

    I raised my hand.  ¡°Do you have a special call for us to recognize you?¡±

    Marya jumped onto Ace¡¯s back and smirked.  ¡°None for you, but if you hear this,¡± she whistled a warble-warble with a down-up at the end, ¡°that means t?fa?i has copied me.  Feel free to kill her.¡±

    With that, they vanished into the jungle.

    We all looked at Davod, who stood still for a moment and wiped his face.  After a moment, he opened his eyes again and looked around at us.  ¡°What are you waiting for?  Let¡¯s go.¡±

    Going where Marya had directed us, we wrestled through thick shrubs and trees that could have hid an enemy ambush party five feet from us and we¡¯d have seen nothing.  That gave way to a relatively open area with a vine that covered everything in a blanket of bright green leaves, choking out trees, fallen logs, sticks, rocks, and everything all around us while the tall trees in the upper canopy fought over remaining scraps of sky.  The bulging eyes of some furry creature held like a statue watching us as we passed.

    We came to a rock that had to be at least twenty yards high and covered in bright-green fuzzy moss wherever the ferns failed to grasp at the thing.  Behind it, the ground rose sharply, and we ascended.  Whistles overhead blended into one, making it difficult to pick out anything.  The call for humans¡ªbarely audible over the noise¡ªwas directly above us as though the bird followed us through its territory.  Roots dominated the ground as trees fought for what scraps of soil there were, and we managed through them as though it were a staircase.

    We reached the top of the hill and tried looking to the west, but the trees on that side were so thick we could make out nothing.  They weren¡¯t so dense to the north and east, and we could make out the imposing purple wall of the Terbulin ridge as it thrust into the clouds above.  We could also see the telltale dark blue-gray of rain being dumped upon the hills in the distance.

    ¡°There!¡± Malchuk pointed.  To one side, he¡¯d found a narrow tunnel through the foliage that granted vision of another hill in the west like a giant fold of rock broken off on one side overlooking a river below.

    Ales stood and stared at it.  ¡°You guys trust this lady?¡±

    Jezi answered, ¡°Marya is very skilled.  She will not send us on this route if it is not safe from enemies.¡±

    With that, we descended the far side of the hill, using the numerous trees as hand-holds.  As we made our way down a steep, muddy embankment, Davod slipped and rolled, then skidded several yards down, landing in a thicket choked with vines.

    He cried out, ¡°aaarrgh!  Fuck!¡±

    I rushed down after him, and I heard Geraln call out.  ¡°You alright, man?¡±

    He grunted and groaned, ¡°I¡¯m fine.¡±

    He struggled, but managed to right himself and stand.  A bright yellow vine clung to his arm as he brushed himself off, and he didn¡¯t seem to notice.  I got to him and looked at the thing.  He looked at it too, then ripped it from his skin and tossed it aside.  He then looked down the rest of the hill, ¡°let¡¯s go.¡±

    ¡°Hold still,¡± I insisted, ¡°let me look at you.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m fine,¡± he snapped.  From there, we carefully managed our descent.

    We reached the bottom of the hill, where a small creek murmured over the rocks just beneath more leaves of untold shrubs within a deep crevasse.  A massive log had fallen to bridge the way, and we assembled around it on one side.

    Faren¡¯s voice came from behind me.  ¡°You don¡¯t look so good, man.¡±

    Davod held one hand to his head with his other hand out as if grasping for something.  As though he hadn¡¯t registered Faren talking to him, he shook his head and nearly fell over.  I rested my hand on his shoulder and tried to will his gaze to meet mine.  Instead he said, ¡°I don¡¯t feel so good.¡±

    He had mud and scratches all over his skin, so I washed him off with my canteen.  Where that vine had clung to his arm, a line of tiny welts had raised up with small puncture wounds.  His breath was quick and shallow, he seemed dizzy, and when I looked at his face, he couldn¡¯t focus on me.  ¡°We have to get you back to the tower.¡±

    All the men looked at me.  Jame protested, ¡°Marya¡¯s expecting us on that ridge.  She''s probably planning to push an enemy war party through there¡ªIf we''re not there to pick ¡®em off, she''ll be in deep trouble.¡±

    Davod sat down and slumped over, burying his face in his hands.  Faren shook his head, ¡°Caleb''s right.  Something''s seriously wrong with him.  We need to get him back to the tower, and we need to go right now.¡±

    Borel looked around and nodded.  ¡°Alright.  Jame, Geraln you can shoot, Malchuk, Jezi, you can shoot, and Northstar, you all come with me to that ridge.  Ales, Faren, Rock, Gino, you guys help Caleb bring this drunk back home.¡±

    Ales crossed his arms, ¡°and who put you in charge?¡±

    I snarled at him, ¡°there¡¯s no time to argue.  Help me get him up.¡±

    Gino stood back, studying the hillside.  ¡°It looks like if we go up that way and zigzag through there, it should be much easier.¡±

    And so half the men in our unit stepped out onto the log en route to our lookout while Rock and Ales got under Davod¡¯s shoulders to bring him to stand.  I looked closely at his face, and his pupils had dilated.  A lot.

    Davod stood, carefully, and we walked following the route that Gino and Faren had planned for us up the hillside.  After the first zig, Davod seemed to regain some of his strength, though he was unusually slow and blinked an awful lot.  More than a few times he had to reach out to some woody stem to keep upright, until we came to the thicket he¡¯d fallen into some ten feet away.  There, he stopped.

    ¡°Come on, man,¡± we urged him.

    But he didn¡¯t move.  Instead he stood upright and gazed at the place with a blank expression.  Down below, the water tumbling over rocks set a baseline for the chorus of chirps overhead, and the trees rustled from a gust of wind above, and Davod refused to move from that spot.

    ¡°Hello?¡± I looked into his face, but his attention was fixed.

    ¡°It¡¯s that vine,¡± he said.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± I nodded.  ¡°We need to get you back to the tower, right now.  Come on.¡±

    I pushed my hand into his cheek and turned him to face me directly, and he finally broke his gaze.  Then with a laborious nod, he agreed, and we ascended the hillside.

    We¡¯d got about halfway up when he spoke again.  ¡°I feel strange.¡±

    Ales answered from behind him, ¡°well you¡¯re walking better.¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Davod said.  ¡°Something¡¯s happening, I can feel it.¡±

    Faren asked him to elaborate.  ¡°What¡¯s it feel like, man?¡±

    ¡°Like everything is in color, and I can hear the colors.¡±  Davod stopped again and took a deep breath, looking around at each of us and smiling.  ¡°I really think we should go back and take a closer look at that vine.¡±

    I glanced at Gino.  He returned my look and shook his head, pursing his lips.  He answered Davod, ¡°later.  Right now we have to hurry.¡±

    We reached the top of the hill.  I figured that Borel¡¯s half of our unit wouldn¡¯t have had time to get to the ridge by then, so I didn¡¯t bother to look.  Faren and Gino looked like they could have used a break, but Davod walked around spritely, with more pep than he¡¯d had all morning.  He stretched his huge arms out and rolled his neck around, glancing at each of us and smiling wide.  Then he called out to us, ¡°we going?  Come on!¡±

    He made to lead us, but then he started towards where we¡¯d just come up rather than the direction of the tower.

    Rock pointed the other way, ¡°is being this way.¡±

    ¡°Oh,¡± Davod laughed.

    Down we climbed over the roots beneath the darkness overhead when he stopped again, holding up a finger.  ¡°Wait.¡±  He then looked around, studied the hill down and up and concluded, ¡°we¡¯re going the wrong way.¡±

    I assured him, ¡°it¡¯s this way, man.¡±

    ¡°No,¡± he looked longingly up the hill.  ¡°No.  The vine is this way.  Come on.¡±

    He began to step, and I took hold of his arm.  ¡°We¡¯re not going back to the vine right now.  Maybe later.  Something¡¯s definitely not right, and we need to get you back to the tower.¡±

    ¡°I feel fine.  Better than fine, you have no idea.  You all need to experience this!  It¡¯s like I¡¯m becoming one with the soul of the universe.  Come.  I remember where it was.¡±

    ¡°Davod, no, man.  Ales was right; you should have gone back for rest earlier¡­¡±

    ¡°I''m fine,¡± he smiled wide, but by then his pupils had dilated so that his eyes were black circles with only a thin green rim about.  ¡°You don''t understand,¡± he insisted.  ¡°That vine will show you things.  I can¡­ I can feel the jungle.  It wants me to be a part of it.  You don''t understand¡­¡±

    Ales¡¯s eyes bulged, ¡°you''ve gone mad!¡±

    Davod laughed that off, ¡°I''m not mad.  Come, you all need to touch this vine.¡±

    ¡°Later,¡± I insisted, ¡°first I need the herbalist to look you over back at the tower.  Let''s go¡­¡±

    Davod looked confused.  ¡°But the vine is this way?¡±

    Faren stepped up and tapped his arm.  ¡°Nah, man, it''s this way.¡±

    ¡°Oh,¡± Davod nodded and allowed Faren and Gino to lead us down the hill.  Ales, Rock, and I walked behind him.  We hadn''t made it ten yards when he tried to turn around, ¡°are you sure?  I thought we''d come this way before!¡±

    ¡°We''re sure, man.¡±

    ¡°You really should touch the vine.¡±

    Rock nodded.  ¡°We touch.  We wanting touch.  Go this way,¡± he pointed down the hill.

    We came to the giant boulder covered in moss, and Davod stopped.  I stepped close to him and rested my hand on his shoulder, and he turned around as if he were about to run.  Then he saw the three of us blocking him and smiled nervously.

    ¡°Come on,¡± I urged him.

    Davod breathed in deep, shook his head vigorously, then nodded.  ¡°Yeah.  Yeah.  OK.¡±

    When we reached the field where everything was covered in a blanket of bright green leaves beneath a sparse canopy, Davod stopped and looked around.  ¡°No, no, no!  This is the wrong vine.  It needs to be the yellow one!¡±

    I stepped close to him, but he jumped back and unsheathed his sword.  All of us backed away from him.  My eyes couldn''t go wider from the shock of it, and he glared at each of us, waving his blade about.  ¡°We need to go back to that vine.¡±

    By this point I could do little more than freeze.  The prospect of an enemy hiding in the trees had removed so far from my mind we could have been surrounded and I wouldn''t have had a clue.  My best friend had pulled a sword on me, over this of all things.  ¡°Calm down, man.¡±

    Davod shook his head at me and frowned, pointing his blade at me as he spoke.  ¡°You don''t understand.  You need to experience the vine, or you''ll never understand.¡±

    ¡°We knowing,¡± Rock insisted.

    ¡°No, you don''t,¡± Davod scowled and pointed his sword at him.

    But Rock smiled.  ¡°Vine is being at Tower.  Is why we going there.¡±

    Davod furrowed his brow.  ¡°What?¡±

    Gino shrugged.  ¡°Wait, you didn''t know that?¡±

    Davod shook his head and pointed his sword at Gino.  ¡°No, no.  You''re lying.¡±

    Faren chimed in, too.  ¡°It''s true.  You know those giant pots behind the mill?  You didn''t see the vine growing in those pots?¡±

    My slow-arse took far too long to understand the game, but I did eventually figure it out.  ¡°Oh, is that what that was?  It did look familiar.¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Faren nodded at me.  ¡°Pu¡¯iyo said it''s a special cultivar, way better than the one he touched.¡±

    I could see Davod struggling to put the pieces together.

    Rock shook his head and added, ¡°is being the so good this.  I cannot waiting!¡±

    Davod passed his eyes between us one by one, his lips fixed in confusion.  ¡°This is a deception; you''re all trying to deceive me.¡±

    Faren finally nailed him down.  ¡°Ask Ales, man, you know he never lies about anything.¡±

    Davod glared at Ales.  We all faced him in sheer expectation.  Ales shook his head and lowered his eyes.  ¡°I didn''t want to tell ya, man, we was afraid how you''d react if ya knew we was doing the vine.  But yeah, we''re all itching to get back to the tower.¡±

    At that, Davod sheathed his sword and grinned.  ¡°Well what are we waiting for?¡±

 Going Down

    It had just rained, and the courtyard was muddy but for patches where grass runners made a mat upon the ground for chickens to peck at them.

    The gate creaked open.  In a flash, Pu¡¯iyo raced up on the back of that elder vita¡¯o lizard and stood beside me to watch.

    When the drawbridge thudded to the ground, two columns of men plodded across, easily four-dozen men¡ªnew recruits, from the look of them, wide-eyed and disorganized.  They were mostly Herali; I counted not less than twenty eupin longbows among them.  Amid their number were another half-dozen bison-pulled carts about to tip over for all the goods and supplies.  Behind them all was Ahmi riding atop the vita¡¯o with the dark-green color over his back and light blue underbelly, Thunder.  She wore a white, cotton minidress that day.

    She greeted the elder quartermaster.  The two of them shared an embrace along with a few laughs and some discussion in the native language that went way too fast for me to understand, though I heard Miyani¡¯s name.

    A tall man in his thirties came from behind the mess to greet the newcomers.  He had the dark-green skin of the natives with curly, dark-green hair and eyes, and wore a white crescent moon tattoo on one shoulder.  ¡°Take these to the barracks.  You, and you, through there.  This group, take these crates to the kitchen¡­.  Those go to the armory, that way.  I need six volunteers for wall duty?  You, you, and you¡­¡±

    A voice called out from the ramparts.  ¡°Incoming!¡±

    By the time anyone looked up, Blue flew across the drawbridge in one stride bearing Miyani on his back.  He raced up to me and bowed low, breathing heavily.  Miyani fixed her eyes on me directly.  ¡°Davod!  Is true?¡±

    Ahmi stared at her in confusion, then she and Miyani turned to Pu¡¯iyo, who answered, ¡°ti.  f? t?xo Davod kiti fi ka?i.¡±

    Ahmi looked away and muttered to herself, ¡°xat?.¡±

    Miyani dismounted and threw her arms around me, burying her face in my belly.  I needed that.  I didn''t realize how badly I needed that until I felt her arms squeezing my waist, and I caved into her.  Then after a while she lifted her hand to my chest and leaned in.  ¡°How much bad?¡±

    I breathed in deep and shrugged.  I¡¯d had no idea it could get as bad as it had got, neither did I care to imagine it being worse.  ¡°It¡¯s bad.¡±

    ¡°?? ¡®a?eze ?uve?¡±

    I pointed towards the back end of the tower, beyond the mill.  ¡°He¡¯s locked in the dungeon.¡±

    ¡°OK,¡± she nodded and took my hand.  ¡°p? z?v?di.¡±

    I swallowed.  I wasn¡¯t sure if I wanted to go through that again.

    Connected to the outer wall at the back end of Praying Mantis was a stone building with a few steps leading up and inside.  From there, a long, narrow corridor came to a staircase leading down into the darkness where the air was as thick as it was musty.  As we were going down, a lantern below cast its yellow hue over the stone floor with scraps of straw thrown about along the side.

    Iron cages lined the left and the right with a good three strides between them.  The wall on one side looked wet, and the whole place was cool but smelled stale.  From a cage on the right, a voice called out to us.  ¡°sa??wesa fi dam?!  ?ayi tixese s?bato?¡±

    It was a gaunt native man sporting a white cloud tattoo with a pair of lightning bolts coming down.  Miyani turned and lifted the backs of her hands to him, extending both her middle fingers up.

    The man laughed along with a handful of other voices in other, nearby cages.

    On the left, crouched in one corner with his arms around his knees, Davod stared into oblivion.  He brought his eyes to us as we came, then smiled wide and stood with a friendly air.  ¡°Hey man!  m?ya?i, v?dose ??¡¯uti?¡±

    She smiled at him and nodded.

    As for Davod, his pupils were still dilated, and he leaned his forehead between two iron bars.  ¡°You two look so good together!  When are you getting married?¡±

    Miyani looked up at me, ¡°maleed?¡±

    I found peace in her round face.  ¡°go¡¯iyo¡¯i, and that''s a point for me.¡±

    She sneered and poked me in my side.  Davod wrapped his fingers around the bars and settled on his feet, still smiling.  ¡°You know, I''m feeling a lot better.  I don''t want to touch the vine anymore.  You saved my life.  I''ll never forget that.¡±

    ¡°That''s good,¡± I said.  Miyani held my arm and pulled, keeping me at a distance from his cage.  I continued, ¡°because if you touch that vine again, it will dig its roots into your body and consume you.  Your skin, your flesh, your bones, until there''s nothing left.¡±

    Davod shook his head and laughed.  ¡°No, man!  That''s what they tell you!  That''s what they want you to think!  It''s actually quite an experience; I honestly do feel like I''m closer to God.  Like, I''ve glimpsed the scope of creation, and it''s¡­ so beautiful.  You really should try it.¡±

    I looked down at Miyani.  Her eyebrows popped and she shook her head.

    ¡°Look,¡± he smiled.  ¡°I get it.  It''s bad.  I promise.  I won''t go back there again.  It''s a good thing, I really think you should experience this once in your life, you know?  Just to know what it feels like.  You don''t have to do it again.  Just one time, you know?¡±

    ¡°They say that if you touch it once, you¡¯ll forever want to touch it again.¡±

    Davod bobbed his head back and forth.  ¡°Well, that won''t be me.  I promise.  You let me out of here, and I promise I won''t go look for the vine.  Fair?¡±

    Miyani shook her head vigorously at me, but I didn''t need to be told.  ¡°You''re going to stay where you''re safe for now.¡±

    Davod shook his head and exhaled sharply, looking off to the side.  Behind us, that other prisoner spoke again.  ¡°dowa kov?doze kiti fi ka?i.  ¡®oto xewek?seza!¡±

    Miyani turned to the man and scolded him, counting on one finger, ¡°paba¦È?pi fayi!  pi!¡±

    The man sucked his teeth and looked away, chuckling.

    I looked at her.  ¡°paba¡­¡±

    She scrunched up her cute nose with a smile.  ¡°Eh¡­ one word more.  Point for me!¡±

    Davod looked at me with a gleam in his eye.  ¡°C¡¯mon, man!  Hey, let''s do this.  How about you and me, we go and find the vine together?  Just the two of us, yeah?  Like we used to do, you know?¡±

    ¡°You''re going to stay down here a while.¡±

    ¡°You FUCKING LIAR!¡± He thrust his arm between the iron bars to lunge at me, but couldn''t fit his heavy muscles through.  He grasped his fingers open and closed, reaching out for my neck and screamed, ¡°I THOUGHT YOU WERE MY FRIEND!¡±

    I didn''t know if he could tell I''d flinched, but my heart jumped two paces back.

    ¡°You FUCKING TOLD ME THE VINE WAS HERE YOU FUCKING LIAR!  YOU DON''T UNDERSTAND!  YOU''LL NEVER UNDERSTAND!  I THOUGHT YOU WERE MY FRIEND!¡±

    Miyani pulled me away and reached up to grab my shoulder.  She set her hand over my heart and cooed, ¡°come.  We go.¡±

    His hands clung to the iron bars and he nearly cried.  ¡°You don''t care about me!  You don''t want me to be happy¡­¡±

    I breathed in deep and settled on her, and she was there to hold me.

    As we made our way out of the dungeon, I saw that same native man standing at the edge of his cell clinging to the iron bars as he leaned his grinning face between them. He watched me.  He watched me, and he grinned, and I hated him.

    He taunted, ¡°v?ga¦È?ze!¡± then giggled as I tried to walk past.

    Miyani leaned into the stairway and whistled a sharp rise, then another, followed by a warble and another sharp rise.

    Immediately the man stepped back and panicked, ¡°v?.¡±

    All the other prisoners cowered into the corners of their cells, and the one who¡¯d mocked us shook his head vigorously, ¡°v?.  kupade, v?.¡±

    Miyani grabbed a ring from a hook a few steps into the stairwell that had a key dangling from it and walked over to his cell.  By the time she got there, a heavy squawk erupted from the passageway above.

    The man¡¯s face turned white and his eyes bulged.  ¡°v?!  kupade!  kupade!¡±

    His fingers trembled as she unlocked his cage.  A vita¡¯o with a blue stripe running down the length of his body peeked his neck into the dungeon, baring a mouth full of jagged, serrated teeth.

    ¡°kupade!¡± he begged.  ¡°??si v?!¡±

    She didn''t acknowledge the man but turned to Blue, ¡°are you hungry?¡±

    ¡°v?!¡± he screamed.  ¡°??si v?!  ??si!¡±

    With that, Miyani took my hand and ushered me quickly up the stairs with blood-curdling screams echoing off the stone walls behind us.

    We made it back to the main archway leading out to the commons when she stopped and looked up into my eyes.  ¡°No Davod talk.  OK?¡±

    That centered me a little.  I heard no more screams by then; I didn¡¯t know what to think about that.

    This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

    She insisted, ¡°no Davod talk.  And kitifikani talk that no Davod talk.¡±

    I raised my eyebrows.  ¡°That wasn''t him talking?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± she said.  ¡°Wasn''t him talking.  Eh¡­ yes kitifikani talking.  Need time, hope he, uh¡­ come back.  OK?  Need time.¡±

    The sky had begun to turn.  A loud, obnoxious voice of a man celebrating called out to me from the mess.  ¡°Gods!¡± he cried.  It was Borel.  He stepped out from the mess hall and smiled his way towards us with a copper mug in his hand.  ¡°Get over here, man!¡±

    He wove one heavy arm over my shoulder and ushered me back from whence he¡¯d come with only a cursory glance for my girlfriend, ¡°zawa.¡±

    She smiled and nodded.  Borel pushed his cup into my chest such that a few drops spilled over the side and wet my skin.  ¡°Guess who popped their cherries today!¡±

    As he led me off, Miyani tapped my arm.  ¡°I wash Blue.  OK?  You talk.  We find¡­ eh¡­ later.  OK?¡±

    I was actually more interested in watching her bathe the lizard, picturing water and suds all over her body, watching her bend over to get more soap¡­ turn around and bask in the muscles in her legs as she stood on her toes.  I¡¯d have helped of course; I wouldn''t have just sat there.  Maybe help rinse off some suds that got onto her breasts?  I turned to look at her before she¡¯d gone, and she gave me a little wave and a smile before walking off.

    Inside the mess, the whole group was together except our captain.  Jame sat next to Geraln, the two of them with a somber expression on their faces beside Malchuk while the men crowded around them.

    Borel joined them excitedly, ¡°alright, who wants to go first?¡±  He then held up a finger, ¡°I''ll go first!¡±

    Geraln shook his head and chuckled.  Jame sat and stared off into the distance, while Malchuk sat quietly sipping from his cup and followed the conversation with his eyes.

    ¡°OK,¡± Borel began.  ¡°So we were up there, gods, it must have been what, three hours?¡±

    Jezi scratched his head and smiled.  ¡°Must be four at least.¡±

    Borel shook his head, still smiling.  ¡°At least four hours.  So we''re up there, and these guys just walk out onto the creek bed right out into the open.  They don''t see us.  My man here,¡± he slapped Jame¡¯s shoulder. Jame gave a cursory glance upward then looked back down at his drink with a long exhale.  ¡°He says, dibs on the guy with the yellow thing around his neck.  Geraln claims his, Malchuk names his, and that''s all we got, right?  That must have been¡­ two-fifty?¡±

    Geraln groaned, ¡°a hundred-eighty yards; it wasn¡¯t that far.¡±

    ¡°Three times what they can shoot, man.¡±  Borel grinned wide and shook his head in excitement.  ¡°Gods, if you and Davod were there, we''d have got them all!  Oh, you missed it!  And this guy!¡± He took Malchuk¡¯s shoulders in his giant hands.  ¡°Pops this guy right in the bloody knee, man!  His friend comes over to help, he shoots that bastard in the leg, too!¡±

    Gino lifted his chin to the Goloagi.  ¡°Why''d you shoot them in the legs?¡±

    Malchuk scratched at the scar across his nose and nodded.  ¡°Kill a man, you take out one.  Immobilize him, you take out three ¡®cause he needs two to carry him.  I didn''t know how many more there were, and I didn''t want ¡®em coming after us, so I figured, we give ¡®em two wounded right in the line of fire, they ain''t goin¡¯ nowhere ¡®til we say so.¡±

    ¡°Heh!¡± Borel chuckled, ¡°remind me not to piss you off.  Anyway, so after that, got to be another half hour or so, Marya rides out and stops right in front of the wounded men.  She looks left, looks right, then leaves.  Then she shows up behind us saying we can go home.  Gods, this place is crazy!¡±

    Borel never ran out of words.  Geraln didn¡¯t smile, and he barely looked up.  As the big man kept talking, Geraln got up and walked off.  I caught up to him just outside the mess hall where his head hung low.  ¡°You alright, man?¡±

    He stopped and looked up at me with a blank expression on his chubby face.  He took a deep breath and let it out, then we walked over to the steps leading up to the dungeon.  There he sat down, buried his face in his hands, and cried.  ¡°I killed a man, Caleb, I killed him!  I fucking killed a man!¡±

    He sobbed, and I started to understand why Borel was so keen on celebrating.  ¡°Look at me.  Do you think, for one second, if it had been you in that creek bed and them up on the ledge, you think they''d have gone easy on you?¡±

    He shook his head and furrowed his brow. ¡°They don''t have the range, man.  Those native bows¡­¡±

    ¡°You''re missing my point.¡±

    Geraln stared at me and blinked.  ¡°Jame got his man right in the neck.  Blood just¡­ sprayed out.  Everywhere.  Squirts ten feet away, like squirt, squirt, squirt, it just poured out of him.  He''s running around in circles and there''s just¡­ blood.  All over.  Just everywhere.¡± He swallowed and shuttered through a deep breath.  ¡°My guy, I got him right in his ear.  I''m thinking, he''s gonna go down.  Right?  He puts his hand up to his ear and knocks the shaft around.  Then he¡­¡± he gulped.  ¡°He starts shaking his head around like crazy.  I''m thinking, don''t do that, you''ll make it worse!  He''s got the broadhead right in his brain, and he just shakes his head.  He falls over, and he''s still shaking, and I''m just¡­¡±

    He took in a sharp breath and squeezed his eyes closed.

    ¡°I thought I could put him out of his misery, you know?  Like a mercy.  So I put another one in his heart.  And he''s there shaking, just shaking.  Like stop shaking, man.  He''s still shaking¡­¡±

    ¡°I''m s¡­¡±

    ¡°I know why you shot that man in the foot.¡±

    Silence fell between us.  The sky was dark.  The whole place was dark but for paper lanterns on high sconces all about the courtyard.  From the nearby mess hall, men laughing and chattering drowned out the calls of the jungle that managed to creep over the walls.

    Geraln turned to look at the entryway to the dungeon.  ¡°How is he?¡±

    I leaned in and took a deep breath.  ¡°It''s bad.¡±

    ¡°Like how?¡±

    ¡°All he wants to do is touch the vine.  I''ve never seen anything like it.  It''s this¡­ crazy obsession, and he''s going to lie, and manipulate, and say whatever he thinks you want to hear for you to let him out so he can go touch it.  And half the time he''s telling you how you should do it to.¡±

    ¡°Gods!¡±

    ¡°And that''s our friend.  That''ll be him from now on, for the rest of his life.  Pu¡¯iyo says he''ll get better in time, he''ll be able to go back to most of his life, but he''s done going out there.  She says they had a guy who recovered, they put him on wall duty.  He finished his tour and went back home to Heralia.  Years later, he shows up at the Terbulin gate begging to be let through.¡±

    ¡°Wait,¡± Geraln looked as in thought.  ¡°That means he''s going home?¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°Davod can shoot, you know that.  Putting him on wall duty for the next two years, that''s easy.  He''s going to go home.¡±

    That gave me pause.  It was true.  I hadn''t thought about that.  ¡°You mean he''s going to make ten babies with Runya, and sit back with a warm beer and listen to the children weasel their way out of some mischief?¡±

    Geraln laughed.  ¡°Yeah.  Something like that, yeah.  We should write to Runya¡ªshe¡¯s going to have to keep an eye on him, but yeah.  That''s one of us, now we¡¯ve got to work on the other two.¡±

    I shrugged.  ¡°He did say it''s a nice experience¡­¡±

    He laughed, ¡°shut the hell up, man!¡±

    I laughed as well.  When we looked up, Miyani stood before us.

    God, she looked beautiful.  The warm yellow of a nearby lantern reflected off her skin, drawing my eyes down across her breasts and across her fit tummy, all the way down her muscular thighs to her bare feet and back up.  Her sultry yellow eyes followed mine the whole way, and she smiled so wide at me looking her over that I gave her sublime body another pass.  She wore a short, white silk for a loincloth about a gold, woven belt that gave so much of her delicious hips to my eyes that I grew an erection right then and there.

    Geraln then rested his hand on my shoulder and used me as a crutch to get up, then gave her a nod before turning to go see our friend.

    ¡°Don''t get too close,¡± I warned him.

    He grinned and spoke his farewell.

    I gazed at her, and she at me, and I needed.  I just needed.

    I looked around and saw the entryway to a small tower in the outer wall some yards down from where we were.  So I got up, grabbed her arm, and pushed her in that direction.

    Her voice smiled, ¡°what?¡±

    We ducked behind a heavy oaken door and into a dark staircase.  When the door closed behind us, we were in total darkness.  Without a hint of a shadow to discern the form of her body, I probed around for the stairs and pulled her up some until I found one step that was considerably higher than the one below it.

    ¡°What is?¡± she giggled lightly.

    I pushed her up to that step and slid my hands down her skin to her hips, pressing down so as to bring her to sit on that step while I groped around to crouch before her on the step below.  I felt her legs open for me and I leaned in, probing in the darkness, my hands over her nipples and up along her shoulders until my lips found hers waiting for me.  I felt her fingers probe around my body until she found my scalp and brushed her fingers through my hair.  I felt around her thighs and brought my hands below, tracing the lines of her muscles and she squeezed on me ever so gently, then relaxed into a rhythm.  I felt her hand meander down my chest and grasp at the form of my solid cock and tease her fingers around it.  I groped her skin, still kissing her lips, and brought my thumbs in to brush her nipples, then shifted my hand over to take her nipples between two fingers and lightly pull at them.

    Touching her, feeling her body, my whole body was racing to catch up to my thundering heart, which itself lagged behind how badly I needed her.

    She continued to stroke at my cock beneath my trousers, but I had to pull away some to bring my lips down to her breasts

    ¡°Mmmmm,¡± she exhaled.  I wrapped my lips around her taut nipples and kissed, then kissed some more, bouncing my head back and forth between her breasts and licking her nipples with each pass.  I felt her arms enfold around the back of my head and lock me in place so that I had no choice but to swallow her breast, enfolding one nipple in my tongue.  Her breathing grew heavy as I sucked hard, pulling her nipples out with my lips only to press down and take her whole breast in my mouth once more.  Her strong thighs squeezed me in, exciting me further, and I migrated my hands up along her hips and wrapped around, with one arm behind her shoulders and my other around her waist, and still I sucked.

    I moved my lips over to her other nipple and kissed, then sucked that one as well.  In the sultry darkness there was only our bodies, invisible and silent but for her growing breaths and the sound of her legs gliding over my skin.  My mind was gone, surrendered to desire.

    I reached one hand back around to probe at her belt, slipping one thumb between her thighs to trace at the cloth pulled over her sex and worked my way beneath, still kissing and suckling at her breasts, only to take one nipple and roll it around in a circle with my tongue.

    My erection was complete, a solid pressure against my trousers.  Then I felt Miyani¡¯s hands press down on my shoulders, and so I abided.  I lowered myself against her body, pressing my lips into her tummy as I inched my way down.  I slithered my hands beneath her thighs and sated myself with the sensation of the muscles beneath her soft skin, stroked all the way down her calves and back up only to plant both hands around her legs and lock her in place.

    Then I felt hair on the tip of my nose.

    I could see nothing for the darkness, but that pussy was right there.  Right in front of me, just waiting.  So close I could smell it.

    I pushed my face in and pressed my lips onto her folds, burying my nose in her mound and breathed in deep.  God, just the smell of her was intoxicating.  I basked in the sweet musk of her sex, taking her in with every breath while her fingers ran through my hair.  Finally I brought my tongue out and flitted lightly over her folds.

    She rewarded me with a slight moan and a sharp inhale.  I wanted more.

    I should have been patient.  I should have been gentle.  Instead, I buried my tongue between her labia and slid all the way down across her opening flesh then curled it in to get a true taste of her.  She rewarded me with another moan and clasped my hair in her fist behind my head.  I covered her mound on my lips and continued to lick, sucking at her clitoris while she locked my head in her thighs like a vise, loosening, squeezing, then loosening again in rhythm to my tongue across her folds.

    She sang for me.  Her high voice called out in rhythm with my tongue flitting up and down across her folds, so I pushed my tongue out as far as I could and thrust into her.

    Her hands grew weak behind my head.  I felt her legs open up for me fully, so I settled in and kept thrusting, earning that audible treat with every push.  I tongue-fucked that beautiful song out of her right up until we heard footfalls on the stairs above.

    The taste of Miyani¡¯s delicious pussy clung to my lips.  My heart pounded.  It was dark moments ago, but the hint of a lantern grew with men¡¯s voices as they came down the stairs towards us.

    I felt her fingers brush through my hair, and her soft voice breathed out, ¡°no stop.¡±

    I smirked.  They were about to walk right past us.  ¡°Let them see, huh?¡±

    Her voice smiled, ¡°ti.¡±

    ¡°OK then!¡±

 As Your Captain

    Borel had a big chin.

    It was wide.  More than wide, it was just big.  And meaty.  And he held it up high, so that even though we were the same height, he still looked down his nose at me.

    Tobi from Kylen''s unit came to see me, along with one of the guys from the Wolf-clan captain''s unit.  He didn''t wear any ink, but his bow had etchings from Bear¡¯s Song.  ¡°Borel''s looking for you.¡±

    They led me to a small shed beside the mill.  Around the corner, I heard sounds like slapping flesh.  He''d had that same lithe young woman who''d sat on his lap bent over a wooden railing as he fucked her quite vigorously from behind.  When he saw us, he pulled away from her and laughed. ¡°Oh, shit!¡±

    She looked up into his face and scolded, ¡°why stop?¡±

    Borel chuckled and kissed her lips.  ¡°Business, love.  Gods, you''re a nice one!¡± And he slapped her bum as she walked off.

    She pointed a finger at him, ¡°finish later!¡± and disappeared.

    Borel turned to me, ¡°gods, I love this place!¡±

    I laughed lightly at that.  ¡°I can see that!¡±

    He popped his eyebrows and elbowed up close to me. ¡°Heard you was in the spire the other night.¡±

    I blushed.  ¡°I''ve heard those rumors.¡±

    ¡°Right,¡± he chewed his meaty chin and ran his fingers through the braids of his hair down to the ends where some of the braids had begun to come loose.  ¡°About that.¡±

    Borel glanced between Tobi and the Bear clan guy, then continued.  ¡°As your captain, I need to make sure all of my men are on the up-and-up.¡±

    That gave me pause.  ¡°Not sure what you¡­¡±

    ¡°Your girlfriend used to be an enemy scout.  Recently, I''m told.  Apparently she switched right before we got here.¡±

    Tobi added, ¡°she used to hunt the road down from the pass.  It got so bad, we nearly lost everything.  Ahmi had to deal with her personally.¡±

    I shrugged.  ¡°And now she''s on our side.¡±

    Borel bent over to a nearby trough and shoved a goat out of the way.  He dipped his hands in the water and splashed it on his face, wiping himself clean.  ¡°And you just accept that without question.¡±

    ¡°Ahmi told me¡­¡±

    He leaned in and grinned, ¡°I think we all know why you trust her.¡±

    Tobi edged a word in.  ¡°Today, she took us out and led us over to a ledge on top of a waterfall, tells us to wait there.  She goes off and has some hour-long conversation with an enemy scout.  Like what the hell was that about?¡±

    I shrugged.  ¡°They all know each other.  Maybe they were talking smack, maybe they were trading cheese recipes.  Did you ask her?¡±

    Tobi reeled from that, then the Bear guy added, ¡°Yumi said she used to be a true believer.  Despised our kind.  She didn''t come to Carthia out of some love for the place.¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± I nodded.  ¡°Anywhere else they''d have killed her and her people.  She literally had no choice.¡±

    ¡°You know,¡± Borel slapped his fingers around my arm like a vice, ¡°you''re only confirming my suspicions.¡±

    I pulled my arm away.  ¡°I think grass growing would confirm your suspicions.¡±

    He huffed.

    ¡°Wait,¡± I said.  ¡°You''re still upset about being called a fly on shit, aren''t you?  Is that what this is about?¡±

    Borel chewed his chin for a moment.  ¡°I''ve been called much worse by far prettier girls.

    Then he poked a finger into my chest hard.  ¡°I''m keeping an eye on your girl.¡±

    ¡°She''s a woman.¡±

    With that, I turned to leave.

    <hr>

    In the morning, Borel drew south patrol, meaning we''d be looking after the road leading to Carthia, in that area.  Two new guys were transferred to our unit, twins from the Owl clan, each with their own eupin longbows, named Trey and Filau.  They were in the large group of men Ahmi had escorted over and were as untrained and inexperienced as the rest of us.

    Marya sat atop Ace next to the elder quartermaster talking about something before making her way over to us.  Yumi went with Kylen¡¯s group, and Miyani went with the heavy-set Na¡¯uhui guy with the crescent moon tattoo.  Three units of the new men crowded around some native guy I didn¡¯t know.

    Marya came up to us and looked around, nodding at those of us who carried longbows as if counting in her mind¡ªmyself, Geraln, Jame, Malchuk, and the two new guys.  Her dark green eyes stopped on the twins.  ¡°Welcome to Praying Mantis, I am Marya¡­¡±

    Borel raised his chin to them.  ¡°She¡¯s going to be our scout.  She¡¯ll show us where the bad guys are.¡±  He turned to her, ¡°alright.  Go on, love.¡±

    Marya stood perfectly still and stared at him.  Ace likewise turned his head and fixed one eye on the man.  Boots tromped across the wooden drawbridge from across the courtyard as men filed out.  Far beyond the open field, the jungle awaited them, and Marya with her lizard creature stood staring at our captain.

    Borel didn¡¯t seem to notice.  ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±

    We¡¯d got about fifty yards down the black slate road when Ales pointed out, ¡°she¡¯s not coming.¡±

    We all turned to look.  Ace and Marya stood like a statue in the courtyard looking back at us.  Jame turned to Borel, ¡°why isn¡¯t she coming?¡±

    Borel looked around at each of us, and we all looked around at one another as if the answer lied with someone.  After standing around like a bunch of idiots for over a minute, Borel nodded his big chin at one of the new guys, ¡°go find out what¡¯s going on.¡±

    The man ran back through the gate and spoke to her some.  She said something to him, then he stood beside her and looked at the rest of us as well.  Far off to the left, an alligator splashed into the water and disappeared, and the loud caw of some kind of bird filled the trees behind us.

    Borel sneered, ¡°bloody hell!¡± then started back towards her.  We all crossed the drawbridge and stood around her in an arc.  There, Borel crossed his arms.  ¡°What¡¯s¡­¡±

    Ace thrust his head out and bared his jagged, serrated teeth at him with a sharp hiss.  Marya leaned closer to him and sneered, ¡°do NOT interrupt me when I speak!¡±

    With that, Ace muscled his way through us, jetted off across the field, and they disappeared into the jungle, leaving Borel to stand there staring.  He sniffled, then shrugged.  ¡°Whatever.  Let¡¯s go.¡±

    Rock bumped into Northstar as we made our way across the drawbridge, ¡°she will be good for bed-fun, yes?¡±

    Half the unit giggled at that, but it was Jame who answered, ¡°you know she''s married with two kids, yeah?¡±

    Northstar nodded and reminded us all of his deep baritone, ¡°lucky the husband.¡±

    The road brought us through the thick groves of mango trees, avocado trees, and trees of some other kind of red spikey fruit along with raised beds with clay planters hosting herbs of a peppery spice I could smell on the wind.  Marya stood upon the road before us with her finger pointed off to our left.  ¡°Go through there.¡±

    Borel crossed his arms.  ¡°What¡¯s through there?¡±

    ¡°More farms.   Stay on the path through fire trees.  When you come to the rock ledge, wait there.¡±

    He cocked his head to the side, ¡°how long are you gonna be?¡±

    She glared at him.  ¡°Wait there,¡± and she rode off in the opposite direction.

    Borel started out in the lead, then looked around and directed Northstar to walk in front.  We passed by several long wooden planters with some grassy thing growing amid tufts of thin vines and other thickets such that I wouldn''t be able to tell what was a weed and what wasn¡¯t¡ªor if anything wasn¡¯t.  In my mind I tried to gauge whether the planters were tall enough to hide an ambush party waiting for us to pass by.  I supposed, if they lay down, they were.  And we were out in the open, basically, which I didn¡¯t like.  To the left was a thin line of trees that offered a glimpse of the tower beyond, but to the right the open area ended some sixty yards out, which was just within range of the bows the enemy used.

    We entered through groves thick with those berry trees, the ones with the red stems, and had to push branches out of the way to pass by.  That gave way to a relatively sparse under-canopy of broken sticks and fronds that littered the ground all around us.  Above us as far as I could see, dark leaves gobbled every scrap of sky, and croaks and whistles filled the space with such noise that I wouldn¡¯t have heard a man shouting from fifty yards away.  All around us was dense with so many heavy tree trunks that several units could have hid behind them and we wouldn¡¯t know until it was too late.

    We kept on until we found a ledge of rock, the bottom of which several broken boulders had strewn through the forest, with gnarled roots all about.  Beyond that but still within a bowshot, the foliage was too dense to see anything that might have hid beneath us.

    Overhead, I heard nothing.  No siren bird calling out vita¡¯o, and I also didn¡¯t hear it calling for humans.

    Jame stood beside the ledge, looking out.  ¡°I don¡¯t like this spot.  Those bushes down there are too close.¡±

    Borel looked left and right, then nodded towards the right.  ¡°Let¡¯s look for a better one.  Come on.¡±

    Ales protested, ¡°she told us to wait here.¡±

    Borel countered, ¡°do you want to get ambushed?¡±  He looked around, nodding his big chin in every direction.  ¡°This is a great spot to get killed, is what I¡¯m saying.  This way.¡±

    With that, we followed him as he stepped through a thick bush like a burst of grassy hair as high as our hip that gave off a citrusy scent.  The way got even more difficult as we found ourselves weaving through fallen trees, broken branches, and vines so thick we had to hack our way through.  In time we no longer saw the ledge or the rocks that made it up.  Instead, the ground sloped downward and led us to a narrow gulley with a murmuring rush of water hidden behind thick branches filled with green-and-white variegated leaves the size of my hand crowding one another out.

    The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

    Ales turned to Borel.  ¡°Now what?¡±

    ¡°Uh¡­¡± he looked around.

    Directly behind us was Marya, scarcely ten feet away.  My heart shot a jolt throughout my body.  Rock exhaled through pursed lips, and Gino jumped, ¡°gods!¡±

    She passed her dark green eyes among us.  Ace gurgled and clicked, then cut off with an upwards caw.  She smirked and laughed lightly to herself.  ¡°He says that a human could follow your scent.  You make a trail so obvious, an enemy must surely believe it is a decoy.¡±

    Borel stepped up and crossed his arms.  ¡°Is that supposed to¡­¡±

    ¡°We are setting a trap for the enemy.  You will be the bait.¡±  She glanced around the whole group as she spoke, everyone except Borel.¡±

    Borel shook his head.  ¡°I don¡¯t like¡­¡±

    ¡°Follow this creek downstream,¡± she pointed.  ¡°The chasm will widen enough for you to walk through.  Keep along that route until you get to the waterfall, then wait there.  Stay in the chasm.¡±

    Borel crossed his arms.  ¡°OK, but what if¡­¡±

    ¡°Stay in the chasm.¡±  And she left.

    The man breathed in audibly and clenched his jaw, staring at the spot where she¡¯d disappeared into the forest.  Then he looked around at the rest of us and smirked.  ¡°Alright, you heard the lady.  This way.¡±

    Some ways down, clinging to an embankment was a plant with large, flat leaves about the size of three whole hands each and long stalks atop which sat a flower of astounding beauty.  The flower head had to be at least a foot across with petals marbled in purple and white, and a crown of bright orange around the rim.  Several of those surrounded a cone of sorts like a shimmering cluster that seemed to change color depending on how the light hit it.

    Talys would have loved it.

    Marya had been right about the chasm widening enough to walk through.  At first it was thick mud interspersed with mossy rocks and boulders, but that soon gave way to a deep trench that rose a good ten feet above us on both sides, while the banks of the creek held sand riddled with creeping grasses and small wildflowers.  We followed this for a good half hour until we came to a narrow, beaten path like a ramp leading up and out of the chasm.

    While Northstar continued along the creek bed, Borel tapped his shoulder, ¡°nah.  Let¡¯s go up this way.¡±

    ¡°Hmm?¡± Northstar furrowed his brow.

    Ales spoke up.  ¡°Marya told us to stay in the chasm.¡±

    Borel pursed his lips and shook his head.  ¡°I don¡¯t like it down here.  We could get ambushed by anyone on the high ground up there, and there¡¯s nothing we can do about it.  Come on.¡±

    I added my voice to Ales.  ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure she knows the area better than any of us, man.  There¡¯s a reason she told us to stay in the chasm.¡±

    Borel didn¡¯t miss a step.  ¡°Yeah, well I say we go up this way.¡±

    Jame, Jezi, and the twins started to follow Borel up the path leading out of the chasm, along with Rock and Northstar.

    I called out, ¡°what are you doing, man?¡±

    Borel turned to face me, then looked around the others who also hesitated.  ¡°I¡¯m the captain of this unit, and I say we go this way.¡±

    Malchuk furrowed his brow and waited for Geraln to translate.

    Borel then explained in Goloagi, ¡°that¡¯s an order!¡±

    Malchuk then stood beside me and looked up at our captain, already halfway up the ledge.  ¡°With respect, sir, she knows the territory, and she knows the enemy¡­¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t ask.  Let¡¯s go.¡±

    Malchuk popped his eyebrows and faced me.  Then he shook his head with a deep breath, and the rest of us followed.

    Far above the murmuring creek, the ground rose amid countless low bushes and shrubs that seemed like the perfect spot for an enemy waiting to ambush us, and the hill kept going beyond where we could see.  There was a narrow footpath with low roots on both sides creping with bright green vines covered in thorns that clung to our trousers such that we had to rip our way through, dragging several feet of vine each of us as we went.  We kept along that path even after it disappeared, and we found ourselves forging our own route through foliage that left everything below our knees invisible.

    ¡°GODS!¡± Faren shrieked.  Barely visible beneath the leaves, a thick brown snake vanished in the blink of an eye.  Faren stood with his hand over his heart, trying to steady his breath.

    Borel laughed at him and kept moving.

    We came to a massive wall of rock covered in ferns that blocked us from going any further.  The chasm continued below us, cut right through the rock like a tunnel, but there was no getting around that way.

    So, Borel led us up the hill along the wall of rock.  Ales was the first to ask, ¡°do you even know where you¡¯re going, man?¡±

    Borel ignored him, and we followed our fearless leader up the hill until the wall of rock could no longer be seen, but the trees all seemed to blend into one on all sides.  Something stirred in a nearby bush, sending a jolt through my nerves.  We kept walking.  At some point, we reached the top of the hill, but there was no visibility.  We could barely make out anything on the hill we¡¯d come up for the thick trees all around.  Borel looked around and tried to look like he was in charge of something, but the cracks in his facade were apparent.

    Up above, I heard that bird make the call I¡¯d heard once before when Ahmi showed me that cat.  In a high branch, a giant spotted-yellow beast stretched out its paws and licked its lips as it stared down at us.  I pointed up at the creature.  ¡°Stay together.¡±

    One of the twins drew his bow, but by the time he''d pointed his arrow up, the cat was gone.

    Faren shrugged.  ¡°You think maybe we should go back to the chasm we were supposed to stay in?¡±

    Jame shot him a glare, ¡°hush, man.¡±

    Borel shrugged.  ¡°I¡¯m trying to find a better vantage point.  Just give me a minute.¡±

    Geraln raised a hand to speak, but Borel held up his own as if to block his words.  ¡°Wait¡­ listen.¡±

    Rock moved to speak, but Jezi raised a finger to his lips, and we all listened.  Above the rustling of leaves, chirps, whistles, and clicks down below, up above, to the left, to the right, all around us, all at once.  Borel pointed at the twins, but spoke to all of us.  ¡°She said there¡¯s a waterfall.¡±

    We all tuned in hoping for the sound of water crashing into a pool below, but I couldn¡¯t discern anything over the cacophony of the jungle.  Malchuk lifted a finger and pointed down the hill in a different direction from the route we¡¯d come up.  ¡°Maybe this way?  I¡¯m not sure.¡±

    Rock shrugged.  ¡°We will checking the it out.¡±

    In a far tree, a huge big giant massive snake with a diamond pattern on its back flitted it''s tongue, then slithered down to the ground towards us, then disappeared beneath a thick bush.

    We set off down the slope using every tree and branch we could find as the decline grew steep, each of us on the lookout for anything like a bright yellow vine or an enemy war party waiting in ambush or a tribe of wild vita¡¯o salivating over the chance to feast upon a group of men who had no idea where we were or where we were going.  We kept at it until the hill grew too steep, but dropped off as though the ground had been cut to a sharp drop some twenty feet before the thick canopy of trees below cut off all further visibility.  Trying to ascend the hill back was impossible, as we¡¯d collapsed packs of mud behind us and broken more than our share of wet, rotted branches.

    We ended up trying to climb back up a different way.  We managed to go back up some until the thicket grew so forbidding as to deny us leverage to hack our way through.  Once again our captain pointed off to one side and led us in a different direction, only to nearly walk into a black, hairy spider the size of his head suspended in midair.

    We managed to reach an open grove atop a ridge of sorts with trees so dense in all directions that we couldn''t quite be sure if the ground sloped up or down.  Twenty feet of visibility would have been nice.  Ales crossed his arms and frowned at our dear captain.  ¡°We''re lost.¡±

    ¡°No we¡¯re not,¡± I assured him.  ¡°Look.  That way is west.  We¡¯ve been going mostly southwest.  The tower is that way, Carthia is down that way.  If we go through here, we should be able to trace our way back to the chasm¡­¡±

    Geraln shrugged and started moving; Gino went with him.  ¡°Alright, then.¡±

    But Borel didn¡¯t move.  Instead he looked around as if the thick trees offered some sense of direction.  ¡°No.  Wait.  We went up along that rock wall, then we went down, then came back up through here.  We go this way.¡±

    Jame and the twins started to follow him.

    I spoke up.  ¡°We go that way, we¡¯ll end up in mewi¡¯ishi territory.¡±

    Borel turned around and crossed his arms.  ¡°You from here, man?¡±

    ¡°No¡­¡±

    ¡°You been in this part of the woods?¡±

    ¡°No¡­¡±

    ¡°You pissed on this tree when you were ten?¡±

    Half the men giggled at that remark.  Borel shook his head with a smile, then turned and made to keep walking.  Northstar, Rock, and Jezi filed behind him, when I spoke again.  ¡°You¡¯re completely lost, and you¡¯re going to get us all killed.¡±

    Geraln stepped close to me, ¡°listen, man.  I¡¯ve known this kid my whole life, and he¡¯s never gotten lost.  Never once.  Places deep in the mountains we¡¯ve never been before, he always knows the way home.  If he says it¡¯s this way, it¡¯s this way.¡±

    With that, Ales and Faren came to stand beside me, but Jezi spoke up from beside Borel.  ¡°This isn¡¯t the mountains you are used to.¡±

    Borel shook his head.  ¡°You don''t know shit.  Let¡¯s go.¡±

    ¡°It''s this way,¡± I insisted.

    At that, Borel turned back and stepped up with his hands at his side, lifting his meaty chin at each of us as he looked around.  ¡°As your captain, I order you all to come this way!¡±

    Ales answered him.  ¡°We followed your orders out of the chasm, and you got us lost.¡±

    Faren echoed him, ¡°if we¡¯d listened to our scout, we wouldn¡¯t be in this mess.¡±

    Ales finished, ¡°and now you¡¯re too much of a bloody chickenshit to admit you¡¯re lost.¡±

    Borel stepped up to him, looked down, and sneered.  ¡°The fuck did you call me?¡±

    I stepped up close and stood right beside Ales.  ¡°He called you a chickenshit, and I second that.¡±

    At that, Jame stepped up beside Borel while the others waited behind them.  Faren, Geraln, and Gino stood behind me and Ales, and Malchuk stuck his hand between us.  ¡°Quiet, all of you!  This bickering is going to get us all killed!  We have to make a decision¡­¡±

    Borel smirked.  ¡°I already made my decision.  Let''s go.¡±

    With that, he turned and walked off along the ridge.  The rest of the men filed behind him.  Malchuk looked at me and pursed his lips.  ¡°Right or wrong, it''ll be safer if we stick together.¡±

    A weird screech like a whistle hissed at us from a tree branch about twenty yards out.  I looked, and a small furry animal with eyes as blue as the sky in Heralia bared sharp fangs at us, digging claws into the wood.  We hadn''t made it ten feet, and it jumped to the next tree and screeched at us again.

    Several branches rustled above us, and a few more appeared, screaming at us with that same high, irritating sound that grated against my skull.  Each of them yawned their jaws open, saliva dripped from their fangs, and yet more appeared.  Borel covered his ears with his hands and looked around at us with an irritated look.  I couldn''t help but try and cover my ears as well, but that proved futile.

    And then, we were surrounded.  Hundreds of the creatures on all sides, above us, low in the trees, each no larger than a small pig, and all of them giving off that horrible screech in unison.

    Borel looked around, but they were everywhere.  He shouted, ¡°Jezi, what the hell are those?¡±

    Jezi shrugged, himself trying to look in all directions at once and shouted back, ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±

    Whatever they were, they inched their way closer and closer on all sides.  Malchuk squinted through the horrid noise and raised his bow, but wherever he pointed his arrow, all of them in that area scattered and hid behind the trees while the rest closed in further, all the while screeching as one massive chorus of fanged creatures.  Together they made a dome of sound that irritated my brain, and I could scarcely tell up from down.  I drew back my bow as well, but everywhere I turned they shied away.

    ¡°Gods!¡± Ales cried, swiping his cutlass at a nearby bush.  One of the creatures had reached out its claws at him, only to slink away out of reach of his weapon and scream at him.  Faren trained his arrow at the beast, and it melted into the trees.  Meanwhile, several of them had climbed the high canopy and perched directly above us, shifting their feet back and forth as if gauging the drop as they brandished their fangs.

    Borel¡¯s eyes were wide.  He swung his bow around in all directions, but the creatures grew less and less afraid of him, inching closer to us, little by little.  That high-pitched screech continued to blast my ears.  Northstar pinched the bridge of his nose and tried to shake it off.

    Suddenly, the all disappeared and the forest fell quiet.  One of them dropped to the ground with an arrow in its side.

    By the time I could shake my mind free, Marya was before us with her bow down, reaching behind her for a second arrow.  The creature on the ground twitched lightly.  Ace leaned his head down, picked it up, and handed it to her.  She then ripped the arrow out and tossed the creature to the side.  Right away, that same giant, yellow-spotted cat leaped down from a tree branch and snatched it up.

    Rock stuck his hand out to the beast.  ¡°Psswswst.¡±

    Geraln slapped his hand, ¡°are you mad?¡±

    The giant cat ignored him and disappeared into the forest with the creature in its massive jaws.  Borel lifted his big chin to our scout.  ¡°What were those things?¡±

    ¡°Mokeso.¡±  She then looked around at each of us, including myself, and scowled.  ¡°Today was a test.  You failed.¡±

 Point of Order

    Clattering rain outside filled the air with moisture as Geraln and I descended the stairs leading to the dungeon.  We reached the bottom and saw Davod sitting cross-legged in his cell talking to Yumi, who sat facing him.  There was a brown burlap sack beside her with a plate before each of them¡ªscraps on hers, and half a bread roll with some cheese on his.  When we came up, she shifted her legs to stand and reached for the leftovers.

    Davod held out his hand to her and spoke excitedly.  ¡°No, wait.¡±  He looked up at us.  ¡°Guys!  Check this out.  Did you know, so, um¡­ OK.  Did you know that sha means basically, that?  So when they say something-something, sha, and then something else, like, the sha separates the two things.¡±  He turned to Yumi.  ¡°Is that right?¡±

    Yumi gave us a nervous smile, then turned her attention back to Davod.  ¡°?a, yes.  Give the example.¡±

    Davod pulled back and sat up in thought.  The braids in his hair had been undone, and his locks fell over his shoulders leaving his Falcon tattoo peeking out from beneath.  He held up a finger.  ¡°Ok. Uh¡­ I''m angry that you ate my food.  ¡®uzi matha-de sha guwo-se, guwo-vi-de¡±

    She giggled and corrected him. ¡°du.¡±

    ¡°guwovidu.  Sorry.  Why is it that?¡±

    Geraln answered.  ¡°??wovide, my food is the subject, ??wovidu, my food is the object.¡±

    Davod stared at him blankly, and me and Geraln sat down.

    Yumi looked at the two of us, then lifted the end of her sack to show us what was inside.  ¡°Do you want?¡±

    Geraln asked, ¡°what''s in there?¡±

    I leaned in.  Bread rolls, a quarter of cheese wrapped up in paper, and a tin basket of grapes.  She had small ceramic jars of stuff¡­

    Geraln answered, ¡°I''m starving.¡±

    Yumi smiled wide and portioned out some food.  She was about maybe an inch or two taller than Miyani, meaning the top of her head would scarcely come up to his chest, and she had the same muscular physique.  Same exceedingly dark-green skin, bright yellow eyes, though Miyani''s were a shade brighter.  They both wore sharpened black-lacquer spikes as fingernails.  Yumi, however, had tiny glass beads in the shape of a flower on each of hers.

    She was dressed the same, with naught but a leather belt that held up a flap of fabric in the front and back leaving her heavy legs, her fit tummy, hips, and bare breasts out.  Miyani usually wore a rough, undyed cotton loincloth that draped perfectly over her muscular arse, God, just the image of her in my mind!  Yumi had on a large, rough-silk dyed a deep red and embroidered with silver, and she used the back flap as a mat to sit upon the dirty stone floor.

    Miyani wore her ivory hair in a pixie-cut about her ears with a little more body in the back.  Yumi wore hers in two long braids over her shoulders, at the end of which she had large, red glass beads in the shape of bumblebees with black-and-yellow stripes painted on that dangled about her generous breasts.  Her eyes had a rising-sun shape the same as Sarina had, and she ran those eyes all over my friend without reservation.

    Geraln raised a finger.  ¡°Point of order.¡±

    Davod laughed.  ¡°Now?  Seriously?¡±

    I answered, ¡°can you think of a better time?¡±  I turned to Yumi.  ¡°Yumi.  Do you admit to having a crush on our friend?¡±

    Davod shook his head, still smiling, ¡°you don''t have to answer that.¡±

    Yumi shrugged and answered without the slightest reservation.  ¡°He is attractive.  I would like to fuck him at least once.¡±

    The three of us giggled as one.  I buried my eyes in my knees, Geraln shook his head and couldn¡¯t stop convulsing from laughter.  Davod¡¯s cheeks grew flush and he fought back a wry grin.  Yumi glanced at each of us and shook her head with a warm smile.  ¡°Why is your kind so ashamed to talk of such things?¡±

    I tried to contain myself long enough to lean in, ¡°for the record, you''re saying at least once.  Is that correct?¡±

    She smiled and tilted her head to one side.  ¡°Beyond that, Mother will guide me.¡±

    I nodded.  Then I turned to my right, ¡°Geraln, you may serve the first question.¡±

    He nodded and turned to Yumi.  ¡°Alright, let¡¯s begin.  Hellroot or nice pepper.  Which one is hotter?¡±

    She opened her eyes wide and looked around with a light giggle.  ¡°Uh¡­ OK¡­ well, I was never a fan of spicy food.  I don''t know.¡±

    Geraln raised his hands some.  ¡°Why not?¡±

    Davod raised a finger, ¡°protest.  Follow-up.¡±

    ¡°I yield.¡±

    Yumi glanced back and forth between them and giggled lightly.  I went.  ¡°My turn.  This is a required question.  Yumi.  Where were you the day we came here?¡±

    Davod reached out a hand to her and touched the stone floor as close as he could.  His voice was soft and gentle.  ¡°You don''t have to answer that if you don''t want to¡ªhe¡¯s required to ask is all.¡±

    She waved flippantly.  ¡°It was Apex¡¯s twelfth anniversary.  She sought to bring my ear for her husband, so I had to deal with that.¡±

    ¡°Oh,¡± the three of us nodded.  I raised my finger, ¡°move to proclaim.  Yumi, you are much prettier with both your ears attached to your head.

    Geraln raised his, ¡°I second.¡±

    Davod laughed and shook his head.  ¡°I third.¡±

    She squinted at us but couldn¡¯t stop laughing.  Davod then leaned in, pressing his face against the iron bars and spoke softly, ¡°it¡¯s your turn.  You can ask any one of us a question, and we have to answer.¡±

    Geraln added, ¡°there are rules, but mostly we have to answer.

    ¡°I see,¡± she nodded and looked around.  She snapped her gaze off to my left.  A prisoner in another cell slinked into the darkness.  Then she nodded.  ¡°I believe I also have a required question.  Caleb.  How serious are you about Miyani?¡±

    ¡°I like her.¡±

    ¡°Can you be more specific?¡±

    I shrugged.  ¡°I really like her.  She sees something in me.  I don''t know what it is, I''m not even sure if she knows what it is, but when I''m with her, I feel¡­¡±

    Yumi shot back, ¡°if that¡¯s true, then why have you not fucked her pussy yet?¡±

    My eyes bulged from shock.  Geraln snickered, and my two friends spoke in unison, ¡°it''s his religion.¡±

    Yumi¡¯s accent was pronounced but clean, and she spoke with her hands, ¡°if this war claims you tomorrow, what will you say to your god?  You held out for what?¡±

    Geraln tapped me in my arm and added, ¡°Jaysa was killed today.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± I looked up at him.

    Yumi looked down.  ¡°The jungle feasts.¡±

    Geraln nodded.  ¡°Yeah, that guy who was up on the roof with us?  Him and two others from Kylen¡¯s group.¡±

    I needed a moment for that to sink in.  Behind Yumi, water dripped down from the long line of a crack that ran the wall on that side and pooled into the corners on the floor.  I watched as Geraln took a piece of cheese and nibbled at the thing.  He pulled his face back in shock.  ¡°Is that?¡±

    Davod grinned wide and leaned into him, pressing his face into the iron bars.  ¡°Aged bison cheese swirled with nuts and berries and then smoked.¡±

    Geraln took a decent bite.  ¡°OK, but what is that?¡±

    Yumi smiled at him and answered, ¡°it is called taku.  It grows higher up; we put it in everything.¡±

    I went back to the moment Miyani raced back to the tower to embrace me as soon as she heard about Davod.  Then I thought about the evening when I acted like an arse over that boy.  It took us over an hour to work out the words for how, since I''m not Na¡¯uhui, no girl would ever ask me for ¡®?mi??ei, and because of that it wouldn''t be fair for her to entertain that boy.  I could talk to her, and that mattered.  She wanted us to make love¡ªIf this war did claim me tomorrow, what could I possibly say to her?

    Davod took his turn.  ¡°Yumi.  Have you ever touched the vine?¡±

    Her eyes shot open, ¡°no.  Next question.¡±  She looked seriously at Geraln.

    Davod lowered his eyes and stared into his lap.  While Geraln was busy taking a bite from his plate, a man''s voice came from another cell to my right.  ¡°sek?wa.  ??si xewek?se ?a g?eude?¡±

    We all glanced at him.  He had a white, coiled snake tattoo on his right shoulder.  ¡°ya¡¯ueesa ??s?¡¯?de kitifika?i.  ba xosodesa¡­¡±

    Yumi shot back, ¡°v?.  p? yudasa¡±

    His voice trailed off, ¡°??si b?¡¯apesedu,¡± and he lay back down on the stone floor.

    Geraln served the next question.  ¡°OK, so Yumi.  Will you please come back to us?¡±

    She laughed. Davod furrowed his brow, so I explained.  ¡°They named Borel as our new captain.  I don''t know why.¡±

    Yumi inserted, ¡°princess likes him.¡±

    ¡°Oh really?¡±

    She smiled and nodded.

    Geraln continued.  ¡°He''s pissed off every sekiwa they gave us.  Marya refuses to take us out anymore.  Yumi gave us two days, and they brought this new lady in from Tower Three¡­¡±

    ¡°Keelin,¡± I added.

    Geraln nodded.  ¡°Right.  She''s a looker, too, pure-blooded Herali.  I''m not even sure if she''s our age, but we all managed to piss her off.  Now none of the sekiwa want to deal with us.¡±

    Yumi furrowed her brow at him.  ¡°You need to be careful.  They won''t say this to you, but useless men are expendable.¡±

    Geraln threw up his hands.  ¡°What the hell are we supposed to do when that arrogant sack of meat refuses to listen to anyone but the bloody mosquito in his ear?¡±

    I shrugged.  ¡°He is decisive.¡±

    Geraln turned to face me.  ¡°Decisive on going the wrong way, you mean?¡± He turned back to Davod, who still hadn''t lifted his eyes.  ¡°You want to know what that shit-brained mongrel did?  He tells Keelin he won''t follow her until she picks one of us to sleep with.  Then she disappears for¡­ basically the whole day.  She didn''t even come back to get us; Miyani did.  Then he starts mouthing off at her until this kid,¡± he pointed his thumb at me, ¡°threatens to punch him in the face.  And of course Blue¡¯s right there, too.¡±

    Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

    Yumi pulled a small ceramic jar from her bag and brought out a knife. She then cut some slices from the bread rolls and slathered on something smooth and purple, with dots of stuff throughout.  And this stuff, let me tell you.  It was like butter, but creamier, and had a salty, slightly fishy taste.  And it was gooooood.

    It was my turn.  ¡°Yumi.  Why did you refuse to translate for me and Miyani the other night?¡±

    She smirked from one side of her mouth.  ¡°Because if she breaks up with you, I''m out six-hundred-thirty-five kren.  Hell no, I''m not going to translate that!¡±

    ¡°What!¡±

    Geraln nudged, ¡°you bet that on what, exactly?¡±

    Davod raised a finger.  ¡°Protest.  Follow-up.¡±

    I answered him, ¡°clarifying.¡±

    Geraln added, ¡°second.  Overruled.¡±

    Davod quietly explained, ¡°sorry, you have to answer that one.¡±

    She looked between the three of us once more and giggled.  Then she settled her smiling eyes on me.  ¡°OK, so technically if she breaks up with you I make a hundred-twenty-three.  If you''re still together come dry season, I make seven-hundred-fifty-eight.¡±

    Geraln leaned in, ¡°how the hell did you manage that?¡±

    She shrugged.  ¡°Gotta know the numbers.  ?evi and Borel, even money she forgets him as soon as he leaves the tower, three-to-two she gets her baby.   One-to-fifteen he pledges his undying love and can''t live without her.  sofiya and Northstar¡­¡±

    Davod raised a hand, ¡°I forfeit to follow-up.  What, exactly, did Miyani say?¡±

    Yumi furrowed her brow and stared at him.  Geraln explained, ¡°it means he skips his next turn because we need to know this right now.¡±

    I added, ¡°and you''re only allowed to do that once.¡±

    Yumi smirked. ¡°You want to know what she said?¡±

    Davod grinned and the two of them seemed to be making a lot of eye-contact.  ¡°You have to tell us.¡±

    Yumi laughed and squinted at me.  ¡°She said that you are a worm that lives beneath the shit that the fly is on.¡±

    I shrugged and glanced at Geraln.  He laughed.  ¡°That''s it?¡±

    Davod nodded to me with a grin, ¡°what was it Juliara said to you?¡±

    I scratched my head.  ¡°I don''t remember.¡±

    Yumi laughed and shook her head.  We shared some of the grapes, which would have been way too sweet to make a decent wine.  I wasn''t sure what I''d have brewed them into, or if that was even possible, but they were sweet.

    Geraln held up a finger and looked at her.  ¡°It''s your turn.¡±

    She nodded and turned to Davod with a sure smile.  ¡°Who is Runya, and what promises did you make to her?¡±

    Geraln huffed while I explained.  ¡°She''s his Naveris.¡±

    Davod bobbed his head back and forth.  ¡°She and I talked about where things were going between us, and we decided it would be best if we keep our options open.  If we find our way back together, if that''s what Falcon wants for us, then it''ll turn out that way.¡±

    She grinned slightly.  ¡°Options open, huh?¡±

    He chuckled.  ¡°Yeah, something like that.¡±

    Yumi leaned in some more.  ¡°She wants to play around!¡±

    ¡°Well¡­¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Yumi insisted.  ¡°She doesn''t know if you''re going to come back.  I understand.¡±

    Davod then raised a finger.  ¡°I have a disclosure.¡±

    Geraln and I turned to face him, but his attention was on Yumi.  He scrunched his lips and took a deep breath.  Then slowly, he continued.  ¡°My parents would reject you.¡±

    She popped her eyebrows.

    ¡°I wouldn''t¡­ just¡­ so that at least once thing you mentioned earlier, I kinda like the idea of that, but in case there is anything beyond, you should probably know this.  My parents¡­ I mean¡­ part of what they like about Runya is she''s a ¡®true Herali girl.¡¯  If I brought home someone like you, they''d¡­¡±

    She nodded and pursed her lips.

    He waved his hands before him and shook his head vigorously.  ¡°I don''t have any problems, believe me.  But they¡­¡±

    I nodded.  ¡°They would need time to get used to the idea.¡±

    She faced me directly.  ¡°What will your parents say if you brought Miyani home?¡±

    Geraln answered for me, ¡°He''s got no parents; he''s an orphan.  But point of order,¡± he raised a finger, ¡°it''s my turn.  Yumi.  Where are you from?¡±

    ¡°Carthia, born and raised.¡±

    I followed that, ¡°were you returned there?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± she shook her head.  As she spoke, Davod¡¯s eyes took a nimble walk around her breasts.  ¡°The story my parents told, some elder discovered that some person long dead did something they didn''t already know about, and they decided to kill all their descendants.  My father escaped to Carthia with my mother''s help.  They were just friends, but then they stayed and made a life together.¡±

    I took my turn.  ¡°Yumi.  How did you become a scout?¡±

    She shook her head.  ¡°I hate that word.  It''s such a bad translation; we are so much more than scouts.¡±

    ¡°sek?wa, sorry.  How old were you?  What was it like?  What drove you?¡±

    The three of us Gathi all leaned back some and rested on our hands for her to explain.

    ¡°When we are very young, we are mingled with vita¡¯o of the same age and told to play together.  When they see a good match, we are tested to see if it is possible for us to become sek?wa. Then, it is a lot of training!  It was very difficult.  Look¡­¡±

    She pushed out her leg and showed us a scar in the shape of a small arc on the back of her leg just above her ankle that must have healed a decade ago.  ¡°I was very frustrated.  I felt like I couldn¡¯t do anything right, so I quit.  Queen wouldn¡¯t allow it.  Then, there are rules.¡±

    ¡°Like what?¡±

    She took a deep breath and leaned in to the three of us.  ¡°You have to stay small.  The vita¡¯o cannot carry heavy passengers, so you must remain small.  If that means going without food when your body is growing, then that is what it means.  The other thing is you also must accept the bond as your life blood, and there is nothing that can break it.  No boyfriend or husband, nothing, no one.  A lot of men don''t want to involve with a woman with a vita''o; they have to be the center of her attention.¡±

    I twisted my arm around to look at my own scar.  ¡°I like Blue.  We get along pretty well I think?¡±

    Yumi nodded.  ¡°That¡¯s good!  But now it is my turn.  Geraln.  Why did you take Davod¡¯s bow?¡±

    ¡°Gods!¡± Geraln shook his head and nearly laughed.  He turned to Davod, ¡°you¡¯re still on about that?¡±

    Davod laughed.  I held up a finger, ¡°I¡¯ll take this one.  So basically, Shaynem, he¡¯s this old guy in the village where we grew up.  He was teaching us all how to use the etching tools, and we all worked together to make that bow.  We decided on calligraphy from the ancient Falcon text, and we all did it.  I can show you the part I did.  Anyway, he kinda promised it to Davod¡­¡±

    Davod interjected, ¡°he did promise.¡±

    ¡°...but Geraln¡¯s mum bought it instead.  And¡­ you know¡­ money.¡±

    Yumi looked at Geraln and followed up, ¡°what does it say?  This ancient calligraphy from Falcon text?¡±

    Davod answered, ¡°for every flower a place to bloom.¡±

    She squinted her eyes around at each of us.  ¡°I¡¯ve heard that before.  What does it mean?¡±

    I shrugged and smiled, ¡°depends on who you ask, really.¡±

    She asked me, ¡°what does it mean to you?¡±

    I breathed in deep and thought about it, but it was Davod who spoke first.  ¡°OK, so the story goes that Elk, after the big fight¡­ OK, so there was this big fight between Elk, and Falcon and Cougar allied against Elk and all his friends.  This was after the fight between Cougar and Bear¡­¡±

    Geraln explained, ¡°there¡¯s a lot of fights in the Epic.¡±

    Davod continued.  ¡°Right, so in the end, Naveris comes down and tells them all, for every flower a place to bloom, and when they all understood that, there was peace.¡±

    ¡°Balance,¡± I corrected him.  ¡°There was balance, not peace.¡±

    He looked at me, ¡°same thing.¡±

    ¡°Not exactly.¡±

    Geraln lifted up his hands, ¡°it¡¯s the end of the epic, basically.¡±

    Yumi laughed.  ¡°I am still confused!¡±

    I tried to clarify.  ¡°After the doom was opened, all the animals were scared.  Elk told them that he would put everything back the way it was.  He couldn''t, obviously, but Rattlesnake believed him.  Rattlesnake was, uh¡­¡±

    I looked at Davod, who took the baton.  ¡°Rattlesnake was the first one to follow Elk.  He started going around and threatening the others, one by one, until they believed in Elk as well.  Cougar wasn''t having it.  He saw that Falcon didn''t believe in him either, and they made a pact to gather up everyone who wasn''t part of it and forged an alliance against Elk.  That''s when things got real nasty.  It''s poetic, but it''s tragic.¡±

    Geraln explained.  ¡°The war destroyed everything and everyone, and it lasted their whole lives¡ªthey kept fighting until there was no one left to fight but their children.  And so their children don''t even know how it started, but they''re fighting because that''s all they''ve ever known.  Naveris is Falcon¡¯s daughter.  She woke up one day and sought the Wandering Star for answers.  Dali told her,¡±

    I added, ¡°that''s our name for it, by the way.¡±

    Yumi smiled at me.  ¡°Shimani, the wandering star, yes.¡±

    ¡°Anyway,¡± Geraln continued, ¡°so basically Dali tells Naveris that she should teach the children everything, starting with for every flower a place to bloom.  Now, whatever that means to you¡­¡±

    I raised my hand, ¡°forfeit to follow-up.  Yumi.  What kind of mythology did you grow up with?¡±

    Davod sneered, ¡°it''s not mythology!¡±

    Geraln shook his head and frowned at me.  ¡°Come on, man.  Really?¡±

    I cocked my head.  ¡°Religious stories?¡±

    ¡°Ahh?¡± Yumi raised her eyebrows and smiled.  Then she reached into her bag, dug through to the bottom, and pulled out a book with several places marked and some pages worn through.  She opened it and skimmed through until she found the one she was looking for, and flipped to it.  She looked up at us with a smile.

    ¡°I like this one.  Yasi is the prophet.  She asks Mother, why is there so much suffering in the world.  That night, she dreamed and she wrote down what she dreamed.

    ¡°I was with Her.  Everything was dark and formless, and I was with Her.  And her presence spoke through my spirit, create.  Enjoy your creation, and deny yourself no pleasure.

    ¡°And so this, I did.  In my dream I created forests and mountains and hills, valleys, rivers, the sea.  Snow in the high mountains I put, fish in the rivers, everything I could imagine I created, and it was all there before me.

    ¡°And I remembered what Mother said to me, that I should deny myself no pleasure, and I created a lover.  He was tall and strong, and handsome, and he did for me everything my body desired.  And I enjoyed myself.  But it was not long before I bored of him; he did exactly everything I wished, and nothing more.

    ¡°And so I created another lover.  And I bored of him and created another.  I had a library of lovers to choose from depending on what mood I was in, and I was bored with all of them.  And so, I created a new lover and gave him the ability to choose his own path.  He became jealous and killed all the others, and when I chastised him for it, he sought to destroy everything I created.

    ¡°I had to start over.  I set fire to the world I created and destroyed everything in it.  I created everything new.  Only this time, the lovers I created would all be able to choose their own path.  I didn''t want them to choose me simply because they had no other options, so I created other lovers for them to choose from.¡±

    Geraln raised a hand.  ¡°So wait, God allows suffering because otherwise it would be boring?¡±

    I nodded, ¡°that makes sense!¡±

    Davod laughed, ¡°it sure does explain a lot!¡±

    Yumi pursed her lips and squinted at us.  ¡°Some of it may be lost in translation,¡± she looked down.  ¡°That is basically that story.  Davod, is it your turn?¡±

    Yumi shot a glare at something behind me.  I turned, and one of the other prisoners had slunk back into the corner.

    Davod looked around nervously before settling his eyes on me.  Then he twitched as though trying to control a blink.  ¡°Caleb.  Have you thought about¡­ um¡­¡± he twitched again.  ¡°Have you thought about touching the vine?¡±

    ¡°Uh¡­¡±

    Geraln threw his hands up, ¡°really?  Come on, man!¡±

    Davod lowered his eyes.  ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    I shook my head.  ¡°No, I haven¡¯t.  Not seriously.¡±

    Geraln stood.

    Yumi started packing her things up.  ¡°It''s fine, I have to go see Pu¡¯iyo anyway.

    Davod reached out and grabbed her wrist as she took his plate.  ¡°I''m sorry.¡±

    She held still, her arm locked in place by his giant hand.  ¡°Um¡­¡±

    ¡°Please?¡± he begged.

    She looked at his eyes, then back and forth between his hand and his eyes, without speaking a word.  He loosed, and she pulled away to pack up.  She then smiled at him. ¡°Davod, Geraln, Caleb, this has been a very pleasant conversation, and I hope we can do this again soon.¡±

    Davod waved, ¡°bye.¡±

    ¡°Bye,¡± she waved back with a warm smile.  Geraln waved as he walked off with her, but I didn''t get up.

    Davod turned to me, nearly crying.  ¡°I''m sorry.¡±

    I tried to smile with him, but all I could manage was to take a deep breath.

    Davod hunched over and looked into his lap.  ¡°I''m sorry.¡±

    I nudged towards him.  ¡°You got that vine in you, man.¡±

    ¡°I know,¡± he shrugged.  ¡°I''m trying.¡±

    I started.  ¡°So, look¡­¡±

    Behind me, Yumi¡¯s distant voice echoed across the stairwell.  ¡°Caleb, Miyani is looking for you!¡±

    I smiled.  ¡°In response to your question,¡±

    He relaxed and looked at me

    ¡°I have not considered it.  The moment I saw what it was doing to you, I was terrified, and I''m still terrified.  I have not considered touching the vine.¡±

    Davod took a deep breath and smiled. ¡°Go on, win Yumi some money, then.¡±

    I pointed at him and laughed as I stood, ¡°I''m going to remember that!¡±

    He smiled, ¡°you''d better!¡±

    I climbed up through the stairwell and down the hall, and found Miyani in the covered area just outside the courtyard before the mess hall.  I lingered a moment at the round bite scar on her left shoulder, but her face just took me.  I wanted to slurp her body up with my eyes, but the way she looked at me, I could not remove myself from those bright yellow eyes.

    Her smile reached across her beautiful face.  ¡°I dibs you!¡±

    I smiled.  ¡°You what?¡±

    ¡°Tomorrow,¡± she stepped forward and laid her fingers up along my chest.  ¡°I sekiwa you.¡±