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Chapter 58: Questions, Questions
🕑 Added 2023-08-14 17:15:01 +0000 UTCThey walked until they couldn’t anymore and made camp well away from the road. Dried meats and flat bread were passed around the fire and Ren was plied with questions about what happened in the cave. When his story ended, silence reigned and he took the opportunity to take a piss. Questions about the fox would be coming next. Judging by the way Amira’s coat had shifted from shining pearl to reddish brown when she saw his comrades, he had a feeling it would be best to bend the truth a bit.
In the dark, he wondered if his urine was still pink from the hit he’d taken. Everything hurt, insides raw like a scraped out melon.
A shrill chirping whine from near his feat almost made him fall over onto the ground he’d just watered. The little cub pawed at his leg.
He picked her up. “I’ve got you, little one. Were you scared?” She tried to burrow into his blood crusted tunic. A wave of longing to see his mother’s face hit him and he held Amira tighter.
He wiped away tears and dragged his weary feet back to the fire. Spirits, he was tired.
His companions had the good grace to let him settle in, feed some more meat to the little cub, and take a drink from his water skin before resuming the questions.
“So, are you going to make us ask?” Noor gestured to the fox busy chewing on his lap.
He yawned. “Fine,” he said. “But only because I know if you don’t get your bed time story you’ll have nightmares.” His joke was too close to the truth to draw any laughter. Ren silently prayed to the spirits for a dreamless sleep.
“It seems the Guardian of the Aether Tree got lost on the way back and attacked that carriage we passed,” he lied. “It also killed this one’s mother. She was just too cute to leave behind.”
The two women from the cave who still had their wits let out a simultaneous aweing sound. Maira, the crazy one, was
whispering to the fire. Gunney stared at him, frowning, but said nothing. Kareem had been silent all night, and didn’t break the streak. Noor, on the other hand, spoke her mind.
“I rather expected a more exciting tale after the last one you told us.”
Ren sighed. “I wouldn’t mind nothing exciting happening for a while longer yet. I’ve had my fill.”
The youngest of the women from the cave wouldn’t stop staring at Amira. “Can I hold her?”
Ren looked down to the little cub who was just now circling to find a comfortable nook in his lap to wedge herself into. “I think not tonight. We can try tomorrow. Maybe.”
A few more attempts at conversation were made. But all ended in awkward, tired silence that filled with dread and memories he was sure they all would rather not face. But the warmth of the fire soaked into him. The crackling lulled him. And his eyes grew heavy.
They should set up a rotation for night watch…
So, so heavy.
#
Birdsong and a soul-deep pain, even greater than the previous day, greeted him when he woke. It seemed nobody had bothered to set up a tent or stay up and watch.
They set off quickly and before midday a building emerged in the distance.
The women from the cave started crying, except Maira, who started singing at the top of her lungs until Noor cuffed her on the back of the head. His comrades seemed to walk lighter the closer they got. Perhaps it wasn’t just he who’d been secretly convinced they wouldn’ make it.
Ren might have run the rest of the way if Amira weren’t clinging to his shoulder, snoring softly in his ear. His heart ached over all that had happened, all that he’d done–but her warmth pressing on him, the slow rise and fall of her tiny chest, was an a lullaby that softened and soothed, an anchor that allowed him to hold onto the moment instead of getting lost in the despair that pressed on him.
As they drew near, a broad circle of at least fifty tents revealed itself in the cleared out field behind the caravanserai. The building itself was carved with the classic flowing river, dragon, and spices that were characteristic of most such buildings that the Red Dragon Empress had erected during her reign. It still astounded him how nearly a millennium later, though worn
and a tad chipped, these structures stood, bastions of safety against the wilds for weary travelers and traders.
In the years traveling with his parents, before they’d settled in Katarn, he’d seen many a caravanserai. None, however, was as beautiful as this one. His eyes traced the pillars that supported the front awning, the chips in the stone and aether-wood, the makeshift shutters on upper floors where ancient glass had succumbed to the years.
He reached up and stroked Amira. “We made it, little one.”
She yawned and pressed her wet nose into his neck.
Noor waved to a soldier sitting watch at the rim of the camp and he jogged out to meet them.
“Bloody fuckin light. What happened to you?”
#
Ren was tired of telling stories. First, he’d told the short version to the soldier on watch. Then to the sergeant on duty. Then to the commander of Raven Company 3. The medics had plied him and his companions with questions. As did the team that was sent to investigate and recover the supplies. Then their endlessly curious escort to Fort Katagari for follow-up medical care and a debrief with one the generals. By that point, Ren had given up on talking, letting his friends tell their versions while he held Amira and stared out the back of the personnel wagon at the northern Ardus River Valley dropping away beneath them as they clattered up above tree line. That high up, forest gave way to tundra and jagged stone and the world spread out before him. A vague memory tickled at the back of his mind.
Back then, he’d thought it was the most beautiful sight in the world. The snaking rivers that all merged where the sky met the land. The rolling hills, great trees, plains so dense with wildflowers they were purple and red and yellow even from a hundred leagues away.
Back then Mako was still learning to walk, and Asana was already running. They didn’t know dad was sick yet, and mom was always laughing and dancing. And Ryu was still around. Some days the bully, some days the mentor older brother.
Then they passed into the endless twisting road cut into the stone of the mountain. Jagged like a field of broken blades and shields and armor.
The sun sank out of view, pouring red across the skies like spilled blood.
He hugged the fox closer and she licked his chin.
Fort Katagari was a marvel. A relic from before the empire. Thousands of years old. It had been an observatory,
according to the books he’d read. A place to contemplate the stars, their movements, and the cosmic dance of life. Inside was a miracle. Crystal-roofed green houses sparkled in the dying light. Still providing food for the garrison in defiance of the harsh terrain and elements.
Ren, Gunney, Noor, and Kareem were cleaned up and issued new uniforms before their debrief. While they waited for the general to be ready, another team of medics inspected their wounds, changed bandages, and made preparations for more in depth follow up care to follow the meeting. Not for the first time, someone tried to take Amira from him, but gave up under the pressure of his dark glare.
Finally they were called in. Ren was too tired and numb to notice much beyond the fact that there was a team of military leaders assembled. Each made a point to ask something, and he was pretty sure they started repeating questions at a certain point, just phrased in a new way. He was past caring and soon he was taken to a bed in the infirmary where sleep took him.
#
He was running. Shadows chased him, licking his heals as they swallowed the world. The sun was setting, but he chased it and drew nearer and nearer.
A brass butterfly flew from his pocket and fluttered into the sun with a flash of light, birthing an old man with grey slitted eyes. Wind rippled around him, fluttering his cloak and holding him above the ground. A black-hilted katana rested in a black enamel sheath at his hip.
The darkness drew nearer and Ren reached out for help, but his hands were covered in blood. The man looked at them and turned, disappearing into the fading light and leaving Ren behind to be swallowed by the black.
The darkness was full of nightmare shapes, snapping jaws and slashing claws, slithering serpents, heads still screaming as they fell from bodies, blood pooling at his feet and rising, rising, rising, filling the space, past his hips, past his chest, past his heart, he was drowning. And in the thick, dark, wet, choking, suffocating, in the blood and shadow swam a beast—the beast–the serpent made of primordial hungry darkness, its body a spanning endlessly, coiling, crushing.
A high sweet note rung out, shining in the black, a star in a sky of empty night. More notes joined it, more stars…
Ren awoke to humming. A rich, full song he’d never heard before. A beautiful song that reminded him of first kisses and children playing and the love of a parent for a child.
He let the song wash over him, only opening his eyes when the wetness of his sweat-soacked bed and sheets started to chill his bones.
At the foot of the bed sat Scout Captain Azam. The man let his whistling song trail off as he smiled down at Ren. His hair was tied up atop his head and his perfect mustache was no less glorious than it had been the last time they’d seen each other.
“Good morning, Ren.” Azam tipped his head.
“Good morning.” Ren blinked away the sleep from his eyes.
“How are you feeling?” His voice was soft and full of care.
Ren moved his arm to scratch his chin and biting pain shot up his arm, echoing out into his meridians. He grimaced. “I suppose the pain could be looked at as a reminder that I’m somehow still alive.”
Azam chuckled. “Very good. Very good.”
They sat together in silence for a time.
The scout captain broke the silence. “I see you took my advice to heart. Not only have you started building a strong foundation for your cultivation, but after hearing the account of your surviving comrades from Cloud Company 7, you have a handful of units looking to bring you in. Even the medical branch is lobbying to offer you a placement as field medic after the wound care you provided.”
Ren’s eyes widened. Medic… he’d thought that dream was dead. He knew his parents would be proud. After all, father had left his country to honor his pacifist beliefs when they tried to conscript him.
“Of course,” continued Azam, “I convinced them to let me have the first shot at you. As such, I’m here to offer you a spot in my unit. The irregulars.”
“Pardon my ignorance, sir, but what are the irregulars? What do you do? I asked around but-”
“Yes, I imagine you heard all sorts of strange rumors about us. If you think about our military as the body of a scorpion, you can consider the Asbar and their mounted companies and heavy infantry as the claws in front that lead the attack, the irregulars are something like the tip of the tail. The stinger so to speak. We do the things that require discretion, subtlety. If they are the warriors of day, we are the warriors of night.”
“That still doesn’t tell me a lot.”
Azam answered with a wink. “One more thing you might be interested in, is that we handle merit points differently. As
a unit, we pool them and I distribute our allotted resources based on need. Each mission requires a different set of tools, and thus our teams are built around specialization and flexibility. If you accept, you’d be assessed formally and offered cultivation resources that fit your natural gifts and interests. I’ll also say that we get the best toys. Starting pay would be the same as medic, but we also get hazard pay from time to time.”
“Hazard pay?” That didn’t make any sense. After what he’d seen happen to a roadside patrol company, shouldn’t they all get hazard pay? Wasn’t that their job?
“Yes… well, it's a whole lot different traveling into hostile territory with a team of four or five compared with when you have hundreds at your back.” Azam smiled and stood. “The catch is, if you join us, it’ll add two years to your contract. I’ll let you think on it. I’d advise you not to jump into anything until you’ve really considered your options.”
With that he left.
Comments
Morc
Thanks for the chapter, found at least three random line breaks. Not sure if this is actually helpful.
ahmed
Thanks for the chapter
