Deus Ex Machinarium

Ever since the fateful face-off between him and Brandt, there was a notable change in Nord’s demeanor towards him. There was a sense of affection and protectiveness, respect even. Surely, it wasn’t like they were suddenly brothers in arms. Some of it was no doubt because the hoomin was now responsible for procuring food for both of them. But still, something did change.

At least that is what Greeo insisted happened. The rest of them were busy arguing about which direction to follow and how many kimers, or days, they were to expect before reaching the place they were headed for. It was a point of contention for a good reason. Without the pack horses, they picked up the pace, even despite traveling through a dense, primeval forest. But they also lost a sense of progress, as the woods were quite uniform and a candle of progress might have meant either three or six kimers.

They settled for a good, brisk pace. Anh would lead during the day and guard during the night. Brandt would procure food and provide much-needed muscle whenever a sword was needed to cut some stubborn bushes in their way. It was efficient, mechanical and started to become quite boring. Their slowly growing facial hair measured the only passage of time, as both men had no opportunity to shave since they left the Soutwals. But then, somewhat past noon, on the twenty-sixth of Blommer.

-” They went through here” - Brandt suddenly stopped, and began to look around him

-” Who?” - asked Anh, suddenly startled. He floated back to his companion. Brandt kneeled, then squatted, followed an azimuth somewhat different from their own, and slowly crept forward, gazing upon the branches, leaves, and needles on the forest floor.

-” I’m guessing you found a trail?” - continued Anh

-” Yes. Not that long ago. A column of footmen. I’m guessing about ten.”

-” Our Ordo friends?”

-” It certainly would fit. Their heading is the same as ours.” - Brandt straightened himself - “More or less. But may also be a band of wildmen. Whomever they are, they certainly are hoomin.”

-” Should I be concerned?”

-” About what?”

-” Let me rephrase. What does this mean to us?”

-” Firstly. They were here a couple of hours ago. If we backtracked, we would probably find their former camp. From there we would get a more accurate estimation of how far ahead they are.”

-” Yes. Makes sense.”

-” Secondly we have a clear confirmation that they, assuming those are Ordos, are headed towards the second site. Which confirms our heading as well.”

-” Yes. They read my notes well. At least I assume so. That ‘seer’ of theirs must have done a good job, was it a tanai?.”

-” Yes, they were.” - nodded Brandt - “As for the last thing. Now we know about them. Yet they don’t know about us. Which opens a few strategic options.”

Anh gazed around him, not because he expected to see anything interesting. It was still the same forest they’d been in for the last few days. But it allowed him to push away a certain uneasy thought that just started to linger among him and his kin. For a few drips, as he couldn’t truly avoid it.

-” You want to follow them” - he said, not expecting anything but.

-” Indeed.” - came the expected response

-” Even though the last time you’ve done so, it cost us our camp?”

The only response from Brandt was a muffled, confirmatory ‘mhm’. The hoomin was busy picking through twigs, sticks, and leaves and slowly moving in a direction about parallel to the one they were following previously.

Their tempo slowed down considerably. Brandt followed the ‘trail’ he had supposedly found. Every so often he would pause to study some elusive detail of a broken twig or a mound of suspiciously disturbed dirt. It wasn’t to say they weren’t making progress, because they were, but, unlike for the last few days, now Brandt was leading, thus Anh found time to study the surroundings. Some of the trees they encountered were unknown to him, and animals also seemed somewhat different, like squirrels had their tail fur tipped in a different hue or a particular type of woodpecker had its head adorned in blue instead of red.

What added spice was his inability to make notes about any of it. Everything had to be memorized, which kept them busy for the most part. They found it quite exciting.

-” Mr Trawins! Please, come here!” - Anh was staring at a kind of black splotched orange-hued lizard with two dabs of intensely blue dots on its head, resting on a branch and bathing in the morning Bivos, when the coarse shout of Zerster came from somewhere afar. Tanai sighed and floated towards the hoomin.

It took him a little more than a triskol to get through to him and on his way he fought the desire to study a green mushroom with yellow dots that caught his eye. But alas, he moved aside the last branch, saw Brandt, and froze.

-” I think this one is still alive” - murmured hoomin, while touching the neck of a heavily wounded man lying on the blood-stained grass - “They left him to bleed to death.”

There were two of them. Hoomin males, but of ethnicity unknown to Anh. One was maybe twenty, the other much older, forty maybe. Their skin was pale, both had long blonde hair, mustaches, and beards. They were also wiry and quite smaller than Brandt, covered in dirt, and grime mixed with blood and sweat. Both were armed with an axe, not even drawn for combat, and wore fur and leather.

The older of them had two gunshot wounds, one on his chest, the other on his neck. It was obvious his death came almost instantly. The other’s trousers were torn apart at the thigh, and covered in coagulated blood.

-” Move away.” - barked Anh at his companion, as he floated towards the downed man - “I’m not a vitahexer, and certainly not a sanhexer, but by Vihrs, we need to do something.” - he uttered - “Give me one of those knives you have!”

Brandt complied, and after a brief moment, Anh was leaning over the body and cutting through the leather trousers and, later, revealing a gushing wound just where Anh would expect it, on the inner thigh.

-* Lucky* - said Greoo - *if he’s still alive, then the ball missed the major blood vessels”

-* And it seems* - added Tow -*the ball went straight through*

-* That would be thigh vein and artery* - added Thernohh -*To be precise*

-” Technicality” - answered Anh -” We need to help him!”

-* Then I suggest, as we promised already, we dust off our vitahex training and make Brandt produce some bandages.*

-” Right”- Anh turned his head towards the hoomin, who, in the meantime, was searching through the other body -” Mr Zerster. Can you get some sort of cloth to patch this man?”

-” Let me dig in my bag.” - Brandt ceased what he was doing, threw his bags on the ground, and began rummaging through them.

-” Fine” - continued tanai -” Tow, where to apply the vitahex?”

-* Put your open palms beside the wound* - came the answer. Anh complied -*yes, just like that. Kin, we need to concentrate*

At first, nothing much was happening, but soon enough sour and metallic aroma of vitahexergy could be felt in the air. Brandt stopped tearing and cutting one of his garments into strips to witness what was happening. It wasn’t much, there was no smoke, glow or even sounds coming off. The only sight of hexergy was the scent soldiers unanimously recognized with grim, blood-spluttered tents crowded by wounded, dying and dead after each battle. Once he affirmed what was happening, he returned making a makeshift bandage.

-* This should be enough* - commanded Tow

-” Are you sure?” - replied Anh

-* No. But I think we patched whatever there was to patch, from this moment, he needs to take over. Figuratively.*

-” I’m aware, Tow, I’m aware.”

-* Ask for the bandages and let’s get this over with* - Tow continued to command the situation -*We need water to clean the wound. Ask him for his costrel.”

-” Sure. Will do.” - Anh turned towards Brandt - “ Mr Zerster. You have something ready?” - the hoomin gave him what he made so far, and while doing so, was grinning slightly - “Also, please, give me the water. I’ll need to clean it up.” - a moment later Anh was given the vessel full of fresh water. Anh took it, and then, in silence, began to dress the wound. This took him a little less than a few triskols.

-” All right then, kin, I hope he’ll live”

-* Domme.* - Greoo threw herself into the situation -*Are you aware, you’ve been talking aloud through all this?*

-* Was I?*

-* Why, do you think, is Brandt grinning like a fool for some time now?*

Anh quickly gazed towards the hoomin, who returned to searching through the other body, but at the same had a goofy smirk on his face, despite the gore next to him. Anh turned red out of embarrassment.

-* Do you think he understands?*

-* Does it matter?* - shrugged Greoo - *If he is indeed as old as he claims, he dealt with tanai. Thus he understands or is very courteous towards us.*

-* On a more pressing issue*- interjected Birdekk -*Ask him what to do next.*

-” Mr Zerster. How do we proceed?”

Brandt already stopped his search and was looking around him. When addressed, he squatted near the wounded man and beside the tanai.

-” I can confirm that we are tracing Ordos.” - Brandt began to search through the wounded - “Wildmen don’t have firearms, those two poor fellows were shot. Moreover, not that long ago, two, or three candles. It’s a miracle this one still lives. The other one is still warm.”

-” What do you suppose happened here?”

-” I have no clue. The Ordos encountered those two and shot them. There are no signs of combat, they didn’t even draw their weapons. Not that it would matter.”

-” We can’t leave this man. He might be tough, but this wound… it requires medical attention for at least a few days.”

-” Can you carry him?”

-” If I have to? Yes. I carried you after all.”

-” So we continue, you take care of and carry this poor fellow.”

-” What? You want me to..” - Anh was indignant at first, but almost immediately fell into doubt and hung his voice before Brandt said the obvious.

-” I can’t help you, I can’t help him, He can’t stay where he is, I suppose. We have a job to do and time is running out.”

-” So I need to carry or stay with him?” - the tanai began to wonder about the consequences of both courses of action.

-”...or leave him to his fate.” - shrugged Brandt while adding a third one - “Your choice.”

-” I guess I’ll carry him then.”

-* That is not going to be easy* - casually said Birdekk -* It is a grown hoomin male. Just stating the obvious.*

-* About 65 kigs* - added Thernohh

-* It’s the right thing to do* - added Greoo

Anh concentrated, then carefully raised the wounded wildman with a hexergic grip. Slowly, but surely he held it positioned to the side and kept him about a mer above the ground. Then sighed heavily and nodded at Brandt that he was ready to continue.

When he was doing so Brandt laid the corpse of the other man on his back, with hands crossed on his chest and an axe gripped in both of them, and closed the man’s eyes.

They left soon after.