Princeps

Their escape was clumsy. The girl kept moaning in pain with every step, looking as if she is running away in one legged jumps, while he was bewildered with what just happened. The wolf was far ahead of them acting as a scout and protector, leading the way. The safest thing was to follow it, as all this novelty within just a day from leaving his tutelage under Togrin and Everard made him feel like a headless chicken. There was no time to think, no time to reason with the impossible, with this stuff of legends they used to cheat him with when he was a child. He knew it was all a lie because the bosses told him it was. Usually, they would follow it up with ridicule, occasionally even a slap. He made fire! He saw the sparks while flying to the ground, mistaking them for the unabashed stars of a concussion. He saw their consequence, their voracious appetite for the brute who hit him. And yet that was impossible. Or maybe it was a lie said to put down those below, in the pit, locked away and forgotten. The biggest accomplishment in defeating and discouraging a rat in the pit, such as himself, was to persuade it that it had no chance. No tool or skill that could help it break the chains, the cycle of servitude and death. However, inexplicably, this rat found a tool. Some sort of tool, maybe a blessing, a nod from the gods and heavenly smiths that it is time to change the world over, inverse it on its head, balance the pyramid on its pointy end. Unbeknownst to him, he was only partially right. But how can a pebble understand how the ocean means to move and sway it to a distant shore?

- Stop crying you small, weakly, dummy twat! – he finally cried out coming to a sudden stop. – You’re telling ‘em where we’re. Like a giant cuckoo bird! Stop!

The girl looked at him wide-eyed and frightened from his sudden turn and shout. She tried to wrest away her arm, but Atef didn’t let her go. He clenched her wrist as hard as he could trying first to identify where he was and where the damn wolf was.

- Wait! Wait! I won’t hurt you! Stop, twat!

- No? – came from the girl more as a question than a cry of disobedience.

- Yes, no! I won’t hurt you!

He awaited her response, but the girl struggled to find the right words. She showed her leg and pointed at her wrist. Atef realized that he should let her go, she had no intention of running away.

- Canna you speak?

The girl shook her head signalizing no. Her mysteriousness grew even larger in Atef’s mind. What was wrong so much with her that she has such long ears and is almost mute?

- Who are you? – he said touching his nose which only now, when blood washed away the beautiful essence of adrenaline, felt bent and painful as his body was assessing the damage.

- Aebor – she said matter-of-factly inspecting her foot. Atef could see a large wound, covered with dirt on her bare feet.

- Shoes? – he asked pointing at her feet, beginning to become cognizant that the girl wasn’t dumb, just spoke some weird, foreign language.

She waved her head away, and signaled with her hand that something pierced her skin and went in deep. Atef sat down next to her.

- Atef – he said pointing at himself and then tried touching her ears. She jerked her head away and made a frown as if toying with her ears was something she has been putting up with a lot and was a particular pet peeve of hers.

- No touch! Yes, understand!

- Yes, no touch! – the girl responded barely squeezing in the right pronunciation for the words to sound like they should.

- Where you from?

- Aebor.

- Ok I know you Aebor, but where from?

- Aebor!

- Damn twat, canna say a word of my language! – he thought underwhelmed by how the exchange was going.

The girl rocked back and forth holding her foot, wincing in pain. He felt for her, but now the back of his head also reminded him he had his own troubles. He patted it, felt a blunt pain and on his hand he could see fresh blood. Less though, so he was optimistic that it will heal in a matter of days. Not being able to help, he started scoping out the surroundings. As expected, he could see trees. Though these ones seemed special, somehow different, and not matching to what he could draw from his very limited experience. They had pink, even purple leaves surrounded with a multitude of thorns on weak branches that led to a tree trunk which felt like it was armored and impervious to even the mightiest of axes. Each a fortress on its own, in this particular area they were dominating, yet they were far apart as if the lords of these living strongholds were in constant competition and strife. The soil around them was uneven since these powerful colossi had shallow roots that would spell doom for the plant if they protruded out into the open. Its fruit, most likely still not ripe was yellow and small with blue dots. Atef didn’t have a good enough eyesight to notice that on these berries the dots moved, since they were a type of insect that lived in symbiosis with the tree providing the agent that would eventually ripen them in autumn. Like a true exterminator, this tree allowed only the strongest, sharpest and most detestable grass to grow in its realm. Very few insect thrived in its environment, and the ones that did, looked equally gruesome. He turned his attention back to her, happy that at least they stopped at a cozy place in this inhospitable grove. Their base was one of the older looking trees that completely killed off even the resistant grass around it, leaving a grey slab of dried and cracked soil. They sat down behind it, opposite form the direction they came, and it was easy to spot if the servants, Kairan, Fedem or anyone else foolishly decided to try to catch up with them. For the time being they were safe, so he could turn his mind to Aebor and the wolf which was nowhere to be seen.

- Aebor, ears? – he said inquisitively simulating his ears being elongated with his thumbs and index fingers.

- Aebor, yes! – the girl responded pointing to her ears and getting back to her wound which she tried to clean with the piece of her simple skirt she tore off. It was nasty to look at her spreading her flesh in search of whatever has sunk within. Atef averted his gaze away from the ghastly sight to the rest of her figure. She was thin, with strong legs so she was most likely used to walk everywhere. Her shoulders were narrower than his and even a bit too narrow for a girl. At least compared to the ones he saw in the mines that still did some physical labor when the men were too sick or the quota was to be met. Her arms seemed weak, but crafty, as if she had a light and precise touch. The bruises from the rope where clearly visible and diminishing her beauty. He first noticed her face, thin with a subtle and beautiful nose that had a few freckles from the sun. She had a blemish on the left cheek which was cute, just below the ear. Hair was all over the place and fell often over her eyes so she would incessantly puff to get it away or reach with her hand to push it back. The hair, brown, was below her shoulders in terms of length, dirty and full of small strands of grass or other little things that got caught in there during sleep. The last thing he noticed was her bosom, firm and also on the larger side and he had to immediately avert his eyes from it, as desire for someone who he doesn’t even understand felt wrong.

The wolf startled them both. It dropped a catch at their feet. A badger. The girl dug in her heels in the soil trying to crawl away backwards. Her mind pushed out the fact that there was a wolf and now when it was there again, terror creeped in. Atef reached for her arm but she pulled it back, not letting him to get a firm grip and reassure her that everything is fine, that this is mutt.

- No, no, no! – she screamed again in panic.

- Step back mutt! – Atef ordered to defuse the situation.

- Yes! – came through, interwoven with the growl which made Atef let out a gasp and rub his ears in disbelief. Second time today his understanding of the world took a nose dive.

- You canna get me, mutt?! – he asked unnerved.

- Yes grooooowl, owowooo, st….. grrr!

- Whadda is happening to meself?! – How canna you get me?

- Owowowo, grrrrrr, auaha lea…grrr wooo wooo kn.

And just like that it was gone. Not a single intelligible word slipped through, only shadowy fragments trying to sneak in through the animal’s guttural howls. The wolf realized that the attempt was futile and then pointed with its nose to the girl and to the badger.

- Aebor she is! – Atef informed the wolf and then turned back to face the girl.

She was looking at them cautiously, not letting out a single sound. Her eyes were dead set on Atef, fearing to face the animal. Was she able to trust either of them, and was this just a way for the boy to toy with her in some sick and depraved way by instilling hope, seeing how she would embrace it and based on whether he likes it or not, continue the game until he ultimately grows tired of it. How can she know? How can she even begin to know?

Atef pointed at the badger and then stepped away leaving her alone with the wolf. Observing him, she noticed he started collecting dry wood, refuse from the colossi under which they made camp. She still couldn’t face the wolf, choosing to hide her terror deep down and show at least the smallest appearance of calmness by tending to her wound anew. The wolf laid down and showed its stomach to the girl, as a dog would but its display of submission went unnoticed. A while later Atef was back with a decent amount of firewood. He placed them on the ground in a lump and pointed at the wolf and Aebor to pay attention to something magnificent that was about to happen. As soon as he got their attention, he pointed his hand with a jerk at the lump expecting the same result like during his standoff with the brutes. Effect – nothing. He made a nervous smile, lifted his finger signaling he needed a moment. He closed his eyes and massaged his temples as if the power flowed from there. Suddenly, he opened them again and extended his hand towards the lump. A pattern started to emerge so the wolf made a yawn in which his head could fit and Aebor’s eyes just dropped back to her foot. Atef jumped in anger discombobulated and seeking answer to why the effect he desired didn’t transpire now. He pointed his hand another time, and another, and another and still the rule established by the pattern remained. He could see the laugh in the lump of sticks, the grin of defiance to his wish of turning it into fire. Angry at this imaginary mocking, he angrily paced away. Neither of the other two paid attention to his storm out. Soon, he returned with some dead and dry grass and bark and moved the lump of firewood next to the badger. The day was already flirting with the night and the sky was quickly turning cloudy and orange. He started vigorously turning the stick between his hands creating friction between its pointy end and dry bark below. He lacked patience though, and it didn’t help that wolf started anxiously pacing around glaring at the badger at every turn. Suddenly, his effort turned into a tantrum and he hit the stick onto bark breaking his fire toolset in two. Aebor’s eyes were already on him when he turned around.

She slowly got up on her feet, testing the injured one and slowly hobbled to him. She gestured for him to move and sat down to tend to the fire. He started observing, like he did Togrin the one time he instructed him how to birth fire into this world.

- Go! – she uttered and signaled with a frown pointing with her gaze at the badger. Atef defied and examined her for a little while, wanting to see the first golden spark but her commanding glance and finger pointed to the sky, which was darkening, annulled all his hopes.

He got from his belt the knife he used to cut her bindings and started skinning the animal best he could. He would hang around cooks oftentimes in the pit and has seen the rats he caught being skinned and what little meat was below being dropped into the pot. Rats eating rats for the benefit of rathood was the joke that spiced those dishes. The wolf found peculiar interest in what Atef was doing and sat close to him feeding on any scraps of skin and fur the boy would throw his way. Atef also gave him the internal organs, the head and some of the meat. The wolf didn’t seem to object. Just as he was finishing carving up the meat, the fire started picking up its strength, crackling and turning the firewood black. He made a spit and the badger was ready to be turned into wonderful, succulent meal at the very end of this long and perilous day.

He made only three turns when Aebor tapped his shoulder and showed that there was a drop glistening on her cheek. Then he felt one, then another and then the heavens poured their fury on their hopes. They left the spit and the meat and ran further under the tree to try to stay dry. Wolf did the same but gave them space by choosing to be the sentinel on the other side of the tree. The Colossi didn’t have large enough canopy to act as a barrier to the torrent, and they were quickly getting soaked. She turned her back to Atef and just sat there, like a rock, like an inanimate part of the décor. Atef glanced at her, cursed the heavens and the night and put his right hand on the hurting spot at the back of his head. His eyes gazed into the distance and he became empty. The rain didn’t relent, it intended to soak and drown the night. Eyes soon closed.

Magic roll: 79 out of 100 [5d20s] ; +2 to healing magic ; current level 2/50

Magic roll: 58 out of 100 [5d20s] ; +1 to polilinguistics ; current level 1/50

Madness roll: 58 out of 100 [5d20s] ; +1 to madness ; current level 3/100

Secret roll: 71 out of 100 [5d20s] ; +2 to a mystery ; current level 2/100

He was in her arms when he woke up. She snuck up on him while he was asleep and now her warmth was keeping him cozy despite them being still drenched. It was morning and the second day of feeling bad after a night’s sleep made him wish he was still with master Togrin or maybe even in the pit. He placed his hand on the back of his head and scratched to see how the closing of the wound was progressing. He felt nothing, no pain, no scabbing, no blood.

- Another fekking odd thing. Another! My nose still hurts but no problem with the back of me ‘ead?

He waited for a while fixating on yet another miracle. He looked at the girl, drenched, her clothes shaping up everything hidden below. And with youthful lust the same feeling of shame returned.

- Aebor, Aebor – he whispered gently shaking the girl. She sluggishly woke up and gave him an innocent look saying: “I was just cold so I snuggled up to you.”

- My ‘ead, wound? – he said and suddenly realized that the “wound” came out weird and sounding foreign. The girl looked at him in awe.

- Aemar bastok, esel igman gorog etva?

He couldn’t discern a single word.

- My ‘ead, wound? – he just hopelessly repeated showing her the back of his head tapping it.

- No – she simply said lowering her gaze, feeling foolish thinking that he could speak her language although the word “wound” was properly pronounced.

Atef kept feeling the back of his head, scratching as if he wanted to sink into the flesh and find the mysterious force that closed up the wound. Nothing made sense, he could do things, but in the weirdest and least expected moments. His skin was red and irritated when an idea popped into his mind.

- Trust meself – he said and repeated twice over while looking at Aebor. The gaze made her cautious, wary of the boy. What did he intend?

Without any further explanation he reached for her foot wanting to seize it. She kicked away ready to get up and jump or hobble away.

- Please trust meself – he said and the word “trust” did the same thing as “wound” did.

- Akal hastum raelam distar? – the response came meaning nothing to him.

He just nodded and reached again for her foot. Reluctantly, she allowed him to touch it. Their eyes met as he felt her wound. Something brilliant and heartwarming awoke in him, disfiguring all his lust and using the base components to paint a different picture; that of care, allegiance, sympathy. Her foot warmed in his hand, started burning with searing pain. She screamed and started shaking her foot, wanting it back for herself. He wouldn’t allow it. The wolf came to them to investigate out of nowhere, smelling like a wet dog. They were oblivious to it and she knew nothing except to continue screaming. The warmth permeated both of their bodies and moments later Atef felt something in his hand. He let go her foot, feeling as if he has learned a great deal about himself and his abilities with this simple gesture. The girl reached for her foot, inspected it, and couldn’t believe the result. It was pristine as if she was a newborn. She felt vigour, strength and elasticity in it with no pain. Not even a scar was left. She looked in disbelief at Atef and in his hand, a thorn, wide, serrated and malignant.