by Allan Joyal
Hencktor looked confused again. I waved off the question and smiled. "Do we have anything we can cook, or would that take too long?"
"We don't have the right items to really cook," Hencktor said. "Kariy has some tools, but for seventeen people we'd need a large cauldron, and we don't have that. Besides, we don't have any fresh meat to cook up, unless you think you can hunt with the spear."
"I'm not going to pretend that I think I could succeed," I said. "I barely know how to hold this. Besides, I doubt I could approach anything close enough to have a chance to kill it."
Hencktor laughed. "I know. I thought about asking for a live chicken from Auntie Wessera, but it was when I was exiting the room that the other group wandered in. You knew them?"
"Not really. Some of them arrived in the same room that Heather and I did. Others arrived in one of the other rooms. We didn't agree on the direction to go and split up shortly after we arrived on Jord."
"And if I never see those ... those... toads! I'll be very happy," Heather fumed. "I can't believe that they turned the other girls into playthings so quickly."
"Those ladies did look awfully pretty, Miss Heather," Hencktor said. "I've never seen a woman display herself like that."
"They weren't doing it voluntarily," Heather snapped. "Or at least I doubt they were. Some of those outfits were for the bedroom, not for wearing in public."
Hencktor just blushed as we continued to walk. The trail was slowly curving to the right. I noticed a sparkle ahead and looked to see the pool we had used to refill canteens. "I think we have reached the place to stop for lunch. Picnic anyone?" I shouted as I pointed to the dark spots marking the stones.
The rest of the group gave a faint and slightly sarcastic cheer. The pace picked up as the coeds dashed ahead. It was an impromptu race. William shouted something about it being unfair the coeds had dashed ahead. One of the coeds gave out a raspberry as they broke into a run.
I sped up, but took a moment to check behind us. Other than some dust blowing around after being kicked up by the group, the trail was quiet. Feeling a bit more secure I joined in the run, sprinting ahead of Heather only to find myself laboring to catch her again after she increased her speed.
Staggering to the stones with the coeds giggling at me had not been the plan, but it was nice to hear everyone happy. I found an empty spot between Lydia and Esme on one of the stones and sat down. Several of the coeds had set their packs down and Kariy was pulling packages from a couple. It was clear she was preparing some food for everyone.
Eddie was sitting alone on a stone and glared at me. "Why don't you carry a pack?" he demanded.
"Because he's got one of the few weapons and needs to be able to move quickly," Lydia snapped back. "Even I have enough sense to see that!"
Eddie's face schooled into a hurt look, but he said nothing more. By now Kariy had assembled several small piles of food and was distributing it to the coeds. She gave Martha a bundle wrapped in the leather of one of the packages and pointed to Eddie.
I was going to watch what happened, but Natalie limped over and held a pouch out for me. "Courtesy of our camp cook," she said with a giggle.
I reach out and gently took the pouch. "How are you doing?"
Natalie looked down at her leg. "It fucking hurts. No blood at least. But it really hurts when I put weight on it. And it won't straighten completely."
"Will you be able to keep up? Hencktor and Kariy say we have three days of hiking to reach Linktrum. That's a long way on a hurt leg," I asked.
Esme punched me in the side and hissed in my ear too soft for Natalie to hear. "She'll make it. If I have to carry her myself the rest of the way, she'll arrive in Linktrum with the rest of us."
Natalie simply nodded and then limped over to another rock to sit and start eating. I opened the pouch to find four wedges of cheese, several cracker-like biscuits, and about three handfuls of large nuts. The smell from the cheese was creamy and enticing. A quick glance showed the rest of the group eating, so I joined in and concentrated on the food.
There was no conversation while everyone ate the food provided. It had not seemed like much, but the nuts were very filling and, after washing the meal down with some water from a canteen, I could feel my energy returning. Part of me wanted to demand that we jump up and continue, but several of the coeds were trying to massage their legs. I watched them as Al collected all the empty canteens and took them to the pond to refill them.
"It's sad," Steve observed. "You'd expect there to be the sounds of insects flying near the pond and birdsong from the trees, but right now, the land is silent."
I glanced up. Looking around, I realized that Steve was right. The lack of insects was contributing to the forest being almost totally silent. It should have been upsetting, but the story of the miscast spell explained the lack. Instead I listened closely to the wind, seeing if any movements could be heard. Hencktor noticed and nodded.
"I wouldn't worry too much about the other group," he said. "Unless they wanted to abandon the one you stabbed, they are still at the tavern. And they probably are going to eat there, at least for today. They looked a lot more hungry than you did when I met you."
Lydia laughed at that. "Well, we got lucky and had some fresh meat our first night. Unless they found a lot of food being carried by the corpses, they didn't eat much, and also had an extra night in the wilderness."
"Makes sense," I said. "I don't think we should relax too much, but we probably can slow the pace just a bit. You said three days, Hencktor?"
The man put a finger to his chin. With his other hand he pointed at a number of spots in the air, as if marking a map. This continued for several moments before he shook his head. "Might only be two from here. The few times I went to Linktrum were with ore wagons. We traveled here much quicker than an ore wagon can."
"Two days of sleeping on the ground and eating dried food," William spat. "Just what I wanted to hear. Can we get going? And how are you getting me back to New York anyways?"
I waved a hand from my waist to my head, palm up. "All rise," I intoned. "With Hencktor taking the lead, we shall all continue our journey to Linktrum. Please keep your tray tables in the upright position until the tour comes to a complete stop."
The coeds had stood up at my gesture, but all collapsed to the ground giggling. Steve stepped over to me and slapped me on the shoulder. "That one was bad, even for you," he said.
The laughter ended fairly quickly, and the coeds climbed back to their feet. Hencktor waited until everyone was standing and had collected the various packs before he started down the path. He did not head through the canopied tunnel, but followed the other branch of the trail as it curved to the left.
I decided to stay close to the front of the group this time. Steve nodded when he saw me take position behind Hencktor. He soon dropped to the back of the group. Natalie at least appeared to be doing better. I could see her doing a strange limp and skip as she kept up with Hencktor. Esme was next to her, and the two were chattering away. It took a while before I realized that Esme was asking about the various trees we passed. I caught on when Esme ran ahead to pick up some leaves.
The rest of the coeds were equally relaxed. They spread out a bit, avoiding William and Eddie. Loud and cheerful conversations could be heard as the trail started to slope down a bit more steeply.
My full belly and the cheerful chatter allowed me to relax a bit mentally. I realized I had stopped paying close attention to the others when I felt a gentle touch on my right arm. I turned to find Kariy walking beside me. Her eyes looked directly into mine, and I could see that something puzzled her.
"Yes?" I asked. I took a closer look and realized that Kariy was dressed in a long skirt, and was wearing a modern blouse. Cursing myself for not noticing, I smiled. "I like what you are wearing, where did you get it?"
Kariy blushed slightly. "I had the skirt hidden with the rest of my possessions. Madam Wessera gave it to me a couple fortnights ago, but if I had wo
rn it in the kitchen Galmin would have deliberately ruined it. The blouse was given to me by her." She pointed to Elizabeth.
Elizabeth noticed the action. Shaking her head, she shouted, "Did you just notice? God, I thought you were supposed to be the observant one in this group."
"I had a lot on my mind this morning," I shouted back. "Thank you though."
"Just an extra I kept in my bag. Never know when you'll get a stain at lunch or will suddenly be told you have to rush to a meeting," Elizabeth said.
I nodded and then looked back at Kariy. She had a very shy smile on her face. "What should I do?"
"Well," I began. "My goal was to help you escape that inn. It was clear you were unhappy there. Now, all I want is for you to be happy. You can travel with us until you find a place you want to stay."
"Do I have to ..." Kariy looked at the ground. I could see the tips of her ears turn red.
"Never!" I snapped. "At least, never unless you truly want to. Kariy, you are free. Free to choose someone you want to be with. Or free to tell everyone that you aren't interested."
Kariy fidgeted while walking next to me. She looked back at the rest of the group. "Do the others have the same freedom?" she asked.
"Of course," Heather said. "Where we come from it's that way. If you find the right person and it feels right."
Kariy looked back at me. "What about when you leave?"
"If it turns out that some wizard can return us, we'll have to see what we can do for you. I'm not sure that will matter. We have to reach the Wizard's Academy and ask if they are willing to do anything."
Heather snorted. "And most likely they will refuse. Just like any other bureaucrat would."
I put my arm around Kariy. She accepted the gesture and pressed her body into my side as we walked. I felt a slight shiver. "Kariy, trust us please. We truly do want you to be happy."
"I'll try," she whispered. "I still have a hard time believing. And..." she glanced over at Eddie and shivered again.
I had been looking down at Kariy as we walked, but I took a moment to look at Eddie. The man was staring at me and scowling. When he noticed that I was watching him, he stopped walking and turned away with a curse.
The path we were following started to slope more steeply. It met up with a stream and turned right to follow the near bank. What had been a rather flat valley became a narrower valley and finally led into a steep gorge barely wide enough to contain the stream and a rutted trail just wide enough for four people to walk abreast. The path and canyon were relatively straight as the route plunged downward.
Natalie had some trouble navigating the slope, but Esme's quiet support kept her on her feet. William and Eddie demanded their own help, but the rest of the group ignored them as we slid and stumbled over the rocks in the trail. The girls regularly cursed as sharp rocks stabbed into their bare feet, but kept moving. The canyon was deep enough to block direct sunlight, but long before we could see the trail flatten back out everyone was covered in sweat. Hencktor recognized how difficult the climb was and called regular stops for everyone to drink some of the cold water from the stream.
"It's always like this," he said. "Even the few wagons we get each year struggle in this canyon."
"There is no better way?" Lydia asked. She had cut her foot on a sharp rock and was limping. Elizabeth had been supporting her. Most of the rest of the group had bruised feet. At each stop, after everyone had drunk, most of us were putting our feet in the cold water to soothe aching muscles.
"Not really," Hencktor replied. "For some reason the hills here rise sharply. Most of the paths down follow stream canyons. The few that don't are difficult to climb."
Lydia sighed and looked at me. "We all need boots," she growled. "My feet can't take much more of this."
I looked over at Kariy who was barefoot, but seemed to be fine and said nothing. Steve just shook his head as he tossed one rock from the trail into the stream.
Our pace had slowed considerably due to the rocks and sore feet. We still emerged from the canyon with the sun well above the horizon. The trail turned off to the left as we emerged, but Hencktor had us follow the stream off to the right. Our walk followed the stream until it passed close to a stand of bushes that blocked visibility from the road. The stand was about fifteen feet thick, and beyond it Hencktor led us into a small half-circular clearing.
A green moss covered the ground here. I knelt down to touch it and found that the moss covered some stone. The clearing itself was well shaded by some large, but rather short trees lined up towards the setting sun. Hencktor walked to the center, and I found him clearing away some burnt wood from a fire pit.
"Can someone bring some wood over?" he called out. "There should be a small pile under the bushes over there." He pointed to a section of the bushes.
Jennifer and Martha dropped their packs near the fire and headed over where Hencktor had pointed while I circled the clearing. The bushes formed a wall on three sides. The final side was open to the stream, which slowed down due to a turn. There was a sizable pool near the back of the clearing, just before the stream disappeared past the bushes.
"This looks like it was created," Steve said as I completed my circle.
"It was," Hencktor replied. "Long before I was born though. The dwarves had one of their stone singers call up enough stone to form the base of the clearing. They had a human wizard cause the moss to grow."
"You have to be kidding me," William spat. "Are there no inns, no hotels in this world?"
"There are places to stay if you are in a town," Hencktor replied. "But we are still two days away from Linktrum, and it's the nearest town. This place is used by the trading wagons visiting the village."
Steve nodded. "So we are one day's travel from the village?"
"No," Hencktor said with a frown as Jennifer and Martha brought over bundles of wood they had gathered. "There is another one back at the top of the canyon. We were making such good time that I thought we could reach here in one day. We even have time to spare."
William cursed and stormed off to the wall of the clearing where he sat down with his back to everyone. Eddie just moaned and stayed where he stood. The man pulled his shoes off and began rubbing his feet. I could see all the coeds edge away from him.
Lydia was wrinkling her nose. "God, I feel so dirty. Hencktor, what about cleaning ourselves?"
Hencktor pointed towards the pool I had noted earlier. "I've heard that the pool is actually pleasantly warm. I guess hot water comes up from the ground and joins the cold from the stream. There should be some soaproot growing on the bank."
Heather and Esme gave a cheer. They dropped their packs with the ones deposited earlier by Jennifer and Martha. The group quickly picked up Kariy and headed towards the pool. I saw Albert take a step towards them.
"No Albert, this needs to be a girls-only bathing I think," I shouted. "Steve, one of the packs should have some dice, get them and then drag Eddie and William over. We can throw dice while we wait for the women to finish."
Eddie started when he heard me, but got up and walked over as Steve began digging through the packs. Albert paused, nodded and then walked over to William. There was a furious whispered conversation, and then William stormed off again, this time going around the bushes and heading for the trail.
"There is no more shelter," Hencktor said. "At least not close. The next one is about a half-day's travel at the rate we've been going."
I faced away from the pool. Eddie was standing next to me, but twisting around, trying to look back at the girls. I grabbed the tie he had refused to remove and dropped to the ground, pulling him to his knees. "Eyes front!" I snapped.
Eddie's head whipped around and he glared at me. Steve had finally found the pouch and was walking over to join us as Al and Hencktor knelt down, their backs to the pool.
"I want to look at the girls," Eddie whined. "Why can't I look at the girls?"
"Maybe because we want to show them some respect for being human be
ings rather than objects to drool over," Steve said.
Eddie sniffled. "But I've never seen a woman like that Little girl naked. I have a lot of..." he trailed off.
I reached out and accepted the pouch from Steve. We were kneeling around a small circle of rock where the moss did not grow. It was just concave enough to make a perfect surface to roll dice. Experimentally I shook the pouch, sending four dice to the ground.
The dice danced for a moment before coming to a rest. They looked a bit unusual. Unlike the cubes I expected, they were more like six-sided stars with rounded points at the eight corners. The sides had the same pip sequence running one to six, but the patterns changed. The three pips were arranged in a triangle pattern rather than a diagonal, and the six were in a hexagonal formation. Steve looked them over, picking one up and tossing it into the bowl.
"Interesting. At least they have the right number of dots. So what do we try to play?" he asked.
"Craps? It's the only game I can think of that's easy to learn. And I expect dice are a form of gambling. We might as well practice a version we know," I suggested.
"How do you play?" Hencktor asked.
Al and Eddie looked puzzled. "I've never played craps," Al said.
I looked at Steve, who smirked at me. He picked up two of the dice and started to shake them. I picked up the other two and straightened my back.
"It's not too complex, if we don't get into all the special stuff they use on the tables in Lost Wages," I said. "The lead player rolls two dice."
Steve tossed the dice into the bowl, where they started spinning. I continued. "The first roll is lost instantly if the total number of spots on the dice is two, three or twelve, and won instantly on a seven or eleven."
The dice stopped spinning. One had three pips visible, the other had five. "Eight," Steve said. "So I didn't win or lose. Now I'll pick up the dice and roll them again. My goal now is to roll another eight. If I roll a seven first, I lose and pass the dice to the person to my left. If I get eight, I win, and can continue after taking the pot."
Hencktor shook his head. "We use three dice and the best roll is one each of four, five and six. After that triples and pairs matter, nothing else does."