Tran grabbed his leg this time instead of just blocking it, taking it in an iron grip, intending to end the fight by putting him on the ground.
Fei didn’t dangle like he was supposed to but instead used Tran’s grip like a support to lift his other leg up and around, aiming for the side of Tran’s head. He was forced to let go or suffer getting a heel against his cheek. Swearing, he did, then jumped back to avoid a punch aimed at his gut.
Alright, so, the kid knew more about brawling that he’d thought. He seriously had to stop underestimating him.
Flipping back to his feet, Fei grinned at him. “Thought to catch me?”
Tran snorted. “It would have worked, if you weren’t as agile as a monkey.”
That made the boy laugh briefly. “You’re strong. No one else has been able to hold onto me like that.”
“I doubt anyone could keep up with your speed long enough to catch you, either,” Tran drawled. “Should we stop here? I think we’d have to seriously hurt each other to determine a victor.”
“Siobhan-ajie would not be pleased if we went too far. I have a good understanding of how you fight now. I am satisfied.” Fei gave him a proper bow. “My thanks for the training.”
Tran, not used to bowing, gave a nod instead. “It was a good bout. We can train like this again, I hope.”
“Any morning you wish to,” Fei assured him as he retrieved his sword and put it back on. “For now, breakfast?”
“Sounds fine to me. Ah…I didn’t see anyone in the kitchen cooking?”
“We have a cook that comes in for dinner, but breakfast is up to our own devices. I know of a bakery on this street that offers good rolls.”
That sounded like an invitation to Tran and one he was willing to take the boy up on. “Lead the way.”
Armed, and with jackets on to avoid the morning chill, they walked down the street together. At this hour there was quite a bit of traffic as people went to work and the stores opened. Tran was impressed with the order of the city. Whichever guild ran the place knew how to run a tight ship.
Fei turned into a little out of the way place that smelled like baked heaven. Tran’s mouth watered from the aroma alone. When they stepped inside, there was a counter displaying all sorts of rolls and breads, three tables with benches, and a perky young girl with braids behind the counter. She straightened with a knowing smile at Fei. “Your usual, sir?”
“Four of them,” her regular customer requested. “And two mugs of hot cider.”
“Coming up.”
Fei nodded him toward a table, so Tran sat, arranging his long legs out comfortably to the side. There were not many tables he could put his legs underneath. With them seated, he couldn’t help but indulge his curiosity a little. “Man Fei Lei, I’ve never met someone from your city before. How did you come to be this far south?”
“I left home some years ago and came here with a caravan. Since then, I was guarding, going from place to place, until I met Shiobhan-ajie. She took a liking to me and asked me to join.” Fei spread his hands as if to say that was the entirety of the tale. Tran didn’t believe that for a second. “You, too, are far from home. I have never met one of your people either.”
Hoping to get the boy to open up a little more, Tran responded more frankly. “Among my people, it’s customary to make a decision when you’re fifteen on what you want to do in the future. You choose a career and whether you want to stay in your hometown or not. I chose not to, as I wanted to see more of the world. It took three years of training—mostly in languages—before they deemed me knowledgeable enough to go out on my own. I left seven years ago and haven’t been back since.”
“Hmmm,” Fei hummed with a look of intense interest. “You cannot go back, or choose not to?”
“It’s customary to stay with your choice until you’re roughly thirty years old,” Tran explained patiently. “At that point, you can re-evaluate your choice and decide if you want to do something else instead. So far, I haven’t regretted the choice. I’m not the type to enjoy always staying at home.”
“That is interesting. You say that you had to learn languages…?”
“Trade languages, mostly, although I did have to learn how to read and write as well.”
Fei blinked. “You were not taught growing up?”
“No.” Now that was an interesting reaction. Not all of this world was educated; in fact, the majority of it wasn’t. “You were?”
“Oh yes. My people are firm believers of education.”
“Really? Well, so are mine, but they believe more in the oral tradition. My language has no written form. We rely on memory and recitation to pass along information and history. I was only taught to read and write because my elders were certain that I would be at a severe disadvantage in the other continents otherwise.” It turned out they were right to think that way.
This shocked Fei so much that he looked like a gaping fish. “You pass down whole histories verbally? How are you certain that nothing gets forgotten?”
“We have very strict training on that, to make sure that nothing is lost from one generation to the next.” Tran could see the kid didn’t quite believe him. “Shall I recite a short history for you?”
“Do so, please,” Fei requested, eyes sparking to life. “I am very curious.”
Yes, he could see that. Tran felt like he had just connected to his new guildmate by hitting a hidden switch. Now, the question was, what story to tell? He settled on the creation story of how the four continents came to be and launched into it. The Teherani tradition didn’t just teach the next generation the words of a story, but the nuance, the gestures, the overall feel of it as well. Everything he said, did, even the way he said it was an exact replica of how his master had taught it to him.
Fei sat spellbound, hanging onto every word. It took a moment for Tran to realize that the little girl that worked there was equally spellbound and stood frozen three feet from their table, a tray of their breakfast in hand. Tran finished with a (slightly) more flourished ending than usual and grinned at them.
“I have never heard the creation story told in such a manner.” Fei’s hand twitched, as if hungering for pen and paper. “Everyone in your country can do this? Recite it like that?”
“Exactly like that. The tone, the gestures, all of it is taught and is part of the story. So, you see, we cannot lose anything when it’s passed down to the next generation.”
“Remarkable.” Fei leaned back in his chair and then looked around, blinking, as if suddenly realizing that he was still lacking his breakfast.
Their waitress realized the same thing in the same moment and scurried over, quickly putting their plates and mugs down before drifting back behind the counter.
Tran was hungry after the training of this morning and he took a generous bite into the roll, finding it filled with meats, cheeses, and vegetables in a gooey and wonderful concoction. Mouth happy, he consumed the rest in four bites and went for the second roll.
Fei watched this play out and remarked, “I think you have the appetite of Wolf-ren. I did not order enough.” Turning his head, he requested, “Four more, please.”
Not remotely full, Tran appreciated the additional order and restrained himself from grabbing the other man’s share. “Tell me how escorting jobs work in this guild.”
“It is simple, really. We depend on Grae-ren’s pathmaking skills to take on jobs. This job is a caravan that is going to Vellshire, in the southern part of Robarge. The size of the caravan is quite large, so we likely will need to split it into two or three parts in order to take it on path.”
This wasn’t unexpected and something that Tran had experienced many times before. Even the most advanced path had limits and couldn’t take a fully loaded caravan all at once. It was common to break it up into smaller groups and take a section at a time. “How many groups?”
“Grae-ren calculated it to be three. It is part of the reason why Siobhan-ajie is so pleased that you came when you did.
This job would be difficult with only two enforcers.”
Two enforcers and two beautiful women in the guild with three sections of a caravan to guard all at once? Tran could see why it would be a problem. Not that he didn’t doubt Siobhan was able to protect herself, not with those twin swords on her back. But he also clearly saw from the interactions last night at dinner that Wolf didn’t let the woman out of his sight for long. There was a very strong, almost overprotective, bond between those two. “I can see why. Man Fei Lei, tell me honestly, who needs the most protection?”
“Sylvie-jae and Grae-ren,” he responded promptly, mouth kicked up on one side. “For different reasons. Sylvie-jae, as you’ve experienced for yourself, is too beautiful and attracts the wrong types of men. Did anyone explain to you that she is our trader?”
“No, actually, I didn’t catch that part.”
“She has not been with us for long but we have made several excellent deals because of her skills. Tomorrow’s job is one of them. But it is not wise to let her out of sight for long. Please mind this.”
“I’ll keep an eye on her. Why Grae?”
“Grae-ren is extremely absentminded when he is thinking.” Fei’s eyes rolled up in a clear prayer for patience. “And the man is always thinking. He attracts pickpockets like a carcass would flies. Here, in Goldschmidt, we do not have much trouble. Wolf-ren’s reputation is such that most do not care to cross anyone in Deepwoods. Our trouble comes about because of visitors to the city, not the residents.”
Meaning the four fools that had attacked Sylvie were newcomers to the place or people passing through? That did make sense. “But outside of Goldschmidt, he attracts trouble, I take it.”
“Indeed. Please keep an eye out for him as well. Beirly-ren and Siobhan-ajie can handle themselves well in a fight as long as they are not unduly outnumbered.”
“Understood.” Tran flashed a smile at the girl as she set down four more rolls and he promptly picked one up.
Fei opened his mouth as if to say something, only to visibly change his mind before speaking. “Wolf-ren is fighting a nasty head cold at the moment. I am trying to take on the harder tasks so that he does not overdo and grow worse.”
Granted, he’d seen the man cough last night, but… “He can fight like that while sick?”
“Imagine what he’s like well.”
It made a shiver of anticipation go up his spine. “Does he like to spar?”
“You have to spar with weapons when going up against Wolf-ren,” Fei warned seriously. “That iron hand of his is a weapon in and of itself. I nearly broke an arm trying to spar with him hand-to-hand.”
That was a very good point. “He nearly broke my jaw with it.” In fact, the bruise still ached if Tran’s mouth opened up too wide. “How did he lose the hand to begin with?”
“The Teherani and the Wynngaardians have something in common: they both enjoy a story well told.”
In other words, ask the man himself if he wanted to know. Right. Tran pushed aside his curiosity and reached for another roll. “Anything else I should know?”
Fei shook his head. “The way we are going is a familiar one to us, a route well-traveled. Grae-ren checked the path on the way back three months ago, so we do not anticipate problems. Just keep an eye out for the safety of the guild and we should be fine.”
Chapter Three
His new guildmaster was a woman that believed in getting up early. Tran barely had his eyes open and clothes on when she gave a quick rap at his door and called through, “Hope you’re up!”
“I am, Siobhan-maee.”
“Good. We’ve got breakfast waiting downstairs.”
Was that the typical routine, to have breakfast prepared on the day of departure, instead of everyone being in charge of their own? Tran slotted his feet into new boots—courtesy of his new guildmaster—grabbed his pack, and headed downstairs.
Everyone was up, gathered around a table, although only a few were sitting. Tran recognized a variety of breakfast rolls, likely from Fei’s favorite bakery, and people were consuming them with gusto. Siobhan spotted him and handed him a plate and mug of steaming tea that smelled good if unfamiliar. “Good morning.”
“Good morning,” he returned. “The caravan?”
“We’ll meet them at South Gate.” She continued without prompting: “They came in from Stott, and I believe camped just outside East Gate last night. By the time we get out there, they’ll be ready to move out. Now, Fei mentioned that he told you the breakdown. Grae confirmed it this morning that we’ll have to split into three groups. We’ll travel to Turton and stay there overnight.”
Tran brought up a mental map of the world and frowned. “We can’t go directly to Vellshire?”
“Ohhh, I’m impressed, you know your geography. You’re right, the cities are more or less in a straight line, but there’s a hiccup. First, no path is strong enough to go that whole distance, not with the weight we’re taking.”
Grae, who was standing right behind her, swallowed what was in his mouth to add, “And there’s water in between the cities. It’s a small enough river to not show up on a world map, but large enough that it takes a ferry to cross over into Kalvaar Woods. By the time that we have taken all three parts of the caravan to Turton, then ferried over to Kalvaar Woods, we’ll have lost all daylight. Safer to stay in Turton overnight.”
The logistics now made sense. Tran roved his eyes over the group as a whole. Fei looked as bright eyed and bushy tailed as he had yesterday, Beirly was munching through breakfast methodically while fixing a buckle at the table, Siobhan and Grae both were eating in a hurry as if they wanted to get out the door quickly, Sylvie was jotting down something on a pad of paper, breakfast half-ignored at her elbow, and Wolf…uh-oh. Fei had mentioned yesterday that Wolf had caught something and whatever it was had definitely gotten worse overnight. The man was almost visibly swaying on his feet, face unnaturally flushed.
Siobhan must have noticed his stare as she leaned in and whispered, “He’s not doing at all well this morning. He went and got medicine yesterday but it hasn’t done much good. Tran, I hate to ask this, but try to take up his slack. I can’t afford to leave him home on this trip, we’re barely making do with the hands we have, and he wouldn’t stay even if I tried to strong arm him into it anyway.”
No, with what little Tran knew of the man’s protective nature, he wouldn’t. “I’ll try, Siobhan-maee.”
“Thank you.” Raising her voice, she said to the lot of them, “Eat quickly. Grae and I are going ahead to start organizing them.”
Wolf was instantly on his feet. “I’m ready.”
Siobhan pointed a stern finger at him. “You finish breakfast. Fei’s done eating, he’ll come with us.”
Fei didn’t take any umbrage at this abrupt command, only gave Wolf a reassuring look before taking up his pack and sword, following his guildmates out the door.
Judging that he had maybe a minute before Wolf would take off in pursuit, Tran finished off his roll, tea, and grabbed another roll before taking up his pack.
Everyone else seemed to be of the same mind, as they all finished their breakfasts quickly and shouldered their gear before heading out the door. Beirly turned and locked the door soundly behind them. As Tran barely knew the layout of the city, he fell into step beside Sylvie, who confidently led them out. Besides, with her near him, he could keep an eye on her.
“Sylvie-maee, it comes to me that I might need a signal with you.” He had been thinking about this ever since his talk with Fei over breakfast and that was the conclusion he’d reached.
“A signal?” she repeated, glancing up at him. “Why?”
“I’d rather not wait for things to escalate to the point where a fight breaks out. Not while we’re traveling like this. But with you, it’s hard to tell if the men are just flirting, or if they’re putting unwanted pressure on you. If you can give me a signal that you want a rescue, before things get out of hand, that would be best.”
> “Like a secret code?” She gained a sparkle in her eyes, excited by the idea like a five year old would be.
He hadn’t quite meant it that way, but…his mischievous side fired at her excitement. “Sure. Why not?”
“You do scare lesser beings just by standing there and breathing. I should take advantage of that, somehow.” She fell to thinking, lips pursed.
Tran saw part of the problem in that moment. He knew, without a doubt, that there wasn’t an ounce of anything sensual in Sylvie’s mind at that moment. She was contemplating something, and that was all. But with that particular expression on her face, it looked like she was doing sultry teasing. Fei was right. She really could turn a corner and find trouble with men. Her looks alone guaranteed it.
“Let’s have degrees,” she finally declared. “Something that says I just need your help, and something else that says I think I’m in trouble and to come now.”
Smart. “It would help me, yes. What shall it be for the first level?”
“I think I’ll just call your name.”
“Simple and effective. I like it. For the second level?”
Sylvie gave him an outrageous grin. “I call for my husband.”
Startled, he choked on a laugh. “Husband? Really?”
“Think about it,” she urged, nearly giggling. “Would you want to tangle with another man’s wife, especially if he looked as big and strong as you?”
She made a very good point. “I take it I need to loom over them and look jealous and possessive.”
Putting a coy hand to her heart, she fluttered her eyelashes at him. “Only if you want to.”
What a conniving woman. Tran strangely liked her because of it. “Jealous husband it is. If I put an arm around your shoulders, it’s play acting, but it’s also to get you away from them. So play along, alright?”
Origins: A Deepwoods Book - a Collection of Deepwoods Short Stories (Deepwoods Series 0) Page 19