“Oh?” Interested, Conli didn’t let up on Denney’s foot, but did look toward him. “Is this a skill from your hometown?”
“Indeed. If I may…?” gesturing toward her foot, Fei looked to both Conli and Denney for permission. When it was granted with silent nods, only then did he move, dislodging Conli to the side as a watcher.
He did not continue the uncomfortable position, but instead relaxed her foot and then reached around with his thumb and pressed it squarely in the middle of the calf muscle. Fortunately, he started off with gentle pressure, then steadily increased it. “If you press here,” he explained as he worked, “you counteract the spasm so that it comes back into a relaxed state. It also helps if you press here,” he moved his other hand to the top of the foot, settling his first two fingers in the hollow indentation between the big toe and the second one, “as this is a known antispasmodic point. If you press here, you must maintain the pressure until the cramp resolves.”
Conli stood long enough to move to Denney’s other side, stripped off her sock, and then mimicked what the man was doing. “Here, and here?”
“Precisely so. After the muscle has stopped cramping, then it is good to bend the foot backwards, toes toward her leg, to increase circulation for a few minutes.” Glancing up at her, Fei scolded, “You are not drinking enough.”
Exasperated, she replied, “Yes, that just became clear, thank you.”
He found this funny, as his eyes lifted in a smile, nearly disappearing into his face.
As soon as the cramp came, it left, which surprised her. Most of the time when her muscles cramped like this, it would take several minutes before it eased. At least.
Not that her impromptu aide would let go of her. Instead, he bent her foot as he’d described earlier, toes toward her shin, and held it there for several minutes. Only then was he satisfied enough to let go of her.
At this hour of the morning, most people were just rising, and they took in the scene of two men bending over and holding her legs with nothing more than a curious glance and yawn. Siobhan took the puppies in charge for a morning walk before breakfast, just going a short distance away as they attended to the calls of nature. Denney was grateful for the silent support, as normally she did that herself.
“How did you learn about this?” Conli asked, finally letting his victim go.
“It is standard training in my home. We grow up learning about acupuncture points, how chakra flows—”
“Chakra?”
Fei opened his mouth, paused, frowned, then offered, “Think of it as the natural energy of the body.”
Conli developed that look of intense interest that he normally wore when he had stumbled across something medical he didn’t know. “You remember all of this still?”
“Of course. As we walk today, we can discuss it.”
“I would be delighted to.” Conli meant every word.
Gaining his feet in a graceful rocking motion, Fei leaned over and offered her a hand up. It was the first time that Denney could remember, accepting the touch of another man, and not finding it nerve-wracking. Was it because he had just been in physical contact with her for several minutes? She grasped his hand, felt the strength in which he easily pulled her to her feet, and looked up into those almond shaped eyes. There was nothing in them but kindness and intelligence. He was, in fact, a dark-haired version of Conli in many ways.
Thinking of him as such, a smile came easily to her face. “Thank you.”
“You are very welcome. Now, for breakfast, you are required to drink two glasses of water.”
“At once?” she objected. That would be rather difficult.
“Guzzle them,” he ordered, tone dry. “But drink.”
“You’re too dehydrated, you need at least two,” Conli agreed.
Clearly this was not an argument she would win.
ӜӜӜ
“The two of you need to learn how to defend yourselves better.”
Denney blinked, this comment coming out of the blue, and looked at Siobhan. “I’m sorry?”
“It’s really bothering my enforcers,” she continued, as if Denney were already on the same page, “that you and Conli don’t seem to know how to defend yourselves very well. Your reaction outside of the baths especially has them worried. They keep talking about it when they think you’re out of earshot.”
Were they really? Denney felt very conflicted about this information. She felt somewhat happy that the men were worried about her safety, but also confused by what they expected her to do. “I’m not a fighter.”
“Denney.” Siobhan put a hand on her shoulder, leaning down to look more directly in the eye. “Grae isn’t a fighter. Sylvie isn’t a fighter. But if someone came at them, you can bet your britches that they’d put up a whale of a fight. They’ve got good odds of getting away, too. What you lack, I think, is the know-how of how to get free of a man if he corners you.”
Well that too. Denney honestly couldn’t think of herself as a fighter, though. If someone came at her, even if she knew that she was going to be hurt, she probably couldn’t bring herself to harm them.
Siobhan got this look on her face, as if she were reading the back of Denney’s skull. Whatever it was that she saw, it made her screw her mouth up to the side and nod to herself decisively. “Fei, I think.”
“I’m sorry?”
“Fei should teach you.” Siobhan didn’t have to shout very loud, as the man she wanted was peeling potatoes and preparing dinner. “Fei. Come teach Denney and Conli how to fight.”
Fei perked up immediately. “May I?”
“I’ll take over dinner,” Siobhan stated, already striding in his direction. “This is more important. What were you planning to make?”
“Hot mash.”
“Oh, a favorite. Alright, I’ll do that. You go teach them. I don’t want my friends as victims.”
As Fei moved, he gathered Conli with a touch to his shoulder and a wave. Curious, the surgeon put his bedroll down, half-unrolled, and followed to a flat spot a stone’s throw from the camp.
“What are we doing, exactly?” Conli inquired.
“You are a man of medical knowledge,” Fei stated factually. “You will use your knowledge to fight. Denney-gui, you are a woman incapable of hurting others. For now, I will teach you how to hit a man so that he is stunned and you can run for help.”
Denney’s mouth parted in growing interest. “Can I do that?”
“Of a certainty, you can. There are many pressure points on a man’s body where, with the right pressure, he will fold. First, we start with simple things, ways for you to wrest free of a man’s grasp.”
What followed had to be one of the most interesting lessons Denney had ever had the pleasure of receiving. Fei patiently taught both of them how to break a man’s hold, how to grab someone from behind and flip them over the shoulder, where to kick on the shins to temporarily cripple them. Denney mimicked him as closely as possible, trying to engrave this knowledge into her muscles. Fighting, no, she was no good at that. But temporarily hurting someone in order to run? That she could do.
Conli learned the same things, but also others, things that he seemed to grasp more readily than she did. But then, Fei seemed to know what it was that her uncle was already comfortable with. Talking about pressure points and chakra and all of that for a full day likely had something to do with it.
She repeated the techniques again, several times, until she could move at full speed and still do it accurately. Not that it meant she could really escape Fei, of course. He was still faster than she was. But it still bolstered her courage a little that she now could at least try to run and have some chance of succeeding. Assuming that her opponents weren’t much stronger and larger than she was.
Perhaps her teacher sensed this stray thought. He studied her for a full moment before turning and calling, “Tran-ren, a moment.”
“Oh, am I playing attacker?” Easy-going about this, he came over, grinning.
“Observe us, side by side,” Fei encouraged the two of them. “Do you see how much disparity there is? I look like a child standing next to him.”
“You are,” Tran drawled, only to lose his breath a second later when Fei slammed a hand into his sternum. He got his wind back quickly enough, chuckling. “I always get a rise out of him when I say that.”
Fei cleared his throat, looking above this. “You are only six years my senior, Tran-ren. We will discuss this later. At length.”
Tran’s grin became feral. “Looking forward to it.”
Denney, watching the two, was reminded of bandy roosters in the same hen yard. Did they quarrel with each other just for the fun of fighting? Even the intellectual Fei seemed prone to doing so.
“Move at half speed,” Fei instructed. “Tran-ren, grab her.”
It might have been half speed for Tran, but it felt like full speed to her, as he reached out and grabbed her by the collar with both hands. Seeing a giant of a man, a Teheranian, looming over her struck a dark spot in her mind and Denney froze, fear shaking her.
“Denney, don’t—” Conli consoled, moving toward her.
Fei stepped into his path, thwarting this, and instead slapped a hand hard between her shoulder blades. “Do not freeze. Move.”
The pain of it sent adrenaline through her system and it shook her out of her dazed fear. It also helped that Tran was still standing, just standing, and waiting for her to react. Hands still shaking, breath coming out in short gasps, she tried to remember what she had been taught. It took a full second, but she remembered, and threaded her arms through his hands before grasping her hands together in a large fist and yanking hard toward the right.
Tran’s hands sprang free and he nodded approval to her. “Well done. You hit exactly where you should. Remember, always, to do it just like that. If you don’t get a hand behind the elbow, it’s only half as effective.”
Denney stared down at her own hands. That had…worked? “You were going along with me.” He must have been. It didn’t make sense otherwise—he was so much stronger than she was.
“Of course I did,” Tran agreed easily. “I didn’t want my elbow to get broken.”
Wait, what? “No, I mean—”
“I know what you mean,” Tran interrupted, chiding her gently. “But it doesn’t matter how big your opponent is, or how strong. You do that, and he refuses to let go, and it will break his elbow. Why do you think Shi-maee had Fei teach you? It’s because his techniques were designed so that the smaller, weaker person could beat a stronger opponent.”
“In terms of brute strength, both Wolf-ren and Tran-ren are stronger than I am,” Fei informed them both. “But in terms of fighting force, I am their equal. I, too, use the techniques that I have just taught you on opponents. They are the simplest way to put space between us so that I have room to fight.”
Uninvited, Wolfinsky ambled over. “I’m going to be the real test here. Miss Denney, I’m thinking that it was Teheranians and Wynngaardians that gave you the most trouble? Yes, thought so. I’m going to attack you in a moment. This time, don’t let your fear freeze you up. Fight through it, fight me, and put me to the ground.”
Could she do that? Denney knew this man’s history. He was an enforcer in a dark guild, he wore a weapon on his right hand at all times, and he was the person that no one casually took on as an opponent. A part of her really, truly, wanted to run away from this whole situation.
Wolfinsky wasn’t giving her that option. He took a giant step forward and reached for her shirt. Denney kicked herself into motion and rolled forward, ducking low, low enough that it wasn’t comfortable for him to reach her.
“Good, good!” Fei encouraged.
Spinning on her toes, she reached up, grabbed Wolfinsky’s left arm, and then put a flat palm on his upper arm. Standing tall, she took a step forward, leaning her weight into it as much as she could.
“Whoa,” Wolfinsky exclaimed, slamming toward his knees. “Ow, owowowowow.”
“Not that much force,” Fei corrected, pulling her gently back. “Remember, you can break his elbow, or dislocate his arm, if you put too much force into this.”
“E-even with him?” she spluttered, amazed.
“Anyone, Denney-gui, with anyone.”
Denney stared down at this giant of a man that she had literally forced to his knees. She had never seen anyone larger than Wolfinsky. Had never actually seen a man his size until meeting Deepwoods. If she could subdue him, then….
“Can I get up now?” Wolfinsky asked plaintively.
He really was waiting for her to let go of him. Was this what confidence felt like? Denney felt like she could fight off a dozen Wolfinskys in that moment.
“Come on, Denney, let him up,” Conli urged. He was only half-serious, as he was enjoying seeing the sight as much as she was. “I want to try.”
“What am I?” Wolfinsky muttered toward the ground. “A toy?”
“A very fun one,” she surprised herself by saying. Then, giggling, she let go.
“I heard that giggle,” he informed the world at large as he regained his feet. “Fei, you’ve created a monster. If she goes around after this knocking men to their knees, then I want it understood, I had nothing to do with this.”
She’d do no such thing. But she could if she wanted to. It was that knowledge that made all the difference.
Chapter Six
“SANDSTORM!”
Denney barely registered the warning before Wolf grabbed her around the waist and hauled her bodily into the cart. She scrambled to get her legs under her, and was barely able to move closer to the interior before Siobhan and Sylvie both hopped inside. Denney tried to squeeze further into a corner but was thwarted by two different boxes and a large jar of water that dug into her back.
In a minute flat, the entire guild was in the cart, the last being Beirly as he pulled the thick tarps over their heads and tied them shut. Each person took care of the straps directly over their heads, tying them as tightly as possible to keep the sand out. Tran coaxed the head of Kit the reinmal through a specially made slit in the tarp and kept a hold of Kit’s head with the halter. Denney’s first priority was getting Peter and Pyper into the wooden crate with the protective wrap around it. Only when they were securely settled in did she breathe easily.
“Goggles and masks on, everyone,” Siobhan ordered, already reaching for the bag and handing them out. “Whoever is done first, help your neighbor.”
Denney accepted the goggles and mask handed to her, recognizing that Siobhan had handed her the very set she’d bought in Vellshire, and put the goggles on without a problem. The mask, however, tied in the back of the head and she struggled with it as she kept getting strands of hair caught into the knot.
Without a word, Beirly reached over and took it from her hands, smoothed down her hair with a flat palm, then tied it securely. She bent her head to give him better access, feeling a little awkward this close to the man, but grateful for his quick actions.
Worried about Kit, she looked over and found that while she wasn’t looking, Tran had put a protective gauze around the reinmal’s head, covering him completely from ears to nose. With that on, there was no way any sand could penetrate and cause the animal problems. Relieved, she sank back and shifted as people stretched out legs and tried to get comfortable.
“Are we all set?” Siobhan couldn’t really shift much in this narrow space crammed with people, but she did try and see everyone for herself. “Yes? Good. Beirly, Fei, check our guests’ masks and goggles to make sure they’re secure enough.”
“They are, Shi,” Beirly assured her.
“Good, good.” It was hard to see any expression under the goggles and mask, but Siobhan was clearly disgruntled judging by her tone. “Well, we made it five whole days before one hit. That’s something of a record for us.”
“Have we ever made it entirely across to Goodliffe without getting caught by a sandstorm?” Sylvie wondered.
&
nbsp; “Not once,” Grae grumbled. “Although we came very close to it before you joined us. I think we were literally four hours away from the city before we got caught by the edge of the storm.”
“That was particularly annoying,” Beirly reminisced, although he sounded like he was amused at the memory. “Dratted thing lasted all day, remember that? So there we were, almost in sight of the city, and forced to camp outside in a sandstorm instead.”
“I remember being hungry all that night,” Siobhan half-groaned, half-laughed. “No one dared take their masks off in order to eat. So many stomachs were growling, it sounded like a chorus of ghouls.”
“Is it really that dangerous, to leave your mouth unprotected?” Conli levered himself up with his legs long enough to scoot more to the right, gesturing for Denney to get comfortable and branch out a little from her corner.
“Very dangerous,” Tran answered somberly. “The sand can be tiny, so small the naked eye cannot see it, and it will pour through any opening, mouth or nose. We had stories in my home village of people that had suffocated because they walked through a sandstorm without protection on. Without goggles, the eyes can be torn to shreds by the sand as well. It’s why I insisted you have all these things.”
They felt and heard it when the storm actually hit. It felt almost suffocating, the air harsher and drier than it had before. Kit’s head jerked a little, eyes rolling. The puppies started whining too, uneasy and not at all happy to be in the box away from their people.
“Easy, Kit, easy,” Tran crooned. “You’d think that with as many sandstorms as you’ve been through, you wouldn’t react to them anymore.”
The reinmal rolled his eyes again, shifting, head jerking a little harder on the halter as if he were fighting the urge to run.
Denney recognized the signs well enough and knew that in a minute, perhaps less, Kit would do his best to bolt. This was not good, not at all. She leaned over Beirly without a second of hesitation and grabbed Kit’s halter to balance herself. Then she reached underneath and found a particularly sensitive spot between jaw and neck and gave it a good scratch.
Origins: A Deepwoods Book - a Collection of Deepwoods Short Stories (Deepwoods Series 0) Page 28