Teltar chimed in, “I thought you said you were a legend…”
Jerak perked his head up, “Er… yes I am! I mean um…” For the first time I saw Teltar crack a smile.
The scenery finally changed. Instead of dry hills and sand, we had a small mountain range to the east and some trees out toward the west. I was almost embarrassed to realize that I hadn’t bathed since I came to this world. I smelled rather ripe. “Hey Jerak, um Felmun has a bathhouse right?” I asked.
Jerak turned his head toward me, “Every town has at least one… why?”
I sighed, “I think I’ve reached my limit on how long I can go without bathing.”
Jerak laughed, “Yeah, you do reek, my friend.”
Teltar added, “You smell worse.”
Jerak snapped back, “Hey! You don’t smell so good yourself!” Teltar just shrugged and didn’t seem to care to argue about it.
Night fell and I, once again, read the stupid little story to myself to the point that I was not sure if I was becoming more literate or had just memorized the story. Afterward, I checked the “travel funds” and tried to figure how much we would have if we made a trip to the bathhouse and spent a night at the inn. Jerak packed plenty of food, but it would be nice to get a warm meal for a change. It was basically futile since I had no clue how much this and that cost. I let out a big yawn and decided it was a sign that I needed to get some sleep.
The next morning, Jerak told us that he had seen two choguls checking by, but he chased them off. I was too sleepy to even care.I grabbed my toothbrush and started to pack up for the day. I had developed a habit of chewing on my toothbrush as we wandered, but I had to resist doing that as my new teeth were already wearing down the bristles on the brush.
We reached another fork in the road. South led toward Felmun, but the eastern road led toward a city called Torclyn. Before I could ask about that area, Jerak had already begun to explain it to me, “Torclyn is a port city that does most of the trading from the Lyonus Empire. We should check out that city someday… there are some attractive women there!”
I chuckled then caught his scent down wind, “Sounds good, but I think we might scare the women off with our foul odor.”
Jerak laughed, “Speak for yourself! Women find my scent rugged and alluring!” Teltar snorted but didn’t utter a word. I just rolled my eyes and kept walking.
I started to think about women again. My luck with girls back at home was really bad, but I might have some hope in this world. Besides my current smell, I didn’t think I was a bad catch. The fact that I was not from this world might make things weird. Then the fact I have several sharp teeth would make things really weird, too… my hope just died right there. It would be hard to explain all of that to a girl I liked without having her think I am some major freak.
I pondered about it for most of the day. Eventually, I decided to bug the guys about it. I thought of asking Jerak directly, but I had seen how bad he was with women so I let Teltar in on the conversation. “Hey, um… how are the girls in Felmun?” I asked.
Jerak grinned, “Oh, you will love it! Last time I visited Felmun, there were many beauties who long for adventurers like us!”
I shrugged, “I am a bit worried that the fact I am… well, not normal would make things hard for me.”
Teltar scratched his head, “Hmm, that would be troublesome.”
Jerak laughed, “Who knows?! You might find a girl that is into strange things like that… er, not saying that you are strange or anything… well, you know what I mean!” I just exhaled a long, drawn out sigh and walked ahead.
The road met with another road that ran northeast of us. Both roads merged into one and followed a good-sized river. Shortly after that, we saw a ton of farming communities and a few stray travelers. I nearly felt excited as we saw the lights of the city of Felmun.
This city looked a lot like Halatross. The first thing we did was travel through the lower class area of town where the buildings were closely clustered together with fairly narrow alleys. Teltar led us toward a small inn that didn’t seem to offer much of anything except a cheap rate. We paid for a room and dropped our packs off on our cots. The place didn’t even have beds but, because of the cost, I didn’t mind.
“Hey, you want to find a bath house, right?” Jerak asked.
I nodded, “Yeah, it would be good to clean up.”
Jerak chuckled, “I know of one where the dividing walls are low.” Teltar shook his head. Jerak nudged me with his elbow, “If we are lucky we might spot a few lovely ladies in all their glory.” I chuckled but just shrugged.
Teltar sat on his cot, “Don’t get in trouble, you two.” Jerak and I both shrugged and ran off.
We walked several blocks before Jerak found the bath house that he remembered. Several older looking men walked out which was good, because I really didn’t want to see that sort of display. Heck, I would prefer just to be by myself but I guess that privelege is reserved for those that own a tub at their own home.
Jerak paid the woman at the counter, and she gave us two large towels and a brown bar of soap. The soap wasn’t like anything I normally saw at home but more of a rough looking bar-rough enough to remove a layer of skin if you were not careful. Jerak and I went to the men’s changing room and dumped our clothing and stuff in a wooden drawer and walked toward the big bath.
In high school gym, we never really did the public bath thing so I was not used to seeing this sort of thing. There was a good deal of steam which helped keep things non-visible, but I still walked with my hands covering myself. I slowly walked into the warm water and wandered to a quiet spot while Jerak just jumped right in. There were a few other bather who didn’t seem happy about Jerak’s stunt. I lowered my body until just my head was sticking out of the water. I closed my eyes and relaxed.
“Dang! They extended the wall!” Jerak whined. He got up and tried to reach the top of it. I heard a few chuckles. I just grabbed the bar of soap and scrubbed. I could hear Jerak making a running jump followed by the sound of him knocking some stuff over which resulted in some laughter. I was too comfortable to even care at this point.
I felt so revitalized after the bath. Jerak, on the other hand, managed to climb to the top of the wall. The top part of the wall was wood and broke from his weight. Long story short, he was banned from the bathhouse and got a black eye. We walked back outside to make our way back to the inn. The night sky was hovering over us and the only light was from lanterns that were lit along the streets. “I am not surprised that you got banned from that place. Sucks about that black eye though…” I mentioned to him.
Jerak touched the area by his eye and cringed a little, “I am not worried, they will forget who I am by the time I come back here.” From his tone I could only assume that it wasn’t the first time he had been banned from that place… nor his first black eye.
We went back to our room and Teltar was already snoring loudly. I was looking forward to a full night sleep and not having to sleep on the ground. “So what is the plan tomorrow?” I asked while making my bed.
Jerak laid on his cot with his arms behind his head, “I don’t know, but we should find a job.”
I leaned my head back and sighed, “I thought we had plenty to reach Vunash.”
Jerak shrugged and spoke in a guilty tone, “Well, I had to pay for the damages…” I closed my eyes. I should have known Jerak would have pay for breaking the wall.
I woke up to find that Teltar wasn’t around. Jerak was still asleep, so no point in waking him. I wondered where Teltar had run off to. His stuff was still there so he must have been running some errand or whatever. No sense in worrying about it. Teltar was a bit strange but he wasn’t an idiot. At least he wouldn’t return with a repair bill. I just quietly went back to sleep.
Jerak woke me up a while later, “Hey, Teltar is missing.”
I opened an eye, “Eh? His stuff is still here. Don’t worry about it.”
Jerak had a dumb look on his
face, “Oh yeah, his stuff is here.”
I closed my eyes again. “Hey we should go see if we can find a job.”
I turned to my side, “Hey, you’re the one that broke the fence, you can go look for work.”
Jerak sighed, “Hey, who helped you when you were injured?” I sighed, he had a point. I was hoping to sleep in some more though…
We wandered out of the inn and took one good look at the outside world. There were already people out starting their days. I let out one big yawn, “So where is the employment office?”
Jerak looked around and shrugged, “I forgot…”
I lowered my head, “Should we ask for directions?”
Jerak laughed, “Don’t be stupid! I’ll figure it out!” He did his heroic pose and moved up the street. I sighed and followed.
A few hours had passed and we had managed to explore from one side to the other without finding the employment office. We did, however, run into Teltar. I waved at him. He paused and waved then kept walking. I jogged toward him, “Hey what are you up to?”
Teltar looked at me, “Oh, I was visiting the dwarf guild.”
I lifted an eyebrow, “Dwarf guild?”
Teltar nodded, “I had to send a letter to someone there.” I could only assume it was about the event at the lumber camp.
I glanced over toward Jerak, who was speaking to a girl. It didn’t take long until she slapped him across the face. What on earth does he say to these girls? “I am going to take a nap,” Teltar muttered as he started to walk again.
I shrugged, “Alright, um I guess we are leaving tomorrow right?”
Teltar nodded, “Yeah…” I took a deep breath and glanced at the both of them. One couldn’t seem to avoid trouble and the other kepts everything a mystery until you dragged it out of him. I missed sane people.
“Man, that girl sure has some fire in her!” Jerak said cheerfully. He has a bright red hand print on his face.
“Jerak, what do you say to these girls that makes them want to smack you?” I finally asked.
Jerak grinned, “Oh, it is just a build-up process. Get them all riled up and see who has the right amount of spunk…”
I lowered my head, “I don’t think getting a girl to slap you is a good thing.”
Jerak laughed, “You have much to learn!” I cringed after hearing that. For a moment I tapped into his thought process on the subject and felt like my brain had to shut down for a moment to protect itself from sheer stupidity.
We finally found the employment office, but to find a job that would allow for us to goto Vunash within the next few days, our options were limited. Jerak was disappointed that our best choice was to deliver a sack of sealed forms to Vunash. I wasn’t sure what they were for, but it wasn’t my business. I just knew they needed to reach some office in Vunash within a few days. We were given written instructions and directions to reach the place in Vunash. Unfortunately, we would not get paid until the job was done. That still didn’t stop Jerak’s plans to celebrate.
“Wait, we are low on funds” I protest.
Jerak laughed,, “Nonsense! We have enough money now to reach Vunash and we will get more when we get there. So why not enjoy ourselves a little before we hit the road in the morning?” I knew arguing about it would be futile considering how motivated he was now.
We went back to the inn to drop off the package and to invite Teltar to celebrate. I personally would rather just relax a bit, but someone needed to keep an eye on Jerak in case he did something stupid. I let out one huge sigh and followed him. “Come! I know a good place for adventurers like us!” he exclaimed.
The place he was so excited to visit was a shabby looking tavern in a lower class looking part of town. Jerak took out some of his money and smiled, “Hey, this will be on me!” I would have thought he spent all of his money already with the bath house incident. He walked into the tavern. I just gave him a dirty look for spending the travel fund instead of his own money when he broke that wall. A few moments passed and I gave up and walked inside.
Jerak was already ordering a drink. The place looked a bit seedy. It wasn’t even evening yet, and there were already a good deal of people drinking and acting rowdy. Jerak grabbed his pint so eagerly that some foam spilled over. “Hey, go have some fun!” Jerak said cheerfully as he started to chug down his drink. I never saw the appeal of it all. Besides, someone needed to have a clear head to keep the other out of trouble. I sat down by the bar and prepared to babysit Jerak.
The barkeep asked what I wanted, but I just declined. He didn’t seem to care to ask why and moved on to the next customer. Jerak came back to the bar with his now empty pint and requested a second. I figured he was going to drink himself retarded, but at least he was spending his own money. Jerak was already feeling a bit buzzed and slapped me on the back, “Hey why are you not getting anything?”
I looked at him, “No thanks, you can have fun.” Jerak was about to say something but his second pint was in front of him and he was already reaching for it.
A few minutes had passed and I could hear Jerak wandering around the tavern talking a bit loudly. At least he is a happy drunk. I knew it was going to be a pain in the butt to get him back to the inn. I was not looking forward to that. There were a few people here that looked like they would be scary to meet at night, but it seemed mostly everyone was in good spirits.
Jerak started to tell random people about how he tried to climb over the dividing wall at the bath house. It was an amusing story, and those who were listening appeared to be enjoying it. He pointed to his black eye and started to laugh. I chuckled a little to myself and rested my elbow on the bar. I laid my head on my fist and just hoped Jerak would have his fill soon so we could make the journey back to the inn.
Several more minutes had passed. Jerak was still goofing off. I eventually got a wooden cup of water that I had been nursing for a while. I was not really thirsty but just felt a little out of place without some kind of beverage in front of me. I was so bored. Everything was too loud and a little too chaotic to be able to really plan about things. I started to daydream about how I was supposed to get rest of that dragon armor before someone sat to the left of me at the bar.
All I saw was a very large dark figure. Everything about him appeared to be loud. I was feeling too lazy to turn my head and look and went back to my daydream. I wondered if Bolam really knew where the other pieces of the armor were. He should since he was big with the research of strange relics like that. “I’ll take a pint!” a loud booming voice spoke from my left. It sounded familiar, but I was not sure. I turned my head to see who it was. My jaw dropped as I discovered who was sitting next to me. It was the one person I wished never to encounter again… Torkuhl!
Chapter 7
Oh, crap!… goosebumps covered my body. That big, angry minotaur was sitting right next to me. I held my breath and slowly climbed off my stool. I didn’t want to make any sudden movements to attract his attention. I think his new eye patch was the only thing that kept him from noticing me.
I finally started to step away from the minotaur. So far, so good! Torkuhl was freaking huge even when sitting. Okay, calm down, I told myself. I just needed to just casually walk out of the bar and he wouldn’t even know I was there. The only problem was Jerak. I cringed remembering that my drunken friend was still around. This would be a challenge.
Jerak sat by one of the tables and had his head down as if he were trying to get some rest. I quietly grabbed his shoulder and gave him a gentle shake. “Huh? Oh, hey…” Jerak replied.
I put my finger to my mouth and whispered, “Shhhh, we need to get going. Quietly.” Jerak’s mouth was gaped open, and I could tell by the look in his eyes that he wasn’t all there. He nodded and slowly stood up. I helped him keep his balance and we started to walk out of the tavern.
I let out a sigh of relief until Jerak shouted, “Hey it’s Torkuhl!”
“I remember fighting you! Do you remember me?” Jerak shouted. My body froze i
n shock as Jerak spewed those words. The large minotaur turned his head and glanced toward us. I could see his eye lighting up as he recognized us. Before I could even think of a four letter word, I grabbed Jerak and dragged him out of there!
I could hear the crashing sound as the large minotaur knocked a few things over and charged toward us. Jerak slipped out of my grip and fell to the floor. I extended my hand to grab Jerak but saw Torkuhl coming straight at me. In a fit of panic, I abandoned my friend and hightailed out as fast as I could. Torkuhl didn’t even seem to even acknowledge Jerak. He clearly wanted revenge on the guy that took his eye. Oh, crap!
The sound of heavy hooves kept me from turning my head back. I knew he was right behind me, which was all the motivation I needed to run as fast as possible! “Crap, crap, crap, crap!” I chanted as I moved around people and objects and in between buildings. Don’t turn and look, just keep going! Crap, I looked! He was right on top of me!
I made a sharp turn past one building and ran between two others. Hopefully, with the tightly clustered buildings I might lose him or at least slow him down. Well, not much hope of losing him but he took a little longer on the turns than I did. I didn’t know what it was like to be chased by a bull, but I figured this was much more dangerous!
My throat was already throbbing from heavy breathing as I made another turn in between buildings. He might be a few more steps behind me but he was still right there. I didn’t have my weapons on me, but I doubted I would even stand a chance against Torkuhl. For a freaking large guy he was so fast!
I didn’t know how much longer I could keep running. My throat was already burning, and I could feel a cramp on my side. The only thing that was causing me to ignore such pain was the fact that an angry minotaur wanted to destroy me. I made another turn toward a larger clearing past a few empty barrels and a couple of small jars. I hopped over and hoped the big guy was clumsy enough to trip and cause himself some damage. No such luck; I didn’t hear him crash as I cleared it. I made one more turn in the alley but found a dead end!
Dragon Hero Page 14