"DON'T BRING IT TOWARDS ME!" Baltanthan yelled as I ran through the valley with a smile on my face. A large, three-legged creature with little clipper-like claws chasing after me as I did so. It was formerly not chasing me, in fact, this animal seemed to be quite fine with my presence. Until I broke one of its legs, that is.
So now here I was letting it follow me closer to our camp while Baltanthan panicked from his hiding spot as this creature attacked. And with a few hops and dashes, I avoided it all before finally moving in for the kill as I had gotten it near my helper. So, with one final dash, I went underneath the creature which had lost sight of me as a result. Then, I jumped.
I jumped and shot straight into its gut and was rewarded with a shower of blood as it all just ruptured as I forced it up. Crashing back down to the earth with a cheer before then getting crushed by the dead animal. My laughter erupting from under it as I forced it off. Then my joy just disappeared as now I was left thinking of the cleaning I'd have to do.
"Nin, please bear in mind you need to learn to kill things in a cleanlier manner!" I sarcastically told myself as I began to think about past hunts. How I started off not really knowing what I was doing to how confidence in it slowly built up in me. And, as a small bonus, it seemed to have dulled me to the concept of death. But, not enough to make me become a psychopathic slaughterer.
Just enough to make me not squirm at the sight of blood and to make me more tolerant of my past actions. The actions I was forced to take back when we were first on our way out from that town. However, that wasn't why I was thinking these thoughts, the reason was to do with the blood on me. The blood I would have to clean off.
Sure, everyone was fine with it at first, we were on the run after all in the early days of our journey. But now? Now we had been at it for a while and everyone, mostly Baltanthan, were a lot more comfortable with calling the other out on something. Be it filth and muck or just something as simple as how one conducted themself.
The latter had been quite interesting to see as we were all from different cultures. Rose was an aelenvari brought up in their most luxurious ways, Baltanthan was just the son of a common shopkeep. I was from the bottom of my society and had matured somewhat in the situations I had been in since leaving my home. And, well, Einervaene was like a mixture of me and Rose, brought up in the best but had developed substantially in the wilds beyond her home.
"What even is this thing?" Baltanthan asked as he came down to join me in the crimson grass. His face, unlike mine, however, had not grown used to seeing gore. So it was just plastered with disgust and sneers.
"Not sure why you are asking me." I tell him, subtly reminding him of our past talks while we were out on a hunt for meat. I had no practical knowledge of this land beyond what was passed on to me so I just went after whatever. Sometimes to my benefit, sometimes not.
"It didn't squirt you with anything, did it?" he asked as he became mindful of what had once happened prior. As, due to my ignorance of the land, I thought it was fine for me to be squirted by the tail-thing of another creature as it didn't seem harmful. And, well, the night following that was filled with me sleeping away from the others as I was an insect magnet during that time. Crawling annoyances in such number the grass went black with carapace.
Sure, it was fun for a little while... But, they did not find insects in their food to be funny.
"No, no squirts this time. Just blood." I answer as I pick away at any bits of flesh stuck to my clothes.
"Clean yourself off, anyway, at some point." he told me anyway as he began to look the animal over for parts we might be able to take for food.
"The quicker we get this done the cleaner it will be." I tell him as he kept his attention on the top half of the corpse. Baltanthan being quite picky regarding the cleanliness of his food.
"We can take as long as we need, insects aren't going to be crawling up this high." he said as he patted the corpse.
"I am not on about them, I am on about the underside of it."
"It's touching bloody mud and grass..." he said with disgust.
"We can clean it off."
"You don't wash meat in water!"
"You're the one who complains about us not getting the better part of the animal!"
"Which is entirely your fault because you cannot kill anything without making a mess of it!"
"It doesn't matter if it has a bloody demise, you can still clean it off! A blade of grass isn't going to kill you!"
"There shouldn't be a blade of grass on it, to begin with!" he said to me, leaving me with nothing but a roll of my eyes as I tear the animal apart. Some smaller pieces soon dripping blood onto him while I held a larger piece above me. Having torn off some skin from the animal to cover the bloody stump I made with my tear.
"Anything else?" I then asked him as I stared at the increasingly torn apart animal.
"Do you want anything else? We got small bits and big bits, not much else we really need."
"Well, our map did show we were pretty much a day away from the base of the mountain we wanted to go to. So why not take a little extra for celebratory purposes?"
"We're really that close huh?" Baltanthan said quietly with a smile. We were nearly there, the entire reason he came with us on this journey. The city of Thrurstradtur built atop the mountain we were so close to. But, now that I thought about it...
"How's our long-lasting food? Do we have enough?"
"No idea, but, we can just smoke a few strips of this animal and move on from there."
"I suppose that is true. How are the bags for you three coming along as well?" I asked as we began to walk away.
"Einervaene made them without much issue. If they hold up, however, we do not know as so far we have just been having you carry them in the bigger bag."
"I hope you didn't tear apart that bag too much if at all."
"I mean, we can just abandon some of it, no? It's not like we won't be able to get new ones later."
"It depends on what you get rid of, I am sure you know what Rose is like." I tell him as we turn the corner and arrive near where we were staying.
"Do I need to get a bath ready!?" Einervaene said down to us as she looked at me and my bloodied clothes.
"It would be appreciated!" I reply back with before beginning the journey up to the camp. Luckily with this camp, unlike our other ones, the way up wasn't so steep so the others could walk down on their own. Provided they were careful. And while Rose was capable of it, she was very insistent on being near me going up or down.
She could just say she was scared to go up on her own, but her admittedly cute pride in this case kept her from admitting to it. On the topic of her, though, I would not be surprised if the moment I finished getting up here she would then just run into me. With those thoughts in mind, though, I stepped a little to the side and let Baltanthan go ahead of me while I looked at what should have been our destination.
"I wonder how long it would take me to get up that..." I comment as Baltanthan also came to a stop to look at the mountain that held Thrurstradtur at its peak.
"Easily a few days the way we are going." he commented as he pointed out towards the barely visible road spiralling around the mountain.
"Now is that a hopeful guess or an empirical one?"
"Could not even tell you, not that it matters. I'd just be getting more and more excited as we got higher up the mountain." he said just as the sound of distant machines filled our ears. And in the distance, we saw one, the vehicle Futhans mentioned on our way into Tryhpeltzweig. Spiral-tram I think he called it?
"Say, how different do you think entry would have been by one of them?"
"You'd see the deepest depths of the city first, but, I'd rather walk up. That way we can see Suhurlodst, too."
"We're going to the Academy anyway, so why'd you want to see it on the way in?"
"Not the Suhurlodst Academy of Arcane Learning and Understanding, the Ringed-City itself!"
"Ringed-City?"
"No point in explaining it now, I'll tell you what I know when we are actually there."
"That's fair, looking forward to any other sights?"
"I don't know of any others beyond the great gnomon that dominates the city of Thrurstradtur."
"You barely know anything about the city you have been this excited for?"
"Technically I am excited about a professional environment to learn magic in." he said with growing giddiness as he let some magical winds flow from him.
"Why do you want to learn magic there, though?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, I learned how to do this," I say to him as I do my little magic trick, "on my own, you clearly learned that on your own. So why go to a school for it?"
"The same reason anyone goes to a school, sure, I could learn the basics, but that place has more knowledge than would have ever occurred to me."
"Makes sense."
"It also helps they have some of the best equipment on the continent for such learning."
"Why this one in particular?"
"What do you mean?"
"Why do you want to go to Suhurlodst the most? What about it makes it stand out the most?"
"It has the full backing of its neighbouring mountain state capital, backing from many more people outside its home nation along with the support of the royal family of the Seven Peaks!"
"Lot of prestige then?"
"Yes. It is also the closest one that I know of." he answers before tacking on the rest. A quiet chuckle leaving me after he said that last part.
"I wonder if I'll actually learn anything..." I then muttered with no actual intention of starting a discussion.
"Why wouldn't you? It's an academy, being there means you're going to learn."
"Well, that's the thing, I am going there because a friend of mine who should be there said it was the best way for me to get back home."
"And why's that?"
"Could not tell you, Baltanthan, I just know she said something along the lines of they had the means to get me home again."
He laughed, "And here I am going there to get away from home."
"I just hope it won't be too difficult to do."
"Nothing ever is, so don't get your hopes too fanned."
"Oh, trust me, I can fan my hopes all I want and it will still turn out better than what I have been through before." I tell him while thinking of my turn into an osibindah and my death.
"If you say so, Nin."
"And I do." I tell him as I start to walk again. Taking one last glance at the mountain before reaching the top of the one we were on. Or, rather, the highest point we could safely set up a camp.
"Another great meal for us, my love?" Rose said with a smile as she saw me arrive.
"Hopefully, I don't exactly taste what I kill before bringing it up."
"We have a lot to work with, so I can't see it tasting awful and going by how rich it looks... I know we aren't going to have to boil it like that ryphurgok you brought us once."
"Yeah, that thing was hard as rocks. A nightmare to chew."
"So what is it?"
"I had this talk with Baltanthan and the answer is the same, I've no clue."
"What did it look like?"
I moved my claws about, "Four legs with a roundish body and clipper-like claws." I say to her with my claws moving on to trying to mimic the claws of the animal. Which I found innocently amusing.
"Round body and clippers..." she repeats to herself.
"It was also very friendly before I attacked it, if that helps?"
"Was it? In that case it might have been a bulcli."
"A bulcli?"
"Yes, a bulcli. I myself haven't seen them much but they are quite useful for dealing with trees and they are herbivores."
"That thing preferred plants? Looked like it was a butcherer of smaller animals."
"Yes, did you happen to bring one of it claws back?"
"No, I am afraid not as they looked a little too... I want to say solid, like, more bone than meat."
She laughed, "They are actually quite soft and meaty on the inside. A bit like you in a way." she says with a smile as her fingers poke at my increasingly naked form. Rose having had come over a short while ago to help me undress.
"At least we know that for any future encounters."
"I don't think so." she tells me.
"Why?"
"Because we are so close to the mountain-state of the wind-people, and I for one, would like an actually presentable meal."
"I thought you liked what I made for you?"
"I do, my love, I do! I just also want food from someone who can actually cook." a sly smile on her face before she giggled at me. A quiet laugh of my own following suit. But, it was more like a bemused series of quick breaths.
"So at what point am I going to have to separate from you lot?" I then ask her. Drastically changing the tone of the conversation and her temperament.
"Hopefully not until the very end..." she says bitterly while looking away.
"But what is the end? When we first see that road that goes up the mountain clearly? When we see our first guard? Someone not in our group? Upon arriving at the mountain itself?" I ask her as I scoot around so my face could look directly at hers.
She looked down at the grass, "I don't want to talk about this..."
"Rose, if we ignore this then it will just be a repeat of Tryhpeltzweig."
"Only if you show your face!" she nearly screamed at me as she got in close.
I sighed and briefly looked away, "Rose, we have no idea how these security checks are going to go. For all we know they are going to want us to strip completely so they can use some kind of machine I have no clue about to look inside of us!"
"That doesn't mean you have to leave! You can just go around these checkpoints and meet us back on the road!"
"Rose, no. I am not going to put you three in danger just because you prefer to have me around."
"Then I'll go with you and those two can go up the road on their own!"
I looked at her in a deadpan manner, "You can't even put on thick, covering clothing without making an issue of it. You'd freeze to death!"
"At least I would die in your arms!" she shot back with.
I stood up in frustration, "I am not going to be responsible for your death!"
She stood up in challenge, "Then ensure I live!"
"You stupid woman!" was all I could come up with before letting out a large huff of frustration. Yet, this insult did not make her angry, she just came over to me and hugged me.
"I know I am." she tried to say in a joyful manner to get the tone of our talk back to what it was before.
"Right... So, moving on, have you and Einervaene been up to anything of interest?"
"I cleaned some of your stuff, we talked about clothes again... So not much. More of the same really."
"Alright, did you learn anything interesting?"
"I did, actually! Did you know that in her homeland, large pieces of clothing or decoration on the shoulders is strictly forbidden unless you are an on-duty thorn?"
"I am not from her homeland so no, but, very interesting."
"Yeah, apparently, the reason is due to the fact their petal-thorns, hopli... Something sounding like that, wear their shields on their lesser arm right at the joint. So, in order to make them stand out more, no one is allowed to wear clothes that might make them look like one."
"Not sure why you'd wear a shield on your arm if you weren't a soldier anyway." I said to her with a smile.
"I said something similar and she said it had to do with how the Lightning Mountain holding their continent together lets off so much of it that people need to wear protective outfits a lot of the time."
"How anybody wants to live in a place like that is interesting..." I mutter while trying to think of what a lightning plagued land would look like. I imagine it'd be very burnt.
"And, as I got curious about the kimono she made for me, I asked how clothing like that came about in her homeland as it doesn't seem to be anything like what you would expect. And, apparently, that style of clothing developed in response to the lightning-peoples just getting tired of wearing thick, armour-like clothing all the time."
"That is interesting..." I said quietly as I leaned back a little.
"Is there anything you can tell me about the clothes of your people, my love?"
"Not much different from what everyone here seems to have. Sure, some styles vary but as a whole, the differences are rather superficial and meaningless."
"So a very boring history?"
"I guess it is." I laughed out to her just as the final bandages were taken off by my claws and her hands.
"So, do you have any plans to take me to your home? It must be a very impressive mountain-state if it produced someone as strong as you."
"I am not from a mountain-state, I am not a 'wind-person' as you like to put it. I have told you this before."
"And I have called you out on this lie before." she said with a smile.
"I'm not lying!" I tell her in light-hearted frustration as I got up again. Shaking my body about before moving to see if that bath was done.
"Your back is looking a lot better." Rose commented as she followed me while holding my clothes.
"Is it? Give it a feel," I say to her, barely reacting as her fingers rub intentionally slowly, "I guess it is."
"Now you just need to remember not to let a ryphurgok peck at you so much."
"Try not to lay in the middle of a road as they stampede then?" I joke back to her, a wide smile on her face as she thought of her response.
"But then how would I be saved by my precious love?"
"Urtuoi-kischu, where's Baltanthan?" Einervaene asked in frustration as she came stomping over to us.
"He should be by the entrance, why?"
"He's been practising his magic again on our tools!" the lightning-user said in frustration as they threw their hands into the air.
"Try not to murder him, then." was all I had to say on the topic of the other male in our group ruining our tools. I never had much issue with it as we had been able to restock our supplies sometimes from a merchant we found or smaller little settlements dotting the way here. In fact, one of those settlements is what led me to the bulcli as we had been asking around earlier in the day.
"That is fine, I'll just make him unable to walk!" she said as her hands rubbed together. A flash of sparks appearing after she then clapped.
"You better not!" I said to her, hoping she was just joking out her frustrations. And, I had to admit, I was quite surprised to see this side of her, she was normally so refined and well-kept. Yet, apparently, all those days and nights and so on, on her own have left her very conservative with money and her resources. We had much to spare yet she was scared of potential futures involving the lack of food or goods.
I hope at some point, we or I will be able to get her to realize she is not living on limited amounts anymore. I can still remember our first meal on the road quite well, how her face went red with fear and rage as I kept arguing with Baltanthan over how much to eat. How she relented after a little while when you made it clear she did not have to partake. And, with that in mind, that I would have to eat much smaller portions from then on out for a few days and nights.
It was a very fun experience seeing a few more sides to those two, more so Einervaene, but, Baltanthan had grown on me a little. He may have been a grump and consistently moody but seeing him perk up at the mere mention of a school and city was something. Rose didn't get along with him, though, always making comparisons between me and him that made things difficult. She really needed to treat him more like Einervaene.
I mean, sure, she has explained why she speaks to him that way and I understood where she was coming from. Having experienced it all back when I was staying with her back when she was still an Ivy-Mother. But, even then, I wish she at least tried to get along. As, well, I couldn't help but think this only contributed to Baltanthan's foul mood and the likelihood of him possibly selling us out.
Sure, he had a debt to me because I got him this far, technically. But, I had a feeling he was also likely to sell us out if his opinion of us became too foul. Hopefully, I was just being paranoid and pessimistic. Yet, given what has happened to me, I just couldn't help but linger on thoughts of doom and pain.
It was a grim mindset I wanted to be rid of and I could not have possibly made it clearer. But, my life at the moment was a mess to keep it in simple terms. A mess that just wanted me to stay in the muck until I could not be asked to get out the muck anymore. My time with Rose and so on, however, has made it very clear to me that others will be needed to get me out of the muck.
So I needed to make sure I always had them by my side for as long as possible so I could get as far as I could. The mindset I rejected back in Tobaballe, actually... Because I did not want to worry about the pain of having to lose someone because we couldn't keep helping each other get out of the muck. Speaking of muck, however.
It was bath time.