Connie
He was filled with relief when plumes of smoke could be seen rising from the horizon. It was more than a joyful sight, much like the light at the end of a dark tunnel, considering that they had been travelling in the terrains where not a humanoid soul was to be bumped into.
"Your miraf must be concealed now," Trefereisa said in English. Despite being with her for more than three days, she still continued to amaze him at how adept she was at it. Back on earth, some foreigners could not speak it near fluently even as they spent their whole lives studying it.
Connie dismissed it to be a matter of higher intelligence. A larger brain and a barrelful of magic.
His red miraf seemed to understand what she had just declared. It started to act up. Connie was riding on top of the bird and when it bolted for a sprint, Connie almost fell off. "Hey! Quit it!"
But mirafs were not made for the ground. Trefereisa's six-limbed horse-raptor caught up in no time, blocking its path.
The red miraf attempted to flap its wings but the light chains shackled them to its body.
Trefereisa flashed a grim countenance. They were near the surveillance radius, she had warned him before. Anything that moved within such distance from the village could be cause for suspicion. Pretty soon, they would be at the gates. "If your miraf do not wish to be concealed, I might ask Yuwer to take care of it."
Suddenly, kindness drained from her face. She was so amiable just a second ago and now her words sounded so authoritative. "As I've told you before, it's against the law to enslave them. If they see you walking or flying around on that thing, they won't hesitate to shoot you down."
Connie had no problems with the miraf being restrained and all. He hated the monster to his core. If anything, he more than wanted to cut off its head. Yet he was a cripple and the red bird was practically his legs.
He scratched off his head, unable to find the words to express his dilemma. "Uhm, you see..." He gave her the hint as he looked down to his legs that dangled on the miraf's back uselessly.
She called, "Yuwer."
As if he understood right away, the old butler got off his mount, walked over to Connie and lifted him up - effortlessly like he was but a bag of flour not even half full.
To his surprise, Yuwer deposited him on his mount, before climbing back up himself.
"For now, you ride with him."
Trefereisa turned to the bird which still struggled with all its might. Yet the chains held on even though they were merely made of light.
"What are these chains anyway?" Connie mumbled it to Yuwer even though the old man would never understand.
"It's the Bind of Intention," Trefereisa answered as she produced something else from her pouch. She was about to do another trick. "So long as it is near me and it bears malice towards me, the chains will never break."
So it was for keeping prisoners.
In her hand, she unfolded a wrap to reveal a grayish marble. What the! Connie could not help wrinkling his brows. It wasn't a marble at all! It was an eyeball upon better scrutiny. It still had some pallid red tissues attached behind it, and the iris still stared out widely.
Upon seeing it, Yuwer mouthed something, "Dumayoso", as if in concern. Trefereisa simply shook her head and proceeded with her magic spell.
It wasn't exactly a spell, though. Connie expected her to blabber a slur of some inaudible syllables. She just stared at the round eyeball, clasped her fingers around it, then with a quick flick of her wrist threw it at the anxious miraf. She sent it so rapidly that the miraf had no time to dodge. It could barely wince just before the marble hit it on its forehead.
Trefereisa did mutter an incantation. "Es fulji ala..." It was more of a prayer than a spell in truth. It came off her lips so silently that it was hard to catch.
The eyeball did not have the luxury of plopping down to the ground because midway it suddenly burst into light. Like a flash grenade. Connie had seen it in a movie before back in the orphanage but flash grenades were not this blinding. And not as soundless.
When the light disappeared, the miraf was gone and on the ground rolled the eyeball whose previously white corners were now tainted with red around it.
"Where-where's my bird?"
Trefereisa's horse-like mount scooped it up with its mouth and dropped it in Connie's palm.
Trefereisa snickered at him, as if proud by what she had just shown him. "It's in the eye. It's from an ancient beast, Kolujes. It's called an otilkolujo. You cannot just buy it in a shop, unlike some run of the mill concealment items. This effectively hides the presence of your miraf to a degree. It's also very small and can easily fit in your palm."
"What?" Connie felt the eye muscles wriggling in his hand. It was still alive! How come?
Before he could fling it away, the muscles burrowed into his hand. Like five or six needles prickling into his skin. That was certainly the feeling. Five or six large needles. He winced in pain. The eyeball dug in, sinking so gradually that he was weirded out by the sensation inside his hand. Then like an eye shutting itself to sleep, the otilkolujo hid itself behind the 'eyelids' it made of Connie's skin. All that was left to see was a wound that did not bleed.
Thus, he came to have an eyeball in his right hand. His habitual hand. The hand he used doing things, some of them too private to mention in front of her. But now he had to have an eye in his hand? Why in his hand?
"You don't seem too happy? Don't worry, if you need to call out your miraf, you just need command it. Although I don't foresee any situation that would lead to that."
Oh no, it wasn't about that bird at all. But Trefereisa seemed insensitive to it so he decided not to bring it up.
She threw him a cloak. "People will be curious to see brown skin around."
They arrived at the gates at last. The guards recognized Trefereisa at once, bowing to her in earnest, and opened the gates for her and her company. They hesitated on asking Connie to take his cloak off but they gave up on it and let them pass through without any inspection.
Connie noticed that the guards too had pale gray skin. Was that all their color?
Upon entering, Trefereisa also raised up her cloak, wary to be recognized. But as soon as they were in the streets, a man walked up to her. He seemed to plead but she waved a hand and dismissed him. A bum?
The city was bustling with people. Well, this planet seemed to be in the age where they still needed to build walls around their cities; that's why, they crowded inside like bees in a hive. It was a noisy hive. And turned out, it was a small hive. He could glimpse the opposite wall rising above the villagescape.
"What is this place called? Do you live here?" The buildings looked threadbare. A noticeable feature about them was the spire on top, jutting up to the clouds threateningly. Every single house and building had one as if it was a custom. The doors too were strange. They had intricate markings on them.
"Adal. This is just an outpost. We had been treading in the plains of Lagu. And for your second question, this is not my home."
They settled on a lodging house. Since it was not proper to bring animals inside - even for this world - Yuwer had to carry Connie on his back. To a stranger, he sure looked some kind of helpless teenager.
Connie was mesmerized at the inside. The lobby was adorned with pillars that were carved with star markings. Rays of light. Eyes. Birds. Beasts. Fire. And a written language he could now point out though not understand. The stalls and stores had similar writings. So he could assume it was their langauge.
Trefereisa talked with the clerk herself. They were led through the corridor of pillars to a room that housed a pillar inside as well. It took the center spot and Connie could not help but consider it as a huge nuisance. With it the room did not look so spacious now.
Yuwer dropped him on the bed. There were three.
He was surprised to find out that Trefereisa was going to sleep in the same room as them. But he could not hide his astonishment when she started taking her clothes off. Every. Garment. She. Wore.
It was late when he realized he had been staring. She realized it sooner than him and she threw him a quick glance, utterly unbothered by the situation.
He looked away then, his cheeks reddening. He swallowed a lump in his throat as he inevitably pictured the shape of her naked body, openly basking in the daylight filtering in through the window.
Yuwer was unembarassed by all this so maybe it was not uncommon. Maybe they paid little concern to undressing in front of the opposite sex. Connie was not even sure how genders worked in this planet. He could recall her mentioning mothers so probably it was the same.
After bathing and changing, Trefereisa looked less of a warrior and more of a woman. Her silver hair draped on her shoulders comfortably, her slender figure shining even more now. She definitely was a woman. Older than him.
"You should wash up too, Yuwer has some clothes you can have. You stink, you know?"
He stunk? The first thought on his mind was whether that was a huge turn off for her. The second thought was how the hell he came to have that first one. "Uh, okay. Sorry about that. I-I'll change in the bathroom."
He saw it, she grinned at him.
Because of the eye on his right hand, it was so weird just having to pee. Whenever he would pull down his fly, he had to check whether the eye was peeking. So he did most things with his left hand.
He called for Yuwer when he was finished but the one who opened the door was Trefereisa. "He's feeding the royu. Shall I carry you?"
Connie had a hunch that she sent him away on purpose. But why?
"On my back," she told him, getting to her knees. And on her back, he climbed. He put his arms around her as she lifted him up. Maybe she could feel his heart beating so fast now. Molly carried him like this before. Where is she now? Does she know I'm still alive?
The next morning, after eating yet another load of bitter and sour food, they set off to find a friend of Trefereisa. As they ate, he kept asking about the fruits, their names and where they grew. There was one round like a melon. But like everything else, it tasted bitter to him. Because of this, he quickly lost appetite.
For this day, he rode with her. He could catch the scent of her hair. It was a fragrance unknown to him. And he liked it.
The horse-like creature she called Paof was small compared to Yuwer's, and every now and then, his chest would brush her back even though he tries his best to keep a distance. But with legs that could not support or feel, it was hard work.
"You might fall off, put your hands around me," she suggested.
He wondered if it was alright. So he just gripped onto her shoulder.
"Connie," the way it softly but grimly came off her lips made it sound she had some serious concern. "Do you really want to go back home?"
"Yes, why?"
"To do so, you need to help me. Is your heart in this?" Her tone became grave again. She sounded so authoritative sometimes that lying to her scared him.
"Oh, of course. I'll help you get an egg, although I'm still not sure how."
"In order to do that, we need to fix your legs first."
"Can...can you?" All his life he was a cripple. He never imagined a day would come that he would be able to walk on two legs.
"There is a way. You see, a will of Fulji is possibility. Hope, if you might put it that way. But everything in this universe is given in exchange of something else. Nothing ever comes without a price."
"What's the price?" He longed to have useful legs for once and for all. He would give an arm for it.
"Well, it is your loyalty. Like Yuwer. You see, Yuwer was an old man but Fuljiri gave him vitality, strength and power. But in return, he must be loyal to me at all cost. Otherwise, he will just be an old man."
"You mean..."
"Yes, you can only make use of your legs if you serve me. Will you be willing to give away your freedom?"