Chapter 51 - That word again

We didn’t catch the name of the new Dreamer from Areskit as we bounced and shook our way past the horse archers who wheeled about to follow in our wake. Glimpse had circled down and landed on Fay’s shoulder, receiving a fond pat on the head for his trouble.

“Hello crow. Hurry home husband,” she whispered into the bird's ear before stopping her meeting with a handful of the female nobles and heading towards my- our- tent. As she vanished through the entrance Glimpse cawed, took to the sky again and spiralled upwards to keep watch.

The chariots weren’t as fast as a pony with a single warrior on its back but they were still pretty fast compared to a man running. A normal man at any rate. I clapped Kril on the back making him jump.

“Need to go see to something!” I called into his ear making him wince before I leapt off the chariot and shot ahead. I left divots in the earth and each stride threw me forward over two metres. I was blurring past the palisade while Kril was still a hundred metres away, the shaman's complaints lost to the wind, and the guards let out a roar as I zoomed past them.

I skidded to a stop in front of my own tent and paused to smooth my hair and beard.

“Just come in you fool!” Fay called from inside and I stepped into my home. She rose from the bed and walked towards me with a crooked smile on her face.

“What, by Aresk’s left nut, is this?” she asked as she snagged my week-old beard in her hand and yanked me over to my “throne”. With gentle, but firm, pressure she guided me to sit. “Is my husband incapable of caring for himself? Must his wife be constantly by his side to stop him turning into a shaggy molloth?”

“I didn’t think-”

“Obviously, Ray. Are any of the rest of your party as unkempt as this?” she demanded, drawing her adjuntium blade and laying it against my cheek. I didn’t dare move to speak as she carefully scraped the blade over my face until the skin was smooth. I raised a hand and ran it along my jaw as she stepped back and sheathed the dagger at her waist. She wasn’t wrong. None of the others on our expedition had let their facial hair grow out while we were away.

“Now you are fit to greet me properly,” she smiled as she undid her belt and let it fall to the floor.

Sometime later, when I could feel my toes again, I rolled over and kissed her cheek.

“Kayla wasn’t much help I’m afraid. Sulk wouldn’t come,” I rose and pulled on a pair of bright red trousers before scrabbling at my belt where I’d dropped it on the floor. I retrieved the reply Sulk’s wife had written and passed it over. Fay pulled the twine off and opened it.

“You haven’t read it yet?” she asked as her eyes scanned left and right.

“I can’t read your words. Could you teach me?” I asked.

“Hah, a warrior king who can read! That will set a snake among the goats! Of course I will, love.” That word again. Shivers ran down my back. Even if my infatuation was some trick from Aresk’s mark… I wasn't sure that I cared anymore.

“She says she’ll work on the king and her husband for us. As well as extending her congratulations,” she suppressed a giggle that made me think I was receiving a sanitised version of Kayla’s comments. “I had a thought, Ray. About better ways to use the enchantments.”

“Go on,” I stretched back out next to her and she nuzzled in against me, breasts pressed against the side of my chest.

“Acorns!” she said happily and I craned my head around to look at her.

“Acorns?”

“Yes! They’ll rot! Within a season there won’t be any trinkets left for our enemies to gather up after a battle! Most of them will burn up in the fires anyway!”

“Are there a lot of magic items left over from previous Games?” I asked gently.

“Games?” I briefly explained the nature of how I came to be on Urth rather than the Earth.

“Bastards!” she snarled. “Is my world just a board to them? Are we just fucking pieces!” Her face had gone red and she’d pulled herself up to her elbows to look down into my face.

“I think we’re all just toys to them?” I said softly, hoping to calm her down.

“Pah! I’m no one's toy but yours!” she said fiercely then took control of herself. “I mean I’m your loving wife and will honour and obey.” She winked at me and I felt my cheeks flush. “There are old stories, Ray. Blades that can slice through stone like our daggers. Men and women wielding magic for generations after the Shikrakyn pass through the world. They must have been using enchanted items stolen from or given out by your kind. The fantastic weapons might have come from the Shop?”

“That makes sense. Switching to less durable stuff, like acorns, might be useful but it will also stop us reusing the items,” I pondered aloud.

“True but it’s easy enough to spend ten mana on a single Fire trinket!” she replied quickly.

“Sure but that’s an hour's worth of regeneration time per item. I can do thirty three of those a day and it would be a day and a half before I could repeat the process,” I replied. She lay back down, pressing her body against mine once again and sighed.

“You’re probably right but for simple things like an elemental wall it might be a good choice, don’t you think?” I thought about it and I could see the sense. We had lost all of the firewall stones Jandak and his team had used to burn the fields around Gethanel. It’s hard to retrieve a lump of stone from the heart of a conflagration unless you’re prepared to wait for it to cool and then waste hours scouring through the ash for the rock.

“I agree. I’ll speak to Kril. Other than you and I he’s the only one with a high enough level to enchant items at the moment.”

“What affinities did he choose?” Fay muttered as she nuzzled closer.

“Life, Time and… You know I never found out what his third choice was?”

“Best you check soon! If he picked Death I’ll be having words with him!” she chuckled. Kril had been horrified by the Death tree and there was no chance he’d have chosen it but I was suddenly interested in finding out what he had picked.

“Perhaps we could give some of the noble ladies enough Souls to be able to enchant simple spells? If this Mortimer-aurox-rapist king is arming hundreds of men with magic trinkets we should counter with a coven of nomad witches!” she chuckled as she finished and I smiled in reply.

“Why the women? You don’t go to fight do you?” I asked.

“I’m talking about making the damn things, not using them,” she swatted me on the shoulder. “Any men you give power to can spend it on making their bodies stronger and still be able to use the artefacts the women craft.”

“In my world men and women are generally considered equal,” I started but she snorted.

“Well that’s crazy. Can you bear a child?” she demanded.

“Uh, nope.”

“Can I fight a man with my fists? Well, before I raised my Body stat, I mean.”

“Probably?” I hedged. Gender politics was not something I was comfortable discussing with someone coming from a late stone age perspective, however beautiful and intelligent she might be.

“Of course I couldn’t. It would also mean the women could better protect themselves when you go to war with the Koprigyn. You’d be able to leave a smaller number of guardians and take a larger force with you!” she finished triumphantly.

“Would it cause any problems with the warriors and other women?” I asked, turning to look into her hazel eyes. She blinked slowly and smiled.

“Nothing that I couldn’t deal with. Women are sacred among us. If we gain the power to heal and create shields the men wouldn't complain. Many a warrior has died from blood sickness after taking a wound. If his wife could have waved it away? They’ll be fine as long as we explain ourselves properly.”

“How did I luck into you?” I asked, kissing her brow.

“It was my eyes, wasn’t it?” she cackled like a higher pitched Kril as I jerked my head to stare at her and it rather spoiled the mood for me.

“They were the start,” I said ruefully.

“Ahem!” came a voice from outside.

“Go see what my father wants, I recognise that cough. I’ll get dressed and start picking out suitable women to give Souls to,” she whispered, slipping across me and padding towards where her clothes had fallen. I pulled on a red tunic and stepped out to find Khan glowering at me from a couple of metres away.

“Work before pleasure, King Mond,” he growled. “Kril is having some problems with the trade delegation from Areskit. He’s asked for your ‘wisdom’!”

“Then he really is in trouble,” I joked and my new father-in-law cracked a faint smile. “Lead on, noble father-in-law!” I declared grandly. He snorted and turned as Glimpse flew down to settle on my shoulder. We arrived at the unfolding scene outside the cobbled together smithy and I was just in time to witness Kril slip sideways to catch the smith by both elbows and haul him backwards.

“Fucking puppy! I serve who I choose! Your Hakubin has no claim on my skills! How the fuck are you this strong old man?” he snarled the last over his shoulder and Kril emitted his signature cackle.

“Enough! What’s the problem, Klip?” I asked. Glimpse spread his wings to either side of my head and cawed loudly into the sudden silence. I resisted the urge to stick a finger in my right ear to clear the ringing. A feeling of regret mixed with smugness came through my link to the bird.

“This man is insisting his king gets a cut of my work!” snarled Klip. “My lord,” he hastily added.

“Barefoot and dishevelled? King Mond, what kind of example are you setting for your people?” asked the stranger who had been the focus of Klip’s ire.

I glanced down. I hadn’t remembered my boots when I left my tent…

“What’s your name?” I asked stepping between the smith and the trader.

“Jetopoline. Dreamer of the Areskyn. Lord,” he sneered at me.

“And what do you want little Dreamer?” I asked moving to loom over the shorter man.

“I require dream-spice from the traitor Hakukril so that our tribe isn’t left without true-dreams and metal weapons from the smith that you concealed from my lord!” he snapped. The Jet family seemed to have a knack for breeding dickheads.

“Kril, are any of the Jet clan born with functional brains?” I asked over my shoulder.

“It hasn’t happened yet but it might be possible if they introduced an aurox or two into their bloodline! I hear they’ve tried that in the past but not had any luck,” Kril replied instantly. The warriors around us laughed but the trader and his five guards scowled angrily. Klip grinned and Kril released his vice-like grip on the man's arms.

“Opoline, I’m afraid your request is unreasonable." I feigned regret. "Klip works for us willingly despite being taken on an honour raid for the Hatrik family. Hakubin has no claim on his work so I refuse. Dream-spice? Perhaps we can spare a little. What do you think, Kril? Will Aresk bless this one with true-dreams?”

“He can hope! I’ll give him a pouch though, for the sake of our former ties to Areskit,” Kril replied. I stared down at Jetopoline.

“That is my best offer. Take it or leave with nothing,” I half snarled.

“Betrayers and now thieves.” Jetopoline spat at my feet. I moved reflexively, extending a hand to stop Jandak from ripping the man's arms off. My friend bounced off my arm but I could almost feel his glare as he looked at the members of the Jet family from behind my shoulder.

“Your tricks won’t-” said one of the warriors escorting the new Dreamer but Jetopoline raised a clenched fist and he fell silent.

“I thank King Mond for his generosity,” he growled. “Hakukril?” Jetopoline held out an expectant palm.

“Here,” Kril tossed a small pouch of dream-spice to the man. He opened it to check the contents and looked up at me with fire in his eyes.

“This insult will not be forgotten.” He spat at my feet again and stalked towards the palisade, trailed by his warriors.

“What a dick,” I muttered.

“Lord, I’ve been thinking about your water wheel!” Klip began excitedly but I raised my hands to stop him.

“Tomorrow, Klip. I’ve got a few more ideas for new technology you can probably make as well. But not now.” The bad blood between Mondyn and Areskyn was not something I’d wanted but I supposed it had been inevitable. Hakubin was petty and arrogant. Nearly as arrogant as I was becoming. Glimpse took off and rose above us to keep an eye on the delegation from Areskit as they departed.

“We need to discuss basic perimeter security,” I said, turning to Khan and my captains. “We’re far too lax, sneaking in and out of our towns is a fucking joke. Khan, can you and Atas call your captains? We can lay out the basics this evening and start implementing them tomorrow.”