Chapter 116: Davenville(5)
*Several minutes later*
Alistair Gohan seems to be conversing with the horse riders and shakes his head for a bit.
He then walks over to the employed guild members and begins giving the situation to them.
"It appears we were given a faulty wheel, that was clearly not up to date. The cart driver says it likely is 9 years old so the wheel has dried out and corroded over time. Seems it had finally snapped. But luckily there is a second wheel under the cart for emergencies like this. We should be ready to go within a couple of minutes. Meantime, entertain yourselves."
Alistair walks away and then I turn to the rest of the crew. Most of us kind of stay silent, however. Sheila and Ungar are quite clearly bored, and Ziva is playing with her knife. However, the way she is flipping the knife in her fingers is quite impressive, however. I have always been fascinated by those who were able to do tricks with one hand with lighters, knives, batons, coins, and other small objects. Wonder if she is going to hiss at me.
"Hey uh, Ziva? You seem to be good at those tricks with the knives. Could I ask you to teach me a bit about my knife?" I draw mine out with is fairly thin, double-edged.
She stops abruptly and is silent and not looking at me. Did I piss her off? Her hand is gripping the handle of the knife in a reverse grip so maybe.
"I'll...Show you something small. Otherwise, you'd likely cut your own fingers."
"Yeah yeah, sure thing. Show me whatever you want!" I say trying to come across as joyful but instead realize I come across as overly energetic.
*10 minutes later*
"Ouch! Fucking dammit!" I yell after getting my own knife dug into my index finger.
*Sigh* "You idiot. I gave you ten minutes of explanation and demonstration, and you've already cut your hand 3 times instantly." she says with a mother's disappointment.
"Hey, give me a break...I tried my best" I say sucking on it purposefully to play off the situation. "Unlike you, I don't have experience with knife tricks and usage. I use a sword more and a knife occasionally! Hmph!"
"*Tch...So annoying...You remind me of my-" she stops herself and then with a quick hiss turns away and begins balling both fists.
"Uh...Think you pissed her off." Sheila says stating the obvious.
"Uhh...Well obviously! *Sigh* I...should I apologize if I was rude?" I ask the two sitting watching me.
"Nah, you got hurt, and she began scolding you for not living up to her capability. That is on her. Besides. I like seeing people get pissed off. Funny." Ungar says getting up to walk over to the cart.
"I would apologize even though you don't really need to. Having internal issues always puts a crew on a halt. Armies not agreeing always are doomed to fight each other eventually." Sheila says following Ungar behind.
Hmm, suck up my feeling and pride and apologize for doing basically nothing, or apologize and get this over with? Hmm...Seems almost child's play. Except I preferably don't give a damn.
I trail in the direction where Ziva went, which is over a hill overlooking the trail where the transport was halted. As I arrive at the top, Ziva is sitting away from me in an upright fetal position looking across the plains. Grass swaying in the breeze and I get a better look at her black coat of fur. It is very fluffy looking. Does she use a lot of products? Fur product?
I get closer, but stop about 10 feet away from her and call her out.
"Hey, is it alright if I sit next to you to talk?" I ask
"One doesn't need to be next to someone to talk," she says quietly.
"True...But to me, the conversation is more impactful when closer."
"Well to me, it doesn't matter. Just speak." she finishes with almost a growl.
"Alright, sorry to be annoying. But you seemed to have cut yourself off and then move away. Who...Who did I remind you of?"
A moment of long silence glosses over for a bit. I can hear the wind and the breeze over my face in more detail while it is silent.
*Sigh* "Fine then. You reminded me of my younger brother. He was 3 years younger than me."
"How old are you now? If that's appropriate" I ask
"I am 17 right now. He is 14 right now. Or, he would be if he was alive.
"I see...If I may ask another question. Was it bad that I reminded you of your late-I mean, your younger brother?"
"About six years ago, my brother died from an event that forever I blamed myself for. You reminded me too many of them all at once," she says with a slight sigh at the end.
"Are you willing to tell me about it? I am willing to listen. But if you want to say no, then I can forget everything you've just said and pretend nothing happened."
After a couple of seconds of silence, she finally says something.
"I will tell you. But if I sense so much as a sign of disrespect to my brother I will cut your throat out," she says with a snarl.
I tilt my head a bit but accept it.
"A little extreme but I highly doubt I would disrespect a family member's death."
"It was around six years ago. I was at the family farm in Brunich. My parents were tending to the land, while I and my younger brother tended to the house's needs. I did a lot of the cooking, while my brother did the cleaning. One day he asked me about how amazing I was at cutting the food quickly, I told him how I did it, and he wanted to learn. I could cut a coconut within 5 seconds. Quickly, and precisely. It might've been the biggest mistake of my life to show him and encourage him how to use one."
Did he accidentally cut himself and lethally did? I hope not that is a brutal way to go and think about.
"A couple of days later me showing him how to use a kitchen knife more efficiently, he was able to cut food more quickly and helped me out a lot in food prep. Until the day they came. When we prepared the food and took our evening rest. Screaming and the fires were burning. We both panicked and fled out of the house to see people in white armor and robes setting fire to the farm and our neighbors. It was horrifying. Me and my brother fled in search of our parents but we were not fast enough to find them, nor fast enough to escape the raiders. The remaining villagers got rounded up and thrown into groups between the men and the women and children. My parents were nowhere to be seen. But my brother and I both were placed in the same group. The raiders eventually took off their helmets and I saw the faces I would forever have stained in my mind. Elven Justicars." she finishes her last statement with a clear snarl and I can just feel her anger emanating from her from 10 feet away.
"Who are they?"
"They are the Hestian Empire's lackeys in executing 'justice' in the name of the Empire's will religiously, and judicially. But they are just enforcers of the Empire's will and only know of suffering. They go about raiding and attacking lesser villages, and slaves, and most often than not, get away with killings in Arcadia and even get away with it. They raided my village and killed many of the people I knew."
After a couple of seconds of silence, I eventually speak up, however.
"Sounds more like terrorism"
"To them, it is enforcing the will of their god. Doesn't matter in the end. The deed they've done will never be forgiven even when I die."
She no doubt has a lot of trauma that has carried for 6 years. I won't pretend to truly understand her. I can only acknowledge her experiences and reflect on them as well.
"I see...I'm...I-Uhm...*Sigh* I am very amazed by your strength. You've been through a lot. I don't think it is smart or appropriate for me to apologize for something I had no involvement in nor would've been able to change. But I believe you've done well, at least on the outside it seems. I won't fill your deceased brother, but I think he would want you to be happy. I will take my leave. Thank you for telling me this. I am a good listener so I am willing to chat whenever. At least until the contract is over and we go separate ways." I turn around and calmly take a deep breath. I think I avoided a bullet there. She would've taken a finger off maybe if I had said something wrong.
"You are a strange beastman. More like a beast weakling"
"Eh?!" *Sighs*
I continue down the opposite side of the hill and check on the wheel which I am unsure how long this would be considered for replacing one. 10 minutes? 30?! Because it has been way over 15 minutes or so.
"So it might've been sabotaged?" Ungar comments to Alistair
"It might've been. Seeing as both of the wheels are cracked in what looks to be a crude form of brute force.
"Is there ever such thing as "gentle force" Sheila jokes
"Suppose not ma'am," Alistair says rubbing both eyes with one hand.
"Hey, what's taking so long? I nearly got my fingers taken off so would like to get out of here before something happens." I say placing both hands on my hips.
"Good you are here kid, it appears our wheels had been sabotaged. Each cart or carriage before leaving for long distance are supposed to go through a thorough inspection to determine if it is fit to travel the distance needed. But it seems someone might've paid off the inspector this time, or did it just after the inspection."
"That is not pleasant to hear. Especially since we came here to help with an investigation of the attack on the village." I comment.
"Indeed. However, apearently Sheil and Ungar used to work in a lumber yard so they know how to at least work with wood."
"Oh, yeah I know how to work with 'wood' if you know what I mean," Sheila says nudging her brother who is unresponsive to her hint.
Guessing she has some form of "experience".
There is a small wood kit under the cart so they will get to that. Until then I will set up a camp in case this takes much longer or days worth. While I do that, Coda, could you and Ziva go out and gather firewood or any local fauna or flora that is edible? Thank you." Alistair asks
"Uh, yeah sure."
I might do it on my own, to be honest. I did notice a small river a while ago back on the path. Might be something there. Hopefully.
*2 hours later*
I spent the next couple of hours I used my knife to catch small fish that swam closer enough to me as I stood in the lower shallow waters. Couht about 9 that whole time. Hopefully, that is enough for 5 people including myself.
I walk back over to the shore and kick off the excess water in my boots. Looking up in the sky it has gotten much darker. Pink skies with low orange lingering
*A couple of minutes later*
"Hey! I got some food! Not much but I think they will do the trick!"
As I am over the hill I see them gathered around a fire eating...a fucking deer. Skinned and cooked in bunches and being devoured. Did I just stand for 2 hours for nothing?
"Oh hey kid, Ziva went out and caught a deer about an hour ago. Oh, you got us some fish? I think we have some stored butter somewhere if it still works."
*Sigh* It's fine. I will just eat what I caught." I say walking over and dropping my fish on the grass.
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