Chapter 29
All three of us stood around the unconscious native woman, who, to make matters worse, was tied up, making an already bizarre situation infinitely weirder.
A voice cut through the awkward silence. "Why do we have her tied up?" Laine asked, eyebrow raised.
"Because we have no idea what she might do when she wakes up. We can't trust her yet," I explained. "She might attack us."
Maxian shot me a well-deserved disapproving look. After all, he spent the last two days nursing her back to health and to make sure she didn't drop dead on us, which was a very real possibility. He reported that she was out of danger but clearly still hadn't woken up, which concerned me.
Speaking of concerns, I had something of a bone to pick with Maxian.
"Hey, Maxian," I said, trying to maintain the calmness in my voice because God knows I was ready to snap at anyone who gave me the chance. "I thought you said the mountains were just two days away when we started this journey. It's been close to four days now and I still don't see any mountains. Care to explain that?"
"The mountains were exactly two days away when we started…" he replied, with a hint of defensiveness in his tone. "But I didn't account for all the beasts we'd have to fight along the way. Plus, we've been slowed down because of her." He nodded at the unconscious woman.
"Okay, yeah, that adds up,"
There really had been way too many interruptions along the way. The beasts of the forest hadn't let up on their attacks.
"Still, how long is it going to take?" I asked with a little more authority.
"Just a little further, just a day." He reassured. "No more than one more day."
I nodded.
What followed was a stretch of unbearable silence. Then Laine, with his infinitely annoying curiosity, asked, "When's she gonna wake up? It's been a while…I mean, are we even sure she's alive?"
Maxian frowned as if he'd taken her hypothetical death as a personal insult. I mean, it made sense, considering he'd been feeding her for the last two days.
"It's strange really. She should have woken up by now. I mean, there wasn't anything seriously wrong with her; no injuries nor any signs of poison, venom, or infection. She was just exhausted and starving, nothing major. The soups I'd been feeding her should have been enough to take care of that." Maxian replied.
Laine huffed at that. I braced for him to say something that would either piss me off or embarrass me.
"Well, she better wake up soon, because we can't walk into her home with her tied up and unconscious. It might cause a misunderstanding."
I nodded in acknowledgment but then it hit me. This was Laine talking. And he'd said something that made sense. I stopped for a second and stared at him in apparent disbelief.
"What? Is there something on my face? Please tell me it's not a spider." He started frantically wiping something off his face.
"No…I just," I struggled for a second, trying to find the right words. "Since when did you become so perceptive?"
Laine scoffed at that, clearly taking offense, "Hey…what do you mean? I've always been perceptive…and smart." The pause was enough to tell me that even he knew he was lying through his teeth.
I was about to when suddenly I heard a familiar flapping sound, one that I'd hoped to never hear again. I looked up slowly, knowing exactly what I was gonna see, and lo and behold…a dragon.
And not just any dragon; it was the same damn dragon that had attacked us and burned my clothes clean off. Before I could move, my ears were met with loud screams.
It was Laine and Maxian. The idiots screamed and ran straight into the nearest bush, hiding behind the foliage. Saying that it took every ounce of strength in my body not to smack my forehead with the palm of my hand at how infinitely stupid they were would still be an understatement. Yet, despite the two of them literally ringing the dinner bell with their screaming, the dragon somehow did not notice us as it flew overhead, barely even looking in our direction.
Once it was out of sight, I sighed and called the two of them, "You can come out now, it's safe."
They emerged, covered in leaves and twigs, appearing every bit as dumb as they had proven themselves to be.
"So, just to clarify, your survival instinct in escaping a fire-breathing dragon was to hide behind something flammable?
Laine just shrugged it off, and so did Maxian, though at least he looked a little humiliated. I ignored the two and turned back to the woman, who still hadn't moved.
And then it started to dawn on me… something wasn't right. Even an unconscious person would have stirred, twitched, or shown at least some sign of life. But she had remained perfectly still, which, by all means, was not naturally possible.
I pulled out a dagger and held it to her throat, which obviously startled Maxian.
"What are you doing!?" he yelled.
"Shut up for a second," I shushed him and turned back to the woman, putting the dagger near her throat. "Open your eyes…now!" I said, "Or I slice." I tried to sound every bit as sincere as I could in that threat…and it worked.
Her eyes snapped open not a second later, and she was clearly pissed that I had called her bluff.
"So you were pretending to be asleep," I said. "Why?"
"Simple enough," she replied, "I don't trust outsiders," calm as anything, not a single sign of remorse.
I sheathed the dagger and stepped back.
"We saved you from the spider," I pointed out.
"You only killed it because you wanted to. You didn't even know I was alive."
I had no reply to that. She made a fair point.
I stood there for a bit, thinking about what to do with her. I knew I would have to work with the natives to fix this mess and to make sure General Ravon didn't make my life more miserable than it already was.
I needed to gain her trust.
"Laine, cut her loose," I said begrudgingly, "and Maxian, give her weapons back." That was the first step to prove to her we were here to help. Plus, I was sure I could have taken her on if she was foolish enough to attack.
"You sure?" Laine hesitated for a second, which, again, was very smart of him, but I still found it unnerving. Maxian, on the other hand, was already handing over her bow and arrows.
"You think I can't handle one archer?" I asked Laine. Sure, I could take her on, but I honestly did not want to go through that hassle.
The woman eyed us warily as we untied her.
"I'm Sam, and that's Laine, and Maxian," I introduced all of us as she rubbed her wrists, and for a few annoyingly long moments, she stood there, looking at us like we were freaks of nature. I'd get it if she were staring only at Laine like that, but why me?
"Ravi," she said after what felt like eons.
"Okay, so Ravi, I'm here to fix the problem of the beasts going wild. I'm sure you natives noticed that something was a little off with the creatures of this forest. I'm here to help, but in order to do that I need information. So, what do you know?"
I held out my hand, hoping she'd take it, making this easier for both of us. You can't blame a guy for trying.
Instead, she asked, "What use are three outsiders?"
I didn't dignify that with a response, choosing instead to simply point at the oversized lizard behind us, chasing butterflies like a happy little puppy.
She looked at it for a second, then shrugged, clearly understanding what that meant. "Fine, I will help, but I think it would be best if you spoke to our priest first. He would know more of this than I do." she explained.
Finally, a lead.
But of course, nothing here, in this godforsaken world, was ever simple. I sighed but still nodded because at least we had a direction now. After resting for a while, we made camp near the same site.
The next day, we could finally see the mountains beyond the treetops from our perches on the giant lizard, which was a relief. Maxian was talking to Ravi in a way that actually made it look like nervous flirting. The guy was clearly smitten.
I leaned towards Laine, trying to make sure the other two couldn't hear me.
"Hey…are priests here allowed to marry?" I asked curiously, trying to figure out if things worked differently for men of Gods, or the gods, in this world.
"Not that I know of," he whispered back. Clearly he too had picked up on Maxian's hopeless situation.
I took a glance at Maxian, feeling surprisingly sorry. "So I'm guessing that it's gonna be a problem for the poor guy." I sighed
Maxian, oblivious to the fact we had caught on, was asking Ravi why she'd been in the spider's lair.
"I was hunting," she answered with a strange annoyance. "For our annual ceremony. Hunters with the biggest prey get to pick their marriage partners first." she explained with a sigh , "I'm late now. All the good ones are probably taken."
Well, that explains the annoyance.
Maxian, however, perked up, taking it as the greatest news that he'd ever heard. "So you're still unmarried?" he enthusiastically asked her.
She clearly took that the wrong way because a moment later, she shot him a glare that could have stopped a dragon dead in its tracks. "Are you mocking me?" she asked, in a voice colder than ice.
Obviously taken by surprise, Maxian started stuttering, and as much as I like watching people crash and burn, I elbowed Laine in the ribs, signaling him to help the poor man.
Laine grinned and salvaged the situation. "So…Ravi, do you have someone you like back home?"
"No." God, this woman was depressing; the way she said that without any follow-ups, it was like a bullet.
But Maxian's shoulders visibly relaxed; it was like watching someone learn how to breathe again.
Laine, clearly thinking he was going strong with this lead, pressed on. "And…do you have a type?" he asked.
She answered without a moment's hesitation as if it was a question she was waiting to be asked. "Weak men."
I saw a look flash across Maxian's face, a look that said, There's hope for me.
Laine turned to me and went, "Well, at least there's no chance of her liking us."
I gave him a side eye. "Us? Dude…where the hell does your confidence even come from?" I was about to say more, but before he could answer, a voice called out.
"Stop!" It was like nails on a board.
I turned back to face what was in front of us. It was a red-haired youth standing in the trees with an arrow notched in his bow.
Okay, one archer, not that bad. As soon the thought crossed my mind, a dozen others appeared around him with bows trained straight at us.
Why do I even bother?
"State your business," he asked, but Ravi stepped off the lizard, and moved forward. "Stop, Sutu. These men must speak to the priest, they have saved my life. They want to stop the beasts."
Sutu scoffed at that, clearly not convinced. "And you believed them? You are a fool, sister! I am glad to see you safe, but you must shoot these men in the back and return to us." he ordered.
Ravi bristled. "Stop treating me like a child brother."
Laine leaned over to me and whispered somewhat gleefully, "I think we just walked into a family dispute."
"That is Never a good sign," I muttered under my breath.
Sutu sneered at us, silently studying us. Then he spoke. "Outsiders can only enter if they prove themselves."
"Wait…" I knew what was coming, and there was no way it was going to be good. "Is this going to mean a due—"
"WHICH MEANS A DUEL!" Sutu bellowed, his voice echoing through the trees.
The others around him whooped and hollered, too, making sounds that no sane man or woman would even attempt. But then again, I'd noticed that sanity was rare among the people of this world.
"Okay, let's get on with it." I said, sliding down from the lizard and getting ready to take on Ravi's brother. But what came down from the trees was a short, scrawny man strutting forward with a stupidly smug smile on his face.
"Wait…I thought Sutu was gonna be the one fighting…why…" before I could convey my confusion, the little guy looked at me with a horrified expression.
"Fight? Why would we fight? Is that how you savages settle disputes where you come from?"
At that point, I was just confused. "Huh?"
Sutu, still safely up in his tree, started to laugh, and I felt an uncontrollable urge to knock his teeth out. Judging by the look on Ravi's face, I wasn't the only one with that idea.
"This is a duel of wits, you savage outsider. We, unlike you, are a sophisticated race of people." His was probably the most annoying face I had ever encountered, even more so than Laine's.
The scrawny man in front of us nodded, echoing Sutu's sentiment. "We shall play a game of rock-throwing, with classical rules, of course. So, no consecutive turns. I warn you though, I, Merco, am a three-time champion of our village!" he announced proudly as if that mattered at all.
It all happened so fast after that. The natives drew a pattern in the dirt and handed me and Merco bags of rocks. Before I could gather myself, Merco tossed his first rock and landed in the center of the board-like pattern.
The crowd began to applaud politely like they were at Wimbledon.
"Ah. The Redbriar opening. A classic," one of the natives remarked. He then turned to me and sneered, "Your turn outsider."
Still confused, I half-heartedly threw a rock onto the dirt board. Before I could react, there were gasps all around, clearly audible.
"The Aurthenian Maneuver. Daring, this outsider knows his stuff," the natives said.
I looked at the sky, still confused by what was happening.
The hell am I doing?