“Worried about Halide and Aramina?”
Uncel’s voice jolted me out of my thoughts and I held the staff a bit tighter, tearing my gaze away from the text. The window hovered in front of my face no matter where I looked but it was translucent enough for me to see Uncel’s furrowed brows and tight smile.
“You’re wearing Halide’s jacket,” they nodded their head and I glanced down at the sleeves nearly falling over my hands. “I’d know that ratty old thing anywhere.”
I was at a loss for words. While Halide and Aramina were the furthest thing from my mind at the moment, I did feel some concern over leaving them with Rhesh and the others. If they were sentries for this Lord of the Land, and the Lord so happened to be the enemy of Sinaba then wouldn’t that have been equal to a death sentence. My silence must have worried Uncel because in a few strides, they stood beside me and clapped a heavy hand on my shoulder.
“Don’t worry about those two, not even those Players would be stupid enough to pull anything when Aramina’s around.”
I remembered the way Aramina twirled the knives in hand before sinking it into the map on the wall. While it did scare me at the time, I was a little grateful to know that she was on my side. Especially if she could sink a dagger between my eyes with only the flick of a wrist. Remembering the quick hand movements she made to Halide and the way they spoke to one another, I thought asking Uncel would be a good way to understand. They all seemed close after all.
“Do you know what the hand signs Aramina makes mean?”
Uncel hummed curiously, then made an o-shape with their mouth. “Ah, didn’t understand any of them, did you?” I shook my head and Uncel patted my shoulder again, jostling me just a bit with the impact. “Ask her to teach you sometime. You’ll be sticking around for awhile, won’t you?”
I wanted to say yes but I remembered Nubi’s presence. They did say that we couldn’t stay in one place for too long. On a quest to save the world and all. But SInaba was also a place in this world and if we left them abandoned that wouldn’t be very heroic at all. I wondered if I was coming up with excuses to agree with Uncel and stay for just a little while longer while avoiding Nubi’s lectures, but none seemed good enough.
“Til your memory comes back?” Uncel offered, seeming skeptical and unsure.
“Yeah…” I said numbly, lowering my gaze to the quarter staff clutches tightly in my hands.
I wanted to say there was no guarantee my memory would come back. Not all of it. Nothing that would tell me why I ended up here or definitive proof of who I was before. And if I was honest, there was a small part of me that wanted to know more than anything. The longer I spent here though and found myself wrapped up in this — the less I could feel it. Nubi was right. I couldn’t go back and this new reality was dangerous.
One way or another, I’d have to make due and survive.
“Unless you’re thinking about leaving without settling your debts.”
I froze for a second, trying to recall anyone that I might have owed. Undoubtedly, I racked up quite a bit of debts starting from Granny Fu saving my skin to Halide and Aramina giving me a temporary home. Then there was Ysmur, and Uncel, and I couldn’t forget the squirming bundle at my neck — Nubi. A familiar twisting feeling made me feel top heavy. My heart, a heavy weight, sinking to the pits of my stomach.
“Well, I can’t let you go out there alone without knowing how to defend yourself — if you die by a prickleboar, Fu might be just as likely to roast you with it.”
Surprised, I looked up at Uncel. That’s right. I owed Granny Fu two prickle boars as her not-so-much-hired employee. Relief untwisted the knots in my stomach and I nodded, watching as Uncel worked around the counter then shouldered a bow and quiver full of arrows. The spirit in the fire watched with coal-like eyes burning bright and opened their maw showing sharpened teeth made from flames writhing in the furnace. I was sure it was meant to intimidate me but Uncel didn’t seem to think anything of. Only passing by with a light smack against the furnace’s bricks, jostling the spirit who hissed and spat embers at Uncel’s back.
“If you’re that intimidated by Tirhisa, I don’t know how you’ll survive the Faefolk,” they called over their shoulder and I hastened to follow.
Nubi peeked from behind my shoulder as Uncel led us beneath an archway and through a squat narrow corridor that couldn’t fit more than once of us at a time. While Uncel had to duck, my head could barely reach the ceiling, and I glanced aside at walls filled with drawers with metal knobs.
“You know about Nubi?” I asked, Nubi shuffling free from my clothes and floating near my head.
“I told you before, Fu told us everything we needed to know, yeah?” Uncel opened a door at the end of the corridor and I shielded my eyes as light poured into the dim space. “Also told us about your little fae friend. Don’t see many around here as helpful and quiet as yours.”
I was close to saying Nubi wasn’t very quiet but seeing how they preened at the praise, I let it go. Besides, with how often Nubi helped me, it seemed like a useless point to make by now. Uncel led me to the back of the smithy where a strip of land was fenced in with wooden posts. Whereas the rest of the rolling hillside was covered in green, there were black marks etched into the soil and only small sprouts of grass. I followed Uncel into the enclosure and looked down as the toe of my boot scuffed the dirt, the brown leather covered in black when I pulled it back.
“That’s just soot.”
Uncel strode along across the arid field, thumbs tucked in the loops of their belt, and arrows jiggling in their quiver. “A good lesson for you to learn next time you decide to try magic in a place that might not be so favorable.” They turned on their heel, kicking up a small cloud of soot as their boots skidded across the soil.
I squeezed the staff and looked around us. Magic?
Air, watch out!
I staggered backward, my heart nearly breaking free of my chest, its pounding felt in my throat as I nearly stumbled into the wooden fencing. An arrow sank into the earth where I’d been standing and if not for Nubi’s voice, I might have missed it entirely. I glanced at Nubi floating inches by the side of my head then focused on Uncel who, to my surprise, was notching another arrow and taking aim.
“You want me to fight you?” I asked, hoping to stop them from drawing.
An amused look crossed their face, the severe set of their lips twisting into a grin. “Spar,” they said slowly. “I’ve seen how you fight and you got a ways to go before you think you can match me.”
I wasn’t sure whether to take that as a compliment or not but they were right. Uncel lowered their bow and looked up to the sky. While I wanted to follow suit, I was wary of taking my eyes off them.
“Not a lot of time before noon starts crawling, so let’s stick to the basics…”
“Wait, isn’t this a little unfair? I have a staff and you have a bow and arrow.”
Uncel looked to me and smirked, tucking the arrow into their quiver then holstering their bow. “Alright, unfair for who?” They asked, arms folded loosely.
“Well, you.” I thought it was a bit obvious but from the way they looked at me, I wondered if I should have said anything at all. Bumbling, I continued on, almost feeling like I was sputtering. “I could just hit you and you couldn’t even draw an arrow.”
“Oh-ho, think you’re that fast?” Uncel laughed and my ears burned hot though I felt cold dread when they took to their bow again. “Well, let’s see then.”
This time I would be ready for the arrow, or at least that’s what I told myself. Wielding my staff as if it were a club, I reared my arms back as Uncel drew their arrow. The tip of it began to glow red and at its tip was a blinding gold. My mouth fell open and I’d scarcely been able to breathe when it came flying toward me. Swinging my club upward with all my strength, I heard a thunk and winced, lowering it slowly.
The arrow was stuck in the staff’s side and carefully, I reached to grasp its shaft and yank it free. Heat filled my palm when I touched and I jerked backward, blowing on my hand. With how the tip glowed and when it struck my staff, I wondered if it was going to burst into flames but only small wisps of smoke curled around its side.
“Only an amateur can’t control their flames,” Uncel called, and I looked up, startling when I saw them notching another arrow. “Don’t get too comfortable though. Getting hit still hurts!”
The arrow flew free and I ducked, starting to run around the enclosure. Staying in one place would only get me hit one way or another but while I decided not to stay still, so did Uncel. It was one thing to find them looming over me after a fall, and another to see them charging at me. They were quick on their feet and notched an arrow once they had me in their sights. Again and again, I tried to duck and out pace but Uncel had a good eye. Cuts began to bloom along my arm, hairs on the back of my neck clipped by a passing arrow, and the back of my jacket.
“You’re a Wind Walker!” Uncel yelled out with a sweeping gesture of their arms to the world around us. “Use the air around you. Channel and force!”
I loosened my grip on my staff enough that my knuckles weren’t crying in pain. Channel and force. The club came to mind. How energy seemed to draw around it and build until it couldn’t hold anymore, then exploded. The staff was lighter and as I swung it upward, the arrow Uncel sent my way went soaring into the sky.
Relief was short lived because, at my success, Uncel had taken to drawing two arrows. “Keep your staff up and keep it moving,” they instructed. When they let their arrows fly, they took off in a breakneck pace to close the distance between us. I narrowly dodged the arrows with sweeping swings of my staff. Uncel met me after the last was deflected and I wasn’t sure if my staff would hold beneath the weight of one of their fists.
Staggering backward, I covered my mouth with my sleeve when soot rose in the air.
Wait.
Uncel turned toward me and I kicked up the soot, a cloud of it filling the space between us. My eyes narrowed and I trained my gaze on where the cloud was drifting, following its path with my staff. The soot curled around my staff’s end and when Uncel’s silhouette approached through its veil, I threw it back in their direction.
The cloud of soot thinned out and rushed toward Uncel, engulfing them until I could no longer see them through it. I lurched backward as it dispersed, rising into the atmosphere.
“That’s the way!” Uncel shouted through hacking coughs. From head to toe, they were covered in soot and only by their hand covering their face was it spared. Although, it did make for a funny outline when they pulled their hand away. “Not bad.”
I almost wanted to smile but taking a sideways glance at the arrow still embedded in my staff, I took up another stance.
Uncel rubbed at their nose, smearing soot across their forehead and cheeks. “Enough of that,” they said, waving a hand. “No explosions…” They walked closer to me and took the arrow by its shaft, twisting it one way then the other to pull it free. “And your weapon is still in tact.”
My muscles ached as I loosened them and leant against my staff for support. It was quick but I didn’t have much time to think about what Uncel said to me during.
They went to collect their arrows scattered about the enclosure, and I took the opportunity to let Nubi dote over me and take a breath. “How do you know it’s an air weapon...?” I asked when I’d finally gotten my bearings.
Uncel crouched down near the enclosure’s opening, inspecting one of their arrows. “It was made by a Wind Walker,” they said, glancing up to me. “And works in the hands of one.”
Windwalker. I’d heard of that before but I was hesitant to open up my skills now and take a look. Uncel jostled their quiver a few times then gave a groan that echoed in the silence.
“Well, now that that’s handled. You should get going.”
I tilted my head. “Going...?”
“Shali is waiting for you, isn’t she?” Uncel gave me a flat stare. “She should be somewhere out by Heslot Pond. Tell her Fu said if you’re both not back by supper, you’re not getting any.”
I squeezed my staff tighter. Right, I was supposed to find Shali and then the prickle boars. “Right, uhm…” I bowed my head a little, though I was careful to keep an eye on them. “Thank you for the basics.”
Uncel nodded curtly and seemed amused by my backward glance when I stepped out of the wooden fencing. I dusted off the collar of my jacket and looked off to where the grassland cut into the forest.
“Kid.”
I turned back and found Uncel looking at me from the smithy’s backdoor. They hummed low and rubbed the back of their neck then dropped their hand.
“Air,” they started again a second later. “Keep that fae of yours away from those Players, got it?”
I nodded slowly and Uncel gave a firm one in reply, turning away from me and stepping inside, the door shut firmly behind them. That was the first time they’d said my name and it was for a warning.
With the idea of this ‘Enemy of Sinaba’ in the back of my mind, I stared at the door then looked to the forest.
“We should keep moving, right?” Nubi asked, and I hummed in agreement.
Comments (3)
See all