The Wounded Warsong
Chapter 54: Bound
"I think you'rrre about to lose your feathers ya old buzzard! You can't be serious I mean look at ya!" He tossed down his cane and stood tall in defiance! Many of the Yagudo nearby gasped and backed away.
"I would never lie! And I will not back down; I will win!" He took an open stance as if to be ready as she laughed. A cloaked figure walked toward them with a long drum swinging from his hip.
"I could not help but over hear this tossing of words. I have been called to this land to bring back the head of a sinner to the Old Country but this land is filled with many special things. If you permit me I will use my drum and my heart's beat to enhance your bare handed duel." His voice sounded frail and far away. He turned the hood back to reveal a red face with stern red eyes and wild brown hair hiding a pair of small, upright ears.
"Enhance our duel? Your heart's beat?"
"Your bones will not waiver, your breath will always return, your muscles never burn, your heart always beat with mine. An equalizer. It is what I also do as Rojos of the Old Country and I would offer this to you." Xalmo looked to Abuela, smiling, as she stared back, grinning wide with barred teeth.
"Play!" He charged Abuela as she jumped back away. The Rojos set the drum on the ground and began to hasten his heartbeat and feel the rhythm in his hands as they motioned just above the drum without touching it. He stopped and pulled the rest of the cloak off himself to reveal a thin male Mithran body covered only with a skin loincloth. The markings on his body were covered by dark red ink in long bars across his shoulders, arms, and torso. His heartbeat began to race faster as he stood with a balanced stance and began to breathe quicker. The crowd of Mithra began chatting up a storm seeing him and several approached him as he was tensing up. His heartbeat reached a peak and he struck the drum like lightning, knocking all near off their feet with its force!
"Now it begins Xalmo," Abuela whispered.
"May it be one they will remember for ages," he whispered back.
"Even up till now he hasn't wavered. He's depending on us so much, Sister."
"Tell me about it. Allocen still creeps me out... And that is him by the way. I remember this man from such a long time ago. He must have been pretty old when Isaak got his can kicked. That loser became an épéiste... I'd have never guessed. He was a poor knight that used to try and please ladies at the pub I used to frequent... Had some great one-liners though haha!" he shook his head.
"I hope he can keep himself together... Isaak has been happier since meeting him again though." She sighed. "There are so many in these reserves. This could take weeks to find them all. I know them like I've known my sisters and daughters, but it's becoming tiring with that many. Each scent is so faint when they're not alive... And then there's that thing." She pointed ahead of them. They were sitting on a familiar black granite-like floor in front of a dark archway.
"Come to think of it these past few night's dreams have looked like this haven't they?" Orinthia nodded. "Where's your damn fluffy fields and green hills?! For once I miss frolicking in the grass and tulips like a little girl! Wait wait, no I don't..." He made a provoking gesture at the arch then folded his arms and looked away.
"It's painful seeing them this way... I even thought I recognized a few of them. A past far gone... a former husband; a neighbor from the Old Country; another warrior we killed back then. Even... even..." Orinthia looked her way and nodded.
"What? Don't tell me..."
"When I was seven there were a number of neighborhood children I used to play with in South San d'O. After the day's lesson was told or during a Lightsday we'd run through the streets in the warm sun. I was good at hide and seek since I could follow their scent and find them almost anywhere. They loved trying to find a spot where I couldn't find them. One day one of those friends stopped showing up. His mother cried as she told us he wasn't hiding after a few days... but I found where the scent stopped."
"No way..." They nodded. "Now you gonna make me cry..."
"But what's the point of him being here?"
"From what Isaak told us it doesn't really make sense... A child's spirit for this?"
"He was nice... Animals seemed to recognize this too. The rabbits outside would never run from him whenever Abuela decided to take us out to East Ronfaure. He could almost touch them they were so calm around him, but he never did."
"A natural-born huh? Goddess those are rare... I knew only one natural-born when I was alive and I met quite a lot of people. Well... I guess I shouldn't have really even met her; pfah doesn't matter anymore. Fair Hume, black hair, loved to drink. My kinda lady... though... it was kinda cute that she had a big blue crab with her everywhere that had some jugs bolted on its shell. Real convenient; could set a drink or a tray and it wouldn't spill and the thing would happily follow her and nibble on left overs. Pinched me once when I tried to-uh ahem, never mind. Yeah that went nowhere fast..." He looked off and sighed.
"I wonder how everyone back home has been..." Gluttony stood up and looked behind them.
"It's Haborym. He's checking on you again. They just don't sleep do they..." The shadow stood.
"It's roughly morning again." Gluttony sat back down facing the other way.
"We're gonna have to eat sometime doll. I've been holding it back as much as I can but I have to have a taste soon... Can feel it in the metal. Doesn't have to be yours though."
