Chapter Nine
"You've really got to teach her to fight" I said to Roy as we were riding away.
"I know" He replied blandly
"That's it? You know? Are you going to?"
"Of course I am. It's just a matter of when…"
"You'd better do it fast, or she'll get killed pretty quickly."
"I suppose your right. Next stop I'll give her a lesson"
"Good, thank you."
"You're welcome"
"I'm hungry!" Zahra said, sounding rather spoiled as she pulled in between Roy and I.
"What do you want us to do about it?" I asked, wondering why she was acting that way.
"Don't you have any food?"
"Afraid not, love" Roy said glancing back at her
"Hmph" I, and probably Roy, wondered why she was acting like a spoiled child, but we blew it off, I at least thinking it was just "one of those girl things".
""Where are we going, anyway?" she asked half an hour later
"We're still headed up to Harsen, I believe" Roy replied, I stayed silent.
"How far is it?"
"Another few hundred miles, we've got a few days left, averaging about 10 miles an hour."
"Is Harsen a big city?"
"Fairly so, it's on the river so it's good for trade" I remained speechless.
"Good."
"Why is that?"
"I…" she stuttered "I… I've… I've never been to a big city before" She sped up as she said that as if she weren't saying the whole truth
"Well then this should be fun" Roy said not seeming to recognize it as I did.
An hour passed with complete silence other than the wind rustling the leaves in the trees and our horses' hooves against the ground.
"I see you've got yourself a fine bodyguard" A chuckling voice came from above
"Who's there?" Zahra was panicking slightly and in whichever direction she looked, she leaned slightly in the opposite.
"Marth?" Roy knew who it was, apparently.
"Yep" I saw a multi-shaded blue figure drop onto the ground 20 feet in front of us.
"It's been so long," Roy said after a brief pause
"Almost 10 years, yep, that's a while" Zahra and I just sat and let them talk for a bit.
"Roy, I believe you should introduce us" I said, finally getting bored of their endless chatter about their childhood.
"Ah yes, sorry about that"
"Quite alright"
"Anyway, this is Link, my partner, and this is Zahra, and I'm not exactly sure what I'd call her" She shot him a strange look as Marth waved at us.
"Marth and I were childhood friends" He continued. I looked at Zahra and we both said "We can tell"
"I'm gonna go get my horse" Marth started walking back into the woods
"You still have Brute?" Roy asked
"Yeah, if I wanted to be outrun by snails" he laughed
Roy looked at me to see my quizzical face
"Don't hate him, do you?" He asked, looking rather concerned
"No, it's just, well, how long will he be with us?"
"I don't know, I'll ask him when he get back"
"I've only got about a week" Marth's voice came from behind
"That'll be fine, then" I whispered to Roy as I turned my head
"Too short, old friend" Roy said, nodding to me as he walked back to his horse, which he mounted.
"So where were you guys headed?" Marth asked as he caught up to us
"We're headed up to Harsen, to catch a huge sum" I decided I should try to join their conversations
"What do you mean?"
"We're freelance mercenaries, didn't Roy tell you?"
"Well yeah but I've heard things have been running a little slow in your world, recently."
"They have, we just got lucky on this"
"Mind if I join you for the time I'm around?"
"Can you fight?"
"With Roy as a friend, if you want to live, you have to be able to fight" He replied laughing
"Well then not at all" I said half-heartedly, knowing he might be helpful if and when we had to fight the bloody trio.
"Let's get moving!" Zahra said loudly after a five second pause.
"Alright, alright" Roy said hastily as he kicked his horse to set it moving. We all did the same and soon were off moving along speedily.
The endless sound of Roy and Marth chatting away echoed in my ears, even when they briefly stopped.
"This is going to be an annoying week" I whispered to myself.
Zahra and I drifted back, not far enough to where we couldn't see them, just far enough to where we couldn't hear what they were saying too well.
"How long before they fight?" I asked, turning my face to her and keeping my eyes on them.
"I'll give 'em another hour, at most"
"That's all? I think they'll last today" I turned my eyes to see her vacantly watching the trees go by slowly.
"Okay, two" She said realizing I was probably a bit more accurate than her.
"You can't just change your bet in the middle of it!" I said in that this-should-be-obvious tone.
"I can and I just did!" She said in the same way.
"Well fine then, I'm gonna win anyway"
"In your dreams" she said as she turned her head away, returning to her vacant staring.
As the light surrounding us slowly shaded darker and darker, we began looking for a suitable spot to sleep for the night.
"How about over there?" Marth pointed to a semi-circular clearing with a slowly trickling spring off to one side.
"Looks good to me" I said, growing fond of the trickling water, going off into a two inch wide creek.
"I don't like it" Zahra spoke up stubbornly
"Then sleep somewhere else" I said, getting annoyed.
"Maybe I will" she said, as if that were supposed to offend me.
"Good luck at not getting eaten, by the way"
"I can handle myself" She said as she continued down the path a way before she pulled off the road.
"I'll be with her, I don't really want to see her killed" Roy said as he followed her.
"Guess it's just the two of us, then" I said to Marth as we dismounted and tied our horses to nearby trees.
"Should be fun" he said, taking brownish a bed roll off the side of his jet black horse.
"What's her name?" I could tell at first glance she was a gorgeous female.
"I just call her Alex" He said, picking up and throwing sticks into a pile in the center of the clearing.
"Nice name," I admitted carelessly.
"More or less" He shrugged. "So that Zahra, quite a catch, eh?" He continued
"Yeah, and how he got her was the weirdest thing I've ever seen!" I said only half sarcastically.
"How's that?"
"She was dressed up as a miner, and she had some platinum, actually. He stole it without her noticing, then she found out a bit down the road and came back and asked for a fight." Roy laughed "In the middle of the fight they kissed, and they've been inseparable since."
"That sounds a lot like Roy, I must say" He said, after a pause due only to his laughter.
"Yeah, yeah it does" I said, chuckling.
"So what was he like as a child?" I asked, actually curious.
"Ah, I don't really remember that much" He said, blankly staring into the darkness.
"Well tell me what you do"
"Alright" he said, still staring blankly "Well, when we were both about six, we got some sticks and started play-fighting with them" he continued "One day he told me to just take a swing at him. He didn't have a stick or anything." He paused "I hesitated, then I swung. Before I finished my swing, he had half the stick in his hand, the other half was still in my two." I laughed.
"I've got some other stories but I guess I'll save them for another time, I'm really tired." He said, laying down on his makeshift bed. I would have argued, but I as well was tired.
"Ok. Goodnight, then" I said, laying down on my bed, opposite the fire than his.
"Goodnight, Link"