Odaba sat back in her chair, fanning a small indoor fire. Once the flames were burning well, she fetched a long tin box off a dusty shelf. The box contained a dozen or so long hollow needles. She placed several of these needles around the fire, their tip being heated by the flames. An assortment of herbs and flowers grew in small containers in a small back room. She plucked a small handful of leaves and began to grind them with her well-worn stone bowl and pestle. A few more additions of semi-liquids and powders turned the herbal extracts to a thick salve.
Carefully she took a heated needle, placing the cold end in her mouth and sucked the medicine into the needle as if it were a thin straw. She repeated this pattern with all of the needles. She turned to Kilik.
"Brace yourself, boy." She stuck the needle deep into one of the fang's piercings. Kilik's body jerked as she quickly blew into the end, forcing the medicine down. She stuck in another, and another, each one Kilik reacted to more violently.
Maxi heard the ruckus clearly, but Tani kept a firm hold on his vest, forcing him to stay out of the hut.
"Are you sure she's helping him?" Maxi asked cocking an eyebrow at the girl.
"The treatment is not gentile," Tani admitted. "He will begin screaming soon."
As if on cue, a suffering cry shook through the hut, forcing Maxi to cover his ears. Tani did the same and without her restraining grip, Maxi took his chance to see what was going on. He bolted into the hut, before Tani could catch him.
Kilik was still on the cot, but thrashing violently, a few needles still sticking out of his shoulder.
"Hold him!" Odaba yelled over the noise, "Keep him still!" Maxi pressed down on Kilik's healthy shoulder, and the wrist of the injured arm as Tani held his ankles down. Odaba carefully extracted the remaining needles. Kilik clawed at Maxi with his healthy arm, leaving scratches along the back of Maxi's arm, some started bleeding slightly.
"Hold him! Hold him still!" Odaba continued to order as only one needle remained.
"No problem!" Maxi said sarcastically, "Take your time, lady!" Finally the last needle was free of Kilik's flesh, and he settled slightly. Odaba smeared some of the herbal slave over the surface of the wound. Kilik stopped struggling.
"Get some bandages, Tani, wrap it lightly."
"What was all that about? Is he ok? How come he isn't awake?" Maxi demanded.
"Young man, if you continually ask questions how do you expect to hear the answers? Come outside, your head needs clearing." The old woman left the hut and sat down carefully on a stump outside. Maxi followed her out.
"You better tell me what all that was about or I'll—"
"You were born with two ears and only one mouth for a reason, Maxi, be silent and listen." Maxi closed his mouth and sat down on another stump moodily. "It is very fortunate Kilik has learned to slow his body. If it had been you that was bitten, you would have been dead days ago." Maxi rolled his eyes, but kept his mouth shut. "The lizardman's venom is a powerful toxin. The only counter for it is a rare mountain herb, Nythellis, that is quite toxic in its own right. It kills the effects of the lizardman's venom, but also causes much pain and hallucinations to the victim. Only one of strong soul and body can withstand the nightmares that come from it. That is why Kilik struggled so. He might have seen us as flesh devouring insects, or ghosts of enemies long dead, a suffocating mist, any number of fearful things. But now he sleeps the Nythellis off, by morning, he shall be able to speak with you. Any more questions, Maxi?"
"Do you have anything to eat? I'm starving."
* * *
Knowing that Kilik would finally be awake by morning made the night pass twice as slowly for Maxi. Instead of trying to sleep, he worked off his anxious energy with some routine maneuvers using Soryuju. The sound of Soryuju cutting through the air soothed his nerves. The sound of applause made him stop and look up into the trees. Tani was sitting in the branches clapping.
"What are you doing up there?"
"I always sleep in the trees. In fact I was sleeping until you started making whooshing noises."
"Oh. Sorry."
Tani deftly climbed down the tree while saying, "You don't have to apologize. You move nicely, and you handle your weapon well. It's entertaining to see. But, you used to have two nunchaku, didn't you? What happened to the other?"
"See, what is that?!" Maxi accused, "How do you do things like that?!"
Tani looked at him blankly. "I don't know what you mean."
"How do you and the old lady know things about me and Kilik ?" he said irritably, "Gives me the heebie-jeebies."
Tani hugged her knees. "I can't say. Odaba says if I tell how we know things, people will try to use our knowledge for bad things."
"Can't you even give me a hint?"
Tani smiled. "Like Odaba says: two ears, one mouth. Listen twice as much as you speak. And you, Maxi, you don't listen at all."
"Now wait a sec—"
"Can you teach me to use nunchaku?" Tani asked loudly. At that moment, her face full of eagerness and admiration, she reminded him very much of Tokikou. Maxi thought it over a while. "Please?" she coaxed.
"Well, you can't expect to be as good as I am," Maxi began.
"Of course not," she agreed quickly.
"And it takes years of practice."
"I will practice everyday!"
"All right then," he extended the nunchaku to her. She cradled Soryuju in both hands as if it were a ticking bomb.
"Now what do I do?"
Maxi rolled his eyes. "This is going to be a long night," he muttered.
* * *
Kilik opened his eyes, and tried sitting up slowly and carefully. He lightly touched the bandages around his shoulder and examined his surroundings. Shelves of knick-knacks, dried herbs, utensils and tools Kilik couldn't imagine the use of lined against the wall. Ashes from a small fire were in a stone pit in the center of the room. Morning light streamed down from a small hole in the roof. An old woman came in from another room.
"Ah, you're awake. Good."
"You helped me?" Kilik asked indicating the bandages.
"Yes, I am Odaba. You are cured of the lizardman's venom, although you still carry an evil I cannot extract."
"I know. The Evil Seed."
"Be careful, Kilik. Listen to yourself, not the Seed." Kilik looked at her confused.
"Hey you're awake!" Maxi said coming into the small hut. "About time."
"How far are we from Banok? How did we get here?"
"Haven't you guessed?" Maxi said sitting down on the floor next to the cot. "I carried you. It wasn't easy either! There was rain and snow, a pack of ravenous wolves, bandits, a landslide, tornados, floods, fires, taxes—you're broke by the way— and did I mention the vampires?" Kilik laughed a little before wincing at the pain in his shoulder.
"And... Kali-Yuga?" he asked looking around the room.
"Yeah, yeah, your stick's here too. Odaba's apprentice Tani's cleaning it up for you outside." Kilik sighed with relief.
"It seems I owe the both of you my life," he said with feeling. "Thank you."
* * *
A few days of rest at Odaba's and daily dressings of her many balms and healing salves had Kilik back on his feet in no time. Meanwhile, Maxi and Tani made much progress with her use of the nunchaku. When it was time for the two men to once again on their way, Tani guided them on a short cut through the forest and back to the main road.
"After a mile of travel on this road there will be a fork, right goes to a large village, it's the last chance to refill on supplies for ten miles or so," she instructed, "left continues to the west, it's the only trail through the mountain range, so there will be a toll for using it." She had her usual broad smile plastered on her face, but was obviously sad to see them go. "Journey well. I'll miss you Maxi. You too, Kilik."
Kilik smiled at her warmly, "Thank you for all your help." Tani turned to leave.
"Er-hem," Maxi pretended to clear his throat, catching Tani's attention. "I, uh... Here." Maxi tossed a wrapped bundle to her. She opened it up to find a pair of roughly made nunchaku. Whittled wooden handles held together by thick string. Tani smiled broadly.
"I know they aren't exactly pretty," Maxi stammered, "but they're dang well-balanced, I kinda surprised myself there."
Tani hugged him. "Thank you, I promise I will be a strong warrior one day!" She ran back up the path to return to Odaba. The two men watched for a moment, she waved a last fair well from a distance, and then disappeared into the thickness of the trees.
"Well, it looks like you're someone's hero. You sure got a soft spot for kids."
"Shuddup," Maxi snapped, clearly embarrassed.
The pair of them stayed on the road, coming to the fork Tani mentioned. The village was clearly seen about a half-mile past the forked path.
"We're almost out of food and water, we'll have to stop here like Tani suggested," Maxi said stopping at the path's split. "Er, I'll go alone, eh?"
Kilik nodded sullenly. "It would be for the best. Here, I've only got a few gold pieces." Kilik handed over a leather coin pouch. Maxi waved it away.
"Don't need it, mate. I've got enough to make us some coin in town, trust me," he said breaking into a jog.
"Well don't do anything dishonest!" Kilik called after him.
"No worries, I won't get caught!" Maxi yelled back.
The village was all hustle and bustle in the large marketplace. Vendors and customers haggling prices, colorful banners and booth decorations to catch the eye. Maxi walked along, ignoring the sales pitches being yelled at him from both sides of the street. A small pub faced the marketplace. Maxi began to walk by it, finding it unsuitable for his plan. Just as he passed the entrance, two big men dragged some drunken customers towards the door . Maxi watched with his interest peaked.
"Out with you!" One of the big guys yelled, throwing the smaller man out of the building.
"Don't show your face around here till you can pay for your drinks, maggots!" The other big guy yelled, tossing his drunken customers out the door and into the dusty street. They dusted their hands at a job well done and returned into the pub.
Maxi smiled to himself. "Perfect." He walked into the pub and took a look around. A lot of scrupulous characters were hanging around. They all stared back at him. Maxi strutted over to the counter and turned to face the patrons of the establishment.
"Gentlemen! I am here to offer you the chance to double, triple perhaps even quadruple your pocket money! And the game is one you are all well-aware of I'm sure," he paused to build suspense. "Arm wrestling." The crowd erupted in laughter. Maxi chose an empty table, sat down and emptied his coin pouch. At least a dozen copper coins as well as five or six silver spilled onto the table." The laughter stopped.
"He's serious!" one man called out.
"Go on, take his chump change," someone else jeered. A tall man with a mustache sat opposite of Maxi and put his elbow on the table."
"I'll play your game, pretty boy," he smiled wickedly bearing yellowed teeth.
"Two silver coins on the table first, winner gets the whole pile," Maxi said. The man put the coins on the table. One of the waitresses came over to referee.
Maxi and the man grabbed the other's hand.
"On the count of three," the waitress said, "One, two three!"
Bam! The man's hand was down. Maxi slid the two silver pieces over to his pile.
"Wait just a second, let me try that again!" the man demanded.
"Sure. Two more coins." The man laid down two more and the waitress counted to three.
Wam! "Care to try again?" Maxi smiled.
One by one, bigger and stronger men tried their luck, but Maxi beat them all. The pile of coins on the table grew bigger and bigger. Finally, one of the pub's bouncers sat down. Just what Maxi wanted.
"Hey now," he said acting scared, "Come on, this isn't fair, you've got biceps the size of melons! There's no way I could beat you!"
"You said anybody could play your game!"
"Gosh, I did, didn't I?" Maxi said meekly.
"And you better keep your word," the bouncer added menacingly.
"Well, let's at least make it interesting. Hey! Who else thinks the big guy will win? Place your bets on the table!" The gathered crowd took out their money, most of them placing it on the big guy's side. The waitress put a single copper coin on Maxi's side.
"All I've got," she explained and shrugged her shoulders sadly.
"You'll have a lot more in a few minutes." He winked at her.
Maxi took the bouncer's hand.
"One!" the waitress yelled.
"Two!" The bouncer scowled at Maxi.
"Three!"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Thank you for reading and for the reviews! ^_^
More action to come in the next chapter! ^_~
::Xiantau::