Osrik is a character from Emu777's story Guardian. I have his personal permission to use Osrik, and have his approval on the interpretation of the character. The flashback in this chapter occurs shortly after Emu777's chapter 9, when Osrik leaves Benalia.

Chapter Ten

Fateful Meeting

The trip to the inn was quick. There was very little traffic in the streets to slow the troupe's progress. Within five minutes, they stood outside of the Bridge and Thorn.

"Well, here we are," Yura said, happily. "The Bridge and Thorn is one of my favourite inns this side of Pieta, which has surprisingly nice accommodations given that the climate keeps travellers away for the most part."

The Bridge and Thorn was a nice building. It was in a state of slight disrepair, as funds were decreasing, but it was relatively insignificant. One or two shingles hung loosely from the elegantly curved roof, and the paint had a few flakes coming off of the carved pillars next to the large double doors. These details aside, it seemed more of a manor than an inn.

Yura pushed through the doors and the rest followed him in. The inside was much like the outside, extremely well designed and decorated, but just a hint shabbier than would be expected. The windows were ineptly washed and a few cobwebs hung in the hard to reach corners.

But the luxurious cushioned seats and fine wooden tables that sat evenly spaced in the dining hall made these details easy to overlook. The place was fairly empty. A few of the townsfolk sat at the tables, and only one man stood at the wide desk.

Normally there were three, one to handle food orders, another for beverages, and another for room rentals. With low business, one man handled all three.

Yura approached the man. He was very large around the middle, wearing a stained white apron below his moustached face. He was obviously the chef in addition to the desk clerk. "Good afternoon. My companions and I will be spending the night, and likely several more. Could you get us keys to enough rooms to sleep seven?"

The man looked up. He was slightly disconcerted by the warriors standing in front of him but was polite enough not to take issue with it. "That'll be three rooms, two with two beds, and a three bed suite." The portly man scribbled a price on a sheet of paper and handed it to Yura.

"That's it? Normally, I pay more than twice that much to stay here."

The clerk sighed deeply and hung his head. "With the Yoma killings, not a lot of people come buy. With bad business, the price drops."

"I see." Yura dug out a good number of gold sticks from his bag, and handed them to the clerk. "Keep the extra for yourself. With bad business the employees suffer first. I don't know how long we'll be staying, so I'll be paying nightly."

The man stared at the money, startled. That was enough to pay for the whole week. "Th-thank you sir." He handed Yura three keys and pointed them to the stairs. The group headed up to the third floor and went into the three bed suite. It was the best place for the big group to talk.

Helen whistled loudly. "Nice place. I've never seen a bedroom this size." It was indeed a large room. The third floor had the most expensive rooms in the inn. The ceiling stretched to twice the height of anyone there and hung several crystal chandeliers, though they were a bit dusty.

It had its own restroom facilities and a small kitchen with wood for the stove. Yura headed strait for the kitchen and started a fire in the stove. "Sorry. I didn't buy enough fish for all of us. I guess we'll split what I make and buy something more downstairs later."

Yura pulled out the pieces of fish from his bag and chopped them up into six even pieces. He wasn't making one for Miria because he had no idea when she would arrive. After the fish was cut, he pulled out a handful of small jars filled with herbs and sauces and used that to season the fish.

Between the tuna, Grouper and the various vegetables that Yura pulled from his pack, there was maybe enough for everyone to have a snack.

Yura thought about splitting his share of the greenery between the others, as he couldn't digest it, but decided not to. He still enjoyed well prepared roughage on occasion and not eating it would look odd in this situation.

The women ate in companionable silence while the men chatted amongst themselves. Though Helen and Osrik seemed content enough in general, Deneve never took her eyes off Yura. Her gaze wasn't threatening so much as it was simply intense, like she was trying to look through Yura rather than at him.

Helen set her plate aside and contentedly slumped in her chair. "That was the best meal I've had in a long time. Where'd you learn to cook yo?"

Yura finished off his own plate and set it aside. "I learned a little bit from everywhere I've ever stopped. I've had a very long time to perfect my craft." He smiled at Helen. "It's always nice to be appreciated."

Clare was getting impatient. She looked at Osrik, and gently demanded "Why are we all here? I would like you to explain why there are four warriors stationed in this town, and why we need a boat to complete our mission."

Osrik, who had been catching up with Yura on their experiences since their last meeting, turned to face Clare, smile dimming slightly but not fading entirely. "I'd rather wait until Miria was here. It's not like we're in a big hurry anyway. Yura says it won't be possible to get a boat ready to sail before noon tomorrow anyway."

Helen stood up and stretched. "So what do we do till Miria turns up? I'm gonna get bored just sitting around here yo."

Deneve spoke up, facing Osrik but looking at Yura through the side of her eyes. "I want to know how you and Yura met each other." Deneve hoped that this would ease some of her concerns about Yura, though she didn't know where these misgivings came from.

"There's not much for me to tell," Osrik said, shrugging. "Yura had the big part in it, so I'll let him tell the story."

"You're far too modest my friend." Yura laughed and patted Osrik on the shoulder. "You were the hero there, and I'm the one who didn't do that much. But as your story telling abilities are somewhat limited for entertainment value, I suppose I'll tell it for you.

"I was coming in from Lenowin, headed for Benalia. I had gone that way to check up on a few business interests…"

It had been a long walk from Lenowin. It was a small town a good distance north, with a good bit of harsh rocky terrain along the way. It got very cold in the winter around there, but the summer temperature was very reasonable, like it was now.

The town was especially well known for its lumber and the working of their products. Yura didn't own a business there but he did invest heavily. Except for the long walk through uninhabited terrain, it was a worthwhile trip.

He was late into his eighth day of straight walking, at a pace few people could match and as the landscape evened out to an evergreen forest, and the dirt road beneath his feet became better tended, Benalia was finally in sight.

Benalia was a fairly military town, and few people got in unannounced, but he managed to get an overnight stay on the way in. He could probably do so again.

It was oddly popular for weddings, though he really didn't know why.

He had sworn to himself that if he ever had to go that way again, he'd just fly there and get it over with. Most of the territory in this area had very little live game for him to live off of.

He obviously didn't say anything about flight or his superhuman endurance out loud in his recount of the event. He kept these thoughts, and others revolving around him being a Yoma, strictly to himself.

It was getting late, and he was finally going to settle down for the night, rest and eat a cooked meal rather than dried travel rations. He was beginning to get hungry for raw meat. A deer was a little bit much, but they were abundant here and one would suffice.

As a matter of fact, he could smell one right now, a little ways down the road and in the bushes. It was a doe, and was fast asleep, practically begging to be eaten. He could practically taste the meat, raw, red and dripping. Just a few more steps and he could…

Next thing he knew, he was on the ground. He didn't think he was that oblivious as to just trip up. Looking up, he realized that he hadn't just tripped, but rather he had run into something. He realized that what he had walked right into was a man. He really was hungry if he was that unaware of his immediate surroundings.

"Sorry sir." Yura pushed himself up with his staff, and offered his hand to the downed young man. "Wasn't watching where I was going. My mind was wandering."

The young man, dressed all in black with spiky brown hair, took the hand and pulled himself up. "It's not just you fault. I wasn't paying attention either." The man dusted himself off. "Where are you headed?"

After hoisting the man off the ground, Yura brushed himself off. "Benalia. I had business in Lenowin, and this route takes me to my next destination."

The man winced. "That probably isn't a very good idea. There was a series of highly unfortunate events recently there. I don't think they will happily accept any visitors right now. Not that they could stop you anyway, the way things are in there."

"That's not very good. What happened?"

The man looked sadly at the ground. "There was a Yoma attack. Most of the guards were wiped out. They have common townsfolk manning the gates for now, though they barley know how to hold their spears."

This was surprising and bad news to Yura. Strict though it was, it was a nice town, and he did have a few friends there. And it had never been a target for Yoma before. "I came through there a few weeks ago, and nothing was wrong. Are you sure? Is there some mistake?"

The man clenched his hands together and looked sadly at the ground. "No. I saw it with my own eyes. You'd best find a way around, rather than try and go through if possible."

"That is terrible. It's always sad to hear of something like this. I suppose there's no need to keep going tonight, then." Yura bowed slightly to the stranger. "Thank you for the advice. I'll set up camp out here somewhere I think."

"Do you mind if I join you?" The man in black asked politely. "It's been a very long day, and I was planning on stopping for the night. I wouldn't mind some company."

"Not a problem. It's been a lonely trip for me from Lenowin." In truth, Yura did mind. He could sense the deer moving away, having woken up. He would regret losing it. But he wasn't that desperate for red meat yet, so the deer wasn't worth him acting out of character. 'My name's Yura by the way."

The man in black took and shook Yura's outstretched hand. "Osrik. Nice to meet you."

"Likewise." Yura released Osrik's hand. A strong breeze blew past the two in the fading daylight. Yura gazed off into the bushes. "If I remember correctly, there's a sheltered clearing a little over that way. It'll be a good place to start a fire and do some cooking."

Yura and Osrik passed through the thin scrub, picking up dry tree branches and a few broken chunks of large branches along the way. Just as Yura said, there was a small clearing, sheltered from the strengthening wind.

Coming out of the bushes, Yura was surprised that Osrik could move so deftly through the woods. He hadn't heard Osrik trip over a log, or snag himself on one of the claw-like tree branches that hung low from the evergreens even once, which would have generally been expected in the failing light.

Yura and Osrik set up a ring of stones around the firewood, and gathered up some dry grass from the clearing's edge as kindling.

Using flint from his bag, Yura quickly got the fire going and began boiling water in a pan from his bag. Half an hour later, the sun had set and Yura had prepared a nice stew from the dried materials from his bag, and the two had settled down to eat.

"This is pretty good." Osrik had never seen a meal like this prepared from travel rations. Though not the best meal he'd had, it was better than any of the food he carried with him. The boiled jerky became quite tender in the herb-filled broth, and the dried fruits added a pleasantly sweet flavour to it.

Yura sipped at it gently. "Not bad. Not my best, but not bad." In truth, though he could taste it, he couldn't really enjoy his own food. His thoughts kept wandering to raw meat. Innards spilling through his teeth, blood in his hands.

Though he never actively considered eating Osrik, after all these centuries there was still this little voice in the back of his mind that said humans are still meat. This annoying voice entered his mind now, but was quickly suppressed.

Yura forced himself to eat the unwanted meal until his stomach was full. Though this didn't alleviate his craving, it did significantly diminish his hunger.

During dinner, the two talked about their lives. Yura told Osrik about his business holdings and profitable hobby as a chef, and Osrik told Yura the better parts of his nomadic lifestyle.

The matter of Osrik being part of the organization wasn't actively avoided. It just didn't come up in a conversation that tended towards light hearted topics.

Osrik talked a lot about Miria. He stopped himself from mentioning that she was part of the organization, as he didn't want to hear anything about her being a monster. He hated that kind of talk about any warrior, especially Miria.

Though his discussion about Miria was very flattering, Osrik's story telling skills left something to be desired. Yura still got the impression that Osrik thought of Miria as more than just a friend, but he also got the feeling that Osrik would never admit it.

Even in his recount of these events, Yura avoided mentioning this perspective. Despite thinking Osrik would make a very funny face if presented with this accusation.

Yura yawned cavernously, stretching his arms out to either side. "Well, I think this has been a very pleasant night. I'm going to turn in." Yura pulled out his sleeping mat and settled in for bed.

Though he didn't have an extra mat for Osrik, who appeared to travel with nothing more than the cloths on his back, Yura did have a worn, padded blanket to offer, which was readily accepted. The night wasn't cold, so the blanket wasn't needed for warmth.

Osrik yawned too and rubbed his eyes. He glanced slightly sleepily at Yura and said "Goodnight, then. See you in the morning." Osrik settled down on the blanket, folded several times to soften the ground, and went quickly to sleep.

Over an hour later, Yura got up and was planning on going to find some red meat. Quiet to the point of noiselessness, Yura snuck away into the woods. He felt certain that Osrik really was asleep.

Within minutes of noiselessly ducking and weaving through the pine trees, Yura was out of Osrik's hearing range, and felt safe hunting for food. Yura explained it to his audience as needing to drain his bladder, which was also the story he would have fed to Osrik if he'd noticed Yura was missing.

He released the most minute amount of his tightly controlled Yoki. Just enough to sharpen his senses and improve his night vision.

After half an hour of searching, he picked up the scent of a rabbit, and within minutes he had found the rabbit's burrow. He reached into the burrow and pulled out the sleeping rabbit. He snapped its neck as quickly as possible. There was no need to make the creature suffer.

For a few minutes, Yura was happily chewing away on the small creature. It would sustain him for now, but he would need more in a couple days.

He was very careful to make sure he had no blood on him before heading back. He kept his Yoki slightly released so he was less likely to trip on the way back, and wake Osrik.

It was lucky he did. There was a smell on the pine needles that made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.

"Oh no." Yura picked up the pace. The scent was getting stronger.

Author's Note:

Emu777 was supposed to write of the encounter between Yura and Osrik originally. He was very slow in producing his 9th chapter, so he gave me permission to write this encounter on his behalf. I don't know if he has plans to pick up on his own story.