Chapter 8
7 years ago
Menethil Harbor
Kimeara had been traveling the world for a year now with Calthix and this was her first trip to see the ocean. They'd stuck to small towns and villages in the back woods for the last year while her survival skills improved and last week Calthix had told her she was good enough to visit a city. It had been a week of hard travel but now their goal lay insight, Menethil Harbor. Looking down the road she could see a trade caravan about a quarter mile ahead of her. If she hurried she could tags along at the tail end of the column and, hopefully, no one would notice her enter the city.
She increased her pace and soon caught up to the back of the caravan where a young lad about her age was also walking. She fell into step beside him and he looked over at her.
"Head to the city?" He asked with a little lisp.
"Yup," she said simply.
"What for?" He asked.
"I'm meeting my da on the next boat," she said trying to sound like a slow country girl.
"That's nice. I'm working this caravan 'til I can get a job in a shop," he said.
They talked a little more about the trials of the road but once inside the city they parted ways. Kimeara made her way to the docks and finding the longest one went to the end of it to stare out at the sea. It was beautiful, so free and wide. So full of colors and movement and yet so calming at the same time. She'd never seen anything so beautiful.
"Going to Theramore lil' lady?" a voice said behind her.
"No, just looking at the sea for the first time," she said to the dock worker behind here. She'd walked right past him as he was helping to load a ship for departure and knew he was there.
"First time eh? Well she don't get much better than like she is today," he said of the sea and went back to his work.
Kimeara stood gazing out at the sea for a long while. She wondered if she and Calthix would ever travel it. It seemed like it would be a great journey. When she was done looking she went back to the inn in town and talked to the innkeeper about renting a room for a week. She had the coin to pay for it out right but negotiated for a reduced rate if she helped clean in the kitchen. When asked she said she was fifteen instead of thirteen. She was tall for her age and it was better if people thought she was older than she was or they might try to either send her off to a home, it had happened before, or take advantage of her. She had to be careful because people might try to do things to a young girl no matter what her age.
Once she was settled into her new room she summoned Calthix and told him of her day. She always spent time just talking to him and using him as a sounding board for her own thoughts. He'd offer her advice or criticism as the situation called for and would always treat her with understanding and patience. He was the best thing in her life and every day she was grateful to have him.
"How long would you like to stay here Little Mistress?" He asked.
"I booked the room for a week and got a reduced rate like you taught me," she said.
"Good. If you stay here for a little while I'll fly around and scope out any dangers that might be about," he offered.
"Ok, it's been a long morning and my cleaning starts late this afternoon so I think I'll take a nap," she said.
"I'll be back before you wake Little Mistress," he said and took off out the window after turning invisible.
Kimeara stripped and washed the grim of the road off of her with water from the urn by her bead. Then pulling on a night gown she climbed into bed for a nap. Her dream featured her riding the waves on a ship like the one the dock worker was loading. Her hair was streaming out behind her and the salt spray in her face. It was a good dream.
She was woken by the sound of a knock on her door and a voice saying her duties would start in an hour. She got up and clothed herself in her only dress and blouse. They were common cloths but were rugged and well maintained. She pulled on her brown satin gloves to cover her scars. She missed the blank ones Calthix had given her but they'd worn through last month. Then she pulled her hair into a pony tail and, with a nod to Calthix who was in the rafters, she went out to the kitchen to start cleaning.
The cook looked at her oddly for wearing gloves while washing dishes but Kimeara made an excuse concerning her fingernails and the cook let it pass. She washed dishes all night and when she returned to her room Calthix was sitting on the table beside her bed.
"No sign of any of our enemies Little Mistress," he said by way of greeting.
"Thank you Calthix," she said. "Do you mind standing watch tonight?"
"Not at all Little Mistress," he said.
She cleaned then hung out her gloves to dry, changed back into her night gown and got back into bed. She lay there for a while wondering what to do with her free time tomorrow and a thought came to her inspired by her dream.
"Calthix could we travel across the sea?" She asked.
"Not until you're older Little Mistress," he said.
"Why?" She asked.
"Humans are not as common in the land across the sea as they are here Little Mistress. It is a land of Elves and Orcs and other races with humans spread few and far between. There a young girl traveling by herself would be a much more tempting target than here where there are more human to look out for said young girl should she go missing. In many ways it is a rougher wilder land than you are used to and you need to be better trained in how to take care of yourself before we can go there," he said.
"When will that be?" She asked.
"It depends on how fast you learn and grow Little Mistress but I would say maybe when you're sixteen or seventeen you'll be ready," he said.
"But that's so long from now," she whined.
"The Ocean isn't going anywhere Little Mistress and the land across it will still be there when you're older," he said sternly.
"You win Calthix," she said. "But we're going when I'm older."
"Yes Little Mistress, now rest." he said.
Their week spent in Menethil Harbor passed quickly and as they left the city she was sad to see it disappear behind her. She should have been watching the road in front of her instead of that behind. When she turned forward again a large crocolisk swatted her on the right side with its tail.
Pain flared up her right arm and she knew it was broken. Over powering the pain she ran up a short incline away from the beast and looked back to see if it was following her. It wasn't because Calthix had taken flight and was throwing little balls of fire at it to keep it distracted.
"Run on Little Mistress. I'll keep it here and join you at the next mile marker," he called to her.
"Ok," she called back and took off at full speed for the next mile marker.
It took her almost ten minutes to reach because the pain in her arm jarred her with every step. When she reached the marker she sat down and reached into her pack for a split and some bandages. She hadn't managed to make a healing potion yet so she'd have to heal the old fashioned way. She picked up a good sized twig from beside the road and gritted it in between her teeth then proceeded to push her bones back into place. The pain was excruciating and she nearly passed out a couple of times but eventually she got the bones back into place. She then splinted her arm to keep them in place while the bone healed.
Exhausted she spat the twig out and leaned back again the marker and wondered what was keeping Calthix. She knew he hadn't "died", she would have felt his dismissal from this plane. It had happened once before with a run in with a Gnoll that had chased after her. She'd gotten away only because Calthix had sacrificed himself by staying behind. That had been only a few weeks after leaving the campsite he'd taken her to after her father died and she had almost been ready to return to it and live there forevermore. Calthix had talked her out of it when she summoned him back. She had learned a lot since then and if a Gnoll were to attack them now she was confident that they would win if it was the two of them together against the one Gnoll.
Finally she heard Calthix's wings as he approached. She got shakily to her feet and raised her left hand in greeting. Spotting her he came in for a landing on her left shoulder.
"I was starting to get worried Calthix," she said.
"Sorry Little Mistress, that croc had more fight in him than I thought and it took a long time to convince him to go away," he said. "How is your arm?"
"Broken but I've got it splinted so it should heal ok," she said.
"Are you in a lot of pain?" He asked.
"Yes but I'll manage. Let's get out of here," she said.
They left and headed toward Loch Modan and the dwarven villages around the lake. The last time they'd been there the dwarfs had been very kind and welcoming. The trip took over a fortnight and during that time Kimeara learned how to do everything as well with her left hand as she could have with her right.
Calthix continued to teach her about being a Warlock and the world around her and, like the demanding taskmaster he was, he gave her no time off for being injured. He made her learn the new things he taught her with her left hand. She knew she'd have to learn how to do the new things with her right once it was fully healed but she didn't doubt her ability or Calthix teaching skills.
It would still take another two months for her right arm to be back to normal. One month for the bone to finish healing and another month to return to her previous strength, but eventually she regained full use of her arm again. Every day after that she spent time doing every task with both hands and alternating which hand she used as the dominant hand.
Once she had mastered all her physical chores with both hands she proceeded with teaching herself to write with her left hand as well as her right. This took longer than she thought it would since she didn't have the fine motor control with her left hand she had with her right but with much practice she succeeded in that also. She felt proud of her success and continued to push herself further.
As the days rolled on she found new tasks to test he agility with both hands and she ended up taking up juggling to help her keep her skill up. She knew without being told that being ambidextrous would be of great benefit to her and she was determined to work her way toward that goal. She even taught herself to juggle while walking through the woods or down the road. At first she spent a lot of time picking up the rocks she'd juggle with until she got the hang of anticipating her forward movement with her tosses.
They traveled all through Lock Modan, spending nearly six months there before deciding to team up with a small group of the famous Dark Moon Faire and traveling south with them. They had needed a new act and her juggling fit right in. Soon she was juggling knifes instead of rocks and then even added flaming torches. From town to town they moved, never staying long before they decided to head off someone where new. More importantly none of the fair folk tried to pry into her past. They accepted her as she was and left it at that; besides most of them had a much more colorful past than her that they were here also trying to escape it. In the end the crocolisk breaking her arm might have been one of the most beneficial things to happen to her that year.
She'd learned how to use her left arm as fully and he right. She had learnt a new skill that could put food on the table and a roof over her head in juggling. She'd also had one of the most relaxing years she'd known. Most importantly the number one thing the croc had taught her was to keep her eyes on where she was going, not where she had been or where she wished she was.