Delmechia
You might as well have a smoke while you're waiting for everyone to get here. You walk through one of the wide archways in the side of the entrance hall and come to a fairly large dining area with a wooden table stretching out front and eight tables around it.
In the back of the room, there's a pantry wrapping around the corner of the wall and some store cupboards hanging up above and to the side of it. You walk forward, and after searching two of the cupboards, you find a neat glass tobacco jar with the word "Tobacco" printed on the white exterior. You make a space on one of the pantry shelves and sit it down and take a packet from out of your cloak and free one of the papers with your overly large hands. Then you pop the lid off the jar to release the rich smell of shredded tobacco leaves.
"Damn," you whisper, nostrils flaring. You've never been an avid smoker, but if you always had a stash of this leaf on hand, you could easily become one.
You sprinkle some of the dried plant onto the paper, roll it tight, and lick the end of the paper to seal it. Then, after putting the jar away, you head back to entrance hall and light your cigarette on one of the torches and go back outside to stand among the pillars at the entrance.
You grab a sizable rock from off the old stone plaza and wedge it in between the entry doors so that one is barely cracked open and then you go to dangle your legs off the edge of the stone platform while you finish your smoke.
And of course, your thoughts return to the woman. Was is really only two weeks ago when you were still with her?
You open your eyes and find that you're back in that dark and familiar place. The Jungles of Wriad Min. A hired extermination. Two years there and the swampland villages are never going to leave your mind. Not that this treacherous turf war had been any worse than the rest.
Great leaves hang down from the exotic trees all around you and the moist ferns glisten with moonlight. Vines hanging in the distance; some fixed between trees trunks so that they form catenaries.
You edge forward on your hands and knees with a rifle in your hands and turn to look behind you. The woman, facing you in the mossy undergrowth. She gives you a serious look and then crawls forward with her pistol, her red hair appearing almost black in the shadows.
"How much further would you estimate?" she whispers.
"Hmm. About four hectometers."
"A quarter mile."
"Yeah."
She bites her lip a little.
"I don't want to kill any of them."
"Neither do I," you say.
You both continue forward for a couple more minutes and then there's the sound a machine gun going off in the distance, followed by the popping of a different semi-automatic weapon.
"Over here," you say, moving toward a giant, moss-covered log of ceiba. The woman comes and you both press flat against it, listening to the shots.
"The Kilarie," you say. "One of our soldiers must have run into one of them."
"Which gun belongs to which?"
"I'm not sure, but I think we'll know in a minute."
You both listen a little longer while the machine gun blares away and suddenly there's three shots from the semi-automatic in quick succession and then the machine gun stops.
"I'm guessing our guy has the semi-auto," you say. "They know we're here now, anyway. Are you sure you can shoot that?"
You gesture at her pistol with your head.
"You make it sound like I've never killed anyone before."
"Okay."
You lean forward and give her a brief kiss.
"Let's go."
You come out from behind the log and hurry along on your feet; crouching with the rifle in your hands as you pass wild ferns and low-hanging tree branches...
That had been one of the earlier days. Before anyone knew you were banging the CIA's informant. When the two of you finally got to the village, the elemental warriors and even a few of the scarce troops the CIA sent in were getting into place. A few of the leftover Kilarie came out of their huts; one with a rotted old bow and one with a stone dagger. You just lifted your rifle and shot twice and they both dropped before anyone else could do anything.
Later that night, after you'd had sex in your tent, she seemed to be more distant toward you. You didn't think anything of it, and things eventually went back to normal, but now you think that that was when she finally began to understand what you were. Not just a soldier, but a true killer. Someone who could take lives as easily as they could breath air.
A bolt of lighting flashes in the field in front, shaking you from your thoughts. Thunder rolls in the distance, although the storm seems to be letting up a little bit. You look to the left and see a few hooded figures coming through the trees. Some with transparent, waterproof wrap over their black cloaks.
You hold your cigarette stub in your palm and concentrate until your pores release a small skim of water and you grind the embers on the tip in your hand. Then you toss the smoke off into the wet grass.
After kicking your boots on the side on the stone plateau, you stand up and go back through the oak doors. The Boss stands in the main hall.
"They're coming?" he asks.
"Yeah."
"Come on; we'll go wait in the council chamber."
You follow him through one of the archways and into a narrow corridor that curves to the left. Near the end of it, there's a small wooden door in the stone that you and The Boss enter, which has a set of spiraling steps that lead downward. At the bottom, you come to another door, this one made of a thick metal, which The Boss opens for you.
Inside the chamber, there's two long, polished wooden tables that each have about thirty seats. The Boss flicks a switch and some of the few electric lights in the temple come to life and the room gains a warm clarity. Then he pulls out a chair from the end of one of the tables, sits down, and beckons you to be seated next to him.
The two of you sit in thoughtful silence for about a minute before the door swings open again and a line of elemental Lords enters the chamber.
Some of the faces are teal you like yours, but others are dark crimson, cool blue, or amber brown.
A few of them nod and acknowledge The Boss as they find seats and a few gesture to you. Before long, almost both tables are filled and the room is eerily silent. The Boss stands up so that he looks like a great statue of rock and all eyes fall upon him.
"I'm sure you're wondering as to why I have called a meeting at this hour," he says. "so I'll get right to the point. There was a shooting in Expuridius ea Tarador tonight and we are having a council to determine whether or not it has anything to with us and what we intend to do about it. I have no doubt that once you heard the bizarre nature of the story, you'll find that hearing it was worth your time."
The Boss says a few more words and then asks you to stand up and recount the night's events. You've never been a fan of public speaking, but you grudgingly get up and tell your story to the room. The Lords remain calm and stoic with each word.
"...And then I just crossed the bridge and followed the river here," you finish, after a couple minutes. "And that's it."
You sit down and the Lords mumble amongst themselves for a bit before The Boss climbs back out of his chair.
"It is without a doubt," he says. "that we should send out a few men to at least investigate the matter. Does anyone object to this?"
Nobody does.
"Alright. For tonight, you're free to go. As always, this matter is to remain private."
"What?" you say to yourself. Didn't The Boss say something about how it was going to be a long meeting?
You get up amongst the scraping of chairs on the floor and Murlough approaches you from the crowd with a rare grin.
"You're getting pretty good at telling that story," he says. "Have you considered a career in writing mystery novels?"
You snort.
"Get out of here, asshole," you whisper, so that none of the other Lords can hear your obscenity uttered in the Temple of the Elements. Even Murlough frowns a little bit in a humorous way. He's really not that bad of a person.
"So did you figure anything else out about what happened, then?"
"No," you say.
Just then The Boss comes up to you.
"Murlough," he says and Murlough nods back to him. Then he turns to you.
"I want you to stay here for a while after everyone leaves. We still have a few more things to discuss."
A bit of curiosity shines in Murlough's eyes, but he shrugs at you and then goes back into the crowd.
"Alright," you say.
You sit back down at the table and The Boss sits down by the other side and the two of you wait until the last Lord leaves the room, giving the two of you a curious glance.
"Again, I'll get straight to the point," says The Boss, once you're both alone. "I want to train you."
"Train me?" you ask, shocked. Elemental warriors in your clan and most of the others are all put through rigorous combat training for the first fifty years of their lives. You even trained with The Boss himself once when you were very young, although he only instructed your class in some of the basics during that time.
"Yeah, train you," he says. "to become a real warrior."
"What are you talking about? I'm one of the best soldiers in our clan. I don't even know how I could get better."
The Boss smiles, and on his face the expression seems both very pleasant and a little bit manic.
"You can get better," he says. "A lot better, actually."
You sit, confused.
"So why do you want to train me? What would be the point?"
"We'll discuss that later."
"So is this some kind of reward?"
"No," he says. "What you've been doing is irresponsible, although forgivable given the circumstances. Still, you can't go to that part of the city on your whiskey trips anymore."
You nod.
"Alright, I'll train with you."
"Good. We'll be starting in two days."
"Two days? So what are we doing tonight?"
"Planning."
"Planning?"
"Yeah, you're going to have to do some investigating tomorrow."
"About what happened tonight?"
"Yeah. There's a few places that I think need to be checked out, so first I need you to tell me whether you want to start in Veyremendor or Expuridius."
"Hmm."
You're not sure what The Boss has on his mind, but it sounds more exciting than sitting around the camp all day.
In the back of the room, there's a pantry wrapping around the corner of the wall and some store cupboards hanging up above and to the side of it. You walk forward, and after searching two of the cupboards, you find a neat glass tobacco jar with the word "Tobacco" printed on the white exterior. You make a space on one of the pantry shelves and sit it down and take a packet from out of your cloak and free one of the papers with your overly large hands. Then you pop the lid off the jar to release the rich smell of shredded tobacco leaves.
"Damn," you whisper, nostrils flaring. You've never been an avid smoker, but if you always had a stash of this leaf on hand, you could easily become one.
You sprinkle some of the dried plant onto the paper, roll it tight, and lick the end of the paper to seal it. Then, after putting the jar away, you head back to entrance hall and light your cigarette on one of the torches and go back outside to stand among the pillars at the entrance.
You grab a sizable rock from off the old stone plaza and wedge it in between the entry doors so that one is barely cracked open and then you go to dangle your legs off the edge of the stone platform while you finish your smoke.
And of course, your thoughts return to the woman. Was is really only two weeks ago when you were still with her?
***
You open your eyes and find that you're back in that dark and familiar place. The Jungles of Wriad Min. A hired extermination. Two years there and the swampland villages are never going to leave your mind. Not that this treacherous turf war had been any worse than the rest.
Great leaves hang down from the exotic trees all around you and the moist ferns glisten with moonlight. Vines hanging in the distance; some fixed between trees trunks so that they form catenaries.
You edge forward on your hands and knees with a rifle in your hands and turn to look behind you. The woman, facing you in the mossy undergrowth. She gives you a serious look and then crawls forward with her pistol, her red hair appearing almost black in the shadows.
"How much further would you estimate?" she whispers.
"Hmm. About four hectometers."
"A quarter mile."
"Yeah."
She bites her lip a little.
"I don't want to kill any of them."
"Neither do I," you say.
You both continue forward for a couple more minutes and then there's the sound a machine gun going off in the distance, followed by the popping of a different semi-automatic weapon.
"Over here," you say, moving toward a giant, moss-covered log of ceiba. The woman comes and you both press flat against it, listening to the shots.
"The Kilarie," you say. "One of our soldiers must have run into one of them."
"Which gun belongs to which?"
"I'm not sure, but I think we'll know in a minute."
You both listen a little longer while the machine gun blares away and suddenly there's three shots from the semi-automatic in quick succession and then the machine gun stops.
"I'm guessing our guy has the semi-auto," you say. "They know we're here now, anyway. Are you sure you can shoot that?"
You gesture at her pistol with your head.
"You make it sound like I've never killed anyone before."
"Okay."
You lean forward and give her a brief kiss.
"Let's go."
You come out from behind the log and hurry along on your feet; crouching with the rifle in your hands as you pass wild ferns and low-hanging tree branches...
***
That had been one of the earlier days. Before anyone knew you were banging the CIA's informant. When the two of you finally got to the village, the elemental warriors and even a few of the scarce troops the CIA sent in were getting into place. A few of the leftover Kilarie came out of their huts; one with a rotted old bow and one with a stone dagger. You just lifted your rifle and shot twice and they both dropped before anyone else could do anything.
Later that night, after you'd had sex in your tent, she seemed to be more distant toward you. You didn't think anything of it, and things eventually went back to normal, but now you think that that was when she finally began to understand what you were. Not just a soldier, but a true killer. Someone who could take lives as easily as they could breath air.
A bolt of lighting flashes in the field in front, shaking you from your thoughts. Thunder rolls in the distance, although the storm seems to be letting up a little bit. You look to the left and see a few hooded figures coming through the trees. Some with transparent, waterproof wrap over their black cloaks.
You hold your cigarette stub in your palm and concentrate until your pores release a small skim of water and you grind the embers on the tip in your hand. Then you toss the smoke off into the wet grass.
After kicking your boots on the side on the stone plateau, you stand up and go back through the oak doors. The Boss stands in the main hall.
"They're coming?" he asks.
"Yeah."
"Come on; we'll go wait in the council chamber."
You follow him through one of the archways and into a narrow corridor that curves to the left. Near the end of it, there's a small wooden door in the stone that you and The Boss enter, which has a set of spiraling steps that lead downward. At the bottom, you come to another door, this one made of a thick metal, which The Boss opens for you.
Inside the chamber, there's two long, polished wooden tables that each have about thirty seats. The Boss flicks a switch and some of the few electric lights in the temple come to life and the room gains a warm clarity. Then he pulls out a chair from the end of one of the tables, sits down, and beckons you to be seated next to him.
The two of you sit in thoughtful silence for about a minute before the door swings open again and a line of elemental Lords enters the chamber.
Some of the faces are teal you like yours, but others are dark crimson, cool blue, or amber brown.
A few of them nod and acknowledge The Boss as they find seats and a few gesture to you. Before long, almost both tables are filled and the room is eerily silent. The Boss stands up so that he looks like a great statue of rock and all eyes fall upon him.
"I'm sure you're wondering as to why I have called a meeting at this hour," he says. "so I'll get right to the point. There was a shooting in Expuridius ea Tarador tonight and we are having a council to determine whether or not it has anything to with us and what we intend to do about it. I have no doubt that once you heard the bizarre nature of the story, you'll find that hearing it was worth your time."
The Boss says a few more words and then asks you to stand up and recount the night's events. You've never been a fan of public speaking, but you grudgingly get up and tell your story to the room. The Lords remain calm and stoic with each word.
"...And then I just crossed the bridge and followed the river here," you finish, after a couple minutes. "And that's it."
You sit down and the Lords mumble amongst themselves for a bit before The Boss climbs back out of his chair.
"It is without a doubt," he says. "that we should send out a few men to at least investigate the matter. Does anyone object to this?"
Nobody does.
"Alright. For tonight, you're free to go. As always, this matter is to remain private."
"What?" you say to yourself. Didn't The Boss say something about how it was going to be a long meeting?
You get up amongst the scraping of chairs on the floor and Murlough approaches you from the crowd with a rare grin.
"You're getting pretty good at telling that story," he says. "Have you considered a career in writing mystery novels?"
You snort.
"Get out of here, asshole," you whisper, so that none of the other Lords can hear your obscenity uttered in the Temple of the Elements. Even Murlough frowns a little bit in a humorous way. He's really not that bad of a person.
"So did you figure anything else out about what happened, then?"
"No," you say.
Just then The Boss comes up to you.
"Murlough," he says and Murlough nods back to him. Then he turns to you.
"I want you to stay here for a while after everyone leaves. We still have a few more things to discuss."
A bit of curiosity shines in Murlough's eyes, but he shrugs at you and then goes back into the crowd.
"Alright," you say.
You sit back down at the table and The Boss sits down by the other side and the two of you wait until the last Lord leaves the room, giving the two of you a curious glance.
"Again, I'll get straight to the point," says The Boss, once you're both alone. "I want to train you."
"Train me?" you ask, shocked. Elemental warriors in your clan and most of the others are all put through rigorous combat training for the first fifty years of their lives. You even trained with The Boss himself once when you were very young, although he only instructed your class in some of the basics during that time.
"Yeah, train you," he says. "to become a real warrior."
"What are you talking about? I'm one of the best soldiers in our clan. I don't even know how I could get better."
The Boss smiles, and on his face the expression seems both very pleasant and a little bit manic.
"You can get better," he says. "A lot better, actually."
You sit, confused.
"So why do you want to train me? What would be the point?"
"We'll discuss that later."
"So is this some kind of reward?"
"No," he says. "What you've been doing is irresponsible, although forgivable given the circumstances. Still, you can't go to that part of the city on your whiskey trips anymore."
You nod.
"Alright, I'll train with you."
"Good. We'll be starting in two days."
"Two days? So what are we doing tonight?"
"Planning."
"Planning?"
"Yeah, you're going to have to do some investigating tomorrow."
"About what happened tonight?"
"Yeah. There's a few places that I think need to be checked out, so first I need you to tell me whether you want to start in Veyremendor or Expuridius."
"Hmm."
You're not sure what The Boss has on his mind, but it sounds more exciting than sitting around the camp all day.