A Midwestern Yankee in King Ovin's Court (Chapter 5- Into the Hills)
Chapter Five
Into the Hills
The duo stopped at the side of the road a hundred yards before it turned out of sight between the hills Kathy first saw when they arrived in Amermidst Kingdom. Daggeuro tapped the buckle atop the drawstring on his green wool rucksack and rummaged around, pulling out a pair of oranges and a wedge of cheese wrapped in some kind of wax paper. He used one claw to cut the wedge in half, offering it and an orange to Kathy as they sat by a fallen log.
"Thanks," she said, peeling her fruit right away. "So, anything to look out for in the hills?"
"Nothing more than we normally would. Hurik Clan goblins used to ambush and raid trading caravans in this area, but the king dispatched rangers to chase them off a year ago. Rangers are the king's watchmen in the wilds, capable soldiers." He took a huge bite of his cheese and washed it down with water from his canteen.
"Why'd you knock that buckle before you opened the bag?"
"Oh, yes, this!" Daggeuro pulled his bag over, looked up for a moment, and tapped the buckle. He reached in and withdrew from it a heavy leatherbound book. He put it back in and grinned. "It's a change bag, first created by gnomes. You put things in, focus on making them be in the bag but unavailable, then tap the buckle. The inside of the bag changes to a new space, and you put other things in. Then, all you have to do is think about what you want, tap the buckle, and it will be there. Of course, you have to have put the desired item in there first," he added seriously.
"That's neat! Can I get one of those?"
"They're very rare, Miss Kathy. The king may be able to give you one, but I wouldn't bet on it. If nothing else, it may be that you can find one at market in one of the outer city markets." Kathy resisted the urge to react to his answer, to ask what he meant by 'outer city'. Instead, she looked down at the ground, picking at the grass between her legs.
"So, do you know what kind of magic I'll be able to use? If I learn how, I mean?" Daggeuro chewed his food slowly now, not looking at her. When he did speak, his reply came in an awkward hush.
"Miss Kathy, I'm not very skilled at magic myself. I have trouble seeing such things in others, unless I witness them using an evocation." Kathy thought she understood what he was saying. He can't tell. He's a warrior, a soldier. Sure, he obviously has powerful magic swords, but the magic is all in the weapons, not him.
"Hey, no problem," she said, patting him companionably on the arm. "I'm sure the king could tell me." Daggeuro looked down at his arm, then up at her, eyes soft. "What?"
"I'm sorry. I just, I'm not used to such signs of affection being used towards myself. My duties as High Knight require much ettiquette and regulation."
"I get that. But don't you have a wife or kids?"
"Neither," he said.
"Oh. Well, what about friends? You said you're Lord o' the Watch, right? So you're like a cop."
"Close enough."
"Well, don't you have any cop buddies?"
"Among the Watch? Yes, I have a few friends," Daggeuro said wistfully. "But my primary role is as High Knight. That means being in charge of the Royal Guard, the knights who protect the inner city and investigate the worst crimes throughout the kingdom. I don't get much chance to be around those men and women I would call 'friend'." Kathy patted him on the shoulder comfortingly.
"Well, at least you've got someone. Life's too hard to not have friends." They finished their brief lunch and hitched up, taking to the road once again. As they came around a corner and entered the hills, Kathy could see in the middle distance a wagon, led by what she assumed was a horse at first glance. Daggeuro immediately turned to her and gripped her by the shoulders.
"Kathy, hear me well," he said in a rushed whisper. "What you see ahead of us is a merchant wagon pulled by a dromare. That in and of itself is not a worry. But the merchant himself is a wefaree. They are tricksters, Kathy, and they are ever deceptive. They always try to make trades with customers that leave them with crippling advantages."
"What do you mean," Kathy asked.
"Let's say you see a belt you'd like on his wagon. He'll trade it to you, for a minute of your time."
"That's all? I just have to listen to him?"
"No, it could mean many things. Most disastrously, he could take a minute of your life, sending you into a ghost-like state randomly, while he gets to freeze time locally around himself." Daggeuro glanced in the direction of the wagon, then back to Kathy, who he could see was frightened now. "It's all up to how they chose to interpret the deal! So, let me do all the talking and bargaining. Do you understand?"
Kathy nodded vehemently, following Daggeuro as he led the way down the road. When they were twenty feet away, the wagon stopped, and the driver hopped off of his bench. Kathy marveled at the animal and merchant both. The animal looked like a camel covered in blue and yellow patches of fur, three droopy, sleepy eyes blinking out of its face. It smelled strongly of rotted seaweed and sun-bloated dead fish. The stench made Kathy's gag reflex kick before she roped it in.
As for the driver, what Daggeuro called a wefaree, Kathy could hardly have felt less intimidated or more fascinated. Dressed in a motley assortment of ragged robes and two cloaks, one yellow and one a kind of robin's egg blue, it stood perhaps four feet tall. A large, pointy brown wizard's hat sat atop a head shrouded in inky darkness, from which shone two brilliant golden eye lights. Red, four-fingered gloves covered its hands, matching its floppy boots in hue.
She thought it one of the cutest little things she'd ever seen. It walked back along the side of its tarp-covered wagon, waddling like a penguin, pulling little levers. Kathy mentally pushed down a girlish squeak with an effort. You'd better not laugh, she thought, not after Daggeuro's little speech there. When the wefaree pulled the last lever, the tarp all rolled up, revealing a mobile storefront with shelves and shelves of merchandise. The short creature waddled up and said something to them in a quick, greasy-sounding language.
"What did he say," Kathy asked.
"I have no idea," Daggeuro groused. "Theirs is a language few speak." He made a talking hand signal, then pointed at one of his pointed furry ears and shook his head. The wefaree made some gestures of his own, then pressed his hands together until a soft light shone from the tips of his gloves. The light dropped like a feather to the ground and flashed, creating a ring on the ground one-hundred yards wide, with them at its center.
"Me speakie, you hear good-good," the creature said in a high-pitched, Mickey Mouse voice.
"Yes, we hear you now," said Daggeuro. Kathy saw an orange glow beginning to rim his eyes, present but steady, unchanging.
"You look-a me things, find like. Maybe trade me." Kathy thought about Daggeuro's warning, yet couldn't help feeling friendly towards this creature. It didn't give her any sense of dread or fear, and if pressed, she couldn't say she understood how it could present a threat. Daggeuro himself, however, with his deadly skill as a soldier and whatever powers he wielded, unseen as yet by Kathy, posed far greater danger, based on first impressions.
Yet looks could be deceiving, she knew. After all, before that day, she had only suspected the Ether Plane existed in some form, and she hadn't known its name. Most people didn't have a clue that this other world existed, and so close to their own! She would be cautious here with that truth in mind.
She followed Daggeuro to the wagon's side, poring over the contents of the wagon. One item caught her attention right away, eliciting a gasp from her. Kathy reached up and pulled Daggeuro's ear down next to her mouth, pointing at the item. "That's a Game Boy Advance," she said. "A video game, from my world. What's he doing with one of those?"
Daggeuro turned his head, mouth by her ear. "There are other Awakened in the kingdom who he has likely had contact with. This is something I should keep in mind. Now," he said, stepping up to the wagon and grabbing a long belt. It looked like snakeskin to Kathy. "This, I can detect, is enchanted. How, I know not, but it feels charged."
"Yes yes," the wefaree chimed, looking like Marvin the Martian as he waddle/ran over to them. "Dragon Flesh Belt, five charges left on! Make bang and stabby stuff no hurt, make skin strong like dragon! You want?"
"Not for me, but she could use a helping hand like this," said Daggeuro. "What do you want for it?" The wefaree folded its arms and leaned back, eyelights dimming. Finally it snapped its fingers, pointed at one of Daggeuro's blades.
"Sword! Belt for sword!" The little man started to bounce up and down, but his excitement was short-lived. Daggeuro tossed the belt to the ground and planted his feet wide, growling at the little man. Kathy, taken aback, flinched away from him. The orange light that had been around his eyes now blazed from them and from between his bared teeth. When he spoke, it was in an eerie twin harmony of growling voices.
"How dare you," Daggeuro snarled. He drew his weapons, Boon and Bane. As soon as the wefaree saw them, he let out a terrified screech and backpedaled, tripping over his own ragged robes and falling on his back, one hand now held out to ward Daggeuro off. "I see thou knows mine blades for what they are, now. Behold! Boon and Bane, the great twin blades of the sacred and the profane!"
Daggeuro lunged forward and landed astride the wefaree's upper body, weapons held resting against his own shoulders. He leaned down close enough to the darkness that comrpised the wefaree's face that his breath caused the brim of its wizard's hat to flutter. A mad smile spread across his face, one worthy of a demon. "Thou art foolish to seek such things as you cannot handle," he rasped. "To suggest I surrender either blade for any reason short of mine own death is ignorance of the highest order. I should pummel thee senseless for your impudence."
Kathy had seen enough when Daggeuro landed on the little guy. Though she was terrified of what he would do to her, she had gained a running start, and now, Daggeuro's threat out of the kennin's mouth, she rammed into him in a tackle that, had he not been wearing armor, could have broken bones.
He grunted and rolled with her to a stop a few yards away. Stunned, he couldn't move as she climbed up off of him. When he did try to get up, she jabbed a finger down at him violently and shouted, "STAY!" Daggeuro went still, Boon and Bane still in hand. She went over to the wefaree, who was just standing up, brushing himself off as he visibly trembled. She knelt down in front of him, eyes softened and, she hoped, inviting. "Hey," she said, hands up and empty at her sides. "Are you okay?"
The little man said nothing, but exploded into a tight embrace around her shoulders. "Oh thank you," the wefaree said through frightened sobs. "Thank you help me, thank big-big," he sniffled. "Me not know dog-man Daggeuro! Me hear tales Daggeuro, meet many kennin, never meet him! Him scary!"
"Well he's not going to hurt you, okay," Kathy said, looking back at the kennin knight. He stood off to one side, hanging his head, eyes closed. His swords were once more sheathed. She patted the wefaree on the back for comfort, then eased herself away from the embrace. The eyelights blazed suddenly up at her.
"You! You save! You have belt, no trade! Yes, gift! And me find other way thank, later," the little man said exuberantly, hopping up and down. "What you name?"
"Me? I'm Kathy," she said, giving a pretend curtsy as best she could without a dress or skirt to twitch.
"I Chappie," said the wefaree. He sprinted to the wagon in his waddling fashion, resetting the levers until the tarp rolled back in place.he then hopped back up onto the seat of the wagon, grabbing the dromare's reins. He looked back at Kathy over his shoulder and waved. "Bye bye, Kathy! Me thank you, help you later big-big!"
The wagon rolled away much more quickly than she would have thought it could. Kathy headed towards Daggeuro, and when he began to look up, she shoved him as hard as she could in the chest. "What the hell was that? That light, the twin voices like something out of a Poltergheist movie, threatening that poor little guy? You want to tell me what set you off so bad?"
"Imbalance," Daggeuro said. "I have always strove for balance. Most of the time, my aggressive nature is kept at bay, but we kennin are highly territorial. He sought to ruin the balance of Boon and Bane, and that must never happen. The two factors caused me to lose control of my temper."
"That happen often?"
"Thankfully, no."
"Good, because if you lose it on someone who doesn't deserve it again, I'm out. I'll figure out my own way back, and you can explain to your king why I left." She folded her arms over her ample bossom, tapping her left foot. "The orange lights?"
"That comes from the power of the Word of the Knight," said Daggeuro. He crouched down, picking up the dragonflesh belt. "When summoned up, the Word of the Knight grants the user the ability to see through all deceptions, to force truth from anyone questioned. It also instills fear in the hearts of a knight's enemies, diminishing their combat ability."
"I see," Kathy said, relaxing her posture a little. "So those specters, the scorps as you called them, fighting them started to kick it on?"
"I summoned the power in the event those two were not alone, yes. The Word of the Knight has its drawbacks, however. Chiefly, it makes the use of illusions nearly impossible for the wielder, and renders them incapable of lies. Not that most knights could lie anyhow. We are sworn from early service to speak true." Kathy shook her head.
"I want you to know that I still think you're good people," she said. "But you kind of scare me now." He nodded, then held the belt out to her. She stepped over, took it, held it this way and that. "Now, how does this work?"
"You wear it around your waist, like any normal belt. If you want to activate its enchantment, you grasp the buckle and shake it once. I have used similar belts in my time." Kathy strapped the belt on, sensing its dormant magic just beneath the surface. She could envision in her mind exactly how the belt worked, what she would look like with it activated. Her skin, in her mind's eye, took on a thick green layer of scales, nigh-impenetrable natural armoring. Yet there were small slits, where the scales overlapped, that would be vulnerable. The smell of desert winds wafted into her nose, an olfactory illusion stemming from her mental image.
"Kathy," Daggeuro was saying, shaking her shoulder gently. She came up out of her reverie then, the visualization terminated.
"Oh, sorry," she said. "Um, we're good. We should get going again."
"Agreed. I shall lead again. Perhaps if we run into anyone else out here, you should join the conversation. I can tell that you're good with people." Kathy agreed, and together, they continued on through the hills.