Chapter 20: The Journey to the Top(Star)
She said goodbye to the leaning dwarf after she'd got all her stuff and a few days survival food together. Without a break for lunch she walked twenty kilometres to a small clearing with water. Rather than staying there she went into the forest about six hundred metres and set up her tent and made a quick fire. She boiled water and made some green tea before quickly cooking the side of a rabbit that she'd killed earlier in the afternoon.
She put out the fire and hunkered down to some serious qi movement. She was careful not to lose herself, in herself, so to speak. She continued to circulate qi, gently washing meridians and her organs. She was able to feel it circulating. She knew that it was a Phoenix cultivation method but had no deep sense yet how to use it in either healing or fighting. It might have bothered most people but Jemman gathered that she was joining a sect to learn that kind of stuff.
She had stayed in her tent whilst meditating, but the sound of soft whispering around her caused her to stop. Jemman peeked under the tent flap and saw, to her enormous surprise, a small trio of lizards. They were scuttling around like little chameleon ninjas. Almost without thinking her hand shot out and grabbed the nearest one around its scrawny neck, "What are you and your friends up to?" As Jemman spoke she moved out of the tent.
Meanwhile, the lizard was making a high pitched, strangled sound. She loosened her grip on it a tiny amount.
Before the she, or he, lizard could respond it's companion yelled, in a surprisingly mellow, though anxious, voice, "Put Bruce down."
It was all Jemman could do not not to giggle. "Bruce's life is in your hands. Quickly tell me what you want."
The lizard took a moment and replied, "We want you out of our forest little girl. You, and the rest of your bandit buddies, are not welcome here."
"Bandits?" Jemman asked hopefully. "Have you seen them around?" She'd love to get her hands on them.
They clearly misinterpreted her question. It was only one of the lizard's eye-flicker and a slight sound behind her that warned Jemman . She moved her head minutely as a pair of claws raked her scalp. She fell forward with the attack holding firmly onto Bruce's scrawny neck.
"Careful." Bruce yelled as she landed on him, rolling. As she did she pulled her colmar out and held it to Bruce's throat.
"If you care for Bruce," she yelled, "settle down and stop moving around. You are making me very nervous and I'm worried my hand will slip."
They settled down. "Alright, explain to me why you are attacking a poor little girl."
"Poor little girl, my claw" she heard Bruce mutter.
"Weapons down," she said quietly. She repeated more firmly as they hesitated. The lizards put their weapons down and a very large hawk glared at her unblinkingly. "Now," she said in the slow voice one would use when talking to an idiot, "why on earth would you imagine that I have anything to do with bandits. I'm a little girl." She flounced, exaggerating her girlishness.
The lizard with a mellow voice answered. "Two instructors met us a day ago, as we were travelling, and talked about a little girl who had robbed them. They said you were part of a bandit group, and that your group particularly targeted non-humans."
Jemman began to swear. "Those jarshing jarshes. If I every get my hands on those jarshing, thieving mongrels I'll…" She stopped her tirade as she saw four pairs of astonished eyes staring at her. "What?" she asked palms out. "They robbed me, tried to kill me and then had their thieving storekeeper sell my own gear back to me."
One of the lizards, who hadn't said anything previously started to laugh. "Pretty foul mouthed for a sweet little girl."
Jemman tried a winsome smile, "It's been a trying week.
"So those were teachers?"
"Yeah, they're instructors at the major sect up in Korpol. It's known as the Topst…"
"Topstar Phoenixes" she finished for them.
"Knowing my luck they're the ones who will test me for joining." She thought it, but didn't say it out loud.
Jemman pulled out a bit of hard bread and a bit of cheese from her pack. She allowed her back to turn on them but kept fully alert. None of them tried to attack her.
She said to them, "Well, I happen to be going to Korpol. Any of you interested in joining me?"
Bruce scratched his neck, "Well we are just looking for bandits. It's part of our quest. We're supposed to protect the road from bandits and protect the innocent. So we could but… we will be joining up with those two 'jarshing jarshes'. They are the ones who sign of that we have completed our quest. They are out teachers."
"Jarsh!"
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