บท 4: Chapter 3
He had turned around and started walking. He started pointing to buildings and entered in his monologue. I figured he wanted me to follow him as he did this while I hadn't moved one inch from the entrance. The village had houses lined up with a gap in between each one. The gap was wide enough for only one person to get through it. The walls of the houses were made out of sturdy wood and so were the floors. The roofs were of thatch. The doors were the sliding kind instead of the push and pull ones. Each house had its own identical compartment of an empty cooking pit and a table. I hadn't seen an outhouses so they released their feces out in the wilderness. They were not lacking in supply. The villagers walking around were well built, healthy looking, and appeared more well fed than most villagers in this region of Mytheques. It was surreal for a village.
Mark had woken up confused as to where he was. I could feel the shift in weight as he looked left and right.
"You awake?" I had lowered my tone to not to interrupt the monologue that was going on.
"Yeah.." he returned it trying to be quiet but even I could barely even hear him while he had been next to my ear.
I bent down, giving him length for his short legs to reach the floor. My back was aching. With him off it I felt extremely light. I could see steam coming out of my armor and clothes.
"I'm going to stretch."
As I said that, the head villager ignored me and continued walking explaining every detail about his village. I quickly stretched and caught up to him. He was slow with his cane so I was in no rush. Even Mark had an easy time catching up to him. I had been meaning to ask if he could sell us some rations but I didn't want to be rude. If he decided to not sell us any because I was rude, I would want to kill someone for wasting six hours of my life. We weren't even halfway through the village.
He had showed us the outside of almost every building. From the slaughterhouse, storage house, and windmills that didn't matter to. All buildings had some long history about them. It was like he wanted to prove something, I just couldn't put my mind to what it was. I had stopped paying attention. Mark had tried to listen but he started to tune him out as well.
It was already dark. The one building left was the huge building at the end of it, on the opposite side of the entrance of the village. It wasn't anything impressive when compared to city buildings but it was more grand than any village building I saw. It was five times as big and had a second floor. It was on top of a hill and had stairs leading up to it. Once you ascended to the top, it was leveled. The flooring of the path up was rocks embedded into the ground. Unlit torch stands were on the edge of the flooring. Before you could get to the entrance, a horizontally cut clean slab of rock sat there. It had sat in the middle. It was quite inconvenient as it blocked the direct path towards the entrance and required you make a detour of a few extra steps.
He got in front of the slab and turned around.
"Welcome to my home. You must be tired, come in, come in." His voice hadn't changed since the beginning. I had noticed he wasn't looking at us, well he couldn't but it was like we didn't exist the entire time. It gave me a chill. He couldn't have been blind as he was the one who guided us. This felt unnatural.
"Look old man, we're just here to buy rations and then we'll be on our way."
He had ignored me and went inside. Mark looked at me and then had started walking, I had grabbed his shoulder before he could exit my reach.
"Don't leave my sight."
"..."
He had stared into my eyes, pausing for a moment. He then gave a nod and resumed entering the building. I was overthinking this but it was always good to be cautious especially as a bodyguard. I entered.
The old man led us to the main room, a lounge. He sat himself down, placing his cane next to him. There was no chair, only cushions on the floor. I wasn't use to these. Rumors had it that across the seas to the east was another continent, this was a usual thing over there. I had only heard about it through traveling merchants, this was my first time seeing it.
"Please sit."
Mark sat down on the cushion imitating the old man's sitting posture. The old man went silent as if waiting for me to continue on.
"No, I'm good. I need to be ready at all times."
As I said that, I leaned up against the wall and crossed my arms. Mark had no problem sitting with his legs crossed but I did. I didn't want to openly come out with it but my legs weren't as flexible as theirs. To bluntly say that out loud while that old man was beating me in terms of flexibility would be embarrassing. If they found out, I would want to die from shame... actually no... I'll murder them all since it would be easier. I had refused to sit down solely because of that, It wasn't anything special.
"This village has to thank the gods for bringing plentiful of harvest-"
Once again he started his own monologue. The room was well lit with candles, the dimness of the room was making me sleepy and the old man's talk was only making it worse. I was already exhausted from before. I had rapidly moved my eyes left and right to keep myself awake. From the corners of my eyes I could see something approaching.
Giving me a reason to snap out of it, I had pierced my gaze at it. It was an attractive young lady. Her skin was pale. Her short dark purple hair was uncommon as well as her red eyes. She was carrying a wooden platter with food in her hands. The platter consisted of mostly meat instead of vegetables. She had came and set it down in front of Mark and the head villager. She then moved, standing next to the wall and waited. It was a simple task but she had done it with such grace, something you shouldn't find at villages. The head villager had begun praying and once finished, he placed both hands on his knees.
"This is my granddaughter, the pride of this village. Please make yourself at home. Eat up."
Mark had looked at me as if waiting for my approval. Why was he asking for my permission? Is he cautious of poison? I'm a hired warrior, not some loyal knight or soldier in a army bounded by the sense of duty. Sacrificing my life by consumption of food was not the way I wanted to leave this world. I nodded to him, giving him the ok. He begun eating with his hands, ignoring the utensils.
"Aren't you going to eat warrior?" the female voice was full of curiosity.
"No, I'll eat later."
To eat, I would have to sit down and I was not going to expose myself. Besides I already made a commitment to stand up, I wasn't going to back out. I was hungry but I had gone days without eating before, I'll be fine. Human emotions were a strange illogical thing, regardless if it made sense or not.
Mark had targeted the meats and left the vegetables out, this worked out as the head villager had only ate the vegetables. For the generic populace, meat was not a common part of their meals and meant for the high class or adventurers. His face looked satisfied by the end of it. His stomach bloated, a hill could been seen bulging from his stomach even with his baggy robe on him.
"We have a wash bin, you've traveled far please use it and by then we'll have a room prepared for you."
Mark was straight faced but had radiated a gleeful aura. Just feeling it... I wanted to puke. I could tell he was really beaming with happiness in that tiny little body of his.
"My granddaughter will take you there."
Mark zipped up from his cushion and hurried to her. She began walking through their house and I pursued. The floors creaked a bit but they weren't unbearable. It was good for me, if an enemy came he would give away his position. All the doors inside were sliding doors. She led us to a big door which was connected to a room leading to the back where you were supposed to clean yourself before entering. It was all foreign to me. She moved to the side of the door and stood there waiting for us to go in.
Mark opened to sliding doors and entered, I had followed behind. Turning around, he was upset at me. With his weakly small arms he tried his best to push me out of the room. I wasn't budging. We were both guys, what was the problem if his manpart was exposed. Many men had insecurities of their junk, the concept was ridiculous to me. It wasn't the junk that determined the man, it was in the battlefield that would determine it. Him being shy was only making my job harder but he is the boss. If he wanted to risk his life over such foolish reasons then I would let him. I'll just have to adjust from standing literally outside to outside the door.
He closed the door and went to bathe. I had stood in between the two doors to ensure no one could accidentally stumble into the room. The lady started chuckling with her alluring voice.
"He's a shy one isn't he."
"It hasn't even been a day and so far he's been making my job hard."
"If it would make you feel better, we can watch him while you go out and enjoy yourself for night."
Her offer was quite tempting but a job was a job regardless. They may have earned Mark's trust but I was far from trusting them.
"No."
"My so serious." her flirtatious comment only served as a joke.
"I'll be going to prepare the beds now, so I'll be taking my leave."
She left. My eyelids were once again getting heavy. My vision had slowly wobbled from time to time and each time that it did, it got darker and darker. Shortly soon it had succumbed becoming completely black. In the black, there was a single flame off into the distance. In that flame, embers grew brightly as it left the flame. In that flame I could hear my name.
"It's your fault..." the voice was soft and familiar. Each time it spoke, it had become more distorted, becoming more demonic. The noise of my heart could be heard from all around and proportionally got louder along with the voice. When the voice had no longer fully resembled a human's voice, a small soft distinct voice could be heard behind me. My eyelids shot open. I had unsheathed my sword and swung full force horizontally while still holding my sheath with the other hand. A strand of Mark's top hair fell down. What was standing in front of me was Mark. Not minding the disturbed expression portraying on his face, I had sheathed my sword. A stream of tears rapidly came down his unchanging face.
"Nngh I almost peed myself."
"It's just you..."
"Of course it's me.." Mark tried to force a smile but his voice was shaky.
My sweat was collecting on my skin, the warmth of the flame still lingered. from this short nightmare. I could feel my pulse from my limbs beating hard. If he had been any taller, he would've had his washed head cut cleanly. Falling asleep on duty... When I have time, I need to reassess myself and instill some discipline in my body.
"Yeah... let's go.."
"Are you going to bath too?"
"No."
I had felt yucky from the previous dried off sweat and the recent sweat. I felt the salt on my skin. Maybe If I was in a town I would bathe without hesitation but I didn't feel comfortable here especially having to worry about a brat. Exhaustion was building up quickly and my body could feel the tiniest bit of changes. I didn't want to leave him out of my sight. Perhaps if he was in the room when I bathed, I could have my longsword within arms reach and worry less. But, I had already declined.
"Are you sure cause you kind of stink..."
And whose fault is that. I didn't have the energy to yell.
"Alright kid, you're the boss. But I have a condition."
"Yeah?"
When we came out, the head villager's daughter had met up with us and led us upstairs to our room, she then left. Entering the room that was prepared for us, Mark got on top of the two bed sheets laid on the floor. He sprawled out, taking both of them. Earlier, I had Mark out there with me as I bathed and cleaned my gear. He had faced away embarrassed at seeing another man. After cleaning myself up, I donned my battle kit, still he refused to even look my way. It was already midnight by the time we got out of there.
The room she brought us to had another sliding door to the right that lead to the balcony, it was closed. A single candle had been lit near the entrance, It didn't fully light up the room. The area near the furthest side of the wall couldn't be seen. If something hid there, the darkness would successfully conceal it. The floors were wooden and the smell odorless. It was simple, it didn't have anything in there except just the two beds.
"It's been a long time since I had slept in the same room as someone" the voice was monotone but I could catch the slight hint of sorrow coming from Mark.
He had crawled into one of the sheets and patted on the other one trying to signal me to get in. Did he want me to sleep next to him? But I was on the job. If I was going to sleep I wouldn't had don my armor again. He continued patting it thinking I didn't catch the hint. I didn't have the will to give a full rebuttal so I just got in and covered myself with the sheets. It was awkward with my armor on. It was uncomfortable.
"Hey."
"Yeah?"
"Aren't you going to take off your armor?"
"... No, I don't trust these people."
"They've been so kind to us. Aren't you just too, what was that word. I think it was paranoid?"
"Who taught you such big words."
"I taught myself."
I could see his attempt of a smile. I said it without really thinking much about it but he had took it as a compliment.
"I can't remember much but, someone dear to me when I was five use to tell me stories before I went to sleep. It helped a lot."
"And?"
"Today seemed like a dream. Except when you almost.. Killed. Me.. Could you tell me a story? Please."
"You're still salty about that?"
I couldn't refuse his request, I had felt somewhat guilty. I had to think about this one, I had never told a story to a kid before. It was mostly stories shared between grown adults that I was accustomed to.
"Do you want to hear about how I chopped halfway through one of the heads off the two headed beast dog like monster that had entered the middle of the battle of Kajikizhun. It was pretty brutal. I had dug my hands into the flapping head and then tore it off. It wasn't easy, the neck was rigged with muscles, so I had to twist it here and there. By the end of it, I was covered in it's blood. The reaction that beast had when I had showed it's torn head was just the best. Their anatomy was complex, resembled nothing like a dog, things were all over the place. Or when I decapitated three heads in a row-"
"No. I meant something happy."
"..."
War stories were 'something happy' for me but a happy kid's story... It was quite hard to think of an event. I had grew up in war and that was what my childhood was like. I spent most of my life there.
"It doesn't have to be a true story."
"Damn, you really are having me babysit you.. Since I almost did kill you, I'll only do it this one time.. Alright, I have one for you. A warrior in the service of one of the greatest prince ever to have existed, as a matter of fact he looked just a tiny bit like you."
The candle was still burning and I can see him tuning in. Getting comfortable. It was quite adorable. I had begun. It was awkward at first but the more it went on, the more natural it became. The story had lasts longer than I had expected.
"And then the prince and princess got married. They lived happily ever after".
He was still awake, although a bit drowsy. His mouth opened wide as he yawned, with one hand he brushed it against his eye.
"What happened to the warrior?"
"Well he... he was at the wedding. So the prince had saw him and said 'Thank you for delivering my love letters to the princess the entire time. Because of you we're now going to live happily ever after.' And he patted his back as a reward for his loyal service."
"Pat on the back? That's laaaame. I wonder If the warrior ever lived happily ever after too."
"Well- no more questions, go to sleep. We got a lot to do. We'll be heading at or before noon."
He was satisfied that his request was filled and with nothing more to ask, he turned around and went silent. Once confirming he was asleep, I got out of the bed. Telling that story had filled me with energy to stay awake. Walking to the corner of the room, leaning against the wall in the dead silence. I watched Mark hidden in the shadow where the candle's light couldn't reach to.
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