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Post Info TOPIC: Chapter 9


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Chapter 9
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    "Who are those men and what are they doing on my ship?" Arsin, red faced and through clenched teeth asked as he stormed into what used to be his cabin. "I don't like the looks of them and I want them off."
    Kayeen simply leaned back in his seat and rested one boot on a small stool. With his arms folded behind his head, he replied. "Those men are here at my invitation. They are advisors to me. You don't need to worry about them."

    "I don't want those two mixing with my crew." Asrin shot back standing as aggressively as he dared over his seated co-captain.

Kayeen tried calming him, "I'll keep them as much from the crew as possible. Lets keep it just as we agreed. You keep the crew in line and the ship moving and I'll handle the business side. Are you not making more under this arrangement than before?"

    "Yes, but that's because of our speed, not your business prowess." He spat the last two words out.

    "Well, we're about to enter into a very lucrative business venture. If these men can come through as promised, we all should be in for a windfall."

    "I don't like it one bit."

    "You don't have to. You just need to keep my ship up and running for me."

    At this Arsin grew red in the face. He knew, however, that he was powerless to do anything. So he simply turned around and left the cabin as violently as he had entered.

 

    Avril looked at the deep ravine before them. It looked like a deep crack had formed in the earth. It was only about a dozen feet across, but they would have to climb about fifty feet straight down and then back up the other side. Gavril had a better idea. "Stand still, I've never done this for two people before."

    Standing closely behind Avril, the older man grasped both his shoulders and then said, "repezi". Suddenly both men were standing waist deep in freezing cold water. The shock so startled Avril that he lost his footing and fell into the swiftly moving creek. As he was falling Gavril managed to grab the strap of the pack. If not for that, Avril would have slid completely into the small river that turned into icy rapids around the next bend.

As Avril was helped to his feet the two men spluttered their way out of the icy water. While Gavril spoke a small fire onto the rocky bank and then started looking for wood to feed into it, Avril shouted, "Blood and bloody ashes! What just happened?"

    Breaking up a branch and throwing both sides into the fire, Gavril replied, "I don't quite know. That wasn't exactly what I was planning there."

"Well, next time you want to try killing me, please give me a little warning."

    Gavril climbed up a large rock and looked toward the north to get his bearings. Looking down at a shaking Avril he muttered, "uscat". All the water what had been soaking Avril's clothes rolled down forming a puddle at his feet. Looking back up, Gavril's facial features moved from frustrated confusion to surprised amazement. "That's impossible." He muttered, "that's just not I can't"

    Avril looked up at his companion, "What? What is it?"

    "Come on up here." After a now dry Avril climbed on to the rock with him, Gavril pointed toward the north and continued, "You see that spot over there?"

    About a half mile away there was a ravine that looked fairly similar to the one they had just come upon. "That is where we jumped from. I tried to jump as far as I could because it is so much more difficult to do that with two people. I was hoping to land a good few feet on this side. This, this"

In amazement, Avril muttered, "Well, you managed a bit more than a few feet."

    Gavril looked at him, "What I did is impossible. The amount of energy for the jump we just made should have killed me outright, or at the least sent me into a coma. But I've become more winded climbing a flight of stairs than I did speaking that jump."

    It only took the two of them a little more than two days to accomplish what normally would have been about three weeks in good weather. As time went on, Gavril became more and more accurate in knowing his strength and accuracy in making the jumps. At first he was giving himself a couple hours from one jump to the next but that gradually lowered as they went on. He finally came to the conclusion that ten minutes was more than enough recovery time. Usually they got a bit more than what was needed just in walking and looking for the next clearing to jump to. It is a bit difficult to find a large dry clearing or meadow when one is moving through a mountain range. There are some and as time went by and Gavril's precision became better they were able to use smaller and smaller spaces.

    When a normal person is making a jump they tend to put as much energy and willpower as possible into it, and their strength in magik is what determines how far they can go. Gavril soon found that strength was not a factor at all. If he could see something, he could jump to it. What was the important factor was focus and determination. The more clearly he had a spot fixed in his mind, the more accurate his landing on that specific spot.

As they were nearing the south end of the Great North Range, Gavril figured he had become adept enough that he could jump the two of them even onto one of the narrow mountain passes from a mile away. However, he was not willing to risk the attempt with another person's life in his hands. He tried teaching Avril how to jump the night before. Avril had managed about sex feet and that wore him out enough that he fell asleep before they had even finished setting up camp.

    But now they were at what Gavril said was to be their last jump. They had worked out that his ability was the result of eating the seeds from the Lonely Oak. If they were to keep that tree a secret, they also had to keep the unexpected ability he gained from it a secret as well. Anyone who can speak magik, anyone from the Society, would immediately start connecting the dots. Most people who could not speak magik, which was most of the world, were often uncomfortable around it and would not take kindly to people virtually appearing out of thin air. As they approached the city of Slobodsky, the chances became greater and greater that someone would see them come out of a jump. As it is, they ended up making one jump too many.

 

    Lokhee dropped to the ground in frustration. She was trying to get the knot tight around the branch, but it just would not stick. Her shaking hands and her blurring eyes were working against her. Standing up she punched the tree trunk screaming in frustration. Putting her head against the tree Lokhee's chest heaved in silent sobs while her left hand grabbed the hurting and bleeding knuckles of her right.

    After taking a few minutes to pull herself under control, Lokhee picked up the rope off the ground, heaved a shaky sigh, and tried again to work the knot around the branch. She winced in pain as she pulled the knot tight with her right hand. The bleeding in her second and third knuckles started up again, but she did her best to ignore that as she measured the right height and began tying one end of the rope into a noose.

    As she was doing so, she froze. Lokhee rubbed her watery eyes, blinked and looked down again. They were still there. Just a few hundred yards away, at the base of the cliff, two men had virtually appeared out of nowhere. Forgetting the noose and the tree, Lokhee crouched down and watched the two men continue walking on as if they hadn't just done the impossible. They were walking in a direct line towards Slobodsky, but where had they come from? There was nothing, not even a trail heading back the way they must have come. She still couldn't believe that what she had seen had really happened.

    Lokhee continued to watch them until they were out of sight. Then, as quick as she could, she pulled out the noose in the rope, and used the other, longer end to repel down the twenty foot cliff she had come so close to hanging herself over.

    The young girl saw immediately the spot she had first seen the two men appear. There was a clear trail leading from that spot off in the direction they had walked. But before that, there was nothing. Lokhee worked herself across the ground carefully in every direction from that one spot for over a hundred yards. Nothing. The only trail was the one that, miraculously, started in that one spot.

    Coming back to that spot, Lokhee pulled the bandana from her hair. As she shook out her thick black hair that settled a couple inches below her shoulders, she wrapped the bandana over her cut and swelling knuckles. For a minute she was not sure what to do. She looked back at the tree near the edge of the cliff. She then looked out in the direction the two men had gone. Nodding her head once, she then took off in that direction in a steady, ground eating jog.

 

    It was good to be back among civilization. Gavril did his best to try and hide his amusement at Avril's awkwardness. The boy was seeing everything for the first time. This was the first real town he had been in. The population at Trapper's Point had been rapidly dwindling as they quickly passed through, so this was by far the most people he had never seen in one place. Even the thought paying money for food had nearly caused Avril's eyes to pop out of his head. The boy was doing his best to not let his awe and surprise at everything show, but it was making him look very awkward and stiff.

    Just as the serving girl placed their food before them, the door to the inn opened again and in walked a very beautiful, petite young girl. The girl, who looked to be about fourteen or fifteen stopped about a foot inside the door and looked around. As eyes settled on Gavril and his young companion, she broke into a smile that lit up her entire face. As she sauntered over to where the two of them sat Gavril said quietly to Avril, "This looks to be trouble, don't say a word." Avril was so mesmerized by the young girl, Gavril doubted what he said had registered.

    "So what are we having?" The girl said as she grabbed a chair from a nearby vacant table and joined Gavril at his. Looking across at the two plates, she grabbed a piece of chicken off Avril's and started eating it.

    Gavril said gruffly, "Yes we are travelers, but we have nothing that needs mending and we need no more supplies."

    For a second the young girl's eyes darkened as she looked at Gavril with anger, but the look passed as quickly as it came. She said, "Do you really think they would have me, a young still unmarried woman, out trying to work a business deal? That's not why I'm here. I'm hungry, where did that serving girl go?"
    Gavril opened his mouth to say something, then thought better of it. After a second's consideration he spoke again in clipped tones, "Perhaps you should find your way back to your party. From what I understand, you Zingari don't take too kindly to"
    The girl shot to her feet slapping both hands on the table. "You know nothing!" She stared at the two shocked men for a second before smoothing her skirt and primly sitting down. As if that burst of anger was nothing out of the ordinary, she continued "So let me inform you. The two of you are at the start of a long journey south. I will be coming with you."

 

    At the table there was silence. There was only one other table occupied, in the far corner of the room and from where the two men sat with their unwelcome companion, you could almost hear their quiet conversation. From the entrance, the sound of a wagon was rolling by. There was also the sound of the serving girl making her way from the kitchen to their table. But at the table there was silence.

    Avril looked over at Gavril with his eyes raised in a hopeful query. Gavril gave the younger man a slight, almost imperceptible nod of the head before looking back at their young intruder. "OK, so there's not much north of Slobodsky, to the west is still mountains, and this tavern is on the wrong end of town for someone heading east. So south was a good guess. Although we're both from the area, my young companion and I are obviously not related so we must be on a business, rather than a family trip. Since there are no nearby towns of note, it was also logical for you to assume it would be a long trip. What I don't understand is how you got the crazy notion that you would be coming along."

    Lokhee smiled and winked at Avril before turning to the older man. "My logic is much more simple than that." She pointed a finger from her tiny, callused left hand at Gavril, "You are a member of the Society." She moved her finger to a blushing Avril, "You are the poor helpless victim he's found." Now Lokhee pointed towards herself, "And I am coming along to make sure he doesn't kill you and eat you."

    The serving girl had frozen just feet from the table when she heard Gavril be accused of being a part of the Society. When she heard the last statement, she literally yelped. That put the startled Avril over the edge and he burst out in a cacophony of laughter. Even Gavril had to smile when he replied, "Really child. Do you honestly believe those stories at your age."

    Lokhee simply looked at him for a second and then turned her head toward the poor serving girl standing behind the two men. "Thank you dear, but I'm fine." She said while still picking at the chicken she had stolen off Avril's plate. Then she nodded towards him. "But this young man here still looks like he's starving. Perhaps you can get him another chicken?" The waitress bobbed her head in a nervous nod and then beat a hasty retreat.

    Avril, valiantly trying to compose himself said to Lokhee, "I think that if he was going to kill me and eat me, he would have done so quite a while back. Besides I'm far to skinny to be considered good eating."

    Lokhee interrupted, "Oh you're quite the juicy morsel."

    Avril plowed right over the interjection trying hard not to start laughing again, "You were correct in saying that the road ahead of us is long. It was also be hard traveling at the pace we set. As much as we would love to have you join us"

    Lokhee interjected again, "Fine. Then it's settled. You would love to have me join you and I will. I appreciate your concern, but as one who has spent my life on the road I'm sure I can pull my weight."

    Gavril turned to Avril who he had been trying to get to shut up and said, "That, boy, is why I told you to let me do the talking. You've been too sheltered to know how the Zingari do business. They cheat." Turning to Lokhee he continued. "Miss, I'm not sure why you want to join us but you were right. I am a part of the Society. Avril here is going to be joining them. That's where I'm bringing him. I understand that you have laws against us and our city. By revealing this information, I give you permission to back out of our agreement."

    Lokhee, fighting tears, replied, "Thank you but no."

    "But doesn't this mean that you will become an outcast among your people?"

    With the tears now flowing freely down her cheeks, Lokhee answered, "I already am."

    At the table there was silence.



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