The Four Territories

by Stevie Collier

  Putting his honor on the side, as much honor as an assassin could have, Esh kicked the vendor hard in the gut. He placed the Ballahranian on top of the cart and started to speed off with it. The vendor tried to stand up but had had the air knocked out of him and was gasping.

  “I’m sorry! I’ll pay you back one of these sun-cycles!” Esh cried over his shoulder.

  He rolled the cart through the streets as fast as he could without spilling its contents or the female on top. He took random turns whenever he saw one to lose whoever may have been following him.

  He had taken his fifth turn when she started to cough up blood. He had never heard of anyone coughing up blood due to lack of air but then again, he hadn’t studied much of the Ballahranian biology, even Xep didn’t know all that much. He was losing time, he needed a shaded hidden place to treat her.

  A hand appeared from an alleyway between two buildings, grabbing Esh’s shoulder with a strong grip. Muscle memory came into play and he grabbed the assailant’s fingers pushing them in the wrong direction.

  “Stop! Stop! It’s me!”

  Esh pulled the humanoid out of the shadows and, upon seeing who it was, pushed him back in. Esh wheeled the cart around and into the alley, making sure no one saw him.

  “Barish? Why? How did you-”

  “Doesn’t look like you have a lot of time to be asking questions!” Barish said, nodding towards the dying Ballahranian. “Seems like you have bigger problems.”

  “Oh right… Do you know of a place—”

  “Come with me,” he said, trotting off to the end of the alley.

  “How can I trust you?” Esh asked, hesitant to follow the stranger down the dark pathway. All his instincts again told him to run and escape. Yet, he’d broken those instincts long ago, hadn’t he?

  There were loud yells coming from the way Esh had come. Some of the fine citizens of Zel must have reported him to the guards. He didn’t blame them. If he had been a normal Reahlic rich humanoid, seeing a well armored male pushing a cart with a dying Ballahranian on top of it he would have reported himself too.

  “Doesn’t look like you have much of a choice anyway.” Barish winked at him. “Now come on!”

  Esh took a deep breath and started after him.

  It was a long run and Barish seemed to be taking turns at random intersections. Esh hoped this half naked male knew where he was going.

  All along the way he kept his eyes and ears open for a potential ambush which would effectively kill the Ballahranian. Esh promised himself that if this male was stabbing him in the back he would return the favor, except he would rip the male’s arms off instead.

  “We have to stop and treat her!” he yelled to Barish who had gotten pretty far head.

  “It’s just up here! You’ll see.”

  They made one more turn and Esh about ran him over with the cart. Barish was standing in front of a door, his hand held out in front of him as if he was expecting some currency tip.

  “I don’t have any coin for you,” Esh said simply.

  “Not money you simpleton! My sword!”

  “Oh, yes… Right…” Esh undid the greatsword and handed Barish the hilt. “Thank you. Now can we please come inside?”

  “Of course.” Barish clasped the greatsword on his back and pulled a small key from his thin undergarments. Esh was unsure how he hadn’t noticed the key imprint but he didn’t spend a lot of time gazing at the male’s undergarments.

  The door opened to a small room and Barish ushered them in. Esh pushed the cart inside and did his step by step process of analyzing unknown chambers as he had been taught.

  The room was just a room, that was all. No other hallways or doors, just the square space in front of him with four torches. It all checked out.

  He pulled the female off the cart and was about to lay her on the ground while Barish walked along the walls lighting the torches.

  “Here,” Barish said, placing a soft blanket on the hard floor. “This will make it more comfortable for her.”

  Esh furrowed his eyebrows and hated himself for still not trusting the gladiator… but he couldn’t, not just yet. Still, he said, “Thanks.”

  He placed the female on top of the blanket, stood, and held his wrist out to Barish. “Hold this.”

  “Hold your hand? No, I don’t think so.”

  Esh rolled his eyes, “Just do it.”

  Barish squinted his eyes at him and grabbed his wrist.

  “Come on, tighter.”

  Barish tightened his grip. “What’s going on?”

  “Now, hold still.” Barish opened his mouth but Esh interrupted him by jerking his body in such a way that his shoulder popped back in place. Pain flooded his mind for a few seconds. He closed his eyes and held his throbbing arm to his chest, gritting his teeth. He did this until the pain became nothing but a dull ache.

  “Oh damn. How long was that dislocated?”

  Esh ignored the question and spun his arm to make sure everything was where it should be. Then, he started his resuscitation treatments. The first step was to check for a pulse but he wasn’t sure where to check with a Ballahranian. So, he went to the next step. He pulled off one of his gloves and licked the side of his finger. He put it under her nose but felt no breath.

  Panic seized his chest and he started to breathe heavily as if he could lend her his air. But then he realized something. He took his finger from under her nose and placed it by her gills. He felt a trickle of hot air.

  “Please, cut the tops of those canisters off. We have to run the liquid over the gills.”

  “The what, I’m sorry? Oh my!” Barish backed up to the wall and pointed at her neck. “What in the four hells are those? Is she cut?”

  “No,” Esh said exasperated. “They are gills, she is from the Blue territory. It’s how their humanoids breath under the liquid.”

  “Oh… Oh yes, ok. Then liquid canisters makes sense, I was wondering why—”

  “Please, Barish, we don’t have time for this! The canisters.”

  “Err… Right” Barish went to work with his greatsword, carefully peeling the caps off about five canisters.

  “Will this be enough?” he asked.

  Esh took one of the opened cans off the cart, “I’m not sure. Here, hold her head up.”

  Barish swallowed, and knelt down beside the strange female. Slowly, he put his hands under her head and hoisted it up, “Ew… She’s all sticky!”

  Esh ignored him and tipped the can over, spilling the clear liquid over the gills. Bubbles formed over the top layer as the liquid down her neck.

  Esh and Barish sat and waited, looking for any sign of life. Esh cursed himself now that he was looking back at his blue world studies. He could have easily taken more time to study their humanoids, their ways, and especially how their bodies worked. Just a little bit more of study could have saved this female. He should never have left the hut and just continued his training, that’s all he was good at.

  The gills flapped loudly making both Esh and Barish jump in the quiet room. They looked at each other with big goofy smiles before quickly realizing how dumb they looked. The female’s eyes opened for a few seconds, her blue irises moving to each of them and then resting straight ahead before she fell unconscious again.

  “We have to get her to my hut,” Esh said, pouring more liquid over the gills.

  “You can’t leave right now. You murdered the king. The whole city is probably infested with guards searching for you two.”

  “I didn’t murder the king,” Esh said in a calm voice. He didn’t really care if Barish believed him or not. In fact, he didn’t care if the king was dead or not, all he cared about was the being in his care.

  “If not you, then who?”

  There had been something tugging at the back of Esh’s mind ever since jumping off the platform and now he knew what it was. Yemesh had been missing from the group of guards who he had commanded the evil twin to chew the ankles from.

  Where
had he gone to? He had just… disappeared… There was no way he could have escaped from the back of the platform, Esh would have seen him running. His only option would to have been to jump or climb. However he did it, the assassination was well planned and perfectly carried out.

  “One of the guards stuck a dagger in him.”

  “One of his own guards!?” Barish cried out in surprise.

  “Shhh! If anyone’s going to get us caught, it’s going to be you!”

  “Right, right. Sorry. But why would one of the king’s guards assassinate the one their supposed to be guarding? I mean, he is the male who pays them.”

  “That’s what I want to find out. But more importantly, why are you giving me aid? Why help a competitor? A stranger who was your opponent.”

  Barish thought for a moment, pressing his lips together. “Well, it’s kind of a crazy reason but… I could just tell you were different from the rest of those rejects. I mean… I didn’t at first, but as we talked I could tell you were educated. I’m educated too, mind you.”

  “You are?”

  “What, you can’t tell? Do you not speak to anyone in Zel? They all sound as if their brains have been turned to mush! Humanoids here don’t take the education system seriously and only worry about their physical needs and completely put aside their mental needs.”

  “Well, I mostly hang around my teachers,” confessed Esh. “So, I guess that’s why.”

  “So I was right!” Barish pointed a finger in the air and nearly dropped the female’s head. “A teacher always knows.”

  “You’re a teacher?”

  “Yes! Well… I was a teacher, but I quit for a few of my own reasons.”

  Esh grabbed another canister. “You can’t quit your profession in Reah.”

  “You can quit whatever you want, you just become an outlaw.”

  That was true. Anyone who quit their chosen profession was considered to choose against the king and was labeled a deserter. Now that the king was dead Esh doubted that anything would change and if they did it was more probable that the change would be for the worst.

  “How long do you think we need to stay here? I really have to get her to someone I know who can help her.” At least, Esh hoped his Master could do something. If not, there was no possible way to keep this female alive. He couldn’t just keep stealing liquid canisters for the rest of his life, and it would be no way to live in the first place. He wasn’t even sure if this was working or not.

  “At first, I was thinking we should sleep here, but I’m sure the watch will be just as heavy in the morning as it is now. Actually, it may be worse because the guards will have had time to organize themselves.”

  It was good thinking. If his fighting technique was as good as his mind, Esh thought Barish could make an excellent assassin.

  “I’ve decided to trust you.” Esh said suddenly, running more liquid over the gills. “For now,” he added.

  “I’d think you to be a fool if you trusted me completely.”

  “Where is this place?”

  “This is my home,” he said, waving his hand around the room. “Sorry it isn’t much to look at. Now you’ve asked me plenty of questions and I think it’s fair if I get to ask you a few of my own.”

  “Ok.”

  “What’s your real name?”

  Esh hesitated, it wasn’t the question he was expecting. How did he know that he’d been given a fake name? Could he read him that well? Or had it been just a lucky guess? Either way, the male had saved his life more than once.

  “My real name’s Esh.”

  “Esh… I like that name. It isn’t a Reahlic name, though. Who gave it to you?”

  “Well I’m not… Hmm… Here, I’ll show you.”

  Esh removed his helmet, the sweltering dry heat hit him full on in the face. Barish gave a dramatic gasp and put a hand to his mouth.

  “I knew you were different!”

  “Different isn’t usually the word the Reahlics use to describe me.” Esh moved some of the blue wet hair out of the female’s face and lapped some of the liquid to her lips to help with the cracking.

  “I’d say you were half green half red, am I right?”

  Esh nodded.

  “Judging by your face, are you some trained gladiator? You bet on yourself to win, didn’t you?”

  “You aren’t even close. And you still haven’t told me why you decided to save me. Just because I’m different? There has to be something else.”

  Barish laughed, “Yes, there was. Why, you had my weapon still attached to your body. My father gave me that greatsword and his father before that.”

  “Ahh,” said Esh. “The greatsword is an excellent piece of metal. Why do you lend it out so easily? You shouldn’t.”

  “I don’t tell you how to care for your weapons, if you even have any, so don’t tell me how to care for mine. And I am pretty sure it was my turn to be asking the questions.”

  “Go on.”

  “Your profession, what is it?”

  “Trash picker.”

  “I shit on that. What is your profession, Esh.”

  It was Esh who laughed now. “Honestly, I was chosen as a trash collector but… but my instructor is…. Different, as you say.”

  “Did he give you those scars?”

  The Ballahranian stirred and they went quiet, waiting to see if she opened her eyes again. She didn’t.

  “Yes, but not intentionally. They were mostly accidents.”

  “I’ve had accidents before. Tripping. Running into walls. Yet none of them have produced scars like that. Those are… thin and precise. If you don’t want to say intentional, fine, but they were calculated. Your instructor must know his way around weaponry.”

  “You could say that.”

  Barish put the Ballahranian’s head down softly and folded his arms around his chest. “I can see I’m not going to get very far with my questions, but at least answer me this last one with honesty.”

  Esh didn’t look up, but let more drops of liquid fall onto the female’s lips. “Ok, I’ll try.”

  “Why did you save her?” Barish looked down at the dying Ballahranian with genuine sympathy.

  Esh paused. “I’m not sure.”

  He grabbed another canister.

  33 - The Ballahranian's Secret

  Barish had had the excellent idea of using the soft blankets to soak up some of the liquid and to place it over the gills while they transported her. He’d invited himself to come along for the journey. Esh tried everything to dissuade him.

  “What about your home?”

  “This dreary old thing? It’s not going anywhere,” he’d replied.

  “It will be unnecessarily dangerous, I wouldn’t want that for you.”

  “There is nothing for me here. Don’t you worry, I live for action.”

  Esh gave up. His main priority was to get the dying Ballahranian to Master Rift as soon as possible and arguing with Barish was pointless. The male’s mind was dead set.

  The female’s respiration had increased over the long hours during the moon-cycle, her gills flapping in and out, but still with a certain degree of trouble. Esh and Barish then replaced the spilling of the liquid with the soaked blankets to make sure it would work the same. They kept the blankets over her gills for an hour and found there was no change. This was as good as it was going to get.

  Barish had no other blankets to cover her body but instead had the great idea of using his books. Esh was impressed, books were antiques and very hard to come by. So they covered her with open books.

  One of the books touched the liquid and was instantly ruined. Barish must have seen Esh’s face for he said, “Ahh, a love for books! Now that’s a rare sight.”

  Esh shrugged, “Books make great companions when you have no friends.”

  “Here, here to that!”

  They moved the cart out into the light of the moon side of the sun, pushing her slowly down the alleyways. Esh told Barish the area to which he live
d and it turned out that he had once taught education over there.

  “Very poor part of town. Very sad and hard place to live.”

  Esh only nodded. He knew all too well about the difficulties of living in the slums of Zel. If it hadn’t been for external help from his fake mother and Master Rift he would have been dead long ago.

  The real danger of the journey started when they ran out of dark alley to hide within. One armored male and another half naked male pushed a cart filled with expensive books in the late hours.

  They were the definition of suspicious.

  They walked without talking, only taking breaks to re-dampen the Ballahranian’s blankets. Even though it was the time of the moon-cycle, the heat still did work on the liquid, evaporating a fully soaked blanket within a few minutes. Esh pointed this out to Barish and they quickened their pace.

  “What is this?” Barish asked, walking behind Esh.

  “What’s what?”

  “These.” Barish poked one of the holes in the back of his armor, causing an enormous amount of pain to reawaken.

  Esh yelped and jumped forward.

  “Shhh! Keep your voice down!”

  “Don’t poke me then, dammit!” Esh whispered through gritted teeth.

  “Well, what are those? Don’t tell me those are open wounds.”

  “They are.” Esh pushed the cart along and Barish followed.

  “They’re going to get infected.”

  “Nothing we can do about it now.”

  Barish didn’t say anything to that. He knew Esh was right.

  They had made it about two-thirds to the hut when they turned a corner to meet a battalion of guards out sweeping the streets.

  “You two! Halt right there!”

  Barish and Esh looked at each other for a moment. Esh’s hand went to his hip for his sword but found nothing. He cursed.

  “Follow my lead.” Barish said out the side of his mouth.

  “Good evening, sirs! Fine moon-cycle, wouldn’t you say?”

  “Quiet,” snapped the guard who was obviously in charge. He was the only one that was wearing the king’s secret guard uniform. “As you have both probably heard, the king had been murdered. What’s in the cart?”