by Sam Ferguson
“I saw the disappointment in their eyes when you turned them down,” Karyna said.
“Let them be disappointed,” Aikur replied. “My fighting days are done.” He swept his hand out toward their house. “That is why we sailed away from New Konnland, and came here after all, to build a new life. Think of it, in only one more year, our Dezri would have been starting at his first war training school. By the age of six, he would have been ranked against the others. At the age of twelve, he would have been assigned to his first patrol, scouring the wastelands for Kottri and minotaurs.” Aikur frowned and shook his head. “But not here. Here we are free to live in peace.”
Karyna nodded and then grabbed Aikur’s chin. “I also saw the disappointment in your eyes, my love. I know you want a better life for us, and you are working so hard to make it a reality, but I am worried you may lose yourself by denying who you are.”
“You would have me go and fight the goblins in the mountains?” Aikur asked skeptically.
“They are not so deadly a foe as minotaurs or Kottri,” Karyna replied evenly.
“So I can go then, and you wouldn’t worry at all?”
“Of course I would,” she said quickly.
“Then I stay here with you,” Aikur said with a satisfied nod. “Besides, I think the council overestimates the goblin presence. I have not seen sign of any larger forces.”
“Jereth says that he saw three goblin scouts,” Karyna put in.
Aikur shook his head. “Jereth is given to the drink, and that makes him see things that aren’t there.” Dezri turned and head-butted Aikur in the thigh, snarling and growling. Karyna laughed and stepped back, knowing all too well what was to come. “What is this? A challenger?” Aikur shouted. Dezri put up two tiny fists and looked up at Aikur with his bright, green eyes. Aikur dropped to his knees and put his fists up as well. “Well, come on then, let’s see who is stronger.”
“I stwonger!” Dezri shouted. The toddler then tipped his head forward and started punching as furiously as he could. Aikur grunted, making a show of flinching and swaying with each blow. He countered with a couple of wide, slow strikes that Dezri blocked before launching counter-punches that landed squarely on Aikur’s cheek. Aikur groaned and fell to the side. He closed his eyes and stuck out his tongue, letting it hang limp from his mouth as he gave one final gasp.
A moment later Dezri kicked Aikur in the stomach with his tiny, booted foot. Aikur coughed.
“You should know better by now than to let your guard down,” Karyna said.
Aikur coughed again and sat up just in time as Dezri launched himself at Aikur’s chest. Aikur fell to his back while carefully holding Dezri, playing along with the small child and pretending to be tackled to the ground.
“I stwonger!” Dezri shouted as he stood on his father’s chest and began stomping.
“Now that is just about enough!” Karyna scolded as she swooped in and snatched Dezri off of Aikur. “That’s brutal, even for a Konnon!”
“I stwongeerrrrrr!” Dezri shouted at the top of his lungs, shaking his little fists and snarling at the sky.
“Well come along, strong one, it’s time for your bath.”
Aikur chuckled and propped himself up on his elbows as he watched them disappear into the large wooden house that he had purchased while Karyna was still with child.
“Yep,” he said. “This is where I belong.” He got up and dusted himself off. He went back to the wood pile and picked up his axe, a long-handled, double-bladed axe that had as yet chopped through more minotaurs and Kottri than wood. Aikur hoisted the retired weapon up and brought it down with one hand on the large section of wood, splitting it effortlessly.
Ka-thunk!
The next piece virtually exploded apart as the axe tore through it.
Aikur spent the next hour chopping up enough wood to last for several weeks, and then he stuck the axe into the chopping block and went to work stacking the newly cut pieces next to the house. He found the work relaxing. It wasn’t much of a workout for his muscles, which were accustomed to far more rigorous regimens, but it was good for his mind, giving him time to ponder.
He had only just placed the last bit of wood on the stack when he heard the sound of horse hooves coming up the way toward his house. His first instinct was to grab his sword, and he had to remind himself that hooves no longer meant minotaurs. He made two fists and closed his eyes as he took three quick breaths. Acclimating to this life was harder than he had anticipated.
He turned to see Nolan, a tall man who lived about a mile to the west in a cabin of his own.
“Missed you at the council,” Nolan said with a wave.
“Have you seen any sign of goblins?” Aikur asked. “I haven’t.”
“They’re crafty devils,” Nolan said as he pulled up on the reins and dismounted. He gave his horse a quick pat on the side, signaling to the animal that it was free to graze. Nolan then removed his gloves and stuffed them under his belt as he closed the last several yards to the stone half wall surrounding Aikur’s lands. “This certainly won’t keep anything out,” Nolan said with a gesture toward the wall.
Aikur laughed. “It’s meant only to keep Dezri in,” he replied. “There is nothing in these forests that Karyna and I can’t handle.”
“I have three more dead sheep,” Nolan said as he turned and sat on the stone wall. “Something came last night and ripped them up bad. Only ate a bit of the meat, left the rest to rot, the green devils.”
Aikur nodded and moved to sit next to Nolan. “Goblins aren’t the only things that might do that. I have seen wolves do the same.”
“Bah, wolves around here don’t act like that. They only take what they can eat.”
Aikur shrugged. “In New Konnland, the wolves had more than enough to eat. They still hunted our livestock though, usually ripped it up, ate a couple parts, and then left the rest.”
“This isn’t the work of wolves,” Nolan said as he fished around in a pouch for something. After a moment he came up with the front half of a wooden arrow. “You know any wolves that use stone arrowheads?”
Aikur smiled. “All right, so if there are goblins, why not send for the town guard?”
“The town guard?” Nolan huffed. “I thought you were a Konnon! I can’t believe you would suggest asking someone else to fight our battles for us.”
“Lord Consuert has responsibility for the mountains. My responsibility is to my family. If the goblins come here, then sure, I’ll fight, and so will my wife, but I am not about to leave them behind and go off into the mountains searching for enemies who are barely more dangerous than a pack of teenagers.”
Nolan puffed air and tossed the broken arrow at Aikur. “A pack of teenagers huh?”
“Where I come from, children start training at the age of three. Those who can’t master their weapons by the age of seven are assigned to trades. By the time a male is thirteen, he is more deadly than any goblin from these mountains.” Aikur waved his hand toward the verdant peaks rising in the distance. “The goblins out here are small, weak, and cowardly. They won’t ever come down into this area.”
“A house dog may be docile and cuddly,” Nolan remarked, “but throw it out into the wild and it will turn savage. One dog on its own may not pose a threat, but put it into a pack and you have the makings of trouble. We are not on New Konnland, and our children are not the brave fighters of your homeland.”
Aikur shook his head. “A pack of dogs is easily run off by the town guard,” he maintained. “My fighting days are behind me. I built this home. I organized the gardens. My concern now is giving my family a better life than we would have had. If I leave them now for more wars, I will have failed.”
Nolan smiled and shook his head. “Won’t you at least return to town with me? They’re having another council later on today.”
“I don’t see much point in sitting around and discussing things that may or may not become problems.”
“You’re a stubborn man,
Aikur.”
“Perhaps, but at least I know what I want.”
“Oh, I don’t think anyone ever met a Konnon who didn’t know what they wanted. You’re a stubborn race, the lot of you, but you have honor too, that I can’t deny.” Nolan leaned closer to Aikur and held out his hand. “I’d feel better if you would at least come to the council meeting. It will do good to see men of strong character there.”
Aikur shrugged. “I have work to do here,” he said. He reached out and gripped Nolan’s hand firmly.
“If the goblins come here, tell me you will at least pick up a sword and fight,” Nolan pressed, his worried eyes searching Aikur’s face for some affirmation of hope.
Aikur laughed, his eyes twinkling as his grin spread across his dark face. “If the goblins come to my home, I will squash the lot of them with my own two hands, I assure you.”
Nolan nodded and departed the property without another word.
Aikur turned back to his home and went inside. He found his wife inside, with his formal uniform in her arms. “What are you doing?” Aikur asked as he closed the door behind himself.
“I thought I should bring this out and iron it for your meeting,” she said with a smile.
“I’m not going,” Aikur replied as he rushed forward and blocked her path. Smiling, he reached out and took the clothes away from her. “I’m not wearing these ever again.”
“Aikur, we are Konnon, war is in our blood.” She looked up at him with her dark, chocolate-colored eyes and gently caressed his cheek with her hand. “Go, see what the town needs.”
Aikur reached up and took her hand in his. “No, I swore we would find peace. We traveled thousands of miles to make our new life here. I can’t throw away what we are building. Even if I could, they don’t seek only to defend their homes. I think they mean to send an offensive force into the mountains, and you know that is not our way. Konnons only fight to protect themselves and their homes. We don’t invade lands that are not ours.”
Karyna stretched up onto her tip-toes and kissed her husband passionately. Karyna then took in a breath and leaned her head on his chest. “Then don’t fight. Advise the others. Teach them how to fight, and how to scout. Then no one can say we refused to help, and you will not have broken your promise.”
“Karyna…”
She stepped back and put a finger to his lips. “Go, and since you have taken the clothes from me, you can iron them yourself. The village council expects a Konnon warrior, and you should dress to impress.” She turned away and started back through the house. “I will start preparing our next meal.”
“They don’t need my help,” Aikur said, but Karyna wasn’t listening. He smiled and watched her hips sway with each step. When at last she had disappeared from view, Aikur decided to search for the iron. There was no use in arguing with Karyna. No matter how many minotaurs or Kottri he had slain in battle, he had never quite learned the strategy for winning a disagreement with her. She was always right, as she was oft to remind him throughout their marriage.
Chapter 2
Aikur hadn’t worn his uniform since before he had made the decision to leave New Konnland. He sighed now and his heart felt heavy in his chest at the thought. There was no way he could make the villagers here understand him. They were not Konnon. They did not know the value placed upon one’s honor, nor the shame and disgrace heaped upon him by his family and tribe when he made the announcement that he was leaving them all behind. His departure had no precedent – no other Konnon before him had ever even considered it as far as he knew - and likely wouldn’t be understood or imitated by any Konnon after. His titles and commendations had been stripped from him, and his family had disowned him, spitting upon him and cursing him and his progeny for generations to come.
Such was the Konnon way when a warrior turned his back on his duties.
Aikur was born to fight, as were all Konnons, both male and female. He had mastered his weapons well, and proven himself worthy to be the first officer of his peers. He had led countless engagements against the minotaurs in their never-ending struggle for control of the northern half of New Konnland. Yet, all of that was remembered no more by his father, or the tribe he had abandoned. Because he chose to leave, instead of remaining in New Konnland until he was too old to fight, he was an outcast. If he were to ever return to New Konnland, his own people would attack him.
It was this pain more than anything else that made Aikur so determined never to fight again. Should he pick up his weapons now, it would make a mockery of his sacrifice. Even looking at his formal uniform filled him with shame. His heart delighted to know that he had saved Dezri from a life of strife and grief, but the cost had been nearly more than he could bear.
If only the foolish villagers could understand!
Aikur forced himself to pull on his tan trousers and then slip his feet into his minotaur-leather boots. He laced them tightly and then pulled his red tunic over his muscular, and scarred, torso. Last came a jerkin made from the skin of a crocodile he had hunted himself upon turning twelve. A necklace of crocodile teeth hung around his neck and a bracelet made of Kottri claws adorned his left wrist.
“Why not wear the cloak?” Karyna asked as she approached from behind.
Aikur turned to glance at the coat and sighed. “I am not a commander anymore,” he said. “I cannot put the coat on without dishonoring myself.”
“We are well beyond the point of worrying about honor,” Karyna said. She reached down and took the coat in hand. “Did you not kill the Kottri whose skin this was?”
“I did,” Aikur said. He looked at the coat of fur with its crimson stripes set against a field of black. He remembered that fight well. This particular Kottri had been the chief of his war band, and a formidable foe. Aikur’s spear had broken in the battle and he had been forced to face off against the three hundred pound cat-man with his dagger. Aikur still bore the scars from this Kottri’s claws. “Still, I am without title now, and therefore I should not wear it.”
“Put it on,” Karyna said. “The people want to be reassured that a master warrior has their backs in case the town guard fails to stop the goblin threat.”
“Goblins, what goblins?” Aikur asked. “I have scouted around the property and seen no sign of any goblins. I’m sure it is just their overactive imaginations running away with them. At worst it is a pack of wolves, that’s what I told Nolan.”
Karyna held up the coat and waited, arching one of her brows and pursing her lips just enough to let Aikur know she wouldn’t wait patiently for long.
Reluctantly, Aikur moved backward and allowed her to drape the cloak over his shoulders. Her nimble hands reached around and fastened the clasp in the front and then she slipped her hands down to hug him from behind.
“There, now you look like a proper warrior.”
Aikur shook his head. “I feel like an imposter.”
Karyna backed away and playfully slapped his behind. “Your tribe may say you have no honor, but they can’t take away the things you did. Now, get out there and show those villagers what a Konnon warrior looks like.”
“Why aren’t you coming?” Aikur shot back. “You have just as many accomplishments as I do.”
“No, you’re wrong,” she said with a wink. “I have more.”
“That only proves my point. You should be the one to lead them.”
Karyna shook her head. “That is not their way. In New Konnland I can lead, but not here. In this land, the males fight and the females make homes.”
“That is not a sentiment I share,” Aikur replied evenly.
“It’s better this way. No one wants to take orders from a female, especially a pregnant one.”
Aikur opened his mouth and was about to reply when his words caught in his throat and he just stood there, stunned. After blinking a few times he was able to bring himself back to his senses. “Pregnant?” he asked.
Karyna smiled.
“How long have you known?”
; “A few weeks now,” Karyna said.
“Why haven’t you told me?”
“I just did,” she said impatiently. “Now go on, get down to the village and then hurry back to me. We can celebrate properly once you have returned.”
Aikur kissed his wife and then dropped to a knee so he could kiss her stomach. The proud man exited the house grinning ear to ear, eager to get this boring business over with so he could get back to his beloved Karyna.
The walk into the village took a couple hours, but it was a pleasant journey along the gently sloping mountain road flanked by tall pines on either side. Early spring brought with it blooming flowers, fluttering butterflies, and chirping birds darting through the air. It was a wonderful time made all the better by the knowledge that he was going to have another child. It had taken them a long time to have Dezri, longer than most Konnon couples, and Aikur hadn’t been sure they would be able to make another baby, but he was walking with a great bounce in his step just thinking about his new child.
When he arrived at the village, two men armed with spears looked up and waved at him. He nodded to them and walked past. By the looks of their clothes, they were new trainees inducted into the town guard, or perhaps mercenaries hired by Lord Consuert. Mercenaries were a strange lot to Aikur. Though he understood better than most on this continent what it meant to make a living by fighting wars, he could not see the honor in hiring out to fight others’ wars. In New Konnland, survival of both the individual and the tribe depended upon valiant warriors, but such was not the case for a mercenary. All they stood to lose by living in peace was a few coins here and there that could likely just as easily be earned working in one of the larger cities.
Though his people certainly had money and a bustling economic system, Aikur couldn’t bring himself to understand the love of gold that held so many people captive in this land.
He continued along the road as it curved past a couple of sloped fields and then around a large farm house before coming into the heart of the village. A few shops and houses were built close together, and a church stood in the center of the settlement with a tall bell tower that served to remind people when to worship, and also to warn them of danger. Behind the church was a small graveyard, and behind that was a longhouse which was used as the town hall. Aikur moved to the building and pushed the door open to find roughly twenty men seated on either side of a long, rectangular table. Whatever they had been saying before he arrived was banished from each set of lips, and the group fell silent as they looked up. There were several wide-eyed expressions, and more than a couple mouths hanging open as they stared at him.
