by Joe Jackson
Kari sighed wistfully. “Honestly, Erik, I’ve never seen anyone fight like that man since,” she said. “Tumureldi had a gift, and I was blessed not just to learn from him, but to learn the very fighting style he created.”
He fixed her with a stern gaze, but then he put his palm over his face and grunted. “Well thanks for not embarrassing me in front of my siblings,” he said.
Kari waved off the comment. “You’re a hell of a fighter,” she said. “I don’t think I could embarrass you. In fact, I was wondering whose style you used?”
Erik nodded in thanks to her praise but then he shrugged. “Not any one person’s, really,” he said. “I learned the traditional shakna-rir scimitar style from Headmaster Akiveldi at the Academy, and was already proficient with the longsword thanks to my father. I just…not to brag, but I hit a lot harder than most people, and the half-demon speed and reflexes don’t hurt.”
“I’ll say,” she agreed. “You and your siblings are all very talented for a bunch of kids.”
“Kids? I’m older than you are, if what you’ve told me is true,” he said, and he nodded when she looked at him curiously. “I’m thirty-six; if what you say is accurate, you were twenty-seven when you were resurrected, and it’s been eight years since then.”
“I guess I hadn’t thought of it that way,” she returned pensively. “I feel so old because I lived so long ago…everyone feels like a kid to me now.” Erik conceded to her logic with a chuckle and a lopsided smile, and Kari lay on her cloak to sleep. She was surprised to find that with the brys perched high up in the tree above them she felt safer than she had when she and Erik were alone. It was strange, but she took advantage of the calm feeling and fell quickly into a light but restful sleep.
*~*~*~*
By the time Erik woke up the following morning, Makauric had a small fire burning with a game bird roasting over it. Makauric was seated across the fire from Kari in silent vigil as they waited for the meat to cook, and Kari nibbled lightly on some of her rations, intent on having something hot herself. She regarded Erik briefly as he awakened, and Makauric climbed quickly up the tree and scanned the forest before he came back down and removed the cooked bird from the spit.
“I didn’t think your kind cooked your food,” Erik commented as the brys sliced up the bird and handed each of his traveling companions a portion wrapped in a thick leaf.
“Eating birds without cooking them is foolish,” the demon said before he began tearing off a strip of the meat. “Meat that has been cooked does not benefit us nearly as much, but is still better than something diseased, or nothing at all.”
“Thanks for the meal,” Kari said. She took a careful bite, the juices still bubbling.
“You will need the strength of both meat and grains,” Makauric said, not acknowledging her thanks. “The road ahead is long and I must push you to your limits to reach the czarikk quickly. We do not want to dally in this forest long enough to draw the attention of its dragon.”
Erik and Kari both looked at their companion at the same time, and Kari could see the worry in Erik’s gaze. “Dragon?” he echoed simply after a few moments.
Makauric nodded. “Its lair is on the other side of the Ursis River, but it considers this entire rainforest to be its own and patrols fairly often. It is young but powerful, and certainly not to be trifled with. Accordingly, we will need to be on our guard for its presence – though it flies overhead much of the time, it also walks through the forest since it knows it is easy to hide under a canopy such as this.”
“Do you know its name?” Kari asked.
The brys shook his head briefly. “I have not managed to speak to it, and honestly have little desire or reason to try. I only know that it is green, ill-tempered, and well-armored enough that I would only kill it if I were exceedingly lucky. And I do not believe in luck.”
Kari nodded with his assessment. She understood that the brys were not risk-takers and generally didn’t engage in any battle they didn’t feel they had a very good chance of winning. If they felt the odds were against them, they fell into the shadows, watching and waiting for the most opportune time to strike. They were master assassins and possessed an almost supernatural stealth, but they also knew their limitations quite well and were not prone to foolish or impatient mistakes. If there was a dragon in the forest and the brys had not vacated the area, then he must have studied its patrols and hunting habits thoroughly.
The three finished their meal in silence, and once the demonhunters were ready the brys led them farther into the heart of the jungle. His steps were sure, and he halted the group every so often to climb a tree and gaze around their immediate area or scare off an animal shadowing their movements high in the canopy. His tracking skills were amazing even to Kari, who’d traveled with and among the elves for several years in her previous life; Makauric had no need for Erik’s compass or any direction whatsoever. He led them around both terrain and animals that posed a danger to them, and kept them on a steady pace.
They traveled for several days without incident and came upon a river on the fourth day, though it wasn’t as wide, deep, or fast-moving as the largest one the demonhunters had found. The brys halted their march and told them to bathe if they wished, though he warned them not to relieve themselves in the river itself. Erik motioned for Kari to go first, but Makauric waved them both in. He took up his bow and squatted on a log at the river’s edge, keeping vigilant while his companions stripped and waded out into the water.
The demonhunters washed off quickly and hand washed their undergarments as well before they emerged from the river. Erik donned his armor immediately so Kari could sit and let her clothes dry. Once Erik was armored, the brys removed his own leather armor and waded out into the river, which Kari hadn’t expected. Brys didn’t sweat and their bodies carried no scent, so it was surprising that he would also take the time to bathe unless something was bothering him. Kari watched the demon strip completely but, as she expected, he didn’t seem to care at all, and waded out into the river under her scrutiny. Confirming her observation from the first day they’d met, he seemed underdeveloped, like a young man who was just hitting puberty, though his lean, muscular build told her otherwise. She wondered if it was a common trait among the brys: in her experience serilian demons were normally better endowed than mortal males. It made sense given the brys’ slight frames, though nothing in her training had suggested that such would be the case.
Makauric emerged from the river silently, put on his leather armor, and took up his bow while he waited for Kari to get fully dressed. Once she was fairly dry, she put her clothes and armor back on and followed the brys farther into the forest. Makauric skirted the edge of the river for nearly a mile, and then he turned and beckoned for his companions to crouch down and be silent. He crept soundlessly to the river’s edge, and after a minute he motioned for the two demonhunters to do likewise. When Kari and Erik reached the embankment that dropped off to the water’s surface, Makauric pointed to the west, where Kari could see the dragon drinking from the river. It was the first time Erik saw a dragon, and he slunk back behind the nearest tree to watch the massive beast from around the trunk. Kari had seen several dragons in her lives, and though she had never met or battled a green, she recalled one facet of all strategies that was the same when dealing with dragons: don’t engage unless you have to.
Kari watched the emerald reptile drink from the river, and its sharp eyes didn’t notice the three where the brys had led them. After a few minutes the creature rose up, took wing, and lifted off over the treetops in a massive rush of wind. The trees bent and swayed with the force of the dragon’s passing, and it flew southwest, away from where Makauric was leading them. Makauric watched it fly away and then motioned for the demonhunters to remain still, and he climbed the nearest tree and watched the dragon’s egress. He descended a minute later and beckoned for his companions to follow once more.
“It seems to have returned southwest, back across the Ursis,�
�� he said. “It likes to patrol the rivers, as that is where it normally finds animals to hunt and bothersome people to remove from its forest. I am not entirely confident that we will not see it again, but my instincts tell me that having seen it on this river now means we will not see it again in the near future.”
“How long does its patrol of the forest normally take?” Kari asked.
“Three days,” Makauric answered. “It will normally patrol, then hunt, and then it will return to its lair for several days of sleep.”
“How far through its patrol is this area?” Erik asked.
“If it has flown back across the Ursis, then its patrol is complete,” the brys said. “I believe it will return to its lair to rest, as it did not see us. If it had, it would have attacked.”
“Does it attack the city on the river?” Kari asked.
“No. The dragon seems content to let the mortals use the waterways, but does not tolerate anyone living in the forest itself,” he answered. “The city of Ursis is the only settlement it has allowed them to build within the heart of the rainforest.”
“What about the czarikk? Does it bother them at all?” she prodded.
“No,” Makauric answered. “I am not certain it even patrols the forest near their home. I assume it is because they are both reptilian, though I have little evidence that such is the case.”
Their journey continued uninterrupted for two more days, and the rainforest took on a certain charm when they weren’t lost. Makauric’s guidance was quiet but without hesitation, and he led them across streams and gullies, avoiding the wildlife flawlessly, and the brys even hunted and cooked – albeit simply – for his companions. While he normally ate his meat raw, he always cooked birds before eating them, and fowl made up the majority of what he was able to kill that wasn’t wasteful for the size of their group. Erik never seemed to fully trust the brys: he treated Makauric respectfully but rarely took his eyes from the demon except when it was time to sleep.
Kari, on the other hand, found herself beginning to trust the brys. While her training and instincts told her it was unwise at best, she found no reason not to trust him: he hadn’t attacked them, and unless he was leading them into some elaborate and immensely subtle trap, he was keeping his word and helping them. Subtlety was not a trait of the brys: their methods were direct and deliberate, so Kari doubted he was up to anything. On the contrary, he could have led them into the waiting maw of a dragon. Not only had he not done so, but he’d even taken the trouble to show the beast to them – something few got to see in their lifetimes.
Kari always trusted her instincts, but in Makauric’s case she ignored their gentle warning. If he intended to misdirect or harm them in some way, she figured they would be best served to have him at close range rather than be an unseen enemy at distance. It seemed he was trying to befriend them, though such a gesture coming from a brys was awkward and not something Kari, let alone Erik, could properly appreciate if it were so. He made no secret that his eyes took in Kari’s every detail, particularly when she was nude, but he also did nothing to suggest he was anything but curious. Kari assumed she just might be the only woman Makauric had ever seen naked or spent an extensive amount of time with, so she took his curiosity in stride.
Kari’s contemplations came to an end abruptly as Makauric jumped sideways and clawed his way up a tree in the span of a few heartbeats. She and Erik found themselves surrounded by spears: czarikk had appeared out of the jungle without warning, and had surprised even the brys momentarily. Before they could even train their weapons on Makauric, though, he was already on his way up to perch on a tree branch with an arrow aimed at the closest lizardman. Two other czarikk watched the brys, ready to throw javelins at the slightest provocation, but the bulk of the group hedged in Kari and Erik, thrusting their spear tips threateningly.
“Wait, wait,” Erik said, holding his hands up.
The largest of the czarikk, a broad-shouldered obvious veteran of many hunts, stepped forward and began hissing at them in a sibilant language that Kari didn't understand. It wore no clothing, and the others were likewise completely nude. Their reptilian heritage hid their gender but for the relative size and musculature of the warriors, which Kari assumed pointed to their being male. The only articles it wore at all were a necklace of clawed finger-bones that looked humanoid, and a couple of hand-woven grass bracelets on its left wrist. Kari noted the coloration of their scales and was amazed how easily they blended into the jungle.
Kari looked up to Makauric, but she recalled he said he couldn't understand the lizardman’s speech, and he shook his head and never took his aim from the apparent czarikk leader. Kari held her hands up and the largest of the czarikk continued its questioning, the language fascinating but also disturbing for Kari’s lack of understanding it. Kari looked around at each of the lizardmen and noted that many looked young and quite frightened by the encounter. She dismissed the idea that they might understand the rir tongue based on Makauric’s words, and she assumed if they didn’t understand rir, then they didn’t understand the common human language either. On a hunch, Kari tried something else.
“Peace,” she said boldly in the language of the elves, and both Erik and the czarikk leader tilted their heads in surprise. “We would have peace with you, noble czarikk: we are here to help. Please do not harm us.”
Their leader’s scaly brow rose briefly in recognition, and it seemed to try to translate her words for a minute before it waved for its warriors to lower their spears. The other czarikk came to attention, standing the spears on their ends, and even the two javelin-wielding lizardmen touched their weapons tip-down to the ground while they kept a wary eye on the demon above. The leader stared at Kari for a few moments, chewing on its reptilian lip before it spoke very slowly. “No make elf speak good,” it returned in broken elvish. “Come village, elder talk.”
The czarikk leader glanced up at the demon, and Kari turned her attention to Makauric on his perch, his bow bent in a deadly arc as he waited for any hostile movement. “Makauric, stand down,” she called up to him. He nodded and put the arrow back in his quiver. Kari turned her attention back to the czarikk patrol leader, pointed up toward the brys, and spoke slowly in elvish once more. “Friend; he will not harm you.”
The czarikk beheld the demon for a few moments, and then he fixed Kari with a wary eye before nodding shortly. “You fault,” it said, and then it gestured for the three to follow its group.
Erik stepped forward and touched Kari’s shoulder lightly. “I should have guessed you speak elvish,” he said. “What did you tell them?”
“There’s still a lot about me you don’t know,” she said lightly. “But anyway, I told them we’re here to help. I’m not sure they understand exactly, but they’re at least willing to take us back to their village so we can speak to someone more fluent in elvish. I think they understand that Makauric won’t hurt them either, if they’re letting him come along.”
They followed the czarikk for several hours, and eventually came to a high embankment where more spear-wielding lizardmen stood vigilantly. The breastwork was several feet high with sharpened stakes planted firmly into the side the group approached from. When they drew near, another czarikk with a bone necklace and the woven-grass bracelets moved to stand atop the earthen wall and greet its companion. They spoke briefly in their racial tongue, and the leader of the patrol gestured toward its guests several times before it pointed to the brys and then Kari and Erik in what was obviously its way of saying he’s their responsibility.
Soon enough they were waved through, and after carefully climbing the embankment, Kari could see the closest edge of the czarikk village. The jungle was thinner here, and between the more widely interspersed trunks were quaint wooden huts, animal-skin teepees, and even a few simple stone structures. The stone and wooded homes were nothing like those of the cities Kari had lived in and passed through: simple yet well-constructed, and a bit primitive for lack of a better term. The teepees we
re fairly impressive, much like those described in human history as the trademark of aboriginal tribes of a semi-nomadic nature.
The czarikk marched the demonhunters and the brys into the center of the village. Kari could see that the homes were arranged in a wide circle around a clearing that had been made by the removal of a large tree. In the depression where the stump had been chopped below ground level and dug out was a fire pit, one which saw frequent use judging by the amount of ash and charred wood that lay within. It was ringed with stones, and the entire village around it had been cleared of the carpet of fallen sticks and leaves that was more common throughout the northern portions of the jungle. Near to the central fire pit were smaller ones with crudely fashioned but serviceable stone cooking hearths built over them.
Many czarikk scurried around the smaller fire pits, and Kari decided in her head that the patrol they encountered was indeed all males. The czarikk tending the hearths were more slender through the shoulders, and though they had no breasts, they had pinkish colorations across their chests and bellies, and fins down the back corners of their heads as opposed to the spiky ridges of the others. Kari guessed the ones tending to the cooking were female, and that the larger ones lacking the pinkish coloration were males. It was a guess, but she thought perhaps the pinkish coloration might also denote that the females were in season, as it was still spring on the northern half of the world. That thought gave her pause, and she wondered if that had something to do with the czarikks’ more agitated state of mind according to what Makauric had told her. It was quite possible that their recent intolerant nature might’ve simply had to do with not wanting a brys around during their mating cycle, or when they were laying their eggs. Of course, it was quite possible that they simply didn’t want the brys around at all – few ever did.
