Morrigan's Bidding

by Daniel Schinhofen

  “Yesss,” Misa told him. “I ssskin and ssset hidesss for tanning. Then I butcher the meat before sssmoking the majority of it. I will be taking a haunch in with me for tonight’sss food.”

  “Good to know,” Sean said, as he looked at the one hide that was tanning. “Myna, is this from a Fawntin?”

  “Yes, it’s the one we killed a few days ago,” Myna replied.

  “Misa, are you going to be okay? Are we good to leave?” Sean asked the Lesser Naga.

  “Yesss, go cut sssome wood,” Misa said absently, already busy making a cut down the length of one Red-eye corpse.

  “See you later,” Sean told her, heading back to the path that would lead them to the stream.

  “Do you want to try melting into the woods while we travel?” Myna asked as they left the village.

  Shrugging, Sean nodded, “Sure. How do I do it?”

  “Since you can Shape, you should know where your energy is stored. You need to harness it, then focus on using it to blend in with your surroundings.” As Myna spoke, she stepped next to a tree and her body began to fade away.

  Squinting at her, Sean could see where she and the tree seemed to blend together. He was reminded of a chameleon, the way her skin and clothing took on the color of her surroundings. “Okay,” he breathed, concentrating on the vibration at his center and focusing his mind on blending in as he walked over to a tree.

  Myna’s eyes widened, “Interesting.”

  Looking down at his own body, Sean had to agree with her. “Guess I have some Talent for this after all.”

  “We shall see,” Myna said as she vanished completely. “Can you move unseen?” Her voice floated to him from a different place than where she had been.

  Keeping his mind focused on blending in, he moved towards the next tree. He paused next to it and was startled by a tap on his side. His camouflage fell away as he jerked in surprise. “What the hell?”

  Myna appeared next to him, “You shimmer when you move. You need to work on moving in sync with the energy, and step more lightly while you do it. If you can perfect it, you can become a shadow that stalks its prey.”

  “Well, we can keep practicing on our way to the stream,” Sean said, as he focused on blending in again.

  “Good, but you must also learn to spot your target. I will go easy for this first part. If you can follow me, I will be impressed. Are you ready?”

  Sean knew this wasn’t going to be easy. Taking a deep breath, he nodded. “Let’s do this.”

  Myna faded mostly from view, only a very hazy outline remaining visible. “Follow me after three seconds,” she told him as she moved away.

  Counting to three, he kept his eyes focused on the faint shimmer that was all he could see of her. Concentrating on blending into the forest, he followed after her, acutely conscious of how much noise he was making.

  He lost her twice, once when she picked up speed unexpectedly, and once when she zigzagged around two closely set trees. Each time, he was able to find the shimmer that marked her and began following it again.

  Myna appeared just short of the bank, her normally impassive face cracked by the smallest of smiles. “You did very well for your first time at seek and sneak,” she said.

  “I have a very good teacher,” Sean said with a grin. “It was fun. Did I improve my own sneaking?”

  “Somewhat,” Myna nodded. “With a few years of practice, you might approach my Talent.”

  Snorting, Sean shook his head. “Only a few years?”

  Her face went blank again, as if he had insulted her, “It is no small thing to match my skills.”

  Knowing he had goofed, Sean bowed his head. “I didn’t mean it as an insult, Myna. It is just that a couple of years can last a lifetime.”

  After a moment, she nodded. “I accept the apology. You have work to do for a few hours. I will look for forage that Misa can use for dinner while you work. I will be back at high sun.”

  “Thanks for the early practice,” Sean said as Myna vanished from view. Shaking his head, he looked around and failed to spot her, “A few years? I wonder if I’ll have that long to practice.”

  Stepping out of the tree line, Sean headed for the men. “Sorry for the delay, guys,” he called out.

  Cian waved at him, “Good. Let’s start trimming this log up.”

  He joined them at the fallen tree, and they went to work trimming it. Sean used Darragh’s axe, which helped them get the log trimmed quickly. The others all looked at him in disbelief as Sean was shaking out his arm.

  “You’re spoiling us,” Ward chuckled.

  “Who rides this one?” Sean asked.

  “No one,” Cian said. “Today is the one day we don’t send anyone downstream. Tomorrow is bathing day and no one wants to miss that.”

  “I thought you sent someone each day?” Sean asked.

  “Eight of the ten,” Cian replied. “It’s all part of our Agreement. We enjoy one day off every tenday. No worries about being attacked, no sending someone downstream, and no work to be done.”

  “Bathing can’t take all day,” Sean snorted.

  “It doesn’t, but it gives us the chance to work on our crafts or other hobbies,” Eagon said. “I like to carve knick-knacks from some of the branches.”

  “I’ll get to check on my barrel,” Ward grinned.

  “Barrel?” Sean asked.

  “I’ve got some berries fermenting,” Ward said.

  “The last batch was rank,” Byrne shuddered.

  “You still drank your share,” Ward sniffed, “so your comment is not valid.” The others laughed at Ward’s put-upon airs.

  “What are you going to do with your day, Sean?” Walden asked.

  “How far away is town?”

  Cian shook his head, “That’s a good eight hour walk, a bit far for the one day we take off.”

  “Well, fuck,” Sean sighed. “I don’t know now.”

  “You want to go to town that badly?” Cian asked.

  “I kind of agreed to see about going to town in the near future, if Darragh agrees to let me go,” Sean muttered.

  All the guys turned their heads to stare at him. Cian wore a knowing grin. “I take it someone asked you to go with them?”

  Raising a single brow, Sean’s lips pursed. “Maybe.”

  Everyone began to chuckle easily, seeing his evasion for what it was. “Oh, come on now, Sean, why try to hide it?” Cian chuckled. “It’s obvious you two are interested in each other, and you’ve spent a fair amount of your short time here so far with her. The only question really is who asked who.”

  Shaking his head, Sean didn’t reply. Instead, he walked over to a nearby tree. “Oh, look at that, break time is over.” He began sizing up where to make his cuts and ignoring the others, who had stopped chuckling.

  “Sean,” Cian called out, his voice serious. “We don’t mean to cause problems. Most of us have no issue with her, and even our wives seem to have mellowed toward her over the last few days. So don’t go thinking we look down on her. We don’t—how could we, when we follow Darragh? We’re mostly surprised that she is willing to open up at all.”

  Sean glanced at the quintet. “Okay. I told her I would take her to town, if Darragh gave me the time away from our Agreement to do so.”

  “Good for you,” Ward said first. Similar sentiments from the others swiftly followed.

  “We should get back to work,” Sean said. “I’m going away at noon and you’re all going to have to toil on without me.”

  “You mentioned wanting to try something, earlier,” Cian reminded him.

  “Oh, right,” Sean said, having forgotten.

  Putting the axe down, he touched the tree, trying to feel it well enough to Shape it. The vibrating energy came to him a little more quickly, and he wondered if it was like a muscle that was becoming accustomed to being used. Shaking the thought off, he focused on the tree and tried to weaken the areas he was going to chop.

  Frowning as the tree resist
ed his Shaping, Sean wondered if it was because it was a living thing. Pushing harder, he could feel the tree begin to change but the energy seemed to pour out of him, similar to when he summoned water. Once he had weakened the tree a bit, he stopped and stepped back.

  “What were you trying to do?” Cian asked.

  “Clear out of the way guys,” he replied with a tight smile. “I want to see if it worked.”

  Once they were out of the way, he swung the axe with all his strength. The wood shattered where he had weakened it, like he was chopping through particle board. The tree began to creak as the weakened wood began to give way.

  “Fuck,” Sean said as he darted around the tree.

  Sean moved just in time as the tree shivered and then, with a loud crack, toppled. All five of the guys with him stared at Sean with wide eyes, a sight he was quickly becoming accustomed to.

  “You felled it with a single blow?” Cian finally managed after a long pause.

  “Maybe it was rotted inside?” Sean suggested halfheartedly. He kept his face blank as best he could, almost as surprised as they were. He wasn’t prepared to explain his Talent.

  With a raised brow, Cian went over to check the log. After a minute, he looked back at Sean. “I’m thinking one of your secrets might be similar to Fiona’s.”

  The other men went to look at the tree. Eagon picked up a piece of the cut section, which crumbled in his hand. “I think Cian is right.”

  “Keep it under wraps, please,” Sean said.

  Shaking their heads, the five woodsmen grabbed their hand axes and went to work without comment. Sean joined them a moment later with Dark Cutter, making short work of trimming the branches. Sean took a break when they were done.

  That prompted the men to all take a moment to rest as well. “You’re just full of surprises, Sean,” Cian said after a minute. “Anything else you want to warn us about?”

  “Not right now, no,” Sean said, looking away.

  “You’re not planning on staying, though, are you?” Walden asked. “How long are you planning to be around for?”

  “Maybe a few weeks,” Sean said. “This was just the first place I got to.”

  Nodding slowly, Cian sighed, “An Outsider, alright. We don’t hold any ill will towards you, Sean, but you’re going to catch a lot of attention if you do this kind of thing in other places.”

  “Which is why I’m trying to figure out as much as I can,” Sean said.

  “That’s fair,” Ward said. “You don’t mind helping us out until you go?”

  “Good people are hard to find, so no, I don’t mind at all,” Sean replied.

  “Means we’ll get a lot done in that time,” Cian said. “Thanks again for helping us.”

  Sean shrugged, “You all want one more? I’m not going to be around to help cart them back to town, after all.”

  Glancing at each other, the men exchanged knowing looks. “Maybe we should drag these two back now, and work on our third for the rest of the day,” Cian finally said.

  The others quickly agreed and got to their feet. Sean got up along with them and dusted off his pants. “I’ve been meaning to ask, do you guys use all these limbs?”

  “We use them for firewood, mostly,” Cian said as they picked up the first log. “They’re harder for her to Shape than proper logs, but we do what we have to until we get everything we need made.”

  “I want to try something on the next log, if I’m still around when it drops,” Sean said as they began to cart the first one to town.

  “Oh goodness, more surprises,” Eagon said, causing the others to laugh.

  Chapter Nineteen

  No one was in the village when they dropped the logs off, nor when they dragged back the branches, which they left next to the logs. When they got back to the stream, the sun was just cresting high and Myna sat on a stump at the edge of the woods, waiting for them.

  “Looks like I’m done for the day, guys,” Sean told them.

  “We’ll probably get one more today,” Cian said. “Good luck on learning the skills she can teach.”

  “It’ll be fun,” Sean said as he met Myna where she was waiting.

  “Are you ready to continue our lessons from earlier?” Myna asked.

  “I hope so,” Sean said. “What’s the plan, more seek and sneak?”

  “Yes, but with added incentive,” Myna smiled with a hint of dark humor as she picked up a wooden sword and tossed it to him. “We’re going to train harder. Hunt me. If you can find me, then hit me. I will be doing the same.” She picked up two shorter wooden blades, “Between here and the village, the width of the village, is our training area.”

  Sean focused on the sword, but couldn’t find any flaws in it. Looking up at Myna, he nodded. “Learning to hunt the hunters is the lesson?”

  “Yes,” Myna said, stepping around a tree. “We begin in one minute.”

  “I think I’m going to get bruised,” Sean muttered, as he let his energy flow and walked into the woods away from where Myna had, fading from casual sight as he went.

  Slipping from tree to tree, Sean kept his head moving, trying to find any hint of Myna. With a growing sense of dread as the minutes ticked by, Sean got the feeling Myna was close. A shimmer appeared right next to him as two wooden blades crashed into his side.

  “Fuck,” Sean hissed as he bounced off the tree he was next to. His ribs ached dully where he’d been struck. Sean looked for her, but she was already gone. He silently cursed, rubbing his side as the pain began to fade.

  “One for me,” Myna’s voice drifted to him, but he couldn’t guess the direction.

  Keeping score. That doesn’t bode well for me at all, Sean thought. Taking off at a run, he slipped through the woods as best he could, getting snagged once or twice by branches. Once he thought he had put a bit of distance between himself and Myna, he put his back to a tree and focused intently on being completely gone.

  Determined to wait, Sean breathed easily as he moved only his eyes. I should have been a little winded from that sprint. I wonder why I wasn’t? Sean pondered as he scanned for Myna.

  Minutes later, Sean blinked as he saw the faintest hint of distortion a few feet away to his left. It was pressed against the trunk of a tree, and appeared to be searching for something. Resisting the urge to go for an attack in that moment, he waited, making sure to keep his gaze on the shimmer.

  After another minute the shimmering figure moved forward, passing a couple of trees before pausing again. Now that he was behind it, Sean slowly and carefully began to creep up on his target. Freezing in place next to a tree as the shimmer seemed to turn towards him, Sean held his breath. After a minute, though, the figure seemed to go back to looking elsewhere.

  Holding back a deep sigh of relief, Sean began to creep forward again, wooden sword held ready to strike. Once he was close enough, he rushed the last two feet and tapped the middle of the shimmer with his mock sword.

  She tried to dart away, but the tip of the blade grazed her and a grunt came from Myna as she briefly appeared, a wince on her face. Sean darted away from her, focusing on hiding and not on the look of anger that had flared in Myna’s eyes.

  Hunkering down, Sean waited for the next attack to come. Minutes ticked by slowly, each second feeling like ten. He had no warning when two hard points dug into his chest with vicious strength. Myna appeared before him as he gasped.

  “Do not hit me at full strength, understand?” Myna said grimly.

  Blinking Sean shook his head, “I didn’t hit you at full strength. I pulled the strike.”

  Eyes narrowing, Myna kept her two wooden swords against him. “You almost cracked my rib with that grazing blow,” she hissed. “Do you really think I can believe what you say, with that as proof?”

  “I can prove it,” Sean said. “Let me go.”

  Stepping back, Myna raised a brow, “How are you going to prove it?”

  Casting about, Sean found a broken branch a few dozen feet away. “I need that b
ranch,” he said, grabbing it. Seeing Myna a few feet away when he turned around, Sean sighed. “Sorry about the hit, but I’m still getting used to my strength.” With that, he took the inch thick limb and cracked it across the trunk of the closest tree.

  Shards of splintered wood went flying, and Myna shielded her face from them. Looking at the tree a moment later, her eyes widened and her head shook from side to side. “That…”