by Travis Bughi
Koll had walked right up to Takeo as he spoke and used his height to bear down on the samurai. His eyes twitched, and he flexed his bulky body, balling his fists up as if ready for a fight. Takeo did nothing except stand tall and firm, his face placid as a gunslinger’s.
“Well then,” Takeo nodded, “I did not know that. Might I say, that is very admirable of you, trying to save Emily and me? Still, I think our best chance of survival is to stick together. I’m assuming that’s what you were hoping to do? Draw the rakshasa away from us and die in a heroic battle against him? No human can stand against a rakshasa alone, and I think you know that.”
Koll blinked a look of surprise. Takeo smirked.
“So that’s it, huh?” he continued. “Don’t be so surprised, Koll. The life of a viking is not so difficult to guess. But still, I think you’re forgetting that Jabbar will be more likely to chase after Emily and me in that situation than you. We’ll be heading toward the next treasure room, there will be two of us, and I’m the one who betrayed him. He won’t go after you. If you head north, you’ll find nothing but Savara’s waiting arms. You’ll die in the lone desert of thirst and starvation with no one around to record your ending.”
Koll blinked again and swallowed, his teeth clenched.
“I’ll take my chances,” Koll said stubbornly.
Takeo frowned and shrugged.
“I don’t have time for you to get over your viking pride—” he said.
“And I’m about to knock you square in your youthful little jaw,” Koll responded.
“—so, if you’re not afraid,” Takeo continued as if he hadn’t just been threatened, “then I guess you won’t mind being challenged to a contest of strength.”
Koll’s angrily narrowed eyes popped open in shock. He stood there for a moment, lips parted, and leaned slowly back. He regarded Takeo, and then burst into another bout of laughter, right in Takeo’s face. All his seriousness exploded into a side-splitting howl as he gripped his waist and doubled over.
“A challenge of strength? Ha! Samurai, are you serious? First you call me a coward and then you challenge me? By Valhalla, you’re a right bard, aren’t you, Samurai? Do you sing songs, too? Haha! Come now, as one warrior to another, be honest. You? Challenge me?”
Takeo nodded and smirked, “Yes, I’m serious. And stop stalling.”
Koll’s laughter died out just as suddenly as it had started. He eyed Takeo suspiciously, narrowing his right eye and placing his hands on his hips. Emily eyed Takeo, too, furrowing her eyebrows. She didn’t know what a strength challenge was, exactly, but its name gave a pretty strong clue. And as far as strength was concerned, Takeo appeared entirely outmatched.
Koll’s arms were as thick as Takeo’s legs. The samurai was only about two hand’s width taller than Emily, which made him several hands shorter than Koll. Takeo was young, certainly agile and athletic, but strength was a word that could only be attributed to Koll in this situation. Emily couldn’t see what game Takeo was playing at.
“What trick you got up your sleeve?” Koll asked pointedly.
“No tricks,” Takeo swore. “We play by your rules, viking rules. If I win, you come with us, at least until we leave Savara.”
Koll ran his tongue along the outside of his teeth. “And if I win?” he asked.
“Make your call.”
Koll thought a moment, looking away toward the rising sun. Then it dawned on him, and he looked back.
“You give me all the water you got on you,” Koll nodded, “and that map.”
Takeo raised an eyelid in surprise.
“Ah yes,” Koll smiled, “I saw you swipe it from Eisa. That was good, almost like a ninja. You’ve done that before, haven’t you, lad? Why do you think I had a feeling you’d turn? Now, unless you’ve changed your mind, I accept your challenge.”
“Alright, it’s a deal,” Takeo nodded.
“You know the rules?”
“Well enough. I issued the challenge so you get to pick the first feat.”
“Not as dumb as you look, eh Samurai? Alright, then, let me think. I want to get this over quick. We’ve wasted enough time with you two’s stupidity.”
Koll broke the intense stare he was giving Takeo and paced away. He scratched one massive hand across his hairy chest and looked around the desert.
“I’m not going to wrestle you because that would just be unfair,” he said, “but I don’t see any boulders to throw or rocks to climb either. Bah! I hate the desert. Ain’t nothing out here but blighted sand. I mean, there’s plenty of snow back home, practically the same as sand, but at least we have rocks and mountains and trees, too, damn it! I can’t believe anyone lives here at all. Alright, enough. The challenge, let’s get to it. I suppose there’s only one real option, eh lad? I’ll tell you what, I’ll keep it simple: good old-fashioned pushup.”
Koll dropped to the ground, lying with his stomach down, supported by his outstretched arms and his toes in the sand. He propped himself up to look like a bench.
“With a twist,” Koll added with a smile.
The viking lifted his left arm off the ground and put it behind his back. Then with a heavy grunt, he lowered his body on one arm, keeping his back flat as stone, until his chest and nose touched the sand. Then, he lifted himself back up, still grunting with effort.
“Eh heh, ha! Yes, you see that, Samurai? Four more!”
And down and up, and down and up, and down and up, and down and up the viking went. Emily and Takeo stayed quiet as they watched, with Emily occasionally flicking her eyes towards Takeo. If he was intimidated, he didn’t show it. Emily thought the feat was rather impressive, especially for the viking’s age. She almost felt like clapping for him, except for the fact that she wanted him to lose.
Koll finished and stood up, brushing the sand out of his short beard and off his clothing and hands. He smiled at Takeo and walked towards him, clapping the young man on the shoulders hard.
“You’re up.”
Takeo nodded and walked forward to where Koll had done his one-handed pushups. He bent down and mimicked the viking, placing his left arm behind his back, and then lowering to the ground until his chest and nose touched the sand.
He went up and down five times, and Koll’s smile was reduced to a smirk.
“Done,” Takeo said, breathing hard, though not as hard as Koll. “My turn now?”
Koll’s smirk jerked.
“Aye,” the viking muttered. “Rotten samurai, drawing this out.”
Takeo pretended not to hear. He was still in the pushup position, one arm behind his back. Slowly, he tilted forward until his right hand was under his stomach. Then carefully, he leaned his upper body down until his legs came off the ground, leaving only his right hand to support his entire weight.
“Ain’t a balancing challenge, lad,” Koll taunted.
And then Takeo, on one arm alone, gave a heavy grunt and lifted his entire body into the air.
Emily’s jaw fell open, and Koll’s smirk was wiped clean off his face.
Takeo lowered back down, still supported on his right arm. His feet never touched the sand, and his breathing was hard. Then the samurai vaulted into the air again, holding himself aloft with outstretched limbs for one second before lowering down again. He did it one last time, holding still for a moment, and then coming back down. Only after that did he finally put his feet and left arm back down.
Takeo was full on smiling now, almost to the point where he was exposing teeth. Through his nose, he breathed hard.
“Three of those, Koll,” Takeo announced, “and you may take all our water and map and go free.”
Emily could hardly contain her laughter, but she didn’t bother holding back her grin. Koll scowled and narrowed his eyes.
“You rotten piece of warg waste. I should have just hit you when I had the chance.”
* * *
“So, are you at least going to explain to me what that was back there?” Koll asked.
They
were together, headed due east across the desert. Takeo had the map out and was trying to orient it correctly. Unfortunately, he’d not gotten the chance to swipe the compass.
“Oh, come now, Koll. It shouldn’t be that hard to figure out,” Takeo replied, trying to fight the wind. “I don’t have nearly as much weight as you do, so it’s easier to lift myself up. After that, it’s all a bit of balance. Not to mention my brother always had me train with a sword that was twice as heavy as a normal one.”
“Nothing special there, lad. We do the same, and that doesn’t make you stronger than me,” Koll pointed out. “I doubt you’d be any help at all pulling an oar on a viking ship. I would have crushed you in that challenge back home.”
“They’re your rules, not mine,” Takeo shrugged.
Koll sighed and dropped the argument, if you could call it that. Takeo finally folded the map the way he wanted, solidifying it enough that it would hold steady in the face of Savara’s persistent weather.
“Do you know where we are?” Emily asked. “How can you know without a compass?”
“I’ve been to the eastern side of Savara before,” Takeo explained. “My brother and I spent some time over here. I know some of the places on this map, mostly the major towns anyway. There’s a low mountain range somewhere not far from here. Once we come within sight of the mountains, I can place us between it and Phoenix temple to orient this map correctly. I’ll know roughly where we are then, and we can decide where to go from there.”
“I wish I could say that was comforting,” Koll said. “We’ll need some more water soon, though, because your little water skin there is almost dry. You didn’t bring enough for three people.”
“We were in a bit of a hurry at the time, if you’ll recall,” Takeo replied. “But really, we’ll manage. Once we spy this mountain range, I’ll know exactly where to head. Trust me.”
They walked in silence some more with the sun making its monotonous climb into the sky above them. The heat returned, and Emily felt a sense of loss come over her. She remembered Jabbar and the fact that she was not truly free yet. She, along with her companions, were likely being chased. It hadn’t been said yet, but it would be eventually. At some point, they would discuss the obvious, that Jabbar wasn’t just going to leave them alone. He would come after them, and they needed a plan to deal with it.
She felt aimless, like a piece of wood adrift in the ocean. She was horribly detached from her goal, Heliena and Juatwa, and wandering on a whim alongside someone whom she’d once called her enemy. Her goal, her overarching goal and the pledge she’d made to Quartus, seemed forgotten in this nightmare of a land. She used to feel such purpose, not too long ago, yet now she felt another force driving her. It reminded her of home, of how the seasons, rather than her own passion, had driven her actions. Quite acutely, almost painfully, she realized that deciding to bring justice to Heliena was the first decision she had truly made on her own. No one had forced her to leave Lucifan. She had made the choice herself. And now, here she was, drifting in Savara, trying desperately to get on track and accomplish the goal she had set out to do.
The feeling should have been excruciating, yet somehow, she noted that it was not entirely unpleasant. Despite having a lack of options, the feeling of hope that had come from casting off her shackles had not worn out. Despite the fact that they were being chased through the desert, all she could think of was getting to Juatwa.
“So, Takeo,” she said.
“Yes?”
“How and from where can we leave Savara? We’ve been traveling for weeks in the same direction with Jabbar. Surely there’s some place nearby?”
Takeo turned to her and smiled.
“One might think so, huh? It’s a large swath of land, though, isn’t it?” he said. “They call this place the Great Desert sometimes, and there’s no better name in my opinion. It’s a fantastic place to hide, actually, like the Great Plains from what I’ve heard. For all the traveling we’ve done, we’re still close to the heart of Savara. We have at least a month of travel before we could reach even the nearest port, I’ll bet. Once we reach one, though, we can buy a ride to make the short hop to Juatwa.”
“A month to the nearest port? Wow. This land is huge,” Emily sighed in frustration. “Damn. I was really hoping to be on my way to Juatwa soon. I really should have listened to my family back in Lucifan. And you know, I have to admit I find that odd.”
“Find what odd?” Takeo asked.
“Lucifan and Savara,” Emily rolled her palm up as if to offer the explanation. “There are apparently ports all over Savara, Juatwa, and up north where the vikings are, and yet Lucifan is the biggest one despite being far from all of them. Not to mention it’s completely alone. Why would everyone travel so far to reach just one place?”
“I know that answer, lass,” Koll said, lifting a finger, “and you partly answered it already. Everyone goes to Lucifan because, well, everyone goes to Lucifan. Doesn’t matter what you’re selling, I’ll guarantee there’s someone in Lucifan who will buy it. Also, don’t matter what you’re looking to buy, I’ll guarantee you can find it in Lucifan, except slaves of course, but you can get those anywhere else.”
“I’ve had some theories before,” Takeo piped up. “It’s a matter of great discussion in Juatwa. Many cities there envy Lucifan’s fame and seek to increase their renown. The biggest thing most note is that, unlike cities in Juatwa, Lucifan has no competition on its home continent. Lucifan has access to the entire Great Plains and no competitors the people of the Great Plains can visit. The entire population has to trade out of Lucifan, so you have lots of people with plenty of need for goods they can’t make. It’s a market that always buys what one has to sell. Also, the city is extremely stable. Unlike Juatwa, which is prone to war, Lucifan is never a risky investment. It is a great place to do business, which is a reputation only Lucifan has earned. Oh, and speaking of reputation, I believe you had a story you were going to tell us, Koll. Something legendary, I believe you promised.”
Koll gave a nod and grinned widely.
“I did, didn’t I? Where do you want me to start?”
“Well,” Takeo looked in the direction they were walking, “unless this story will last longer than a week, how about at the beginning?”
Koll stared into the distance, squinted, and then frowned.
“Humf, it just might,” he said. “How about when we find this mountain range of yours, I’ll tell you the whole thing.”
Chapter 23
It took the entire day for those mountains to come into view. They were really more like overzealous hills, nothing grand or spectacular like the famous, continent-spanning Khaz Mal, but Emily expected that. In this land of rolling sand, it was astounding any type of rock could rise up and form at all.
After spying them, Takeo was able to judge their general location and, just as importantly, determine the nearest water source. Each oasis had been carefully and clearly marked on the map, given more detail than some of the cities. The cartographer’s priorities were clear.
Unfortunately, with the light fading rapidly, they would have to wait to reach that water. The darkness would be too complete for wandering, so they found a valley among the dunes that offered some shelter from the wind and curled up for the night. As they waited for the last dregs of heat to slip away, Koll finally made good on his promise.
“I was the youngest of nine children. My four older brothers, Ludin, Lidun, London, and Luvun, exhausted my father’s attempts to replicate his name, so he named me after his brother, my uncle, who died of illness as a child. He told me it seemed fitting because he’d always wanted a brother, and I was lucky enough to have four. I never saw it that way. I only saw that I was different, and my brothers only saw it that way, too. They never let me forget it.
“Every time I got sick, they’d pick on me and tell me I probably wouldn’t make it out alive. As I lay sick in my bed of straw, they’d take turns collecting wood for my funeral pyre and
fight over which of them would claim my toys. It wasn’t much better when I wasn’t sick either. Every time we would play vikings and trolls, I had to be the troll.
“If we got in trouble, it was their word against mine, and I always took the blame. Father was always too busy to be concerned with the truth of the matter, and my mother hadn’t survived giving birth to me. My brothers were hard on me for that, too. They told me I killed her, and I should have died instead of her.
“Hey! Now, don’t you go feeling sorry for me! I’m just telling you like it is. Keep those tears checked, or I ain’t going to finish the story! I’m telling you honestly; I wouldn’t take any of it back. All that fighting, all those beatings, always outnumbered, that made me tough. My brothers once tied me naked to a tree and covered me in warg milk, saying that they were leaving me for a giant to come and eat. Then they did leave, and they forgot about me, and it got real cold real fast that night. I caught a wretched fever, for one, got frostbite on my toes, fingers and nose, for two. My father didn’t notice I was gone until he went to put my brothers to bed. He confronted them about it and didn’t believe them when they said I ran away. He came and found me and beat my brothers until their ears bled. Ha! Joke was on them, see? Foolish halfwits! Haha! What? How come you two ain’t laughing? Ah never mind. Anyway, after all was said and done, I only lost one toe. Can you believe my luck? My father said I was tough for the first time, then, and he started calling me sturdy. The name stuck. I liked it more than Kollskegg.
“Life went on, and I lived a typical viking life, fighting off giants, trolls, orcs, goblins, other vikings—pretty much anyone or anything looking for a fight. I even won a prized warg pup from my eldest brother in a game of hnefatafl. Don’t mind the name; it’s just a board game. I had long since grown taller and stronger than him, so he thought to best me at another game. Damned fool picked the attacking side, though. He should have known Kollskegg the Sturdy ain’t so easy to kill.
