After lunch, Ales was still alive.
The wound in his side was still leaking pus and swollen, and his breath was still shallow. I put that crystal from my medical kit on his neck, and it turned the same shade of orange-red as it did that morning.
He would be dead within the hour.
Faren refused to leave his side. The rest of us gathered in the punishing, muggy heat and beaten grass of the practice yard where, between the yellow and gray stones of the outer wall and the dark wooden barracks, five new men joined us.
One of them I knew. "Gino?"
He was average height with the curly hair of his Goloagi father, and had a narrow face with high eyebrows. He was also a grown man, now, smiling back at me. "No way!"
I threw my arms around him, and he around me. I hadn't imagined I'd ever see him again. "How are you, man?"
He cocked his head and looked me up and down. "Scared. Ain't heard nothin nice about this place."
Another one of the new guys added, "there ain't nothin nice, especially this fucking heat!"
Davod answered. "Girls walk around with their titties hanging out, that's a plus."
Gino laughed. The man standing next to him was almost as tall as Davod, Northstar, and myself, with a heavy figure, big chin, and long, straight, dark-green hair. "Noticed that. Very nice! Gino, you know this kid?"
"This is Caleb of Gath; he spent a few years in Kyoen back in the day. Caleb, this is Borel." He turned and pointed to the other three men who'd come with him. "That's Massi, Jame, and Renou."
All three were Herali and wore their hair long. Massi was average height, muscular build, and had a tattoo of Orca on his neck. His eyes were narrow, and a scar cut through his left eyebrow. Jame was on the shorter side of average and carried a eupin longbow etched with Orca bringing a shark to the humans on shore, and his hair was tied in the back by a pin with a golden circle with Orca in ivory and obsidian with ancient Herali runes all around it. Renou was short, slight of build, and carried no weapons.
I answered. "These are my best friends growing up, Davod and Geraln." Geraln nodded. On his shoulder, with her tiny claws dug into his leather bow sling, was the green vita'o lizard who'd woken up on his chest that morning. All five of the new men stared at the creature, unable to mask their shock.
Davod resumed the introductions for Rock, Northstar, and Kelint.
Borel cocked his head back and sneered. "What kind of names are Rock and Northstar?"
Kelint lifted his chin. "They're Saeni." Then he looked at Jame with the bow on his back. "What do you hunt in Kyoen; you even know how to use that thing?"
Jame huffed, and Borel patted his friend's back. "My man's a master archer, right here."
I turned to Davod. "Did he just say that out loud in front of three Falcons?"
Davod and Geraln chuckled, reaching behind their backs to string their bows. Kelint reached into his coin purse, found a five-kren, and tossed it on the ground in the center of our gathering. The rest of us put in, and Gino stooped down to gather up the coins.
There was a line of practice dummies along the outer wall at the end of the training ground, about fifty yards out. The hot, sticky air from the morning rain left the ground muddy between tufts of beaten grass, and Gino carved a line with his boot. Kelint stepped up, drew his bow, and loosed. His arrow popped in the burlap, he shrugged, then stepped aside.
"Isn't this supposed to be difficult?" Davod quipped and placed his arrow next to Kelint's.
Geraln stepped up. But as he drew, the baby vita'o lizard on his shoulder chirped and stretched her neck out too close to the string. "Back up," he relaxed his draw.
The creature tilted her head to the side and looked at him.
"You have to move out of the way; I don't want you to get hurt." Then he drew his bow once more and took aim, and once more the creature stretched her neck out. "You have to move."
The man with the Orca tattoo on his neck and the scars across his eyebrow snickered and grinned wide. "Go ahead and shoot. If you take its head off, we'll have a nice dinner!"
Gino answered him, "don't be cruel, Massi."
Massi giggled lightly.
Geraln lowered his bow and tried to talk to the creature once more.
"Let me help," I said, and tried to take hold of her. She pulled her head back, hissed, then snapped at my fingers. "OK, you know what? I… I don't know."
Geraln held his hand up to push her head out of the way as he spoke, "you have to move back. Understand? Move back. OK?"
He drew his bow a third time. As he took aim, the creature once again inched her head forward, and he loosed. His arrow flew far to the left and clattered against the stone wall behind the target. "FUCK!" he shouted. Then he turned his head to glare at the creature, who looked back at him and chirped.
Massi doubled over laughing, as did Borel. Jame gave him a smirk. "Fatso is out already? I'm disappointed!"
I stepped up. Geraln's voice came from behind me, "Come on Caleb. You got this."
I turned to face him. "You talk like this is a difficult shot." Then, without turning my gaze from him and without looking down range, I nocked an arrow, drew, and loosed. I still didn't look, even as my arrow popped into the dummy.
Davod chuckled. Gino clapped, "damn! I didn't know you could do that!"
Jame nodded with a grin and stepped up. "Alright, it's on. Let's see you do this!"
He tilted his aim at a steep angle and shot almost straight up into the sky. I could barely see his arrow until, after a few seconds, it fell hard and impaled the top of the dummy's head, leaving the shaft with red-and-white vanes sticking out.
"YEAH!" Borel cheered. Gino clapped, and Massi slapped his back. Renou smiled and pumped his fist in the air.
Davod furrowed his brow. "Trick shots, now? What ever shall I do?"
He lined up, drew, took careful aim, and loosed. His arrow sailed across the yard and split Kelint's first arrow down the shaft, sending wood splinters everywhere before burying into the dummy.
A shallow baritone spoke from behind me. "Impressive."
A man of middling years stood, resting his hands behind his back. He was on the tall side of average and wore a white loincloth with silver embroidery around the edges leaving hard muscles exposed all over his body along with scars enough for a whole evening of stories. About his belt on the right hung a knee-length scabbard with a handle that held a deep red gemstone, with another, smaller knife on the other side. What struck me the most, though, was that his skin was yellow, his hair was short and dark bronze given to tight curls, and his eyes were black as pitch.
Davod, Geraln, and I all glanced at one another; they'd seen the same thing I saw.
"Don't let me stop you," he said. "What's the pot?"
Gino opened his fingers and showed him the coins. "Twenty-five kren."
The man pursed his lips and nodded. Then he looked around at each of us. "Can't shoot far in here."
Most of us shrugged. The stranger stepped up to Geraln and looked directly at the creature perched on his shoulder. She chirped as he came close, and he cooed, "shumbudy'sh found a friend!"
Geraln asked him, "where are you from?"
"Here."
Davod followed up. "No, what's your ethnicity?"
The man faced him and raised an eyebrow. "Hello, what's your name, how can I survive this place, where's the best place to eat, and why do the girls here keep rejecting me? That's such a good question; I'm glad you asked. I enjoy long, moonlit walks on the beach, and my favorite color is yellow… orange… yellow-orange… mango-colored, whatever that is. Actually, forget the color; I just like mangoes."
"It's just," I added, "we knew a girl back home who looked like you, and we could never figure out…"
"Commander."
All of us glanced at one another.
"Or Sir, if that's easier." Commander faced Davod and spoke, "Davod of Gath."
Davod stepped forward. "Yes, sir?"
He pointed to a stone shed at the side of the training grounds. "In there you'll find more practice dummies. Please bring one of them and meet us outside."
"Yes, sir."
As Davod walked off, Massi snickered under his breath and squeaked out, "errand boy!"
"Fetch!" Borel laughed with him. Then, he slapped Renou's arm, who forced a few chortles of his own.
Without another word, Commander turned and made his way towards the gate.
I caught a glimpse of Miyani on our way out. She was in the expansive area to the left of the main gate cordoned off with fenceless posts, scrubbing white soap suds all over Blue, oblivious to how insanely gorgeous her toned body looked from behind.
I knew I had to look away, but I couldn't.
Blue raised his head and clicked. She turned, and I immediately snapped back around hoping she hadn't caught me looking. I was going to get killed over this, and I needed to stop.
We walked in clusters. Northstar and Rock each took one side of Kelint, while Massi, Jame, and Renou clustered around Borel. Geraln and Gino walked alongside me.
Gino asked me, "when did you get here, man?"
"Yesterday."
"You seen anything crazy yet?" He glanced up at the lizard still riding on Geraln's shoulder. I faced him with my eyes bulging wide.
As we reached the gate, Commander stopped and approached Geraln. He smiled wide at the creature on his shoulder and cooed, "you can't go out there."
She chirped.
He scrunched up his voice and walked his words up and down the musical register. "No, you're jusht a baby. You can't go out there."
She chirped again.
"Oh, no. Your mommy would evisherate me if I let you go out there."
She tilted her head to the side. Then he reached up and took hold of her tiny body and lifted her up, cradling her in his arms.
She chirped.
"No, you can't go out there. You're jusht a baby!"
As though she'd walked among us the whole time, the much bigger lizard, the same one as before with the light brown color and black diamond-pattern over her back, appeared. She waited patiently for Commander to place the baby onto her back and stepped close to Geraln to sniff up and down his body.
I turned to Gino, who'd watched with his eyes wide and his jaw clenched. "You were asking if I'd seen anything crazy, yet?"
Gino turned to face me with his eyes even wider and spoke not a word. Geraln and I laughed.
After we made our way around the giant alligator, Borel turned to Massi and said something quietly, and the two of them giggled to one another. Massi took a few steps back towards the alligator, tiptoed close, reached out his foot, and tapped the beast at the back end of its mouth. He jumped back fast, barely faster than the giant creature who turned in his direction and snapped its massive jaws at him. Then he ran back towards us giggling and smiling wide. He bobbed his shoulders back and forth, still grinning while Borel slapped his back. Jame shook his head and grinned.
Outside the gate, a dark-green woman with long, white hair tied in a ponytail wearing nothing but a simple cotton loincloth tended four large bison grazing on the open field. All of us stole more than a few glances at her bare chest. Except Commander; every time I noticed his quiet presence, he was watching each of us closely, and every time my eyes found his, he was looking at me.
Borel punched Renou on his arm, "like you got a shot, man!"
Massi laughed. Renou rubbed his arm and lowered his gaze.
I spoke up. "Is that necessary?"
Borel then looked me up and down with a smug expression across his big chin and spoke, "I get more bitches than you!"
Davod and Geraln glanced at one another and snorted a few chortles of laughter, but it was Gino who answered him. "Guess I should tell you why he got exiled from Kyoen, then."
I tried, "Please don't…"
Davod nearly tripped over his own laughter. "Wait, what?" He turned to me. "You were exiled?"
Gino nodded, "over some hedonistic debauchery with twenty girls at the same time!"
I felt my face turn red. Borel and Massi glanced at one another before Borel turned back to Gino and smiled. "Bullshit!"
Davod snickered and reached an arm over my shoulders. "You don't know; this kid had four girls for Naveris!"
Gino smiled and nodded. "Sounds about right."
Eventually we stopped. Commander looked around among us and settled his eyes on Borel. "Borel of Kyoen."
Borel stepped forward and nodded; it wasn't lost on me that none of us had given this man our names. He handed Borel the practice dummy and pointed down the field towards the river, beside the trees. "Will you please set this up down there for us?"
Borel then handed the dummy to Renou and swatted his back. "Go on, then."
The smaller man took it and ran off. Borel watched, but Commander stared directly at him. When Borel turned around with a smirk on his face, he saw Commander staring and glanced around. "What?"
Commander answered. "'amuŋaxatʌ."
"Huh?"
"That's what she said about you—'amuŋaxatʌ."
Borel looked left and right before coming back. "What's that mean?"
Commander smiled. "You'll figure it out."
Borel furrowed his eyebrows and shrugged.
With the dummy in place, we stood at one-hundred yards. Davod, Kelint, Jame, and I all made our shots easily. Commander walked us out to a hundred-fifty, when Davod protested, "I'm sorry, but isn't this a waste of time? Let's go back another hundred."
Commander laughed, then smiled at the four of us.
We got to two-fifty, and Davod grinned. He stepped to the line, drew back his bow, and let his arrow sail. It arched up, turned down, and nailed the dummy.
I stepped forward and drew.
Geraln needled me, "watch out for a crosswind."
"Be quiet!" I snapped, then loosed. My arrow also found its mark.
Kelint smirked. "You didn't call headshot."
"I was aiming for the head."
"Bullshit." Kelint humphed, stepped forward, and turned his babyface to me. "Headshot." Then he nailed the dummy in the head, right next to my arrow.
Kelint turned to Jame of Kyoen. "What have you got?"
Jame sucked his teeth and called out, "neck shot," and loosed. When his arrow came down, the broadhead sliced through the burlap connecting the head to the body, decapitating the poor thing. The small brown padded head with two long shafts protruding from it dropped to the ground.
Jame eyed Kelint with a smug grin, and Borel pumped his fist while Massi smiled and nodded. Renou applauded quietly.
We stepped back to three-hundred yards. Kelint, Jame, and I all perforated the poor dummy easily. When it was Davod's turn, his arrow sailed, then snagged on the edge of the burlap, swung around, and hung loose from a flap of fabric.
Jame smirked. "Looks like you're out!"
Geraln spoke up for him. "He hit it."
Borel answered. "He just grazed it. That's a miss."
Massi echoed. "A miss for the Mrs."
I chimed in. "It's a hit. You can see it from here."
Borel shook his head and stood smug with his arms crossed. "Graze don't count. He missed it."
I glanced at Commander, who stood with his hands clasped behind his back, passing his eyes around the group of us as the situation escalated. He didn't look at the speaker, though. Rather, he watched everyone else as they spoke.
Davod nodded, then took a deep breath and passed his bow to Geraln. Then he unsheathed his sword and tossed it to the ground behind him, turned to Borel, and answered. "I hit the fucking thing."
Borel stepped up to him. "No, you didn't."
While everyone else stepped back, Massi stood beside Borel, waving his hand as if to usher Davod off. "You fucking missed it, hillbilly. Go have a sob, now."
I handed my bow to Geraln as well, tossed my own sword on the ground beside Davod's, and stood next to him. "He hit it."
Massi fixed his eyes on me and chewed his jaw about. The scar that split his left eyebrow twitched, and he reached his right hand slightly behind him where he'd kept a knife in a sheath strapped around his thigh.
My heart set to thundering. My skin crawled. My breath quickened. The four of us stood, faces within inches of one another, and I could smell Massi's breath amid the sweat, and for a moment I forgot about the humidity. Davod and Borel spoke not a word to one another, but Massi twitched his lip and taunted, "come on!"
I kept one eye on the knife and envisioned kicking it from his hand in my mind. Geraln's voice came from behind me, talking to Commander. "You going to do something about this?"
Commander replied through a satisfied grin. "Nope."
I couldn't say how many seconds passed, when I heard Jame speak next. "I can beat this yokel."
Borel licked his lips but didn't break eye contact with Davod. "What's that?"
Jame answered. "Let him keep the hit. I'll still beat him."
Everyone turned to face him. Borel then returned his attention to Davod and stepped back, holding his hands out. "Fine."
"Come on!" Massi grinned in protest. "I was just about to have some fun!"
Borel tapped his friend's shoulder. "It's good; we're all on the same side. Right?"
Davod nodded. "Something like that."
As we stepped back further, Borel shoved Renou in his chest, almost knocking him over. "Pussy."
At three-hundred-twenty yards, Davod stepped up for the first shot. We were all covered in sweat from the heat, and Davod was no different. But his fingers trembled. I glanced at Commander, who gave no tell as to what he was thinking, but his eyes were on Davod's fingers as well. As he drew back his bow, he took in a deep breath but his rhythm wasn't right. His fingers continued to tremble as he took aim, and when he loosed, his arrow fell to the ground a foot short of the dummy.
Davod winced, let out a deep breath, and stretched his fingers. Borel smiled and chuckled lightly to himself, and Jame spoke to his friend. "Told you."
Then Jame stepped up and drew back, loosed, and buried his arrow in the practice dummy. Kelint did the same. When it was my turn, I heard a kissing noise; it was Massi grinning at me.
Borel added, "don't choke on it, man!"
"Sorry," I answered them both. "You're not my type." Then I hit the dummy right next to the other arrows.
Geraln shouted, "yes!" while Davod patted my arm.
At three-hundred-forty yards, Kelint took his shot, looked at me, and yawned as his arrow popped into the dummy. Rock slapped his hands together hard, and Northstar raised his fist in the air.
Jame went next. He drew, then shouted, "FUCK!" as soon as he loosed. As his arrow came down, a light breeze carried it a foot to the left.
Kelint glanced at me with a wry grin. "Your shot."
I stepped up, but as Jame went back to stand beside Borel, Borel pushed him hard, throwing him to the ground.
Jame looked up at him and protested. "What the fuck, man?"
Borel sucked his teeth and turned to walk off. Massi pressed his hand into Borel's chest and spoke softly to him. Borel then stood staring at me with his arms crossed.
Geraln spoke, "come on, Caleb, you got this!"
"Yeah," I shrugged. I pulled back and took aim. Then I heard a whooping noise as Massi jeered in my direction. I ignored him and loosed, and my arrow found its mark right next to Kelint's.
Davod pointed at Borel with a big smile on his face. "You see that? That's my man!"
At three-hundred-fifty yards, as Gino dug a line in the grass with his boot, I felt something on my shoulder. It was a vita'o lizard, and not the baby this time.
Three yards from his snout to his tail with a blue stripe running from his eye down the length of his body, a mouth full of jagged, serrated teeth, and massive talons on each of his powerful legs. My heart stabbed me with shock, and I froze. I shouldn't have looked at her.
Blue put one eye with a black vertical stripe on me and let out a guttural caw followed by several clicks.
"Don't pull a weapon, Caleb!" Geraln reminded me.
With my heart thundering, I looked at my bow. "I literally already have a weapon in my hand."
"Well, then…" he shrugged. "I don't know."
I stood perfectly still hoping his presence had nothing to do with the fact that I'd been looking over his rider earlier.
Borel grinned wide. "You going to take your shot, man?"
Massi let out a light chuckle to go with it.
Blue stepped close, curled his long neck, and clicked and chirped with one eye on me.
"I'll leave her alone, I swear it! I won't talk to her again! You see I didn't try to approach her. I was just… I looked. That's all. I wasn't going to do anything, I swear!"
Blue turned his head to face downrange, opened his jaws, and clicked.
"Wait," Massi said, nearly giggling. "That's the same one that girl was riding, the one who asked our names when we came down from the pass. This is the guy that earned us that little speech from the Marquis!"
Jame looked at him. "No… wait, what?"
"Think about it!" Massi added.
Borel snickered, "did you say something to that girl?"
Davod cleared his throat and stifled a laugh, and Geraln answered him. "He may have said something to her."
Borel chuckled heartily. "I underestimated you, man! Go on and take your shot!"
Massi added, cackling, "wouldn't be the first miss since he got here!"
Davod chuckled, but Blue raised his head up and rubbed against my cheek. Surprisingly, I didn't feel threatened. Rather, Blue turned the side of his head back towards me, opened his jaws, and let out a string of clicks.
Unsure what else to do, I squared up to the line and drew back my bow. Blue took a step back, and I breathed in and aimed.
"Come on, Caleb!" Davod muttered. "You got this!"
I took a second to guess at the strength of the breeze downrange, began my exhale, and loosed. Immediately, Blue stood tall and craned his neck up to tower above me, watching as my arrow sailed down and perforated the dummy's heart.
"YEAH!" Geraln shouted. Davod pumped his fist, and even Jame nodded and clapped. Loudest of all was Blue, who hopped from one foot to the other vigorously and cawed, then let out a string of clicks before bumping his body into me. My heart began to relax, and I couldn't help but smile at him.
Kelint stepped up and pursed his lips with a firm nod. He looked at Blue as he spoke to me. "Nice shot. No one in Ulum could touch me at three-fifty. Very nice."
Then he drew back, took aim, and loosed. His arrow, too, buried in the dummy right next to mine. He, Rock, and Northstar clasped hands and danced around in a circle while chanting something in whichever Saeni language that was.
We stepped back to three-hundred-sixty yards, where Gino cut a line in the grass once more. I'd never shot that distance.
Geraln patted my arm, while Davod slapped my back. Blue cawed and rested his head on my shoulder, curling his long neck behind mine, and let out several clicks.
"Alright, then," I told him.
Blue stood perfectly still and watched as I drew, took aim, exhaled, and loosed. Then he lifted his head, and I could feel Davod beside me gritting his teeth. When my arrow fell, it clattered against the wooden post that held the dummy and ricocheted to the right.
Blue squawked, I shook my head.
"It doesn't count!" Borel shouted.
Davod shot back, "he still grazed it!"
Jame held his hands up and stepped between them. "It's not a hit, but it's not a clean miss, either. Kelint has to graze it."
He then looked around at each of us for agreement. Borel nodded, as did Davod. I nodded and turned to Kelint.
Kelint nodded as well, "that's fair."
Rock stood behind him, knife-handing his shoulders while Northstar rubbed his arms. Then, he stepped up to the line. Everyone else was silent while he raised his bow and closed one eye to look downrange. "How come I never saw you in Heralia City?"
"The old friar forbade me to compete."
"That's a shame." As he nocked his arrow he asked me. "You reckon Ales is still fighting back there?"
Not likely. I shrugged.
Kelint turned his babyface to the ground and spat. "This one's for him."
He drew, took aim, and loosed. Right away, he pumped his fist and shouted, "YEAH!"
His arrow sailed, and then popped dead center into the dummy's heart.
Rock cheered, Northstar clapped, and the two of them lifted Kelint on their shoulders while Gino handed him the twenty-five kren.