There was a part of Legon that wanted to stay up, the same part that made him fight with his parents when he was growing up and they wanted him to go to bed, but Arkin was right and they did have a long way to go. Sleeping now was good. He replaced the fenrra in their sheaths. “That sounds good. I am assuming you want Kovos and Keither to share a tent, and you and me to take one?”
Sasha spoke for the first time in a while. “Please. I don’t want to be alone tonight. Can I stay with you, Legon? I promise I won’t bother you.”
Of course she would want to stay with him. She was terrified. How could he make her be alone?
“Of course you can. I’m sorry, I should have said that. I’ll move your bedroll and bag to my tent.”
“Stay with Legon as long as you like, Sasha,” Arkin added.
Kovos couldn’t believe this. How did Arkin get those swords and how was he able to hide in town for so long? Did anyone know? Keither was looking better and he thought that the boy would be fine by the morning. In truth he was a little proud of how well Keither had done. He hadn’t complained and it looked like he was toughing it out. This was a good thing, and it would be helpful for their current situation. He suspected that there was going to be a lot of toughing it out to come, and if Keither could keep it together he may turn into a real person. “It is going to feel good to lie down and sleep,” Kovos thought as he parted the folds to the tent and entered. There was his bedroll waiting for him. He thought about stripping down to his undergarments, but decided against it. You never know when you might get attacked.
He couldn’t get the day off his mind, especially the fenrra. Now that was metalwork at its best. Sharpened twice in two thousand years, and they were so sharp. He didn’t even know metal could get that sharp. Maybe if he played his cards right he could learn how to do that.
He was also bothered by the fact that he wasn’t upset about killing people. He should be, he should feel bad… but nothing, nothing at all. He got mad when he thought about Keither and Sasha getting hurt, but doing the hurting… it didn’t bother him. In fact it felt… good. That bothered him. If killing felt good, then that meant that he was capable of doing awful things, things like what those men had done, and then what would Emma think of him? Emma. Why did he think of her now! It was dark in the tent and Keither had fallen asleep as soon as he was lying down, and Kovos would have too, but now he was thinking about her. “I wonder what she’s doing,” he thought. “No, don’t think about it.” But how could he not? What if it had been her on the ground having some sub-human on her?
He understood then why he didn’t feel bad for killing the men. He didn’t feel bad because it was justifiable to kill them in his mind. “But is it ok to kill people even if they deserve it?” came a voice in his head. Who was he to judge others, who was he to decide who lived and died? But at the same time, he knew these men killed and raped, and who knows what else, so maybe it was ok. Either way it didn’t matter. It was done and it wouldn’t do to dwell on it. They did what they had to do and that was that. At the same time he was surprised at how protective of Sasha he was. Sure, he’d beaten people up for giving her a hard time, but that was for his friend. Today he wasn’t killing entirely for protection. He wanted to punish them for what they were going to do to her and what they had done to probably many women. Sasha was a good person, and when he thought about it, how could demons posses her? Could a demon live in someone like that? Great, now he was never going to sleep. His mind was starting to run. Maybe he could get some air. That might help.
He got up and went outside. Arkin was at the fire poking it with a stick. He turned to look at him. “Is everything ok?” he said in a soft voice.
“Yeah I think so. I just can’t sleep, you?”
“I’m fine. I can stay up all night and be good to go tomorrow. You did well today. I mean that.”
“Thanks. You did well yourself. So what happens now? What do we become?”
Arkin gave a deep sigh. “That will be up to you, I think. Let’s not talk about that now. Let’s talk about something that will put you to sleep,” he said with a smile.
Kovos laughed. “Ok, why don’t you tell me about some table or something you’re making.”
“Low blow from someone that hits things with a hammer for a living,” Arkin retorted. He always enjoyed picking on the carpenter for his craft. He knew Arkin was good at what he did, but Arkin worked with wood and Kovos with metal, so there was a bit of a rivalry. They both liked to talk about what it was like making something with your hands, something that people could use for generations, like those swords. They talked for about an hour before Kovos got tired and went to bed.
Sasha woke up next to Legon, her head resting on his bedroll. She was amazed at how well she slept. She thought that she wouldn’t sleep deeply because she was scared, but Legon was with her and he wouldn’t let anything happen. The air felt warm, so it must have been mid morning. She crawled out of the tent to have her suspicions confirmed. The sun was high in the sky, the morning dew long since gone.
Arkin was up, or at least she thought that he was. He was sitting on his heels with his back to her. It looked like his hands were on his thighs. She didn’t want to disturb him from whatever he was doing and began to go back in the tent.
“Good morning, Sasha,” he said in a deep, relaxed voice.
“Oh, good morning Arkin. Did you sleep well?” She wanted to know what he was doing, but she had to be polite. She did owe him her life, or at least that’s how she saw it. He chuckled.
“I am meditating.”
“Oh, ok. I didn’t want to be rude or disturb you.”
“You’re not. Did you sleep well? I know Kovos and Keither did. I think the whole forest knows that,” he said, turning his head and giving her a slight smile.
She laughed. “Yes, I think they did.”
A snort from inside the tent told her that Legon was getting up as well. He popped his head out. “Morning,” he said and then looked at the sky. “Oh, sorry. I don’t think I’ve slept this late in years.”
Arkin got up and moved to his tent, returning with a sheathed blade.
“Sasha, this is for you. It’s also Elven. It belonged to Legon’s mother. It’s the faloon. Elven women carry them.”
She took it. “A what?”
“Faloon. A thin, short sword that can be worn under most skirts. The handle can be easily hidden with a bow or anything else around your waist.”
“Oh, ok. Legon, do you…”
“Good idea, Arkin. I should have taught her how to defend herself a long time ago. It was dumb of me. I just always assumed that I could defend her… sorry, Sash.”
She was a little taken aback. He was feeling guilty about what had happened yesterday, as if it was somehow his fault those bastards had tried to hurt her. She knew that he would have done anything to stop it. She saw the marks on his wrists where the rope cut into him. She could almost feel them. There was nothing that he could have done to stop it.
“It’s not your fault, Legon. There is nothing you could have done. Even if I knew how to fight, do you really think that I could have stood a chance against them?”
“That’s not the point. The point is that you have always been in a danger and I haven’t taken the time to give you the basic skills you may need to just get out of a situation. I don’t expect you to be able to fight someone, but I could have taught you how to hurt them enough so you could get away.”
Arkin broke in. “The truth is, it’s my fault as well. I trained your brother and yet I did nothing for you. Forgive me, Sasha, but going forward you will learn. In fact, I have training for both of you while we’re on our journey. We are going into situations that neither of you have faced and you need to learn what to do, and Legon, you need to learn how to use the fenrra and a few other techniques.”
“Like what?” Sasha asked.
“I will start to teach you the art of the Jezeer.”
“The what?” started Legon.
“Jezeer. In short, you will learn how to fully use your muscles, how to read people, inflect your voice and body language to gain favor with people and get them to do what you want. Sasha, you know a lot of the people skills because I have taught you them from the time you were little. Legon, you I have taught many of the physical, but you both need to learn more than either of you currently knows.”
