Images of Miyani dominated my thoughts, and I couldn’t sleep. Enough with her delicious, delicious body, just the way she looked at me drove me insane. The look in her eyes as she gazed up at me, the way she held her lips when she reached out to me and touched me. I knew it was just a game, but damn.

We’d made it out of the trees when I snapped my hand towards her, “touch,” and ran off towards the gate. She chased after me, and I'd made it to about a hundred yards from the giant alligator when I peeked around. No sooner than I had, and she caught me, about a tenth as winded as I was and looking at me with a smile that gave off the deepest of sincerities. We started to work our way around the No Swimming sign, keeping a glance at one another daring each to get a touch in and taking turns pointing at the beast with one finger over our giggling lips.

I wanted to kiss her. We’d gotten back to her apartment, a large cluster of grass-covered domes, where we taught each other the words for good-night, and ended that with a long hug. She lowered her arms and ran her fingers all over my bum being absolutely unshy about it, and I couldn’t help but feel the invitation. I had to bend over to reach down some, but I took her delicious round arse in my covetous hands.

We hugged until dark.

It rained through the night. Thunder cracked hard overhead to herald the waxing blue of morning, punctuated by flashes of lightning and the unceasing sound of rain clattering into pools outside.

And with that came Sarina.

Days chasing one another across the stone walls of the terraces that climbed up the mountainside back home in Gath, only to reach the top and sit together overlooking the valley below with the cool breeze flitting my hair about and it was just the two of us, lying down together. Her black eyes, her soft lips that only in time as I grew I understood the meaning of, yet from the time we hid from our chores when we were six, running through the garden and hiding beneath the cool shade of a grape vine, she was always my one.

It’s called a nightmare. Mother says that's what you call it when you have a dream and the dream is scary. She says the plague left an ouchie on my brain and I will always have them. I’m scared…

I’d written to Sarina about Mebibi—about all the girls I’d met in Kyoen. I told her how I'd met Mebibi in the marketplace where the bishop would send me out on deliveries. Her father had a stall, and she used to glance at me sheepishly until I went over to talk to her. I told her about Alys, who brought me gifts and invited me to watch her dance recital.

Sarina wrote me back.

Caleb, you’re an idiot. If you like this Mebibi, you need to stop entertaining Alys. She’s trying to pull you away from her. You need to make a decision and stick with it or else you’re bound to lose them both.

She was right, and I should have listened. I wondered what she'd have to say about Miyani?

Caleb, you don’t know this woman. She could be some controlling psychobitch, and you literally can’t ask her favorite color! You need to stop thinking about her arse and pay attention—she’s got a jealous lizard that can rip your throat out in under a second, and she thinks a severed human body part makes a nice gift. I say this because you’re my best friend and I love you, but exactly which mushrooms have you been eating?

Miyani did have a beautiful arse, though.

Water droplets sprayed through the open window where a fresh spider web filled the space like gossamer crystals in the morning cloudlight. Outside, the rain began to abate, leaving a lake where the yard used to be with tufts of grass peeking above the surface all around.

The thought of walking through that with my boots and soaking my toes for the next several hours made me understand why the natives walked around barefoot. And so, without Mother Searnie to chastise me, I went as they did. Then it occurred to me that I also had the garment Tani had given me the evening prior—a silk strap to go between my legs with a flap at the front and back, set about a soft, silk belt around my waist. I felt naked. I also put on the necklace Miyani had given me, though I wasn’t sure if that was a good idea given how macabre it was, and my bow sling over my shoulder. I also had the leather satchel that held my medical kit, but other than that I was naked—this would take some getting used to. There was a nook in my bow sling that I threaded my hair through to keep it out of the way, and without my shirt on I could feel the ends tickle the small of my back.

Most of the other men were still sleeping. I stepped outside and sloshed my feet into the grass as the contiguous lake had degraded into a series of connected puddles with islands throughout. The rain was naught but a light sprinkle by then, and the dark clouds above had moved along towards the east.

wuʃi. The rain moved off to the wuʃi.

The men on kitchen duty were still preparing for breakfast, so I took the time to visit Geraln in the medical ward. On my way over, I shifted my neck around just to feel my hair dance along my skin.

Davod was there sitting next to him, and Chirpy lay on his chest. She looked up at me in expectation as I walked in, following me with her eyes as I approached.

“How are you feeling?” I said.

Geraln’s body had taken a hit. He was always chubby, but he looked gaunt and his skin sagged over his cheeks. He rubbed the sides of his nose, digging in his fingers as though to pull his skin apart. “Like shit.”

Davod chuckled lightly. “Yeah,” he echoed. “Commander says don’t ever forget your mosquito ward.”

Geraln wheezed out. “My head feels like it's about to explode.”

I opened the medical kit and unraveled the paper that held the temperature glass. After a moment to remember which end I was supposed to use, I held it up to his neck and watched as the clear crystal shifted through blues and greens to settle on a deep orange-yellow. I then took up the board that held his notes and studied it. Chirpy lifted her tiny head to see for herself.

Davod grinned, “if you die, can I have your bow?”

“Hush!” Geraln snapped. Chirpy hissed in agreement.

“What?” Davod laughed and shrugged. “It was supposed to be mine, anyway.”

I couldn't help but laugh a little myself. “How long ago was this?”

Geraln shook his head and let out a labored sigh, still pressing his fingers into his face just beneath his eyes.

Davod let out a light chuckle and held out his hand for Chirpy to sniff, then stroked under her chin. As for me, zʊɣi had insisted on writing everything in Uhuida, so I first had to figure out if I was staring at the thing upside-down. Then, after a minute or so of going back and forth between the translation guide, I saw that despite his temperature having improved from last night, it was the same as it had been yesterday morning.

I went over to the next man’s bed; he and several others were also being treated for the mosquito pox. Their morning temperatures hadn't been taken, so I took care of it. His was bright red, also no improvement from yesterday.

“Guess what,” Geraln wheezed out, “I found out that Sarina is Showani.”

Davod raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean? Where’d you hear that from?”

“I…” Geraln hesitated. “It’s reliable.”

“Are you sure?” I countered.

Davod echoed. “I don’t think that’s right.”

“Yeah, man,” Geraln insisted. “The Commander is Showani.”

The man I was looking over lay still but for shallow breaths; his temperature was a deep, ruddy orange. I shook my head and turned to Geraln. “Who told you that, though? Because that’s not true.”

“It’s true, man.”

“He’s Mayeni.”

Geraln argued, “He’s Showani.”

Davod sat silent and watched us argue, pulling his face back in thought. I moved over to the next patient, a young child with the dark-green skin of the Na’uhui who—I was told—didn't feel like listening to his mother. He now had beads of sweat across his brow and slept through shallow breaths with a fever of solid crimson.

“No,” I said. “He told me himself, he’s from Mayeno.”

“That doesn't make any sense.” Geraln furrowed his brow and glared at me. “He told me he came from Showan.”

We both turned to Davod, who shrugged.

I twisted my neck a little to feel my hair tickle my back again, then spoke what we both thought. “What did he tell you?”

Davod shook his head and smiled. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

I pressed, “he told you something, didn’t he?”

Davod wasn’t good at hiding it, “I’ve no idea what you’re talking about!”

Geraln poked him in his side, “what did he tell you?”

“Nothing, man!”

I added, “he told you something. What did he tell you?”

Davod grinned wide and fought back a giggle, “I don’t know what you’re talking about!”

I moved onto another man, a Herali with a fresh Falcon tattoo on his right shoulder. Except he was cold. The muscles in his face and hands were stiff leaving him with a ghastly grin, and he had no pulse or breath. My heart jumped at the realization, and my face froze.

Davod turned to me. “What’s wrong?”

“He’s dead.”

Geraln snapped to attention and gazed at me in shock. His voice was hollowed out. “Klaudus is dead?”

I turned to face him slowly, unable to wipe the shock from my own face. “Yeah, man.”

Geraln's eyes bulged and his jaw gaped. “He got here the day before I did.”

Davod lifted his chin at me. “What was his temperature yesterday morning?”

I looked at Klaudus’s chart, and a pang of terror rippled over my skin. I looked up at Geraln. “Same orange-yellow as you.”

Geraln whispered into the distance, “fuck.”

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Dr. zʊɣi had said his chances were better because Chirpy’s mother had smelled it on him earlier than usual, but she still only gave him eighty percent. There was a one-in-five chance that one of my best friends would die of mosquito pox before we got a chance to die in battle. Rest was what he needed, so rest was what we gave him. That, and copious amounts of water.

Davod and I then left to get breakfast.

Beside the gate, we saw Jezi, the alabaster Tobori kid with his old slave number branded into his arm standing next to a young, dark-green woman with her white hair in a single braid down her back riding on a vita’o about to head out of the gate alongside two others. She leaned down to kiss him on the lips while he caressed her leg.

“dayumi!” Ahmi snapped from behind them, “pʊ fayise!”

Ahmi then glanced at me for a brief moment as the girl removed herself from him and followed the others out. I tilted my neck slightly to feel soft hair on my back again.

Jezi watched them leave for a moment before making his way towards where we stood, while Davod rested his heavy, meaty arm over my shoulder. “You see?” he said. “That's how it’s done.”

That made me laugh. “Whatever!” I shook my head. “I spoke to Ranía.”

Davod sucked his teeth and turned away. “That's going nowhere.”

“I think it could. She's very attracted to you; she told me. If you just…”

“Not gonna happen.”

“OK,” I insisted. “She has reservations. That’s fine. It’s nothing you can’t…”

Davod shook his head and scrunched his lips, waving one hand in front of me. “What’s this I hear about you and Yonim?”

I smirked. “Her name is Miyani, and don’t change the subject.”

Jezi came up to us with a satisfied grin across his face and looked up, passing his gaze back and forth between us. “Good morning!”

I nodded. “Same to you. You joining us for breakfast?”

Jezi shook his head and started to walk with us. “My mother makes the way better food.”

Davod gave a nod back towards the gate. “So that’s your woman, there?”

Jezi smiled and glanced behind him, though by then she was gone. He then ran his fingers through his long, bright-yellow hair and blushed. “She is Dayumi. We are close.”

Davod chuckled, while Jezi glanced at the ear pendant I wore. “She says to my mother that she will bring me Apex ear and then we hope to marriage.”

A flash of apprehension crossed his face for a moment and then vanished. It was Davod who asked, “What’s the Apex ear?”

“Who,” Jezi corrected him. “If your enemy likes you they will name you. Ahmi is called Teacher. zevoŋi is called Apex—she is the enemy scout most very dangerous.”

I couldn’t help it. “Does Miyani have a name like that?”

Jezi smirked, then smiled wide. “Oh, yes. She is called ɣozʌ’ʌ. This is difficult to translate. Maybe the closest meaning would be… let me think. I think it will mean… that bitch! Do you know that she shot Apex one time?”

“Damn!” Davod grinned and slapped my shoulder. “So your girl did that…”

Jezi shook his head. “She is the woman. No girl.”

“Sorry,” Davod chuckled.

I continued, “how much do you know about her?”

Jezi faced forward as we approached the mess. “Not much. She is new. She arrives at Carthia maybe two weeks before now?”

“Do you know where she came from?”

“Yes,” Jezi nodded, “everyone knows this. She is saŋɪwesa tribe. The sewu’oŋi massacred them and she makes many to escaped. She leads them all here.”

“Wow,” I said. “So she’s…”

Jezi smiled and chuckled lightly. “You ask about Miyani, she asks about you.”

“She did?” I asked.

Davod tapped his shoulder, grinning wide. “What did she ask, and what did you tell her?”

“We have bro-codes, yes?” Jezi cocked his eyebrow at me. “She wants to know did I hear you say the F-word. I tell her I don’t remember to hear it.”

Davod shrugged. “The F-word is that serious?”

“Hah!” Jezi giggled. “They say this to me my whole time growing up. My mother, my teacher, Ahmi says this, Dayumi mother says this, everyone says that when you hear a man say this word, it means do not expect to trust him.”

I shrugged, “why?”

“GODS!” Borel shouted at me from inside the mess hall. “What the fuck are you wearing, man?”

Jame slapped him in his arm. Borel turned to him briefly, “sorry,” before walking up to me with half our unit in tow. He chuckled out loud, glancing back and forth between my loincloth and the ear. “What the hell, man?”

Gino was beside him. He came closer to me and rested his hand on my shoulder, passing his eyes up and down my barefoot, half-naked body. “Are you joking, man?”

Never mind that Jezi was dressed the same and Commander was as well whenever he was around. When I looked, both of them had sweat stains on their shirt collars despite the early morning hour. And for that matter, so did Davod. So, I answered them accordingly, passing my hands up and down my body as I spoke, “you’re jealous, because you don’t have a body like this.”

Borel cracked up laughing, as did most of the men present. Rock, however, pulled up close to me and took his shirt off, flexing to reveal rippling, powerful muscle all across his shoulders, his arms, down his chest and back. Some of the men cracked up as he popped his pectoral muscles one-by-one. Kelint still dined with us despite not being in our unit any longer; he pulled Rock to the side and spoke something in his native language, to which Rock nodded and put his shirt back on.

Then Borel turned his face to Davod, “how are things with the elites, man? I haven’t seen you.”

Davod cocked his chin to the side. “And that’s bullshit, too. They said I’m supposed to be the unit commander for all you juvenile delinquents, but I feel like I ought to be training with you. Instead Commander takes all of us other captains out as one unit.”

Faren spoke up, “what’s it like out there, man?”

Everyone got quiet. Davod led us over to the table where we sat down. “It’s scary as shit.”

I sat next to him, while Ales sat across, with Borel standing next to Jame to his right. Rock stood with Northstar next to Kelint. Malchuk eased his way over to Kelint as well, while Jezi sat down on Davod’s other side and Gino and Faren stood behind me. Renou tucked himself away; I almost didn’t see him standing behind everyone else.

Davod continued. “Each unit gets a scout. Yesterday, we’re walking through the jungle on some side route and you can’t see anything. There’s trees, vines, leaves everywhere. In some places you get good visibility, but for the most part it’s pure jungle. And it’s loud. Everywhere around you is noise. Chirps, whistles, everything. It’s so loud you can’t hear anything that’s trying to sneak up on you. It’s like this constant state of terror over something that may or may not be about to happen.”

Ales shrugged. “Like when we came in, yeah?”

“Basically,” Davod nodded. He gave Kelint a moment to translate into Goloagi, and I took a moment to stretch my neck so as to tickle my back once more. Davod continued. “So Ahmi steps out from the middle of it; she’s riding Falconator.”

Borel smirked. “What?”

Davod laughed. “Yeah, that’s his name.”

Borel laughed while Davod continued. “So yeah, my heart just sinks, she’s invisible out there, you have no idea what’s going on, and then suddenly she’s there. So she says there’s an enemy war party that landed across the river and tells us to go this way.”

Faren inserted, “what did they want?”

Davod shook his head. “Who knows. She appears a couple more times, go this way, through there, that sort of thing, and we end up on a ledge overlooking the main road, some two-hundred yards out. And most of us are diamond-tree-country men so we’ve got about ten bows on us. And so… we wait. And we wait, and we wait, and we wait. Maybe about four hours later she comes to get us and says follow her. So we all head to the river where there’s some boat tracks in the sand with footprints leading into the water. She tells us to take some time searching the area and she’ll be back. We do that, she comes back, and we came home.”

Jame lifted his chin. “Did you find anything?”

Davod shook his head. “We tracked their route, but they'd just walked around a bit and left.”

Jezi nodded with a sly grin. “They figure out that Ahmi has the class and they don't want to be the exam!”

Davod chuckled with a prominent grin. After that, he got up. He made his way towards the stone staircase beside the kitchen that led up to the officer’s hall. “Anyway, the food is much better up there, and I’m hungry. So…”

Ales shouted after him, “oh, so you’re just going to leave us down here to starve, is that it?”

Davod turned briefly and grinned, “begone, peasant!”

The food for us peasants was the usual brown-gray mash with goopy globs of goop. It wanted salt, perhaps some honey and almonds. Maybe some raisins or dried dates with crushed walnuts. And a touch of cream. That was it. Chopped dates and walnuts, a touch of cream, and copious, copious amounts of honey.

If only.

I’d arrived early enough this time to get a bowl of fruit. What they offered that morning was chunks of something purple that had a strong grain to its texture, and it was sweet beyond sweet. Like if you take all the sour, all the fruitiness, all the everything that comprises a flavor and squeeze them all out leaving some trace remnant overpowered by the sweet left behind, that was what it tasted like.

When the lady came around with the coffee carafe, every man in our unit pulled out a kren except of course myself.

And I really could have used some. I sat, coveting the smell of warm coffee all around me while shielding my feelings from the shame of not being able to provide for myself.

Rock pulled out a coin and handed it to her, pointing at me. “For him.” Then he turned his round face to me and smiled wide, lifting his cup.

“Thanks, man,” I said.

Rock smiled. “Nuvi-de-sa!”

Jezi hadn’t gotten in line for food. Rather, he sat alone in the middle of the table facing us as we made our way through the serving line. As we came up, he pointed at Malchuk, the Goloagi man with short, curly hair and the scar that ran down from his forehead, across his nose, and onto his cheek. Jezi spoke to him in Goloagi. “You will sit here now please.”

The rest of us sat down wherever, though I was close enough to overhear what was going on. Jezi warned the man, “you are in danger.”

We fell silent. Faces from around the table, including my own, tuned into that conversation. Malchuk furrowed his eyebrows and pulled his face back.

Jezi continued. “The women here do not like you. They say you look rapey…”

“What?” Malchuk shrugged. Confused faces surrounded them both.

Jezi continued. “This is not good. My mother tells me talk to you about this.”

Borel leaned in and held his hands up. “Yeah, but what’s that supposed to mean? How are they…”

Jezi cut him off. “Listen. You do not understand. A man does not rape…”

I wasn't sure what a rapey man looked like. Malchuk was about average height, and aside from the scar across his face, his features were heavy with a hook nose and strong brow line. He wasn't big, but you could tell he was strong for his size. He wore a frown mostly, and I hadn't seen him smile or laugh, but he stayed around us most of the time. Malchuk shook his head and crossed his arms, “I never raped anybody…”

Jezi shook his hand in front of him. “Be quiet and listen. A man does not rape a woman at Carthia. If he survives the attempt, he will not see the sunrise. But wait,” Jezi held up one finger and looked around at all of us. “I have a better idea. Let us say this man looks rapey, and let us deal with him before he tries. This is Carthia. Can you hear me?”

Jame shook his head. “Just because of the way he looks? That’s ridiculous!”

Ales crossed his arms and shook his head, “no. No. That’s not fair…”

Jezi pulled his lips wide and nodded. “My mother says to me that life is not fair. But this is Carthia, and these are the rules.”

Malchuk shook his head. “What am I supposed to do?”

Jezi lowered his face in thought, then shook his head. “Sometimes they say this maybe because you look too long at the wrong woman, or if you say the f-word too many times, or it can be some other reason. Let me see if I can find this out, and you will stay in this area with the barracks and the training grounds for now. Do not go to the library or anywhere else for now. OK?”

Malchuk sniffed and shrugged. “What about the church? Am I allowed…”

A horn bellowed out from the gate, a short blast followed by a long blast.

Immediately, half the men in the mess got up and ran out the door. The men in the kitchen filed out with weapons in hand, and all the men upstairs in the officers’ hall ran downstairs.

Daren of the bear clan stood at the end of our table and growled, “GET UP! All of you! On the wall, NOW!”

We stood and started moving, and Daren continued to shout at ours, and another group of men across the room. “Get your bows, and get up on the wall! Let's go! Let's go, let's go!”

Men rushed past, right through the open walls and ran across the training grounds towards the wall. Some headed for the barracks, others towards the main gate. I went with the rest of my unit until Daren stopped me. “Not you. You, to the medical ward.”

I started to rush past but then turned to ask, “what's going on?”

Daren barked back, “we'll find out soon enough.”