Tif awoke in the forest, trees branches overhead and the splayed fronds of ferns at eye level. She sat up, her stomach hurting a bit, and discovered that a large form knelt next to her, even closer than the foliage. It was a cyclops, hair barely a knuckle in length framing a smooth-cheeked face Tif realized was female and maybe her age, the lone eye watching Tif closely.
“Teerog and you need to speak,” the large creature said. Her voice had the same weight to it as Torgath’s--the only other cyclops Tif had ever met--and the same rhythm.
Tif quickly checked side-to-side, but they were alone: just her, Pep, and Teerog. She focused on the one eye, though she had to look up to do so.
“You’re who took me from the Death camp?”
The young cyclops nodded. Her head was the only part of her that moved--her large hands remained on her thick knees, both legs tucked under her wide frame.
Tif deflated, the worry pouring out of her. “Thank you,” she said. “I had gotten over my head and wasn’t sure how I was going to get out of it. You came by just in time!” Tif finished with a smile she hoped conveyed her gratitude.
The cyclops’ lone eyebrow arched over her eye, and again Tif had a flash of Torgath. Had that meant frustration or surprise?
“How did you get me out of there, by the way?” Tif continued, eyeing the red ris that dotted the cyclops’s bar arms and shoulders.
Teerog froze, perhaps not wanting to give away what she viewed as Blood secrets.
Tif snapped the fingers on her Pep-hand. “You stuck to the wall! It was you I had seen scaling it before. You snuck down behind me, knocked me out with the first seal, and carried me up and over the top, all before Dalia and the rest could stop you. You’re amazing!”
It seemed to Tif that Teerog would say something, but instead the cyclops breathed, closing her eye as she did. When she exhaled, reopening her eye, she appeared…centered.
“You thank Teerog,” the cyclops replied slowly, “when you don’t know what Teerog wants? You talk and talk, about things you do not know. How could grandfather give his ris to someone so foolish?”
The words gave Tif pause but only for a moment because she hopped right over the foolish bit to get to the part that really mattered. “Your grandfather?” The old cyclops had said something about a granddaughter, hadn’t he?
Teerog leaned back, straightening her spine so she loomed another few inches over Tif. “Yes. Teerog, blood-daughter of Mihaat, blood-daughter of Suureg, blood-wife to Torgath.”
Tif thought it was nice how Teerog seemed to know her relatives well. All of Tif’s grandparents had died before she had been born, but that hadn’t been her fault or theirs--life in the lows was just short for most. But not when she was Archon. When she led Lercel everyone would live longer and be able to speak with pride about their parent’s parents just like Teerog could.
“It’s good to meet you, Teerog,” Tif said. “My name is Tif. Sorry, I mean, Tif thinks it’s good to meet you, and Pep does, too.”
The cyclop’s eyebrow twitched into what Tif was sure was a frown this time, but she couldn’t tell if it was because she had tried speaking like Blood tribe or something else.
“We would have met much sooner if others hadn’t prevented it.”
Tif wondered what Teerog meant by ‘others’ but then a discarded memory popped into her mind. “You were in Sah’Sah!” Tif remembered now the underground members on the boat saying a cyclops was after them. If that was true, Teerog had been following her for quite a while. “Sorry about that,” Tif said. “If I had known you were related to Torgath I would have stayed to talk with you.”
The cyclops took another breath, louder this time, but it didn’t seem to calm her like before. “You apologize to Teerog when your skin stands naked of my grandfather’s gift. What have you done with it? Where is my bloodright?”
Tif felt an itch on her arm and slapped. Glancing at her hand, she saw the squished body of a thumbnail-sized bug--a bug that had been sucking on her, for there was a splat of bright red mixed in with its juices. She almost pointed out the ‘blood’ coincidence to Teerog, but the expression on the cyclop’s face told her now probably wasn’t the time.
“I didn’t want to give the ris up,” Tif said, launching into an explanation, “but Vak-Lav--she’s a half-snake lady from what was a Sound Aspect tribe that’s gone now, if you can believe it--is in control of the underground of Lercel, who had my parents, and to free them, Vak-Lav said I had to give the Blood ris back because it was hers, bought and paid.”
“Grandfather would never sell his legacy,” Teerog rumbled. “This Vak-Lav she-snake is a liar.”
Tif nodded to show they were on the same side. “That’s what I said, but there were witnesses, and your grandfather did say something to me about not being able to do what his tribe wanted and then not being able to do what Vak-Lav wanted either.”
Teerog was frowning again. “What was wanted?”
“I don’t know,” Tif said with a shrug. “We didn’t get to talk long. He was locked up in a cage at the time, and I wasn’t supposed to be there.”
“Grandfather was in a cage?” Once again, the cyclops's anger seemed to get the better of her--the hands that rested on her knees were gripping the skin there tightly.
“Maybe you should take some breaths,” Tif said.
Teerog growled at her, and Tif held up her hands.
“Just a suggestion.”
The cyclops did breathe, looking at Tif as daring her to comment--Tif wisely didn’t, whistling a quick tune. Teerog gave herself another moment to get settled and then began again.
“Where is grandfather now?”
“Sorry, but I don’t know that either,” Tif said. “Vak-Lav told me she let him go, but I never saw him. If it helps, I think she was telling the truth. She was much nicer after I got to know her.”
Teerog huffed in disbelief, and Tif didn’t blame her--she wouldn’t trust someone who locked up her family either. Or, at least not until after they had freed them, like Vak-Lav had done with her parents.
“If he’s not dead, maybe he went home to Bheroth,” the cyclops allowed. “Teerog hasn’t been there in a time…”
“Even if he did, he doesn’t have the ris you want anymore.”
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
Teerog gave her a hooded look, as if Tif had discovered a secret she wasn’t supposed to, but Tif just laughed. “You aren’t exactly hiding your tiles.”
The cyclops nodded, conceding the point, but an intensity grew in her eye. “Who does?”
“I can tell you exactly wh--” Tif felt another itch on her back and turned to swat it, but what she saw behind her ripped a squeal from her throat, and she jumped up from the forest floor twisting and turning.
“What is it?!” Teerog said, standing with her. Not a moment later, Tif felt a large hand on her shoulder through the cloth shirt she wore and then another brush her back. “It’s just a treetic. Nothing to excite yourself over.”
Tif looked up at Teerog, who stood at least two feet taller than her. “That’s not--I don’t mind--,” Tif paused, collecting herself. “You can’t see it, can you?”
“See what?”
The answer was what Tif had expected. Teerog only had Blood ris, after all.
Tif turned around, slower this time, but it was still there: a smokey thread of gray ris leading away from her off into the forest. As for who it connected to…
“How long did you knock me out for?”
“About an hour?” Teerog answered. “Why?”
Tif looked at Pep to make sure they agreed. “I don’t think we need to be worried. It should be okay.”
“Worried? About what?” Teerog said, clearly not liking being left in the dark.
Tif turned back to the cyclops. “I have a Death mark on me.”
The cyclops surprised Tif, scooping her up like a sack under one arm and then dashing off to the left. They crashed through some low branches of trees, which Tif fought away with her hands as best she could but still ended up spitting leaves out of her mouth.
“I said it’s okay,” Tif managed, turning to look up at Teerog. “You don’t need to--” Tif stopped to cover her head as they plowed through more tree limbs.
Once free of the second batch, Teerog slowed her sprint to a jog, but her long, thick legs continued to eat up the ground with steady strides.
“Is it gone now?” the cyclops called down without looking.
Tif tried to twist around, but she couldn’t see far enough past Teerog’s wide arm to tell. “I’m not sure.”
Teerog grunted in annoyance, and when they passed near a cluster of trees, the cyclops angled them toward it. Behind the largest of the trunks, Teerog put Tif back on her feet and then watched their surroundings warily.
“Quickly. Is it broken yet?”
Tif turned and sure enough, it was still there. “No.”
“Aspect curse them,” Teerog swore. “They must be close.” She reached for Tif again.
“Wait, wait,” Tif said, backing away from the cyclops. “That’s what I’m trying to tell you. This didn’t happen now. I got this back in the camp.”
Teerog frowned at her in-between searching for threats. “All who train in Teerog’s tribe know that only the most skilled Death warrior can keep a mark they can’t see. Teerog has fought Death and knows the truth of it.”
“Me too,” Tif said. And when Teerog favored her with a doubtful look, Tif lifted her arm with Death ris. “That’s how I got this. With your grandfather’s Blood ris. But in the camp I met someone who could keep it, multiple ones, in fact.”
Teerog stopped looking around, focusing just on Tif. “He must be a ris master to do such a thing.” Belatedly, Tif realized that the cyclops looked scared--an emotion she wouldn’t expect from someone who was three times her size.
“He was skilled,” Tif confirmed, remembering how he had unmasked her in seconds where others had failed to come close. She also recalled his all too perfect face, though she certainly didn’t want to. Atriat was the name Dalia had used for him, and apparently he was one of their two Chons. “He could do a lot of things he shouldn’t have been able to.”
“If someone like that is pursuing you, it is all the more reason to flee.” Teerog moved away from the tree she was near, taking a big step toward Tif.
“He’s not following,” Tif said, and she could feel Pep nodding with her. “He thought I was a spy and wanted me to convince the leaders of Lercel to surrender to the Death armies.” She gestured at the thread of ris that Teerog couldn’t see. “This is probably just so he can know when I get back to the city.”
“And is that where grandfather’s ris is?”
Tif could see the cyclops itching to go and could understand why: Teerog didn’t want to be stuck in a city under siege from Death troops. But was that really what was going to happen? Death attacking Lercel now? Tif hadn’t fully considered the possibility before because she had been too busy spying, and living and learning with the seekers. Death wouldn’t invade yet, would they? Surely not. And Tif needed to go to Sah’Sah, not Lercel. Maybe if Atriat felt Tif going to Sah’Sah instead of Lercel it might give him pause, make him rethink his strategy. Yes, her original plan was still best.
“Your answer should be faster,” Teerog said. “Much faster.”
“Want to come with me to Sah’Sah?”
Teerog gave her a deeply skeptical look. “Grandfather’s ris is in Sah’Sah?”
Tif had been doing so much lying recently with the Death troops she didn’t feel like keeping it up anymore. Well, not fully anyway. “Sort of.”
“What does that mean?”
This was a gamble Tif knew, but since she hadn’t seen the cyclops in Sah’Sah, she figured Teerog hadn’t seen her either and so may not know exactly when she lost her ris.
“It means that Sah’Sah is the first step to getting your ris back. Which I want to do, by the way. Your grandfather really helped me, and I want to return the favor.”
Teerog stared at her, any worry of approaching Death troops seemingly forgotten. Tif had to admit, being looked at with such force by a single eye was…uncomfortable.
“You,” a high voice said, and Tif turned to see none other than Plumya hovering just outside the copse of trees. The fairy was looking at the cyclops, not her, but that didn’t stop Tif from speaking up.
“What are you doing here? I thought you went back to Lercel days ago.”
Plumya’s tiny face titled her way. “Told you, need a finger or ear to prove you’re dead. Otherwise Awt will just think I abandoned you.”
“You did abandon me,” Tif said. She could feel her own anger rising at the bounty hunter, like they had never been parted and were still bickering on the trail.
“How did you find us?” Teerog demanded of the fairy.
“You’re huge. How could I not find you?”
To Tif’s surprise, Teerog seemed to blush.
“There’s no tall grass here,” the cyclops grumbled. “It’s not Teerog’s fault.”
“Sounds like you should get back to your plain Plains then,” Plumya quipped, before turning to Tif. “Come on death-walking, time to go.”
The cyclops stepped between Tif and the fairy. “She is staying with Teerog. There is a debt owed.”
Plumya hovered higher in the air, so Tif could still see her. “We got it, your name is Teerog. You don’t need to keep saying it. Debts though, I could hear about those all day. How much does she owe you? Maybe we can split it.”
Tif couldn’t believe how bad the fairy’s timing was. Tif had been well on her way to convincing Teerog to go to Sah’Sah, but she didn’t like her chances nearly the same where both of them were concerned. Maybe she could bribe Plumya? Or explain to Teerog that the knights in Lercel would sooner execute her than let her inside?
“I found you,” a voice Tif would have recognized anywhere said. Disbelieving, she turned to see Jer-Rix standing on the opposite side of the copse, hands raised in a traditional Gold fighting stance. “Now it is time to answer for your crimes.”
“What is this guy doing here?” Plumya piped.
He flashed a quick punch, and before Tif could dodge, she took a blow to the cheek, knocking her down. As she fell, she saw both Plumya and Teerog angle toward Jer.
Tif landed facedown, hands flat on the ground. She breathed in the grass, shook off the surprise of the hit, and then pushed herself back up. This was not going to go like it had when she had been in the cells.
This time he would listen to her.