PART V - CONCESSIONS
The moment Kaisess disappeared from view, Callie seemed to relax. “If I put you down, will you not run off?” Lena asked. “Otherwise, I’ll happily hold you the rest of the afternoon. Let them do their work.”
Callie looked up and back at her friend. “Koda told Tasi it was bad.”
“How did you … oh your ears, right. If anyone in the camp can fix him, it will be the Master Healer.”
Callie struggled twice more, realized that Lena’s grip was absolute, and finally relented. “I’ll stay,” she said glumly.
Warily, Lena set the Gnome down. She didn’t run. Quite the opposite, Callie simply fell back in the mud, landing with a wet splut on her rear. The Gnome just looked longingly to the edge of the field where Kaisess had been carried off, any strength she had having simply evaporated.
Lena turned and looked at the rest of the players. Most were recruits, but there were a couple others in the group as well. It was hard to tell since everyone was covered in mud and all had the same expression on their face. “Let’s … let’s all take a break for a bit,” Lena suggested, gesturing vaguely to the seats.
“What about the game?” Shirax asked in his gruff voice.
“I … I don’t know,” Lena said, glancing down at Callie, who was still sitting in a daze.
“But …” the Rhinokin started to say, but he trailed off as several glares were shot at him.
Slowly, the players moved, walking in pairs and small groups off the field, Callie still not moving as she gazed at the top of the hill where she’d last seen Kaisess. Jesca, the only one on the field who wasn’t mud-covered, even though she was soaking wet from the on-again off-again drizzle that was currently on-again, took one of Callie’s hands. Lena took the other. Together they pulled the Gnome to her feet, the three then walking towards the sidelines and the shelter of the awnings, Callie never looking away from the top of the hill.
They sat, a few rows up to keep out of the rain, and said nothing. Pixyl soon joined them, Lena moving aside so the Pixie could take Callie’s hand, while Jesca continued to hold the other. No one was sure what to do next. The game should continue, but nobody’s heart was in it any longer, on either team. The screams of the injured Catkin still seemed to echo, even though he was long gone, and that put a damper on everything.
Eventually, the head referee asked both teams what they wanted to do. Lena looked at Callie staring stoically at nothing, then at the rest of the team, all of whom simply shook their heads. Even Shirax wasn’t feeling it any more. Nodding in understanding, Lena sighed. “We yield the game,” she said flatly. It was a logical call, really. Three of their key players were gone, and their Marshal was in her own way gone, too. The rain and mud, which had been a fun part of the whole game so far, now just felt cold, oppressive and filthy. There simply wasn’t a lot of joy left to be had and nobody really wanted to keep playing.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
Word circulated quickly, and those in the stands mostly filed away, planning to return to their quarters or regroup in the mess tent to play dice or some other game, or do whatever if the rain fully broke. A few were a little angry the game ended early, but largely, people empathized and let it go. The players slowly filed away, too, the recruits heading to their houses to pick up clean clothes on their way to the showers, while the officers and staff did the same, destined for their own facilities to clean up. Still Callie sat, lost in her own thoughts as her mind replayed the image of Kaisess spinning in the air; as she heard his scream over and over in her head.
“How is she?” Vanis asked Lena quietly, Juniper standing next to him with a worried expression.
“Taking it harder than I would have expected,” Lena whispered back. “Kaisess will be fine, though. She just needs to see that, I think. She did a great job as Field Marshal, though.”
Loki, who had been quietly holding Juniper’s hand, stepped up to Callie. His big bulbous head seemed to grin slightly as he looked at her.
“And what do you want?” Callie asked quietly, a bit of a sour snarl in her tone.
The plant monster opened his mouth slightly, just a little, and the end of Callie’s red bow emerged from it, like the end of a bright-red tongue.
Callie let out a single, subdued huff of laughter. She grasped the end, pulling the weapon hand-over-hand from Loki’s mouth, the bow strangely lacking any saliva and otherwise completely unmarred. “How the hell did you fit that in there?” she asked Loki, slowly shaking her head. The bow was far, far too long to fit without protruding out somewhere, but Callie just wasn’t in a headspace to investigate further. It was magic, that was about all she could digest right now. Loki said nothing, of course. He simply smiled, a pair of thorny fangs poking out from under his upper lips this time, before returning to his creator’s side and taking her hand once again.
“Come on,” Lena finally said. “It doesn’t do any good to just sit here. Let’s get cleaned up and then we’ll go check on Kaisess. A shower and fresh clothes will make you feel better, and the sun’s coming out soon, too.”
Callie looked skyward. The sun had moved behind the awnings, but she could see a large patch of blue sky moving their way with no dark clouds following, so indeed the current drizzle would end before very long. Callie sighed deeply. “I guess.”
Lena got down on one knee in front of the little Gnome. Like everyone else that had been playing, her face was covered in dirt, with just a few wet streaks around her eyes where she’d wiped the large clumps away. “Callie, none of this is your fault. Sometimes things just happen you don’t expect.” She held out her hand, ready to lead the way back towards the camp.
“Yeah, chess and chaos,” Callie said glumly. “I know. I see it now. But, I should have seen it before, too. Maybe he wouldn’t have gotten hurt.” She let go of Pixyl’s and Jesca’s hands, before looking around at her friends. She added a weak smile before she rose and took Lena’s hand in her own.