Tsugi quickly retreated his daggers and froze as he looked up and saw the frightened, naked women and children standing around the tub of water. Even though he already saw them naked before, his face flushed as he felt their wide eyes gazing upon him.
"Uh...my apologies." He quickly looked down at the floor and took out the clothes from the sack as calmly as he could and placed them on the stacks of hay. "You shouldn't have taken off the splints." Tsugi bent down and picked up the bandages off the floor. Everyone just looked at him blankly.
"If you don't keep the bone in place while it's healing, it will not heal properly." He rubbed his forehead in frustration. "Please be careful washing and don't move too much. I will return with new splints and help you all clean and redress your wounds."
***
Still unsure of Tsugi, they were still hiding and cowering every time Tsugi approached to clean or dress their wounds.
His small hands were warm and gentle, to the point where one might even say his hands are as delicate as a womans. He was very careful to not scare them, or move too fast to cause them to flinch. His heart stung a little at every flinch, for he knew all too well of the horror they had faced.
"What's your name?" Tsugi tried to enlighten the mood as he bandaged the little girl's arm. "You don't have to be afraid." Tsugi's tone was light and soft. The little girl didn't move or even look up.
"Her name is Inara." Aylin walked out of the stall and placed her hand on each of the children's heads. "This is Hiaki, and Nagi," moving to the boys, "Tairo and Karue." She then placed her hand on the other young woman's shoulder, "and this is Maki."
"Well, it's nice to finally have a name to go with your faces." Tsugi put on a big friendly smile. "As you know, my name is Tsugi and this is my best friend in the WHOLE world, Ruzo." Ruzo stood up and wagged his tail happily at the sound of his name. "Alright, and that would be it!" Tsugi said as he finished wrapping a bandage around the wound on the little girl's leg. "Are you all ready to go back home?"
"We're leaving?" Aylin finished tying Tairo's cloak onto him.
"Yes My Lady. In fact we are leaving right now." Tsugi placed his hands on his knees and stood up. He walked over to each of them and pulled their hoods over their heads and gently patted the children on their head, giving them a friendly smile.
"Alright, let's go!" Tsugi said in an excited tone, and marched out the door. "Ruzo." The dog trotted alongside Tsugi.
***
"Oi! Tsugi!" Lugo stood outside the wall of the village, dressed in black armor made from a tukin (a dragon subspecies with scales harder than turtle shells). The blacksmith, two mercenaries and a healer sat atop their horses next to the carriage, with luggage tied to the top of it, pulled by two giant horses.
"Please, right this way." He gave an exaggerated bow and charming smile, opening the door to the carriage and taking each of them by the hand, he assisted them into the carriage.
"Ruzo, climb." Ruzo climbed into the carriage after the others.
"Please let me know if you need anything." Lugo smiled at them and shut the door. "And you Ser Tsugi..."
"Don't call me that." Tsugi snapped and shot him a threatening glare. "I'm not a knight."
"My apologies, Lord Tsugi." He lowered his head and raised his hands into the air as he took a step back. "This is your horse." He gestured his hand toward a gallant chestnut horse with a white patch on her Muzzle. "Her name is Sayi."
Tsugi walked up and stroked her strong, powerful neck.
"I see you love animals." Lugo climbed onto the saddle of his horse. Tsugi ignored him and swiftly mounted Sayi. "Let's move!" Lugo and Tsugi led the group down the road.
***
The smooth terrain eventually led them up to the mountains, where the roads were rough and the winds were strong.
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"Lord Tsugi." Lugo rode up next to him.
"Just Tsugi is fine." His voice was bland and he didn't move his gaze from the rocky road ahead.
"Okay, 'just' Tsugi," Lugo laughed. Tsugi just rolled his eyes in annoyance. "If I may ask, why are you going to Thandeur?"
"Home."
"Well, if that's home then what are you doing all the way over here?"
"Job."
"You're a man of few words aren't you?" He chuckled and adjusted himself more comfortably on top of the saddle.
"You're a man of 'never shut up' aren't you?"
"Fair enough." He chuckled, shrugging his shoulders at Tsugi's aloofness. "Still, we are stuck together for twelve days, let's at least get to know each other a little. Why make it a long AND boring journey?"
"Okay. So do you call Mitheryn home?" Tsugi asked.
"No."
Tsugi stared at him and waited but Lugo kept quiet. "Wow you can actually be quiet?" Tsugi's gaze returned to the road. "So, where do you call home then?"
"I don't have a home."
"How long have you been staying at Mitheryn then?"
"Eh, a few years. Kildo had hired me a while back to bring him here. He's the blacksmith you met." He said pointing his thumb to the rider behind him.
"He was a merchant and had been traveling until he got word that his wife was ill. For two days he couldn't find anyone to safely escort him back so he left by himself. I happened to run into him on the road.
He was being attacked by a pack of greer’s, nasty little things, about the size of your dog, their skin as tough as leather, very sharp teeth and poisonous arrowhead tail."
He took out a waterskin from his satchel and took a swig. "After fighting them off, I took care of him for 3 days. I thought he wasn't going to make it, but he survived!" Lugo raised his fist in triumph.
"Although…" Lugo put his waterskin away and continued his story. "...by the time we arrived, his wife had already passed. So, I decided to stay and work with him for a while. Then a while turned into a month and a month turned into a year and then, well you get the idea." He chuckled. "Are they your family?" Lugo gestured in the direction of the carriage.
"No."
"Okay? So who are they?" He covered one side of his mouth and whispered, "by 'they' I mean the blue haired one." He winked at Tsugi.
"No one you need to concern yourself with." Tsugi said in a stern voice and glared at him.
"Oh! I see. Sorry, I didn't realize." He whispered again, "how about the orange haired one?" Tsug's hand grasped the reins tightly and scowled at Lugo, causing him to gasp in shock. "BOTH of them!"
"No! Neither!" Tsugi bellowed, his fists shook from trying to contain himself so he wouldn't punch Lugo right in the jaw for even suggesting such a thing. "Just keep your nasty hands to yourself!"
"Alright, alright." Lugo threw his hands up in defeat.
"Does everyone think like that?!" Tsugi exhaled, annoyed but he relaxed his grip.
"Yeah, most people I know anyways." Lugo rubbed his chin and nodded slightly.
"Just shut up about it." Tsugi spoke through his gritted teeth. "I don't want to hear another word of such things for the rest of the trip, and don't even think about doing anything. If any of you even look at them wrong I will kill you." He growled. He looked up at the sky where the sun was getting low. "We'll camp here for the night!"
The mercenaries started pitching up tents, Lugo gathered firewood and Tsugi pitched a tent for women and children.
"Come, stretch your legs and sit by the fire." Tsugi led them out of the carriage and sat them by the fire. Tsugi took the saddle off Sayi and unhitched the carriage from the horses. He let them graze on the small patch of grass on the mountain side and left out a small bucket of water for the horses.
Ruzo quickly lapped up the water and stretched his legs before lying down next to Karue. Karue placed a hand on Ruzo's head and stroked him softly. They were all still very tense and flinched every time a mercenary walked by.
Tsugi placed a pot of water on the fire and threw in some rice, smoked pork, chopped up potatoes, carrots, spices and herbs.
He filled up bowls of hot stew and passed it to everyone. The mercenaries laughed and chatted amongst themselves. Tsugi sat and observed everyone, wondering how Lugo was able to hire mercenaries on such short notice, watching them suspiciously.
Tairo had already fallen asleep and the others were nodding off, exhausted from the long trip.
"Come, I'll show you to your tent." Tsugi carried the sleeping Tairo in his arms and led them to a single tent, away from the others. "It's not very big, but if you all sleep close together, you'll stay warmer." He laid Tairo on the blanket inside the tent. "Ruzo will stay here with you." Tsugi turned to leave the tent.
"Wh-what about you?" Aylin grabbed Tsugi's arm but quickly dropped it, blushing and averting her gaze to the floor.
"I'll be right outside the tent. One of the others will also be keeping watch at night for monsters, and Ruzo will wake you if anything happens. So you don't need to be frightened."
She slowly nodded and laid down with everyone else.
Tsugi sat down, leaned his back against the tree next to the tent and adjusted his hood on his head as he eyed everyone. One of the men stayed in armor while the others checked on the horses and retired into their tents.
A branch snapped behind him.