The next afternoon came quickly.
The sun was warm, and the air was still cool. As he had done for the better part of the past week, Neal stood in front of the track and contemplated what exactly he would do with his time here.
Fire would be a warm up run of course. Just 4 laps, barely a mile. He’d do a longer cool down run at the end as well. He started quickly, not waiting for his minotaur friend who would no doubt join him for his cool down run.
With each footstep came a satisfying crunch, that echoed together in a rhythmic motion, like the tic tac of soft beating drums. His time had been picking up recently, as had his stamina. It wasn’t quite back to his best, but it was still very good for most people back on earth. For here though? He might as well have been an Olympic class athlete.
The trees were next today, branch to branch, climb and pull, climb and pull, careful not to slip. Once at the top, drop back down and repeat. His arm’s tingled, but it was his chest and back that really burned with exhaustion from each trip up and down. It was worth it though, and his time had by quite a bit. It wasn’t good, nor would it likely ever be, but it was better. His goal was not perfection, with such measures in place it seemed almost impossible for a human. But acceptable, that might be a possibility. Again, with a lot of work.
Neal still struggled to understand some of these tests and exercises. The magic and speed tests made some sense. But the way they measured strength, endurance and agility were just, odd to his sensibilities. Like the whole thing was more of a game, and that showmanship was more important than actually doing something meaningful. It was as if millennia of peace caused the nation’s military to just atrophy into a caricature of what military structure and the army should be. What it meant to truly fight and war. Then again, perhaps he just didn’t understand this place? He wasn’t from this world after all. It had to make some sense otherwise, why would they be doing it?
A final careful pull up and he was at the top of the tree once more. He took a moment to breathe and clear his head as he looked around the park. Like most days, there weren’t a lot of other Guards present. A handful walked around, but compared to the early mornings, when the other guard branches were active, it was just empty. The schedules of the Lunar Guard and the rest were offset just enough and with a large gap between them to keep it this way when he liked to be active. It was for that reason that Neal found himself startled when he climbed down, to find the silhouette of another creature waiting for him.
A surprised smile grew on his face, as he saw the shadow of a figure standing most silently behind him. He turned around to face the Minotaur he expected along with her usual mocking grin on her face.
Instead though, his own face twisted about in confusion. There in front of Neal was the dark elf Teuta. In short, “You’re one of the last people I’d expect to see out here.” Neal turned back around, letting off with a faint smile as he went back to pulling himself up on a tree branch a few times.
The dark elf, true to his quite nature, said nothing, and did nothing but stare at him. Neal counted the repetitions of pull ups, debating if he wanted to try and do another rush up the tree. But his quite companion made him second guess that idea.
After a few moments of quite introspection, and no small amount of discomfort, Neal finally let go of the branch and asked his fellow Guardsman, “Well, did you want something? You had to come out here for some reason?”
“I was…” The words seemed heavy, and the weight the carried caused Teuta to take a breath as he forced more out, “…Merely curious. It’s not the first time I’ve seen you out here.”
Whipping some of the sweat away from his head, Neal smiled nervously, “Oh, well I’m just exercising. I mentioned it the past few nights.”
“I see that. Have you made progress?” Again, his voice was flat, it was hard to tell if the elf was earnest in his asking or if there was some amount of mocking behind the otherwise monotone answer.
Still, Neal was proud of himself and couldn’t help but let slip some of that energy in his voice. “Some! My time still isn’t the best but I can get up the trees faster.”
“I watched from the distance.” Teuta spoke with monotone distain, “Your time still appears to be a failure.”
His ego deflated a bit from hearing that. Of course, he knew it was true. That didn’t mean Teuta had to say it aloud. Why did he ask in the first place if he already knew that? “I know that, but it’s improved, which is my point. I’ll get there eventually.”
“Get where, to bad?”
Neal twisted his a bit in uncertainty, “Well, yeah, to start with then, I’ll move up to acceptable. Eventually anyway.”
A subtle twitch of Teuta’s face came and went, if Neal had guessed the elf had tried to suppress a laugh or a smile. It was almost impossible to get a read on the dark elf. Why was he here, just to mock him?
With a sigh, Neal confronted the immediate question in front of him, “I don’t mean to be rude sir, but why are you out here?”
“Like I said I was just curious. I’ve seen you running and jumping around out here. Something about you seemed different the last few weeks.”
“Yeah. I… had an epiphany. I realized I have no idea why I’m in the Guard.” He had to laugh at the absurdity of the statement. Not having an answer, forced him to go looking for one. He was still looking for one.
Teuta was reasonably confused, much like Neal was, “How does that explain the changes?”
Again, another nervous laugh escaped the human, “I guess it’s the real reason why I joined. I want to improve myself. Well, and be a part of something. Back on Earth, where I’m from, being in the ROTC was the only thing that really resonated with me and I worked hard at it. I guess, there was also cooking but I never real pursue it. Hanging out with Mithril, kind of made me realize all that again. It also made me realize I don’t really understand this world. If it’s my home now, maybe I should.”
The blank look on Teuta’s face was challenging to decipher. “And, exercising will help you understand that?”
“I guess…” A set of rouge thoughts invade his somewhat calm mind. Questions he was trying not to face, began to hit him head on, spurred by Teuta’s probating. “A bit. Anyway… I just don’t understand why the Guard does what it does. Why do they prioritize the things they do. Maybe if I keep doing these, I’ll get it and I’ll fit in better.” Shaking his head, Neal wanted to jump topics. Thinking too deeply tended to bother him with more questions then answers and he had enough questions for now. “You mentioned about helping me train, with a sword.”
Teuta stared at Neal for a moment before sighing. One of the few emotional expressions he seemed to have. “I suppose I did.”
The dark elf turned and walked away. Leaving Neal to wonder if he’d said the wrong thing. Teuta paused and turned around. “There are no swords here. Unless humans like to fight with sticks and branches?”
Neal smiled and lightly jogged up to the dark elf. “Well, we do often talk about stick and stones breaking bones.”
“I suppose that’s true; did you want to learn to use a sling as well?”
“I...”For a moment he was a loss for words, was Teuta turning his joke around on him or did he just not understand? “That was a joke, but, actually yeah, it be kind of neat to use a sling.”
“I was never good at humor. To much indirect language, subtext and laughter.” He pulled two wooden swords from the bin nearby and tossed one to Neal. Who, through great effort still managed to not catch it.
Teuta didn’t seem phased by the lack of coordination as he held up his own sword. Neal did his best to mimic his opponent’s stance. The human tried to get a read on the dark elf and what he was thinking. It was hard to tell from his face, but his body language seemed to insinuate something along the lines of annoyance, or at least Neal thought it did. The elf was just too damn difficult to get a read on.
For the next few minutes, Teuta gave Neal very basic instructions. Showing him the proper way to hold a blade, making a special mention not to hold it by its edge. Neal already knew himself to be an idiot, but just what level of idiot did the dark elf take him for? After all, he had only hit himself twice with the wooden blade.
“Owww…” Three times.
Between lectures on basic posture and movements, the dark elf continued his earlier conversation. “So you’ve been coming out here every day before duty?”
Swinging the blade took some real effort. It was only about 3 or 4 kilograms, but the repeated motions took his breath from him as he responded. “Yeah. I figured it was a good way to get back into shape. Maybe I could improve my physique. Then I might even get something better than ‘fail’ on all those readiness exercises. I’d laugh if Sable had to record something else for a change.”
“I wouldn’t try too hard. The tests aren’t meant for humans, and it’s very hard for them to pass.”, switching topics the elf changed his stance, he looked menacing ready to fight. “Your basics are bad but let’s see how you handle sparing.”
The sword still felt far heavier than he expected, for just being a piece of wood anyway. And his arms were a bit burned from the practicing already, not to mention climbing the tree several times. He lifted it a few times and swung it around in a haphazard manner. Trying mostly, to impress himself with a few rather crude flourishes. That he didn’t smack himself in the head again was a testament to his amazing quantity, not of skill, but luck.
“Don’t do that.” Teuta scolded him in his flat monotone voice.
A slight laugh of embarrassment escaped him. “Hah, sorry. I just always seen people do this before using swords.”
“Sounds like entertainment, and not real sword fighting. I’m willing to help teach you, but not if you’re just going to play.”
Any smile on his face dropped, replaced by a staunch determination. He was going to get better; he was going to learn; he was going to stop being such a layabout; And maybe, he was going to ask if she- his train of thought was interrupted by a quick tap of swords by Teuta on his own blade.
“Stop day dreaming and lets begin.” The first few taps were to judge and gage how capable Neal was, which is to say he wasn’t.
Tapping their swords together a few times, the dark elf finally gave up and just stabbed Neal in the gut with the wooden point. “I can literally say, I’ve never seen swordsmanship this bad before. Even a child should be able to do better.”
“I- Look, we don’t use swords in my world. Give me a rifle and I can hit a bullseye at 50 yards. But this is hard, just, give me some slack.”
“Ah yes, your world.” Despite his normally flat tone, Neal could almost hear something in that last word, shame it seemed to be an insult. The dark elf looked him over with unflinching eyes, before putting his sword down. “Ok. You’ve never swung a sword before. That’s evident. Rather than sparing lets go back to just swinging for now.”
“Swinging, you mean like this?” Neal lifted and dropped the sword in front of him a few times.
“Yes but your form isn’t good, spread your legs a bit more and line them up.”
He shifted his feet into a line, like he was standing on an invisible beam. “Like this?”
“No, keep your hips facing forward.”
They had only just begun but already Neal was finding himself more than a bit frustrated by the seemingly conflicting directions. “Which is? Am I supposed to face forward or twist myself in a line?”
“Face forward. But you want one leg in front and one behind. Not like that, don’t spread yourself out. Your goal is to give yourself a position where you can move forward and backwards, or pivot if you need to.”
His stance felt strange, like he’d tip over any moment. “Ok, I think I’ve got it!” Neal lied to himself.
A boisterous laugh came from behind him, “Nah, you’re completely wrong!” The words and laughter brought a deep crimson shade to his face, as Mith quite literally was laughing at him.
“When did you get here?” He mumbled beneath his blushed face.
“A few minutes ago. I didn’t want to interrupt; you seemed so committed.”
Teuta glared at the minotaur “Mithiral Hammer, please don’t interrupt us. I’m trying to teach him. I don’t know how he managed to get in the guard without even being able to hold a sword.”
“He’s the princess’s pet Afterall!” She laughed as she verbally poked the human again.
Neal took a breath, trying to focus on his stance and not her words. “Please don’t call me that.”
“Sorry, would you prefer the princess’ lover? Ha, in your dreams.” The innuendo in her voice was loud and more than a little lewd.
Again, his face grew flushed, and he was at a loss for words or a rebuttal, which just further hammered home the point.
“I doubt the princess would be interested in a human. In that way.” Teuta was cold at his counter point.
“Can we please not talk about my love life… or lack thereof.” He whispered about that last part. “How does my form look now?” He swung the wooden sword downward in a fluid movement. His back muscles moved in ways he wasn’t quite used to. The motion reminded him of something from his childhood, as he used an axe on his uncle’s farm a few times.
“Your form is…” Teuta tilted his head a bit, as if not quite sure of his response. “Better, I suppose.”
Mith laughed again at the comment and moved away from the two. She continued to hang in the background, opting to pick up one of the heavy training hammers that were put out. She swung it around, seemingly ignoring the hammer’s great weight with her movements. Though, it was lighter than her actual weapon. She couldn’t help but smile, this was much more enjoyable than the running Neal always seemed to do.
The dark elf held up his sword, inviting Neal to strike it. “Ok, now let’s see if you can hit someone standing still.”
Neal raised his own weapon against Teuta’s. To the human’s credit, he did manage to get in a few strikes, at least, on a few of his swings. But his form remained slopy and inaccurate. He could feel his body drifting out of alignment, as he struggled to stay in form.
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After a few minutes Neal lowered his own sword needing a second to breathe. “So, why aren’t we measured on sword fighting in our readiness exercises? We kind of are with the bow, but not melee, at least beyond just holding them. Seems, odd?”
The dark elf lowered his own sword, just a bit. “There’s no good reason to.”
The human took a large breath, “But why not?”
“The average guard isn’t expected to use a sword. Or even a bow for that matter.”
“I guess I don’t understand?” Neal picked his blade back up and prepared to strike at Teuta’s a few more times.
The strikes had even less energy to them, and Teuta was unflinching in each impact. “We are no longer in the age of the great wars. Bloodshed and death, even on the battlefield don’t happen anymore.”
“Then what’s the point of the Guard at all? I just, don’t understand this place.” The frustration in Neal’s voice echoed with the additional force in his blade that Teuta was now feeling again.
“We keep the peace, and if necessary, fight which is rare, and we don’t need to kill to do so. Guards are expected to swing a sword, and fight with a sword, but only at a basic level. Strength is much more important. To end fights before they start.”
There was a growing annoyance with his own failure to understand, “But, why?” Neal shook his head.
Teuta looked towards their minotaur companion who was busy swinging around a practice hammer on her own. “You see that war harmer Mithrial carries?”
Hearing her name, the minotaur smirked at the two and rapidly swung the hammer around, finishing with a quick spin. It weighed a dozen kilos at least, yet how she moved it was, effortless.
For just a moment, an amount of time longer then he’d admit to, he felt a tingle in chest and elsewhere as he suddenly saw the yack in a human costume as, less of a costume.
“Yeah…” Was all Neal could utter at the spectacle. He had seen her swing and move a hammer before, but not like that. It was clearly for show, but the power and speed behind it, was almost terrifying. In all meanings of the word.
Teuta tapped Neal’s sword with his own, bring his mind and focus back as he continued to explain. “That’s only a practice hammer, and even against that, you aren’t going to parry if she swings it, and she can swing it faster than you’ll see it. There are others stronger and faster than she is too. Even if there was a real war, no one using a sword is going to even slow down a beast wielding a large battle axe or war hammer.”
Neal understood the words, but the concept still just didn’t feel quite right. There were after all other resources beyond swords and hammers. Even other, non-beast races. Sure, a minotaur might be a challenge, but what about those other races. “But what if I was facing down an elf, or halfling, or someone that isn’t a walking wrecking ball. The guard is made of more than just minotaur. What if range units attacked them from a distance, or what if I flanked them came at them from behind? Attacks don’t need to be head on.”
Teuta, slowed his movements slightly, as if processing that question took more effort than it should. He had to be careful, even the useless human might get a hit on him if he wasn’t paying attention.
“I don’t…” The thought was almost scary. How could someone even think about attacking from behind, it was cowardly. “…know. I was always told there was no reason to learn in depth techniques, better to use showmanship and raw strength over-“
“Over endurance?” Neal saw an opening as his trainer was lost in though. Quickly, he swiped sideways with his strike, it was fast, hard, sloppy, but with enough force to tip Teuta to the side, slightly.
The impact connected with some force, a force that traveled down Neal’s wooden sword blade, into the wooden handle and further into his not so wooden wrist. He was forced to pause as he shook out the numbing pain in his wrist.
The dark elf raised an eyebrow at the surprise attack. “You need to work on how you hold that blade. It would have been a good hit, otherwise.”
“It feels like I have a lot to learn.” He tried to laugh while still shaking his wrist. Part of him chucked the pain up to karma for an ungentlemanly surprise attack.
“Yes, you do.” The dark elf put down his sword, ending the training for the day. He stopped before turning around to leave. “But, if you practice those basics, I do think you’ll get there.” His words though flat did have a strange air of encouragement to them.
The dark elf took a moment longer and considered the human in full. He was still weaker than most, foolish, lax, and yet, he had insights Teuta had never considered. The rest of the humans in this world were a disorganized mess, but if they were even a little more like the lazy creature in front of him… Well, he could see why the legends and myths of humans were so ominous.
Neal noticed Teuta staring at him, “Something wrong?”
Again, the same silent stare from the dark elf, “No. Just thinking. You don’t know the legends and ancient myths of the great wars, do you?”
With an empty stare of his own Neal could only shake his head, “Nope, can’t say I do.”
“You should read up on them. I think you’ll understand why your questions are so…” Teuta trailed off, not sure the best words to describe the discomfort he was feeling.
“Useful?” Neal’s face twisted into a cocky smile.
“Terrifying.”
The cocky smile on Neal’s face left him. He didn’t like that. Feeling like he was an intrinsically bad creature just for existing, for being born human. It wasn’t something he wanted to think about, instead, he looked towards the track. There was still quite a bit of time left in the day. Maybe he could teach the dark elf something in return for the sword training. “Want to try running with me?” Neal asked.
“Why?” Teuta asked with the same monotone sound.
“Well, sometimes you need to become a monster to fight one. So, best to learn from the monster in front of you. Besides, I always do a cool down run.” He wandered to the track, regardless of his answer. Waving him over just incase, and called out to Mith who sighed in resignation, and followed him.
“Your reasoning is spacious and concerning.” Despite the dark elf’s protests, he still found himself following the human. Perhaps it was just curiosity, how could such a feeble human out run anything? “How many laps are you going to run?”
“Usually, I do 12 to cool down, but you don’t have to keep up with me.”
Not that he was able to in the first place. After 4 laps, the dark elf collapsed to the side, not far from where Mith had collapsed a few moments ago. Was there something about that patch of grass, Neal wondered to himself.
“Zowl, curse your child. How does he do that?” Teuta whispered to the minotaur next to him.
“No idea, but it’s kind of cool.” She responded and stood back up. Neal was already a lap ahead of them, but she wasn’t quite ready to give up.
“You’re getting back up?” The normally flat voice of the dark elf held a strange sense of, almost fear to it.
“Yeah. It’s funny, but it kind of feels easier now, after doing this with him for a week.” She held a handout to the still collapsed dark elf. “Come on, just a few more laps.”
The dark elf’s dark eyes considered the hand in front of him. It wasn’t an easy choice, but he chose to get up and try to follow the human’s lead. It was, strange, seeing a human excel at anything. He had to admit, he was afraid but also curious.
Neither did manage to catch up to the human. Though, each made it far further than they thought possible. Maybe, the human had a point? Their bodies would argue otherwise though.
Night fall came, and the various branches and squads of the Lunar guard assembled. Each set up in the parts of the castle and the larger city, while our squad stood attention in the otherwise empty court. The black wolf squinted his amber eyes at his second in command who stood there with shaking legs. “Are you ok guardsman?”
“Fine Sir, just legs bothering me.” Teuta spoke, wearily. His face held an unusual amount of emotion to it. Something between pain and discomfort, hiding bellow it a deep shade of agony.
“Can you handle your duties for tonight?” The wolf’s voice was strangely soft, almost caring, in a way.
Before he could say yes, Teuta stopped himself and stood with an open mouth for a moment. A thought crossed his mind, a way to exert a modicum of revenge on the cause of his current condition. “Honestly, I could probably use some help moving crates.”
Sable’s Amber eyes almost glowed as they locked on to Neal at the end of the line. Originally, Sable had an almost evil set of activities for the human. But, stacking crates seemed like a reasonably mundane and painful chore instead.
The captain walked down the line of guards. Each guard was given a duty, each guard wandered off to complete them. All the while he seemed to glare at Neal, who could feel his eyes burning into him, until finally, “Recruit Neal, you’ll be helping Teuta tonight with his duties.”
A very slight sigh escaped him. He had fears of what Sable might have had him do. While stacking and moving crates wasn’t particularly grandiose. It was a step up from scrubbing the floors.
Still, what seemed like a reprieve, turned out to be something else.
Teuta sat at the small desk in the large storeroom. This was the biggest of the castle’s storage, and the main loading dock for all supplies into it. Nearly a hundred crates sat waiting to be inventoried and stored.
With a creak, Neal forced the lid off the first one. “Crate MS-12-3- M6152E59. Looks like dish ware and silverware.”
Teuta put his pen on the table with a louder than expected smack. “Don’t just say what it looks like. Confirm it! And, give me counts.” Again, his tone was usually full of anger and frustration. Well, for the usually silent and emotionless second in command. Most people who are not familiar with him might have missed it. ” Also, I only need the last set of numbers, M6152E59 is fine. Giving me the first parts makes it hard to… think.”
With a quick nod, Neal went through carefully and counted each stack of plates. The silverware appeared bundled together and was a bit more challenging to actually count. A rhythmic tapping spoke of the dark elf’s growing annoyance. “Well?” Again, his voice rang with annoyance, and perhaps, pain?
“Sorry sir. I’ve got 40 plates and 6 bundles of 50 forks so-”
“40 ceramic plates and 300 forks in 6 bundles.” Teuta scratched the numbers down. “That crate is going to storeroom 22. Please mark it”.
“Right. Mark it…” Taking a hammer, Neal re-sealed the crate with a small hammer. Next, he took out the strange marker like item Teuta had given him and stared at it. “Do I just cross out the old numbers or?”
There was a moment’s pause before the sound of Teuta’s chair scraped against the floor. A huff of annoyance came from the sore dark elf echoed as he limped towards him and grabbed the marker from Neal’s hands. Turning to its rear side the dark elf tapped at the first set of numbers causing them to glow and vanish.
“Magic…” Neal whispered wide eyed.
Teuta glared at the recruit, with a dim expression. It was hard to tell if the dark elf understood how amazing this feat was. “Yes. Magic.” Teuta sighed. “You really must have come from an isolated village. This is a mana ink pen. It feeds off the mana crystal inside it. Even a human can use it.”
He pushed the pen into Neal’s hand and continued to glare at him. Slowly, he tapped the pen on the next set of numbers and saw them glow and disappear. “Magic!” He laughed.
“Yes. Magic.” Teuta dead panned and walked back to the desk.
Neal turned the marker around and scratched the number “22”, leaving a space large enough for the other numbers that would likely be added later. He had surmised that the first number was the room, the second likely the shelf, and the last seemed to be the crate’s actual serial number. He paused and stared at the last number and glanced between the markers in his hand. Quickly he tapped at the final numbers on the crate only, for nothing to happen. Once more he tried again, nothing. It was a bit disappointing.
“Those are burned into the wood; you can’t erase them. Next crate please.” Teuta seemed a little annoyed at the constant interruptions.
Resealing the crate, he moved it to the side and grabbed the next one. “N61615C0, uh, fabric? No cloth napkins. That’s it just napkins, 250.”
“Store room 22.” Teuta replied.
And so it went for the next hour. Crate after crate, numbers and counts, given in otherwise silence. It was, almost hypnotic.
Every crate up till now had the same starting letters, “MS” which made this one so strange, “FIELD-K8392A12”.
“Teuta, what do these letters all mean?” Neal asked while pulling the top off it.
The dark elf tapped the pen on his desk. “They’re just location references.”
“Right but what do they mean, like ‘Field’ instead of ‘MS’?”
The dark elf went from tapping to dropping the pen on the desk surface with a sigh and rubbed at his eyes.
“Sorry sir, I’ll get back to it. Crate number K8392A12.” Neal went to open the crate; it looked like cooking and kitchen equipment. ‘K, maybe for the kitchen?’ He thought.
“The first part is usually a location. The castle is an exception we don’t put anything there. ‘MS’ is the main warehouse in the city; other letters mean different things. That one says field. That probably means it was deployed somewhere.” Teuta seemed a bit calmer with that answer, but still somewhat agitated.
Neal felt pressed to ask, knowing it might not have been the best idea. “Sir if I may ask, you seem on edge tonight?” He waited for another indication of anger, but none came.
“My legs and back hurt from your exercise earlier.” Teuta stated flatly.
The human scratched at the back of his head, embarrassed over neglecting to state a simple fact. “Ah. Yeah, the first few distance runs can really hurt. Sorry about that.”
“Do all humans do this? You think this makes guards stronger? I can barely stand now. Don’t see how that’s any stronger.”
“It’s not an overnight thing. You need to keep at it. Over time your body does get stronger, and you get more used to it. Eventually you can go father and get less winded.” Neal spoke with a huff as he tried to lift the next crate. He tried again, but it was just too much, if he kept at his he’d pull out his already sore back. He suddenly wished Mith had been assigned to help too.
“Something wrong recruit?”
“Uh. Yeah this crate is too heavy for me, I’m sorry sir.” The crate fell back to the ground, in the few inches he had managed to pick it up. The thud of its impact was deafening.
The sound of Teuta’s pen hitting the table was soft but had its own subtle volume to it that spoke of his annoyance but also acceptance. “Fine. I’ll help you, just give-“ The dark elf wasn’t able to finish that statement as he fell to the floor with a soft thud, his calf, cramping hard.
Rushing to his commanding officer, Neal looked back and forth for something to do and help. However, all he could do was watch as the elf grimaced in pain. “Sorry sir, I don’t think you should be helping me lift anything tonight.”
“Oh, you think?” It was the first time Neal heard true sarcasm from the man. It made the otherwise overly stoic elf seem, almost human. “This is because of your damn running and exercises.”
Neal tried not to smile, he didn’t need to be on both Sable and Teuta’s hit list right now. After a moment, the dark elf stopped rubbing his leg and did his best to stand up, wobbly though his posture might have been.
From the hallway, a noise caught Neal and the dark elf’s attention as Teuta tried not to focus on the pain. A lone white wolf poked his head into the space and looked around. His ears went flat for a moment as his eyes locked with the humans. A subtle shift in his eyes spoke to the distrust he instinctively had towards him. Even if it was for a moment, seeing that face, a face that reminded him of his lost friend, recoil in fear even if slightly was painful
“Everything alright in here? You ok sir?” Hastam looked between the two, focusing on the easier to get along with, but not understand Teuta.
“Yes. Everything is fine Guardsman. Just leg pain.” Teuta reached down to squeeze at his calf once more.
A thought crossed the human’s mind as he leaned into to whisper, “Why don’t we ask Hastam to help? I can’t lift all these crates alone.”
Another sigh, Teuta looked to the white wolf, and considered the request. Much as he wanted to make Neal suffer a bit, for his own agony, he knew the human couldn’t do this by himself. Any work not done tonight would just be more work he’d have to do at a later date. “Hastam, Sabel just told you to patrol, alone?”
“Yes. He didn’t have anything planned. I don’t think he expected the princess to be missing tonight.” The wolf twisted his head a bit, uncertain why he was being asked.
“Ok, you’re going to help Recruit Neal here with the crates.” Teuta limped back the desk and sat down once more.
“Oh, Ok.” Hastam stood there, glaring at the large number of crates in front of him. What had the human and dark elf gotten him into. The white wolf sighed, “This is going to be a long night.” He whispered to himself and got to work.
The second set of hands made it easier and the two worked strangely well together. Despite the fluff, it was clear there was a lot of muscle under the wolf’s coat. Each crate they picked up and Neal, couldn’t help but see his old pet as he looked at his fellow guard’s face.
Hastam tolerated it at first. But the continued glaring from him was getting to the wolf. He felt his ears tuck down and his mouth turning upwards with each look. Finally, he had enough and refused to pick up the next crate. “You keep starting at me recruit!”
Neal tried to laugh it of, “Sorry. It’s just…”
Hastam’s lips turned up in a subtle snarl. “Do you have a problem with me?”
“No! No. It’s just-“ Neals face broke between sadness and a smile, “Back home I had a dog. A big husky and his face kind of looked like yours. You just remind me of him.”
His muzzle returned to normal, but his eyes continued to squint at the human, “What’s a husky?”
The smile on Neal’s face grew as he tried to explain his lost friend, “Oh, a big breed of dog, bushy fur, they have a lot of… personality. He used to be really loud and funny. I just, I really miss him, he was my friend since I was a kid.”
“I see.” Hastam had calmed down. He wasn’t a fan of how the human looked at him, but had begun to understand and perhaps even accept it, a bit anyway. “He sounds like a good man.”
A smile crossed Neal’s lips as he realized Hastam didn’t understand the idea of a pet dog. “He was a good boy.”
They went to pick up the next crate and bring it over for inspection. “What was his name?” Hastam grunted softly while carrying.
“Barbarian!” The smile in Neal’s voice was loud.
It hit Hastam in a way that made him slightly uncomfortable. Did he really want to be compared to this ’Barbarian’ creature? “What a strange name. And you said he was a good man?”
“Well. Something like that. He was the best boy.”
“Huh.” Hastam grunted as he opened the crate up to count the various knickknacks with in it.
Crate after Crate. It was still slow going, but at least having someone else made it easier, and bit quicker.
Teuta tried to stand and stretch only to pull back in a bit of pain. He cursed the human once more under his breath.
“Are you ok sir, you seem to be in pain.” Hastam was growing more concerned with his superior’s actions. The elf was always quiet and not very animate. To see him make any noise was strange.
“I’m fine, it’s that human’s idea of exercise. I tried it earlier and I’m still sore.” Once more Teuta rubbed at the back of his legs. The force felt painful, but strangely good as well.
The exercise talk caused Hastam’s ears to poke up further. This was the second time he heard the two of them mention it. “What are these exercises you keep talking about?” He looked between the two of them.
“Why you interested?” A wicked smile crossed Neal’s lips as he thought about a potentially new victim to join his runs.
“Yes. I’m always looking to get stronger.” It really was hard to tell just by looking at him, the guardsman’s fur was so dense it hid his form underneath it. But with the way he moved those crates with little effort, it was clear there was a lot of strength beneath the white fur.
“You should join us tomorrow!”
The dark elf shook his head ‘no’ as the wolf again looked between the two of them.
“Ok?” The wolf had no idea what he had just agreed too.