--- KINTHEK ---
Kinthek Korelli, great great grandson of the Red Curse, walked along a river.
It had been two days since his leaving the village of Eternal River behind him, but part of him still kept an eye out for faroot as he walked. He passed a stalk of a similar plant—but this one had more basal leaves than actual faroot—and continued onward, peering with curiosity at the underbrush.
Kinthek smiled when he spotted a small bush with the distinctive leaves he’d come to know over ten years. He plucked one of the branching stems and put it in the bag Eliax had given him.
At the moment it was holding practically all of his supplies. If it weren’t for his worry that he would run into someone else out here and have to explain where his things were, he could have simply left everything inside it. Somehow the strange bag seemed to have a bottomless pit stuck to it. It was practically big enough on the inside that Kinthek felt tempted to try and fit himself into its depths!
He hummed, standing back up and dusting off his hands. Stars, he’d forgotten how sticky the sap was. He didn’t know how though, considering faroot sap could practically be used as glue.
Kinthek shook his head at the plant and walked onward. He’d planned on skipping The City of Starlight entirely considering his history there, but the lower his supplies grew the more he felt it might be necessary to stop there.
He’d been hoping to run into a caravan or something, but those seemed to be much less common than he’d initially assumed. Stars, he probably should have waited a few extra weeks for the village to all journey to Starlight together, they did that twice a year, practically half of everyone packing their things up and heading southeast. In the past, Kinthek had always stayed behind with Vespin and the others who remained at Eternal River, but this time he would have been allowed to go with them.
Kinthek walked up the riverbed and took out his map again, frowning at the landmarks Priest Vespin had sketched—rather poorly—at the approximate areas. He turned the map this way and that, frowning at it with his brow furrowed.
He looked at the mountains—Eternal River was fairly high up in them, but not at the highest point; he'd been heading downhill pretty steadily. He knew there was a turn here, but he couldn’t for the life of him figure out if it was at this spot or later. The path was starting to get overgrown but it seemed like it might be here.
Stars.
Kinthek tilted his head at an oddly shaped rock nearby, it looked almost like a face. He felt like Vespin would have included such a landmark if it was relevant, but there was no way to be sure… besides, the Priest himself hadn’t even made the journey in quite a while, so who was to say it was even close to how it was presented on the map?
Kinthek sighed and continued down the river.
--
Kinthek yelped as he felt an arrow wizz past his ear.
Instinctively he flattened himself against the side of the riverbed, watching his attacker with wide eyes as he simply… prepared another arrow.
Stars squalls squalls! Kinthek screamed again as the unfamiliar man shot the second arrow. It rushed toward Kinthek, surely about to end his life, it was clearly going to hit some of his vital organs and then he would lay there, bleeding out for the world to see. The world wasn’t supposed to see what was inside someone!
Kinthek closed his eyes, awaiting the pain.
Nothing happened.
Kinthek opened an eye, looking the strange man in the face as he frowned at something past Kinthek. He sighed and put away the third arrow, and then began to unstring his bow.
Kinthek watched him with wide eyes the whole time, his mind only able to really focus on that bow. It was a very nice bow, probably handmade and from what Kinthek could tell it was well maintained and well crafted. The wood was smooth and strong without a hint of splintering and the string was straight and true without any visible frays.
Kinthek watched as the man put the bow string in a bag and tucked it into his pouch, all the while remaining silent.
“W- WHY WRER YOU SHOOTING THAT IN MY DIRECTION?!?”
The man regarded Kinthek for a moment before sighing and looking past him again. He walked in that direction, probably intending to retrieve the arrows. “There were some birds behind you. I missed.”
Kinthek blinked, turning to look in the direction the man was heading, “I was… right there though?”
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The man snorted slightly, “I doubt anyone would blame me if I hit a soulless on accident. But you’re fine, so what are you complaining about?”
Kinthek felt his mind still at the insult, he let out a long breath, “Sorry, you’re the first person I’ve seen in days. Are you out here hunting?”
The man bent to pick up one of his arrows, not even looking in Kinthek’s direction, “Yes, I was. Are you a traveler or something?”
Kinthek nodded, “I’m… trying to avoid going to the City of Starlight, but I need to get more supplies soon.”
The man grunted.
“Hey, do you happen to know if there are any smaller villages nearby?”
The man grunted again, “If you follow the river long enough, and then the coast after that, you might find your way to Openness, or even The City of the Last return. After that, who knows, you might be able to get on a ship back to Saarabenth where you belong.” He poked at the arrowhead before putting it in his quiver.
Kinthek felt his expression sour. “Yes, thank you, I’m well aware of your opinion now.” he held up his map, “do you at least have something better than this?”
The man glanced at the map and didn’t come closer, instead walking over to his second arrow and likewise examining it, remaining silent, and then finally putting it away, “I’m sure that map is good enough, can’t you just sell more of your soul for directions? I’m sure Atharian would be perfectly willing to give you that much, even for something so worthless.”
“Do you know of any caravans then? Ones that are heading literally anywhere but here?”
The man frowned, finally looking at his annoyed expression, a smidgen of fear seemed to appear in his eyes as he looked at Kinthek, “I…” He swallowed, “The only Caravan that’s nearby at the moment is Leftbite’s Wings. I saw them in the distance the other day, they seemed like they were heading to the City of Starlight from Far cold.” He hesitated, gesturing just off the river “it should be a few hour’s journey that way,” He then swiftly walked upriver, not looking back.
What had that been about? Kinthek was used to people either being scared of him or insulting him. But it was never both. Perhaps he decided that the chance of me being a bloodbinder was too big?
Kinthek glanced behind him, just in case there was a big monster, much like the birds earlier. But no, there was nothing. He frowned at the riverbed for a moment before realizing that he should probably get going if he wanted to catch that caravan. Usually they moved fairly slow, but they were very persistent.
He climbed up the riverbed and set about in the indicated direction.
--
It took more than two hours of stumbling through shrubs and dodging cacti before Kinthek saw smoke in the distance. The sun wasn’t disappearing yet, but it was rather close to the horizon.
Kinthek quickened his pace, but even so, it was completely dark by the time he stumbled into the hastily erected camp that was filled with scents of cooking food and the sounds of uproarious laughter as strangers spoke over their fire.
He paused at the edge of the camp, hesitant to continue onward. Most people wouldn’t react well to a random traveler appearing in their camp out of the wilderness. Especially when he was alone.
Thankfully his mind was made up for him, as a thickly built woman who looked like she could crush entire mountains with her fingers alone spotted him. “Ho! Traveler! Where’d you come from?”
Kinthek smiled slightly, trying to be as pleasant as possible before she decided to hate him for his hair, “I’m on foot, I just came from Eternal River.”
The woman nodded her head as a few passerbys gave him curious glances. None of them stuck around though, each giving the woman nods or wary looks before continuing onward. “My, that’s a decent clip off there. And for a Red Curse too? What’s your name, lad? What are you doing this far north?”
Kinthek blinked. He wasn’t used to people being that pleasant right after mentioning his ancestry no less. “I’m… Kinthek. My mother took me to the City of Starlight when I was two.”
The woman nodded, gesturing to him to come with her; somehow, Kinthek wanted to follow her. She had a presence about her. “That’s certainly a history there! Say, I don’t usually offer it for free, but if you’d like to travel with us, we’re heading to Starlight for the next few days, after that it’s off to wherever the winds and profits take us.” She smiled.
He felt his eyes widen, “I think that would be great!”
She grinned, “Well, so long as you’re alright with some… unconventional company.”
Kinthek turned toward her, “Unconventional?” In response, she gestured toward the campfire, Kinthek followed her gaze and even so, it took him a while to notice it. He had to examine each person in turn after that, startled to find the presence of feathers. Niortak. The people from the world in the sky.
He felt his mouth opening into an O as one of the people of the sky stood up, approaching the woman with folded arms. He seemed annoyed about something, “Another stray, Taenseva?” the bird-like man looked Kinthek up and down with a critical expression, “He barely looks worth the effort.”
The woman clapped Kinthek on the back, “This is Kinthek!” She turned back to the Red Curse in question, “So, what do you say about joining us? We’ve got a few bloodbinders here and there, but never had a Red Curse before!”
Kinthek blinked, looking back at the people again—really, he needed his observational skills checked one of these days—to find that several sported the distinctive red hair. It was bright and shining in the light, more noticeable even than his, to show that their curse was their own. The two bloodbinders were laughing and jeering with the others. Well… one of them was, the other looked like he was about to bite everyone’s heads off. However, he wasn’t doing that at the moment, which Kinthek thought was a blessing.
Kinthek hadn’t even realized that there were still bloodbinders out there. The way people talked made it seem like the squalling redheads were a myth or a ledgend. He especially hadn’t realized that there were non-violent bloodbinders out there. You only ever heard about the murderous ones…
He hesitated for a moment, and then remembered the map, and how annoying it was to find his way without a guide. He finally responded, “I’m in.” As far as he was concerned, they were saving him from a tedious several months of wandering through the wilderness and regretting his life choices. Possibly even dying from starvation or once Light day came around again…
He shook his head, this wasn’t even a question. Taenseva led him toward their fire.