“So you’re going off to fight some war?” asked Naromi with her brow raised. She was a petite girl with dark Maharian skin and brown hair tied into a braid. She was a seamstress’s apprentice in the local market and had quite the temper at times.

Darim leaned back against a wall with Naromi by his side who sat upright and glared at him.

“Fates, Darim, do you even know how to fight?” she asked.

“I’ll learn, Naro,” said Darim. He twirled a stick in his hand. He had started learning the knife with some local boys in the alley along with the staff. He’d gotten rather good, but add a lethal blade to the end and he’d be sublime.

“You’ll learn? You’ll die, more like,” she snapped.

“Have some faith in me, my dear Naro,” Darim chuckled. “There’s a whole world out there to see. This is but one city.” He scoffed. “A city in ruins, however large it may be.”

“Well, be thankful to the Fates we were born after the Triscourge.” It was true; during the apocalyptic invasion of the world’s most devastating monstrosities most newborn babies died. There was a severe population decrease and only the most crafty and survivalist folk survived. The armies of the world had almost failed them, but eventually the Maharian king had united the realms for a defensive. The city Maristor, capital of Mahar, was still recovering just like the rest of the world from a war that happened nearly two decades ago.

He’d grown up with this story. Naromi almost swooned everytime she thought of the brave king of Mahar. His tales were legendary.

“I am very thankful,” said Darim. “You have to admit, though, that you wonder how the rest of the world fares.”

“I’m home,” she said. “That’s all I need to worry about.”

“What is there to worry about? The world is healing. No one wants another war.”

“That’s what they all say, but the king says we are to remain vigilant nonetheless.”

“Oh, please. The king said, the queen said, they all say things. How true can a rich man’s word be?” Darim laughed. “Probably just wants to make us feel like our immense taxes are worth the money.”

“He’s spending them on rebuilding our homes. He is giving us a better life!”

“So they say…”

“So they mean! Don’t speak like you know what goes on in those halls while you’re out here fooling around with that boy Hamer and his lackeys. The nobility of Mahar serves us.”

“At least for this city I’d believe you. What do you think the Purifiers are doing?”

“Please!” she said. “Don’t bring them like they’re some representative of the king. The king is not like that.”

“So they say…”

Naromi grumbled and leaned back next to him.

Darim always liked spending time with Naromi, but he hated when she got all patriotic like this. He supposed he could do less of what always irked her. He pushed himself straight and turned to Naromi. “You know what? Let’s go on an adventure.”

Naromi blinked. “What?”

“An adventure.”

“You’re such a boy.”

“That’s very judgemental for half the population.”

“Not half,” she said. “Quarter. I said boy, not male. Learn some arithmetic, would you?”

Darim rolled his eyes and took her hands. “Come on, Naro. Let’s go outside the city walls and explore the forest.”

“Do you have a death wish?”

“I just have an itch to explore. What’s out there? Hundreds of caravans leave for different cities, different towns. Wonders of the world are out there and all we do is sit behind these cracked walls waiting for a change in our routines.”

Naromi crossed her arms. “They’re rebuilding them.”

“Yes, yes, but that’s not the point. The point is that we should go on an adventure.”

“You scare me when you get like this, Darim.”

“Scare you?”

“When you talk like this it means you’ll do something stupid and get hurt.”

“When have I ever done such a thing?”

She shot him a pointed look.

“That one fight doesn’t count.” She told me she thought I was a hero for doing that!

“Why?”

“You said you were proud I stood up for Lemar!”

She bit her lip.

Ha! So it wasn’t stupid.

“Still, you picked a fight with four older boys. Much bigger boys.”

Stolen story; please report.

Darim leaned back and turned away. “They were brutes. What else did you want me to do?”

She rested her hand on his shoulder. “Nothing different. I’m sorry. You did the right thing, and I was very proud. You were a hero to him.”

Darim grumbled to himself. “I wasn’t any hero. I was just some guy who got really angry at the right time.”

“The point is, you do daring things sometimes, most of the time for the wrong reason.”

Darim turned to her. “That’s why you should come with me. To watch my back.”

“On a caravan or in the forest? I’m doing neither, by the way. I’m just wondering how stupid you can be.”

Darim’s face darkened and he sighed. He took both her hands in his and looked her in the eyes. “I’m leaving in a week, Naro.”

“What?” she said breathily. “What do you mean?”

“I quit my apprenticeship. I joined the caravan guard as a spearman.”

She glared at him for moments, her eyes glossy and face still. Then she slapped him. Harder than she’d ever slapped him before. “You are a Fated fool, Darim!” she cried. Some passersby on the street glanced over, but kept ambling on. “You’re leaving your job? You’re leaving…”

She was going to say ‘me’.

“I wanted to tell you, but I could never…”

“Could never muster the courage,” she said.

“What I’m doing is brave.”

“What you’re doing is tossing away a good life for a dangerous one.”

“Maybe this life will be good and dangerous.”

“The world is healing and you want to go off hurting yourself?”

“They’ll train me further, Naro.”

“You really wanted me to throw away my life and come along? What would I do? Cook?”

“Maybe you could learn the spear as well.”

She shook her head. “You really are stupid.”

Darim gritted his teeth and shook his head. “No, I am bored. Bored of this life. I wake up every morning and work with wood all day. Wood. That’s my entire life. That’s all it would ever be if I stay here.”

“So you chose steel,” she said.

“I chose steel. I’ll see the world, Naro. Wherever those caravans go, I go. The pay is meager, but if I bet my money right on a few games of cards-”

“Gambling?” she spat. “And what if you go on that streak like the other day; loss upon loss. ‘One more game, Naro. One more.’ Your master strapped you for days for eating up all his money.”

“That won’t happen again.” He shot her a smile. “I’ve gotten better.” Smiling hurt his cheek.

She must have sensed that and her lips quivered. “Oh, Darim I didn’t mean to.” She embraced him into a tight hug. “I just don’t want to lose you,” she whispered in his ear.

“I’ll come back to see you. I’ll be a different man.”

“Still a boy.”

The two chuckled in each other’s arms and she sobbed on his shoulder. Darim did not cry, though he could feel the pressure in his throat. A warrior didn’t cry. He was to be a guardsman. And then he’d see where the wind would take him.

Right now, he just wanted to hold onto his friend.

****

Darim woke up to the sound of Lia adorning her leather padding. Women always had a tendency to make anything look better, even armor. Hers was a traveling dress laced with light, armored padding. The handiwork was efficient, and well made. He suspected Lia was a lady before she accepted the contract that made her a warlock. Only a warlock had such an immense pool of power and contracts readily available.

According to Lia, her last two protectors had died. One died in combat, a man worth his steel. Lia had to kill the other one for turning on her. Or rather, the contract killed him. Darim always felt discomfort at knowing a woman he barely knew bound him to her using magic words upon an indestructible piece of parchment. Well, at least she’s pretty.

Lia walked into the room as she finished lacing herself up.

Darim peered through one eye, testing to see if he was in the clear. “I feel miserable,” he said, his body hurting and his face aching. He touched his brow and noticed there were no bruises. Even his wound to the side had vanished. And then he realized that his body did not ache from wounds, but rather the ramifications of Green healing. He grunted. “You healed me.”

“Yes, I did in the middle of the night,” she said. “You can thank me later.”

“What time is it? Sun hasn’t even risen.”

“I told you we were leaving early.”

Darim slumped back in his bed with the pillow to his face. “Right…”

“Chop chop, now,” she sent a pulse of Red to jolt him up.

“Hey!”

“Take a bath,” she said. “I tolerated your stench for the entirety of the trip, but no longer.”

He grumbled to himself, but sauntered to the bathroom. “Damn woman.”

“And wake Frane while you’re at it. I’m going down to prepare our meal. The innkeeper’s daughter was kind enough to wake up to prepare something for us.”

“It’ll probably cost more,” said Darim from the bathroom.

“That is not a concern.”

“Yes, m’lady,” he said, testing for her reaction.

She didn’t seem to notice.

So she was a lady. That explains the snobby attitude and the excessive money!

He grumbled further to himself. Now he’d have to deal with Frane. The man hadn’t spoken at all since the previous night. Perhaps he was recovering from Lia’s Blue. Or maybe he was too ashamed to have lost to him.

After washing himself, Darim wore his usual blue coat over a light shirt of mail. His coat ended at his waist, but he always fancied the one that would drop to his ankles. Men can try being fancy once in a while too.

With a lazy attempt at combing his hair, he strode over to a scowling Frane. “Same thing again, Frane: You yell, you die.” Darim didn’t want to kill him, but he would knock him out.

Frane nodded.

Darim pulled the gag off of Frane’s mouth and placed it in his blue coat in case he needed it later. “There we go,” he said. “Now remember, don’t talk. We’ll keep you safe.”

Frane opened his mouth to speak but settled for a hesitant nod.

“Fates, man. You can talk now. I meant don’t mention that you’re a thug and we’re holding you with us.”

“Understood,” he grunted.

Darim nodded and lifted the man off the floor. With a little bit of dusting off, he unbound him. There was some tension as Darim waited for some sudden movement, but none came.

“You can trust me, blue boy,” he said. “Where would I go from here? I’m safest with you now that I’ve failed and spilled my secrets.”

Darim patted Frane on the shoulder. “My kind of man. Smart and dangerous.”

“No danger to you, blue boy.”

I don’t trust him one bit.