Jamal VI

PA 1.1

The following week had thankfully been a peaceful experience. They followed the river south like they’d originally planned, and though they didn’t talk about their previous argument, time had at least allowed the air of awkwardness to dissipate. Soon enough, it was almost like everything was back to normal, just the four of them exploring their way through new lands like they had for the last year.

Unfortunately, not everything would stay that way.

“So what’d you two bring in today?”

The evening found them where they always were, sitting around a campfire as they heaped together their haul from foraging. Normally it was made up of wild fruits and vegetables, but some days Fei would go out of his way to hunt down a deer or hare for them to feast on.

“Two types of greens—one of which I’m pretty sure is wild soybeans—and a basket full of different wild berries we found along the way,” Jamal, one of the two in charge of foraging tonight said, dropping his load next to the fire.

“We also found these!” Ishi smiled, digging through the pile. Finding what he was looking for, he dragged out a large, smooth berry a mild orange in color. “Look! I think they might be like those oranges Jamal found last week!”

“I’m pretty sure they’re different, Ishi,” Jamal shook his head, taking his place next to the fire.

“Well, we won’t know until we try!”

“Are you sure it’s alright?” Yue asked, wary of the unknown fruit. “I still think you should be more careful before just eating random fruits from trees.”

Ishi shrugged uncaringly. “We’ve been here for weeks and nothing bad has happened yet—at this point I doubt anything will happen..”

“That doesn’t mean you should be so careless about this,” she shook her head. “Let Jamal try it first. And even if it doesn’t do anything, don’t eat too much at once. There’s no need to eat it all at the same time.”

“Fine, fine,” Ishi rolled his eyes, but dutifully handed the fruit off to Jamal to eat.

Taking a bite, he found it to be slightly bitter, the soft flesh of the fruit having a texture similar to jelly, of all things.

The four of them waited with bated breath for something to happen, but after several moments when nothing did, they all relaxed somewhat.

“I don’t think it’s poisonous,” he hummed. “But be careful anyway. It might not be ripe yet.”

“Well, if you say so,” Ishi snatched the fruit back, taking a bite for himself. “Ick. Wow, you really weren’t kidding about it being bitter, huh?”

“I think the texture kind of overrides it,” Jamal shrugged. “Also, Yue’s giving you the stink-eye. I think it’d be best to not take another bite for a while.”

“You don’t have to tell me twice. And here I thought I’d get something sweet after so long on the road! I miss the star-shaped fruits back home. Those were always so fun to eat…”

“Ishi, please,” Yue sighed, smacking Fei’s hand away as he went to grab one of the fruits. “I know you’re young, but please take some care in what you eat. Didn’t your parents ever tell you not to eat strange plants?”

“Of course! But most of these plants are strange. I didn’t see you act anywhere near as cautious when Jamal made you that juice a couple days ago!”

“Wha—but that is—I mean—!” she spluttered.

“Those were just oranges, Ishi,” Jamal rolled his eyes. “They’re common back where I come from.”

“You say that, but how do you know they’re… they’re…”

“…Ishi?” Yue asked, frowning.

“I don’t… I… fucking…” he choked, his whole body suddenly appearing very, very tense.

“Ishi, are you alright?” Jamal asked, a mounting panic building within him. “Are you feeling okay? Do you need to lay down?”

“I… I am…”

“Hey!” Fei snapped, stomping over to him. “You’d best not be dying on us, you hear! Calm your ass down!”

“The… the fruit…” he hissed, jerking suddenly. “I think it was… I think…”

“Shh, shh,” Yue shushed him, slowly helping him lay on the ground. It wasn’t helped by his constant spasming, forcing her to be less gentle than she probably wanted.

“Jamal,” she hissed quietly, turning to him. “There’s a village downriver from here—we passed it on the way in, remember? There are people there—locals. Maybe one of them can help. You’re the only one who can speak their language, so Fei and I will stay here to watch over Ishi, got it?”

“I—” he choked on the word ‘yes.’ He knew that he needed to go there to help his friend, possible even to save his life. He needed to say yes. He needed to go to that village, which was probably under the watch of another God-King, who’d find him and find his friends and kill them all and—

Suddenly, the spasming became worse, Ishi’s back arching and his eyes rolling into the back of his head as he underwent a full-blown seizure.

“Shit!” Fei yelped, getting thrown off him. Jumping back up, he quickly laid down on Ishi, forcing him back on the ground. “Jamal, I don’t care what your dumb ass is thinking right now, but if you don’t get us help right this minute, I’ll make sure you follow Ishi to the afterlife, capish!?”

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That snapped him out of it. So, with one last worried look at Ishi, he shut his thoughts down and turned to run towards the village, pointedly not thinking about all the horrible ways this could go wrong.

--

Arriving in the nearest village, Jamal threw away any previous hesitation he would have had and ran straight for the nearest person, a youngish man sitting on a rock on the outskirts.

“Please,” Jamal begged, “I need your help!”

The man jumped to his feet, a guarded look on his face. “Do I know you?”

“No, but I—” Jamal cut himself off. “It’s not important. My friend, he ate some kind of toxic fruit. Do you know what to do? Or anyone who could help? He’s spasming and choking and he might already be dead and… and…”

“Whoa, hey, hold on a sec,” the other man soothed him, losing some of his hostility. “You say your friend’s poisoned? Did he eat something bad?”

“I don’t—I think so? We aren’t from around here, and I thought… I was stupid and…”

“Well, I don’t know how to help you,” the man admitted, wincing as Jamal’s face fell. “But I do know someone who could! The Wise Woman, she takes care of us when we’re sick. If there’s anyone in the village who knows how to help you, it would be her.”

“Really? Can you take me to her?” Jamal practically begged, turning to look into the village as if he could pick out the woman from where he was standing. “Please! I don’t know how much time he has!”

“Um…” the man hesitated, before sighing. “Fine. You don’t seem like a bad sort, at least as far as I can tell. But you’d better not betray my trust, got it? The Wise Woman is too important for us to lose her to a stranger.”

“Don’t worry,” Jamal turned and bowed deeply to him. “If she can save my friend, then you’ll have made an ally for the rest of time. I swear it.”

“…Right. Let’s just get going already.”

Being led through the village, it didn’t take them long to reach the Wise Woman’s hut, which could best be described as a stout, overgrown mud pile.

“Hey, Lady Naya,” his guide knocked on a door made of wooden planks loosely strung together. “You’ve got someone that needs your help—apparently one of his friends got poisoned or something!”

“What? What are you—” *BANG* “Oh you little—” *CRASH* “Stop that you—! Oh, forget it.”

The door to the hut suddenly slammed open, revealing a stout old woman who barely came up to his waist in height and wearing nothing but some raggedy trousers and a half-dozen necklaces. In her hand was a somehow more ancient-looking cat that looked more like a wild animal than any house cat he was familiar with.

“Hrm,” the old lady grunted. “Who are you? Whadda ya want?”

“Lady Naya,” the man bowed respectfully. “I’m sorry to bother you, but it’s important. This man says that one of his friends is sick, and needs your wisdom.”

The old woman glared up at him with unseeing eyes. “I’m no bog-witch—I’m a Wise Woman. I know the bodies of men and beasts, but I have no knowledge of the Giants. I’d be no help to you here.”

Jamal blinked, thrown off by her words. “I’m not a giant. And my friend isn’t one either—we’re both human, and we desperately need your help. Please. I’ll do anything, just please help us.”

The old woman rolled her eyes. “Hrm. I don’t need no groveling or begging. I swore my life to medicine and herbalism, but the chance to use what I know is few and far between. Hrm. On your feet, Giant. If I’m going to work, I’ll need to know who my patient is.”

A large part of Jamal relaxed at her words, soothed by the fact he’d managed to get someone able to help.

Now to just see if this woman actually knew anything about medicine.

--

“Oh thank the gods you’re back!” Yue sighed in relief as Jamal returned to their campsite, the Wise Woman in tow. “I think he might be getting worse; he’s convulsing even harder than normal—Fei’s been struggling to hold him down the whole time you were gone!”

“Shit,” Jamal frowned. “Well, I went and got someone who could hopeful help, and—”

“Hrm!” the Wise woman scoffed, toddling in front of him. “Hopefully help my tush! Hrm! I’m more than capable of fixing any malady he may be suffering from! Hrm! Unless it’s his destiny to die, of course, then there's nothing we can do."

Right. That really didn’t fill him with confidence. “Whatever. You moved him into a tent, right?”

“Yes, we’ve been worried about moving him, though I doubt we could pick him up in the first place.”

“OW!” Fei’s voice suddenly shouted from Ishi’s tent. “Sit still you little shit!”

“Hrm! I see, I see!” the Wise Woman nodded, moving towards the tent. “It sounds like I’ll have two patients today!”

“That is not what I want to hear right now!” Jamal hissed, following her into the tent.

Entering the tent, the short waddled up next to Ishi, who’s convulsions only seemed to have increased in severity. Even just seeing him like this filled Jamal with a sick, painful feeling in his gut.

“What can be done?” he asked the Wise Woman desperately. “Is he going to be alright?”

“Hrm. It depends,” she grunted, leaning over Ishi. Sniffing, she frowned, before pulling a series of herbs with an overpowering stench, placing them under his nose. Almost immediately, Ishi took a deep, hacking breath. “Hrm. How long has he been showing effects? How often has he convulsed?”

“It started around… a while before sundown, at least. And he was convulsing a lot at the beginning, but I don’t think it’s gotten that much worse since.”

“Hrm. Hrmrmrmrmrmrm,” she worked her jaw, turning to look outside at the sun. Nodding to herself, she turned back to the man below her. “It’s impossible to tell right now. Anyone who eats a poison fruit is either dead by nightfall, or survives only a little worse for wear. Hrm. That said, take these,” she shoved more of the strong-smelling herbs into his hands. “Replace the ones under his nose every so often. They’ll help him breathe. Hrm. Also, keep quiet and try to put him in a dark place. Too much noise can cause his condition to worsen.”

“Is that everything?” Jamal begged desperately. “Is there really nothing else you can do!?”

“Hrm!” she scoffed. “I’ve capable of a lot of things. But only fools eat the poison fruits—they’re called that for a reason, you know! At this point, it’s only up to the will of the gods if he survives. Hrm.”

“We didn’t know what they were! We didn’t know… I didn’t know… I was an idiot, okay!” Jamal threw his hands into the air. “Please, tell me, is there anything else we can do to help him?”

“…Hrm.” She nodded. “Pray. Maybe sacrifice an animal or two. Appease the gods in anyway you can, and perhaps they’ll smile upon you.”

Jamal’s shoulders fell. Of course, why should he have expected anything different. When people didn’t know something, they just turned to nonexistent gods for help.

Magic might have been real, but since his first day he’d seen neither hide nor hair of anything close to the divine. And he doubted that God-Thing would help them. At least, not in a way that wouldn’t hurt them more in the long run.

“Jamal?” Yue asked. “What did she say? Is Ishi going to be okay?”

Sighing in defeat, Jamal told Yue and Fei what the verdict was. However, he wasn’t prepared for their reaction to the idea of praying.

“I see,” Yue shook her head. “I had thought of that, but I didn’t wish to insult any local gods. Jamal, can you ask her what animals we should sacrifice? Or what gods we could pray too?”

Why was she—oh. Right, he’d spent so much time around them, that he forgot his friends were natives to this world. They saw sacrificing to the gods as logical a step as this Wise Woman did.

Sighing, Jamal turned to the Wise Woman, repeating the question.

“Hrm. Fowl, I’d suggest. Or at least some sort of bird. And make it a general prayer, too. Hrm. You all are foreigners, no need to accidently piss off something you aren’t prepared to deal with. The mountains are filled with demons, after all—it’s best not to call attention to things we mere mortals don’t understand. Hrm.”

Right. He didn’t believe this would work in the slightest, but if nothing else it was something for him to do. That had to count for something, right?

Right?

9,902 God-Kings Remain