Ashley sidled up to the next horse in line, giving it a firm pat on the shoulder, and pushed its questing head to the side to get the feedbag in place. She paused to shovel oats into the next feedbag Serus held before moving to the next horse in the picket line.
“Why am I doing your chores again?” she asked Serus, who lugged the large bag of oats in her wake with a clutch of feedbags over one shoulder.
“Because you want to impress Lord Caldur? Out of the goodness of your gracious heart? Because you like my charming company? Because you…” Serus swallowed hard, cutting himself off.
“You wish,” Ashley scowled and rolled her eyes as they made their way to the next group of picketed horses.
“I’m surprised the horses don’t react to you. Usually, cat-kin make them skittish,” he said, putting the bag down to rub the back of his neck.
“I’ve never had an issue with them like my ma…” she gulped the final word, her tail falling limp at the reminder of the abyss in her heart. She studied her shoes for a moment before looking back up to her companion.
“I don’t have teeth like Ma’s. See?” she said with only a small hitch before opening her mouth to show him her humanlike teeth in a mockery of a wide grin.
“Brother Yeew said horses can smell true predators. I must smell human to them, more like my da.” Ashley grew quiet after that and concentrated on feeding the horses.
“What’s next?” she groaned, rubbing her aching shoulder with an elbow propped up on the shovel when they’d finally finished feeding the horses.
“Boiling bandages, or we can blow that off and play hide and seek. Lord Caldur is asleep and sergeant Kan is distracted. I’d like to work on my perception. I still can’t believe I got a point when I found you hiding in your cloak last night. That thing is awesome,” he said while pointing out the sergeant and Chess walking determinedly across the camp.
“Eh, boys! All you care about are stats and training!” Ashley mock huffed turning her back on him. “Let’s boil bandages then beg off, so you don’t get in trouble,” she muttered hiding a smile. Hide and seek sounds like fun.
“You should care too or you’ll end up getting peasant or washerwoman as your only class choices,” he teased, following her to the group of tents that housed the injured men. They collected the buckets of dirty bandages before making their way to one of the central fires that had a large pot simmering over it.
Two lightly bandaged men at a nearby fire were busy cleaning up the morning's dishes, and Ashley zoned out, turning an ear to their banter, and ignored Serus’ lecture on the benefits of physical training.
It wasn’t anything she hadn’t heard from her father a dozen times, and the familiar lecture made her stomach tighten with memory. So, she concentrated on the soldiers' talk and forcefully stirred the bloodstained cloth in the pot with the wooden ladle.
“... one that got away?” the younger soldier was saying.
“The boys will find him, don’t you worry. He can’t’ve gotten far shackled and collared like that,” his friend said with a firm nod.
“True, I hope he leads us to their camp…”
“One of the bandits escaped, how did I not hear this yesterday?” Ashley asked Serus, interrupting his speech.
“Yeah, coward ran instead of standing to fight like a real man,” Serus said seriously before launching back into the virtues of endurance training. Ashley pretended to listen to Serus, fighting an eye roll while focusing back on the more interesting conversation.
“What do ya think.” The younger of the men nudged his friend nodding towards where Lady Chess and the sergeant were laughing over her strange instrument with their heads close together. “Think he’s sweet on her?”
“Maybe? But it’d never work.” His friend shrugged. “I’ll admit it's good seeing him laugh with a woman, the guy needs to spend less time training and more time carousing. I don’t think he’s ever gone out with the guys. Good sergeant though,” he added, giving the stubble on his chin a firm rub.
“Maybe he just has standards. Though it’s strange he doesn’t have a wife yet, being a sergeant and all. I can’t wait till my pay is enough to fetch me a comely wife,” the young man said wistfully.
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“At least he has better taste than you. That last girl you shacked up with?” The older man shook his head in mock sadness.
“Hey! Rebeca is a sweet girl,” he said and punched his buddy in the shoulder.
“Right," he drawled. "She has a mustache bigger than mine,” he said, twirling the ends of his impressive mustache. “Though to be fair she has quite the pair of knockers on her. I'll grant you that much."
“You’re just jealous I had a girl I didn’t have to pay for,” the younger countered.
“Sure, you keep telling yourself that,” Mustache said with a wide smile.
“What’d you mean, it’d never work?” The young man raised a questioning eyebrow and nodding towards the other pair.
“Woman like that? Noble born, bastard at the very least. He wouldn’t be able to afford the bride price for a prize like her on a sergeant's pay,” Mustache explained before kissing his knuckle and tapping his forehead twice to ward off evil.
“Besides, you had to stare at the scarecrow just like the rest of us. She’s a skilled manipulator. Her family obviously spent a fortune on tutors for her to have skills like that. It was no accident they left the crow-meat there for over a day,” Mustache continued.
“Why’s that?”
“Lord Caldur wants us to remember his speech about not underestimating people and paying better attention. That fight took a lot out of him. We’ve never lost so many to bandits before. Luminous keep their souls,” mustache answered warding himself again. This time his friend matched the gesture.
“I’d never seen him mad like that before. It was terrifying,” his friend agreed with a sage nod and a shudder.
“Hey! Are you even listening to me?” Serus snapped his fingers in front of Ashley's face.
“What?” Ashley asked brushing his hand away and focusing back on him.
“I said we can hang this load. Grab a side, and let's get this dumped,” he explained pointing at the pot.
“Alright,” Ashley said, and using large sticks they lifted the pot then waddled to the edge of the small clearing to dump the water before laying the lengths of cloth over a drying line.
“Smells like rain,” Ashley said, frowning up at the clear sky when they’d finished.
“Really?” Serus asked studying the sky before turning a frown on the bandages they’d just hung.
Ashley nodded, sure of her proclamation.
“I hope not,” he said gloomily.
“How long do you think we’re going to be stuck here?” Ashley asked as they made their way towards Chess and Sergeant Kan.
“Another day or two. It depends on how fast the Sister and her guard ride; Adam should be there already. Think Lady Chess would make me a cloak so we don’t have to share yours?” he asked kicking a small rock into the brush nearby.
Ashley shivered at the mention of the Sister then latched onto Serus’ question. “I think so but she just had mana sickness, so..." she shrugged, leaving it at that.
Chess and the Sergeant sat on a cut section of the large fallen tree that was responsible for the clearing. Playing a bawdy song that made Serus turn pink and cough awkwardly. Ashley frowned at him and shrugged waiting for them to finish.
“Your mistress is strange,” Serus whispered as they waited.
“She’s not my mistress. She just saved me.” Ashley squatted beside Serus, tail wagging slowly back and forth as they listened to Chess and the sergeant play.
Chess sat with her back against an upright branch, legs spread wide, guitar cradled in her lap, playing her instrument as the Sergeant sang.
“I’ve never seen a lady sit like that before and she doesn’t mind being in a camp full of soldiers. It’s strange,” he said, absently scratching at the line of stitches across his face.
“She’s not from Brastia.” She shrugged glancing at him. “You’re not supposed to play with that,” she admonished, standing to knock his hand away.
He scowled. “It’s itchy,” he said, scratching at the edges of the wound instead.
“I think it makes you look fierce but stop picking at it; you’ll make it worse."
“She’s right. If you’re not careful you’ll end up looking like Kan,” Chess said, pointing at Sergeant Kan’s heavily scarred face.
The Sergeant let out a belly laugh and stood. “We will continue this later, Lady Chess,” he said politely giving her a short bow with his leg extended forward.
“Later,” Chess nodded, a huge smile on her face as he left, the mirth touching her large amber-brown eyes.
Kan paused beside Serus. “You two stay out of trouble,” he said resting a hand on Serus’ shoulder for a moment as he passed.
Serus nodded.
“So, what’s up?” Chess asked once Kan was out of earshot.
“Can you make Serus a leaf cloak so we can play hide and seek?” Ashley asked, bouncing on her toes.
“Just summoning my guitar made me a little sick. But, tell you what, you two answer a few of my questions, and I’ll see if I can manage it afterward,” Chess compromised.
“Okay,” Ashley said with a firm nod.
“First question: how do you go about upgrading your Pyth?” Chess asked.
“How do you not know that?” Serus asked looking from one to the other as though looking for the jest.
“I think she might’ve hit her head or something. You’d be surprised what she doesn’t know,” Ashley stage-whispered to him.
“Would explain the strangeness,” he returned with a nod.
Chess gave the two a bemused look. “Hey, I’m right here. Just because I’ve hit my head a few times, doesn’t mean I’m stupid or deaf,” she mock-pouted.
“Just pretend she’s a little kid. It's easier,” Ashley suggested to Serus, ignoring Chess's jape.
“Okay,” Serus said with a sigh. “Each rank of a Pyth requires double the powder of the previous rank to increase. Most people eat it mixed with food as they have a wide range of flavors that can enhance your meal.
Dash powder tastes like cinnamon bark and my aunt said that cleaning Pyth tastes like soap so she put it up her butt instead of eating it,” he said with a smirk.
“Really? That’s gross!” Ashley protested crossing her legs at the uncomfortable thought.
“It's better than eating soap,” he said sagely.