The One-Eyed Man

Fourthmonth, 9995 DK

I'd come to Kusseth three times before, once merely to see the cesspool it was, a second time to sign contracts with the thugs in power, and a third time to bring those same thugs the heads of the masters of Meroteth. I only came to this place because Callifay desired it, if I could have avoided the city for another eight hundred years, I would have gladly done so. Callifay desired that we come to this place of metal and stone and odors, and so we did.

To hide my identity I had clad myself in a dark reddish brown bandanna and eye patch over my red eye in the hopes that my height would let me be mistaken for one of Volung's brood at first glance. Callifay was unknown enough that he had no need of subterfuge to maintain his anonymity and I was only truly known on sight by a few individuals in the Wards of Governance so there was little threat of it in the first place. Better safe than sorry though.

"Why are we here, brother?" I asked.

He smiled at me and his green eyes were filled with mirth when he said, "Is not the Doddering Destrier the grandest inn in all the land?"

I took a swig from the lead mug dwarfed by my hand and wiped my mouth free of foam with the other.

"The Jigging Jackass in Meroteth takes that title, brother."

"Still your tongue, that is not a name to be uttered in this city."

I shrugged and he scowled, his lips making a little pout.

"What will happen? Will their wardens come for us then? Will they capture us and torture us till the knowledge of that name erases itself from our minds?"

He took a drink from his own mug and muttered something under his breath.

"Speak up dear brother," I said.

"At least speak in our tongue when you utter that word. It draws attention to those that utter it and we have no need of that."

"Fair enough. Why are we here though?" The mirth had gone out of my voice and he understood a command for what it was.

His hand snaked across the table and grasped the top of my own, a quick clasp of affection. It lingered there for a moment before pulling away and returning to his tiny mug, his eyes were downcast and his hands were fidgeting with each other.

We were in a human tavern, everything was too small and uncomfortable, and the liquor was water logged. We had come north at Callifay's request, just the two of us. He had asked me to trust him and I had done so. He was sworn to my service and that bound us, if he asked something of me, I must grant it. We had been in Kusseth City for four days, each day wandering to a new district and a new inn. Callifay never seemed to be looking for anything in particular and our evening destinations always seemed random.

His eyes rose from the table and I looked at him for a moment. His hair was light brown, his skin worn and as tan as my own, his eyes the emerald green of most of our kind. His ears were scabby, he'd taken a knife to them to make it look like the points had been freshly cut off. We'd both done it to make ourselves appear more like Volung's mad little children. I could feel the itch in my own ears as my body repaired the damage.

Finally my brother sighed, "I asked you to come here to this place so that we could be alone."

"Why alone?"

He smiled briefly, "How long has it been since it was just the two of us? Or even the three of us alone?"

The third he referred to was my wife, long gone to the Mists that were the afterlife of my people.

"Ages, I suppose."

He nodded, "Ages indeed."

"What is the intent then? To laugh and joke and speak of times past that our men would not understand?"

He frowned and looked once more to his mug, "They are not our men, Ker-"

I bared my teeth at him and said, "That is a name we shall not speak here in this place."

My lead mug deformed under my black-nailed fingers, he noticed and held up a hand, forestalling my rage.

"As you wish. They are not our men, Cenn." He smirked at the silly rhyme and continued, "They are yours. I am a creature living on the outskirts of your command structure, they avoid me because I am alien to them and my nature will not let me long remain in their minds. I am the wraith, the ghost, at your back."

"I am no more one of them than you are. You know this."

He nodded, "True, but they have shed blood for you and you for them, it is not so with me. Those that recall my name and presence know me to be more favored than even your nephew Laram or the mortal William, for some that is enough. For others I am an alien creature that does not belong here."

He spoke truly. Callifay was an outcast, even when we had not lived in this land. He was not truly of the physical world, the forces that made our kind flesh were stunted and broken within him. His presence grated against the minds and souls of our brothers and sisters and all but the most ironclad wills grew irritated and distracted in his presence. He was a blockage, an obstruction, in the ebb and flow of life around him and everything that lived could sense it.

My hand slid across the table and lingered on his this time and I said, "You are Callifay, sword brother to myself and she that was my queen. That is what matters. Those we wage war with now are sworn to me as our brethren once were, but I would cut them down with my black blade if you desired it. Say it, Callifay, say it and their blood shall run, though it would pain me to do so."

"I know well of the ties that bind us and you know I ask for no such act."

"Then again I must ask, what are we doing in this city?"

"We are waiting."

"For what?"

He gestured with his mug to the door of the inn. I saw that it was closing and a quartet of Volung's Children had just entered. I peered closely at their faces, thinking that they were allies of ours, they were unknown to me and when their eyes scanned the room they did not show recognition when they saw Callifay and I. However, one did smile when he saw our ears and I immediately understood why Callifay had been so vehement about using our knives on our ears to maintain our appearance.

In decades past the Vyanth people, those long-limbed and cat-eyed slavers from south of Kusseth, had taken to capturing Volung's Children in battle and cutting off the points of their ears before enslaving them in their arenas. Other nations soon began the practice as well and it became a horrendous mark of shame and mockery to the proud warrior people.

One Child prodded another and gestured toward my brother and I and soon all four were aware of shame our ears spoke of. My eyes flicked to Callifay and I could see he was suppressing a grin. They approached us without even pausing to stop at the bar for liquor and One opened his mouth and I made a chopping motion in the air with my hand with my fingers and thumb splayed, the Children of Volung battle sign for silence.

I spoke during his pause, "You think you understand and I know what you would do, but you would be wise to turn around and seek entertainment elsewhere."

The four of them snickered at me, and I could see their black eyes deepen as the battle rage Volung had bred into them began to well up within them.

The lead one grinned widely at me, showing his teeth, and said, "We'll turn away happily, but only if you and your friend tell us which breed of short ones you let hack off your ears."

I stood and snarled at him, "Turn away and this ends now, continue and I'll only allow you to strike me once."

They were misinformed and their father was my friend and they were nephews to me, I felt allowing him one blow was fair. They laughed at me, after all, there were four of them and only two of us. That is if they even realized Callifay was at the table and they didn't just feel him as an annoying itch in the back of their brains.

I sighed as I watched him bring forward the first blow. I could have halted it by gripping his forearm or sidestepping it completely, I could have done this before he even realized I had moved, such was my speed. I didn't and it hit me in the jaw and it hurt. Volung's Children are strong and mostly muscle and bone, when they strike you even lightly you feel it.

My head shifted a little from the force of the blow and then I let my own come down on him. I pounded down on his chest with the bottom of my fist, grunting as my flesh hit the hard layer of bony plates beneath his skin. I felt the plate crack and buckle though and that turned my grunt into a grin. His eyes widened from the shock of it, his kind were strong but not strong enough to break a chest bone in one blow and only rarely do they encounter creatures that can do so.

It took only a moment for the melee to begin in earnest. Callifay and I fought back to back against the four, their numbers allowed them to surround us with relative ease and we were soon the center of a whirlwind of flying limbs. It was never a deadly combat but it was difficult, one Child had pulled an iron mace from his belt and given my forearm a solid blow and my right arm was cradled against my chest by the end. Volung forced his people to train in war almost from birth and their bodies were strong and rarely succumbed to shock or unconsciousness easily and he had almost gotten my second arm before I had been able to put him down.

By the end of it the common room of the Doddering Destrier was demolished and Callifay and I were bruised and bloodied up to our elbows. We were also grinning like idiots.

"I hate brawling with Volung's get."

Callifay slugged me in the shoulder with a blood flecked fist and said, "Yet your grin nearly splits your lips with its size."

I relaxed my lips and adjusted my bandanna, feeling wetness on my brow. It had taken only moments to beat the Children into submission but for those few moments Callifay and I had been alone and back to back, our sweat and blood spattering each other, howling war cries in our own language and speaking in the heat of battle as only we two could. It had been glorious.

"I understand now why you brought us here and I thank you my friend."

My left hand sought out his and clasped it briefly.

"We should go now, beating a warden or guard into unconsciousness would lead to unfortunate consequences I think."

"Well said," he replied and we left the inn quickly.