Dunn Doyal

chapter twenty

Dunn

You need to get yourself under control, Dunn. No time to be pitchin' a fit.

Dabbing the sheepskin cloth the girl had given me against the corner of my eye, I got to wiping some leftovers from all the cryin' I did. Finally stopped though, didn't I?

"Are you okay?" The mender pat my shoulder and handed me a fresh cloth. The girl was a kind lass. She'd spent the last few hours runnin' round like a headless chicken, going in and out of the little building, trynna take care of me. She nabbed me some fresh cloths and brought me some food when I got hungry.

"I'm alright lass, you need to sit down yourself. Look at ya', you're all worn down from bein' nice." Shining that bright smile, she rolled her eyes and waved me off. "I'll be fine," she laughed. "Getting you better was the hard part, the rest is easy. So," she hefted the pile of towels I'd soaked with the entire morning of tears I'd cried, "is there anything else you need?"

Bless her heart. If she wasn't so young, I reckon I'd have fallen in love already. The lass was tired, you could tell from the dark bags right up under her eyes, but she still wanted to be sure I was all well, inside and out. She'd taken care of me well enough, "I just want to know where I'm at, lass."

She nodded her head and carried the load of soakin' rags to the front room, coming back just moments later with a leather map thick enough to be a light blanket. She let me have it and I opened it in a right hurry, quickly tugging the knot apart and splaying the canvas wide. Lordy, that's a detailed map.

"Holden and the hunters found you right over here," she remarked, pointing to a spot within a bunch of green. "And this is where we are right now." She traced her finger east just a couple fingers away from a big splattered red dot.

"Thank you, lass." She nodded her head and let me look over the map myself. Gotta orient myself don't I?

My eyes ran circles around the details for moments and, like a drunkard at his favorite bar, I remembered just about every detail. I re-rolled the map and gave it back to the kind lass. "Thank you."

Her surprise brought a deep chuckle out of me. "I remember things good. I was just born like that. My little brother was always jealous I got the good genes." My laugh trailed off as I finished the sentence and at some point my hands had balled up like wadded cloth.

Why did you do it...Hugo? I tell you, if I start cryin again - I put the brand new sheepskin to my face and jammed it into my eyes. Don't you cry, damnit.

My eyes ignored me and started leakin' again.

I felt the lass rub my shoulder. "I'll get you some water...and some more towels."

Embarrassed, I nodded my head and kept the sheepskin over my face to hide the red I was turnin'. Damnit Hugo, look what you made me do...

Why did you do it? To me. To Maddy. I thought...I thought we was family. I cried into the cloth still pressed against my eyes. Did we mean that little to you? We've been through so much together. We're blood!

Hugo and me were born in the middle a nowhere within a small community of farmers. Our mum raised us all on her own - Hugo and me, plus our five older sisters. As the only men in a house full of women, we were close. We did everything together. We worked, we fought, and we both shared the same dream: we wanted to go to the city.

As a couple a hicks, the two of us had always wanted to see what it was like. We'd only ever heard of the mythical land through the gossip of some traders. The way they talked about, it should've been paradise. They said it was the best place to find money, friends, and love, for anyone lookin.

Bout ten years ago now, we finally left home when a trader we always sold to had brought along one of them military recruiters. The man had said they were takin in any and all able bodies and, as two able-bodied young men, we rushed to enlist.

We said our goodbyes to mum, our sisters said their 'good riddances' to us, and we were off to the city in the back of a long caravan as two newly minted men.

Fame. Fortune. Friendship. After spending the next ten years in military service...we found only one of those.

Because there was a twist to the life we wanted in the city: it was never gonna happen.

Half-breeds don't get high positions in the military or the government neither, and women weren't particularly interested in...mating with them. It came as a shock to the both of us when we arrived because that's how they called us: half-breeds.

I'd never known; mum had never told us. We'd always just thought she was small when really we were actually gigantic. Well of course we were: we were half-giant this whole time.

As half-breeds we were acknowledged for our power - we both tore through the lower ranks - but we reached a point we weren't allowed past. No matter how strong we were. I didn't like the treatment - I was loyal - but I wasn't gonna get some kind of burnt up over it, because the more I found out about the outside world, the more sense those rules made.

Draconians would never let humans take positions of power in their societies either. There were certain differences between us that nobody would let pass, it didn't matter how strong or loyal you proved to be.

So I resigned myself to the highest position they'd let me take: a simple sergeant under a minor noble house. I chuckled. Who knew I'd become best friends with that pompous noble?

His name was Maddox Bellinger and he was about as eccentric a fellah I'd ever come to know. I thought about it a second. I really did not know how to describe the man. He was funny, smart, and strong - very strong - but he tried so hard to seem sophisticated that it was almost embarrassing bein' around him sometimes. Because of that, I'd gotten the fellas to start calling him Maddy Bellend to get him burnt up. It pisses him off every time.

I chuckled into the towel and sighed.

I wonder how the fellas've been doin' without us. Probably looking for us right now, I bet.

Stop. Don't be doin this again. My eyes started tearing...but I couldn't help it. I miss em.

We'd been through the wringer together, us. The credit for there improvements went to Maddy and I didn't mind that, but we both trained those fellas up to be some of the best fieldsmen there were.

Hugo and me had been assigned to Bellinger's banner because the family owned the property we'd been recruited on. We made a name for ourselves faster than a thief smiled and in no time I was put second-in-command of a squad of twenty. I was second only to the great Bellend himself.

I didn't mind it though, I actually liked the arrangement. Despite his...personality, we were good friends and I'd even say he was my best friend.

As the two heads, we were in charge of training the other fellas. I loved teachin' those guys. I'd never felt more meaningful than when I was trainin' someone.

Through my years on the field, I'd learned that my half-breed genes were a blessing and a curse. Yes, I was a monster talent when it came to aura, but I couldn't Draw for squat.

At first, I noticed that I wielded a lot more aura than the others, and I mean a lot, but I was also never able to learn how to Draw like some of the soldiers around me were doin'. They were able to Draw fire magic from fire elements and I was left hefting around a lug of mana around my body. Maybe giants couldn't use magic; Hugo couldn't do it either.

Either way, when we were moved into Maddy's squad, me and Sir Bellend would teach the other fellas; I'd train them in aura and, if they showed talent in manipulations, Maddy would try to teach em' how to Draw magics.

I wonder if they're lookin' for us. Well, if they aren't, someone is, because the military isn't just going to let us desert during a mission. We'd been told to go after some foreigner who'd burned some noble alive. We weren't told why. The order was simple: either capture or kill the foreigner responsible.

And we tried. We followed orders, we chased after him, but he was so fast we had to leave the other fellas behind. Shedding the slack, the three of us chased after him by ourselves. Even then, it took us days to catch up, and when finally had him cornered who knew he'd be a fletchin' draconian?!

A fletchin' draconian!

The damn guy had a drawstone that he Drew constant fire from and wielded fire magic that none of us could defend against.

I touched my mended chest. He got me good, didn't he?

It took a long time and it was a hard battle, but eventually we subdued the raging dragon spawn. While Maddy and Hugo held him down, I'd gone to find the harnesses so we could tie him up, and I don't know what happened while I was gone, but when I came back things had changed. The draconian was standing up and now Maddy was lying on his stomach, blood gushing from the side of his head.

I scratched my head. I don't really know what happened after that but I can probably guess.

My only question is why? Why did you do it Hugo?

What did he offer you? Was it respect? You never thought you got any. Was it acceptance? You'd always wanted to find a place you belonged, where half-breeds could feel welcome, I just thought it was with me. Or was it power? You always did hate being second.

I shook my head and let out a sigh. I didn't know, and I didn't think I'd know unless I asked him face to face. But that's for a time down the road, isn't it? Right now I should focus on Maddy and me. Speakin' of Maddy, he was an awful sight.

His pale skin was even paler white than it usually was, almost deathly. His black hair hung off his head like my legs did the bed. I reached to his cot and grabbed his limp wrist. It's thinner. He was always skinny but this was almost bone.

Behind me, the curtain slid to the side, ringing off the sound of cloth on string. "There's not much I can do for him at this point. He was hit in the head and he's got a concussion," she said drawing the cloth closed again. Handing me the glass of water she'd run off to get, she lifted his eyelid back. "He should wake up any day now though."

I've just got to wait now, don't I? I sighed and scratched along my short brown hair. What do I do till he wakes up?

The outside door burst open and the sound of young chatter bounced off the walls and made its way to the back room. "Mary, I've got a repeat customer!" One of the voices laughed before a thud sounded and that same boy let out a groan.

Walking through the curtain, an annoyed black-haired, blue-eyed, young man shoved the cloth to the side with one hand and entered the room, covering a bloody nose with his other.

"What happened, Wit?" The mender lass asked, quickly running over and removing his hand to get a look at his nose. Lordy, the thing was crushed.

"Iv wath 'eather," he grumbled, unable to annunciate properly.

Mary rolled her eyes and looked over to the other three who'd followed the boy in. Right behind the one she called Wit was another boy, covered in dirt and small scrapes. Grumbling under his breath, he rubbed his ribs and glared at Wit, who shrugged his shoulders in response.

"What happened to you guys, Barnes?" The lass asked again.

Barnes laughed and pointed behind him, where a girl played with her fingers behind her back. Mary turned her eyes to the girl and sighed. "Heather, really?"

"It was an accident," the girl claimed, before blushing and hiding behind the last person who'd come in. This one was an adult. He was burly and tall, for a full human at least, but even he shied under the lass's intense glare.

"Err-Mary, I...didn't see what happened, so I couldn't tell you." His shifting eyes and reddening ears said otherwise.

Mary blew hair out of her rolling eyes and turned to Wit. "Sit down, Wit. I'll take care of this in a second."

He nodded and smiled, "Alright," he said, walking to one of the cots between me and the curtain.

Mary smiled herself. "What happened between yesterday and today, that made you so...open?" She asked, and her question put a pause in his gate. His eyes widened and he turned his head back to face everyone in the room. His eyes glazed, if only slightly and he smiled, "I don't know."

Sitting down on the cot we faced each other. He looked me in my eyes like I did his, "What's your name, dude?"

I couldn't help but chuckle at the question. When was the last time someone had called him 'dude'?

A smile still lingering along my lips, I extended my hand. "The name is Dunn. Dunn Doyal."