Whisper Jinx

Things won in the trade

“AAAAAAH!”

Jinx flinched and Sam Mathews put an arm around her protectively, even tried to push her back. She twisted away, an eye on the panicked Zilan and Horselords, the other on a flushed Glen trying to pull the Wyvern away from the priestess. Uvrycres had taken everyone by surprise and turned what looked like a staring contest with Glen into something more sinister.

Like snatching Vaelenn’s arm with his jaws and dragging her at the side of the road to gnaw at it.

“Let go of the darn arm!” Glen growled amidst Vaelenn’s desperate agonizing screams and the Wyvern’s guttural sounds. “We had a fucking deal!”

“Stay back,” Sam urged her, but she slipped away and approached the thrashing priestess. The Wyvern had raised his head and stared at Glen with those beastly eyes, jaws still pressing sneakily at the torn flesh. The bones crackling under the black teeth and blood painting the tiles.

“Glen,” Jinx said, keeping a fearful distance, as despite appearances the Wyverns loved eating Gish the most.

And even if they didn’t, ye don’t go about checking the validity of a story near a hungry beast.

“Everyone calm the fuck down!” Glen barked turning around. Himself the least calm of all, eyes ogling crazy and teeth clenched to the point of breaking. “Keep your distance and disperse to yer plaguin’ business!”

Uvrycres cut through a shaking Vaelenn’s arm in the meantime breaking the bone and ripped it away from her shoulder. Jinx would have fainted, but her legs had fused on the street and she couldn’t move. Glen heard the horrified gasp of the traumatized crowd and whipped his head around, to see what had happened. Baulked shocked at the grotesque bleeding wound, recovered quickly, glared at Uvrycres that slowly retreated on all fours taking the mangled arm with him and turned around again, his face and hair wild.

“There’s no need for alarm,” Glen started, amber eyes gleaming in the dim light, his smile phony and probably hurting his face to pull it off. It was admirable that he’d managed even that, Jinx thought impressed. “Naught but a flesh wound—”

“That’s her arm for crying out loud!” Someone yelled from the back interrupting him, a skinny Zilan wearing a worn out doublet.

“Looks very serious to me!” Another one said very perceptively, standing next to him.

“Aye,” Said a third, a fiery eyed, tall and heavy bosomed female with long braids. “Vaelenn is bleeding out!” She added glaring at Jinx as if she was to blame.

Plenty of erotic vibes reaching the stunned Gish.

Mama, Whisper thought shivering. Yer a lotta woman.

“Nonsense! What is this crap? Spreading fuckin’ lies!” Glen barked shutting them down. “Nothing to see here. Kalac get the priestess on a horse, next to the other dude,” He ordered the Horselord, before addressing the murmuring crowd again. “Go back to your darn homes, whilst we give her medical assistance,” Glen turned her way all furious, when they didn’t appear to listen. “Whisper!”

“Aye!” Jinx snapped back, as he’d scared her even more than she already was. Girls have a scare limit, ye go over that and its bad. Only cunts do that.

“Grab Soren and keep them at bay whilst we move the priestess,” Glen explained. The crowd outnumbered them after all and while there didn’t appear to be warriors amongst them, a Zilan could kill you with a word.

A lustful stare.

Or an oiled finger up the piss pipes.

The latter not necessarily a bad thing.

“WHISPER! For fuck’s sake!” Glen bellowed irate, sweaty hair hiding half his face and snapped her out of her reverie, very rudely. “MOVE!”

A Zilan tried to step forward, but paused eyeing the intimidating mountain of muscles that was Soren and retreated into the crowd of about sixty.

“You’re taking the priestess as well?” A male asked Jinx.

“Ahm, it’s for her own good,” She replied. “You best return to yer homes.”

“Are we to get picked off one by one?”

“You should do what the Gish used to do,” Jinx replied eyeing him. “Stay inside when it appears and leave it food. It kinda works.”

“What does that mean? Kind of? What food?” The braids asked her.

“Livestock, a sick kid, or a dying elder,” Jinx said out the top of her head, not getting the reaction she’d hoped for. “What? I said it kind of worked and it was ye cunts that had started it!”

They stopped near the towers four hours later and Kalac approached a silent Glen sitting next to a gloomy Sam Mathews. Jinx had gotten two words out of both men during the return trip.

“Dikra lost the eye and the leg,” Kalac reported gravely. “Terta is dead. Nimra shook, but unharmed. The Priestess might make it, but I don’t see why Laedan is still breathing Hardir.”

“I might need him,” Glen replied hoarsely staring at the fire. “Save the priestess Kalac. We don’t want a war with them.”

“No war. We can clean the city in a couple of days,” Kalac argued. “My men will do it.”

“There’s more city beyond the second lake,” Jinx told him. “Big ruins and statues.”

“Statues?” Glen asked.

“Aye, big ones. Like these towers, sprouting over the mist.”

“What does it matter?” Kalac insisted.

“We’re not a murdering band of outlaws,” Glen said sternly, leaving the plundering part out. “I came here to set up a business. Make profit and explore. If we fight, we will do it for a legitimate reason. Cleaning up the city from the survivors isn’t one.”

“They killed Terta!” Kalac growled. “Plucked Dikra’s eye out!”

“Laedan did. I’ll deal wit it,” Glen argued. “You’ll wage war on civilians Kalac, son of Duham?”

Kalac grunted and spat down angry. He thought about it for a moment and then nodded. With a last look at Jinx and Mathews he walked away to return to the Horselords much bigger fire.

“They are not mercenaries Glen,” Jinx said a couple of minutes later, breaking the silence.

“They are hard warriors and very mobile,” Glen replied. “I won’t unleash them on the local populace Whisper.”

“Didn’t say you should, but not all Zilan are worth of saving Glen. People hated them for a reason.”

Glen groaned in frustration. “I have bigger problems to deal with.”

“The Wyvern listens to you.”

“Not really,” Glen replied. “He lied. Told me he killed one guy, but he’d killed that female living near Laedan as well. He’s been at it for a while.”

“He’s a Wyvern. It’s what they do.”

“Lying or killing?”

“Both, I guess.”

“Thought you can’t lie to a Wyvern, or some shite,” Glen said with a grimace.

“More than once. Just like a Kraken will give ye one life, but collect next it meets you. As for Uvrycres lying, I… didn’t know you can talk to them.”

“You can talk to your Wyvern?” Sam croaked.

“Didn’t much help,” Glen murmured and pressed his back on his saddle to rest.

Jinx didn’t think so. Uvrycres hadn’t killed the priestess in the end, so despite what Glen believed, he’d prevented the worst from coming to be. The Wyvern shouldn’t have listened to him, but it did. Perhaps all these stories the Zilan sprouted had some truth in them after all.

Her instincts were right from the beginning.

There was someone watching over Glen.

“Shhh,” Derix whispered and pointed at the cuddling Ubix and Linx soundly sleeping. The tiny twins snoozing between their warm bodies. A bundle of pink curls and soft limbs. “Where are you headin’ to sis?”

“Liam has a boat,” Jinx explained to him and her younger brother stared at her all serious. “I’m going wit him when the tide comes.”

“Where to?”

“Jelin, I reckon,” She replied pushing a wayward curl away from her sister’s face.

“What’s there?”

“Adventure, loot.”

“Can I come?”

Jinx looked at him. “You’re too young Derix.”

“Not much younger than you.”

“I’m stronger,” Jinx insisted. “Plus you need to stay back and watch the others.”

“They don’t listen to me,” Derix complained. “When will you come back?”

“Moment I find a place that’s safe, I’ll come back for you all,” Jinx promised him and wiped the tears from her eyes. “If I can.”

Liam watched her climbing his boat with a satisfied smile, two gold teeth amidst all that black facial hair. He called it a beard. Jinx was glad she wasn’t going to sprout one, she’d enough trouble with hairs in other places to know it was a bad idea.

“Yer a brave lass,” Liam rustled. “Lucky as well. That’s a good wind.”

“Humans are as stupid as ye?” Jinx snapped. “Gods are listening.”

“Right,” Liam replied, not insulted. “Hey, when does the bloody water stop rising?”

Jinx sighed letting all her anxiousness out and glanced at the familiar land getting slowly swallowed under the sea and the lights at the heights above Ilvilix Lake’s canals, where her siblings had sought sanctuary.

“It doesn’t,” The young Gish had replied. “You just learn to live with it.”

Sam Mathews was staring at her napping, when she opened her eyes. Well, Jinx wasn’t sleeping per se, but she was dreaming of home and a promise she couldn’t now fulfil. Jinx couldn’t go back into the sea again.

“I should have courted you in Eikenport,” Sam murmured, head resting on his arm, their saddles used as pillows. The night cool, but pleasant. “Was too scared to make a move and you looked angry all the time.”

Gambling while mourning had that effect on her.

“I’m glad ye didn’t,” Jinx replied and looked at the stars above them. “I was a mess then and I rather have a friend than an ex-lover.”

“Ah, I’m not sure how to take this,” Sam admitted, pursing his lips. He was a handsome man and a reliable partner, which wasn’t an easy thing to find in this realm.

A girl can be flattered, but also grow up and turn into a woman that knows what she wants and the cost of each decision.

“Positively,” Jinx replied with a sigh. “I’m sorry about Terta.”

“We weren’t friends,” Sam said with a grimace. “But it was a disturbing thing to witness.”

“Uhm.”

“I can’t believe Garth is sparing… why do you call him Glen?”

“I knew him before the name changed,” Jinx deadpanned. "He does that a lot."

“That thing is a monster Jinx,” Sam whispered. Glen was sleeping a meter away from them.

“Wyvern is a monster as well.”

“I can justify the Wyvern, but not them,” Sam hissed.

Jinx turn to stare at his distressed face.

“Not all Zilan are like that,” She told him.

“Ah, you say that—”

“Sam, I have more reasons than you to fear them, but I don’t,” Jinx told him. “Fear will get you nowhere. Monsters will come at you whether you hide from them or not. And fear… it will keep you imprisoned on yer island and away from life’s wonders.”

“Horrors,” Sam corrected her.

“Aye, pleasure also, friends and lovers,” She pushed herself up. “All of life’s sides, all its nooks and crannies, are important to me. It’s what I won in the fuckin’ trade,” Jinx explained.

“What have you lost in it?” The adventurer asked her interested and Jinx watched as Soren stirred getting up.

“Family,” She replied soberly.

The branch creaked but held her weight and Jinx paused after getting on it, to take in the view from above. The lake’s waters slowly turning silvery as the sun came over them. Nature was breathtaking in Wetull, but perhaps it was the absence of human cities that was the difference.

Jinx felt a tiny tremor running through the branch and then the leaves before her morphed into Maeriel, the huntress light leather armour turning a darker shade of green.

“What did I find here?” She teased. “I’m so lucky.”

“What was that spell?” Jinx asked her.

“The Gift of Blend,” Maeriel replied and stooped to kiss her. Jinx felt her sharp fangs on her tongue, before Maeriel pulled away. The tingling sensation remained though as if the Zilan was still touching her.

“Lith could do that,” Jinx murmured.

“Lith was a huntress then,” Maeriel replied, then frowned. “Who is she? That can’t be her real name.”

“It wasn’t,” Jinx said, whilst tracing a finger over her lover’s long ear, Maeriel folding it away as the skin was very sensitive there. “I called her a blue cunt.”

“I feel equally aroused and jealous,” Maeriel admitted. “The more I think about it—”

Shhh.

“Don’t be,” She told her and kissed that dangerous mouth, Maeriel tasting of blackberries and lemon. “I feel safe with you,” Jinx told her and the Zilan smiled, purple and silver eyes glowing underneath. “You have any more of those?” Jinx added licking her lips.

“Some,” Maeriel replied vaguely.

“Mae,” Jinx warned her, knowing she was a hoarder just like her.

“Fine,” The huntress admitted. “But I want your company tomorrow.”

“What’s tomorrow?”

“Nothing. I will go hunting beyond the ‘Avenue of Legends’,” Maeriel replied.

“Is that the statue thingy?”

“Eh… yes it is,” Maeriel admitted.

“We’ll bring Glen with us,” Jinx paused seeing her blank stare, breathed out and added. “Garth, Hardir…”

“Ah, well… is he any good at hunting?” The Zilan asked.

“The worst, but he’s outrageously lucky, so it balances out.”

Fikumin put his quill down and glared at her. The dwarfs turn meaner as they age, Jinx thought and gave him a small portion of her blackberries. Fikumin scrunched his big nose, but accepted her offering.

The small guy was always hungry.

“What happened to him?” Jinx asked pointing at the gloomy faced Glen sitting on his throne-like chair.

“We got a bird from Eikenport,” The dwarf explained.

“That was fast,” Jinx noted.

“No it wasn’t,” Fikumin corrected her.

“So, good news?”

“Phon wants the port opened and Ron is feeling the pressure,” Fikumin elucidated. “It has a cascading effect.”

“Why not use the road?”

“Too slow, but more like the situation is volatile,” Fikumin said. “A bigger caravan is assembled anyway, but we need a port Jinx.”

“Who appointed you in charge of stuff?”

“You trust Glen to deal with this?” Fikumin grunted. “He can barely keep himself interested for a couple of minutes.”

“How were the berries?” Jinx asked wrong-footing him.

“Decent. Are there more?”

“Plenty, you just need to gather them,” Jinx retorted. “Same for bread and the meat you gulped down earlier. Fancy going hunting wit me?”

Fikumin’s scowl grew to epic proportions.

“Just be glad for the boring stuff Fiku,” Jinx said and jumped down from the table.

“Fikumin!” The dwarf grunted irate at her back.

“Well?” Glen asked her rapping his fingers impatiently at the armrest. “What do you think?”

“I can’t really read this shite,” Jinx admitted, staring at the tiny scribblings.

“Neither could I, but Metu is eagle-eyed,” Glen said. "Solid lad."

Solid slave was his meaning.

“Quite well-educated I would add,” Jinx noted.

“I wasn’t trying to insult you Whisper.”

I wasn’t talking about me Glen, Jinx thought with a grin.

“What’s the other letter?” She asked him instead.

“News,” Glen said and puffed out suddenly looking sad. It reminded Jinx of the first time she’d seen him back in Oakenfalls. But the kid had grown up in the last two years. “Emerson is alive.”

Whoa.

“How did he manage that?” She asked, not expecting it. Jinx wasn’t particularly fond of the old knight, seeing as he’d killed a couple of her friends, but she could understand why Glen was very close to him.

“Got enslaved, then won his freedom in the arena,” Glen replied shaking his head. “I told you all, the old man is indestructible.”

“Good news,” Jinx said watching him.

“Aye, we needed that right?” Glen asked her. “A weight off our shoulders.”

He puffed out again, letting it all out.

“What is it Glen?”

He perched himself forward, with a glance about the bare hall.

“Things have gotten bigger,” Glen whispered.

“They have,” Jinx said. “But not bigger than you ruling over Altarin. You were raised for that right? I mean, there was a possibility. Isn’t that how it works in your world?”

Glen stood back and pushed his hair off his face.

“Ah, Whisper,” He said and clenched his cleft jaw. “This might turn bigger than we ever thought it’ll be.”

“I never thought about it Glen,” Jinx said. “One thing at a time.”

“Sure, aye ye are right. One thing. Get the Zilan to work on something, see to open the port.”

“The port isn’t important. Ron-Iv can use the road to send supplies and the land here can produce anything really.”

“Eh, the port is important, Whisper,” Glen replied. “I won’t have Sen travel through that tunnel.”

“When is Anfalon returning?” Jinx asked him, not wanting to press him on that. Glen was feeling lonely, she could sense it oozing out of him.

“Any day now. Why?”

“You need to find a way to stop them from killing each other, afore your Wyvern eats them,” Jinx explained.

“Uvrycres will not attack those that bend the knee,” Glen reassured her.

Uh?

“Yer not a king Glen,” Jinx said.

“A thief won’t be able to hold this together Whisper,” Glen replied his face dark. “The Wyvern thinks so.”

“Why thief?”

“It’s an expression,” Glen elucidated with a scowl.

Right.

“You want to come hunting with us?” She asked him instead.

“Good grief, why would I want that?” Glen asked her. “I’m sufficiently freaked out thanks.”

“We’ll travel to the statues, Nesande’s Temple is right after them. It is still standing,” Jinx explained patiently.

“Hmm. Let me think about it,” Glen decided. “Now, pray the priestess survives. I asked Soletha to help her.”

“Don’t they hate each other?” Jinx asked genuinely curious.

“Fiercely, but I’ll try it anyway,” Glen replied. “Have Soren and a couple of guards in the room with her.”

“You do have a plan then?” Jinx asked him relieved.

“I do, but it might blow up in my face,” Glen admitted.

Given his record and history, Jinx gave it fifty-fifty odds.