Chapter 4

Two days had past and we had not coupled again. Reena walked a little bowlegged the first day, and grimaced when she bent down once in a while. The third morning I was practicing the seven movements for sword as my unwilling benefactor must have practiced for years. My muscles strained as I attempted to adapt my body to the demands of the sword.

My father had talked about swords and had collected a few. His favorite had been a Japanese katana, a weapon that took a lifetime to learn, he explained. Expertise required an intimate understanding of yin/yang, of opposites that make a whole. The child that I was didn't understand but was fascinated; the young man appreciated his father's explanation and prayed like hell that a sword didn't take a lifetime to learn. My life was going to be a short if it did.

Reena stepped into my line of sight, asking for my attention without words. I stopped and looked to her.

"Dalomer oter Heth was a mighty warrior," she started, "his adventures were sung at solstice since I was a child. I don't understand this: if you have his blessing and his sword, why do you deny his teaching?"

"I don't understand, Reena. I am following his morning ritual with the sword," I spoke trying to keep the exasperation tamped down.

"May I show you, Master?" she asked with considerable deference. I gave my approval.

Reena stood behind me and repositioned my hands slightly on the black pommel of the sword. "Pass your jayda slowly from the center of your hand to the other. Very slowly," she cautioned.

I released a small thread from my right hand to my left and was met with a mighty explosion that tore the sword from my grasp and sent both of us flying backwards. Reena cushioned my fall, much to her dismay.

"What happened?" I asked dazed and confused, looking at the sword laying in the grass.

"Dalomer was left-handed, didn't he tell you?" Reena moaned under me.

"Ah, why don't you stay there," I suggested, "and I am going to try this again."

Scooping up the sword, I breathed deeply to focus my attention. Slowly I released a thread from my left hand through the pommel to my right. The sword began to sing in my hand. I began the first of the seven movements again and at each point, the balance was exquisite. The blade felt as if it were slicing the air before me and I was no longer swinging a blade, I was dancing in the wind. The seven movements came to an end far too quickly.

I turned to Reena. "You have shown me a great lesson of my benefactor. I am grateful and I wish to reward you," I spoke with a grin coming to my face. I knew what reward I wanted to give her.

"Thank you, my Master, I..." she stopped abruptly. She froze in place, "We are not alone. To your left I sense someone human."

I cursed myself for getting wrapped up in the sword and dropping my guard. That was good way to die. I sent my own jayda and lightly brushed by a young woman and behind her, a boy. Beyond them I felt nothing but the rodents and the insects. I turned my head and identified the bushes behind which they were hiding.

I made a show of putting away my sword. "I know the two of you are hiding behind that bush," I shouted. "I am Ryan Kincaid and this is Reena. We mean you no harm."

There was no response nor did I expect any. I held a mithral sword and Reena was clearly Eldenhaun. If I was to stumble upon the two of us, I already would be running like hell.

"Come, let us break camp," I ordered Reena quietly, "and we will track them at a distance so as not to spook them." I strode off towards camp.

By early afternoon, we had tracked them to a small settlement nestled in a tiny canyon between two mountains. If this had been the Old West, it would have been a called a bolt hole. I sensed twenty men, women and children.

I didn't fear them; unless I did something stupid, they couldn't hurt me. I feared for them. Nonetheless, there was only one door and I was determined to come knocking. The entrance was hidden by a large tree that obscured the forward mountain's edge. I ducked around the trunk with Reena two paces behind me. A cry went up and I felt a wave of fear and panic. A sentry was above me with a bow and arrow. With my index finger I froze his limbs.

I felt the women and children flee to the back. As I stepped into the cleared area, one man with grey in his beard stepped forward with a spear tipped with a nasty metal barb. I stopped where I was.

"I'm Ryan Kincaid. I mean you no harm."

"You have an elf bitch at your shoulder, Kincaid. You've led her here to kill us," he spat.

"Reena is my slave," I calmly explained.

"Bullshit," was the reply.

"Reena, kneel and kiss my feet," I ordered. She did. The man before me faltered, his shaft pointed more towards the ground.

"How?"

"The short version is that I killed an Eldenhaun warrior and stole his power before he died. With his power I captured this one. Now, will you tell your sentry to put down his bow and arrow? I can pull him down from his spot myself if need be."

"Jeremy," the greybeard called, "come down."

"I can't. I can't move my arms and legs," Jeremy called from above. I wiggled my finger and he called down, "I'm on my way."

"I have a good thirty pounds of dried deer meat in my backpack. Do you need some?" I asked of the scrawny man.

"Meat? Hell, yes we do. Can't go far without running into those goddamned elves. My name is Bill Jamison by the way. You said your name was Kincaid?"

I told Reena to get up and stand behind me again. "Ryan Kincaid and this is Reena," I finally answered.

"That is a mighty tall tale you're telling, but it's the first bit of good news I've heard in ages. Jeremy, go tell the others we have meat. That's my eldest boy," he explained.

I took off my backpack and placed it at my feet. After a few moments the rest of the clan filtered back into the clearing. I tossed the full backpack at Bill's feet. He pulled out a piece of jerky and tasted it for a moment. Then he declared it safe and passed it back to the rest. The hunger was so apparent that I waited patiently for them to chew through some of the hardened tack. The kids could not keep their eyes off of Reena. She acted oblivious.

One of gangly boys came closer with a piece of jerky still in his hand. "Are you an elf?" he asked Reena. She didn't respond.

"Reena?" I turned to her, "answer the boy."

"I don't understand what he said. He speaks in the human tongue."

I gave a start. "You mean all this time I've been speaking in the Ancient Tongue?"

"Of course, Master."

I faced the boy and explained with everyone listening that Reena didn't speak English. She could only understand her own language and that I hadn't tried to teach her our language yet.

Curious, I cast my jayda across the group searching for the young woman who had found us earlier. Her spark was unique and easy to identify among the others. As I peered at her, I was surprised that she looked to be about my age. She had brown hair and a long face; certainly not pretty but not ugly; normal was the description I settled upon. I couldn't stop myself from blushing when she caught me staring. I averted my eyes downward and noticed that she was barefoot.

"Bill, it looks like you need deerskin for moccasins," I casually dropped.

"Need a lot of things," Bill acknowledged as he chewed, "but deerskin is a good one."

I had Reena unwrap our deerskin from her quiver and left it on the ground in front of the boy. I asked them if anyone had heard one of the rifts open recently and none of them had. With that bit of information, I decided to go hunting for dinner, telling them we would be back by nightfall.