Coqoj 3rd,4288: 172 Days in the Mortal Realm
The ride had been rather uneventful until today. From the sound of things, we were roughly 3 days away from Plumage. As the days droned on, I couldn’t help but reflect on how old Gemmel was. If he was older than me, then surely he had heard of Araja... It would be interesting to get his opinion of her.
“Gemmel. Have. You. Heard. Of. Araja?” I asked. Gemmel pondered for a moment.
“Who’s he?”
“She’s-,” I began.
“Oh, she’s a girl,” Gemmel corrected himself.
“Some.one. Of. The. Past,” I finished.
“Well, Serrin, I know a lot of people from the past. Can you narrow it down for me?”
“Gen.eral. Hu.man.”
“Like I’ve said, I haven’t had much dealing with the Kingdoms of Man in a long time,” Gemmel began.
“She. Was. A. Gen.eral,” I began. Seeing Gemmel eye me out of the corner of his eye made me feeling squeamish, so I added, “So. I’ve. Heard.”
“Oh they’re giving women swords now?” Gemmel said, sounding somewhat surprised. I looked at him quizzically. Where had he been for the past couple centuries? “It always made sense to me for women to fight by the sword since one can die by it. Well good for her. Did she win?”
My stomach dropped.
“No,” I said, feeling forlorn to admit my failure.
“That’s too bad.”
“She. Was.n’t. Killed,” I explained thinking Gemmel must have thought Araja’s loss being her death
“Oh, they took her and tortured her,” Gemmel added. I looked up at him. Why did he assume that? Someone losing a battle didn’t mean they were dead or tortured necessarily... but I wasn’t going to call him out on that. I wasn’t suppose to be Araja to him. I was just trying to find out what he knew of her.
“Per.haps.”
“I’ve never cared much for torture myself. I figured if you’re going to be mean to someone you might as well just kill them. Get done with it. Not that I would kill someone just because. I’m not like that. I’m just out here to do my business. Live and let live,” Gemmel explained, clearly emphasising his character wasn’t a murderous type.
We traveled further on. Another thought came to mind as I considered his old age. Surely he must know of others. Others from his distant past. I’m one those unusually old folk, he’s been around for centuries like me, there must be others like us and perhaps he knew of them.
“Gemmel. Do. You. Know. Of. Other’s. From. Your. Past?”
“The Gnomes I talked to yesterday,” Gemmel responded quickly. My head realed a moment as I thought about the Gnomes being unusually old. For a moment I wondered if they were cursed like the folk of France? Before I could respond, I saw a twinkle in Gemmel’s eye and knew he was being facetious. “I’m sorry. I’m just teasing you. Now what part of my past are you referring to?”
“14. Hund.red. Years. A.go.”
“I haven’t counted years or days for a long time. They all kind of run together.”
“You. Sound. Like. A. Deity.”
“I’ve never assumed to be such a thing. Never been a worshipper myself.”
“I. Was. Once.”
“That’s fine you know. I just never thought fit for it.”
It became quiet once more between us, my question being forgotten. Many hours passed, late evening began to set in. Gemmel then began to cluck to his horse. He seemed intent on something. I looked around, seeing nothing.
“It’s unusually quiet,” Gemmel whispered. He was right, the natural sounds of the forest weren’t happening. Chills ran through me as I recalled the moments before waking up in the cave. It was silent like this.
“It. Was. Qui.et. Like. This. Be.fore. I. Was. Poi.soned,” I told Gemmel.
“No,” Gemmel responded, “This is different...” he flicked the reins and commanded his horse to go. We galloped a short distance when folk on horses appeared in front of us.
“Stop!” we were commanded. Gemmel reined his horse to a stop. It was clear this was a robbery of some type with the folk having their face partly covered. They were a mix of Gnomes and Elves.
Gemmel leaned a little toward me and said, “Don’t you worry, I’ll take care of this.” He then hopped off the wagon and went to stand in front of his horse.
“What do you all want?” Gemmel asked.
“You’re headed to the ‘big to do’ in the Elven Kingdom aren’t you?” an Elf asked.
“I am.”
“Give us your wears,” the Elf demanded. There was roughly 10 of those folk blocking our path, polearms and bows in hand. I was curious what Gemmel would do.
“Nope,” Gemmel said without hesitation. The gang of robbers all seemed surprised to have been told ‘No’.
“Fine, we’ll make you,” the Elf spat like some adolescent child. Gemmel snorted.
“Now, think about it like this boys,” Gemmel stated, “I am banned from that country. Granted they let me come in for Carnival as long as I have my papers,” he said pointing to a paper on the wagon I hadn’t noticed before. It states his special permission to enter the country, DO NOT KILL clearly visible, “but they know better to keep a close eye on me.” A chill ran through me.
“Why are you banned?” another Elf called out.
“That’s between me and the country. Now, do you really think it wise to bother me and more?”
The bandits clearly seemed nervous now about Gemmel. They began to back away slowly.
“That’s right. Let us on through and get whoever’s behind me.” Gemmel then hopped back up next to me and snapped the reins to get his horse going. The bandits moved out of the way quickly, all looking confused about what just happened. I couldn’t help but feel sorry for the unfortunate folk coming behind us... was Gemmel bluffing about his strength and power to them? If he wasn’t, why not have dealt with the bandits to prevent them from continuing their evil schemes?
“Sorry about that,” Gemmel said to me after a few minutes. I figured it wasn’t that easy of a choice for him either and with that I felt somewhat better. Can’t save everyone...
“May. The. Next. Group. Fare. Them. Well,” I responded. I then noticed Gemmel had tied the reins around the side bored.
“I’ll be right back,” he said before carefully maneuvering into his wagon. I could hear him rummaging for something. He must have found what he was looking for, for I then heard him say something. Then there was a flash of light. A moment later another flash of light appeared and a popping sound. After that Gemmel returned to the wagon seat, taking the reins back.
“Sorry about that.”
“Pro.blem. Solved?”
“Hmm? What?” Gemmel said nonchalant like giving me a quick glance out of the corner of his eye.
“Right...” I responded snickering at him. Actually I had to wonder if any facial cues could be seen from me in this lizard shape. It was hard enough talking, was I smiling when I thought I was? Hard to say without a mirror.
Another time of quiet passed when Gemmel asked me a question.
“So, what were you doing before you got turned into a lizard?”
Thoughts of Raæin filled my mind. I missed him... I hated that.
“Heal.ling. Folk.”
“Were they sick?”
“So. Sick. They. Were. Blind. And. Dy.ing.”
“Hmm, sounds like they were sick with Blindness.”
“Bet.ter. Than. It. Be.ing. The. Boq.or,” I responded. Blindness still wasn’t good, but it wasn’t as deadly a the Boqor. “My.... Friend. Was. Do.ing. A. Lot. Of. The. Heal.ling. The. Day. I. Got. Poi.soned... I. Was. Sent. To. Find. A. Crea.ture-”
“That’s right, I remember you telling me about that. My memory can be kind of fuzzy. Comes with age you know,” Gemmel said, “Goodness, to be young again. Full of energy once more. I think they call it spry. Go out and be adventurous again. But time slows you down. Makes you old, makes you tired,” Gemmel rambled on. As I listened to him list the things age could do to a person, I felt age has left me weak. How was it I lost most of my powers from so long ago? So I added, “Makes. You. Weak.”
Gemmel glanced down at me. “I suppose, but it makes you strong in other ways. Strong in patience. At least it makes the wise man patient. I find that it’s impatiences that gets you killed. Take myself, I’m about as patient as they come. That’s why I’ve lived so long.”
“That’s. What. I’m. Try.ing. To. Learn... Pa.tience,” I droned, “I. Think. I. Learned. Some. ‘Spe.cial.ly. In. The. Past. Few. Months.” I rested my head on my arms.
“You know, I think it’s time we pull over and rest for the night. Horse needs to rest,” Gemmel announced. He pulled the horse over to the side of the road. He then hopped off and began to tend to the horse.
“Hungry?” Gemmel called to me. He had been so good about that. Making sure I was fed. I remember trying to eat normal people food, but the transformation has made it undesirable to me. Meal worms and raw fish were much more preferable.
I nodded to him. After getting his horse taken care of he gave me some meal worms to enjoy.
“Knock yourself out,” Gemmel said.
“I’ll. Try. Not. To.” I responded. As I ate, Gemmel made a fire. As he sat in the fire light, he looked much older in it’s glow. I couldn’t help but feel a wave of gratitude sweep through me. Charity was difficult for me to accept. I had always been capable of caring for myself or working for what I needed. Somehow I would repay Gemmel.
“Gem.mel?”
“Yes?”
“Once- Er. If. I’m. Re.stored... Your. Kind.ness... How. Might. I. Re.pay. You?”
Gemmel looked at me appraisingly.
“Oh, don’t you be worrying about that,” he said.
“Why?”
“Well, I figure,” Gemmel began, picking at his teeth as though he had eaten. I don’t recall seeing him eat. Don’t know why that stood out to me... “As I look at it, you’re a pretty fine, upstanding person out there helping people who couldn’t help themselves,” that stung. Fine and upstanding? I could feel my skin crawl knowing I was untrusting of him at first to disclose my true name. I dropped my head to which Gemmel continued.
“No fault of your own getting into this situation with the poison and turning into a lizard,” Gemmel said, misinterpreting my posture, “Granted it’s not fair, but why is it everybody has to put a price on this stuff? Why can’t people do a nice thing. Sure I have a business to make money to provide for myself, but what is the cost to me for helping you? A potion a day is nothing to me.”
“Gem.mel,” I blurted as best I could. I don’t know why I felt so awful about not having disclosed my name with Gemmel, but I did. I needed to come clean. It wasn’t the most awful thing I had done, granted, but still. Why should Gemmel treat me so well when I couldn’t trust him with my name?
“Yes?”
“I. Want. To. A.pol.o.gize. For. Ly.ing. To. You.” Gemmel gave me a stern look. I looked away before continuing, “My. Real. Name-”
“Is Araja. I know,” Gemmel’s warm voice answered. I looked back at him. He had a smile on his face.
“How’d. You. Know?” I half asked. I figured I was being a bit obvious when asking about Araja, but there was a part of me mildly curious.
“When you’re as old as I am, one of the things you get mighty good at is seeing the truth. Like how I knew you weren’t some ordinary lizard, Araja.”
“So. Why. Did.n’t. You. Call. Me. Out. On. It?”
“Everyone has their reasons to keep secrets. You don’t know everything about me, who I am, what I am, my dealings with Man and the Elves. Why should I pry into your personal business if I wasn’t going to be forthcoming with mine?” Gemmel explained. It was comforting to know he held no malice toward me considering how distrusting i was at first. It was especially comforting to know he wasn’t out to get me.
“Well, it’s late. There’s an owlbear stalking us over there. I’m gonna go take care of it. You best get your rest,” Gemmel told me. I nodded and Gemmel disappeared into the night. The warmth of the fire was very pleasant as I waited.
Soon Gemmel returned unscathed.
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