Radulf: The Unlucky [Act 1]

Chapter 4: A decision is made (The bedding)

The bedding

Chapter 4: The cigarette habit

A decision is made

En. You have such a lovely daughter

I was dispatched to fetch some water—in what container?—and as a consequence, did not personally witness how those guys went from the above to the seemingly life-long friends I found when I returned. Maybe their people recover from insults and assassination attempts faster than our people recover from utilpashed af en regnfuld morgen.

As I took my leave of those three ældgamle magiske skabninger, there was an earthquake of some portent, I turned back but Icon and Tyzmon were engaged in conversation or argument or whatever with our would-be assassin. Perhaps they had not noticed.

I remember following a stream and even finding some old clothes, including a vest and a blouse, for Icon, and along the way, a jug of about 3 liters—it had a cork stopper, which was luck indeed! I filled it with water and began trudging back.

I had been gone for a long time, at least 2 hours, but probably closer to 3 and it was getting dark. Eventually, it was dark and then they were easy to find because Icon had built a bonfire as big as a stadium. Walking up hill, I approached and Tyzmon stopped me, taking a drink from the jug which he swiped from my arm and lost the cork stopper.

He took me into conversation with the woman dressed in green from earlier. She put her arm up slightly, palm down, thumb up. I shook her hand. Iapyx introduced her as Athanasia, which, I am certain you know, means 'immortal'. This information would have made me laugh except when he told her my name her eyes widened slightly and she said, “so you've survived the steel edge?”

Thinking this was a loci, I glanced at Tyzmon who turned his gaze to her and then so did I. In the moment-too-long silence, she raised an eyebrow and then she really surprised me by reaching up and rubbing the back of her neck.

Athanasia said, “You've evaded the Steel Edge, I see.” She turned to Tyzmon, “Where is he? What have you done with Razor?”

Icon had joined us by now, and another moment-too-long silence was broken when he, sotto voce, said, “the man in black,” and Iapyx said, “Ohhh.”

Athanasia said, “Tyzmyn.” She shook my hand in a motion like she was cracking a whip but her eyes… her eyes were suddenly pools of varm chokolade. I was about to say something but she pulled me closer and leaned down. She sniffed my arm, her face snapped up to within two and a half centimeters of mine and she—I hesitate to say—she licked my lips and chin and then embraced me, pinning me with her other arm.

Icon and Tyzmon were laughing and the laughter was getting quieter so I am quite sure they were walking away in jolly amusement. Tyzmyn kissed me hard on the mouth and threw me and my shamefully eager body down onto a soft straw mat I had not noticed until it was supporting my weight and then our weight as she was on top of me.

My clothes were no barrier and I don't remember if she was still wearing her bushman outfit when I came up the hill anyway. She tried to inject her eggs into my blomsterblade but if what she said earlier was true, it was a lost cause and we could not bare young together. She tore at my flesh and bit through my lips and the skin on my shoulders. She held me so tightly, I swear she would break bones or dislocate joints.

But it was the most wonderful feeling and before I knew what was going on, it was morning and Icon was urging me to get dressed. His niece, if that's what she is, was resting between bouts—as it were—and I finally had my arms free.