(218) Red Feather – 9

He supposed that he should be thankful for the non-answer answer, but there was still that nagging feeling that he wasn’t really free to leave if he so chose.  “Does that mean I’m a member of the company now?”

Kersath laughed sharply and patted Maple’s neck.  “You are, how shall we say, aligned with our company on a temporary basis.  Maple here likely has more rights and privileges in the company than you currently do.”

‘A prisoner then,’ he confirmed to himself mentally. 

“Make no mistake,” Kersath continued as if he had not noticed the look of consternation on Kre’s face, “you are free to go if that is your wish, but I would strongly advise against it.  We are deep in the forests, far from where your people have explored, and there are a great many dangers here that you are only mildly prepared for.”

“Mildly prepared,” Kre snorted, “that’s the understatement of my life.”

Kersath raised an eyebrow at the disparaging remark, “Have you not trained in martial and magical combat at that school of yours?”

It was Kre’s turn to laugh sharply, “Me?  No.  Not a day.  My only school learning was in general education with focuses on market economics, animal husbandry, farming, and some history thrown in only because Professor Marxin felt that we needed it to round out our education.”

Kersath considered this for a minute, chewing at his lip as he did so.  When he finally spoke, it was more to himself than it was to Kre.  “Beleg said that the tyrfang was a symbol of warrior status,” he said with a look of concern apparent in his dark features.

The response was an immediate shrug.  “I don’t know about all of that,” Kre said.  “I got this because I had no weapon at hand while trying to escape a very dangerous place.”

“I see,” Kersath said curtly.  “This might change things a bit.”  He tugged Maple to a halt and looked up at Kre.  “Do you have any fighting skills at all?  Any arcane ability?  Any…” he gestured about himself wildly with his hands, “… innate powers at all?”

Kre was ready to respond with a firm negative on all counts until a stray thought entered his mind.  “Well, not sure how useful it is, but I’m pretty much a village champion at hand-to-hand combat.”

This statement appeared to bring no end of amusement to Kersath who barked out loudly in laughter.  “I can neither imagine a scenario where that will be useful in the kinds of situations in which you might find yourself in these wilds, nor how utterly small your village must be for you to be the best possible unarmed fighter they can produce.

“How in the moon above did you manage to survive on your own all the way out here with that being your only form of defense?”

Kre shrugged, “I didn’t… well, not really.”  One hand instinctively reached for the hilt of the tyrfang, as if reassuring himself that it was still there, and the other hand felt for the pebble tucked in his shirt pocket.  “It’s… it’s a long story,” he finally muttered.

“One I shall like to hear,” the Ylveryan said with a crooked smile.

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