Duel of Shadows
Voyse stumbled down the side of the valley, determined to get as much distance between himself and his persistent hunters. His wounded foot didn’t help much. Even though he could shrug off the pain, he could not deny the fact that he could not move it as well as he normally could. This handicap may have seemed minute, but as sliding down the valley, he discovered that it would be much more trouble with his foot in the condition it was in when he started his climb up the other side.
Determination fueled him on, and in no time, he was standing in front of the river at the bottom of the valley, staring across it to the village on the other side. A fishing boat out of the corner of his eye caught his attention, and he calmly walked over to it. The two men for whom the boat belonged to were taking a quick break from a good day’s work, cooking a few of the fish they caught. Hunger suddenly struck Voyse, and he remembered that it had been quite some time since his last meal.
“Excuse me, but could I perhaps share a meal with you two?” Voyse asked in the most casual voice his dark tone would permit.
“What’s this? A traveler, eh? Weary from your travels, I bet. Sure, sit on down, we’ll ready a fish over the fire for you.” One man said, the older of the two. He cheerfully offered a seat on the log next to him, readying a fish over the fire. Voyse nodded slowly as he took the seat. He sighed as the pressure on his foot lessened.
“So, what brings you around these parts?” the younger man asked.
“I am in search of a town at the base of the mountains…” Voyse answered.
“Oh, you must be speaking of Aggwool.” the older man said, nodding with recognition.
As Voyse rubbed his wounded ankle, the younger man nodded at it and asked, “What happened to you? Ran into some hostile beast?”
“Yes, yes you could say that. Got me good in the leg.” Voyse replied.
“Yeah, they can be troublesome at times. You’ve got yourself a sword I see, though, so I’m sure you took care of it.” the younger man said.
“Indeed…” Voyse said.
“What’s with the mask you’ve got there? I bet it’s got some purpose.” the older man asked.
“It has magical properties.” Voyse said plainly.
“Oh, fancy.” the older man said with a chuckle. “We’ll give you a ride to our village once you’ve had your share of food. There you can rest up before you travel onward.”
“Thank you…but it is urgent that I be on my way.” Voyse explained.
“I see. Got yourself on a mission, eh? I bet you’ve got a special message for someone and you gotta get there as soon as possible.” the younger man guessed.
“Actually, yes…that’s exactly it.” Voyse lied.
Once the fish was done cooking, Voyse took the fish and pocketed it for later. The two men took him across the river as agreed and he walked right through the village and on his way northward.
As he reached the higher elevations, he took the cooked fish out and sat down. He slipped off his mask, revealing a horribly scared visage. His most dominant scar being the one running from ear to his lips and to the other ear in a cruel smile. He ate the fish quickly and had a quick sip of his waterskin. He slipped his mask back on and stood up.
He ran a finger across the mask appreciatively. “Of all the lies I told those men, I’m glad that I was truthful about the magic in this mask. Sometimes even I can’t hide all of the pain…” He mumbled to himself, continuing his walk.
**********
Asher and Omurai reached the bottom of the valley early afternoon, quickly stalking along the riverside as they looked for a crossing. In no time they spotted a lone fishing boat out in the middle of the water.
“There we have it. I’ll just fly over there and ask those two fishermen to bring you across.” Omurai said to Asher, pointing at the boat.
“Why don’t you just fly us both over?” Asher had to ask.
“You know I can’t carry that beast of a sword across the water with you…” Omurai grumbled, nodding at Asher’s full blade.
“Hey, if you’re suggesting I leave it here, forget it!” Asher countered.
“Calm down…I’ll just ask those fishermen to give you a ride across.” Omurai said, slowly floating into the air.
Asher huffed and waved his friend away. Quickly, Omurai flew across the water to the boat. He gently landed on one tip of it, barely causing it to tip. The two men spun around, wide-eyed.
“Would you look there…that boy’s standing on our boat! He must be as light as a feather not to cause it to tip over!” the younger of the two said.
“Aye, he is! I do say, lad, how you doing that?!” the older man asked.
“I have my ways,” Omurai responded with a chuckle, “Please sir, could you bring my friend across the water. I’d carry him across, but his gear is far too heavy for me to possible hope to do so.”
Both men looked at each other and then the grumbling red-head standing at one end of the river. Their glances returned to the half floating wind adept before them and nodded slowly.
“Ah, good! Many thanks to you,” Omurai said, saluting to the men and waving back at Asher, who looked up and sighed.
In no time, the fishermen had Asher on the other side of the river.
“Wait. Before we go, did you happen to notice a shady looking guy with a mask over his face?” Asher asked.
“That we did. Why do you ask?” the other man asked.
“Just as I feared…That man is a very deadly assassin. Be careful dealing with him,” the fire adept warned.
“An assassin?” both men asked, their eyes going wide. “How can that be? He seemed like a pretty humble looking fellow. A little weird, yes, but he didn’t seem to be intent on causing trouble. Simply asked for passage over the river and walked right past the village without stopping a second,” the older man said.