True Warriors Sing by Rowan Erlking (classic book list .TXT) 📕

LjuBa watched Ljev think aloud. “Oh, about…I don’t know enough for a whole village. There is one that is in dire need of gole wards.”

“How dire?” The Cordril looked strangely concerned.

Ljev peered past LjuBa at the trees. “We just killed the one. I expect its mate to come around so I had the villagers get out their pots and pans to bang them if they spot it.”

“Good,” the Cordril nodded. He glanced back at his Sky Child wife. “We can get several wards made tonight for you to bring back tomorrow.”

“Fine.” Ljev looked to LjuBa now. “We can camp out here to wait.”

An incredulous laugh burst from the Cordril as he immediately shook his head. “No. That is unwise. These woods are full of parasite demons. It is best that you come indoors.”

“But you’re demons!” LjuBa snapped, marching up to him, her sword half unsheathed.

The children hopped away from her, the mother calling to them with her eyes fixed on LjuBa like a lioness, prepared to pounce if LjuBa got any nearer with that sword.

But the Cordril merely gave her a dry look. “And you two are KiTai warriors. You are clearly a match for us.”

LjuBa flustered, flattered once again. She looked to Ljev.

Ljev frowned. “Yes. But goles speak honey sweet words to lure in their prey.”

“We don’t eat humans,” the Cordril said with a nod. “We co-exist with them. That is the nature of Cordrils and Sky Children in Brein Amon.”

Closing his eyes with a sigh almost as if he wondered if he would regret his next actions, Ljev held out his hand to the Cordril.  Opening his eyes as he said, “And Cordrils don’t eat humans in KiTai either. My name is Ljev.”

“Jonis.” The Cordril took his hand in a shake, letting go straight after as if afraid he might pass on a disease he didn’t want to give Ljev.

For a moment, Ljev looked slightly faint, turning his eyes sharply at the demon that shrugged somewhat abashedly.

“Jodis?” LjuBa stared at him, still feeling dread. “As in the northern god?”

The Cordril shook his head. “No. Jonis. With an N not a D. I’m no god.” He then patted LjuBa on the shoulder.

Immediately she felt tired.

Ljev stepped between them, batting Jonis’s hand away. “Don’t do that.”

Jonis retreated one step, raising his hands. “Sorry. Natural reflex. Cordrils can’t help it.”

“But I can,” his wife then said, reaching out to LjuBa to help her towards the house though her children remained behind her. She gently pushed the sword blade back in its sheath. “Come inside. I have dinner already prepared. We have plenty to share.”

LjuBa remained where she was, keeping Ljev between her and the dark skinned woman before taking one step. Then both walked up the path to the main doors of the building, suddenly surrounded by this family that could, if they really wanted, suck them dry with a meager touch.

But no one touched them after that.

As they went in, the children slipped around them, rushing towards the inside where soon LjuBa and Ljev could see was not an ordinary house by far. It was an inn. There were also other children inside, another boy, perhaps around twelve years old, a toddler around three, and then a girl somewhere in her teen years, already busty though she wasn’t in her full height. They bustled about gathering plates, cups and strange eating tools, setting them around a large table in the spacious room. There were other tables there, scooted back with chairs stacked on top of them. The oldest boy grabbed one and pointed to the other for his sister to take. Both were set around the large table as two more plates, bowls and cups were added.

LjuBa looked around the room, listening to the creaks and hums on the air that were as natural as any home, the undertone of demonic cutting faint as the woman of the house went about her work. Watching her leave her husband’s side to go through a swinging door in the right side wall, LjuBa spotted her again through a large window in the same wall. It opened into another room with stone walls with hanging ladles, spoons and two-pronged forks. The dark woman heaved up pots and platters, setting them on the window ledge, calling to her children to take them to the table in their native language as Jonis escorted the two KiTai guests to the table.

“So, you are both from Central KiTai,” Jonis said conversationally, drawing out a chair for himself. “That is quite a lot of land you both covered in just a few days.”

Ljev nodded, glancing at LjuBa who was now peering up at the hanging herbs, the woven baskets and pots and pans overhead that dangled from the beams.

“I dare say you both are well missed,” Jonis added chuckling with his eyes fixed on Ljev. “Running off the way you two did.”

Tensing, Ljev frowned. “It was necessary.”

LjuBa looked down. “How do you know all this?”

Shrugging, Jonis leaned back. “I’m afraid I borrowed a memory from you both earlier. It is a Cordril habit.”

She blinked at him.

Ljev leaned forward, his frown stiffening. “That is a violation of privacy.”

With another shrug, Jonis chuckled. “I know. And I am sorry. But I am a father, and I needed to assess your real motives for the protection of my children. You understand.”

There was a sigh in Ljev’s posture. LjuBa noticed him sitting back in his chair more, thinking. He hardly looked at her when he eventually replied. “You said you were a magister for the army of this land. Tell me about this land.”

“Oh…” Jonis nodded, his smile spreading somewhat calmly. LjuBa sat down in the next chair listening as the Cordril folded his arms across his chest. Jonis said, “So you are curious after all, despite the stance—”

“Please,” Ljev leaned forward, glancing once at LjuBa.

Chuckling with a look to LjuBa also, Jonis nodded. “Alright. Very well, I’ll play it your way.” He unfolded his arms and laced his fingers together, regarding Ljev as if he were an equal rather than a pitiful squire. “I’m a retired lieutenant in the Brein Amon army, therefore it is my duty to warn you that I will protect this border with all my might against any invasion. That said, Brein Amon is the leading superpower in the world. What KiTai was in its glory days does not compare to Brein Amon now.”

Ljev drew in a breath.

“Technologically speaking, our army could wipe out KiTai very easily, and the only reason we don’t is that the Hann have spread the rumor that the land west of our border all the way to the sea is infested with demons.” Jonis then laughed.

LjuBa leaned in. “But that’s what they say about you!”

Nodding, Jonis then shrugged. “That’s right. The Hann pride themselves in being the nation that controls the trade of the world. But in truth they are terrified of our nation. You see, Brein Amon has the most up-to-date technology in warfare, transportation, and manufacturing. No one can compete with us. And recently we’ve started to go out in trade on our own terms. KiTai is the one nation we have not considered making contact with. And personally, that is to your benefit.”

“Our benefit?” Ljev murmured. He peered at Jonis. “Why?”

Jonis looked back over at his wife who was now returning with the bread, setting the sliced loaf on the table with a tray of butter and silver knife. “The great Patriarch of Brein Amon, our supreme leader, is a greedy underhanded man who, if he knew KiTai was vulnerable, would overrun it. If you ever plan to have trade with us, you’d better set it up on your terms.”

The room was starting to get dark. One of the kids rushed over the wall. LjuBa watched him flip up what looked like a small lever. Immediately the room illuminated, the light coming from several small fist sized glowing spheres.

LjuBa jumped up from the table. “Magic!”

“No,” Jonis said rather too casually, lifting his eyes without shifting in his seat. “Electricity.”

“E—what?” Ljev was staring at it too, blinking at the brightness of the sphere.

“Electricity,” Jonis said again. “Or to put it specifically, the technological invention of harnessing the power of lightening and putting it into a glass ball.”

Blinking at it, LjuBa murmured. “Impossible. That’s magic.”

“I swear it isn’t,” Jonis retorted with a small chuckle.

“I say it is magic!” LjuBa snapped, clenching her fists.

But the Cordril merely laughed at her with sarcasm. “Like you are an expert in magic.”

“You’re not!” She shouted back.

“Actually,” he replied as if her shouting didn’t bother him at all. “I am.”

Ljev rose. “You said you were a magister. If I understand that right, it is the magic practice that merges Herbalist skills with Magician spells.”

Jonis nodded, clearly impressed that Ljev knew that. “That is right. Though we also take modern technology and use it with magic.”

“So this is magic!” LjuBa shouted again.

And he shook his head again. “No. It isn’t.”

He then pulled his plate from a stack to his spot, beckoning his children to sit. They all stared at the two KiTai warriors, some of them looking like they’d rather sit at another table. However, they obeyed, the child nearest them scooting so that there was a foot space between him and LjuBa.

“You see,” Jonis said, ignoring their discomfort, “ordinary humans can and do use electricity on a daily basis in Brein Amon. It is one of our oldest technological advancements, courtesy of the Sky Children.”

“Courtesy of the Sky Children?” Ljev murmured. He didn’t sit again, though Jonis beckoned them both to take a seat so they could all eat. “What do you mean?”

Chuckling, Jonis waved to the chair again. “Please sit. I’ll tell you all about the Sky Children and the Cordrils and the revolution of the Army of Man that changed Westhaven forever after we eat. But please, sit.”

Ljev looked to LjuBa who frowned, glancing up at the glowing light once more. He nodded to her as if to say he would not let that demon set a finger on her. Both of them sat down, scooting into the table.

The meal commenced.

Jonis’s children were voracious eaters, but to the relief of both KiTai citizens they ate regular looking food. The meat was chicken. In fact it was the chicken the little girl had taken the shape of that afternoon. They had to eat it because of what she had done, something about it no longer able to lay eggs. The girl retorted she was just borrowing its life because she wanted to know what it was like to be a chicken, but their father scolded the young ones for teasing the livestock, saying the hens would not lay and the cows would quit giving milk if they continued to do that. LjuBa listened in a daze.

Their conversation was much of that sort of thing. The oldest shared a report about a crow demon he sighted, to which the father narrowed his gaze and spoke with a growl that they ought