Drifters

Inti's Watcher

Sophie closed her eyes for the blue flash of the transport. When she opened them, she was in what looked like a storage room. Another two flashes, and Ebba and Marie were next to her.

"Right!" the witch said with a glint in her eye. "Let's see if there's anything of value in here."

"I'm sure Antoni managed to smuggle out anything he truly cared for," Marie said, using her knife to slide off the lid of a box.

Sophie opened a drawer to find a mass of crumpled shirts. "That doesn't matter. This will be fun, regardless."

"Marie, dear, you insult me," Ebba laughed, picking up a dagger to inspect the blade. "As per the contract, which he signed, he was watched by two hawks as he left. He was allowed as many clothes as he could fit into a backpack, and that's all. Nothing else got in there."

"It's a wonder they call you witch, and not devil," Marie decided.

Ebba grinned, putting the dagger back. "Proof you haven't spoken to Max much."

"Max?" Sophie asked, opening a drawer full of socks.

"Leader of the Diamonds," Ebba explained. "So. Sophie. All this is rightfully yours. You may do whatever you wish with everything. However, should ideas fail you, I would be happy to buy it all off you for a reasonable price."

"And I will make sure that price is reasonable," Marie said, pushing the lid off another box.

Sophie looked around at the chests and boxes. "Well, I promised Razan all Antoni's weapons…"

Both women approved of that wholeheartedly.

"I mostly want to see if there's anything shiny in here," Sophie decided. "I have no idea what to do with his clothes or bedding."

"Not shiny, but there's wood carvings," Marie said, pointing into a box. "Seems to have been a hobby of his."

Sophie stepped over, smiling as she pulled a handful of small bird figurines out of the box. "Lovely."

"Very small market for wood carvings," Ebba said, shaking her head. "Old socks and underwear, however, there is a market for."

"Why?" Sophie asked, putting the carvings back.

"People collect things with unique smells; a nice, smelly human sock is worth quite a bit."

Marie raised an eyebrow. "Do they steal socks, by any chance?"

"Only if they're damp and stained."

"How do you know that?" Sophie asked, not sure she believed Ebba.

"I asked very detailed questions," Ebba said, picking up a book from a stack of them.

"Why?"

"I needed money."

"So badly you had to ask about-"

Marie touched Sophie's arm. "Looks like Antoni carved rocks, too."

Sophie immediately grabbed the box Marie was inspecting. There weren't as many stones as there had been wood carvings, but there was a respectable amount.

"Oh, you'll want these," Ebba said, still inspecting the book pile. "He's hollowed some out. There's probably a shiny thing or two in here."

"Secret compartments in books?" Sophie asked, dashing over to look. She opened one and an old key fell out. Giggling, she picked the key up. "Hope this wasn't important. I did this to a book once, and hid ribbon bits in it. Mother beat me half to death when she found it. She tried to send me to a convent, but the priest said they wouldn't take me since I'd defiled a bible." She opened the next book to find a tiny diary. "Ebba, is there a thing that lets you read different languages?"

"There is," Ebba said slowly.

Sophie glanced up to find her watching Marie.

"Sophie, you have a scar, on your middle back," Marie said thoughtfully. "Was that your mother's doing?"

Sophie reached around, trying to feel it. "Oh, that, yes. Not for the book, though. They insisted I learn how to play the harp, and I told them I didn't want to, so when I accidentally dropped it and the whole thing shattered, Mother thought it was on purpose. Apparently harps are quite expensive, and she was upset she had to pay the music instructor for a new one. She used the strings as a lash."

After a moment, Marie nodded. "If we ever meet, I will kill her," she stated.

That brought Sophie to a halt. She thought over what she'd just said, trying to imagine how it sounded to Marie. She'd thought it was normal, since no one had ever said otherwise, but Ebba looking mildly horrified and Marie's hand clutched around a knife made Sophie realize that perhaps it wasn't.

Ebba shook her head, opening a new drawer. "Damn, at least I had a fair trial…"

Sophie looked at the old burn scars that went from Ebba's fingers to halfway up her forearms. "How was it fair if- Well-"

"Simple; I did all the things they accused me of," Ebba said, smirking. "And I absolutely did them on purpose. Remorselessly."

"Were you… brewing potions or something?"

"Something like that. Then I shared it with the mayor's daughter, he caught us and kicked me out, so I hung dead frogs outside his bedroom window. It would have been wise of me to have left afterwards, but hearing his screams was worth it. At that point my fate was fairly well sealed." Ebba shrugged. "Even if I'd died, I wouldn't have minded. I've always taken responsibility for my actions. But I refuse to be punished for things I haven't done."

Sophie slowly adjusted the books. "How does one refuse punishment?"

"Stand tall," Marie said. "Look them straight in the eye. Don't let them know you're afraid. Don't let them know you're in pain. That makes them nervous and angry in turn. Hold your ground."

"I don't think that would work with my mother," Sophie admitted.

Ebba patted her shoulder. "Don't worry, if she ever lays a hand on you again, I'm sure Marie will be magically summoned to the room and will stab her to death."

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

"Aye, but no magic about it," Marie said, picking up the box of rocks. "We need to organize all this. Sophie, move everything you want into this corner, and everything Ebba can sell will go into that corner."

Sophie nodded, picking up the stack of books. "Right."

Razan looked over the map of the jungle they'd be dropped in. The area had thin paths carved through it by the rostari, but he wasn't sure how wide they'd be.

Marie pointed to an area where three trails met. "Try to find a good spot here for a snare trap. If someone is already occupying it, go… here. If someone is there, too, move around and just focus on protecting everyone."

"What if we meet people we have a truce with?" Peter asked.

"Trade flags first. Then join them, if they're willing."

Sophie was frowning. "If everyone finds a good spot to make a trap, then no one will be looking for flags."

"That'll be an issue after the halfway mark," Marie said. "Two hours in, if we haven't met up, we'll communicate and decide what to do based on what everyone else is doing. According to Nop, walking from one end of the area to the other will take three hours. So for the first hour at minimum, people will be trying to find their groups and good places to hide."

Razan turned the map towards him slightly, memorizing it as best he could. "If we meet people from other groups and join them… I'm worried other groups will also mix like that. We have truces with them, the Stars, and the Seabirds, but they don't all have truces with each other. So if, say, Nali and Chimeg come towards us, what should we do?"

"Nali will stand back as Chimeg fights you," Marie said. "Like in the water; fighting for or against a group you have a truce with is banned. Everyone is on their own when multiple groups meet."

"Think it'll be hard to find the flags?" Peter asked.

Sophie sat up. "Some might be difficult to see, due to their colors. But most should be fairly obvious."

Marie shook her head. "There are about three hundred and sixty out there. The problem is, only under fifty are worth anything to us. Finding them won't be the issue so much as finding ones that are worth something."

"Also, there's no assurance some won't be picked up by animals," Razan added.

Peter shuddered. "Think there'll be monkeys?"

Marie almost answered, then paused. "I don't know."

"There might be gorillas," Sophie said. "But those would probably be worse."

"As long as gorillas don't throw things, I'd say they're better," Peter said.

Razan nodded.

"I'd like to see one regardless," Sophie said. "It's not fair you all got to see cute animals while all I saw were mosquitoes."

"Not cute," Marie corrected.

From the kitchen counter, Nop spoke up. "Congratulations. It took you four minutes and thirty-one seconds to get completely off-topic. I believe that's a group record for you."

Marie turned to raise her eyebrows at the bird. "Who asked?"

"No one; I've just been keeping track of topic changes when all four of you are together. There's one approximately every two minutes, on average," Nop answered.

Sophie giggled.

Razan bowed to the raven. "Thank you for informing us. We shall attempt to do better. I believe, with some effort, we can manage to completely change topics every thirty seconds."

"Agreed," Peter nodded.

Marie turned back to the group. "Shouldn't have brought it up, rostari…"

"Should I wear my hair in a braid or in a bun?" Sophie asked. "Oh, it'll get dark while we're there, so we might need some kind of glasses for darkness."

"It doesn't sound like this'll be as dense as the jungle in Bolivia, but we still might need things to cut plants," Peter added.

Razan nodded. "I shall bring mosquito repellent."

Marie grinned. "I'm so proud of you all."

Peter followed Grace into the climbing room. "So, you need to test me, or you need me for a test?" he asked, looking around.

Sophie and Rani were, for once, elsewhere.

"Both, kinda," Grace said. She stopped a few paces in, grinning at him. "You know the phrase 'I trust ya about as far as I can throw ya'?"

"Yes?" He paused, realizing what she was thinking. "No."

She laughed. "The floor in here is padded! Juan hit the far wall, but he did roll a few times."

"Juan is tiny."

"He prefers the term compact, but regardless. Fael bounced, getting him to that blue knob there." She pointed, still grinning. "Keiko declined to be thrown, so no one knows how much I can trust her."

Peter stared at her for a few seconds, then shook his head, laughing. "Hypothetically. If I agree, how would you even throw me?"

"I can lift you, no worries."

"That- First, I worry. Second, I mean what type of throw?" he asked.

"Oh, right. Wrist, ankle, lift, swing, toss," Grace said, miming the actions. "Might have to tie your knees together."

"You're insane."

"Yes. And your poncho might drag; tuck it in or take it off."

Peter's brain failed to provide him with a coherent sentence, so finally he gave up with a shrug. "Hell. Why not."

"'At's the spirit! Alright, on your back, arms and legs in the air," she ordered, beaming.

"The insanity is spreading," he decided, tucking the poncho fringe into his belt before laying down.

"Right, let's see-" She grabbed his ankle and wrist. "Bleeding hell you've got long legs. Might need a chair to stand on."

"Wouldn't that be cheating?" Peter asked, wrapping his unheld hand around her wrist for balance.

"Poncho, I don't think there is cheating in 'let me see how far I can throw you'," she said seriously, looking down at him.

"Fair."

"Still… Nah, I can try at least. Even if you are bloody tall."

She adjusted her grip and lifted him off the floor with a grunt. Peter's hat fell off.

"Yeah, this is totally a thing I can do," Grace said, slowly starting to swing him back and forth. "No worries."

"If I don't make it far, want to get a chair?" he asked.

"Shush."

He laughed, feeling her move faster. Her hands started sweating as she swung him higher. Half a second before he thought her grip was going to slip, she swung him up and let go with a yell.

Peter soared very briefly through the air, hit the padded floor with his hip, and bounced to land on his face.

"Don't move!" Grace shouted as he started pushing himself up.

Peter flopped back down.

"One… two… three… eh, we'll call it four paces," she said, stepping up to him. She put his hat over his hair and screwed it on. "I can trust ya for four paces."

Peter pushed himself to his feet. "I think that's fairly trustworthy." He adjusted his hat.

Grace looked at it, frowned, and twisted it around ninety degrees with a grin. He took it off, giving up.

"Yes," she said, reaching up to mess with his hair. "Very trustworthy."

He grabbed her hand, pulling it down. "Would you mind…" And then, somehow, his lips were pressed against hers. He wasn't quite sure how, or how his arm was now around her waist, but he wasn't eager to let go.

Grace wasn't moving, either. They stood there, not moving, for longer than Peter was sure was reasonable. It didn't truly occur to him what was happening until they stepped apart and he saw her smile. He felt the blood drain from his face.

"I'm s-"

She put her hand over his mouth. "Don't you dare. That was brilliant."

"I sh-"

"No. Say something stupidly apologetic and I'll just have to shut you up by kissing you again."

Peter hesitated, then shook his head. He stepped back, putting his hat on again before walking past her towards the door.

Before he got there it opened, and Sophie stepped in with Rani. Sophie smiled, seeing him.

"Hello! Were you looking for me?" she asked.

He stopped, feeling guilty but not sure why. "No, we were just trying something in a padded room."

"Oh? What?"

Rani, who had been studying Grace, grinned at Peter. "Yes, trying what?"

"I wanted to see how far I could throw him," Grace said, walking over. "It's important to know that kind of thing."

She touched his hand, but he moved away, busying himself with untucking his poncho.

"It is? I'm not sure I could throw anyone any distance at all," Sophie decided.

"Sure you could, you just need the right motivation," Rani said.

"Like what?"

Peter cleared his throat awkwardly, taking a step back. "I told Marie I'd meet her, have to go."

Sophie looked confused, Rani was smirking, and Grace had a completely unreadable expression on her face. Peter did his best to not run from the room.