Territorial Skirmishes
(or, "Ignacz stakes his claim")
In fact, it wouldn't even be
the last time he wished it that night. Still, he was fairly certain
that no amount of wishing was going to improve their situation, so
eyeing the approaching bandits fitfully, he resolved to formulate
some sort of plan. Even with this in mind he couldn't help
reflecting that it would be much simpler if wishes worked. Oddly
enough, his wishes for a relatively peaceful outcome were about to be
answered, but not in any way that he would have dreamed.
The bandit growled as he shook his smarting hand in an
attempt to lessen the pain, "I don't know what you just did to me,
you witch, but I'm going to make sure you get it back with interest!"
From behind him and a little farther up the ridge, a voice
answered the bandit, "Now, I wouldn't be too sure of that."
The bandit, who assumed the voice belonged to a member of his
crew who was just being saucy answered, "What, you think I can't take
care of a little girl?"
The response to this question was at first a terribly loud
and obnoxious laugh that the bandit was sure he'd never heard
before. As he whirled on heel to face the voice, it continued, "It's
not the girl you should be worried about."
As he turned, the bandit leader yelled for his men to be on
guard, but even as he did, the cry died on his lips as he realized
they were surrounded by nearly twenty horsemen, all with bows drawn
and arrows notched.
Picking his way down the ravine was a young man who looked to
be about sixteen. He was brawny, stocky, grinning like a madman. He
halted his horse a few feet in front of the astonished bandit.
"You have picked the wrong place to raid, bandit boy. This
is the territory of the Moriaimung, the horse people. Since I'm
feeling generous today, I'm going to let you all leave, after you pay
a small toll for crossing our land of course."
"Hold it," snapped the bandit, "Just . . ."
He was cut off as a well placed arrow whistled through his
hair. He immediately, shut up again.
"As I was saying, we'll take two thirds of you rations, any
pack animals you may have, and of course, we'll be escorting those
two ladies and that man to our man camp. For only this paltry sum
I'm going to let you all live," he grinned and folded his hands over
the reins of his horse, "Doesn't that sound like a good deal?"
The sound of nineteen bowstrings being pulled a slight bit
tighter made the bandit leader's decision for him.
"Fine, we'll do as you say. It's not as if we have much
choice. Just tell me one thing, who do I have to thank for this
hospitality?" the bandit leader grunted again, aware that he was in
no position to refuse, but this time wary of stray arrows that might
find it necessary to nest in his hair.
The young man laughed again, and it was no quieter, "I am
Ignacz the Mergen, chief of the Moriaimung and this is my hunting
party. This is our land, although we have been away to the north and
the east for quite some time. Be wary of whose ground you raid on,
bandit-boy, because if we catch you again, do not expect to escape
with your lives."
The leader scowled and nodded sharply, "I hear you, Ignacz
the Mergen," he turned to his men, "Put your rations on the ground in
front of you."
"Ah, ah, slowly, my friends," laughed Ignacz, "I wouldn't
want any of the huntsmen to shoot you where you stand because they
thought you were going for a sling or a dagger and not your meat and
cheese."
Thus warned, the bandits moved slowly, but shortly, they had
managed to produce quite a pile of foodstuffs. Ignacz called for one
of the horsemen to collect the balance of the food and share it out
among the men.
"Now, bandit-boy, I know very well that you have some pack
animals with you, because we found them lashed to some trees on the
other side of the ridge. You know, you don't take very good care of
your animals. There were some very poorly underfed mules that we had
no use for, so we cut them loose. They'll be able to take care of
themselves better than you ever took care of them," Ignacz spat at
the ground near the bandit leader's feet, "The only animal you had
that we were interested in was this one."
Ignacz motioned and from around the lee side of the ridge,
two more horsemen rode up with a massive coal black stallion tethered
between them, "Now this is a well kept horse, so you must not have
had it long. I expect that you stole it from the last people that
you robbed. No matter. The horse is ours now, and part of the toll."
The bandit looked as if he could curdle milk with a single
stare, but he made no further comment.
"I suggest you not even think about attacking us again, for
we are many, and all trained warriors, and the Moriaimung do not
sleep without setting a night watch," he looked quite satisfied with
himself, "And just to make sure that you do make it safely off our
land, I'm sending you an escort of fifteen of my finest warriors, so
you had best not try anything."
Ignacz cast a look over his shoulder and rattled off some
names in quick succession. The horsemen in question soon rounded up
the bandits and, trying them hand and foot, threw them over the backs
of their small, sturdy ponies and lashed them there.
"Good journey boys," Ignacz smiled cheerfully, "I'll expect
you all back with the main group tomorrow morning."
There was a chorus of whoops and the fifteen horsemen took
off like greased lightening, despite their load of incapacitated
bandits. Ignacz was pleased. There were no people quite like his
people, and he was glad of it. Chucking to himself, he wheeled his
roan stallion Unegen around to face the three remaining unhorsed
people in the ravine. He could not help taking total stock of both
of the women before speaking.
"Now who do we have here?"
All three unhorsed individuals merely blinked at him, completely derailed
by the unexpected rescue. The ponytailed man was the first to regain his
composure, and bowed politely before he answered.
"I... ah... my name is Indalecio of..." He colored faintly as a change of
the wind hit him full force with the scent of horses, and fished a
lavender-scented handkerchief from his pocket to raise it to his face.
"...of nowhere in particular, as we seem to be rather lost right now. Thank
you for your help."
Ignacz flashed another of his toothy grins, well aware that he was leagues
ahead of this Indalecio in the muscle department, which was to his distinct
advantage in picking up any members of the female persuasion they might run
across, including the two with which the other man was traveling.
The tall, slender one was very nearly able to meet his eyes without tilting
her head upward despite the fact that Ignacz was on horseback, although she
didn't seem inclined to meet his eyes in the first place.
"... and your name...?" Ignacz prompted, as she seemed currently distracted
by Indalecio's raised hanky.
"Do you have a nosebleed...?" she inquired, redirecting her attention back
to Ignacz as Indalecio shook his head vehemently, unwilling to tell her
that he had yet to become accustomed to the bathing habits of his
travelling companions.
"Pelagia." she answered, tossing one of her trinity of ponytails behind
her. "... and yes, thank you for helping us."
The shorter girl, who had been retrieving and dusting off her staff, folded
her arms over her chest and regarded Ignacz sourly, partially because she
was exceptionally jealous of his clever idea to extract a toll from the
bandits. She planted the butt of her staff upon the ground and scowled at
him, just as if she, Indalecio, and Pelagia had been perfectly in control
of their earlier situation.
"... and you?" asked Ignacz, flashing another of his winning smiles.
"You first, humpless camel rider." Shasa replied, biting off the end of
each word.
"Sha-SA!" Pelagia hissed, elbowing her friend in the ribs. "Weren't you
listening? He's Ignacz the Mergen, chief of the... the..." she glanced up
at Ignacz in apology.
"Moriaimung." Ignacz finished helpfully, his grin never fading from his
features.
"Mmm." Shasa grunted, her eyes smouldering. She hadn't, in fact, been
listening, having been too severely stung by the fact that she had needed
assistance with the bandits from a pack of people on humpless camels. Well
aware that she did owe the rescuer her name at the very least, she forced
it through her teeth.
"Shasa, of the Desert Nomads."
"I heard her." Ignacz replied easily, indicating Pelagia. "-I- was
listening."
While Shasa was fuming, he tilted his head toward Indalecio, who was still
holding his handkerchief miserably over his nose, and inquired curiously, "So. Are these your wives?"
Pelagia blushed crimson and raised a hand to her mouth, Shasa sputtered,
and Indalecio came close to dropping his handkerchief. He was thunderstruck
by the question, which prevented him from answering it vocally.
"Er..." Pelagia offered, "N-no. We aren't."
"NO CHANCE, humpless camel rider!" Shasa managed, waving her staff at him
furiously. Indalecio, quite frankly, found the whole idea as unsavory as
she did; he was quite certain that neither of the girls had ever heard of
shampoo, and he knew for a fact that the desert dwellers simply did not
bathe. How could they, without any reasonable, reliable source of water? He
was, however, far too well-mannered to comment upon any of this. Ignacz's
only reply was a peal of rich, deep laughter that rang like a gigantic bell
from his diaphragm.
"Good to know." he gasped between chuckles. When he had finished succumbing
to his mirth, he cleared his throat and began again. "So. The only thing
that remains is what's to be done with you three. Where might you have been
headed?"
"We MIGHT have been headed for the Land of the Dead," Shasa snapped, "but
we were not. Mind your own business, humpless camel rider."
Amused, Ignacz shrugged. "I could have minded my own business and left you
to the bandits, babe. Your call."
"No, no..." Pelagia cut in swiftly. "We really are grateful for that,
really." She cast a desperate look at Indalecio, who nodded in
confirmation.
"Oh, indeed."
Ignacz straightened on the back of his steed, as if to say 'Well, that's
better.'
"We were headed for a... for the city, by way of the mountains." Pelagia
continued. "Are there more bandits in the area, do you think?"
"I hope so." Ignacz answered with another grin. "We got a good piece of
supplies out of the last ones."
Pelagia giggled, affirming the truth of the statement.
"Well... maybe you could come with us to the city, and we could..." she
glanced at Shasa. "... pay you for helping us, like a guard, or something?
The bandits are afraid of you."
It was Shasa's turn to be scandalized. "PELA!"
Indalecio interrupted politely, lowering his handkerchief. "I do think it would be beneficial to increase our numbers."
Shasa wasn't going to argue with royalty; she merely sighed with
exaggerated exasperation and folded her arms again, the picture of an old
granny with unreasonable toddlers. Ignacz tried very hard not to burst back
into hilarity, as the horsemen who remained with him had already done.
"Why don't you come back to camp with us for a while and discuss it there?"
Ignacz offered, accompanying the question with what he hoped was his most
charming of smiles. He grinned over at Shasa, eyes filling with mischief.
"Like I said before, we of the Moriaimung set a night watch."
Pela nodded energetically, which sent small ripples of motion all the way down
her three long tails of indigo hair. "Oh, I think that would be for the best.."
she turned slightly to face her companions, and caught a glimpse of Shasa's
less-than-enthused look of resignation to this plan. Indalecio, meanwhile, had
hastily replaced his handkerchief over his nose and mouth but was still doing
his best to look appreciative of their rescue. His face, though, still bore
traces of scarlet from the Moraimung chieftan's implication that Pela and Shasa
were both his wives - or maybe it was just that he had caught a good whiff of
the riders and horses from standing downwind.
Indalecio coughed a bit, clearing his throat, and also nodded assent. "If it's
not too much of a hinderance... lead the way, Ignacz?" He stumbled over the
foreign name a bit, plus his sense of propriety was telling him he really ought
to be addressing the young man on horseback - well, everyone he was in company
with - with some sort of title. After all, he'd only known them for a matter of
days, hardly time enough for a first name basis.
Ignacz grinned broadly, wheeling his steed around in the direction of the
encampment with a practiced ease. "Right then! It's only a short jog from here,
shouldn't be a problem for us manly men to cover it on foot, eh?" He winked in
an exaggerated fashion at Indalecio. "Perhaps you lovely ladies would like to
let my friend Unegen carry you there?" He let the word 'ladies' roll off his
tongue in a sound saturated with flirtaciousness, though such meanings went
sailing clear over Pelagia's head, only to strike Shasa all too soundly between
the eyes. She hunched down a bit and pointed the forked end of her staff at the
grinning rider.
"What, are you saying I cannot get there on my own two legs? That I need one of
your humpless-camel riding friends to carry me around like some kind of
spoiled-rotten city-woman!? I--"
Her rant was cut short by another peal of boisterous laughter from Ignacz. "The
horse!" he exclaimed, still struggling to keep his utter amusement under
control. "Unegen is my horse friend's name. " he patted his mount on the neck
fondly.
Shasa narrowed her eyes a bit. "I.. knew that, I was merely saying..." she was
met with Ignacz's near perpetual smile, still, this time punctuated by a
comical waggling of his eyebrows. "-that I'll be fine on foot," Shasa grumbled
to complete her statement.
The rejection of his offer didn't seem to diminish Ignacz's good humor, in
fact, he gave Shasa another appreciative glance before turning away. "Whoa, a
tough chick. I like it. And what about you, baby?" he addressed Pelagia now.
Pela edged back from the roan horse a bit, as it shifted its footing
impatiently. "Oh no, I couldn't! After all, he's your horse, and... I don't
want to trouble you any more than we aleady have." That and she hadn't the
faintest idea how to ride one, she mused silently, though she felt too foolish
about it to admit it out loud.
Ignacz sighed softly. "Beautiful *and* kind. I must've done something right to
find two babes in one day... And *you*," he pointed a finger at Indalecio. "You
lucky dog, you've had them all to yourselves up 'til now, Indaselio!" With a
joyful whoop, he nudged his horse into motion, made a swift circle around the
three travellers to show off just a bit, then settled into a casual trot off
towards the Moraimung camp. "This way!"
"That's 'Indalecio'..." The blonde-haired scribe called after him hesitantly,
though by that time the Moraimung chieftan's attention was thoroughly elsewhere.
Pelagia had been expecting the Moraimung camp to be little more than the
handful of riders who had rescued them from the bandit attack, so she had a
hard time suppressing her wide-eyed wonder at the sprawl of families and
livestock that dotted the plains as they arrived. There were no permanent
buildings, only cloth tents and campfires, so that the whole scene reminded
Pela very much of Shasa's clan. She mentioned the likeness to Shasa, in the
hopes that this would calm the water diviner's mood some - she'd been looking
severely cranky ever since they'd been rescued from the bandits.
"Hmmph," Shasa said, pursing her lips thoughtfully. "I suppose they cannot be
all bad, then." She glanced up to see Pelagia smiling back at her hopefully.
Quickly she regained her usual demeanor, though, as she added loudly, "Of
course, living anyplace that has this much vegetation and water just LYING
AROUND waiting for someone to use it must make people MUCH SOFTER than us
desert folk." She shot a meaningful stare at the back of Ignacz's head, but he
was either oblivious or was pretending not to hear as he was riding alongside
Indalecio and muttering something to him. Pela could only suppress a giggle and
try to look scandalized by the declaration, in her time with Shasa she had
learned that this was as close to admitting that her mood had brightened as she
would likely get.
"I still can't believe you want to pay him to come with us, we could have taken
care of those bandits," Shasa continued, the cranky edge on her voice dulled,
but there was still some genuine concern therein. Pela met her eyes with a look
of supreme skepticism, though she held her tongue. Finally, Shasa threw her
hands up in the air. "All right, all right, so maybe they were a *slight*
problem, but I refuse to-"
"It's all right," Pela interrupted in a hushed tone. "I have those pearls,
remember? I wouldn't want you or Mister Indalecio to have to give them money, I
was the one that offered..." Shasa started to speak again, this time looking
very disturbed indeed about Pela offering outrageously valuable objects to a
bunch of humpless camel folk, so Pela hastily continued before her friend had a
chance to start shouting. "And.. I'll need your help negotiating with them,
won't I? I know you'll get us the best deal..." she fixed a worried look on the
desert girl, hands clasped nervously in front of her.
"Eh? Well.. that is.. of course! Do not worry, I will have them eating out of
the palm of my hand before you know it." Shasa nodded confidently. "If I can
haggle the hind tooth from a rattlesnake, I can most certainly deal with a
bunch of soft-bellied plains people."
Pelagia flashed another beaming smile at Shasa, thanking her profusely. Desired
reaction achieved, she thought, though she couldn't help but feel a tad guilty
for pushing the other girl's buttons so blatantly. The actual center of the
Moraimung encampment was rapidly coming up, and as they walked further in, more
people acknowledged Ignacz with a wave or a shout. He was still grinning and
occasionally waving back, though all the while he was exchanging words with a
very flustered looking Indalecio.
"What do you suppose they're up to?" Pelagia mused aloud. Shasa could only
squint in their direction suspiciously, she hadn't the foggiest idea.
As it happened, Shasa wasn’t the only one lacking ideas, even foggy ones,
although in Indalecio’s case it was as to how to relate to their recently
commissioned bodyguard, who was presently riding alongside him. Though his
original companions had seemed rather rough and primitive at first, he had
been forced to reevaluate this conclusion after comparing them to this
Ignacz the Mergen and his tribe. They all seemed jovial enough now, and now
that they had arrived in the tribe’s temporary tent village it all seemed
... almost quaint. Mothers called playing children in to eat, and young men
gathered to boast and compare stories of their exploits. Still, Indalecio
had seen firsthand that they were more than capable of dealing with threat,
and reminded himself that Earthbounds were unpredictable people who might
turn on you at the drop of a misconstrued comment. He knew he must always
keep on his guard, especially in such a large group.
The smell wasn’t helping his mood much either.
Not wanting to offend his host, at whose mercy he knew he was currently
placed, Indalecio managed to muster enough self-control to remove the
scented handkerchief from his face. "So....Mister Ignacz, you mentioned
that you are the leader of this community?"
Ignacz nodded as he waved to a group of girls, who promptly broke into
giggles. "That’s right Indelcio." Looking back towards his companion,
Ignacz grinned widely and indicated the girls with a jerk of his head.
"It’s good to be the chief. Speaking of which, how did you manage to pick
up such beautiful girls? Are you gonna tell me your secret?"
Indalecio pretended not to notice the implication of Ignacz’s question.
"Actually, I would be more correct in stating that I was picked up by them.
I am new to the area and had some difficulty with the locals. Miss Pelagia
and Miss Shasa were kind enough to come to my aid."
"Ahhh, so they came to your rescue then, did they? I’d never considered
using the helpless act, but then I’ve always found that girls are much more
appreciative if you’re the one who’s doing the rescuing." The way Ignacz
inflected the word ‘appreciative’ left no question as to exactly how damsels
in distress might show him their appreciation. "Say Dalley....hey you don’t
mind if I call you that do you?"
"Actually, I’d prefer...."
"Dalley it is then! It’s a good, strong name. Chicks’ll love it.
Indelsalio sounded kind of girly anyway. Now what was I going to say? Oh
yeah! Dalley, you’ve known the girls longer than I have. Exactly how .....
appreciative do you think they might be?" Ignacz grinned slyly and glanced
back over his shoulder to leer at Shasa and Pelagia.
Indalecio nearly stumbled. "Y....you can’t be serious! They’re only
children!"
Ignacz squinted, still looking over his shoulder. "Are you sure? They sure
don’t look like children to me...." Ignacz turned back to look at
Indalecio. "Are you sure that’s really your problem?"
"What do you mean?"
"Aww, come on now Dalley, it’s pretty obvious. Any man would understand.
You like one of them and I’m horning in on your territory. But it’s okay,
I’m a fair fellow. What do you say we share? Tell me which one it is that
you like, and I’ll leave her to you. The small dark one (her name’s Shasa
right?) seems like quite a spitfire. I’ll bet she’s great in the sack if
she doesn’t bite you first, although that’s not always a bad thing...."
Ignacz waggled his eyebrows. "She doesn’t seem to be your type though, so
that leaves the tall slender one. Her hair is unusual, but she’s cute.
That’s it, isn’t it?"
Indalecio could only stare up at Ignacz and sputter. Of course he hadn’t
had such intentions! He’d only just met Pelagia and Shasa the other day,
and though he almost considered them friends, he certainly didn’t think of
them like that! Unfortunately Ignacz mistook his sudden loss of
intelligible speech for agreement and simply guffawed and slapped Indalecio
on the back, nearly sending him flat on his face.
Ignacz winked, "Don’t worry Dalley, I’ll help you out. So, exactly where
was it that you’re all heading again?"
Still red in the face from Ignacz’s assumptions, Indalecio was grateful for
the change of subject. "We were traveling to a large city with which Miss
Shasa is familiar, but first we must meet up with Shasa’s people in the
mountains somewhere. I am not very certain on the specifics however, so
perhaps we should ask her."
x
