Catch Her .. if You Can

If it is not obvious yet I am rather confused and dazed at this point. I had not even gotten around to missing Pacu yet .. the awful truth of it held just out of my conscious like the Sky knew I could not handle it yet. But I had this sinking feeling all around me like .. there was something big I was going to drown in soon enough and it was not my physical hurts.

The girl running through the tall grass dressed in some kind of white .. all torn up and muddy around the edges now though ... seemed like some kind of dream. The entire day seemed like some kind of dream. Most of it not a good one .. not that mine are known for being good on a regular basis or anything ... but this definitely ranked up there as one of the worst.

Only the pain I felt and blood that ran like a slick curtain down my face reminded me it was all too real. And the fact that I was about to be nothing but smoke was not any good news either.

So I squared my shoulders and swelled my chest and made believe I meant to be standing all alone in the middle of nowhere with my saddle and gear slung over my shoulder .. and like it meant nothing at all to face six well mounted and pissed off looking Vaci.

right

The girl came barreling on like a wagon down a slope all out of control and she just fell at my feet all used up like it was somehow planned out. I stared at her for a moment but .. only for a moment because she was not the important part of the situation. The six Vaci closed in looking mighty curious about me and I pretended this sort of thing happened to me all the time and I called out a cheery sort of .. "Tal!"

They glanced at each other .. all their jewels and gold flashing in the light of the Central Fire just adding to the dizzy feeling in my head. Keep it together Fonce .. you can puke and pass out later ... now would be a really bad time.

So anyway they were glancing at each other and I guess they were just not sure what in the hell to make of me. They could see the colors of the scars down one side of my face even if the other was all washed in fresh running crimson. My scars spoke of my bravery .. so was I brave or had the knock on my head just made me completely crazy?

And honestly I could not have given them an answer if they had asked .. though I myself was leaning just a little towards the crazy side.

I was hoping for a moment that the idea I was a complete lunatic would make them go away. But leave it to a plainsman to be all curious and shit and never to walk away from a good fight.

figures

They gestured to the girl who was all done in at my feet. I yawned and nodded and told them she was mine of course. I knew that they knew that I knew that we all knew I was full of bosk shit .. but their leader smiled a knowing smile and nodded. He thrust his lance in the soil and they all started riding around in a circle. Spear gambling for my life like I was some stranger on the plains.

fuckers

So I slid my saddle from my shoulder and crouched down with a yawn like it did not mean two bosk chips to me what they were doing. Leaning back I pretended to take a nap.. just lazing around waiting for them to figure out which one of their lot was going to send me back to the Sky. I wanted to wipe at my left eye but I just pretended the thickening sticky mass of blood was not bothering me either. All the while I took the chance to glance over the girl who was still trying to catch her breath and at the same time keep my one good eye on who it was I was going to have to be meeting up close and personal soon.

It was a young .. big son of a bitch ... size of a bosk and just as fat. Only .. it was not the kind of fat that makes a man weak .. it was the kind that has muscle to it. He was all excited and spun his kaiila around but his leader called to him and told him to get off his beast.

huh

Looked like I was going to get a break. Not much of one .. I had a quiva. I had lost my lance and my shield back somewhere in the battle with the rogue plainsmen ... and Serge.

Fucker

So it was not going to be even matched .. but at least I did not have to face the kaiila. The kid was all pissed off and jumped off his beast and I watched him move that bulk of his mass around like a larl .. real easy on his feet that one. The rest rode their kaiila over and surrounded us. Just in case either one of us decided that fighting was less important than trying to save our own hide.

I felt like a pile of stampeded bosk shit. Just all done to hell but .. there was that familiar sucking sensation gripping my stomach and making me feel lighter than air. One of us was going to die .. and right then I was too tired and too sore to care which one. And I had to piss.

figures

I got up and rolled my shoulders .. stretching my neck and feeling all the hurts from earlier that day and the dizziness .. though I knew adrenaline would kick in again soon and give me a boost.. I also knew that if I survived I was going to be used up and done. If I survived ...

Now I imagine you are thinking I am rather silly at this point.. risking my life ..limb ... or both ... on some slip of a girl that did not look worth anyone's life especially mine. But it was not really about the girl and any man who has been there knows exactly what I am speaking of. Could have been a stretch of grass we both wanted to graze our bosk on .. or a bosk chip we both wanted to use for fire .. could have been anything even a pot of shit. The object was not the point .. the contest was. Men will find excuses to kill each other .. I suppose I am no exception to that rule.

The girl in fact was all but forgotten by everyone but the head of the Vaci whose blood red kaiila had one great forepaw stuck right on her chest. The jagged claws pinpoints of sharpness in her flesh just waiting for her to move or even breath too heavy. I bet she was doing some hoping that beast did not need to sneeze.

Now as I have stated before I am not a lot of Tuchuk .. I am more stretched out and lean compared to my Brothers and that means I can usually move a little faster .. but it was not my skill that caused the point of his lance to graze my left arm slicing through the leather and snagging there .. it was just dumb luck. My quiva weakened the shaft enough that as I tore it loose my boot was able to snap the weapon. We circled each other and he came at me again this time with a blade .. I dodged but my boot slipped in the mud and I went down almost falling on my own blade and cutting my kneecap off. I rolled just as his heel came down where my skull used to be and I spun kicking his feet out from under him .. gave us both time to get to our feet. We were losing our identity in the mud .. only mine was stained with blood. I knew I had to make this quick .. I did not have the stamina for a long spar. I saw him brace just as he threw the blade and again dumb luck intervened as I slipped in the mud at the same time .. the quiva sinking into my shoulder just shy of my heart or lung. Then he dodged just out of my sight .. left eye still mucked up with mud and blood ... and I felt his boot impact my chest before I saw it. Tore the air out of my lungs in a searing red hot moment and I felt the bile rising in my throat .. coughing and retching as he caught me in a great kur hug and lifted my feet off the ground .. his knuckles digging into my spine. His shoulder forcing the quiva deeper into my shoulder and I screamed. The entire world spun for me .. dizzy ... needing air ... and I arched my back as hard and fast as I could bringing my forehead down onto his nose with all the power I had in my neck and shoulders. I felt the crunch as the bone broke and sunk back into his skull .. he dropped me staggering back wild eyed and I drove my blade three times quickly .. once into his chest .. once into his throat and finally I drove it up through his gaping mouth as he sought for air .. puking blood all over my face and the tip of the blade glanced off a facial bone with a crack and exited his eye. I palmed his chin shattering his teeth on the hilt and sent him staggering to fall backwards like a slowly felled tree .. my blade still stuck through his ruined face at an odd angle. Blood bubbled up through his throat and mouth all frothy with a whine of air .. his only requiem.

I sank to my knees .. lungs clawing for a breath ... wiping the blood and mud off my face .. some mine a lot his. The entire thing still a blur to me .. I just wanted some air ... just a little bit of air.

I must have passed out at that point..on my knees .. my chin against my chest. When I woke it was silent. The Vaci were gone .. even the big dead one ... though my blade was lain at my knee in the grass ... wiped clean. The Vaci blade had been left in my shoulder. Another break. They could have pulled it out and left me to bleed to death. A guy has to be thankful for the little things. The girl was sitting just in front of me .. staring at me. Perhaps wondering if I was alive or dead. Even I was not sure on that point.

Then all the pain hit and I knew I was alive.

figures.