All the Best Mistakes Part 1

Welcome to the first post of a longer short story! This, like many of my short stories, is based on a dream I had. I got to thinking after I had the dream why there weren't that many fantasy stories set in a stone age world? You see more sword and sorcery stories and less atlatl and sorcery. Why? If you have magic what would that do to weaponry? How would magic be used in a society with few to no metal weapons or tools?

Sometimes dreams can be a gold mine of inspiration writing wise, other times you dream about being trapped in a mall underneath a gas station and...hey wait...that might be a good idea too.

By the way, Spellcheck doesn't know what atlatl is.




Many of my stories will features subjects and ideas that I haven't seen in books or shows that personally I'd like to read about. I fear part of that is I'm just not very well read and need to be more adventurous when reading books, but at least I wont have to worry about accidentally stealing someone else's ideas.  The stories I post here will also be in a variety of genres, tenses and themes. So "All the Best Mistakes" is fantasy, with magic and demon men and the like, but I have several Science Fiction shorts in the works as well as thrillers.

I will be posting Part 1 today, then Part 2 on October 1st. Each post will have a small illustration with it (I went kind of artsy with this one, not sure it works, let me know!) After the last Part of "All the Best Mistakes" has been posted the next two posts will be flash fiction pieces, 1000 words or less, but that will be some time in the future.

Without further ado here is Part 1 of "All the Best Mistakes."

Please enjoy and thanks for reading!
-Neila

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All The Best Mistakes Part 1

By Sarah "Neila" Elkins

     Going to the city was a mistake, but a necessary one as most mistakes I tend to make have been. Staying at the Temple was a mistake. Fleeing with the Shaman was a mistake. It was not my battle, but it rarely is. That is in the past. So now we are in the city of Polis, the largest city this side of the desert. It's easier to hide around other people than in the sand like a louse lizard. A tide of bodies flows into and out of the city of Polis each day. Strangers, travelers, royalty, warriors, magi, Shaman and troubadours from around the world come and go from Polis daily. A Shaman and a Cuitapilli traveling together will blend in. We hope.

     “How did you manage to get us a room to ourselves?” Tura sits on the edge of the roughly made wooden bench in the small room I rented for us.

    Tura clutches her staff, “I mean, a room like this isn't cheap right? And to get it to ourselves...you didn't-”

    “I didn't 'sway' them. I had some beads. That was enough for the inn keeper to give us the room for a few nights. We can stay here, sleep, get supplies and leave before Orum's men have a chance to realize we're here much less search the whole city.”

     I've had the beads since my stay in the islands of Uchon. The beads are made of colorful pieces of shell, rare this far inland and worth far more than the room. I have been using the beads as barter for months and still have some left. I make a mental note to make some more beads out of whatever I can. They wont be worth as much as those made from shell, but the same technique can be used and they're better than nothing.

     I'm snapped back to the present by Tura's response, “A man like Orum will search the whole city.”

     She is right. Tura is right.

     Orum had lead a raiding party to ransack the Temple Tura is from two nights before, the Temple I had made the mistake of staying at when I had entered the desert nation. Orum was searching for power, for her. She is one of the most powerful Shaman I have ever met, but she can barely see the world around her. The toll of her power will continue to wear on her eyes until all she can see on her own is darkness, or so I hear. It means she will always need someone to act as her eyes. Someone who is magic inclined. Someone like me.

     Tura looks conspicuous on her own. Her vivid white fabric robes are woven by magic in the Temple and lined with maroon accents dyed by using the rich juice of cactus fruit. She is Two-Spirit, the most powerful of Shamans and she looks glorious. She is far from her Temple without official business to attend to.

     Why would a Shaman of her standing be in Polis? Much less with me?

     I with Tura look suspicious. I wear clothing I made myself, scraps of discarded leather and hides I tanned myself stitched together with sinew and a bone needle, all of which can be removed and used as barter. My hair is unwashed, my horns are not clean and my tail twitches when I'm nervous, which surrounded by so many people as live in Polis is nearly all the time. Why would a Shaman travel with a lowly Cuitapilli?

    Because she is on the run.

    I do not want to leave her in the room alone. We were separated from her Temple guards, a man and woman I had dined with three nights before, after the Temple was attacked. If they were captured Orum could deduce that we were in Polis, but he could figure that out on his own if he was not an idiot. I doubt a man with that many people at his beck and call is an idiot. Smart people don't follow the orders of an idiot, at least they shouldn't.

     "Do you think Vassa and Haret will find us in the city?"

     I know she can use my eyes as her own, but do not know how far her ability goes beyond that?

     "I don't know. Could you send them a message?"

     Tura closes her eyes, "Only if I had some of their hair."

     "Remind me to get you some of that if we see them again."

     "But...Haret's bald."

     "He's bound to have hair somewhere," I smile.

     "Ugh, I'd rather no think about that. Eww."

     I figure she doesn't have to read my mind to know what I'm thinking. I use my smaller obsidian knife to cut off a sizable chunk of my own hair from near one of my horns on the top of my head, "Here. Keep this safe."

     Tura's face falls like a dropped bowl, "You're not leaving me are you?"

     "I need to get us food, water. See if I can spot Vassa or Haret in the city. Uh, you can use my eyes if I'm not nearby right?"
     My knowledge of magic is mostly self taught, which may have contributed to my mistake of choosing to stay in the Temple. The chance to be around magic users that knew what they were doing was intriguing as most of my experience with magic has been using Sway to get out of trouble or ember breathe to start a camp fire, both things that come easily to a Cuitapilli.

     "I can but...It's harder the further you are away. The link is made though, I may not need your hair to contact you..." She looks like she is about to begin sobbing so I gently give her a kiss on the top of her head. Her hair is surprisingly clean with the smell of pleasant flowers, not too sweet, despite our trek through the wasteland of sand between her Temple and the city, "It will be alright. No matter where I am, if you need me call my name and I will be at your side."

     "Utzi...you mean like a summon?" Tura's eyes light up. She can't focus on anything farther than a hand length from her face but I can see the pieces of a plan are coming together in her mind.

     "Summon?" What is that?

     "Go. Get food. If something happens I will call you! Like you said. Until then I'll be here, resting"

     "Are you sure?" My tail begins to twitch nervously but I stop it, mindful of my body language. The thought that she probably can't see the minute movement of my tail doesn't cross my mind.

     Tura pushes me toward the heavy stone door, "Yes! Yes! Go. We need to eat. See if you can find the others. I will wait and rest."

     The door to the room moves smoothly if pressed in the right spot, bearings, I heard it called once but I've never seen what a bearings looks like. Tura forces me against that 'right spot' and before I know it I am outside of the room, she is inside the room, and I'm checking to make sure my tail didn't get caught in the gap. No sense wasting time. The moons will be full tonight but that doesn't guarantee the market will still be open.

     

    I find the market. Dear Gods it's bigger than I imagined, a city in it's own right that winds thorough Polis like roots thorough the soil. I keep my tail close so it doesn't get stepped on and make a quick mental assessment of what I have on me to barter. A few Uchonian beads, my vest, made of Kaset hides, some of my older knives that are more chipped than I like. It's always a mistake to go without a knife, they can break at anytime. I can make more but it takes time and the right stones.

     Food.

     Water.

     I follow my nose to the smell of cooked meats. The meat venders might not want a pelt since they trade those themselves, but they might want my larger knife. I want to hang on to my remaining beads as long as I can.

     The meats will be fine for me but I noticed Tura's reluctance to eat much meat at the Temple. She favored berries and tubers, so with her in mind I keep going. I've been without food before and know I can catch some of the fat little birds that perch on the clay buildings in Polis if necessary. I find one of the city's well springs and fill up my two water skins while I think over the whole situation I've found myself in once again. Thinking and rethinking. My family used to call me "Star Eyes" because I would always be staring at the night sky thinking. Utzi Star Eyes.

     Why had Orum attacked the Temple? His men were looking for something, or someone that much was obvious. They searched room by room and left many of the 'holy items' that could be worth a fortune to some behind. My thinking is that they must have been after Tura the Shaman. Orum may believe that she could be easy to control because of her poor vision. They didn't count on a Cuitapilli taking advantage of the Temple's open door policy.

     As I finish filling my second water skin I scan the area of the market around the well. There is no shortage of choice regarding berries and tubers, there are at least three tents near me with baskets full of the things. I quietly note to myself the lack of Cuitapilli in the area, but also note the lack of stares in my direction. All travelers welcome. Good. Time to barter for berries, I recall Tura liked the red ones.

     "Are these good to eat?" I ask the woman at the stand selling berries and tubers first, she seems surprised.

     "I wouldn't think a Cuitapilli would be interested in them, but yes, they're quite sweet."
     I hate sweet things.

     I sniff one but can tell absolutely nothing about their quality due to my lack of knowledge.

     "Care to try one?"

     I try not to cringe as I take a bite of the large red berry. It's not as sweet as I feared but the strange seeds on the outside get caught in my teeth. I make myself finish the berry before nodding to the woman, "I'll take a basket of these and those tubers."

     "What do you have to trade?"

The sun is setting. Navigating the unfamiliar city during the day has been confusing enough, I do not want to be out at night, even if both moons are full, "Beads, from Uchon."

     The woman's eyes are wide when I pull six beads from my leather pouch on my belt.

     "Beads, or an old knife."

     "Both."

     "Both?" My tail bumps into someone passing by behind me so I reign it back in. I look at the woman who's expression has not changed, "Both?"

     "Yes. You're also paying for the baskets. I made them by hand and could use a new knife."

     I sigh and remove one of my older knives with a chip I don't like and hand it and the beads to the woman, "Alright, deal."

     I begin making my way back through the market the way I entered, passing stalls I made note to remember. I'm almost to the meat filled stall near the entrance that made my mouth water. I can wait. The berries aren't that sweet. I can eat some of them tonight and some of the fat roof birds in the morning.

     "Utzi!" A voice behind me calls, loud and female, not Tura.

     I turn to see Vassa, one of Tura's guards pushing through the market crowd smiling. She is taller and more muscular than many of the men she is pushing aside.

     "Vassa?"
     "Utzi! I found you! You got away! Where's Tura?"

     "Tura's at the inn. Where have you been? How did you escape Orum?"

     "Which inn? And Orum's an idiot. He followed Haret and me into the desert. We doubled back around, got behind him and came here."

     "Where's Haret?"

     "Off taking a piss or something. Which Inn is Tura at? Is she okay? Here, let me carry that for you," Vassa takes the baskets from me.

     "It's the one by the small clutch of trees near the side of town nearest the mountains."

Vassa looks at the fruit, "Don't tell me you were going to eat this too? Where's your food? You look half starved."

     "I was going to get myself something later," I think to add I always look half starved but don't.

    "Go. Get yourself something to eat. I'll take this to Tura. Meet us back at the inn." She holds both baskets with one hand and digs into a fabric pouch with the other. She hands me several colorful shiny stones. "I saw a meat vendor back there that had some sand grouse, it smelled amazing."

     "Thanks," I nod to her. "I'll meet you back at the inn."

     "Take your time," She waves as she walks away from the market. "And make sure you eat all of whatever you get. Don't spoil Tura's aura with grouse meat!"

     Gods. I'm stupid when I'm hungry. I always make mistakes when I'm hungry, but the sand grouse was delicious.

To be continued October 1st in Part 2 of "All the Best Mistakes!"