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!"
