[27] Not the Time or the Place

[27] Not the Time or the Place

The caravan had grown considerably now that they were traveling alongside the villagers. It also meant they were moving considerably slower since many of them had to walk, including Tanisha. She was already falling behind after only a short while of having to carry her bookbag, alchemy case, the additional bag Joha gave her, the druid staff and combat knife.

Bjorn stayed with her as she struggled but she also noticed the occasional eye of one of the young village men. He looked to be a few years older than her, probably eighteen. He had a short sword and she assumed he was one of the village guards. He looked very similar to Hrolf just with a goatee and obviously much younger. When she started to lag behind reaching the last rows of travelers he slowed down and approached her.

“Hey, are you okay?” The young man said. “I can take some of that for you.”

“N-no. I got it.” Freja said between labored breaths. “It is part of my training.”

“Okay.” He looked down at Bjorn who didn’t seem bothered by him, so he walked alongside them. “Well, my name is Tyr, you saved my and my granddad’s life with your potions. I mean, thank you for that.” He paused to consider his words and hesitated a few times before settling on something. “My dad is the village leader Hrolf by the way. Oh, not bragging or anything just so you know.” He scratched his head. “Are you sure you don’t want me to take some of that?”

She slowed down a little more. “Yes, I am sure. It is nice to meet you, Tyr. My name is Tanisha. That is Bjorn.”

“Uh, what are you training for?” Tyr asked. “I thought you were a mage or alchemist.”

“I am the apprentice of Joha, the demon tiger guy.” Tanisha stated. “He is going to teach me how to fight like him.”

“Woah really? I saw him fighting, kind of. It was insane.” Tyr said, looking up at the colorful wagon Joha drove. “I mean all of them can fight but between him and the gnoll I think he is the best.” He looked down at the sword at his hip. “If I was stronger maybe I could have saved some of the people we...” He took a deep breath.

“You're a warrior?” Tanisha asked.

“Mystic swordsman in training, my dad was teaching me the way of the sword passed down through our family.” Tyr said as he patted the hilt of his sword. “It is called Hrior af Brotnum Isi or Storm of Shattered Ice. I didn’t even get a chance to use it. The attack happened so fast, one second everything was normal, the next I was on the ground bleeding and explosions were going off. It wasn’t what I expected a real battle to be, you know?” He paused for half a minute. “Your master was the first to act, everyone else was, I don’t know, frozen, in shock.”

“What about your dad?” Tanisha asked.

“He was away when the attack started, out hunting I think.” Tyr sighed. “I was supposed to protect the village while he was gone. He arrived sometime during and helped the gnoll capture one of the druids. I was unconscious at the time and would have died if not for you.”

The two were silent for a long moment and as they continued to walk. Tyr matched her pace as she continued to slow down. He didn’t offer to take her things anymore but instead started to cheer her on. Telling her she could do it and to keep pushing. It was a long few hours and finally at midday the convoy took their first break. It took Tanisha and Tyr an additional thirty minutes to catch up to the rest site.

“There. I made it.” Tanisha said as she threw up her hands and fell into the soft grass.

“I’ll get you some water.” Tyr said as he ran off.Findd new stories at novelhall.com

She had a canteen of her own, but he ran off before she could tell him. Tanisha rolled onto her side taking off the heavy bag. Then rolled again onto her back now free of all the extra weight.

Tyr ran back up with a canteen in his hand. He bowed to Joha who nodded in response.

“You are the son of Hrolf, right?” Joha asked.

“Y-yes sir.” The young man responded. “My name is Tyr.”

Joha looked between Tanisha and Tyr and smirked. “Thank you for looking after my apprentice, if she is any trouble let me know.” He looked at Tanisha who had already finished her food. “Be sure to use the pipe I gave you. We will continue your training tonight once we stop for the evening. Until then do your best to keep up with the group.”

“There is going to be more? Today?” Tanisha asked with a tired groan.

“This is the warmup.” Joha said with a wink as he stood up.

“What does the pipe do exactly?” Tanisha asked. “It doesn’t seem to have anything inside of it.”

Joha opened his mouth, stopped himself then asked.“If you don’t know what the pipe is, why did you ask if you were a demon?”

Tanisha sat up a little straighter at his response. “I have mental projection magic. I think it came from my familiar bond with Bjorn. I can see my status and skills.”

Bjorn perked up at that and Joha watched the lizard with renewed interest.

“Interesting but I cannot speak on the ways of your magic. Especially with familiar bonds, demons cannot form them, and I know little about magic.” Joha said with some thought. “I will ask Helina to assist in assessing your magical abilities. As for your training, this discovery will help in monitoring your progress.” The tiger demon smiled. “The smoking pipe is attuning you to the maya. You gain maya from me as your patron, but those energies would be useless if you cannot attune your body to them. We will go over more tonight.”

The demon tiger left, and the plates Tanisha and Bjorn ate on disappeared in a puff of red smoke without warning. Tyr handed her the canteen, but she didn’t need it. She thought about it and instead of dashing his goodwill she thanked him and drank.

The two talked for a while but not about much, the road, weather, how much longer they would be traveling that day, which would be about another five hours. Tanisha groaned at that but accepted her fate carrying the heavy bags. At some point Bjorn had wandered off and Tanisha thought that she might as well look around for any useful herbs. Tyr seemed like he wanted to go with her but was called for guard duty.

“Well, he’s nice.” Tanisha said as she waved him off.

She couldn’t help but think of Mat, her human friend from the academy. They looked nothing alike of course Tyr being a snowfallen wendigo and Mat being a human. They weren’t even built the same, snowfallen were naturally lean and Tyr was in better shape and quite muscular. She thought to herself why did she think about Mat just then? She then remembered Julie told her that Mat had a crush on her, and he didn’t deny it.

Tanisha patted her face with both hands. “Not the time or the place, Tanisha.” She stood up and took out her pipe. “Let's look for some herbs while I have the chance.”

She smoked letting blue smoke escape her lips. The smoke didn’t burn anymore, it just felt numbing and kind of nice. She could feel the magic within it as usual but for a moment she swore she felt something else. Something darker but just as quickly as she felt it the sensation was gone. She wondered if she felt anything at all. The smoking seemed to be revitalizing her and making her less sore and giving her more energy. Knowing now that it was attuning her to maya, an energy from the higher planes, was intriguing to say the least.