MOHP up, or The Wounded Man's Gold, pt 19(ish)

Previously: after a brief, brutal battle with giants, Mira and her companions flee into the forest and find an abandoned structure that provides some protection from the storm that is raging around them. As Seymuhr and Broo Fang Tane drift off to sleep—exhausted by their efforts in the fight—Esmiralda finally has a chance to take stock of her situation and get a few answers...


Merrick paused, and I suspected it was more for theatrics than any nervousness or concern over the conversation. He knew what he wanted to say, he knew he wanted me to hear it and he knew he wanted me to wait for it.

I was intrigued. There was enough substance to his previous words to make me wonder what the next would be. And, of course, if it revealed him to be a raving lunatic, I'd be better served knowing that before I shut my eyes and attempted to rest.

"First, about my companions. We are all given tasks in this world, whether you believe it was by your own choice, the guidance of your parents or scholars or in response to a need or whether you believe this thing, this purpose was granted to you by a higher power--one of the gods," he said. "I believe that you are also given the tools to accomplish this task. Your life is defined by when you discover your task—your destiny, to use a poet's word—and when you identify the tools you will need.

"Tools is a horrendous word, I know. But a hunter may find the perfect bow, a warrior a strong swords. Most often, it is not such an obvious thing. My task is greater than that, so my tools must be. I could not accomplish what I have set out to do without stout companions at my side to defend me from and to help me purge the evil in this land and, I know believe, I could not accomplish it without someone to tell the tale."

"I see." I looked at the opening to the shelter. The rain had stopped and the forest looked inviting. "And what do you think is your task?"

"I don't think it; I know it. I am a member of a special group and, if I've performed my duties as well as I think I have and in the manner to which I was sworn, you are about to be the second person who knows it."

A tingle formed at the base of my spine. Merrick's posture had changed. His back straightened, his voice took on a quiet authority, abandoning the nervous whisper he used to approach me. He paused again, and this time I believed it was to ensure that Tane and Seymuhr were indeed sleeping.

"I am a member of the Ministry of Human Preservation."

"No!" I shouted before I could stop myself, then clamped a hand over my mouth. The MOHPs were barely more than a legend; none had ever proved their existence.

"Indeed," he said, with another look over his shoulder. My exclamation had not woken our comrades. "You are surprised?"

"On a number of fronts," I answered when I could trust my tongue. So many questions raced in my mind I could not decide which to ask first.

"That is good, in a way." He settled back, completely relaxed now. He closed his eyes and ran a hand down his face to the end of his beard. "The secrecy in which we operate serves two purposes: it eases the minds of the good people in the land and allows those who seek to do evil—human or otherwise—to become overconfident and lazy. Easy to find and easy—or easier, at least—to stop. But make no mistake, Esmiralda, that the need for the Ministry is great, and times are dire indeed. Most people just don't know it. They go about their daily lives as best they can, not even thinking about the minor misfortunes or tribulations that come their way. They don't understand that each of those things, every tiny slight, is a rift in the benevolent power of the world. We become accustomed to the little evils so the large ones do not seem as frightening—and the goodness in the land evaporates not like a fire doused with water but like a sea shore eaten away by the tide.

"We look at the land like a garden. There are always weeds to pull. Sometimes you can snap off the stem—as we just did with the Hustyn—and make things better for a time. Our goal is to seek the roots of these pockets of evil so that we can rid the land of them once and for all."

I propped myself on my elbow. "But there is always the sea and always the shore. Always thistles among the flowers."

He grunted. "Indeed. So we must be as vigilant as we are secretive, and one who is as observant as you would make a worthy addition to our number."

"A useful tool?"

"More than that, I think. I sense more in you. Do you sense it in yourself?" His gazed pierced me through the gloom.

I didn't answer, because I once again worried that I could not trust my tongue. My heart was leaping in my chest, my mouth dry, my mind whirling with possibilities. I sensed, more than saw, the satisfied smile that spread across his broad, shaggy face.

"Then I ask you again this night: will you join me?"

There could be only one answer and we both knew what it was.

 

Refuge and answers

Previously: after a brief, brutal battle with the giant Hustyn, Mira and her companions flee into the forest and find an abandoned structure that provides some protection from the storm that is raging around them. As Seymuhr and Broo Fang Tane drift off to sleep--exhausted by their efforts in the fight--Esmiralda finally has a chance to take stock of her situation and get a few answers...

Gradually, the storm subsided. The shrieking winds gave to the gentle patter of steady rain as the sound of slow, heavy breathing filled our shelter. Gradually, too, my heart slowed, my ears stopped straining and my body stopped jumping at every cracked branch that fell, waterlogged, from the canopy outside. We were safe.

Seymuhr's rumbling snores would probably keep any small pests away--and give larger, more dangerous animals pause, as well. Broo Fang Tane was as silent in his slumber as he was in movement. Propped up against the far wall, ankles tucked up on his knees and head upright, he might even have been awake but resting with his eyes closed. Only Merrick stirred.

"So what tale will you tell of this night?" He asked as he crouched beside me.

I lifted my arm from my eyes. I was exhausted, but my head too full of such thoughts to find any true rest. I propped myself on an elbow and squinted at him in the gloom.

"I am not certain. Did you know such a thing was going on?" I shuddered again, thinking of the rolling cage and the horror those who were placed into it must have felt.

"I had a hunch. Rumors, if I be most truthful. I had heard a smattering of tales but had no direct knowledge."

"I don't know if it was brave to attempt such a task or foolhardy to look into the matter with only a pair of fighting companions..."

"I have a sword too, you can see," Merrick sounded indignant as he tapped his sheathed blade to prove it. He saw my hands, raised to forestall his protests, and leaned in close with a glance over his shoulder. "No offense taken. You will quickly see--if, indeed, you continue to journey with us--that those two can handle threats that are beyond most men. Rarely have I seen such fighting ability: strength and ferocity or quiet, deadly grace. I had no such fears.

"You asked me earlier why I chose to travel with such an odd group and that is but a part of it." Here Merrick paused and dug a finger into his beard. He sat down and crossed his legs, pulling his sword off his belt and placing it in his lap. He drummed his fingers on the covered blade for a few seconds, then grunted.

"Esmiralda. I sense some goodness in you, a trustworthiness that was absent from your colleague--indeed, that is absent from most women."

My indignation must have shown on my face. "I meant no offense by that--I meant it as a compliment," he added hastily, raising his hands to shield himself from the slap that would have rattled his teeth.

"You failed with that," I snapped. "You travel with kidnappers and brutes and you question my goodness and trust?"

"Forgive my awkward tongue. My words are not always this clumsy. I meant only that you seem like someone I can confide in, someone I can share my burden with. Someone," he took my fingertips in his hands. They were strong and warm, the skin dry but not cracked. "Someone who will understand."

"Understand what?" I did not pull my hands away.

"Our purpose. My purpose, if you want to be truthful. These two are not fully aware of who I am and what I seek to do." He leaned in close and I could smell the faint sweetness of wine on his breath. When had he had time for that? Men, it seemed, would always find time for such pursuits, even as their lives were being threatened. "I want you to know it. I think it was more than just circumstance that brought us together."

"Oh, it was, at that. It was a lout with a smelly shoulder."

His smile held little humor. "Our friend Seymuhr might have been the mechanism, but he was hardly the cause. He has a calling, too, of course. He is the hammer and the anvil in one, I guess you'd say. But I, too, have been chosen--not like the good Queen Phedrea, as you have, and not to record history like you and your friend Malak, but for a purpose just as important--perhaps even more so."

He paused to gather his breath and checked over his shoulder to ensure that Tane and Seymuhr were indeed asleep. I turned back to me, his eyes aglow with some mischief. As strange as this day and night had already been, I had a sudden feeling that the oddities were not yet behind me.