Lorcan: Dragonquest

Chapter 16

Author's note: Warnings for violence and gore; Lorcan gets into yet another fight but this time he accidentally starts a new faith.

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The following morning, at breakfast, Lorcan found Heshbon sitting quietly with Beso and Henorm, his head down. They were glancing at him from time to time as they ate, having apparently noticed something different about him.

Heshbon picked at his food and kept his peace, sullenly answering in monosyllables whenever Beso ventured a word.

As Lorcan and Cokelli approached, Beso looked up; his beady brown eyes fixed on the Soduaner warrior. "Do you know what happen to Heshbon?" he asked.

Heshbon looked up. His nose was straighter than before and his face was broader. As he straightened up, his chest looked flatter. His thick eyebrows curved upwards and his thinned lips were pushed upwards in an upside-down U.

Taken aback by the change in his appearance, Lorcan struggled to find the words to reply with. He looked at Cokelli, then back at Beso. "No," he replied at last.

"Well somebody does," said Beso, "be it man or Jinn. I will get to the bottom of this, be sure of it."

"What's a Jinn?" asked Lorcan, seizing the opportunity to move the line of inquiry elsewhere.

"Come, sit down, I tell you all about it."

Serving maids arrived with bread and cheese for them, and as they ate, Beso sat back and explained. "A Jinn is... like a shade. A ghost."

"A spirit?" asked Lorcan.

"Yes. Can be good or bad. The good ones guide you in the right direction. The bad ones lead you astray, cause trouble. The wise one, he does not call upon them. The foolish man, who does not want to wait for things, he calls them. Bad idea. Do not ask Jinn to help. They mix bitter with the sweet.* Heshbon says he does not know what happen last night. I think he ask a Jinn to help him to be like a bird, so that is what the Jinn did. Now he change his mind."

Heshbon said nothing.

"Eat your breakfast, Heshbon," said Beso, clapping his clerk on the back. "You look better as a man."

Heshbon sullenly chewed a piece of bread, half-hidden behind a curtain of hair that he flicked out of the way as the bread approached his mouth.

Lorcan and Cokelli shrugged and helped themselves to the food. 

After breakfast, they settled their bill and rode their horses to the camp, which was being broken up as the travelers prepared to move. They each took a place about halfway down the caravan as it made its way downhill into a broad, pleasant river valley. Each mile they traveled led further downhill into the countryside that rolled for a while, then flattened out into a rich green patchwork of fields dotted with workers tending their crops. The ancient stone-flagged road was punctuated by villages dominated by the big houses of their lords. These were surrounded by yellowing fields of wheat and barley that swayed in the balmy summer breeze as they passed by.

The day grew hot and when the sun had reached its zenith, Beso called for a halt to give the people and their beasts some respite from the baking heat.

Flies pestered the oxen and the horses whisked their tails in a vain attempt to drive them off. When Lorcan saw Dessi Ludano's servant rub his horses with a cloth dipped in a bucket, and the flies that beset them move on, he asked him about it. At the next village, he purchased the cider vinegar, garlic, and herbs required, and mixed them with water from the river as prescribed. This worked so effectively on the horses, he rubbed the mixture on himself and Cokelli, too.