Finua

Chapter 9: Troll Country

We stopped fairly early the next morning, the caravan parked in a large, grassless dirt field where many other similar vehicles were also parked. About a mile further on, the horizon was blotted with squat black buildings, almost as far in either direction as I could see. Dark smelly fumes hovered in the air, and there was very little vegetation, even compared to the virtual desert we had just crossed. People were milling to and fro across the dirt field, tending to their businesses. This seemed like a place where an engine-ran horseless carriage would be fairly standard.

While everyone got themselves situated after the drive, Noxat emerged yawning from his own carriage, and I stomped over to confront him. Nobody else seemed particularly anxious to join me: Dewey was over by the animal carriage, strapping a harness onto his dragganine, and Frax was checking up on Vanessa. I wasn't even thinking about Kwer at the moment.

"Noxat!" I gasped, jogging my way towards him.

He gurgled in response, carefully rubbing his eyes around his piercings.

I slid to a halt in front of him. "Well?"

"Well what? It's the crack of dawn, Fiona."

"Finua. Do you remember what I told you?"

"Yeah, you think I'm ferrying the Northerners to their destination free of charge. Well listen, I'm not above a little bit of charity every now and then. Even slaves deserve to have a master with a soft spot sometimes. Tenderize them up for Master Zico, you know, who disagrees with me on that particular sentiment."

"Am I going to end up having to talk to 'Master Zico' about all this?"

"Probs. Can I have some breakfast first? I didn't think you'd accost me literally as soon as we got parked."

He shuffled off, leaving me nodding cynically to myself. If it was Zico who would be ultimately taking the slaves to Syfor Lek, then I guess I would have to wait until I could talk to him. I returned to the others.

"You guys agree with me?" I asked.

"Of course we agree with you," Auga said, hobbling about on a cane like an old lady. "You're objectively right. But none of us were dumb enough to try and argue the point when everyone was sleeping, and then again when everyone had just woken up."

"Give the guy some time for his morning wood to wilt, Finua," Dewey added, running his hand absently down the spine of his dragganine. "We're still miles and miles away from the Dark Land. It's gonna be okay."

I took a deep breath: they were right. I glanced over at Frax; he gave me a weak grin and walked off.

Here's what happened in my head: I was so righteously convinced of my crusade against these raiders that I felt a sense of smug superiority for putting their immediate neutralization over the basic need for a night's rest. And now everyone was mad at me. I pulled my idol out of my pouch and looked at it. It looked back up at me, its permanent arms-raised gesture now looking like a sympathetic shrug. I felt energy surge from it, into my hand, and suddenly I was glad I had made this little mistake. Suddenly, mistakes in general didn't seem so bad anymore. They only made me stronger, provided I could think critically about them. I started mentally equating mistakes to men.

Then Vanessa and I went to fetch Kwer at the exact same time, which was awkward.

"What do you want?" I asked her dryly. She condensed herself in warning. I set my jaw and, aggressively ignoring her, turned to look through the bars into the cage where Kwer was waiting obediently.

"All right," I muttered, as if either of these entities were capable of language, and I pulled open the cage. Vanessa immediately snatched out a smoky tendril to seize the chain around Kwer's neck, and I just as swiftly carved my pickaxe cleanly through the appendage. Next thing I knew, Frax had me by the ankles and was pulling me out of a soaking wet jet-black blanket. Kwer's loud, fussy bleating leaked through as I dropped from Vanessa's opaque depths and splatted dully back onto the dirt.