Scout Stories: Bruised Beginnings

Old Friends

Something terrible had happened. Cuno wouldn't have noticed it at all if his eyebrow hadn't gotten itchy. He stared at it, wondering what it was for a moment. It had been so long since he had seen the colour of the skin on his hand that he didn't recognize it. When he did, a slow fear overtook him. He glanced back down the road he had come. Then he stared at his hand again.

The road was empty, of course. It had been miles since he had seen another person. Longer still since he had spoken with one. Still. Cuno chewed the inside of his cheek. He wondered when it had happened, why it had taken him so long to notice it. The rip in the fabric was small, smaller than his thumb nail. It was hidden well in the space where the finger met the palm.

The road was almost too narrow for carts, and the weeds springing up at the sides and in the center. The large fields at either side were overgrown. The grass had gone tall and almost as wild as the flowers. He could see the top-stone to a portal tomb sticking up over the green. Even that seemed to have a lot of moss. There weren't any hedgerows or stone-stacked walls. Not that there would be any farmers this far out. That was why he had chosen to come this way. The less people who saw him, the better.

"Oh, boss, that's not good, now, is it?"

Cuno wasn't crazy. He knew damn well that there wasn't anyone to talk to. He hadn't seen anyone since he had left the apple-seller. Perfectly sane, he would swear it. The whole talking to himself thing was simply a bad habit that he had gotten into several years back. He had a reason. His voice acted up if he didn't use it for a few days. Seeing as he was often on his own for long stretches at a time, it had become a bit of an issue. Talking to his absent boss seemed less strange than talking to himself.

He glanced at the sky.

"I know. There's not enough daylight to turn back. I might not make it to the town before the gates close. I know that."

He couldn't complete the mission if he couldn't get into the town to talk to the guy. He took a few more steps down the road before slowing.

The woman had smiled at him. He glanced back over his shoulder, and then shook his head and marched forward.

He couldn't risk another day where someone else could get to him first.

She had given him directions without even making him buy an apple beforehand. 

Cuno stopped and turned around.

He had no idea what the man knew, what information he was selling or who he was selling it to. Cuno stood on the one spot, looking back and forth between where he should be and where he had come from. Sometimes they weren't any good choices.

Cuno had bought an apple anyway, and it had been delicious. She had told him about her kid.

"Crap." Cuno turned, and started to run the way he had come. "Sorry boss, can't help it."

He often complained about his training. He moaned about how he only rarely needed to use any of it, that most of the time his wits and his gift were enough to get him out of trouble. He put in the least amount of effort. He pouted when the trainers noticed and made him do extra. He complained and whined at his leader all the time about it.

This was not the case as he ran back towards the apple stall. He was actually grateful for the three extra laps the boss had made him run the last time he was home. Not that he would ever let her know that. He wasn't even going to risk saying it out loud, even though she had no way of hearing him. That woman had enough of the ego already. If she knew what he was feeling in that moment, he would hear about it every remaining day of his life.

And if the worst had happened?

What was he going to do?

What was the boss going to do to him if she found out?

He couldn't waste even more time sorting out some mess. The boss wouldn't be happy about having to pay more compensation. Cuno shook his head. He couldn't think about that now. He had to think about something else. He should think about the job.

He focused on his feet, trying to get them to go as fast, for as long, as he could manage. Pretty soon they started to feel heavy, and his lungs started to burn.

Cuno didn't mind the discomfort. It made him focus on what he was doing and helped to keep his mind off the options. About what might be waiting for him when he got there. Those weren't going to do anything but slow him down anyway.

Focus on the job, he told himself. Think about that.

He was almost certain that it was going to be awful. Cuno never got the nice, easy jobs. They left the quick fixes and the polite stuff to some of the others. He didn't get to go around the countryside picking up kids, like the Scouts. Nor did he get to do something fun like hunting. Even researching would have been better. At least those guys got a warm place to stay.

No, not Cuno. He had thought that he was he was being clever picking this line of work. That he could use it to show them all what he was capable of. The others had even tried to warn him, but Cuno wouldn't listen.

The truth was he wasn't smart enough to realize that his job sucked. The real reason he took it was to impress some girl when he was sixteen. Yeah, that worked out so well for him. As for showing everyone what he could do: he never got to see anyone from back then. They were all out saving people while he...

He didn't even get to tell people that he was from the Council. He didn't get to have a good meal and dance with pretty girls. If he did tell, they would be quick to call him a madman and lock him away 'for his own good'. If he was lucky.

His legs were already starting to hurt quite a bit, and he had only run a couple of mile so far. If they were sending him, the job was bound to be horrible. Horrible jobs always had some kind of deadline. He shouldn't be wasting his time doing this.

Although, truth be told, the job wasn't all bad. He got to spend most of his time at home. Usually allowed to come and go as he pleased, doing whatever he wanted. He didn't have to be outside all the time, sleeping in the dirt and dodging danger. He didn't have to deal with idiots or children-which was a big plus. Cuno couldn't relax around kids anyway.

Cuno thought about the perks and concerns of his occupation while running, as well as what all his friends were stuck doing. Not that he knew what they were all doing. Only a few of them knew what he did, after all. Still, this was probably for the best. Although, he would admit that, sometimes it felt like the worst job in the world. Not everyone could do it, and it was important. There was a certain kind of pride in that.

All the while his concern for the apple-seller rolled around in the back of his thoughts like a large, grey cloud in an otherwise clear sky. It was casting a rather big shadow, and he could only do so much to ignore it.

He didn't have time to clean up a mess, but what else was he supposed to do? Doing nothing would draw attention. And his boss was constantly reminding him what she would do to him if he drew attention to her. And besides all that, that woman had been kind to him. He couldn't do nothing, but he didn't have time to fix it. Not that that kind of thing was fixable...

He arrived, panting, to a point where he could see the stall.