Unkarra Gate (1st draft)

Chapter 28.2

"You're still not moving your feet!" Ezara chastised Rollo, who was bent over rubbing his upper arm. He was recovering from a stinging strike from the wooden stick in Ezara's hand. Rollo held on of his own; they served as their swords for sparring.

Rollo breathed heavily and was sweating under the mid afternoon sunlight. There was almost no breeze to cool off by, and they were some distance from any shade; a ways from any water source.

"Okay, mercy, 'Zara, at least let me catch my breath."

"She smiled, knowing she had him on the ropes, and took the break to get some water. For the past week, since she had regained her strength, she had been working on her sword work with the boys, having discovered that Bogrel had even begun drilling them during other downtimes.

"Alright, lift your stick or I'll grab someone else to practise with."

"Why you gotta practice all the time," Rollo protested, still breathing a little hard.

"There's nothing much else to do. Dara might feel better about herself helping out the camp, but doesn't help me. Not after the way they've treated me. Besides," she started swinging and Rollo was forced to defend himself. "I like to pretend I'm beating a company man's head in." Several quick and powerful strikes later, Rollo had dropped his stick and covered himself from a whack up high.

"Ow! Mercy! Can't we switch to wrestling? I'm way better at that."

"I bet you'd want to , and get your hands all over me."

Rollo grinned at the prospect goofishly. She gave him a stern but friendly whack with her sparring stick.

"When's Petro coming back with the booze?" she asked.

"Well, should be soon. But you're not thinking of starting on it already, are you?"

"Why not?"

"It's expensive all the way out here! We can't afford to keep you drunk all the time."

"No, it's because you're scared Dara would be mad at you, and you can't stand the thought of getting a scolding from her."

"Well, there's that too," he shamelessly admitted. "She's already plenty mad at us for getting you drunk at all. But also, it's expensive." Dara's disapproval was no secret. She would scowl at her whenever they were gathered together and Ezara was doing any real drinking. She would even abstain from having any herself in protest. But if Ezara snuck in mouthfuls here and there, Dara would either not notice or be willing to let it slip. And when Dara sent so much as a scolding look at any of the boys, they would crumple. Dara easily had them wrapped around her finger. Ezara had to work harder at it, but she could usually get her way - especially considering she was technically their prisoner.

The appointed camp boss Vellias didn't ever come check on her; his only interest was of receiving a report of no interest from her custodians. They had all signed up for camp positions, rather than shipping positions; Rollo pleaded he'd had enough hiking and paddling for a long time.

Flavias was charged with her keep, relieving the thugs that Matias had placed in charge of her, as he had lobbied about her treatment. She hadn't yet told him how much it meant to her, but chiefly because seh hadn't given it any thought. But Dara was not so uncouth, and for her part had made her thanks clear. Not that any of the boys really expected any thanks from their 'prisoner.'

As Ezara took some pity on Rollo and let him rest, she took some rest again also, pulling her scarf loosely over her head to shield herself from the sunlight.

"Getting drunk is the best way to pass the time," Ezara continued. "Sometimes I can't even remember all the garbage that's happened to me in the past couple years, and that's what I like the best."