The Five [EDITING]

Chapter Ten: Introductions

GEACOB

   "What do you want, Loryn?" I asked as I pulled my chin to the branch then down again. Up again, down again...
   "How did you know it was me?"
   "Because you're the only one I can hear stomping her way through the wood." I told her honestly.
   "I am not fat."
    I sighed and dropped to the ground, picking up my cloak. "I never said you were. You're too damn skinny if you ask for my opinion, but the fact that you keep defending your size when no mentions are made of it makes me sure that you think you are. Which is ridiculous by-the-way. Not that I should expect anything more from you."
   Instead of arguing, she crossed her arms over her chest and glared at me. "I wish you'd get out of this mood you're in."
   "I'm only in a mood when you're near." I said but that wasn't entirely true. I'd been in a terrible mood for weeks now. Some of it was due to the fact that there was still no sign of the other seers, but most of it, I knew, was due to being alone most of the time --- something I wasn't used to.
   I couldn't stay in the inn for the entire time so I mostly stayed out here in the woods about twenty minutes away from the inn. Loryn of course, stayed at the inn always. Ritch joined me often and I was thankful for it, but I'd grown up surrounded by Rangers and I wasn't used to being alone at all for any length of time.
   I sat on one of the logs I'd dragged near the fire in my boredom and wiped sweat from my face before it could freeze upon m skin. "Why are you here, Loryn?"
   "I'm here to tell you that some more people are in town."
   "More useless information?"
   "Hopefully not." She grumbled. "I'm getting sick of this place."
   I raised my eyebrow at her. "You actually want to travel now?"
   She sighed and sat down on the opposite side of me. "I think I do." She admitted. "I'm... bored."
   I snorted a laugh. "Come out here for a few weeks and you'll change your mind about what the word 'bored' means."
   She grimaced at the very thought. "No, thank you." Her tone was so absolute it was actually amusing and I snorted out some semblance of a laugh.
   "Geac! Lor!" Ritch's voice came from the trees and we both stood as he burst from them, eyes alight. He said the words we'd been waiting to hear for weeks.
   "It's them! They're here!"
   "Ritch?" Came a distant voice.
   Ritch's eyes widened. "Sorry!" He called out, realizing he'd ran off without them in his excitement. "This way! Follow my voice!"
   A second later two slim boys came out in a rush. One was dark-skinned and one was light, but their slight build and short height in addition to their identical grins of excitement made them look like twins.
   "This is Loryn, and that's Geacob." Ritch said in motioning and was about to introduce the boys but they'd both showed their reactions when they caught sight of my black cloak. The dark-skinned one took a step back warily and the light one stepped forward in front of the other as if to guard him, gripping a bone knife in his belt.
   "You're an Outsider." Said the dark one.
   "I'm a Ranger." I corrected but nodded. "It's good that you're finally here. I didn't catch your names?"
   "Sorry." Ritch said to them. "I forgot to warn you. I'm just so used to it now. Geacob is pretty intimidating but he's good. He wont hurt you."
   The dark one seemed to take him at his word and came forward with a hand. "Sorry. We had a wee bitta trouble with y'r kind in Tark. I'm Venny, an' that one's Hark."
   I shook his small hand. "Nice to meet you both."
   The light skinned one nodded at me then turned to Loryn. "Tis nice t'meet you, too. Lauren was it?"
   "Loryn." She corrected the slight difference.
   "Wait." I said, hearing their accents. "You're both from Tark? Which one of you has the glass eye?"
   "Oh!" Ritch's eyes widened. "That's Alie. She's tending to the horses and fetching food and spiced ale. Venny is the one with the mermaid's scale."
   "Hark is my friend." Venny explained.
   "Does this Alie know where we are?"
   Ritch looked embarrassed. "Uh... I may have run off." His face was sheepish. "I was eager to tell yous."
   But both Venny and Hark laughed together. "Don't worry." Hark said. "She'd find us even if we was tryin' ta hide from her."
   "You boys would not be able to hide from me even if I were blind." Came a feminine voice from the trees. "All I would need to do is follow the laughter." A tall figure came out from the trees, arms packed with bags and rolls of fur. Ritch and Venny quickly helped her put it down and she brushed herself off with a smile of thanks. "You are Loryn and Geacob I presume?"
   Loryn nodded and sat down, apparently dismissing the girl immediately. Alie raised an eyebrow at that but seemed amused more than insulted and turned to me. I held out a hand. "Geacob." I nodded. "You must be Alie."
   "I am." She said and pulled her mitts off to shake mine. I gave a start at her eyes which were so light of a grey they looked like silver. Those silver eyes looked me over and raised both eyebrows in surprise at my cloak, but not, I noticed, with fear or anger at all. "You're a Ranger." She said. "I had not expected that, I will admit."
   I grinned like a fool. "You called me a Ranger."
   She frowned. "That is what you are, is it not?"
   "Well, yes, but nearly everyone calls us Outsiders."
   She chuckled. "I wont insult you unless you irritate me." She gave a grin and took her hand back to turn to the boys. "Hark. Sit." She ordered, pointing at a log.
   He groaned. "Alie, not now."
   "Yes, now. I'll need your help soon and I'll not have you give excuses to get out of doing work and pulling your weight."
   "It's not an excuse!"
   "Perhaps not intentionally, but you've been throwing your arms around in your sleep like mad. I swear it, Hark, you are gaining incredible movement back, only you are afraid of hurting it. Now sit and allow me to help you so that I can start bossing you around again."
   Venny started chuckling at his friends' embarrassment but hushed quickly when she gave him a warning look added to by amusement. By their reactions, I suspected this was more of a habit between them then serious threats and complaints.
   "The boys were ambushed by a group of Rangers in Tark." Alie explained to us. "An arrow sliced his arm and it festered until Venny was forced to cut the infection out." She took a steaming cloth out of a small barrel she'd been carrying and rubbed some sort of plant on it as Hark removed his coat and shirt, shivering suddenly in the icy air. "Unfortunately," she continued, "the infection had spread into his muscle and much of it had been damaged." She wrung the cloth out and then quickly wrapped it around his arm. He hissed slightly but didn't complain. A moment later she was throwing a horse blanket over his shoulder and her own fur on top of that, revealing a loose wool shirt and pants. She clapped her hands around and glanced at the four of us still standing. "I have a request to ask of you."
   "Oh, so now you're requesting things?" Loryn said haughtily. "I was under the impression that you simply ordered everyone around."
   The comment wasn't even directed at me and I felt like snapping at her, but to my surprised, Alie only laughed.
   "I apologize." She said. "I tend to do that, but you misunderstand me, Loryn. Unless I have a bolt cranked in my crossbow or a knife to your neck, assume I am not ordering you but instead requesting or jesting."
   I grinned while Loryn scowled; I liked this girl.
   "As I was saying." Alie continued. "I'm under the assumption that you've all been here for some time, so I understand if you wish to leave on the morrow, but I ask if you would not mind terribly if we were to stay here for a week, perhaps even two. The three of us has been in near constant movement since the day of the dragonfire and to be honest, I'd simply like a moment to stand still." She raised her hand when I opened my mouth. "However, as I said, we are well fed and more than ready to continue on to wherever we are going right after the storm if that is what you choose."
   Ritch and I shared a glance and we both shrugged. "We'll stay another week or two." I agreed. "But... what storm? The skies are clear."
   "I can smell it." She said with a shrug. "And so can the animals. You hear how silent they are though there is not a touch of wind?"
   We were all silent a moment as we listened to the eerie silence though it was only midday.
   "Huh." Ritch said finally.
   Venny leaped to his feet. "Does this mean we get to build the shelter you were talking about? You said you'd teach us."
   She let out a tinkling laugh and nodded. "It wont be the best in such a large space with so few furs, but we can make due with branches off the pine." She glanced around. "So long and you don't mind if we do it here. I'm sure we'll be staying in the same shelter for the warmth aspect."
   Loryn spoke up. "I'll be staying at the inn with Ritch."
   "Actually, I might stay here." Ritch put it. "But you can have the room of course."
   So under Alie's orders, we went to work.
   The shelter was complicated, yet simple once Alie showed each of us the technique. It was simply branches stuck firmly between rocks or packed snow, or even some small logs at the base, but Alie said it was only temporary. Explaining that once the circle dome built up, it would hold the shape itself.
   So, working together between chewing occasionally at the roast and potatoes Alie had brought from the inn, with drinks of spiced ale to help keep us warm. We used branches of all sorts to weave together until it stood high and enclosed except for a small circle in the very top to allow the smoke from the fire escape. Then, we weaved the furs and leathers and even some blankets from the inn through the branches like a basket, occasionally securing bits with twine or adding freshly cut pine branches to the smaller spaces, explaining that this would normally be packed with snow instead but seeing as there wasn't enough snow, branches would do.
   With two ropes, we secured the basket to the ground by tucking the rope ends under heavy logs and then it was done. With the five of us working together (five, because Loryn sat watching the whole time) we managed to finish it before the sun went down, but the wind had kicked up by then and I knew she'd been right --- there was a storm coming.
   "One question." Loryn said, sounding smug. "Now that you've used all the blankets and furs, what are you going to sleep on?"
   I laughed, I hadn't thought of that. But Alie was unperturbed. "It'll be warm enough inside we can sleep on our coats. Boys, can you get some hot ale and bring these back to the kitchen at the inn? If you can find your way back." She added.
   "I'll go with them." I said but she waved it off.
   "No, I'll need your help with the logs."
   I frowned but agreed. I understood the true reason why she'd sent only the boys away when we could no longer hear their footsteps and she turned to us, speaking low enough that even Loryn moved in closer to hear.
   "I need to warn you." She began, her eyes suddenly losing their smile and sadness creeped in to replace it. "Before I found the boys, they'd had no idea how to live off the land and they have very nearly starved to death. At some point, they'd killed their horse and ate the meat raw, not knowing which parts were actually safe or what to look for." She paused and gained even more sadness. "Venny seems fine, but Hark ate some worms that were festering in the flesh."
   I closed my eyes in pain, knowing the words that was coming.
   "After the infection in his arm, his body could no longer fight off the worms..." She paused then let out a breath. "He's dying." She stated simply. "He hides it well, but he is afraid and so is Venny. I've managed to stop the pain for a while, but it is returning. I would like you all to say nothing if you see him clutching his belly. Take no notice of it or bring that fear back in his eye. It makes Venny even worse for he feels guilty for bringing him along, do you see?"
   Ritch answered for all of us. "We wont draw attention to it, Alie." He said and both Loryn and I nodded in agreement.
   She seemed to relax. "Thank you." She said sincerely.