The Crimson Claymore

The Crimson Claymore: Chapter 20

Chapter 20

Starlyn awoke in the morning to smoke coming from Andron's pipe. She yawned and noticed the sun not yet rising to the east. Andron kept the bandage made from Starlyn's torn cotton shirt secured on his pinky. She had brought the clothing to change into while in towns and cities so she wouldn't have to always wear armor. It seemed that fancy had gone and passed after the attack the night before. Andron seemed to barely notice his half-bitten off pinky as he smoked his pipe. Though Starlyn assumed the pipe weed took some of the edge off.

The four panthers were gone to hide during the day, and she got up to sit next to Andron. They were between two small hills at the bottom, so rest would come easy leaning back against the slope. He smiled at her as she sat down, and she returned the smile. Erenuyh was still asleep with a fever that was beginning to break. He clutched at his left hand with his right, feeling his index finger and thumb, which were the only two fingers left on his left hand. Starlyn had wrapped the hand tightly to prevent any more blood loss, but she knew that the kheshlar would not be comforted without his fingers. She also knew that despite how weak the fever and loss of blood made him, he was a kheshlar, and would not let any weakness show.

She was uneasy about being in the open without the cover of trees. All kheshlars stayed in cities in the forest and seldom traveled outside of the wilderness. Yet among her race she was considered the most adventurous. She never imagined herself to one day journey so far but since her sister has been gone many things had happened. Andron seemed to be studying her, and she turned to him with suspicion in her eyes. He wasn't like most men, or at least men of the kheshlars, that stared at her body with eyes barely straying from her bosom. Andron seemed captivated by that as well, but he was inspecting her entire body from head to toe as if trying to study her as a person. When she thought about it, she realized he always seemed to do it when looking at her.

She pulled her hammer from her belt and studied it carefully, grazing her hands across the handle up to the golden steel neck to the large face. The face of the hammer was as large as her palm and deadly to the strike. It had been her weapon for many years and was dear to her. The handle was long and crafted of beautiful oak with carved designs. At the neck, it transformed from a large hammer to a sharp thick spike a long span with a sharp point. She sighed heavily and turned back to Andron to see him still staring at her.

"Must you always stare?"

"I'm sorry...I don't think I can help it sometimes."

He turned away shyly and began to play with the rocks by his feet.

"What is it about me that intrigues you?"

She wasn't accustomed to someone so content to study her. Most of the time in the kheshlarn capital of Sudegam, the male kheshlars studied her, but their eyes didn't stray too far away from her bosom. This human in front of her, while his eyes did stray there from time to time, were content with studying her movements, face, hair, and anything else about her. She never felt she had much to offer besides a pleasant body for male kheshlars to look at. After all, her body was a bit more complementary in areas than most of the female kheshlars. Still, most of them found her as flawed, with too high of an ambition for adventure, or too high of a temper. Also, her mind wandered too much about other parts of the land that didn't concern the kheshlars.

"Everything really. The kheshlars are so mysterious to me. Your beauty, I've never seen anything like it. Most humans' beauty is like a flawed gem, where so much is so beautiful, but there are a few imperfections that make them who they are. Yet with you, you are a perfect gem, flawless in every way."

Starlyn blushed and turned her head away. She had never heard such words from anyone. "I have many flaws."

"Not that I can tell."