Tom Liberman - The Staff of Sakatha

“I saw a big bear or something one night,” said Jon and walked over to the old man and helped hobble the last horse. “It growled pretty loud but I guess it wasn’t much interested in a tussle.”

“Bears won’t bother ya much unless you’re travelin’ with a lass,” said Germanius. “Them bears can sniff a woman’s blooding from a mile or more away. Then they come’s and kill’s you and leaves the girl as she was. I seen it happen.”

“Really?” said Jon and patted the old man on the back. “I’ll remember to tell my sister that when I get back to Tanelorn. If I ever get back.”

“You might get back one day,” said the old warrior, and then suddenly a pained expression came across his face as he bent over his hands on his legs and let out a grunt.

“What’s the matter?” said Jon and put his big hand on the grizzled veterans back.

“The leg shoots,” said the old man through gritted teeth. “Like a dagger in the back of the leg dragging up and down. Hurts like the rotted tooth needing to get pulled. I gots the Zosters about twenty years ago and now I get these shooters now and again. They get worse the older I get. It’s time to die, past time to die,” said Germanius, standing up, and looking at Jon, his teeth still clenched. “Find me something good to die for boy. That’s what I ask of you.”

Jon put his arm under the ribs of the old warrior and helped him to the small fire that Mikus got started, “You sit down here old man,” he said and helped Germanius to the ground. “I’ll find you something good, I promise you that. Something that folks will be talking about for years to come. What do you say to that?”

Germanius nodded his head and then grimaced in pain again as he sat down with a thump, “I’ll be fine come morning.”

“You just stay there and take it easy old man, me and the kids will cook up some supper, here, take a sip of this,” said Jon and pulled a small leather flask out from his belt. “I was saving it for a victory drink but we might be dead by morning so why not take a jolt now?”

“I like your thinking on that,” said Germanius, took the flask, pulled out the leather stop, tilted it back, and poured a generous amount down his throat. “Ahhh, by the fifth leg of the Black Horse that hits the spot!”

Jon laughed and turned his attention to the camp where he helped Mikus and Sorus finish the fire, get out the bed rolls, put a roast chicken they brought from Black Dale on the fire, and start the water to boil.

Two hours later they were ready for bed as the fire burned brightly in the night and only a few clouds dotted the sky where a half moon shone brightly. “It’s hard to get used to that sky,” said Jon as he looked up. “It changed when I was sailing from Sea’cra to Tarlton.”

“The stars are different in the north?” asked Mikus with a puzzled expression on his face as the two lay on their rolls and gazed skyward. Sorus sat nearby, his back against a tree, and watched the same sky but still wore his chain shirt with his sword out and next to him.

“The world is round,” said Jon. “So when you get past the halfway point the stars change. They’re all different down here, none of the same constellations at all.”

“I didn’t know that,” said Mikus. “I mean, I knew the world was round, everyone knows that cause you can see a ship’s mast come up over the horizon, I just never really thought about how the stars would be different when you look up.” Suddenly the boy stopped and thought for a long time. “Hey, if the world is round, on the other side, in Tanelorn, up is our down.”

“That’s right, Mikus,” said Jon with a smile. “I bet you’re wondering why we don’t all just fall off?”

Mikus laughed and Sorus gave a chuckle from his seated position nearby. “What are you laughing at, Sorus,” said Mikus.

“Not at you,” said Sorus. “I was just thinking about that too. What is up and what is down? I mean, if people up in the north half look up they see the stars above them, but we in the south half look up and see the stars above us, right?”

“Yeah, I guess,” said Mikus, “but that doesn’t make much sense.”

Just then a heavy snore from Germanius came from under his blanket and was followed by a staccato burst of several more.

“Germanius might have the right idea on this one,” said Jon. “Tarragonius, the gray druid, tried to explain all that to me once but I got a little lost. I’m not sure anyone can figure it out.”

“Yeah,” said Mikus. “I guess there’s not much to be gained in thinking about things you’ll never understand, but, jeez, it sure doesn’t make much sense.”

“Get some sleep,” said Jon and rolled over onto his side. “Wake me up in a couple of hours, Sorus, and I’ll spell you. Let the old man sleep, he’ll be sore in the morning and I’d be surprised if you and Mikus weren’t a little worse for wear yourselves.”

Sorus gave Jon a short nod with his head and looked at the sky for a moment before he gazed out toward where the mountains loomed above them.

The mountains appeared huge to Jon, whose own lands of Tanelorn were plains with long low hills covered by grass. There were massive mountains further north of Tanelorn, in the frozen lands, but Jon never went that far in his travels. When he first came across these mountains he grew to know the cold nights in the heights and he slept comfortably under the heavy woolen blanket given to him by Rhia and Shia.

The night went by uneventfully. The four packed up their camp the next morning, headed along the mountains, and looked for the trail that led up the slopes. It took them all of the morning and part of the afternoon to find the trail and it was the sharp eyes of Mikus who spotted it. “That looks like a bit of trail,” said the boy as he pointed to a small bush that sat atop a rock, “behind that rock.”

“I think you’re right,” said Jon and nodded his head and walked over to the little gap in the rocky foothills. “It looks right and the time we took to get here is about what I remember. What do you say, Germanius, camp here for the night and start up in the morning, or cover some distance with the light we have left?”

“My back hurts like an old bear that fell out of a tree trying to get honey,” said the old warrior. “Damn that Odellius for giving me such a fine horse, I’da been better off on a donkey, they ride smoother and not so hard to climb in the morning.”

Mikus looked at Jon, “Did he answer your question?”

Jon laughed and shook his head, “I’m not really certain but I think he means we should get to where we’re going as quick as possible so he can get himself killed.”

“That’s about right,” said Sorus. “If we’re lucky that’ll be me and you someday, Mikus.”

Mikus nodded his head and dismounted to lead his fine horse up the path. “I’ll scout ahead and if I find something dangerous I’ll tell Germanius!”

The stone projectile caught him directly on the temple and he was dead before he hit the ground. His horse reared, wheeled around, and headed back towards town at a gallop.

“Where did it come from,” shouted Sorus as he gazed wide eyed in all directions.

Jon dove for cover behind a large rock just to his right when he heard Sorus’s words, “Get off your horse, get to cover!” he shouted and then looked around to find that Germanius not only already lay under cover, but had also pulled his horse along with him to provide protection from a second side.

Two more rocks sailed past Sorus’s head just as the boy leaned down to dismount and a third hit his steed in the foreleg which sent the beast skyward with a kick. The young brewer managed to dismount with a thump, fell to one knee, then pulled his horse down, and quickly hustled to the cover of the rocks near Jon. “Where is it coming from?” he said and looked around until his gaze came across Mikus dead on the ground his eyes open and sightless. “Is he dead?”