(no subject)
Mocha #12. What I Wouldn't Give... with Hot Fudge and Whipped Cream
Story : knights
Rating : G
Timeframe : 1249
Word Count : 722
The word of a new arrival always spread quickly, summoning every boy on the premises to the fence that overlooked the road. Jockeying for positions along the rail, with much pushing and shoving, were Aldo’s cronies. Their leader, flanked by Kinu and Ril, held the best vantage in the yard, while the rest scurried around and behind them. Kairn sat on the fence, legs dangling above the ground, a good ways downhill, the top boughs of a tree dominating his view.
Sethan was in the grass nearby, fiddling with something or other he’d taken from his pockets. He would always pretend not to care, but he had yet to miss even one unofficial summons to the hill.
Reida was there too, the only girl in the throng of boys, not that one could really tell, dressed in the same dull, heavily patched tunic and pants as the rest, with short cropped hair, and underdeveloped contours. She wasn’t bothering to watch the road either. Her eyes were firmly fixed on Sethan. Kairn wondered, with a shudder as she gave her lips a brief lick, just how well aware Sethan was of her attentions. Given the way he kept prodding whatever he had laid in the grass, not much.
The clatter of hooves drew him back to the road, or what he could see of it through the leaves. He stretched his neck and twisted this way and that, trying to peer between the branches. He settled into a none too comfortable position, back bent and neck twisted, in line with a fair sized opening below.
A mounted pair came into view, a third horse in their wake, laden with bulging packs. This was no master and apprentice as most new arrivals were, but two grown men, and neither paid the assortment of children on the hill a first glance, much less a second. One was small and wiry with sandy hair slicked back into a tight tail. The other was easily twice his girth and all muscle with a topknot of silver and a sword of ridiculous proportions strapped to his back.
Aldo elbowed Kinu in the chest. “Hey, old man,” he said with a nod pointing Kinu towards the latter. “He looks just like you.” Kinu’s open jaw and glassy stare suggested he hadn’t needed to be told.
“He’s supposed to be the best.” Kairn snapped to attention at the proximity of the voice and nearly fell from his perch. He quickly composed himself, doubting the girl had seen, as she was now as focused on the pair as the rest of the lot.
“What’s he need magic for?” said Kairn. “He could probably chop bricks with that thing.”
“Not him.” Reida planted her hands on the top rail of the fence and leaned out past Kairn. “The other one. Better than Berwyk even.”
Kairn laughed. “No one’s better than Berwyk.”
“Oh?” said Reida, and he felt his stomach take a bit of a turn as he wondered what might be creeping about the new master’s attic, wherever that may be. “Tarek says he’s got books even he wouldn’t want to open.” Something dangerous flared in the depths of her eyes as they settled on the packhorse. “Can you even imagine?” Kairn wasn’t sure if he could, or if his stomach would tolerate it if he tried, so he just nodded. “What I wouldn’t give to get my hands on those.”
“They’re not in there.” It was the first sign Sethan had been paying any attention at all. Reida shot him a scowl. “The books,” Sethan amended, not bothering to look up from his tinkering in the grass. “Berwyk said something about a coach coming after them. Books and bones on it.”
She hastily discarded the glower for a slick grin. “A whole coach full?”
Sethan nodded. “Probably best to get going for now though.” Still not looking up, he tipped his head toward the crowd uphill.
Kairn strained to pick out anything from the din. Kinu was clearly at the center of it and Kairn thought he heard some remark about the boy’s mother and taking odd customers. The flexing of his powerful arms and cracking of knuckles as he turned on his hecklers was quite clear though. “Yeah,” said Kairn, extricating himself from the fence, “probably best if we do.”
Story : knights
Rating : G
Timeframe : 1249
Word Count : 722
The word of a new arrival always spread quickly, summoning every boy on the premises to the fence that overlooked the road. Jockeying for positions along the rail, with much pushing and shoving, were Aldo’s cronies. Their leader, flanked by Kinu and Ril, held the best vantage in the yard, while the rest scurried around and behind them. Kairn sat on the fence, legs dangling above the ground, a good ways downhill, the top boughs of a tree dominating his view.
Sethan was in the grass nearby, fiddling with something or other he’d taken from his pockets. He would always pretend not to care, but he had yet to miss even one unofficial summons to the hill.
Reida was there too, the only girl in the throng of boys, not that one could really tell, dressed in the same dull, heavily patched tunic and pants as the rest, with short cropped hair, and underdeveloped contours. She wasn’t bothering to watch the road either. Her eyes were firmly fixed on Sethan. Kairn wondered, with a shudder as she gave her lips a brief lick, just how well aware Sethan was of her attentions. Given the way he kept prodding whatever he had laid in the grass, not much.
The clatter of hooves drew him back to the road, or what he could see of it through the leaves. He stretched his neck and twisted this way and that, trying to peer between the branches. He settled into a none too comfortable position, back bent and neck twisted, in line with a fair sized opening below.
A mounted pair came into view, a third horse in their wake, laden with bulging packs. This was no master and apprentice as most new arrivals were, but two grown men, and neither paid the assortment of children on the hill a first glance, much less a second. One was small and wiry with sandy hair slicked back into a tight tail. The other was easily twice his girth and all muscle with a topknot of silver and a sword of ridiculous proportions strapped to his back.
Aldo elbowed Kinu in the chest. “Hey, old man,” he said with a nod pointing Kinu towards the latter. “He looks just like you.” Kinu’s open jaw and glassy stare suggested he hadn’t needed to be told.
“He’s supposed to be the best.” Kairn snapped to attention at the proximity of the voice and nearly fell from his perch. He quickly composed himself, doubting the girl had seen, as she was now as focused on the pair as the rest of the lot.
“What’s he need magic for?” said Kairn. “He could probably chop bricks with that thing.”
“Not him.” Reida planted her hands on the top rail of the fence and leaned out past Kairn. “The other one. Better than Berwyk even.”
Kairn laughed. “No one’s better than Berwyk.”
“Oh?” said Reida, and he felt his stomach take a bit of a turn as he wondered what might be creeping about the new master’s attic, wherever that may be. “Tarek says he’s got books even he wouldn’t want to open.” Something dangerous flared in the depths of her eyes as they settled on the packhorse. “Can you even imagine?” Kairn wasn’t sure if he could, or if his stomach would tolerate it if he tried, so he just nodded. “What I wouldn’t give to get my hands on those.”
“They’re not in there.” It was the first sign Sethan had been paying any attention at all. Reida shot him a scowl. “The books,” Sethan amended, not bothering to look up from his tinkering in the grass. “Berwyk said something about a coach coming after them. Books and bones on it.”
She hastily discarded the glower for a slick grin. “A whole coach full?”
Sethan nodded. “Probably best to get going for now though.” Still not looking up, he tipped his head toward the crowd uphill.
Kairn strained to pick out anything from the din. Kinu was clearly at the center of it and Kairn thought he heard some remark about the boy’s mother and taking odd customers. The flexing of his powerful arms and cracking of knuckles as he turned on his hecklers was quite clear though. “Yeah,” said Kairn, extricating himself from the fence, “probably best if we do.”