Aftermath

Look at me keep my promise! Being burnt out has killed my mind. Like three paragraphs off of the end I crashed out and couldn't finish. One road trip(eight hours) and I can write some, though I dun really want to.

It's just being burnt out.

This chapter makes me feel evil. If you have read the other two stories? Yes. Yes, that is him. And that guy at the start is that guy who became an alcoholic and mysteriously vanished.

Read, Review and Enjoy.




Family, Durth learned quickly, did not mean blood relatives. The Aniege, Nost explained as they went, were modelling themselves after the original Aniege group. That group had been blood related so words like Father, Cousin, Family, actually meant one’s father, cousin or family. In the modern Aniege group few were related and the rankings were listed out. Father, there was only one, was a man named Nort and should Father ever visit, Durth should make himself scarce.

Cousins were masters, in a way, they took on apprentices and these apprentices could become Cousins. Cousins in turn could lend themselves and two apprentices to an Uncle and thusly become Uncles themselves while pulling the two apprentices to the level of Second Cousin. Second Cousins ran outposts, such as the one Durth was at and Cousins were free to roam the lands, coming and going, looking for apprentices and the such.

Brothers were Father’s closest companions and they spent a good deal of their time in lawmaking and policing. Uncles could not become Brothers, but could become Great-Uncles, who each ruled over a certain number of Second Cousins. To become a Brother a man had to be a Cousin of high standing with at least one apprentice successfully trained, three children to his name, well bred, and have something to give to Father to prove that he deserved such a position.

There were absolutely no age requirements on any of the positions, Nost stressed.

The entire thing was over Durth’s head, but Nost promised that he would catch on quickly.

Out of the sick room was not into a hallway, no, it was out and into the open air. Clean air. No smell of animal shit, not rotting trash or sickness wafting in from the sleeping places. The sick house sat on one side of a clearing, and four small huts on the other, each with privacy shutters and a door and not a single hole in the roof. Children played between the huts with a dog.

Adults gathered in the center area. Nost’s voice got lower as the trio approached the adults, until Nost stopped speaking entirely and nodded to each man in turn. The last man, younger than both Nost and Durth, but taller than Durth, broader at the shoulders and completely blond, Nost glared at.

“Oh, please,” the young man said in an arrogant, uncaring voice, “the man had a foot in the grave already. If I gave him the medicine, it would have killed him.”

“You cost me a recruiter, Cousin,” Nost growled.

Durth immediately lowered his eyes. A moment too late for the young man’s startling blues to lock with his for a fraction of a second.

“Well. Second Cousin. If you would like to take it up with Father, as per what I do with my findings, then by all means, do so. I would be interested to see if he cares. This is him? I thought he would have more flesh on his bones.”

“Past’s servants aren’t wasted away, just starved enough to keep them docile,” Nost snapped back, “you would know that if you weren’t off tiddling Talen.”

“Talen is married, happily, with children, I was not tiddling him. I was fucking his oldest son. And I got us a treaty with him, did I not? What have you done in your time? You haven’t even gotten your. Gorgeous, might I say, looking younger than ever… woman pregnant yet.”

Nost let out a sound much like a kettle letting off steam as his woman, the healer, blushed at the compliment. The Cousin even smiled kindly at the healer, eliciting a growl from Nost. Both, according to Nost, were of a rank, the only difference between the two was that one was stationary and the other was nomadic.

This Cousin was younger than Durth was, which, Durth guessed, was why Nost stressed that there is no age requirement for Cousins. The Cousin was more handsome than Nost was, a young man and not ready to settle down just yet. Though the woman standing just behind him seemed out of place when compared to the other women of the group. Her clothing was newer, her hair bound back into a bun, not a braid. About her neck was what looked like a piece of plastic. No larger than Durth’s thumbnail, it had been painted, after the end of the world, with a daisy.

Plastic was invaluable.

The Cousin was dressed in a linen shirt, a newer commodity, few recalled how to make linen and usually the trade for such an item was… well…

Plastic.

About Cousin’s neck was a fine gold chain and hanging from the chain was a black dragonfly made of a substance Durth didn’t recognise. In one ear was a butterfly earring, old and silver. From before the end of the world, obviously. On one ring finger was a simple silver band.

Durth struggled for the meaning of a silver band. Gold meant married, back before the world ended. Silver was something else, meant to represent some kind of purity.

That wasn’t a celibacy ring, though. Not with the woman behind Cousin rounding like a female with child, not with his blatant statements of sex.

“Are you staring?” Cousin asked Durth.

Durth realised his eyes had drifted upward and squeaked, ducking his head and staring intently at the ground by Cousin’s feet.

The man even had shoes. Not. Well. More of sandals. But it was more of a shoe than Durth’s own bare feet. Durth prayed that nothing more would be said about the matter. He was new, he could be forgiven, right? Apparently so, for after a long moment of silence Nost spoke.

“He can obviously adapt.”

“Tushin would not have recruited him as a member if he was not perfect for the job at hand,” Cousin responded, “And he knew I was coming through,” the man’s voice turned to a purr, “he is quite pretty.”

“My recruiter did not pull in toys and pets.” Nost said in a tone that made Durth want to run away. And it wasn’t even directed at Durth.

“But the looks are part of the package. Tell me, boy,” boy? Durth was older than him by years! “what did Tushin discuss with you?”

“He spoke to me and several others about recruiting us and talked of Rel-”

“We do not speak his name,” Cousin interrupted, “during the daylight hours, they say he can hear even the barest whisper of his name, can slay a man who speaks it. Not even Father dare speak that name aloud.”

“Of… that one. And he asked me, if given the chance, who would I take my vengeance on? I told him that I would take it on that one. On the one who ended our world.”

“Mm,” Nost made a sound, “got the fire in him.”

“Have you ever handled a blade?” Cousin asked, “can you shoot an arrow straight? Laid a trap, can you wrap your mind around strategy?” each question Durth shook his head at, keeping his eyes carefully on the ground, “can you at least read?”

“Yes. Read and I know my numbers well enough to tutor Past’s boys. I know of literature and prayers, I can sign my name and make fairly legible letters.”

“Letters? Reading. Those will come in handy. Most forgot how to use their minds after the end,” Cousin muttered, “Can’t connect dots, one and one equal what?”

“Two.”

“Can you connect the dots?”

“I have been told I am too clever for my own good,” Durth murmured.

“Good. I will take him.”

“I am not for sale!” Durth snapped out, looking up and taking a step towards Cousin before he realised what he was doing.

By the time he realised what he had done, he was flat on his back, counting the stars before his eyes. Nost looked down at him curiously and Cousin seemed amused. Durth groaned and sat up, head pounding.

Between Durth and Cousin was the woman, the one with the plastic necklace. She had been the one to strike Durth down.

“My woman can fight better than you,” Cousin boasted, “are you going to let her beat you?”

“I will not hit a woman.”

“Not yet. Give it time and I will have that beaten out of you,” the woman growled.

“Down, girl.” Cousin murmured and she retreated.

A pregnant woman had just… Durth stood carefully, his head spinning from where the woman had struck him. The edges of his vision blackened and he felt like the world was doing a sickening spin before everything settled down.

“Durth, would you accept Cousin’s offer of apprenticeship?”

Recalling what Nost had said to him, Durth could only say, “yes.”

“Wonderful, Cousin Raya, you finally have an apprentice.”
.