The Happy Few

Chapter 4

Spending days in Trese was much different from spending days in the wilderness around it. When the heat became unbearable in the town, one could duck into a shadowy alcove or a shop to cool down before continuing on some errand. In the desert surrounding the town, there were very few places one could take refuge. The unforgiving sun beating down on their backs made travel difficult.

The road to the first sacred site was through desert dunes as far as the eye could see. It was daunting and no small bit frightening to travel through the sands with no discernable path to guide one. It was only by use of a trusty compass that the group maintained a faithful path towards the site. It would take a week to travel to the desert gorge where the relic was to be found or where they would meet with a solid rock wall that would foretell of misdirection.

Two days into the journey, it became clear to Ari that completion of their task would be difficult, if not impossible. Sigael had insisted that they begin their journey early the day after they had been assigned the task of finding the artifacts. The sun had barely risen when he nudged the human thief awake.

Kir opened an eye and looked up at him.

“Time to leave.” Ari said, picking up a bag and slinging it onto his back. “Get up.”

The human groaned and shut his eye.

Ari grumbled and nudged the young man with his foot. “Get up.”

“Why? Why are we leaving so early?”

“Because we need to get on our way. Time is of the essence.”

Kir turned onto his side, giving the elf his back. “Later.”

A swift kick in the behind woke the human up with a startled yelp. Kir scrambled into a sitting position and began yelling insults at the elf, who ignored his ranting in favor of yanking him to his feet and thrusting a small pack into his arms. An argument ensued, which Ari quickly won. Moments later, he was dragging the thief out into the street where a small group of elves and humans were waiting to see them off.

Waiting at the edge of the group was the red haired man who had negotiated with Sigael the previous night. He was bent over the shoulder of a smaller human, whispering instructions, waving his finger occasionally in what appeared to be warning. When Ari approached, Emery looked up at him then turned back to his uncle and nodded before stepping away, towards the elf. He looked at Kir and rolled his eyes.

“You know,” the thief said, adjusting his pack, “we’re gonna have problems if you keep lookin’ at me like that.”

“You just stay out of my way, thief, and I won’t have any cause to hurt you.”

Being as old as he was, Ari had seen numerous relationships start and end and he could tell that the two humans would be problematic.

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His prediction proved true. Though Emery did not go out of his way to speak to Kir, when a stupid comment passed the thief’s lips, a trend that was all too common to the human, the boy was quick to utter a cutting remark. What Emery did not approve of in Kir, he could not say, but he supposed he would find out soon enough, once the civil water broke between them.

Kir had been irritating since the beginning of their journey, asking how long it would take to get to the site, how long they would travel during the day, asking if someone would carry his bag or carry him. To Ari’s surprise, Emery did little more than groan in agitation or roll his eyes. Perhaps it had to do with the fact that Kir directed most of his questions and comments towards the elf. Ari could not account for this odd sense of familiarity, aside from the fact that the thief did not wish to endure the little soldier’s teasing. Only a fool would not see the boy’s disdain.

The second night, they camped in a little oasis of desert foliage that provided a small bit of protection from the whipping wind.

“It looks like a sand storm is coming.” Emery said as he began erecting his tent.

Ari nodded in agreement. He did not think the storm would be troublesome to them; it seemed to be traveling quickly and to the east of their location. They would get the dregs of it, but even so, the flimsy canvas of their tents would likely not protect them from the wind.

“Be sure to hammer the spikes in deep; the wind will be bad tonight.”

“That might prove difficult since it’s all sand.” The boy said, forcing the spike down as far as it could go. He tested its grip in the ground, but without using much strength, he pulled it free.

The elf shook his head. “Try hammering it in sideways. It will still be loose, but it will be harder for the storm to pull free.”

The young soldier hammered the spike in sideways, as instructed. He looked over his shoulder to smile at Ari, then went about arranging the canvas on the poles. Next to him, Kir was not having as much luck. The thief looked at Ari, whose tent was already made, and Emery, who was close to completing his. He then looked at the pile of poles at his feet.

“So, who’s gonna put my tent up?”

No one answered.

“Come on!”

Emery slid into his tent, fastened the flaps closed, and prepared to sleep. Kir looked over to Ari. The elf was busy finishing off a skewer of the dried meat they had eaten for their dinner.

“Ari,” Kir whined, “Help me.”

“No.”

“Why?”

“You have to rely on yourself.”

“But I dunno how to do it!”

Ari sighed. “I don’t care. I’m tired and irritated and I do not feel like exerting myself further. I helped you make your tent last night and you should have paid attention. Now you’ve learned your lesson.”

The human gasped in shock. “But-but the storm! I’ll die!”

The thought was oddly sweet to Ari. He started climbing into his tent and arranging the blankets to his liking when he felt a small body crawl in next to him. He paused.

“I do not recall welcoming you into my tent.”

“Where else will I sleep?” Kir asked, making himself comfortable in the blankets. “I’m not gonna sleep with Emery!”

“Emery would kill you as soon as sleep with you.”

“Exactly! You’re too nice to hurt me, Ari!”

An indignant sound escaped the elf’s throat, but after a moment of thought, he decided to simply let the matter go and allow the human to sleep in his tent. If he didn’t, he was certain he would listen to the thief’s whining all night.

“This is for one night only, do you understand? Tomorrow you make your own tent or sleep in the sand. Do you understand?”

Kir mumbled into the blanket. “Yeah, yeah. Yer so mean, Ari.”

“And you are so lazy.”

He waited for a reply, but the only sound to greet him was soft snoring. Ari looked over. The human was curled up and sleeping soundly. It amazed him how easily Kir could slip into repose with the danger of a sandstorm at hand and their friendship an uncertain thing. Had the human asked, Ari was certain he would say that they were not friends, hardly even friendly acquaintances. But that did not seem to bother Kir. He slept soundly enough.

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When he woke the next morning, Kir was snuggled up against Ari’s side, arms curled around the elf’s large bicep. Ari glanced over, marveling at the human’s behavior. It took a moment to untangle himself from the thief’s grip, but he managed and slipped from the tent.

The sun was a hazy orange disc over the ridge of rock that they had followed from Trese. The storm had tossed up three inches of sand and buried the fire pit and the bottom of their tents, but Emery was up and had half of the pit unearthed so that they could start a fire for breakfast. The human looked over his shoulder and nodded at Ari.

“I think the storm took Kir.” The boy said, though his tone was free of concern.

“No such luck,” the elf said, going over to help dig, “he crept in with me to sleep.”

The soldier paused in his digging, but decided it was not his business and continued. Two hours later, when the fire was burning strong and the food almost ready, Kir emerged from the tent, stretching and yawning.

“What’s for breakfast?” he asked, coming over to sit beside Ari.

The other two cast glances at him, then returned to their work cooking. When the food was ready, they divided it up between the two of them and left a small portion for Kir. The thief looked at his hare, then at the full plates of his companions.

“You guys are really jerks, you know that?” He grumbled.

“And you did nothing to help catch the rabbit, or gut or clean it or dry it or prepare it or cook it.” Emery replied, chewing a chunk of well-cooked rabbit and then taking a bite of bread.

“S’not my fault I never learned how ta do that stuff!” The young man cried.

“Perhaps you should have spent more time following useful pursuits than thieving.”

“Stealin’ is useful! How do ya think I survive?”

The boy soldier cast him a dark look, then turned away, refusing to say anything else. When he had finished his own meager meal, Kir edged closer to Ari. He tried to give the elf his best pathetic face, but Ari paid no attention to him.

“Ari,” he whined, reaching for a chunk of meat, “come on, share. I’m hungry.”

The elf slapped his hand away. “Emery is right. You did nothing to help with catching the food or preparing it, nor did you help us fortify the campsite or build a fire or forage for fuel for the fire. You couldn’t even manage to put up your own tent. I pray to the gods that this trip is over quickly so I can dump you back in that miserable little town of yours. You’re useless.”

The human reeled back, as if he had been struck, and stared at the man incredulously. “I’m useful!” He yelled.

Ari stared past him, at the desert landscape, no longer listening to the human’s complaints. When he turned to Emery to see if the boy shared Ari’s sentiments, Kir found the soldier bent over his food, not paying any attention to him. When Emery happened to look over his shoulder and saw Kir staring at him, he shook his head and rolled his eyes. The dismals enraged Kir. He stood abruptly.

“I’m useful!” He asserted again, glaring at his companions. “I’ll show you! Yer gonna need me at some point and then yer gonna feel sorry about treating me like this!”

“I highly doubt that.” Emery said, finishing off his breakfast and reaching for a cloth to clean the plate. The vaguely amused look on Ari’s face spoke of assent.

Traveling after that had proven awkward and uncomfortable.

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For three days, they had traveled on in a strange complacency. Little conversation passed their lips and the humans avoided each other’s company when possible. Kir sat close to Ari when they paused in their travel to rest and at times tried beginning frivolous conversations with the elf. On one occasion, the thief had sat down in his lap and demanded that Ari rub his sore back for him then threw a teasing grin at him and said he would return the favor. Ari was unsure if the human was bored or lonely, but the affection was slightly off-putting.

Kir proved to be ever useless during the journey and Ari had given up trying to keep him out of his tent. He had secured the opening flaps from inside his tent one night and still woke to find the human curled at his side like a faithful dog. The sensation of having a hot body pressed against his own was not a welcome one given the desert heat, nor was it particularly joyful being kicked and woken by someone trying to roll on top of him. Sleeping was difficult, but shoving Kir several feet away from him when he got annoying seemed to alleviate any problems for the remainder of the night.

When they had consulted their map to check their route, Ari discovered that there had been a town nestled close to the gorge where they were heading. The map was old though, so he had little hope of the town still being alive and thriving. It was so far from the other towns and the royal city and resources were so scarce, how could it survive in the desert?

Much to his surprise, just before dusk on the fourth day of travel, they came upon a vast gate that encircled the town.

“Do you think they like outsiders?” Kir asked as they gazed up at the forbidding stone wall and turrets.

“Most likely not,” Ari said, stepping forward to knock on the door, “but we may as well try.”

They waited a long moment before someone answered the knock. A man appeared, leaning over the side of the turret tower and looked down at them.

“State your business.” He called.

“We’re hoping to spend the night here.” Ari yelled up to the man. “Perhaps find an inn or some shelter where we won’t get buried in sand while we sleep.”

“Why have you come all the way here? It’s no easy journey here and there are very few reasons to come.”

The elf chewed his lip in thought. He thought it best not to tell the truth, but he could not come up with a lie quickly. He glanced at Kir, thinking the human would have talent at lying, given his profession, but the thief only shrugged at him.

Emery stepped up beside him. “We’re here to go into the gorge nearby. We’re researchers for the kingdom, mapping out different cave works to be compiled into the first geographical atlas of the country.”

“What’s an atlas?” Kir whispered and the boy kicked him in the shin.

Above them, the man turned his head to speak to another guard. They whispered amongst themselves then turned back to the small party waiting at the gate.

“You have permission to enter, but your stay cannot exceed a week and your work will be looked at before you leave to ensure that you do not take unnecessary knowledge with you.”

“We accept those terms.” Ari said.

The man disappeared and a moment later, the doors began to open slowly. The heavy timber of the doors creaked on the rusty hinges and a small cloud of dust picked up as they moved. When there was a decent sized opening, the three slipped into the town and waited for the guard to come down and greet them. The man was suspicious of them, looking each of them over and asking them detailed questions about their purpose. It surprised Ari how easily lies came to the boy soldier’s tongue. Emery proved capable of supplying a believable reason for their presence and explaining away anything the guard marked as odd.

When the man seemed content with his interview, he directed the group down the main street to a local tavern that also provided cheap housing. Ari nodded appreciatively at the man then steered the two humans in the direction of the tavern. Kir lagged behind, looking around at the shops and houses, assessing the strength of their encasements, and the elf gave him a soft shove to hurry along. The thief shot him a dark look but quickened his pace.

The tavern was full of loud, rowdy people, clinking glasses cheerfully, laughing and singing off tune. It seemed a merry place and one where they would blend in without much difficulty.

“Stay here.” Ari said firmly to the two humans. He gave Kir a stern look, more concerned about the mischief he could get into than the idea that Emery might try to sneak a beer.

“Why ya looking at me like that for?” The thief crossed his arms indignantly.

Ari pushed his way through the tavern patrons and went to the bar counter. A plump girl with a ruddy complexion made her way over and smiled at him.

“What can I do for you, mister elf? Fancy a pint?”

He shook his head. “No thank you. I wonder if you have rooms for the night. I have two companions.” He gestured towards the door.

Her gaze followed his arm and she made a small noise. “We only have two rooms available, so if one of you don’t mind sharing a room, I’ll be glad to give them to you.”

He thought for a moment. There was no way he could stick the two humans together without one of them getting injured, so that would mean he would get stuck with Kir. To leave Kir alone would be to set the thief on the town; the young man needed watching. The thought was daunting, but he doubted they would have much luck at another tavern or inn. “Alright, we’ll take the rooms.”

The girl nodded and went to fetch the two room keys. “Room 5 and 8.” She said as she handed the two keys to him. “And be sure to come and get a drink once you get settled in.”

Ari ignored the suggestive wink she gave him and went to retrieve his companions. “We’ll stay here tonight and start into the gorge early tomorrow morning.” The two humans nodded.

He handed the key to room eight to Emery. “Be sure to lock your door. I don’t know anything about this town and I don’t want to risk trouble.”

The boy nodded and went up the stairs to the lodging section of the tavern.

“Where’s my key?” Kir asked.

“You don’t get one. You and I are sharing a room and I’m keeping hold of the key.”

“Hey! How come I don’t get my own room?”

“Because there were only two available and you two, despite having the same human blood, can’t stand one another.”

“S’not my fault!” The young man said, stomping his foot on the floorboard. “Emery’s stuck up! He’s had a grudge against me since we met and I don’t know why!”

Ari began to climb the steps to the room. “He likely takes exception to your profession. A soldier such as himself is bound by oath to uphold justice and you’re profession does nothing but overturn laws and harm others.”

“Hey!” Kir ran after him. “That’s not true! I never hurt anyone in my life! I’m not like that!”

When he jerked on Ari’s sleeve to get the man to look at him, the elf paused on the threshold of the stairs. “Perhaps you never hurt someone directly, but your actions have probably brought pain to many.”

“How! Explain that!”

Ari walked down the hallway and opened the door to their room. He stepped inside. “If you honestly haven’t thought of how your actions could hurt someone, even indirectly, then I won’t waste my breath explaining it to you because I know it will be for nothing. Yours is a selfish occupation that cares for no one.”

Ari left the door open for Kir. He went over to the bed and sat down on it. It was not the softest mattress he had ever slept on, but it felt much better than the lumpy sand that they had slept on for the past five days. Just sitting on it brought a relief that he felt in his core.

Outside the room, Kir had not moved. His face was red and hot. He was used to people condemning him for his profession and telling him what a terrible person it made him, but he knew that he was helping others and that that surely negated any wrongness in the act. Being in the presence of two prudent people like Ari and Emery was stifling. They only saw things in black and white and refused to see that he was a person and not just a thief. Or if they did choose to see his other traits, they chose to see only the bad ones.

He followed after Ari and glared at the elf. The man was pulling off his traveling gear and taking out the map and compass they used. Kir plopped down on the floor and pulled his boots off, tossing them halfheartedly into a corner. Ari began checking their route on the map and planning for the next day of travel. They sat together in silence for over half an hour. Kir’s temper was simmering; he felt insulted to his core and he could not banish Ari’s words and cruel accusations. He stood suddenly and placed himself in front of the elf. Ari glanced up at him, face bored and placid.

“I’m a good person!” He declared. He did not know why he felt the need for Ari to recognize that fact, but he did.

The elf blinked; he looked like he did not care. The look infuriated Kir even more.

“I don’t do it all for me! I help people! So what if some people lose their money or jewels? It goes to a better cause anyway! I—”

Before he could finish, Ari growled and got to his feet, towering over the small human. He squeaked in surprise. “If you have to harm someone else in the process of helping others then you’re not helping at all. You’re just making another problem to take the place of the one you try to fix. All your inclination to steal proves is that you’re too lazy to get an actual job or do some real work to help others. It’s easier for you to steal.”

He pushed past the human and went to the door.

“So what!? No one else is gonna help them!” Kir yelled at the man’s back.

Ari grunted and slammed the door behind him as he left. He was tired and irritated and he felt a nasty headache coming on. He was in no mood to argue over morals with a human. The tavern downstairs was inviting at that moment. It was still busy, though the noise level seemed to have diminished slightly. He went to the bar and the same girl who had given him the room keys gave him a mug of ale. He thanked her and gave her a generous tip when he paid for it.

It had been so long since he had been in a tavern, much less enjoyed a bit of alcohol, that Ari let the time pass, nursing drink after drink. He watched the patrons, surprised to find a mixing of races. Humans, elves, several dwarves and other humanoids all mingled and fraternized. It was a pleasant place, he decided, where anyone from any corner of the world could come and gather.

As people began to file out into the night and the crowd thinned, a lady approached and took a seat at the bar beside him. Ari looked her over, appreciating the ample curves of her hips and breasts. She smiled at him and tucked a lock of hair behind a pointed ear. When she asked to share a drink with him, he was no small bit surprised. Though he did not consider himself unattractive, Ari was no great catch to his people. A lowly prison guard and soldier was next to nothing in social rank and the Elven maidens were eager to find themselves respectable mates. After several hundred years of trying to impress the females, he had given up and his despondent attitude seemed to dispel the few females who would look at him favorably. But this was not an elf from his lands. She was foreign and pretty and did not know that he had no rank. And he doubted that she cared.

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The bed was much softer than Kir had imagined it would be. The pillows were fluffier than the ones he had in his home and the blankets smelled freshly washed. He thought it might be the best bed he had ever slept in. Ari had been gone for several hours and did not seem likely to return. Given the way they had parted, the human had no qualms with curling up in the center of the bed to sleep; Ari could sleep on the floor if he did come back to the room. Just as he was leaning over to blow out the candle on the bed stand, the door opened and Ari stood in the doorway. With a female. Kir raised an eyebrow.

“Who is she?”

Ari did not answer, merely walked in and grabbed the human by the arm and pulled him from the bed. “You need to leave.”

“What? Why!”

“Because I said so. You need to leave.”

“Where will I go? Emery won’t let me stay with him!”

Ari pushed him towards the door. “I don’t care where you go, just get out.”

The female gave Kir a knowing wink when he was pushed past her. It was then that the young man understood why he was being kicked out of the room. He wrenched his arm free from Ari’s grasp and turned on him.

“Fine. I’ll go. But I’ll be back, so make it quick.”

The girl laughed and Ari pulled her by the wrist inside the room. He shut the door on Kir without another word. Kir stood outside the door for several minutes, unsure of what to do, straining to hear what was going on inside the room. Every now and then, he could hear the soft lilt of the girl’s laughter. He felt uncomfortable and foolish standing outside of the room, so he went down the hall and knocked on the door of Emery’s room.

When the boy pulled the door open, he groaned upon seeing Kir. “What do you want?”

“Ari kicked me out.”

“Why am I not surprised? You can’t sleep here.”

“Come on…I just need a place to crash. I won’t even bother you.”

“I hardly doubt that.” Emery mumbled, but something in the young man’s countenance bothered him, concerned him even, and he stepped aside to let the thief in.

Without thinking, Kir went to the bed and jumped onto it. This earned him an angry growl from the soldier.

“You sleep on the floor. This is my room and I want to sleep.”

Kir looked at him. “Oh, come on! Share!”

“No. Get off my bed.”

“But where will I sleep!?” Emery pointed to a pile of blankets on the floor. “You can’t be serious! This is the first time I get to sleep in a motel and you jerks are making me sleep on the floor?!”

“I’m not the one who bugged Ari to the point of kicking me out of the room, now am I? You only have yourself to blame.”

Kir scowled. “I didn’t bug Ari, he came back with a woman.”

That gave Emery pause. “Oh.” He looked at the thief and noted his sour, unhappy expression. He had seen very quickly in the beginning of their travels that Kir gravitated towards the elf, but he had not suspected that he might like Ari in a romantic sense. He rather thought the elf was a bit too droll to be intimate material, but different people had different preferences.

“Fine. You can sleep in here and you can sleep in the bed IF you keep to your side. If you touch me in any way I’ll cut you.”

That was no idle threat, Kir knew, but he was too excited at the prospect of sleeping on the bed that he nodded with a smile. Emery sighed, lifted the edge of the blanket, and crawled into bed. He showed Kir where his boundary lines were and warned him again of the dire consequences of crossing the boundary and touching him.

“Yeah, yeah.” Kir said, snuggling down into the pillow.

After the light had been blown out, the two humans settled into sleep. Emery slipped into slumber quickly, tired from the long days of travel and ready to take advantage of such decadence that was out of place in the desert. On the other side of the bed, Kir was not so fortunate. He tried to sleep, but his eyes always seemed to open. Each noise in the hallway made him jump and wonder if the female elf had left Ari’s room.

He turned onto his back and listened to the even sound of Emery’s breathing. It was soft and shallow; nothing like the heavy, deep rumbling sound of Ari’s breathing. He had come to know the sound and rhythm of Ari’s breathing. The sudden change in breathing patterns made it difficult to sleep. So did the knowledge that there was a female elf in the bed that he should have been sharing with Ari.

Kir laughed at his thoughts. He had not realized he had grown so attached to the elf. The prison on the elf island had been one thing, but he had truly been happy when he had seen Ari in Trese and the idea of traveling with him hadn’t bothered him. He much preferred the elf’s company to his fellow human’s. But there was something more. Something he could not name. He felt something when they had huddled together the last few nights, when Ari had wrapped his arms around him and pressed close. He wondered if perhaps the elf felt something of his feelings as well or if the tryst with the female proved that there was nothing between them other than forced camaraderie.

END

I'm pretty sure there will finally be sex next chapter. And now the journey has started and already there are problems.