Disposable Hero Ch. 03

Henri said, "I thought you wanted to learn how to fight unarmed. I am still willing to practice my sword work."

Zilvra's voice picked up at the thought and said, "Of course, where do you want to practice? When would you like to do it at?"

He looked around, pointed outside and said, "What is wrong with over there and right now. We'll work up a good appetite and get a start on the day."

She wasn't happy with this thought, and thinking of how Belar and Shynta had used their sexuality on him she tried to sway him by striking a sexy pose and saying, "We could practice right here. It is much easier for me to see."

No matter what planet Henri was on, women were all the same. He smiled and shook his head at her first attempt to use her sexuality on him.

Henri handed her his goggles, which she put on and her eyes felt better in the darkness of his goggles. She looked ridiculous in his goggles and he tried not to laugh but his smile couldn't be suppressed. He walked out into the light to hide his grin and to soak up the sun's warmth.

He crossed his arms and said, "You are going to have to get used to the light and sun. The more you run the worse it is going to be. Besides how are you going to learn about the things out here? The lack of light up here can mean the difference between something that is good for you and very harmful."

Zilvra wasn't going to budge from the cave even with his goggles on. Henri not wanting to wait walked into the cave with an evil grin on his face, which had all of them feeling uncomfortable. He grabbed her, tossed her over his shoulder, and carried her out and into the light.

Cursing at him and trying to wrestle free from his iron grip saying, "Ok you win I'll practice out here. Put me down, NOW!"

Henri dropped her to the ground with a resounding thump and thought about how she was still having that headache from the sun and wished he could do something for her.

While they were practicing Gabriella heard Henri's request and came down and stood on a wagon watching them waiting to fulfill his order. They spent the next hour practicing basic stance and simple strikes and blocks.

Zilvra had a basic understanding but had a long way to go. From time to time she would push things a little too far and wind up on her ass smarting from the beating, as Henri smiled at yet another round of revenge. Zilvra liked his goggles they helped her out a lot, the one thing she noticed was her skin getting warmer.

All of the Drow came out of the cave and into the light as they finished. Henri checked his watch when they came out and fifteen minutes later they went back in blind saying that they couldn't see anything, only Alak stayed out for another fifteen minutes.

In the cave Gabriella came and touched Zilvra, who shivered and turned to look behind her, right through Gabriella. When Zilvra turned around and looked at the light her eyes still hurt but her headache was gone. She had to admit that the pain was worse without the goggles and figured that it was because any light that got in would cause more discomfort.

When Zilvra came back out she told Henri her headache was gone and that the light didn't hurt as much as long as she wore the goggles.

As they sat down to breakfast in the cave, Henri opened his pack on one of the wagons. He took out the solar panel and placed it out on the top of his backpack and ran the cord into his night vision goggles. He ran a second cord from the panel to the iPad and cable cords so he would only have to change the adapter in order to charge each.

He walked into the cave and told Alak that they had been out for fifteen minutes and that he was out for thirty minutes, he asked if he should set a timer that will make noise so they know when to go back in, Alak said he would think about it.

The odd thing was that with his goggles Zilvra was fine outside for long periods of time and said she didn't even have a headache. Henri moved the solar panel with his tablet attached and sat down around the fire pit, he turned it on, took out a pencil, and asked for paper, they didn't have any but they gave him some parchment and began to draw the images he had on the screen and labeled them all.

Zilvra came and sat next to him and looked in awe at his tablet, she knew his world's magic was great but this little device had captured what things looked like better than any artist she had ever seen, they looked real.

Henri saw her looking at the photos and told her it is a picture. He tried his best to make her understand, but she just didn't get it. He held up his tablet and took her picture with its camera.

Henri said, "I just took a picture of you look."

He showed her the photo and after explaining that he wasn't going to be stealing her soul or anything like that, she relaxed and studied the photo. She was shocked to see her own image and saw how silly she looked in his goggles.

She thought, 'His people were truly something to study. They could copy a person on a board and kill at great ranges with a small piece of metal, see better at night than she could if they wore those special goggles.'

After breakfast, he dragged her out into the woods to do a little hunting and to look around, he grabbed his Katana because he knew his guns would draw unneeded attention.

Henri could see she was amazed at all the shadows and how the light played on everything. She asked questions about the plants that she had seen, her father had taught her some of them. She even asked about the buds on the trees. Her father had prepared her for winter and it was now mid-spring around mid-to-late April or maybe early May back home.

While the flora looked much like Earth's, for the most part the biggest difference was that the greenery had a more blueish hue to it. Zilvra enjoyed the way the various colors blended and wanted to see without the yellow of the goggles. This was what she had waited nearly a year for. Ever since Alak started teaching her the surface tongue and explaining that she would learn to use her skills on the surface, she had been hooked on escaping the darkness and the pointless existence of life in the Foreverdark. Now, here she was, free of the darkness, and was loving every minute of it, she wanted to know what everything was.

She listened to Henri as he handed her a 4" green strawberry and explained that it was good to eat as he took a bite of a smaller one. She took a bite of the strange green fruit and enjoyed the sweetness of this find. She looked where he was picking them and saw a large blue one and went to pick it, as she did she brought it to her mouth to taste and heard Henri warn her it might not be ripe. She froze and thought that it might be like the Olathni she had found while they were making their way to the surface. Henri led her to a stream that wasn't more than 700 meters away and uphill slightly, it would make a good place for fresh water, baths and cooking. A small pond maybe 8 meters wide was fed by a waterfall and could be used as a shower.

She climbed up next to the waterfall and looked out to see what the surroundings looked like. Her only clear view was along the path that the stream ran alongside of, and she could see a vast sea of a grayish green tree, she had been taught were called Abosiri by her sire. He said they were called that because they stayed gray year round unlike the other trees she could see, like the one with the white outside they called Beareza. She watched, almost entranced by the swaying for the trees in the breeze. Zilvra could see fields in the distance and another forest beyond that, the surface never seemed to end. She looked back down at the pond and at Henri, a strange thought ran through her head as she studied him. She remembered him talking about friends and how you could trust them with your life if need be. She knew she had saved his life and hers in the dark forest when they fought the Nautilythiiri, did that mean they were friends now?

Her thoughts raced at what else she would learn in this new world, she was free and wanted nothing more than to stay. It couldn't be worse than what she had lived through in the past 186 years. In many ways it was already better than it had been, she was free of her house and of the threat of her sisters. She wondered what else awaited her, she knew humans had their own music and she wondered what it sounded like? She wondered how their wine compared to Drow wine? Was their food as good as that which she had been raised on? Did they like to dance as her people did? What was human dancing like? Even her sire couldn't answer her questions, he even warned her that humans were taught to hate her kind. That didn't stop her from wondering and looking at Henri she wondered if he might teach her about this wondrous land and its people and in the process she might be able to learn about what a friend is.