Thoughts on a Deserted Coast Pt. 01

He smiled, "That sounds very good to me. I must try it without being chased.

Could you please tell me truly what manner of guard that you are?" he asked trying to look sincere, "I saw the one at the gate bow to you.

Where I come from, guards only look down like that if they are speaking to someone above them - or if they suddenly wonder if they might have stepped in something unpleasant.

They look down then to be sure. The motion looks much like bowing."

She laughed and nodded. "I'm the captain. That's why I wanted to get you to where they can take care of you and then I can find somebody to take over the duty. I've had a long day - though not as long as yours, I imagine."

They'd attracted attention by this time and slowly more and more people were drawn to them. Marishe pulled her hood on and lifted her mask to cover her face from the nose down.

"Why?" Cynn asked.

"It is how the people here know me," she said, "In my job, it's best to look a bit distant to them.

Miyarra-Loukh came running down the path, looking both relieved and furious at the same time. She embraced Cynn carefully, mindful of his wounds and weariness. Kissing him carefully to avoid the blood that he wore, she stepped back and looked at him.

"You are the same as I remember, old friend. Welcome."

He smiled wearily and told her that it was so good to see her and that time had been kind to her.

"Prince Harresheen," She bowed a little out of courtesy and Marishe had to look away, afraid that she'd burst out laughing over their previous joke.

"No longer, my friend," he smiled as he took her hand and kissed it. "There is nothing to be a prince of anymore. Everyone is dead."

She nodded, "And you are victorious, though it must be such an empty victory."

"Not really," he smiled, "But I almost lost to the last ones. I had nothing left of my power anymore and I was injured. Though it wasn't much beyond a sore backside and a slightly twisted ankle, it happened when I needed to be able to run.

I headed this way, seeking you, I'd hoped, but I did not know that your city was ... as affected as anywhere else, I must think."

He gestured toward Marishe, "The beautiful captain of your guard saw me and ran out alone to help me. I had vowed to kill all of the ones which the insects have given strength to in their alliance - all of the ones that I found alive, wherever I could find them, but in the time since I swore my vow, I found my daughter and it changed things and how I had to do them.

The ones who chased me here today were the last, and I would have died at their hands, my vow unfulfilled at the very end, but my life was saved by this lovely female. I would shower her with gold - if I possessed any."

He shrugged, "The few coins that I still own would make a very short shower. I doubt that she could bathe her lovely nose."

"You still have some of your land's wealth here" Miyarra-Loukh smiled, "It is what your grandfather left here for you, safe from the other six."

"Is there enough for her to have a shower?" he asked with a wry grin.

Miyarra-Loukh laughed, "She could bathe in it several times. We do not use much here in the way of money anymore. You could sell it at the freemarket, but they would only give you a price per weight."

"I see," he said, "Do I still hold any standing with you?"

She nodded, "Of course! I was about to ask you if you had any plans for the future. You are welcome to stay here with us. We could give you some kind of life at least. I know that you had intended to die in your quest to kill the creatures who destroyed your lands, but here you are alive at the end of it.

Marishe will guide you to the healers if you wish. Take some time to think of what you would ask me for."

"I do not need any time," he said.

"I did not expect to be victorious. Honestly, I had hoped to die when I swore my oath of vengeance.

This lovely person knew none of it I am sure, but it does not change anything. She saved our lives and aided us, standing near to me at the end of it.

I owe her everything - not that I have anything anymore, precisely."

Miyarra-Loukh looked at them. She'd known it when Cynn's small country was crushed and she'd heard of his intense hatred and desire for vengeance.

She could also see how he thought highly of Marishe and how much he just liked her.

In Marishe, she saw the same things, and also the beginnings of her amazement as it began.

She was also aware of her fascination with the Bishran.

She had a thought but it was interrupted by some of the female Bishrans there who reached out and tried to touch Chira and take her by the hand and the motions frightened the little one. Cynn found himself alone with the sorceress.

Marishe went to Chira.

The females froze and looked up, just as Chira did to see Marishe standing over her with her strange knife in her hand, looking especially cold as the haft lengthened so that the weapon was now a bladed pike.

"Touch her again and you lose your hands," she said quietly, "She didn't want to be grabbed. If she was your child, you wouldn't stand to have her pawed by strangers."

She nodded once, "This child is a royal - a princess of Stone Mountain. You may not touch her."

"And who are you?" a male asked in a surly tone. Marishe guessed that he must be a new arrival, since she hadn't seen him before.

Her green eyes flashed as the blade flicked up to point at his throat, "Give me one more word and you'll find yourself in the dust outside the gates. It's getting dark, too."

She pointed to the dried blood that she wore, "I've killed stupid things for most of the afternoon. One more wouldn't even be a thought to me in your case. Move along."

They bowed and apologized, some saying that they were just drawn to the little one over her dark appearance. It was more than Marishe had expected really, and she stepped back with Chira staying close to her, clearly idolizing her by then.

As Marishe looked at the growing throng, she began to think defensively with regard to Chira and she felt the little one's hand around the inside of her thigh just at the top of her long boot. She looked down and to her, it looked as though Chira wanted to draw comfort by touching Marishe's skin and that spot was about the only place that she could reach because of the boots.

The pike became a knife again as she went for her pouch and cut off another piece of jerky.

"Chira," she called softly and handed it down.

"That is good to see," Miyarra -Loukh smiled when she'd noticed it. "Marishe likes the Bishran, most of them and most here know that they can speak to her, but not if she wears her mask.

It seems that your girl has a protector, Prince."

Cynn looked and smiled to see Chira leaning against Marishe's leg with her arm around it as she stood chewing. She'd gone from looking very nervous in surroundings which were new and foreign to her to being quite comfortable to the point where she now stood as a mildly interested spectator and looked back as everyone stared.

The piece was gone in little time and Chira looked up. So Marishe cut her a larger one, pointing to one corner and then making her thumb and fingers 'eat' just that, before holding her hand away a little bit as the fingers went on chewing for a time. She repeated it and Chira smiled, nodding as she reached up.

Marishe gave the piece to her and Chira went back to looking pleased while many of the females sighed and pointed.

Chira took Marishe's hand and placed it onto her own shoulder before she leaned her head against the top of the Sangan's boot.

Miyarra-Loukh almost sighed herself then.

By now, they were surrounded by even more passersby and Miyarra-Loukh told them to move along, which was yet another strange thing for her to do, to Marishe's eyes.

She was trying to catch the eye of the sorceress to ask if she could return to her duty. But Miyarra-Loukh knew of it instantly.

"Nonsense. You have no more duty this day for what you have done. You may not have known of it, when you did as I asked, but you have saved a king and his princess."

The Bishran who had gathered near enough to hear all began to kneel as they heard it.

Cynn held up his hand, but she wasn't having any of it. "I know, Prince Cynn. But it does not change things. You are the king of Stone Mountain. Every Bishran here owes you their allegiance."

He was happy just to be here and he hoped more than anything that she'd be able to help with Chira's issues. He didn't really want to hear about these allegiances. The heart of the Bishran nation had been Stone Mountain and it was gone now. He really didn't care to hear other Bishrans swear anything to him. He'd have much rather been in time to save his land and seen their swords as they'd come to help.

He chided himself because thinking like that wouldn't help now. His land might have been the heart of Bishrandom, but it was a very small and remote place and he supposed that to most Bishran, it had become a little forgotten.

"You still have some wealth," Miyarra-Loukh smiled, "It is not all bad news, Prince Cynn. I need only a moment to speak with my guard captain here. Please excuse us for only a few moments."

Cynn stood with as much of his weight on his three good legs as he could manage. The ankle ached, but his haunch felt like it was on fire. He hoped that there was no infection.

That would be some poetic injustice, the way he saw it; to have fulfilled his oath and survived, only to die of a festering butt cheek.

Marishe stood looking apologetic to the sorceress, "I hope that I haven't done anything wrong."

Miyarra-Loukh shook her head, "Not really. But some of them will ask and then learn of what happened in a little time. It would have probably happened anyway, but now Prince Cynn and his daughter will be mobbed wherever they go by hopeful females."

Marishe shrugged, "It's not my place, but isn't that what they need? I mean, I don't think much of some of them, but Chira needs a mother and he'll need a mate at some point.

And by the way, what's wrong with Chira? He seems worried and I can see that she's weak."

Miyarra-Loukh smiled "She is a little malnourished, that is all, and I'd say that you got them here in time enough for it all to be overcome. She needs good food and if I can manage to find a wet nurse, she can get the fat which should have come to her from her mother's breasts. Goat milk would do also, but it would be my second choice.'

"Isn't she a bit old for that?" Marishe asked.

Miyarra-Loukh shook her head, "No, if her mother were still alive, she would still be nursing, but by now her mother would be looking to get her weaned in a short time. Her problem is that she is small because she had little or nothing. She needs to make up for the lack.

I watched it you know. You did well this day, Marishe. Neither of them will forget it. You kept them alive. He would not have prevailed alone, of if you had not gotten to them when you did.

I especially enjoy the way that you have made a little friend."

They looked at Chira and she was talking to her father, seeming to have reached some sort of decision for herself.

She stepped carefully behind Marishe and waved her hands in the air while Marishe wondered but was careful about not being obvious that she saw.

Chira then stood looking at the Bishrans and it was a little clear that she was thinking.

She pointed to them as she looked at her father, "Adat? Bish tehpul nish amaht."

She stepped closer to Marishe, still looking at Cynn, "Nash amaht Sang. Nash amaht Ma-eesh."

He looked a little perplexed.

"She is saying that she wants no Bishran for her mother, she wishes for her mother to be the Sangan. I would guess that she means you - if you are this Ma-eesh", she chuckled.

Chira walked around and waved her hands behind Marishe again and there were more words from her.

Miyarra-Loukh chuckled, "Most princesses of any sort only know that they want. They do not know what it is they want most times, but they do.

That little one may not have even seen a castle, but she acts like a princess anyway and she knows what she wants.

She tells her father that you are the one for them - even though you are missing some hind parts which she cannot seem to see or find somehow. She asked him if it really mattered to him."

Marishe didn't know where to look - or how to stop it.

"Prince Cynn has said that he is coming to think more and more that it doesn't, but that it might matter to you."

Marishe looked down and Chira was reaching up, wanting to be held again - so Marishe picked her up.

"Choose what you wish to do now with a little care, "the sorceress smiled. "In a moment, I'll invite them - and Chira's new idol to my home and there, she'll get the milk she needs since I have a thought about one Bishran girl who I can ask to nurse her for a little time. I'll have the healers actually get off their asses to come and care for Cynn."

She smiled a little, "Or I could just save everyone the time and bother if I gave the salve for it to you. Chira won't last long with a bellyful of milk and you might wish to get to know a very poor king a little better."

"I thought that you'd want to do that," Marishe said, "Re-forge an old alliance, and all that."

Miyarra-Loukh shook her head again, "No, It was nice back then, and I could do it easily, but I know that the feeling which he needs to come with it would not be there as he would like.

I see that he now has that feeling for you. He holds you as a very fierce girl in his mind."

Marishe chuckled, "Do you know what he did out there? I mean, really? I don't know why he'd think that. He's much more like that to me."

Miyarra-Loukh said, "Stone Mountain was only a very small kingdom, and the land is rough mountain land. It was the seat of power once, though it has faded. To Cynn, it was his world and he found his world and everyone in it in flames.

I saw him in my mind then, though it wasn't until the morning that I knew what my vision meant. I saw Prince Cynn fall to his knees and call to the ancient Bishran gods which are now almost completely forgotten, asking for the strength of will and body to begin and finish the task that he set himself - to remove the dog-things from this land forever.

Remember that he was alone and looking up a ruined mountain. He only ran later so that the daughter that he found might live on without him.

Marishe was still in shock. "So I was right. He ... then ... he -"

Miyarra-Loukh nodded, "He swore vengeance and death to every one of the army which demolished the kingdom.

To be clear, Marishe, we are speaking of thousands. One Bishran prince, a prince no longer and wanting to die, against thousands of ..."

Marishe nodded, "You should have seen him, Miyarra-Loukh. I wondered at him and why he was there. We had reached each other and I was prepared to do anything to save him. If we stood together, I thought that we had a good chance to live. I tossed him a blade, but then he turned back!

He turned back to go face them."

Miyarra-Loukh nodded, "He vowed to kill them all - every single one and no less. He was prepared to die from the start to the ending.

I can think of a small colony by the sea which could have a use for one with a heart like that.

Oh, before I forget, don't worry about the night guard. I've already made the arrangements and I was on my way to tell you.

Now where were we? Oh yes.

You do not know the ways of his kind - yet, but I do. They tried to live with as much honor as they could. To lie or cheat was beneath them. They liked to seek out others like themselves - it was a land where fighters and warriors were held in high esteem.

That one? He was never the kind of prince who sat in his chambers and used the chambermaids for their bodies.

He liked to spend his time with the people of that land and they knew him to see him, most times. That he was able to save not even one of them is a weight that he carries in his heart, and probably will until he breathes his last. In the middle of all of those poor dead people, he holds his female and their young ones.

He was not able to save them either. It all happened while he was away.

From the little that I could learn and from what I could search for; he ached to join them in death, but now, I think that he has had enough time to grieve and sees that it would do him or them no good at all."

I know him, Marishe. I have not seen him in a long time, but I know him well enough to say that he may demand that you be rewarded for what you have done. If he does make this demand, I will refuse him, since what you did was your duty.

It will force him to make his next demand. And I would grant him that one - unless ... "

"What would be his second demand?" Marishe asked, looking over to see Cynn with his purse open, counting coins, no doubt thinking of a very short money shower for her.

"He will devote the rest of his life to you - to the one who allowed him to fulfill his vow by saving his life."

"But I didn't save his life," Marishe whispered, "If you'd been there, you'd have seen that he saved himself. All I did was give him my sword and shoot a few of them."

Miyarra-Loukh held up her hand. "But you gave him the sword, and in doing it, you saved his life, because he needed it to survive - even though he wanted to die. The happiest ending to him would have been to kill the last of those things and then fall dead.

But that is not what happened. He killed the last and then there was the girl who gave him what he needed - the sword and the time to regain a little of his vast strength."

She smiled, "Tell me ... do you really think that he killed all of those thousands by hacking them down with a sword?

Neither I nor he really know if he will regain it all in time or even some of it, but that male has power enough within him to burn whole cities to ashes if it all comes back to him.

That is what he did when he began, but by the ending, he had only the sword of a beautiful guard captain left, an ally who came to him unlooked for and who stood beside him as he prepared to die at last.

Do you like him, Marishe?

Only say it to him the right way and he is yours. I know how you like the Bishran. That one is the closest that you will come to a magical Bishran male."

"Yes," Marishe whispered, "I want him. I just don't know if ..."

"Oh," Miyarra-Loukh said, remembering, "And I ought to mention that he can disappear.

He has power as I have said and he is very fond of strong, female magical archers - the guard captain kind, if I'm not mistaken and by what I see in him..."

She paused to feel for a moment - "Especially ones with a lot of red hair.

He has never seen this before and now he wonders what it would feel like to his fingers. He feels very pleasantly confused now, wondering at the attraction that he feels for a Sangan who feels very much like a Bishran to him and who stands on two legs and not four."

"Yes," Marishe whispered.

Miyarra-Loukh hesitated, but then decided that her guard captain ought to know. "He has shown in his past that he is utterly devoted to the one who holds his heart. But there is something else in him that you might want to know about."

"Yes?" Marishe whispered, fidgeting slightly where she stood.

"He is the kind who is also fond of ... the little things, such as posterior gates, if you take my meaning. I think that I have heard the same thing said about you, my dear, so it shouldn't be a problem.

You could arrange an evening of sport for him with some of your friends - male Bishran friends. He'd like that very much, just as you would. I'm sure."

"YES!" Marishe whispered, loud enough to cause Cynn to turn and look at her curiously.