Page 14 of The Warrior's Oath
Nyota picked up on his mood and opted to stay quiet as they walked, letting him stew in his own juices rather than try to understand his strange, alien psychology. Korvin was stoic and a man of few words, but he had also showed moments of fire in him.
She did not want to be the cause of another flare up if she could help it.
At least he was walking at a slower pace, though she had to wonder if it was more because he was searching for any signs of survivors. The way he had reacted when he’d learned she had known his general had taken her a bit by surprise. Whoever he was, this general was clearly more than just a leader to him. And now he had a singular purpose driving him, and her tired legs had no choice but to follow.
As the day slid into dusk Korvin led them over a small rise and down toward a thicket of dense trees with deeply creased brick-red bark and bulging roots that spread like tentacles of some old-world octopus of lore. He paused, surveying the area. There was a small creek nearby, but they were far enough away from it to avoid the chill and possible influx of insects that would accompany nightfall.
“There,” he said, pointing to an outcropping of tall rocks nearby. “That is where we will make our camp for the night. Clear the area against those rocks of debris and smaller stones. I will return shortly.”
“Where are you going?”
“To see what game might be drinking at water’s edge. We have limited food supplies. I would add to them.”
Without another word he turned and strode away, leaving her to her task.
He would not be gone long.
Korvin appeared out of nowhere, his stealth, especially considering his size, surprising her. He was carrying a small animal of some sort, already cleaned and skinned, impaled on a skewer and ready for roasting.
An unusual bit of color caught her eye as well. A pair of small alien fish of some sort, mostly dark but with vibrant orange spots, hung cleaned and gutted, dangling from a cord made of braided plant of some kind.
He stood quietly a moment and surveyed the area she had prepared, nodding his approval.
“This will do well,” he said, then rested the cooking stick against the stone face and crouched down, quickly arranging a small pile of stones in a circle, two taller stones on opposite sides from which he would set the skewer to roast their meal. He then placed a thick piece of fallen wood in the stone ring.
“Don’t you need kindling for that?” she asked.
“No.”
“But that’s a really thick branch. And we don’t even have any matches. How are we supposed to—”
“Please be silent,” he said, keeping his annoyance in check as best he could. “I have much experience surviving in the wild. Allow me to work in peace.”
Nyota was about to fire back but remembered this man was an alien, and a soldier at that. Who could say what techniques for fire starting he knew? She watched with fascination as he placed his hands just above the wood and squinted, as if focusing his internal energy on the log.
She almost laughed at the display, but a faint glow grew between his hands and a moment later the log caught fire, its entire length crackling in a slow, steady blaze.
“How the hell did you do that?” she gasped. “You just waved your hands and it caught fire!”
“I did not just wave my hands. I drew power from this rune here,” he replied, tapping his finger on a small, intricate design inked on each of his wrists. “The pigment in these runes is of a special variety, and the rune shape channels it to my will, granting me greater strength, as well as several other abilities.”
“Yeah, like making fireballs!”
“It was not a fireball, do not be ridiculous. No one can do that. This is merely an exchange of the power contained in the pigment between both hands. The transfer can be focused to heat items between them. In this case, a piece of wood.”
Korvin laid the meat over the fire and dug through the nearby growth until he found a suitable stick to cook the fish with. He then placed those above the flames as well, but at a greater distance to keep them from overcooking.
Nyota watched in rapt silence, staring hard at the markings she could see on his exposed bits of skin. Designs. Runes, he called them. And apparently, they really did give him special abilities.
She was able to understand an alien’s speech thanks to a similar pattern marked behind her ear, so she guessed the impossible wasn’t so impossible after all. She knew firsthand it actually worked, and in a few ways now, though the precise mechanism behind it was still beyond her comprehension.
She hoped to change that.
Nyota scooted closer to her alien protector. “Can you teach me that?” she asked.
Korvin’s near constant annoyance seemed to dissipate for a moment as he sized her up in a glance. “If you were properly marked? Yes. It is rather straightforward, but it requires practice.”
“What do I do?”
