130 – Covering the Bases

  Karen had previously given a cursory warning about the weapons from the psi-community. First that it was even odds that they would give Alex one. Second, that through some psionic tricks, the weapon would somehow be tuned to Alex and only him, such that anyone else trying to handle it would get anything from a mild shock to bitten hard. Because of this, Steven and Rox had so far not brought up much about Alex having the sword, other than to keep it put away unless he needed to defend himself or his sister.

  Alex brought the sword over and held it out upright to his father. “This is mine. The people in the cave gave it to me. They cut a small patch of skin and hair from my head and folded it into the metal as they hammered it to shape. They said I was not to loose it or let anyone else handle it.”

  Karen spoke up in her language. “Did they send a book with it?”

  Steven again remembered the scroll, still in his pack. He answered in the local language. “Yeah, they did. Is it the Manual of Arms?”

  Karen had understanding of such weapons and their unique qualities. She knew of the book and had a general idea of its teachings. But she had neither any such weapon, nor any training from the manual of arms for one. “Most likely. I expect it is written in their script. Unless they did something to Alex, or taught him their alphabet and dictionary, he will need one of them to read it.”

  Alex listened carefully, but did not understand any of it. “What is she saying, Dad?”

  “That you need to hold on to the scroll that the people sent with when they picked you up. At some point you will need someone like those people to help you read it, unless you can read their language.”

  “You mean like when they put their language into my head? One of them did something like that. On our way out.”

  Steven remembered what Alex was referencing. “Did any of them do any of that to you, any other times?”

  “I think one of them, did, but so I could speak their language. Not that most of them did speak. Mostly they just talked in my head.”

  -Like this?-

  Alex turned directly to Karen, his boyish face full of anger. “Don’t do that again. You’re one of them aren’t you?”

  Steven intervened, before the potential conflict escalated. “Alex! Put your sword away.”

  The older women finished with Diana’s braids, and Diana and Rox switched places.

  -Right now, everyone can hear me. One of my grandmother’s grandmothers was from them,- Karen answered Alex’s accusation. -I’m from the city that you were taken to, before being sent into the caves. And I’m helping your parents to get you back and safe.-

  “Fine.” Alex picked up the scabbard for his sword, and the belt it hung from. “Stay out of my head.”

  Alex slid the sword home, and put his belt on and settled the sword to place with some evident practice and familiarity.

  Steven turned the spotlight away from Alex, and onto Diana. “What about you, Diana. What happened to you? Did you bring any thing out?”

  Diana shook her head. “Anything I might have brought was taken away. The Urnvtai gave me a necklace, but when mom took all the magic off of me, the necklace had to go with.”

  Rox interrupted her daughter. “It had some bad magic on it. I had to get rid of it to bring you home.”

  “We’re not home yet,” Diana grumped. “The Urnvtaīnī I was placed with was trying to teach me their magic. One of the things she did was to magic their spoken language into me before I went to bed that first night. Then she was teaching me their writing. The letters are a lot different than at home.”

  Caspian strolled up at this point. He was about to speak to Karen, but noticed she was halfway through a braid on Rox’s hair, and let the subject go. Not having a spare change of outer clothes, he had rinsed his current set out. Now for fun he showed off a little, and cast a spell that pushed all the water off of him, making a puddle on the ground.

  As soon as Rox’s first braid was done, Karen excused herself to go bathe, whether she actually needed it or not.

  Diana and Alex took turns talking about all that had happened to them. They had traveled with the caravan. At first they were in a cart. Then they were allowed to walk. Along the way they were given local clothes purchased in a market. Alex got a little sick from some food, but was soon better. It rained sometimes. They saw some strange animals, and occasionally someone from the caravan hunted, and skinned and cut it up what he brought back. There were twenty men in the caravan. Diana could see that one of the men glowed more than the others, the way that Caspian and Mom glow more than Dad or the other woman. At first they could only point and grunt, but soon Diana and Alex began to understand some words. There was no reason to run away, because there was no where to run to. Also both kids knew that Dad and Mom would come, eventually. None of the men tried to do anything to them, other than keep them healthy. Both kids were surprised that hey could see in the dark, but kept this to themselves.

  They were put back in the wagon and taken into the city and across the river into the castle. An important man looked at them, and the men from the caravan were dismissed. Some other men led the wagon back out of the city, and they were brought to a town where Diana was given to four Urnvtai, and Alex was given to five of those other people. They were taken in different directions.

  Diana was taken down another cave and taken to the Urnvtai village. They were not surprised that she could see in the dark like they could. She was given to a woman who had two other daughters, and a boy who was not hers. She was teaching them all magic. Her husband was a builder of some kind. The Urnvtai woman cast some spells on Diana so she could speak and understand the language. The Urnvtai kids allowed Diana to play with them, once they understood she could speak their language. Diana tried to find her way to the main tunnel, but was always stopped by the time she got to the passage to it. She did begin to learn their written language and a little of the magic the woman began to teach Diana.

  Alex was taken down a different tunnel than Diana, and into the village of the people who thought to him. These people were surprised that he could see in the dark, as they did not. Rather as an extension of their mind-powers, they could sense the world around them. That was also why they liked the phosphorescent stuff to give off light. He was given to a couple who could not have kids. This helped the wife to be happier, as she tried to mother him. But Alex hated that they thought into his head, rather than talked. The man did put their spoken language into Alex’s head, but they still mostly thought at him. The kids in the village teased Alex because he could not think into their heads. Alex was not able to explore very far. But the people were surprised that he could swim, the one time he got to the lake. It was colder than Tahoe, so he did not try to go very far.

  The man took Alex to the smithy where a small chunk of his hair and scalp were cut off. It was about the size of his finger nail, and had since healed. The bit was then folded into the middle of a chunk of metal that was being hammered into the sword he has. The smith taught him how to treat the sword and to be careful of it. When the sword was ready, another man began to teach Alex how to use it, starting with a wooden sword, like the other kids, so that nobody got very hurt.

  When Karen returned, Rox borrowed one of her knives to trim Alex’s hair, with Karen and Caspian giving advice on technique. First she cut the sides carefully, evening them to about the thickness of Rox’s fingers. Then she took the top and back. Like Diana’s it was not yet standing up the way Rox’s did. Part of this was due to the length of the hair. Neither Diana nor Alex had received a haircut since coming here. Carefully Rox trimmed Alex’s mop to a mohawk. Diana watched as the shorter hair began to stand up straight on its own. Karen took a moment when Rox was finished, to smooth things out. This because of Rox’s lack of specific skill more than anything. Alex was then sent to rinse his head off, and come back. Rox and Caspian gathered as much of the hair as they could, and burned it in the fire.

  Alex was all grins when he came back. “Can I keep the mohawk when we get home?”

  Rox remained noncommittal. “We will see.”

  Diana declined a haircut just now. Even so, her hair was standing a few fingers taller than it had the day before. She played with her braids some.

  The afternoon was uneventful. Alex and Diana pestered the animals a bit, and explored the meadow with instructions to not go up stream or down. Rox and Steven inventoried all their gear, and noted how much was left, and how far to anywhere to replenish. As this finished, Steven prepared another batch of bread. And put it aside. The couple then lay down for a short nap. Before long the kids were getting archery and crossbow lessons.

  Caspian looked his equipment over, while spending some time looking at nothing, in Karen’s general direction. It was Caspian’s turn to prepare dinner this evening. So it would most likely be a stew. He started prepping vegetables when he had nothing else to do.

  Karen mulled about, with little to do. Eventually she joined the archery lesson, mostly observing.

  As dinner progressed Steven brought up the question about languages. Steven started this meeting, as the food was being consumed. Steven sat with Rox to his left, then the kids.

  “I will start in English, and Karen is the only one who cannot understand it, but I trust she can pick up the meanings, from our thoughts.” He looked at her as he said this.

  Karen nodded in agreement and acceptance.

  Steven continued. “Between us there are several known languages, at least one of which we still need to use for a short bit. Starting from myself as point of reference, my native language is English, with Rox, Diana and Ales, also native. Caspian also speaks it, but is a bit rusty. Caspian used magic to put bits of the language of Dorston and the northern traders’ dialect into my mind. Caspian and Rox can both communicate in those. Then there is the language from Shalaia. Again a magic implant; I can remember it, and can probably understand it if it is spoken to me, but can’t really speak it just now. I think Caspian speaks some of this, and Rox is fluent. Then there in the local kingdom’s dialect. Again a magic implant. That is spoken by me, Rox, Caspian, and Karen. Diana and Alex don’t, and so I am not using that just now.”

  Steven then turned to Rox. “As for Rox, I believe I have covered all the languages she knows, though not necessarily the level of fluency or method of acquiring.”

  “Diana, speaks English, as noted. She reportedly picked up a few words from the caravan which I presume is the local dialect here. And the elves below put their language into her by magic.”

  “Alex, like Diana has English, and some local words, and the language of the people he was with, by their mind powers.”

  “Caspian has been generally covered, though he no doubt speaks several more languages to various levels of ability.”

  Caspian nodded positively to this.

  Last Steven turned to Karen, who sat next to Caspian, and across the fire from Rox.

  “Karen speaks the local language as her known primary. She also has shown some fluency with the southern trader’s dialect. Whatever else she knows beyond that is not known. Apparently she has no knowledge of English or of the Shalaia dialects. However with her mind powers, if she is listening, she can hear a person’s thoughts to understand them.”

  Karen nodded, and answered in her own language. “Yes. That is a good summary.”

  Steven watched Diana and Alex, who both showed some recognition of part of what Karen said.