He'd deserved that one.
He rolled over a few times, until the flames that stoked on his clothes were done and out, kerosine skin glowing in the white of the moon. He got up onto his knees, cussed and spat at the man with the blue eyes that gazed down at him, and then broke into a fit of mad laughter, spitting out a couple teeth and a spray of blood, coughing then as the toe of a steel-tapped boot came launching into his chest.
He'd deserved that one too.
——————————————————
Several months later, in the lower states of Yendys, somewhere between Bakers and Wallsnor Prairie.
The air smelt rich like expensive wine and the sun was glaring down and he could taste its shine with a lick of tongue over his dry lips. He could smell the leaves, reaching out to run his hands over their crisp, curled conifers and branches when the horses took to ditches by the side of the broken track. The air was rife and busy with sound too, the egging on of insects in a harmony that when it began was a drone that got under the skin and became after a few minutes a just bearable scratching. He was getting paranoid about the location. He didn't like feeling so covered. So confused. So surrounded by dense green. The farther they went, the deeper they got, the more he swore to himself, the more he admonished himself for dragging Sonny and Lew out this way, this far, to the undergrowth of the world, so it felt, as rickety and hollow-barked as it was, for all the weeds, none of these oaks produced acorns. On they went, on and on, recovered men.
"You killed Caspina's Father, that true Ore?"
He nodded, grunted at the horses with a tick of his tongue, and off through the shrubbery they went. Some musings were ever to go. Some memories were there for the ride.
He rolled over a few times, until the flames that stoked on his clothes were done and out, kerosine skin glowing in the white of the moon. He got up onto his knees, cussed and spat at the man with the blue eyes that gazed down at him, and then broke into a fit of mad laughter, spitting out a couple teeth and a spray of blood, coughing then as the toe of a steel-tapped boot came launching into his chest.
He'd deserved that one too.
——————————————————
Several months later, in the lower states of Yendys, somewhere between Bakers and Wallsnor Prairie.
The air smelt rich like expensive wine and the sun was glaring down and he could taste its shine with a lick of tongue over his dry lips. He could smell the leaves, reaching out to run his hands over their crisp, curled conifers and branches when the horses took to ditches by the side of the broken track. The air was rife and busy with sound too, the egging on of insects in a harmony that when it began was a drone that got under the skin and became after a few minutes a just bearable scratching. He was getting paranoid about the location. He didn't like feeling so covered. So confused. So surrounded by dense green. The farther they went, the deeper they got, the more he swore to himself, the more he admonished himself for dragging Sonny and Lew out this way, this far, to the undergrowth of the world, so it felt, as rickety and hollow-barked as it was, for all the weeds, none of these oaks produced acorns. On they went, on and on, recovered men.
"You killed Caspina's Father, that true Ore?"
He nodded, grunted at the horses with a tick of his tongue, and off through the shrubbery they went. Some musings were ever to go. Some memories were there for the ride.