Eliona's War 1: Hesitant Healer

Chapter 65

"I can see why Tarface does this all the time," Karniah grinned. "It's fun!" She leaned over and spat, this time with an even louder "Feh!"

They both dissolved into giggles once more. It gave Severance the urge to try it out as well, but he couldn't quite bring himself to do it. Spitting seemed like a very dirty thing to do. It went against every bit of politeness that had been ingrained into him since birth.

So he watched as Karniah's imitation of Tarface got even more ridiculous, content to let her have the spotlight. She stood up on her rock, balancing rather precariously, and hunched over like an 80-year old man. Her face twisted up into a strained grimace, like it was caught between Frankenstein's grin and a hardened criminal's glare.

He admired that work of art for all of three seconds before he doubled over laughing. It looked so out of place on Karniah's innocent features that he couldn't keep it together. She made it worse by yet another enthusiastic spit. "Feh!"

"Oh no!" Karniah flailed wildly, to where she almost lost her balance. "I'm so ugly, and I can't stop spitting! Someone help meeeeee!"

"That doesn't sound like Tarface," Severance managed, nearly breathless from snickering so much.

"No?" She paused, adopting a thinking pose. Then she coughed dramatically. "Then, how about this: Oh ye Outsiders, how dareth ye tread upon me mine! I'll have yer heads for this transgression!"

Severance choked on his own spit. It took him a few moments to regain his voice. "That's more Shakespeare than Tarface, I think."

"Hm, yeah. Those words are too big for his pea-sized brain." She held out her arms, turning a slow circle on the rock. Then she paused. "Hey, who's that?"

"Who?" Severance looked towards where she was pointing.

A man in black slid down the rockslide with an ease that would make an athlete jealous. Once at the bottom, he stood, brushed off his pants, and then strolled towards them. Even if he hadn't been close enough to recognize the face, Severance had a good guess as to where he came from. Only a few people moved with that kind of effortless grace.

Severance leaped to his feet, relief swelling in his heart. "Dhin!"

There was an unreasonably strong urge to run over and hug the Veiled man, and Severance actually took several steps forward before catching himself.

Dhin wore a faint smile as he closed the distance between them. He appeared unkempt, with his short black hair standing up at odd angles and dust all over his black clothing. A faint sheen of sweat dampened his brow.

"Severance," he greeted. "There you are."

"Yeah, hi. I'm really glad to see you."

Karniah dropped to the ground and skipped over. She eyed Dhin critically, before turning to Severance. "You know him?"

In response, Severance gave a nod, although his attention remained on Dhin. He wondered why the Veiled clansman looked like he'd just run a marathon through a dust storm. "So, how come you're here?"

Dhin didn't answer immediately. He took a long, slow look around the town, his gaze taking in the mine, the shacks, the road, the surrounding mountains, and even back to the rockslide that he'd just climbed over. When he finally returned his attention to Severance, his expression was solemn.

"Tell me what's going on here," he quietly commanded.

"Well," Severance began, before pausing to figure out the best way to tell this. "Okay. So, we got here, and we were supposed to get these permits to let us go through the mountain tunnels. But Tarface kinda told us we had to do these impossible jobs first. He let the Chosen and Traders go through though. And yeah. That's pretty much it."