Perilous Jaunt Chapter 7
Chapter 7
Dante
** **"Wake up!" a shrill voice commanded.
My eyes snapped open, only to be met with a sharpened point of a steel dagger, which perfectly reflected the rays of the orange sunrise that morning. I instinctively reached for my rapier, only to discover that it had vanished from its scabbard.
"Looking for this?" the figure over me said with a laugh, as it held out my sword in its second hand.
I glanced over at Peter through the corner of my vision, noticing that he was awake and starring in horror at the villain above me. He didn't try to talk through his gag, either because he was too scared or because he didn't want to draw attention to himself.
I glared up at the warrior who continued to hold a knife to my face. My eyes were still adjusting to the light, but by the sound of the attacker's voice, I deduced that it was a woman.
"Aw," the woman mocked, "has the big bad wolf pissed himself?"
Finally, my eyes focused and I was able to see whom I was facing more clearly. Her stature was large -not fat, but tall- and she was wearing a grey tunic. I was also was able to make out the outlines of a bow and a quiver sticking up from behind her back. The trousers she wore were black and, based on the anatomy of her legs, I realized that she was a kangaroo. I then glanced up at her face, which was half-concealed by a bandana with a skull design on it.
Quickly, I tried to scramble together a strategy in my mind. I could have tried to hit the knife away or hold it and attempt to take back my sword from her. There was also the possibility that, if I had surprised her, she would drop my sword to the ground. But that was very unlikely. What really concerned me was the fact that she could kick me with those powerful haunches of hers at anytime, which I knew could easily send me flying back and give me a concussion after bouncing me off a tree. Then again, even if I just tried to take her dagger from her, she could have taken a few swings at me with my rapier in her second hand. No matter what course of action I took, I was bound to be injured in the process. This kangaroo was going to be trouble.
I was about to jump to my paws and attack when I finally noticed her eyes, which were divided by a muzzle covered grey hair. Her left eye was blue as the sea, but the right one was covered by a brown leather eye patch that held a red star in its center. And a tiny red scar slithered out from beneath the kangaroo's eye patch, traveling halfway down her cheek
Smugness washed over me as I realized what was going on. "Esme,"
The kangaroo didn't move for a moment, still holding her dagger and my rapier. Then, she began to laugh, causing the bandana over her mouth to ruffle as though it were caught in a windy storm. She then sheathed her knife and used her now-free hand to pull her bandana down, which revealed a devilish smile. "What gave it away?"
I rose from my seat against the tree, smirking. "How many kangaroos run around Alpis with blood-starred eye patches?"
"Shit," Esme cursed and hung her head back in defeat with a groan. "I forgot about the damn eye patch,"
After she had finished mentally beating herself up over her failed joke, Esme held out my rapier to me, which I gladly took and placed back into its scabbard.
Before I could speak again, Esme nearly tackled me to the ground with monstrous hug that made me fear for the sake of every bone in my body. Still, I hugged her back and hoped that I wouldn't die of asphyxiation. When we left each other's arms, Esme gave me harmless, yet strong, punch in the chest. I only laughed in return.
Behind Esme, Peter tried his best to yell through the rope around his muzzle. "Mhmh mh mhm mh mhm!"
Esme turned to Peter with a smile and leaned out with a hand cupping one ear. "What's that little one? I didn't quite catch what you said,"
Peter's eyes transformed into daggers and he tried struggling against his binds. "Mhm mhmhm mh mhmh mh!"
After letting her hand fall down to her side, Esme looked at me. "Could you translate? I don't speak rope,"
I laughed at Esme's jest and sauntered over to Peter, who continued to gaze at Esme with an antagonizing glare.
"Why the hell did you tie him up like that anyways?" Esme pondered behind me before laughing. "I didn't know you liked your whores bound and gagged in the middle of the woods,"
I bent down to untie Peter's mouth and looked over my shoulder at Esme. "He isn't a whore. And I've never really liked using rope in bed, truth be told,"
As I looked back down at Peter to finish untying his gag, Esme said, "You're missing out, Poet,"
The gag came undone and, without delay, the prince shouted, "Who the fuck is this?"
"This," I answered, as I rose to my paws to stand between Esme and Peter, keeping Peter to my left while Esme remained at my right, "is Esme. She's an old friend of mine that I met when I just started to travel on my own. She may be forty, but she knows how to use a knife,"
"Christ, you were just a boy then," Esme said, crossing her arms and smiling at the nostalgic memory. "Didn't even know what your cock was for,"
I pretended to be irritated. "I knew what it was for. I just didn't know how to fight or shoot a bow. You eventually taught me, though,"
"'Eventually'?" Esme repeated. "It was a good two days before you could hit a target. And you even fell on your ass the first time you tried to fight me with your sword,"
"I don't care if she's your goddamn mother!" Peter interrupted our teasing. "She held a knife to your throat and took your sword as a joke! Who the hell does that?"
Esme motioned to Peter with a tilt of her head, while keeping her eyes locked on me. "Care to tell my Tiny's name?"
"Oh," I said, realizing that I hadn't introduced her to Peter. "Sure. Esme, this is Peter Gannish,"
Esme's only response was a grunt as she looked down at Peter.
"Why would you tell her my name?" Peter demanded. "She could take me from you and get the reward for herself!"
"Please," Esme said, pretending to take offense from the notion. "I wouldn't do that to a friend," The kangaroo then turned her attention towards me. "Dante, are you sure this is Peter Gannish? Last I checked, the Gannish's were otters. Don't tell me you let this ferret pull one over on you!"
"I'm sure," I said. "Nobody but Peter whines like that,"
"Hey!" Peter wailed.
"Oh, who are you kidding?" I turned to tell him, before rotating to speak once again with Esme. "We stopped by Pan's place, back in Tynas. I bought some fur coloring and perfume so nobody will know who he is,"
"Clever," Esme admired with a small nod. "I'm sure Pan charged you a nice bit of gold,"
I smiled. "That's probably the nicest thing you've ever said about him,"
"Don't get me started," Esme groaned.
"What's the matter?" Peter began to whine again. "Just because he's gay, he's not a person?"
Esme paused to give Peter a questioning look before making eye contact with me again. "He sure likes to run his mouth,"
I looked back at Peter and said, "Esme's not like that, Peter. She knows that I'm bi,"
The otter's gaze on Esme softened a little, but still remained cruel.
"I've never been one of those stuck up bitches who go around judging other people," Esme told Peter. "Cock or pussy, it makes a difference to me what anybody prefers. It's none of my business,"
"Basically," I continued to tell Peter, "Pan only pisses her off because he never shuts up,"
Peter refused to speak any further.
I looked back at Esme. "How did you find us anyways?"
Esme grinned with pride. "I was in Tynas and saw you guys leaving. Figured I'd mess with you a little,"
I shook my head and grinned. "Some people never change,"
"Hey," Esme shrugged, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it,"
"Well," I said, "I guess I should go get breakfast. Why don't you stay here and get acquainted with Peter? I'll be back in a bit,"
Esme shook her head. "How's about I go? My legs really need to be stretched,"
"Oh, okay," I said. "If you want to,"
"All right," Esme said, then turned as she drew her bow. "See you guys in a bit!"
After Esme had left, I sat across from Peter and folded my legs. He didn't waste any time to start whining again. "She's not coming with us,"
"Why?" I asked, not bothering to hide the annoyance in my voice. Esme was an old friend who knew how to fight and hunt. She certainly would help us if we ran into trouble.
"She might stab you in the back and take me!" Peter said.
I shook my head and glared at him. "You heard her! She said wouldn't do something like that!"
"People say a lot of things these days,"
"Would you just shut up?" I barked at him, feeling my hands curl into fists at my sides. "We don't even know if she's going to tag along," "Are you going to ask her?" Peter said with testiness in his voice.
"Of course! If she does come with us, she would be really helpful, especially if we run into more Talth. I mean, for God's sake, she's getting breakfast for us right now!"
Peter looked at the ground. "I never asked her to get me my breakfast,"
"You're unbelievable!" I said. "Just because she's a little coarse doesn't mean you have the right to judge her,"
The white-painted otter looked up from the ground and barred his teeth. "People like her like to run their mouths all the time. They think the world gives a shit about everything they have to say. And that look in her eye. You can't see it? She thinks she's better than us. I used to know people like that. You wanna know what happened to them? The world caught up with them and they ended up robbed, beaten and killed all because of their damn pride. You think it'll be any different with her? No. She'll wind up saying some shit to the wrong person and we'll be the ones who get fucked! Just because she has a knife doesn't mean that nobody can cut her, or us for that matter,"
"Hubris," I spat, " is an ugly thing, Peter,"
"Oh," he said, "are you gonna recite some dumb quote from that book of yours now?"
I did have a quote, but I didn't want to give him the satisfaction of being able to predict what I was going to do so easily. "No. Anything I say form the Divine Comedy will just go right over your head,"
"What the fuck's that supposed to mean?" Peter demanded. "Do you think I'm an idiot just for not liking your stupid book?"
"That's not what I meant,"
"Oh, no need to explain yourself to me," Peter said. "Me stupid. No understand smarts stuff. Books is hard. Words sound funny. What my name is? Weiner? Leaner? Lemur? Me no remember,"
"What I meant," I said, interrupting Peter's oafish joke before it could continue, "was that you are so quick to judge others, yet you forget about your own faults. Esme might be a little vulgar, but do you remember when we first met? You were drunk and were willing to sleep with anybody in the tavern! Esme can be immature sometimes, but you can be a drunken slut who needs to shut up!"
Peter became silent and so did I. We didn't even look at each other. I admit, what I had said was cruel, but it needed to be said. I had no idea what Peter's upbringing was like, but he needed to learn that he couldn't get whatever he wanted anymore. Out there, in the woods, Peter couldn't just order people to serve his every whim. And I wasn't his slave or some kind of sycophant. The sooner he learned that lesson, the sooner our trip together would become much easier.
Even when Esme returned with a wild turkey that she had shot, Peter and I didn't speak to one another. He ate in silence while Esme and I talked about some distant memory. However, every once in a while, the fur on the back of my neck burned and I knew that Peter was staring at me spitefully. Yet, he never uttered a word.