A Bump in the Road. Chapter Twenty-One.
A Bump in the Road
Chapter Twenty-One
By Roofles
The dragon turtle didn't rise out of the water. Instead it just lifted it's head to look at the peculiar creatures that stumbled in front of it. It didn't even seem to remember me as it's focus turned back to Tezca. This jagged armored dark blue turtle really didn't like my feline companion. And we both tensed as it just stared down at it, each of us planning our own escape plans.
"Beast." It's beak like mouth opened and the sound rolled out as if there was a speaker in it's throat rather than actually speaking. "Have you come to take my Raksheesh away?" There was a certain amount of boredom with it's own accusation. As if it itself was annoyed by the question. It seemed to have been an issue before and there was no sign of concern on the turtles face. Though it was kind of hard to tell... He wasn't attacking us so I just took the guess.
"What is a Baksheesh?" I whispered to the African wild dog who was picking at his teeth unseemingly aware of the giant ass dragon turtle in front of us. Lewis really was a care free guy with no care in the world.
"It's gifted land." Lewis said looking at the thing he had picked out of his canines. "Raksheesh roughly translates into sacred, blessed land gift. A gift given to another. In turn they watch over and protect the land. I've heard others are able to take it away. Or something.'" And then Lewis crouched down and began scratching his ear with his own foot ruining his sage-like advice seconds before.
"And he assumes Tezca came to take it away from him? Lovely." I frowned. "Guardian!" I shouted at the turtle head who was still looking at Tezca like an insignificant bug that had irritated him enough to not only wake him from his slumber. But needed a good stomping. "He's not here to take your land away! We're just here to,"
The dragon turtle head spun over faster than I thought something it's size, or a turtle, could move and looked at me. "Have you," it's voice boomed loudly cutting me off. My voice faded away to a trickle. And my mouth just hung open as it cut me off. "Come to take my Raksheesh away?"
"No. We've come to ask you," and then the turtle began settling back down. Now that neither of us wanted his land it seemed to have lost all interest in us. "We've come to," I shouted as he began sinking back down. "Ask a favor!"
It lifted it's head just out of the water. The lower part of it's jaw and cheeks were still sunken underneath the surface. The water began to pool around him sinking into the crater sized hole left in its wake. Some kind of bed it slept in I could only assume. "Child of clay," it spoke looking at me with a sloth like expression. "What would you have to offer a Jinushigami?" And if it could yawn it would have. I'm glad I was just a mundane spec in it's life. Real self esteem booster.
I looked over at Lewis who clarified once more. "He means a land-god. Jinushigami means land-god, basically. It's what those who are bound to a Raksheesh call themselves." I gave a nod.
"What we have to offer is departure." It raised its head a bit so I went on. "If you can help us then we will leave you be and stop bothering you." That seemed to catch it's interest some.
Raising it's head higher it looked down on me, literally. "And what does a child of clay desire from the great Kim Qui?"
Raksheesh sounded Hindu, Jinushigami was Japanese I was sure and Kim Qui was Korean? What the hell. And here I thought America could be a melting pot of different cultures. These guys seemed to be all the above in one giant ass dragon turtle, land-god.
"We wish to seek passage home." I winced a bit as I spoke and Tezca moved a bit closer, keeping a strong arm around my front and a reassuring one on my back. The Aztec toga draped down a bit, the over sized thing touching down into the water a bit. The golden belts on it only weighed it down further and my body could barely hold my own weight up. I had half a mind to give it back to the cat, cover his shame anyways he was displaying without a care.
When I get back from all of this I planned to sleep for a whole month, once I got paid that is.
"Is that all?" It lowered it's massive head down to look at the African wild dog who was busy gnawing on his own paw. "This one can guide you out of my land. I have given him my blessing, the treachery of the swamp will not touch him. And if that is all?" Kim Qui began to sink once more into the water.
"Wait!" I called out waving my hand and wincing once more. This guy might be able to give me a few answers. And the first thing that I wanted answered was. "Your bound to the land, what does that mean?"
The dragon turtled rested it's head back on the surface of the water, sinking into the swamp slowly like quick sand. "The land, child of clay, has chosen me to be it's care giver. To watch over and protect it. It has given me a gift in turn. And with it I am forever bound to this land. If I were to leave. My gift would be revoked." Bubbles rose around it as it sank another inch more.
"And what gift is that?" Did it also apply to me and Tezca? Bounded as we were. Was it the same or different? And was it reversable.
"Consciousness." Was the only thing it said on that matter. It was the same as Tezca had asked for. Then was this dragon turtle at one point just a turtle? A mindless animal as well? The large eyes turned back towards the cat and just as Tezca did with me stared at the jaguar as if trying to read something underneath the surface. "Why then has a fellow land-god come here?" It seemed to forget about me once more. Another stab at my already deflated ego.
"I'm just a stowaway." Tezca replied though I felt him guide me back a bit, using his own body to separate the two of us.
"You have left your land. It will rot and die without it's Jinushigami." The dragon turtle sounded disappointed as if he were a young child that had done something wrong.
"It wasn't my choice." Tezca growled back.
"I see." It rose up a bit, at least Tezca piqued his interest. "Did they come too to try and take your land?"
A light bulb flicked on above my head. "Who?" I asked as loud as I could in my condition. I think I was dieing again as my voice was rather hoarse, cracking at the end.
"Those of the Abyss." The turtle looked back at me. "A child of clay has no say in this. Yet I see the power of land flowing through you." It's eyes narrowed now and I could feel Tezca grip tighten slightly. "Do you seek my land as well?"
"No," I said quickly but Tezca answered for me.
"He is mine." Tezca voice was deep and held a shaking power to it. The very air vibrated with his voice and goosebumps formed on my arms and legs from it. "I have marked him." The turtle looked away from me once more and back to the jaguar. "Men of metal and steel, that smelt of gunpowder took my land away. It was this boy who saved me." It wasn't exactly a lie, per say. More like I had been a convenient tool he had used is all. "And in turn he has become my Jinushigami."
"Whoa hey now," I croaked in protest. "Don't go making me some ancient deities piss marked territory."
"Shush," Tezca said patting my head and face with one of his large hands. "Grown ups are talking."
"I have not seen such a thing." Kim Qui brow furrowed, or the best a turtle could to look both annoyed and angry as it snapped it's jaws with such force it shook the water around us. "Blasphemous." But thankfully it shook its head and began settling down. The water underneath the wooden slab walk way rose up and over it with a small tidal force shaking the whole thing. I tried to ignore the slimy green film on the surface of the swamp that washed over my bare feet and legs. "I have answered your questions, given you a favor and have not yet destroyed you. That is all in your lifetime."
"Wait. I have other questions." I tried to get him to stop but the sharp pain in my chest made my body finally give in, stopping me from moving even an inch and just falling forward into Tezca's grip.
The turtle sank back into the water leaving nothing but the parasitic like mossy hill and willow tree behind. The rotten fragrance of the flowers were contained in the translucent green wall of the place. A place isolated from time.
I coughed a bit and rested my head against Tezca's warm chest. It was fuzzy, a bit waxy and had a strong animal musk to it. A mix of rain water, earth and now of the swamp around us. He needed a bath, badly.
"Lewis." I groaned the name. "You can take us home?"
"With the guardians blessing, sure." He gave a nod and turned around. Lifting up the wooden staff he touched the air in front of him with the tip of the skull's nose. The air shimmered as if lights were dancing on the other side of a window before they got brighter, forming together and then ripping the very world in front of them apart. And then a door appeared. A simple wooden door that expanded until it filled out fully.
"You could've done this the whole time?" I coughed before I could rip the wild dog's head off. It didn't stop me from trying to anyways but my arm could barely move at this point.
"Nope." Lewis said with a shrug. "It was he-who-wakes that has allowed you to leave. Like it was he-who-wakes that saved your life." I gave him a sour look caused by a mix of pain and deep malice for his endless open ended statements.
"He meant the salve." Tezca said lightly touching at my chest. That puke green, oatmeal like mixture was still there on my chest. Unlike when I had been under the willow tree. The guardian of the swamp, this land-god had given it to Lewis in order to save me? "If we had left before. You would have died." Though the jaguar wasn't sure about it, I could feel the mixture of emotions seeping off him like that animalistic musk. I knew he wasn't about to take that risk. Even if it was only one percent chance.
Something about the land-god must only work in the place it lives in. The immense power it possesses is trapped inside this cage. That parasite on it's back was probably feeding off it's excess energy. I was sure these were Tezca thoughts not my own.
The jaguar did well at hiding his thoughts from my own but in moments like this, I could feel his voice in soft whispers how he truly felt.
For my sake, maybe. But for his as well. If I died he too would. Bound as we were. Tied forever as if our souls were sewn into one. And I wasn't sure if the resentment was mine or Tezca. Or if it was something in between. Resentment for the very fact I felt this way.
"Fine." I just said in defeat. "Let's go." And I coughed a few more times.
Tezca led us inside and as the door opened I felt nothingness inside like I had before when I went with Marco. Behind the door was an empty plane void of any kind of existence. A simple walk way to where you were going. An empty canvas laid before us. Something before anyone had put paint or brush to it. All that was here was us and the door behind us.
The green paste on my chest faded away as Tezca guided me inside. It cracked and chipped away like old dead skin before crumbling into pieces so small my eyes couldn't even make them out anymore. Just dust in the wind. There was a rather large, ugly scar on my chest but I was alive.
It shut and Tezca reopened it guiding me in with him and back into the pub I was seriously beginning to hate. All roads lead to this fuckin' place.
"A room please." Tezca said as the bartender looked up. He gave a nod and jabbed a finger to a stairwell I was sure hadn't been there before.
The tavern was how it had been before. Wooden floors, far too many tables and pillars jutting up out of the ground. Torches resting in metal cases hung from the walls and a mixture of stale air, ale and some kind of mold met my nose like we had just walked into a wine cellar.
Thankfully the room was nearly empty. The people I had seen before were here. And for a change I was glad to see the normal crowd. The Marques vampire chick in her booth seemingly lost in her own world, drinking from a goblet with a single drop of red wine (or I really hoped was red wine) on her lips. Overly dressed as if just coming from a ball in the late 1800s or something. The dress she wore was of a deep, rich maroon color and seemed to be made of the finest of fabrics. It was older though, worn and slightly moth eaten. The color had faded and the white frilly lace was turning a lighter shade of charcoal.
The bartender was as he always was. Wearing a greasy, stained apron with a stoic, bronze like face and body as if a statue had one day decided to get up, walk around and own a pub.
Various other rift raft were in the room. Creatures, men and woman and the like that kept to themselves. A group of what I can only assume to be weasels, possibly martins, were at a table chattering away quickly in fluent, thick Italian. In the corner was a gryphon on an actual tablet, I didn't even own one. And as the door opened I saw the female college student from before come in, wearing a different color and styled turtle neck sweater and headed over with several books in her arms to the table the Marques was sitting at. The girl looked far paler than she had been before.
Tezca half-carried me up the stairs and to the only room that was there. He didn't even knock as he shoved it open, kicked it closed and locked it.
The room was simple; still looking as if it were from the Renaissance era. Wooden slabs of floor, cobbled stone walls and a single straw bed on iron frames rested in the corner. A paper mesh wall served as a curtain of sorts and as well as a room divider. Which was odd seeing as how there was only one bed. Thankfully the bed was king sized. I wasn't going to ask how the bartender knew we needed a room - hell I just chalked it up to magic as I did most the things in this place. A fuckin' wizard did it.
There was a single side room and I almost wept.
A polished toilet seat with an actual marble sink with golden trimmed spouts (colored gold anyways) and a shower. An actual shower. Not a bucket with water but a wide, Three person or so shower. The size must be due to the various people who use it. A doubt a centaur would be able to fit into my shower back home. I didn't really care, I was just glad the man down stairs had the right mind and sense to have a modern day toiletries. I wasn't about to take a dump in a hole in the ground.
I had already turned the water on when Tezca popped his head back in.
"The cost is clear." He reported as if we were international spies or something.
"Good. I plan to soak for the next few hours." I groaned a bit leaning against the wall and watched at the water poured out. Steam rose up and I shivered with a smile. It was wam unlike the damp, cold swamp had been. I forgot what warmth felt like.
I took the green Aztec toga off and handed it back to Tezca before, holding onto the railing, turned the shower on.
I wasn't thin nor fat. A decent build and I hit the gym every once in a while. I ate fast food too often and drank beer like a fish in water but I had a fast metabolism that saved me from being a fat ass. I was always on my feet and rarely used my car (gas prices these days, you know?) I had a rough stubble on my face and my body was a bit fuzzy. I was a basic, average guy. That just happened to be possessed by a Aztec god.
Tezca was still here and was watching with an enthralled curiosity at the water. His teal fired eyes were a bit wide as he watched the water pour from no noticeable source. It sputtered and began to spray from above as I turned the dial and I could practically hear him gasp.
"You can go first if you want." I motioned as I took a seat on the toilet. I'm kind of surprised I didn't collapse right there. Whenever Tezca was close I felt...better? The pain wasn't as intense and my limbs didn't feel like putty. Nor did my bones ache so much. It was...nice. I tried not to think about it though. For the implication it implied.
Tezca had folded the ceremonial outfit and placed it on the sink. For going through a swamp in it the outfit was rather clean, unsoiled and looked as if it had come fresh out of the dryer. Tezca was butt naked before me and didn't even know of what modesty was. There was a certain modesty humans had, even if they wanted to show off. There was still that tiny piece of them that wanted to cover themselves up. Tezca had no such thing.
He wasn't trying to show off, he wasn't trying to hide it. He just didn't care or even know about it. Even a nudist tries to be naked. Tezca made it look natural. Hell, he only wore cloths for my sake in the end. Just another small thing he did to accommodate my wants and needs. The bastard.
His feet were like that of an animal, lifting up at the heel with large wide paws keeping his sturdy, somewhat stocky frame up. His upper body was much larger than a man's. Strong arms and powerful legs; his hips were a bit thinner and his stomach a bit sunken in. Tezca just looked like a werewolf that was actually a jaguar, heh.
His whole body, down to the tip of his toes and the top of his ears, was covered in a thick coat of fur. It was primarily a tawny yellow that lightened to white on his chest, underarms and inner legs. Large black rosettes covered every inch of him. Being solid black spots on his head and neck before opening up along his back and all the way down all four legs and tail.
Though I knew Tezca had claws that could rip through anything, each finger and toe were bare of them. Each safely tucked away, hidden from sight. Without his lips raised I couldn't see his fangs and the wonder in his eyes made me see him more as a oversized house cat than a feral jaguar. His whiskers were straight and smaller spots dotted his cheeks. White rings circled his eyes and his eyebrows looked like whiskers with white fur markings. And like his lips his nose was a dark coal black.
Even if I knew, like any wild animal, it could turn in a flash of an eye into a deadly beast it was still hard to see the jaguar as such.
Watching the cat reaching out to timidly, touching the water before pulling away was hard to see him as such and I did my best to contain my mocking laughter. He bent over and lapped several times at the spray, washing his face off before looking back at me, water dripping from his fur.
"Isaac, Isaac! You see this! It's like a tropical waterfall." He gave a large toothy grin, showing those several inch incisors off before looking back with wonder.
"Your an idiot." I chuckled. "Get in already! I don't know how long we'll have hot water." My own legs were muddy and I wanted to wash up before bed.
Tezca took a step slowly into the tub before hopping in, not even drawing the curtain as he closed his eyes looking up into the hot spray washing over him. The thick coat of fur began to become soaked, clinging to his muscular form outlining it.
Tezca wasn't just tall (though that was mainly do to the strange raised heels of an animal he had), he was also large. His shoulders were broad, his neck thick and his head larger than any mans. His hands could easily enclose my own. I would be able to wear his feet as slippers. All of it made me feel rather...small in comparison. The feline had a sturdy, solid build of a predator while I had a (not flabby) but unfit build of a business man. No excess amount of fat was on his body just with a burly but athletic physique of a jungle cat. Not a lumbering form of a bear or sinewy strength of a cheetah. Somewhere between and even standing still he radiated strength.
His tail drifted behind him lazily as he enjoyed the spray of water cascading over his body, washing down between his legs, over his shamelessly displayed groin and into the drain. Taking with it the murky water of the swamp, the mud and seemingly fatigue with it. Tezca was relaxed and that in turn made me feel the same. I was able to vicariously enjoy it too.
I figured that was the case. Reason why a human like me could still get up and walk around, Tezca had taken most of my burden off my shoulder and had done what he could to alleviate the pain. And as he enjoyed himself, I was able too as well.
Would this be how it was? When he was angry I would be too? When I was hungry he'd want to grab a bite to eat? What about other things? Like intrigue, love, horniness? I just groaned at the thought, I'd deal with THAT when it came up. I've been too distracted to notice such things.
Tezca spent a great deal of time just standing there not actually washing himself off. Just... letting the water run through his fur. He was a big cat and in water, this was his heaven. "Use some of the shampoo." I said motioning to the bottle. "Don't get it in your eyes." I decided to warn figuring the cat would otherwise.
Tezca looked over at me, water still splashing over his face. He looked down and picked up the bottle turning it over. His jaws opened and he bit the top of it off before sniffing at it. He spat the cap to the side.
"Hey," I said getting up as he tried to lick at the fruity scented soap. "It's not for eating." I just shook my head. This was why this world resembled the past so much. It was the past, in a way. The people of this world wasn't aware of the most basic of things we had nowadays and most to all of them wouldn't be able to fit in. "Here." I offered and he handed the soap over.
I dropped a large glob into my hand, reached up to move the spout away from the cat and began sudding it up on his arm. "Like this." I used to own a dog when I first moved to the city. A big dog that kept getting out and digging through the trash. I ended up giving him a bath a few times a week before I gave him up. This was the same, sort of.
"Just rub it into your fur. Helps you wash." Now it felt like I was speaking to Helen Keller. "Wash." I ended up repeating but smiled at the jaguar none the less.
His ears flicked and he did that annoying soul gaze, just staring as if reading something under the surface of my mind. I was still touching his arm and the muscle underneath flexed. What a show off.
"I used to just let the rain wash it away." He looked down at himself, down to his still muddy paws.
"It's artificial but its still real water, just simulated like rain." I tried to reason out. "Just rub this over your fur and it won't be so dirty, or oily..."
He looked back at the soap and dumped half of it onto his chest. Using a hand he rubbing it around and lathered his whole chest up. I rolled my eyes as he sniffed at it again.
The shower was made for more than one person or someone far larger than either of us. And within the next couple of minutes I had joined him. I showered at the gym, same room with other guys and didn't feel a thing. Now? Now I was embarrassed, awkwardly so as if I was some dumb high schooler again.
And it didn't help when the cat began lathering up my own body with the soap. Just pulling suds off himself to rub onto me. Even though I tried to explain to him the fact it was only for hair, or fur, Tezca just continued.
"It is not much but you are covered in fur too." He spoke softly, rubbing over my chest some more. His fingers were strong, massaging as they stroked over it. His paw pads were far softer than they seemed, feeling like warm leather. And, damnit all, it felt good. And trust me, I don't like to be touched let alone man handled.
"This is hair." I protested as he tried to do my under arms. "Body hair. You don't wash it with shampoo." Tezca just looked at me as if I had just barked and continued, pulling my right arm up roughly and doing over it. Washing the whole arm before going to the other. He was far more..gentle with my left which only made the fact he was giving me a sponge bath worse.
Tezca was more than a head taller than me and as I stood there in the porcelain tub, I found myself just staring at his chest. Looking up got water in my eyes and looking down made me realize the fact his groin was nearly pushing against my lower stomach, his sack practically hanging over my groin.
But it wasn't like that! It was just a locker room. Two guys showering after a long, stressful worker out. Soaping each other up and rubbing the other down... Yeah. Normal.
My only saving grace was the fact Tezca wasn't exactly human, so I was able to play off that. What good it did though.
Not wanting to be man handled any further, afraid my cheeks would burn off, I told him to get as I plugged up the drain and began filling the tub. I planned to soak and by gum I was going too!
My pleasant bath soon turned into a jacuzzi as Tezca joined me once more. Lounging out at my side taking up a bit more than half of it and rested back. I did the same, closing my eyes and just facing the ceiling above.
Relaxing hadn't felt so good. Clean, scrubbed down and now just soaking in fresh water. Even if it was with an oversized jungle cat. Hanging out with Tezca wasn't so bad. At least now I had a drinking buddy. Saddest thing was drinking alone and now I wasn't...ever alone.
A hind paw rubbed at my side and I opened my eyes to see that cat grinning foolishly as he bugged me, pulling me from my own thoughts.
So I threw the bottle at him lightly. And he returned with a splash. So I gave him a sharp kick and he growled, got up and pounced.
We wrestled for about half a minute and knocked over nearly everything before I managed to get him into a head lock, even though I was aware he had let me. I was glad for it.
I retired shortly after about to drop right there and then and after drying down, using a hair dryer and spending a good couple of minutes (and burning out the motor) got Tezca dry enough. Already that natural musk was coming off the cat. His fur felt warm now and far less oily, not as rough or waxy and it wasn't so bad. I could understand why people desired their pelts so much.
The bed was king sized and was big enough to fit two Tezca's if they cuddled up. A very odd thought. I took one side and of course Tezca the other, the one closer to the door. My eyes were already closed and sleep came quickly. The last thing I recalled was a large paw resting on my chest, where the scar was.
And at the time I was unaware of the note being slipped under the door.