Chapter 5
CHAPTER FIVE
TORGRIND
It took very little time to figure out that the guest to our clan was a natural born trouble maker.
He drank to excess each night, halting any attempts Brenek or I made to seduce him.
Only an dishonorable man would take a lover while they were too drunk to stay on their feet, much less consent to anything that would happen in a bed.
That didn’t stop Jamal from flirting, or from getting into mischief whenever he had too much time on his hands.
When the clan moved to a new resting place, he tried to steal a stallion so he could ride ahead.
Had the beast not been too big for him to get on its back, there’s no telling what could have happened.
“Can’t we run? I thought barbarians were more wild than this sedate pace!” he complained from where he rode in front of me.
“We go at this pace for those who cannot ride hard,” I explained in his language, gesturing over my shoulder to those in the clan who couldn’t safely ride the way he wished.
Pregnant mothers, those with young babes, and the few elders who chose not to stay in the settlement.
They all needed a more gentle pace. Were we chosen to scout ahead, we could have ridden at a faster pace, but we switched out who would get that role since more than one of my clan brothers liked to run like Jamal wanted to.
Being a scout gave us that freedom. And it was unlikely anyone would be chosen with Jamal riding with them.
A guest was not put in unsafe situations like that.
He flopped dramatically against my chest, groaning. “How much longer?”
“Quit your complaining,” Yngvar called from where he rode near the back of our clan. “The journey is part of the fun.”
Since Yngvar didn’t speak Erabi, I translated for him, though I tried to be more gentle about it. Jamal still didn’t take it well.
“Oh shut it, old man,” Jamal snapped back, startling me and Brenek both.
We’d sparred each other each night for the honor of riding with Jamal, and he’d been grumbling about his loss since we left that morning.
He’d won the last two times, but he was still sulking about it.
He kept close to us in case Jamal changed his mind and wanted to ride with him instead.
He gaped at the beautiful man who looked petulant as he crossed his arms over his chest and stuck out his bottom lip.
Thankfully, Yngvar wasn’t easily offended.
I heard him chuckle, unbothered by Jamal’s mouth.
I would need to be more careful with the little beauty.
There were some in the clan who wouldn’t be so kind about that behavior.
They would challenge him to a sparring match just to put him in his place, and from the softness of his hands and his general lack of muscle, I got the feeling Jamal was unprepared for such a match.
“Varakai,” Brenek called, moving close enough that he could reach out and touch Jamal’s leg in an attempt to soothe him. “Not much farther. There is a town just on the other side of the sand that has welcomed us before. We will stop there for rest.”
He gestured ahead of us, where the moon shone against a mountain of sand that stood between us and the town we intended to rest at.
I shot him a dirty look as Jamal brightened considerably.
He was getting the poor man’s hopes up. We’d learned when we’d first traveled to Al Nuzem with the king’s company that scaling those sand mounds was near impossible with the carriages and wagons we used when moving the clan.
The only way to get where we were going was to go around and that took significantly more time. Brenek knew this.
I thought about saying something, but then decided to wait. If Brenek wanted to look like a fool with his words, then I wasn’t going to stop him.
For a while, it looked like we were traveling to scale the sand, but when the ground beneath us became too soft, Idrull turned his stallion, leading the clan to begin the trek around it.
Jamal made a disgruntled sound, sitting forward again. “Wait. What’s happening? Why are they turning?”
From the expression on his face, Brenek was realizing his blunder. He blanched, rubbing the back of his neck as he tried to find the words to explain himself. “We must– I hadn’t meant– It is better–”
Cutting the idiot off, I explained, “Traveling over the sand is too difficult with carts and wagons. It is safer to go around.”
“Wha– But– No! You said it was just on the other side!” Jamal cried, shooting an accusing look at Brenek, who looked horrified over his blunder.
I couldn’t help feeling smug. Perhaps Jamal would choose me because I didn’t lie to him.
Though, he hadn’t shown any indication that he would choose either of us.
If anything, he sounded as though he wanted us both.
Thus far, we’d been able to distract him from that line of thought.
Brenek was only making it easier by showing what an idiot he was.
Jamal tried several times over the next few hours to encourage us to go over the mountain of sand.
He tried suggesting it would take less time, that we could be there quicker to rest if it took more energy, and even suggested he and I go ahead of the group over the sand so we could ‘find a spot to settle’.
Nothing he said or did changed anything, and by the time we rounded the sand and the town came into view, he had given up on asking and was silently sulking with his arms crossed tightly over his chest.
Idrull signaled for us to stop just outside the town. We would make trade with the town the following afternoon, but traveling at night meant most trading had to wait until a more acceptable hour. I jumped down from my stallion’s back, helping Jamal down and setting him on his feet.
“Let’s go into town,” he said, immediately heading in that direction. I caught his hand, shaking my head to stop him.
“Now is not a good time. We will make trade tomorrow. Now we will rest.”
“Rest?!” he squawked, eyes wide with horror. “We’ve done nothing but sit for hours!”
While I understood his frustration, I too sometimes felt stifled with the night travel at such a slow pace, Idrull had been clear when we first began our travels in this new country.
Until we understood it better and were more familiar with the ways of the people, we stuck together and we did not cause trouble.
“We can help set up the clan for the night,” I suggested. “That will get your energy out until sleep. Tomorrow, we will go into town.”
This time, it was me who earned his ire, his glare locked onto me.
I cast around for some way to assuage him, but there was nothing I could think of.
Even seducing him was a bad idea. We would not be spending more than a day in this town.
Tents were not erected for anyone aside from the elders and for the babes and toddlers who would need coverage from the sun.
There would be no privacy until we moved on to a new location and could erect our tents again.
With a frustrated growl, Jamal spun and stormed off, heading in the direction of Brenek, who was helping to create a safe space for the horses for the night. I let him go with a sigh. I didn’t blame him for his frustrations. I would find a way to make it up to him later.
After a few hours, I began to wonder what the little troublemaker was up to.
Most of the clan was quiet, having settled in on bed rolls for the night, and I’d thought Jamal would return to his own roll after a time.
I’d found it when unloading essentials from the wagon and set it up next to mine, hoping to at least apologize to him before bed.
An uncomfortable feeling settled in my stomach when he did not return. Was it possible I’d annoyed him enough that he’d chosen Brenek instead?
Unable to let the question go unanswered, I went looking for where Brenek had set up his roll.
He was on watch tonight, his roll was nearer to the edge of the camp so that he could easily exit it when it was his turn, but when I found him sitting atop it, he was alone, mending the leather belt we used to attach our weapons to our stallions by the light of a small lantern.
“Where is Jamal?” I asked him, growing worried as I noticed the rolls nearby were all filled with sleeping brothers and the little male was nowhere to be seen.
Brenek looked up at me, confused. “What do you mean? I thought he was with you.”
My stomach tightened uncomfortably. “He was angry with me. I thought he went to you. When did you last see him?”
His expression grew concerned as he set aside his work and pushed to his feet. “Not for hours. He asked me to go into town, and when I told him it wasn’t safe until morning, he stomped off. I thought he’d go to you instead.”
A part of me wanted to blame him, he was the last one to see Jamal and should have known to make him stay.
But I knew better. This was my fault. I knew Jamal was bored, knew he needed to get his energy out before he could rest. I should have taken his complaints more seriously, or at least stayed beside him until I was sure he was safe.
Brenek’s eyes scanned the camp where our clan brothers and sisters slept. “Do you think he found someone else to spend time with? Yngvar is always willing to provide him with ale at the very least.”
Putting aside our rivalry, we went looking for Jamal together.
We circled the camp, looking for all the places Jamal might have snuck off to find entertainment.
No stallions were missing, Yngvar was asleep in his bed, and none of the other clan brothers who Jamal had flirted with were sharing a bed with anyone this night.
When my eyes shifted to the town, Brenek shook his head.
“I told him it was dangerous. He knew to stay clear.”
I raised an eyebrow at him. “What makes you think he wouldn’t choose not to listen? He’s done so in the past.”
Jamal had ignored my suggestion to go easy on the ale and wound up so hungover the next day he had to sleep most of the day away in the carriage and couldn’t eat until supper the following evening.
And he ignored Brenek’s suggestion to wear a covering on our first night of travel, requiring us to stop and find him a cloak because he’d ended up shivering and whining until half the clan was aware of his feelings on the matter.
I wasn’t sure I’d trust him to behave, even if there was the possibility of danger.
Brenek and I exchanged a glance, sharing no words between us as we realized what must have happened.
Jamal did as he wished, and because we were too distracted by his beauty, we didn’t think to watch over him properly.
When I cast my gaze in the direction of the town again, I noticed a trail of footprints in the sand, barely illuminated by the moon’s rays.
Brenek started moving at the same time I did, both of us racing for the town.
Jamal was a free spirit, full of joy and mischief, and he was unaware of just how dangerous the town could be.
They left our people alone because we were larger and a new threat they’d yet to come across, but Jamal was not a clan brother.
He had nothing that tied him to us. If he spoke or acted the way he did with us around dangerous men, his life could be at risk.