Quite the Leap

I disposed of the paper wrapping that came with my kort, an urban delicacy of one of our people’s more prosperous colonies, Urado. The fleet was allowed a short respite from campaigning against Humanity, and so the Everlasting Salvation took to port and granted us some welcome shore leave. I had not visited Urado before, so coming here was going to be rife with new experiences. The kort was but one of such experiences, and a delicious one at that. Mik, who walked beside me in the somewhat busy promenade, was still eating his kort.
“Mmm. Kai, I… I do not… I do not understand,” he said slowly.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
Mik responded, “I do not understand how I could have lived so many years without having this in my life.”
The both of us laughed heartily.
We continued walking. The particular urban conglomeration we found ourselves in, Bathar, was among the oldest settlements on Urado, and was very heavily urbanized. Temples, great keeps housing the city’s wealthiest and most powerful clans, massive guild halls, great bazaars, and large plazas and promenades. I also noticed the security cameras and peacekeepers roaming the streets in threes. Only they could carry ranged weapons, all other locals and visitors were restricted to melee weapons. That suited me fine, but the others felt somewhat… naked. I gave them each a dagger to assuage their fears.
Then we came upon our comrades, Tes the Kig-Yar and Basab the Unggoy. They were accompanied by our lance’s two Minors: the brothers Dav and Cordo ‘Ardakee. Dav was the elder, but shorter, and Cordo was far taller, yet Cordo was outmatched by Dav in raw physical strength. The brothers each had a kort, while Tes imbibed some sort of colorful beverage with a paper straw and Basab carried some sort of… I believe it was some sort of gourd? I cannot be sure, I am no expert on vegetables.
“Greetings!” heartily said Dav.
“All the Unggoy and Kig-Yar are present and accounted for, sir,” said Cordo.
“Good, we should be called back to the ship soon,” I responded.
“Hey, Kai,” said Mik, tapping me on my shoulder. I turned towards him, and saw his arm extend outwards, past the multitudes of Sangheili, both armored warriors and unarmed women and elders, and I saw a tense scene. There were two groups of Sangheili warriors arguing between themselves, and the reason that I was drawn to this probable conflict was because one side had my friend and comrade-in-arms, Quso ‘Thurikee.
I glanced to Mik and said, “Stay here with the lance.”
As I began walking towards Quso I heard Mik say, “Dav, keep everyone here.” I turned around.
“Mik…” I started. But he had that face that said ‘I’m coming with you whether you like it or not.’ I always admired that about Mik. Silently, I permitted this and returned to walking towards Quso.
I pushed through the crowds, but before I could even hear the conversation, it turned to blows. A fist struck Quso in the face. I responded with a blow of my own against the assailant. A brawl ensued between Quso and his lance, the other warriors, and me and Mik. I grasped one warrior, who snarled at me, and punched him repeatedly in the face. He kicked me in my torso, and I was driven back into the crowd, where I stumbled against a hulking Mgalekgolo. He made what seemed to be an almost effortless nudge, but he sent me hurtling back towards my opponent, who awaited me with an extended foot ready to kick me. But I grasped the foot, catching myself and avoiding a painful impact. The both of us were briefly surprised, but I suspected he was going to do a move I might do: a surprise kick. My foe’s body clearly then began to twist to that end, and so I crouched, ducking and narrowly avoiding the kick. I threw aside his leg from my grasp and he stumbled. I punched him in the face repeatedly, before I was tackled by another Sangheili.
I broke this new assailant’s grip with a swift knee to his side, to which he grunted and eased his hold. Then, I elected to try a move Mik showed me, but I was heavily skeptical of. I held a firm grip of the fellow, who regained a stranglehold on my waist and was trying to lift me off my feet. Then, I jumped up and attempted to put as much of my weight as possible on the upper chest and arms of my body, pressing down on my enemy. The thud was so audible, I could hear what seemed to be a crack against the stone. The warrior seemed at least stunned, perhaps even knocked unconscious, he certainly was not attempting to put up much of a fight. Then, I looked around to gather my bearings.
Dav was holding down a fellow and allowing Corso some decent blows to his foe's face, Mik and Quso were brawling, a fellow Major named Heth 'Chavaree, was keeping at bay a horde of angry Unggoy by using a vase as an ad-hoc shield.
"Melees are not healthy for vegetables!" exclaimed Basab as he backed away holding his gourd-like object. Tes watched, sipping on her drink.
"Are you all right, sir?!" she yelled.
"Yes!" I replied.
As I got up off this incapacitated fellow here appeared a young, energetic warrior, who looked at me in horror. “Shar…” he said. Then he looked at me, and his eyes filled with fiery hatred. “You will pay dearly for what you did to my friend!” Thereupon he procured an energy sword, the hilt appearing from the small of his back. He ignited the blade, the familiar clash noise ringing out on the sunny promenade.
“Ay, ay, ay, ay, ay!” an elderly Sangheili woman exclaimed as shouts of worry and alarm echoed throughout the crowd.
Almost instinctively, I unleashed my blade.
“Beware! Beware! A clash of swords! A duel has begun!” someone yelled.
Then, a siren blared out. The crowd dispersed, and peacekeepers appeared with plasma rifles. The two of us were quickly surrounded, and I saw many others involved in the brawl detained by more peacekeepers.
“Lower your arms!” one peacekeeper proclaimed. I followed the command, putting away my sword and keeping my hands in clear view. The other fellow did not comply. “I said, ‘lower your arms!’” the peacekeeper replied.
The young warrior stepped towards me, hate in his eyes, and I retreated. “Just give me one moment, brothers. Just a moment with this one,” he said.
“Put away your sword, brother! Vendettas are forbidden on Urado!” one peacekeeper shouted. Then, the fellow’s friend, the one I slammed onto the ground, made a groaning noise. That caught the attention of the swordsman, who quickly looked down.
“Shar…?” said the swordsman. He tossed aside the blade, which was quickly obtained by a peacekeeper, as the swordsman knelt down to attend to his friend. We three were quickly swarmed by peacekeepers and detained.
“I’ll not have my world’s peace and ancient codes trampled upon by khukhtav,” said an aged peacekeeper with a harsh voice. I later discovered that “khukhtav” is local Urado slang for Sangheili who hail from Sanghelios itself. And let me tell you, it is not a friendly term.
We were thrown in the city citadel’s prison, separated first by species and then by rank. Minors with Minors, Majors with Majors, and so forth. Quso and I shared a cell with another Major, Heth ‘Chavaree.
“What the bloody hell did you get us into, Quso?” asked Heth.
“I’m sorry,” Quso responded.
“What did you this time, brother?” I asked.
“They say I threatened one of the city official’s sons.”
“Pray tell,” I continued.
“They say I said that I would rip all of his mandibles off and force them so far down his throat they would appear from his arse.”
“Why… do they say that you said that?” asked Heth. I lazily stared at Quso. He glanced at me for some sort of reassurance, but my stare showed him no warmth, only lethargic frustration. This compelled him to speak the truth.
“Well, this boy, you see, he was… insolent.”
I widened my eyes slightly, and looked over to Heth: my fellow Major looked utterly unimpressed. “’Insolent.’ Such a strong word.”
“I am a strong man,” quickly responded Quso. Heth and I snickered. “But yes, he persisted in questioning me about everything. Where I fought. Who I fought. Why I fought. I was expecting him to ask how I fought when I suddenly exclaimed that if he was to continue with his line of interrogation I would mutilate him.”
“That is quite the leap, my friend,” I asked.
“Well, I jump when I can.”
“Quite unfortunate that your reflexes failed you this time, brother,” said Heth. “The near-childling struck you square in the jaws and you didn’t even know what was happening!”
Heth and I chuckled. “Yes, and when I saw that, I thought to myself, ‘Ooh! That escalated quickly!’” We laughed again.
“Yes, yes, I am pleased that you find my suffering amusing,” said Quso in an obviously sarcastic tone. “I am also utterly tickled with delight that you take pleasure in recognizing my approaching senility. How joyful.”
“You know what won’t be joyful though?” I said after the laughter died down. “The obvious punishments that will come to us.”
“Ah, so they execute me. Oh well, that is what it is. At least I taught a young boy some manners.”
Heth and I glanced at each other, somewhat deflated that Quso so readily accepted the ultimate punishment, even if it may not come to pass.
We three rotted away in the dungeon for several hours before we were retrieved by our superior officer, Commander… Gods, have I forgotten his name? Shameful. As such, our commander retrieved us from the city dungeon and was most displeased, but ultimately, everyone but Quso was let off lightly with formal reprimands logged into our records. Quso was stripped of his rank and reverted to a Minor, and given fifty lashes of a steel whip. It took him some time to return to his rank of Major. Meanwhile Hesh and I were reunited with our lances. Mik kept annoying me about his accomplishments in the melee. "I knocked out this fellow's teeth" and "he ran from me" and "I whipped him good" and so on. If they were fanciful, I let him have the fantasy.
Quso though, hmm. At least the locals did not have an opportunity with him in a locked room for five minutes.
Category:The Weekly