16 May 2012
My jaw dropped. Words failed to come out.
"Wh... wha..." I glubbed. "But you're supposed to be..."
"Unconsious. Yes, I know," the boy replied. "The old healer nearly had a heart attack when I jumped out of bed just after he predicted that I would be asleep for a good few days."
"And with good reason!" Curtap shouted, storming into the tent, "I probed his mind and with that level of possession he almost shouldn't have woken up at all! Instead, what do you know? He jumps out out bed five minutes later!" He rounded on Samuel. "Young people these days don't know when to..." he was interrupted by a polite cough. The First was still sitting there, calmly watching the (frankly absurd) moment. Me standing there, mouth half open, Samuel with one eyebrow raised, hands on hips, and Curtap, only dressed only in a night shirt, white beard fluttering in the wind from the open tent flap, and silently red from rage.
"Curtap," the First said.
"Yes, sir?"
"Go and get dressed."
"Of course." And with that he turned tail, and headed off back to his tent. His buttocks cheekily poking through the shirt tails.
"Alright, Samuel." The leader turned his attention to the mage. "What's your version of yesterday's events?"
"From the point where I met Lily?"
"No. From the start."
"Alright... sir." I decided to interject.
"First Hollar, please. We don't know if he will be telling the truth. For all we know all he wants to do is join us. And you know what happened last time when a human mage joined." (For all of you who want to know, I am sworn to secrecy about the events, but let me tell you, it was weeks before the goats recovered from the shock.) Unfortunately, my request was rejected.
"Nonsense. I do not believe that this was a coincidence. Carry on Samuel."
"Thank you, sir, but I'm afraid that it's quite a long story, so you'll need to make yourself comfortable..." He then noticed the chair. "Alright, I'll start."
A Shock • Opuss № I