Rexus ~ Chapter 10!

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday weekend, or regular weekend outside the states! You deserve it!

“So, I just wanted to say thank you once more for your hospitality!” Jaxon was standing at the back of the stronghold, attempting to get out into the wilderness once more. Unfortunately, several Warriors were blocking his path. “Now that the pleasantries are out of the way, how about you do the same?”

The Warriors chuffed, all three of them standing head and shoulders above the tall Monk. Broken English flowed from a muzzle. “You stay, refine bodies of The People.”

Jaxon had learned that the Wolfmen tribes referred to themselves collectively as ‘The People’. “Let me put it like this. If the ‘The People’ don’t get out of the way, they are going to meet the fist.” He shook a clenched hand at the Warriors to no avail. His intimidation was raging at full power, but the Wolfmen merely chuffed their brand of laughter at him.

“Fine, fine, feisty human!” Jaxon’s hair was ruffled by a massive paw. “We move. We see you soon anyway. Take look.”

The Wolfman gestured expansively, and Jaxon followed his movements to see a huge line of flat terrain curving away into the distance on either side of the stronghold. “You see? Is… totem guide. This place is trial, not kill zone. You is get close dead, you show up right there. No fun though, lose strength, lose memories.” Now he pointed at a flat black rock that was where the line intersected.

“We die, or get too close to be dying, and we will respawn there instead of our bind point?” Jess gasped at the implication. “We’d still lose experience? Jaxon, if I die in there, I die twice.”

“Oh, yeah.” The Warrior nodded at her words and slapped Jaxon gently on the back. Gently for his race anyway. “Female, you come back without this one, we eat well. Okay! Cute little smooth-skins, you go fun have.”

Jaxon and Jess watched them go back to their post, and Jaxon shook his head. “Can you believe that? They-”

Jess interrupted in a rush of emotion. “Threatened us? Plan on eating me? Assume we are going to die out there?” 

“-think we’re cute!” Jaxon finished blandly. “Hmm? Did you say something?”

Jess shook her head, tongue tied and confused by this strange man that the Wolfmen seemed to like so much. They clambered over the wall, Jess carefully lowering herself while Jaxon jumped and arrested his movement by flipping in midair and turning the motion into a somersault on the ground. From there he popped up to his feet and cheered for himself. “He stuck the landing! He’s awarded a nine, a nine point five, oooh and the Russian judge gives him a two!”

“What are you doing?” Jess’s words made Jaxon flinch and get into a fighting position.

“What in the… oh, right, it’s Jess.” Jaxon stood straight and brushed some dust off his robe. “Good lord, you are a forgettable one, aren’t you? As to your question, I spend quite a bit of time alone, and have found that monologuing helps to maintain mental alacrity.”

Jess simply stared at him with her mouth open, not quite able to believe what an absolute jerk this man was. Her fingers twitched toward her empty sheath, angry that she had been disarmed. Wait a second… “Jaxon, I don’t have any weapons. We need to go back.”

The Monk didn’t bother to turn around, simply twirling a hand in the air. “If you want to go back, feel free. I won’t be waiting on you, but I’m sure ‘The People will welcome you back with open arms and a wide smile. Otherwise, we are just going to have to make do!”

Jess looked back and saw a Warrior waving at her with a wide ‘smile’. She shuddered and followed Jaxon, who was almost far enough away that the Scouts on the defenses would start attacking her. there were whines of disappointment as she got closer to the Monk, and her mood darkened further. She needed to make sure she was ready to escape when the moment came. To that end, she lowered her center of balance by crouching and slunk after Jaxon. 

To her dismay, he didn’t look back a single time as he was walking, and she seriously wondered if he had forgotten that she was walking with him. When he started speaking again, she perked up, excited to have a conversation. then she heard him start singing. “The foot bone connects to the… leg bone! The leg bone connects to the… knee bone! The knee bone connects to the… thigh bone!”

“Stop singing!” Jess snapped at him. “Why? Why are you singing that song?”

Jaxon looked back, not seeing her even though her noise had partially broken stealth mode. “Who’s talking? Oh. Jess. Right. Seriously, wear a bell or something. I was singing that children’s song because it a pleasing reminder of where my occupation began, even though it is not exactly anatomically accurate. that song has been stuck in my head for… oh, I don’t know. twenty years or so?”

Jess really wanted to know what trick of this game had made her select this crazy man to follow. She promised herself that if she got out of this area, Jaxon was going to be on the receiving side of her daggers even if she couldn’t loot his body! In fact… he couldn’t see her right now. Not at all. She crept forward, her hands going on either side of his head. Not stopping to think, she brutally grabbed him and twisted his head to the side. His eyes were now locked with hers, his head almost perfectly facing the wrong direction. 

Her cold smile at Jaxon’s confused look faltered as he started speaking. “Are you licensed for this sort of work? Thanks, but I think I have a higher skill in adjustments than you do. That did nothing for me.”

Face turning pale, Jess stumbled backward and nearly retched as Jaxon’s head righted itself and he kept moving at a brisk pace. He didn’t even consider that an attack? What kind of monster was she traveling with? She went to ask him a question, and her luck wore out. Jaxon’s horrendous charisma kicked in, and no matter what she actually said, this is what he heard. “Jaxon, I crouch all day in stealth, and I think it is messing with my posture. Can you help?”

Jaxon whipped around, face ecstatic and fingers wiggling furiously. “I would love to get my hands on you and show you exactly how amazing this can feel!”

Jess flushed red and dodged away from him as he reached out for her, sure that something either gross or dangerous was occurring. Jaxon was flushed and breathing erratically, and all she could think of was that he was trying to take revenge for her attempt at snapping his neck. “I’m so sorry, Jaxon! It won’t happen again, I swear I’ll be a good travel companion!”

“What? What are you talking about?” Jaxon’s fingers stopped shifting slowly, seemingly knowing that they wouldn’t be working right now. “Jess, I’m just trying to make you feel good, isn’t that what you wanted?”

“Not… um. Not now, not with you, or in this sort of place.” Jess was blushing furiously. Why did every man she met fall in love with her?

Jaxon looked around at the wilderness they were traversing. There were no paths, the underbrush was knee-high, and they could be attacked at any moment. “I understand. Forgive my lack of forethought, I didn’t mean to detract from the experience by doing this right here. Perhaps later, or if we can find a nice clearing.”

Somehow… somehow Jess was blushing! She had never had someone so serious, so invested, in wooing her! The way Jaxon spoke, it was passionate and full of intensity. He really wanted her, she could tell. Maybe… perhaps he was just terrible at making small talk? Her thoughts were written on her face, but luckily for her Jaxon was already walking toward his goal once again. He was grumbling, and she assumed that he was sad that he had been so pushy with her. Too bad for Jess, she was just far enough away to hear him mumbling about finding proper lumbar support for a makeshift bed this evening.

“Jasmyn, how is your night vision? The sun is beginning to set, and I think we should find a place to rest before we need to find one.” Jaxon never stopped plodding forward, resigned to moving slowly with his new companion.

“My night vision is fine, but did you just get my name wrong?” Jessamyn stared at the back of Jaxon’s head, willing him to turn and face her reignited wrath.

The Monk didn’t respond, simply nodding along at whatever he heard her ‘say’. “I see, I see. It must have been terrible for you to be out in the woods so long by yourself!”

“Hey! I’m telling you that I am fine to keep moving at night!” Jess tried to get his attention by being too loud.

“Oh? Thank you for pointing that out.” Jaxon looked back at her. “I wouldn’t have even seen that clearing, good catch!”

“You upset me with your illogic.” Jess resigned herself to one-sided conversations in the foreseeable future. 

Jaxon walked into the clearing - brushing against a tree - and was grabbed by Jess and yanked backward as a massive branch slammed into the ground where he had been about to walk. He caught his balance easily, having a raw score of one hundred dexterity wasn’t just for show. Jaxon watched as the branch lifted into the air, vanishing into the foliage above them. “Did you see which tree that was, by chance? I was slightly too distracted to note it.”

“I have a very concerning thought.” Jess grimly bent over and grabbed a rock, tossing it against a tree a bit further away. As the small stone bounced off the wood, a branch smashed into the spot it had touched. “It looks like we aren’t allowed to climb trees to seek shelter. It looks like we are going to be forced to stay on the ground and fight whatever is alive in this forest.”

Just then, a songbird alighted on a tree and was whipped with a twig. All that remained was a poof of slowly falling feathers. Jaxon nodded seriously. “I had been wondering why I hadn’t heard any birds in the last hour.”