The Pearl Of Vynes - Chapter 23 Two Heavyweights Trading Blows

Alice felt incredibly warm, wrapped in a comfort she hadn’t felt since she was a child. As she opened her eyes she was close to Miles’ face, he was sleeping soundly drawing in deep breaths that Alice could feel underneath her, his arms were wrapped around her. Crawling out from his embrace, Alice sat up to see Tane sleeping not too far from them snoring loudly as usual. A pain in her arm caught Alice’s attention, looking onto it she see a pattern burned into her skin, the sear was still tender and red as if it was charred recently. Alice walked over to a bucket of water that was on the deck and dipped a cloth that was next to it. Placing the cool water on her arm soothed the pain of her new scar that was beginning to throb. Wincing at the pain Alice let a little noise, making Miles wake up from the sound. Miles looked sleepily over at her, looking like he had been up for most of the night.

for visiting.

“What did you do to me?” Alice asked worried as she looked over the burnt skin on her arm.

“A lot happened but for now that’ll keep you safe” Miles said pointedly, letting out a yawn and stretched out his back.

“Is it permanent?” Alice asked again.

“Who knows” Miles said. Miles got up from his spot and went under deck. The moving and scratching of the wood signalled Miles was scrounging for food for breakfast. Alice’s fears weren’t ailed as Miles had disappeared, rolling her shirt down to try and cover her new scar. Tane woke up as well, greeting the day a lot more enthusiastically than Miles had.

“Ah young one. Looks like you’re feeling a lot better, you had us worried last night” Tane said with a smile.

“What happened?” Alice asked.

“It’s a bit hard to explain but Miles will tell you soon” Tane said reassuringly. Loud footsteps underneath announced Miles coming back from under deck, bringing out some extra meat and cheese he had found. As all three sat down for breakfast, Miles broke the silence whilst swallowing the last of his food down.

“Last night definitely let us know something is after us. After what we had done in back in Rift, it looks like someone is very unhappy with us. I’ll explain it more as we go but it looks like we’ll have to ditch the ship for now” Miles explained.

“But we made such good time” Tane said with mild annoyance after enjoying the sailing trip so far.

“I’d prefer a safer route, while we’re on the water there’s not much I can do about protecting us” Miles said with an authoritative tone at Tane. Alice listened in silence as Miles mulled over his plan to the others, for the rest of the way they would have to take the cart again although it would at least double their time. Miles and Tane manned the ship over to a shallows area that was close to the beach, Tane letting down the gangway in order for the rest of them to board down from the ship. While Alice led the horse down to the beach, Tane and Miles carried down the cart they had broken down when they had started the trip making multiple trips to put all of their belongings down on the sand.

Alice watched the sky and clouds roll by as the two men put together the cart, taking apart and putting back together as they had the cart pointed in the wrong direction. After a few hours everything was fitted together again and the horse was strapped to the cart. Tane and Alice hopped in the back with the rest of the supplies while Miles drove the cart, giving the reins a light crack to get the horse going. Shortly after they started to hit the open road again, the familiar trundle of rocks and dirt underneath the cart wheels were like an old friend to Alice. Looking over Alice could see Tane was already fast asleep using a sack for a pillow and snoring much like a hog eating his fill.

“Miles?” Alice asked staring up at the sky.

“Yes Alice?” Miles replied, not turning away from driving on the road they had only recently found.

“Are we gonna be alright?” Alice asked.

“Of course we are. I’ll be right here with you” Miles said, flashing a smile at Alice. Alice relaxed a little and grew lost in thought, the whole experience she’s had with Miles and all of the wonders they had seen. Thinking back to when they had first met, Miles was always a man that had left her in awe of the world. Thinking back to earlier this morning Alice blushed a little haven woken up in Miles’ arms. What could he have been thinking Alice thought to herself. Finding a nook in the bags, Alice made herself comfortable and slowly drifted off to sleep feeling the creak and bounces of the cart underneath her.

The cart coming to a halt brought Alice out of her rest, rubbing the sleep from her eyes as Miles hopped out of the cart. Alice jumped out after Miles as he began to setup camp. Alice still recovering from her short sleep walked off to the nearby groove of trees, sticks and branches a plenty around the base of the trees. Alice held a handful and looked up at the nearly naked tree, dropping the last of its orange leaves. Alice came back to the cart digging a small hole in the ground and placing the sticks in a tepee shape. Alice watched as Miles unloaded some sacks from the cart, dropping a few on purpose on top of Tane to rouse him from his deep slumber, Tane reminded Alice more of a bear than any human she’d met. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed Miles had grabbed a stick off the ground and started marking the ground in a rough circle. Alice pulled out a flint from a small box she had in her pocket, striking it next to the wood to get the fire going. Miles came over and took over from Alice, striking a strong ember on the small wood pile and causing a flame to flare up. Miles piled some leaves and a small piece of wool to keep the flame going, the warm sound of crackling from the fire started to warm Alice. Night was closing in very quickly as the sun started to set. Tane had managed to get himself out of the cart and hitched the horse to a nearby tree, grazing on the nearby grass. Alice started piling more wood on the camp fire as it started to rise in size. Walking over to the cart, Alice pulled out the cookpot and hefted it next to the fire, while setting up the fork holders. Tane had already fetched some water from a nearby river and placed it next to Alice, pouring it in the pot as the water started to slowly boil. Alice grabbed some salted beef that was with them from the ship and added some dried vegetables Miles had kept close by. Slowly the food started to colour and boil down. Alice let it stew for a while. There was a total silence as Miles grabbed the cutlery from the cart and passed it out to the group. Alice grabbed a ladle and poured it into each bowl and they all ate together around the warm fire. The sounds of insects and odd animals echoed off in the distance. Miles stared at Alice intently for a moment, munching down on the night’s stew. Tane had already finished his and asked for seconds waving his bowl enthusiastically at Alice. Alice smiled and poured more into Tane’s bowl as she finished her own. Tane made noises to show his satisfaction as they rested around the fire. Miles looked at Alice and opened his mouth to speak.

“Hey Alice, why don’t you try to spar with Tane” Miles said with a hint of intrigue in his voice. Tane laughed and walked over to the temporary ring that Miles had made earlier, stretching his muscles out from the cramps that had set in from the cart ride. Alice got up but nervous now from the impending training with Tane. Tane threw off his shirt and flexed a bit. Alice stretched a little as well walking into the makeshift ring. As Tane and Alice took their stances they circled each other, waiting for the other to move first. Tane went to snatch at Alice but she moved out of the way, the recent work and sparring had made Alice much more reactive than before. Alice gave a solid punch on Tane’s side and backed off. Tane chuckled at the blow.

“It’s gonna take a lot more than that to take me down” Tane said with a grin starting to look serious for the first time with Alice. Alice dived in for a quick kick to knock Tane over but his legs held firm, causing Alice to bruise instantly. Tane grabbed her leg and lifted her into the air, but Alice twisted in his grip and Tane had to let go from the sudden movement. Alice dropped to the ground and rolled away from Tane as he backed away, going after Alice. Miles continued to watch as the two sparred in front of him. Alice’s had come a long way and as he watched her dodge away from Tane’s grasp he smiled at that. After a few minutes they took a break from fighting, Alice sweating from the effort as she sat on the ground.

“Hey Miles?” Alice said.

“Yes?” Miles replied.

“Have you and Tane ever trained together” Alice asked, breathing heavily between her words. Miles laughed at the thought.

“Well we never trained against each other if that’s what you mean” Miles said with a smile. Tane walked over and patted Miles on the shoulder.

“We won’t know until it happens, right Miles?” Tane said, grinning just as mischievously as Miles. The two men nodded at each other and went over to the dirt ring and took their positions. In a blink of an eye the two traded blows, legs being kicked out were blocked at the same time causing small puffs of wind in Alice’s direction. She watched in awe as the two jumped back and forth after throwing blows. Miles caught Tane out from a punch and threw him over the shoulder. Tane put his hand out and flipped back over facing Miles with a grin and charged at him again throwing punches. Alice watched as she could feel the deadliness of each blow, it was on a completely different level than what she was trained at. Tane punched at Miles but he seemed to completely miss and hit the ground, suddenly spikes came out from the ground launching straight at Miles. Miles dodged and broke the rock spikes, disappearing from sight. Tane looked around suspiciously but Miles was already behind him a hand held his throat. Tane put up his hands in surrender and both of them relaxed. Both of them laughed as they walked towards the fire where Alice had previously set out their bedrolls earlier. Alice was still in open mouth awe from the blows exchanged by the two, watching as the two chatted nonchalantly about the fight. The two men said their good nights, complaining from the day’s exercise and rolling over to sleep on their bed rolls. Alice watched the camp fire flames as she processed what she saw. The two of them were impossibly fast and definitely beyond human, the flickering flames held her gaze as she begun to feel her eyes droop. Suddenly the need to sleep overwhelmed her as she slowly collapsed onto her bedroll.