Page 28 of The Tricksters Deception

“Okay.” I respond. It's apparent to me that I’ve become very reliant on Corvu’s instructions and expertise. I mean, he kind of just killed a giant, he rescued me from bandits, more than once. It was hard to believe he was doing all this just to be kind. He could have died. Doing my best to start the fire I decide the best way to distract Gecko would be to talk to him, “So Gecko, we had quite an adventure today.” He chuckles at me, but otherwise doesn’t say anything. “Have I ever told you the story about a princess and a frog?” He furrows his brow but otherwise shakes his head. “Well then,” I say, proud that a fire sparks, fanning it I continue, “, have I got a great story for you.”

The sun has well and truly settled. I’d managed to do the best I could cleaning Gecko’s wounds with cloth and water, the fire is really burning well and I’m doing my best to entertain Gecko, but Corvu still hasn’t come back.

“Maybe we should go look for him?” Gecko suggests,

“Gecko,” I mock a surprised tone, “, do you miss him? Is that why you’re so grumpy?”

“No!” He pouts, but I can’t help but laugh. “Aren’t you worried about him?”

“Of course, but he traveled a few days on his own to catch up with us in the beginning, I’m sure he’s alright.” Honestly I couldn’t tell if I was trying to convince Gecko or myself.

“But he wasn’t injured then. He is now.” My face scrunches up as I think about it. What if he lost his balance and fell off a nearby cliff? Banged his head and fell into a river and drowned? Attacked by a group of bandits?

“It’s Corvu. He’s okay. He’ll be back.”

“What if we were just too much trouble and he just left us?” The thought had occurred to me that he was doing an awful lot for someone who wasn’t going to get much in return, maybe he decided we weren’t worth the trouble.

“You doubt me that much, kid?” Both our heads whip around to the right where Corvu appears from the dark shadows of the forest. “Should I just turn back and leave?”

“We were worried!” I exclaim as he approaches, slinging off and placing his satchel on the ground in front of us. Aside from the state his clothes were in, you’d never know he was in such a bad state. In fact, he wasn’t bruised or bleeding anywhere. Did he heal that quickly? I recall him saying Tricksters were a bit different, but this was phenomenal.

"I found a few things. First off, here, hold this." Out of his satchel, he pulls out a wrapped-up cloth, and inside it, he shows us some leaves. Handing me the two sets of leaves, he then retrieves another cloth containing different strands of leaves, which look more like thin lettuce leaves and are oozing. Corvu gets back up to go to the horses while Gecko and I exchange a look. He seems relaxed, nowhere near as confused as I am.

Corvu returns with one of the bowls we had been using for food and a mortar and pestle, or rather a spoon. He places the first set of leaves into the food bowl and then squeezes out the milky substance onto the lettuce-like leaves with small purple dots. Afterward, he hands it to Gecko. Placing it on his lap, Gecko uses his one free hand to start eating the leaves.

Kind of gross. They're not even washed. After that, he pulls out a jar from inside his satchel—it looks like honey. Pouring it into the mortar, he then squeezes more of the lettuce plant into the bowl with it and mixes it together. He hands the bowl to me. "I'm not eating that," I state clearly. Corvu just chuckles and shakes his head, understanding my reluctance.

Picking up some nearby blankets, he arranges them next to Gecko, who hands me back the food bowl and lies down flat, clearly exhausted. Corvu takes the mortar from me and uses his hands to scoop up some of the honey, applying it directly to the wound on Gecko’s forehead. Despite my initial skepticism about honey in wound care, I realize it might have medicinal benefits.

Gecko seems to be growing sleepy as Corvu removes the makeshift sling and extracts two sticks from his satchel along with bandages. It makes me wonder if he had these supplies prepared all along, hidden among the other items in his bag.

“Here, I need you to hold these in place while I secure his arm.” Doing as I was instructed, Corvu begins to tightly wrap Gecko’s arm with the bandages. I wonder how often these bandages had been used. They weren’t white like the ones I usually see in hospitals and chemists. After a few minutes, we’re done, and Gecko is fast asleep. Where did he go to get these supplies?

“What did you give him?” I question. He looks at me a little puzzled.

“Just myrtle and lettuce.” Ah, so it was lettuce.

“What did that do, exactly?”

“It was mostly just to help with the pain and any growing infections. The honey we will get rid of in the morning but that will help with swelling and healing it.” I'm really impressed.

“The things you can find in the forest.”

“Oh about that, sorry I took so long. I didn’t imagine it would be so hard to find honey.” I smile. It's kind of him to still be thinking about us at a time like this.

“I’m sure Gecko really appreciates you doing this for him. And for slaying the giant before it ate him.” Corvu sits down on the other side of me.

“Yeah, don’t tell anyone I slayed a giant.”

“Why?”

“It’s bad luck to kill a giant.”

“Is it good luck to be eaten by one?” After a moment of silence we both start laughing. I didn’t know there was such a thing as superstitions around here, and the simple fact they did fascinates me. “What other myths or superstitions are there?”

“There’s a few funny ones for kids. Don’t kill giants or you’ll have bad luck is one of them, another was to never pull a cat's tail.” They have cat's here? I wonder if they're regular cats.

“Why not?”

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