Page 2 of Storms & Sacrifice
“What about your other friend?” He’s still learning their names.
“Nate? He’s fine. And I told you, he’s not my friend.” I refuse to acknowledge that dick as anything more than an acquaintance. “Thank you for bringing me.”
“Of course.” He reaches over and squeezes my shoulder gently as we walk.
Unlike work, things between Khazak and me have been anything but boring. Not that the excitement has reached anywhere near the levels of crazy drama that first week held. Would you believe I only managed to get spankedoncelast week? It was my own fault. I let Ragnar, Khazak’s half-orc, half-elf best friend, talk me into pranking Khazak by swapping his regular ink for some that turns invisible fifteen minutes after being put on paper. He didn’t notice until he was writing a particularly long report and the top started to vanish before he had reached the bottom. He said he spanked me once for each field he had to re-fill out on each form. I didn’t keep count, but it felt like it.
Outside of that, things have been great. You’d think after almost three weeks of waking up next to and spending the entire day with someone, I’d be sick of him, but we’ve been getting along swimmingly. Even when we do start to grate on each other, I’ll just go for a run around the city or hit the gym at the station for some “me” time. There’s not a whole lot to do around here aside from eating, reading, and exercising, but he always manages to find something to keep us occupied. Which is sometimes me. Safe to say I think I’m getting kind of good atthatkindof stuff.
“Ready to pack for tomorrow?” Khazak asks when we arrive back atthe house.
“Yep. Do you have a bag I can use?” I’m gonna need a lot of clothes for a whole week. “And do you have an extrabedroll?”
“Mine should be big enough for the both of us.” Khazak walks down the hall, turning into the spare room with mefollowing.
“Your bag or your bedroll?” One of those makes more sense thanthe other.
“Both.” He opens the closet and pulls out a large bedroll attached to a sturdy looking leatherbackpack.
“My clothes are gonna fit in there?” It’s sizable but so is he—as are his clothes.
“No, this is filled with tools and supplies.” He slings it over one shoulder. “I meant my other bag.”
I look at him skeptically, assuming he’s talking about the pouch he carries around when we go out. I’ve had my suspicions that there’s more to that bag than meets the eye, but I haven’t gotten confirmation. He snorts at the face I’m making, bringing his camping supplies into the bedroom and motioning for meto follow.
“This bag is much larger on the inside than it appears,” he tells me after placing the bedroll on the floor and grabbing his other bag. He turns to one of his clothing chests and grabs a large stack of shirts and pants, a pile larger than the bag itself. I then watch as he proceeds to put all of them into the bag, which bulges out a little,maybe.Not nearly as much as it should—it should have burst by now.
“I knew it,” I whisper to myself.Magic bag.I’ve seen them before. Well, I’ve seen one before, once. “Where did youget that?”
“A port city in the north.” He motions me over, holding the bag open so I can peer inside. “My sister and I made the journey there together. It is known as a ‘spacious satchel.’ I’ve had it overa decade.”
Looking in the top of the satchel is weird. It’s pitch black, like a void. I’m almost scared to put my hand in. “How doesit work?”
“After you have put something inside, you simply need to picture it in your mind as you reach in to retrieve it,” heexplains.
I give it a shot, picturing one of the shirts I just saw him put inside. The inside of the bag feels cool as I insert my hand, and suddenly my hand feels full. Pulling it out, I can see that I’m now holding the shirt in question. I repeat this with another shirt and a pair of pants. Then I try inserting my entire arm, touching the bottom of the outside of the bag with my other hand at the same time and ignoring the smirk I receive formy antics.
“That’s awesome.” I would love to get my hands on one of these myself. It would besouseful for traveling. Not only does it give all that extra space, but anything inside is basically weightless. I could carry all sorts of equipment and loot in that thing.
“I trust this will suit our needs, then?” He hands me the satchel so that I can start adding in myown stuff.
“Perfectly, Sir.”
Khazak and I leave for the patrol the next day after lunch. We’re both in uniform, him carrying the bedroll and supplies while giving me the weightless bag holding our clothes and other items—I packed a couple of books in case it gets boring. He wasn’t going to let me carry anything else until I convinced him to at least let me hold his bow for him, so I have that strapped to my back with my swordscabbard.
The guards open the gates for us when we approach through some mechanism I don’t see, but I’m willing to bet is magic. They both salute the captain as he passes through, closing the large doors behind us once we are on the other side. Immediately, we are greeted by the sight of the forest. As we make our way forward, the trees around the city walls look larger than the rest, covering the wall hiding the city behind it. Their height seems to even out to normal levels fairly quickly as we move away, and you probably wouldn’t even notice if you didn’t know what you were looking for. More magic or just good landscaping?
The forest is quiet aside from the occasional bird chirping or squirrel rustling the leaves. It’s so peaceful and untouched, despite the fact that there’s a city not even a mile away. There are no paths—that would probably defeat the purpose of the city being hidden—so it feels a little bit like we’re just wandering randomly through the woods. Khazak seems like he knows where he’s going though, so I don’t question it.
“Do you know where we’re going?” Okay, maybe I do. “I mean, are you doing this from memory, or is there some kind of trail I’m not seeing?”
“Afraid you might get lost?” Khazak muses as he looks over to me.
“No... Maybe.”The last time I was out here I ended up getting arrested so...
Khazak laughs and pulls me up to walk alongside him. “At this point, I could probably get to the campsite blindfolded if needed, but there are landmarks. Remember that large tree we passed a short while ago?”
I nod. “It looked like some of the branches were bent strangely.” Almost twistedtogether.
