But for a Slime

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The sunlight and chirping of birds jerked Joe awake, and he felt some shame at having fallen asleep on the job. Come on, idiot! Can’t let people die on my watch! Joe blinked, then laughed with some morbidity. It literally is my watch! Ha! Joe found that he felt quite a bit better, centered and ready to face the day. The events last night still horrified him in some small way, but he felt much calmed having accepted the reality of what had happened and the fact that his response was really the only option. Their intentions had been clear and there was little he could have done to protect themselves or their property without such a response. If they were only thieves?

Joe stretched against the tree trunk before standing and turning to face the tree. His hand came down on the tree and clapped it firmly before stepping back.

“Well, thanks! That was the best therapy I’ve ever had! You helped me a lot!”

Joe smirked before turning away with some humor. Probably the best therapist I’ve ever seen! A chuckle escaped his lips and he returned to the camp to find it only beginning to stir. Well, the excitement of last night would make it hard for me to sleep, too! I’m surprised I even did!

When Joe stepped near and squatted to look at his arrows, Garnedell woke with his supernatural Joe radar and blinked wearily at Joe.

“Hey, kid! You sleep ok?” Joe smiled warmly towards Garnedell as he asked.

“OK!” Garnedell replied, still bleary eyed and dazed.

Garnedell struggled awake before finally shaking himself from his reverie. He quickly began packing things back up and put them away carefully and firmly in the backpack. While Garnedell packed the bags, Joe went into the woods and pulled out his trip lines, returning the rope for Garnedell to pack. Well, those trip lines were worthless! I didn’t hear a thing!

When everything was packed, Garnedell handed Joe five small pouches, and Joe accepted them with some confusion. When he looked inside, he found some coin in each of them, although one seemed to hold quite a bit more. Joe was a bit confused until he realized they were the coin pouches of their killers last night. Joe felt his equilibrium slip a little before a sad smile graced his lips and he shook his head. He took the coin pouch with the most coin and tossed it to the father.

“Here! You take this. Do good by your family, alright?”

The father stared at him with shock before Garnedell spoke a few words that were too fast for Joe to understand. The man seemed ready to reject the offer, but Joe took the initiative and insisted, pressing the coin pouch into his hands. The man accepted with extreme gratefulness. Joe gave another coin pouch to Garnedell and dumped the rest into his. The boy looked up at him, almost as shocked as the family’s father had been, but much more willing to accept as his face simply exploded into a smile before the boy tied it carefully at his waist underneath his shirt. Huh… good idea. Maybe I should hide mine too!

After the boy put away his new coin, he pulled out five expensive or very modern looking cards. Joe was a bit shocked to see them, as they appeared to be plastic of some kind and when the boy handed them to him, he was surprised to find that they seemed to be identification cards, but of a kind that were beyond futuristic. Almost… magic! Joe’s eyes rose as he considered his last thought. Huh… magic ID cards? Joe put the thought aside and looked over the cards, reading them carefully. An amazing three dimensional face rested on the left side of the card, and Joe was able to turn the card side to side to see the entire man’s face, including the back! Some information ran down the side of the face, seeming to list a series of crimes and a large red warning of some kind emblazoned itself brilliantly across the top. The warning simply stated that he was dangerous and gave a number beside it. Huh… he’s a criminal! Seems he’s got quite a bounty on him! Although it’s useless for us! The bounty was listed at the bottom in some currency symbol he wasn’t quite understanding, but decided that it would be a good idea to learn. I’ll just hand them in one at a time, then I can see what I get back and I’ll know what symbol matches the currency!

Joe glanced up at Garnedell, some confusion on his face, “Where get this?”

Garnedell blinked then replied, “Bad men.”

That seems a bit too convenient? Why would they carry their own bounty posters on them? Maybe they’re too proud? Joe had no reason to doubt Garnedell and simply nodded, although he found it a bit strange. As he looked over each of the men’s list of crimes, Joe’s heart settled even more and felt relief as the affirmation reinforcing his decision from last night gave him a certainty that he’d been subtly lacking. He smiled and thanked Garnedell before ruffling his head again. Garnedell turned from their conversation and settled by the fire as the family prepared breakfast.

Joe, however, turned to his arrows he’d shot last night and checked each of them. The first arrow he checked thoroughly was the one he’d shot at the last assailant. The man had deflected it with his shield and Joe feared it had bent badly. But as he rolled it through his fingers and eyeballed the straightness, he felt his satisfaction grow as he realized that somehow the arrow survived the shot well. He checked the arrowhead quickly and didn’t see big issues so cleaned it thoroughly and returned it to the quiver. He felt some relief and hope that the others were likely OK as well. As he went through the last four he’d shot, he found them all perfect as well, although when he had to clean of the blood, a subtle uneasy and queasy feeling settled in as he realized that he was wiping off the blood of men he’d killed. The final arrow only required cleaning out the mud and all arrows were soon back in his quiver.

While Joe was cleaning the last arrow, the family had finished the morning breakfast and Joe turned to join them as they hunkered down for their first meal. The easy camaraderie amongst the adults and playful antics of the two young children relieved Joe’s shakiness from cleaning the blood from his arrowheads and he soon felt like he’d calmed down. It only took a few moments for a smile to grace his lips and the memory faded quick enough. By the end of breakfast, everyone was feeling quite satisfied and a general desire to set off drove the adults to their feet.

When they prepared to leave after their morning meal, Joe found Garnedell had festooned himself with weaponry from the dead and Joe nodded in approval. Smart! We can sell it when we get back! Joe considered the armor that had been piled up on the side of the road, going through several pieces before calling Garnedell over.

Pointing at the scattered armor, Joe asked, “What good money?”

Garnedell quickly settled in with the pile and separated them out in a line. Metal pieces mostly graced the left side of the line while the leather was on the right, although the large leather breastplates found themselves in amongst some of the metal greaves and vambraces. Joe was pretty sure what Garnedell was going to say, but allowed the boy to finish his preparations and explain himself.

“Here, much money. Here, low money.”

As expected! Garnedell had pointed towards the left side full of metal armor as the expensive side and the small leather pieces all the way to the right were the cheapest. Joe pulled out some of the parachute line he’d used last night as trip wires and also draped himself with several of the expensive pieces. It weighed his pack down pretty seriously, but wasn’t something he found overwhelming. He knew he had another day of travel but didn’t think it would be outside his capabilities. He would have to drop the bag if he ever needed to fight, but wasn’t too concerned about it. The road was dry and he knew Garnedell would be able to watch his things.

Joe nodded to the family and they all set out for their second day of the journey. If the kids don’t slow us down! I hope we make the city tonight! I really don’t want to sleep on the ground again!

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