Chương 87: Fur Mantle And The Olive Cowboy?

June sat in a tipi on the outskirts of the new Brighthaven pop-up camp. The camp was impressive for a caravan, but it no longer felt like home. Gentle faces that he had met, greeted, and helped in the past looked grimy, toughened, and scarred. A wretched scent made June ill when he was near them, so instead of greeting everyone like he desperately wanted to, he was diverted to be alone in Leonard's tipi, a slight distance from the main camp.

He still felt a little queasy; this was the first time he had smelled something so overpowering. Lingering around the survivors made him lightheaded enough to throw up; he felt emotions being directed towards him that he was by no means prepared for. Grief, denial, anger, hope, respect, despair, depression, malice, pity, and blame assaulted him all at once.

He expected to go through the stages of grief once coming to terms with the reality of what happened during his absence, but he didn't expect to be battered by every stage and more at the same time. Emotions were often flowery fragrances or reminiscent scents, not strong foul odors akin to goat intestines. He was having a hard time confronting his own emotions; he was by no means prepared to confront the emotions of others simultaneously.

June lazed around in Leonard's tipi for about an hour before Leonard himself walked in on two fleshy legs and, with a jovial tone, spoke.

"It's nice to finally stretch my legs a little, especially after they were blown off!" His jovial expression turned into a serious one, mixed with a borderline scowl as his voice dripped with ire.

"Silvester enlightened me on some of your exploits, but I'd rather hear it from the horse's mouth." Leonard sighed; his inhale sounded like a hiss, and his exhale sounded raspy. June looked at Leonard, holding back teary eyes with his flesh-shaping abilities. He expected a touching reunion, maybe sharing a drink with his long-lost friends and bonding over their shared loss, but it seems Leonard had other plans. June swallowed a wad of spit and cleared his throat.

"I got buried alive for a bit…. I think a month or two… coming here took about three to four weeks… about a month."

"…"

"We captured the figurehead of the royal faction; we also disrupted the pursuit camp after you guys, and we brought in two Dreamers. I don't know if they're usable or not… Oh, and we brought in two healers, but I think you already know that." June tapped a fingernail against his knuckle, and the dull sound in his body felt louder than it had any right to be. Leonard sighed and massaged his brow with his pointer and thumb before finally exhaling with a raspy sigh.

His exhaustion was evident in his eyes and his voice, but the elven man seemed more put together and rugged than his old coy self. After a moment, he walked over to the corner of the dimly lit tipi and pulled two gourds from a large sack and swashed them back and forth before lending one to June. The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. June gently cupped it and looked at the cork.

"So… they really are dead, huh?" The gourd Leonard drowned himself with used to belong to Atish, and the gourd that June held in his hands was another he grew and made for Sidri after she begged him for one after June gifted Atish his. Leonard downed the rest of the bottle before lifting it above him, letting what was left sadly drip onto the dirt floor. June took a swig of his share and passed the rest of Leonard.

"So what did I miss?" Leonard ungracefully threw back the rest of Sidri's leftovers and swayed to the side with his cheeks flushed.

"Leo is dead, everyone is dead... Weeee have three Dreamers left, and they cand phight forshit." June grabbed the empty gourds and placed them on the ground before helping the drunken Leonard sit.

"Dift yous learf thi ears maligc?" June squinted his eyes for a second, trying to compute his friend's slurred words into something resembling meaning.

'Dift yous learf? thi ears? what? ears maligc... earth magic!'

"Uh, no, I couldn't figure out how to do earth magic… but I can do spirit magic now?" Leonard's expression suddenly sobered up, and then he started laughing like a madman.

"HA BULFIT, NO WAIS RAIL?" June looked at Leonard for a moment and turned around and looked around the tipi for some water.

'He's too much of a lightweight to converse with right now.'

June waited for Leonard to fall asleep in his drunken stupor before tucking the tall man in and leaving the tent with a spare shirt wrapped around his face. His old pair of pants were currently being left out to dry, and to June's luck, someone had provided him with a new set of clothing. It wasn't comfortable, nor clean, but any clothing was better than continuing to stew in his pair of pants for an additional couple of months.

The outfit consisted of handcrafted leather pants, which were a bit restrictive to move in; an animal skin that felt like a tight fit that would burst if he even flexed a non-existent muscle; and a mantle, which was the most comfortable and fashionable piece of his outfit and the only reason he could call his outfit anything other than 'The Cowboy Stripper.' It was a thick fur mantle that was painstakingly handcrafted. It was caked in blood and had a patch in its side where most of the stains remained.

The caravan had stopped in the highlands next to the rainforest, and the rain from several days ago had caused the rivers that ran through the highlands to overflow and flood, causing some of the tents near the waterside... and people to be swept away by the midnight currents. June walked past several people wistfully, longingly, and even angrily, looking at the space where their faction mates were flushed away.

'Yikes…' He continued past them with his eyes closed, face covered, and mantle draped over him. Despite the lessened sense of scent, it still permeated his nostrils, but the distracting thought of looking imposing from behind while presenting as a saucy cowboy from the front both entertained him."

"Maybe they don't know what a cowboy is… or a stripper… This is a fantasy world after all." He just hoped Lilia had averted her eyes from his current outfit, or better yet, wasn't watching. June was nearing the destination along the caravan; instead of a circular or square formation of tipis and tents, the caravan consisted of small bubbles in a snake-like formation.

Each bubble had an outer membrane of soldiers who were now named the Avengers, and within the cell formation were the survivors who worked to the best of their ability while they were halted. They would trek for two days, and two sections of the Avenger squad would swap out for guard duty for a day each. The survivors were also in two sections: magicians and non-magicians.

The magicians would operate and fuel a series of long carriages created by the non-magician unit; the non-magician unit would often idle within the carriages since they either weren't fighters or were too valuable to be used as fighters. During stops, these non-magicians would work non-stop for 12 hours to ensure the carriages and caravan are up to par to continue the loop for the next two days. There were 5 long carriages and 5 camps surrounding each.

June started from past the 5th carriage and was nearing the 3rd centre carriage, where Ann was. He would need to ready himself if he wanted to contribute to Brighthaven once more. Weapons, tools, armor, and knowledge would be crucial in order to survive another day.