O2 + M

Olivia’s heart jumped into her throat, and she whirled around, looking for the source of the voice. A rather short, blue-skinned man stood off to her left, about twenty feet away. He held a bow with an arrow on the string but pointed it to the ground. The most striking aspect of his appearance was his mohawk and beard’s shockingly bright orange color. Olivia noticed that Morgan had spotted the man and was edging his way in front of her to face him. At first, she bristled a little; she didn’t like people thinking she needed protecting, but then she relaxed, knowing he wasn’t trying to be overbearing. Morgan just had that personality.

“Uh, hello,” Morgan said, “No, to be honest, we don’t know what a roladii is.” He shrugged, showing his hands were empty.

“I’m Olivia, and this is my friend, Morgan,” Olivia spoke up, “It’s nice to meet you, stranger.” She preferred to lead new encounters with an offensive of charm.

“Huh, well-met, then. I’m Teric.” He relaxed his bow even more and whistled in a strange imitation of a birdcall. Around them, in the grass, five more blue-skinned men stood up, also holding bows. “Forgive our caution, but you are strange to us and are coming from the direction of the Gresh Woods, where Yovashi are rumored to lurk.”

“Our people live northwest of here, beyond those woods. We’re humans and new to this world. I’ve met some of your people, though, Teric. In fact, we’re journeying to visit a friend of mine; her name is Issa, and she lives in a village called Tarn’s Crossing.”

“I know of Tarn’s Crossing. Roylo, there, is from that village.” He gestured to one of the other men who had stood up, and he trotted forward, his long, white ponytail trailing behind him. “What’s the name of the friend you are going to visit?” His eyebrows drew together, almost like he anticipated Morgan being unable to answer.

“Her name is Issa. We met in the Crucible.” Morgan turned to face Roylo, offering his hand. “I don’t know much more about her family or clan, but she told me her father is an Artisan.” Roylo, his face vacant of expression at first, suddenly smiled and stepped forward to take Morgan’s hand.

“I know of Issa! The little welp has gone to the Crucible? And she’s made it out?” When he smiled, his sharp teeth startled Olivia at first, but she saw that they didn’t extend past his canines - his detention was suited to an omnivorous diet.

“That’s right!” Morgan smiled. “She and I went through a lot together, and she saved my ass a few times.” All of the Ardeni were closing in now, their bows hanging loosely in their hands, their arrows stowed away. Smiles and handshakes were exchanged, and Olivia did her best to remember all of their names: Roylo, Teric, Allender, Beyli, Dranil, and Forn. She found the varied, bright coloration of their hair fascinating but didn’t want to make a fool of herself by asking about it.

The Ardeni invited Morgan and Olivia to follow them for the rest of the morning and then join them at camp. It turned out they’d pushed the herd through the night to avoid camping near the Gresh Woods and were planning to for a few more hours and then take a day to rest. When they drew near the herd, the first thing Olivia noticed was the smell. The closer they got to the large shapes moving in the distance, the more Olivia started to catch a musty scent that reminded her decidedly of the cages where they’d kept animals for research at her first job with Yang Corp. She started paying more attention to the trampled grass, looking for droppings, and it didn’t take long for her to see a scatter of round pellets about the size of golf balls.

“Are those droppings from your ‘roladii’?” She asked Forn, who was walking closest to her.

“That’s right. They eat the grass as they go and shit it out a bit later.” He laughed like he’d said something particularly funny.

“Do you have more herdsmen watching them?” Olivia couldn’t help her curiosity.

“Naw, when Teric saw you two coming up behind us, he signaled a wait ‘n see. Those lazy birds will just wander and eat ‘til we get ‘em moving again.” He spat a stream of brown saliva into the grass as he spoke. Olivia hoped he had something like tobacco in his mouth and didn’t have some sort of an illness. They grew close enough to the herd for Olivia to start making out details about the roladii. They were about the size of a small horse or a big pony, but they only had two sturdy legs. They reminded her of a cross between a monitor lizard and an ostrich, a very colorful ostrich.

As they came closer, Olivia’s initial impression refined; the roladii had thick rear legs with sturdy three-toed feet. Their bodies had plumage, but they weren’t the bodies of birds, more like fat, round lizards. The bright feathers were more like a mane that surrounded their necks and ran down the center of their backs. She could see that the roladii had small, vestigial forelegs, not unlike the t-rex on Earth. The comparison ended there; these creatures were not at all fearsome, having placid eyes and wide mouths filled with flat teeth.

The Ardeni each started calling out with a high-pitched, quick-paced whistling sound, and some roladii that had been mingling with the rest of the herd ran toward them. Olivia was impressed to see that the five roladii came running to the individual Ardeni like they could tell which was making which whistling sound. She presumed that the sounds must be a bit distinctive. She was standing closest to Forn still, so she got a good look at his roladii - as it came trotting up, she saw that its head was a good seven feet off the ground, but the bulk of its body, below the longish neck, was only at the level of her chest. The musty smell was thick in the air as it leaned down with a huff, eating something out of Forn’s hand.

Forn grabbed the leather reign strapped to its head and climbed up on the thin leather saddle fastened around the beast’s belly. Olivia looked around and saw that the other Ardeni were similarly mounting up. Teric called out, “You two want to ride with us? You’re welcome, but you can just walk behind if you would rather. We’ll probably make it to our campground a couple of hours ahead of you.”

Olivia looked to Morgan, and he shrugged. She was very curious about what it was like to ride the creatures, but she had to admit to some trepidation. She had never ridden an animal in her life, and these men were total strangers. Still, she wanted to! She looked at Morgan again, held up her thumb, and then said, “Which of you can I ride with?” Forn laughed and held out a hand to her, and she grasped it. His hand was roughly calloused, but he carefully pulled her up behind him after she placed a foot in the stirrup he’d pulled his foot out of. Once she was firmly on the soft leather saddle and had her hand around his waist, he urged the roladii around and gently twitched the reigns, making another distinctive whistling sound.

The roladii rumbled forward, taking long easy steps. Its big legs absorbed a lot of the shock, but Olivia still felt it sharply on her tailbone, so she leaned forward a little bit, trying to spread her weight more evenly. She looked around and saw that Morgan was riding behind Roylo; he had a huge smile plastered to his face as they picked up speed and started spreading out around the herd. From the vantage of the saddle, Olivia had a better view of the herd and realized there must be more than a thousand roladii spread out over the grass. They all started to move in the direction the six mounted Ardeni urged them. It was like a slow-motion wave of movement - they all seemed to take the cue from the roladii nearest them and spread the word, and soon the whole herd was bounding over the grass. Olivia laughed with the freeing feeling of the wind blowing through her hair, the beautiful grasslands moving by in a blur. Forn looked back at her and smiled, then urged the roladii to go even faster.

“How far are we going to go?” Olivia shouted over the noise of the rumbling herd after some time had passed. Her butt was getting very sore, and the exhilaration of the ride had worn off a bit.

“Only another ten miles or so. Shouldn’t take too long. Here, use the stirrups to stand up a bit, to rest your ass.” Forn laughed and took his feet out of the stirrups. Olivia’s face reddened a little, but she did as he suggested, sliding her feet into the stirrups and pushing up with her thighs. The pressure on her tailbone was relieved, and she sighed. “Good, now use the rhythm of the roladii, relax your legs when she goes down and push up when she rises; that will help you keep from bouncing on your butt!” He laughed again, somehow immune to the bouncing percussion of the beast’s steps, even without the stirrups.

For the next half an hour or so, Olivia practiced what Forn had told her to do. She also took advantage of having him in front of her, using his shoulders to help move herself up and down with the rhythm of the mount’s gait. She felt like she was getting the hang of it when Forn whistled and clicked his tongue, causing the beast to slow down. She looked up and saw that the herd had spread out like a V, splitting around a long, thatch and adobe-style brick building. Forn slowed his mount and rode it up to the building while the herd passed it by. The unmounted roladii also were slowing, no longer feeling the pressure of the herdsmen. “This is where we’ll spend the next day; it’s our mid-drive way station,” Forn said as he slipped out of the saddle. He held a hand up to Olivia, and she took it, sliding stiffly out of the saddle. She stumbled and walked like an old grandma around in a big circle, trying to get her legs to work correctly again. Forn and the others chuckled and gave each other knowing glances.

“Oh, my legs! My ass!” Morgan groaned as he too stumbled around, half crouched over.

“Ugh! I’m glad it’s not just me! Even you with your Adonis body can feel it!” Olivia laughed as she slowly straightened her back.

“Everyone feels it after their first roladii ride!” Teric laughed, and the other Ardeni joined in. As Morgan and Olivia walked around, getting the feeling back into their numb body parts, the Ardeni took the tack off their mounts and swatted their butts. The roladii ran off to join the herd, eating grass and milling about.

“Don’t you worry your mounts won’t come back?” Olivia asked.

“Naw, they know better. They’re well tamed.” Teric spat a stream of brown juice.

“You chewing tobacco or something?” Morgan asked. Olivia cringed; she had wanted to ask but thought it would be rude.

“Tobacco? Not sure what that is, but I’m chewing yiil weed. You want some?” Teric produced a square, brass-colored tin and held it out to Morgan. Morgan shrugged and took it, popping open the lid. Olivia leaned close to see what it contained and saw a dry, brown, leafy substance. To her admittedly inexperienced eye, it looked like tobacco. Morgan lifted it to his nose and took a sniff, shook his head, and handed the tin to Olivia. She sniffed it and caught a strong whiff of an eye-watering, pungently spicy odor. Holding the tin away from her face, she sneezed violently. Teric laughed heartily and took his container back from her. “Bah, soft!”

“So this is your campsite?” Morgan asked, looking around.

“Aye, we move the herd up and down the Chebli Sea a few times a year. We like to give the chebli blossoms a chance to bloom and propagate during each growing season, so we alternate where the herds will feed.” The Ardeni who spoke was Allender, and it was the first time Olivia had heard him. His voice was mellow, and he spoke in a slow cadence like he was thinking about each word before he said it. Olivia looked at him and marveled at how his bright yellow eyes matched his yellow hair. She looked out over the herd of roladii and took note of their variously colored plumage again.

“It seems that bright colors are pretty common among the inhabitants of your world,” she said before she could stop herself.

“Oh, aye, the plants be brightly colored, too. Makes for good hiding, I suppose,” Forn said, not at all bothered by her comment.

“Well, let’s get camp set up. Morgan, we’ll be heading out the day after tomorrow, and you two are welcome to travel with us as far as the Rill Catcher. We’ll be moving west from there, but you can follow it east to Tarn’s Crossing.” Teric gestured to the longhouse as he spoke.

“Is that the name of a river?” Olivia asked, just a little annoyed that Teric was treating Morgan like their leader. Could he tell that Morgan was a higher level than she?

“Oh, aye, biggest river in thousands of miles. What about you, Miss Olivia? You think you can tame a roladii before we leave?” He smiled at her with brown-stained teeth, and Olivia couldn’t help but smile back.