Time was a cage, to step free of it was to draw its ire. Survive its ire and it shall ignore you but not fully, with an occasional prod it'll make sure your guard is still up, time will morph from a string of moments into something quite irritating. But not as irritating as the four men chosen to act as Mairek's bodyguards.

  He lay in his bed weaved of vines in the solitary narrow chamber without windows. They'd done their best to scrub clean the blood from the five men he'd killed in the very room but the smell of blood was apparent to him still for his every sense was heightened with the blessing, or curse, of the God of Space and Time, Nielda. Though being the Champion of a God was looking more and more like a curse with every passing moment, especially now as the four bodyguards stood at his closed door, conversing in what they thought to be hushed tones.

  "Does he shit?" Lam asked. Mairek knew them, of course, each distinct voice had its owner and their calling out of each other enabled him to place each voice. Lam's voice was shrewd, that's all he could gleam of it. Shrewd in every sense, a man whose every action had a plan within a plan within a plan. "It's been two days since he's left his tiny prison, and not once did the chamber maid leave with his chamber pot."

  "By chamber maid you mean the Princess Tari?" Sagal inquired. His voice was distinct in its piping nature. One would have thought him a girl.

  "Imagine that, having a Princess for a chamber maid." Tok said. A calm voice that didn't give off much.

  "I wish I could have sex with the Princess." Afur said, a man with no filters, who spoke the first thing that came to mind.

  "Shut the fuck up Afur!" Lam said.

  "You bloody idiot! You could have us all hanged with that stupid mouth of yours." Sagal intoned, it sounded like a child scolding an adult.

  "Afur." Tok said, "Afur, I've been in this realm for what, thirty three years? Yet, since I crawled to when I walked, to when I held my first spear, I have never, in my entire existence, thought that people were stupid. I saw fools as people hiding their intelligence. I saw ignorance as a Form of Sleight, aimed at creating confusion. I did not believe that there lived a man who was truly an absolute idiot. I did not believe such a man existed until I met you. You Afur, are one of a kind."

  "Thank you." Afur said and Mairek could hear the smile in his voice.

  "He didn't mean it as a complement you idiot!" Lam said. "He was insulting you!"

  "Oh." Afur intoned, as if having just realized something. "Why was he insulting me?"

  "Because you're an idiot, Afur! Gods!" Sagal sounded exasperated.

  "But what wrong have I done?" Afur sounded pained. "Is it a crime to speak of my heart's desire? To be truthful in all that I present?"

  "How is wanting to have sex with the Princess something that's considered truthful? We all bloody want to have sex with her but do you see us proclaiming it at the door of the man whom the Princess is in service of? What if he tells her?" Tok's grim input gave off the air of a monologue. As if he was speaking for the benefit of himself, knowing full well Afur wasn't taking anything to heart.

  "He can't hear us. We're whispering." Afur said.

  "I think he can." Sagal opined.

  "They say he can hear the exhale of a breath taken in the throne room of the Queen of Binoria." Lam said. And Mairek didn't bother dispelling such a fact for it was partly true. Partly because to find the specific exhale would require an otherworldly focus, splitting his mind into fragments, each trained on every exhale being emitted upon the realm until he found the one from within the throne room. A difficult task and not worth the effort.

  "Can he have sex with the Princess?" Afur asked. Several grunts of dismay and annoyance answered him. "Look, the King said that the Princess is to serve him in any way he needs, what if he needs someone to give him the warmth of a woman? She would be obliged to meet his needs."

  "When was the last time you slept with a woman, Afur?" Lam asked.

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  Afur gave a heavy sigh and Mairek closed his eyes, allowing his pristine awareness to see the shift in motion all around him. And there, he saw Afur, a short man of stocky build, thick white beard falling beneath his neck, forehead creased with lines and a nose too prominent for his face. Mairek saw Afur look up at the ceiling, his mind in another place, another time.

  "The last time I slept with a woman was during the skirmishes with the Remu that one time we sought to extend our border to the Remu's Galiu fields." Afur started.

  "A desperate measure, we needed fertile soil so as to plant crops we could sell, just so we could meet the Gift giving quota with Binoria." Sagal interrupted. shaking his head. Sagal was a man of average height yet he stooped slightly, as if carrying the burden of a weight none could see. His head was cleanly shaved, he didn't have a beard nor a mustache. He was quite the odd sight among the Talisi.

  "Don't deviate from the topic, Afur won't be able to trace his way back." Lam said. He too was of average height, eyes the lightest green Mairek had ever seen. He wore his dark green leather armor as a Red Priest wears his robes, orderly, not a fabric out of place. His long hair was combed back and tied in a ponytail, a unique style uncommon among the Talisi. His hallow cheekbones gave his face a pinched look that wasn't eased by the sharp jut of his beardless chin.

  "Tell us, Afur, of the last time you slept with a woman." Tok sought to return Afur to his tale. The tallest of the four with a swimmer's build that was reminisce of the Remu who dwelt by the sea. His beard was neatly cropped, his head spotted a white stubble of growth but his eyes, as he observed Afur, spoke of deep seated intelligence, held back as a miser would his gold vigons lest anyone use his intelligence against him.

  "Well," Afur continued. "I remember it as if it were yesterday."

  "But that happened over a decade ago." Sagal opined.

  "It's the touch of a woman, you see, it clings to memory despite the passing of time." Afur said and Mairek found himself sitting up in his thin vine weaved bed. Trying to figure out when last he'd touched a woman.

  "Go on." Tok urged.

  "So we fought against the Remu, weird lot those ones, they use their women in the army." Afur said.

  "Hence why they are more advanced than us." Tok said before waving his hands as the others sought to object. "If we get into the details of how effective a military might become with the inclusion of the opposite sex, we shall not complete Afur's tale. Go on Afur, rescue us from this boring task of protecting a lad with Godly powers with tales of your passionate endeavors."

  "Okay, so I got captured by the Remu. It was a Regiment of sorts, a bunch of women and a handful of men." Afur continued and in Mairek's eyes, marking the movement of limbs, the inhale of breath, the turning of necks and pursing of lips according to time's dictation, Mairek was able to see the reaction of the men around Afur. All leaning in with an almost childlike eagerness.

  "How did they capture you?" Sagal asked. He seemed to be of the habit of interrupting Afur.

  "I was on surveillance duty, you know?" They nodded. "I was gathering intelligence, hiding behind the picket lines, observing the enemy?" They nodded him on. "I had been doing that for the better part of a day before I realized I hadn't got any food on me just as the Remu were serving themselves fish broth thick with chunks of fish with a side of Galiu meal. I couldn't help it, I left my post, went straight into their camp and asked for some food. Told them they can kill me after, just as long as they gave me food."

  A long silence ensued, each of the men regarding Afur with profound awe.

  "You're a bloody idiot Afur!" Lam whispered harshly.

  "Did they give you the food?" Tok inquired.

  "Yeah they did," Afur went on as if he hadn't just been insulted. "Gave me all the fish broth and Galiu meal they could afford to give one who wasn't a part of them. Then they tied me with ropes and said they'll torture me for any information I had about the Talisi. I did not give in."

  Impressed, Tok raised his thin eyebrows meticulously placed above his eyes. "You survived Remu torture?" The Remu were adept at all matters of things, it was rumored that it was them who came up with the Forms of Combat. It is said the Inquisitors of Binoria learnt their trade of torture from the Remu. To survive Remu torture was equal to surviving the blade of one with the Jojoh Meena.

  Afur paused a moment, "I did not give in to their suggestion of torture. I just told them I'll tell them everything I knew if they'd just give me more fish broth." He paused, staring at the looks the men were giving him. "It was freaking delicious! They'd put mushrooms in it or something, and something else that burned the tongue and heightened appetite."

  "Gods Afur!" Lam was appalled.

  "You betrayed your freaking Kingdom over fish broth?" Sagal was disbelieving.

  "Tell me you gave them false information, please, a Form of Sleight or Empathy. Anything but the truth" Tok insisted.

  "Oh no, why would I do that? They were good people, kind people. They didn't even tie me with ropes. Told them everything I knew, our plan of attack. Our purpose and our plan within a plan." Afur said. "They were so happy they let me sleep with two of their women."

  They all gave approving nods.

  "I guess treason is almost understandable at the cost of two Remu women." Lam said.

  "Remu women, fierce and strong. Like men with breasts and smooth faces. A blessing upon the realm. I too would be swayed by treason under the allure of two Remu women." Sagal agreed.

  "I am against treason, in every sense possible. But I quite understand its appeal under your circumstance, Afur. Tell me, what were the Remu women like? Were their quims as sweet as nectar as the Talisi bards tend to hint?" Tok asked.

  "Quims?" Afur wondered.

  "Their cunts."

  "Oh I wouldn't know."

  "What do you mean you wouldn't know? You did sleep with them, right?"

  "I did but I didn't do anything to their cunts, on account of the fact that I was asleep." Afur said. A delicate frown creasing the lines above his brow.

  A short silence ensued.

  "What the fuck!" Lam cursed.

  "Wait, Afur, did you have sex with those women?" Sagal sought to better understand.

  "Sex? No. I just slept with them. You asked me when I last slept with a woman, it was then, between two Remu women. Best sleep I've ever had." Afur said.

  It was then that Mairek burst out laughing, he couldn't hold it in. It started as a dry wheeze, built up to a chuckle. And soon before he knew it his shoulders were shaking and his cackling laughter was loud and sounded very foreign to his mouth. With his perception of time he saw the four guards outside his door turn to face the door. This is why the four men were irritating, they zapped him out of the cocoon of brooding he'd fashioned for himself. They gave him a glimpse of a life that could never be his, and as they spoke, it was as if they included him in their tales even though he knew he would never be a part of anything, he found himself belonging. And this irritated him for he knew the lie that it was, he very well knew there was no place where he belonged.

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