Free Tales Of Grimea by Andrew Mowere Page A

yal, due to the stink.
    Too late, Hwosh noticed the slightly distant
look Percy was giving him. Before he could empty his mind, the man
smiled in a sympathetic manner. “Don’t do that,” he warned the
psion again. This time, the old man actually looked sorry.
    “I didn’t think there’d be anything that deep
on your mind, friend,” he apologized. “It’s just the best way to
train you in keeping your guard up against psionics. We can’t
usually read beyond the surface of thought easily. Just a hint of
what the person is like, and what’s occupying their mind at the
moment. If I went deeper too fast, you’d notice and be able to
fight it.” Being Percy, he moved to the other side of the room and
got another cup for Hwosh. Sighing, the warrior took the slightly
cracked thing. The tea was made of multiple herbs, but he could
clearly identify ginger in it. It was soothing and sweet.
    After a while, Percy and Hwosh began to talk
of other things, starting with types of herb teas, then how much
water a person needed, and finally exercise. Hwosh was a fanatic
when it came to training, but Percy was also fit for someone
focused on his mind. The man had picked up some far eastern poses
and stretches somewhere and had been practicing them for ten years.
Being relatively tall for a Lorian, Hwosh was certainly no giant,
and wouldn’t even be considered too large in Regalia. Still, his
fighting style was focused on brute strength, and his enormous
relative strength was due to similar tactics as well as sheer
training.
    “I still don’t get why people don’t do these
things elsewhere,” said Percy with apparent frustration. It was now
a little dark outside, and Hwosh went to light a candle while his
next door neighbour ranted. “Regalia’s knights are supposed to be
the cream of the crop, but when I was researching for my health all
they implemented was hard lifting, endurance and meat!”
    “Come on, we’ve talked about this. The
defence you ge-“
    “I know!” interjected Percy, hands flailing
in his usual emotion. Hwosh hated people interrupting him, but
stayed his tongue patiently. “Don’t they realized that by mixing
flexibility and muscle exercises, you can develop higher strength
in a smaller body? Think of the mobility, the health when you get
older!”
    “Yes, but how are these impressive when
someone looks at you? How does it help you stop a blow? I
understand that higher quality muscles have many benefits, but the
fact remains that more mass and a harder body can save your hide in
a fight, or even war. Endurance is a big factor, and their approach
has its own merits.” For all his brains, Percy had a way of letting
logic escape him at times.
    At some, point, Percy realized that Adra had
been gone longer than usual and started getting antsy. After about
half an hour of that, he finally snapped and decided to go out to
Murata’s tavern for a quick meal. Hwosh offered to accompany him,
since he was rather famished despite uncle Salim’s excellent stew.
He went to the barely furnished room thirty four to deposit most of
his coins and changed out of his leather armour in favour of brown
pants and a long grey tunic before coming back out to find his next
door neighbour waiting at the door. “Why so worried?” he asked of
the warrior with a sly grin.
    Realizing what was about to happen, Hwosh
instantly summoned the image of a date tree to the forefront of his
mind. Large and towering, its roots lay tired from trying to suckle
out of dried crusty earthy. Its leaves were green, however, and
seemed to fan out to block out the sun’s disapproving glare and it
was heavily laden with red fruit. A brown trunk connected those two
parts, offering inviting handholds for whoever felt like having a
piece. A bee buzzed around the garden, and Hwosh could hear a
solemn wind trying it’s best to- “Well done,” announced Percy with
a laugh. “Soon enough you’ll learn how to channel that incessant
inner monologue