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Stories from the Verse
In Verse Proportion
Chapter 84: Kondor 201
Table of Contents
Previous chapter: Brown 221
The caravan stopped at what Kondor took to be a small lake in a mountain pass, unburdened and watered all the animals and permitted them to graze on the sparse mountain grass. Flatbread and wine was distributed to everyone; Kondor debated whether to drink the wine or risk the water, but in the end decided simply to eat the bread dry and hold out until he could get the grapes, hopefully, at the end of the day.
Leah and Zeke joined him, and Leah chided him.
“You really have to drink something,” she said. “You can’t go all day in the heat.”
“She’s right, you know,” Zeke offered. “You’ll dehydrate. But you’re a doctor; you know this stuff.”
He nodded. They were right, of course. On the other hand, he was unaccustomed to alcoholic beverages, and they would have a stronger effect on him because of that. He could test the water, he supposed, but by this point the animals had been all over it, and he doubted whether he could find a clean spot--maybe if he found the inlet, but he wasn’t sure whether this was fed from a stream or a spring beneath the surface, and he didn’t expect they would be there long enough for him to determine that.
“I’ll manage,” he said, and even as he said it he realized he was already parched. At least he wasn’t hungry, although he now wondered whether he had been foolish to eat the dry bread without a drink.
It passed through his mind that he could lick the sweat off Leah, but then he remembered that sweat was salty and would only intensify his thirst.
“I love you,” he said for no particular reason.
She smiled. “I love, too. What prompted that?”
“Oh, only that I was thinking about licking you all over.”
“Oh, come on,” Zeke said. “Get a room.”
“Oh, we will,” Kondor suggested. “As soon as we reach the palace.”
“Yeah, not soon enough,” Zeke said.
“I can agree with that,” Leah opined, and Zeke huffed.
“I think they’re getting the animals saddled,” he said. “I’m going to go see if I can help.”
As Zeke left, Kondor asked Leah, “Are you doing all right?”
“Oh, yes. The palanquin is rather comfortable, although the swaying has the dual effects of making me sleepy and keeping me awake.”
Thinking about it a moment, he said, “I can see that. Well, we should be home in a few hours--your home, I’ll be completely lost, but you can show me where I need to be.”
“Yes. It will be strange, but I look forward to it.”
“Me, too.”
A call rang out.
“It’s back to the palanquin for me,” she said. “You’d better find your horse.”
There is a behind-the-writings look at the thoughts, influences, and ideas of this chapter, along with twenty other sequential chapters of this novel, in mark Joseph "young" web log entry #443: Versers Acclimate. Given a moment, this link should take you directly to the section relevant to this chapter. It may contain spoilers of upcoming chapters.
As to the old stories that have long been here:
