Chapter 24: The return letter

"You there!" Arind called out when he saw Koth.

"Yes?" Koth asked calmly.

"Fucking green skin. We don’t want your kind around here. We don’t need you causing trouble, pillaging and stealing," Arind told him.

"Arind!" the mayor exclaimed. "I am so sorry, Koth. Please don’t think he speaks for all of us," he said to Koth.

"No need to apologise," Koth said.

"Why are you apologising to him, Mayor? He needs to know his place. The only thing green skins are good for is slave labour," Arind continued. It wasn’t the first time Koth had heard rants like this, nor would it be the last. If anything, it was pretty tame compared to what he usually endured.

"I’m not interested in starting a fight. Just please step aside and let me get my wife, and we will be gone," Koth told the angry man.

"The fuck you are!" Arind shouted. "I saw your wife in the store when I was buying supplies. How the fuck did you get her to marry you? You must have kidnapped her, taken her against her will and forced the poor woman down the aisle. We won’t stand for that sort of thing here! We will make sure she is safe," the human shouted, and Koth felt his temper boil over. He would not let anyone take Irin from him. He would keep her safe at all costs. He was preparing to fight the human when Irin came rushing out of the shop. She ran up to Arind before Koth had a chance to stop her, and slapped him so hard across the face that the sound echoed through the village. Everyone had stopped to look at why the hunter had been yelling, and they gasped as a furious Irin stood between him and Arind. Arind raised his hand to his flaming cheek in disbelief.

"That is my husband you are talking about. Just because I turned down your crude invitations, it doesn’t give you the right to insult Koth like this. You are a filthy man and a lowlife of a human being. You talk about the traits of an orch, but if I compare my husband to you, you are the one who comes out worse. You are just lucky that I don’t ask my goddess to turn you into a slug," she told him. Koth was as surprised as the rest of the town at how she defended him. Something warm and unfamiliar spread in his chest, and it worried him.

"Irin, it’s okay," Koth said calmly, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"It’s not okay!" she objected.

"It is. He doesn’t deserve our attention. Did you get what you needed from the shop?"

"I did, but I left it inside when I stormed out," she told him.

"Let’s get it and then be on our way. Mayor, we will be heading home; it’s a long ride in the snow. Thank you for the talk," Koth said to the older man.

"Of course, of course. I’m sorry about all of this. Please stay safe and look after each other," the mayor said. Koth nodded and placed his hand on Irin’s back to encourage her to walk. She was still staring daggers at the hunter, who just looked lost. Inside the shop, Irin collected the parcels she had bought, and Koth asked for a couple of things he knew they needed. He didn’t want to return to town for the next week or two. Better to let everything settle down. The shopkeeper sensed the urgency and quickly got everything together. As they mounted their horses and headed towards home, Koth felt better. He still made Irin ride first, so he could keep their backs clear. The path Maximus had made was still usable, and Glima had no issue trotting along it.

"I have a good mind to turn back and show that man a thing or two," Irin grumbled after a while. Koth found himself laughing. He didn’t used to laugh much before he met the little cleric, but now it had almost become a habit.

"Let it go, little one," he told her.

"How can I? How can you?" she asked. Koth shrugged, even though she couldn’t see it.

"That was nothing. If I got upset every time someone said something like that to me, I would probably have been convicted as a mass murderer by now," he told her. She looked at him over her shoulder, and he could see anger in her eyes, but also sadness.

"It’s just not fair. You are a good man; you don’t deserve to be talked to like that. We can’t help who our parents are," she said.

"Little one, you really should learn that life isn’t fair," he pointed out. At the same time, he was moved by her words. It had been a long time since someone had stood up for him like that, and that someone thought so highly of him.

"I know that. But there is a difference between life not being fair in general, and this kind of unfairness," she insisted.

"Is there?" he asked.

"There should be," she decided.

"Thank you, Irin."

"For what?" she asked and looked back at him.

"For standing up for me. I don’t take things like that for granted," he told her.

"It was the least I could do. You are a good man, and people should know that. Besides, we are friends; friends stand up for each other. And you are my husband," she said. He chuckled at the last part.

"I have a very brave and hot-tempered wife," he mused.

"I don’t have a hot temper," she objected.

"Sure, sure. How is the hand?" he asked. Irin looked at it.

"A little sore and hot, but it was so worth it," she replied.

"Take some snow in it, and it will feel better. At least the damned snow is useful for something," he told her. He heard her chuckling as she reached up for a low-hanging branch to scrape the snow off it.

"That did feel better," she admitted. The rest of the ride home they spent in silence. It wasn’t until they were back home, tending to the horses, that Koth remembered the letter. He had forgotten all about it in the chaos that ensued.

"We got a letter," he told Irin.

"From Dad?" she asked.

"I assume so," he said and took it out from his tunic and handed it to her. "You can head inside and read it while I take care of the horses." She looked at it with a smile and put it into her dress.

"No, I will help you, and then we can go inside and read it together," she decided. It didn’t take long to ensure the horses were dry and had food. While Koth built a fire in the living room, Irin made tea, and then they settled in their usual chairs in front of the fire. Irin eyed the letter quickly, and Koth watched the happy smile on her face. Then she read it out loud.

"Dear daughter, I was happy to receive your letter, and we read it out loud at supper. The young ones miss you, as always. They all send their best. Elon wanted you to know he got the highest marks on his latest history exam, and Ayyan insists on telling you she has lost her first tooth. I’m happy to hear you are staying put for the winter and that you have found a safe place to do so. I don’t know how soon this letter will find you, but I hope you have a wonderful Yule. Regarding the old stories, that is a bit of a difficult one. I learnt it from a master down in FeighSho when I was young. If you are close by, maybe he can tell them to you. His name was Nctgp Uqog; he was twice my friend. I will pray for your safe journey, and don’t forget to write home. With love, your father."

"That is a strange name. I can’t place his origin," Koth said. Irin smiled.

"That is because my dad is a genius. He picked up on that I wasn’t truthful and figured out that I didn’t want information to end up in the wrong hands. He knew he couldn’t use a code word for the city, as it’s easy to see if a city exists or not. But he used a way to decipher the name of his friend that he used when he invented riddles for us children," she told him.

"So what is the decipher?" he asked.

"He tells us the man was twice his friend; that doesn’t sound right," she said.

"It did seem like an odd thing to say, but it’s possible I guess," Koth told her. She shook her head.

"No, it’s his way of telling me he moved the letters twice. The real name is Karen Some."

"That does sound like a FengShoen name," Koth agreed. There was a knock on the door. They both froze for a moment and looked towards the front door.