Chapter 65: Bloody Business

“Ugh, ok, we get it, Olaf is great,” Morn groaned after Lufba finished his fourth tall tale about his Totem. When the three of them had entered, Farmer urged them to sit with Lufba, after which he left to work on planting his new greenhouse. Lufba had told them that he himself had been reincarnated a bunch of times, this was his latest body and he had been inside it for about two weeks. Never before had Acantha met someone claiming to be reborn, she had, however, met a six-hundred year Wolfkin that looked like a young cub. Judging from Lufba looking like a six year old boy and talking like an experienced, yet immature, man, she thought he might very well be speaking the truth. After inquiring about the symbol on his necklace, Lufba started what seemed an endless stream of idolistic tales about Olaf, the Totem of beauty, metal and deceit. The overlaying theme seemed to be beautiful women and reasons for them to be angry with Olaf one way or another. Acantha had been able to remain patient because she had never heard exotic tales like these before and despite her initial aversion, she did find them entertaining. Now that Morn had expressed their own impatience, Acantha seized the opportunity to change the subject.
“So Lufba, you sure know a lot, can you tell us a bit more about the Randora lands? I want to understand how that mask was able to trick us into bringing it.”
Lufba explained that the question she posed and the understanding she was looking for were two very different things, but he would do his best to explain both subjects to her. He started talking about Avron, the Totem of peace, and how his followers wore masks. That part, they already knew, Olaf nodded understandingly.
“Good, so you know that most of Avron’s followers change masks after having walked a career path for a while, yeah? Well, some of the followers prefer to keep their masks on forever, which makes them a specialist instead of a generalist. Cool, huh? Those people must really know what they’re doing. So, those people have a name and are called Exarchs. Bet you didn’t know that.” Lufba waved. Acantha was confused at how smug the boy looked for telling her this seemingly mundane fact. Jade responded by telling him that his information was indeed very interesting and Lufba looked satisfied.
“So, about this mask that you all brought here; it’s name is Majora Mask. The mask has nothing to do with Randora or Avron, the Randora lands are simply good hunting grounds since, well, the people there are wimps that like putting on masks.” Lufba laughed at his own crude remark and Jade mimicked his laughter, which was rewarded with a wolfish smile that gave Acantha the shivers.
“Having answered your questions, I have one for you. You all travel together as a tight group, yeah? So did you take a blood oath together?”
The three looked at each other before shaking their heads.
“What’s a blood oath?” Acantha asked him.
“I mean, wow, you don’t know? So, a blood oath is a powerful thing, there are three kinds of blood oaths actually, blood peace, blood promise and blood sworn. Taking an oath requires a blood sacrifice which leaves a scar, the color of the scar will tell you whether it is upheld. When people keep their oaths, the scars will turn gold, if they don’t, they turn red.”
“Ok,” Acantha said, still in thought, her eyes flicked to Farmer, who was on his knees planting, what she assumed were poisonous, exploding plants, into the newly created flower beds. Farmer was covered in scars from head to toe, between his pockmarked demeanor, she could clearly make out a plethora of fine lines. Most of the lines were silver, another great deal were gold and some of them were red. She looked back at Lufba, “So, the oaths, what do they do?”
“Glad you asked,” the boy said with a voice smooth as caramel, “Blood peace is when a group promises to act in the best interest of the group. They draw their sigil, offer an item that represents their role in the group and their blood sacrifice. If the oath is kept, the item draws strength from it. The blood peace lasts a season, after which one can decide to make a new one. Now, a blood promise lasts a year, it’s meant to make sure you hold true to your word. Maybe you ask someone to keep your secret, how can you ever be sure they are being honest? Heh, well, using the blood promise you can be,” Lufba grinned, eyes twinkling as he looked upon his audience, “The last one is blood sworn, which lasts for three years. You promise your blood-partner to be true to them for the duration of the oath. This one is very tricky, make sure you read the fine print,” barking, childish laughter was joined by Jade’s warm giggle. Acantha mustered an absentminded ‘heh-heh’. She was too much in thought to consider the social aspects of the conversation and left the flirting to her friend, who seemed to attract most of Lufba’s smiles anyway. Acantha stroked her under arm, on which the saw the two fine silver lines, she had known they were there, but had never understood what they entailed. She was part of a world so much larger than her understanding, it filled her with wonder as well as fear.
“I like you,” Lufba said to Jade, who was visibly taken aback by his frankness, “You should come check out the tree-house I have been building. It’s really well hidden.”
Jade didn’t need the playful wink for her face to turn the color of the dawning sun.
“I’m flattered,” She managed a dismissive subtlety in her her trembling voice, which was answered by an uncanny smile.
“That’s the downside of having a child’s body,” If Lufba was hurt, he didn’t show it, keeping up his overall nonchalant cheerfulness, “I guess I’ll stick with crankpa for now. So, what are you going to do now that the greenhouse is finished?”
Jade looked at her friends while answering:
“I guess we’ll go back to Aoda,” Morn and Acantha nodded in approval, “Back to the Grove.”
Lufba laughed heartily.
“The Grove? Don’t you know that Aoda’s in the desert?”