Chapter 10: The Wilds (6)

Sen opened his eyes and said the most appropriate thing that came to mind. “You bastard. A

bit uncomfortable

?”

Sen’s voice sounded off to him. He supposed that maybe he’d gone hoarse with all the screaming. Feng’s face appeared in Sen’s line of sight. The man looked like he wanted to laugh but schooled his face into paternal disapproval.

“Such language,” said Feng before the stern mask cracked. “I’ll admit that things were a bit more intense than I expected. On the bright side, the next time will be much, much easier.”

“Like I’d ever do that again,” said Sen.

Feng gave him a half-smile. “You will. Many times.”

Sen decided that the fight wasn’t worth it, not right then. “Did it work?”

Feng sniffed, grimaced, and nodded.

“It did. There’s a creek over there,” offered Feng with a gesture. “You should go and cleanse yourself.”

“Yeah. I’ll do that. Any day now.”

Feng rolled his eyes. “Trust me, sooner is better.”

Before Sen could sit up, a giant cat face appeared over him. He was so tired that he couldn’t even muster the energy to let out a manful shriek. The cat sniffed, laid back its ears, and vanished from sight.

What was that about?

Then, a smell balled up its fist and punched Sen in the nostrils. It was so bad that he didn’t even have words for it. He’d spent years digging through other people’s trash and become all but immune to the stink of rotting food and human waste. The smell that assaulted him in that moment simply dwarfed all previous smells. It was a thick, cloying, all-consuming foulness. He had to fight back the urge to vomit. He sat bolt upright and stumbled to his feet. It didn’t help with the smell at all. It was as if the stench was a living thing that had wrapped itself around him.

Even worse, the blanket was stuck to his back. He reached up, grabbed a corner of it, and jerked. For a moment, the blanket held fast. Then, it peeled away from his body. He held it in front of him. The blanket had been soaked through with, Sen didn’t even know what. It was all kinds of awful colors and the smell got even worse. Feng swiftly lifted the desecrated blanket from Sen’s hand with a long stick. Then, the cultivator threw the blanket onto the fire. It caught almost immediately and began emitting a noxious, greasy smoke. Feng turned and gave Sen an almost pleading look.

“The creek, Sen. Go.”

Sen didn’t need any more encouragement. He stumbled in the direction the cultivator had pointed out, trying to take shallow breaths through his mouth. That made things worse. He could

taste

that smell. He gave up on breathing altogether and simply ran until he found the creek. Sen plunged into the water, ignored the icy feel of it, and started scrubbing at his body. It wasn’t deep enough to truly submerge himself, but Sen did his best to get as much of his body into the water as he could. He grabbed handfuls of sand from the creek bed and scoured his skin. Putrid filth floated away on the creek’s current. Some of it was black, but plenty of it was brown and he even saw the occasional streaks of yellow. The idea that all of that had been inside of him left Sen feeling more than a little ill. After a while, Feng showed up and tossed Sen a bar of rough soap.

“You’ll need that to finish. Don’t forget about your hair.”

One thought of all that vileness stuck in his hair made the decision easy. “Give me a knife. I’ll just cut it off.”

Feng gave him a look. “Don’t be stupid. Use the soap. Get clean. I’ll leave your clothes over here.”

Feng dropped a pile of clothing on a big, flat rock, and disappeared. It took a long time to get his hair clean, but it also gave Sen some time to reflect. He looked down at his own body. He didn’t remember having quite that much muscle before. He didn’t remember having any muscle if he was being honest. He’d always been thin. On the occasions when he could safely sneak a bath somewhere, he could always see his ribs. Now, he saw lean muscle over his frame. He wasn’t massive, but he didn’t look like a strong gust of wind would knock him down anymore either. What had been in that pill?

When dunking his head only left suds floating on the water, he moved on to his body. He thought he’d gotten most of the foulness off of him, but the soap revealed that there was more. It was much thinner than it had been, just a vague discoloration in the water, but he was more than willing to scrub himself raw to be rid of it. When he’d scrubbed every inch of his body at least twice, he finally called it good enough. The smell was gone, and the water was cold enough that he’d started shivering. The sun was also dropping fast. The last thing Sen wanted was to find himself walking through the forest in the dark. He climbed out of the creek and went over to the rock where his clothes sat. The ghost panther was sitting nearby, watching him with curious eyes. It made him feel a little self-conscious. Feng had included a towel, so Sen quickly dried himself off and dressed.

When Sen got back to the clearing, Feng looked him up and down before nodding.

“Much better. Although, I suppose you’ll need new robes. Those are a bit short.”

Sen looked down at his feet. Several inches of bare skin were exposed between the bottom of the robes and the tops of his shoes. He shrugged. It wasn’t like he could do anything about the robes.

“Is there anything to eat? I’m starving.”

With the great filth crisis finally dealt with, Sen was keenly aware of his hunger. It was more than just his stomach. It was as if every muscle and organ in his body cried out for sustenance. Feng pointed toward the small fire. Sen walked over and sat by it. Given that he’d slept for hours, it didn’t really seem fair that he was feeling so thoroughly drained. Feng came over and handed him a cup of tea. Sen took it but recoiled when he saw Feng holding out another pill.

“No!” Sen shouted. “I’m not doing that again!”

Feng shook his head. “Obviously not. There’s no point in doing that again now. Just take the pill. It will help.”

Sen gave the cultivator a look that was equal parts suspicion and doubt. Sen reluctantly took the pill from Feng. Almost as if he didn’t trust himself to wait, Sen put the pill in his mouth and washed it down with the tea. When he felt a warmth growing in his stomach, Sen very nearly started screaming at the cultivator. Yet, the feeling peaked at warmth. Unlike the last pill, Sen felt it immediately when the warmth moved to that same place near his navel. The warmth spread along those same channels and an ache he hadn’t even registered eased inside of him. Bit by bit, his muscles relaxed as the warmth spread into them. Even his hunger eased up a little.

Even so, the minute a plate appeared in front of him, Sen started shoveling the food into his mouth. Plate after plate of food appeared in front of him, only for the meat, rice, vegetables, and fruit to vanish. Sen was only vaguely aware that he was still handing some of the food off to the big cat. Something odd did happen while he was eating. While some of the food was just food, some of it captured his attention. Sen could swear that the majority of what Feng gave him felt like it had more energy than the rest. It felt like that special food shocked his fingers every time he touched a piece of it. He also felt better whenever he ate those bits and pieces. That spot near his navel seemed to slowly fill up. Only when it was full did he finally feel like he could stop eating.

“You had a hard day,” observed Feng as he tossed some blankets to Sen. “You should get some rest.”

Sen spread out his blankets while muttering about evil cultivators. Once he stretched out beneath a blanket, though, exhaustion pulled him into a dreamless unconsciousness.