Brahgen looked at Jenny, who brayed again loudly before she began to plod forward.
"All right," the dwarf muttered. "I think I understand. But how do I speak to her like you do?"
"You listen. And you pay attention. Horses, donkeys, and beasts of all kinds speak not only with the noises that they make but with every inch of their bodies. Listen to that, and eventually, you'll understand what they want to tell you."
"Truly, it sounds like a load of what Jenny dropped this morning."
Horse nickered.
"Don't be mean," Skharr responded. "What you dropped was not any more appealing."
Chapter Six
"She did not say that."
"Why would I lie?"
"I don't know. Why would a barbarian lie about being able to speak to animals?"
Skharr looked at him where he was perched on the saddle. "If you think I lie about understanding them, why would you concern yourself with what is or isn’t being said?"
He made a sound point. Brahgen wasn't quite sure if he believed him when he said he could understand what his horse was saying. It seemed both impossible and ridiculous. Still, the two went about their day with an uncanny silent understanding that made it difficult to deny there was something there.
It felt impossible, and yet a niggling suspicion had settled in the back of his head and wouldn't let him simply discard it as the mad ramblings of an idiot barbarian.
"She cannot mean that I am the heaviest load she's ever had to carry," Brahgen stated finally and realized he had begun to braid his thick black beard again. It was a habit he reverted to when thinking hard and he'd tried to cast it aside but had not been quite as successful as he had hoped.
"Why not?"
"Because she worked for my uncle and I know for a fact that he loaded the poor donkeys with as much as they could carry. And even then, the rest of the dwarves of my clan were heavier than I am."
Skharr leaned closer and Jenny snorted and brayed softly as she tossed her head.
"Ah. Not the heaviest but the most uncomfortable. You lean back in the saddle and your weight shifts with every step. It's uncomfortable for you and makes you feel like every step is jarring into you, and it’s uncomfortable for her as well. You merely need to straighten your back a little and you should be fine."
Brahgen narrowed his eyes skeptically. Horse whinnied softly as Skharr approached the warhorse and gave the beast an apple to settle him. Both had been nervous from the moment they had entered the damn forest. It hadn't improved but if the map told him anything, the dwarf could tell that they were most of the way through.
When his companion wasn't looking, he straightened his back and tried to settle his rear end a little more comfortably.
"How's that, then, Jenny?" he asked and kept his voice low. "I don't mean to make this uncomfortable for both of us. I haven't ridden much, and it's…well, this much time spent on the saddle is not a pleasant experience for either of us."
Jenny showed none of the personality she had responded with when Skharr spoke to her, but her tail swished from side to side and she lowered her head to nibble a few stray tufts of grass. If there was any sign that she was at least somewhat happy, that probably qualified.
"There, see what I mean?" the barbarian asked. "And she'll grow more comfortable with you the more you speak to her."
"What?"
"They like it when you speak to them. They won't always understand but they grow more comfortable because they sense that you are making the attempt."
"How do they understand you?"
"The way they speak is through more than only words. It's in the way your body moves, the inflection of your voice, and the smallest of details. The more you speak to them, the more you'll be able to speak in a language they understand."
That almost made sense. It was odd how the more he spoke about it, the less insane it sounded. Perhaps all Brahgen needed was to spend some time with folk who didn't talk to animals for sanity to prevail. For the moment, though, it teetered on the verge of making sense.
Skharr stopped suddenly, tilted his head to listen, and raised his hand to bring their small convoy to a halt. He looked around in silence and finally focused his attention on the path in front of them.
"What's the matter?" the dwarf asked. "More monsters?"
"Aye. This time, the kind that wanders about on two legs."
It took him a few seconds to understand what the barbarian meant. Humans were not common in the area but they still wandered the route, which was what the road was for, after all.
Still, he had hoped they wouldn't have to worry about humans as they proceeded through the forest. There was enough else to worry about, after all.
"What are you— Hey, what are you doing?"
Brahgen looked around to where his companion moved to Horse's saddle and began to retrieve his bow.
"We don't know how many of the godsbedammed shit-faced sneak-thieves will be waiting for us, so we should have a plan ready for how to fight them."
"How to fight—what do you plan to do?"
Skharr shrugged and began to string his bow. "You move in and draw their attention. Once they are focused on you, I'll pick them off from a distance. That should make sure none of us is in too much danger."
"Right, right." Brahgen scowled. "And what do I do?"
"Anything you like, but don't do anything stupid. We work as a team. And do not leave the road."
"Ha. A team. Right." The dwarf shook his head and tugged one of his beard's braids. "So why don’t you be the bait?'
"I would have suggested it but you would have to draw my bow."
The youth considered this for a moment, unable to understand where the problem with this might lie. He shrugged, slid from the saddle, and strode to the bow that was taller than he was. It wasn't too much of an issue since most of those dwarves used were taller than they were, especially the larger war bows.
He nodded when Skharr gestured for him to take the weapon, lifted it carefully, adjusted the grip, and tried to draw the string back.
After a goodly number of groans and a few more adjustments later, Brahgen realized the draw weight was considerably more than he thought it would be. He tried to turn it on its side and pull it that way, but with no more success. He could only draw it a few inches before his back shouted in protest.
Finally, he was forced to admit defeat and handed the weapon to the barbarian. The initial disappointment at his failure was soon swallowed by a slew of possible solutions and he scratched his head in thought. "I might be able to add a few gears to this and reduce the draw weight while still giving it the same power. After that, we could let it rest and—"
Both paused and Skharr was the first to shake his head.
"This is not the time," the barbarian muttered. "But we'll have to discuss it soon."
His companion was right, of course. It would take days to work through the gears that might work and longer still to test each one. In the present circumstances, they barely had time for him to conceive the idea before the warrior slipped quietly into the tree cover.