Everything was perfect.
Miyani and I lay together in the soft shredded-coconut-husk bedding wrapped in each other's arms, skin to skin, with the torrent of rain splashing into the courtyard just outside Blue's stall. The lizard scooted over a few inches beneath the canvas awning to get out of the spray. Other than that he tucked his long neck beneath one forelimb and went back to sleep.
Her face was the most beautiful thing in the universe. Warm yellow eyes, wide lips, high cheeks, dark, dark skin that had a green hue in the morning light, there was nothing else for me but to gaze at her with the clattering rain just outside. She gazed back just the same with a warm smile that filled her beautiful face. I pulled a strand of bedding from her pixie-cut white hair and she giggled, still smiling back at me.
Oh, the sensation of her body shaking with joyous laughter. Her taut nipples brushed across my chest.
I'd woken up poking into her.
Her smile widened still, and she shuffled her body down across mine. The way she reached down and wrapped her fingers around me nearly distracted my soul from fawning over her excruciatingly beautiful face.
God demanded chastity, and Miyani respected that. I'd never known anyone like her. Alys of Kyoen used to get pissy over it, then act confused when I pulled away. Melyce of Treanet used to pester me about it. Always arguing, always pushing.
Miyani had promised to wait until I told her I was ready to go all the way. She understood. Without question, without argument. And because of that, I trusted her. I could play with her body with impunity, without reservation, knowing she would abide by that one boundary.
Presently, she positioned my shaft in that sweet nook between her thighs such that the top rested against the soft hair of her pussy. From there, she squeezed her legs together and slowly rocked her hips back and forth.
It didn't hurt that she had the most amazing muscular thighs I'd ever seen. Everything about her surpassed my wildest imagination. That I could touch her body made me the luckiest man alive, and so I appreciated. God, how I appreciated. The feel of her muscles in my fingers as she rocked back and forth, stroking me with her legs, I couldn't decide where to land. I reached down to her glorious arse and pulled her in tight. The sensation of her curves in my fingers sent me into a frenzy, and she accelerated. I pulled my covetous hands upwards across her toned, muscular behind and settled on the small of her back where I was mesmerized by the sensation of her muscles working back and forth. All the while, she kept those yellow eyes locked onto mine with a satisfied grin.
A spray of water brushed my skin from the rain. Just outside, it was coming down in sheets, and the whole courtyard was flooded enough that waves lapped against the edge of our stall. From the next stall over, Queen croaked and whined at the weather while one of the younger vita'o ran out, sloshing his talons in the water and chirping excitedly.
I needed to kiss her.
I couldn't hold back.
I tried to crane my neck down some, but couldn't reach. So, I shuffled myself down. Miyani paused her movement and allowed me to shift across her body. At the moment when I pressed my lips into hers, the whole world melted away. All there was, was her, reaching her hand above my neck to pull my lips into hers fully. If only I could grasp onto this moment and hold it in my heart for all eternity.
Miyani lifted one leg up and rested her knee over my hip. I could feel the crown of my cock resting at her entrance. With a few gentle rocks back and forth—I couldn't tell which of us was moving—my tip glided almost between her folds and was saturated in her moisture.
We were right there.
I could have pushed my hips forward half an inch and I'd have been inside her.
My body froze, but my heart thundered. We lingered. Both of us, peering into one another with heavy breath, my arm around her body, hers wrapped behind my back, my eyes addicted to her sublime face, her leg over my hip, the sound of rain pummeling everything outside, and the velvety soft sensation of her pussy on the tip of my cock just one slight push from making her my first. My only.
Miyani bit her lower lip and giggled. "I respect chaste." She reached down, took hold of my shaft, and pulled us away from the edge.
She pulled me up along her mound and brushed me back and forth, twirling circles around her clitoris. I felt like I was wrapped up in a ball of heaven; I could spend forever watching her face. She closed her eyes slowly, opened them even more slowly, breathing heavily all the while using my cock as a paintbrush on the canvas of her sex. I had no choice but to reach around and slip a finger into her from behind.
God demanded chastity. This was the best I could do.
Eventually the rain moved on, and the ground greedily drank up the leftovers.
Miyani and I got dressed. I still wasn't used to wearing nothing but a belt with a cloth between my legs and a flap that hung down front and back, but seeing her body in the same distracted me from whatever shame I might have found. She wore a few pockets around her belt and a knife on each hip—a huge massive blade on her left that dangled down to her cute knees, with a small utility knife on her right. Later she would add a leather strap over one shoulder to hold a quiver and some arrows and a sling to hold her bow, and that necklace of giant wooden beads.
Of course she went barefoot, weaving her adorable toes in the wet grass outside. "You come!"
I sat, trying unsuccessfully to coax a spider from the toe of my boot.
Miyani smiled at me and ushered me out. "No shoe. You come!"
My lips tugged at the sides bringing a sweet feeling to my face. Besides, what was Mother Searnie going to do, yell at me from all the way back home? And so we walked hand-in-hand with thick tufts of wet grass between our toes on our way to the mess.
Most of our unit was already there. Borel, Jame, Jezi, and the twins were there. Geraln sat beside Ales, and Gino sat beside Malchuk. Only Faren and Northstar were missing.
Rock eyed skinny little Shevi as she emerged from the kitchen. He saw me noticing and broke out laughing. She carried two copper trays loaded with fingers of something smothered in steaming red sauce that promised hellroot. She brought one tray to the center of our table, and hands came from everywhere at once. I tried to shoo them all away but they ignored me. In the ensuing frenzy I was barely able to grab two of the things each for Miyani and myself. Miyani tapped my side and smiled up at me. "Hmm! Is tamu. You like!"
It was like some long, thick thing wrapped in maize husk. I followed her example as she peeled the husk away to reveal a soft cake of steamed maize flour. When I cut it open, molten, buttery cheese oozed out, carrying tiny beans with bits of carmelized onions and herbs with it. Weaving through the strong chords of hellroot with stewed tomato, ripe tones of drunken-goat's milk.
Shevi dropped off her second tray at the table commanded by the thick Na'uhui captain with the crescent moon on his shoulder. On her way back, she took a scenic route around our table, feigning disinterest. As she passed Borel, he looked up and swatted her butt. She giggled then rushed off, and he ran after her into the kitchen.
A few minutes later, Borel came back with a triumphant grin across his big chin. He carried a tall glass decanter in one hand with a stack of cups in the other. Jame stood and cheered, "yes, man!"
With a satisfied chuckle, Borel poured out cold coffee with enough azuka to alter the viscosity.
He poured for Miyani first. She accepted it with a warm smile, but then a lizard with a blue stripe down the length of his body thrust his head over her shoulder and dipped his tongue into her cup. She sneered at him. "I thought you were sleeping!"
Blue squawked, then dipped his tongue into her cup again.
Borel stroked the back of Blue's neck and handed Miyani another cup. She smiled and lowered her eyes. "Thank at you."
"No problems, love."
The old woman walked into the dining hall with that old lizard by her side. She carried that same copper pitcher and looked around the room, shaking and rattling the tiles within and making eye contact with the various captains. Borel with his Orca tattoo on his shoulder, giant Kylen with his Cougar sat with Tobi, Rolf, and that whole unit. The tall, sinewy Wolf-clan guy whose men looked like a band of pirates and thugs. Miyani's friend Ude sat with his unit under the command of the thick Na'uhui man with the crescent moon.
From the side, Northstar walked into the mess hall hand-in-hand with Sofiya, the same native woman who pulled away when she saw the ear pendant Miyani had given me. The quartermaster stopped shaking the copper pot and scowled at her. The young woman bowed her head, straightened out the flap of cloth that hung over her front, then rushed off to the kitchen without a word.
The old woman followed her with her eyes and locked her jaw. Then shook her head with a hard exhale and shook the pitcher again.
Borel stood first. "Wish me luck, gentlemen!"
At that he stretched out his shoulders and rolled his arms around, dipped one hand into the pot, and pulled it out. A grin stretched across his face and he turned towards us. "Wall duty!"
One of the twins exhaled sharply and shook his head. "Thank the gods!"
Geraln relaxed his shoulders and lowered his head with a nod. Gino patted his back, and the whole table relaxed.
Then I heard a voice from the pirate's table. "Who gets Miyani, then?"
Their captain, the guy with the wolf inked on one shoulder, smirked. "Dibs on anyone but her!"
His whole table laughed.
I snapped to attention. Blue turned one eye towards them and hissed, revealing a mouth full of jagged, serrated teeth. Miyani raised a hand and gently stroked his neck.
Borel grinned and sat down, then answered them. "I say she's the best scout here. The only thing is you can't be a little bitch—so I can see why you struggle."
Another man from the wolf table blurted out. "You lot are the only ones who tolerate her, and she's the only one who tolerates you. So fitting."
Another one added, "they're not even lackwits—they're negative-wits."
Blue raised his neck high and screeched loud. Then he lowered his gaze and hissed several times at the man. I rested my hand on his haunch and tried to hold him steady. I wanted to reassure him, but I had to make sure they could hear me at the other table. "It's alright. He's upset because his woman's dildo is all worn out, and he has to buy her a new one."
The wolf captain held his arrogant grin. "That's good, you finally translated that ancient scroll. I always wondered what that thing said."
Blue hissed and jumped clear over the table. The whole mess hall fell silent enough to hear his talons across the stone floor as he crept closer to where the old woman stood, hissing and snarling. Miyani covered her eyes in her hands while her companion clicked, chirped, and hissed. The quartermaster held her hands out at her sides and addressed the Wolf captain directly.
"Ahem. He wants me to tell you that your scent trail is so strong he could see it. He says a human could track you."
The wolf captain stood and stepped up to him, cocking his head to the side. "Is that what this is? I'm being insulted by a lizard who'd be more useful as a pair of boots?"
At that, Rock jumped from his seat and bounded over to stand beside our friend, answering the wolf captain in Goloagi. "Caleb is wrong with the dildo, yes? You having girlfriend is name Mirage, we all knowing!"
Several other men got up to stand beside their captain. One of them answered Rock in Goloagi, "of course you heard that—with ears like that you could hear the sun rise."
Blue chirped and gargled. Pu'iyo explained, "he says thank you."
The men looked at one another.
"He says he wasn't talking to you, but the pimple on the side of your nose, without which looking at your face would give him explosive diarrhea."
All of us were up, together facing off against the other unit. Geraln rested his hand on the lizard's neck and sent a salvo. "He probably still touches every word while he's reading it."
A man beside the wolf captain giggled. "So fatty wants to get in on this? You sure? You're such an easy target!"
Another man beside him held his hands out as though he were a giant ball. "Literally!"
Jame lifted his chin at him. "What do you know? You were schooled by a chicken!"
The wolf captain smirked and narrowed his eyes at Jame. "You know, wearing that girly thing in your hair isn't going to make him love you."
Jame held his ponytail with a gold clasp inlaid with ivory and obsidian in the shape of Orca, encircled by ancient Herali runes. He pulled it from his hair and looked at it with sobriety. "This was my mother's."
Everyone fell silent.
Jame continued. "She died when she saw your face, man!"
I hadn't expected Blue. I probably shouldn't have been surprised—the vita'o were apex predators in a jungle no human would be stupid enough to venture into alone. They weren't allowed to use those teeth and claws in situations like this, so it should have made sense to me that he'd spent some time refining other means of attack.
"He says don't touch him or he'll have to molt early to get the funk off." Every time he let out a string of vocalizations, I turned around and saw Miyani covering her eyes and laughing while Pu'iyo translated for him. "He wants to know if you ever found your real father, or do you still think it's that drunken sot who paid half a kren for twenty seconds with your mother."
An older boy joined us in the mess hall. He looked to be about fourteenish, Na'uhui with white hair in a bang over one eye. The elder quartermaster turned to him in expectation, as he carried a small roll of brown paper in one hand. Instead, he looked around and brought it to my girlfriend.
The rest of the men continued to hurl insults at one another, but Blue and I gathered close to her. She unrolled it, but before she could read it, Blue thrust his face in front of hers and chirped. Miyani pursed her lips and glared at him, and he coiled his neck and hissed hard, snapping his teeth as if to bite the paper.
Others in the mess hall turned their attention to us. Miyani finished reading it and slumped over, dropping her hands to her lap and took a deep breath.
I asked, "what's it say?"
Blue hissed at the paper again. She looked up at me with pouty lips and handed it to me. It took me a while to decode the tall, vertical Uhuida script.
To Miyani,
From Ahmi,
Return to Carthia immediately. I need you to resume your duties guarding the pass from Terbulin.
"You're leaving?"
She raised her eyebrows at me and pursed her lips. Then she stood and wrapped her arms around me.
Borel removed himself from the verbal melee and glanced between us. He picked up the note to look at it, only to call Shevi over to help him read it. "You can't be bloody serious!"
The rest of our unit gathered around. They all looked at us, and Miyani explained in her own words. "This… is… my chore. I have eh… vacation. Is finish." At that she stood and sighed. "I go back now."
The rest of our unit stayed behind and relaxed while the other units whose captains pulled patrol gathered in the courtyard. I felt an air of shame over the question of why she was being recalled at that moment. I knew they talked about her. Marya and her husband were grooming Ace. She leered at Miyani, then looked away before I could make eye contact. Yumi paced the courtyard atop Queen, who was busy sniffing each of the men in the Wolf captain's unit. Other sekiwa looked away as soon as I faced them.
Miyani gathered up her things, strapped her saddle to Blue, and jumped onto his back. Then, she looked at me and sighed. "I don't want go!"
"I don't want you to, either!"
Blue snaked his long neck around to rub his face in my cheek and squawked. Then he stepped up to bring her to me. Sitting atop him brought her lips to my level, and I absolutely wasn't about to waste that opportunity. She moaned and pressed her lips back into mine, and I could feel her smiling. We pulled away and pressed foreheads into one another. She lifted the ear pendant. "If I no here that you wear it, is true?"
"I always wear this."
She squinted and raised one eyebrow with a hint of suspicion. "Always?"
I kissed her again. "Always. Everywhere I go. I want everyone to know I'm yours."
"OK." At that she smiled and turned her face out the gate, only to look at me once more and tag my chest. "Touch!"
Before I could react, Blue jumped forward a good five yards, turned around, and let out a string of clicks. I strode after them, and he jetted across the drawbridge. There, she turned, and we stood gazing at one another. I loved her. I wanted in that moment nothing more than to keep her in my heart forever. I couldn't fathom if anyone in the world had ever felt this way.
Then they turned, raced across the open field, and disappeared into the jungle. The thought entered my mind that I might never see her again, and that broke me.
As for the rest of the tower, men filed out on patrols, leaving ours and Kylen's unit on wall duty. Marya took about two dozen of the noobs into the jungle while the rest shot at practice dummies in the courtyard.
I spent most of my first shift on the north wall watching the grass grow. Rock was with me. He tapped my shoulder and pointed a stocky finger towards a giant boulder half submerged in the murky river.
A medium-sized alligator rested in the grass beneath the boulder while another corkscrewed in the river nearby, ripping a piece of flesh from some carcass. Somewhere beyond the giant trees, the loud cries of an animal in distress drowned out the usual chirps and whistles only to be silenced by a chorus of high-pitched growls.
I asked Rock, "what do you see?"
He waved his hand about and spoke in Goloagi. "Is there, I seeing hot bath."
I gazed at him, confused.
He continued. "And there we will putting massage house… tavern goes there."
I chuckled. "First we have to fix that bridge."
Rock pursed his lips and shrugged. "Is maybe two weeks? I will needing cement." He leaned out, craned his neck towards the wreckage, and continued. "New stone, also. Some looking like I can use, but some new. And bridge fix, we can making a lot to that side."
I pointed to a lull in the land on the other side of the river covered in low trees and shrubs. "I can see an open market right through there, and we leave this part… leave the big trees but clear out the underbrush for a sitting area with apartments on all sides."
"Maybe," he tilted his head to one side. "Over there we will making the proper vita'o yard like at Carthia. These stall too small for them; they like to running."
"Definitely! Most definitely!"
Rock laughed. "Is important! You ever going at Saska-a? Is capital of the Saen."
I shook my head. "No?"
"I will go with Northstar to selling tapestries sometimes. Is very neat place." He layered his hands one over the other. "You have city above desert and also below, and another below that. Sometimes there will being four, five levels below a desert. Most city is being underground. For getting the light, needs the special glass pipe to move sunlight below, enough for growing food deep underground where water is there…"
I closed my eyes and breathed in the delightful scent of Miyani's pussy on my finger. Father in Heaven, watch over her and keep her safe for me.
Rock continued. "I want building with this pipe, but Duke of Saen makes the law to say you are needing special lessons for building with it. Very expensive the lessons."
"Wait," I said. "You're a builder."
He nodded. "Yes."
"Have you seen the church back at Carthia?"
He laughed heartily. "Yes! Marquis wants knowing what I will need for fixing. I tell to him break it all and build new."
That made me laugh. "That bad?"
He nodded, still chuckling. "I never build like this, too much rain. Is needing special technique. Northstar says to me I am being stupid. Say yes and fix, then I am safe from the fighting, but my father always was saying do not promise if you cannot make this. I don't know. Construction for the rain books they are having at the library, but is write in Uhuida. I understanding some pictures, but is a lot. Marquis says learn reading it more and come back."
"Did you bring it with you?"
"I have. Is downstairs." Then he smirked and poked at me. "I am needing the girlfriend like Miyani to help me learn!"
Eventually my first shift was over, and I visited Davod in the dungeon.
I descended the stairs, careful to avoid the moss that grew around the edges. The faint yellow lamplight flickered over the stone floor with bits of straw thrown about, and dank, moldy air greeted me as a slap in the face. Rows of iron cages held enemy prisoners, most of whom had the cloud-and-lightning tattoo of the miwe'ishi on their shoulders. Some of them slept, but a handful sat up and watched as I passed by.
I came to Davod's cell. He stood to greet me, wrapping his fingers around the iron bars that held him. "Good morning, man! Did you get any of those… what did she call them? Tamus?"
I nodded. "Yumi brought some?"
"Yeah, man! So damned good! Gods, we need to learn how to make those. We'll bring the recipe back home."
"Absolutely!" I grinned. "How are you feeling?"
He raised his eyebrows and turned away. His long hair looked frazzled and unkempt. "I don't like it down here, man. Look at this."
He pointed towards the back corner of his cell where water had pooled in the darkness with slimy globs of algae around the edges.
He continued. "I always know when it rains, it seeps down those walls. And the air is just… I thought I could get used to it. It's just dank and nasty down here. I can't wait till this is over, just to get some fresh air. You know what I mean?"
"Yeah," I nodded. "You still think about the vine?"
Davod exhaled sharply. "You know, it's weird. Not right now, but yeah, it comes and goes. It's strange. I know, in my conscious mind, that if I touch the vine again I'm dead. I also know that it's going to be like this, that the venom will never fully go away, and that I'm going to have flashes of wanting to go touch it, but—and it usually comes at night when I'm tired—it's hard to talk myself out of it in those moments. Yumi says I've gotten better."
"You have," I assured him. "You're not trying to strangle me this time; I'd say that's an improvement."
Davod laughed. "How about you, man? Geraln tells me you and Miyani are getting real serious. We need to point-of-order her, you know that."
I smirked. "Let her learn the language better, and I'll bring her to you. You have my word."
He nodded with a knowing smile. "You like her."
"I do."
"No," he laughed lightly and shook his head. "No, man. I never seen you like this, not with anyone, not even Sarina."
Sarina. A distant memory in a world away, two orphans growing up together as brother and sister. A would-be lover. How God had woven everything together to bring me here, and what she was doing wherever she was, reasons on the wind. If I hadn't kissed Guenevieve that night, I wouldn't have woken up with Miyani in my arms.
Davod locked his eyes onto mine; his pupils had long returned to normal. "I wonder what she's up to these days."
I shrugged. "It's weird. Our whole lives we've been inseparable. When I got sent away to Kyoen, she wouldn't stop crying. She told me she'd spent the whole time locked away, praying. But this was different. When we left Gath to come here, she…"
Davod brought a hand to his face and pinched the bridge of his nose, lowering his face and squeezing his eyes shut.
"You alright, man?"
He forced an exhale and shook his head vigorously. "It's this foul air. I just wish I could breathe for a minute. Hey, remember that time we went to Teramorvio during that snowstorm?"
That made me laugh. "God, that was crazy!"
Davod smirked. "What was that kid's name?"
"I never found out."
"Davod nodded. "You always were pretty mean for a church kid."
"Mean!? Listen, he was asking for it. You heard what he said about her."
He laughed. "Caught me by surprise."
I let that settle in the air. "I'd like to think I've calmed down since those days."
"I think so," he nodded. "I definitely think Miyani is good for you."
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah, man. Not like that girl… what was her name… you know, that thick one from Foratergra."
I laughed. "You had to bring her up!"
His eyes sifted through the memories. He smiled as he found one, shook his head and laughed a little to himself.
That gave me an idea. "What if I let you out for a few?"
"Hmm?"
"OK, so you would have to stay with me, but let's say I bring you out to the courtyard and let you walk around for a bit?"
Davod's eyes went wide with elation. "Gods, that would be so nice!"
And so I walked back to the staircase and took the key, brought it over to his cell and opened it up for him. He stepped out slowly, stretched his massive arms out, and rolled his shoulders. He let out a sigh of relief and rested his hand on my shoulder. "Thanks, man!"
"Yeah," I nodded.
Then in one motion, he shoved me back several feet into his cell. A terrible thunk ripped through my skull. In the next moment, Davod had closed the cell, locking me in. I tried to shake it off, only for a rush of dizziness to overtake me. By the time that had passed, the blur in my eyes faded enough for me to see him unlocking the other prisoners.
"What the hell are you doing?"
If he heard me, he didn't answer. Instead all the other prisoners were at their feet, grinning wide as they all shuffled up the stairs and out of the dungeon.
"Davod!" I tried to scream, but another rush of dizziness overtook me.
And there I sat. I sat, and I waited. I heard nothing. I saw nothing. The line of crack that crept along the wall on one side seeped water down that pooled onto the floor. I closed my eyes and tried to stop the room from spinning, then opened them again and realized I wasn't alone.
Across from me was a lone prisoner, a Na'uhui man with a coiled snake inked white on his dark skin. He sat up with his legs crossed and stared at me. I stared back at him.
He stared at me.
I stared at him. "Why they abandon you?"
"Hah!" he huffed. "You should ask them!"
I put the words together in my mind and answered. "I hope ask them that they return here."
The man smirked at me. "ŋewe."
I turned to face him. "ŋewe?"
He nodded. "tæ gaʒɪdeʒu ŋewe go'uʒi."
"I'll ask them when they return."
At that, the man smiled wide and chuckled. "Be careful of learning Uhuida from a Pedhayana. People might get the wrong idea."
Footfalls echoed down the stairs. I could make out about a half dozen men. One of them took the lamp from its iron hook and started making rounds of the empty cells.
It was Rolf Foot-In-My-Arse. He came to where I'd been trapped and looked at my face. "Bloody hell!" He turned to one of the other men with him. "Get that sack of shit out of there."
The man who let me out eyed me in disgust as I walked past. I hadn't made it halfway out of the dungeon when Rolf reeled back and popped his fist into my nose. The shock of it spun my head around and knocked me once again onto the floor where he spat at me. The main glob landed on the floor, but droplets of spittle peppered my skin all over. I looked up, and he clenched his fists. "Get up, you worthless piece of stupid!"
I didn't get up. Instead, I wiped the blood from my lip, but more oozed down from my nose. One of the other men held a hand across his chest. "Come on, let's go."
"Piss off!" Rolf snapped. "I'm going back to Carthia. She can put me in the sling if she wants to, but I won't be anywhere near this damned liability!"
The other man tried to usher him off, but Rolf broke away and kicked a heavy boot into my side. "Make the world a better place and hang yourself!"
With that, they left. I needed a minute to collect the pieces of myself off the floor. The sole remaining enemy prisoner giggled lightly at me. "You're in deep shit. Good luck."
Outside by the steps leading out from the dungeon, I saw Rock lying on his side with one arm out. He had an open gash in the center of his back with caked-on blood spilled down across his skin and into the grass, with an exit wound at the center of his chest where an equal amount of blood had drained from him.
My heart broke. I rushed to him and knelt.
Rock's light green eyes gazed motionless into the clouds, and his mouth was open for a breath that would never come.
I screamed.
Images of him bursting berries with Chirpy back at Carthia, jumping obnoxiously into every puddle he saw, or playing plague with the children in the courtyard haunted me. He was instrumental in the ambush where Miyani had earned Borel's unfettered admiration, had held up his shield for us on our march from the Lake of Doom, and here he was. Stabbed through the heart by my best friend whose life he'd tried to save.
In the courtyard, Kylen knelt cradling Tobi in his arms, except Tobi had a gash across his neck and his body was covered in blood.
One of the prisoners lay face-down with an arrow in his back.
Another one of our men lay dead by the gate house, and the drawbridge was open.
I still owed Rock for the coffee.