He shook his head, unable to venture a guess. He’d certainly never seen any artwork of them down in the Hollow or read any descriptions of them in the histories.
“They came out as soon as the sun had set,” said Kerys. “Why would they only come out at night?”
Ari shrugged. “They’re pretty ugly. Maybe they’re really shy and don’t like all the attention?”
Kerys didn’t smile or get annoyed. She didn’t react to his comment at all, as though it hadn’t reached her.
Kind of like when Ari had admitted to her that he loved her the previous night.
He felt a little irritated at the fact that he was letting himself care about a thing like that, given everything else that was happening. He’d been hoping that she’d eventually say it back to him, but failing that, he at least wanted her to mention it in some way and acknowledge his feelings.
Ari shook himself out of that line of thought, recognizing how little it mattered. He’d made Kerys a promise. He could worry about how she felt once they were safe. Besides, they’d already played around a little, and the memory of her soft lips, and softer hand, was still fresh.
“So,” said Kerys. “What are we supposed to do now?”
“Eat breakfast,” said Ari.
“And then?”
“We keep following the river,” he said. “And stay close to the trees.”
Kerys frowned and shook her head.
“What will that accomplish?” she asked.
Ari resisted the urge to shrug. He knew what she was asking, and he didn’t have an answer. Surviving long term seemed impossible if those creatures came out every night in similar numbers. Instead of giving her false hope that he didn’t really have himself, he gave her a practical answer.
“Well, we’ll need water to drink anyway,” said Ari. “Also, it seems like it’s easier to find animals and vegetation around the river. If we’re near the river and the trees, when the creatures show up again, we’ll have two potential avenues for escape.”
“You’re saying that we should jump in the river and ride the current?” asked Kerys. The expression on her face suggested to Ari that she hadn’t forgotten her last foray into the water, along with her lost equipment pack.
“Only if we have to,” he said. “There’s also the chance that if we follow the river, we might find your missing supplies.”
Kerys nodded slowly, looking satisfied. She’d already started pulling out food for them to eat, and she passed him a large handful of dried fruit.
“Aren’t you going to ration each different food out, like you did yesterday?” he asked.
“Is there a point?” Her tone was flat, and she looked at him with dull eyes.
“Absolutely,” said Ari. “Here, take half of what you just gave me. We’ll be mad at ourselves this time next week if we eat all of our sweets in the first few days.”
Kerys shrugged, but she did as he suggested, and Ari thought he noticed her expression softening a little. They ate in silence and didn’t waste much time packing up what was left of their camp after. Ari brought along the torn canvas of the kellowack, just in case they managed to find another use for it.
They followed the river for about an hour, traveling slowly and listening to their surroundings. Eventually, they reached a small bend where the river had a large, sandy bank. Ari was so busy watching the trees that he was caught off guard when Kerys grabbed his shoulder and gestured ahead of them with her hand.
“Somebody’s over there!” she hissed.
Ari fumbled the knife loose, and then relaxed as his eyes settled on a woman in the water. A naked woman in the water. She was staring at them, seemingly unconcerned by the fact that they could see her body.
She wasn’t bad looking, though an unfortunate array of scars covered her chest, shoulders, and one of her cheeks. It left her face looking decidedly unbalanced, a little like some of the elderly folk back in the Hollow who’d been partially paralyzed from sickness.
Her body offered a pleasant enough view, if a little over muscled. Her breasts were smaller than Kerys’, even though the woman was at least half a foot taller. He felt Kerys squeezing him arm, warning him again, but this time for a different reason.
“Quit gawking at her and say something,” said Kerys.
“Uh, hi,” called Ari. “We didn’t realize that you were there.”
The woman didn’t say anything. She slowly walked out of the water and over to her discarded clothing, pulling a knife free from her shirt that was at least twice the length of Ari’s. She didn’t attack or posture herself aggressively, however. She just stood there.
A rustling noise came from the forest. Ari took a step back and pulled Kerys behind him as a bald man with a rotund physique stepped out from the trees, and then fumbled a bow into his hands. He glared at Ari as he drew back an arrow.
“Where the piss did you come from?” snapped the man. “What do you think you’re doing here?”
“Easy,” said Ari. “We aren’t looking for trouble. And we didn’t realize that anyone was here.”
The man didn’t relax. His face was red, and Ari was a little concerned that he might shoot the arrow at him accidentally if he didn’t calm down.
“Smalls!” called a voice from in the trees. “Please don’t do anything rash.”
Another man stumbled out of the forest. He was tall and handsome, with dusty brown hair and a strong jawline covered in thick, even stubble. He wore a stained tunic that looked like it had been mended several times over the course of its life. He smiled cordially at Ari and Kerys before walking over to the bald man and gently forcing the bow down.
“They were watching Ingrid,” said the bald man. “Might have been plotting something.”
“Really, Smalls?” asked the other man. “They’re kids. And if that knife is all they have, do you honestly think they’d have stood a chance against her?”
Ari didn’t let the offense he took from that statement show on his face.
“No, I guess not,” said the bald man. The woman had moved to stand next to them, still naked and still unconcerned. The handsome man seemed to be their leader, and he held a hand up in greeting to Ari and Kerys, but made no move to approach them.
“Greetings,” he said. “Sorry about that. My name is Jed. The big guy is Smalls, and the one with the pretty face is Ingrid. We aren’t looking for any trouble. Right, Smalls?”
Smalls, the bald man, shrugged his shoulders and then shook his head. “No trouble. Sorry.”
Ari relaxed, and Kerys stepped out from behind him.
“I’m Aristial,” he said. “This is Kerys. We didn’t realize anyone else was out here.”
“Let me guess,” said Jed. “The two of you are Chosen, aren’t you?”
Ari furrowed his brow. He was positive that he didn’t recognize Jed or either of his companions from Golias Hollow.
“We found two others from your same crop last night,” said Jed. He winced slightly. “Er… we found two, but only one is with us now, I should say.”
“Jarvis,” said Kerys, “or Byron?”
She didn’t sound overly excited, and Ari could understand why, given how eager they’d been to ditch her on the way out of the Hollow.
“Jarvis is the one that’s still around,” said Jed. “The other one was outside the encampment when the fishers came.”
“The fishers?” asked Ari.
Jed nodded slowly. “The creepy bastards with the long tentacles. That’s what we call them. They came in number last night. Almost got your other friend, too. We found him covered in blood.”
“You mentioned an encampment,” said Kerys. “Is it safe? Against the monsters?”
Jed shrugged. “It has been so far. I’ve been out here for almost two months now, and I’m still standing. Me and Smalls here came from the Ventura Hollow. Most of our group did.”
“Ventura Hollow?” asked Ari.
“It’s to the southeast,” said Jed. “Not that any of us would ever stand any
shot at getting back in. Pretty nice place, if a little crowded.”
Ari had known that there were other hollows in the mountains, but it had been so long since there’d been any contact between them that it had never seemed relevant.
“Were you Chosen, too?” asked Kerys.
Jed let out an odd laugh.
“Yeah, something like that,” he said. “Anyway, if you’re interested, you can follow us back to our encampment. It’s not far from here, and your friend should still be there. That’s if you want. We aren’t looking for trouble, so let me emphasize that it’s totally up to you.”
Ari couldn’t help but notice how comfortably Jed had dodged his question. He stared at the other man and acknowledged that Jed’s eyes still seemed honest, despite the evasion. Ari glanced at Kerys, who gave a tiny nod.
“Alright,” he said. “We’ll go with you.”
CHAPTER 12
“So what are those things?” asked Ari. “The fishers, you called them.”
He walked alongside Jed as they traversed a reasonably well trodden trail through the forest. Kerys was next to him, keeping so close that they almost tripped over each other’s feet. Smalls and the woman, Ingrid, were both behind them, and he wasn’t entirely comfortable with that fact.
“That’s… not a simple question to answer,” said Jed. “To be honest, I don’t really know. Everything I learned about them comes from Old Man Leon, who was a touch addled in the head. Not his fault though, it’s mud damned stressful living out here.”
A branch cut across the trail ahead of them, and Jed ducked his head under it without slowing down.
“Just tell us what you know,” said Ari.
“They’re monsters,” said Jed. “Different from animals, even predators. They’re mindless killers, but they also obey certain rules. For example, you’re always alright when the weather is nice. It’s why we can walk around right now, like we are.”
“During the day?” asked Kerys.
Jed shook his head. “The weather. Not just during the rain, either. There are more types than just the fishers, for other sorts of weather, see?”
“That makes sense,” said Ari. He considered the events of the previous night, remembering how the first few minutes of the evening had been uneventful. Well, not uneventful, but the theme and ambience of the events had certainly been different. They hadn’t seen the fishers until it had begun to rain.
“These things aren’t natural,” said Jed. “I’m sure you probably figured that much out on your own. They don’t follow the normal rhythm of living things. No breeding. No sleeping. They’re just there, whenever the weather starts up.”
“They don’t breed?” Ari frowned and shook his head. “How can that be? If that’s really the case, then where do they come from?”
Jed led them around a winding corner as the trail ascended a steeper slope by cutting back and forth, meandering through the grass.
“Leon had a theory about it,” said Jed. “Ever heard of a slime mold?”
Ari was about to tell him that he hadn’t, but Kerys spoke before he could.
“It’s a slug,” said Kerys. “Sort of. Mistress Ana taught me about it. It lives as a thin, slimy puddle most of the time, but it pulls together to form a more complicated creature that can migrate whenever conditions become unsuitable for it.”
“Exactly,” said Jed. “The weather monsters are the same way. Leon’s theory was that the ground already holds the seeds and potential for them, and the weather nurtures them to life at an accelerated pace. His guess was that ‘cursed magic’ was involved somehow. He was an interesting guy.”
“They come directly out of the ground, then?” asked Ari.
“That they do,” said Jed. “I try not to make a habit of being near enough to see it, but it looks a little like watching a corpse un-bury itself. Almost seems like they’ve been there all along, but we’ve tried digging for them before on nice days and never found one.”
“Have you killed any of them before?” asked Ari.
It was the question that he needed to know the answer to the most. Jed didn’t answer right away, and his stride slowed slightly as they turned around another corner.
“One,” he said. “Only one. And I’ve been out here for more than fifty days. We lost six people trying it. Know what happened when we finally got it down and finished it off?”
“What?” asked Ari.
“The slime came out,” said Jed. “It was exactly like Leon had said. There was more of it stuck in different parts, its head, its arms. Each one we popped started spurting like we’d stabbed through a water skin, and then the stuff just slithered off and dissolved into the ground. I said before that we killed it, but I don’t think we even did. We just beat it.”
“Maybe try fire next time?” said Ari.
“It was raining, you pissant.” Jed grinned him. “But here, the most important thing you need to know is that there are several different types of weather monsters. We’ve seen two different ones, so far. Fishers when it rains, and wights when it starts to snow.”
“What’s a wight?” asked Ari.
“Snow giant, basically,” said Jed. “They’re slower than fishers but deadly in their own right. They’re strong and persistent. Fishers are more common, from what I’ve seen, and unfortunately, they’re also way harder to deal with.”
They reached the end of the trees, and Jed led them out into a thin clearing that bordered the face of a massive cliff. A small camp site had been set up against it, with a rough wooden fence encircling the front and sides.
It wasn’t a pretty community, or a neat one. The survivors mostly lived inside rough lean-tos built directly against the cliff, with a couple of kellowacks standing free, off to the side. The ground was dirt and dead grass, with a few obvious blood stains. Animal bones and bits of fur from butchering littered the ground, coupled with a sour, copper smell.
“Here we are,” said Jed. “We were getting ready for breakfast when you arrived. Now is probably a good time for me to explain what joining us would entail.”
Ari tried not to tense visibly as he stepped closer to Kerys and raised an eyebrow.
“We didn’t say anything about joining you,” he said.
“Easy, now,” said Jed. “Don’t give me that look. I didn’t mean anything sinister. We don’t have a lot of food here, and because of that, if you have anything, you have to share. That’s basically the rule we live by, so I just wanted to make it clear before inviting you to sit around the fire and have some soup.”
It made sense to Ari, but he still shot a conferring glance at Kerys and only relaxed after she nodded to him.
“So this soup,” said Ari. “Does it taste better than it smells?”
“You really are a pissant,” said Jed, with another grin.
It didn’t take him and Kerys long to spot Jarvis. Most of the survivors were gathered around the fire, but he was apart from the bunch, sitting in a kellowack identical to the ones he and Kerys had been given. Kerys grabbed his hand as he started toward their fellow Chosen.
“Let him come talk to us, if he wants to,” she whispered.
“He’s the same as we are, Kerys,” said Ari. “I might not have gotten along with him in the Hollow, but it’s different out here.”
“It is different out here,” said Kerys. “In case you forgot, Jarvis was the one who had the idea to leave me behind as soon as we were outside the Hollow’s door.”
“True,” said Ari. “But I’ll take him over one of those… things. The fishers.”
A flash of fear passed over her face for an instant, and Ari felt a little bad for phrasing it the way that he had. He didn’t like Jarvis either, but their circumstances were desperate. Better to see if they could mend bridges with him now, rather than when their lives might depend on it.
Jarvis didn’t look at them as they approached. His tunic was stained with mud, along with redder flecks that Ari was sure were blood, but he looked otherwise unhar
med. The expression on his face was unreadable, neither happy, nor sad, nor anything identifiable.
“Jarvis,” said Ari. “Hey. Didn’t know if we’d see you again.”
Jarvis didn’t say anything or give any indication of having heard him.
“Jarv,” said Kerys. “Are you okay?”
Still no response came from the boy. He stared straight ahead, and the combination of his long blond hair and passive features made him seem like a painted doll.
“Jed told us about what happened to Byron,” said Ari. “We’re sorry.”
Jarvis did not seem to be in a place where words could reach him. Ari waited next to Kerys for another moment or two before setting a hand on her shoulder and turning to leave. He’d taken a single step when a rustle of movement came from behind him.
Ari spun, reflexively pulling his guard up and saving himself from a punch to the temple in the process. Jarvis followed the blow up with a second, aimed at Ari’s stomach, but he managed to spin away from that one, too.
“Mud and blood, Jarvis!” shouted Kerys. “What’s gotten into you?”
Ari would have voiced a similar question, had the other boy not been attacking him at full tilt. It felt like the most intense fights they’d ever had back in the Hollow. The ones that had been born of their own animosity for each other, rather than Harris and his gang egging them on.
“You’re weak, orphan,” said Jarvis. “You should be dead.”
Ari ducked under a right hook and pushed Jarvis back with both hands. He feinted forward, and then grabbed Jarvis by the wrist as he tried to retaliate, yanking him off balance.
“Nice to see you, too, Jarvis,” said Ari. “I hope you haven’t missed me all that—”
Jarvis surged forward, sneaking a punch by Ari’s guard and into his neck that abruptly cut off his sentence. Jarvis took advantage of the moment, getting one of his legs into position for a harsh trip that sent Ari sprawling and bounced his head off the hard-packed dirt.
“Enough, you two!” shouted Jed. “I let you have at it for a bit, since it seemed like you needed to work something out. But I’m not about to watch you kill each other.”
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