by Mark Tufo
“I have not come here to settle our debt,” Mikota said.
“Social visit, then? You bring scones?” I asked.
“That’s a Lycan you’re talking to, or are you already forgetting one sent you to your grave and another nearly did so?” Azile asked.
“They look so small when compared to a Bledgrum.”
“Michael, will you take something seriously for once? We have children here. Have you pondered for a moment that there might be more than the two of them?” she asked.
“What do you want, Mikota? If we’re not fighting; then what’s the point?”
“We will conclude our blood feud another day, that is true. Tonight, we need to talk.” He was approaching as if we were old friends, not a care in the world.
“I think I would rather they talked further away from us,” Lana said as she looked at the wagon where the three children slept.
Oggie was barking up a storm. I laid a hand along his back to calm him down, or maybe the gesture was for me.
“That’s close enough,” I said.
“What do you know of this?” he asked as he pulled a pack from his back. He opened it up and tossed the contents onto the ground. I was rapt; there fell a pile of barbed quills and thick tentacles.
“A polion,” I said, moving closer.
“This something of yours, witch?” Mikota asked. It came off as slightly accusatory, but not with much anger. I think he realized this was not something of this earth, but he had to ask.
“It is from the underworld.” I got close enough that I could have kicked the remains and in piss poor planning on my part, I was also close enough to Mikota that he could have scraped my head off with one paw swipe.
“It attacked us over five days ago.”
“That’s before we got back.” I had not looked up yet. I was mesmerized by those quills. Or more likely, the remembrance of the pain they’d filled me with.
“It killed three of my kind before we were able to stop it.”
All things considered, that wasn’t so bad.
“We know of the polions, Mikota, though we did not send this one to attack you,” I told him truthfully. Now I was looking up at him and realized just this very second how close I had gotten. “How did you kill it?”
“Huron and myself broke its spine with a large rock,” he replied.
“This took down three Lycan,” Azile had come up to look at the pack contents, “then you killed it. You did not believe we sent it, and you do not wish to fight my husband. Why exactly are you here, Mikota?”
“This was not the only one.”
“How…how many?” I choked out.
“It is difficult to obtain the numbers of a herd cloaked in blackness, but they had blotted out the horizon when we left to find you.”
“How bad is this?” Lana was with us; Mathieu had stayed behind to watch over the children.
“No offense, Mikota…Lana, I would rather fight a Lycan alone, with one arm, than all of us here taking on a polion.”
“You said: ‘cloaked in darkness?’” Lana asked.
“They were cursed in the underworld by their masters; blinded. They can never see again, so they create their own darkness to adapt, put their enemy at the same disadvantage.” I thought about toeing one of the quills and then pulled back, worried that it might find a way through the thick leather of my boot and into my skin. I ushered Oggie away when he started sniffing entirely too close.
“You are well-versed in the goings on of the underworld,” Mikota said suspiciously.
I was going to be glib and tell him I was an UnderWorld Historian or something equally as asinine. I tried a new approach: the truth.
“I’ve just returned from beyond those gates. Unfortunately, something, or someone, has broken the boundaries that separate the dark realms and their inhabitants from our world. That is why we are heading to Denarth; to warn them and all the other settlements of the impending danger.”
“Did you open these gates?” he asked adeptly.
“No. Whatever is going on was set into motion perhaps eons ago. I’m barely a stooge in the great show.”
Azile, for some reason, was slowly shaking her head at my last statement, maybe for the fact that I was being so candid with what amounted to our enemy. How could I have possibly known that she was thinking about her conversation with Lamashtu and that I was far from the insignificant pawn I thought I was?
“Jester, perhaps,” Mathieu replied gruffly.
“I find it very disconcerting when you make fun of me in that form,” I told him. “Makes you seem insincere in your mockage.”
“We have to figure out what they want and how to stop them.” Azile had bent to pick up some of the quills; she walked over to her pack and gently placed them in a side pouch.
“I wonder if they came here at the same time they mounted their attack in the underworld.”
“Why, though?” Lana asked.
“I don’t know. They seem like mindless predators; this can’t be of their own doing. Someone is directing them, using them for their own purpose.”
“This has to be Ganlin.” Azile had come back.
“You killed him, right? There’s no come-backsies.”
“What are you, eight?” Azile asked me. “I do not believe I killed him; I believe he left of his own volition.”
“Okay, even if that was the case, Tommy seemed pretty upset that Eliza killed him. Said he was the only way out.”
“Perhaps he had already released some of the polions before his demise. We have no way of knowing when they arrived. And did you see Ganlin? Did you see his body?”
I shook my head “no” to both questions.
“You are taking Eliza’s word that she killed him, then? You realize who she is, right? The queen of lies.”
“Why lie about it? Tommy’s distress was real.”
“Since when does she care for what he feels? Or possibly it was all staged.”
“Huh? I’m lost. To what advantage? I was bound and ready to be delivered. Why bother with a game of charades? Who the hell was I going to tell?”
“Something is completely amiss here and I will need time to reflect on it. Right now the most important thing we can do is get to Denarth and get the word out to the other communities.”
“Are we good here?” I asked Mikota who had yet to move. “We didn’t bring them and we didn’t muster them. I’m not reneging on our future encounter but there are more pressing matters at the moment.”
“It is my lands these polions are attacking. We observed them for a full day before we came to find you. They kill and eat everything they encounter. They move silently and are nearly invisible in the dark, so they capture more than gets away. Soon there will be nothing left for the Lycan.”
The impulse, the desire to tell him so what? To go kick rocks! was enormous. His kind had caused nothing but hardship and devastation since I’d discovered they were a real thing. Was I supposed to forget all that and suddenly be sympathetic to their troubles? Would I have ever given two shits if there had been a mosquito virus that wiped out ninety-five percent of the little bloodsuckers? I think not. “I’m not offering it; if you want something you’re going to have to ask,” I said to him.
Mikota growled, his travel companion moved closer and leaned in–this one wasn’t so much into giving warnings-he was ready to go. His hot breath was hitting the top of my head and traveling down my face and onto my shoulders.
“Little trouble finding food?” I asked. “Your breath smells like wet garbage. I suggest you stop being so close that I can smell it.” I’d grabbed my axe handle.
“Mikota!” Azile shouted, a crackle of energy surrounding her.
The Lycan leader pulled the other away.
“You need a female of your kind to fight for you?” the Lycan asked. Oh yeah, this one was pretty mad.
“I don’t need anyone to fight any of my battles, but since you ask, there’s seriously no ass she couldn’t kick,
especially yours. Why would I be concerned in the least if she did that for me? If you want, Mikota, I’ll take this one on so you know what you’ll be in for when we go our rounds.”
“Huron, settle down.” Mikota had wrapped his powerful arms around his traveling companion.
“Yeah. Down, boy. Didn’t any of that obedience training work? You spend your hard-earned money to teach your dog some manners and what do they send back but a nearly rabid, drooling, garbage-eating, leg humping, carpet piddling, floor shitting, cur. You should ask for your money back, Mikota.”
“Michael!” Azile directed a crackle or two of energy my way.
Huron’s eyes were nearly bugging out of his head as he tried desperately to wrest free from Mikota. I had my axe up and ready to go because I didn’t see how he was going to hold him back much longer. Kind of crazy how quickly I can be in the middle of something so crappy with such minimal effort. Everything changed in one explosive moment. Huron broke free and jumped with one massive paw pulled back and ready to swipe into my head. My axe was out and already in mid-swing. I was yelling in preparation to land a crushing blow to the animal’s ribcage, where I could permanently let all the air out of the windbag. I was blinded by a bright blue flash and then nothing. Well, not nothing, really. Huron was still jumping and I was still poised to bury my axe, but nothing was happening.
We were both frozen into position. I could breathe and slightly move my eyes, but other than that I was in the grip of something of Azile’s making. Long ribbons of drool hung from Huron’s mouth; his mask of ferocity and his bared fangs belied the fear his eyes now possessed. We could both be dispatched of quickly enough. I figured I was in good enough graces with Azile she’d at least take me out second.
“Are you two done?” she asked and she seemed pretty pissed off when neither of us said anything. Wasn’t for lack of trying. “Right,” she said when she realized we couldn’t say anything. It was like invisible hands were pushing at me as my feet scraped against the ground, putting distance between my combatant and me. When we were far enough away, she released the spell. I stumbled and nearly fell over as my axe swing sliced through empty air, but that was nothing compared to the ground collision Huron experienced as he landed hard, wrongly thinking that he was going to use me as his wrestling mat. He rolled and was up quick enough that we could have easily gone straight into round two.
“Huron!” Mikota yelled. “We are here seeking help, not a war!”
“See, that’s all you had to say,” I said as I regained my footing.
“Your density knows no thickness,” Azile said to me.
“Fair enough statement.” I waited for Huron to back up before I put my axe back in its holder.
“My people are finally getting back to the life we know, the life we should be living. I cannot ask them to abandon the lands they call home,” Mikota said.
My mouth was open, my throat vibrating with the words that were about to issue forth.
“No,” Azile said. “I’ll talk. Why don’t you make sure the children are alright.”
“Yes, Old One. Go make sure the children are alright. We’ll let the leaders discuss matters,” Huron said with derision.
“You go find us something to eat,” Mikota said to Huron.
“Hurry along and fetch,” I said to him and made a sweeping shoo with my hand.
“I will bind you both again. Leave.”
We did, and to my credit, I didn’t say another word. I patted myself on the back.
“Feeling good about yourself?” Lana asked.
“Not bad.”
Mathieu was shaking his head. “Angering one woman isn’t enough?”
I shrugged as I listened in on Azile and Mikota.
“What help do you think humans are willing to give you, Mikota?” she was saying. “We are also recovering from two wars your kind have instigated, and we are also attempting to reestablish our footing in this new world.”
“What happened in those two wars pales in comparison to what your kind did to us. What those zombies your kind produced did!”
“That was not by purposeful design. You tried to pen us up and deliberately wipe us out!” Azile responded.
“So, because you did not consciously attempt to kill us all, that makes you unaccountable?”
“I could have done better negotiations,” I said quietly.
“Being killed or killing the other is not negotiating,” Lana replied.
“So you say.”
“Shh, I’m trying to listen,” she said.
“We have both suffered great losses. Perhaps it is time we did not live as two separate species, that we begin to forge bonds among our people,” Mikota ventured.
“Did I hear him just say that?” I asked.
Mathieu and Lana both shushed me this time.
“War does not need to define the relationship between us. Those that caused our conflicts are gone,” he continued.
“I cannot speak for everyone, Mikota. I will present your offer to the council, but I cannot guarantee anything; our wounds are too fresh no matter this new threat.”
“I would like to come with you to present my offer in person. I believe it will carry more weight that way.”
“There’s truth in that.” Azile was turning toward us, I would imagine getting our take on the matter.
“No fucking way,” I said, taking a step. Wrong maneuver.
“I accept.” Azile turned back to Mikota.
“That’s just being spiteful,” I said.
“As opposed to going into the underworld when I begged you not to?” She never even turned to deliver the words. In fact, I don’t think she needed to, as they were driven straight into my skull.
“How many freaky powers do you have, woman?” This I said aloud.
“We will rest tonight. Tomorrow we will all venture forth to Denarth and, hopefully, usher in a new day of peace between us,” Azile said.
“Would be easier training snakes.” This I made sure no one heard.
Chapter 6
Eliza
Eliza watched as Michael and those with him strode quickly away from the gate. She took half a step in preparation to follow and was immediately met by a line of guardians. She considered a fight and then thought better of it; she would bide her time for an opening she was certain would come.
“I have time, Michael. That’s all I have.” She moved farther away as the polions were coming straight for the gate. They cared not what they encountered, and she would not foolishly face them. The shrouded entities flooded through the gates; the fighting was fierce and she could hear the screams of the guardians as they fought valiantly, yet without hope. There were too many and they moved with a single-minded determination. She waited for the last of them to move past and through to the First World. She looked around before going back through the gate.
“Unguarded.” She smiled as she followed after the polions. The way they moved, she knew they had a destination in mind; she felt that investigating would be the smart thing to do. The polions were turning out to be incredible allies for Eliza; they cleared out every possible danger ahead of her and as long as she stayed far enough behind, they did not turn to confront her, though she felt they were aware of her presence. This part of the world was harsh, dirty and uninviting; it reminded her a great deal of where she grew up. She carried no fond memories of the place.
The polions stopped, but she could not see ahead and past them to tell if they were engaged in a battle or had simply gone as far as they had planned on going. She could make no sense out of it, as this seemed much like every other part of the realm she had thus far visited. For what felt like days, she stood and watched over the herd. She had just been tempted to venture onward when it seemed that the animals had moved almost imperceptibly away from her.
“Nowhere else to go,” she said as she watched. Slowly the group crawled ahead, reminding her of what the human cattle called a “traffic jam,” and that, eventually, those at
the rear would move through whatever was causing the back-up.
And finally it came into sight. She could see, far ahead, a cave; the opening was wide enough that only one of the creatures could fit through. For days she watched the group dwindle and not once did an animal exit.
“It can’t be big enough to hold them all,” she said as she cautiously approached. She placed her hand against the rock opening; it was warm to the touch. She quickly stuck her head in; she got the impression it didn’t go back much more than twenty feet, but she could just make out a brighter darkness on the far side.
“A doorway…but to where?” She stepped all the way into the cave. The walls and ceiling were wide, the pathway level. She slowly moved towards what looked like a curtain blowing in a slight breeze. Flecks of color occasionally crossed along the surface of the door. She was tentatively reaching out with her hand when she heard a voice behind her.
“What do we have here? You look tasty enough to eat.”
Eliza spun. She was facing a human grotesquery. It was a large male dressed in bright colors, a wild red wig upon its head. In the center of its face was a bulbous red nose which did not look deliberately placed, but rather had grown like a malformed tumor. Oversized, pointed teeth grinned lustfully at her.
“There is no birthday party here, clown,” Eliza said, ready for a confrontation.
“My name is Timothy and you would be wise to remember that!” he shouted. “Yes–I know you’re there, too! How could I possibly forget?! You talk incessantly, you limey fuck!”
Eliza thought the man insane. His gibberish, not meant for her, confirmed her suspicions.
“Just one snack before we go! How bad could it be?! She’s so small…not going to upset my stomach. Yes, I know we have a lot to do…yeah the Talbot-fuck has to die! Yada, yada, yada…Why oh why oh why did I feast on you!”
Eliza listened with rapt attention. She had a sense of what was going on and didn’t like it one bit. She would have angled around the clown if he hadn’t been taking up the entire opening. That left only one avenue for escape, and she was unsure it would work out for her.
