Angst Box Set 2

by David Pedersen

  “Mean Berfemmian,” Alloria said, ducking and covering her head. “So many.”

  “Now what, hero?” Ivan asked. “That’s a lot of killing.”

  “Yeah,” Alloria said. “Them killing us.”

  Angst grunted in frustration, wrapped an arm around Alloria, and dismissed his swifen. She cooed as they dropped to the ground. As gently as he could, he shoved her aside to give himself room for pacing. Was the entire universe conspiring against him, again? All he wanted was to get to Prendere, and every path he took was met with another delay. First a warning from the Vex’steppe tribesmen, then Nordruaut, now Fulk’han and Berfemmian? Way too many were on the hunt for him to call it coincidence.

  “Why?” Angst asked, stopping before Ivan. “Why are they all converging on us?”

  “I would assume you’ve upset everyone,” Ivan said. “It shouldn’t be a surprise. They all hate you.”

  Angst drew in his will until his hands glowed blue. He grabbed Ivan’s arm and pulled him from his saddle. The knight landed hard on his back. Angst straddled him and raised a fist.

  “Tell me, you idiot,” Angst growled. “You’re Magic’s lackey. You should know what’s going on. Tell me!”

  Ivan laughed, and Angst punched him in the face over and over until he stopped.

  “I didn’t lie, you fool,” Ivan said, spitting a glob of blood off to the side. “They do hate you, all of them. Magic made certain of it.”

  “What?” Angst asked. “How?”

  “The longer we take to get to where we’re going, the more armies amass at Prendere,” Ivan said. “Berfemmian, Fulk’han, tribesmen, Nordruaut, the Melkier and merpeople all think your wish will destroy Ehrde. Magic provided them directions, and they are all on the march to keep you from reaching your prize! He even helped Unsel’s army along so you’d have them to trip over too. With so many armies, it will be that much harder for you to reach the beam of light.”

  Angst looked at him in surprise, blinking several times before bursting out in laughter. Ivan’s face contorted in confusion, which made him laugh harder. Finally, Alloria started laughing for no reason. It was disturbing enough to calm him. She continued laughing as they both looked at her.

  “Sorry,” she said, finally. “Are we done?”

  “We are,” Angst said, winking at her. He stood and offered Ivan a hand.

  “I don’t get the joke,” Ivan said, standing without Angst’s help.

  “Magic apparently can’t get into Prendere without me, or he’d have done it already,” Angst explained. “Slowing me down only slows him down.”

  Ivan’s face was a blotchy red; the man looked ready to scream. Alloria laughed uncomfortably as they watched the knight. His overreaction was baffling, but at least he’d shut up so Angst could concentrate.

  He wouldn’t lose much sleep over killing a handful of Fulk’han, but based on what he’d seen on the battlefield at Nordruaut, it would be almost impossible. After Ivan had changed the zealots of Fulk’han into gray men and pastel-colored women, they became strong and feral. They’d continued to evolve and now healed from wounds almost immediately. Faeoris had to cut off Guldrich’s head in order to kill him. There were a lot of heads in the surrounding woods. He couldn’t remove them all and fend off the Berfemmian.

  He also didn’t have much help. Despite Ivan’s prowess as a knight, he wouldn’t be a match for either race. Alloria’s job, apparently, was to look pretty during fights and cheer him on in the most embarrassing way possible.

  They needed a way around the mess. The gamlin told him about a large lake to the east. They wouldn’t go near it since they were vulnerable to water, but apparently neither would the Fulk’han.

  “Got it,” Angst finally said. “Let’s see what I can do to disappoint your boss.” He summoned his steel ram swifen and helped Alloria mount.

  Ivan wiped blood off his mouth and mounted his horse. He frowned when Angst didn’t join Alloria on the ram. “Are you staying behind? Oh please, tell me you’re sacrificing yourself so we can live.”

  “Funny,” Angst said.

  “Ooh,” Alloria said as two gamlin dove up from the ground.

  “My buddies here will lead you to a lake several miles away,” Angst said. “I’ll meet you there when I’m done.”

  “But—” Alloria said, biting her lip and glancing at Ivan.

  “If he threatens you, makes eye contact, or says something mean, the gamlin will eat him,” Angst said.

  The gamlin nodded and glared viciously at Ivan. The knight raised his chin but kept quiet.

  “Boys,” Angst said. “Go slow. This is the first time someone else has ridden my ram alone. If it disappears, she’ll have to walk.”

  “Yessir,” they squeaked with a salute.

  “Ooh, they talk now?” Alloria asked.

  “Pretty soon they’ll be smarter than Ivan,” Angst said, trying not to let his concern show. It had been disconcerting when the gamlin had warned him to stay away from Rohjek by saying “danger.” But this sounded even more human. They were connected to his mind. And while he’d never been good at understanding what they tried to tell him, maybe they were beginning to understand him.

  “They’ve become an aberration.” Ivan looked at them like something ugly on the bottom of his shoe.

  “Now they’ll be able to tell me if you say anything you shouldn’t, Ivan,” Angst said. “Alloria, go ahead and say anything you want.”

  “Oh, goodie,” she said, clapping her hands.

  Ivan’s groaned as the gamlin led them to the lake. Without the distraction of his traveling companions, Angst could focus enough to sense the mass of bones several miles away. The gamlin were right: this was a large camp of Fulk’han. They even had guards surrounding the vast perimeter. He needed to be close to the middle for his plan to work. A portal would be ideal, but he was no element. Running at top speed like a blur would only attract the Berfemmian. There was only one other way.

  After a twenty-minute, sweaty, knee-popping hike of not-sneaking, he was as close as he could get. A brief rest sounded nice, but guards were approaching fast. Angst drew in as much magic as he could and took a deep breath.

  “Hi. Remember me?” Angst blurted as he popped out of the ground. He gasped for breath, desperately hoping the stars in his eyes would go away before he passed out.

  The Fulk’han sitting around the campfire screamed in fear as they leaped back. Four of them ran, but two men and one woman remained. Angst looked up as they reached for weapons. Berfemmian darkened the sky. Luck and timing had never been worthy companions, but this could work. He just needed several rocks, or maybe a boulder.

  Angst’s knees folded as an enormous gray man tackled him low. Another leaped at his chest, knocking the remaining air from his lungs. Only pure will kept him conscious as several more dog-piled him. Why had Ivan made the Fulk’han so heavy? It had to be the men; they were obscenely muscular and covered in bone armor. Bone armor. Armor made of bone.

  “I don’t have boulders,” Angst wheezed at a Fulk’han whose eye was right next to his. “But you’ll do fine.”

  The power he’d summoned before diving into the ground was still there, and with a grunt, he threw the dog-pile high into the air. Even as he stood, more gray men and colorful women ran toward him. They all experienced flight for the first, and last, time as he tossed them into the air. It became easier after catching his breath, and he was able to throw them directly at the Berfemmian.

  “That should start a fight,” Angst said, glancing up to see bodies falling and Berfemmian diving to attack the Fulk’han camp.

  A young, pale blue woman stood at the edge of the campsite. She looked around for help, but the others were gone.

  “C’mon,” he beckoned. “C’mon.”

  She shook her head and tried running away, but he held her bones. Her unnaturally large eyes were filled with fear, and she screamed for help that didn’t come. More than anything, he wanted to toss her like a stone into
the abyss. The hunger to kill was almost overwhelming. They wanted to kill him. Didn’t they deserve the same? But there she stood. Young. Afraid. Beautiful. And those large eyes were something to get lost in. It was his greatest weakness, and despite his screaming common sense, he approached her.

  “Do you know who I am?” he asked.

  “You…you’re The Angst,” she said, so scared her voice was barely a peep.

  “No, just Angst,” he said.

  Her head cocked to one side, and she looked at him with distrust.

  “What’s your name?” he asked.

  “Teesha,” she said, warily.

  “Not, The Teesha?” he asked.

  She laughed nervously and shook her head.

  “I’m not the enemy you think I am,” Angst said. “I’m not the bad guy.”

  “Lies,” she spat. “You killed Takarn Ivan.”

  “I did, but I didn’t want to,” Angst said. “He wasn’t the Takarn you thought he was. Ivan was just a man, changed like you were changed.”

  Teesha looked down at her body in confusion. “I don’t understand,” she said. “He was not Takarn and you are not killing me like you killed them.”

  “You didn’t attack me, but they would have,” Angst said. “I couldn’t think of another way to get past all of you.”

  “I understand,” she said.

  Angst let go, and to his surprise she not only stayed, but looked up at him defiantly.

  “You will not kill me?” she asked.

  “Only if you don’t kill me first,” he said. “But we only have minutes. Maybe seconds.”

  “Liar,” she said, leaning. “They say you are crazy and only live to kill Fulk’han. You taunt me before killing me because you are The Angst.”

  He couldn’t help the tears that came out. There was no reason to hate the Fulk’han as much as he did. Most of that hate came from their connection with Ivan. The knight had reformed them into his twisted vision, and they worshiped him for that change. It wasn’t their fault, or their choice. Looking away, he tried composing himself. Some hero. Completely vulnerable, he expected a knife in his gut, but instead she placed a hand on his shoulder.

  “Are they wrong?” Teesha asked.

  “I’ve made terrible mistakes, but I don’t know what I could’ve done different,” he said, taking her hand from his shoulder and holding it. “Your people are wrong about me, and they were wrong about Ivan. I’m trying to fix all of it.”

  All around, he could hear war as Berfemmian screeched and Fulk’han roared their war cries. The crashing of weapons and the crunching of bone surrounded them. He’d done it. He’d created his distraction, but once again, at a terrible cost.

  “What do you want of me?” Teesha asked, sharply.

  “Go home,” Angst said. “If I fail at this, Ehrde still needs a future. Go home, get married, make babies, and teach them the terrible things you’ve learned about war so it never happens again. I’m not your enemy. You are not my enemy. We need to stop fighting. So please, just go home.”

  “I was vulnerable, and you could’ve killed me.” Teesha slowly drew her hand away, looking him up and down. “You were vulnerable, and I could’ve killed you.”

  “Yes,” he said.

  “I believe you, Angst. Maybe you are a hero. Maybe, I’m a hero too.” She pulled him close, kissed him on the cheek, and ran off into the woods.

  “Run, Teesha, run,” he called out. And while war raged around him, he wondered, and hoped. Maybe he was a hero. And with a deep breath, Angst dove into the ground.

  “Are we going for a swim?” Angst asked as he approached Alloria.

  “Angst,” she said, wrapping her arms around him. “You did it.”

  “Just another day of great heroing,” he said. That moment with Teesha had actually given him a little hope that this was possibly worth doing.

  “He’s no hero,” Ivan said. “He’s an accident with two giant swords, breaking everything on Ehrde that he trips over.”

  “Pardon?” Angst said, his self-appreciation deflating. He pulled away from Alloria and approached the knight. “Is the cowering getting to you, Ivan? For a knight, you’re the first to run away from these battles.”

  “And you don’t know what you’re doing,” Ivan said.

  “Angst?” Alloria asked, her voice filled with worry. “I think something’s wrong.”

  That obvious statement would’ve made his eyes roll back far enough to see his brain. They’d snuck past hordes of war parties from almost every nation, and despite this brief moment of safety, she still thought something was wrong.

  According to the gamlin, and a quick glance up, there was nothing on land or in the air that could harm them. This meant she wanted a sandwich, or a hairbrush, or a bath, or something else distracting. All of which he was losing patience for. Something was always wrong, and he wasn’t in the mood for distractions, especially when he was ready to kill an enemy he’d already killed once before.

  “One minute,” he said, holding up a finger in her direction while glaring at Ivan. “I’m about to slap a dead knight senseless.”

  “I’m not weak like I once was,” Ivan said, his face stoic. “Do you think I’ll put up with your hands striking my cheeks again?”

  “Who said I was using my hands?” Angst said, jerking a thumb over his shoulder. Both swords sparked anxiously.

  “Right, and without your foci, you’re useless,” he said. “And I still say you don’t have a clue what you’re doing.”

  “Probably,” Angst said with a grimace. “But since I have these foci, idiots like you have to listen to me.”

  “Angst?” Alloria asked. “There’s something in the lake.”

  He dragged his eyes away from Ivan long enough to look at Alloria and the lake behind her. She held herself tight, probably cold from her poor choice of travel clothes, that he really liked.

  The lake was large, stretching out beyond his vision. Fir trees lined the shore, their roots reaching out from eroded walls of dirt to drink deeply. Steam rose from the lake’s glass-smooth waters, wafting into the cool, evening air. The water below was still and the only bones he could sense were critters and fish. On another day, when he wasn’t balancing on the fine line between panic and fury, it would’ve been a nice picnic spot.

  “You’re fine,” he said. “Just give us a moment. This won’t take long.”

  “You’re bad at this, aren’t you?” Ivan asked.

  “Do you have a point?” Angst asked. “Because if you don’t have a point, we should keep moving.”

  “My point, Al’eyrn, is that you don’t understand how absolutely unheroic you really are,” he said. “Everything you do is by accident, which is why people close to you continuously get hurt or killed. You’re no great hero. You are a user of people and you use them until they die. You used your friends to become a hero. You’re using Alloria to find Prendere. It’s a long list of using.”

  Angst winced at Ivan’s piercing words. It was the type of thing someone who really knew him well would say if their intent was to hurt. That was the odd thing, he had never been close to the man. The old Ivan was a name-calling bully. This new Ivan was far more calculating and malevolent. Maybe Angst just hadn’t known him that well, but something felt different. Or maybe he was just on edge in this man’s presence. Maybe. Regardless, this Ivan wasn’t completely right.

  “Sure, I’m not a great hero. People keep getting hurt and killed, but that’s because of this war, which was started by uncaring monsters who are the embodiment of the elements. They obviously don’t care about humans, or any race on Ehrde, but I do. I’ve made terrible mistakes, done things I’ll regret, but there’s nothing I could’ve done differently. None of it is my fault,” Angst said. He took a step back and covered his mouth with a hand. “Uh, hey, did I just forgive myself?”

  “Angst?” Alloria said, her voice filled with desperation. “Something’s on me. She’s—”

  Angst spun around. Allor
ia was gone. There was a small wake in the dark waters, but he hadn’t heard any splashing.

  “Alloria?” he called out.

  “Let her go, Angst,” Ivan said. “Alloria is far more broken than you realize, and she just slows us down. It’s not like you have feelings for her.”

  “I do,” Angst said, wielding both swords. “I’m out of threats, Ivan, and you’re out of time. Where is she?”

  “Where else could she be, you fool?” Ivan said, hastily, pointing at the water. “And the mermaid that took her has probably finished her meal already.”

  29

  Angst called out for Alloria again and again without success. Ivan’s laughter didn’t help his irritation. Why hadn’t he listened to her? He was so used to dodging her affections and questioning her sanity that she’d slipped through his fingers. Frustration welled in his churning gut as Angst wielded both foci and drew in power.

  Hopefully Alloria was bait and not dinner. No longer distracted by Ivan, Angst reached out with his mind, seeking those bones that apparently weren’t fish. If he was right, there was a school of merpeople 50 to 100 yards out. They were there, incredibly still, as if waiting for him to come into the lake. He’d be at a huge disadvantage trying to battle merpeople underwater.

  Power was easy, but a plan wasn’t. He could use air to create a path through the water, but that might push Alloria and her abductors farther away. A fireball would get rid of the water, the merpeople, and Alloria. The only other thing he really knew was earth. Forcing the entire floor of the lake to rise sounded exhausting. What he really needed was a net. Angst smiled.

  The ground about him complained as the tranquil lake rocked with the fury of a squall. A wall of stone and rock rose from the end of the inlet, easily four hundred yards across. Waves crashed against the shore as he pulled the wall to them.

  “Fool,” Ivan spat. “You’re going to drown both of us.”

  “Shut up,” Angst grumbled. “It’s not a wall; it’s a net. There are holes large enough to let water through, you just can’t see them.”