by K R Leikvoll
My light doze may have lasted longer than it felt. When my eyes opened, we had come to an abrupt stop. We had reached a fork in the road. The forest's path went to the left and to the right. I slid off Codd's back and joined the circle.
"She's supposed to meet us here," Kirin said, gesturing to the forest around us.
Alex shook her head in disagreement. "I think it's deeper in. We've barely walked a half day," she replied. That would explain why it was much hotter outside. My leather clothing was uncomfortable in the humidity. I was thirsty, too. Like really, really thirsty.
"No," Kirin said firmly. "She is meeting us here. It might be taking her longer." I tried to listen for the sound of a stream, but no luck. I searched around for a waterskin. None in sight. I swallowed uneasily.
When my attention went back to the union, I was startled to see the prisoner staring at me. He was peering sneakily over Alex's shoulder as she argued with Kirin. When my eyes met his, he looked away quickly as if he hadn’t been watching me. Creepy. If Alex and Kirin had him pinned up like that, he had to be dangerous. Dangerous... ha. My definition of the word was getting really muddied.
Codd saw me wringing my hands.
"Something bothering you?" he asked. I swallowed again with a dry throat.
"Just, um... thirsty," I replied finally. Codd scoffed and shook his head. He reached into his bag and pulled out his personal water. The leather, squishy pouch was thrust into my hands.
"If you get dehydrated and die because you don't want to ask for water, Kirin is going to be mad. And, if Kirin gets mad, that means we all have to get mad. I don't like getting mad, Divinus. I like liquor and killing things." It was kind of a weird way to say "ask for water." I gratefully drank the bare minimum to sate myself. I wanted to drink the entire flask, but I didn't know if water was really expendable.
A crack sounded in front of us. Kirin, Alex and Codd drew their weapons. I just sat there, still obliviously drinking.
"You were late. I thought you'd all died," a singsong voice said through the trees. Kirin sheathed the giant great sword he had on his back.
"Queen of the forest, forgive me. We had a minor hold up," he called through the trees. His voice sounded slightly sarcastic. I wondered if I was the minor hold up. Alexandra put her bow on her back slowly like she wasn’t sure whether it was a friend or a monster waiting for us on the other side of the brush.
Beyond the bushes, a beautiful creature approached. At first glance, she looked like a centaur of brilliant blue. She had the lower half of a doe and the top half of... well, I wasn't sure. Her face was flat and catlike. She had giant yellow eyes and a cascade of hair that was made entirely of blue foliage. From the sides of her head, she had the horns of a ram, twisting around her face.
"It has been a while, Maundrell," she said to Kirin. She had barely any lips, but she had a mouth full of sharp teeth.
"To you as well, Zariya," Kirin replied, kissing her hand respectfully. She giggled and kicked one of her back legs.
"I was right, by the way," I heard Kirin mumble to Alexandra. Her expression grew irritated and she stomped ahead of us, prisoner in tow. We all started down the left fork.
"The demon that came through here... did you slay it?" the sort-of centaur Zariya asked. I was mesmerized. Demons and scythe fighting kings were cool and all, but Zariya was better. She was literally a child made of the forest itself. A long, dangerous javelin was fastened around her back with a blue vine. It appeared to be carved entirely from some kind of bone. I could only guess, as it was milky white and had a few cracks from past conflicts near the tip.
"Yes, a dread scout I believe. Odd for a demon of that rarity to wander this far south," Kirin said to her. Zariya put a firm hand on his shoulder and stopped him from walking. I awkwardly moved around them along with Codd.
"I'm sorry, Maundrell," she said to him. Her voice was still songlike, but I could hear sadness in her tone.
"For what?" Kirin asked, clearly concerned. We all turned around to stare at them because they had lagged so far behind.
"The blood defiled the land. Especially to the north of here…" she trailed off, staring at him with her yellow orbs. His eyes fluttered, and he looked at the ground. He walked quickly, catching up with the rest of the group. Alex and Codd seemed to know what that meant as well. Alex's face grew mournful, but she didn't speak.
Kirin had made his way back to the front and practically ran ahead of us. I watched to see if anyone else would follow at his pace, but they didn't. The prisoner let out a loud, pleased cackle. Alexandra reacted with more ferocity than I had ever seen from her. She smashed her fist into his face, breaking his nose. The sickening crack was audible.
"You are the Divinus?" Zariya's melodic voice asked, distracting me from the violence.
"Something like that," I said, in absolute wonder of her awesomeness more than shocked by Alex’s actions. The centaur creature smiled at me, I assumed cheerfully; with all of her sharp teeth it was hard to tell.
"Then I am sworn to you," she said nonchalantly. A lot of people seemed to have that attitude. It was incredibly strange.
"You don't have to be... you know, sworn to me," I replied awkwardly. Her face grew serious.
"I do not. I am sworn to this forest, and as survival is dependent on you, I am sworn to you," she rephrased. The survival of the forest... the survival of, I'm guessing, everyone else. Lots of pressure, guys. I wasn’t really sure how they expected me to save everyone.
I was taken aback when the forest stopped suddenly. It was almost as though there was an invisible line that had cut through the forest. First Alexandra and the prisoner cautiously exited into the clearing, followed by Codd and Zariya. Finally, me.
The first thing I noticed was the cracked ground. It was coppery red and hot through the soles of my boots. It was dusty, like a desert, but I hadn’t recalled a desert on our way to the castle. There weren't any trees either. The entire valley from that point on seemed to be stripped of all plant life. The orange planet hanging in the sky seemed much more alien. I could barely see the nebula through the haze of red dirt in the air.
Kirin was further into the valley. He was staring silently at a giant marble stone, sticking up from the earth. His entire body rested against it, as though he couldn't hold himself up properly. The marble was cracked diagonally, breaking it into two pieces. On the piece that was planted in the ground I could read:
D A N N I E
M A U N D R E
L U X E T E R N
The other part had the second half: L-L-E for the first name, L-L for the last name, A for the last word. Danielle Maundrell, Lux Eterna. I had heard the name Danielle before. Maundrell was his last name. A relative?
Alexandra (and the prisoner), Codd, and Zariya walked ahead of me. All except the prisoner bowed their heads in respect. Zariya put a long, blue hand out and stroked the marble where it had cracked. Tiny blue flowers much like the ones in the forest bloomed from the cracks. They didn't move with the dusty wind; they almost seemed impervious to the weather conditions.
Kirin turned around abruptly and threw himself at the prisoner with no warning. The skeletal man buckled seamlessly with his weight and they tumbled to the ground. Alexandra was propelled downward with them and barely caught her head before it hit the marble stone.
"It should be you in this grave!" Kirin yelled, throttling the man. The man's eyes were in a state of panic; his hands were desperately clawing at Kirin’s arms. "She didn't deserve this! She trusted you!"
"Kirin!" Alex bellowed, trying her hardest to pull him off. It took her and Codd’s combined strength to get him separated from the prisoner. I just stood by Zariya, watching horrified as Kirin attempted to strangle him.
Codd and Alex dragged the prisoner to the side. In a quick motion, Alex pulled him to his feet by the chains on his neck. He gagged on the hot air for a minute before looking directly at me. Why was that crazy fuck staring at me? Shouldn't he be more worried about Kirin?
"Please tell me you all see it too!" he said mockingly, pointing at my face with his chained hands. "Cut my tongue out, do whatever. But please tell me you see it too!"
Clearly irate, Alexandra asked, "What Lydris? What do we not see?" Her eyes traveled between us, her arms crossed furiously.
When he heard her response, he laughed like he had heard the best joke ever. What the fuck?
"What's wrong with you? Are you some kind of crazy person? Stop staring at me!" I yelled angrily as I clutched my throat. I wanted to hide behind Zariya. He laughed even harder. So hard he started choking again.
Kirin broke through Codd's arms and walked with purpose toward the prisoner, Lydris. Alex tried to meet him halfway, but he dodged her grasp. He tugged the prisoner toward him by his chains. I watched as Kirin pulled out the dagger he had strapped to his leg. He put it against Lydris' cheek.
"You aren't worthy to look at the Light," he growled in a severe tone, dragging the blade to his left eye.
"How will I tell you where the temple is if I'm blind?" Lydris called out, trying to save himself.
"They will grow back."
I turned my head just as Kirin stuck his blade in the man's eye socket. I definitely didn't need or want to see that shit. Lydris let out inhuman cries and screams. Kirin's shadow was digging out his other eye when I glanced at the dusty ground instead. I wanted to cover my ears... damn it. Codd saw my discomfort and blocked me. I was the only person not watching.
"Serves you right. You deserve worse, bastard," Codd jeered.
"I can cut out the tongue," Zariya said cheerfully.
"Kirin, that's enough. He's blind," Alexandra said seriously.
When I finally had the guts to look back at the group, Alex had covered his eyes with torn fabric. Codd stepped forward and stuffed a nasty rag in his mouth. Alex wrapped a leather strip around his head, effectively gagging him.
"It'll be your tongue next," Codd said, tossing a random smack on his face.
Kirin had turned his attention back to the giant marble headstone.
"I'll be back soon, love. I promise," he said in an anguished tone.
Something about his voice made me feel like he didn't expect to come home at all.
Chapter Nine
Those passing days were some of the worst in my life—or death. Unfortunately, nobody had patented goggles yet, so my eyes were being lashed by the constant waves of sand. My hiking experience was absolutely no aid walking in that barren land. To make matters worse, they didn't stop once. Between my poor vision and my sore body, it reached the point where I couldn't walk anymore. I began to develop a severe form of shin splints; my muscles felt like they were being peeled from my bones. I was so exhausted, there was no way I could cling to someone's back. Zariya had been carrying me for an unidentifiable amount of time.
Water was scarce. Once we had entered this desert, all life had ceased, including rivers and lakes. Zariya seemed to need less than us people, (people... ha) and Kirin didn't drink water at all. We had to carefully ration it between Alex, Codd, and me. The prisoner was starved of it, but that wasn't what he wanted.
In fact, Lydris had been ungagged for a mere second during our trek. He had started choking between the sand and gag. When Codd pulled the rag out of his mouth, he began to wail as loud as he possibly could. He begged for blood and was quickly gagged again in response. He continued to scream through the gag for the days following. It didn't matter how many times he was hit by every single person besides me, he didn't stop screaming. Despite not knowing his crimes fully, I was uncomfortable with how brutal they were to him with no hesitation.
I had been resting my head on Zariya's back for a long time. I wasn't sure if it had been an entire day, or just a few hours. The desert seemed so endless. The sandy air was slowly becoming less congested, but I kept my eyes shielded. Our rhythm slowed. When I finally dared to look out, the light was intensely blinding. My head ached. My dry throat ached. I didn't even have the energy to ask for water.
I gazed at the empty, cracked land for a long time. Was this what hell looked like? I felt like it was. The orange planet seemed a deeper crimson through the dust. All that was missing were the demons. We even had lovely screaming in the background coming from Lydris through his gag.
As I scanned the horizon, I spotted James standing in the dirt. I could see his bright green eyes and his unkempt, messy blond hair. He was wearing the same bloodstained clothes from the night he died. His arms were reaching out, trying to grab me from far away. My heart ached. I weakly stuck my hand out and felt the sting of the sand against my bare fingertips. I knew he was a mirage… my sweet guardian angel, watching me suffer in the sandstorm.
"We need to stop!" I heard Alexandra's voice call further up the line. We were all using Kirin's form as a shield from the storm. I didn't hear a response. Nobody stopped moving.
Eventually, a piece of craggy rock stuck out of the earth and created a miniscule pocket from the sand. I felt myself pulled off of Zariya's back. I scrunched my eyes closed to protect them. Codd or Kirin (I wasn't sure) tucked me under the rock. Alexandra joined me, breathing heavily on my right.
"Are you thirsty?" she asked. I knew she was; it was written on her exhausted face. I couldn't respond. I just looked at her entirely enfeebled. I wanted water more than anything, but I didn't have the strength to nod. Leaning my head on her shoulder was the only action I was capable of.
She took her waterskin out of her bag. It was coated in sand and would probably take eons to get it out of our things. She tipped the water into my mouth first before her own. It was warm and slightly gritty. I didn't care; I swallowed over and over. I'd been eating dirt that entire time, and it wasn't going to stop me from fabled water.
Alexandra tipped the final drops into her own mouth. She had far more endurance than I, but she still looked deadened, maybe even close to the end of her own strength. She wiped dirt off my face with her kerchief.
"I want to go home," I whispered. Everyone was staring at me, except Lydris for obvious reasons. I didn't care. I was barely able to remain sitting upright. My legs hurt from gripping Zariya's sides for so long. I would have been comfortable dying, I think. I was absolutely done with the desert. I hadn't eaten a single thing either; I don't believe I could have.
"You'll make it home. I promise," Alexandra said, kissing my forehead with cracked lips.
"We can't spare too much time," Kirin said, kneeling in front of us. "There's something beneath us. It's been following us all day."
What? Some kind of Sarlacc?
"Are you sure?" Codd asked. He was blocking us from the sand with his back.
"Yes. Let's hope it's not big. I can't afford to keep using the Essentia on lesser demons," Kirin said seriously. Codd nodded and pulled the blades from his side. My delirium made the thought of them fighting with anything other than the scythe humorous. Maybe they would let it eat me; at least I'd be with James.
Zariya gracefully bent down so I could climb on her back. I wasn't able to stand up. My legs gave out every time I tried. Alexandra did the best she could, helping me to Zariya's form. It hurt badly trying to cling to her with my legs and feeble arms.
I tried to mentally soothe myself and think of the ring. It was silly to my rational side, but the other part of me was trying to urge the ring to do something. Anything. Could it make me less thirsty if I tried hard enough? Could it at least shield me from the dirt? Nothing happened, not even a quiver.
The sandstorm had almost subsided as we reached the end of the desert. Random bursts of wind would whip the sand around, but I wasn't inhaling it nearly as much anymore. Somehow, the group found a way to move even faster than we had been previously. The monster underneath us had to be pretty serious, huh? It was silly they were going to risk themselves for me when I was completely content to die. I wanted to fall asleep forever; I craved the eternity I had seen under the crystal dome, a place untouched by anyone else.
I could see the valle
y clearly in my mind. I strained to remember... the endless white sand, the shadows embracing my energy. A flash of black and red. An electric current shocked my brain the more I tried to think of it. It was as if my body was punishing itself for remembering. Why, though? I prodded my mind further, focusing on the flash of red and black. My head pounded with a migraine in response. Eyes... they were eyes.
"Look!" Zariya's voice called out excitedly. She pointed at something in front of us. The red earth burst upward as something long dug furiously through the ground. Lydris tripped on the busted, cracked earth and smashed into Alexandra’s back.
Alex got to her feet as fast as she could. She thrust the chains connected to Lydris into Codd's hands. "You have to protect them," she commanded, pulling her bow off her back.
"Make Zariya do it. I don't want to protect this scum," Codd said in protest, trying to hand the chains back. Alexandra ignored him and caught up to Kirin.
"You better not mess this up," Codd added to Zariya as she gingerly removed me from her back. I crumpled to the ground and used my remaining strength to sit upright. Zariya removed the bone lance from her back.
"Do not leave Lydris with the Divinus," she said to Codd. She put the sharp end of her javelin at Lydris' throat. "Feel that, worm? I will behead you if you try anything."
Lydris put his chained hands up and ripped off his gag. The leather strip holding it in place must've loosened when he fell.
"Wouldn't dream of it," he said before choking on the hot air again. His voice dictated that he absolutely would dream of it. Sick freak. Codd was going to gag him again, but we were interrupted by the earth opening nearby. I could feel the ground vibrating like we were in a series of tremors. Kirin, Alex and Zariya were in the distance bracing themselves for something.
Out of the pits of this hell, a beast of epic proportions climbed. Slithered, rather. It was impossibly tall. So tall it seemed to scrape the heavens, casting a giant shadow over us. Its head was a massive skull. It was the same grim shape as mine had it not been covered by my skin, only this skull was the size of a townhouse. Instead of having a lower jaw, a spine, complete with bare ribs extended from its base. A bone snake?
