From Earth to Oblivion

by Amber Lynn

  Neither female made a noise as they made their way through the castle, but Krinton’s eyes were on the door as soon as they came into view. He didn’t look surprised to see his daughter there.

  “Krinla, Rya, what can I do for you two?”

  Krinla looked down at the girl standing next to her and back up to her father. He sat behind a large desk. The base of the desk was made of a light-colored wood and a slab of stone topped it. There didn’t seem to be anything on top of it, which was strange. Krinla didn’t take it as a good sign her father was sitting at an empty desk.

  “You know her?” Krinla asked as soon as she finished her scan of the room.

  Other than the desk, there wasn’t much in the room. One of the walls had a bookshelf built into it that was full of books, but that was really it. The other sitting areas that were once in the office were no more.

  “Of course I know her,” Krinton said in a soft voice. “She’s Poni’s daughter. Is there something particular that brought you two to my office?”

  The question of whether the girl could overhear what she claimed was answered. Poni was almost to the level Hulin was in Krinton’s leadership team, and as far as Krinla knew, the two men were friends. Over the years, Poni spent a lot of time at the castle so it made sense that his daughter had time to do some exploring if he brought her with him.

  That didn’t explain how the girl found tunnels Krinla hadn’t as a kid. She hadn’t been down in the catacombs of the building for years, but she highly doubted they were just built.

  There wasn’t a delicate way to answer Krinton’s question, so Krinla blurted out what she’d been told. “She says they’re going to kill you whether I marry him or not.”

  The total lack of any expression on his face told Krinla he knew of the plot. He was trying to hide whatever reaction he had to the words. The corner of his left eye twitched slightly to let Krinla know he actually heard and processed the words.

  “The rumors started years ago, but since he hasn’t made a move, I assumed he was blowing smoke.” Krinton’s voice was calm and even.

  Krinla looked down at Rya to see what she thought of the statement. The girl’s eyes were glued to Krinton.

  “It’s taken him a while to convince enough people, but they have the forces they need now. It’s just a matter of time.” Rya echoed the tone Krinton had just spoken in.

  The two of them were way too tranquil for Krinla’s liking. They were talking about people wanting to kill her father. There wasn’t an ounce of composure running through Krinla’s body as she tried to digest the news.

  “What are you still doing sitting there?” Krinla asked. “We need to leave.”

  Krinla quickly ran through a list of her possessions and wondered if she should grab some of her things. She hadn’t considered taking anything with her when she planned to jump out her window and run for it, but with a little more time to think about it she was second-guessing that idea. At the very least she should’ve taken some weapons.

  It sounded like having something that could slow attackers down would come in handy. With the strongest Dracul with her, one wouldn’t think extra security would be necessary, but she knew Hulin already had one blade that could kill. He was bound to have more if he was planning a full revolution.

  Knowing her father kept a stash of weapons in a hole behind some of the books on his shelf, Krinla made her way over and started pulling the books out of the way. She hadn’t looked at the cache of blades for a while, but she didn’t think it changed a lot over the years. If anything, she expected it may have grown.

  “Where would we go, Krinla?” her father asked, still sitting in his chair.

  Krinla pulled out the box of weapons and started going through it. There wasn’t any black ash, which she hoped meant Krinton kept it close to him. She didn’t have any sheaths to carry the blades in, but she started picking them up and sizing them to her hands. At first she went for size because of the damage a big blade could do, at least temporarily, but the bigger blades were awkward in her hands.

  “What do you mean, where would we go? Let’s start with as far away from here as possible and see where that lands us.”

  Krinla wasn’t sure how her father could continue to be calm. He should’ve been the one looking through the box and arming himself.

  Krinla found a blade that was about the size of her hand in length. It was more ornate than most blades she saw, with red etchings swirling around it.

  “You really think I can just leave, Krinla? You know the laws as well as I do. A successor cannot take over unless the current ruler is dead.”

  “All the more reason for us to not be anywhere around here if he decides today is the day he wants to come looking for you. You know everything about this castle. Are there tunnels that go outside? How far out do they lead?”

  There was very little chance they’d take them all the way to the neutral sector, but Krinla could hope. It hurt that she wasn’t up to her full strength, but they could still get a head start.

  “There are, and I would suggest you take one of them. I know you jumped out your window a bit ago and I assume you were heading wherever you think we can go now. I wasn’t about to stop you from it then, and I won’t stop you now.”

  “Of course you won’t stop me, because you’ll be right there with me. I don’t hear anyone storming the castle, but I seem to be the only one of us trying to do something proactive here.”

  Krinla picked out the biggest knife of the bunch in front of her and tossed it at her father. There was no way she could carry it, but the meatiness of the blade was hard to leave behind. She knew he’d be able to catch it, so she looked at the rest of the blades and then over at Rya. Her hands were half the size of Krinla’s and were a little too young to be carrying around any of the knives in front of Krinla.

  “I’m the one who said we should go when you were wandering around trying to get caught,” Rya pointed out.

  Krinla ignored her and turned around to look at her father. He’d put the blade she threw in his direction on the desk while he remained unmoving. She’d never seen his face as blank as what looked back at her. The man’s life was in danger, yet there wasn’t an ounce of fear or defiance coming from him.

  It enraged Krinla even more than she already was from finding out his life was being threatened. She saw no reason for anyone to kill him, let alone challenge him. It wasn’t like Hulin was actually challenging him. That would involve him being a man and not hiding behind his supposed army.

  “I’m very well aware of what you told me just a little bit ago. That doesn’t change the fact that I’m not leaving without my dad.” Krinla narrowed her eyes at her father. “Are you getting up, or do I have to carry you on my back?”

  She tried to keep a fierce look on her face, but it faltered when she felt the corner of her lips tip up slightly. The man had told her to come a little earlier, but he was already out in the woods, judging by the scent that hit her nose out of nowhere.

  “I’m going to assume that smile is because you pictured how ridiculous it would look for you to carry me around. People already think I’m unfit to rule. I don’t think we need to give them some kind of visual confirmation.”

  Krinla shook her head and looked towards the direction of the smell. It brought her eyes to look at a plain stone wall behind her. Walking over, she ran her fingers along the wall. The urge to run towards the man was as strong as it had been any of the other cycles he showed up.

  “We need to leave now.” Krinla knew her gestures were probably seen as a little odd, but her body seemed to do whatever it wanted.

  “Is something wrong?”

  Her father finally decided to move, coming up from behind her and placing his hands on her shoulders. Krinla wanted him up and moving, but the coldness that came from him was unwelcome. She needed to feel the heat of the man out in the woods, not the chill of another Dracul.

  She shrugged out from under Krinton’s hold and moved back to t
he door. It was away from the woods, which made the steps hard to take. It was strange that her feet somehow felt like they had stone blocks wrapped around them.

  “Where’s the tunnel that takes us the furthest from the castle the fastest?” Krinla was quick to breeze over the question about how she was feeling, both because she didn’t want to talk to her father about it and because she wasn’t sure she could adequately explain things.

  “Either of the tunnels that lead where we want to go aren’t going to be fast, especially not in your condition, which is why we need to get out of here.”

  Rya seemed even more emphatic than she had been. It didn’t make sense that the girl wanted to run away from her family, but knowing the man had shown up took away any questions or arguments Krinla had. It was time to go before he decided she wasn’t going to show up and leave.

  “Then let’s go. We travel light and move fast. I’m not my best, but hopefully he’ll hear us coming and wait for us.”

  Krinla backed out of the room and headed to the bowels of the castle. Since they were already towards the back of the castle, it wouldn’t take but a moment to get to the stairs leading down into the place that never saw the light of the sun.

  Before Krinla could get far, her father appeared in front of her, effectively stopping her forward progress. Not liking the interruption, Krinla tried to step around him, but Krinton followed the move.

  “Who do you think is waiting for you out there?” The sternness in his voice was a big difference from the coolness he’d shown before.

  Krinla shook her head. She should’ve kept the man to herself until they got out there. It wasn’t like Krinton and Rya wouldn’t have picked up the scent, or didn’t already. She thought about deflecting to something else, but instead gave a condensed version of the details.

  “The man who smells sweet. You can smell him, right?” Her father stepped back with a confused look on his face. Since he didn’t confirm her question, Krinla continued. “I’ve been following him around the neutral sector for a few cycles. He said he’d meet me there today and tell me what he is. Do you know of anything that smells sweet, with skin and hair the color of the sun? I guess his hair isn’t technically the same color, but it’s shades lighter than ours.”

  Krinla felt like she was rambling, but as she said more, her father’s expression became more unreadable. It was worse than his neutral calm he’d tried to put on. For once there actually seemed to be a hint of fear in his eyes.

  “Take me to this man now.”

  Since Krinla wanted to go there anyway, she didn’t hesitate to follow Krinton’s command. She even let out a sigh of relief when they started moving in the right direction.

  Chapter Eight

  There wasn’t another word spoken until they were deep in the dark and moist tunnel her father led them to. Krinla assumed everyone else was busy sensing for anyone following them. That was what she should’ve been doing, but her focus was only ahead of them. Each step they made brought the sugary smell closer to her and eased the anxiety building up in her system.

  Krinla had no idea what would happen when they encountered the man. She had high hopes, but her minimal interactions with him didn’t give her much to base the hopes on. Krinton seemed a bit agitated, but he wasn’t voicing what was bothering him. It was strange that he hadn’t had any issues when they were talking about Hulin wanting to kill him, but as soon as she mentioned the guy, things got serious.

  “Did you bite him, Krinla?”

  Krinton didn’t turn around to ask the question he whispered. They’d been running for at least a position change in the sun, maybe two. It was hard to believe there was a tunnel that long and Krinla hadn’t found it. Her trips over the years would’ve been easier if she would’ve known, which was probably why she’d never been guided down the turn they took after they made their way into the catacombs.

  “When I say no, I have the feeling you’ll be as surprised as he was.”

  There was something about the worry she heard in his words that made her wonder what she was missing because she was definitely missing something. It was the first outsider Krinla had met, so she thought maybe her father’s concern had to do with that.

  There was a slight sigh that Krinla interpreted as relief. At least Rya wasn’t making any noises behind her. It would’ve pissed Krinla off if the girl somehow knew what was going on when she didn’t. It was annoying enough that it was determined Krinla had to take the middle position in their group because of her head, which seemed to get fuzzier as they ran.

  The pains from lack of blood had faded. As they continued on, all Krinla could feel was numbness. It wasn’t much of an improvement, but Krinla couldn’t stop to figure out a way to bring the feeling in her body back.

  “And you’re sure it’s a sweet scent? Can you describe it to me?”

  Krinla glanced behind her to see if Rya thought the question was strange. The little girl was looking behind them and didn’t appear to care what was being said in front of her. Realizing she wasn’t going to get a reaction, Krinla focused ahead and took a whiff of the air around them.

  Usually, Krinla was able to pick up the smells around her, like the dirt on the ground under their feet or the staleness from a tunnel rarely traveled. None of those things made it through to her as the scent coming from the man clouded her head.

  “Can’t you smell it?” Krinla thought it was silly to have her describe something that was flooding the tunnel so everyone could smell it.

  “Humor me,” the simple response came back.

  Krinla sighed, realizing her breath was labored. There was a rasp to it she hadn’t heard before that was disturbing.

  “It’s hard to describe. The only thing I can think of that comes close is that stringy candy the Naturists try to sell in the shop.”

  The candy generally went untouched because Draculs didn’t consume food. They could eat if they wanted to, but unlike the concept of breathing, most didn’t bother. That didn’t stop the Naturists from including edible items in their trading.

  “And you didn’t bite him?”

  “I already said that, didn’t I? Why are you obsessed with me biting him?”

  As Krinla asked the question, she felt the terrain under them start to slope up. There had been mild elevation changes during the trek, but they hadn’t gone straight up a wall practically. Finding footing was a little problematic, but Krinla curled her toes around the harder surface and followed her father up to the exit of the tunnel.

  She would’ve sighed in relief, but the sun hitting her skin made her want to curl into a ball. She couldn’t hear her skin sizzling, even though it felt like it was being fried. No noise escaped from her, but the screaming that started in her head kind of muted out everything around her.

  Her father quickly scooped her up when she crouched to the ground and held her head, He ran with her to get under the shade of trees not far from their location. There was a mild soothing that instantly happened, but it didn’t really dull the initial pain.

  “Can you smell the man she’s talking about?” Krinton asked, clearly talking to Rya. Krinla wanted to question why he needed to ask such a silly question, but the pain had exhausted her.

  “Don’t you think it’s just her body going into starvation mode causing a hallucination?”

  Krinla could barely hear the response, but she growled in protest. Denying her body had entered starvation mode was foolish, even if she wasn’t sure why it had happened so quickly. She just didn’t like the fact that Rya thought she was imagining the smell.

  “He’s that way,” Krinla said as she flopped her arm to point above her head. She felt him out there, but couldn’t tell how far away they were. “Why am I so tired?”

  It was a new sensation for her, but she knew immediately what to call it. Pulling her arm back to her torso seemed like too much work, so she left it where it was.

  “What did you expect when you drained all the blood from your body?” Krinton qu
estioned.

  Krinla tried to scowl, but she wasn’t sure how it came across. Krinton was moving them in the direction she’d pointed, so she didn’t have anything to add to the conversation.

  “Do we really have time for a wild goose chase? She needs blood. As far as I can tell, there isn’t anyone this way that’s going to help us out with that.” For the first time, Rya seemed to whine a little as she spoke.

  “She mentioned the man before the exhaustion took over,” Krinton pointed out.

  “That doesn’t make him any more real. I know you’re on the best terms with the Beasts, so we should head there and ask for sanctuary for a while.”

  Krinla had no idea what faction they were on the best terms with, but the suggestion would’ve been the same one Krinla made if she didn’t know about the man in the forest. He could disappear and appear whenever he wanted. They needed to find him. Krinla wasn’t in a condition to explain that, but she tried to move her lips to articulate something along those lines.

  “Don’t worry. I’m taking you to him.”

  His voice was reassuring, so Krinla settled in and didn’t try to fight. She didn’t know why he decided to follow her original direction, but it was helpful that he didn’t deny her. Rya wasn’t as amused by his decision.

  “Whether she was lucid when she brought up the guy or not, I don’t see how he’s our concern. I don’t smell any candy, and I sure don’t smell a person this way. I’ve heard for years about you pandering to her, but this takes the cake.”

  They were still running, but Krinla got the sense Rya was trying to drag her feet. She couldn’t hear anything to back up that thought, but she pictured the girl’s strides shortening.

  “That’s enough, Rya. Whether you’re in denial about it or not, there’s a reason we can’t smell him and she can.”

  Krinla hated being able to hear the conversation while lacking the ability to add her own thoughts. It made the frustration from the unexpected exhaustion even worse.