Bound to the Abyss

by James R. Vernon

  With that he wobbled over and joined the other singers, leaving Ean sitting there alone.

  Anger and frustration starting to bubble up inside of Ean as he sat there. Bran acted as if he was nothing! And patting him on the head? The nerve! He shot the two of them a glare as he downed the rest of his mug. Of course they didn’t see his face, wrapped up in singing as they were, but it made Ean feel a little better at least.

  As the two continued to sing on into the night, Ean continued to drink. He couldn’t believe that a day that had gone so well was ending so badly. Bran belittled him; Jaslen hadn’t even bothered to ask what he had done all day; and Zin had disappeared again. Ean couldn’t feel the imp anywhere nearby. Well, that was fine. He didn’t need any of them to have some fun. He had proved that earlier in the day. Waving the serving girl over again, he decided he would find out how good this Burnbeer could make him feel.

  THUMP, THUMP, THUMP.

  At first Ean thought the pounding was originating in his head. Lifting his face off his pillow, head swimming, he rubbed the sleep from his eyes. His tongue felt like sawdust. The pain behind his eyes made him wonder if an anvil had hit him. He had no idea how he had ended up in bed. Or why he was still in all of his clothes from the day before. Except for the light flickering through the window, the room was dark. Is it still night? For that matter, what day was it?

  THUMP, THUMP, THUMP.

  It took him a second to determine if the thumping was coming from outside his room or inside his head. When another round of pounding rattled his window, he realized it was coming from outside. Deciding to investigate, he rolled out of bed. His legs gave out, and he found himself sitting on the cold wooden boards of the floor.

  "Is anyone here?" His words came out as a groan but didn’t elicit a response. He couldn't even feel Zin in the room.

  THUMP, THUMP, THUMP, THUMP.

  If only the pounding would stop, maybe then he could figure out what was going on. With another groan, Ean climbed the side of his bed until he was back on his feet. He was able to stay up this time, although he swayed about. He could hear voices now, muffled shouts, but they seemed to be coming from outside instead of below. That was a blessing. Ean didn't think his head could handle the dulled roar of the common room below.

  THUMP, THUMP, THUMP.

  The voices might not be coming from below, but the banging was coming from the first floor. Wasn't the noise bothering anyone else in the inn? Well, there was no way he was going to fall back asleep now so he might as well go check it out. Maybe Bran and Jaslen were still downstairs as well. He would love to smack Bran for getting him to drink so much Burnbeer. At the very least he could get a mug of water.

  With some effort, Ean made it out the door of his room and into the hall. The banging sounded even louder here. He slunk down the hallway, his legs still wobbly. Ean would much rather be in bed with a cold cloth across his eyes and complete silence. Reaching the stairs, he took each one with a slow, calculated step. As he reached the bottom of the stairs, the sounds of a subdued conversation reached him in between the pounding. What he saw in the common room caught him by surprise.

  The room was in shambles. Tables and chairs were overturned, half-eaten food sat on plates and was scattered across the floor, and puddles of various liquids were everywhere. His first impression was that he was looking at the aftermath of a rowdy night of celebration. His eyes followed the path of destruction to the front door, where a number of tables and chairs had been piled up against it. A barricaded door sent up dozens of red flags.

  The pounding continued. It was coming from the door. Someone or something was trying to get in.

  "Get away from the door!" came a harsh whisper at Ean's right. Even low, the voice made him jump. It took him a moment to locate the origin of the voice.

  Ean spotted the innkeeper, the innkeeper’s wife and a serving girl he had never seen before huddled together behind a table. They were shaking and disheveled, making him wonder how long they had been hiding out. The serving girl was covered with flood splatters and drink, and her face was puffy as if she had been crying a long while.

  “What’s going on?” Ean whispered.

  “She saw one of the regulars get taken down by an arrow right outside our door,” the older woman whispered. “Poor Garrad — if only the warning had rang out earlier.”

  “Warning? A warning for what — whoever is outside that door?”

  “Raiders,” the innkeeper answered. “A larger group than we’ve see in a long time. Saw a dozen or so entering town from the south.” Shaking his head, he reached out for Ean. "You don’t look like the fighting kind, lad. Best for you to hide out here with us while the hunters take care of things outside."

  Ean jerked away. "The two I was with, have you seen them?”

  “I saw them sneak out a little after they put you to bed,” the waitress whimpered.

  “Is there any way, other than the front doors, I could use to get outside?” Ean asked.

  The waitress started to cry out before the words were even out of his mouth. “No, no! He’ll let them in. Please don’t let him do that!”

  The last few words were muffled as she buried her head in the chest of the innkeeper’s wife. The older woman patted her back a few times before turning her attention to Ean. The look she gave him was full of scorn.

  “I’m sorry about your friends, but I won’t let you risk the few of us that are safe in here. We have a few families hiding upstairs, all women and children, with no way to defend themselves. The doors will stay closed until the bandits are either driven off or take what they want and leave.”

  “I can’t just leave them,” Ean tried to control the frustration in his voice, but it was difficult. “I need them. Open the door and then close it again once I’m out.”

  THUMP, THUMP.

  The woman just shook her head. “Even if I wanted to help, you can hear them pounding on the door. They would rush in and kill us in a heartbeat. Sorry, son. Best if you just head back upstairs like the rest.” Turning her attention back to the serving girl, she waved Ean away with a hand before resuming her attempt to comfort the girl.

  Ean’s hands clenched in anger. He was about to tell her exactly what he thought about her caution, when a small tug at his leg caught him by surprise, almost making him jump. Foolish. He had been so focused on the stubborn woman that he hadn’t felt Zin approaching. The invisible imp gave his pants another tug towards the stairs and then started heading that way.

  Sending one last frown toward the three cowering villagers, Ean followed the imp back towards the stairs. They walked on in silence back up to the third floor, at which point Zin became visible and rounded on him.

  “There is no way you are going out into that mess! All I need is for you to get yourself stabbed by some bandit, which would send me right back to the Abyss. I’m sure Bran and Jaslen are fine. I saw them running off somewhere long before the raiders arrived.”

  “How do you … wait, you were out there?” Ean got down so he could look the imp square in the eye. “Which means you know another way to get in and out of this building. Can you go find them and bring them back here?”

  “Just because I’m invisible doesn’t mean I can’t still catch a stray arrow or get trampled. I’m not risking my life for them.”

  “Then you have to tell me how to get out. I’ll go get them and bring them back.”

  The imp flashed him a wide grin, which showed off his pointed teeth. "We don't need them. Well, maybe we need their money. But that's not why you want to go off to their rescue and get yourself killed. You want to be the big hero again for Jaslen.”

  "Shut up. Did you ever think I might care about them?"

  "I'm sure if Bran was killed tonight, you would shed hundreds of tears. It doesn’t matter either way. Like I said, I'm not risking you getting killed, regardless of whatever excuse you come up with.”

  Reaching down the front of his shirt, Ean pulled out the clay piece that he
ld Zin's summoning rune. The imp's smile slowly faded as he realized what was happening.

  "Now, there is no need for that," Zin said, rubbing and wringing his hands. "What good will sending me back to the Abyss do?"

  Ean ignored him, holding the clay piece between thumb and pointer finger of each hand.

  Zin began to hop from foot to foot. "If you get killed tonight, the magic on that rune fails and I go back to the Abyss anyway, so breaking it isn't much of a threat.”

  Ean remained silent, instead applying a small amount of pressure to the clay piece. After a few moments a small crack appeared on the edge.

  "Fine, fine!" Throwing up his hands, Zin began to pace back and forth in the hallway. "If you want to get yourself killed for a human girl, you go right ahead. What do I care? I was just trying to look out for you.”

  He stopped then and pointed a finger at Ean while glaring at him. "But if you think I'm going to help you out WHEN you get in trouble, you can just forget it." Gesturing for him to follow, Zin headed back towards the stairs.

  Ean followed behind while returning the clay piece back under his shirt. He hated threatening Zin like that, especially when he knew how horrible of a place the Abyss was for imps. He would make it up to him if they survived this. A nice steak would do the trick. Hopefully the town butcher, if there was one, survived the night.

  Zin turned invisible again as they reached the first floor, but his shimmering form continued down towards the basement. The inn at home had a basement for food and drink storage; it usually stayed cool which helped keep the food from going bad. This one was apparently no different, although as far as Ean knew, the inn at home didn’t have an exit in the basement.

  The cellar was about what Ean would expect in an inn. The room was dark, the only light coming through the doorway from the lit candles on the stairway. Barrels of what Ean guessed was food and drink littered the floor. Zin turned visible again and continued on towards the back of the cellar, finally stopping at the back wall. Ean looked around for a moment then scowled at the imp.

  "What is this?” he growled. "Zin, if this is some trick, I swear I'll ..."

  The imp rounded on him before he could even finish. "Oh yes, I understand how you can continue to threaten your only real friend.”

  The imp looked as if he would attack, and Ean backed off slightly, just in case. He had never seen Zin this angry before.

  "This is no trick. There is a way out down here.”

  “And the raiders won’t be able to use the same way to get in?”

  “Not if you are smart enough not to lead them back to where this comes out. But before I tell you where I saw them last, I have a question for you. What exactly do you plan on doing if Bran and Jaslen are in trouble?" The imp glared at him, his hands resting now on his hips as he waited for an answer.

  "Well, I could always summon something ..."

  "Brilliant," Zin cut in. "What would you summon, your Hound? Because setting him loose in a village would be a great idea. I mean, you've had so much control over the beast in the past."

  "Well, I could try something else, maybe a ..."

  "Oh yes, even better. In the mess that is already going outside, you want to experiment? You don't even know what half of those creatures are in the Abysmal Tome."

  Zin shook his head in disgust. "Do you know what makes a normally calm Cruxlum explode with a rage that lasts at least two days? Or how about what can cause a Vauropus to spawn dozens of children in just one day? Either one could end up destroying this whole village if left unchecked, and I bet you wouldn't even know which one you had summoned.”

  The imp’s scowl was replaced with a self-satisfied grin. "So, do you have any other bright ideas? We know you have absolutely no skill when it comes to weapons or fighting. What does that leave? Am I missing anything?"

  Ean just stood, stunned at his friend’s tirade. Of course he had thought of all of those points. They had been running through his head as they marched down the stairs. It would be easy to just stay inside where it was safe.

  But Bran and Jaslen were out there …

  “We’ll just have to be extra careful and hope we find them safe and sound. You said you knew where they ran off to, right? If you take me to them, we can try and get them back here to the inn without anyone noticing.”

  At this point Zin was shifting back and forth, his eyes on the ground. "They were out kissing behind that large building, the one that was full of lights and noise last night. When the trouble started, they ran inside.”

  Ean knew there was a lie in there somewhere. Either Zin was lying about where they were, or he was lying about knowing where they were. Heading towards that large building was as good a place to start either way. If they had gone out to find some privacy, as much as that thought made him cringe, they wouldn't have gone to the trade wagons.

  "Fine, then we head to that building, and if they are safe there, we can join them. If not, we sneak them back here.” He placed a firm hand on the imp’s shoulder. Zin grimaced but didn't pull away. "Regardless of which ends up happening, the first thing is for you to show me how to get out of this basement.”

  Zin gave a defeated sigh and nodded. “Fine, right over here.” Pulling away, he walked over behind a large shelf. Ean followed along although he didn’t see anything right away.

  “Good job, Zin. A dead end. You know, we don’t have time for this. If you don’t know a way …”

  “Sometimes I forget that your pathetic human eyes don’t see well without the sun blazing over your head. It’s right up here.” The imp climbed up the corner wall and seemed to disappear. A few moments later, his head peeked out from what Ean could only guess was a small hole in the wall.

  “Well?” Zin waved him up. “Are you coming or not? If you’re going to get yourself killed, might as well be sooner rather than later.”

  Zin’s head disappeared back into the hole before Ean could respond. The imp made a good point though. Better to get moving before he realized how stupid of an idea this was. An image of Jaslen sprang up in his head, and he quickly squashed it down. He was doing this for the group, not one person! Moving quickly, he climbed up the shelves and wall and into the hole.

  As Ean crawled further into the hole, a foul stench like a sack of moldy meat smacked him in the face. Either this place hadn’t been used in a while or something had crawled in it and died. His gloved hand went to his nose as he repeatedly gagged. As he inched along, it felt like the stone walls were closing in on him. Deciding he would rather be out of the hole than keep his dinner, he stopped holding his nose and used both hands to pull him along faster.

  “I think I’m going to be sick,” he moaned.

  “Good,” the imp growled, although he did put more distance between himself and Ean’s mouth.

  After what felt like an eternity of crawling in filth, Ean emerged on the other side behind a bale of hay. The air was stale and smelled like leather and grease. As his eyes adjusted to the dim light, he realized they had emerged in a small storage shed.

  “This is your last chance to go back,” Zin said in hushed tones. “Once we leave this shed, the odds of running into a raider are almost a certainty. They’ll murder you sooner than you can say ‘Zin is the smartest imp in the world.’”

  “I’m pretty sure you are the only imp in the world …”

  “Then again, you look kind of girly, so maybe they won’t murder you right away,” Zin shot back. He was trying to be funny, but there wasn’t a drop of humor in his voice. Ean couldn’t help but wonder if the imp’s concern was for him or for the possibility of having to go back to the Abyss.

  “Well, I guess you will just have to watch my back,” he said, ignoring the insult, “because we’re going out there.”

  Ean moved towards the light coming from underneath the door. Peering underneath, he saw a row of stables. This must be the storage shed for the horses of travelers who stayed at the inn. No wonder the bandits had left it alone.

&nb
sp; He had expected to see bodies lying everywhere, homes on fire, and bandits running around the street. Instead the streets were empty, the homes across from him untouched, and not a single wounded or dead man to be found. Zin and those in the inn must have been mistaken. With a great deal more confidence, Ean stood up, pushed the door open and stepped outside. That, of course, was when he heard the first scream.

  He stopped dead in his tracks. It hadn’t come from close by. He squatted there for a few moments, and then he heard another scream followed by some shouting.

  Staying low, he moved across the street and crouched in the shadows of a small house. He could hear a lot more shouting now; it seemed to be coming from every direction. Nothing he could do about that except hope the screams weren’t coming from Jaslen.

  Turning his back on the street, he began to carefully make his way through the alleyways between the closely built homes. He could feel the imp only a few paces behind him. Ean still hadn’t gotten around to asking the imp about that, or how he had felt the troll as well. If he survived the night, Ean planned to press the issue with Zin.

  The paths between the houses were dark, perfect for sneaking around. It reminded him of home—all the years of slinking around the village, trying to avoid the bullies. He walked on his toes, as silent as Zin stalking a rat, careful to avoid stepping on or bumping into anything that might give him away. Although the shouts could still be heard from different directions, the screaming had stopped. Whether that was a good or bad sign, he had no idea.

  He was about to cross the alleyway when a tearing sound, like someone ripping a cloth, made him stop short. Curiosity won out over fear — he had to take a closer look. The alleyway to the left was clear. One house down, a dark mound moved to his right. Ean tried to focus on the shape, but it was difficult in the little moonlight that reached the alley. It could be anything—a hurt villager, an injured animal, or even one of the raiders. Better to just keep moving towards where Zin had said the two were hiding.

  Continuing across the intersection, a frightened feminine whimper came from the mound, followed by a manly grunt. A dark thought crept across Ean’s mind. Was a raider forcing himself on some poor woman?