by Nancy Gray
Erebus looked up at her. “You had better not doubt it. There are consequences for breaking a blood pact. Did you think somehow I caused the sensations that we felt?”
Mercy frowned. “Then what did?”
She noticed that Erebus was experiencing the same pain that Carmine felt when he was trying to explain the cause of the blood rain.
Erebus shivered and said, “It’s a sacred rite. The powers that be will hold us accountable.”
“You say that you mean it to be religious, but from what Carmine says, your blood god doesn’t interact with you personally. This is more magic that isn’t supposed to exist.” Mercy glared at him and snapped, “But you can’t tell me about it, right?”
Erebus didn’t say anything for a moment and then glanced up at her again. “It would be better for you if you wouldn’t look into matters that don’t concern you.”
“Yet, you’re relying on me to help find the source of the blood rain.”
“I can already see that this arrangement is going to be draining.”
As if to punctuate the fact, Erebus took another long draw on her hand and then stood back up. Mercy rummaged through her backpack and pulled out a reed and sucked his venom from the lesion on her hand, cleaned it, and then bandaged it tightly. Erebus was watching her, and she could feel his concern. He clearly hadn’t thought about the fever she would be feeling in a moment. She passed Erebus a few bandages and he began wrapping up his own hand as well.
“I’ll be alright. I know how to treat a bite from one of your people.”
“People, huh? You’re an odd one. Most of your tribe wouldn’t refer to us as people, but then most of you wouldn’t bury one of ours either. Why did you bury Crimson?”
“Well, I’ve had to rethink many of my assumptions about your kind lately. I did kill him, but in my defense, he nearly killed me first. I was bleeding to death when I left him there. When I saw how the animals got to him, I just didn’t feel right leaving him like that.”
“And you’re really going to try to convince your people not to fight us?”
“Yes. They need to focus on recovering from your attack before the Ashen capital can take advantage of the fact that they’re vulnerable. Besides, I said I would in our pact. It seems I don’t have a choice now.”
Erebus frowned. “I somehow think my presence isn’t going to help your cause.”
Mercy nodded. Even though she hadn’t had much time to think, when she first left the lighthouse, she was already planning what to do if she ran into Erebus on the way. She couldn’t just take a member of the beast race into the village. He could disguise himself as one of her people, but they would be able to tell that he wasn’t a member of the tribe since he would lack the tattoos and no one would know him. She had an idea. She knew that Erebus wouldn’t like it, but they had to work together, now.
“Well, you can’t just march in there as a beast man, but you can change shape, right?”
He seemed insulted, as though she had asked him if he could speak. “Of course.”
“Then, I want you to disguise yourself as a member of the island tribe. I can pretend that you’re a slave that I rescued from Concord. I even have a fake slave collar you could wear.”
“I’m not wearing a fake slave collar.”
Mercy rolled her eyes. “As I said, I need your cooperation. If I can wear it as a disguise, then you can just as easily. Think of it as a chance to experience what all of your captives do on a daily basis.”
Erebus bared his fangs in what seemed like a cynical grin. “Fine. I guess it is better than walking in there as I am now. What do the islanders look like?”
“A lot like members of my own tribe only usually with darker skin and lighter hair. They also tend to be a little taller.”
Erebus began to change before her eyes. His wings became normal arms, his skin became darker, and his hair changed colors until it was as white as snow. It even became straight and long, much different than the wavy, black curls that were on his head when she met him. His eyes became a dark green and he grew a few inches taller. The loincloth he wore was clearly not part of his skin like the tuxedo that Carmine was wearing, because it stayed the same and she could see his skin changing around it.
“How do I look?”
Mercy said with disgust, “Perfect, except for that belt.”
Erebus looked at his belt and cringed. It was the same one he wore when he raided her village, made of braided human hair.
“If it makes you feel any better, I didn’t scalp anyone. I just took long locks and braided them together. It was meant to make me appear savage.”
“Well, it worked. It won’t work for your disguise, though, and honestly the sight of it sickens me.”
Erebus took it off. She rummaged through her old backpack where she had put the fake collar before she left and placed it around Erebus’ neck. He really did look exactly like one of the slaves from Concord. It was almost enough to fool her into believing he was human. With the features he had now, he was even very handsome. But every now and then she would see that his canines were just a little too pointed and remember that it was all just a disguise.
Mercy gathered some fire wood and was pleased to find flint and tinder among her supplies. Making the fire was easy, and it made her feel much more comfortable. Even though she had sucked the venom from the wound, she was already feeling too tired to continue the journey for the night. She knew that she would be wasting hours by sleeping, but she could make up for the lost time by traveling most of the next day. Too much had happened for her to even consider leaving that evening.
Mercy went through the rations in her bag and came across some baked pheasant. It wasn’t meant to last long but clearly was meant to be a treat. She could smell the cooked spices and they made her mouth water. There were also two wineskins, containing white wine, to go with it. It made Mercy wonder if the second skin was actually intended for Erebus in case she had to entrap him into the pact. Pyron seemed the type to think that far ahead.
Erebus said, “That smells really good.”
“You eat regular food?”
Erebus gave her an expression that told her he regretted speaking already, but he said, “Yes. We don’t exactly feed from blood. We do need it, but after we’ve had it, we eat the same sort of things that you do.”
“Well, since you are my bodyguard, I’m more than willing to share.”
“Don’t forget, you’re mine as well.”
She tossed him half of the pheasant and one of the wineskins. He began biting into it ravenously. She was surprised that he was able to concentrate enough to keep his disguise since he was so hungry, but not a hair was out of place.
“How does it feel, when you’re in a different form?”
He shrugged. “Not much different, but I do miss my wings. It’s also a little tiring. It makes me crave more blood, the longer I keep it up.”
Mercy stared at the fire, lost in thought. What he told her suggested there was a correlation between his shape-shifting abilities and the amount of blood that he needed. Could it be that the blood somehow gave him mystical energy? If that was the case, what was he doing that made him so hungry for blood that by the time he reached Concord, he was starving? Could it be that he just needed it occasionally, or was it something more?
Erebus took a long drink of the wine. “As I said, I wouldn’t dwell on things you don’t understand.”
“Thinking about things that you don’t understand is the only way to learn more about them. I think I’ll need any new knowledge I can get soon. Magic has resurfaced in the world, and I’m the only one who knows it - besides the beast races, apparently.”
Mercy looked at Erebus. The white hair reminded her of Wind Runner. She felt a pang of pain that was so intense it was almost physical.
“Can you please change your hair color to something different?”
“Suit yourself, I only chose white because you said they had light hair.”
&nbs
p; Erebus shrugged and his hair changed into a light golden hue similar to the shade of the rising sun. It made him look somewhat exotic, but his appearance was still close enough to one of the islanders that she was sure her people wouldn’t be the wiser.
Mercy said, “Let’s get some sleep. We have a long ride ahead of us tomorrow. Would you mind taking first watch? I feel kind of weak, probably from you feeding on me.”
“Aren’t you afraid to sleep with a beast man so close by?”
Mercy shrugged and lay down on her bedroll. Oddly, she didn’t feel very uncomfortable at all. She had the feeling that if Erebus disobeyed the blood pact, there would be far worse consequences for him than simply the uncomfortable sensation they felt earlier. After a few minutes, she drifted off into a deep sleep, but not before she heard the disturbing sucking sound that Erebus made on the wineskin. She wondered if he had done it on purpose.
11
At first, Mercy was afraid that the horse was going to bolt when Erebus mounted behind her. The beast shimmied from foot to foot, her nostrils flaring while her skin twitched in involuntary spasms. Mercy petted her neck and whispered soothing things into her pointed ears until she finally settled down and Mercy was able to coax her into a gentle trot.
Mercy was glad that Erebus refrained from wrapping his arms around her, but every now and again, she would feel one of his hands grab at her for a moment when the galloping became faster or when the horse had to make a gentle leap over a small obstacle. It almost made her want to laugh aloud as she realized he had clearly never ridden any kind of animal before. She supposed if she had wings, she probably wouldn’t either.
As she reached the area where the woods began to thicken, she saw all that remained of Nightsong, a completely empty mottled carapace. At first, she wanted to take it back to the village. Traditionally, when a vitula died, the chitin was used for armor to honor the dead creature, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it. So much had happened since that night, she felt as though her mourning for Nightsong was already over, and disturbing his remains to make armor seemed more like an insult to his sacrifice than an honor. So, she left the carapace there and didn’t look back.
The days were mostly clear and sunny, but the nights were cold. There was a little bit of rain on the second day, but thankfully it was clear, pure rainwater and not red droplets. Mercy used the opportunity to refill their wineskins with fresh water and to collect enough extra to give clean water to the horse as well. The streams would probably still be polluted by the blood.
She didn’t talk to Erebus much, but it was still a comfort to have him there. With his disguise, he almost looked entirely human, so there was the unspoken reassurance of knowing he was there to talk to if the silence became too much. He didn’t seem to want to talk, though. Mostly, he seemed lost in his own thoughts, and Mercy was glad to keep it that way. She needed time to think of a way to convince the others not to attack the beast men, and if she could just get her father to listen, she was starting to form a plan.
Mercy was already missing the herb roasted pheasant by the third night, when it was down to dried food rations and water. She did manage to kill a rabbit and cooked a good stew, using some of the fresh water and boiling up the dried rations into something less chewy along with the meat. She even used a little salt to make the stew something special. Salt was a rare commodity imported from the salt flats of the desert, but apparently Pyron had more than enough money to spend. Mercy silently vowed that she would make it up to him one day. Even if Pyron was wealthy, his generosity had more than touched her. If it wasn’t for him and Beryl, she wouldn’t even be alive long enough to warn her village. That was a debt that she intended to repay as well.
Erebus fed on her every other evening. Just as she started to feel less exhausted, it seemed he was ready for another ration of her blood. What he took didn’t make her too tired to hunt or to travel, so she knew he was keeping his end of the bargain. She had a feeling that he was probably feeling the same way, tired from being unable to fully satiate his thirst.
The third night he fed on her hand, but by the fifth night when he needed to feed again, she realized that the wound would never heal if he continued to reopen it. It was also starting to look infected. So, she let him feed on the back of her neck instead. As he did, a strange tingle ran down her spine, giving her the sensation that he was kissing her. It made her very uncomfortable. Erebus seemed to notice.
“If this is bothering you, I could feed on your other hand.”
“No, I’m fine. This will be easier to cover up since my hair is long enough to fall over it. Besides, no offense, but I don’t want to see you feeding on me. Just hurry up and get it over with. We should reach my village by tomorrow morning.”
Erebus paused. “I saw your village on the way to Concord. Are you sure you want to go there? We could bypass it.”
“I take it that means that the rest of my people were forced to abandon the village?”
“Yes.”
“I need to see it. Besides, I have to if I want to track the others.”
Erebus didn’t meet her eyes as he said, “I don’t think you need to see it, but you’re right that you can probably pick up your people’s trail from there.”
Mercy shivered as she felt him lick her neck again.
“Why should I be afraid to see it?”
“It’s just probably worse than you think. Honestly, I have no desire to go there again. I was planning to fly over it on the way back. You’ve smelled it, haven’t you?”
Mercy was glad she wasn’t facing Erebus. She could feel tears welling up in her eyes already. All day, she could smell decay on the winds, the smell of rotten corpses. The villagers wouldn’t have time to bury any of the dead while they were fleeing the village, which probably meant that bodies were still littered across the ground. She didn’t want to picture it yet. She had the feeling that Erebus would be willing to tell her about what he had seen to prepare her if she wanted, but since they were only an hour away that wasn’t what she wanted at all. She would see it for herself soon enough.
Mercy said, “We’ll sleep here tonight and then go in the morning. I’ll have an easier time tracking them down in the daylight.”
She shivered, thinking of the bodies on the ground. Even though she knew better, the thought of the lifeless bodies on the forest floor made her remember the stories that Mender of Spirits used to tell her about restless spirits wandering the earth as ghosts, and forest spirits that became vengeful when the natural balance fell out of place. It took Mercy a moment to realize that Erebus was no longer feeding from her, but his hands were still on her shoulders. She looked back at him, feeling both grateful and repulsed.
He removed his hands and said, “Sorry. You looked pale. I was, well I guess you could say I was getting worried.”
“You were trying to make me feel better. You probably guessed what I was thinking about. I didn’t think you would sympathize with me.”
Erebus shrugged. “You look like you could use some sleep. I’ll take first watch.”
Mercy nodded gratefully and pulled her bedroll closer to the fire, and, even though she wasn’t sure why, she slept closer to where Erebus was sitting.
That evening, Mercy had horrible dreams, where everyone she cared about began to shamble towards the campfire, dead and decaying. Those that still could speak were saying, “Traitor,” in guttural voices, and those that couldn’t were mouthing it. They grabbed Erebus and tore him apart in front of her eyes. She screamed for him, but not before they hoisted her over their heads and began to do the same to her body. She could feel her skin straining as the moving corpses pushed and pulled her in every direction at once. She felt one of them tugging on her arm, pulling it off…
Mercy screamed as Erebus pulled on her shoulder gently again. The expression on his face was similar to the one she had seen on him earlier, when his hands were resting on her shoulders.
When she blinked up at him, he simply said, �
�It’s your turn to keep watch.”
Mercy rubbed her eyes until she could see clearly. The moon was low on the horizon. It would be morning in only a few hours.
“It looks like you stayed up too late already.”
Erebus shrugged. “You needed your sleep, but I thought you might be ready to take your watch.”
“Did I scream that loudly?”
Erebus smiled wryly. “I think you woke up a flock of birds.”
Mercy sighed. “Great. Probably woke up a render too, then.”
“I’ve seen you use that bow. If you did, I think you can handle it. Besides, I doubt they would attack this close to the fire. Wake me up if you need me.”
Mercy kept watch longer than she intended, watching the sunrise. The canopy was so thick around her that she could barely see it, which meant they were closer to the village than she suspected. They would be there within thirty minutes at the longest. Erebus woke up without any assistance from her and began packing up the campsite in silence. She helped him and, as they rode closer to the village, she felt him wrap his arms around her waist.
He asked one more time, “Are you sure.”
She said, curtly, “Yes.”
As they rode into the clearing, Mercy wished she had taken his advice. Destroyed wasn’t the word to describe the remains of her home. It was decimated.
12
A flock of birds took off as Mercy goaded the horse into a run towards the clearing on the forest floor beneath the village. She realized in horror it wasn’t a flock of birds, but a murder of crows. Large ugly buzzards bounced out of the way as well, clumsily trying to take wing but too greedy to fly away entirely. There were at least fifty bodies around her, but as she looked up towards the village, she realized that it was closer to one hundred. Men, women, and children were hanging from the rope bridges, smashed on the ground, and some even seemed to be hung up intentionally, like scarecrows.
She wanted to turn around and take it out on Erebus, to pry his arms away from her and to strangle him until the life left his eyes, but then she saw the members of the bat tribe scattered around. There were probably at least one hundred and fifty of their corpses littered around the village. She hadn’t focused on them at first because she was so busy trying to recognize the bodies of those around her. At first glance she thought they were animals, with their brown, gray, and black colored fur, but the way they were sprawled out in death was far too human.
