by Nancy Gray
Erebus frowned. “We haven’t saved you yet. If I can’t find the spy…”
Mirilee’s grandfather sighed and said, “If you hadn’t stopped them, they would’ve attacked until they found the spy themselves. People would’ve died. Your actions did more than just buy us time; they saved lives. Besides…”
He looked up and stared in the direction of Kylas with a frown slowly forming on his lips. Mirilee shook her head and Mercy could feel her worry and dread as her grandfather stared at him. Kylas was tending to the animals, brushing the fur of the horses and strapping feed bags to them. He was also carrying a metal bucket of raw meat for the desert striders, feeding them long strips and checking them for injuries while they were eating.
Her grandfather turned, put a hand on Mirilee’s shoulder and said, “I’m sure the spy will do the honorable thing when the time comes. In the meantime, if either of you need anything, ask for Josiah. I’m glad to serve those who help my people.”
As soon as Josiah was out of sight, Mirilee buried her face in her hands. Mercy put a comforting hand on her shoulder, but she noticed that a tear was rolling down Mirilee’s cheek. Mirilee brushed it away as quickly as she could.
“If my grandfather knows, Kylas had better come forward soon. Grandfather is the leader of this encampment. He usually shows some leniency, but Kylas has already been in so much trouble…”
Erebus frowned. “So, Kylas is the spy?”
“Yes, but please, don’t tell my grandfather. At least give him a chance to come forward and confess.”
“He’s a friend of yours?” Erebus asked, looking into the reflection of the blood in his cup.
Mirilee seemed glad he wasn’t looking at her. “Yes. We’ve been best friends for years.”
Erebus ate a piece of bread and muttered between bites. “Then, I can’t very well turn him over to the Stealer Wings. Come to think of it, they didn’t ask me to.”
Mercy frowned. “Yes they did. They said you needed to bring him to them.”
Erebus grinned. “Exactly. They didn’t say I had to let them punish him. They want me to bring him to them, so I will. However, since they didn’t request I give him over to them as a prisoner, that wasn’t part of the original agreement.”
“But you’re not in a blood pact with them, Erebus. I don’t think arguing semantics is going to work.”
“Actually, I think it will. I might not be in a blood pact with them, but let’s just say that the peace agreement between our tribes is sealed in blood. There has to be a way that we can work this out without Kylas having to die.”
Mirilee sighed. “But, we can’t work it out without him being exiled from the tribe either way. My grandfather has to act this time, or the others won’t respect him. They’ll think he’s doing a favor for me if he lets him stay.”
Mercy watched as Kylas crossed the encampment with a look of determination on his face. He was looking at the top of one of tallest tents in the center of the encampment and glancing around, as though trying to figure out if it was a good enough spot that he could see everyone around him. She closed her eyes and tried to single out what he was feeling from the jumble of emotions in the encampment. She felt guilt again but also determination, anxiety, and a feeling of resolution. It was the emotional state of someone about to admit to a crime, and Mercy had felt it from him before.
“Mirilee, you need to stop him. I think he’s about to confess.”
“Good, he needs to confess to my grandfather.”
Erebus struggled for a moment, standing up. “Not to your grandfather, to the entire encampment.”
Mirilee jumped up. “What?”
Kylas was climbing to the top of the tent, using the supports and the lizard scales for grip. Mercy was surprised by his impeccable balance. He stood there and banged a long spoon on the bottom of the metal bucket until the entire group was looking at him. Mirilee waved and tried to get his attention shaking her head vehemently, but he didn’t see her in time.
He cleared his throat and said, “Everyone, I have an announcement to make. I know who the spy is, and I’ve convinced him to turn himself in.”
Muttering voices fluttered through the camp like migrating butterflies. Everyone seemed excited and hopeful at once, but there was also a hint of anger in their tones as well.
Mirilee whispered, “Kylas, what are you playing at?”
“He’s agreed to give himself over to the Stealer Wings in exchange for telling you why he did what he did and what he discovered while he was there.”
Erebus’ eyes got wide and some of the blood sloshed from his cup as his hands began to shake. “Not good. We have to stop him now!”
Someone in the crowd said, “We’ll hear him out. Where is he?”
“Look no further. I’m the one the Stealer Wings were looking for, and I’m ready to face the consequences of my actions.”
26
The crowd roared with rage, and Mercy was afraid they were going to topple the tent that he was standing on to reach him. He stood staring straight ahead and a smile was spreading across his face. Mercy could feel the guilt melting away from him like the mirages from the Glass Dunes, while Erebus’ emotions were pushing against her so strongly it was almost a physical sensation. He was on the verge of panic.
“You promised to hear me out. I have news that involves all of you. The Stealer Wings have hidden a terrible secret from us. I witnessed it firsthand.”
Kylas paused, waiting for the noise to subside and for the tension to build as his audience waited to hear his secret. Kylas’ eyes locked with Josiah. Erebus glanced around him for a moment, frantic, as though he was looking for something.
Mercy grabbed him by the shoulder and turned him to face her. “Erebus, what’s wrong?”
“We have to stop him from speaking. He’s going to get the others killed.”
Erebus stared up at Kylas and then hurled his cup of blood far harder than Mercy thought possible in his weakened state. The cup sailed end over end towards Kylas’ head and yet, somehow, he didn’t see it coming. The cup hit him in the forehead with a thick thumping sound and what remained of its contents poured across Kylas’ face. He gasped in surprise, wiping the liquid away and staring in horrified fascination as his hands came back bloody.
Kylas looked down at Erebus and Mercy could feel his fright as he said, “Shadow demon!”
Erebus turned and stalked away behind Josiah’s tent. Kylas stared after him for a full minute before he prepared to continue his speech, but that was when the tendrils of blood dripping down his face seemed to take on a life of their own. Mercy had never seen anything like it. The blood seemed to levitate away from his face for a moment, moving in patterns that made it look like a trio of red liquid snakes snapping at his eyes. Kylas screamed in horror and took a step back. It was just enough to send him toppling from the roof of the tent and into the crowd below. Mirilee screamed and rushed forward.
The blood around Kylas became inanimate again, but he was rolling around on the ground and screaming. “Get them off! Please, please get them off!”
Mirilee took a rag from her pouch and wiped the blood away from his face and said, “There’s nothing on you, Kylas, just a little blood. Are you okay? Nothing’s broken?”
“I’m sore, and I think I twisted my ankle, but I’m okay.”
Josiah stepped forward. “I’m glad you’re not hurt, Kylas, but you did just confess to being the spy. I’m afraid we’re going to have to restrain you.”
“I understand. I wasn’t going to run away.”
Mercy ran behind Josiah’s tent. Erebus looked sickly again. His skin was pale, cold, and clammy, and he was gasping for breath. He looked like a man who had run for miles without a break. He glanced at Mercy and wheezed something that she didn’t catch.
“The blood snakes. That was you.”
He nodded. Mirilee strode around the corner of the tent. She took one look at Erebus and then rushed forward, slapping him hard across the face
. He glared at her but didn’t say anything.
Mercy was about to protest, but Mirilee spoke before she could say a word. “You could’ve gotten him killed. He could’ve broken his neck. You knew how important he is to me, but you nearly killed him. Do you even care?”
Erebus said in between tired gasps, “Of course I do. I didn’t do that to kill him, but if I had let him continue his speech, it would’ve meant the death of the entire encampment.”
Mercy asked, “What are you talking about?”
“Why do you think the desert beast men want him dead? He saw something that he shouldn’t have seen. If he tells the entire camp what he saw, what do you think the Stealer Wings would do?”
Mirilee whispered, “What could he have seen that would make them attack our entire encampment to keep it a secret?”
Erebus scoffed. “What indeed? Do you really want to know? He said he would tell you.”
Mirilee sighed and said, “I do, but I don’t particularly want to be murdered by beast men.”
Mercy rubbed her eyes, thinking. “They wouldn’t know if just the three of us knew his secret. They aren’t omniscient, are they Erebus?”
“No. There’s a big difference between him telling the entire camp and telling three people. If we find out what he knows, we need to vow never to tell another soul. Whatever the secret is, it’s clearly important enough that anyone who knows it will be in danger.”
Mercy nodded. “Well, for now, I’ve got no one left to tell and I know Mirilee wouldn’t put her family in danger.”
“Of course I wouldn’t. I appreciate that you’re trying to protect my people, Erebus, but I’m not sorry that I hit you. You seem to think the ends justify the means. They don’t.”
Erebus frowned then glanced at Mercy and said, “You might be right, but I did what was necessary. Believe me, if I wanted to kill him, he would be dead.”
“I think you’re bluffing. You’re too weak to pull that trick in the cave, at least, not with this many witnesses.”
Mercy said in a harsh tone, “What does it matter? What’s done is done and while we waste time arguing, Kylas is out there being chained up and possibly telling people what he saw. I’m going to go and check.”
Erebus said in a quiet whisper, “I have a plan, Mirilee. I think we can pull it off without anyone getting hurt. I need to speak to Josiah, and I need you to come with me. Will you?”
“Yes.”
Mercy said, “Good. You talk to Josiah, and I’ll check on Kylas.”
Mercy didn’t wait to hear the details, turning and marching in the direction of the encampment. Thankfully, she saw that tying Kylas up included putting a gag in his mouth. He was tied with his hands behind his back and his legs bound together, and he was lying on his side on the ground. He looked like an animal carcass about to be thrown into a pit to be roasted whole.
She just hoped that they had gagged him before he could tell anyone about the secret that he was hiding. She closed her eyes and tried to sense what the encampment was feeling. Most of the people were angry, but not outraged. Some were disappointed, others slightly sad, but there wasn’t the sense of excitement and concern that she was used to feeling when someone revealed an important or dangerous secret. Kylas glanced in her direction. She slowly walked up to him. She could sense his fear and apprehension. It made her almost feel nauseous.
She whispered to him, “My name is Mercy. I’ve heard your name is Kylas and that you have a knack for getting in trouble. I’m going to take that gag out of your mouth, but if you so much as breathe a word about the beast men in front of all these people, you’ll be sorry. Do we understand each other?”
Kylas nodded and Mercy took the gag from his mouth. A few people glanced at her as though they were worried she might try to release him, but she stood staring at them defiantly. Eventually, they turned away.
Kylas groaned as his jaw audibly popped.
“Thank you. That feels much better. I recognize you from somewhere. Have we met before?”
“I should hope that you do. I was the one that defended you to my people years ago when they caught you trying to steal vitulae eggs.”
“That was you? I’m sorry. I wanted to see if a young enough vitula could adapt to a desert environment. We were running low on strider eggs that year and…”
“That’s not important now. Mirilee and I have decided that we want to know your secret, but I’ve come to warn you not to tell anyone else in the encampment. Erebus thinks if you tell them, the beast men will kill everyone who knows.”
“This concerns every single one of my people.”
“Your secret won’t matter if no one is alive to tell it.”
“What makes him think that you and Mirilee will be safe then? I’m not telling her if it will get her killed, and I already owe you my life.”
Mercy glanced in the direction of Josiah’s tent. Mirilee and Erebus were stepping inside. She could see them talking in hushed tones to Josiah.
“Erebus has a plan. I trust him. He knows how to deal with other beast men since he is one of them.”
“I don’t trust him.”
“You don’t even know him.”
Kylas glanced suspiciously at the tent. “Yes, but I’ve seen the kind of thing hiding in his shadow before. He hasn’t told you, has he?”
Mercy frowned. “What do you mean?”
Kylas smiled wryly. “I see that he hasn’t. Maybe you should ask him about his pet before you trust your life and Mirilee’s to something with a corrupted soul.”
Mercy didn’t know what came over her, but she slapped Kylas hard enough that her fingernails left marks on his face. She glanced at the blood on the tips of her fingers in shock. She had never resorted to violence when someone simply verbally insulted her, and it was frightening how easy it was and how good it made her feel. Mercy glanced at the hand that struck him as though it was a foreign object and then realized it was the same one she had cut when she made the deal with Erebus. It made her wonder if there was something to what Kylas had said after all, but then she remembered why she did it.
Mercy said in a murderous whisper, “Erebus is not a creature, and I won’t have some lowlife thief refer to him as something. His secrets are his own. Right now, he and Mirilee are trying to figure out a way to save your miserable life.”
Mercy glanced in the direction of the command tent to see Mirilee and Erebus coming out. She could feel the same smug feeling from Erebus that she knew meant that his plan was working out. Mirilee’s eyes looked puffy and red, as though she had been crying, but there was no sorrow in her emotions. Her tears were as false as those of a desert dragon, and Mercy could feel her excitement underneath the tragic mask that she was trying to portray.
Erebus cleared his throat loudly and said, “Attention everyone.”
The camp became quiet.
“I wanted to thank you all for your hospitality. You’ve fed me and given me shelter when I needed it the most. I’ve never been shown such kindness, and I’ll never forget it. In return, I feel I owe it to you to do something to help you.”
There was a murmur from the crowd. Several people were loudly proclaiming that they would gladly let Erebus stay as long as he desired and that it was their duty to show hospitality to those that were wandering in the desert. It was as though Erebus’ words were making them bend over backwards to appease him. Mercy was starting to see what Cruor meant about Erebus being able to charm a bird into landing in front of a snake. Something about Erebus’ demeanor did command a certain respect, and everyone was listening to him.
“I have decided that in exchange for all that you’ve done, I’ll make sure that the Stealer Wings allow you to shelter safely in the rocks when the dust storm reaches us. I will take the criminal to them as my captive and beg for them to spare you all in exchange for bringing the man to them as they requested.”
Erebus took a breath and allowed what he was saying to register with the crowd.
One old
woman shouted, “We shouldn’t give anyone over to them!”
The majority of the crowd seemed to be muttering in agreement with Erebus’ proposal. She heard them muttering that Kylas had put them all in danger and that this time he had gone too far. If it meant the protection of the encampment at large, then it would be better for them to sacrifice one man to the wrath of the Stealer Wings.
Mercy heard someone next to her whisper, “Poor Mirilee. She must be heartbroken…”
Mercy nearly laughed aloud but managed to smother the sound before it could escape her lips, masking it as a cough.
Erebus continued. “I know that this might seem like a defeat, but let me assure you, it is not. I will do everything in my power to make sure that Kylas is treated well. If I’m able, I’ll save him from their wrath. If not, either way I won’t let them harm any more of you before we leave to find the source of the blood rain. Mirilee has agreed to accompany me, as well. I feel it only right that she gets to come to plead for her childhood friend, assuming there are no objections.”
There was a somber murmur of agreement.
Erebus concluded by saying, “Thank you, for everything that you’ve done for us.”
The crowd applauded and as Erebus walked forward, several people clapped him on the shoulder and once again began to offer him various things to drink and eat. The camp slowly came to life with music and dancing again, though many of the people avoided even looking at Kylas.
Kylas said quietly, “Yeah, your friend is a real hero to keep the promise he made to the Stealer Wings in the first place.”
Mercy glared at him but didn’t say anything.
Erebus walked in their direction. “I don’t know about you, but I’ve had my fill of eating and dancing for the evening. Mirilee, you get one side of him, and I’ll get the other. It’s time for us to have a nice long chat and then get some rest. The winds are picking up and we need to get up early to outrun that storm.”
27
