“Shya, stop pulling on the rope and I’ll go to the boat,” I yelled up.
She gave one hard yank and we were both airborne. I screamed until there was no more air in my lungs. I was hanging looking down at everyone that was getting smaller the higher she took me. I was so scared that I couldn’t find the will to flip myself over and grab hold of the rope, and yet too afraid not to. My body dropped and she dove back toward the earth. My stomach ended up in my throat as I found the air to scream again as my arms and legs tried to fly. The rope yanked and my head collided with my knees, knocking me wobbly for a few seconds; long enough to see the others waving their arms and yelling at her to bring me back down. My body started making small bouncing movements as her wings moved up and down, lowering me closer to the two small boats that were dizzily moving around a few yards from the ship.
Shyanna flapped her wings and the rope snapped. I think I made a few sounds, maybe more like whimpers, then grabbed a breath as I hit the water sideways. I went under spinning, wrapping the rope around me. I let myself sink and began untangling myself enough to pull my blade and cut the thing off my waist. I slid my blade back in place and went to push myself up to the surface, when a dark figure crashed in on top of me and yanked me clean out of the water. I had to be ten feet down. Shyanna had me chest to chest with her arm locked tightly around my back. “Me’om’s okay, me’s got’s you’s.”
“Thank you, sweetie. Can you please put me’s in the boat now?”
“Thought I was going to have to get wet for a minute there,” Jacob called out.
“I’m ready to call it a night,” I said looking back…and down. Derek was being pulled back into the boat; it seemed he had gone in after me.
Shyanna lowered us and then gently set me in Cates’ arms. He had taken Tammy’s place and began checking me from head to toe to make sure I wasn’t broken up in places that couldn’t be seen. I got in my own seat, touching my face and cringing at the feel of the stuff that stayed put and was now slimy. “No need to worry, you’ll still be wanted by all the men where we’re going.” I’m more than sure that everyone on the ship could hear Cates’ grunt as I planted my elbow firmly in his ribcage.
***
We made our way from the shore to Kedel’s home. It was a one story dwelling that sat back in the woods and off on its own, where you could see the lights of a group of homes several yards away. The three men headed for them and we went in the house with Kedel. The door opened as she stepped up and a little man greeted her, helping her up and hugging her as soon as she was inside.
“Papa, this is Renee, the one Jacob spoke of and she has a surprise for you.” Then she stepped to the side and held out her arm for us to enter.
I moved in and Shyanna took a few steps then hopped before standing up beside me. “Awe…Teekie, you have come to see us?” Then he too, walked right up to her. She giggled and placed her hand along his. He wasn’t as deformed as his wife, but the disease had taken its toll on him as well. He had one arm bound to his body and both of his legs looked badly misshapen. He had a large amount of tissue eaten away from the lower half of his face. It went from the center of his neck to the top of his upper lip, leaving some areas around the left side of his jaw so badly eaten away, that you could see the teeth that were once hidden. As for the rest of his face he looked very much like the rest of us, other than a few overly large growths that were oddly placed; one by his nose, one on his right eye brow, and three grouped together on his right cheek in front of his ear.
“Kedel, offer our guests something to eat. Please, have a seat. I’m Samuel, but everyone just calls me Sam.”
“Would you like some hot tea, maybe some meat for your…” Kedel paused, raising her hand and pointing at the two large wolves at our backs. “I’m sure we could find something.”
“We fed on the ship, but thank you for offering,” I replied, taking a seat on the wooden bench next to a small sofa.
“We will send two of our people in with you. They will show you how to reach Annanothra’s home. It looks much like the rest of the forest and she likes to keep it that way just in case someone gets any kind of ideas. It’s what lies underneath her home, that you may find this Caden.”
“So, she has taken in his kind before?” I asked.
“Many! Most never leave the confinements of her underground lair. If Caden can make her believe that he is trying to bring her news to save her and her people from the likes of you, no offence…” Samuel looked over at us.
“None taken, Sam” Jacob said glancing at me.
“Anyway, she will let him live.”
“With a little bite to secure his loyalty,” Kedel added, walking back into the room.
“Caden holds no loyalty to anyone but himself,” Cates said moving in from the back of the others. “Even if she lays her mark on him, he will turn and stab her in the back the first chance that he gets.”
“If you ask me, I think we should let them just do each other in,” Sydney blurted out.
“Where’s the fun in that?” Derek asked, getting all of our attention.
“Now you say something?” Sydney smiled looking back at him. “You’re really looking forward to going in there aren’t you?”
“We’re here to go in and take out Caden, that’s it,” I interjected.
“Unless, those who live there choose to attack us,” Cates added.
I’m sure we would have had more to say about it, but a knock came at the door and two men stammered in. It was the only way to describe how they moved. Neither stood with a straight back and both were grossly deformed from the leprosy. Sam introduced us and we began planning our way to, Blad Valley. While the men went over the maps of the last known area of Annanothra’s community, Kedel, added more nasty stuff to my face and hair. It seemed that she thought my falling in the water took off too much of the work that she had put in on making me ugly.
CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT
Within the next hour we were all in two boats making our way around Gardiners Island, and headed for Water’s Mill. Cates, Sydney, and Garvin rode in the boat with the two that were leading the way; the rest of us took the other. Shyanna played with the passing water getting a face full every once in a while, causing the boat to rock because she would throw herself back when the cold sensation hit her. She had tried a few times to take to the air, but with a good, solid, new rope from Sam and Kedel, she wasn’t going to get too far. At least not without me firmly attached.
It felt like half the night slipped away before the boat came to a stop on the rocky shore. The woods were dark and no sounds came from them, not even the sounds of the night insects. Jacob jumped out of our boat first, while Cates landed in front of the one he was in. I noticed the looks of confusion and knew they were wondering the same thing that I was. Our lives were nothing but the night, and not hearing what we normally heard, no matter how small, was a bit unnerving. Cates took a few steps then became like a giant statue, scanning the night for anything and everything that might look like trouble.
“It’s way too quiet,” Garvin whispered.
“There’s always something making noise, but I haven’t even heard a bird take off from the trees,” Sydney added, leaning into Garvin.
“Get into the tree lines, we’ll figure things out after we get out of sight,” Jacob said, pulling the boat up on the shore.
We rushed into the cover of the trees and waited for Jacob and Cates to join us. The two men with us kept watching the woods at our backs as if something or someone was going to come out at any moment. I was beginning to wonder the same thing myself. It was just too eerie standing on the edge of a forest and not hearing any of the sounds that normally come from one. Jacob and Cates ran in and told us to move and took off into the thick growth. Shyanna was unusually quiet and moved without hesitation, hopping and sprinting with her thin legs, keeping up with our speed. Jacob finally stopped at the opening of a clearing and put his hand up stopping us in our tracks.
; “Scabs,” he whispered.
“What?” Derek whispered back.
“Scabs,” Cates replied. “Diseased creatures that hunt any and all for a good meal. We must go around.”
“How can they eat breeders? Most of us turn to ash when we die,” I asked, coming up beside Cates.
“True, but she does not, nor do these two. I believe we have found the reason that the forest has become so quiet,” Cates explained.
“Let’s go,” I demanded, thinking of Shyanna.
“Watch the trees, these creatures are crafty and will stop at nothing to have a good, warm meal,” Jacob explained.
The wind picked up and brought their scent in our direction. It was worse than the smell of rotting from death, telling me that they didn’t take the time to cook the meat in which they killed. Shyanna seemed to know that they were a bad bunch, because she stayed as low to the ground as she could. The others moved in silence keeping the two that we brought in between them. They moved much slower and made more noise than we did, but seemed to know the importance of getting as far away from the Scabs as possible. The two showed us a place in the earth where they had taken others like us to stay the day, and with as long as it had taken us to get this far it looked like we would need it.
They started moving the brush that was covering a small opening, so small that we had to get down on our knees to crawl through. Cates was having the hardest time. Once in we were able to stand up in the small carved tunnel that led into a bigger area, much like a cave going even further back into an even larger cave that had a pit in the middle of the floor. The one that was leading us through, didn’t have a problem finding his way around with no lights, but the other one was holding the side of the wall, feeling his way. The deeper we went, the more it became harder for us to see, so we stayed close to the one leading us.
“Stay, I light,” the one in the lead said.
We did as he asked until the glow of the fire invited us in the low ceiling cave, which looked like it was hand dug and not created by nature. Jacob and Cates made sure we were all settled in and then took off to make certain that we were going to be safe while we waited in slumber for the sun to set. The ones that brought us here swore no others knew of this place, that their people made this when they first came to this country, to protect them from the eyes of the people who passed this land. The one that spoke was the same that had taken the lead. The other never spoke at all.
“They call me, Hoop and he is known as, Jack,” Hoop said poking the now blazing fire.
“Why doesn’t he talk?” Garvin asked taking a seat by the fire.
“He has no tongue,” Hoop replied, squatting next to Garvin. “It was cut out by one of your kind many years ago.”
“That’s why fear rolls off him every time he looks at me,” Derek said, walking up.
“It is,” Hoop replied, looking up at him.
“Then why send him?” Derek asked in an angry tone.
“Samuel knew they would be watching for it, and he was the one who held the most fear when it came to your kind.”
“So, he sends a man who is scared to death of us?” I asked with more than shock in my voice.
“The one you seek will know you are what you claim to be if you have a few fearful slaves under your rule. You yourself go in as a slave and should seek a memory that would put fear on your skin.”
Derek walked back over to the furthest corner and squatted down, pulling his hood up over his head and waited for the coming dawn. Jacob walked through first, followed by Cates who was dragging the corpse of one of the things they had called, Scabs. It was undeniably the ugliest thing that I had ever seen. It had no appearance of ever being a human man. If it weren’t for the jagged teeth jutting out, I’m not sure that I would have even known it was the creature’s mouth. Crust, is the only word that I could use to describe the look of its skin. Dark, dried peeling hunks of rotting flesh, was all that claimed its face, hands, and feet. No hair on the deformed scull, but the nails on its twisted hands were as black as Shyanna’s and just as long. I had no desire to know what it looked like under the rags that it wore. He dragged it around the cave then pushed its body back through the small opening. He came back in with smoke rising off of his back.
“The sun faces the entrance. If any of his kind comes this way they will think it has already been explored by the scent.”
“How can you be sure?” I asked, lying over on my side by the fire.
“Can you not smell his filth?” Jacob asked, sitting down on the other side of the fire.
“It’s a trick I learned when I fought to survive in a snow storm. I was a young man back then, and was being tracked by a pack of starving wolves. One, the leader, or the most hungry stayed closest to my trail. He braved coming in the entrance of the cave that I had crawled into to shelter myself from the harsh wind that was freezing the very flesh on my face. I hid behind a boulder as he smelled the earth. My fire had no effect on stopping him from coming to the aroma of the blood on my worn feet. Once he was past the flames I stepped out, he growled, bending his back legs readying himself for the leap. I dropped my sword and took him before he could move. I held his neck in my hands as he snapped at me with slime filled jaws, biting me several times until his body went limp,” Cates explained as he laid down on his back stretching out by Jacob.
“What happened?” I asked.
“I ate him, and wear his coat to this day. I spread his urine in front of the cave and watched as his clan of hungry mates wondered by. Please, do not ask me to explain how I concurred that,” he smiled then closed his eyes.
“I think I’ll let you keep that piece of information to yourself.” Then I too closed my eyes.
“I too have never asked,” Jacob crossed his arms and then he too closed his eyes.
***
The following night we made sure we all had our weapons within easy reach, then made our way out of the cave. Hoop took the lead once we were out. He and his mute companion moved quickly through the trees, keeping low to the ground when they had to run in between a group of trees that were spread too far apart. Shyanna didn’t make a sound, and ran with the speed needed to keep up with me. I had the rope wrapped around my arm to keep either one of us from tripping. Sydney stayed on one side of me and Garvin stayed close to my other. Derek stayed in the shadows with our wolf friends several feet behind us making sure nothing came at us from the back. Jacob and Cates ran neck and neck making sure to stay a good ten yards away from the ones who led our way. The moon was topping the trees and lighting the ground more than we would have liked, it was becoming impossible to hide while we ran through the shadows that were quickly disappearing.
Hoop slowed up ahead and waved his hand toward the east. I couldn’t see anything as I came to a stop, but Shyanna was hopping up and down looking in the direction that he was pointing. Derek moved past me like a streak of lightning and stopped next to Jacob, then headed into the woods at our back. I looked at Jacob and raised my hand. He shook his head then looked back in the direction that everyone else was looking. I moved in closer, having to pull Shyanna along, telling her to be quiet every few seconds. For the life of me I couldn’t see anything but what the forest offered; trees, shrubbery, vines, and then I saw movement by a mound of bushes. I took a few more steps then saw the glow of the fire that was under some kind of hooded shelter that also hid the fact that it was there. The next time I saw movement I realized that it was a man wearing the same colors of his surroundings.
“Blad Alley,” Hoop said, still pointing.
“I see it, but there’s only one man,” I whispered.
“This is only the gateway, and it all looks like this. You never know what will move right next to you,” Jacob claimed, pulling his cape over his shoulders.
“It’s a hard place to read,” Sydney said squeezing the handle on his club that he pretended to be a cane.
“She will know if you are using your thoughts, blank your mind and try to keep it
clear,” Cates gruffly whispered grabbing his arm. “You do not want the likes of these beasts in your mind.”
“You can remove you hand from my brother, Cates. He is no child and a simple explanation would have been enough,” Garvin said stepping in between him and Sydney.
Garvin pushed his self up on his toes and leaned into Cates. “I was once told by a great man named Bo that, the bigger they are the harder they fall.” It was the first time that I had heard any form of laughter from Derek. He snickered a short burst, then hid it. Cates gave Garvin a half smile and a mocking bow, and then walked away. Sydney shook his head looking back at me, then went and sat on a fallen log, turning his eyes to the ground. Garvin standing up for him out of pride being his maker had hurt his pride of being a man that should have stood up for himself.
“I think we need Sydney more than we need brute strength. He’s the only one that can tell us anything about what’s in there and you tell him to stop thinking,” I added turning to Sydney. “Can you tell how many non-breeders are in there?”
“I can tell you that there are several different kinds,” he said standing back up. “It’s strange, I can feel Fala and Koi in my head all the time, but the ones like them on the other side are far different, yet look much the same.”
About that time two men came out of the woods on the other side from where we were hunkered down. One was a breeder, the other a being with a deformity much like the lepers, only he smelled of rotting flesh. The moment the wind blew his scent our way, I knew why we stood on this side of the opening. My father had taught me that when he took me hunting, but it never occurred to me how much I would need it until I became a bloodbreeder. I looked back and saw a count of six figures standing where I had only seen two before. Jacob was right, we were indeed going to have to keep our eyes open, and I did ever since then. Three creatures came in behind the two men and knocked them to the ground.
“We go in now. Stay low to the ground, remember you are trying to be one of them,” Jacob said, coming up beside me then moved out.
Bloodbreeders: Seeking Others Page 28
