How Gods Bleed

by Shane Porteous

  Chapter 14

  Since the very first second Zova had returned and said the terrible truth the group had wanted to stop and allow mourning its time. But they had no other choice but to stay on the move. The advance party Zova had spoken of would have been a part of an army at least 200,000 thousand strong. 200,000 thousand enemies that would now know that Helluvans were in the area. For an army that large to be in such a place they must have been preparing for conflict with another werewolf army at least the same size. At least 400,000 thousand werewolves would soon be in the area and each one of them would think nothing of ripping the Helluvans and the Immortal to pieces.

  They moved non-stop for a total of three days without so much as a single word spoken. As always the Helluvans proved their fitness and toughness for when the group did finally rest, it seemed more to rest their mind than their bodies.

  Upon nightfall they had made camp on highlands with trees protecting them from view on three sides, with multiple paths of retreat in case they were discovered. The first thing that the group did was form two fires, the first was normal and would be used for its light and its warmth. The second fire was much more unique and in many ways important. Placed near the rocky edge of a close ridge, the fire first began by sticks being placed in an unusual pattern, one that did not seem ideal for burning. From there both Gokkus and Zova poured a number of strange powders into the unlit fire, ranging in colours from blue to black. After taking what seemed to be the pedals of strange dead flowers from a jar Imbaka, one by one, allowed them to fall over the unlit fire before Gokkus placed a perfect square of pink powder around the fireplace. Imbaka handed Zova a small item shaped like a rock that did not quite resemble gold and a small knife. Zova held onto the knife and the shape as Hazum Ka-te approached carrying before him a Vorig from Tanagy’s pack. He held the Vorig across both hands with the care of holding a newborn baby. He knelt down beside Gokkus and placed the Vorig into the heart of the unlit fire, laying it down carefully. Zova held her breath as she took the shape and held it over the unlit fire. She cut down upon the shape with the knife cutting it perfectly in two. They all watched as the pieces of the shape fell onto the fire and immediately it lit up, like some great breath from the underground. It was the colour of a dark purple and was eerily beautiful to look upon. There was also a pleasant scent that Cada Varl could not smell coming from the purple fire. The Immortal had never seen anything quite like it or the equally as eerie green smoke that rose off of it. With hand gestures not words Imbaka told Cada Varl to kneel with her alongside the others. They all sat in silence watching the beautiful flames burn.

  This was a funeral ritual that took place when the body wasn’t available to look over. The dead flowers were called Nisos and according to legend were grown straight from the afterlife into the world of the living. They along with several of the powders were to ensure that the flames would burn into the afterlife and carry with them the Vorig, so it could be given to Tanagy. To ensure that the Vorig had made it to the other side the group had to wait for the flames to burn out on their own and check the remains. If not a trace of the Vorig was found than that meant that Tanagy had found the weapon in the afterlife. If remains were found then he would have to do the Black Wandering unarmed. The group had to remain silent so that the angry spirits who would stop the Vorig’s passage couldn’t hear them and then know of what they were doing.

  The pink powder made into a square on the outside of fire was Bururu, a mixture of things that only the angry spirits could smell and were afraid of. It was a hauntingly beautiful thing to be a part of but there was no joy in such a ritual (nor should there have been). Apart from its smell, smoke and colour the funeral fire had something else different to the normal campfire, it burnt a lot quicker.

  After about an hour of staring into it, its flames had weakened considerably. A harsh wind then picked up that moved across the fire and distinguished it completely. The wind then vanished with the flames almost as if the very gods themselves had summoned it for this specific task. Not so much as embers were left and if the fire place was still hot Imbaka showed no sign of it. Carefully she looked through the remains of the fire looking for any sign of the Vorig. Cada Varl could soon see that there was no trace but didn’t know if he was allowed to yet talk. The softest of smiles appeared on the face of Imbaka vanishing almost immediately after it appeared.

  The group now stood up keeping their heads lowered in mourning. As they had done with Leannol they silently mouthed the last words they wanted to say to Tanagy. As he had said over the body of Leannol he said sorry to Tanagy for not being there, for not doing something to avoid all of this. He knew that he couldn’t speak with the other Helluvans about it, but he felt incredibly guilty for the deaths of both Tanagy and Leannol.

  When everyone else had finished their messages Hazum Ka-te was still mouthing words and the rest of the group wanted patiently for him to finish. They all moved slowly away from where the purple once was, soon the winds would carry off what remained and there would be no trace left of it. Hazum Ka-te moved the slowest out of all of them as they sat around the campfire.

  Seemingly out of nothing more than instinct the group ate a meal though none of them felt hungry. In place of cooking some kind of stew or meat the Helluvans ate dried biscuits called Juiasede. Taste wise they were terrible but would give the group all the protein and energy they had lost over the last several days. The group ate slowly and silently, as their minds remained heavy with the loss of both Tanagy and Leannol. Like with Leannol’s death their sadness was genuine, Helluv may have lost two of its greatest warriors, but these Helluvans had lost two of their closest friends. Though the ritual was now long over the group had remained silent the entire time, allowing the winds and other soft sounds of night to roam freely through the darkness.

  After more than three days of not saying a single word, Imbaka spoke, “How many of them do you think Tanagy killed?” Her voice matched her eyes, heavy with sadness. Slowly she looked to everyone else around the fire ensuring that they knew it was an open question.

  Hazum Ka-te answered her after several moments, staring into the burning fire he said, “A number too high for any of those damn creatures could count to.” His eyes then shone in such a way as to reveal many thoughts were struggling to be heard in his mind. He glanced up to the sky and saw that the moon was nowhere to be found on this night almost as if Elfanya was too afraid to show her face to the Helluvans. He glanced back to the flames as he said, “ He would have given his swords a new coating of blood, that is a good thing for they were starting to fade.”

  To an outsider such a comment may have seemed strange but the other Helluvans showed no sign that they felt it so. Something was stirring in the mind of Hazum Ka-te, something that only he completely knew. “Imagine dead rotting corpses on all sides of you, slain foes that are a sign of what is going to happen to the enemies still not dead. Can you imagine the fear in the beasts’ eyes?” Imbaka and Zova slowly nodded now understanding what Hazum Ka-te was thinking of. They may have been mourning their loss but they were a warrior people, from a warrior country who had devoted their lives to killing werewolves.

  Ultimately to a Helluvan there were few better ways to die than in battle against their hated enemy. “Those beasts that survived against Tanagy would envy their dead brethren, knowing that they were other Helluvans in the area…he made sure that the werewolves knew of his power and made them regret ever crossing his path.” Hazum Ka-te may have been staring into the fire but his focus was upon his own thoughts. It was almost as if Hazum Ka-te was thinking up a story, the legend of Tanagy’s last stand. No, that was exactly what he was doing. He had always been close to Tanagy and Cada Varl was sure that he had had played a major part in shaping Tanagy into the man he was. Hazum Ka-te wanted to solidify Tanagy, not just in his own memory, or in the memory of Helluv but the memory of history. Tanagy had earned his title of the Abider through countless battles against the werewolf, h
e deserved to have legends spoken about him and Hazum Ka-te would make sure of that.

  Silence returned and the air remained thick with mourning but there was a lining to it, a small ray of warmth as Hazum Ka-te placed the legend together in his own mind. Finally and if only for a moment Hazum Ka-te smiled, showing without words he had finished the legend in his own mind. The group listened intently as Hazum Ka-te told his story, emotions may have been high but even if the other Helluvans had never met Tanagy they would be completely immersed in the story. Hazum Ka-te proved himself to be a hell of a storyteller and when he had said the last word the entire group including Cada Varl bore a serious smile. In perhaps the strangest of ways the entire thing had been an effective coping exercise to deal with Tanagy’s death. The group may have stayed silent for another hour, but it no longer felt so heavy.

  Tanagy’s death did more than make them sad it reminded them of something. Though there was no blame to be had Tanagy had ultimately died because he had allowed his emotion to get the better of him. Helluvans may have deserved their reputation as fearless, highly skilled warriors commanded by a king that monsters feared, but they were still human. Emotion was a powerful thing, it could be the most admirable quality humans possessed, but it also could cloud their judgment. Tanagy’s death did not change the fact that there was a reason why they were so far west and if anything only reminded them of their goals. If they were to fail not only would Helluv stand to fall, but also the deaths of Tanagy and Leannol would be for nothing. Dying pointlessly was perhaps the worst way to die and with this notion filling their thoughts Gokkus spoke,

  “I wonder just how far west we are?”

  It was the man dressed in black’s attempt to get the group to focus on the task at hand. Everyone did not look around to the trees and paths around them but rather to the night above. The moon may have been nowhere to be seen but the stars were out in full as if they were trying to compensate for the absence of Elfanya. When silence had stayed far too long the group looked upon Imbaka who kept her head raised.

  As if she could feel their eyes upon her she said, “ I cannot find a star that I recognize.”

  Though the ramifications of her words were great her voice remained clear, tainted only slightly by mourning. The group looked up the night sky, aiding Imbaka as best they could to find some sense of direction. They all knew that if Imbaka couldn’t find a recognizable star then they wouldn’t be able to, nevertheless that did not stop them from trying. When Imbaka finally lowered her head the others knew to stop searching. Cada Varl kept his head raised a fraction longer than the others, realizing just how alien the sky looked and reminding him of just how far from Helluv the group was.

  Effectively they were lost, such a fact felt like another rock placed onto a pile that sat upon their chests. For all the danger the west had provided to the group it now showed it possessed yet another knife to hold at their throats. The group could have remained around the fire asking each other questions that they knew no one could answer, or they could do the practical thing.

  Not long after they had lowered their heads Gokkus had stood up and using a stick took embers from the fire. Tanagy had usually performed such a task but sadly it was something he could no longer do. Unlike Tanagy Gokkus took great care in creating the rectangles of embers like he was doing it in tribute to his fallen friend.

  When the group laid within the rectangle preparing for slumber Cada Varl could not help but think just how troublesome their sleep was going to be. Tanagy’s death, the fact they were utterly lost in a hostile land and that Leannol’s death still had not left them were perfect ingredients for creating nightmares. It could only be imagined what kind of nightmares haunted the dreams of such brave people. When Cada Varl said goodnight to them no one responded with words, they all simply waved their hands before becoming still and silent.

  As he had done every night when the group had made camp the Immortal stood guard over the Helluvans. He peered out to the darkness the night had to offer making sure enemies were not close. For the time being he saw no sign of movement and his vision was soon drawn to where the ritual fire had taken place. He walked over to it and noticed that there was now no trace of its existence, only a memory. Cada Varl looked beyond the ridgeline and could see fields were ten or so feet below it. He looked out into the fields unsure exactly of what he was looking for (apart from enemies). He thought about the last time he had seen the Abider and how quickly everything had changed seemingly in moments. He felt guilty over his death even though he knew that even with his powers he would not have been able to defeat 5,000 werewolves.

  To a simple or greedy man, Cada Varl’s powers may have been seen as a blessing. There were countless kings who would have done anything to possess such powers to rule over their kingdoms unchallenged. But for all of his power it still wasn’t great enough to change the world, to correct the mistakes, to absolve his sin. Emotion and reason or rather the memory of them clashed violently inside of him as he continued to stare upon the fields. No human had walked through them in thousands of years, a fact that Cada Varl was responsible for. The continent of Noonsva was what was because of him; he was horribly aware of this fact. He was also aware of how many lives he had destroyed, how many families had died or become monsters because of him. It was a figure too high to count but one that would make genocide look unremarkable.

  He looked back to the sleeping Helluvans, noticing that the rectangle Gokkus had forged was large enough for two more bodies to lay in. Leannol and Tanagy may have been dead but they were far from forgotten in the minds of the Helluvans. They seemed to have fallen asleep and showed no visible sign of trouble in the land of slumber. Cada Varl had never stopped admiring these humans and in many ways he was jealous of them. With all that had happened they had still managed to fall asleep unsure of what the following day would bring. Cada Varl looked away from them remembering his duty. He looked back out into the night demanding of himself not to let any more of them die. He had already broken his Gyu to Granzool twice, he wanted to make sure it did not happen a third time.