Nester contorted his face. “‘Seestor’?”
Kaijin chuckled. “I think he means ‘sister’.”
Aidan looked at them, bemused. “That is what Aidan said!”
“Nevermind.” Kaijin waved his hand dismissively. “So you have no recollections of your origins whatsoever?”
Aidan shrugged. “Aidan lived with Master and White Lotus monks all his life. That is only family Aidan ever knew.”
“But surely, they are not your real family, no?”
“Well, that all depends,” Nester broke in. “What if th’ White Lotus monks were really terrabeasts in disguise?”
Kaijin groaned. “Not this again!”
Aidan shook his head. “Aidan is pretty sure monks were all human. Even Master was human.”
“Well, it was worth a try, at least,” Nester said, shrugging.
Aidan looked at Kaijin more seriously. “Does it trouble you that Aidan looks so strange to you?”
Kaijin bowed his head. He chewed on his bottom lip. Finally, he met Aidan’s gaze again. “Yes. Yes, it does, actually. I want to know why the city does not fear you. Hells, why do the children not fear you? You can easily kill a man with one of those fists of yours!”
Aidan grimaced. “No, Aidan does not like violence.”
“’Ave you ever killed a man before, Aidan?” Nester asked.
“Violence solves nothing. It only ends up in someone getting hurt.” To Aidan’s relief, his dodge satisfied Kaijin and Nester.
“I find it insulting,” Kaijin said with a huff. “Strange, intimidating, outlandish creatures are allowed in Faywald, but human mages who come in peace are not? Do the guards even know what you are?”
Aidan shrugged.
“You seem very nonchalant about this,” Kaijin continued. “Don’t you have enemies?”
Aidan shrugged again. “Aidan would like to get along with everyone and live in peace. Sometimes worst enemies become best friends.”
“True, but—”
“’Ey, Kaijin,” Nester interrupted. “’Ave you ever stopped to think that maybe Aidan’s just a seriously deformed ’uman?”
Kaijin raised his eyebrow at the thought. “Perhaps. You may be right. Though, Aidan looks like something that would defy even the laws of nature.”
Aidan tapped his chin in thought. “Aidan recalled monks once saying he was different from normal child because when he was four years old he was already almost as tall as Master. And, well ... Aidan never stopped growing....”
Kaijin gasped. “Don’t tell me you’re still growing!”
Aidan chuckled softly. “No, no. Aidan thinks he is done growing. He has been same size for long time.”
In unison, Kaijin and Nester exhaled deep sighs.
Aidan turned back around and continued walking, hiding his smile. Their curiosity amused him; he usually got such questions from children rather than adults. But even he wasn’t sure of his origins—something he hoped to learn as he journeyed.
* * *
Their brisk walk continued well into evening. Nester strayed from the main road and led Kaijin and Aidan along a scenic path, which snaked through a forest of towering black walnut trees. Along the narrow trail, patches of brightly colored wildflowers grew.
“This is quite a walk,” Aidan said, “but it is very relaxing. Thank you for letting Aidan come along.”
Nester looked back and beamed at the giant, mischief hinting his eyes. “No problem, mate! It’s fun walkin’ together, aye?”
“Why, yes, it is, actually. Makes Aidan feel young again.”
“Young?” Kaijin blinked. He couldn’t spot a single wrinkle on Aidan’s scaly face. “Just how old are you, anyway, Aidan?”
“Yeah,” Nester added. “If I wasn’t mistaken, you were playin’ with children in th’ city earlier.”
Aidan smiled blissfully. “Ah, yes, the children. Aidan loves children. They are not afraid of him like adults are.” He acknowledged Kaijin’s question. “Aidan does not know how old he is .... Fifteen? Twenty-five?” He shrugged. “Whatever age, Aidan always feels like little boy again when he plays with children.”
It was Kaijin’s turn to smile. “You did look like you were having fun back there. I hope one day you will be able to learn about yourself.”
“If Aidan is meant to know, then, in due time, Aidan will know.”
The changed scenery around them drew Kaijin’s attention from Aidan. No more did the colorful wildflowers carpet the landscape. The air grew humid and the skies darkened to shades of grey. His foot sank deeper into the spongy earth with each step he took. He wasn’t certain how long they had been walking, but they had clearly traveled a great distance. The road appeared less beaten than earlier. In following Nester’s lead, Kaijin hadn’t noticed when they strayed from the main road.
Tall oak trees stretched toward the grey skies. Signs of life were scarce, save for the occasional bird and the light buzzing of insects. He felt Miele stir, and he looked to his shoulder. Miele untucked her head from her wing and surveyed the landscape.
Nester halted and retrieved his map. He easily unfolded the oversized parchment and made certain it didn’t touch the ground. He studied the map carefully. “We’ll be at those ruins in no time. It’s about an ’our’s walk, I think—” He paused and held the map high above his head and pulled his feet out of mud with a gasp just before they were completely submerged. “Yuck! We’re in th’ marsh, all right.”
Aidan grimaced and looked down. The soft mud squished beneath his bare feet and between his toes. “Aidan hopes we are not lost....” He lifted his head slightly and sniffed the air. His nose wrinkled in disgust.
Sensing the creature’s tension, Kaijin glanced sidelong at him. “Something wrong, Aidan?”
“Blood,” Aidan said absently. His head turned, and his silver eyes narrowed, as if he had seen something off in the distance.
Nester’s pointed ears twitched. “Did you ’ear that?” He quickly refolded his map.
Kaijin noticed Aidan’s muscles tense and bulge, prompting his own senses to rise. He followed Aidan’s gaze and spotted a cluster of shadows off the muddy path. The slight shift in movement only lasted a split second before the area became calm again. Furrowing his brow in confusion, Kaijin regarded the giant again. “What is it, Aidan?”
Slowly, Aidan slid his foot to the side until he had discreetly set himself into a defensive posture. “We are not alone,” he said quietly.
Kaijin opened his mouth to speak and felt a sharp pain in his mind. Shrieking frantically, Miele leapt from his shoulder and soared into the air, above the treetops. Kaijin clenched his fist and concentrated on a spell, ready to unleash it at the first signs of trouble.
Nester backtracked until he bumped into Aidan’s thigh, like a fly colliding with a tree trunk. He flicked his wrists, and two twin daggers appeared in his hands from unseen sheaths. He nervously spun the weapons around.
The wind whistled lightly.
Several guttural voices cut through the evening.
Kaijin listened closely to the crude unfamiliar language. What? He made a face. “What in the hells is that?”
Aidan furrowed his brow. “Sounds like heated conversation. Though, Aidan could be wrong.”
A creature leapt from the underbrush and faced the group, yelling a string of sharp phrases in its native tongue. The creature was rubbery, lanky, gruesome, and human-like, standing almost the same height as Aidan. Its moldy, green face was distinctly angular. Two ears, pointed and looking as though something had chewed on them—with tufts of scraggly obsidian-colored hair sticking out—complemented the creature’s oblong, drooping nose and wide, blood-spattered mouth, from which sickly green, acidic-looking drool oozed. Warts and fungus covered its skin, making the creature seem nearly one with the dank marshlands. It assessed the group briefly before resting its yellow eyes on Aidan.
Aidan tensed and muttered, “What manner of creature is—”
“Troll!” Neste
r blurted.
The brownie’s outburst startled Kaijin enough to release his spell, flashing bright light in the troll’s eyes; it reeled in pain.
While the troll was momentarily disoriented, Aidan rushed forward and grappled the creature, digging his claws into its skin. The troll howled in pain and attempted to hurl its attacker off, but Aidan didn’t budge. The troll spat corrosive saliva into Aidan’s eyes.
He let go, holding his face. “Gah! It burns!”
“Aidan!” Nester pushed past him, glaring at the troll. Using both daggers, Nester simultaneously sliced through the troll’s leg and across its midsection. Globs of greenish, curdled blood poured out of the wounds—but only briefly. The wounds immediately began to mend. Nester widened his eyes. “This ain’t good, mate—not good at all!”
Three more trolls emerged from the shadows and encircled the group, snarling and drooling on the muddy ground.
Kaijin glanced at each of the towering monsters. “Flamm annul!” A ring of white fire appeared, encircling Kaijin, Nester, and Aidan. “Keep back!” he yelled at the monsters.
The trolls cringed and kept their distance from the flames, but showed no signs of leaving. The intense bright flames slowly transitioned to a steady, flickering, amber hue.
“What is happening?” Aidan exclaimed, rubbing some of the liquid substance from his eyes. He spotted the roaring flames and winced. “Kaijin! Nester!” He reached out, feeling for his comrades.
Kaijin rushed over, grabbed Aidan’s hand, and tugged him toward the center of the fiery circle. “Stay right here.”
“We can’t keep this up, Kaijin!” Nester called over his shoulder. “We need to get rid of these soddin’ things fast before even more come!”
Kaijin glared at Nester. “Do you have any suggestions?”
Nester twirled his blades, eyeing each creature. “I remember Grandpa Nepp encountered a troll once. Nasty bugger, it was. Wasn’t nearly as big as these things, though. Said he managed to kill th’ thing, but I forgot ’ow.”
Kaijin rolled his eyes. “Well that doesn’t help, now does it?”
“Let Aidan handle it,” Aidan said.
Both Kaijin and Nester looked at him.
Aidan rubbed his eyes again and tried to open them further. He advanced slowly toward the snarling creatures.
“Aidan! Wait!” Kaijin called. He grabbed Aidan’s burly arm, but Aidan broke his grip with a quick flex.
The trolls eagerly awaited Aidan on the other side of the fire ring. Their claws extended, the monsters appeared ready to pounce on him like a pack of hungry wolves.
Aidan stopped at the edge of the ring before the creatures. After a moment, he closed his eyes again, took a deep breath, and barreled through the scorching heat, parts of his leathery skin catching fire. He collided with the cluster of trolls, who also caught some of the blaze.
Kaijin watched in awe as Aidan blindly fought each of the creatures with his bare hands, clawing at them, ripping through rubbery flesh and hurling them into the ring of fire. The monsters howled in pain. Panic resounded in the creatures’ guttural voices as they frantically searched for a means of escape.
The creatures scrambled about, seemingly oblivious to everything but Aidan. Nester smirked at Kaijin as he twirled his blades. “Looks like Aidan’s made it easy for us, now, eh? Look at them! They’re runnin’ around like they just seen a ghost!”
Kaijin observed the monsters more closely. The scorch wounds on their skin didn’t appear to be healing. Moreover, the monsters seemed terrified of the flames around them. The phenomenon sparked a memory of his own childhood, during those endless days and nights of study under his master’s watchful eye. He had learned about many types of creatures—both the very strange and not so strange, the rare and common—and how the concept of magic affected and influenced them. Yes, of course. How could I possibly forget?
His lips curled into a smile as he realized what he needed to do. “No, they don’t like fire too much, do they?”
Nester cackled. “Now I remember! Grandpa Nepp tossed ’is torch at th’ troll, and th’ thing burned up like paper, it did! It was so scared o’ th’ fire, it ran around in circles ’til it dropped dead. That’s when Grandpa Nepp ran like th’ ’ells.”
Kaijin nodded to Nester and smirked. “Open them up a bit.”
Nester twirled his blades again. While the four trolls were disoriented, Nester charged at them and began slashing new wounds across their bodies quicker than they realized what had happened. Globs of green liquid oozed out of the wounds and mixed with the mud.
Their wounds began mending again, and Nester gave a quick nod to Kaijin.
The air seemed to waver around Kaijin, as if he were a furnace. The tempo of his pulsating necklace increased, keeping pace with his racing heartbeat. Soon, his entire body erupted in flames.
From the dark recesses of Kaijin’s mind, a soothing voice broke through the maelstrom and directed his fury. “Obliterate them.”
He remembered the undead, overtaking Easthaven—then the aftermath of the chaos, that destructive inferno. Kaijin cracked a smile.
A fireball materialized in Kaijin’s hands, and he hurled it toward the trolls, sending them fleeing and snarling in panic. They didn’t get very far before they collapsed, one by one, in the mud. A wall of flames burst over the heaps of fallen creatures and devoured their bodies hungrily, leaving behind ashen remains.
Just as quickly as Kaijin felt the fantastic sensation, it subsided, leaving him feeling somewhat content—satisfied. He smiled faintly at the destruction. The fiery magic dissipated, as did the ring of fire. He looked down at his own hands, which emitted faint traces of white smoke.
He exhaled slowly and looked to his comrades.
Aidan groaned and rolled over on his back. “Kaijin? Nester?”
Nester ran over to Aidan, dodging smoldering remains of troll in the mud along the way. “Aidan! They’re gone!” He tugged at Aidan’s arm, beckoning him to stand. “Kaijin burned them to a crisp, ’e did! You should’ve seen it!”
Aidan slowly stood to his feet. He stared blankly toward Nester.
“Aidan? How are you feeling?” Kaijin approached them.
Aidan’s eyes flickered. His pupils were dilated, and the corneas were devoid of their silver tint. He turned toward Kaijin and reached out to him. “You look like blurry blob.”
Kaijin frowned. “We’re in the middle of a marsh. It will be a long walk back to town to try and find help.”
“What?!” Nester exclaimed. “We can’t go back now! We just got ’ere! We still got some ruins to check, remember?”
Kaijin glared at the brownie. “Aidan won’t be of any help if he can’t see a damn thing!”
“Well, uh ...” Nester thought a moment. “’E can just stand there an’ look all intimidatin’ so no one’ll bother us, aye?”
Kaijin rolled his eyes.
“Don’t worry,” Aidan said. “Aidan will manage as best he can.”
“I knew this was going to be a bad idea,” Kaijin muttered. He reached for Aidan’s massive, clawed hand. “Take my hand, at least. I will help lead you through the marsh.”
Aidan nodded and gently clasped Kaijin’s hand. With Nester leading the way, the three of them resumed their walk through the muddy trail.
Aidan’s claws scraped Kaijin’s skin, and Kaijin cringed. Beneath the remains of Aidan’s torn handwraps, Kaijin spied many callouses. And yet, there was a certain gentleness about those hands. He really is a man of peace.
Kaijin’s silent musings were interrupted by an excited Nester. “That was th’ most amazin’ thing I’d ever seen, mate! No wonder th’ people in Faywald say fiddlers are dangerous!”
“Let’s not get into that again, Nester,” Kaijin warned.
“You gotta teach me that trick sometime! I know a few sods who need a good burnin’, I do! Maybe teach Aidan that trick, too! We’ll be unstoppable, I tell you! Not to mention, filthy, soddin’ rich!”
Ka
ijin groaned.
V
The group emerged from the veil of underbrush to view a stretch of wetland blanketed with a thick mist. Broken columns and stone structures of various shapes and sizes, placed in a crude circle, littered the area. Mold and ivy covered the majority of the structures, affirming that the site remained undisturbed. Tiny fireflies swarmed in slow circles, creating an eerie dim illumination that penetrated the mist.
“What a serene place,” Kaijin whispered under his breath.
Nester’s ears perked, and he snorted. “‘Serene’? This place is spookier than my Aunt Netta when she wears that ridiculous orange ruffled dress she got for ’er birthday three years ago!”
Kaijin chuckled.
A small figure moved amongst the ruins. He squinted. Of a human shape, the figure walked the perimeter of the ruins, stopping briefly at each structure.
He nudged Nester. “Hey, looks like someone else is here.”
Nester followed Kaijin’s gaze and cringed. “Told you this place is spooky, mate! That looks like a ghost over there, it does!”
“Shouldn’t we see who or what it is before we start searching?”
“Ah ... Ah .... All right. I’ll be right behind you!”
Aidan sniffed the air, then tilted his head curiously. “Honeysuckle?”
Kaijin furrowed his brow at the giant. “Excuse me?”
“Those flowers always smell so nice,” Aidan said absently. “Where are we?”
“We’re at th’ ruins,” Nester replied. “I assure you, mate: There ain’t no flowers around ’ere.”
A brief passing breeze carried the wetlands’ moldy, mildew odor. Kaijin wrinkled his nose. “Yuck! Nester is right.”
Aidan shook his head. “No, Aidan is certain he smells honeysuckle. It is Aidan’s favorite flower.” He released Kaijin’s hand and wandered ahead.
Kaijin watched Aidan a moment before following. “Aidan, are you mad?! You can’t see! Where are you going?” He halted when he realized the direction Aidan was walking.
Enflamed (Book 2) Page 5
