by H Waters
“Hey, redhead breath! Get up, come on, ya stupid sack of …” I heard Kallen yelling. I coughed and opened my eyes, flipping onto my stomach and coughing up water. “Ah, there you go,” Kallen said with relief. “You might want this,” he added, throwing me a towel.
Realizing I was still naked, I quickly wrapped myself in the towel and shimmied to the corner. “What did you do? Why are you here, pervert?” I said, still scared from the dream and trying to catch my breath from coughing.
“Jeez, calm down lady — so quick to judge. I, Kallen, am a man of class,” he said, puffing his chest out.
“So, why are you in here while I was taking a bath?” I said, trying to give him my best possible evil glare.
“Well, I was almost asleep when I thought I better have some more ale. I noticed you’d been in there about an hour and a half, so I knocked. I yelled for a bit but no answer, so I picked the lock, saw you drowning and dragged you out of the tub. You started saying weird stuff about about white deer, but I couldn’t make out much. I don’t know much medical stuff so I just started hitting you in the face until you woke up.”
“Oh,” I said softly.
“Yeah, you’re crazy lady, cheers,” Kallen said and walked out of the washroom. “I’ll fetch you clothes in the morning.”
I stood up sore and shaky and walked over to my bed. Scarlet was still sound asleep. I collapsed onto my bed and passed out.
XIII
The sun shone through the one open window in the room, and I rolled over groaning trying to get away from it.
“Ay, redhead, here are those clothes,” Kallen said, throwing a pile of clothes on my head.
“Thanks,” I grumbled. I pulled the clothes under my blanket and began getting dressed. I stumbled out of bed, realizing Scarlet’s bed was empty, and walked downstairs to see if anyone else was awake.
I could hear a few people talking quietly by the bar. It was Alaric, Scarlet, Kallen, Isaac and the barkeep. Hearing loud running coming from behind me, I turned but was too late — I fell very hard to the ground, getting violently licked in the face. “Hey, take it easy,” I laughed at the overly excited Lucy.
“Ah, you are up,” Alaric loudly informed the room.
“Finally,” Scarlet added. “I’ve been itching to get out of this town.”
The barkeep had all of our bags packed with our stuff along with food and water provisions. “Thank you,” Alaric said with a smile, patting the barkeep on the shoulder. The barkeep nodded back. Scarlet grabbed her staff as she headed out the door.
I threw my bag over my shoulder, waved to the barkeep, whistled to Lucy and followed my friends out the door.
Outside it took a while for my eyes to adjust. The sun breaking through the large opening above Treason was incredibly bright, and the light glided and bounced down the enormous rock walls surrounding the fields.
I looked around the broken town at all the rundown buildings and dirt roads. Much to my surprise there were a few human-sized locals going about their day amongst the little Clurichaun. Once I got my bearings I caught up with Alaric, Scarlet and Kallen. They were talking with a local who was looking the map up and down, likely trying to find the fastest route to the university.
I walked over to my directionally challenged friends. As I approached, Alaric thanked the man they were talking to, tucked the map away and declared that he knew the way. Lucy was staying close by, frightened by the commotion of the town. “Follow me!” Alaric ordered as he headed down the road.
As we made our way through the town, the local people tried to barter goods with us. Some things we had to politely refuse, like bread and fruit because they would just spoil, but we did take a few non-perishable items like dried meats and candles, for which Scarlet traded some strange jewelry and knick-knacks she had in her bag.
The walk out of town seemed shorter then when we walked in. Before we knew it we were trudging through the wheat fields to get to the mountain’s edge. The closer we got, the larger the mountain became. “I don’t want to hike up this mountain and I have normal-sized legs — I would hate to be you, Kallen,” I laughed.
“You may have longer legs, but I have four,” he snipped back. I turned around, confused. Kallen had climbed on top of Lucy, fashioned two small pieces of cloth to the collar for stirrups, and was using her ears as reins.
“I’m surprised she hasn’t eaten you yet,” I remarked. Her face looked like she could turn and bite him at any moment.
“We are now the best of friends,” Kallen said proudly. “Us small folk gotta stick together, ya know.”
The flowing wheat fields came to an end, and we were standing at the foot of the mountain range. The path did not look nearly as bad as I’d pictured; it was flat and steep but worn in, so there were no jagged rocks to trip on. “You’re sure this is the right path?” I asked Alaric.
“One hundred percent sure,” he said with confidence.
“Good enough for me! Onward, hound!” Kallen hollered, kicking Lucy’s sides and trotting down the path on her back.
Alaric, Kallen and Lucy walked quickly ahead of me and Scarlet, determined to make it to the university before nightfall. As we walked, Kallen began to serenade us with some drunken singing.
“Hey, can I ask you something personal?” I nervously asked Scarlet.
“No,” she quickly snipped. “Actually, on the other hand it may drown out Kallen’s singing,” she argued with herself.
“I’ll take that as a yes,” I laughed. “Before all of this, before you joined the Devil’s Legion and bonded with Grekal, did you have a family?”
Scarlet let out an awkward laugh. “If I’d had a happy family life, do you really think I would have consented to being consumed by Grekal?”
“I guess you’re right,” I replied.
After a while of awkwardly walking in silence, we caught up to Alaric and Kallen, who were arguing at a fork in the road.
“It’s right, I know it’s right! I lived in these mountains my whole life,” Kallen screamed.
“The map says left, the map is always right!” Alaric screamed back.
“Boys, calm down,” Scarlet said in a stern tone. “Let me see that map.” Alaric begrudgingly handed it over. “The map says left is safer, but right is much quicker,” she said.
“It’s not quicker if we all die,” I said, trying to squeeze my opinion in.
I took a minute to look down both routes. On the right path the trees and vegetation looked like they were dying; it looked gloomy and very uninviting. I took the map from Scarlet. “The path on the left of the map actually has the word safer underlined in red on it,” I said to Scarlet. “The plants are all dead along the other path, paths like that are how we get eaten by god-knows-what vile creatures.”
“Let’s split up, then,” Scarlet proposed.
“What? No, that is a terrible idea,” I yelled at her.
“I’ll see you after I find the university, then,” she huffed and stormed up the path on the right. As she passed Alaric she smacked him in the back with her staff, pushing him in the direction of the deadly looking path. Alaric shrugged and followed.
“Well, at least we can all die together!” Kallen laughed.
“Why is that funny?” I asked. Kallen just kept laughing and trotting on Lucy’s back down the path. “You people sicken me,” I muttered under my breath.
We hiked up the steep mountain trail for what seemed like hours, following the vague map as best we could. The others exchanged stories of creatures and places, likely from the old world because I had never heard of it.
“How do we know we are going in the right direction?” Alaric groaned. “Everything looks the same, just dead trees and rocks.”
“Yeah, I swear I’ve seen that like five times already,” Kallen said, pointing to an oddly shaped rock.
“We are going the right way,” Scarlet snipped.
“Someone needs a nap,” Alaric laughed in his deep bellowing voice.
“Hey, you want to know the worst part of being small?” Kallen asked me as he pulled up closer to me, still riding Lucy.
“Not being able to grab things on high shelves?” I jokingly proposed.
“Do not be a fool, I can just climb the shelves,” he barked back, flexing his small but oddly muscular arms. “The worst part about being small is that I can only carry a small amount of ale for our trip. But if I knew I would have been riding this fine steed, I could have built some saddle bags or something,” he added confidently. Lucy growled in disapproval.
Scarlet continued to lead us up the winding mountain pass in silence. She seemed short with everyone, especially Alaric, but I could not figure out why.
“It is actually quite beautiful,” Kallen proclaimed, breaking up my wandering thoughts.
“What do you mean?” I asked the little man riding my dog.
“The moss,” he answered, slurring his words a little.
I looked around scanning the dead trees and rocks, but all I could see was rotting bark and stone. “How strong is that ale?” I laughed, pointing to the jug in his right hand.
“Wait until he pass this rock here,” he muttered, using his jug to point to a large outcrop of black rock that was currently blocking the setting sun.
We walked a ways longer, Scarlet still in the lead and Alaric not too far behind her as I hung back with Lucy and Kallen. The low hum of some old folk song Kallen was singing helped break up the eerie silence.
“Ah, here we go,” Kallen eagerly said as we began to round a corner, finally leaving the large rock’s shadow. The distant sun lit up the path, and the trees and old rocks shimmered to life, sparkling with what looked like blue crystals.
“See, that’s the moss!” Kallen happily explained.
“Well, you were right, it is beautiful.”
Kallen nodded, taking another long sip from his jug. After not much longer, he was fast asleep, face down on Lucy’s back, feet still in his makeshift stirrups.
“Uh guys, I think our little friend here has had a bit too much to drink,” I hollered to Alaric and Scarlet, who were currently a fair distance ahead of us. Scarlet spun around on her heels, stopping when she faced us. She looked up to the sky and then back to me. She seemed happier, and I wondered what she and Alaric had been talking about up there.
“I think Kallen has the right idea. By the looks of things there is no way we will be making it to the university by nightfall,” Scarlet said.
“Well, I guess we find a place to set up camp, then,” Alaric agreed.
“Are you people insane?” I asked. “Who knows what kinds of creepy things lurk in this woods? We cannot stay here.”
“I will take first watch. It will be fine,” Alaric reassured me, rubbing my head like I was a toddler.
“If we die I am going to kill you,” I muttered to myself.
We continued to walk until the sun was nearly gone, just a thin slice of it peeking over the top of another faroff mountain range. “This will do,” Alaric said, stepping off to the side of the trail. He led us to a large clearing that was encircled by large dead trees. As creepy as the trees were, they would provide a fair bit of protection.
Alaric set his bag and sword down so he could begin to assemble enough wood for a fire.
“And if it rains?” I questioned, motioning to the open sky above us.
“It will not rain tonight. I can feel it,” Alaric assured me, striking a piece of flint at the pile of wood and dead grass he had made.
“It’s going to rain,” Kallen drunkenly slurred, finally sliding off of Lucy’s back and propping himself up in a sitting position against a nearby tree.
“You are just drunk,” Alaric protested.
“I may be three sheets to the wind, but at least I’m not a fool,” Kallen said in retaliation.
Alaric angrily grumbled and went to grab his sword, taking his sword out of its sheath. He began to make his way back to Kallen, but Scarlet stepped in front of him, pushing her hand firmly into his chest. “You said it yourself. He is just drunk,” she told him with a smile. He continued to angrily grumble, but he threw his sword down to the ground and carried on making a fire.
That was oddly gentle of Scarlet, I thought to myself.
She turned to me, throwing a piece of dried meat into my open hand. “Grab a seat,” she said, motioning to some old logs set around the fire.
“So I had another one of those weird dreams last night,” I told the group, taking a seat on the nearest log.
“So they are happening more often, then?” Alaric asked, tossing a piece of meat to Lucy, who was now curled up by the roaring fire.
“I guess so,” I admitted. “The weirder part is I keep seeing this white deer. The same one from the woods. Sometimes he speaks to me, sometimes he doesn’t.”
Scarlet and Alaric looked at each other, seeming very confused.
“Yeah, I have never heard of a white talking deer,” Alaric admitted.
“Maybe I’m going insane,” I awkwardly laughed.
“I’m sure it’s just your mind trying to figure stuff out,” Scarlet said, “between the visions, the death of your husband, killing for the first time, and the fact that you have no idea where your son is. You’ve been through a lot lately — it’s okay to be a little freaked out.”
“Thanks for the reminder,” I said softly said. I stood up and went to get my bag, trying not to show any tears.
“I just mean that you are not insane,” she quickly added.
“I know,” I replied, lying down on the cold ground, using my bag as a pillow. “Wake me when we’re heading out,” I told them, shutting my tear-soaked eyes.
I awoke to the sound of loud, unrecognizable growling and grunting. I sat up from my sleeping position to look for the source of the sound. None of my friends could be seen, and there was a fresh coat of snow blanketing the ground.
“Goddammit! Can I not get one good night of sleep!” I screamed at the sky in frustration, coming to terms with the fact that I was in another dream. “Well, let’s see where this rabbit hole leads,” I muttered as I stood up and began to walk through the glistening winter forest towards the noise.
Icicles hung from the limbs of the trees so it must have been cold, but just like the other dreams, I could not feel a thing. After a few minutes of walking I finally located the source of the sound. In a large snowy clearing stood a massive white bear standing on its hind legs; it had to be easily twice as tall as Alaric. In front of the bear was a large, hairy shirtless man, who stood with his back to me facing the bear. Stretched across the back of the man was a large red tattooed cross and some odd letters that I could not recognize.
“Oh good, now I’m dreaming of Alaric trying to prove he is stronger than a bear,” I said aloud, rolling my eyes. The bear stopped its warnings, dropping back down to all fours. It understood that this man was not backing down.
The huge beast charged, its cold eyes locked onto the man. Its long white fur shifted as the muscles moved underneath. The man’s only weapon was a large rusty chain which had to be about fifteen feet long. Just as the bear was about to make contact the man leapt into the air, spinning to face me. As he did so he landed feet first on the bear’s shoulder blades. To my surprise it was not Alaric at all; it was the loud angry man with the accent from the back of the Saints’ hall. Somehow he had managed to wrap the chain several times around the bear’s neck. The bear fought, thrashing around, trying to smash the man against nearby trees. The branches and bark tore into the man’s flesh, but he did not so much as flinch. His arms swelled as he tightened the chain. Eventually the bear collapsed lifeless into the snow.
“Interesting,” a voice from behind me said calmly. I spun around, and much to my surprise I was now face to face with the Addax.
“What does all of this mean, if this is even really you?” I asked him.
“It is I,” he told me. “Well, all of your other ‘visions’ consist of more than one human or creature, right?
” he asked, now pacing around in the snow.
“Yes,” I quickly replied, eager for answers.
“So, this one only has the man and the bear. Which means that either that man or the bear is the one hooked up to the machine and is calling out to the key, but as far as we know the bear is dead,” the Addax proposed.
“And the man is a Saint, so he would give a great deal of power to whoever was draining him with that machine thing, right?” I asked, coming to a conclusion.
“I believe so,” the Addax agreed.
“But how exactly does this help us?”
“It does not change much, but it explains why these visions are so vivid,” the stag replied, still pacing in the snow.
“Am I special? Why do I have this key? I feel like I deserve an answer after losing so much,” I quietly demanded.
“No, not inherently. Quite the opposite actually — but now you have stumbled upon this key and, well, that makes you important,” he reassured me, and began to rub his horns on a nearby tree.
“Um, alright. So what should our next move be?” I asked.
“Well, I would suggest you continue on your way to the university and take note of what they are up to in there. I would very much like to know if that rumor is true.”
“What rumor?” I asked, confused.
“What that ugly little Gout was going off about — if Claire has actually taken out the Necromancer, seizing control of the Devil’s Legion and all those other vile abominations.”
“Okay, well, can you help me get out of here? Please do not scream again, that was very unsettling,” I asked him with a nervous laugh.
He just laughed at me like I was a child, then tapped the ground with his hoof four times. The trees and snow began to fade away into a gray mist. “Oh, one last thing. If you see the man from this vision, could you please free him from that machine? He helped me out a great deal once. I should repay the favor.”
“Why don’t you do your magic stuff and save him yourself, if you are so worried?” I yelled back, as more and more of my surroundings disappeared.
