Gods of Rust and Ruin

by Azalea Ellis

  Adam and I shared a look of curiosity. Was that a Skill? Or was it just what came from being so full of Seeds that people could harvest you for them?

  It didn’t take long for us all to spread out in the cabin, which fit the group at least semi-comfortably because of the large scale it was built on.

  “Rest,” Torliam said. “We are safe for now, but you may find you need your strength later.”

  I didn’t have any objection to that. I was exhausted. I sprayed some more numbing solution over my arm, reassuring Sam who apologized profusely when he saw me doing it. “It’s okay. You need some sleep, too.”

  “I’ll finish healing you in the morning,” he said. “I promise. Whatever it takes, I’m going to fix your arm.”

  I fell asleep almost immediately, just leaning up against the wall with a couple packs for cushioning.

  A bad dream jerked me to wakefulness after a few hours.

  Torliam was also awake, sitting at the wooden table with his back to me. Had he slept? Or had he awakened like me? The thought that maybe he had nightmares too made me uncomfortable.

  “Your people will have been searching for you,” I murmured, “right?”

  His head spun around toward me, but he didn’t seem surprised that I was awake. “Of course.” It was almost a whisper. While I’d slept, he had cut off the messy beard that NIX had allowed to grow untended, and trimmed his blonde hair so that it stopped just above his shoulders. Together, it went a long way to making him seem more human, and less like a crazed, killer giant. “But it would have taken them a long time. The members of my crew who escaped would only have arrived back here an irimael or so ago to alert my people of my circumstances. As I said, they could not then simply enter an array to travel back to Earth. We forced our way through to here, but the other way cannot be used by our people.”

  “Why not?”

  “It is forbidden.” His tone was final, and I took the warning not to continue that line of questioning.

  “Why would it take years for them to alert people back here as to what was happening? Didn’t any of the others have one of those Shortcut things in their ships? Or some other form of faster-than-light communication?”

  He frowned down at the table, and then sighed and turned back to me again. “It is coincidence that my ship carried what you call ‘the Shortcut.’ I rue the day I decided not to discard it before the trip. Neither my crew nor myself were still at the level at all of needing access to such low-leveled Trials. And . . . there is a . . . disconnect in space, between your world and mine. The ship’s communications do not travel past it. I do not know what your people would call it. Surely you have noticed that time seems to flow differently?”

  When I nodded, he turned back to the table. “I had hoped that after returning here, I would be able to contact my people, but it seems the communications system on the old ship in the clearing is broken,” he said, shoulders slumping.

  I sat up more fully. “Is that a problem? Can’t we just fly the ship to wherever we need to go?”

  “It means that no aid will be coming. We will have to make our way to the capitol by ourselves, or find some other way to contact civilization. This ship does not have the fuel to make it all the way to the capitol, and it will be very dangerous if we have to stop somewhere in the middle. The lands away from civilization are wild.”

  I groaned and knocked my head against the wall behind me. If Torliam thought an area was dangerous, the rest of the team would probably be vaporized on contact.

  In the morning, Adam and Blaine joined Torliam in trying to fix the communication device in the old ship.

  While they were doing that, Sam got back to work healing me. Kris came over to hold my hand, but I wouldn’t wrap my fingers around her tiny ones, because I was afraid I’d squeeze too hard and break them. Instead, she handed me her moose. “I know it’s just a stuffed animal. But he always makes me feel better when things hurt and there’s nothing I can do about it. He’ll make you feel better, too.”

  Gregor nodded. “Kris lets me borrow him sometimes. It’s stupid, but it does kind of help.”

  I smiled and thanked her, then bit down on one of the pack straps, and tried not to scream. She had to go outside the cabin with the others, when it got to be too much for her. Gregor stayed behind, kneeling on the ground next to Sam and me, watching the healing process in grave silence.

  I’m not really sure how long it took before the pieces of my wound crying out in pain were less than the ones that had been healed, but by the time he’d finished Sam’s skin was disturbingly pale, and his hands were trembling.

  When he took his hands away, my arm was straight, and I could flex my fist with only minor discomfort. I grabbed a nutrition bar from my little stash and offered it to him, looking at the marbled scars across my arm.

  He accepted it silently.

  “Are you all healed?” Gregor asked, reaching out tentatively to touch the skin.

  When Sam was finished with the bar, he said, “I’ve done everything I can. It’s not perfect. The amount of damage was . . . ridiculous. And something is wrong with my Skill.” He added in a whisper. “But you should be okay, and you’ll be able to use the arm. I recommend you take some more Seeds for Resilience and Life. I think I need some time to recover. Maybe whatever’s wrong with me is just backlash from Skill overuse. This is the most healing I’ve ever done in a short period of time.” He didn’t sound completely convinced.

  “You should rest,” I agreed. “Eat something and get some more sleep.”

  He acquiesced, going to the corner to curl up with the supply packs and a blanket.

  I found the two cases of Seeds, and handed Gregor the moose so I could carry one case in each hand. My left arm ached at the effort, but it worked. I experimented with slipping my claws out, and though they were now a slightly darker shade than the ones on my right hand, they were as long and sharp as ever. I was going to be okay. I spared a look and a silent offering of thanks for Sam, over my shoulder.

  Outside, I gave Kris back her moose with a word of thanks, and the two kids accompanied me, along with Jacky, and Zed, as I moved out beside the house, in sight of the Estreyan ship where the others were working. I counted the Seeds, making sure none were missing except the ones I knew about.

  Jacky leaned forward eagerly. “Are you going to divvy them up between us?”

  “That’s the plan,” I said. I counted two hundred and sixteen spaces for Seeds, in each of the cases. I’d taken twenty-four while on the ship, but that left four hundred and eight remaining. It was an amazing reserve of power. Enough to make a real difference. “Blaine came through for us,” I said.

  Jacky knelt beside me, staring at the rows with a similar mix of awe and greed. “I guess I can forgive him for ratting on us all this time.

  “If we divide these evenly, there will be eighty-six for each of us, including Chanelle,” I said. “I’ve already had twenty-four of my share.”

  Jacky looked over to Chanelle, who was sitting in the grass not far away, patting the ground like a toddler. “You think . . . those could make her better?”

  “Maybe. We’ll definitely try,” I said. I left silent that they could also be the difference between life and death for me. That wasn’t even taking into account the power differential they represented, and how much safer the entire team would be if its Player members were stronger.

  Torliam, Adam, and Blaine exited the small ship shortly after, looking crestfallen.

  “We weren’t able to fix it,” Adam said, as they made their way to us.

  “There is another communication array north of here,” Torliam said. “It, too, has been abandoned for a long while, but it may still be operational. Or, we could use pieces from both to create a single working device.”

  “Will the ship be able to make it that far?”

  “We will get close, at least.” He stopped near my little huddled group, eyes dropping to the Seeds. His upper lip rose on one side, in t
he beginnings of a snarl. “What are you doing?”

  “We’re divvying up the Seeds,” I said, standing slowly. The hairs on the back of my neck were rising. “I know they’re technically yours, but our bodies don’t just create them at the rate yours does, and we’re weak enough that they’ll make a significant difference.”

  He scowled at me, a look I was becoming all too familiar with. “A blood-covenant is not something for you to throw around so lightly,” he said, snarling fully now.

  I felt the muscles in my shoulders tense up in response, but I didn’t blink. “The deal we made was for you to help me. My team is also under my protection. Since we humans are weak, as you so love to remind us, you are just going to have to deal with us using the Seeds. What other way could we have the strength to fulfill the Oracle’s vision?”

  “Your weakness is not an excuse to violate the life blood of another. That is something that only the worst of my kind would do. When they are discovered, they are killed.”

  I hesitated, but pressed forward. “You are going to break the blood covenant anyway. This won’t even affect you as soon as we’re back in your hometown.”

  He stepped forward, towering over me. “I will not allow you to do this. My power is not something that can be shared among the masses like a cheap . . . sex-worker.”

  The pressure was a physical thing, brushing against my skin, pressing on my mind. My fingers trembled. I closed them into a fist to stop the movement. “These might be the difference between Chanelle regaining her mental faculties or not. You had no problem with me using them on the ship earlier. I assure you, we’re not taking this lightly. We need these.”

  “On the ship, it was a matter of life and death.”

  I was gasping for breath, the sunlight burning my eyes as they dilated involuntarily. My claws slipped out. “It’s a matter of life and death, still!” I snapped, pushing back against whatever force he was creating. “You know that! I need the Seeds to stay alive until we can get to the God of Knowledge.” I bared my own teeth.

  The pressure released with a snap, and Torliam stared at me for a moment, fists clenched and breath heaving. He stomped away without another word, slamming the door to the cabin behind him.

  I let out a shuddering breath of relief, rubbing my sweaty palms on my thighs.

  “You’re dying?” Adam asked, glaring at me along with everyone else except Zed and Blaine.

  Chapter 15

  There is beauty in the ending day.

  — Ember Wiles

  “I’m not quite sure how to say this,” I said honestly. “There have been some . . . issues going on with me, with the Seed of Chaos that I got from Behelaino.”

  “‘Issues?’ As in, it’s killing you?” Adam demanded. He looked around. “Where is Sam? Did he know about this?” he said, hair floating up.

  I motioned for him to calm down. “It’s not Sam’s fault. Whatever’s wrong with me, it’s not something he can handle. I’m not sure if it’s because of the problems he’s been having with his Skill, or if it’s something specific about whatever is wrong with me. Or maybe he’s just healed me too many times already, and there’s a limit. Obviously, he also can’t fix Chanelle’s brain damage.”

  “But he knew about this, and he didn’t say anything?” Jacky said.

  “I asked him not to, at least until I had some sort of plan to fix it. There’s nothing any of you could have done. But you don’t need to worry, because we have Seeds now, and with enough of them I’ll be able to just heal myself. It might even turn out that loading up enough Seeds in the healing Attributes is a permanent solution.”

  “Do you actually believe that will be a permanent solution?” Zed demanded. He knew me a little too well.

  “I don’t know. I think the God of Knowledge might be the answer. That’s the question I was asking when I solved the Oracle’s puzzle, and that’s the vision she gave me.”

  Adam shook his head. “How do you know the vision is in response to anything you asked? They could be completely unrelated.”

  “I don’t know that. But I have to try.”

  Gregor spoke up, in a small voice. “But . . . you seem so strong all the time. And you’re the one that saved us from NIX and got uncle Blaine to us. How are you dying?”

  Blaine, who had kept out of the argument, patted Gregor on the head.

  The boy bit his lip and looked down at the ground, scowling.

  Jacky had been shaking her head slowly, but then stopped and spat on the ground. “I’ve been at my total worst around you. Sniveling and shaking and I didn’t know what to do, and I asked you to help me. I trusted you to help me. But when it came time that you were down and sick and needed help, you didn’t come to us. You didn’t come to me.”

  “Ahh . . .” I opened my mouth, and closed it again, then reached a hand out to her.

  She jerked away.

  “I do trust you,” I said. “I just didn’t want to worry you when there was nothing you could do that wouldn’t make our situation worse. What good is it, just to tell you that I might be dying and there’s nothing you can do about it?”

  Jacky stepped back toward me, then, jaw clenched, lips pursed, and hands fisted. “No,” she said in a low, forceful voice, physically threatening despite the fact that she was significantly shorter than me. “I’m not totally useless. I coulda done something. I got Seeds, Eve! In the classes. If you woulda told me you needed them . . .” She jerked away from me. “What kind of friendship is that?” She left, stomping off with footsteps that crushed the grass and sunk into the ground, her power activating, perhaps unconsciously, in response to her feelings.

  My arm lifted again, the hand reaching out as if to stop her, but I said nothing. I didn’t have any words that could come out in response to that.

  “You’re incredibly stupid sometimes, Eve,” Adam said. “There’s no way in hell we’re going to let you die because of it, though. Take your damn Seeds.”

  By the consensus of the rest of the group, I was allotted half of Chanelle’s Seeds, because if thirty-six Seeds in Resilience wasn’t enough for her to show obvious improvement, any more than that would be a waste. Blaine and Sam had decided that they would give her one Seed every couple days, attempting to plant it into Resilience for her, so that a sudden influx didn’t shock her system, and they would have resources remaining to change strategies halfway through if necessary.

  Though Torliam scowled, he didn’t say anything more about our use of the Seeds. However, he would also barely meet my eyes, and the more relaxed version of him that I’d been growing accustomed to was gone.

  I stashed Chanelle’s thirty-six Seeds at the bottom of my personal pack, along with the third gift from the Oracle. They would be there in case of an emergency, in case I ended up needing more Seeds in a nonhealing Attribute, or if Chanelle regained her mental faculties and needed them back.

  With the other Seeds, I did a mass injection into Resilience, and Life, with a moderate amount also going into Endurance, and a few others sprinkled around in the areas I thought I might find useful, and that would be harder for me to increase the old-fashioned way.

  The rush of so many Seeds planting themselves at once had me shivering hot and cold, in alternating waves. I stumbled my way into the corner and huddled up under the blanket, curling up among the packs in the fetal position. Perhaps using sixty-two Seeds at once hadn’t been wise. But the whole point of this was the hope that overpowering my healing aspects over a short period of time would allow them to outpace Chaos, both in healing, and in growth factor.

  Jacky forced Sam to examine me, but he assured her I was okay.

  When the effects were past, I pulled up my Attributes Window.

  PLAYER NAME: EVE REDDING

  TITLE: SQUAD LEADER(9)

  CHARACTERISTIC SKILL: SPIRIT OF THE HUNTRESS, TUMBLING FEATHER

  LEVEL: 38

  SKILLS: COMMAND, WRAITH, CHAOS

  STRENGTH: 14

  LIFE: 52

>   AGILITY: 21

  GRACE: 18

  INTELLIGENCE: 28

  FOCUS: 23

  BEAUTY: 10

  CHARISMA: 15

  MANUAL DEXTERITY: 9

  MENTAL ACUITY: 23

  RESILIENCE: 50

  STAMINA: 19

  PERCEPTION: 24

  I felt better than I had in a while, though I was so ravenous that Adam teamed up with me to hunt some of the smaller creatures of the nearby forest, and we brought them back to the cabin and cooked them up, so that we didn’t run through our food supplies. I put weight back on fast enough that it was noticeable over the course of a single day or two.

  A couple nights in, while we were all gathered around a large roast, Zed turned to me. “After all this is over, and you’re cured, we’re going back to Earth, right? Because Mom’s still there, and we don’t even know where she is.”

  I swallowed, a bit reluctantly. “Yeah. Maybe by then we really will be strong enough to keep NIX from messing with us. I’m sure Mom is okay, so don’t worry about her. She’s never met a situation she can’t ‘manage.’” I twitched my mouth into a halfhearted smirk.

  “Do you think your mom might be with my parents?” Sam said. “I’m worried that we were trying to make them disappear, and then they really did disappear.”

  “Probably.” I nodded. “Best guess is that someone out there has a grudge against NIX. But whoever it is hasn’t said anything, and there haven’t been any threats. I’m hoping that’s a good thing.”

  Adam shook his head. “It could just as likely be that your parents are being harvested for their Player-producing genes by one of NIX’s enemies or counterparts.”

  Sam paled. “Do you think that’s what’s happening?”

  I interjected before Adam could make us all feel even worse. “There’s nothing we can do about it, if so. Whether we have to protect them against NIX or someone else, we’re useless at the moment. Once we can do something about it, we will.”