"If it’s all the same, I'll just camp outside. I don't really fancy sleeping in a cave. I won't say no to a free meal though."
"Absolutely! Have you ever had a Carnslug before?"
"No . . . can't say I've ever eaten anything with the word 'slug' in its name."
"Oh, you'll just love it."
"I think I want to take back my previous statement about free meals . . ."
Ean listened as their voices trailed off. Then he threw up.
Despite her lithe frame, Azalea–like all of her kind–was incredibly strong. Judging by how his insides felt like they had been put through a mixer, he doubted that she had held anything back when she lashed out at him. Through their bond, he felt a mixture of frustration and anger. And just the slightest drop of guilt, so small it was barely noticeable.
"I guess that's something," Ean mumbled to himself.
Bracing his back against the wall, Ean slid up the surface into a standing position. A sharp pain in his left side made his knees buckle, but he stayed up.
I think she broke a rib. He could already feel his insides moving about, his body healing itself. Didn’t make it any less painful though.
"The Yulari broke two," Auz echoed in his head. "It should have broken more. This trip is foolish."
"I'm not going to argue with you as well. I'm going unless you can come up with a reason the others didn't already mention."
"You are not ready. Your body is not ready."
"The ribs will heal in a few--"
"You do not understand."
"Then explain it to me for once." Ean barely got the words out before a sharp jolt in his side made him inhale in pain. The ribs in his side were fusing back together. He could actually feel the bones moving back to where they should be a fusing together.
"Still too young. You rush about with no idea what you do."
"I've been sitting down in this hole for three seasons!"
"Seasons are nothing compared to the eternity you could live."
"And during this eternity, do you have any intention of actually explaining some of the things I don't know or understand?"
"Yes."
"When?"
"When you have lived long enough to mature."
"Auz, I want answers!"
Silence.
"Stubborn rock!" Scanning the ground, Ean snatched a palm-sized stone off the ground and winged it at the orb. Just as it was about to strike the surface, Auz's light flared and the stone dissolved into nothingness.
"Childish."
"I'll show you childish--"
"Zekar!" Jaan stormed into the room, his skin color fluctuating between its usual yellow to a bright red. "I have been told you are leaving. We will have words, and if they are not to my liking, I will show you how even a battle-leader can be put in his place from time to time."
Shaking his head, Ean wondered if this was what all leaders had to deal with whenever they made big decisions. Then he prepared himself for the verbal beating, and possible physical one, that he was about to receive.
Chapter 7
The next day, Ean, Azalea, Zin, and Daoshen left before the sun peeked over the mountains. They avoided the village, instead skirting north through Rottwealth’s farmlands. Ean had decided the night before that it would be better if the villagers didn't know he was leaving. He had no idea what the people might do if they knew he was gone and worried about them starting confrontations with the creatures he had left behind in the mines. Last night, his worries had manifested in his dreams.
The nightmare repeated itself over and over. Bran and his father whipping the townsfolk up into a frenzy. The villagers marching on the mines, Bran at the lead, wielding that strange sword he had used to kill the monster a few seasons ago. Jaan and his Crux destroying them all without giving it a second thought. Ean blamed his nightmare on his conversation with his Crux advisor. After listening to multiple reasons why he shouldn't go, Ean had wanted to smack his own head against a wall as he tried to explain things to the warrior.
"You cannot leave." The Crux had made it sound like an order. "We are barely established here. A strong force could invade and take the mine."
"What strong force? No one even knows about us except for the people of Rottwealth."
"Another reason they should be subjugated, have their tongues cut off so we do not have to listen to the whining snack meat, and used as slaves."
"Jaan you need to bury that idea forever. It’s not going to happen. And I'm confident that if for some reason we did get invaded by some mysterious force, you and the other Crux could handle it."
"Maybe." A smile touched his lips. Even the Crux weren't immune to a little flattery. "What of the villagers, though? If they know you are gone, they might think it a good time to try to take back the mine."
"Which is why we won't tell them.”
"And if that puny human they call Bran wants to speak to you about some mundane issue?"
"Tell him I'm unavailable."
"You want me to lie?" The Crux's eyes had narrowed and his shoulders had rolled forward. Ean had been around his kind long enough to recognize an impending attack.
"No, of course not, Jaan. I will be unavailable, so it won’t be a lie.”
"Was this the purple haired-one's idea? Her kind are known for twisting the meaning of things. Or do you humans also speak with slippery words?"
"Humans do as well, which is why you should ignore whatever any of the villagers say to you and stick to my orders."
"Very well. I will accept you are leaving. At least you are wise enough to leave me in charge, and it will be pleasant not having to listen to the imp and Yulari bicker."
"Yes, that will be my burden to bear."
"Unfortunate for you. So I will guard our home, continue to let the human miners work, and tell those that ask for you that you are . . . unavailable. Anything else?"
"Yes. I need you to swear to me that if the humans do attack for whatever reason, you will go out of your way to make sure none of them are killed."
"Now you ask too much, Ean. If the humans wish to die in battle against us, I ca not deny them this right. I can accept the use of your twisted words to turn them away, but I will not sully myself or my people by letting a challenge go unanswered."
That was exactly the opening Ean had hoped for.
"You really feel like the humans would be a challenge? The villagers would have the same chance against you as a pack of tiny imps. None. You fighting them would be about as challenging as squashing a bug. I don't feel like I need to answer a challenge when a bug buzzes around my head."
"True, but if that bug buzzes around your head in an annoying fashion, you swat it down anyway. If a swarm of your humans come buzzing around where they don’t belong, I will give them one warning. If they don’t comply, they will be put down. It is as simple as that.”
"Ok . . . " Ean needed to switch tactics. "Let's not think of them as bugs. What if a child or sibling of yours challenged you? Would you kill it?"
"Of course not, but humans are not family."
"But if they were family, how would you treat their challenge?"
"Simple. I would best them, perhaps break a bone or two, and then have them serve me food and drink that day."
"Perfect!" Well, not the breaking bones part. But broken bones were much better than dead bodies. "I grew up in the village, lived there most of my life. Most of those people are like my extended family."
Which was a flat out lie, but Ean was grasping at anything to avoid bloodshed while he was gone. It was strange. He would feel comfortable lying to anyone in that village, but as he had stared up at the opposing form of Jaan, Ean felt guilty about manipulating the stubborn Crux.
Jaan had crossed his arms and began to pace around the room. When he finally stopped, the frown he directed towards Ean could have curdled milk.
"I will do as you ask. I must confess this whole situation is becoming more and more bizarre to me. I accept your rule, b
ut do not agree with many of the decisions you make. If you were Crux, I would have taken control from you long ago. Instead I bend my beliefs almost to the breaking point to do as you command."
"I understand, Jaan. I . . . " Ean struggled for a moment. There was no word in the Crux language that came even close to meaning the same thing as ‘appreciate.’ "I am . . . humbled by your patience with me."
"Well, that is something. If you feel humbled by what I do for you, then maybe you do understand the struggles you cause me. Just know that when you return, we will resume our training together. For every time I must bend my beliefs, you will feel the repercussions in our sparring matches. And we will spar now so that you remember what you will return to."
***
Ean rubbed at the sore muscles in his arms as they trekked up the path leading out of the valley. Jaan had put him through the roughest sparring match he had ever experienced. Ean's imps had to carry him back to his room while his broken legs and arm healed. It had made getting everything ready for the trip a painful process. He had accomplished everything, though, and even received a nice send-off by his . . . followers?
Ean was never really sure what to call them. Minions seemed too sinister and made it sound like they were his slaves. Subjects made him sound like a king, which didn't fit either. Just another thing he would have to figure out. Now, he had a long journey ahead of him to think about it. What they had done made him feel important. His creatures from the Abyss had lined up on either side of the exit from the mines, standing stoic as he left.
The two Maruks, whom he rarely saw, had pulled themselves away from constructing their forge. They stood, massive dark red blocks of cracked stone, with their arms at their sides, and legs close together. They could have blended into the wall of the mountain if the crevices in their skin didn't glow crimson. Their heads looked like cones with the top sliced off. The face of the Maruk was devoid of a nose and mouth, but it looked ahead with blazing eyes of solid blue.
The Crux stood just as still as the Maruks, their arms folded in front of their yellow bodies. They each gave him a nod as he passed. His Abyssmal hound, Yaeger, was at the end of the line. Through the bond, Ean felt confusion and sadness. It had taken Ean all morning to figure out the right emotions to send to the Hound to get him to remain behind. He had been happy to see Yaeger obediently walk into the mine a few moments after he had passed.
Ean thought fondly of all of his creatures back at the mine, doing who knows what, while he started his trek through the mountain pass.
"It feels like forever ago that we were leaving Rottwealth for the first time," Zin said from Ean's right. "You were all bright-eyed and in awe of getting out of the valley."
"If I remember correctly, at this point I was fuming that Jaslen had decided to tag along. I was picturing having to make the entire journey with her and Bran all over each other."
"I bet the part of you that had a large crush on her was happy just to have her around."
"Maybe."
"Jaslen was the red-headed girl you lusted over, yes?" Azalea asked. She had taken on the illusion of her human form; a young woman with short, dirty blond hair and small features dressed in a plain brown traveler’s robe. Through their bond, Ean had felt her vacillate back and forth between feeling guilty and angry, so he had left her alone. "I remember when you first summoned me. The lust you felt for her rolled off of you in waves."
"I'm surprised you remember that, seeing as how you were so busy trying to drain the life out of both her and Bran at the time."
"Not my fault you knew nothing about my kind when you pulled me out of the Abyss. If you were invited to a new tavern and knew the menu was amazing, wouldn't you try to gorge on as much as you could while the food was still hot? Besides, they both turned on you in the end."
"They didn't turn on me . . . " Ean trailed off. Azalea and Zin let the topic drop and grew silent as well.
Thinking about the many mistakes he had made on his last trip was difficult. The way he had driven Bran and Jaslen away was on the top of his list of regrets. Ean still didn’t know exactly what happened to them after they had fled, leaving him alone to grapple with Azalea. Sure, he had gained a valuable ally, but Bran was now an enemy and blamed Ean for Jaslen refusing to return to Rottwealth with him. Maybe on this journey, luck would have him run into her again. Would she hold the same amount of animosity towards him that Bran did?
That thought bothered him the rest of the morning and into the evening as they traveled through the mountains. The path wound about but was always enclosed by brown- and tan-colored rock. A constant wind howled through the pass, sending a chill down Ean's spine.
It was just the cold that touched him this time as he moved up the pass. Since becoming immortal, Ean no longer feared for himself, but the creatures he commanded were another story. He worried what would happen to his loyal subjects if the villagers stormed the mine. Also, being immortal didn’t mean that Ean couldn’t feel bone shatter under the force of a hard fist against his face or the sting of a knife thrust into his belly. Any fear he felt came from worrying about a confrontation between his creatures in the mine and the villagers of Rottwealth. That fear always tugged at the back of his mind. But never any fear for his own safety.
It was strange, and a little worrisome.
Just as night started to blanket the sky above them, they reached the halfway point of the trip. At this point, the path opened up and became twice as wide, just enough for a small group to camp out. Not a single stray tree or piece of vegetation grew out of the ground or the sides of the mountain that walled in the path.
Back in Rottwealth they had debated whether to push on through the night or make camp. Ean was sleeping less and less, avoiding any chance he could for the nightmares to return. Zin and Azalea were used to not sleeping, as sleep was a very dangerous past time in the Abyss. It ended up being Daoshen, however, that made them decide to spend the night in the pass.
"I don't care if the rest of you don't want to rest," he said as they came to a stop in the pass. "I need my beauty sleep."
"A little too late for that, isn't it?" Azalea quipped.
"Ok, so maybe a little sleep won't help my looks, but I still need it to function."
"You need sleep like a normal person?" Ean asked.
"I AM a normal person."
"I just meant that since you were dead and all--"
"You fools really have no idea what the Plague does to those affected.”
"Honestly, I don't care--" Azalea said with a shrug.
"It's not really something everyone talks about--" Ean said over top of her.
"Let me educate you then. First off, despite the fact that your people call us the Living Dead, we aren't actually dead. I'm just as alive as anyone else in this land. You need to think of the Plague as a disease that we can't get out of our bodies. It changed us, that goes without question, but it didn't kill us."
"But you don't die naturally anymore, and you have . . . pieces . . . falling off."
"True, but that doesn't mean we're all dead. The Plague did give us eternal life. That is certainly a perk, at least the majority of us consider it one. The problem is that it doesn't provide any kind of healing factor. We get cut, we bleed for a bit, then we are stuck with that scar forever. Sewing it up doesn't help.
We're also prone to having parts simply fall off." He paused a moment to tap the scarf around his face where his nose should have been. "The Plague keeps the important parts going–brain, heart, whatever else is on the inside that we need to keep functioning. Everything else, it kind of picks and chooses what to keep at random."
"How random is it? I've seen some of your kind that looked completely whole."
"The Plague might not support some body parts, but if we keep nourished and rested, our bodies do their best to keep everything attached."
"Does food grow in the Deadlands? I would think that if you can grow food, everyone would be more or less . . . whole."
"And good old Ean inadvertently put a stop to that." Azalea said with a laugh. "Your people must be falling apart by now."
"He caused some problems." Daoshen's tone grew serious for a moment. "But we found a temporary fix. We found something else that keeps us together besides untainted food, and with Olundkin wiped out, that means a lot less people to worry about. If Ean can get a regular supply of food going for us, though, that would be the best situation."
"So then, your people aren't upset over what--"
"Enough already with the questions," Daoshen said, waving Ean off. "Plenty of time on our journey to educate you on my land and its people. I'm hungry, tired, and would like to get everything set up so I can sit and relax for a bit."
"Fine, fine." Ean said. "I'll unpack all of our camping supplies. Just give me one moment."
Ean had packed most of what they needed for their journey in his Pocket, a small hole in the Abyss that only he could access. Inside, he had placed the pieces to a large tent that would accommodate the four of them, a cooking pot, extra kindling, a hand saw, and a few changes of clothes for himself. The food and water skins they had kept out and carried in packs; mostly fruit and dried meats, with a few sliced up Carnslugs as well. Zin had said the Carnslug meat would never go bad, so they should try and save it for an emergency.
Moving to the center of the path, Ean knelt and placed his right palm down on the ground. Before the tattoos had started their spread over his body, he had been forced to draw out the complicated runes by hand. That had been the only way to activate the magic. Now, it was as simple as picturing what he wanted in his mind. The rune for the pocket started off as two inscribed circles. With a thought, they appeared, glowing a bright indigo. Then he pictured all of the designs that went in between the circles.
He still had no idea what most of the runes meant, having learned this trick based on the pictures in his Abyssmal Tome. He had meant to start trying to decipher more while he got settled in at the mine, but always seemed to get distracted by one thing or another. Maybe if he had time on this trip, he would start again. If Dao was as old as he claimed, he might be able to make out some words and phrases.
Enemies and Allies (Bound to the Abyss Book 3) Page 6
