by Lawrence, J.
Run and pray.
Chapter 59
Bubbling Vats
“Stop! Caller, what are you doing?” The huge soldier appeared completely perplexed. White knuckles gripped the guard railing on either side. His legs wouldn’t spread any wider. “Ontar needs you.” He pleaded.
In answer, Thaniel kicked out a support. The catwalk dipped a little on that side.
The soldier’s eyes were filled with a mixture of anger and dread, probably at the thought of returning to face the Ontar without her precious Caller. But the hurt Thaniel saw there was the real shocker. The man actually thought Thaniel would want to come back to Ontar Hold.
Behind the first soldier, and well back in a further effort to spread out their collective massive weight, the second soldier shifted into view. Thaniel went rigid with recognition.
Standing on the catwalk, a smile spreading on his lips, was Keriim.
The man had been big before. Now he was a pillar of knotted muscle. Seeing someone he was familiar with before they had somehow changed drove home how complete the magical transformation was. His arms were longer, as if they had been stretched out on a rack. One of his hands could have engulfed Thaniel’s entire head. With the strings of tight muscle that stretched over every visible inch of the man, Thaniel didn’t have any doubt that Keriim could probably crush his skull in his grip alone. Each one of the man’s thighs was wider than Thaniel’s waste. Even as Keriim stood still, Thaniel could see him quivering with latent energy, like a cat about to pounce. Yet beyond all that there was more. Danger, born of evil intent, emanated out from the man. He’d seen glimmers of it on Keriim before, but now even that seemed magnified. It was as if the man wore evil like a bright crimson cloak.
“How?” The question slipped from his lips.
“It is the dra, Caller.” The first soldier explained, “The dra has brought the strength of Ontar back to us. We will bring order and peace to all of Arth.” He risked taking one of his hands off the guard railing to run along his forehead in the familiar gesture he was already used to receiving from them. Keriim didn’t.
“You must come back.” The man seemed as genuinely passionate in his convictions as Keriim was maniacally twisted.
Thaniel started to turn around when he heard Keriim’s voice.
“You wouldn’t want to leave your kiss with us alone, would you Caller?” Keriim stared at him with a cold smile on his lips. Thaniel locked eyes with the soldier that he’d so far managed to keep away from Elycia.
“I’m not falling for it.”
“She’s tied up on the back of my horse. I bet she’s wondering what kind of man would run right by her like that.” Cords of muscle in Keriim’s neck flexed with his every word.
Thaniel felt the blood drain from his face as he realized that the small girl he thought he’d seen was actually Elycia. Keriim was at least a foot taller than he’d been before and half again as wide. His size had made her look smaller and he’d just assumed that the men had taken a small girl as a slave.
“It’s alright. You go ahead. Run. I’ll show her what a real man has to offer.”
Thaniel sighed out a lung full of the putrid air. The man had him and he knew it. He wasn’t going to leave her to him. His feet might as well have been spiked to the catwalk.
Keriim’s smile widened, exposing a mouthful of yellow teeth, as he took a slow but confident step forward.
Movement behind the soldiers caught Thaniel’s attention. Something was coming. An instant later, feeling the catwalk tremble with the rhythm of its erratic crawling gait as it skittered toward them, both soldiers turned around to face the newcomer. Through the rank haze that bubbled up from the tanks Thaniel had a hard time making it out. Whatever it was, it was coming at them at an alarmingly fast pace.
As it drew closer Thaniel could see it was a man, and not. There was a head, two arms, a bare stub of a leg on one side and just nothing on the other. Yet, amazingly it still moved with incredible speed. Using its arms it would propel its mass forward, land on its stub leg, and launch forward again on its arms. If it wasn’t moving so fast, it might have been funny.
It didn’t take long for it to close the distance. Thaniel rubbed at his eyes. He recognized the face but couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
It was Ghile. His first instinct was to warn him who he was running toward, but then a shiver slid down the back of his neck. Looking at Ghile was always uncomfortable. For seven years he’d known him as a helpless simpleminded cripple. His back was bent over so bad that Thaniel had always just assumed the man was shorter than he was. His leg had been twisted around so bad that it actually faced the wrong way. Thaniel had almost grown accustomed to seeing the toes of his shoes on one foot and the heel on the other. Even one of his hands was a misshapen useless thing.
Then, after he’d thought he’d never see the man again, Ghile appeared to him in the woods. Much to Thaniel’s surprise, Ghile’s new eyes took in everything, betraying a calculating mind and will that the old Ghile could never possess. His face had lost its ever present crookedness. His body was far beyond just normal. The man moved with predatory grace.
He’d just started to get used to seeing the new Ghile when he changed yet again. This time, much like the first two Ghile’s he knew, Thaniel didn’t know what to make of him. He was a little more than half a man, as if someone had nearly cut him in two. Wounds like he’d obviously sustained should have killed him. Yet, here he was still moving. If anything, except for the missing limbs, he actually looked stronger.
Against the hazy light of the vast structure, Ghile was aglow. Thaniel recognized the same amber resonance he’d seen coming from Ghile’s hands when he healed his ankle. Now it covered him from head to toe. It was brightest at the ends of his extremities, as if the strange power knew what part of his body was missing and was concentrated there.
Both of the soldier’s hands instinctively went for their axes at the same time, forgetting they had shed them at the stairs to lighten their load on the rickety rotting gallery. Keriim, obviously determined to make quick work of the cripple started for Ghile at a dead run.
“Go.” The soldier in front of Thaniel said. “We will meet you at the horses when we are done here.”
The man started taking a step back.
“Wait.” Thaniel called.
He was too late.
The entire section the soldier was standing on groaned, and dropped a few inches. Dark wood splinters rained down into the bubbling pools below. For a moment he looked perplexed. The men thought they had caught up to Thaniel before he kicked out the supports. There were a number of long pieces of lumber still attached to the beams high overhead. If they had looked closer they would have noticed that he’d already managed to smash out the decent ones. If they’d bothered to look down, at least ten of the fresh wooden supports were still floating in the bubbling liquid below. The only ones he left in place were dark black with rot and powdery to the touch.
“Caller?” The man yelled, the betrayal evident in his eyes as he plunged into the bubbling viscous pools in a splash.
Thaniel gripped the smooth bright lumber he’d left in place for himself and watched as the creature he knew as Ghile leapt through the air. Thaniel’s jaw dropped at the sight. At the end of Ghile’s good arm, right where a smooth palm should be, a vicious set of teeth augured hungrily.
Keriim spun out of the path of the flashing teeth, a move that made it look like the man had no bones. He smashed a boot in Ghile’s face, sending him spinning backwards. Ghile slid to a stop right at the edge where the first soldier fell.
Thaniel involuntarily took a step back. He fought the urge to run even though a thirty foot section was missing, effectively cutting him off from either Keriim or Ghile.
Below, the first soldier came up gasping, steaming greasy liquid sloughing off of him as he launched himself up out of the vat just high enough to get a grip on a piece of apparatus. Blisters popped as he tightened his greasy grip
in an effort to pull himself up higher toward one of the platforms the workers used to fish out the hides from.
Keriim tried another kick, intending to send Ghile into the hot pool. Ghile slapped the leg away as if it were nothing more than a nuisance, and rolled right up inside Keriim’s guard. He smashed the stub of his bad hand into Keriim’s nose. Blood sprayed across the man’s face. Keriim’s scream of rage hadn’t even left his throat when Ghile’s other hand, the one with the spinning teeth, ripped into his side. Ghile, arm aglow, rode him to the planking as Keriim fell straight backwards. Locked in a deadly embrace, they crashed onto the catwalk. Between Keriim’s bulk and Ghile’s, it was too much for the old dilapidated structure to bear. A sickening crunch awakened both of them to their mistake. But it was too late. The supports for the last ten feet of bridging ripped away from the beams above and started plunging down.
Instead of splashing into the liquid right off, they slammed first into one of the vat’s separating walls. The ten foot section teetered precariously.
Thaniel rubbed his eyes with a grimy knuckle.
Ghile roared in what could only be described as vicious delight as Keriim screamed in pain. The first soldier, seeing Keriim in distress, snatched a long metal hook from a peg and leapt from the platform he’d made it to. He flew through the air, the heavy iron hook already arcing for Ghile’s head.
Ghile swiveled. The hook sliced through the air and the soldier slammed into what was left of the guard rail before he disappeared under the liquid yet again. Keriim regained some of his composure and reached up with both of his long arms. He grasped Ghile’s head in two powerful hands and grit his teeth as he squeezed with all his might.
Thaniel gasped as he watched Ghile’s head pop like a melon. Brain matter and blood erupted, covering Keriim’s face. Then, the pair of them, locked in a deadly embrace, started sliding into the hot bubbling pool.
The sound of Keriim screaming like a wild animal fell on a cold place in Thaniel’s soul.
“It’s better than you deserve.” Thaniel yelled at the man.
Keriim’s head turned to give Thaniel one last glare, his eyes filled with enough hate to burn away an entire world. His mouth opened as if he was about to respond, just before he slid beneath the bubbling hot liquid.
Transfixed by the unbelievable carnage, Thaniel stood staring at the pool. With a sense of finality that Thaniel thought he should feel grateful for, the hot bubbling liquid ominously settled back into foamy place. The newer supports he’d kicked out, covered in bloody brain matter, were the only indications that anyone had ever been there at all.
Thaniel felt a resounding crash through the wood he was standing on. The whole building vibrated. Pieces of rotting wood rained down from everywhere at once. On the far side of the vast room the ceiling started to buckle. The catwalk swayed. Supports popped free near the stairs. Then another set popped. Pair by pair, the supports blew off, with every crunch getting closer to Thaniel. Supported by nothing, the entire suspended structure started plummeting into the bubbling vats.
Without another second’s hesitation, Thaniel turned and ran.
He had to get to her.
Chapter 60
Soothing Nothingness
Lars Telazno wasn’t going to make it.
Out of the corner of his eye he could see a massive sheet of ice roaring down the middle of the frothing brown water. In seconds it would slam into the structure and send it and him along with it over the edge.
He chose to not look at it and focus instead on where he needed to go. He had to make it to the ridiculously painted yellow and green wagon that was perched safely on the other side of the gorge.
The giant unyielding ice flow hit the building without mercy. In rapid sequence the building disappeared beneath him and then rushed back up at him with bone crushing force. Lars felt the world go dim amid a sea of fizzling stars as he slammed into the wood roof face first. It felt like he’d broken every bone in his body. He couldn’t breathe. Pain raced through him like a flash fire on a dry prairie, burning away his ability to think and therefore function on any cognitive level.
As blackness swept over him he was vaguely aware of a large dark presence. It had him by the sides. The pain in his ribs was nearly unbearable. Whatever had him was hurting him, yet there wasn’t anything he could do about it. He could tell someone had hauled him off the ground. Lars felt himself being carried. Whatever had him was moving fast. Every footfall sent a shockwave of blinding pain along every nerve in his body.
Then, thankfully, everything fell away into soothing nothingness.
Chapter 61
Ride
Elycia stopped straining against her bonds when she heard someone splashing towards her. Spooked by the newcomer’s sudden arrival the horse shied off to the left. Elycia felt her heart sink.
Someone was breathing hard right behind her. She flinched when she heard the rasping sound of a knife coming free of the saddle mounted scabbard. Time seemed to slow to a near stop. There wasn’t anything for her do.
Please, don’t be Keriim, she breathed.
Elycia felt the cold steel against her wrists. Terror sent her into a hysterical fit of movement as she writhed away from the blade.
“Stop! I’m trying to help you.” She heard.
That voice cut through the fog of panic.
It was Thaniel.
She felt herself go limp with relief as tears fell from her eyes. The knife, safely in Thaniel’s hands, cut away the bonds. The moment she felt the pinpricks of warmth flowing back into her fingers, Elycia ripped the gag out of her mouth. It was the sweetest breath she could ever remember taking in. Thaniel lowered her to the ground and carefully tugged loose the rest of the cords that Keriim had mercilessly bound her with.
“Are you alright?” The look in his eyes cut her to the quick.
Jorel was right. Thaniel would do anything for her. Go anywhere. Brave anything. She saw that before, but the significance of it dawned on her in a way that sent spikes of shame into her heart.
The things she’d said to him...
“I’m fine.” She lied, nearly choking on the words.
Elycia suddenly noticed Thaniel was ignoring her. His eyes were locked on something over her shoulder.
Elycia’s head whipped around to see people running in panic straight for them. Behind them, debris strewn water crested over the top of the dam. People thrashed, trying to catch hold of anything they could as the knee high surge drove them before it.
Thaniel grabbed her arm. He had the horse’s reins in the other hand and one of his feet already in a stirrup.
“Can you ride?” He asked.
Chapter 62
Calling
Amazingly, Thaniel and Elycia were still on the back of the horse. They were stranded. Thaniel stared at the deadly brown current as it raced by.
The horse, a chestnut gelding, danced nervously, eying the advancing water as the small island slowly shrank. A mother, clutching two small children in her arms, was screaming out over the water, repeating her husband’s name over and over. There wasn’t anyone answering.
A huge man in a shredded slicker, covered in bloody scrapes and mud, leaped off a section of floating roof as it slammed into the rise. He took one look at them and lunged, desperation plain in his eyes. He grabbed hold of Thaniel’s cloak with both hands, trying to pull him off the saddle with hard, stiff jerks. Thaniel yanked the horse’s reins to one side. The spooked gelding wheeled, and sent the man flying backwards into the rush of muddy water. The current swept him right over the side of the gorge.
Thaniel swallowed, still shaking.
There was nowhere to go. As they watched, a wave of water continually washed over the top of the dam. It coursed over the sides and ran down into the town, before it flowed back towards the gorge and disappeared. The tannery buildings that used to line either side of the street were gone. Only a few pieces of sporadic apparatus remained now, jutting up from the brown water like t
he bleached bones of a long dead beast through dirt.
Thaniel glanced at a small body floating face down in the swift brown water. It bumped into the little island they were perched on as if begging for deliverance from the icy flow. Then, struck by a floating beam, it flipped over, a broken hand splashing as it spun. A boy’s blue face bobbed up. The glazed dead eyes of the child seemed to stare accusingly at Thaniel before it slipped back under the murk.
The water was rising fast. In minutes they would all be swept into the current. Suddenly overcome with a wave of exhaustion, Thaniel let out a breath. They weren’t going to make it. He turned in the saddle, eyes already brimming with tears.
“You didn’t know.” She said, holding his gaze for as long as he could stand it.
The hopelessness he saw in Elycia’s eyes cut him to the bone.
If he had any doubts before, Thaniel knew now that this was all his fault. There was a strange ring of justice to the idea that he would die by his own creation. But Elycia hadn’t done anything. Lars Telazno’s words came back to him, asking him what he would do if his misuse of his ability harmed Elycia.
“I’m sorry.” Thaniel could hardly speak around the lump of guilt in his throat.
“You’re sorry…” Elycia shook her head. “No, I’m sorr…”
She never finished her apology as over the rushing din of the moving water, and crying children, a familiar voice boomed right in front of their face.
“Elycia, Thaniel,”
Thaniel and Elycia looked in the same direction simultaneously.
Harkanin’s yellow and green wagon seemed a world away. It sat perched on the other side, the high side, of the gorge. In the misty distance they could make out the figure of Lars Telazno, standing on top of the wagon, waving his hands. Gabril, a big shadow, stood by his side.
“How?” Thaniel asked, wondering how he could hear the man from so far away. It reminded Thaniel of how voices carried down in the cistern way back in Ontar Hold.
