Yeah, I replied, trying to overcome my reaction and blend in with all of the other frightened figures walking about. Just surprised to be reminded of home. Let’s keep moving.
We followed the crowds, careful to keep our jostling to a minimum. Weylin and Karim moved with the deliberate confidence of people who had been here before. Salima and Val flitted about easily, as if they were moving through the people’s shadows instead of walking through the crowd itself. Breena only needed to hide in my cloak the entire time.
As for me, I’d have someone bump into me once, stagger away from me in a daze, and then everyone gave me a wide berth.
Being noticed like that was the exact opposite sort of impression that I wanted to leave right now, but thankfully it wasn’t a problem. They just gave me the same amount of space that the other high school students used to give our football team’s linemen and linebackers in the crowded hallways.
So far, I was just another large man in a crowd, and nothing more.
I soon learned that the people of Tajam were used to far more troublesome sights when we passed our first Pit Slave.
We weren’t very close. I wouldn’t have noticed them if the crowd hadn’t suddenly turned to a side street, almost as one, intentionally keeping their heads down and looking away from the direction they had all just been walking. It took us by surprise and some of us almost stumbled. But since we were in the back of the crowd, everyone just assumed we hadn’t noticed them in time.
Communicating through the mindlink, we lingered in the intersection as long as we dared.
It was just long enough to see two men with large brooms sweeping the street in front of us.
They were far off in the distance.
But my enhanced eyes could just barely make out their widened, unblinking eyes. The pool-like black pupils. And the black, vein-like lines running along their face.
Wes? Val asked urgently. We have to go. Now.
I listened to her, because I wasn’t stupid. We headed to an inconspicuous place where we could rest and talk. Weylin provided directions through the mindlink.
A few minutes later, we pulled into yet another alleyway and made as if we were just taking a moment to rest.
Alright Val, I said as I leaned against a wall, careful to still keep my hood down. We can probably wait here for a minute or two. Tell me what happened. Quickly.
It’s Ball-ee, she whispered into our minds. As soon as we saw those black-eyed people he began freaking out. He tried to get out of my pack!
That was different. Ball-ee usually stayed calm unless there was a Horde Pit or a seriously injured person nearby. I walked over to Val, acting as if I was checking on her to make sure she didn’t have a fever. Then, when the last of the crowd had moved on, I tried to whisper to her backpack.
“Psst,” I said as quietly as I could, wishing that the little jelly could be part of the mindlink, “Ball-ee? Are you okay?”
“No!” Val’s pack wiggled, visibly, as if an animal was trying to escape from her pack. “Help! Change! Save! Di-rec-tive!”
“Ball-ee,” I said, resisting the urge to glance and make sure no one was watching us, “can you help these people with the black eyes walking around?”
“Yes!” the voice from Val’s pack squeaked in a determined tone, “Yes! Di-rec-tive!”
That was good news, even if it wasn’t that surprising.
“Can you help them even if we destroy the Horde Pit first?” I asked, trying to get my questions simple for the little creature.
“Yes! Yes!” the blue ball said as he wiggled inside Val’s pack. “Change! Free! Live! Di-rec-tive!”
The little jelly was excited and optimistic as always, but he had yet to be wrong. I would have to take his word for it.
Especially since I had to make the Pit’s destruction my top priority.
That left us to figure out when they would come for the next batch of Horde slaves.
I suppressed the idiotic notion to walk up to someone and politely ask “do you know when they’re coming for the next batch of Pit victims? Because I’d like to sign up for a trip.”
Instead, I reached for the Breath again.
This time, it was even harder to use.
A confusing host of voices swept over me. I tried to separate them, but they overwhelmed me.
You can’t do it like that, Salima projected as she felt me struggle through the mindlink. There are too many people here, and your Inhalations are too strong. Do it like this.
She sent an image of how to inhale, and I did my best to copy here.
This time, the torrent of voices was much less pronounced. I was able to filter the confusing voices of the citizens into one large pile, though I still couldn’t get any meaningful information from them.
I did get information from the next group.
They were tense, and bored…and a few of them were feeling oddly sick, without knowing why.
They were expecting me.
Assuming I would show up, in the evening, the next time they would take their toll on this city.
They would deal with me then, if I was finally here.
If not, then they would send the children off with the monsters, and call it an early night.
Maybe that would help with the headaches some of them were having.
Is that the Malus Men? I heard Teeth ask in my mind. Because that sounds like the Malus Men.
I didn’t argue with him, and focused on the next group of voices.
“Traitor-prince! Traitor-prince! Catch and kill the traitor-prince!”
Yup, we were done there. Moving on…
The last exhalation was just a feminine, powerful cry of rage. I recognized her. Hers was the same voice that had been tired and desperate. She had clearly felt defeated the last time I had heard her, though she was no less determined in spite of her own discouragement.
But this exhalation had blasted away every trace of her previous feelings. Exhaustion had been replaced by outrage. Desperation had been replaced by feelings of betrayal. Defeat was replaced by the regret that even her tiniest faith in something had been replaced.
And determination had been swallowed up in a desire to go down fighting, and to take as many wretched, worthless lives, and in as many places as possible, with her.
She would bide her moment.
And when the time came, when they were gathered together in their arrogance and ignorance, she would make one last strike.
Shit, I thought to myself.
She sounds hot, Teeth spoke up with predictable inaneness.
She sounds like she’s going to do something risky and drastic that could get her killed, I responded, sending a mental direction for us to buy something at a stall and then find a way to return back to Nadine’s house, and for all we know, this is a trap to capture her just as much as it is with us. If Chris’s death is any indication, she’s been causing them problems a lot longer than we have.
Right, right, Teeth said, still sounding stupidly excited. But hey, I just realized. She killed Chris, right?
I just said that, I pointed out exasperatedly.
So she’s kinda ‘best girl’ now, my inner dragon asked, am I right?
Best girl? I sputtered, growing exasperated. What the hell do you mean by that?
You know, Teeth continued, like with the book your sister reads. The non-adopted one. And those animes you would watch with her and her friends. Wait, the new guy suddenly sounded confused, should I be saying ‘your sister’ or ‘our sister?’
I don’t—I sputtered again, then finally collected myself. Number one, I said as we fell back into a new crowd heading in the direction we needed to go, Anahita is a part of Stell. So a single Satellite of hers can’t be ‘best girl’ because they are all technically one girl. They’re just a different side of Stell.
Yup, Teeth noted indifferently, really glad you’ve finally stopped screwing things up with her, by the way.
I haven’t been—I caught myself again
. Number two, the fastest way to actually screw things up with this girl is to tell her which of her many bodies is her ‘best.’ Especially since they’ve all rocked, I admitted, even though I wasn’t happy we were having this conversation right now.
Finally! Teeth exulted. He mans up and admits it!
Third, and most importantly, I added, feeling angry that I hadn’t led with the point I was just now thinking of. This isn’t the time for us to go through Stell’s personalities, traits, or…assets. We need to come up with a plan to save those assets—save Anahita, I corrected, and then take care of all the other shit on our to-do list. Then, when she’s safe, and we’re safe, and everyone is safe, we can devote a little more mental appreciation to the fact that our relationship with this woman is finally moving in the right direction.
Perfect! the dragon chanted happily. This is exactly what we needed! We’re good now. You can go back to being a plan-dweeb. I’ll even help you think about all that non-important stuff.
Then Teeth went blissfully, blissfully silent. My focus improved immensely, and I was able to silence all of my random thoughts and focus fully on being in the present.
Psst, Wes! Breena messaged me. What happened? Our bond is suggesting that you got like a hundred billion brain cells back all of a sudden.
You’re um, mostly not wrong, I replied, but I can’t really describe what happened, I replied uncomfortably, privately wondering when I’d finally catch a break.
Oh, right! she said brightly, say no more! Glad you managed to tame your dragon for a bit in public! And super impressed that you did it without being noticed!
I groaned. And because she was Breena, she didn’t stop talking.
I guess there’s hope after all for that thing! the little fairy continued. Sorry I freaked out that one time…that you know of…I mean I totally only freaked out once. It’s really impressive how well you manage that angry thing.
Breena, I begged uselessly.
I mean it, Wes! Stell’s smallest Satellite continued in an encouraging tone. You’ve been doing all of this work, slaying monsters, saving worlds, conquering Tumults, walking in a straight line, all while constantly wrestling with the mother of all distractions! And no one suspected a thing! Not even me!
Breenaaaaaaa, I sighed uselessly. We were almost back to our base. At least, I told myself we were.
No, you need to understand! the pink-haired woman persisted. Your willpower is absolutely amazing! I can’t even wrap my head around the kind of chokehold you’d need to constantly keep on your dragon, just so that you can be the man and hero the rest of us have needed you to be! Maybe when the time comes, I can get the Testifiers to help me make a proper record for the Challenge I now know you’ve overcome every single day of your life!
This time, instead of saying her name a third time, I just deflated, walking in sullen silence as I tried to turn my attention back to killing all the things I needed to kill while saving all of the people I needed to save.
We met back at Nadine’s house, stopping to buy food from one of the few normal merchants left in the city. The merchant silently took the list Karim’s aunt had given us and provided the items, accepting Karim’s offer without haggling in the slightest.
That behavior alone terrified Karim and Weylin. Marketplace haggling was a part of this world’s culture. It wasn’t just an integral part of the city’s economy. It was part of the social process for these people. They would try and weave their personal affairs into the bargaining—especially if they had known the merchant for many years.
This city is dying, Karim confided to me as we walked away from the nervous merchant. And yes, I know we already knew that, he added, feeling my emotions through the mindlink. But they have not only lost their friends and families. If the Horde and Malus Men never take another person to the Pits, these people will continue to isolate, drift, and die out. If they cannot get their spark of hope back, their sense of community back, then this place will resemble a devastated hovel that will make the ruins of Nedjena seem a thriving metropolis by comparison.
Noted, I replied, not sure what else to say.
I know you have, the dark-skinned Testifier confided, and though I am angered by what the false Challengers have done to my homeworld, I am confident in our ability to snatch Life out of Death’s broken jaws. Breyn is right. We have already done so far too many times to justify falling into despair now.
Damn straight, I growled back, as we reached his aunt’s home.
As grim as the situation appeared, it wasn’t anything on the level of what the Flood had already done to Atlantis aeons before we showed up. We had only grown stronger since then.
In comparison, my enemies had grown from negligent to panicked, and were struggling to bring the right resources to bear. The Pit Knights might very well be close by, but the exhalations from the local Malus Men suggested they were still hundreds of miles away. They were on their own, for this evening at least, and they knew it.
And they were going to bring a bear trap to a dragon fight.
Even with keeping my priorities on the Pit, I looked forward to showing them how poorly their idea would work.
CHAPTER 20: KNIFE IN THE CROWD
We spent the afternoon preparing.
We would have been stupid not to, since we had hours before we would have to act, and we were finally in a safe location.
We spent most of that time casting Practitioner-level spells that would both help conceal us and aid us when it finally was time to fight. Most of them had come from the book on Air magic, but a few were ones that the rest of my team had either learned from Breena, the Testifier Colleges, or discovered through experimentation.
At any rate, with our bodies and gear prepared as thoroughly as possible, Salima and I took turns using the Breath to make sure we wouldn’t be too late or early when our enemies finally made their move.
Unsurprisingly, Salima was able to get far more detailed intelligence with her use of the Breath, even if she couldn’t send it out as far or take in as many voices as I could.
The time finally came, perhaps an hour or so before sunset. Karim’s aunt hugged us all as we prepared to leave, giving a final few tidbits of advice.
Then, fully covered in our robes, and spells to help hide and quiet our armor, we began walking outside.
The crowds were thin now, but we had already expected that. Even if we hadn’t used the Breath to sense their emotions, it was logical to assume that they were preparing for the inevitable culling that had come every day.
But some of them still had errands to run, because they still had children to feed and tribute to pay. And besides, the Horde and Malus Men could simply break into people’s homes and drag them out to make sure they hit whatever quota they had in mind.
And so, when the Horde arrived on foot and wing, there were still people on the streets, allowing us to blend in.
They marched directly in through the city gates. I couldn’t get an exact number, but there were dozens of Mongrels, scores of Miscreants, and hundreds of antler-horned Wretches. The Malus operatives began to materialize as well from wherever they had been, men in black robes or armor whistling and banging on shields, as if they were trying to direct daily traffic instead of arranging for the next hundred or so Pit victims.
Here and there, a black-eyed, black-veined person with a vacant stare would suddenly shout that ‘it was time’ and that people needed to ‘move to the city square.’
Some of the crowd left and scurried for their homes. Some of them tried to finish their errands before the culling began, and failed. Still others were out and about because they knew if they were taken, their children and grandchildren might be spared.
It made no difference to their captors. The unresisting elderly were all gathered up by men and monster. The rest were either herded with weapons, and those that almost escaped were caught by the flying Horde who swooped down to grab them.
As they came close enough, the familiar notificati
on activated inside my mind.
Warning, my mindscreen chirped. Foreign contaminant detected. Contaminant is new species of Hordemonster, designated as species Cur. Said species detected as excelling in aerial combat. Detected as possessing high strength and speed. Recommended that the Challenger engages and destroys before contaminant overwhelms current world.
They were the same beak-faced, leathery-winged monsters I had seen perched on the building rooftops last night. And judging by how easily they were lifting people into the air, they were all at least as strong as a Mongrel, possibly even as strong as a Howler.
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