Harlow vomited as she pulled Dog from the river, emptying the runoff from her body, coughing and spluttering. She heaved, drawing him further up the bank she’d managed to latch onto, pulling him into the cave on the river. She eyed it disappointingly, finding it shallower then she had hoped, its mouth right on the rapids they’d escaped from.
“I can’t believe you can’t swim!” Harlow sighed, dragging his unconscious body against the wall of the cave. She tore his armor and clothes free, wincing at the giant bruise that covered his back. She turned him on his side, rubbing at his yellowing belly, and pressing down on his chest, “C’mon! If you drown again Victoria’s going to kill me you heavy bastard!”
Dog heaved, throwing up water back into the river, his body shaking, eye twitching.
“By the Gods I might just see a good afterlife.” Harlow laughed, frowning as she spotted his broken armor, shattered and in tatters, “You would have dodged that. Nobody would have blamed you for escaping with your life. Are you stupid?”
Dog heaved, expelling more water from his chest.
“Gods, you idiot. I’ll be lucky if Ruby doesn’t kill me.” She paused, “Or any of the other crazy women who are horribly attached to you.”
“Sorry…” He hiccuped, face still slick with water.
“Don’t apologize for saving my life again stupid.” She sighed, “I’m never going to repay you, am I?”
“For what?” He asked, struggling for air.
“You saved me in Korone. You saved all of us. We were all constantly at each other’s necks, and you saved us. You healed me, even. I still got my arm because of you.”
“You don’t owe me… Anything…” He wheezed.
“I do. You know the code.”
“Fuck… The code…”
“It’s not something I can do.” She shrugged, “All I’ve got to my name is my sword, and this armor. If I don’t have my pride, then what?”
“You have… Your life…”
“I owe that to you too. Twice over now.”
“Just… Leave it.”
“I won’t. Not until my debt is paid.”
“Whatever…”
“You sound strange. Are you able to heal?”
“Lung… Collapsed… Organs… Bleeding…”
“Gods… Isn’t that where the blood is supposed to be?” She shook her head, “Just like old times then, eh?” She reached into her sack, “Thank Gods I’ve got my tent and fire starter. We might die of chill, otherwise.”
“Thank you…”
“Moron. Will you be alright?”
“Dunno…”
“Shit.” She shifted, rolling out her bag, and pulling a brown brick from her pack, “That wizard. He’s always ten steps ahead. He said these logs burn for a few days, right?”
“Should…” Dog rasped.
“Alright, guess we’re doing this again.” She pulled her clothes free as the fire roared, sliding Dog onto her sleeping bag and sliding in after him, their clothes set near the fire, “Like old times, eh?”
“Old… Times…”
“You better not die on me. There’s no way I’m making it back to the city on my own.”
“Can’t move… Back…”
“Is it broken?”
“Can’t tell… Feel legs… Pain.”
“I’m amazed you’re still talking like this.”
“Hurts…”
“Sleep then, I’ll stay up and keep watch. Not like you being awake would help any.” She rubbed his shoulder gently, “Don’t go getting any ideas. I know I joked about it but I don’t have any interest in you. Your love life is too complicated as is. Count me out!”
“Agreed…” He curled in on himself, wheezing quietly.
Her cheeks flushed, “I’ve seen you naked before, you fool! Why are you shy now?”
“I’ve…. Always… Been… Shy…”
She turned, “Alright fine, you big baby.”
“Don’t… Tell… Une…”
“I’d rather live, yeah.”
“Ruby?… Tavern?”
“You asking what we were up to?” She sighed.
“Yes…”
“Right now?”
He huffed quietly.
“I’ve gotten used to sleeping next to you. It's weird when you’re away. We might have slept under your blankets… The rat was upset.”
“Very… Lonely…”
“With how many rats we killed? I doubt it.”
“White… Unwanted… Feared...”
“That’s why you two outcasts get along so well. She’s just like you then.”
“She’s… Learning… Too…”
“I think we all are. Aside from you. Insecure fool.”
“I… Am… Sorry…”
“You’re a mystery. I don’t know how you can go from challenging an abomination to cowering like a child.”
“You… Cowered… Too…”
“It’s not my fault!”
“Who’s…?“
“Why’re you so clever all of a sudden? I thought you didn’t like talking.”
“Distracts… Pain…”
“Cheeky bastard.”
“Don’t… Peak…”
“Why are you so shy?” She scoffed.
“What…? Don’t be weird…”
“It’s nothin I ain’t seen before.” She shrugged, rubbing his legs and arms, trying to keep the blood pumping in them.
“Harlot…”
“That’s why they call me Harlow. Why’re you so nice to me anyways? I was awful to you. I know we had a moment in Elgen but I’d hardly call us friends.”
“Right… To… Fear… Me.”
“Not so sure about that. You talk tough, act it sometimes too. But you’ve come a long way from that mutt. You’re different, now.”
“Maybe… Hard.”
“Don’t I know it.” She laughed, “Sleep. I’ll keep you warm.”
“Eat… Rations…”
“I will. Off you go, the sooner you’re healed the better.” He obeyed, his breathing growing quiet, and steady.
----------------------------------------
Dog awoke, Harlow pressed against his side, the bag they’d tucked into suffocatingly hot. He sighed, relieved when he could breathe easier as she rolled away, his lungs weak, but healing through sleep faster then he’d expected. He sat up, wincing as a white hot pain raced down his spine. He tested his arms, and legs, finding them responsive, if he was willing to push through the agony required.
He turned their clothes, setting out a small pot from Harlow’s bag, and began making a light vegetable broth from what remained of their stores, his legs lay out in front of him, his back to the cave wall. He stretched his arms, fingers, legs, and toes, before the pain overwhelmed his senses, and he crawled back to her side, laying in an agony induced slump.
Harlow stirred, frowning as she eyed the pot, “Oi!” She shifted, rising and checking their clothes and breakfast. Dog shut his eyes, covering his eyepatch as she was bared to him, his bashfulness mounting.
“Yeah?”
“I told you to sleep. What do you think you’re doin?”
“I always handle breakfast.”
She sighed, “You fool. Stay in bed, no more getting up.”
“I can move.”
“Can you?”
“Well… Yes. It’s just painful.”
“So don’t move. Anybody else would be a stain on someone’s tunic. Sleep.”
She laid back against him, running her fingers through her hair as he attempted to doze, “Sorry.”
“Enough of that. When did you get so kind? It makes me mad at myself. Stop that!” She joked, “You’ve changed so much so quickly. I’m at a loss.”
“Sorry…”
“What’re you apologizing for now?”
“I was… Cruel.”
“It’s the name of our profession, I guess.” Harlow shrugged, “Not the last mean mercenary I’ll meet.”
“You slept by my side. Helped me heal.” He said, “I repaid that with anger.”
She turned away, “Enough already. We don’t do this feeling garbage, alright? Stuff is always simple between us. You do crazy person stuff, and I just… I’m just Harlow, I suppose. I pretend you’re a scary monster and that you’re crazy, and you leave me be.”
Dog was already dozing. Harlow shook her head, freezing when he rolled, pressing his head into her back.
“Always so much trouble.”
She watched as the smoke wafted out of their cave, the fog rolling across the river stopped outside their cave. She let her mind drift, her ears listening for the slightest movement. Her thoughts toyed with the smoke, letting it swirl in her mind, and twist in shapes and sizes that weren’t there. Her eyes began to droop, body relaxing despite the granite floor beneath them, a filling warmth-
“Harlow!” Dog growled, standing in front of her, his hand axes raised. She struggled to move past him, drooped over his shoulders, “Harlow snap out of it! Wake up!”
She drooled, eyes unfocused.
Dog snarled, struggling to stay standing as he brandished his weapons, “Naiads! That’s all it is, Harlow! Wake up!” He felt his talisman tap against his chest, thoughts whirling as the formless shapes in the water ahead of him laughed at his plight, trying to coax Harlow into the rapids.
They’re targeting her, not me. Why? Think! Think! He smashed his head against the butt of his axe, Figure it out you damn dog! Figure it- His talisman smashed against his chest again, Dammit. He pulled it free, tugging it up and over his head and draping it over Harlow’s.
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He felt his thoughts fray immediately, words merging together and pulling apart like his own mind. The naiad's eyes glowed, the danger before them apparent as Dog railed against their influence, his presence looming over them as they dogpiled on.
“Dog!” Harlow stumbled, her eyes focusing, “What the fuck is that!”
“Naiads!” He slurred, “Pull at thoughts. Cannot hold it any-“ He slumped, falling to the ground, his thoughts sucked away, his head hitting the ground hard enough to make a sickening crack!
----------------------------------------
“Hello, Éadrom.” She blinked as he awoke beneath her table.
He looked up, surprise clear on his features as a pair of violet eyes watched him with a newfound curiosity behind thin glasses. She was lithe, and graceful, the teacup in her hand balanced with a noble practiced ease. Her armor was slim, and form fitting, hiding beneath a violet cloak. A pointed, rumpled hat sat atop her head,suspiciously ratty, and unkept compared to the rest of her outfit. Her brown hair falling around her narrow, angular face, ending near her chin.
“Ah.” He said, “Have I died again, Cliste?”
“I hope not. That means I’m dead.” She smiled, “What brings you here, little brother? Care to have a cup?”
“Ah, no thank you.” He stood, sitting opposite her in the sunroom. He stared in wonder at the variety of flowers, and colors that filtered through the glass around them, a pleasant breeze kissing his skin.
“You’re close. What brings you to Vladislav? I haven’t seen you in… What, maybe ten years?”
“Roughly.” He confirmed, “I’m here for you.”
She blinked, cheeks pink, “Me? How sweet, little brother.”
“Mother said we need to gather together.” He said, wincing as his back pressed against the metal garden chair.
Cliste eyed him, “You’ve been through a lot, Éadrom. Especially if Mother is acting now. What happened to your eye?”
“Long story.”
“You look as horrible as I feel.” She giggled, “Mother, hmm? How’d you speak to her? Have you finally begun to learn magic? I always said you have the talent. Silly boy.”
“No… Well… Kind of. But that’s not how I communed with her.” He said, unable to meet her eyes.
“Oh dear. What’d you do, Éadrom?”
“I might’ve died…” He laughed, unsure of how to feel about her stare.
“Pardon? I mean… That makes sense given what you said before, but wow."
“A very harsh year.” He admitted.
“So I see. I suppose we’re both in a rough way.” She shrugged, “What could’ve killed you, I wonder?”
“Myself.” He said sardonically.
“Oh.”
“I survived, mother stepped in.”
“Well… That’s obvious.” She rubbed her nose beneath her glasses, “Why didn’t you come find me? Or Síocháin? I wouldn’t- I- Ugh.”
“I didn’t think anyone wanted to see me.”
“Stupid boy. You’re family. I do not share our brother's grudge. You should know that. Neither of us think that way for certain. I know she’s been looking for you.”
“I’ve only gone by Éadrom recently.”
Her eyes narrowed, “You didn’t.”
“Sorry.”
Her eyes softened, “You aren’t a dog, Éadrom. You are my adorable baby brother. What happened to you was awful.”
“I’ve always been a mutt.” He shrugged, “I’ve only recently decided to make it my own. I’m Dog, the mercenary.”
“Mercenary?”
“It's all I’m good at.”
“It’s not and you know it.”
“It is. But if it’s all I’m ever going to be good at, I’m going to do it for the person mother says I am inside.”
“It’s the person you are little brother.”
“She’s coming home.” He settled on changing the topic.
“She is?” Cliste stood, “How? When?”
“She said soon. I’m not sure how. But she wants us all to come home, so here I am.”
“Well then you’ll need to find me.”
“Where are you?”
She laughed sheepishly, “I do not know.”
“You don’t?”
“I have also bitten off more than I could chew.”
“Are you in trouble?”
“Well… Not immediately. I never expected you to be the one saving me, but here we are I suppose. Don’t tell the others.”
“Not like they like me.”
“What happened wasn’t your fault, it was his.” She shook her head, “It’s been a long time. Our siblings can change.”
“Can they?”
“Didn’t you? You’re talking more now than ever. This is the most expressive I’ve ever seen you little brother. You may have suffered, but you have learned. Look at yourself, and be proud.”
“I’ll try.” He sighed, “How do I find you?”
“I suspect the rat is yours?”
“White?”
“Yes.”
“She is. Ruby.”
“Where’d you find that creature? She’s incredible.”
“She found me during a scouting expedition. We fought, I won, now we’re… Friends.” He said the word as if it was foreign to him, “I’m trying to tell people I care more.”
“How cute.” She laughed, “You can make friends after all. I told you so.”
“You did.” He admitted.
“This is why you’re my favorite, little brother. You’re the humblest of us.”
“I’m just honest.”
“From your perspective, maybe.” She rubbed his hand, “Who took your eye, Éadrom?”
“A friend.”
“Friends don’t take each other’s eyes, beloved.”
“It’s a complicated friend.”
She pursed her lips, “You are too forgiving.”
“Maybe. It’s not her fault.”
“Her?”
Dog shrunk.
“Éadrom what are you doing letting a woman treat you like this? What is the matter with you?”
She watched him shrink before her, the strain on his body and mind more evident by the minute. Violet eyes traced scars she knew had not been there before, gashes and cuts littering every inch of his body. His eye was bloodshot, and swollen, his breathing harsh. The skin on his shoulders, and chest was yellow, and purple, massing in an ugly miasma of damaged tissue.
“Oh, Light… What have they done to you?”
“I’ll be okay. I looked worse yesterday.”
“I’m so sorry. We thought you might’ve died when we couldn’t find you after he sold you.”
“I didn’t want to be found.”
“That is our fault. You should have been protected. We let him tear our family apart because we were weak. We let him hurt you because of our fear, and now you’re bearing the weight of our sins.”
“He’s stronger than the rest us.”
“That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t have died trying.”
“It does. No sense in wasting lives mother died trying to save. I am only one of many, and hardly the most important.”
“You are always important, beloved.” She cursed him, “We are family. You are my family even if you are no one else’s. Do not think for a second that I would not face everyone for you.”
Dog said nothing.
“We will discuss this later. Come find me.”
“If I survive the naiads.”
“Where in this miserable country are you?”
“Near a river. My companion and I found a gargoyle, she was too afraid to run so I shielded her with my body and she pulled me out of the river into a small cave. I had to give her the amulet Merlin gave me to erase their hold on her mind, and then I found myself here.”
She blinked, “That’s a lot to unpack. Companions? Multiple? Shielding someone else with your body? Merlin the old goat himself? You still can’t swim?”
“She is a comrade from my old mercenary company. I am learning. I knew I could survive the hit I just didn’t expect to nearly drown-“
She snorted, “Still can’t swim. I can’t believe this.”
“I aided in the defense of Korone, where I met Merlin. You haven’t heard of it?”
“No. I’ve been on this damn table for some time. I may be at death's door already. Either way, my mana persists. I will tether you to me, and shield your mind in my mental palace. Pull your body together, find your rat.”
Dog nodded, eyes hardening as he found strength once more, “Clear.”
----------------------------------------
Dog surged forward, shooting awake with a grunt, Harlow’s arm shooting out to stop him from head butting the call of their cave.
“Jesus, Dog! I thought you were dead!” Harlow hissed, rubbing at the quickly forming bruise on her arm, “You nearly split your head open. What the hell was that?”
“Naiads.” He said, “Cici saved me.”
“Who?”
“Cliste.”
Harlow shoved him back down as he rose, “Where do you think you’re goin, mutt?”
“I have to find her. She’s in trouble.” He grunted.
“We will. But you need to heal. Relax.”
“I can’t. She’s trapped somewhere and Ruby knows where. I need to go.”
“Dog.” She sighed, “You can’t even fully fend me off. You’re exhausted, you’re in pain, and you just had your mind torn strange by weird water spirits. Rest, you’ll be better by tonight.”
“I have to. She needs me.”
“How're you going to swing that axe with your body like this?”
He relented, “You… You might be right. I had not considered that.”
“You saved my life again. I’m not letting you rush off to die.”
“I just put a necklace on you.”
“That got those little fucks outa my head. Why do you have to make this so complicated?”
“What’ve I done now?” He relaxed into the bedroll they shared.
“You keep pulling me out of the fire.” She turned, “Over, and over. I hated you, you took away my spotlight.”
“What?”
“I was the company's scout before you came along. They needed someone dead? I’d find a way to get my blade in their guts. You need an example made? I’d have them in the dirt. Then you came along, and suddenly nobody looked at me anymore. So where do you get off being so hard to hate? It's easy to hate Dread. They're good at everything but their heads a mess. You?"
“I…”
“No! You wouldn’t understand. You can’t understand. You hate when people notice you. But you never struggle to stand out.”
“We are more similar than you think.”
“Oh yeah? How’s that? What could you possibly understand?”
“I didn’t stay because Victoria beat me. That was part of it, but not all of it.”
“So what?”
“I stayed because she said she needed me.” He said, “I’m only good for fighting. I’m worthless if I don’t have this axe. I might as well die. But she needed someone like me. To fight for her, to talk to her, to be honest to her without fear of repercussions.”
She flinched as he cried.
“I’m only good for swinging this. I’m just a Dog at the end of the day, a mutt. But with her I could do something. It felt like I had purpose. I belonged somewhere doing something. I failed her.”
“You didn’t fail her, stupid. She started getting strange again. That’s not your fault.”
“It is. I should be smarter, stronger, and faster. But I’m not. I’m just me, and that’s never enough at the end of the day.”
“You saved everyone, Dog.”
“Not everyone.”
“Why do you have such high expectations for yourself?”
“Because I want to be worth something.”
“Do you not see yourself? You’re amazing. You are the strongest warrior next to Siegfried I’ve ever met. You beat the White Death without any difficulty.”
“Her mind was elsewhere, she lacked her ferocity. It would’ve been closer otherwise.”
“The fact that you can even tell is amazin’. You’re a fool. I would kill to be as strong as you. To not have to be afraid of anything anymore.”
“I’m not crazy. I’m afraid of someone.”
“Who?”
“He used to be my brother.” Dog said, “He killed our mother.”
“How? Your mother is a goddess.”
“Gods are tricky things. She wouldn’t explain it to us no matter how often we asked. But when they descend to the mortal realms, they die as surely as anything else. Our realm is death's domain, and she reaps without care.”
“But we saw her in Korone. A giant flaming centaur woman with your axe.” She said, “How’d she die?”
“Cliste suspects the gods were once mortals, from here or elsewhere. They become the embodiment of these ideas and concepts, and are fueled by the acts as they occur across all the realms. Mother is more than just the woman who raised me, she is a concept. An idea. Ideas don’t die unless nobody is left to think of them. Her mortal body was cut apart, and melted, but she exists in her plane. Waiting for her chance to return.”
“I can’t even imagine that kind of strength.”
“She is a mother. The strongest.” He shrugged.
“Your brother managed to kill that?”
“Not alone.” He shook his head, “They tore her apart piece by piece. She fought until her heart stopped, and then they melted that down too. She didn’t scream, she didn’t beg. She cried, but not because she was dying. She cried because we were taken from her.”
“Gods above Dog. So what happened to this brother?”
“Who knows? He’s a stronger mage than Cliste, the strongest of us. He still speaks to me. I haven’t heard from him since I died, I wonder if mother severed his connection.”
“What happened after she died?”
“He sold me for a dog. I took her axe after I escaped and I’ve wandered ever since.”
“No wonder you were so feral when we found you.”
“I didn’t have a reason to be anything but. Une… She was kind to me. I decided I’d save her to repay the debt, and it just kept happening. So here we are.”
“No wonder you’re so fond of her. You keep everyone else away.”
“I did not wish to hurt her. But I think she now understands we are not one.”
“Why? She was fond of you.” Harlow stammered.
“Because I don’t know what I am. Everybody speaks so highly of me, but I don’t see it. How can I know if I really love someone? If my feelings are true? I can’t trust my own head.”
“Shit.”
“I am not yet a man I could say is worth caring for. I also… Ah.”
“Yes?”
“I don’t want to break any hearts. Heartbreak is terrible. I know the name now.”
“I’m afraid that’s unavoidable, Hound.” She replied, “You can’t pick them all. Well, the elves maybe. But it isn’t godly.”
“My mother is a god.”
She paused, “Well… Shit. That’s true, I admit. But even then, many women aren’t comfortable sharing a man. There’s just too much that goes into that. A lot of feelings, and pride, not to mention preferences ‘n such.”
“I’m not saying I’m going to do it.” He replied, “I’m not sure I’m good enough for one woman, let alone several. I think that is what I mean.”
“Well… I hope you get a say.”
“At this rate, I do as well.”