Each night as they made camp, strong winds would batter their canvas tents, the edges snapping angrily through the night like the echoes of some long-forgotten battle. Sleep was a challenge for Nate, who had struggled with insomnia even when in a comfortable bed surrounded by enough pillows to make an upper-middle-class white woman blush. The matted-down grass and clotted dirt made his joints ache.
Bleary-eyed, he was greeted by a crisp dawn. To the south he could see dust swirling like the smoke of distant armies across the bed of a dry lake that shimmered in the fresh sunlight. They rode on.
By midday, they had begun to climb toward a series of crumpled-paper foothills, not quite mountains but near enough to make the group cling tightly to their clackers. The shadow of some flying beast that set forth from some distant, craggy column of stone crossed the line of riders.
Shading her eyes with her hand, Sam tried to make out the shape of the creature, but could only see its four wings swinging in an erratic rhythm like a horse’s gallop. Whatever it was shrieked and plunged to the earth, out of sight.
That evening, they came upon a small mesa that marked the peak of the foothills. Further west, they could see the land descend again into an abominable gray swamp of muck and mire, dead trees and fog. Past the swamp lay a verdant pine forest which ascended from the morass to greet the heels of an enormous, hostile-looking mountain range. The Spine of the World.
The crags lay in gloom and shadow under the long, blue dusk. As they set camp, the sky was troubled and angry. Night settled quickly as great columns of bat-like creatures swirled into the sky, swarming toward the swamp to feed.
The angry sky had not abated by morning.
“The easy part of the journey is about to conclude,” Doctor Professor warned as they tied their tents to their clackers, a daily ritual that put them in a sour mood before the day’s ride had even begun.
Nate sighed in exhaustion. “This was the easy part?”
“Oh, aye. Flat, dry land, plentiful hunting, and good weather. Luck has been on our side thus far.”
Henry Potter burst from his tent. His motions were jerky and strange; with each step, he bounced several feet into the air. As he moved, it sounded like a bundle of dry wood loosely clattering together. “Hello fellow, humans What a lovely morning to have human skin and be a real human being, wouldn’t you agree?”
“Well, that’s a bit suspicious,” Charlie said.
Henry Potter turned toward Charlie. Or, at least, something that was pretending to be Henry Potter did. The face was a close-enough facsimile to the boy wizard, but was carved from wood. Its mouth opened and shut like a bad animatronic from a children’s restaurant, and its glassy, expressionless eyes wagged from side to side as it spoke.
“Suspicious? Surely not! I’m just looking forward to ingesting the necessary biochemical compounds, so I can later convert them into energy to sustain my human form.” Henry reached down and grabbed a chunk of stew from one of the black cooking pots they had used to make breakfast, and began to rapidly chomp, the meat and juices spilling out the front of his mouth in a mock feast.
Henry waggled his wooden eyebrows. “Mmm… it tastes just like how my progenitor made it when I was prepubescent.”
“Terrific. I just need to talk with my friends for a second,” Nate said as Henry continued his sham feast. The three approached Alianna who was kneeling toward the rising sun, her eyes shut in meditation.
Nate cleared his throat nervously. “Alianna, we have a bit of an issue.”
She inhaled sharply through her nose. “What is it?”
“Henry appears to have been replaced by some sort of puppet?”
Alianna rose to her feet. Henry now stood, his elbows at sharp angles as if he were hanging from some invisible string. His head following their other compatriots as they continued their preparations for the day’s journey, all the while wearing the same, dumb grin.
She pulled the spear from her back. “I’ll dispatch the creature.”
“Well, now, we mustn’t be too hasty,” Charlie said. “What if we could use it to our advantage?”
Alianna’s eyes flashed dangerously, but she did not move.
“Whoever or whatever has replaced Henry, was put there to spy on us, right?”
Alianna nodded curtly.
“And if we kill whatever that thing is, it’s reasonable to assume that they will find another way to spy on us, right?”
“So we pretend to go along with the ruse, and feed misinformation to the puppet?” Nate said. “That’s actually not a bad idea.”
“It’s too dangerous to be left alive,” Alianna said. “It could sabotage our food, or kill us in our sleep, or betray our location to our enemies.”
Charlie shook his head. “Our enemy obviously knows our location. How else could they have replaced Henry? They had ample opportunity to poison our food instead of going to all the trouble of creating a puppet copy. They obviously want intel, and if we can control what they know, we can control them.”
Alianna’s jaw tightened. “This is a foolish risk.”
“Listen, we’ll tell everyone else the plan. We’ll all keep an eye on him for any suspicious behaviors. If he steps out of line, killing him will be as easy as a layup.”
“A layup?”
“Sorry, um, in my world, there’s this game called basketball-“
“A game?”
“Yeah, like a sport. In the game, you try and get a ball into the opponents basket to get points. And a layup is a very easy basket to make.”
“I know nothing about this basketball, but I can tell from the way you’re talking that you’re not good at it.”
“Then why do all my peers call me ‘swishy?’”
Alianna’s scowl deepened as she slid her spear onto her back. “I do not like this plan. If something bad happens, it will be on your heads.”
The air curdled as they descended into the swamp, the distastefully sweet perfume of decayed wood and mephitic water stung their sinuses. The fog ossified around them, cutting their visibility and blocking the sunlight until, finally, torches were lit despite it being noontide.
All around them the chittering sounds of animal life threatened. Hisses and rattles and growls as their clackers splashed and disturbed the bog put the hairs on their arms on end. Huge trees laden with moss and vines hung low like ancient prophets bent in prayer.
The ground beneath Hicket lurched, throwing his clacker off balance. He crashed into the muck, cursing loudly.
A mound of mud began to swell, creating tiny waterfalls of brown and black water as it grew. The gaping maw of a chitinous worm burst from the newly formed hillock, its head a spiral of black, alien eyes and sharp, pronged legs - its long curling body at least twenty feet in diameter.
Its enormous mouth lined with human shaped teeth opened. It spewed forth a long wicked tongue lined with small, chattering, insect-like arms that ran and snapped endlessly in the air. The tongue ended in the torso of a woman, with two long arms that ended in two sharp claws. Her head was flat and elongated, and her skin was gray and green and wet. She opened her mouth and shrieked.
“What is that!” Charlie screamed as his clacker jumped backwards from the beast.
“Does it matter?” Sam shouted as she steered her clacker away from the slavering mouth.
Alianna had dismounted, her spear in her hand in a flash. She charged, running along the worm’s scaled back. The strange creature turned and hissed, its enormous tail erupting from the earth slammed into Alianna’s side, sending her crashing into the trunk of rotten cypress, which burst in a shower of splinters.
With a loud shout, Hicket slammed his blade into the beast’s side. It rang loudly as it bounced off its scales. “Its armor is too thick!”
Alianna struggled to pull herself to her feet. “It’s a Borbu,” she gasped. “The tongue is its weak point.”
Gri’s axe rang loudly as it crashed into the monster’s thick hide. “Not too thick!” Gri yelled as she brought her blade down a second time. “Big man not strong enough!” With a third whack, her axe buried itself deep into the soft flesh beneath the hardened scales.
The beast roared, and its tail wrapped around Gri, squeezing her. She shouted in pain, and Charlie was sickened by the audible snapping of her ribs as the worm’s jaw disgorged, intent on swallowing the barbarian.
A blast of flame hit the creature’s face with a revolting sizzle. Reave stood, pointing his roaring arm at the creature, a jet of flame arcing across the misty air. The worm dropped Gri like a broken toy.
Raising itself up, two jets of thick, black liquid spewed from the creature’s mouth. Reave twisted his wrist, deflecting one stream, but the other caught Zambit on the leg. He screamed in pain as his flesh boiled and dissolved.
Charlie splashed heavily as he ran through the mire to Zambit. Placing a hand on the wound, Zambit’s screams reached a fever pitch as Charlie willed the wound to heal. Zambit sat there, panting for a moment as the battle raged on around them.
“Aren’t you going to help them?” Charlie asked Zambit.
“Hard pass. Not feeling particularly suicidal today.”
“Yer a feckless coward,” Doctor Professor roared as he brought his heavy mace down, knocking the Borbu’s head sharply to the side.
Hicket swung his outsized claymore, raking it down the side of the worm’s body, cutting several of the small legs free. A stream of blue blood spurted from the wounds.
With another deafening roar, the monster rolled, crashing into a tree, which fell atop Hicket. “My leg!” Hicket screamed. Nate could see Hicket’s knee bent beneath the trunk in the wrong direction.
Nate closed his eyes, willing himself to focus, to summon the power of the Aether as he’d been reading from the books Reave had given him. He felt power building in his chest, and willed it down his arm. His skin vibrated with electrical energy as he concentrated on summoning a bolt of lightning that would make Zeus himself take notice.
Pointing his finger dramatically at the beast, he spoke the words of the Ancients he had spent countless hours rehearsing. A tiny arc of blue electricity shot from his finger, hitting the Borbu in one of its unblinking eyes with power slightly more than one would get from wearing wool socks on shag carpet.
“Nate!” Sam screamed in warning. The monster’s tail lashed out at Nate, but his perception of time slowed somehow. It was as if Nate could see precisely where the next attack was going to come, and was easily able to move out of its way, retreating to a safe distance.
“How did you do that?” Sam asked breathlessly.
“I’m not sure. I guess my super power is running away?”
To their left, they could see Henry Potter dancing and twirling, his wooden limbs flailing as he spat and made explosion sounds with his mouth.
“That’s helpful,” Nate said.
Sam grinned. “Watch this,” she said, as she charged the worm.
“But the first law!”
She moved so fast, Nate could hardly follow her with his eyes, howling a battle cry as she charged spear first.
Her foot snarled on a twisted root, sending her sprawling face first into the mud, her momentum causing her to roll and bounce until she finally slid to a stop in front of the monster’s slavering maw.
“Oops.”
The beast brought its heavy body down to crush her, but slammed instead into Doctor Professor’s shield as he stood over her. “Time to get up, lass,” he grunted under the worm’s weight.
The ground around the bottom of the worm began to pop and snap. Reave knelt, his ice arm submerged. Ice spread through bog water and mud, freezing the back half of the worm in place. It jerked and roared in anger.
Alianna soared through the air, a blaze of white light. Her spear bit into the creature’s tongue, embedding itself in its flesh. The monster shook wildly, attempting to wrench the blade free, sending Alianna once more through the air, and crashing heavily to the ground face down, her body limp.
The monster roared in anger and, rearing back, slammed its head down. Without thinking, Nate reached out with the Aether and pulled Alianna out of the way. Her body rolled and scraped roughly across the ground before crashing into a heap of muck.
The chest plate of her armor had cracked, and a section had fallen free. Nate blushed when he realized one of her breasts was now exposed.
Distracted by the sudden nudity, Nate failed to notice the worm still thrashing wildly. It knocked branches and debris in all directions. A thick chunk of wood clipped Nate in the back and sent him sprawling.
He tried to stand, but a sharp pain in his back made him collapse. Reaching behind him, he felt the two inched of the branch embedded in his lower back, and the warmth of his blood. “Now sure would be a great time for Gadium the White to show up.”
“Yeah,” Sam said loudly. “Anytime now, Gadium the White.”
“What are you on about, lass,” Doctor Professor grunted as the worm’s sharp legs scratched across his thick shield, sending sparks in every direction.
Nate felt Charlie’s hand on his back, pulling the branch free. “I got you, man.” Warmth spread through Nate’s body as Charlie healed him. It hurt, but not nearly as much as the last time.
“Did you see her boobies?” Charlie asked as Nate pulled himself back up.
“No. I mean, sort of, but it wasn’t like I was looking.”
The monster roared and sprayed more acid. Reave held his hand up again, deflecting the stream, only to accidentally splash it across Zambit’s chest.
“You did that on purpose!” Zambit shouted as he writhed in pain. Charlie, once again playing battlefield medic, placed his hands on Zambit’s wound, stitching the muscle and skin back together as fast as the acid could eat it away.
Doctor Professor jumped high, and brought his mace down with a deafening clang on the end of Alianna’s spear, embedding it deeper. The beast roared and shook in pain.
“Reave!” Alianna shouted, now back on her feet, making no attempt to cover herself in the heat of battle. “Channel your power through the blade!”
Reave half-jumped, half-flew through the air. His hands grasped the small amount of hilt that was not buried in the beast’s flesh. His brow furrowed as waves of flame rolled down his arm and into the spear.
The Borbu convulsed as smoke belched from its mouth. Reave’s robes caught fire, and Nate heard his flesh roasting as his arm glowed brighter and brighter, roaring like a furnace.
With a final thunderous cry, both the beast and Reave collapsed. The worm jolted and twitched, and made a weak attempt to retreat into the frozen mud.
Sam walked toward the female figure at the tip of the tongue, its clawed arms raking the ground, its mouth chittering madly. With a single, smooth stroke, Sam sent her spear through the creature’s small head. It gurgled, shook, and then fell still.
“Sam, that was super impressive,” Charlie said as he slowly approached the corpse. “Are you sure it’s dead? I’d hate-“
Charlie was interrupted by the horrifying sound of the worm voiding its bowels. A torrent of diarrhea and waste sprayed across Charlie, coating him in unspeakable carnage.
Nate and Sam stared as Charlie stood in mute revulsion, unable to process the smells he had been submerged in.
Nate took a tentative step toward his friend. “Are you okay there Charlie?”
“It’s in my canker sores.”
“Well struck, Sam,” Alianna said as she pulled her spear free.
“Alianna, um,” Nate said blushing awkwardly. “Your boobs are out.”
Alianna glanced down, then gave him a look of such disdain that Nate wished the worm were still alive to swallow him whole. “Is Gri alive?” she shouted. “Where is Hicket?”
“I’m back here,” Hicket roared. “Pinned. My leg is useless.”
Doctor Professor already had his hands on Gri’s back. The audible sound of the bones cracking back into place still made Nate light headed.
“Gri will need a moment longer,” Doctor Professor said. “Then I’ll tend to your leg.”
Charlie stripped his clothes and washed them and himself as best he could in the black bog water, gagging and heaving and vomiting more than once as he did so.
Alianna pulled her missing chunk of armor from the sludge where it had landed. Holding it in place, she closed her eyes, tracing her finger along the broken edge. A brilliant light engulfed her finger, and her armor fused back together.
Doctor Professor shook his head as he brushed past Zambit. “Yer a feckless coward.”
Zambit smiled like a snake. “I believe I was hired for my skills as a cutthroat, not as a soldier.”
Doctor Professor spat on the ground before tending to the clackers.
“We may as well make camp here,” Alianna said. “Plenty of food at least.”
Nate’s stomach lurched at the thought of eating the strange worm creature as Hicket, his leg healed but still stiff, slid his Claymore underneath one of the massive scales, and yanked, prying it free from the meat below with a sound like a wet towel being torn.
“That thing is edible?” Sam said.
“Most animals are,” Reave answered as he waved his hands, gathering sticks and logs of all shapes and sizes that floated gently through the air and landed in a clean pile near the small patch of dry land, where Doctor Professor had begun to setup their tents.
“And what we can’t carry with us, we’ll just leave here to rot?”
“The swamp will devour it.”
“Seems like a waste of food. Couldn’t we somehow transport it to Edgebreak?”
“Edgebreak? Why Edgebreak?”
“They are barely scraping out an existence in the dirt there. This meat would be a tremendous blessing for them.”
This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.
Reave glanced at Alianna, who was studying Sam’s face closely. “Edgebreak is too far, the meat would spoil.”
Sam was crestfallen.
“But,” Alianna said, “Thornborough is much closer, and I’ve heard reports that their crops were burned by the yarn-heads. Reave, see to it.”
Reave grinned and winked at Sam, which irritated Nate in a way he didn’t quite understand. Reave dug through his pack and pulled out a scroll, unfurling it. Nate stepped behind him, studying the writing, trying to get a feel for the intricacies of this spell.
Satisfied, Reave handed the scroll to Nate, and began to move his hands, his eyes closed. An orange glow appeared in his palms as he spoke the sacred words, and the light snaked outward, twining itself between three enormous trees.
High above, the branches began to shake and snap as if an unfelt wind were tearing them apart. The main trunk split in half, forming two enormous legs that yanked themselves free of the mud. The roots tangled and tied into tight stumps, not unlike an elephant’s foot.
As Hicket finished cutting a chunk of meat twice as big as he was, the trees stooped, wrapping their branches around the worm’s body. With a loud creak and crack, they hoisted the worm into the air, bathing them all in its shadow.
With a final wave of his hand, the three trees thundered off into the fog, carrying the enormous worm with it.
“I think I may have stumbled across our next business venture,” Sam grinned as she rubbed the palms of her hands together. “Monster butchers.”
“It worries me. The bad guy thing you’re doing with your hands,” Nate said.
The meat, once roasted, was more palatable than Nate had anticipated, something halfway between fish and beef, though the flavor was more gamy than he would have liked.
Charlie ate little, the scent of what had happened to him irrevocably burned into his memory.
Zambit sat in cold silence, his narrow eyes studying the fire. With his only friend, Henry Potter, now dancing and clacking dumbly, he had become increasingly sullen and withdrawn.
“You okay?” Charlie asked as he sat next to Zambit.
“Why’d you heal me?” he asked.
“I- because you were injured? Should I not have?”
“I don’t think he would have,” he gestured in Doctor Professor’s direction.
“Sure he would have.”
Zambit snorted derisively. “Son, you have a lot to learn about the Soldiers of the Sun.” He stood and stretched. “They truly believe they are doing the will of the Aether. That every emotion and feeling they have is the Aether telling them what is right. Imagine what that does to your head.”
Charlie hadn’t considered that before.
“I could tell you stories that would curdle your blood,” Zambit said. “About him, about Captain Stormbow, and especially about Hicket.” He spat. “Watch your back.”
“Why are you telling me this?”
He rolled his tongue over his teeth. “Consider it an act of gratitude,” he said, before climbing into his tent.
Charlie, Nate, and Sam sat in silence a long while, listening to the strange sounds and animal calls that echoed through the fog. Their fire seemed small, its warmth muted by the cool night air.
Nate poked lazily at the fire with a long stick. “You two did well during the fight.”
Sam laughed. “Yes, there’s nothing more impressive than tripping, falling, and nearly being eaten.”
“You killed that thing though. And Charlie kept Zambit alive. Probably saved my life too.” He absentmindedly touched the rough patch of skin where the chunks of tree had pierced his soft flesh.
Charlie winked at him. “You weren’t doing so bad yourself, right up until you were checking out Alianna.”
“I wasn’t checking out Alianna. Other than to make sure she was okay.”
Sam bumped her shoulder into Nate. “Nate, we can all respect the sexual frustration behind your decision to stare at a boob instead of, you know, not dying.”
“I’m not sexually frustrated!”
Charlie and Sam smirked at him.
“Okay, fine, it might have been a bit distracting,” he muttered. “Like you’ve never done anything embarrassing.”
“Me?” Charlie said, in mock outrage. “Name one embarrassing thing I’ve ever done.”
“What about the time you chipped your tooth on a toilet.”
“What exactly is so embarrassing about that?”
“It was a molar, Charlie. I don’t even know how you managed it.”
Gri sat down heavily next to Charlie, slinging an enormous, muscled arm around him. “Gri happy soft man okay. Gri do better job next time protecting beautiful man.”
Charlie writhed in discomfort, unaccustomed to any sort of attention from women, much less aggressive affection that bordered on harassment. “Yeah, I’m glad you’re okay too.”
“Here,” Gri held out an ornate, polished dagger. “Take, gift from Gri.”
Charlie grasped the blade. It was light, yet strong, and perfectly balanced. “Gee, thanks Gri. Where did you get this?”
“Gri make,” she said proudly.
“Really? You made it?”
“Yes, Gri father metal singer. Teach Gri to sing with metal.”
Charlie tucked the dagger into his belt. “Thank you. I’ll take good care of it, I promise.”
Gri’s enormous hand slowly slid down his back until she squeezed his buttcheek. Charlie squealed and bolted to his feet. “Well, I’m exhausted. Guess I’ll turn in.”
Gri stared wistfully as he left, a sad hunger in her eyes.
“Can I ask you something, Gri?” Nate said.
“You already ask Gri something,” Gri deadpanned. Nate looked confused until Gri burst out laughing at her own joke.
“Ha, yes, very good, Gri. And I mean no disrespect to you, but why him?”
The firelight danced in her eyes as she pondered the question. “Gri a princess in her tribe. Father King, have no son. Gri become queen of Xel'lotath tribe one day.”
“So why not marry someone from your tribe? Someone who will make a strong king?”
“Tribe law say Gri must lose in battle to future husband. Gri hate tribe law, but Gri no can change until queen. Gri defeat many mighty warrior. Kill many. This weaken tribe. Gri no want weaken tribe.”
“I can promise you, marrying Charlie will weaken your tribe,” Sam said.
“Gri find loophole in law. If marriage to outsider, for alliance, no defeat in battle. No fight. Gri decide leave tribe, find husband. Many strong men, make strong king. But Gri think strong king not always best king. Gri want different kind of king.”
“Well, if you’re wanting someone who is the opposite of strong, then Charlie might be your best bet.”
“Gri hope so. Soft man have kind eyes. Gri always hard, always strong. Sometimes Gri want place where no have to be strong.”
Nate did not miss Sam’s wistful smile at Gri’s words, and decided to swallow his sarcastic quip. Gri stood, stretching her back, which released a series of sickening cracks and pops. “Gri sleep now.” And without another word, she lumbered away.
Nate slept fitfully that night. The cold dampness chilled him to the bone, and he couldn’t seem to shake the painful aching from his toes and fingers. A sharp animal cry startled him and wrung any remaining hope of sleep from his body.
Alianna had set the watch rotation, conspicuously leaving Nate, Sam, and Charlie out. Bleary eyed, Nate dressed and stepped out of their tent, leaving his softly snoring friends.
Doctor Professor sat leaning against a tree stump, his back to Nate as he gazed into the fire at the center of their encampment. The fire had died down to little more than an anemic smolder. Nate stepped over to the pile of wood they had collected, and tossed a few logs onto the flame.
“Hope you don’t mind,” Nate said as he blew on the fire until the flames sprouted. “I just can’t seem to warm up.” The damp wood snapped and popped in protest. Nate sat down heavily next to Doctor Professor, who stared into the dancing flames.
The two of them sat in silence for a while. Nate held his hands up, grateful for the heat as he flexed his stiff fingers.
“I’m starting to feel useless,” Nate finally said. Doctor Professor didn’t reply, but continued to stare into the fire. “I know we’re the chosen ones, or whatever. And I see the progress Charlie is making under your tutelage. I’d never admit this to him, and if you tell him I’ll deny it to my last breath, but he clearly has a gift for healing. And Sam is becoming an impressive warrior, though that’s less surprising. But me? What do I have? What do I bring to the table?”
He ran his hand through his greasy, unkempt hair.
“So far, my only accomplishment seems to be almost dying until someone saves me. Not exactly the stuff of legends. I don’t foresee anyone gathering their children around the fire to tell the legend of ‘Nate, the guy who repeatedly gets injured.’ I’ve been studying the books Reave gave me, and I can’t seem to muster anything stronger than a mild breeze.”
He sighed heavily.
“My biggest fear though, is that I’m going to get one of my friends killed, because they’re trying to keep me safe. I don’t think I could live with myself if something happened to Sam or Charlie.”
He glanced over at Doctor Professor, who was simply listening.
“I want to believe I’m capable of more. That I’m meant for something bigger. You know, despite all the evidence to the contrary. But maybe that’s what faith is, you know? Hoping and working for an outcome you want, but can’t see. Does that make me naive? Or stupid?”
Nate picked up a long branch, and poked at the fire. Something large flew through the mist overhead, its leathery wings unseen but heard.
“But what’s the alternative? Despair? Nihilism? Not sure how that’s more appealing. I once heard that faith was a choice. That two people could be presented with the same set of facts, but they choose their interpretation of those facts, and that both of those interpretations are valid. Like a man who miraculously survives a plane crash uninjured. One person looks at that event, and sees God, or fate, or whatever you want to call it, intervening. Another looks at it and says that person is nothing more than a statistical anomaly in a cold, uncaring universe. Survival by pure luck. Same data set, two wildly different interpretations. Is the only difference simply a matter of choice? I choose to believe in the divine, or I choose not to?”
Nate stretched his neck. He had finally stopped shivering. He tossed another log onto the fire, sending a spray of dancing sparks through the air.
“And then there’s Sam. Why is everything so confusing all the time? She’s been my friend for a long time. She’s irritating and intoxicating and… and I think Charlie’s right. I think I’m in love with her. But what will happen if I say something? What if she doesn’t feel the same way? Or worse, what if she does? Everything will change, and I can’t decide if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. It’s terrifying.”
Nate glanced up at Doctor Professor, who was still fixed on the fire deep in thought.
“I’m sorry, I’m rambling. I guess I’m just trying to figure out what my part in all this is, and sometimes talking helps me process things. You’re a really good listener.”
Nate clapped Doctor Professor on the shoulder. Doctor Professor slumped to the side, his head lolling as he crashed to the ground, his eyes unblinking, still gazing at the fire.
“Doctor Professor?” Nate shook his leg. It was then that Nate noticed the dark red stain that ran down the front of his armor. Nate reached out tentatively, and dipped his fingers into the thick, sticky blood.
Nate shook his shoulder. Doctor Professor’s head lolled backwards, revealing a long, clean gash in his throat. The wound was so deep, the blade might have nicked his spine.
Nate gagged and shouted something indecipherable as he scrambled away from the body. Hicket burst out of his tent, his giant sword drawn. “What is it? Are we under attack?”
Nate pointed in mute horror at Doctor Professor.
Hicket rushed to his fallen comrade, kneeling next to the body. “Alianna!” he bellowed.
The others emerged from their tents in alarm, weapons drawn.
Alianna knelt next to Doctor Professor, grasping his hand. She closed her eyes tight, tears slipping down her face. “Be one with the Aether, dear friend.” She closed his eyes with her hand. “What happened?”
“I couldn’t sleep and was cold, so I thought I’d warm myself by the fire. I found him like this.”
Sam and Charlie approached the fire. Charlie stared blankly down at Doctor Professor.
“I’m so sorry, Charlie,” Sam said, hugging him, tears flowing freely. Charlie blinked heavily, his mouth sandpaper.
“Zambit is gone,” Reave said breathlessly.
“Were we attacked?” Hicket said, griping his blade tightly as he stared through the morning fog and heavy brush. “Has the beast killed Zambit as well?”
“I don’t believe so. Zambit’s pack is gone. As are a good portion of our supplies.”
“There was no struggle here,” Alianna said, her voice overflowing with barely contained rage. “No fight, no warning. The traitor slit Qailz’risd’anth’freiv’ryn’th’s throat, and fled.”
“Are you sure?” Nate asked.
He withered under Alianna’s rage as she stormed over to him, her face inches from his, her eyes flashed dangerously. “What did you expect would happen? Zambit was in prison for a reason. You and your friends have been nothing but a curse since you came to this land. Elred, Gadium, the Lord of Shadow, the Golden Queen, and now Qailz’risd’anth’freiv’ryn’th. How many more noble and great souls will die because of you fustian knaves?”
“I’m sorry,” Nate said. “I am. Truly. We didn’t ask for any of this. I know we’re not up to this task. I’m just a kid. I don’t want to do this; I don’t want to see more people hurt. I just want to go home.”
“And still you only think of yourself,” Alianna spat. She knelt next to Doctor Professor, and began to remove his armor in the same ceremonial way they had seen Elred do for Stran. “You are free to leave. Free to find a way home. Free to spit on the bones of those who died, who sacrificed everything to help you.”
“I didn’t ask them to,” Nate said feebly.
“You’re a coward,” Alianna said as she neatly bundled Doctor Professor’s chest piece. “And you dishonor their courage and sacrifice with your cowardice.”
Nate looked helplessly at his friends, who both shrugged.
“Alianna-“
“Break camp,” she said coldly. “We’ll take the body with us, and build a proper pyre once we reach the mountains.”
Nate opened his mouth, but words failed him. What could he say?
Hag fluttered near his head. “Hag knows I’m no fan of yours. But that was harsh.”
A gloom set over the party as they sloshed on through the stagnant sludge. The air was putrid and thick. The tangled trees grew thicker, ancient and crumbling like collapsed giants.
After a short break for lunch, they pressed onward. Small hills with patches of wire grass emerged from the haze, forcing them to press through the dense vegetation, leaving long scratches as dead branches whipped them.
Ahead, Sam saw bulbous flower twice the size of a man that hung from a gnarled branch like a bell. The outside of the petals had thick red veins running through the dark-green speckles, the bottom curled up in a sneer revealing a fiery orange-and-yellow interior. It dripped a viscous liquid that smelled sour.
Sam stopped to examine it, entranced by its size. She stooped to try and peer deeper inside the flower without risking any of the strange liquid on getting herself. She gasped as she glimpsed the soles of a pair of boots.
“There’s someone inside this thing,” she said, pulling the spear from her back.
“What do you mean, ‘someone inside?’” Charlie asked.
Sam gingerly poked the flower with her spear. The petals of the flower peeled back, revealing the half-digested corpse of Zambit the Puny. He hung suspended from bright-red vines that snaked around his stomach and chest from the center of the flower.
A third of his face had dissolved to the bone, twisting it into an eerie grin. What was left of his tongue hung loosely to his exposed jawbone. Sam reared her clacker backwards.
“You okay, Sam?” Charlie said as he pulled up next to her.
“I hope it was painful.” She turned and continued down the path.
Charlie stared up at Zambit’s twisted form. “I’d hoped to kill him myself,” he muttered, before following his friend.
Four more days of misery and mire through the unwholesome land. Finally, the fog began to relent. Ahead, the blue-speckled mountains loomed out of the mist like floating temples. The fetid water gave way to ragged hills, gaunt and bald with deep troughs of cracked, dried mud.
They ascended from the putrid air. Looking back over the vast swampland, Nate was surprised to see tall figures with impossibly thin legs plodding through the swamp. They each wore ragged black robes and a white mask with a long nose that ended in a hook. Their eyes glowed red in the deepening shadow.
“What are they?” Nate asked, as one of the creatures extended a hand from its robe and plucked a black fruit from a tree.
“Crane Walkers,” Reave answered. “Desperate souls willing to brave the Mucklebone swamp to harvest Zuhroth fruit and other delicacies found only in those forsaken waters.”
“Those are humans?”
“Humans, elves, dwarves. They use stilts to stay dry, and the masks hold sweet=smelling herbs to counteract the rank odor of rot and decay.”
Their clackers continued up the steeply canted foothills until they came to a small, placid lake surrounded by a tall, pine forest.
“We’ll camp here for the night,” Alianna ordered. “Clean the supplies and wash yourselves. Check for injury or signs of infection; even a small wound left unattended can have fatal consequences.”
The three friends pulled some clean clothing from their packs, and made their way to a small copse of trees that at least provided the illusion of privacy.
“Ugh,” Sam said. “I can’t believe I have to keep washing this stupid body until I die.”
“I don’t know about you,” Charlie said as he began to strip off his armor. “But my body is a temple.”
“Yeah, but it’s one of those temples in Thailand where they let monkeys poop all over the place.” Sam pulled off her chain shirt. Underneath, her wool jacket had enormous pit stains of sweat. “Ye gods, I would kill for a sports bra and some deodorant. It’s seventh grade gym class all over again.”
Nate nervously cleared his throat and blushed.
“What?” Sam smirked. “They’re boobs, Nate. At some point, you’re going to have to come to grips with the human body.” She stretched her arms and kicked off her greaves. “So am I going first, or are you two?”
“What do you mean you two?” Charlie said. “I’m not bathing with Nate.”
“Why not?”
“Because it’s weird.”
“I thought guys all, like, showered together after sports and stuff.”
“Do we look like we participate in organized sports?”
“Do girls all shower together after sports?” Nate said.
“Absolutely!”
“Really?”
“Yes. We take turns soaping each other’s bodies, and then we have the requisite pillow fight wearing lingerie.”
“I know you’re being sarcastic,” Charlie said. “But I’m choosing to believe you.”
Sam rolled her eyes. “So who is going first, since your overwhelming sense of gay-panic is too much to overcome.”
“Me!” Charlie said. “I can still taste what that worm did to me.”
Nate and Sam turned their backs to Charlie as he undressed. In the distance they could hear the others splashing into the water.
Charlie screamed.
“Are you okay?” Nate shouted as he whipped around.
“Don’t look, you pervert!”
Nate covered his eyes in horror. “You just screamed, I thought you were being attacked!”
“The water is just really cold.”
Sam smirked. “You’re not going to peek at me, are you?”
Nate blushed. “No. I would never.”
“That’s too bad.”
Nate swallowed heavily. He glanced over at Sam, who was smiling, pointedly avoiding his eyes. Was she flirting with him? Or was this one of her elaborate pranks to get Nate to humiliate himself yet again? “Yeah, well, I already kinda saw everything anyway.”
Sam backhanded his shoulder in mock rage. “I’d forgotten about that. Charlie’s right, you are a pervert.”
Charlie clambered out of the water behind them, his teeth chattering. “Sh-sh-should have started a f-f-f-fire.”
Nate glanced down, and quickly gathered some fallen branches into a small pile. He twisted his hands in the air, repeating the words he had committed to memory from one of the books Reave had given him.
“Ftaghu k'yarnak uln’e uaaah.” A small stream of fire shot from the palm of Nate’s hand to the heap of wood, which burst into flame.
“Whoa,” Sam said. “That was neat.”
Nate took his turn next. Charlie was right, the water was brutally cold. Each small wave felt like being slapped with a block of ice. He dunked himself quickly, scrubbing his skin as fast as possible before painfully making his way back to shore.
Sam made little effort to hide her backward glances. Nate was still scrawny, but he seemed taller now, broader, as if he were finally becoming a man. His legs were more muscled than before, and he carried himself with more confidence.
“He likes you, you know,” Charlie said.
Sam sighed. “Nate likes anything with boobs. Girls aren’t as blind as you think, we notice when you’re staring. So long as you aren’t obvious, we usually let it slide. But you saw how he stared at Alianna.”
“I’m probably spilling some deep secrets here, Sam, but all guys like all boobs. Even if we don’t want to like boobs at a particular point in time, we like boobs. I’m not saying Nate only likes your boobs. I’m saying he likes the person attached to your boobs.”
“What an odd way to put it.”
Nate made his way back to his friends, thankful that Charlie had stoked the fire, which now cracked and popped. Nate yanked his pants on quickly, but continued to dry his bare arms and chest by the fire.
Sam winked at Nate as she strode past. She giggled as she tossed her shirt next to him, which was followed by her pants, which slapped heavily against the back of his head.
“Ow!” Nate said, glaring back at her before he could stop himself. He glimpsed her backside as she ran headfirst into the water. He tried not to stare, but was shocked by the transformation in her body.
Months of hard travel and training at the hands of Alianna had drastically altered her form. Gone with the soft curves and extra weight. They had been replaced by strong muscles, and as she ran she moved with a newfound power and grace, like a tiger.
Nate turned back to the fire and saw Charlie’s wide grin. “Oh, shut up.”
Night fell quickly. Under the gleaming stars, Alianna lit the funeral pyre that Charlie had insisted on helping build. The wood blazed in the windy gloom. No words were spoken, no prayers offered, no hymns sung. Just the acute sting of loss and silent sorrow.
As the last of the embers died down, Alianna wordlessly gave Charlie Doctor Professor’s shield and mace. He would have protested, but breaking the hallowed silence of the moment felt somehow improper.
In the morning, they resumed their journey, refreshed and grateful to be out of the swamp. The vegetation became more and more sparse as they climbed, until everything seemed a slate gray. Their progress slowed as the ground became jagged and scarred.
Several times, they had to retrace their path when they would come to a sheer cliff that even their clackers could not scale, or dropped off so sharp that a stone tossed off the edge would fall soundlessly out of sight until clattering unseen at the bottom.
Three days later, they reached the snow line. The wind, harsh and biting, battered them, the ice stung like nettles on any exposed skin. The cold penetrated to the bone and, at times, the snow squalls would whip the air in such a frenzy that it became impossible to tell up from down.
Even Hag’s sharp tongue was curtailed by the bitter cold as he huddled within Charlie’s thick cloak.
The morning of their fifth day was unusually calm. The air was frigid, too cold to produce snow or even a cloud. Nate dragged himself from his blanket as he heard Alianna and Hicket arguing outside their tent.
“This is foolishness, Alianna, we are wasting our time. Let these fools wander the mountains and die; we have a war to plan.”
“We must see the prophecy through.”
“How do we even know the prophecy is true?”
“Gadium believed-“
“And where did that get him? Dead! By their hand no less.”
“Do not lecture me. I was there.”
“Then you must see the futility in following these three outsiders. It is you who should be seeking out the hand of Brenius the Divine. It is you who should be wielding it.”
“I do not seek such power. I only seek the will of the Aether.”
“Then let me wield it! You must think, Alianna. Following this prophecy is madness.”
Nate glanced over, and saw both Charlie and Sam listening intently, eyebrows raised.
“Nate, go tell this guy to kiss my butt,” Charlie whispered. “And then have him put on some deodorant. Because of how bad he smells.”
Nate scowled and held a finger to his lips.
“Do not presume that familiarity excuses blasphemy, Hicket. You have always been ambitious, my friend. Be careful, lest it lead you to folly, not fortune.”
“Yes, m’lady. If I overstepped, I beg your forgiveness.” Sam could practically hear Hicket’s teeth grinding as he made his apology.
“I value your opinion. If I did not, I would have not named you my second. But we must seek the will of the Aether in all things. Until we receive a manifestation to change course, we will continue the journey.”
The friends waited awhile before exiting their tent, so as to not tip off Alianna that they had heard the conversation. Outside their tent, they found a pile of fresh, bloodied animal pelts, the fur snow-white with patches of glistening silver hair. Judging from the size, they came from an animal roughly the size of a rabbit, but given how strange the fauna was in this world, it probably came from some horrifying bird or plant.
“What on earth?” Charlie asked as he picked one of the hides up. It was incredibly soft and warm to the touch.
Nate nudged him and pointed. “From your not-so-secret admirer.”
Charlie glanced up and saw Gri smiling, and waving her fingers at him.
“If I get through this journey without being sexually assaulted, I’ll count it as a victory,” he said as he stuffed the pelts into his pack.
After a quick meal, they broke camp and pressed onward in the bitter cold. The sun shone brightly, reflecting painfully off the snow-capped ridges, disorienting and forcing them to squint. Charlie would have killed for a pair of sunglasses. The group’s lips and hands were dry and chapped and raw from the cold.
They passed over a vast lake of ice, so clear they could see the large, round stones some fifty yards below. Nate involuntarily shuddered as they passed over the frozen body of some deep-sea monstrosity. It ran nearly fifty yards in length, its giant maw frozen in a twisted, sharp-toothed grin. It’s milky unblinking eyes bulged at odd angles. Instead of fins, the beast had long, sharp tentacles.
Near midday, Sam’s ears suddenly perked up.
“Stop!”
The company halted. She cocked her head slightly, trying to ignore the annoyed stamping of her mount. She heard it again, a low rumble.
“Did you hear that?”
“No, I didn’t-” Nate started.
“Shut your pie hole!” Sam hissed. She heard it again, another roar from the north. “This way!”
She whistled and her clacker sped off.
“Where’s she going?” Charlie muttered, before following her. The rest of the party followed, their clackers practically sprinting to try and keep up.
Every hundred yards or so, Sam would stop and listen, angrily glaring at anyone who dared to make a noise. Soon, the sound became loud enough for everyone to hear, a rumble that would pick up as the wind gusted.
“What is it?” Nate asked as they rode over a long embankment.
“Sounds like thunder to me,” Sam said.
They crested an angular ridge, and Sam stopped her clacker. She turned to Nate, grinning from ear to ear.
The mountain descended sharply into a desolate canyon. Jagged stones three times as tall as a man broke through the snow at odd angles. At the far end of the valley stood two enormous figures facing each other; statues carved out of the very mountain, a man and a woman. Their torso’s emerged from the spiked mountainside, forms bent as if in prayer, their foreheads pressed together, their hands clasped just below their chins.
Nate’s mind reeled in awe at the size and scope of them. He tried to imagine what could have carved something so enormous, and didn’t like any of the hypothetical answers that came to him.
The statue’s eyes stared down reverently at the frozen remains of a long-forgotten temple, its walls crumbling and collapsing from the constant barrage of wind and ice. As the tempest picked up, the gust tore and cracked through the gap between the effigies, which echoed and reverberated like thunder, shaking the entire valley.
“By the Aether,” Hicket said as he pulled up next to them. “The Thundering Twins!”