Cress’ eyes widened after Bel declared her intention to hunt Clark down. She gestured to the rest of the gorgons and sputtered unintelligibly, clearly struggling to understand Bel’s sudden desire to abandon them.
“I have to go after him,” Bel insisted. “Otherwise he’ll just attack again.”
“But alone–” Cress began.
“He’s weak,” Bel interrupted. “Or at least that body is.”
She gestured at the giant turtle’s corpse. “Come on Cress, he ambushed us and he still had to run away. He’s taken on more than he can handle. And besides, hunting the wicked is probably the kind of thing Lempo and Kjar had in mind for me anyway.”
Cress looked like she had more arguments left in her, but one of the other gorgons called out to her with some urgent need. She clicked her tongue and poked one of her metallic nails into Bel’s shoulder. “If things look bad, just come back,” she insisted. Then she gave Bel a quick hug and rushed off to help the rest of the gorgons.
Orseis flopped onto the ground next to Bel. “You running off again?” she asked wearily.
Bel nodded. Then she looked her friend up and down. Her previously bright white fur clothes was darkened to a muddy brown with rusty highlights and matted into a tangled mess, but Bel didn’t see any obvious injuries. “Are you hurt, Ori? Did the turtles get you somewhere that I can’t see?”
Orseis rubbed her tentacles against her side. “Just a little squished.”
She flexed a couple of tentacles. “I was practicing my deception during the fight – you know, acting like everything was fine.” She slumped. “But it hurts. I don’t think I can help, although you probably want to leave me behind again anyway.”
Bel nodded. “Of course. It’s my fight.”
“Want your spear back?” Orseis help up the divine weapon.
Bel grinned. She bent down and patted Orseis on the head. “Nah, you’ll need that if some scavengers show up. Remember how Kjar and Dutcha saved me from the Dark Ravager?”
Orseis shrugged. “I mean, I wasn’t there, but sure. I don’t think you’ve ever talked about it though.”
Bel remembered the bodies and the smell of burned flesh as Dutcha carried her through the melting pyramid. Her snakes curled at the vivid memory. “Well, I haven’t really wanted to talk about it. Maybe I should have though – I’m wondering if they were showing off some of the abilities that they think I should be using.”
Bel flexed her hands, gradually altering her metallic nails to be sharper. “Dutcha dragged me around so I could see her fight. Kjar made it pretty obvious what she was up to. She also recommended claws – that could have been a personal preference though, since she’s a cat.”
Bel closed her eyes and sent her senses to the abilities that her divine relatives had granted to her. She scanned through the fiery stars that made up Kjar’s constellation, snorting when she figured out what one of them did. “She totally does have an ability that could give me claws.”
Orseis waved a tentacle in mock-excitement.
“I’m not going to take it, though,” Bel added.
Orseis tilted her head. “Oh? What’s better than that? Breathing fire?”
“Well, I want that too, but it would fill up my unbound core and leave me defenseless. Beth would find a way to come down here and murder me if I did that.” Bel shook her head. “No, instead I’m taking some cheap abilities that’ll let me track this guy down.”
Bel closed her eyes and traced the patterns for smell lawlessness and track hearts onto her core. When her nose began to itch and her head spun from the sounds of a hundred tiny drums she regretted doing them both at the same time.
“You okay?” Orseis repeated. Bel realized that she had hunched over as she struggled with her new senses, and Orseis had been growing increasingly alarmed.
“I’m fine,” Bel replied.
She sniffed the air and wrinkled her nose at all smells. The corpses that Clark had modified had a lingering scent of transgression. When the wind blew from the direction that he’d fled, she also picked up a whiff of blasphemy. The closest, most annoying scent was one of inhospitality that was coming from her side.
“Give me that,” Bel demanded, pointing at Orseis’ stolen dinner knife.
Orseis offered it up. “Do you need to cut something?”
“No. You shouldn’t be using stolen goods. Stealing is wrong, especially from your host – you could be punished.”
“What god crawled up your abyss?” Orseis whined at Bel liquified the knife and swallowed it, swiftly incorporating the metal into her nails. “It’s not like eating it will unsteal it!”
Bel shrugged. “I’ll ask James to give Martinus some technology or a story as payment, and Martinus can replace it.”
She closed her eyes and breathed a sigh of relief. With the knife dealt with, the nearest scent of wrongdoing faded, making the odor of Clark’s misbehavior much more clear.
“Actually…” Bel reached up and undid her earring. “Here, you can tell James to make things right if he calls.”
Orseis hesitantly took the earring. “Um, Bel, why don’t you tell him?”
“I would, but maybe I shouldn’t be carrying this around. James was worried that Clark was using it against us somehow. If he knows I’m coming, he may set another trap.”
Orseis looked at the earring skeptically. “Is it safe for me to have it?”
Bel shrugged. “If they are tracking it, then he won’t know that I’ve left the group so I’ll catch him by surprise. If they aren’t tracking it, then it’s fine. Either way we win, right?”
Orseis frowned. “That sounds like something your brother would say.”
If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
“Thanks.”
“That wasn’t… never mind. So all you wanted was to sniff better?”
Bel laughed. “That’s not it. There’s also one of Dutcha’s abilities that I’m putting into my disorder core, but I don’t want to talk about it in case he’s still got something listening nearby.”
Bel could actually feel all of the beating hearts around them, but she wasn’t confident that Clark’s patchwork creatures had hearts. She would have to find some that were living to be sure.
“Nothing from your mom?”
Bel sighed. “I’m going to be a mature gorgon and wait for an ability that will work on Technis. The most expensive abilities that I see can alter the flow of time, so I’m already seeing some amazing things, but none of them will take Technis down. The ability to blow things up is pretty good already, and if I leave more open strokes I can use it more times.”
----------------------------------------
Bel walked through the woods, sniffing out the faint whiff of wrongdoing that Clark’s creations left behind. Now that she was alone, the regular inhabitants of the ecosystem emerged from hiding: scurrying rodents picked through the leaf litter, searching for insects or seeds while gliding lizards and birds chased insects through the air. She marvelled at the strange diversity of creatures; without the strong pull of gravity on Olympos’ surface, even snakes could make a decent attempt at flight.
There were larger creatures too, of course. Bel jumped back, out of the clutches of a bulky, cat-like creature with long, knife-like fangs. A heavy mist clung to the beast’s body, which Bel guessed was the result of some type of concealing ability, but the rapid change in the rhythm of its heartbeat had made the ambush predator’s attack obvious to her. For a few moments, she locked eyes with the cat, ready to do battle.
Then, with a disgruntled flick of its tail, it decided that she wasn’t worth the trouble. It bounded back into the heavy underbrush, disappearing from Bel’s sight – but not her senses – in moments.
I kind of feel like a dummy for not getting this ability earlier, Bel thought. Although it is pretty distracting. I don’t know how I’m going to sleep.
Most abilities could be turned off, but some of Kjar’s abilities had a peculiar sense of self-righteousness that Bel knew would cause her trouble. If she hadn’t taken Orseis’ knife away, the scent of the crime would have driven her crazy.
Bel paused and tapped her slightly longer, sharper nails together. “I hope I can still live around people after this,” she muttered. “If every little thing drives me crazy, then I’ll have to go live in the woods.”
Bel looked at her surroundings. “Well, that’s basically the same as how things used to be. I guess I’m fine with that.”
She lifted her nose and sniffed, once again picking up the trail of her quarry.
----------------------------------------
Clark’s offensive stench increased as she drew nearer. The smell drew her into a narrow path that ran between a cliff and a quickly flowing river. The banks seemed low, revealing a thick plane of mud between the path and the river. Bel paused for a few moments, wondering what caused the tides when there was no moon. As she narrowed her eye in thought and stared blankly into the river, she realized that something was peering back at her.
A long, scaly creature – something like a crocodile, she assumed – was staring at her. She could feel the patient heart of the enormous creature, slowly beating away. Bel took a few steps away from the water, deciding that the cliff face would be more safe, but she stopped short when she detected a few hearts in that direction as well.
Closer inspection revealed several holes along the cliff, and Bel remembered the rock worms from the frozen layer. This feels like a good place for an ambush, she grumbled internally. If it is, then at least I won’t have to keep walking for much longer.
Bel proceeded cautiously, sniffing the air before every blind turn and pausing the identify the owners of any hearts. When she finally crested a small rise and saw Clark – or the thing that looked like Clark – waiting for her on the other side, she was momentarily caught off guard by the lack of attacks.
The hateful man spread his mouth wide and grinned back at her stupefied expression. “How interesting! What made you decide to face me alone, I wonder?”
Bel frowned. Rather than reply, she looked around the area, searching for traps.
There were a few obvious ones that leaped out. A few bits of crocodile were spread around Clark’s body. Some of them had obviously been harvested to repair his legs, but the rest of the bodies were likely up to no good. Then there were stone worms, no doubt preparing to… block her retreat? Collapse the cliff?
“I’m surprised that you left the other gorgons behind.” Clark stroked his chin. “Did they lose faith in you so quickly?”
Bel scowled. “Cut the act. I know that you’re not really here.”
His eyebrows went up. “Oh, really? And here I thought you would recognize me. We spent so many wonderful years together, after all.”
Bel’s snakes hissed. “Your words reek of deception and cruelty. Do you kiss Technis’ crotch with that mouth?”
A scowl quickly passed over Clark’s face, bringing Bel a small bit of satisfaction.
“Such a blasphemous tongue,” he tutted. “And here I may as well be your uncle.”
Bel snorted. “And how do you figure that? And what are you stalling for, exactly? More worms? Your new leg isn’t connected yet?”
He smiled. “I just want to talk! I was quite impressed with the mess you made of that creature I sent to hunt you down. As I mentioned, I hand a hand in your creation, so I find myself eager to evaluate your progress.”
Bel laughed. “Are you trying to say something so absurd that I choke myself to death? What is this nonsense?”
He shook his head in an over-earnest imitation of sorrow. “How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is to have a thankless child. That is a saying from James’ world, correct? Well you are quite thankless.”
Bel considered simply pouncing upon him, but then she wondered if he was trying to goad her into a reckless attack. While she was pondering that, he rambled on.
“You see, some gorgons have made it to the surface – with Technis’ help at least.” Clark paused for just a moment to grin at Bel, but she had moved on to counting the hearts in the vicinity. “Who do you think planted the rumor that the surface will be a utopia for gorgons?”
Clark sighed dramatically. “In retrospect, we should have left a viable population alive, but we were confident that more of you would keep showing up. I turns out that we overestimated the abilities of the typical gorgon.”
“What did–”
Bel stopped herself after just a couple of words, but it was too late. Clark could tell that he’d captured her interest.
“Well,” he said gleefully, “you see, Technis is the pinnacle of what a human can achieve.”
“You mean he’s the biggest turd a human can be?” Bel slipped in.
Clark barely faltered in his story. “He shares his discoveries with his faithful, but the gods are less generous and stymie his efforts at every turn. Because of that, we must work tirelessly to uncover the secrets of the world for ourselves. We had hoped to study the gorgons’ ritual of rebirth, which holds the key to unlocking the art of crafting new cores.”
He waved his staff angrily. “Yet the gods refused use those secrets, striking down our experiments before they could fully develop. To this day, every human is born with the cursed ability to dilute their blood with lesser beings rather than inheriting something befitting our place as the undisputed rulers of the Old World.”
Bel blinked. “Sorry, what? Are you complaining about the semi-humans of the Golden Plains?”
“Filth,” Clark spat. “A human is superior because of their mind. Trading that away for mere adaptations is beneath us. The Bargainer was a fool for taking the god’s deal, and even more the fool for trapping us here when we belong in the Old World.”
He lifted his finger and began to rant in earnest. “The gods did not make us! We evolved!”
He slammed his staff into the ground, emphasising his zeal with a loud and powerful strike. “Yes, evolved, through the great and righteous process of natural selection!”
Bel noticed that several of the hearts around her moved whenever when the staff struck.
He pointed his finger in Bel’s direction as his face screwed up in angry, wrinkled lines. “Creatures like you are a mockery of the natural order! A natural being corrupted by the outside influences of the gods, who continue to exert their power to preserve things that should be dead, to grant succor to the weak and pitiful creatures who belong beneath the humans’ feet!”
“Wow,” Bel breathed, “you’re crazy! If you’re so great, why are you running away to the Old World, then?”
“Because it is ours!” Clark declared as he emphatically slammed his staff in to the ground again. “We will reclaim it! Improve it! And then we shall return!”
As the last word left his lips, the water surged and the ground churned. Clark had launched his attack.
“I’m gonna knock your face off,” Bel declared.