„It’s someone there! Watching us!” Samaya told Dike in a whisper and motioned him to look toward the forest, for she spotted, for a long while actually, that strange movement of the bushes’branches. But… no matter how hard she didn’t force her keen glance to see what was hiding there or her mind to teleport her there, she couldn’t.
„I know,” Dike said, dryly, still looking in front, for even if he didn’t see the movement of the bush, yet, he also felt that weird presence there, which started to irritate him actually, even if he didn’t know why.
„The Barefaced?” Samaya asked in a whisper again.
„Who else?! And… I’m not even surprised to know him here, for… he’s a damn curios dwarf and he simply adores poking his nose in others’businesses. But… I don’t know why I have the feeling that this time is something more than just his curiosity.”
„Do you mean that he’s spying on us?”
„Yes, but… why he’s doing this, we’ll find soon,” Dike said and then he lay on the grass again, with his hands under his head and looking at the sky. Yet, even if the stars weren’t seen in the sky because of Maranam’s black clouds, Dike could brush that curtain of hatred somehow away and see beyond the appearances: the world of the Cosmos, the one so loved by his heart, and where was his biggest love - Samandra.
Seeing her father so calm, Samaya also calmed down, for that meant that they are safe for the moment. More than this: when her father was with them, the young she-wolf knew that nothing bad is around and that Dike will protect them if necessary.
Then, after minutes of staying in silence next to Dike, who said nothing more, but only enjoyed looking at those punchy clouds that seemed to rush somewhere on the limitless vault of the sky, Samaya stood up and took a few steps away from the camp, heading toward the field.
„Which way?” She heard Fenrir’s voice in her head and, looking to her right, sidelong, she saw him squatting on his hams while Sephir was sleeping, supporting her head on his shoulder.
„Am I followed?” Samaya told him, feisty, also telepathically, for she hated that recent indiscretion of her twin, who was all the time keeping an eye on her and she couldn't understand why.
„Absolutely!” Fenrir told her, grinning, and motioning her to sit down again.
Samaya preferred instead not to listen to him and, shrugging, went her way.
This has been something Fenrir disliked and he intended to follow his sister. But he continued squatting, hearing Sephir’s whisper: „leave her alone! What problem do you have with Samaya? You turned lately round on her, worse than an old, grouchy lady.”
Fenrir made a wry face again and looked at his wife: he thought that she was asleep, but when he looked at her he saw her still with her eyes closed. Yet, it seemed that not only he kept an eye on Samaya, but Sephir also kept one on him, and this told him about female solidarity, which awoke inside his wife. Thus, Fenrir understood that he had no chance to win against the two.
Yet, he became alert, seeing Nathaniel also standing up and following Samaya, and this really disliked him, who growled barely heard, for he had a lot of words in his head, which he would have liked to say loudly, but… Sephir was next to him, and this meant he was a captive there.
Feeling him burning inside because of his brother’s jealousy, Sephir sketched a smile, that has been seen by Fenrir.
„Was it for me?” Fenrir asked, sniffing.
„What exactly?” Sephir said, still with her eyes closed.
„The chaff! And it’s recently not with words, but with smiles, which seem damn acolyte to me, more what’s related to Samaya.”
„Maybe it’s like you say! But… I think that there are more important things to do than to trouble your head about what Samaya does, says, or thinks.”
„Other things? Like?”
„A spy! At the edge of the forest!” Saying this, Sephir finally opened her eyes and raised her head, looking at the edge of the forest, where she saw something moving earlier, just as Samaya saw it. But, at that moment, everything was too calm: even the leaves of the trees seemed to be frozen and, each time this happened, Sephir’s heart stopped for a few seconds. And this wasn’t random, but because of the presentiment: that something bad will happen soon.
***
„Damn devils! They are always treading on my corns! What problem have they with me?! Why are they keeping all the time an eye on me that they don’t even give me the chance to freely breathe?” Calmac kept mumbling while entering the forest and, without realizing it, he entered deeper and deeper.
And… while mumbling unpleasant things in his beard, the ghoul was slowly shaking his head as if having a fever or a kind of neuron disease that wasn’t allowing him to control his motions. But it was everything just an illusion, for Calmac was acting like this each time someone could enrage him.
That time, who managed to get under his skin, has been Mago, who refused to give him his dagger, even if the ghoul insisted for a long time. More, when Mago felt suffocated because of the ghoul’s stubbornness, he raised his voice and bite his nose off: „what do you need a dagger for? You have teeth and nails to use as weapons. Use them or your brain! Don’t be stupid!” Then Mago stood up and approached Malon and the other men, for he felt safer with them than with the ghoul.
This simply drove Calmac crazy, who saw a kind of provocation in the man’s attitude. But even if he was so eager to stub his fangs and taste that man’s flesh, he has been forced to control himself when he spotted Zorrota’s furious glance, who was all the time with his eyes on Calmac, for even if the ghouls were strong and dangerous, yet, with a new leader, they had to be wiser, and as Zorrota simply adored Kalimērā, or at least this is what he thought, he decided to listen to her in everything.
That’s why he kept an eye namely on Calmac, for he knew him as being that kind of ghoul that doesn’t listen to anybody and who simply hates to be submissive. But… that time seemed to be something more than simple rebellion. What exactly… he couldn’t figure out. Yet, he swore not to lose sight of Calmac, seeing the ghoul entering the forest. But he has been forced to stay in place when Kalimērā told him: „leave him alone for a while! He’ll be back when he calms down. And… if he doesn’t turn back, better for us!”
And that „better for us” has been also heard by Calmac, who stopped at the edge of the forest. And, even if Kalimērā’s voice wasn’t loud when she said those words, he heard them. This hurt him a lot, feeling that he was left behind by others, and not valued, or honored by his people. That’s why he started to mumble all that his mind could think about, mostly bad words, for only this way he felt that he could extinguish the fire of his heart.
But… there was one more reason why Calmac decided to enter the forest: the blood thirst, for he didn’t eat anything for hours already, and hunger was his worse enemy. That’s why, entering the forest, he hoped to catch at least a bunny or something and take the edge off his appetite, even if it had been for a short time only, for he intended to vanish right away they’ll meet humans’villages in their way and do what he knew better: to scorch everything in his way.
„Yet, you’re afraid of that,” he heard someone’s voice, talking to him, but when he looked around, he saw nobody and this amazed him a lot.
„Do I see things already because of hunger?” Calmac asked himself, confused. Yet, that flattering voice kept hanging in his ears and this was tickling him in a weird and at the same time pleasant way. „No, it doesn’t seem that I’m hallucinating. Yet… who to be?”
„A friend. I can be a very good friend!” The Barefaced told him with an even sweeter voice than he used the first time he talked to the ghoul and, suddenly, the Barefaced appeared from behind a tree.
Calmac stared at him, for he had never seen a person so white before: the head, the eyelashes, the eyebrows, even his skin looked as if it was limestone. But… that extraordinary being, that so suddenly appeared in front of him, had no hair, and this amazed the ghoul so much. „Who are you?” Calmac murmured eventually, taking a few steps toward the Barefaced.
He stopped after a few steps instead, and this was because he felt something bothering him inside, even if he couldn’t understand what it could be, as if someone else lived inside him, someone who felt scared so suddenly and who was all the time yelling in his ears to be careful.
But the Barefaced didn’t stay to think for long, for… that saying: haste makes waste, but if you are too late… you lose the train. Thus, he decided to approach the ghoul and, cunningly moving around him, as if trying to make him feel dizzy, he started to curry favor with the ghoul while his keen eyes were insistently looking into Calmac’s, charming him. „Me? Who am I? I just said: a friend. A very good friend!”
„Yet… I don’t know you, to be my friend!”
„Why exactly? Is it absolutely necessary to know someone to consider him your friend?”
„Absolutely. At least this is what I’ve heard.”
„What have you heard?” The Barefaced said in a hissing voice. „Who told you this kind of stupid thing?”
„Humans! They are who always say that one can be your friend only if he’s close to you!”
„That’s because they are stupid! That’s because humans do nothing else than invent histories and mysteries. We… are different!”
„Different? In which way?” Calmac mumbled, scraping the nape of his neck.
„By our way of being, by our clothes, manner of thinking, and… even our power is different. Or… will you deny that we are stronger than humans?” And the Barefaced lowered his glance for a few seconds, to look then at Calmac. But that time his eyes were vividly blinking, with innocence and curiosity, something that could disarm someone completely.
„Well… if to think so…”
„No… no… no, not to think,” the Barefaced insisted, somehow bothered by that indecision. „We shouldn’t think about clear things, but act, and the simple fact that our manner of thinking is so profound, so logical, so… charming, we should make everyone understand that we are the Kings of the World in fact.”
„Kings? But… how is this possible? Kings are only the chosen ones.”
„Really?” The Barefaced hissed through his teeth again. Then he smiled. „Well, it seems to me that others made you believe something that’s not true. Are the humans again?”
„No. It’s my people who told me this: that kings are born one in a million years and that they are chosen by the Heavens. That’s why we must always be grateful that they defend us and we are their servants.”
„This is the worm of truth,” the Barefaced wheezed the words. „Servants! That’s why those „kings” take your head off with… lies, for a king can be anyone, not only the… chosen by the Heavens. If you don’t believe this, then… look at me: I’m my own king! I’m not a servant, but I can subdue others if I want. But… why bother with explanations and convictions when I can simply act?!”
„Act? How? How it could be done?” Calmac asked and looked at the Barefaced with wide-open eyes.
This made the Barefaced look askance at Calmac and wonder: „is he really stupid or he only pretends to be?” But Calmac wasn’t pretending, for… he wasn’t that smart for this. If he had been smart, he wouldn’t have stayed to talk to a stranger, that was only talking nonsense in his ear, just to convince him of an… impossible thing.
Yet, the Barefaced decided to give the ghoul another chance and, raising on his tiptoe, to at least get to his „friend’s” shoulder, he put one hand on his back, as higher as he could, of course, then he confidently said, that even the confidence itself would have doubted if listening to that being talking to it: „well, my great ghoul, there is a saying that goes around the world - that what you do with your own hand is well done. That’s why, if you want something, do everything you can for that. So, in your case, to become a king, you must be good friends with the betrayal.”
Calmac looked at him confused again, for even if those words, so sweetly whispered in his ears, were so soft-spoken, his mind was stubborn to believe them or understand them. That’s why he asked for more details about what he should do.
„Think about the one you hate the most and act!”
„The one I hate the most?! Well, there are many that I hate: Izkina, Zorrota, that insufferable man that dared to refuse me today, and… even the stiff neck of Kalimērā, who recently thinks she’s our new Queen, even if she’s not more than a… woman, made our queen by a… stupid,” and the hatred took so suddenly over his chest.
This has been to the Barefaced's hand, who continued his thought: „now, you should choose who’s first and who’s next, then split them up… attacking unawares when they less expect this, of course, and… grab the power.”
„To split them up? But… how?”
„Just think a little bit! You’re who said that: your friends are only those you know. The same for enemies: to hate someone and want to destroy him, you must know his strong and weak points first - the strong ones - to know what to avoid, and the weak points - just to take advantage of it.”
„Minuses… Izkina… Zorrota… rivalry for the heart of the… woman,” and, as if a lamp turned on in his head, illuminating him, Calmac smiled, and the Barefaced rubbed his palms because of a pleaser. „But… you see, to separate them, you should be away from humans or Titans. Thus, it’ll be easier for us to make them fall into their own trap. But… this is damn difficult for the moment.”
„Nothing is difficult if you want to make it,” the Barefaced cunningly said, „and, to see that I’m your friend, I’ll help you with this.”
„Will you help me? How?”
As if trying to tell Calmac a big secret, the Barefaced motioned him to approach him more and whispered into his ear, something heard only by Calmac, but which resounded so alluringly for him, so soft-spoken, something that made him feel a king. That’s why he eventually… smiled.
***
„Something happens between you and Fenrir?” Nathaniel asked while he and Samaya were slowly walking, at a good distance from the camp, for they tried not to vanish in front of others and give them the chance to think… weirdly or make broad jokes. Also, they tried to have a little time only for themselves thus: at least while they talked.
„Between me and Fenrir? What exactly?” asked Samaya, abashed.
If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
„I don’t know how to explain that: it seemed to me that he doesn’t lose sight of you lately and… I also think that’s because of me.”
Samaya smiled, for even if the man was right, she couldn’t tell him that he was right, more she didn’t want to unfold her brother and tell others about his stupid jealousy.
„Of course, not,” Samaya murmured, and, smiling, she watched the young man, something that gave him some confidence. „You simply don’t know Fenrir: he has always been like this and he’ll always be so - overprotective and all the time up to his old tricks because his exaggerate care is nothing more than meretricious.”
„Allow me not to agree with you!” Nathaniel said and cunningly smiled, something that made Samaya wince and think: „he knew!”
„That’s right!” Nathaniel said as if reading her mind. „I understood right away why Fenrir does this, for… I’m also someone’s brother and I also feel uncomfortable with those who approach Yellen.”
„Why?” Samaya asked even more amazed than before. „I thought that Fenrir acts this way because he’s a wolf, which feels jealous of others for their females and families. I thought that humans are different.”
„Fenrir is also a man, even if only half. Thus, it’s logical to feel so. We are talking about savage instincts, in the end, those we have from our ancestors since we were still primitives and we couldn’t logically think or express in words what we feel or thought about. That’s why we have the same disease to this day.”
„Disease?” Samaya said, laughing, for the man’s words solaced her. „I call this rather conceit.”
„Conceit? Why exactly?”
„Because only those that think that the whole world is theirs cannot share it with others. The same happens to Fenrir: until recently, we did almost everything together. Now instead we do almost everything by ourselves.”
„What about you: didn’t you feel jealousy or conceit for him?”
„For Fenrir? Why? Because of Sephir?” And Nathaniel nodded yes. „To be honest… no. Or at least I didn’t pay too much attention to this.”
„Why?”
„Because I want him to be happy and I know that Sephir can offer him what I can’t.”
„You see?! This makes men and women different.”
„In what way?”
„Women see everything through the prism of happiness. Men instead - through the one of possession, and I mean here: what’s mine I won’t share with another one,” and Nathaniel suddenly grabbed her hand and didn’t let her go, not even when Samaya tried to release her hand, ashamed and looking around to see if someone saw them. „I’m also a man, Samaya. And I, just like Fenrir, don’t intend to give up on what I think that’s mine or must be mine.”
„But… I’m nobody’s,” Samaya stuttered, ashamed, looking elsewhere.
„This is what you think, but… you belonged to many and those whom you belong to consider you theirs and don’t want to share you with anyone: Fenrir - being afraid to lose you as his sister, Dike - because his child will suffer, and Bestla - well, she’s afraid that she won’t find another friend like you.”
„What about you? What are you afraid of?
„That I won’t have the chance to feel your love,” the man confidently answered and watched her with love, and this forced Samaya deeply look into his eyes and see the man’s feelings reflected in his beautiful glance. „Don’t be silent, Samaya!” The man eventually murmured. „At least say something!”
„Maybe you’re right, Nathaniel, but… I don’t know what should I say in such moments. I never thought about this,” Samaya thoughtfully said, not taking her glance off the man’s face.
„You don’t have to think about such things, only feel, and… I think I’ll better ask for an answer from your heart than from your mind,” then he kissed her, closing his eyes and forgetting the fact that there weren’t only the two of them on that field.
Samaya hardened for a few seconds, not knowing what to do or how to manage her heart that was madly beating in her chest. Yet, she also closed her eyes eventually, falling prey to that madness of dreams.
***
„Does she dream about love?!” Mayar wondered, being at the edge of the forest, in a kind of „hide-out” created by her mind, and staring at the two lovers, that decided to tell their secrets through kisses. And, unwillingly, the fox felt jealous of the „other one,” as she got to name her in time. „Let her dream then!” She muttered later. „I’ll take care to make her feel the bitter taste of loss when everything gets out of hand: even her heart.”
Eventually, Mayar snapped her fingers and vanished, leaving a kind of fog behind her, something that increased and increased till it covered the forest.
But that fog didn’t pass unnoticed, for, right after being spotted as being denser and denser, Boor approached Dike, who was still laying on the grass and looking at the sky. „We have guests, Dike! I think that’s time to check if the surroundings are sure.”
„What for? You can’t impede Fate taking place anyway!” They heard Hestia’s voice, whose pyre suddenly appeared next to them and she looked at that thick, black fog that seemed to swallow the forest soon.
„Yet…,” insisted Boor.
„Hestia is right,” Island said. „Even if we see what’s going on in that forest, it won’t change things, for… if that fog is for us, then… in a way or another it’ll make us its captives.”
„The fog isn’t for us!” murmured Dike, without opening his eyes, for he closed his eyes when Hestia’s fire appeared to his left and he felt that her flames bothered his glance somehow.
„Isn’t it for us? Then… for whom is it?” Fenrir asked his father when he and Sephir got closer to them.
Dike, hearing his son’s voice, felt that it was time to stand up, at least on his butt, and he did this. Yet, he didn’t look at any of those present there, but somewhere in the distance. „It’s for Mayar! She passed by here! Just what, for… it seems that her new mission is not to lose sight of Samaya.”
„Samaya? But… where is she, for…,” Fenrir murmured preoccupied. But he calmed down, seeing his sister walking by Nathaniel’s side. „She’s fine!” He said to calm down.
„For the moment!” Hestia earnestly said. „Because Mayar isn’t the only one who passed by here. Parca is also around!”
Finally, someone could make Dike curious, who stood up. „Parca? What did she lose in this part of the world?”
„I have no idea about this! But… it seems that she looks for revenge.”
„Revenge? What for?” Island asked.
„Probably because she has been forced to look for years for Karina to finish her plan. But today’s ritual ended with her madness. Yet, it awoke another: she looks to revenge someone’s death. But… I couldn’t figure out whose yet.”
„Most likely that her new target is Samaya,” Sephir thoughtfully said. „Otherwise, she wouldn’t have brought her copy here.”
„I agree with Sephir, papa. I think that’s a good idea for Samaya to move away from these places, for…”
„No, Fenrir. Samaya will stay because… no matter what will do, destiny will catch up with her eventually and, if we are far away from her, we won’t have the possibility to help her to defeat her fate if it’s necessary.”
„Dike is right,” Lodur said, approaching them along with Gaea. „The war started already, even if for the moment we only throw out a feeler, and Samaya and the one called Mayar have a great role in this. Thus, it’s normal that they step in the other’s footsteps. Probably this has been Fate’s game right from the beginning: the two to look exactly the same and none of them knew 100% what role she’ll have in this battle.”
„I still think that’s nothing of what you think about,” Gaea said. „Let’s not forget that to open the Gates of Aeon we need to find the three elements revealed by Yggdrasil to Samaya. And, if Lodur is right and the other one, Mayar, has been created to cheat on the world, it means that she also knew about which elements must be found. Thus: she can also be after them and not after Samaya, or… one after the other because… if one of them finds an element first, the other one should have equal chances to have it.”
„I found Gaea’s explanation more logical,” Hestia added. „Thus: we should do the same - to take advantage of that Evil follows our footsteps and get the second element no matter the consequences,” and the others simply nodded yes, hearing her words.
***
„They know about our plan!” Mayar told Parca when she got to the Barefaced’s house, which was built through the branches of a tree, where she and the Titanide decided to spend the night.
„Did you realize this only now?” The Barefaced teased her while playing with a leaf. „It was obvious, right from the beginning.”
„And… if it was so clear, why didn’t you talk to us about this?” Parca hissed through her teeth, angry to know that she forgot that detail and that she got the raspberry from the Barefaced.
„It’s because we would have missed all the fun. More than this: you don’t have why to be worried about, for… the Seeds of Discord have been already sown in the heart of a new servant, who’ll actually fulfill what we’ve planned, without even staining our hands.”
„A new servant? Do you mean that ghoul?” Mayar asked in disbelief, for when she got to the edge of the forest, to spy on Samaya and the rest, she saw the little charade of the Barefaced in front of Calmac.
„That’s right, and what I’ve planned will happen sooner than what you’ve planned. It probably happens right now. That’s why the only thing we should do is wait!” And, putting that leaf to his lips, the Barefaced started to blow it, and that greet flute resounded so charmingly around, that even the branches of the trees were slowly undulating, bowing one toward the other one as if whispering secrets that need to be sent away.
And that secret, told by leaves, got eventually above Calmac, who was sitting on an aerial root, with a bunny broken into two, off which red drops of life were dripping and, while he was enjoying that tasty meal, Calmac was mumbling all the time as if being in a trance: „to win I must betray. For victory we need blood. To be king - you need victims, and I… am the king!”
Then, that sound of the leaves slowly lifted up on the tree’s trunk, under which he was, as if that sound was a snake, winding on it, to later wrap around the young branches, hid between the shaking leaves, and take that secret further and further, to turn back later to the Barefaced’s ear, who was singing with his eyes closed, and his mind turned back to that distant past when he became Parca’s slave… forever.
***
THE BAREFACED'S MEMORIES
„If we hadn’t killed each other, I would have had someone to ask for help,” the Barefaced murmured while hanging above a gulf, supporting his body with only one hand of its friable edge, being about to fall.
Actually, he got into that difficult situation after fighting with four of his friends and the last ones still alive, and everything started with their huge ambition to betray and subdue others.
In fact, in their glorious or golden time, the Barefaceds had their own kingdom, with millions and millions of servants. And… they were famous through their keen mind and the ability to deceive others or take their fortune, becoming thus, in time, ultra-rich.
Thus, some of them got a lot of fertile soil and extended their lands; others deceived kings and got once famous kingdoms, but because of their incapability to lead those kingdoms, they only managed to bring them to ruin. The wiser have been yet those Barefaced that got the ivory mines, got once the Cerberus have been chased away, toward the depths of the ground, blocking their way toward the earth’s surface and making them slaves forever.
But the same ambition that made them famous, brought them also to ruin, that they got to kill each other till only 5 of them remained alive. They, however, couldn’t reach an agreement in the end about the huge fortune they had. That’s why they decided to remain even fewer and the Barefaced from our story, known as Laṟṟa, has been chosen as the first victim.
Thus, one night, when he went as always to bed, he has been inattentive and his friends put some liquor for sleep in his drink. That’s why he slept like a log right after closing his eyes, and, because of this, the others could bind him hand and foot, to be later left to die on dried soil, next to that gulf.
He awoke the next morning when the sun was already up in the sky, heating to the maximum its golden stove. But Laṟṟa awoke not because he slept enough or because the effect of that liquor passed, but because of his survival instinct, which alerted them even if he was asleep, for… he was about to be sweetly kissed by the… scorpions’pliers.
Wide-opening his eyes, after he felt tickling on his nose, he saw, in amazement, two big, black pliers threateningly opening and closing in front of his eyes, and when he opened them even wider, Laṟṟa could see the sharp knife of the scorpion’s beak, that was about to kiss his lips with that sweet venom.
Crying blue murder, Laṟṟa tried to stand up. But, being bound hand and foot, he could only jump like a magic stick, controlled by an unseen power, throwing the scorpions off him thus. However, he couldn’t stay on his feet for long and he felt the hard kiss of the soil on his back soon, and all this because he couldn’t keep his balance for looking like a sack full to the brim with corn, that cannot stay still without being supported by something. And… yeah, Laṟṟa felt well that hit with the soil, and this made him creep like a worm on the ground.
But… while he was creeping from one side to the other, he spotted, from the corner of his eyes, a huge army of pliers heading toward him: hundreds or maybe thousands of scorpions were heading toward him at that moment, thinking that he was a sure prey, and that made Laṟṟa consider tempting to intend to run away.
Yet… uninjured he hadn’t been, for… he hadn’t actually where to run - only if to jump in that huge abyss that was opening its mouth right behind him. Laṟṟa, however, wasn’t stupid to jump into it and crash to death when touching the bottom, for it was sure death for having his arms and legs tied. Thus… the left thing was to fight with the scorpions, something he actually did: while those pliers were deeply biting from his flesh, the Barefaced was rolling on the ground, on different sides, crashing them with the weight of his body, for he was chubby by nature and… he also weighted… not a little.
But that fight and sufferance had a positive result, for those pliers also failed… from time to time while trying to kick out the Barefaced’s skin, and, very soon, Laṟṟa saw himself released from that trap.
And… right away he understood that he was free, Laṟṟa tried to run. But he definitely hadn’t luck that day because… right after standing up, a huge, black bird launched over him, forcing him to defend his head with his arms and withdraw.
Thus, crawling back and back, Laṟṟa’s foot stepped over the edge of the abyss and he fell. But even so, he managed to grab that edge at the last moment.
But… being made from a friable soil, and more - dried because of the lack of rain, that edge was breaking under the Barefaced’s weight, forcing Laṟṟa madly fight with that edge and grab another part when that part, which his hand grabbed at first, was falling, turning to dust right after hitting the bottom of the gulf.
And Laṟṟa thought that that was his end. But when he heard a voice from above, hope turned back to him: „how much can you pay for your life, Barefaced?”
„How much can I pay? But… how much do you want?” Laṟṟa asked, terrified, seeing that the last part of the edge, which he managed to grab at the last moment, was about to come off.
„Your allegiance to me, forever!” And Parca’s face showed up in front of Laṟṟa’s eyes, and he spotted that she was about to step onto his hand. This made the blood freeze in his veins, more when he spotted two big, black wings behind Parca.
Yet, this made Laṟṟa grin because of an unpleasant surprise to see himself as an unwilling captive. „Submissive? To you? The one who brought me into this situation? I see that you have some blood in your veins, stranger!”
„Namely this makes me special!” Parca ironically told him. „Just as it makes me your master: willy-nilly, for… only thanks to my mercy you are still alive, just as if I want, you can turn to dust and ashes, just like a snowball, if to touch that bottom.”
„The mercy of the master can be sometimes even crueler than of the enemy.”
„Do you think so? Why?”
„Because the master doesn’t make anything if this doesn’t bring him any benefit. Just like you did: you threw me in this gulf only to offer you my support and make me bow in front of you. I call this cowardness.”
„And I call this battle strategy,” Parca confidently and at the same cunningly said. Then she squatted and stepped on that friable edge over which Laṟṟa was hanging.
Parca’s weight, added to Laṟṟa’s, made that soil break with more speed than before, and… when Laṟṟa was about to fall into that gulf, having nothing else to grab and support himself, he grabbed eventually Parca’s hand, which she stretched toward him before, but Laṟṟa denied to grab it.
Yet, the Titanide didn’t pull him to the surface, but let him hang, grabbing her arm. „So? I didn’t hear your answer, Laṟṟa!”
„Alright then!” Laṟṟa murmured, barely heard.
„I said that I didn’t hear!” Parca insisted and opened a little her palm, weakening the squeezing of his wrist, something that made him disbalance even harder. „I don’t accept a pact told in half a voice,” the Titanide hissed through her teeth. „I want you to tell me, loudly and clearly: I’ll be your servant forever, Parca and I’ll always do what you want.”
„And… if I say that, what do I win? Apart from life, I mean!”
„What else do you want?” Parca asked, ready to accept a deal, for she knew what Laṟṟa will serve her later for.
„Supremacy! And a kingdom only mine!”
„Something not difficult!” Parca said, after only a few moments of thinking and, forcing a little with his weight, she managed to pull him to the surface.
Seeing his feet touching hard soil again, Laṟṟa breathed a sigh of relief, checking every single bone if it was in its place. But something made his blood freeze again in his veins: in front of him, as if being an entire army, lined up, were the scorpions, with their pliers up, as if being lances. Then, the Barefaced grinned, unpleasantly surprised by that unexpected discovery: „it has been your plan.”
„Only part of it!” Parca told him and turned her back on him. And where she crossed through, the scorpions moved away from her, allowing her to cross right between them, without crashing them.
Laṟṟa followed her, seconds after only, also taking the same path between the scorpions. Yet, the shirt stuck to his back because of the cold sweat that was dripping on his skin, for… the bites of those pliers still hurt him.
But they didn’t attack him again. And… a few days after that event, Laṟṟa became the master of that forest, which humans and the rest of the beings on earth started to call the Forest of the Barefaced. But there was a strange thing in all that business: the fact that nobody remembered who lived in that forest before, or… if it really existed on earth to that day.