ABANDONED

I was curled up in a blanket, dreaming of being a young boy in my grandmother’s kitchen when a hand shook me awake. The dream dissolved as Jack’s voice said, “Old Hoss, shake a leg. Cahal’s gone.”

“What?” I shook the cobwebs from my mind as I sat up and rubbed grit from my eyes. Looking at the dying fire in the ring of stones, all the spots where the Maya warriors had gone to sleep were empty. “Bloody pisspot, mewling coward; the least he could have done was tell us he was leaving, not sneak out like a dodger short on the rent.”

“Boss,” Drog said as he sat up, “your grandfather’s gonna have another attack if he hears you cursing like that.”

“I wouldn’t go telling tales, old stone-head,” Goro said with a sly smile, “considering you taught him most of it.”

“They left us provisions,” Jack said as he got to his feet, “including coffee, which I’ve got brewing in a pot on the fire. Kinubal and Acorn are already up, so you fellas get done the necessary and I’ll rustle us up some breakfast while we figure out what to do next.”

A privy had been constructed into the rock wall, close to the stream flowing through a unnaturally made stone channel, and once we finished, we joined the others beside the fire. Both Rainbow and Acorn had created balls of blue light, which followed behind them like tethered balloons, and as we sat down, Jack held up a pair of wooden cups. “The right one’s water, the left one’s coffee. Reckon we’ll have to share as Cahal didn’t leave us a whole lot of trail gear. But he did leave a mess of bread stuffed with dried meat and cheese.” Jack began passing the cups around before distributing slices of the travel bread.

As we ate, I mulled over our prospects. “Jack, there is no chance of our catching up to them, is there.”

He shook his head. “Even if you didn’t keep your promise to Acorn, we’d be hard pressed to even get close. Reckon they’ve been gone for hours.”

“I say good riddance,” Baroda growled. “If that Eldarion wants to charge straight into the iron teeth of a Gatling gun, let him.”

“I’d also call this a stroke of good fortune for us,” Goro added, his expression crafty. “Bella knows she’s being followed, but not by who, or how many groups.”

I slowly nodded as the implications became clear. “If Cahal ambushes the expedition and the automaton kills his war party, she will likely believe the threat is gone.”

“We’ll have to be wary of the automaton, though she might stop keeping it guarding the rear.” Goro’s eyes met mine as he smiled. “We can go back to the original plan.”

“Forgive me for saying this,” Je’kyll said, “but this plotting all seems rather callous, considering Cahal has not yet launched his attack.”

“This is the Kobol war all over again,” I said, my friends chiming in with their agreement. “Grandfather taught me that if you need to fight a war, you fight to win, no matter what.”

“Using Cahal as the staked goat,” Rainbow snapped.

“He did that to himself,” I snapped back, regretting my words the moment they left my mouth. “Sorry. That was mean-spirited of me.”

“True, though,” Jack said as he handed me the cup with coffee. I took a sip as he continued. “Old Hoss here told him right about the danger this metal man’s gonna be, but I could see it in Cahal’s face that he’s not gonna let anything get in the way of his revenge.”

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

Rainbow put her hands to her face. “I know it’s not your fault. Yet, he’s still the one who’s fought all his life to keep my people safe,” her hands balling into fists, “even if he’s as stubborn as a boar in rut and just as cruel.” Rainbow let her hands fall from her face as she looked me in the eye. “Are you going to let Acorn return to her people?”

“Of course,” I said in surprise. “I gave her my word and to the shaman as well.”

“Even if it means your grandfather dies? Even if the machine kills most of them, Cahal only needs a few warriors to slaughter the rest.” She shook her head. “You don’t know what it’s like when they ingest stone-snake so they won’t feel any pain from their wounds, and the war-axes of the Chosen begin to sing. Even at their worst, Catherwood will be spared because he’s an Eldarion, but the other two humans-”

“It does not matter.” My grandfather dying of his wounds alone, in the dark, gnawed at me, yet I held the fear away as I watched swirls of steam rising from the depths of the dark liquid. “Shabaka Goldspear hammered into me the lessons of honor, that to give your word means never going back on it, even if it comes at great cost to yourself or to one you love.”

“Reckon that’s a mite harsh.”

I nodded before taking a sip of the black coffee, embracing the bitterness. “He always held himself to a higher standard and insisted I do the same. Miss Rainbow,” I said, looking up over the rim of the cup at her, “if my grandfather dies but Cahal succeeds in killing Bella, I will forgive him the murder. Even though I will mourn my grandfather to the end of my days. However, if Cahal fails, as I fear he will, then I will use your clan leader’s sacrifice to succeed where he could not, and honor him for what he did.”

As Rainbow stared at me, a sad smile touched her lips. “If Cahal could ever get past his hatred of Europeans, I believe he’d like you.” She exhaled and rose to her feet. “The sooner we honor our promise, the sooner we get back on Bella’s trail. What is it you’re always saying, Jack? We’re burning daylight.”

He chuckled. “More like burning Aethyr down here.” He climbed to his feet as well. “Still, reckon we should get a move on.”

We quickly finished eating and washed up as best we could before packing everything away. Ripper came bounding over, and I tossed him the last scraps of bread which he snapped up before trotting over to the stream. He began lapping at the water as I frowned. “Ripper’s big as an adult lion, yet he never seems to eat. Jack, do you think he hunts while we sleep?”

Jack pulled me aside and lowered his voice. “I did a little scouting before I woke you up, and the Maya’s body’s gone. All I found was some bits of bloody bone.”

“Do you think Ripper…” My words trailed off as Jack nodded, Ripper dipping his head into the water then shaking it, spraying Drog, who cursed him in Orku.

Ripper bounded off and stopped next to Acorn, who put out a tentative hand that Ripper sniffed before wagging his tail. She began to stroke his head as Jack said, “Reckon you understand Ripper’s not a dog, but a monster.”

I met Jack’s blue eyes with my own. “I understand that he is my monster.”

“He belongs to that old man.”

“I know,” I said, looking to where Acorn was beginning to scratch his head with more confidence, “and someday I may have to give him back. Yet it was my blood that caused this change.” I turned towards Jack once more. “Even though I ought to feel revulsion for what he has likely done, I look at him and all I can feel is love.” I took a deep breath as a thought struck me. “Jack, what if I feel this way towards anything I create, regardless of how horrible or destructive it is?”

“First off, I don’t see you willingly using your blood to make more critters. Second, if you do and they need to be put down, I’ll be the one to give them the earth-bath, if you catch my drift.”

I gave him a puzzled look. “I fail to understand how-”

“Old Hoss,” he said as he clapped me on the shoulder, “someday you and me is gonna have a long talk where I introduce you to someone you’re gonna find right strange, but then you’ll understand. Today’s not the day, though.”

He walked away from me and called out, “By the way, I forgot to mention that Cahal’s men must have taken the time to carry the dead Maya’s body off the Sac’be and laid him out somewhere, likely so they can retrieve him on the way back and take him back to the village.”

“At least we know a wild animal won’t get him,” Rainbow said.

“The poor man deserved better,” I said, meaning every word. “Jack, will you take the lead?”

“I’m on it,” he replied, as Ripper bounded past us into the darkness.

Ripper was only the first of Jonathan’s monsters…