Revin was jerked awake by another image of gore and violence. He shook his head, trying to get the images out of his mind. They didn’t leave him alone. They never left him alone.

Nor did the memory of the pain.

He trembled, breathing deeply, trying to ignore the echoes of saurian agony. He let out a final slow breath, his heartbeat finally slowing.

He looked around. It was still night, and he was still in his tent. Birdy slept on top of the tent, and the three ceratops he had brought with him, Rage, Spiker, and Pistol, were asleep outside. Their trainers had strange taste in names.

Kaiato slept soundly at the other end of the tent.

Revin let out a sigh and lay back down, hoping to get back to sleep. But the dead men, the dying saurians, and the pain roared back to his mind. A spear in the gut, a cannonball to the abdomen, a dozen musketballs piercing scales and scattering feathers.

He shook his head and stood. There would be little sleeping tonight.

He donned his clothes and left the tent.

✦✦✦

A light snow covered the ground, giving the area a faint glow from reflected moonlight. Two of Omrai’s sentries stood guard nearby. They watched him, concern in their eyes.

“It’s alright,” he said, raising a hand, “I just need a walk.”

“Omrai wants everyone to stay close,” one said.

“I’ll be right back. Besides-” Revin tapped his head, “I’ll have a saurian honk or something if I’m in trouble.”

They didn’t argue further as Revin walked into the hills near their camp. He tried to calm his mind, breathing deeply but not closing his eyes. That would only mean the return of the images.

After a while, when the camp was barely in sight, he climbed to the top of a steep hill, brushing off a rock and sitting on it cross-legged. The stars above were beautiful and vast. Almost as if he were on the inside of a glass dome, and beyond was an infinite dark expanse, tiny lights shining in the distance.

The ground trembled. Revin’s eyes widened. He looked around, but the trembling stopped. He rubbed his head to relieve the tension he felt in his brow. The rumbling reminded him of the thousands of metal warriors Narazoth was able to master.

He looked to the stars again. In a short moment, the ground rumbled again, but it had a steady rhythm to it. He pressed his ear flat to the ice-cold stone. The rumbling got louder and louder. A consistent binary beat which shook the earth.

With a final shake it stopped. A loud and deep breath came from behind. Revin was surrounded by a gust of warm air that smelled of rotten meat. He froze for a moment, then turned around.

Standing before him was a giganoto.

His heart jumped. But it didn’t move. It only stared with a quiet intensity. He stood, slowly, the beast’s eyes watching. Revin saw a small wound on the side of its head from where Kaiato had shot it.

Revin’s eyes widened as he realized that this was the exact same giganoto he’d seen before. It had sought him out again.

He reached for its snout, tentatively. It inched closer in return.

He jumped back when he heard the bangs of musket fire. Revin looked behind him to see Omrai firing a pistol in the air and the soldiers shouting.

The giganoto let out a roar. Revin reached for it as it turned around, pounding down the hill and away. Revin stumbled to the ground. He let out a growl of frustration and looked back at Omrai and the others.

“What are you doing?” Revin yelled, “I was about to master it!”

“Master it?” Omrai said, “It would’ve swallowed you whole!”

Revin groaned and watched as the beast disappeared into the dark.

Revin took a deep breath, “That’s the second time that exact giganoto has approached me.”

Omrai looked confused “You’re sure?”

“Yes,” Revin said irritably.

“You need to be careful,” Omrai said, “those beasts are impossible to tame and very intelligent. We need to find better places to camp.”

“Why?” Revin said.

“When they’re hungry, they eat everything. You’re lucky the ceratops are still alive. We’ll have to double our pace in the morning.”

Revin nodded, looking out into the night, feeling some strange… connection to the beast which had approached him.

And for a second time?

He returned to sleep with more questions than answers.

✦✦✦

They finally came within sight of the massive rock formation. It certainly had an odd shape, bulbous at the bottom, spiky and jagged at the top. Omrai remembered seeing it before. As they neared, Omrai noticed a long stretch of darkness in the field leading up to it. The closer they got, the stranger the sight became.

The darkness was torn earth, as if ten thousand feet had passed. They were tracks. But the feet were even larger than a brachio’s. The walking fortress, perhaps?

He hopped off his mount and touched broken rocks and smashed grass. He looked out; the trail was hundreds of feet wide. Not only were its feet bigger than a brachio's, but it had thousands of them. It practically tilled the earth as it passed. The feet seemed to be mostly flat, with claws sticking out.

“It was here pretty recently,” Omrai said, touching the still-moist earth.

Revin leaned over and also grabbed the dirt, holding it appraisingly and looking at the sun. “What if it snowed?”

“It would still show signs of unearthing, how much farming have you done?”

“Personally? Very little. But I’ve spent a lot of time in the wild.”

Omrai nodded.

“So, now where to?” Shifra said.

Omrai looked at the upturned earth, thinking. He frowned. “I can’t tell which direction it went.”

“Well,” Kaiato said, “It’s either south, deeper in the valley, or northwest to Ateya proper.”

Kaiato looked at Revin. Omrai and the others followed.

Revin looked confused. “What?”

“ You gleaned the memories,” Kaiato said, “which way did it go?”

Revin looked around, mouth set in a firm line of concentration. He closed his eyes. Omrai could sense focus and frustration. Revin let out an angry huff.

“I can’t tell,” Revin said, “it’s all jumbled. I can see the memory of watching the formation pass from the command center of the ship, but I can’t tell what’s in the distance.”

Revin looked up at the formation and growled. “It’s all pretty similar all the way around.”

“Was it to the left or to the right as Narazoth passed it?” Omrai said.

Revin sat on the ground, eyes closing for a moment.

“Gyah!” he shouted, standing again. “I can’t tell! I try to focus, and the image keeps flipping on me! Like, I just can’t see it right. The more time passes since I experienced those memories, the harder they are to hold on to.”

Omrai clenched his fist. Looking around. If Revin knew the answer to just one of these questions… “It’s a coin toss,” Omrai said, “we either go northwest or south. The wrong direction could cost us weeks.”

“And increase our chances of capture,” Kaiato said.

“Or becoming giganoto’s supper,” Jeriv, one of Omrai’s sentries, added quietly.

“We could… split up?” Revin said, hesitantly.

Shifra shook her head. “Jeriv’s right. If our group gets any smaller than we’ll look even more appetizing.”

“I have no spies or pteros I can send,” Omrai said. He looked north, then to the east. The sun was setting now just behind the formation.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

“I think we need to sleep on this. We won’t have time to catch up with it today anyway. We’ll want to be well rested before we go.”

“So, we’re just giving up?” Revin said.

“No,” Omrai said, “We’re taking a break. Now head for the foot of the formation and we’ll make camp. I’d rather not sleep on this… thing’s path.”

✦✦✦

Kaiato woke to the rhythmic clicking of metal on metal. He sat upright; his eyes wide. Revin was still fast asleep, and Revin’s archaeopteryx slept on top of him.

Had he imagined it? Some memory of his military days? Wanting a little bit of home?

But he heard it again. The pattern calling him.

He quickly, but quietly, rose and put on his coat. He would have to be careful.

He grabbed a knife and a pistol.

✦✦✦

He’d slowly snuck his way past the sleepy sentries and wandered around the base of the formation, coming to a small rocky depression to the south.

Night had not yet begun to wane, and the howling wind chilled him despite his coat. He could still hear the clicking. It came from deeper in the cavitous rocky spot below. Darkness and pale moonlight played games with the shadows of shardlike rocks. He approached the sound. It came from beneath a very large rock. Suddenly, the clicking stopped.

He put one hand to his knife and the other to his pistol. He said nothing for a time. He stared at the darkness; his scope gave no advantage in the dark.

He finally gathered the courage to speak. “Who are you?” Kaiato said.

A man in skintight dark clothes stepped out from the shadows with a smile on his face and a rifle on his back.

“Nak-Kaiato, Kuyunakseman,” he said with a bow. “Your manners have faded since your exile began.”

“Nak-Stranger, Kuyunakseman,” Kaiato said. “I merely choose to adapt to the customs of my new home.”

The man looked confused.

“Your new home? But we are Koyejian, are we not?”

“Koyeji was about to kill me for a crime I didn’t commit.”

The man was silent. “I tried to find you in the city.”

Kaiato frowned. “Are you here to kill me?”

He shook his head. “You misunderstand. We know High Lord Siriyog was not killed by your hand. His death was a tragedy, but one we took advantage of. Lord Staiwaki sent me.”

Kaiato cocked his head, “Staiwaki? What happened to High Lord Siriyog’s son?”

“His son is working with Staiwaki for the good of our people.”

“Who killed High Lord Siriyog then?”

“No one,” the man said, smiling in the dark.

Kaiato cocked his head.

“When High Lord Siriyog fell ill,” the man said, “he knew he had an opportunity. You see, Omrai has caught many well-placed and well-paid assassins. He always sees through their lies. Perhaps he is Gifted. Perhaps not. Regardless, High Lord Siriyog developed a plan, in concert with your sister.”

Kaiato stiffened. “What does Johuto have to do with this?”

The man sat cross-legged on the ground. He motioned for Kaiato to do the same. After a tense moment, Kaiato followed his example.

“We made a plan to get one of our best and most loyal Koyejians into Omrai’s good graces. Your framing was ordered by the High Lord himself, as was your banishment, Johuto knew of this when she helped you… escape , so to speak. We arranged the information to lead to your capture by Omrai, knowing he would detect no guile in you.”

Kaiato glared. “And what about you? I’ve heard Koyeji is in talks with Jebuthar.”

The man scowled. “The only thing we’ve said to Jebuthar is that he is not welcome. No, this is about older conflicts than this new upstart. This is about removing Omrai Speartip, and Revin the Monk, before they hurt Koyeji. That is your mission.”

Kaiato was quiet.

“Virtue binds you to fulfill your duty to the gods,” the agent said, “to your country, and to your Lord.”

Kaiato’s heart quickened as the agent waited for a response.

“I…” Kaiato said, pausing. “This is truly what the High Lord wanted?”

The man nodded. “Do you accept your duty?”

“Don’t do it, Kaiato!”

Kaiato turned. Revin stepped out from between the rocks, dark sword in hand. He stood between them and faced the Koyeji agent. In less than a moment, the Koyeji man had stood, spun, drew his long rifle, and hit Revin in the knee with the butt of it.

There was a loud crack and Revin stumbled to the ground with a shout of pain. The agent was on Revin’s back, knife out, he held it to Revin’s neck. Pulling him by the hair. Revin winced in pain, looking like he wanted to struggle, but fearful of the knife.

The man smiled and tossed the knife to Kaiato. Kaiato caught and inspected it. It was sinuous, like a raptor’s tail. He returned his gaze to the agent.

“Begin now, I am here to witness the job to its completion,” he said. “You can kill Omrai in his tent, he trusts you enough to let you in past his guards. Once you do this, you can come home. You can see Johuto again. You can be one of us. Again.”

Kaiato looked at the knife and at Revin.

✦✦✦

Revin looked at Kaiato with a frown. His knee screamed in pain. “Kaiato, this is stupid! We’re friends! Omrai spared your life!”

“Don’t reject the gods or your Lord,” the agent said, “do it now. Then kill Omrai.”

Kaiato looked from Revin to the agent.

“Do it!” the agent shouted.

Kaiato looked at Revin with a frown. He flipped the knife up, gripping it blade-down. Revin closed his eyes, he struggled to move, but the grip on his throat only tightened. He heard the shuffle of feet and then with a rush his arms were released, and he gasped for air.

He rolled over and looked up. The agent stared at Kaiato with eyes wide in horror, touching his neck, his hands came back bloody. The knife was plunged into his neck.

“Why?” the man gurgled.

Kaiato didn’t answer. He grabbed the man by the hair and the arm and twisted, hard. Revin heard a loud crack and looked away.

He heard the body hit the ground and chanced another glance. The agent was dead, neck at an awkward angle, dark blood spilling into the moonlight.

Kaiato moved to Revin and helped him up.

“Are you alright?” Kaiato said, his eyes glistening slightly.

“I’m fine,” Revin tried to get up but felt a sharp pain in his knee, “But… I think I broke something.”

Kaiato carefully rolled up Revin’s pant leg and looked at his knee. Touching it carefully.

“No, not broken. Strained… cracked maybe, but not broken,” Kaiato said, “We’ll have Shifra take a look.”

Revin heard shouting from the direction of the camp. Three sentries had their rifles aimed at Kaiato as they approached. “Drop the knife and hands behind your head!”

Kaiato complied.

Revin saw Omrai approaching. His face furious. “Did you hurt him?”

“No!” Revin said, “He saved me!”

One of the sentries glared. “I knew we shouldn’t trust a Koy! Planning to slit the general’s throat while he slept?”

“Captain!” Omrai snapped back to the man, “ I will speak to him.”

“I was just ordered to kill you, General Speartip,” Kaiato said, dropping to his knees, “Apparently, I wasn’t told that my escape and framing was a ruse so you wouldn’t detect I was a spy.”

Kaiato bowed his head. “If I must pay with my life for the danger that almost came upon you and your house, so be it.”

Omrai stood still, watching Kaiato with a critical eye. A soldier helped Revin to his feet, holding him up as he winced.

“You-you can’t kill him!” Revin said.

“Revin, be silent!” Omrai snapped.

Omrai looked at the dead body, at Revin, and back at Kaiato.

“You killed a man of your own nation rather than Revin. You rejected your nation and followed me,” Omrai said, “Why? Why not just kill us and go home, praised by your own people?”

Kaiato kept his head down. After a moment, he spoke.

“I serve a higher purpose now. By ridding the world of Jebuthar, I not only protect my nation, but every other.”

They were quiet, Revin looked from Omrai to Kaiato. Omrai’s brow furrowed in concentration.

“Stand up.”

Kaiato stood, he was trembling.

“Kaiato, you have proven yourself a true friend to me before,” Omrai placed his hands on Kaiato’s shoulders, “And you will so remain.”

He turned to one of the sentries, “Captain, search the body and burn it. Let’s get Revin back to camp, that knee will need some attention.”

As Revin was carried away he looked back and saw Kaiato’s grateful smile.