The mutated man lifted the stone sword in his other hand and pressed the tip against the wall of Abysmal energy. To Ean's horror, the jagged tip began to rip right through the energy until it poked out the other side. As the blade slid deeper, the energy seemed to tear like fabric. It parted to the sides as the blade moved through it and ended touching the wooden panels of the floor. Bran was able to push his way through, his teeth flashing in a nasty grin as he came to stand on the other side.
"Do you like my sword?" Bran held the weapon straight up and looked it over. "It was carved from some fallen stone from the Unyielding Wall. Helped me kill that lizard creature that had taken over our mines."
Bran's eyes blazed with hatred as he looked down on Ean. "Little did I know a monster even worse would take its place."
Ean didn't feel the need to respond with words. Instead, he grabbed a nearby chair and flung it at the other man.
The oak chair crashed against Bran's hastily raised arm, knocking him back as the solid wood of the seat held up against the strength of Bran's mutated arm. The chair clattered to the ground, and before it came to rest, Ean moved in.
He struck Bran in the chest with his fist, the Abysmal energy flowing through Ean's body adding power to the strike. The blow knocked Bran against the wall of energy, which Ean dropped, causing the mutated man to fall completely onto his back. Ean followed, hoping that no matter what Bran had become, a few blows to the head would still put him out.
As Ean went to overtake him, Bran lashed out with a kick. It was a solid strike that felt more like it came from the buck of a bull than from a man. The breath left Ean's lungs as the force of it propelled him backwards. It took a supreme amount of effort to keep his feet, and by the time his breath had returned, Bran was back on his feet.
The other man charged this time, the stone sword held high. Ean threw up a shield of energy on instinct. It was Bran's smirk that reminded him of the shield's uselessness and he dove out of the way just in time as the sword sliced down through the energy as if it were paper. The blade put a shallow slice down Ean's left arm before it crashed into the floor, splintering a few of the planks.
Ean took the opportunity to kick at the man's leg, hoping to take him off his feet again. Pain lanced up Ean's own leg as his foot struck what felt like a tree trunk. He had only a moment to register the pain before he rolled away just as the sword crashed down again where he had been.
Rolling to his feet, Ean ducked a swipe aimed at relieving his head from his body and then dove straight into the other man.
The impact jarred Ean's entire body but he succeeded in taking the other man off his feet. They crashed to the ground, a mess of deformed arms and legs writhing around Ean like a spider's legs. He fended them off and somehow ended up on top of what had been his friend. Hands reached for him but Ean began raining down blows, striking the man's face a few times before Bran got his arms to cover his face. Ean didn't let up and continued to punch with everything he had. Even with Bran's strengthened body, Ean could feel the other man's arms getting weaker with each blow.
Without warning, Bran stopped defending and grabbed both of Ean's arms, his hands moving so fast Ean didn't even move to get away. Within moments, arms twice as long as the average humans twisted him to the side. A little more maneuvering and Bran was on top, pinning Ean's arms to the wooden floor. Despite the energy flowing through Ean's body, he couldn't free himself from the other man's grasp.
"See?" Spittle dripped from Bran's mouth as he spoke. "Sadiek's gifts are more powerful than whatever power your cursed connection to the Abyss provides you." He let out a dark laugh. "Even after everything, I'm still stronger than you."
Wanting the man off him, Ean attempted to pull his energy into a strike aimed at the man's chest.
Except his energy eluded him.
It was there, still coursing through his body, adding strength to his muscles and dulling the pain from the wound he had received in his stomach and the fresh cut on his arm. Instead of the maelstrom that usually raged, though, the energy seemed to churn about like a lazy river, flowing through any mental attempt to grasp and control it.
While Ean lay confused, Bran released one of his hands and swung a punch that connected with Ean's chin. The blow was weak, Bran's new gangly arms struggling to deliver any power to the punch with them so close. Bran switched positions, grabbing Ean's throat instead of his arm so he could get more distance between the two of them. As Ean struggled to pull the thin yet strong arm off him, Bran reared up to try and strike again.
Which was when Ezzy swung a chair into Bran's back.
The crack of the impact and the splintering wood filled the room but it only caused Bran to lean forward. He caught himself upright with his free hand and turned to glare at the woman. Ezzy stood a pace or two away, the chair held high in both hands, ready to deliver another blow.
Their opponent was ready this time, his long arm lashing out in a backhanded strike that caught Ezzy in the hip. The chair fell free from her grip as she was brushed aside and tumbled to the floor.
"Stay back, Ezzy," Bran warned. "I don't want to hurt you--"
Bran cut off as a long table struck him from just above the waist up to his head, launching the deformed man off Ean and into the air.
Ean glanced back just as Azalea was completing her swing, the far edge of the table crunching against the floor on its side as she held the other end with both her hands. Zin was standing a few feet behind her, a piece of the strange rope that had held Azalea in his hands.
The Yulari was breathing heavy and was clearly propping herself up with the aid of the table, but a small smirk touched her lips.
"I've been wanting to do that since we came to this dunghole of a village."
Ean sent a wave of reassurance through their bond, and was happy to find it not disrupted like the rest of his power, before getting to his feet. Ezzy was at his side, not offering to help but also not looking as if she wanted to drive a sword through his heart.
"I might have been wrong about you."
"A conversation for another time," Ean replied. "We still have that," he gestured towards Bran, the man a mass of gangly arms and legs twisted in every direction, "and the now disappeared Seeker."
"Bran first."
"Agreed," Azalea and Zin replied in unison as they joined them.
Bran was showing signs of movement, arms and legs spreading out to reveal a cut up body and face. Ean was taken aback again by how twisted his former friend now appeared.
"All against me..." Bran muttered as he climbed to his feet.
Pity crept into Ean's heart as he looked at the man. Bran had made mistakes, but they had come from a blindness caused by his jealousy and hurt. Ean knew those feelings. He still harbored them towards many of the people who still resided in this very village. How close had Ean been at one time or another to turning his power on those he felt had hurt him.
"Bran," Ean's voice held as much compassion as he could muster. "This is over. Whatever has been done to you can be undone."
Bran met his companion with laughter.
"I don't want it undone," Bran replied between throaty chuckles. "And it is far from over."
What started as laughter changed to a horrible combination of hooting and clicks—sounds that should not come from human vocal chords. The cacophony became worse as it was echoed from multiple different locations outside the inn. As Bran stopped making the noise to speak again, the sounds from outside grew louder followed by a single scream.
"Sadiek didn't just change me." Bran paused to let out a strange combination of a laugh and a cough as the screams outside multiplied. "He gave me the power to change others."
Chapter 38
Ean left Bran laying on the floor and burst out of the inn to find Rottwealth in chaos.
Villagers ran about the main street of the village, terror widening eyes and twisting mouths as they screamed and yelled. Men, women, children. They ran from homes, fled between the buil
dings lining the main road, hid behind boxes and barrels or crawled into what small space they believed would keep them safe.
It wasn't until Ean had gotten down off the porch and into the street that he saw the first monster.
Abomination was a better word for the twisted bodies of some of the former villagers of Rottwealth. Similar to Bran, they all kept some semblance of their human bodies in shape. Legs and arms connected to a body where they should be, and a face that still resembled the person they used to be. That's where it ended though. Arms and legs looked stretched out, the skin covering them taught and in some places splitting. Others had grown extra appendages, the rest of their bodies deformed as the parts for the extra limbs seemed to come from the rest of the body. Some retained their human hands, while others looked as if they had been ripped off, the bones tearing through as they grew into long bleached blades and nasty-looking hooks. Clothing had been ripped away as well, exposing the rest of their bodies, the stretched and tearing skin barely holding on to the elongated body parts.
After Ean caught sight of the first, it was like a signal for more to appear. The Abominations burst though doorways and came limping out from alleys on legs that seemed caught between trying to move fast and adjusting to their new lengths. If there was any saving grace, it was that the monsters weren't able to move very fast.
It unfortunately also meant the people who tried to hide were the one's Bran's Abominations found first.
The screams ringing out in the village intensified as villagers were dragged from their hiding places. Meaty hands grabbed hair and clothing. Bone hooks dug into legs and pulled people from the places they hid. Once the poor villagers were caught and brought out into the open, the Abominations made short work of them, cutting and stabbing, even after the poor people stopped moving. Those screams drove the other villagers into more panic.
They needed help. They needed a place to find safety. Ean put his hands to his mouth and yelled louder than he ever had before. "To the mine! Find safety in the mine!"
Ean had expected many to balk at the idea, but the village as a whole seemed to fear what their deceased friends and mutated loved ones had become much more than whatever they thought of Ean and the company he kept. The people flowed together like a river and rushed down the road that led out of the village. Despite the pushing and shoving of a fleeing mob, the people of Rottwealth looked out for each other. The children and elderly were snatched up by the strong and carried off. If one person fell, two more were at their side, helping them up and getting them moving again. It was almost inspiring.
Until he saw one of the mutated stop butchering whatever villager they had caught and turn their attention to the mass of people fleeing. A head barely human looked up from its feast, eyes blood red as it looked towards the crowd. Long-nailed hands pulled free of the poor villager it had caught, blood splashed as high as its elbows as it watched the people run.
With a horrifying combination of cackle and clicking noises, it rushed on four legs towards the throng of people.
It smashed into the wall of energy Ean threw up. As it lay splayed against the Abysmal energy, Ean sprinted to intercept it.
A flash of pain in his arm made him stumble and by the time he had righted himself, the wall of energy had vanished. The mutated villagers looked right at him for a moment, then began to charge. Ean tried to create another wall but the energy eluded him just as it had in the inn. He glanced around, looking for anything he could use as a weapon. By the time the mutated man reached him, he still hadn't found anything.
Ean ducked under a swipe from a clawed hand and moved to the side of the creature. He followed the movement with a well-placed kick to the side of its knee. He might not be able to control the energy flowing in him, but Ean still had its strength. A satisfying crack filled the air as the bone and ligament of the monster's leg buckled under the blow. It dropped down with a howl, which cut off as Ean delivered a right hook that caught it on the jaw.
The Abomination dropped the rest of the way to the ground, its face smacking against the hard dirt next to the main road before it flopped on its side. The only movement from that point was the shallow rise and fall of its chest as it took in breath. Unconcious and immobile, Ean got a good look at its face. Whoever it had been, it wasn't one of the people who had been killed.
Which meant it was a villager who had chosen to become a monster like Bran.
Ean hesitated. Should he finish it off without knowing if the person had been tricked? Did the person even get the chance--
Azalea stomped its head, ending Ean's thought.
"No time for mercy," she got out between ragged breaths. Azalea glanced around and then gave Ean a hard look. "You serious about giving all these people, most of which openly hate you, sanctuary in our home?"
"It's the only place I can protect them."
"I don't have time to argue with you about how stupid that is, so let's skip to the part where I cave and you tell me what you need."
Ean sent an overwhelming amount of appreciation through their bond. "Save as many as you can but don't put yourself into any situation you can't get out of."
"Like I would endanger myself for any human who wasn't you." Azalea started to jog away into the chaos but after a few steps, she paused and glanced back. "Make sure you don't get yourself hurt saving these peons."
Taking a moment to watch her go, Ean turned his gaze to scan the crowd for the next way he could help. After letting his eyes quickly pass over three different scenes where he would have been too late to help, his eyes caught sight of a fight on the other side of the street. The crowd partially obscured his view, but above them, he could make out three Abominations being blocked from reaching the crowd by a woman almost as tall as them—a towering, crimson-skinned woman fighting the monsters off with a spear in one hand and a long knife in the other.
Shayua.
Ean launched himself into the throng of fleeing people, trying to push his way through to bring the woman aid. It was like wading upstream in a raging river. Elbows and knees bumped and jabbed him as he pushed his way through, his eyes locked on the battle taking place on the other side. It was impressive that the crimson warrior was keeping three Abominations at bay, but how long could she keep this up on her own? Shayua might not be an ally, but she certainly wasn't an enemy, and Ean needed her alive. By the looks of how the three Abominations were moving to circle her, Shayua might be overwhelmed soon.
Finally breaking through the crowd, he only increased in speed as he rushed the closest Abomination. Ean heard a grunt of acknowledgment from Shayua just as he crashed into the side of one of the three attacking his new ally. The stench of it filled his nostrils. It was so rancid that as the two crashed to the ground, Ean felt some bile rise in the back of his throat.
Pain flashed across his back and arms, but he ignored it as his hands searched for the creature’s throat. His hands felt shoulder bones, much thicker than even the largest human's should be, and then the thick cords of the monster's neck, and settled on the sides of the former person's head. For the briefest moment, he pictured its face. A human face.
"No time for mercy."
Ean gripped the upper part of its head with one hand and the lower part with his other. Using all his strength, he twisted the head as far as he could until he heard a sickening crack.
The pain assaulting his arms and back stopped, replaced by a heavy weight. Ean shrugged the dead Abomination's arms off him. The motion caused the pain he felt across his body to flare up. A quick glance found his clothes sliced up and spattered with blood. The Abomination had fought back it seemed. No time to worry about minor cuts though.
Rising to assist Shayua with the other two, Ean was surprised to find one of the Abominations missing its head and caught sight of the other one shambling away.
"No courage in these things." Shayua's focus was on the fleeing creature while she spoke. "At least not when alone. They seem smart enough to gather in groups, which wi
ll be a problem if we can't get the villagers to safety in a timely manner."
"We'll do what we can, but if we are getting overwhelmed, we retreat with the rest of villagers."
"Retreat..." Shay's mouth twisted as if she had bitten into a rotten apple. "I suppose that is the eventual outcome at this point. Let us get back to it then."
The crimson woman gave him a small salute with her sword before dashing back into the fray.
"Try to keep in sight of each other!" Ean called after her before charging off in another direction.
***
The moment Ean was ambushed by five of the Abominations was when he realized they had delayed their retreat as long as possible. If not too long.
He had managed to kill two more of the monsters during the battle to defend the fleeing villagers, but they had been on their own at the time. After that, he always faced at least two whenever he ran into them again in the chaos that had enveloped the main street of Rottwealth. He would drive them off, usually after causing enough damage to one, but he would have to divert his attention to another pair of attacking villagers instead of going after the wounded ones. Every now and then, he would spot Shayua having the same problem. Azalea often appeared in his peripheral vision, dropping in to save a few villagers before leaping back to the rooftops to disappear.
They were doing what they could, but they couldn't be everywhere. Any time Ean found himself close to a building, the smell of blood reached his nose right before he found the body of another villager who hadn't been able to escape out onto the main road in time. It was during one such discovery when the five Abominations ambushed him.
Night had fallen and the first of the three moons was clear in the sky, shedding its pale green light on the five deformed humans who had surrounded him. The pack of escaping villagers had almost reached the open fields, separating them from the marsh and Ean's mines. He could see them in the moonlight past the shoulders of the Abominations. For some reason, the monsters hadn't attacked. They seemed to be waiting...
Shadows of Home (Bound to the Abyss Book 4) Page 28