Serpents Rising (Eve of Redemption Book 3)

by Joe Jackson

  Once they were safely out of sight of the road, the erestram picked Se’sasha up as easily as if she was a blanket, and slung her over his shoulder to ride on his back. He held tightly to her thighs to give her more support, and he lengthened his strides to put more ground behind him. Kari, Sonja, and Danilynn had to jog to keep up with him, but they understood that his intent was fast distance, and not a prolonged marathon run. That intent became clearer a few minutes later when two screams came from back by the road. Kari paused, but the erestram barked an obvious order to keep running, and despite the way she felt, Kari did as they were told.

  The erestram said something else over his shoulder once they were all running again, and Danilynn relayed, “He says they knew what would happen and chose to help anyway. They just gave their lives to get Se’sasha to freedom, so the best thing we can do for them is to see to that and not waste their sacrifice.”

  “I swear I’m going to kill one of his sons for every person he hurts,” Kari growled. “And right now, I think I owe him another four dead children.”

  “I’ll be more than happy to see to that with you,” Danilynn said.

  Their erestram guide led them to another of the sparse farmhouses. Before they reached the house, its syrinthian occupants came out and opened a hidden hatchway to the cellar. Kari, Danilynn, Sonja, and Se’sasha were ushered in without discussion or fanfare, and they could hear the hatchway being covered back up. The cellar was dark and cramped, and Kari slapped three spiders off her arms within the first minute. She tried not to dwell on it, instead keeping her ears open for any approach.

  Another hatch opened further in, and a syrinthian woman handed down a hooded lantern, a pitcher of water, a few cups, and some soft, freshly-baked bread. Sonja, being the tallest, took the offered items from their silent host and thanked her in infernal before the hatchway closed and was covered up as well. Sonja set the lantern on a hook near the center of the square room, which looked to be a root cellar, but one that saw infrequent, if any, use. Se’sasha took the pitcher and sniffed its contents, and she said something in her sibilant language before pouring some of the contents into a glass.

  Kari was surprised to see it was milk, and even more surprised at how quickly the snake-woman drank it down. Se’sasha helped herself to a second glass, and when no one else moved to have some, she gestured for them to do so. Kari had to admit it sounded good to be offered a drink with some fat and body to it instead of just water, and she helped herself to a glass. It wasn’t processed like the milk she had or Kyrie cooked with back home, but it was full-bodied and thick, and Kari sat down while she ate and drank to regain some strength. Only once she was seated did she recognize just how tired she was after several weeks of walking, and with the last several nights of sleep being broken and inadequate.

  Voices outside got her attention before she could even begin to relax, but they were muffled, and speaking in syrinthian. The only person in the cellar who could understand what was being said had no way to relay it to the others. Just to be safer, Kari drew her weapons and stood near the hatchway from the outside, and she gestured for Danilynn to take up position near the hatchway from the inside. Se’sasha watched them curiously, but then she whispered in her sibilant language and gestured for the two women to put their weapons away.

  The sound of wood hitting bone and a startled cry from outside overrode Se’sasha’s gestures, and Kari waited by the hatch, her heartbeat doubling up the long seconds while she waited for trouble to find its way in. She heard footsteps depart in opposite directions; three sets if her ears didn’t deceive her. Muffled as it was by the dirt that had been replaced over the hatch, Kari could hear the soothing words of a syrinthian female and the pained groans of a male. She stood by the hidden exit listening for several more minutes, but there was no sound to mark any return of the three erestram. Kari wondered where their guide ran off to or if he would return, either to keep his word or bring back more of his kin to harass them, or take them directly into custody in violation of the law.

  The syrinthians entered their house, and soon the sound of light furnishings and a rug being moved preceded the reopening of the interior hatchway. The syrinthian woman looked down and asked something of Se’sasha. The young priestess said something in return and bowed her head in what seemed to be thanks, but Kari was surprised when Danilynn asked something of their syrinthian benefactor. The woman shook her head vigorously, but Danilynn repeated her question insistently. After a minute, the male syrinthian appeared and climbed slowly down the ladder into the root cellar.

  “What’s going on?” Kari asked, maintaining her position near the outer hatch to listen for the return of possible trouble.

  Danilynn didn’t even have to answer. As soon as the syrinthian man got near the lantern, Kari could see his face was a swollen mess. Blood was drying on his cheek, down to his jawline, sourced by an oozing tear in his finely-scaled skin up near the temple. The side of his head there was swollen and, Kari imagined, bruised, whether she could tell on a syrinthian or not. He turned his head to the side while Danilynn examined him, and he took the opportunity to say something to Se’sasha and make a welcoming gesture without moving his head too much.

  Danilynn drew out a knife and made assurances that she wasn’t going to hurt him, though in infernal, they still didn’t sound very soothing. She sliced open the growing welt on the side of his head, letting some of the blood run, but she was soon issuing a low chant and running her finger over the wounds. Kari was pleased to see that the priestess could summon Garra Ktarra’s power here on Mehr’Durillia. Within minutes, Danilynn had sealed the wound. The pain apparently disappeared as surely as the wounds themselves, evidenced by the way the man touched the side of his head and beheld Danilynn with a mixture of gratitude and curiosity.

  The syrinthian woman, who didn’t come down into the cellar, brought blankets and pillows to pass down to their guests. She began speaking to Danilynn and Sonja, and after only a short conversation, she turned to Se’sasha and spoke to her as well. The male syrinthian returned up the ladder, and the hatchway was closed and covered over once more. Sonja handed blankets and pillows out to everyone, and they tried to find relatively spider-free spots to set up some bedding. Kari was surprised when Sonja and Se’sasha bedded down right away.

  “Our hosts said to get some sleep now, and that our erestram guide will return for us after nightfall,” Danilynn said. “We’re going to have to start traveling by night. Apparently, the patrols are going to figure that out after a day or two, but our guide seems to think the masking spell is going to get pierced very soon, so we should stop using it.”

  “I really hate not being able to talk to or understand these people,” Kari grumbled, but she made her way over and tried to get comfortable on her own bedding.

  “Ah, be patient,” Danilynn said with a slightly apologetic gesture. “You’ll probably be able to speak infernal and syrinthian by the end of the year.”

  Se’sasha looked over when she heard the word syrinthian, but she said nothing. Kari didn’t know how she was going to fall asleep during the day when surrounded with so much uncertainty, but her body figured out what her mind couldn’t. She was exhausted, running on only hours of sleep while her body was giving up its energy to the magical process of growing a child in her womb. Her body shut down and took her mind with it, and she felt like she actually managed to get nearly a whole night’s worth of sleep by the time their hosts awakened them after dusk.

  They were helped from the outer hatchway by the erestram; their syrinthian hosts didn’t show themselves, probably in case anyone else was watching. Sonja set up her masking spell but was quickly scolded by their erestram guide, and she let it dissipate. He spoke with Danilynn and Sonja for a minute, then picked Se’sasha up to carry on his back again, and set off to the northwest. His pace was slow for an erestram, but still brisk to the shorter women, who made an effort to keep up with him. Hunger prodded Kari in her gut, but she ignored it, de
sperate to put as many miles behind them as she could before she worried about breakfast.

  Their erestram escort was silent for hours after they left, guiding them unerringly across the moon-draped farms and forested hills of Sorelizar. He seemed confident that there would be little in the way of pursuit or casual observers in the deepening night, and made no effort to try to conceal their path. He paused after nearly three hours by Kari’s estimation, and allowed the women to take a short rest for food and tending to their other needs. He partook of breakfast as well, eating some salted jerky quickly before he went and marked a nearby stand of trees with his scent. Kari found that troubling.

  “Ask him what the hell he’s doing,” she grumbled while he relieved himself. Danilynn put the question to him when he returned, and the erestram seemed surprised to be questioned. Kari’s concern dawned on him after a minute, and he explained hastily to the sorceress and priestess.

  “He says if he doesn’t leave a trail, the others will get suspicious,” Danilynn explained. “He’s supposed to be tracking us down for the king, so he has to keep up appearances. He says that’s why he leaves during the day: he’s throwing the others off our trail by ‘aiding’ them in the hunt, but at the same time, he says he’s not getting any sleep.”

  “How long is he going to be able to keep that up?” Kari pressed. An exhausted guide would be of little use to them.

  There was a short exchange, and then Danilynn answered, “Long enough to get us to the border, he reckons.”

  “If he says so,” Kari muttered, unconvinced. “Where are we headed tonight?”

  Danilynn had no time to relay the question before their erestram guide suddenly turned and grabbed a handful of Sonja’s long, crimson hair and yanked hard. Sonja squealed, and Kari dropped her hands to her weapons, but the erestram began scolding the sorceress in a low growl, and Kari waited to see what was said. Sonja made an apologetic gesture and the erestram let her go. After the exchange, Danilynn asked the erestram Kari’s question, and he answered shortly before beckoning to Se’sasha and then hoisting her up onto his back again in preparation to run.

  “Our next stop is a hunter’s cabin deep in the woods to the northwest,” Danilynn relayed. “He says it’s only about a day and a half from the border of Si’Dorra if we can keep up a good, steady pace like we have been.”

  “Why’d he grab you?” Kari asked Sonja. “Were you trying to use your arcane magic?”

  Sonja nodded but didn’t say anything, so they set off again across the dimly-lit landscape. Their erestram guide seemed to have no worries about the tracks they left behind, and Kari wondered if he assumed anyone following would infer that he was chasing Kari and her friends. They kept a relentless pace, made easier by the divine sustenance Danilynn provided and the fact that they no longer had to drag or wait on Se’sasha. Kari followed in the wake of the erestram, all the while drawing comparisons to how quickly and surely the elves moved among their homeland. He was a hunter here, and the entire realm was his home.

  They failed to reach the hunter’s cabin by sunrise, but their concerns were mitigated by the fact that they had entered deepening woods. Even this far into Sorelizar, the coniferous forests of Si’Dorra encroached, claiming the northwestern hills from the deciduous and fruit-bearing trees that were more common further south. Their erestram guide wove through the trees with practiced grace, shuffling deeper into the cover of the multiplying boles, until at last he brought them to a log cabin nestled tightly between a number of ancient dark pines. A thin wisp of smoke came from the cabin’s chimney. Even at a glance, Kari could see that the size of the doors and the height of the roof said this was the home of another erestram.

  Before they reached the cabin, the soft crunch of old needles and other forest debris under their feet drew the attention of the cabin’s occupant. A single erestram came out armed with the same type of long war-scythe as their guide, though this one didn’t wear armor, dressed instead in what looked like a hunter’s outfit. A quick glance told Kari that this was a female, and when their erestram guide put down Se’sasha and went and embraced the cabin owner, Kari thought she understood.

  The greeting was short and cordial after that, and Kari and her companions were led inside and up into a concealed attic space. It was tight and cramped, disguised to make it seem like there was no crawlspace above, and Kari wondered how often the people of Sorelizar hid refugees in such a way. The heat and the closeness would be annoying, Kari knew, but there was little point in complaining when they were fleeing for their lives. The four women got as comfortable as they could, ate a short meal in silence, and then did their best to get some sleep.

  Kari was awakened after only a short rest by a strange noise, and she glanced around. The other three women were all still asleep, and she realized the sound was coming from down below. Clearly, their erestram guide and the cabin’s occupant were making love. Kari let out a long, drawn-out sigh, wanting little more than to escape from Sorelizar and get back to the arms of her own mate. She closed her eyes and tried to imagine him wrapping her up lovingly, and she drifted off to sleep again.

  When they were awakened after nightfall, Kari was sweaty and didn’t feel like she’d slept very well. This time, they were able to take advantage of breakfast and a privy break before they set off with their erestram guide again. The forest made the night even blacker than usual, with next to no moonlight filtering even through the pine canopy above, but their escort still set off as though his route had been mapped out exactly. Kari was leery about the sound of their footsteps through the needle-encrusted and somewhat-crunchy soil, but at the same time, their destination was nearly within reach.

  They had hardly gotten out of sight of the cabin when they heard a pained cry, followed by a deafening silence. Their guide looked back toward the cabin, his eyes wide and his ears perked up, but after a moment, he growled an order and roughly shoved Kari ahead. He threw Se’sasha onto his back and dashed off toward the north, and within moments, Kari could hear movement among the trees. She, Danilynn, and Sonja quickly ran off in the wake of their erestram guide.

  The crashing through the trees became more pronounced after a short distance, and Kari glanced over her shoulder. A harmauth had taken up the pursuit, its long strides steady, but not quick enough to close the gap between them. The ram demon carried a heavy mace that looked wet with blood when the moonlight managed to hit it, and Kari had little doubt that the erestram female at the cabin was dead. The thought vanished from her mind, flooded out by blinding pain as Kari’s foot caught on something and she slammed face-first into the hard ground.

  Kari dashed forward to grab Little Gray and his sister, and they giggled in her arms. She had a headache, but nothing could distract her from playing with her children. There were shouts from down one of the roads, and she glanced into the shadowy streets of DarkWind, wondering why her children were even up and outside playing at this hour.

  Danilynn pulled Kari roughly to her feet, and she managed to get her wits back about her. She started to run again, doing her best to ignore the pain in her head that was causing a large blind spot in the center of her vision. She concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other with as much speed as she could manage. Kari looked back over her shoulder; the harmauth was still chasing, but wasn’t gaining ground. She silently thanked the gods that it wasn’t an erestram or even elestram chasing them; one of those would be much harder to outpace. Still, it occurred to her that the harmauth didn’t have to harm the four women: it could kill their erestram guide and leave them unable to reach the border in time, if they could even find it quickly enough.

  They ran until Danilynn had to stop and catch her breath. Sonja was winded as well, but despite being pregnant and sore, Kari felt a well of strength within her that she was tapped into. Their erestram guide hefted Danilynn over his shoulder and began again at a hustled walk. Kari fell into step with him easily, and Sonja was at least able to keep up with them walking. The night seem
ed to drag on forever, but they lost their harmauth pursuer eventually, and their erestram guide took them straight west for several hours before turning north again.

  The following day found them hiding in a cave to get what sleep they could. It was far from the optimal place for them to rest, but Kari and her companions had to trust that their guide had taken them as far from pursuit as he could. He left them alone, so Kari and Danilynn alternated watches so they could get some sleep and keep an eye and an ear out for any trouble. The day passed quietly, and the cave was refreshingly cool, with no sunlight coming in and its backside nestled against a rocky hill. Kari spent the hours of her watches waiting for trouble to finally find them, but nothing ever came.

  The erestram returned well before the sun had set, and he collapsed into a seated position across from Kari, who was on watch. He was exhausted, and Kari wondered at the incredible stamina that let the wolf-demon – or wolf-man, or whatever one wanted to call them – travel for days on end with little or no rest. She imagined her friends must be wondering the same thing about her, keeping up a marathon pace while pregnant and not eating or resting well. Before Kari was even conscious of what she was doing, she reached partway across and laid her hand on the erestram’s knee, and when his eyes came up to meet hers, she nodded. He returned the nod, but there was a sadness in his eyes that was unmistakable, and it left a knot in Kari’s stomach. He held up one finger, and said something in infernal that Kari assumed was “one more night’s travel.”

  He drifted off to sleep after only a couple of minutes, and Kari finished the end of her watch and then roused Danilynn. The priestess beheld the sleeping erestram curiously, and there was no need for Kari to explain the extra danger that their sleeping guide represented. Danilynn pulled an axe from her belt and took up a position close enough to the cave mouth to see out while staying in the shadows. Satisfied with the priestess’ vigilance as always, Kari went and got her final short turn of rest.