Bound to the Abyss

by James R. Vernon

  “I have to go inform the town,” the Mayor said, his tone neutral. “Let everyone know that the southern area of the valley is off-limits. Inform the town guard in case this was something more serious than a bear attack, and it makes its way towards town.” Spots of sweat began to appear on the larger man’s clothes. “I don’t want to start panicking the entire town for nothing, though. We’ll see if this creature is really as horrible as you say before we take more drastic actions. Either way, this is a terrible turn of events, just terrible. So much work to do now …” The man mumbled the last few words, walking out of the house.

  With a scowl, Ean watched him go. The Mayor always seemed to find a way of making Ean think even less of him. Moving over, he took a seat next to Allie, his hands fidgeting as he sat there next to the crying woman. He really was horrible at these types of things. Despite how awkward he felt, Ean reached over and patted her on the back twice.

  “I’ll set up the room next to Lane’s so you can sleep here tonight. Cleff won’t let you into your husband’s room tonight, I don’t think. He’ll just want Lane to rest and let the medicine work.”

  The woman nodded, her head still buried in her hands. Standing back up, Ean fetched a blanket to put around her shoulders before moving into one of the side rooms and setting up a bed. Allie was still crying when Ean came back out. “The bed is ready whenever you want.” She didn’t even acknowledge him this time, but Ean didn’t take it as an insult. Instead, he walked over, patted her on the back again, and headed for the stairs.

  Little light remained in the day by the time Ean entered his room. He stripped down to his underclothes, removing his blood-soaked clothes. Even after he had dropped them outside the room and closed the door, he could still smell the blood. Shaking his head, Ean walked over to the dresser and changed into a fresh set of clothes.

  “You’re not planning what I think you’re planning.” For the first few years of knowing the imp, Ean had always jumped at hearing Zin’s voice before seeing him. He was used to it now, always expecting the imp to be around. From the sound of his voice, Zin was sitting on the windowsill. Ean wasn’t sure, of course, because the small imp had a habit of turning himself invisible.

  As far as he knew, Ean was the only one able to make out a blur that marked where the invisible imp was located, like heat rising off of hot stew, but it was easy to miss if he wasn’t looking for it. At the moment, it was hard to see that blur in the darkness of Ean’s room. Without much light, Ean just had to guess where the imp was based on the sound of his voice.

  “It doesn’t sound like anything I’ve ever heard about before,” Ean said, slipping on his gloves. “I need to see what it is.”

  “You’ve lived in this valley your entire life,” Zin replied. “I’m sure there are many things out in the rest of the world that you haven’t heard of before. Doesn’t mean you have to go out and get yourself eaten because of it.” Zin made himself visable and hopped off the windowsill before walking over. “If the thing is like a lizard, then it could have a strong sense of smell, which means if it catches you, it will probably catch me and eat me too.”

  Smiling, he reached over slowly and patted Zin on the head. “Well, while he is chewing on me, you'll have plenty of time to get away then, won’t you?”

  “That’s hardly reassuring,” Zin grumbled, walking away. He stayed quiet the rest of the time as Ean got ready. Once dressed, he did his best to remain silent as he headed out of his room, Zin right behind him. The imp had turned invisible as he passed through the doorway. Ean moved down the steps, pausing every few steps to listen for any other sign of life in the house. When he got to the bottom of the stairs, he peeked out of the doorway into the main sitting hall. Allie was still there; she had stopped crying and was just staring at the door to the room her husband was in. Cleff was either in there as well, watching over his patient, or had gone to bed. Moving backwards, Ean went in the opposite direction into the back of the house.

  He passed through the main storeroom first, which contained all of Cleff’s lesser healing plants and mixtures. The room itself smelled like the outdoors, the various aromas coming off the plants left out to grow or the open bottles of ground up material, giving the room an earthy smell. The most powerful smell was the fresh Rottwealth, its sour aroma permeating everything else in the room. Moving through, Ean reached the main living area and kitchen. The kitchen was his goal as there was a doorway out to the backyard. He eased the old door open, trying his best not to let it make too much noise, and waited until he felt Zin brush past him before heading out and closing it behind him.

  Since the sun had set and none of Cleff’s outside lanterns were lit, it was difficult to see. Even the green light of the First Moon and stars were blocked out by dense clouds, eliminating what little light they provided at night. Ean took a moment to get his bearings and let his eyes adjust then began to inch his way along the wall.

  “You know,” he heard Zin say behind him. “Your hand is now a permanent source of light. You could whip it out instead of having us stumble around in the dark. I doubt we will run into anyone, and it would be nice to at least see the beast coming before it eats us.”

  Ean responded with a simple grunt, then reached over and pulled off the glove on his right hand. Sure enough, the rune on his palm gave off enough light so that they could see a few paces away. Holding his hand up in front of his body, Ean moved around the back of the house until he found the dirt path to the bog. Best to head there first then follow it around to where the mine was located. That would give them a good escape route. Plus, Ean knew the bog like the back of his hand, and if they did have to run, he could cut through the bog since he knew where the more solid patches existed. A beast as big as Allie described would get bogged down and move much slower in the muck

  Heading south down the path, a light breeze blew in from the north. On it, Ean could still smell blood in the air. It turned his stomach. Lane had lost so much blood from his wounds that it was doubtful the man would survive. It was a shame. Ean had liked being on the receiving end of gratitude for a change and didn’t want to ruin it by telling Allie that her husband had little chance of living. Best for Cleff to tell her; let him take the grief.

  They walked in silence all the way down to the bog, with Ean thinking about how Allie had acted towards him while Zin kept up behind. Once Ean started to smell the harsh odor of the Rottwealth that grew in the bog, he knew they were getting close. The bog itself was huge, taking up the majority of the southern end of the valley. It was a large section of land covered in water, pieces of mossy earth sticking up here and there. The glow from his hand gave the place an eerie light, and it made Ean think of his parents, buried somewhere deep within the water and mud. Strange how the bog had never made him think of them before. He spent most of his time working for Cleff down here, trudging around, collecting the Rottwealth once it had flowered, and looking for any other herbs or flowers that might be useful to the apothecary.

  No, there was never a need to think about them before; Ean had never felt a real attachment to them, only anger. It was because of their actions, after all, that he was despised by the majority of the townspeople. Well, that would change. He would do something great, so that many more people would show him the appreciation that Allie had shown and respect him. And he would have his revenge too: teach Krane, the Mayor, and anyone else who had gone out of their way to make his life horrible in the past. He just had to become stronger first.

  Before he knew it, they were at the east end of the bog, the foreman’s squat log building and the area around the mine just visible in the darkness. The smell of blood was stronger here, much more obvious than the smell back near the house. Ean stood still, trying to listen for any kind of movement around the area, but it was dead silent. “Do you smell anything other than all that blood, Zin?” Ean whispered.

  “Yeah, death. It’s all over this place.” Zin’s voice came from his side. “Death and rotting meat. Can we get
out of here, please?” Ean nodded, not caring whether Zin could see him or not. This had been a bad idea. Ean was about to turn back around, when he caught a bit of movement coming from one of the windows of the foreman’s home. Ean paused, wondering if it had just been a trick of the light, but sure enough, after a few moments, he saw it again.

  “I think something is in the foreman’s home. Let’s go check it out.”

  “You must be crazy!” Zin’s words were still a whisper, but just barely. “For all you know, it could be the beast.”

  “Not a chance,” Ean replied. “No way could the creature Allie saw fit into that house without creating some kind of damage to it, and the house looks fine from here. It could be the foreman in there. Allie said she had seen him run off.”

  Slinking down low, Ean made his way around the edge of the bog to where the mountains rose off into the haze above him and then walked along them towards the house. He couldn’t tell if Zin followed along, which made him more nervous than he already was. Although Zin couldn’t do much if it came down to a fight for their lives, it was still more reassuring to have the imp there than to be alone.

  Moving towards the building seemed to take forever as he inched along the mountainside, before he reached the side of the house. He paused there, trying to calm himself so that he could hear more than his own heartbeat and breathing. The area still smelled of blood and something worse. Ean was starting to get the faint hint of rotting meat in the air now as well.

  “I smell something else now…” Ean almost jumped out of his skin at the sound of the imp’s voice. Zin had followed after all. “Smells reptilian, but doesn’t have even the hint of the Abyss on it. Whatever it is, I’ve never encountered it before.”

  Ean couldn’t decide whether that made him feel better or worse. Well, he had made it this far. Peeking around the side of the house, he still didn’t see anything moving about, and he didn’t have a clear view of the front windows now either. Staying low, he moved along the wall, pausing every couple of steps to make sure nothing else was moving about. Once he made it to the door, he pressed down on the latch. The door opened without a sound. Ean held his runed hand in front of his body, providing a little illumination to the inside of the building. The single room of the foreman’s building was filled with various tables, chairs and cabinets. Serving as both the organizing point and the dining hall, the room was a mess; plates and wooden cups on some of the tables, maps of the mine and reports on others. Ean didn’t see any sign of life.

  “Hello?” he whispered. “Is anyone in here?”

  A small scraping noise came from behind the door of one of the cabinets. A moment later, the door opened a crack and part of the foreman’s face could be seen peering back. From what Ean could see, the foreman looked haggard, the blue light mixing with his pale face to make him look almost like a ghost, and his eyes were darting around as if he expected the creature to jump out at any moment.

  “Is it gone?” The man’s voice was gruff, but it wobbled, exposing his fear.

  “I’m not sure,” Ean replied. “But it’s not outside at the moment.”

  That seemed to be enough for the foreman, who opened the door the rest of the way, climbed out of the cabinet and moved over to Ean’s side. The foreman stopped a moment to stare at the light coming off of Ean’s hand but said nothing. So much for keeping his new talent a secret from the village.

  Moving with careful steps, the two exited the house with Ean in the lead. Moving back along the wall the way he had come, Ean led the frightened man back in the direction of the bog. Once they reached the edge of the house, Ean turned to look at the man, then pointed to the bog and made a circling motion with his finger. The foreman nodded, a small bit of color returning to his face. Returning the nod, Ean was just about to step out away from the house when Zin’s voice cut through the silence.

  “Look out!”

  It was pure instinct that made Ean listen and dive down to the side as a huge blur swiped the air where his face had been moments before. The blur connected with the building, creating a loud crunching sound as what Ean now saw was a huge claw smashed into the wooden wall. Rolling to his feet, the light from Ean’s hand gave him a good view of what had almost been his end.

  The creature was much worse in person than how Allie had described it. A little more than three persons tall with a reptilian head and tail, the creature hissed at him, its tongue poking out between its pointed teeth. Its body was covered in what Ean first thought was dead skin, but realized it was some kind of leather armor. As the two locked eyes, the creature seemed to speak, its mouth moving in a series of hisses as the sounds came from between those horrible teeth. Then it started to move in his direction, its eyes still locked on him, but squinting against the light coming off of Ean’s hand. Not knowing what else to do, Ean did the only thing he could. He drew a rune.

  His hand moved with a life of its own, his index finger leaving a bright blue light wherever it cut through the air. The beast slowed as Ean’s rune grew in brightness, raising a giant clawed hand to shield its eyes. Meanwhile, Ean was working on instinct, not even thinking about the rune he was drawing, working purely from memory of something he had done the night before. When the rune was finished, it hung there in the air, its light exposing everything in the immediate area: Ean, the beast, even the poor foreman, who was still huddled against the side of the house. Then it vanished, returning the area to darkness that was only broken up by the dim glow from Ean’s hand. The beast stared at him for a moment, then let out a horrible hissing laugh and continued forward again.

  Ean stood there frozen, the fear overtaking him. Were these his last moments? The beast had moved close enough now that Ean was within reach of its giant clawed hands. With another hiss, it reached for him with those terrible claws reeking of blood. Too scared to run, all Ean could do was cover his head as he waited for the blow that would end his life.

  Without warning, an explosion of bright blue light appeared from where Ean’s rune had been, like a flash of lightning but a hundred times brighter. The creature reared back, making an agonized noise as both of its hands shot up to cover its eyes. Ean, on the other hand, was not affected, although he stood there in shock. Only for the briefest moment, though. A tiny weight smashed into his side and got him moving.

  “Run, you giant idiot!” Zin’s voice broke him out of his daze. Ean took off, heading straight back for the bog. Once he reached it, he sped around the edge, ready to cut into it at even the slightest hint of pursuit. He didn’t have to worry about that, though.

  Just moments into his run, Ean heard a blood-curdling scream from behind him. The beast had found the foreman.

  “Better him than us,” he heard Zin say from somewhere behind them. Ean was happy to be alive, but did not feel good about leaving the foreman behind.

  He kept running, not slowing down or looking back. When he reached the path back to his home, he kept on running. Ean made it all the way back to his house without stopping, surprised at his endurance. He had never even been able to jog from the bog home before, and tonight he had full out sprinted the entire way. Was it the fear that had given him the extra strength, or something else? The glow of the runes on his hand made him think it was the latter.

  Ean entered the house, moving through the kitchen, careful not to make too much noise, and then up the stairway and into his room. He noticed Cleff’s room was dark as he passed, meaning he was already asleep or was sleeping downstairs, keeping watch over Lane. Either way, Ean hoped that Cleff hadn’t noticed his late-night departure.

  Once inside his room, Ean changed out of his clothes and into something suitable for sleep. He kept a glove on his right hand to block the light, hoping to get a good night's sleep for a change. Although after tonight, he doubted that was possible. A vision of the creature and the sound of the foreman’s scream echoed in his head. But he had survived. Climbing into bed, he heard Zin crawl underneath, bumping the bottom of the bed once or twice.
r />   “Quite the adventure, huh?” Ean whispered, trying to calm himself down.

  The room was silent for a long time before Zin responded.

  “You’re still an idiot. Let’s not ever do something that insane again.”

  “Agreed.” But deep down, a part of Ean had enjoyed the thrill and the danger. In his mind, tonight had just cemented the fact that he needed to get out of this village and see what else was out there in the world.

  Luckily for him, although he wouldn’t see it as lucky at first, his opportunity to leave would come very soon.

  LANE NEVER WOKE UP from his wounds and died the next morning with Allie and Cleff by his side. At dusk, the entire village gathered around a funeral pyre in the valley. The Mayor gave a speech first, praising Lane as a standup member of the village. He spoke about his own memories of Lane and Allie together, as well as recounting stories of the two provided by others in the community. Allie stood off to the side, surrounded by both her and Lane’s parents. She smiled occasionally at the tales, but the smiles were short-lived as she often broke down into sobs that shook her entire body. Her family stayed by her side, ready to place a reassuring hand on her shoulder or hold her up when the anguish made her legs weak.

  Listening from the back of the crowd, Ean became swept up in the stories of their lives. He hadn’t known the two well; he didn’t really know anyone in their small community very well, but for the first time, a small sliver of regret at that fact began to form. Here were two people, clearly in love, that had worn their hearts on their sleeves for all to see. And Ean had missed it. The regret grew to a knot in his stomach. How would he find what Allie and Lane had if he kept himself separate from everyone around him. Isn’t what they had exactly what I want? To have someone understand me completely and still want to be by my side? The regret spread to his chest, seeping into his soul. As the Mayor finally finished his speech and grew quiet, Ean realized that maybe all of the walls he had created to protect himself were starting to isolate him from everyone else. The thought weighed heavily on him as the next part of the funeral began.