by Nancy Gray
Some hung across tree branches, apparently having just enough strength to alight there before they died, while others were pinned on the forest floor by long spears, like bugs impaled on pins in a child’s collection. Some of the bodies were even headless, with the heads propped up on spears, clearly a warning left by her people in a fit of rage. She felt Erebus shuttering behind her, and suddenly realized that his hands weren’t just around her as a comfort to her. He was staring at the bodies of his dead friends as well.
“I’m sorry, Erebus. I shouldn’t have made you come back.”
“I understand why you thought that you had to see it for yourself. I would’ve done the same thing.”
“I don’t want to stay here long, but I have to see how bad the damage is before I find the others. Will you come with me when I go up?”
He nodded.
Mercy dismounted and walked around the village until she found the secondary lift. The first one was destroyed, the rope of the pulley burnt into ash by a fire. It seemed whenever there was a battle, there was also fire. Mender of Spirits once told her that the fire sprites were beings of chaos, and they took advantage of desperate situations. Mercy could tell even from the ground that many of the buildings were beyond salvaging, but some of them only looked charred on the outside. In order for her plan to be effective, she needed to know just how damaged the village itself was.
Mercy and Erebus rode the lift in silence. He turned the crank that pulled them up while she looked at the forest floor. The bodies beneath them got smaller and smaller as the lift climbed higher. As she looked at the brown grass beneath the bodies, stained with the blood of over two hundred and fifty individuals and the blood rain, the corpses reminded her of mushrooms growing on a decaying tree stump.
She was grateful when the lower canopy cut off her view. As what remained of the village opened up around her, she felt more despair flooding into her, like echoes of what her people felt during the night of the attack. With horror, she realized that was exactly what she was feeling. She felt her legs giving out beneath her. Erebus caught her just before she could fall onto the ramp.
Mercy awoke in a hammock. Ironically, it was the very same hammock in which she usually slept within the orphan’s commune. The feeling was surreal. As she looked out the window at the familiar view, it was as though she was waking up from a horrible dream except that Erebus was still sitting next to her, staring at her with a perplexed expression on his face. She knew when she saw him that all of the events of the past few days had really happened, and she just wanted to roll over and pretend it was a dream. She forced herself to sit up.
“Are you okay? Don’t sit up so quickly. I think that you fainted.”
Mercy groaned. “I guess I did. This has only happened to me once before. I didn’t expect the feelings to be so intense. I should’ve known…”
“What feelings? What do you mean?”
“I’m empathic. That’s what my people call those with my gift. I feel emotions. Usually, I can only feel them from other people, but sometimes when I’m in a place where something horrible has happened, I feel what those people felt at the time. It’s overwhelming. I’m sorry.”
“So, you’re gifted. I thought there was something different about you. Are you sure that you’re up for this?”
“I’m okay now. Did you know that this is where I used to sleep?”
“No. I picked this hammock because this is where I would’ve chosen to sleep too, if I lived here. It’s a nice view and it’s open to the air. Also, this building was in the best shape.”
Mercy frowned. “That’s not good. This is the orphan’s commune and our caste is the least important. Most of the hammocks are intact, though. It could make a good hospital.”
Mercy rolled out of the hammock and took a deep breath. Her head hurt, but she didn’t sense the emotions as strongly as she had initially. There were two dead bodies in the large room, leaning up against a wall. She recognized them, but she was glad that she didn’t know them very well. A brother and a sister, both orphans, but they tended to keep to themselves.
“Did you know them?”
“Yes. We didn’t talk much, though.”
“That’s how things were with me and most of my people that died here. I recognize a lot of them, but most of them were acquaintances. The ones that you killed were my colleagues, the first group that travelled with me. They were friends, but we weren’t very close.”
Mercy stared down at the canopy. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. You did it in self defense. We would’ve killed you that night. We weren’t in control of ourselves.”
“Do you remember me? I remember you.”
“What do you mean?”
“I was getting on my vitula when the attack happened. You were perched on the railing, looking at me.”
Erebus gasped. “That was you? I remember now. I was frustrated because I wasn’t in control of myself because of the rain, and then I looked up and you were just staring at me.”
Mercy nodded. “You were the first beast man I had ever seen up close, so I was curious. You were also the first beast man to bite me.”
“I don’t even remember biting you, but I remember looking at you. You seemed repulsed by me.”
“If I remember correctly, you felt pretty repulsed by me as well.”
“Your gift lets you sense the emotions of others, but, I’d wager that you can only guess at what’s behind those emotions. I wasn’t repulsed by you.”
“You felt revolted. I remember that clearly.”
“I wasn’t revolted by you. I was revolted by my reaction to you.”
Mercy raised an eyebrow in confusion. “What do you mean?”
Erebus stood up. “We’d better get going. You were out for about twenty minutes, and the less time we waste here the better. There’s no telling how far away your people are from here.”
Mercy frowned at the way he dodged the question. She wanted to ask him more, but he was right. She didn’t have time to sit around and talk. She needed to see the other buildings.
“Fine. I don’t want to stay here any longer than I have to either.”
She looked around and sighed miserably. Rope bridges dangled uselessly like dislocated limbs. There were several buildings she could only reach by taking long routes cutting through other buildings and some that she couldn’t reach at all. All of the buildings were charred, but several were salvageable on the inside. The vitula mushroom was still mostly intact, but there were dead vitula scattered all over it. The round bridge and railings were still in one piece. The chieftain’s hall was burned down entirely, with her father’s signature silken flags burned into jagged rags of various bright colors on the one remaining wall.
“That building stood for generations, and it only took one night to burn it down. This is going to make him look very bad.”
“Who?”
“The chieftain. Many people of my tribe don’t like him, and because this happened while he was the leader, they will think that he’s as incompetent as he appears. We don’t need a new chieftain right now, especially with Ashen spies coming.”
“Maybe a new leader would be a good thing, especially if this one won’t listen to you.”
Mercy shook her head. “No. A new leader would definitely be bad, because I know who that leader would be, Green Arrow. There’s at least a chance that the current chieftain will listen to me, but Green Arrow wouldn’t. He would want to make a name for himself by going after your people.”
“Then we need to get out of here fast.”
“I agree. I’ve seen enough. I know which buildings need to go and which ones can be salvaged. I wish I had time to bury some of these bodies, but it would take us too long. That’s the first thing that my people need to do when they get here. Come on, let’s find them.”
They rode the lift back down, and Mercy paced back and forth in the small space, wanting to reach the floor as quickly as possible. She nearly jumped
the last few feet before the lift stopped. She skirted along the edge of the forest floor, but it wasn’t difficult to see where her people had fled. There were several dead beast men on the trail, and a three foot wide path had been broken through the foliage. Usually her people moved single file to hide their numbers, but that evening they were in a hurry to flee. It would be easy to follow them, so she got on the horse. Erebus mounted up behind her, and they rushed in the direction of the path.
They rode until night fell and then set up camp in a large clearing.
“This must’ve been where they spent the first night. There were several fires and I can see where they tied up the vitulae. We’re getting close. I can feel it.”
Erebus began to pace. “I’m a little worried about this. What if they see right through my disguise?”
“They won’t. Just remember, you’re a slave from the islands. Can you speak our language? I’ve been using common to speak to you, but they’ll expect an islander to know it.”
Erebus said, in her own tongue, “Yes.”
“Good. You have an unusual accent, but the fact that you can speak our language will make the story more believable. I’m going to tell them that your master was abusive, and I thought he was going to kill you. So, I stole you on the way out of the city.”
“Sounds good. And, in my gratitude, I won’t leave your side. I’m acting as your bodyguard to protect you from any stray beast men.”
Mercy nodded. “Perfect.”
“I guess I should feed from you tonight. I don’t know if I’ll get a chance once we run into your people.”
Mercy sighed. “Probably.”
“Where would you prefer?”
“The back of my neck was fine.”
Erebus got behind her and gently peeled away the bandage, then began to bite the wound open again. She felt pleasure radiating from him as he fed, and found it to be infectious, which sickened her. The venom not only numbed the wound, but made it feel somehow tingly and pleasant. She could see how so many of her people could feel that it was just easier to give in, and it would be their last thought. Still, Erebus wasn’t going to kill her, and knowing that made her almost want to concentrate on the sensation of the bite, to feel what it was like. After all, he picked a handsome façade.
Mercy asked in a voice harsher than she intended, “Are you done?”
“I guess so. Did I do something wrong? You’re giving me that look that you gave me in the village that night.”
“I just hope we can find a different food source for you soon. I guess you could say this time I’m the one repulsed by my own reaction…”
Erebus’ eyes got wide. “The venom. I’ve been using too much.”
“What do you mean?”
“This happens sometimes when we feed from the same human over and over again. The venom becomes addictive. It doesn’t just dull the pain of the bite; it dulls even the worst pain. No soreness, no minor aches, and then it causes pleasure. Is that what you were feeling?”
Mercy’s mouth gaped open at the realization. She remembered Wind Dancer hungrily wrapping her body around Carmine as they left. It suddenly made perfect sense why she would marry a beast man, and it made her wonder if Carmine had indeed tricked her into marrying him.
Mercy balled her hands into fists. “Yes.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t even think about it.”
“I wish I could believe you.”
“It’s true. I’m sorry.”
“When we get to my people, I’ll get a cup and an extra wine skin, so that you can drink it from something besides me. I’ll cut myself and squeeze the blood out for you.”
“But, that will hurt you and it might not heal as neatly.”
Mercy snapped, “Better than the alternative.”
She saw a pained expression on Erebus’ face for a moment. As she felt his pain at her comment, she wished that she hadn’t spoken.
He said with cynical smile, “Well, it’ll be better that way. I don’t really like to lick you. It feels too much like I’m playing with my food.”
He sulked away and sat down, turning his back to her. Mercy could tell he was planning to take first watch as usual, so she lay down on her bedroll. In one more day she would be among her people again. She had a plan and that was a good start, but she had a feeling it wouldn’t be enough. Catches the Eye was in trouble. He wouldn’t want to go to war with the rest of the beast men, but it would be what was expected of him, and Green Arrow would be looking for any weakness to exploit. And, once the others found out that she had trusted one of the Ashen Folk and that he was a spy, they would be furious.
Mercy thought of her dream and all of the dead calling her a traitor, and the solution came to her immediately. She felt like crying as she suddenly realized what she needed to do.
Mercy thought, “They’ll need a scapegoat, and it looks like I’m it.”
13
Mercy and Erebus rode the rest of the way in silence. They followed the trail east until nighttime. Mercy noticed that the ground beneath her was becoming sandy, and the trees around her were less dense. There were only tropical trees around them as the sun set entirely. As she crested a low hill, she saw her people, huddled in a make-shift campsite silhouetted against a shining beacon of wavy glass that stretched out as far as the eye could see. The glass in the desert was as glossy as the waves of the ocean but as still as paint on a canvas.
Mercy mouthed, “The Glass Dunes. I never thought I would see them.”
She felt Erebus tense behind her. “That’s the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen. I thought it was only a legend and to think it was so close, only a few days away...”
Mercy pulled her eyes away from the horizon and stared at the campsite in front of her. It was as sparse as she feared but better organized than she expected. There were several large tents constructed of thick lizard hide like the ones she saw in the Desert Valley District in Concord. There was also a small group of scaly bird-like creatures with saddles on their backs tied to the trees near the resting area for the vitulae.
Mercy said, “The Desert People must be helping them. Thank goodness.”
Mercy kicked the horse into a trot and rode down to meet her people. As she got closer, she heard her name shouted from a familiar voice. Mender of Spirits was jogging up to greet her. Her mentor’s arm was in a sling, but otherwise she looked healthy. There were dark circles under her eyes, probably the result of tending to so many injuries on her own. Behind her, there were at least twenty people bandaged on bedrolls and a few still bleeding, but alive.
“Mind of Mercy, thank goodness that you’re alive! We were starting to fear the worst. Come quickly, your father will want to see you.”
“My father? You mean the chieftain wants to see me.”
Mender of Spirits smiled. “No, I mean your father. When you didn’t catch up with us after the first ten days, we thought that you weren’t going to come back. He named you his heir posthumously.”
Mercy thought, “Why would he do that, the Fool? Now my actions will reflect badly on him. How can I place the blame on myself and not on him if he’s already acknowledged me? No, there has to be a ceremony first now that they know I’m alive. I can still salvage this…”
Mercy asked, “Are you okay, Mender of Spirits?”
“Yes, I was fortunate to only be bitten once. You saw the village, I assume.”
“I did see it.”
Mender of Spirits sighed. “We’ll rebuild it one day. In the meantime, it’s still a miracle that you’re safe and sound. I can thank the spirits for that.”
“I’m just glad that you’re okay.”
Mender of Spirits smiled and pointed in the direction of the largest tent in the center of the camp. “Your father is in there with some of the representatives from the Desert People and some of the elders. We wouldn’t have made it without their help. One of the Desert People was a girl looking into the cause of the rain as well. You should talk to her.”
<
br /> She patted Mercy on the leg and wandered back towards the injured. Mercy felt horrible, realizing the disappointment her teacher would feel when “what happened” came to light. She had to take the blame for the sake of her people. She just hoped that Mender of Spirits would talk to her afterwards and forgive her.
Erebus whispered, “Your father is the chieftain? That would’ve been useful for me to know. That makes me feel better. That means he’ll listen to you, right?”
Mercy grumbled, “You’d think so, but that hasn’t stopped him from being stubborn and arrogant and making bad decisions in the past.”
Erebus laughed bitterly. “That doesn’t sound familiar at all.”
“I heard that you and your father didn’t tend to agree or get along. What is it that caused your disagreement, if you don’t mind me asking?”
Mercy felt frustration and pain from Erebus for a moment. She could already tell what he was planning to do. He was going to avoid the subject.
He chuckled. “Well, I wasn’t talking about my father, I was talking about you. I knew you had to get that recklessness and lack of judgment from someone, and now I know who.”
“If you’re suggesting teaming up with you was a bad decision, blood pact or not, I could always go back on my word.”
Erebus grinned. “Getting tense?”
“Let’s go.”
Mercy almost galloped straight into Green Arrow as he deliberately stepped into her path. For one instant, she almost ran him over as she remembered Wind Dancer’s story, but she pulled the horse to the side at the last minute. The horse whinnied in protest, but Mercy couldn’t help but smile when Green Arrow’s eyes widened with alarm for one instant, before the expression was replaced with his usual prideful grin.