The Cursed Lands

by Timothy L. Cerepaka

  Early the next morning, Sarzen crept carefully toward the slave town of Reck, walking doubled over and hoping that none of the Draymens or slaves would see him. Of course, no one should see him, since one of the mages—a man named Pral, who was very quiet and methodical—had cast an invisibility spell over Sarzen. The spell, according to Pral, made Sarzen invisible to everyone but Pral himself, but it would also only last thirty minutes. It could have lasted longer, but Pral had insisted on the thirty minute time limit in order to conserve Raugus.

  Thirty minutes should be more than enough time to do what we need to do, Sarzen thought. As long as I don’t waste time, we should be okay.

  The plan that they had spent all night working on was this: Sarzen, under the invisibility spell cast by Pral, would sneak into the houses where the Draymens lived, which were separate from the rest of the town. He was supposed to enter the biggest house, the one that was two stories tall, because that was where the vault full of the belongings of the captured slaves was kept.

  By breaking into the vault, Sarzen would grab as many Raugus necklaces as he could and bring them out to the slaves. Since many of the slaves in Reck were once mages themselves, the Slayer had theorized that they might be willing to side with Sarzen and the others if they were given their necklaces back. That would also increase their side’s numbers, which would make it that much easier to destroy the Draymens and free the other slaves.

  Of course, even with his invisibility spell, that did not mean it would be easy for Sarzen to enter unseen. That’s why Rothel and two of Sarzen’s fellow Warrior Priests were going to make a distraction in the town; they were going to try to draw the attention of the Draymens away from the houses so that Sarzen would have as much time as he needed in order to find and open the vault.

  Sarzen desperately wanted to go and see Helnia instead, but he understood that there was no point in going to see her right now if he did not first empower the slaves to rise up against their masters. Besides, he would be seeing her again soon enough, so he put his worry about her out of his mind and focused on his mission at the moment.

  He reached the houses on the outskirts of the town. Unlike the one-room shacks in which the slaves slept, these were larger and nicer, more like the houses in the villages and towns back in Yores. They looked sturdier and appeared to have multiple rooms, with doors that were locked with heavy metal locks that looked like they had been stolen from someone else; at least, Sarzen had a hard time imagining that the bestial Draymens could ever construct even something as simple as a lock.

  Sarzen crouched low next to a tool shed. He could have gotten closer, much closer, to the Draymens’ houses without being seen, but just because he was invisible did not mean that he was intangible. Pral had warned him that people could still touch and feel him even if they could not see him, so Sarzen was keeping his distance for now in order to avoid being touched and found out.

  The houses looked empty. Sarzen did not see any Draymens through the windows or outside. It appeared that the slavers were out today, most likely awakening the slaves for the day’s work. If so, then breaking in and opening the vault would be very easy.

  But Sarzen did not yet approach the houses. He glanced back in the direction of the shacks. He was waiting for Rothel and the others to start the distraction; they had not said what their distraction would be, but Rothel had told Sarzen that he would know it when he saw it. Sarzen hoped so, because he was getting impatient waiting for the sign. He could feel the time limit on the spell rapidly ticking away.

  All of a sudden, Sarzen heard a loud shout from the slave town and several of the shacks near the opposite end of the town—the end farthest away from the Draymens’ homes—collapsed in a big cloud of dust and dirt.

  Then, without warning, the doors to the houses burst open and a dozen Draymens, each one armed with whips and clubs, ran out of the houses. They stopped and looked around in confusion for a moment before the tallest among them pointed toward the scene of the collapsed shacks and the shouting, at which point the Draymens ran toward it, growling and grunting under their breath all the while.

  That must be the distraction, Sarzen thought. Now’s my chance.

  Sarzen rose and ran over to the middle house, the one that Shine had identified as the location of the vault. Thanks to the fact that the Draymens who lived there had left the door open, Sarzen didn’t even have to mess with any locks. He just dashed through the doorway and stopped, looking at the house’s interior before he went in any further.

  While the houses didn’t look very nice, their interiors were even worse than he thought. The walls were old and moldy, with a few holes in them. They also had dried stains on them, stains that were either blood or something else; Sarzen didn’t try to identify them.

  Not only that, but the house smelled awful. It was a thick, musty stink that forced him to cover his nose; it smelled like a horse had gone to the bathroom in here and no one had bothered to clean up after it. Sarzen had always known that the Draymens didn’t care much about cleanliness, but this was just sickening.

  But Sarzen could not allow the stink of the house to make him leave. He would have to go in deeper and find the vault. He did not know its exact location in the house, so he would need to do some exploration. He doubted it would take him long to find it, especially if Rothel and the others kept the Draymens distracted, but he still had to be quick; by his calculations, he only had about twenty minutes left before the spell wore off.

  The problem was finding where the vault was located in the house. Sarzen tried to think of where he would put a vault containing the weapons and equipment of the slaves if he were a Draymens, but unfortunately he couldn’t put himself in the shoes of those monsters.

  I’ll just search this floor and the next until I find it, Sarzen thought. It shouldn’t be that hard; it’s probably really big and easy to spot.

  So Sarzen resumed walking deeper into the house, keeping his steps as quiet as he could. Of course, he soon discovered that he wasn’t any good at that, and besides, there wasn’t anyone else in the house except him, so it didn’t matter if he made a lot of noise, so he just started walking normally.

  But the deeper into the house Sarzen went, the more he wanted to turn around and leave. He found skulls—human skulls—lined on the walls. The stench from before, which he now identified as the stench of a rotting human corpse, was worse than ever. He even stepped in some kind of sticky puddle of some kind of liquid on the floor, something he didn’t try to identify due to how awful it smelled.

  In the living room, Sarzen did not find the vault, but he did find the source of the stench: A rotting corpse that was covered by a white sheet. He was glad that he couldn’t see the corpse itself, which appeared to be the corpse of a young woman, because he knew it would make him throw up. Nonetheless, he didn’t stay long, because the stink of the corpse would make him throw up by itself.

  So Sarzen climbed the creaky, rickety stairs up to the next floor as quickly as he could. The farther up the stairs he went, the weaker the stink became, although given how strong it was even from a distance, Sarzen was sure that the stink had sank into the house’s walls and foundations. He wondered how the Draymens could possibly live like this … and what kind of ghoulish things they did with that corpse.

  But soon, Sarzen forgot all about that when he reached the second floor. Unlike the first floor, it had no rooms; instead, it was one, giant wide-open room, with boxes and furniture scattered everywhere. It seemed odd to Sarzen that the Draymens would have boxes and furniture; he wondered if they had stolen it from some humans. Things like chairs and tables didn’t seem like something that Draymens would build on their own, but he supposed it was possible they could have, given how simple the furniture looked.

  In any case, Sarzen spotted the vault. It was large, easily two or three times as large as himself, and it was completely unguarded. Sarzen checked and did not see any guards protecting it or anything else.

  I ha
ve been blessed by the Dragon Gods today, Sarzen thought, smiling as he walked over to the vault as quickly as he could. Then again, the Draymens probably don’t need to have guards to defend the place, since they live here already.

  Upon reaching the vault, Sarzen crouched down in front of the tumbler lock. He wish that he knew the combination to unlock it. But even if he did, it would have been difficult to input, because the numbers on the lock’s dial were old and worn out. That confirmed Sarzen’s theory that the vault had been stolen by humans, likely a long time ago, but it did not help him figure out how to undo the lock.

  I should have seen this coming, Sarzen thought. And I cannot force the Draymens who live here to tell me, either, since I’m the only person in the house. That means that I need to come up with a way to break this lock fast.

  Sarzen considered breaking the lock with his sword, but then rejected that idea. It would not work; as strong as Sarzen was, he didn’t have the strength necessary to break the lock, even with his sword. He would only succeed in damaging his sword, and as a Warrior Priest, he could not allow any unnecessary damage to happen to his sword.

  So Sarzen became lost in thought over the issue before he heard footsteps creaking across the floor behind him. He immediately looked over his shoulder just in time to see a heavy wooden bat coming directly at his face.

  Without thinking, Sarzen ducked and rolled to the side, narrowly avoiding the wooden bat before it hit his face. Rolling back to his feet, Sarzen drew his sword from its sheath and held it before him as he turned to look at his assailant.

  To his surprise, his attacker was not a large, powerful Draymens who could have killed him with that blow. Instead, it was a young, scared-looking little slave girl, probably no older than seven. She wore the same clothes that all of the slaves did and she was incredibly skinny, but she also had a bunch of scars and bruises across her face, like she was regularly beaten. Her hair was messy and short, too, making her look almost like a really feminine boy, but it was her voice that tipped Sarzen off to her gender.

  “Who’s there?” said the girl. Her voice was so scared and so high that Sarzen almost could not understand it. “I heard you! I heard someone in here! Where did you go? I almost hit you.”

  Sarzen bit his lower lip. He had thought that the girl had somehow seen him at first, but the fact that the girl clearly did not know where he was meant that she had relied more on her hearing than her eyesight. In fact, now that Sarzen looked, he realized that the girl was blind; her eyes were cloudy and dark.

  The girl wielded her bat like a sword, but she looked very pathetic. Sarzen realized that she must have been a personal servant of one of the Draymens. She had been left here when her masters went to check on the distraction and she clearly believed it was her duty to take down any intruders who broke into this place.

  “Come out!” the girl shouted, waving her bat around so crazily that Sarzen was afraid she might actually hit herself. “I’m not afraid to break your skull! I’m not afraid of anything!”

  Sarzen had to suppress a chuckle. Despite the girl’s obvious tininess, she had a lot of bravery. But he was still unsure if he should reveal himself or not; maybe if he stayed quiet and still long enough, she’d decide that she had heard nothing and would leave on her own.

  The girl eventually lowered her bat. She stared blankly into nothingness, like she was listening for any sounds, before shaking her head and muttering, “Maybe I didn’t hear anything. But I thought I heard someone checking on the vault …”

  The girl walked up to the vault and ran her small hand across its surface. “It’s still closed. Maybe it was nothing.”

  The girl removed her hand from the vault’s surface. “I shouldn’t worry. No one else knows the combination aside from me and master. The treasures are safe.”

  Sarzen’s eyes widened. This girl knew the combination for the vault? He would have praised the Dragon Gods there and then for giving him such a lucky break, but Sarzen didn’t want to reveal himself just yet. He needed to get the girl to give him the combination or perhaps somehow convince her to open the vault herself, though he thought the former would be easier to do than the latter.

  “I should go back to my room before master returns,” said the girl. She suddenly sounded far more worried and afraid before. “Master doesn’t like it when I leave my room, even to defend the vault from intruders. I don’t want another beating today.”

  “Then maybe you won’t,” said Sarzen, “if you help me.”

  The girl jumped like she’d just been stung by a wasp. But to her credit, she didn’t drop her bat. She just pointed it this way and that, holding it before her like a ward against evil, and said, “Who’s there? Who said that?”

  “I did,” said Sarzen. His voice caused her to look at him, even though she still couldn’t see him. “But I’m not your enemy, so you can lower your weapon.”

  “Who are you?” said the girl. “You don’t sound like a Draymens. You speak Yoresian too well. Are you one of the slaves? Did you break into here? If so, I’m going to stop you.”

  The girl raised her bat again, but Sarzen said, “No, no. I’m not a slave, though I am a human. I’m here to free you and the other slaves. I’m with a group of people who are here to save everyone.”

  To Sarzen’s surprise, the girl hesitated. “Are you … are you the Draymens Slayer? I’ve heard of him. He’s supposed to have killed a lot of Draymens.”

  “No, I’m not him, but I am working with him,” said Sarzen. “If you put down your weapon and help me, I can assure you that you will not have to serve your ‘master’ ever again.”

  The girl hesitated again, but her hesitation lasted shorter than before, and she said, “How do I know you’re telling the truth? You can’t free me or anyone else. Master won’t allow it.”

  “Your master isn’t here at the moment,” said Sarzen. “Even if he was, it wouldn’t matter. Humans shouldn’t be slaves. We should be free.”

  The girl lowered her bat, but then she took a step to the side. “You’re scaring me. I’m going to get master and tell him about you, even if he beats me for it. Maybe he will beat me less if I tell him about you sooner.”

  Sarzen immediately stabbed his sword into her path, causing the girl to jump away from it in fear. “No. I can’t let you leave and tell him about me. No one is supposed to know that I’m even here. This was supposed to be a secret mission.”

  “Well, you’re not doing a very good job of that, are you?” said the girl, but her voice trembled. She was clearly too afraid to try to get past him, which was good, because he needed her to stay here.

  “Only because I chose to reveal myself to you,” said Sarzen. “Anyway, I need you to undo the lock on the vault. I heard you mention that you know the combination.”

  “Why? So you can steal the treasures?” said the girl.

  Sarzen raised an eyebrow. “Treasures? I was told that the objects in that vault were the belongings of the slaves.”

  “Master says they’re treasures that belong to him,” said the girl. “He also told me that lots of humans would like to steal these treasures, which is why we must protect them.”

  Sarzen frowned. “And you believe him? You don’t think your master was lying to you?”

  The girl suddenly looked down. “I … I don’t know. Master says I’m supposed to believe him. I’ve never felt inside the vault myself, but … I just believe what he tells me.”

  “What about your parents?” said Sarzen. “Where are they? Are they slaves, too?”

  “They’re dead,” said the girl. She still didn’t look up. “After I was born, they were killed by master. He said they would have mistreated me. So he raised me to be his servant.”

  Sarzen put a hand over his mouth. He had not expected to hear that; in fact, he had never heard of Draymens raising young children to serve them from birth. But it did explain why she was so loyal to her master, even though he clearly abused her; she must have thought of him as her
father figure, a disturbing thought for Sarzen.

  But Sarzen did not have time to think about that, because the time for his spell was still ticking and he had no idea when the Draymens would return.

  So he lowered his hand from his mouth and said, “My parents were killed by the Draymens, too, but I was older than you when that happened. Still, even without knowing your parents, I can tell that your master lied to you, because if he truly cared about you, he would not have beaten you.”

  The girl flinched, even though Sarzen had not raised a hand against her. “He beats me because I disappoint him. I deserve it.”

  “Do you?” said Sarzen. “I don’t think you. I think your master just beats you because he hates you.”

  “Hates me?” said the girl. “Why?”

  “Because you’re human,” said Sarzen. “The Draymens hate us. They want to destroy us, no matter what. There is nothing any of us can do to make them like us, even if we lived kindly and honorably. He beats you because he hates you and can get away with it.”

  “You don’t know my master,” said the girl, though she sounded a little doubtful. “He’s … he’s not nice, but—”

  “But he’s cruel,” said Sarzen. “Listen, girl, I know you’ve never known anything else but your master’s wrath. But if you help me, I can ensure that neither he nor anyone else lays even one finger on you ever again.”

  The girl hesitated. She seemed to be considering his words, though with her eyes so blank, he found it hard to read her mood. He prayed to the Dragon Gods that the girl would listen; if she didn’t, he knew he would have to do something about her so she wouldn’t call for help.

  “If …” the girl hesitated; she sounded like she was afraid of someone overhearing their conversation if she kept talking. “If I help you, my master will beat me.”

  “If you help me, I will protect you from your master,” said Sarzen. “I can do that. You can’t see me, but I’m strong and I carry a sword. Your master wouldn’t stand a chance if he came after you while I’m with you.”