The Cursed Lands

by Timothy L. Cerepaka

  “Just like we planned,” said Sarzen, “although I will admit that the huge dark cloud was unexpected. Still, we managed to beat it, and it looks like that was the last weapon these Draymens slavers had. So I think we can safely say that the slaves of Reck are free.”

  Helnia shook her head. “What a brilliant plan, brother. I didn’t think you could think up something like that.”

  Sarzen shrugged. “What can I say? I’m smarter than I look. All of those years spent in training as a Warrior Priest weren’t for nothing, you know.”

  “It was a brilliant move, I agree,” said the Slayer. “But we shouldn’t celebrate just yet, I think.”

  “Why not?” said Sarzen. His belly growled and he rubbed it. “I’m hungry and in the mood for food. Why not throw a celebration?”

  “Because the Draymens are going to know about this sooner or later, probably sooner,” said the Slayer. “The slave towns are all connected, due to the fact that the Draymens are always trading slaves between each other. It’s a big part of why the Draymens have been so effective; they keep in contact with each other all the time, which helps to spread news among the horde.”

  “So you think the Draymens will know about this?” said Sarzen.

  “Of course they will,” said the Slayer. “And once they do, they will be furious. I expect them to push up the dates of their attack on Ars, assuming they haven’t already attacked the city, and will probably also increase the numbers and ferocity of their attacks on unsuspecting travelers in the plains of Yores.”

  “Why?” said Sarzen. “Was Reck an important slave town to them or something?”

  “Probably not, but this is the first time humans have freed a slave town,” said the Slayer. “And inside Draymens territory, too. This has never happened before. Even I haven’t ever succeeded in freeing a whole town full of slaves, though I’ve freed individuals before.”

  “Does that mean we are going to be enemy number one on their list?” said Rothel.

  The Slayer nodded. “Most likely. They may very well just drop everything to kill all of you. The Draymens are hardly a forgiving sort; they hold grudges. I should know, given how every Draymens in the Cursed Lands dreams of killing me.”

  “Great,” said Helnia, shaking her head. “As if our quest wasn’t hard enough already, now we’re definitely going to find it impossible to get to Ferro’s Pass.”

  “So what?” said Sarzen. “As long as the Dragon Gods are on our side, it doesn’t matter what the Draymens do or what they want. They will never be able to defeat us.”

  “I hope you’re right,” said the Slayer, “because if you aren’t, then don’t be surprised when you find yourself fighting for your lives.”

  Before Sarzen could respond to that, two slaves walked up to them. One of them was a young woman, with dirty brown hair and several scars and scratches on her face, while the other was an elderly man who wore a necklace around his neck.

  “Helnia!” said the woman. She ran up to Helnia and actually hugged her. “I thought you were going to get killed, you silly girl! I don’t know how you managed to survive against that thing.”

  “Thanks for the concern, Aroda,” said Helnia as Aroda let go of her. “But the real praise should go to the slaves. They’re the ones who saved the day, not us.”

  “But we could not have done it without your aid, travelers,” said the elderly man, his smile revealing his crooked teeth. “Had you not retrieved our necklaces, we would never have gained our freedom from the Draymens. For that, we must thank you.”

  “You are welcome, elder,” said Sarzen. “But I must apologize, because I don’t know your name.”

  “Elum,” said the elder. “I am the ‘leader’ of the slaves, for want of a better word, mostly because I have been in this town longer than any of the other slaves. I came to thank you brave travelers for rescuing us, even though you did not have to.”

  “It’s fine, Elder Elum,” said Sarzen, waving off the elder’s praise. “It’s what the Dragon Gods would have wanted. They would never have tolerated seeing their people under the dominion of the very creatures they drove from our lands in the first place.”

  “The Dragon Gods, eh?” said Elum, though he didn’t sound pleased. “I didn’t know anyone still worshiped them. Most of us slaves don’t think much of or about them anymore.”

  “Yes, we believe in them,” said Sarzen. “That’s the whole reason we are even here. We’re trying to find them in order to save Yores from the Draymens.”

  “So you think you can find the Dragon Gods, even though no one else ever has?” said Elum. “Interesting. You remind me of another young man I met some ten years ago, who also had been on a journey to find the Dragon Gods. He and his wife were very kind, despite being unable to free us from Reck, even though they promised to return with the Dragon Gods eventually.”

  “A young man and his wife?” said Sarzen. “Odd. I didn’t know anyone else searching for the Dragon Gods.”

  “What did they look like?” said Helnia, looking at Elum with more interest than Sarzen thought this subject warranted.

  “They looked much like you two, though older,” said Elum. “They were a fine couple, much braver than anyone else I have met. They almost revived my faith in the Dragon Gods.”

  Sarzen suddenly understood Helnia’s interest in the couple, because now a theory was forming in his mind about their identity. But he hesitated; he didn’t want to look foolish and say the wrong thing.

  Still, Sarzen said, “This couple, did they mention having any children?”

  “They did, actually,” said Elum. “They said they had twins, a boy and a girl, about fourteen-years-old, who were in Ars. I specifically remember asking them about it, because I thought they would make good parents and I was curious if they had any children of their own.”

  Sarzen’s heart was beating fast. Questions ran through his mind so fast that he did not know which one to ask first.

  But he didn’t need to ask any questions, because Helnia said, “Where did they come from? I mean, they were from Yores, yes?”

  “Of course,” said Elum. “They said they came from a small village that was destroyed by the Draymens. They said that they had sent their children to Ars with relatives because it was too dangerous to take them where they were going.”

  “Where were they going?” said Helnia. “Did they say?”

  “They said they were going to Ferro’s Pass,” said Elum. “Said they believed that they might find clues to the Dragon Gods’ current location there.”

  “Are they still alive?” said Sarzen, though his voice trembled slightly despite himself. “Have you seen them since?”

  “No,” said Elum, shaking his head. “I don’t know if they are still alive or not. I always assumed they were probably killed by the Draymens; the Cursed Lands are crawling with those beasts and I don’t think that a couple, even one as nice as they, could survive very long against them.”

  “So they might still be out there?” said Sarzen.

  “Possibly,” said Elum. “They were smart, to be sure, so it’s possible they may have managed to avoid getting killed by the Draymens. But I doubt they’ve found the Dragon Gods; if they did, they surely would have returned by now. That’s why I assume they’re dead, because the Dragon Gods still haven’t returned.”

  Sarzen and Helnia looked at each other again. Even without exchanging one word, they knew what the other was thinking. It wasn’t magic; it was just based on a shared understanding that existed only between siblings.

  The couple that Elum spoke of was none other than their long-dead parents.

  ***

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  After that discussion, the topic of conversation turned to what they needed to do next.

  Because it was likely that the Draymens would send some of their own to investigate the lack of contact from Reck, they came up with a plan to move the entire slave population out of the Cursed Lands and back into Yores. The Dray
mens Slayer volunteered to lead them back into Yores, because a group of freed human slaves, even mages, was a ripe target for any wandering bands of Draymens raiders and the Slayer had a lot of experience in helping survivors reach safe havens. Sarzen accepted that, even though he would have appreciated the Slayer’s aid in reaching Ferro’s Pass, because his knowledge and experience in dealing with Draymens made him an incredibly valuable ally.

  By ‘the slaves,’ that meant all the slaves, including little Pula and Helnia’s friend, Aroda. Pula wanted to stay with Sarzen, but he told her it would be too dangerous for a young girl like her to travel with them and that she would be safer in Yores. But he did promise to see her again as soon as they returned with the Dragon Gods, which seemed to calm her down a little.

  Almost all of the slaves were accounted for, except for a man known as Lach, a man who Helnia spoke of with bitterness for some reason. It was assumed at first that he had somehow gotten caught in the crossfire during the battle in the village, but when his body was not found, that theory was quickly discarded. Nor had anyone seen him leave the village, although they assumed that he must have, because that was the only explanation for his absence.

  As for Sarzen and the others, they buried their dead just outside of the town. Sarzen would have preferred to bury their dead friends back in Yores, but they were not heading back that way and they were not going to return to Yores for a long time, so it did not make any sense to bring the bodies with them. Sarzen just prayed over their graves that the Dragon Gods would protect their souls, which was all they could do for them at the moment.

  After that, Sarzen and the others raided the Draymens slave owners’ houses and took as much supplies as they could in order to refill their own depleting supplies. Unfortunately, they didn’t find very much; it seemed like the Draymens did not need much in the way of food and water, and what they did find wasn’t very suitable for human consumption. Nor did they find much extra Raugus, except for a handful of necklaces that belonged to slaves who had perished at some point and which thus belonged to nobody.

  They didn’t stay in the town long, because there was no telling when the Draymens’ reinforcements would arrive. So, the next morning, the slaves, led by the Slayer, began their journey back north to Yores, while Sarzen and the others resumed heading south in the general direction that would take them to Ferro’s Pass.

  As usual, Sarzen and Helnia sat in the same cart together, which was being pulled along by one of the horses. Rothel was in the cart directly behind theirs, his hands folded behind his head and his eyes closed like he was taking a nap, though everyone else was wide awake just in case of Draymens attack.

  Helnia looked much better than she had the day before. She had gotten rid of her slave clothes in exchange for an extra set of clean mage’s robes that she had packed among their supplies before they left Ars. She had also managed to wash her hair with the water basins they’d found in the Draymens’ homes, though her skin was still rough and she had several scars on her face that Sarzen knew would not go away anytime soon.

  She also looked a lot more tired than usual, even after eating a large breakfast this morning. She was leaning against the side of the cart, her chest rising and falling with each breath, but she obviously didn’t want to sleep, and Sarzen knew why.

  “Our parents survived,” said Sarzen. He looked up at the dark sky above them and shook his head. “Can you believe it, Helnia? They survived.”

  “I know,” said Helnia, though she didn’t sound very enthusiastic, probably because she was so tired. “It’s a miracle.”

  “For certain,” said Sarzen. “I thought that they had died in the destruction of Iswor. Yet, if Elum is telling the truth, then they didn’t die. They came here to search for the Dragon Gods; perhaps they even took the same path we are taking.”

  “Maybe,” said Helnia. “But they might still be dead. There’s no way to know for sure.”

  “Father was always strong,” said Sarzen. “Mother was, too, in her own way, even if she lacked his physical strength. They’re both no doubt still out there somewhere, searching for the Dragon Gods even as we speak.”

  “Why haven’t they found the Dragon Gods, then?” said Helnia. “If they’re still out there, that is.”

  “No one ever said it would be easy to find them,” said Sarzen. “The Dragon Gods have been missing for five hundred years. And if they don’t want to be found, I bet they have ways of making sure of that.”

  “Does that mean our quest will suffer similar failure?” said Helnia. “Do you think we’re doomed to never find them?”

  “Of course not,” said Sarzen. “We’ve already seen many signs that the Dragon Gods are with us, such as the Miracle at Sinmo. Maybe they weren’t with our parents, but they are with us. I am sure of that.”

  Helnia nodded, though she still looked dispirited. But Sarzen attributed that to the fact that she had been enslaved for five days; given time, he was sure that she would come around and be just as excited as him, if not more so.

  “This quest has been amazing so far,” said Sarzen, sitting back and rubbing the back of his neck. “Now there is a chance that not only will we find the Dragon Gods, but we might also be reunited with our parents. I can barely believe it myself.”

  “Let’s not get too excited now,” said Helnia. “We still have a long journey ahead of us. If we get too excited, we might get cocky, and that would spell the end of us.”

  “I won’t get cocky,” said Sarzen. “Besides, what’s wrong with getting excited? The news that our parents might still be alive is the best news we’ve heard in years. There’s no telling what other good news awaits us further along our journey.”

  “I hope you’re right,” said Helnia. “Our next stop is Ferro’s Pass, isn’t it?”

  “Yes,” said Sarzen. He grabbed his pack lying on the floor of the cart and, opening it, pulled out a map of the Cursed Lands that he had had a scribe copy from a book before they left Ars.

  Unfurling the map, Sarzen looked it over. “Okay, we are right here, not far from the border. Ferro’s Pass looks to be a few days’ journey south from here. It doesn’t look like there’s much between here and Ferro’s Pass, so unless we get ambushed by a bunch of Draymens at some point, the rest of the quest ought to be uneventful.”

  Helnia nodded, but then frowned. “Will we make it, though?”

  “We can defend ourselves from the Draymens,” said Sarzen as he folded up the map and put it back into the bag. “I have no doubt of that.”

  “I’m talking about our supplies,” said Helnia. “I checked them before we left Reck. We still have enough to last us for a few weeks, but at our current rate of consumption, we might run out before then.” She stroked her necklace. “In particular, our Raugus stores are getting low. I think our fight with the Draymens in Reck used up a lot of it.”

  “It’s not a big deal,” said Sarzen. “We’ll find the Dragon Gods before long and they will be able to replenish our supplies.”

  “But what if we don’t find them before we run out?” said Helnia. “The Cursed Lands don’t have an endless supply of food, water, and Raugus. It isn’t like we can just stop at a town and load up on supplies, given that any town in this land is probably full of Draymens that would rather slaughter us than help us.”

  “We just need to be smart and careful with our supplies until we can find a place to refill,” said Sarzen. “And we can always hunt; part of the training we Warrior Priests undergo involves learning how to hunt and make your killed animals into something edible.”

  “I haven’t seen any edible animals around the Cursed Lands since we got here,” said Helnia. She glanced up at the sky. “Not even a simple sparrow we could shoot down and cook. I’m pretty sure that nothing exists in these lands except the Draymens, and I doubt they taste very good.”

  “You have a good point, but I’m sure we’ll figure out how to replenish our supplies,” said Sarzen. “Perhaps we can attack some Draymens tow
ns or camps and steal supplies from them. Even Draymens have to eat, don’t they?”

  “Do they?” said Helnia, looking at Sarzen skeptically. “I’ve always assumed they just dine on their hatred of us.”

  “They eat humans, though,” said Sarzen.

  “Dessert,” Helnia answered.

  “Whatever,” said Sarzen, shaking his head. “Just have faith, Helnia. Have faith that the Dragon Gods will provide. They always do, in the end.”

  “I suppose you have a point,” said Helnia. She glanced over her shoulder back in the direction of Reck. “What about the Slayer? I didn’t get a chance to speak with him before we left. Did he say who he was?”

  “No, he didn’t,” said Sarzen. “He didn’t answer any of our questions about his personal life or give us his real name. I think he’s just a very private person. Why do you ask?”

  “It’s just that I thought …” Helnia trailed off, like she was a little embarrassed to admit this. “I just thought that he might be Father.”

  Sarzen blinked in surprise. “The Slayer? Our Father? Why would you think that?”

  “Because he looked just like Father,” said Helnia. “Same hair color, eye color, face … it’s almost eerie, like he’s Father’s long-lost twin brother or something like that.”

  “Father was an only child,” Sarzen pointed out. “And the Slayer didn’t recognize us. He didn’t act like he was a long-lost relative. He treated me pretty much like a stranger or an acquaintance at best, and he didn’t show any special concern for you, either.”

  “Yeah, I know,” said Helnia. She sighed. “It’s still strange, though. Maybe it’s just a coincidence.”

  “I don’t believe that anything is a coincidence on this quest,” said Sarzen. “But I understand. I miss Father, too, and Mother as well. That’s why I am hopeful about what Elum told us. If he’s right, then we might see our parents again after all.”

  “Hopefully,” said Helnia. “I also hope that the slaves make it back to Yores safely. I fear that the Draymens might decide to go after them, because they’re such a large, vulnerable group.”