Lingering Haze (The Elusive Strain Book 1)

by James Berardinelli

  “We haven’t fought one before.” Esme’s features were grim. She looked more like a seasoned warrior than a 16-year old girl. At her age, I had been planning for my junior prom - choosing a dress and deciding how to style my hair - not wandering through a place like The Verdant Blight with a bow and arrows.

  “You ready?” Samell’s question was directed at me. I nodded. None of my body’s aches and pains were going to get better by waiting.

  “Wait a moment, Sam,” said Esme, reaching down to slip off her moccasins. She offered them to me. “Rough ground don’t bother me. I’ve spent my share of days running around barefoot. More clothes on top than you, though.” She smiled, the crooked grin lighting up her features and making her seem more her age. “Anyway, you look like you could use them.” Unexpectedly touched, I accepted her gift. Although most of her body was of a size with mine, her feet were smaller. The soft shoes pinched my toes but I was grateful for the protection they provided.

  We moved slowly, heading upstream in the direction I had been traveling while on the opposite bank. I wondered whether I might have reached Aeris on my own if I hadn’t encountered my companions. I sensed Samell and Esme were walking more slowly than their usual pace, although whether that was for my benefit or because they were being cautious, I couldn’t say. They were alert with an intensity I couldn’t match, especially not with weariness clouding my focus. But I was more aware of the earth reaver (if that’s what it was) than they were. Their constantly roving eyes couldn’t spot it, but I knew that it moved as we did. At one point, we paused so Esme could scamper up a tree but the higher vantage didn’t uncover any signs of movement on the far bank. I envied her athleticism and she was right about being comfortable barefoot. The lack of footwear didn’t slow her down.

  The sun rose patiently into the washed out sky. Its slow crawl was maddening. I was used to shorter days and shadows that changed their positions more rapidly. The heat built steadily but the prospect of cooling off in the river had lost its appeal. A near-death experience had that effect. The farther upstream we went, the stronger the current became.

  Samell followed the direction of my gaze. “It’s not normally so wild. In fact, most of the year we use it for bathing and recreation. But there was a series of storms tenday ago that swelled the river. If’n we don’t get more rain, it’ll go back to its normal level soon. There’s actually a ford near here but it’s not safe in this current. Not that you’d want to be on the other side, especially after working so hard to get over here.”

  We progressed in silence for a while, picking up a thin trail I never would have noticed on my own that angled a little to the east of the river, although we were still close enough to hear its dull roar. Esme scampered ahead, scouting the way. I wasn’t sure it was necessary but there might be dangers other than the earth reaver. This was their world, not mine; I wasn’t in a position to gainsay their precautions.

  I was sweating under the thin material of the shirt which, although it protected my modesty, chafed my reddened skin. The morning dragged on interminably and I was finding it increasingly difficult to put one foot in front of the other. If I had assumed a “cycle” might be close to an “hour”, I was wrong. At least two hours had passed since we had started the journey to Aeris when Samell mentioned we were less than halfway there.

  “I need to rest,” I said. I hated having to admit weakness but I couldn’t maintain this pace for much longer. Had I been healthier, I might have been able to but the deprivations of the last two days coupled with my bruising swim this morning were taking their toll on me. I wondered if I looked as whipped as I felt.

  “Of course,” said Samell. He dug into his leather satchel, took out two slices of jerky, and handed one to me. Esme disappeared momentarily then returned with a skin full of water. She passed it around and I drank greedily when it was my turn. The rest was more necessary than relaxing and I dreaded the moment when I would have to rise and set off again. That came much sooner than I would have liked.

  Then, just as we started moving again, it happened. Somewhere deep inside of me, I felt a lurch, almost as if a fragment of my mind had been suddenly dislocated, and I knew we were in trouble. Something had changed. For the earth reaver, the period of waiting and observing was at an end. I spoke, my voice low and urgent. “I can feel it - stronger and more forceful than before. It’s on this side of the river and it’s coming for me.”

  Chapter Four: The Headache

  “Let’s move!” So saying, Esme broke into a run.

  I watched her in dismay. As frightened as I was by the creature, I lacked the energy to do more than stumble along. Jogging, never mind running, was out of the question. Fortunately, Samell recognized this.

  “Esme, wait. Can’t you see Janelle’s got nothing left?”

  “Carry her,” suggested Esme. It wasn’t an unreasonable recommendation - he was strong and fit and I was light.

  “No. I could do it but it would tire me out. Better that we move as quickly as she can. That way, I’ll be at full strength if it comes to a fight.”

  So we headed along the path as rapidly as my wobbly legs would carry me. I could feel the earth reaver gaining. It was closing the gap with ease and would be on us in a matter of minutes.

  “It’s coming too fast,” I said. “We can’t get away from it.”

  Samell halted, nodding grimly. He unsheathed his short sword from the scabbard across his back and adopted a ready stance. “Get behind me,” he said, motioning for me to stand eight to ten feet up the trail from his position. Esme, readying her bow, moved to his left and slightly behind him.

  “Just like we’ve practiced, big brother,” she said with a tight smile.

  “Janelle, if this goes bad for us, don’t wait for it to be over. This trail will take you out to the road and the road goes north to Aeris. Run as fast as you can. Don’t stop and don’t look back.” Samell’s advice was sound but we both knew that, if the earth reaver killed them, there wouldn’t be any escape for me. I wished I had my stick, if only for the confidence it would give me, but I had lost it in the river and hadn’t thought to find another one. Too late now.

  “I can hear it,” whispered Esme. Her ears were keener than mine but my mind agreed that it was very close. Perhaps close enough to hear. Or see…

  It burst through the undergrowth twenty feet away, a squat shape. It reminded me of a giant, hairless rat or an oversized armadillo with scales all across its back and sides. Although its overall movement was forward, it undulated from side to side. If it had feet, they were small and hidden by its body. It almost looked as if it was moving like a snake, slithering on its belly. Its eyes were as black as coal. Its teeth - brown, rotten splinters of bone, were bared beneath a pointed snout. As it charged, it made the same half-growl/half-scream I had heard back in the forest.

  Esme let fly with an arrow. It bounced harmlessly off the creature’s tough shell. She reloaded quickly and shot again, this time aiming for the head. It struck somewhere in the face between an eye and the mouth, sinking into the soft flesh almost to the fletching. The creature didn’t acknowledge the injury, neither wavering in its forward progress nor changing the timber of its cries.

  Samell moved toward the earth reaver, his footwork as sure and precise as that of a dancer. His lunge was controlled and struck home as he moved to the creature’s side, sliding past it to the right. Although the blade bit, there was no evidence of a wound and the reaver spun to face its attacker, springing at Samell like a coiled serpent striking.

  He dodged but not quickly enough. A whip-like tongue, sharp as any blade, extended from between its teeth to lash Samell across the chest, leaving a bloody welt. At the same time, its teeth attempted to latch onto his leg but he was able to backpedal so all they shredded was his pants leg. The creature’s aggressiveness gave him an opening and he used it, driving his sword into a soft spot between its eyes. The blade, when withdrawn, was coated with a dark ichor but the earth reaver appeared un
fazed.

  Thwang! Thwang! Two arrows in quick succession found their way into the back of the creature’s head but it neither hesitated nor turned aside from its relentless pursuit of the now-retreating Samell.

  “Janelle, run!” he shouted, apparently having decided that he wasn’t going to be able to overcome the creature. “Esme, go with her!”

  “No chance, Sam!”

  I wasn’t about to leave either but I couldn’t just stand there like a lump in the path, doing nothing.

  Samell used his sword to parry another thrust of the creature’s tongue but its aggressive approach and unconcern about injury had put him on the defensive, giving ground as he stumbled backward down the trail in the direction from which we had come. He was deliberately leading the earth reaver away from his sister and me. By now, Esme had emptied her quiver into the creature’s neck and head. Discarding her bow, she drew a knife out of a leg sheath and advanced on it from behind.

  Before joining her brother in the close-quarters fray, she spared me a look. “Go! Now! Warn the village!”

  I couldn’t. Even if I had been fresher and stronger, I wouldn’t have been able to outrun it. My situation was hopeless. If two athletic hunters proficient with weapons couldn’t turn the creature aside, what hope did I have?

  Then I felt it again - the same thrumming of the earth that had assailed me in the forest when I had first become aware of the earth reaver. If either of my companions noticed it, they gave no indication. Their concentration on the task at hand didn’t falter, even if its success was in doubt. But, brief as the attack was, it was painful enough to drive me nearly to my knees. And that’s when a possibility occurred to me.

  Seeing his sister’s approach, Samell abandoned his methodical swordsmanship and charged the creature, swinging wildly, hoping to keep it unaware of Esme’s proximity. He wasn’t successful. The earth reaver lashed at him with its tongue, tearing open his chest from left collarbone to right nipple, then spun to attack her.

  Remembering how I had contacted it in the forest, I concentrated on the earth reaver, extending my senses toward it, activating something deep inside of it. In that moment, it was as aware of me as I was of it, and I perceived a sudden surge of… fear? It was more injured than it appeared to be but it didn’t feel pain and, as a result, it could continue fighting until its body failed. Without understanding what I was doing, I impelled my consciousness along the link between us, imposing my will on it and dissolving the bonds that held it together. It screamed - a loud, primal cry unlike the other sounds it had been making - and a bolt of pain in my head knocked me to the ground and sent me tumbling into blackness.

  I awoke to a splitting headache and the taste of vomit in my mouth. I was lying on my back with my head slightly elevated by a pillow of leaves. I heard whispered voices before opening my eyes to see Esme and Samell sitting nearby, the latter with a crudely bandaged chest. It was impossible to determine how much time had passed, although the sun’s position directly overhead indicated it had at least been several hours (or however many “cycles” that translated into).

  I needed a Tylenol but, obviously, I wasn’t going to get one. This felt worse than the migraines that had plagued me as a child. Another fleeting memory - someone holding a cold compress to my forehead as I lay in bed weeping with pain.

  “What happened?” I managed to croak. My companions turned at the sound of my voice.

  “I guess she’s not going to die,” said Esme. I think she was trying for levity but, in my current condition, the humor was lost on me.

  “We told you to run while we defended you. Instead, you saved us. I don’t know how you did it but you killed it.”

  If the price for dispatching the earth reaver was this headache, I might have been better off dying.

  Samell explained, “Just as it was about to attack me, it froze and…fell apart. Turned to dirt and tar. An ugly, stinking mess of soil and clay. You collapsed at the same time and we were afraid you might be dead as well. But your breathing was regular and we figured you’d come to eventually. Took nearly two cycles.”

  “What did you do?” asked Esme.

  I wished I knew but I was paying a price now. “I’m not sure. It’s like I pushed my mind toward it and forced it to disintegrate. But now my head hurts so badly.” I squeezed my eyes closed, hoping the elimination of the harsh light would help. It did…a little.

  “I don’t have head-pain herbs with me and there aren’t any in The Verdant Blight. We’ll have to wait until you’re able to travel,” said Samell. “In different circumstances, I’d stay with you while Esme went for help but if there was one earth reaver there could be more. Our best chance at survival is to stay together. If we’re gone long enough, someone will come looking for us.”

  “The creature was injured,” I said, believing they needed to know this information. “But it doesn’t feel pain the way we do so it just kept fighting. You can kill it if you do enough damage.” The open question was: how much constituted “enough”?

  “Can you tell if we’re alone?” asked Esme.

  “I can’t, at least not right now,” I said. The thought of casting out my senses made me want to retch.

  “Let her lie there and recover,” said Samell, motioning for his sister to join him a short distance away. They spoke in whispers while I drifted into and out of an uneasy sleep. It was late afternoon, verging on evening, before I was well enough to resume the journey. My head still throbbed but the pain was bearable. My “sixth sense” abilities hadn’t returned. If there was another earth reaver out there, I wouldn’t be able to sense it…at least not now.

  “Are you alright to travel?” asked Samell for the third time. Were all boys in this world so solicitous and courteous?

  I nodded my assent. It was time to move from this place. The dead earth reaver was beginning to stink like a swamp. My fragile stomach did a somersault when a random breeze brought a strong whiff to my nostrils.

  “We’re probably going to have to stop at nightfall since we can’t risk lighting torches inside The Blight. We can start up again during Ire-light if the sky remains clear. Otherwise, we’ll have to wait until the morn. The augurs predicted rain on the morrow but they didn’t say whether it would come in early or late.”

  “How far away are we?” I asked. I felt like a child on a car on a long trip. Are we there yet? How much farther? And the answer wouldn’t be meaningful because I hadn’t yet been able to determine how long a cycle was.

  Samell, however, grasped my situation. “Earlier, we walked for nearly a cycle to travel from where we met to this place. We’re close to halfway back to Aeris. But the sun is low and it’ll take less than a full cycle before its last rays have left the land. Normally, traveling by torchlight wouldn’t be considered risky, especially so close to the village. But if earth reavers are roaming, who knows whether there might also be fire reavers? None of those creatures has ever been seen in this part of the land but it’s not something I’d like to chance, not after what we just went through. And a lit torch on a lonely stretch of road would call out to a fire reaver.”

  We walked in silence, our pace painfully slow, as the late afternoon transitioned into twilight. We had moved from the side trail to the main road, a dirt passage through the trees wide enough for a narrow wagon led by a team of two horses. I noticed that the trees here were taller than to the south, possibly evidence that this part of the forest was more mature. There were no signs of other travelers.

  When I remarked about this, Samell explained. “Even during the height of the day, we might not meet anyone on this road. There’s not much casual travel between Aeris and our neighbor to the south, NewTown. It’s a fourday journey and undertaken only for a purpose, usually trade. Wagons frequently go back and forth during Fading season as the villages prepare for Ice, but not at this time of the year. There are patrols all year round, even on the coldest days, but that’s us for today.”

  The passage of time reduced the h
eadache and I was able to focus less on my own misery. As my alertness returned, I became aware of my companions’ injuries. Esme’s were superficial - a few cuts and bruises and one nasty welt on her arm where the creature’s tongue had brushed her. Samell, on the other hand, had suffered significant wounds, including a deep, ragged incision that split half his chest. It was bandaged but the blood was soaking through and it obviously needed re-dressing.

  “It stings,” admitted Samell when I mentioned it. “The healers will be able to care for it when we get to Aeris. They have poultices and potions they can apply that will stop the blood, knit the flesh, and ward showing early signs of infection. Before wearing Esme’s moccasins, keeping it clean had been a problem.

  “If your medicines can do all that, they’re better than the ones where I come from.” Regardless, I’d still kill for a Tylenol or an aspirin. The headache was down to a dull soreness between my temples but it was a distraction. My high tolerance for pain didn’t extend to my brain.

  “It’s one of the benefits of The Verdant Blight. As pernicious as some things about it can be, it offers advantages as well. The magic that makes the leaves poisonous to eat also gives them unusual properties when correctly prepared - as a healing ointment, for example. You don’t have to be a Summoner to use them.”

  Although Samell appeared to be speaking English, there was still a communication barrier. I didn’t understand some of the things he said. A Summoner?

  Once twilight had deepened to the point where visibility was rapidly diminishing, Samell called a halt. “We can continue once Ire has risen but this is as good a place as any to rest for a cycle. Although no one is likely to be using the road by night, we should move off to the side in case. It wouldn’t do for us to be trampled by horses after surviving an earth reaver attack.”