by H Waters
“Perfect!” Alaric confidently proclaimed, pointing at a large overhanging rock. “We can make camp for the night under that.” I slung my bag off my shoulder and set it under the overhang.
“Collect branches of whatever shrub you can find,” Scarlet told me. “We should get a fire going.”
I whistled for Lucy to follow, but she darted off after a large rabbit. I walked until I could barely see Alaric and Scarlet anymore, then pulled the small wooden box out of my pocket. I opened it and examined the key. No one had told me what exactly it was used for, but Alaric held it to such a high importance. I closed the box and put it back away. “So much hate for such a small thing,” I muttered out loud to myself. The branches of the shrubs were too tough to break by hand so I used my sword to hack them apart and carried a bundle back to camp, setting them near the already burning fire.
“You know swords of such power are not created to cut shrubs,” Alaric smirked as he wiped sap off his own blade. I laughed and whistled for Lucy.
I waited a little while, but Lucy was not responding. I began calling her name and looking around.
“Found her!” Scarlet yelled, pointing to a rock cluster in the distance. Lucy came bounding over with a large rabbit in her mouth. She dropped it near Alaric.
“At least we won’t starve to death,” Alaric laughed, petting Lucy on the head. Alaric skinned the rabbit and set it over the fire on a few sturdy sticks.
“Dante has probably not travelled this ‘secret path’ he marked on the map for quite some time. What is our plan B if the path is no longer in working order?” Scarlet asked the group.
“The merchant’s route is the next best thing,” Alaric stated.
“Well, what route would Gorelock and his army take?” I asked.
“The merchant’s route is no place for a large army, too hard for horses, carts, and so on. They would likely use the old world highway,” Alaric answered. “It cuts through the east of the mountains.”
“What is an old world highway?” I asked Scarlet, confused. Sometimes they forgot we all don’t live for hundreds of years.
“In Kata you had roads made of tar and concrete, correct?”
“Yes, quite a few,” I replied.
“Okay, so a highway is like those roads except much larger,” she said. “They had to accommodate large trucks that carried goods all across the country, not to mention the endless amounts of civilian vehicles.”
“I wish we had one of those civilian vehicles now,” I laughed. “Then we would not have to walk so much.”
Alaric took the rabbit off the fire and separated it into even portions, throwing the head and all the organs except the heart to Lucy. Alaric popped the heart into his mouth, chewed for a few seconds and swallowed.
“You are disgusting,” Scarlet told him as she took her food.
“The heart is the best part,” he declared.
She smiled and began to eat. It was nice to see Scarlet smile. As hard as this journey had been so far, it felt nice that we could still joke and have a laugh once in a while. I looked at Scarlet with hesitation and, trying not to bring down the mood, I asked, “Why would they want Gorelock and all those Ghouls at a university? I thought those were places of education, just books and boring classes?”
Scarlet stopped eating, but did not look up to meet my gaze. “Not this one,” Scarlet said with equal parts anger and sadness. “The Necromancer makes sure of that.”
“Who?” I asked.
“The puppet master of those demons,” she answered.
“Grrrrrr,” Lucy growled, breaking the tension as she tried to get a bone away from Alaric. The bone slipped from his hand and she rolled back. Once she was to her feet and realized she had the bone she let out a series of happy barks, but they were soon drowned out by higher-pitched barks off in the distance.
“Wolves,” I said, barely able to get it out I was so scared.
“Calm yourself, young Keybearer. They are nothing more than coyotes off in the mountains,” Alaric said confidently. “Sound carries for kilometers out here. You would know if you were hearing a wolf.”
All at once the coyotes ceased their barking, making way for a heavy deep howl that sent shivers down my spine. “And that’s a wolf,” laughed Alaric.
“Why are you laughing?” I screeched. “It’s Lycaon, he is coming for us.”
“Not all wolves are Seekers, I am sure it is just a pack on the hunt for some dinner. No need to be worried,” Alaric said. “Now get some rest.” I hadn’t even noticed the sun had sunk behind the mountains, leaving our small now-smoldering fire as the only light to be seen.
“Yeah, you’re probably right,” I said, crawling in under the overhang with Lucy and closing my eyes.
XI
“Hey, get up Echo,” Scarlet said in a soft voice. I opened my eyes to see only darkness.
“What, why?” I groaned in an extremely annoyed tone. “It’s still dark out.”
“Turn over,” she laughed. “In all my years I have never met someone who could sleep all day and still be tired.”
I could hear her voice grow farther away. I slowly turned around, feeling very sore from sleeping on rock. As I rolled to a stop light poured over my face from the morning sun.
Looking out from under the overhang I could see Alaric playing fetch with Lucy, his bag already packed. Scarlet was throwing the coals, sticks and bones from last night’s fire off a small cliff into a ravine. “What is that accomplishing?” I asked her, dragging my sword and bag out from under the overhang with me.
“If somehow Lycaon or whatever other dark creatures lurk out here pursue us, we don’t want to leave any evidence of our trail,” she replied.
“I surely would be Seeker chow or worse without you two helping me,” I said. “Thank you for everything so far.”
“Ah, no problem, young Keybearer,” Alaric hollered just before taking a swig out of a large black jug with the word Treason on it.
“It’s not even full sunrise yet and you’re drinking,” Scarlet scolded him.
“It’s light ale,” he said. “Doesn’t even count as drinking.”
“Oh, how responsible of you,” she said, rolling her eyes.
“Well, it’s only because I ran out of the other stuff,” he laughed. Scarlet turned away and called him an idiot but she smiled, the same comfortable smile I saw on face last night around the fire.
“They bicker like an old couple,” I whispered to Lucy, who was lying down beside me also not wanting to get up. “Maybe they have a past, how scandalous,” I said. She got up and walked away. I guess I am overthinking, I thought to myself.
“Well, we best head out and see if this path still exists,” Alaric said, already walking towards the mountains. I threw my pack on, called for Lucy and followed.
We fumbled over the jagged rocks that now covered the ground. There was no sense of a trail, just Alaric and the old map, trying to find Dante’s pass. The surrounding mountains and hills made it incredibly difficult to tell the time of day.
“We should be at the entrance soon!” Alaric hollered from up ahead.
“If we encounter Gorelock, how do we defeat him?” I asked Scarlet.
“We don’t, we will avoid Gorelock. Our goal here is to see what is going on in that wretched university,” she quickly replied.
“So we are just going to leave him alive, to keep on killing? To bring this world more death and despair?”
Scarlet stopped and turned towards me. “This world has been crumbling into death and despair for hundreds of years now. Ever since the Black Bloods marched on the old world. They brought entire countries to their knees, all while turning their own people into Ghouls, growing in numbers and power. They became unstoppable, but you lived your happy little life inside city walls, amongst friends and food. I am mortal and so are you. We will be torn apart by Gorelock. Alaric could probably hold his own for a while, until he is ripped apart and nothing but a pile of rotten flesh. We are not gods!
We got lucky with two of the shittier Devil’s Legion! If we start playing ball with their A-listers then we are good as dead!”
“But Alaric is immortal!” I yelled back.
“Sure, he can regenerate from a wound from the average man’s dagger, but not from this type of steel,” Scarlet said, dramatically pulling my sword from my belt. Its black steel glistened in the sun. “Nobody is safe,” she said, sliding the sword back into its sheath.
“Found the path,” Alaric hollered from up ahead. I turned away from Scarlet and continued toward Alaric, trying to hold my tears back. “You see this pile of rocks?” Alaric said, pointing to a towering pile of boulders wedged between two cliffs. “That’s your friend’s path.”
“Can we climb over?” I asked him.
He turned to me, clearly hearing the sadness in my voice. “No, look up — it is far too high.” We were at the base of the enormous mountain range we were looking at from the overhang yesterday. “But no need to be so sad, young Keybearer! We can take that other path I was talking about!” he proudly proclaimed, patting me on the back a little too hard.
Alaric examined the map Dante gave us and pointed to the path entrance we were standing at. Sliding his finger along the map he said, “If we follow the base of the mountains to this marking here, we should find the merchant’s pass.”
“The path goes through the mountains, so the incline will make walking a little harder than it has been,” he said. “But there is a small trading town called Treason in the mountains along the pass. We could spend the night there, resupply and get a shower,” he added, with childish excitement.
“That town’s just pirates and Clurichaun,” Scarlet sighed, rubbing her temples.
“Nonsense, it is a place of wonder and opportunity!” Alaric declared.
“Have you ever been there sober?” Scarlet groaned.
“Of course,” he replied with a smile.
“Stop whining,” I told Scarlet.
“Grow up, we don’t need drama,” she said.
“Well, how about you don’t scream at me next time?” I told her.
“Uh, ladies. How about we focus on planning our route, so we can maybe get this done before we are Ghoul chow,” Alaric quickly added.
“Fine,” Scarlet and I both huffed in sync.
“Once we leave Treason, the path forks,” Alaric said.
“Well, the lower pass is considerably less risky,” Scarlet stated. “But will take us to the university’s front door.”
“So after Treason we will take the high road,” Alaric stated. “Surprise could be our best advantage.” Scarlet and I nodded in agreement.
He folded the map up and said with a smile, “Well, first things first, let’s get to Treason.” He began following the path at the base of the mountains, and we promptly followed.
“Why is he so happy about this detour?” I asked Scarlet.
“You know that jug he was drinking out of earlier? It’s from a small inn located in Treason. My guess is he’s looking for some more ale.”
The trail was considerably better than the rough rocks we were previously walking on. The rocks were much flatter and well worn by foot and what looked like horse traffic. The pass was fairly narrow, with considerable inclines and sudden twists left and right. As the hours passed and we ventured into the mountain, the rock walls beside us grew in height. By now the pass was hemmed in on both sides by thirty-meter-high walls. The only ways to go were forward, back or up. “It should be just around the bend here!” Alaric said enthusiastically.
Once we came around the bend there was a split in the mountain. “Ah, yes, through here,” Alaric said.
“Isn’t that just a cave?” I asked.
“You will see, young Keybearer!” yelled Alaric, already walking into the dark entrance. Scarlet rolled her eyes and followed. The cave was a long straight corridor lined with lit torches. Alaric disappeared out of sight and then so did Scarlet. Lucy panicked, chased after them and was gone out of sight as well.
Even with the torches the cave seemed dark. “Alaric! Scarlet! Lucy!” I screamed, very confused. I kept creeping forwards, following close to the wall. As my hand passed along the rock wall I noticed it was warm and the air was heavy with moisture. Much different from the cool fall temperature of the mountain pass. All at once my weight left me. I was falling. The torches could no longer be seen and the firm rock I’d been standing on gave way to loose dirt that did not let me catch myself. I rolled and slid until THUMP, I hit the ground. Opening my eyes, incredibly sore from the fall, I saw Alaric laughing at me. “What happened?” I asked, rubbing my head and eyes.
“You found the door to Treason,” he laughed.
“Here,” Scarlet said, extending her hand to me. I grabbed it and got to my feet. Alaric, Scarlet and Lucy were standing in front of an extraordinarily large sea of golden plants.
“What, what is all of this?” I stuttered in amazement.
“Barley,” Alaric replied.
“And those green patches?” I said, pointing to the various patches of green plants intersecting with the enormous gold one.
“Hops,” he replied.
“How? Why is this all here?” I continued to inquire, very confused by my surroundings. Alaric whistled and Lucy perked up, trotting down a dirt path that cut through the massive fields.
“Let’s walk and talk?” Alaric said in a jittery tone, following Lucy down the path.
“You see, this here town was originally a monastery. The monks chose this location for obvious security reasons,” Alaric explained, motioning to the massive natural stone walls surrounding the endless fields. “Along with security it has no ceiling, unlike most of the other caverns in the area,” he said, motioning to the blue sunny sky above us.
“And then the monks moved out and the merchants, pirates, Clurichaun and other scum moved in. The end,” Scarlet snipped, obviously annoyed by Alaric’s tourist-guide bit.
“Why would there be pirates in the mountains?” I asked both of them.
“Well, underneath this magnificent mountain lies a massive underground river that flows to the ocean,” Alaric answered, obviously happy to be able to talk about Treason again. “Making it a perfect location for pirates and merchants alike to stop for a while and trade.”
“So there is a port under us?” I asked.
“Yes ma’am,” Alaric answered.
“Stop talking like that,” Scarlet snipped again.
“And those little people?” I asked, pointing to a group of little men — only just past knee height — who were harvesting hops and loading it into a trailer pulled by two goats. The men had fluffy white beards along with bald heads. They were all shoeless and shirtless, wearing only red pants held up by yellow suspenders.
“I do not know,” Alaric said, sounding very confused. “But I am sure the innkeeper will be able to fill us in,” he added with much more confidence.
We followed Alaric and Lucy down the path until we were standing right in front of a tall wooden gate. At the top of it hung a sign that read Treason. Extending out from the open wooden gate were old wooden fences that ran all around the town. They could not have been used for much more than just looks — they were short and patchy, and anything trying to get in or out could easily hop them or slip through the broken boards. They reminded me of old Western towns from a book I had in Kata.
Alaric led the way into the town, stopping only a few steps in at a post that was covered in all kinds of arrow-shaped signs. He began reading all the signs, trying to find the inn he’d got the jug of ale from so long ago.
“Does this town look a little abandoned to you?” Scarlet asked me. I looked around at the houses and shops. They were all made of wood. Most of them had broken windows that were boarded up, the little paint that was left peeling off the outside walls. There were no lights or sounds coming from them. A couple of buildings even had barbed wire around them.
Alaric seeming to be completely oblivious to the red
flags all around us, was still enthusiastically searching for the inn. A loud BANG came from our left, followed by a few more.
“What was that?” I asked Scarlet, trying not to sound scared.
“Sounded like gunshots,” Scarlet replied grimly.
“But I thought no one used guns out here?”
“No, some people do. They’re just hard to come by — especially finding ammunition.” She said.
Lucy went left following the loud gunshots. Alaric took his attention from the confusing signs and followed Lucy with his hand on his sword, looking a little less enthusiastic. We walked slowly and cautiously, twisting through back alleys and small dirt roads, until we could see the building where the shots were coming from. It had a large sign reading Treason Tavern and Inn.
“That’s the place,” Alaric whispered, motioning for us to get down behind a flipped-over wagon.
“I count two people,” Scarlet said. She pointed at the window overlooking the bar. Inside an old barkeep was busy refilling large beers for what appeared to be very small men. She then turned her gaze to a window at the far right corner of the building. Through the window I could see a bearded man with a leather hat, sitting alone at a wooden table, sipping what appeared to be some sort of liquor.
“Well, we best go return my jug,” Alaric declared, standing up and walking towards the inn.
“He’s an idiot! We’re going to get killed!” I whispered angrily to Scarlet. Scarlet let out a conciliatory sigh and stood up, following Alaric’s lead. “Well, let’s stay here where it’s safe,” I told Lucy, petting her soft head. Scarlet whistled and Lucy ran to her. I muttered a few cuss words and followed suit.
Once we walked in, everything went silent. The bearded man and the barkeep both looked at us, alongside the glare of at least fifty little men. They all looked disturbingly similar, just like the little men in the fields. The bar was made of mainly wood except for the face of it, which was covered in old stone. A large wooden beam stood at either end of the bar stretching from the floor to the ceiling, and a few similar support beams were staggered throughout the bar. At the rear right stood a staircase leading up to a hallway with at least a dozen doors.