Death Comes To All (Book 1)

by Travis Kerr

  "We don't have much farther to go," Raine commented to him quietly when she thought that Raiste wouldn't be able to overhear. "I don't think that we can make it before nightfall, but unless I'm wrong that's what he plans on trying to do anyway. I remember this place well. I'm thinking that we have about another five hours of daylight left, and the Hut is at least six hours away on foot. Still, it's almost all solid ground the rest of the way, so we should be safe enough leading the horses. We might even be able to ride them for some of that distance, which would allow us to get there before it's too dark to see properly."

  "We'll be continuing straight on from here," Raiste said from where he leaned against an orange tree several yards away, confirming what Raine had already suggested. "We should make it there shortly after sundown, if we hurry. If we have to we'll make torches to light our way, but we should make it there before the light fades entirely. Tomorrow we'll empty out a few packs and come back here. We can pick enough to keep us through the winter if we need to. There are a few other types of plants we can still gather as well, tubers and greens, those sorts of things. We shouldn’t have any food shortages this winter."

  After less than fifteen minutes rest the group set out again. Trick flew in lazy circles overhead, undoubtedly watching the land and water for any possible dangers. Bane didn't think they really needed to worry much about the wildlife. Soon most of the native reptiles, certainly the most dangerous of creatures they were likely to encounter, would all be hibernating through most of the winter.

  Bane was more than a little skeptical about spending the entire winter in a what his companions had been calling a hut with two other people for such a long time. Always before he had spent the winter on his parent's farm, and he had originally planned on spending this time working in one of the cities.

  Certainly everything that had happened had changed that. He didn't think that would even be an option anymore, even if he had wanted to try that lifestyle. The mages would surely be hunting him now. The cities would no longer be safe for him.

  Perhaps it won't be as bad as it sounds, he thought. Sure, there won't be much in the way of privacy in a small hut, but it wouldn't be much different than camping on the road.

  It was just one more experience in his new life; an unexpected experience to be sure, but not necessarily a bad one as long as he learned from it. There would be a myriad of new experiences in the life he now faced, he knew, filled with new knowledge and discoveries.

  His magic, for instance, he might never have discovered if the life he had planned had become his reality. Granted, he still did not know how to control his magic, but he had never expected to have magic to begin with. Raiste had already told him that he would help him learn how to understand and control his magic, if it was even possible. His life had been changed forever when he met Raiste and Raine, for better or worse.

  The only thing I can do now is wait and see where my new life takes me.

  As Raiste had predicted, the sun had already set and the light was beginning to fade away when they arrived at their final destination. They wouldn't have much time before the light would no longer give them any aid, he knew. Perhaps another half an hour, if they were lucky, and then they would need some other form of light to see by. In the distance he could see the pale moon rising on the horizon. It appeared to be full enough to help them outdoors, he thought, but he didn't believe it would help them inside.

  The place they had come to was nothing at all like Bane had expected however. Nothing at all. His companions had been calling it the Hut, but such a name was as far from accurate as possible.

  Calling this place a mansion would have been closer to the truth.

  It was a huge, sprawling structure, nearly completely hidden by the thick vines that covered it. Bane was surprised that, given its apparent condition, the swamp hadn't completely reclaimed it. Certainly at some point in the distant past it had been the home of some rich family, but no longer.

  "What has happened to this place?" Bane asked in awe. He couldn't be certain of the true size of the building in the dim light. A thick screen of cypress trees, clotted with hanging vines, obscured the view of everything but the front face of the building. Dull grey paint, which Bane believed might once have been white, could just be seen underneath the green of the growth that covered it. The panels along the side of the wall appeared to be made of painted wood, though Bane believed they must have been made by some longer lasting material.

  It might even have been built in the days of the ancients, Bane thought.

  If that was the case it was in remarkably good condition, especially considering it seemed to be abandoned by all save the few who knew the way, which began and ended with Raiste most likely. Bane was certain he couldn't find the way on his own, and Raine had already told him that she had only been there once before herself. They tied the horses up to a tree and headed for the entrance to the building.

  "I don't really know for sure," Raiste answered quietly as the walked up to the door. "I found this place by accident many, many years ago, and this was more or less the condition it was in when I found it. I should say that Trick found it really, and led me here. It was less than a year after I had found his egg, but he was already smart as a whip. I was in bad shape at the time. I probably wouldn't have made it another day or two without some sort of shelter.

  "When I first came here I was amazed that it was still standing," he continued, pushing hard on the heavy door that led inside. "There are no longer any roads that lead here. As far as I know, the path we took is the only one that leads here without the use of a boat. My first time here, I had to wade in water as high as my neck, and expected an alligator to pull me under at any time. In the back of the house stands what's left of what used to be a dock. Perhaps the original owners traveled by boat. It had been abandoned long before I came here."

  The inside proved to be an even greater surprise. The clean walls in the first room they entered were painted a cheery sky blue, still in as good a condition as it likely had been on the day it was painted. A wide staircase led to the second floor from the middle of the room, which appeared to be made of cherry wood. It was waxed to a smooth shine, covered with only a light layer of dust that coated everything in the room.

  Several doors, Bane counted seven, led to other rooms on the first floor. On the floor above, a wide balcony surrounded the entire second level, looking down into front room, and he could see more doors on that floor as well. Above them a huge skylight, extending the entire length of the room, allowed the fading light from outside to shine in.

  "The only thing I've done with the place was to sweep the dust off the floor," Raiste told him. "The material that this place is built from is like nothing I've ever seen anywhere else. As far as I can tell, it doesn't corrode or wear down at all. The only damage is on the back of the building, where a fallen tree came down into one of the rooms. There are other places where branches and such came down on top of the place, but the building material is so strong it protected it. When we last left we covered the furniture with cloth to protect it from dust, but aside from that I've never had to do a thing. Even the furniture here is made of that same sturdy material, or a softer variation of it anyway."

  "This place is amazing. It's nothing like I expected. Why on earth do you call it the Hut?"

  Raine chuckled. "That was a bit of a joke actually. I had mentioned that if people knew the type of place we had really gone that everyone would want to come here, so we should act like it's some rundown shack in the middle of nowhere, crawling with spiders and snakes. That way no one would ever want to join us. No one would normally want to join us anyway, and you're the first we've invited, but the name stuck."

  "Raine, why don't you get the fire going while Bane and I unload the packs and take care of the horses," Raiste suggested. "Come on Bane. There's a barn in the back where we can stable the animals for now. It's in pretty bad shape. I never had any reason to clean it out before now. This is the
first time I've ever brought horses here. We'll either have to clean it out in the next few days or we'll have to do something with them, either take them somewhere to sell or let them go free. We don't have enough feed to stable them all winter, so if we keep them here we'll have to find something for them to eat in the coming months."

  As he headed for the door, Bane saw Raine disappeared through a door on the left-hand wall. He should have guessed that a home such as this one would have a fireplace. He didn't need to wonder where she would find the wood. If Raiste wanted her to build a fire it was likely that they had already stocked wood during their last visit, or that there was a ready supply somewhere nearby.

  Bane helped Raiste unload the packhorse, and the two men led the animals to what was left of the barn. Raiste hadn't been lying when he said that the structure was in a horrible state of disrepair. Unlike the main house, this building had been built of standard wood. Two of the supporting beams had rotted out completely. Almost half of the roof was missing, probably torn off at some point by one of the many hurricanes that had blown through the region in the years since it was built. Strangely, most of the outer walls seemed to be intact.

  Bane was amazed that the building was still standing. If he was right, and the main house was built during the Age of Technology, that would make this place over four thousand years old. He wouldn't have expected anything that was made out of normal wood to still stand.

  Perhaps they treated their wood with something, he thought, though certainly not whatever the main house was made of.

  "Are you sure it's safe to leave the horses in here?" he asked skeptically. "This place doesn't really look structurally sound."

  "You're not wrong about that," Raiste laughed. He opened the door to the building, which promptly broke off, falling to the ground with a loud crash. For a split second there was silence as the two men looked down at the wooden door. Finally they couldn't hold it in any longer, and they both cracked up laughing.

  "So where are we going to put them instead?" Bane finally asked once he was able to catch his breath.

  "We'll have to put them in here. As bad as it is we don't have any choice in the matter. You might not believe this, but it's probably safer for them in there than it is to let them run loose. We'll have to do something with them in the next few days. If a bad storm rips through here we won't have to worry about them anymore. They wouldn't survive it. For now we'll just bring them something for their water, and bring them their food for the night. We still have our own things to put away."

  Bane didn't feel happy about the conditions they had to leave the horses in, but couldn't think of anything else he could do to help them. It was not that he had gotten attached to the animals. It was just that he didn't think anything should have to live in such conditions.

  He knew, however, that Raiste wouldn't want them to either. He wouldn't have been lying when he said that he would think of something over the next few days.

  The poor animals will just have to deal with it until then.

  Once the horses were taken care of as best as possible under the circumstances, the two men went back inside. Raine had lit a few oil lamps that were spaced around the walls, giving them enough light to see the entire room much clearer than they had been able to when they first came in. Though the moon was nearly full, it was not positioned correctly to shine into this room.

  They had left all of their gear in a pile by the front door. Now it was time to deal with it. First step was to put away the food they had brought. Raiste led the way to the kitchen, where they found Raine already cleaning out the cupboards.

  "I've taken out everything we left, which thankfully wasn't much," she informed them. "It looks like rats have gotten into everything that wasn't sealed shut. We'll have to throw away anything that was left behind. Even the stuff we had sealed in jars has gone bad, but that’s nothing more than what we expected. I've already started a small fire in the living room fireplace. We can cook there, or start a cooking fire in here for our dinner tonight. I'll leave that up to you."

  "How does the rest of the place look?" Raiste asked her.

  "As far as I can tell it's pretty much just as we left it, though I haven't been upstairs yet. I uncovered the furniture in the other room. Aside from a thin layer of dust, I haven't noticed any difference. I'm not sure if you remember how much firewood we had left, but I checked into what we have down here and there’s enough for about three or four days. I don't remember if we left any upstairs. Is there anything I've missed?"

  The feral woman had such a clear look of amusement on her face that Bane couldn't help but laugh. It seemed that, now that they had arrived at the closest thing they could call a home, their frayed nerves were finally settling. Relief was taking its place, and once more the jovial manner that Bane had seen when he first met them was returning.

  Ever since they had left the city they had been different. The strain it had put on them must have been greater than he had realized. It had only gotten worse since they had seen the shadow dragon. Now they felt safe and could at last relax again. They had tried to hide it before, but the difference was clear.

  Still, there was work to be done. They were safe now, granted, but they still had a mansion to clean. They wouldn't do much that night, at least Bane hoped they wouldn't, but a building this size must take a tremendous amount of work to keep tidy. They had been traveling all day, and the only thing that Bane wanted to do was to go to sleep. He knew, however, that he wouldn't be so lucky.

  "For now let's just put away our food and cook dinner," Raiste suggested. "We can cook on the fire in the living room. There's no sense in starting a second fire in here now. Once we're done in here, I'll get the cooking started while the two of you check out the rooms upstairs. Stick to the west wing for now. I didn't see any damage from outside, so the rooms on that side should be intact. Pick whichever room you like. There's fireplaces in each of them, though there will only be wood in the rooms we were in last time. Raine, I'll be in the same room I used before. You can take some of the wood from there for Bane's room. It's still fairly warm, so I don't think I'll be needing a fire tonight. Go ahead and take as much as you need."

  A short time later, the food and kitchen supplies had been put away. Gathering their things from the front room below, Raine led Bane upstairs to the bedrooms. The second floor, Bane discovered, was every bit as spectacular as the floor below it.

  At the top of the stairs, Raine turned to the left. Doors along the right hand side led into various rooms. A banister on the left of them looked over the main room below. Half way down the walkway the path split, one part turning left to continue around the entryway, and the other half continuing straight on, leading to other rooms. She stopped at the second door they came to and went inside.

  "This room here is mine," she informed him. "Raiste stays in the room at the end of this hallway. You can pick any of the other rooms you want. Just strip the bed in your room for now. I'll bring you sheets and blankets shortly. I'll be here cleaning up things and unpacking if you need anything."

  That said she turned away from him and went back to her work. Bane went back the way they had come and took the first room they had passed, not seeing any need to move further away from the stairway leading to the first level. Why Raiste had chosen a room at the far end of the long hall was a mystery to him.

  It would have made more sense to stay closer to the stairway, where there was less walking, and away from the outermost walls, where it would be more difficult to heat the room from the winter chill, Bane figured.

  Of course, I don’t understand half the things that Raiste does.

  The inside of the room he chose was in a terrible state. Dust, perhaps an inch thick or more, covered everything. Every step he took left large footprints in the dust beneath him. He could just make out a set of smaller footprints, from a raccoon he suspected, that led in from one of the open windows and back out again. It was clear from the additional layers of dust that n
early covered those prints completely that whatever animal had made them had left long ago, however, and he knew he wouldn't come across it now.

  He walked over to the bed, which was covered with a thin sheet of the strange, unknown material he had seen covering everything downstairs. He slowly removed the sheet, careful not to get any of the dust that coated it on the mattress underneath. Once the mattress was uncovered, he dumped his gear on top of it.

  I’ll leave my things here until I’ve had a chance to clean the rest of the room, he decided.

  Obviously his companions had only cleaned the rooms they were staying in. There hadn't been nearly that much dust in the room that Raine was using or in any of the hallways.

  Aside from the bed, there was very little in the room. There was a small stand that sat next to the head of the bed. Like the bed, this small table was also covered with a sheet. Unlike the cheerful colors of the downstairs rooms he had seen, the walls of this room were painted a dull, flat white.

  There were two paintings in the room, one on the wall to the left and one on the right wall opposite it. Bane couldn't tell what they were under the layer of dust that coated them. There was also another small door along the back of the wall to his left, likely leading to a closet of some sort, he assumed. Along the right wall was a small brick fireplace.

  He ran the back of his hand over the glass that protected one of the paintings, revealing a portrait of a young woman in a long, mint green dress. She was sitting on some sort of bench, which was completely white, and swung freely on an iron chain. The woman's dark hair hung passed her shoulders, falling across her ample bosom.

  Could this be a portrait of a real woman who had once lived in this very home, or did she only live in the artist's imagination, he wondered. Either way, the woman portrayed was exceptionally beautiful.