Temmi frowned. “So you’re saying you see no difference between slavery and delivering food and supplies?”
Stanna shook her head. “Aside from the fact that all I can do these days is deliver slaves that have been previously purchased or born into slavery, no.”
Niall watched the two of them like a man watching a proper joust. All around them people hawked food and trinkets, blankets and jugs for holding water. So far he’d spent money on a knife, a jug and what may or may not have been roast boar. He wasn’t sure but it tasted good and sometimes it was best not to ask.
“Look, Stanna, I like you, I do, but let’s not go around thinking that what me and my family have done for generations is anything like what you and yours are doing now?”
“How are they different then?”
“Well, for one thing, we never once delivered a person in chains and told them they had to work for someone else for the rest of their lives.”
“That’s true enough.” Stanna nodded. “All you did was knowingly deliver supplies to a people who have hidden themselves away and regularly committed murder.”
“Oh, come on! That’s hardly fair.”
“No, no, hear me out. You took food to a people who couldn’t actually grow their own supplies from what you’ve already said, people who hid behind areas where, if a person walks the wrong path, they suffer from a rotting disease and shit out their own insides. Those are your words, not mine. Without proper training you could have never gotten to this place. And the people you got the food for regularly bathed, anointed then murdered four people every season to appease gods that may or may not even exist.”
“Well of course they exist! They’re the gods!”
Stanna shook her head. “They aren’t my gods. Fuckers took my mother when I was young. I’ll not worship them or follow their desires.”
Niall nodded. “To be fair, I’ve no particular desire to worship them myself. They did choose to take me as one of their sacrifices.”
“Oh, please! Gods need sacrifices!”
Stanna crossed her amazingly thick arms. “What for then? To answer prayers? I prayed to the fuckers to have my mother back. Still dead, thanks. I can say with sincerity that in all my life I’ve never once seen any god answer the prayers of any slave. If they had, the slaves would have run free across the land and I’d likely be long dead.”
“Well. I suppose they need them to keep the world from spinning away.”
“I don’t ever recall hearing that the gods kept the world in place.”
“Well, they made the world, didn’t they? So I suppose they must have the final say on where it spins.”
“Never heard that they created the world. Only that they demanded sacrifices.”
Niall added, “According to my old teacher, the gods killed an entirely different group of gods who had, in fact, made the world.”
Stanna looked at him and frowned. “Truly?”
Niall nodded his head. “That’s what he said and he’s a very wise man.”
“Well then, there you have it. The gods created nothing, they just killed those that made the world and stole it.”
Temmi jabbed a finger into Niall’s chest. “Stay out of it, you.”
“I was unaware I couldn’t speak on these things. Very sorry.” He wasn’t really. It had been a long afternoon and the conversation was at least amusing in an offhand way. The fog around the city was so damned thick he couldn’t see far beyond the dead man in the street.
“Run.” The voice was very small.
“Did you hear that?” He was speaking to either of the women in front of him, really, but they were already debating the ethics of slavery versus selling food to murderers again.
“I can’t see them as the same thing. We shipped food to people who would starve.”
“I ship slaves to people who need laborers. Walls have to be built, houses cleaned, fields tended and crops gathered. In fact there’s a goodly chance that slaves handled the very supplies you delivered.”
“That has nothing to do with what I’m saying.”
“Run. Run. Run.”
“Ladies, I think someone’s trying to tell us something.”
Stanna ignored him and continued, “That has everything to do with what you’re saying. Slaves are purchased. Some of them work the fields, harvest the crops, bake the breads, slaughter the animals, salt the meats that you were bringing to the murderous bastards that were killing people, some of who, by the way, were slaves.”
“Ladies! I must insist–”
“Run!” Tully suddenly barreled through the haze at a speed that was unsettling. Temmi blinked and stepped back. Niall stared as the girl hurdled the dead man and moved across the street, a dagger in one hand. She did not look like she wanted a fight. She looked like she was desperate to escape. “Run, you damn fools! It’s after me!”
Even as she said those words, the fog rippled and swirled violently and the shadowy cloaked form of the He-Kisshi tore through the air after her.
Everyone reacts differently in a stressful situation.
Niall stared.
Temmi backpedaled, her eyes wide. Despite her obvious hatred for the thing, she was also terrified. It had killed every member of her family, who could blame her?
Tully was already in flight.
Stanna drew her sword in one smooth, frighteningly fast gesture and cut through the Undying’s arm and wing as it chased past her on its mission to kill Tully. The great shape immediately fell to earth, tumbling across the cobblestones and roaring in pain as its arm fell away and took a portion of its wing in the process. The slaver did not wait around to see if she had killed the thing, but instead charged forward and drove her sword through its skull, pinning the obscene head. Had anyone ever looked so cold while killing a creature? Niall did not know and did not want to. Stanna was terrifyingly efficient and at that moment the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen.
The hellish thing stood and slapped her backward as if the sword was merely an insult. Stanna rolled with the blow and came up in a defensive posture.
Despite the blow it offered, the Undying was in bad shape, bleeding heavily from the massive wound and, unless Niall’s eyes deceived him, it already had three arrows jammed into different parts of its body. The thing should have been dead. That was, of course, why it was called Undying.
Stanna was unimpressed. A heavy dagger came from the slaver’s belt. Her heavily muscled legs wrapped around the waist of the creature and both of them fell to the cobblestones again. The He-Kisshi screeched and thrashed, trying to dislodge its opponent, but Stanna grunted and locked her legs tighter, letting out a yelp of pain when the clawed hand of the thing dug into her forearm.
“Enough of you!” She roared the words like a battle cry and started stabbing the thing in its chest. The sounds of her blade striking were wet and mingled with the creature’s cries of agony. When it stopped moving she hacked into its neck, working hard enough that her muscles became cords that shook with effort. In short order she pulled the vile head from the He-Kisshi and tossed it aside.
The woman was panting and shaking with exertion, bloodied and wounded, yet still she smiled when she rolled off the corpse.
“Undying.” Her booted foot kicked the bloody skull of the creature away from the body and she spat on the corpse. “That’s for my mother, you foul piece of shit.”
The free hand of the He-Kisshi reached up to a token around its neck and clutched at it. Niall watched it happen. He was almost curious enough to examine the situation but decided against it. The hand uncurled a moment later and there was nothing there.
Tully looked at the resident giantess and eyed her dubiously. “You’re a monster.” When Stanna glared she raised a hand. “I mean it as a compliment. Me and three others took on that thing and all of us together could barely drive it away. You killed it. Flat out killed something called Undying. That is impressive.”
Stanna didn’t actually preen, but she came close.<
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“Burn the body!” Temmi snarled the words.
“No time. I’ve rather a large number of people want me dead right now.” Tully shook her head and headed for the bridge to the other side of town. “And I mean they plan to kill me. So if we could just hurry along I’ve got a place to buy horses and I’ve got your map, Niall.”
Niall nodded. “Well then, we should be off.” He smiled as he saw that the fog was finally lifting.
Temmi shook her head. “Go on then. I’ll catch up.”
Stanna shook hers. “Go with your friends. I’ll handle this.”
“Are you sure? I thought you might join us.” Temmi frowned and actually pouted a bit.
Stanna smiled. “I will, but I’ve a friend of mine I have to check on first.”
“Do you know your way?”
“I know my way and I’m faster than you. We’ll catch up long before you reach Edinrun.”
Temmi managed a weak smile and nodded before following Tully. Niall nodded as well and then followed after the both of them.
* * *
Stanna looked at the body and shrugged. So far it hadn’t gone about the business of coming back from death, but Temmi knew more about the things. If she said it would come back, Stanna would accept it as truth.
Several of the people running the local stands – she couldn’t quite bring herself to call it a market – watched the entire sordid affair and did nothing. Then again, they hadn’t done anything about the body festering in the corner, either, so what could one expect?
Lexx came her way with all of his swagger intact and his face looking much better than it had a few hours earlier.
“Thank you.” He said the words easily. That was a good thing. Had his words been mangled she’d have had to go after the healer and kill him.
“You look well. How do you feel?”
“Better than I have any right to feel. I owe you for that.”
“No. I took the gold from your purse to pay the man. I merely found the man to do the work.”
“Just the same, I am in your debt.”
Stanna shrugged. “Fine. Help me get rid of this and we’ll be even.”
“What is that thing? Is that the beast that whipped me?”
“One of them.”
“What did you do to it?”
“I killed it, of course. Now we have to get rid of it before it heals itself.”
Lexx looked down at the corpse and sneered. Just the same when he tapped the body with his boot he did so cautiously. “I don’t know if you can heal from a beheading.”
“I’ve been told they can. So I am supposed to burn it.”
Lexx shook his head and grunted. “Throw the body in the river. Burn the head. It’s easier to do.”
Stanna frowned and considered that. The river was rather close and she could see his logic.
To make his point Lexx grabbed the head and headed for the closest meat vendor. He drew his hand back sharply and shook his fingers and she saw a few drops of blood spill from their tips. He reached out a second time and was careful enough to grab the arrow shaft stuck through the back of the hood. His expression of disgust when he saw the mouth he’d reached into was priceless.
Meat vendors nearly always had a fire going and though she could not hear the words, she saw him talking with the woman at length. The woman looked dubious until he reached into a pouch and pulled out a coin. After that the business was handled. The vendor moved the grating from over her fire and he dropped the disgusting head of the Undying into the flames. Sparks rose and there were a few sounds that could have been fat burning, or that head trying to hiss without lungs. Either way she felt her skin creep around at the notion.
Stanna looked at the decapitated body. It was disgusting. Fat and bloated, scarred and furred. The claws on the feet were long and the toes of the feet even longer. The hands of the beast were just as bad, with wickedly hooked claws on each long finger. The hand close to the body was burned in the palm, badly enough that it exposed bones. Just to the side of that hand was a heavy gold chain. She took that without hesitation and stuffed it into a pocket.
In any event it was dead. She grabbed the feet at the ankles and started pulling the grotesquery toward the bridge. Thanks to Lexx she had kept her word well enough. He came back her way, his usual swagger still in place.
Without saying a word he looked down at her prize and then grabbed the corpse at each armpit.
“Heavy bastard.” She seldom complained about the weight of a thing, but the thing that should have weighed as much as a man seemed three times as heavy.
“Aye.” He nodded and together they carried the corpse to the edge of the bridge and heaved it out into the waters. It hit with a hard splash then immediately sank into the depths.
* * *
Ohdra-Hun did not die. It could not. It was Undying.
Instead the body fell like a stone and settled at the bottom of the river.
In the waters of that river the Grakhul swam, all of those he had seen the slavers free. Several of them approached Ohdra-Hun’s body and after some consideration they reached for the feet and pulled the corpse along as they followed the course of the river. The current was strong and they used that to their advantage as they left behind their time as slaves, and the human world. They had so very far to go in order to reach the Sessanoh, and as with the rest of the Grakhul, they knew that time was moving too quickly.
Back on the shore, Lexx looked at his fingers and sucked at the wounds.
Rather, his body did. Lexx was dead and currently Ohdra-Hun wore him as yet another form of body.
It will aid you only the once and you will know when to use it. The children are nearing Hollum. Your prey goes to the same place. Do not disappoint.
The children had been freed, though through no actions of its own. Still, it was now released from its obligation and could pursue those who had tried so many times to kill it.
The woman, Stanna, she would die as well, but not before she led Ohdra-Hun to the rest of them. They had names. Niall, the male. Tully, the one that had strangled him to death. Temmi, the one who raged and attacked as if driven to madness by Ohdra-Hun’s very appearance. Had it killed her family? Possibly. Most of the humans meant so little that remembering their faces was a wasted effort. It had taken humans for sacrifice for as long as it had existed and that was a time measured in tens of centuries.
There was enough time. There had to be. The gods were both generous and kind. Still, it could feel the host body starting to die, cell by cell. There would be enough time, yes, but it would have to work quickly.
It had to play its part.
“What happened to the slaves?” Ohdra-Hun already knew, but the Lexx-body did not.
Stanna frowned as she replied. “The thing I killed? There are more of them. They would come looking for the slaves so I free them. I know you disagree, Lexx, but the way I see it, the loss is all on Beron. We would be paid for our efforts, but I don’t intend to die for another slaver’s profits.”
“Then where is everyone else?”
“I sent them on to Torema.”
“So we’re to go to Torema?”
The woman shrugged he shoulders and shook her head at the same time. Ohdra-Hun studied the way her body moved and contemplated where it would cut her first. It wanted the sword-wielding animal to suffer. “You can if you like. I’m going to meet up with a few new people and explore Edinrun for a while. I’d like Beron to have a chance to calm down before we cross paths once more.”
What would Lexx say? It had to think about that for a moment, but the answer was there. The gods allowed only one attempt to get revenge and they were good enough to allow Ohdra-Hun to know facts only Lexx could know.
“I’m in no hurry to debate anything with Beron. I’ll stick with you.”
“I have always said you were a wise man.”
“I have always said you should learn to judge men better.” Ohdra-Hun made itself smile with the tiny,
insignificant mouth these humans endured.
“I judge men very well. That is why we are not going to meet up with Beron just yet.”
Ohdra-Hun smiled with Lexx’s mouth a second time. “Perhaps the winged things will kill him and save us the troubles.”
“That would be lovely. I know where he keeps his monies and I have papers upon which I could fake his mark.”
“Enough gold to buy an empire, even with all that he’s lost.”
“Aye, unless he spends it all on revenge.”
Ohdra-Hun contemplated the words again. The name Beron brought with it an image of a dark-skinned man with a penchant for raw brutality. Ohdra-Hun was not worried. It would kill the woman, kill the others and leave their rotting corpses long before this Beron could hope to find them.
Besides, the others would likely kill Beron soon enough.
Thirteen
Beron
“I will see them all dead. Every last one of them.” Beron was talking to himself as he did from time to time. Sometimes the only good company he could find was himself and that was especially true when it came to intelligent conversation.
The weather had continued to worsen, but they were making progress. They were south of Hollum and a few more days would see them finally in Torema.
He was considering the city where every vice was yours for the asking, when he spotted the riders. He should have been happy to see new faces, but he was not. Their appearance made him leery.
A sharp whistle escaped his lips and a moment later the archers were ready. The damp had done nothing to make his soldiers happier, but they managed just the same.
Levarre rode closer. “Who’s coming?” The man had found him, brought another hundred sell swords along too, and fresh supplies besides. Levarre was a good man and trustworthy.
“No idea. But they are far away from any kind of civilization. Either they bring a message or I kill them.”
“Do you recognize them?”
“Too far away.” Beron shrugged.
“I actually came to tell you that one of the guards says he saw the Undying heading for us.”
The Last Sacrifice Page 26