Bloodletting Part 2

by Peter J. Wacks

  Kat and Laney’s continued conversation drifted in the distance as she made her way down to the riverbank and sat at its edge. A large tree had fallen over the river just upstream, and she wondered if crossing it and following the river from the opposite side might get them up out of the forest faster, rather than just returning to the old campsite. Something to discuss with the others, perhaps. She reached out with her Geist—and sensed the newcomers right away. Six echoes of life, closing the distance fast. Familiar flares of earthy spirit. Orocs.

  She stumbled up into a run and broke back into the little clearing, breathless. Laney and Kat looked up, surprised, and Sven dropped the stave he was fashioning.

  “What’s going on Halli?” he asked.

  “We have to go.” Halli ran over to Kat and scooped up her provisions and the weaker girl’s pack. “Now.”

  “What is it?” Laney asked as she gathered herself up. All around, the younger children were quickly getting ready to run.

  “Orocs. Heading this way.” Halli bent to help Katerine stand. “There’s a tree making a bridge just up the river. If we cross, we might be able to hide from them.”

  Sven gave her a look, knowing she lied to give the smaller ones hope. They couldn’t hide like that. Even if they dampened, the orocs would be attracted by the blank spot in their awareness, and rushing water did nothing to block their sense of life on either side. They were caught, and he knew it. But he also knew how important it was to at least try. He nodded curtly. “Right. Let’s get moving, littles.”

  They accounted for all the children and hurried to the tree. As they started to cross, the rushing water below scared some of the youngest, forcing them to pause, pick them up, and carry them to the other side, one by one. Once everyone stood on the other side, they rushed onward as quickly as possible, into the increasing darkness.

  Sven’s angry voice caught Halli’s ear, and she turned to see Kat struggling with the boy, having dropped back from the group. She told Laney to keep the others going, and then ran to her friends. “What’s wrong?”

  Sven cast a strained look her way. “She wants us to leave her.”

  “What? No! Kat, don’t be a fool.”

  Kat stared at her, eyes glistening with tears. “You can’t make it with me slowing you down like this. Let me be and escape without me.”

  “We didn’t bring you all this way just to leave you here,” Halli said. “Now let Sven help you.”

  “But you’ll all die if they catch you.” Kat gestured at her stick-thin body. “I can at least be bait. I’ll … I’ll set them on fire, try to scare them away.”

  “You use your affinity right now and it’d probably kill you,” Sven said. “Just come on.”

  “At least I’d die knowing I might’ve helped you escape. You all have done so much for me, I at least want to make it up to you, and this is the only way I see how.”

  Halli hooked under Kat’s other arm. “You want to repay us? Then don’t give up on yourself. Carrying you might get us caught, but losing you would crush our spirits.”

  A sob broke from Kat, but she braced against them and hauled herself along as best she could. They caught up with the rest who’d stopped by a low cliff base that rose from the forest floor, forming a wide clearing. Moonlight cut through the leaves, illuminating a pile of boulders scattered around a small cave. Halli studied the entrance.

  “Should we go in?” Sven asked. “Maybe we could make a better defense there.”

  “Anything could be inside,” Laney said.

  Halli reached out with her Geist, searching the cave and around them. She gasped, distracted from the cave by the sense of the orocs almost on top of them. She knew they had to feel her as well.

  “I—I’m sorry,” she said. “They know we’re here. Their spirit touched mine.”

  “Go,” Sven pointed to the cave. “Get inside. We’ll make a stand there.”

  The children started for the entrance, breaking into a run at Sven’s urging. They almost reached the cave when an oroc’s shout stopped Halli in her tracks.

  “Geist Walker!” The familiar voice echoed behind them, speaking Rocmirian

  “Wait,” she called, slowing the children just beyond the cave. They wavered, staring at her in fear and confusion. She turned as the orocs approached. “Gnarrl?”

  Gnarrl and a handful of orocs strode into the moonlight. He stood before her, examining the group of children cowering by the cave.

  “You’ve brought them far and fast,” he said. “I shouldn’t be surprised by what you humans can do, but still …” His lips twitched. “I am surprised.”

  “Are you here to take us back?” Halli fought the tears welling in her eyes. What difference did it make how far they’d come if they only became prisoners again?

  Gnarrl ruffled the leaves along his arms. “No. We are here to help you home. What we have done to you saplings is unforgivable, but we must begin to try to redress that, to repair balance.”

  Before she knew what she was doing, Halli threw herself forward and wrapped her arms around Gnarrl’s waist. “Thank you!” She spoke in Promencian, so that the other kids would understand the exchange. Tears spilled forth, but from joy rather than despair.

  Gnarrl stiffened in her embrace and the other orocs murmured to each other, but she didn’t care. After a final squeeze, she backed away.

  “What’s going on, Halli?” Sven asked.

  She wiped her eyes clear and smiled at the children. “They’re going to take us home,” she said. Their disbelief eased into tentative smiles, though Sven still looked dubious.

  One of the orocs cried out in alarm. “Gnarrl!”

  Gnarrl’s head jerked up. “I felt it!” He switched to the human’s language. “Saplings, move from cave. Hurry.”

  Halli’s happiness vanished, and she reached out with her Geist, searching for the trouble. Something lurked in the cave. No. Not just one thing. Many spirits. Ones that hadn’t been there moments before, as far as she could tell. Unless they’d been dampened.

  “Get away from the cave,” she shouted, echoing Gnarrl’s words.

  They jumped to obey as the orocs moved around to stand between them and the opening.

  “Aspects save us …” Katerine breathed. Halli shot her a look, but Kat remained fixed on the entrance, eyes reflecting a slight orange glow. Her friend must be sensing something with her Volcon affinity, which meant …

  A wall of fire blasted from the cave, engulfing Gnarrl and the orocs. Kat spread her arms wide and most of the flame stopped just short of the group, a roiling wall of liquid heat. Enough got through, though. The roar of the flames themselves drowned out their horrible cries of pain. Gnarrl and another oroc managed to throw themselves free from the inferno as another, hotter blast struck the rest.

  Kat collapsed, gasping. The children fell to the ground as a wave of heat slapped over them.

  Gnarrl spun around, slapping a huge hand onto the ground. Thin walls of stone shot up, shielding the children. Another blast of fire erupted from the cave, splashing over Gnarrl and the other oroc. Both fell.

  Halli lifted her head as the conflagration extinguished, replaced by the moans of Gnarrl and the other oroc who had tried to crawl to away. Writhing figures swarmed out of the cave, clattering with armor as they glided out into the clearing. They surrounded the children and one spoke in a foreign language. She recognized them, though she’d never seen one in person. Ifrahn. The children of Volterus and Agleiopan. The race of fire and raw force.

  Their black armor looked molded to fit their figures perfectly, almost as if it grew straight from their skin … or scales, Halli corrected herself. Over the armor, hanging in strips, were red cloth ribbons with two-inch slivers of sharp metal at the end of each ribbon.

  Red-brown scales covered their bodies where the armor didn’t, except for a swath of white down their throats and torsos. Their necks flowed up into curving heads, with wide, fanged mouths beneath two black holes that served as a no
se. Their broad, yellow eyes emitted a hellish glow that made their appearance demonic.

  Their talons were covered in vicious metal spikes that bit into the soil and rock. The racket of their movement covered the cries of the children.

  One ifrahn pointed a claw at the two surviving orocs and shouted in its harsh language. Four ifrahn moved forward and took hold of Gnarrl and the other oroc. They screamed as they were yanked up.

  “Humans,” the ifrahn speaker snarled. “Go. To cave.” The children remained too terrified to move. “Go!” the ifrahn screeched. Another armor-clad creature shoved Laney forward, and she hit the ground with a cry.

  “Laney!” Sven cried out, unable to help her with Katerine’s arm over his shoulder.

  The ifrahn dragged her back up and the children started moving to the cave. Everything was happening too fast for Halli. What were ifrahn doing in the Rocmire?

  As they passed into the darkness beyond, embers of reddish-yellow light glowed on the pointed tips of the ifrahn’s metal helmets, illuminating the nightmarish interior. Violent reds and yellow hit the stalactites and stalagmites of the cave, casting toothy shadows that made Halli feel like they were being consumed.

  “We have to do something,” Sven said. “I’m not going to just let them take us.” He passed Katerine to Laney and pressed his hand against the cave wall. Stone spikes shot out toward one of the ifrahn, but another raised its hand Sven’s way. Sizzling filled the air, and Sven jerked away from the wall, palm blistered. The casting ifrahn slithered forward and backhanded Sven, knocking him to the ground.

  “No!” Laney cried.

  “Use magic again and I burn little humans,” the ifrahn said.

  Halli helped Sven to his feet, and they were shoved forward again. They passed through an orifice of thick ice, and the sound of rushing water could be heard overhead. Halli realized they were passing under a river, and the ifrahn had drawn the heat from the waters to create the icy barrier. They descended through the tunnel for what felt like hours until they emerged onto a ledge overlooking a gargantuan cavern.

  Far below, at the bottom of the cavern, lay an endless sea of molten rock. Orange light bathed the cavern. Surely this couldn’t be real. But the heat rising from the magma baked her skin and dried her eyes, painful sensations that reinforced the reality of their situation. Her heart sank. After everything … they had finally been free. There was no escape. For some reason, she and the other children of Jaegen were cursed.

  The ifrahn forced them along a ledge that wrapped around the massive cavern and back through several connecting caves. They dropped down another hundred feet until they came to an outcropping that extended to a giant metal cage. The cage was suspended high over the pool of magma, hanging on a massive chain that disappeared into the darkness above. Their captors tossed Gnarrl and the female oroc into the cage first, then prodded the children in after. The orocs lay unconscious, terrible burns still smoking on their bodies.

  One ifrahn slammed the cage door shut and melted an edge, sealing it. The children huddled in the center, fearful of getting too close to the edge, where they could see the magma bubbling below them. Halli and the others did their best to soothe them, but many shook uncontrollably in fear.

  “I don’t understand,” Laney said, looking just as distraught. “Why is this happening?”

  “First orocs, now ifrahn, the Aspects hate us.” Sven’s fists were clenched. “What are ifrahn even doing in the Rocmire?”

  Halli didn’t have any answers. She fought not to break down as well, knowing if she went into hysterics, the children would lose all hope. Besides, her weeping wouldn’t help their situation. Not that anything would.

  The cage floor was warm to the touch, uncomfortably so, but not so hot as to burn the captives. After a while, most of the children fell into exhausted slumber. Halli untangled herself from them and went to Gnarrl. His body had already started to repair itself, but the burns still looked awful. She placed hands on his head and allowed her Geist to flow into him, encouraging an even more rapid healing. When she’d done all she could for him, she moved to the female and repeated the process. Her burns weren’t as terrible as Gnarrl’s, and she was easy to heal more subtly.

  She lay back once finished and wavered on the verge of sleep when Gnarrl gasped. “Liquid fire!” The oroc sat up and his gaze locked on the magma far below them

  “Gnarrl?” She crawled over to him as he began to hyperventilate.

  “Death by fire is the worst way an oroc can die,” he said between harsh breaths. “We regenerate too quickly. It … can take a very long time.”

  “We’ll find a way out of this,” she said, not believing her own words. It crushed her that even the adults were giving up. Why did she have to be the one to hold everyone together? She took a deep breath and cleared her thoughts. That was unfair of her.…

  “How?” he asked, eyes still cast over the burning pool. “This is the worst fear of my people.”

  “I … I don’t know. But we can’t have come this far just to fail now.”

  He glanced at her, and then away. “I am sorry, sapling. I am sorry.” He lay back down and curled in on himself, looking like little more than a pile of dry wood and leaves.

  Halli stared at him for a while, trying to summon the words to restore their hope. Then she too stretched out, praying answers might come during sleep. Yet she remained awake, pondering how they could be trapped in such a brightly lit cavern and yet feel engulfed by darkness on all sides.

  ***

  Chapter Thirty-six

  Kellian Mikkels

  Kellian wondered at the wisdom of following this woman, Sibyl. Within hours of their first meeting, she’d poisoned six men to death. Yes, the men had intended to kill her and Tetra’s friends, so her motives were well justified. It was the ease with which she’d duped the men into killing themselves that bothered him.

  As the men gave their last, agonized spasms at their feet, Malec and Pavil had proudly announced Sibyl as a Prios, much to her consternation. She didn’t seem to know what to say when they revealed her affinity. He thought he understood, as Prios were the rarest of all human affinities, with only Tempests coming close in how rarely they manifested.

  Among other abilities, a Prios could read the affinities and, to a degree, the magnitudes of others. They could detect when an affinity was being used, by whom, and where. Some even claimed certain Prios could see the future, though Kellian never gave much stock to that particular rumor. Yet Prios remained sought after and highly valued by Promencian nobles, who often had a Prios advisor and a Tempest bodyguard with them at all times. The combination made it virtually impossible to stage assassinations. So why would this woman, who could be rich and powerful, be killing outlaws in the forest.

  The thought drew Major Reynolds to mind, the only Tempest Kellian knew. He’d once heard a guardsman claim Reynolds had served as a lady’s bodyguard somewhere in the northeast before coming to Drayston Castle. If so, it explained why even the officers who outranked him looked to him with such respect. Noble bodyguards often ranked as captains. Kellian wondered what might’ve happened to reduce him back to sergeant.

  Sibyl insisted on leaving the bodies exposed in the forest, saying at least this way they’d be useful to feed the animals. Kellian wasn’t happy with not performing rights. No matter the crime of the person, judgment was best left to the Aspects. But the reason they were here was to find the other children from Jaegen, and losing a day to burying bodies would be enough of a time drain that he kept his mouth shut.

  So they had moved on, leaving the bodies to rot. They’d traveled through most of the night, despite the dangers in the darkened forest. Sibyl claimed she wouldn’t let them walk into anything they couldn’t handle.

  They stopped when she decided they’d left the dead far enough behind, and they settled down to rest until dawn. He volunteered to watch, just in case she had the intention of putting down a few more men that night. Trust wasn’t easy to c
ome by.

  It wasn’t that he thought she was a murderous villain. It was just hard to reconcile her actions with those of someone he wanted standing behind him. She held an obvious, if grudging, liking for Tetra’s friends … but if she’d lived for years in the Rocmire, as she claimed, then it had to be through sometimes harsh means and a willingness to do anything to survive.

  When morning came, they continued until they reached a narrow river, which they followed to a veritable wall of trees. Sibyl showed them the hidden way through, and they walked into a well-hidden camp covering a wide clearing.

  She raised a hand in warning before they got too close. “Say nothing.” Then she strode into the camp like she owned it. “Well, wasn’t that a wonderfully grand waste of time!”

  Men jumped up all around, many looking shocked to see her. A couple smiled, but most wore expressions of shame or guilt. Sibyl studied them in silence, hands near her daggers.

  Then one man spoke up. “We shoulda stopped him. Sorry, Sibyl.”

  Sibyl walked over and mockingly slapped the man, just hard enough to make a soft pop. He grinned, though still looked abashed.

  “Where’s Riktos?” another asked.

  “Dead,” Malec said. “Likely being eaten by now.”

  Equal measures of shock, fear, and relief rippled over the men’s faces.

  “That’s right.” Sibyl raised her voice to address them all. “Shall we remember the outcome of this little coup d’état and move on, or would anyone else like to give it a go?” When none rose to the challenge, she smiled. “Good. Because I’m hungry and don’t like killing on an empty stomach. Let’s get a meal going.”

  ***

  Chapter Thirty-seven

  Malthius Reynolds

  Reynolds and the rest contemplated the camp. They had scouted the borders, then retreated to be just out of sight. Andros had discovered it, claiming it held the concentration of life he’d detected, upwards of two dozen people.

  Without his affinity, they would have never found the hidden grove, shielded as it was by trees that stood like palace columns. Humans wandered in and out, though not orocs. What were humans doing this deep in the Rocmire? What were they doing in the forest in the first place? Advancing their position by a few dozen yards, they studied the thick ring of trees encircling the camp, hiding behind forest foliage, unable to get a better sense of what lay beyond.