Into the Madness

by Richard H. Stephens

  Sadyra placed a slender hand on his chin and turned him to face her. “Look Midge. What Larina is trying to say is this. We call you names and have fun at your expense, not because we think you’re stupid, or ugly, or anything else that may be rattling around in that thick skull of yours. We do it because we’re fond of you.” She nodded at his skeptical look. “Aye. Don’t kid yourself. If we didn’t think you were top branch, we wouldn’t spare an ounce of energy on you. Don’t ever let me catch you thinking you’re anything less or I’ll stick an arrow up your arse!”

  He stared at the warning finger held before his eyes. There was something about the intense look on her face that struck him as funny. A huge smile lifted the pudgy dimples on his cheeks.

  Sadyra smiled back and wiped a tear from his face. “You may be big, but I’m ferocious. You’d best not forget it.”

  He snorted.

  Larina’s voice interrupted. “So, you grew up in an orphanage? Where?”

  His smile fell. He looked at his hands folded in his lap. “Thunderhead.”

  “Thunderhead. That’s a rough town.” Larina nodded.

  “Aye. That’s one way o’ puttin’ it.”

  “How long were you in the orphanage?”

  “There’s another tale.” He didn’t want to say any more.

  Sadyra punched him in the shoulder. “You been hanging around Pops too long. If you have something to say, spit it out.”

  Olmar swallowed. “I don’t like to remember it.”

  Larina rubbed his forearm. “Come on. It’ll make you feel better, trust me.”

  He gazed into her large brown eyes, unable to resist that face. Abashed at the thoughts in his head whenever she paid attention to him, he grimaced. She was right. He was a lunkhead.

  “Alright, but I’m fearin’ you’ll think the worse o’ me after I tells ya.”

  “Ha! We can’t think any worse of you than we do now,” Sadyra smiled.

  Larina cast her a dirty look.

  Sadyra held up her hands. “Sorry, that was a joke. Probably not the best timing.”

  Larina rolled her eyes. “Come on, Olmar. Give us a bit of credit.”

  “Okay, but I needs ya to promise you’ll never repeat it.” He stole a glance at the men watching from around the fire. “That means you too.”

  Alhena, Pollard and Rook all nodded, their faces unreadable.

  “The Father Cloth saw the effect the others ‘ad on me, so ‘e found me a family to live with, out in the woods. The baron no less.”

  “Then you do have a family.” Sadyra’s face beamed.

  His face darkened. “The baron ‘ad two sons older than me an’ a daughter around me age. His wife never took to me. Said I was hideous and claimed she ‘ad enough chores to attend to and too many mouths to feed. She worried they would never be able to feed me.”

  “But if he was a baron, surely he had money and resources to feed one more,” Larina said.

  He raised his eyebrows. “Aye, ye would think. ‘e was tight with ‘is money, that one. Didn’t spread it to ‘is family. ‘e ‘ad other things ‘e liked to do with it. The local tavern often remained open until the dawn caterin’ to men of ‘is ilk. He liked to play at them games men do to pass the time in ‘opes of makin’ a profit. And then there were the lasses.” He trailed off, unsure whether he should carry on.

  Feeling Sadyra’s grip tighten on his arm he continued, “Of the lasses, ‘is favourite was me mam.”

  He sniffed noisily and wiped at his brimming eyes. “Anyway, so as not to bore ye, it came to my attention one night that me mam ‘ad been kilt by a drunken patron. Though I never really knew ‘er, I knew of ‘er. The pain wasn’t any less. She was the only family I ‘ad. Sure she spawned others, their Pops never the wiser, but I never knew who they were. As far as I know, I ‘ave lots a half brothers and sisters. Probably ‘alf the kids at the orphanage. The ones who be ridiculin’ me mercilessly most like.

  “A few days later I overheard the baron explainin’ to ‘is wife ‘e’d taken care of the trollop what vexed her so.” He nodded, chewing on his lips to stop them from quivering. “To spare ye the gory details, the baron an’ ‘is wife never made it out of the manor that day. I fled to Storms End and was ‘ired on by a friend of Captain Thorr to clean the slop from the bilge of an ocean-going brig an’ I’ve never looked back.”

  No one said anything. The fire crackled and popped and a night owl declared its presence.

  “I guess ye’ll be thinkin’ less of me now you know ‘ow ungrateful I was to the baron and his wife for shelterin’ me. I assure you I live with the shame every night when I close me eyes. I lay awake listenin’ to ‘ow the world carries on as it does, the regular folk unthinkin’ of the lost souls livin’ upon it.”

  He tried to get up and walk away. He needed time to compose himself. He had outed himself in front of the only people he had any feelings for, other than his Gerrymander mates.

  Sadyra and Larina buried themselves into his sides, wrapping their arms around his girth the best they could.

  Sadyra snuggled her head against his chest. “Oh, Midge, you silly lunkhead. We will never stop loving you. In fact, I love you more now than I did before.” She lifted her watery storm-greys to peer up at him. “I know the others here agree with me when I tell you, if there ever comes a time, I will lay down my life for you.”

  Olmar’s skin broke out in goosebumps. No one had ever told him they loved him. Not once. In fact, he couldn’t recall a time anyone ever hugged him except for the day a few months back at Madrigail Bay when he’d said good-bye to Captain Thorr, and then again at The Forke a week or so later.

  He smiled. There was one other time. The only time he’d ever held a woman. The day he’d stripped naked and carried Pops across the Madrigail River. The day precious little Sadie broke down at the devastation wreaked upon the farming community of Millsford.

  His lips quivered. He wanted to say thank you but he couldn’t speak past the lump in his throat.

  Sadyra nuzzled into his arm. “You listen here, Midge. I love you like a brother if I had one. In fact, as far as I’m concerned, you are my brother and don’t you forget it.” She scowled at him. “Or else!”

  He spurted a moisture-laden laugh and sniffed loudly. Somehow, he managed a feeble, “I won’t.”

  “As far as Rina goes, well I shouldn’t speak for her, but I’d venture to say she loves you more than that.”

  He frowned. What did that mean? He glanced at Larina but she wasn’t looking at him. She was staring daggers at Sadyra.

  Sadyra laughed and broke free of his heavy arm. She slid from the rock and slapped Larina’s rump. “Well, someone’s gotta say it. The sooner he knows, the better.”

  “Sadie!” Larina jumped down to confront Sadyra, pushing her toward the fire.

  He watched them put their heads together, Larina whispering harshly and Sadyra laughing at her, as they walked away.

  Larina glanced back at him once, a shy smile on her usually confident face.

  He didn’t know if her cheeks were red because she had cried along with him…or, was it something else?

  He wiped his face and shook his head. Women!

  Leviathan

  Melody’s eyes flicked open. Something inside her told her to be afraid. She lay on her back upon a cold, hard surface. A soft blue light radiated beside her, its glow insufficient to see anything but darkness beyond.

  Hysterical screeches sounded all around her, echoing with such a clamour her breath caught in her throat.

  “Mel! Wake up!”

  It felt like a dream. A memory of her life from long ago. A simpler time when she had been but a child, living day to day within the caves on Mount Cinder with…That was Silurian’s voice.

  The events in the cavern rushed back to her. Ice! The last thing she remembered was hurriedly reciting the words for an ice spell. Phazarus had warned her about rushing spells—the consequences of doing so generally amounted to miscasting the intend
ed spell, which usually resulted with a severe backlash on the conjurer.

  Old Marble Eyes sure knew his craft. An acute pain split her head behind her eyes, her vision blurry in the dying light.

  The dying light? Her staff!

  She sat bolt upright.

  “For the love of life, you scared me senseless.” Silurian sat beside her, his ice-blue eyes filled with fear. He pushed her staff into her hands. “We have to get out of here. Fast!”

  Her staff flared to life, orange light illuminating their immediate surroundings.

  A thunderous thud shook the ice. A screeching aquacat squealed louder. Beneath the ice, a fish the size of a small cabin tore at the underside of the trapped creature.

  The rest of the scene slammed into her consciousness. They had been attacked by scores of strange, water walking creatures.

  A few of the less affected aquacats had torn themselves from the ice and were scampering up the chute and out of sight.

  The ice bucked again as the monstrous fish rammed its fang-filled face into the underside of another aquacat. The water beneath the unfortunate creature blossomed into a spray of blood.

  More aquacats broke free of their prison, weakening the ice. It wouldn’t be long before it broke up and cast everyone into the lake.

  Silurian grabbed her staff in one hand and held out his other. “Help me up. We have to get out of here.”

  She wasn’t about to argue. But where were they going to go? They couldn’t follow the steady stream of aquacats scrambling up the ramp.

  She assisted him to his feet, gaping at the blood covered ice beneath his feet. “I need to heal you. You’re going to bleed to death.”

  He shook his head and limped into the darkness toward the far end of the lake. “No time. If the ice breaks, we’re done for.”

  He had a point. She slid after him, unsure of her footing.

  The ice bucked again. The sound of water splashing got their feet moving quicker.

  Silurian slipped and fell awkwardly a couple of times, but got his feet under him just as quickly. She knew he had to be in extreme pain but it wasn’t obvious by the way he raced across the lake.

  Melody struggled to keep pace with him, trying to quell a mounting fear that the lake was probably bigger than her spell. If that were true, they were about to be confronted with open water.

  The ice did look thinner but she wasn’t sure if it was her imagination. Her only consolation was hearing another aquacat fall victim to the leviathan from the deep. It wasn’t chasing them.

  The pale orange shroud of her staff wasn’t strong enough to penetrate the vast cavern walls and ceiling, but as they ran, she thought she saw it slanting down toward a fissure in the cavern’s back wall. They were going to make it.

  “Whoa!” Silurian dug his heels in and cried out in pain. His injured leg buckled and he fell to his side, sliding as the ice cracked beneath him. Before he came to a stop, the ice gave way altogether.

  Melody didn’t have time to slow her progress. An expanding ice crack thundered past her, dropping her into the frigid lake.

  They had almost made it. Her head went under for a moment. the cold water sucking the air from her lungs as she surfaced. The weight of her robes dragged at her, impeding her progress toward the narrow ledge.

  She panicked, thinking about Silurian’s sword belt. Holding the head of her staff as high as possible, she shone its light around, following the thrashing noise of her brother.

  He struggled to keep his head above the surface. He was close to the ledge, but judging by the way he splashed about, he wasn’t going to reach it.

  She’d never had much occasion to swim cooped up on Dragon’s Tooth, but she had been a proficient swimmer in her days at Castle Svelte. Her brother’s need kicked her muscle memory into action and she reached the ledge despite her sodden garments.

  Hand over hand, dragging the staff along the ledge as she went, she made it close to Silurian and extended the length of wood.

  She had to stretch to arm’s length from the ledge, her delicate fingers clinging to the security of the rock as Silurian grabbed the staff and pulled himself toward her, sputtering and coughing.

  As soon as he reached the ledge her thoughts turned to the leviathan. It had been impossible to concentrate on anything else since entering the water but listening for noise above Silurian’s hacking, she didn’t detect a sound.

  That wasn’t good. There was a chance the beast had finished with the aquacats. If that was true, they didn’t have much time.

  She pulled herself onto the ledge, panting. “Quick, we’ve got to get out of the lake.”

  Silurian scrabbled at the ledge. He got an elbow up but fell back in. “I-I can’t. I’m ex…hausted.” He lay his face against the wet rock.

  Melody’s breathing wasn’t coming any easier. Manoeuvring the staff to shine on Silurian, her eyes went wide. At the edge of the staff’s glow, a ripple of water preceded a dark shadow beneath the surface.

  “Silurian! Its coming!” she screeched and dropped down in front of him. “Give me your hands.”

  A thick dorsal fin broached the surface and disappeared.

  She feared Silurian might pull her in but his good leg broke the surface and he jammed his foot against the edge. With a mighty yank, he rose out of the lake and sprawled on top of her.

  They scrambled off balance into the fissure, their shoulders banging off the walls of the narrow passageway.

  A surge of water slapped against the walls. They looked back and fell in a tangled heap.

  Melody rolled to face the lake, bringing her staff to bear but had no breath to say the words she sought.

  A gaping maw of jagged teeth embedded with scraps of aquacat flesh jammed into the fissure and snapped at them. If the creature hadn’t been so huge, it would have surely gotten one of them.

  It sputtered and wiggled, opening and closing its putrid smelling mouth, washing them with a stream of lake water before it thrashed backward and slipped into the lake.

  The ensuing silence was thunderous.

  Melody laid her head on Silurian’s stomach and fought to control her breathing.

  Silurian’s face was pale, even in the warm glow of her wizard’s light. His lips trembled and his eyes stared vacantly at the wall.

  She sat up, remembering his leg. She had to get those breeches off him to ease his pain, but first she needed to generate heat before hypothermia claimed them both.

  Taking a few steadying breaths, she focused her gift into the staff and uttered, “Caloro.”

  The light in the passageway softened and a noticeable warmth radiated from her staff.

  She helped Silurian sit—his body racked with violent shivers. Easing him out of his cloak, she undid the laces on his tunic and pulled it over his head. She considered his breeches but thought twice about it. The cold would be better for his wound until she found time to tend to it properly.

  She slipped out of her cloak and robes—her skin ice cold beneath her thin shift. Shivering almost as much as Silurian, she wrung their clothes out.

  Silurian clung to the warmth of her staff but without her touch its effect waned. She put the sodden clothes aside and sat down beside him, pulling his head onto her shoulder and holding the staff between them.

  “This had better be worth it, Mother,” she muttered.

  Silurian turned his head to look at her, his teeth chattering uncontrollably.

  She forced a smile for his benefit. “Your mother has a lot of answering to do the next time I see her.”

  A slight twitch played at the corners of his mouth.

  “I pity you having to put up with me,” Melody said stroking the side of his head. “I bet you think I’m not much different.”

  Sitting there, rocking her big brother like a child made her curiously warm inside. It was about time she was able to nurture him. He’d spent most of his life seeing to her welfare. She kissed the top of his head, gazing at the entrance to the lake cavern in t
he muted light.

  Her blood ran cold.

  A noise, different than anything they had heard yet, carried across the lake. A clatter she’d heard many times before. The sound of chinking armour.

  Runology

  Sadyra smiled over her shoulder at Olmar and winked. She used her eyes to indicate Larina who rode oblivious to her actions beside her, and lifted her brows twice in quick succession.

  Olmar frowned, not catching her meaning.

  She rolled her eyes and mouthed, “Talk to her.”

  His frown deepened.

  Sadyra sighed and shook her head. This was going to be harder than she thought.

  Catching Larina looking questioningly at her, she faked innocence. “What?”

  “Nothing. I thought you said something.”

  “No.” Sadyra tried to sound indignant. She guided her horse to the side of the trail and pulled on the reins, allowing Olmar and Alhena to catch up. She nodded at Olmar. “Take my place, Midgie, I wish to speak with Pops.”

  Olmar’s brows came together in a deep scowl. Whether she made his nickname sound cuter or because he had no idea what she was playing at, she wasn’t sure, but she loved teasing the big lug.

  Ever since Olmar had opened up about his past a couple of days ago, his mood had improved considerably. He was back to his cheery self and that made her happy. To think that anyone was mean enough to treat the cuddly bear that way made her sick to her stomach. Once this journey was over, she had a mind to pay those ingrates in Thunderhead a visit and make them rue the day they made fun of such an upstanding, loyal man.

  That, however, was another battle. At the moment, she had her hands full trying to coax the lunkhead into making a move on Larina. She feared it might come down to her taking his hand and putting it in Larina’s.

  She smiled. His hand was too big for that. She glared at the back of his head as he urged his horse alongside Larina’s. If he didn’t do anything soon, Sadyra thought she would lose her mind.

  Alhena tilted his funny looking, stubbly head at her. She raised her eyebrows, enjoying the late afternoon sun beaming through the trees and keeping the cool forest air at bay.