by Wade Adrian
"So you told her to let me leave, now you're telling me not to leave."
"You choosing to return will not make her seem weak. Think of all you could gain. It might take time, but you could end up Prince Consort."
He scoffed. "It will make me seem like a lost puppy."
"Since when do you care about your public image?"
"I don't. But I'm still leaving."
She laughed. "It's adorable that you think so. You are bound to me. I will not allow you to leave."
"Hmm." He tilted his head a bit. "I've been thinking about that." He lifted the crow skull. "This thing really is tricky to get rid of."
"It is a part of you now. A permanent connection between us. It marks you as mine, now and forever."
"I guess. Thing is, while I have tried to ditch it, there's something I have yet to try." He tightened his grip on the skull.
There was an audible crack.
"Stop that!" Corvi's voice echoed across his mind, a screech right beside his brain. "You can't be rid of me so easily!"
"See, I noticed people who actually cared were careful with these. They take care of them. I threw mine away a few times, but it's pretty light so that wasn't likely to hurt it. But this?" He clenched his fist tighter. "Seems to get the job done."
Corvi was quiet for a few seconds. "You insolent cur. How dare-"
Her voice cut off as he clenched his hand as hard as he could, the skull breaking into sharp fragments.
When he opened his fist chunks of tiny skull fell away, turning to dust before they hit the ground.
Nearly half the skull was still in tact, hanging from the cord, but her voice was gone.
He would miss the power the skull had given, but it came with a cardigan worth of strings.
The broken skull slipped out of his fingers and dropped back against his armor.
Hmm.
He didn't hate it.
He didn't want any of Corvi's cronies bugging him. Hopefully the broken skull would clue them in to that.
Feathers flapped above him.
Already she was pulling this stunt? He must have gotten further under her skin than he intended.
The crow landed on the top of his horse's head. The horse shook back and forth, the bird flapping its wings and hanging onto the mane with its feet.
After the horse settled down, accepting the annoying stowaway, the bird turned to look at him.
"Where we go today?"
The voice was Skip's.
He blinked a few times. "Umm... south."
The bird turned its head that way, tilting back and forth. "South is warm."
"Yes, it is."
"Okay. We go south." The bird hopped off the horse's head, taking to the sky.
Tom watched him with a raised eyebrow. "So did that not work?"
"As far as I can tell it did. Her voice is gone." He picked up the hanging bit of skull. "But it seems like this part still has some juice." He held it tight, reaching out to Skip...
Nothing.
It was like the bird wasn't there.
"Huh. Or not. Damn. Still talked to him, though."
"Oh, goodie. That was probably the least useful part."
"Yeah, I guess."
Skip chirped excitedly. "I see water!"
Max smiled. "But my favorite part."
Tom pointed ahead. "Lovely. Keep it quiet. Looks like we found the place."
A camp fire was burning just off the road. It was too far to see much, but Max could make out one horse tied up nearby.
They rode up without any attempts at stealth or subterfuge. Their outfits made both kind of difficult.
No real need. If this was the place, they were expected.
And if it wasn't... well, that would be awkward.
A hooded man seated by the fire gave a nod as they stopped and tied up their horses. "Evening gentlemen."
Tom plopped down beside the fire. "What's for grub."
"Umm... I caught a rabbit." The hooded man pointed at a skinned rabbit cooking over the fire.
"That looks more like a rat. And not even a big rat. You are a terrible host."
Max shook his head as he removed bread and dried meat from his horse. He'd purchased plenty of food on his way out of town. "Don't let him push you around."
Tom nodded. "Don't worry, I won't."
Max sighed as he sat and warmed his hands. "You're looking well."
The hooded man bowed his head. "Thanks to you."
Tom scoffed. "You mean thanks to me."
"I meant both of you." Einar removed his hood. "Without you, I'd be dead."
Tom pointed at the kid. He'd somehow taken the rabbit and was helping himself. "And don't you forget it."
Max ignored him. "Well, you're free now. Things are... tense back home, but no one is looking for you. Still, I wouldn't go that way if I was in your shoes."
Einar shook his head. "I never intended to. Things have been... wrong for some time. Happy to leave. Think I'll go south."
Tom nodded. "It's away from your sister, so I'd recommend it, yeah."
Max raised an eyebrow at that. "She isn't that bad."
Einar shook his head as he poked the fire. "She's an ice queen. She used to chase squirrels with a stick and ordered servants to throw their shoes off the roof into the lake when they messed up her breakfast."
"Yeah, well... she was much nicer to me."
Tom finished the rabbit in short order. "Well you're generally nice to people you want to sleep with."
Einar stared across the fire at Max. "You slept with my sister?"
Max rolled his eyes. "Okay, first, none of your business." He pointed at Tom. "Or yours. But really, so what?"
Einar's head tilted to the side. "Did your dick fall off?"
Tom burst out laughing. He fell over sideways, laughing until he had to stop to catch his breath.
Max crossed his arms. "I don't see what's so funny."
Tom managed to right himself, though he was still catching his breath. "Ah, man. Einar bringing the heat. High five." He held his hand up.
Einar just stared. "What?"
"Do like this." Tom kept his hand high.
Einar seemed confused, but he did it.
Tom hit his hand. "High five. Good job. Now you know."
"I... see? Like some kind of salute?"
"Yes." Tom nodded. "Generally done for good things. Like, say, what Max did with your sister, but with normal women."
Max threw his hands up. "There is nothing wrong with Tovi! She is a kind, sweet, beautiful young woman."
"If you think so, then why did you sleep with Eira?"
Max blinked a few times. "How did you know about-"
"I didn't." Tom shrugged. "You just told me." He rubbed at his chin. "Though that does put you ahead..."
"Ahead of what?"
"In the tally."
Max stared. "Tally?"
"When was Eira?"
Max shook his head. "I'm not dignifying this."
Einar looked downright uncomfortable, eyes on the fire.
Tom tapped a finger against his chin. "Was it with Tovi? She did seem really close to those girls that follow her around. But wait, if that was the case there is a second one. She wasn't holding the camera, since they don't have those so..." His shoulders slumped. "Wait, so I'm two behind? Damn it."
Max rubbed at the bridge of his nose. "This is stupid. You're stupid."
"What's stupid about that? People talk about this sort of thing all the time. I bagged Iona twice. Once at the Narwhal and again at the Rock. Maybe at the castle. I was pretty drunk and can't remember. I like to think she's bragging, too. I mean, I'm quite the catch. War hero. And if we did at the castle, too... that means you and I are tied. Numerically, anyway."
Max gave Tom a level stare. He wasn't going to get over this.
Fine then.
But he wasn't going to win, either.
"No. We are not. Tovi, Eira, and Kira in the castle. Tovi in her chambers, all
three in Tovi's hot spring. Tovi wanted to go, but I was uncomfortable with her guards watching, so she had them join, which I admit wasn't exactly comfortable at the time, either."
"Wait... was that the same hot spring I used? Because that's gross."
"No. You bathed in a public hot spring open to anyone working in the castle."
"That... is actually worse. Ick. Still tied."
"And Eira at the Spider."
"Narwhal."
"Whatever. I win."
Tom's face twisted up. "I'm still thinking about the hot spring... think I might throw up."
"Yeah, well, don't ask questions you don't want the answer to."
"Now that you mention it, there probably wasn't a good answer to that question."
Max almost jumped out of his skin at a new voice.
"That kind of mentality never lead to any worthwhile knowledge."
35
The young woman seated beside Tom had a strange mess of blonde hair sticking out every which way, like no comb would dare to touch it. She was dressed in garish mismatched colors and patterns that seemed to change each time Max blinked.
The very image was almost headache inducing.
And one of her eyes was... different than the other, too.
He would have questioned what he was seeing, if Tom wasn't looking at her too. He didn't seem bothered, just surprised.
Einar's eyes were wide enough to fall out of his face.
"Answers are important. Especially answers you don't want." She nodded her shaggy head.
It seemed to take her a moment to notice everyone was looking at her. She turned this way and that, her strange eyes staring into Max's.
There was something... unsettling about that gaze.
Tovi and Corvi might have made him feel like a piece of meat a wolf was pondering, but this thing... it looked at him like there was a mixed up Rubik's cube in his place.
"Can you see me?"
Max stammered. "Umm... yes?"
She held up a hand, looking it over. "Interesting..." She turned to Tom. "How much have you done in my name, acolyte?"
Tom shrugged one shoulder. "Most people around here don't want to hear your name. But we did a lot, and people know who I represent. For someone nameless, most seem to know it anyway."
"So, knowledge spreads in the world once more. Fitting." She shut her eyes, tilting her head to lift one ear a bit. "I hear... my name. It is spoken. This has not occurred in an age." She tilted her head the other way. "Much of it is rude. Spoken as a curse. The moniker of a monster. But some... some is more open. Questioning why it was forgotten and forbidden." A smile grew on her lips. "A beautiful few, bright spots in the dark, like dancing stars... offer praise, thanks, and even some small prayers." She opened her eyes, turning to Tom. "They speak your name too, acolyte. You have made this possible."
Tom nodded. "They better know my name. Worked my butt off. Besides, it was inevitable anyway. I could have told you that from the start. They tried to erase you, but that only makes people curious as to what was there and why someone bothered to try and forget. Made a mystery out of it. People love mysteries. They would have been wiser to just cast you as their local boogieman. You'd have a few nut-job worshipers, but no one else would take them, or you, seriously." He noticed Max and Einar's expressions. "Oh, uh, yeah so, guys? This is Yar. Yar? The guys. You know Max."
She smiled at him, her head tilted almost sideways.
It was fucking creepy. Max shied away a bit.
Einar cowered when that smile was pointed at him.
Max shook his head. "I've never seen a god in person, and I had to deal with Corvi for days on end."
Yar turned her gaze back to him. He wished he hadn't spoken. "Corvi may well be stronger than me just now, but she uses her power, throwing it around. She has many servants, but that means dividing her strength towards different ends. I have but one end, and but one acolyte."
Einar had a hand held up in front of him, keeping it between him and her. "Are you really... Yar? The god of madness?"
"No." She shook her head. "I am Yar, the god of lost marbles."
Tom nodded. "Get it right, Einar."
Yar stared at the boy. "Odd. Many voices believe you have died. The countryside is aflutter with it."
He pulled his hood up. "Umm... yeah."
"You appear to be alive. Will you inform them of their mistake?"
"Umm... no."
Tom chuckled. "Death was a way out of this place for him. His own family was trying to do him in, so I figured I'd do him a favor and let him try his luck elsewhere. The trick was keeping it from Corvi. She has a lot of eyes, two of which were Max's. He's been dodging her for days."
Yar tilted her head at Max. "You kept a secret from Corvi? Huh."
He shrugged, though he also inched away from her a bit. "More than one, actually."
"She must really like you."
"To not kill me? She tried, once. Honestly I was kind of going for the other end of the 'like' spectrum."
A tiny laugh bubbled up from the strange young woman. It ended up a boisterous belly laugh. "Oh my, no. To keep a secret from Corvi is to give cheese to a mouse. She used to be a god of wisdom, you know. She became obsessed with knowing things others don't, as if no other knowledge mattered."
Tom tugged on his beard. "Wait, so you guys branch off? How does that work?"
"She and I both began as the same thing, gods of knowledge. Knowledge has many differing paths, of course. Religion, politics, history, warfare, magic, and so forth. An endless plethora, really."
"Then which is your branch?"
"All of them." She nodded to herself. "I could never hold one source of knowledge above another. I want it all, and seek it all. Most assumed such a thing could not be, that no god could hold all knowledge. That it would drive them mad."
Max's eyebrow crept up. Odd that he agreed with... every other god.
Her eyes latched onto Tom. "Are you done with your silly errands here, then? Excellent. The door awaits you."
Tom nodded. "Cool. I'm game for anything that gets us closer to our people faster."
"Distance holds no meaning in that place."
Max frowned. "Umm... I feel a tad out of the loop here."
Yar's creepy gaze returned to him. "You must come as well. I insist. I need one such as you and my acolyte to open the passage. Two is better, in case of death or dismemberment. You'll need thumbs. Possibly both of them."
He stared. "Right. That makes... sense?"
Yar nodded. "Then the matter is settled. Continue south. I will find a way for your weak fleshy forms to approach the door swiftly and with a minimum of permanent damage."
Tom chuckled.
When Max looked again the strange young woman was gone. He stared at where she had been. "You... deal with that all the time?"
Tom shrugged. "Her showing up is a tad rare of late, but she was busy and so were we. Probably be more common now."
"You have my pity. I think I almost prefer Corvi."
"You do you, man. Yar hasn't tried to kill me yet."
Max nodded a few times. "Fair point, though she did say I'm just as good for this job of hers."
"You're not just as good. You're an acceptable back up. A stand-in. My understudy."
"I actually prefer that."
"Good." Tom nodded.
Einar was making a study of his pack, digging through it. "Well, I'm going south, but I think I might find a different way."
"Nonsense." Tom shook his head. "We'll get into all sorts of trouble."
Max rolled his eyes. "On purpose, generally."
Tom ignored him. "Great opportunities for glory in battle and all that other dumb shit your people live for."
Max scoffed. "How could he ever say 'no' to that?"
"Right?"
Einar frowned. "It's fair to say I owe you quite a bit. If you asked, I think I'm honor-bound to do as you say."
"Which is why honor is dumb. But I'll
take it. You're hired, aside from the part where we're not paying you. But you do get to risk your life on our behalf anyway."
Max shook his head. "You're welcome to go as you please, Einar. We don't save people just to make slaves of them."
"Well you don't."
"But you're welcome to share the road as long as you like. Safer."
Tom scoffed. "If there's two bandits left to rub together in this country, I'll eat my hat. We went all Genghis Khan on their butts."
Einar stared at the fire for a few moments. "You spoke with Corvi. I saw Yar with my own eyes." He shook his head. "Perhaps Boran isn't all stories either. I don't much care for this place... but that doesn't mean I don't hold to his ideals. You protected me. I'll honor you for that by protecting you, as best I can, for a time. At least until I feel the debt is settled." He nodded, as if he'd convinced himself.
Tom held up his hand again. "Awesome."
Einar gave a questioning high five.
"That was a contractually binding high five, by the way. Welcome aboard, pack mule." Tom dug through his pack, pulling out a wrapped bundle. "This calls for a celebration, but I don't have any alcohol. So, mushrooms it is." He tossed one at Max and another at Einar. "Need something to get that stringy overcooked rabbit taste out of my mouth."
Einar held the mushroom away from himself. "I'm not going to eat a snowcap. I grew up here. You can't fool me that easily."
"Well jokes on you then. It's a whitecap." Tom popped one into his mouth.
Max watched for a few moments.
Tom didn't puke... or die.
He sniffed at his own.
It smelled right. There had been days in the past he'd practically lived on these things and whatever water Tom could drag up. He learned not to ask where the food came from. Tom had gotten over poisoning him for fun a long time ago.
Of course, poisoning Einar for fun might be a whole new game.
He took a hesitant bite.
It tasted right, too.
"Huh. I thought these weren't local."
"They aren't." Tom nodded, eating another.
"How did you get them?"
"Magic, duh."
Einar set his on a stone by the fire. Not the most trusting soul.
Smart.
Tom snatched it up and ate it. "You need to grow a pair, kid."
Einar narrowed his eyes. "A pair of what?"
Max sighed. "Never mind."