Wilderness Untamed

by Butler, J. M.

  Amelia nodded as she walked beside him, not pointing out that it was still exceptionally unclear how they would get off this world or restore the Tue-Rah. "Makes sense more or less." She shrugged, trying to be more cheerful. "I imagine you would like that. You could have another wife. Maybe you still can if that exists somewhere else and we get off this world."

  He turned on her sharply, his gaze narrowing. "What makes you think I would want another wife?"

  She lifted her chin, frowning as she widened her stance. "Why wouldn't you? Look at me! Take out the locking and look at me. I'm a pain in the ass. My entire life has been built around stopping you. I fought off a mind-eating entity because I was going to kill you. And I have spent most of the time I have known you thwarting you. I don't really think you've enjoyed that. The whole thing with the locking is that it screwed you up and how you look at me. It's just—if you could be sexually attracted to someone else, I don't see why you wouldn't take that opportunity. And I'm not mad at you. I'm just saying it makes sense."

  He stepped closer, glaring at her. "You listen well, you surly little onion fish. If I really didn't want you, I could cut these feelings off entirely and never feel anything like this ever again. I am experiencing this because I have chosen to allow it."

  "Why would you do that when you could have someone who just adores you? You're the one who wants everything."

  "Maybe because I actually do like you. I don't want just adoration. Yes, it would have been nice if you had just collapsed in my arms and said, 'yes whatever you want, let's make this happen.' But I don't want someone else just because that wasn't how you responded. I want you. More than anything. And as you are. Besides, if I wanted you to be that compliant, all I had to do was fry your brain or lobotomize you."

  She paused. "I hadn't thought of that as an option."

  "Oh, believe me, veskaro, if I had wanted to shatter you, I could have. I am excellent at tor—"

  "Hm, yes, this actually isn't a good topic." She shook her head as she stepped back, holding up her hands. "I believe you though. And the core of what you're trying to say is actually sweet, I think. Sometimes you have your moments." Especially lately. He smiled as if he guessed the unspoken part. Her cheeks warmed as that heat spread through her. She resumed walking. "What is an onion fish exactly?"

  "It's a fish about so large that swims in the rivers. They grow these onions in their gill pockets, and if you don't remove them, they'll eventually drown. Or they'll batter themselves black and blue getting them out themselves."

  "Real onions?"

  "Real enough. Imagine eating a kidney and an onion at the same time, and you'll have the approximate texture. It's not that different from eating an apple really."

  She grimaced. "No."

  "You might be surprised at how good it is. The problem with onion fish is they are almost impossible to trap. They don't take bait. They don't follow lures. They don't sleep. They don't play in the current. You just have to run them down. Or find one after it's almost knocked itself out. And that's the most hilarious part of this, veskaro. If you can get to an onion fish in time, you can remove the onions without harming it at all. Otherwise, well, a lot of them wind up dead not because of predators even here in Ecekom but because they bashed their own heads in."

  "I really love how subtle you are with your examples."

  "Subtlety runs in the family."

  "I noticed." Somehow that comforted her.

  He continued to walk beside her, matching his pace to hers. "And in case it occurs to you that I might still be staying with you because I want mindreading, bear in mind that that is a long and slow process, even by Vawtrian standards. If I wanted mindreading, I'd be better suited to finding a way to break the Inimitables. It'd probably work faster."

  "The Inimitables?"

  "Certain things that no one can imitate, no matter how hard they try. A sort of underlying law to all of our abilities. Though I can become practically anything one can imagine, I am not able to recreate certain things. I could not for instance transform myself into a Neyeb and be able to read minds even though I can become a dragon and breathe fire. I can cut off my arm and grow it back, but if my soul was severed, I could not simply regrow it."

  "So you're going to work on that?"

  "I am."

  "And lightning immunity?"

  "And the ability to become lightning if you're counting. Fire too if possible."

  She blinked. "I—what?"

  He gave her a crooked grin. "You're surprised I have goals?"

  "No. Just becoming lightning isn't really a common goal. That has to be painful though."

  "It's excruciating. It helps me keep my mind off other things."

  Like sex probably.

  "Not just sex."

  She glanced at him sidelong. Had she said that aloud?

  "You aren't especially hard to read at the moment," he said with dry amusement.

  "Stop smirking." She quickened her pace. Somehow though she didn't feel quite as bad.

  The books had included sketches of places similar to this but much smaller. It seemed to just keep going and going. The light expanded to fill the space, revealing more and more pillars and columns and squares.

  Naatos halted as they reached a particularly intricate column. It had been hewed and gnawed at more than any of the others. Smaller stone pieces had been set up to support it though most only leaned against it and didn't reach, and there were more than a dozen holes in it. Some form of ivy struggled to grow around it, as if it could fill in the gaps and the holes. Stalactites that hung at an angle and looked as if they would have joined into the main column had been snapped off in jagged spikes. The angled stalagmites at the bottom had faced the same treatment.

  "What is this?"

  He drew her close, kissing the side of her head. "The mind shade was cruel."

  She let him fold her in and rested her head on his chest. The cool air in this place made his warmth all the more comforting. He smelled good too. Like earth and heat and smoke… whatever the rest was. A deep comforting warm scent. Was it because she'd carried it into her mind or just because he was so close to her in the waking world?

  His arms closed around her as he hugged her closer.

  "So what is that?" It unnerved her the more she looked at it.

  "Just part of your mind." He spoke so softly, his gaze still fixed on it too.

  "If you don't answer me, I'm going to go to sleep and then go into your mind to get the answer."

  "Sleep would be good right now." He kissed her gently as her fingers curled against his chest. "The shade hasn't done anything permanent. We'll find answers for all of this, veskaro."

  Her eyes started to slide shut. The warmth grew heavier and her thoughts hazier. "Naatos, I don't think I can keep this connection going." The brief surge that had come from their little tiff and the restorative properties of the tea were both fading now.

  "You can end it. We know enough for now."

  She barely released Naatos before she found herself sliding into sleep. The tapestries returned, and the air remained cold. Then colder. Not murky at least. But crisp.

  That solid and heavy tapestry with the Ki Valo Nakar trapped inside appeared in front of her. She remained on her side, her head resting on her arm as she watched it get bigger and bigger. When she tried to push herself up, her muscles refused to cooperate.

  The other tapestries fell away as the one grew bigger and bigger. Then, silently, the red yarn along the sides pulled back like a thousand centipede legs, and the whiteness of the tapestry spun into two great white orbs. Slowly it stepped out.

  "It's unfortunate you won't remember this, child," it said, its voice at once harmonious and disturbing, buzzing in her ears. "But thank you."

  Her mouth went dry. Ki Valo Nakar? Her heart raced, her breaths narrowing and frosting.

  It tilted its head, the antlers now so tall it reached out of sight and the eyes glowing like two enormous full moons. A great
toothy grin appeared on its face. "I've waited so long. Soon you'll be strong enough for me. We will meet in Dry Deep. Until then, little one, recover. We don't have much time."

  41

  After Darkness Falls

  This family hid many things. There were plenty of things WroOth hadn't told his brothers. But this day had brought with it far too much news with far too many things that should have been disclosed. Anger roiled within him as he paced, but no expression of energy could fully remove this.

  Once Naatos and Amelia entered the deep mindreading, AaQar began preparing another meal. He laid out more meat on the thin grill above the fire. The scent of charred meat should have whetted WroOth's appetite, but he wanted nothing at the moment. Nothing except peace of mind.

  QueQoa tried to coax him over. Even stole his dagger right off his belt.

  It didn't matter.

  The setting of the sun had brought with it all manner of darkness and confusion. In the same day he learned that Rasha was either back or his brother was losing his mind and that his beloved sister had been chosen as a host by the Ki Valo Nakar as well as forced to endure a gluttonous mind shade. How had she survived?

  She had survived though. That was the point. But he could have helped. He should have seen it.

  "WroOth." AaQar turned the meat with the large steel fork.

  He lifted his arms in exasperated frustration. "She told me about the spectral woman. At the Ceremony of the Veskaro. And I told her it was nothing. That she was just afraid. I told her it was nothing, and it was eating her! And she could have died. She would have died from that if things went the way we planned."

  AaQar set the large fork aside and then faced him. "Usually nightmares are not indicative of entities that are intent on eating one's mind. We're a little out of our element with this Neyeb mysticism. All of this is very confusing. We're stabbing in the dark."

  "Stabbing in the dark is all well and good except it means this time we stabbed her." He gritted his teeth as he broadened his circle. "And he decided that the Ki Valo Nakar was something not to tell us!"

  "Naatos chooses his secrets as we all do."

  "That doesn't mean I have to like it."

  "No."

  "And what about you? Rasha is talking to you? Rasha!" He clenched his jaw. Joints popped in his fists and arms as he knotted the rage deeper inside. "She wants us to believe she is a prisoner? Rasha!"

  "She isn't invulnerable," AaQar said evenly. "And it would explain why we heard nothing of her and found nothing."

  "She's also a Thudolyan. They had powers almost beyond measure. She could become anyone." He hissed a long breath through his teeth, his anger rising. "And what of Nydas?"

  Emotion flickered in AaQar's eyes. "He's gone."

  He turned his face away. He'd held onto some small shred of hope that his nephew had survived. But his gut warned him that that was not the case. It was why he knew the rest of his cadre was still alive. There wasn't that pit.

  Whether they could actually return the timelines, he wasn't certain. Naatos liked trying new things, testing the limits. And it wasn't as if he hadn't contributed in his own way. Naatos had actually listened at his proposal of taking Elonumato hostage and launching a full assault on Elonumato's Land to bring Mara and their children back. He'd listened and made his own recommendations, but he hadn't tried to talk him out of it. Some days, it seemed more like a dream than others. Perhaps Naatos only indulged him, but the indulgence of that fantasy kept him breathing some days, and on others it seemed as if it might be a possibility.

  Apparently dreams were making themselves real now. And Rasha was coming back. Or would. Or might.

  What to even think about that? She lived and was a prisoner? It did not settle well within him, but if it was true—

  "Will you leave us?" WroOth folded his arms, eying his brother as he rounded the second firepit. It was a nightmare of a choice. Abandon part of the family to get another part. If he had to leave his brothers to get Mara and their children, then yes. Yes, of course. But it would crush his soul. It was one thing to leave for Mara and their children. Another entirely to leave for Rasha.

  AaQar met his gaze, his expression calm and masked. Just like marble. His light-blue eyes conveyed nothing except contemplation.

  "If you did, it is unlikely we would ever see you again. There would be no way to restore the Tue-Rahs. The Para band wouldn't even bring you back to this time. Who knows what time it would send you to? There would be no way to—"

  "WroOth, I don't even know where she is."

  "You won't promise because you don't know."

  "It's his veskaro." QueQoa remained by the fire. "He can't ignore her."

  "Anything strong enough to contain Rasha is strong enough to destroy you," WroOth snapped. "You haven't even reached half of your former strength. The huanna and ilzinium almost killed you. Again! And this time we won't be there. We can't be there. Because if you go, you go alone. Alone, AaQar. You couldn't even use the Para band to get Rasha out. You might be able to use it to get in and get yourself killed."

  "I am not going to get myself killed."

  "The timing of it is bad too. Isn't it convenient it happens now?"

  "Wro—"

  "Yes, yes, I know what you said. You were too wounded to receive the message before. What an excellent bit of timing that is, don't you think? It comes now, now when we are at our weakest and most vulnerable. Not only do we no longer have our armies, we no longer have our cadre. We barely have our strength. And we know for a fact that someone is trying to enact the darikov against us and is destroying our veskaros and our children. We know we still have enemies. Those who would like nothing more than to see us scattered into ash and dust. What better way to weaken us even more than to lure one off and butcher him as he seeks his veskaro?"

  AaQar simply listened while he ranted. That almost made it worse. Naatos at least got angry and fought back.

  And fight they would when he finally woke up. He cast a glare at his reclining brother as he rounded the firepit again. Sikalt. Garom. Idiot.

  QueQoa stood. "Kuvaste?"

  He shook his head. "Not at the moment."

  "You're both going to eat." AaQar removed the meat from the fire and put portions on the wooden plates.

  "Are you going to kuvaste him?" WroOth demanded. He accepted the plate as his brother pushed it toward him. There were few things quite as cathartic as the sessions when they attacked one another and worked out whatever the issues were through shifting and clawing.

  "No. I'm going to make him talk to me."

  QueQoa laughed, his shoulders shaking. His deep voice boomed through the wilderness. "He will kuvaste you for that alone."

  "Perhaps so." AaQar canted his head, smiling slightly. "Apparently our sister killed a casket weaver."

  "Good for her," QueQoa said. "I wouldn't have guessed it."

  She had lied too? WroOth turned, drawing himself up to his full height. "She what?"

  "He said she ran toward the casket weaver to help him. Which is promising. And obviously she survived."

  WroOth growled. It wasn't that he wanted Naatos dead to a casket weaver. A small flare of pride did spring up that Amelia had managed to kill one on her own. Especially after all of the issues with spiders. But she'd risked herself. Why did she have to do that? Why did the ones who broke the most have to do that? He shot a glare at AaQar.

  Granted, Amelia was more the type to sit on the jaws of death and argue with it while trying to hold its mouth open rather than sliding down its throat.

  But still, it was the principle. She needed to stop getting in trouble and almost dying. If only one member of his family could do that—she probably wasn't the right one for that.

  Naatos roused up.

  Amelia opened her eyes briefly, mumbled something, and then slumped back.

  Sweet falona, how were they supposed to keep her alive in this place? They'd carved out some semblance of safety here, but it would not last
long once they used up the rels. And without elgan steel or karo myrrh or even lungspar, they couldn't make more rels. So how long?

  She wasn't a predator. She was prey.

  Ordinarily that wouldn't be a problem. Everyone had their place in a family.

  Mara hadn't been good at fighting of any sort nor had she enjoyed it. No matter how many times he coaxed her, she'd refused beyond some of the basics. And when he'd tried ambushing her into learning, she'd either curled up like a turtle or started pinching him under his arms. A bizarre and unusual method that had been highly effective.

  The advantage that that brought was that she hadn't put herself in danger. She was more than happy to restrict her adventuring to whatever he came up with and otherwise remain near home and hearth.

  Amelia, for all her strengths, lacked the proper response for fear. There was a wildness to her. He'd loved that about her from the start, but now it worried him deeply. She had just enough skill and instinct to almost do well out here. And while she might not love killing, she did love to fight. If one filtered it through her being her, she'd enjoyed the sparring this afternoon. Just as she liked the animals. They had to figure out how she fit into the sparring and fighting side of the family, and soon. She wouldn't be content with simply being protected.

  "You're awake," AaQar said. "Food or sleep?"

  "Food." Naatos kept his arm around Amelia a moment longer, then smoothed the hair back from her face and kissed her forehead. She didn't even stir as he picked up a blanket and spread it over. Not even as Tacky balanced himself on her hip and kneaded.

  AaQar had already portioned out a large serving of the meat by the time Naatos reached the firepit. He accepted it and began eating at once.

  "So," WroOth started. "How many other monsters are hiding inside her? Any other things you need to tell us about?"

  Naatos shot him an annoyed look. WroOth returned it. "To my knowledge, there are no other entities inside her."

  "And you're sure she's just sleeping? Nothing else is eating her or biting her or any other horrible thing?" WroOth demanded.