3
I held one hand up to shade my eyes and did my best to count the men riding toward us. It was awfully nice of them to line up in neat rows, further separated into squads of fifty. It wasn’t so nice that they outnumbered us two to one. The red and black crest that flew on all of their banners meant nothing to me, but it had set Kara off on an angry and, I suspect, fearful rant.
“The scouts weren’t exaggerating.” In my experience, scouts were always exaggerating.
“I told you they weren’t. My scouts know better than to exaggerate.” Kara knelt beside me on the crest of the short hill. I don’t think it mattered if we were spotted at that point, but it was an old scout’s habit to stay out of sight.
We both turned and slid down the hillside to where our horses waited patiently. I use the term “horse” loosely. The creatures were twice the size of any horse I had ever seen. While their bodies were indeed horse-shaped, they were covered with bone plates. Their snouts ended in claw-like mandibles, partially hiding razor-sharp teeth. Nonetheless, they were intelligent, loyal, and vicious in battle. They still made me nervous, though.
As we mounted, the truth of the situation weighed heavily on us. Silence reigned for most of the ride back to the camp. Chival’s men had found us with no trouble, meaning they had brought some of his magic users with them. The men were also career soldiers and fully mounted, which left us no option but to pick a good position and hope for the best.
“Tell me something, Kara,” I started hesitantly. “Do you know what happens . . . ?” I struggled to give voice to my concern. Death was an uncomfortable subject for me. Before I left home, I had never known anyone to die. Even our most infamous villain had simply been exiled to another world . . . this one. “I know these bodies die, but surely the Abomination created some kind of afterlife for you.”
Kara didn’t respond at first. I couldn’t blame her for that; this was an odd conversation at best. The subject of mortality was incredibly uncomfortable for a people who encountered it so frequently. When she did finally answer, it wasn’t what I expected.
“Who is Abomination, and what does he have to do with the afterlife?” Her body tensed up, and I could see that I’d offended her, which was a small victory for my social skills, but another loss in my efforts to be closer to her.
I wanted to say the right thing, but I had no clue what that was. “Abomination is the only one of us who ever deserted our world. He left the community and came to this world to live as a deity. I believe you have another name for him: ‘Angel.’”
That wasn’t the right thing to say. I really should have thought it through further. Most people really didn’t care about the few deities in this world, but it would be just my luck that Kara was one of them who did.
She stopped her horse. “So you’re saying that one of your outcasts is the Lord of Life and Death. I don’t think you understand what you’re saying.”
“I apologize, Kara,” I began defensively. “I didn’t mean to offend your beliefs. However, it is the truth. He may be something greater to you, but to us, he’s just our most infamous criminal.”
“Like I said, Elin. You don’t get it.” She pressed her hands to her face for a moment in frustration, then held them out in front of her. The way her fingers curled, I worried that she might be considering strangling me. Her mouth wasn’t turned down in anger, though. She finally just pointed at me and blurted out, “If all of that is true, then you’re a god, Elin. Unless it’s some grand trick, Angel did create the entire human race, and he created the Underworld.”
I was relieved that I had misread her excitement as anger. My relief was short-lived, though, as I realized where this train of thought was taking her.
“You are a god, aren’t you, Elin?” Her breath caught, and I could see that the train had arrived. “You could create your own race, and you could save us from Duke Chival. You could . . . ”
“Stop!” I knew I shouldn’t be feeling the anger that rose up in me. It was an odd reaction to the fear that was filling me. I assumed it was just another effect of the body I was currently wearing. “We don’t know how he did it. I have created some creatures—races, if you will—but they’re nothing more than puppets. There is no way we can instill in them the souls that Angel gave to you. I just don’t have the kind of power that he was able to take hold of here. I’m sorry, Kara, I can’t save you.”
“That’s unfortunate.” She took the outburst well, much better than I would have expected. “Then I suppose we should just go back to the first plan.”
“What was the first plan?” I asked.
“Do you think you could ever love me, Elin? Despite our differences?” Her voice was quiet and gentler than I’d ever heard it.
“That doesn’t sound like a very good plan.” I hoped to deflect the question.
“Please answer me, Elin. When you go and find a new body, or go back to your world, will you think back and miss me?” She seemed small and frail in a way that I had never seen her before, and it worried me. Even when I first met her, when she was alone in a strange world, she had never shown fear.
“Kara.” I moved my horse closer. “I can’t imagine that there is anyone else in this world I will miss more.” I wasn’t a great rider, but I was able to place my hand on her leg and squeeze gently, smiling affectionately. “Now let’s focus on keeping everyone alive so that I don’t have to.”
Something I had said did the trick. Kara’s back straightened, and she placed her hand on mine for a moment before grabbing the reins in both hands and looking toward the camp on the horizon.
“Let’s go, then. We’ve got a big day tomorrow, and maybe some of us will even manage to survive it.