heading north?” He asked simply.
“We’re heading north.” She agreed.
39
She asked for Alassane in every town they passed through. Luckily Alassane’s sickly figure was easily recognizable, so she knew if someone had seen him, they would remember him.
Occasionally, someone admitted to have seen him, but every time it had been weeks ago. The people who had spotted him were few and far between, and she wasn’t able to figure out where he was going. She only knew that he had been in the area a long time ago.
They had just left another town where no one seemed to know anything. Exhausted, Selissa threw herself on the grass in the clearing where they had set up camp.
While traveling, they had mostly opted for sleeping outdoors. In one of the first towns they had been in, Selissa had attempted to get an inn room. The innkeeper, however, had noticed Ardeth’s mark and promptly told them to get out of his inn. She had hurriedly dragged Ardeth away, trying to explain to him that it wouldn’t be acceptable for him to murder the innkeeper.
“This is hopeless.” She sighed as she relaxed against the ground. She would have given everything to lie in a soft bed, but for now she decided to settle for the next best thing.
“I could have told you that.” Ardeth said as he lay down beside her. His hair was loose and it sprayed across her arms. Absentmindedly, she grabbed a piece of it and let it run through her fingers.
“I wish this could all just be over…” She said softly.
Ardeth raised himself up on his elbow and looked down at her.
“What would you do if it was all over? Go back to the temple where you grew up?” He asked.
She lay down on her back, letting his hair slide from her hand. She watched the sky thoughtfully as she pondered his question.
“I don’t think so… It’s never really been home to me.” She said. “Maybe travel… Not because I need to or because I’m running for my life, but just travel… See new places.”
He smiled down at her. “Sounds nice.”
She made an agreeing sound, but didn’t say anything. Part of her wanted to ask him what he would do, but she was afraid of the answer she might get. For all she knew he might just wander from town to town, stabbing random innkeepers.
She wondered how he had come to be like that. She didn’t understand his total disregard for human lives, but she knew he had to have lived a tough life.
She rolled to her side and looked thoughtfully at him. She carefully placed her fingers against his cheek, tracing the tattoo there. He lay completely still and watched her intently.
“How did you get this?” She spoke quietly.
He closed his eyes and leaned into her touch slightly. He was silent for a while before speaking.
“I was eleven. The blacksmith of the little town I grew up in had seen me pull a bone from my wrist, when I was playing at the lake.” He said softly. There was no emotion in his voice and Selissa wished she could know what he was feeling. If he was feeling anything at all.
He slowly opened his eyes and looked at her. “When I got home, he had gathered most of the townspeople and brought them to our house.” He continued. “They were yelling and my mother tried to calm them down. She was crying.”
Selissa kept quiet, but continued to cradle his face in her hand.
“When they saw me, it got worse. My mother tried to prevent them from getting to me, but they didn’t care. When she refused to move, they started beating her. They kept on hitting her until she stopped moving.”
She felt tears run down her cheeks, but he continued to speak as if his own words didn’t affect him at all.
“They dragged me through the town. I let my bones grow out to cover my skin, so they couldn’t hit me. They had four full-grown men restraining me, as they tattooed the mark on my face.” He said. “In the end, it wasn’t enough.”
She slowly let her hand fall from his face. “Did you kill them?” She asked.
He watched her. “Yes.” He said simply.
Tears continued to stream down her face. Ardeth looked at her curiously.
“Why are you crying?” He asked softly.
She smiled sadly at him. “Because someone needs to cry for you, when you can’t.” She answered.
He watched her, confusion clear in his eyes. She guessed he had never had anyone show compassion towards him and didn’t recognize the feeling.
He slowly raised his hand to her face and brushed away the tears from her cheek. He looked into her eyes intently.
“No one has ever cried for me before…” He said softly. She smiled at him and laughed softly.
“There’s a first for everything.” She said.
He slowly leaned closer to her, and she felt her heart catch in her throat as she realized what he was doing. His hand slowly made its way to her neck, where it gently held her head in place.
She knew she should be pushing him away. This was in every way a bad idea, but the logical part of her was strongly overruled by the part that wanted to kiss the man in front of her.
She closed her eyes as she felt his breath ghost over her lips. She could hear blood rushing in her ears, making her slightly light-headed.
She was not sure what happened next, but it definitely wasn’t what she expected.
Before she was able to register what was happening, she was thrown to the ground by Ardeth’s sizable body weight. They tumbled to the ground in a tangle of limbs.
She was just about to start yelling at him, when something massive hit the grass in the exact spot they had been in before.
She looked in shock at the creature in front of them. It had to be at least three times the size of a wolf and instead of skin or fur, it was covered in scales. Its jaws were big enough to easily engulf her head and massive fangs were protruding from them.
And it was snarling at them. And drooling.
“What the hell is that?” She asked horrified. Ardeth didn’t answer her immediately, but pulled them both to their feet and stepped in front of her protectively. Bones shot out from his arms and shoulders and covered him like a bizarre armor.
“A Devourer… It must have tracked us down.” He said and kept his eyes on the beast. It returned his stare, or at least she assumed it did. She was not quite sure it actually had eyes or if they were just hidden underneath the scales. It growled at him lowly, but kept at a distance as if it was assessing him first.
“Devourer?” She asked warily. It certainly looked like something that devoured unfortunate travelers that got too close. “Great, it’s going to eat us…”
“Nah.” Ardeth dismissed her easily. “Just you.”
She stared at him. “What?” She asked dismayed.
He smirked at her over his shoulder. “Devourers feed on magic. You’re probably a feast to them.”
“My, isn’t that just flattering?” She asked sarcastically.
“They’re demons who can sense magic. They must have tracked you down.” He explained. His eyes flickered across the forest clearing. “And maybe you should know this…”
“What?” She asked.
“They travel in packs.”
40
Snarling, scaly beasts started stalking out from the shadows of the forest. Low, animalistic growls erupted all around them, and Selissa wrinkled her nose in disgust when she saw large drops of drool fall from their mouths.
“Stay behind me.” Ardeth said. “They will go for you.”
She opened her mouth to say that she was not some damsel in distress who needed to be protected, but in the same moment one of the demons slammed its jaws together with a loud, snapping sound. She promptly shut her mouth, deciding she could handle being protected just this once.
Ardeth reached out behind him, so his palm was facing her. She watched as a sharpened bone slowly slid out of the palm towards her.
“Take it.” He said. “Magic won’t work against them, so use it until you can get to your swords.??
?
She stared uneasily at it, but her swords were currently just inches away from one of the beasts’ feet, and she didn’t fancy the idea of being completely defenseless against a horde of demons.
She grabbed the bone and it slowly slid all the way out, leaving only a few drops of blood in Ardeth’s palm as the wound healed.
She tried very hard not to focus on the fact that she was actually using his bone as a weapon and turned her attention to the demons.
They had begun circling them, obviously trying to find the easiest way to get around Ardeth. One of them took the chance and leapt at her, but Ardeth was too fast and quickly sent it flying by kicking it in the stomach. It made a loud, yipping sound, like a kicked puppy, as it rammed into a tree. It slid to the ground, where it lay twitching, but didn’t get up.
One of the others started howling and the rest soon joined in. Piercing howls resonated through the forest as the beasts started creeping closer, all the while snarling and growling.
Selissa leaned closer to Ardeth to whisper in his ear. “Maybe they will run away if you throw them a bone?” She suggested. He shot her a look over his shoulder that clearly showed that he was not amused by her joke.
Another one wanted to try its luck and ran at them. Swift as lightning, Ardeth ripped a bone from his arm and chucked it at the creature. It penetrated its forehead, and the beast collapsed mid-leap and fell to the ground lifelessly.
That seemed to be the last straw. Several enraged howls sounded, before all the beasts charged at them at once.
Ardeth moved swiftly, stabbing demons left and right, but one of them managed to get past him in