Chapter Nine
Treycore stirred to life.
A rush of adrenaline urged him to his feet, and he readied his fists for an attack.
He felt lightheaded. For a moment, he thought he might fall back down, but he stood firm, glancing around, trying to make sense of his surroundings.
Gray light poured through windows that hung just under the ceiling of what appeared to be a cottage, but rather than the walls being made from boards, they were long, thick vines webbed together with a green sludge. Behind him, Treycore saw he’d been lying on a box of feathers placed in the corner of the strange room.
Green, like the sludge on the walls, covered his naked body. On the other side of the room, beside a table, purple flames stirred in a fireplace.
But where was the owner of this dwelling, and how had he ended up here? Surely, he should have been dead from the venom of Raph’s serpent hair.
As he scanned the room for his sword, a door opposite him opened.
He held his fists before him, ready to fight whoever his captor might be, though he was sure he stood little chance considering how disoriented he still felt.
He expected this villain would be like the abominations he’d seen before—disgusting, vile, sadistic. Perhaps this one might be even more hostile than the villainous glippers. But as the door opened, a higherling, his white wings resting against his back, entered. Defined muscles covered his body, his abs appearing to be waves heading to the shore that was his navel. His pecs shifted about as he carried a pail into the room.
A strap of cloth—Treycore imagined sewn from the flesh of some monster from the outerlands—fell to his thighs, seemingly intending to cover his dick. But he was too long, and the head slid out from beneath it.
“Hey, you!” Treycore called. “Where the fuck am I?”
The higherling turned to him, bright green eyes sparkling in the gray glow that illuminated the room. He grinned like he was pleased to see that his captive was awake.
“I was hoping you’d be alright.”
“What the fuck did you do to me?”
“I found you dying in the woods. I brought you back here and covered you in fegasar oil to tend to your wound.”
Treycore assumed he was referring to the green goo he was covered in.
“Why?” Treycore asked, thinking it strange that this higherling would randomly come to his aid.
The higherling approached him. “It’s not every day we find a higherling out here, now is it? No. This isn’t the sort of place our kind is supposed to come.”
He was right.
“But then why are you here?” Treycore asked.
“This is where I came to escape during the War between Heaven and Hell. I sought sanctuary in this place.”
“You’re a deserter?”
“Does that bother you?”
“Not particularly. It just seems odd you would have chosen this place to find peace.”
The higherling headed to the table and set his pail down. “Because I wasn’t interested in being a soldier… I’ve never been one for war. But I wanted adventure. Nothing ever seemed like an adventure in Heaven or Hell. They were so structured, so organized. And I guess I always romanticized the outerlands—this beautiful wilderness—filled with chaos, brimming with life. I wanted to venture out here, explore it for myself.”
“How long have you been here?”
“Oh… I stopped tracking time long ago. This place makes it so easy to do. And I have no reason to track it, either. I’ve never had much of a reason for tracking time. But what of you? What has brought you to the outerlands?”
Treycore thought of Kid, his mission. He felt so far away. Would he ever get through this? Would he ever be able to rescue his love from Vera?
His worry for Kid coupled with his worry for Eilee. Had Finter done something to her? Had he raped and killed her before some twist of fate rescued him?
