Chapter Nine
***
They came to a stopat the crest of a plateau.
Below them lay the old barrier point, once when the labyrinth had been smaller. Back before he’d been born. Each year the mist covered more ground and seeped into the lands of humans, and each year the pathways and hedge mazes—the corrupted growth—sprouted from the dirt and expanded. It was something he nor any other creature could stop. The liches and giants of his world had tried.
Eventually, the mist would cover the whole of this world and no new pureblood humans would be born. Those with forethought quaked at the idea but most anticipated the final usurpation, and the endless supply of humans even if it was for such a short time. The magic and chaotic frenzy of his world looked forward to that day.
The Bathyr prepared.
Vedikus scanned the ocean of fog and jostled the female.
“Mmh-what?” Aldora struggled and he dropped her feet, keeping one arm around her. He had run them raw through the noontide, and when she could no longer hold herself upright, he’d picked her back up to keep on going. The distant sounds of bloodshed and shrieks had chased them the entire way. Dozens of goblins lay dead in their wake and he could feel their blood beginning to dry within his hooves.
“Look. What do you see?” he asked, curious. He saw nothing but the grey and the muted colors reflected from the sky. His ears twitched at her inhale of breath.
“Nothing. I see nothing but white in every direction.” She looked back, her expression bleak. “Except for the growth behind us. The paths have stopped...” Aldora turned to him. “Are we going in there?”
“Yes,” he answered.
She sank to the ground, wilting like dying vile leaf, and stared over the endless void without expression. Vedikus crouched beside her and pulled off her boots, revealing pale abraded feet. He swept his fingers over her ankle expecting her to jerk back and smiled when she didn’t.
“Where are we?” Her voice was low. “Where are you taking me?”
He pointed off into the distance in the direction she stared. “Prayer lies within, a half day’s journey from here, but it depends.”
“Prayer?”
“It is a settlement outside the border paths near here, located in the middle of an endless expanse of wetlands that can be followed to the sea.” He didn’t like how close it was to the mountains his brothers called home.
Aldora gaped at him. “A settlement? Here? People live in this place? How is that possible?” Her sudden shock struck him and he eyed her curiously.
“Is that so hard to believe?”
“Yes...”
“Even beasts need a place to rest,” Vedikus mocked. “It is not a lively place.”
“Are there humans?”
A hag. Thralls. Humans?“Not anymore.”
“Oh.” The abrupt shock eased from her face. “Then what does it depend on?”
“On where we left the barrier paths.” He propped up her other foot to slide his hands across her skin.Fresh, tough calluses will replace her soft flesh soon.He cupped her sole.They will help.She pulled her feet from his grasp and shoved them back into her boots with a wince. The numbing effect of the cove had run its course.
He rose to his feet and the female followed suit but stumbled back to her knees. She steadied herself and rose again only to fall back down. Vedikus grabbed the back of her tunic and hauled her up. “You’re dead weight.”
“Does it make a difference? I can keep moving.”
