Aldora took a step backward and into Vedikus’s chest. His hand came up to rest on her shoulder.
“Why do they hold weapons?”
“The hag must have commanded them to do so. They do little of their own accord.”
Calavia.Aldora glanced around, remember the hag’s mother was supposedly among the creatures living in this place. “I want to leave.”
More thralls made their way out of the fog and into her line of sight. Some with holes where eyes used to be, some with mouths agape, while others who were less ghoulish gripped farm tools with preternatural ease.
Vedikus grunted but led her away. They walked slowly, steadily, through Prayer, leaving in the opposite direction from whence they came. She wanted to run—to escape this place as fast as possible—but was stopped by Vedikus’s hold on her. It did not matter if sanctuary was found here. Aldora finally realized why she and Vedikus were the only outsiders.Nobody comes here unless they have dire need.
She desperately wanted to put as much distance between herself and this place as possible. Vedikus squeezed her arm to slow her.
“Do not move fast. They may decide you pose a threat.”
She nodded and focused on putting one foot in front of the other. She steeled herself with looking forward and not around where several thralls were following them.
“Why are they following us?”
“For the same reason they are holding weapons.”
They walked for some time in silence and she listened to the drudging footsteps of the things that trailed them. They were roars in her ears as more and more joined the first. She noticed Vedikus quietly, and very slowly, lift one of his axes from his side to rest in his hand when the splashes of distant, thundering steps sounded in the mist. It echoed back at them, growing louder with each passing second. Her eyes widened. Vedikus stilled. The thralls stumbled to a stop with them.
“Mist,” Vedikus scowled, “we need to move.” He walked ahead and tugged her forward. The others remained frozen, staring wordlessly as they passed.
“What is that?”
“Survivors,” he hissed.
Aldora reached down and tugged the dagger from her boot and picked up her step, forgetting about the nearly lifeless bodies surrounding them. As they neared the outskirts of the settlement, dilapidated huts became rotting piles of wood, and their escorts dispersed. The noises grew more distant as they approached the lights leading out of Prayer, away from the centaurs who now sought their own sanctuary, and away from the eerie distress the old town wanted to drown her in.
Just as Aldora began to relax, she saw a lone figure that seemed to be waiting for the pair emerging from the mist, outside of the sphere of green light that marked the hag’s domain. A middle-aged woman with hair that caught in the tall grasses stood before them. She was naked and pale to the point she nearly blended into the ashen fog.
But it was the bright red color of blood rushing down the woman’s legs that took her aback.
Aldora shivered and squeezed her eyes shut, hoping the woman wouldn’t be there when she reopened them, wishing she had never seen her in the first place.
Vedikus pressed her past the lone woman and she, too, faded into the landscape at their back.
***
They trekked for therest of that morning and afternoon through the wetlands. Vedikus set a brutal pace and would not allow for long stops of rest. He kept his eyes upward and his ears to the world while keeping his hold on Aldora. She staggered through the mud, and when the water was too deep, and the grasses too high, he lifted her into his arms and carried her through the worst.
She was lighter now, if subtly so, and he vowed to feed her a feast of his kills when she lay recovering in his nest of pelts. Vedikus pictured it, knowing it would be a reality soon. He was eager for a reprieve from the stresses of traveling with a human, one he had grown to care for deeply. He could still feel her pure blood traveling through his veins, bolstering his endurance. His brothers would help him in his endeavors and protect Aldora as if she were one of their own.
It did not sit well that he would have to rely on them, but he would suffer it if it meant he would have the added layers of safety for him and his own. It took a tribe to raise a calf. It would take all the Bathyr since it would be their first.
I look forward to it.
The vial sat heavily in a new pouch dangling from his leathers. A bubble of steam bloomed in his lungs. He would never know what happened between the hag and Aldora, but having the cure within his grasp was all that he cared about. The magic imbued in it left a trail that linked them with Prayer, and he knew that the hag and her legion would need to be dealt with at a later date. The settlement was too close to his mountain.
His seed—directly descended from the first bull—was strong, and the magic it created would be equally potent. After he and Aldora were settled, he would bring his brothers back and reclaim it.
If he was still angry, it was because she had left his side.My mother disobeyed my sire at every turn.Vedikus looked down at Aldora resting with her head on his shoulder.
There is much to do.He would need to restock his personal stores to account for two for the coming seasons and prepare for his future offspring.
When his cloven feet hit dry land, the sun was already descending toward twilight. Vedikus squeezed Aldora gently.
