“Worse than the mists?”
“Yes. During the reign of my sire, our tribe was unstoppable, nomadic, and we traveled the dead lands victoriously for many years. The dead lands are where the minotaur come from, the world which was consumed by the mists eons ago, deep inland, where there is nothing but old paths, crumbling ruins, and giants that roam unhindered. It is a different way of life from that led near humanity. We were hundreds strong when I was birthed, and with two hands, and two horns, we all carried more weapons than the average being.
“My mother was the first human brought back to us in over a century. The last was a human man who was mated with a female. He died before I was born. Once, I have been told, there had been dozens who lived among us in the past, but as the world changed and my kind did not move closer to the land of humans, they all but died out. The blood among us weakened greatly, and in turn, the mists closed in. As the years passed, we became more animalistic, digressing back to the creatures we were before.”
“Arriving with your mother must have been a big deal...” Aldora shifted nervously at his side.
“Yes. It gave themhope.” Vedikus spat out the word, hating it. He focused on his female’s scent and the soft feel of her against him until his hate slipped away. “Hope that history would replay, and it did, for a time.” They came upon a plateau that looked out over the lands that lay between them in those he spoke about. Those that lay beyond the expanse of mountains that took weeks to traverse. Those where his old tribe still roamed, even to this day. “There is nothing worse than false hope.”
“I have hope, Vedikus. Someday I will teach you that it isn’t so bad. You took away mine for a single moment, and that feeling,” she paused and swallowed, “was frightening, but then you replaced it, and now... It’s nearly all I feel. It does not feel bad.”
“It’s trickery,” he argued. “It’s a quiet lie.”
“But why work so hard to stay alive in this desolate place without it? You feel it even if you won’t accept it. You told me it was only our strength and our knowledge that supplies you with the ability to survive here, but why work so hard for something if there is no end-goal in mind? We would all be nothing but thralls if true hope was lost.”
He grunted. “Willpower and tenacity, proof of one’s worth, loyalty and the ability to kill, to feed, have nothing to do with such an emotion. Hope is the labyrinth’s greatest curse, not the mist. That dangling thread has killed more of my kind than any centaur assault or goblin trap.” The airy brume swirled and shifted across the landscape as if it heard him. Vedikus turned, bringing Aldora with him as they moved toward a hidden path along the cliff-face behind boulders that had been placed seasons ago. He glanced up and pointed to several others above. “You see those rocks? They are made to fall on those who find this path. If you are ever here without me, do not try and walk through the bushes, but follow the edge instead, they will not fall if you know where to step. I will not lose you to carelessness.”
She nodded and placed her feet where his were a moment before, following his movements. “You may be right but I do not believe it. If it takes the rest of my life, I will change your mind. Hope is the only truth,” she said with conviction.
His lips lifted. “I will look forward to you trying every day.”
“You say that now,” she laughed softly. “So it was hope that your father brought to your tribe. I do not see how that would lead to you and your brothers leaving.”
“Steelslash did bring hope, but that was not what I was speaking of, female. He brought ruin.” The memories rose up like poisonous weeds in his skull. “He brought with him infertility, or so he was accused of many years later. During his reign, the only female who was able to conceive was my mother, and those who were heavy with child when they returned, all lost them before their birth. The babies just died without cause, and as this continued throughout his years leading, with my brothers being the only young of our tribe, the power he had so deftly built faded to resentment and paranoia. The Bathyr were looked upon with anger, my brothers and I were at once fought over by the other clans as studs, thinking we would cure our infertility but also as enemies. We had been born with gifts the others had not, and as we grew to adulthood, we found ourselves unbeatable. We became the tribes greatest warriors, but also their greatest threat.”
Vedikus paused and hoisted Aldora, helping her over a high rise to a larger path above.The last road home.
“They blamed you for this tragedy?” she asked.
When he pulled himself over the edge, digging his hooves into the rock, he saw the footprints from earlier and the last small woods that hid his home from the many fiends that flew the skies.
“We are close now,” he said, holding her close to his chest where he wrapped his arms tightly around her, drawing out the cold of her flesh. “They thought my father made a pact to bring my mother back, they blamed him for their inability to propagate. It was not something that was ignored, and when my brothers and I aged and no new blood was available to take the places of the warriors we lost over the years, it became Steelslash’s obsession to pursue battle, because without bulls to overpower his enemies, he raged easily. We were forced to settle.
“By doing so was his greatest mistake, for when the tribe stopped, they had nothing else to divert their attention. My flesh is rent with scars from those days, but it was what happened next that changed the fate of the Bathyr forever. Steelslash died, suddenly, and the tribe turned on my mother, assuming this had all happened because she was a witch. I was not nearby when they took her...”
“Took her where?” Aldora peered up at him, forehead furrowed.
“I do not know. None of us do. Some said she walked off with a broken heart and never returned, some say she killed herself, others insist she was killed, captured, lost, gone. My elder brother, Dezetus, seized power despite all the bloodshed, and even then, no one came forth with the truth. My mother would have never left, of that, we can be certain. Not when her mate’s body was fresh. We buried his body without ritual and with much bloodshed among us. When it was apparent no answers would be forthcoming, Dezetus suggested we leave. In turn, the Bathyr abandoned their tribe to whatever fate they forged, without their best warriors. It was the only way to stop the needless killing, the fighting, and now we live to build a new tribe, a dynasty that would rule these lands with iron hooves and sharpened blades.” He smelled smoke and hints of cooked meat in the air. “If there was one way to stop the infertility of our female minotaur, it was through human blood.”
“Me...”
“Yes.”
“What if I can’t?” Her eyes widened, and her hands left him to land on her belly.
“You are not afflicted with whatever has fallen upon my people. We have lost the old ways, and our gods are watching. I was not looking for a human, female or otherwise, when you heard me, but scouting and honing my strength for the time when we were ready. But fate had another idea, and it is time to stop preparing and to start rebuilding.” As he said it, the large, black, wooden fence appeared through the trees that bordered up to the craggy walls of the mountain. Upon first glance, there appeared to be no gate within the matte black facade. “Come and be at ease for we have arrived.”
Aldora pulled away from him and dropped her hands, gazing at the barrier before them. Vedikus felt a devious smirk twitch his lips, but did not let her see it. These walls were not unlike those that kept the mists inside, but without vines and growth, without footholds and places to clutch for climbing.We are on the same side this time, female.His prick thickened under his loincloth. His weariness faded.
“I’m nervous,” she admitted, lifting one hand to her mouth.
“Then you are feeling what we want all trespassers and those who are brought here to feel. Know, from this point on, all strangers who look upon your home will feel the same.”
Vedikus breathed deeply, taking in the smoke that was thicker here, already picturing the cooking fires inside his head, picturing his home, his trophies of past kills, and weapons he had either collected or made hanging on the walls of his den.I see Aldora among them. She will be impressed with my prowess, not fear it.
He wanted the awed look in her eyes when he showed off his skulls. He wanted the same look on her face when he ravaged her before them.
He lifted his head and roared, stamping his hoof in greeting. No one returned the call.
