Binarius (23 page)

“
You ready for this,
Fir?”

“
Ugh…can we go over it again? I
know, I know, but just one more time. I’ll feel better.”

“
Sure, go for it.”

“
Okay, we leave here, head back
the way we came, and along the way I try to ignore my impaled
father. Once we leave this place we communicate strictly with our
minds so that we don’t give away our location, and we do not ride
on Mabon until we get down the mountain. Oh, he’ll be so happy!
He’s been miserable being so cooped up. Okay, so after that we head
south to Citrine. Once we’ve hit Citrine we will investigate the
area and decide the best course of action, but we only have one day
to carry out our mission at Citrine because it will take us a
couple of days to get to Citrine and after that we have
to—

“
Walk a million, thousand, billion
miles to the coast and then build a ship with our bare hands, and
sail across a sea we’ve never been across before. Once we get to
the land on the other side we’ve—

“
It’ll work out
Kaolin…”

He took a deep breath.

It has to…
, is what she heard in her mind and it echoed there during
the hours that it took her to fall asleep.

Lazata was holding Firinne’s hands.
“Don’t worry about a thing. The Clandestines believed in the both
of you. They knew that you were capable of doing this and they
never bestow more than can be managed. Everything you were supposed
to complete, you did. You’ve mastered the techniques. You’ve even
left me this beautiful electrolifi crystal which will remind me of
you, and help me believe in both of you when you are away.” The
final crystal they had fabricated now sat in-between the
Clandestine thrones. It was six feet high and its electrolifi was
undying; a constant array of colors and lights.

Firinne nodded. “Thank you for
everything you have done…you’ve no idea what it’s meant to me. I
wish you could come with us. I thought you
would
come with us.”

“
Not yet Fir…but maybe after all
this is over, you can persuade your Mum to grant me a small plot of
land for a garden, and a cottage. I think I’d like that. The warm
dirt and the fresh air…yes, I think so.” The smile glistened off
her face like a child, and it pierced Firinne’s heart.

Lazata may have lived a full life
of relative peace, but she still deserved to be free and live —
really live. She would never forget this old, quirky, woman. In her
own way, she had taught Firinne strength of a different kind. The
way you are strong when you tell the world that you don’t give a
damn what they think about you. When you say what’s on your mind
because you are free — that kind of strength.

Kaolin was loading up the
provisions on Mabon while Mabon was staring at Firinne with
disgust, probably thinking that he is not a
mule
. Firinne took her bow and
quiver and put them over her shoulder.

Lazata put a hand on Kaolin to stop
him. “Kaolin Satel, stay with Fir, always. Believe in your little
self, I do.” Kaolin pulled her into a fierce hug.

“
Got everything?” Firinne asked
Kaolin.

He met Firinne’s eyes with a boyish
blush. “Yeah, I think so. You ready?”

“
Yeah, I think so.”

Lazata insisted on hugs and left
them with more words of encouragement as they left her.

CHAPTER
TWENTY-SIX

Pockmarked

They had
been walking for over an hour and the forest was finally in sight.
They had decided that they would head south-west, to avoid
Firinne’s crystal wall, as well as anyone who might be lurking
about the area. Firinne didn’t know how much Cyneric knew, but what
she did know was that he was not going to give up on her — that was
out of the question. Mentally, she was preparing for the worst. The
Blacken had to know that by now, they had received their training,
and she was held down by nervousness. They had walked out of that
fortress in the mountain, different people than they had walked in
— only a week and they had transformed incredibly.

Reaching the edge of the forest,
everything was quiet. They walked lightly.

“
Kaolin, if you start feeling the
fear build up and you can’t get it under control on your own, I
want you to focus on sending it to me, okay?”

“
But what if you can’t handle my
fear added onto your own fear?”

“
I’ve done this more than you
have. Besides, I have an idea on how to get rid of it rather than
just disguising it.”

“
All right.”

They had stopped at a stream. The
water was crisp and there was a flock of birds, foraging in some
grasses nearby. Mabon was drinking, and Kaolin was busy filling the
flask that Lazata had given them to share. Firinne turned to look
upstream and she watched the clear water as it gurgled gently
along. She imagined herself floating with it; staring at a point
some odd feet away from her, and using her eyes to travel down with
the stream again. Repeat.

Black.

“
Kaolin, take the flask out of the
water and grab Mabon! Quick!”

A silky, dark mass was infecting
the stream. She watched as it got nearer to her; its wispy tendrils
changing the composition of the water. Everything up-stream was
glossy black and Firinne recognized it instantly.

“
What is that, Fir?”

“
Fia’s blood. They must have a
group of Desideriums working up there and somehow it leaked into
the stream. Were you able to fill up the flask?”

“
Yeah I did. People drink that
stuff?”

“
If Cyneric were here, he would be
planting his face sideways in the stream with his mouth open. No
one actually likes it…the blood…they just like what it does to
them.”

“
Ugh! It stinks!”

Firinne knew too well. “Damn them.
This stream will be tainted until it’s completely drained itself
into the seas…maybe even long after that. C’mon, let’s keep
moving.”

Their first night out of the
mountain was restless. They both took turns keeping watch and even
when it was the other’s turn to sleep, sleep hardly ever came. They
were used to their cave-chambers. Even Mabon was fidgety and they
laughed (in whispers) as they watched him go round-in-circles;
patting down the ground and ruffling up the leaves and grasses,
only to get back up a few minutes later, and repeat the
process.

By midday the following day they
had cleared three-quarters of the forest leaving them the
opportunity to camp out in the forest that remained. After that, it
would be mostly open fields which may prove difficult in the way of
anonymity. So that night, Firinne made some soup using the roots
she had found in the forest that day, and they went over the plan.
Firinne needed Kaolin to know what to expect in the fields. He had
never even seen the fields, much less the fields with Desideriums
and Demogorchians littered about.

He convinced her that he was
prepared but Firinne was worried about him. He had never been in an
open area like that, and he wasn’t very good at hiding his fear. He
still needed a lot of practice, and that was something that was
impossible to practice in a room with incense. That was something
which was learned through experience, which also made it that much
more terrifying.

There was a nice set of Alpine
Currants, on the outer edge of the forest, so they sat behind them
and picked berries as they surveyed the fields ahead. The berries
were tasteless but they were edible. There was no movement in the
field (that they could see) and there were a few hills ahead that
would provide useful for concealment. They decided that the best
thing they could do was to ride on Mabon and travel to the nearest
hill as fast as Mabon could go.

“
The faster we get through this,
the better. Once we get through the lengthiest part of it, the
trees will start coming back.” Firinne said.

“
What if we’re
spotted?”

She looked at Mabon. “Then you just
better run like there’s a mountain lion after you.” Mabon lowered
his head and grunted a response. “Kaolin, you’ve gotta really focus
on your fear levels while we are out there. If we aren’t alone,
they will pick us up fast. Got it?”

He nodded.

“
All right, let’s go.”

Mabon never faltered. He rode as
fast he could and Firinne and Kaolin held onto him as tight as they
could. In less time than they thought, they had reached the first
hill. Firinne instructed both of them to stay at the bottom while
she crawled up to see the rest of the field. When she got to the
top, she found what she’d been expecting — only a little
worse.

There was a huge pack of
Desideriums working on syphoning. This was something that she had
seen before. What she had not seen before were the huge, gaping
holes that pockmarked the field. It was like Fia’s bruises were
collapsing in on themselves leaving vertical holes to the unknown
world within her. She was decaying at an alarming rate now. Her
concern for Fia now leaked into the pit of her own stomach. Would
they be able to cross the field without being detected? Would they
be able to cross without falling into Fia’s deep oblivion? They had
to. They had to be able to.
You’re not
allowed to be weak or afraid.

At the bottom of the hill, she
prepared Kaolin for what lay ahead. The plan was simple and the
best she could come up with. They would ride Mabon along the bottom
of this hill as far as they could. From there, they would cut
across the field diagonally where the trees began.

Firinne decided that she would ride
on the rear so that she could keep an eye out for any movement.
Mabon led them across the field. There were smaller holes scattered
about the field which Firinne had not seen and Mabon was doing his
best to avoid them.

Fifty feet.

…

Thirty feet.

…

Twenty feet.

…

The next few second felt like
minutes. Mabon let out a long, guttural noise,
MMMRRAAEHHH
, and Firinne and Kaolin
were thrown from him. Kaolin was flung towards one of Fia’s
pockmarks and the momentum continued to slide him towards the edge.
Firinne had fallen hard. She had only a few seconds to react and
she leaped for Kaolin. His hand was in hers and his legs were
dangling into the darkest pit that she had ever seen. Behind her,
the siphoning pack were mounting and preparing to pursue
them.

“
Push your feet off of the walls
and help me get you up!” She yelled at him. There was nothing but
blackness below his feet.

Firinne’s body ached, but she
forced herself through the pain and managed to get Kaolin on firm
ground.

Mabon was lying in a heap and
heaving deeply. They rushed over to him.

“
Mabon, you’ve gotta get up.
They’re coming for us!”, she said as she pulled with both arms
underneath his chin. “Get up!”

“
Firinne, I don’t think he can.
His leg is broken…must’ve twisted it in one of the smaller
holes.”

“
We can help him. C’mon help
me!”

“
Firinne, he’s over 300 pounds.
Even if we could lift him, and he was able to walk on three legs,
we don’t have the time. The Demogorchians are already too close to
us.”

She looked behind her. They were
gaining on them and fast.

“
I can’t just leave him!” She was
crying now.

“
You can and you have to. We have
to.”

Firinne picked Mabon’s head up, he
stared into her soul, and she broke the connection with a kiss
between his eyes. Kaolin grabbed her and pulled her into a fierce
run.

Big hole to the left. Small hole,
center. Small hole, left. Big hole, right.

They danced around each other as
Firinne ran backward for split-second intervals to shoot arrows at
the pack. The more she took out, maybe the more Mabon would have a
chance. She could go back for him. She could still save him. Three
beasts down. Four beasts down and they were out of time. The trees
got closer and she could see the floor of the woods.

“
Make Fia shake, Fir.”

And she did, with all of the sorrow
inside of her, she did. Her crystals broke through the surface
right as they entered the woods. This wall was better than her
first, and it killed a piece inside of her for making it because
Mabon was on the other side of it. When they stopped running, they
landed in the meadow…The Forgotten Meadow where Firinne would never
forget.

Collapsed on the ground, her nose
pressed to the soil, fistfuls of grass — she stayed there sobbing
long after Mabon’s cavernous screams ended.

She prayed for his
rebirth.