Justice (13 page)

16 - The Desecrated Village

They kept to the main road now that they were well armed. Krishani reached the line of trees in the distance and continued up the gradual incline with force. Elwen would never understand how it felt. The pain never stopped. It throbbed on in the background, tightening muscles, churning his stomach, tearing his heart. The pain of death was nothing compared to the pain of living.

Krishani paused on top of a large mound. It was nothing but an elevated piece of land. Below it the path thickened into trees and in the distance was an outline of mountains. Mallorn rounded his horse and stopped beside Krishani. Both of the horses were out of breath and wanted water.

“Will you cross Gott’s river?” Mallorn asked.

Krishani pointed at the mountains. “There’s a Flame there.”

Mallorn furrowed his brow. “Terra isn’t like Avristar; it is almost a hundred times larger.”

Krishani frowned, confused. He tried to pull his logic together and fear crept into his heart. When he found his tongue he gaped at Mallorn. “You mean the Flame might not be in those mountains?” Krishani loathed the idea of mountains; he wanted to forget large mounds of land with peaks and valleys, because all of them reminded him of two things. Avred and Avristar. Both of those mountains led to desolate ends, strict punishments, insatiable appetites. He could never appease either of them.

Neither could Kaliel.

“Aye, they aren’t the only mountains on Terra,” Mallorn said.

Hopelessness washed over Krishani. It clouded his vision and filled him with distrust and uneasiness. “What Elwen asks is impossible.”

Mallorn met his eyes. “If you had stayed long enough, he may have helped you.”

Krishani stiffened. He didn’t know how the Ferrymen were expected to travel across lands a hundred times the size of Avristar and keep the Vultures at bay when everything was so spread out. If he accepted his task as a Ferryman, he would always be too late. He grunted a response to Mallorn which meant he was putting it out of his mind and kicked his horse to life. It stopped munching on the grass and descended the hill. The path curled, leading them south.

Hours passed in silence as the horses bounded down the path. Sometimes they were slow and sometimes Krishani garnished some speed out of them. They weren’t like Rhina or Umber. Those horses were built for journeys. They were graceful, honorable. These horses seemed weak and malnourished, constantly wanting to feed on forest vegetation. He doubted they had ever been taken on a long journey.

Pux tucked his head into Krishani’s cloak and drifted off. The horses tripped over a gouge in the trail and Pux sprang back to life. Pux whimpered softly when his stomach growled loud enough for Krishani to hear it. He felt sorry for the feorn, but he wasn’t close to considering him a friend.

Krishani straightened his back and pulled the horses along the thin, winding path. His muscles coiled as the air around them changed. He smelled the carcasses before he saw them. He hunched up his shoulders and convinced himself it was the forest, that there was nothing ahead to warrant the smell. But then he saw the tarnished huts ahead of them. The main road ran straight through the town; on either side of the road were burnt straw huts. The massacre was hardly tidy, bodies strewn along the sides of the road in misshapen fashion, their garments soaked in blood, crimson against the colorless dresses and tunics. Krishani pulled his horse into the center of the town. The hearth had been desecrated. Stones smashed and scattered around the center circle of the town.

Krishani felt nausea in his gut. It reminded him of the battlefield, the empty faces of the kinfolk staring into the moonless sky. Avristar wasn’t plagued with Vultures; a Land of Peace was never a victim of corruption. Avristar would never require a Ferryman. Krishani leaned forward on the horse, using it to support his frame as he glanced at the bodies.

Mallorn passed him, an equally disgusted look on his face. He pulled a few horse lengths away from Krishani and assessed the damage. “This is what Terra has become.”

Krishani glanced at him. “Who did this?”

Mallorn shook his head to say he didn’t know. “Elwen cannot identify the enemies.”

“All of them were taken by the Vultures,” Krishani whispered. A pinprick of pain hit his shoulder and he winced at it, knowing it was the whim of the disease sinking slowly into his skin, turning everything that was once pure and good into something other and nonexistent.

Pux stirred. Krishani felt the feorn panic as he woke to the atrocity. Death swarmed the streets and the stench rose into the air. It was too much corruption for a feorn. Pux scrambled away from Krishani and landed on the ground with a loud thud. He cried out, breaking the silence. Both Krishani and Mallorn looked at him like there was nothing they could do. Krishani dismounted, walked over to where Pux was. The feorn looked mortified and pale. Krishani approached him carefully, unsure what the feorn would do if he got too close.

“Come, Pux, we can’t stay here,” Krishani said. He held a hand out, but Pux curled into himself.

“I can’t do this!” he wailed. He twitched like he was imagining the forests of Evennses and desperately trying to transport. Krishani watched him. A tear escaped and nestled itself in the fur on Pux’s cheeks. Nothing happened. The feorn opened his eyes, awash with grief so deep it made Krishani want to stab himself. He could never cure the feorn’s pain.

“I want to go home,” Pux said. His knees up to his chest, his arms curled in, he looked like a timid red fox, one that hadn’t been let out into the wild and would easily be killed by larger animals.

Krishani ran his outstretched hand through his hair and turned around, staring at the bodies. Pux continued to cower near the hearth fire, shivering and whispering to himself. He squeezed his eyes shut several times, but never transported. Krishani wanted him to go home, too. Not everyone could stifle death the way Krishani could. He paced towards one of the burnt huts and sighed. Mallorn seemed at a loss. He sat like a stone statue atop his horse, watching Pux with disdain. After a few moments of looking at broken bodies Krishani turned back to the feorn. He took a few strides towards him and kneeled down so they were face-to-face. Pux recoiled from Krishani’s stare.

“I miss her. I miss everything about her,” Pux said, barely able to breathe.

Krishani felt like he had been slapped. It burned knowing how much Pux hurt over the loss of Kaliel. He tried to keep the memory of her from being said out loud, but now that it was out there was nothing he could do. He sucked in a breath through his teeth.

“We need to find the other Flames.” He tried to keep his voice even, but it wavered with a hint he might let his own emotions weaken him. “I need you to be strong.” He broke away from Pux and stood. The feorn continued shaking as Krishani turned and froze.

Not three feet ahead of him a Vulture hovered in the air, blocking his path. Its footless form floated mere inches from the ground. Krishani stared at it, the wisps of blackness curling around its torso, creating a storm of darkness. It moved closer, towering over him. Frostbite licked at his heart, stinging him with its iciness. Needle-like pricks crawled across his infected arm, making him want to rip it off. Numbness pierced his insides as the cold poured into him, making him stiff and archaic. He knew he should have fought against it, but all reason left him. He raised his blackened hand, reaching for the vile creature. It was so close it could fold him into its darkness and he would be gone for eternity. He wouldn’t feel remorse over what had happened to Kaliel if the Vulture devoured him. It was a grim form of freedom he was thirsty for.

“No!” Mallorn roared, hands clamped onto Krishani’s shoulders, pulling him away from the invisible creature. The force knocked both of them to the ground, the boy sprawled on top of Mallorn. The elder slipped out from under him and rose to his feet. Krishani dug the heels of his palms into his eyes as the sensation of fire and ice washed over him. Through blurry eyes he watched Mallorn standing like a statue. He stared right at the Vulture, though Krishani wasn’t sure if the elder could see it. Krishani convulsed, tremors ripping across his flesh. He rolled onto his side and coughed; blood spattered the ground. He pushed himself onto his knees and pounded a fist to his chest, wheezing and rasping. He broke into another fit of coughs and more blood appeared on the dirt.

Pux stood and approached Mallorn. “What was that?”

“It was a Vulture,” Mallorn said. His footsteps moved away from Krishani, the horse neighing when Mallorn grabbed its reins. He heard Mallorn settle atop the horse. Krishani gasped in an attempt to catch his breath. Every muscle and organ was on fire as it thawed. If Mallorn hadn’t been there … he would have let the Vulture take him. His head swam with dizziness. Could he really destroy himself so easily? What would Kaliel think of him? Being a Vulture wouldn’t bring him closer to her.

“Have you had enough death?” Mallorn spat. “Come, Pux,” he said.

Krishani wiped the tears out of his eyes and watched the feorn climb onto Mallorn’s horse. Krishani forced himself to stand and shuffled towards his white horse. He swung onto it, the pain still making his muscles twitch in defiance. Mallorn didn’t wait. He passed through the forest on the other side of the village. Krishani closed his eyes and let out a breath. The Vultures were more dangerous than he could have imagined, like saccharine poison that could lull him into permanent reverie. And they welcomed him. He took a last glance at the bodies and followed the elder.

• • •

They traveled further south, parallel to the mountains Krishani wanted to explore. He couldn’t tell how long he would spend searching their rocky paths and caves, but he would stay there until he found the cabin Kaliel had told him about. The road curled towards the river and they traveled alongside it for a long time. Sometimes the road stretched along the banks of the river and other times it fit itself between trees perched on the edges. Mallorn refused to speak to him and Pux was still trying to find a way to go home. Krishani noticed the feorn squeezing his fist and shaking like a leaf in an attempt to transport. He tried to tell the feorn to be strong, but Pux had none of that in him. All he longed for were the forests of his youth and the strict lessons from his elder Grimand.

The path neared the river again and Krishani saw a wide path on the other side. “Stop!” he called to the others as he lingered in the clearing. The water ferociously rushed by; it looked deep. The path that stretched away from the bank on the opposite side looked like it would lead into the mountains, and at this time in the afternoon, with the sun only hours away from setting, they needed a better heading.

Mallorn approached with a blank expression on his face. “What is it?”

“We can cross here.”

The old man scoffed. “That water looks treacherous.”

Krishani narrowed his eyes. “That path looks plausible.”

Mallorn disregarded his thoughts and turned away. “We will find another way to reach it.”

Krishani groaned and followed him along the banks until Mallorn spied a better vantage point to cross. The water receded around boulders left by villagers. There were no visible paths on either side of the boulders; they looked massively out of place. Krishani watched as Mallorn dismounted and carefully led Pux and the horse across the rocks. Krishani grunted and followed their lead.

Once they were on the other side Mallorn leaned in. “The hunters do this for good measure. It’s a diversion. Had we entered the river at the other point, one of us would have drowned.”

Krishani shuddered, but he understood. Nothing on Terra was safe; even the hunters were wary of enemies. Mallorn pulled the horse by the reins. The other side of the riverbank was thinner, allowing them enough space to travel single file. Krishani followed until they were at the mouth of the wide path he had seen earlier. The treacherous water churned below them.

Mallorn helped Pux onto his horse and turned to Krishani, an uneasy expression on his face. “Why do you dislike the feorn?”

Krishani let out a long breath. He tried to be fair to Pux. He wasn’t wanted on the journey, but he was there, and he couldn’t stay with Elwen because Krishani hated his ancestor more than he hated himself. Yet, unfairness hung between them. He hadn’t processed what might have happened between Kaliel and Pux in those final moments and a large part of him was afraid to ask.

“I don’t dislike him, it’s just …” He raked a hand through his hair, his other one still tight on the reins of the white horse. “He was the last to see …” He straightened his back as Mallorn’s eyes widened and then closed.

He nodded and patted the horse’s mane. “What a heavy burden to bear,” he said as he moved away.

“Wait,” Krishani said. Sensing something, he dismounted his horse and crested the hill. A field of rocks and flowers stretched out before them. He beamed. “We’re close.” He ran back to his horse and mounted, pulling ahead of Mallorn.

“I hope you’re right!” Mallorn shouted after him as he sped into a gallop.

* * *