The Way of the Black Beast (35 page)

Falling to my death twice in one day.
If her body hadn't been so tired, she might have laughed.

A distant, thunderous thump reported the destruction of Jarik and Callib's fortress. A long fall. Too much time alone with her thoughts. Too much time to pay the dead their due.

Heat suddenly. First a slight warmth. Next came a full-blown hot air thrusting up from below. An explosion. The air lifted her like a doll, effortlessly throwing her into the sky. The bridge came into view and just as fast disappeared below her.

"Just kill me already," Malja yelled.

The heat beneath her dissipated, and as her body crested, she felt a familiar sensation along her arms like fingers tapping up and down her skin. Instead of falling back, her body shifted toward the bridge and descended in a peaceful, controlled manner. She looked down to see Tommy guiding her and Tumus to the ground.

When she reached the bridge, Malja and Tumus went straight for Tommy. He lowered to the ground, breathing hard like he had jogged several miles. His body shivered as the sweat covering him chilled his skin.

Malja wrapped her arms around him and kissed his forehead. She didn't wipe the tears from her face or muffle the sound of her bawling. All she wanted was for Tommy to know, to feel within his bones and heart and, if such a thing existed, his soul — that she needed him. She loved him.

"Thank you," she said. Tommy matched her grip. Feeling his small hands pulling her closer sent her into another fit of tears.

"See?" Fawbry said to Tumus. "Easy."

Tumus prostrated near Tommy's feet. Her hands shaking like a bowstring just shot. She mumbled to the ground, but Malja distinctly heard the name
Korstra.

When she lifted her head, Tumus smiled and said, "It's over."

Malja wanted to believe that, but she heard an odd buzzing that sent uneasy pulses through her. As the sound grew louder, she let Tommy go, wiped her face, and stood. Viper itched at her back. She let the weapon free, the sight of it sobering Tumus.

"What's wrong?" Cole asked.

"Listen," Malja said. By now they could all hear the horrible buzzing of Dragonflies. "Be ready."

Fawbry lifted Cole, while Tumus carried Tommy. Despite her exhaustion, Malja led the way with Viper as a warning to any Dragonflies suddenly getting brave. She used all her energy to keep moving and not stumble. If she showed any serious weakness, she expected the Dragonflies would swarm in on them.

As they progressed across the bridge, Malja kept searching the darkness. They wound through the mounds of trash and rubble, and still Malja remained alert. Several times her head swam. She feared she might pass out, but her will refused such an easy escape.

As they neared the factory fence, she could feel the eyes watching. Dragonflies buzzed overhead but none came close enough to be seen. Zorum's split body lay in a heap not too far away. That reminder did far better in protecting them then Malja's shaking arms holding Viper.

Two workers appeared with three horses. Their terrified gazes drifted between Malja and the billowing smoke from the destroyed fortress. That thick cloud would cover the sky for days.

One worker handed his reins over and dashed back to the factory. The other swallowed hard and held his reins out. He pointed into the distance. The message was clear enough —
Take these horses and go far away as fast as you can.
Malja had set them free from the factory life and they wanted to throw her out. As she snatched the reins, she growled and the worker sprinted away.

"Easy," Tumus said. "You just killed their gods."

Malja climbed atop a brown mare and closed her eyes for just a second of relief. She didn't think she had the strength to endure another fight. She barely had the strength to open her eyes again. Fawbry mounted a horse and sat Cole across, protecting her wounded ankle with care.

Tumus tapped Malja's knee and handed Tommy to her. Malja slid the boy in front and wrapped her arms around him. His unconscious body limp and unreactive. Without a word, Tumus walked away and mounted the third horse.

Before they entered the fenced-off factory, Cole pointed them westward for several blocks. The detour would add another day's travel most likely, but Malja didn't mind. They avoided the factory workers and any other Dragonflies in that area. And they had the time. After all, there was nothing left to do.

* * * *

Tommy still didn't speak, but the recent events had left their mark. Each night they made camp, he labored as hard as ever with the others, but when they finished, he curled up next to Malja, insisted she place her arm around him, and moved little until morning. Even while he ate, he did so from this position.

Malja tried to give the boy what he needed, but it did not come naturally. Besides, part of him was Barris Mont. She'd look in his eyes, searching for a flicker of that creature, and grew angry no matter what she thought she saw. After a week of travel, her conflicted feelings must have become apparent for Tumus chose to approach her one evening after everyone else had fallen asleep.

"He's all Tommy. You don't have to worry."

Malja saw no point in pretending ignorance. "Easy for you. You loved them both. This boy is double the prize for you."

"You know I don't see him as a prize. Korstra, in his infinite wisdom, found a way to save this boy's life. Barris gave himself up to Tommy, and while he lives on in the boy's body, he has no control over anything. Tommy is entirely Tommy. He merely has the essence, the power, of Barris Mont."

"This is supposed to make me feel better?"

Tumus grinned. "You need to forget about Barris. Just see Tommy. Nothing else has changed."

"I don't know. The magic he created to fight with Callib was ... if I hadn't actually seen it ... and you're saying that's all him. No Barris?"

"I'm saying that the boy is still a boy. And he still needs you."

"You wish it was you."

Tumus stroked Tommy's hair. "A little, yes. Yet I was not the one who saved him from slavery. I was not the one who protected him from the wilds."

"Some protection. He would've died, if left to me. You were the one who took him to real safety."

"Ahh, so that's it."

Malja closed her eyes and faked a yawn. "There's no it."

"You blame yourself. You think that you failed and that's why Barris is now within Tommy. You think you should have been there to stop it or perhaps never have let Tommy be in that situation in the first place."

"You couldn't be more wrong," Malja said, but she couldn't convince herself, let alone another.

Tumus clasped her hands. "I'm sorry you don't believe in Korstra for you would find great comfort and understanding if you did. You'd see that you cannot control the world, that even a brother god could not predict such things. If he could, he would have saved his beloved Elatria. I guess the best I can tell you is that this is not your fault. It is the will of the world. It is the way of life."

"Yeah? Well, life is tossing the Black Beast upon me for not being a good parent to Tommy."

A few days later they reached the well-kept mansion where they had found the grounder. Cole's foot had been wrapped and babied as much as possible — now, she could hobble along for several hours without tiring. They spent the night under the comfort of the mansion's roof, and Cole wandered its halls longer than she had spent at any stop since she broke her foot.

As Malja readied to go to sleep, she heard a strange noise. The size of the mansion caused sounds to bounce around, but she was sure she had heard a voice. She followed the echoing sounds until she reached the kitchen. There she found Fawbry and Tommy playing the Reflex Game. A wide smile covered Tommy's face as Fawbry tried to feign an attack. Backing out quietly, Malja left them to their game. She finally slept soundly.

The next morning, as they prepared the horses, Cole called the group together. "I'm not going," she said. "I want to stay here."

"What? Why?" Fawbry said.

"Bless your heart, you still just want to be with me, don't you? Sorry, Faw-Faw, but it'd never work. We were good for awhile, but I've got plans and you'd really be better off going home."

"Kryssta, you're an infuriating woman. All I asked was why. I'm not professing my undying love."

"See that? Your undying love. You've got to move on."

While Cole and Fawbry continued to verbally spar, Malja thought about the mansion. Filled with ancient technology that begged the attention of someone knowledgeable, there was a graceful logic to leaving Cole with it. One thing gnawed at Malja, though.

"What plans?" she said, interrupting Fawbry's next insult.

Cole raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"

"What is it you want to do with this place?"

Cole walked over to Fawbry's horse and fussed with the saddle. "Oh, nothing to worry about. It's not like I'm going to start a group of blues-playing assassins or anything."

"That's right," Malja said in cautious tones. "That would be a dangerous and foolhardy thing to do."

"Why, Ms. Malja, I think you're threatening me. Oh, don't give me any of your looks. I never was built for leading armies or anything like that. That's your area. I just want to get back to the simple things — building machines. Just because we all live by our own rules doesn't mean we have to live without comfort. It's not as if the two are mutually exclusive."

Malja stayed silent a moment, thinking it over, weighing the woman Cole had been with the woman she had become. Malja extended her hand. "Good luck. I think I'll actually miss you a bit."

"My, my," Cole said, shaking Malja's hand. "You'll have to come back and visit someday. You, too, Tumus. And Tommy. You're always welcome."

Fawbry swung up onto his horse. "Don't worry about excluding me. I wouldn't want to come back here if my life depended on it. Not unless you've got a new hand for me."

Cole raised both eyebrows, grinned, but said nothing.

Two nights later, Malja woke from a dream she could not recall. Tommy whimpered and nuzzled her side. Tumus sat by their campfire and asked, "You okay?"

Malja nodded. "What are you doing up?"

Tumus hesitated. Stretching out her legs, she said, "I'm trying to figure out what I should do next."

"Korstra's not telling you?"

A loud laugh broke from Tumus, and Tommy started, looked around and fell right back asleep. "Sorry," she said. "No, Korstra's not helping me out here. I've got to figure it out on my own."

"Any ideas?"

Licking her lips, Tumus said, "I think so. I'm going back to Dead Lake. Jarik and Callib hurt my people, killed many, and left them in disarray. Without Barris around, there's bound to be a mess, and I think I could do a good job helping clean it all up."

"You've been gone a long time."

"The Chi-Chun are not often fast movers."

Malja smirked, thinking of how most Chi-Chun could spend hours standing in one place. "We should pass the lake soon," she said.

"Then I have time to change my mind."

But Malja knew as she closed her eyes that Tumus would stay behind at Dead Lake. Malja's life did not join well with most people. If not for Tommy, Tumus would never have come along in the first place.

Sure enough, at Dead Lake, Tumus slid from her saddle and sifted her fingers through the soil. She washed her hands in the cold lake waters and breathed in the lake air as if she had entered a holy shrine.

Little had changed. Debris littered the ground and birds pecked at the few remains still scattered about the land. Barris Mont's enormous body could not be seen. Malja guessed that scavengers had consumed much of it before the rest slipped back underwater.

"Guess you're staying here," Fawbry said.

"It's best I do. Korstra wouldn't want me traveling with a Kryssta-lover like you."

Fawbry let out a shocked gasp. He jumped to the ground, stormed up to Tumus, and let his face open into a wide smile. He wrapped his arms around the woman and ignored her protests while he hugged her.

"Never thought I'd miss a Korstra fool, but I'll miss you."

When Fawbry broke away, Tumus faced Malja. "Don't pretend you'll miss me. I'm just glad we got through all this without killing each other."

"He's going to miss you," Malja said, jutting her chin in Tommy's direction. "That means I'm going to miss you. And, maybe, I just might miss you a little bit on my own."

"I couldn't ask for more," Tumus said before turning her full attention on Tommy.

Kneeling before him as if he were a king, she pressed his hand against her wet cheek. Tommy looked to Malja for guidance. She motioned with her hand —
make your own decisions.

He tapped Tumus on the shoulder, and when she lifted her head, her broad smile set them at ease. She hugged the boy.

"You will always have a home here," Tumus said. "Promise me you'll come to visit."

Tommy covered his heart and nodded. He tapped his chest twice and brought his hand to his forehead — his military salute.

"Okay. Good." She brushed her cheeks clear and stood, but never let go of his hand. She gazed at the lake and grimaced as if the empty waters cut through her. "You could," she said, her voice quavering, "that is to say, if you wanted to, you would be welcome here ... to stay."