They didn’t live long. Trey stood over their bodies, gasping for air, sweat beaded up on his face. The others were watching him with trepidation.
He sighed and sheathed his sword.
“Let’s go,” he said. Nobody argued.
* * *
Night fell on the group. Kimberly watched Serra go through the changes with the rest of the group. Her facial features narrowed while her limbs became thicker and sinewy. Kimberly could see the power in her frame increase exponentially until finally, after the sun set, Serra opened her eyes.
“How close did we come?” She stood and popped her neck to the side.
“Closer than I would have liked.” Trey handed her a waterskin.
“Who were those guys?” Kimberly felt like now was a good time to ask. They had fled the clearing in almost complete silence and nobody had spoken to her since they set up camp.
“That’s up to Serra to explain. It’s her story.” With that, Trey stood and walked away.
“Trey really hates those guys.” Serra rose and stumbled just a bit; Kimberly reached out an arm to steady her. “Thanks. It always takes a while to recover from a prayer stone.”
“Prayer stone?”
“Yeah, clever little name for that thing they threw at us. Only works on demons and other dark things.”
Kimberly thought on that statement for a second. If it only worked on dark things and demons, then why had it knocked her senseless?
The group ate dinner without the benefit of a fire, which meant cheese and dried meats. As each of them began to settle in for the night, Kimberly found herself sitting alone with Serra, watching the stars appear in the night sky.
“Those men were after me.” Serra’s voice was low. Kimberly turned to give Serra her attention. Both of them sat with their arms hugging their legs tightly against their chests.
“When I was born, my parents couldn’t have been happier. I was a cute little thing. All curls and ribbons, apparently. When I was six years old, my father disappeared, and we never heard from him again. Life went on until I was of child-birthing age. The other girls in my town got their blood cycles. I ended up running around at night eating farm animals.” Serra chuckled to herself.
“My mother took me to a small group of healers, a group known as the Brotherhood of Zor. We both believed I had fallen under a dark curse, something that could be cured. The leader of the Brotherhood ordered me imprisoned right away, something that upset my mother greatly. When she tried to take me back, a man named Griklin ordered her purified. So they burned her alive, right in front of me. They trapped me in a cage of silver. I waited for the change to come that night, intent on murdering them all. When the change came, I discovered that silver burns those of us considered impure.”
“Impure?”
“Not literally. It’s just a label. When I grabbed the bars of the cage, my hands were burned severely. My strength meant nothing. I tried to kill myself then, allowing my naked flesh to touch the cage. When I finally collapsed, the burns on my body healed themselves up, right in front of Griklin. Amused, that was when he told me about my father. He was a demon prince, cursed decades ago to wander Auviarra as a human. Griklin had found him when I was little, unaware that I existed. He was just going to kill me, but apparently my little show gave him an idea.
“Soon he was parading me around, showing everybody his little demon child. Doing little tricks with light and shadows to cure my wounds miraculously. His favorite thing to do was stab me in the stomach, let my intestines spill out a little, then put me under a dark cloth that blocks out sunlight. Ta da!” She made a flourish with her arms. “She is cured! Or he would keep me in the dark until he had a big crowd and then show how he could exorcise out my evil. Soon the Brotherhood had a following, and then it became a cult. Soon after, he was the mouthpiece of Zor, a man who could ask for anything and get it. The Brotherhood was now its own religion.”
Serra frowned. “When I was older, he started doing tests. He used me as a target for spells, weapons, anything that could teach him how to disable, hurt, and even kill a demon. His men got to practice their techniques on me. Can’t count the number of times I was stabbed, burned, whatever.” She shrugged at Kimberly and stared up at the stars above. “He used to get mad when I killed a few of them. I used to think it was funny.”
“That’s awful.” Kimberly frowned, her eyes watery. She thought back to her life on Earth, living under her father’s heel. She could see the similarities, wondering now if some of her father’s actions had been tests of his own.
Seeing Kimberly’s expression, Serra’s face softened, making her appear almost human. “Look, the point I am trying to make is that these men hide behind lies. They will commit many atrocities in the name of their god, and they will get away with it. They will extort innocent people with promises of salvation. They hunt people who are different. I have seen giants, merpeople, and other faerie folk murdered for the sake of purification. Especially half-breeds. Trey came across some white-cloaks exterminating a family with half-breed children. He killed the white-cloaks—all of them. Tracing them back to their camp, he came across a pathetic wretch they kept locked in a cage. No questions asked, he set me free.”
Serra sighed then, an unusual sound. She leaned back and stretched her legs forward. Serra’s dark eyes seemed to search the stars for the courage to continue.
“I love him for it. I have seen both good and evil; I live somewhere in between. And I can tell you he has seen his fair share of both. He would die before he saw them take me away. If I could give my life to save him, I would.”
It was strange to hear Serra open up so much. Kimberly didn’t know what to say. Erring on the side of caution, she just nodded and watched as Serra got up, walking away into the forest to keep watch over them. Later, when Kimberly was slipping quietly into slumber, her mind struggled to remember a crucial detail of their discussion, but exhaustion won out.
Beginning of the End
Zane watched what was left of his father with immense disgust. Several days had now passed, and Nathan did little more than mumble to himself or cry out incoherent words. Though they were still bound to do his bidding, his control was gradually weakening. Billy no longer sat by Nathan’s side, content to roam the plains nearby and crush animals with his fists.
Zane was starting to wonder how much more he could take of this.
Over a week had passed since he had quit following Kimberly. When she had entered that town on the plain’s edge, he had almost lost his self-control. The sheer amount of life waiting to be sucked dry from the city had almost caused him to rush in without caution.
Instead, Zane stayed out on the plains, perfecting his own peculiar grasp of darkness. He could now absorb the life force of his environment. He had left several large patches of death in the surrounding lands, leaving behind dried-up grass and animals. Zane could summon up bits of darkness, too, little balls in his hands that would expand or contract on his whim.
Billy, content with being able to crush things, never bothered to attempt anything else.
The sun went down and Billy returned to Zane’s side with gore-covered fists. About to lecture his twin, he felt a shift in the environment. Turning to the night sky, he watched as stars blotted themselves out. Something was traveling across the sky, traveling right toward their location. Eager for a fight, he and Billy waited for it, hoped for it.
A cloud of darkness splashed down on the ground, billowing outward. A woman stepped forward from the darkness, her body cloaked in dark bits of cloth and metal. Her face was obscured by a mask of polished steel, an eerie replica of a woman’s face.
Billy and Zane moved forward slowly. Zane could sense Billy’s murderous anticipation through their connection and if he had a face, he would have smiled. As they got closer, the woman turned to face them directly. Through the eyeholes of her mask, Zane could only see darkness. He was no longer moving, frozen by the woman’s gaze. He could sense that
Billy had stopped, too.
She walked across the ground, right to the giant rock. Placing one hand on its lip, she easily rolled it away from the man beneath it. She knelt down and gingerly lifted their father’s crumpled form into her arms.
“Who are you to this man?” Her voice had a haunting melody to it.
“We are his sons.” Zane spoke from the depths of his hood. “Or we were, anyway.”
“Amazing.” She walked toward the two of them and knelt down. “Two little sheep, lost from the flock.” Cradling Nathan easily in one arm, she touched his forehead with her free hand. “Let me guide you forward now.”
Nathan’s body trembled with excitement at her touch. He opened his eyes and stared into the woman’s face. A gasp of awe and he reached up his hand, stroking her cold, metal cheek.
“Mommy,” Nathan said, his voice like a child’s. Billy and Zane exchanged a look.
“That’s right. Mother’s here.” She stroked Nathan’s hair and cheeks. “I’ve waited for this day for so long. Ever since you were taken away from me, all I desired was to have you back. As soon as I felt your presence, I came here.”
For the longest time, all she did was stare down into Nathan’s face. Finally she stood and the darkness billowed out around her.
“What you need is a release, don’t you? Something to help realign your purpose.” The woman reached down and dragged Nathan to his feet.
“What you need is to feed.”
“Mommy, I’m so hungry,” he whimpered. His sons exchanged a look, a similar hunger deep within.
“I know, baby, I know.” She caressed his face with long, slender fingers. “Come.”
Nathan stumbled, his legs unsteady. Zane and Billy fell in behind him, Zane questioning the sudden appearance of the woman. She reminded him of a witch. Her skin was pale, which contrasted harshly with the dark clothing she wore.
She turned to look back at Zane. Her dark eyes were just like his father’s. He immediately felt it then, a bond that was both familial and magical. He wondered if this was how a bee looked at its queen.
She led them across the grasslands, making them walk. Zane couldn’t make out what she was saying to Nathan; her voice was little more than a series of whispers. He was getting impatient now, a sense of anticipation beginning to build inside.
Tiny pinpricks of light became visible, campfires from a faraway caravan. Behind Zane, Billy chortled with delight, making metallic crunching sounds by punching one fist into the other.
“You two wait here.” The woman turned and gave them a look that brooked no argument. “Your father needs this more.”
Billy groaned in frustration and sat down, his joints creaking. Zane glared at the woman in anger, the red coals of his eyes illuminating the ground. He could see her aura now, blacker than the night, and he stretched his magic out for a little taste of her power.
Moving with both grace and speed, she reached into Zane’s cloak and took hold of his very essence, squeezing it, somehow, with slender fingers. He felt his soul shiver under her cold touch, the first sensation he had felt in days. He decided right away never to anger her again.
“My, my, you are an ambitious one. Wait your turn and I’ll give you something much better than a few smelly travelers.” The smile in her eyes was genuine. She left the brothers, beckoning Nathan forward with her. Zane watched them approach the caravan, waited for the sounds of screams to reach him.
He wasn’t disappointed.
* * *
They walked through what was left of the caravan. Zane stared at the carnage left behind by his father. Wagons had been overturned, and bits of wood, metal, and flesh lay everywhere. A few small fires burned.
Billy stomped over to a severed leg and picked it up to show Zane. He mimed eating it like a chicken leg and chortled to himself.
What a waste. The mess left behind made Zane think of spilled soup. He could have feasted on them, absorbed their life force into his own, become more powerful. He could not, however, deny the effect that destroying a caravan had had on his father. Nathan stood on top of a wagon, staring into the night sky, his face finally calm. Zane guessed that the killing had restored some sense of purpose to his crazed father.
“Who is this girl he speaks of?” It was the shadow woman, sitting with her legs crossed on top of a barrel. Zane could not deny that she was attractive. She looked like she was in her mid-twenties, yet Zane knew the truth. She was his grandmother. Yet another dark creature with unimaginable power and some sort of hold on all of them.
“Her name is Kimberly,” Zane answered. “She is our sister.”
“Strange.” She stood and tossed something to the ground. She had been toying with a severed hand. “I cannot sense her.”
“She’s different.” Zane floated in front of her. “She did not change when he touched her.”
“Then her darkness lies much deeper.” The shadow woman giggled to herself. “How delightful. If it were to ever emerge, she could walk among the lands as a god.”
“If not for that sword, we would have had her.”
The shadow woman stopped laughing and stared at Zane.
“What sword?”
“A strange sword with fire and vines that sprouted from it.” Zane gestured with one hand, summoning an image of his sister swinging the blade. “It’s what brought us here.”
She laughed again. It was a cold laugh. She curled the fingers of one hand over her chin and bent forward. Her long dark hair covered her mask.
“How delightfully wonderful!” She stood tall and stretched her arms at the sky. “That just gave me a delicious idea!” She called to Nathan, who swooped down and knelt by her side, eager to please.
“We can lure her in. It wouldn’t be hard.” She stroked Nathan’s head. “To do that, though, we need to gather a bit of a reputation.”
She reached behind her back and drew forth a ball of darkness. It curled and twisted in her fist like a handful of snakes, stretching and distorting. Finally, it eased itself outward, shaping itself to her whims.
She held an exact replica of the blade Kimberly wielded. Zane was surprised by the amount of detail she had put into it, enough that he couldn’t see the difference.
“Come, I know of a place not too far from here. A place where we can all feed.”
Billy howled in delight and pumped a giant fist in the air. Zane agreed with the sentiment.
* * *
Kaleiph stood at the edge of his field, the hot summer sun making him squint. He tore off his hat and wiped the sweat from his face with its brim. It had been another long day, and he had several more ahead of him, especially if he was going to have his land ready for planting spice melon seeds by the next lunar cycle.
The sun was close to setting in the hills and he was looking forward to the cool evening hours. He picked up his shovel and slung it over his shoulder. Smiling to himself, he surveyed his day’s work. Seeing movement out of the corner of his eye, he turned to see what looked like a man floating toward him. The man’s arms were stretched out to his sides, his palms pointed up, and wore what might have been a dreamy smile on his face.
Not sure how to react, Kaleiph just stared as the man drifted closer. He was wearing strange clothes Kaleiph didn’t recognize, clothes that had been tattered by the elements. He wondered if this was a heat-induced hallucination, the kind his father had warned him about. The weather had been hot and dry for a few cycles now, and sometimes Kaleiph forgot to drink enough water. Come to think of it, he did have a bit of a headache. He reached for his waterskin and took a swig.
The strange figure drifted closer now, and a sense of unease filled Kaleiph’s stomach. He dropped the waterskin and swung his shovel down in front of his chest. It was heavy in his arms and he tried to casually hold it in front of him.
The man drifted close enough that Kaleiph could see his lips moving, but he could only hear whispers. Stopping in front of Kaleiph, the stranger just hovered there, unmoving.
r /> The quietly whispered words inevitably pulled Kaleiph closer as he strained to make out what the stranger was saying. Unnaturally black eyes opened and a double-set of teeth grinned at him.
“Boo.” The stranger said the word softly. Kaleiph didn’t know what it meant, but it made him jump just a little.
Kaleiph raised his shovel, ready to strike. The floating man reached out with clawed hands and sunk his fingers deep into Kaleiph’s skin. Sensing the end, Kaleiph tried to open his mouth and say something.
“Shh. You’ll spoil the surprise.” A large shape loomed behind the stranger, a metal thing with a hollow laugh.
Kaleiph felt pain flood his body. In the distance somewhere, he heard a woman’s voice say something about leaving witnesses. Then he felt nothing at all.
* * *
The Long Days Ahead
Kimberly stood in the river, the water flowing gently past her waist. Sighing, she cupped some water in her hands and splashed it on her face. The water was ice-cold, but she found it quite comfortable. Tiny tendrils sprouted from Willow’s scabbard, languishing in the water’s current.
“How can you stand to do that?” Helena was standing on the river’s edge, in the process of putting her clothes back on. The two of them had come to bathe, but Kimberly wasn’t comfortable being naked in the wilderness. Helena had no qualms about stripping down for a quick dip, but she had lasted only a few minutes before the chill had driven her out.
“It’s Willow. She enjoys it.” Willow pulsed at Kimberly’s hip in response. “Water brings life to all things, including her.”
“As long as I don’t have to come in and get you.” Helena pulled her wet hair across one shoulder and began brushing it. “I’ve had quite enough for today.”
Ip, contented to bat at minnows from the river’s bank, barked his agreement. He hopped onto a rock and smacked at something under the water. Pulling up a minnow with his paw, he watched it wriggle around on the rock.
Kimberly leaned back into the water, floating on the surface. Willow extended tendrils down, into the riverbed, anchoring her in place. She let out a deep breath, staring at the cloudless sky above.