Текст книги "Bound to the battle god"

Автор книги: Ruby Dixon

сообщить о нарушении

Текущая страница: 7 (всего у книги 40 страниц)

I don’t point out that it sounds way, way down the path. It’s all going to be the same to a god, I suspect.

“Katharn. Yes. I know this name.”

I look over at him, surprised. “You do?”

He nods even as we head through the dark, twisting alleys of the nighttime city. “Indeed. That is a city claimed by no gods, but if one is there, I will force their priests to welcome me.”

“Forcing priests to welcome him” sounds a bit like we’re going to end up in the same situation we are right now—on the run for our lives. But maybe he’s right. Maybe someone else is having a better experience with this whole “Anticipation” thing, because it sounds like a bunch of gods were dropped out of the heavens. “Great. So we just need to head in that direction. The girl at the tavern said there’s a couple of small temples along the way. We can avoid them if we need to and just do our best to hide out.”

Aron says nothing. I’m not sure if he agrees with my plan, but he’s not offering one of his own, so that’s as close to agreement as I suspect we’re going to get. We hurry through the muddy streets, and the air feels heavy with humidity, as if warning me that Aron’s just barely keeping his shit together.

I guess I can’t blame him. We’re sneaking out of the city like a couple of thieves and I suspect he expected to be greeted with naked dancing girls and riches since he was a god. He was, but not the way he wanted. Instead, he got me—a salty Earth woman who has no time for his bullshit, and a midnight run out of Dodge. Definitely not what he expected.

I don’t know the layout of the city, but I keep us heading toward the long city wall that encircles the place. I vaguely remember this gate from days ago, and when I see the large, guarded portcullis, I breathe a sigh of relief. Almost there.

It looks the same as it did when I first saw it, the walls tall and made of smooth river stone mortared together. The portcullis is another iron gate, this one big enough to let two elephants through, side by side. Two guards stand on each side of the gate. Four people. Not a problem.

“That’s the south gate,” I tell Aron unnecessarily. “That’s the way out of the city. From there, it leads through the Dirtlands and toward Katharn.” I mean, I don’t have a map, but I’m guessing that’s how it’ll go. If it doesn’t, we’ll pivot and figure something out from there. Any place that’s not “here” works for me.

Aron pauses and we both stop. I realize I’m still clinging to his arm and I let go, and for some reason, I feel a sense of loss. Maybe because those tiny electric shocks aren’t rippling through me any longer. He fingers the sword at his belt. “It’s guarded.”

“That’s easily handled,” I tell him, sounding more confident than I feel. “We’ll bribe them to let us out. I’ve seen it done before.” In the movies, but hey. He doesn’t need to know that. I pause and dig through my coin pouch, pulling out a few of the smaller, more valuable coins and clutching them tight. Pretty sure that bribing the guards might just bankrupt us, but we’re low on options and can’t stick around to see what happens by day. We need to be out of this city before the prelate realizes that Aron’s escaped, because something tells me that if he finds out that the god is gone, he’s going to do his best to make Aron disappear entirely.

And I have a sneaking suspicion that my fate is now tied to his in all kinds of bad, bad ways.

As we get closer to the gate, I can see even in the dark that the two men guarding each side are armed. I would really prefer to just deal with one easily bribed guard, but if this is what I have to deal with, so be it. I’m just ready to leave Aventine and all its issues behind.

Time to be brave and get shit done.

OceanofPDF.com

12

We get closer to the gate and I can see that despite the massive portcullis that blocks the way out, there’s a smaller wrought-iron door that only needs to be opened by one person. I guess that’s for bottlenecking travel, but either way, it’s encouraging. Opening one small door is an easier bribe than opening the whole massive gate. I turn to Aron and his hood is almost back from his face, his skin and strange eyes practically glowing white in the moonlight.

Yeah, he’s going to stand out like a sore thumb. I move closer to him and tug his hood back over his too-handsome features, hiding them. “Keep this shit hidden.”

“You act as if my face is a problem. I am handsome enough to suit any.”

“Handsomeness isn’t the issue, and wow, arrogant much?” I pull it down just a little further, because I can see the edge of his scar when he turns his face, and it’s a dead giveaway. “You’re pale as hell and you stand out in a crowd. Until we get on the road, you need to pretend like you’re a leper and keep that shit under wraps.”

“A what?”

“A leper. You guys don’t have lepers? You have every other stupid medieval thing I can think of.” Actually, I’m not sure if this culture—Aventinian? Aventini?—is more Roman than Medieval. For every castle-like building, there are dudes in linen kilts and sandals. I guess it doesn’t matter. We’re leaving. “Diseased dudes. Whatever.”

He recoils. “You want them to think I’m diseased? That I am Kalos?”

The outrage in his tone would probably make my hair straighten if I was afraid of him. I still am, but I’m more afraid of what the prelate is up to. I can deal with one cranky god who’s also pretty damn helpless. I can’t deal with an entire city full of assassins.

“No, I just don’t want them to realize you’re you,” I tell him impatiently. “Can we just get on with this? Keep your hood up and let me do the talking.”

“Fine,” Aron snarls, and he doesn’t sound pleased. Too bad for him.

I eye the guards at the gate. They’re staring at us now, probably because we’ve stopped in the road in the middle of the night and stand out like a sore thumb. Not a great start to our “secret” escape. I start to pull my hood over my face and then decide that no, that looks a bit too much like we’re up to no good. We need to look like we want to do a different kind of no good. So I turn toward Aron and wrap my arms around his neck.

Or I try to. He’s easily a foot taller than me and not cuddly in the slightest. I lean in even as he stiffens, his eyes flashing.

“Now is not the time for fucking, servant—”

“I know,” I hiss at him, and cock one foot in the air like we’re getting all cozy and romantic. At least, I hope it looks like that from a distance. From a very far distance, it hopefully won’t look like I’m gritting my teeth because I want to beat his head in. “Just follow my lead and pretend you’re my lover—”

He snorts. “You should be my lover, not the other way around. No one’s going to believe—”

I slap a hand over his mouth before I decide to abandon his ass. “Stop right there,” I say sweetly. “We’re tricking them, all right? Follow my lead and pretend that you want to have sex with me, all right?”

He grunts.

“Thank you,” I tell him, relieved we’re finally getting somewhere. I release his neck and then try to put my hand in his.

He just slaps one of his big paws on my ass and gives it a hard squeeze that sends a ripple of electricity through me. I give him a shocked look, and there’s a weird charge in the air that makes me shiver. He looks thoughtful, and my pussy clenches somewhere deep inside.

Okay, that was weird.

Gritting my teeth again, I slide closer to him and loop my arm around his waist. “Follow my lead,” I murmur one last time before heading forward.

For once in his stubborn life, Aron doesn’t protest. He keeps squeezing my butt cheek and slows his steps to match my paces, and we approach the guards.

No one moves as we approach, but they start to give me speculative looks the moment we get close enough for them to see my face.

“You lost, tart?” one asks.

I’m really getting tired of the word “tart.” “Nope! Just taking my lover out of the city for some privacy.” I wink at him and then pat my coin purse. “What’ll it take to convince you to open that door?”

“Door ain’t for sale,” the man says flatly.

“Oh, I don’t know about that,” another says. “Don’t be so hasty.” He moves closer and eyes me in a way that makes my skin crawl. “I’m sure we can come to some sort of agreement.”

“I’m sure we can,” I say brightly, pretending to misunderstand. I pull my coin purse off of my belt and open it, shaking a few coins into my palm. “How about—”

“How about your cunt instead of your coin?” the man says, giving Aron’s cloaked figure a dismissive look before he reaches out and grabs my tit.

It happens so fast that I can’t do more than squawk in outrage, and the coins go tumbling from my hands onto the muddy ground. Thunder rumbles overhead and suddenly Aron’s hand isn’t on my waist anymore.

It’s on the guy’s throat, and the man’s hauled into the air, his legs thrashing.

“That’s mine,” Aron growls low. “I didn’t say you could touch it.”

The other guards rush forward, and then things are a total blur. I watch in horror as Aron casually tosses aside the man he’s holding and wades forward, unarmed, as the others unsheathe their swords.

I back up in fear, because I have no weapon and no way to protect myself. Not that I’d be able to against a bunch of armed men.

Aron seems to have no problems with that. He flings himself forward, and as one man points his sword at the god, he casually bats it aside as if it’s nothing and then grabs the man’s wrist. There’s a crunch of bone and then the sword falls uselessly to the ground as the guard screams. The Lord of Storms moves almost gracefully as he grabs the men, crushing windpipes, snapping arms, and batting aside swords as if they’re nothing. It doesn’t matter that they’re armed and he’s not—it’s clear there’s no contest here.

He grabs the last guard by his neck and I expect him to fling him like the others, but he just flicks his wrist and there’s another crunch of bone and the man falls to the ground, limp.

Dead.

Aron turns to me, breathing hard, and his eyes are alight with some sort of peculiar glee. His pale skin gleams with a hint of sweat and he grins, pleased with himself. “Gate’s clear. Let’s go.”

I make a wordless sound of protest in my throat.

“What?” he asks, frowning as if I’m the problem here. Me. Meanwhile, I just watched a man relentlessly slaughter a bunch of men that stood in his way. Unreal.

“Are you going to do this all the damn time?” I ask, rubbing my arms against the sudden chill that’s swept over me.

It’s clear Aron doesn’t like being questioned. “Do what?”

“This?” I gesture angrily at the dead men strewn in front of the gate. “I mean, hello, this is not what civilized people fucking do!”

“It is what the Lord of Storms and god of battle does.”

“But still!”

He adjusts his cloak, pulling the hood back over his head. “Are you going to tell me that you had it under control? Because I seem to recall this one”—and he kicks one of the dead bodies—“grabbing you.”

I swallow hard, because my boob still hurts where he squeezed it. That doesn’t give Aron the right to just slaughter a bunch of people though. “I also remember you stating that I’m your property.”

His eyes gleam with that unholy light again, and his grin widens, showing his teeth. It’s not a friendly grin, or even a pleasant one. “That is because you are. You are my anchor in this world. You are mine to do with as I please.”

I shiver at the deadly confidence in his voice and the meaning behind his words. I hug my clothes tighter to my body. “Well, if you grab my tit, I’m going to be pissed.”

“There is no time for that right now. Let us open this gate and be gone, as you have demanded for hours.” He turns away and stalks toward the portcullis.

I swallow the emotion bubbling in my throat. Part of me wants to turn away and tell him to fuck off. That we’re done and I’ll find my own way in this strange place. But then I watch him study the portcullis and then fumble at the gate, as if he can’t figure out how it opens.

Just like he can’t figure out how to sleep.

I sigh. If I leave him alone, I’m sure he’s going to die. It might not be from a fight, but it might be from starvation just because he’s that clueless. I signed up for this no matter what and he did save my life…and the other women.

I probably need this guy to get home. He’s a god, right? It stands to reason that if he gets back to his world, he can get me back to mine.

I sigh again. Damn it. “I hate this,” I mutter to the dead people around me, and then spot a key ring at the belt of one of the guards. I grab it—and a money pouch one has at his belt—and then head to Aron’s side. “Just please don’t keep murdering people, all right?”

“They stood in our way. You said yourself we do not have time to lose. Now, are you going to keep sobbing over the corpses of men who would have fucked you to open a door, or are you going to come with me?”

I hate this man sometimes, I really do. I really hate it when he’s right. I head forward with the keys. “How long exactly am I stuck being your servant? Asking for a friend.”

“No, you are not.” He smacks the door, frustrated. “How does this open?”

I facepalm. Oh, this man. I don’t know what I’m going to do with him.

OceanofPDF.com

13

We head out of the city and into a wasteland.

I blink the dirt out of my eyes and pull my hood tighter around my face, even though it’s dark outside and there’s no one out here to see us. But there’s dirt constantly flying in the air and it slinks around our boots like a fine layer of sand peppering everything. There are no trees out here in the open, and even though it’s dark, I can’t make out any grasses or foliage. I can barely make out the cobblestones of the road because they’re so covered with grit. Everywhere I look, as far as the eye can see, there’s nothing but naked hill after hill.

It makes me nervous.

“What is this place?”

“Outside the mortals’ city,” Aron says, his tone implying that the answer is obvious. “The prosperous Aventine, devoted to the God of Storms.” The sarcasm is rich in his voice.

“I know that. It’s just…was there a fire recently?” I know the question’s as stupid as the last one. They called this the Dirtlands, didn’t they? Clearly this is dirt. A whole hell of a lot of it. “There’s nothing out here. How do they make a city out in the middle of nowhere? Shouldn’t there be farms or something? Pastures?”

Roads?

Freaking trees? Something? This empty wasteland is hard for me to fathom.

I’m used to cities and buildings crowding every bit of space they can. Cars and roads and sidewalks and landscaping. This place hasn’t felt truly alien to me until now. Maybe some part of my head thought I was just in a weird sort of amusement park and that at some point, someone would peel the curtains back and real life would be on the other side.

Looking at my surroundings, though, I realize that’s a dream. However I got here, I’ve been dropped into a world that’s very different from my own. For the first time, I lose hope that I’m going to get home.

I might be stuck here.

Forever.

I tighten my grip on the cloak around my shoulders. Fuck that. I refuse to let this place defeat me. It’s only been days but I’ve already survived slavery, an execution, and an assassination attempt. If I can survive all that this place throws at me, I will find my way home.

Aron grunts. “Aventine is on the edge of the ocean, so I imagine they do fishing and trading. Do you truly care or are you yapping just to yap?”

I clench my jaw and walk.

The dirtlands are eerie. The moon is high and bigger than the moon back home, dominating the night sky and so close that I can make out the pockmarks and craters on the surface without a telescope, which is a little eerie. I can’t help but feel like the moon’s going to crash into the world if it gets any closer. Then again, Aron doesn’t seem all that concerned so that must be normal.

Then again, Aron doesn’t know how to work a door.

I shiver as we move farther and farther away from the walls of Aventine. I know it’s wisest to get away—especially after Aron did his “killing six guards” thing, but I can’t help but be creeped out and worried about the direction we’re heading.

A city named Katharn is this way, I remind myself. The barmaid had no reason to lie to me. There’s a city in this direction. We just have to keep going through this awful nothingness—the Dirtlands—until we get there. “Hopefully this isn’t a long walk,” I say aloud, because it’s reassuring to hear my voice. “If this was like a desert, then I don’t think the city would get a lot of travelers, and they did. At least, I think that’s how it would work, though I’m not entirely sure that we shouldn’t turn around and get more food and water—”

“I know this place,” Aron says, his voice ringing out over the gently sloping hills of dirt.

“You what?” I turn and stop when I realize Aron has stopped, too. I glance uneasily at the walls of the city. We’ve been walking for what feels like a half hour, but we’re still far too close. Someone on horseback—or hippoback, or whatever those animals are—could easily catch up to us.

“I know this place,” he states again and lifts his hands. Faint sparks glimmer at his fingertips and the air feels charged with electricity. I can feel my hair standing on end as if I’m being shocked, and above us, the skies crackle with thunder.

I gasp at the sight. He’s lit up like a firecracker. “How did you do that?”

Aron ignores me. He lifts his hands toward his face, studying them with a frown furrowing his brow. As he does, I realize that the sparking light coming from his hands is being…sucked away. Like there’s a gigantic invisible vacuum and it’s pulling all of the energy out of him. He clenches his jaw as if concentrating, and the light coming from his hands grows stronger. It makes my head hurt to look at it, and I wince, squinting at the light.

The auras that surround his fingertips elongate and bleed away toward the distant horizon. He turns, his back to me, and I move to watch as he does the same thing in the opposite direction. Again, the magic bleeds away from his hands in the exact same direction as before.

Something’s sucking away his lightning, and it’s something over the hills.

“This is a dead place,” he tells me after a moment, and his fingers go out like snuffed candles. He drops his hands and looks around us thoughtfully. “There is no magic or life in these lands. It is being pulled towards the Citadel.”

“First of all, this is fucked up. Second of all, you could have done the lightning thing with your hands all this time and you break necks instead? What the fuck, man?” I give him an incredulous stare.

He grins at me, and it feels like more of a showing of teeth than a friendly gesture. “I like to break necks. Especially the necks of those that anger me.” He stares down at his hands. “And the lightning is…difficult. I do not think I am supposed to be doing it.”

I shake my head slowly, amazed. This man has no idea of what it means to be a person. Not yet. He makes my head hurt. “So your lightning is…what, being drained?”

“Everything is. The spark of life, my essence, everything. If we were to stay in these lands long enough, it would bleed our lives from us.” He points in the distance. “It is all being sucked away to the Citadel, the bastion of Tadekha, goddess of magic. Her devotees pull the force of every living thing for many leagues to power her temple. The High Father is not pleased by it, but he does not stop her.” He looks thoughtful. “Or so I thought. Perhaps she is part of the reason we have all been cast out.”

“Mmm. Lucky me.” I shiver in my long cloak and brush my fingers over my skin as I get another faceful of wind-blown dirt. “You think she’s there in the Citadel like you showed up here?”

“It is possible. I feel a great magic there, but it might be that I feel her followers draining everything.” Aron studies the distant horizon, frowning at it. “If she is there, I do not know if we should venture in that direction.” He flicks a glance over at me. “She is not a goddess that is friendly to me. Aventine and the Citadel have long been uneasy with each other.”

Lovely. “So if she’s being punished, she’ll be there, sucking up all the energy in the world like her own personal black hole. But if she’s not, do you think they would help us? Maybe give us some horses to get to Katharn?”

He shrugs. “Does it matter how fast we get to our next destination? Are you late for something?”

“Well, no—”

“Then we walk on. I have no wish to visit Tadekha or her sniveling worshipers.”

I clench my jaw. “Fine. We’ll keep going, then.”

So we walk.

And we walk.

And walk. It feels like we’re walking endlessly toward a horizon that never changes shape no matter how long we walk. My feet hurt and the gigantic moon moves through the sky, disappearing behind the distant mountains on the horizon, and still we walk.

Occasionally I glance backward to see if I can see the city walls, but they disappeared hours ago, which makes me feel better.

Slightly.

As the sun rises, the skies bleed gold and pink, and I have to admit, I have a new appreciation for this day. This is the Hour of Blood. Dawn. Sunrise. I was supposed to be executed along with dozens of other blondes just because we had the bad luck to be slaves. A knot forms in my throat but I ignore it, just like I ignore the ache in my feet. Aron’s not slowing down, so I don’t either.

By the time the sun is up, though, I’m ravenous and so thirsty that my mouth feels like a desert. I’m also starting to resent the fact that Aron doesn’t seem to be stopping for anything. He doesn’t look tired, and his walk is just as brisk as ever. Me, I’m dragging. I’m sleepy, hungry, and exhausted. I also have to use the bathroom, but I haven’t seen one or even a bush to hide behind. There is literally nothing in the Dirtlands and I’m not about to pop a squat in front of my good buddy Aron.

I force my aching legs to move faster and stride up to his side. I’ve been walking a few steps behind him all this time because I simply can’t keep up with his effortless speed, but it makes conversation difficult. “Hi,” I say breathlessly. “Can we talk for a sec?”

He glances over at me dismissively. “You are talking. Speak.”

God, this guy really is a dick. I hate that I let him grab my ass. “What’s the game plan? We don’t know how long it’s going to take to get to Katharn, so like, when are we stopping to eat and rest?”

He scowls at me as if I’ve said something highly obnoxious. “You are tired?”

“You aren’t?” When he shakes his head, I sigh with frustration. “Well, here’s the thing. I’m mortal, right? Mortals need to rest and pee and eat and all that good stuff and you might not, but I sure do.”

That makes him pause in the middle of the dusty, dirty road. “Rest and pee and eat?”

“Not all at once of course—”

He tilts his head. “Should I be doing these things since I am now mortal?”

Tricky question, and I have no answer for him. “I don’t know? Do you feel the need to, uh, relieve your bladder?” This is such a weird conversation to have with a god.

Aron thinks for a moment. “No?”

“Then maybe gods don’t use the bathroom. Look, I don’t know. All I know is that I need to do these things.” I press the heel of my hand to my forehead, and I’m not surprised to find that I’m trembling with exhaustion. “So please, can we take a break for a few?”

He considers this. His hands go to his hips and he studies the wide open fields around us, then the road. Then he gazes back behind us, as if he can still see the walls of Aventine. After a moment, he glances over at me again, his expression sour. “Am I going to have to carry you, Faith? Is this what you are going for?”

My jaw drops. “You arrogant prick. No! I would like five fucking minutes to rest my feet. Can we do that?” I drop to the ground and sit on the dusty cobblestones, glaring at him. “The very last thing I want from you is a free ride.”

Aron snorts, as if he doesn’t quite believe that, and I want to punch his smug face. What a huge dick.

I ignore him, because truth is, it feels so damn good to sit down and rest. I’m thirsty and my feet hurt like there’s no tomorrow. I’m starving, too, but we didn’t bring food supplies. I wonder how far away Katharn is. I’m starting to worry that leaving the city was a mistake, but we couldn’t really stay there, either. I don’t know what to do. I look around at our barren surroundings. Somehow I thought journeying outside the walls would be okay. That there’d be a nice road and some trees for shade. That there’d be countryside and farmland or something. Maybe a stream to drink from.

This place is just empty. There’s absolutely nothing. It’s a little creepy and definitely makes me feel defeated just gazing out at it. “I need to stop for a bit,” I tell him. I’m suddenly exhausted from everything we’ve been through over the last few days. It feels as if it’s all crashing in on me and I don’t think I could get up if I tried.

As I sit and try to catch my breath, Aron paces. When it’s been all of two minutes, he gives me a cross look. “Well?”

“Well what? I’m still resting.”

He lets out an impatient breath. “For how much longer?”

I stare at him, irritated and a little aghast that he wants to get moving again already. “I don’t know—an hour? Two? Does it matter?”

“We should get going. You were so eager to leave and now you will just stop? This is not a safe place. We are not safe here.” The god gestures angrily at the mounds and mounds of dirt that make up the landscape. “Every moment we spend in this place, we are in danger.”

“For a guy that doesn’t even know what a bathroom is, you sure are certain of that,” I mutter.

Aron scowls at me. “I wish to go, Faith.”

As if that solves it. “Yeah, well, I wish I had better company. We don’t always get what we want.”

He looks incredulous, as if he can’t quite believe I’m not jumping to my feet to do his bidding. “Faith,” he says impatiently.

“Aron,” I reply in just as testy a voice.

“Get up. We are leaving.”

“You know what, Aron? People prefer it if you’re nice to them. I hear you get a lot more done. You should try it.”

“Nice?” His lip curls as if the very thought is repugnant. “Why must I be ‘nice’? I am a god—”

“Were a god,” I point out. “You were, and now you’re an Aspect.”

He narrows his mismatched eyes at me and then strides over to where I lie in the dirt. The hairs on the back of my neck prickle, but I don’t get up. I wait to see what he’s going to do. Aron moves to my side and touches my cheek with the backs of his fingers, a gentle caress. The brush of his skin against mine makes a spark jump through us, pleasurable and sharp.

I stare up at him in surprise, fascinated at that gentle touch. My non-existent panties are totally in trouble right now, because just that small touch is making me crazy.

“Faith,” he murmurs, voice gentle as he strokes my cheek.

It takes everything I have not to lean into his caress like a kitten. I close my eyes and sigh. “Mmm?”

“Get your ass up,” he says in that same gentle tone. “Because I am fucking leaving.”

I open my eyes and scowl up at him. “Bye.”

His nostrils flare. “I was nice! Get up!”

“Bye,” I say again and stretch my legs on the cobblestones. It’s not comfortable, but it infuriates Aron, and so it’s worth it.

We glare at each other for a long moment, waiting for the other to break. I’m determined not to, though, and I feel a triumphant surge when he turns his back and stomps away. Score one for the mortal. Of course, when he continues to storm away, I start to feel uneasy. “Where are you going?”

“I told you. I am leaving. It is not safe here.” He doesn’t turn around. “If you are wise, you’ll leave, too.”

That warning’s a little unnerving, but I don’t like the fact that he’s telling me what to do. I’ve had enough of that already, and the stubborn part of me just wants to ignore him even more. He’s trying to scare me into trotting after him, and it’s not going to work. “See you around, then. Good luck finding another shmuck to be your anchor.”

He doesn’t stop.

Fine, then.

I feel uneasy as he leaves. I watch his back retreat for quite a while, because the ground is so level. I wonder for a moment if I should go after him, and then I decide that no, I’m not. It’s only our magic bond—one that I never should have volunteered for—that’s making me have second thoughts. And I’ve been alone up until this point, haven’t I? I might be better off without Aron at my side. So I watch him go until he’s no more than a distant speck on the horizon.

That’s that. Fuck that guy.

The sun gets high in the sky. It starts to get warm. Really warm. Time to get moving, then. I get to my feet, which ache the moment I put weight on them, and start to head down the cobbled road in the same direction as Aron. For a moment, I feel foolish. We’re traveling in the same direction anyhow, but like petulant children, we’re not going to be together. It’s so silly.

Of course, he started it.

Of course, that sounds even more childish.

My head throbs and my entire body hurts. I realize it’s not going to get any better the longer I stay in one place, so I head after him on the road for a bit. Strangely enough, I start to feel better the moment I begin traveling again. I do wonder if it has something to do with our bond.

Before I can contemplate that thought for too long, I hear a low, rhythmic pounding. I press a hand to my breast, but it’s not my heart. As it grows louder, I glance up at the skies. Is this Aron’s doing? Some weird thunder god bullcrap to intimidate me? But the skies are clear and light blue with the early morning. I notice in the distance that there are clouds of dirt. That’s odd. Either it’s really windy…or something’s moving.

Unease worms through my belly.

A moment later, I see shapes slowly lumbering into view. A moment after that, I realize they’re not so lumbering after all. They’re actually going pretty fast for the land-hippos, and there are riders atop them. Their movements match the steady drumming I hear, and I frown at the sight. My first instinct is to hide, but there’s nowhere to go. I glance ahead down the road, but Aron’s not in sight any longer. Maybe I can beat them. They look as if they’re coming up from one side of the Dirtlands, so I limp into a half run, moving as fast as I can. Fear makes me move faster than I thought possible.