It would be a long be a long walk.
The ruddy, muddy path before
them curved and turned near through the towering husks of scorched trees,
burned but not forgotten, watching them as they passed quiet beneath their
ashen skeletons. A breeze picked up, blowing a grey, dead snow down as they trudged
along, wary and weary, looking for a place to camp before the coming night.
Somewhere in the distance
something like a bird or paca was bleating a message in shrill squawks, and it
sounds like "get
out, get out, get out." There's not
a single welcoming quality to the forest of Fen, leaving was already the plan,
to make it to some city and see what was left of the sky again, even one ringed
with fire would be better than this dull grey overcast of arboreal shells.
After last night, she was exhausted, and plodded forward hardly able to keep a
consistent thought in her head. That was fine though. She didn't want to.
They just got out of another
altercation, one that left Rosy with bruises all down her arms with a bad burn
on her shoulder, and Kehl… he was fighting back another round of nausea. It
couldn't keep on going like this, something was going to break that couldn't
get fixed.
While the rope had tightened
around Rosy's neck, she'd still stayed conscious enough to hear the mention of
a city on the other side of the diseased woods. Lodestone. She chanted the name over and over in her mind’s voice, Lodestone, Lodestone, Lodestone. Maybe
if they made it there, discovered more information about what was happening in
the ongoing conflict, maybe then they could find a cure.
...But then where would they
go?
+++
From the onset of the night
before, after they left the small post for trading caravans, it didn't take
long until their 'guides' turned out to be the opposite of what was promised.
It didn't come at a complete surprise--they'd been half-expecting it since they
made it past the crowds and out into the rural reaches of Lemmingstown, when
their two new compatriots had an argument over which path to take upon entering
the Fen. True guides also traveled slower and with more gear, whereas these
seemed to be in a hurry to leave the wagon trains behind. Even then, it was
better to travel with someone, anyone, instead of venture out all alone, just
the two of them. If anything, it would give extra fodder on the road in case of
another monstroid attack.
After barely making it away
from the glow of the last campfire, the would-be woodsman were already setting
the snare, saying they should make camp away from too many prying eyes so no
one would come upon their little group in the night. It wouldn't be the first
time things got suspicious quick, someone making a promise and meaning the
opposite of what they said. Nowadays everyone seemed desperate. Being a child
made no exception in that. How quickly "keep you safe" could mean
"attack and sell you" made paranoia the standard mindset to those
that wanted to stay alive. Unnervingly, not everyone did want to keep going.
Occasionally you’d glance a body’s remains stren among the jagged rocks at the
bottom of a cliff. First reaction then was, ‘can I get down there to see if any
usable gear might be left?’ Shows the sour reality of how times were changing.
Usually, these poachers of
people waited longer to earn trust before springing the trap. Rosy and Kehl had
known shackles, but history wasn't going to repeat so soon. Nor would it ever
have to, if they were prepared to pay the price.
"Where are we
headed?" Rosy asked tracker Allar.
"What? Why you wanta
know? We getcha their safe, like we said."
"Yes, thank you, only
the Fen stretches quite a distance, doesn't it? I heard tell around the trading
post of a big city on the other side, the one down from Snake Lake. I just
wanted to know if that was the direction we were heading." Even though she
had only begun taking on the transition from kid to girl, she was not clueless
or thoughtless as her youth may suggest.
"Yeah? You head about
the city, huh? But you ain't been through here before, huh?" Allar fiddled
with a knife on a flint stone over a small tinder pile, though no sparks were
coming off with the scrapes.
"We haven't been to the
other side of Fen, no. But we made it all the way here from quite far away,
from North Lea. We're just looking for a bigger place to find something to
do."
"Yeah, well I got a bit
of bad news," he put the flint stone away, giving up on the fire--or
finishing what he was originally intent on doing, "see, Lukus and I hear
track the Fen and try to catch them metal beasts what bother travelers. So
happens that a couple smaller logtowns up norther are paying more for 'em fresh
kilt than the city."
"Oh," putting a bit
of despondency in her tone, "we were hoping to reach south."
" . . . "
"But we'll be much, much
better off going that way after we get across the Fen. Thank you for your
help."
"Mhmm. Now go to sleep
kids, gotta a lot to do tomorrow. A lot of walking. Actually probably best not
to start a fire, don't want none of them beasts comin' on out tonight, right?
Don' you worry, Lukus is a strong guy, he'll stay up a while and watch."
Rosy and Kehl took the cue
and began to spread out their thin bedrolls. It used to be on nights like this,
with only the darker of the moons showing in the sky, children would stay up
and talk about things they'd seen and what they'd see from here, excited about
what was out there, and someone would always try to scare younger kids by
telling them about some huge black shadow monster just outside the brushpile
watching and waiting until they slept. Rosy and Kehl knew better. You didn't
talk. You did not draw attention. And you listened.
The one called Allar went
after Rosy just as she was laying to test the bedroll placement, silently
lashing a tethered cord around her neck. She only got out a squeak before the
man's hand was around her mouth, his knee in the small of her back forcing her
chest to the ground. "Don't worry. I think we might change plans and head
to your big city, Lodestone pays better for live things than dead ones."
The other guide, Lukus,
nabbed Kehl in one arm, and Kehl ripped that arm off, a clean break from the
shoulder socket. Allar said Lukus wa strong, but he could have never known how
much stronger Kehl's Arms were. Rosy didn't have that kind of power, but she
still had teeth and sunk them into her assailant's hand. He cried out in pain,
but that didn't deter him from making a few more coils in the nylon binding
rope now woven around her small body. The cords gripped into her skin through
her thick orange fur dress and hurt despite the layers. Allar hadn't noticed
the partner slaver, riling on the ground, clutching his own arm in his opposite
hand, lost to shock. The man on Rosy kept his hold but lost his nerve when he
turned to see what Kehl had done, and it was just then now-dead Lukus's head
popped like a blister.
Stripping himself of the
heavy teal jacket he always wore, Kehl made for Allar, coming for Rosy. She
threw her hair away from her Eye and could see an instant aura of fear, and a
deeper peer through his first layer of garments revealed just in time as Allar
drove his hand to an inside pocket, "Kehl! He's gotta a shock-stick, watch
out!"
Kehl stopped his approach short, instead
snatching up a round rock that should have been used for their fire pit,
launching it through the collar bone and out the back of Allar before he could
point the shock-stick and fire. Ligaments plucked like string, the stick fell
and went off on hitting the ground, launching a stream of white-blue lightning
just past Rosy's head but catching her shoulder, prompting loose a wail of
agony.
Without a word Kehl pounced
the man, dug his fingers inbetween his ribs and pulled, splitting him from the
left of his sternum in two like cracked nut. Rosy tried to yell, to tell him
not to use so much power, that he'd push too far, but Kehl was young,
temperamental, and didn't yet understand the full effects of what he had on his
arms. He only pulled back after Allar had an "O" like shape to his
torso. By then, Rosy had squeezed out of her binding to catch Kehl as he
stumbled, looking pale. With Eyes to the trees above, he vomited and Rosy
rolled him over. "Pushed himself too far", she muttered. Already she
could feel his veins growing turgid and his limbs became stiff. There was
nothing she could do but lay him down, gather the gear of the two
guides-turned-corpses, and lie awake until dawn when Kehl regained
consciousness.
You think she'd have been
scared. She wasn't. Just sad. And worried. This wasn't the first, second, or
third time this happened. She shed a few tears while Kehl couldn't see,
frustrated on having to ponder how many more times this would happen. Rosy
could only hope it wasn't hopeless.
+++
The glaring moon glowered
high in the sky, mid-day and no shadow time, signaling rest. They found a hovel
in the recess of a particularly towering fallen ash tree. Rosy pulled out a
canteen on a skein of knotted intestine taken from last night's attackers to
give Kehl a drink. She went to take a swig herself first before spitting the
liquid right back out, her mouth on fire. Rotgrog, as nasty as it was potent, cheapest booze you could buy but only
drank by those who truly could not afford something better. Made all the more
sense why her people-trapper's from yesterday turned to crime life. Rosy kicked
herself for not checking first and trading the contents for water before
setting out, but she wanted to depart the gruesome scene before any passerby
stumbled on the barbarized bodies. Some may have known those two cadavers, but
she doubt they'd be missed. Possibly they were even beyond recognition. Rosy
still shuddered to think of what Kehl could do, though at the same time that
power became strangely normal. With her companion still reeling in a weakened
state now, Rosy had only been able to carry a small amount of the gear she got
off the slavers, and a vial of rotgrog was not going to help them through the Fen.
Rosy tried to sit, let her
body be at rest, and collect her thoughts like she'd been told to do from time
to time. They were still alive (for what it was worth), they had more gear than
when they started yesterday (though at a price), and they made some progress
through the Fen (but slower than they would if they hadn't been attacked by
their guides), and they were on a pretty well-worn path (however they didn't
know where it'd go). Okay, thinking wasn't working.
Instead, she put her
attention on Kehl. His breathing was labored by a bit, but his Eyes were open
and alert. They hadn't spoken all morning. Both knew what the other was
thinking, and the conversation they'd have to have, but the two continued
mutually delaying that inevitable exchange. A light mist started to fall, and
turned out to be nothing more than the ashes from the tops of surrounding trees
blowing in the wind, giving the air a heavy stink of stale sulfur. "We
should take it easy today. It's not like anywhere else is better than here.
Everything's probably even worse," Rosy spoke finally. Kehl sniffed in through his nose to recall a
wet booger on its way out. "Uh-huh. Probably." Rosy looked over to
Kehl, who didn't give his eyes back. It made her realize she still had her Eye
out, and she made a quick attempt to look natural as she moved her hair in
front of it and cupped the rest of her curls behind her ear. She knew her Eye
still frightened him, though it couldn't be more than Kehl's Arms frightened
her.
Unbuckling the clasp of her
pack, she removed the leather straps but let out a quick peal of pain where the
shock-stick blast scorched her skin. That got Kehl's attention, asking
"you all right?" Rosy more gingerly removed that strap, wincing as
she gently rotated it over the skin beneath. "Yes. I'm fine. It's not as
bad as stuff before, and I know it'll heal up really quick like it always
does." She tried to think positive, like she had been told to do. She
shrugged off the hurt, instead reminding herself that they were up another
weapon, Allar's shock-stick now in her coat pocket, which gave them an additional method of defense, one
that didn't use Kehl's Arms or Rosy's Eye.
"Don't look, Kehl. That
reminded me, I should change the bandage on my shoulder. Those stupids at least
had sense to carry some medical junk with'em." Before she even took and
arm out of the sleeve of her dress Kehl blushed a shade of pink that clashed
with the somber color of his jacket. In a strange way she didn't show, it made
her happy to see they were both still very much mortalfolk. Kehl feigned
disinterest and went to kick at a charred stump while Rosy carefully picked at
where blood and blackened skin stuck to the piece of cloth she strapped on in
the morning. It hurt, but she was stronger than that familiar feeling of pain.
Wadding up new cloth, she taped it down and slung her arm back through her fur
dress. The shade of pale, faded orange that colored her one-piece was just like
the hue of light bouncing off the moon. She could just make out the beams
coming down through the smoky tops of dead standing trees.
"Okay. You can look now.
Oh, and come back over here Kehl, I still have some of that ointment we got and
you could use it on your Arms." She pulled on the lid of a rubber tub
taken from a hipsack. It was greasy to the touch and no matter how much she
wiped at it with her pantleg it never got not-sticky. "No, I'm fine, it
doesn't hurt. It's fine," Kehl said, still facing the other way and
preferring to busy himself with the stump.
It wasn't until Rosy rolled
up one of Kehl's sleeve under protest that she saw why he was acting resistant.
"Kehl… this is
bad."
"No! It's fine, I said
it's fine!"
"It gone to your elbows.
Kehl it's already made it to your elbows, and that was just last night. Ten
moon-cycles ago it was just getting past your wrists." Now, from finger to
forearm, and organic twisting of nano-metal took the place where flesh should
be. It was cold to the touch, but looked alive, practically pulsing as Rosy
inspected further to see new thin wires beginning to sprout around the joints,
along with a new dull blue light shining through a hard-casing just below
Kehl's palm.
"Just put the greasy
stuff on and leave it alone. It's not so bad."
"You can't do what you
did, you can't use so much energy, too much is going to make this spread
faster, you know that!"
"Yeah, and then what, we
don't even know what happens when it does. Maybe nothing. Maybe it will just
stop. Or maybe it'll make us really, really strong and then no one will ever
bother us again. And it doesn't matter. That stupid guy, he was hurting you, he
had you in ropes and, I didn't want to get captured again, and sold, and end up
somewhere where the hurt… hurt you and… "
Kehl began to trail off in
tears, but Rosy had sealed off that protective reaction to his crying; it could
be a tool just like the ointment. "Don't even. Don't even start to blubber
about that. You know--knew--we were never in danger. You freaked out too fast,
Kehl. Even if he had me tied up, he never said how he wanted us 'alive' to do
whatever with. If those idiots didn't know about what we could do then, all it
would take is being patient and waiting for them to go pee or something, then
we could have broken out and used a
lot less power. I could have scanned them
to see what they had and told you that. You can't just keep exploding like that
or we're going to run out of time."
"Just shut up about it,"
Kehl hit her on the shoulder, the one with the burn, not too hard but enough to
make her yell out, "see, that hurts and that's because he hurt you! I'll
do what I want, I'm not going
back to being in a cage again!"
Rosy's tempered flared,
"You freaking little jerk, don't touch me! What was that for?" Rosy
pushed him back and he stumbled over the burnt stump and fell backwards, no
doubt struggling with the increased weight of his Arms, tears still welling in
his eyes. Rosy stopped herself then, not saying anything else. She barely slept
last night, but had to control her nerves better with him, she couldn't let him
get the best of her over this. All things considered, this was out of a place
projected by fear.
"I told you I wouldn't
*sniff* let anyone *sniff* hurt you and still I *sniff* couldn't get there in
time." He stayed on the ground and took a moment to himself as Rosy tried
to regain her composition. She needed to remember, Kehl was only a boy of 10,
and a sensitive one at that. Even if she was 12, she still had to be the adult.
"Kehl… look at it this
way, if this machine infection spreads too far up your arms, well, you won't be
able to save me from anything. You'll go crazy, like the kids back from
Newton."
"*sniff* I'm sorry. I'm
sorry I hit you. It's just… so hard *sniff* sometimes."
"I know," she
grabbed his hand, wincing as the cold metal wrapped around hers stronger than
Kehl knew he was gripping. She bared that, and helped him up. "I know it
is. Just… you have to be really, really careful, okay. Now roll up your sleeves
more, you really should have told me earlier."
Kehl sucked in a trail of
snot and did as he was told. “I know… you’re right. It is… annoying (Rosy knew
that was a quick substitute for the word ‘hurt’) and it makes it feel like my
arm won’t move so good.” The woolen glove came off and he rolled up the
opposite sleeve. It had spread to same place near his elbow, though this Arm
had streaks of dark grey metal alloys that took over for skin, smooth like
stone. Underneath the forearm, small levers and a pulley system worked quietly
in place of muscle fibers as he continued to raise his sleeve, up the point
where skin and meat and bone took back over. It looked like his elbow bend
might turn in to some kind of piston mechanism. Rosy wouldn't admit her
thought, but she was curious what the machinery would look like once it rounded
the elbow, what kind of bio-nano would take the place of shoulder and neck
tissue, how the bone would hold against impact and how the rotating motion of
complex ball joints would function. Maybe his arm wouldn't move the same way
again, and would get stuck turned straight, like a pole with a hammer for a hand.
She wouldn't admit to thinking it, but she knew it would happen before too much
longer, at this rate. If they kept running into trouble, and needed to use the
power in his Arms, it would go that much faster, a seemingly exponential
increase. For now, she forced a smile and blew at the tears on Kehl's cheek as
she applied the salve. It made him laugh, "Stop! It's cold when you do
that."
Rosy finished applying the
ointment and backed off, jamming the rubber lid back on the tub as her smile
faded. She thought of how one day, if things didn't get better, Kehl might not
feel a cold sensation on his cheek anymore. He might not be able to feel
anything, anywhere. No, she couldn't do this, couldn't spiral down. She steeled
her nerves, "You can't let anyone see your tears, Kehl. You're not weak.
You have to be strong all over, not just in your Arms, okay." She turned
to walk off, half-intending the dramatic effect, and made for the path through
the ashen trees.
Kehl stood, rolled his
sleeves down and thrust his metal fingers clumsily into his beige wool gloves,
back to looking every bit the young boy he still was, no different than so many
other orphaned children attempting survival in a world gone wrong. He took a
deep breath, exhaling with an audible puff of air and picking up his chin, "Yes,
Rosy. You're right. I'll be strong. I will." Kehl followed after.
