Bound to the Abyss (20 page)

The bandit continued to try and pull away, his movements frantic. His skin was a sickly gray color now, his eyes completely black. His mouth hung open but no sound came from it. This wasn’t what made Ean pause though. All over the bandit’s face, his skin bulged, as if dozens of tiny creatures were moving about just underneath.

The sight of it snapped Ean out of his rage. He released the man’s arm. The bandit flung himself backwards and grabbed at his face with both hands, clawing at it with gloved fingers. Inching his way back away from Ean, his mouth still hung open in that silent scream.

Climbing to his feet, Ean watched the man with a mixture of horror and curiosity. What had he done? He could still feel the power pulsing in his arm. He hadn’t cast any kind of spell, yet the man had clearly been affected by something. Was still being affected right before his eyes.

The man was on his knees now, his hands covering his face. Ean couldn’t be sure, but the man looked … bigger … now. Before, his clothes had hung off of him, but now they stretched around a body straining against the fabric. Not knowing what else to do, Ean glanced back to check on Paige. The girl was gone. He hoped she had taken off before Ean had done, well, whatever it was that he had done to the bandit.

A growl from the man made him turn around, and now it was Ean’s jaw that dropped. The man still held his face in his hands, the gloves though were torn away, making his hands visible. They weren’t human hands though, not anymore. Brown scales replaced human skin, three stubby claws where his fingers used to be. Pulling his hands away, the bandit moaned as Ean got a clear view of his face.

It was unrecognizable from what it had looked like only moments before. The same scales that had covered his hands also covered his head, his hair completely gone. His eyes were sunken back in his head. All Ean could see were tiny black dots peering back at him. His nose was longer and pointed as if it had been stretched out, while his lips were pulled back, revealing dozens of sharp little teeth.

“What have you done to me?” The man’s voice was high pitched now, which seemed to shock the bandit just as much as it did Ean. “What have you done?!”
 

Apparently not interested in a response, the man, or what had been a man, leapt to his feet and ran off. Ean watched as the man went wailing into the night, disappearing into the darkness. Stunned, he stood there, having no idea what to do next.

The runes on Ean’s body still glowed, making him a walking beacon. The last thing he needed with the raiders in town was to draw attention to himself. He looked for a glove, a cloth, anything to wrap his exposed and glowing hand in. He spotted a piece of familiar fabric on the ground. It was the same color as Paige’s dress. He wrapped it around his hand, hiding the glow while his mind raced with questions. But there was no time to look for answers.

“Zin,” he said, voice cracking as he tried to rise. “Are you ok?”

He scanned the area until he found the still unmoving blur of the invisible imp on the ground. Kneeling, Ean gently placed a hand on top of the imp. He was still breathing, which was a good sign, and he didn’t feel any signs of cuts or blood on the imp’s body. Ean nudged at the imp gently.
 

“Zin, wake up. Come on buddy, I need you to wake up. We have to get out of here.” After a few shakes the imp gave a soft moan and materialized into sight.

“I told you this was a bad idea,” Zin said, raising his hands to his face while Ean let out a hiss of relief. “But you wouldn’t listen. Now I have a massive headache, and I think I lost a few teeth in that cretin’s arm.” The imp’s scolding was music to his ears.
 

“What happened to him anyway?” Sitting up, the imp took a look around. “Did he get tired of beating on you and carry that girl off?”

“No,” Ean said slowly. “I … did something … to him.”

“Did something? What did you do? I don’t see anybody or smell any blood, so you weren’t stupid enough to summon anything. Did you cast another rune randomly and get lucky?”

“No, this was something new.” Ean paused, not quite sure how to explain what had happened. Just thinking about all that power running through him made him want to take it all in again. He could feel it now, sitting just in reach. It was in his arm. No, that wasn’t quite right. It was coming from the tattoos on his arm, literally within his reach. What would it hurt for him to draw on it a little more …

“I felt energy pass through my hand and go into the man,” he said, a slight strain in his voice as he remembered the euphoria it had given him. Licking his lips, he almost tried to draw it in again, but restrained himself. “It was like a flood coursing through me. When it hit the raider, he transformed into something more horrible than he already was … a monster.”

Ean shuddered, remembering every detail of the horrible creature he had created. “How is that possible?”

“It must have been pure energy from the Abyss. Those tattoos are meant to be a direct connection to my home. That’s why it’s possible for you to cast runes by drawing them with your fingers now and why summoning should be getting easier for you. But for you to actually draw on the energy, I didn’t think that would happen for quite some time.”

“Wait, you knew this was part of what we did to me, and you didn’t tell me? This is a big deal, Zin!”

“Quiet down, you idiot,” the imp hissed. “We aren’t exactly in the safest of places. Keep it down.”

“Did you hear what I just said? The energy changed that man into a monster. Is the same thing going to happen to me?”

The imp shook his head. “No, I think the tattoos help channel the energy without letting it change you. You should be fine.”

“Should be? Should be?” Ean kept his voice low, although it was difficult. “All you told me when we first decided to do this,” Ean gestured to his arm, “was that it would increase my ability to summon creatures from the Abyss at a faster rate and give me some control over them. That was it. Now you’re telling me I’m directly touching energy from the Abyss?”

“Basically, yes.”
 

“Wonderful.”

Ean turned and began to pace back and forth as the imp continued. “When you open a gate to summon something, you’re punching a hole in the barrier that separates this world and the Abyss. Obviously, that is going to require energy from the Abyss.”

“You mean, I’ve been using energy from the Abyss without even knowing it?”

“Yes. Every time you’ve summoned me or cast a rune, a bit of dark energy has flowed through you.”
 

The fact that the imp sounded so calm made Ean even angrier. Not just at Zin, but at himself as well. He had been so smug thinking his ability to summon creatures would make him powerful, make all those that had bullied him run and hide or bow at his feet. All the while he could have grown horns, or his eyes could have fallen out, or who knows what else. This new knowledge knocked him down a peg, and Ean didn’t know whether to focus his anger on the imp or on himself. He had been so foolish!

“But now I’m safe from it? How would you know?” Better to save his anger, he had gotten used to doing that over the years. “I’m tired of you letting me know pieces of information here, pieces of information there. I want you to tell me everything you know about what we’ve done to me. I don’t want any more surprises.”

“Listen, Ean. I’m discovering things right along with you. Most of the ideas I’ve mentioned are just educated guesses,” the imp said, looking off down the alleyway. “I know that it protects you from the energy. I know that it makes you tolerant to summoning, and using that energy increases it at a much faster rate. And now I know that it allows you to focus that energy out of your arm. Other than that, I have no idea what else it might do. There may be other things we will discover later, or that might be it.”

Throwing his hands in the air, Ean began pacing again. “Great.” He wanted to scream. He wanted to kick the imp, kick himself. Why did he ever think things would work out in his favor?

 
“Well, Zin, if you truly don’t know much about this then who does? Who can tell me for certain whether or not I’ll turn into some freak if I keep using these powers?”

Zin simply shrugged. “I have no idea. The gods, maybe?”

“The gods?” Despite his anger, Ean couldn’t help but laugh. “Why would the gods speak to me?”
 

“Hey, you asked. We’re going to the capitol, so you can take your pick of which temple to visit. If one deity doesn’t respond to your prayers, you can just get up and go petition the next one.”
 

Ean shot the imp a contemptuous glare.
 

“What do you have to lose?” the imp continued.

“Alright, fine. Let’s try to find the others and get somewhere safe.”
 

Motioning for Zin to follow, he had just made it to the corner of the building when he heard the sound of running footsteps. Judging from the intensity of it, there was more than one pair as well.

Ean jumped behind the building and crouched low. Zin was already invisible and making his way over as fast as his little legs would carry him. It sounded like the footsteps were coming from the north. Had the man gone and brought back more of his fellow bandits?
 

Probably not. Ean would imagine as soon as the bandits saw what the man had become, they would have killed him on sight.

Seven men came running into view, each with half raised swords and daggers in their hands. A few had quivers and bows slung over their backs. They stopped as they reached the intersection where Ean had barely survived just moments before. One man knelt down and began looking at the ground.
 

“This was it, Cal,” the man said as he scanned the ground. “There are still pieces of the girl’s dress here.” His hands pointed to various places on the ground. “And there was certainly a fight here. The dirt is kicked up in a few places and there is the occasional splattering of blood in others. The girl was unhurt, yes? So it must either be the boy’s or the bandit’s blood.”

“Probably the boy’s blood.” The man that spoke stood shoulders above the rest, his body covered in a strange grayish armor that covered both his chest and arms in what looked to be a single piece. He held a long sword in one hand; held it like a man who knew how to use it. The other men were looking at him, waiting for him to continue.
 

“The girl said the raider stabbed the boy about here. When she fled, the boy was still alive and putting up a fight. Hopefully he got away.”

“A boy against a raider?” one man asked. “Not likely.”

“I know,” the tall man replied with a grim frown. “The raiders don’t show mercy. My guess is we will find his body stuffed in one of these alleys — Pen?”

“Yes, Cal?” A scrawny young man that had been examining the ground looked up.

“Did you find a clue as to what direction we should begin looking?”

The man on the ground shook his head. “No, the dirt’s been disturbed in too many places, and there are no blood trails to follow.” He paused a moment before continuing. “There is something else though. Come look at these footprints.”
 

Cal walked over and joined the man on his knees. Ean remained motionless. Just because they sounded like they were members of the village didn’t mean he was about to go rushing over to them.

“What are those?” Cal asked. “They look like animal tracks, but I don’t recognize them.”

“Cal, in my forty some years I have never seen their like. See how the toes are spread out? That makes it look more like a child’s foot than an animal’s. But these grooves at the end of each are clearly from some type of claw. Whatever it is, it’s about the height of your knee and walks upright.”

Time to put an end to those thoughts. Stepping out from behind the wall, Ean kept his hands raised so that he wouldn’t spook the men.
 

“Hello? I think I’m the boy you’re looking for.” Eyes and weapons swung in his direction. “I was able to …”

“Stop right there.” Cal said, the point of his raised sword in Ean’s direction. Ean immediately obeyed, keeping his hands in the air. “You look a little too scrawny and young to be a bandit, but I know you’re not from here. What’s your name, boy, and why are you wandering around in the middle of a bandit raid?”

“Ean, and I’m a man, not a boy.” He couldn’t help letting some of the anger enter his voice. He may be scrawny, but the man didn’t need to point it out. “I came from Rottwealth with two others. We’re just passing through while on our way to the capitol. The two I am with were caught out in the middle of this mess, and I was trying to find them.”

The other men lowered their weapons, their attention moving from Ean to the surrounding alleys. Cal, however, kept his sword raised and his attention only on Ean.
 

“We ran into a girl who said that a boy had saved her from a bandit. Was that you, boy?” He put extra emphasis on the word boy. Was the man trying to get a rise out of him?

“That was me. I came upon the bandit assaulting the girl, Paige, and tried to help her.” The man looked him up and down, frowning. “I recognized her from the inn. I couldn’t let the man have his way with her, even if he was twice my size. I distracted him long enough for Paige to get away, and then I guess the man heard you coming and ran off.”

 
“Do you honestly expect me to believe that a runt like you, without a sword or any help, fought off a well-trained and ruthless raider all by yourself?” Cal scoffed. “And lived to tell about it?”

Placing a hand to his injured side for a moment, Ean brought it back up for the man to see. Streaks of red ran across his palm. “I didn’t exactly come out of it unhurt. I guess I just got lucky he didn’t do more.”

“Ah, well then …” Cal’s sneer dropped and he looked at the ground. “Sorry to question you then, uh, Ean was it?”
 

Cal’s eyes began scanning the area, avoiding Ean’s own eyes in his sweep. Good, the man should feel bad about giving him such a hard time. He had saved Paige after all.