Descent Into Darkness (Book 2) (25 page)

"A VERY INTIMIDATING SPEECH,"
Sadiek said as he and the rest of his fellow travelers approached. "I did not know things were so serious here."

"Well, what did you expect?" Iacane was looking about with a frown, his hands clenching and unclenching nervously. "Of course the people here do not want too much interaction with us. They probably feel embarrassed with pieces of them falling off or missing."

"Iacane," Sadiek said, sighing loudly. "That is exactly the type of talk we have been warned against. You don't want to insult these poor people."

"Do you see any of them around?"

"No, but I've read that the Plague gives them slightly heightened senses. For all we know they could be on the other side of the village and hear you talking like a fool."

The comment earned a "hhrrrummph" from Iacane but the man nodded in agreement. "Well, I hope that they don't all stay in hiding while we are here. Otherwise the whole trip will have been a waste for me. Now if you will excuse me."

As soon as the rotund man left, Sadiek rounded on Ean.

"And where were you last night?" The frustration in his voice was clear. "I came by your tent twice and you weren't there. I thought we had an agreement."

"Oh yes, well..." Ean mumbled, avoiding the man's gaze.

"I'm sorry, I don't think we've met," Azalea jumped in, extending a hand towards the man. "I'm Azalea, Ean's sister."

His angry gaze instantly softened when it fell on Azalea's pretty face.

"Pleasure to meet you, finally. My name is Sadiek."

It was barely noticeable, but a bit of confusion flashed across her eyes as they shook hands. When she spoke, it was with all of her usual charm.

"Will you be accompanying us as we look around, Sadiek?"

"Yes, that would be lovely."

"Excellent, then, if you gentlemen would be so kind as to escort me into town?" Hooking both of her arms, she waited until Sadiek entwined one of his arms around hers as Ean took the other one. Then all three of them made their way out of the group of wagons and onto the main street.

"So," Sadiek said as they started slowly walking up the street, "if you don't mind me asking, why did you want to make the trip with your brother?"

"To look after Ean, of course." Azalea's eyes were darting around, taking in everything as they walked down the street. "He has a knack for getting himself into trouble. Plus, I need to make sure he follows through with the task at hand."

"And what is the task at hand?"

"Find the lair of the man that caused the Plague, poke around a bit. Get into some trouble. I'm here to make sure he doesn't chicken out." She let out a laugh, which quickly faded as she caught Sadiek's cold stare.

"I am only kidding, of course," she said quickly. Sadiek ignored her, however, and turned his attention to Ean.

"Is this true? Are you really looking for the Plague-bringer's old lair? When you told me you knew some of the language from the Abyss, I thought that your connection to it was more of a curiosity than anything else. But if you are actually trying to find the lair of the monster behind the Plague..."

"Ean?" Azalea cut in. "What does this man know?" She slowly released her hold on Sadiek, but Ean didn't like the way she was eyeing the man up.

"It's ok, Azalea. He found me talking to Zin. At that point there was no way to keep MY secret any longer." He hoped she caught the emphasis he put on the word 'my'.

"That stupid, little imp," Azalea growled, but stopped eyeing Sadiek. "The fool is more trouble than he is worth." She poked a finger none too lightly into Sadiek's chest.

"Since Ean is foolish enough to trust someone he's just met, I suppose I have to accept it. But you make sure you understand that I meant what I said about protecting my brother. If I even think that you could put him in danger..."

The Yulari trailed off as she looked at the older man. Sadiek was angled toward Azalea as they continued to walk, so Ean couldn't tell what he looked like at that moment, but something made her shrink back from the old man. Ean began to tense.

"Listen here...girl." Sadiek's voice was as cold as the Chill season. When Ean finally caught a glimpse of the old man's face, the expression he found there was a barely controlled rage. "You will never threaten me again, and more importantly, you will not touch me either. Do I make myself clear?"

Azalea stood up straight and returned his stare with one of her own.

"If you think I'm going to let some human try and intimidate me..."

Moving quickly, Ean stepped in-between the two before they came to blows. He made sure not to touch Sadiek as he did so.

"That's enough," he said, his attention more on Azalea. "We don't need to do anything stupid here, like fight. I'm sure we can calm down and just forget--"

"Excuse me," Sadiek cut in. "I think I need some time alone." Pushing past Ean, the older man headed back towards the wagons.

Azalea and Ean both watched him go for a few moments before rounding on each other.

"If you could just stop from trying to joke about why we are here..."

"Why don't you just tell everyone about who you really are..."

They stared each other down for a few moments, but surprisingly it was Azalea that was the first to look away. Looking back towards the wagons, Azalea grunted.

"There is something not quite right about that man. Even if he didn't know so much about you, I would tell you to be careful around him. He doesn't taste...right."

"What does that mean?" Ean said, also looking back towards the wagons for a moment before returning his attention to Azalea.

"I don't know. His emotions just taste different. And he felt less lust towards me than you do, and I have been using my tricks on him since we walked up to him. He just feels very wrong."

"He is just a little eccentric, I think. Plus, he has been trying to decipher the language of the Abyss for me, which would be a great help, so I would prefer to stay on his good side."

"Wait, wait, wait. You didn't actually give him your book did you?"

"Of course not. I've written notes for him to look at and work with. I've never let the Abysmal Tome out of my sight."

"Alright good. I was hoping you weren't stupid enough to let a stranger have your book alone. And no, I'm not saying you're stupid in general, so don't give me that look."

"Let's just forget about him then, ok? Like you said earlier, we are here for a reason. Kaz'ren said the Plague-bringer's lair is nearby, so let's see if we can figure out where without angering anyone else around here."

"Well, that part's easy. There is only one place it could be." When he just stared back at her, Azalea sighed. "The mine. The one place that if you go, it's punishable by death?"

A knot of stress started to build in his stomach. The one place it was probably impossible to reach.

Smiling at Ean, Azalea reached over and patted his arm. "Sometimes it takes a while for things to sink into that thick skull. Come on, let's go see what we are up against. No use worrying about things until we see what we have to deal with."

Grabbing his arm she began leading him down the street. Her eyes darted about while Ean kept his on the stones in front of his feet. It made sense that getting into the Plague-bringer's lair was going to be dangerous. Why wouldn't it be? Ean mentally kicked himself for even having the hope that things would be easy as soon as they got to Ulundkin. A warning from Kaz'ren would have been nice. He could always send a prayer her way and see if she responded...

"There!" Azalea whispered excitedly into his ear.

Ean trained his gaze in the direction she was pointing and caught sight of a small path worn into the ground that wrapped around a well and then a few of the buildings off the road.

"How do you know?"

The Yulari shrugged. "I don't, but it looks like that path has been used a lot. Let's see, and if it's nothing, we'll come back to the road."

"Fine."

They began walking off the road, following the path past the well. The mountain loomed over the few houses, stretching up into the fog and barely visible past the rooftops. Ean hadn't realized how close the mountains were when he had first gotten out of the wagon. It made sense that a path into the mine, and hopefully the Plague-bringer's old lair, would be so close to the village.

They passed two houses along the path with only one more in the distance. It was eerie moving around the village without a soul around, the only sounds the distant shouts of the men working near the wagons. The houses they passed were dark and appeared abandoned although in good condition. Were the people here out performing their jobs? Or were they hiding from the caravan? Ean would like to at least meet one--

A sudden blow to the back of both of his legs knocked him to the ground. Face down in the dirt, he heard Azalea hiss somewhere above him.

"Don't move!"

Ean didn't recognize the voice and quickly rolled over onto his back. Looking up he saw two men in red outfits like the one in front of the warehouse, each one pointing a thin black blade at Azalea. The Yulari had her hands spread wide, her expression clearly showing her intentions.

"Azalea, stop!"

The Yulari looked down at him, then back at the men, then at Ean again, before relaxing slightly. She folded her arms across her chest and glared at the two men. They kept their swords raised although the one closest to Ean had turned his attention away from Azalea towards him.

Raising his hands, Ean tried to put on his most innocent looking expression.

"What seems to be the problem?"

The one closest to Ean snarled at him, although Ean couldn't see his face. Taking a closer look, Ean realized that the two men weren't wearing red outfits. It was actually dark red armor.

The armor, made from what looked like fist-sized plates, covered the men from head to toe. The way the plates overlapped made it look like one solid piece, but when the men bent their arms or legs, Ean could see the gaps that separated the different pieces. The armor even covered the man's entire head, with two small openings for the eyes, the only perceivable openings in the entire outfit. It was considerably different from the armor he had seen the Seekers wearing.

"Humans are not allowed here," the one closest finally said. His voice was cold, and slightly muffled by his helmet. "You should have been told that."

Moving slowly into a sitting position, Ean kept his hands raised. "We were told that we were not allowed near the mine."

"Exactly." What Ean assumed to be a guard, gestured back over his shoulder. Ean's eyes followed the path as it ran up towards the mountains. "That is the mine."

"We didn't know. We were told not to go near the mine, but we weren't told where it was located. We simply saw this path and decided to follow it."

The guard swung his sword around and leveled it close to Ean's face. He heard Azalea take in a sharp breath and hoped the Yulari wouldn't do anything foolish.

"Ignorance is no excuse. We are in our rights to detain you for execution if we wish."

"Try it," Azalea growled. Again both swords were pointed in her direction, and her face darkened.

"There is no need for that," Ean said, talking both to Azalea and the guards. "I'm sure we haven't gotten so close to the mines that you absolutely have to take such drastic steps."

"It is within our right..."

"Enough, Naren," the other guard said, speaking for the first time. "They're only kids. We've scared them enough."

"I wasn't trying to scare them. We are in line with the law to--"

"They didn't even make it to the base of the mountain. Threatening them with execution is pushing--"

"Enough. Fine." Grumbling, the guard closest to Ean lowered his sword, his partner mirroring his action. "Both of you return to the wagons. If I catch word that you've gone anywhere off the main road again, I won't be as generous next time."

Rising, Ean nodded slightly. "Thank you, we appreciate it. Come on, Azalea."

The Yulari let out another low growl at the two men, but let Ean linked arms with her and led her back towards the road. Once he got back to the road, he didn't slow down until he had dragged Azalea most of the way back to the wagons. Members of the caravan now littered the road, walking with no real direction. They seemed to just be taking everything in. Ean noticed a few tried the door to the general store and found it locked.