Descent Into Darkness (Book 2) (36 page)

A flash of white light, brighter than anything Ean had ever seen seared his eyes. Seared his brain. Seared his soul. White fire engulfed him. His mouth opened to scream, but the fire took him, burning him away to nothing.

THE CROWD LET OUT another cheer as Bran was lifted into the air. Men and women alike boosted him up, while those around them pushed tables and chairs out of the way to get closer to him. Every single villager of Rottwealth was crammed into the Golden Coin to celebrate their hero. The monster that had plagued their small village for an entire season was finally dead, its head hanging over the bar as a monument to Bran's accomplishment. The sound of the cheering crowd floated out of the open windows of the inn and echoed off the mountains surrounding the small village.

Bran let out a laugh as the crowd began to pass him around, although it sounded forced to anyone that was paying attention. No one was. Many of the villagers had started celebrating early in the morning when the news of Bran's victory began to spread. Even though the monster had been slain the night before, Bran's father had made sure that he had all day to plan the true celebration for his son's victory. He also wanted to make sure his son was as healed up as possible, and practically had him bathed in a Rottwealth salve. He had used most of what his wife had been able to salvage from Cleff's destroyed home, although she had left Cleff's body under the rubble where she had found it.

Branston the First was behind the bar, making sure the drinks were flowing and the money was coming in. His wife mingled with the crowd, saying repeatedly, "That's my son. The boy I raised to be a Hero."

"What a fine job you've done with him," one of the other mothers would say."

"You should be so proud," another man added.

She wore the biggest grin, puffing out her already ample chest even more. Both of Bran's parents' smiles grew as the crowd began to yell out in praise of Bran.

"To Bran! The slayer of beasts!"

"To the Savior of the Village!"

"Bran for Mayor! Bran for Mayor!"

The last chant quickly wiped the smile from Branston the First's face. Apparently the elder Branston wasn't ready to hand over his power to his son quite yet.

Eventually the crowd let the hero down and the back slapping by the men and cheek-kissing by the women began. Bran was passed around more than a newborn baby, a fake smile painted across his face the entire time. More than one girl swooned in his presence. A couple of cheeky older women whispered suggestively in his ear, bringing a blush to his cheeks. They all seemed ready to take advantage of Jaslen's absence. The men on the other hand all wanted to see his blade, a strange sword made of stone that weighed less than a handful of flowers. No one seemed to be talking about the two companions that had left with Bran at the beginning of the season and were absent now. No one even seemed to notice.

Well, no one except Zin.

Zin could see it all from his spot on one of the window ledges. See the fake smiles and insincere congratulations. Sure, many were happy to be free of the beast, but Zin saw a lot of jealousy in the faces of many of the men. If Azalea was here, Zin was sure she would be drinking deeply of all of the unpleasant feelings that were drifting around the room.

Azalea. That girl was even more trouble now than she had been before. Zin knew that having her wings ripped from her body had to be the most traumatizing experience for her, but a Yulari that was afraid to be in a crowd? It was like finding a hound that didn't want to eat. And the hound. That creature had been almost impossible to herd along back to Rottwealth. Zin had wanted to just leave it behind, but oh no. Azalea wanted it for protection. Like she couldn't rip apart most humans with her bare hands.

Zin let out a grunt of disgust. A patron that was sitting near the window turned to look around, glaring at the window and out into the night but didn't see the invisible imp. With a shrug, the man turned back to the excitement inside the inn. Zin had almost hoped the man had seen him. Biting one of these humans might improve his mood a bit. Instead he was left to simply shake his head at the whole affair inside before he climbed out the window and landed easily on the dirt below.

With the entire village packed into the inn, the streets of Rottwealth were completely empty. Even the small torches that sat in front of each home on the edge of the main road were dark, making the light of the moons the only thing lighting his way. Not that he needed even the moonlight. His eyes were well adjusted for the dark. But he should be off, things to do tonight after all.

Zin casually strolled down the street, thinking about what this night could mean while keeping his eyes open for a stray meal. One or two rats would be perfectly filling, and with the village so dark at the moment, they should be brave enough to be out and scurrying around. It wasn't until he had reached the south edge of the town square before he finally caught sight of one. It led him on a merry chase but eventually Zin caught it and sat for a few moments to enjoy his meal before continuing on.

The blue moon hovered in the northern sky, while the green one climbed into the eastern skyscape opposite the red moon just starting to rise in the west. Still quite a bit of time before midnight. Not that midnight had any significance other than the fact that the partying villagers would be too sloshed to notice a Yulari and an imp strolling through town.

Zin paused as he reached the ruins of Ean's old home, feeling slightly nostalgic. It had been his old home too after all, maybe not for as long as it had been Ean's but still for many years. From what he could gather from eavesdropping on the villagers, something had set the lizard creature off one night and Cleff's home had simply been the first thing it reached. A shame really, both in Cleff's death and how little respect he received.

Zin had been there to watch as Bran's mother sifted through the rubble like a vulture, picking up whatever she had thought was useful and not giving Cleff's body a second glance. Zin knew Ean would have been heartbroken to see what had happened. The boy seemed to respect the older man, if not love him like a father. To have Cleff left like that in his makeshift tomb instead of properly buried surely would have angered Ean to say the least.

"Oh, well," Zin said aloud. Ean wasn't here to see it. No point worrying about the past, the future was going to be difficult enough to worry about.

Leaving the ruined house behind him, Zin followed the path to the marsh, and then followed the edge of the marsh to the mine and the cabin where the foreman used to work before the madness of the lizard creature began. Walking up to the door, he knocked on it a few times, trying not to get angry at the fact that the door knob was placed high enough that it was out of his reach.

"Who is it?" Came a reply from inside, the feminine voice trembling with each word.

"Obviously it's me, Azalea. Open the door and get out here. All of the villagers are far too busy to come down here tonight."

The door opened slightly, a purple eye appearing in the gap and took a quick look around. Seemingly satisfied with what she saw, Azalea opened the door the rest of the way. She had shed the appearance of the common girl that she had been using for most of the trip and looked her full Yulari self, minus her missing wings.

"What, you think I would bring a bunch of people here just to mess with you?" Zin said, slightly annoyed.

"You mean like how you tricked me into entering that 'abandoned' house in Wethrintir and I found myself walking into the middle of a gathering of housewives?"

Zin couldn't help but laugh. The Yulari had run cowering from the building and right out of town. It had taken him the rest of the night to find her.

"Ok fine, but do you honestly think I would mess with you on a night like tonight?"

"Yes," she replied in a pouty voice.

"Stop being a baby and let's go." Glancing around, he frowned. "Where is the hound?"

"I let him go explore the mine. He was growing restless in the cabin here and was starting to gnaw on some of the table legs."

"Whatever." Turning his back on the Yulari, Zin walked towards the mine. He could feel the Yulari's eyes on his back, but was not surprised when she came jogging up and fell in at his side. They both stayed quiet as they walked into the pitch black opening of the mine, the gravity of what they were about to do hanging heavily on Zin. The Yulari's mood had been impossible to predict ever since her mutilation. She now behaved differently than any Yulari he had ever met. In some ways he found her more pleasant, but mostly she made him more wary than ever.

"Do you really think this will work?" the Yulari asked quietly, her voice breaking the silence. They were deep enough into the mine now that the entrance was barely visible.

"I would hope so, or else the trip here was a waste of time."

"Well, I had suggested we stay at your master's old lair. With the village below it completely wiped out by Lav'zernathar, we wouldn't have been bothered. I don't like having Ean's old village and all its people sitting right outside."

They had found Ulundkin completely destroyed once they had healed up enough to head outside. Lav'zernathar hadn't been lying when he said he was going to pay the villagers back for whatever they had done to him. Every single house had lay in smoking ruins or was still on fire when they had left. Zin couldn't help but shudder knowing that Lav was out there somewhere, completely free to do whatever he wished.

"Did you really want to stay in that cursed land?" Zin asked. "I don't know about you, but the Plague twisted my stomach. I had no desire to stay in a place that constantly made me feel sick."

"Maybe..."

Did the Yulari actually fear humans now that much that she would rather constantly feel sick than live in a place this close to them, even when they were a constant source of food for her? The girl was more messed up than Zin had realized. He almost felt bad now for his little prank in Wethrintir. Almost.

They continued on in silence after that, following the gently downward sloping path deeper into the mine. They began to pass random bones lying about, leftovers from the lizard creature's meals, no doubt. When the sound of ripping and the occasional growl reached them, coming from somewhere ahead, they slowed in unison.

"That has to be the hound, right?" Zin said, hoping he was right.

"I'm sure it is. That lizard thing is dead."

Zin found it humorous that the Yulari was terrified of humans, but disregarded anything else that might be a threat.

"And the villagers didn't mention anything else being down here. But what could he possibly be eating?"

At the back of the mine they found where the lizard creature had made its home. Large collections of bones and torn clothes lay scattered about, even a few decaying pieces of villagers here and there, adding a rotten smell to the air. In the middle lay what was left of the lizard creature, minus its head. Yeager had his jaws sunk into one of its legs. Bran must have left it where it fell, and now the hound was getting a meal out of its carcass.

"You want to do this here?" Azalea wrinkled her nose in disgust. "It stinks in here."

"We can clean it out after we've done what we need to do."

"Well, how long will that take?"

"I have no idea."

Throwing her hands in the air, the Yulari stalked a few paces away before sitting down on the ground with her back up against the stone wall. Pulling her knees in close to her chest, Azalea wrapped her arms around her legs and rested the side of her head on her knees so that she was still watching Zin.

With a sigh, Zin began kicking aside various bones, rocks, and other things that he would rather not know what they had been. The hound lifted his head once when a random bone struck him in the nose, letting out a small growl before returning to his meal. He seemed to be struggling with the lizard's scales, but was slowly making progress with the help of his saliva. Zin was just glad the hound was keeping itself occupied.

When a suitable space had been cleared to Zin's liking, he sat down in the center and glanced over at Azalea. "Can you toss me the stone?"

Azalea sat up long enough to throw a black stone the size of the imp's palm to him, and then curled herself back up into a ball. She truly looked pathetic compared to her former self. Zin was starting to hope this worked just so that the Yulari might get some confidence back. Or she would just end up hiding down in the mine the rest of her long, long life. Didn't much matter to Zin either way. At least that's what he told himself.