EPIC: Fourteen Books of Fantasy (294 page)

The evening camps were no different than the daily breaks that had become more and more frequent. Jade would sit alone against a nearby tree while the two boys sat together and ate quietly. Jacob wanted so badly to try and reassure his friend, to tell him everything was going to be fine; that Jade would snap out of this soon and it would be like nothing had ever happened. But as positive as Jacob was nearly all the time, he just couldn’t do it. He could see no silver lining here. Jacob could always brighten a room with his wit and flashy smile, which rubbed off on those around him. This, however, was just different. For the first time in his life, he wasn’t sure everything was going to be fine. He started to feel more like Eric had rubbed off on him.
 

The general mood had reached its lowest point. The boys no longer walked side by side. Jacob took up the rear. Everyone wanted their own space as the seemingly hopeless journey continued.
 

Eric had finally come to a decision. He walked faster to share space with Jade. They needed to talk. He walked beside her for a time, but she looked the other way, trying to pretend he wasn’t there. She never so much as looked at him, but didn’t chase him off either.
 

“How much longer is this going to continue?” Eric mumbled, looking everywhere but at her. She finally spared him a glance as they continued down the leaf-covered path. “Look, I don’t know what happened back there. I didn’t want him to give up his life so recklessly for a cause not of his own. But he made a choice, and whether or not I agree with it,
he
made it!”
 

Eric aggressively grabbed Jade by the shoulder and spun her around so they were face to face. He saw the startled look in her eyes, but he continued anyway. This needed to be said. “He made a choice. I never had that luxury. My life was once normal and good. I had a father.” He winced even as the words came out. “I never wanted any of this. It was forced on me!”
 

He began shaking her as anger flooded through him. “And you—you had even less of a choice. Taken away as a baby with no memory of ever being loved. Forced to train like a savage every single day for a cause you never even bothered to question. Whipped like a dog! Did you think I didn’t see the scars on your back that you’ve been trying to hide all this time?”
 

He stopped shaking her as the blind rage subsided. Just now he seemed to realize for the first time what he had been saying, had been doing. He jerked his hands away as if Jade were made of hot coals. By then Jacob had run up and tried to step in between them. Eric stared at his own hands in disbelief, as if they had acted on their own.
 

Forcing himself to look up at Jade was nearly unbearable. Tears streamed down her cheeks. Disbelief and pain filled her eyes. He wished he could crawl into a hole after cutting her so deep. “Jade,” he said as his own eyes began to tear up. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to—”
 

Thsssssssssp
. A sharp pain ran up the side of Eric’s neck. When he instinctively reached with his hand, he pulled out a small dart with two blue feathers attached. His eyes grew wide with panic as he screamed for everyone to run. Three steps were as far as he got before collapsing to his knees. He tried hard to clear his head as it began to fog up, to force his failing body to respond.
 

His heart sank as the other two fell to their knees right next to him, each with a similar dart protruding from their necks. As the forest began to spin around him, Eric’s final thoughts were of his treatment of Jade, how those very well may be the last words he would ever say to her. That fleeting thought filled him with more pain and horror than the possibility of his own demise—a fate he now felt he deserved—as the jungle faded into blackness.

Eric slowly began to open his eyes. His head felt light and fuzzy as he shook it back and forth. His first impulse was to close his eyes again and go back to sleep. The last memory before losing consciousness flooded back to him as soon as he realized he couldn’t move his arms. Now fully remembering everything, he thrashed while trying to clear his head at the same time.
Stop panicking. Just figure out where you are and what’s going on
. He stopped thrashing and took a deep breath, scanning his surroundings.
 

The black walls seemed to be made of some sort of dark stone cut into perfect rectangle bricks and layered with mortar, as far as he could tell. The bare walls held no pictures or decorations of any kind that he could see. There was not even a single bit of furniture in the plain room. There were, however, two open windows that allowed a subtle cross breeze. Hot air moving felt better than hot air standing still, if only by a little.
 

The floor consisted of wooden planks that were sanded smooth, but had no stain or finish of any kind. The rickety door looked to be made of bamboo shoots tied together by some kind of fibrous yellow vines. As his eyes gazed up, he could see the roof looked much like the door, bamboo tied together with the same yellow plants. His feet were bound together with the same vine, while his hands were tied behind a thick wooden post. The knots were tight. He twisted his wrists back and forth to try and loosen them.
 

The door swung open and a tall figure entered the room. Eric’s blood froze as the strong scent of spices filled the room. The bare-breasted woman that came in was about six feet tall. Her skin was mostly light, with several dark patches that looked to be rough and scaly. The woman had thin, white hair and was covered in shiny gold jewelry. Three large gold hoops pierced each ear, and two smaller ones graced each of her nipples. Gold and silver chains of various lengths fell around her neck. A combination of silver and gold loops ran up each arm as well. The small gold hoop in her left nostril seemed subtle when compared to the other gaudy jewelry that seemed to cover her from head to toe.
 

“I know exactly what you are,” Eric hissed as he began to thrash again, pulling hard on the twine ropes. “My friends and I have gone through hell just to stand before you. Where are they? What have you done to them?”
 

The woman’s bright yellow eyes remained fixed on him. She tilted her head to the side, looking quite amused, and smiled wickedly. She took another step towards him before sidestepping to expose the doorway.
 

Jade had been standing behind her the whole time.
 

Eric’s eyes grew wide, not knowing what to make of this. His companion stepped through the doorway with a blank look and turned to the woman. “Ericando tres toora beropa,” she said, gesturing towards the doorway.
 

The tall woman glided gracefully back the way she came. She turned to Eric one last time before leaving. “You sssay you know what I am,” she said in a light, youthful voice that sounded odd coming from the large woman. “Who or what I am is not important. We shall ssssssoon see who or what
you
are...Eric Aethello.”
 

The woman strolled from the room without a second glance.

Chapter XV

A
DDEL
AWOKE
FROM
HER
PAIN
-induced coma. Never had she experienced such a thing in her life. Her body ached, and her head swam in a pool of clouds. When she tried to rise, her stomach emptied itself onto the floor. Falling back onto her dingy mattress as the room spun like a top, she felt as if she had been drinking for a week. Trying to get to her feet no longer seemed like such a good idea, as simply sitting up was challenge enough. But to her relief, her head seemed to be clearing quickly even as she lay there.

What did that beast do to me
?
What “gift” was he talking about
?
 

Her door blasted open so hard, it nearly flew off its hinges. Dragot stormed into the room, towering over her like a tree dwarfing a bush. “How are you feeling?” he boomed in a rush that seemed very uncharacteristic of the calm demon.
 

The truth was, she was starting to feel much better. She’d been on death’s door a minute ago, but now she felt better than she had in a long time.
What did he do to me
?
 

“Well, regardless of how you feel, you need to come with me right now,” the demon said, and reached down with a clawed hand to grab her.
 

“I can walk, serpent!” she screeched as she pulled away from his attempt.
 

“No doubt you can, and will,” he said, once again speaking in his usual patient voice. “That is, after receiving Krytoes’s gift, I’m sure there are a great many things you can do well. Come, follow me.”
 

He led on as she followed him to his private chamber. Never had she stepped inside this room before, but she could feel its powerful magic quite easily. The way the walls continued to bleed seemed to bring the chamber to life.
 

“You now have both the power and the proper facilities to do as I command,” said Dragot, starting to sound impatient once again. “I will need two separate gateways, each leading to a separate location, by tomorrow. They must be able to transport a large number of people at once.” Addel began to protest once again, but he cut her off instead. “You now have the power to accomplish this.”
 

He began pacing back and forth as he spoke. “It seems the man-child has made contact with the crytons. No doubt they will perform their ‘ritual’ to see if his claims are true. This cannot happen!” he boomed as he turned to leave.
 

Addel stared at his back, half in shock. Eric was in contact with the crytons? She was fully aware of their existence, but didn’t think he would ever get this far.
To have actually found them
! No wonder Dragot was so nervous.
 

He turned back towards her once more. “We will attack Taron
and
the dead forest at the same time.” With that, he stormed away.
 

If she was half in shock before, it was complete now.
He’s insane
.

Eric sneered at Jade as she began to untie him. “Well, at least you’re going to untie me, I guess that’s something at least.” He continued staring at her coldly. She rolled her eyes at him while tugging at the knot around his feet.
 

“So I guess these crytons are your buddies now, huh?” he said without so much as blinking.
 

“They knocked me out too, you idiot.” she shot back at him as she disappeared behind the wooden post to free his hands. “What were their scouts supposed to do? As far as we know, they haven’t seen humans in a very long time. Besides, in case you didn’t notice, they honored my request to speak to you alone. That should count for something. They could have killed us if they chose to,” she grumbled as she loosened the final knot, pulling a bit harder than might have been necessary. “Maybe one of us would have sensed their presence if you hadn’t been—” she quickly averted her eyes and stopped suddenly in mid-sentence.
 

A jolt of pain stabbed through Eric’s heart as he remembered once again the line he had crossed. “Jade,” he said softly, gingerly getting to his feet. After stalling for a while, she finally looked him in the eye. “I’m so sorry for what I said. I didn’t mean any of it.” He ran his fingers through his thick, curly hair as he turned to face the wall, having a hard time seeing the pain in her eyes.
The pain he had caused
. “It was just that...I felt so helpless.”
 

She lifted one eyebrow as he continued.
 

“I mean, you’re my guide. You’re supposed to tell me where to go, what to do, how to do it. When you stopped speaking to me, I was lost. Lost without my guide...my
guardian
...my friend. I had no idea what to do.” This time, he walked right over to her.
 

She jumped a bit from the aggressive movement.
 

“I know I let you down,” he said in a low whisper. “I don’t ever want to feel like that again. Like...like I’ve hurt you, betrayed you.” His voice started to gain strength again. “But we’re here now. Thanks to you and Morcel’s ultimate sacrifice, we made it,” He moved even closer and placed his hand on her shoulder. “I need you now more than ever.”