Selena
The wet crunch echoed in the alleyway. Too loud. Selena fingered her weapon, wishing she could turn it on. But she had less than a score of shots left, and even the noise of the motor idling would be far too conspicuous in this quiet city. The quiet city where the living were no more, and the dead were only napping.
“Do you think anyone heard that?” whispered Maureen.
Selena bit her lip. “I hope not. This wasn't louder than the other times, at least?” The dead had taken to playing dead, now. This lead Selena to the worrisome conclusion that all the humans in this area were dead, and the creatures were resting. Which in turn lead to two more conclusions, one comforting, the other less so. Them resting would only make sense if they did run on biological means, where meant that they might eventually starve. The other implication, however... how did they know that there were no more humans? Some kind of sense, or organ? Would the fact that she, Perl, Maureen, and Glynn were now in the area wake them up, and set them to looking?
“Come on, this way – I think we are almost there.” Selena looked up to see Maureen beckoning, and followed her over to the end of the alley.
“Oh, that's not good,” murmured Perl, peeking around the bend.
Selena poked her head around. There stood the gate, heavy wooden doors wide open, and the threshold a dried mat of blood. And, like the hallway the night before, there was the total lack of corpses. Selena took a deep breath. “At least there's none still there?”
Maureen looked around the corner. “True, but don't you find that we should have run into more of the dead in a city of this size? They aren't in here, and they went through the gate. Which means they are out there, where we are going.”
Selena considered this. “Well, let's assume that most of them out there are refugees, alive, but probably being chased by the dead. If you were a refugee, where would you go?”
Perl looked around the corner again, then ducked back down around the corner. “Elderstones, for protection?”
Maureen shook her head. “Maybe the soldiers. For the rest of the population, I'm guessing they are heading for the next big city, or back to their families' homes. Refugees need to be taken in, somewhere...”
“City. That would be Durma, to the east and Blue Water to the South. I don't know what's the closest to the North or West.”
“We're going to Parveno Town, right? That's down the Warrior's Path, and then west, on the south side of lake Parven. What if we headed west first, then cut south and went around the lake the long way?”
“Don't like that forest there,” said Perl.
“Would you prefer the Warrior's Path?” ask Maureen. “Selena's right. It's going to be a bloodbath on the main roads. We have enough supplies to go overland.”
“Go overland through a vast forest infested with outlaws, bandits, and horrible beasts. With no map of terrain features in the forest.”
“I have my north-fork. We'll know where we are going, roughly.”
Perl shook his head. “I'm not leading us into that forest, and that's final. Jack Sunder put me in charge, it's my choice.”
Selena stared at the big warrior. “If you were Jack, you'd be listening.”
Perl grunted, but didn't say anything. Instead, he looked around the corner. “Let's at least get to the gate.”
Selena shook her head, then checked her weapon. The device was off, but she had manually pulled back the string, and cycled an arrow into place. One shot, mostly silent.
Perl and Glynn started down the road, walking the shadows as quietly as they could manage. Selena followed them, with Maureen in tow. Down the block they went, creeping until they got to the last corner.
Archimeridies was a circular city, but strict rules confined the city to only be within the walls. Selena's understanding was that the walls of the Middle and Upper ward were the original ones of the city, and this outer one was the newest, built in the decade or so since the war with the South.
Selena frowned. The newness of the wall wasn't the problem, of course. The problem was that King Amberlof, in his infinite wisdom, had decided that around the inside of the wall, no houses should be built. Instead there was a massive, paved road, wide enough across for four carriages to ride abreast. In the moonlight, there were no shadows, nowhere to hide.
“Are we running?” whispered Selena.
“I can run,” said Maureen. Maybe she thought so, but bobbling her head probably wasn't a good idea. Of course, there were much worse ideas out there, like getting killed by the walking dead.
“No.” said Perl. “A fast walk at most, stay quiet, watch for them. If you see them seeing us, start running. If you see anyone running, run with them. Don't yell. Okay?”
Selena nodded. This would be interesting.
“Okay, let's go.”
Selena crept along behind Glynn. The skin on her neck itched, and she shivered with nervousness. Out on the cobblestone, she felt naked, exposed. Glancing backwards, she could see the windows of dozens of houses and buildings, shadowy in the moonlight. What was watching her? What was watching all of them.
There was a squelch in front of her, and Selena whirred around, pointing her crossbow at Perl. The big man was looking down, at the large pool of not-quite-dry blood. With a sticky peeling noise—far too loud in the silence of the dead city, he lifted one boot, and then stepped forward, with another squishing sound. And then the sound of his other boot peeling off of the sticky ground, followed by it squishing back in... Selena glanced back at the houses behind him, and then at the guard station at the gate. No movement yet...
And so they continued, four pairs of boots squishing into the giant scab, and then slowly, carefully peeling away with the minimum sound possible. Selena grimaced at the sensation of the sticky blood pulling at the boot. The gate was so near, and yet the progress was now so slow.
Just... just another step. No more noisy then the last one. And then another step. And another.
And then there was a much louder sound, almost like a snap – that of a boot being ripped out quickly, not peeled slowly. Selena saw Maureen run past her, one hand steadying her hammer, the sound of her boots on the blood a series of smacks.
Run.
Selena broke into a sudden sprint, as did Perl and Glynn, almost in the same instant. There was no stealth now, save for not crying out or screaming. Just a sprint into the woods. Selena didn't look behind her, just ran, ran as fast as she could.
The gate was closer, closer, and then she was through, making for the safety of the woods, following the path Maureen was taking. Soon she was leaping over stumps and gasping for air, but the woods were still a half mile away, so far.
Perl and Glynn were getting ahead of her, their longer legs and better fitness easily keeping up with Maureen. Selena tried to run faster, but her muscles were failing her, refusing to obey. Whatever was chasing them was going to get her.
She glanced back for a moment, but before she had even turned her head, her foot caught in a root, and she hit the ground hard, landing flat on top of her her crossbow. The hard metal jammed into her chest, and blasted the breath out of her. She tried to gasp for air, but none would come, only the pain in her chest screaming, like no pain she had felt before.
“Selena's down!” someone yelled, but nothing mattered more than breathing. Air... air refused to get into her lungs. Strong arms lifted her up, but everything was so pale, and the sounds of heavy footfalls were getting so very distant. So very distant...
Glynn Fifer
Glynn vaulted over a fallen tree, and crashed through some undergrowth. “Maureen! Selena's hurt! Where are you?” His lungs burned, but they were just another thing to grin and bear.
“Here, Glynn!” He saw Maureen panting near a gnarled tree of some variety. “Where's Perl?” she asked.
Glynn looked back the way he had come. There was some crashing. “He's carrying Selena – she took a pretty bad fall.”
The tall woman too a deep breath. “What what we need. Smacked her head?”
Glynn wasn't sure if that was supposed to be a joke. “No, she fell on top of that thing she carries. Something must have jabbed into her – I think there was blood when Perl picked her up.”
“Urgh. Selena's supposed to be the one patching us up. Do you know how to deal with stuff like that?”
“No, I was--” Just then Perl struggled over the fallen tree, Selena in his big arms.
“Damnit you two, help!” He lay the young woman down. There was indeed blood, but not as much as Glynn had feared. Glynn and Maureen hurried over. “Maureen! There was nobody chasing us.”
“Sorry, I thought I saw something.”
“Well you thought wrong! And Selena's hurt now!” Perl tore the autocrossbow off. There was blood on the main mechanism, but not on the [bow part] – she hadn't been impaled, as he had feared. Perl looked up at Glynn. “Damnit, don't just stand there. Heal her with your magic!”
“What? I can't do that!” Medical magic was difficult discipline for the best of mages, and Glynn could barely do half the spells he had been taught as an officer.
Perl stood up suddenly and stared down at him. “Can't or won't, southerner,” the big man said, snarling. “Because I am ordering you to do it, so do it, and do it now.”
“No, I can't.”
Perl grabbed his sword, his eyes full of rage. “I've seen you southerners do all sorts of magic, don't you play me false.”
Something snapped inside of Glynn. “Okay then! You're big and strong, and you know how to use a sword! Medicine is mundane! It's physical! So you should be damn good at it, since you're so big and strong! DOES NOT WORK LIKE THAT!”
Perl drew his sword and stepped over Selena, “Cursed Southerner!”
Glynn raised his hands. There was no way he could get off a spell in time, but he was damned if he was just going to stand there and let that prick cut his head off. Heck, he probably would cook his brain just getting it off, but at least he might burn that soldier's ugly mug.
Then Perl was on the ground, cursing. Maureen had jammed the handle of her hammer into the back of his knee, driving the big man down. “Damnit Perl, not now! Selena's turning blue, for Mother's sake! And Glynn, don't you dare set the forest on fire!”
Glynn clenched his fists, the breathed in, and then out. Right. Selena. He walked around Perl's prone form and knelt next to Selena, opposite Maureen. The northerner had already cut Selena's blouse open, revealing a series of large bruises on the right side of Selena's torso. Glynn didn't like the look of it.
“I think some ribs are broken, but the bruises don't seem to be spreading.” Maureen balled up some of the blouse and packed it into “I just don't remember what Selena told me about the breathing...”
Glynn bit his lip. The small woman was looking rather pallid, and her lips were going blue. “I don't know either. She needs air, I think?” He tried fanning her with his hands.
“Wait, no, I've seen her do this!” Maureen leaned forward and kissed Selena, rather heavily.
Glynn stared. “That only works in stories, Maureen.”
“No, no... I'm doing it wrong. There was something she did with her hands. I'm blowing the air in, but her chest isn't rising.”
Oh. That made more sense – blowing air directly into her mouth. “Maybe pinch the nose closed?”
“Right!” Maureen held the nose closed, and blew into Selena's mouth, like before. This time, the woman's chest rose.
Perl rose up behind Maureen, favoring one leg. “What... what are you doing?!”
“Helping,” said Maureen. “Go look for dead people who heard you yelling.” She bowed over, and blew into Selena's mouth again. The girl arched her back, convulsed forward, and coughed up a mess of blood onto Glynn's legs.
“Selena, are you okay?” asked Maureen. The girl gasped for air again, then curled up on the ground, coughing up more blood.
Glynn frowned, and wiped some of the blood off of his legs. “At least she's breathing.”
Maureen stared at her. “There is that. Well need to get somewhere we can hide for the night. Selena's not going to be running anywhere soon.”
Glynn nodded. “There's a rock outcropping a bit north of here. Hard to miss. My cousin and I found shelter in a grotto there a few nights ago.”
“You can find it again?”
“Probably.”
“Can you find your way back here?”
“There's a trail of broken bushes and footprints a blind man could follow.” Glynn indicated the way they had come with his head. It was how he had followed her, after all. If he could do that at a run in the moonlight...
“Okay, go,” said Maureen. “Perl and I will wait here, until you get back, then we will carry Selena over there.” Selena was coughing less now, and was breathing better, but Glynn didn't want to know what all the coughing had done for her broken ribs. Maybe they should just stay where they were, and not move her more.
In less than a minute, Glynn could see the gate from which they had fled, and the silent mass of the city rising up behind it, the massive silhouette of the royal castle far on top of the hill. Not a small city at all.
Glynn started circling north, keeping track of the path he was taking. One gate passed, and then another, and then he saw the familiar gate that his cousin and him had been rejected from. Stupid Kall, trying to boast and flirt at the nightguard... now the gate was open, though not as much of a mess as the previous one.
Glynn stared at the gate, and tried to remember where Kallaster had lead him. Directly away, then over...
An hour or two later, Glynn was heading back to Maureen and Selena. And Perl too, unfortunately. There were broken branches, and then he saw the fallen tree he had climbed over. “Maureen?”
“Still here,” said the woman. Glynn looked over the log, and saw two more bodies lying there, both with grievous injuries to their backs. Maureen was sitting down, and Selena was looking much more bandaged, resting with her head on Maureen's lap.
“What happened?”
Maureen looked at the corpses. “We were attacked. They were lurking the forest.”
Glynn climbed over the log. He slipped his foot under one of the corpses, and rolled it over. An old crone, not terribly unlike the one who had been taking care of Maureen. Glynn decided to leave the other one alone.
“Is Selena healthy enough to move?” Glynn asked Maureen.
The woman's strange blue eyes flitted down to the girl. “Selena? What do you think?”
Selena opened her eyes took a shallow breath. “Stretcher ready? Not walking.” There was more than a hit of pain in her voice.
“Perl is getting the poles now.”
Selena closed her eyes. “Mm...”
Glynn set down his pack and took out a round of cheese. He cut into it with his knife, and handed a piece to Maureen. “How is Perl?”
Maureen shook her head. “I had a word with him. Lots of scowling.” She looked down at Selena. “I don't understand what he has against you. I mean, I know you're from further south than even Archimeridies, but it just doesn't add up.”
“You're... you're a tribal from the far north, right?”
“I'm surprised you didn't recognize the eyes and the hair. Or me being taller than you.”
“Never seen one before. Like you said, I'm from all the way down in the Republic. Have you seen someone from there before?”
“I wouldn't know. You look no different from the people of Archimeridies.”
“Well, there is that. I guess the magic is the real difference.”
“The magic that you can't do?”
“Yeah. I'm a lousy magician. The only reason I'm halfway decent at the fire spell is because of all the scrapes my cousin keeps getting us into.”
“Your cousin?”
“She fashions herself 'Kallaster Poe, Lady Adventurer'. Took off up north in search of adventure. Our family sent me to bring her back, but she's more than a bit stubborn.” Glynn grimaced at the memories. The first year had not been very pleasant, and the only improvement was him getting used to it all.
“Is she with Sunder and Lore?”
“Yeah, she's with Sunder. With luck she won't get that bunch all killed before I see her again at Parveno.”
Maureen leaned her head back against a tree trunk. “Sounds like a handful.”
“You have any family?” ask Glynn.
“No, not that I know of. I was an orphan, raised in a camp. Some of the others helped raise me, taught me about Mother Water and Father Stone, but I was taken to a convent at a fairly young age.”
“A convent?”
“Of the Civilization Aspect.” The tall woman frowned. “I'd rather not talk about it.”
“Oh.”
They sat there for a long few moments.
“Perl... Perl's not going to try and kill me, is he?”
Maureen frowned. “He better not, but... don't provoke him, you know.”
Glynn nodded. It was, in some ways, his own fault for nearly getting killed earlier.
“Oh, look, here he comes.” Glynn turned to see Perl enter the clearing, carrying two long poles.
The big man didn't look at Glynn, but instead lay a blanket down, set the poles on it, and the folded the blanket around over the poles.
“Gentle,” said Selena. Glynn and Maureen lifted the young lady up and onto the stretcher, as gently as they could, but Selena's face spoke of ample pain.
Perl and Maureen lifted the makeshift stretcher, and Glynn lead them along his trail of carefully snapped branches, over to the grotto.
Soon, Glynn was in his own blanket, mental and physical tiredness pulling him towards sleep, regardless of the hard stone he was sleeping on. Perl was standing at the entrance of the grotto, staring away into the forest, muttering something to himself.
Glynn rolled over, away from the soldier, and closed his eyes. Sleep took him immediately.
Next: Chapter 15