Nexus, page 20
I told him about the barracks I’d discovered and my theory that three guards had gone in search of reinforcements. “They brought back dozens of soldiers, so I thought it would be best to avoid them,” I finished up.
“Then you walked directly into a pack of ogres and almost ended up as their mate,” he said with a smirk.
“Laugh it up,” I complained. “That could have happened to anyone.”
“We’re lucky you turned out to be an ogress,” he mused as we continued our journey. “They probably would have killed us on sight if you’d been in your human form.”
“What do you mean ‘us’?” I scoffed. “You were stuffed in my sack, dead to the world.”
“It’s inconvenient that my kind can’t seem to stay awake during the day here,” he said, all amusement vanishing.
“Your ooze started smoking when the sun touched it. I was worried you were going to burst into flames.”
“It’s not ooze,” he argued, lifting a hand to inspect the liquid that dripped from his skin.
“What is it, then?”
“It’s secretion,” he said primly.
“That’s just a fancier word for ooze,” I pointed out. He scowled, but couldn’t come up with a retort.
We angled back towards the road, while still heading towards where I thought the city lay. Birds, animals and insects were plentiful. The ones that were awake kept their distance from us. The ones that were asleep fled when I woke them up as we passed by. My footsteps were loud no matter how hard I tried to sneak.
Lights from flaming torches caught my attention. I guided Ruen towards them to see who it was. Voices carried to us just as I sensed it was a group of soldiers.
“Who do you think came through the gate and killed the soldiers?” one of them asked.
“It must have been a coven of vampires. Three of them had been completely drained of blood.”
“The others were killed by rocks. Vampires don’t use rocks as weapons. They use their fangs.”
“What are they doing here? The undead rarely come to our realm.”
“I want to know what other sort of creature came through the gate with them. Whatever it is, it’s big and strong. I heard the rocks it threw smashed all the way through the guards’ bodies and left huge, gaping holes in their backs.”
Ruen put his hand over his mouth to muffle his snort of laughter. The tales about our not-so-secret visit to this realm were already getting wilder.
“The overlord will send trackers to find them. Whoever or whatever they are, they’ll be taken to him for questioning. Once he’s found out why they’re here, they’ll be executed.”
“No one can invade our realm and survive for long. If the creatures in the wilds don’t get them, we will.”
Guttural laughter rang out, which made Ruen giggle even harder. I flicked him a warning look, but it did nothing to quell his amusement. “What the hell is wrong with you?” I hissed once the soldiers were out of earshot.
“Nothing,” he denied, still giggling a little. “It just amuses me that they think an entire army has invaded their turf and there’s only two of us.”
“We’ve got the bird on our team now,” I reminded him, gently stroking her soft head. “She must be magical to make that ogre climax like that.”
“Maybe she can guide us to the fragment of the spell that’s hidden somewhere in this realm,” he joked.
The bird turned to look at him, green eyes widening. She looked at me and fluttered her eyelashes. “Can you lead us to the magical spell?” I asked incredulously. Birds couldn’t smile, but I could almost feel her smugness when she nodded. “Huh, maybe Fate really is guiding me,” I said in amazement. We’d just happened to stumble across the bird when she’d needed help. Now she seemed to feel indebted to us for saving her life and she was willing to be our guide.
“If so, I hope she can lead us there before the overlord’s trackers find us,” my unholy assistant said.
“Which way should we go?” I asked my feathered friend. She pointed towards the city far in the distance. “Is it in the city?” She shook her head and gestured for me to get going.
“It’ll burn up your energy, but I think you should run,” Ruen suggested.
“You’ll need to drain some of the guards if you want to keep up with me,” I said.
“I won’t need to,” he said, then trotted over to me. “You can keep carrying me.” With that, he clambered up onto my back. Now it was my turn to laugh, reminded of the time he’d clung to me like a leech, licking wererat and weregator blood off my skin. I lumbered into motion, staying near the road, but not close enough to be spotted by patrolling soldiers.
Chapter Forty-Four
EXPENDING A LOT OF energy meant I had to eat constantly. I mowed my way through the sacks of food until there was only a small amount left. The bird pecked at a hunk of bread I gave her, content to devour it. Ruen hadn’t fed and kept sniffing the back of my neck hungrily as he rode on my back. It was creepy, but I didn’t have the heart to tell him to stop. We were both different in the underworld and we couldn’t control our instincts.
“I need to feed,” the vampire said as dawn drew close.
“On what?”
His senses were more acute here and he pointed to some bushes. “On whatever that animal is that’s sleeping over there. Put me down. You’ll frighten it away if you blunder along behind me.”
I shucked him off and he landed on the ground gracefully. He went into a crouch and almost seemed to blend in with the ground in his dark, ratty clothes. Scuttling like a cockroach, he leaped on his prey. I heard frightened squeals and thrashing, then sucking noises. Ruen returned a minute later, satiated and smiling. “What was it?” I asked.
“I have no idea, but its blood was very tasty.” This new happy version of Ruen was disturbing. I just wanted to get this quest over and done with so we could go home. I sincerely hoped we would both return to normal again when we crossed back through the gate.
We continued our journey until the sun began to rise. Ruen squinted at the lightening sky and scowled. “I suppose I’d better climb back into your sack.”
“In you go,” I said with a smirk, holding it open for him expectantly.
Grumbling beneath his breath, he stepped into the bag and made himself comfortable. “Try not to get into any trouble while I’m sleeping,” he said, then looked at the bird that was peering down at him from her perch on my shoulder. “Make sure Saige doesn’t do anything stupid.” The bird nodded, then he sat down. The sun rose and the vampire slumped sideways, dying for the day.
“Peace at last,” I said, slinging the sack over my shoulder again. “He’s not usually this talkative back home.”
The bird cocked her head to the side, then rubbed her face against my cheek. Cooing softly, she put her uninjured wing around my neck in a decidedly friendly manner.
“Do you want to come back to my world when we’ve finished our mission?” I asked, reading between the lines. She nodded and her crest rose in excitement. “I’ll tell you what,” I said craftily, knowing it could be tricky dealing with magical beings. “If you lead us safely to the scroll fragment and we make it back to the gate intact, you can come to our dimension with us.”
She let out a trill of beautiful music and squeezed me with her wing before drawing it from around my neck. Pointing dead ahead, she insisted we needed to continue on towards the city. Hoping I hadn’t just made a deal with a devil, I didn’t feel tired enough to sleep, so I kept walking.
Trudging parallel to the road, I kept my distance from it and remained alert. I walked directly into a group of animals that seemed vaguely piglike a few hours later. They made the same squeals as the creature Ruen had fed on when they saw me. Using my club, I bashed two of them to death before they could flee. I was in a clearing that was screened by trees and shrubs. It seemed like a good place to make camp, so I decided to stop to get some rest.
Ruen had brought the flintstones to start a fire along and had stashed them in his sack. I put our gear down and gathered up some rocks to build a campfire. It took a while to find enough twigs and sticks and get a fire started. Wishing Ruen was awake to guide me, I did a terrible job of butchering the pigs. They tasted great roasted over the flames. I was tired enough to sleep by the time I’d eaten the second one. I doused the fire before anyone could spot the smoke and come to investigate it.
“Wake me if you see or hear anything dangerous,” I said to the bird when I curled up on my side. She nodded and perched on my huge gut to give her a height advantage. I fell asleep to her soft, melodious song.
It was dark when a bony finger poked me in the cheek to draw me from my deep slumber. “Wake up, Saige!” Ruen hissed quietly in annoyance.
“I’m awake!” I hissed back.
“Shh! Keep your voice down,” he scolded me quietly. “I heard a large group of soldiers passing by a few minutes ago. I think they’re still searching for us.”
The bird was tucked beneath his arm with her head under her wing, fast asleep. “Was she like that when you woke up?” I asked.
He glanced down at the slumbering creature. “Both of you were dead to the world,” he said. “I thought I was going to have to stab you to wake you up.”
“At least we’re still breathing,” I said defensively, pushing myself to my feet. “You’re the one who turns into a corpse during the day.”
“We need to get moving,” he said with a scowl. “The overlord’s trackers could be on our trail soon.”
“I’ve been thinking about that,” I said as we gathered our meager belongings. He shot me a skeptical look, which I ignored. “It’s probably not a good idea to stay so close to the road if trackers will be coming this way. We should cut overland to get to the city.”
“Stumbling around in the wilderness is a fantastic idea,” he said with heavy sarcasm. “I can already imagine all of the ogres and other monsters we’ll no doubt run into.”
“The alternative is to head to the road and hand ourselves over to the guards,” I went on as if he hadn’t spoken. “We can show them the letter Lord Gilden gave us and ask them to take us to the city. We’ll get there a lot faster, but we might have a hard time sneaking away to search for the spell fragment.” The letter was protected by a spell the dragon must have cast on it. Ruen’s ooze hadn’t made it turn soggy like the rest of my gear.
He opened his mouth to argue with me out of sheer principle, but couldn’t come up with a better idea. “Fine,” he said in capitulation. “We’ll wander around in the wilderness. What could possibly go wrong?”
“I have my fingers crossed that you’ll be the one getting covered in jizz and leeches the next time,” I said with a smirk, holding my hand up to cross my huge, thick fingers.
He sent me a sour look that gave me a twinge of nostalgia for his normal gloomy personality. “I see you managed to slaughter dinner for yourself,” he said as we skirted around the mess I’d left behind. “Your hands are coated in blood.”
“There’s no water around here to wash it off with,” I said with a shrug. “You could lick them clean for me.”
He shuddered in reaction to that suggestion. “It’s gone cold and it would taste horrible.”
I’d done my best to wipe my hands clean on the grass, but grime was lodged in the creases and was wedged beneath my fingernails. “I’m thirsty, so we’ll have to search for water anyway,” I said. “I’m feeling chock full of energy, so climb aboard if you want a ride,” I offered.
Ruen heaved a small sigh, then gave in. He couldn’t keep up with my pace without draining his energy, so he leaped onto my back. The bird woke up at his sudden movement and scrambled up to perch on my shoulder. Her talons dug into my thick skin when I took off at a lumbering run.
Chapter Forty-Five
ONCE AGAIN, THE BIRD led me to water. It was the same yellow color and tasted just as flat and salty. Dipping my hands into the pond was enough to draw leeches to me. I batted them away and scraped the blood and dirt from beneath my fingernails until they were clean.
“Do you have a name?” I asked my magical companion when I was done. She nodded, surprising both Ruen and me. “Can you spell it for us?” She gave me a look that indicated she thought I was an idiot, so I elaborated. “Stop me when I get to the right letter.” She nodded again, then chirped when I said A.
“Your name starts with an A?” Ruen asked, just to be sure the bird understood our intentions. She rolled her eyes and nodded. “I was just checking,” he muttered.
I began reciting the alphabet as we continued our journey. “Your name is Aurora?” I asked once I’d gone through the lengthy process of getting her to spell it out. “That’s pretty,” I complimented her when she nodded. Her response was to affectionately rub her head against my cheek.
“I’d like to know how Aurora came to be in the wilds where we found her,” Ruen said from his perch on my back. “She must have a home somewhere.”
“I don’t think any of us have the patience for her to spell that out for us,” I said doubtfully. Aurora shook her head, then gestured towards the horizon. We’d told her about our plan to cut overland rather than following the road. She knew we wanted to avoid the overlord’s trackers and was willing to help us. I hadn’t told Ruen about the bargain I’d made with her. He might object to taking a magical bird back home with us. That was a fight I would put off for as long as possible.
Between the three of us, we had better success at avoiding dangerous creatures as I sped through the wilderness. Aurora could sense anything magical and Ruen’s hearing and sense of smell were uncanny. I could pick up on intelligent creatures, except for Aurora. She was smart and she could communicate, but she was still an animal and didn’t show up on my radar.
“Are there other beings like you in this realm?” I asked when we took a break so Ruen could hunt for a snack.
Aurora lifted her good wing, then let it drop. I took that to mean there were similar beings, but none quite like her.
“Can you perform other magic, or can you just make things climax?”
She shook her head, so her talents were singular in nature. Then again, being able to sense magic and magical items was a talent all of its own.
“Can you use your talent on anything, or only intelligent beings?”
She nodded, but I wasn’t sure which choice she was responding to. “Did you mean you can use it on anything?” She nodded again to clarify. “So, if we get attacked by an angry bear, you could make it orgasm so hard it would knock it out like it did to the ogre?” Again, she nodded. “That’s the weirdest talent I’ve ever heard of, but I guess it must come in handy.” She shrugged to indicate it had its ups and downs.
Ruen returned, smelling like fresh blood and smiling happily. His mood would become sour as his blood high wore off. The only time he was happy was when his belly was full. It was no wonder he was so cranky back home, since Drake wouldn’t let him feed with abandon.
“Did you two ladies have a nice chat?” he asked before clambering onto my back.
“Aurora was telling me about her orgasm talent,” I said, knowing full well he’d heard every word I’d uttered. “She can apparently use it on anything.”
“Can you use it on more than one creature or being at a time?” he asked.
She shrugged, then pointed at her beak. “I think she has to peck them to get it to work and she only has one beak,” I figured. She nodded in confirmation.
“That’s a pity,” the vampire said. “It would be handy if she could disable an entire army with her talent.”
“She saved me from the ogre, so I’m grateful we ran into her,” I said, which earned me a hug from the bird. I wasn’t used to anyone except my mom being affectionate towards me, but I kind of liked it. It was like having an actual friend, which was something I’d lacked my entire life.
“How many days will it take us to reach the city at this pace?” Ruen asked. Aurora chirped seven times. “A week is far too long,” he fretted. “The trackers will be able to move faster on the road. They’ll find our trail soon and they’ll be able to catch up to us before we reach our destination.”
Grimacing at what I was going to have to do, I knew I didn’t have a choice. “Buckle yourselves in, kids,” I warned them. “You’re in for a bumpy ride.”
I took off at a run before Ruen could ask me what I’d meant by that. Wind whistled past me and my boobs, belly and butt wobbled madly. If I hadn’t been wearing the bra, my breasts would have swung around all over the place, smashing into each other, my gut and my face.
Aurora clung to me tightly and the vampire went off into fresh peals of laughter, amused by my blubbery body. My eyes were slitted against the wind as I did my best not to trip over anything. The ground shook from my footsteps. Birds and animals were startled into bursting from their hiding places. I snatched up something that resembled a deer and fed on it to keep me going.
Ruen leaned over my shoulder to latch onto the carcass, draining it of blood before it could go cold. His laughter had subsided, but I could feel him giggling every now and then.
Running so far and so fast depleted my reserves. My fat withered away and I had to eat everything I could catch to keep going. Sleeping for most of the day, I continued on as soon as I woke up. The trek that should have taken a full week only took three nights to complete.
Starving and trembling with fatigue, I stood on a rocky outcrop of a low cliff, staring at what passed for a city in this realm. Just like the vision in my dream, the buildings made of brown bricks were clustered together. There was no electricity here. Flaming torches and lanterns offered the only form of light.
I could tell at a glance that this wasn’t the place I’d dreamed about. There were far too many buildings and none of them had a clearing with an army in the middle of it. The cliffs were too small to be the ones from my vision. I guessed the overlord was training his soldiers somewhere else, getting them ready to invade my world.
