Chapter 20: Sky Mountain – part 8

D’Argen could not just leave Abbot and Yaling as they were. Who knew when they would wake from whatever had caused them both to pass out. D’Argen coughed from a dry throat and felt his gag reflex activate, trying to push something out. The mist around him was heavy enough to be felt on his skin and the sound of fighting faded away.

D’Argen patted Yaling’s hand where he crouched over her then muttered another swear under his breath. Even though Yaling was unconscious and could not give consent, D’Argen reached for her neck. He felt disgusted with himself for touching such an intimate place, but he had to check. The moment his fingers touched skin, he reached for Yaling’s mahee with his own. It was different than feeling it out from a distance with such an intimate touch. By reaching through her throat for her core, he could better tell if whatever damage she had was physical or on her mahee.

With the woman unconscious, the mahee naturally protected Yaling’s body and fought him. That was a good sign. He pulled back before the touch became more intrusive. Yaling’s mahee seemed to follow him for a moment, touching him in a tangle of a thousand twinkling instruments, then disengaged. He touched Yaling’s forehead and used that to guide his lips down to kiss her softly there. He breathed out an apology for invading her mahee and reminded himself he would tell her one out loud as soon as she was awake.

She was fine. A few minor scratches and cuts on her body and her mahee churning. He was no expert in the healing arts so he could not find out what caused her to pass out but to him, it felt like she was asleep. He tried to rouse her with a gentle shake to her shoulders. Nothing happened. He snapped his fingers near her ear. Nothing. Finally, he touched her with his mahee. She was fine. Just… not waking up.

Without being able to see, there was nothing much D’Argen could do except shuffle across the snow and back to Abbot. Another muttered apology and he checked first that Abbot’s body was breathing and then reached to feel the artist’s mahee. It was moving much slower than Yaling’s but that was normal with the oil scent that reminded him of a sweet meal.

A scream in the trees.

A yelp.

D’Argen stood up quickly and faced the direction of the yelp. He opened his mahee as wide as he could though it was slow. It was fighting him, like a tired muscle. It hurt. The scent of the ocean was faint and it mixed with the sweet undertone he had been scenting since he came to his companions.

He needed to get to the others as fast as possible.

Abbot and Yaling were safe.

They were.

Even if unconscious.

The shadow demon had… disappeared? Left? Started reforming into a new shape? D’Argen was not sure what exactly happened to those red eyes but he had yet to be attacked again.

There was a crunch of ice right beside him. D’Argen immediately shuffled away and slashed with his sword. It glided through nothing but air. He tried to look around him but still saw nothing but darkness. The scream that tore through the air this time sounded like it was right behind him. D’Argen got up quickly and rushed the sound. The dark grey smudge of a tree got in his way before anything else did and he ran right through it. His speed caused the tree to shatter completely and he slid to a stop into another one before all the pieces fell down.

He wanted to call out someone’s name. Thar. Lilian. They were probably not too far. Fear kept him from making a sound until he stepped in crunching ice. He froze and waited. Nothing. He shuffled through snow and roots and rocks. Nothing.

“This way!” Lilian’s voice was distant but loud. D’Argen already had his mahee opened so he quickly consumed it, releasing some of the pressure he felt from being so depleted.

Abbot and Yaling would be fine. He had to keep repeating this to himself over and over as he started walking toward Lilian’s voice. Abbot and Yaling would be fine.

But what if…

He shook his head to shake away the intrusive thought before it fully formed. It did not help. He opened his mahee and ran towards Lilian. Avoiding the trees was hard but without opening his mahee fully they were dark silhouettes that he could not run through.

“Duck!” The yell had him closing his mahee and sliding to his knees on instinct. When he got up, it was with his sword raised in a defensive position over his chest. That did not stop whatever attacked him. It barreled right into his chest so fast that it threw him backwards. A moment later, it was gone and D’Argen heard shuffling steps and another yelp.

“D’Argen, you are back,” Lilian spoke and their voice sounded relieved.

“Yes. I saw—”

He was shoved down from behind by a hand too large to be Lilian’s. The displacement of air over his head was enough indication that the shove was to help him avoid something. An attack?

“What’s going on?” D’Argen yelled as he was grabbed and dragged around.

“Why are you just standing still?” Thar growled out right beside him.

“I kind of can’t—”

A loud scream drowned out the rest of his words. It sounded like it was right in his face. D’Argen lashed out with his sword without thinking. Thar let him go and swore.

“What did you do that for?” Lilian asked from somewhere behind him.

“I can’t see!” D’Argen answered and kept his sword pointed in the direction of the scream.

Both Thar and Lilian seemed calmer though. Whatever was attacking them was either gone or giving them a break.

“Be glad,” Lilian answered with a scoff. “Wait. Are you serious?”

“Yea… Abbot blinded me.”

“He what?!”

“It was an accident! There was a shadow demon, I think, or something—”

“Shadow demons? No, that does not make sense.”

“Well, I don’t know what to tell you. Abbot thought I was one of them. So did Yaling and—”

“Where are they?”

“A few steps back? Wait… what’s happening?”

“There are demons,” Thar answered him before Lilian could.

“No. I am telling you. It is not demons,” Lilian interjected.

“Then what is it?”

“Wait, wait,” D’Argen quickly stepped between their two voices. “What do you mean?”

“There is something in this forest. It is attacking us. It is—” Lilian’s voice suddenly cut off.

D’Argen ducked when he felt the sharp wind that they created with their metal fan as a weapon.

“Shit! Sorry. I forgot you cannot see,” Lilian sounded frustrated.

“Yea, no. It’s okay. It happens. What is it?”

“Down,” Thar spoke in a voice so commanding that D’Argen felt his knees buckle before he even registered the word. The air broke, became colder, and then another loud yelp. D’Argen felt something hot spray across his face. He tasted blood on his lips and recoiled. And then…

“It’s not demons,” he said and licked his lips again.

“I thought you were blind,” Thar spoke up. “If that is not a demon, I do not know—”

“No, Thar, he is right,” Lilian interrupted. “Stop. Wait. Listen…”

D’Argen also stilled to listen.

Both Lilian and Thar were naturalists, controlling the winds and the cold in turn. D’Argen crooked his fingers into one of Yaling’s spells and guided the mahee into enhancing his hearing.

“It is—”

“Shhhh!” D’Argen interrupted whatever Lilian was about to say with a hiss. He listened and heard ice crunching under all three of them. Snow being stepped on further away. Ragged breaths. A growl. A scrape—

D’Argen shoved Lilian from beside him just as one of their attackers came at them. He felt their body miss. Slide on the ice. Turn on four legs. Thar did not move but his mahee’s scent cleared the air completely for a moment and then another scream came out.

“Did you just kill it?” D’Argen asked to confirm he had heard right. The sharp slide of ice through flesh was not a sound that was easily recognizable.

“There are more…” Lilian said from right under him. D’Argen finally remembered he had thrown himself at them to knock them out of the way. “I do not understand why they are not attacking as one. It is not… they are not demons.”

“They look like them,” Thar responded with a cold tone.

“No, wait. No. Abbot said I was a demon. I looked like one to him, is it possible—”

“The mist!” Lilian interrupted with a yell and started struggling out of his hold.

“Wait, stop! Where are you—” they slipped out of his fingers and ran off.

“It is not mist! It is spores!!”

“What?!”

“Lilian! Wait!” Thar called out but their footsteps were already fading away.

Another yelp. A growl. Claws scratching against stone. At least a dozen legs followed after Lilian.

“We have to—”

D’Argen was getting tired of being interrupted through shoving. Thar once more grabbed his upper arm and swung him around and out of the way of something.

“Give me your sword,” Thar said.

“What? No. Use your own!” D’Argen immediately rejected. Then he remembered. “Here.” He thrust the sword hilt first towards Thar.

Thar grunted but took it.

D’Argen still forgot sometimes that Thar could not use his own sword. Not for another twenty years. And, as the one who could actually see between the two of them, it made more sense for him to have a better weapon. Forgetting ranks, D’Argen deferred to Thar as the more capable one between them.

“Wait, what were you fighting with earlier?”

Thar did not reply but a grunt and a slide told him that he either blocked another attack or killed another attacker. D’Argen listened. The crunch of ice. The crackle of snow melting under hot blood. Thar breathing heavily. Nothing else. He turned his head in the direction he thought Lilian ran off to. His mahee protested using the spell for so long but he strained himself to listen.

Running footsteps. Sliding across snow. Claws tearing the bark off trees. Claws striking stone. Teeth tearing into flesh. A scream.

“Lilian,” D’Argen gasped.

“Can you run?” Thar asked.

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D’Argen was already up. He disengaged the hearing spell in order to put all of his remaining mahee into his feet but it refused. He had hardly any left. His legs collapsed out from under him.

Thar helped him up with an arm around his waist. He was breathing too heavily. They were both tired and out of shape. D’Argen, for not having rested and consumed properly in days and Thar for… his weakened mahee being used to fight off whatever was around them.

“Your mahee…” D’Argen started but trailed off. Thar knew. Clearly. His mahee was almost as depleted as D’Argen’s. “Lilian. Yaling. Abbot. We have to…”

“Go,” Thar said and nudged him in the right direction.

Thar guided them both with his arm still around D’Argen’s waist.

After what felt like too many steps, the arm around his waist tightened. D’Argen felt his entire body protest. He wanted to lie down and sleep. His legs were shaking.

“What is it?” he whispered instead.

“The mist is… too heavy here…” Thar spoke. His voice was slow. He sounded less like he was tired and more like was drunk. “It… my mahee…”

“What? What is it?”

“Clear air,” Thar gasped out.

D’Argen felt the other let go. A moment later he heard the man collapse.

“What?” D’Argen quickly kneeled beside him and tried to reach for him. Thar shook him off with brisk hands as he started doing another spell.

Suddenly, a strong wind came out of nowhere as if they were not in the middle of the forest. For a moment, D’Argen thought that it was Lilian. Thar’s hands stopped moving, proving that he was the source of it. For having his mahee so depleted, the spell was too strong.

Thar was truly frightening sometimes.

With the wind came a clean and crisp scent. It surrounded D’Argen completely and only when it did, did he realize that it was chasing away the scent of burnt sugar. No Never Born had that scent. Not a live one.

Thar shifted and he was once more standing. He helped D’Argen up.

“What was that?” D’Argen asked when a firm hand wrapped around his waist again.

“The mist. There is something—”

D’Argen was getting really tired of his conversations getting interrupted by the screams. This one, however, sounded more like a yell of anger. One he recognized. He faced in that direction and without a word the two started moving.

“That is not possible! No!” D’Argen heard Lilian yelling out in anger.

“Lilian?”

“No! Why would you?!” Lilian did not answer him.

“Wait,” Thar whispered in his ear and tightened the arm around his waist.

D’Argen listened to him even as Lilian continued to argue without anyone responding.

“That does not make sense. We are all one,” Lilian was saying. “We would never.”

“Wait,” Thar whispered again when D’Argen started struggling.

“And you think what? Killing one of us would help you?” Lilian was asking.

“What is going on?” D’Argen whispered back.

“No. I… I cannot. You are wrong!”

“I do not know,” Thar responded.

“I physically cannot do that.”

“Lilian is… talking to no one,” Thar explained in a whisper.

“None of us can.”

“What do you mean?” D’Argen asked.

“Lilian?” Thar called their name a little louder.

“Stay back, Thar!” Lilian snapped out. “This is not real. You are not real.”

“Lilian. We’re here. We’re real.” D’Argen tried to convince them with a careful tone.

“No. This is… I stopped… I stopped thinking this way!” Lilian was still arguing with someone, or something, else. Their voice was breaking though. And it was in a way that D’Argen recognized all too well. “I cannot…”

“Lilian, it’s me. It’s D’Argen. I’m here.”

“I cannot,” Lilian started sobbing as they spoke. “Please. Do not make me.”

“I’m not making you do anything,” D’Argen answered even though he knew Lilian was not speaking to him. He took a step closer to them and was glad that Thar did not hold him back. “I’m here, Lilian.”

“Please, no…”

“I’m here.”

Thar let him go and D’Argen dropped to his knees. He reached out with blind hands.

“Please…” Lilian whispered.

He touched Lilian’s shaking shoulders.

“I finally stopped…”

He pulled Lilian into his chest. They were sobbing so badly that the words were barely understood. D’Argen felt his robes turn wet immediately under their tears. He wrapped his arms around them completely in a hug and shushed them quietly.

“I’m here. You’re here. We’re fine,” D’Argen started repeating quietly.

Lilian suddenly started shaking even more. It felt less like tears and more like something else.

“D’Argen, stop!” Thar yanked at his shoulder.

D’Argen wanted to snap at the man but then Thar let him go and Lilian started shaking even more. A moment later, another strong burst of wind came out of nowhere, carrying with it that clean and crisp scent.

“Your belt,” Thar commanded with a calm tone. “Give it to me.”

D’Argen had no idea what was happening but he quickly complied, pulling off the thin leather belt and handing it over. He could not see what was happening but a wandering hand hit him hard. Lilian was thrashing in the snow. Thar took the belt from him and then guided D’Argen’s hands. When he touched Lilian’s shoulders, they were shaking so badly that he was caught off guard. But he finally understood what was happening.

Seizures.

Lilian had not had them in over a millennium.

He pushed down hard, keeping them still. Thar must have put the belt in their mouth already. He was doing something else then and D’Argen could only feel helpless as Lilian thrashed under him. It took a few moments that felt like eons and then Lilian calmed.

Thar collapsed right beside him. With a heavy sigh, he said what they were both thinking, “We cannot stay here.”

“Then where?” D’Argen asked though he felt numb, his mouth moving without his control. His hands finally calmed on Lilian’s shoulders.

“Higher. Clear air.”

“What if there are more of them higher?”

“I can replenish my mahee faster.”

“And then we can find out what the fuck is going on around here.”

Thar hummed in agreement and D’Argen nodded to himself. The runner felt for Lilian’s cheek. A finger under their nose revealed them to be breathing.

“Abbot and Yaling?” D’Argen asked, hearing how emotionless his voice was.

“I see them. They are safe.”

“The demons? From earlier?”

Thar did not respond.

D’Argen reached for him with a blind hand until his fingers touched wet cloth. It was already cracking and drying. He tried to ignore what that meant. “The demons?” he asked again.

“I do not see them anywhere.”

“What do you mean? They ran right after Lilian!”

“I see blood. And no wounds on Lilian.”

D’Argen did not question it further and instead reached for Lilian’s face again. It was only after he brushed some of their hair away that he realized he may have just left blood streaks on their face.

“Higher. Got it. Let’s go.”

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