Page 53 of Horns & Heart
He grabbed me by my arm again.“The wish doesn’t matter, just something easy you can’t mess up so I can use you to get some power.Which I need to push us through the veil.Just do as you’re told.”
His voice had the tone of anor else,and I didn’t want to argue, not with him in a foul mood.And his mood was rotten.
I was freezing, and I didn’t think it would be possible for me to feel any colder, but when my feet went in the lake, I shuddered as the icy water bit into every part of me.
Not that Vergis cared.He moved me forward, and my body followed, that vise grip he had on me inescapable even if I’d had much strength left.Going deeper into the lake was like taking an ice bath.It made my breathing stutter, and I was trembling uncontrollably, the chattering of my teeth noisier even than our splashing.
“This should be fine,” Vergis said when we were in to our thighs.He shifted his grip and interwove our fingers.I really didn’t want to be holding hands with him, but I didn't dare push him off.“Wish for clear skies.”
I opened my mouth, but no sound came out.I tried again, concentrating, forcing my protesting muscles to make the words.It was stuttered and rough, but once I’d said it, I felt heat, blessed heat.Then color, and dizziness cutting into me sharp and sudden.With it came the pins-and-needles feeling, only stronger.Vergis held me tight this time around.
Whatever happened, it didn’t dump us right into deep water this time, and when the heat subsided, I collapsed closer to shore, all of me a trembling, wet mess.
“Well, you sure look like shit,” Vergis said.He was still holding my hand, but now he let go to adjust his grip.“We need to move.Come on.”
There was nothing I could do to make him stop, so I let him move me.He slung my arm over his shoulder and took most of my weight.I did try walking, but I was exhausted.I had trouble keeping my eyes open and looking at our surroundings.Wherever we were now, it was dark, as if night had fallen not minutes ago but hours.Did time move differently here?I didn’t have the energy to ask, and I wasn’t sure the answer would make me feel better anyway.
I could only tell that we’d gone from the shore to a wooded area by how the ground beneath my feet felt and by stars above peeking out from behind what had to be leaves.It was too dark for me to see much beyond shadowy outlines.I could smell the place though, even through my own stench of panic and exhaustion.It wasn’t like the other place with the spider monster, and it didn’t smell like forests back home.Something sweet hung in the air, as if flowers had been blooming nearby, casting their heavy perfume on the breeze.
“Where…are we?”I managed through chattering teeth.
“Aër.Bit off the beaten path, but there’s a wayhouse here.Count yourself lucky on that, human.”
It could’ve been my waterlogged and half-frozen brain not working properly, but I thought I almost detected something like concern in Vergis’s voice.I still didn’t fully believe that he hadn’t left me in that other place, that he hadn’t helped plan an ambush, but I also had to face facts.
I was a helpless baby kitten right now with no fighting skills whatsoever.The only thing that had ever worked for me before was running and avoiding.Even if I’d been able to grab Vergis’s gun or knife, I wasn’t sure I’d have been able to use it.And anyway, if this was Aër, I needed him.To get back home, at a minimum.
We stopped, finally.“Oh, dammit.”Vergis grabbed me tighter around my waist before lifting me, and my toes touched something solid.Stairs, I realized.
“It’s too dark.”
“Yeah, weak human eyes.I know all about that.Cry me a river and see if I care.”
I heard a noise like wood sliding against wood, and felt the air shift against my face like a door in front of us had been opened.Sure enough, I could tell we were indoors by the absence of starry sky and by how his footfalls sounded in the smaller room.
Vergis let me down, and I sagged to the floor, my legs giving up on carrying my weight even another step.I was cold and filthy, but I was too tired to care.So long as I was allowed to just sit here and rest, I was happy.
Vergis shuffled around in the darkness.It sounded as if he were opening cabinets or other doors in this dark house.Did no one live here?Would someone attack us at any moment?The worries were distant.I wasn’t even really scared anymore.
The only thing that happened was a rough metallic noise ringing through the darkness not too far away from me, and with that noise, sparks brightened and light hit my retinas.I saw Vergis’s face briefly illuminated, saw the rough outline of a room, before the sparks died.He struck whatever he was striking a second and a third time, then something caught, and he bent low to blow on kindling.
I was looking forward to a fire, but I wasn’t even trembling anymore, so this wasn’t so bad after all.What I really wanted was sleep.My eyes fell shut, and I drifted off.
I woke once again, but it wasn’t really waking, more like coming up from a dream for a moment before going back under.
Fire crackled, and shadows danced over wooden walls.An arm was draped over me, and I felt blessedly warm.
“Ink?”I asked, so glad that he was back and holding me.
“No.”Vergis’s voice.A nightmare, then.I closed my eyes, determined to shut it out.Nightmares ended, and when I woke, I was sure Inkiri would be there.
