Page 54 of Horns & Heart
Chapter20
Ifelt like shit.It was the one dominant thought that ruled my sluggish brain when I next came to.I wouldn’t even say I woke up.That would imply being somewhat alert and energized.
I wasn’t.I rolled onto my side and pushed myself upright with maximum effort, only to have my whole body start shaking in a furious fit of coughing.
“Morning, sunshine.”Vergis sat across from a firepit set in the wooden floor.There was a fire crackling away in there, and he was facing me.He was also butt naked.
I gaped.“You… We… What?”My voice was raw and small, and my throat ached.
“You’re one whole big complication is what.You managed to pass the veil all the way to what I think is the place where those monsters come from.”He snorted.“Inki would have never forgiven me if I’d brought you back to him after letting that orange thing take a bite out of you.”
That made me sit up straighter.For a second.Before slumping over again.Everything hurt too much for me to stay upright.
“Where is he?”
“Earth.We’re on Aër.”
I went over the words in my head.They didn’t seem to want to make sense.I looked around at the building we were in—a wooden building, not huge, but spacious since it was just the one room.The windows had glass in them and a cross-shaped lattice for a wooden frame.I smelled the fire and something sweet on the air.Also myself.Ugh.I desperately needed a shower.
“Aër?”
Vergis snorted.“Fuck.If I didn’t know he’d also take you broken…”
He stood and poured something from a pot that hung from a metal construction over the firepit.A contraption for cooking, I realized.It looked as if Vergis had made tea.He poured me some and handed me the simple stoneware cup.
My hands were shaking when I took it, and I coughed after the first few sips, but the soothing warmth was divine.The tea itself tasted sweet and somewhat salty.Not unpleasant, but I’d have drunk it anyway.
I stared at Vergis over my cup as he settled back on a flat mat on his side of the firepit.
“You have nipples,” I said, all propriety gone to wherever my clothing was.With some tea in me, it fully registered that I was just as naked as he was, huddled under a rough blanket that scratched my skin.“You’re…erm, hunger?With a uterus?”He also had a penis.I decided it didn’t need mentioning since he might take that the wrong way.
Vergis gave me a nonplussed look before rolling his eyes.“Hangu.Look at your hypocritical little heart, getting all obsessed over my reproductive organs.”
I spluttered some of the tea everywhere.“No!No, I didn’t mean it like that, it’s just that everyone was so surprised about my nipples.No offense.Sorry!”
“Whatever.The words you’re looking for are ‘thank you for saving me.’Not that I did it for your stupid ass.”He reached for a poker at his side and stirred the fire.“It’s not even a good ass.Kind of flat.”
“My ass isn’t—well, it might be.”I took another sip of tea.Either I was hallucinating, or something had finally fallen into place.“You’re—I mean, you…and Inkiri.You’re mad at me.Are you jealous?”
Vergis gave me a withering look, and the way the flames played over his features only enhanced the threat of violence written in the lines of his mouth and eyes.
“Why don’t you mind your own goddamn business, human?”
“Okay.Fine.Sorry.And thank you!We need to get back to the others, don’t we?”
“Yes, we do.Little complication though.Water lets you travel through the veils easily and come out in a different location than where you started, relatively speaking.The Hill of Tara isn’t that far from here if we cross over closer to there, and we can catch up with them, especially since they’re going to have to make sure those inbreds don’t follow them.”
“The cola ash people?”The memory of them sent a shiver down my spine.“What do they want?”
“Koa Esher.Can you at leasttryto speak a handful of words in Lugarra properly?”
“Sorry, it’s just—I’m not—sorry.Koa Esher.”I probably butchered that, but I tried.“They don’t look like you guys.”
Vergis held out his hand for my empty cup then refilled it.“Again, they inbreed.When you have brother fucking brother to make babies for several generations on end, it takes its toll.They do it to keep the magic strong.Magic has been escaping the bagua for years and years now.It works, sort of, but not as well as it used to.”He picked up another cup that sat by his side and sipped some of the tea himself.“The Koa Esher capture mages when they come across them.I’ve crossed paths with them a few times now.Always got away and managed to take a few of them out in the process.I’m surprised that so many of their mages came to Earth.Seems risky.”
I nodded while doing my best to sit in a way that didn’t make everything hurt.That didn’t work out so well, but even under the scratchy blanket, I was warm, and that was a lot right then.I noticed my friendship bracelet was still there.Vergis still had his on too.
“Uh.When you did that thing where you handed me the bugs, you said maybe humans were magic.Is that why the Koa Esher are on Earth?”
