Page 44 of Monster Married
I was lying on damp ground, tall trees overhead, like redwoods. I didn’t know if Ireland had these kinds of trees, but I was reasonably sure we weren’t on the Emerald Isle right now.
I scrambled to my feet. “Where are we?”
“Canada.” Vergis pocketed his knife. “It’s easier to keep weapons here. Or it was, when it used to matter. Come on, move. We have an appointment to keep.”
“What’s happening?” What was happening to me was that I was being led into the forest like Red Riding Hood, only not romantic. Then again, Red Riding Hood wasn’t really supposed to be romantic, was it?
“We’re getting guns. Inkiri and the others all know how to handle them. The Koa Esher don’t. I didn’t see any of the humans with them, but chances are there are at least a few. We need to put them down quickly before this gets too bloody.”
The forest floor wasn’t clear. There were branches, fallen trees, and clusters of mushrooms standing like sentinels under the canopy of leaves and branches. Animals made the underbrush rustle while remaining unseen. While I had once successfully played a tree, that didn’t mean I was any good at navigating a forest. I was scratched up pretty badly after only a few steps, and then I tripped and almost fell. Vergis pulled me back up and along with him.
“Move your legs, damn it,” he ground out.
“I hate hiking. And the outdoors. Why did you bring me along?”
“There’s a river not too far from the cache,” he said. “Means you can get us back fast. Unless you want to stop and smell the flowers?”
“I told you, I don’t do outdoor activities.”
Vergis groaned. “More walking, less talking, princess. All I expect from you is that you don’t slow me down. Give it your best shot. Not like you’re wearing heels or anything.”
“I don’t even understand what this is about.” I did my best with the walking. It was like the trees parted for him and huddled closer together for me.
“Best guess, humans want to finish whatever spell they started when they used you, and the Koa Esher saw a chance for an alliance or to get guns. Then again, maybe the Koa Esher want you too. It doesn’t matter right now.” He stopped suddenly. “Right. You remember that thing about doing as you’re told?” He cleared leaves and dirt away to reveal a hatch in the forest floor.
“The thing that never works out so great for me?”
“Because you suck at it. I’ll be faster carrying the stuff up myself. Can you please just shut up and stay here? Don’t get eaten, don’t run. I don’t have the time for any of that shit right now, and definitely not the patience.”
He opened the hatch. It looked kind of heavy, and it was dark down there. I really didn’t want to climb a ladder, fall off, and break my neck.
“Is there…anything that would eat me in these woods?”
Vergis rolled his eyes as he started down the metal rungs. “I’ll be right back. Just don’t move for five fucking minutes.”
Step by step, Vergis went down until even the tips of his horns were gone, swallowed by the darkness beneath. Terror rose, and I wondered what would happen if he never came up again. If I was left alone out here.
I could still hear his feet on the rungs of the ladder, but only if I strained my ears, and about two seconds later, those sounds vanished as well, and all there was around me was green silence and sunlight filtering through the leaves.
Time ticked by. Bird calls rang through the air. I looked around, checking the forest for movement. Why would people voluntarily go on hiking trips? I’d never understood that. Who knew what out here could kill me? For all I knew a falling tree might do the trick. I took a closer look at a nearby trunk, but it looked sturdy.
Minutes passed way too slowly. I worried. About something big and hungry emerging from the foliage, but also about what was happening back on Aër. Inkiri didn’t know about the Koa Esher attacking, did he? What if he came looking for me and I wasn’t there? Would he think they’d gotten me after all, and would he go after them to get me back?
The cola ash people scared me. The way that celadon dude had looked back at the lake in Ireland made my skin crawl.
“Give me a hand,” Vergis said.
He’d come back up, but he’d been nearly silent, and so I stepped back, and there was a branch or something, and I fell on my butt.
“Ow!”
“Dude. Are you for fucking real? How even are you functional at all?”
Vergis flung a heavy bag out ahead of him, then loped up the last few rungs more gracefully than I ever could have. He looked like an athlete or something. I was pretty sure mages were supposed to be a whole lot more sedentary.
“I—you scared me. Why’d you have to bring me to the woods? It’s creepy out here.”
“I’m not even dignifying that with an answer.” He tossed me one of three duffel bags he was carrying, and it was heavy. “You carry the ammo. Now come on. Five hundred meters to the river.”
