Bound to the Abyss Read online

  Zin hopped to his feet. “Whatever you say, partner.”

  Without another word, the imp rose and jogged off, leaving Ean standing in the clearing shaking his head. He really was going to regret giving the imp free reign to say whatever he wanted.

  Chapter 22

  CIRCLES

  By the time Ean had opened up his Pocket, put his Book away and gotten back to camp, his companions were all sitting around while Bran tried to start a small fire. It was probably safe to make one during the day, and after the night they had had, a warm breakfast would make them all feel a little better. They certainly looked like they needed something to improve their moods.

  Jaslen was sitting with one hand behind her, massaging the spot where the Seeker had stomped on it the day before. She kept her eyes down and was jabbing at the twigs and branches of the campfire with a stick until Bran was finally able to get it lit. Every now and then, a shiver would pass through her body despite the fact that the breeze was warm this morning.

  Bran was in much worse condition. His throat was bruised from where he had been struck, the deep brown and purple color of his skin coinciding with his still raspy voice. He spoke very little as they made the fire and cooked breakfast, which was for the best as it gave his throat a rest and time to heal. Unfortunately, there was nothing in Ean’s bag of herbs that could help that injury.

  They ate in silence, even Zin, who must have felt the mood just as Ean did. When their small pot of stew was just about empty, Bran broke the silence first.

  “Well, I would be pretty happy if I never saw any of those Seekers again.” His voice sounded less raspy and a bit more energetic than it had the previous night. “At least not without a couple hundred of those four-armed creatures you brought out yesterday. What did you say it was called, Ean?”

  “Cruxlum.” He glanced in Zin’s direction. “Can you tell us more about them?”

  The imp shrugged, then slurped down a bit more of the broth before speaking. “Cruxlum are fairly intelligent creatures that love to fight, but only if they think their adversary is a worthy one. Or if you get them angry enough.” A small smile touched his lips for a moment then was gone. “The one you summoned yesterday was fairly confused. In his mind, no one present was worthy of fighting him. I had to convince him that the Seeker had said some unflattering things about him.”

  “What did you say?” Jaslen’s face reflected some kind of inner turmoil, and her voice was somber, but there was curiosity in it as well. “It sure seemed mad as it tore off after the Seeker.”

  The imp’s eyes widened, and by his expression, Ean thought Zin would have blushed if it had been possible on his dark brown skin.

  “Well, I told him that the Seeker had made some unflattering remarks about his mother and … certain parts of his body. I’m sure it was the comments about his mother that made him enraged,” the imp said quickly. “Cruxlum are very family-oriented.”

  “Oh …” Jaslen replied looking confused for a moment, and then her eyes widened in understanding, “OH, you mean you talked about his guy part —” She cut off quickly, her face turning red.

  “Yes, yes, that part,” Zin said as he turned to look in every direction except at Jaslen.

  Starting with Ean, laughter spread through the group. Zin resisted at first, but he too began to snicker, succumbing to the overall good feeling of the group.

  “I think we needed this,” Jaslen said between a last set of giggles. “It feels really good, even if the laughter was at my expense.”

  “And mine,” Zin piped in.

  “Well, now that we all feel better,” Bran said, rising to his feet. “Maybe we should think about how we’re going to get out of this forest.”

  “Well,” Jaslen said, rising as well. “Going by the map we looked at back home, as long as we continue to head north, we’ll eventually reach the end. Then it’s just a matter of following the edge east until we find the road again.”

  Ean hated to be the one to put a damper on their newfound good mood, but the question had to be asked. “Sounds like a good plan, but exactly which way is north?

  That earned him blank stares from his three companions. Zin shrugged and returned to finishing off his broth. Jaslen began to look around, her long, cherry red hair swinging about as she looked in every direction. Bran looked at the ground, taking a kick at a nearby stone.

  Not sure what else to do, Ean turned his attention to the sky, or at least to the leaves and branches above him. Small amounts of light were getting through, but he had no idea where the sun was at the moment. As sure as water was a necessity to survive, Ean knew the sun rose in the east and set in the west, but without actually being able to see the sun, that knowledge offered him little help.

  “Well,” he said after giving up trying to find the sun. “Maybe if we start moving off in one direction, we’ll eventually come to a place that is clear enough to find the sun. Then we just have to see which way it’s moving, and from that, we can figure out which way is north.”

  “That’s brilliant, Ean!” The praise in Jaslen’s voice warmed his heart. “I never thought of looking for the sun. Although I don’t think since we’ve entered this forest that there has been a place where we could actually see the sky.”

  As Jaslen grew quiet, Bran jumped in. “It’s the best plan we have though, and sitting here won’t help us figure anything out. Plus, if those Seekers are still looking for us —”

  The woods around them seemed to darken for a moment, although Ean was sure it was just his imagination. Shaking off the sudden chill he felt, Ean began cleaning up. The other two joined him while Zin sat and watched, all four becoming silent and somber again. With the fire out and most of their things stored away in Ean’s Pocket, they stood in a circle looking at each other expectantly.

  “So, which way should we go?” Ean said at last. “We still have to be west of the road and east of the Skyfall Mountains. If we run into either as we move, we’ll be able to figure out which way is north. If we end up heading south, we’ll either hit the Skyfall Ring that circles Rottwealth or end up in Rensen again. So regardless of which way we go, even if we never spot the sun, we’ll run into something that will let us know which way to go from there.”

  “Sounds good,” Jaslen said, and Ean nodded along with her.

  “Alright, then I say we go this way.” Bran pointed straight ahead then began to move. Zin, Ean, and Jaslen followed close behind.

  They traveled in silence, talking lightly when they stopped to eat again, and then continued on without speaking. Each seemed lost in their own thoughts. It continued this way into the night, with the companions eating a small snack and then bedding down without a word.

  Ean chalked it up to the stress of the previous day and being lost. He hoped the next morning would bring warm weather, a break in the trees, or at least a sweet, wildberry bush. Anything to lift their sagging spirits. Even Zin seemed in a melancholy mood. For most of the day, though, the imp kept his head down in thought like the rest of them, saying the least out of the four.

  Yes, Ean thought, right before he drifted off to sleep. We certainly need something positive to happen tomorrow.

  Chapter 23

  CUT TIES

  But nothing happened the next day.

  Or the one after that.

  Or four days after that.

  Wait, was it four days, or five? Ean wondered. All of the days started to run together.

  After breakfast, they would head off into the woods, following a marker they had put up the night before so that they knew they were heading in the same direction as the previous day. Of course, whether or not they were going in the same direction during most of the day was another story and a question that they never discussed. For all they knew, each time they moved around a dense pack of trees or a fallen log they were resuming their march in a different direction than they meant to go.

  They moved about in silence, heads focused on what was directly in front of their f
eet. By the third day, Zin had wandered off on his own. The imp stayed close enough that Ean could still feel his presence, but he never returned to sleep with them at the end of the day.

  When it grew too dark to travel across the difficult terrain, they would stop. Again they would prepare the camp and eat in silence quickly, then move off to their tents to drift off to sleep. As the first rays of light finally broke through the canopy overhead, they would get up and start the same process all over again.

  ***

  By the end of the eighth day, or at least what Ean thought was the eighth day, they reached a breaking point. Jaslen and Bran looked as tired as Ean felt. The stench of sweat, dirt and other nasties wafted from all three of them. A dip in a cool creek might have raised their spirits, but since there wasn’t one in the area, Ean took it upon himself to come up with another way to raise their spirits. Being accustomed to pain and depression in Rottwealth, he had been able to shield off any depressing thoughts, but by the looks on his friends’ faces they had not been as lucky. If they were going to continue on, it seemed that it was up to Ean to do something to raise their spirits.

  “It can’t be that much further until we find something,” he said, trying to make his voice sound as believable as possible. “We’ve been walking for so long, we have to be near an edge of the forest.”

  “Unless we’re walking in circles,” Bran snapped back at him. “And unless you know some way to make sure we walk straight that you’ve been keeping to yourself, we’ll continue to walk around in circles and never leave this cursed forest.”

  Bran’s words stung, not because of anything he said but more because of the tone in which they were spoken. For Ean’s entire life, Bran had always supported him against the other townsfolk, even when Ean had done his best to push the other boy away. Ean couldn’t remember a single harsh word being said directly to him by Bran before. Besides Jaslen, Bran had been a constant pillar of support.

  Jaslen’s silence didn’t help matters either. She was usually the first to jump to his defense, faster than Bran even, in most situations. Now she stared into the fire, either lost in her own thoughts or unwilling to get involved.

  “No, I’m sorry, Bran. I don’t know a way to make sure we’re always moving in the same direction. I don’t think a spell even exists that —”

  “Well, then what good is all of this power you claim to have?” Bran’s voice was growing louder with every word, and the young man clenched his fists. “Why don’t you summon something that can lead us out of here, or better yet, why don’t you ask your best friend, Ze’an, to deliver us from these woods. The Gods know I’ve been asking every other Deity for help and have received none. Maybe your buddy in the Abyss can help us out.”

  Ean frowned and took a deep breath. He could feel the guilt inside of him being replaced with anger, but getting into a screaming match with Bran wouldn’t make things any better. So instead of yelling back, he raised both hands defensively and tried his best to keep his voice level and calm.

  “I have no control whether Ze’an talks to me or not.” That at least was true, the fact that the god had never spoken to him didn’t much matter at this point. “And I have no idea what kind of creature I could call that would lead us from the woods. We just need to stay calm and keep our heads, and we’ll figure something out.”

  “Don’t tell me to keep calm!” Rising to his feet, Bran began to pace back and forth in front of the fire. “You’re probably loving this, aren’t you? You hate people so much that getting lost in the woods is probably a dream come true, especially since you get to stare at my girl the entire day.”

  That finally got Jaslen’s attention. Raising her head, she shot Bran a frown before speaking. “Bran, stop it. This isn’t helping anything. We need to stick together, not fight.”

  “Of course you would say that.” Bran spat on the ground in disgust. “You want to believe he can help you get close to Ze’an so badly that you listen to everything he says. Well, he can’t, Jaslen. He clearly knows next to nothing. That imp that follows him around knows ten times more than Ean does, and where has he been?”

  Jaslen turned towards Ean, giving him a perfect view of the doubt in her eyes. “Is that true, Ean? We know you can perform some amazing feats of magic, but have you been making up things about your connection to the Abyss just to try and impress me?”

  “I haven’t done it to try to impress you —”

  Jaslen’s eyes watered up and she turned away from him. That action might as well have been a physical blow the way it caused his stomach to tie up in knots. Things were spiraling out of control.

  “Listen,” Ean pleaded, trying to get a handle on things. “Maybe I don’t know as much as I implied about the Abyss, and maybe Ze’an hasn’t spoken directly to me, but that doesn’t matter. As far as I know, I’m still the most connected person to the Abyss. That has to mean something, right?”

  Jaslen ignored him, looking away from both him and Bran. Bran, on the other hand, had other ideas. He marched right up to Ean and got directly in his face.

  “This has all just been one big scheme to steal Jaslen away from me, hasn’t it?” The anger was painted across most of Bran’s face now. His eyes, though, seemed off, not appearing to really focus as he attempted to glare at Ean. “Always saying or doing things to try and impress her, pretending to be this big follower of the God of the Abyss. It’s all a show, isn’t it? Your way of keeping people away at first, but then you jumped right into the role when you realized Jaslen was so fascinated by the god.”

  “You mean,” Jaslen cut in, her voice low and wobbly, “when he found that both of us were interested in Ze’an, don’t you, Bran?”

  A bit of the anger drained from Bran’s face. “What?”

  Rising to her feet, Jaslen walked over, her steps shaky as if she might fall over at any second. “You said that I was the only one interested in Ze’an. But I thought we shared a mutual interest in him.”

  Her tone had changed from sad to accusatory. When she reached the two young men, she placed her hands on her hips and stared hard at Bran. He just stared at her for a moment, his mouth hanging slightly open, before he tried to speak.

  “That’s not what I … you know I’m interested —”

  Her raised right hand cut him off, as her voice grew firmer. “Don’t call Ean a liar and then turn around and lie right to my face. Three years, Bran, it’s been three years now since we first started talking about becoming followers of Ze’an. That’s three years that you’ve been lying to me about something I thought made us closer.”

  “I didn’t ...” He looked at her for a second and then threw his hands into the air. “Fine, fine, I had no interest in your god, if you want the honest truth. How you can be interested in a god that clearly causes so much pain is beyond me. I didn’t think much of it at home, but now that we’ve been out in the world and have heard how horrible Ze’an truly is, I’m honestly shocked that you still want to follow him.”

  Jaslen stumbled backwards as if his words had physically pushed her. She sat down hard on the ground and immediately hid her face in her hands. Even though it was clear she was trying to hide it.

  Ean had been growing so used to having people around that enjoyed his company, now that things were falling apart, it was worse than his years of being bullied at home. As Jaslen began to cry, the guilt that Ean had been feeling started to change into something else. How dare Bran treat Jaslen this way? Well, he wasn’t going to let it continue.

  “Bran, I think you’ve said enough. We should all just give each other some space and get some sleep. Tomorrow —”

  “Tomorrow? Tomorrow?! You mean tomorrow while we tramp around in the woods as our supplies dwindle? Oh, I can’t wait for another day of that.” His voice dropped, taking on a dangerous tone. “Or do you think that if me and Jaslen are arguing that maybe she’ll come lie near you tonight?”

  “What … I never even considered …”

  “That’s ri
ght. You never considered it, ’cause it would never happen.” Without warning Bran shoved Ean backwards. Ean tried his best to stay on his feet, but his heel hit a root and he dropped down hard into a sitting position. Wincing at the pain the fall caused, he looked up at the young man he used to consider his friend and sneered.

  “Sounds to me like someone is afraid he isn’t man enough to keep his girl.” Ean put as much scorn and contempt into his voice as he could. When both of Bran’s hands balled up into fists, for a moment Ean thought he had gone too far, but a glimpse at the still crying form of Jaslen made him not care if he had.

  “You think you’re good enough for her?” The laugh that came out of Bran’s mouth did not contain even the slightest bit of humor. “She wouldn’t be with you if you were the last human in the realm. The only reason she has ever been nice to you is because her heart is too big and she pities you. She’s told me as much countless times in the past.”

  “Is that true, Jaslen?” Ean demanded, voice tinged in angry accusation. “Have I just been your little pity project?”

  Jaslen pulled her hands down away from her face enough so that her eyes could meet his. It only took a moment of looking into those eyes for Ean to realize what Bran had said was true. Pushing himself to his feet, anger and hurt washed through him.

  “I don’t need your pity. I don’t need anyone’s pity!”

  Jaslen leapt up just as quickly, raising her hands in a calming fashion. “Ean, it’s not what it sounds like. When I said that to Bran —”

  “You don’t have to defend yourself,” Bran cut in. “He’s better off knowing the truth anyway. Now he can stop looking at you like a love-sick puppy.”

  Turning his attention back to Ean, he raised a finger and pointed it in Ean’s face. “You just stick to being friends with your little creatures and beasts. They at least seem to be able to tolerate you.”