Page 60 of Nexus
I shucked him off and he landed on the ground gracefully. He went into a crouch and almost seemed to blend in with the ground in his dark, ratty clothes. Scuttling like a cockroach, he leaped on his prey. I heard frightened squeals and thrashing, then sucking noises. Ruen returned a minute later, satiated and smiling. “What was it?” I asked.
“I have no idea, but its blood was very tasty.” This new happy version of Ruen was disturbing. I just wanted to get this quest over and done with so we could go home. I sincerely hoped we would both return to normal again when we crossed back through the gate.
We continued our journey until the sun began to rise. Ruen squinted at the lightening sky and scowled. “I suppose I’d better climb back into your sack.”
“In you go,” I said with a smirk, holding it open for him expectantly.
Grumbling beneath his breath, he stepped into the bag and made himself comfortable. “Try not to get into any trouble while I’m sleeping,” he said, then looked at the bird that was peering down at him from her perch on my shoulder. “Make sure Saige doesn’t do anything stupid.” The bird nodded, then he sat down. The sun rose and the vampire slumped sideways, dying for the day.
“Peace at last,” I said, slinging the sack over my shoulder again. “He’s not usually this talkative back home.”
The bird cocked her head to the side, then rubbed her face against my cheek. Cooing softly, she put her uninjured wing around my neck in a decidedly friendly manner.
“Do you want to come back to my world when we’ve finished our mission?” I asked, reading between the lines. She nodded and her crest rose in excitement. “I’ll tell you what,” I said craftily, knowing it could be tricky dealing with magical beings. “If you lead us safely to the scroll fragment and we make it back to the gate intact, you can come to our dimension with us.”
She let out a trill of beautiful music and squeezed me with her wing before drawing it from around my neck. Pointing dead ahead, she insisted we needed to continue on towards the city. Hoping I hadn’t just made a deal with a devil, I didn’t feel tired enough to sleep, so I kept walking.
Trudging parallel to the road, I kept my distance from it and remained alert. I walked directly into a group of animals that seemed vaguely piglike a few hours later. They made the same squeals as the creature Ruen had fed on when they saw me. Using my club, I bashed two of them to death before they could flee. I was in a clearing that was screened by trees and shrubs. It seemed like a good place to make camp, so I decided to stop to get some rest.
Ruen had brought the flintstones to start a fire along and had stashed them in his sack. I put our gear down and gathered up some rocks to build a campfire. It took a while to find enough twigs and sticks and get a fire started. Wishing Ruen was awake to guide me, I did a terrible job of butchering the pigs. They tasted great roasted over the flames. I was tired enough to sleep by the time I’d eaten the second one. I doused the fire before anyone could spot the smoke and come to investigate it.
“Wake me if you see or hear anything dangerous,” I said to the bird when I curled up on my side. She nodded and perched on my huge gut to give her a height advantage. I fell asleep to her soft, melodious song.
It was dark when a bony finger poked me in the cheek to draw me from my deep slumber. “Wake up, Saige!” Ruen hissed quietly in annoyance.
“I’m awake!” I hissed back.
“Shh! Keep your voice down,” he scolded me quietly. “I heard a large group of soldiers passing by a few minutes ago. I think they’re still searching for us.”
The bird was tucked beneath his arm with her head under her wing, fast asleep. “Was she like that when you woke up?” I asked.
He glanced down at the slumbering creature. “Both of you were dead to the world,” he said. “I thought I was going to have to stab you to wake you up.”
“At least we’re still breathing,” I said defensively, pushing myself to my feet. “You’re the one who turns into a corpse during the day.”
“We need to get moving,” he said with a scowl. “The overlord’s trackers could be on our trail soon.”
“I’ve been thinking about that,” I said as we gathered our meager belongings. He shot me a skeptical look, which I ignored. “It’s probably not a good idea to stay so close to the road if trackers will be coming this way. We should cut overland to get to the city.”
“Stumbling around in the wilderness is a fantastic idea,” he said with heavy sarcasm. “I can already imagine all of the ogres and other monsters we’ll no doubt run into.”
“The alternative is to head to the road and hand ourselves over to the guards,” I went on as if he hadn’t spoken. “We can show them the letter Lord Gilden gave us and ask them to take us to the city. We’ll get there a lot faster, but we might have a hard time sneaking away to search for the spell fragment.” The letter was protected by a spell the dragon must have cast on it. Ruen’s ooze hadn’t made it turn soggy like the rest of my gear.
He opened his mouth to argue with me out of sheer principle, but couldn’t come up with a better idea. “Fine,” he said in capitulation. “We’ll wander around in the wilderness. What could possibly go wrong?”
“I have my fingers crossed that you’ll be the one getting covered in jizz and leeches the next time,” I said with a smirk, holding my hand up to cross my huge, thick fingers.
He sent me a sour look that gave me a twinge of nostalgia for his normal gloomy personality. “I see you managed to slaughter dinner for yourself,” he said as we skirted around the mess I’d left behind. “Your hands are coated in blood.”
“There’s no water around here to wash it off with,” I said with a shrug. “You could lick them clean for me.”
He shuddered in reaction to that suggestion. “It’s gone cold and it would taste horrible.”
I’d done my best to wipe my hands clean on the grass, but grime was lodged in the creases and was wedged beneath my fingernails. “I’m thirsty, so we’ll have to search for water anyway,” I said. “I’m feeling chock full of energy, so climb aboard if you want a ride,” I offered.
Ruen heaved a small sigh, then gave in. He couldn’t keep up with my pace without draining his energy, so he leaped onto my back. The bird woke up at his sudden movement and scrambled up to perch on my shoulder. Her talons dug into my thick skin when I took off at a lumbering run.
Chapter Forty-Five