Page 71 of Nexus
“Yep,” I replied. “Thanks,” I added, to his amazement.
Confused that an ogre could be polite, he and his men escorted me through the city, then watched me trudge away with my spoils.
As soon as we were out of sight around a bend, I put the basket down and let my friends out of the sack. Ruen opened the basket to peer inside. “There’s enough food in here to last you for a month,” he exclaimed. Aurora held her wing up imploringly, so he picked her up so she could take a look. Her head darted down to grab a bread roll and she began to munch on it contentedly.
“I’m going to need to eat as much as I can if we want to make it back to the gate quickly,” I reminded him. “Unless you want to walk all the way back.”
That would take at least ten days at my current pace and he shook his head. “I suggest we avoid the road and cut through the wilderness again. Once the army discovers their overlord is dead, they’ll be enraged and they might want revenge.”
“You carry the sacks,” I ordered. “I’ll carry the basket and eat while we’re walking.”
He obediently picked up our belongings and tucked the bird beneath his arm. The fact that he didn’t argue with me meant he was anxious to leave. I picked up my pace as he led the way down the road. We needed to get clear of the cliffs before we could lose ourselves in the wilderness.
Stuffing handfuls of food into my mouth, I chewed and swallowed methodically without tasting any of it. My stomach slowly became full and the healing process sped up. After three nights of constantly feeding and plodding along, I’d devoured most of the food. My gut and boob had healed and I was back to my original size.
“I can’t believe you ate all of that food so quickly,” Ruen said in disgusted amazement when he woke up.
“Says the leech who keeps drinking so much blood that he sloshes with it,” I retorted.
A dreamy look came over him at the fond memory of slaughtering his meals. “I’ll never forget this mission. Not for as long as I live.”
“Neither will I,” I said with a grimace. My memories would be far less pleasant than his.
Ruen went off to hunt and I quickly devoured the dregs of food in the bottom of the basket. Aurora took a bread roll when I held it out to her. “It’s the last one,” I warned her. She didn’t need to eat much and could make it last for a few days if she needed to. Nodding, she allowed me to place her on my shoulder. She gripped my skin with her feet and tucked the roll beneath her injured wing.
I took off at a jog, meeting up with the vampire as he returned. I already had all of our gear, so he didn’t need to backtrack. “Can I get a ride?” he asked, holding his thumb out like a hitchhiker.
My response was to grab his arm and swing him up onto my back on my way past. Chortling in glee when I began to sprint, he clung to me with one arm around my neck and his bony knees digging into the flab on my back.
It took four nights to return to the area where the gate was located. I made sure to give the ogres a wide berth this time. Aurora could sense the gate and all the others that were scattered around the realm. We’d found her close to the one we’d used to get here, so she knew exactly where we wanted to go. Going through another portal could take us to another country for all I knew.
“We should slow down and approach the gate slowly,” Ruen suggested when we reached the foothills of the mountain. “The overlord might have sent more soldiers to guard it after learning about our arrival.”
“Good idea,” I said, then shucked him off. I was panting hard from my long sprint and needed to eat again. I’d become an expert at snatching up prey and eating on the run. Ruen had drained the blood from most of my food. Aurora had eaten grass seeds and insects after she’d finished her roll.
We kept our senses on full alert as we scaled the small mountain. The barracks was empty, but we could smell fresh scents. “Several guards were here recently,” Ruen figured. “They were heading for the gate.”
“Should we kill them if we catch up to them?” I asked.
His eyes gleamed with glee at that prospect. “Only if we have to,” he said, unaware of the longing in his tone.
It was still early and dawn was hours away, so we got moving. Neither of us could sense, smell or hear anyone on the trail. We saved time by using the path rather than forcing our way through the trees and shrubs.
We had a clear view of the valley below when we reached the summit of the mountain. Two groups of soldiers were heading towards each other, but were still some distance away from meeting. Their flaming torches gave away their positions.
“They’ll stop to talk for a while,” Ruen predicted. “If we hurry, we might be able to skirt around them and make it back to the gate before they even know we’re here.”
“You mean we aren’t going to slaughter them all so you can tear their eyelids off and suck their orbs from their lidless sockets?” I said sardonically.
“Not this time,” he said primly, pretending he hadn’t gone on a disturbing monologue about all the ways he wanted to maim and kill our adversaries.
Aurora caught my eye and rolled hers. I had to muffle my snort of laughter so the vampire didn’t get into a snit. “Climb onboard,” I offered. “The good ship Saige is about to set sail from the dock.”
“Please stop,” he said in a pained tone. “You know nothing about sailing, ships or docks.”
“Keep your arms inside the vehicle at all times,” I continued as if I hadn’t heard him. “Decapitation and dismemberment could be the consequences if you ignore the warnings.”
Ruen snickered as he clambered onto my back. Aurora looked at the trees that surrounded us and scrambled down from my shoulder. I felt her soft body press against my back as she squirmed between Ruen and me. I took off running, quickly picking up speed during the steep descent to the bottom. An avalanche of rocks started, then small boulders were bouncing and rolling around me. I veered off the path as shouts sounded from the alarmed guards.