Chapter Four

Explanations

They’d walked for what felt like hours, but had probably only been minutes. Isaac had to stop every ten steps to catch his breath. He’d never been more tired in his life, or at least he couldn’t remember a worse time. Aster was not a very patient travel companion. Not that she nagged at him, they hadn’t spoken since the blue fog had sent a train down on their heads, but she kept dragging him onwards as soon as his breathing evened out even a bit. She never let him sit down and she kicked him in the shin and pulled him up by the collar if he tried.

“Please,” he said once he couldn’t take any more, “I can’t go any further.” Aster looked him over and going by her expression she was not all that impressed by what she saw. She turned around and carried on walking without a word. Isaac stopped. “I’m not going to make it, Aster. I need rest, you need rest!” Aster whirled around, her face flush with frustration but Isaac held up a finger. “And don’t you pretend you’re hurt less than me. I can see your face, Aster! There’s a huge dent in it!”

Aster stomped the ground like a petulant child but then forced her leg still with what looked like sheer willpower. Isaac almost smiled despite his exhaustion and the grim situation he faced.

Aster crossed her arms. “Would you rather sit here and wait for Crassus to butcher us?” Isaac gave an involuntary twitch at the mention of Crassus and for a moment he found that he couldn’t speak. Aster looked satisfied and walked on.

Isaac felt a surge of desperation at seeing her back turned on him. He had to convince her somehow. “How would he be able to follow us?” Isaac tried to hide the exasperation he felt but it slipped through regardless. “Can he even see? His eyes look deader than glass marbles for crying out loud.”

Aster stopped once again and looked at him over her shoulder. She bit her lip. “I don’t know,” she said. “Or, I thought I knew but now I’m not so sure.” She faced him. “Look, if you want to survive we can’t rely on anything, the only thing that will keep him from finding us is distance. We have to get so far away that one of his insane impulses will distract him and make him lose the trail, or something else distracts him. I don’t care! We just. Can’t. Stay here!”

Isaac looked confused. “Wait, hang on. The trail?” She shrugged. “He’s not blind?”

“No, he’s blind, or at least he’s supposed to be.”

“Then… how?”

Aster tapped her nose.

“His nose?!” Aster nodded. “He’s tracking us by smell?” Aster waited for him to catch up. Isaac contemplated for a short while. “That makes no sense,” he said at last.

“Yes, I know,” Aster said as if it was obvious but despite the tone of her voice she looked surprised that Isaac thought it made no sense as well.

“How could he have smelled anything through all that wind?” Isaac looked to Aster but she shrugged her shoulders. Isaac recalled the way Crassus had walked out of the storm as if he’d known all along that’s where Aster and Isaac would be. Isaac shivered. There had been nothing random about that walk of his, that was for sure.

“I don’t know,” Aster said, “I’m starting to doubt everything I’ve ever been told about Crassus.”

“Oh, so he’s famous?” Isaac felt stupid for making all the small talk but he couldn’t help but reach for every shred of normalcy he could grab ahold of, these past hours had been the most taxing of his life.

Aster however seemed grateful for the distraction and answered without delay. “You could say that… he’s a horror story people tell to scare newcomers.”

Isaac wrinkled his brow. “Newcomers? Not the children then? Why’d you want to scare off newcomers?”

Aster looked at him funny but didn’t elaborate. “But anyways, that’s why I don’t feel safe here. We need to travel at least until nightfall.”

That reminded Isaac of something he did not want to think about. How had he arrived here by sundown, walked through some freaky mist for a couple of minutes, then stepped out into glaring sunlight? He didn’t want to think about it, somehow he knew that going down that path would eventually lead him to conclude that he’d gone insane.

“Until nightfall?” he said instead, “Aster! We can’t possibly last until nightfall, just look at you!” Isaac’s eyes strayed towards her hand but quickly darted away again, something that should have been there, was missing. “This is beyond irresponsible.”

“Look at yourself, Aster. There’s no way we’re ever going to make it even another hour, you’re acting out of fear.”

“What, and you’re not?” Aster interrupted.

“I’m scared, I’m not going to deny that, but you need to look at this from another angle. It’s not a question of whether we can outrun Crassus or not, it’s a question of whether he can track us or not. If he can track us in some other way than smell, how do we know what distance is sufficient?

“We don’t. We have to decide what we believe. Does he use smell or some other method? If it’s the former, then we have to consider it a given that he will eventually find us. In that scenario, our best course of action is the be as rested and healed as possible in order for us to make another escape.”

Aster looked taken aback at his sudden outpouring of logic. It felt good to finally amount to something. “That’s… that’s not… entirely stupid,” she said. Isaac found himself smiling at her compliment but hid it with a quick motion. What was up with him? Acting like a schoolgirl over a simple compliment. He tried to remind himself that Aster was at least ten years his junior.

“We need somewhere to rest, do you know how to make a shelter?” Isaac looked with hope to Aster, because he did for sure not know how. He’d gone camping one time in his life, together with his then-girlfriend, and it had ended in a spectacular relationship-ending fight a couple hours into the trip.

Aster thought for a beat. “Actually, I know of something better.”