Chapter 25

Aftermath Part 2

(that time I ate the Dragon…)

‘Asopposed to quabbalaesqu charm inner anatomy with essence channels and cultivated ranks of elemental loci.’

- Great Sect Leader Klein, Master of the Crimson Sands

Despite having a decent education I wished I had read more. The only herbs I knew were good had been the ones I’d picked with my mothers and even some of them I wasn’t sure about. Some herbs could only be consumed when turned into tea, others as powder. Some couldn’t be cooked at all otherwise they would release a poisonous vapor. With each herb I found I was performing an experiment, risking life. Luckily, I seemed to roll high on every attempt.

I was half a day away from Haven when I realized I was being followed.

“Who goes?” I demanded. I bore my sharp claw in the air.

“It’s just me,” I heard a familiar voice. Ajax. “I’d been following you all night. Saw you run into the ruins.” He was wearing nicer clothes than I was, a blue tunic, made from cotton. He even had a satchel with some food and a half-empty water-skin he was ready to share with me.

Most likely he had been nearby the ruins foraging for herbs when he saw me jump down into the tunnel. That or he was reminiscing about old times. He was far less smelly too. Whereas I smelled like blood, sweat, and sulfur he smelled like the woods. He probably tracked my scent through the ruins as he chased after me. Of course it was probably keeping other, dangerous animals and monsters away so I was grateful for that. Nobody wants to eat something that smells like its half-dead and diseased.

“I’m not going back,” I growled. Last thing I wanted was Ajax running back and telling the others what I was doing. My plan, my father’s plan, would all be for nothing.

“I know,” Ajax said. “I’m coming with you.” He smiled.

“It’s too dangerous. Go back home.”

“I can be of help to you,” he moaned.

“You have your sister to look after,” I reminded him.

“You mean your future wife,” Ajax smiled. I hated being reminded of that. I was still much too young to think about those kinds of things. Besides if I had stayed in Haven I’d probably end up with Pan and Mori as my wives. The start of my very own harem, base-building, magic-cultivating adventure. But that wasn’t how my story was meant to unfold. Never has been. Since before my birth I’ve been a wandering soul.

“If you force me to go back I will tell everyone where you are going!”

“And where is that?”

“Maestat obviously,” he said pointing.

“Maybe,” I sighed. I knew this was an argument I wasn’t going to win.

“Last time, you refused to follow us, you went off on your own and you almost got yourself killed,” he started.

Before letting him finish I finally gave in, “Fine.”

Ajax smiled.

“We’re two days away. Once we’re there we’ll have to indenture ourselves for passage to the mainland. Shouldn’t be a problem as barges are always looking for more crew. Dangerous waters between the Isles and the continent. Even worst things that demons,” Ajax said. I nodded and agreed to his plan. He had been thinking about this, probably a part of his plan to approach and team up with me.

We were halfway to Maestat when we ran out of water and had to find a stream to refill it. The forest itself was wondrous and green, more beautiful and astounding the farther away from Haven we went. Flowers grew across the trees in all the colors of a rainbow. The blue ones seemed to almost sing to the bees and other insects who drank and spread their pollen around. We stayed alert, on the lookout for snakes and lizards. Luckily, none were larger than our arms. We didn’t run into any deer in the woods near where we were but there were signs. Life was abundant.

As I breathed in fresh clean air I thought about how it seemed even with demons and vampires ruling the world, Mother Gaia had still found ways to fight back and win. There were even birds in the sky, singing, calling for lovers as white clouds rolled through a blue sky of light above us. I’d never wanted to stop and stare so much in my life. Every new flower we crossed seemed like a miracle. Every tree a giant.

“They burned the forests around the wall when the village was first built. They thought they could set traps, control the landscape, but the plants kept growing back faster and stronger,” Ajax explained.

“You know a lot about this stuff,” I laughed.

“I spent a lot of time reading. I guess in a way I’ve always been preparing for this,” he smirked.

“Preparing to runaway from home to work on a barge, all so you could go meet some Fae in the demon realm?” I laughed harder.

“To leave Haven. It’s always been my dream to explore. Even the demon controlled cities still have humans. They need us. We may not be able to live freely but we’re still able to live.”

“Careful, sounds almost like you think we can’t win,” I warned him.

“I don’t know. I’m not a magic user like you are. If I didn’t have my strength, my knowledge, I’d be a burden on Haven… or a blood bag on the mainland,” Ajax said.

It was hard hearing him say that. Both of us had grown up in the same community but we lived very different lives. Ajax was strong because he had been working the fields with his father. Years of manual labor had turned his ten year old hands hard as leather. Spending time training with his sister, Mori, my father, and me… that was his downtime. When he wasn’t with us he was busy reading or helping around the village. Altogether, he had done more for Haven than I ever had.

“Plus, maybe if I go with you I’ll meet some pretty little Fae girl and make her my wife,” Ajax grinned.

“I think we’re both too young to think about that.”

“Don’t forget, your my brother, you’re already betrothed to my sister.”

I laughed, but Ajax didn’t. He saw something out of the corner of his eye behind me and was watching it move through the green bush.

“What do you see?” I asked in a low voice without turning my head. Whatever was behind me I didn’t want to risk letting on that I knew we had spotted it. My first thought was that the demons had found us, that Alantra had failed to wipe them out.

“I think…” Ajax paused, “I think it’s a rabbit.”

“You mean dinner!” I turned, unsheathed my father’s sword Samosek and slammed the blade down across the ground. Missing completely as a small horned rabbit starred at me in confusion. Ajax broke out in laughter as the small woodland creature hopped off.

“Better luck next time right,” Ajax smiled.

“I’m starving,” I said. At the same time my stomach growled like a bear.

“Yeah, we better find something to eat otherwise your stomach will draw the wrong crowd our way.” Ajax kept smiling as he looked around. From his satchel he picked out a slingshot and aimed upwards into a tree. A moment later he fired and a bird fell from the canopy.

“Don’t birds carry disease?”

“Some do, this isn’t a bird though,” Ajax said.

I studied the creature closer. He was right. It was actually a small wyvern about the size of my hand.

“Can we digest Dragon?” I asked.

“Wyvern. Tastes like chicken… bird,” Ajax laughed.

“I’ve never seen them around Haven?”

“We wouldn’t. They are rare on that part of the Isle. My pater says is it because they can see the ghost of the Elder Dragon that was slain thousands of years ago, that it still haunts the ruins,” Ajax claimed.

“Wonder if the adventurers that killed it ate that one too,” I grinned. It wasn’t impossible. As long as butchers had a way to break through a dragon’s armor their meat was said to enhance strength, agility, and charisma. I wondered if the little Wyvern would give me any extra bonuses.

“You should meditate, train your body and mind. I know you are still healing,” Ajax said. “I’ll go get firewood.”

“That’s ok, I don’t really feel like…”

“Don’t stop. Please. I’ll gather firewood, herbs, and start cooking. You are an awakened. Not just that but you can see the details of the world. After that I can make a tent for us. My father showed me how. We’ll rest here until morning and then we’ll make better time tomorrow,” Ajax pleaded. I couldn’t argue with him, there was no sense in fighting a battle I knew I wouldn’t win, so I agreed to his terms and began my cultivation.

It was night when I opened my eyes again. A fire was burning in front of us, cooked Wyvern on a stick, covered in purple herbs I couldn’t identify. Ajax really knew how to survive out here. Without him, I’d probably have poisoned myself or gotten lost all the way back to Haven. He really was helping me. A part of me even wondered if it was possible that he was Rak’s reincarnation.