Westhaven by Rowan Erlking (ebook audio reader .txt) 📖

are—”

“I keep it for luck,” he said.

She sighed then swallowed. “Ok. But I can’t just leave you here. We can escape together.”

He shook his head, making the table creak. “No. I can’t. My hair stands out. I’m marked besides. The soldiers are under orders to shoot me and drag me back if I run, and I can’t run fast enough with the irons on.”

“I’ll carry you,” she said.

“I will only slow you down.” He then heaved in a shuddering breath, holding back tears. “Just promise me you will run, find my mother. Tell her I’m alive.”

She choked on a sob, jamming the key into the lock. Turning it, she felt the iron pieces inside creak, but the lock broke open. Her wrist was free. “I promise to look for her. What’s her name?”

He let out a weak moan. “I don’t know. I was taken when I was young.”

The woman halted, feeling the weight of the iron around her other wrist, her insides suddenly feeling just as heavy. “I—”

“Smith,” he whispered. “Smith from Bekir Lake is all remember.”

“Bekir Lake?” She gasped. “You mean in the peninsula?”

He sighed. “Yes. Our village could see water on both sides.”

“Oh my….” She leaned on the table for a moment. Then she continued to undo the irons. Dropping them to the floor, she kicked them under the table in the dirt. “Are you sure you don’t want me to carry you out?”

With a weak snort, he shook his head. “No. But I do want my key back.”

Groping for his hand in the dark, the woman set the key in the boy’s palm. She patted him on the head. “I’m sorry I have to leave you here. We were wrong about you. You’re a good boy.”

He chuckled, almost weeping as he did.

“You know, when we saw you jumping at demon’s every gesture we thought you were entirely his,” she said, feeling about the room for an exit. There had to be one, even if it meant digging out. The walls weren’t rock. “We’ve seen humans turn traitor for those demons. As long as their businesses were untouched they—”

“Don’t tell me any more,” the boy said. “I don’t want the lieutenant to find out anything about you.”

She halted and turned. “They steal your thoughts?”

He moaned. “Sometimes. So don’t say anymore.”

Sighing, the woman went back to looking for an escape.

“On the far wall there is a crack of light,” he said. “I think there is a coal drop there.”

“A coal drop?” The woman murmured.

“Yeah,” he whispered, staring up at the dark. “This cellar is to the military kitchen, right? They sometimes use coal. It burns longer than wood.”

She blinked, groping in the dark towards that light crack. A pile of rocks was in her way tumbling down as she tried to climb up, but when she at last reached the top all she had to do was make a good push and the lid came off. Looking up at the sky, she breathed in the air. She turned only once, perhaps wondering if she ought to carry him out anyway, but then she pulled herself outside and shut the hatch behind her.

In the dark, the boy sighed and closed his eyes before pulling up to his chained foot and tucking in the key.

 

Chapter Eight: It Pours

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The moment they found out that she was gone, the entire caravan of soldiers searched the village for the woman. The boy was still there, hanging by his leg irons and fast asleep on the table when they had come for the pair of them. And by his leg irons, they hung the boy without the table to hold him up as the general slapped him hard, demanding where the woman had gone.

“I don’t know!” The boy sobbed, pulling up his hands to cover his face.

The general slapped him again. “How did she get out?”

Crying out, the boy hardly answered.

“How did she get out?” the general struck the boy again.

“She had a key!” the boy cried, “She got hold of a key.”

Shoving the boy away from him, the general stood up. The child swung back against the table, his back striking the edge.

“How did she get a key?” the lieutenant asked, staring around at the room. There were no key rings for anything there.

“She was an insurgent,” the captain said, glancing over at the general. “I told you this would happen.”

“You told me that she would kill me,” the general snapped back. “All she did was run away.”

“No doubt getting more of those barbarians to attack us,” the captain replied.

“No,” the captain from the village said, walking down to where the general’s boy was still swinging by his ankles. He stopped him with his hand as it was making him dizzy. “She’ll get eaten by the forest’s demons. Trust me.”

“Speaking of demons, what about that spider parasite that’s loose? Have you found it yet?” The general peered around at the dark corners of the room then at his hanging boy. He spun him around to examine his back and chest. No signs of spider legs were visible.

The captain of the village post shook his head. “I’m sorry. No. Spider parasites can live without a host. And since we destroyed its last nest of eggs in that man, it will be looking for another host to lay more eggs, so we are sure to see signs of it soon.”

“But that means there will be another victim,” the caravan’s captain said.

The lieutenant nodded. “Yes. So we ought to leave.”

“Coward,” the village captain snapped. “We have to kill it.”

“Agreed,” said the general. “But do you know how to kill a spider parasite?”

Nodding, the village captain gestured for them to go up. “Of course.”

The general gestured to his lieutenant to get his boy upright. A corporal that had been standing by jumped to help him. Both captains and the general marched up the steps leaving them to work on their own.

They heaved the boy onto the table first. He had quit sobbing, but his hands still covered his face. The corporal lifted him as the lieutenant reached up and took the chain off the meat hook. The boy’s legs dropped heavily, throbbing as blood rushed back into them. Taking one arm on each side, both men dragged the child up the stairs.

“Lots of scars,” the lieutenant murmured out loud.

The corporal hmm’d, nodding.

“Burns on his legs,” the lieutenant said.

“Yeah, I was there. And so were you,” the corporal said.

“His ankles are bleeding,” the lieutenant said.

With a snort, the corporal nodded. He heaved the boy to his feet when they reached the top floor. “Well, he has been hanging from them.”

“Not healthy,” the lieutenant said.

“Are you complaining about the general’s methods with his own boy?” the corporal asked.

The boy himself looked up at the lieutenant. There was something heavy about the way the lieutenant spoke. It was nothing like his usual light sympathy. The lieutenant peered down at him, blinking tired-looking eyes.

“Lieutenant, you look exhausted.” The captain of their caravan walked over to them. The general and the other captain were discussing the demon parasite out on the porch.

Bending his neck, the lieutenant nodded, rubbing his eyes. “Yeah. Sorry. I was out all night searching for that spider. I’d go rest, but I think the general may need me.”

The captain shrugged, turning away. “Fine, but before you help us, why don’t you go and brush your teeth or something. Your breath smells terrible.”

The lieutenant laughed and nodded. “Yes, sir.”

He left the boy with the corporal and jogged up the stairs.

The corporal looked after him and shook his head. “No kidding, is he out of it. Captain, the lieutenant might be better off going to bed. He was loopy down in the cellar.”

“Yeah?” The captain glanced up the stairs. “Well, he’s one of General Winstrong’s more reliable lieutenants. The general might give him that leeway. In the mean time, I want you to take that boy and put him where he won’t get in the way.”

“Are you kidding?” the corporal said, steering the boy towards the outside. “He’s probably the safest one of us here. The parasite is not going to inhabit a body in such a disadvantaged state.”

But the corporal found a spot along the wall in front of the military post. He ordered the boy to stay. Not like the boy would try to escape. Everyone knew that if the boy ran they were under orders to shoot, in the leg preferably, though they were also allowed to shoot him in the back if the need were real.

A full guard gathered outside with their weapons. They took up torches and long rods to drive the demon spider out from under the houses. The humans gathered to watch, though some murmured the best way to kill a demon spider was with a witch’s seeking fire. Of course magic fire was the last weapon on the minds of the Sky Children. With full view of the road, the boy stared at the soldiers that held their guns in their hands, his mind wondering if they really knew how to kill demon spiders.

“Alright. I’m ready.” The lieutenant marched down the steps to the road, wiping his hands together looking refreshed. Though, his eyes were still somewhat bloodshot around the blue. He hopped down into the road to join the troop.

Immediately the boy hopped up onto his feet. He walked to the edged of the wood porch, his eyes going wide. He pointed straight at the lieutenant. “There’s the spider!”

The soldiers jumped, looking to see where the boy was pointing, searching the ground.

“Where?” The captain shouted at him.

Shaking his head, the boy pointed hard at the lieutenant who was also spinning around to look under and behind him on the ground.

“Right there! It’s on the lieutenant!”

The lieutenant blinked at the boy as if he had gone mad.

“You don’t accuse a—” The general marched toward the boy to box his ears.

But the child screamed, pulling towards the innkeeper who had come out when he had shouted.

“It’s on his back!”

Everyone halted.

The lieutenant turned, looking right at the captain then the general. His blue eyes were nearly haloed by red capillaries.

“He’s right.” The captain lifted his gun.

Almost immediately the lieutenant darted for the door. Everywhere else on the road were soldiers with guns.

The innkeeper grabbed the boy and ducked down as the captain fired.

“Aim for the spider!” the village Sky Child captain shouted, charging after him.

“Will that save the lieutenant?” the general called after him, hanging back.

The captain had already run in. But one of his men shook his head as he followed. “He is already dead.”

The lieutenant had run through the building, breaking through a window on the other side. However, the crashing chunks of glass brought the soldiers on patrol behind the barracks to where he was, and they were close on his heels as he ran through the village. Their shots echoed over the village. For a moment they stopped, then they fired again with more rapidity. Then someone cried out. There was another shot. And that was the end of it.

*

“My best lieutenant dead, and a private.” Gailert mulled over his midday meal, frowning with intense displeasure at the outcome of their demon hunt. He looked to his captain. The captain was grinding his teeth from