Strange Happenings

“Beali, I need you to take Lanae and continue westward to the next town. It’s called Bordis.”

The drowsy girl blinked several times, rubbed her eyes, and then yawned. “Huh? What was that?”

“I need to go,” Narissa said urgently.

“In the middle of the night?” Beali’s words slurred together as she groggily sat up.

“Yes. You and Lanae should be safe staying in Bordis until I return for you.”

Beali yawned again. “Yeah, okay.” She clearly wasn’t fully awake, otherwise she would be panicking. She laid back down as if intending to go back to sleep.

Narissa sighed. She slipped some money into Beali’s pack-hopefully it would be enough-before ducking back out into the night, her own pack over her shoulder. Moving as quietly as she could, she followed Sackrin westward.

***

Sackrin could tell they were being tailed. Whoever it was, they were just competent enough to follow a trail and not trip in the dark, but inexperienced enough that he recognized the signs of pursuit immediately.

He didn’t indicate that he had noticed anything was amiss. Karrin glanced at him. Even in the darkness, he could sense the question on her face. Do we confront them? Jistan, of course, hadn’t realized they were being followed. Sackrin shook his head discreetly. From the sounds of it, they had only one amateur pursuer. Better to bide their time, see if they could find out what the mystery person wanted.

Unless that person is just an obvious distraction, Sackrin thought, frowning. And we are about to be ambushed.

Well, they couldn’t truly be ambushed as long as he was expecting it. So he kept his eyes and ears open, trying to come up with a plan to deal with their tail. Preferably one that didn’t end up with anyone dead.

***

Aniah closed her eyes and planting her feet firmly on the ground. If the Delani wanted her to go into that room again, he would have to carry her.

She was wrong. He simply dragged her. She went boneless, which hurt her arm as he pulled her effortlessly into the room. Still, she refused to open her eyes or stop resisting. Arellia wouldn’t give in to a bully, so neither would Aniah.

“You are awake,” the Delani said. “Good.” It took Aniah a moment to realize that he wasn’t talking to her but to someone else in the room. The image of a bloody, broken figure flashed across her mind unbidden and she had to bite the inside of her cheek to hold in a whimper.

“The Aluri tells tales,” he continued in his smooth, eerie monotone. “They are false.”

Flames, why couldn’t this creature just say what it meant? He danced around topics, implying secrets and mysteries without ever saying anything useful.

“Speak or she hurts,” he said. Aniah stiffened, chest constricting until she thought her heart might explode from the pressure. She kept her lips and eyelids pressed firmly shut.

“Speak of what?” The soft voice was raspy enough to smooth out wooden planks. It sent a chill down her spine.

“The last time.”

“The last-” The voice cut off and a couple of horrid sounding coughs followed. “The last time what?”

“The Aluri brought the girl. He is scared now. Why?”

“I don’t know.” More coughing.

“You lie. Why?” The Delani did not seem angry or frustrated. His calm demeanor was disconcerting. He could kill them for no reason and feel neither guilt nor satisfaction at having done so.

“It’s pathological. I can’t help it.”

Aniah felt her brow furrow. That flippant disregard for authority or danger seemed very familiar, although the voice itself was too scratchy to be recognizable.

“Cannot…help…it?” A hint of emotion crept into the Delani’s voice. Confusion. Almost as if he couldn’t quite put together the phrase.

He doesn’t speak Manicoti very well, Aniah suddenly realized. He isn’t being vague or cryptic, he’s just too ignorant to come up with the right words! For some reason, that made her feel a little bit less intimidated. She opened her eyes and focused on the Delani, studiously keeping her gaze from anything else.

“Why don’t you just say what you want?” she sneered. “Stop mincing words and just be straight with us?”

“I want truth,” the Delani said flatly.

“The sky is blue. Hogbleets are delicious. This room smells like a cesspool. You’re a bastard.” The wounded man paused briefly. “Need I go on?” Despite his ragged voice, his tone was lazy, almost to the point of impertinence.

“Yes,” the Delani said frankly. “Truth about power. Your power, and hers.”

“I don’t have any. She has a lot.”

Aniah frowned. What did that mean? And how did he know anything about her?

“Will,” the Delani said.

“Yes. Power, as you said.”

“Will does not harm the body.”

That much was true. Aniah was still bothered by what had happened with Aluri. It had seemed that her Will had physically harmed him, rather than striking at his mind. She had never heard of anything like that happening before.

“Maybe you just don’t know as much as you think you do.” The half-corpse of a man suddenly sounded very, very tired. Not just physically fatigued. This was deeper, an exhaustion that had burrowed its way into his soul and settled there, sapping away at his remaining energy.

“I will hurt her. Can she save herself?” Aniah tensed at the monster’s cold, calm tone.

“Ask her, not me.” Again, that exhaustion laced the man’s words.

“I will not only save myself,” Aniah said, raising her chin defiantly. “But I will destroy you in the process.”

To her surprise, he released her arm and took a step back, spreading his arms out to his sides.

“Show me.”

She hesitated, suddenly feeling a fool. During the entire time he had been dragging her down to this room, she hadn’t even considered trying to use Will on him. Perhaps it was because she had been so shocked to find a Delani in her bedchamber. Her natural instincts had been thrown off.

But why was he inviting her to attack? She eyed him warily. This had to be some sort of a trap, didn’t it? Of course, Delani weren’t like humans. They didn’t think or act the same. They didn’t even seem to feel the same emotions, if they felt any at all. Perhaps they didn’t understand death or danger, or at least viewed it differently than normal people.

She sent a small shock of Will towards the Delani, just a test to see if he would react. Nothing happened. Not even a flinch. She held in an irritated sigh.

“I am protected,” he said. “Will is…not useable. My mind is safe. My body is not.”

She frowned. What was that supposed to mean? My mind is safe. That seemed important, somehow.

“Then I guess you’re not in any danger here,” the man said from the floor. She still refused to look at him. “Because neither of us is in any shape for a wrestling match or a sword duel.”

The Delani stared at Aniah for a few long moments, and then nodded once. “I see.” He grabbed her arm and pulled her back out the door, not bothering to shut it behind him.

“What in the Flames-” She tried to protest, but he simply pulled her faster. She frowned, allowing herself to be towed away.

Something strange was going on. Well, a lot of things, actually. But this was something extra strange. A Delani? One who claimed to be immune to Will, but vulnerable to other attacks? Aluri not coming to supervise? Yes, something was wrong.

She was determined to find out what.