They stood on the hill, watching as two enormous shadows moved across the field.
Verd gripped the spear so hard his knuckles turned white. Sweat broke out on his face, his lips twisted with tension. They were huge. Twenty meters, maybe twenty-five. Chitinous plates shimmered in the sun with a dark brown, almost black hue, with a reddish tint like old bronze. Dozens of legs dug into the ground, leaving deep furrows. Mandibles clicked, and even from here, from the hill, that sound resonated in his teeth, in his spine, inside.
The first centipede had already reached the unsuspecting birds. Its head bent down, mandibles sank into flesh, and the meat crunched so loudly that the echo carried across the entire plain. The second moved slower, feeding on what remained of the first carcass.
-Why are they here?
-While you were dealing with those feathered ones, I lured them here, - Arktia answered.
'Lured them?' - Verd looked at her in shock. - 'What could possibly lure these creatures?'
She stood beside him, calm as a rock. Her hands were in her pockets, her face indifferent, as if before her were not monsters but mere insects.
Verd looked at her. At her calm face, at her hands that didn't tremble, at her eyes that never left the monsters. And once again, he marveled at how she wasn't afraid. She wasn't afraid at all. And that was even scarier than the centipedes.
'What is she even thinking...'
-Why did you do this?
-Team battle, - she explained. - Until now, you've fought alone. Now you'll learn to work in pairs, because in the outer world, you can't survive alone.
-You could have warned me... - he said.
-If I had done that, you would have been preparing for it, - she turned to him. - Battle doesn't wait for you to get ready. Enemies don't knock. You must be ready at any moment, for any turn.
-I almost died this morning.
-But you didn't.
-I could have died! Why am I on the brink of death every single day?!
-Stop whining. You couldn't have, period. - There was no doubt in her voice. She looked at him, and in that gaze was something he couldn't understand. - I was there.
Verd wanted to object. Wanted to scream that she had no right, that he hadn't asked for this, that she couldn't just throw him into the meat grinder. But the words got stuck in his throat. Because she was right. She was there. She had always been there. And every time he fell, she picked him up. Every time he couldn't, she made it so he could. Without her, he would never have made it to this moment.
-Why are you doing all this? Why don't you just abandon me? - he said quietly.
She didn't answer right away. She looked at the field, at the centipedes that had already destroyed dozens of birds. Then she shifted her gaze to him.
-What do you want, Verd?
He froze.
-What?
-You follow me. You learn because I tell you to. You fight because I put you before a choice. Because you became my dog. - She spoke slowly, calmly, as if reading aloud what she had known for a long time. - But if not for me, what would you be doing?
The question hung in the air, heavy as a cloud looming over the field. Verd looked at her and didn't know what to answer. Perhaps partly because he didn't know her well enough.
Not only because he had never thought about it. No one had ever asked him that question before. Ever. From the day he opened his eyes in the mine, his life had been a chain of "must." Must get up. Must work. Must kill so you aren't killed. Must run. Must survive. And then she appeared. And his "must" became different. Must learn. Must become stronger. Must move forward. So everything he knew gradually crumbled.
But what did he want? What did he himself want?
-I... - he began and fell silent.
She didn't rush him. Just stood beside him, looking at the field where the two creatures had already scattered almost all the birds.
-I don't know, - he admitted at last. - All my life, I wanted only one thing. To be left alone. To just lie on a bed and not wait for someone to come and take your food or your life.
He spoke quietly, almost in a whisper. The words came out heavily, as if he were pulling them from the depths where they had lain for many years.
-In the mines, I killed people. Not because I wanted to. Just to survive. So no one would touch me. I thought if I became the most dangerous, they'd leave me alone. - He smiled crookedly, bitterly. - But then monsters appeared. Then a strange guy in armor appeared. Then I ended up here.
He fell silent. Arktia didn't interrupt.
-And now? - she asked carefully.
Verd looked at the centipedes. At their chitinous backs, at the mandibles grinding flesh. At the blood spreading across the grass.
-Now I want to be strong, - he said. - So no one can touch me. So I can choose where to go and what to do. So I can do what I want. So I can finally be free.
-And then?
-Then?
-You become strong, free. What then? If you didn't know, dangerous people are killed first.
He didn't know. He had never thought about "then." "Then" was a luxury he couldn't afford.
-I don't know, - he said.
Arktia nodded, as if she had expected this answer.
-It's okay not to know, - she said. - But you must remember: strength is not the goal. Strength is a means. A tool. If you don't have something worth becoming strong for... you'll just become a weapon without a hand. One that strikes because it can't help but strike.
-And do you have one? - he asked. - Something worth being strong for?
She looked at him. For a long time. In her eyes reflected the field, the centipedes, the sky.
-Once, I did.
Verd didn't know what to say. Words stuck in his throat.
-And now, - her face remained unchanged, - now I have to deal with you.
At such blunt words, Verd froze. Perhaps he even felt embarrassed for the first time. Although he tried to control himself, not to trust her, next to this girl he felt very comfortable. Though maybe that was because he had never had contact with girls before?
-I didn't ask for this, - he said.
-I know.
-Then why?
She turned to the field, where the centipedes had finished with the carcasses and began to slowly turn around. Their heads turned toward the hill. Antennae moved faster, tasting the air. They had been spotted.
-Because I decided so.
Verd smiled, gripped his spear tighter, and stood beside her, resting the Devourer on his shoulder. Fear was still there. It tightened his throat, made his heart beat faster, quicker, almost painfully. But now she was beside him.
-And what are we going to do now?
Arktia didn't answer right away. She looked at the field, at the centipedes that were already moving toward the foot of the hill.
-There are no more birds, - she said. - Now they'll look for new prey. And, as you probably figured out, we're the closest.
Verd followed her gaze. The centipedes were indeed turning around. Slowly, heavily, but inexorably. Their bodies bent, segments shifted, and he heard the scraping of chitin against chitin, legs digging into the ground. One had already reached the edge of the field, its head raised, antennae frozen for a second, then moving faster, more chaotically.
'What ugly creatures.'
The mandibles clicked. Once. Twice. Three times. The metallic sound tore through the silence, hit his ears, and Verd felt his stomach clench, fear rising from his chest, tightening his throat, making his heart beat faster, quicker, almost painfully.
'This feeling, like back then' - he thought, remembering the day he became a dog. - 'Though the fear is weaker, it hasn't disappeared.'
Verd watched the approaching monsters and felt time begin to flow differently. Each second stretched, turning into an endless ribbon on which details he hadn't noticed before were strung. Cracks in the chitin, like a map of unknown land. Pulsation of blue veins on the creatures' sides. They expanded and contracted in time with their movement, as if breathing. Droplets of saliva that broke off from the mandibles and, falling to the ground, left small, hissing craters.
He saw how the first centipede moved its legs. Dozens of legs moved in a wave-like rhythm, rising and falling. He saw how the second lagged behind, its body seeming bulkier, its segments thicker, its movements slower. It had eaten too much. The first was hungrier. Or just more aggressive.
-We need a plan, - Arktia said and looked at Verd.
'Why is she looking at me...' - he stared into her eyes for a few seconds, and finally realization dawned on him. - 'Does she really want me to come up with a plan...'
Verd took a heavy breath and looked away. He stared at the field, and thoughts darted in his head like trapped birds. Two creatures. Twenty meters each.
'One is faster, but it seems her armor is weaker on the sides where the blue veins pulsate more often. The second is slower, but its chitin is thicker, darker, almost black. You can't take it head-on.' - He shifted his gaze to the passage between the rocks. - 'I doubt she'll fight at full strength, otherwise she wouldn't have asked me to come up with a plan. So we can't fight both at once. They'll crush us. At least, they'll crush me. So we need to separate them.
Narrow, about three meters wide. The centipede could fit through, but couldn't turn around. And the second would remain outside.
'It might work. But how to make it go exactly there?'
-There, - he said, pointing to the passage. - They'll see us and immediately give chase.
-So you want to lure it into a trap?
-Exactly. If it works, dealing with the fast centipede won't be hard. Besides, the second will be waiting on the other side. If it decides to leave, we can easily catch up. If it stays... - he paused, calculating options.
The second was heavier, slower. If it stayed, they would have time. The first would die. Then they would deal with the second.
-If it stays, we'll finish it off.
Silence. The wind rustled the grass, threw dust in their faces. The centipedes were already at the foot of the hill, their heads raised, mandibles clicking.
-Good plan, - Arktia said.
-Of course, - Verd turned his head and grinned widely. - I came up with it.
Arktia descended to the dead carcass first. Verd wanted to object, but she had already bent down, grabbed the bird with one hand, and dragged it toward the passage, as if it weighed nothing. The centipedes spotted her immediately and ran at her with rage in their eyes.
Verd, knowing he couldn't waste time, dashed after her. The ground slipped under his feet, stones crumbled, but he kept his balance. After a while, he caught up to her. Surprisingly, she tried to maintain the same pace as him.
'So she really doesn't intend to go all out.'
The passage was narrow, about three meters wide. Verd flew in first, Arktia behind him. Behind them, chitin scraped against the stones. Glancing back, he saw how the centipede, due to its size, writhed more often, and stones rained down directly on it.
-Hurry up, - Arktia said, running past him.
After dozens of meters, the passage ended. They burst into open space, and at that same moment, a crash sounded behind them. Verd turned around. The centipede was stuck. Its body was wedged between the rocks, chitin scraping, legs scratching the ground, but it couldn't move further. Its head thrashed in death throes, and at that moment, the mandibles clicked a meter from him. He was lucky Arktia was with him, pulling him back in time.
-Alive? - Arktia asked.
-Alive, - he exhaled, getting properly to his feet. - Let's finish them.