"The land was in chaos, for a time. There had been balance, when King Artlan sat on the throne. Yriaa was never perfect, of course, but we'd lived in relative peace. Apart from a long ongoing struggle for the western island of Ollen with the powerful northern continent, the kingdom had been enjoying a period of harmony when the earthquake rocked the land.
It really wasn't a remarkable occurrence, when it happened. As we often did, we experienced a sudden quake. Buildings were lost, and people hurt, but nothing about it seemed that much worse than what we normally got. It lasted longer than usual, and the land shook more violently, but it was nothing to concern ourselves with, we thought. Then, in the following days, we started to feel that something had changed.
I'm barely able to remember the earthquake itself, I was too young. But I do recall the nausea. It affected me more than it did my siblings or parents, perhaps due to my size. I was light-headed and quite incapacitated for a time, for I do recall being allowed to stay in bed. That was very uncommon, with my parents. But I was feverish and barely able to stand, so they kept me secluded until it passed.
Everyone felt the nausea, I believe. Some worse than others, but it was significant enough that Yriaa went into a state of alarm when it started, assuming some type of contagious disease was to blame.
Now we understand that it was the arrival of the Gods that brought the symptoms. Perhaps their abrupt presence in our land was too powerful for some of us to bear. Nevertheless, the sickness passed, and they remained."
Leroh struggled to keep up with the pace the Mantis established as they rode ahead. As he had predicted, they came upon a small village a short ride from where they'd camped the night before. He'd heard of the settlement, and even toyed with the idea of riding out there at some point for a short visit with his friends from town. Of course, he knew Mother and Teela could not spare him for long enough to make such a jaunt, but the thought was appealing. He'd allowed himself to imagine that he could perhaps meet a nice girl there, or enjoy a few days of pleasant companionship, at the least.
Tem and Kird, his closest friends, had been enthusiastic about it when he'd mentioned the idea, and some of the other lads. One day soon, he told himself, when he was a man grown and fully in charge of his own time, he and his friends would indulge the fantasy and go explore the neighboring closed communities. Surely seeing a few new faces would do them all some good. The folk in Pirn had never been overly friendly.
Kird was promised a girl from his mother's side of the family, a nice, pink-cheeked kitchen maid, and he seemed to like her. But his cousin, Tem, had always appeared awfully lonely to Leroh, much like himself.
He'd met the two boys early in his life, and they'd quickly formed a bond. Their fathers were cobblers who owned a shop across the street from the Oak's Shade, his mother's tavern, and the proximity had been enough for their younger selves to become close friends over. During breaks from the workday, or at any time when they might find a gap in their duties, they would cross the street and share a quick moment of conversation to exchange news overheard from customers, a joke or sometimes just a word or two of greeting and acknowledgement of each other's existence. It was all Leroh had, but it was enough.
The Mantis chose to ride through the village as if they were being pursued, and many a pair of curious or distrustful eyes watched them pass. Leroh attempted to appreciate the sight of the small community despite their vicious pace, and found himself enticed to stop for a look around. It was a respectable free village. A common enough thing, he'd heard, but not to him. No monsters like the woman riding ahead of him occupied it and, like Pirn, it would be a relatively safe place to socialize.
But this was not the sort of exploring his sister demanded. For her, it would only suffice to lead him directly into the mouth of the wolf. Okedam. That was where they were headed. The Sea God's home and holy grounds of worship. Of course, Teela would have him bound for Okedam.
"Why can't we just turn around now? You've learned plenty. You've seen what she does to people. We could stay here for a night or two with the coin you brought, and return home unscathed," he begged over his shoulder in yet another desperate attempt to change the girl's mind. "Please. It's not too late."
"I'm going with her. You can do whatever you want."
"Why are warnings not enough with you! Why must you prove me right by getting us both killed, Teela?"
"I can't live like this, Leroh. The safety, the seclusion, I don't want that. I need to experience the magic of the world."
"The 'magic of the world' wants to enslave you for the rest of your life and then consume you like food at best, or just eat you whole right now at worst! Are you just stupid, or truly suicidal?" He strained his voice to ensure that she could hear the wisdom in his words. "And does it even matter to you that you're bringing me along when you so eagerly run toward death?"
"I didn't want you to come. I don't need you."
He grunted his frustration and shook his head. It was pointless. She had him between the sword and the wall, with no possibility of making a decision that was entirely correct in either direction. He had chosen to attempt to protect her, and would suffer the consequences of his choice as was his due.
How he longed to work a tedious shift at the tavern at that moment, to look forward to a lull in the day so he could steal a break for himself, and know with absolute certainty that he would live to see his friends again the next day. That might no longer be the case, he knew, because of the egotistical child loosely grabbing on to the fabric of his tunic.
The Mantis slowed abruptly to a stop and dismounted, and Leroh fought to circle Clover around to meet her. "Boy, get us water. Quickly," she said in a gravelly, brusque tone when he was off his horse, and threw her own waterskin his way. Leroh hurried to catch it, lest it fall humiliatingly to his feet.
He dared to give her a dirty look, his temper rising at the disrespectful way she addressed him, but the brave act went unanswered. She did not even glance at him. The Mantis led her horse to the communal watering trough set by the side of the road for passing travelers, and gestured for his sister to follow. She, in turn, gave him a quick look that he could not read, and tossed him their shared waterskin before following the command.
Leroh stood for a moment, furious. His breath was coming in quick, loud draws through his clenched teeth, and his hands were knotted tightly into trembling fists at his sides. He hated the bitch. Both of them: the ruthless killer and her idiotic supporter. And yet he could do absolutely nothing but to obey every single barked order the Mantis threw his way. He knew her reputation. He'd seen her kill three people in the span of an instant with his own eyes. And he was a man.
She would kill him. There was not a doubt in his mind about it.
He reluctantly walked over to the large well across the street after a long moment of seething, and hastily refilled the waterskins to the brim. When he returned to the horses, the three of them stood in uncomfortable silence as their mounts continued to drink deeply.
"We're not staying the night here, then?" he ventured to ask.
The Mantis did not appear to hear him, despite the fact that they stood within arm's reach of each other. Her hood was pulled over her face, covering her expression almost entirely, but her head was fixed to her right side as if she watched something with obsessive focus. He followed the direction of her gaze and was confused to find that a cobblestone wall spanning the backside of a building was the object of her attention.
Teela looked disturbed. That detail really stood the hairs on the back of Leroh's neck, for he'd never known his sister to frighten easily. Her brow was furrowed in a deep crease, her mouth tightly pinched, and her dark brown eyes locked on the small woman at her side.
"Did something happen?" he tentatively spoke again.
But he received no answer whatsoever. He was about to say more when the slurping sound of the horses watering stopped, and the Mantis briskly grabbed her stallion's reins to lead him back toward the road. Teela followed like she'd heard some command he had not. Within moments, they were mounted and back in motion, picking up at a hasty gallop down the muddy narrow streets.
Why they fled the village, he didn't understand. But flee they did, as if the Gods themselves had been chasing at their heels.
If they kept a steady pace, they would reach Okedam by noon the next day, Mantis reassured herself. Then, at least, the two Sea souls would be free from their entrapment within her body and some of the pressure would be relieved.
She cued Otto to increase the speed as much as possible and kept her eyes firmly locked on the path ahead. Her target was behind them, and getting farther with every stride of her horse's gallop. She would come back for him when the child was out of her care, and Ombira would simply have to wait. It was an agonizing effort, one she had not attempted in many years, but it could be done.
Go back.
No. He'd keep. Teela did not need to see what needed doing. That side of the magic that so fascinated her pertained more to man than God, and no good could come from exposing her to it. Again.
When they were far enough from the settlement that housed the rotten soul she so desperately hungered for, the blinding need for the hunt subsided significantly and Mantis drew a breath. Proximity kindled it, as did abstinence. But it was better, then. She could piece a thought or two together, at least.
Allowing Otto to relax his canter into a light trot, Mantis leaned forward to rub his neck with gratitude. When she finally spared a moment to take notice of their location, she was relieved to see that the terrain had drastically changed. Much more life and vegetation surrounded the dirt path that led to the coast. Shelter, water and food would not be as big an impairment as she'd expected moving forward.
They encountered a number of travelers on their way to and from the port town, but none that raised a threat. Sailors and other sorts of Seamen tended to keep to the comforts available to them directly in Okedam, and few ever ventured inland as far as Pirn, with the exception of those poor few sent to the capital city on the Sea God's business.
A nasty rats' nest, the Sun capital was. He'd taken its name from it, even, when the Sun himself marched in and plucked the heart of Yriaa from the king's hands like a boy picking a berry. Ajon-Khall used to be its name, the capital and core of the kingdom's prosperous trade with the few distant lands Yriaa's ships could reach. But the Sun had put an end to that, and much else, when he'd claimed his home. The Sun capital was what they called it in modern days, as yet another ugly little reminder that Ajon-Khall was no more.
She'd been keeping an eye out for wild game as they rode along, and at that moment caught a glimpse of a rabbit's hind leg in the foliage on the side of the path. With a lightning-fast shot of her index finger's link, she caught the creature by the neck and gave it a tug that instantly broke its spinal cord.
Mantis had learned the hard way not to kill animals by piercing their hearts with her links as she did with humans. Ombira did not like to consume their souls, and she'd had to beg her Goddess to remove the creature's life from within her the one time that she'd attempted it with a deer. She had quickly come to understand that, if she did not intend to absorb another's soul into herself, she could not use that most efficient method of killing.
They walked on, trotting at steady intervals to give the horses room to breathe, and Mantis distracted herself with the harmless hunt. By the time the Sun started its slow retreat into the horizon, she had gathered two more rabbits and a couple of fat pheasants.
"That's impressive!" Teela called out from behind her, excitement clear in her voice.
Mantis flinched at the sudden sound and turned to give her a look. She was not used to the company, and found herself often forgetting about the youngsters following at her back. She offered no reply, lest the girl get any ideas.
They made camp shortly after, behind the cover of a dense thicket of bushes that would keep them from the sight of any passing travelers. They managed to catch a few stray insects around the site for Teela's bird, and then endeavored to cook and eat as much of the fresh rabbit and pheasant meat as would fit in their bellies. They set the rest to smoke as best they could with their weak fire and promptly settled for sleep.
Teela got Mantis's tent again, and the boy dared to ask permission to sleep by her side.
"Yes, Leroh. Why are you asking me this? It's not my tent."
"I don't see anything wrong with the open air tonight, boy," Mantis cut into their conversation with a frown. They looked back with confusion and, in the man's case, an awkward spark of anger in his expression. She could have laughed at it, but her disdain surpassed her amusement just then.
"Why?" he said.
She kept her eyes locked on his and slightly tilted her head forward. Her pupils would have dilated to wide pits of blackness with her rising temper, she knew. His entitlement and arrogant defiance had started to grate on her as her inner turmoil grew hotter, and she was starting to come to the decision that she did not enjoy his presence.
Was she dealing with a man, or a boy? The inconclusive answer was slowly but steadily drifting toward the former.
She did not want him there.
"He's good, Mantis. He's a good person." Teela cut in, a little desperately.
She looked back at the girl and saw her distress in her large brown eyes. Her thin lips were pressed into a trembling line and her hands were clutched at her chest. "We'll see," she told her.
Teela did not understand. The girl knew nothing of what Mantis meant to protect her from. But, she decided, that night was not the time for her to learn.
As she had the previous day, Mantis extended her thick woolen blanket to the brother and laid out her cloak by the opening of the tent to lay atop. Without further interaction, they set out to rest.