Age of the Gods: The Complete, twelve novel, fantasy series (The Blood and Brotherhood Saga) (80 page)

Garret stood alone in the silent chamber for a moment, glad that most of the politics for the day were over. He was beginning to get a real feel for the people of the council, what drove them, what swayed them, what held their loyalties, and most importantly, whom he could rely upon to vote Sulvis into the kingship of Valdadore. Assuring himself they would have the votes needed to place a good man upon the throne, Garret strode out of the room to do as he said he would many hours before, and return to Linaya’s chamber to check upon her well-being.

Gathering his wits, Seth pulled the ruined form of the woman he loved into his arms and deeper into the shadow. There he clung to her a moment, his eyes closed, unable to gaze upon her devastated visage. Once again Seth began to drown in despair. It seemed that everything he touched turned to ruin. Because of him Sara had been injured at the battle with the black horde. Because of him she had been altered into a bloodthirsty, less-than human being. Because of him she could no longer dwell in the light, and because of him, Sara’s face, head and hands were a desiccated mess of burned and melted flesh and bone. Seth could not imagine the pain that the still sobbing Sara must be enduring, nor could he do anything to ease it. Seth was helpless and knew that in time, if he could not repair the physical destruction he had done to Sara, it would take a toll on the love she had for him. Defeated, Seth opened his eyes in an attempt to assess the damage further, hoping that he had imagined it worse than it actually was.

Seth sat astonished with Sara in his arms as the nature of the life within her revealed itself once again to an extent that Seth would not have even dared to hope for. As Seth watched Sara’s ruined face, he noticed small slithering vessels at first begin to spread across the bare bone of her skull and face. Stretching across the smooth surfaces of her bones the small tendrils sought each other out and connected and intertwined with one another before beginning to pulse with the beat of her heart, restoring blood to damaged areas. Still Seth watched in wonder as burned and charred groups of muscles began to regenerate and tendons crawled across her skull to attach to these newly-formed muscles only to retract again, pulling them taut. Soft tissues began to grow to fill the void between muscles as the few remnants of skin upon Sara’s wrecked head began to undulate and grow in all directions, spreading and regenerating at an astounding rate, eventually covering her head and face in entirety. Even the seams where the flesh met itself closed and smoothed into flawless perfection. Just as eyelashes began to sprout from Sara’s eyelids her eyes opened as she gasped for a breath of fresh air, expelling what appeared to be smoke and soot. Once again hair sprouted from all of the bald patches upon her head and within moments had grown back to the length it had been prior to her destruction.

Evoking his vision of the gods Seth watched as Sara’s aura pulsed so fast he could barely mark the beat. However, he also watched as with each pulse her aura diminished noticeably. She had retained enough of the bat's extraordinary ability to heal even from a wound as grievous as this had been, but it had cost her an immense amount of life to regenerate to this extent. Though Seth had given into Sara the life of twenty men, she now only held that of perhaps ten. She had spent over six hundred years of life to heal, and Seth could only imagine what it would have cost her had she not been wearing her armor. Focusing again on Sara, Seth watched as she looked up to him from within his arms and smiled, completely restored. But Sara was again changed.

It was not anything that any other person on Thurr would notice, having not spent an excess of their time looking into Sara’s face. However, Seth easily marked the change as an artist might note a forgery of his work. People aged every day, though none would notice the alterations day by day. It took months or years to notice the subtle changes of the flesh due to age and elements. But Sara, it appeared, had regressed several years within moments. Where her skin had been burned away, new flawless flesh like that of a new born babe had re-grown in its place removing all signs of age, making her look remarkably younger and more beautiful than ever. Seth could not help but to smile at the sight of Sara looking up at him with her even more beautiful face, and though he knew she endured much to love him, he knew that one day he would make it up to her.

"So it seems we won't be doing much traveling today," Sara remarked as if she had not only moments before been burned nearly to death.

"It would appear not," Seth replied. "I am sorry I did not anticipate this setback, Sara. Once again I have failed you, but I will make it up to you somehow."

"You didn't fail me," Sara stated almost harshly. "I am alive, am I not? I owe you my life Seth, no matter how that life has changed or been altered. I am alive because of you and don't you forget it!" She added.

"I wish I had a mirror to show you," Seth stated, his mood changed already. "I think you would like what you saw.”

"Why is that? Have I changed?" Sara asked reaching up to feel her face and hair.

"You have. Your skin is perfect, flawless, beautiful, and I have to admit you look at least a few years younger," Seth stated honestly.

"I see," Sara said simply, a mischievous grin spreading across her lips. "So you mean to say, the day you married me, you know, before I burst into flames, my skin wasn't perfect, flawless or beautiful?"

"Technically you didn't actually burst into flames," Seth answered, avoiding the real question.

"Technically you aren't getting out of this that easily," Sara replied before thrusting her body upwards, bringing their mouths together for a shared moment of passion.

"So what do we do now?" Sara asked Seth.

"We hide from the sun and wait," Seth shrugged.

"Shouldn't we get moving? I can use my clothes to cover my face and hands and you can guide me. It will be slow but at least it will be progress." Sara began to undress.

"I can't, Sara," Seth stopped her before continuing. "When you bit me, somehow your blood mingled with mine and I too am changed. When I stepped into direct sunlight my eyes felt like they were burning and I lost my sight. I am day blind as you are, only to a lesser degree." Seth added once again feeling defeated.

"But if we are traveling west, won't your back be to the sun? So can we not travel at least a few hours before the sun gets too high, and find a safe spot to spend the rest of the day?" Sara asked, speaking her thoughts aloud.

"You, my love, are a genius," Seth stated. "But before we take any chances we need to take precautions."

Reaching within himself, Seth drew out a portion of his massively swelled life force and again removed a share equal to that of twenty men, releasing it within Sara to meld and become one with her own aura. That completed both Seth and Sara went about protecting all of Sara’s exposed flesh. She decided it best to wear her helm, but a small portion of her neck was still exposed at the seam in her armor, as were her hands. Tearing his tunic into pieces, Seth and Sara were easily able to create mitten-like portions from the sleeves which Sara slid her hands into, pulling the excess snugly up her arms beneath her armor where the straps would hold them in place. Then using what remained of the fabric, Seth wrapped it tightly around Sara’s neck like the scarves that were worn by the wealthy women of Valdadore. Though she looked ridiculous, Seth imagined the new additions to Sara’s armor would serve their purpose. As prepared as was possible, Seth and Sara, careful to keep their backs to the sun and its direct rays, climbed back down the western side of the pyramid.

Entering the foreign jungle surrounding the pyramid was akin to entering another world entirely. Again the large, colorful birds glided between the towering trunks of the massive trees that surrounded them. Vines clung to everything both vertical and horizontal making every step a difficulty. They had to be extraordinarily careful as a single trip among the vines could cause Sara to expose her flesh. The soil here was rich and damp, and the humidity was so thick Seth could feel the moisture in the air as it touched his skin. Seth and Sara attempted to find the easiest trails to navigate that led them generally west, back towards what they hoped was their home. As they walked Seth felt more than looked around them for any large auras that could mean danger, and on one instance he and Sara paused on their trek through the jungle for more than half an hour to let some large beast ahead of them on the trail wander off a safe distance before Seth allowed them to continue once again. The day was filled with discoveries, as in this part of Thurr completely different species of both flora and fauna flourished that the young couple had never before even imagined. Insects seemed to live in abundance in the great jungle, though fortunately for the pair none of these seemed to be akin to the mosquitoes that flourished in Valdadore in the spring and summer. Thus it was a peaceful walk, with each new twist and turn revealing something unexpected for the couple to discuss and share in the discovery.

A little off the trail nearly two hours into their trek, Seth spotted a gathering of birds clinging to the branches of a small bush at ground level. The birds were a wondrous sight with rainbow-colored feathers and great wide beaks that emitted squawks in musical tones. However, it was not the birds Seth was interested in. For upon the bush where the breathtaking birds had settled were some sort of large berries, each nearly the size of an apple. It was these berries that had attracted the birds and as Seth led Sara, approaching the bush, they could see the birds ravenously attacking the berries in an effort to consume as many as possible. Neither Seth nor Sara had eaten in days and the berries were a welcome sight. Chasing off the birds in a flourish of squawks and feathers, Seth plucked one of the large berries from the bush for further inspection.

The fruit was completely foreign to him; even its shape was alien. For although the berry looked to be a large, round fruit, like an apple, in actuality the top half of the berry was a large flower bud that clung to the top of the half-spherical fruit. The petals of the flower matched the mottled coloring of the fruit in shades of red and purple with white speckles throughout, making the flower appear as if it too were a part of the fruit that made the bottom half of the whole. Inspecting it, both Seth and Sara agreed that if it were safe for the birds, so too should it be safe for them to eat, at least in moderation. They picked half a dozen of the large berries for themselves before returning to the trail they had been following and each watched as the rainbow colored birds flitted down from the boughs above to again light upon the small bush and continue their meals.

Seth and Sara, happy to finally have something to eat, bit into their own berries at the same time as they made it back to the trail. Eating was more difficult for Sara as she had to slide the large, juicy berry under the visor of her helm, lifting it slightly to take a bite, but even so both made sounds of appreciation as they bit into the sweet, ripened fruit. The large berries it turned out were quite delicious. The flavor was akin to something between a strawberry and the green sour apples favored in southern Valdadore. They were both sweet and tangy and Seth and Sara found the meal refreshing, quenching not only their hunger but their thirst as well.

It was a slow, trudging pace at which Seth and Sara navigated the jungle floor, avoiding obstacles and finding game trails to follow whenever possible. They realized early on, however, that the jungle would provide ample protection when the need arose for them to hunker down and hide from the sun. With that fear subsided, the trek was a leisurely one until, in the middle of conversation, having tuned out his vision of the gods to give Sara his full attention, Seth heard a crunch on the trail just ahead and froze in his tracks as Sara mimicked his response to the sound.

Ahead on the trail, barely a dozen yards away, a large beast stood partially obscured, camouflaging itself behind the foliage of a large bush-like plant. Though neither Seth nor Sara could make out its finer details, both could see its eyes gazing back at them menacingly. Neither of them moved, both remaining completely still to the point of holding their breath. Even so however, it was immediately apparent that they had halted too late.

In a full charge the beast roared and trampled the bush it had previously hidden behind. Its massive bulk, propelling before it a great boney head where a giant horn sprouted from atop its muzzle and another atop its skull, was lowered to impale the humans. Diving to either side of the trail, Seth and Sara narrowly avoided yet another disaster. With her inhuman reflexes Sara rolled and leapt back to her feet, spinning to watch the monster thunder past before turning to charge again from the opposite direction. Seth was slower to regain his feet and as such the beast had chosen him as the target for his next charge. Again the beast roared with a great trumpeting sound before it charged, bearing down upon Seth. Seth, kneeling upon the ground, watched as vines and fallen limbs snapped beneath the bulk of the monster as it thundered towards him. It was no taller than a man by comparison but easily three times as wide with thick, gray skin like hardened leather, propelled by four massive legs that each ended in four blunt toes. Just as it seemed the beast was about to trample him Seth again dove, this time back towards the trail and nearer to Sara. As he stood up he watched as again the beast slowed to lessen its momentum before turning and trumpeting another challenge.

This time Seth was prepared. Reaching out with his power, Seth latched on to the life supporting the great beast. This life could be melded with a man to create a great warrior, Seth imagined, as he tore it away from the immense animal, watching it crumble to ash as parts of it wisped away on unseen currents of air. Seth reveled in the ecstasy the power rushing into him brought with it, though only for a moment, and locked the power away for later use. Turning to assure himself Sara was unharmed, he looked over the armored visage of the woman he loved, appearing now so much like the goddess he detested but reluctantly served. With a nod signaling her well-being, they again took to the trail to continue their trudge through the jungle.