Bound to the Abyss (3 page)

“That is amazing,” Ean said, shaking his head. “Not sure if that alone was worth all of that pain, but still a handy skill to have.”

“Like I said, your power will grow with use,” Zin replied. “It’s not just a handy drawing tool. More handy skills will come with time. I think. You just have to be patient.”

Ean didn’t even hear Zin’s words; he had already started to practice drawing different runes. He practiced long into the night, with Zin watching apprehensively. When the first rays of the morning sun peaked in through his window, Ean was both physically and mentally exhausted and crawled into bed. Zin crawled into his usual sleeping spot underneath the bed.

“Thanks a lot, Zin,” Ean said quietly, “I really needed something good to happen for a change.”

“Don’t get all weepy on me now, you little girl,” Zin replied. “But you are welcome. Now let’s get some sleep; it’s been a long night.”

Ean flipped his back to the window and chuckled. “Fair enough. Sleep well, Zin. I have the feeling that when we wake, our lives are going to start to take a turn for the better.”

Chapter 2

PRACTICING THE CRAFT

The sound of men shouting woke Ean out of a deep sleep. He moved to the window and glanced outside. The morning sun cast a blood-red light over the empty ground between his home and the Skyfall Mountains that circled his village.
 

A group of four people were making their way towards the house, carrying a fifth person between them. Cal Halhan and his son, Ted, were on one side while Chris Tanner, moving with a limp, and Allie Bale was on the other side. It looked like all four were carrying Allie’s husband, Lane. They were all splattered with blood, and from the looks of it, most of it was probably Lane’s. His clothes were torn to shreds and stained dark red, his hair was matted in blood. Worst of all was his right leg. From about the middle of the shin down, his leg was gone, the open wound exuding blood. His face was pale, and his eyes had rolled back into his head. If he wasn’t already dead, he would be soon.
 

Bear attack
, Ean thought as his stomach sunk to his knees. Lane had never been nice to him; most members of their small village had never been nice to Ean because of what his parents had done. But no one deserved to be hurt because of how he had been treated, and they certainly didn’t deserve to die.

Ean watched for a moment more and then ran out the door of his room, grabbing his gloves as he went. He hurtled down the stairs, his long gloves covering both arms before he hit the bottom step, and headed straight towards the front of the house. He was about halfway down the hall when Cleff slammed open the front door.

 
“Ean, grab my bag out of the office, and get a bottle of Flashseal from the closet. The key is sitting on my desk. Hurry, now!”

Skidding to a halt, Ean spun around and sprinted back down the hall. Entering the office, he ran
over to Cleff’s desk, grabbed the keys sitting there, and moved over to the one closet that was always locked. The key turned with a loud click in the heavy lock, and Ean pulled open the door. Scanning the shelves full of bottles and containers, it only took him a moment to locate the one Cleff needed. The bottle labeled “Flashseal” contained a silvery powder, the stopper sealed with wax. He picked up the bottle with both hands so the contents did not shake and then made for the door. He was just almost out of the office when he stopped again. The bag! Turning around, he saw Cleff’s bag sitting on the floor next to his desk. He reached it in one giant step then sprinted to the front door and then outside.

The scene just outside the front door was out of a nightmare. They had put Lane down, splayed out on the grass, his leg turning the ground a bright crimson color as his life bled out. Allie was kneeling down next to her husband, sobbing, and holding his left hand in both of hers. Cleff was kneeling on the other side, examining the deep slashes on the man’s chest through the holes in his shirt. Ted was just standing there, his clothes covered in blood, his mouth wide open as he simply stared at the carnage in front of him. Cal was gone, already on his way to inform the the Mayor. Lane was comatose; the only sign that he was still alive was the slow rise and fall of his chest. Moving to Cleff’s side, Ean placed both the bag and the bottle of Flashseal down, in between Cleff and Lane.
 

“The slashes on his chest aren’t too deep,” Cleff said, his eyes locked on the bleeding man. “Get some of the smashed up Rottwealth out of my bag and rub it into the wounds.”
 

Ean switched places with Cleff on the ground, placing himself closer to the man’s chest. Pulling over the bag, he pulled out both a bottle of Rottwealth and one of Cleff’s cutting tools. Using the tool to cut free what was left of Lane’s shirt, Ean got a better look at the damage underneath. There were four gashes, the first starting just below the man’s shoulders and the last one just above his hipbones. This was certainly not a bear attack. Judging by how deep and wide the cuts were, the claws of whatever hit Lane must have been huge!

Getting over his shock, Ean dumped out the whole bottle of Rottwealth onto the man’s chest and began to spread the brownish powder out over the wounds. As his hands pushed the smashed up plant into the gashes, Lane let out a weak groan. Well, that was a good sign, at least. While Ean worked, Cleff was spreading out the Flashseal over the stub of the man’s leg. When it was covered, the silver powder an odd contrast to the dark red wound, Cleff stood up.
 

“All right, everyone take a step back.”

Everyone complied, although Ted, just barely out of his stupor, had to pull Allie away from her husband. Reaching down, Cleff struck a spark near Lane’s stump of a leg. With a flash, a small green flame flared up on the wound, accompanied by the smell of burning meat. Lane sat up for a moment, letting out a horrible scream, and then fell back again. What little strength he had to stay conscious fled his exhausted body. His leg, however, had stopped bleeding. The wound had turned black from the flame and sealed close from the intense burst of heat.
 

Allie looked at her husband in horror for a moment, and then turned to Cleff. “Is he going to be all right? Is my husband going to live?”

“I honestly don’t know, Allie,” Cleff replied with his usual gruff-sounding voice. “He lost a lot of blood. It all depends on how much he lost and if the Rottwealth does its job.” Turning his head, he regarded Ean. “Take Ted and grab the stretcher out of the house. We need to move him inside and keep him warm. These next few days will be vital in determining if he lives or not.” Nodding, Ean grabbed the older boy’s arm and dragged him into the house.
 

The sun was almost straight overhead by the time they had gotten Lane inside and laid out in one of the visitors’ rooms on the first floor. Cleff and Ean worked on the man for hours, sewing up where they could and cleaning off the wounds while his wife waited outside. By the time they were done working on him, the sun was just starting to set over the mountains to the west. Cleff sat down by the man and waved Ean off, telling him to get something to eat. He just had taken a single step out into the main hall when Allie jumped up out of one of the waiting chairs and ran over to him. She looked haggard, her hair a mess and face dirty.

“How is my husband? Did Cleff say he would make it?”
 

Ean shook his head. “We don’t know yet, Mrs. Bale. It’s too early to tell. We’ve done all that we could, but he has lost a lot of blood. Only time will tell.”
 

She looked at him, tears starting to flow from already red eyes, and then she flung her arms around him in a grateful hug. “Thank you,” she said in between sobs, her voice a whisper in his ear. “I know most of us treat you something horrible, but I know having you there to aid Cleff helped my husband’s chances.”

Ean blushed, not quite sure how to react. Cleff had never been one to show emotion, and the other villagers often reacted to him with disgust. This unexpected show of gratitude was a bit more than Ean could take. Patting her on the back twice, he pushed the older woman away.
 

“It was nothing, really. Just doing what I’ve been taught most of my life, and Cleff is an excellent teacher.” He frowned a second, trying to think of what to say. “Thank you, though.” Allie nodded, seeming on the verge to say more, but they were interrupted as the Mayor stomped through the front door.

“Is he awake?” the Mayor said, looking concerned. He was a large man with a powerful voice that commanded the attention of an entire room. “Did anyone see what attacked him? Where are the foreman and the other men that did not return? They’d better tell me it was a bear, because I’ll be damned if I’m going to close the mine.” He was staring at Allie, expecting some kind of answer.

“Lane is in a bad way, Mayor.” As always, Ean had to force his tone to remain civil. “It might be some time before he is conscious, if he even survives at all.” He wished he could take the words back as he watched Allie’s face go pale, but he had to keep going now. “Didn’t Cal or Ted let you know what happened?”

The Mayor shook his head, his attention still on Allie. When he responded to Ean’s question, he directed his response to the distraught wife. “Both were babbling away, and all I could understand was that they had gotten to the mine late. Tell me, what happened today, Allie?”

“It was horrible!” Allie burst out, the tears flowing freely now. “Lane and I got to the mine right before dawn. Lane went into the foreman’s home and was talking to all of the other miners for a time while I started setting up the cooking station, being that it was my turn to feed the men lunch later in the day. A short time later, all four of the men left the house and entered the mine with their picks. They were only in there for a few moments when … ” Her body started to shake at the memory, but she continued on. “ ... when I heard this horrible roar. It was followed by some shouts from the men, and then suddenly the foreman and Wes, one of the other miners came rushing out, carrying my husband between them.”

She paused, taking a breath. She held the complete attention of both the Mayor and Ean; Ean, at least, was curious to what happened next.
 

“I immediately ran over,” she continued, “and helped support my husband and was about to ask what had happened when I heard another terrible roar. We all turned to look back at the mine, and what came out was something out of a nightmare.”
 

A shudder went through Allie’s entire body, and she closed her eyes for a moment before continuing on. “It was a mass of scales and claws, taking up most of the mine entrance. Dangling from the left corner of its mouth was a partially chewed foot, part of the boot still hanging off of it. Poor old Glen’s boot.” Her face took on a greenish hue and Ean was about run off to get her a bucket in case she got sick, but the woman continued on. “I screamed at that point, and the beast started to make its way towards us. The foreman dropped my husband and ran off towards his house. Wes turned to me and said, ‘Allie, get him as far away as you can. I’ll try to slow whatever that is down.’ A real hero, Wes was! He took his mining pick and set himself between the beast and us. I did my best to carry Lane; at that point, he still had enough strength to walk on his one leg. We went as fast as we could. At one point I heard Wes scream …”
 

She paused again, tiny sobs escaping from her mouth. “But … but … I didn’t turn around this time. I just moved as quickly as I could. When Lane’s strength finally gave out, we both collapsed to the ground. That was where Cal and Ted found us.”

She stopped, collapsing into one of the chairs, unable to control her emotions as she buried her face in her hands. Ean and the Mayor stared at her, overwhelmed by what they had heard. Nothing like that had ever happened in their valley before. Sure, every now and then, the men that made up the town guard would have to scare off a bear or the rare mountain troll that wandered down close to the village, but the beast she had described was like nothing that had ever appeared in the village before.
 

“I have to go inform the town,” the Mayor said, his tone neutral. “Let everyone know that the southern area of the valley is off-limits. Inform the town guard in case this was something more serious than a bear attack, and it makes its way towards town.” Spots of sweat began to appear on the larger man’s clothes. “I don’t want to start panicking the entire town for nothing, though. We’ll see if this creature is really as horrible as you say before we take more drastic actions. Either way, this is a terrible turn of events, just terrible. So much work to do now …” The man mumbled the last few words, walking out of the house.
 

With a scowl, Ean watched him go. The Mayor always seemed to find a way of making Ean think even less of him. Moving over, he took a seat next to Allie, his hands fidgeting as he sat there next to the crying woman. He really was horrible at these types of things. Despite how awkward he felt, Ean reached over and patted her on the back twice.
 

“I’ll set up the room next to Lane’s so you can sleep here tonight. Cleff won’t let you into your husband’s room tonight, I don’t think. He’ll just want Lane to rest and let the medicine work.”
 

The woman nodded, her head still buried in her hands. Standing back up, Ean fetched a blanket to put around her shoulders before moving into one of the side rooms and setting up a bed. Allie was still crying when Ean came back out. “The bed is ready whenever you want.” She didn’t even acknowledge him this time, but Ean didn’t take it as an insult. Instead, he walked over, patted her on the back again, and headed for the stairs.

Little light remained in the day by the time Ean entered his room. He stripped down to his underclothes, removing his blood-soaked clothes. Even after he had dropped them outside the room and closed the door, he could still smell the blood. Shaking his head, Ean walked over to the dresser and changed into a fresh set of clothes.