Branded (18 page)

“That’s the general. He’s expecting you,” their guide said, coming up behind Asher and pointing to a man that stood atop the bridge. He was looking out over the water, arms crossed in front of him. Asher had expected an old geezer, but this guy didn’t look older than thirty.

Something weird was sticking out of the young man’s back and Asher tilted his head to get a better look at the… tails? The stranger actually had tails. Silvery white fox tails, four of them. And fox ears sticking out of his equally light hair.

Asher hardly noticed the guards making way for them as they stepped onto the bridge, still busy ogling the fox-guy. “Beautiful weather, isn’t it?” Foxy said as they approached, glancing out over the garden.

“Yeah, sure, whatever,” Asher said.

“I am Ketsu,” Foxy said, turning around to give them a calculating look. “And I assume you are Asher and José? Vayla has told me a little about you.”

“Who?” Asher asked, his eyes following the motions of the fox guy’s tails. It had to be a bitch getting all that hair out of the furniture.

“Vayla?” Foxy frowned. “You’ve been traveling with her all this time.”

“The lavalight?” José asked.

“Why, yes. You never asked for her name?”

“Who cares about that?” Asher said shrugging. “Are you a fox or something? Something furry. I know this guy who’s really into—”

“Excuse me, but Vayla said you might be able to help us?” José interrupted what he was going to say.

“I can do a lot of things.” Foxy fingered a red pearl necklace he was wearing. "I've been told you come from a different world than this one?"

“Yeah and we heard you know something 'bout that," Asher said, eying him curiously.

“Maybe I do.” Foxy’s eyes narrowed for just a second. Something about this fox guy was weird. And it wasn't just the lame jewelry.

“Maybe?” Blind Guy repeated, his voice laced with suspicion.

“Knowledge doesn’t come without a price,” Foxy said, his amber eyes piercing José. The wind picked up and blew a few petals at them. Asher watched Foxy catch one and grind it between his fingers.

“So what you're saying is, you won't help us out of the goodness of your heart, is that it?"

Foxy gave a wry smile and Asher noticed the bags under his eyes. He looked tired, and like he didn’t know how to use concealer. “Who would?” he said, making Asher raise one eyebrow. Foxy had a point there.

“Vayla did,” José said.

“She’s expecting payment for bringing you here,” Foxy said. “What did you think? She was guiding you for the kicks?” He scoffed. “And you just went along with her without even knowing her name.” He shook his head. “Who does that?”

“I… We… I mean, I just sort of…” José went quiet, his face turning pale. The color didn’t suit him.

“I just call her little bitch,” Asher said in his defense.

Foxy snorted. “I shouldn’t pay her. You can hardly call this work. Didn’t your mother ever tell you not to go with strangers?”

Asher wanted to tell him that his mother would have paid the kidnapper, but José spoke before he had a chance to.

“What exactly are you paying her for? What do you want from us?” There was an urgency to his voice that made Asher think he was missing something. He looked around the garden. The branches of the trees swayed in the wind; the guards stood unmoving at the edges of the bridge. A cloud moved in front of the sun and cast a shadow over the scene.

“I want to make a deal with you,” the fox guy said, the sound of cicadas accompanying his words.

“What sort of deal?”

“You’ll fight for me or you’ll never get to enjoy the sun like this again.”

What the…! Asher narrowed his eyes at Foxy, glanced at the guards that moved to block the way off the bridge. “Fight what?” he demanded. “Fleas?”

“No,” Foxy said, one of his ears twitching. “Those scumbags who think they can kill everyone who doesn’t agree with their rules.” A bitterness seeped into his voice that hadn’t been there before. “People should be able to believe in whatever they want to! To love whoever they want to!” His right hand clenched into a fist and his brows furrowed, he looked like he was going to throw punches. Taking a deep breath, he calmed down and leaned back against the railing of the bridge. “Wouldn’t you agree, José?” he said, glancing at Blind Guy.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” José said.

“I don't care about all that," Asher said. "I'm gonna leave this hellhole anyway."

“You’re not going anywhere without my say so,” Foxy said, looking at his guards. More had entered the garden, positioning themselves in front of all the exits. “It doesn’t have to be like this, though,” Foxy added. “You wouldn’t mind burning some things for me, would you, Asher?”

Asher perked his ears at the mention of fire, while José swallowed. Looking over at him, Asher saw that all the color had drained from his face. “You’re the one burning down all those villages…” José said. “And all this time… she knew. We were just being…”

“Led on, yes,” Foxy said, a smirk tugging on his lips. “You’ve played your part so well. So if you could just continue now and do as I ask…”

“C’mon, it’s not so bad,” Asher said, turning to Blind Guy who looked like someone had just told him to kill cute little puppies. “All we gotta do is burn stuff!” Feeling excited, he reached into his pocket, fingers closing around his lighters. It had been far too long since he’d gotten to make a real fire. And now, according to Foxy's words, it would even make the world a better place! Who could say no to that?

“No.”

Asher gaped at José. What was wrong with that man?

“That your final answer?” Foxy said, streaking a lock of hair back from his forehead.

“I’ll stay in this world forever before I help you kill people,” José said flatly, a definite tone to his voice. Kill people, huh? But they were going to burn houses, not people. People could run. It was their problem if they weren’t fast enough.

“That’s unfortunate,” Foxy said. As he spoke, the pearls around his neck glowed, flashed up, for just a second.

“What are you going to do about it? Kill me?” José’s voice was calm, but his hands curled into fists.

“No,” Foxy said. “That would be too much of a waste. You’ll be staying here and maybe the accommodations will change your mind. Or I will.”

“I’m never going to change my mind.”

“We’ll see,” Foxy smiled, as though he knew something they didn’t. “What about you, dragon?” he said then, glancing at Asher. “You need some extra convincing, too?”

Asher scoffed at him. “Tell me what I gotta burn, I’ll do it.” He saw José shake his head from the corner of his eyes. “What?” he said, “Just ‘cause you want to make your life difficult don’t mean I have to!” The job description was awesome. Not his fault Blind Guy couldn’t see that.

José sighed. “I just thought you…” He shook his head. “Forget it. My mistake.” Asher raised his eyebrows at him. What the hell was he talking about?

Foxy cleared his throat. “Let’s get a move on,” he said, “I don’t have all day.” He gave a sign and the guards stomped up the bridge, circling in on José. “You’re coming with me,” Foxy said, grabbing Asher’s arm and pulling him towards the right side of the bridge, away from José.

“Don’t touch me,” Asher hissed, trying to brush off the fox guy’s hand and looking back over his shoulder to see the guards lead Blind Guy down the other side. “Where are they taking him?”

“Is that your problem?” Foxy asked, still holding on to his arm.

“It sort of is, I guess,” Asher said, not sure how to feel about leaving Blind Guy behind.

“Not anymore,” Foxy said, ears twitching again as he picked up the pace. “C’mon, I have a world to change and not a whole lot of time.”

The sun broke through the clouds again and made Asher squint against the light. He couldn’t see José anymore.

Chapter 20 - Taking the Fall

“Try to get some shut-eye, right? You gonna head out in the morning,” the guard said, and then the heavy wooden door fell shut, leaving Asher on his own in the empty old dorm room.

Dust danced in the light of the setting sun that filtered in through the thick bars in front of the small windows. Three beds were lined up on either side of the room. All the ones on the right side looked slept in. Hopefully their owners wouldn’t be back too soon. Asher wasn’t looking to make friends.

He turned to the left side and tried to find the bed with the least stains, but they were all crappy. Maybe he'd just spend the night on the floor.

He sat down on the ground. His gaze fell on the green bracelet that clung tightly to his left wrist. He tried moving it, but it wouldn’t budge. He’d told Foxy that neon green didn’t suit him, but the man had insisted. Foxy’s taste in jewelry sucked.

Sighing, Asher crossed his arms behind his head and leaned back against the bed frame to stare at the gray ceiling. Left without anything interesting to do, he reached for one of his lighters and started playing with it. He clicked the flame on and out, wondered what Blind Guy was doing, where he was. He’d tried asking, but had never gotten a satisfying answer.

The door opened and three freaks strolled in. His new roommates. Yay. An overgrown lizard, an ugly human and someone who looked like a mix between a troll and a dwarf. Thinking about how that one had been conceived was going to give Asher nightmares. Focusing back on his lighter, Asher tried to blend all of them out.

“Hey there, pretty, what’s your name?”

Asher glanced up and glared at the three uglies. Which of them was trying to flirt with him? He had to know who to kick in the nuts if this kept on. If that particular species had nuts. Man, this world was confusing.

“Look at that,” the lizard said, “someone’s playing hard to get.” The three of them laughed among themselves.

“I’ll stop playing hard to get once you stop playing fugly.” Asher narrowed his eyes at that stupid lizard, who shot him a dirty look in return. Asher grabbed the pillow from the bed in case he needed to throw it.

“Good one,” the human guy said, voice booming as he laughed and patted the lizard on his back. “C’mon, don’t scare the kid off on his first day. He’ll come around.”

“Will not,” Asher said, but they didn’t listen to him anymore as they moved around the room getting ready for bed. Huffing, Asher lowered the pillow onto his knees and buried his head in it. The smell of sweat filled the room as the three strangers undressed.

Just then Asher would have given a lot to be back in a forest clearing with Blind Guy. His eyes closed, his nose wrinkled and his head filled with memories of better times, he stretched out on the floor in between the beds and tried to go to sleep.

***

The next morning Asher left the room before his roommates woke up. Walking down the hallway, he tried to figure out where exactly he was. The sun barely lit the corridors he passed through, and when he looked outside, fog covered the village like a blanket, hiding all the lame ass buildings from sight.

Early morning was the best time of the day. When the rest of the world was still too asleep to bother him… or tell him to stay for breakfast, and how about lunch together, and maybe dinner, too?

Please.

Being an early bird had its advantages.

Like right now the only people in the hallways were some guards who would need a good dose of caffeine before they’d take any notice of him. If Asher could find the gardens and take a look around the area, maybe he could get a clue where they had taken Blind Guy. Maybe then Asher could change Blind Guy’s mind about all this. Things were boring without him.

He hadn’t made much progress when one of the guards approached, saying that he had to come along to the meeting room where 'General Ketsu' was waiting for him.

“Great…” Asher mumbled and followed. He’d continue his search some other time.

When he entered the room, Foxy was standing in front of a large wooden table with a map spread out over the length of it. Two other human looking people stood to his side, arguing about something in hushed voices. Foxy looked up when the door fell shut behind Asher.

“Asher,” he said, “come over here and look at this.”

Asher huffed, but did as he was told. The map was marked with several red crosses and blue lines that he couldn’t make any sense of. Boring. He looked up at Foxy. “You know, not sleeping’s really bad for your skin.”

Foxy raised his eyebrows at him, and even the two strangers shut up for a moment to shoot him looks. Asher rolled his eyes. “Everyone knows that.”

Foxy’s left ear twitched as he narrowed his eyes at Asher. “I believe I have more serious problems to worry about. Now shut up and listen.”

“Yeah, sure, whatever.”

“We are here.” Foxy pointed to a blue cross on the map. “These villages have been purged. And these villages are under military control.”

Asher watched Foxy’s fingers dance over the map but stopped listening. His stomach was nagging him. “Do you have food somewhere around here?”

Foxy stopped speaking. Then, “Have you been listening to a word I said?”

“Uh… Shorten it down?”