Twenty minutes later, I was ready for whatever they were going to tell me.<\/p>\n
The dwarf and the ogre were looking doubtful.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think those work where we\u2019re going.\u201d Brock gestured with some distaste at the gun slung over my left shoulder.<\/p>\n
I raised an eyebrow. \u201cYou ever shot a gun, Brock?\u201d<\/p>\n
The dwarf glared at me, finally shaking his head.<\/p>\n
\u201dThen how the hell would you know?\u201d<\/p>\n
He shrugged. I ignored him. The gun was an open-sight .300 Savage; a family heirloom that my great-grandfather had bought the year of its making. My grandfather had an alaskan grizzly pelt in his guest bedroom the gun had taken. The stock was solid hardwood with a stainless steel shoulder plate; the barrel was three and a half feet of blued steel. Frankly, if the thing didn\u2019t fire \u2018where we were going\u2019, I\u2019d could do worse than just hitting things with it.<\/p>\n
Bhuto had a different problem. \u201cDo you not have a more… formidable hand-weapon, Sean?\u201d<\/p>\n
I readjusted the grip on my old \u2018herding stick\u2019, which I\u2019d found in a barrel of similar tools in the machine shed. I\u2019d cut it from an ash tree when I was thirteen and had used the four-foot club whenever I had to push one of our bulls into a new pasture, on foot.<\/p>\n
I could have explained all of that to them, but as far as explanations went, I didn\u2019t really feel like it was my turn.<\/p>\n
I motioned towards the trees behind the house. \u201cLet\u2019s just go.\u201d<\/p>\n
—-<\/p>\n
When we got to the edge of the trees farthest from the farm, Bhuto extended his hand to me for the second time, doing the same for Brock. It was my turn to look doubtful.<\/p>\n
\u201dExplanations come shortly, Sean, but we need to move quickly now, when we are not marked by others.” Brock said.\u00a0“I can assist with that.\u201d<\/p>\n
I almost refused, until I saw Brock’s expression. However uneasy I felt, the dwarf was far worse, and part of me wanted to see why. I took the ogre\u2019s hand.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m not sure what I was expecting… a puff of smoke, a swirling of my perceptions, maybe. When we just shot off the ground and into the sky without a word or gesture, I couldn\u2019t help but shout.<\/p>\n
—-<\/p>\n
The night passed and the clouds rolled back in on cue.<\/p>\n
They came for Steven not long after and started again.<\/p>\n
First they stripped the mud away with blunt fingers, accomplishing in less than a minute what had been denied him through the night. The mass came away in huge chunks, dry and dusty, though it had clung like putty the day before. They finished the cleaning with an orange-tinted liquid that foamed when it hit made the the needles burn all the way down to his joints. Completely clean, his skin had a greyish cast — probably the light from the clouds.<\/p>\n
Then they tied him to the tree again and brought a new cauldron of the mud. Packing it back on took most of the day. The tall one watched the whole thing without moving or relaxing its corpse-smile.<\/p>\n
Steven never made a sound. Damned if he would.<\/p>\n
The worst part of it was when they put him back in the cage.<\/p>\n
My cage.<\/em><\/p>\n The day ended, the clouds pulled back, the stars came out, and he wondered for the first time if anyone would come.<\/p>\n —-<\/p>\n We landed on a curving stretch of blacktop a few miles away from the farm. Ravines dove away from the road on both sides.<\/p>\n I shook my head. \u201cWhy are we here?\u201d<\/p>\n Bhuto looked up at the sky. \u201cThis is the only place we could be, Sean. We must reach your father.\u201d<\/p>\n “Oh.” I thought for a second. \u201cYou do<\/em> realize that\u2019s the most pointless, circular answer I\u2019ve ever heard, right? And I went to a liberal arts college.\u201d<\/p>\n Brock advanced toward me as Bhuto sighed. Much to my dismay, he didn\u2019t stop until he was nearly touching me.<\/p>\n \u201dWhat do you call this road?\u201d<\/p>\n My eyes were watering. I blinked rapidly and focused on the question. \u201cAhh. Vayland. Vayland Road.\u201d The problem with people telling you to breath through your mouth when around a bad smell is that instead of smelling it, you taste it.<\/p>\n He smiled up at me and I was glad for the darkness that largely hid his teeth. \u201cWhy is that?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201dWhy is what?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201dWhy do they call it that?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201dBecause…\u201d I thought about it. \u201cI don\u2019t know why.\u201d<\/p>\n His smile broadened and I had to take a step back. \u201cLet me tell you why.\u201d He turned away from me and threw out his arms. \u201cThis place is a border between realms. The very first people who lived here and named things called the people on the other side wa`rii we<\/em> because they didn\u2019t understand. Others came and gave the border different names. When the people of my lands came,\u201d he thumped his chest \u201cthey took the names it had already and translated the words and the idea. They called it a fae land.\u201d His eyes glinted as he turned back to me. \u201cYou know what that is?\u201d<\/p>\n I nodded, not bothering to explain why.<\/p>\n He spun on his heel, pacing toward the shoulder of the road. \u201cThe border to the fae land was marked by those who knew enough about it, and the name stuck, changing, after they\u2019d all gone to dust.\u201d He spat on the blacktop. \u201cThen some dog-buggering half-wit built a road here, since the markers were already there. No one remembered that they were meant to show you where not<\/em> to go.\u201d<\/p>\n “Sounds like the sort of thing someone would do,” I said. “And I suppose I get why we’re here.”<\/p>\n “Do you.” Brock wandered in a wide circle around us.<\/p>\n I didn’t bother answering him.\u00a0“What’s next?\u201d<\/p>\n Bhuto studied me for a moment. \u201cThat is something you will tell us, Sean.\u201d<\/p>\n I raised an eyebrow at him. \u201cReally?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201dUnderstand, we are here to help you, but we are also here to help your father, and we could not — can not — do that without you.” The ogre pointed to me with a knobby finger that ended with an elegantly painted claw. “You are our link to him.\u201d<\/p>\n I looked up at the stars, letting myself marvel for a second at how many more there were<\/em> away from the city, then blew out a breath between my teeth.<\/p>\n “Okay,” I said, \u201cwhat do I do?\u201d I was looking at Bhuto, but he gestured to Brock.<\/p>\n Brock was holding a silver needle.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" ~ The Quest ~ Twenty minutes later, I was ready for whatever they were going to tell me. The dwarf and the ogre were looking doubtful. \u201cI don\u2019t think those work where we\u2019re going.\u201d Brock gestured with some distaste at the gun slung over my left shoulder. I raised an eyebrow. \u201cYou ever shot a … <\/p>\n