20. Wichts

> “Rule 2: Only go to battle against an unknown enemy if you find yourself backed into a corner. Rule 1: Never let yourself be backed into a corner.” - Treatise of The War Gods, Sirius III

Athena awoke with a start at the sound of a screech from overhead. She turned over quickly, disturbing the rocks around her. A figure loomed out of the darkness and she was about to clamber back against the rock when she saw it was Ostri, walking carefully with his finger on his lips.

“Ssshh,” he whispered. She froze and a sound of fabric flapping in the wind passed overhead.

The screech came again, this time further away, and she relaxed a little. Ostri looked up at the sky.

“What about Sekardi?” Athena whispered.

“She can look after herself. Besides, she has been here so long her connection to the mortal plane is weak. Yours is still strong. They can sense it.”

Another screech, closer again, followed by the sound of cloth flapping in the air.

And then there was a thump and a clatter of rocks. Ostri put his finger to his lips again and stood. Then, quietly and slowly, he took his axe from his belt and held it ready.

She heard the Wicht coming closer before she saw it. It shuffled along, dragging stones and dirt beneath its feet. Like the first one she saw, clothes hung from its body, thin and frail, yet the emptiness she felt from it gave it a power all of its own. She was not used to fearing something, but she feared whatever a Wicht was.

It took two steps towards them and Ostri readied his axe. It stopped, its head moved from left to right, almost as if sniffing the air, its sightless eyes peering into the darkness.

It whirled around, hand outstretched, as if hoping to surprise something behind it, and then took a step away. Just keep moving that way, Athena thought. Ostri relaxed a little, but Athena did not. She shuffled slowly towards the rock behind her.

The Wicht spun again, through ninety degrees to the left, and took another faltering step forward. It turned its head to the left and Athena felt it was looking directly at her. White, empty eyes bore into her, and she felt as if its stare alone was able to draw energy from her.

Suddenly it snapped its head to the right and there was the sound of a stone on rock. Without seeming to move a muscle it took off into the sky, black shredded robes trailing behind it.

“That must have been Sekardi,” Ostri whispered.

“Are you going to help her?”

“She will have thrown something to distract it. Don’t worry: she’ll be fine.”

He walked a few paces away and sat, and then lay on the ground, placing his axe beside him.

“I’ll stay here. You go back to sleep.”

That was easier said than done with those things flying around, Athena thought. Another screech pierced the air, but it seemed to be receding into the distance. Perhaps Sekardi’s distraction had worked.

She did not remember falling asleep, but when she opened her eyes next it was light and Sekardi and Ostri were sitting nearby talking.

“We thought you might need a bit more time to recover from yesterday,” Sekardi said.

Athena leapt to her feet embarrassed at being seen as weak and needing more rest.

”No, I’m ready. We can go.”

She winced slightly as she stood straight, feeling a strain in the back of her calf. Sekardi smiled.

”You’ll get used to the effort. It only takes a few days.”

“A few days to get used to the ache,” Ostri added, “It takes much longer than that to stop aching. Unless one is D’varsha, of course. We have sturdy legs, as I may have mentioned.” He thumped his thigh with his fist drawing a laugh from Sekardi.

Athena slung her bag over her shoulder, determined to ignore her body telling her that it wasn’t ready to move yet. She was about to start walking but realised the night had disorientated her and she had no idea where they’d come from or where they were heading to.

”This way.” Sekardi pointed and began to walk.

”How do you know?”

”The colour of the sky. It’s a little brighter in the south, and a little darker in the north.”

Athena peered. The grey appeared entirely uniform.

”Don’t worry,” Osri said, “It all looks the same to me too. Another reason why the D’varsha do not stray far from Kaz’um.”

As they walked Athena began to wish she had not asked Sekardi to tell her so much about the Wastelands while they were on the backs of rokkars, because right now she would like a distraction from the dull ache of fatigue and the monotony of putting one foot in front of the other, over and over again, only to see no change in the landscape as a result.

“There’s not even any change in the rocks,” she said towards the end of the day.

“There is if you look for it,” Sekardi told her, “See how these are even coloured on the top and bottom?”

Athena looked at the rock.

“That’s what I meant. It’s the same all over.”

“But it’s not. A few days back if you picked up a rock it would be darker on the bottom and paler and dustier on the top. The stones here are disturbed more frequently, turned from one side to another as people pass by.”

Athena stared at the empty horizon.

“How many people?”

“Not many, but over centuries it makes a difference.”

Athena sighed. The uniformity was just so relentless and she wondered if Sekardi was just making these things up to cement her tracker reputation.

“It means we’re getting close to the Market,” Sekardi continued, “And that blue tint in the sky to the west is the reflection of the ocean on the other side of Porttown.”

“I swear you’re making this up,” Athena said, half-joking. Although without Sekardi’s guidance she would have no idea in which way to walk, so there must be some truth in what she said.

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They spent another night at a distance, with Ostri occupying a space midway between the two Aeseri, if nearer to Athena than to Sekardi. Athena’s body ached again, but she was better able to ignore it and fell asleep more rapidly than the previous night. Once or twice she stirred at the sound of Wichts overhead, but a combination of tiredness and increasing familiarity, plus Ostri’s presence nearby, meant it disturbed her sleep only a little.

The next morning she woke and tried to stand before flinching as a muscle twinged at so much being demanded of it so early in the day. She put her hands on the backs of her calves and rubbed some of the stiffness from them.

“I never understood why we had to sleep,” she said to Sekardi, “After the Ascension, it didn’t seem like we would need it. But now I’m glad we do. I think my body needs it again.”

“I wondered the same for a while. I still don’t know whether it was just a habit that our bodies never lost or something we always needed to do.”

“A life without good sleep would not be worth living,” Ostri said, “Although sleeping on rocky ground can barely be described as such.” He stretched his back to emphasise the point.

The day passed more quickly for Athena. Perhaps she was becoming accustomed to the monotony, and the ache, but her mind drifted as she walked. She found herself thinking about events past, her time with Gael, some of the Aeseri she had befriended along the way, and some of those she had vanquished. The physical ache was less pressing as her mind tuned it out of consciousness and allowed her thoughts to wander.

The third day and the fourth followed the same pattern. She awoke on the fifth day, stretched and looked at the horizon.

“I can actually see it!” she said to Sekardi, surprising herself and pointing at the horizon, “The blue in the sky! It’s faint, but it’s there.”

“We could reach the Market tonight,” Sekardi told her, “But we may have to stop when it becomes dark.”

“So you’re telling me I can find my way to a place just as we’re about to fall over it?”

Sekardi grinned.

“I’d say that’s a fair assessment of your tracking skills, yes.”

Athena acknowledged the joke with a laugh, looking around at the landscape. There was nothing out here except the three of them. It focussed her mind on the value of companionship. It was something she’d never put much value on before; there had always been bigger problems to solve.

Ostri walked towards the pair, stretching another night on the hard ground from his shoulders.

“When we arrive at the Market I will have to decide how much I am willing to take to part with my Aeseri servants,” he said, scratching his chin. Athena glared.

“Don’t even joke about it,” she warned.

“I am not joking. Everything at the Market has a price, otherwise why take it to the Market? I need to decide on a price that nobody will be able to pay, but not so high that it’s obvious that I have no intention of selling.”

“Then try to trade us for aeserium,” Athena said quickly, “You say nobody has any.”

“True. As long as there are no D’varsha there. But I do not believe there to be any of my kind outside of our fortresses.”

“And that will provide us with cover to ask of Igrisil,” Athena continued, “Because surely if the Elemental was experimenting with transmutation then she will have aeserium, and others may know about it.”

“A very good plan. I shan’t mention her name. But it would seem plausible that a travelling D’varsha would have heard rumours of an Elemental who possessed some aeserium.”

“And we two will have to remain silent,” Sekardi said to Athena, “Unless spoken to.”

“I don’t like that part of the plan,” Athena replied, “But I understand.”

Sekardi’s head snapped around quickly, scanning the distant horizon.

“What is it?” Ostri asked.

“Movement. Over there.” Athena stared in the direction that Sekardi was looking. Now she was tuned into the blue tint to the sky she knew Sekardi was pointing away from the Market, in the direction from which they came. “Whoever it is, they’re still a long way off and I doubt they’ll have seen us, but we must move.”

They picked up their bags and walked quickly, following Sekardi’s direction. Athena winced as her legs were forced to respond to an increased pace. Sekardi glanced over her shoulder as they walked, trying to garner any information she could about who might be behind them.

“Another caravan?” Athena asked.

“I don’t think so,” Sekardi replied, “I see no rokkars, and it’s not possible to carry much on foot. There are maybe four or five of them, so it could just be an advance scouting party.”

“Or an advance negotiating party,” Ostri added, “To broker deals before the goods arrive. That happens at Kaz’um.”

“What does your instinct say?” Athena asked her Aeseri companion.

“I don’t know if I believe in instinct, but if I did I would say we should get to the Market before they get to us.”

“I agree with this plan,” Ostri said.

They picked up their pace and Athena found that every few steps she had to jog to keep up with her companions. She was impressed that Ostri, with much shorter legs, was able to maintain the same speed as the much taller Aeseri.

“Strong legs,” he said, noticing her attention, “But fast when they need to be.”

“They’re not closing on us,” Sekardi said after some time, “But we can’t let up. We’ll reach the Market by dark if we hurry. I don’t want to spend another night out here. We don’t know if those behind us will need to stop. They may not be Aeseri. Maybe they’re Engella. Maybe something worse.”

“Let’s not find out,” Ostri said.

They pressed on, walking fast, occasionally trotting.

“It’s getting darker,” Athena noted. Sekardi looked up at the sky, and pointed at the horizon. “Can you see the light?”

Athena peered, but she wasn’t sure if she could make anything out.

“The Market is not far ahead,” Sekardi assured them.

Their pace quickened again. Athena worried that she would stumble. She was not used to moving at this speed. She had never had to before, not using the strength of her muscles. On the mortal plane her power would take her anywhere without effort, and the time the Aeseri spent on this plane was so little, and there was so no reason to move from one place to another even within Jashard, that she had never had reason to exert herself.

Soon they were trotting, the three in a line with Sekardi leading, Athena behind and Ostri taking up the rear.

“It is nearly night,” Ostri called from the back, “In case nobody had noticed.”

As if to confirm it there was a screech from the sky high and to their right.

“Quickly!” Sekardi urged, speeding into a run.

Athena pushed herself to keep up. Ostri’s footsteps were reassuringly loud behind her. Another screech pierced the night sky, this one closer and directly above. Athena looked up.

It was a mistake. She lost her footing. Her toe struck a rock and sent her to the ground.

Ostri nearly ran over her but stopped just in time. He reached down for her arm to lift her to her feet, then froze. With the sound of rushing air and a dull thump a Wicht landed ahead of them. It turned, pointing a single long, white, bony finger directly at Athena and took a step towards them.

She froze, mesmerised by the dead, white eyes. It took another step. Ostri’s hand was around her arm trying to lift her to her feet.

“We must run,” he hissed, but too loudly. The Wicht moved rapidly towards them, its arm reaching out, a spindly hand fumbling for Athena in the near darkness.

The pale arm wrapped in shredded black cloth dropped to the ground in front of Athena. She looked up to see Ostri, having released her arm, holding his sword in both hands. The Wicht lifted its head, its decapitated arm twitching on the ground, shreds of cloth flowing around it as it flailed its remaining arm. Then just as suddenly it leapt into the sky with an ear-splitting scream.

Athena looked down at the arm. It was still writhing on the ground, twitching as life left it. Or was it crawling towards her?

Ostri’s hand slipped beneath her arm and this time he succeeded in lifting her to her feet.

“We have to run,” he said sternly. She nodded and without waiting to be told again she began sprinting as best as she could towards the light.

Stumbling, shuffling and skidding, with Ostri’s heavy footsteps close behind, the light grew closer. She made out a silhouette shape, and discerned the form of Sekardi only a moment before she ran into her. They were both breathing fast, whether out of fear or a genuine need for air.

“You’re safe,” Sekardi said, stopping Athena with her hands and holding her upright, “The Wichts won’t come this close to the Market.” The outer boundary circle of lamp- light was only fifty paces away.

Athena turned around to Ostri, ready to thank him for saving her from the Wicht. He slid his sword into the scabbard on his back.

“At least we know that D’varshan steel hurts a Wicht as much as it hurts anyone else,” he said, evidently pleased with the outcome of the encounter.

“Let’s hope they don’t bear grudges,” Sekardi said, “Come on. Let’s get into the safety of the Market, just in case they find some courage.”

“‘Safety’ and ‘Market’ are not two words I associate with each other,” Ostri said dryly. Athena wondered what awaited them. Whatever it was, at least it wasn’t another night in the desert.