Page 59 of Nexus
“Your ooze started smoking when the sun touched it. I was worried you were going to burst into flames.”
“It’s not ooze,” he argued, lifting a hand to inspect the liquid that dripped from his skin.
“What is it, then?”
“It’s secretion,” he said primly.
“That’s just a fancier word for ooze,” I pointed out. He scowled, but couldn’t come up with a retort.
We angled back towards the road, while still heading towards where I thought the city lay. Birds, animals and insects were plentiful. The ones that were awake kept their distance from us. The ones that were asleep fled when I woke them up as we passed by. My footsteps were loud no matter how hard I tried to sneak.
Lights from flaming torches caught my attention. I guided Ruen towards them to see who it was. Voices carried to us just as I sensed it was a group of soldiers.
“Who do you think came through the gate and killed the soldiers?” one of them asked.
“It must have been a coven of vampires. Three of them had been completely drained of blood.”
“The others were killed by rocks. Vampires don’t use rocks as weapons. They use their fangs.”
“What are they doing here? The undead rarely come to our realm.”
“I want to know what other sort of creature came through the gate with them. Whatever it is, it’s big and strong. I heard the rocks it threw smashed all the way through the guards’ bodies and left huge, gaping holes in their backs.”
Ruen put his hand over his mouth to muffle his snort of laughter. The tales about our not-so-secret visit to this realm were already getting wilder.
“The overlord will send trackers to find them. Whoever or whatever they are, they’ll be taken to him for questioning. Once he’s found out why they’re here, they’ll be executed.”
“No one can invade our realm and survive for long. If the creatures in the wilds don’t get them, we will.”
Guttural laughter rang out, which made Ruen giggle even harder. I flicked him a warning look, but it did nothing to quell his amusement. “What the hell is wrong with you?” I hissed once the soldiers were out of earshot.
“Nothing,” he denied, still giggling a little. “It just amuses me that they think an entire army has invaded their turf and there’s only two of us.”
“We’ve got the bird on our team now,” I reminded him, gently stroking her soft head. “She must be magical to make that ogre climax like that.”
“Maybe she can guide us to the fragment of the spell that’s hidden somewhere in this realm,” he joked.
The bird turned to look at him, green eyes widening. She looked at me and fluttered her eyelashes. “Can you lead us to the magical spell?” I asked incredulously. Birds couldn’t smile, but I could almost feel her smugness when she nodded. “Huh, maybe Fate really is guiding me,” I said in amazement. We’d just happened to stumble across the bird when she’d needed help. Now she seemed to feel indebted to us for saving her life and she was willing to be our guide.
“If so, I hope she can lead us there before the overlord’s trackers find us,” my unholy assistant said.
“Which way should we go?” I asked my feathered friend. She pointed towards the city far in the distance. “Is it in the city?” She shook her head and gestured for me to get going.
“It’ll burn up your energy, but I think you should run,” Ruen suggested.
“You’ll need to drain some of the guards if you want to keep up with me,” I said.
“I won’t need to,” he said, then trotted over to me. “You can keep carrying me.” With that, he clambered up onto my back. Now it was my turn to laugh, reminded of the time he’d clung to me like a leech, licking wererat and weregator blood off my skin. I lumbered into motion, staying near the road, but not close enough to be spotted by patrolling soldiers.
Chapter Forty-Four
EXPENDING A LOT OF energy meant I had to eat constantly. I mowed my way through the sacks of food until there was only a small amount left. The bird pecked at a hunk of bread I gave her, content to devour it. Ruen hadn’t fed and kept sniffing the back of my neck hungrily as he rode on my back. It was creepy, but I didn’t have the heart to tell him to stop. We were both different in the underworld and we couldn’t control our instincts.
“I need to feed,” the vampire said as dawn drew close.
“On what?”
His senses were more acute here and he pointed to some bushes. “On whatever that animal is that’s sleeping over there. Put me down. You’ll frighten it away if you blunder along behind me.”
