The Complete Enslaved Chronicles by R K Thorne

Author:R K Thorne [Thorne, R K]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Iron Antler Books
Published: 2019-05-14T22:00:00+00:00

Jaena’s earthquakes had rattled the Devoted a little, but their dark hoods remained at their posts in the center of the road.

“What are they doing?” she asked Tharomar.

Darkness had fallen, so their locations were unclear. “I think they’re still there, just sort of clumped together,” he said.

“Damn.”

“About time for that other idea of yours?” He raised an eyebrow.

She nodded. “Let’s get our stuff together. We might have to follow them, or at least be ready to run.”

“Run toward them or away from them?”

“Either.”

“Seems like a very detailed plan. You give me such faith.”

She shrugged. “You seem to have plenty of faith without me giving you any.” She had no idea if this would work. Of course, venturing into the swamp now that darkness had fallen would be much harder, so she hoped she’d get lucky. She couldn’t imagine her and Tharomar attacking the Devoted at the moment, not when heading into the swamp could avoid it. So if her ploy failed, the swamp was next.

As he gathered up the belongings that they’d scattered in the course of the afternoon and early evening, she gathered her thoughts and marshaled her energy. She didn’t know what to expect or if this would work, but that dog that she had dredged up certainly seemed to have scared off the Devoted in their first encounter while she’d hidden in her man-made cave. Maybe she could do the same thing again.

But another dog? Would that do the trick? One lone dog approaching six men, and no other dogs to send after him? That didn’t seem like enough. What about… maybe a form more like a man.

But bigger.

Yes, that would be it. A lot bigger. And the swamp was full of plenty of muck to meet her needs. She closed her eyes, bunching the mud together, visualizing a giant. Much taller than her, taller than Ro, although they were both tall. This creature would be taller than three men high, maybe a little more.

Although she couldn’t yet see it, she could feel the muddy form rise from the swamp. Globs of dirt dripped from it, splashing back into the water as it rose. It took a step forward, the earth trembling beneath her.

She beckoned it forward another step, then another. The thuds grew louder as it neared them and staggered toward the road.

“Is that… Are you doing that?” Ro had sunk into a tense crouch; he must be hearing it, maybe seeing it too.

“Yes,” she whispered. “Don’t worry. It’s just mud.”

“Last I heard, mud doesn’t exactly get up and walk on its own.” He took a step back, then another. She wondered if he realized what he was doing. Yada shifted nervously nearby.

“All right, well, it’s me and the mud. Unless you want to go clobber them with that mace?”

He winced. “Point taken.”

“Can you comfort her? If the creature just scares the Devoted farther down the road, we may need to walk along behind it.”

He nodded, remembering himself and creeping over toward the horse.

All the while she brought the mud man forward, step by step.

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