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Enderby (working title)

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“It really is awful cute, Asq. I only wanted to know if your momma made it for you.” A dark skinned woman of 22 hassles her lover of four years. She wears a fading blue sleeveless tunic cut short at her waist, a top that doesn’t exactly accentuate her richly tanned color. Her hair is a misty spider web of blue and black and appears to have rarely seen proper grooming.

Asq, an archer by family training, wears a newly woven deep red cape over his brown hunting clothes. He shrugs his 24 year old shoulders in an accepting sigh, acknowledging the third remark from the same person of his new wardrobe. “Of course she did, Svell, who else would’ve?”

“Oh, poor little momma’s boy is gonna get offended. If’n ya told me you wanted one, I’d made ya one.” The girl, Svelte (only called Svell by Asq) matches her friend’s brand new cape with her dancer pants. She walks with a slight limp as a bucket of potatoes weighs down her left arm.

Made? Cry your pardon, I thought you said made when I know surely you said stolen.” The young man is secure enough in his love with Svelte to joke about her klepto tendencies. “Release.”

Without hesitation the woman throws a potato from the bucket, sending it up and away. She watches Asq start cold, first pulling his short bow off his shoulder, then an arrow from quiver to string. Two seconds-- she counts too quickly perhaps-- and the archer aims and fires. Her eyes pull her head upwards to follow the loose bolt as it flies too high and into a treetop.

Asq scowls at the falling leaves. They touch the ground long after the dead splat of the evasive vegetable. His bow is again hoisted over his shoulder and he and Svelte continue their walk.

“Are you staying for the harvest this year?”

“Of course. I always do, don’t I?” Asq answers sharply, maybe disappointed that his companion would even have to ask; or maybe still upset at his defeat by the truant tater.

“Well, yeah, but when are you going to leave?”

“I would say not until I’ve overstayed my welcome in my hometown, although with that tone I think I may have waited too long already.”

“No, of course not, you silly boy. I only meant that you still haven’t ventured outside of our surrounding area. Don’t you think it’s time to see the world? Learn another trade, or put this one to use? Freedan’s Army could use your bow I think.” Svelte idles while Asq is silent. She knows this is a touchy subject and is not one to push, but she herself has longed to be more mobile.

“No need. There are trees out there no different than the ones to the left of me. The grass is no greener than in the town square. The water all tastes the same. What’s to see?”

“Towns. Other people-“

“I know plenty of people here, in my town.” The conversation is cut short. Asq is edgy now. He puts more weight into each step and purposely treads through roughage to kick and tear open a new path, taking his angst out on the underbrush.

“Asq, dear, I didn’t mean anything by it. You’re always so uptight-“

“Yes, I’m always so uptight, just like my father. He was awful uptight and he couldn’t stand this village. So he went out there, out to the other towns, meeting the other people…killing the other people. He had no focus, Svell.” Asq stops and turns to face the pretty girl getting tangled in his poor trail making. “He had a good life here as village healer. I mean, what better ambition does a man need in life than to be wholly honored by everyone as a man of magic? Not only that, but he had land, a home, a wife, and a son on the way. But he needed more. He wasn’t content with what fortunes of life he had here.”

Svelte lowers her head while her lover turns and takes up walking again. She’s heard this all before, but still she feels no pity for her man. She has faith he will come to and will journey and learn more of what to do with his open life. She follows.

“No, he had to set out to learn more. My mother may wish it otherwise, but it’s no secret to me that he went out looking to harbor Warlock.” Warlock, well known as the forbidden energy of the world of Destiny, well known as the one force capable of undoing all others. “It poisoned his mind, Svell. I owe my mother more than that. I owe her my life for starters. She must have been the town joke, a woman refusing all other suitors to take the time to properly raise her son. She meant for me to turn out far better than my father, and I certainly owe her that.”

“But you’re dedicating your life to her. What about us?”

Asq stops in silence. It is his turn to hang his head low. “I want a good life for us Svell. And I can offer it here, but no where else. I have land here, and we’ll have a home here. People know us and will respect us here. I can give you rich stability and a certain life, Svell, but only here. We don’t need the unknown.” He is sounding more cheerful already. The thought that is crossing his mind is a pleasant one to him, but not so much for Svelte. It’s the “certain life” remark that nags at her.

“Release.” Asq watches the sky and repeats himself when he sees nothing. “Svell,” he begins a third time, “Release!”

Svelte tosses the potato out of anger. It swiftly ascends and streaks away, challenging Asq’s true skills of speed and accuracy. She is already too frustrated to even take notice that her lover takes it down; if she had, she would have credited it to the fact that Asq has always done better under pressure.

“Svell,” Asq is standing before her, his bow already draped over his shoulder; his arms reaching out and grasping her shoulders gently, “I know what you’re getting at. I know you want to get out and I know you want me to see the world. You’re right in thinking that no one should ever spend their entire life in one village. I promise we will go on a journey, but right now I have to do what I feel is right. I have to pay my mother back for what she’s done for me. She could’ve sent me to any church to become a monk, or to the army long ago to be a lifelong soldier, but she chose to take care of me. I want to be able to take care of her now. I’m sorry, but I have to stay.”

Svelte shrugs his hands away but takes them into her own, “I love you, silly boy. Because of that, I’ll stay here with you for as long as it takes.”

“You shouldn’t have to--“ Asq tries to debate her decision, squeezing her hands to emphasize his protest, but is stopped.

“I want to. I want to be with you. I would give the world for you.” Svelte leans in to kiss him but shoves him away and quickly sends a final potato into the sky. She smiles while he stumbles to ready, aim, and fire. Her spirits raise a little and for the time being, she is content.

“Fish-shit!” Exclaims Asq, lowering his bow and using a port town fisherman’s slang not oft heard in landlocked settlements.

“It was close, love. It’s not like you gotta bring a ‘tater down outta the sky often.”

“Yeah, but it could have been a bird. Our lunch…” Asq rejects her optimism.

“Yeah, but, it wasn’t. There aren’t any birds anyhow.”

Svelte points out an obvious realization that the son of a family of hunters should have long since caught on to. There was no noise in the woods, other than them. No insects, no animal movement, no bird songs, no birds.

“None at all.” Asq dreamily echoes his train of thought. He strains to listen closely to the woods. Still nothing makes a sound. It is almost as if everything had shirked its home. “This has got to be bad.” No further words are spoken as Asq and Svelte sprint back to their nearby home village of Seraqu.

“It’s deserted.” Svelte studies the village from the tree line. She and Asq walk to the first set of homes leading into town.

“No,” Says Asq, stopping her slow walk, “Listen. When the wind picks up . . . do you hear it?”

She listens and does indeed hear the—“Stomach growl? What’d be making a sound like that?” Asq doesn’t answer. They remain still as the wind grows again, this time bringing a horrid stench that forces them to cover their mouths and noses; Asq keels over in defense. “Ohm gawd! Mit smells like a dead horse . . . that’s been locked min the stable por a month!” Svelte says poorly with her mouth covered.

“Uh-uh, it smells worse than death.” Asq returns to standing as the wind dies down, the force of the rancid air is more tolerable now. “And look at the buildings. They’ve melted on the sides just a little, but, with no marking of fire.” He presses his palm to the stone wall of a residence then hurriedly pulls it back.

“Is it hot?”

“No, it just stings, like it’s acidic.” Asq holds his hand up to see it covered with tiny red spots, some already becoming blisters.

“Love, it’s getting closer.” Svelte stands very close to her man while the “stomach growl” sloshes behind the buildings. The noise reverberates in a low shaky grumble, like a taunt cord, as it approaches.

“Children! What in the holy saints’ names are you two doing?” A portly merchant in mostly green garb shout-whispers to them from the right hand side. The colored man pokes his shaven head out a window and constantly glances down the side street.

“Gacciu! What’s going on? What’s that noise?” Svelte is too slow in asking and fate fields her question.

The sound blasts down the street twenty times louder than before. A twelve foot tall translucent yellow lump inches down the road like some hellish worm. The earlier stench precedes it, though it is much stronger now. The thing has no facial features or appendages; it is merely an elongated blob.

“What . . . the—“

“—fuck is that?” Svelte finishes for Asq, taking up where his words falter.

“Run children! That’s a slime! Wiped out the whole town but maybe a few of us still hiding. Now get outta here while you can and before you get us all killed!” Gacciu disappears back inside his hiding house. Unseen and unheard he mutters prayers for himself and all other survivors of Seraqu.

Svelte quickly ducks into an alley, whispering and motioning for Asq to follow. The archer boy, however, stands mesmerized in the streets. “Get out of the road, silly boy! Hide!”

“Gacciu said it wiped out the whole town. What about my mom, huh? Is she hiding?” Asq asks of either his lover or the town trader. He gets no reply but takes two steps forward.

“They’re bodies.” The archer says suddenly. Since he first seen the slime one thing had bothered him. It looked like a seeded piece of fruit. It has dark shapes inside; it looks like a large pile of jelly, but with seeds inside of it. But he knows they’re not seeds. As it comes closer he can see the dark shapes as irregular shapes. The memory of the stone walls slightly melted, like after dinner butter on the table, strike Asq with the unholy fear of such an acidic fate dealt to flesh. And the stench, “worse than death” because it was acid burnt death. Last but not least, Asq can see his house from here, through the monster, now behind it. It must have just oozed around it.

“Asq, hide! I think it can see you!”

“No. No eyes Svell, it can’t see anything. I think it’s just roaming, consuming what gets in its way.” The assumption is just that, but seems sound enough. Asq draws and sends an arrow to the wall left of the slime. “See? It’s blind and deaf I’d say.”

Gacciu stumbles out of hiding and stands behind Asq. He grabs the boy as if he were going to strangle him. “It may be void of sight and hearing, but it senses us somehow. It’s been stalking the village, finding everyone. Blades, arrows, they’re all useless. They vaporize when they touch the slime. Fire a shaft off if you don’t believe me, but please, just hide your foolish hide before you get us killed!” He shoves the boy away and hurries back inside.

Asq jogs forward fifteen paces and launches an arrow. Indeed, less than an arm’s length inside and the projectile is no more. The archer notices, though, that the human corpses inside are being, “. . . savored. They’re still alive and it’s savoring them. Killing them slowly and . . .”

Worst comes to pass and with no warning the slime selects a body and presents it at the edge, but still within, it’s filmy skin. The mother of Asq looks to her son with a terrifying grimace, her facial features stretched out inhumanly possible as a large majority of her skin has been eaten away.

The archer boy starts to weep with deep inner groans. He is unable to speak. He mouths her title but makes no comprehensible sound. He staggers forward in a bawling trance with his arm reaching out and up to his mother. He hears not, or does not take heed, the calls of Svelte and Gacciu as he bumbles on. Once Asq has come to where the slime rests, he stops, arm still out, and his body convulsing with the tears from within. He only stares at his now-quickly evaporating mother through watery eyes while the sides of the creature wall up on either side of him. His mother is utterly gone now. His arm falls slack and Asq looks to the ground, his shoulders involuntarily shrugging still with held-in hurt. The walls of the slime fall and envelope him.

Svelte is already upon the scene. Her arm plunges into what feels like hot jam and needles, all the way up to her shoulder. It is not enough. She pushes in, the slime crawling up her neck, down her chest, half of her face and one full breast later Svelte grasps her lover’s cape. Pulling her friend free, though, is like dragging a dead cow through a mud pit. It is not enough. She may have been a lifelong tomboy, but she is still a petite woman. The slime has begun pulling back, pulling her in.

Svelte never releases her strong but painful hold on the red cape. Her eyes close and coming death clears her mind with fear. She never even feels Gacciu pull her and Asq free. The blackout splashes white as she slams onto the ground, then blue as she opens her eyes to the sky.

“Get up! I cannot pull you entirely out of town!” The merchant is heaving with exhausted breaths. Svelte tries to speak but is left agape at the man’s uncharacteristically heroic duty. She hurriedly takes to her feet and helps Asq do the same. She tugs at him to run with her, to follow Gacciu slowly jogging away, but her lover is stiff; alive, but motionless.

“Honey, please, please help me! You know I can’t pull you along; you have to run with me. Please Asq!”

The archer takes a step as if he understands, but remains slack-jawed and in a state of shock. With Svelte working as his guide he is eventually capable of turning a few steps into a walk, a trot, and then a run. He mindlessly races with his lover until Gacciu nearly knocks them down coming around a corner.

“Okay, we have to leave. We can’t hide if it knows we’re here. The stable has been untouched by that thing thus far. I thank the gods for their pity on the defenseless beasts there. Svelte, go fetch us two good mules, the fastest you see, and bring them to my shed. Release the others. Give them a fighting chance, or for us, forgive me lords, a distraction if the fates are not with them. Asq . . .” The look in the boy’s eyes tell Gacciu he will be of no help in this state. “I’ll take Asq. I’ve a wagon ready to go. We need the mules, but I can harness them in a heartbeat—“

“Let’s just ride them out of town!”

“No Svelte, my wagon is equipped with provisions and has wares we can sell. This is not monetary greed, this is about need. Unless we bring the slime to show it really did murder our village, no innkeeper will take us in free. We will need money and we’ve no time to scour for valuables. We must take my wagon; now, the mules!”

Gacciu stumbles into his shop-side shed and readies his wagon for transport. Fortunately, he had packed it last night. The plan was to leave for the upcoming fairs today, though now it seems he will miss them all. He straps the heavy cloth tarp over for a poor shelter from the elements. He watches Asq through the corner of his eye, and silently prays for the petrified boy.

The door crashes open and Svelte enters with two sturdy beasts and the speed of the gods. Gacciu covers himself with hand gestures of holy symbols and embraces her for her swiftness.

“There is just enough room in the back for Asq to lie down. Tell him to rest for now and join me at the reins. We will ride into late evening before setting up camp. If Asq is up to it, he may drive us through the night.” Gacciu follows up on his word and harnesses the animals with professional speed. He is already seated and looking out the open shed door when Svelte joins him at last.

The wagon creeps noisily out into the open. Gacciu and Svelte perspire profusely upon entering the sunlight, their heads darting from left to right in search of the slime. Again, the gods smile upon the survivors as a mule screeches a sound none of them have ever known any animal to make. The monster is busy elsewhere and the wagon dangerously speeds down the main road from town.

Email: Tzelldias@aol.com