Every day after lunch had
settled Thom would challenge Davros. It was good exercise, but Davros saw no
improvement in his new friend. He wished he knew how to teach, for it would do
them both good to see Thom improve. He wasn’t even getting faster.
“Hey, stop,” Davros said,
dropping his improvised weapon. “You’re not getting faster.”
“Screw you Dav!” Thom said.
“I’m getting better and you’re just afraid I’m going to beat you one day!
“No. I mean it. We’re not
eating any meat or milk. I’m no apothecary, but I think we’re not getting the
right kinds of food. I’ve had to survive on cut rations in the past, and it’s a
lot like this. Even if we have been eating plenty,” Davros explained. “Haven’t
you noticed you get tired sooner than you used to?”
“I…” Thom stopped to think.
“You’re right. How had I not noticed?”
Davros shook his head. “I think
we need to stop our practices. They’re making us weaker. Little by little, but
we’re growing weaker every day.”
There wasn’t nutrition science,
but Davros seemed to be onto something. Their bodies were not getting
everything they needed. Unfortunately for them, they were already eating as
well as they could be.
Davros and Thom decided to
visit the twins and see if they knew of any potions that might help.
“That’s an interesting theory,”
Tink said.
“Yes, unfortunately neither of
us ever studied the healing arts. There are indeed all sorts of herbs and powders
in the lab,” Clink started.
“But we don’t know how to mix
them for medicines,” Tink finished.
“Very well,” Davros said. “How
is the research coming? Have you found anything in these books that might help
us find a way out?”
Tink shook his head. Clink hung
his head and sighed.
“Sorry boss,” the twins said in
unison.
“We’ll keep looking,” Tink
said.
Clink looked out at nothing,
closed his eyes, and shook his head in agreement.
***********************
***********************
Zand awoke in a thick fog. He
could not remember going to sleep, and wasn’t sure where he was. He tried to
look around to make sense of his surroundings, but it was just whiteness
everywhere more than a few feet in front of his eyes. He started walking, but
realized he could step off a cliff and not know until it was too late. He
dropped to the ground crawled twenty feet and found someone’s sleeping body. He
tried to shake the man awake.
“Hey! Where are we?” Zand
asked. “I don’t remember anything after setting the wagons on fire.”
The man groaned in response.
While there were no words, it could best be translated as, “Piss off!”
Zand looked around, saw no one
else, then proceeded to shake the man harder.
“Hey! We’re all alone! This
isn’t good.” Zand said while putting some real strength into the shaking.
“-seven hells with you!” the
man half-shouted, sleep still in his mouth.
“Damn it man, we’re alone and
in the thickest fog I’ve ever seen. You can sleep once we’re safely with our
comrades!” Zand shouted, banging his fists on the man’s arm.
Slowly, the man opened his eyes
and then looked to Zand. His face was a question mark. “Zam, right?”
“Zand, but close, yeah. We
gotta figure this out. I can’t see more than a couple of feet. And you’re the
only person I’ve been able to find so far,” Zand explained.
Zand looked at the man, but
could not remember his name. Had they even met before? Honestly, if it weren’t
for the merchant robe, he might not have recognized the connection between them
at all.
“How hard did you look? It’s not
like we set up camp miles apart from each other. I’m sure the rest of our unit
is around here,” the man said.
“Very well, but we have to be
careful. I recommend crawling if you want to make sure you don’t fall from a
cliff. Um, by the way,” Zand paused while he tried to think of the best way to
ask, “what is your name? There were just so many of us in that caravan and I
feel bad because you sort of remembered my name.”
The man snorted and shook his
head. “You can call me Dell. I’m not surprised you don’t know my name. The
commander had you holed up half the trip.”
Zand nodded in agreement. “That
I was, Dell. That I was.”
Zand crawled forward another
twenty feet but found no one. The fog was so thick though, that for all he knew
he passed three on the way. Dell did not take Zand’s caution to heart and
walked upright the way the four gods intended. At least he had the good sense
to stay within sight of Zand.
“Let’s move over several feet
and then comb back toward where we woke up,” Zand suggested.
“This is a waste of time. Why
don’t we just call out to them and see if they respond?” Dell asked.
Zand shook his head in
disbelief. Was this man truly that stupid?
“We are being pursued by a
large armed force, as you should recall. We may have lost them for now, but I
don’t think it’s a good idea to give away our location by yelling,” Zand said
while trying to not sound annoyed.
“Oh, yeah,” Dell said, softly.
The two men moved back in
forth, sweeping over a space large enough to hold a good sized feast. Zand’s
stomach growled at the thought. While everyone else had raw horse beef steak,
he had been too exhausted to even chew. He looked at the dry grass he was
crawling through and wondered what it tasted like. Thankfully, he still had his
faculties to tell him it was a bad idea to eat strange plants.
“Can’t you cast a spell to find
them? Or like summon you familiar to scout the area?” Dell asked.
“Not everything in the
storybooks is true.” Zand said, then suddenly remembering something, “but I
might have a different kind of spell that might help. Keep an eye out for any
danger while I prepare.”
Now how was it? Zand thought
back to the last day he saw his mercenary crew, remembered how the clouds
seemed to have cleared away. He had been trying to tap into his invisibility
spell, but had been unsuccessful. Still, it seemed like other things had
happened as a result. Zand sat and let the magic rise within himself. Once his
skin began to tingle, he tried to picture a sunny day with clear skies and
green grass. Nothing happened. Ah, now he remembered. He settled his mind and
let the magic tingle once more. He imagined a rainy sky, the drops falling
fewer and fewer and then stopping, the sun parting the clouds and warming the
ground. He looked around and saw that the fog was still present, but it seemed
a little brighter. Maybe. He gathered the magic inside, stronger this time. His
muscles began to burn slightly. He went through the same imagery in his head,
focusing on how clear the sky had become and the sun shining warmly. Could he
see further in the fog?
“Dell,” Zand said, looking for
his companion, “where are you? I want to test something. Dell?”
Zand looked around but could
not find him. He stood and spun in a circle. Dell was nowhere to be found. He
decided that the spell seemed to be working and set out to further strengthen
it. He sat back down and let the magic rise still further. His bones were, well
he was aware of them, could feel the magic surging through his body. Again he
pictured the rain stopping, the sun parting the clouds, the ground warming. He
kept channeling more magic and kept repeating the imagery in his mind. Just
before losing consciousness, he thought he felt the heat of the sun on his
exposed skin and a gentle breeze.
###########
I hope you're enjoying this story. I also have a zombie e-book on Amazon that I'm rather proud of.
No comments:
Post a Comment