Chapter 8

After their third teleport in less then sixty seconds, the fleeing trio appeared on a rocky hillside. Around them were steep slopes, and in the distance the outline of jagged mountain peaks. Drazan quickly looked around and raised his hand, pointing toward the mountains.

"That's where we're going. This is as close I we can get by teleporting. We're actually a fair way inside of the Ancients' anti-teleportation ward - nearly twenty-five miles in fact. I don't have the strength to get us any farther with magic." Without another word he set off toward the mountains. Noria and I looked at each other, and quickly followed.

Only fifteen minutes into our journey on foot, I was gasping for breath and my heart was thundering in my ears. Drazan was slowly getting farther in front of us. I hurried to catch up, but my shoe caught on a loose stone, and I was sent sprawling in the dirt.

Noria had been behind me, so she was at my side before Drazan, "Are you hurt?" she asked worriedly.

"No…just…out…of…breath." I gasped.

Drazan hoisted me to my feet.

Noria spoke quietly, "You're pace is too fast for her."

"It cannot be helped," Drazan replied. "Lenési, you must take control of Rheda's body and supplement her endurance with your life force."

"Rheda may I-"

I interrupted Lenési's thoughts. Do it. I'll never be able to keep up with him without you're help.

"Drazan, you realize that if I grow too weak…" Lenési advised.

"Yes, but again, we have no choice."

We set off at a quick pace again, this time I was able to keep up. I now felt…good! My coordination, endurance, strength, they were all amazing. I felt like I could walk for days like this!

"We can, Rheda, but you know the risk," Lenési informed me.

Do you want me to rest? Doesn't it take more energy if we're both awake?

"It does, but I need you awake. I draw all of my stability from you. I can't do this without you."

Too bad we can't just turn into bats and fly the whole way, I silently complained.

Lenési smiled at that. "Aye Indeed… We'll get there though, just keep me focused, and we'll be fine."

As the day wore on, we'd intercepted a trail soon after we'd started, and were now following it. It seemed to be going in the correct direction, and Drazan speculated that it was probably a trail used by rock climbers. During the first several hours we only stopped for a moment when Drazan handed us bottles of water and food that he'd brought. We ate as we walked, spoke minimally, and focused on the path in front of us.

Since Lenési was controlled our body, and nobody was speaking at all, I took the opportunity to catch glimpses of scenery. Most of the day found us paralleling a river valley. Dense green foliage lined the stream, but only a few tens of meters away from the watercourse, the ground was arid and rocky. Tough scrub brush hugged the ground, and faded greenish brown tufts of grass poked up through the slightly sandy soil. Our boots kicked up tiny clouds of dust with each step, and by midday the heat was oppressive. The sun reflected up from the barren ground, with each breath I could smell the dust and heat. Occasionally Lenési would glance up at the mountains in the distance, but they didn't seem to be getting any closer. At the moment those peaks wavered and danced, blue to purple with patches of white, in the afternoon heat. Why did we have to pick someplace that was so damn hot, I wondered.

My feet had begun to hurt several hours ago, but I didn't say a word. I knew blisters were forming, but there was little to be done about it. As the day progressed, the pain grew more and more intense. To think at one time I actually thought hiking in mountains would be fun! I didn't think it could get any worse then this. I was proven wrong in the late afternoon when we left the valley and started walking sharply uphill.

The blisters on my heels became fiery coals on my feet. Lenési…can't we please stop for a little bit? I begged.

"I feel it too, Rheda. It would only get worse if we stopped. Trust me."

Lenési gritted her teeth for us both and plodded on up the path. I didn't care about the scenery anymore; all I wanted was to stop walking.

Near dusk Drazan called an abrupt halt.

Lenési instantly dropped to the ground.

Noria knelt beside her. "How are you holding up?" she asked in concern.

"We're okay," Lenési replied quickly.

No we're not! My feet are killing me!

Lenési smiled tightly, "Rheda just mentioned that our feet hurt a little."

Little my ass!

"Want me to take a look?" Noria asked gently.

"No…" Lenési replied weakly.

Yes!

Lenési sighed, "Umm…maybe."

Noria unlaced first one boot, then the other. Carefully she removed both, and rolled down sweat, and puss soaked socks.

"You two are in so much trouble. What were you thinking not telling us about this all day?" Noria demanded.

Drazan approached us. "Problem?"

"You could say that."

Drazan squatted beside us and looked at our feet, now resembling something that came out of a sausage grinder. "You know, I would have expected this from somebody say…twenty years old. Not someone approaching three hundred!" He shook his head in frustration. "Walking all day with that happening and not telling me!" he chastised. "Do you not have a single brain between the two of you?"

"I didn't think anything could be done for it," Lenési muttered.

Drazan slipped his small pack from his shoulders and dug into it. He came out with a blood red teardrop pendant hung from a golden chain. "Put this on," he ordered.

Lenési draped the chain around her neck and instantly the pain vanished. As I watched, the skin on my abused feet healed, and within moments none of the blisters remained.

"Thanks."

"You can forget about wearing those boots again - they're worthless."

"So what am I supposed to wear?"

"You won't be wearing anything on your feet."

"Barefoot? You expect me to walk barefoot?"

"I didn't say that." Drazan raised his hand, looked at it intently, and muttered, "I haven't done this in many years."

Not done what in many years?

"I'm not sure even I want to know," Lenési confided.

Drazan wiggled his fingers. "I think I remember the spell…"

Lenési eyed him, "You think?"

Drazan shrugged. "One way to find out." He placed his hand on 'our' feet and muttered an incantation.

CRACK! A green ball of fire enveloped our feet, and Lenési shrieked in agony. The ball quickly contracted around our feet and climbed up our legs, past the knee and moving toward the hip. The pain was unbelievable.

"Stop it! You're hurting her!" Noria cried.

Lenési and I were in far too much pain to speak. The fire moved faster, racing up to our torso to our shoulders, down our arms, and finally covering our head. As soon as we were completely enveloped, the pain vanished. "Rheda, are you okay?"

I… guess. What was that?

"What in the name of the Goddess did you do to her?" Noria demanded.

"Well…that wasn't exactly what I'd intended, but it worked. I only meant to cover her feet…"

Lenési looked down at her feet. They were now very dark brown and appeared to be made of something resembling tree bark. She reached down and rubbed her ankle and found the skin to be tough and leathery. She quickly saw that the strange coloration covered the rest of her body as well. "What did you do to me?"

"I weaved a Barkskin spell, but I'd only intended to cover your feet. I guess I should have warned you that it might sting a little."

"STING A LITTLE?" Lenési screamed. "It hurt like hell, you bloody bastard!"

"Nési, can you move?" Noria asked worriedly.
"Yes…it feels…well, it doesn't feel like anything at all. What exactly is it supposed to do?"

Drazan stood. "It's supposed to do this." He raised is foot and stomped on Lenési ankle.

Noria leapt to her feet and shouted, "What are you doing?"

Drazan ignored her and asked, "Did that hurt?"

Lenési reached down and rubbed the spot where he'd stomped. "I hardly felt anything at all. No, it didn't hurt at all." She looked up in amazement. "Barkskin, huh?"

"As long you don't jump up and down on say broken glass for a few hours, it should protect your feet, and the rest of your body for about a week."

Lenési slowly got to her feet, "I've never heard of a spell like that."

"It's not exactly something you'd find in a textbook. I learned it many, many years ago, before I became a vampire. I never had any real use for it. It makes fairly effective armor, or so I was told."

"You look like your made of wood," Noria remarked.

"I don't feel any different."

"Now that we've dealt with that, we need to get moving again."

Nési, Are we ever going to get to sleep? I know you're using our life energy to keep up the pace, but I'm already tired!

"I'll ask." "Are you planning on having us walk all the way without sleeping?"

"I would like to," Drazan admitted, "But I don't think it would be very wise for you. It would drain you far too much."

"So when do we sleep?"

"Tomorrow. Sometime tomorrow." He again dipped into his pack and drew out two handfuls of something reddish brown in color. He tossed a few to me, and a few to Noria. "That's dinner, hope you like jerky. You can eat it as we walk."

I groaned to Lenési.

"No rest for the wicked, Rheda."

Wordlessly we started up the trail again. It was eerie up here among the mountain; quiet, and as darkness fell, I couldn't shake a feeling of growing fear. It was an unfocused, unnamed, and perhaps irrational fear. For the last two weeks we'd been hunted, and I'd been afraid for my life, but this…this was something else. We didn't belong here. The trees around me, even the very stones and earth seemed to be warning me - you're intruders here, leave while you still can.

I kept those thoughts to myself as we trudged on through the cloudless star filled night.

"In the time of fear, a child of undeath would unravel the skein of our curse bringing final rest to all undying children. She will be a wind whisper, seer, usurper, and an uncursed immortal."