23
He woke sweating a cold sweat, the memory of the betrayal still fresh in his mind as he rubbed his eyes awake and open. Nahknani and Lem lied next to him at the base of the fire they had put out. It was dark. He must've slept through the day, and he couldn't recognize where they were.
The throbbing pain from his face had all but subsided. He touched it, to feel the swelling. It had gone down, almost back to normal. His shoulder and finger had healed too, but not perfectly. His shoulder would forever be marred with a hideous scar, and his finger would never grow back, but the pain, again, had all but dissipated and the healing powers of her herbs and the fire restored Aegon back to his condition before his capture, more or less.
He rolled and rose, standing for the first time in what seemed like weeks, though it had probably only been hours. His legs, still sore like they were about to cramp, had healed, but still lacked the strength from starvation to do much more than walk if he had to. He needed to eat and drink, then he'd be himself again, but as he thought of himself, and who he'd been in the dream, I still don't know who I am. Who is Aegon Velaryon? Or will I always be Har of the Harbor?
He searched their makeshift camp for leftover food and water. Worrying from place to place, he heard Nahknani stir on the ground below him. "You're awake." She said, before her eyes fully opened. She stretched her arms and legs, spreading her jaws in a wide yawn like a lion would, even going as far to lick her fangs in conclusion.
"I need to eat. Is there any food left?" The only pain left was the hunger in his gut.
She gathered herself, climbed slowly to her feet and yawned again. "There's some meat there in your leaf thing."
Aegon ate, drank the remaining water in the skin, and sat down next to Nahknani who hadn't yet fully woken up. After the much need sustenance, she turned to him saying, "I have something for you."
She reached around where she was sleeping, grabbed and handed him something. The dirk.
"You found it?" After the dream replaying in his head, there could have been no better gift she could have given him, other than his life, which she already had.
"And this," she pulled the jahkyar cloak as well. He jumped up, grinning ear to ear like a child and fastened the cloak around his bare back and chest. One of the claws that held it closed had fallen off, but it could still fasten in front with only two.
"Thank you." He said, the moon waxing, emanating soft blue beams that reflected off her eyes in a metallic azure glow. "And my face. My shoulder. My finger. How did you heal me so quickly?"
She reached out her hand, softly touching his cheek saying, "It was not quick for me. It took the whole day. You stayed asleep after the last time you woke to eat, but you kept turning ever so often, opening the dressing on your shoulder. Once, you almost set the forest aflame," she laughed, "But Lem got the worst of it. I think his tongue is still without feeling." The two of them looked at the pup, sleeping, his numb tongue hanging out of his open mouth, covered with the hahkyeen pelt. "You were also crying, moaning something about a 'Last time.' Then it would start again. They say you dream your pain on the Chuun root. Did you dream your pain?"
The most painful thing I've ever done. "I don't remember."
"You do," she said smiling, "but it's ok. You can tell me if you want after all this is done with. Come. Are you ready to cross the river again?"
With his wounds burnt closed, he felt he could cross. They also needed to cross. But the river was just another fight and he wasn't sure he was ready yet. "Are we near the river? I heard running water before when I woke."
"Yes. It's just over that ridge. We waited until you were strong enough, the current is swift here."
They climbed the ridge to see. Rushing white capped water careened through the riverbank like a brown stampede. The river's breadth here was wider than when they had previously crossed. Aegon worried he couldn't hold his breath long enough. He felt certain Nahknani couldn't. Despite the perilous nature of the task, they had to cross. Aegon hoped he still had enough strength, wondering if there was a way they could avoid it. He thought of things he could make, things he could do, but nothing would work, the same as the last time, until he remembered the last thing he said after they crossed.
"We should've asked him." He said. Nahknani looked puzzled.
"Ask who?"
"Lem." She looked at him confused. "Remember," he continued, "I told you to ask him. We laughed but as soon as we crossed, he found us on the other side as dry as a bone in Dorne."
She paused, as she often did, then responded in kind, "How would you like me to ask him then," she smiled that near sinister grin, "in my tongue or Valyrian?"
"There's only one real way to speak to that one." They returned to their camp and Aegon looked around for the leaf pouch. He found it, grabbed some of the cooked meat inside, and whistled for Lem's attention. He perked up from his slumber, yawned, trotted over and sat on his haunches. Aegon gave him one piece, then preceded to lead him, food in hand, to the river's edge.
"Go on boy," he said, as he tossed the remaining morsels to the other side of the river.
Lem yelped scowling, visibly upset with Aegon's ploy. He circled the river bank, yelped a few more times, then pointed his nose to the ground.
Aegon looked to Nahknani saying, "If there's a dry way across, he'll find it for some food." The two smirked at each other coyly and followed the agitated hahkyeen as he walked the river's edge with his nose to the ground.
They followed the pup through varying terrains over a quarter mile until Aegon began to doubt his plan in his head. Nahknani doubted audibly. "Where is this beast leading us? I'm not sure whose the dumber, him who is lost or the one who suggested we follow."
Then he saw it. A rock formation in the middle of a clearing, dirt circling it, an opening carved out of the stone. The silhouette of a crude castle. He studied the bordering forest. It was nothing like the section of wood that he met Lem or was poisoned by the yellow flower, was it? He broke rank, running to the edge of the clearing in an attempt to gain his bearings. Who am I fooling? I didn't know I was on the wrong side of the river.
He turned back, calling to his rescuer, "Do you know this place?"
"Not really. No," she said. "Why?"
"This hill looks like the cave of the eyeless men."
She stopped mid stride to pause, as she did, focusing her gaze on the entrance. Lem continued running, gaining on the cave, as Nahknani thought.
The hahkyeen reached the opening and skid to a halt. He snapped his head around and only now noticed he was alone. His eyes bulged, his ass jolted and he scurried, cowardly back. Nahknani smirked, then turned to Aegon, her eyes widened and said, "Is that not how you crossed the first time?"
Unknowingly.
Approaching the cave, Aegon and Nahknani took the lead, as Lem cowered behind them. Aegon's first encounter with the cave dwellers started and ended with fire. He wasn't sure if a torch would keep them away or draw them in, but to follow Lem in the thick pitch black of the cave they'd need light. It made the decision easy, but the uneasiness inside as he struck his flint stone built with each spark.
He wrapped a short thick branch with broad leaves and thin long grass at one end then ignited it outside the cave. The walls here were plain stone, not the black and oily surface from his first encounter, and the smell was less dank on the precipice of the darkness than his previous time inside. I hope that means its abandoned.
Doubt filled his head as the three hesitated before the cave. Nahknani's fire cure had healed Aegon tremendously well. He could barely feel the pain from his wounds and soreness, but they were still open, healing. If he were to try to cross the infested river, surely some sickness would take him. They were lucky to have crossed it the first time without incident. If they tried now, he'd be more than tempting fate, he'd be sealing his own.
"Stay close. Stay in the light. Lem crossed quickly enough before, if we hurry, we should be out of here in mere moments. Keep your wits though, they took me last time from behind with the yellow flower. Many died, but I have never seen this cave before. They could still live."
She smiled that mischievous smile, "So you let them take you from behind then. I knew you preferred men." Aegon was in no mood, but left the jest unopposed. He reached for the dirk, unsheathed it, and turned to his party. He gestured onward with his dirk and stepped cautiously into the cave.
Soft drips echoed down the thin corridor, no wider than two men across, as they proceeded in single file, Aegon, Nahknani, then Lem, still cowering. "We're going to need you to show us the way, buddy." Aegon said to the hahkyeen pup. "Stay back for now, but soon we'll need to follow you."
As the walked deeper into the cave, he could feel the path descending on a slight decline. At least we're going down. This could work. But how far down must one go to pass beneath a river? It felt much longer, but after a few minutes they reached a fork in the corridor. Aegon gestured to Lem, hanging back in the edge of the torch light, for which way. Reluctantly, the four legged fur ball tiptoed to the front of their miniature column, sniffed each path and decided on the right. They followed and as the corridor continued, thinning slightly, Lem retreated to the rear, walking next to and under Nahknani.
They reached crudely shaped stairs, descending into a thicker cooler dark. The walls were beginning to sweat, beads of cool moisture glistening in the torchlight, and as they walked down, the air became increasingly cooler. When the reached the bottom of the steps, the air was so cold each breath became a thin cloud in front of them.
Their steps echoed as they continued to make their way, reminiscent of the first blind walk through similar caves. When the sounds of their steps continued longer than Aegon felt natural, he'd spin wildly, waving the torch to illuminate the suffocating darkness that surrounded their safe bubble of light. Each time he saw no signs of eyeless men. Irahk she called them. Nahknani shuttered in response to the sudden movements, herself clearly shaken in the dark, each time responding in kind, "What are you doing that for?" He felt it would be unkind to explain to her the details, answering each time with, "Nothing. Just being cautious."
Save their steps and the drips, the cave was silent. The stone walls around them were beige and taupe, natural rock coloring. The floor was much of the same, no blood. No bones. Everything seemed easy enough, which unnerved him more than familiar sights might have, but he continued at a brisk pace, eating up the light in front of him as quickly as the torch could illuminate it.
After a while, he couldn't feel if they were descending or ascending, the ceiling parallel to the floor, jagged rock edges poking from both up and down. The hall continued to gradually thin though and it felt as if the ceiling was gradually getting lower. He smacked his face with the flat of the dirk, fearing the dark was playing with his senses. The anxiousness bubbled into a need for confirmation from Nahknani, "Does the ceiling look like its getting lower to you?"
"Yes. And the walls tighter." Good. He thought. As long as I keep my wits, we will be fine. Just keep going. Forward. Onward.
He checked behind them, fearing the echo of feet once more, before they reached another checkpoint. Another crude stair, this time ascending, appeared from the darkness before them. They climbed each half rounded, some broken, cautiously, Lem most of all, only stepping where Nahknani's feet had already been. When they reached the top, the hall emptied into a large hall like room. The walls were as black as pitch, and greasy. Now this looks somewhat familiar.
He felt as if this were the same room from his first time in the caves, though he did not want to confirm it by measuring with steps. The torch still shined brightly enough to see, so they looked for additional corridors, like he did the last time.
A rush of wind blew through, whispering in their ears, raising the hair on Aegon's neck and arms. Nahknani must have been spooked and she reached out, grabbing Aegon's dirk arm, clutching against him, her soft pelt crashing into him with a rush of warmth much welcome in the cold still air. Lem huddled in too, walking around and through their strides as they searched for the exit. Lem had seemed to lose all confidence in himself, never taking the lead, even now with the correct direction in doubt. Walking together in unison, they slowed, which Aegon did not like, but felt it cruel to stop. Even brindled women felt the effects of fear in a place as foreboding as this. Especially if all she knew of these people were the stories from her elders. Aegon grew up on similar stories of the Others, which to him were nothing more than children's tales. Maybe he should reconsider those tales as well.
Another soft gust whished through the large room, this time accented with what Aegon heard as whispers. Nahknani shuddered to the gust, but reacted in no way to the voice he thought he heard. Maybe now I'm losing my wits. If she couldn't hear it, then it must not be real. They kept walking, though Aegon's heart began to beat faster and harder inside his chest.
He heard another breeze, moaning through a crack somewhere, whistling in a low sullen tone. He tried to ignore it, but it continued to sound oooooooooooo woooooooooo. Nahknani again did not react.
Then sounds came without the breeze. He heard voices. Soft, low. But he heard them. At first it was no more than a barely audible whisper. Then he could hear it as clearly as if the speaker was next to him. Again, he spun wildly to find who and where it was coming, but there was nothing in sight. Nahknani looked at him worried, he ignored her look, tried to compose his face, and listened.
You have returned and so soon, Dragonseed. Those that are left are so very glad to have you within our humble confines once more. You have fire, we see, and that is good. Those that are left seek it. The youngest of us still yearn for the light, though they may never taste its warmth again. You and your friends have little time until we descend upon you. Tick, tick, tick. You three will be such choice morsels.
The light of the torch seemed dampened by the thick air, unable to illuminate the whole room. For half a heartbeat, Aegon thought to ignite the walls again, but they had yet to find the exit corridor, and the flames and heat might not affect him as badly as they would affect Nahknani and Lem. If it comes to that, yes, but we must needs hurry.
"Did you hear that too?" He asked Nahknani, gently shrugging her off of him to increase the groups speed.
"Hear what?" Nahknani's eyes were as wide as they were beautiful. They were haunted though, as she trembled, now clutching herself, her auburn colored arms wrapped tightly around her mostly bare skin and pelt. "What did you hear?"
He thought to tell her, but the fear already in her had paralyzed her this much. The knowledge of some insidious threat, or the chance of Aegon losing his wits would frighten her even more. "We must hurry," was all he thought he could say. "We need to get the hell out of here."
He picked up his own pace to a brisk walk, increasing to a jog here and there to speed up their search for an exit. He held the dirk tightly, raised, anticipating an ambush from any direction, as his two companions scurried behind him trying to stay in the decreasing glow from the torch.
Your flame will fail you, Dragonseed. Your flame will fail you.
"No it won't," he said aloud, as he reached a greasy black wall. He slid the dirk out to the stone, dragged its edge against it, and rubbed what he got off onto his torch to fuel the dying flame.
"Who are you talking to? You're scaring me," she said, her voice ringing with the fierceness of a chipmunk.
"No one. Its nothing. Let's go."
They found another corridor. He heard their steps echo down it. He turned, running in small bursts, searching for Irahk. None. They continued.
"Is this the way, Lem?" He asked, somehow expecting an answer quickly from the frightened pup. He yelped back, though it was a scared yelp more than it was a confident one, and though Aegon doubted his understanding of the hahkyeen's language at times, he could tell what he meant here.
"Then where boy?"
They stood in the corridor, only a few steps in it, still, their breath visible in the light of the torch. The temperature dropped from cold to icy, and as they stood there waiting for Lem, he heard them. Those aren't our footsteps. Those are them.
"Aegon . ." she whimpered. She didn't need to say anything more.
"Lem," he raised his voice, "now or never. Where do we go?"
The pup bolted down the hall, running out of the light and into the darkness. Aegon and Nahknani ran just as quickly behind him, the torch light flickering in the air as they rushed through, dwindling.
"You mustn't let it go out. We will be doomed down here," she begged, her clawed hand clutched around his arm so tightly she broke through his skin.
He didn't slow down though. He couldn't. "C'mon. It'll stay lit." He hoped aloud.
The walls of the corridor continued as regular jagged stone and began to thin even more. Thinner and thinner and thinner. Within a couple strides, the hall was so tight, they had to turn to their sides to fit through, the walls' jagged edges stabbing at their chest and back as they tried to slide through. Aegon let Nahknani squeeze in front of him, his dirk hand behind him to fend off any attackers. The light of the torch was all but out. The ceiling began to shrink on top of them too. He could feel the air tighten in his lungs as he squeezed through, his chest and back ripping through the hard sharp stone. He felt the crags scrape against his head as he tried to crouch, suffocating through the narrow exit, Nahknani whimpering and breathing heavily in front of him.
"I'm stuck," she cried, the footsteps growing louder. "I can't move."
"You must. Try to slink down. Walk with your hands. Fight through its not much further."
"I can't. I can't." She cried like a petulant child, "I can't do it."
Forward. Onward. He turned back to see what was behind him. Darkness. He tried to look past Nahknani. He couldn't.
"Are your eyes open?" He asked as calmly as he could, his heart beating frantically in his compressed chest.
"No."
"Open them, can you see light?"
"Yes," hope crept back into her voice again. "I can see it. Lem's there."
"Somehow, pull yourself through. Get your body lower and crawl if you have to. Claw, dig, just get there. You can do it."
She paused as quickly as she ever did. "I can do it," she murmured to herself softly but determined. "I can do it."
The walls continued to squeeze them. The ceiling continued to lower. The footsteps continued to grow louder.
We are almost upon you, Dragonseed. Tick, tick, tick.
He could hear her clawing through, scraping against the rock walls. Moaning and shrieking through the pain of the cuts as sharp edges sliced through her and him. He felt blood rushing. He felt a fingernail rip off. Just a little more.
She reached the opening and pulled herself out with a sigh that sounded like the scream from a birthing mother. She squeezed out of the hole in the rocks like a newborn as well, popping through, letting the sun hit him in his cut face. The dirk hand was still trailing him as he struggled through and under the lower ceiling which made it increasingly difficult to stand. He felt his body turning horizontal, kicking, clawing, squirming free of the suffocating prison of sharp jagged stone.
He felt something scrawling for his dirk hand as he jutted it out. The blade met an object and he heard it plunge into flesh. He recoiled and stabbed again to the sound of another landed thrust. The torch went out as another hand reached, grabbing at his dirk hand. He thrusted once more, than recoiled his arm all the way in. I just got you back. I'm not losing you again. He tucked the dirk in its sheath and focused only on the opening.
Clawing, squirming, he reached it, poking his head through and into the light. He gasped for fresh air, but still couldn't breathe. His chest, along with the rest of his body still stuck in the shrunken dark hall. He squirmed, freeing his shoulders, jagged rock edges cutting him all the while. He stretched his arms out, dropping the extinguished torch and dirk to grab Nahknani's hands.
He felt hands grabbing at his legs as well.
He kicked as hard as his legs could kick with little room to swing them. He twisted his bleeding torso as much as he could, his legs churning the air, kicking cold hands and the walls, trying to burst through the crevice out of the cave and into the light.
Nahknani pulled with all her might, screaming, her heels dug into the dirt. Lem was yelping.
We have you, Dragonseed. Your journey ends before it has even begun.
He kicked, landing on something solid. He freed his legs from the grasping hands and Nahknani pulled him out, his body bursting through the opening like water through a broken dam, exploding onto the ground and into the light.
He laid back in the grass, his warm blood trickling out of so many fresh new cuts.
Not yet. Forward. Onward.