Part 15
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Gremio woke to find himself considerably warmer - in fact, he felt downright hot. There was a heat running through his veins, so fiery bright that his fists clenched, and he gasped at the strange, overflowing sensation that was worse than any fever he'd had in his life, as if his blood was boiling.
"Hey... how are you feeling?"
Viktor's voice broke in, startling him into realizing that his eyes were open, and his vision strangely sharp. He could see every blade of grass in the clearing, even in the darkness of night, hear the song of some bird far off. He could smell the scent of burning wood from the small campfire - and Viktor as well, with a scent of old sweat and leather and something else that was simply Viktor.
The rushing sensation still left him dizzy, and Gremio put a hand to his head as he sat up. Or he started to; upon lifting his hand, he spotted something there that caught his eye - something dark and shimmering.
"...Yeah, you did it," Viktor affirmed with a chuckle, seeing Gremio stop in mid-motion to stare at his right hand. "I don't know what you did, but it was there when I woke up. You were out cold, though, and the wind was picking up on the plains as night fell, so I pulled you back into these trees to get some shelter."
"Not that he had the brains to think of it," another voice spoke up, from the ground beside Viktor. "He just stood there staring until I told him to get the lead out."
"Aw, shut up," Viktor muttered, glaring at his sword, then giving Gremio a long-suffering look. "Too bad this piece of junk was back when I woke up too."
"You're still insulting me?" the Star Dragon Sword exclaimed indignantly. "I saved your life!"
"My ass!"
"Yes, I saved that too."
Gremio was still staring at his hand, baffled and disbelieving. Of course it was what he'd set out to do, and he'd convinced himself that it was possible, but seeing the rune right there, embedded in his own flesh, its feral energy roaring through him like a wildfire...
He clutched at his head as the sensation of untamed, fierce power overwhelmed him, memories of centuries of unquestioned authority filling his mind with the sound and feel of bones snapping between jaws, the screams of the dying, the smell and taste of hot blood upon the tongue.
When he came to himself again, he was bent over, vomiting in revulsion. Viktor had a hand on his shoulder, steadying him and looking uncharacteristically worried. "Don't worry," the Star Dragon Sword was saying, "this is perfectly normal."
"Normal?" Viktor growled at it. "I don't care what you say, this-"
"It's just testing him," the sword explained, in a patronizing tone. "This rune hasn't had a human host in a very long time, you realize - and it's still a wild thing, it wants to see if it can break free of his control."
"C-control...?" Gremio wiped his mouth, shakily accepting the cup of water Viktor offered. "I'm not controlling it... I don't want to control it... I just-"
"Then it will control you," the sword replied. "I suggest you assert your own power - otherwise, the moment that rune spots something it desires, it will go after it, regardless of your opinion on the matter. And that rune doesn't desire good things, if you catch my drift."
The mere suggestion of what the Beast Rune might desire sent another wave of violent memories and urges racing through Gremio's body, and he choked, nearly sick again. "H... how can I possibly..."
"It'll probably stop at some point," the sword stated. "Probably."
"You'd better be right," Viktor muttered. "Till then... hang in there, Gremio. Don't let it get to you."
He looked so serious that Gremio tried to laugh. "Viktor... you look so grim. Of course I will hang on - for my Young Master," he declared softly, his determination growing. He clenched a fist, as the rune's fire burned through him. "He can stand up to a violent rune, and so will-"
His voice broke off suddenly as another surge of the rune's power tore through him, leaving him shaking with the eternity and raw energy the Beast Rune possessed. Clutching at his hand, he squeezed his eyes closed, his entire body tensing against the unfamiliar influence. His own frustration at the thought of being used as the rune's pawn was pitted against the rune's deeper, hotter anger - but somehow, when he managed to open his eyes again, he found that nothing was out of place aside from his splayed fingers, half buried in the dirt where he had clawed the ground.
The rune's power was still there, lurking just at the back of his mind, enough to be a constant reminder, as Gremio panted for breath and Viktor reached out to pat his shoulder. "...Can I get you anything? Heh... maybe a drink would help?"
"You really are an idiot," the sword muttered. "He's in the middle of a mental battle for control - and you're going to get him drunk? Great idea - I can see why you always hired strategists to do the thinking for you."
"Shut up - I just thought maybe it would help him relax."
"It's right," Gremio agreed vaguely. "I can't afford any weakness now... I can't relax. I have to... to stay vigilant..." Already his body was stiff from tension, and he wondered if he would ever be able to relax enough to sleep again.
If he couldn't sleep, and he couldn't relax, there was no reason to waste time here, he decided. "Viktor... where are we?"
"Not too far into the woods," he replied. "I didn't want to carry you too far when I was still kind of out of it myself."
Gremio sighed, and looked around. He could sense more than see in the darkness that they were not where they had left Tir and Flik - there was no human scent besides their own, and the fact that he could tell that disturbed him.
Trying to gather his thoughts, he thought back to what he and Flik had discussed. Flik would take Tir and leave, but if he was successful, he would try to go back to assist Flik for the favor... "We should backtrack," he murmured, nervously. Viktor wouldn't take it well when he found Flik gone, but it couldn't be kept a secret forever.
Viktor nodded. "Yeah, let 'em know you did it, and that we're okay - and maybe Tir will know something to help you deal with that thing, right?" he suggested, a grin returning to his face.
Looking at that hopeful grin, Gremio couldn't keep up the charade any longer. "Viktor... I sent them away," he confessed. "As I told you, if I died, I didn't want my Young Master to know... and... and Flik, he said he had something he needed to do without you, so he wanted to take the opportunity to go off on his own..." At the look on Viktor's face, astonishment warring with anger, he quickly added, "But I told him - if I fell or if I did not, I could not stop you from chasing after him - I'm not strong enough. And if I succeeded, I wanted to help him with whatever trouble he was in! I told him I would follow... to repay him for taking my Young Master out of danger..."
Viktor's expression had darkened definitively into anger by the time Gremio had finished speaking, but there was something in his eyes that didn't quite add up. "Damn it..." He pounded a fist into the ground, and got to his feet. "Stay here and rest - I'll go-"
"No!" Gremio exclaimed, trying to get to his feet as well. "I said I would follow. And I... if I sit here, alone, with this thing in my mind..." Stumbling to his feet, he pressed a hand to his head. "I can't bear it. I need distraction... I need to keep moving, I need to find my Young Master..."
Viktor looked dubious, but more than that he looked angry - and the hint of something else, Gremio finally recognized as fear, which was rather uncharacteristic of the man. Even so, Viktor reached out to steady him. "Yeah," he agreed. "And after what Flik told me, there's no way I'm letting him go alone. So if you're good for it... let's break camp and start out after them."
Gremio nodded and knelt again to put out the fire while Viktor got their things together. His pack and his axe had been placed just a short distance away, and he ran a finger over the engraving on the axe's handle, which had been placed there so many years before. "I will protect my master," he murmured, repeating the letters he traced over. "I promised... long ago."
He straightened again, and almost immediately staggered, his mind reeling again with the Beast Rune's memories and power. The next thing he knew, Viktor was holding him upright, leaning him back against a tree trunk warily. "S-sorry," Gremio stammered. "Never mind me... I'll slow you down. You go after them, and - and I'll follow at my own pace."
Viktor shook his head. "You're in no shape to be left alone. They've only got about a day's head start on us anyway, and we've got a long way to go before Flik gets where he's going."
All the distance they'd travelled already on this journey - and now they had to set out again. Gremio sighed at the prospect, but nodded in relief. "Thank you, Viktor... for everything."
"Heh, don't mention it." Viktor started to turn away to head out, but glanced back over his shoulder as Gremio followed. "Just keep moving... and let me know if you need any help."
Despite Gremio's struggling, or perhaps because of it, they covered ground quicker than Viktor had expected. He was used to marching for days, but even though Gremio had been in the army, it had been years.
Even though he wasn't as strong, Gremio refused to rest, even to take meals. Instead, he paced, each step impatient and full of tension, as Viktor ate. When they'd moved enough for one day, and the sun was setting again, Gremio just shook his head; he wanted to go further.
Viktor wasn't going to complain. He wanted to catch up with Flik as quickly as possible. However, after a couple days of this, surely they wouldn't have a choice - just as when they'd set out at the beginning of this journey, without food or sleep, Gremio would collapse, and they'd have to rest.
The strange thing was that days of swift southbound travel passed, and he didn't.
In fact, it was Viktor who ended up insisting that they pause for at least a few hours sleep a night, when his own body began to protest. Gremio's was shaking uncontrollably, almost all the time, and there were dark circles under his eyes, but somehow he stayed on his feet. Any questions asked of him were met with a quick "I'm fine", though it was obvious he wasn't. Even the Star Dragon Sword cut down on the insults - it was obvious that this was no laughing matter.
It should have been more serious to Viktor, and he knew it - but Flik was foremost in his thoughts. After that talk they'd had a few days past, looking at Gremio, who was looking more and more like a corpse the further they went, reminded him of what Flik might be facing. How could Viktor let him go through that without him?
How could Gremio have faced it without Tir? But then, Viktor briefly reconsidered the idea of stopping for sleep after the first night, when he woke to find Gremio sitting with his knees tucked up to his chest, his eyes reflecting eerily, staring at him in a way that made him not look much like Gremio at all. If it made even his skin crawl, what would it have done to Tir?
"It doesn't have him," the Star Dragon Sword assured Viktor when he asked later, while Gremio was pacing restlessly around the foothills of the mountains that divided old Highland from what used to be Jowston.
"How can you tell?"
"If it had him, he'd be eating on a regular basis, so that the host body would remain strong," the sword explained. "Not that you'd know, because he'd probably have eaten you first."
"That's pretty comforting."
"I'm a sword, not your mother's bosom."
When Viktor looked up, Gremio was looking at him again - not oddly this time, but merely exhausted. Viktor wondered if he'd heard what they'd been discussing, but Gremio said not a word.
With a shrug, Viktor broke off half of the travel bread he'd been munching on, and offered it. "Ready to eat something yet?"
Gremio took it in silence, his expression dull, staring at it as if he wasn't sure what it was. After a moment, he did bite off a bit of the bread, but almost immediately spat it out, gagging. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry," he murmured helplessly, holding the remainder of the bread out to give it back to Viktor before pacing again.
Viktor frowned, and took a bite of it himself. "There's nothing wrong with this bread... is there?"
Gremio shook his head. "It's n-not the bread itself... or anything else we have. I'm s-so hungry.... but every time I try to eat anything, I... I can remember the taste of blood, the sound of snapping bones between teeth and the way the marrow spilled... the texture of raw flesh..." He paused, swallowing hard before he continued in a whisper. "H-how am I ever going to g-get used to..."
"You'll just have to," the Star Dragon Sword spoke up, for once not unsympathetically. "Once the rune has discovered that it can't break you that way, it should stop."
"Are you sure?" Gremio's eyes, glistening too bright and almost feverish, stared at the sword hopefully.
"No, I'm not," the sword replied honestly. "It's likely, though. Then again, it just might come up with something worse to throw at you."
"I don't think it could find anything worse than the things it's already shown me," Gremio murmured, clutching his cape around himself and shivering.
"Well, good," the sword reasoned. "Perhaps the worst is over."
Viktor had seen a lot of things in his travels, and he knew Gremio had as well. Gremio had even died once, in a particularly painful way. "What could be that bad?" he wondered out loud.
"Please, Viktor..." Gremio trembled harder. "This rune... the things it's done... I could never speak them aloud. I don't even want to think about them..."
Although even more curious, Viktor let the subject drop, and they moved on once he'd rested for a moment and eaten.
He was actually relieved when, stopping for a midday meal the following day, Gremio fell asleep sitting up in broad daylight and didn't wake until well after dark; he even laid Gremio down and spread a blanket over him, hoping to make his sleep easier. He was somewhat less relieved when Gremio woke gasping for breath and babbling about rivers of blood. He didn't look any less exhausted than he had been, that was for sure, but after he'd calmed down a little, he was more determined than ever. He even managed to swallow a little bread - but it took enough effort that the warning the Star Dragon Sword had given Viktor didn't seem to apply.
Although they were supposed to be following Flik and Tir, due to the season, finding a trail was next to impossible. The ground was hard, and tracks were mostly covered with snow. Gremio refused to go too near inns or towns - he feared losing control of the rune around a large group of people - and even when Viktor left him on occasion to ask after their friends, no one seemed to have seen them. It would be like Flik, Viktor thought with annoyance, to avoid people and simply travel as far and as fast as he could.
All he knew was that Flik must have been headed for Warrior's Village, and so he moved steadily south, through Dunan towards Toran, with Gremio in tow. And every now and then, they managed to find something - a print from a boot, a scrap of the cloth their food had been wrapped in, a woman who had seen a swordsman in a blue cape with a boy. Often enough, these clues made their appearances well off the road, after a little detour, and found effortlessly by Gremio. Viktor had to wonder just how the rune had affected him, but he was wary of asking.
Not much had changed by the time they reached Banner, the little border village where Tir and Gremio had spent a great deal of time relaxing and fishing before being unexpectedly dragged into the Dunan Unification War. Gremio had barely slept, he could hardly keep food down, and when he saw the pier where he and Tir had once sat, behind the small inn, he broke down entirely.
"We can't stay here, we can't," he whispered fitfully through his tears. "We were happy here once... And if Ellie sees me, or Ko... I couldn't bear to have them see me like this, Viktor. Especially little Ko... Please, we have to leave quickly, before someone sees me."
They'd only just arrived, having caught a ride with a fisherman who looked somewhat suspicious of Gremio's "illness", and Viktor had been hoping they'd at least have a single night of rest in a bed before making their way through the mountain path to Toran. With a reluctant sigh, he nodded, guiding Gremio through the town quickly and into the shelter of the forest beyond before going back to ask a few questions.
The man at the inn, Ko and Ellie's father, remembered Viktor from the many times they'd passed through during the war - and of course he remembered Tir. He wasn't at all surprised to hear that they'd lost track of each other, but it had just so happened that he'd come through town only a couple of days before. The nervous blond fellow with the scar hadn't been with him, which the innkeeper thought was strange, given the way they'd been so inseperable when they'd spent time in the village before. Viktor agreed that was very strange - but had anyone else been with him? Oh yes, the innkeeper reported, Blue Lightning Flik had been with him; Tir McDohl, hero of the Gate Rune Wars, obviously kept prestigious company.
Further questioning revealed that Flik had looked tense and unhappy, and Tir had hardly spoken a word even to Ellie, though they'd once been friends. No destination had been revealed, merely "travelling". It was about what Viktor had expected, and he reluctantly brushed off the offer of a free night's stay before heading into the mountains. Urgent business, he had somewhere to be, and all that.
Normally, the path through the forested mountain was dangerous, full of hostile creatures, but that night they reached the gates that separated Dunan from Toran without incident. Varkas was not at his usual post, not in the middle of the night, but those on duty knew the two - they'd been expected, in fact, since Tir McDohl and Blue Lightning Flik had come through not two days past. Where young McDohl went, Gremio must be close behind, mustn't he?
Once they were out of the guards' hearing, Gremio turned to Viktor, looking hopeful. "Not two days past... Then we're almost there - we've almost found them."
Viktor just sighed in response. No sleep today, or probably until they'd caught up. But secretly, he was glad - once he caught up with Flik, he'd be breathing a lot easier. It wasn't long now, until all of this would be over.
They were almost to Gregminster when their search ran into a problem. A traveller recognized Viktor's face, and stopped to greet the legendary hero - he'd just seen Blue Lightning Flik the day before, so would Viktor be far behind? Viktor would have enjoyed this far more if he wasn't anxious and in a hurry.
"Speaking of heroes," he commented casually, "when you saw Flik, I guess you met the McDohl boy, too, right? Or didn't you recognize him? About this tall, dark hair, bandanna..."
The man shook his head. "No, Flik was travelling alone. Ah, but I dare say encountering two war heroes in one week is lucky enough for this poor traveller..."
Once they had said their farewells, Viktor turned to Gremio, who had remained silent throughout the exchange. The look on his face was nothing short of heartbroken, and he didn't have to say anything at all. Viktor knew.
"...Okay, so they went their separate ways," he muttered, trying to think it over. "It doesn't mean anything bad happened to him..."
"But why would he leave Flik?" Gremio asked, his voice shaking. "Why now?"
"Beats me..." Viktor folded his arms, thinking, and came to a conclusion that he knew wouldn't please Gremio. "But we can't stay here forever - we'll never find them that way. And at least we know where Flik was headed."
Gremio's eyes tightened, but he said nothing, which was a relief to Viktor. He already knew Gremio was looking for Tir, and didn't care so much about what Flik did - but Viktor hadn't slept for awhile, and if anyone said a word against Flik, he was likely to bite their head off just out of instinct. No wonder the Beast Rune had taken a liking to him, he thought wryly.
"...I'm going to keep looking for Tir," Gremio said finally. "You go on and look for Flik - from what he said, he probably will need your help, even if he doesn't want it. Just like... I need my Young Master, even if I did send him away. What a fool I was..."
Viktor shook his head reluctantly. "Gremio, look at you. You're a wreck. I can't just leave you alone..."
"We're close to Gregminster," Gremio insisted. "I won't be alone... Pahn and Cleo are still living in Master Teo's old house. I can go there, if I need help. So please, go on without me, go to Flik. He's important to you, as my Young Master is to me - and I wouldn't dream of abandoning my Young Master if he were in trouble. And for all I know, he may be - so we must part ways here."
Viktor was still reluctant, considering the gleam in Gremio's eye and the shakiness of his hands. But then, it really wasn't that far to Gregminster, and Pahn and Cleo were like family - even if they were shocked by what Gremio had done, they would help him however they could.
"Okay... we'll have it your way," he agreed at last, and he made himself grin. "Heh... take care of yourself, okay? And keep fighting that thing until you've got it under control - I don't want to have to hear about another True Rune holder on a rampage and find out it's a friend."
Gremio nodded, and tried to smile himself. "I'll do my best. Good luck to you and Flik, Viktor. I hope you both find what you're looking for."
"Shouldn't be a problem - all I'm looking for is Flik, and I know where to look." He gave Gremio a casual wave, and turned to go, still glancing over his shoulder. "Good luck to you guys too, but I don't think you'll need luck once you find each other again."
Again Gremio nodded, and he remained where he was standing in the middle of the road. To Viktor, he looked a bit like a forlorn little boy who'd lost his parents while on a long trip out of town, and now had no idea where to go. He might as well have been, Viktor supposed, and he hoped Gremio found some sort of guidance soon.
By that evening, Gremio had found nothing of the sort. No one he asked had seen Tir, and most of them asked if he needed a doctor - he didn't look well. Just tired, he told them. Very, very tired.
He was weaving like a drunken man by the time he arrived at Gregminster, and therefore not at all sure he should enter the city. He might fall asleep if he went to the old McDohl mansion, and sleep brought things he would rather not see. Hours of exhaustion and frustration and half-seen hallucinations of events long past were better than the dreams the Beast Rune gave him. But he couldn't hold out much longer.
He probably looked like a wild beast himself, Gremio thought as he made his way through the town towards the old mansion. It was lucky that the hour was late, and the sky was dark, for he feared what he might say or do if anyone recognized him and tried to assist him. But Pahn and Cleo... he could speak to them. He had to be able to speak to them, and make them understand. Maybe they could help him look for Tir, once he'd rested.
The door was unlocked when he arrived, but no light came from the windows. Gremio stood there for a moment, looking up at the mansion and remembering days when the sounds of laughter and good-natured arguments would drift through the warmly lit windows as he returned from market, the smell of his stew simmering on the stove while he stepped out to get one last ingredient he hadn't been aware he was out of.
But now the mansion was dark and cold. The hearth, he observed as he stepped into the sitting room, hadn't been lit yet this winter from the looks of things. There was dust on the mantle, and the cupboards in the kitchen were empty of all but such non-perishable staples as rice or flour.
"Pahn? ...Cleo?" Gremio paced the hallway by their bedrooms, then went upstairs to look. "Is anyone here?"
A foolish question - of course no one was there. The house hadn't been lived in for months, as far as he could tell. He thought it even smelled uninhabited, due to the Beast Rune's enhancement of that particular sense - though the scent of his Young Master still lingered, especially by his bedroom.
Shaking, Gremio made his way down the stairs again, wandering into the kitchen out of habit. Everyone was gone. Master Teo was dead, Ted was dead, Pahn and Cleo had left without explanation, Tir was missing... This house, which had always been the warmest, coziest place in the world to him suddenly seemed vast and cold and unfamiliar.
He was weeping as he lit a fire in the hearth. This was even worse than all the anger and violence the Beast Rune had forced upon him; this was yet another cherished part of his life disappearing into memory, and in his emotionally volatile state, he could hardly stand it.
The fire did little to warm him, and after he'd built it up enough that it would heat his bedroom, it was there that Gremio went. At least he didn't have to worry that he might accidentally hurt someone, if he was completely alone.
He didn't bother removing his clothes before he climbed into bed, only his boots and his cloak. Even that seemed to take forever, and before he even lay down properly he fell, passing out into an exhausted, hopeless sleep.
