The Land of Broken Roads

Socks sniffed the air, nervously flitting his tail.

“Are we going to run?” asked Dirt. “Should I lay down? Or are we going to fight?”

The closest group of beasts rushed on all fours, their mighty front claws tearing up the ground and spraying gravel and splintered stone behind them.

Socks barked at them, as loud as he could. Waves of air pressure flew down the mountainside, ripping everything they passed. The creatures were shaken but not deterred. With so many minds, Dirt couldn’t tell them apart, but he was shocked the things still weren’t afraid.

The group resumed its charge and Socks summoned sparks in their path, which he ignited once they were too close to stop. He fed mana into the flames, causing them to roar up higher, higher even than the tips of his ears. Even so, six made it through, as good as dead but still moving. Socks killed them one by one with his mind, but the last one got close enough the pup had to rip its front open with his claws, then tear it in half with his teeth.

Dirt thrust fear into as many of the nearby minds as he could—a desperate, urgent terror that wasn’t completely separate from how he was starting to feel. The emotion simply slid right out of their minds, leaving only momentary confusion if it left anything behind at all. It mostly didn’t.

“I don’t think they can feel fear.”

-Mother never told me about these,- said Socks. The pup was starting to get nervous, which didn’t help Dirt keep his calm. More of them kept popping out from underground and those ones hung back and watched, eager for Socks to try and flee in their direction.

“Can you run through them?”

-I’m worried about their claws. Even I can’t dig stone that easily. I don’t want to run through or they will catch my legs.-

“What about jumping?”

-Where will I land that they can’t come get me?-

Socks surrounded himself and Dirt with a wide circle of sparks, which erupted into a wall of flame. He kept the flames burning to buy time as they discussed.

“We just have to get far enough away to run. We don’t have to fight them all,” said Dirt. He pulled his knife from its sheath and tossed it into the air for Socks, who caught it with his mind. “How’s your mental stamina?”

-I have more than you,­- said Socks with a mental snort.

Dirt grinned, not wanting to argue. Socks probably still did. Probably. “Then let’s fight seriously. This will be good practice.”

A beast ran through the fire, waving its thick claws as if to cut the flames. It didn’t work, and by the time it got close all its fur was burned off, leaving hideous miscolored patches of skin that ranged from its natural black to a raw pink. The flames had blinded it, but it stumbled forward anyway, hoping to get a lucky swing. Socks buried the dagger in the top of its skull, then withdrew it and let the thing drop.

-I am tired of getting my belly cut open,- said Socks, letting a little childish self-pity come through with the thought.

“We won’t let it.”

Dirt stood and ran forward, holding the Home-staff in both hands. He leaped off Sock’s nose and the pup flung him high into the air.

Socks and Dirt slid into the mind-meld. It stung their brains slightly to do it again so soon, but they ignored it and pressed on.

They threw the boy down into the nearest crowd, where he spun the Home-staff with mana-strengthened arms. Even though the beasts were nearly twice his height and weighed five times as much, the staff was unstoppable. It struck with greater force than its density could explain.

Quick swipes shattered several knees and one skull before the wolf’s eyes saw an attack coming that the boy’s body couldn’t slide away from. They pulled him up into the air, out of the way, and flung the dagger in. It sliced with pleasing effect, its force braced against Socks’ huge body. Three more went down.

But injured and dying beasts are still dangerous, and these ones died slow. From above, Dirt’s eyes saw one jump out from under a tumble of wounded bodies, bleeding heavily from a gash straight across its chest that had missed its heart. Both lungs sliced into, it coughed blood as it made one final attempt to get its claws into Socks’ front leg. Socks and Dirt threw the boy down from the air to crush it with the Home-staff. It didn’t get back up.

-“We should focus on clearing a path.”-

Dirt and Socks threw the boy ahead into a less-crowded spot. Two sets of eyes guided every swing into a joint, crushing the knees of four more in an instant. Screams of rage became screams of pain. The wolf landed close to the boy, one paw pushing down a beast as it tried to get back up. Dirt and Socks surrounded themselves with sparks and ignited a ring of flame to guard them while they judged the next spot.

The mountaintop was getting crowded. Even from up in the air, the boy’s eyes found fewer and fewer spots empty enough for the wolf to land without being at risk.

-“We need to kill instead of injuring.”-

They threw the boy forward to the next spot and held him in the air just above the beasts. The boy spun in midair, swung down, and got a solid crack on the closest head, shattering it and sending red and pink matter out the back of its skull. Then they pulled him sideways, out of the way of the sudden attack from its neighbor. The boy swung again, catching this one where its ear might be, if it had any. It collapsed.

The wolf ripped the arm off a beast with his teeth and kicked another one away with his back leg, then jumped to land in the opening the boy had created.

They leaped again, throwing the boy ahead to clear a space. The beasts clumped to try and grab him from the air, but the boy spun like a descending leaf, cracking three more skulls in a motion that even the wolf’s quick eyes saw as one smooth arc. The wolf spun as well, lashing out with claws and teeth as several of them got too close. The boy’s eyes helped guide his strikes and four of them lost their viscera before the first one fell.

-“This is a lot easier when one body doesn’t have to try and watch everything himself.”-

-“We did not think the boy’s body would be this useful, but this is effective.”-

Two together minds could process much faster than two apart, but the cost of such mental strain was increasing each moment. That was a concern for later, though. Having spared a moment to catch a breath, they nodded to themselves, beginning to think they might actually get out of this unscathed.

From above, closer to the peak, the beasts pushed a round boulder out one of their holes. It rolled with unstoppable force, crushing everything on its bouncing path down the mountainside. But Socks and Dirt were far too nimble, even if the beasts had aimed right. It rolled harmlessly past them without even having to dodge.

Socks and Dirt breathed a sigh of relief, but a slow rumble turned their eyes back toward the mountain top. Four more boulders came rolling, then ten more, then another ten. From one instant to the next, the mountainside was all but filled with them.

Their bodies froze in sudden panic, even the wolf’s. There was no time to think, even with two brains for the task. The boy flew upward out of reach, and judged the boulders’ paths as closely as he could.

All around them, the beasts hunkered down, some digging in. Socks and Dirt wished they could do the same with the wolf, but he was too big.

The wolf dodged left, then ducked under a heavy one that had started bouncing. It was close and stroked the fur of his tail as it passed. The next two, he jumped over in one bound, then left again. Then another jump.

And then no more came. The ones below kept rolling and sent up loud cracks and thumps that the wolf felt in his paws, but no new ones got pushed out. For a brief moment, the creatures stayed down, unsure if more were coming.

-“Should we head into the valley instead of back up into the mountains?”-

-“Why?”-

-“Because they live in the mountains.”-

-“Isn’t that the wrong way? What about the humans? Do we still want to follow them?”-

-“We can always circle around. Dirt can probably talk with them now, and there is more he wishes to learn.”-

-“Socks is getting bored.”-

-“Not after this.”-

-“That is true.”-

They sent the boy rushing down the open trail left by the tumbling boulders, the wolf following a few steps behind. The boy swung the home-staff wildly to fend off any rising beasts and the wolf flung any away who got too close.

A larger boulder took a turn toward a group of five or six, slow to rise. It bounced right over them, leaving them perfectly unharmed.

Dirt and Socks carpeted the ground with fire and leaped over it, passing over before the beasts even started screaming.

From there, it wasn’t too far until they had escaped enough of the gathering horde to dodge the rest. Socks and Dirt put the boy on the wolf’s back and finally let their minds slide apart.

A wave of nausea and dizziness hit them both, so bad that Socks stumbled and rolled, nearly crushing Dirt, who barely managed to hang on.

Even with dozens of beasts still running toward them, it took the poor wolf three tries to get up and get moving again, and after a moment, he had to stop and vomit. Hearing it made Dirt sicker and he barely slid down in time to add his own lunch to the disgusting mess.

Through a pounding headache, Dirt said, “Are you okay, Socks? Do you want me to just run alongside for a bit?”

-Yes. I’m worried I’ll fall again.-

“It looks like we need more practice.”

-Can you run? Will you be okay?-

“I’d rather run than get caught. They’re getting close.”

Dirt forced himself to get moving, ignoring the full-body churn that only slowly faded as he ran. Thank Grace he had mana to rely on and had no difficulty keeping it flowing, despite his other problems.

The two of them descended the rest of the way into the little mountain valley, which wasn’t particularly large. It was flat and mostly empty, with a crease down the middle that he hoped was a stream. Brush and trees grew on the west side, toward the sunset, but the mountains to the east were much barer and rockier.

-Let’s cross and go up those mountains and rest there. That should be far enough away they leave us alone.-

Dirt followed the pup across the valley, speeding through the tall grasses and bare patches, over rocks and around bent and stunted trees. They crossed the crease in the valley, which was a stream with so little water in it they only stopped long enough to wash the vomit out of their mouths.

Running was never restful, since Dirt always had to watch where he was going and turn this way or that, but it was restful enough. His headache faded, as did his nausea. By the time they reached the opposite end of the valley and headed up the smaller, bare mountains, the beasts chasing them were too distant to spot, or had returned to their holes.

Finally, a knot of fear that Dirt hadn’t quite realized was there untied itself and went away. They were fine. Gods in Glory, what a mess that had almost turned into.

-Let’s rest at the top. I want to see what’s on the other side first.-

Dirt sighed inwardly and made himself keep going, but the worst was already over. This row of mountains was smaller, too, more like oversized hills than anything. Once they reached the flat, round top and looked down the other side, a much larger valley opened before them, with another range of mountains far across to the east. The valley floor was wet, with countless little streams and small lakes everywhere. Patches of lush green contrasted with bare patches of dry yellow, fading into gray, dusty distance.

A fair distance to the north, a pale tower looked out over the plains, not very impressive from so far away. Still, it captured the eye, and Dirt wondered how old it was, and how long it had been there. The landscape was broken up by straight lines, which Dirt thought might be fences or short walls. Or perhaps roads; it was hard to tell from up here. Some of those spots inside might be little buildings. Houses, maybe.

­Whether or not Socks noticed the tower, it wasn’t the most interesting thing to him. He said, -I think I can carry you now. Let’s go a little farther. I want some of that water.-

“No, it’s fine. I’ll just run.”

The descent from the hilltop was easy, with a long gentle slope covered by grass, and down in the valley, the air was warmer and humid. Much of the ground was muddy, which resulted in Dirt completely losing the benefit of his earlier bath, since Socks kept splashing him. The water was mostly shallow, everywhere they found it. They checked four different spots before Socks found what he wanted, which was water deep enough for him to dunk his head and feet and wash the rest of the vomit smell off.

Dirt scrubbed the fresh coat of mud off, then unwound the cloth from around his chest and washed it out as well. It left a surprising amount of dirt behind in the water and came out a different color, more of an off-white color than the pale brown it had been before.

They rested on the banks, feeling more rejuvenated by the minute. Dirt asked the Home-staff for sap, and Home made enough for both of them to fill their bellies. They had no trouble keeping it down.

-Did you see that tower? Do you want to go look at it?-

“Yes, of course. It doesn’t look like anything I remember, so I wonder if it’s newer. But, wait! I just thought of something. Socks, guess what!”

-What?-

Dirt sent the pup a mental image from the woman, something she barely remembered but which they were looking for. It was small village, full of humans, with a huge stone tower in the middle. In her memory, it was gray and square, not white and round, but nonetheless, he had to wonder.

“Do you think it could be the same one, and her memory just got messed up because it was so long ago?”

-Maybe. If so, they are looking in the wrong place.-

“Well, no wonder the men are so mad at her, then.”

-We can go look at it up close, and then we can ask them.-

“Yeah. Let’s do that.”

The two of them looked back toward the hills, thinking of the small valley and long mountain canyon beyond, and the humans far on the other side wandering through brush and rocks looking for something they would never find.

“Let’s go look at it first, and then I’ll figure out how to make clothes. Then we’ll go find the humans,” said Dirt.

-How will we get them over here? I don’t want to go back where those creatures were.-

“We’ll figure it out. And when they see we brought them where they wanted to go, they’ll HAVE to like me. Both of us.”