Kingsbane

Chapter 18

Sed stood outside the Red Rabbit, staring out at the Black Boardwalk. He didn't care for parties, or the ruckus they caused. Inside, the bar was filled to the brim with drunks and rabble-rousers, leaving he streets nearly vacant. Sverre was definitely up to something. It was obvious, at least to him, that the party was a distraction.
    Taking a draw on his pipe, he sighed heavily through his nose. He did not like this feeling. It was a restless sensation, an anticipation of sorts. He got this was occasionally, but never for no reason. So, he waited for a sign, for the call to battle. In his soul, he knew it would come, he only wished it would come soon.
    So, when he saw the small, dark bird fluttering frantically above him, he smiled and reached out his hand welcomingly. It hovered above his fingers for a moment, hesitant to trust him. He whistled softly to it, coaxing it in. "Come on, little one. Tell me your troubles."
    It chose to perch upon the lantern hook above him instead. He was not offended. If he were in the creatures place, he would not have trusted a stranger's hand either.     Taking a deep breath, he opened his mind and his ears to the bird's voice. It wasn't something he was particularly good at, he would much rather speak squirrel or snake, but he had faith he'd be able to at least get the gist of the twittered message.
    "Tang has Boss. Gnomes fight. You fight." The bird relayed quickly.
    "Who sent you?"
    "Hannigan. Human also."
    So, that was what Sverre had been up to. Damn him. How stupid. "Is Sverre alive?"
    "Yes. Not for long. You come."
    "Tell Han not to attack. Let us take care of it."
    "Goblins dishonored forest. Gnomes fight."
    "Tell them to wait for help."
    The bird cocked it's head, defecated, and flew off. Sed sighed, and went to rally the least drunk of his comrades.

Gray stood on the outskirts of the Goblin encampment, Hannigan leaning on his cane beside him. "The big tent is the one where Sverre is. Be cautious and do not rush. We will give you five minutes before we make our move."
    "Just five?"
    "Here." Hannigan produced a tiny deer-skin water bottle and handed it up to him.     "That is water like I gave you before. It can not keep you from death, but it will ward off weakness for a time. It was tapped from the earth especially for you. The forest spirits have found you worthy. If you give it to anyone else, it will be no better than poison."
    "Why?"
    "It is not my place to ask. I only know what the forest tells me. Faery knows what it needs, like any mortal creature does. It just has to go to greater lengths to acquire such things." For the first time since they'd met, the Gnome smiled. "Perhaps the thing it needs is you. Now go. Your five minutes has begun."
    Feeling uncertain and very confused, Gray tied the water bottle onto his belt and snuck as ninja-like as he was able toward the larger of the tents around the fire. This was crazy. He was weaponless, vulnerable, and clueless. Siva would lose his shit if he could see what he was doing now.
    As he crept along, he came upon a thick stake in the ground. A dark substance lay around it, staining the dusty earth brown. He'd seen the same dark stain beneath each of the stags hanging near the forest. Blood. And he had a bad feeling that it was Sverre's.
     He picked up his pace.

    Sverre faded in and out of consciousness. The slow acting poison coursing through his veins preventing the fast healing of his race. He was bound, standing, arms tied above his head to the center support beam of the hut, he feet bound at it's base, just close enough to the ground for his toes to touch.
    He could hardly breathe, the pressure on his lungs caused by the prolonged elevation of his arms was taking a toll on him. When he was aware enough, he pushed himself up in order to take a deep breath, but it was hard due to the whip lashes across his back and stab wound in his abdomen. The only positive thing about his ordeal was that it would not last much longer. Death was coming and he welcomed it.
    Darkness was eating at his vision again just as he heard a soft rustling outside. With the one eye that was no black and swollen, he tried to find the cause. Tang was still snoring happily on his cot before him and the ground beneath him was vacant save for a few insects enjoying the buffet of his blood.
    "Sverre?" A soft inquiry, but it was loud in his ears. Fear gripped him for the first time during his stay in he Goblin camp. It was one thing to know Grayson was wandering Faery, possibly completely safe, but for him to be here, where he was definitely going to get himself killed, was another.
    "Get out of here." He hissed, watching Tang vigilantly, hoping the bastard was a deep sleeper.
    Grayson appeared beside him. Apparently, he'd wriggled beneath the clothe walls of the structure. That was a relief, if only a small one. Tang had rigged the doors with bells. Maybe Gray wasn't as stupid as he'd preciously expected.
    "Can you walk?" The boy inquired, glancing over at the sleeping being on the cot.    
    "Kill him." Sverre ordered. "Now, or we won't make it out alive."
    Grayson looked up at the man, half-horrified. Kill? He hadn't ever planned on killing anyone, even if they were a fairy-tale monster. Ignoring Sverre's command, he removed the sharp feather from his jeans and stood on his toes to cut his hands free.
    "Feet first!" Sverre instructed urgently as the ropes were giving way beneath the prismatic dagger. "I'll fall."
    "Oh, sorry." Hurriedly, Gray sawed through the bounds around his ankles.  Unfortunately, before he could finish the wounded ropes around his wrists snapped and the man fell helplessly on top of him. They both laid there in a panicked heap, waiting for Tang to rise and kill them both, but after a few tense moments, they realized the Goblin slept on.
    Sverre gave him an icy glare and then rolled off of him, rising on wobbling knees, his arms hanging limply at his sides. Grayson pushed himself off the ground. "Are your arms broken?"
    "What?"
    "Well-"
    "I've been hanging there for hours." Sverre muttered, trying in vain to grip his sword, which leaned against the foot of the goblins bed. He could not even close his fist around it.
    Suddenly, as if they'd come up from the ground, snakes were slithering across the dirt floor and spiders climbed the walls. Grayson grabbed Sverre's useless arm and drug him out the door, knowing the Gnomes attack had begun and every Goblin in the place would soon be awake and angry. The bells chimed as they left but Gray paid them no heed.
    A bear barreled past them as they made for the trees. Sverre skidded to a stop and jerked free of his grasp. "Fall back!" He snarled, "Dammit, you'll die!"
    "It's fine," Gray assured him, recapturing his arm and contuing to lead him away from the upcoming chaos. "We have to run. Hannigan knows what he's doing. We have to go." Sverre stumbled and swayed like a drunk and Gray had a very hard time keeping him moving, but he continued to try nonetheless.
    "Stop." The Fae hissed, as they reached the tree line, chest heaving, blue eyes dim but angry. "If Hannigan wakes those Goblins..."
    "He told me not to worry. He told me just to get as far away from the camp as I could." Grayson explained, looking over his shoulder at the Tang's tent, still much too close for comfort.
    "They are under my protection." Sverre murmured, clutching his stomach, his wounds bleeding anew. Despite his injuries, he turned back toward the camp.
    "Are you out of your damn mind!" Gray cried. "You can't even use your arms!"
    "I have teeth."
    Grayson wanted to hit him, but he resisted only because the man looked beaten enough as it was. "They've got bears and shit to help them. We need to get out of here. You're wounded, and I'm not going to be this spunky for long, I guarantee you."
    There was an uproar from the camp and the fire in it's center blazed higher than the trees. Goblins began to pour from their huts like bees from the hive. "That idiot Hannigan, risking the lives of his family for the honor of a few deer."
    Sverre took a few more steps toward it, and then struggled to open and close his hands. Gray stood, watching, eager to leave but also feeling guilty for being such a coward. Hannigan had saved him without reason or reward. Even if it wasn't his fight, was it really alright to leave the Gnome like this?
    "We can't help. We'd just get in the way."
    "You're right." Sverre admitted softly, "Let's go."
    "Which way?"
    Sverre looked up at the sky and the surrounding area before pointing to his left. "Come on." He muttered, the sound of clashing metal and the bellowing of animals began behind them.
    "Sverre!" A shrill voice screeched in the distance.
    "Dammit." Sverre hissed, attempting to grab Grayson's arm, but unable to close his fist. The Fae made a disgruntled sound and shook his still lifeless limbs violently, hoping to force feeling back into them.
    "Who's that?" Gray breathed, his instincts telling him that they had become prey.
    "Just run."
    Grayson obeyed, glad, even in such a situation, that he was able to do so. Sverre, however, was not as lucky. Though he was doing amazingly well considering his wounds, he hardly managed a power-walk speed.
    The forest had grown silent around them, but that did nothing to soothe the urgency, only made the threat seem louder. Sverre stopped after a few long, painful minutes and leaned heavily against a tree. When Gray turned to inquire, the man held up his quaking palms, revealing the bright red blood that stained them.
    "Just keep heading straight." He gasped. "The mine entrance is covered with a thin layer of magic. You'll have to feel for it along the hillside, when you find it, pass through it. Inside, I left a-"
    "Get real."
    "Grayson-"
    "Siva would never forgive me if I left you here. So, don't waste your breath."
    "You don't owe me anything, kid." Sverre protested. "Siva was willing to risk something like this happening. He'll be glad to simply have you."
    Grayson wasn't about to spend another second talking about it. He wasn't leaving Sverre behind, and that was that. Taking a quick drink from the weird water Hannigan had gifted him, he slipped an arm beneath Sverre's shoulder and forced him forward.
    "What was that?" He questioned weakly.
    "Don't know. Some Faery water Hannigan gave me. I'd give you some but he said it'd kill you."
    "The land has blessed you." Sverre murmured, sounding a little wonder-filled. "Maybe bringing you here was not as big a sin as I thought."
    "You should stop talking. Just worry about breathing." Gray sighed, speeding up as branches were broken behind them.
    After a few more minutes of haphazard, ungraceful limping/running they broke through the trees into a dusty clearing. On the opposite side of which, was a large hill. "Is this it?"
    "Ye-" Sverre's sentence was cut short as he was plucked from beneath Grayson's arm and jerked backwards. Gray spun around to find the Fae on his knees in the dirt, a hideous creature behind him. It's large knobby hand was fisted in Sverre's long, pale hair, menacing machete in the other. It's grin was abnormally large, and sported a sharp set of teeth. Grayson wasn't sure, but he assumed this was a Goblin.
    "A human?" It chortled, shaking Sverre's head around brutally. "So, that's what you were up to, was it General? The Redcaps will pay well for him."
    Sverre met Gray's eyes briefly, before hanging his head limply in defeat. The Goblin snickered and threw the broken man aside roughly, approaching Grayson with an egotistical air that made his skin crawl. Gray held his head up and did not back away. There was just something in him that refused to back down. Maybe it was because this thing reminded him a little too much of his sister's POS boyfriend.
    Tang patted the underside of Gray's jaw with the tip of his machete. "I haven't seen a human in over a hundred years." He breathed, leaning in and taking a deep breathe, smelling him, Gray realized. Over his shoulder, he saw Sverre struggling to come to his rescue.
    "Stay down, Sverre." He demanded coolly, though his soul was burning.
    "Yes, stay down General. Die in the dirt where you belong. I'll take care of your pet for you."
    Ignoring Grayson's request, Sverre got up and lunged forward, using all his weight in the blow. Tang stepped aside carelessly and Sverre fell back to the ground beside him. The Goblin squatted over him, that sickening smile still on his face. "Keep it up Sverre, and I'll have to do to you what I did to your brother."
    Grayson thought he felt the earth quake beneath him as the words hit his ears. A great, bizarre, anger flared inside of him, and all he could do was let it rage. One thought back to how distraught Siva had been showing him his scars, one glance down at Sverre, who now wore such a similar expression now, drove him off the edge.
    Tang had seemingly forgotten about him as he gloated over his bleeding victim. Grayson would make sure he did not forget again. With a sharp kick to the forearm, he sent the Goblin's weapon sailing. Tang barred his teeth and rose. "So, you've got a little fight in you." He snapped. "We can take care of that."
    Sverre grabbed for Tang's ankle as he stepped over him, but could do little else to hinder his approach. He would soon find out that Grayson did not need the help. Before the Goblin could speak again, he lay a fist to it's disgusting jaw. Tang stumbled back, surprised, but Gray allowed no time for retaliation. The Goblin his back hard, knocking the breath from his lungs and losing three of his front teeth.
    There was a noise in Sverre direction, but Grayson didn't stop, knowing that if the Goblin got the better of him now, he may never regain the advantage. All around him melted away, his vision tunneled, his mind blank to all but the thought of what this monster had done. He felt his claws dig into his back and sides, but, lost in madness, he knew nothing of pain.
    However, the pure oblivion of his fury was short lived. To his great dismay, his strength was already waning. He felt it slowly seeping from him with each swing. Dammit. What had he meant to do? What had he been hoping to accomplish? Now that he had Tang down, the only thing to do was keep hitting him or get off of him. Neither seemed like feasible options.
    Kill him. I have to kill him.
    It made him uneasy to think about, but deep down he felt a sickly sweet longing for to watch the Goblin take his final breath. As disturbing as it was to him, there wasn't much choice.
    Taking the chance to reach for the crystal feather in his pocket, he pushed the thoughts aside. He had to man up and finish what he started. This wasn't his world, the same rules did not apply. Siva was waiting for him beyond that hill, and he was not going to let this ugly bastard stop him from getting there.
    As Gray reached for his jeans, Tang saw his opportunity. He reversed their rolls, pinning Gray's legs with his knees and wrapping his large hands around his throat. The boy's large brown eyes looked up at him, unafraid.
    "I bet you think you're something, surprising me like that." He snarled, "If I didn't want to sell you, you'd already be dead."
    "I'm already dying." Grayson gasped, hoping to distract the beast so that he could maneuver his little weapon from his jeans. "Killing me now would simply be a mercy."
    "Well, we wouldn't want that." Tang breathed, letting up on his windpipe and dragging his face toward his. Grayson felt instantly filthy as the Goblin's long tongue traced his jaw line. "You could serve other purposes, I suppose."
    "That's enough, Tang. It's over." An unfamiliar voice sighed. "Let him go and I'll let you live."
    Tang looked up at the speaker and Gray didn't hesitate. With a smooth movement, he brought the edge of the feather across the Goblin's vulnerable jugular. Blood sprayed and he shoved the gagging creature off of him to avoid getting any in his mouth and eyes.
    Desperately, the Goblin tried to stop the bleeding, but after a few futile moments of trying, Tang lay back and met Grayson eyes. Gray felt sick, but didn't look away until his chest fell for he last time and it's disproportionate head lulled to the side.
    Wiping the blood on his jeans, he turned shakily to the stranger in a daze. "Pretty good for a human." The man commented, undoing Sverre's shirt to inspect the dagger wound in his middle. Sverre lay there and allowed it, leaving Gray to assume the man was a friend.
    "This is Sed." He introduced quietly, wincing as the newcomer pressed a rag to the injury. Sed glanced up momentarily to give him a nod and then began to rifle through the leather satchel across his shoulder. "Are you injured?"
    Gray looked down at his sides where Tang's talons had cut him. They were bleeding, but weren't deep. "I'll be okay. My blood doesn't clot as fast because of the cancer. It makes it look worse than it actually is."
    "Tend to his wounds first. He's more fragile." Sverre ordered, grabbing Sed's wrist as he began to thread his needle, preparing to suture.
    "He said he was fine." Sed dismissed, easily loosing his arm from his boss' weakened grip. "The boys are taking care of the rest of the Goblins. That fire in the middle of the camp has spread though. The forest is on fire and it's spreading quickly."
    "Which way does it come?" Sverre questioned, turning his head to find for the first time he large billows of smoke marring the face of the beautiful blue sky.
    "Every way. With all the dead trees, we don't have a chance. I sent Hannigan to Zwarte to warn them and told the others to rally the water nymphs."
    Grayson watched the smoke rise. "Will it reach Seelie?"
    "Probably." Sed shrugged, popping his thorn-like needle into Sverre's soft flesh for the first time. Sverre balled his fists but made no noise.
    "We have to warn them too, then." Gray decided, looking back at the hill behind him, eyes searching for the entrance of the mine.
    "The border guards will see the smoke. They can take care of themselves, just like we have to." Sed retorted. "Sverre, breathe."
    "Sed, the Red Rabbit is yours now, so you should get back to it and keep it from burning to the ground." He replied, voice thick as he fought through the stinging ache of the thorn's bite.
    "You're not going to die. Relax."
    "Tang gave me Verikirous." He whispered. "You're wasting your time."
    Sed knotted thread and bit it off, watching blood still trying to ooze through the small spaces between the stitches. "It doesn't matter. You just have to stay alive long enough for the poison to work it's way out." He breathed, though the grief was apparent on his face.
    "Poison?" Gray took a few steps forward, feeling a little lightheaded. "Is there an antidote?"
    "It's in Faery's hands." Sverre sighed, sitting up gingerly with Sed's reluctant assistance. "And it doesn't owe me any favors."
    "Let's just get you back to the bar." Hoisting his boss off the ground, Sed beckoned for Gray to follow him.
    "No." Sverre denied , standing woozily on his own. "I'm done. Your the Boss now. If any one asks, you never found me."
    "Sver-"
    "Did I not rescue you from your mother's bloody arms? Did I not feed and clothe you?" Sverre hissed, his tone hard, but his hand upon the other man's shoulder was gentle. "Did I not save you from the hangman's noose numerous times? Have I not yet gained your loyalty?"
    "Yes, but I never thought to succeed you. I don't want your place. I like my own."
    "I'm finished, boy." Sverre sighed. "By tomorrow, you will have no side to stand by. You'll be alone and you must learn to like it if you want to survive in this place."
    Sed glanced at Grayson with accusation, but did not protest further. When he looked back at Sverre, he smiled and brushed his hand away. "Die well."
    Turning from  Sverre, which was more painful than he'd ever let show, Sed removed his bag and tossed it at Grayson's feet. As he reached down to retrieve it, Sed turned and disappeared into the forest.
    "Get the machete too." Sverre mumbled as he walked slowly past him toward the hill.
    "You should have gone back with him." Gray sighed, hefting the large blade in his hand and following after his wounded comrade. "I can walk through a tunnel by myself."
    "I never intended on making it through this alive, anyway." Sverre stated, as if that made it acceptable. "I don't really mind it."
    Grayson couldn't believe what he was hearing. While he was fighting to live, this guy was practically begging to die. Even with all the tragedies that came with it, life was something precious that not everyone got a chance to experience. It seemed sinful just to throw it away.
    Biting his lip to keep a lecture from rolling off his tongue, he watched Sverre feel around on the hillside.
    "What are you doing?"
    Suddenly, one of Sverre's hands disappeared. "Here it is. Come on." The rest of Sverre's body seemed to sink into the slope and Grayson simply stood there, having finally had his limit of oddity for the day. Also, he was feeling rather weary and he had a great deal of Goblin blood drying on him.
    Now was not the time for thinking or for complaining however, so he put on his big boy panties and marched over to the place where Sverre had vanished. "Get in here." Sverre ordered, reaching out and grabbing Gray's arm.
    There was a slight tingling sensation as he passed through the magic hiding the tunnel's mouth, but that was it. Once inside, Sverre slumped against the wall and sighed through his nose.
    "You should rest for a while." Gray suggested.
    "There's a fire coming. Even if they get every nymph in the territory spitting on the thing, they won't put it out before it gets to us. It'll be like smoke in a fox hole. We'll die."
    "So what can we do?"
    "First, I'm going to collapse the entrance." Sverre replied, kicking a few rocks aside and pulling a tattered bag from the rubble. From it he pulled a lantern which he lit with a BIC lighter. Noticing Grayson's inquiry look, he explained. "Raff always brings me souvenirs when he's been to your realm. Tang snagged my Zippo though, and my sword."
    "That sucks. Too bad he didn't bring you any flashlights." Gray responded, understanding the need for conversation. Sverre was probably trying to hold on to his consciousness in any way possible. He had been in similar situations before, when he'd been weak and sick from treatments, speaking gibberish just to stay awake.
    "Now these-" Sverre produced three sticks of dynamite. "These I bought off the Boardwalk, and at a very high price. Smuggled in through the Goblin Circle I'm sure."
    "Won't an explosion draw attention to us?"
    "And if it does?" The Fae shrugged. "What are they going to do? Dig us out? Unseelie's got bigger problems at the moment."