Chương 31: Are they undead?

The carriage hummed with the whirring sound of Giddeon's contraption. Whilst sluggish at first, it rapidly picked up speed, but the creatures had already caught up. Hearing panting, Aaron stood up and looked out the top slit window on his side of the car. Three black beasts were sprinting along next to Aaron's side of the car. Aaron flinched backwards. One of the beasts lurched up towards the cart. Three giant claws pierced through the side of the metal door.

A toe-curling screech assaulted Aaron's ears as it ripped through. The claws barely missed Aaron's stomach. Giddeon must have noticed. Aaron flew across the car and slammed into the opposite door, then back again as the car jolted from left to right and back again. Tim and Paige grabbed him and slammed him back into his seat. They continued to be thrown around back and forth, smacking into the sides of the car. Luckily, so was the dog. It lost its grip and fell off the side.

It tumbled on its side towards another beast. But it effortlessly hopped over its rolling body and kept sprinting after the car. At least three more dogs joined the pack. It was hard to count them through the small window. Strangely, they only seemed to be coming up to the left door next to him and had no interest in the driver or the other passenger door.

"Shout at them again. We can't outrun them." Tim said. A second dog thumped onto the carriage, but higher up this time. It swung its paw through the hole Aaron was using to watch them and slashed its claws towards his face. He jolted back just fast enough to narrowly avoid having his eyes clawed out. He drew a deep breath, but was interrupted by Paige throwing out a compact sphere of air.

It hit him in the chest, rolled around him, then left the cart through a crack in the door, briefly winding Aaron in the process. There was a brief hiss, followed by a thump on the ground outside. The beast had been thrown off the cart. A swirling circle of air remained on the outside of the door. Sand and debris orbited the cart with the swirling winds.

"Don't!" Paige said, "I think you're attracting them." Aaron slammed hard into the left door as the carriage turned a sharp left corner. His shoulders were painful and bruised from being knocked around so much.

"Attracting them?" Aaron shouted. It was difficult to hear over the screeching of the creatures and whirring of Giddeon's spell. The screeching got louder, but from the back of the cart this time. Paige put her hand forward towards Aaron's door and swung them towards the rear of the cart. The winds outside Aaron's door rotated around towards the back. Through a gap in the metal where a beast had scraped its claws, Aaron saw a dog lunge at the car.

A powerful gust caught it mid-air, and it fell just short of the carriage, landing on the path below. It continued to run at them.

"Can't you see? They're responding to you. You need to stop calling them!" Paige continued.

"Calling them?" Aaron said, confused.

"Undead respond to their master's commands and their emotions. I think they are responding to your fear and agitation. You need to calm down!" Paige's voice was rushed and panicked. Far from a calming tone.

"Ok, fine." Aaron sat back in his seat and tried to relax, which was difficult amongst the sounds of these screeching beasts. He felt at least a small amount of stress was reasonable given the situation. Another beast slammed into the door next to Aaron, jolting the whole carriage to the side. The wheel lifted and slammed down, bouncing him up in his seat. Luckily, it didn't manage to grip on with its talons, but made a horrible scraping sound as it tried to gain a footing.

The high-pitched scraping made Aaron tense up. He gritted his teeth and curled his toes under.

"Aaron, you need to try. They are only attacking your side." Paige said.

"I know!" Aaron snapped.

"I'm trying!" Paige looked taken aback by his outburst. He took a couple of breaths to calm himself, then continued.

"I mean, you're right. I'll do it."

"Calm him down, or I'll knock him out!" Giddeon called from the front. He was clinging onto the reins and piloting the car at a frightening speed. It must have taken a lot of focus not to crash it into the houses or topple over at the bends.

"Not helpful," Paige shouted back.

"Do you trust me, Aaron? I'm going to cast wind spirits to block your hearing." She had shown herself to be an expert in deception and trickery, but he did trust her survival instincts. Their lives were all in danger, and he trusted that.

"Yes," Aaron said.

"Do it!" Aaron closed his eyes. He felt a cold swirling of air around his ears. It was like being in the eye of a storm. All he could hear was wind. Not even the loudest shrieks of the creatures made it through. He tried to centre himself, grounded in his seat. He felt the vibration of the contraption and rhythmic bounce of the carriage as it bounced down the road. As he began to relax, Tim came to the front of his mind. He was so close to the farm, they could get there after a day or two of driving.

Maybe less at the speed of this coach. He counted his breaths and noticed them gradually slow down. He got to twenty-three before he felt a gentle tap on the shoulder and the wind around his ears dissipated. Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. Looking through the gap at the back of the coach, the creatures had stopped. They stood in the road watching the coach, but no longer chasing.

[Somatomancy talent improved] Dominion Over Undead: Rank 2"So they are undead," Aaron muttered.

"They're corrupted by the dead dragon's soul, not undead," Paige corrected.

"No, they're undead. I wasn't sure, but I have a Dominion Over Undead talent which just ranked up. Why would it do that if they aren't undead?" Aaron said. He wasn't sure at first if Paige would know what he meant, as she didn't have a tome of her own, but she nodded in agreement as if she understood.

"Well, whatever they are, they're behind us now," Tim said.

"And I'm just thankful we're unhurt."

"Well, not quite," Aaron said, revealing his wounded leg. There was a jagged rip across the front of his shin with blood dripping down into his boot. The wound wasn't bleeding much, but it was deep. The burning pain came to the forefront of his mind again as he looked at it. He clenched his teeth and groaned. Paige crouched down on the floor of the coach with urgency and started to poke around, making the pain twice as bad.

"Did the dog do this?"

"Yes," Aaron said, "it got me whilst I was fending it off with the brazier." Paige's voice broke into a squeaky trill. She sounded worried.

"How do you feel?" She cleared her throat.

"Fine."

"What's the problem?" Tim asked. He sat forward and leant on his cane, watching what Paige was doing.

"Those creatures seed corruption into things they bite and scratch, but there's no sign of it in Aaron's wound." She had now created a small light spirit and was inspecting the cut closely with a perplexed look on her face.

"He must be resistant to it, although it was only a lesser creature."

"Lesser?" Tim exclaimed, "What are the bigger ones like?"

"I don't know," Paige said, "I have never travelled far enough north to see one, but Giddeon has." Aaron grimaced and then went back to wincing in pain, and Paige jabbed at the wound some more.

"I'll make another tincture to heal the wound," Paige said, "we have plenty of herbs from Gully's apothecary."

"No need," Aaron said. He focused his mana into the wound and channelled his Manipulate ability. The deepest part of the cut stuck together and sucked inwards, sealing it from the inside. The wound curled round until the surface joined together, like a zip. The edges formed up so neatly that any evidence of separation vanished. [Teratogenesis talent improved] Augmentation: Rank 3 [Somatomancy talent increased] Flesh Mastery: Rank 5 The ease of the spell was astonishing.

But it was hardly an Augmentation, Aaron thought. It was more of a heal, or a repair. Paige sat back in her chair and huffed.

"Why didn't you do that last time?" Aaron shrugged. He hadn't really thought about it after getting hit by the thief. And his power had come along a fair way since then. The three of them sat in a comfortable silence for a while. Aaron enjoyed the moment of peace after days on the run. But he knew it wouldn't last. Looking out of the window, they were now out of the settlement and travelling east. The cart bounced and rocked around the poorly maintained dirt road.

Every now and then, it would bounce higher, briefly sending them off their seats when it hit a fallen branch or a rock. Further in the distance, Aaron could see fields and forests under the moonlight. It was green and luscious with no evidence of corruption. There were distant lights from other settlements. He again found himself questioning why the city kept this all so secretive.

He always thought the Desolated Lands were for banished citizens, like Oathbreakers and criminals, or those that refused to take refuge in the city years ago. But there was clearly more to it than he had been led to believe. Tim stood up and knocked on the back of the coach up behind where Giddeon's back must have been.

"Giddeon! Thank you for helping us!" Tim called. His gratitude was only met with silence. The arrogance was unbearable.

"He only helped us because he needs us," Aaron drawled.

"True, but I owe him my life. That dog would have torn me up if he didn't intervene." Aaron grumbled reluctantly in agreement.

"We're on the same side," Paige said, "we all want the same thing."

"What does Giddeon want?" Aaron snapped.

"To learn more about necromancers and to vanquish them? He's only tolerating me because he thinks the relic on my farm will help him kill more people like me!" Paige opened her mouth and went to speak, but retreated to silence.

"He's on our side, Aaron," Tim said reassuringly, "he hates those beasts, not you." Aaron let out a forced but gentle smile in appreciation. He knew Giddeon's interests were aligned with his own for now, but felt that he would have no issue betraying them once they were no longer useful. Besides, he was a necessary evil to get to the farm in one piece. He would need Giddeon around if more of those dogs showed up, but needed to make sure he had a reason to keep him and Tim around.

It felt good to stretch his legs and warm himself on the campfire after hours of being cramped up in a cart. A fire roared from a pit between them, with their bedrolls set out around it. It was too dark to see much in the distance. If Aaron remembered correctly, there was mostly only farmland to the east. The main route north was to the west, near his city. Most towns and cities had been set up close by to benefit from the trade route. Creaking insects were the only thing to be heard over the crackle of the fire.

Thankfully, none of the corrupted dogs had shown up since they left the town, but he had piled up a collection of dry branches to quickly ignite and use to fend them off, if needed. Tim and Giddeon were looking at a map which they must have picked up in town. They'd made good progress, but were still a day or two's ride away from the farm, assuming they kept up their current pace. They didn't look at the map for long before everyone went to rest for the night.

Aaron hadn't long been resting in his bedroll when a tap on the shoulder made him jump. Paige gestured for him to keep quiet with a finger over her mouth and beckoned him away from the campsite. Giddeon and Tim were fast asleep around the fire. Aaron followed Paige through the forest for a few minutes before they reached a clearing. They were close enough to the campsite to see the fire flickering in the distance, but far enough away to be out of earshot. He didn't bother asking what she wanted. It was obvious.

It was time to train.