Chapter 9: The Layered Empire

“Just hold on,” I said with my gentlest voice and put my hand on her head. She jerked back in fright. “I’ll unstitch your lips. But you can’t move around like this. I don’t want to cut you.”

Might be a bit too late for that though.

The lithe blade slid into the small gap between her lips. Ever so gently I sawed through the thin cords. She twitched whenever the strain of a stitch loosened, which, while understandable, made me cut her on more than one occasion. 

“There,” I said, cringing at the criss-cross of chips and cuts leaking blood. 

She flexed her mouth open, “Please don’t kill me! Please! I’ve done nothing wrong!” 

Sitting so close to her, the wretched state of her crushed nose was impossible to un-see. Not to mention her gouged out eyes.

“I won’t. Sorry about that,” I said and pointed at her jaw, and looked down at my hand. What am I doing? She can’t see…

She quavered, “I-It’s alright. Please, just let me go…” 

I let the threads fall away, freeing her wrists. “If that’s what you want, sure. But are you sure you’ll be all right on your own?”

She nodded frantically, “Yes! I’ve just got to find my friends, then everything will work out.” 

She stood up and prodded at her surroundings with flailing hands. I raised my brow, “You sure? I could help.”

“N-no. You don’t need to go that far,” she insisted and stepped away. 

“Wait,” I said and put a hand on her shoulder, turning her to face me. “What happened to you?”  

“O-Oh that… I was running from the Slitherstitch,” she said barely audible, and gestured at her face. 

I raised my eyebrows. “Slitherstitch?” 

“Y-yes.” 

“Tell me.” 

She squirmed in place and fidgeted with her clammy hands, “Okay.” 

Compared to me, and not counting the horrid wounds, she looked well off. She wore intact clothes and a nice pair of combat boots. She bore a few stains of blood, and urine, which was my fault, but other than that nothing really told the story of her getting sewn up and having her eyes gouged out. 

In comparison, I still had my sneakers and jeans, but my torso had been uncovered since the day of my escape. I longed for a shirt, or a jacket, or something. It didn’t feel right to walk around with my chest uncovered, I felt naked. And seeing my solid black arm was weird as hell. It would do my psyche good to cover it up. If the woman saw my condition there would be no pacifying her. 

I shook my head, “This Slitherstitch, what is it?” 

She swallowed, “A scourge creature.” 

“Scourge creature?”

“Yes?”

“Explain.” 

“What?” 

“Scourge creature. What’s that?” 

She tilted her head, “A monster under the influence of the scourge…?”

I rubbed my eyes. Everyone kept talking about things like they were normality itself.

“And the Slitherstitch?”

“Samara says it’s the apex here.”

“And why did it sew you up?”  I asked. 

“Don’t know. It just does… I managed to escape while it was distracted by something. All the others…” her words trailed off.

I nudged her shoulder, startling her, “All the others what?” 

“Ah- All those captured before me died,” she spoke quietly, lips quivering.  

I placed a hand on her shoulder, she didn’t jerk back this time. “I’m sorry… You said you have friends. How many?” 

Her brows furrowed, ”We’re the largest group in the area. You aren’t aware of us?” 

“I’ve been caught up elsewhere,” I answered. 

She stayed silent for a beat, then mumbled, “We were twenty something last I saw them. Most of us worked at the hotel, or lived in the neighbourhood before getting dragged here. I worked in the reception.” 

That’s where I knew her from.

“Was there a blonde girl rearing a bunch of children?” I asked.

She shook her head, “But there is another large group in a different part of the city. Drifters have talked about there being children there.”

That’s them.“Where are they?” 

She rolled her thumbs, “I-I’m sorry. I don’t know exactly where. We have a map back at camp.” 

I groaned, “I already offered to help you back.” 

She crawled closer, “And I’ve changed my mind. Please, I need to go back.” 

“I will. So tell me.”

For the first time since meeting her, she smiled. It made for a gnarly sight. “Where are we now?” she asked. 

“At the foot of the Chambers of Crushing.” 

“The foot of what?” 

“The enormous building with snakes on the side,” I added. 

Her face paled, “If you turn your back to the coiled building, the merchant quarters should be in the direction of 10 o’clock.” 

“What’s wrong?

“We should get off the streets. There are other things close to the coiled building. Hulking figures with draping clothes,” she spoke quietly, as if afraid someone would hear.

I kissed my teeth, “The jailor? We’re acquainted.” 

I shared her dread. The Jailor had been a real frightening bastard. Had I not been lucky beyond measure I would have never escaped his clutches. The way she spoke made it sound like there were more. I shivered at the thought.

She nodded, “Then you should know we can’t stay here. If they find us we’re done for. None that have seen one up close have gotten away.”

Except for me then. 

I hummed in approval, “What’s your name?”

“Elana,” she said and reached a hand to where she thought I was, “wh-”

“Alright, Elana. Let’s get moving,” I said and tied a thread of magic to my belt and handed it to her. “Hold on to this.” 

She nodded, mouth pursed as if hiding scorn, and fell quiet. 

I led her inside a squalid alley, the ground was littered with broken glass and layers of soot. Colourful buildings of a mishmash of materials surrounded us. Most looked to be decrepit family dwellings, but a select few bore large windows to put wares on display. The doors and window shutters were pulled shit, not allowing even a glimpse inside the dwellings. 

We walked past a shop. The shutters had been ripped off, windows crushed. The door pulsed open and snapped shut from the cross draft. I clicked my tongue, “Stingy bastards could have left me something at least.” 

The citizens must have run away in a hurry, looting all they had time to before making their escape. The cabinets inside had been ripped open, tearing the doors from their hinges. I sighed. There was cutlery enough to provide half of Elana’s group, but not a single piece of clothing or food. I’d make do with anything at this point, just to make myself presentable enough to meet Elana’s friends without bells of alarm ringing.

Elana staggered behind me. It was uncomfortable for me to match my pace to hers. I’d grown used to doing things my way, with no need to compromise. Sera couldn’t do much else but complain whatever I chose to do, so there was really no pushback. Now, though, I was stuck walking at a snail's pace with the blind woman fumbling her way forward behind me. 

“Doesn’t it bother you?” I cleared my throat and asked, quietly. “Your eyes, I mean.”

Pieces of glass shattered under my weight. 

“Of course it does...”

“Then how can you seem so calm?” 

She sighed, “We have a healer back at the library. I’ve seen her do things modern medicine couldn’t even dream of doing.”  

“A healer?” I asked. 

“A healer. Her blessing can rewind a body’s time. Making the efficiency of her healing stronger the less time has passed since receiving the wound,” she explained without hesitation. 

Elana quickly grew comfortable around me. It was weird. Since meeting her I had broken her nose, cut her lips, and threatened to gut her. Her mention of the healer made her forgiving attitude easy to swallow. The wounds I caused were temporary, the opportunity I presented constant.

“What a useful blessing,” I mused. “What about yours?” 

She snorted, “Have you been living under a rock?” 

“What?” 

“It’s a complete breach of etiquette to ask a blessed about their powers.” 

“So why did you tell me about the healer? Sounds like a shitty thing to do then.” 

“She is one of very few who can regrow limbs Suffice to say; she’s famous among the blessed here already. It’s pretty much common knowledge.”

She didn’t elaborate further or tell me about her own blessing. Nor did I pry any further. It wasn’t like I needed to know, it was just an attempt at making small talk. 

The fact that they had a Blessed capable of regrowing limbs made joining her group pretty damn enticing. But I had things to do, people to meet. This was no sightseeing trip. 

The string pulled taut. I spun around to ask why she stopped. Elana’s face was frozen with fear. She pressed a trembling finger to her lips, then pointed to her ears. As if in slow motion, she moved her hand to point and the rooftop a few houses down.

I followed it, and there it was. 

The Slitherstitch crawled across the sheet roofs with low clicking sounds. Its body was covered in matte grey scales, all the way from the serpentine lower body to the humanoid frame. Its eyes and mouth were sewn shut and leaked a sickly green ooze. Wherever the ooze went, smoke and hissing sounds followed.

I sneaked to Elana, moving with confidence and care at the same time, to not make a sound.

Above us, the Slitherstitch curled up and put its head down to rest. 

It didn’t take a genius to understand that disturbing it was a very bad idea. 

I went over my options.

I could leave Elana behind as bait. The monster was probably out looking for her already. Catching her wouldn’t prove a tough task for the monster, but it should buy me enough time to escape. 

I shook my head. I couldn’t leave her behind. That wasn’t something I should ever even consider. Elana was nice, easy to talk to and likeable. And she never rolled her eyes at me when I spoke. If I could get out of this with her, then I would do everything in my power to do so. 

I gently grabbed her arm pulled her toward me. To my surprise, despite literally shaking with fear, she complied and let herself be guided without making a fuss. Her warm body pressed against my bare chest. I placed my other hand on her hip, firmly. Then I guided her, like we danced the waltz. She moved awkwardly at the start, but quickly adapted to follow my rhythm. 

Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought that the dance lessons my esteemed grandmother forced upon me would come in handy like this. Yet here I was. Dancing with a blind stranger under the watchful ears of a serpentine monster. All in surgical white light crystals lighting the city. It shone down on us like a spotlight, setting the stage for the performance of a lifetime.