Madrik lay on his back and stared at the rich blue sky, praying for cloud to protect him from the morning sun. It was a desperate, yet somewhat pointless prayer. The sand beneath him felt as if it had been baked for millennia without ever having experienced the sensation of rain soaking through it.
That was changing, more or less. But it wasn't rain giving the dirt its first lesson in hydration. It was a rather more sticky substance of a crimson tone, and one that was particularly valuable to him. He really couldn't afford to spare any more of it, especially as the heat of day began to settle in.
Madrik eased himself up while trying to hold all of his wounds closed, but found he didn't possess enough hands to do so.
"What the hell was that?" he demanded of the open air.
It had been a long night. A long week for that matter. Hell, it had been a long bloody life.
Renryre Island was two thirds desert, a hundred leagues of sand, shrubs, and death. And the occasional snake if you cared to look for it. No one in their right mind went into the desert, unless of course they were trying to get lost.
The rest of the island, squashed between the mountains and the sea, enjoyed rain every other day, and bore a deep green ambiance all year round. That was where everyone lived. Towns and cities sprawled along the coast amongst the forests, living off fresh fish from the sea and sweet water running down the valleys. The mountains ran like a vein down the west coast, cutting off the desert from the fertile lands, a literal line between life and death. A line that Madrik had crossed... at around the same time as he'd crossed Tailfin.
The crime lord had earned a reputation for finding creative ways to make his problems go away, along with his competition. Madrik was an entrepreneur; his plan was fool proof. But it turns out he was the fool. Tailfin grew suspicious, and he removed the complication before it became too... complicated.
Madrik had expected to be thrown to the sharks, alive or dead. Instead, Tailfin had packed him in a sack, taken him out to the desert, and left him there. Didn't even bother opening the sack before he was on his way. Did bother to kick him a few more times and damn near break his ankle.
Madrik had a new plan. He would take down Tailfin. Cut him into pieces and throw him overboard, make certain. He wouldn't make the same mistake Tailfin had and leave him with a chance to survive. Well, half a chance. Madrik would still need to make it out of the desert before he could exact his revenge.
Tailfin had left him one thing of use: the sack. Madrik had already used parts of it to wrap up his ankle, and he ripped off more pieces to try to bandage his wounds. He needed to tear off several strips to cover them all.
"What the hell was that?" he shouted again.
He had been hobbling along through the night, his eyes open for any plants that might be edible, when out of nowhere something attacked him. He didn't see it, didn't hear it, had no idea it was there until he was already on the ground fighting for his life. Then, quick as it had arrived, the creature was gone.
Madrik had never heard of any such beast in the desert. As far as he knew, nothing bigger than a wild cat lived there, aside from the occasional snake, and they ate the cats. Judging by the deep wounds in his arms and chest, his attacker was the size of a giant tailshark. The bastards weren't known to walk on dry land, but it was his best theory.
He stood up gingerly, yelping as his ankle struggled under his weight.
The scene hadn't changed much since the previous sunset. Desert, in all directions, with the mountains in the distance to the west. He still wasn't sure where the nearest coastline was. By the time he had freed himself from his linen prison, Tailfin's tracks had been covered up by sand blown in the wind.
Madrik had picked south, and had been walking for two nights, taking shelter during the heat of the day. It was difficult to be certain that he had remained on course, the stars had been restless, and holding a straight line in the dark while the sky kept moving was no easy task.
He searched around for any sign of shelter. Maybe even an oasis, with a fireplace prepared and a lamb waiting, willing to sacrifice itself for dinner. The best he could find was a half dead tree with a trunk fat enough to lean on, but it would be no good by midday. He would need to keep moving until he could find something better. At least with the sun up, he could be certain which direction he faced.
Despite the pain in his ankle, he managed to make slow progress. The ground was hard, steady to walk on. He kept his eyes open for any tailsharks wandering around on two fins, or anything else that might have such big teeth. The path remained clear, as far as he could tell.
His lips were cracking, his head was hurting, and his eyes were burning. He didn't fancy his chances, not without a little divine intervention. But by noon, his pains were thrice as bad, and still no divine entities had bothered to intervene.
That was when he heard something unusual. He couldn't see where it came from, but it sounded big. Sounded like a dog the size of a house warning an even bigger one to back off.
It growled again, louder. It was right in front of him, he just couldn't physically see it. He turned to run, realised he had forgotten about his ankle, and toppled over in a heap of groaning pain.
A vicious hiss sounded nearby, challenging the growling. The damn things were right there, yet he still couldn't see them. Despite the lack of visual confirmation, he felt fairly certain a giant invisible dog was about to fight a giant invisible cat. Godsdammit, that couldn't be right.
A cloud of dust burst from the ground as dirt was flung in all directions. Half dead trees became all dead as they were trampled, trunks smashed under the weight of the beasts.
The snarling and hissing continued, punctuated by yelps of pain. Madrik could do little more than back away on his one good leg, cursing that this wasn't the divine intervention he had called for.
The fight went on much longer than he would expect a couple of oversized domestic pets to bother. He had suffered strays around his house often enough to know that the brawl was usually over by the time he tried to chase them away.
Soon enough, the fight went the way such fights usually did. The cat made a bloody noise, and then ran off into the distance. Madrik could hear the dog approaching him, and could see the ground moving as its paws hit the dirt.
Madrik closed his eyes, ready to feel the giant teeth closing over his head. Instead, the beast sat down beside him, whimpering. Madrik frantically searched him memories for everything he'd ever learned about the gods, and found nothing related to invisible dogs. He must be hallucinating. Or worse, it was real.
Shrugging at the absurdity, he risked putting his hand out to touch the creature. He still couldn't see it, but he knew its face was right there. He touched something warm, wet. Ran his hand along its nose, down to its mouth. It was sticky, with slobber or blood he couldn't tell; his hand still looked dry.
He stood up and moved closer to the giant dog, running his hand along its face, to the side of its neck. Its hair was thick and long, the length of his arm perhaps. He kept following the dog's body as it panted, evidently pleased with its appraisal.
Madrik soon bumped into its leg, or its shoulder perhaps. It proved to be a ledge big enough to climb onto. Pulling on its hair, he made its way up the side of its body, and onto its back. He sat down, still holding onto hair, and the creature gently stood up, raising him some twenty feet into the air.
He could see the ground below him, right through the animal's body. It looked like fresh air was the only thing between him and a painful landing on the desert below. He was pretty much flying he realised, except for the giant invisible dog beneath him, which at that point, he very much hoped wasn't a figment of his imagination.
"Well... this seems perfectly rational," he mused. "Let's go, pup!"
The dog leapt up and bounded off southwards, Madrik's fists wrapped tightly into its hair. It was surprisingly easy to hang on, and he didn't even need to struggle to look past the dog's head to see where he was going.
His pains seemed to fade as they raced through the desert, southwards, towards the coast. At that pace, they would be there in no time, and he could find a boat and get back to dealing with Tailfin. When people asked where he had been, he might leave out the part about the giant invisible house pets fighting; he didn't want to get thrown to the sharks as a lunatic. That was probably why no one had ever heard of them.
It was late afternoon when the dog had begun to tire, slowing its pace to a steady walk. Madrik looked to the south, searching for the coast, but all he could see was the barren wastes of the desert, with yet more desert beyond that. It seemed the view had not changed at all since that morning.
The dog eventually stopped walking and sat down, and Madrik slid down it's side. He came off wet, covered in an invisible sticky substance. Sweat maybe, or blood perhaps. Suddenly, the dog leapt up and bounded off.
"Wait!" he shouted, but to no avail. "Godsdammit! That was my ride out of here."
He grabbed a rock and threw it after the dog. It likely landed nowhere near, not that he could tell. Angry, he spun around, stomping even with his dodgy ankle, and stormed off in the opposite direction.
Before him, not fifty yards away, there was clump of bright green trees from where the gentle trickle of water summoned his ears. He could have sworn the oasis hadn't been there a moment earlier, he surely must have been able to see it from atop the dog's back. Was the desert sun taking its toll already?
He cautiously wandered towards the oasis, scanning for a trap. Perhaps more invisible beasts, waiting in ambush. He neared it, but nothing attacked.
Under the canopy the thick trees blocked the worst of the sun, and the soft dirt felt springy beneath him. Losing all control of his caution he hopped towards the water as fast as his ankle would allow, dropping to his knees as he reached the stream. He drank deeply for what seemed to be half a day, and finally washed his face before sitting back.
He looked around him, finding exactly what he had imagined an oasis to be: a paradise in the desert. Lush green grasses and mosses grew on the ground and crawled their way up the tree trunks, while a dark green canopy formed a shelter above, with the sound of birds singing in the branches.
He stood up, and walked slowly along the stream, exploring his new paradise. Thoughts of returning home temporarily vanished, plans of revenge against Tailfin fading with them. Then he saw something that took him by surprise.
Surrounded by stones neatly prepared, a small fire was burning, its embers glowing, soon ready to be used for cooking. Next to it was a lamb, just standing there, looking back at him. Madrik could swear its lips moved. It was telling him to eat it.
"What is going on?" he asked, as if the lamb could offer a reasonable explanation.
"Divine intervention, perhaps?" came a sweet voice from behind him.
Startled, he swung around to see a young woman waiting cautiously just out of reach. She wore the bare remnants of old clothing, just about covering the most important parts. The rest of her was the deep golden brown of someone spending years perfectly maturing in the sun. Her sun-bleached hair hung loose to her waist, crudely combed.
Madrik wasn't stupid. Something was very wrong. If this dog wasn't an hallucination, this surely must be.
"I can help you treat those wounds," she suggested. "Then we should eat, you must be hungry."
Madrik gawked for a few more moments.
"Starving. But... how is this—"
"Unless there is something else you would like to do first?" she asked. "You know, I haven't seen a man in a very long time..."
"Right..." muttered Madrik, eyes shifting.
"I am Lytette," she said. "What's your name?"
Madrik fumbled for words, but his tongue refused to cooperate. He glanced to the lamb, still waiting there patiently. Its lips were moving. He could have sworn it was mouthing the word trap!
"Let's get you out of those clothes," said Lytette.
She stepped forward, causing Madrik's heart to race. His head was telling him to run, but nothing else was cooperating.
Then she slapped him. One of those hits that come from nowhere, a great big swing of the arm planted perfectly on the cheek.
"Ow! What was that for?"
She did it again, harder even.
"Wait! Stop!"
Once more, with enough power to flatten a mountain.
"Bloody hell, what are you—"
"I didn't want to hear what you got up to with Lytette."
Madrik blinked. He realised it was dark. And there was an old man leaning over him, his hand held ready to deliver another vicious slap. Madrik lay still a few more seconds, blinking rapidly. He sat up sharply, backing away, feeling the agony in his ankle, and all his wounds, which had been dressed. He looked around, confused. Then finally thought of something to say.
"What?"
"You mumbled Lytette's name, started smiling and making funny noises," said the old man, "so I hit you before it became awkward."
"Oh. Er... where am I?"
"You're not at an oasis, you're just stuck in the desert, with little chance of surviving."
"And you are—"
"That little chance of surviving I just mentioned."
"What—"
"You were attacked by an ancient spirit of the desert," he said. "He doesn't like to kill, just to wound you and watch you suffer. His poison causes deep sleep, dreams, even hallucinations. Then he leads you to her, somewhere between the dream world and this."
"Lytette... she was just a dream?"
"Not exactly," said the old man. "She is something worse. Or better perhaps, depending how your experience goes."
"I don't understand," said Madrik.
The man shook his head and sighed with an irritated expression.
"People from the city should stay out of the desert, that's all you need to understand."
Madrik studied the old man. His skin was like dark leather, his rough hair hung loose around the neckline, silver from sun or age, or both. His clothes worn, repaired too many times. He had been in the desert for some time.
"I need to get back," said Madrik.
"To Tailfin, right?"
"Right. Can you help me?"
"You need to take it easy, stay off your feet for a while and heal. You would be better off staying with me until you are ready. I am compelled to help you."
"Compelled?"
"Conscience."
"Ah."
Madrik tried to relax, tried to allow his wounds to heal.
"This desert spirit..."
"Ancient, yes."
"Why did it attack me?"
"Just paying old debts," he shrugged as though it was a silly question. "What did you see? What was in your dream?"
Madrik checked himself before answering. Even if it was a dream, it seemed a little silly.
"A giant dog. Invisible. Fighting a giant, eh... invisible cat."
The old man nodded his head solemnly. He didn't appear at all surprised, as if he had heard it all before.
" Lytette?" asked the old man.
"Afterwards," said Madrik. "Once the dog ran off."
Thoughtfully, the old man nodded again. "Well the cat was a nice touch. You should rest. When you are feeling better, I will help you make your way home."
Madrik's Tale continues in The Bloodied Sands part 2 >>>