482 The fleeing trio

Riley didn't glance back. He'd lost a home once. A second time was salt in the wound, but not something he couldn't get over. Besides, his wife, his children, his mother and stepfather, his in-laws, they had all gone ahead. He was lucky.

Out of all his family, only one brother had fallen under Beast's spell.

Kyler.

All right, one last look over his shoulder.

There was nothing to see, for Judah had already carried them miles away, veering up into the mountains to make them harder to track, and hoping that anyone that tried to follow would come this way instead of the main path where the evacuation efforts had taken the people of the world.

He wondered if they were all right. There was no way of knowing until they arrived, got closer.

Riley didn't usually think of the Fae, but he knew that Finn talked to them, and Roland too, at times. He wondered if they could really hear.

Judah's gait was much smoother than a horse's, and despite the treacherous and rocky terrain, the ride did not require much concentration for him to stay on the large cat's back.

Which was unfortunate, for he had far too much time to think.

To think about his home, where he lived with Ashley. He didn't tell Roland, but looters had moved in days ago while he was out patrolling. It was far too much trouble to try and kick them out, and he likely would have accidentally killed one or two of them.

In one sense, he was very glad to leave the rotten, festering city behind them. No food, terrible people, barely enough water to go around, rampant crime. No one would willingly live there apart from those who reveled in depravity.

And there was plenty of depravity to be had. He'd stopped a murder or two, and had to stop bothering with thefts and assaults because he would never have gotten anywhere or done anything else.

He was one man in a city of countless people, every one of whom had abandoned their morals in favor of selfishness and survival.

Riley tried to picture what the surrounding towns and villages would be like. He didn't know how many had evacuated, though they had all received the initial order. He imagined the ratios would be similar to Klain, perhaps worse in the places closer to where Beast had come from, maybe a little better further North.

He thought of his little stepbrother, Gabriel, and his friend Victoria, who had gone to fight the plague. He'd been surprised to receive the report that both had volunteered for service. Had they secretly married? It would be a strange honeymoon if that were the case.

Regardless, they had already deployed when he saw their names on the roster, and there was nothing he could do about it now. He was simply glad they were not in the city which was falling.

Had fallen. Was destroyed for all intents and purposes, all the righteous annihilated. The animals slaughtered, the crops ravaged.

Perhaps Beast would at least feed his new nation of slaves, even if the monster did play some sort of role in being the cause of their starvation.

It was diabolical, really. Create such an intense need for yourself that all of humanity is willing to worship you to get the food only you can give them.

It was evil.

Where was the Sorcerer? If he was as powerful as they said, why didn't he stop it?

He'd asked Roland as much and received no real answer, other than the Sorcerer's Will was better than man's. Somehow.

Did he trust this unknown being? Not really. But it was better to trust him than the Beast, who was demonstrably horrible, he supposed. 

Roland trusted the Sorcerer, though. Probably because he'd brought him back to life. But there were so many more that the Sorcerer hadn't brought back to life, like Riley's father. Why? Why one over another? It didn't make any sense to him.

He had a lot of questions for the Sorcerer if ever they met. Of course, if the being helped them achieve victory and retake the city and its people, he could overlook a lot.

Not everything, but most of it. Probably.

Nightfall was coming on, or did the world seem darker now? The noise of Klain had long faded behind them. Lost in his thoughts, Riley couldn't say how much time had passed.

He blinked, and looked up. The sky was darkening, and yet the sun was high. It was just… turning dark.

That couldn't be good.

Judah paused on a ridge and stared upward for a moment, heaving a sigh.

"Does he need a break?" Riley wasn't sure of the cat's stamina. Was that a sigh of exhaustion or of frustration, or something else? Roland knew his pet–er, friend–best.

Roland leaned to the side, apparently assessing their mount's state, and nodded. "We can take a break here."

Sliding off the creature's back, Riley tried not too look up at the darkening sky.

"Was this in any of your dreams?" He asked, only a little sarcastically.

"Yes," Roland ran a hand over his face. "This will happen three times, each darker than the last."

"How do you manage it all?" Riley shook his head, staring at the strange shadows the sparse grass created on the ground in the yellowish light.

"Manage what?" Roland coughed a little.

Riley grinned, pulling off the emergency evacuation pack he'd kept with him ever since the second wave left the city. It was unbelievably precious, carrying a few days' supply of food and water. More than one would-be thief had regretted trying to take it from him. He handed Roland a waterskin before he answered.

"King, Commodore, Provider, Judge, Fortune-Teller, Emissary to the Sorcerer…" He trailed off. "Seems like a lot of jobs to have."

"Well, several of those, I am no longer," Roland wiped the moisture from his lips onto his sleeve and then glanced down at the droplets with a frown. Likely he was wondering whether he would come to regret wasting even that tiny amount.

"Sure you are," Riley smirked. "You're still king, it's just your kingdom moved up into the mountains. And got smaller."

"How is it, exactly, that you can always look on the bright side?" Roland said as the sun all but disappeared from the sky. Everything took on an eerie quality as the light seemed to bend and waver.

"That's a bit difficult right now," Riley joked.

"It reminds me of Pink Sky World. The light there was strange," The king sighed. "There are a lot of things that are strange in all the worlds, and I hope we live to see them all together."

"Look who found his optimism!" The General declared.

"I think it's being away from Klain," Roland's eyebrows came together. "It was… oppressive. Like something beating down on my mind, or perhaps trying to claw its way to the surface, and you only realize how bad it was once it stops."

Riley pondered the words, and nodded. "I feel it, too. Maybe it's part of why I was so eager to get out of that forsaken place."

"It wasn't forsaken until we left," Roland sighed. "Now, it truly is."

"You're wrong." Riley shot back. "It was forsaken when the Sorcerer and the Fae refused to protect it from Beast's influence, from famine and drought and all the rest. We have stood guard over it, you and I and the others, for twelve years or longer, but we did not forsake it. The people turned their backs on us, but we stayed as long as we could. Longer than we should have."

"I've come to learn," The king said thoughtfully, "that the same at least loosely applies to the Sorcerer. I don't think he abandoned people. A long time ago, at the beginning, people turned their backs on him."

Riley rolled his eyes. "Sure. Sure. Whatever you say."

Judah grumbled at the back of his throat, and the men stood back up.

"Time to go?" The General teased. "You could just say so."

Judah eyed the man with his large, catlike eyes. Set in deep black marks, they shined out at Riley as if reading his soul. It made him a little uncomfortable, but he grinned and moved away to climb back up on Judah's back.

One eye followed his movements with a sound of what might be deemed dissatisfaction.

"Judah, he's lost someone important. It's natural for him to be a little bitter." Roland explained.

"I'm not bitter," Riley protested. "And Kyler isn't lost, he's, well, sort of lost for the moment, but we're going to get him back."

He wasn't nearly as confident in that as his voice made it seem. If Shayn couldn't get him back, no one could. At least, not without magic. Maybe those little halflings had made some progress with their herbs, or maybe Roland's magic children could work their powers on the magic herbs to make them even more magical.

It could work. There was still hope in the world.

With both men in place, the great cat shook his mane and shot forward once more into the wilderness.