Chapter 29: Stumbling Through Time
Nial gaped at the Naga. "Me? What did I do? I just got here!"
Moren frowned. "You're here before—"
"We just need to know if it's safe to rest here. We're trying to stay out of Duff's sight. Have you seen or heard any sign of him?" Scar asked, squeezing Moren's arm again.
Dorian sneered, but the Naga turned and smiled at her again. He put his free hand over hers on his arm, pinning it there.
"The Wasteland aches and writhes as if in the throes of birth pain," he said quietly, like he was talking only to Scar. "My people's skin itches with the weight of coming doom. But things are… as peaceful as is possible in the Wasteland for now."
Scar took a deep breath. "Thank you. Truly. We won't stay long. We just have to… figure out a plan," she said, shooting a warning glance at Dorian before she turned back to Moren. "Please… please leave him. We need him. He's an asshole, but he is trying to fix this. He's just—"
"He shows a strange approach to the solution," Moren grumbled.
Scar nodded in agreement. "Which is why we need to be more measured in our next step. Can you… can you please give him permission? Call your sentries off?"
The Naga's eyes narrowed. His slitted pupils contracting to bare black lines. "You ask a great favor."
Scar nodded quickly. "I know, and I'm sorry. But we really do need him. At least for now…" she said with a coy smile.
The Naga gave a chuffing kind of hiss that Nial thought was probably his version of a laugh.
"You are truly a gem, beautiful," he said, lifting his hand from hers on his arm and instead curling his fingers under her chin. "The moment you heart is free, my nest is yours for safety… rest… pleasure—"
"That's my wife you're speaking to," Dorian snapped. "So much for defenders of right and wrong…"
The Naga entire posture changed. He released Scar and his body became liquid. Nial stumbled back with a small cry as the man's legs suddenly became a thick, serpentine body and tail and Moren was chest-to-chest with Dorian faster than Nial's eyes could see, that tail coiled in a full circle on the ground around Dorian, so he couldn't move his feet without stepping on it. Or being gripped by it.
"Moren," Scar sighed. "He's just—"
"You dishonor your mate and suggest the moral failing is mine?" Moren hissed, eye-to-eye with Dorian, who was locked in that slitted gaze.
But Dorian didn't flinch. And he didn't shrink back. "Before you let her visit your nest, you make sure she tells you who did the dishonoring first."
The two men stared each other down until Nial looked at Scar and she cleared her throat.
"Moren, right now, the biggest issue is that we need safe passage, just for a few days, until we figure out the best time to—"
Like liquid lightning the Naga slipped away from Dorian, his whole body shifting to become snake except for his shoulders and arms as he turned to face away from all of them, eyes wide and body tensed. He was listening to something they couldn't hear.
"You are not the only ones to visit today," he hissed a moment later.
Scar tensed.
Dorian stepped forward. "Is it Duff?"
Naga turned his head as if he was straining to hear something, then shook his head. "No, there is no trace of the Gatekeeper. Make no mistake, I would have his throat if he showed himself for his slaughter of my people," Moren growled.
"Moren," Scar said quickly, "the weapons he brings… you can't—"
"Death is not a destination to run from, but the end of the first journey," the Naga said, his voice distracted. But then he turned to look between Scar and Dorian, then finally to Nial.
"For the sake of the pure heart, I will give you three days. My people will not hunt you. But on moonrise of the third day if you remain, you are prey, Enganador," he said menacingly.
Dorian nodded, raising his hands when the Naga drew himself up.
"We'll be gone before then. You have my word."
Moren nodded slowly, then met Nial's eyes. "Take care you do not become the man who leads you," he said mysteriously.
Nial frowned. "What—"
But then Moren turned to look back in the direction he'd been listening. Then there was nothing where he'd been but a bush left trembling because something had brushed past it.
Scar let out a breath of relief and Nial found himself relaxing a little as well. But his heart was still racing.
That had been a Naga. The chief of the Naga! And he was real.
Holy shit.
Nial was almost laughing, it was all so incredible and impossible and—
"Move," Dorian growled, grabbing Nial by the elbow and turning him in the opposite direction from the one Moren had taken.
But he didn't wait for Scar, and when Nial looked back over his shoulder to make sure she was coming, he saw her put the arm to her injured side before she started moving.
"Dorian, she needs to rest."
"She needs to get her nose out of my fucking business," Dorian snapped loud enough for her to hear them from several paces behind.
"You're just pissed because Moren wanted her."
Dorian drew up short and turned on him, his eyes in flames of rage. "Let me make one thing very clear to you, Pissant. My life would be better without her. And so would yours."
"That's harsh."
"Sometimes the truth hurts."
"But you're just—"
"Just leave it, Nial," Scar sighed from behind them. "He's blind to his own flaws, and hyper-aware of the flaws of others. He suffers delusions of adequacy."
"Ahhh," Dorian sneered. "How I have missed your shrill refrain. Oh wait, no I haven't."
"Don't worry, Dorian," she drawled. "I hear the first thirty years of childhood are the worst. I'm sure soon you'll—"
"Would you both shut up!" Nial snapped, pulling out of Dorian's grip, and turning on Scar. "I don't know what happened or why you're even willing to be in the same room, but for fuck's sake, enough."
Dorian grunted, but Scar sighed and her face went grim. "Sorry, Nial. But… despite how much we fight, it's important for us both to be here for you."
Nial turned to Dorian, whose lips were twisted into a sour pinch. But he didn't argue with her.
Nial shook his head. "Then… either work together, or one of you needs to leave. You're stressing me out. I'm supposed to be learning how to save the world, right? It doesn't feel like this is it."
Scar looked at Dorian, who stared back at her, expressionless. Then he muttered another curse and turned, his cape swooping out behind him as he began to stalk through the forest.
"Wait, Dorian, you can't just walk away from a conversation every time it pisses you off!"
"Watch me."
"God, you're so fucking petty!"
Without answering, Dorian pushed through a bunch of vines and Nial plowed after him.
"Would you slow down for a second, we need to figure out how we're going to…"
Nial trailed off because he'd broken through the darkness under the trees and vines and stepped into a clear space where Dorian stood, hands on his hips, looking out.
They were on the edge of a cliff that plunged a hundred feet to a river below. But on the other side of the canyon the water had carved through the earth over thousands of years, the land rose towards the dark sky… and the City with it.
Nial's mouth dropped open as he saw the City of Elysium again. But this time in the dark, twisted nightscape of the wasteland. The buildings that had been golden stone were now sickly, white with black stains pouring down their sides, as if the buildings bled decay.
The Statue and Great Ring were still here, but crumbling and surrounded by barren stone and dirt, rather than the lush jungle.
Even from this distance the whole city looked like it was on the verge of falling over.
Doran shook his head. "You can't stop whining now. And don't worry, shrieking witches don't even register here. You'll be too busy sweating, keeping your guts inside your body." He threw an arm wide to indicate the decaying city, which was such an ugly, far-cry from the Elysium Nial had seen that first time. "Welcome, Nial," he said dryly. "Welcome to the hellscape you're going to create."
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