It did not really help, but I finally managed to squeeze it out despite of the reboots!!!
PART 10: LEEF“But Desperado, sweetheart,” said Leef, who was playing his aggravatingly best, “There’s an equally thin line between pain and pleasure, the same as there is between love and hate. Two sides of the coin, see. You’ll need to choose soon.” He let his breath out slowly, as Desperado took the dagger away. Leef decided he’d better be doubly on his guard. There was no telling what the young har might do in his present state, he was already hallucinating, his psyche held together only by threads of sanity and those were stretched to breaking point.
“As to the event, think of it like this. If you wanted to test out your enchantment or abilities or invention, what better place than in the middle of nowhere? And you’re right, whoever the experimenter is, they’ll want no witnesses. We should move from this place with all expediency.”
Desperado tottered around on his stick. A scene came to Leef out of the past. It was like watching an old human trying to negotiate one of their horrendous shopping malls. Leef bit his lip; it wouldn’t do to upset the youngster by laughing at him again. Really, in spite of the circumstances, he was doing as well as he could to cope with the outlandish situation and Leef was grudgingly impressed. He tested his ankle by putting all his weight on it. No pain, it was healed. Was it really only a day since he’d injured himself? Ag, time was moving quickly. He listened to the background noises. Somewhere near to the village that wasn’t, he heard a flapping noise, like wet sheets blowing in the wind. He didn’t like it one bit. Desperado was regarding his stick with suspicion and Leef put his hand on the youngster’s shoulder. “I think you’re too weak to walk three minutes, let alone twenty. You better take a ride.”
Desperado looked askance. What was the Parasiel on about now? If it was anything dirty to do with aruna, he’d stab him. But it wasn’t. The har was indicating he would give him a piggy back. Alright, then, the captain was probably correct, damn him. The Parasiel crouched down and Desperado got on his back. The captain arose with as much dignity as he could positively bleed out of the situation, and Desperado pointed a trembling hand over his shoulder in the direction of the corral.
Clouds had all but covered the moon which assumed a milky halo of light. It spilt down onto the forest and dripped through the trees. By the time Leef had arrived at the corral, he was exhausted. It was most unlike him, he was normally a strong har who could do a hard day’s work without complaint. The atmosphere was stifling, that was the problem. It was like trying to breathe in puddle water. Desperado slid off his back and landed in a heap on the ground. He looked awful. “If you’re going to throw up, do it quietly,” warned Leef, wiping his brow. “Stay here, and I’ll go and see if the horses are still stabled, although it sounds too quiet, much too rooning quiet.”
Desperado coughed a reply, and Leef took off across the scrub until he reached the wooden shack. He opened the door, slowly. At the far end of the stack stood a single chestnut mare. She was whinnying softly to herself and in a state of repressed panic. “Come on, come on here, girl,” called Leef. The horse stared at him with huge eyes. “Yes, come on now,” urged the captain. “I’m not going to hurt you, come on.”
He sent an intention of calm towards the animal and she responded, edging around the wall of the shack as if she were afraid to tread on the ground. Leef looked down. Pebbles were bouncing off the earth. It was the village all over again. For Ag’s sake! “Here, here, come on girl!” he called. After what seemed like an age, Leef’s hand tangled in the mare’s mane and he led her away quickly.
As they left the shed and crossed the short piece of ground to where Desperado lay, Leef looked back towards the forest. Trees were falling to the ground, one after the other, in a line through the canopy. Wood splintered and there was the whoosh of branches through the air and then a grating sound as they hit the ground. Leef didn’t look again. As he dragged Desperado onto the mare’s back and then leapt on himself, a thumping sound began to accompany the cacophony. He realised it was his heart. He had no idea what direction to take, he was disorientated and about to panic like the horse, but Desperado pointed towards the northwest.
“Agave, you better be right, sweetheart,” said Leef, as he pointed the mare in that direction. He didn’t need to urge her onwards; she pelted across the scrubland and burst through into the cover of the forest. Leef pulled Desperado close to him so they could duck the low hanging branches together as the mare careered onwards.
Back in the corral, the shed was sucked, shrieking and complaining, into the earth which closed over it like quicksand. After a while a figure materialised. It was at least eight foot tall and partially har. Long, scarlet hair coursed down its back in livid waves. The rest of its body from the chest downwards was contained in another dimension and so appeared to be liquid coal. The most remarkable thing about it was its eyes. They were hollow, smoking pits. It looked back along the line of devastation where a village had once stood, and grunted with satisfaction.
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