Page 81 of Unleashed

Eventually, they dragged themselves out of the water onto one of the many patches of land and stumbled forward. Despite the endurance that had been instilled in him when he was changed into a valo, Aduun’s muscles burned, and his breath was ragged. A glance at his companions suggested they were in the same state. Exhausted, soaking wet, and discouraged.

Their high spirits upon entering this swamp had quickly plummeted. In some ways, that was as dangerous as the environment itself.

They reached a spot where a huge tree stood atop a rise. It looked as though the ground had crumbled away beneath a portion of the tree. The large, exposed roots branched out in all directions, seeking water. They left a wide space beneath the tree that was relatively sheltered from the rain.

The spot was far enough from the water that it would likely be safe from flooding, at least for a while.

Aduun slowed to a stop and looked over his shoulder. “We should rest here,” he called.

None of the others made any effort to keep their relief from showing on their faces. They moved to the tree and sank into the hollow beneath it, showing no concern for the lack of space; by now, they were used to laying pressed against one another.

Vortok had hunched over to fit and leaned on his hip with one shoulder braced against the dirt-and-root wall behind him. Nina sighed; she was nestled in Vortok’s arms, tucked against his chest, facing the others. Balir sat beside the two, his legs pressed to Nina’s. Aduun had positioned himself on Balir’s other side, his right arm and shoulder wedged against his companion.

The droning, ceaseless sound of the rain drowned out all else save the occasional peals of thunder.

“There are so many different valos on Sonhadra,” Nina said, her voice nearly swallowed by the rain’s din. “The Creators used them for war, for pleasure, as builders and slaves, but not you. Kelsharn hid you. Why did he lock you away?”

Her question caught Aduun off-guard. He clenched his jaw at the sudden tightness in his chest and released a long, slow breath.

Nina’s soft hand on his arm drew his attention to her. He looked into her eyes.

“You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to, Aduun,” she said. “I know it’s in your memory, and I could find it if I tried, but…I am not going to take that from you. I just… It causes you a lot of pain, and I just wanted to share the weight of it with you.”

He held her gaze for several moments. What kept him from speaking about it? Was it simple shame, or was it misguided pride?

“It would have happened eventually, Aduun. It was inevitable,” Balir said.

Vortok grunted his assent. “Didn’t matter what we did. We were not what he wanted.”

“What do you two mean?” Nina asked, tilting her head back to look up at Vortok, brow furrowed. Aduun doubted she could see much other than the big valo’s chin from her position. “Does it have to do with what Kelsharn said about you being his mistakes?”

“Yes,” Balir replied. “We were the first valos he created. Though we were much enhanced from our natural forms — impossibly stronger, faster, and tougher — we were not what he wanted. Kelsharn craved perfection. At least as far as his ends were concerned. He wanted war machines because the concept of war was amusing to him.”

“But despite our strength, we can be killed,” Vortok continued. “We were not invincible war beasts.”

“And we could not easily be controlled.” Balir shifted a hand to his chest, curled his fingers, and rapped his knuckles over his heartstone. “With the stones, he was able to command us, but they were not enough to provide him full control regardless of his power. Our beasts were too wild. Even he could not tame them. As time passed, he took increasing displeasure in that.”

“So, he would have eventually disposed of us in some way,” Vortok said.

“He would have,” Balir agreed.

“But I acted before he could,” said Aduun.

Everyone shifted their attention to him, and his skin suddenly burned. Even if Nina didn’t know, Balir and Vortok surely remembered. No matter what they’d said, how could they not hold a grudge against him for it, how could they have forgiven him all he’d done?

“What did you do?” Nina asked.

“I gathered my people,” he replied, mouth dry. “I told them I had been wrong to counsel the chieftain toward trusting Kelsharn, and that I would make up for my mistake. I told them I would fight against Kelsharn, that I would kill him, and reclaim our freedom.”

“You should have seen him, Nina,” Balir said. Though Aduun sought bitterness or mockery in Balir’s tone, there was none; how could that be? “Aduun’s passion, his steadfastness, rallied our clan. Kelsharn had tried to break us, but he had failed. He meant to use us as slaves, we who had always roamed Sonhadra freely. And Aduun accepted responsibility for leading us to that point—”

“Forgetting that Kelsharn would have taken our freedom, even if we had not trusted him,” Vortok interjected.

Balir nodded. “He would have. But Aduun took that responsibility and claimed his place as chieftain by rallying us to rise against Kelsharn and reclaim what had been stolen from us.”

“There were many of us, then.” Aduun’s words were like a knife in his own heart. “Some had not survived the change, like my father, our chieftain, and others were unable to endure Kelsharn’stests. But our numbers were strong. We were still a clan, a tribe, and what could stop us if we stood together? We were confused by what we had become, frightened by it, but that had not snuffed out our will to fight.

“Balir and Vortok stood with me and helped organize our efforts. We plotted and planned, tried to think like him, and when we struck it caught him by surprise. But Kelsharn was too powerful. Even againstallof us, he was too powerful. He was inside our heads, clawing our minds apart…”

---