CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Abe had buried Big Face back at the site of the Gabbit village, but he’d left Vastor to rot. The body of his old mentor he had marked with a block of wood untouched by the flames, and with a piece of charcoal he had marked out who was buried underneath the small wooden piece.
It was still so hard to believe that Big Face was actually gone. After so long, he’d always assumed that his mentor was peacefully living at the bottom of his gorge, helping the world along in his own little way. And just when Abe saw him again, for the first time in years, it was only to have some rogue Slig shoot him.
How could the hand of Odd be so cruel? Lord Fragg had escaped justice with his hundreds of Mudokon slaves, the Gabbits had all been murdered, and now Big Face was dead! How could all these problems strike him, one after the other?
He wondered about those things as he marched north, again heading up for the Mudokon village where Alf, Lowrn, Grunn, and Ferg would surely be at the moment. Abe knew they preferred to stay where it was peaceful, except when they knew they could count on Abe’s “dumb luck” to keep them alive. And then, six years ago, he’d banished them from his sight since they were such an annoyance.
And now he was going to have to ask them for help. How far could he be brought low?
He shook his head. So much was happening in so short a time, and he didn’t know what to do about it. What was he going to do once he had his former friends along with him – were they going to have a big slap-fest with the Sligs guarding Fragg’s slave line? Maybe Abe could possess a couple Sligs and provide his friends with a few repeating laser rifles, and then they could attack the guards from under cover…
But it probably wouldn’t work. His friends had hardly ever used weapons before, and the Sligs got in plenty of practice hours – training at places like the Slig Barracks – before they were ever let out into the field, so his friends would rapidly be cut down.
He would think of something…eventually.
But what about this eerie Bringer of Pain Big Face had spoken about? Who was this figure that could heartlessly slaughter an entire village of Gabbits, using some sort of out-of-fashion blade? The sensible thing to do would be to shoot them all down using some kind of gun…unless, of course, you were so powerful you wanted to show off that you could kill an entire village with a blade weapon.
Abe didn’t know who this Bringer of Pain was, but when Abe found him, he was going to sure bring him some pain.
The Mudokon hero suddenly picked up a scent he hadn’t smelled in years: Elums.
Under ordinary circumstances, he would have been revolted by the smell. Elums were nice to have around – as mounts – but their smell was “like a burst sewer pipe,” as someone had artfully and appropriately put it down.
But Abe knew that, in such close proximity to the Mudokon village, that had to mean he was almost there, because he could smell their messenger mounts from this distance. He had almost made it to his old friends, so in this case, the smell was both revolting and frightening, because it meant he would soon have to think up a good reason to be bringing his old friends into this.
He was a hero. He knew no real fear…so he walked determinedly over the hill and to the Mudokon village.
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