102 - The Witching Road

"Wait for me!" Caj ran down the road, but Magnus did not slow his pace at all.

Splat!

Caj fell face first into the dirt, his head striking a rock and drawing blood above his eye.

"Wait! Boss!" He struggled back up, covered in dust, crawling along the path and rising to his feet, sprinting a few more feet before - bam! - down Caj tumbled once more, rolling several times and only coming to a halt in a muddy ditch.

"Boss!" Tears streamed down his face; still Magnus did not stop, did not even turn - walking all the faster down to the south.

"Magnus! I know who you are! Magnus Lund! I'm sorry boss! I'm sorry!" Caj cried out.

Magnus walked on, vanishing around a bend in the road.

"Wait! -"

Caj kept on running and stumbling down the road, Magnus drawing further and further into the distance until he was truly lost from sight.

Caj fell to the ground - his legs shaking, his arms still trembling, tears flowing freely once more down his face leaving two streaks in the dust on his cheeks.

"What now? He is . . he is Magnus, isn't he? Why didn't he say anything? Oh Caj . . Caj the fool . . it doesn't begin to describe how I've been, does it? If he'd cut me down . . if he stabbed me . . I would have deserved it!"

Whack!

Right where Caj sat there collapsed a tree - at least thirty feet tall, its trunk smashing into the road mere metres from him, its branches breaking and lashing Caj remorselessly as it rolled and came to a halt, blocking the road entirely.

"Awooooo!" Caj howled, his face and skin covered in bloody welts, but otherwise mostly uninjured. "The curse! Magnus! Come back! I'm sorry! Wait for me!"

***

Magnus walked on.

The feeling he got from the black worm - it was a deep loathing, a hatred - it scared Magnus - the very thought of it . . this is a part of me - this is part of who I am.

He had felt hatred - hells - many a time, against the Alchemists - against the scum of the nobles who had betrayed all of Kloster - but, that was a burning hatred - a fierce blaze in his heart that drove him to want to smash and destroy!

This black worm . . this was a cold thing, a frigid type of hatred - something he found familiar and noxious at the same time - absolutely repulsive . . to think it a part of himself, Magnus couldn't help but shiver.

How many more people out there have a strand of my loathing in them? Is there a black worm living in Festus? In Septima? In Lord Tygis and his son? I hate them . . I hate them, I hate them, I hate them! I want to pound them, crush them, stomp them dead!

There it is!

The fire - the fury, his fists clenched - Magnus turned his face to the sky and roared -

"I HATE THEM ALL!"

It was fire - it was passion! Every part of Magnus tensed and shook, every part of him filled with a bloodlust that rose to the heavens - from all around ever bird and every creature for a hundred meters turned and took flight, desperate to get away.

But . .

Caj?

Magnus did not have that same hatred in his heart - not that same passion . . and the black worm - that was something else . . was that part of being a Celestial? Had he made that . . that horrid black thing without knowing? Without meaning to?

He lied, he stole, he cheated me out of my horse and my last bit of gold - my last bit of hope . . but . . Magnus still could not find it him to hate Caj with the same passion. Caj . . in too many ways was too similar - another fool, another hapless idiot like me, living and surviving - doing the best he can to get by - entirely ignorant of the world as it is - he doesn't even know, does he? Not about the Alchemists, not about the world - not about anything at all! He . . he is just like I was, ain't he? Just like we were - ain't he Rolf? I can't hate that . . not really.

Also - after he had the black worm in his palm and sent it back into Caj, there was a strange connection between it and himself - like he could feel it moving, even at a distance - he had the feeling that no matter how far he went he would always feel it - that it was a part of himself now inside of Caj.

Strange . . it was like nothing described in any of the texts or lessons of the Alchemists - like none of the techniques of the Martial Court Cultivators or Seers - sure, they each had their own form of imprinting and cursing using various forms of the Logos - but nothing like this black worm, like this loathing. The gypsy . . she knew what it was, no? She had identified it - they had to know! So, why wasn't it in my memories?

Behind him on the road Magnus could feel Caj - he was still walking after him, haltingly - tripping and falling and injuring himself - but walking forwards, following him down the road towards Juteheim.

The sun started to sink in the sky - Magnus turned his attention to the road and to the south - to the city. Juteheim, the capital city of the land of Jute, was south along this road - not more than a week's worth of walking for a normal person - Magnus knew he could be there within the day if he truly wanted to be. With his strength and speed he knew that there was no place in the whole world he could not reach within a week - but what was the point?

There was no where on this world he wanted to be - the one place he would return to . . to Kloster . . that was no more. He looked west, over the hills and through the paths by which he had come - it wasn't that far, not that far at all. But to go there? To see the broken buildings and empty streets . . was it worth returning?

Pa Lund . . Uncle Willis - they . . they might still be alive, right? What do I tell them? What ought I say when I see them . . if they are still . . ah hells. I'll have to go back, won't I? Even if it's just to see if they are alive or not . .

A hop and a skip - that's how much effort it would take you, Magnus - a jog through the mountains and you'd be back on the coast - back home . . .

Looking to the west . . Magnus felt a longing - I can go, can't I? What is there to hold me back? If anything . . if anything, I've gotta stop thinking by my old limitations - one hundred, two hundred - hells! Even a thousand miles - what is that to me?

Magnus halted in the road, suddenly turning and running off the track and into the hills - Juteheim can wait! The Witching Road ain't going anywhere!

Pa Lund! Uncle Willis!

If you're alive . .

Over hill, over forest, over rivers and towns and mountain - Magnus ran - Magnus soared! A single leap took him right across a valley, a single jump from the base of a cliff to its top!

The land of Jute flew beneath his feet - the miles melting away as he ran until . . until . . the sea! The glittering sea!

All his life he had lived right by the sea - it was something hadn't even thought of until right this moment - until he saw it again - as far as the eye could see, an endless horizon of white crested foam and glittering waves in the afternoon sun.

This was the western most coastline of Jute - to the south was the Iron Coast, to the north - Kloster! And opposite it Doohama and the Dragon Isle . . . ahaha!

Not long ago, not even a year ago - Magnus had thought that the world! Just Kloster and Doohama and the giants and the black skins - that was my world!

Now - now Magnus looked the length of the coast to his north - how far is it? Just over the horizon? Not more than that . . . not that much further - out to sea to the north he could already make out the southern coast of the Dragon Isle - the familiar colours, the familiar scents - home!

He ran north on the coastal trails, in his heart an anticipation building - nearly boiling over . . they had to be alive! It hadn't been that long, right? Even if Pa Lund had said he hadn't long left . . him and Uncle Willis - Magnus had heard their conversation before he left them in the fisherman's village - they said they only had a month to live themselves, but so what? I only had a month to live, and look at me now!

Pa is strong! He'll be alive! He'll be waiting for me! Uncle is strong! He only got stabbed a little, he only . . he had to be alive!

On and on - closer and closer - the coast and the roads becoming those that he knew - those that he had spent all his life walking - further north . . the beach . . the fishing village south of Kloster - there!

There!

Right . . right there . . ah hells.

Is this . . is this the right place? I remember the beach - hells, I was tired, I was half dead - this is the right place, right?

Magnus walked up the road a couple of miles, soon coming back to the village. Across the waters he could easily see the walls of Doohama . . to the north he had seen the cliffs and the walls of Kloster - there it was . . and here was the village that Magnus had left Pa Lund and Uncle Willis in . . at least, what was left of it.

Every house was a burnt out shell. Every boat smashed to smithereens. The hut he had been laid up in . . all that was left was a stone post, even the floorboards had been smashed and burnt . . nothing, nothing, nothing!

No people, no tracks, no signs of habitation - no one had been living here for months! It must have happened just after I left . . right after I started walking east . .

Pa . . . Uncle . .

"PA! UNCLE! ANYONE THERE!?" Magnus called out, only to be met with silence.