Chapter Forty-Four

  Adon’s destination was simple. ‘It’s a risk, a risk, yes, definitely a risk. He might see it coming, but then again?’ He looked over his shoulder, there was nothing behind him but the open countryside, and for a full day since he escaped the barn, Adon comforted himself thinking about the expression on his pursuer’s face.

  ‘I wonder how long he stood outside that barn door, just waiting for old Adon to come out to die at dawn… did he wait till lunch? Or till nightfall to come in… I can see it now, him digging round through the straw, finding nothing at all, the bits of old garbage flying around, and then finding my little bolt hole to freedom!’ He cackled as he jogged on, imagining his predator so flustered, lost and frustrated… it took Adon’s mind off the pain in his feet, the ache in his knees…

  He coughed and hacked up redness with his phlegm. He wiped the mucus on his side, indifferent to the fact that his pants were no longer covering that spot.

  Adon’s amusement couldn’t distract him from that. Not from his cough. That pain couldn’t be ignored. ‘You’re sick, Adon.’ He told himself, but it didn’t matter.

  What mattered was getting to a town. ‘The gods are after you now, they don’t want you to reach your goal, if you die first, you can go to hell to be tortured by demons forever. Maybe even that one, yes, maybe he’s one of them, hunting you to take you to hell… you deserve it, you do, that’s why nobody will ever help you…’

  “Shut up!” He shouted so loud that his voice spread over the wide country landscape, the wall of the town was so close he could see it in the distance.

  ‘They’ll say no, they’ll take it back if they find out, you have to give it all up, no last hurrah, no bouncy whore or black dust binge, no alcohol, give up everything and beg… beg like a dog, it’s all you’ve ever done…’ Adon had no strength left to shout at the clawing doubts in his mind as loathing and despair cloaked him and held him as tight as a mother’s loving embrace, but it was cold as the grave.

  So cold that his body was going numb, ‘Keep going! Keep going! He’ll catch you if you slow down!’ Adon heard the urge and listened, pushing his body harder than he ever had, weak, weary, his belly rumbling and his lips parched, all he’d had to drink was a bit of leftover puddle water and his own salty sweat that he’d sucked off his own filthy flesh.

  The low walls grew larger in his eyes as he heaved with every breath, his gasping, straining, his limbs were numb, but experience taught him that they’d be burning soon. Adon looked over his shoulder, ‘The gate is open, and there’s nobody behind me… nobody I can ‘see’. What if he got ahead of me?! No… no no… It can’t be!’

  But then again, the monster had gotten into that brothel and slaughtered everybody so effortlessly, who knew what it could do, what was beyond him, her, or…’ He swallowed the lump in his throat at the thought it might be a true monster… ‘it’.

  The gates of the town had no guards checking identities, and he was easily able to pass through the open entry, secure in their distance from the border and with no bandits in the area, it was safe as could be… as far as they knew. ‘I know the truth, though. I know there are monsters among us who can take away our lives in an instant… and one is coming for me for me for me… I have to get free… I don’t want to be tortured… I don’t want to go to hell…’ Adon’s own encouragement kept him going, his heart was pounding, people were everywhere, so many were looking at him in disgust.

  ‘They know what I am. What I’ve done! What if he’s here?! What if he already told them… yes of course, why else would they look that way at me?! No! It can’t be!’ He wept openly, and it was the closest Adon had come to wiping his face clean since he fled the border after finding the gruesome nightmare of the brothel in which he handled money.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  The temple was so close, right there, down the main street…

  Adon’s heart was racing, he continued to push… push… push… his run became a stumble as the white square building grew larger in his view.

  The numbness vanished from his limbs and became an intense, fiery burning.

  ‘No! The gods are trying to burn me already! I have to buy it! I have to! All I need are the words and everything will be okay! Then I can die and nobody will ever torment me…!’ Adon admonished himself and carried on, his stumble became a desperate stagger, the temple stairs might as well have been a mountain, but he grabbed the rail of brass and pulled himself up as if he were a drowning man pulling on a ship’s lifeline.

  The doors were open, the priests… so close, in sight, their white robes, their clean beards, two were talking to one another while patrons prayed at the altars of the six. He reached for the little fabric covered mallet to ring the gong that would call for a temple attendant… but Adon’s fingers were shaking too much, they wouldn’t move to grasp it.

  “Priest! Priest!” Adon squeaked, his voice wouldn’t work properly now, he held up the gold coin in wild desperation, catching the glimmer in the light, and where the priests missed his words, they caught the sight of the gold coin.

  An old man who despite being weighty in his years, was slender of body and walking with his back ramrod straight, turned away from his companion with a word of farewell and began to walk toward Adon.

  Adon shoved the coin down into the little black offering box. He opened his mouth, ‘If I can just tell him I’m buying the forgiveness of sins… he has to… he has to…’

  The thought was interrupted by the sound of a gong and a familiar voice. “Hey, priesty, I needyer help!”

  The sound, and the familiar voice, brought back Adon’s tongue to him for just a moment, but no words came out. He let out a scream as his heart seized up, a final pain shot through his chest, and he fell to his knees, then face first into the floor, shattering his nose and spreading blood on the polished white floor. He sniffled and tried to move as the heart attack seized him, out of the corner of his eye, he could see her.

  ‘The prostitute, the whore… was it her? Has she been chasing me? She’s here! She’s here! She’s here! I was so close…’ No more words of terror came out, he struggled to speak, to gurgle the words ‘Forgive me…’

  But even that was too much. ‘No! No… not like this… I don’t want to go to hell… I…’ And just like that, Adon died in utter and absolute despair. His wide eyes staring up at the blonde whore as if she were a demon incarnate.

  The priest crouched over the corpse, “Were you here with him? I’m sorry…” The old priest said and moved his fingers over the eyes of the foul smelling ragged remnants of a man, closing the lids for the final time.

  Vanysa looked down at the corpse, “He looks a little familiar…” She said, but then shook his head, “But, I cain’t say as I do. Sorry. I don’t know him, looks homeless, in a bad way… bout like that, death isn’t really worse now, is it?” She said with a shrug.

  The priest wanted to rebuke her, but looking at the many wounds, rotted flesh, the tattered clothes, he was obviously malnourished and thirsty, and his eyes… ‘So full of fear… that is no way to live. In this man’s case at least, she’s right.’ He said and tugged at his robe as he stood up. “I suppose… he looked afraid, and so full of sadness, despair… I wonder if he wanted to buy forgiveness, and what he was running away from…”

  Vanysa shrugged as she looked at the corpse. “Who knows? Everybody’s got ther demons, ye know? Sorry, I know ye got ta deal with that, but just real fast, I want to be on board the next pilgrimage trip to Kami Miyako, I gotta say so here, yeah?”

  “Yes… you’re in the right place.” The old man said with a sigh, “Just… go to my comrade,” he pointed to the priest who was busy calming the handful of other worshipers after the dead man’s cry and blocking their view of the corpse, “he will help you.”

  “Right-o then. But, is it safe?” She asked, “Lotta roads, they’re right dangerous, ye know?”

  The priest nodded and pointed to the box, “Our tithes and indulgences travel with the pilgrims, those are guarded by paladins, so you could not be safer.”

  Vanysa hid her cynical disgust with his explanation, “Right-o, always good to know the temple has its priorities straight.” She smiled and after bowing her head politely, left the corpse and the priest behind to go arrange for passage for herself.