Chapter Thirteen
"So... can we get away from this stench?" the young man asked with a sheepish look.
The smell ceased troubling Aidan, but he nodded. The two trudged through the strewn sludge until coming to the front of the cottage.
"That old Bloodwitch is always after someone to clean up that crud... likely so she doesn't have to listen to Master Bradon's complaints." The young man shook some sludge from his shoe. "Usually a recruit is assigned as punishment..."
Aidan took off his gloves, wondering if that explained the recruits' presence at the cottage. The prospect of throwing him into a pit was probably more tempting than cleaning up muck. "Is there an actual use for this grime?"
"Residual magic can lure Curse Creatures or as a quick, efficient weapon... I think sometimes it's dumped into a Jumping Portal to taint the Starlands."
Aidan frowned. "Is that why Curse Creatures still plague parts of the Curselands?"
"Indeed. Throw a bunny into that mess for long enough, and you'll likely end up with a four-eyed fanged furball." He laughed. "By the way, I'm Gil."
After so much indifference and ill will, Gil's cheeriness overwhelmed Aidan. He inched backward, then froze. This was the first friendly face since Aidan fell into damnation.
"I'd say 'Good day, Gil', but I don't know if it's even day." He took a deep breath. "It seems you already know me."
"Indeed." Gil winked. "But an introduction is always appreciated."
Aidan almost smiled. "I am Aidan of Dalon." He scratched his grime-splattered hair. "I suppose a more accurate name would be Aidan of the Muck."
A smile lit up Gil's face. "If I were you, I'd use the latter. People prefer a cultivator of muck to a prince of the enemy."
Aidan kicked a chunk of a grayish substance. "I shouldn't think any would forget my heritage."
Laughter rare to the Curselands broke out. Good-natured laughter. "True enough. Although once you're down here long enough, you're accepted as one of the damned. Of course, you have to be down here long enough to..."
He trailed off with an uncomfortable look. Aidan sighed. "Long enough to never return."
Gil nudged a stray chunk of sludge. "Well, if you're to be morbid about it."
An awkward silence fell over them. Aidan thought about taking the books and sending Gil on his way, but he couldn't touch such precious items while so filthy. He went over to the water pump, discreetly observing Gil. Nothing seemed suspicious about the sunny young man.
That worried Aidan.
He joined Gil on a bench, a recent addition to front of the cottage. Since it appeared after the muck assignment, he assumed it was to taunt him. He wouldn't put it past the cruel Carys.
Except now, Gil arrived bearing books.
He flipped through the pages. They weren't the most interesting books. Two volumes of folktales and one worn copy on the history of Curse Magic.
"I don't remember seeing you there." Aidan's eyes fell on a passage about Curse Magic in Dalon. "Were you part of the attack?"
Gil leaned down, clasping his hands together. "Oh no. Curselord Meical required my services to protect Ghost Tower."
Uneasiness clutched at Aidan as he glanced at the massive black tower. "I thought Ghost Tower had protection from the beasts."
"So you fear Curse Creatures?" Gil teased.
"Me?" Aidan scoffed. "The Curse Serpents can't get the best of me. A dragon came swooping down on my betrothal ceremony, and I brought it down."
"Did you really?"
Aidan hesitated before smiling. "I did, but my dearest love, Princess Bella, finished it off."
Gil chuckled. "Your princess is no helpless maiden from a tale. She must be a remarkable woman, indeed."
"She is," Aidan said.
Without being asked, Aidan regaled Gil with Bella's accomplishments. Almost breathless when he finished, embarrassment rippled through him. He hadn't spoken so much since arriving in the Curselands.
"I say, I suspect you may have a fondness for this maiden," Gil said with a wink.
"Sorry..." Aidan looked down at his grimy boots. "I know the people of the Curselands despise Princess Bella. For a moment, I forgot..."
"Don't you worry." Gil stretched. "I've no blood hatred of the princess. Most do, but not me."
Aidan's heart lifted at the hope of reason in the Curselands.
"Of course, that could be because I've only dwelled in the Curselands for three years," Gil said, crushing Aidan's hopes.
Aidan bit his lip. "Were you also forced down here?"
"No more than you."
Aidan frowned. "I was forced down here."
Gil shook his head. "You chose to come to save your dearest love, correct? That would be a choice."
Aidan clenched the book, almost tearing the precious page. "The choice was forced upon me."
Gil shrugged. "Most choices are forced upon people. But when we make our choice, we must accept that it was our decision and live with the consequences. I did."
"Why would you ever make such a choice?"
Gil looked up at the churning red sky, and his silvery eyes took on a crimson hue. "I've lost count of how many times people have asked me that question. Even after I've told the tale. There is only one soul who never asked after the tale. I have a feeling that you will be the second."
He rose and paced around the bench. After his second loop, Gil appeared entirely unlike himself. A massive bald man with a scraggly beard stood in the place of the lithe young one.
"I suppose I shouldn't have to tell you my homeland," the new man rumbled.
Aidan leaped up and darted over to the taller man. "You are from Rali, the shapeshifting kingdom."
His mouth fell open at the extraordinary change. Gil towered over him, his skin ruddy, veins prominent on his large forehead, and a faded tattoo on his arm. The only flaw was his eyes. They appeared brown but kept flicking back to silver.
Gil laughed, a burly laugh, so different from his own tone. "We're not exclusively a shapeshifting kingdom. Some can barely manage a bit of glamour, some find shifting as easy as breathing. I've a knack for transformation, but my sister has a gift for all magic."
The gruff-looking man disappeared and in his place stood a maiden of fourteen or fifteen. Cinnamon skin, silvery eyes, and moonlight hair.
Aidan looked down at the petite girl. "Your sister?"
"Shanna was quite a genius with the mystical arts." Gil's voice was soft and melodious. "She pushed the limits of what is permitted. Some might've called it Curse Magic. Rali is more forgiving. After all, an inordinate amount of Curse Creatures besiege our lands."
Aidan bit his tongue, refraining from mentioning that many suspected Curse Creatures were spawned still in Rali. Conan claimed it was common knowledge that their mages experimented with Curse Magic.
"Our mama was killed by a Curse Creature when we were young," Gil continued in a young girl's voice.
"Shanna thought she could heal the beasts.
But her experiments went awry, cursing her.
Not just any curse." He closed his eyes, a shudder rippling through the young woman's body.
"She was turning into a Curse Creature. Only fourteen and fated to become a beast."
The thought of a maiden experiencing such a nightmarish transformation sent horror surging through Aidan. A scary bedtime story and cautionary tale of the consequences of Curse Magic, he always imagined old, hideous witches getting their well-deserved fate.
Not someone so young and innocent looking.
"They put mages to death if that happens, right?" he asked quietly. "They don't even banish them to the Curselands."
"Aye, they wanted to kill my little sister," Gil said in the young girl's voice.
"She couldn't defend herself. The more she used magic, the worse the curse grew.
My family was done with her. But me? I couldn't let her die.
So we ran off. At that point, it was easier for me than her since I could still use magic.
We were near caught... and I was ready to sin for her. "
"What do you mean?"
Gil gestured to his sister's body. "I turned myself into Shanna so that she could escape. If I died this way, they wouldn't think of hunting her."
"That's not a sin. That's noble."
Aidan jumped as Gil became a reflection of his own appearance. Everything mirrored Aidan. Messy red hair, green eyes, with skin a shade paler than he remembered. A little scar over his left eyebrow, a present from wrestling with Fiona. Faded and barely visible, Gil still captured it.
Gil mimicked Aidan's movements before giving him a weary smile.
"Most wouldn't see my actions as noble. Sacrificing myself for Shanna only meant that she'd eventually turn into a Curse Creature and bring torment to the Starlands.
" He shifted into his sister with a beastlike visage.
Sharp teeth, jagged fingernails, and pointed ears. "She could have killed so many..."
Aidan's skin crawled as Gil circled him, almost certain that he felt a tail strike his legs. When Gil came back around, he reflected Aidan again.
"But that was my choice." Gil scratched his red hair. "If I had to choose between my sister and the world, I would always choose her."
Aidan stumbled back, disconcerted by the words coated in his own distorted voice.
Or perhaps it disturbed him because the tale was a distorted reflection of Aidan's actions. But his sacrifice for his loved one had been for the Starlands.
It wasn't just a selfish choice.
Gil shifted back to Shanna. "My sister also had a choice.
She wouldn't let them kill me. Shanna worsened her own curse to save me.
" He lowered his head, moonlight hair curtaining his expression.
"I had reason to be grateful that my kingdom's forbidden research into Curse Magic.
I could to scour everything until finding one possibility.
The very poisonous atmosphere of the Curselands could slow the transformation. "
"Your sister would be saved if you..."
"If I sent her to hell."
Aidan flinched.
"I found a Jumping Portals and was ready to leap into hell for her. But Shanna wanted me to stay. I could change my appearance and live a peaceful life in the Starlands. She said I helped save her, and I could have my happy ending," Gil said, hugging himself.
Aidan jiggled his foot. "But you're still here."
Gil raised his head, looking like Carys. "I am here. The reasons were twofold. All of my life, I was so many people until I finally found the right one."
Just like that, he was Gil again. It more ease to Aidan, and Gil also seemed more comfortable. A small smile came to the shapeshifter's lips.
"I don't remember my original appearance.
" Gil shrugged. "It's taboo for my people to lose our birth form.
I tried finding my true self, but I don't think I've ever managed it.
Then one day, I found my truth. This body, this man.
.. it's me. I can look like anyone else, but I always come back to him. This is Gil."
"I can tell," Aidan said. "You seem more natural."
"This is my true nature. I didn't want to lose Gil, nor lose Shanna.
" He changed into his sister. "I'd have given up Gil if it could've kept her in the Starlands.
I just couldn't send her to hell on her own.
I jumped into the portal with her. She would've used her magic to return me, but Jumping Portals never stay still for long.
We were stuck in a strange, desolate land, surrounded by beasts.
I transformed, trying to lure them away with my magic, even if it meant that I died.
Even if it meant that Shanna would be lost in the nightmare lands. "
Aidan shuddered. Traveling through the Curselands had been bad enough. He couldn't imagine being lost. "What happened?"
The image of Shanna shifted into a man that Aidan recognized as one of Meical's followers. Dark hair and a face too handsome for a world of shadows. "Curse Mage Bradon had been looking for Jumping Portals and was there when Shanna and I arrived. A frightful young witch accompanied him."
Aidan didn't have to ask which witch, as Gil transformed into a younger Carys.
"I thought they would also attack us. But they helped us fight off the Curse Creatures.
" Gil tilted young Carys' head. "Carys didn't ask for anything.
She did her best to stabilize Shanna's condition.
Even people like Curselord Meical would not welcome someone as dangerous as my sister.
" He sighed, becoming Bradon in the blink of an eye.
"Curse Mage Bradon swore as long as I served Meical, we'd be granted haven at Ghost Tower.
" He ran his hands through Bradon's short, dark hair as it grew into Carys' wild blonde locks.
"But Carys offered to help me find a Jumping Portal in time to return to the Starlands.
She persuaded her brother to protect Shanna if I returned within the year.
I had to make another choice, although it seemed like there was no choice at all. "
"I don't fault you for staying." Dizzy from Gil's rapid changes, Aidan rubbed his forehead. "But it's different for me."
"Because you fault Carys?"
"I do!" Aidan crossed his arms. "Don't you fault the people of Rali for what happened to your sister?"
Gil shifted into Shanna. "She was growing dangerous. If her condition degraded further, she could've destroyed them."
Aidan narrowed his eyes. "I am sorry about your sister, but they had a better reason than Carys."
"Did they?" Gil changed into Carys, crinkling her nose.
"The people of Rali could've sealed my sister into a tower, but chose to kill her.
Carys? She could have struck down the princess to show you the seriousness of her intent.
The curse would have worked just as well on the next person who you loved. But she didn't."
Aidan scowled. "Should I get down on my knees in gratitude?"
An incongruous sympathetic expression crossed Carys' face.
"Of course not. I only ask you to understand her.
The Curselands brings out the worst in us all.
Carys is seventeen and has been here since she was two.
She doesn't know how to laugh, barely knows how to smile.
Her first languages were hurt, loneliness, and anger.
Yet, somehow, she still understands love. "
Aidan's skepticism must have been obvious. Gil winced, another odd expression on Carys' face. "She needn't have helped me. But because I asked for my sister, she couldn't refuse. She loves her brother, her foul deeds are usually for him. Even so... she spared you."
Aidan almost choked. "Spared me?"
"Do you recollect how I said that she could have killed Bella to show you the cost of defiance? I didn't conjure that notion out of the air." Gil sighed. "That's what Curselord Meical wanted her to do. But she still refused."
Aidan clenched his fist, unsure of what Gil expected from him. "She did it so I would suffer at being parted."
Gil held up his hands. Carys' hands. "If she wanted suffering, death would've been just as effective.
I suspect Carys didn't want to put you through that pain for no reason.
But what I am saying is that, to some degree, she understands love.
But her understanding is based on the pain that love brings. "
Compassion rose within Aidan before he crushed it down. "I don't feel sorry for her."
Gil was a mirror of him and Aidan wondered if his own expression was just as hard. "I wouldn't feel sorry for her if I were you. I'm only explaining that the Curselands take a lot from you. She had a lot taken from her."
"That doesn't make her good."
"No." The shapeshifter sighed, and Aidan's harsh features dissolved as he became Gil again.
"But that any compassion resides in her dark soul is quite a feat for the Curselands.
If you think things are bad for you, remember Carys.
She has spent a lifetime in hell and is still standing. Are you made of weaker stuff than her?"
"Of course not!"
"Then you'll be fine." Gil smiled. "It won't be easy, but you'll survive this world."
Aidan bent his head, unable to accept Carys as any kind of admirable example. But Gil had unwittingly provided Aidan with a better aspiration.
He could strive to be like Gil.
The Rali shapeshifter was right. They both made choices that landed them in the Curselands. Gil survived, not too affected by the Curselands' corruption. It shouldn't be any different for Aidan.
He didn't agree about Carys, but found himself looking at her differently and thinking of her at night while reading the exquisite books. She had no reason to give them to him. Cleaning up the muck might have been her way of protecting him. No one would touch him when he was covered in filth.
If only he could stop speculating and just hate her. But he couldn't defeat her with magic or might. As he devoured the old folk tales, it occurred to him that there might be only one option.
Somehow, he needed to find the compassion in her dark soul.