Dusk Territories: Always Burning by Deston Munden Page B

to remember. “OH! I was here to tell you about Mr. Zombieface.”
    “Mr. Zombieface?”
    “Mr. Zombieface!” she repeated. “I was minding my own business in your territory and I saw them fight.”
    “Saw who fight?”
    “Your men and Mr. Zombieface, of course! Aren’t you listening?” River slapped him on the ears. “Hello! Are they working?”
    “They’re working !”
    He pushed the taunting aside. Thinking about it, he did see a new face in that crowd that resembled something odd. Ragnar quickly recalled that face in the crowd with the others. There was a corpse like figure new to Drifter’s group. But, he was too far in a blind haze to realize that he might have had something to do with this. He scratched his beard, thinking of how one man could take some of his best men and Beastmaster. He had to be trained well. Not some sort of makeshift training that anyone could learn nowadays. “Do you know anything about him?”
    “Hm. No. He’s interesting, though,” River said, hopping happily to her own mental music. “But he’s the one that let swan-lady and Texas hold-up man go.”
    “Herons and swans are two different animals, River.”
    “Soooo!” She pretended to push the fact away. “He’s the one that screwed up your plans. Thought you should know!”
    “I’m going to kill him.”
    “If you do kill him,” River tilted her head, “can I lick his bones clean?” She lost herself in a fit of laughter. Ragnar waited patiently for it to subside. “I’ll go watch him for you. I’ll come back with a name and information of some sort! Maybe his favorite animal. Some sort of hobby. His favorite color—”
    “Why are you helping me?” he interrupted sternly. Ragnar knew that he couldn’t trust River. Many who had come in contact with her gave her trust equal to a grain of salt. Those that didn’t were either dead or regretted it later. Thusly, he avoided as much contact with her as possible. “You aren’t exactly the most dependable person.” Parts of him wish that he could kill her for being the anti-thesis of a dependable person. She had information, and was going to get more.
    “I’m not asking for you to trust me!” River’s face went deadpan for a moment. “That would be stupid.” She rearranged her features again. “But I’ll say this; I get a kick out of it. You get another notch on your revenge belt, everyone’s happy.” She twirled around, armed stretched to the ceiling, to make her point. She stopped perfectly on her heels, albeit a little dizzy.
    Ragnar knew that he didn’t have much of a choice. If Drifter had a new and deadly weapon, he needed to know about it. “Deal for now.”
    “Yay! I’ll be back later with some information!”
    The deal set, River disappeared into the shadows of the caves, sounds of her skipping echoing in the distance.
    He did know one thing about River. Ragnar hated that girl.
     

 
    6
    The Incubus’ Sleep
    “History had told us once that men’s nightmares and horrors were caused by demons named the Incubus. The Incubus was known for paralyzing and exposing us in our sleep. Those people who believed in them weren’t far off. Thoughts are the closest things to demons in our head.”
    Graham underestimated the efficiency of the Drifter. He knew now, that this was a mistake.
    The Caravan had been up and running after the ambush in mere hours. The vehicles and people easily returned to their standard duties and formations. Work was continuing within those hours. Engineers, weapon specialist, machinist, and medics were scurrying around the camp, helping anyone that needed their specific expertise. The swiftness of the executions was amazing. Injured parties were handled in several vehicles to the north, repairing services to the south, and everything else was carried in between.
    At the end of about three hours of preparation, roars of the engines hummed through the air. They were on their way. To where, Graham didn’t have a clue.