Nightside 05 - Paths Not Taken

bloody mess, but I was too deathly tired to feel most of my hurts. I didn't seem to have the strength to do anything, and that worried me vaguely, but I had made it back to the city; and that was all that mattered. I watched impassively as Herne the Hunter came running across the grasslands. He seemed so much smaller, so much less, outside the forest. The rest of his monstrous Court came after him, but they seemed to be hanging back. I smiled slowly. Let them come. Let them all come. I'd beaten him. Suzie was safe now.
    I was cold, so cold. I started to shiver and couldn't stop. I wondered if I was dying.
    Footsteps approached behind me, but I didn't have enough strength left to turn and look. And then Suzie Shooter was kneeling beside me, free and unguarded. I tried to smile for her. She looked me over, and made a low, shocked sound.
    "Oh God, John. What have they done to you?"
    "It's not as bad as it looks," I said, or thought I said. More blood spilled down my chin as my lips split open again. It was only a small hurt after so many worse ones, but it was the last straw, and I started to cry. Just from shock and weariness. I'd given all I had to give, and there was nothing left. My whole body was shaking and shuddering now, from simple exhaustion. And Suzie took me in her arms and held me to her. And bad as I felt, I knew how much it took for her to be able to do that. She rocked me slowly, my head resting against her leather-clad shoulder, while she made soothing, hushing noises.
    "It's all right, John. It's all over. I'm free, and you're going to be fine. Find you a sorcerer, get you fixed up good."
    "I thought you were under guard here," I said , slowly and distinctly.
    She snorted loudly. "Beat the shit out of them the moment I was safely back in the city. There's no-one left here to hurt us."
    "I knew you could look after yourself," I said. "But I couldn't take the risk... of being wrong."
    Suzie sniffed. "Bloody pig men. You wouldn't believe how many times they felt me up on the way here. Smelled really bad, too. Couldn't kill them fast enough. Maybe we'll have a barbecue, later?"
    "Sounds good," I said. "I'm cold, Suzie. So cold."
    She held me tighter, but I could barely feel it. "Hang on, John. Hang on."
    "Journeys end..."
    "In lovers' meeting?" said Suzie, her cheek against my forehead.
    "Maybe," I said. "If only we'd had more time ..."
    "There will be time for many things ..."
    "No. I don't think so. I'm dying, Suzie. I wish ..."
    She said something, but it couldn't hear it over the roaring in my head. I could see the blood running out of me, but everything was disappearing into darkness as the world slipped slowly away from me. I was ready to die; if it meant the future I'd seen for Suzie, and the Nightside, might not happen after all.
    "I saved you," I said.
    "I knew you would," she said. "I knew they'd never catch you."
    That wasn't what I meant, but it didn't matter.
    Then I felt her whole body tense as she looked up sharply. I pushed the darkness back through a sheer effort of will and lifted my head to look. And there before us was Herne the Hunter, standing on the other side of the city boundary, his face dark with rage. His Court was spread out behind him, keeping well back. Herne actually danced with rage in front of me, driven half out of his mind at losing.
    "You cheated!" he screamed at me, spittle flying on the air with the force of his words. "You didn't run the gauntlet! You used tricks and magics! You stole my lovely moon stallion! Cheat! Cheat!"
    I grinned at him even though it hurt. "Told you I was smarter than you. All that matters is I won. I got here. You and your whole damned Court couldn't stop me. I beat you, Heme, so go away and pick on someone smaller than yourself."
    "You didn't beat me! No-one beats me! You cheated!" Herne was almost crying by then with the strength of his emotions, and his Court stirred uneasily behind him. He shook a gnarled fist at me. "No-one wins unless I say they win! You're dead, you hear me? I'll drag you out of there and back into the woods, and then, and then ... I'll do such terrible things to you!"
    Tomias Squarefoot stepped forward, and Herne turned viciously to glare at him. The Neanderthal stood calmly before the wood god, and his voice was cold and unmoved. "You cannot pursue them any further, Herne. They are in the city now, and beyond our reach. By the rules of your own Hunt, they are safe from you."
    "I am the god of the wild places! Of the