11. IMPEDANCE

eleven

IMPEDANCE

A nother day until wood-locked shores drew into the horizon, shrouded in a pink-tinged fog that had little to do with the rising sun, hidden behind grey clouds. Old docks lay abandoned despite a gallimaufry of moored boats. Entirely devoid of life, human or otherwise. Eerie stillness clung to the pinkened air, with only the rhythmic thuds of boats and the crash of waves to break the silence.

With a running start, Oliver vaulted over the rail guard before the trawler had fully reached the docks. Pain speared his ankles, his hobnails sliding over slick wood boards upon landing. They nearly yielded in full under the weight of the Ursidae jumping down behind him.

What few structures remained were abandoned, corrugated iron rooftops creaking in a wind that spread the scent of metal and salt. Jumping over an old and crumbling stone wall, Oliver stopped at the bottom of a steep, rocky hill. A line of white trees loomed above.

"Where are the soldiers, or the guards?" asked Lucetta once she caught up, swinging Oliver's rucksack into his side so he'd put it on.

He didn't have the wits to spare wondering about that, now convinced Tau was just ahead of them. With a running start, he ascended the hill, sliding through miry soil, rocky protrusions rough on his bare hands and knees.

Nothing but a forest at the top, and no Tau among their sparse shadows. Oliver turned, clapping his hand into Lucetta's to haul her up the rest of the way. Then Maji, once Ed helped her up with a singular push to her rump, nearly launching her into Oliver's arms. Her startled yelp echoed, but there were no birds to scare off.

Leaves and twigs crunched underfoot as Oliver ran. Deeper into the forest, and still it remained deathly quiet. The pink mist had become more like a veil of tulle, the stench of metal so strong it glued to the roof of his mouth. He kept it firmly shut, resisting the need to heave.

Oliver stopped to catch his breath. A line of boulders laden with moss stood like a bulwark ahead of him. Maji staggered toward them to sit, panting, while Hennessey sauntered around the clearing, entirely unbothered by the strangeness of it all.

"I don't like this," murmured Lucetta, coming to stand beside Oliver. "Why is nobody here?"

For a war-ravaged land, the forest seemed entirely untouched.

Oliver growled and kicked at leaf wilt, sending it aflutter. "Where the hell did Tau go?"

Maji's, "We'll find him," only served to frustrate him further. He appreciated she was trying to be reassuring, and so said nothing in response. But there was no soothing his anxious heart, beating so harshly it hurt. He ground the base of his palm into the centre of his chest, watching while Maji stood to climb the boulders—and promptly disappeared from sight with a cut off yelp.

"Maji!" Lucetta barrelled after her, jumping atop the boulders.

She too, vanished.

Oliver froze in place, the forest's silence thudding in his ears. It took one of the bears nudging his shoulder as they passed to push him out of it. He ignored their stupid questions of where his friends had gone and darted to the boulders, tripping on his way there—and down.

A steep decline sent him tumbling. Arse and shoulders met with rocks and mud in a repeat of crashing pain. He collided with something that grunted in shock, his fall ending in a stream deep enough for him to dive under.

Spluttering, Oliver scrambled upright on wobbly legs and spat out a mouthful of liquid metal. Thick and lumpy, clinging to his face as he furiously wiped his eyes.

"I can't see!" he cried. Only to cry out again at the onslaught of pure light, forcing him to cover his face with both arms.

Somewhere beside him, Lucetta groaned, then retched. Violently. The sound, coupled with the rancid stench of his surroundings, had Oliver's stomach seizing with discomfort. He swallowed it back down, carefully lowering his arms until his eyes adjusted to a brightness rivalling Tau.

Nothing but dilapidated structures, broken trees, and red . As far as he could see, all was red. He looked down.

And heaved.

It wasn't a stream or even a bog he'd fallen into. It was nothing but eviscerated gore. Entrails coated his clothes, dangled from his arm, probably stuck to his hair and inside his nose. Oliver spat blood before he closed his hands around Lucetta's biceps and hauled her to her feet. He cast a look about for Maji, spotting her tiny round silhouette splashing through the swamp toward him.

"Ollie, Lucetta!"

"Maji," Oliver gasped, barely recognising her under the gore.

She wrapped herself around his arm, her focus on the hill from where they'd fallen.

There wasn't a hint of the forest, or the Fae and their bears. Only a wall of mud glistening red, disappearing into a painfully vivid white haze above. Oliver peeled Maji off him and pushed her and Lucetta together by their shoulders, then faced the steep wall, readying to scale it.

"It won't work." Maji's voice cracked, her inhales sharp, like she was seconds away from bursting into tears. "I tried, it's too slippery."

He approached the bottom regardless, blood-mud threatening to suck his boots right off his feet, gelatinous under his hands as he dug his fingers in to draw himself up. Oliver swore. There was nothing to hold on to. He lost his footing, slid back down, the splash especially loud in announcing his failure.

He staggered upright. Lucetta's hold on Maji's shoulder looked painful. Both of them trembled, the whites of their eyes a startling contrast to the blood covering their faces.

"What the hell is this?" Lucetta quavered.

"Where's Hennessey?" asked Maji. "We have to warn them not to come down here!"

Oliver glowered. "Yeah I don't think we need to worry—"

A sharp wail pulled their attention to the distance. It sent frost down Oliver's spine. He sloshed through the marsh back to Maji and Lucetta and took hold of both their hands, looking around in search of Tau.

"We–We're too out in the open," breathed Maji.

"What if Tau's here? I need to go find him!"

"I'm sure he's fine, Ollie!" Maji shook his hand off her and snatched him by the sleeve that stuck to his arm. "He's a Sentinel, for goodness sake!"

"An injured one!"

Maji clicked her tongue and pulled him and Lucetta toward a large, rotting tree stump. Damp bark squelched against Oliver's back as they crouched behind the stump. He huddled close to his friends, keeping his eyes on the odd shapes in the blinding distance beyond the tree, their movements twitchy and unnatural. The air cracked with their shouts. Some agonised, others carrying grotesque notes of pleasure.

Oliver swallowed against the lump that had formed like a rock in his throat, bile burning the back of it. "Do I have a gnome in my garret, or is this real ?"

"The stink ," groaned Lucetta.

Maji dropped to sit, the blood reaching her belly, and Oliver followed her gaze back up the hill. Still no sign of Hennessey or the Ursidae.

Bastards.

Glancing down, the water rippled around his shins. Lucetta hissed a panicked swear and Oliver swivelled, bark crumbling under his bloodied grip as he peered past the broken tree. Terror knocked down his jaw.

A colossal monstrosity clawed its way toward them, dragging a whale-like body through the mire with several large, humanoid arms swinging like oars along its sides. Its mouth burst with crooked teeth, opening and closing around wheezing breaths.

"Stench of blood, stench of humans. I can smell you," it moaned. "Let me taste, let me eat."

Lucetta released a string of curses, along with, "Why didn't I bring my hatchet?" and, "Oh, my Sentinels, we're going to die."

Oliver's hands had glued themselves to the tree, his knees to the soggy ground. His head screamed at him to move, move, move as red water sloshed around him in rolling waves with each of the monstrosity's lurches.

Distantly, he heard a longsome, horrified noise—it came from his own mouth. Something hard connected with his shoulder, freeing Oliver from his terror induced trance.

Maji whimpered. She staggered upright and away from the tree. Punched the air as she bobbed through the marsh like a lure and caught the whale's undivided attention. It moaned in delight. Flailed, at a series of thick roots shooting upward, out of the marsh. A barricade of wooden spikes, they pierced the roof of the monstrosity's gaping mouth, shattering teeth and trapping it.

Skeletal flukes raised beyond the white light as it struggled, slamming down into the marsh, creating a splashing downpour of blood. Oliver winced, eyes stinging with red and light and panic. Blindly, he stumbled about in search of Maji with Lucetta behind him, clutching the hem of his shirt. A faint glimmer of Sentinel magic, and more roots pushed up while Maji wildly waved her arms.

"Not this way!" she screeched.

Too late.

Other creatures had found them, wailing and moaning, slow but eager in their approach. Oliver blinked the blood from his eyes, catching sight of a fluke making its way down again. He cried out. Shoved Lucetta away. Flung himself at Maji and launched her out of the way by the forearms.

He lost his footing and fought against the tide dragging him off. Sharp fragments grazed his legs, cutting through denim and skin.

A scream somewhere off to his side—Lucetta, and Maji cried out his name.

Oliver struggled back up. He stared at what looked like a Sentinel with fleshy horns, skin scrunched and stretched across a ghoulish face, away from a wide mouth. Its elongated torso tapered off into a multitude of stamping human limbs.

And in its grasp was Lucetta, dangling by her throat.

Oliver dove forward, punched its elbow. The arm split with a loud, wet crack. Lucetta splashed down, flailing and gasping as a vortex of a thousand, razor-sharp leaves whipped at the ghastly Sentinel from behind. Skin and bone tore off, becoming a miasma of gore to coat Oliver.

Wood creaked and snapped. The whale monstrosity broke free with a vibrating groan. It descended upon them, large body dragging, sending more waves to push Lucetta back underwater and Oliver off his feet. He struggled through the marsh to gather Lucetta in his arms when a powerful grip trapped the top of his head. It raised him up out of the water.

Oliver kicked at the nightmare-Sentinel. His foot connected with an abdomen, breaking through wilted skin and tissue, spilling decaying entrails.

The hold on his skull became crushing. Pallid stars popped into his vision. He wrapped his fingers around the putrescent forearm and pulled in opposite directions until muscles ripped from under his palms and bones cracked.

Oliver squinted at vivid whiteness. He was suddenly aloft, hurtling toward nothing but more red. Something hard ended his fall, and hands kept him from being submerged. Bony, rotting hands, sharpened nails digging into his skin, pulling him backward through the marsh.

He thrashed with a horrified cry, reaching behind him to grab a handful of something. Hair . Wet and matted, long and easily pulled off, part of a bloodied scalp still attached. He flung it aside. Twisted around, his knees raking muddied blood-water—and whimpered as he was guided into an embrace.

The thing might have been human once. Now it was only strings of flesh, eyes sunken so far he couldn't see them. With each terrible, rattling breath it took, its loosely hanging mouth fluttered.

He was going to die.

The realisation hit Oliver as sodden fingers slid up his face and cupped his cheeks. He was going to die without being able to save his friends. Alone, in the arms of a disfigured horror cooing at him. It said something, but Oliver's mind had turned inward and all he could hear was the loud knell of a gruesome death pounding in his ears.

And all he saw was light. Vivid, painful. He fell forward, unable to catch himself. His face hit blood. He submerged, captured by a whirl of sediment and debris and teeth.

Powerful fingers fisted his hair, yanking him back up. Oliver rasped for breath, squalling at the intake of viscera. He forced open his eyes, vision splotched red, a flash of green cutting through. He pushed off the sodden ground, swinging his legs up, locking all four limbs around the arm holding him up.

Oliver arched back with all his might. A soaked crack. He fell back into the marsh, narrowly avoiding stamping feet seeking to crush him. With a piercing cry and final buck of its elongated body, the centipede-like Sentinel parted through the centre. Its halves peeled away, flopping sideways with dousing splashes. Further bursts of green zipped past and around, cutting down any writhing monstrosity nearby.

Oliver dropped the dismembered limb he'd taken with him and stumbled forward, colliding with a tall, shadowy body as doused in gore as he was.

"Oliver."

Powerful arms held him firm, lifting him out of the marsh. A sob wracked his body as he clutched a soaked hood with desperation.

"Tau," he croaked. "Maji and Luce, they're—"

"Ollie!"

He could have cried at the sight of his friends, struggling through the marsh to reach him. Oliver splashed back down and moved to meet them—yelped at sharp nips all over his lower legs. He kicked at the plump creatures paddling around, twirling to reveal tiny faces, blood-shot eyes, and jagged teeth. Spheres of emerald shot into the blood-water, bubbling and frothing before infantile bodies bobbed lifelessly to the surface.

Oliver delivered a final kick to the nearest, sending it skittering across like a stone, and cheered, "My boyfriend, everyone!"

"Thank the Sentinels," Lucetta wheezed.

She flew forward in a stumble, her fingers hooking into Oliver's mantle. He staggered with a grunt, wrapped his arm around her and pulled her upright. Lucetta stared up at Tau, her eyes widening further as more wails of anguish echoed in the distance.

Maji gave her arm a firm tug. "Lucetta?"

"If—If Ben came here and he's still alive—"

It would be a miracle. Oliver's stomach contorted.

"Ben's resourceful and—and strong. He's fine!" He wished he could believe himself. He grabbed hold of Maji too, pulling her and Lucetta closer toward Tau. "Maybe he's not even here. Maybe he escaped—"

"Cannot." A simple statement, the horror of its weight barely diminished by Tau's beautiful voice. "One way."

Oliver gasped, so loudly it startled both Lucetta and Maji. "I can hear you!"

"Don't do that!" Maji snapped, clutching her chest.

He gasped again, choking on spittle flying inward. "And you said my name!"

Lucetta swore at him, then she shook her head. "We have to find Ben. Then we can focus on finding a way out. I just wish I'd seen more of Sigma's magic. I have no idea how to use it properly!"

"I know." Maji raised both arms over her head and clutched her skull. "Nu's magic is useless." She squinted up at Tau. "How come we can hear you? Are we in a different realm?"

"No." Tau walked away, his footfalls sloshing.

"Okay…" Maji cast Oliver a questioning look. All he could do was shrug and follow.

Slowly, they moved through the marshland with Tau leading the way. Oliver trudged alongside him, grabbing his hand when it reached out for him.

"Why the hell did you just leave?" Oliver found himself asking. In a tone too severe, he knew, but couldn't help it. "I was scared to death ." With a firm tug, he forced Tau to pay attention to him. "You can't just leave after someone rinses your spigot, I thought I did something wrong!"

In the brightness, the metal of Tau's gauntlet looked its true green. Comforting in its caress against his cheek, and lowering to lift Oliver's chin, forcing him to squint as he looked up.

"Love."

One single word that instantly settled the displaced anger. Now mollified, he clasped Tau's hand again to carry on through the morass. The whale-monstrosity lay lifeless, a smouldering mass, countless other creatures around it having met the same fate. All scorched or sliced, all unidentifiable amalgamations.

Just how far had Tau come, was this all his doing? Had he gone ahead to ensure safe passage, after all? The thought alone swelled his heart with adoration. Oliver had witnessed his boyfriend's true omnipotence before, and it was devastatingly beautiful. But this was further proof Tau was the best Sentinel out of them all.

"Do you know what this place is?" Oliver glanced over his shoulder to check on Maji and Lucetta, close behind.

"No."

"How did you find us?" asked Lucetta, barely audible over the sharp cries curdling the air.

"Signal."

Oliver's eyebrows raised. "You mean you can—what does that mean?"

"Sense."

"You…can sense us?"

"Yes."

"That makes so much sense," said Maji.

It did, and it left Oliver in awe. Did that mean every time he and Tau met in the mine, it had been Tau deliberately seeking him out?

A cay hazy with light rested in the centre of the marshland. With each taxing step toward it, the sky became brighter, red mire reflective with such severity, Oliver squeezed his eyes shut and put all his trust into Tau.

Until his blood-soaked boots slipped on a slight incline. The cay wasn't as impossible as the surrounding bedrabbled barricade, but still slippery enough for them all to fall more than once. Tau had to help in the end, clawed sabatons rooting into mud, hand yanking Oliver forward with enough force to send him skittering several paces forward. Tau helped Maji and Lucetta up next, both of them stumbling into Oliver's outstretched arms.

Mounds of carrion sprawled the area. Swatches of decay stuck to Oliver's hands and shins as he climbed over it all.

"Can you sense Ben?" Lucetta eventually asked, disgruntled, while Tau pushed her up by the thighs to help her ascend the corpse of a goliath. Maji already stood atop its shoulder, waiting.

"Yes."

A smile easily spread over Oliver's lips as Tau swooped down to pull him up off the ground and into an embrace. Lifted high, he caught sight of Lucetta's expression, frustrated even behind a mask of red. She grabbed Oliver's hand, hoisting him up the rest of the way. Ashen skin slipped away under his feet. He grabbed hold of Maji's arm to steady himself, and squinched across the expanse of rotting flesh. So foetid, it must have been there for some time.

"Does that mean he's alive?" asked Lucetta once Tau joined them at the top with a great leap. "Do you know where he is?"

"Yes."

Tau led them over the divots of ribs, and hopped off the other side, sinking into the mud below and struggling to free himself. Oliver ambled off after him, spilling into spectacular arms with a loud grunt at the impact. He would have kissed Tau, cradled against that muscular chest as he was, but he'd already sucked down more than enough viscera. Instead, he offered another smile, deposited into the mud when it was Maji's turn to jump down. It took a few moments of nervous fretting, but she did, leaving Lucetta at the top alone.

"It's fine," Oliver called up to her. "It's not that high."

"Only a little higher than Plainwall," Maji added, encouragingly.

"This is way higher!" Lucetta screeched.

He'd hoped she wouldn't notice.

Oliver waved her down. "Jump, Tau will catch you!"

"Descend." Tau held out his arms.

Lucetta moaned in dismay. She covered her eyes with one hand. Hesitated further, then stepped forward. A second too late, she changed her mind. She flailed wildly, chased down by her own scream. Gore-slick and thrashing, she slipped out of Tau's grasp and into the ground with a claggy splat .

"Forgive," Tau uttered, bending low to retrieve her.

Lucetta's shaky grumble of, "It's alright," wasn't very convincing.

The largest amassment of remains lay ahead of them, piled high as though dumped from the skies. Beside Oliver, Maji came to a sudden stop and gasped.

"Emergence!"

Oliver stared at the putrid decay, covered in tar-like ooze, flies buzzing, crawling with hellish critters feasting on it all, but it was unmistakable

"What does this mean?" Lucetta warbled.

All eyes turned to Tau, still unresponsive as he carried on in a sluggish stride. Furrowing his brows, Oliver followed closely behind.

"Are you tired?" he asked. Tau had to be, when he must have been trapped here for days.

A glance was all he got in response.

"When we get out of here," Oliver continued, undeterred, refusing to give up hope that they would, "I'm going to make you feel so good. Feed you all the lights you want, okay?"

He'd make Tau feel good in other ways, too.

Tau hummed with interest. A sweet, dulcet melody that, were they not ringed in by a hellscape, Oliver might have spent more than a few moments swooning over.

Disjointed creatures remained alive on the other end of the cay. Sharp teeth snapped, salivating mouths snarled—warring over limbs and entrails. Some devouring corpses whole, others gnawing remnants.

He grabbed Tau's hand to pull him away, but the gauntlet squirmed free. Before he could say anything, Tau launched forward. He flicked from one area to the next, blood-water rising like streamers in the air, reflecting bright flashes of green as Tau scorched and sliced, creating a downpour of viscera.

The last of dismembered horrors dropped, the splashes noisy in the silence that now clung to their immediate surroundings. Tau came to a stop by the same object he'd been circling. Shrouded in decay and halfway submerged in the marsh, but Oliver thought there were wheels, a bit like an automobile.

While he stood there trying to work out what he was looking at, Maji released a hair-raising shriek. She ran toward it, sliding along the declivity, scrambling over more bodies. Something within the odd object shifted, a door opening to reveal a heavily bearded man struggling to stand upright. Caked in blood and grime, but there was no mistaking that face, those wide shoulders.

Maji cried out Benjamin's name and flung herself at him. Oliver stumbled down the cay and vaulted over corpses.

"Is–Is that really you, Maji?" Benjamin choked. "What the—the hell are you doing here?"

His amber gaze flicked to Lucetta, who stopped nearby, then met Oliver's.

Something in them broke.

He moved away from Maji and staggered toward Oliver, who tensed his jaw, frustration quick to sweep up.

"We came to find you. Running off like that, you're such a di—"

Calloused, blood-encrusted hands clasped his face. Benjamin yanked him forward, and their lips met. It didn't last long, still long enough for Oliver to reel under the feel of pliant skin.

"You saved my life with those gemstones," Benjamin rasped into his mouth.

And those lips were back on Oliver's. Metal mixed with bad breath didn't push him into motion, his head an empty nest. He was unable to do anything other than stand there with his hands raised, not quite touching a chest covered by a grimly coloured shirt.

Finally, Benjamin pulled away, and Oliver shifted out of his hold with a discomfited chuckle. He cast a quick glance at Tau behind him, who was busy wiping muck off his face, his focus elsewhere.

…Thankfully?

Benjamin's gaze followed his, and bloodshot eyes widened.

"It's just Tau," said Oliver, stuck on wondering what the meaning of that kiss was. Relief, probably. Although he wasn't kissing Maji or Lucetta, and this wasn't the first time Benjamin had tried to kiss him—

"I–I don't think so." Benjamin's voice shook.

Oliver raised an arm to shield his burning eyes, and his heart shuddered.

Tau wasn't wiping his face. He struggled with a protrusion, flailing out from under his mask. Long, slender. A snake with several bodies, twisting around Tau's arms, his neck. Tau flung himself backward with a wide splash, water dampening a howl of agony.

Oliver lunged for him. He snatched flailing tendrils thrusting out from the water. His feet sunk into sediment as he heaved a thrashing Tau back up with every granule of strength he could muster. More of the slimy, ropey things whipped out from under the mask. Wrapped around Oliver's arms, their tips tearing through clothes, burrowing into his skin.

Someone shrieked. Lucetta threw her full weight into dislodging the things from his arms.

"Heal him!" Oliver cried, a tendril ensnaring his neck, squeezing and pulling him under with Tau, still flailing in heartrending torment.

Heavy feet swashed forward. Worn metal flashed. A pickaxe swung downward, its clang echoing as it cleaved tendrils and bounced off Tau's chest. The clenching around Oliver's throat relented. His breath spiked with sobs as he wrapped his arms around Tau's ribcage to drag the slippery, megalithic weight back to the cay's bank with Benjamin's help.

Clanking echoed. Above. All around. The light became brighter than anything Oliver endured before. He squeezed his eyes shut and still saw vibrant yellow.

Something jerked him bodily out of the water. His feet kicked its surface as he became weightless. Oliver tightened his hold on Tau, pulled upward with him. He dug his fingers into soaked robes. Long, thin tendrils whipped around his face. Slick and painful as they burrowed.

The rattle of his panicked breaths became the only sound.

Oliver groaned into darkness, sore from the very tips of his hair to the dulled ends of his toenails. Reaching up, he smacked himself in the face, his arm too tired to behave. His eyes were covered, and he lay in something soft. A bed, maybe, but the fabric felt unnatural. He fingered the blindfold. Soft, oddly stretchy.

"I wouldn't do that," said a woman's voice, soft despite the obvious disdain.

Oliver stilled. He'd heard that voice before. …But where?

"Maji?" he called out. "Luce, Ben?"

"I'm here," said Lucetta from somewhere to his left.

"Me too." Maji, to his right.

"And me," Benjamin croaked.

Oliver sat up, running his palms along his immediate surroundings, then across his chest. An awful, stiff fabric covered it. The mantle was missing.

"Can you guys see?" Oliver gasped at a jolt of panic. "Tau! Where is he?"

He pitched himself sideways. Bedding caught his foot and he crashed with a loud smack to a cold floor. Grunting, Oliver scrambled upright, yanked the bandages off his head, and yipped at the scorching pain in his eyes, at the flash of something— someone .

"I told you."

That voice .

Oliver swore. Swung his arms out, hoping to land a hit. Stumbled forward, in chase of laughter, cruel and mocking. Maji asked what was happening, somewhere in the distance. He crashed into something hard, swore again.

"It's Ondine!" he bellowed, fingers wrapping around a metal bar—the bedframe. He pulled. It scraped across the floor. With any luck, he'd be able to crush her with it.

"Calm down!" said another voice, soothing in its sternness, and familiar.

"Sa–Sam?" Benjamin's voice rasped.

"Yes, it's me, Benji."