Total pages in book: 60
Estimated words: 57184 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 286(@200wpm)___ 229(@250wpm)___ 191(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 57184 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 286(@200wpm)___ 229(@250wpm)___ 191(@300wpm)
I stop drinking and lift my head to look up at him. The sincerity in his eyes is so convincing. He is truly a good actor.
I return to my meal. After this, we have a long hike through the Blood Lands. It’s a trek I’ve made before.
CHAPTER FIVE
We wait until the sun is completely down before departing, given how the sun doesn’t agree with vampires. I equate it to standing under those warming lamps used at grocery stores to keep the fried chicken hot all day. Is there a point at which the heat vaporizes us? Don’t know. Don’t care. Don’t plan to be a vampire long enough to find out.
We march in a formation a half-mile long and one hundred yards wide, with me somewhere in the middle.
I feel like a football that everyone’s trying to get to the goal line, General Rool especially. He insisted on bringing a hundred men of his own, and I know it’s because he doesn’t trust the War People. Alwar wasn’t much better, ordering everyone in his party, a hundred giants, to accompany us.
Honestly, this is overkill, which makes me wonder if their numbers have to do with something other than mutual distrust. Is there something they’re not telling me? I wouldn’t be surprised. Even I’m keeping secrets, like Mato believing Alwar is going to die soon and wanting to marry me. Gabrio is gunning for me, too. Then there’s my own personal agenda: free humans from the threat once and for all, no matter the cost. We all have our secrets.
The procession follows Rool and his men while the giants fan out to my sides and flank us. I can practically taste the anxiety in the air, the vampires and giants—both women and men—ready to attack the smallest threat. The moonlight is so bright tonight everything is bathed in eerie red tones, including the intense expressions of the giants.
“What’s everyone so worried about?” I ask Alwar, who marches at my side, crunching branches and brush with his large feet. All around me, the ground thunders and quakes, announcing to anything in our path that the War People are coming. Other than that, the forest is quiet.
Alwar glances down at me, bending low to duck under a tree branch. “Sonofabitch is going this way simply to annoy me. There is a much easier path on the other side of those hills.” He points to a small swell in the ground with a rock formation that seems to be moving. Are those Mato’s pet rocks?
I blink and they’re gone. Strange. I feel like we’re being watched.
Alwar suddenly hops, stepping over a series of boulders. I maneuver between them. I’ve noticed that when the War People travel, which is always on foot, they stick to wide-open spaces. Maybe because it allows them to see anyone attempting an ambush. They do have the advantage of height.
“I’m sure Rool’s just going the way he’s used to,” I say. “Are you going to answer my question?” Everyone’s on edge. Why?
“I do not know what concerns Rool has,” grumbles Alwar, “but I for one have heard nothing of threats, nothing of discontent among the various kingdoms over the change of leadership.”
“So there’s nothing to worry about?”
“Wrong,” he replies. “This is Monsterland. We do not live peacefully.”
“So if you’re not hearing rumbles of impending backstabbings or uprisings—”
“It signifies something is brewing.”
Crap. “What do you think this something is?”
“Anything is possible, but if I had to guess, Benicio’s death has become an opportunity to forge new alliances with those who have common interests. It is why the inaugural address is so critical. You must set the tone—any challenges to your throne will not be tolerated. They must fear your power, or the wall will fall.”
This is exactly what I was afraid of. There’ll always be creatures and kingdoms interested in tearing down the wall. They believe the weak are for eating. Humans especially.
“Alwar, how were the bridges made?” I ask.
“I do not know.”
“But they couldn’t have been there since the beginning of time.”
“The stories say that before the wall was built, there were only a handful of creatures who knew about the doorways and crossed over freely to hunt. Then one day, word got out, and your world was overrun. Humans started fighting back and pushed them out. Any creatures that remained were killed.”
I still wonder how humans managed to expel the monsters. Tiago once told me it was the fact that people refused to give up. As a species, our tenacity defines us. True. Humans haven’t survived this long because we complied our way to survival. It’s why dictators, tyrants, oppressive governments, and anyone who tries to take away our freedoms don’t last. Eventually, we rise up. Still, I can’t see how tenacity was enough to eradicate all monster life from my world. Especially considering this event supposedly happened thousands of years ago. What weapons did they use?