Blood Fields
Even through his thick cloak, Lev could feel heat pouring off the stream of blood. He stepped across, placing his feet carefully on the icy soil. Behind him his son Ilari, not even as tall as Lev’s shoulder, had to jump over the stretch of glowing blood. Ilari landed, stumbled, and almost stepped back into the stream before he caught his balance. Lev’s expression darkened.
“Careful. One moment too long, and it’ll burn right through your boots.”
Ilari nodded, his face pale. Lev pulled him closer and then pointed as a fresh river made its way across the ground. The forest around them was withered and frostbitten, but, along the edges of the slow-moving blood, green sprouts shot up and pushed through the icy earth. Ilari’s eyes glittered as he watched.
Lev got them moving before the rivers ran too thick to cross. Just as they reached higher ground, their world was plunged in shadow. Lev looked up and back from where the rivers had come from.
Above them, blotting out the sun, was a massive carcass with a gash running along its length. Endless torrents of glowing blood rained from it. The mass of flesh hung on iron meat hooks, kept aloft by a floating barge. Lev could just make out the smokeless blue fires spilling out from the body of the craft. Both of them stared until the barge drifted out of sight and the shadows lifted.
They travelled in silence, for a space, and Lev pulled out a map and compass. Their path soon led to another set of blood rivers. Lev turned to Ilari and asked, “Is this the right way?”
“How could I…” Ilari looked at the blood more closely. “The river’s too thick here. A working barge wouldn’t stay in place this long.” He paused. “Right?”
“Good lad.” Lev patted Ilari’s shoulder. “You’ll be tracking on your own in no time.” Ilari beamed.
They advanced, nearing the source as they went upstream. Eventually they broke into a clearing, and heat washed over them in waves.
The mangled corpse of a behemoth was slumped on the ground with the ruins of a barge beside it. This close, they could make out fine details, like the way its body glowed orange between sheets of dark armor plating. A spiderweb of light stretched across the armor that had been cracked in the fall.
Lev pulled out his map and started doing rough calculations. Ilari tried not to look overwhelmed as he stared up at the towering carcass.
“What are they going to do with it?” Ilari said.
“Just because it’s broken doesn’t mean it won’t bleed. Once we report back, it’ll probably be hung up again inside the week.” Lev finished his mapmaking, thought, and then pulled out his hunting knife “Here, follow me.”
Lev made his way through steaming streams of blood and came to the body itself. The air was so hot he could barely breathe. He cut a sliver from the behemoth’s armor; it was a shard of obsidian a little larger than his finger. He stepped back and handed it to Ilari.
“Something to remember your first landfall by.” Lev smiled as Ilari held it like it was the most precious thing in the world. “Now stop gawking and let’s go back. Every minute this thing stays on the ground is another mountain of gold wasted.”