Free BURN IN HADES by Michael L. Martin Jr.

stomach. Same for beasts.”
    Gimlet chomped on his hand and almost took a chunk out of it. He bopped her with the bottom of his fist. He knew her bite was an accident. She’d never purposely hurt him, but anger got the best of him. “Never bite the hand that feeds you! Here me, Gimlet?”
    “Gimlet?” asked the Ravens.
    “It’s what I named her,” said Cross, calming himself. “The Roaring Gimlet.”
    The Raven reached into her sack and pulled out a bushel of calabash. She snapped one of the green, bottle-shaped fruits off the bushel and tossed it over to him. He caught it and stared at the calabash.
    “Where’d you get this?” he asked.
    “Fresh fruit in a very rare thing,” she said, flatly. “You’re welcome.”
    No matter what words came out of the Raven’s mouth, her face remained totally expressionless. It was as if she had complete control over her emotions or was cursed with a permanent indifferent attitude towards everything. She obviously had her own goals, but she never smiled or frowned. She didn’t even show any anger towards him when he cursed her out back in Metnal.
    Not only did that quality make her the perfect swindler, it also made it difficult for Cross to determine whether or not she knew that the calabash was poison. But if he could get her to drink from the fruit, he could take all the objects they had gained from the squals.
    “You take one,” he said. “It’s no fun drinking alone. Let’s you and me have a drink.” He raised his fruit in the air.
    She slid the rest of the calabash back into her sack. “I’m not thirsty.”
    “There’s no such thing as not being thirsty. Your lips are as dry as mine. You think you’re too good to drink with me or something?”
    “You have a tendency to let little things get you all riled up. Try being thankful for what little you have and enjoy that.”
    She might’ve been trying to accomplish the same thing as him. She was seemingly trying to get him to drink the juice first.
    He rolled the fruit back over to her. “Skullface told you which way I was going didn’t he? That’s how you found me.”
    “He said you could use a friend,” she said, with a shrug.
    “He talks too damn much.”
    “You two have that in common. That’s the only reason I can think of why he would take such a liking to you.” She grabbed his calabash from the ground. “Then again, he did insist on poisoning you. He made me promise to give you one of these calabashes before he told me which way you went.” She tossed the fruit back into her burlap sack with the other items. “If I were you, I’d watch who you make friends with.”

    After a brief rest, they continued east for a few more miles and came to yet another river. This one flowed with live scorpions, millions of them, all clamoring over each other, stinging and fighting. This time Gimlet plowed in with no hesitation and swallowed scorpions as though it were a feast thrown in her honor.
    The Raven grabbed Cross by the arms and flew him to the other side of the river before the scorpions could attack them. They brushed and plucked dangling scorpions off their clothes. Gimlet refused to climb out of the river when Cross called her out.
    “You eat too much,” he said, “you’ll get a tummy ache. Here, I’ll bring some along for the ride.” Cross bagged a few of the scorpions in a pouch and promised to feed them to her later. Gimlet grunted in agreement and finally climbed out of the river.

    It took about four periods of sleep for them to arrive in Viņsaule. Four black orbs hovered over the canyons like dead moons. He and the Raven took shelter from an acid rain storm in a shallow cave and built a fire. Cross fed Gimlet the leftover scorpions as promised. The cornurus picked over the few dead ones and devoured the live ones.
    The Raven opened her burlap sack full of objects of the dead, reached in and pulled out a spoon. She swirled it around in the air and tapped it on a rock. Then, she handed