I woke up, well-rested and ready for the day. Katherine had not had as great of a night, but her leg looked far better.
“She should be good to continue travelling, but make sure she is treated with magic each time you stop for a break,” a monk said.
“Thank you, I’ll make sure that happens,” Gus replied.
“Yeah, I really appreciate you fixing me up. I’ll try and be more careful,”
“You’d better!” Gus half-joked, “I’ll have Reggie and Mak hold you down while I heal you if I have to,”
“I’d like to see them try!”
“Ahem,” Reggie interrupted, “I think we should get going as soon as possible. We are supposed to be in Vertsbridge within the next day and we’re already running late. I’d rather not keep Magnus waiting,”
I nodded in agreement, “Generally unwise to test the patience of a dragon,”
“I’ve already packed provisions, let’s say our farewells and head out!” said Gus.
The Abbot and Archbishop were occupied with a meeting, but Brother Lyon and Brother Trent sent us off.
“Safe travels!” said Brother Lyon.
“Go easy on your leg, Katherine, and keep an eye on the weather. It looks like quite the storm coming from the capital,” added Brother Trent.
Indeed, a dark shadow had appeared in the direction of the capital, far into the distance.
“It’s a rather odd shape,” I noted.
“It’s just a cloud,” Reggie replied.
“No no, I see where Mak is coming from, it almost looks like a pillar coming down from the sky,”
“Or up from the ground,”
“From the ground? Nothing’s that tall!”
“I wasn’t saying it was, just that it kind of looks like it,”
“We haven’t even left the Abbey’s front lawn and you’re already bickering?” said Katherine.
Reggie let out a sigh, “Whatever, sorry, let’s go,”
I simply nodded in reply, though normally I’d be shocked at him actually apologizing. In spite of the arguing, we’d actually become something resembling a team.
Krimsun might not even recognize us.
It was around noon when we arrived at the town of Begoniastead.
“Hmm, it is starting to drizzle a bit, maybe we can have our lunch in a tavern or inn?” Gus suggested.
“I say we just eat as we walk, no sense wasting any more time,” said Reggie.
“We should stop to treat Katherine’s leg now anyway,” I said.
But I’d soon wish I said nothing at all.
“I’m fi-, hey!” Katherine yelled as Gus scooped her up.
“I’ll not have another word of protest, we’re taking a rest and following the monks’ instructions, come on!”
“Fine, just put me down!”
As we approached, I got a bad feeling in my stomach. I couldn’t hear anything coming from the town.
“Something wrong? Mak?” Gus asked.
“I don’t know, the town is awfully quiet, and it doesn’t look like anyone’s walking around there,”
“They’re probably just inside from the rain. See? There is smoke from a chimney,”
“We should leave now,” Reggie said with a grave look on his face.
“Why?” Katherine asked.
“That isn’t smoke from a chimney,”
I took a moment to sniff the air.
“Smoke, iron, and… blood,” my heart sank.
“We need to check for survivors!” Katherine shouted as she made a break for the town.
“Wait up! We don’t know what did this or if it is still there!” I shouted after her.
“You two are better for scouting, I’ll stick with Katherine,” Gus said quickly.
Reggie and I nodded at each other and headed off in opposing directions.
Focusing my magic into my ears I tried to search for the sounds of breathing, heartbeats, anything that could lead me to someone in need of help.
I ran all along the East side of town.
Not so much as the chirping of birds.
I met up with Katherine and Gus in the center of town.
Their expressions did not instill me with confidence.
Katherine was shaking in anger.
“Did you find anyone?” I asked hopefully.
Gus let out a weak sigh, “We… we found people…”
Uh oh.
I paused a moment, almost as if I didn’t do anything that it would prevent what would inevitably come next from happening.
Gus quietly walked over to a half-ruined building. Inside was an all too familiar sight.
“They… just… piled them there,” Gus’ face was void of emotion, but tears were streaming down his face.
I stood still, staring.
Just staring.
But before I had a chance to fall back into my darkness, Katherine pulled me away.
“We need to find out if anyone got away,” she said, “The buildings around here are empty, maybe Reggie found someone.”
And just like that.
“Guys! Come here, quickly!” Reggie shouted from the edge of town.
We ran over as fast as we could. Reggie was standing at the edge of town, staring at some kind of bush.
“Is it a survivor?” Katherine asked.
“Far from it,”
We got closer and saw that, entangled in the side of the bush, was a human man.
“By Maria,”
I’ll never forget the warped expression on the man’s face. The mouth was agape, so much so that his jaw must’ve been completely broken. His eyes were practically bulging out of his head. But the strangest thing of all.
“No sign of any physical injuries,” Gus said as he inspected the body.
“Judging by his outfit, he was probably a bandit,” Reggie noted.
“I’ve never studied any magic that kills someone like this,” I said, “Did he simply die of shock?”
“Maybe? Let me examine more closely,”
“Wait! What if it is something… Contagious?” Reggie’s voice cracked for a moment.
“Thanks, but whatever killed him was definitely not what took out the rest of the village, he seems to be the only one,”
“What!? But… I found two more just like him further out,”
“Were they also bandits?”
“By the looks of it,”
“I need to examine this closely, but I’ll be careful,”
Gus opened up his pack and removed a large plague-doctor mask and some gloves. They glowed with a pale light as he put them on. He removed the bandit’s armour, but then paused. I could see that the chest area seemed to be protruding a bit. Gus placed his hand over the area, cast a spell, and immediately stood up and backed away.
“What is it?” I asked.
“His heart,” he said, “It… exploded,”
“We need to leave,” Reggie repeated.
“We can’t go until we know for sure there isn’t anyone who needs our help,” Katherine said.
“We can’t go until we know what did this,” Gus said solemnly.
“That’s above my pay grade,”
“Well then, you can walk to Vertsbridge on your own and explain to Krimsun why left us here,”
“Listen, I know I’m not the friendliest guy nor the best team-player, but this…” he gestured to the corpse, “This could be a disease, an evil mage, some kind of curse, we don’t know,”
I had to admit, I wanted to go as well. My instincts were practically screaming at me to turn tail and run. But, once Katherine had her mind set on something, there was no convincing her. And I wasn’t about to leave her behind.
“How about we do a quick look around, and if we don’t find anything we rush to Vertsbridge and send a message to the Guild to send in experts,” I suggested.
“Sounds like a compromise to me! What do you think, Reggie?”
“Fine,” he relented, “But don’t blame me when things go awry,”
Reggie then led us to where he found the next two bodies. Both had the same mangled faces as the last one.
“They were fleeing the village when this happened,” I said, “Something was chasing them,”
“But what kind of monster blows up your heart but doesn’t do anything else?” Katherine asked.
“I don’t know,” I admitted, “Every creature I’ve heard of would either have eaten the body, drained its blood, or taken control of it in some way. Whatever it is, it killed for the sake of killing,”
SNAP!
20 meters away.
“Get down!” I shouted as I pointed two fingers at the source of the noise.
Everyone else ducked as Katherine shot a burst of magical energy in that direction.
ns 15.158.61.21da2
