The next week was full of similarly boring events. A missing cat, a snatched purse, a cheating spouse, and the like. All throughout Reggie took things too seriously, Katherine got mad at him, I would get blamed for something, and Gus would talk about his family. Even though I was frustrated at being criticized so heavily, I didn’t try to defend myself. Katherine would try to debate it, but Krimsun wouldn’t listen. At this point I figured I could just keep my head down, they were just words after all, and maybe Krimsun was just trying to teach me to do better? At least, that is what I told myself. I’d sneak out after everyone else was asleep and train myself in at the guildhall practice room. It was easy to do with my portals, and I needed to do something to wear me out before I could sleep. The thought of how after all this time, I still couldn’t even gather the courage to defend myself from words. That even with Katherine around I couldn’t muster some kind of objection, it gnawed at my mind.
As per our usual routine, we woke up to the sounding of the horn, Katherine bumped her head and we met Krimsun in the hall. She was once again chatting with Gretchin, but I noticed a worried look on her face as she noticed us come in. In fact, she quickly turned to work on her paperwork mid-conversation. Krimsun faced us and gave us our assignment. “I think that you are ready for a combat-oriented mission” she began with her typical tone. Reggie perked up instantly, even Gus looked excited. Surprisingly, Katherine’s expression turned dark. “This is going to be a testing ground, particularly for some of you” she sang a note deeper on the end of her sentence. Obviously, that remark was directed at me, but not for the reason I thought. Katherine nudged me with the side of her foot, as I looked up to her she seemed to be looking at the job board to the left. Following her eyes, I scanned the posters and didn’t notice anything odd. It didn’t occur to me until it was too late. It wasn’t what job was posted, but what job wasn’t posted anymore. “We will be dealing with an infestation of Nequese in a local town!” as Krimsun spoke these words my legs gave out.
Katherine moved her leg behind me to keep me up and shot Krimsun a fearsome glare. “What is wrong with you!?” she yelled at the impassive elf. The air in the room was tense, Gus practically shrunk back into his armour like a turtle, and even the ever-provocative Reggie was silent. “This is a standard mission for your rank, I don’t see wha-” Krimsun gracefully ducked under Katherine’s fist as if she were dancing. “You know that’s not what I mean!” Katherine yelled, her nostrils flaring violently. “I fail to see what you take issue with? I have gone on missions to capture and kill other elves that were causing problems, and you will most certainly be asked to do the same to humans.” Krimsun said with just a hint of venom in her tone. Katherine was seething, I knew I had to do something before it got worse. “It’s alright Katherine, she’s right, we’ll fight humans too.” I forced out the words in the best semblance of a sincere tone I could muster. Her eyes darkened and she silently glared at Krimsun who appeared to be unmoved. “We shall leave at once,” Krimsun sang and she moved towards the exit.
It was a few hours ride out to the small village of Oakenveil. It was surrounded by a small, but dense, forest of tall trees. As we approached the village the familiar scent of baking bread filled my nostrils and gave me some iota of relief from my stress. In an attempt to push my worries out of my mind I began thinking of what type of bread it was, and how crisp the crust might be, and what it was being served with. My thoughts were interrupted as we came to a sudden stop outside the village. “According to the report,” Krimsun began, “The Nequese have nested in the hills to the North, in order to avoid detection we will travel on foot from here.” My eyes nearly rolled out of their sockets. By now, a Nequese scout has almost certainly taken notice of a group of Pestak and gone to report it. Perhaps I won’t have to fight any after all. “You look like you have something to say,” Reggie said to me in a boorish tone. Krimsun looked down at me and asked, “Now, what kind of insight do you have on the enemy?” Katherine looked like she was about to say something, so I quickly spat out my thoughts. “A scout has probably already noticed us, they will have gone back to report this and set the traps.” My body shook as I spoke, this went against every instinct I had, but the fear of getting myself or Katherine in trouble was overpowering. In the end, my cowardice still controlled me, I was still a rat.
“At least, that is what my pack would do. I don’t really know about others.” I said, finishing my explanation. Krimsun nodded, “Thank you for the input, you will take the lead and we shall follow at a distance. This will likely throw them off.” she said. “Not for very long,” I added, why I don’t know, “It isn’t uncommon to spring traps with other Nequese in the way.” Again, she nodded, “Then we must make haste, so we can eliminate them with as little resistance as possible.” Krimsun’s voice was always very neutral, but in this case, the emotionless, rhythmic, way she spoke about “eliminating” Nequese sent shivers from my ears down to my tail. As I went to take my place at the front of the group, Reggie whispered down at me, “Ratting out the rats eh?” I didn’t even look. I couldn’t even be mad. Because I knew he was right.
Taking the lead up the path, I kept an eye out for every trap that I knew. There were the more obvious ones, leaves over a pit of blades, a snare in the tall grass, and so on. But there were even some of the more elaborate ones, carefully placed ground wasp nests, patches of grass coated bear-boar urine, and even a tripwire to set off a series of warning bells. “We must be getting closer” whispered Gus in a hopeful, and yet, apprehensive tone. “Not necessarily” I replied. “Sometimes they increase trap density in opposing directions to confuse adventurers.” I bit my lip after I spoke, why did I say that? SNAP! The sound of a rope breaking up the hill was quickly followed by that of large logs rolling down at us. We all jumped out of the way, except for Krimsun, who remained still looking at the oncoming danger with total indifference. “Move or you’ll be crushed!” Katherine yelled as she ran towards the elf to pull her away. But before she could get to her, Krimsun raised her left hand. With a graceful movement of her arm and a flick of her wrist, several sharp jets of air flew towards the logs, slicing them into tiny pieces. “They must have set that one off themselves.” Krumsin said casually, “Let’s continue in this direction.”
After another few minutes of walking, we came to a cliff-face. “Did we go the wrong way?” asked Gus half disappointed half hopeful. “Not necessarily…” whispered Krimsun as she started investigating the thick brush in from the of the cliff. She backed up and motioned for us to do the same, with a wide swing of her right arm a massive wall of flames engulfed the plants. It only lasted a few moments but the heat was intense and I could help but think back to… but no! I couldn’t go think about that, at any moment combat could begin. But even as I tried to turn my mind away from my past, the smell of burning fur seared itself upon my nostrils. “I found their entrance, and I got one of their scouts.” Said Krimsun gesturing the now revealed entrance and the charred remains of a Nequese scout.
Averting my eyes from the immolated corpse, I took a glance at the rest of the group before following Krimsun into the cave. Katherine’s face had a mix of rage and sorrow. Gus was looking down, seemingly at nothing. And Reggie looked disgusted at first but gave a forced smirk when he noticed that I was looking. The tunnel was dimly lit with glow-worms in jars, and there were dozens of Nequese sized tunnels breaking off from the main path in all directions. Krimsun spoke, “This is where elemental power comes in handy.” she said as she put her left hand in front of one of the small tunnels. Flames erupted from her left arm and from her right, a gust of twisting wind that funneled the flames into the hole. After a few moments, she pulled her arms back and sealed the opening with dirt. “The very thing that gives them an advantage against most adventurers is their greatest weakness to an elemental mage,” Krimsun spoke as if she were giving a lecture. She proceeded to do this with several more holes, “Make sure you keep on guard, at any moment, dozens could come pouring in after us. It will be your job to guard me if that happens.” Mere moments after Krimsun gave her warning, several Nequese in baggy armour, brandishing daggers, started jumping out from the holes.
“Seal the entrance!” shouted one of the Nequese. A loud rumbling came from above and a crash as a large stone fell in front of the entrance to the cave. We took a defensive formation in front of Krimsun, who had already put up a defensive wall of wind, and prepared to fight. Surprisingly, the Nequese didn’t seem surprised to see me, perhaps they had already heard from one of the scouts? I didn’t have much time to ponder this question as one of them shouted “Kill the Pestak!” and began the charge forward. I winced at the battle cry, they did not see me as a Nequese, nor even just a traitor, for even leading adventurers back to base was seen as a cowardly, but nevertheless, understandable decision to survive. I was far lower than that in their eyes. Katherine shot me a remorseful look as the first wave of Nequese was about to get with her range, a gave her a solemn nod as I readied my own weapon.
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