When she woke up the following day, Betta swore that she saw a streak of magenta light moving across the night sky. Though, in truth, she thought little about it. It was not her will what nonsense streaked across the sky. It was only the will of Zeus. She and Kailin were closer to the city of Vivarais, but between them and La Brenne was an endless tract of deep woodland where no axe has ever cut. Twisting around the dark narrow places where the trees slope fantastically.
"What do you think the magenta light was?" Betta asked Kailin.
"Dunno," said Kailin. "Magenta isn't meant to give off a light though."
"What do you mean? I mean, it's a color, right? Light comes in just about as many colors as there are."
"Yes. But magenta's not a real color."
"What? What do you mean? Of course, it is."
"It's more of an optical Illusion. It doesn't exist along the rainbow spectrum of light. It's just an illusion of the eye."
"That's ridiculous. I'm sure I saw it. I'm sure it was a real light."
"I'm sure you did," said Kailin. "So if something is giving off light that's an impossible color, then it would stand to reason that you saw something impossibly powerful. Like a great big magical war weapon. Or something."
"Well, let us hope whatever it was fucks off before it reaches Vivarais," she said as she began to pack up the campsite.
Kailin tied their long dark hair up in a messy bun as they began to pack up their things. To their shock, Dale was not stirring in his cage, he'd even ceased saying the word, "Cunt". They shook the cage around, but the little demon only breathed a horrible little hiss.
The woodlands remained vast and untamed. Betta and Kailin were two of the only people to ever venture into its shadowy depths. And even they rarely ventured this deep. The trees were so tall that they blotted out the sun. The ground was uneven and there were many hidden pitfalls. It was easy to get lost. After all, the old saying remains true across all cultures: "Not all who wander are found."
They had not been walking for long when they heard a sound in the distance. It was a deep guttural sound, like something wounded. They had no idea what it could be, but they knew that they should be careful. They drew their weapons and continued forward cautiously. The sound grew louder and they could see movement in the distance. It was something large, and it was coming toward them.
Betta drew her sword, and Kailin dragged their nails along their cheeks, drawing blood and bringing a rush of energy that danced along the tips of their fingers. Crawling from the brush was a bear. It looked impossibly tall, but its body was log-thin. Its waist carried with it the width of a young tree.
The beast's fur was matted and filthy. It was a deep red color, almost the color of dried blood. Its eyes were black as coal and its teeth were sharp as blades. It let out a guttural growl as it caught sight of the travelers.
With a swift motion, Betta sized up the creature, and with a twist of her wrist, her sword relieved the beast's body of its head. The still-warm carcass of the animal thudded to the ground with a sickening thud. Betta and Kailin looked at each other with a mixture of relief and confusion.
"What the hell was that thing?" Betta asked.
"I have no idea," Kailin said. "Do you think this was The Bear Leech?"
"I don't know. But whatever it was, it's dead now."
Sometimes, life is intensely bad and horrifying. Some people will betray you and not come through for you. Men, women, both, and neither alike will come to betray your trust and make you feel like a goddamn fool for thinking it. The city of Vivarais did not take after its new residents from Egypt. It was one of those old French cities that modeled itself after its gothic architects. Tall, dark buildings, catholic. Even the sky felt as though it had been painted on the cold, grey stone. Believe me when I say this to you. Betta felt her very heart seize in her chest when they entered the city. As the pair of them entered, she watched as a horse buckled under the weight of a load on its back, collapsing into the street. Now, she was no lover of horses, as I mentioned in her first chapter, but she was completely unprepared for when a crowd of roving street children swarmed the horse with knives. Rending the flesh from it like ants set upon a misplaced sugar cube.
Her mouth twisted up as the stench of warm meat filled the air. In contrast, her smaller companion seemed unsurprised by this.
"What's wrong?" Kailin asked. "You look like you're gonna vomit."
"This place is... it's just... I don't like it."
"That's how it is. There are cities like this all over the continent. Perhaps elsewhere. There are a number in Britain if I remember correctly,"
"Have you been to any of them?"
"Yes. For all I know, I might have been born in one," they said.
She made a dismissive sound, "We should find an inn for the night. I don't trust these streets."
"If you say so," Kailin said.
They found an inn on the outskirts of the city. It was a small establishment, but it seemed clean enough. The proprietor was a small, rotund man with a balding head and a bushy mustache. He eyed them warily as they approached.
"What business do you have here?" he asked.
"We're just passing through," Betta said.
"Where are you headed?"
Kailin decided to lean dramatically over the innkeeper's desk, twisting their head to the side. They believed this act made them look deranged and scary, but the actual feeling on the man's part was mild irritation, "We're looking for the cave of The Bear Leech, old son."
The man's face paled, "You're looking for what now?"
"You heard us," Kailin said.
"You'll find nothing but death there," the man said.
"That's what we're counting on," Betta said.
The man shook his head, "I won't allow it. You're not going to that godforsaken place."
"And what are you going to do to stop us?" Kailin asked.
"I suppose if you two morons have made up your minds about dying, there's nothing I can do to stop you. What kind of room did you say that the two of you wanted?"
"Rooms Plural," added Kailin.
"Aye, afraid that's out of the question," said the innkeeper. "We only have a single available."
"We'll take it," Betta said.
The innkeeper produced a key from under the desk and handed it to Betta. "Room 3, up the stairs and to the left," he said.
Room 3 was musty, but it was clean enough. Betta was relieved to be off the streets. She placed her things down on the bed and flopped down next to them.
Kailin sat with their legs crossed on the floor, with their back on the wall. Their neck popped as they tried to center their thoughts, "Cozy, I think. Shame that it's like this."
“I think this room smells like rot and I think this town is about as rotten,” she said, not bothering to move.
“You seem bitter.”
“A bit, yeah,” She said. “I’d expected some grand, dramatic journey. Something worthy of Heraclean labor. But instead, I’ve wandered around drunk from town to town and now I’m hiding in a tavern room, trying to figure out what my next move is.”
Kailin absentmindedly plucked at the strings of their lyre, "I see why you might be bitter then. Me, I'm just happy that I've managed to carry out more sins than what I'm usually capable of."
"So, what will you do once we have to separate?" Betta asked.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, I have to go fight the Bear Leech and you are seeking a note in a cave."
"Yeah," The elf blinked rapidly. "Oh...well fuck, I was operating under the assumption that they were in the same place."
"I mean...maybe, I don't rightly know all that The Bear Leech is hiding."
Kailin began to strum their lyre, the no longer discordant notes seemed to play in their minds more than they did their ears.
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