Burdock caught up with her. “What is it?”
“Check this out,” Chloe winked before stepping out from behind the corner of the house with her sword drawn. “Have at thee, cowards!”
Ben, Talbot, Huk, Veronica, and Therese turned as one, eyes wide in surprise. Their hands were on their weapons.
“You son of a…” Ben breathed, a smile growing on his face. “You scared the crap out of us.”
“I’ll say,” Huk agreed, looking down at the floor behind him.
“Me? What about you guys? Sneaking around in the night like a bunch of—”
“Infected?” Veronica interrupted. “That’s what we thought we were stopping. Ben said you mentioned something about Doris’ house, so we headed straight here to find you. We thought you might need some help.”
“She had all the help she needed,” Burdock said smugly, stepping out from behind Chloe. “If it wasn’t for me, Chloe would be dead by now. Nearly mauled by an infected, she was, until I hit it square in the spine with my axe.”
“Nearly killed?” Ben said, making a mocking face at Chloe. “Really? Who is this guy?”
Chloe subtly shook her head, mouthing, “A friend. Just give him this one.”
“And hello to you, princess.” Chloe smirked at Therese. “Nice to see even royalty doesn’t mind getting her hands bloody.”
“I’m not royalty yet,” Therese said. “And besides, who says I will do this after I’m crowned? Do you see my husband-to-be out here?”
They all laughed.
“Well, we’re glad we found you,” Veronica said. “Have we cleared all the infected out of the fields?”
Chloe shrugged. “I don’t know. We managed to kill the ones at Burdock’s house, but there’s no way to track any of the others that peeled away from the horde. For all we know, there could still be dozens out there. Is everyone in the city okay?”
Ben nodded. “Looks like it. One or two casualties, but they’re mostly blessed who should return, good as new.” He paused, face growing pained. “All, that is, except Blueballs. He’s not doing well. Leonie took him away from the gates after seeing he’d been scratched by the infected at the barn. She took him somewhere to get him fixed up.”
Chloe’s frowned. “You don’t suppose the infection is…catching?”
They looked at each other, but no one wanted to say that that was exactly what they were thinking.
“We’d better get back,” Chloe said.
Ben nodded. “Agreed.”
“Particularly if we want to get the princess back to her fancy-pants life in her palace.” She smirked.
They summoned their steeds and rode toward the city.
Leonie watched over Blueballs as he slept, taking a moment to relax in the peace and quiet his rest brought.
He was healing, which was great. After spending a good deal of time trying to get the toffet to calm down and sit still, she was able to clean his wounds, to a certain extent.
Dark marks now stained the skin the infected had scratched. She marveled at how quickly the skin knitted itself back together, but she didn’t feel settled. How would the infection work on a toffet? Would it be the same as it was on those that attacked?
She leaned against the wall and rested her eyes. Somehow it was already morning, which meant she had been up all night. She found it impossible to believe how tired she got inside a video game but applauded Praxis on their efforts to create realism within Obsidian.
At the sound of hooves on stone, she sat up and made her way over to the outpost window. Blueballs stirred gently in his sleep, purring with every exhale. She saw Chloe and the others and beckoned them over.
“How is he?” Veronica asked the minute she stepped through the door.
“Okay, I think,” Leonie said. “He was difficult to settle, but the wounds are healing. I’m just not sure the infection has gone.”
Chloe strode over and leaned on the edge of the table to try to see any patches of exposed skin. For her, the tell-tale signs were the blackened veins, but she couldn’t see any. Maybe that was a good thing. Maybe the toffet’s skin was too thick for the disease to take root?
“How do we know when we’re out of the woods?”
Leonie shrugged. “I guess we’ll know when he wakes up. If he tries to maul us, he’s infected.”
“That’s one way to do it, I suppose,” Ben replied.
Chloe ran a hand across Blueballs’ forehead, the movement instinctual. His temperature was steady. That must be good, right?
“How’d it go?” Leonie asked, breaking the silence that had fallen.
They told her about their chase across the fields. How there might still be some infected out there somewhere. Therese told them she’d inform the king and send out soldiers to monitor the situation.
“Especially today.” Ben grinned. “Wouldn’t want anything to ruin your big day, would you?”
Therese smacked her forehead. “I almost forgot! I should be at the palace getting ready!”
“‘Getting ready?’” Talbot mocked. “We’re in a fantasy realm. There are no makeup or hairdryers or fancy lotions to put on. How long is it really going to take you?”
Therese shrugged. “I honestly don’t know. I guess we’ll find out.” She ran to the door and paused. “I’ll see you all later, yes? I want you front and center to witness my radiant beauty.”
Chloe turned up her nose. “Who the hell are you?”
The party chuckled as Therese waved and disappeared. They could hear her heavy footsteps trailing away and resume in the street outside.
Chloe turned her attention back to Blueballs, hand stroking the fluff on his head. She stared at the peaceful expression on his face, unable to quell the mild discomfort in her stomach. Something niggled in the back of her mind, telling her she should have somehow expected this attack. She should have known it was going to happen.
She just couldn’t place how.
The murmuring of desperate voices was suddenly audible from next door. Chloe recognized Gideon’s, realizing only then that he wasn’t with their party. She strode over to the thick wooden door and gently knocked.
Gideon couldn’t believe his luck. Somehow this beautiful woman was kissing him—voluntarily!
He had never had much success with ladies, either inside or outside of video games, and had convinced himself he wasn’t really interested in affection and romance. That somehow, he would just be alone in life, and that would be okay.
But now this incredible cleric was kissing him, he realized how hungry he had been for company. How he had yearned for something like this to happen for years.
Sure, he would have preferred for it to happen in real life, but what with being in full immersion as he was now, this was certainly a great consolation prize.
They locked lips for what felt like hours. He was aware that she must have given him some kind of drug. What else would explain their total isolation in a cloudless sky? The great god watching over them as they united saliva and tongues?
And the funny part was that he didn’t mind. He guessed that the god’s tears he had drunk were not in any way like the drugs on Earth. For one, he couldn’t believe that Heather would provide something that would damage his system, but also, the comedown was gentle. The comedown was kind.
They broke apart, hearing the sound of hooves on stone outside. It acted like a pin in their bubble of romance. Heather’s head remained near Gideon’s, her eyes staring into his.
“It’s amazing, isn’t it?” Her voice was low and raspy. She clutched the vial in one hand. “A god’s tears. Even a small amount soaked into the skin can somehow make you feel closer to them.”
Gideon nodded. “I could see him. Holistis. He was there. He…he was watching. The clouds…they were everywhere.”
Heather looked at Gideon strangely and giggled. “I think maybe you had a little too much. Tell me, what did you see?”
Gideon told her.
“Wow!” She looked down
at her vial with newfound appreciation. “Good to know. If I ever want to be closer to the gods, I just need to drink this…and kiss you.” She blushed.
Gideon let out a small laugh, looking at his feet. “What’s the real purpose of it? Were we just getting high?”
Heather shook her head. “It increases your connection to the gods. For clerics, this can bolster your abilities, providing a healing buff for twenty-four hours. Anyone affected by liquid from the same vials automatically gets bonded to the cleric, and their well-being is enhanced for the same duration. Check it out.”
Gideon pulled up his notifications, smiling as he saw the buff granting him increased stamina and faster healing for a twenty-four-hour period.
He closed his menu, suddenly taking in what Heather had said. “Does that mean…well, being affected by the tears, does that mean that…all of what just happened…with us…was the effect of the liquid?”
Heather gave a crooked smile and simply said, “No.”
“When you two lovebirds are done making googly eyes at each other, I’d really appreciate some help here.”
Heather broke Gideon’s gaze and looked down at her brother.
He was smiling, but it was certainly pained. His eyes were puffy and red, and although his veins had lost some of their darkness, they still did not look healthy. His skin was covered with sweat, and he seemed to have trouble swallowing.
“Tyrene!” Heather exclaimed, leaning forward and hugging her brother.
The minute Heather’s skin came close to Tyrene’s face, his disposition changed. His eyes darkened, and he gnashed his teeth at his sister.
Gideon pulled her back quickly. Heather hadn’t noticed until the last minute.
Tyrene moaned.
“Brother,” Heather said, relief setting in as his eyes returned to their usual color once more. “What happened to you?”
Before he could reply, there was a knock at the door. Gideon was surprised and relieved to see the door open and Chloe’s head poke through.
“Hey! We heard noises. Are you two okay in here?”
Gideon moved to the side to reveal Tyrene strapped to the bed.
A smile reached Chloe’s face. “Well, I didn’t mean to interrupt whatever freaky bondage games you’re into…”
“No. No, it’s not like that.” Gideon blushed. “He’s her brother. It’s the guy we pulled through the gates last night. One of the infected.”
“Wasn’t he just talking, though?” Veronica asked, her face appearing behind Chloe’s. “I could’ve sworn I just heard him talking.”
“Infected don’t talk,” Ben said, adding his head to the mix. “Not the ones we’ve seen, anyway.”
Gideon rolled his eyes. “Instead of just standing out there, why don’t you all come in?” A thought suddenly occurred to him. “Veronica, you’re a cleric, right?”
“Nice to see you’re paying attention, mage-pants.”
“Heather, Veronica is a cleric too. She’s been our healer in the group in many a combat.”
Veronica strode across the room and shook Heather’s hand. “Pleased to meet you.”
“Likewise,” Heather replied, slightly perturbed by the number of people who had just entered the room. “I figured I knew your class from the seminar Chloe gave last night. It was honestly impressive, what you showed us with your armor. Imagine a goddess living alongside you!”
“More like she’s living alongside me,” KieraFreya quipped.
“Who’s living inside who?” Chloe snapped.
Tyrene groaned once more, head rolling back on the table. “When you’re done with your family reunion, can you please help me?”
“Of course, brother,” Heather said, her cheeks flushing. “Anything you need. Tell us what happened, and maybe we can set about fixing it.”
Tyrene grimaced, adjusting against his bonds. He took a breath and began his tale.
He told them that he had been visiting a small village on the outskirts of the forest to the east. Sent on the errand by the king himself, Tyrene and a handful of clerics had traveled out together, their sole intention to discover more about the plague that had been spreading among the villages and find a cure.
After two days of journeying, they had found the village in question. The group had split up, their intention to visit the ill and congregate each evening to discuss their findings and work on a cure.
“The first thing I noticed was that there was something unholy about this plague,” Tyrene croaked. “I sensed it when I walked into the room. A woman, middle-aged, was writhing in her bed and sweating. But it wasn’t just her coughing and groans that caught my attention. I could feel something in the room. Some presence watching over her.”
It had been the same everywhere he went, he said. After visiting a dozen patients across the village, he had collected enough data on the illness to meet with the other clerics and discuss possible solutions.
Only, out of the handful of clerics who had accompanied him, only two others were able to join the conversation. The other two were now infected and bedridden.
“We came up with possible solutions. The usual tricks. Potions and remedies from handbooks that have been staples for clerics for millenniums. Nothing seemed to work.”
For several days they were out there, the constant feeling of being watched looming over them. Each day took another cleric, and before he knew it, he was alone.
“I struggled to sleep. At night, although the evenings turned cold, I’d feel heat washing over me. I’d sweat in bed and hear voices and see people standing at the bottom of my bed, three figures cloaked in darkness. Once, when I sat up suddenly in bed and snapped my eyes open, I thought I’d catch them. But there was nothing, only echoing giggles, as if some small girl had played a trick and vanished into the night.”
“You should have come back, brother,” Heather said. “At the first signs of delusion, you should have returned.”
Tyrene shook his head. “It is not our way. You know this. Clerics do not leave people to suffer. We help at all costs. I suppose this cost was just too great.”
He told them that the following day, the illness had taken him. He couldn’t remember a lot of what had happened thereafter, just a sense of being guided by some invisible hand through the forest.
“No creature touched us, nor bothered us. It was as though we were under a bubble of protection, and our guide knew the way.”
It was later that night that the darkness took them all over and they ran for the city.
“It makes no sense,” Heather said, brow creased in thought. “What kind of illness takes over a person’s faculties and sends them on a frenzied mission?”
Chloe shook her head gently. As Tyrene was talking, the pieces had begun to fall into place. It was at the mention of the three that she finally remembered the words the doc had shared in their message. Then the penny dropped.
“It’s not like any illness you’d normally encounter,” Chloe said dryly. “It’s a plague, put forth by evil gods.”
“What are you talking about?” Veronica asked.
Chloe sighed. “Fukmos is back, and he’s brought his friends, Dryana and Myaris.”
“Who the hell are they?” Ben asked.
“Fukmos’ sisters,” Veronica said. “The Goddess of Ghosts and the Goddess of Disease.”
“Well, that makes sense,” Huk grumbled, his tiny form barely able to see the man on the bench.
“An unholy illness?” Heather said, cast deep into thought. She touched her chin and chewed her lip. “Which means only the holy can purge it from the bodies of the afflicted?”
“I suppose,” Chloe said.
Veronica moved over to the table and rolled up her sleeves. “Okay, explain everything. You’ve made this guy—”
“Tyrene,” Gideon interjected.
“Tyrene, well enough to be able to talk. What did you do? How did you push back the illness?”
Heather detailed her use of Holistis’ tears and th
e effect the solution had had in bolstering healing.
“So, power from the gods might be enough to heal? We’re going to have to purge the darkness from your brother entirely. The illness within him is not biological. It’s spiritual and etheric. With the right amount of power, we might be able to eject it from his body and bring him back to normal.”
Heather looked down at her brother, face resolute. “It’s worth a shot.”
They took their places on either side of the table, the rest of the KieraSlayers moving back to give the clerics room. Leonie ducked out to keep an eye on Blueballs as they worked, his grumbles audible through the walls.
They passed their hands over Tyrene’s body like ancient women blessing the water before they washed their hands. Their hands glowed in a faint white light which seemed to ring gently.
Chloe had seen Veronica work, but she had never seen her perform true miracles. Sure, casting Healing Hands and keeping the party restored during battle was incredibly useful—the spell had countless benefits and it was easy to learn—but she had never seen a cleric operate.
Without making eye contact, words spilled from their mouths like water from the lip of a waterfall. The aura around them grew. Their eyes turned pure white, light shining from beneath their lids.
“It’s beautiful,” Ben muttered.
Gideon nodded, unable to take his eyes off Heather.
The faint ringing grew louder, and each placed a hand on Tyrene’s chest. The minute their hands made contact, his eyes turned dark and he began to thrash, his body shaking violently beneath the straps. The darkness rose to the surface of his skin, his veins looking like ink spills on white canvas.
Talbot took an unconscious step forward, held back only by Chloe’s arm. “Let them work.”
Tyrene began to shout, his mouth wide open. His muscles tensed like knotted rope. The women kept their cool, their hands now so blindingly bright that they were impossible to see.
“It’s working.” Chloe grinned.
The darkness trailed out of Tyrene’s mouth in gaseous ribbons. It coagulated in the air, forming a dense, dark shadow that hovered for a moment. The shadow let out a soft girlish chuckle before darting at the KieraSlayers and smashing through the stone wall, leaving a powdery hole behind.
Goddess Complete Page 17
