by Heath Pfaff
"We should get back on the trail. The longer we delay here, the further ahead the mages get. We don't want to risk losing the trail. If it snows or if we get a heavy rain we could lose them entirely." Kassa said, already heading back through the woods towards the road. Haley fell in at her side quickly.
She ran her hand over the handle of her axe. "If they hurt him, I'm going to tear them apart." She said with determination.
Kassa looked over at her for a second before giving the younger woman a grim smile. "I believe it."
They moved quickly from there, neither able to relax now that Xan seemed so close at hand. Following the trail left by the mages turned out to be easier than either of them could have hoped. Having apparently caught their prey, they were no longer making any attempt to disguise their direction of travel. On the third day along their track they found a clear sign that Xan was, indeed, traveling with the mages.
One of the assassin's blades was left beside a fire-pit still greasy and messy from being used as an eating utensil. Both Kassa and Haley quickly recognized the familiar weapon, but finding it so carelessly wedged into the ground next to the burnt out fire pit put Haley in a particularly foul mood. She was still working on restoring it to its former glory as they moved on down the road. The mages obviously had no appreciation for the quality of the weapon they were misusing. Xan's weapons weren't the sort you used to pick meat from a rabbit alongside the road. They were the weapons of a fighting man, meant to only be drawn and used once violence was the only solution. Haley finished cleaning the blade and set to honing the edge. Luckily the steel was well crafted and there would probably be no lasting damage to the fine steel. "Fucking horse pricks." She cursed quietly under her breath as she slowly worked a knick from the edge.
Kassa laughed lightly as they walked with Haley fussing over the steel.
"What?" Haley snapped, not at all amused.
"Sometimes you remind me of Xan. He used to do the same thing, mutter to himself when he was angry."
Haley blushed as she slid the blade into an empty scabbard along her back. "Well there is just no reason to misuse a fine weapon like that. Good steel is hard to come by, and expensive."
Kassa just nodded. "Oh, I know."
Eager to change the subject Haley pressed on. "Are we making up any ground on Xan?" She asked.
"No, I'm afraid not. They must be carrying him on horseback. They're not setting a hard pace, but the horses move faster than we do no matter how fast we walk. Even pressing as hard as we have we've only just managed to keep pace with them." Kassa sighed. She did a good job at hiding her exhaustion, though it was still evident in her posture. Haley was feeling it herself. They'd only been sleeping a few hours every night, and during the day they'd been pushing at a pace just under a run. It was disheartening to imagine that they were only just keeping up, especially when the mages already had over a week's lead on them. The odds of ever catching up seemed slim.
"They have to stop eventually." Kassa added, as though that might help. "I can't believe they'd be taking Xan too much further. I don't know how they're restraining him, but if they mess up he'll probably destroy the rest of them. They have to know traveling this way is dangerous."
Haley was about to agree when she caught sight of a large shape off to the side of the road ahead of them. "What's that?" She asked, pointing ahead.
Kassa's eyes followed Haley's gesture and she squinted. "I don't know." She said. "Maybe a horse, or a cart?"
A small smile touched Haley's lips. "We could use a horse."
Kassa raised an eyebrow and looked over at the girl. "Yes, but we can't just steal someone's horse."
"Maybe you can't, but I'm not a watch captain. I'm an assassin." Haley's grin grew a little darker. "Beside, we're trying to save the world. If we just explain that I'm sure they'd gladly give us their horse."
Kassa didn't look amused. "Assassins aren't horse thieves."
"Are we really going to argue the details? We need that horse."
"Let's see what the situation is before we make any rash decisions, Haley. They could be better armed than we are." Kassa's attempt at caution forced Haley to take a moment to consider the situation. They were both exhausted and the road was slowly but surely beating them down. The promise of transport other than their feet was just too sweet to ignore.
"Alright, we'll get a feel for their defenses, and then take their horses." Haley agreed with her own interpretation of Kassa's answer. The guard captain frowned, but bit her lip before she could protest again. It wasn't going to do any good anyway. Haley had made up her mind.
A minute later they were drawing close enough to be able to make out the details of the scene at the side of the road. There was indeed a cart and what looked like two horses still affixed to it, but the cart was on its side with one of its wheels was completely destroyed. There were figures sprawled on the ground next to the wagon. A woman in a light blue dress with a rain hood wrapped over her head sat next to the bodies and bobbed back and forth slowly as if in rhythm to some unheard song. Haley's hopeful expression turned to one of concern. It was one thing to boast about stealing horses, but quite another to come by a group of people who'd been in an accident and needed help.
"Ho' the wagon!" Kassa called as they came in range. "Are you in need of assistance?" The woman in the blue dress stopped her swaying and began to turn towards the new comers.
"What in the cursed dirt is that?" Haley's profanity rolled out of her unbidden.
"Shit, shit, shit." Kassa was drawing her sword as the woman in blue staggered to her feet and began running at them and screaming louder than anyone Haley had ever heard scream before. A mist seemed to seep from her lips as she shrieked and it filled the air around her head with a haze.
"Make sure your mask is fastened tight. Don't let her hurt you or even touch you in any way. Knock her down, strike to kill as fast as you can. She's infected with disease. If you get cut you're dead." With that Kassa charged forward and Haley fell in behind her, drawing her axe. As she came closer to the woman she could see that the haze around her head was actually a cloud of little black insects swarming in and out of her mouth, eyes, ears, nose, and through gaping, raw openings in the flesh of her face. It was terrifying to think that she was still alive and moving of her own accord, but onward she came, raving and screaming as though possessed. The open wounds dripped insect larvae and bloody puss. Haley's stomach churned and writhed.
Kassa struck quickly, her sword separating one of the woman's arms, and with a twist of her body she produced a knife from nowhere and drove it through the infected girls chin and into her head. Haley was up next. The horror she was experiencing almost stopped her from moving in for a hit, but she forced herself. She swung with all the strength her body could find and slammed her axe into the woman's torso. Bone and flesh ripped apart as her body tumbled to the ground, destroyed by the force of Haley and Kassa's strikes. More of the black bugs were crawling from the fresh wounds and flowing out as though they'd been swimming in the woman's blood just waiting to be set free. Kassa hadn't stopped her forward motion. She was still moving past it all, and Haley let herself be carried after.
"The horses?" She asked briefly as they walked past the creatures, but it only took her a second of looking to see that there were little black bugs crawling in and out of their eyes as well.
"Not a good idea." Kassa replied, but Haley was already convinced. They nearly ran for the better part of an hour before they slowed down.
"I didn't know it would be like that." Haley said quietly, feeling queasy. She couldn't forget the image of the woman's chest splitting open and erupting with insects.
"I'd heard about it, but even I didn't expect it to be that awful. I don't think I'm ever going to feel clean again. That's why these masks are so valuable. If even one of those little bugs gets into you and lays eggs, it's all over. They only live about twenty minutes outside of their host, but that's long enough." Kassa looked sick even through the
mask.
Haley ran her fingers over the fox mask she was wearing. She'd only been too happy to wear hers. In a world where everyone was wearing a mask, she could look just like everyone else. Now that she knew exactly how important the mask was, now that she'd seen the plague up close, she was even more thankful to have that fake face hiding her own. A thought occurred to her. "This is pretty far North. Do you think any of the human cities are still uninfected?"
Kassa shrugged. "The bugs are easy enough to avoid if you can keep the infected out and keep people wearing masks. They can't burrow their own way in, so they need to have easy access. I'd like to think the bigger cities are keeping the outbreaks under control. If Johndin was right, this is just a precursor to a full scale troll attack. If the bugs were completely effective, the trolls wouldn't even need to attack."
Haley nodded, not entirely convinced. "That was horrible."
"Yeah. It was." Kassa added. "I thought I was going to throw up in my mask."
"I don't think that's a good idea." Haley replied for lack of a better response.
"Agreed."
As short as the next few nights were, they were still filled with nightmares. Every night Haley dreamed of finding Xan only to discover that he'd already contracted the plague. In her dreams Xandrith was huddled in the dark and as Haley approached him with a torch in hand he turned to her and his eyes were crawling with little black bugs, maggots pouring from his nose and out of his mouth. He'd grin wide, his mouth gaping open and dripping with green puss and filth, and then he'd speak in a perfectly normal voice as though he wasn't full of horrors and death.
"You're too late, Haley. You're too late." He'd tell her, and then Haley would scream herself awake. She woke Kassa as well, and then they'd share a look and Haley didn't need to tell the older woman exactly what had happened. Kassa could see the phantoms of the night in Haley's eyes. It embarrassed the younger woman to be so fragile and exposed, but Kassa had something of that same look in her own eyes. Fear, exhaustion, and eyes that had seen too much horror created that hollow, fragile reflection. In those moments, in the dark and cold, Haley actually felt close to her companion. They both wanted the same thing, and they both felt the same fear.
Between the three horror filled nights, there were three long days of pressing on through the cold weather and biting wind, and then Haley spotted signs of a fire burning somewhere along the trail ahead. Before that there had been no one at all. So far north the roads were desolate, and yet out of nowhere the telltale signs of a fire appeared ahead of the weary travelers.
"It could be dangerous." Kassa argued, though she seemed to be doing so purely for the point of offering a counter balance to Haley's excitement. "We don't know who set that fire or how many of them there could be. That could be a camp of mages ahead of us."
Haley nodded. "We don't pose any threat to a camp of mages. We're just two tired travelers looking for some warmth and maybe some food that isn't travelers’ rations. We haven't had a bit of warmth since we left that healer's place. You know we both need some heat and some cooked food."
Kassa’s wolf mask blushed through its ears, and Haley realized she probably shouldn’t have brought up the healer so casually. She still owed the older woman for that. “What if they’re hostile?” Kassa remarked as she pushed aside her remembered shame. The guard captain was being reasonable again, but the young assassin was certain Kassa was taking things further than she needed to. There could be no harm in at least investigating the situation.
"We'll scout out the camp before we approach. There is no point in being caught unaware. We have some coin, so even if it's just some hermit living out here maybe we can buy a warm place to sleep for the night. There’s only the one fire. There can't be that many people." Haley pleaded.
Kassa looked as though she was on the verge of making another attempt at protest, but instead she just sighed. Haley could see the exhaustion evident on the older woman's face. The journey had been every bit as tiring for her as it had for the young assassin.
Kassa nodded. "Let us see what there is to see."
A smile spread across Haley's fox-featured-face. "Good, let's hurry." She redoubled her pace down the road. Kassa stifled her sigh and followed after.
Within twenty minutes they'd closed the distance to the fire and could smell the scent of roasting meat and burning wood. The direction of the fire led them from the main road off onto a much smaller trail that wound down a hill and into the woods. Haley was so eager she nearly ran down the path, but Kassa put a restraining hand on her shoulder.
"We don't know what is down there yet." She reminded in a whispering voice.
"Food. Food is down there." Haley replied with complete seriousness.
"Just ... let us be careful about this." Kassa pleaded, and Haley nodded once before starting back down the narrow trail. She did make some small effort to restrain herself as she went. The scent of cooking meat made it difficult to think clearly. She'd been eating nothing but stale tack-bread and dried fruit for days. Her stomach was ready for something more substantial.
A light ahead of her through the trees told her that she was drawing near her destination. Haley slowed, crouched, and drew her knife. Kassa did the same a little ways behind her. Together they slowly made their way towards the source of light. As they drew near the end of the path a small opening in the woods appeared and in the middle of it was a single room hut. Smoke was rising up from the chimney and bright light was streaming from the windows. Haley and Kassa shared a momentary glance. This obviously wasn't some kind of mage's camp. They both relaxed a bit, though Kassa did not return her knife to its place on her hip. Haley noticed the older woman's hesitation and so also kept her weapon drawn. It was strange seeing Kassa holding a knife, even though she was obviously adept with the weapon. She hadn’t been carrying one long, only since they’d left town. Though the swordswoman was quite capable with a knife, she seldom seemed to want to use one. Of course, a sword was more of a hindrance than anything else when trying to remain stealthy.
"Let's get a look in the window." Kassa spoke softly into Haley's ear. The younger woman nodded and crept towards the wall of the cabin. The open space between the edge of the woods and their destination was narrow enough that Haley was able to cross it in two quick steps. She pressed her back to the rough wooden surface as soon as she was beneath the window. If anyone was watching the cabin she would vanish into the shape of the greater building. She wasn't certain that the amount of caution she was practicing was necessary for approaching a small cabin in the middle of the woods, but it was better to play things safe. She waited quietly next to the wall for several moments to be certain that no one was watching and waiting to jump out at her and attack. When she was certain she was safe, she slowly stood up and looked through the building's single window.
There was little to be seen. The cabin was nearly empty save for its lone occupant and a few raggedy pieces of furniture. A man wearing heavy winter wear sat hunched over the fireplace watching a large piece of meat roast above the fire. Haley had almost mistaken him for furniture at first because he barely moved but for the occasional rise and fall of his hunched back. Haley could tell little about the man from what she could see through the window. He might have been tall at one point in his life, but his back was bent at such an angle that Haley doubted he would stand as tall as she was anymore. From his back he certainly didn't appear to be a threat. Haley gestured for Kassa to come forward and she also peered through the window.
The two women looked at each other for a moment before each gave a nod. There didn't appear to be any threat that they couldn't handle if the need arose. They pulled themselves from the shadows and walked around to the front of the cabin to approach the front door with much less weariness. If between the two of them they couldn't handle an old man they were in far worse condition than they had thought.
Kassa took the lead. She pulled the wolf mask from her face and tucked it into her cloak just before knockin
g on the wooden door. Greeting a stranger wearing a mask didn't seem appropriate. Haley decided to leave her own mask in place. She feared her actual face would be more horrifying than the mask she wore over it. Kassa's knuckles wrapping on the door seemed incredibly loud in the silence of the frozen night. The knocking was answered by a stirring in the cabin, and then silence.
Kassa knocked again. "Please, sir, might we trouble you for a bit of warm food and a place by your fire? We have coin and supplies we might barter with." She spoke clearly and loudly enough that her voice would have easily carried through the door. "My companion and I have been long on the road, and we're tired and cold."
Footsteps approached the door and there was a slight commotion as if someone was moving things around beyond the opening. Haley and Kassa waited in anticipation, but silence fell again.
"We mean no harm. If not a place by the fire, might we trade for some small portion of warm food?" Kassa implored and looked down at Haley with a faltering expression. It was obvious that she didn't think they were going to get anything. Silence answered.
Kassa sighed and placed a hand on Haley's shoulder. "I'm afraid this side journey was for nothing. Come on, let's get back to the road." Together they turned and began to walk away from the cabin and its wonderful aroma of roasting meat.
The door to the cabin slammed open with a loud bang and the two women barely had time to turn around and look before a figure dressed in winter clothes dove at them swinging a huge war hammer. The weapon’s head easily weighed as much as an anvil and both sides were covered in ragged spikes. Haley dove aside easily. Kassa saw the incoming weapon a moment later and barely managed to get out of the way of the murderous hunk of steel as it carved a path that would have passed directly through her head. Kassa was drawing her weapons as she finished her dodge.
