Just as Edda was able to regain her night sight back a bit, her ears picked up hurried footsteps. Looking up, she saw Egveny making his way through the crater, a look of concern on his face.
“I just tripped six different alarm wards,” he said, a hint of frustration in his voice. “I did my best to avoid them, but now someone knows the Art was used here. We'd best get going, quickly.”
They wasted no further time on discussion. The three took off running down the same road they came from. At first their footfalls were loud on the cobblestones, but after Egveny muttered something under his breath, they ran silently. Edda caught a look of approval from Nerthus as they ran. A quick blur of motion above Nerthus's head caught Edda's eye and she pushed the woman hard to the ground. A large, shrouded shape swung downwards just as Nerthus rolled sideways to her feet. The shape seemed to draw itself up, but Edda allowed it no time to be ready. Drawing her two blades and slashing in one smooth motion, she scored two deep cuts across the shape's center of mass. It staggered backwards slightly, and she slashed again, two deep slices going across the shape in the other direction. The figure uttered no sound but moved back a few paces, giving her a chance to size it up. Though it was bound and wrapped in cloth and bandages, and wore a simple cloak about it, Nerthus could make out some of its features. It was vaguely human-shaped, but some oddities jumped out at her immediately. It's “shoulders” were uneven, the left much larger than the right, with too-long arms ending in four very small digits where the hands would be. The “head” was skinnier than a person's head should be, skinnier and higher, as if it's brow was a foot in height itself. None of its facial features could be made out however, as it too was wrapped tightly in cloth strips and covered in a dark hood. No blood seeped out of the four deep chest wounds, she noticed with some dismay.
The creature shot it's arms towards her, moving with a hideous speed that was distinctly not human. Edda was able to jump backwards to avoid the two strangely-shaped hands, but was caught in the chest by two much longer and thinner “arms”, one that seemed to rip itself through the shape's chest, the other sprouted off of the thing's outstretched left arm. The sewn in padding helped cushion some of the blow, but Edda still went flying backwards struggling for air. It rounded on Nerthus, who had replaced one of her knives with a short sword in her right hand, but before the two could square off, a whip-like bolt of green light caught the shape in the shoulder and sent it spinning. A second bolt, then a third hit the shape, forcing it back. On the fourth bolt, it's shroud ignited with green flames and it dropped to its knees before falling to one side with a thud.
Edda was helped up by Egveny, who had a slight sheen of sweat on his forehead.
“Sorry I couldn't do that sooner,” he apologized. “But I couldn't risk hitting you. You moved so quick to fight it I had to wait.”
“No...no problem,” she wheezed. Once she got to her feet, her breathing returned to normal. Her eyes were on the slowly burning shape. It had uttered no sound at all.
“What is it?” she asked, her voice still a little hoarse.
“I...have no idea,” Egveny replied. “But I have no doubt it was sent to discover who had tripped the wards. We should get-oh dear.”
“Pike me,” Edda heard Nerthus mumble. Looking over to her, Edda saw four more shrouded figures appearing in front of them. While all four were similarly dressed like the first, each one possessed a vastly different array of deformities than the others. Distorted skulls, multiple appendages, and one was leaking a foul-looking orange fluid from its side. All of them were silent in their approach, and they all moved with the same uncanny speed.
Edda heard a soft metal clicking sound as Nerthus's mecharm sprang to life. Her artificial fingers locked upwards into position, palm forward. Three thin needles shot out of her upraised hand and embedded themselves in the “head” of the orange-leaking shape. The three needles crackled and glowed as they burrowed in. There was the sound of meat searing on a griddle, and the figure fell backwards. It struggled to stand, thrashing about silently, but it couldn't rise. Edda caught a clawed appendage from one of the shapes between both of her blades and sliced it off, jumping backwards to avoid its four other spindle-like arms. She threw her two blades into the neck of the creature, but it didn't slow down at all. She hopped backwards, reaching for her pockets when Nerthus's mecharm came hurling in, its thin metal cable connecting it to Nerthus glinting slightly in the lantern light, her fist smashing the creature in the head. The creature was sent reeling backwards, giving Edda time to salute her thanks before pulling two vials out of separate pockets, one containing a clear liquid, the other a dark brown. She uncorked and hurled the vial containing the clear liquid at the creature as it regained its balance. The vial dumped its contents on the creature with no effect, but when Edda threw the vial with the brown fluid in it, the two different solutions mixed together creating a highly potent acid, and the creature thrashed at itself as it's midsection began to deteriorate, eventually falling to the ground.
The other two creatures charged Egveny, but smashed into an invisible barrier a foot from the Weaver. Egveny didn't look too panicked Edda saw, but he didn't exactly look at ease either as the two creatures smashed their many appendages against his barrier. He made a strange gesture with his hands and one of the figures simply froze in place mid swing, its frame trembling as it fought whatever spell Egveny used to bind it. The second one continued its assault, with the creature impaled with Nerthus's needles slowly rising to its feet, its head snapped towards Egveny.
“It's me!” the Weaver squeaked, despite himself. “I'm drawing them here! Run you two!”
Nerthus launched her mecharm at the rising figure, catching it in its head with a loud crunching sound and driving it back to the ground.
“We'll stick together, thank you very much,” she said calmly.
“I agree,” Edda said, trying to match the poise in Nerthus's voice. She couldn't help but respect that woman's grit sometimes. Edda drew two more blades and leapt on the back of the creature hitting Egveny's barrier. Using one knife to hold her in place, she stabbed and sliced at the head of the creature as it thrashed beneath her, her knife brutally ripping through the cloth and flesh of the creature. With a sickening wet ripping sound, she managed to slice through the creature's neck and sever the head completely. The large creature dropped to the ground instantly, like a marionette with its strings cut. She rose to her feet and threw a smile at Egveny, but the smile faded as she saw three more large, shrouded shapes rushing towards them.
“Go, gods damn you!” the Weaver yelled, hurling the whip-like green lightning at the frozen creature. “I can do more when I don't have to worry about you two. Don't worry, I'll meet you back-” he caught himself from saying where they were staying. “I'll just meet you again!” He tried to give them a confident smile, but he was breathing heavy and his eyes looked afraid.
As if to show his fear was justified, the first creature, still smoldering under the green flames, rose to its feet and unsteadily tried to make its way to Egveny.
Nerthus was still only for an instant before nodding once to Egveny. “Make it back,” she demanded, and then turned and ran, grabbing Edda by the arm. “Haul ass!” she hissed.
“What about him?” Edda demanded, trying to look behind her as they ran.
“Believe me,” Nerthus said, frustration in her voice “he can take care of himself. Without us there jumping around in his way, he can do quite a bit more to protect himself. Now shut up and let's make it back.”
The two of them ran through side streets, over walls, and across rooftops as they zigged and zagged through the streets of Bellkeep. Even once they made it back to the populated neighborhoods, alive with bustle and well-lit the women kept their guard up and took a very roundabout way back to their inn. They double backed a few times, and actually went into a tavern and two inns before deciding no one was following them. Of course, they had no worry about one of those creatures following them t
his far, but they were sure that something or someone with some intelligence had directed the creatures, and who knows what else was in store for them.
They barely inside the common room of the inn when Edda saw Egveny sitting at a table, two empty bottles next to a third full one. The Weaver looked miserable, and his hands trembled as he tried to pour himself a drink. Nerthus actually took the bottle out of his hand and poured the drink for him before sitting down.
“How'd you get here so fast?” Edda asked, joining them at the table.
“Fast?” Egveny asked. “You two have been gone almost an hour. I was worried sick about you, but I thought it best if I...ah...recovered my strength,” he gestured to the bottles. His face took on a haunted look. “I'm a little wary about Weaving for the time being. I drew those...those things like ants to honey. I'm, ah, I'm not exactly built for fighting. I thought my heart was going to give out a few times I was so scared.”
“How'd you get away from them?” Nerthus asked.
Egveny's face went from haunted to embarrassed, and he took a sip from his glass. “I...um...I kind of...burned down what was left of the neighborhood.”
“What!?”
He looked like a kid called into the kitchen by his mother, Edda thought with a grin.
“At the end there were almost ten of those things. Ten! I couldn't keep up my shield much longer, and I'm not good at throwing around raw power on the fly, you understand. Especially not when the wards were sapping the Power I held even as I gathered more. But when I was doing my little survey I could tell there were large amounts of rather...explosive chemicals in some of the abandoned buildings that hadn't been, ah, blown up previously. So I, um, used them.” His face became a mix of embarrassment and pride. “It was actually pretty impressive, if I say so myself. I pulled the liquids right out of their containers, wove together some...” the pride in his face lost out to the embarrassment and faded away, “ah, I'm sure you'll hear all about it tomorrow. Getting back was the easy part. I've got a few tricks up my sleeve still, and I can move quickly despite my, well, my carriage.” He grinned.
Edda laughed, and they both looked at her.
“I'm sorry, but I thought Weavers didn't like to destroy everything in sight when they could avoid it?
Nerthus's cheeks reddened slightly at that, but she said nothing. Egveny looked a little curious though.
“Who told you that? Sure, we aren't supposed to, you know, hurt people or anything, if we can help it. But who cares about some abandoned buildings? In fact, we're encouraged to do what's necessary at times like that. If it gives you peace of mind, the Weavers are the number one payor and overinsurer to property and casualty companies. Helps ease our collective conscious knowing we pay for what we, ah, break.”
“Wizards run the insurance companies?” Nerthus snorted.
“What's an insurance company?” Edda asked.
“Only some,” Egveny said, not hearing Edda's question, and he began a small mini lecture on some business practices of the Praetorian Magus and the Weavers. The change in topic seemed to push away his fears. Three bottles of Hale probably helped too, Edda thought. After a few minutes of risk management discussion, Edda had had enough.
“So, should we call in some big guns on this?” she asked. “We can raise the flag now and get some backup. No offense to Clyde and the others, but this is kind of over their heads. We could use some specialists.”
Nerthus seemed to consider that for a moment, and she eventually nodded.
“You might be right. I'll send a message back home. It will take some time for anyone to get here, but I think that after what we saw tonight we'll need a little extra muscle to find our people. I will say this though. Despite how bad it looked, I'm rather hopeful that we can still find them. Rigging the place to blow seems like a last resort type of move, and based on the type of abuse those...things could take, I doubt it could be considered overkill. 'Cecil', did you get anything from the site of the fire? Ah, the first fire I mean,” she added with a grin, “before all the fun started?”
“Well, I did get plenty of information from what happened, but I need some time to unpack it all from up here,” he said, pointing to his head. “Plus I have to examine the actual physical samples I got. That said, I'm going to take a walk tomorrow and see if I can find an inn or library that isn't warded like this one so I can do some work. I don't want to lose any element of surprise we may have right now. I also need to see if I have any clue as to what those things were. Sometimes the appearance of certain creatures correspond to other things, specific events or what have you. I'll let you know in the morning though,” he rose suddenly and unsteadily, “for I am going to go pass out in the most extravagant fashion this inn can allow. Good evening, my sisters.” He managed a half bow before picking up the last bottle and slowly meandered to his room upstairs. The two women sat there exchanging bemused looks.
“I'll go let the others know trouble is here,” Nerthus said. “We'll start the watch rotation now, just to be safe.”
Edda nodded. “Sounds like a plan. I'm going to do a quick sweep of the stables before turning in myself. Still feeling a little on edge, you know?”
“Tell me about it,” Nerthus said, her voice a little breathless. “I was so confident that this would be a much more...simpler task. Just some rival spy web, or other carelessness on the part of our people. But this,” she held out her arms, “this is just a tad unexpected, if you know what I mean. I'm certainly thankful for 'Cecil' being here now, that's for sure.”
The two of them stood and went on their separate ways. As Edda searched for anyone or anything out of the ordinary in the darkness she was a little proud of them all. Despite being outclassed by these creatures, neither her or Nerthus even discussed the possibility of leaving. They still had a job to do. Nigh unkillable monsters simply meant they had to be a little more circumspect in their search. At least until some extra help arrived. She began calculating travel times. A few days for their message to reach Tethis, a day or two for reinforcements to be organized, if any were to be sent, and at least a week to arrive. Yes, an interesting two weeks were ahead of them all. She smiled slightly despite her edgy nerves and loosened more of her hidden blades, feeling a small thrill as she did so. She had no place better to be in all the world than in the thick of it here. And for a split second, there was a crack in her confidence, and her smile vanished.
Was there someplace else in all the world she should be?
She was so lost in thought that she didn't see the shrouded, misshapen figure hopping from rooftop to rooftop above her, as silent as a night's breeze.
Chapter Seven
Kinnese brought the mini-caravan to a halt as they came to their destination. A small, unassuming house stood before them, and it looked as if it had been abandoned for some time. The house's whitewash was faded and chipped, exposing in places the rotten wood beneath. There were wilted flowers behind the window panes, and brittle brown vines tracing around the walls. The remnants of a cobblestone walkway was just visible over the mud and dead leaves.
Before dismounting, Kinnese let out a breath and turned to face Naria, who had kept the same pace with him as they traveled the last day. Her four “serving girls” had kept back a few paces on their own mounts, but Kinnese could constantly feel their eyes on his back.
“So,” he began, “I'm forced to admit that I am going to lose some of my...moral high ground with you once you meet our next recruit.”
Naria arched one perfectly plucked eyebrow, but said nothing. She had asked no end of questions about who else they were going to meet, and until now, Kinnese had been playfully evasive. But now that they were there, he had to open up a little more.
“His name is Undis. He's somewhat of a, ah...home-schooled alchemist, you could say. Much different fields of study than yourself. He suffered a rather unfortunate accident a few years back and has cut off contact with the outside world. We're here to entice him to join our cause.”
Kinnese offered a weak smile as he dismounted. “You'll have to wait and see for yourself. Just trust me. We need what he can provide, even though he may be a little...unpleasant.”
Naria remained quiet as she dismounted as well. Her little coven of trainees also got off of their horses, but Kinnese waved them back. He didn't want to spook Undis any more than was necessary. Bad enough for an armed man and a Weaver were dropping by unexpectedly. Things may get out of hand unless he could maintain control of the situation.
They had only walked a few steps towards the front door of the rotted house when Naria stopped, her nose crinkled up.
“Planes above,” she whispered, “can't you smell it? The rot here, the decay...it's almost unbearable.”
To his credit, Kinnese could smell it, but he didn't want to comment, lest he draw more attention to it. The sickly sweet smell of rotten wood and plants was everywhere, but it wasn't the smell of nature at work. The very air had a tang to it that riled up his stomach, and the earth around the house was pungent and moist, as if the very groundwater was fetid from its source. All he could do was reiterate that there had been an accident here, and continue on.
They reached the front door, which Kinnese knocked upon, but his knocking made no sound. The wooden door was so soggy with rot and mold that his knuckles left indentations. Kinnese grasped the doorknob and pulled, and the entire knob came free of the door. Naria chuckled, but her chuckle soon became a cough as she took in too much of the fetid air. Sighing inwardly, Kinnese gave the door a strong push with both hands, and it fell inwards, ripping free of its hinges. A wave of hot, noxious air greeted them from within the house.
Chasing Down Glory: The Outrider Legion: Book Two Page 8
