Galen Vesa

Blood trickled down my nose, sizzling and bubbling to eventually evaporate before hitting the stone floor. Summoning that perverted wind made me a bit woozy.

*A spinning head is the least of our worries. You have summoned a fully corporal spirit. A queen at that. Judging by their faces that is not something normal people do these days.*

Ooopsie. Feeling their stares, my body went through some odd, shy, motion and wrapped the cape tighter around myself, playing the part of a naked temptress.

Erta if you can, please get rid of all those enchants forcing me to do this or that. As broken as I am I don't fancy losing control over my body. If we start dancing in the middle of a fight because someone says or do something, do I really need to spell that out?

*Yes, that may pose an issue. I shall do what I can. Mind if I leave some less intrusive ones? Acting cute does suit this body…*

Oy, roomie. You really want an eviction notice, do you?

*And here I thought you wouldn’t care. *

She let out one of her dragon chuckles.

You were joking about the “being cute” part, right? Right?

*Perhaps. Now, as much as I enjoy our little chitchats, they are still staring. Say something you dolt. *

“Is it viable? What the spirit said. Can we get to that tower and if so, can we manage through that passage?”

I spoke, my voice sounding alien to my own ears.

“Carl, what do you think? You know this city better than any of us.”

Leon, first of the lot to regain his composure, took charge. He and the old knight walked from one window to the other, planning the next move.

“ We can circle the city over the wall, sure. It's high off the ground and relatively safe. The thing is, we would have to cross over two gates.”

Carl pointed at a distant place.

“The first one doesn’t look bad. It's still closed and possibly deserted.”

Indeed, the structure looked calm and intact.

“Now, that black part you see further away is the second gate where everything started. They tried to burn the bridge before the undead would overrun the city. How that went we all know… We are sure to encounter undead there. “

“Suppose we cross both gates. That leaves us about halfway there. And that's a really long way from any cover. Screamers will pick us off one by one.”

“Finally, there' s the tower. What are the chances they left the doors wide open? You really want to repeat what we did downstairs? Although this time we will have much more spectators and I don’t think they will wait till we get through any doors...”

Dosie kept staring at me, ignoring all the other men.

“What are you?”

She accused me again.

“My mother…”

I ran a finger along my pointy ears.

“could’ve been an elf for all I know. As for my father? Whatever he was,”

I placed my palm over my second heart.

“Your guess is as good as mine.”

Ending in a dramatic silence, I walked away as far as the circular room allowed me and turned my back on them. Let's play the brooding game.

Stolen story; please report.

“Please forgive her.”

Leon broke the growing tension with his voice.

“We had rather poor, prior experience with several magicians we met in this city. One of them caused all of this. Do not take it personally.”

I acknowledge him with a nod and went back to staring out the window. The mercenaries or whatever they were, went on about their business, sharpening their weapons, bitching about strategy, bitching about the undead and about everything else in particular.

In the pitch-black darkness of a moonless night, I watched the streets slowly yet steadily fill up to the brim with dead and half rotting bodies. Whatever monstrosity held this eyes before me, thrived during nights like this. I could count dimples in the cobblestones of the farthest part of the city visible from my window.

*Nightshade. People called them nightshades or soft death. A predatory species, native to the daemon continent. From what I heard, four of those killed half of the first expedition during one night. They would creep through the wall during the night and brush their fur against their prey then, they would come back on the second night for their marked victim. Many men went mad because of that.*

*Fascinating eyes. Much better than my own. *

Such praise from the mouth of a dragon. I do hope we won’t ever meet any kin of my eyes rightful owner.

“You should rest. We move just before dawn.”

The old knight took place beside me, his voice hardly a whisper. In the flickering light of the solitary candle they lit in the middle of the room, his face looked as if chiseled out of rough stone.

“Vain effort. My mana won’t let me sleep.”

Or, in other words, I don’t need to sleep. Also, I don’t need to eat and, most bizarre, I don’t need to breathe. As long as I have mana, I don’t need to do any of those. I’m not even cold. Whatever the reason, the witch did twist my body out of whack, improving this and that. Some changes… I did not approve.

“If I may pray a bit more, your eyes. Can you see what’s out there?”

*Pesky old man. Be wary of him.*

“Yes.”

I confirmed his guess. He would be a fool if he had not noticed that. A slip up on my part for which Erta scolded me during our climb. I should not uncover my cards so easily.

“The city is full of the dead and more are still coming. All of the streets are packed to the point they move as one, shoulder to shoulder.”

I’ve summarized him the last six hours or rather, the time that felt like six hours. I no longer had a watch to confirm that but if the witch did not scramble my eggs even more than they were before I arrived, my guess should be within half an hour of the actual time. My uncanny internal clock never failed me. Even after an episode, I could guess the time down to a minute or two.

“Is that so? What impressive eyes you have there. ”

The knight rubbed his chin, staring into the pitch-black darkness.

“You see, they have some uncanny resemblance to the eyes of a beast I met a long time before. Quite the trickster it was. Killed a lot of my friends and took one of my eyes with it.”

He pointed at his face. Deep pale scars run down the left side of his face.

“But I paid it back on the next night. I gouged its eyes with my bare hands and pierced its heart with a fang I ripped out of its jaws.”

The said fang hanged on a string around the man’s neck.

“So, trickster. What I’m trying to say here is, I don’t like you. I don’t like the way you speak. I don’t like the way you are and as sure as hell I don’t like your eyes.”

“We move by the first light. If you try any tricks, the dead shall be the last of your worries. Do we understand each other?”

“Yes.”

I gave him the only reply I found fitting and watch him settle himself few feet away from me. A knife ready in his hand.

Erta, your shield thingy. Can it stop a knife?

* It is a charm and the short answer would be, yes. Unless a runic blade is used and nothing disrupts your mana flow, with your current mana pool, a knife is nothing but an inconvenience. *

*The long answer is, I cannot tell. You are not normal and my knowledge may not apply our current body. *

Regardless, keep the shields up. I think we have enough mana to spare.

*Aye, aye dolt. Oh, make sure to wiggle that bum of yours a little bit more. I think that one-eyed knight developed feelings for you. *

Go bite your tail. Or something…

Wait, this is not right. Why are you laughing? Why do I have a “feeling”? As if something…

Erta Rolled within me, her mood swinging from tears to laughter to anger and hate and back into sorrow. A quick glance around the room reassured me, not only we were affected. Most of the sleeping men, stirred, sleeping unsoundly. The ferru woman had her fur puffed out and growled as she bared her teeth at something within her dream. Even Leon keeping watch opposite of me, had his forehead covered with cold sweat.

“Awaken. Something is not right.”

My voice came out weak and sore, raising no reaction from my companions.

Erta!

I called upon her but the link between our minds got snuffed by a force muddling our thoughts and messing with our feelings.

“Leon?!”

I yelled yet only his dull, unseeing, and terrified eyes answered me.

Whatever affected us, we needed help. Help I could not provide. Forcing my muscles to work against the invading will, I crawled towards the unconscious woman, writhing on the floor, clawing at her body as if something strangled her.

I straddled her and forcing her body still with my own weight, I wrestled her arms away from her neck before she could slice her own throat. Were it not for the fading enchants Erta put upon me, I would fail, yet somehow, I managed to pin her arms down.

“Wake up! We need your help!”

I screamed into her face, but I could find no consciousness within her eyes. Suddenly her fangs closed around my throat. I felt no pain though I saw my blood gush out from her mouth, pushed by the force of two racing hearts.