Chapter 071:
It was almost five days later when they neared the border of the Graterious Empire. The map that Anton had wasn't as accurate as he had hoped, rather that he didn't exactly know how far or fast they were travelling. Still, they made good progress. Verona and Kal had worked on their clothes during the nights. Kal had convinced Verona to not wear their relatively bright clothes while they were still in the wilderness. They had decided to wear them when they travelled around Porswea and other Qaiviel cities so they didn't look like total hicks. That and it might help Kal blend in by not wearing old villager clothes with her white and green mask. Now she would just be passed off as poor rather than completely odd. Verona become very excited by the possibility of getting more proper clothes for all of them to wear.
However, during their travels something had been bothering Anton, even though he was liking Verona's distractions. While the Accursed Forest, and the knowledge that the former Kar Kingdom was infested by monsters and beasts that destroyed a Kingdom in a few weeks, had prevented the Qaiviel Kingdom from expanding into their territory, it didn't explain why Graterious had not. During the nights Anton had looked more closely at the maps. There seemed to be nothing to stop them.
Now they were here, it was clear why.
A huge fissure in the earth ran from the mountains of the Deweth Clans to the north another range that was just visible in the distance in the south east. The fissure was easily a hundred meters wide, giant purple crystals jutted out over five meters tall and covered both sides. A strange purple hue seemed to cover the air coming out of the fissure.
To his side Kal squeaked. Her head twitched as she frowned at the sight, her breathing become more rapid and uncontrolled. Verona moved up and held Kal's hand.
“I don't think that that thing was there when you came through.” Verona said. “Was it?”
Kal's ears drooped as she looked worryingly at Anton. “No...There were a few of those purple crystals poking out of the ground. But I didn't think anything of it. This wasn't there...This...”
Her ears continued to droop as her breathing started to become more rapid. Did she think that they were about to start disbelieving how she arrived at Atros?
Anton moved close and held her hand, waiting until she looked him in the eyes before he said anything. “It's okay Kal. I believe you. But, have you see anything like this before?”
Kal violently shook her head. “Never. I've never heard or seen something like this. I didn't go too close to the cities so I'm not sure if someone knew this was going to happen after I passed...” She looked at him with searching eyes.
He smiled and gave her a kiss. It calmed Kal a little but she was still clearly rattled. Verona hummed and leaned forward on the horse.
“Well, it looks like we're in luck. We're not going to have to go the long way around.” She chuckled, pointing towards two of the larger purple crystals jutting out of the middle of the fissure at the far right, very close to the mountains in the distance. “There's a land bridge between those two big crystals. It looks like the only one on the whole thing.”
Anton tried to look more closely. There may have been one but it was very hard to see at this distance. This was another chance for him to test out the prayer power. He moved his horse between the two of them, receiving an odd look, as he held both their hands.
“Okay. Let's give this a go. Tethra, Goddess of Prayer, grant the three of us enhanced eyesight for the next minute.”
As before, a smaller fraction of magic left him, less than when he performed it on himself by speaking it inside his head. The world burst into clarity and vision. As before it was hard to get a control on the increased vision, he kept hold of both of their hands as they groaned as they adjusted to the vision as well.
Anton focused it towards the two giant purple crystals. As Verona had said there was a land bridge across the fissure that appeared to be held up by the large crystals. He couldn't say if it was natural or not, but it looked to be the only way through. Just as he was about to say something he saw movement along the land bridge. A small black body lead over a dozen green smaller bodies over the bridge. Goblins. The more he looked the more he saw. There had to be several hundred of them at the very least, many were clambering in and out of the fissure.
They remained in silence until the prayer effect wore off. The extreme clarity disappeared and their vision returned to normal. Verona coughed and shook her head.
“Wow. That was fun.” Verona mumbled, rubbing her eyes with the back of her hands. “Though, I didn't expect to see that many Goblins running about there.”
“I...” Kal took a deep breath to calm herself. “When I came through here there were only a few Green Goblins. Nowhere near like what they've got now. They must have been drawn here. There can't be any other reason why they're here.”
“Did you see those Black Goblins leading the Greens?” Verona asked.
Anton nodded. “Yeah. The Greens were just doing what they were told. I'm not sure what they're doing, but they were doing it.” Anton rubbed his short beard. “I remember when Dana was first captured by the Yellow Goblins, Bertram was showing me a book that had a little information about the Goblins. About how the lower breeds, like the Greens and Yellows, will follow something that can intimidate them.”
“The Black varieties are definitely stronger.” Verona mumbled, Kal nodding. “They could use those things...Slings. As well as Javelins and stone spears. That makes them a lot smarter than than the Green ones. And why they're their boss..'s.”
“Are we going to go around?” Kal asked. She didn't seem that serious about what she had just said, like she just decided that she was the one to say it.
Anton shook his head. He leaned down and pulled out the map of the Kar Kingdom. “For now I don't think we have that much of a choice if we want to get to Seocuria this year. If this map is right, there's something like a giant bay to the south, south east of us. And maybe a smaller one just to the south of where this fissure goes. If we get can a ship in Graterious, and hire a crew, then we could...We could sail to Seocuria and without having to travel across all that land. And we'd only have to cross that fissure and deal with those Goblins once.”
“That's a good idea.” Verona smiled and nodded. “Though, I don't know what I'll be like on a ship.”
“We could also move hundreds of Beast-kin at once without having to go across the land.” Kal murmured. “And away from people looking at and questioning us. I like it.”
“Have you been on a ship before?” Anton asked.
“No. But the city that I grew up in was near the ocean. I remember the smell of the salt all the time.”
“We'll see how we go.” Anton turned to the crystal fissure. “But first we need to get through this and find out what Graterious is like before we make any serious plans.”
“I'm going to need some blood.” Verona lowered her spear and collected a few drops. She smiled awkwardly as she looked at Kal. “I don't want to take too much from Anton...Could...Could I...”
Kal looked down at her padded hand, and nodded at Verona. Verona gingerly made a tiny cut into the soft pads on her hand. She winced but kept her hand still. When Verona had taken another vials worth she stopped and looked at Anton. He held the Kal's shoulder and quickly said a healing chant aloud. Kal's wound healed instantly.
“Thanks Kal. I'll be sure to give you a big cuddle tonight.”
“Umm...Sure.” Kal shrugged. When Verona looked forward he caught a tiny smirk on the corner of her mouth.
Verona raised the blood shards over her head as they slowly advanced. Anton prepared the magic inside him as Kal readied her bow.
There was quite a bit of ground to cover between where they stopped and the land bridge. They said nothing as they closed in on the Goblins. When they were a few hundred meters a scream burst out from the fissure. A Black Goblin spotted them, their eyesight was leagues better than their Green cousins. The first one to spot them roused the others to fight. Green Goblins, armed with rudimentary wooden spears and surprisingly sturdy looking wooden armour, rushed towards them as their leaders hanged back in relatively safety.
Anton summoned a floating lightning ring over the approaching Green Goblins. The display of magic, and their exploding comrades, brought them to a stand still. A shrill scream from the Black Goblins stopped the charge as they retreated back to the start of the land bridge.
Definitely well organised. Comparatively. If these guys led an attack on Atros it'll get really messy. Hopefully we'll have the cannons and guns working...Plus we've got Shawn and Joclyn now as mages. I don't think that they've got as much magic as me but they'll be pretty tough. I think that Atros is actually pretty safe now.
All the Goblins formed a line for defence, the Black Goblins had to constantly fight to keep the Green Goblins from charging forward. Anton threw a dozen large fireballs at the lines. They screamed and broke, running back along the bridge. The Black's tried to rally but the fear of Anton's magic was too much. Verona drew up her blood crystal shards and floated them over her head. A group was rallied and tried to attack, a Black leading a group of fifty Greens. She smiled at Anton, a wild look on her face. With a flick of her wrist the shards tore the Goblins apart before they even made twenty meters away. As their bodies were torn apart Verona drew up even more blood and turned those into more shards. A tiny shiver ran down her spine but she kept it under control.
They were only a few dozen metres from the start of the land bridge, and the Goblins continued to flee, when something started to burn at the back Anton's throat. He looked either side and saw they were entering the purple haze that smothered the air. Something tingled at the back of his head, like a warning. A feeling that grew in strength that told him to go back. As he focused more deeply he realised that it was the prayer against poison. A month had passed since he cast it in Nonbu'rn and it was still working. He wondered how long it would keep working.
He reached out and stopped both girls.
“What's wrong?” Verona asked. A sling's stone came towards them, she blocked it with a shard and let the stone fall to the ground.
“The air. I think it's poison.”
“How do you know?”
Anton motioned for them to get closer to him. “When...We became a family, I cast a prayer on myself to give myself immunity to poison. Just in case the food was poisoned. It's telling me that the air itself is toxic.”
“Are you going to do that to us?” Kal asked. She looked around and pointed along the land bridge.
Despite them both having killed hundreds of Goblins there only seemed to be an increase to their numbers. Anton saw Goblins, of both types, crawling up from the depths alongside the two crystals that held up the bridge. They were screaming down into the depths and more were continuing to emerge.
“Yeah.” Anton held both of hands and chanted a prayer aloud to give them both immunity to toxins and poisons indefinitely. They both mewled as the power washed over them. Anton did the same to the horses. He didn't want them to die halfway through the trip, he wasn't sure how much of the worry was from Dana's reaction if she found out that he had killed three of her horses.
“That feels funny.” Verona mumbled. “So this means that I can eat anything now?”
“I...I wouldn't recommend it.” Anton smiled back.
“You're immune to being poisoned by people that don't like you.” Kal said glumly. “I'm sure that Nobles, Kings and Emperors would pay a lot of money for that.”
“What would they say if they found out that we were going to use that money to free Beast-kin?” Verona chuckled.
“Just so you can hug some fluffy tails?” Anton teased.
Verona flushed a little, the whole look a little odd on her red glowing body. “Maybe. But we've already got the best one.”
Kal grumbled. “Can we please get moving? There are more Goblins appearing.”
Anton smiled and readied the lightning and fire magic in his mind as they started a cautious gallop across the bridge. Anton fired lightning bolts at everyone he could see along the bridge, fireballs at clumps, and Verona took out anyone that came too close and dealt with projectiles coming at them. Kal kept her bow nocked but didn't fire. There would be no time to recover the arrows.
When they reached a third of the way across the bridge Anton heard something coming from below them. He peered over the edge from the back of his horse as far as he dared. The fissure was at least several hundred meters deep, covered by hundreds of purple crystals of every size. The purple haze grew more thick as he looked down, finally becoming completely opaque before he could see the bottom. But through the haze he could see movement. The bottom looked like a writhing mass of worms, but the reality was far worse.
Thousands of Goblins; Green, Yellow, Blue and Black were streaming up the two large crystal shards in the center of the bridge. He glanced back and saw the same thing happening behind them. There had to be thousands of each type coming up towards them, screaming at the top of their lungs.
How are there so many?
“We need to run!” Anton whipped at the reins, both girls seeing what he saw and breaking into a run.
Verona formed the blood shards as a shield infront of them while Anton fired lighting bolts at any that managed to get in their way. When they reached the halfway point of the bridge the center was covered with Green and Yellow Goblins, with the other colours close behind. Anton threw a fireball into the center, incinerating a path and knocking the rest over the edge. The other goblins barely registered their screams as they fell hundreds of meters down into the purple hazy abyss. He didn't even know if they hit the bottom, the noise of the swarming Goblins was so great.
A surge of Goblins were about to reach the top of the bridge as they clambered up the purple crystal. Anton formed four lightning rings, pushing two to either side of the bridge. As the lightning rings burst into life they passed the charred halfway point and continued to run. Crackles and explosions continued behind them as Anton heard Goblins exploding as hundreds of lightning bolts rained down along the side of crystals from the rings.
Verona split half of her blood shards to the rear to protect them as they continued without looking back. A few more Goblins climbed over the side of the bridge, seemingly having crawled from underneath, but were quickly dispatched by Anton's lightning bolts. A dozen Black Goblins, even a bright Red Goblin, one that he had never seen or head of before, stood at the end of the bridge as a guard but were quickly dispatched. Evidently the Reds were not much stronger than their fellows.
Once they reached the end of the bridge, and onto the grass on the other side, Anton looked back. Nearly a thousand Goblins, a bizarre display of a moving multicoloured mass, ran towards them. He could see and feel the anger coming off of them.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Is that place sacred to them? Can they even have something that could be considered sacred? They seemed okay with the purple air.
Anton formed a powerful ring of fire magic and pushed it into the screaming mass. The pillar of fire erupted in the coloured mass just as they were about to reach the end of the bridge. Most were incinerated instantly, their blackened corpses thrown into the air, as the rest cowered away.
“Ha!” Verona cheered as she laughed. “That'll teach 'em.”
The ground began to rumble as cracks began to emerge on the side of the land bridge. The heat from the pillar was too much. The surviving Goblins at the back ran towards the large crystals at the middle and began to climb up and down.
As the flame pillar flickered out of existence the bridge began to crumble. Surviving Goblins screamed as the ground gave way underneath them, tumbling away into the purple abyss. The bridge collapsed past the two large crystals, they too began to groan and fall towards each other. Both crashed into each other, throwing up hundreds of purple fragments into the air alongside the Goblins that had been scrambling away from the collapsing bridge. They twisted and ground against each other, a ear splitting noise filled the air as they disappeared down into the fissure. A second later two deep thumps came out as they crashed into the bottom of the fissure. Purple dust and air flew into the air and slowly settled around them.
Anton waved for them to continue moving away from the fissure. Verona kept her power active and the shards near them for safety. Nobody said anything until they stopped on top of a small hill a hundred meters back.
“That was fun.” Verona chuckled. “But...What was any of that?”
“I have no idea.” Anton replied. “But there's no way were going to get through that again.”
As the purple dust began to clear he couldn't see any part of the land bridge. Only a stump remained on the far side. He looked along the fissure but could not see any other way across.
“We won't be getting back to Atros any time soon.” Kal lamented. “The first place that I could actually relax and call a home. It looks like we'll be heading home on those boats. That we still need to find, buy and get a crew. That aren't going to ask too many questions.”
“That does sound hard, but we'll do it one step at a time.” Anton said. “I think I'll be alright with a boat. If something goes wrong I'll just use my power and stop any sea sickness.”
Anton looked around the hill. A strange silence was starting to build. Right up until finding the fissure he had been able to see some sort of life on the Kar Kingdom side. On this side there was absolutely nothing. Only grass and a forest in the distance with looked like it could be a tiny trail of smoke rising in the distance.
“I think we'd better keep moving. Those Goblins might take up chase soon.” Anton said, both girls nodding furiously. “If we put enough distance between us and them they might just give up. Another thing that we're going to have to warn Atros about.”
---[]---
The map of the Graterious Empire didn't have any major cities or towns this close to the border, so they had very little direction to go on. They decided to head towards the trail of smoke and see if there was human habitation where they could get better directions. This also meant that Kal had to completely cover herself once again. Now she seemed annoyed that, after quite a few days of being free in the sun, she had to go back into hiding. With her hands and feet covered by cloth, and the reinforced and secured mask covering her face, there was no way to tell that she was a half breed Beast-kin. Anton hoped that they would be able to smooth over any questions about who she was and why she was dressed like that.
A trail emerged through a break in the forest as they approached the solitary smoke trail. Kal rode at the back of the group and kept checking over her shoulder. It seemed that nothing was following them from the fissure. He didn't want to bring a horde down upon whomever was living this close to the fissure. Perhaps they would know what was going on.
“This doesn't make much sense.” Kal mumbled, breaking the silence.
“What's wrong?” Anton asked, splitting his attention forward and back to Kal.
“This is too close. They're too close to that many Goblins.” Kal said. She shook her masked face. “They should have been killed by now, even if that fissure and those Goblins have only been there since I passed. I don't see how it's possible.”
“It might have something to do with that purple gas.” Anton shrugged as he slowed down next to Kal. “Maybe it makes them docile...ish. Where they don't want to leave. Though they were going to try and kill us when we got too close.”
“We're about to find out.” Verona said. She grabbed the reins of Anton's horse and brought him to a halt.
Ahead of them lay a small settlement. A human settlement. Nestled to the side of the forest pathway were twenty odd wooden buildings. They were simple but well built. A thick wooden fence surrounded the small hamlet, a single entrance guarded by large wolf like creatures chained to posts either side. The chains were quite long, more than long enough to stop someone who tried to slip in. In the middle, a particularly large building, a small trail of smoke came out of the top. However he couldn't see anyone around.
Verona waited for Kal to join them before moving forward again. She didn't have her blood power active so she couldn't scare anyone with her red glowing eyes. Kal kept herself a little before behind Anton to shield herself from any scrutiny.
The wolves started to bark wildly at them. Anton stopped them before getting too close, the wolves strained at their chains as they continued to bark.
Out of the central building a man emerged. His hair was grey, his back slightly stooped over as he studied them with curious eyes. He looked like Bertram, ten or twenty years ago. What was most bizarre was how he walked. It was like his head didn't move, just floating straight towards them, his body a marinate perfectly controlled by his thoughts. There was noo hint of extra movement or even a gait. Anton was not feeling good vibes from this man already.
He reached the edge of the wooden fence and silenced the wolves with a wave of his hands, yet the wolves didn't even look back at him. The man looked all three of them over with no visible reaction.
“What are you doing here?” he asked, his voice eerily as smooth as his walk. “You people know that you are not meant to cross the ward stones.”
Okay...This is going well. At least he's not talking about the fissure. I don't think that could be called a ward stone. We shouldn't say that we're from Atros. But, maybe we could at least get him to show us the way out of here. So we can head onto Porswea.
“Forgive us.” Anton began, the man unblinkingly staring at him. “We were trying to find our way to Porswea and we got lost. Can you tell us the way?”
The man blinked, for the first time, a tiny frown on his face. Behind him more people started to emerge from the building, men and women of all ages, all had the same blank stare as the elderly man. They too moved to the fence and stared. Verona glanced behind them. There were no people there, but Anton wouldn't doubt that it would happen if they waited too much longer. These people were very creepy. And they had barely said anything.
The elderly man looked to the north east. “Travel that way, follow the trail. Fast. Don't go off it. You'll fine a series of large stones with a purple crystal on the top. AND DON'T COME HERE AGAIN!”
The volume shocked Anton, Kal squeaking in surprise and Verona's eyes were wide open.
Time to go.
“Thank you for you help.” Anton said hurriedly.
He turned and was about to bring his horse into a run as another person came out of the main building. It was a boy, barely five years old and completely naked, drenched in blood. In his hands was the severed head of a Red Goblin. Judging by the boys mouth he had been eating the flesh. The severed head looked like he had bite marks around its eyes and cheeks.
“Granddad?” The child in a sweet voice. “Who are they? I thought bad people weren't meant to pass through the ward stones? Who are they?”
Anton didn't want to hang around any more. He sharply whistled at Verona and Kal, and they sped off. He dared a glance back. The people were staring blankly at them, now with farming tools in their hands. Were they about to attack them?
Verona and Kal brought their horses next to him.
“What the fuck is happening in this place?” Verona asked.
Anton looked to Kal. Kal shook her head. “I'm sorry. I didn't know any of this was here. I went through the north. I don't know what was happening to the south of the border. I don't know what's happening any more!”
He could hear her sniffling underneath her mask.
“So where are these stones we're meant to be finding?” Verona asked.
Towards the south, through pathways deeper into the forest, he could see even more small hamlets. These looked exactly the same as the one they just left. A few people were tending to some small crops and fields. When Anton looked at them they stopped, some in mid swing of their tools, and glared at him. Their unblinking eyes were very unsettling.
“Keep moving.” Anton said, whipping the reins more.
“As I was saying.” Verona spoke up again. “Where are this ward stones-Oh, there they are.”
They had barely been travelling a few minutes, at full speed, and they had reached several large standing stones, seemingly made from the same purple crystal as the fissure.
How big is this weird little cult place? It could only be a few kilometres of forest at most.
“Whatever.” Anton shrugged. “We should keep going until night fall. I don't want to stop anywhere near this place.”
“What was that place?” Kal asked, shaking her head. “Everything I've just seen, seems to be trying to make a me a liar to the both of you.”
Anton gave her hand a squeeze. Kal seemed more rattled by the possibility of the both of them doubting her, rather than a creepy cult that had children eating the flesh of Goblins.
“Is there anywhere that we might be able to stay the night?” Anton asked aloud, pulling out the map as they continued following a path beyond the ward stones. “This map basically has Porswea as the closest city from the border. The rest seems like wilderness. I'm guessing that the Graterious maps weren't very detailed on this side of the border.”
“I don't want stumble across any more of that stuff.” Verona said quietly. “What the fuck was up with that kid?”
“They are trying to do things that no human is supposed to do.” A scratchy and elderly voice said from somewhere infront of them. “Yet they try and try again...”
The voice didn't come from either of them, they looked at him in confusion as they searched for the voice.
“What?” Kal asked aloud.
“Over here, mixed one.” The voice came from infront of them.
Behind a thin tree an old woman emerged. The clothes she wore were tattered and worn, covering most of her limbs. White and stringy hair came out from underneath a hood, a toothy smile peering out alongside a pair of milky white eyes. The skin he could see was old and weathered, covered in liver spots and deep creases. She shambled forward using a large cane keeping upright. The tree that she emerged from wasn't big enough to conceal her form, neither was the forest thick enough to hide her in shadows. Like she just appeared from behind an invisible wall.
Verona lowered her spear. “Who are you?”
“Just a poor old woman that lives on the edges of civilisation.” she said. Her bare foot slipped over an exposed root, but she didn't fall. Her cane dug deep into the dirt to steady herself. She took the next step to a level spot like she had never slipped. How much of this was an act? Anton kept his magic bubbling away, just in case.
Her milky eyes snapped to him as he readied a lightning bomb. A smile formed on her crooked face.
“There's no need for that.”
“You...Do you know those people?” Anton asked.
The woman shrugged, stopping a few meters away from them. “Not that well. But they leave me alone if I don't go through their land. And why did you?”
“We got lost.”
The woman scoffed. “I think we both know that's a lie, Grand Mage.”
“What?”
Verona's body glowed red as she drew up crystal shards and readied them to throw. The woman furiously waved her hands as she backed away as fast as she could. Now she didn't need the cane to move.
“Please! Please don't hurt me. I mean no harm.”
“How do you know about him?” Verona asked, keeping her glowing red eyes focused on her.
Another smile formed on her face. “No one can miss that much magic.” She started to lick her lips. “Far too much for any human to wield normally. Though you are getting close to that level, Blood Berserker.”
“I guess that's easy enough to see.” Verona admitted.
The woman nodded seriously. “I'm surprised, Grand Mage, that you're able to keep one of them under a semblance of control.”
“I keep myself under control.” Verona said angrily. “I can do that myself.”
The woman seemed taken aback. “Even more interesting.”
“Who are you...Ma'am?” Anton asked.
The woman thrust out her hand, palm up. “I have not eaten in some time. Nobody wants to give food to someone as old and decrepit as me. I am very hungry...”
Verona looked at Anton and shrugged. Kal remained stoic.
She's definitely a mage. Or a witch maybe, though that might just be prejudice from my world. She's clearly got something else going on. Maybe she knows some things about how to use the magic of the Old Gods...What did she call Kal, a Mixed? Does she know about her just by looking through magic? I doubt she can see with those eyes...
The woman glanced towards him. A thin smile remained on her face as she kept her hand outstretched.
Well, she doesn't seem like those creepy cultists, or whatever they are. Perhaps we can get some information from her. At the very least somewhere that might be safe to sleep.
Anton reached into a pack on his horse and pulled out a small collection of dried meats and some nuts. He didn't want to get too close, just yet, or throw it at her. Instead he nodded to Verona and got her to bring him one of her blood shards. She formed it into a plate, placed the food on top, and pushed it towards the woman.
The woman's milky eyes blinked and glanced between them as she snatched the food down and wolfed it down.
“Thank you!”
Torn apart and crushed pieces of meat fell out of her fingers as she rammed them through her few remaining teeth. She gave no concern for how they looked at her. Kal groaned as she watched the woman eat the food like a savage animal.
When she was done she licked her lips and her fingers. As she let out a hearty sigh it was quickly replaced by a smirk.
“Thank you. That was so good. Most people wouldn't give someone like me...The foolish men and women of Graterious look down upon worshippers of the Old Gods. Though they won't hurt us physically the still treat our kind very badly.” She pointed a bony finger at him. “Something that all three of you should be careful about. Far better than Qaiviel though I must admit.”
“How do you think you know these things?” Anton asked. He didn't want to give away too much.
The woman smiled again. “I know that you've come from the west. But there's nothing there but monsters and beasts...Not to mention that giant fissure opened up about thirty days ago. Nearly every Goblin for a hundred miles has been drawn to it. I don't understand that.”
Kal let out an audible sigh of relief, the old woman throwing her a glance but saying nothing on it.
“It did stir up the false believers.” The old woman shrugged. “They're a lot happier now.”
“Do the Goblins let them live so close?” Verona asked, taking a quick glance back to Kal. “I mean, we saw one eating a Red Goblin.”
The woman smirked again. “Ah...They're still not getting it. Doesn't stop them trying though, does it?”
Anton didn't really know how to respond to something like that. She didn't offer up any more information.
“We are looking for somewhere to stay for the night, that's not in the wilderness.”
She snapped her fingers and pointed at the towards the north. “You find a small village that way, called Soulthor. Follow the smoke once it starts nearing dusk if you haven't found it then by then. If you're not one of those cultists I wouldn't be out at night. If you get lost check your map.”
Anton pulled out the map of Graterious. Where there was once a open area between the border of the Kar Kingdom and Porswea in Graterious, was now a small mark with the name Soulthor underneath, seemingly burnt into the map. He didn't hear anything or see anything cast from her.
Although, nobody can see my magic before I use it...So I'm sure it could be done. Still not good though.
“Well. Thank you for the information.”
Another smile formed on her face. “After being willing to help someone like me, it is the least I can do. Although, it is good to know that the visions of the Old Gods were not a lie this time. Not a disappointment, even if it is just a few sentences between us. It seems that the old Kar Kingdom is rising once again.”
“What?”
“I haven't been there in some time...death and madness rule the dead lands.” She started to scratch her chin as her eyes looked away in deep though, of ancient memories brought back to the surface. “At least the last time I was there. I wonder...I wonder if that tree is still growing. It has been so long. Goblins won't attack a Karak tree. It's just a tree after all. I wonder...”
“Wait a second.” Anton said, the woman stopping her reminiscing and looking straight at him. “Jeff said that one of the Kar Kingdom mages once visited Atros and left a seed of that tree.”
A beaming smile, if it could be called a smile, formed on her face. “Hmm...So it's all still going then. You. You and you. All alive, somehow. That's very interesting. I'm sure they would have all been dead by now. Esperit certainly doesn't disappoint.”
A shout came from behind the ward stones. A gathering of the villager cultists were approaching. Apart from the shout they moved in complete silence, their arms and legs moving in perfect sync as they stared blankly at them. In each of their hands were sharp short swords and farming tools.
“They don't look happy.” Verona said glibly.
Anton nodded, looking back to the elderly woman. She peered around his horse and chuckled.
“They really don't seem happy. I think you'd better get moving.”
The elderly woman started backing away into the forest. “Grand Mage, Blood Berserker, Orison Templar. I would be delighted for you to visit my home some time. Over the winters I have collected and made many things that you'll find useful to take back the Kingdom. Many things. I haven't forgotten my vows to the dead king. I would be glad to say them again.”
“What vows?” Anton asked. She shook her head and continued to back away.
“You need to leave before they reach you.” The elderly woman continued to retreat into the forest. As parts of her body passed the trees they started to disappear into shadow. “Once you've rescued your slaves and got them home safe, come find me. I'll have everything ready for you then. Good luck, Grand Mage.”
With that she disappeared completely. She just simply ceased to be present.
“Anton?” Verona said, taking a glance back before moving closer to him. “What the fuck is happening here?”
Anton checked the map again. Now a small mark had appeared on the furthest side of the Graterious Empire near the sea. This had just a small hut with the name Koumore underneath.
“I don't know. I don't know.” Anton replied, putting the map back into his pack. The cultist villagers were continuing to close in on them. He whipped the reins and they run towards the north. “I'm thinking that the dealing with the Yellow Goblins, the Kobolds, the Duchess, and the Orc and Clansmen invasion was a lot easier than this. If nothing else a lot less confusing.”
Verona grunted and shook her head. “I'm going to need a good sleep after this. Try and sort this crap out in my head. Did we even get her name?”
“No.” Kal said back, a frown forming on her face. “And, what did she call me?”
“Orison Templar.” Anton replied. “Guess you've got a power in you. I'll have a look tonight.”
Kal chuckled and shook her head as she glanced back. The cultists didn't seem to be following but that could change any moment. “Verona's right. None of this was happening when I came through. What the fuck is happening in this place?!”