Chapter 96:

Anton groaned, rotated his shoulder and felt something click. Sleep had not been that comfortable, even with two warm and soft women to share the bed, as the Inn’s bed appeared to be made from rocks and thin branches. Still, it was better than sleeping outside. Just. Their sleeping gear was actually pretty good especially with furs lining the inside. However, the Inn’s food had been very good, which was a little strange.

Regardless, he was in high spirits, all things considered. Their plan was going very well. They had a ship, The Snowberry, and a destination in Graterious, Rusaddir. Then it was a simple trip north to Danafra and rescue Kal’s mother and begin rescuing and freeing Beast-kin. Simple.

While he, Verona and Kal were doing well, their new companion, Cetina, was not. During their brief travels so far she had been very quiet, not something that Anton begrudged considering that she had just witnessed her father’s brutal death and funeral. She had not broken down into tears just yet but she looked distant and lost. He hoped that she would find something that would give her purpose once again beyond travelling with them.

Anton looked back, just to make sure that she hadn’t fallen too far behind or wandered off, and saw her scratching at the bandage covering her wounded eye. During their fight with the Demons, she suffered a grievous wound to her face, one that Anton, despite his or Kal’s powers, was unable to fix. The cloth bandage was just something temporary and to avoid the stares of the curious.

She caught his look and smiled weakly. “My eye’s itching a little, that’s all.”

“Is it the wound or the cloth?” Anton asked.

Verona looked towards him, raising a brow, while Kal turned her masked face to both of them.

Cetina shrugged. “The cloth. I…I can’t feel anything in my eye, just my skin’s really rough and so is this cloth. It’s getting itchy.”

“It was just a quick fix.” Verona smiled back. “I’m sure we can get something better.” She looked at Anton. “Right?”

“Sure. I don’t know who would sell something like that. Maybe we’ll have to make one.”

Anton looked behind Cetina. The city, whose name he didn’t manage to get, behind them was almost out of sight. While it wasn’t the size of Porswea there was undoubtedly someone who could make such a thing. None were particularly short of money, especially Cetina. She had a large bag, sealed by prayer magic that only she could open it, filled with jewels and gold. It was one of the few things that she had left from her father. Then there was the small Gliyrhil box bouncing near his leg…

“Anton?” Kal gently tapped his hand.

He realised that he had mentally drifted away again, even Cetina looked a little oddly at him. A slight flush came over his face as he patted Kal’s hand.

“Sorry. Just zoned out there for a moment there, Kal.” Kal chuckled and looked forward. “How far is it to the nearest city?”

“Should be another one pretty close.” Verona pointed in the distance. A small forest straddled the stone road, but beyond that a few thin trails of smoke rose into the air.

Kal sniffed at the air behind her mask, a strange sound from the rushing air. “I smell curing leather. Smells awful. Can’t you smell it?”

“No. Not yet. We’ll get something there.” Anton looked between Verona and Kal. “Do you know what sort of leather would be good for an eyepatch?”

“Something that’s soft?” Verona smiled and chuckled. “Something that’s not going to irritate the skin.”

“Yes…I guess I walked into that one.” Anton turned to Cetina and saw her sliding off her horse.

He pulled hard on the reins and his horse snarled violently as it stopped. Cetina, looking far away, realised that she had almost reached the point of no return. She pulled hard on the reins, her much larger horse complaining loudly as the reins pulled hard to one side. The horse, despite protesting, followed Cetina’s instructions and veered off the road and onto the grass. Anton turned his horse around and raced to Cetina’s side as Verona and Kal pulled off the road.

Cetina regained control of herself and her horse when Anton reached her.

“You okay?” Anton asked.

Cetina looked away but nodded. “I’m fine. I…I just slipped a bit.”

Eventually, she looked towards him. Her unbandaged eye was slightly red. And not from tears. Seeing the glassy alcohol-induced haze covering her grey and purple flecked eye brought back a scratchy memory, one that he pushed deep down.

“How much?”

Cetina’s head snapped towards him. She looked like she was about to slip off once more. “I…I don’t.”

“How much?”

“I haven’t had anything!” She snapped at him. Cetina grumbled and whipped at the reins. The horse slowly backed up and re-joined the road as Verona and Kal reached them.

“I’m fine. I’m fine.” She grumbled as she continued along the road. Anton said nothing as he watched her hand brush against a flask at her hip.

“What was that about?” Verona asked.

Anton sighed and returned to the road. “She’s been drinking. Quite a lot.”

“I didn’t see her during dinner.”

“She did leave for a while,” Kal said quietly, her mask looking towards Cetina’s back. “You and Verona were eating like a swarm of locusts. So I’m not surprised you didn’t know.”

“Were we?” Anton and Verona glanced at each other.

“I don’t remember that,” Anton said.

Kal shrugged. “You were eating a lot. While I…I had to eat cold food in our room.”

Anton reached over and squeezed her hand. Kal returned it.

“I still hate that we have to do that. But, does…” Anton looked behind them. There were a few traders and other travellers along the road but they were well out of earshot. “But does Seocuria have locusts? I haven’t seen any grasshoppers here, and Seocuria sounds like it’s a pretty dry place.”

“It is. And locusts are a big problem. Especially when they fly in a swarm. Trying to fight them off the plantations when a swarm comes along…” Kal scratched at her arms. “They hurt when they crash into you, and it gets into your fur when you’re trying to kill them.”

“No insect repellent in this world then.”

“I hate to interrupt your lovely little chat.” Verona nodded towards Cetina, who they slowly gained upon. She was still having a little trouble remaining upright on her horse. She furiously shook her head and gripped tightly with her legs onto her horse’s chest. “But what are we going to do about her?”

“It doesn’t feel right to abandon her and just leave her to her own devices,” Anton replied. “I really don’t know what to do. But we need to do something before it becomes a dependence. Any ideas?”

Kal shook her head. “In Seocuria we didn’t have the chance to drink. We wouldn’t be productive if we did. Except for the few times some of the braver Beast-kin snuck some from the masters. And got beaten for it. But you’re right, we can’t just do nothing.”

“Yeah.”

Cetina shook her head and nearly fell off again.

“When we stop we’ll try and have a chat. Though, I can understand why she’d turn to drink to forget. She’d already started using it when we were heading to Fort Acidava.”

Verona grunted in agreement. “That she did.”

Anton whipped the reins of his horse to speed up. Cetina didn’t slow but she looked at him. It was an odd expression, a mixture of guilt and self-loathing. Anton said nothing, didn’t even smile and looked towards their destination. Out of his periphery, he saw Cetina visibly relax. She didn’t need someone like him doing a shitty job of lecturing her on her actions.

The next city came into view nearly half an hour later. The people of Graterious were well and truly awake and working. The roads weren’t exactly full but there were lots of people going about their business. It was a little different than when they were approaching Porswea. These had less timber and game-related goods and instead carried more crops and fruits. They passed a few large convoys of cows and Ix heading towards the city, all under heavy guard. They eyed everyone passing by.

I wonder if cattle rustlers are a thing here.

He didn’t ask, for obvious reasons, and they moved towards the city. It was nowhere near as large as Porswea but still was a major city. They passed through the gates unmolested, the guards were very slack here compared to Porswea and pulled off to the side.

“What are we getting here?” Cetina asked, her exposed eye blinking hard.

“An eyepatch for you.” Cetina raised a brow. “That cloth makes you look like you’re wounded.”

“I am wounded.” Cetina looked away, sadness filling her remaining eye.

“Not…Not like that.” Anton coughed loudly. “But you need something that won’t keep irritating your skin. You can’t spend all your time scratching your face.”

“Okay.” Cetina didn’t appear too enthusiastic about it.

“I can work the leather if that’s a problem,” Kal said. “If it doesn’t fit properly. I’ve had to before.”

“Let’s see what we can find first.”

After asking a guard, who was rather rude until Verona snapped at him, they received directions to a leatherworker. The city streets felt like they were back in Porswea. People jostled and barged through the chaotic streams of traffic, shouts and cries to buy from market stalls pierced through the bubbling noise of human activity. They kept Kal in the middle while Cetina followed closely behind. Her horse was much larger than theirs, and most peoples that they passed, and used its size to push away anyone that got too close. Cetina didn’t appear to worry one way or another.

Finding the leatherworker wasn’t too difficult. The smell alone would have been enough to guide them. Nearly a tenth of the city was sealed off by a small wooden wall. Through the gaps, Anton saw the slaughterhouses behind and carcases being drained of blood and excess fat removed. Blood and fat mixed with the dirt and stone, hundreds of flies buzzed around the horrid scene. Certainly not somewhere hygienic or healthy. It reminded him that everything they wore once belonged to a living creature. He had no problem with eating meat but actually slaughtering the creature, if it was something larger than a rabbit or a fish, made him feel a little ill. Thankfully the men and women behind the wall didn’t have the problem. Their faces were flat as they moved the pieces of meat and hide about.

The store, such as it was, jutted out from the wooden wall. Since literacy wasn’t well spread amongst the peasant's large wooden sign hung over the front. It was a little hard to tell what it was meant to be depicting, a rough piece of cloth or a ream of leather perhaps, but it appeared to be enough for the people. Men and women, a lot of women, were coming and going with bungles of leather in their arms. What interested Anton the most was the colours on display. Different shades of blues, blacks, purples, reds and yellows came out in the protective arms of their customers.

“We’ll be able to get something really nice for you,” Anton said. “Something a bit fancier that just brown leather.”

Cetina grunted but said nothing else. Anton looked to Verona, who shot him an awkward smile. It would be difficult to get excited about an eye patch the day after your father died. Nonetheless, she followed them as they stopped at the shop. There was a long post to tie horses to but it was mostly empty. To the side stood some large carts pulled by horses and Ix. They were laden with reams of processed leather.

As they tied their horses to the post Cetina spoke up. “I’ll watch the horses while you three head inside.”

“You sure?” Verona asked.

“Yeah. I think I need some sun right now. A moment to relax, you know?”

“Okay. We won’t be long.”

Cetina waved them in and started patting down her horse.

The interior smelled considerably better than outside, thanks to burning incense from every corner of the building. While there were no reams of processed leather on display there were small strips proudly showcasing what was available for purchase. Thieves must be a constant threat.

“How much do we need?” Anton asked Kal. Kal groaned and tried to pinch her nose. “Just try to breathe through your mouth. That should make it a bit easier to deal with it.”

“But I still smell it, so much worse than you two.” Kal sighed. “And then it just gets stuck in my mouth for ages. Disgusting.”

“I know a way to get rid of that.” Verona smiled wickedly.

“What…Oh.” Kal sighed. “You’re being yourself, aren’t you?”

Verona laughed. “True. True. We can worry about that later. So…” She bumped Anton as she continued to smirk. “Since you were the one pushing for this what sort of colour were you thinking of?”

Anton looked at the strips of coloured leather. “I’m thinking something that matches her…colours. A mix of black, blue and purple. Something that’s not going to immediately draw attention to her eye. I’m still annoyed that we couldn’t fix it.”

“There might be something else we can do. At least you two should be able to do something, not me though…” Verona trailed off.

Anton found someone organising the sales. He wasn’t that interested in selling to them as they only wanted a small amount but when Anton gave him a silver ring and told him to keep the change, he immediately changed his tune. He gave them three large pieces of leather in the colours they wanted and wished them a good day, unfortunately bringing up the name of the Holy Father. That disturbed Anton a little. Nonetheless, Kal said she would be able to make something when they were away from the city. She wasn’t having a fun time with the smell and the hustle and bustle of the city.

“Umm…” Kal stopped as she reached the doorway. “We’ve got a problem.”

“What?”

Kal, with a ream of black Ix leather in her arms, pointed towards the horses. While all four horses stood idly at the posts their guard had disappeared. Thankfully no one had tried something but Cetina’s disappearance worried him. However, he saw her a few meters away, returning with a faint smile on her face. Anton looked at her hip and saw a few more large water skins. She looked up and smiled awkwardly.

“Sorry.” She said as she approached the horses. “I just had to get something.”

“You just left the horses…” Verona patted the large pack on the side of Cetina’s horse. “Even with this?”

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

“I could always see it. I was just over there.” Cetina nodded just behind her.

She nodded to a large open market stall, more like a bar. Many workers ate and drank at the open bar, food, drink and laughter flowing from the open bar. It seemed to be workers having a midday break.

“You get what you wanted?” Anton asked.

Cetina tensed, her hand instinctively reaching for her hip. She looked more than a little embarrassed but forced a smile.

“Of course.”

Anton said nothing and took the reams of leather from Kal and Verona. “Unless we’ve got something else to do here we should get going then.”

The girls nodded and they were soon on their way once again.

---[]---

They stopped a few miles from the city next to a small lake, more a very large pond. Other travellers had stopped here as well, refilling their water and letting their beasts, and themselves, take a short break. Many were smaller traders, either a single Ix or horse laden with goods or a very small and rickety hand drawn cart. Others looked to be labourers travelling from one city to another and deciding to take a break. All were grouped around large wooden stakes driven far into the ground. It appeared to be an unofficial arrangement established between the travellers. Anton found an upright stake as far away as possible from the others and tied the reins of their horses to it. They rummaged through their packs for something to eat while Kal started to make the eyepatch. While she didn’t have scissors she had Zig’s very sharp blade which easily cut through the leather. He sat next to her while Verona and Cetina collected more water.

Kal, her expression hidden by the mask, glanced up at him several times. She sighed as she finished cutting a piece of the black leather to form the base of the eyepatch.

“It’s a bit hard to do this when you’re watching me like that.” Kal chuckled. “Kind of like you are judging me…”

“I’m always shocked by what you can do,” Anton said. “I think we should just write down everything you can do one day so I won’t be surprised. And you can write too.”

He looked at the edge of the lake. Verona and Cetina had refilled their water but were chatting quietly. Again he saw Cetina’s hand idly brush against the flasks on her hip.

“I don’t think Verona can yet.”

“I needed to learn.” Kal took the dark purple hide and began cutting it. “It helped me quite a number of times.”

“Especially when most people here can’t read. Or write.”

Kal nodded and continued to work. He had no idea what she was going to do but he simply wanted to watch.

I suppose it could be possible to use the prayer power to just make one. But would it fall apart once it touched the Ghlyirl near her eye? What about that spoon that I made? We still have it here, though I can’t just try and touch her eye with it. Maybe there’s some way for the prayer power for her to see with both eyes again…

Anton looked at his hands while he thought, Kal occasionally glancing towards him when Verona let out a tremendous laugh and walked towards them with Cetina in tow.

“How’s it going?” Verona asked, placing the water skin between him and Kal and resting against his shoulder.

“Kal’s doing really good.” He saw her backside wiggle ever so slightly underneath her cloak. Thankfully the other groups of travellers were keeping to themselves as well. “She’ll have it done in no time. She’s still hiding a lot of skills up in there. Probably enough to fund everything we do.”

“Please stop,” Kal grumbled playfully. “Now you’re just trying to make me embarrassed.”

Anton squeezed Kal’s shoulder then turned to Verona. “What about you two?”

Verona looked at Cetina. “Done…We were just collecting water, after all.”

“How about something to eat?” Anton looked through the small pack at his side. “We’ve got some of that salted beef and Ix meat, and some good bread.”

“Awesome.” Verona bounced excitedly as Anton retrieved the food. When Verona had her share, which she quickly devoured, he looked to Cetina. “You want some?”

“Um…Sure.” He handed the food over. She took it with some hesitation and looked at Kal. “What about you?”

“I can’t eat here,” Kal said quietly. “It’ll have to be on the road. When we’re alone.”

“That…” Cetina trailed off and nibbled at her food. She shuffled away when she saw Verona eyeing it off with the eyes of a ravenous dog.

I know where all that food’s going and it’s not to her waist.

They ate in silence with only the sound of Kal cutting and working the leather to fill the void. The sounds of the other travellers were barely heard over the trickling of the water entering the small lake. When Cetina was done, and after Verona helped herself to another small portion, she reached for and drank a whole water flask in one go. She scrunched her face and shook her head.

Well, we can’t let this go on forever...

“Cetina?”

She looked up at him and then to the bottle.

“What’s in that?”

She didn’t answer and looked down at the empty flask. Dark purple droplets ran to the bottom of the lip.

“I...” she looked down and didn’t speak. “It helps. It helps…my dreams. Even before…”

Kal and Verona looked at him. Anton took a deep breath. He had no idea what to say, but he had brought the issue up, so it was his responsibility to see it through right now.

Just speak from the heart, I suppose. But don’t be preachy about it either.

“I…I mean we, are a little worried by what we’re seeing. You nearly fell off your horse before and I know that you weren’t sober before we entered the city or even when we left.”

Cetina kept her head low.

“We just don’t want to see you turn to drink to drown your sorrows.”

“I don’t need someone to tell me what to do.” Cetina quietly said, still refusing to raise her head.

“No…But you have people that don’t want to see you fall apart and find you drunk in some ditch.” Anton sighed. It wasn’t the best words but it was the ones he was going with.

“Do you know what it’s like?” She looked up, her eye red and slightly puffy. “To keep seeing those things in your mind? I thought, I thought I would be fine after the funeral but I keep reliving it. I’ve barely slept and even that’s short and terrible. I keep seeing the blood pouring off the bed, the red sheets…What am I supposed to do?”

“I don’t know.” Anton took a deep breath. “I don’t know what the answer is, or if there even is one. But I do know that drinking to the extent that you nearly fall off a horse going straight isn’t the answer. I don’t want to see you destroy yourself.”

“But…” Cetina shook her head and looked down at the flask again.

“It was terrible for me when my parents died.” Verona began, turning to rest her back on Anton’s shoulder. “I…I watched my parents die, crushed and burning while I could only watch on. Helpless. That…Those weren’t good times.”

Cetina looked up. “So how did you…Get over it?”

Verona shrugged. “I didn’t. And I know that it isn’t something you just get over. I certainly didn’t. I spent days curled up in a ball underneath a table just crying. But, eventually, I realised that I was just going to die if I stayed like I was. It was difficult, and I know if I had alcohol I would have taken it, but I eventually found a way to continue with my life.”

She reached and patted his leg.

Cetina frowned. “So, you’re saying that I need to find someone to share a bed with?”

Anton smiled. “No. That won’t help. Not that way at least. What you need is a friend. Someone you can talk to no matter what you have to say.

“And you have three of them right here,” Verona added.

Cetina looked between them and then at her flask. “I…I suppose so. I’ll give it a try.”

“We’ll be there for you if you ever stumble,” Anton said quietly.

Cetina faintly smiled and unhooked the flasks. She sighed as she looked at them, her body desperately telling her to keep them. She scrunched her face and threw them far away.

Anton leant down to Verona’s ear. “Thanks. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

Verona kissed his cheek. “Sometimes there are things that a woman can say that a man can’t.”

She kissed him again as Cetina closed her eye and took a deep breath. She slapped her armoured thighs repeatedly. “Okay…Actually, I feel a bit better now. Is it supposed to feel like that?”

“I don’t know,” Anton said. “But don’t get me wrong about this. You can still drink. We just don’t want you to overdo it.”

Cetina groaned as she looked at the flasks some meters away. “They were expensive too.”

“How strong was it?” Anton asked. “It looked like you just had straight alcohol.”

“I don’t know what it’s called but it was the strongest they had.” Cetina obviously was contemplating fetching the flasks before someone stumbled upon it. “There was this other stuff they offered, I think it was called Blue Devil, or something. It smelt pretty strong.”

“That reminds me, we haven’t heard anything from Duchess Belinda for a while.” While Cetina didn’t know how far they had actually travelled there seemed little harm in her knowing some names. “I hope everything’s alright over there.”

“We-”

“Finished!” Kal loudly proclaimed, silencing Verona. Kal immediately realised what happened and coughed awkwardly.

“Sorry. I got a bit distracted. It was actually quite fun to make this. It…This isn’t going to be like something an artisan would make but it’s all I can do without proper tools and a night to work on it.” Kal bundled the completed eyepatch in her hands. “When we do stop for the night I’d like to keep working on it.”

“Now you’re just making me feel insecure.” Verona chuckled.

Kal sighed and passed over the eyepatch. It was rough, there was no way around it, but it had been made well. The patch itself was a simple black section, and so was the strap that would go around her head. However, Kal had managed to weave a purple border around the black segment, with thin strips of blue leather binding it all together. Anton was very impressed by her work, especially in such a short time.

Kal caught his look. “It’s just something I’ve learned. Though it’s normally with cloth and not leather.”

“Don’t put your achievements down.” Anton squeezed her leg.

Kal nodded and looked at Cetina. She too looked impressed as she looked at Kal. “Thank you. Um…How, can I have some help putting it on? I don’t know if the straps too long.”

“Give me a moment.” Verona patted Anton and moved behind Cetina.

Cetina wore her metal helm, badly dented during their fight with the Demon creature, but still intact. News of the creatures had spread but it had become lost in a mixture of disbelief and embellishment, Anton had overhead one person saying there were fifty Demons attacking at once, and the news of the Strega Witches. They continued to worry him. They had no way to know when they would strike or if anything could be done to fight their strange magic. Cetina had been right next to them for almost a year and had no idea. He didn’t either until they started to fight. He made a mental note to prepare some magical protection when they stopped for the night.

Verona lifted the helm off, exposing Cetina’s black hair with the distinctive blue patches and removed the ribbon of cloth. The damaged skin around her eye still showed the obvious signs of burn damage while the eye itself had was completely white. He could just make out the faint line of her iris when her eye moved but only when he stared intently. And that was something Cetina did not want. He looked away as Verona adjusted the strap so the eyepatch wouldn’t fall off. When she was done Cetina looked more like a warrior than a wounded woman. Verona returned to his side while Cetina fidgeted with it to make it more comfortable.

“It’s really good. But…” Cetina looked a little embarrassed to speak further. “When we stop for the night can I get you to make a few changes? Not that it’s bad, or anything, just that it’s a little rough in places.”

Kal nodded, he was sure she was smiling, before her head jerked to one side and then to the other. She gripped his leg hard and rose to her knees. Their horses were fine but the Ix, of the other travellers, were behaving oddly. They were snorting loudly and looking quite afraid.

“Get your weapons,” Anton said, not that he needed to. “What can you smell?”

Kal pried her mask forward from the base and allowed more air to pass underneath. She took several more deep sniffs before letting go. “Rotting meat and shit. And old mud.”

Anton looked to the other travellers. They were only just starting to realise something was amiss. Upon seeing them recover their weapons, Cetina’s bent tower shield couldn’t be missed, they too reached for their weapons.

“Ghlotsm,” Anton said to the travellers. That got their attention.

He leant down to Kal as she knocked a lightning arrow. “Which way?”

She nodded across the small lake. On the other side, he saw movement amongst the bushes. Small grey creatures, barely a meter tall, moved towards them, skulking low through the small bushes and short grass but not well enough to be completely concealed. Though a good number of them were weaving in and out of the bushes Anton guessed there were no more than a hundred of the creatures.

“Everyone move together,” Anton said.

Again his words seemed a little superfluous as the other travellers had started to band together. They unbound the horse’s reins and moved them towards the centre of the travellers. A few decided to flee, those lucky few with horses for themselves, but everyone had little choice but to stand and fight. The travellers next to them, with faces covered in dirt and grime, now streaking with the sweat from fear, looked at them like they were crazy. Who would willingly fight such things? Especially when they had the chance to flee.

Anton looked at the weapons their fellow travellers had to face the Ghlotsm and felt a pang of unease. It was nothing like the combined forces of the Bebbezarian merchants and the Bandit Hunters. They only had short rusted blades, a few knives and building equipment to fend off the small, fast and deadly creatures. Anton thanked his gods once again that he was not defenceless.

Verona subtly took a small portion of blood, just in case, while Kal readied to release her first arrow. Cetina stood in front with her bent tower shield. While it had taken a beating from the Demon’s attack it still functioned as a shield, a very good one at that.

The horses and Ix started snarling and stomping the ground as the Ghlotsm reached the edge of the forest. About thirty meters lay between them, open grassland peppered with large wooden stakes. The whole situation felt eerily similar. Anton saw Cetina glance back at him. Her eye was still slightly red and glazed from the alcohol. He touched her shoulder, she glanced back but didn’t recoil or even frown.

Tethra, Goddess of Prayer, remove the alcohol coursing through Cetina’s body.

Mana left him and flowed into Cetina. Again it took more than it should have, overall it wasn’t that much, but it appeared to work. The redness in her eyes faded and became clearer, more focused. She slowly nodded, held back a grimace, and readied her sword to fight.

Kal lowered her bow and tugged on Anton’s sleeve. “What are we going to do?”

Verona nodded to him as well. Anton looked at the other travellers. “I don’t want any of their blood on our hands. We’ll take them out as quickly as we can and then get out of here before they start asking too many questions.”

“What did you say?” A terrified traveller looked at him.

Anton shook his head. “Nothing. We’re going to fight these things together.”

A shriek from the forest drew all of their attention. The first Ghlotsm broke from the forest and ran straight towards them, its razor-like claws swiping at the air. It moved extraordinarily quickly. Anton saw the fear in the eyes of the travellers as more and more Ghlotsm leapt from the bushes.

Kal loosed her first arrow, a lightning arrow, and struck the first Ghlotsm. The wretched creature burst into lightning, the blast large enough to shock and strike those around it. However, the Ghlotsm managed to stumble forward a few paces before falling over, the arrowhead sticking out the chest of the horrid creature. These had the magical inhibition as well.

The travellers looked shocked at Kal, their attention drawn to her white and green mask. They had little time to gawk as the remaining Ghlotsm raced to continue their attack. Those wounded by the flash of lightning continued forward, in whatever broken and wounded state they were reduced to.

“Waste of good arrows,” Kal muttered. She pulled out a normal arrow and fired at a Ghlotsm head, killing it instantly.

Verona sighed and glowed red, drawing up the small shards of red over her head and flung them forward as Anton threw forth a dozen small fireballs. The Ghlotsm stopped and their white eyes widened as they saw what was coming for them. The attacks slammed into the front of the wave of Ghlotsm. The fire lit the skin of the Ghlotsm and they writhed on the ground, the blood shards pierced and cut through their bodies.

The Ghlotsm continued their charge but there were only a few left, the fire magic proved to more effective than the lightning Anton used last time. Anton released another wave of fireballs and burned another wave while Verona retrieved her blood shards. A burning Ghlotsm leapt through the flames, its skin and fat melting together, and swung its claws at them. Cetina stepped forward and took the charge with her large tower shield. The Ghlotsm broke and crumpled against the shield before slumping down to the ground. Cetina stabbed the broken Ghlotsm with her sword while keeping her attention towards the flames.

A few more Ghlotsm charged through the flames but they were already badly wounded. Cetina, and a few of the braver travellers stepped forward and killed them before retreating back to the group. Anton threw a few more fireballs into the flames before he waited for any movement. He could only hear the sound of burning grass and roasting bodies, the disgusting smell crawling its way up his nose.

The fire quickly died down and the carnage was revealed. While the lightning had done considerable damage in the previous attack the fire had done much worse.

Their purple flesh grants them some immunity from the lightning and fire and allowed them to survive the lightning blasts but not the prolonged heat from the fire, even though it was probably being diminished. Interesting...We’ll need more tests on that purple flesh.

“Is…Is that it?” A traveller asked.

Anton could see the looks of shock and relief spreading amongst the travellers. Anton couldn’t see any more Ghlotsm in the bushes, last time they attacked at once without any retreating, so he guessed they were gone.

“Time to go.” Anton quietly said.

The girls agreed and pulled their horses away from the group.

“Hey!” A traveller reached out to stop them but held back when Verona gave them a death glare as his hand nearly touched her shoulder. “Er…Thank you. Who are you? Do you work for Lord Cassius?”

“No,” Anton replied. “Just consider it lucky that we were here.”

Anton hopped onto the horse alongside the others. “I would suggest getting out of here, just in case there are any more of them lurking about. Is there someone that you can contact?”

Anton’s bluntness stopped further questions.

“Yes…” the man replied. “We’ll speak with the local governor. But-”

“You should do that.” Anton whipped the reins of his horse. “Now get out of here before anything comes to check out the sound. For better or for worse. Good luck.”

Verona waved while Kal and Cetina only looked forward.

“The Holy Father sent them to save us!” Anton heard from someone. He didn’t look back and whipped the reins a little harder even as the cries were repeated.

“So how many more stops are there before we arrive at Rusaddir?” Verona asked.

“A lot.” Anton sighed. He looked back, many of the travellers were looking towards them, seemingly too afraid to move just yet. “I thought that the Church of the Holy Father didn’t have much sway in Graterious.”

“They do in the north,” Cetina said quietly. “Not so much in the south. No idea about the rest of the Empire.”

“I’m sure that they’ve heard of it…” Anton looked back again. “I wonder if this is going to convert them.”

He looked at Verona, who cocked her head. “What was the religion of the old Kar Kingdom anyway?”

Verona paused for a moment. She glanced at Cetina, who raised both brows but said nothing. Verona guessed that Anton didn’t have a problem with her knowing a few extra things and shrugged. “I don’t know. By the time I was born, I think it had already fallen apart. That’s something you should ask Bertram or Sybil about. They would know. But, why ask now?”

Anton scratched his glyphed hand. “They don’t like our magic.” He glanced at Kal. “Or some of us for who we are. To them, we’re probably just heretics. And heretics, well…I think we’re going to have to deal with them sooner or later. The soldiers from Qaiviel ignored us last time because we were valuable but once we start to become bigger and more powerful they’ll take notice of us and we won’t have much of choice but to fight.”

Verona opened her mouth to reply but found her voice empty. She frowned, pondering his words, as they continued on their journey.