Chapter 13
Blood Artist
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Kail and Lunis emerged from the cornfield and into a large clearing, in the center of which lay a log cabin. An all too innocent childhood memory of building with lincoln logs on a wooden floor as sunlight poured through a window washed through Kail.
They approached the porch, the first rays of the rising sun casting slight shadows in front of them. Ascending the steps they arrived upon the porch and before a door, a singular wooden rocking chair lay off to the side. “I’m guessing whoever lives here is a woodworker who decided to expand his craft,” said Kail.
“He’s disgusting,” said Lunis as she reached for the door handle, twisting it only to find that it was predictably locked.
“Back up,” said Kail as he drew his sword.
After Lunis had moved out of the way, he stabbed his sword into the crevice beside the handle. His blade cut through wood and then stopped as it met firm iron, he withdrew his sword, yanking the knob and ripping the iron which protruded from within the door free of the frame’s broken and splintered wood. The door swung open, revealing a spacious room which seemed to take up much of the cabin’s interior.
Kail walked inside the room which was illuminated by several windows. An elegant wooden couch faced an empty hearth, the outsides of the couch’s cushions were the same mottled gray-brown cloth that had covered the scarecrows. A wooden chair also faced the hearth and a basket of firewood lay beside the brick fireplace. The rest of the room contained a wooden table, lined with two benches and with a singular chair at one head. A counter was attached to one wall with cabinets above and a spigot which descended toward a sink. Opposite from the counter lay a walled-off room with a door identical to the one they’d entered through.
Kail headed for the door, finding it unlocked as he twisted the handle. The door opened and as it did he heard a thrumming sound, and then a sharp pain impacted his chest. The pain wasn’t nearly as bad as the injury inflicted upon him by the scarecrow, which his regenerative skills had managed to fully heal.
HP 88/140
The room was completely dark and so Kail followed his initial instinct and stepped back, slamming the door shut in front of him. He looked down at the crossbow bolt embedded in the leftern side of his chest.
“Should I pull it out?” asked Lunis as she arrived in front of him.
Kail nodded and she grasped the shaft with both hands, yanking it out of him as he focused on controlling his blood flow to prevent bleeding.
“Are you alright?”
“I’ll be fine,” he said, then raised his tone, winking as he did his best Marve impression. “Step back, I’m about to go in there and kill this monster!”
Lunis stepped back from the doorway and Kail grasped the handle, flinging the door open and diving out of the way as he did so. Another bolt shot out, completely missing him and embedding itself in the opposite wall. Kail rushed into the room, drawing his sword as he lunged forward blindly. He impacted a bed, his momentum sending him diving forward sword first.
“Agh!” screamed a male voice as Kail’s sword sank into flesh.
Kail climbed up and on top of the pummel of his blade, using his weight to force it deeper into the man who groaned.
DAMAGE DEALT TO Unknown Adversary = 49
“Get, off me,” gasped the man.
“Good idea,” said Kail as he rolled off his sword, withdrawing it with his left hand and grabbing the unseen man’s neck with his other. He sheathed his sword as he dragged the rather light man off his bed and toward the door. Lunis stepped back from the doorway as Kail flung the man down into the light cast by the rising sun.
A bloodstained nightgown garbed a rather thin man with a short black beard and dark brown eyes. A cascade of long graying black hair fell around him as he lay there staring up at them.
“Why would you do it all?” asked Lunis accusingly.
“Do what?” gasped the man whose white nightgown was rapidly being drenched with dark blood.
Lunis kicked him in the face, and he winced back, yet his eyes remained dry even as his blood began pooling beneath him. Then an abrupt change came over his face in an instant. His pupils dilated, turning black, and a forked tongue hissed from between his lips which had turned a bright shade of orange. “Why do you harm this vessel little Valien? You were baptized in brimstone and blessed with hellish purpose. I can smell the infernal roiling within your soul. Your brother calls out to you and yet you do not heed his pleas.”
Steam began emanating from the possessed man and smoke rose from the floor beneath him. Kail drew his sword, placing its point to the smoldering man’s throat. “Which brother?”
“You already know,” said the man an instant before bursting into flame. Lunis jumped back and Kail shoved his sword down and through the burning neck.
DAMAGE DEALT TO Husk = 122
EXPERIENCE GAINED = 100/Husk Defeated.
He withdrew his sword hastily as a foul smell filled the cabin. “Let’s leave!” yelled Lunis and Kail hurriedly followed her out the door, onto the porch, down the steps, and away from the cabin.
Reaching the edge of the cornfield they turned, watching as the cabin’s roof caught fire quickly followed by the rest of it. Kail’s hand found hers. “We did a good thing.”
She nodded. “We did.”
They emerged from the cornfield and back onto the road, finding their horse sleeping peacefully across from them. The innocent scene touched Kail’s heart in a way he couldn’t quite understand. He looked down at Lunis and she looked back up at him. He leaned down toward her, their lips meeting. To his slight surprise, her tongue entered his mouth and he reciprocated the motion, leaning deeper into the kiss as his tongue slipped beneath hers. Her mouth felt wonderfully hot and the kiss lasted far longer than most he’d shared with Audrey.
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Somewhat reluctantly, he pulled back, kissing her cheek briefly as he released his hands from around her waist. “This cornfield means there must be a town nearby.”
The sun rose ahead of them as they climbed into the saddle and continued down the road. The cornfield gave way to a field of grassy pastures in the distance of which lay fences and farmhouses. Up ahead the silhouettes of various buildings became visible, no walls surrounded the rather small town and no guards made their presence known as they approached. The road led through more of a village than a town, consisting of a dozen or so buildings, several of which looked noticeably older than the others which seemed fairly new.
Kail’s attention was drawn to the largest of the buildings, an old wooden church the lower half of which was covered in brown vines and various plants which ascended from the ground as if to choke the life from the structure. The upper portions of stained glass windows were somewhat visible above the vine’s reach, and a white steeple ascended into the sky. The large wooden doors to the church were covered in mold and the brass handles were rusty, yet accessible.
Kail steered the horse toward a tavern with a stable where he and Lunis dismounted. “I have a quest to convert twenty individuals to my God’s religion,” Kail told Lunis quietly, “and that church appears deserted.”
“I can take your horse for a grooming sir!” exclaimed a high-pitched voice.
Kail and Lunis churned to see a boy whose tone and pimple-covered face clearly indicated that he was going through the beginning stages of puberty.
“Sure,” said Kail, taken slightly off guard by the kid’s demeanor.
The boy smiled very off-puttingly as he extended a hand palm up. Kail reached into his pockets, finding them empty and remembering that he didn’t have any money. He glanced at Lunis. “You don’t have any coin do you?”
She shook her head and he turned back to the eager looking boy. “Actually we’ll just tie him off to a stake.”
The boy’s smile fell. “Oh, I see,” he sniffed, turning away and heading back into the stables.
Kail tied their horse off to a nearby stake. “We could probably charm someone wealthy into giving us some coins,” said Lunis.
A smile spread across Kail’s face. “Certainly. This tavern seems like a good place to start.”
Hand in hand they entered the tavern.
“And that’s why all these damn disgustin frog spawn should be eradicated!” concluded an older man with a scruffy beard who was seated at the bar.
A tall thin bartender with short white hair and a matching thin beard nodded slowly as he poured two bottles into a flagon.
The rather small tavern was mostly deserted, but for the bartender, the scruffy bearded man, and two young women who sat at a table with a teenage boy. Kail took a seat at the bar, with the scruffy man to his left and Lunis to his right. The scruffy man’s attention snapped toward him, his eyes widening. “Red brown hair, green eyes, perfect skin. Do I have the pleasure of sitting next to a Valien? And if so then what would one be doin here?”
Kail extended a hand. “I’m Kail Valien, first born son of Dainith, it’s a pleasure to meet you.”
The man’s mouth dropped, his eyebrows raised, then he regained some composure, slowly extending a calloused hand and grasping Kail’s firmly. “It’s an honor Sir. I’ve always believed your Father’s a great man. I’ve upheld his ideals even as others have forgotten who it was who established this town and drove the frog spawn off.”
Inwardly Kail wondered what kind of person could respect someone like Dainith, but his resources were currently few, and if he could use his family’s name to change that than he would. He shook the man’s hand. “That’s good to hear. What’s your name?”
“Kesler my Lord. If I may ask, what brings you out here?”
“Your church,” said Kail smoothly. “It seems to have fallen into a state of disrepair; I would see it restored.”
Kesler shook his head sadly. “Ahk, it’s a sorry state to be sure. The homeless have taken up residence within it, sullying what was once pure.”
“How many homeless?”
“Oh, I dunno Sir, perhaps five or six.”
“And what of the militia? I saw no guards during my approach?”
“Most of them are busy with the harvest, and farmer Granger’s scarecrows have been serving to protect our town’s outskirts in their absence.”
Kail sensed Lunis become tense beside him, and he worked to keep a pleasant smile on his face as he spoke. “Are you aware of how these scarecrows came to be created?”
Kesler frowned. “No Sir, the ways of those blessed with God’s gift are beyond me.”
The tension within Kail eased. “Have people been going missing lately?”
“Not recently, but before Farmer Granger arrived the damn frog spawn stole a great many brave people from our town.”
“That wasn’t the frog spawn,” said Lunis. “That was Granger, he was a monster who abducted people and twisted them into scarecrows. We put an end to his evil this morning.”
Kesler’s stubley jaw dropped. “Goddamn, I thought Granger was one of the good ones.”
“Can I get either of you anything to drink?” interjected the bartender.
Kesler’s attention snapped toward the thin man. “Have some respect when you address our Lord and his Lady, and they’ll have cinnamon whisky on me.”
The bartender’s face remained impassive as he began pouring two glasses of whisky.
“I appreciate it,” Kail told Kesler. Whisky had been his drink of choice since the age of eighteen when he’d had his heart broken for the first time. He’d drank more that year than any other since and had grown fond of whisky because of the fiery sensation he felt as it traveled down his esophagus.
He picked up the glass placed before him, it lacked ice but that was fine, he’d never been a fan of ice in most any beverage. To his delight the whisky tasted and felt far stronger than any he’d ever had, he wondered what the percentage was as it coursed down his throat accompanied by that fiery sensation that made him feel so alive. The cinnamon aftertaste was pleasantly reminiscent of fireball, and he drained his cup before glancing at Lunis. She placed her half-full glass on the table, her cheeks already flushed as she smiled. “It reminds me of one of Veltis’s dreams.”
“You really know how to down your whisky my Lord,” chuckled Kesler. “Davis, get us another round.”
Three glasses later, Kail slid from his stool, standing somewhat unsteadily as he clapped Kesler on the back. “Thanks man, but we need to be getting to the church. I have a quest and people to convert so that I can get strong enough to deal with my family.”
Kesler smiled widely. “Of course. I’ll be here when you're done.”
Kail turned, extending a hand palm up toward Lunis. She giggled as she placed hers atop his and he helped her down from the stool. “You're going to give a sermon in the church?”
His eyebrows rose as they headed for the door. “You know that is a good idea. It’ll hopefully convert the homeless people, whatever that entails.”
“How many people do you need to convert?”
“Twenty.”
“Why not him?” asked Lunis as she glanced back at Kesler who was draining a flagon of beer.
“We can convert him on the way back,” said Kail as he opened the door and led her outside and into the dusky light of evening.
The church loomed before them and Kail felt a silly smile spread across his face as he approached it hand in hand with Lunis. This reminded him of that time he and Franchesca had gone into an unlocked church at night, they’d made out on the podium unknowing of the homeless people sleeping in the alcoves across from them. Noticing them had been a hilarious surprise and they’d quickly rushed out of the church, laughing all the while. That had been two years ago, and she’d been the reason he’d started drinking whisky. His smile faltered. Was Lunis just going to become another Franchesca?
“What’s wrong?” she asked, looking up at him as they stood before the grand doors.
He forced a smile. “Nothing.”
He reached out, gripping a rusty handle and wrenching the door open. An aisle lay before them, leading to a dais and podium, lines of wooden pews lay to either side of the aisle. The last rays of the setting sun shone through the stained glass on the right side of the church, illuminating the homeless people who lay amidst filthy blankets and rubbish against the opposite wall.
Hand in hand, Kail and Lunis walked down the aisle and ascended the dais.