Chapter 29 Parasite

Isaac was fast asleep while the three dark elves were meditating nearby. Fen and Jala were next to each other in the back of the small inlet they had decided to take refuge in for the night. Lenna was at the entrance, ever vigilant. Isaac and Kahtesh were in the middle. The little dragon’s eyes had never left Fen as Isaac’s order to end him should he try to cast any spells was still in place. This fact had made the first hour of meditation difficult for Fen but he made due. Around an hour before Jala would be ready to continue, Isaac was still asleep, Fen got up and quietly walked over to where Lenna was sitting and sat down across from her.

Lenna opened her eyes slowly and looked at her uncle by marriage. “Good morning, uncle.” She told him in a hushed tone. She also got the vague feeling that Isaac had woken up from Fen’s near silent movement. ‘Why doesn’t he wake up that easily when I need him to?’ She grumbled internally.

Fen leaned back against the stone wall. His eyes searched Lenna for a long moment before he began conversation. “There is quite the story behind current events. I would like to know it.” He told her in a quiet yet firm and controlled tone.

Lenna got the feeling that Fen had finally figured out a plan to extradite both himself and Jala from their current situation and he wanted to know if it was worth the effort. Lenna also knew that Kahtesh was in no way strong enough to lock down Fen if the sorcerer really wanted to leave. Fen had also made it relatively clear that he had at least one real teleportation spell ready yet he had decidedly not used it. Shadowstep was more of a step from one location to another very nearby location, it could hardly be considered a teleport when compared to mages covering entire continents in a matter of seconds.

Lenna eventually nodded. “Alright.” She replied. “But first let me explain something.” She began. Fen gestured for her to continue. “If you do leave, I do not know if he will decide that you know too much. No one can stop him, no wards, no spells, no elaborate traps. Nothing can detect him, not even the sand he walks on moves unless he wants it to.” She let silence hang for a moment. “And I won’t argue against him removing either of you.” The rest of Lenna’s sentiments continued internally. ‘I will argue against him running off by himself however.’

Fen nodded. He knew that they were a security risk for her charge and in her shoes he would have already killed both of them. Potential gains were nice but the security of the charge should always come first. “I understand.” Fen replied simply and waited for Lenna to continue.

Lenna took a deep breath and then began her retelling of events. Her story was short and sounded almost like she was reading headlines. By the time she had caught Fen up to their current position Jala was ready for breakfast and had begun digging through Lenna’s bottomless bag for food. Once she had started moving Isaac took that as his cue and got up with a stretch and a yawn.

Fen and Lenna ignored the other two while they continued. “You are making this prospect less and less agreeable.” Fen finally told her.

Lenna nodded in understanding. “I know.” She replied simply.

Fen took in a deep breath and sighed. “But that is how I know you are telling the truth.” He smirked. “Also, you are awful at storytelling.”

Lenna shook her head. “You should have asked Isaac. He likes to add a lot of frivolous filling to his fantastical fables.” She finished with a grin.

The alliteration and large amount of unnecessary words got Isaac’s attention. “Are you feeling alright?” He asked her.

Lenna’s reply was a soft chuckle and an outstretched hand. “Water?” She asked and Isaac handed her the waterskin he had just taken a drink out of. She narrowed her eyes at him but otherwise didn’t hesitate to take a drink. “Once we are done we should get moving right away.” She told the party.

Isaac nodded in agreement. “Yes, I would like a bed again and a bath. Civilization has spoiled me.”

While traveling Isaac took an opportunity to question Jala. “You two have been very cooperative, which honestly causes me more concern than not.” He told her. She looked at him and tilted her head in question. For some reason Jala seemed younger than Lenna at that moment. Jala seemed to have never lost a childlike curiosity and blatant disregard for danger or right and wrong. “I understand that when you swore to serve me you meant it, as it was a trade, your servitude for Fen’s life, but even still you seemed to have switched sides very quickly. Why?” He asked directly.

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Jala tapped her chin in thought. “It is the nature of this place for the strong to rule. Power reigns supreme in this world and you have proven to be that power. Getting on your bad side now wouldn’t be worth the trouble in the future. I’m sure Fen is thinking the same thing.” She looked at him with an innocent smile. “It’s just the way the world works, loyalty isn’t worth your life.”

Isaac nodded but remained quiet for a while. ‘It’s a wonder that their society can function at all if loyalty doesn’t exist. Everything is run by fear and violence. I know that I operate mostly the same way but if everyone was like that? I doubt I would have survived this long if I’m being honest with myself.’ He thought to himself.

They continued on for a bit longer before Isaac stopped them. “Up ahead.” He spoke just a bit louder than a whisper. “I’ve felt them building for a while now. There are actually too many to count. It’s like they are piled on top of each other. Let’s be careful.”

Isaac moved to the front and everyone fell in behind him. He silenced Lenna’s armor and Kahtesh’s bony paws as those were the things making the most noise. The party crept forwards until they came across the same hole in the wall that Isaac and Lenna had spotted the smaller band of Ori-Masa fighting shadow-wolves two days prior. The large cavern that had been mostly empty upon their exit was now home to over two hundred Ori-Masa. There were bedrolls made of various animal hides, foodstuffs of questionable quality and weapons made of bone and sinew thrown about seemingly at random.

The fishmen were all moving around and conversing with each other without a care in the world for whatever might be lurking in the dark waiting to gobble them up. “They could be a problem in the future.” Lenna commented while inspecting the small community before them.

“Yeah.” Isaac agreed. “Something is weird about them too.”

“So, what will you do?” Fen questioned.

Isaac looked over at him. “I could go in there and kill them all one at a time but that would take ages and I don’t really feel like it.” He replied simply. “So instead I am going to try to figure out why each of them feels like more than one creature, write it all down, then hand it in at the Adventurers’ Guild. They will make a bounty for it and then if I feel like taking care of them in the future I’ll at least get paid for it.”

“They feel like multiple creatures?” Jala asked.

Isaac nodded. “Yes. Something is weird with them.” He looked between his party members. “You stay here. I’m going to go look around.” Isaac was about to vanish when a hand grabbed his arm. Jala had stopped him. “What is it?” He asked.

She was squinting, trying to see deep into the mass of fishmen. After a moment her eyes widened so far they sparkled. “A mushroomancer!” She exclaimed and Isaac and Fen both quickly put a hand over her mouth.

“Quiet you!” Fen snapped as quietly as he could. “I don’t want to be fish food.”

She nodded slowly and a muffled: “Okay” Could be heard. Luckily none of the Ori-Masa had seemed to hear her over their own commotion but Isaac had no idea how not even one of the outliers had heard her.

“What do you mean by mushroomancer?” Isaac asked.

Her eyes twinkled again and her face broke out in a huge grin. “I’ve been looking for one to dissect for the past three centuries. I can’t believe there is one here! Can I have it?” She pleaded like a child asking for a toy in a shop window.

Isaac couldn’t help but chuckle. “It depends on what it is, little Jala, we might have to come back for it.” He told her like he was talking to a three year old. Fen covered his own mouth after he snorted from the look of utter indignation that exploded over Jala’s face. Lenna couldn’t help but smile as she tried to keep an eye on the Ori-Masa movements.

Jala huffed. “A mushroomancer is a type of druid that is only in tune with mushrooms. Their bodies are supposedly hosts to specially cultivated mushrooms that have the ability to inhabit other lifeforms and give the mushroomancer some amount of control over them. The host is still alive and functions as normal but they are forced to do as the mushroomancer wishes.” She explained.

“What if there is more than one?” Isaac questioned. Even if each of the fishmen before him was worth two to his Polarity Sense there still wasn’t anywhere near enough bodies for what he was feeling.

Jala shook her head. “I don’t know enough about them. That’s why I want to dissect one.” She inspected Isaac. “Speaking of,”

“No.” Isaac cut her off.

“Why not? You can heal yourself and Lenna will make sure you don’t actually die.” She countered cheerily.

“I don’t feel like getting bisected, thank you.” Isaac replied. “Back to the mushroom fish.”

“That is about all I know.” Jala answered. “They most likely have some amount of control over other types of mushrooms to an extent as they are technically druids. I wouldn’t be surprised if they have some other types of tricks but information on them is rare.”

Isaac sighed and made eye contact with Jala. “Okay, here’s the deal. If we can find a way for you to keep being franken…” Isaac’s voice trailed off as he clutched his head in pain. It took a moment for his head to clear enough that he could say what he meant to say but in different words. He swallowed down the throbbing headache he had just given himself. “If we can get you a laboratory in Safeharbor, and the Ori-Masa keep moving in that direction, when they are close enough to make it a day trip, I’ll capture one for you. For now though, let’s keep going.” He told the wizard who now looked at him with concern.

“What was that?” Jala asked. “Maybe I should cut you open to see what’s inside.”

“No.” Isaac shot back.

“Are you sure there isn’t something in there that shouldn’t be?” Jala questioned. “I heard about a parasite that takes over a person’s brain, I could check and see.”

“No.” Isaac replied. “In fact it’s the opposite. There aren’t things in here that used to be and whenever I try to reference them accidentally I get rudely reminded of their absence.”

“How powerful was the memory manipulation magic?” Jala asked, even though it wasn’t a parasite that she could put in a jar, new magic was still exciting.

“Divine.” Isaac replied with a frown. “And even if you could undo it I don’t want you to.”

“Oh.” Jala said quietly then regained her curiosity. “Why not?”

“I traded them and going back on a deal with a divine being is never a good idea.” Isaac answered. He shook his head. “Let’s just keep moving.” And with that the party left the Ori-Masa school alone and resumed their journey to Safeharbor with only mild grumbling from Jala about missing out on an interesting specimen or two.