On the afternoon of the seventh day after helping the kind lady Margarette, the Jellybeans were at a crossroad. Straight would lead them to Cadamem, the holiest and religious city in Asmir. Right would lead them to Mount Kendor where they had a hunt, though by the way Mistress Astrin made it seem, that the problem wasn’t a big emergency.

Aliya had noticed that Fern had been experiencing a bit of pain for a couple of days and this moment seemed like the last chance to check on the state of the curse’s corruption with the druid.

“Gene,” meekly asked the cleric. “Could we stop for a bit? I want to check out Fern. I want to gauge how much time we have left before the corruption takes over.”

“Rolivish said that it would be fine for a month or two,” scoffed Meowlynn. “I assume he would know more about curses than you."

"Of course you can check," said Gene. "There is no harm in letting her check. Now is as good a time as any, and if he is fine then all we lost was a bit of time."

"Fine," Meowlynn rolled her eyes.

With that slight squabble out of the way, Aliya grabbed her holy symbol and started carving the symbol for Lorian, the God of Death onto her right palm. It was a medical syringe that served as the base for a balance with a skull tipping the scale to the right. On her left palm, she carved the symbol for Baron, the God of Knowledge. This was a book with a brain at the top and the brainstem curled into a massive spiral.

"Open your shirt," demanded the gnome to Fern. He blinked a few times as he watched her blood drip from her palms, his mouth opened like a teenage boy who just saw his first pair of tits. Then the question sunk into his thick skull and did what he was told. If he had listened to her back in Erend then they wouldn't be having this problem.

Aliya placed her hands on opposite sides of his torso, the blood slowly spreading out from under them. She softly moved them in a clockwise motion. As she did, a slightly black essence leaked from her right hand, and a dark blue one spread from her left hand. Once both blood trials touched the starting point of the other's, Fern's skin looked like the night sky.

Red and white stars began showing up on his skin, red showed the curse's corruption and white showed untainted areas. A large mass of red stars dotted where his heart would be and then spread out. They reached up to his face, across to his elbows, and down to his genitals, seeming to focus on them quite a bit.

"It's very bad," announced Aliya. "He'll probably be fully tainted in less than a week."

"Alright, everyone," called out Gene. "Change of plans. We are heading directly to Cadamem to cleanse Fern!"

Meowlynn used her magic to clean all the blood out of the cart after Aliya used her own magic to heal her palms. The wizard then splashed the druid in the face with some water, "This is all your fault."

Luckily for Fern, the city was only a day away so they would be able to get there. The sun was setting when they saw the lake just outside of Cadamem where Aliya had first met Kira.

Aliya was camping out by the lake because she hadn't mustered up the courage to enter the holy city and Kira was there because she was kicked out for arresting a man outside of her law boundaries. Apparently, he was some twisted official that was a known slave trader and he fled to Cadamem because he knew Kira could arrest him there. The templars of Cadamem got him on other charges though.

Both women were strangers in this half of the world and Aliya was shy. The only reason she even approached Kira at all was that Aliya needed protection and felt comfortable talking to the halfling because both women were around the same size. The two became fast friends and head to Tormund because Kira wanted to examine one of her leads.

The lake was just as beautiful and it was on the day the girls met and Aliya put her hand in Kira's. With her newfound experience and Kira at her side, the cleric was ready to enter the city of gods.

A large fire was roaring not too far from the city's tall marble walls. There were many tents surrounding the fire and more people dancing around it.

"Can we see what they are doing," asked Kira.

"I don't see why not," smiled Gene.

The Jellybeans stopped near the tents and got out. Aliya watched as her close friend ran towards the fire. Not only was there a large number of people dancing around the fire but there was also a small band playing. The music was a quick and feverous song that matched the crazed forms the dancers were making. Conducting the dance party was a short man who had the legs of a goat. He would dance around giving instructions to people and also playing on some pipe instrument that was tied around his neck.

"Would you mind if I danced," Aliya heard her friend ask the goat-man.

"The more the merrier," he replied and took the halfling's hand and started twirling her around. One of the dancers poured Kira a drink while they danced. The ranger glowed with happiness as she enjoyed the rhythm of the music.

The cleric started to examine the other dancers and couldn't help but notice that some of them seemed too thin or looked absolutely exhausted but seemed to dance against their wills. Similar to how a marionette moved in ways they were forced to.

Aliya walked up to the strange man, "Maybe you should take a break. Some of these people seem past their limits."

"Nonsense," snapped the man. "They are dancing because that is what they truly desire. Maybe the little girl would care to join?"

The man grabbed his pipe and started planning a powerful song at a hasty tempo. An urge to dance washed over Aliya but somehow she suppressed it. Her concern for the health of these people outweighed her desire to join them.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

Suddenly, an arrow passed through the throat of the goat-man as he went to play another song on his pipe instrument. When he fell to the ground, the band and dancers stopped whatever they were doing. Some of the people collapsed instantly as Ciylia came out from behind a tree with her bow drawn.

Not even bothering to question how the forest elf knew to kill the weird-looking man to stop his dancing magic, the cleric began helping the tired and exhausted.

"Let's try to get as many as we can onto the cart," yelled Aliya. "The churches will be able to do more for them than we can."

Most of the Jellybeans, except Meowlynn and Ciylia, helped place as many people as they could into the cart. Not everyone could make it on so Aliya sort the people by how exhausted or drained they looked.

Once the cart was filled, the Jellybeans and some of the exhausted people made their way into Cadamem. A guard stopped them at the gate. “Why are you traveling with so many people? What happened to them?”

“These people were put under some dancing spell,” explained Aliya. “They were forced to dance past the point of exhaustion and need the medical help of the church!”

“Alright,” nodded the guard swiftly. “Take them to the temple of the Shining Dragon. It’s a large marble building with a large platinum dragon’s head sitting on top of it.” The guard pointed at the structure in the distance. It was one of the biggest buildings in the city.

“There are more people,” informed the gnome. “Only a few kilometers north by some giant tents.”

“Understood, now get going.”

Fern led the cart through the beautifully clean city although the night light wasn’t doing its beauty justice. Eventually, they made it to a large plaza near the city’s center where the humongous temple stood.

The Jellybeans then carried the people up the stairs to a set of large double doors with a massive knocker shaped like the head of a dragon. Before Gene could use it, the doors swung open and serval priests were there to assist the tired people.

“Excuse me,” said Aliya to one of the priests. “One of the people we are traveling with is cursed.”

“Bring then back in the morning,” politely declined the priest. “Tonight we must help tired and the weary. The archbishop already knows of your plight and asks that you return in the morning.”

Aliya was rejected but understood. There was still some time before the curse fully took hold. Once all the tired were brought inside, the priests thanked the Jellybeans as they waited for the rest of the tired people to be brought by the guards.

“They told us to come back tomorrow,” Aliya told the group with her head down.

“That isn’t a problem,” assured Gene. “Astrin said there was a hunt here, so we should be able to stay the night there free of charge.”

After asking the guards, the Jellybeans were directed to another tall building. This building was made of wood that seemed very beautiful but not a type of wood the gnome had ever seen before. The structure towered over every other building near it and seemed to have many floors. Based on size alone, the Cadamem Hunt made the Erend Hunt look like an infant.

The Jellybeans walked into the building and there was a strong blonde woman standing at the front desk, a scar going across her nose.

“How can the Cadamem Hunt help you this evening?” Her voice was surprisingly light and delicate and sounded like a singer’s voice.

“We are here to spend the night,” answered Gene nonchalantly.

“Sleeping quarters are for members only,” she protested.

“We are members of the Erend Hunt,” without any shame the monk removed his top to reveal his brand. “I’m sure this means we can stay.”

“Do all of you have brands?”

“No,” interrupted Blaine. “I don’t have one.”

“I see,” she looked up at the bones of a giant multi-headed creature that was suspended on wires over the middle of the hunt. “Well, all of you can spend the night here but you’ll need to be in the line-up tomorrow morning.”

“What’s the line-up? Sounds like we are going to prison,” commented Fern. “I’m not fond of prison.”

The burly woman started laughing, “Nothing like that. You’ll be given a hunt based on your standing in the hunt.” She paused briefly, “More specifically, he will as the rest of you are full-fledged members but he still has to complete an entry-level hunt. Its difficulty will be based on how many of you choose to help him.”

“I understand,” said Blaine. “Now can you direct us to a place to sleep?”

“Of course,” grinned the woman. “On the third floor, there should be a few doors open that have beds.”

“Thank you,” said Gene, and the group made their way up the stairs. A lot of them looking at the large beast hanging on display. On the third floor, five doors were open.

“Meowlynn,” the monk turned to the wizard. “Could you share a room with Ciylia as neither of you has to sleep? If not, I can find somewhere else to rest.”

An eye roll later, Meowlynn agreed. All the men got their own rooms and the women paired off. The logic was on Gene’s side and perhaps he was just being logical but it also could have been seen as sexiest. The gnome made a note to talk about it in private with Gene in the future.

Kira and Aliya shared a bed and slept soundly. The ranger was now back to her normal self after a night of an extremely high fever while they were traveling.

The same nightmare haunted Aliya again but this one was different from the rest. After Aliya was murdered in the dream, a giant shimmering dragon descended down and blasted the evil god with fire, ice, acid, and lightning.

Instead of waking up screaming, Aliya woke up with a slight smile on her face and tears coming from her eyes.

The Jellybeans met on the third floor and went to wait in the line that was forming in the middle of the first floor. The line was quite long but moved quickly.

A man was sitting behind the table, his hair was short brown and messy. He looked very young with a friendly face. His muscles were well defined and made his black armour look even bigger than it was. A black blade with the blade part itself being about the size of Aliya rested by the man’s side.

“You lot are Astrin’s, eh?” He had a giant smile on his face, it was very welcoming. “But I heard the cursed fellow still needed to prove himself.”

“Yes,” said Gene with his hand stretched out for a handshake.

“I’m Ciylia,” interrupted the thief. “I’m the leader of our group called the Jellybeans.”

The rest of the group glared at her or shook their heads. “I’m sure,” coughed the handsome man.

“I’m Gene, and Blaine does need to complete a hunt.” Gene grabbed the scroll that had the Jellybeans’ contract on it. “But we have a hunt that he is on.”

“If he sleeps under my roof and isn’t branded then he’ll do the job I want and the rest of you are welcome to help him.”

“Very well,” agreed the monk.

“I’m glad we agree,” hummed the man. “My name is Master Yennin, now where is this Blaine character.”

Blaine made his way to the front of the group. “That would be me.”

“Excellent,” Master Yennin shuffles through a few scrolls beside him until he found the one he was looking for. “This will be your assignment and you have five days to complete it. If it is not completed by then, I’ll make sure you pay a penalty and never work for the Asmir Hunt again.”

“Alright,” sighed the curse-blooded man. “Let’s just get this over with.”

Yennin unrolled the scroll and presented it to Blaine to add his thumbprint to it. The hemomancer did it without hesitation.

“And of you other Jellybeans are welcome to join.”

Of course, everyone did even though the pay was not good. When Aliya went up she caught a glimpse of the kind of creature they were going to face. Some half-woman half-spider being called an arachne. It lived in a cave southeast of Cadamem.

“Have a nice day,” dismissed the master of the Cadamem Hunt.

“We should get to the temple of the Shining Dragon as quickly as possible,” suggested the cleric. “They are expecting us today to cure Fern’s curse.”

“Alright,” nodded Gene. “Let’s get that pendant out of Fern.”