Chapter 8

The six of them huddled in a rough circle, there was no fire to keep close to as they didn’t dare light one. Even if the light wasn’t seen, the smell carried far and anything that might attract attention was never mentioned.

With no fire to stare into, Torvund instead looked at his weathered hands, running a finger over all the lines and scars of time. Everyone seemed to be so close in the cave, it wasn’t cramped but there was only just enough room for everyone to stretch without bumping into someone else. Marus hunched forward, his eyes swinging from Torvund to Genine with a focused intensity. Ag occupied himself with sharpening his belt knife, running the small whetstone he carried over its edge until it was wickedly thin.

Torvund took a breath before looking up at Ag, Marus, and Esker. Martine was present but seemed to out of it he hardly warranted attention. “It’s been decades since all this started.” Torvund began in a rumbling murmur, his face dully lit by the pale light seeping through the gaps between stone and entrance. “Long enough for all of us to have changed to deal with the new world and long enough for a lot of folk to die. We all know how the game goes, we’re all united until everything falls apart then it's every man or woman for themselves.”

He paused and looked back at his hands. “That’s how it's been for a long time. But someone had a thought. What if it wasn’t how it should be.”

Ags’ eyes moved from his blade to Torvund at the vague statement. “You’ll need more than that to convince me we shouldn’t just off the girl and be done with it.” He snapped.

Genine opened her mouth but Torvund raised a hand to silence her. “You’ll get to say your piece, lass, but let him hear it from me first.” He locked eyes with Ag and continued. “The Therudi, they ain’t as dead as most think. True, a good number got eaten or turned, they seemed more susceptible to the plague than any but more than a few survived. Bits of every tribe banded together to make the Spears of Analada.”

“Analada, he is a god?” Esker asked, writing furiously in his notebook.

“She is.” Torvund corrected. “The goddess of the Purifying Hunt. One of their prime four deities and they give her great reverence. Any hunt leader is always a woman as are a great many of their shamans. Anyway, the Spears were their answer to the stone skins, a plague had gripped the land and to them it could only be purified by a hunt that would purge the world of any and all infected.”

He chuckled, his hands falling into his lap. “Let’s just say it didn’t go so well. The hunt failed but they found something else, the source.”

Everyone perked up at that, even Martine seemed to almost come out of his stupor to pay some small amount of attention. “What was it?” Ag asked, hsi anger replaced with curiosity.

“A rot.” Torvund spat. “A deathly growth hidden beneath the surface of the world and away from the eyes of all that walk it. A few places hold openings to it; we're not sure how many there are or who built them but they’re there, and the Scarlet Spire is one of them.”

“We?” Marus asked.

“Aye, we.” Torvund sighed. “I joined them, at least a decade ago. Genine was with them when I got there but was still a child.”

“So where does that leave us? Stranded out here trying to finish a job that shouldn’t have been ours in the first place.” Ag snapped. “They got themselves killed and we’re left to pick up the pieces and deal with a Red Captain, his gang of thralls and a horde of stone skins.”

“They aren’t all dead!” Genine shot back, her face flushed with anger. “You heard the officer, not all of them are dead.”

“So what?” Ag sneered. “One or two lived. That doesn’t help us.”

“Shut up!” Genine hissed. Her fists were clenched on her thighs with the effort of restraining herself. “They died for a noble cause and any left would gladly help us; give their lives for us if necessary.But you wouldn’t know anything about that, would you? You’re a self serving man who doesn’t care for anyone or anything. You’re as bad as the red Captains.”

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Ags’ eyes narrowed at the barb but didn't rise. “Listen girl, I’ve cared for more people than I care to remember. Do you know what happened to all of them? They died, horrible, painful deaths. If you’re spears want to sacrifice themselves for folk who won’t do it in return let them. They’ll join the thousands of fools who came before.”

He locked eyes with the furious woman and saw the hate she had for him written plainly across her face. Let her hate. He’d seen his father, siblings, friends, all of them, die beneath the claws of stone skins. He’d seen the noble and self sacrificing die over and over, their screams of agony ringing in his ears. Let her hate. He hated himself too but he did what had to be done to survive.

They might have continued their argument had a knocking on the rock not silenced them. All eyes turned to the sealed entrance, the air thick with dread.

“Anyone alive in there?” A strangely accented voice called.

“Well I’ll be.” Torvund sighed. “I guess you were right, Genine, some did survive. Or a stone skin learned to talk like Nuramerd.”

He heaved himself up and threw his shoulder against the rock as hands reached into the gaps to pull. The rock fell away with a dull thud on the pine needle strewn ground and a strange sight revealed itself.

Two figures stood tall and proud, their heads were helmetless but the rest of their bodies were clad in the same ornate armor as the corpse from the village while three others wearing sleek leather vests, bracers, and greaves stood watch. The two armored figures and one of the watchers had the same bone ridges as the corpse while the other two had smaller ridges in the center of their foreheads. Therudi, three men, two women, all armed with swords and, for the three leather clad figures, fine bows.

“Hello there you old dog.” One of the armored figures laughed. When we saw your cavalcade march into that death trap I thought for sure you’d have died first.” The Therudi’s face broke into a smile as he stepped forward, his arms outstretched.

Torvund bear hugged the newcomer and laughed heartily. “You wish. It takes more than a pack of stone skin to kill me.” He let go and turned to face the rest of his group still in the cave. “Come, meet what’s left of the company.”

One of the leather clad females swiveled on her heel and approached the entrance to the cave, her eyes narrowed at the people inside. “Can we trust them?”

Torvund ducked his head as she stepped forward. “Yes, Huntress. Though some may be short tempered.” He shot a look at Ag. “They are all reliable.”

She looked them over and they, her. Ag found she seemed mostly human, despite a paleness to her skin and perhaps a slight green hue and of course the bone ridge. Otherwise she could have been any woman, not too tall, well built yet lean and agile. A dangerous one to fight with a bow or a knife, he was sure of that.

She seemed satisfied with her viewing of them but her eyes lingered on Martine. He had come out of his stupor mostly but was still huddled on the ground. “Very well, I suppose I can’t be too picky right now can I? Your horses are not far off, at least the ones we could catch.”

“So what exactly is the plan?” Ag asked. “I’m grateful for my horse if she’s alive but I’m not too keen on getting myself killed over something I don’t really understand. There’s eleven of us now, less than what we’d had before. I’m just wondering if you’ve got an idea of what we’re going to do.”

“If you wish to leave by all means…” The Huntress began but Torvund stepped between them.

“With all due respect Nacine, let me.’’ He turned on Ag, not angry, but resolute nonetheless. “We’ve still got the sewer entrance Lord Andel told us of and while they’re out looking for us they aren’t in the Spire fortifying.”

“And we have another way to get to the Spire.” The jovial Therudi chimed in. “A secret path through the mountains that few know of.”

“And we have that.” Torvund finished.

Ag looked from Torvund to the Huntress, Nacine. “Did one of the horses you nabbed have a lute tied to the saddle?”

Nacine looked back at the other two hunters and one of them nodded. “Yes.” She replied.

Ag sighed. “Then I guess I’m still in. But I call the first pick of whatever is offered when we get back.”

Torvund nodded and laughed. “I’ll make sure you get the very best service and supplies that are on offer.”

With that Nacine seemed to think the conversation was over and turned to march back to the horses. The rest of her band followed, minus the happy one, and Torvund and Genine followed.

Esker waved Ag over to where he knelt by Martine. “Help me get him up. The boy needs fresh air.”

Ag did as he was bid and together they hoisted Martine to his feet. The boy was trembling ever so slightly with each step towards the cave entrance, his nerves shot. As they passed the Therudi, Martine gasped.

“I thought you were dead!”

The Therudi laughed again. “Not yet my friend and neither are you. Come now, stop that shaking and let's get you something to eat that isn’t jerky.”

Ag let the Therudi take the arm he’d been holding and watched the three totter off. As they passed the horses were brought up, Nacine leading the way and Torvund and Genine on either side speaking to her. Ag saw his horse and ran to greet her. The beast seemed no worse for wear after her mad flight from the village.

“How are you doing girl?” He asked and the horse nuzzled him gently. “Better than me, I expect.” Ag chuckled. He looked out at their now larger band, making preparations to leave. “We’ll see if we can keep it that way.”