Abby led Barry and Lady Bellamy away from Setterton. There was no plan. No end destination. No better idea of where to be but anywhere but there. It just felt right for Abby's feet to be moving. It felt right to be doing something.
The small mountain behind the Setterton caves led to a larger mountain, and then a few more behind that. Together, the three adventurers wove through the lowlands of the mountains, keeping to deer trails and other easily traversable paths. They had no food, and no water. Only the clothes off their backs and the weapons they stole from the knights. A sword and a mace, as well as a few bandages and a handkerchief looted from the priestess girl Lady Bellamy bashed in.
“I feel like the answer is obvious, but we’re not going back for anyone, are we…” Lady Bellamy muttered.
Abby’s heart squeezed painfully in her chest, but she kept her eyes forward. “No. We’re not.”
“We’re not even going to try?” Barry argued.
“Never take on a fight you think you might lose.” Abby quoted one of Owyn’s lessons for younger adventurers. “And definitely never take on a fight you know you’ll lose.”
Lady Bellamy cursed. “If only I had my magic! What kind of priestess doesn’t keep extra magic cores in their pockets!?”
Abby said nothing. She understood her frustration. She felt the same way, but there was also a touch of hopelessness that came from age and maturity that someone younger and more privileged like Lady Bellamy probably didn’t understand quite yet. How were they supposed to eat? How were they supposed to survive and help everyone else?
“What’s the plan?” Barry asked. “Where are we going?”
Don’t ask that. Not now. “Just a little further.” Abby supplied. “We’ll find a spot to make camp.”
“After that?”
Stop asking.
Abby kept her eyes forward. Kept her feet moving. She wasn’t good at thinking. That wasn’t her job.
Already, she was missing Owyn.
----------------------------------------
“Wake up!” Lady Bellamy pushed Abby with her foot.
Abby grunted, but obliged. She sat up from her bed of grass and rubbed her eyes. Lady Bellamy stood off to the center of their little sleeping circle with her fists akimbo. Barry seemed to be in a similar situation as Abby, just waking up and trying to figure out what Lady Bellamy was doing.
“First! We’re not giving up on Setterton!”
“Huh?” Abby asked.
Lady Bellamy shoved two fingers in her face. “SECOND! We’re not strong enough to help anybody as we are now! So we need to get ready! That means that- three! We need to find somebody who can help us! BUT since the church will probably be looking for us, that means we need to stay out of cities! And the nearest place like that is Hallow, meaning that’s our next destination!”
Barry clapped a little hollowly.
Abby was just kind of glad that someone else came up with a plan. However- “Lady Bellamy-”
“Call me Isabelle.” Lady Bellamy interrupted. “That’ll draw less attention than a ‘Lady’ title.”
“Uh, sure. But even if someone in Hallow can help us, how would they help us? It’s not like many places have dungeons, so we’re not going to find you any magic cores. And we’re definitely not going to find us any better weapons in a place without conflict.” Although Abby didn’t know all the details about her own point, she knew of Owyns frustrations when he was looking for a place to begin adventuring so many years ago. He was very vocal about how finding the perfect place for beginners was such a difficult task, and one of the issues was finding a place that could supply them with adventuring gear.
It didn’t seem to bother Isabelle. She turned her nose up with a huff. “Obviously we just need something to get us started! Food, for starters! I’m hungry, so let’s go!”
Isabelle was already marching off as Abby and Barry got to their feet. Barry whispered to Abby.
“Do you even have any money?”
In fact, Abby did not have any money. She really did only have the clothes off her back and a knight's sword. A long, awkward thing when she was so used to her much shorter blade. This one was thinner too, much less resistant to punishment. Practical, sure, but not for adventuring. It wouldn’t take many sharpenings for the blade to become too thin to be used in combat.
Maybe they could sell it for food.
It took them most of the day to make it to Hallow, which was a mining town nestled in the crook between two mountains. After gnawing on some wild herbs purely just for their taste, the idea of getting some food of any kind was nearly a dream. Isabelle led the two vanguards to the only tavern in town, chock full of miners, farmers, and lumberjacks. Abby was almost surprised to not see Mr and Mrs Lark wandering about carrying trays of food and drink.
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A concerning number of curious eyes followed them as they found one of the only empty tables. Abby quickly understood why it was empty, as not a single chair stood properly. Barry rocked back and forth on the unsteady legs as Isabelle gathered the attention of the host. An old, portly man with an impressive mustache.
He lumbered over, casually tossing his now empty tray on the table before grabbing the last remaining chair and spinning it around. He sat on it backwards and judged the three adventurers with his aged eyes.
“Whatcha here for?”
“Food, please.” Abby answered honestly. “Whatever’s good.”
The portly man barked a laugh. “Whatcha in Hallow for lassie? You’s running away from home?”
“Of sorts.” Isabelle answered non-commitaly. “Setterton’s no longer safe. We had to run while we still could.”
The man's eyes softened a touch. “Aye, y’must be survivors then.”
All three of them suddenly started paying a lot more attention. Isabelle leaned in, taking charge of the conversation. “Survivors? What do you mean?”
Now it was the old man's turn to be confused. “What’d you mean, what’d I mean? Ain’t you from Setterton? Shouldn’t you know?”
“We left before…” Isabelle didn’t finish her sentence.
The old man softened again. “Ah, yes, I suppose that makes sense. Women and children first, and all that. Well the church arrived there four days ago, so I heard, but by then it was too late. The dungeon had already overrun everything. They’re keeping the survivors they found in groups, to make sure none-o-ya ‘r enthralled, or so the rumors go. It’s still dangerous o’er there lads. Monsters running amok. You’re welcome to stay here till the church has things handled.”
“Thank you.” Isabelle smiled kindly. She gestured to Abby and Barry. “We don’t have any money, but we were given some weapons by the church's knights. Could we sell them to you for food and lodging?”
The old man shook his head. “What’d ya take me for, a crook? No, you’ll stay here. Free of charge. Don’t you worry about it. We’ll get you sorted out.” He got to his feet and collected his tray, heading back for the kitchen. The dull murmur of conversation rose anew, obviously talking about the new arrivals.
Isabelle’s expression dropped, as well as her voice. “Four days ago? Overrun? They’ve isolated Setterton from the rest of the world with rumors from even before they arrived!”
“How’d they know?” Barry asked. “Is the church here?”
Abby panicked, looking over her shoulder to get a better look at the crowd. No person looked particularly ‘churchly’, but who knew!
Isabelle swatted Abby, bringing her attention back front and center. “Well don’t look! Ok, look. There’s today, we escaped yesterday, and we were captives for a day. That’s only three days, depending on how you count it. So what does that tell you?”
Abby and Barry sat there silently. Abby didn’t expect that she was actually expected to answer, so she just gave her a gesture of ‘well!?’.
Isabelle rolled her eyes. “There’s something bigger going on here.”
“No shit.” Barry whispered.
“No, I mean way bigger! Ok, consider this for a second. The church’s reputation is for hating dungeons, just on the principle that they supposedly remove free will from things. And yet, what have we seen as evidence against that?”
“They’re helping Lucid.” Abby said obviously. “Well, they’re trying to.”
“Exactly! Now, here’s something else to consider. The church has been buying magic cores everywhere, for as long as we can remember, right?”
“We’ve always sold ours to Jenny.” Abby pointed out. “But yes, independent magic core distributors aren’t common. The church is the largest purchaser of dungeon cores and fragments. Wait, is this about Hastings?” Abby remembered that Isabelle had figured something out when they were being held captive.
“What about Hastings?” Barry perked up at hearing his hometown.
“Forget Hastings!” Isabelle whispered her shout. “This has to do with the church as a whole! Ok, now think about the structure of their hierarchy. Only priests are allowed to use magic, remember? Yet they have so many knights!”
“Right…?” Abby wasn’t following.
“Then there’s two more small facts. Three, maybe. One: Garroway. The cardinal. Two: Lucid’s willingness to make deals, with humans in particular. Three: Mercy.”
“Grant’s… cube?” Barry avoided using the word ‘dungeon’ for some reason.
Isabelle nodded. She leaned in, ticking off her fingers. “Lucid is willing to make deals. Lucid has Mercy under his control. The church buys way more cores than they can use. The church is trying to make deals with Lucid. Garroway.”
Barry’s eyes widened. Abby still didn’t understand the implications. She just looked between the two of them with confusion.
“What? What, I don’t get it!”
“They’re going to use Lucid to create more people like the cardinal.” Barry said. “They’re going to trade cores with him so he can tame more dungeons and force them to evolve humans, and then they’ll destroy the tamed dungeons after they evolve.”
“No!” Isabelle slammed a fist on the table. She pointed accusingly at Barry. “They’ve isolated Setterton for four days, despite only being there for three! This was planned! They were ready for this! This isn’t a new situation to them! Sure, they’re probably going to use Lucid, but think just a little bit deeper!”
That’s when it clicked for Abby. “This isn’t new to them.” She repeated.
Horror donned on Barry. “This isn’t the first time they’ve done this.”
“Exactly!” Isabelle hissed. “And that implies history!”
The old man returned, and the group fell silent. Isabelle put on a beaming smile, terrifying Abby with the sudden change in attitude. The old man exchanged some pleasantries with Isabelle, and even hammered out details for their stay in Hallow on the spot. Abby and Barry stared at their respective bowls of food, almost not ready to accept this new revelation. Eventually, hunger won out though, and Abby dug in.
It was alright…
When the old man left and they were alone again, Isabelle spoke in a hushed whisper between bites of food. “History isn’t easy to disguise, but the church is powerful. Politically, physically, and in every other way. They have way more people to throw at a problem than we have ways to cook a grain. This is bigger than just Setterton, so I say if we want to save Setterton, we need to cut the problem off at the root.”
Abby nodded. It made perfect sense. You didn’t destroy a dungeon by killing its monsters after all. You go straight for the core!
“What are you, nuts?” Barry took a few more bites, waving his spoon around. “Abby just told us yesterday. ‘Don’t take on fights you’re not going to win.’”
Abby pointed to Barry, suddenly on his side. He was right after all, and Owyn’s lessons always carried much wisdom.
“True, we’re not strong enough now, but there’s more to strength than physical might.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning I’m not sure we have to fight.” Isabelle smirked. “All we need to do is expose the church for who they are, and everyone else will do the work for us.”