Mana Soul: Chapter 31 - The Mob - Aela

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Watching Markus and the other adventurers finalize their preparations and formalize their bounty distribution agreement, Aela was left feeling quite left out. Unsure of exactly where she stood amidst these arrangements, Aela just had to assume she was being treated as Markus’s retainer or contracted mercenary bodyguard.

Aela was aware that her initial position with Markus had been exactly that, a mercantile relationship to serve as his hired muscle. She had just thought that given how their relationship was progressing that Markus would have perhaps made an effort to secure a share of the bounty for her.

However, aware of how Markus thinks, Aela reflected that he most likely intended to share his own portion of the bounty with her. Thinking on it a little further, she had to admit that it was probably all the thought Markus would have given to the subject. He was bizarrely straightforward like that regarding the guild bounties.

So far as Aela was aware, Markus was still holding Aela and her family's share of the dungeon spoils in his guild account. He had tried convincing Svala to accept their share on a few occasions over the past few weeks, but mother had refused under the flimsy pretext of not wanting to be weighed down or robbed.

Aela still remembered how frustrated Markus had been afterwards. When she had asked him why he was getting so upset, Markus had irritably explained that he was worried about accidentally spending their money and how much of a temptation it presented when running low on funds for his research.

Aela was currently accompanying Markus back to their home, with his latest golem trailing a short distance behind them.

Markus was distracted reading something on his tablet since leaving the guildhall.

“What are you reading?” Aela asked curiously.

A little startled, Markus nearly tripped before dazedly looking at Aela in confusion.

“What are you reading?” Aela repeated.

“Oh. I tasked Peabody with making recommendations for expanding and protecting my business interests. I honestly had not expected such a detailed and expansive list.” Markus glanced down at his tablet again briefly, his expression becoming slightly concerned, “I think most of the recommendations are in preparation for expansion into the deadlands.”

Now it was Aela’s turn to nearly trip in surprise, “W-what?” She stammered, unsure if she had heard him correctly.

“Expanding into the deadlands,” Markus repeated, “Assuming we can rescue the adventurer with the warrant of crusade reward, Peabody wants to claim territory in the deadlands."

Aela was somewhat confused, “Why would you want to go to the deadlands?” She asked, trying to understand what desperation would drive Markus to do such a thing.

As a child, Aela had been taught most of what she knew about the world through stories told by her mother and her mother’s hunting companions. Although few in number, the stories told of the deadlands were the most tragic and depressing. True to its name, the deadlands guaranteed death for anyone foolish or desperate enough to linger within its borders.

The source of the danger was famously well known, of course, it was monsters. Five ancient dungeons somewhere in the heart of the deadlands continuously released ferocious monsters to prowl the deadlands territory. Though they seemed relatively few in number, the monsters would quickly form a voracious horde and fall upon any sizable incursion into their territory. Even small scouting or hunting parties were not safe, simply disappearing without a trace.

With no land to call their own, an attempt had been made by a coalition of chimaera clans long before Aela’s birth to seize and hold a small territory in the deadlands. According to her mother, it had been an unprecedented disaster. Although the coalition was initially able to hold the territory, the monster's numbers had just continued to grow until eventually the clans were horrendously outnumbered and surrounded. A desperate assault was launched against the besieging monsters in an attempt to give a comparatively small elite cadre of warriors the opportunity to break through the enemy lines and allow the clan's children to escape.

Svala, her mother, was one of those children. In the span of a year, four chimaera clans had been all but annihilated, their remnants forced to band together for their continued survival in the northern princedoms. It was the primary reason why their Blood-Hunter clan was uncharacteristically diverse. Descended from the survivors of those four clans, the resulting children were a motley representation of their sire’s mixed genus.

“Aela?” Markus asked gently, “Are you alright?"

Aela realized she had been lost in her own thoughts long enough to cause him to worry and was going to reply that she was fine, but couldn’t. “Why would you want to go to the deadlands?” Aela repeated instead, this time more forcefully.

“I don’t.” Markus replied, “Peabody wants to."

“Huh?” Aela was confused for a moment, “Why does the golem want to go?"

The tablet in Markus’s hand chimed almost immediately in response, momentarily delaying his reply as his attention was diverted. “Peabody wants to claim territory and hold it on my behalf as a perpetual fiefdom. It is confident that the mana draining enchantment will suffice in driving back the monsters and...” He glanced down at the tablet again and had a somewhat incredulous look on his face, “Peabody insists that a location known as the great valley can be fortified and held indefinitely."

Aela blinked, somewhat taken aback by the golem’s lack of ambition. The great valley was located just beyond the north-western borders and the northern fortress of Arngier. The great valley was surrounded by mountains on all sides and was allegedly larger than two of the largest princedoms combined.

No doubt the reason the golem believed the territory could be held lay in the unique geography of the valley itself. The surrounding mountains were supposedly impassable and left only three avenues of entry. The first was passing under the watch of Arngier fortress. The second was currently blocked by a wall the southerners had built a couple of hundred years ago. Finally, the third led deeper into the deadlands itself.

Aela vaguely recollected that humans had attempted fortifying that third entrance before to try and seize the great valley. It had obviously failed. Initially sceptical of the golem’s seemingly misplaced confidence, Aela was forced to reconsider as she recalled how brutally effective not only Markus’s mana draining enchantment was, but also the golems at Markus’s command.

“Peabody will man the fortification with golems?” Aela asked tentatively, although she was already convinced of its intention to do so.

Markus nodded somewhat distractedly as he continued to read the tablet. “That appears to be the case.” Markus stopped walking abruptly and looked shocked by what he had just read, “Is one thousand combat golems a reasonable number for holding the great valley?” He asked doubtfully.

Aela shook her head, “The passage through the mountains on the far side of the great valley might be held for a time with that many golems. The problem is the inevitable surge of monsters that would form a horde and simply overrun their position. Without a robust fortification to hold the monster horde back, your golems combat ability won’t mean much."

“That is what I thought too,” Markus agreed, but then he frowned, “There were apparently previous attempts at fortifying the passage and Peabody intends to build on the foundations left behind and...wow...” His eyes widened in surprise.

“What?” Aela asked, her curiosity piqued. Markus’s golems had proven themselves deceptively adept at creatively and independently solving problems, especially Peabody.

“It intends to enchant the entire fortress, every single brick and stone...” Markus spluttered incredulously.

Aela’s first reaction was similarly incredulous, but thinking about it for a moment changed her mind. Enchanting an entire fortress was something that she was quite sure no one had ever attempted before. There had never been the means to attempt it until now. Even the tedious aspect of enchanting thousands of individual materials was something Aela was confident Markus and his cadre of golems could handle quite easily.

The more Aela continued to think about it, the more plausible the golem’s conquest of the great valley became. She could picture it in her mind, a thousand or more golems atop an indestructible wall implacably hacking down the tide of monsters attempting to scale its sheer surface. Untiring and armed with weapons anathema to the monsters, the Golems would hold the wall until the world as they knew it had become little more than dust.

Markus seemed to have been rethinking the situation as well and his expression showed he was deep in thought again.

Trying to remember what she had overheard in the negotiations between Markus and the other adventurers earlier, Aela recalled the comments they had made regarding one of Markus’s requests. They had been somewhat upset by his request for something called the warrant of crusade? She had understood from the context that it had something to do with the deadlands.

“This might just be possible,” Markus admitted after reading for a short while longer, “I could really have my own kingdom."

“Huh? If you manage to claim the great valley and hold onto the territory for over a year, wouldn’t the northern confederation or southern kingdom just take it from you?” Aela didn’t think Markus would be so naive regarding the greed of the nobles and their monarchs. After all, wouldn’t snatching the land from Markus be so much easier for them than fighting the monsters for it?

Markus nodded. “They might,” he agreed sombrely. “Even with the warrant of crusade to enforce my claim, I have no doubt that some scheming nobles will try and steal the land out from under my feet-"

“Wait...The warrant gives you a claim to the great valley?” Aela asked, somewhat confused.

Markus nodded, “It entitles the bearer and his or her descendants to perpetual governance of all lands and territory they claim in the deadlands. Issued by the church of the divines and signed off by the kings and princes. If I manage to fortify the great valley and hold off the monsters, the rulers won’t be able to brazenly steal the territory. But I agree with you and have little doubt that the larger noble houses will leave me well enough alone."

Aela was dumbstruck. The warrant of crusade changed everything. Markus wasn’t wrong, he could title himself King if he wanted to. The entire great valley would become his sovereign fief to do with as he saw fit.

They continued on their way home again with a renewed sense of purpose. Almost at the front doorstep, “Do you think other chimeras would migrate to my territory if I allowed them?" Markus asked.

Surprised, Aela nearly tripped over her own feet, “O-other chimaeras?” She felt like her brain had fallen asleep and she had missed something important.

Markus’s cheeks flushed a little, “Well, you would come with me, right?” He quickly cleared his throat and continued without giving her a chance to answer, “And I wouldn't stop your family from living there if they wanted. I was just more curious whether other chimaeras would want to live in the great valley as well.” His expression became less excited and more sombre, “What might be happening to your clan in the north... It’s not right..."

“You would really open your land to chimaeras?” Aela asked, genuinely shocked. Markus had demonstrated he was tolerant, even sympathetic to chimaera, but this was something else entirely.

“Of course!” Markus answered curtly, perhaps a little hurt by Aela blatantly voicing her doubt.

Aela was embarrassed for her tactlessness, but she was far more touched by Markus’s matter of course opinion regarding her people. All the more so considering how roughly Svala had treated him that morning.

“I was thinking about granting hereditary land rights too,” Markus grumbled quietly.

“I think they would,” Aela answered Markus’s original question hurriedly, “It’s just...the deadlands...people have tried before and I don’t think anyone would risk settling the land until the far end of the valley is fortified."

Markus had been reaching for the door handle and stopped for a moment, he seemed to be thinking over what she had said. After a few moments, Markus nodded and they walked into the house.

While Markus hurriedly entered his room to begin packing, Aela instead headed upstairs to the attic.

She had intended to inform her mother of the sudden opportunity the dungeon and Markus could possibly provide. However, as Aela cleared the final steps, it became clear that Svala was gone. Magnus was gone as well, leaving only Aela’s siblings and Skadi.

“Where is our mother?” Aela asked although she was quite certain she already knew the answer.

“Heading to the clan-home,” Beowulf rumbled,

“Svala and Magnus left shortly after you did,” Skadi added helpfully.

Aela grimaced, she had hoped her mother would at least have delayed long enough so she could tell her the news.

“Is something wrong?” Skadi asked, now quite alert and doubtless worried by Aela’s sudden change in expression, “Did something happen?"

Aela wasn’t sure how best to explain it and after trying to get things straight in her head, gave up and just resolved to do as best she could. “The bounty on this dungeon includes an item that will make Markus a king in the deadlands. He intends to fortify the great valley and claim it as his own, using an army of golems to fight off the monsters. Markus also said he wanted to let chimaeras live there."

The expressions of her siblings ranged from incredulous to curious. Thyra was the former and unafraid of explaining why, “No one can claim the deadlands,” she scoffed dismissively, “Everyone who tries, dies. It’s in the name, stupid."

“He really said that?” Beowulf asked, blatantly ignoring their sister’s comments.

Aela nodded, “I really think Markus can do it,” she added excitedly, “Take and hold the great valley I mean."

Beowulf frowned, “This item is powerful enough to drive back the monsters?” He asked sceptically.

“No, the reward is just to stop greedy rulers from trying to take it after he claims it. A thousand golems and enchanted walls are what will keep the monsters out,” Aela explained.

Beowulf was taken aback for a moment, “A thousand golems..."

Aela could easily imagine the thoughts and images going through her brother’s mind. As a chimaera, they were painfully aware of what the guild’s golems were capable of, taught to avoid them at all costs since they were old enough to understand speech. So the thought of a thousand golems atop a fortified wall was not something to be taken lightly.

Ulf and Bjorn were visibly excited, sharing a telling look with one another, “He will need extra support in this dungeon too right?" Bjorn asked eagerly.

Aela nodded emphatically, “Markus specifically requested for both of you to help defeat the dungeon. He also wanted mother and Baewulf if possible, but..."

Beowulf sighed and shook his head, “With mother and Magnus gone, I cannot leave Skadi and Thyra."

Aela had recognized her older brother’s responsibility and the prospective shortfall in their manpower the moment she found them missing. “I understand and I am sure Markus will too."

“So when are we leaving?” Ulf asked excitedly, both twins' moods had not been dampened by their eldest brother’s withdrawal in the slightest.

“We will be joining the adventuring party at the guildhall as soon as we are prepared and ready to leave,” Aela replied, similarly excited. “OH!” she exclaimed, having suddenly remembered, “Markus has prepared armour especially for the both of you! I think I saw it downstairs."

Ulf and Bjorn glanced quickly at one another before scrambling to their feet and down the stairs. As a chimaera, and not having the personal assistance of mother, they were quite poor in terms of wealth and possessions. So the prospect of free equipment, even if it was only intended to be borrowed, was quite the incentive.

As Aela began making her own way downstairs, she could hear the pair of them playfully arguing and joking with one another.

For her part, Aela was more or less already prepared. She only had to change into her travelling clothes and repack her current outfit. Partway through changing, Aela was startled as the door to her room suddenly opened. Thinking it was one of her siblings, or perhaps Markus, she turned around and found that it was actually the golem Markus had named Leona.

Leona had already stripped off the borrowed armour it was ordered to wear earlier and now deposited the collection on Aela’s bed before addressing her. “Creator has recommended wearing at least the gambeson layer of protection while travelling, citing concerns regarding low temperatures and wandering monsters,” the golem stated gruffly before promptly leaving the room.

With little reason not to, Aela equipped the gambeson and after some deliberation slipped the padded coif onto her head but did not tie it off. She also swapped her worn pair of travelling boots for the new armoured boots Markus had bought for her. They needed to be broken in any way and there was no time like the present. Aela made sure to wrap the mail coif, helmet, gauntlets, surcoat and brigandine, in a waterproof oilskin before stowing away in a separate pack to her other clothes and travel items.

With everything nicely stowed away, Aela grabbed both packs as well as her bundled weapons and headed downstairs. Although initially sceptical of the practicality regarding her new and rather long panelled gambeson, Aela was pleasantly surprised to find that despite the padded fabric panels descending below her knees, she was still afforded a full range of movement. Whoever had designed the garment had clearly known what they were about. Besides the obvious protection it afforded, the added layers left her feeling toasty warm as well, which for Aela was rather important.

Clearing the stairs, Aela found her brothers snicker at one another as they took turns posturing and preening like foppish noblemen. She honestly couldn’t blame them for it, fully dressed up in gambeson and surcoat, they made quite the pair. With the right pair of gauntlets and a suitable helmet, they could pass for a nobleman\s retainers provided they didn’t move too quickly. Their legs were still a dead give away and despite their gambesons being almost as long as hers, their canine legs were still somewhat visible.

Noticing Aela, the twins promptly stopped their merrymaking and headed upstairs to gather their own gear and belongings.

Shortly afterwards Markus came downstairs similarly dressed in his own gambeson with his pack slung over his left shoulder and carrying his shield and spear in the other. He also had his sword belt on, but it seemed like that was simply because he lacked the means to otherwise carry his longsword and he would have to remove it before entering the carriage intended to take them to Skalisberg.

“I let Abigail and Arlee know that we will be gone for a while and that the golems will all be left here to look after them. Have you got everything you need?” Markus asked.

Aela nodded, she had emergency trail rations stowed away in addition to everything else, but she had the feeling that the nobles would either already have it covered or insist on stopping at villages along the way for supplies and refreshment. “The twins will be ready soon as well, they had just been a little distracted by the new armour."

Markus looked a little puzzled at the last part but shrugged it off. “Will it take long to reach the dungeon you think?” He asked.

Aela wasn’t sure and shrugged, “Where is the dungeon? Which town or village is it closest to?"

Markus set down his shield and spear then brought out his tablet, quickly tapping away for a short while before replying somewhat awkwardly, “A village called...Kattejal?"

Taking a moment to think of the places she had visited, Aela was fairly confident she knew the rough location of the village despite never having been there personally. “I think it will take at least a week if the roads are in good condition and the horses are fast."

Looking a little worried, Markus sighed, “Another full week of the dungeon being open? Ugh...So many people are dead already...” He really seemed quite upset by that fact.

Aela took hold of Markus’s shoulder reassuringly and looked him in the eye, “There was nothing you could have done to prevent it. What we are doing now and what we will do once we arrive is the best that can be expected."

Markus nodded in agreement but was still visibly depressed.

They did not have to wait long before the twin’s had returned with their equipment.

Markus had given them a curious look when he saw them wearing the surcoats, but after directing the twins to carry the additional pair of large packs leftover from Peabody’s armour delivery. After double-checking that they had everything, they left for the guildhall.

The carriage was already waiting for them when they arrived, although it seemed like the horses were being swapped out since Aela saw no sign of them.

At the sight of the carriage, Markus became quite excited and as the colour of his eyes suddenly changed, Aela realized that there had to be more to the carriage than she had first thought.

Handing her luggage off to the driver, Aela watched as the weathered middle-aged man expertly stowed her packs in a large chest located at the rear of the carriage. If her assumptions were correct, the chest would be located beneath the rear seats, otherwise, she had no idea how such a large compartment would fit.

Ulf and Bjorn followed her lead and handed over their luggage as well, but they kept their weapons. “Not enough seats,” Ulf commented as a way of explanation.

Watching the pair hanging near the front of the carriage, it became clear that they both intended and expected to be asked to sit by the driver.

Aela had seen what had to have been the luggage of other adventurers already loaded in the carriage, so she was somewhat curious about their current absence. As she was going to ask Markus if he had any thoughts, Aela heard the familiar stilted speech of the northern adventurer she had met earlier. Hilda, she was fairly sure the other nobles had called her Hilda.

“-the message to my parents. Apparently, they are already being pressured to preventing hostilities with the chimaera. So it is not being a problem.” Hilda sounded a little surprised and more than a little relieved.

Soon enough, Hilda and Phillipe exited a nearby store.

“Markus!’” Phillipe called out happily, jogging over and clapping the somewhat surprised Markus on the shoulder. “We hadn’t known how long to wait so we were just looking around to buy those brooches as you asked."

“Oh, good,” Markus seemed to have gotten his bearings again and was now taking a closer look at the pair of brooches in Phillipe’s hand.

Hilda waited until she was much closer before greeting Aela, although she was no less friendly, “Aela! Ah, it will be good to have someone I can speak with on this journey!” Hilda smiled broadly and took a moment to eye Aela’s armour, “Very fancy!” She commented with a light-hearted laugh, “I can see your soft southern boy has laid his claim eh?!” Hilda gave Aela a playful jab to the shoulder.

Somewhat rattled, Aela nearly flinched. Nearly. Keenly aware that her brothers were listening, she mustered her nerve to make a reply, “At least I am wearing armour. Where is yours?"

For a moment, Hilda froze and Aela was worried she had crossed the line, but then she burst out laughing and gave Aela another playful jab, “Aye that is true enough! Staying south for so long, it looks like even I can grow soft haha!” She then turned her attention away from Aela and moved over to the luggage compartment at the rear of the carriage, no doubt intending to retrieve and don at least her gambeson before taking a seat in the carriage.

After a muted conversation with Markus, Phillipe began retrieving his own gambeson.

Markus’s insistence on wearing the gambeson while travelling made a great deal of sense given the circumstances after all. Besides, it wasn’t like a gambeson would be unbearably uncomfortable. On the contrary, the added padding and insulation would almost certainly make the journey objectively more comfortable.

“I still don’t know why these are so necessary...” A familiar female voice complained.

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The voice belonged to Phillipe’s sister. Aela had just noticed her and the short brown-haired boyish young woman from earlier approaching the carriage from the same store but had now stopped to argue.

“You can’t be this stupid right?” The short woman moaned exasperatedly, “Do you have any idea just how rare an opportunity like this is? Just how powerful an item it will be?"

Phillipe’s sister sniffed heatedly, clearly not appreciative of the other woman’s tone, “So what? Isn’t it only a basic protection enchantment?"

The shorter woman slapped her forehead and groaned, “So you really are that stupid? This enchantment, which he is insane for even offering us by the way, goes way past the scope of being just a basic protection enchantment. Capable of being just worn on your underclothes, the protective enchantments will encompass every article of clothing you are wearing. Furthermore, the protective enchantment you are so blindly mocking renders your apparel as strong as high-grade steel! So long as you are wearing that brooch, you are effectively proof against any attack! Do you see how big a deal this is now?!"

“Yeah, but I have that enchantment on my armour anyway. It's a really common-” Kassandra began arguing but was summarily cut off.

“Are you fucking serious?!” The shorter woman seethed, her face slowly turning blue with anger, “This enchantment is hundreds of times more complex and difficult to achieve! To call your brooch, once so enchanted, an artifact, would be an understatement!"

Now that last part had gotten Kassandra’s attention, “An artifact? Really?” She now sounded somewhat impressed but also still quite sceptical.

The short brown-haired woman just scoffed and continued on her way to the carriage. As she drew closer Aela could hear her muttering curses under her breath but couldn’t make out the words. All too quickly, the woman’s expression changed as she presented her large expensive gold and emerald brooch to Markus for him to inspect and assumedly, enchant. “I had them etch the sigils in the exact pattern you requested,” she burbled.

Aela frowned. She did not approve of the tone the woman was using with Markus. Before she could say or do anything about it, Markus’s attention had shifted as he quickly enchanted her brooch before doing the same for Phillipe.

The woman was unperturbed by Markus’s silent dismissal, now quite lost in scrutinizing the brooch with a joyous look on her face.

After enchanting the brooch for Phillipe’s sister, Markus quietly climbed into the carriage, “You will want to fully charge them. I just put enough mana into them to apply the enchantment,” he advised before taking a seat.

The trio quickly disappeared into the guildhall, while Hilda followed Markus’s lead and joined them by taking a seat in the carriage.

Aela followed Hilda into the carriage. Unsure of what she had expected, Aela was nonetheless surprised by the relatively large amount of space the cabin afforded. With bench-like seats located on either side of the doors, it left a rather sizable amount of legroom between them. The legroom was something Aela greatly appreciated since her tail otherwise had nowhere to go.

She had deliberately taken the middle portion of the rear seat next to Markus, unhappy about the level of interest the short woman was expressing in him.

Markus had been lounging against the wall of the cabin when she had entered, but now he was slightly leaning against her instead. Although it was barely noon, Markus seemed quite tired and was struggling to keep his eyes open. “Sorry,” he yawned tiredly, “I didn’t sleep well last night and it’s been a rather eventful day so far...” Markus began slowly leaning on her with less restraint.

Aela was again reminded of the level of trust Markus had in her ability to keep him safe. Not only that, it was clear that he could have continued leaning in the corner and dozed off there, but he chose to lean on her instead. That showed the progress of their relationship, right?

While they were waiting for the horses to be hitched to the carriage, the trio of adventurers had returned and taken their seats. Hilda was now sitting opposite Aela, with Phillipe and his sister sitting either side of her. This left the short brown-haired young woman sitting next to Aela, which she seemed reasonably content with, for the time being, obsessively scrutinizing the enchantments within her new brooch.

Still detecting no sign of the horses, Aela nearly jumped out of her skin when the carriage suddenly lurched into motion.

“I had a similar reaction my first time,” Hilda said with a wry smile, obviously noticing Aela’s distress. “This carriage is one of Tina’s artifices,” she motioned to the brown-haired woman beside Aela, “I am not sure how exactly it works, but it apparently doesn't need horses. Isn’t it strange?"

Aela had to agree and now understood why Markus had been taking such a keen interest in the carriage earlier. “You could have warned me earlier,” she grumbled irritably.

Hilda just smiled and laughed good-naturedly.

Despite her earlier insistence that they would speak further on the trip, Hilda seemed far more preoccupied with engaging in quiet conversations with Phillipe. Not that Aela minded much. Only, with Markus asleep, Aela was not really comfortable initiating a conversation with anyone. Partly because she was not sure what to talk about, but mostly because she was worried about embarrassing Markus. The only semi-useful piece of information she gained was remembering the name of Phillipe’s sister, Kassandra.

So instead, Aela spent the long hours listening to the sporadic conversations of the others, but only rarely joining in. This had the overall effect of making time seem to drag on longer with an almost painful degree of slowness.

When the decision had been made to stop at the next village despite the relatively early hour in the evening, Aela was inwardly relieved. She did not know how much longer she could take the monotony.

As the carriage came to a halt and the others all left the carriage, Aela was left with a somewhat difficult decision to make. Markus had still not woken up. Should she wake him up now? Or just wait for him to wake up on his own?

Thankfully, Aela was spared making that decision as Bjorn poked his head in, “They are taking rooms at the inn,” he announced gruffly.

Perhaps already close to waking of his own accord, Markus suddenly woke with a jolt, “Why, what? What’s going on?” He slurred while stifling a yawn.

Ulf now peeked into the cabin from the opposite door, “Your companions are taking rooms at the inn,” the twin explained briefly before disappearing from view.

Rubbing tiredly at his eyes, Markus carefully left the cabin and Aela followed along behind him.

The carriage had stopped outside what was probably the only inn of the small village. Aela and her mother had passed by this village a few times before, but they had never stayed long enough to be familiar with it. The smaller human settlements were amongst the most fervently xenophobic and superstitious, so chimaera avoided them as a general rule.

Joining the others who were already seated at a large table, Markus quickly noticed her absence and waved for her to come to join them.

As Aela walked across the common room, she was left keenly aware of the distrustful and even hostile gazes drawn to her presence. Sitting down alongside Markus did little to reduce their silent ire and even seemed to slowly be making it worse.

“We have already ordered mutton, bread and cheese. Will your kin be joining us? Or remain in the driver’s company?” Hilda asked somewhat uncertainly.

Without even having to ask them, Aela shook her head. She knew the twins would strictly follow mother’s teachings and find a safe place outside of the village and take turns getting rest until morning. “They will wait for us until the morning,” she replied a little evasively.

Hilda frowned slightly, perhaps not understanding what Aela had meant, but then she shrugged and continued chatting with Phillipe and his sister.

“They know that I would pay for a room and food, right?” Markus asked, obviously having followed the brief exchange between the two of them.

Aela nodded, “They know. But I am pretty sure they are also aware that even one chimaera seems to be more than these villagers can tolerate...” She answered quietly, glancing at the empty tables recently vacated in their vicinity.

Markus frowned as he looked around and looked like he was going to say something, but stopped himself and just sighed in obvious disappointment. Eyes downcast, Markus remained lost in his own thoughts until the ordered food arrived. “How do you put up with it?” He asked quietly.

Aela had been in the process of shredding the juicy flavourful meat from the bone and wasn’t prepared to immediately answer. With a force of will, she gulped down her portion of mutton, bones and all. Disappointed to indulge in the flavours so briefly, Aela still made Markus a priority. “Put up with what?” She had to use her sleeve to ebb the tide of saliva dribbling down her chin as she subconsciously began fixating on Markus’s plate.

“The hateful stares...” Markus gave her an incredulous look like he could not believe she hadn’t noticed.

Aela took a moment to get her thoughts straight before replying, “Necessity,” she answered somewhat glibly. That was all there was to it.

“Tolerate the hate and move on, or pay a toll in blood,” her mother's words echoed in her mind.

Svala had made her stance on the issue of expected human and chimaera interactions painfully clear throughout Aela’s childhood. The small-minded and relatively isolated human communities near-universally followed the same predictable patterns. The first stage was hateful looks and muttering. If provoked in any way whatsoever, it was only a matter of time before they would move on to the second stage, instigating violence.

Without even the excuse of being drunk, without fail, the local bully and his posse would attempt to initiate a fight. Win or lose, and there was little chance of a human managing to defeat a chimaera, greater numbers of the villagers would be dragged into the fighting. Inevitably, blood would be spilled, the local authorities would notify the lord and a hunt for the assumed perpetrator would be called. In the event that the chimaera in question was not found, any chimaera unlucky enough to fall into the hands of the greedy adventurers and manhunters would do.

Aela didn't know how to explain that to Markus. In some respects, he was still incredibly naive. She had to assume that it was at the very least in part due to his amnesia, otherwise, there was no way of explaining just how tolerant and clueless he was sometimes.

Markus was silent a while and eventually grunted, “We’ll see,” he then began picking at his food, still obviously thinking about it.

This was the other side to Markus, the contrast to his naivete, his stubbornness and the concept of right and wrong. As Aela began worrying at the remaining dregs of meat and cheese on her plate, it occurred to her that there was perhaps a greater motivation for Markus dwelling on the current situation. One day soon, Markus might be a King...

The next week of travel passed much the same as the first, although the previous evening they had been forced to erect tents and make camp rather than sleep in an inn. It had been a minor error on the carriage driver’s part. He had accidentally taken the wrong dirt road and they had lost a few hours before getting back onto the right road again.

Still, It hadn’t been so bad. Even though she and Markus had been sharing a room and frequently the same bed, he always seemed to be in a poor mood and would stay that way until they were underway again. That had changed when they were camping outdoors. Unlike the others, who were complaining to one degree or another, Markus had seemed quite content.

Of course, everyone's mood had rather quickly become quite tense once they were on the road again. Soon they would be arriving at the village besieged by the dungeon.

The time had passed rather quickly and Aela could see the farmsteads with open fields pass by out the window. Locals would stare at the carriage as it passed by, their expressions more grave than curious.

As the carriage arrived in the village square and came to a halt, the driver hopped down and opened the left-side door.

Markus was the first to leave the carriage, immediately moving around to the rear and asking the driver to help him remove his equipment from the compartment.

Aela decided to follow Markus’s lead and busily helped him strap on his new suit of brigandine. Although he seemed more than capable of doing it himself, Aela could tell Markus was relieved to have someone with experience helping him adjust it properly.

Besides Hilda, the remaining trio of their party seemed to be in little hurry, taking the time to stretch and take in their new surroundings. Honestly, there wasn't much to see. The village square was mostly empty and only had a few buildings besides.

By the time Aela had finished equipping her own suit of brigandine and buckled on her sword belt over the surcoat, a small audience of the local villagers was slowly beginning to gather into the square.

Unsurprisingly, her twin brothers were receiving increasingly negative attention from the villagers as well.

Ulf and Bjorn seemed largely unperturbed, slowly drifting closer to Markus and Aela in case someone decided to do something stupid. They had both kept their weapons close to hand throughout the entire trip and had also miraculously kept the loaned armour and surcoats in presentable condition. The twins each had a sling holding a number of enchanted javelins, they also had an enchanted battleaxe and shortsword stowed in their belts. If the villagers were to start a fight, the twins would promptly end it.

Having followed Markus’s advice when they left Endem, Tina did not take long to don additional plate armour. She was also rather keen on conscripting the twins to carry a pair of her leather packs for her to the dungeon.

The twins had looked to Markus, who gave them a nod and said it was alright, so they complied, easily slinging the bloated leather bags over their shoulders as if they were nothing.

With one pack still remaining, Tina had surprisingly turned to Aela. “I want you to use this,” she said curtly with a gleam in her eye. Tina was offering Aela the pump-action repeating crossbow.

Aela greedily snatched it from her grasp. A few moments later she realized how rude she had been, “Oh, um-"

Tina waved a hand dismissively and withdrew a curious belt from the pack, “It is nice to have someone who appreciates genius for a change,” she commented. The belt had five hard leather pouches arranged around its length. Removing a bolt-case from the pack, Tina then demonstrated how it fits inside the hard leather pouches. “This way you can easily carry and have access to five complete ammunition refills before needing to stop and replenish the belt with new cases of bolts!” She explained excitedly, strapping a similar belt around her own waist, although hers only held three.

Worrying that her tail would probably interfere with the fifth pouch, Aela was glad to find that she could simply slide the extra unwanted pouch off the belt.

Tina gave her a curious look, but then shrugged.

Markus, however, seemed to have an idea. “How many bolt cases did you bring?” He asked Tina.

“Ten,” Tina replied, unsure of the significance.

Smiling, Markus untied and unbuckled his sword belt. He then looped the hard leather pouch onto the left side of the belt before buckling and tying it again. “I figure that I might as well carry the leftover case on my hip so one of you can use them if needed. I might even be able to retrieve an empty case if the opportunity presents itself and reload too."

“Why didn't I think of that?” Tina laughed, more than happy for the spare case to be carried by Markus. It was another ten of the bolts Markus had enchanted that would be ready to reload either Aela’s or her own repeating crossbow after all.

Markus was about to say something else but stopped suddenly. His expression had changed from nervously joking to intensely serious and concerned. Slowly looking this way and that, he was visibly on edge.

Catching the look in Markus’s eyes, Aela was reminded of when he had made similar expressions and now instinctively drew closer to him as she panned her gaze across the crowd. “Which one is it? Do you know?” Aela asked in Frankish, hoping that their quarry wouldn't be able to understand.

Markus paled, “More than half of them,” he said while awkwardly holding his shield to hide his face from view.

Aela blinked. There were a couple of dozen villagers gathered around them at that moment. No, there were a dozen or more marauders. Just by looking at them, she could not tell the difference, but Aela had complete confidence in Markus’s assessment.

“Hey Phillipe,” Markus called out in a forced cheery tone, “I want you to come to check out this new artifice I made,” he motioned to his shield.

Phillipe had been making arrangements with the carriage driver until that moment and was somewhat confused as he walked over. “What artifice? Your shield? I have already...” His voice went cold. “Ah, yes...” Phillipe gulped hard and turned to his sister who was still partway through donning her plate and mail, “Here let me help."

Kassandra gave him a curious look and made as if to shove him off, but she stopped when Phillipe leaned in and whispered something into her ear. Kassandra stopped struggling and instead redoubled her efforts in donning the last of her armour.

“I hadn't expected to need so many...” Markus was muttering as he rummaged through his pack awkwardly, unwilling to unstrap his shield or let his spear out of his reach. Markus then pulled out a strange leather belt with a large glass lens set in it. Handing it over to Aela, he motioned for her to strap it onto her face.

Noticing a change coming over the crowd, Aela hurriedly complied. Although initially unclear at first, she quickly figured out the intended way of wearing it diagonally across the face with the lens over the eye and could now see what had Markus so panicked. Markus’s estimate of half the crowd being marauders had clearly been conservative. Aela counted seventeen individuals shining with monster mana, each of them interspersed through the crowd.

Markus had now handed another belt to Ulf and one to Hilda, who were now quickly following Aela’s example while Phillipe quietly explained the situation to Tina.

Likely determining they had been discovered, the monsters masquerading as villagers began actively riling up the crowd, “Filthy monsters!” One cried, “Murdering filth!” Cried another, “They killed my baby boy!” Wailed one monster disguised as a grieving mother dressed in black.

From that last monster, Aela could see that they clearly had all the villagers fooled. The man by the monster’s side had tears in his eyes as he tried to comfort what he must have thought was his wife.

Aela felt sick to her stomach. The monster had almost certainly killed the man’s wife to take her appearance and had then killed the child, or perhaps even the other way round. Just how many people had gone to bed at night mourning their loved ones while sleeping under the same roof as their killer?

She could tell her siblings were similarly disgusted, each of them now hefting their axes and approaching the angry villagers with murderous intent.

More villagers had now piled out of the inn joined the mob, though thankfully none of them were monsters. Unfortunately, there were a few adventurers lingering near the back.

The adventurers were all holding swords that were almost guaranteed to be enchanted, but fortunately, none of them had apparently appreciated the level of danger the dungeon presented and were not wearing their armour.

“You there!” one of the adventurers called out, a man of perhaps thirty with a stubbled chin and black hair. “Yes, you!” He repeated, pointing the tip of his sword at Ulf from the safety afforded at the back of the mob. “You so much as touch a single hair on these good peoples heads, I’ll see you swing from the gallows! You filthy mutt!"

Ulf grinned savagely and turned to face the adventurer, his impressive height easily allowing him to look over the crowd and directly into the man’s eyes, “A single hair?” Ulf repeated, giving his battleaxe a few practice swings, he began to laugh.

Bjorn stepped forward alongside his twin, holding his own battle axe up before his eyes as if checking the sharpness of its edge, “Oh, there is no worries there-"

Without warning Ulf and Bjorn launched themselves bodily into the crowd, each burying their axes into the chest of one of the hidden monsters and grabbing a second by the throat with their free hands.

Aela had not worried for a moment whether Bjorn would know which villagers were imposters. Somehow what one brother knew, so did the other. They had always been like this, capable of acting in near-perfect unison as if they shared the same mind in two bodies.

For her part, Aela rapidly loaded and fired a bolt into one of the monsters foolish enough to stray near the front of the crowd.

All three wounded villagers upon being struck by Markus’s enchantments began to change. Their limbs growing longer and skin becoming bald, pale and sickly. Their fingers similarly elongating and revealing filthy sharp claws. Howling in pain, the monster's faces underwent the most dramatic and immediate change as their jaws distended and revealed sharp needle-like teeth and a disgusting elongated tongue.

“Ghuls!” Aela shouted in warning. A rare type of undead similar to the more common draug, ghul’s were cannibals by nature, seeking out the living with the intent of eating them alive when possible. These ghuls had to be seriously high level to be able to change their appearance so seamlessly as to outright take the place of their victims without anyone noticing. To even fool loved ones who were already on guard against monsters amongst them, it was unheard of. The biggest problem with ghuls was their intelligence and relatively high dexterity for an undead monster. The way they had attempted to turn the villagers against them was proof of that.

The twins abandoned their axes, following a suggestion Markus had given them regarding the enchantment, each of them withdrew a javelin and impaled their grappled targets revealing two more ghuls to the terrified crowd. The twins now withdrew more javelins and headed for their next targets.

The terrified villagers panicked and scattered in all directions in an attempt to flee the monsters amongst them and the crazed chimaeras.

All of the villagers except twelve. Howling and screeching, the ghuls disguises melted away and they charged. The majority targeted Ulf and Bjorn, but five of them were running straight towards Aela and the rest of the group.

Aela managed to load and fire two bolts before the remaining three ghuls made it close enough to take a swing at her. However, mid-swing the ghoul caught a bolt to the neck and Aela savagely kicked it away.

Tina had now shifted her aim and a second bolt flew into the chest of the next ghul.

Aela had then reloaded and fired a bolt into the guts of the last ghul headed their way.

To their credit, the twins had already impaled javelins into three more ghuls, leaving only four ghuls remaining.

As if expecting their fellows to rejoin them in the fight at any moment, the last four ghuls were surprised as a collective torrent of bolts caught them in the back and javelins pierced them from the front.

In under ten seconds, the fight was over. The ghuls that were unlucky enough to have been hit with multiple bolts or a combination of bolts and javelins, were completely still as if already dead. Those more fortunate to only host one such weapon were mewling feebly as they lethargically writhed in pain while trying to remove them.

Unwilling to take the risk of the ghuls removing the bolts and javelins, Aela and Tina ruthlessly fired an additional bolt into each ghul’s head which promptly rendered them as inert as their fellows.

The trio of adventurer’s staggered backwards, horrified by the events that had unfolded in front of them. They were so distracted, they had not noticed Hilda heading straight for them.

“What was it you were saying about harming a hair on their heads?” She demanded heatedly.

The black-haired adventurer that had yelled at the twins earlier now paled and started to back away, “I did not know there were monsters amongst the villagers..."

“In spite of the royal decree regarding chimaeras protected status, you would provoke hostilities and even go so far as to threaten their lives!” Hilda was incredibly angry, even going so far as to shove the black-haired adventurer down into the mud. “And before you start getting stupid idea’s into your head about revenge, you would do well to remember who my mother is!"

The black-haired adventurer pleaded still further, shamelessly prostrating himself in the muck before Hilda, “I am sorry! I will be more careful in the future! I swear!”

Following the ringleader’s lead, the two other adventurers bowed low at the waist and made similar apologies.

“Is Hilda’s mother well connected or something?” Markus asked, obviously curious as to why the trio of adventurers were capitulating so shamelessly.

Phillipe smirked and nodded, “Hilda’s mother is the Jarl of Sklisberg,” he chuckled.

Markus’s eyes grew wide in surprise, but he said nothing further.

Tina was not paying attention to any of the social drama and was instead fixated on the ghuls rapidly degenerating bodies. She had experimentally fired additional bolts into some of the ghuls under the pretence of, “Observing key variables,” whatever that meant.

The first ghul to completely degenerate and subsequently disintegrate was host to five bolts embedded in its body. Shortly afterwards another ghoul with four bolts collapsed in on itself and disappeared shortly followed by those that remained.

“Fascinating!” Tina exclaimed as she began retrieving and reloading her bolts into their cases. “Additional instances of the enchantment being introduced have a definitive effect of accelerating and enhancing the process and effect!"

“Definitely kills them faster,” Phillipe’s sister Kassandra added, now regarding the tethered bead hanging off the pommel of her longsword with avaricious eyes.

“Ugh,” Tina rolled her eyes and continued reloading.

Phillipe and Markus shared a knowing look and chuckled quietly.

Aela didn’t really understand the joke, so she followed Tina’s lead and set about retrieving and reloading her crossbow bolts.

Ulf and Bjorn had already retrieved and stowed away their javelins and axes. So they were slowly pacing around the group to establish a perimeter.

“OH!” Markus exclaimed loudly smacking his forehead, “Why didn't I think of that sooner?!"

The sudden outburst drew not only Aela’s attention but everyone else’s as well.

Markus was cowed somewhat by the sudden attention but didn't back down. “Ah, Ulf and Bjorn? Can I get you to do something?” He asked tentatively.

The twins glanced at one another and then nodded.

“Can you go off and make a couple of ..uh I don't know the right word, palisades?” He crossed the fingers from both hands between each other like spikes. “Crossed spike defences,” Markus clarified a little sheepishly.

The twins glanced at each other again and after a silent exchange, they nodded. “They are for bringing into the dungeon?” Ulf asked, making Markus’s intent rather obvious.

Markus nodded enthusiastically, “If I put the mana draining enchantment on the palisade defences, it should give us some extra control over the reported horde of undead inside the dungeon. They will either make contact with the defences and become lethargic or avoid them. Either way, we would gain some effective control over the battle right?"

The twins both nodded enthusiastically, “Alright! We will make palisades for the dungeon,” Bjorn agreed eagerly. Depositing Tina’s leather packs by the carriage, the twins withdrew two large coils of rope from their own bags and began rushing off towards the nearest tree line.

“What gave you the idea for palisades?” Phillipe asked both impressed and curious.

Markus blushed a little, “Ah, I was just thinking, wouldn't it be great if there was a wall of spears between me and all those undead..."

Both Phillipe and his sister blinked, slowly looked at one another, then snorted as they began to laugh.

“Honestly surprised no one else thought of something similar,” Markus muttered defensively.

“Pfft,” Tina snorted derisively. “CC’s rarely consider planning beyond, hit it harder! Expecting them to consider bringing their own defensive measures to counter the enemy, runs contrary to everything they know. By the time a situation arises, such as this, they are already so used to just basic power rush tactics that they can't even consider anything else. So they die the moment things get complicated." Tina shook her head disapprovingly and clicked her tongue, “Now Artificers. We have none of their raw brute strength, so we have to think creatively just to stay alive!” She walked over to one of the bags the twins had left behind and pulled something out, “They say great minds think alike and here's the proof!” Tina held up a large pair of steel jaws, “You thought of palisades, I brought modified bear traps!"

“Ah of course!” Markus smacked his head, “I forgot about those!"

Aela vaguely recalled seeing the bear traps amongst the mounds of Tina’s other enchanted items and now had a better understanding of why they were relevant to the expedition.

“How many traps did you bring?” Markus asked excitedly, “I brought a bunch of beads with the mana draining enchantment just in case of emergencies!"

Tina shared Markus’s enthusiasm and began emptying the two bags onto a relatively clear and dry patch of ground near the carriage. “I brought ten bear traps enchanted with the basic strengthening protections. I had originally just expected them to break a few legs and maybe slow some of the monsters down a bit, but after seeing your mana draining enchantment in action I don't think it would be unrealistic to expect each trap to achieve a fatality instead of just crippling them.”

Markus nodded in agreement, “Assuming the trap gets a firm hold of course."

The sound of axes striking wood had begun echoing into the village and was quickly followed by the splintering crash of a pine tree.

Looking over towards the twins, Aela could see both of them industriously moving on to fel another. Even though their battle-axes were not strictly designed to cut trees, their razor edge and strengthening enchantments combined with the chimaeras absurd strength made short work of them anyway.

“How long do you think it will take them to make the palisades?” Markus asked Aela.

Aela shrugged, “Not long probably. We would do this sort of work a lot at the clan-home. Shelters would always need mending and whenever the clan is forced to relocate, most things would need to be made all over again."

Markus’s excitement was tempered somewhat, no doubt recalling what they had spoken of before. With a sigh, Markus nodded to himself before setting about tethering the beads to the bear traps.

Having thoroughly verbally chewed and spat out the trio of adventurers, Hilda returned to the group. She cut an impressive figure and appeared even taller and more intimidating in her decorated plate and mail armour. Hilda nonetheless appeared quite stressed. “I am sorry about that, You have my assurance it will be met with firm retaliation should it happen again,” she apologized, surprisingly directing the apology to Aela.

“We are used to it,” Aela replied somewhat cagily, unsure of why Hilda was being so polite.

Hilda shook her head, “By order of his highness prince Regar, any attempt to harm chimaeras in the Jarldom of Skalisberg will carry the same punishment as if the perpetrator had attempted harm upon his highness."

Aela blinked, unable to process the enormity of what she had been told. As unfamiliar as she was with the vagaries of human laws, she had to imagine that attempting to assault the monarch would probably not hold a pleasant punishment.

“As heir apparent to the Jarldom of Skalisberg, it is my honour and responsibility to enforce this command to the best of my ability.” Hilda grimaced a little and shifted uncomfortably, “To do anything less would be considered treason."

Witnessing Hilda’s earnestness regarding her commitment to her noble responsibility, Aela was wondering what exactly Markus had done to convince the prince to make such a command in the first place. Had Markus somehow bribed the prince? As laughable as it seemed, if anyone was capable, she had to assume Markus could manage it. Then again, Aela couldn’t shake the feeling that the golems were somehow involved as well...