Their stop by the town of Lunool was brief.
At first, Holly had to confess she had been a little stoked. As they approached, she saw for the first time one of her beloved luun not an uluun, or uwluun, mind you, Aleh and Klyla both had been sure to emphasize, those were similar but different alive. In massive numbers, too: entire hills deforested only to be covered in the shaggy fur of what may have been thousands, their screaming chorus piercing from the fenced edges of the woods all the way to the Oke. Truly wondrous!
The town itself seemed fine, if on the smaller and quieter side. After Treil, she knew the former could only be a given, all towns would look small compared to it, yet oddly there were so few people out it might as well just be an overgrown village. She didn't let it bring her down, still very excited to experience an inn for the second first time, the other not counted.
She didn't get to, of course. She was told to stay inside with Klyla, Aleh, and Furfu until Agare deemed it safe, Rosen and Almalilly sent out on errands she was not privy to.
What exactly the three of the them discovered was never brought up in explicit. An hour or so later they were back on the road, soon to sleep camouflaged and out of sight another night, while Holly killed time trying o force herself to ponder certain topics that sent her cringing straight to distraction.
The opportuinity to speak alone with Almalilly never came. In another life, maybe she would have the courage to bring the topic in front of others, to admit her shame and just talk. In this, with the guilt eating at her, the idea alone made her want to puke. What if everyone ended up looking at her the way Rosen did now?
Likewise, she didn't join the discussions on future plans and what kinds of threats might lay in wait for them, which flew over her head even in perfect Yine. Poor Klyla had gon e glaze eyed before lunch and was out by afternoon. To cheer her up, Holly tried to offer her some of premium luun cuts bough from a slaughterhouse just for her.
"Ye' know, people might say we Goban eat whatever walks below our noses, but I like my meat cooked," she had said, roll of the eyes barely masking the wrinkling distaste.
"They do?" Holly asked.
"Yeh? What, do they something else wherever ye're from? Ye' offering out of the kindness of yer' heart?"
"I am!" Holly took another bite, relishing the taste. Fulfillment wise, it was so-so, the first for luun meat. Could uluun just be better? Or maybe this wasn't half as fresh as told to her comrades. "I don't think anybody knew Goban existed back home. Or, at least I had never heard about your folk before."
"Huh. Well, don't even know what to say to that."
Maybe it lacked parasites. She hadn't seen many burrowleeches or mites of late. A bummer, really.
Still, things were bound to change sooner or later. As eventful as it had been, her stay in the kingdom of Bellfort would be a short one, feeling no longer than a hop and a skip if only because she spent so long in slumber. She knew it was much smaller than Galehold as a whole, but even this felt too little.
The next day, they would be reaching Gwanegume, first town of Awin Holly was to ever step foot on, and the final, if lengthiest, leg of their journey to her homeland of Skawla, the Gate to Ivias.
And no matter what, Holly couldn't bring herself to be excited about it.
------
"Over there, behind that bent tree on the other corner of the field, another one!"
Almalilly's words earned from the group no attention, outside a quick glance from Holly. All together glued to the small transparent corner of wall, their eyes remained glued to the omen rising over the horizon.
"Another abandoned vehicle," Agare said.
"Yup. Makes what, four since this morning?" Almalilly asked, and no answer was forthcoming.
A palpable tension descended among them, so thick and heavy it was suffocating. Eventually, it was Agare who moved to cut it by the root, prying the small baton Holly had been given by Aleh from her hands without a word, shutting the window down immediately.
What was done was done, and what had been seen wouldn't so soon be forgotten. As she felt the Oke smoothly descend another well kept slope and come to a sudden halt. for the first she questioned her place here. She knew she was needed, but she wanted nothing bettern than to curl into a ball and hide.
"We will do as planned." Agare's words seemed unaffected, loud and clear as if he hadn't seen a thing. "Rosen, Almalilly, and Aleh will continue through the checkpoint at the bridge, while Holly, Furfu and I will leave here and infiltrate the city through the lower docks. Do any of you have further questions about your task?"
"As if you needed to remind us," Aleh said, voice distant.
Furfu nodded, while both Almalilly and Rosen both gave a sharp no. Holly, for her part, only waited for what was sure to come, hands firmly but gently holding a certain another's shoulders.
"... If not, I wish to make one small alteration," Agare crossed his arms, and if she didn't know any better she would think he was seeing right through the walls. "If you see anything out of the ordinary at the Vihge Bridge, send a signal and retreat, we will meet again here. Don't take to long, or we shall proceed with the plan as usual, understood?
A small round of nods and exclamations later, Agare finally turned her way, and acknowledged the last, latest, member of their crew.
Klyla's gaze was every bit as distant as Aleh's, but while the not quite-lad appeared shocked, she was openly and obviously pissed, frowning a storm and glaring holes through the metal as if it would open the window again in terror. This way, she didn't even notice as Agare took measure of her, than hesitated before speaking to Holly.
"Klyla of Fena will stay here," he said, with no space for arguments. Another time, Holly would have cowered at his tone. Now, she dug her heels into the ground and clenched fists around her Goban comrade.
"S-she comes with us!" Holly said, hoping her pitch had succeeded in telling him how much that decision was not up for debate.
Even if Klyla herself was not aware of the danger she was in, Holly couldn't knock the sense of wrongness that the idea of leaving her with them caused. And she was afraid too. No amount of anger could bury the widening of her eyes, the tautness of her lips, the feeble shivering of her limbs. She needed to stay with her!
"Holly," Agare's voice was all it took to make her shrink, but she held on.
"S-she will. I won't leave her."
"Holly, she is Dashi, her body does not work like yours or mine. The infiltration alone may drown her, not to speak of all other dangers she will be put through once inside. There will be no safe place for her along us three!"
"I'll keep her safe! I can do it, I'm strong!" Holly said, earning her a questioning look from Klyla. They had been talking in Yine all along, so she probably didn't know why her name was causing so much discussion, did she?
"We don't have time for this." Agare shook his head slightly. "Tell us, why the suspicion, all of a sudden?"
She hoped Klyla hadn't noticed the reflexive pull towards Holly's chest. By the time she caught herself, it was too late to stop. "I-I don't know what you're talking about."
"... None of us are children, but if you wish to pretend us this naive you will earn the same treatment. Do you think there is anyone here who wouldn't question when an unknown is forced into such a sensitive endeavor?" Agare took a step forward, and she scuttled back. "Your behavior was odd at first, but I decided to leave you to deal with it on your own time. This? This is endangering the mission."
"I-I-!"
"She is not our comrade. She is not even your friend, Holly, she would sooner be away from you then continued being dragged around like a pouch. Yet, not a second goes by where you allow her out of your sight, and you can't tell me that is common behavior."
Holly bristled. "You don't know me."
"Then explain yourself." Agare took another step forward. Down on her knees, Holly had little in way to defend herself, but her Will intervened in between them. As he met her thousand arms, again she felt that void advance, his image growing inside her head as the dimension of his mystery crushed her. "What happened that you now suspect us? was it-"
"Just stop this shit already." Klyla sighed, "Hols, fucking go already, Goddess down below!"
They all froze on the spot. shocked. The Goban, meanwhile, rolled her eyes again.
"What? Mountain gals ain't stupid, ye'know? Don't need a crier to tell me I'm the talk of the town." Klyla knocked twice at her collarbone. "And don't need a luun's worth to paint a red picture. Go."
"But what about you?" Holly said. shifting to Ivian. "I mean, what if something happens?!"
"Somethin' what? I know how to take care of myself. Can't handle big gals made of steel like you, but with you gone, who compares? Lil' guy the boss? Lil' guy the quiet? Lil' boy with one eye?"
Aleh fumed, rising on his cane, "I will not stand for you insulting my maturity yet-!"
"Not the time!" Agare cut in, putting a hand in between them. "Holly, she has spoken. What will you do?"
Holly wasn't sure. If she herself said she was going to stay, what could she do about it?
... Take her again. Go against her wishes just like she had that night, without a moment spared to second thoughts or remorse, snatch her away for forever and ever so nobody could hurt her. She didn't know what she was saying, didn't know what she was playing with, but Holly had seen the Faceless who would never come back, had seen-
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The next to approach and interrupt her chain of thought was not Agare. With a much slower, mollifying pace, Furfu reached with a hand so hesitant Holly felt as if she was made of flame for a second. It landed on her shoulder, too close to Klyla for her comfort.
"H-Holly, can I promise you something?" she said.
"What?"
"If these Faces pull so much as a strand of hair out of the Goban's head, I promise I will make them beg to die."
It made her spine want to crawl away. The shift in tone and posture had been so seamless she hadn't noticed until it was done. She heard it in her voice first; she had seen the unstable, insecure Furfu before, and that wasn't it. It was clear, determined, light as if she had promised nothing worse than cleaning the underside of her bed out of spiders. A silent consensus was reached among the others, a collective retreat from the suddenly threatening girl.
"I'll do it! I promise you! I'll hurt them very bad and only offer mercy when you say so," she continued, then hunched a little. "I-I can do all of them, or just one as an example. I-I mean, I think the L-Lady wouldn't appreciate it much, but it should be fine if it's for the sake of her dream, right? They stood in the way of her goals, and that I won't accept."
"S-stop it," Holly said.
"Or are you the one who will stand against the Lady?" The pressure around her shouder grew as her hardskin crushed her muscles. "For someone you met not a week ago?"
"I said stop it!" Holly pushed her away with both hands.
And that mistake was all it took, As Furfu stumbled, falling over the seat to her left, Klyla rushed out of her grip with a speed she hadn't believe possible for the small Dashi. Her heart stopped as she saw her charge as if trying to cut straight through Agare, but at the last moment, he evaded her, who slid to a halt at the other side of the Oke.
They stared at one another, the barrier between them meaning Holly would never have her again. An intense misery took her over. "I just didn't want any of you to get hurt again. Was that too much?"
The gesture Klyla showed her, she didn't quite understand. Pinkie and ring, middle and index, both pairs of fingers separated with the thumb peeking from the gap between. "Cunt to ye'! If ye'r gonna be a brigand, learn to have a colder heart! And leave me alone for more than five minutes, please!"
Holly tried to reach her regardless, but Agare stepped on her way. "What will it be, now?"
She paused, retracting herself as the building weight of all her comrades' stares grew, all expecting to see which side of this line she had drawn herself she would fall on. And that answer should have been easy for Holly Seneschal, shouldn't it? Not the obedient one, the one needed, the one gone, the one who could spit in the face of danger to her very last breath.
And where would that Holly be, when the one still alive needed her? Whichever inkling of her she had found, it was gone now, and the sudden realization of the fight she had been about to pick made her uneasy.
"... Let's go," she said. "S-sorry about that."
"Furfu," Agare said. "We're going. You cover the rear, I will take point, and Holly the middle."
"Yes, sir!" Furfu said, stomping back to her feet.
He didn't wait for her, unlocking the back door in silence and stepping out. Stupid ideas were born and died just as fast in Holly mind, as Furfu refused to move from her position, holding the passage further back like a statue.
Wordlessly, Holly followed Agare. Landing hand first into the sun heated, cobblestone paved road, she couldn't help but think what an ironically beautiful day that was. sparse in clouds, they had arrived to a light patch of woods edging a large pond, its waters placid save for the touch of the wind, creating small ripples. A few wild flowers danced at its margins, bright reds and oranges familiar yet nothing she could name.
No smell from this distance. No wings buzzing either, no songs sang by the birds, life had already fled long ago. To the North and West, the direction the town of Gwanegume was supposed to lay, plumes of smoke rose in black towards the pristine sky, only partially obscures by the brush.
Holly idly heard Furfu close the backdoor behind them, and the Oke losing no time in wheeling away from her. She didn't know why, but she felt humiliated in a way she had never been in years.
"H-Holly, we should go," Furfu brought her back to reality.
She nodded, and chased after Agare, trying to bury the feeling down where it wouldn't bother her anymore.
------
The Vihge River stretched her definition of its name to gruesome proportions. Squat, nearly crawling, under the large leaves of some plant at its margin, details on the opposite side were nearly impossible to tell through naked eyes. With the islets that peppered the space between them and it, she almost wanted to call it a sea, though she had never seen one of those either.
More impressive than the river itself, however, was the Vihge Bridge, unlike anything Holly had ever seen before. Its pale white stone polished only so much it's crudeness didn't stand out rose from the rushing waters in dozens of thick, cylindrical pillars that kept it firm from side to side, also forming the few thin, bent, almost rib-like symmetrical towers that protruded at even intervals, eventually merging into the tall walls of Gwanegume itself.
Odder than the stone itself, however, was the light. Many barely perceptible yet undeniable shimmering lines contoured the bridge's length, fusing and branching apart at awkward, straight angles, together creating an impossible geometric tapestry slowly twinkled in and out of sight.
And odder than the light itself, was the absence.
Not a sign of life made itself known around them. Not a fish in the water, not an ant scavenging the foliage, not a person to be seen or heard. To think that huge town was the epicenter of this silence was terrifying, even if part of her had already been expecting as much.
"The Lower Docks are there," Agare said, point to an agglomeration of buildings outside the walls proper, some extending into the river. "Gwanegume has a strong fishing community. At this hour, the river should be filled."
Holly watched the smike billow from out of view. Most plumes came from inside the town, but one appeared to be blowing from the bridge. "Maybe they're all busy with whatever is going on inside."
"Gwanegume is of pivotal strategic importance to the Saintdom," Agare said, and the disbelief in his voice made her heart thunder. "There shouldn't be anything going on inside, nothing that shouldn't have been dealt with as fast as it came to be.
"... No. More than strategic importance. It's name means something akin to 'Impenetrable' in Skawlan Ivian, and was born out of collaboration with Skawla. It is a symbol of resistance against the Yine and Galehold from before the creation of Awin, which matter a whole lot for Tales. The situation would never have been allowed to grow out of proportion, so long as the Saintess had a say in it."
They hadn't moved in what felt like hours now, which did no favors for their nerves. Agare remained as patient as ever, but Holly felt her hairs trying to kick off her hood every couple seconds, and Furfu had reached a strange trance were she kept shivering, jolting back into unnatural rigidness, than mellowing out again. What they could have been waiting for, she was afraid of asking.
Which is exactly why she decided she had to. "A-Agare, shouldn't we go already? If there's nobody to see us, then that's pretty ideal, right?"
"No. Not knowing why exactly Gwanegume remains so silent, the situation is as dangerous as it could have been. I don't like where this is going at all. If it is as I think-"
A sharp whistle broke the conversation, drawing the attention of all three to the bridge. stretched over the railing, a diminute figure could be seen moving about, waving in their direction with clear desperation Holly realized.
"-Then we might have to completely alter our long term plans. You both, follow, but stay vigilant." Agare did not wait to finish before taking off from the bushes and back into the woods. Holly, forced to endure Furfu's expectant glare to the back of her head as her confused brain slowed to a crawl, eventually gave chase.
It wasn't a couple minutes before they found themselves on the highway, from which the bridge was but a few hops away, the Oke quietly resting at the rightmost side.
The bridge, from above, was just as incredible as from below. Its topside, paved with much less exquisite bricks of grey stone worn by time and passage, was wide enough five or six of their vehicle could travel its length abreast. Slivers worth of windows lined the closest towers from top to bottom, allowing any potential guards to watch the pandemonium ahead of them.
Broken down carriages, carts, and other transports not too unlike the Oke stood toppled and broken, their fronts all pointed away from the town. A particular pile, tall with debris, was the source of the closest burning fire, at points red and yellow and green and violet in a beautiful shifting gradient that would be as hypnotic to behold as it was terrifying, if not for the grizzlier touches of violence. Discarded blades shattered to fragments, armor pieces bludgeoned flat or split open as if by arrows the girth of fists, blood stains with no bodies all smudged towards the same direction.
In the middle of all that chaos, only their Oke stood intact, and Almalilly too, walking towards them as if she had seen not a chunk of it.
"Almalilly," Agare said.
"I'm sorry, Agare," Almalilly sighed. "They knew you were there too, I'm pretty sure. When we noticed, it was too late to turn back."
"Explain yourself."
She didn't respond. Instead, she pointed behind them, towards the road they had arrived from, towards-
A large group of people now standing a hundred paces away from them.
Armors glistened under the sun, steel covered bodies standing in tight lines like a moving fortress of shields, clubs, and heavy blades. All of them large, shorter than her yet of a height she knew most lads would take as intimidating, and of a muscular bulk that almost belied their Dashi nature. All adorned, embossed if lightly, though the details escaped her from this distance.
And their approach, so quiet. Their feet followed in a careful, perfectly coreographed unison, a singular rustle of metal plates carried in the wind followed by a light step barely louder than the dragging of her own flight.
"... You led us to an ambush?" Agare's spoke, calm.
"I-I told you, they knew you were there, they gestured at you guys," Almalilly retreated with all of them. "Towards the exact position, too. That one, in the middle."
At first, the person she had mentioned didn't stand out among all its shelled comrades. Only when the others halted their march and they continued did Holly take notice. They were on the shorter side, carrying with them a long shield like a giant scale and what she could only describe as some sort of scythe, its handle short yet its blade thick, one edged and curved with a sharp beak.
"Holly," Agare said, low. "On my mark, I want you to run to the Oke with the other two. I will cover your retreat, and meet you inside the city. You will seek shelter somewhere out of sight, and wait for further orders, do you understand me?"
"Agare, how are we even supposed to make it inside?" Almalilly whispered, never taking her eyes from the figure. "Have you seen the state of this place?!"
"The gates to Gwanegume are open, and there are gaps through the disaster you can ride through. If you find one you cannot cross, abandon the Oke and proceed on foot, but under no circumstances are you to let Holly fall into their hands."
"Of course not, as if you needed to say that!"
The armored man stopped, and so did their breathing.
Seconds passed, no party daring make sudden movements and bring about the inevitable chaos.
The scythe descended in a reverse arc, deliberate and paced, a patient mockery of a slash halding in the air at the very cusp of its completion, head held towards their Oke as if to indicate it.
Except, Holly was wrong. following its direction, she understood it was not the Oke but the closest tower to them. A few heads higher than her own laid a series of symbols, rusting red smeared on pure white.
The world around her disappeared. All that was left were her and those words.
She knew them. From where? She couldn't read them, couldn't recall how each letter was pronounced, but she knew in her heart of hearts that she knew them. A language of circles and knotting squiggles, each part as complex as a drawn figure, a story told in five characters but fewer words she was sure. She came closer, head turning this way and that trying to find an angle that made everything fit together.
Not ten paces away, and she understood there would be none. She knew she was doing something wrong, but not what, not how. It made her head itch from the inside; it was right there, a turn of speech at the tip of her tongue, the sound practically formed but particulars refusing to come to light.
It was a whim, then, that unleashed her Will upon the bridge. It was a whim that forced her in contact with lines that burned the tips of her thousand fingers like fire and then forwards. It was a whim that had her caress the dried, coagulated blood and the powerful contours they shaped beyond sight.
She felt somebodyshake her by the hip, but by then it was too late. She couldn't read it, couldn't pronounce it, yet like the last piece sliding seamless into an abstract puzzle, she knew.
Her stomach sunk cold and rose as bile to her mouth. Her heart stopped as the bloodshed fell over her like a raging flood. She had been drowning all along, choking without ever asphyxiating in death, in undying flesh, in hearts that thundered like hammers striking bone, all around her. She vomited, hoping the acridness would rid her of the sensation, but it only voided her for more.
A sound pierced into her ears, the sharp pain of a slap bringing her back to a world not yet subsumed by the deluge.
"Get yourself together!" Agare screamed, only enough to be heard through her screams. Had she been screaming? "We're under attack, you need-"
Agare disappeared from sight. A dull realization: she hadn't held back at all this time. Agare was unlike Aleh, however, and she saw him fall back on both feet, having blocked her kick as if he had predicted it. She felt no regrets, couldn't really. All she felt was the crushing push of corpses, and the lake of blood they had dragged her under, unleashed by three mere words.
She ran. Ran faster than her legs could feel, faster than voice could reach her, away from Agare, away from the Oke and all her comrades. A black blur flew by her cheek, caught by her Will just in time for her to swerve, it's near fatal path leaving nothing but a burning gash she could only ignore.
The walls passed her by. Another time, perhaps, Holly might have felt some wonder at the architecture here present, at the walls of smooth stone slabs or crate sized bricks in pink and red white, of the flat roofs with gardens and laundry to be picked, of the once neatly kept corners where statues and reliefs depicted veiled and twisting figures in awestriking poses.
Holly sped past fleshless charnel, streets infected with the pungency of blood and urine, burnt hair and feces, smoke omnipresent, and those three words always there, hidden or obvious always within reach of her Will, guiding her frenzied, mindless body through blurring turns, across gutters and alleys and punctured homes that still burned.
Taunting her.
And for all the soft press of fresh death overwhelmed her instincts, she knew she would follow it, because it had been left for her sake, because it had been made for her. It wanted to show her something, and she had always been helpless to resist.
Eventually, she couldn't say she came to herself, but the world stood sharper into focus as she walked into a large clearing.
Surrounded at all sides by tall edifices and narrow entries, this had been a square of sort. Cared for, dense and verdant shrubs placed between short trees, branches cut into domes so they wouldn't spread farther than their brick built limits, guiding any potential passerbies towards the squat, rustic, yet grand coffin of rock and shimmering light at its far end, pillars protruding out of its sides like ridges or folds of wrinkled skin. It had been beautiful, in its own way, once.
At the dead center of that square, where now only the reaching hand and veiled face of its central figure peaked through as if begging for salvation, a great pile of bodies had been laid.
Holly had to come closer. She couldn't believe her own eyes, couldn't believe the slobber building under her tongue. Of her mind, nothing but a keening sound and fogging numbness was left. Toes digging deep into slick cobblestone, she was forced to watch, nothing but an observer imprisoned inside her own body.
Men and women. Children and elders. Soldiers and beggars. Naked and armored. Whole bodies and glistening mutilated limbs. Expressions of grievous agony and serene acceptance. Death after death, overlaid one atop the other, with such a disregard it could never have been careless or negligent. a grotesque exhibition every bit as thoughtful as the morbid abomination she had seen entering Bellfort, but here the artistry had made itself: the way bisected bodies had fallen apart over its neighbors, how the softness of escaping entrails complimented metal fragments and hard leather, how the wet squish of bodies and the dizzying odor added to the image in ways no recreation of the natural could ever achieve.
And the name of the work, repeated over and over around a circle of red lines, brushed through means inconceivable, five letters she could not pronounce from a language she did not spoke, forming three words she knew as if they were spoken in her father tongue.
"FOR GODDESS MARIWA."
She fell to her knees, lost.