In complete silence, the dust slowly circled above Belrigan. A swirl of tiny sparkling stars was resolving in the air in between the rays of light falling from the window. Watching their dance, Belrigan lay on his back, unable to fully realize what had just happened. His whole body still felt numb from the memory of the pain it endured.
Who… what was that? Why… where… what is it going to do with Lauro?
Slowly he crawled out from the empty house and only then stood on his feet, holding onto the wall. There was no one nearby, and Belrigan went back to the village. He walked down nearly the same path he climbed, but this time faster. Yet the day was almost gone before he saw the river just a few hundred feet ahead and the farms further away.
After a short search, Belrigan recognized the place and found the way down the gently sloping hill. The effect of the potion that Lauro gave him seemed to weaken, and his senses sharpened with the approach of dusk as it often happened before. Before, Belrigan wouldn’t pay much attention to that, but now he listened carefully to his feelings, trying to be ready in case the beast inside attempted to take over again. What to do if so, he didn’t know, yet vigilance seemed necessary.
The moon energy inside him awakened when the smell of the sheep herd reached Belrigan. It felt so tasty that his mouth watered immediately. But there was something else in the air, and before he realized what it was, the inner moon shrank quickly, leaving behind only bitter coldness and a sucking feeling in his chest.
Hide, now! a thought flashed in Belrigan’s mind, and he obeyed without hesitation.
The fear ran down his veins. Concealed behind the dense greenery, he soon saw a large group of people passing down the river. They were the source of the strange smell he noticed, a smell of a drunken and angry mob mixed with an unbearable scent of anxious dogs running around and with a small yet noticeable pinch of fear mixed in. These people were afraid of something—that’s why they were drunk and shouting loudly. Also pinched down by fear, Belrigan watched the mob pass by along the river and down to the farms. The dogs ran free but were too far to scent him in return. His senses were far superior.
What is going on there? thought Belrigan. Are brothers fine?
The moon inside him relaxed a bit when the loud shouting vanished in the distance. After waiting a bit more, Belrigan cautiously left his cover and, staying under the shade of trees and bushes, followed the river up to the village. He slipped around the last of the farms and ran up the empty dirt road as quickly as possible until he returned to the house where they stayed.
The street was slowly drowning in darkness while the windows were glowing with a faint but warm light. A delicious aroma of the bean soup was spreading from out of the house.
They must be inside.
Belrigan knocked on the front door. A few seconds after, it opened, and brother Gerome’s anxious face showed up.
“For the sake of the Five!” he whispered in a discontent voice. “Where have you been, my boy? Get in, quickly!”
He backed away and closed the door shut as Belrigan slipped in.
The metal bolt clanked.
“Where is Lauro?”—was Gerome’s next question.
Belrigan couldn’t help from immediately confessing.
“He… was captured—”
“Captured? Holy Seers… by whom?”
“I don’t know… it was a monster, brother, please believe me!”
“A monster?” Gerome exclaimed, shocked.
It was only him and brother Viraz in the house. The last sat by the fire with a bowl of hot soup in his left hand and a spoon in the right.
“Come here, my boy,” he boomed, placing the bowl on the table and turning his head to Belrigan. “Sit. You’ll tell us everything, but first, you’re going to eat. A hungry mind is an easy prey for monsters.”
It often gave Belrigan an unpleasant shudder being spoken to by brother Viraz. But now he felt a warm gratitude spread over his chest. It felt almost like he returned home, and his older brother invited him to sit at the table and enjoy the meal together. The soup tasted delicious, accompanied by rye bread, and Belrigan didn’t speak a word until they both finished with their dishes.
Before telling his story, he asked:
“And where is master Masho?”
“Out. Looking for you, two little rascals,” brought out Gerome, and Belrigan blushed. He expected more reprimanding, but the brothers remained silent, so he continued quickly:
“Brothers, please forgive me. It was my fault only—”
”First, tell us exactly what happened,” interrupted Viraz.
“I… lost control of myself. Lauro and I, when we went to the farm for the fodder, on the way back, it happened… It was as if something possessed my body, took my hands and legs and made me flee the village and ran to the hills. Lauro ran after to stop me—”
He lowered his eyes, and somehow the lie went much easier than usual. Maybe it was because brothers weren’t actually interested in that part.
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“Possessed?” Gerome couldn’t believe it. He and Viraz exchanged frowned looks. “What do you mean by that?”
“I don’t know, brothers, honestly. I never felt anything like that. Maybe it is because of the evocation potion? As if something controlled my body, and I couldn’t resist it—”
“I was afraid of something like that…” Gerome shook his head.
“If we didn’t awaken his graft, it could turn even worse,” disagreed Viraz. “At least you were able to regain control, am I right, Belrigan?”
“Yes… I found myself in an old shuck, uphill. And then Lauro came and then—”
Belrigan went on. From this point, his story became true, while Gerome’s face lengthened with his every word.
“This can’t be…” he whispered in disbelief when Belrigan described the monster they faced. “There is no such thing as a ghost, no-no. An unknown magical creature? Probable. But it could’ve also been a masterful illusion—a concealment spell. A Libra mage using payr could easily cast such a powerful spell, though… yes, it is still possible. It might be a Libra renegade—”
“I don’t know for sure, brother,” Belrigan got baffled. “But it seemed real. The creature lifted Lauro in the air. And he screamed… I tried to help him, but then… it got me too.”
“And what happened next?”
“It spoke to me.”
“Spoke?”
“Unbelievable—”
“Yes. It was magic again, brothers, I swear you. I heard the words in my head, but it didn’t open its mouth. It asked me questions. It asked me if there are Libra mages among us, and then—”
It wasn’t easy to retell that dialog. Belrigan did his best, but a knocking came from the front door interrupting him. Gerome hurried to ask who was there and then let brother Masho in. Master looked pale but, upon seeing his disciple, smiled.
“Belrigan, you are alive! This must be a blessing of the Five. But where is Lauro?”
“He was captured—”
Belrigan had to repeat everything from the beginning. Lying to brother Masho was much harder, so he shortened the first part of the story. As the second part started, Masho’s face lost its last color.
“For the sake of the saint Barmato,” he muttered when Belrigan again described the monster. “What could it be, brothers?”
“A Libra renegade,” suggested Gerome, who seemed to regain some of his confidence.
“But it didn’t look human at all. It was huge. And with an ugly bestial muzzle instead of a face.”
“So it could be a beastman,” Gerome carried on. ”A large beastman, why not? There were different kinds of… species in Libra ranks from all around the world.”
“But how it made itself invisible?”
“I’m sure there is a spell for that. You just need a pyre and a magic wand.”
Belrigan didn’t see a lot of beastman in his life—there were none of them in the hilistian kingdoms.
“It could also be a magical creature,” continued to guess Masho.
“Sapient?”
“And why not?”
“A sapient magical creature that could conceal itself in broad daylight? That’s even more scary than a Libra mage.”
“We don’t know,” interrupted Viraz before anyone else could make the next guess. “And we must figure this out. There’s one thing for sure now: we sought and we found.”
“Indeed—”
“This story is quite alarming, brothers. It is frightening, but we must be brave and not leave the path. We must be vigilant and prevail. I was reading the clouds before dinner; they were darker than ever. The visions the void sends me now are full of pain, suffering and death. Something bad is going to happen in Surram Dahla tonight.”
“Brothers,” hurried to put in Belrigan when Viraz made a pause. “I saw a big crowd near the farms. They didn’t look good.”
“The wolf hunters,” Gerome sighted.
“Wolf hunters?”
“My boy,” Masho looked at Belrigan. “A few things happened while you were away. First of all, brother Gerome and I learned something important while talking to locals this morning. There is a cult in the village. A young man who recently returned to Surram Dahla told us that a group of people is honoring a daemon they call a Valley God. They do rituals in caves a couple of miles down the river and worship it in other ways. Not all villagers participate, and not all are happy with the cult, although they don’t speak about it in the presence of outsiders. They don’t want teheni wardens to learn about it. However, the wardens left the village soon after midday, and the angry mob captured one of the cultists while the rest ran away. Probably they are going to blame the dead woman on them. Thankfully, the crowd wasn’t interested in our personas so far.”
“So, these cultists are the moon mages we were looking for?” asked Belrigan.
“We thought so too, but after your story, it’s not so clear at all.”
“Have you seen wardens returning, Masho?” asked Gerome.
“No,” master shook his head. ”But I don’t think wardens can contain the mob—there are only four of them.”
Everyone looked at Viraz.
“There is going to be blood spilled tonight,” boomed he. “The void waits for souls to be freed—that’s what my inner vision sees.”
“Master, how can we save Lauro?” Belrigan looked at Masho with hope, but instead, Viraz spoke.
”Lauro is the only one to blame for his fate. I warned him if you remember, but he didn’t listen. Instead, he left the path denoted for him by the Five.”
“But it was my fault!” Belrigan hurried to disagree, and this time Viraz gave him a stern, piercing look. For a short moment, Belrigan felt himself being sucked into the depths of two bottomless pits of his eyes.
He sees me through… he knows I lied. understood Belrigan, lowering his eyes.
“This is not a time to blame yourself,” Masho put his hand on Belrigan’s shoulder. ”It is for the Five to judge who is right and who is wrong. Sometimes they choose strange paths for us, but only to accomplish the greater good. It is my fault also that we delayed your Evocation. However, it could be only worse if we didn’t do it now. Contact with a strong source of moon energy could spontaneously awaken your graft. In that case, things could turn much worse for you. Don’t worry, Belrigan—we’ll do all we can to save Lauro, I promise. With the help of the Five, he will be alright.”
Gerome filled a bowl with soup for Masho and put it on a table.
“Here, brother, eat. It looks like we have a long night ahead.”
“I have no appetite. I think I’ll better go and visit punshur again. It’s not dark yet; we shall know what is happening outside. Maybe wardens already returned.”
“They have not,” boomed Viraz with even a deeper bass than usual. He closed his eyes and seems was looking into the void right now. “We all knew this wasn’t going to be an easy journey. We knew that danger awaited ahead. The ones we seek are among the cultists. They are either Libra renegades, as Gerome suggests, or the free mages who were able to outwit Libra and live despite its mandate. Our main goal now is to meet them in person and figure this out and their motivations. This is dangerous, of course, but regardless of what happens in Surram Dahla tonight, we must do one simple thing: get alive from this village and bring back as much information as possible. I believe, Belrigan, you haven’t told us everything yet. How did it happen that this creature let you go?”
Belrigan shuddered. Indeed, he was interrupted before finishing his story.
“That creature spoke to me—” Belrigan said, glancing at his master.
“What did it say?”
Viraz sat with his eyes closed, but Belrigan nevertheless felt his attention directed only to him at this moment. He repeated their dialog if one could call it like this, and the brothers felt silent.
“So, it seeks loyal servants,” Viraz concluded after a long pause.
“At least that creature has its reasons, and we could negotiate,” suggested Gerome thoughtfully.
“By why did it take Lauro?” whispered Masho.
A minute passed in a dread silence and someone knocked at the door.
“Would you open, Gerome?” asked Viraz. “It must be the messenger.”