Chapter 120 There’s a Bloody Fae in Town.
The best defense is offense.
The best offense is hurting your enemy.
The best way to hurt your enemy,
is to go after what it cherishes the most.
Is it worth it?
Nuriss, the maiden of war.
I wipe the blood from my face with my hand. With how itchy my eyes get, I know I got some in my eyes too. A good bath before we leave? And if this thing got more of these creatures? Best take care of it first… I have an hour to wait for the orcs anyway… Then I should use this time to learn about my foe.
Nimuwal.
I wash myself with a torrent of water and turn to my fae friend. “Sharla? Ideas?”
She shakes her head. “This narrows it down to Dark Winter Fae, all Blood Fae are Dark Winter, but I have no clue which one. Vampires shouldn’t be able to do whatever this is, they have no need to. I'm glad we aren’t dealing with a vampire. They're much worse than this, hm?”
“Thanks.” Doesn’t help me much, I don’t know even what the difference between the seasons means… let’s ask? “Sharla? What do the different seasons even mean for the Fae?”
She frowns at me, then smiles like one smiles to a child. “Aw, I forgot that you’re a Changeling…”
“Changeling?”
“Fae raised by mortals. I know you think of yourself as a human with Faeblood, but to me and to most of the Fae, you are Fae. Your blood is too thick to be anything else."
I'm not even sure what that means. "Sharla? The seasons?"
She smirks as if she noticed my annoyance and takes some sort of twisted pleasure from it. The wind picks up and a few leaves float away from her dress. "The main difference between the seasons is when we’re at our strongest. Take me for example, I’m an Autumn Fae. I grow stronger during fall. Normally I can only wear the forms of gnomenoid females. While during autumn, I can take the form of gnomenoid males, animals, magical beasts, Fae, or even demons and elementals if I try hard enough. I can also attack directly during my season, unlike the rest of the year… But during the fall I’m also much hungrier, for both spiritual food and physical food. That’s the main reason a Fae’s season is important, it’s when we’re at our strongest, and we tend to avoid an enemy on their prime season.”
Interestingly enough it makes some weird sense… I’ve awaken my powers during spring too…
She takes a short breath before she continues. “There are a few other characteristics for the different seasons. For example: Autumn Fae are all herbivores. We can’t eat meat, even Dark Autumn Fae can’t digest it. Winter Fae are always carnivores, they can’t digest plants. Summer Fae are omnivore, or scavengers, some of them are capable of digesting anything and let’s just say they eat everything they get their hands on. Spring Fae are extremely picky about their food, it tends to be a single thing for each species. Sacred water, tot flowers, tusks, a single type of snake venom. Sometimes Spring Fae even feed on an element, like fire, or light...”
That should make finding my Fae Species easier... Especially with my clue. "And what does a Rakshasa digest as physical food?"
She nods twice, a smile of understanding on her lips. "The spring ones feed on Gemstones. Some will also consume gnomenoids flesh.
"If they eat flesh, it makes them carnivores. Aren't they Winter Fae then?"
"No. The Rakshasa I told you about said human flesh is harder to digest and it's something to eat when she doesn't have the gemstones. It's something they can sustain from, but don't enjoy eating. I could digest various bugs if I'm desperate for physical food, that's not exactly herbivore hm? Yet I could eat it if I wanted. A nymph friend of mine had a bad habit of eating ivory despite being an Autumn Fae like I am. Even mortals often digest odd things that are not meant for their stomach. I've seen gnome sprinkle gold over their food before eating it for example. The fact we're not supposed to eat something doesn't mean we can't do it."
"What about light and Dark Fae? What makes me a Dark Fae? What makes you a Light Fae?”
“That’s… That classification is not Fae in origin, the elves gave that classification to us. It refers to our other type of food. We need both physical feed like gnomenoids do, fruits in my case. And we need a spiritual feed, this one differs between the different Fae species. Dark Fae’s spiritual feed tends to harm gnomenoids directly, Light Fae’s spiritual feed is usually harmless. Like me, I feed on gnomenoids' pity. I also don’t need much of it to survive, I’m essentially harmless.”
“Take vampires for example, they’re Dark Winter Fae. Their diet is mortal blood, and their spiritual feed is obedience. They need gnomenoid thralls to serve them, which makes them harmful to mortal kind.” She stops for a bit, nodding to her self a few times before continuing. “Some say that since the elves gave us that name and we embraced it, it became real. As if the beliefs of the Fae shape us somehow. The Dark Fae are stronger during the night, and the Light Fae are stronger during the day. But if there’s a difference like they claim, it’s miniscule. It also differs per clan and court, a shade-heart like me actually have abilities I can only use at night despite being a Light Fae. There’re some who say that the Fae gets stronger due to popular beliefs of mortals and not of the beliefs of Fae-Blood-Kind. Which isn't something I can deny, but I cannot prove that either.”
“In other words, I wouldn’t want to fight a vampire on a winter night…” I comment quietly.
She nods sharply, like an odd bird pecking a grain. “Yeah that would be a pretty bad idea. Winter is the time they go out to hunt and fill their blood reserves, they hide for the rest of the year…”
“How do you know so much about vampires?”
“There was a vampire who had a castle near the last oak forest, the place I grew up at. Vampires are mostly friendly with other Fae. I was a curious girl, so I visited him sometimes. Vampires live very long lives, so they tend to be wise. He always had good advice for me when I needed one. He lived together with the Rakshasa I told you about, I'm not sure whether or not they were a couple.”
“I see... That's interesting. By the way, can they really turn other humans into Vampires and make them immortal?”
She shakes her head. “Into lesser vampiric creatures that are essentially under their control, not true vampires, no. But by most humans' definition these lesser vampiric creatures are vampires. This ability attracts gnomenoids to their servitude. It’s genius really, they make their food come to them and ask them to be eaten…”
“More like sickening, but the whole world eats everyone and everything apparently…”
“Don’t worry, you have nothing to worry about. Vampires hate the taste of Fae‘s blood, and you’re Fae-blood. Even I can tell that, and I’m pretty weak for our kind. They won’t attack you. There was this human girl that came to him, he realized she’s part Fae after he smelled her. He let her go, she wanted to stay but he practically chased her out of his castle…”
All very interesting Sharla, but it can’t help me with whatever Fae is in the city… I’m covered in blood, I want to take a good bath and finish this mess… “Thanks, we should get going, I have a crazy blood fae to hunt.”
*
An hour later, I travel through the city on Loyal's back, leading my group of about twenty orcs and three hundred of Ovin's men. Other than Sharla and Jerro who stayed back in camp, the rest of the party is with me. The city is deathly quiet, the people are either hiding or dead. Only when we reach the palace do we encounter people.
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A group of about five hundred men and women block the entrance to the palace. They're a rabble, dressed in rags and some of them are not dressed at all. Their skin sticks to their bones in a shrunken manner, and their dead eyes tell me that they're most likely already dead. They all hold makeshift weapons, from torches and pitchforks, to actual spears and swords. “You shall not pass!” They speak in a unified voice. “You shall not pass! You shall not pass!” They chant over and over again.
The sights behind them is horrid. A pile of flayed corpses mounts on the palace's entrance, blocking it, and on the palace walls over a hundred bodies are impaled on stakes with their skins stripped from their bodies. Those bodies are in a various stages of rotting in the sun, some with visible worms and parasites poking out of them. I do my best to keep the acid in my throat from making me vomit, but I can't help it. I lean over Loyal's side and empty the contents of my stomach on the ground. Snakes! I don't need the men to falter! I've seen some horrible things before, this is not very different!
“Ready bows!” Salik orders Ovin's men. "Ready bows!" Ovin repeats for his men who lift their crossbows in preparation.
“Grrrah sick mad dogs!” Agilla grumbles.
Balgrum puts his hand on her shoulder. “If we fight these sick dogs we take two thirds as our sheep.” He says and the orcs nod in agreement.
“They’re all being controlled by the prey hiding inside…” I wipe my mouth and comment quietly. “See how they all speak together? It’s not natural…” Loyal under me kicks the ground and neighs with anticipation.
As if on cue, the small army of mad civilians charges forth, screeching from the top of their lungs. The world trembles, and their screams make me wince in pain.
“Loose!” Salik yells over the madness.
The men don't wait for Ovin's order this time, and the charging rabble meets a hail of arrows and crossbow bolts. Loyal charges forth and I almost get thrown off his back. He stomps the mad crowd to death, and tremors pass up through my body as hard bone breaks under his hoof, only for the breaking bones to disappear in a splash of blood when the bodies beneath him explodes. I hold onto his mane, conserving my magic for the battle with the Fae.
I look around for my friends. Zoe is near Ovin, freezing a group of maddened civilians that Ovin caught in his vines trap. Berthold is by Salik's side, sniping one target after the next from behind Salik's shield, I can follow one of his arrows from the moment it leaves his bow to the point it pierces a ragged old woman right in the eye. There's no sign of Ryon, I can't spot him.
Balgrum and his orcs swing around with their axes and slam the butts of their spears. I can tell they are trying to capture these people alive, they want their sheep. Yet, they meet a horrifying disappointment. Every time a human goes down under the orcs’ blunt blows, the human explodes, covering the dumbfounded orcs with torrents of blood.
Soon the battle comes to a halt when the last of the human-looking creatures explodes. The orcs snarl and wipe the blood from their faces, then charge into the palace making their way amongst the flayed corpses. “We’re looking for a passage underground!” I call after them. “Look below.”
They disappear into the palace with angry growls. I push Loyal's sides with my heels, directing him to pass over the small mountain of flayed corpses that blocks the entrance. "Tans fe-lasiuak!"
“Will do, my Queen." He raises his voice above the chaotic battle. "Watch yourself down there, I’ve never seen anything like this!”
“Thanks, I didn’t come here to die.” I smile at the concerned old man across the raging battle, from high up atop my horse I can meet Salik's eyes. I pat the side of my horse's neck as I cut off the mana to my patterns. “Loyal, stay and help Salik, ok?” My horse replies with a cheery neigh.”
I glance at the bloodied street one last time, before dismounting my horse and entering the palace with a pounding heart.
The moment I enter the palace, I instantly cover my mouth, trying my best not to vomit again. The stench in this place is unbearable, piles of skinned corpses litter the hallways, men, women, children, rotting away without a tree to their name. This creature… when I find it… it’s dead!
An inhuman shriek pierces throughout the halls, it sounds like the orcs found it. I run toward the source of the shrieks and find a staircase that leads downward into a wine cellar.
It’s time to deal with this monster!
*~*~*
Interlude 120.1
Elder Gorlor
We wolves! We hunt! ~ Ti-a’ark! Ti krek!
We wolves! Honorless death to our prey! ~ Ti-a’ark! Ti krekolak yomh’ak!
We wolves! Our sheep shall fear! ~ Ti-a’ark! Ti nh’i yoma’ari yomla’!
We wolves! Through fire and honorable death! ~ Ti-a’ark! Ja’al po no kolh’ak!
Grand Chieftess watches! We wolves! ~ la’aoko wuala’ak! Ti-a’ark!
The intense hunt songs of his younger brethren are a comfort to listen to. There were times elder Gorlor marched with them, sang with them, and hunted with them. He expected a prey’s claw or teeth to take him to the hall of bones, but it did not happen. Now after fifty-four winters he is too old to hunt, but he can guide the younger generations in their pursuits, there is some honor in that.
Gorlor pats his pet spider and watches the punishment the wolves bring on the humans for killing members of the tribe. The human bitches and pups scream as the orcs drag them out of their dens, the few male dogs who attempt to put up a fight, die swiftly, and the cowardly ones are sheep. They are shackled by bones along with their females and pups.
The humans need to know that the wolves aren’t weak, wolves won’t take murder to their kind lightly. Now, their prey shall learn true fear. They’ll become sheep until the Chief comes back and decides what to do with them.
A bitch with a red mane gets dragged before Gorlor, the wolf who brings her lifts his head, exposing his neck in a respectful gesture. Gorlor frowns as he looks at the red-maned human, hoping their little Fire-Soul won’t influence the Chief to change their ways again. It was bad enough when the Chief gave up his share of the loot. If the Chief listen to her and release the sheep as well, many wolves will be unhappy…
“Gorlor!”
The elderly orc lifts his head. The Blessed Rhino enters the street in his glowing shell. He’s angry, a wolf dies with each swing of his mighty horn. But the cowardly dogs behind him can’t keep up, they get held back by the wolfpack, isolating the Rhino for the kill.
The Blessed Rhino is surrounded by a group of excited orcs, they are all eager to bring down this prey. The wolf who’ll make the killing blow will have tremendous honor and a true story to take with him to the hall of bones.
Sadly, no wolf will have the honor of downing this foe. Gorlor is an elder, he learned how to use the schemes of humans, and he knows that their Fire Soul will be furious if the Rhino died. If that happen, she would unleash her rage on the pack, killing everyone.
No. Gorlor can’t test her. Gorlor has to tie the Blessed Rhino unharmed, the Rhino is the Fire Soul’s mate, and only the Fire Soul can decide his fate.
The red-maned bitch screams when Gorlor grabs her by the hair and she goes silent when Gorlor presses his old trusty fang against her throat. “Let Blessed Rhino through!”
The circle opens, the rhino charges at Gorlor, surrounded by the orcs. “What is the meaning of this?!” The armored human demands to know.
“You humans attack us, kill our own, do you think we wolfves weak?” Kra’al, a respected bitch from the pack, growls in gnome twisted tongue from the side. A quick translation to wolf-tongue by her Mate Brito, and the rest of the wolves growl in agreement.
“Now we attack you, kill your own, we wolfves show we strong!” Kra’al continues, her mate translates, and another wave of grunts comes from the rest.
The rhino raises his mighty horn and a glow comes out of his shell. “By Noxi, I will show you strength!”
Gorlor presses the dagger in his hand against the human female’s throat. “If you won’t put your weapon down and surrender, I will kill her.” Gorlor threatens in fluent Sinteo, showing his sharp teeth.
"I'm no fool, Gorlor. Everyone's lives are at stake, I can't risk the people's life for a single woman." The Rhino charges toward Gorlor.
Maybe Gorlor was wrong about the Rhino, but the Rhino just gave his own weakness. Gorlor pushes the terrified human female into the Rhino's path and forces him to halt his charge. "If you won't put down your weapon and surrender, I will order my brethren to slaughter every living soul in this city. We won't take sheep, we won't take slaves, we'll kill them all."
The Rhino hesitates for a long moment. With a growl that wouldn’t shame any wolf, the glow from the armor dims, and the rhino stabs his sword into the the bloodied earth. Gorlor is adept at reading human faces, but the Rhino’s face is covered by his shell. Fortunately, Gorlor knows that the Rhino is honorable.
To humans, honor includes protecting the weaker members of the pack, unlike orcs who chase out weakness or made weakness serve as sheep. It took many years for Gorlor to understand this, why would you want a weaker pack? Some of it is still beyond his understanding.
Brito translates to wolf-tongue. Grolor would prefer if he hadn’t done that, but he cannot stop him. Taking down the Rhino with tongue twisting words is shameful, but it is his duty as an elder. His brethren scatter silently, covering and averting their faces to show that they won’t watch Grolor’s shameful act.
The Rhino pushes his hands forward, gesturing for Gorlor to bind them and Gorlor snorts in relief, he’s right about the human, he’s always right about humans. “Bind him!”
“What will you do when Inara gets here?” The Rhino asks as the wolves bind him with ropes and chains. “She’ll be furious…”
“That’s between Chief Balgrum and Shaman Inara, not for you to intervene.”
The Rhino lets out an echoing sigh. “I’ve intervened enough…”
Gorlor looks around at the burning dogs’ den of a human city and nods. The Fire-Soul will be furious, and the Blessed Rhino had intervened enough.
*~*~*
Power level: 3rd stage apprentice.
Mana pools status:
Crown-knot: Affinity 10: connected: 1 gem replenished per minute.
Neck-Bridge: Affinity 6: formed: max amount of gems drained per day: 79
Abdomen-storage: Affinity 5: formed: 16 gems. Conversion ratio: 6:1
Air: Affinity 4: formed: 26 gems
Fire: Affinity 2: formed: 13 gems
Light: Affinity 3: formed: 19/20 gems
Water: Affinity 6: formed: 39 gems
Earth: Affinity 1: formed: 6 gems
Wood: Affinity 2: formed: 13 gems
Gravity: Affinity 9: connected: 84/95 gems
Cantrip known:
Air: Shavi’s Breeze, Shavi’s Sword. Shavi’s Hair Dryer, Aria’s Enhanced Hearing. Aria’s Sonic Scream. Aria's Increased Voice.
Fire: Nuriss’ Flame. Effrat’s Firefly, Effrat’s Fire Breath. Sorladika's Lesser Heating. Nuriss’ Ignite. Oniga's Soap Creation.
Light: Noxi’s Light. Lako’s Blinding Light. Rika’s energy hand.
Water: Water Evocation, Water to Ice, Ice to Water, Water to Vapor, Vapor to Water, Mayan’s Icy Spike, Ayla’s Water Jet. Ayla’s instant freeze. Ayla's Flowing Shield. Ayla’s Freezing Vapors. Hot Water Conjuration. Boiling Waterjet.
Earth: Alice’s Oil Summoning, Reiko’s Acid Spray. Alf's Copper Bolt
Wood: Arigor’s Lesser Vines. Kolosu’s Vegetable Summoning.
Gravity: Lumina’s Kinetic Burst. Tukado’s Repulse. Tukado’s Lesser Shield II. Imari’s Minor Telekinesism. Imari’s Jump. Leo’s Pull. Leo’s Grounding. Alino’s Light Body. Alino’s Heavy Body. Alino's Orbiter.
Transmutation: Oniga's Laundry.
Spells known:
Light: Rika's Electric Channelb1
Gravity: Alino’s Weightless Bodyb1x2. Tukado's Pushb1x3. Tukado’s defense IIIb1x4. Imari’s Lesser Flightb2.
Life: Brigit’s Lesser Cure Poison. Brigit’s Skin Restoration.
Focus capability: 18 patterns.
Social status: The Queen of Red Cedar City. Shaman of the Twin Moon Tribe. Inara, Daughter of Mysteries. Apprentice to the Maven of Mysteries. Sorceress.
Personal Wealth: 1465 Magic Gems. 1420 Golden Peas, 45 Silver Scales, 32 Copper Bits.
Personal Items:
Magical necklace. Contains 100 gems of general mana, can be drained like a mana pool. It’ll recharge by itself at the rate of five gems an hour.
1 potion of lightning body.
1 potion of mana, medium grade.
4 potions of Lesser Healing.
4 potions of Pain Tolerance.
An enchanted belt with eight pouches, the enchantment keeps the pouches’ content fresh. Each pouch may contain 10g of petals or six potion flasks.
Glitter ingredients. (1 bag)
Fresh rose petals, 30g
Fresh lavender petals, 7g
10 empty soul bottles. Glass with a diamond stopper, put in scaled leather wrapping.
The Great White Egret grimoire. Dedicated by the Maven of mysteries to Inara. 30/100. Locked.
Present Companions:
Zoe
Ovin Bloodspear
Berthold
Ryon
Sharlafyn Nettledew
Jerro
Salik
Loyal
Languages:
Toml’a
Sinteo
Myrsha
Felul
Nim
A'arkalu
Injuries and scars:
Curses:
-
Kingdom’s treasury: 3836 gold coins. 123 magical gems.
Kingdom’s citizen: Red Cedar City: 3,881 humans, 1,836 human children.
Apricot City: approximate 800+ humans.
Twin Moon Tribe: 1,158 orcs. 293 orc children. 529 sheep-slaves.
Kingdom's army: 1,156 Orc Warriors. 324 Footmen. 49 Peacekeeper Knights. 500 Blood Spears.
Notables at Court:
Tasiya Keyholder.
Jolla SilverQuill.
Talbot Bookkeeper.
Marasi Chef extraordinaire (spymaster.)
Old Gardner Tiom.
Balgrum Orc Chieftain.