Chapter 29: Horseback

We all turned at the sound of a rage-filled scream from Croftop's small graveyard. It seemed the Catwoman wasn't dead, she was covered in dirt and her claws were fully extended as she made a beeline for our tenuous new ally but she was certainly and inarguably alive. "You let me bleed to death! Asshole!"

The Cleric impassively watched her approach and that's when I realised his stats and level were both set to private, meaning I had no idea how much damage this guy could do if he really wanted to. The rest of my party seemed extremely tense, barely drawing breath as they waited on the black-plated giant's next move. He remained still despite the Catwoman glaring up at him with blood on her teeth and fire in her eyes. The Cleric listened to her ensuing tirade of truly vile curses and invective. She never said anything about his religion though and he remained completely unflinching and monotone as he gave her his answer. "Your healer was dead, you had a gut wound, acid eating into you from the inside out. Bleeding to death was a mercy compared to the slow agony you faced if I had simply stopped the bleeding."

The Catwoman's face twisted in disbelief. "You're a damned cleric aren't you? Why didn't you heal me after that, that thing was dead" The Cleric's massive shoulders shook with eerily silent mirth and the pissed-off feline in front of him bristled in either indignation or unease. "What? What the hells are you laughing about?"

The Umbani shook his head, the rest of his body now rigid once more. "Umbani do not heal. We purify our foes with white-fire and suffer their blows with our bodies which have been purified entirely, baptised in the cleansing blazes of the Lord on High. We do not heal."

Victoria caught the Catwoman's arm before she did something she would likely regret and steered her towards the estate. "Hello, pleasure to meet you. I'm the Lady Delacroft's daughter Victoria and this is my sister Luna." Luna fell in beside the newcomer and Karl and I filled in the gaps, leading her away from the Cleric who was once more sitting on the grass, emmitting a nearly inaudible hum as he gazed straight ahead.

"He was supposed to be a Cleric! What kind of Cleric can't heal people?" She seemed to be in shock, not providing her name in response to Victoria's introductions. I didn't think too harshly of her though, I supposed losing your whole team and being left to die by an unfeeling zealot would be a bit of a shock after all.

"How did you survive by the way? You looked pretty dead when he brought you in the gates." I tried.

The Catwoman looked over at me and gave a brittle smile. "I have a magical item, only works for Catfolk though so don't get any ideas about sawing my head off and taking it for yourself."

I shook my head innocently. "You don't have to worry about that. I'm not much of a murderer anyway. Also, I didn't catch your name..."

The Catwoman [because I guess that must be the right word for a female Catperson] still sounded a little shocked. "Oh, I'm Farrah, I was supposed to be clearing out a Derro infestation around here. I think I'll have to wait now though. That thing killed everyone except him, he burned it until there was nothing left."

Luna cleared her throat. "We'll actually be accompanying you and the Cleric to take on the Derro, we're independent adventurers but this is our home and we'll give everything we have to defend it. If you're still willing to try anyway, after all you've died at least once already haven't you?"

Farrah shook off the last of the fog hanging over her, eyes snapping to the rogue noble and then each of us in turn. "Oh, I didn't know you had so many adventurers here, Its a small town after... What the fuck is that!" Her eyes had found Karl and the swordsman revealed his monstrous, demon-arm with a showman-like flourish.

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It took surprisingly little effort to get Farrah into the party and once she was ready to go the Cleric joined us at the gates. I felt bad about pressing her into risking her life but we had no time to waste, even waiting for the adventurers meant more people had died unnecessarily. Horses had been provided and I dearly wished I had any riding experience from my previous life. I did not, all I had was a crash course Luna and Karl had put me through over the last couple days and It proved to be nowhere near enough for the 4 hour ride that transitioned all too soon from smooth dirt road to bumpy dirt track where I clung on for dear life and tried not to completely wear out all the strength in my legs and ass.

The others talked back and forth, Farrah fitting in nicely, I just focused on not falling off the saddle and ended up plodding alongside the Cleric and the massive draft horse that he had been provided. I was really grateful for him at that moment, we would have been trotting along a fair bit faster if it weren't for him and I definitely would have fallen off then.

"You ever seen Derro?" I tried a bit of conversation, wincing as a bump in the road crushed my balls into the hard saddle.

The Cleric nodded once and we bounced along in silence for another few minutes before I tried again. "What are they like?"

The runes along the Cleric's armour glowed softly before he answered. "They are filth for the most part. Their entire race faced extinction at the hands of plague, demonic incursion and organised attacks from the Worm Cult. Instead of experiencing extinction with dignity they rebelled, fought with more than they had at their disposal, called on powers that must be thwarted at all costs and they became slaves to them."

That sounded like what I'd already heard, Karl looked back at me over his shoulder, obviously he thought it was a bad idea to talk to the Cleric but I needed something to take my mind off the numbness of my legs and the pain I felt everywhere else.

The Cleric volunteered the next bit of information, monotonously rumbling his way through sentences. "Blood cults, the lot of them are. They take their time killing their victims, corrupting and sacrificing pieces of the immortal soul as they fragment away and are dragged down into their blasphemous altars."

Finally we were there, the farm where the first attack had happened. I don't know what I'd expected really, maybe a bloodbath, livestock slaughtered alongside there sheperds, families strung up like Mussolini and his women, a butchery on par with Ranyai's work perhaps.

Instead there was a stone mound, not a cave, it was more like a nest or an anthill. The thing protruded a little higher than the broken fenceline between us and the main farmhouse, a barn was burnt to blackened stumps in the background and the trees closest to the nest had been cut and hauled away. I imagined teams of diminutive little monster-men industriously sawing their way through the trunks and dragging them Into the nest, disappearing along with the hapless farmers and unlucky travellers who picked the wrong week to pass through Delacroft Territory.

Cautiously we approached the mound, Karl was in front even though the massive Cleric was available and willing to lead the way. The stone sides weren't steep but they were smooth, the stone seemed like a single piece pushed and shaped from the earth, covered in cracks and chipped sections but also seeming distorted by some immense pressure from beneath. Farrah pointed to a reddish-brown stain at the lip of the slope. "Blood, I've heard most Derro cults bleed black or don't bleed at all so that's probably one of our farmers."

I nodded and thought about what I'd been told, Derro made pacts with something, not demons, something else that remained unknown to the people dwelling up above and judging by the dread twisting in my gut as we stood on the lip of the hive it was something that should remain unknowable. "Let's go, we might still be able to save the slaves." That meant the men, since the Derro had killed all the women and children they'd encountered so far. It was a horrible thought, the Derro had emerged at night, using their nocturnal vision and small stature to sneak up on settlements and then attacked in force, slaughtering and sacrificing with no mercy to be seen.

I shivered as we lowered ourselves into the nest, the last golden rays of sunlight caressing our skin before we stepped into the darkness and were swallowed by it.