The Hollow Knight had created a camp of sorts from the carcass of an abandoned freight train. The camp was in a siding about two miles up the track towards London. She had promised the party that she had decommissioned any batteries within the diesel locomotive. A brief check confirmed she was not lying. Once the party reached the camp,
Warren retrieved a tin of poultice made of herbs from Canterbury’s Healing Garden. He had seen the sticky, pungent, green gunk work wonders on deep and infected wounds before, but Davey'ss wound would need something short of a miracle to heal properly. It was a large, deep hole almost three fingers wide. How the man had not bled to death already was a testament to Turner’s proficiency with gauze and tape. However, the bandaging was now sodden with gore. Just this wound would have been enough for Warren to doubt if the man could continue with the party, but Davey's cracked and broken ribs were another issue entirely. Warren wondered at what point Davey's stubborn resolve would become a liability on this quest.
“Ah, I see,” said Sid, who had been in conversation with the Hollow Knight while Warren attended to Davey. “So you have a kind of cloaking or disruptive effect within the mist. We are shielded from lesser sprites because you are some apex predator?”
The Hollow Knight took a moment to reply, gently weighing her words. “That would be a crude understanding, Runelord Cypher, but yes. Within the ranks of my own Abyssal kin, I would be…” she struggled for an appropriate term, “...respected for achieving a certain level of autonomy. However, there are also internecine conflicts to consider between my kin and our cousin sprites, the Phobos, the Charnel, and the Vainglorious.
The game between Gods is multi-layered, with schemes within schemes. So, while there are those who would be aware of my presence in this reality, I am an enigma to them. Am I a ruse? A misdirection? Would interfering in my affairs bring them glory or scorn? There are too many uncertainties surrounding me for them to scrutinize me too closely, or indeed attack. As such, I can slip through the shadows of this world to accomplish my work largely unimpeded.”
“Just what is your work?” asked Captain Marshall, the challenge and distrust clear in her tone.
Warren swore he could see the thin slit on the Hollow Knight’s mask stretch into a thin smile.
“The same as all my kind, Rune Captain. To enact the Dread Queen’s will in this reality. My cousins abide by the desires of their own patrons also”
The mood within the freight car shifted, becoming more tense. Marshall placed a hand upon the hilt of her sword, and even Warren found his grip tighten around the shaft of his spear.
The Hollow Knight held up her hands in a display of contrition.
This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.
“Peace,” she implored. “I assure you that our goals are aligned. We both seek to unseat the Charnel Homunculus who has laid claim to one of the towers of London."
"While you claim that we share a mission objective, I doubt that our goals are aligned," said Captain Marshall, her tone as cold and gentle as winter moonlight.
"I also find it difficult to believe," added Cypher, "that your kind have turned from hunting us to hunting each other."
Warren remained silent but shifted his gaze from the Hollow Knight to stare into the crackling fire. He felt a pang of guilt twinge in his heart. After all the Hollow Knight had done to help him retake Canterbury, Warren was ashamed that he could not come to her defense.
"I understand your reluctance to trust me," said the Hollow Knight in her flat, toneless voice. "However, I am also unable to hope that you will come to see me as an ally, as I am a being that is the antithesis of hope. All that I can do is tell you the truth as I see it and leave you to make your decision."
The Hollow Knight's truths were manifold and revelatory. Cypher, Captain Marshall, and the Warlock sat in enraptured silence as a world unknown to them was laid bare. When she had finished, the Hollow Knight simply stood and, with a swish of her cape, left the three to discuss all she had told them.
Cypher was first to break the awed silence. “Damn, I can’t believe she caught me tapping the leylines from my bunker,” he spat. Frustration played across his face, like an arrogant child realizing they are not as clever as they once believed themselves to be.
“She did say that it was only the faintest of vibrations,” said the Warlock, “and she only sensed it because she was drinking from a mana pool at the same time you were investigating them.”
Captain Marshall slid the Warlock a suspicious glance. The look lasted only for a moment, but it felt to Warren that she could sense his yearning to defend the Hollow Knight. The Warlock of Canterbury thought it prudent to try and redirect the topic.
“Sid, what do you think a mana pool is?” he asked.
Lost in thought, the Runelord began to unthinkingly fidget with his MetaTEC, his brows furrowed in concentration before dismissing the question.
“It sounds like a mana pool occurs when a leyline is close enough to the surface that it sort of irradiates a body of water. The Hollow Knight's might be as simple as a muddy hole in the ground, but that is beside the point…”
“The real issue,” said Captain Marshall, cutting through Cypher’s musings, “is that these mana pools help create a new class of sprite. One that is more permanent and more autonomous in our reality. You both saw the canteen she called a mana flask; drinking from that sustains her in our world, similar to how eating food keeps us humans going.”
“That explains why she can travel over land, away from areas that are electromagnetically dense, without decaporalizing,” said the Warlock, adding to the discussion.
“Perhaps. But it doesn’t explain why she chooses to do so,” said Cypher. “Regardless, that is an inconsequential issue. She told us that a Homunculus now lords over our destination, the old BT Telecommunications tower. So that poses a number of questions. First, has this Charnel Sprite found a way to access the point where several leylines converge? Second, what new nightmare are we about to come across if the power of the leylines produces new classes of Sprite? Third, and perhaps most crucially, has it already begun preparing for our arrival?”