Kearse waited with the others while Indigo went back to bring the van closer to the entrance. She seemed to take their safety much more seriously than she did her own, and insisted that they have a fast escape route ready.
From somewhere above them, a small flock of… Flock flew down and began to tear at the bodies. Kearse watched them eat. As usual, one of them watched back.
“You two aren’t going to have another argument are you?” he called down to it. The watcher crow cawed back at him. It was uncomfortable to think it might have been able to understand him, but he refused to break eye contact with it.
“Now even I’m talking to the birds. Pretty soon I’ll probably be running around naked too.”
Indigo returned a minute later and saw him watching the birds. Her reaction was calmer than he had expected.
“Flock being passive aggressive. Wants attention. Ignore her.”
The birds however, didn’t want to be ignored. The watcher alighted, and after a few flaps, landed on the railing in front of them. It didn’t make any noise, but leaned forward while looking at Indigo. When she didn’t respond, it repeated the motion.
“Fine, fine. Ok.” Indigo told it. Then she held out her arm to it and the bird hopped on. She raised it up and frowned at it. “Well? You want apologize? I leave mana in some bodies for you, you know.”
The bird remained silent, and delivered a solid peck to her forehead before flying back down to the other crows.
“Fuck you Flock!” Indigo shouted at the bird, and shook her fist.
“What happened to ignoring them?!”
“It’s not her power that’s dangerous,” Kearse decided. “It’s how she gets everyone else wrapped up in her own craziness.”
He had only known her for a day, but Kearse considered “paying attention” to be one of his best skills, and felt like he was beginning to figure out what was wrong with the girl. She wasn’t a bad person. Not at all. Indigo was just foreign to everything. Her idea of a normal reality was skewed. She knew she was weird, but had no context to help her understand just how strange she really was.
What made her difficult was that she had so far seemed completely uninterested in actually fixing her misconceptions. Indeed, she had seemed content to let other people adjust to her, and he doubted that she would change much once she left the necropolis.
Eventually he was able to get the homunculus focused again. She led everyone around to a set of stairs away from the bodies, but continued to glare over her shoulder at the birds while swearing under her breath.
Like the previous buildings, Indigo had little trouble breaking the locks, granting them access, and quickly conjuring up a number of lights that danced and floated above everyone’s heads.
“Behold!” she shouted, throwing her arms out wide. “The shopping mall!”
If she was waiting for applause, there was none coming. The building was impressive, but even the magical lights couldn’t illuminate the entire hallway let alone the entire building, and much was left to their imagination. Aside from being indoors and having marble flooring, it wasn’t that different from what he had already seen. The size was about all it had going for it. Architecturally, even Kearse could tell that it was rather plain.
“What you want find?” she asked, ignoring the group’s tepid reactions. “Not fair if only I take stuff.”
Indigo led them to a map of the building and looked it over as they made suggestions. Corlo and Haylen were disappointed when there were no stores that sold weapons and armor. Mayra was also let down when there were no magic or alchemy specialty shops. When Kearse asked about finding something nice for his family, Indigo found an antique shop listed, and the others agreed that they would look there as well. It was on the fourth floor though, and they were still on the bottom.
Indigo had planned on them spending the night here, and wanted to take her time exploring the place. The mundane aspects of the necropolis were one of the few things Indigo seemed comfortable talking about at length, and like yesterday’s patrol, began answering their questions as fast as they could ask them. Whenever they walked by a shop, she would tell them about what it sold and see if anyone wanted something from inside.
The first store that they decided to stop at was a clothing store.
“One minute she refuses to wear clothes. The next minute she wants more. Is that a woman thing, or an Indigo thing?”
Haylen was trying to tell Indigo that she could buy new clothes in Orlis, but when the homunculus whispered something in the half-elf’s ear she grabbed Mayra, and the three of them dashed inside. This left Kearse sitting on a bench for the better part of an hour while the women rushed in and out of a changing room.
He tried not to listen in on their conversation, but the curtain hiding their modesty was thin, and when words like “cup size” and “proper support” reached his ears, his imagination began to wander. He didn’t have to wonder what Indigo looked like under her clothes. Half the men in the expedition had likely seared that image into their memories. Haylen and Mayra though…
“Calm down Kearse! Haylen’s an officer and will be a paladin soon. Mayra’s a mage and a noble. Don’t try for women above your standing. Even if that is most of them. Although… Mayra did say she was looking… Nope! Nope. Don’t get in over your head, Kearse.”
His own love life may have been disappointingly lacking, but he wasn’t going to let himself become one of those weirdos who tried to latch on to any woman willing to talk to them.
Haylen was a woman he respected as much as his own mother. He knew a little of her history. At least he knew a little of what she hadn’t talked about during last night’s dinner. She had come from even humbler beginnings than he had, and was rising through the social hierarchy in pursuit of her dream. She was exactly the type of woman he was attracted to, but he knew it would never work. She was a half-elf, and Kearse knew he wanted a family of his own at some point. She was also about to become a paladin, and would soon be well above him in social status.
Mayra? She was already a noble and a mage. She may be looking for romance over a political marriage, but politics would still come into play regardless. Even a baron’s daughter couldn’t marry a commoner without causing a scandal. She may have had one of the most amazing racks to ever be hidden behind clothing, but Kearse could tell the difference between lust and love. Mayra was intelligent and easy on the eyes, but she also seemed to have about as much common sense as Indigo. He knew the obsessive types when he saw them, and for her a relationship would always be second to magic.
And Indigo? No. Just no. Kearse couldn’t even begin to list all the reasons that would be a bad idea. He wasn’t going to complain about her lack of modesty, but even if she had been human, he would have avoided any type of intimate relationship with her.
Kearse sighed, shook his head to stop those thoughts before they went too far, and looked around for something to distract himself. He hadn’t joined the militia to look for romance, and a necropolis was the exact opposite of the best place to think of such things.
Corlo seemed content to wait for the women to finish, and so Kearse did his best to have a conversation with the orc. Even in the militia, it wasn’t every day that you got the chance to talk to a full paladin. He wasn’t sure what to say, but any small talk was better than letting his mind wander back towards the women.
Corlo, he found out, was married, and was used to waiting when he went shopping with his wife. The large orc was killing time by inspecting a large green mannequin that wore nothing but a pair of tight undergarments. It was meant to represent an orc, and Corlo was having a one man muscle flexing competition with the thing. He still wore his armor though, and Kearse couldn’t tell what muscles the paladin was attempting to show off. Apparently deciding himself the victor, Corlo gave the mannequin a nod before picking up a small stack of the tight fitting undergarments. Plate armor was time consuming to put on and take off, so finding the appropriate size would have to wait until later.
When the women finally came out, Indigo caught sight of the end of the contest and walked up to the orc with a grin.
“All orcs packed like that?” she asked, pointing to the bulge in the cloth the statue wore.
“Nah,” Corlo said casually. Then his grin matched hers. “Bigger.”
Indigo’s smile twitched and her face turned red as her eyes darted back and forth between the mannequin and the paladin. Her gaze never went above the waist. Mayra too was blushing, and her own eyes were wandering just as much.
Haylen however was laughing as she tried to put her breastplate back on over her gambeson. Military people were rarely shy or overly concerned with modesty, and Haylen had probably seen enough half naked men to know exactly how big the average bulge was. Kearse certainly knew, and had to stifle his own chuckles at Indigo’s reaction.
They went to two more clothing stores after that, but luckily the women didn’t take nearly as long. Kearse even found a few undershirts for himself as well. The Ancestor’s clothing rarely matched anything worn in Orlis, but something he could wear beneath his normal clothing was fine. Free clothing was money he didn’t have to spend later.
The next store had a logo that Kearse remembered asking Indigo about during the patrol. If that wasn’t enough to tell him what was inside, the lingerie worn by the mannequins in the display window would have. The outfits covered parts that didn’t need covering, and exposed all the parts that should not be exposed.
It was then his turn to blush when Indigo led the women inside, and the men were forbidden entrance until after the girls were done looking for themselves. When they returned to the hallway, they ignored the two men, and made a great show of proudly putting several black bags into the storage space.
“Your turn,” Indigo said, and her mischievous grin from earlier had returned in full.
It only took the briefest of glances for Kearse and Corlo to agree that they would go in one at a time.
When Kearse’s own turn inside was done, he emerged to the sound of the women’s giggles, and had to deal with Indigo trying to guess what he carried in the thin black bag. He had only chosen a few booklets containing some very interesting pictures, but there was no way he was going to tell them any more than that. The exact details were a secret he was willing to take to his grave. He would have to find somewhere safe to hide them once he got home.
Corlo went in last, and when he came out a few minutes later carrying three entire bags, he was met with a round of cheers.
“I have no idea what half of these things are,” he said smugly, “but I’m sure my wife is going to enjoy finding out.”
This resulted in another round of cheering from the currently unladylike ladies.
Kearse had seen more than enough of the store’s contents to guess what those bags held, and tried to not let the image of naked orc women invade his mind. Orcs usually had their own definition of beauty, and calling it “statuesque” was putting it mildly.
They continued to make their way through the rest of the building slowly. They didn’t go into many of the stores for long, but they were happy to take their time exploring. For most shops, they would only glance inside as Indigo told them about their contents.
One sold household objects, and Indigo made sure to grab a large stack of boxes like the ones she had been using in her storage space. They were made from a brightly colored shell-like material that felt less durable than wood, but could apparently last longer. Everything they had found so far had gone into Indigo’s storage space, and she labeled four of the boxes to help everyone keep their things organized.
She also used the chance to get a large enchanted ice box. It had two sections. One for keeping things cold, and one for keeping things frozen. Mayra was surprised that Indigo didn’t already have one, but she had apparently never needed it before. Anything that would rot in the city had already rotten away, and anything that was left would be preserved by the necropolis’ strange effects. If Indigo wanted something cold, she could just use her magic to summon a bit of ice. Now that she was leaving Peninsula though, she needed the ice box to keep some of her food from spoiling.
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“Enchantment is simple,” Indigo explained. “Could make myself. Is box itself that hard to copy. Good materials. Special construction. Was made to work well with spell.”
Another store sold soaps and other hygienic products. Everyone took a large helping of that, but Kearse took the most. Some of the items were quite expensive in Orlis, and his family would appreciate them as much as they did any of his earlier gifts. The perfume he chose for his sister was probably worth more than she would make in an entire year. The pair of straight razors he chose for himself and his father were also much higher quality than the ones they already had.
Later, Indigo rushed into one that sold travel supplies. Canvas folding chairs, extra sleeping bags and special blankets were thrown into her storage without hesitation. When it came time for her to choose a tent, she had trouble deciding, and grabbed three of them. One large, and two small. Even Indigo couldn’t think of a decent reason to take so many, but they were fairly compact when stored away properly, and Kearse couldn’t think of a decent reason not to have them.
Haylen also took a small tent and a new bedroll for herself as well. At Indigo’s suggestion, she also added a few lightweight cooking utensils and a sturdy backpack. She might not need all of it for her pilgrimage, but Kearse agreed that it was better to be overprepared than underprepared.
The two jewelry stores were looted the fastest. No one even looked at what they were grabbing. They just shoved it all into their boxes as fast as they could. Mayra made them promise to sell it slowly when they got back to Orlis. The price of jewelry always fluctuated when the expedition returned, and they’d be able to get better prices if they waited. Being the only noble among them, they agreed to defer to her wisdom.
Kearse got another small box from Indigo, labeled it “Chad,” and put half of his share into it. Chadvid was family after all, and he didn’t want his cousin to feel cheated. Two bottles of alcohol were nothing compared to what they were gathering on this outing.
The bookstore went fairly smoothly… at first. Indigo was the only one who could read the books, so Kearse and the others didn’t look around too much. Haylen was happy to find a large atlas though. The nations it showed were long gone, but the geography was still mostly accurate, and it was of better quality than any modern maps. She said it would likely be a large help to her once she started traveling. Simply knowing where to expect rivers and mountain passes could prove invaluable to her.
Haylen was in the middle of discussing her upcoming journey with Mayra and Corlo when they were interrupted by a crashing sound from farther back. Indigo emerged a moment later and kicked a bookcase over.
“He’s fucking dead!” she shouted “There was only one left and the fucking author’s dead! A month! Just one month and I could have finished the series! Now I’ll never find out how it ends!”
Indigo, Kearse discovered, took her literature quite seriously. Most of the books in her storage were not, in fact, “the secrets of the Ancestors,” but regular stories she read to pass the time. Keldrick’s Chronicles had become one of her favorites, but the world had been cursed merely a month before the last volume was scheduled to be released. The ending had been lost forever, and Indigo was now a very very angry homunculus.
When she had knocked over a few more shelves, sworn in at least four different languages, and finished her small rampage, she stalked back into the depths of the store and refused to leave until she had found at least two new, and most importantly complete, series to add to her personal library.
Not long after, when Indigo dashed into a store that sold musical instruments, Kearse began to suspect that Indigo really had no idea what she was doing. She had left almost all of the furniture from her home behind, and the vast majority of what she had collected that day had been luxury items. Most of what got shoved into her storage space was completely unnecessary for daily life. True, everything she lacked could be purchased in Orlis, and most of what she had taken had been valuable, but he highly doubted that even half of what Indigo owned would ever be put on the market.
“I love music,” she said while appraising a lute-like instrument that neither of them knew the name for. “Music is best art. Can be shared. Play good music is like paint masterpiece. But is not safe in necropolis. Too much noise. Will be nice to play again.”
Once again, Kearse had trouble understanding her. One minute, she was killing undead by the thousands. The next minute, she was talking about how dangerous they were. How was it that she could switch between the two concepts so easily?
What would she even do with herself once she reached civilization? If she sold enough of what she had, she could probably support herself for a lifetime, but aside from the jewelry and some of the spices, everything she was taking seemed to be something she wanted to keep.
What sort of occupation would she take? She knew magic, but after the way things had gone with the archmage, he doubted Indigo would ever willingly set foot inside a mages guild. A librarian? She had plenty of books, but Kearse knew those would never see the light of day, and she seemed to be more of a book reader than a book organizer. A musician maybe? That was possible, but the sheer variety of instruments she had taken lead him to believe that she wasn’t planning on actually mastering any of them. She was hoping to get a salvage permit, but would she really want to come back to the necropolis?
Kearse’s pondering’s were interrupted by a squeal, and this time it was Mayra who was dragging everyone into a shop. With whatever extra sense came from being a trained mage, she had picked up the scent of magic, and was practically clawing at the grating of a store while Indigo broke the lock.
Indigo said it was a gift shop, and that while a large portion of what it contained was magical, the entirety of it was useless, impractical, and at best, slightly decorative. Mayra didn’t care though, and was through the door before it had even half risen. The homunculus was unimpressed by any of it, but the mage had filled up two more full sized boxes before anyone could convince her to leave.
After seeing what was inside, Kearse chose not to take any for himself. Most of the store’s contents seemed to focus on lewd or juvenile humor, and he had to wonder just what the Ancestor’s cultures had been like to allow both it and the sex shop to be in such prominent locations.
“If Indigo’s been surrounded by stuff like this her entire life, I guess it’s not so surprising that she’s a little messed up.”
Not counting the first clothing store, they spent about an hour on each floor as they worked their way up. With his own box mostly full, Kearse had completely forgotten about the antique shop. Indigo had not, and after they reached the top she rechecked the maps on the hallway walls, and took them straight to it.
They all stopped and stared when Indigo threw up the grate covering the door. The jewelry stores had inspired a bit of greed in all of them, but this place inspired awe. Everything from the practical to the pointless was a work of art and beauty. There was gilded furniture, statues big and small, paintings, fine tableware, and more. It was a dragon’s hoard of treasure, and every bit of it was as unique as it was ancient.
“We should only take one thing each,” Kearse said. He was reminded of Indigo leaving possessions behind in her water tower. All of what they saw was valuable beyond belief, and they would be wasted on anyone who didn’t know their true worth.
“Treasure for others,” Indigo agreed. “Not want ruin next person’s fun.”
They spread out and walked in silence as they inspected the pieces of history around them. Occasionally they would find something they liked and carry it around for a minute or two before finding a different treasure that caught their eye more firmly.
Haylen was the first to decide on what she wanted. She would be starting her pilgrimage soon and her quarters at the paladin’s monastery were small, so she didn’t have much room for large objects. Her choice was a set of personal cutlery made of mythril, and kept in a small lacquered case. The knife, spoon, and fork were all finely engraved with a square pattern wreathed in ivy. The pattern was repeated again on the box, and wrapped around its edges with brightly colored paint. They were elegant, but even more than their material value, Haylen liked the idea that they would finally be put to use again.
Mayra decided upon a small censer shaped like a fairy sitting on a rock. The rock itself was made from a dark black glass, and the fairy was a white metal that none of them recognized. She was naked, save for a short skirt, and looked like she was holding her head up to enjoy the sun. According to a small tag attached to it, Indigo said that it had a minor enchantment and when the incense was burned, it wouldn’t produce smoke. Instead, it would create a light breeze of scented air.
Indigo found a blank white egg-shaped mask. She let out a shriek of surprise when it attached itself to her head, but calmed down when she realized it wasn’t trying to eat her face. Despite having no holes for her eyes or mouth, she said she could see and breathe just fine. Somehow, it had made room for her horns to poke through, but it left the rest of her face appearing completely smooth and featureless.
The tag gave few hints to its actual function, and was ominously labeled as “assassin’s mask.” Kearse thought it was a fitting name, but Indigo found it amusing, saying that walking around without a face would only make the assassin easier to identify. Indigo and Mayra said they could feel several minor enchantments on it, but suspected that most of them were only there to make the mask wearable in the first place. Even after giving it several shakes, it didn’t come off unless the wearer purposefully removed it. She decided that it was “pretty damn cool,” before sliding it up to the top of her head like an oddly shaped hat.
Kearse was having a hard time choosing. Nothing really called to him. He wanted a trophy. He wanted something that could only be found in a necropolis. Everything around him was amazing, but most of it was just fancier versions of things that he could find back home. Even if it was nicely carved and embedded with silver, a chair was still a chair. For the things he didn’t recognize, how would he know he wanted it if he didn’t know what it was?
Finally he gave up looking on his own and asked Indigo for advice. Once he had explained the kind of thing he was looking for, she spent a minute wandering around the shop before calling him over.
“This,” she said. “This what you want.”
Siting inside of a domed glass display case was a rounded piece of wood with a circular white panel, and two thin black rods affixed to the center.
“Is clock. Tells time. No need magic. Inside is gears. Very intricate.”
Kearse had liked it from the moment she said that it told time, but loved it even more when she explained how it worked. The large metal rod would rotate around the white panel once per hour, and the smaller one would rotate once per day. There was an internal bell that could ring each hour, and there were a number of small switches on the back that let him chose which hours it would ring on. All he had to do was wind a key once a week to keep it working.
It was perfect. It was beautiful. It was something that couldn’t be bought in Orlis or anywhere else in the empire. Best of all, it wasn’t magic. It was incredibly complex, but it was logical. It was reasonable. It wasn’t some half understood enchantment that may or may not put a curse on anyone who touched it.
The clock was exactly what he wanted. It was proof that he had gone on the adventure of a lifetime. If it was cared for, it could even be an heirloom that would be passed down through his family for generations. It was the most amazing thing he would ever own, and he couldn’t be happier with it.
Once he had placed it reverentially into his box in the storage space, he glanced around once more. Someone was missing.
“Where’s Corlo?” he asked.
Haylen said she had seen him farther back in the shop, and it didn’t take them long to find him.
The paladin was kneeling in prayer. On a table in front of him was a large purple geode. Inside of it was a small statue of an orc carved from jade, and he was holding a long sword made of gold. The stone orc was sitting, with a whetstone in hand and sharpening his blade while looking out from a crystal cave.
Everyone waited in silence as the orc finished his silent prayer. “It’s Ector,” he finally said.
“I know Ector is one of the old gods, but are you sure?” Haylen asked.
“I’m sure,” Corlo said confidently. “It must be him.”
“Too bad it’s missing a piece,” said Mayra, pointing to an empty circle indent in the geode. “What do you think went there?”
“The Orc Is Always Vigilant,” Indigo read from the tag sitting next to the statue. “And piece not missing,” she continued. “That place for candle. Make look like camp fire. I agree is Ector. If not Ector, would be “an orc.” But says “the orc” on tag. If date written is correct… and not count Lost Era, this more than thousand years old.”
Corlo smiled at Indigo’s words. “On a mission for Arlon, I have found a lost relic of Ector. I have never doubted my faith, but this is the first time I have felt like they were truly guiding me. Thank you.”
Together, Corlo and Kearse moved the idol into the storage space and carefully set it down. Kearse tried not to think about what would happen if he damaged it. It was ancient, valuable, and soon to be incredibly important. Every orc in Orlis would want his head if he put so much as a single scratch on the thing.
Evening was approaching, and they were looking for candles and a good place to sleep in the vast building when Haylen took her helmet off. Her ears were twitching, and she looked like she was listening as hard as she could.
“Do you hear something?” she asked.
If even a half-elf was having trouble hearing something, Kearse doubted he would, but he took his own helmet off anyway. After a minute of silence, Haylen tilted her head and looked down one of the long hallways.
“I think it’s coming from that direction, but I don’t think it’s coming from any of the rooms.”
They walked down the hall, weapons at the ready, but upon reaching the end they hadn’t found anything, and still didn’t hear whatever Haylen could. She insisted that she heard something though, and placed her ear against one of the windows.
“It’s coming from outside, but I can’t tell what it is,” she said.
Indigo joined her, and after undoing a latch, opened the window. It was faint, but Kearse could hear it now as well. It was a distant rumble like thunder. It reminded him of the sound a horde of cursed made, but the pitch was off. He tried to look outside for what could be making it, but couldn’t see anything through the miasma.
“Run,” Indigo said, backing away from the window. She sounded scared, and started running for the stairs. “We need to run. Get to the car! Now! We can’t stay here! It’s not safe! We need to get back to the camp and warn them!”
Mere hours ago, Kearse had seen the homunculus slaughter a horde of undead with a smile on her face. Now she was so terrified that she had started using full sentences. He didn’t wait to see what he was running from. He just followed Indigo as fast as he could, with everyone else right behind him.
“What are we running from?” Mayra shouted.
“It’s respawn day!” Indigo yelled back.
“What’s respawn day?” Mayra shouted again.
“It’s when the zombies come back! We need to get back to the camp and warn the expedition!”
“I thought the cursed were always coming back!”
Indigo looked back in shock and tripped on the last step of the stair. She slid across the marble floor, but was up and running again before anyone could reach her.
“No, they’re not always coming back! They do it in bulk! Corlo? Haylen? You know what I’m talking about right?”
Indigo moaned when they said that they didn’t and picked up speed.
“I thought you guys have been coming here for centuries! How do you not know about the single most dangerous thing in the city? Are you really telling me that you don’t have a strategy for this?! Forget warning the expedition, we need to evacuate! If we don’t get them out of the city immediately, then by sunrise tomorrow there won’t be an expedition left!”
Kearse wanted to tell her that they would be alright. He wanted Haylen to reassure them that the camp’s defenses could hold against any horde. He wanted Corlo to boast about choking the gates with undead. He wanted Mayra to say that the mages could summon fire and kill any number of the cursed.
They rushed out of the mall and Kearse knew that it would all be a lie. He could hear the sound more clearly now. It made his knees weak and a shiver ran down his spine. This wasn’t just the moans of the cursed.
To the south, the city was screaming.