Andal and Jeva were almost out of Haverdash territory. A Donfas controlled city was visible on the horizon, though they planned on bypassing it to get to Rathifan by tomorrow night. Andal had told Jeva all about his dream, and he was still disturbed by it. Jeva had a nightmare as well, but hers was more typical, one that she'd had before.
They were passing by a town that had been burned down in a Haverdash raid, just hoping that some of the inhabitants had escaped. There was some kind of mound on the side of the road in front of them, which they looked at curiously while passing. It was a boy about their age, but he was burned terribly.
Jeva lamented, "He must have been running from the town and collapsed here."
Andal pulled the horse to a stop with a look of dread on his face. He jumped off and knelt by the boy, lifting his head.
Jeva watched curiously, "Andal?"
"I know this face…"
"Oh, I'm sorry.” She slid off the horse, “ What was his name?"
"No, I didn't know him, I know his face! He was in my dream, Jeva! That boy I saw when the lightning flashed, the goat! This is him! I threw him in a fire!"
She knelt and hugged him, “No, Andal, you didn't do this! It was a dream, someone else did this and affected your mind, the Haverdash did."
Andal looked up and down the body, “He died recently, you can tell. Probably last night…”
""Andal, someone else is behind this. Don't blame yourself. We can ask someone about this at Rathifan, you’re probably not the first person this has happened to.”
That point struck home to Andal. He may have done something awful, but there could also be a recurring problem here that needed solving. "You're right, let's get going." He wiped some tears away from his eyes and sniffled, "Once we get to Rathifan we can talk to the authorities about this."
They continued on their way. Andal was clearly still focused on the body they'd found, but Jeva didn't push him on it. They passed the Donfas city they had seen on the horizon late that morning, and that night they had decent dreams. Around noon the next day it became clear that a speck on the distance was Rathifan. There was still excitement, but it was dimmed by the depressed mood.
When they drew near enough to see the spires and palaces in the inner city, their wonder overcame their mood. Like any city there were more poor people in shod houses than anything else, but the richer areas were rich indeed. They had never seen so much color in one place before, fabrics and tapestries hung from windows and around door, clothes were brightly colored, and even the cobbled streets were effectively shining white with cleanliness. You could easily forget there was a war going on if you’d stayed in Rathifan, at least the rich part where the refugees weren’t sheltering.
The palace wasn’t as tall as the twisted, colorfully striped spires that lined the walls and were dotted along the inner city, but it had acres of gardens and trees built into it that could be seen plainly from outside the palace grounds.
Andal spotted a castle a ways off, and redirected the horse to go there. He didn’t know quite who he wanted to talk to, but he figured someone high up in the military would have heard about it if dreams that caused death were a common occurrence.
They entered the gate and were stopped by a soldier; he set down a mug and got up from a seat, telling them, “Hold up!” He looked at both their faces, “Who are you?”
“I’m looking for someone who would know about the Haverdash affecting people’s dreams?”
The soldier’s face completely changed in annoyance, “No, I asked you a different question!”
Andal was embarrassed, normally being quite compliant, “Oh! Sorry, I-”
Jeva answered for him, “We’re nominees from Tubarai for the team that has people from a bunch of kingdoms.”
His face completely changed again, “Ah, I can show you where to go. You’ve almost come to the right place, they’ll be gathering in the mess hall. They’ll know if you’re the right guys or not, but just so that I’m not bringing anybody in there and making an idiot of myself, do some magic.”
Andal made a sword and shield, and Jeva shot a fireball straight up.
“Good enough for me, come on.”
“Wait!” Andal stopped him, “I was wondering about the Haverdash affecting people’s dreams?”
“That’s a weird question,” he answered dismissively, “I’ve never heard of such a thing, why would you be wondering that?”
“Because,” He hesitated, “I had this nightmare, and it led to me killing an innocent boy.”
The soldier didn’t react, but Jeva jumped in, “That’s not right, let me explain! He’s telling it wrong because he feels guilty!”
He waved his hand flippantly and looked away, “I don’t even care. Come on, I'll show you the mess hall.”
Andal was shocked, “What do you mean? I killed someone!”
“Whoop de doo. You’re not special.”
Andal almost fell off the horse.
The guard grabbed his mug to take with him as they walked, “Look, not you, not anybody else in your squad was chosen for being nice. Maybe you're nice, maybe some of them are, I don’t know, doesn’t matter. You were all chosen because you are really good at killing Haverdash. You ought to see who Donfas nominated, one of them is a witch. There’s a bloody witch in there right now, an actual witch! Speaking of, she might know something about dreams. Let me show you there already, then you can ask her.”
Andal mumbled, “But, it was wrong…” unable to reconcile what he thought of what he did with how the soldier was reacting.
“You know what’s wrong? Everything the Haverdash do. As long as you kill them, people don’t care. You know what you’re like? You’re a piece of grass in a forest, and you’re apologizing because of how much sunlight you’re using up. If you weren’t a talking blade of grass nobody would have noticed you. So, don’t waste everyone’s time wallowing in guilt, and don’t start judging the other people in the squad because of what they’ve done. They aren’t the trees, the Haverdash are the trees.”
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They were unable to respond. The soldier lead them to the mess hall and opened the door for them, "We're still waiting for most of you to arrive; I was told things should get underway tomorrow." He looked inside as Andal and Jeva entered, "I'd love to show you which food is the best too, but I've got to get back to the gate. Good luck to you two."
"Thank you!" Jeva told him, then he shut the door behind them.
There were rows of tables set up, and half of them were occupied by officers of various sorts who had to be involved in and informed about the developments of this new strategy. Two individuals were obviously distinct from the officers, and were sitting with officers nearby on one side of them and empty seats on the other. They were both well armored, decorated with foreign insignias. Several empty seats down there was a lady in a black dress.
A man in a sharp uniform came up to them, "Excuse me, can I get your names?"
"I'm Andal, and this is Jeva. We're the nominees from Tubarai."
"Excellent, you match your descriptions. Welcome to Rathifan! We are honored to have you." He bowed just low enough for his head to be below theirs, "We are waiting on three more nominees to arrive before things truly get underway, but we encourage you to get associated with those who are here so that you may work well together. Those three, "He pointed to the two in armor and the lady in black, "Are all nominees. The lady in black and one of those two are from Donfas, and the other from Tsafel."
He turned to point at the front of the mess hall, "Dinner is being served, and will be all night as people arrive. Feel free to have as much as you'd like, you are our honored guests; the mess hall doesn't normally see food of this quality. I haven't been informed where your sleeping quarters will be, but I know who is in charge of your arrangements, and he assured me that he would be here within the hour."
He clasped his hands together, "Do you have any questions for me?"
Andal pointed at the lady in the black dress with a nod, "Is that the witch?"
He looked over at her silently, "I don't actually know, but I made the same assumption. I know the idea of working with a witch is difficult, as she has certainly done difficult things, but please open your mind to it. She has unique knowledge about the Haverdash, and can understand them in ways most of us can't. You know how they were once human, but have since changed to be something else? Witches are the same."
Andal and Jeva shared a look of surprise, then Andal told him, "I don't think we have any more questions. Thank you."
"Of course. I will be responding to various needs for you and anyone else who arrives, if you need anything don't be afraid to flag me down."
The gentleman turned and left, and Jeva started walking forward tentatively, "I guess we have to talk to that witch, huh?"
Andal took a deep breath, "Yea, if she knows anything about my dream, and if she knows that much about the Haverdash, it's a conversation we have to have. I've talked to a Haverdash before, and he wasn't bad at all. Maybe this will be like that."
"Exactly! She's going to be a misunderstood, bubbly old lady!"
"That sounds like setting ourselves up for disappointment, but okay."
They passed through the filled rows and came to the one with the other nominees on it, but passed by the two in armor to go sit by the lady in the black dress. They felt a number of eyes shift to them when they did, but tried to ignore them as they sat across from her.
She was surprised as well, sitting up in her chair and looking over her new company. Andal didn't typically judge people on appearance, but she was a level of ugly he had never seen before. Jeva, instinctively gasped, "Oh geez!" She clasped a hand over her mouth, feeling bad for that reaction.
The lady tapped a wart on her cheek with one of her green and purple nails, "Don't be shy, I don't think myself pretty. You two are quite bold, aren't you? Sitting by a witch!" Her voice grew shrill at the end, watching their reaction.
They weren't caught off guard at all, having been far more shocked at her appearance. "I'm Andal, and this is Jeva. We're the nominees from Tubarai, so we'll be working together. I'm told you might know something about dreams?"
She raised her eyebrows, the wrinkles in her forehead shifting into different combinations of folds as they went up. "All witches should, but not like the Haverdash. You want to know about the Haverdash?"
Andal gripped the side of the table nervously, "I- I don't know. If I told you a dream I had, could you explain it?"
She grinned, "I have never tried such a thing, but tell me, I want to see if I can."
"Hold on," Jeva interrupted, "I'll tell you it. I don't like how Andal is going to portray himself."
Andal protested, "I should really be the one to-"
"Ah too late I'm already starting! So he found himself in a grassy field…"
Jeva explained the whole dream accurately, from the field to the jungle to the sacrfice. The witch was deeply intrigued through most of it, but near the end she leaned back with a knowing look. Jeva continued, telling her about the body they found on the road. The witch nodded, not surprised at all. Jeva finished, and they stared at the witch curiously.
She leaned forward to lean on the table again, "Fairies, it's obvious. Were you being watched before this?"
"Yea," Jeva answered excitedly, "We did feel like we were being watched!"
"They were there, right with you, but they can be unseen. Perhaps they thought they couldn't kill you, even in sleep, so they used you instead."
Andal shook his head in bewilderment, "I didn't know fairies were real."
"Oh, they're real. They blend in to their surroundings and hide, existing along side us. Now the Haverdash are upsetting the stability of the world, and the fairies are being driven out of hiding."
Andal suddenly sat straight in realization, "So they're fighting the Haverdash, and I just got caught in the crossfire?"
The witch lowered a hand to gesture for him to sit back down in his seat, "No, they aren't fighting the Haverdash."
Andal slouched in disappointment, matching the witch's gesture.
"Fairies are like children. They see one amazing thing and they want to be like it, and be around it. They've chosen various objects of admiration over the years. The cathedral of Nishir was probably the first one that fell, the fairies might have started to turn them. Now they see the Haverdash, who are fierce and strong willed, brash and powerful. That's what they admire now. They took advantage of you to help the Haverdash."
Jeva complained, "We have to fight them too? And they can be invisible?"
She raised a hand above her shoulder and seemed to tickle the air, "You don't have to fight them. They're hard to catch anyway. The Haverdash are the problem, not the fairies. They're like children, remember. No, the fairies aren't what you should worry about." She reached into a pocket in her dress and pulled out a thick vine two feet long. “This weed is something that feeds on dead things. It doesn’t use dirt, water, or anything else that isn’t dead. I’ve been keeping it in my pocket for the past few weeks, and it’s growing at a slow, but definite rate. I haven’t put anything in my pocket with it. Do you know why it’s growing?”
Andal grimaced, “Is your dress something dead?”
She made a shrill, gurgly laugh. “No, silly. There’s enough death in the air to make it grow.”
He looked at Jeva, and she seemed lost too. “Like, blood and guts carried in the wind? That’s disgusting.”
She sneered, “Not blood and guts, death.” She shook the vine, “It doesn’t need the body, it just needs the death. It’s not the only thing that likes death, there are hidden things, old things, and the stench of death is going to permeate down to them and bring them out. The Haverdash are bringing out things they don’t know, and those things will fight the Haverdash, but if that is a comfort to you then you don’t understand the position that we are in.”
Jeva rubbed her hands between her thighs, feeling strangely cold suddenly. Andal folded his arms and asked, "So about the boy, the fairies may have caused my dream, but who killed him? Was it them or me?"
She grabbed something on her shoulder gingerly, lowering it down to the table. "Teamwork. They established a connection between you and him, and provided the means of death. They needed you to actually apply it, which they got you to do through illusion. If you're wondering if you're a murderer, no, but you're responsible in some way." She made a wheezing chuckle, "Not like that matters to me or anyone else here. We're good at killing Haverdash, we do whatever we want."
The two nominees who had been sitting several seats away got up and walked over. The lady spoke first, "Pardon our manners, but we've been listening in. I'm Nalia, from Tsafel."
"And I'm Rumberal, Donfas. Mind if we join in your conversation? We have a lot of questions too."
"I'm Andal, this is Jeva. Nice to meet you."
The witch held out her hand to be kissed, "Duchess Grendala."
Nobody took her hand, but Andal asked, "You're a duchess?"
Rumberal told him, "No, she isn't."
"Not officially," she answered cheekily, "But I am the king's cousin."
Rumberal clarified, "She's estranged."
She sneered at him, "You're starting off all wrong if you want to ask me questions, Rumberal."
"Defender Rumberal." He corrected her.
Before their angry glares could escalate, Jeva asked Grendala, "I have a question, it looked like you took something off your shoulder and placed it on the table? Is there something there we can't see?"
Grendala looked at the table and started speaking, "Tifiliti Nifu Esilet-"
Everyone stood up and stepped back. Nalia’s hand went to her sword, “What’s she doing?”
“-Hetil Fisivi, show yourself.”
A little man six inches tall appeared on the table. He had cotton shorts and a shirt with nothing over the upper back where dragon-fly wings came out. He said in a high pitched voice, “I’m Tifiliti Nifu Esilet Hetil Fisivi, if you absolutely must, you may call me Tifiliti.”