Chapter Thirty-one

Krissintha Arlonet Dar Ghelain had thought nothing could surprise or scare her any more — not after all that had happened, after all she’d been through. She knew she was wrong the moment the evil spirit masquerading as her familiar had revealed he had been human once.

She was embarrassed about how she had reacted — she knew that in the grand scheme of things the first concern that had popped into her mind was less than inconsequential. She should have been just happy that her soul was safe from hell, at least for the moment.

Kevin was, or had been, a human. She wasn’t sure if this was good or bad. Humans were better than evil spirits, weren’t they? Then again, it wasn’t an evil spirit that had slaughtered her family: a human had given the order and humans had carried it out. And it had been humans who had betrayed her, trying to sell her into slavery.

Kevin hadn’t said a word the whole morning — either out of consideration or spite, she wasn’t sure. But for the first time in her life, she found herself entertaining a certain thought: perhaps she should apologise. But no. There was nothing to apologise for — anyone would have reacted the way she had.

‘Hey, Misery, watch where you’re going!’ Tovaron Ento’s voice snapped Krissintha back to the here and now.

She stopped, looked up, seeing the tree she had nearly walked into.

‘Uhm …’ she said, looking around, embarrassed once again.

This was not good. She hadn’t survived numerous attempts on her life — including two krakens — just to walk into a tree like some drunkard into a doorpost.

The elf shrugged, then walked past her, catching up to his companions as they followed the forest path they were on.

‘My lady? Is somethin’ wrong?’ Quenta asked, stopping next to her, looking worried.

Tommi stopped as well, but didn’t say anything.

‘I’m fine,’ Krissintha said. ‘I was just lost in thought, that’s all.’

‘Well, I hope you don’t mind me sayin’ my lady, but focusin’ might be a good thing to do,’ Quenta said, trying not to look her in the eyes. ‘There’s supposed to be an evil spirit around here.’

Tommi gulped, and Krissintha couldn’t help but smile at that.

Soon they left the relatively wide path, venturing deeper into the forest. The elves seemed to know where they were going: they spread out, keeping some distance between themselves, and Krissintha sometimes could only see one of them among the trees. She and the two sailors on the other hand, walked almost right next to each other, and Akela … well, he was nowhere to be seen. The hound had gone ahead, who knows where, only the occasional thoughts from him letting Krissintha know he was alright. The elves didn’t talk, but they made weird, bird-like sounds quite frequently. She thought this was just how elves did things. Occasionally, maybe once every hour, they crossed paths with other teams of elven rangers. Tovaron Ento would talk with them for a minute, then they’d go on their way. Krissintha wasn’t sure how the ranger teams operated, but Quenta’s guess was that the elves had set overlapping patrol routes or some other search patterns. She wasn’t sure what these rangers were, though. Military? Or adventurers? Or something else? She though maybe she’d ask Tovaron Ento some time.

They reached a small clearing with a narrow brook cutting through it. Kerav and Arde stopped at the edges, some twenty paces from each other. Krissintha walked closer to the brook with Quenta and Tommi in tow.

‘Misery!’ Tovaron Ento approached her, not looking happy.

‘Yes?’ she said, kneeling down at the brook to ladle some water with her hands.

‘You know I’m nothing but nice and agreeable, but I have to ask,’ he said. ‘Do you actually know how to fight an evil spirt? Or … at all?’

Krissintha though about it for a moment, then said,

‘No.’

‘Great,’ Tovaron Ento said, burying his face into his hands. ‘You’re all going to die.’

Krissintha stood and shrugged.

‘Fighting spirits is my familiar’s job,’ she said, then glanced over to the sailors. ‘And Quenta knows how to use a spear.’

‘I can go pokin’ at things with it, but I’m a sailor, my lady,’ Quenta said, inspiring very little confidence.

‘You know, I wouldn’t normally consider this to be my problem,’ Tovaron Ento said, giving Krissintha a look a look of distress. ‘But I have a feeling that when the time comes you’d die and drag us down with you somehow.’

‘How so?’ Krissintha asked, pretending to be shocked and offended in equal measure. But she knew the elf had a point. Quenta and Tommi were sailors, not fighters or soldiers. They could probably come out on top in a brawl at a tavern, but she had no illusions as to how they’d fare against an evil spirit and whatever host it would have. Krissintha herself had never trained to fight; that used to be her brothers’ duty. If she had to defend herself just with the sword Kevin had taken from her traitorous retainer, she could count on one hand how many seconds she’d last. And that was against another person. An evil spirit? The only thing she could rely on was her own evil spirit.

‘You make a lot of noise when you walk,’ Tovaron Ento said, shaking his head. ‘That spirit will find you before you find it. And since the three of you are walking all bunched up, if it gets one of you it gets all of you.’

‘Oh,’ Krissintha said. ‘Why didn’t you say something sooner?’

The elf just shook his head and turned and pointed at a tree at the edge of the clearing.

‘See that tree? The mark on it?’ he asked.

Krissintha looked, squinting her eyes, and now that it had been pointed out to her, she could see a couple of red marks on the tree — some sort of elven letters or numbers. Tovaron Ento reached into his bag and produced a small vile of red something, paint or dye perhaps, holding it up for her to see.

‘Markings wear off in about a day. Red runes tell you which team went through here and that there was no danger at the time. If you see a yellow mark, it means the team had found something and are following it. Have you not seen them all along the path we took?’’

Krissintha felt embarrassed for the third time in such a short time: she had not seen the markings, they weren’t that easy to notice. She was about to make some excuses such as elves having better eyes, but she thought better of it and said,

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‘Alright, I’ll … keep it in mind. Anything else?’

‘You said you and your … what was it … bureau? Hunt spirits,’ Tovaron Ento said, sighing. ‘But … have you actually done it before, or is this your first time?’

‘Yes,’ Krissintha said, realising that if they kept this conversation up, every other sentence leaving the elf’s mouth would bring her more and more embarrassment.

‘Yes you’ve done it before, or yes this is your first time?’ he demanded.

‘Yes,’ Krissintha said.

Alright, let me just weigh in here. Kevin’s voice suddenly rang in Krissintha’s mind.

‘Oh, so … we’re talking now?’ Krissintha asked, sneering.

‘What?’ the elf asked, looking confused.

‘No, sorry, I’m talking to my familiar.’

The elf just shook his head, mumbling something about damned monks and shrines.

Yeah, we are. It’s not like I’m angry with you or anything. Kevin said.

Alright … I … may have reacted inappropriately yesterday, but it was … quite a revelation. Krissintha sent her thoughts to Kevin.

Apology accepted, it’s water under the bridge now. So, tell Mister Pure Benevolence here that we don’t intend to fight at all. That’s their job and we’ll stay out of their way. But once the host is down, I will eat the spirit. Kevin said.

Krissintha relayed the message, replacing the words “eat the spirit” with “dispose of it”. Tovaron-Ento rubbed his chin, thinking about it.

‘Alright, that suits me just fine, but … are you sure a single familiar can do it alone?’ he asked.

‘Kevin is confident he can do it,’ Krissintha said.

‘Kevin?’ the elf asked, raising an eyebrow.

‘My familiar. His name is Kevin,’ she said.

‘Huh. First I’ve heard of a familiar with a name,’ Tovaron Ento said. ‘Fenirig Arte has never mentioned something like this, and he knows a lot about gods and spirits. That’s why he hates them.’

‘I thought he hates everybody.’ Krissintha said, recalling their brief but intense exchange the previous day.

‘That’s probably true,’ Tovaron Ento admitted, a smile growing on his face. ‘But he has a special spot for spirits in his dark heart. Anyway, five more minutes of rest, then we’ll go,’ the elf announced and left to discuss something with his team.

***

Krissintha was straining her eyes, looking for the red marks on the trees as she was trudging after the elves. The forest canopy only let a fraction of the sunlight through, making it difficult to see the markings in the constant twilight. The elves were at least a dozen paces ahead, or more, spread out as usual. Krissintha hadn’t seen Akela for a while — he was probably even further ahead. Quenta and Tommi were keeping a distance from her and from each other now — not as much as the elves, but it was clear they both thought there was merit in Tovaron Ento’s advice.

‘There’s one. Right there,’ Tommi whispered loudly and excitedly, pointing at a tree.

Krissintha turned to look and she could vaguely see the red, elven characters brushed onto the trunk of the tree. So … red mark, which meant other elves had passed through here less than a day ago, finding no danger so far. That was good.

‘These elves know what they’re doin’,’ Quenta commented. ‘I’m thinkin’ those bird sounds they’re makin’ every minute is to let each other know they’re fine. If one of ‘em stops doin’ that, it means the spirit got ‘em.’

‘That … makes sense,’ Krissintha said, nodding. ‘Should we start doing it, too?’

‘No, my lady, it’s better if we stick together just a bit closer than the pointy-ears,’ Quenta said. ‘I ain’t good at makin’ bird-noises anyway.’

‘I can go makin’ a seakite sound, but that’s it,’ Tommi said. ‘I don’t think there’s seakites here, though.’

‘No Tommi, there aren’t,’ Krissintha said.

‘So, my lady, can … uh … Kevin really go killin’ the evil spirit?’ Tommi inquired. ‘I mean he’s … one himself, ain’t he? What if we go findin’ this other one and it turns out they’re friends or something?’

‘Don’t worry about that, Tommi. Kevin will eat that spirit,’ Krissintha said.

Tommi gulped.

‘Hungry little bugger, that Kevin, ain’t he?’ Quenta remarked, but then added, ‘As long as he ain’t eatin’ us.’

‘Kevin says he’s feeling hurt that you would think he’d eat us. He says he considers us his friends,’ Krissintha said, relaying her familiar’s words.

‘Friends?’ Quenta said, raising his eyebrows, then he smiled. ‘Well, my lady, please tell ‘im that I’m happy with that, so … friends we are.’

‘He can hear you,’ Krissintha reminded him.

‘Oh … uh … my lady …’ Quenta stopped, looking around and squirming as he stood ‘Is … Kevin patting my back?’

Krissintha stopped, too, squinting at Quenta, and saw a small, almost imperceptible glint of power near his back.

‘Yes, he is. Feels cold, doesn’t it? His touch?’ she said, smiling.

‘Oh, come on, Kevin, me too … uh, that’s cold,’ Tommi joined in the fun.

Krissintha’s smile grew, looking at Quenta on one side then Tommi on the other. Then she realised that the sailors were both standing at least five or six paces from her on either sides.

Kevin, how far can you reach? She asked him.

Uhm, if I stretch my tentacles in opposite directions, I’d say about ten meters. The answer came.

What are meters? She asked.

It’s a unit of length we use where I come from. Ten meters would be … around fifteen paces. He said.

I see … wait! Did you just say tentacles? She asked, feeling a sudden apprehension.

Did I? I … don’t recall. The spirit said.

Krissintha wasn’t about to let him brush this off. Tentacles? Of all things? She hoped she had heard him wrong, but what were the chances of that? His voice was ringing in her mind as clearly as a town bell in the morning.

No, you said tentacles. What do you mean tentacles? What kind of spirit are you? she demanded.

Uh … alright, I have tentacles. Think of me as a … small, invisible spirit-kraken. Nothing scary. he said.

Spirit … kraken? A kraken I can’t see is sitting on my shoulders? That’s as scary as it can get, Kevin! she wailed.

What do you want me to tell you, Krissy? I am what I am just as you are what you are. What matter is that we’re friends. Kevin said, his thoughts sounding somewhat indignant.

But you didn’t have anything to do with the sea-kraken that attacked us, did you? she asked.

Ah, that was my second cousin, twice removed. He just came for a visit. Kevin said, laughing.

I hope you’re joking. Krissintha said.

I am joking. Keving giggled.

‘I’m beginning to see why that elf hates spirits,’ she said the words out loud.

***

Krissintha stared at the tree Tommi was pointing at. Another yellow mark. It was the fifth — one of the elf teams had definitely found the spirit, and they were following it. Quenta and Tommi were looking at her, waiting for her to resume walking. Krissintha felt a knot growing in her stomach — this was soon, way too soon. She was just getting used to a human-turned-spirit-kraken sitting on her shoulders, coming to terms with the situation she had found herself in. Why did she have to be heading into a fight where she couldn’t even see the opponent?

Hey, don’t worry, Krissy. The elves will do the heavy lifting, and I’ll do the rest. Kevin’s thoughts came to her, trying to reassure her.

Prey! Bad prey! Bad, bad prey! Akela’s thoughts came a second later.

Krissintha looked ahead and saw Tovaron Ento’s back among the trees, about a dozen or so paces ahead.

Where is Akela? Krissintha asked.

I’m not sure. It feels like about a three hundred meters, slightly to our left. We should … probably hurry. Kevin said.

‘Hey, Toven!’ Krissy called out to the elf. Tovaron Ento turned around, looking annoyed, putting his finger to his lips, shushing her. Krissintha didn’t care and she spoke as loud as she could without yelling, ‘My hell-hound has found something. We should hurry.’