Waking up for breakfast, the air is quiet but calm. Last night was stressful, but today will be better. In about three days, they’ll have a weekend to themselves. They get ready and Deacon starts cooking, this time he grabs some of the carrots and pork he bought. he lays it out on the table for the both of them.
“Thank you” Triss expresses
“No problem”
The quiet is comforting
After eating, they watch TV for a bit, and then grab their gear and head out, completely refreshed.
They begin their journey when a carriage pulls up next to them, and on top of it, Renk sits.
“How are you guys doing today? Still in the game?” he asks worryingly
Triss answers back
“Yeah, but how did you find us? we didn’t tell you where we lived.”
“Oh, sorry, I had a few things to explain, and I wanted to get you guys early. And I asked Talion where you guys were, and he just said somewhere on this road, so I’ve been patrolling for a few minutes”
“Ok, what did you wanna talk about?” Deacon asks
Renk stares forward as he starts driving the carriage.
“Yesterday, while we were gone, we received reports of another. This one’s different than the last. This one seems…well, I’ll let the quartermaster give you the rundown. “
Deacon and Triss both sit in the silence of the carriage before Triss asks
"so, looks like this isn't going to be the great day that we thought it was going to be, huh?"
"yeah. another day in the life I guess."
Deacon thinks for a little while longer.
"so, do you think the other hunters have the same job as us?" Deacon asks
"What do you mean? they catch bounties all the same."
"I'm not questioning the bounty hunting process. I mean the actual bounties seem different. like, when we were in training, we could at least talk about our bounties to others. it might just be because we weren't doing insane jobs, or dealing with people. it's just that I can't shake the feeling that we're in something bigger than we realize." Deacon's voice is worried, and he has a certain doubt in his eyes.
"I'm sure other hunters have plenty of stuff they have to keep secret. remember, we're in the big leagues now. it's not going to be simple."
"Maybe you're right. just feels like something is off. Maybe I'm imagining it though."
Deacon thinks on it for a while longer while they make it to the manor. it doesn't take long for them to make it.
“Alright, go ahead and check into the quartermaster. This one doesn’t seem fun.” Renk says as they step off the coach.
Deacon looks a bit worried, but he goes inside, walking past the people coming in at the same time.
They make it into the bar, and see a variety of people, all cheering, and having a good time. As they walk up, Deacon sees two people at the quartermaster, not much different than the both of them, one a guy, around 6 foot, clean shaven, decently handsome, but very boring. The girl almost matches him, but the same build, and hair color. The Quartermaster is informing them about a feral animal near the town. He doesn’t seem to hide the fact that it’s out in the open. His face is uninterested, but he tries to put interest into it.
“Well, get out there and bring back some part of it as proof”
The couple walks off, confident and pumped up
“Damn I’m good, 50 gold per animal, and we're rolling in it.”
Triss and Deacon come up behind the other two and talk to the quartermaster. He takes a puff off of his cigar and blows it to the side. His eyes narrow, and he signals toward the door in the back.
“This one is important,” he says with a quiet voice.
They walk through the door, the room is full of smoke, and the map is scattered with red marks.
“Let’s keep this one short. We got reports of another creature. we’ve tried covering this, but it’s getting harder and harder to pin down. People are going missing in this village. The witnesses we got say that it was some bone creature, tall and lanky, one arm drags on the floor like scythes on dirt. sounds like one of ours, but There isn’t much in the way of description, because it was rumored to be insanely fast. Now, that wouldn’t be such an issue, a simple job. However, there have been reports of voices coming from the fields, leading peasants off the trail. I’m not so sure though, It could be just a story. And lastly, our guys haven’t lasted long inside the village, so try and make it fast, or solve the problem. Let me know if it becomes anything more. It was located here.”
He puts his finger on a village far south of the last mission, and He waves off his hand
“Alright, get to it before we have more problems to solve.”
They begin to walk out, but then Deacon stops and turns
“Hey, quartermaster?”
“What?” he says with a stare
The air is quiet, only the smell of smoke and alcohol prevails. even so, the air feels thicker than normal.
“how…many people are on these missions?”
The Quartermaster looks at him, thinking, lost in thought for a few seconds
“I can’t give you an exact number, but there are 4 squads on this issue alone, don’t try to talk to them, they’ll give you a different story each. And that info is on a need-to-know.”
“Why isn’t everyone on this? This seems like an important issue”
“We have to make the squads based on who’s the fittest for the job, and you two are prime candidates”
“Wait a minute-” Deacon puts his hand on his forehead “-What do you mean “candidates?”
The quartermaster stands silently his face scrunches and releases into annoyance
“Alright. You’d have noticed sooner or later, I might as well tell you now. you were headhunted from a young age, both of you.”
Triss finally speaks up "Head hunted? but this was a public training course."
"the government can pick favorites, and they liked you five, and decided to put you together."
Deacon pitches in
"Why us? what the hell did we do?"
"the only thing the government likes more than favorites is secrets... and money, but that's beside the point"
"so you have no idea?" Triss accuses
"All I know is Talion sung you're praises, and the numbers didn't lie. I'm guessing you had separate training from everyone else?"
"yeah, we did." Deacon says quietly "We trained at our house, and even when we went to the manor, we trained in different rooms."
“that house of yours, the special exam, the whole training with Talion, was all to get you guys to be the best bounty hunters we could make. We’ve been in shortage of good manpower for years, and those people out there are being paid to take care of small problems. You ever look at your paycheck?”
“We never got any money”
“Right….right, you weren’t here last night, Renk sent you off…”
He walks to a box at the back of the room.
“Here’s your cut. sorry I forgot to give that to you. just make sure to stay for the debrief next time, or come in afterwards.”
He lands a massive sack, around the size of an entire wallet
“500 gold pieces. For the both of you”
Triss and Deacon stand back, their eyes widening as they stare at the pounds of cash on the table.
Deacon asks with a shaky breath
“What….what did we just walk into?”
“Something you can’t walk away from I'm afraid.”
Deacon and Triss look dumbfounded, Deacon picks up the sack and leaves out the door
“What…just…happened,” Triss asks
Deacon, looking straight forward, also stunned
“I…don’t know.”
Moments pass as they watch all the men and women in the bar drink and cheer and talk. A distant far cry from reality. They’re stuck in conspiracy and locked in limbo.
“Let’s, let’s just get this done,” Deacon states waveringly
They make it to the supply room. Fin and Oren are gathering their equipment and starting to pack up. Triss and Deacon grab their food and their stuff and they start packing it in.
Fin walks up to Deacon, looking at him with dreamy eyes
“Hey”
She startles Deacon as he’s putting his rations in the coach, but he calms down and sighs
“What…”
“Soooo, I was just wondering, what would it take for you to leave Triss?” she asks
“There’s nothing you can do to convince me to leave her, just back off”
She pouts
“Fine, jeez, I was just asking hypothetically, I wasn’t going to do anything…But if it ever doesn’t work out, just let me know”
“Uhuh, I’ll keep that in mind,” says blankly.
She walks off and Deacon rolls his eyes and whispers to himself
“really doesn't give up does she?”
After they finish packing, they get into the carriage and head off, this time, Fin is driving.
Oren and Renk sit next to each other, Deacon and Triss next to each other
Renk opens up
“So, what do you guys think is happening?”
Oren chimes in
“Well, something is making these things, they all come out of nowhere and we’ve never found any source of them, and they seem territorial, so reproduction shouldn’t be this fast.”
“What do you mean?” Deacon asks
“Well.. we haven’t found proof of any eggs, and there isn’t a clear… creation. They all come from different areas, and they don’t intersect. Think about that for a second, we don’t know where they’ve been coming from, and we’ve been seeing them pop up more and more in a matter of weeks. like they're just popping up out of the ground.”
Renk asks
“Any more thoughts on that?”
Triss raises her hand and asks
“How come the beast before was very slow, but the one we’re going to was described as being so fast, they couldn’t get a reliable description?”
“Good question, we’ve seen that each of these creatures is different in their own way, having different mutations and quirks, it’s hard to tell which ones are going to pose a threat, and which ones are pushovers, but we’re saved for the particularly…creative species.”
“What?”
Renk looks a little surprised
“Yeah, you signed up, didn’t you?”
“I mean, we signed up to the manor, but I didn’t do any special write up”
He looks at the floor for a minute and sighs, and he whispers to himself
“No wonder…”
He looks back up
“Ok, so we don’t know where it came from, and so it’s most likely created…somehow, we don’t know what creates these things, but whatever it is, threatens everyone in the immediate area. If this gets out, we will need to quarantine and evacuate thousands of miles worth of land, which will only create panic and unrest. We need to find out what they are, and where they're coming from. We have special teams looking in the area, finding the creatures, covering up deaths, and sweeping for some clues, while we’re focused on tracking and killing. That’s our job, and we do it well.”
Deacon says with a hollow voice “So we’re just the kill squad?”
“for now.”
“Great. This day just keeps getting better and better.” he sighs
The carriage ride is awkward afterward. Oren cleans his weapons and stays occupied while everyone else looks out the window or falls asleep.
once they make it into town, Fin cranks open the door. “COME ON let’s get this GOING!”
Oren shoots her a look
“Shut up, you don't need to be so loud.”
“Aww, come on! Why are you always dragging down the mood?”
She crosses her arms
“I can't even be a little loud?”
Oren rolls his eyes and goes into the building next to them.
The town is beautiful, sprawling sone towers, bustling streets. Triss looks around, gazing at the grand architecture, and then Deacon taps her shoulder.
“We should probably follow him,” he says quietly
“Why?” Triss asks, still gazing at the sights.
“People are staring at us, something doesn’t feel right.”
Triss looks down, towards the street and at the people. A few men around the town lean on buildings. They glance over at the group, trying not to maintain eye contact. As they walk into the building, Triss can see someone staring, but as soon as she looks, they dart their head away.
Oren is at the counter, talking to the bartender
“We need two rooms of two and a room for one”
The bartender looks at the group
“Alright, but you better not cause trouble." he leans in subtly "The people here don’t like outsiders too much.”
The bartender softly speaks to himself
“The mess is always a pain”
“What was that”
The man looks surprised
“Oh, you weren’t meant to hear that..uh, most outsiders and guests leave a mess. Just please, try not to make it a hassle to clean” The bartend hands him the keys
Oren nods his head
“We’ll try”
They all walk up
Oren gives Deacon the keys to the first room and the third key to Renk
Fin looks at Oren
“A room together? Oh, you shouldn’t have!”
“Not like I have much of a choice.”
"you have Renk, don't you?"
he looks over to Renk, who's shooting him a look.
"for once, I'd rather have the same room. we're not sleeping together though"
"aw, that's too bad! you're loss" She waves her hand at him
Someone enters the bar, and Deacon looks down from the top railing and sees one of the men from the street enter, look at him, and then sit at a table with a few other men.
He leans over to Renk discreetly
“You sensing something?”
“Yes” Renk answers quietly
“I already let Oren know, we’re being watched”
“Shouldn’t we go?”
“No, no. They know something, they probably don’t expect us to know quite yet, so if we let them ambush us, and we keep our guard, we’ll be fine.”
“Alright, I trust you on this one”
They head into their rooms and get their stuff situated.
The room has a soft, homey feel. A double bed for the two of them, a dresser and chest for placing your stuff, a couch, and a TV in the corner of the room.
They leave all of their useless equipment behind.
They meet everyone out front
Renk welcomes them over and then starts setting up a plan
“Ok, so me and Oren are going to go track the creature, see if we can find where it’s going, and you three are going to try and find out what these villagers know.”
He looks over to the three of us and narrows his eyes at Fin
“You.”
Fin points at herself and mouths the word “me?”
“Yes you, I have one request.”
“What would that be, old man?”
“Please, just, try not to sleep with anybody, I don’t want Oren to be more upset than he already is”
“I’ll try, but no promises if it means finishing your quest!”
“Hey, you two.”
He looks over at Triss and Deacon
“Just try to make sure she doesn’t kill anyone.”
They both nod slowly, and Renk and Oren head off out of town.
Deacon looks back at Triss and Fin
“So, where should we start?”
“Well, it may sound cliche, but we could go back down to the tavern” Fin suggests
Deacon mulls it over, a little hesitant.
“Alright, I guess it’s the best place to start”
They walk back inside, grab some food, and split up around the place.
The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.
Fin starts sweet-talking the patrons, Triss tries to listen in on any conversations, and Deacon initiates conversation with anyone he can.
Deacon is talking to some random woman.
“This place is beautiful, must be a wonderful town! you guys get many visitors?”
He looks at her face, she smiles but doesn’t say anything
“So… anyplace I should go, or any spot to meet new people?”
She faintly speaks
“Well…I guess you’re already here”
“Well, any other spots, or anything I should know about the town, we're just passing through, sightseeing.”
She doesn’t say anything, and her face turns a little sour
“Woah, I hope I didn’t say anything wrong, I’m just trying to get to know the place more is all!”
“No, no, it’s just… it’s not that good” she mumbles
“Oh? Why not. It looks fantastic! I’m sure this is a popular place for tourism.”
“Yeah, I would just say it’s overrated.”
“Why would you say that, you live here and all.”
She looks around the bar
“Are you ok, something you don’t wanna talk-” she cuts him off and gets close to his ear, whispering
“Leave. If they see me talking to you, I’m gone. Get out of here now”
Chills go down Deacon's spine
“I don’t understand” he whispers back
“This town doesn’t like outsiders or tourists, you’re in danger, get out while you still can.”
“In danger of what?”
“I’ve said too much, I’m going to pretend you're creepy, and you're going to go back up to your room and leave” her face serious, practically commanding you
Before he can say anything, she stands up in disgust and storms out
The bartender looks over at Deacon and yells out
“Hey! Don’t be harassing customers, or you're gonna have to sleep outside!”
“Ok! Ok. I’m sorry, won't happen again.”
He stands in the corner of the room and waits for the other two to get done.
Triss walks up and talks to him quietly
“People here are very xenophobic, they are giving me dirty looks left and right.”
He stares at the bartender and speaks softly
“Yeah, and one girl gave me a warning, saying I’m in danger. I don’t think the locals can talk to us even if they wanted to. I guess we’re gonna have to wait for that ambush, and hope that gives us more answers”
Fin gets up from the bar and totes a guy behind him, she walks into her room with the guy completely entranced.
Triss says jokingly
“Well, I think someone was a little luckier.”
When the door shuts, Triss and Deacon grab a drink and wait outside the door with a drink, leaning on the railing in front of it. After minutes of uncomfortable listening, Fin walks out, and the guy goes back to the bar, he high-fives his friends and Fin walks up to them.
“I’ve had better. Anyway, apparently, they're gonna try and kill us around midnight.”
“Wow, how’d you get that much info?”
with a twisted grin and a venomous tone, “You underestimate me.”
Her face quickly resorts back to her happy, cheery energy.
Triss looks worried but decides to just lean back over the railing, and gaze over the bar. A few minutes later, Oren and Renk walk in, going past the different villagers, who all give them dirty looks and vacant stares. Renk walks up and pulls them to the side. he starts explaining explaining.
“Well, we didn’t find it, the trail went cold. But we did see that the tracks had been overused, multiple people had walked the path, and muddied up all the prints.”
Deacon starts to explain what happened
“Well, the people here don’t like outsiders, I got a warning from a woman to leave town, and Fin found out that they're going to try and kill us around midnight tonight.”
“Really? How did she manage to get that sort of information?”
“Well…she may…have slept with one of the guys…oops.”
Oren looks upset, and Renk shakes his head
“God damn it. Look, it’s not your fault, but god damn that girl…she needs some help.”
“No kidding,” Deacon says flatly
Renk stands and ponders for a moment.
“Alright, alright. I guess all we can do is wait. So we need to be ready before midnight. I guess we just get to play defense and try to get one of these guys.”
“Agreed, we’re kinda banking off one of these guys talking though, isn’t that a bad thing?”
“No, no, they’ll talk”
“How can you be so sure?”
“Fin does more than just sleep with everyone she can find… you'll see for yourself. Go, try and prepare yourself.” everyone heads into their rooms. The clocks tick down and everyone gets their weapons ready and takes positions an hour before they’re supposed to arrive.
A while passes, and a few men are heard entering the tavern, the lights are off. triss holds an arrow from the other side of the room, while Deacon stands with a table leg he found, to the left of the doorway.
Footsteps slowly go up the steps, they’re faint, but audible, slowly getting closer. Deacon's heart starts to seize in anticipation. the air is quiet as a few men stand outside each door, and time stands still. Seconds pass. Every moment heightens the anticipation and restlessness.
The door clicks open, and a man peers his head through, the darkness is pitch, as none of the lights or windows are open. The man begins to stumble in, then, an arrow flies into the man's head. Deacon catches him before he falls, avoiding the sound.
Someone whispers
“Was that you?”
Deacon slowly places the man on the floor, grabs his table leg, and bashes it over the new man's head, Triss turns a lamp and brings it out to the lobby, two more men stand outside of the other rooms, and one shouts
“THEY KNOW!”
the doors burst open from the other inside, and Fin jumps out, spiking a knife directly in the first man's head, and Oren tackles the last one, and ties him up with some rope, Triss grabs some rope as well and ties the unconscious one.
“We got two of them?” Renk asks as he walks out of his room
“Yep, looks like it, let's take em back to the manor, I have a feeling the locals aren’t going to give us some peace after this” Oren states
The conscious man gets up, the ropes slip off, and he makes a run for it away from them, realizing the stairs are past them, he looks over the edge
Oren sees his eyes dart to the tables below.
“No, no, don’t do it”
Oren waits for a second. The two of them exchange glances. Oren tries to grab him before he jumps
The man attempts to vault the railing onto a table, but the railing gives out and snaps. he slips and lands directly on his head, his skull cracking open on the spot.
“God damn it!” Oren shouts
He sighs and looks at the other man
“He better know something. If not, we’re going to have to find something, or someone else”
Oren picks up the man on his shoulder, and they all huddle by the door
“Ok, we’re all going to dash to the carriage, we need to be fast, in case someone realizes what's happening and we have more trouble to deal with. Renk, you get on the horses and get us out of here, the rest of you, pack in as fast as you can.”
He looks around at everyone
“On three...one…two…THREE!”
He barges the door open and makes dashes straight to the cart
Renk hops up to the horses. he starts to look around, making sure nobody notices. Triss, Deacon, and Fin get into the coach. Oren places the guy on the floor, jumps in, and shuts the door, Renk stirs up the horses, and they quickly U-turn out of town, a few houses light up from the commotion but are barely able to stick their heads out before they’re too far to follow.
The carriage bounces and rumbles with the speed, everyone holding on. turns squishing them against the sides and almost fliping the cart. The carriage slows and the ride turns into smoother ground after a few minutes
Oren looks at the man, who’s still unconscious, and puts a sack over his head.
Fin looks at Oren and the man on the floor
“So, what are we doing with this one?”
Oren winces and looks at her
“We’re getting information from him”
Her eyes drift off, and she says in a dreamy voice and sighs
“I envy the person who gets that job”
Oren winces even harder
“Well, you see. Today, you are that person…”
Fin's eyes glow, and her breath gets shaky, and she says in a quivering voice
“...finally.”
she stares at her hands and tries to regain her composure.
“Well, I won’t let you down! This will be…fun!” her voice moving back to her cheery, normal self.
The carriage goes on
Fin is abnormally quiet, hands caressing her sheathed blade as she stares at the man.
Everyone else is tense, and/or uncomfortable. Triss gives worried glances to Oren and Deacn, while Oren sits in a low, defeated aura. Deacon is just sitting back, and taking in the events that have happened before. The last two days have felt like a fever dream. the reality hasn’t fully set in yet, almost numb to the world around him, he’s not sure even how he should react.
The carriage arrives. They all step out, the area is a deep forest, with a faint trail of where they came from. Before them is a hatch downward, a cellar door made of steel.
“Where are we?” asks Triss
Oren speaks flatly
“Somewhere discrete.”
Fins almost giggles with excitement, while everyone else has a serious and uncomfortable tone.
They open the door to see a staircase downward, inside is a white hallway that is that leads into two rooms. Oren takes the man into the door in front of them, while Renk pulls Triss and Deacon into the side room. The room is soundproof, completely thick with foam and padding
“Why are we in here?”
Renk looks at them and quietly says
“So we can’t hear them”
Triss and Deacon sit on a couch while Renk stands next to the door.
Oren and Fin are in a sterilized room, the walls are thick concrete, a window peers into the room from behind, and an array of tools is on display next to a chair, the chair has many straps and buckles to keep the person still, two on the legs, two on the arms.
Oren is placing the man in the chair, tightening the buckles, and ensuring the straps are tight. Oren takes off the bag on his head. he goes into the side room and looks through the window. Fin stands behind the man, watching him slowly come to his senses.
The man's delirium slowly turns into confusion, and from that confusion, comes panic. He struggles, trying to get the buckles loose, shaking and pulling. Fin quietly, and calmly sneaks up behind him, letting the fear take hold and the panic build. She moves right behind him, the shadow casts in front of him, and his whole body freezes, paralyzed in fear. Fin takes her hand and walks it across his shoulders.
“Now, what to do with you?”
The man asks in a frightened voice
“What do you want?”
She smiles, walks in front of him, and levels her face with his
Her voice is venomous, and the shadows highlight her piercing green eyes as she stares into him with sadistic intent
“Oh, a little information, but we’ll come back to that. this next part is for me.”
Her pupils dilate and she pulls out her knife, clean, black steel, almost pitch, the edges are razor sharp. She slowly takes it and dances it around his chest.
She cuts around his shirt with precision, slowly exposing the skin.
“You know, this is my favorite part”
The man closes his eyes and turns away, his heart beating, and his breath sporadic.
She tilts his head back toward her
“Oh, no, no, no. Keep those eyes open and on me”
“Why are you doing this? I’ll tell you anything!”
“Because silly, I need to. This isn’t about the information right now”
Her voice quivering as the man pleads more and more
“Just sit back, and let me see your fear, don’t be shy, this is allllll going to be over quickly. don't worry though. you won't die, but this is going to hurt.”
“WHY WON'T YOU JUST LET ME SPEAK!”
She laughs in his face and stands behind him, knife to his throat.
“The next thing I want to hear from you is agony.” the blade tightens around his neck.
“nothing else, this isn’t about what's in your brain right now… it’s about what I can do to it”
She prances over in front of him and sits his head up to look at her. She slowly slices the top of his gut. The flesh bows in as it cleaves through the skin like paper. Each inch brings satisfaction to her, and the screams of the man only heighten the senses. She stares into his eyes while they tear up. The cut is surface level, but it bleeds profusely, and immense pain in the man. She suddenly plunges the knife deeper, gazing into his eyes as she watches him struggle for a way out.
“PLEASE I’LL TELL YOU ANYTHING”
She twists the knife, and he makes a *hurck* noise.
She slowly slides the knife out, and he starts hemorrhaging, she wipes her face with the blade, before taking a piece of gauze and shoving it into the hole she made, and loosely bandaging it. She sits on his lap, his blood dripping from her chin.
Oren walks over and begins to open the door, between the rooms
Fin tries to tilt his head toward her and gets very close before Oren intervenes
“THAT’S ENOUGH, he’s ready to talk.”
She looks at Oren, turns back to the man, and pushes off him.
"always interfering. you never liked how it did business."
"we'll talk about this later." his eyes blazing with hate, before moving over to the man “Now, why were you trying to kill us?”
He pleads his case as fast as he can while stuttering over all of his words
“We kill outsiders and b-bring them to the field to the east, th-there’s a pile of skeletons, we just put them on there to a-appease the beast… if we don’t, it started killing the farmers! That’s all I know I swear! We all feel guilty about it, but we have to, or else the village leader will sacrifice us!”
Fin caresses his hair
“I’ll miss you…but I have to go now.” she looks over at Oren “Take good care of him, he’s got a great voice.” her voice sickening as always.
She walks towards the door, her face red and her walk is awkward. She gets outside the room and licks her blade clean, before sheathing it. Oren takes a bandage out of his pouch, applies it to the man, properly and unties him.
Oren looks at him with sympathy and his own pain.
“Some men are coming to help you, they’ll be here eventually, and they’ll get you home. I’m sorry”
With a weak voice, he asks
“Please….please take me….take me home.”
Oren stops, he looks at the man, his eyes streaming tears down his face, and his own blood spills out onto the floor, and all over himself.
“I’m sorry, some men will be here to get you soon…just stay put for a little longer”
“Please…please don’t leave me… I’m…. I’m scared.”
With tears in his eyes, he closes the door behind him.
Fin stands in the hallway, quivering, her knees weak, and her hands trembling, her clothes are soaked in blood. Oren opens the waiting room door.
Renk sees the expression on his face and gives a silent nod. He doesn’t even need to say a word.
Renk speaks to Deaon and Triss
“Let's get out of here”
The first thing Deacon sees as he leaves the room is the crimson sheen on Fin. She clutches her hands and fidgets with her clothes, hair, and anything she can grab onto
Oren announces to the group in a gritty tone.
“We’re going back home, we have to relay our info before we set off… and we’ll take this up again tomorrow”
Fin shakes her body out, still excited.
“Good, good. I need to release all this energy…”
The ride home is even tenser than the last. Oren is visibly upset and refuses to acknowledge anyone, while Deacon and Triss carefully watch Fin, who is biting her nails, and fidgeting, her eyes are still dilated, and she rocks back and forth. the noises she makes are a mix of laughing, crying, and excitement. It’s intense and completely manic. The blood drenches her hands and face. her eyes dance around the carriage, and she doesn’t react to anything but herself.
It’s almost like she’s in another world.
The carriage pulls up to the manor. Oren and Renk walk inside while Fin stumbles off into the night, her crooked smile and almost euphoric tone carry her along the road. Deacon and Triss walk inside, following Oren. they check with the quartermaster in the briefing room.
The room's smoky scent barely registers anymore. The quartermaster stands up from his chair and greets the group.
“I assume you’ve got some info for me.”
Oren speaks up but tries to hide his emotions as he talks, trying to be as deadpan and professional as possible.
“We had to interrogate one of the locals after they attacked us while we were sleeping, it seems outsiders are being sacrificed to the creature to stave it off. The man is still inside the interrogation room. He was forced to do it by the village elders, or he would’ve been killed instead.”
His eyes tear up a little, but he manages to keep his composure.
“Please, just take him home, he’s a good kid, and he just got caught at the wrong place, at the wrong time.”
The quartermaster nods his head
“Did you find out where the beast is?”
“Yes, yes we did, apparently they drag the bodies to a field in the east of the village. So that’s where we’ll start tomorrow. Hopefully, by then it’ll be looking for its next meal.”
“Alright, I’ll update the case, get some rest for now.”
Everyone nods and makes their way out.
As they’re about to leave the bar, a man calls out to them in a sarcastic voice
“HEY, HOW'S THE HUNT GOING? STILL HAVEN’T CAUGHT IT YET?”
A few guys laugh with him
Triss looks at them with a disgusted look, before Oren puts his hand on her arm, and beckons her to leave with the rest of the group
“It’s not worth it, they don’t know.”
Triss looks back at the snarky man and walks off
“YEAH, RUN AWAY, SEE WHERE THAT GETS YOU!”
Deacon, already having a short fuze yells back
"just shut the fuck up!"
The man stands up. The bar gets quiet, everyone is completely silent. Everyone's faces are tense, looking at both Deacon and the man
“Oh yeah? make me asshole.”
Deacon says back, a little disturbed from how quiet it got
“Never mind. someone like you would never learn a lesson from an ass beating.”
The man walks over to Deacon, towering over him at around 6’9”, his muscles are pretty intimidating, but Deacon seems unfazed by this.
“You trying to start something?”
Out of nowhere, Fin steps in behind the man. She’s completely clean, but her eyes are still dilated, and her legs are still weak.
“I’m sorry, but I'm gonna ask you to leave him alone for now.”
The man completely tenses up and talks frantically, stumbling as he tries to make up the words.
“OK, OK, just…just having some fun.”
Fin giggles to herself, it echoes throughout the room as each person shutters at the sound of it.
“Fun…fun…you want to have fun?” she's in a daze, yet still completely terrifying the people around her.
The man tenses up and speaks nervously
“I’ve had my fun! I’m just going to sit back down now!”
Fin grabs the man's arm
"That's no fun. Come on, you can stand a little pain.”
She begins to twist his arm behind his back The man yelps in pain.
“stop, you'll break my arm!”
She smiles, her grin stretching across her face to create a truly disturbing sight.
“Now, we're going to teach you a lesson on staying quiet! oh, and on not messing with my friends,” she twists his arm even more
"don't worry, it'll only hurt," she whispers into his ear, before leading him out of the building.
The rest of the crew stand astonished, except for Renk, whose already fled the scene.
With perplexed minds, Deacon and Triss head off in a daze and start walking home.
The familiar road is the only comfort to the mind, the only thing that makes sense. The dirt patted down after years of wear and travel. Only small tufts of grass survive along the middle. The quiet atmosphere is an eerie calm feeling but only enhances the wandering mind.
After minutes of thought, only one question is spoken, and the deacon is the one to ask.
“What. the. Fuck. is wrong with her?”
Triss seems to not acknowledge the question, but after a few seconds, she quietly says
“I don’t know, and I almost don’t want to know.”
Deacon tries to find something to say
"I'm both glad and terrified that she considers us friends."
"at this point. I don't wanna think about it anymore"
"you know what? me neither" Deacon says defeated.
The road is long and twisted, but it almost feels like home. The same path, the same travel, leading to and from. It’s the passageway between two worlds, one of peace and tranquility, where nothing matters, and another of untold secrets, unfounded horrors, and bleak circumstances.
The house sits a few steps away. Deacon steps inside, and a sense of purity washes over him. This place is the only refreshing thing about the day, just allowing a moment of silence in confusing times is all that's needed to calm the spirit.
They both go about their daily tasks idly, barely registering that it’s happening as their minds wander and ponder everything that has happened for the past few days.
Deacon makes Dinner. it’s a homemade shepherd's pie in a massive pan. It tastes incredible, being completely devoured within minutes.
After the meal and some television, triss turns to Deacon
“My back hurts from sleeping on this couch, so I’m going to sleep in my actual bed.”
Deacon replies
“Mind if I tag along?”
She shrugs, holding back her smile
“I guess I wouldn’t”
Deacon tiredly puts his hands in the air and lets out a
“Yessss!”
They lay down, in each other's arms once again. Rain begins to pour down over the land, and the sound of it tapping on the windows is therapeutic. The bed is soft and more cushioned than the couch. It’s nice. It’s really nice. This is a moment that could last forever, and in a sense, it will. The comfort and security of each other are all that they need, and together, they feel whole.
They drift off to sleep, snuggled up next to each other as much as possible
Deacon sees a black sea of tranquility. sticky slime that surrounds everything in a vast wasteland. from the slime, a throne arises. on it, a man, rotted to the bone, and blacked from decay, with bodies lined around him, as slime spills out from under the throne. A source of dread washes over Deacon.
A raspy voice whispers out from behind him. He turns to a field, a single dirt road, different from the one he knows so well. The fields are a golden color, and the sun reflects this well, but setting, making the sky a red-purple color, while the plains are yellowed in its light. The hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. Something is wrong with this place, something not of this world, something that should’ve never existed. Someone watches him from the shadows.
He freezes
A raspy, almost whistle-like voice comes from his left.
“III’m looOOosst, Won’t anY booDYY HElp MEeEe?”
The voice speaks in and out, as if not needing a breath. It only uses the air in and out to create vocals.
Deacon refuses to look, standing completely still, refusing to move.
the sound of metal scraping and wood bending permeates around him. The voice comes from the right.
“It’s JUust A FABle, A story to SCAare chiLDREN”
The words are broken between awkward, sudden squawks and exasperated breaths that draw out words, along with inhales that change the tone as if not understanding the language it speaks.
The sound of crows echoes through the fields. Deacon tries to pull out of his trance, looking upwards into the sky to see the day fade into the early night. Crows with crooked and disproportionate features circle from above stretched and contorted. A light catches Deacon's eye, swinging. A lantern on a chain slowly peers from outside of the field.
A metal claw holds the chain. The janky, uneven, movement of the hand only builds terror in Deacon. His heart is beating out of his chest. It speaks, the voice deep, unlike before.
“Just a story”
A black scythe comes from above, slicing downwards onto Deacon, the anticipation of the pain permeates, he can feel the blade move through him, and the presence of it entering. before any pain comes, he opens his eyes.
He can’t breathe, he tries to speak but the only thing that he can make out is small wheezes as he sits up in his bed in a panic. Triss wakes up and grabs him.
"HEY! hey. I'm right here, you're ok, calm down, calm down."
Deacon regains his ground, clutching his chest as he inhales and exhales as hard as he can, his breath shaking, his hands shaking, his entire body shaking. Looking around, he sees that morning has come, and he is safe, and finally catches his breath.