Ninurta offered Cita a waterskin without comment.
"Thanks," he mumbled. He swished and spat, clearing his mouth, and returned the waterskin without drinking. Next, she offered a few wilted leaves. He sniffed them cautiously while moving away from his mess.
"They're just mint to cleanse your mouth," she said in a carefully neutral tone. Cita chewed the leaves, focusing on the crisp flavor instead of the … things in the trees.
The kitten had no such qualms. After being unceremoniously dropped, she ran out of the splash zone indignantly. Then she saw all the delightfully distracted small animals. She was crouched down, an unsteady butt-wiggle announcing her intentions. Bilal stepped forward and scooped her up, cradling her gently with one hand while he held his glaive with the other.
"Well, that's … unpleasant," Bilal cautiously stated. He continued to scan the area. "It almost looks like …."
"It looks like the trees attacked them." Cita finished when Bilal trailed off. "The trees attacked them, and trapped them, and now the animals are …" Cita swallowed hard, fighting another wave of sickness.
"There isn't anything we can do for them," Ninurta spoke quietly, without her usual overbearing confidence. "Perhaps we should turn around."
Bilal cautiously inspected the trail. "They would have been following this trail … and been snatched right from it. If we take the same trail, the same thing may happen to us."
"No," Cita said distractedly, cocking his head as if listening to something. "It's dormant, at least for now. It's … full." He blinked and swallowed hard. Bilal and Ninurta both looked at him with blank expressions.
"So we press on," Bilal finally said. "Keep your weapons to hand and be prepared to run." After waiting for Cita to unsling his bow and pull an arrow from his quiver, he led the way down the trail. The animals were so intent on their feast that they did not flee. Instead, Bilal had to scoot some rabbits from the trail to avoid stepping on them. Cita shuddered.
"This is not natural," Ninurta whispered softly. "Staryu weeps and cries out."
"I think …." Cita hesitated, looking at the animals that were just wrong. "I think this is an extension of the Infected. Proto-infected? Maybe this is what drew the swarm back to the east?"
"That is a thought," Bilal mused as he eased past the last of the dangling objects. "But we have no way of knowing at this point. We should continue on to the village and see what information we can find. Surely they would not have missed a … problem … of this extent so close to their home."
"I'm not sure. They all looked like they'd seen about the same amount of … damage. If they were travelling through the forest in a group, and the trees got them all at once …." Cita trailed off again, trying not to think about the images burned into his brain. The group fell silent again as they hastened down the trail.
After a time, Ninurta asked, "Cita? You said something when we first came up on … those things." She laughed awkwardly. "I assume that wasn't what you meant by backyard bird feeders."
"No!" Cita denied vehemently. "That's not a bird feeder!" Ninurta patted his arm briefly, moving off before Cita could protest the contact.
"But you said something else, after that. 'Strange fruit' maybe. What is that?"
"Strange fruit," Cita echoed, brow furrowed. "That's a song. We studied it in class. Let me see." Cita scratched his head. Bilal watched him with an odd expression. "The history is complicated, but the short version is that one group of people were taking what they thought of as justice into their own hands. If they decided it was appropriate, they would forcefully take members of the other group and hang them, usually from a tree. They called it lynching. The song is beautiful, but it's a protest of the unjust killings. The lyrics are talking about this practice - and referred to the lynched people as strange fruit." Cita shrugged.
"That's … horrible. That's barbaric. Surely it wasn't condoned! Why did the lord not stop them?"
"It's … complicated. They should have been stopped. But it seems like many of the people in charge either agreed with them or weren't willing to step up and try to stop it." Cita shrugged. "I … didn't really pay attention. I just wanted …." He trailed off and looked at the gloomy sky through the skeletal tree branches. They felt sinister, like a dormant evil. "I wanted to shoot my bow. It wasn't complicated. You nock the arrow, draw back, aim at the target, and release. If you do it right, you hit the target. You're not tied to anyone else's action or expectations." Cita realized that he was talking about his past - memories he had thought lost - without the ringing and haze that presaged a blackout. He huffed a laugh. "Maybe shock is a good thing." Ninurta glanced toward him, but held her peace for once. Bilal kept scanning the area, but he'd relaxed enough to return the kitten to his shoulder. She curled up, tail lashing gently.
"Are we almost out of the forest?" Cita slid his arrow into his quiver to rub his arm, suddenly feeling cold all over.
"I think it is not far," Bilal answered. "Do you sense something?"
"What, like a psychic?" Cita asked skeptically. Bilal gifted him with flat look.
"Call it what you will, you seem to have a feel for the evil in this forest. You knew something was wrong before we entered. You said it was safe to pass the … fruit, and it was. Or has been so far. If you're feeling uneasy again, we should move faster and try to clear the forest."
Cita opened his mouth to protest that he wasn't an authority on forest safety. He shut it before saying anything, though. Bilal was right. They were in the dark, and any hints should be taken seriously. Cita pulled an arrow free from his quiver again and they moved faster. Cita started scanning the forest around them, trying to mimic Bilal's pattern but a few beats behind him. Ninurta seemed focused inward, but she kept her footing nimbly enough and managed her packhorse.
When they burst from the forest into the cloudy afternoon light, it felt like a huge weight was lifted from Cita's shoulders. The others seemed similarly relieved, but Bilal did not relax his vigilance as they paused to collect their bearings.
"We should be just a few hours from the village, according to the directions I was given. If we don't run into any more problems, we'll reach there before sunset. And they might not let us in if we arrive after dark."
"I think I would prefer to be inside walls tonight," Ninurta commented and started off. Cita and Bilal hustled after her.
*****
The stubbled field blurred in front of Cita's exhausted eyes. His bow was slung at this back and he focused on placing one foot in front of the other. Each step jarred him from heels to head and some wicked devil was driving spikes into his skull. Gnats swarmed around his head, whispering something he couldn't quite understand. He swatted at them ineffectually.
With the next step, the ground disappeared from beneath him and he dropped into an uncoordinated heap. Blinking, he looked around. The open field met a wide, rutted trail set a little lower than the farmland. He was at the edge, apparently having walked out of the field without stepping down to the path. Bilal stepped down next to him and half-turned to make sure Ninurta managed the elevation change without issue.
"Cita, are you alright?" Bilal asked crouching next to him. The kitten lashed her tail, unamused by her shifting perch.
"Bilal? Are we done with PE?" Cita asked. "Because I'm pretty sure we've done a mile by now." Bilal frowned in response and looked up at Ninurta.
"I don't know," she responded tartly. She sighed and continued in a softer tone. "If I only had my familiar! My old master said that he once tried to treat someone who had struck their head, but would not accept a healing - just herbs and palliatives. The symptoms that we would normally fix within a few minutes persisted for more than a month."
"And those were?"
"Much like this," Ninurta answered reluctantly. "Disorientation, fatigue, headache." She shrugged.
Cita pushed himself to his feet. "What are you talking about?" His body protested the sudden movement and he leaned over, dry-heaving miserably. Bilal steadied him carefully.
"And nausea," Ninurta added. "We need to get to the village. They may have a healer with a contracted familiar. But we'll at least be able to shelter overnight."
"I shouldn't have pushed us so hard." Bilal fretted. "He seemed fine this morning, though."
"And would you have us stay near the forest overnight?" Ninurta challenged. "I think not. Come, drink this," she told Cita, thrusting her waterskin at him again. Cita drank cautiously, hoping the liquid would stay down. As he sipped, she turned back to her packhorse and pulled down the largest pack. Cita recognized it as the basket she had carried from the marketplace, slightly squashed from their adventures.
"Let's get him up on here. We're almost to the village. Aspen can handle the extra weight for a short time." Bilal moved to load Cita onto the horse while Ninurta slung the pack onto her own back.
"No!" Cita protested, shoving Bilal away with the mostly empty waterskin. He stepped away and stood straight, wincing at the dazzling lights that danced in front of his vision. "I'm fine." Bilal and Ninurta exchanged glances. Ninurta opened her mouth to say something but Bilal cut her off.
"Very well. As agreed." Bilal took the waterskin from Cita and handed it to Ninurta. She closed her mouth with an audible snap and stowed it away. "This path should take us to the main gate. We should be inside before the sun finishes setting." Bilal gestured for Cita to lead the way and followed at the pace Cita set.
Cita fumed and pushed his stride, trying to go faster. They were always babying him, he thought. It was stupid. Why couldn't they just treat him like an adult? On his next aggressive step, his right ankle wobbled and he almost face planted. A swift hand caught his elbow and drew him to a halt.
Cita took a deep breath before meeting Bilal's carefully blank gaze. "Thanks," he said quietly. "And … sorry. I'm a little out of sorts." Bilal shrugged the shoulder that didn't have a kitten perched on it, silently accepting the apology.
"We'll all feel better once we have a chance to eat and rest." Cita nodded and they set off again, side by side on the trail. Cita took the opportunity to observe the village they approached. It had a grey, weathered stockade with the same design as the steading they had left that morning. It didn't appear to be much larger than the flame sorcerers' home, either. Cita frowned. If the flame sorcerers' ancestors had fled this place four generations ago, it wasn't unreasonable that their architecture would be similar. But surely the village would be larger?
Cita turned his head to ask Bilal about this, but paused at the expression on the adventurer's face. Bilal looked suspicious as he sniffed the air. The kitten's nose was also turned into the light breeze and her tail lashed fiercely. Cita turned back to the village. There was a gate at the head of the path. It stood open in the setting sun, swinging idly. Hair rose on the back of Cita's neck.
"The wind smells of blood," Bilal whispered. "And the village is upwind from here." He shifted his glaive uneasily.
"Maybe they were slaughtering for winter?" Ninurta offered, drawing closer.
"Maybe. But …." Bilal hesitated. "Everything I have heard says that Baron Dorf requires heavy levies of his people, so much so that most of the animals that aren't required for breeding are sent to his keep as tribute. They would be slaughtered there rather than in a village on the outskirts of his lands."
Cita's fatigue faded in a rush of adrenaline. He unslung his bow and drew an arrow from his quiver. Bilal climbed back off the trail to walk in the field next to it, ensuring he had the clearance needed to wield his glaive. Growling quietly, the kitten crouched on his shoulder. They approached the open gate and slowed. Cita nocked his arrow and braced himself.
"I'll go in first, and move to the left. You follow, and move to the right." Bilal instructed Cita in a hushed voice before speaking over his shoulder. "Ninurta, you may want to wait out here."
"Not a chance," she hissed, clenching her staff. Bilal hesitated and then nodded. He moved through the gate and Cita followed closely, moving to the right as soon as he was clear of the stockade. He scanned the village, taking in the small, grey, wooden houses with grey thatched roofs. The packed dirt around the buildings was grey, too. But it seemed like the villagers were trying to brighten the place.
"Someone interrupted their home improvements," Cita commented softly. "The paint got all splattered, and they stopped before all the walls were done." Bilal pursed his lips but did not answer. The kitten's growls increased in volume. Cita cocked his head to the side, trying to make sense of the strange, lumpy pile next to the wall. It wasn't the paint buckets and brushes he would have expected, although it seemed to match the color they had selected. He swallowed down bile as his eyes focused on the hand sticking out of the mess.
Bilal moved forward and prodded the corpse, shifting it slightly to reveal a dead rabbit with vivid black and pink stripes. "The Infected," he murmured.
"The Infected shouldn't be a danger to a stockaded village," Ninurta protested. "Even the largest swarm would be slowed by the walls so that the adults could defend the place." Bilal did not answer and moved further into the village. Cita kept pace, looking around carefully in the dimming light. Ninurta followed with the patient packhorse in tow.
Past the first pair of homes, the village opened up marginally, and Cita could see a stone-lined well in the center. He forced himself to scan the pathetic, torn corpses scattered around the village, but could not linger on them. They were dead, and nothing could be done. The dark haired brother had been right, he thought. It was too late for the village.
"Do you hear that?" Bilal asked. He held a hand up to the kitten, trying to quiet her. Cita cocked his head again, straining to hear.
"Sobbing?" he asked Bilal in a hushed tone. "Yeah …" But what could be crying in this grim place, he wondered. Bilal stalked forward with his glaive in a two-handed grip. Cita hurried to catch up. As they rounded the well, a small figure jumped up. The child-like figure that stood between the party and two smaller figures. They seemed like children, but Cita knew better. He drew and fired at the leader.
"Akicita!" Bilal shouted, sweeping the glaive up to intercept the arrow. Jostled, the kitten jumped to the ground and stood braced and yowling at Bilal's feet.
"Aki...cita?" Ninurta echoed. "His name is Akicita?!" She walked over to Bilal and swatted where she expected his arm to be. He didn't flinch. "You did not tell me his name was Akicita! You know that…." She bit off her tirade in mid-sentence. Cita glared at them both, and then remembered that he should be watching the not-children. As soul-sickening as the thought was, they had to be the Infected, and it was best to put them down quickly.
"What are you doing here?" The larger child challenged the intruders with small fists and a tear-streaked face. The smaller children clung to her legs. "You are not welcome in Southwallow!"