Chapter 3
If not for his pocket-dimensional ring, Kyro would've probably packed less.
He still wore a backpack, though. He disguised the ring to appear as a simple band of silver in order to wear it in public without having to worry about being targeted by thieves. But even then, he'd still never use it in public; that would defeat the purpose of disguising it. And to prevent any suspicions of what the ring was, he filled his backpack with a set of camping supplies: a bedroll, a mess kit, a tinderbox, a waterskin, a lantern, his money pouch with ten gold, and a dozen days of food rations—not that he thought he needed so much, but why not. Carlok also left Kyro a letter of introduction in case someone doubted who he and Julia were and what they were doing. Then he finally managed to fit in Carlok's second letter, the one requesting Darkwood Village to send whatever help they could.
In Kyro's ring were proper cooking utensils and appliances, a shovel, and a set of…infiltration tools, as Kyro worded it: a small file, a set of lock picks, a small mirror mounted on a metal handle, a set of narrow-bladed scissors, and a pair of pliers. He enjoyed playing harmless pranks on his adoptive father Carlok, even to the point of breaking into his bedroom and placing Carlok's farming hat on his head while he slept. Fun times.
Kyro also took the time to freshen up his clothes at Carlok's request. Although he hated doing house chores besides cooking—one look at his disastrous room could prove it—he figured Carlok was right when he said first impressions mattered, especially for this task. So, he gave his short black hair and tan skin a good wash in a tub. Then he scrubbed his earth-brown shirt and black leggings as clean as his leather armor before wearing them. He even smoothed out any wrinkles in his fingerless gloves that reached his elbows. Finally, he shined his two shortswords before sheathing them on his back, their scabbards strapped to his back like an "X". He only neglected his concealed daggers strapped around his waists. He rarely used them, and doubted he would be using them for this trip.
When all was done at noon, Kyro sat on top of the hill west to Meadow Village, waiting for Julia. Although the time of day wasn't twilight, he still found his home village beautiful. The woods to the north still stood as a wall of trees. Although the cluster of tiny houses had expanded over the years, most of them were still simple buildings with thatch roofs. The neighboring, fenced fields of farmland had expanded enough to be seen over the homes. Ivy and pink wildflowers still conquered the village, even on newer buildings.
The only change that disturbed Kyro was the green-yellow grass to the south; much of it was now yellow. Normally, that wouldn't disturb Kyro; it wouldn't have been the first time. It was summer, and he knew if the current heat was enough to almost make him sweat after a few minutes, then of course a lot of the grass would be dead. But it was more than that. He couldn't explain why, but something about the fields far off near the horizon gave him…chills.
But as he spotted Julia climbing up the hill to meet Kyro, he dismissed his anxiety. Perhaps he was worrying too much.
Julia had also gone through the same preparations as Kyro, although she hadn't ordered to bathe, wash her clothes, or polish her armor. She had scrubbed herself squeaky clean, even inside her furry ears and all over her fluffy tail. Although her nails weren't polished like most noble females, she still took pride in washing them and making them clean. Even more so her claws. It was a beauty standard for female beastkin to have one's claws are easy on the eyes as they were sharp. She rarely drew her claws out from beneath her fingernails because she wore her gauntlets almost all the time, but as the saying goes, "Hope for the best; prepare for the worst." Worst case scenario, she'd need them.
She had polished most of her armor, especially her Silver Knight insignia on her chest so it could be easily identified. She also cleaned her Silver Knight signet ring, which she rarely took off from her left ring finger. Then she packed what she could in a very large backpack: a map with a thirty-mile radius around Meadow Village, a small knife, an extra pair of common clothes, her seal of rank "Private" in the Silver Knights as proof of her affiliation, a deck of playing cards, and set of camping supplies for herself. She had just remembered to hide food in parts of her armor before leaving the village barracks. Although the bloated backpack weighed funnily on her back, it didn't bother her.
Julia looked around, taking in the view with Kyro. "It's quite nice from up here," she said. "Is this your favorite spot?"
Kyro nodded. "One of several." He stood up and stretched. "I was just about to head down to meet you since the road starts at the village's gate. You didn't have to come up here."
"It's ok." She gestured all around them. "I've discovered a new view, so it worked out. But with that being said, we should start moving. If we leave now, we should make it to the village by early evening, even with a few monster encounters."
As Kyro led the way down the hill, he asked, "You're not worried, are you? About being attacked by something like this morning?"
Julia shook her head as she lined up beside Kyro. "A part of every Silver Knight's training is to know all that you can about common monsters, including goblins. They never wander in hordes. Instead, they send out scouts to areas to see if they would win a fight and what their prize would be. It's more likely we'll run into a few couplets scouting around."
"What's the protocol if we run into a horde?" Kyro asked.
"Drop what's dead weight and run. Once you fall to the ground, it's almost impossible to get back up if they're all over you." She looked at Kyro with a bit of admiration. "Though after what I heard about you this morning, I already stand corrected."
"I know some magic that makes fleeing those situations easy," Kyro admitted. "If not, I wouldn't have risked being so deep in the thick of it. I can also pull you into most of my spells, so that's not a worry."
"Then there's nothing to worry about," Julia said. "Perhaps this will be a walk through a garden."
For the most part, it was a peaceful walk. The trees shaded the duo from most of the heat, so it wasn't miserable. If Julia needed to put on her helmet instead of keeping it beneath her arm next to her sheathed sword, she wouldn't have even cared. Through most of the trek, Julia snacked on food hidden in her armor and Kyro counted all the birds he could spot along the way. They did run into a few goblins, but they were child's play. When one pair dared to challenge them, Julia fought them dead. The goblins hit her with their clubs, but whether they hit her shield or armor made no difference; it was like banging a spoon against a brick. One lazy cut for each and they blew up into black dust.
When one pair tried to run away, Kyro hunted them down. The goblins sprinted—and those ugly midgets could run pretty fast when they wanted to—but Kyro's Shadow Travel spell was easily twice as fast. They died without ever turning around to see a sword stab them through like a knife through bread.
The walk became so peaceful that Julia ended up taking out her playing cards. They played for hours without worry until evening, when the trees shadows stretched further than their height. It was then the first sign of trouble arrived.
The two couldn't see the village behind the sea of trees, but thanks to Julia's regional map, they knew it was coming up. Kyro was enjoying look at the map when Julia picked up the scent. Not only did her yellow eyes go wide, but her pupils turned to slits when she abruptly stopped and held her arm in front of Kyro. She rapidly sniffed the air. She knew she smelled this scent before, even though she couldn't immediately identify it.
Kyro immediately stuffed the map into a side pocket of his backpack and drew his swords, remaining silent. He knew most beastkins had sharper senses of smell and hearing, so whatever she was picking up, he doubted he could as well.
Then, Julia identified it: heavy amounts of blood. Fresh blood. From the direction of Darkwood Village.
She swiftly put on her helmet, carefully sliding her ears through the special holes in it. "I smell blood coming from the village."
Kyro cursed. "Let's get undercover, away from the road, and try not to be seen until we know what's happened."
Kyro went off beyond the side of the road, sneaking in a crouch. Julia did her best to follow his lead. Although she didn't know how to muffle her armor, she didn't make enough noise to be heard from the road.
Julia scanned the landscape as they went. The stench of blood steadily became stronger, but she didn't spot any signs of battle like blood stains, footprints, or any unnatural markings on the flora. The attackers must've came in from the north, she thought.
Eventually, some of the village came into sight…or what was left of it. Between trees and along zig-zag rows of dirt roads, six-foot piles of wooden debris dotted the land. The roads were covered in dozens of footprints along pools and trails of blood. Except for an ominous wind silently moving the tree branches above, nothing moved. It wasn't until taking in the destruction that neither Kyro or Julia had realized how silent their surroundings were. Normally, birds chirped, insects buzzed, and even the branches could be heard swaying. But now, it was dead silent.
Kyro cursed as a feeling of dread came over Julia. They both continued to sneak towards the village until Julia was close enough to make out some of the footprints. From her Silver Knight training, she knew how to make out the footprints of most monsters. And amongst the traces of struggle throughout the human-sized footprints, she spotted…
"Goblin tracks," Julia muttered. She got up, went past Kyro onto the road, and knelt down to get a better look at a few. "Some goblins only have four toes, like this footprint here."
"So we weren't the only ones visited by those things today." Kyro sheathed his swords, convinced there weren't any dangers nearby…for the moment. He noticed one of the pools of blood barely ripple as Kyro walked around it. "The blood's still fresh enough to move."
"Then it must've spilt within the hour." Julia stood up. "We should look for survivors in the debris."
The two began searching around. Both of them didn't dare to call out, just in case a mass of goblins or some other threat was nearby. As they searched the village road by road, they noticed the appearance of other markings in the dirt: smooth lines mixed with blood, as if someone—dead or alive—was dragged away. And it wasn't long after seeing them that it dawned on the both of them: there weren't any bodies to be seen. Pools of blood, hundreds of footsteps, but not a single corpse.
Kyro hopped off a pile, patting his hands clean from moving splintered planks. "Looks like the tracks head north. Probably out of the village. You think the goblins drag the dead away from here?"
Julia frowned, jumping off the same pile. "It sure looks like it, but that wouldn't be natural for goblins." Julia kept scanning the tracks in the ground. "Goblins often celebrate victory by playing with the corpses. One way is by tossing a body around like kids playing with a ball. But in that case, there would be dozens of traces to show that people fell from high heights. However, there's none of that. It looks as if the goblins just invaded, killed, and…took the villagers as trophies." After thinking for a bit, Julia shook her head. "No, that would also be unnatural for them." After a pause, a horrid thought dawned on her. "They're probably being commanded by someone or something that isn't a goblin."
"Oh, wonderful," Kyro muttered as he hoped onto another pile, throwing debris out from it. "Not like a horde of stupid goblins isn't a threat by itself." Then, muffled by the debris, came a set of coughs from beneath the pile Kyro stood on. "Julia, help me with this one! Quickly!"
Julia rushed onto the pile, joining Kyro in flinging pieces of wood to the side. With each splintered board removed from the pile, the coughing became louder. Eventually, Kyro saw a pointy, triangle-shaped ear covered in soot sticking out from underneath a crisscross pile of boards.
An elf? Kyro thought. (Elves were a race of tall humanoids with tall, slender bodies and were known for their long, pointy ears.)
He reached out and touched the ear, which slightly twitched. "Hey, what…?" But the deep, yet smooth voice coughed harder.
Kyro didn't explain. He just did it. "Wraith."
The spell turned Kyro and the person's body into a billow like smoke rising from a chimney. With their bodies no longer in a solid state but in a complete gaseous state, Kyro directed his body backwards. From the pointy ear, the person's body shrunk and expanded as it squeezed through crevices of the debris pile. Once his body was fully out and they were on the dirt road, Kyro ended the spell, their bodies solidifying back into their original solid state.
Kyro wasn't romantically into males, but the elf was the most beautiful man he had ever seen. His thin, lean body stood up to above six feet and brushed off his silk white robes with lime-green trimming. A round, wooden shield was strapped to his back, and two slender, teakwood wands hung on their own wooden hooks sprouting from the robes. The buckles on his leather boots, which were caked in dry mud, shined as bright as the gold signet ring on his left index finger. The detail of the broad leaf etched into the gold made the leaf look alive, as if it fluttered whenever the ring moved. His wheat-colored skin, although covered with a few scratches and soot, looked as soft and smooth as a newborn's. His long, bleach-blond hair was tied together at his shoulder blades, and his sky-blue eyes glistened. He wiggled his ears as if checking they were still there before meeting Kyro's eyes. "Well. To whom do I owe my thanks?"
Kyro had seen elves before, as traveling merchants to Meadow Village over the years. With their delicate yet fine features, elves easily charmed non-elves with their looks alone. But even compared to elven standards, this man's beauty was something else. If he was a girl, Kyro imagined how heavily infatuated he would've been right now. "K-Kyro," Kyro stammered as he stood up as well. "And the one behind you is Julia. She's a Silver Knight."
The elven man turned around to see Julia, who was glad to be wearing her helmet to hide how hard she was blushing. Her only regret was how she couldn't get either her tail or ears to go down, which all three stiffly pointed towards the sky. Just like how a cat's tail would go up when they were happy, excited, or even scared, so would the tail of most beastkins. His beauty alone made her forget the horrific sights around her. Her only thought: Is he spoken for?
The elven man nodded before doing a slight bow to the both of them. "Tyson Addeliah of the Addeliah Family, at your service." Tyson looked around at the ruined village and grimaced. "It seems I was knocked out and that my worst fear came to pass."
"What happened here?" Kyro asked.
"L-let's keep checking the rest of the debris for more survivors," Julia stammered. "Walk and talk."
As the three checked the rest of the debris piles, Tyson told his story. "I had only arrived a few hours ago. Planned to rest in the cottage of an old couple for the night before heading to Elysia. It was like any other peaceful village: the aroma of stew in the air, kids laughing and playing tag in the roads, villagers and a couple of Silver Knights roaming around. The couple had gone for an evening walk, so I was alone in the cottage when the earthquake happened."
Kyro and Julia paused to look at each other in confusion. "Was it big enough to do all of this?" Julia asked as she quickly gestured to the piles of debris.
Tyson nodded, and Kyro and Julia frowned before they went back to digging, thinking the same thing: How did we not feel it?
"I was buried beneath the rubble of the cottage, where you two found me," Tyson continued, carefully tossing planks. Kyro and Julia couldn't help but notice how focused at work he was. They were sure he was a noble, as upper-class citizens of all races would have two or more names in their full name. Silk, which his robes were made of, was an expensive clothing material, usually affordable only for nobility, and his gold signet ring was the cherry on top. Yet he worked and talked among them like they were complete equals, which was a rare personality trait for nobles. Julia wondered if his elven heritage had anything to do with it, as she knew elves tended to share a "my house is your house" respect for all.
Tyson sighed. "One of the cottage's planks hit me hard enough to make me dizzy and weak. During my last few minutes of consciousness, I heard screams and wicked laughter. Then the sounds of sword cutting flesh was soon mixed in before I passed out. I only came back to my senses about a minute before you two found me." He frowned as the three finished checking a pile. "So I wonder, where are…?"
"We don't know," Kyro said, anticipating Tyson was asking about the missing bodies. "We were kind of hoping you could tell us that. Looking at the marks on the roads, Julia reasoned they were dragged off somewhere."
"I suspect they came and went from the north since we came from the south and didn't see any trails," Julia added.
Tyson frowned and nodded. "I see. Peculiar for goblins."
With that, the three were silent as they finished checking the rest of the piles. They finished in the northwest corner of the village, where the tracks they saw earlier lead north towards a cragged mountain about ten miles away. The trio stood in a circle.
"Well, what should we do?" Julia asked Kyro. She removed her helmet, revealing a flushed face that glistened with plenty of sweat. Seeing her made Kyro wonder how she could stand to be in her armor as hot as it was. "Reeve Carlok should know about this as soon as possible, but…" she glanced off towards the trail leading north.
Although the enemies were goblins, Julia was not in her element. This was her first time being thrown into a situation with no obviously right answer. She was scared to be wrong—even more so to admit it—which often made her indecisive, spending too much time considering all the options when time was of the essence. She had her own opinion—to follow the trail and learn more about the situation—but then was Meadow Village safe? Carlok was probably expecting some information by tomorrow's end at the latest, and preferably some help. To send her and Kyro was a quick risk, yet still a great one: they could return to a village as wrecked as Darkwood.
She was confident her presence alone would make the difference between the Meadow Village holding out and falling. But then, should she split up with Kyro to do so? She knew Kyro could escape a horde if he encountered one, but definitely knew she couldn't. If she was unlucky enough to run into a horde on its away to attack the village, she feared for her fate.
But then if by following the trail, which was unknown territory all things considered, would they be safe? Who knew what awaited them; they had no information. They could be walking themselves into some sort of death trap, even with Kyro's abilities.
Another option was to press on to the next village���Banock Village, she remembered—and ask for help there, assuming that village didn't already meet the same fate as this one. But then what were the goblins up too? For there to be no bodies was too unnatural for them to not worry Julia. Not knowing the answer seemed just as bad.
See? Lots of things to consider for each choice.
Kyro, for better or worse, did not have such leadership paralysis. He did what he normally did: trusted his instincts. He knew they weren't always right, but hey. Live and learn.
Kyro glanced towards the sky. Judging from the sun's position, he suspected they had a few hours of sunlight left. And he really didn't want to be moving anywhere in the dark.
"How fast do you thing goblins can drag bodies around?" Kyro asked.
Julia thought for a moment, her ears sagging downward. "Not very fast. Outside of that, hard to say. It's unusual—no, rare—for goblins to do that. Especially like wolves bringing home a kill to their den."
"And how long ago do you think the attack was, Sir Tyson?" Kyro asked the elf.
He smiled. "Please, Tyson will do just fine. And not very long ago. Like I said, within the hour. Perhaps even a half an hour."
Kyro nodded. "Then I say we try and catch up to the goblins. If we do and they've left anyone alive, we can try and rescue them. If no one's alive, we tail them until we find their nest. Better to have some idea of what we're up against than none. Even if we went back to Carlok and informed him, the situation wouldn't really change other than he knows how bad this is. And even though Meadow Village is still about thirty miles away from the next settlement—which is Banock Village, another fifteen miles north—it's still much easier to defend then traveling in the wild."
"This Meadow Village," Tyson asked, "are all the residents capable of defending themselves?"
Kyro shook his head. "Less than half are capable, probably a third."
Tyson nodded. "If that's the case, I think this is a wise decision."
Kyro grinned. "You should travel with us. Strength in numbers."
Tyson looked between the two of them. He felt oddly uncomfortable seeing Kyro's face. Tyson knew he'd never met him before, yet also felt like he'd seem him before in an unpleasant circumstance. Perhaps he encountered one of his parents? And the Silver Knights…well, so far, he didn't have the best view of their faction. They killed monsters well, sure, but the few he met in the Darkwood Village spoke to him as if their word was the law of the world. As a noble himself, Tyson knew how to spot corruption. How those knights held themselves weren't the same as how they advertised themselves to be.
Julia, who watched Tyson look towards the ground in thought, repeatedly chanted a prayer in her head: Please say 'yes.' Please say 'yes.' Please say 'yes.'
Finally, the beautiful elf shrugged. "Very well. Strength in numbers indeed. And if not for you two, who's to say I would've dug myself up and survived or died in that tomb?"
Yaaaasss!! Julia mentally screamed. She tried hard not to let her smile look too happy as Tyson looked amongst the two again. "Strength in numbers indeed," Julia happily chanted.
Kyro couldn't help but notice how Julia's tail had never relaxed from standing up straight since they pulled Tyson out. He didn't know how tails worked with beastkin, so he asked out of concern, "Julia, is your tail ok?"
"Huh?" she chirped. "Oh, yeah. It's fine." The tip of her fluffy paintbrush tail curled down slightly before going straight up again. "Totally fine. Don't worry about it."
"Really? But it hasn't gone down since…" His voice died as Julia smiled unnaturally, slightly tilting her head as her pupils turned to slits. He got the message: Shut up.
Then, rising from the south, came a sound none of them wanted to hear: gnarls and incomprehensible shouts. And from the slight, continuous shake in the ground along with the alarming increase in volume, neither of them needed to be told a lot of them were coming their way.