"Catolica?" Sorina asks. Her voice cracks a bit. The dagger woman nods. Then, she smirks.
"Why so surprised, miss? Thought the Kingdom of Vineyards would be noble? Think again. Their bitch queen and her brood keep nipping at our villages," she raises her sword again, though not directly aiming it my way. It's just reactive. Such is her hate. "They're just like all the other kingdoms. Feed us with pretty little lies — then they pull the rug out from under us. They're doing it right now."
I make a move to grab the blade from her. She flinches when I step forward, dropping the blade and backing off: "listen, I surrender. I don't want to fight — whatever you are."
I put my hands up in a placating gesture. "Calm down. Let's talk this out. Sorina and I are just trying to understand what happened. In fact… Umbrahorn!" I yell.
The ground rumbles.
Then, the patch of grass erupts between the woman and I. Green blades spin down as Umbrahorn makes a covetous yawn, stretching his fins out and smacking his lips together.
"What? What is it?" he mutters.
"Can you heal this band of Havenmarchers?" I ask. He fixes his gaze on me, not exactly angry but looking somewhat frustrated.
"Were they not attacking you just now?"
"Yes — wait, you knew and didn't do anything about it."
He shrugs. "You seemed to have it handled."
I rub my eyes, tempering my own anger. "Just… heal them. Now." Umbrahorn gives another shrug before surprisingly complying to my wishes. He goes first to the man whose nose I broke. I watch from the corner of my eye, wondering with some mild curiosity how wooded spirits go about healing: I've heard their methods are unique, depending on the creature. So, what would Umbrahorn's preferred healing method be?
As the great hammerhead emerges in front of the downed man, Umbrahorn rears his head back before bringing his mouth directly over the man. I am afraid for a moment that he will eat the poor fellow. It seems like the sort of spiteful thing the spirit might do. But… no.
Umbrahorn vomits on the man instead.
It is a disgusting sight that I turn away from immediately — not before, however, catching a glimpse of the viscous green goo that the shark belches. Sorina notes my reaction and chuckles.
The dagger woman looks at Umbrahorn with general shock as well. Her face turns pale. It looks as if she might throw up.
"What's your name?" I ask, trying to ground her somewhat.
Unfortunately, she doesn't tear her eyes away from Umbrahorn: "Kara. Uhm, I think I might —"
She puts a hand up and keels over, gagging and puking over her sword.
I sigh.
Sorina laughs a lilting laugh. I give her a harsh look. Her laughing intensifies.
Great way to start asking questions.
…
The goo seeps into the wounds of the fallen, closing their cuts and mending their fatigue. Eventually six of them are healed up nice and well — well enough to stand by Kara warily. Umbrahorn does not have the energy to heal the other three.
"What, no more vomit left?" I ask.
"I can only produce so much a day — I did my best," he says defensively. "You humans ask too much of me. No respect."
That almost makes me feel bad for the spirit. So I let him go back to his slumber. Thankfully, the other two are well enough to stand and take their leader's side.
None of them dare attacking me again.
Instead, they look… ashamed. No wonder. If I tried robbing someone and they beat my entire party before deciding to heal the lot of us, I'd be ashamed too.
I feel for my right ear. It has yet to grow back fully. Must be why many of them stare at it. It is another awkward impasse. And I am tired.
So, I clap my hands together: "As I was explaining to your leader, Kara, we don't mean you harm. I understand. It's a plague, people get desperate," I say. Sorina mutters some protests behind me but I ignore her. "I heard you were robbed yourselves. If you tell me where Catolica robbed you, maybe I can track them down."
Sorina shoots a glare my way at this. I don't blame her: we can't necessarily afford distractions like this. Especially with Dandy and others relying on me. But, I'm not doing this out of some sense of heroism — I am not so charitable.
I want to avoid Catolica.
So, whatever location they list, we'll skirt around it. It'll be easier that way.
"They set up a checkpoint on the main road to Havenmarch," Kara eventually says. "They've been taxing everyone coming out of that doomed village. And, if the people refuse, they have to go through the black forests of Brightbiar— though, we just call them The Blightbriars now."
"So the plagued have colonized them?" Sorina asks.
"Not only the plagued, but the ones who… turned," Kara shivers. "I saw glimpses of those monsters. It's why Havenmarch fell. After a certain amount of time, apparently, some of the plagued — mostly children affected by it — became worse than daemons. We should've known something was wrong when all the spirits fled Havenmarch. But our council was too afraid to let the thing spread, so we weren't allowed to leave. And now they're all dead."
Mostly children. That's… not good at all. Dandy comes to mind, curled up in her bed, coughing something fierce. I shake my head.
"How long did it take for these turned to emerge?" I ask.
"I don't know — maybe around a month into the plague," one of the men says. It's the spearman who initially threatened me. His eyes have a hollowed look to them. "My son was turned, though I wasn't at the house at the time. When I came back… well I had a family. Let's just put it that way."
We don't have time to waste at all.
I shouldn't even be sleeping.
I let silence hang in the air between us while I think. Do we go through the Catolica guards or the Blightbriars? The checkpoint seems like the obvious choice now, but it all depends on where Umbrahorn's nose leads us. I pray that the witch dwells in Havenmarch, rather than the woods.
Sorina finally breaks the silence by rummaging through her pack and tossing Kara some dried meats. "Give these to the ones who need it most. And I suggest you head South, past the Red Forest and to Takemeadow. We might also be blighted, but we have food at the least. Tell them Sorina sent you."
Kara shakes her head. "If you're going to the Catolica checkpoint, we want to come with you. Those bastards have been stealing from Havenmarchers for a dozen days now — I want them to pay."
For what reason does Catolica steal from blighted people? Is it because they see an opportunity here? It seems… so petty. So childishly evil. It doesn't make sense.
"Think about your people," Sorina argues. "They can't afford a vengeance trip. You said it yourself: you're hungry and desperate."
"Catolica hoards our food. If we go back and defeat them, we can get it all back," Kara argues back. Then, she looks at me. "I don't know what sort of creature you are — I don't care. You fight like a monster. Help us. Please."
I sigh. "The road South will be safer —"
"No, it won't," another of Kara's party interjects. "From what we saw, the turned ones are moving like this." He stands and points his sword in the dirt, drawing a few lines down. Then, he draws a dot of our position: "This is where we are. Our party tried going the long way, bending around the glades next to the Covetous Mountains in the East." His sword makes a semi-circle east of our dot, and he draws some triangles meant to represent the mountain ranges. "But the glades are filled with plague-bearers. And when we tried bending 'round the mountains, the clans stopped us."
Sorina's face darkens. "Which clan?"
"We don't know their name," Kara says. "But they had a crest with some fish in a storm. Do you know —"
"It's Sorayvlad," Sorina answers preemptively. Her histories are colliding. She's distraught.
"Regardless, Sorayvlad is herding the plague-bearers Southwest, towards the other villages. So the road South will be doomed soon enough," the man finishes.
I stare at him dumbly for a second. "Are you sure? Because that's… insane."
"We saw it ourselves," Kara answers. "They were deliberately pushing them, but not eradicating them – despite it being within their power to do so."
I scratch my head. What in all the hells is happening? What type of game have I gotten mixed up in?
And how am I going to save one person when it seems like the entirety of Katal is closing in on us?
Stop.
Focus on what you can control.
Kill the witch.
Everything else comes later.
Remember, this is all a distraction. Save Dandy. Repay your debts. Then, go kill the Elders.
Masaru.
Kai
Daichi.
Renji.
Your mother's hair, flapping in the wind like a flag.
Her bloated eyes.
Her pale face.
All on a stake.
Don't waste your time. You've done enough of that already.
Anybody and anything that gets in my way will see death.
"You want to come with us? Fine," I tell them. "Let's raid the checkpoint."