“Is that it?” Iris asked, her face going pale as the three of them approached the decrepit little village that stood at the edge of the swamp. “You can’t seriously intend for us to stay in such horrible place, right?”

Before them, a lousy wooden bridge that showed clear signs of severe aging and lack of maintenance stretched itself over a body of murky water, leading into a cramped up space that could barely be called a clearing. As far as one’s eyes could see, there was only an unending landscape of greenish, swampy water and tall cypress trees with lots of moss hanging from them. Save for a small village— though it might be a stretch to even call it that— there were no other signs of civilization.

“I… Have to agree with her on this one, sir Steinar.” Alice laughed nervously, her face also a bit pale and eyebrows twitching slightly as she tugged at Steinar’s shirt. “This place is absolutely dismal.”

The ‘village’ in question was just a handful of wooden huts hurdled together in what barely amounted to a tiny hamlet. Muddy water pooling everywhere and moss growing in such abundance that it threatened to swallow the place whole. There were so many insects around that their buzzing alone made for an almost deafening melody. And, for some reason, the place was awfully dark. Not only because of the tall trees blocking some of the sunlight, but also due to the unnatural dark clouds that lingered over the entirety of the swamp. Miasma, or so Steinar had told them.

“Looks fine to me.” Steinar shrugged off their worries as he guided the horse across the unsteady bridge. “There’s nowhere else for us to stay around here.” As he had explained before, the Sunless Swamp is an inhospitable place where normally only adventurers will dare venture into. The only reason that a village, even one as small as this one, exists near such a dangerous site is because there seems to be very good clay to be extracted from the swamp’s soil. Clay that is in turn used to make bricks, an important and rather convenient material for the construction industry.

“More adventurers, eh?” A dirty-looking peasant, dressed mostly in rags, called out to their group as they approached the village’s entrance. “We were starting to wonder when more of you lot would show up.” He scoffed, then spat on the ground and uninterestedly motioned towards the gate. “Entrance is that way.” He told them, though his eyes kept staring intently at the endearing figure of the two blonde girls riding together with Steinar.

“Don’t even think about it.” Steinar warned him, his tone cold and threatening.

“Don’t worry, sire.” The peasant laughed awkwardly, in an attempt to hide his fear. “Just admiring the misses, is all.”

After that brief exchange, their group left the peasant behind and went into the village. There wasn’t much to the place, at all. No sign of any Inn or even a tavern, for that matter. It was just a bunch of small wooden huts, or shacks if one so prefers to call them, and quite a few brick ovens spread among them— probably used to cook the clay.

“This… Is far worse than I thought...” Iris observed, as she covered her face with both palms in disbelief.

“Well, it’s here or in the actual swamp.” Steinar dismounted from his horse and helped the twins do the same. Some of the villagers that were working kept stealing glances at them, perhaps curious to know if new adventurers had come to deal with the undead situation.

“Are you new adventurers?” A rather rotund man approached them while waving his hand in a greeting. “I’m Disto, the chief of this village.”

“We’re not adventurers.” Steinar declared, grabbing a coin pouch from inside his horse’s saddlebags and then trowing it towards the man who called himself Disto. “Just wanderers, here to explore the swamp.”

“Wanderers, you say...” Disto grabbed the coin pouch mid-air and promptly opened it, taking a single golden coin from it’s insides and lightly biting into it. “Well, whatever the case may be, I welcome your group into our humble village.” With a smile on his face, he opened his arms as if to offer a friendly hug, but soon gave up the thought when faced with Steinar’s overly-threatening glare. “A-Anyway… There’s an empty hut at the back of the village, it’s the one with a wind vane on the roof. You’re free to use it, if you want… The winter nights are awfully cold here in the swamp.”

“We shall do so.” Steinar nodded and then turned his back to Disto, the twins following by his side— their arms tightly wrapped around his.

“This place seems exceedingly poor.” Iris remarked, her eyes wandering around the village as the three of them made their way towards the hut Disto had mentioned.

“Indeed.” Alice nodded in agreement. “Everyone seems malnourished and is dressed in what could only be called rags.”

“And yet…” Iris mused for a few seconds, index finger to her lips and eyebrows slightly frowning. “The village chief doesn’t seem to lack for nutrients, being as fat as he is.”

“He’s also wearing some pretty decent clothes.” Alice added. “At least when compared to the rest of the village’s populace.”

“Not our problem.” Steinar cut them off, as they arrived before the hut with the wind vane on top. “Let’s not get involved with them any more than necessary. Remember, we’re here for the two of you to train.”

The hut seemed like it was about to fall apart. It’s straw roof had massive holes in it, and the wooden external walls were practically rotting. The damn hut didn’t even have a door, just an old sheet of patched-up fabric covering the entrance.

“Wah… No way.” Iris complained, her face going even paler and mouth hanging open. Although she had gone through tough times before, never— even in her wildest dreams— would she have imagined settling for such poor accommodations.

“Steinar…” Alice muttered, completely at a loss for words upon seeing the hut’s insides. It was filled with old, rusty tools and a moldy stench thick enough to asphyxiate someone.

“I’ve had to settle for worse.” Steinar said, as if it was just par for the course. “But I guess it might be a little too much for the two of you, huh? Well, let’s just set up our camping tent by the hut and make do with that.”

“Yes, that would be preferable.” Iris sighed in relief, hugging Steinar’s right arm.

“I agree.” Nodding, Alice did the same to his left arm.

Although the village is rather uninviting, to say the least, they will have to settle here for the time being. There’s no other patch of ‘dry’ land in sight, and setting up camp amid the swamp is not really option. At this point, both Iris and Alice were trying their best not to think about how they would have to venture into that swamp in order to train. To say nothing of the undead, soggy boots and swamp leeches would already be a terrible enough challenge for the sheltered twins.

##

After carefully setting up their tent, Steinar left to gather some information from the villagers. Word going around is that thus far the undead haven’t actually come out of the swamp, which means the village is still ‘safe’, in a way. Well, at least as safe as an isolated village at the edge of a dreary swamp can be. The village doesn’t have any proper defenses, just the walls that surround it and a few wooden barricades here and there. There are around forty two people living in the village, all of them human. None is able to properly fight, as they are only humble brick-makers. A few of them, armed with cheap-looking crossbows, usually stand guard near the gate. Not that it would help if the undead attacked… In fact, the ones standing guard would certainly be the first ones to die.

Back at their tent, the twins were now alone, taking the opportunity to have a much needed rest. Holding a fancy, jeweled hair brush, Iris did her best to groom her golden mane. Maintaining a hair as silky-smooth as hers was an arduous task, even more so when traveling by horse instead of a luxurious carriage. The swampy weather would also not do her any good. Even though it was winter, a usually dry and extremely cold season, the swamp still bolstered all of it’s absurd humidity. Or so it was the impression that she got from the place, since it’s not like she had a way to properly measure air moisture. And the insects… Oh, the insects... Gods-forbid any of them finds it’s way near her perfectly unblemished alabaster skin. Luckily, Bruna prepared some sort of insect repellent cream for them to use.

“I think Steinar is getting worse...” Alice muttered, glancing at Iris, who was busy combing her own hair.

“I know.” Iris nodded, giving stop to her hands and laying the comb by the side of her rucksack. “I’ve noticed he’s been talking to himself an awful lot lately.”

“That’s not all.” Alice shook her head, her gaze downcast as she crossed her arms in deep thought. “It’s just like Bruna told us… He’s being consumed by the bloodline’s curse.”

“We have to get stronger if we wish to keep him by our side.” Iris offered her sister a warm, gentle smile. “You don’t have to worry about it, though. I trust Bruna, even if she is a cheeky brat.”

“But…” Alice heaved a sigh. “Is keeping Steinar in the dark really the right choice? I mean, it’s about his mental heath that we’re talking...”

“We have no choice.” Stretching her arms upwards, Iris fell against their tent’s sole mattress, relaxing her body and closing her eyes. “Bruna is the one who knows him better, so if she says he can pull through, then he can pull through. All we can do is try and get stronger to increase the quality of the mana we can supply, to maybe give him more time.”

Bruna had already anticipated the worsening state of Steinar’s sanity, she even warned the twins about it before they left for the Sunless Swamp. She believes, however, that eventually he will be able to suppress the madness of the bloodline on his own. It is, after all, a part of him. And as strong willed and disciplined as he is, there’s no way that he will let himself be consumed by the curse of the bloodline. Bruna theorizes that it might be a matter of mastering the bloodline, although no one that had it has been able to do so— or at least no one that has been openly recorded in the history books of the Ashwall clan. She uses berserkers as comparison, rage-maddened warriors that lose their sanity in exchange for a burst of power when needed. Berserkers are eventually able to recover, even after they lose themselves to madness. Perhaps Steinar will be able to do the same… Who knows?

‘Ah… This is bad.’ Iris’ cheeks flushed a deep shade of pink, as her body’s temperature rose in excitement. ‘I think I might have actually fallen for him.’ She already longed for his touch, even if only just a few moments ago he was there, by her side. The thought of losing him to the madness curse was something she did not care to entertain. She needed him by her side, she wanted him by her side. It might be hard to call her feelings pure, since she was not only filled with lust for him, but also wanted to use him to achieve her own goals. But it was indeed a form of true love, and a rather possessive one at that. It felt weird how she had develop such feelings in that short amount of time, but by now she couldn’t imagine anyone else she would want to be with. She loved his power, his aggressiveness, even his cold demeanor. She was already dreaming of how crazy strong their children would be— given that their mother and father would be absolute geniuses. And above all else, she wanted to walk with him, arm in arm, into the high society balls that she so loves to attend. She wanted to see the envious gazes of men and women alike, as she showed off that hunk of a man. She wanted to proudly say: ‘This is my man.’

But for that… First she has to find a way to deal with his decreasing sanity.

##

End of Chapter 16: The Village at the Edge of the Swamp.