Chapter 6: Far from home

All geared up and with time running short, Carina and the Kid departed from End Of The Line. They made their way past the slaughter ground, the dirt blackened from dried blood. Past that was a green meadow going as far as the eyes could see. And yet, the great expanse was infinitely more terrifying than the battlefield.

The young scout had heard of the deities, being of unfathomable knowledge, enough to drive one to madness with just a glance. They could reshape the world as an afterthought, their very own existent had immense gravity. But there were those out there, human, that could somewhat harness such a power, either through acolytes or forbidden tomes.

The enemies could come in any form, from an innocent bird to a blade of grass. Nowhere could be called safe. There would also be barely any cover for most of the journey.

The two moved fast and careful. Despite her inexperience, Carina was still a trained scout, she charted the most efficient way possible. The Kid, meanwhile, had her eyes wide opened for any sign of danger. A single tiny change in color could mean the difference between life and death.

Outside, the sun was shining brightly but not harsh. The wind blowing through gently, caressing one's skin. The sound of grasses and leaves shuffling and birds chirping created a symphony of nature that was all refreshing to one's soul. But the two heroines could not relax for a moment. Their trek through the meadow while slow was exhausting. Every single moment on alert drained on their young nerves.

The young scout was afraid because she was helpless. If an attack was to happen, there was nothing Carina could do but try to survive until help. Here she was, putting her live on someone younger. Just the thought was rather shameful and terrifying. Still, the young scout determined to try and help her junior in whatever she could.

But what of the Kid with iron on her hip? The girl was also nervous beyond anything ever known. This meadow she had known too well, all the time she spent running through the field being chased for some pranks. Even though the scenery was still unchanging, the atmosphere was intensely foreign. This was no longer her playground but the hunting zone for childish and cruel abominations.

And so, the two kept on going. Carina tied a scarf around her face, trying to hide her own breathing. The Kid caressed her neck, calming her beating heart.

The journey was unbearably uneventful.

All that pressure and tension kept on building soon to explode spectacularly. As they reached the first encampment in their checklist, the sight that greeted them was like a culmination of their fear throughout this entire trip.

The place was now deserted, only inhabited by the dead. Two towers were erected, made out of spears. Strung between them was a lone knight, stripped bare and left hanging. From his back, what seemed like muscles were ripped out and tied to the poles. On his chest were words carved upon, not as a warning but a prediction, a declaration.

'Land of the damned.'

It was confirmed that this encampment was hit. There was no time to mourn or to bury the death. Still, the Kid could not just do nothing.

"Let's at least lower him." She said.

Carina agreed, the young scout could not even fathom the pain this man had gone through. At least he was now in a better place. She approached one of the pillar to try and tear it down. The thing wavered slightly at her touch, barely pulling the muscle strings. But that was enough. What happened next would haunt the two till the end of their lives.

The strung up knight suddenly awaken. He yelled out, oh he yelled out. All the pain, the humiliation, the terror and anguish pent up, all let out at once, a final cry from the grave.

Carina immediately rushed to the Kid and hugged her tight, covering her ears.

The man's scream shattered the uncomfortable silence, erupting like a violent volcano. The screech was soon drown out by a gurgle as blood and puke rushed up through his mouth. Along with them were other substances of life also expelled. Silence was restored as the final spark left the tortured knight, whether by choking or shock no one would ever know. On his face the expression of horror forever etched deep, frozen harder than rock.

Letting go, the young scout instructed her companion. "You should go and find any documents that could tell us about the knights stationed here!"

"Ok." The girl nodded and left.

Returning to let the strung up man down, Carina let out a sigh. The young scout wondered if she had shielded the young girl in time or not. Deep inside, she knew it was not enough. For a moment, Carina was frozen was surprised and fear and it was definitely enough for the alerted Kid to catch a gander.

Still, for that girl to remain so calm afterward. The young scout remembered what happened after the battle at End Of The Line, the Kid could smile to her people so cheerfully. A thought came to Carina's mind. Perhaps there was something missing in that girl's mind. The young scout had thought of this before and dismissed it. But now, she was not too sure.

Knocking down both of the poles, Carina cut the man free. She then dragged his body next to his comrade lowered their flag to cover him up.

When the Kid returned, the young scout was already up to something else, investing the tracks out of the camp.

"I could not find anything, the documents were all burnt."

"That's definitely not knights' protocol." Carina replied. "The raiders must have done it so we could not tell who were missing."

"Missing?" The Kid wondered.

"Look at these tracks, there are a lot of prints leading out of the encampments." The young scout pointed out the clues on the ground. "They must belong to prisoners. You can also find some especially big footprints, likely belonged to the mutants. I could only find these tracks leading out. So we could conclude that they must have approached the place with their power. But when the raiders returned to their base on foot, likely to escort the prisoners."

"Woah. You really are sharp." The Kid exclaimed meekly.

"It's what training are for, this is just the basics." So simple that Carina wondered if the girl was trying to praise her. Just how capable was this Kid really?

Tracking the prints led them a short distance outside of the camp. Afterward, all of the tracks were scrambled, to hide that many prints were quite a feat. Whoever did this knew exactly what to do. Carina could not imagine the lumbering abominations to be behind this. What else was out there lurking.

"We are done here, let's go." The young scout said.

The two retreated to a nearby forest and scooped out the area. There might be enemies all around, hiding in the leaves but they could not find anything. Here they would rest for the night. A dangerous gamble but staying out in the opened meadow was even worse. The encampment was also razed to the ground there was no cover there either.

The young scout made notes of way of escape and taught them to the young girl. In case of attack, which direction to run and the major obstructions on the way. Finally, Carina went for a big oak and dug up next to its root. From underneath, she dragged out a big pack.

"What is this?" The Kid asked.

"This is supply left by the forward scouts when they first moved into this area for emergency use. There are a lot more of these all around this area." Carina answered, wondering if there were any other scouts out there.

They took out two warm blankets, special made to keep warmth from escaping. For use when lighting a fire would be too risky. Among the supplies were also some rations, after some consideration, Carina to not touch these. If the ground was cursed, there was no guarantee that the food would be untainted. Besides, they brought more than enough already.

"This is so dry." The Kid said as she chomped down on a ration stick.

"Here, have some water." Carina handed her the canteen. The young scout noted down the events of the day. "We are progressing at a decent pace. After tomorrow everything should be done."

"I have never done this before, I sure hope I didn't leave any tracks behind." The Kid murmured as she tried to swallow the piece of ration.

"You did marvelous, I can tell you clearly had training."

"Doc did teach me a lot, but I was never really in a situation to use them."

This person, what was he capable of? Carina remembered him very well, reek of alcohol with shaking hands. But apparently, he taught the Kid how to fight.

"He must be a very capable person then." Carina commented.

"Yes, Doc is amazing! He seems to know everything, especially when it comes to medicine. Doc could exactly tell what is wrong with someone with only a quick check up!" Talking about the Doctor had seemingly injected some enthusiasm into the Kid.

"So not only is he a formidable fighter, that man is also a scholar?"

"Hmm, I wonder." The Kid mumbled. "Everything he taught me from shooting to fighting were all through theory. I mostly practice them in my free time, which is quite a lot. I tried to goad him into a fight but he would always turn me down, saying I would win."

Hearing that sent a shiver down Carina's back. This girl, all the thing she did, dispatching three abominations like that. All of them was without any practical experience! Either she was a genius or the girl had put in an unholy amount of effort in her training. But that would not explain her guts and nerve of steel. At least that answered one of Carina's question. With that shaking hands, how could Doc show the Kid how to shoot? It seemed like he could do even less than that.

"Um, Carina, can I ask you something?" The Kid said.

"Of course, go on ahead."

"What's your full name?"

What kind of question was that? "I am Carina, just Carina." The young scout answered.

"Wait, are you a mage then?" The Kid somehow reached that conclusion.

"Of course not, what made you think that?"

"I thought only mages have no family name." The girl answered.

"That… Every orphan without any traceable relative would have to go without a surname. It just happens that every mage is like that." Carina explained. "Captain Meredith is also like that and I am sure he can't do magic, I think. Me, definitely not."

"I see!" The Kid nodded.

Up in the sky, the moon was high up. It was getting late and they would have to stop talking to rest. This was what both was secretly dreading. The conversation at least helped distracted from the horrific scenery they had witnessed. But both of them were also exhausted from a full day being on edge. This would have to happen sooner than later.

"You should get some rest, I shall have first watch." Carina said.

The Kid wanted to say something, maybe objecting to that idea. She decided to listen in the end and bided the young scout, 'good night'. Carina watched the young form curled up inside the blanket with eyes of sadness. The more she interacted with the Kid, the less plausible her wild theory about the girl became. But that only made it worse, it meant she would no doubt have nightmare about what happened.

The young scout sat in the dark, trying to chase away unwanted thought and horrific imageries. Would she get strung up like that knight? Shaking her head, Carina tried to dispel all the questions. The young scout turned to the Kid, sleeping with her head turned away.

"I am the adult here… Is there anything I could do…" Carina sighed.

A voice came from the dark to answer. "You could… die!"

A shadow plunged down onto the young scout. Carina reached for her knife but a palm was already there to block the draw. In front of her was a woman with long jet black hair, covering her eyes but not the smirk of dark intentions. The shadow raised her other hand to reveal a long thin black blade, rectangle in shape and impossibly flat.

The night was lit up followed by a defending sound as a revolver was fired. The shadow immediately jumped to the side with inhuman agility. As the Kid prepared for another, the woman pounced on her with great ferocity.

The girl pulled the trigger only for the shadow to dodge the shot completely and slashed down at her. Faced with instant death, the Kid retracted the revolver and pulled her machete out while digging her back foot deep into the ground.

The two blades clashed, sending sparks flying. 'How could this be!' The Kid thought to herself, the thin blade somehow did not even crack colliding with the thicker steel. In fact, the black sword even went a bit into the machete. The shadow looked down at the cut with an amused expression. She then looked up straight up into the Kid's eyes.

"If only you wait just a tensy bit more, that shot would have hit."

The shadow's eyes squinted into a sadistic smile. The black irises were seemingly swirling like two tiny storms. The woman, with her bigger frame and superior strength pushed the Kid back effortlessly, still grinding blades. This was no higher technique nor did it serve any purpose other than a being a vulgar display of power.

"Wah hah hah hah." The shadow laughed and laughed as she drained the Kid's strength.

Knowing that she could not hold out much longer, the girl tried to disengage. Giving up, the Kid pulled back her machete and ducked right under the black blade. It whizzed past, slicing her bang off with ease. Sliding through in between the shadow wide legs, the girl hoped back up after gaining distance.

The woman bended down to look at the Kid, the smirk had now turned into a wide sadistic smile. She put her blade back into a small sheath on her left arm. The shadow then turned around and hunched down into a stance, her right hand hovered over the handle.

For such a long blade to fit in such a small container. That was definitely some sort of artifacts, it would explain why it did not shatter when colliding with the tougher machete.

The girl placed touched her now flat bang. "Ah, I hate this!" She then reached down next to the revolver sitting in the holster.

The two watched one another in intense silence.

Carina sat and watched on. When the shadow's eyes gazed at her own, she was frozen with fear. Such madness, the storms swallowed and spat her out after a rinse. Was this woman someone who salvaged power from the deities like the abominations or was she much worse, an acolyte?

The pause seemingly lasted forever, all the while no breath was even drawn. The tension kept on building up more and more as the two waited for some invisible trigger.

Then, the shadow gripped on the handle the same as the Kid grabbed the handle. In an instant, blade and revolver were both drawn and the sound of thunder rang through the forest, fire lit up the dark night.

Sitting an awkward angle, trying to get up, Carina did not get a good look at the shot. But she could tell that the shadow was still lunging forward, it was a miss.

Drawing her machete, the Kid skidded the two blades together, creating a shower of spark. She slid along to dodge the slash and ended up behind the shadow. Then with great speed, the Kid turned around with her gun drawn.

Blood was spilt but not shot was fired.

The shadow, with inhuman reflex, turned her blade around and stabbed backward. The black steel went straight through the little frame. The Kid could not even turn around, much less aimed and shot her revolver.

"NOOOOO!" Carina tried to run up but the shadow only to look at her. The swirling in those eyes somehow caused the young scout to lose all balance and fell down. She could only look up as a young girl was murdered in front of her.

The shadow pulled the blade out and blood spilled out of the cut. As she turned around, the sound of gunshot rang out and bullet collided straight at her face.

Lying down, Carina could see the girl's stomach lit up. Pressing the steaming barrel at her own wound, the Kid fired straight through the stab wound into the shadow's head. The pain shot up to her brain, overwhelming but the girl gritted her teeth. This was nowhere near the agony that the knights had to feel, she thought to herself.

The Kid turned around to see the shadow's face spurting out blood as she fell backward. It was a hit! The girl had done it!

Or not, the shadow suddenly stopped mid fall and laughed manically, the sound was mixed with liquid flowing. "Gah hah hah hah." The woman stood up, her face all bloodied but she still lived. There was now a gaping hole on her left cheek however, where the bullet had gone through.

"I like you, girl." The shadow said, raising her black blade.

The Kid tried to raise her revolver but the pain on her stomach was too much, she could not stand up properly even. Hunching down, the girl could only clutch her wound and raise the gun weakly.

It was going to be an execution, Carina watched in horror. Suddenly, there was the sound of leaves shuffling behind her. The young scout turned around to see a towering figure. A man who was normal saved for half of his face, which was drooping down, collapsing upon itself. In one hand he had a sword, in the other a handkerchief which he used to wipe the fluids coming out of his deformed side.

It was truly a monstrous sight.

The sun had risen, but inside the cave Madam Mandrake would have no way to learn of that. Still, the biological clock within woke her up regardless, she was a person of discipline. Next to her was a boy, sleeping soundly under the blanket. Madam Mandrake did not even care as there was something else that demanded her attention.

The ghost stood, crossing his legs upon a chair, reading an old journal.

"How long has you been here?" She asked.

"Hmm… just a few minutes." He said slowly and deliberately.

That did not surprise Madam Mandrake, the ghost must already knew all about her schedule. The old raider did not even question how he got passed through her sons.

"What do you want?" Madam Mandrake questioned.

"I have a report for you." The ghost put his journal away. "This morning, I checked through all of the scouts' stashes to find that one of them was dug up. It was buried again but the ground was still soft, it told me all I need to know."

The old raider glanced at the boy next to her, judging from his breathing, she could tell that he was still truly asleep. Madam Mandrake then turned back to the matter at hand.

"Then what else did the dirt tell you." She said. "I am sure you did not come all the way here just to report that."

The ghost leaned back on his chair. Even with the white cloth covering his face, Madam Mandrake could feel his 'eyes' looking straight at her own. The ghost was here for more than just briefing, for once, he came for a favor.