Chapter Twenty One: The Five Strangers

Fore woke up early that morning. His wife, Reida, barely stirring as he got out of bed and began to tiredly pull on his guard uniform, the hard and cheap leather digging into his skin in all the wrong places.

They lived in a modest home, only three rooms in total. The other bedroom had been used by their son until recently, when he had decided to leave for the Red Citadel. Hoping to join one of the explorer parties into Keltano, wanting to make his mark.

Of course, his mother and father had asked him not too, saying it was too dangerous, but the child couldn't be persuaded to stay. He had turned eighteen last month and had left soon after, taking with him his grandfathers sword.

Fore quickly belted on his short sword and grabbed his pole-arm that was leaning against the door to the sitting area. Making sure everything was in place for his first duty of the day: gate watch.

He was quite excited honestly. Patrolling the perimeter can become dangerous sometimes, what with the local wildlife being so volatile, and walking the streets of their small town could become deadly in a heartbeat, what with cut throats and the like in the seedier parts of Bul.

But gate watch, that was a seriously easy job. Bul sat on the outskirts of Scarl Forest, from here, one could see the tall tree's, their leaves as red as blood and their trunks black as a starless night. The forest went on for quite some way, bordering Paltos and Vermalia, so there were numerous towns that had sprung up around it on the Vermallian side. Their were no towns on the side of Paltos because wolf kind were nomadic by nature and never stayed in one place for very long, the only constant being that large fortress in the far north, which was barely ever used.

Scarl Forest itself was well known for the dangers within. Spiders were the biggest worry. They had been breeding like crazy for the last three years, spilling out a couple of times and attacking Bul more than once. Thankfully, their high walls had managed to dissuade most of them, but the occasional creeper got in, causing mayhem as it went. Wouldn't want to be around if they attacked in force, luckily, their not that intelligent.

Fore shivered as he thought of the large beasts, the clicking of their legs still made an appearance in his nightmares, leaving him waking in a cold sweat.

Because of the large amount of trading towns that stood on this side of the border, not many travellers past through Bul, it was the smallest of all of them and offered little in the way of amenities. Often times, the guards who were assigned gate watch would just sit around and play cards until the their shift was done and that was the main reason Fore was excited. He still had to collect his winnings from the last game, which was over a week ago.

'I think I'll take Reida out for a nice dinner, she's been worried sick since the boy left' Fore thought, his eyes finding his wife's sleeping body as he past by their room on his way to the entrance.

Shaking his head, he made his way out into the streets of Bul, taking a deep breath of the cold, crisp air, as he began to make his way towards the front gate.

Bul itself was not a wealthy town, most of the houses had been constructed by the residents themselves and they were not a rich people. Most of them had to leave the bigger cities because of taxes and the like, unable to pay the exorbitant rates of Callai or even Throne.

But they were happy at the very least, they didn't really have a town mayor as such, but they had a few elders who oversaw most operations and were assigned funding by the Elven Council which allowed them to have paid guards. Shit, for the first two years that he was here, Fore wasn't paid anything to guard the town. It was more out of necessity than anything else. He wanted to keep his wife and child safe.

“Redeem yourselves! False prophets walk amongst us! They seek to lead you astray! Stay true to the teachings of divine Vitriss, she alone knows the true path to peace!”

Fore's top lip formed into a sneer as he passed the corner and saw three men standing amidst a small gathering of disciples. It appears that the Vitrissian Monks were at it early this morning, preaching their nonsense to the world, as if anyone would listen.

The Order of the Vitrissian Monks had sprung up a few decades after the church was completely annihilated by the forces of the Rebel King. A few die hard fanatics of the doctrine came together to create their own brand of religion. Although they weren't the world power the church was, they did have some clout in Vita, most of it in Omara. Most people referred to them as a cult now and Fore couldn't agree with them more. From what he had heard, they beat themselves for thinking impure thoughts and wear no shoes, as it wouldn't allow them to feel the 'divine' presence of Vitriss through the earth.

A load of bullshit, but bullshit that a few people started to believe in. This is fuelled by the monks preaching that The Rebel King was sent by Vitriss to destroy Keltano and the Church which had lost it's way.

Before Fore could get away, one of the monks ran up to him, followed by a group of gullible followers, moving surprisingly fast considering what he was wearing. The monk's head had been shaved roughly, a few strands of hair hanging limply and cuts covering his scalp. They used a blunt razor to shave with.

Around the monks neck, wrists and ankles were heavy iron bands, burdens that is said to be their punishment for allowing Vita to stray so far from the true ways of the divine. All of this was complemented by the thick brown robes, tattered and threadbare, barely any protection from the elements, another way to 'punish' themselves.

“You, guardsman! Do you not wish to see this world returned to what it was? Do you not want the divine body to rest her hand on your soul? Repent brother! All shall be forgiven in the light of the white flame!”

Fore could barely keep the disgust off his face “Fuck off, cultist. My father fought for The Rebel King and I sure as shit don't believe in whatever you're preaching.”

Without bothering to wait for a reply, Fore pushed against the man and sent him backwards to the ground, pushing through the small group of people that looked shocked that he would ever commit such an act.

“Do you see, brothers and sisters! Do you see how we are treated by the so-called authorities!”

Fore ignored the cultist and his group of mumbling sycophants, continuing to make his way forward.

The streets were quiet as he approached the gate, he was a little early but at the very least it would allow the night watch to clock out a few minutes before quitting time.

The walls that surrounded Bul were nothing special, about five meters high and made of the same black wood as the one's in Scarl Forest. The gate itself was the same, made of large trunks of black wood, with iron binding them together. Over to the left of the gate was a small staircase that led to the top, allowing their archers to see clearly over the edge.

“Fore! You're a bit early this morning. Reida kick you out again?” said the guard from atop the wall, his hands grasping a small bow.

Fore flipped him the finger “ Fuck you, Gorat.”

The man on the wall gave a short laugh and began to stroke his beard as he made his way down the steps. Despite the man's words, you could tell he was tired. One of the few humans in the village, Gorat wasn't the strongest or the fastest, but he was the only human with a small flare for magic. Nothing worth him attending The Spires for, but he could set an arrow on fire in a flash. More than a dozen times though and it started to exhaust him.

“Well, I'm glad your here anyhow. Been quiet, as usual. Captain said he would be stopping by later for an inspection, just warning you.”

Fore groaned. The captain of the guard liked to carry out random inspections at the most inconvenient hours. It was like he got some kick out of it and, knowing him as Fore did, he probably wasn't far from the truth.

“Alright. I'll make sure everything's in order. Where are the others?” Fore asked, his eyes glancing from side to side, hoping to spot some of his compatriots.

Gorat shrugged “ They were playing cards and drinking the night away so I just sent them all home, it's not like we need many people to hold this gate. Fuckers could barely stand when they left.”

Fore laughed “Shit, was hoping to pick up my winnings from last week, but seems I'm out of luck”

“Seems so” Gorat chuckled lightly, handing the small bow over to his vampire friend and giving him a pat on the back “See you later Fore.”

Fore gave his fellow guard a small wave before heading off towards the gate stairs, leaning his pole-arm against the small station that had been set up at the bottom, before grabbing a quiver.

Weaponry was pretty scare in this town, things like that had to be strictly regulated and all of the guard had very few weapons to split between them. Fore was lucky in that regard, having managed to buy his own pole-arm after months of saving, while the short sword had been a gift from his father. Between the twenty three members of the guard, there were only four bows, about seventeen swords and a dozen shields. The Elders who dealt with the Elven Council in Callai barely managed to get the funding for the uniforms. The weapons were mostly donated by concerned citizens or those too old to use them any more. Thankfully, they split into shifts so it was never too much of a problem.

As soon as Fore got to the top of the wall, he gave the road a quick glance. The surrounding tree's had been cleared a long time ago to allow the guard to see who was coming from quite the distance and prepare for anything, as a result, there was just grassy flatlands on every side of Bul.

The road seemed clear so Fore went about putting down the quiver, drawing three arrows, and placing them atop the wall itself, enough for easy access should he need it. He then took a seat and pulled out his deck of cards, shuffling them on the small table. Hopefully one of his fellows would turn up before he got bored of playing with himself.

“Ho, the gate!”

Fore jumped as he heard a voice from the other side of the wall.

'How? I just looked...?' He thought as he leaned his head over the wall. His jaw dropped at the sight.

Perhaps four of the most beautiful women he had ever seen in his life. He wasn't afraid to think that they put even Reida to shame.

They were all dressed in worn travelling gear and didn't appear to be carrying any weapons. The one in front was a vampire, appearing to be the leader as she noticed him staring and raised an eyebrow, her tone inquisitive.

“Ho... the gate?” she said, her eyes staring at him questioningly. Fore felt himself wither under that stare and turned bright red.

“Yes! Sorry, this is... the gate?” He said dumbly.

One of the women behind the vampire rolled her eyes and stepped forwards, this one slightly taller than her fellows.

“Open the gate, dumb ass!” She shouted, placing her hands to her mouth to amplify her voice.

Another girl, this one elven and small compared to her companions, slapped the larger lady on the arm “Ursula, we don't want to insult anyone.”

The one who had shouted rolled her eyes again and folded her arms, but she seemed to remain silent, listening to the soft-voiced elf.

“Of course, I'll open the gates right away!” Fore cried before dropping his bow and running down the stairs.

While they were beautiful women, that wasn't exactly why he was panicking. They hadn't had any visitors in over six months, the last few that had come only stayed for a few hours because every one of the merchants had assumed they were rich and tried desperately to get them to buy things from their various businesses, hoping to make some gold.

He just prayed that it was so early that not many people would see them. It's bad enough being a shitty village in the middle of nowhere, worse yet when your shitty village gets a reputation for harassing visitors.

Thankfully, the gate was fairly easy to open as they had long ago implemented a pulley system that did most of the job for him. With a screech and groan the bundle of iron and wood split in the middle and opened itself up. Seconds later the girls walked inside, carrying something that he hadn't noticed before.

It was a man. A young man by the looks of things, about eighteen or nineteen. His face showed the beginnings of a beard and his long brown hair hung around his shoulders limply, his breathing seemed slightly uneven as he sweated, despite the cold air of the early morning. The large girl and the one who hadn't spoken were currently carrying him on a cot, while the elven girl was leaning over him and whispering something that Fore could just barely make out.

“Please don't do anything silly, these people don't want to hurt us, these people are nice. Please don't do anything silly, these people don't want to hurt us, these people are nice.” Over and over again like some kind of mantra, she spoke quietly but very fast, almost as if she were panicking. Fore also noticed that, while the vampire walked forwards, the others remained as far away from him as physically possible... why did he get the impression that the elven girl wasn't talking to the young man at all?

“Hello there, my name is Bell and this is my band of travelling companions” said the vampire with a smile.

Fore instantly returned it out of habit before it died again. A small groan escaped from the young man's lips so he turned his attention back over to him. “Em, is your companion diseased or something? Because we don't want no plague in Bul” He said, trying to sound firm, but it came out quite high pitched.

Suddenly, a hissing sound filled the air.

Fore felt his whole body begin to shake, his heart began to pound within his chest and he felt himself start to pour sweat as his face went pale. He couldn't help noticing that the elven girl seemed to be talking even faster than before.

“What... what was that?” Fore asked, his tone hesitant and unsure, eyes slightly wild as he tried to come to terms with what he had just experienced.

“Sorry! That was me, I hiss sometimes... it's just my thing. To answer your question, no! Our friend here is not diseased in the slightest, he got poisoned by eating some rather horrible berries. But have no fear, our other friend here is a medic and knows how to treat it!” The human girl said, grinning from ear to ear as she indicated towards the elven girl with her head. “So, no need to worry. We're not a threat to you, so you're not a threat to us!”

“Why would I be a threat to you?” Fore asked confused.

“That doesn't matter! What matters is that you're not a threat, we're not a threat, so let's just be non-threatening together, yeah?” The bright girl finished, her smile seemed a little strained as all the girls began nodding, throwing the occasional glance to the cot.

“ok...?” Fore said, his face showing a bewildered expression.

“That's great. Do you know where we can find an inn? We'd like to stay here until tomorrow morning if that's ok with you?” the woman called Bell asked.

“Em... sure, that's fine I suppose. The Blood Tree is the only one we have, you just follow this road and take a right.”

“Perfect! Thank you very much and have yourself a lovely day!” Bell indicated for the others to follow and they began to make their way down the street, carefully manoeuvring the cot to ensure that it was far away from Fore at all times.

As the girls disappeared further into town, Fore just stood there, his hands slightly raised and confusion etched onto his face.

'What just happened?'

* * *

Leigh closed the door of the room they had rented and rested her back against it, closing her eyes as she allowed her tenseness to slowly dissipate. The others were in similair states, their eyes kept flittering over to the cot that was resting on the ground.

“Well, that went better than expected.” said Ursula, sitting on one of the chairs near the window.

“Better than expected?! Xolumbrandir nearly killed that guy! Not to mention that man we met on the road... and the rabbit, Gods, why the rabbit?” Ada asked, a stunned expression on her face.

The road trip from Ellai to the edge of Scarl Forest had only taken them five days, they were making good time. The weather held out and they slept in shifts to avoid anyone sneaking up on them.

Corus had been mumbling and sweating quite a bit but otherwise, he had remained silent. Leigh had tried healing him several times but to no avail. She said it was like trying to fill up a canyon with a cup of water, just didn't do anything substantial. Hopefully he would wake up soon, in time to reach the Red Citadel, which was just a day away at this point. Even their weapons had been stowed away in a makeshift compartment beneath the cot to avoid suspicion.

No, the real problem on this journey came down to one thing and one thing only. The sword.

Xolumbrandir had taken Corus' orders to protect all of them a bit too seriously. To the point that it thought anyone that approached them was an enemy. One example was a travelling merchant who had seemed friendly enough, if a bit pushy with his wares. The Sword seemed to interpret his need to do business as a direct threat because when the girls had blinked, the sword had ripped the man's arm off.

Thankfully, it was a clean cut so it was relatively easy for their expert healer to reattach, but still, the man was horrified and screamed quite a bit. Bell had given him some gold coins and apologised profusely but he just ran away down the road, screaming about a black, hissing shadow.

The rabbit that Ada was talking about was perhaps the most horrifying.

When they had set up camp for the night and started to make dinner, a rabbit had hopped into their campsite, a relatively innocent action and Leigh liked rabbits so no one tried to spook it.

One minute Leigh was trying to draw the rabbit a bit closer with a piece of lettuce, the next, it had exploded into a hundred chunks of bloody flesh, plastering Leigh who had been the closest. They had decided that day to find somewhere nice to sleep... for the sake of all their sanities.

The rabbit had tasted pretty good though.

“I know, I know. When Corus wakes up it will all stop, we just need to get to where we need to go, preferably avoiding every single living thing we meet. Sound good?” Bell said from her place on the bed.

“I'll get behind that. You have to say though, things haven't been boring with Corus around and the sword's not that bad. At least it's killing rabbits and not us.” Ursula said as she bit into an apple from Leigh's pack.

“Hey! That's mine!” Leigh shouted, well, as close to a shout as Leigh was capable of.

“You snooze you lose, elf. Would you like some nice rabbit? I think I've still got some in here...”

Leigh clamped a hand to her mouth and ran out the door to the room before Ursula said anything else.

Leigh didn't eat meat, her training didn't allow it. When Leigh had been taught the sword her mentor was a very traditional elf, one who worshipped nature and never took life that he didn't need to. Even people who ate meat around him had the habit of getting their tongues cut out.

While Leigh wasn't that bad in regards to others eating meat in front of her, she hated the thought of taking a life just for sustenance, especially rabbits. She had watched with horror, drenched in blood, as her friends had turned the once living creature into a delicious stew.

Ada rolled her eyes “Well done, Ursula.”

“I try my best! Oh look, I did have some rabbit left!” The wolf said as she began stuffing the remains into her mouth.

“Go after her and apologise, Ursula. I won't have you two at each other's throats.” Bell said, her tone clearly meaning there would be no discussion

“But-”

“Now!”

Ursula grumbled as she got to her feet and went out the door after Leigh, licking her fingers as she went.

When the wolf kind had left, Bell went over to Corus and pulled a towel that had been soaking in cold water from a bowl on the table, placing it on his forehead.

“You think he'll wake up soon?” Ada asked from the corner.

“I don't know” Bell said quietly as she pulled a hide flask from her bag and returned to her space on the bed.

This was Bell's blood flask. all vampires carried blood on them. They didn't have to eat as long as they had some but most vampires did anyway, as a way of fitting in and for enjoyment. Bell almost emptied the flask in one gulp, she hadn't drunk any today and her thirst was like a draught at the back of her throat, something no amount of water could fix.

“I hope he does, Cinder will sense my aura as soon as we enter the Red Citadel and will come running. If she sees someone she doesn't know, unconscious, and carrying her father's sword, then she's going to be pissed.” Bell finished, licking her lips and closing her eyes, enjoying the sensation of her thirst being sated.

Bell had never understood why Cinder only drank from people, animals tasted much better. Cin had insisted she try once and she had, but it tasted toxic to her. Never mind that her mother walked in on them when they were drinking... from a servant. She had not been very happy.

“I'm sure it will all work out. I mean, for fucks sake Bell, we met The Rebel King, fought the Knight Descendants of the Rebel Court and saw the top of a tower explode.... all in one day! I could get used to this exciting life style.”

Bell smiled at her friend, but she was worried. Worried what the implications of The Rebel King returning to Vita meant for the continent. How did he come back? Why did he come back? Maybe in time, she would get the answers she craved.

“Come on, Ada, let's go and find Leigh and Ursula before they start a brawl over a rabbit.” She said, jumping to her feet and heading for the door.

“What about- oh, right, the sword.” Ada rolled her eyes and jumped to her feet following her commander out the door as they went in search of their companions. Leaving behind a sleeping Corus and his guard dog, the blade Xolumbrandir, that even now curled it's aura around it's master, wary of any threat.