Chapter 8: The Plague Of Monsters
The road from Winlan to Capitan was one of the most well-traveled highways in the world, and certainly the most in the north. Any traveler from the area knew at least part of it by heart, stretching from the two capital cities in the northern central territories in as straight a line as the builders had been able to manage. The border between the two countries was carefully patrolled, and soldiers made regular sweeps of the road to ensure that it was mostly kept bandit-free.
"Of course, they don't tell you what a frozen hellhole it is in the winter," Katt commented to the other three as they left the border behind them. Ryu had shown them his badge and explained that they were on Ranger business, telling a mostly factual story about chasing down the thief. The other three had been explained as "hired help," which was partially truthful as well, and they'd gotten past without a hitch. "Nothing personal, Nina, but trying to make it through here around this time of year on foot? Bad idea."
"I'm aware that the snowfall is a bit severe," Nina admitted. "Let's just be glad it's summer right now, then."
"Which makes it the perfect place to be this time of year," Sten chimed in. Over the past couple weeks they'd been on the road, all three of them had slowly warmed up to the cheerful Highlander more and more; there was something about his personality that made it impossible to stay angry with him for very long. "Ever been to the Isle of Tunlan in the summertime? Worse idea, take my word for it. Especially with all this fur."
"You've been to Tunlan?" Ryu asked incredulously. The isolated island in the middle of the ocean where the natives communicated through music rather than words was the stuff of legends among wanderers. "Seriously? No, come on, tell us another one."
"No lie, boss." Sten chuckled. "For some reason, my act didn't do too well there, though. Maybe it's because I'm about as musical as a herring."
"A musical herring would be a pretty impressive act, actually," Katt pointed out. "Hey, I see the place. About time we got here."
"Is this lodge still operating?" Nina asked curiously as they turned right, altering their course towards the cabin that was now visible to the north. "It's been a long time since I visited it, for obvious reasons."
"I don't think that lodge is ever going to shut down," Katt replied. "Every traveler in this half of the friggin' world knows about it. With this much ground to cover between Winlan and Capitan, it's a godsend."
"I've been looking forward to it for days now," Sten said, rubbing his hands together. "It'll be good to relax indoors, even it is for one night."
"I was about to say, let's not get too comfortable here," Ryu said. "It's all well and good to enjoy ourselves tonight, but we are on a mission."
"Yeah, yeah, back on the road first thing tomorrow, we know, boss," Katt teased him as they approached the lodge. It was set up in the center of a narrow mountain pass, a wide wooden cabin with two floors. There was a heavy fence around the front of the lodge, but the gate was open, welcoming travelers. Leading the way in, she knocked on the door before opening it and peeking inside. "Hey! Anybody in here?"
"More travelers?" A stout, cheerful-looking bald man asked, looking up from the book he was reading behind a desk. "Oh? Miss Chaun, isn't it?"
"That's me, all right." Katt grinned. "Business still doing well?"
"No complaints here," he replied, glancing at them as they walked in. "Ah, Mr. Legacy as well. I was wondering if we'd see you again. And, let me see here..." His eyes narrowed as he looked at Ryu. "I don't suppose your name would happen to be Mr. Bateson, would it?"
"You've got one hell of a memory." Ryu chuckled. "It's been a long time."
"Indeed it has." The man looked at Nina as well, face blank, then turned back to Katt, smiling again. "Well then, four of you? That will be ten zenny apiece for one night, so forty total. Unless Mr. Marks is outside as well?"
"Afraid not." Ryu shook his head as they all counted out the coins. "He's staying with Bow, down south, at the moment."
"Ah yes, Mr. Dogi." The man took their money, nodding. "I'm glad to hear he's doing well. Will the rooms at the back of the upper hall be satisfactory?"
"Sounds good to me." Ryu glanced at the others, and they nodded. "Anybody else staying here right now?"
"Well, yes." The man's smile vanished. "There are a few travelers, and most of them are pleasant enough folks, but... last night a group of mercenaries came in as well, and I have to say, I don't like the looks of them. They seem like the kind who give the profession a bad name. I'd appreciate it if you were careful around them."
"We'll try and stay out of their way." Sten nodded, tone unlike his normal, jocular one. "How bad are we talking here?"
"I wouldn't like to take it to court, but I wouldn't be surprised either to learn that they were involved in the slave trade," the man explained quietly, glancing towards the door to his right nervously. "They were joking about having some sort of arrangement with the Kimoto, but I'm not entirely sure it was a joke."
"That says it all, doesn't it?" Nina replied, speaking for the first time since they'd come in. "Thank you for warning us."
"I just don't want any trouble, that's all," the man said quickly.
"We can get behind that," Sten agreed. "We won't cause any." Opening the door the right of the desk, he led the way into the lodge's common room, taking up most of the rest of the first floor. Instantly, his face returned to its normal, cheerful expression. "So, the rooms in here are two-bunkers, right? How're we going to divide that up?"
"How do you think, genius?" Katt rolled her eyes. "Girls in one, boys in the other."
"Eh, just thought I'd ask." He shrugged. "There was a chance one of you was going to go with Ryu."
"I'm not going to dignify that with a response," Nina muttered, looking around the room. Her eyes widened as she saw a young woman about her own age in a green dress with short, brown hair at one of the tables. "I don't believe it... Baretta? Is that you?"
"Yes?" The woman looked up. "Have we met... before..." She trailed off, her own eyes growing just as wide. "Nina? It's been forever! I never thought... what are you doing in this part of the world again?"
"I'm traveling with my friends, here," Nina explained. "We're just passing through. It's somewhat of a long story."
"An old buddy of yours?" Katt guessed.
"Yes, we've been friends since we were children," Baretta replied. "Although it's been a long time since we've seen each other, considering..." She paused, eyes unsure.
"It's all right, we all know," Sten said as he sat down, ignoring the startled looks that statement got from the other three. "Personally, I think it's complete bullshit, but it's not exactly like the Windian government is asking my opinion, you know?"
"Oh, don't even get me started." Baretta rolled her eyes, recovering from her awkwardness quickly. "When she had to leave, it made me so angry... but that's all in the past now. It looks like we've both changed a great deal since then."
"Indeed we have." Nina took a seat as well, and Ryu and Katt followed suit. "What are you doing out here? Aren't you working at the armory any more? I did think it was a little strange that we didn't see you when we stopped by there."
"I'm looking for somewhere to set up shop, actually," Baretta explained. "It turns out Fritz's son wants to inherit his father's business after all, so I'm not going to be able to take over once he retires. And there really isn't any need for another one in the city, so..." She shrugged helplessly. "I'm meeting my uncle Lemington here. He's a traveling weapons salesman, so I'm going to tag along with him until I find something."
"You work in smithing?" Katt grinned approvingly. "Okay, you're cool in my book. That's one field that definitely needs more girls in it."
"I know, right?" Baretta agreed. "I'm kind of afraid of that being an issue, actually. That nobody will give me a fair chance just because I don't have a... well, you know."
"If that keeps happening, you could always try down in Highland," Sten suggested. "There'll be other problems there, of course-my people aren't exactly too fond of outsiders-but gender doesn't come into it. If there's a place that needs you, you should be able to talk them into giving you a chance, and they'll warm up eventually."
"I'll keep it in mind," she said thoughtfully. "Thank you."
"Don't mention it." He winked.
"Don't start liking this guy too much, either," Katt added jokingly. "He's a real smooth talker. Hey, looks like we're getting some food." A man with a strong resemblance to the one behind the desk was walking towards them. "Hey. Whatcha got?"
"Beef, bread, and beans." The man rattled off. "And turnip soup."
"Some of each, all around?" Ryu glanced around, and they all nodded. "Ale for us guys and Katt, too, and wine for Nina there."
"I'll have ale as well," Baretta added.
"Four zenny apiece," the man replied, then smiled as they paid him. "Be right up in just a few minutes."
"Cool." Ryu nodded.
"So, what kind of long story is this, exactly?" Baretta asked, glancing at Nina again. "The last time you sent me a letter, you were still enrolled at the magic school in Auria, right? What happened to that?"
"I graduated a few months ago," Nina lied easily, without a trace of self-consciousness. "After that... well, I've sort of hired on with a group of freelancers. My friends here." She nodded at Ryu.
"We're out here chasing down a thief who raised a lot of hell back in Auria," he continued, following up on her story casually. "The last we heard, she was heading over towards Capitan, so we're following her there."
"I thought you might be heading towards Capitan," Baretta murmured, eyes uneasy. "If so, be careful. Some of the people I've talked to here have been coming from there, and they've all been saying something bad is happening. People are disappearing, and they don't know why. I'm hardly a professional, but you might want to watch your step."
Ryu, Katt and Nina all traded a weary glance, then sighed heavily in unison.
"It never stops." Ryu sighed as the cook brought them their food and drinks. "Maybe we should be glad nothing like that happened when we were in Windia, at least."
"No kidding." Katt took a gulp of her ale. "What do you think it's going to be this time? Slavery ring, maybe? Some Kimoto paying assholes off to kidnap people and drag them out of town to get sold off somewhere?"
"If that's the case, then we'll deal with it," Nina said grimly. "I'm sure whoever's in charge in Capitan will be all too grateful, too. You're both right, though. Can you believe I was actually hoping things would be simple and uncomplicated for once? What was I thinking?"
"You young kids have got to work on that optimism problem of yours," Sten joined in, using the same world-weary tone as if he'd been along for the Joker and Augus incidents. "The more time you spend in this line of work, the more you learn it's never that easy."
"Wow." Baretta was looking at them all a little oddly, especially Nina, but she was smiling. "You have changed, Nina. It sounds like you should be able to handle whatever's going on there, but try to be careful all the same, hm?"
"We'll do our best." Katt winked. "Just keep in mind, we're not exactly good at 'careful.' But we'll try, all the same."
Before any of them could add anything to that, further discussion was cut off as the door leading out behind the lodge slammed open, and five newcomers walked in, talking and laughing amongst themselves raucously. All of them were wearing identical shabby red clothes, and had close-cropped, dyed electric-blue hair. Crossing to the bar and leaning on it, they began shouting orders for food and ale at the cook.
"Oh, it's them," Baretta muttered under her breath. "I was hoping they'd stay out later."
"The gang of mercs the guy running this place told us about, I take it?" Ryu asked, just as quietly.
"That's them." She nodded. "They've been staying here while they look out back in the Owlwoods for something, for several days."
"Hey, everybody!" One of them yelled, quieting the room. "Anybody here know anything about the Owlwoods? We've been looking out there for a few things for a few days, but no luck so far. We could use some info."
"Well, for one, the uparupa migrate here in the autumn," a scholarly-looking man in one corner of the room offered after a few moments of silence. "They come here to eat the owlfruit that give the woods their name."
"No shit, pops?" Another of the group asked, spitting on the floor. "Yeah, we heard there were uparupa up here. One of the things we been looking for. Didn't mention that part about only coming in autumn, though. You sure about that?"
"Yes." The man nodded firmly. "Once they've eaten up the harvest, they return to their normal homes in seaside caves." He paused. "Why were you looking for one?"
"Shit, pops, you don't know?" The first one shook his head. "Those things sell for thousands of zenny. Pretty good for an overgrown rat. There's even a freakshow going around the world right now that's promised us payment already for one. If they ain't here right now, though, we're screwed. So much for that one."
"I wouldn't recommend it, gentlemen," the scholarly man said hesitantly. "Uparupa are dangerous enough when there's only one of them. When the entire pack comes, anybody in their way would be ripped to shreds."
"We can take care of ourselves, old man." A third one chuckled, all of them taking their mugs of ale from the cook. "That leaves the other thing, then. Anybody here know anything about some girl who lives in the forest out back with ivy for hair?"
"Just the local legends," a middle-aged woman told them. "The ones everybody knows. Why do you ask?"
"Same reason." The first one grinned nastily, all of them draining their mugs with remarkable speed and motioning for more. "So we can sell her. Ivy for hair... that ain't any Clan that's legally recognized, which means she's fair game, whoever she is."
"Slave traders." She frowned. "You think the government will just turn a blind eye to your activities?"
"You think we don't know the way the law works?" Another of them replied easily. "Any clan doesn't want to join civilized society like the rest of us, then civilized society ain't gonna do shit for them, either. Which literally makes what we do just plain earning an honest zenny, and it sucks to be the folks who we bring in."
"Even if the laws allow this, God will not," an old man snarled. "St. Eva will punish you for this outrage one day!"
"Sorry to disappoint you, geezer, but that ain't the way it goes." The first one smirked. "St. Eva's always been just fine with us, mostly because we make sure and donate ten percent of everything to his churches. The priests look at us awful funny, sure, but it's right there in the doctrine, so they can't tell us no, and that ain't changing any time soon. Let's hear it for civilization, folks!" They all raised their tankards and started laughing.
"I've lost my appetite, all of a sudden," Nina muttered. "Something in the air, perhaps. I think I'll go upstairs."
"I'm with you." Ryu nodded shortly, as did Baretta; Sten seemed to have vanished while they hadn't been looking.
"I'll catch up with you guys in a bit," Katt told them, standing up. "Gonna go look around out back for a while." Finishing their drinks and setting them down, they left the table, Katt going out the back door while the other three headed upstairs, all of them doing their best to ignore the mercenaries as they ordered a third round.
The upper level of the lodge was where all of the bedrooms were located, the doors branching out from a long hall. They quickly located theirs at the back; as Ryu had remembered, they were pleasant if not fancy, nothing special but more than enough to suit their needs. Nina and Baretta split off once they were done inspecting them, going into the smith's room to catch up on their past, leaving Ryu alone for the moment.
The last door at the end of the hall led out to a balcony, with a ladder up to the lodge's roof, which he climbed up, wanting some time to think. It was a clear, warm night, and the stars were shining brightly. He wasn't sure how long he sat up there, watching the sky, before he heard the door opening below followed by the sounds of somebody else climbing the ladder.
"Thought you'd be up here," Katt called as she came over the rooftop, walking over to sit down next to him. She was looking slightly scuffed up, with light scratches and scrapes on her arms and shoulders, but didn't seem to care.
"You know me." Ryu glanced over at her. "Have fun out there?"
"Found a couple of dragonflies to help me let some stress off." She shrugged. "It helped a little."
"Nice." Ryu whistled. It wasn't completely unimaginable to think that she'd brought a couple of the man-sized, predatory insects down herself, but it was still surprising that she hadn't been injured more in the process. "They really got to you down there, didn't they?"
"Was it that obvious?" She asked, looking up at the stars.
"A little." He turned his own gaze skyward as well. "Normally, we'd have had to hold you back from beating the shit out of them. Down there, though? You didn't even say anything about it. That was different."
"Yeah," she agreed, waiting a bit before continuing. "My Clan's kind of a weird one, you know. We don't have lands of our own, and most of us don't have homes we stick around at for long. All Woren Clansmen are really hot-spirited; we tend to not get along with each other, even married couples. The only exception's when they get too old for it; that's when they join the elders who live in Prima. They're the ones in charge of Clan Law."
"Sounds like a pretty good retirement plan to me," Ryu said. "I'm guessing they represent your Clan at World Council meetings, too?"
"You guessed it." She sighed. "Our Clan actually has a treaty with the Maniro Clan to provide housing for the elders. It's been a system for as long as anybody can remember. But it's a lot shakier than you'd think. We're so bull-headed, I wouldn't be surprised if some of the old ones stopped showing up at Prima if they had something else going on. There are so few of us around that it wouldn't take much of that before there was nobody left."
"I get it," Ryu muttered. "And if that happened, there wouldn't be anybody representing your Clan at the World Council any more."
"Yeah." She brought her knees up to her chin and hugged them, still looking away from him. "Which would mean we wouldn't be rec... recog..."
"Recognized."
"Thanks." She sighed. "Recognized as a legal Clan any more. We'd be in the same boat as that girl in the woods they were talking about. That could be me, if some old men and women I've never met and probably never will screw up."
"If she's got ivy hair..." Ryu replied thoughtfully. "Well, that doesn't sound like any Clan I've ever heard of. Could be an entirely new one, and the first contact they have with the rest of the world is being captured and sold by assholes like that. How many other undiscovered Clans are there out there that might get the same treatment?"
"Exactly." She bit her lip. "And not just those ones, either. I'm no fan of assholes like the Kimoto or the Harpies, but thinking about anything being completely legal to do to them... even they don't deserve that."
"Sounds to me like you want to change the way the world works," Ryu said after a long, silent moment.
"Maybe I do." She shook her head then, smiling ruefully. "Geez, listen to me. I can't even hold down a job, and I'm talking about messing with the whole world's laws. You ever start thinking like that?"
"Every now and then," Ryu admitted. "Most of the time, I try to keep my mind on business. But sometimes... yeah. I spend some time thinking about how the world works, how I'd do things different if I could. Hell, you never know. Maybe one day when we're all old geezers, we might even be able to actually do something about it."
"You think we'll live that long?" Katt asked, her tone mildly curious. "We are kind of in a high-risk line of work."
"Some days I wake up, I'm surprised I lived this long," he replied. "No point in planning on dying. And the nice thing is, high-risk means high-pay, too. If we do make it that long, chances are we'll be rich, too. Maybe at that point, we will be able to do something."
"Heh." She chuckled, smiling then. "Yeah, you've got a point. On both counts. Live for today and dream for tomorrow, then?"
"Sounds like a plan to me," he drawled. "How about you?"
"I can work with it." She leaned over and gave him a hug, then stood up. "I'm going to go turn in. Thanks, Ryu."
"For what?"
"For listening." She was still smiling as she left him, climbing back down the ladder to the lodge's balcony.
"Heh heh heh." The sound of chuckling drew Ryu's attention to one corner of the roof. Sten was there, sitting on the edge, legs dangling precariously over as he looked out at the forest. "You two are pretty close, aren't you."
"You could say that." Ryu glanced over at him, but didn't stand up to walk over. "How long have you been there? Didn't even notice you coming up."
"A little bit." Sten shrugged it off, turning to look at him as well. "Didn't want to intrude, so I just stayed quiet and tried not to listen."
"I appreciate it," Ryu replied dryly.
"Any time," he shot back. "While we're both up here, though, I'd appreciate it if we could talk a little too, boss."
"That's different." Ryu raised an eyebrow. "All right, I'm listening."
"Glad to hear it." Sten turned his head away again. "I'm just gonna come right out and say this, since it's kind of awkward. Thanks for giving me a chance, back there in Winlan. I was kind of surprised about that myself."
"It was a safe bet," Ryu replied calmly. "Hearing you out, that is. Didn't cost us anything, and once you'd shown us you knew what you were doing..." He shrugged.
"You never thought about what if I cut all your throats while I was on watch one night, then?" Sten asked, tone casual. "Or not for long, anyways. I noticed you had somebody watching me anyways the first few times, but after that you all stayed asleep. You've got good instincts, boss, but you're a little too trusting. Might want to work on that."
"I'm fairly sure you're not a serial killer," Ryu told him. "You don't seem the type. And if you don't get your kicks that way, not much reason for you to off us like that. It's not exactly like we're rolling in zenny."
"You've got a fair amount." Sten shrugged. "You adjusted the numbers on what you made from all these adventures you've been on recently, which was smart, but you went too far. A bribe that small would be a joke, and so would all the others. Plus, I could sell everything else you have. That sword. Your armor. That jewel you've got around your neck." He glanced over at Ryu. "So, what's it do when you look at it?"
"Now, how the hell did you figure that one out?" Ryu asked after a long, silent moment. "Even the girls haven't spotted that, or at least they haven't said anything about it."
"You glance at it an awful lot, especially when you're talking to people," Sten explained. "And it changes colors when you do. I try to keep my eye out for things like that. A lot of the time, they tell you a lot more about a guy than what he says." He chuckled dryly. "I still wasn't sure, of course. But it was enough to make me ask, and it looks like I was right."
"I have got to stop doing that." Ryu made a face. "To answer your question... the color shows how somebody's thinking about me. That's all. It's not really all that special."
"So, it reads people's minds?" Sten asked, and there was an edge in his voice that hadn't been there before.
"No, no." Ryu shook his head. "It's more like... it reads emotions. It can't tell what you're thinking, just what you're feeling." He glanced at it again, and frowned; the yellow had darkened all of a sudden. "That's why I gave you a chance, I guess. Because I could tell you kind of liked us, too. It didn't tell me for sure that you weren't trying to scam us, but it was a pretty good hint. And that was good enough for me."
"I guess that makes enough sense." Sten relaxed, an almost invisible tension seeming to leave his wiry frame, and the Dragon's Tear went back to its previous bright yellow. "You're still a little fond of taking risks, aren't you?"
"If it's worth it." Ryu shrugged. "Seemed like it was, in that case."
"Well then, maybe your lucky streak will keep going," Sten replied casually. "And maybe one day, you'll feel like telling me what you left out, the last time you told me how this thief hunt's been going, hm?" Before Ryu could answer, he stood up and started walking away. "Right now, though, it looks like you've got some more company, so I won't take up any more of your time. Chatting with a cute girl's bound to be more fun than a couple guys like us yakking it up all night anyways. See you tomorrow, boss."
"Right," Ryu said, unable to come up with anything better. As the Highlander began descending the ladder, he glanced around the roof. "Hey, Nina."
"How did you know it was me?" She asked lightly from behind him. "It might have been Katt instead."
"She already came up to talk with me tonight," he explained, turning to face her. She was sitting on the roof, hands flat on it behind her, leaning back to look up at the stars. "Sten too, as you can see."
"You're popular tonight, it seems." She smiled briefly, and like so many times before, he was struck by how beautiful she was.
"Seems that way." He glanced down at his hands, struggling not to let his thoughts show. "You were good down there, in the common room."
"With Baretta, you mean?" She replied quietly. "I can't say it felt good to lie to my friend. But that common room was hardly the place to say who I really am, and telling her the full story would have made that obvious."
"It's the kind of thing that a group like us gets used to," he told her. "A lot of the time, for a lot of different reasons, the whole truth just isn't going to work. Coming up with a good partial story, and then having everybody else go along with it, is part of the job description. Although that might not mean much to you, if you don't ever plan on going into this line of work, long-term."
"I suppose it might not," she agreed, hesitating for a moment and biting her lip before she went on quickly, almost as if she was afraid of staying silent. "If I didn't. I suppose that's what I came up here to talk to you about. Long-term."
"You told Baretta down there that you'd hired on with us, after graduating from the Magic School," Ryu said, neutrally, after taking a moment to get his emotions under control. "How close are you to graduating?"
"It would be a formality only," she replied. "I've learned everything that the teachers there can teach me. I only went to classes in order to keep my attendance up; I just spent my time in the back studying further by myself, and they let me. They all knew. From the point I'm at, it's either finding somebody to apprentice under or self-study, and I don't have anybody lined up, which makes it the latter. Which requires zenny."
"I suppose it would, at that." Ryu nodded. "Look, Nina. Have you thought this all the way through?" He regretted the words as soon as he'd said them, but it was too late to take them back; a shadow passed over her eyes instantly before she closed them.
"I'm sorry, Ryu," she told him, turning away. "I'm wasting your time. I don't know what came over me. I'll leave you alone now."
"Hey, hey, wait," Ryu said quickly. "That's not what I meant at all. I just meant to ask if you were sure you want to go into this line of work. It's... I don't know how to put this."
"Not the sort of thing you'd see me choosing normally?" She guessed, still looking away from him. "I suppose it's not, no. I certainly never would have thought I'd be inclined to it, before all this started happening. I probably would have laughed, if you'd asked me. And yet..." She glanced back at him then, her green eyes hesitant. "These last few weeks... they've actually been fun. Despite everything, I've actually enjoyed traveling with you and Katt. I've never been quick to make friends, but both of you... you're different, somehow."
"Maybe..." Ryu said slowly, trying to figure out the right words for what he was thinking and feeling. "Despite everything we don't have in common... maybe it's because we're more alike, deep down inside, past all the things that are different about us. It's kind of a feeling I got about Katt and Rand. That they were like me and Bow. I think maybe you too."
"'So come all you losers and bruisers and fools, rejects and dejects and drop-outs from schools,' is it?" She asked, quoting an old song he'd heard a hundred times in taverns, usually when the drinks were running particularly heavily.
"Something like that." He grinned before tossing off another. "'Come on son, I know a place where mugs like us belong.' I'm surprised you know these kinds of songs."
"Keep in mind who my roommate was," she reminded him.
"Good point," he conceded. "The answer's 'yes,' by the way."
"You're sure?" She asked again, and something in her eyes was empty now. "You don't have to pity me, Ryu."
"I'm not," he promised her. "I swear it. On... on the name of the Queen of the Sky, or however it goes." He didn't remember the exact words of what Joker had tried to make Nina say, but he thought that was close.
"Ryu, don't," Nina told him, eyes wide now. "You don't know what that means. How much it represents."
"I don't care," he replied, and meant it. "Look. I won't make you sign a contract or anything; if you meet Bow and Rand and Niro and don't get along with them, or take one look at where we're going to live and decide to reconsider, we won't blame you. But if you want to stay the course... we'd like that. I'd like that."
"So would I." She turned then, and gave him a quick hug, one much faster and more hesitant-more fragile-than Katt's had been. "Thank you, Ryu." Before he could think of a way to respond to that, she was gone, wings carrying her over the edge of the roof down to the balcony without need for the ladder.
He spent a long time more up there, alone under the sky with his thoughts raging through his head, before going to sleep as well.
More. We still need more power. God needs more power. Give yourselves to our God. Pray to God. Praise God. Sacrifice your bodies and souls to God. You are destined to become God's power...
The four of them rose early in the morning, before anybody else in the lodge, and left after eating, returning to the road. Though nothing had changed on the surface, all of them were aware that that night had altered things, subtly but definitely. Ryu suspected that the other three had met with each other as well as with him, but by mutual, unspoken agreement, nobody spoke a word of any such conversations. In the end, he decided that everybody would probably figure out what they needed to know through intuition and instinct, if not private dialogue, and that was good enough for him.
They proceeded along the road to Capitan in good camaraderie, Ryu and Katt taking turns providing dinner; Nina and Sten couldn't hunt or fish, but the latter at least proved himself to be adept at scrounging up fruits and berries to complement the meal. Now that they were in Nanai, Nina's wing color no longer drew attention, so they often stopped by in small villages and towns alongside the path in the evening for a drink or two to bring with them for the evenings. None of them ever forgot that they were on business, but they saw no reason not to enjoy the pleasant northern summer either.
A few weeks later, they arrived at their destination. Capitan was the capital of the land of Nanai, the largest of the human countries. During the time of the Dragon Wars, it had been three separate lands; Nanai, Romero and Gust, divided by a massive mountain range. One of the freak earthquakes that occurred every few centuries had had a catastrophic effect on the northern kingdoms, sinking half of Gust and most of Romero into the ocean while flattening the mountains. In the aftermath, Nanai had absorbed the remains of both countries into itself by general agreement, forming a single, unified northern country.
Despite this, Capitan was hardly the ideal picture of a capital city. The original capital of Nanai had been a casualty of the Second Dragon War, and constructing an entirely new one had taken several generations, attracting architects and builders the world over. Almost as soon as the Ruling Council had declared that the city had finally reached a complete state once again, the earthquake devastated it anew, as well as relocating it to the new seacoast, and even greater numbers of construction professionals had flocked to the city to assist in rebuilding it once more.
As a result, modern Capitan was known as the architectural seat of the world. Following the disaster, the Ruling Council had thrown up their hands and made construction and renovation their national occupation, challenging experts the world over to demonstrate their expertise. The city was thus a chaotic mishmash of more than a dozen different building styles. Pleasant, simple houses stood next to harsh, private fortresses. Wooden cabins on raised legs elevating them into the sky were side-by-side with dreamlike fairy manors. Dark towers loomed, and golden palaces sprawled.
"What a mess," Ryu offered his opinion as they wandered around under the morning sun. For some reason, the streets were oddly empty, only a few furtive pedestrians going about their business. "Can you imagine trying to navigate around here? It'd be one thing if all the buildings were similar in their own areas, but this is just chaos. There's no logic to it at all that I can see. It's like somebody just thought, 'hm, this would be a good place for a freakin' huge tower, and maybe a log cabin on stilts across the road from it.' Yeesh."
"No kidding." Katt shook her head. "Hope we don't ever have to give anybody directions around here. 'Take a right at the huge weird gold temple-looking thing that people actually live in.' Yeah, but which huge weird gold temple-looking thing that people actually live in? I've seen at least half a dozen here already, and we've only been here what, an hour? I don't even remember which direction we came in from."
"South," Ryu informed her.
"Gee, thanks."
"No charge."
"The Ruling Council is a bit... eccentric... about all of this," Nina conceded. "It probably doesn't help that many of the greatest builders are on the Council. Still, I understand the Capitan School of Architecture is by far the best in the world for an education in that particular field." She smiled briefly. "Assuming anybody can find it reliably."
"There's a pattern here," Sten told them. "It's just tricky to pick up. You spend some time here, you start to learn it. I'm guessing you'd prefer not to stay that long, though."
"Not by a longshot." Ryu nodded. "We're not here to sightsee. It's probably too much to hope for that our thief is still in town, but the sooner we pick up information on where she went, the more we'll be able to narrow her lead on us."
"There's also what Baretta warned us about," Nina reminded them. "Something's happening in this city, and everybody knows it. We should see what we can find out about that, as well, in case we become involved." She rolled her eyes. "As usual."
"Split up and ask around, then?" Sten suggested. "We should be able to cover a lot more ground fairly quickly that way, and we can meet up somewhere in a few hours."
"Normally, I'd agree with that." Ryu frowned. "But in this mess? No matter where we chose, we'd spend all day just finding it again."
"You have any better ideas?" The Highlander asked.
"Well..." Ryu started to admit that he didn't, then froze. Crossing an intersection several streets away was a familiar figure in heavy plate armor, his long blond hair blowing freely in the wind. "No way. Hey, Ray, is that you? Ray Braddoc?"
"Yes?" The paladin turned his head, and his eyes widened. "Ryu and Katt? What are you doing here?"
"What kind of a way is that to greet some old buddies, huh?" Katt grinned as he walked towards them. "We could ask you the same thing!"
"I suppose you could, at that," he admitted, glancing at the other two. As he saw Nina, his eyes widened, but he recovered quickly and turned back to Ryu. "It seems you've picked up some other companions as well. Is Mr. Marks not with you?"
"He's back with my buddy Bow at the moment," Ryu explained. "These are..." He hesitated, suddenly wishing he'd asked Nina what surname she'd been enrolled under; obviously, it wasn't her actual one.
"Nina Windfree," she said, nodding. "And Sten Legacy."
"You're the guy who helped these two out with that mess over in Coursair, right?" Sten grinned, shaking Ray's hand. "They told us about that."
"We're still looking for that thief I told you about," Ryu explained, relieved. "We were just going to start asking around about her when I saw you. What about you? Are you just passing through here, or...?"
"If only." Ray shook his head. "I've received orders to investigate the disturbance in this city. I was on my way to do something about that."
"We heard about that ourselves." Katt dropped her grin. "Is it that bad?"
"They've closed the port," Ray told her grimly. "There aren't even any ships left. They've all departed already, and I doubt they'll be back until the problem is resolved."
"Shit." Ryu swore. "If the thief's crossed the Gulf of Gust, then, we'll be out of luck until we take care of that."
"Knowing our luck, then, boss?" Sten rolled his eyes. "Don't even need to ask any more, 'cause that's where she'll be."
"Probably," Ryu admitted.
"Well, then." Ray's eyes narrowed. "Perhaps I could talk the Ruling Council into hiring you to give me some backup. The more I learn about this incident, the more I think I'm going to need it, and I am here at their request, after all."
"Come on, Ray." Katt grinned. "We still owe you one from Coursair, and we'd have to wait until this was cleared up anyways. We'll help you out."
"Not that I'm objecting, but there's nothing wrong with helping out a friend and getting the guys in charge to pay us for it," Sten pointed out.
"Couple of problems with that," Ryu told him. "For one, if the Ruling Council's already got a paladin on the job, they might be reluctant about hiring a bunch of bums they don't know for the same damn thing. And for two, the Ranger's Guild branch in this city are a bunch of by-the-book tightasses. There's a reason we're not dropping by there to ask about the thief, and that's because they wouldn't tell me shit until they'd confirmed my story with Elder Allen back in Auria. If I went over their heads for something like this, they'd probably have me thrown out of the Guild."
"On the other hand, there is such a thing as being rewarded for a good deed," Nina added. "Should this be as serious as Mr. Braddoc thinks it is, the Ruling Council will probably feel highly grateful towards us for volunteering to help him. It probably won't be quite as substantial as if we'd been hired, but it's something."
"Good points all around." Sten held up his hands. "All right, I'm in."
"Glad to hear it." Ryu turned back to Ray. "So, what's the case this time?"
"Monsters," Ray explained. "One month ago, the largest public well in the city dried up. Those who went in to investigate never returned, and others began to disappear as well; there were reports of horrible beasts stalking the streets at night. Then, to make matters worse, yesterday a young boy was among those who vanished. The head of the Ruling Council led a party of men into the well to try and rescue them. They haven't been seen since."
"That sounds bad, all right," Ryu growled. "Any idea what kind of monsters we're dealing with? It can't be anything that's normally found locally. The people here would know how to deal with that by themselves."
"Judging by the descriptions of what the people have seen at night..." Ray closed his eyes. "It sounds like creons."
"Creons?" Nina murmured, as the other three all exchanged blank stares and shrugs. "This is bad. I thought those were supposed to be extinct. Not to mention, they were only found in the Desert of Arad when they were alive. How on earth could they have resurfaced here, of all places, and why would they be living in a well?"
"I'm aware of the improbability, believe me." Ray shook his head. "However, I've shown the witnesses pictures in zoology books, and they all agree that what they saw were adult creons. I'm not sure how they've resurfaced, but... while most creons did indeed live in the desert, according to the textbooks, a queen terrapin would live in an oasis. It seems she'd require a body of water in order to survive, which explains the well."
"Indeed it does," Nina agreed. "Your knowledge is impressive, Mr. Braddoc."
"Ah." Ray glanced away, actually blushing slightly. "Thank you, Miss Windfree." Recovering, he turned back to them. "At any rate, our mission is clear. We'll have to exterminate the colony, and rescue any villagers left here."
"One question." Sten raised his hand. "For the benefit of those of us without a sufficient background education... what the hell is a creon?"
"Predatory insects the size of a horse," Nina told them. "They used to infest the Desert of Arad back during the days of the Dragon Wars. Fast, strong, vicious, and difficult to kill. Nearly mindless, so we won't be able to scare or intimidate them. Supposedly, they have a weakness to Water Magic, but I don't know any, and it likely wouldn't apply to the terrapin anyways. According to zoology books, those are supposedly somewhat larger-the size of a small building, roughly-and possess a great deal of magical power themselves."
All five of them exchanged a long glance, even Ray and Nina.
"This is going to suck, isn't it?" Katt said eventually.
"More or less, yes," Ray admitted. "But if we don't stop them, the colony will only expand further. At the moment, there are probably only a dozen or so adult creons. Allowing them to continue growing, however..." He shook his head. "The entire city could become nothing but one huge creon nest within months. I cannot allow that to happen."
"Man's got a point," Ryu agreed. "We need to stop this here and now. Which way to the well, then?"
"It's right over here." Ray led them through the streets to an open square, where a well large enough to fit a wagon down gaped, dry and empty. Descending iron rungs set into its side, they found that underneath it lay a spacious cavern, with tunnels branching out in half a dozen directions. Despite the lack of water, all of the earth still looked damp in the dim light. "Normally, all of this would be underwater. The Creons must have built some kind of blockade."
"Makes sense that the queen would prefer stagnant water, I guess," Sten added. "Since she lives in an oasis, I mean." He blinked as everybody looked at him. "Hey, I might not read any fancy books, but I ain't stupid. So, which way to we go?"
"Down this way," Ray murmured, turning to face one direction. "I sense a foul presence. Something corrupted... wrong."
"That's where the worst of the smell is coming from, too." Katt wrinkled her nose. "It reeks of bug from down there."
"There's a powerful source of magic, as well," Nina agreed. "I can actually feel it, all the way from down here. That's got to be the terrapin."
Sten and Ryu glanced at each other, then shrugged.
"This way it is, then," Ryu said, a moment before something blue and fast darted out of one of the holes to their left, slamming into Ray.
The creon was hideous, a termite-like monstrosity as large as any of them, coming up to their waists while flat on the ground. Six spindly, clawed legs rose from its sides before jointing sharply downwards, supporting a plated blue body. The head was a horror, with no visible eyes, only antennae both above and below the bare-gummed maw bristling with fangs. Hissing, it dived on the paladin as it brought him down, going for his face.
"Shit!" Katt snarled as a second one lunged out of another cavern, heading for Ryu. She intercepted it from the side, smashing it away, only for it to turn on a dime and come for her instead, biting at her staff and missing before charging at her legs.
"Nina, help Ray!" Ryu yelled, drawing his sword. "Sten, with me and Katt!" As the beast clawed at her legs with its foreclaws, he brought his sword down from overhead, aiming for the point where its head and body connected. Unfortunately, it was moving too fast, and the blade only barely penetrated its body, drawing blood but nothing more. Snarling, it whirled on him instead, latching onto his leg.
As he howled in pain, Sten leaped onto its back, daggers plunging into the wound he'd opened again and again, deepening it. It thrashed around, trying and failing to knock him off, before Katt smashed it right in the teeth with her staff, stunning it. As it hesitated, fangs and blood spilling from its maw, Ryu stabbed it through the wound on its back, this time impaling it completely. Still struggling, it turned to face him, then collapsed with a heavy sigh.
The three of them turned back to Ray and Nina just in time to see the two of them finish their own battle. They'd managed to knock the creon away from them, and before it could rise, they both cast magic simultaneously, two different spells both channeling the air around it. Nina's blades sliced into the head joint, carving in from both above and below, and a moment later, an atmospheric detonation compounded the damage, blowing the head and body completely apart.
"The Bomb spell," Nina said, apparently recognizing it. "You're quite talented, Mr. Braddoc. I hadn't realized paladins were trained in both white and black magic."
"Most of our training is in white magic, but St. Eva requires that we be able to defend against magical threats as well as physical ones," Ray explained, then made a face. "Although that doesn't help much when you're foolish enough to attempt something like this without getting a replacement helmet first. Thank you for helping me. You're quite skilled yourself." He glanced back at the other three. "You still have that sword, I see, Ryu. Good."
"Looks like you've picked up a new one yourself," Ryu noticed; the sword in Ray's hand was identical to his own. "That's good, too. It looks like bronze wouldn't cut it against these. They're hard enough to take down with good solid steel. What happened to your helmet?"
"A skirmish with some Kimoto." Ray's eyes darkened. "I used it to bait their arrows, and it didn't survive the affair. Godless heathens, the entire Clan... though I'd gladly take another fight with them over these monstrosities."
"They're tough customers, all right, but they've got their weaknesses," Sten said, eying the corpses. "They can't jump at all, by the looks of it, or stand up on their back legs alone. Probably can't roll over on their backs either; their legs aren't built right for it. Those head joints look like an obvious weak point, but they're hard to nail when they're moving so fast. Might be better to try for a bigger target unless you can get 'em to hold still long enough." He glanced at Nina and Ray. "Do we have to worry about poison, too? Insect monsters are pretty bad about that."
"According to records, creons weren't poisonous," Ray assured him. "And if these ones are, I'll be able to purify it."
"Good enough." Ryu nodded. "As long as we only fight them one or two at a time, anyways. If more than that come up, we're screwed. Will they come to defend the terrapin if we attack it?"
"Doubtful." Nina shook her head. "On both counts. Creons are hive-minded, but they're hunters nonetheless; once one or two have seen prey, they're territorial about it, and the rest will keep away until the fight's over. The terrapin will be even worse; once we engage her, she'll be so angry that she'll want to kill us herself."
"A stupid enemy is a gift from the gods." Sten rubbed his hands together.
"Damn straight," Ryu agreed, seeing Ray wince, but refrain from objecting. "What do you say we track it down before any more find us, then?"
"Best idea I've heard all day." Katt nodded.
The five of them proceeded deeper into the well, down the tunnel towards the source of the infestation. Another creon charged them once, but it was alone, and they were able to dispatch it without too much trouble. Before long, they emerged from the tunnel into a wide, open cavern mostly filled by a vast pool of still water. Another man was standing on the shore, looking across a chain of rocks to an island in the center of the water, where a small boy was huddled, arms wrapped around his legs in obvious fear. Two of the rocks held creons atop them.
"Sir!" Ray called to him. "What's going on here?"
"They have my son!" The man shouted back, not turning away. "Those things won't let me near him. What am I going to do?"
"Allow us, sir." Ryu tried to give him a reassuring smile. "We're professionals." He glanced over at the other five. "Looks like your guess was wrong, Sten. They wouldn't have been able to get up on those rocks at all unless they can hop... or swim, which I doubt."
"Definitely not." Nina shook her head.
"Guess they can do it if they really have to, then," Sten acknowledged. "They just don't like it. You realize fighting them hand-to-hand on those rocks is a losing proposition."
"Indeed it is." Ray nodded. "Some well-placed magic, on the other hand, should be more than sufficient to knock them off into the water."
"We'll have to do it in one hit, or else they'll come after us," Nina pointed out. "There's also the matter of the terrapin. Having those soldiers die so close to her will almost certainly bring her out of the water."
"We can't get the civilians involved," Ryu decided, then glanced at the man. "Could you get over there and grab your boy if those creons were gone, then come back? Quickly?"
"Easily," the man assured him; he'd been paying attention to the conversation. "I've done far worse just working around here."
"If we're going to fight that thing on the island, I'm more worried about you two," Katt pointed out. "Nina can just fly over, and me and Sten could manage this easy, but... agility isn't really your strong point, Ryu. And Ray... you're wearing plate mail. Enough said."
"Don't worry about me." Ray shook his head. "Magic, remember? I'll be able to cross as easily as Miss Windfree."
"Lucky," Ryu muttered. "I can make it. Maybe it won't be pretty, but I'll make it. Tell you what, I'll go last, so I don't slow the rest of you down."
"The two of us first, then." Sten nodded. "So we can keep the terrapin off of this guy and his son, if it goes for them. Nina and Ray float on over; you don't count, but wait until that thing surfaces. If it goes for you first while you're over water, you'll be dead meat. Cross at the same time as this fella; Ryu, you come after him. Once you're out of the way, he can get out of here while we kill the terrapin. Nice and simple."
"Except for the part where we have to kill it," Nina pointed out. "It won't be easy."
"'Easy' isn't in the job description," Ryu reminded her. "Care to get us started, then?"
"Very well." Ray concentrated on the rocks, and Nina did the same. Twin bolts of lighting flickered out, blasting the Creons off of their perches and into the watery depths, electrifying the water as well. The monsters sank without a struggle, and an instant later, a watery roar of fury filled the cavern as it began to shake.
"That did it, all right!" Katt yelled, leaping across the rocks. "Let's go, Sten!" The two of them crossed with remarkable speed, reaching the island as something huge and terrible began to rise from the water. The townsman began jumping across, with somewhat less grace and speed, but he was clearly in no danger of falling. Ryu followed, much more clumsily; several times he almost slipped, but managed to regain his balance.
When they were about halfway there, the terrapin rose in a geyser of water that nearly reached the roof of the cavern.
It was a true horror, something from a bygone age that should have stayed in the past where it belonged. Most of its body was covered in glistening white, perfectly round eggs the size of a human head, the monster's massive bulk trailing down into the water out of sight, its actual length left to the imagination. The fore of its body was what crawled onto the edge of the island, two white plated limbs digging into the shore with long, red claws while two more hung at the sides of the head, ready to defend it if necessary.
Its head was even more hideous than the normal creons, two sets of teeth bristling from lipless gums flanked by pulsing, fleshy pink cheek pouches. A single red eye glittered malevolently, and a long, conical head plate stretched back above it, covered in spikes and ridges. The worst thing of all, though, was felt rather than seen; when it had emerged, Ryu suddenly picked up a hideous buzzing in the back of his mind, appearing there directly without using his ears. By the way the others were all buckling, they felt it too.
"Daddy!" The little boy screamed. "Daddy, it hurts! It hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts-"
"I'm here!" The father told him, reaching the island and snatching him up. "I'm here now! It's all going to be okay!"
"Get him out of here!" Ryu told him, clambering onto it as well as Ray and Nina crossed the water, the former levitating himself with a glow of magic. "It didn't start until this thing came up! Get him out of the well and it'll stop! Go!" Running past him, he joined Sten and Katt as they advanced on the beast. "All right, ugly. Let's shut that mouth of yours!"
The terrapin responded immediately, meeting them head-on with a blast of fire from its mouth, the flames washing over them all and igniting their clothing. Yelling, they all plunged into the water, then turned around and pulled themselves back out immediately, climbing back onto the island's shore before it could come after them there; fighting it in the water would have likely been nearly instant death.
"Well, that sure as hell didn't work," Sten growled as Ray healed him and Katt; they'd both been burned more severely than Ryu, who'd only been singed.
"No shit!" Katt snapped. "How are we going to kill this thing if we can't even get near it without that happening?"
"Those cheek pouches are where the flammable gas is stored," Nina told her. "If we damage those it won't be able to breathe fire any more."
"It's not magic, then?" Sten frowned.
"No." She shivered. "Its magic is what's infecting our minds. This abomination needs to die, and quickly."
"Can do." Ryu drew his blade. "Something this huge, we've pretty much got no option but to take it apart piece by piece anyways. Mind giving us a distraction?"
"Gladly." Nina concentrated, and threw out her arm, flinging shots of ice magic all along its visible length. The terrapin recoiled, hissing, and Ryu dashed forward, Ray by his side.
"You two hang back!" He told Katt and Sten. "Try after us, if we don't-" He cut off as the terrapin breathed fire again, covering them both with flames. Yelling, he threw himself in the water again. Coming up, he saw that Ray had used his magic to bring some up, dousing himself, while Katt and Sten had moved in after the blast, attacking before it could spew another. Staff and knives both did their work, and the cheek pouches were split open as the terrapin shrieked its rage.
As its cry filled his ears, the buzzing inside his head rose, overwhelming his thoughts. A horrible, inhuman consciousness completely unlike anything sentient had seized him, pulling his mind into itself like quicksand. As if in a dream, he saw himself climb back onshore, regain his footing, and then leap at Nina, hissing like one of the creons. The startled Wing Clanswoman was unprepared for his attack, and she went down under him, feebly trying to keep his hands away from her neck. He was saying things, he could tell, but he couldn't make out what the words spilling from his lips were.
"Ryu, what the hell?" Katt yelled.
"It's controlling him!" Ray shouted. "Hit him in the head, quickly!"
"Ryu..." Nina whispered as he throttled her, slapping at his face. He was still talking, saying something under the Terrapin's control, but yet had no comprehension of what it was the monster was making him say. A sharp rap on the head cleared the foul grip from his mind, and he fell back away from Nina, head spinning. She sat up, wheezing, as he stared back at her, shuddering as he remembered what it had felt like.
"Oh, St. Eva," he started to say, then dove aside on instinct alone just in time to avoid Katt's strike. Rolling away from her staff, he turned to see that her eyes had gone completely white, and that she was hissing in anger as she stalked him. "Whoa! Katt, fight it! It's got you!" Unfortunately, she showed no signs of doing so.
"It's taking control of our minds," Nina gasped, rising back into the air. "We have to stop it, but how... the eye!" She pointed at it; the glittering red sphere had turned just as white as Katt's. "That's how it's making mental contact with us!"
"You three do something about that!" Ryu told them, backing away from Katt as she discarded her staff, swiping at him with her bare fists. "If we snap her out of this, it'll just grab one of you instead. Seems like it can only hold one of us at once. I'll keep her busy-whoa!" Katt had swept his feet out from under him with a low kick. As he tumbled, she reached out, arms wrapping around his back and pulling him close to her.
"Ryu, how long until you leave me?" She hissed, her teeth bared in a twisted grin as her arms tightened with far more strength than most people would have thought her to have. "Everybody leaves me. They always do. I'm so lonely, Ryu. I won't let you go."
"Any... time... people!" Ryu growled as she gripped him tighter and tighter, pain wracking his body. Just as he heard and felt his own bones starting to crack, Sten dove on her back and knocked her on the head, and Katt released him, falling away as well. Knowing what was coming now, Ryu swung at the Highlander's head, but Sten leaped back, releasing Katt and landing on his feet, hideous grin bared under dead white eyes.
"St. Eva..." Katt whimpered, then snarled. "This thing is dead! What's happening?"
"It's got Sten now!" Ryu told her, keeping pace with the Highlander. "Ray, Nina, how're you doing?"
"I can't get a clear shot at the eye, and Ray can't reach it!" Nina called back, throwing a fireball that sizzled and died on its forehead plate.
"Damn!" Ryu grunted, grabbing Sten's wrist as he lunged at him. Swinging around into the air, the Highlander landed on Ryu's back, locked his legs around his waist, and began throttling him with his free arm.
"Back to the front, grunt!" He snarled in Ryu's ear. "Get a hold of yourself, soldier, or I'll kill you where you stand myself! Now get back out there and die like a man!"
"The hell...?" Ryu choked out before Sten released him, falling off; Katt had hit him, but her eyes hadn't turned white. Turning around, he saw Nina grinning horribly, and swore under his breath before diving on her again, pulling her from the air and pinning her to the island. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Sten sitting up, with a completely different look in his eyes; the simian rogue looked murderously furious, his face actually more intimidating now than it had been when he was under the terrapin's control. Snarling, he and Katt ran at the monstrosity once more.
"Ryu, why do you like me?" Nina whispered, struggling vainly against him. "What do you see in me? I don't understand it at all..." She trailed off, eyes snapping back to normal in a flash, as another roar from the Terrapin filled the air. "Ryu! Are you all right?"
"Hurt," he admitted. "But I've had worse." Glancing over his shoulder quickly, Ryu saw that Sten had managed to plunge his old, cheap dagger into the terrapin's eye; the blade was red-hot, burning out what it hadn't punctured. The Highlander was scampering back now, as Ray and Katt swung at its head with sword and staff, chipping out pieces of carapace with each hit. "Come on, we've still got a bug to squash!"
"Indeed we do," Nina agreed, rising back into the air and raking the beast with lightning once more. "Look out, it's attacking again!" The terrapin's claws had seized the island, and it leaned back, actually shaking the entire landmass. The vibrations knocked them all down, slamming them to the earth with brutal force and then tossing them into the air to come down again several times before they subsided.
"Great," Ryu grunted, prying himself back to his feet. "All right, looks like those claws are next!"
"How many ways of trying to kill us does this thing have?" Sten yelled.
"It might not look like it, but we are winning!" Ray yelled, healing Ryu. "It can't actually extend its head to bite us, so those teeth are nearly useless. It doesn't have much left!" Its two foreclaws were raking at his armor without much luck, and he turned his blade from the head to them, slashing back without fear. "Keep on it!"
"Come on!" Katt yelled to Ryu, and he grunted in agreement. They both slipped around Ray's sides while he kept the claws busy, each moving to one of the limbs that were gripping the island. Even as it began to shake the landmass once more, they attacked, Ryu chopping at the wristlike joint like it was a piece of firewood while Katt pulverized each claw in turn. The shaking knocked them around once again, but still they rose, beaten and battered but not defeated, and finished the job even as Ray sent one of the foreclaws flying.
"Look out!" Nina shouted, as the other claw slashed towards the paladin's unprotected head, the terrapin finally recognizing it as a weak point. Before it could strike, however, an airblast detonated, blowing the wounded limb away like its partner.
"Nice shot!" Katt congratulated him.
"That wasn't me!" Ray told her, and all of their eyes turned to Sten, whose hands were linked before him as he muttered under his breath. Another Bomb spell erupted inside the monster's maw, sending broken fangs flying, and he lowered his hands with a grim smile as it screamed.
"Ready to finish this?"
"Oh, yeah," Ryu said grimly, all of them turning to look at the beast. As they advanced, it began launching the eggs from its body in a last, feeble attempt at holding them off, but they all easily dodged the flying spheres, continuing forward. Nina hurled ice magic one more time, and its toothless jaw gaped in a howl of pain. Katt dashed forward, ramming her staff into the maw and forcing it open even further, and Ryu and Ray followed up, ramming their swords up through the roof of its mouth.
All three of them pulled their weapons back as the terrapin's screeching trailed off into a dying hiss, jaw spasming and body twitching. The eggs began exploding like a string of bombs, bursting into disgusting goo, leaving a long, thin body resembling a spinal column exposed. The hideous buzzing in their minds faded away, dying with the monster. A moment later, it slid from the island back into the depths of the water, and was gone.
"Shit," Sten said a moment later. "Well, I'm not getting that dagger back."
"I'll buy you a new-" Ray started to offer, then cut off as the cavern began to shake. "Oh, no. Run! Run! Back out of here, now!"
"What's going on?" Katt yelled as she skipped across the rocks, Sten close behind her.
"Whatever was damming the water up is coming loose!" Nina shouted back, flying through the air alongside Ray, who was levitating himself again. "Could it have been the terrapin itself? We never saw the back end of that thing..."
"And when we killed it, it would have slid out! Damn!" Ryu swore, hopping from rock to rock as quickly as he could. "How long do we have?"
"We won't make it out of the well!" Ray told him. "But if we can get back in that tunnel, I can take it from there! Hurry!"
There were no more words after that; they all concentrated solely on escape, crossing the rocks and then running for the entrance of the water cavern as the rumbling increased, huge clumps of earth falling loose from above. As they raced into the tunnel, Ray turned around, raising his hand, and a wall of light appeared even as the mass of water roared down out of the cavern towards them, filling the tunnel from top to bottom.
"Holy shit," Katt muttered as the water met Ray's spell and halted, as if the light were a solid surface.
"Barrier," Nina said, apparently recognizing it. "But with all the magic you used in that fight, you won't be able to hold it for long."
"I came prepared," Ray told her, his free hand pulling a pouch from his belt. Opening it, he produced a number of black, dried berries.
"Wise Fruit." Sten's eyes narrowed. "Those'll restore your magic stores, all right. At the cost of your physical health. Take too many at once, and you'll die, even with white magic to heal you. You gamble with high stakes."
"It can't be helped." Ray shook his head. "The search party. They're still in the rest of these tunnels. You have to find any of them who are still alive and get them out of here, before the well floods."
"Shit," Ryu growled. "I didn't think of that. All right, there were five more tunnels back there. Let's split up. Everybody search one, and we'll hit the last one next."
"Might not be such a good idea, boss," Sten disagreed. "Might be more creons down there. Fighting those suckers one-on-one is a losing proposition."
"Shit," he said again. "Yeah, okay. We'll search them all together. Let's just make sure we hurry, then."
"Make sure you search them all," Ray called as they left him. "St. Eva will never forgive me if any men who could be saved were not."
"St. Eva might not, but I would," Nina muttered under her breath. "He has ten minutes, tops, before he loses it."
"Two minutes a tunnel, then," Ryu decided. "Ray's sharp. He'll know if we lie to him. We'll just have to move." They rushed back to the junction and took the first tunnel they saw, almost immediately finding a young man leaning against the wall, breathing heavily.
"Who are you?" He asked, staring at them.
"Creon exterminators," Sten cracked, and Katt cuffed him.
"We're here to take care of your bug problem," Ryu explained quickly. "You need to get out of here. The water's about to come back in here."
"St. Eva!" The man yelped. "The rest of the people-"
"We'll find them," Ryu assured him. "We already saved the kid. His dad got him out. What about down here? Is there anybody else?"
"No, just one of those big bugs," he told them. "I ran away from it. It's a dead-end. But listen, the other guys down here... there's something wrong with them. Some smaller bug's attached itself to their faces, and it's like... it's controlling them, or something! They hauled one of my friends away, and then when I saw him, he was one of them!"
"Chigoru." Nina scowled. "Creon larvae. They were probably controlled by the terrapin. Now that it's gone, they'll be running wild."
"Can we still save them?" Sten asked quickly.
"Yes." She nodded. "If we kill the chigoru, the victims will recover."
"All we need to know." Ryu turned on his heel. "Come on, this one's clear. Let's check the next one!" They ran back and took another tunnel as the young man began climbing out, only for a second man to burst out from it, arms flailing as he gibbered wildly. A dinner plate-sized gray insect was hanging from his face, six claws holding it in place; it had no head, and its long tail was wrapped around the man's neck before plunging into the back.
"Hold him down!" Nina told them, and the other three promptly did so, pinning him to the floor. A precisely aimed airblade bisected the chigoru, and it fell off, tail sliding out of the wound easily. As soon as it was out, the man lurched up, and they backed away as he vomited, shaking.
"What..." He gasped once he was done.
"Later!" Ryu told him. "The well's going to flood again! Get out!" That penetrated his stupor, and he began running after his friend. "Come on! Let's keep going!"
Searching the rest of the tunnels, they located three more infested civilians and removed the chigoru from each, sending them up the ladder. Twice, creons attacked, and they killed the monstrous bugs as well, though not without injury. As they raced down the last tunnel, according to Sten they had about two minutes remaining.
"If there's another creon down here..." Ryu muttered, then called out as they saw a dark-haired, overweight man in an expensive-looking red doublet ahead, standing alone in a dead-end. "Sir! Are you all right?"
"More searchers?" The man turned around, and they saw that he wore a gold chain around his neck. "I told those fools not to send anybody else in after us! They were supposed to collapse this well if we didn't return!"
"A Paladin from Evrai came to offer his help," Ryu explained. "We were passing through and we owed him one, so we gave him backup. Sir, you have to get out of here. We've killed the leader of the monsters and rescued the boy, but the well's about to fill again. You're the last one."
"Well then, what are we waiting for?" He demanded, taking off with surprising speed considering his bulk. "Let's go!" As they reached the ladder, he began clambering up, then stared as they ran down the first tunnel. "Where are you going?"
"The paladin's holding the water off!" Katt shouted at him as they ran. "We have to get him! Go!" They raced back to Ray and found him kneeling before the barrier, head bowed and skin pale as he trembled, sweating heavily. Despite that, his right arm was still raised, palm out, holding the water at bay.
"How many did you take?" Nina demanded.
"No matter..." He croaked. "The people. Are they..."
"We saved them all." Ryu pulled him to his feet. "Come on, let's go!" They raced back the way they came, but as they were nearing the ladder, Ray fell to his knees again.
"Go!" He gasped. "Save yourselves! The barrier is broken... the water's coming!"
"Like hell!" Ryu yelled, dragging him along with Katt's help. As Nina and Sten began to scramble up the ladder, he saw the wall of water approaching, and closed his eyes. "Oh, shit... here it comes! Katt, I-"
It hit him like a hammerblow, slamming the words and breath from his lungs, and then he was underwater, the raging force of it throwing him around like a ragdoll. It seemed like it was forever before he broke the surface again, gasping like a landed fish. Somehow, against all logic, he and Katt had managed to pull Ray to the surface with them, and all three were leaning on the edge of the well, coughing and choking. Nina and Sten pulled them the rest of the way out, and they lay on the ground for some time, dripping and miserable.
"St. Eva..." Somebody said, and they raised their heads to see a crowd of men and women surrounding them, staring in horror. Slowly, Ryu realized what they all probably looked like after the ordeal. One by one, they all stood up and looked back at the citizens until the man who'd spoken did so again. "What's going on?" They turned to each other, silent, all of them aware that they were all trying to think of something to say and failing
"Do not go in there," Sten drawled eventually, pointing at the well. Katt clobbered him on the back of his head, and he fell forward onto his face.
"Everybody who needs a freakin' drink, raise your hand," Ryu said, and all five of them did so, Sten without getting up.
"Um..." The fat man toyed with the chain around his neck; he and the others from in the well were all among the people there. "On the city?"
"We will never forget the city of Capitan for the service it has done us this day," Ryu told him as they began making their way through the crowds, looking for the nearest tavern. "Let's make that ten drinks, people. After what we've been through today, we've earned it."
"Amen," Nina murmured dryly.
FACE THE THING THAT SHOULD NOT BE
