Chapter Ten: Northern World
It was a day across the bridge, then they were left to take in the expanse of the lands around them. The Quadrin caravan was headed north, and as they were initially going the same way, the Light Warriors stuck close to them for a while. Good thing, too, because during one fight against a basilisk their carriage was damaged on both wheels of its right side.
It was Vieno who stayed behind a bit to look over the damage. "Don't worry," they said, waving a hand dismissively. "It can be fixed. But that'll take time. Why don't you put your things with ours for now and we'll carry the carriage, too, until it can be repaired? We've got people that can do it."
Felix agreed, but then followed Vieno as they walked around to the back of the carriage and lifted the wooden bar that kept the doors closed. "Um, I think you should know…we've got a dead body in there." Vieno turned to him with silver eyebrows raised. "In a casket and everything. Just…I thought I should warn you. In case it freaked you out."
"Oh." Vieno chuckled. "No, it's fine."
Rhea and Lothar took all the bags and boxes and carried them up to where the caravan had passed them a little. Vieno stuck with Felix, who led the deel and carriage forward, finally hitching the deel to the side of one of the last wagons. Vieno helped Felix lift the casket out so two guards could haul the carriage up into the wagon. But when it came to the casket itself, there were some reservations. There was only so much room, and what room there was could only be found in the wagons where the caravaners and merchants slept. No one wanted to have it in their room, understandably.
"I'll take it," Vieno said finally with a sigh. "There's plenty of room in my area, and I'm hardly ever in there. I can sleep somewhere else. Just help me rearrange some things."
Vieno apparently had their own wagon, a small one no bigger than the Light Warriors' carriage, pulled by two horses. Felix stared at them with wide eyes, shocked, as he'd never seen horses this close before without them attacking him or running. Vieno patted one on the neck and it shook its head aggressively in response, large teeth gnashing. Felix jumped. Vieno laughed loudly at him, "It's alright, boy, they mind me. Let's get your departed friend." Dimas was put in the very back, with a few of Vieno's crates on top and some of the caravan's rolls of cloth piled in front, out of the way, and out of sight.
The caravan moved slowly, but they were fine with it. The trees had lost their leaves by now, and the wind was now bitingly cold. They continued up through the pass in the mountains before they would have to part, down a gravelly road lined with said leafless, stunted trees, coarse grasses, and woody bushes, the pebbled ground grabbing at the large wheels of the wagons, putting cracks in the wood spokes as pebbles flew when a donkey or person passed quickly, and miring them in wet silt and clay underneath when it finally rained, an example of early winter weather.
Their last night together, Felix, Rhea and Lothar sat with Vieno and the guards Saundra and Donatien, who never seemed to be separated, perhaps because they were partners, always on duty together. Rhea had asked if they were dating, and both had collapsed in a fit of laughter. "You could have just said 'no'." Vieno tried to hide their grin behind a hand too thin to really cover it. "Would they be that terrible for each other?" Rhea asked, seeing the grin, just as the two guards quietly said goodnight and goodbye to her brother. "I don't see the joke."
"They're just… not exactly each other's type, I don't think."
"What? They get along so well."
"Your brother would understand what I mean." But a look from Lothar silenced Vieno from continuing.
The next thing Vieno said was an offer. In response to Felix's qualms to going north in search for this Matoya, they said, "Well, I could always come with you."
"No, it could be dangerous," Felix argued. Vieno raised one eyebrow. "You could get hurt," he pushed.
"My boy, I'm up at four in the morning, just for talking to you; I'm drunk already, not even from yesterday; I've been sleeping next to a dead guy for the past week. Do I sound like I have a lot to lose?"
Felix grinned in response and shrugged. "I guess you can come if you want. But won't you lose some pay?"
"I'm getting a bit bored of this anyway. I need a break."
They all unloaded their things into the Light Warriors' carriage, now repaired, leaving Vieno's cart with the caravan, complete with the fierce horses. Felix strapped on his armour and watched Vieno do the same from the corner of his eye, wondering exactly what kind of fighter someone so old would be. Vieno wore an armlet as opposed to armour, washed in gold, a common buckler, and wore only regular gloves, although they also had a ring on with a black gem that seemed to make the air around it glow black, if that were possible. They tied their wavy silver hair in a horsetail, put on a small circlet with a black ribbon attached (which looked suspiciously similar to the gem in the way it glowed) and tied that about their hair too for good measure, then buckled a wide-bladed silver sword on their belt that Felix had looked at admiringly earlier, interestingly, on the right side.
They hooked the deel up and continued north, deep into a forest that no longer had leaves, leaving the cloudy white sky above them to be obscured only by branches that appeared as thin black slashes to Felix's strained vision. The ground was covered in a thick carpet of leaves that were damp from fall rain, mouldering and catching pools of water, squishing under their boots.
"One good think to be said about autumn. With no leaves, you'll probably see anything coming for miles," Lothar said cheerily.
"Just as anything else will probably see us," Vieno said, though oddly enough, sounding just as cheerful. They tilted their red hat, complete with a white plumed feather, downwards to block out some of the disgustingly bright light. Felix wondered why it was always so bright in winter, even without snow. You'd think the clouds would make it darker, but they just made it whiter.
Ogres lived in the northern parts of the forest. At least, so they had been told. Despite the odd noises of things snapping at night, Felix was starting to wonder if anything other than wolves and imps lived in these parts. But as he was walking ahead of the group, he saw something swing towards him and he ducked just in time to avoid it.
Lying flat on his stomach on wet, muddy leaves, Felix looked up, and up…and up at a giant, humanoid thing of pure muscle, brown-purple splotchy skin nearly the colour of the leaves around them – camouflage maybe? – with coarse brown hair falling past his shoulders, wearing only a loose loincloth, and wielding a tree like a club. Ogre.
"Uh," he started, getting up, attempting to go around and back towards the others. Then he saw something greyish-blue, but too blue for the surroundings. A lizard-like creature, feathery red tufts on the top of its head and bulging eyes: a basilisk.
"Hey!" He looked over his shoulder to see Vieno standing behind him, still a ways off. "Don't move Felix, if you know what's good for you!"
He did as he was told and soon understood why as Vieno pointed their hand and bursts of magic, flame laced with lightning, flashed out, spiralling through the air at the creatures, but managing to just graze by him without hitting him, even going around. He could only be thankful that Vieno had good aim and control, then…since when had Vieno had magic? And how could they hit both the things at once?
He stayed frozen as the ogre ran towards the supposed black mage behind him, right over Felix's head, and he groaned inwardly, wishing ogres' loincloths connected underneath. Another ogre had also appeared out of the trees, and when he saw how fast they were, he understood how it was that they hadn't yet spotted them. There was no way Vieno would be able to ward them off or take their hits if they were a mage. Felix followed the creatures.
Vieno stared them down, then tilted their hat over their eyes for concentration – they just couldn't concentrate when they could see how close things were. A blue-green aura surrounded them, followed by shards of ice shooting up from the earth, stabbing through the creatures. The basilisk fell to the ground, dead.
One of the ogres brought its tree-club down hard on Vieno's right side, and as they blocked, Felix heard a crack. He drew his sword and charged it from behind, hoping to surprise it. Vieno tossed their heavy buckler aside and clutched their broken arm to their belt, concentrating on their left arm, in which they held their sword, proceeding to slash and stab at the beasts with great skill. Felix found himself admiring Vieno's swordplay, and wondered how they had gotten so good.
Felix dodged hurriedly, and again, as the ogre swung its club back and forth through the air he had just occupied, wind rushing by with a whistle. He lost his footing, fell to his knees, and saw the club come straight down. He had no buckler, and so brought his sword up, point down, hilt tilted out, to receive the brunt of the damage on the strongest part of the blade. The oncoming swing snapped the blade off barely an inch from the hilt. He stared at the length of metal, still holding the hilt in both his hands, disbelieving. When the next blow finally landed, it sent him flying into a tree.
Vieno jumped, climbed the first ogre's back with amazing flexibility, and plunged their sword into its neck to the hilt. Then they leapt off before it hit the ground, landing lightly on small feet, turned and swung their sword sideways with enough force that the second ogre's kneecap shattered. How could Vieno possibly be that strong…and with only one hand? Lothar distracted it – Felix couldn't even remember when Lothar had gotten there – as Vieno finished it off.
"Holy…" he couldn't even think of a word to express his disbelief.
"You can fight like that and use dark arts?" Lothar asked, offering a helping hand for Vieno to get up. Rhea stepped up and held out a hand to heal their arm.
Vieno only shrugged in reply to Lothar's question, accepting the hand, then brushing aside Rhea's offer, touched a hand to their arm themself, and a pool of pinkish mist seeped out.
"You can heal too?" Rhea asked indignantly.
"Show off," Felix teased, using the tree he'd been slammed up against as a support to get back up. Vieno snapped a finger at him and he felt his injuries and bruises heal, much better – he had to admit – than when Rhea cast a spell. "Thank you."
"It's no problem. I'm not much of a healer, really, don't have much aptitude for the bright arts." They spoke to Rhea now. "But these are high-level spells. And I had a good teacher. You need a better one. You'll be much better than me, I can tell – you're extremely good already; but they can teach you practically nothing in Cornelia."
Rhea blushed at the compliment, lowered her head and went back to the deel. "You weren't much help," Felix heard her say, and he turned to see her talking to Loki, who peered around the carriage from the back. "You could have thrown a few flames, no?"
Felix found the blade and slipped it into the sheath, holding the bare handle in his other hand, unused to how much lighter it was. Vieno clasped a hand on his shoulder, with the arm that had been broken not long ago. It must have been a strong spell.
"I've had this sword my whole life," he said, feeling he owed them some explanation for why they were waiting. "Guess I'll need a new one."
"Yeah, blades can be like friends," Vieno added, and Felix was surprised that they seemed to understand. "But a true master of the sword is one who can make friends with any sword."
"I suppose."
They eventually emerged from the thickest of the trees to the bank of a fast-flowing river. Felix heaved a sigh, planted his hands on his hips and waited for the others to catch up, one hand brushing against the hilt he had tied to the top of his scabbard. He glanced down at it with an annoyed look. The sound of a few pebbles bouncing down the bank of the river made him look up and back.
The carriage and deel were up near the flat ground, Vieno slowly making their way down, digging their heels into the soft, damp earth and flailing arms for balance. Felix held his hand out and took one of theirs, steadying them as they stumbled into him.
"Thanks," they said, patting one of his shoulders.
"We can't swim this." Felix waved an impatient hand to the river.
"Okay." Vieno took a puff from what they had been smoking for the last hour, something that looked like a cigar, but smelled much different, and blew some smoke rings into the air. Felix watched them rise and dissipate. "We'll have to go around." They watched him from the corner of one eye as they spoke, their eyes looking a bit green today, and grinned at the frustrated look in his face. "You could try swimming," they added.
"No," he sighed in defeat. "And we have to take the carriage and Dimas with us anyway. Hopefully it'll get shallower further down."
"I don't think this is getting too shallow for a long ways…"
"Why are you trying to make me depressed?"
Vieno laughed, their usual, full, loud laugh, and Felix trudged up back to the carriage without bothering to offer Vieno any help. He turned back to look when he saw the expression on Lothar's face, and saw Vieno stumble on their way up, then right themself before falling into the water, hold their cigar in their mouth so they could grab at the small bushes and pull their way up. They started giggling when Lothar walked over, held them under the arms and lifted them back up.
"You really have no respect for your elders," Vieno said, taking the cigar out of their mouth, wagging a finger at Felix with the same hand (their previously broken arm was still sore, apparently, and that hand remained in their pocket almost all the time), then started coughing.
"You should quit the smoking."
Vieno waved that away, shrugged, "Nah, it's a little late for me."
"Oh come on," Felix said as he started walking, the carriage slowly rolling west, down the river. "You're not that old."
"Well, you don't know how old I am," Vieno grinned, and narrowed their eyes challengingly. They continued along, attempting to guess Vieno's age.
"Fifty?"
"Sixty."
"Hundred and five!"
"Lothar." Rhea smacked him lightly on the head. Vieno laughed.
"Sixty-four," they finally relented, and Felix was surprised that they had answered, initially getting the impression that they wouldn't divulge anything about themself. "But, gods, I feel a lot older today." They put out the cigar and dropped in into a small bag that hung from their belt, next to a flask that Felix guessed to hold alcohol of some kind, a compass, and their knife.
Felix eyed Vieno, trying to be discreet about it. "Well, hell, you look good for sixty-four." Especially considering how much you drink.
"Thank you," they replied.
They got across the river finally, two days later at a spot where it was smaller and slower, all pushing the carriage through so it wouldn't stick in the soft ground. They ate fish those last few days, something Felix didn't usually like, but which tasted better now it had been so long since he'd eaten any. With the lack of variety in available food, they had come to appreciate every new plant or edible root they happened to find, and every pinch of salt they decided to spare for particularly boring meals. Rhea had even bravely tried a mushroom yesterday, despite the fact she usually hated them, and had to admit that it was all right after all.
Another river lay before them, but it was shallow enough that they barely had to search for where they could cross. The land soon turned rocky, less flat, and the trees diminished to a few mountains just north of them.
"This Matoya apparently lives in the mountains," Felix said.
"Perhaps you should try to find her first before we lug the casket back and forth," Vieno suggested.
Felix nodded. "We'd have to split up, then."
"Loki and I do slow you down some," Rhea admitted. "But between the two of us, we should have enough spells to ward off anything that wanders up here, and I don't think much will."
Felix thought it over, "Me, you," he pointed to Lothar, "and you," at Vieno, "go, then? I hate asking you to come, but it would be best to have someone who can heal some, for a worst case scenario," he continued, gazing at the oldest party member. Vieno didn't seem at all surprised that he asked them to go, and even seemed happy as they agreed.
Two paths lay before them, each surrounded by high, sheer cliffs.
"West looks easier," Felix said. Lothar shrugged.
"No, we should go this way," Vieno said, pointing down the path that led east.
"How do you know? Is there some kind of invisible road sign?" Felix asked. "That way looks harder, anyways."
"Exactly. Matoya would probably live down a road less travelled if she likes privacy. My gut tells me this is right." Lothar shrugged again, already heading down the path Vieno indicated. "See? Even the mute agrees."
"You had better be right," Felix said, shaking a finger at them on his way past them, casting one last glance to the other, straight road, then trudging his way up the steep climb behind Lothar.
"Was I right, or was I right?" Vieno nudged Felix with an elbow.
"Ugh, you were right, but you had no way of knowing that."
"Oh really?" They passed by him to continue up the last part of the path, the steepest, that led up to a cave opening that had decorations around it, a sign that at least somebody lived here.
The cave led down, also quite steeply, turned a sharp corner, then opened to a great cavern below them. They all held tightly to the stalagmites and stalactites, which connected in some places to form convenient pillar, so they wouldn't so quickly lose their footing on the slippery rock. A small pool rested near the bottom, surrounded by mushrooms and moss, and a drip echoed around them.
Lothar slipped, went down right before the bottom, skidding into the shallow pool and leaving a trail of stone behind him devoid of the plants that had clung to it before. He got up, wiped the fungi and moss from his pant leg, stained green where it smeared, then clambered out of the pool, in a much worse mood than usual.
"Where is this Matoya?"
As if on cue, a swishing noise approached them from around one dark corner. They turned, expecting to see a person, but instead saw a broom. A broom which was completely alone; also very busy.
"What on earth?" Lothar muttered.
The broom swept its way towards them and proceeded to brush off Lothar's shoes. "Messy-messy-messy…" came a nasal voice that, despite all common sense, they had to assume was the broom.
"Get off." Lothar pushed the broom aside, and it swept Vieno's shoes, then Felix's. "Messy-messy-messy."
"How…unique," Vieno said, then grinned. "I guess having animal familiars has gotten too cliché."
"What, so witches are turning kitchen objects into pets now?" Felix muttered, as the broom turned sideways and began sweeping his breastplate, covered in dust from many days on the mountain roads. Vieno just continued to where the broom had come from.
An ornately carved door stood before them, a few domestic pots sitting next to it. They knocked, and when no answer came, they opened the door and walked in.
"Oh good gods," Felix muttered. It was a congregation of brooms, sweeping around a room lined with potted plants and the skulls of many animals and various monsters, some of which looked frighteningly like human skulls. At the end sat a marble table, a woman in the chair behind it.
"A broom reunion?" Vieno asked. "Do you all come from the same 'family tree' then, or something?" they jokingly asked one particularly busy broom as it brushed past, muttering, "Noisy-noisy-noisy," as it went. "Mm, I guess they don't like conversation that much."
Felix walked down the long room towards the woman before him. He had been expecting a withered, ancient old woman, but the one before him could have passed for his age, only twenty-four, perhaps even younger. Her face was long and narrow, with a square jaw and strong chin, well-defined cheekbones, a sharp-angled nose, full lips, and exotic, oddly slanted eyebrows. Her skin was a light caramel, her hair rich and dark, like chocolate, flowing down her back in lazy waves, brushed aside thoughtlessly from her forehead.
She wore a round, red silk cap that he thought might have been a scarf, worn similarly to how Dimas wore his own, and some of the hair near her face had been braided, small beads in them, and tied out of the way. Her dress was of the same red, looking magnificent with her colouring, and even cut without any shape of its own, it couldn't hide hers. There were beaded ribbons and necklaces around her neck, rings with glowing gems like the one Vieno wore, but he had a feeling these things were for magical purposes, not for appearance, because her eyes, stunning as they might have been, large and black, shining brightly in the dim light, and framed by long lashes, had pure white pupils, though no cloudy mist was apparent, and they had a blank stare.
Felix was intrigued a bit by the realization Matoya was blind. She turned her head to him despite this, giving him look for look with those pupil-less eyes. He immediately thought of his father when she did. His father was blind, had been the entirety of his life. But Felix found that the older man was more aware of most things he did than people who could see him do them. He had never been able to sneak past his father, and every movement he made was registered – the man heard his every breath, could practically feel every movement another made in the room, so it seemed; he didn't need to see Felix blush, or smile, to know if he was embarrassed or happy, it was as though he could feel the change in temperature even just in Felix's hands, which he always held.
So it wasn't much of a surprise to him when Matoya held out one of her hands, and he placed his own in it, nor when she said, "Three travellers from abroad, state your names."
AN:
The chapters are probably going to get longer from here on out, most likely around this length or more – I don't know how I managed to keep them so short before, but it's more fun when I let myself drag on a little; they have more interesting conversations that way.
Hope everyone continues to enjoy this, the next chapter should be up soon!