The Cult
A day after crossing the river the group began to find only burned and blackened fields. Where they expected to find corn, wheat, melons, carrots and many other such crops were completely destroyed. Soon they came upon livestock that had been butchered, throats slashed open and left to rot in the sun. soon it became apparent that this wanton destruction was going on for miles and miles.
"CB, did the Marauders cross the river after the battle?" Finn asked. He covered his nose as they passed by a pair of bloated pigs covered in flies.
"No, they all headed back through the pass," he replied, trying not to gag. "The Goblins headed south from the river, so they couldn't have come this way."
The further and further they went, all they seemed to find was destruction. Outside a burning farmhouse they came upon children that had been hanged upside down from a tree and gutted like hogs, their entrails were dry and green from baking in the sun for who knew how long.
"Oh, I'm gonna be sick!" Jake said. He barely had time to turn before a torrent of green yellow vomit spilled from his mouth. He gagged and heaved for what seemed like an eternity, before he finally wiped his mouth and stood up. "Who would do something like this?"
"KILL THEM! GIVE THEIR BLOOD TO THE STAG!"
A ragged band of men and women wearing ripped and dirty rags came charging over the hill. Their eyes were wild and each had a red star painted over their while face. They brandished scythes, hoes, pitchforks, and woodsman's axes.
"Finally, a battle!" Samantha leaped, effortlessly cleaving the first man to approach her from his shoulder down to his naval. Wrenching her battleaxe free, she whirled and brought it crashing through a woman's skull as she tried to attack the dog goddess from behind.
Cinnamon Bun retreated from a woman swinging a scythe, her eyes were bloodshot and thick foam was flowing from her mouth.
The pastry knight made the mistake of looking back, as he turned his head he missed seeing a rock, and crashed to the ground with a thud. Rolling over onto his back, CB began scrambling backwards as the woman kept coming.
Luckily, just as she raised the scythe to deliver the finishing blow, a horse screaming drew her attention. As she turned, Marbrand made the horse rear, causing its hooves to cave in her skull as they came down.
"Get up Captain!" he exclaimed. Before he could react, the fire knight was quickly pulled from the saddle by several more star faced people. He began to scream as they began to stab at him with their hoes and pitchforks.
"Marbrand!" Cinnamon Bun snatched the dead woman's scythe and ran towards the fallen knight. He drove the blade of the scythe through one man's skull with a savage and meaty thunk, pulling it out he sliced the next one's throat with a quick slash. "Get away from him!"
Finn sidestepped a pitchfork thrust before countering with a slash from his grass blade that took the man's arm off at the shoulder. The hero felt like he was going to cry as the man began shrieking and clawing at the blood hole before collapsing.
"Oh Glob," he whispered, covering his mouth with his hand. "Oh Glob oh Glob oh Glob!"
"Finn! Help Cinnamon Bun!" Jake screamed. The magic dog pointed to where the pastry was slowly being overwhelmed by the crazed people.
"Finn the human! I require assistance!" Rattleballs had been brought down by sheer force of numbers. They where stabbing and hacking his body to little effect, but; eventually one of them would get lucky.
It seemed like there was no end to them, more and more began to appear from almost nowhere. Finn's heart was pounding and his breathing grew rapid as he mentally screamed at himself to do something, to save someone.
A shout rang out and the sound of thunder began filling the air, growing louder and louder with each passing second instead of dissipating. Coming over the hill was something Finn had never expected. For almost a heartbeat, he thought they were knights riding down towards them, armor gleaming in the sun, war lances lowered. But; when the first charge tore through the star faced people and they passed Finn by-
"Centaurs!" he exclaimed. They galloped to the edge of the fighting and wheeled around and charged forward, this time in a wedge formation. The crazed people stood their ground, Finn could not fault them for courage, though he wasn't sure courage was the right word. The wedge effortlessly ripped through the ranks, and sent the people scattering.
"Draw weapons!" a centaur ordered. He was massive, the lower half of him was almost 3 times the size of the horse that their little band had along with them. All around them the centaurs drew swords or axes, a few had spiked flails.
"KILL THE BEASTS! FOR THE STAG!" one of the star people yelled. And just like that, Finn and his friends were forgotten as they enemy moved to fight against the new arrivals.
It was a slaughter, the hoes, and scythes, and pitchforks were no match against the armed and armored centaurs. Within minutes most of the star faced people lay dead or dying. The last few were running away across a burned field, a few centaurs retrieved their lances and gave chase.
Finn swallowed nervously as the centaur who seemed to be in command of the others finally noticed him. He was dressed in blue scaled mail with heavy gorget and gauntlets. His lower half was armored in like a warhorse would be, a heavy padded coat with thin armored bands for the legs. He removed his helmet to reveal a long mane of blonde hair, long ears poked out of it.
"Thank you for saving us," Finn said. The centaur eyed him warily, after a few seconds, he sheathed his sword. "I'm Finn, who're you?"
"I am Sir Jaime of Galilee," he replied. He looked away to where the centaurs who had ridden off were returning. "You and yours aren't part of the Star Cult, are you? I took you for a traveling circus group."
That struck Finn as more of a statement instead of an answer. All around them the other centaurs began taking notice of his friends. Rattleballs and Samantha came to stand behind him as Jake went over to comfort Cinnamon Bun, who was weeping over Marbrand.
"No, who were those guys?" he asked. The centaurs had begun piling the bodies up and began throwing them one by one into the burning farmhouse. "They seemed organized."
"Yes, they've been troubling the land for months, I fear at the rate they burn and kill, the land will starve before the end of next year," he replied. "The worst part of it is, that these people are the farmers."
Finn felt a rock drop into his stomach. He looked back at the children, and a new wave of disgust and horror grew in him. Jaime nodded.
"The Star Speaker who leads them preaches freedom from working and growing," he said, gesturing to the burned and ruined fields. "The people have gone mad to think this will free them, aye it will though truth be told, only after they starve."
"Why is no one doing anything?" Samantha asked, lifting her battleaxe up onto her shoulder. "Surely your princess knows about this, why has she not asked for aid from another kingdom?"
Jaime scowled at her.
"She…. She is unable to do anything," he said. "I and my men have been riding out against this madness, but; chasing this cult is like trying to catch the wind. They burn a farm and vanish by the time we arrive. Luckily, they stumbled upon you as we chased them or else they would have gotten away again."
"If we help you stop this cult, will you help us?" Finn asked.
The Centaur raised an eyebrow, before smiling.
"Help us stop the Star cult? Just you and your little band of mummers?" he asked, chuckling softly. "Amusing, but; very well jester, on my honor as a knight. If you help us destroy this cult I will lend you my aid in anyway you see fit."
Finn didn't feel like he was being mocked, truth be told, were the roles reversed he would find it funny. Jaime trotted off and began speaking with the other centaurs.
"We don't have time for this, Finn," Samantha said. "We need to reach the Fire Kingdom as soon as possible."
"I know, but; if we're going to stop Bubblegum we'll need more than just the Fire Kingdom," he said. "We'd be sunk if our army gets defeated by rain just as we reached the Candy Kingdom."
"That is true, we might need aid from more than one kingdom alone," Rattleballs replied. "Princess Bubblegum will only add more and more groups to her cause we shall need to do the same."
The dog goddess sighed in defeat.
"Fine, if you think we need Sir Horse Ass and his band of mules then who am I to object?" she said, smirking. "But; when we find this Star cult, the Star Speaker is mine to kill."
"Then its settled, we ride for Galilee at once," Jaime said, trotting over. He turned and knelt down in front of Finn. "Hop on."
"What?" he asked.
"You didn't think we would make you walk, did you?" Jaime asked. "We haven't the time for that. Get on my back."
"What about Marbrand?" Finn asked.
"You guys go on ahead, me and CB will catch up," Jake said. He changed both of his hands into shovels and began to dig a hole.
Finn nodded, and climbed up onto the Centaur's back.
"We return to Galilee!" Jaime exclaimed. Finn clung to him as the centaur took off at a gallop.
The barren and burned landscape seemed to fly by and soon the dead and destroyed gave way to green and fertile.
"The cult hasn't come here yet," Jaime said. "We've been trying to keep them out in the barren waste they've created for themselves."
Soon a great Grey stone castle seemed to climb up out of the earth and the closer and closer they came, Finn could see that Galilee was almost 4 times the size of Bubblegum's palace.
"There, that is Galilee," Jaime said. Riding down towards the castle the column stopped before a mouth that seemed to stretch on and on. "The moat is almost 3 feet deep, with iron spikes and other things."
Finn felt a tingle go down his spine as a large crocodile surfaced and regarded him with cold, unfeeling eyes. The drawbridge came down with a thud and as they crossed under the archway, the hero counted almost a dozen murder holes for bowmen as well as several large holes for boiling oil to be dropped.
Inside the yard all manner of creatures could be seen. Dogs and Rainicorns, snakemen with yellow eyes and dripping fangs, minotaurs, orcs, ogres, and centaurs as well.
"Our kingdom takes in those that have no home," Jaime said. "The princess has always had a kind and loving heart."
"I hope CB and Jake can find this place," Finn said, as he dismounted.
"Don't worry, after we've eaten and rested I'll send a few men after them," Jaime said. "Come, you need to meet the princess."
Jaime led them up into the castle. They passed through a large and sprawling throne room that had a ceiling so high they could barely see it. The centaur led them out through a side door and out into the rear yard toward the outer bailey.
A tall, foreboding tower seemed to stretch up and up into the sky. Jaime opened the door at the base and ushered the three inside. He led them up a long and twisting staircase. Several times they had to stop and rest. At the top they found a door locked and barred.
"The princess is within," Jaime said. He removed the bar and opened the various locks with a set of keys.
The door swung open on a dark and messy room. Against the far wall a thin form knelt beneath a large black statue of a bipedal deer with large antlers.
"The blood will feed the earth and allow you to return and then we shall be free-" the thin form fell silent at the sound of the door swinging open. Finn swallowed hard as it turned to face the door. The girl was taller than him, with long raven hair that almost touched the floor. She was so thin that he could see her joints move. "FOR THE STAG!"
With a wild shriek she charged, her eyes were wide and completely glassy. Jaime slammed the door shut just as she leaped, slamming against it. Inside they could hear her screaming as she clawed and scratched the door.
"She has fallen under the spell of this Star Speaker," he said, as he went about locking the door. "We were able to keep it silent that she was like this, else it would cause a panic. Finn, if your serious about this, then we haven't the time to lose."
"I am, we need you and your knights," he said.
Jaime nodded.
"Tell me of your reasons after we've saved the kingdom," he replied, as they began descending the stairs. "Come, there is food and drink to be had. Then we will rest before setting out again."
END CHAPTER 11