Here we are.
Beta: College Fool
Cover Art: Dishwasher1910
Book 6: Chapter 2
Sunlight burned into my eyes. The shadows cast by the arm held above and before me did little. Light found its way around, blinding and glaring in its intensity, a far cry from the cool morning it had been not twenty minutes earlier. That was back in Vale, of course. The portal provided by Archmage Ironwood took us not to a town, but a barren patch of sand in what felt like the middle of nowhere. It was somewhere on the northern edge of Vacuo, but that was all I could tell.
"This is Vacuo?" Yang asked, squinting against the sunlight. "It's just sand as far as the eye can see."
"That's Vacuo for you," Weiss said, dusting herself down. The heiress' robes, bright white in colour, was perhaps the best suited for the sudden heat out of all of us. I was grateful that I'd left my cloak behind, but found myself wishing I'd done the same with my breastplate. I couldn't even begin to imagine what this would have been like in full plate. Impossible, I supposed. I'd have had to abandon it or smelt in my own armour.
Pyrrha trudged over, her feet crunching in the sand. "Do you have the map?" she asked, more a request to see it than an actual question. If Blake had forgotten the map somehow, we were all of us dead.
She hadn't, of course. The Assassin drew it out of its canister and rolled it out, the eight of us crowding uncomfortably around her to look at the faded parchment. The details on it were etched in ink, with names of locations written in an elegant, cursive script. What drew more attention was the single dot of blue, as though someone had taken a pale stick of chalk and dabbed at the brownish paper.
Suddenly, the map seemed to tingle. The chalk marking sketched downwards, slowly at first, but picking up speed, like someone erratically drawing before our eyes. It reached through several shapes that might have been mountains, valleys or simply giant sand dunes. It touched to the southern end of the map, blinked once, and then began to fade.
"I guess that means Cinder is checking her map," Yang said. "They must have arrived from their portal just like us. And look, they're in the middle of nowhere, too."
"According to this map, most of Vacuo classifies as `middle of nowhere`," Blake said.
"The deserts aren't fit for inhabitation," Ren said, drawing our attention. "I haven't been here before, but I've read about it," he clarified. "The legends say Vacuo was once a utopia of rich and fertile land, bisected by a great river that brought life and nourishment to the soil. Something happened however, thousands of years ago, and the river dried up, becoming the great valley that twists its way through the desert. Farmland died, soil turned to sand, and the Kingdoms here slowly began to collapse. The hardiest survived, forming the Kingdom we know today as Vacuo."
"And the tribes," Pyrrha said. "The Archmage mentioned we should seek those out."
"We should probably visit a town first," I said. Though we'd come with some supplies, it would be worth it to stock up, especially on clothing a little more suited to the baking sun. "If Torchwick is going to be anywhere, it would be a town."
"It might not be," Weiss warned.
"What do you mean?"
"Remember Mistral, in the temple with Tyrian. It could be a similar thing here. Magnis was only such a well-known location because they had the aid of its lord, and the distraction from the war. There's no such here, so the Greycloaks would have to move carefully. Ironwood said Vacuo was famous for its ruins. If I were going to hole up somewhere, it would be one of those."
"If Ren's legends are true, it would explain why Vacuo has so many ruins," Blake said, nodding to the Monk. "If I were a Greycloak looking for an Ancient Temple, I can't think of a better place than the deserts of Vacuo, or one of these `fallen Kingdoms` or ancient times."
She had a point, but that left us without any clear direction. The point of using the maps was to skirt north and south, canvassing as much land as they could. There were a few small towns closer to the centre, between our position and Cinder's, but if we headed for those, the maps would become distorted. Instead of a magical scan bisecting Vacuo, we would end up with a diagonal line, and perhaps one that only went from the bottom to halfway up the map.
"There is a small village up there," Ruby pointed out, her finger on the map. "It's a day or two away, but it's on the northern coast, see, where the ocean starts. We could go there and work the maps everywhere between."
"It's as good a plan as any," I said. "Cinder and her team will probably travel west, following the southern border. We need to try and mirror them." I sighed and looked to the others. "Any objections?"
There were none, except for Yang fanning herself with one hand and Nora panting off to the side. I had a feeling that was going to get worse before it got better, especially since it wasn't even midday yet and the day was only going to get hotter.
With Blake in the lead, map in hand, we moved towards the west.
/-/
"This is hell," Yang panted. "I'm… I'm convinced. This is a nightmare made reality."
"It's not… It's not that bad," Weiss said, or tried to say. The Mage staggered a little and swayed precariously, propped up at the last second by Ruby, who had already taken to using Crescent Rose as some kind of walking stick, or third leg. It helped on the sand dunes, no doubt, which we'd soon discovered could be more slippery than the worst Atlas had thrown at us.
And the heat, by the Gods themselves, the heat! I'd thought I hated the cold. After Atlas and then a cold winter back in Vale, I'd longed for warmer days, but this was ridiculous. I decided that I hated the heat more than I did the cold. At least when it was chill outside I could wrap up, start a fire or snuggle into some blankets. If someone showed me a blanket out here I was liable to stab them.
Our pace had slowed to a crawl, too. I stopped to uncork my flask and take a swig. I wished I could pour a little over my face, dry and cracked as my skin was, but that would be a disaster and I knew it. Even after corking it and starting moving once more, no one had overtaken me. Every step was laborious, every dune an insurmountable object.
"Grimm," Nora warned, slumped against her hammer. The Barbarian sounded like she might burst into tears at any moment. "Can't they just leave us alone? I'm already dying…"
No one answered, though we all agreed. Weapons were drawn and we held our ground, watching and waiting for the Grimm we could see cresting the rise ahead to reach us. It was not the first attack, nor would it be the last. The black carapaces stood out against the golden desert, letting us see them for miles, though sometimes the dunes were misleading, looking flat but hiding goodness knows what.
Grimm weren't bothered by heat, exertion or thirst. In this hellish landscape, they were tireless and filled with aggression, the complete antithesis of us.
"Stay back, Weiss," I said, the words coming out as more of a sigh than anything else. "We're going to need your ice spells more to survive than fight."
The Mage held my gaze for a moment and nodded, sheathing her weapon and staggering away. The little flash of injured pride I'd seen had been erased by the realisation I was right. Right now, if we had a choice between Weiss assisting us in a fight with magic, or Weiss providing water through her melting ice, we all knew which we'd take. Yang had jokingly called Weiss our portable water canteen earlier. Half a day of harsh walking had proven that anything but a jest.
The Grimm were almost on us and I focused back, drawing in a deep breath and bringing Crocea Mors before me, into a more rigid stance. Sweat dribbled down my skin and we hadn't even started, but going easy here would only lead to disaster. It was bad enough as we were, without one of us getting injured.
The Scorpion-like Grimm were small and fast. They weren't Deathstalkers, the Ancient Grimm we'd been taught about in Class, but rather something lesser, a stage below that. They moved on eight legs, with two pincers in addition, breaking the rule for arachnids and giving them an odd, shuffling gait. Their feet barely touched the floor before they rose once more, maybe to stop them fusing in the heat or sinking into the sand. Though they had the tails behind them, with wicked, barbed stingers on the back, they were stunted and small, unable to reach far beyond their own body length. Still, being hit with one would be a disaster.
At the last possible second, I charged forward. The Grimm didn't seem to expect it, but recovered and clacked its claws towards me. Ignoring those, I jumped in and slammed a foot down onto its head, pushing it into the sand. The tail twitched towards me but that had been the target from the start and I was ready for it. Crocea Mors caught it below the stinger, causing the object to flip back and blackish blood to spurt free. The Grimm chittered furiously, a sound not unlike several knives taken to a chalkboard.
The tail still continued its arc and snapped against my side, winding me slightly but no longer a realistic threat. The claws came up to try and dislodge me, but those were easily dealt with. A swift blow knocked them aside long enough for me to turn around on the beast's back and drive my sword down into the top of its head, right between the eyes. The beast spasmed violently as it died. I hopped off, landing in the soft sand as it thrashed and lashed out. I'd already moved on towards another.
Swaying to the side, I let the stinger go past, before I lopped up, taking it off again, this time at the base. A twist and a flick cut across its eyes, blinding it, and as it chittered back on eight legs, it bumped into one of its fellows, crawling up over its body without a second's pause. Since that blocked the other from hitting me with the stinger, I took the chance to step in and stab down into the new threat's brain, killing it in a single blow. The one I'd blinded didn't seem to realise, but with the new one in its death throes, it found itself stabbed in the back by the stinger.
Poison pumped, corroding it from the inside. The dying Grimm didn't even realise it had stabbed its fellow, but it clung on with all its legs, almost like it was hugging it to death. I could imagine people dying like that, caressed against the Grimm's body as acid was pumped into their bodies. It would be a slow and painful death for sure.
A quick glance told me the fight was wrapping up, and handily in our favour. I hadn't come up with the plan of fighting atop them, that being Blake and Pyrrha, but we'd all picked up on it once we realised how effective it was. At the end of the day, these Grimm were fairly weak, providing me an unnoticeable amount of Exp. The others had no problem and quickly dispatched them.
But it wasn't the Grimm that was the real threat. The moment they were gone, everyone slumped again, gasping in the overpowering heat. The small amount of lien that had been dropped went ignored entirely. No one could bring themselves to kneel down and pick it up.
"We can't keep going like this," Pyrrha wheezed. "I can't keep going like this."
"You're not the only one," Ren said, a little more controlled, but no less covered in sweat. Dark patches of moisture dotted his green, silk shirt and his hair was lank with sweat. "I think we should consider camping through the day and moving in the evening. I'm told the nights are colder in the desert, though I've also heard they can be freezing cold. The desert is a place of extremes."
"It can't be worse than this," Yang said. "Right now, I'm a place of extremes. I'd kill to be in Atlas right now. I'd make love to some snow."
There was general agreement voiced to that and I couldn't blame them. It was around mid-afternoon, maybe three or four if I had to guess. It was hard to get a reading from just the sun, since I couldn't tell if the landscape before us was flat, sloped or not. We had our tents and camping equipment with us, however, as painful as it was to carry. Sleeping through the day was an option, albeit it might cause problems checking the map against Cinder's.
Not for the first time, it felt like everyone was waiting for me to make the decision. They weren't, of course. They were waiting for anyone to make it. Everyone wanted to, but no one wanted to be the first.
"We could try and find some shelter," I suggested, knowing there would be no argument. "Does the map show anything, Blake?"
"There's a small, mountainous structure ahead," she reported, map out before her. "It's flat-topped and oddly shaped, but even if it doesn't have any caves, we could just camp on the opposite side of it from the sun." The map began to shake once more. "And the line is blue," Blake said once the spell had run its course. "No Torchwick here."
An hour later – and two more skirmishes with the Grimm - saw us crest the final dune and reveal the mountain Blake had referred to, a large, but awfully squat red-rock thing. It looked like it might once have been taller, but something had eroded or caused it to splinter and now all that remained was the base, almost like the trunk of some ginormous tree. There were several visible cracks running up it, patches of dark shadow like ravines cut directly into the side. Around the base was a rocket outcropping of boulders that expanded for a good fifty metres or so. There was no vegetation and no sign of life, but the left side of it was bathed in shadow.
It was that we made our way towards, now with renewed hope and the promise of a good rest. As the sand gave way to rock, our footing became surer, even if they shifted every now and again. That soon gave way to much larger outcroppings that could fit our entire party and more on them alone, and the climbing quickly became easier.
In the end, it was Ren who chose our spot, nestled against the rock face with a clear view up towards the sky. There were no overhangs to fall on us, and although some of the cracks leading into the mountain looked cooler, Ren warned us against those.
"That's where the local wildlife will live. Even ignoring the Grimm, there are probably snakes and poisonous scorpions around here. We don't want to go into any tight crevasses."
Yang laughed. "What a lovely place to live."
"I doubt anyone lives out here, Yang. There must be nicer places in Vacuo." Ruby said as we all started to unpack and set up camp. Though it felt odd to put tents out, the temperature being as high as ever, we knew we'd need them later. The cool fabric would also keep the heat out.
"According to the map, the towns are more commonly dotted along the coast," Blake said. "Though there are some near small rivers and the occasional oasis. The actual desert parts are mostly abandoned."
"Doesn't Vacuo have its own academy?" Pyrrha asked. "It's called Shade, I think."
"Further to the south-west. It's in the middle of the desert, but the drawing suggests it's based on an oasis trapped in a valet between two mountains. It looks like they built it by digging into the rock face itself."
It sounded nice, if a little archaic. I could imagine the two walls of the valley facing one another over a rare expanse of greenery, with a crystal clear pool in the centre that sustained all life. The walls would be red rock like this one, but despite its construction, it would probably be rather modern, like Beacon. Tiled floors and walls, I imagined, the better to keep it cool during the day and warm at night. Surrounding it in every direction would be a vast expanse of desert, filled with Dungeons and ruins.
Maybe that was their Emerald Forest. Instead of delving into the woodland, they would trek the desert, farming the Grimm under the blistering heat of day or the icy cold of night. I found myself glad I'd chosen Beacon.
Weiss was able to restock the water supplies using some spells – though they taxed her greatly. "Magic isn't as simple as bringing something out of nowhere," she explained. "It's… well, to call it using what's in the air wouldn't be right, but it's about converting things into other things. If there isn't enough moisture, for instance, I have to pay more from my own reserves. It's easier to cast ice spells in Atlas because of all the ice there."
"Will you be okay?" I asked.
"I'll be fine with a little rest. I just won't be able to do this on the march. If we do it before we camp each day, I should be fine." Weiss settled down in front of her tent, next to Ruby. She accepted a cup of ice-cold water from the Reaper with whispered thanks and drank greedily of it. We all did, even if we knew we needed to ration as much as we could.
"This is more like it," Yang said. "Any longer in that heat and I'd have melted. Nice sunburn, Ruby."
"Shaddup," Ruby groaned, her face red, and not from embarrassment. I could feel mine tingling too, the early sign of too much sun and not enough protection. Just another thing to look out for, really. Sunstroke could kill us.
"We probably should sleep through the hotter parts of the day," Pyrrha said. "If we start our march in mid-afternoon, we'll have a warm hour or three before it gets progressively cooler."
"That means we won't get much sleep now," I warned.
"Do we need it? Weiss could use the nap to recover, but it's not fatigue that's draining us. I think when it comes to stamina, we're all fresh."
I didn't feel fresh, but forced myself to ignore the instinctive urge to rest and look deeper. Pyrrha was correct. While I was tired, it was more thanks to the heat than any real exertion. I felt I'd be able to move again once I cooled down.
"I'll be okay," Weiss said, answering the unasked question. "This is my first usage of spells here. Give me two or three hours and I'll be fine. It'll only be after repeated use that I start to wear down." Ruby shot her a suspicious look and Weiss sighed. "I promise, Ruby. I'll let you know if I start to feel drained. I'm not about to fail this Quest for us by passing out; not when so many are relying on us to end the war."
"Right." I glanced to Blake, who caught my gaze, checked the map and then shook her head. No Torchwick. "Let's get some rest now then and move when the sun sets. Blake, can you keep the scroll just outside your tent? We don't want to cut Cinder off if she needs to check the lines."
"What about watch?" she asked.
"We'll rotate. Everyone except Weiss since her spells are too important." I waited for Weiss to argue, but she didn't. Even she knew being on watch was a waste.
With heavy sighs, we bunked down to wait.
/-/
Saying you'd sleep and actually falling asleep were two different things. Like Pyrrha said, we were overheating, nor exhausted, and despite the relative cool of the tent – still far hotter than what was actually comfortable – I couldn't actually slip off. My body still told me it was mid-afternoon and that I should be off training, cutting wood for the Lodge or forging some weapons for Exp in Vale. With a sigh, I kicked off the thin blanket that I'd already pushed down to my legs and crawled out of the tent. The sun was still in the sky, but blocked out by the mountainside. The desert in the distance had taken on a ruddy, reddish hue, and despite it not being night the shattered moon had begun to rise on the opposite horizon.
I found Ren on watch, and he didn't react as I shuffled up to sit beside him, my legs hanging over the edge of a large rock, my bare feet catching what little wind there was.
"Can't sleep?"
"Not at all," I sighed.
"Things will get easier once we wear ourselves out. You'll get used to the timing."
He was right, of course, but that did little for me now. I could only push on, accept I'd be more tired tonight, and then get used to sleeping through the day tomorrow. "You know a lot about Vacuo," I said. "I know you read often, but I didn't realise you were reading about other Kingdoms."
"When I was younger, I dreamed of travelling the four Kingdoms. Vacuo held particular interest for me because of its rich history. I imagined visiting some of the ruins, exploring their passageways and perhaps even writing a book of my own about it."
"Well, you're living the dream now. How is it?"
"Drearier than I imagined." Ren smiled as I laughed. "It's beautiful in its own right, but it's a cruel, heartless beauty. Or maybe that isn't right. The desert isn't cruel; it simply doesn't care. Live or die, that's your choice. The desert simply is."
"Poetic."
"I've had time to become bored. My mind wandered."
"Does your Passive help?" I asked. "With the heat, I mean."
"I wish it did, Jaune. I truly do. My Passive subdues my emotions related to the heat, my frustration and irritation, but it does little for the fact I feel it. In fact, it's leading to quite the cycle. I am hot and stuffy, and so I become frustrated. My Passive then takes that away, but I am still hot and stuffy, and so I become frustrated again, almost immediately. My Passive kicks in, and so on and so on." The Monk sighed and brought a hand up to his forehead. "It's hard to explain, especially with words, but it's quite annoying." He paused and laughed. "Or not, all of a sudden. Even annoyance is stolen from me."
I couldn't imagine what that felt like. Ren's smile was bitter, but that was all it was. Could he even feel sorrow for his condition, or would that be taken away, as well? Probably. I wondered if I should offer my sympathies, but Ren spoke before I could.
"Honestly, I shall be relieved to be out of this place, historical appeal or not. It might be kinder if we had more time and less pressure. We could take it slowly and enjoy the sights."
"Hm." Ren and I sat side by side, watching the moon rise. It was a peaceful moment, disturbed only by the occasional snort or sound of someone rustling in their tents behind us. Eventually, when the silence became too much, I voiced my thoughts, "What do you think the Greycloaks are doing here?"
Ren chuckled. "You ask the impossible question, as always. I've no idea, but I think Weiss was correct to say it might not involve any of the larger towns or cities here. If they wanted to involve innocents, then they may as well have stayed in Vale, or perhaps they could target Mistral while its attention is focused overseas. Vacuo is uninvolved, and what's more, the cities here do not hold the same population. This is a harsh and inhospitable land."
"No mass sacrifices, then."
"I would think not."
"Do you think they might be interested in the ruins?"
"It's possible, I suppose. It might be that summoning Salem is a secondary objective here, or that the Greycloaks have found another way to accomplish it."
"Or are looking for one."
Ren nodded. "Indeed. If I wanted to find ancient knowledge long forgotten, Vacuo would be my destination. Still, if the knowledge of Salem were more widespread, I would have expected her to be well-known. Even if it's dangerous, a wish-granting creature is still just that. There are many who would take the risk, especially if they were desperate."
"What if the information was suppressed instead of forgotten?"
"Then I would ask who is suppressing it," he said. "Ozpin did not know, otherwise he would not have needed us to bring him back Tyrian's tome. If he doesn't know, who else would?"
The royal family, I wanted to say, but I wasn't sure. The Greycloaks had made themselves a big enough threat that if anyone knew, they'd have shared it with Beacon by now. It really did seem like the Greycloaks had been the first to come upon such knowledge, but how? It couldn't have just appeared out of thin air.
"If we can't rely on the major cities, then what do we do?" I asked.
"I suppose we follow up on the Archmage's suggestion and locate one of these tribes. If there are strangers investigating any of the ruins around here, then surely they'd be more likely to know than city-folk hiding behind the walls."
"Not Shade Academy?"
"I think if they knew anything, Ozpin would have told us to get in contact with them. Or had Archmage Ironwood open us a portal there – or even open one for the two of them. That option was probably exhausted before they brought us in."
"So, we find one of these tribes and hope against all hope they're willing to assist us?" That sounded a little desperate, especially since we'd be hard pressed to prove we were any more reliable than the people we chased. "I guess our best bet of finding them will just be to travel between any watering holes and hope for the best."
"Yes. They have to stop to collect water at an oasis sooner or later. As for negotiations… well, we can always pay for information. Lien has to be valuable out here, since water and food must be expensive. I can't imagine they grow a lot of crops here, only hardy foods like dates and some fruits. The rest, I imagine, they fish from the ocean, or hunt in the dunes."
My face twisted at the latter. There were no deer or birds to be found, so Ren almost certainly meant snakes, scorpions and other nasty critters. We had some supplies from Beacon, but if we didn't find a town within a few days, we might well be expected to eat those things.
"How are things between you and Blake?" Ren asked suddenly, and a little randomly. Maybe it was polite conversation, or perhaps it was genuine interest. I answered either way.
"We've come to an agreement. We're going to wait until after the war to see about starting our relationship up again."
"You've broken up, then?"
"Officially, yes. But I want to try and fix it after. I think she does, too." When Ren raised an eyebrow I shrugged my shoulders. "It's hard to tell with her. You know she keeps her feelings close to her chest."
"Well, I wish you the best, my friend."
"Thanks, Ren."
The Monk stood with a sigh and dusted himself down. "It's been four hours and the air is cooler," he said. "I'll wake the others while you keep watch. Hopefully, we'll be able to get moving soon."
/-/
Vacuo really was awful.
It wasn't the dark, since with the bright moon, shattered as it was, providing light and there being nothing to cast a shadow or obstruct it, we could see fairly well. It wasn't even the biting cold, though that was a pain in the ass. We could wrap up against that. No, it was the unending attempts to kill us that were getting on my nerves, not to mention Vacuo's delightful variety of Grimm.
"Eek!" Ruby shrieked, slicing through her Grimm with an almost desperate motion. Her scythe cut through its carapace and surely killed it, but the long legs – easily five feet tall – continued to squirm and convulse. "Gross, gross, gross," Ruby cried, darting away.
One of the Grimm caught me unawares and knocked my back with its forelegs. They were hard, plated things that reflected the light, as did the twenty or so eyes on its face as it bit out towards me, a jaw filled with teeth and two bizarre mandibles trying to pull me into it. I drove Crocea Mors into its face with more force than was really necessary, and winced when it let out a rattling death scream.
Spiders. Grimm spiders. Grimm spiders with bodies that hovered three feet off the sand, suspended between legs that had to be ten feet long, albeit they were bent in the middle, peaking at five feet tall. It was still far bigger than I'd ever wanted to see a spider, which had the tendency to spook me when they were less than an inch in size.
"Rargh!" Yang screamed, punching hers into oblivion. "That does it! Fuck Vacuo! I hate it so damn much." The blonde was covered in Arachne guts, which luckily contained no venomous qualities, even if it smelled like an odd mixture of urine and rotten vegetables.
The moment the sun had gone down, these things – Arachne – had buried up from the sand and hounded us. To realise they resided under the very sand we'd walked across was horrifying. To realise that we might have camped on the sand had the day been cooler was far worse. I would never feel safe again and could only thank whatever deity was out there that they came up aggressively and didn't wait in ambush, bursting out beneath us when they sensed our footfalls. As Grimm, they weren't intelligent enough for that. If they were, I might have run away screaming.
"Is everyone okay?" Nora called, standing in the middle of four dead Grimm, their bodies on their backs, legs curled up as they started to dissolve. Her hammer had proven as adept at squishing them as it did the ones she found in the Lodge.
"I think that's the last of them," Pyrrha said, cutting hers down, after shaving off three of its legs. The Champion grimaced at the smell and used her shield to wipe some blood off her arm. "I can't say much for the indigenous Grimm here."
"I can," Yang growled. Ruby was huddled behind her, staring nervously at the sand, terrified that more might pop up. Tougher than the scorpions from before and in greater numbers, they were a threat, but I had a feeling Ruby's fear came more from what they were than what they might actually do to them. Only Ren seemed completely unaffected, and it was a rare moment where I envied his Passive.
"So," the Brawler continued. "Travel at day and we burn up. Travel at night and we get to fight spiders. Who the hell actually lives in this place? You couldn't pay me enough to go on holiday here, let alone settle down."
"It might be regional," Weiss said. "I can't imagine walls offering much protection against these, so perhaps the area we came into is just more inhospitable. We just have to keep moving and hope things get better."
"The first village isn't that far," Blake said. "Blue," she added, even though no one asked. No Torchwick. "If we keep moving at this pace, we can arrive there in two, maybe three hours."
"Is that even an improvement?" Yang whined.
"Well, according to the map the land is more tundra than desert around there. It means these things won't be hiding beneath us."
"Sold!" Ruby and Yang cried in unison. Pyrrha giggled and even I cracked a grin.
"We'll be able to move a little faster on more solid ground," Weiss said. "Who knows, we might even be able to find some method of transportation, though I can't imagine horses are very common out here."
"We could take a ship," I suggested.
"Perhaps. But I doubt so small a place will have any travelling down the coast. We also can't move too fast for fear of outrunning Cinder. How are they doing?" Weiss asked Blake. While not an exact science, the line did trace from our position to theirs, giving us a vague idea of where they were.
"They're a little ahead of us, but not far. I think they must have continued moving through the day. They might be camped right now."
Not on the sand, I hoped.
We trudged on through the night, fighting the odd batch of Arachne that burst from the sand to attack us, but eventually we crested the top of a tall dune and came upon the first sight of civilisation. To my relief, it wasn't on fire or some other such nonsense. Our luck really had been the worst lately, and I'd half-expected it. The village was clearly a fishing one, with fifteen or so huts on the coast, pressed on one side against a rock formation and walls made of some kind of brick and mud, cracked in places but still holding strong. There was a gate in the middle with wooden doors, some of the few instances of wood I could see other than the ships floating quietly beside the little jetty running into the ocean. Torches were lit along the walls and on some of the buildings, though the majority were on the gate, beckoning travellers towards it.
The Soldier Caste guarding the village saw our approach, though they couldn't have missed it since each of us held a torch aloft. Even with the moonlight, it was still dark, and Weiss had discovered earlier that the Arachne had an aversion to naked flames. Mostly because one had burst out near her and the Mage had shrieked in fear and immolated it on the spot. While we weren't keen to waste our supplies of firewood, the constant attacks by spider-like Grimm had warranted it. Those had become somewhat rarer as we reached firmer ground towards the coast, much to my personal relief.
"Travellers?" the man to the left of the gate asked as we came near. He was covered in faded robes of a bright crimson hue, tied tightly around his ankles, leaving his sandaled feet bare. His face was covered in more cloth, most of it bundled around his neck and over his hair, though he had a thin strip drawn over his mouth and nose, likely to cut out any sand. He wielded a halberd and his Class showed him to be a Spearman – what I'd learned from Ren was a specialist sub sect of the Warrior Class. Despite being more specialised, they were considered weaker and thus a lower tier, because they didn't have the same versatility and weren't as strong as Lancers.
The woman beside him was dressed in a similar style, albeit armed with a bow and with the Class of Ranger. Her clothing was similarly bright in colour, except a pale blue with bright yellow flowers all over it. In the barren desert, each stood out, even if their outfits were – in design – almost identical. She had a bow slung over her back, but held a torch in one hand and a light spear in the other.
"We don't get many foreigners in these lands," she said. It was hard to place her accent for it was lilting and strange. Friendly, though.
"How do you know we're foreign?" Yang asked.
"Dressed as you are I would think it obvious. Those are not clothes fit for the desert, my friends."
"Tell me about it," Ruby whined, upending her hood and spilling sand out by the handful. I felt it too, the sand having gotten just about everywhere, even into my underwear.
"You can purchase fresh cloth in the morning," the man said, "and I would suggest it, whatever your plans. Continue as you are and you will surely succumb, especially when the sandstorms hit."
"Sandstorms are common here?" Pyrrha asked.
"It's the season for them, and being so close to the coast the winds can shift easily. You will need veils." He drew his own up and over his eyes as an example, and although I could see his features, it was clear the veil would keep any loose sand out. "Luckily, there are many to spare. The market opens each morning for the sale of fish and fresh fruit. You are welcome to enter and spend the night. Welcome to the village of Alair, eastern-most of the fishing settlements. May your time here rid you of the trials you have faced in the desert."
They bowed to us, but I noticed it wasn't a particularly deep one, and that they seemed a lot more casual than most back home were about being faced with Heroes. "Is there somewhere we can get food at this hour?" I asked.
"We are too small a village to have a tavern, and most simply gather around the fire to drink and make merry. You might try the ocean." Then, so not as to sound sarcastic, the man added, "Late at night the fish come close in to shore. They're drawn by torchlight, too. Simply stand in the shallows with your torch held close to the water and you will soon find your ankles surrounded by sardines. They are easy to catch."
It sounded crazy but a quick glance at the woman beside him earned a nod, and now that he mentioned it I recalled seeing some torches on what I'd assumed was the jetty. Were they actually torches held by people, using them to fish? It sounded bizarre. With little other option, we thanked the two and entered, stepping in to what really was less of a village and more a hamlet. Even Eldon had been larger than this.
"They seemed friendly enough," Ruby said.
"Very friendly," Yang agreed. "Kinda off-putting, but not in a bad way. More like I'm still convinced all of Vacuo is a trap designed to kill us." She rubbed her hands along her upper arms, shivering at the thought of more Arachne. "So, are we going to fish?"
"We might as well," Ren said. "We need to shop for supplies and ask if anyone has seen Torchwick or knows the location of a nearby tribe. We'll have to wait for daytime for that. The people here seem rather relaxed around Heroes, so I don't imagine it will be that much of a challenge.
It was Ren saying that which made me realise what I'd been struggling to understand at the gate. Those two guards had acted around us like we were equals, like the difference in our Caste was inconsequential. If this were Mistral, they'd have been scraping on the floor. Even in Vale they would never have suggested we fish for ourselves. They would have told us where we can buy some, or where we could hire someone to fish for us. If there isn't an inn, they'd have found someone willing to put us up for the night.
And yet they hadn't. They'd done none of those things. For all intents and purposes, we'd arrived and been told to look after ourselves, albeit in a friendly manner. No special treatment and no added assistance. I wasn't sure why that was, but I found myself oddly pleased with it.
Half an hour later found me sat on the beach, my feet damp and with some small fish burning on a fire before me. The horizon was just beginning to turn red but it was still cold and the fire was a welcome relief. In the saltwater, Ruby, Yang, Pyrrha and Nora still played with the fish, many of which jumped completely out of the water, almost like they were dancing with them. They were after the fire, it turned out, which despite being something that couldn't have existed underwater, the fish seemed obsessed over.
The guards had been right. All we'd had to do was stand in the shallows and wait. I'd only had to catch a couple of sardines as they leapt at me. What few locals were fishing had just as much a haul, though many used larger nets and caught far more than we did. I assumed those would be transported elsewhere for trade.
"Hard to imagine life like this springs in the desert," Blake said. She was sat beside me, using the same fire. Her body was close, but not as close as we might have been before. Not close enough to mean anything.
"People who grow up in Vacuo must be pretty hardy," I agreed, unwilling to delve into my feelings at her being so close and yet so far away. I looked away instead, snorting at the four girls playing in the water. Or four girls and Ren now, since Nora had grown tired of calling him in and bodily dragged him instead. Weiss was stood on the shore, steadfastly threatening to kill Ruby if she tried the same. She didn't seem to notice Yang sneaking up behind her. Such a shame.
"They're having fun," Blake said, voice tinged with amusement.
"You don't want to play with them?"
"I don't find the ocean quite so exciting. I've seen it a thousand times before. How about you?"
"After nearly drowning in it, I'm less than enthused."
"Scared already?"
"Not scared," I whined, meeting her teasing smirk with a pout. "Just not enamoured. I'll go in and fish, but I don't fancy going for a swim in the deeper parts. Besides, I'm more hungry." I picked up another tender piece of flesh and bit down on it. It was salty, very salty, but filling. I offered some to Blake, and she accepted and bit into it. Her eyes lit up, and had she a tail I was sure it would have wafted back and forth. Even back in Beacon, Blake loved her seafood.
It was while I was watching her – and pretending not to be – that I noticed the canister on her hip tremble. She must have too, for she reached down and pulled it off, uncorking it with one hand.
"What is it?" I asked.
"Cinder must be trying to use the scroll," she replied. "It shakes whenever she does. Not sure if that's intended or an accident, but it's equal parts useful and annoying." She opened it up, exposing the ink to the moonlight.
The marker that represented us was at the village now, which had no name on the map. The light flickered again and traced downwards, following a familiar pattern I'd seen time and time before. Cinder was roughly equal to us now, suggesting that they had indeed stopped to sleep through the night. They weren't at a village, but looked to have found a small oasis of some sort. The line connected with hers and flashed once.
It flashed purple, a marked difference on the pale blue of the morning before. The hint was darker towards the centre and bluer on the edges, though even at its darkest one could not have called it red, or close to that. Still, it wasn't blue, either.
We'd found them…
Or we were on the right track, at any rate. And if our progress today was any indication, we were catching up with Roman.
Welcome to Vacuo. Leave your happy thoughts at the door.
I've been to deserts in my time, if you can't quite tell from the sheer dislike I feel towards them. I travelled around Africa a bit when I was younger and went on a safari. The safari was more fun than the trek in the desert, which was equal parts pain and agony.
Anyway, our intrepid crew have found themselves in the deserts of Vacuo and are tracing Roman and Neo, already finding a faint echo. Meanwhile, hints of more differing culture and such from the locals.
Next Chapter: 25th June
P a treon . com (slash) Coeur
