"So wait, why are we heading this way again?" Ed asked throwing his arms behind his head, his shoulder gear heavy as he cracked his neck following the girl in front of him. He made sure to tighten the gold cord holding back his snow white hair to keep it off his eyes. Clerics weren't required to wear the vestment, but Ed liked keeping his hair out of his face.
"Because we were asked to help this village, and we promised " Olly said trekking down an embankment. Her long hair was braided down over her shoulder as she flicked it to the other side, helping her concentrate. Ed admired how long it must have taken her to grow it out so long. He had always wanted a fuller mane, but the priests were pretty stiffy about Cleric's having a clean cut look.
"Why us though? I thought we were supposed to be looking for your younger brother?" he asked as the hangover from the night before was still kicking him around that afternoon, his brow furrowed against the bright sun above them as the moved steadily along the trail. Olly was keeping pace ahead of him though, her petite frame moving over downed trees and forest like a native.
"Because we promised Ed, and I'm not one to break a promise. It's not my fault you agreed to the villagers after your tenth ale. Besides, you said yourself that we were already going this way" she said smirking at him as he groaned at her look.
"Oh so it's my fault?" he exclaimed, his voice making a few birds fly away from a tree. He was being dramatic on purpose, getting a kick from Olly's sideways looks.
"In short, yes" Olly laughed as she hopped over another fallen tree.
"Well hopefully this goes quick so we can move on" Ed said shaking his head with a grin "I mean, how big of a problem can a small village have?"
She was in agreement with him at that note. The more she realized they weren't getting closer to her brother, the more she worried. Nole and her were so similar yet so different. While he was blessed just as she was, his powers were not as controlled as Olly or Atticus's yet. He was what some of the sages called a Scourge Aasimar, his power literally bursting from him when he could unleash it. Olly had first seen it when he was still small, his eyes glowing hot white and lava like light pouring from his mouth and nose, the ground beneath her shook and the forest around them had been burnt to a crisp as a wave of radiant light raced over the area. The only reason Olly had survived was because of her own celestial light, but it was hard explaining the scorched earth to her parents later on. Now that Nole was older, his power was stronger than ever, if he was in trouble and he couldn't control himself then they were all in trouble...
"Some of the locals at the last village said this thing has been causing havoc for weeks" Olly said folding her small map of the Sword Coast and putting it in her side pocket, her chest plate thankfully flexible enough for her to reach around wherever she needed.
"Yea" Ed said grabbing her by the shoulder stopping her "I can see that."
Olly had to blink a couple of times before she realized what she was looking at. It had looked like people were in the village as they had been approaching, but she hadn't noticed how still everyone was. Ed moved a little in front of her, his shield off as he turned to Olly, away from the disaster in front of them. He nodded that he would cover her as they moved towards the village, their eyes and ears now on high alert.
The bodies were stone still, several peasants and farmers on the ground, as if they were running away from something. The bodies looked as if they were carved by a master artist, every detail so on point you'd think the villagers were just painted a stone were just standing and looking down at the ground below them, their eyes wide or in shock. Olly moved closer and realized even the children running in play had been affected, their small bodies petrified on the spot.
"Everybody has been turned to stone" Olly said quietly.
"What happened here?" Ed whispered as they moved through the village, the bodies like statues in a forgotten park. It wasn't so much that the bodies bothered Ed, but more of the haunting silence that followed it. Even the birds didn't seem to chirp in the trees and the air was still from the wind.
"I don't know, a few monsters can do this, and none of them are pleasant" Olly said stopping in the middle of the village square.
"Are they dead?" Ed asked putting his shield on the ground and began getting out his herbs. He always carried a small alchemist's pack along with his vestments.
Olly went over and felt the milk maiden that had fallen into a group of crates, her body thrown against the wood as if she had accepted her fate before turning to stone. Olly carefully ran her hand along the milk maid's arm, feeling the stone beneath her fingertips as she searched out for some hint of life beneath the stone. It was a strange sensation, tapping into her light, but she felt the faint hum of life in the petrified body.
"Hmm" Olly said standing back up "If the beast is small the petrifaction may only be temporary, but if it's bigger these poor souls may be gone" she turned to the Cleric who was already shaking up some holy water "What can you do for them?"
"Let me whip up something" Ed said kneeling down and began saying a small prayer, letting the liquid glow bright yellow before dimming down in the vial.
Olly looked at her surroundings again and decided to draw her bow and arrow. Whatever this monster was, it was enough to surprise everyone in the village. She loved the way her bone bow felt in her hand, the smoothness of the bone, the curve of the handle to the point. It was like what Ed had said about the Dawnstar, her bow was her third arm. Her arrows had the colors of their family, burnt orange and a dark blue feathers, the Duer clan. Her father told her that the colors were important so that way if another Ranger came across your arrow, they would know that a Duer was nearby and they could help if needed.
Olly could see that whatever Ranger was supposed to be protecting this village hadn't left any calling cards for another ranger to find, meaning the ranger wasn't nearby or was turned to stone somewhere. This could turn into a bigger problem than Olly had originally thought...
"It's probably a cockatrice" Olly said filling the silence "a basilisk would have done more damage honestly."
"More damage than this? How?" Ed said taking a moment to look at her.
"A basilisk would have eaten half of them already" Olly said turning her head away from him.
"You sound like you've had experience" Ed said softly getting back to his work but keeping his ears open for Olly.
"Yea, you could say that" Olly said finally feeling the wind blow from the south, her eyes off somewhere else for a moment as Ed worked.
Olly shifted, remembering how she had come upon a basilisk for the first time...
"Whatever you do" her father said "You do not take this blindfold off. Either of you" she could feel the strip of cloth being tightened as her head jerked a little to the side, her father determined that the cloth would not slip.
"Father what is it? Why can't we-" Atticus started but their father had silenced him with the palm of his hand gently cupping his mouth shut.
"Because whatever is in this cave is hunting right now, and if it's why I think it is, it could turn you to stone the moment it looks you in the eyes" his voice low and firm to her and Atticus.
She could feel Atticus beside her go still, fear gripping him while Olly's heart started to thump wildly. They were only suppose to be out trailing a pack of centaurs that were migrating past their town, just to be sure nothing was going to interfere with the passage.
"Not all monsters need to be killed" he had told Olly early on as a child "Some are just as good as you and me, as long as we give them the respect they deserve, you should never have a problem. Centaurs are hunters and gatherers, they don't tend to stick around towns and villages."
But the tribe had encountered a problem, a huge one that had rampaged through the tribe and turned a quarter of them to stone. Her father tracked the beast, putting caution to the wind since Atticus and Olly were 13 and 8. Their mother would have been furious if she had been with them, thinking the children were both far too young to be tracking something as big as this. But Olly's father had to take care of it before more people were hurt, it was his duty as a ranger.
She had listened to him unsheathe his sword, his footfalls growing soft as Atticus started breathing hard beside her. He had already killed several monsters by that time, but had to yet to grow accustom to the natural fear that overtook you when facing a new opponent. Olly remembered just shaking, until she had heard the tumble of rocks behind them. Her back had slammed against the broken stalagmite, Olly's hand grasping for Attie's jacket.
"What is it!?" He hissed as she hurriedly shushed him. Olly could hear something rummaging around some rocks, but she could not hear her father anymore. Whatever he had been hunting, it could very well be right behind them...
They were stuck, barely grasping the cave environment before their father had blindfold them. Olly had to make a decision, to either let Atticus try to fight this thing before their father got to them and risk him getting hurt or both getting turned to stone and eaten. But if she took her blindfold off and distracted it, and she got turned to stone, at least that would give Atticus a chance to run and find their father. Olly knew it had to be done, her hand reached for her face and pulled the blindfold down.
"Allana!" Attie had hissed trying to grab her to stop what she was doing.
"Make sure to change me back if it turns me, I'll make a distraction, you go get Father" Olly said "Your faster than me, just promise to not let that thing eat me."
Atticus tried to grab for her again but Olly had already slunk away to look at the creature making all the noise. Hopefully it was just some low class creature, some small monster she could just kick away, but the closer Olly got to the monster, the more the foul odor and dust started kicking up around her. It was something big, but not too big, about the size of a cow. She was small but could possibly outrun it, but as Olly drew closer she could see she had made a grave mistake...
Her mother had given her a copy of a monster handbook when Olly was first learning to read, she could usually tell what kind of monster she was looking at, the challenge it would be to take it down, etc. Olly could remember seeing the creature in front of her now in that book and it had sent a chill up her spine when she had read about it. A basilisk could turn you to stone the minute it's eyes looked into yours, and by the time your body was solidified it would be chomping down, biting your stony figure clean in half. Olly could see it sniffing and nudging rocks around, finding the tastiest one and chomping down clean on it, it's razor blade teeth slicing through the rocks like butter. It's skin looked rubbery and cracked, big warts covering it's eight legs and huge torso as it's back was covered in stone spikes that moved with it's body fluidly. She could see the eyes though, glowing bright blue illuminating the cave around them.
Olly was hidden so far by the rock, but this basilisk looked hungry, it's tongue hanging out unsatisfied with the rocks it had been gorging on. This hungry boy wanted flesh stone, and if he spotted her too quickly he might just get his way. Olly looked around the area, trying to get some notion of her surroundings since it was pitch black in the cave besides the glow from the basilisk's eyes.
She could make out two long stalagmites that were almost two columns holding up the cavern ceiling, the bases wide enough to hide behind. She needed to be stealthy with this thing, taking a quick moment to gather dust and dirt from the floor to cover herself with. If it could smell her at all it was best that she smell more like the rocks around her in case it got too close. She was going to sneak around it, trying to make noises that would echo enough to hide where she was until her father found them. Olly moved over to the two columns, taking a few rocks her feet kicked until she felt she was good and hidden. Quickly she tossed the rocks in the direction she had come from, the shriek of the basilisk being heard as she ducked and watched it rampage over to where the noise struck.
She waited until the cracking of stone and the basilisk's grunt was heard before she dared take a look, but to her horror, the light of it's blue eyes was looking in her direction. She ducked but it was too late, it had spotted her as she heard it rumbling towards her. She could feel her body tighten as it had thrown itself into the two columns, Olly's screams heard over the tumbling of rocks and the monster's body crashing right next to her.
Before the snap of it's jaws got her she had dived out of the way, her little body blindly running through the darkness of the cave, the glow of the basilisk's eyes behind her...
"Olly" she heard snapping her back to the present.
Olly turned and saw Ed taking a knee next to the stone milk maid. "Hopefully this will work" he said dripping the gold liquid on the milk maid's face. The liquid settled on the maid's cheek, slowly dripping down before it absorbed magically into her skin, the glow of life from the spot turning the maid's body slowly from stone to normal. As the maid's eyes opened she sat up holding her head, as if waking from a terrible dream.
"Hey it worked" Ed smiled pleased with himself as he looked at Olly.
"Wh-hat? How did I end up here?" the maid said quietly, looking at the ground trying to remember "I was walking to Ranger Gunner's cabin, when a little black chicken came out...Except, i-it wasn't a chicken..."
"It's okay" Ed said gently "Take your time."
"Gunner? Ranger Gunner?" Olly said leaning down to the maid.
"Our village ranger yes" the maid nodded looking up at Olly "He went up into the mountains a fortnight ago. Ever since people had been turning to stone, I was going to check to see if he left any note of when he was to return but then that little black beast ran by me. I don't remember anything after that."
"Listen, Ed here will escort you out of the village safely, go to the tavern a little ways up out of the forest and wait there for someone to send for you that it's safe to return. The Cleric and I will handle the rest and get everybody back to normal" Olly said directly. The maid took a moment to look at Olly then, before her eyes registered who she was.
"My gods" the maid said standing up "You're a Duer! Oh bless you miss! Thank you! I have no doubt you'll set things straight!" she quickly turned to Ed too "And thank you Father! Bless you!"
"Oh!" Ed laughed escorting her to the edge of the village "I'm not a priest, just a Cleric. No need for thanks we are glad to help" he said as Olly shot him a smile. When Ed returned he saw Olly sniffing the dirt along the walked roadways of the village.
"Did she get out safely Father?" Olly mused at him. Ed rolled his eyes with a smile and knelt down beside her in the grass.
"So what's the plan?" Ed said waiting as Olly thought.
"We are going to have to smoke out the village" Olly said standing and dusting off her hands "We have to find a way of capturing it without getting pecked or attacked. After that we need to hold it steady and get it's drool in a vial with a little magic and it should make an antidote to turn everyone back."
"A village this size it might be hard to narrow it down, smoking it out might give it more cover to hide. And I need to heal these people back to normal in time, if they stay like this for too long, not even my power can change them back" Ed stated.
"We could do it the ole'fashion way" Olly said putting her bow away "Doing it by hand is risky since it would put one of us right in the cockatrice's way."
"Well that obviously has to be me" Ed simply said.
"You?" Olly looked at him confused. Shouldn't she be the one to draw it out and have Ed safely at the sidelines? She was used to putting herself in dangers way, Ed had no reason to do so.
"Yea, I'll draw it out and you catch it. Easy Peasy" Ed said shrugging his shoulders with a smile.
"That's a big risk Ed" Olly worried "You sure you trust me enough? What happens if I mess up?"
"Of course I trust you!" Ed said patting her on the shoulder "Besides, What are the chances I'll actually get pecked?"
Olly smirked "Pretty high actually."
Ed gasped dramatically "YE of Little FAITH!" he said throwing a hand to his chest, getting a even bigger smile from Olly as she laughed shaking her head.
"Well now we need to make cockatrice bait" Olly said moving towards the stable yards in the village. Ed followed curiously, watching as Olly hopped the fence and began looking around the cattle pin.
"Can I help you find something?" Ed asked watching her with a grin. He had only spent a couple days with Olly, and something he noticed was that when she was determined she was incredibly focused, her attention on the task at hand and only that. Once or twice he found himself having to repeat himself to her when she was hard at work on something, her glowing eyes looking at him as if he was a new creature that suddenly appeared before her.
"I need fresh rotten meat" Olly said now in the pig's trough sweeping her hand through a mucky substance "The stinkier the better. Young farmhands sometimes throw in the soured meat to the pigs since pigs well...they'll eat anything."
"How do you know so much?" Ed laughed as Olly picked out a slimy piece of meat with still a little bone on it. She quickly put it in a ransack that was hung up and hopped back over the fence, her petite frame sweeping by him towards the nearest village house. Without stopping Olly walked into the door, throwing the ransack on the wood dining table.
"Can you find me the honey and milk, I have to find a big enough bucket and some chicken feed" Olly asked Ed while she rummaged through the cabinets and shelves of the kitchen.
"Absolutely" Ed said as he went to the ice box, pulling a glass container of milk out. He found the honey on the top of a nice spice rack that looked like it had been passed down some generations. It was strange to him that they were just in someone's home, the wood walls with tapestries and pictures of the people that lived there. He could see a pair of work boots, a man's size and a child's and it made him say a small prayer that they had left the village safely before this chaos ensued.
"Got it!" Olly said putting the bucket on the tabled and tossing the rotten meat inside, the flies already circling the disgusting ingredient. Ed sat the milk and honey on the table as Olly quickly went to work tossing the milk and measuring the honey into the bucket, it's sweet smell mixing strangely with the rotten stench.
"Can I borrow a rag?" Olly asked Ed as the Cleric handed her the cloth while his other hand held his nose trying not to gag. Olly wrapped the rag around her face to guard her nose and mouth, leaving her eyes bare as Ed admired them for a moment. People were always so thrown off by Olly, she looked like a normal young woman without the Ranger gear, but the minute you saw her eyes you just knew she wasn't all the way human. He knew very little about Aasimar's, his own temple not knowing any, but Olly made them look...dazzling.
Ed was stopped in his thoughts as he watched Olly begin mixing the contents of the bucket quickly and had to step out of the house for moment to vomit the contents of his dinner last night. When he felt better he returned back in as Olly was tossing handfuls of chicken feed into the bucket, coating the smell just enough to breathe. Amazing that he could be admiring his partners work and then heaving up his guts the next, he thought with humility.
The two took the mixture out of the home and found a perfect corner alley to place the bait, the alley being closed off by a nice tall wooden gate to trap the cockatrice. Olly dumped the mixture and dragged a couple of wooden crate and barrels over to the side of the alleyway to hide them if the beast passed by. Ed had found a chicken crate that he left on the outside of the alley so that Olly could capture it once it was trapped.
"And now we wait" Olly said positioning herself behind some crates as Ed followed suite.
"So...just wait?" Ed asked settling in beside her.
"Yep" she stated knocking her bow as she knelt down to get a good angle of the bait.
"For how long?" Ed said.
"As long as it takes" Olly said sitting back down and moving her neck side to side to relieve some tension.
"How many times have you done this?" Ed asked exasperated and a little surprised.
"My father used to have us catch these every harvest in the local fields. They are nuisances but can be easily caught if you are patient enough" she said hearing something rustling through the tall weeds behind the fence "He said it kept us quick in the slower cold months so we didn't slow down our training."
"Are you serious? Your father had you catch these things for-" Ed hissed before Olly shushed him, her hand gently cupping his mouth. The touch was enough to stop Ed solid, Olly almost never engaging any kind of physical contact unless they were battling together. Olly's past made her hesitant to touch anyone out of fear, and Ed kept his space because out of all things he respected her.
"Look" Olly whispered guiding his head over the crates to see a dark figure coming towards the alley. As Edric leaned forward he got a good look at the little creature that had been causing so much havoc to this village. It was like a black chicken and a kobold had an affair and produced this hideous offspring. It's beak was twisted with sharp fangs popping over the edges, it's drool dripping on the weeds and grass making them sizzle from the contact. It's wild mange of feathers cascaded it's tiny twisted frame until it's long dragon like tail ended with blooming stingers.
"Yeesh that thing is ugly" Ed grimaced.
"You would be too if you ate stinky meat for kicks" Olly whispered as she moved away from Ed to position herself quietly near the chicken crate.
Ed waited for Olly to nod that she was ready, the cockatrice already eating at the stinky bait with delight.
"Hey ya big ugly chicken!" Ed said popping out from behind the crates. The cockatrice turned curiously at Ed as he stood in front of the wooden gate, blocking the cockatrice from moving over it "Yea I'm talking to you! How'd you like to be deep fried and eaten Orc style?"
The cockatrice reared it's head down and hissed, acid drool spilling out on the ground as it raised it's mangy wings up in the air.
"Uh oh" Ed quietly muttered as his eyes grew wide. The cockatrice looked like a cat with it's hair standing straight up, it's fangs glistening and bared at him.
"RUN ED!" Olly yelled breaking his trance like stare at the demon chicken.
Ed made a break for it, quickly trying to run past the cockatrice, it's head snapping at him like a viper as he turned in the alleyway, desperately trying to dodge the pissed cockatrice that was now speedily darting for him.
"Olly are you ready!?" Ed asked hopping away from another snap of the cockatrice as he neared the end of the alley.
"I'm ready!" Olly said ready to pounce on the cockatrice with the chicken crate in her hands.
"Good because I'm about done with the demon chic-" suddenly Ed felt a stone catch his left foot, sending him face first into the ground. The cockatrice flocking over Ed's body as it snapped at him, it's claws and beak trying to poke his eyes out.
"ED!" Olly screamed coming at the cockatrice with the crate. Getting spooked at Olly's running figure it quickly scattered off into the weeds as Olly dropped beside Ed helping him sit up.
"I think it got me" Ed said as a large scratch ran across his face.
"Oh no Ed" Olly said holding him steady as his body shook fast from the attack.
"Yea, that make me feel better" he said half smiling at her.
"I'll fix this" Olly began as she felt her voice catch in her throat.
"These people need help first" Ed said leaning back against the wall of a building in the alley, his legs started to turn first as they cracked "Get the antidote by sunrise, it should be enough time if you go now."
"Ed I'm not leaving you" Olly's brows furrowed in frustration, watching Ed's body turn to stone slowly as he sank to the ground, the gray hue solidifying his figure permanently "I can't heal all these people and get back to you in time! I'm not strong enou-"
Her head turned then as Ed grabbed her softly, the stone hue creeping up his neck, his hazel eyes staring into hers with honesty as he smiled "You are."
"Ed, what if I don't make it back in time?" she started to cry, her chest tightening "How can you be so sure of me?"
"Because" Ed said his eyes closing as the stone started to spread on his face "I trust you."
"ED!" Olly gasped grabbing his face, but it was too late, the venom doing it's job at an alarming rate.
"Please" Olly began to sob as she dropped, her face pressing against his stone body "Don't leave me alone..."
