"She showed me the light, and opened up a path I thought impossible," Saul of Qurt, to the leaders of Pavilion.
Life around here would be so much easier if everyone had cars. Another bump on the road made Taylor jump slightly, her neck sore and her back aching. It was definitely better than walking, of course, but walking was seeming more and more attractive all the time. The way from Friede to Elamia wasn't bad, but there were no roads or sights worth speaking of. They'd rested at so many villages along the way that she couldn't even remember the name of the last one.
She sighed, stretching her senses with the bugs she could gather. Amal was resting, completely ignoring the bumps and just lying there on the way-too-small seat. The bugs didn't detect any sighed again. Nothing nearby that would relieve her of this boredom.
There were more than a few wandering families leaving from the direction they were headed, carrying heavy packs on their backs.
When the soldiers stopped the carriage to talk with them, the conversations quickly ended up at the same topic. Those were the families that left Qurt. They were fleeing from it. It meant nothing good for the prince who lived there, but Taylor perked up.
They said a spirit had attacked them, someone with great power, who appeared and attacked before disappearing again for a day or two. They'd taken that chance, packed, and ran for their lives. They kept repeating the same phrase like a mantra, not deviating from it:
'Tiamat's child.'
Of course, the world was… strange enough, to say the least. She didn't like the explanations about gods and spirits, and being worshipped was a hassle that came attached with certain expectations and responsibilities, the life she thought that she had left behind when she fell through. At least they hadn't tried crowning her, though she didn't trust them not to try at some point. Besides, it did come with some perks, like having been able to get a room in the palace with actual hot water, and talking to the old king.
Amal explained that Tiamat was the goddess of beasts and animals. Bitch was a possibility, but she wouldn't just force people out of their homes.
But a beast really wasn't much to go by. Maybe some kind of Changer or Breaker, or a Brute of some sort. The fact that she had gone so long without seeing anyone with powers just meant that there weren't a lot of capes here, but having absolutely no capes had sounded a bit odd. Even Aleph had them after all. And… here was one. She felt a strange sort of anticipation.
Another bump in the road and the carriage stopped.
"We have arrived." One of the soldiers opened the door. Taylor sighed, grabbing Amal's arm and shaking her a bit until she woke up. Drowsily rubbing her eyes, she went into autopilot and tried to bow, instead rolling off the seat onto the floor, forcing her fully awake.
Taylor stood outside as Amal finally managed to get herself off the floor and out the carriage. Qurt was actually quite a distance away and the relatively small number of soldiers around them stood out pretty well near the riverbed.
The leader of the soldiers, a tall man named David, was donned in leather armor, the sign of the kingdom burned into the breastplate. He had a short sword at his side, the same as the other soldiers. He was bald, with dark eyes and a full beard, and his skin had a soft tan.
The reason they sent them with her was both for her protection, and the fact that actual knights were a waste to send in smaller groups. These were soldiers without the shiny metal armor or horses.
"The rest of the way has to be on foot," he said. "We cannot approach with the carriage, it would be too loud. Can you use your powers to warn us if there is danger, just in case?"
"As I did the last few days." Taylor nodded. From the range she had right now, she could feel the insides of the larger village, something she would hesitate to really call a city, but was definitely large enough to house a few thousand people.
Who knows how many families had left the village though? The ones they met on the road were probably not the first.
Large trees of fruit and a healthy population of insects and spiders meant she had more than enough to work with. The eerie thing was the fact that nobody was out on the streets, and she could feel people huddled together, shivering in their homes and trying not to move. "Let's go."
"Men, form up!" David said. They did. Ten soldiers, including David, marched in front of them. Amal stayed close to Taylor, walking just half a step behind her.
"Don't worry," Taylor said. "We're not going to end up ambushed."
"I'm not worried, goddess Skitter," Amal said. "As long as I am with you, I will not be in danger, I know."
"That's… not what I meant," Taylor said, shaking her head. She sighed, there was nothing she could do right now - talking to Amal often took hours before she understood some rather simple things. "Just don't stand too close in case I need to use my arm. I don't want to hurt you."
"Of course, goddess Skitter." Amal nodded, taking a small step back and out of an arm's reach. She didn't look very happy as they approached though.
"You know, you said you didn't want me to take off the mask here," Taylor mentioned. "Why is that?"
"Well, the city is a bit… liberal," Amal admitted, becoming shy all of a sudden. "Men are lacking. Only one in ten are born male, so the rumors are that the women of the village like to… experiment."
"Experiment?" Taylor asks. "Really?"
"It's what they say." Amal nodded. "I'm worried that they might grow too attached to you should you show yourself."
"Uh-huh, and end up hiding in a crate of food?"
Amal blushed, her gaze immediately moving away from Taylor as she took another half step back. Taylor grinned.
"Let's get to it," Taylor said. The village was directly in front of them, the large trees near the river casting a huge shadow over the village as the sun was setting. Taylor stretched her senses out as far as possible. Every single bug that was nearby didn't find anything that would be suspicious. One of them, though, was rather attached to something. A few more bugs confirmed that someone was badly hurt, deep in one of the homes.
"Nobody here," Taylor said. "Only the villagers in their homes. Five people in that house, ten in that, and this small hut has over twenty, some of them hurt badly…"
She started to list the houses that were empty, not many, but still a significant amount. Most people that didn't leave yet probably weren't brave enough or too hurt, or too worried about the injured.
"By the command of His Majesty, the King of Elamia, Amram the Brave, this village is now under the protection of the soldiers of this kingdom!" David shouted. "And let it be known that any who dare to stand against us shall find no mercy! Villagers of Qurt, you are free!"
The people in the houses didn't move. Didn't even shuffle at his voice. One of them, a hurt one from the small hut, reacted. They seemed to stand up, only to fall again. It took a while, but before Taylor could move towards it, the door opened slightly.
Inside was a man with dirty blonde hair and blue eyes, his sweaty and dirty hair hung down to his chin and the way he stood in the doorway indicated how much of a problem he had just standing upright.
And on his head was a crown.
"Prince Moses!" one of the soldiers said, rushing forward with the others.
Moses tried to open his mouth. He said something, and Taylor could just so read what he wanted to say by the way he moved his lips.
"RUN!" Taylor shouted. The soldiers didn't even hesitate, and threw themselves backwards just in time before the ground exploded, sand and debris exploding into every direction. A cloud of dust hid whatever was inside from view…
For everyone but Taylor. She could feel the thing, the bugs crawling over it outlined its form. Large claws, probably what dug through the hard ground, and a long tail that moved left and right. The dust didn't even settle before the monster rushed through it and ripped a long wound along one of the soldier's arms, completely cutting through the leather armor.
Taylor sent Amal towards one of the houses, bracing herself as the beast leaped towards them and grabbed silk strands from her pockets.
This was definitely, without a doubt, a cape. His eyes were shut, and his head was covered with spikes that continued down his neck and back. He was naked, sand hanging off some parts of his skin, and his body reflected the sunlight, giving it a shiny appearance.
The tail looked as sharp as a good knife, and his legs as muscled as a bodybuilders. Despite this, his arms were thin and long.
Taylor threw herself forward, using thick strands of silk to block the man's swipe.
At least that was the plan. The silk held strong, but Taylor's arms didn't and he hit her suit. Though the scratch didn't penetrate, the force of the blow was enough to make her skid back over the floor, and forced her to put her weight forward in an attempt to avoid falling on her ass.
The other soldiers were already there to help, and their steps alerted that strange mole cape as well. He turned around and cut through one of the men's armor with his tail, giving her just enough time to send more and more bugs in his direction. Some were simply swatted out of the air but he ignored most of them, his skin too hard to be bitten or pierced. Taylor grit her teeth, gathering silk around her hands and jumping forward.
The mole reacted to that, ramming the spikes on his back into her chest and making her grunt at the impact. The silk was around his neck now, and Taylor found hold with her feet in between some spikes, pulling backwards. He was forced to move into the direction of her pull for a bit before he jumped backwards, hitting the home that Amal hid in and ramming her back into the wall. The spikes hurt even more this time, even if they still didn't get through her suit.
Another soldier managed to hit him, the sword making a screeching noise and sliding over skin as the monster grabbed him and moved forward to slam him against a fellow swordsman. The skin actually looked cut, so he wasn't invincible after all. Taylor didn't slack off, grip tightening around the silk and the beast was stopped just in time for the other man to dodge and ram the sword into the side of its head. Another screeching sound and blood poured from where its ear was. Bugs entered through the wounds, but the monster wasn't irritated by them.
Taylor spun around, the silk crossing, and landed on the floor. She kicked the monster in the back of the leg, giving her just enough power to throw it over her head and onto the floor. David smashed his sword into the back of its neck. Hardened skin and blood exploded upwards, making his sword fly and sending him stumbling back.
The beast was quicker this time, and vanished into a hole into the ground. Taylor's bugs were slower, and keeping them inside the tunnel was a waste. She positioned them all over the floor like a thin layer of carpet and waited for vibrations.
There weren't any. This thing was digging while leaving the ground undisturbed. But it was blind…
She stomped the ground, strongly, and took another longer rope of silk. The time she spent here wasn't wasted, and the spiders here were numerous enough for her to make silk pretty much wherever she went. A jump forward and the monster appeared behind her again, a hole in the floor and a lost of dust in the air
She really regretted losing her gun.
"SSSSSSPIRIT!" the man shouted, his voice having a strange husky and lisping sound to it. "You come here to deny me my right?"
"I came here to stop you," Taylor said. "And you're no spirit, you're just mad!"
The man jumped out of the dust and Taylor took the hit, getting the silk into his wide open mouth this time. The claws that were grabbing her shoulders hurt, but the soldiers were there and the moment it turned around, she pushed forward and managed to get the strands of silk around his face, towards the back of his neck, holding it tightly and pulling on it. His tail came this time, and jabbed into her stomach, making her let go and fall to the ground. David's sword was falling again, and Taylor didn't hesitate.
She grabbed the sword after it hit the ground with a loud noise, moving forward to the mole and swinging it without grace or form. The blade hit the base of the tail before the monster swiped it into her face, making the world explode in light. The left lense of her mask broke. Her eye hurt.
Blood and hardened skin was pouring out of the wound.
The soldiers took the distraction and managed to get multiple hits in. David was there, grabbing the silk and pulling on it.
The tail didn't move as well anymore, and two other men used the silk from before to hold his arms tightly.
Large steps, sluggish and wide, announced the appearance of Moses, holding a large spear and driving his entire body forward and into the mole's chest. The speartip was blown away, and Moses stumbled backwards as the monster's chest started to bleed. Another soldier took the opportunity.
The sword pierced the monster's chest, this time for real, and made it stumble backwards. The soldiers let go of the silk, getting out of the way of the spikes and tail as the monster turned its head to Taylor.
"I had it," he said. "I grasped it with my own two hands… the essence of the gods…"
Taylor slammed the sword into the side of his head before her vision failed her, the blurriness becoming too much and she slumped to the ground. She barely heard the cries of celebrations as the villagers left their homes, and she didn't hear Amal's worried cries at all.
Imagine an endless void. Just white. Or maybe black. Or maybe red. Imagine just one color stretching on forever, your sense of how far something is completely disturbed by the fact that you don't even know which direction is forwards, backwards, up and down.
That's pretty much what it felt like. Taylor didn't feel her body. She didn't see anything, or maybe she saw too much. She just laid there, her eyes wide open and her arms and legs not listening to her. There wasn't even a single bug.
Darkness. A woman held by red chains under a black moon.
Taylor woke up with a start, her entire body convulsing and any attempt to sit up prevented by strong hands that held her in place. "LET! ME! GO!"
She didn't think her mouth actually moved, the large buzz of insects that suddenly appeared to her senses did, though, speaking her words clearly. The hands left, and the moment she could sit upright, she took a deep breath and tried to look around.
Her left eye was bandaged, she couldn't really open it. That wasn'tt too bad. Something broken. Maybe a rib. Maybe two. Chest area hurt, back didn't hurt as much. The bugs around her spun out of control for a moment when she couldn't feel her mask on her face.
The prince, Moses, he was bowing deeply, his face on the floor despite his own injuries, and Amal looked incredibly frightened, her usually tanned skin unnaturally pale. Opening her mouth to speak, she was interrupted by Moses' loud voice.
"I apologize," he said. "The mask had to be removed for your own sake. The shards buried themselves close to your eye and had to be removed before blinding you. I apologize, and will accept any punishment, in the name of my ancestors, and take all the curses you might speak out onto me and me onl-"
"Shut… up…" Taylor said, her voice as dry as her throat. "Wa...ter."
Amal handed her a large brown bowl, and Taylor took a few sips before downing the entire thing.
"Sorry," she said. "Didn't mean to scare you, I… had a nightmare, I think."
"So even the gods dream," Moses said, his head still low.
"Would you stop that?" Taylor asked. "No curses, it's… I don't think I will need the mask for much longer."
Not with how this is going anyway. Even the cape here, that mole monster cape, called her spirit. It didn't seem like anyone thought capes were human. The month she spent here just established that fact. With the lense broken, she would need glasses, at least for the left eye. And with the level of technology around here, that might be hard to come by.
Moses looked up, and Taylor could see his red face, a pained expression. He was bandaged too, not wearing anything besides the bandages over his torso. Blood seeped from his shoulder.
"Prince Moses!" Amal said, almost outraged. "I told you to stop moving like that, your wound will just become worse!"
"Your priestess truly worries too much," Moses said. "Everything is alright. Huddled together and as hurt as I was, I didn't have time to heal properly. I will call for the healers as soon as I arrive home. Priestess Amal has told me a lot."
"Oh?" Taylor said, glancing to the girl who was putting new bandages on Moses.
"About how my little brother attempted to lay siege on Friede, and how you fought against him so valiantly, breaking him down with mere words. Truly a romantic story."
"Romantic? It was just a bit of… talking." Taylor shrugged. "Can we leave immediately? I remember your father saying something about finding caretakers."
"Yes, of course, those talks were finished ages ago, some of the older women whose daughters left home are ready to move with us," he said. "We can leave whenever you want, though you might want to grab something to eat first. You have been out for quite some time already, the exhaustion no doubt."
"You talk a lot compared to your brother," Taylor said, poking parts of her costume to review the damage. Nothing she couldn't fix quickly. That guy had a lot of blunt force and that hurt a lot.
"My father says the same." He nodded. "I want to be a diplomatic man, as a king, not much a man of action myself, you see. Aaron has always been a bit hands on. If tradition didn't demand it, I'd say that he would make the better king, but I would be a shoddy priest all the same."
"Okay."
Taylor tried to end the conversation with that, and the prince seemed to have gotten the clue. He stood up after the bandaging was finished and slowly left the room, using a crutch under his good arm to walk upright.
"What happened to… that guy?" Taylor asked.
"Dead," Amal said, looking away from Taylor. "You struck him down."
"I… yeah," Taylor said. No need to feel bad about this guy. "Is everyone okay? The soldiers?"
"Fortunately, nobody died," Amal said. "But two of the men will probably never fight again, unable to hold a sword properly. David isn't very happy."
"I see." Taylor nodded. "I'll talk to him later. Anything else? Besides you and Moses, did anyone see me without mask?"
"Nobody." Amal shook her head quickly. "We made sure to be discrete. I'm not sure how important this piece of glass was."
"My eyes aren't very good," Taylor admitted. "I need those lenses to see correctly."
Amal chewed on her lower lip, obviously something on her had already learned more than enough about her to understand at least some of the cues.
"No, I'm not perfect," Taylor said, her voice having a joking tone. "I'm not well endowed either, in case you didn't notice. Your father did."
Amal snorted, before covering her mouth with her hand, trying not to laugh.
"Oh, don't worry." Taylor shrugged. "Probably not the last time this will happen. Maybe I should just cut my hair and be done with it?"
"No!" Amal said quickly: "Please do not cut your hair!"
"Okay, okay, no need to be so vehement," Taylor said. "I do need to fix it up sooner or later, it will look horrible if this continues. I miss shampoo, jeez."
"Shampoo?" Amal looked confused, and a bit disgusted at the name.
"It's… let me explain, hm…"
It took a while of talking before the pain left, and Amal learned the greatness of hair care products.
Taylor stepped out of the home, her mask in place. Her hand touched the hole where the lense was softly, the feeling of bandages on her fingertips.
Amal was rather insistent that the eye remained bandaged until tomorrow and Taylor doubted that the throbbing pain that flared up here and there meant that her eye was any better by now. It's not like she could see well without the lense anyway.
The people cheered, bowed, the soldiers went to their knees, and the prince himself turned to greet her, sitting on the ground near the carriage. And just like that, all at once, everyone started to chant prayers. Taylor was unamused.
What drew her attention, however, wasn't the kneeling people or the bowing ones. It was a young man with a pale face, almost effeminate in appearance with long hair in a ponytail. He stood at least a head shorter than the man in front of him, David, which didn't say a lot. David was, after all, even taller than Taylor herself.
The man stood firmly, glancing towards the goddess and limiting himself to a respectful nod of the head. The situation at hand demanded his attention.
"Take me with you," the young man said. Even the pitch of his voice was high.
"To where?" David asked. The villagers turned their attention to the situation too - one of the women stood up and moved towards them.
"To the capital, let me become a soldier, let me become a knight!"
"Saul!" the woman all but hissed. "Step away from the man!"
"No," Saul said, his arm moving out in an arc, a flourished movement that didn't quite look out of place for someone like him. He could probably pull off a cape really well. "I saw battle! I saw victory! And I wish to protect our goddess as much as she protected us."
David took a deep breath, glancing up and down the young man. "No."
"What?!"
The prince stayed out of it, Taylor saw, but he gave an almost unnoticeable nod to David. He would let him handle this one. "Am I lacking dedication? I will split mountains with a sword!"
"I cannot make you a soldier," David said. "I cannot make you a murderer."
"Are you saying I lack strength, sir? To do what it takes for our kingdom?"
"Yes," David said bluntly, grabbing Saul's hand suddenly and pulling it up. "With hands like a girl and the face of a woman, you will not be able to hold a sword."
"But there are women in the majesty's army!" Saul cried. Taylor moved up to them.
"Aye, and all of them have trained for years, honed their skills, their hands are full of calluses," David let go of the hand as Saul pulled, stumbling backwards. "You? You are here on a whim. You saw battle, one battle against a spirit, and think there is glory to be found on the battlefield. We fight not for our own honor, but for the honor of our kingdom. What will you fight for?"
"For our goddess, who protect- Goddess Skitter!" Saul saw her coming and immediately went to his knees.
"Don't kneel," Taylor said. "He's not wrong."
Saul's eyes widened, and Taylor felt almost as if she kicked a puppy. "B-but…"
"No, believe me, constantly fighting can become tedious. It hurts, not just you, but everyone around you," Taylor explained. "If you want to help people, I'm sure that there are more peaceful ways than excessive violence. Escalation isn't the answer to every problem."
"Are you saying I should be a priest?"
"That's not what I'm saying at all…" - "That's exactly what she's saying."
Taylor glanced at Amal as Amal looked away. With a click of her tongue, she turned back to Saul. "Don't join the army, you will just hurt people. You can just come to the orphanage in Elamia instead, raise the less fortunate kids…"
He wasn't even listening her anymore, staring at Amal instead.
"Does she accept priests, high priestess?"
"Everyone is accepted, even idolaters, the is no discrimination," Amal confirmed. Taylor shook her head.
"Fuck this, we're leaving," Taylor pointed towards the carriage.
"This early?" one of the villagers said. A nubile young woman with bright blue eyes and a strange hat, formed like a triangle. "We would love to have you stay-"
"She said we're leaving." Amal opened the carriage and helped Taylor step in. The latter hissed in pain, while two other carriages came forth from behind homes, one for the women and one for the prince. The way towards Elamia would be… painful, as he saw her injuries. "Are you alright?"
"No," Skitter grabbed her face and chest. "I think that might have broken my neck at another angle."
Taylor hissed in pain when Amal put her hand onto her shoulder, as softly as possible.
"You shouldn't put yourself in such danger!" Amal said. Taylor looked up. "What would happen if you died? The city would be under the control of that monster!"
"He would have been killed." Taylor shrugged. "Not the worst thing I fact that he's here just proves my point. If he landed here, then my friends might also be nearby."
Though he wasn't really there at the Echidna event. And he called her Spirit.
"The prince said that the beast appeared and demanded to be worshipped," Amal explained. "Completely different from you."
"And?"
"You weren't wrong," she muttered. "People in your world kept fighting, didn't they? Where the spirits live?"
"They did." Taylor nodded. "We don't call them spirits. Parahumans is our term. Nothing religious about it."
"Maybe it's the difference between cultures?" Amal tried. The first time she actually accepted another explanation besides divinity. "What is normal for you was named differently for us?"
"That's what I think, yes," Taylor said. "But you claim that spirits were here hundreds of years ago-"
She winced when the carriage moved forward and hit the first bump in the road.
"Yes." Amal nodded. "That's how the history books tell it."
"History has a great way of exaggerating," Taylor said. "This kingdom is just a small part of the world, right? Maybe we can find my comrades across the sea, near the empire?"
"Maybe." Amal looked away. "Or maybe in any of the other kingdoms. I suggest you try to visit Pavilion first. It's a theocracy and Elamia's oldest ally."
"Let's try that then." Taylor shrugged. "They're closer, and this will take a while to heal properly."
Amal nodded, chewing on her lower lip. Taylor knew she felt bad about the injuries, but Amal wasn't likely to listen anyway.
"How about I tell you something from my home? I have some stories," Taylor tried. Amal's eyes brightened.
"Really? About Helel and Iblis?"
"No, no, about my friends. You know, Regent, Grue, Imp, Tattletale… uh, Bitch."
"One of your friends is named… Bitch?"
"That's obviously not her real name, she has a lot of dogs and can make them grow to big monsters…"
The talk went on for a long time. Amal stopped worrying, and Taylor was able to ignore her pain for some time. If she gave the king more detailed descriptions, maybe people could look more efficiently.