Carrion Crown: Necromancer Chapter 4, a dungeons and dragons fanfic

Chapter 4: After the Rain (雨過天晴)

At the base of Bashi Temple's bricked up gateway, a stone road wound between the trees and disappeared into the Mingdao Wood. With the fast-falling rain sure to continue on and off for the rest of the daylight hours, Daiwen had no choice but to follow the road, hopefully to the city mentioned by the priest.

They kept to the moss and underbrush at the roadside i case they had to crouch in the bushes to hide their nakedness from some unsuspecting traveller. Their thoughts went at once to their mother. They should've said a prayer for her at the temple while they'd had the chance. Then again, Daiwen hadn't seen any statue or sign of a god in that broken then empty place.

A muffled cry pierced through the patter of the falling rain. Daiwen threw themself into a prickling, scratching bush. They raised only their eyes above the dark leaves. The rain continued to fall on the empty road.

The voice cried again from the trees, weaker this time. Daiwen kept low to the ground and crawled up the muddy bank. They barely registered the scrapes and scratches from the underbrush.

The trees opened to a small clearing over a dead tree sheathed in devouring moss. Between two towering lengths of bright green bamboo, a web as large as a ship's sail caught and held the rain like a net of glistening stars. Two small, winged fey, mogui (魔鬼), dangled on the web, their faces masked with the sticky strands but their bodies naked.

The first had skin like green jade with the wings and curled antennae of a butterfly. Their arms, bound a the wrists stretched up behind them. Thick silk strands wrapped around their torso and hips suspended from above and bound their ankles to their thighs with their feet pointing into the air.

The second had skin like brown jade with the wings and fuzzy feelers of a moth. They'd been bound facing upward, thick bands of silk wrapped around their bowed back. Sticky strands strapped their lower legs to their stretched arms.

"Mother of Souls! Stay there! Erm, I'll get you down!"

Both of the mogui cried out, struggling in their silk bindings, but the strands over their faces and in their mouths muffled their sound and kept their tongues from forming words.

Daiwen looked to the bamboo but immediately tossed the option. There was no way they could make it up the smooth and rain-slicked pole. The nearest tree stretched its boughs toward the top of the web, well over the mogui.

"Fuck it."

They would just have to climb up the tree then down the web. Daiwen set their bare foot on the highest knob of roots and grabbed the lowest branch in both hands. The rough, wet bark bit into their palms, but they held tight and walked both feet up the tree trunk.

With both legs braced against the trunk, they huffed and pulled their shoulders up to the side of the branch. Daiwen wrapped their bare arms around it and rolled up onto their stomach, wet bark pinching their skin. They hung on for dear life, but they'd made it off the ground. The next branch was only a step above.

Daiwen kept as close to the trunk as they could as they stepped from branch to branch. Slowly but surely, they made their way to the branch over the top of the web. Daiwen let out a shuddering breath and grasped the bough above with both slick, dirtied palms.

They walked their hands and feet away from the solid, sturdy trunk down the narrowing, jostling branch. They did their best to ignore the tickle of fear in their bladder, instead counting down the steps. Three. Two. One.

They stood directly over the topmost glistening strand of web. One foot left the branch. They pointed their toes down, but their foot wouldn't reach.

Despite the teeth chattering in their skull, Daiwen let go with one hand. They flinched and squeaked as the branch above bounced and shook down the rain, but they didn't fall.

Their breath returned short and shallow, pulse pounding in their ears. Daiwen lowered their shaking foot off the branch. It touched down on the sticky line of web.

"H-ha!" they panted.

Only now they were stuck with one hand and foot in the tree, one hand in the air, and one foot on the web. They had to jump. Daiwen looked from the narrow sail of web to the dizzying drop to the dead tree. They filled with second thoughts. Maybe there was a better way to free the mogui.

A crack and thick rip of green fiber echoed in the clearing. The branch bent and tore off the tree in Daiwen's hand. They screamed and went reeling back under the new weight. They flailed in thin air, piss running up their torso as they fell head first toward the ground.

Lines of web snapped under their falling, flailing limbs. Daiwen shrieked and bounced as the sticky ends wrapped closed and caught them. The web bound and spread their bent arms and legs.

Daiwen struggled and squirmed in the web, but the sticky bindings only tightened. They were as trapped and helpless as the mogui.

The rain burned as it flowed up Daiwen's nose, but at least it washed the piss off their face. They shook the web with a blubbery, near-hysterical laugh. What a ridiculous way to die.

A large, dark mass moved through the trees. The laughter died in Daiwen's throat but their body continued to tremble. Across from the web, a spider as large as a tent emerged.

A dark mane of shaggy hair surrounded a beautiful, humanoid face like a porcelain mask that ended in venom-dripping mandibles. The phase spider carried a third, web-bound mogui between their forelegs, this one with golden skin and the wings of a dragonfly. The phase spider's main eyes and the three black dots under each met Daiwen's.

Daiwen screamed. The spider screamed. All three mogui let out muffled cries of alarm.

"What are you doing naked in my web?"

Daiwen's scream faded into the pattering rain.

"I lost my clothes," they croaked.

"That'll happen if you're not wary. Shifty things, clothes. I've never met a cloth fiber I could trust to hold water, much less a full body. You hold still there and I'll get you down."

"Oh, thanks. What about the mogui?"

"They're not big fans of clothes either, but they'll be wearing costumes come showtime."

"I'm confused."

"We're rehearsing for a circus act-greatest show in Shenmen. Oh! Oh! Why don't we wrap up early and take our visitor back for an advance screening?"

The three mogui let out muffled cries of agreement.

The phase spider, Yanxi (宴席), she/her, carried Daiwen and the mogui down from the web. The waist-high fey introduced themselves as Yanxi unmasked and unbound them. The butterfly-winged mogui was named Aili (愛裡), she/her. The moth-winged one was Leiting (雷霆), they/them. The dragonfly-winged mogui was Paopao (泡泡), he/him.

Once everyone was free and readjusting to the upright position, Yanxi rapidly spun the four of them simple, clinging silk sheaths to wear. The sleeves dresses protected little but their modesty, but it did keep their cores from losing any more heat to the rain.

Daiwen followed the four through the bamboo and black-boughed trees to a second, much larger clearing. The trees and bamboo here had been felled to support four small red tents and the massive, red-pink-yellow-and-green-striped tent they surrounded.

"Stay here!"

Yanxi scuttled and the mogui flew, giggling, under the big top. Daiwen waited under the lightening rain. They listened to the clash of metal and earth-shaking rumbles from the tent with some concern.

As the clouds parted over the clearing to a vibrant blue sky, an unknown voice boomed out from the tent.

"Enter if you dare! And are over the age of eighteen."

"I am."

"Then enter if you dare!"

Daiwen, giddy with curiosity and the dregs of adrenaline from their near-death experience, sidled through the black gap between the striped flaps of the big top.

A tall figure with paper-white skin and a long mane of white hair stood at the center of a wide dirt stage with a coiled whip in their hands. They wore a tall black hat, a red-tailed jacket, and thigh-high black boots with dagger-sharp heels. They winked a flashing red eye at Daiwen, freezing them in their tracks. They grinned and began to sing in a voice low to the earth:

"Woah woah woah woah oh-this is the moment you've waited for

Been searching in the dark, your sweat soaking through the floor

And buried in your bones there's an ache that you can't ignore

Taking your breath, stealing your mind

And all that was real is left behind."

Daiwen jumped at the lightning-fast crack of their whip. Blue-gray smoke burst up from the ground. Four cages appeared in the haze, each holding a curled but towering silhouette.

"Don't fight it, it's coming for you, running at ya

It's only this moment, don't care what comes after

Your fever dream, can't you see it getting closer

Just surrender 'cause you feel the feeling taking over

It's fire, it's freedom, it's flooding open

It's a preacher in the pulpit and you'll find devotion

There's something breaking at the brick of every wall

It's holding all that you know, so tell me do you wanna go?"

The four figures roared and unfurled to their full heights in the clearing smoke. Daiwen recognized Yanxi the phase spider. Two were muscled giants easily two heads taller than the ringmaster with the skeletal heads of dead horses as well as short haired coat of their living counterparts. The last was a tiger the size of a monstrous ox with the armored wings and scaled legs of a dragon. The four raised their unearthly voices in song along with the ringmaster:

"Where it's covered in all the colored lights

Where the runaways are running the night

Impossible comes true, it's taking over you

Oh, this is the greatest show

We light it up, we won't come down

And the sun can't stop us now

Watching it come true, it's taking over you

Oh, this is the greatest show!"

The sides of the cages fell with a thunderous crash. The four roared even louder. The ringmaster sprang right into Daiwen's face, raising a finger to their lips. The four dropped into a taut silence behind the ringmaster, who leaned forward to whisper in Daiwen's ear:

"Colossal we come these renegades in the ring

Where the lost get found in the crown of the circus king."

Three shining rings descended from the heights of the big top. Each held a corseted mogui bound in silk within. The ringmaster walked backward from Daiwen. They and the four sang together:

"Don't fight it, it's coming for you, running at ya

It's only this moment, don't care what comes after

It's blinding, outshining anything that you know

Just surrender 'cause you're calling and you wanna go."

The ringmaster cracked their whip from the back of the stage. Yanxi and the winged tiger leapt onto the horse-skulled giants, forcing them onto their hands and knees.