Knights of Cygnus: Lupus

Chapter 6 – Cynical Mushrooms; The Search for Cursed Dolls

Lupus and Abbie waved as the airship, as they came to call it, flew off into the distance. They stepped down off the platform onto a solid chunk of wood. They were in Ellinia, a village set up high in the treetops, in the middle of a dense forest. The platform was a slab of stone built into the branch, which must have been ten foot thick. Little mushroom houses were built into the trees all around. Crickets could be heard chirping in the distance.

"It's so peaceful... Could this world really be in so much danger?" Abbie whispered, dumbstruck by the quiet of Ellinia.

"I agree. Now we need to get a taxi to Henesys so we can meet Roca. Follow me." He beckoned her to follow.

"Did you see a map of Ellinia in your books?" Abbie asked, following him down the tree branches.

"No."

"Then how do you know which way to go?"

"Intuition." He smiled, and grabbed her hand. Soon they were in a taxi, on their way to Henesys.

*

Knock, knock. Lupus rapped his knuckles against the solid oak door.

"Roca. It's Abbie and Lupus. You in there?"

A beady eye appeared in a small hole in the centre of the door. It looked at Abbie then at Lupus, then the door opened. Roca's house was very dark. Only one candle was lit and it sat on a table surrounded by a number of squat stools. There were a few paintings hung up on the walls, but it was too dark to see them and aside from a few pieces of solid oak furniture, it was pretty bare. In one corner there was a door leading to the cellar, and a few barrels were scattered near its entrance.

"Get in. Quick." Roca whispered. They were practically yanked inside, before Roca slammed the door behind them. "I am not a suspicious person. You got that?"

"Er yeah...? Okay." Lupus replied. Roca had a rather sickly face. He had a scroll which he held tightly in his hand and a rather ridiculous attire. He reminded Abbie of an out-of-work clown.

"Sssh! Not so loud! Not so loud!" He whispered. "You want your assignment, yes? Well I got the details right here. Lately, I had to seal up some cynical orange mushrooms just outside of Henesys, as you probably know. I suspect them greatly, but I'm an agent, not a Knight and I have almost no fighting capabilities. I want you to go in there and slay the whole lot of 'em. If anyone of them are found with a doll, do NOT touch it with your bare hands." He passed them some white work gloves. "Here, keep these as a gift. Use these to pick up the dolls. They're cursed, and should you touch them I don't know what could happen. It won't be pretty, I'll tell ya that. If you find a doll, bring it back here. You understand?"

Abbie and Lupus both nodded.

"Then go! And don't forget to shut the door on your way out!"#

*

'Beware, mass numbers of monsters. STAY OUT!' the sign read. Lupus took out a skeleton key and unlocked the gate, making sure to lock it behind him. Lupus and Abbie looked out among the enclosure they were now locked inside. There were plenty of places to hide, and not a single monster to be seen. They kept quiet and advanced into the centre of the enclosure. Nothing could be worse than being pinned against the fence.

They stood back-to-back, ready to attack. Lupus pulled out a few kunai, holding them between his knuckles and Abbie grabbed a dagger. It had just occurred to her that despite officially being a magician she had no staff and knew no magic skills. Pretty lame... I'm a zero-trick pony... I need to get supplies when we get back to Erev...

"Abbie... You forgot to get a staff, didn't you?" Lupus whispered. "Honestly, you're truly hopeless. You barely know how to wield a dagger. It's a good thing I came prepared." He pulled out a staff and a book from his bag. "Happy birthday. I didn't forget this year. Now hurry up and learn something in there while I hold them off."

Abbie nodded, slightly flustered and sat down opening the book. Dammit... these old books have no contents page...

"You should do as much as you can before they attack, okay?"

Abbie simply ignored him as she flipped through the pages. Some of it was in ancient script she didn't recognise. When I get back I'll have to spend a lot of time translating this... She found a page which seemed to be in English. It had a small diagram in one corner, which looked like some kind of cycle. The symbols represented fire, water, earth, plant, ice, poison, lightning, dark and light. The diagram looked extremely complicated.

Are these the elements?

Abbie heard a rustle in the bushes. Lupus turned his head and touched one hand to the floor. Whatever it was would soon be dead. Abbie frantically flicked through the pages. She stopped at a page which was dyed red.

This must be the section on fire-based attacks. Aha! A fire technique! According to that diagram, fire is strong against plant and ice-based monsters. I'm guessing that orange mushrooms are plant-based, so if I learn this...

Leaves rustled again.

An orange mushroom dropped from a tree branch.

Lupus leapt towards it and slashed at it instantly, the mushroom rolled backwards to avoid the blow and ran away. He chased the mushroom towards the forest edge and tossed a shuriken at it. The mushroom ducked behind a tree, effectively blocking the weapon, but when it turned around, Lupus was already there. The defeated orange mushroom collapsed on the floor.

He heard a squeal and looked up to see a crowd of the mushrooms running towards Abbie.

Dammit, they tricked me. I got tricked by some bloody mushrooms!

Lupus charged towards Abbie, pulling a kunai from his pocket. He disposed of a couple of them before arriving, then swiped at the remaining opponents.

"You figured anything out yet, Abbie?" He asked, as he jabbed his dagger into a mushroom that had crept up behind him.

"I'm nearly there..."

"Well hurry up, dammit!!" He snapped. I'm outnumbered. They're weak but there's hundreds of them. Hurry up, Abbie!

*

If you'd like to see the diagram from Abbie's book -- http:// .com/art/KoC-The-Elements-153945432

Copy and paste it into your URL bar. (Remove the space between http:// and Lupus)