The Longest Road, Part 21
Swallowing your pride in the name of spreading the pleasures of lust, you embark on a course of action that you are pretty sure will result in you getting your ass kicked. Repeatedly.
Khaytala is alone when you approach her, gazing out across the Burn. From what she told you about its creation... it can't be giving her good memories. You clear your throat, and she turns, her face brightening as she sees you. "Hey Talavar," she says. "Any news?"
"Not really," you reply. "But... I've decided to take you up on your offer, if it's still open. Knowing a little more about how to handle myself in a fight wouldn't be a bad thing."
The toothy smile she gives you almost makes you reconsider, but you stick to your decision. "Alright, then!" she says, bringing her hands together in a single clap and rubbing them. "First off, we should start with what's familiar to you. Do you have experience with any kind of fighting already?"
If she puts it like that, there's only one correct answer. "Grappling," you say. It isn't even a lie. Although you didn't get very far in it, your incubus combat training—such as it was—had a strong focus on pins and subdual holds. For obvious reasons.
Khaytala raises her eyebrows. "Interesting choice. I haven't done as much with that kind of fighting as others... but I can at least give you a training partner and some pointers on the basics." She removes her sword and bulky leather armor, revealing a simpler cloth garment underneath. It's not exactly what you'd call skimpy, but it definitely shows off more of her impressive figure than the armor did. She raises her hands into a loose guard. "Come on, then. Let's see what you've got!"
Well, at least one of you is enjoying this. You inch closer, looking for any openings, trying to remember everything from the few lessons you did attend. Eventually you lunge in... only for Khaytala to easily drive a punch into your torso.
It's obvious that she held back a great deal, but the impact still knocks you off-balance, breaking up your own attack. You stumble backward, then gather yourself and try again... only to meet with the same result. "You're telegraphing your attacks by where you look," Khaytala calls out. "I can see exactly where you're going to go."
You take her words to heart, and redouble your assault, straining with all your might to break through her defense. Seconds stretch into minutes as the two of you circle around each other, clashing again and again. Khaytala holds you off with effortless ease, but her insightful comments are helping you figure out some of your more glaring problems.
It would take many more sessions to truly see a truly meaningful impact on your abilities, but you do feel like you're improving, if only a little bit. The match begins to attract spectators, as a handful of guards and caravan workers stop what they're doing to check out the lopsided battle.
It isn't long before you're panting for breath and drenched in sweat, but you hurl yourself at Khaytala with ever-increasing determination. She laughs, seeing your enthusiasm. "And you thought you wouldn't enjoy this!"
You smile back. "I never did enjoy it before. Not when it wasn't with you."
Khaytala's eyes widen a little, and you take advantage of her surprise to lunge in. Even throwing her off-balance with your words doesn't help much, though; she still grabs you by the collar and redirects your force, flinging you away. But you don't let up, rushing back into the fight.
As you start to get a handle on the rudimentary suggestions Khaytala is giving you, she lets you get closer, allowing you to try your actual grappling. Now you really have the chance to make your move, as you strain against each other, your bodies pressed tight in close quarters where she can feel your allure much more strongly. You spend a good portion of that time flung about like a rag doll, but even then your hands are running along her skin, feeding her temptation in a way you actually are skilled in.
You see what you think is an opening, and try to throw Khaytala. To your surprise, it seems to work... until she pulls you down with her, and you realize that she was just playing along. She drags you into a groundfighting session, the two of you rolling over one another as you fight for dominance. You're fully aware that Khaytala could pin you at any moment she wanted... but she draws it out, her eyes alight. Sometimes getting back to your feet, sometimes going to the ground again. Indulging in the raw physicality of your struggle, the feel of skin against skin.
Still, it ends the only way it could ever end. Khaytala puts you into an armlock, immobilizing you in front of her. You twist and strain to no effect, gritting your teeth. You can feel an ever-increasing frustration churning in your stomach at your inability to give a better showing.
The strange thing is... you can't explain why you're suddenly feeling so angry about this.
It doesn't make any sense. You've never cared about your capacity for physical violence before. You have no personal pride invested in this. Hell, not half an hour ago you came into this match fully intending to lose. This was the plan.
So why...?
Khaytala leans a little more weight on you. "You give?" she asks, her tone genial. You open your mouth to reply. To give the obvious answer. And yet nothing emerges. You can't say the words. You're having trouble even thinking the words. Your heart is hammering, your vision is a haze of red, and the blood it sends coursing through your veins feels like it's on fire.
And through it all, one single imperative rends its way through your mind. You can't let this worthless bitch Khaytala beat you.
You twist again... but this time, your body knows the way to move in a way that's alien to you, surging with a power and a speed you've never in your entire existence possessed. Khaytala isn't expecting the sudden display of ability; she's caught by surprise as your foot swipes sideways to hit hers, off-balancing her just enough for you to twist out of her lock and catch her in a shoulder throw. In that moment it feels like she barely weighs anything at all as you slam her to the earth.
Then you follow it up with a punch aimed to crush her throat.
Before it lands you wrench your hand to the side, your fist instead slamming into the ground next to her. The sick feeling of rage drains out of you, as you realize what you almost did. You push yourself away from Khaytala's prone form, stumbling back, your hands shaking as you try to figure out what in all the Hells just happened.
Khaytala, for her part, seems stunned by the sudden reversal. But then she lets out a laugh. "Holy shit, Talavar!" she says, grinning as she pulls herself up into a sitting position. "Where did that come from? Were you holding out on—"
But she pauses as she sees your expression. "...Talavar? You okay?"
Your throat is dry, and you have to swallow before replying. No, you're not okay. You've never in all your years experienced anything like that before, that kind of loss of control, the fundamental violation of your very being you felt in that moment. And if you hadn't wrested control back in time...
"I... I think I need to take a break," you hear yourself say. It's a lame excuse—and you know it—but right now it's the best you can manage. You can't even remember the last time you felt this shaken. Physical danger is one thing, but something that could warp your very soul on such a level was something else altogether. "It's... I'm... sorry."
Khaytala gives you a long look. But then she nods. "Of course," she says. "No sense in pushing too hard. Take all the time you need."
You barely hear her as you turn and hurry away, finding a private space behind one of the wagons. Only then do you unclench your fist, looking down at your right hand.
A fiery glow is flickering in and out on the second rune in the circle branded into your palm.
It hasn't fully activated yet... but it's nearly there. It won't be long now. Whatever unknown process began with its appearance, it's inexorably progressing. You think back to when the first rune appeared, your fight against Taharial. Could it be a similar situation? Could whatever magic this is have simply misinterpreted your sparring as a real danger, and reacted to defend you?
As a theory, it makes sense. But when you think back to the venomous feeling of spite you felt swamping your soul in that moment, you don't believe it. No. No, that wasn't a mistake. It didn't misinterpret Khaytala as a threat.
It just wanted to murder her for her temerity in gaining a victory over you.
You clench your fist, sliding down the wagon you're leaning against until you're sitting on the ground. You let out a dry chuckle. As if you didn't have enough to worry about! Not only do you have all the heroines of this world arrayed against you, not only is your former Queen trying to kill you over this damned sigil... but now you have to deal with the sigil itself trying to twist your mind according to its own savage desires.
And this is just the beginning. There are still nine more runes to go.
What happens when they all activate?
You feel the cold claws of dread sinking into your stomach. But you force them down. After all, there's nothing you can do right now but keep moving forward. You eventually emerge, your composure restored, and apologize for your abrupt departure when you see Khaytala again. She assures you that it's fine, though you can detect worry in her eyes as she looks at you.
You pass the rest of the evening trying to keep busy. Thanks to your heavy exertion you can feel the pangs of hunger stabbing at you already. Worse, you didn't make enough progress for feeding on Khaytala to be viable just yet... though considering how much she got into your grappling session, you feel she might be close. Eventually night falls and you go to your bedroll, dozing off into a brief, fitful slumber.
When you wake in the morning, a palpable air of unease has settled over the camp. It's obvious that this leg of the trip will be more dangerous than the previous ones—or at least, more dangerous than the previous one were expected to be at the outset.
The caravan sets out in silence, the only sound the creaking of the wagon wheels as the members filter onto the narrow path. Everyone is on edge, especially the guards, who patrol ceaselessly up and down the length of the wagon train. You notice that they've outfitted themselves with long halberds and large warhammers from a cache in one of the wagons. Even Khaytala is hefting a hammer, leaving her usual shortsword in its sheath as she walks her route.
About two hours in, you hear the first cry of "Shambler! Shambler on the left!"
You turn, and see a large figure lurching toward the caravan. It appears to be made primarily out of the earth itself, the blasted terrain animated into something vaguely resembling human form. Running all through its body, however, you can see a pulsating vein-like network of glowing green sludge, the twisted lines intertwining upward to somewhere in the thing's "head". The only sound it makes is the impact of its heavy feet against the ground, it is otherwise utterly silent as it bears down on you.
The nearby guards assemble themselves into a defensive line, three of them thrusting out with their halberds to impale it, constraining its movement. Even with three grown men straining together, they're only able to slow its advance as it emerges from the toxic clouds. It slowly pushes them back, their feet skidding... but in the meantime several more guards are rushing in from either side, their hammers swinging at the monster. It tries to defend itself with wild swipes of its arms, but hampered as it is it can't reach its assailants. The guards are able to slowly wear it down, breaking away its structure bit by bit.
"Two more! On the right!"
Quite a few of the guards are already tied up with the first shambler, and even with that many they're still having trouble with it. But even as the other guards scramble to react to the new threats, you see that Khaytala is already in standing position to intercept them.
She doesn't bother waiting for any support. As the pair of shamblers emerge from the cloud she walks forward to meet them, casually ducking under a swing of an immense arm, then spinning to drive her hammer crashing into the monster's center of mass with all her might. The weapon smashes clean through the shambler's torso in an explosive spray of earth, and the rest of it crumbles to the ground immediately after.
The other shambler tries to react, but before it can even turn to track her Khaytala hits it with a kick that knocks it flat on its back. Immediately her hammer is falling, smashing the thing's "head" like an eggshell. This time there's a particularly large splash of that greenish ooze mixed in with the splattering earth, as though there were some kind of organ there distinct from the rest of its earthy body.
She glances over to where the other guards are still trying to finish off the first shambler. "Hit their shoulders first!" she tells them, her voice filled with authority. "The connection is weak there, and you'll be safer if you can cripple them before you go for the kill!" Even as she gives the advice, she's already running over to the other side of the caravan, preparing to deal with a fourth shambler that she's noticed approaching.
The rest of the day goes more or less like that. Stretches of boredom and drudgery as the caravan keeps up its forced march, punctuated by shambler attacks. You can see how it might have been dire had you been swarmed by an excessive number of the mindless-yet-powerful monsters, perhaps requiring some equally drastic measures to get through... but since you foiled the assassin's plan before it took effect, the trip ends up being entirely manageable.
Also—in addition to keeping Khaytala and the other guards safe from harm—the ordinary journey that your cunning has won for the caravan has also earned you an extra opportunity to pursue interactions with one of the caravan members in the relative lull. Even better, while you've been watched like a hawk recently, now most eyes are nervously watching the toxic clouds instead, alert for any sign of the next shambler. If you wait and time your moment just right, you could probably find a chance to talk to almost anyone without it being noticed.
You could talk to Khaytala again, if you can catch her in a break between shambler attacks. There's no chance for anything intimate in a situation like this, of course, but there are still two ordinary topics that you haven't discussed yet that might prove interesting. And if you're going to keep trying for Khaytala as your next meal once you get through the Burn, any extra endearment could potentially help.
Alternatively... you could bring up the subject of your sigil with her. It's unlikely she would know too much about any details of its precise mystical nature, but considering how widely traveled she is it's possible she's heard some kind of legend that might give at least a clue. Or a lead. It would require being more open with her than you're usually comfortable being... but then again, even apart from what she might know, that very openness might shift your interactions in and of itself.
On the other hand, you were hungry when you began the day, and you're pretty sure that after this march you're going to be famished. If you want to regain your strength first thing on exiting the Burn—before accomplishing anything further with Khaytala—you'd need to set something up ahead of time. You could always use this as another opportunity to use your earlier plan to have Greta seduce her guards.
Alternatively... if you could get to her mother without anyone noticing, you might be able to sway her to your side. Convince her that Arne is being overprotective, that Greta enjoys her time with you, maybe imply that it's not as torrid as Arne thinks it is. If you're charming enough, you might be able to convince her to take her daughter away from the guards, and bring her somewhere private... where you'd have access to both of them.
Either way, you'll have to decide how best to make use of this lull before you reach the Great Forest. And, of course, the assassin is still out there. As soon as you emerge unscathed from the Burn she'll know her latest plot has failed, ending this brief grace period you've enjoyed.
