Chapter 14 - Assumptions and guesswork

  Ithlix applied another thin coat of aloe to the tender flesh on his lower back and upper tail. With all the excitement from the travel back his body finally stopped producing adrenaline and the exhaustion completely took him out. He was quite impressed with himself on keeping it together until getting to the tavern. As he sat on the edge of his bed, he rubbed the last of the cream into his hands.

  Although he was healed by Orthanis the skin was still sore, especially in the mornings; he let out a small grunt and watched the little human witch. She looked better than last night, her face had more colour and the bags had reduced. As she slept, the now crumpled hat never left her arms and the ball inside never stopped slowly moving.

  Leaning back and letting his wounds breath, he listened to the happenings of the world outside the room, a young sounding couple giggling as they climbed the stairs to the private rooms, some sailors laughing at tipping a bucket of sea water on their companion in the other room and the sound of his door opening. Opening a golden eye, he prepared to strike without warning but the man who entered was a defeated Leandros.

  “What's the matter? Did you not find a fitting boat to take us to Envis?” The dragonfolk regarded the knight, his voice was quiet, still not wanting to wake Katlin.

  “No we did, we will leave at first light tomorrow.” Leandros sighed, sitting on his bed and faced the dragonfolk. “It's just, is all of this worth it?”

  This got a chuckle out of the red dragonfolk who stood up and clasped the elf on the shoulder. “Even though you have walked in this world longer than me, you still have such a naive outlook on it.” Ithlix answered, “It is a job at the end of the day, it comes with its perks and failings like every other. If you are worrying about Katlin, she understands the risks just like all of us, yet I would be shocked if this was her last quest with us.” Ithlix stretched and rolled his shoulders.

  “Now that you are here, I wish to reap the benefits of this job.” he yawned the next sentence revealing his razor sharp teeth and forked tongue. “I crave fish. So please could you pass the coin pouch?” he held out his overturned hand expectedly. Without even thinking, Leandros passed it to him, his mind elsewhere.

  “Do not worry Leandros, Katlin will be fine.” he left with those final words closing the door behind him. A guilt washed over leandros as he looked at the still sick looking woman, he hadn't even been thinking of her.

  The two remaining members of the adventuring group arrived at the tavern to see a shirtless Ithlix devouring a cod, the bones of two other fish covered his plate.

  “Hungry big guy?” Timalis said, approaching the red scaled dragonfolk.

  “It’s been a long couple of days, I assumed that the money left was spare, as the boat has been paid for. And as a growing little hatchling I need the food.” Ithlix retorted in a somewhat joking voice, indicating for the two to sit.

  “No thank you,” Orthanis rejected his offer, “I want to check up on Katlin.”

  “Same,” Timalis added “but I'm hoping I can leave this ‘little hatching’ alone to not make a mess with his food?” exaggeratedly raising an eyebrow.

  “No promises.” The two both grinned like children which caused Orthanis to roll her eyes.

  “Enjoy your food” she waved as the two climbed the stairs.

  After entering the room they saw Leandos laying on his bed and a still sleeping katlin looking better than last night.

  “I think we should wake her for a bit and discuss what happened. She looks better and the mana in her staff is starting to refill." Orthanis proposed after giving her a quick examination and looking at the staff, leaning within arms reach of the witch.

  “I was going to ask something similar,” Leandros sat up from the bed and gave a quick good morning to Orthanis. “I think it's important that everyone is on the same page before we set sail.”

  “I’ll grab my little hatchling then,” Timalis said, already walking out the door, resulting in a confused glance to be shot from Leandros to Orthanis.

  Coming back into the room, Timalis dragged Ithlix behind him who shut the door and placed a nearby chair against it; blocking the exit. Timalis went to the window and double checked it was closed and the curtains drawn tight before they all sat on their beds. With a gentle shake from Orthanis, Katlin stirred.

  “Hey, I hope you are feeling better.” Orthanis cooed. “But we need to talk now so can you sit up for us?”. With a groan Katlin sat up against the bed frame while reaching for the water on the bedside.

  “Yeah, let's talk.” Katlin yawned while then started sipping on the glass.

  “Ok please Katlin start from the beginning from what you can remember, then Timalis will recount his story and we can come up with a plan on how to move forward.” Leandros took the lead in the conversation leaning forward, devoting all his attention to Katlin.

  “Right, at the start Timalis and I approached a bright lamppost that masked anything beyond it so following Timalis’ lead we climbed a large tree to look over the light.” The party eagerly listened with Orthanis taking out her notebook to jot down notes. “The tree was hard to climb and with my invisibility spell active my mind was preoccupied with keeping it active. I can’t remember much from the camp but it had a fence made of metal and a large square in the center. But besides that I was mainly trying to keep on the thin branch I was on." It took Katlin a moment to compose herself to start continuing again.

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  “There was a light, a bright light, coming from the ground. A moment later my vision clouded and I was in the air, and I saw my leg.” Her eyes shot open and she threw the blanket off her leg and looked down. A nasty scar highlighting her veins and tissue with purple, leaving the section of her leg disfigured.

  “I'm sorry Katlin, it is the best I could have done under those conditions.” Orthanis admitted, her eyes glued to the floor. The witch bit her lip as she caressed the burned area.

  “Thank you, Orthanis. I would be dead without you.” Katlin admitted after covering her leg with the blanket.

  “You would also be dead without me.” An androgynous voice was muffled from the hat still in the arms of Katlin. With the hat moving, and opening, the floating eye wrapped in tentacles emerged. It was the first time the party had seen Socks since the incident as they knew the spirit wasn't a fan of mortals in general so they didn't pry. Socks looked weak, his tentacles drooped and the eye had its colour dimmed. “I burned the last of the condensed mana and the majority of mine for a short ranged teleport. Unfortunately for how immediate it was the location was random. Instead of blasting your torso away it clipped your leg.”

  “Thank you Socks.” Katlin gave a slight bow to the Spirit.

  “Your account was fairly accurate to how I remembered it.” Timalis started, seeing a break in conversation. Some finer details I would add are that the trees in the vicinity had been cut down with high precision and using heat, as it left scorch marks on the stumps. The next thing was the walls of lamposts, it wasn't just one but a bunch that illuminated around the whole perimeter of a metal fence which seems to be made of wire. The next thing of note was the center cube, honestly I have no idea how to describe it, a box of metal and light that was connected to almost everything. There were figures that inhabited the camp, one set where like spiders the size of a Sheep-herder dog, they carried boxes on their backs and they infested the entire encampment. Next was humanoids in yellow, apart from having no tails they looked like they wore the same reflective material as the tents they lived in. I couldn't see any faces or other features unfortunately.” Timalis took a breath and looked around to see everyone still focusing on him and his account. Even Socks watched with his dull pink eye. Lastly there were golems, huge beings made of metal. They looked human but had arms like cannons and heavy boxes on their shoulders. That was the thing that shot you. Well, one of them; the one that attacked, was watching you for a period of time.”

  “Watching? Even through the invisibility?” Orthanis raised an eyebrow after writing something down.

  “From what I can tell, yes. It then raised an arm and attacked. ” Timalis nodded. “After it fired whatever spell it was out of its arm the golden mark broke and you know the rest.”

  “Mortal, can you confirm that this box was at the center of the camp?” Socks probed with uncharacteristic curiosity.

  “Yes, Spirit.” he nodded back

  “How interesting.” the orb of tentacles mumbled back. Before falling silent.

  “I did have an idea I said in the heat of the moment of my impression of the camp but ill lay it out for everyone here,” Timalis leaned forward on his bed and interlocked his hands and covered his mouth with them. He took some time to think but after he collected his thoughts he sat up and continued. “Their use of heat is clear, using it to clear out large areas of woodland while also weaponising it. Next is the clear metal proficiency, the wire needed for the fences as well as the large cube must cost hundreds of Crescents worth of manual labor just to manufacture, let alone the raw cost. Just to lay on the absurdity, there are no mines in the local area. I researched cave networks around Grey Harbor the day we got the job and nothing, it's like they just appeared.” He took a deep breath and finished his assumption. “I think these are demons.”

  The room took a somber tone with Ithilx and Leandros worriedly looked at the two women who had more knowledge on the subject. Rather than Timalis continuing, Katlin questioning or Orthanis calling heresy, an inhuman mocking laugh came from the Spirit. It descended back into the hat still openly laughing at Timalis’ suggestion.

  “You wouldn't be incorrect in your assumption if demons still existed.” Katlin started once the ethereal laughter stopped, “but they don’t or at least not in the way you think.” She stopped herself and looked at Orthanis who averted her gaze, and placed the pen and notebook to one side knowing where this conversation would lead to. Before Socks could fully hide himself inside the hat Katlin asked a question. “Can I tell them this forbidden knowledge?”

  “I do not care what mortals witter to themselves, to classify knowledge as forbidden has always seemed illogical to me anyway.” Socks replied emotionless as the last of the tendrils dug deep in the crown of the hat.

  “The demons that exist today are Yavichi.” Katlin dropped her voice to a whisper. “These demons use the flesh of mortals as puppets, chaining their souls to the hosts with infernal chains. Once this hellish fusion has occurred, the body no longer follows the commands of the mortal and instead the demons.”

  “Why doesn't the soul of the demon take over the body like a ghost or phantom?” Ithlix asked seriously.

  “It is like a parasite,” Orthanis took over, matching the room's seriousness. “The host body feels the pain, hunger, age and other physical effects that we do. We know from the ancient tomes demons are creatures obsessed with pain and suffering, pure evil beings; so while the mind fights the constant torture from the demon, the body suffers.”

  “These Yavichi then, they can't last long in this world; their minds or bodies would break before three seasons have passed.” Timalis pointed out.

  “This is how they are becoming a problem. The demons want to continue to exist like every being so to extend their hosts' lives they graft.” Katlin jumped back into the conversation taking over from Orthanis. “By attacking and raiding adventures, pilgrims and merchants they slay the old and skin the young or strong. The monsters take the strips of flesh and using infernal chains bind it to the host like a doll receiving a patch to repair a tear. Knowledge of Yavichi is sparse and has not been solidified as truth but the current understanding is that this grafting can keep the body alive indefinitely. In the recent months reports of frontier towns burning down have popped up and those in the know are pointing to Yavichi becoming boulder.”

  “I'm assuming the next thing you are going to ask me is if I saw anything that matched that description. Any red hot chains wrapped in barbs, or creatures with layers of skin strapped to them?” the two women nodded at Timalis’ question.

  “No I did not.” The room’s tense atmosphere deflated as everyone sighed.

  “Well let’s not rule this out but it is unlikely we are dealing with Yavichi,” Katlin broke the silence in a more cheery tone, “but with a recent rise It had to have been asked.”

  “I have a few questions,” Leandros questioned, looking at the two women. “Firstly how do you know all this information Katlin?”

  “My master had his connections and I exploit them to this day.” Katlin responded quickly.

  Accepting that he would not get more information than that from that question he asked his second question. “Why is this information ‘forbidden’? To me it seems smarter to warn the towns or travelers so that they could have a fighting chance.”

  Before Katlin could answer, Orthanis spoke, “Thats more forbidden knowledge that I forbid Katlin to divulge. I do apologise”

  “I assume telling people outside the room what we have learned today would lead to a grizzly end so my last question is what do you think this camp is?”

  “Honestly, I do not know. There are too many uncertainties that cloud a clear judgement. We will just report what we have learned to the Archwizard, accept our pay and forget about it.” Katlin spoke resolutely, it's what they do with most of their jobs so Ithlix nodding in agreement wasn't a surprise.

  “That will be what we will do then. Prepare tonight for a trip to Envis, we leave at first light.” Timalis took initiative and commanded the group, who all agreed with him.