The Lilliad 37

Arelt trudged along, blistered feet tremendously pained inside his heavy boots.

‘I wonder if Benk thinks as I do.’

The back of his partner’s head gave no information. Benk was staying close to Igni, who apparently liked the sorceress.

‘This woman is trouble. A fanatic, with power, and either a terrible sense of humor or a willingness to escalate things in order to hurt her enemies…’

It was impossible to know if finishing this quest would be more or less dangerous than poking around in the ruins. But Benk was here, and Arelt would stay with his partner.

‘Benk must know that she’s trouble,’ Arelt decided. ‘He wanted to be here to protect Igni.’

Igni was too sheltered. Arelt gritted his teeth hard as his foot came down wrong on a rock and twisted painfully. After having been locked away in the mage’s tower like some angry princess, Igni had very little real world knowledge. To the best of Arelt’s notice, Igni appeared to be physically invulnerable.

But emotionally? That was a very different story. Arelt didn’t like seeing IgnI admire this witch woman.

‘I don’t trust any of this. She might sabotage us, if she hasn’t already. She wasn’t trying to be funny when she suggested the plague might be worthwhile if it killed all of their enemies. The fact that she acquiesced without a fight to letting half of us in the city… I have a very bad feeling about that.’

They were in for a very long, uncomfortable walk. Until Igni broke the silence, that was.

‘Sorceress, you have an idea about our enemy.’

Arelt pricked his ears up, eavesdropping just to have something to think about.

“Only an idea,” the sorceress dismissed. Her tone was polite enough but it still put up Arelt’s hackles. “We are dealing with a sentient and particularly intelligent human being, who has magical ability. They have been using reanimation to attack using the corpses of the ancient dead and of travelers.”

“What do they want?” Igni sounded annoyed. “This is such strange behavior. When the merchants are dead, why continue to play with their bodies?”

Arelt shivered at the way that Igni had phrased it.

There was a long silence. “I am contemplating this,” the witch said. “I do not think it is for the sheer love of the act itself. I am concerned by the proximity to the temple. The goddess entombed there may be in danger.”

It took a second for that to process.

“Entombed?” Arelt repeated. “Do you mean to say there’s the dead body of a god in there?”

Mairi barely glanced at him, clearly considering a guardsman below her. “Yes, that’s right.” She turned away so decisively that it was obvious the conversation was over. 

Arelt numbly considered this information.

‘I would like to think that it didn’t matter. Maybe the necromancer will just never get in. Maybe they’ll fail to raise the goddess. Maybe it’s just a vanity thing and controlling the body of a goddess wouldn’t actually be any worse than regular necromancy.’

He didn’t believe any of it. He picked up the pace and lifted his gaze to the mountain that loomed in the distance.

‘The necromancer didn’t give up. They’re still there. They just hid until we left.’

He felt sick to his stomach. No one even know how many casualties there were. Dozens of trading and traveling groups were unaccounted for. That didn’t mean that they were all dead, but it hardly seemed like good news.

With Mairi in the lead, the party traveled at a much faster clip than they had before. The sorceress knew the area and she didn’t waste time on meandering paths or staring at a map. They stopped for the night and slept in shifts. There was no chance to discuss it, but Arelt stayed awake into Mairi’s shift as the watchman. His head was pounding and he was so tired he was swaying.

A scuffle. He looked over- “Igni.” He said it very quietly, so as not to wake Benk or get the witch’s attention.

Igni inclined their head and then mimed sleeping.

Ah. Igni didn’t need to sleep. Very useful trait, that.

Grateful, Arelt shot Igni a relieved grin. He was asleep almost as soon as his head hit the ground again.

The next day was much the same, albeit less dry as they trekked their way out of the desert. Arelt could see his exhaustion mirrored in Benk’s shoulders and trudging steps. Igni and Mairi were unaffected in comparison. The witch was clearly using some kind of magic, though he didn’t know enough about magic to guess at what kind.

Resentment curled in his stomach. Not at Igni, of course, but directed at Mairi. Her haughtiness was beginning to wear down his good mood. She so clearly felt superior. It grated to see her float along while he suffered.

When he took his boots off at night, Arelt had to take in a deep breath. His feet were a mess after days marching without rest. His toes were bloody.

‘This isn’t sustainable. If I can’t rest, I need to do something else. I could get an infection at this rate. If my feet hurt any more I won’t be going up that mountain.’

He hunted through his pack, despite knowing the contents very well. He stared glumly at his spare tunic, which was not truly clean.

He bit down his pride and lifted his head. “Sorceress,” he said politely. “Do you know any healing magic?”

She glanced over and looked at his bloody feet. She pursed her lips. “No, I’m afraid that I don’t. That’s more of a wizard’s technique.”

Disappointed, Arelt nodded. He took a deep breath and then began tearing thin strips off of his tunic’s hem. He used them to wrap around and in between his toes, hoping the cushioning would protect from future banging and give them a chance to heal.

They throbbed terribly over the next two days of marching, but the group finally reached the mountain. The pain was always present but being closer to his goal and to danger made it easier to focus on the world outside of his feet.

“Wait.” Benk stopped walking. “This looks like an ambush point. We passed it last time unmolested, but there’s fewer of us now. And the necromancer might be expecting us.”

Arelt looked around and had to agree. They were coming up a very steep and narrow path that would be difficult to retreat on. The left was a steep bluff that he remembered  hid a sharp turn into a cave that could hold enemies. The right was just about 10 feet of maneuvering space before a jagged drop. It was difficult to see very far ahead because of the thick brush.

“Yes,” the sorceress said calmly. “I agree. There may be an ambush. You only encountered ancient skeletons. Many of the travelers reported missing have not been found at all.”

Arelt felt uncertainty creep up. “How many is “many”?” He asked. “Do you mean something like 10 people? 20 people?”

The sorceress gave him a faintly condescending look. “20? The reward is high for a reason. I thought that was understood.”

‘Oh, shit,’ Arelt thought glumly. ‘Hell. We’re in it again.’

As Igni crested the stairs, they scanned ahead. It was lucky that they had someone who could see over the trees and shout, ‘There are many disgusting dead people over here!’

And then they really were in it.