Scourge Fifteen - Quiet

I don’t know why, but I keep expecting something to happen as we’re walking along.

For all that Teo’s talked up monster attacks and such, there really isn't much going on. I guess that’s to be expected. It only took me a couple of minutes to send out some of my little friends to warn off any local monsters so that they’ll stay safe.

Remove the monsters, and there’s not much that we can run into as we walk along. Maybe bandits, I guess.

“This is a bit boring,” Felix says what I’m thinking aloud.

I can’t help but giggle. I’m still keeping an eye on the world around us, but it’s just forests and more forests. Sometimes we get to cross a small bridge over a stream, but really there’s nothing impressive to look at. “It’s only going to be a few days,” I say.

“You could meditate,” Esme says. She’s not even pretending to look around. Instead she’s walking with a book held open before her. Sometimes she bumps into my side, other times she starts to veer off towards the ditch. I’m keeping an eye on her and pulling her back whenever she goes off-track.

“Walking meditation is quite popular in some sects,” Bianca says.

“Are you part of a sect?” I ask. “You seem to have pretty good control of two very different sorts of cultivation.”

Bianca shakes her head. “I’m afraid not. What I know I learned from reading and experimenting in what free time I have.”

“That’s impressive,” Esme says. She turns the page, then almost trips in a pothole.

“Hey!” comes a call from behind us. It’s Teo, and he doesn’t look all that amused. “Can you at least pretend to pay attention?”

“There’s nothing to pay attention to,” I call back.

He points past me. “Then what’s that? Huh?”

I turn, then squint at the road ahead of us. There’s a bit of a curve as the road circles around a slight rise. There’s nothing on the road, but above it, coming from over the woods ahead, is a dusty cloud. The same sort that we’re leaving behind us.

“Looks like we’re going to have company,” I say.

The caravan, especially the Big Hill Lions, tenses up. The wagon in the lead starts to hug the side of the road, and the others follow suit. There’s enough room, barely, for a wagon heading the other way to pass on what space remains on the road.

Teo jogs up to our little group on his way to the front. “Keep your heads down,” he says.

“Are we expecting trouble?” I ask.

“After the last couple of days? I think it’s better to expect trouble than not,” he says before he runs on to the front.

“So what do we do?” Felix asks.

I shrug. “Prime your core, I guess.”

“Hey, I’m always primed for fun,” Felix says. She jumps up onto the side of the cart with all of our stuff, then roots around until she pulls her bag to the top. I’m half expecting her to pull out a pre-fight snack, but instead she pulls out a knife in a sheath before jumping back down. She undoes her belt while walking and fixes the sheath to it. “Just in case,” she says.

I nod along. I really should learn how to use a weapon one day. Mom says that a weapon can fail you in a way that magic won’t. You’ll never drop magic, or misplace it in the dark.

Still, being able to stab things that annoy you sounds very fun.

The rumble of carriages from ahead has us tensing before the first cart shows up. It’s pulled by a single donkey, just a little cart with a man with a pale green cloak on. The cart looks like it's loaded full of boxes.

Another cart shows up, then another, and finally a big carriage followed by a few more carts. All the workers around the carts are wearing the same green cloaks, and there’s a symbol on the side of the carriage. An ‘A’ with a dagger serving as the bar in the middle of the letter.

“Hey, Esme,” I say. “Whose symbol is that?”

She squints ahead and adjusts her glasses. “That’s Altum’s, I think.”

“Huh,” I say. Altum’s a small-fry as far as gods go. “Isn’t he really new?”

“He ascended... maybe fifty years ago,” Esme says. “I don’t remember any texts mentioning him having a presence in the Republic.”

“It’s new,” Bianca says.”There have been missionaries in Nafpaki. I think they asked my father for permission to set up a small temple. They’re pretty popular in the capital lately.”

“What are they doing coming this way?” I ask. As far as I can remember, Altum’s a god of fear, one that specializes in necromancy and other death-related magics. It’s all technically water magic.

We slow down even more as the caravans cross by each other. The Altum priests glance our way, and I can almost feel them judging us as we move on past. My heart beats a little faster, and I can’t help but expect trouble.

And then they’re past, and we keep on moving.

“That road only leads to Vizeda, right?” I ask.

“Yeah,” Felix says. “Didn’t feel any other main roads.”

“I wonder why a whole bunch of Altum’s worshippers would want to go there,” I mutter.

“Could be to get more worshipers,” Esme says. She returns to reading. “Lots of very afraid people, maybe some that lost family. The best way to get someone to join a cult is to target them when they’re feeling alone, when they’re in a foreign place or if they’ve just lost someone close to them.”

“Which are all things that some people in Vizeda will be feeling,” Felix says.

“A recruitment drive sounds plausible,” Bianca says. “But the timing doesn’t work. The attack happened yesterday. The nearest city is too far for the news to reach them and for them to reach Vizeda, even if they left the moment the last monster died.”

“Unless they knew about it before the attack started,” Esme says without looking away from her book.

“That’s a bit of a stretch,” I say. “But... maybe.” I glance back, but the caravan’s already gone around a bend, and all I can see of them is the trailing dust in the air above.

Our walk continues uninterrupted for a good while, a few little friends darting back to me to tell me that they’ve redirected a few curious monsters away.

By the time my feet are getting real sore, we turn off the main road and onto a smaller side-road that circles around a hill, always heading up towards the top where a small fortress is sitting.

It’s not the most impressive of fortresses. Mostly just a circle of walls a bit taller than I am, with a couple of guard towers poking out above.

Teo stops on the side of the path, letting the caravan pass him by until he’s level with us. “There’s no fire smoke,” he says.

“It’s not cold enough for a fire, is it?” Felix asks.

“The outpost is supposed to keep a smoke signal going, as a sort of landmark. Caravans stop here for the night if they can’t make it to the city. It’s safer.”

I squint up at the guard towers. They’re empty. “No one on watch,” I say.

“Esteban wants us to stop a hundred paces from the gate. We’ll go in and look around. Maybe the monster horde hit this place and took out the guards. Though they should have kept the gates closed and huddled away if there were too many monsters. You four stay with the carts.” He runs on before I can ask any questions.

“Could it be the same horde?” Felix asks.

“No,” I say. “Too far. A horde would break up between here and Vizeda, unless it was being led by a much stronger and smarter monster. What did he mean by holed up?”

“Outposts like these have basements beneath them, with heavy doors and an entrance that can be collapsed,” Bianca says. “In case a strong monster attacks. A group of guards can stay holed up for a day or two while waiting for help.”

“Makes sense,” Felix says.

I nod along. Soon the caravan comes around and stops by the front of the outpost, not too far from the gate. Someone’s left it open. I can’t see any signs of forced entry or anything though. No bodies, no blood.

“Well, that’s worrisome,” Esme says.

A group of the Big Hill Lions moves into the outpost, Teo and Esteban in the lead.

“Can you feel anything in there, Felix?” I ask.

“The only feeling I’m getting is that we’re going to be in a heap of trouble soon,” Felix says.

I shoot her a look. “You’re real funny,” I say.

She grins. “I do try.”

And that’s when the screaming starts.

***