Chapter 109

"So how did you survive your classes?" Armilla shouted as they flew north.

Katarina glanced back at Armilla. "What do you mean?" She asked.

"Back at the Temple, you said that I had it easy; that the tests for a Witch Hunter were hard. I thought you were mocking me then, but you were right." Armilla admitted.

"Why would I mock you?" Katarina called back. "I didn’t even know you existed until Cyrillus mentioned you but a few minutes earlier."

"You haven’t answered my question!" Armilla exclaimed, leaning forward in the seat behind Katarina.

"How did I survive?" Katarina repeated, and laughed. "Only through sheer willpower and faith in the Golden Lady."

Armilla made a vexed sound. "I had to be taken to the healers several times every day."

Katarina laughed at that. "There were times I had to stay with the healers all day." Katarina switched topics, not wanting to hurt the girl's feelings by revealing that paladin training- specifically combat training- was a small part of Witch Hunter training. "You missed out on the wilderness survival test, right?"

Armilla nodded, and then called out her agreement.

"You'll have to learn as we go, then." Katarina replied simply.

Katarina and Armilla were heading north to Norn. Katarina had enough evidence of suspicious activity in the clergy there to open a case; their behavior was secretive and suspicious; their record-keeping was haphazard and indecipherable. The last time Katarina had been in Norn, she'd gone into the untamed and largely unmapped forests to the east and found beastmen, animated dead, and demons.

Beastmen were a problem on every continent, and didn't necessarily point to a mages' presence, though rogue mages often employed mutants, beastmen and other cast-offs from humanity. Animated dead and demons however, required the explicit intervention of a mage. Demons didn't summon themselves. The dead didn't rise and attack on their own. What made this particular assignment so troublesome for Katarina was that the mage that was most likely to be responsible for these magical occurences was likely her own twin sister, Alsabet Pavlenko.

Katarina reached back without looking. "Let me see your gun."

Armilla handed it forward, and Katarina examined it carefully. It was a single-barrel, lever action scattergun. The gun was plainly designed, with no ornamentation, seals, scrollwork, or embossing. Katarina made to hand it back, and noticed a small jade inlay in the stock, indicating a magical enhancement.

"What’s that for?" She asked, handing it back.

"it’s a bullet enhancement. Icy Burst." Armilla replied. Katarina nodded. Scatter rounds enhanced with an Icy Burst were brutal, freezing and tearing flesh.

"have you trained with it much?" Katarina asked. Armilla affirmed she had.

"The best strategy I’ve found with a three-shot gun is to fire twice and hold one round back just in case. Switch to the sword if you need to, then reload when you have a chance. Since your gun is different, it might not work." Katarina mentioned. Armilla shook her head. "I don’t know how well that would work with a scattergun."

They flew in silence For a while. Katarina consulted her map frequently, but was disappointed when the map didn’t show her anything of what she was seeing. As they flew, Katarina talked about what she’d learned, bringing up the demons, the centaurs, and the undead and how she’d countered them.

"I’d suggest not taking on beastmen directly if you can help it. They’re wicked strong. Take them from a distance, confirm your kills. I’ve found they usually have a redundant set of organs in their animal parts. Centaurs for example have a second heart." Armilla nodded, though Katarina didn’t see it.

"I remember from your lecture." She called forward, and then added, "Is that Norn?" Armilla pointed out and to the right.

Katarina frowned. "I’ve been hoping it wasn’t." She replied grimly. There were smoky fires interspersed among the neat rows of buildings everywhere down below.

"We’ll land on the town green. Be prepared for anything. I think we might be landing in a warzone."

Katarina loosened Galatine in its scabbard, and loaded her gun. Even after practice it still felt strange, different from the Eagle's Talon she once carried. She could hear Armilla load her gun behind her.

Katarina pointed to the smudge of green and called out to her mount.

"Marcela, there, on the green." The drake dipped her head and swung around. Down below she could hear shouts and cries of alarm.

"It’d be just our luck if they start shooting at us." Katarina grumbled.

As if to agree with her, an arrow buzzed by, ragged fletchings humming in the air.

"Shit!" Armilla yelled.

"Marcela, ignore the arrows. We need to land, and fast." Katarina called out.

Marcela roared as she touched down, wings backstroking, whipping up clouds of soot and dust that Katarina and Armilla coughed and waved away from their faces. Katarina made a mental note to wrap a cloth around her face when she next landed, to avoid dirt in the eyes. The two women dismounted quickly, Katarina drawing her gun and sword, Armilla drawing gun and shield. Katarina glanced around; it looked like some buldings had been randomly burned weeks prior; others left bafflingly intact and unmolested. There were several buildings on fire that they'd seen from the air. Whatever was happening, had started happening at least a month ago and was still ongoing.

As the soot and dust settled, a figure approached; a stooped, wizened old man with a shock of touseled white hair that stuck out at crazy angles. At first Katarina thought him to be wearing brown robed of some sort, but as he approached she really saw that it was hanging folds of nut-brown skin. Suddenly, and without warning, he pointed at them, and began capering about, stamping out a little dance of malignant joy. "There, there! Get them!" He shrieked, arms flapping and feet stomping. Armilla drew up.

"Is he ... human?" She asked, and Katarina understood why; as the man capered and stomped, two long translucent wings flapped about uselessly on his back.

"Mutant." Katarina cursed. The thing approached, and Armilla took her cue from Katarina and held back.

Suddenly the flaps of hanging skin on his arms swelled, balloon-like and a mad buzzing roared from his flesh as he laughed.

"Get them! Sting them! Feed on their flesh!" He screeched and two thick clouds of insects disgorged themselves from him. Katarina aimed and fired, the crack of the revolver loud. The mutant’s head blew apart like rotted fruit and he fell backwards. "That was sort of... anticlimactic." Armilla observed.

The advancing swarm hovered, seemingly uncertain. Katarina glanced at Armilla. "Fall back. No sudden movements." They took a few steps back and the swarm swirled about, and dived at them.

"Shit, run!" Armilla yelled, and they ran back towards Marcela.

"Marcela! Fire!" Katarina yelled, and Marcela obliged with a billowing jet of fire that roasted the cloud of bugs.

Katarina examined some of the insect corpses. "Ugh. wasps. Not any kind I’ve seen before, though." She murmured. Armilla agreed. They were fleshy pink with black stripes, and bled red when stepped on.

"We should bottle up a few; the church may want to examine them." Katarina remarked to Armilla. "If they’re poisonous, we may have a way of creating an antidote from these bodies." Armilla nodded, and rummaged through the saddlebags on Marcela.

"You catch up to me. There has to be more than just him in this town." Katarina called as she strode away. Armilla grimaced, but rooted faster.

Katarina had only gotten a few steps when she heard the pounding of hooves racing towards them. Just off the green was the Inn she’d tried to room at the last time she was in Norn; she sprinted to the wall and planted her back against it. There wasn’t time to call out a warning to Armilla without revealing her position; she could only hope for the best.

Half a dozen or so centaurs thundered onto the green, rearing and pawing the air at the sight of the drake, which roared at them, wings flaring wide. Katarina’s eyebrows rose; she was expecting mounted militia, not beastmen.

They backstepped away from the drake cautiously, clustering up in a tight group. Remembering the time she'd encounted beastmen the last time she was in the area, Katarina called out to them. "Hey, are you part of Mara’s tribe?"

One of them whipped his head around, turning his body. The others switched between keeping their eye on the drake and watching Katarina. "Of course. Who are you, that you should know that name?" He demanded brusquely.

Katarina grinned impudently up at the centaur that moved to tower over her. "The one that killed her, of course. And her mate, Rama. And everyone else she traveled with."

Shock and anger warred on his face. His thick, hairy hands clenched tightly into gigantic fists. "You are the lowest of the low." He spat thickly, voice clotted with rage.

She shrugged, raised her gun and then fired. The bullet smashed into his jaw, tore through his head and blew out the top of his skull. As his body staggered, she calmly turned and fired again, and a jet of white fire lanced from the barrel, flaring out in a brilliant cone that immolated two of the centaurs, turning them into screaming, staggering inferoes. She'd been warned about that, back in Darnell. There was a chance that a shot could occasionally turn into a jet of flame. There was no mechanical explanation, no mechanism in gun or ammunition that did it; it simply rarely, randomly happened.

Armilla jumped into the fight, slamming her shield into the side of one of the centaurs, and firing her shotgun at another. The icy shards slammed into the unsuspecting centaur’s upper body, tearing huge swathes.

Katarina fired again, catching the one that Armilla had bulled into in the hip. He clapped his hands over the wound, shrieking. Katarina swung with her sword and cut deep into his chest. His shrieks turned to gurgles, and his blood was frothy with bubbles. Katarina holstered her gun and beheaded the centaur as the remaining two centaurs struggled away from the press of bodies.

Armilla fired after them as they dashed away and one of them stumbled, but did not fall. Katarina reloaded her gun and Armilla did the same, taking her cue from Katarina.

"The town is overrun." Katarina muttered. Armilla nodded.

Katarina turned to the paladin. "Shield and gun?" She asked.

"Thought it would work." Armilla mumbled.

"Hasn’t yet. You’re alive because I’m here. They’re huge, right? Did you think you could budge one? I would have rushed that one the same way you did, but stabbed him through the ribs here." She stepped on the fallen body and tapped her foot on the centaur’s torso and continued her lecture. "That would have eliminated one, given you cover to kill another, perhaps two if you fired twice... Though against these eight, it was only by luck that they were clustered together like that." she sighed and shrugged. "It’s irrelevant now. Did you bottle those bugs?"

Armilla nodded. "Some of them were still alive, so I grabbed those."

Katarina nodded back in acknowledgement. "Good." She sighed. "Mutants and beastmen so far. And we got arrows shot at us when we came in. Were they friendlies that were scared, or was it more of the same?" She shook her head.

"Let’s go to the church here." Armilla suggested. "if there are survivors, they’re bound to be in the church."

Katarina turned to Marcela.

"Marcela dear, you can come with us, or you can stay here if you like. Kill the mutants and beastmen that happen to wander by. Try not to kill humans." The drake lumbered over to Katarina. "Okay, we all go together." Katarina laughed.

They mounted up and moved down the street. Katarina frowned at the abandoned buildings. Where was the militia? Why weren’t the churches’ forces pushing back? Had they already been wiped out? Why hadn't help been requested from Aston or Darnell?

Katarina whispered a prayer to the Goddess as she brought up the power within her to sense magic. If there was a mage about, she wanted to be aware of them before they were aware of her. She couldn't sense anything as they moved down the street, but her ability was tuned to finding mages and the spells they cast, it wouldn't register beastmen or mutants unless they were casting spells or using magical items themselves.

Again and again, she was baffled at the sense of abandonment in the city. Darnell was only a week's ride away. Aston was a bit further. Help should have been requested and recieved weeks ago. Why'd the city go silent?

Something caught in her mind, a sense of twisting a strange, almost alien sort of warping. Whatever it was, it wasn't a mage, but seemed rather to be the opposite of a mage; rather than radiating magic outward, it instead seemed to pull in the ambient magical power that flowed throughout the natural world, funneling it inwards upon itself. Katarina touched the reins and Marcela halted.

"What is it?" Armilla asked, glancing about.

"Not sure. Something feels wrong." Katarina replied, and closed her eyes. "That way." She pointed to the right.

She urged Marcela to turn right, and dismounted, waving for Armilla to do the same. She pointed at a familiar mercantile. "There." She said, and kicked open the door. The wood shattered, pieces flying.

A figure rose from behind the counter and shambled towards her. Katarina fired without hesitation, the muzzleflash revealing a bulbous, green and purple shape with fissured skin that seethed and churned. Armilla darted forward as the thing swung a deformed limb. She caught the blow on her shield. She shoved the thing back, and Katarina fired again.

"Mutant?!" Armilla yelled. The thing burbled, spraying blood. Katarina shook her head. The sense of wrongness was concentrated on that figure.

"For the Goddess!" Armilla yelled, and swung her sword. The blade tore into the torso, blood splashing. the thing was thrashing about. Katarina took another shot and the thing recoiled backwards, Armilla’s blade was wrenched from her grasp as the thing stumbled backwards. The thing regenerated around the sword, a mass of pink tentacles blooming from the things’ chest.

Katarina fired again as the thing lurched towards Armilla, the tentacles reaching for her.

"Dammit Armilla, get out of the way!" She yelled and Armilla rolled backwards. Katarina fired again, hoping for the flames that had flared from the barrel before in the street, but instead the gun fired normally.

"Shit! fall back and retreat!" she yelled.

The bulbous head suddenly grew a massive maw lined with teeth as long as her hand and roared at her. Katarina backed out of the mercantile and the thing shambled forward into the light. It was mottled an eye-wrenching combination of purple and green, splotched with black spots, bulbous and deformed, with a massive ball shoulder on one side, and a sloped, diminutive arm that ended with three wriggling tentacles on the other. Katarina fired again, and this time the cone of fire lanced out, slamming into the thing and blasting it back. The flames surged over the thing, cracking, greedily feeding on the flesh.

Katarina fired again, but the gun clicked uselessly.

"Shit! She yelled, and holstered quickly. The thing shambled forward, more hideous growths sprouting from the torso, all reaching for her. She drew her sword and swung, the blade parted flesh like silk, lopping tentacles off. New ones sprang from the stumps, some branching to form multiple tendrils, others growing even longer.

"Abomination!" Katarina yelled. From behind there was a gunshot and the thing jerked from the impact, but did not falter. Armilla fired again, and again it staggered, but did not stop crawling. Katarina swung again and again, bits and pieces flying off, spraying iridescent, oily blood. Marcela spat fire at the thing and it caught alight from the drake’s spittle.

"Get down!" a male voice suddenly yelled, and Katarina dove to the side. A short hail of arrows thudded uselessly into the creature.

Katarina rolled to her feet and pulled out her gun, rolling the chamber out. she ejected spent shells and thumbed in fresh ones as she backpedaled. She snapped the cylinder closed with a flick of her wrist and fired, and the cone of flame roared out, splashing and blasting the thing back. Katarina noted that where the fire touched, it didn’t regenerate. Still, the flesh bubbled and smoked grotesquely.

Armilla fired again, working the lever rapidly this time, and the thing fell over. A man in the garb of the militia hurried over.

"Are you all right?!" he yelled at her. She nodded.

"Fine, captain. Where are the rest of your men?" She asked.

"I’m just a pikeman, Mi’lady." he corrected and pointed up at the rooftop on the street corner. "I heard gunshots and got some of my buddies together."

She nodded. "We’re gonna bring that thing down, captain, and you’re going to help. We’re going to bring it down and then your men are going to hack it to pieces and burn it."

"Pikeman, mi’lady." he corrected again. she shook her head dismissively. "I don’t care. For now you’re a goddamned captain. Get your men to fire at that thing until their quivers are empty."

He raised his hand and pointed at the thing, and let it drop. five men stood up, and began drawing bow and firing. The thing shuddered and convulsed and instead of standing upright, it grew six legs and crouched, spiderlike.

Katarina fired at the center mass, fired until her gun ran dry, and reloaded again.

The thing moved again, tendrils lashing out, crabbing the man. Katarina stepped forward and grabbed him, hauling him back with her phenomenal strength. the man’s breeches split, but the result was that he was free and safe.

"Fall back to your men. Keep fire on that thing. Use fire arrows if you have them!" She yelled. He bolted. She raised her hand.

Blessed be the Goddess of the Dawn, the Golden Lady that watches over and protects us. She thought, and brought it down. a beam of fire lanced from her hand and slammed into the thing. Fire splashed about the thing, burning limbs and setting the torso alight. Katarina ran forward, drawing her sword and shearing through a leg as the thing screamed. She raised her sword again, and brought it down, shearing through another leg.

"Get in there!" The pikeman was yelling. "Get in there and help the Witch Hunters!"

Blood was gouting, splashing everywhere. Katarina kept swinging, blade cleaving through thick limbs and cutting through flesh. Suddenly she was supported on the sides with the men who had fired; They joined the fray, shortswords biting into the body. Armilla leapt atop the thing, firing rapidly, hand pumping the cocking lever. Part of the torso blew apart in a gory splash. Armilla subsequently lost her balance and fell over backwards. She rolled clear as Katarina sliced down through the thing, finally cleaving the thing’s torso in two. The men let out a ragged cheer.

"Fire!" Katarina called with an exhausted voice. "We need to burn this thing with fire."

She glanced down at the torso, and grabbed Armilla’s sword, trapped within the things’ body. With a yank she freed the blade and used it to prop herself up.

She glanced down at herself, she was drenched in gore and offal. She glanced about for Armilla, who was staggering to her feet.

"Your sword, apprentice." She called, and tossed it to her. Armilla glanced at it and sighed, and bent down and picked it up. She reached under her faulds and tugged out a handkerchief, and wiped the blade and pommel clean.

"You keep a kerchief in there?" Katarina remarked amusedly. Armilla nodded wearily. "Blood in the scabbard is a quick way to a rancid scabbard."

She passed the rag over to Katarina, who wiped down Galatine and sheathed it. She checked the loads on her gun, and turned towards the pikeman she’d spoken with earlier.

"Captain, over here a sec." Katarina beckoned.

He came over with an easy smile. "You’re not going to be satisfied until I really am a captain are you, Mi’lady?" Katarina chuckled.

"Have a care how you address her, guardsman. She is the Saint Katarina." Armilla announced with a frown. Katarina palmed her face.

"S-" his eyes bulged.

"It doesn’t matter. What does matter is restoring Norn." She glanced around. "Is everyone at the Church?" She asked.

"The civilians are, Mi’- Your Grace. Most of the militia, too. We were overwhelmed pretty quickly."

"What happened?"

"Beastmen from the forest. Beastmen, mutants, and ... other things." He shook his head. "We’re used to keeping the peace, drunken brawls, arresting thieves. Some of us have tracked a few beastmen in the woods before, but..." he shrugged his shoulders. She nodded. "I understand. No one expects to fight a war." She lifted a finger. "What of the fouled dead? When I was here some weeks back, I reported to the church that there were demons, beastmen, and fouled dead."

He shook his head. "First i’ve heard, but that’s not saying much, Mi- Your Grace."

She ground her teeth. "Fine." She said tightly. She turned back towards the man. "Why aren't the rest of the militia out here?" She asked. He shook his head. "Me and my buddies here, we wanted to do this. We set out on our own. The others are in the church, securing it and keeping the civilians safe." She nodded again.

"Fine." She said again, and raised her holy symbol. "I’m appropriating you and your men, captain. from now until I release you, you’re under my personal authority."

"Of course, Your Grace."

"No chance you’ll call me ‘Katarina’, huh?" She asked ruefully. He bit his lip. She sighed. "We need that thing there burned, and quickly. I’m going to keep you out of the fighting for the time being; I want you and your men to drag bodies to the Green for cleansing. There should be lamp oil or spirits in the mercantile store. Take it on my authority." She frowned, feeling an uncomfortable tightness in her chest. "That should be the only thing you take from the stores. If anything else comes up missing, I will kill you all and offer your souls to the Golden Lady for retributive judgement, so be sure your hands and fingers are honest."

She ticked off a second finger. "We’re going to need wood for pyres. There is a lumber mill here, there should be plenty of wood for them. You can appropriate that, too."

She glanced down the street in the direction of the church.

"I have no idea if this place has been cleared completely. I’ve only killed what I’ve seen. I have no idea if you will survive. This takes precedence, however. Abominations are a blight on the skin of the world and an offense to the Golden Lady. They must be completely destroyed as quickly as possible."

Through all of this, the newly-raised captain nodded thoughtfully.

"Can you get us reinforcements from the Church, Your Grace?"

"Leave your men with the task I’ve assigned, captain, and come along to the church with us. You’ll have your pick, if I have my say."

Armilla smiled wryly. "You probably will. And if what I understand what was said about the Church here in Norn..." Her jaw clenched. "Have they made a virtue of irresponsibility?" Katarina nodded. "It seems like it is so."

Armilla shook her head angrily. Katarina touched her arm. "Mount up Marcela, and follow us down the street." She said, and drew her gun and checked the loads again. She signaled to the captain and gestured to his men, who were ponderously dragging the parts together in a pile. He stepped towards the group and began barking orders. Katarina doffed her hat and mopped her brow.

"We’ve only got..." she glanced at the sky. "about four or five hours left of daylight remaining." She grit her teeth.