Chapter 3: The Bandits of Borgo     Chapter 5: The Empire’s Reach

 

Chapter 4: Ancient Horrors

“We’re approaching Serafew, at the border of Renais and Grado. Once we cross, we’ll be in Grado… Renvall won’t be much farther,” Seth told me two days later.

“That is, assuming we can cross the border without mishap…” I answered dryly. We moved onward without speaking for a moment, following a path through grey woods. It was a bit misty, and not so bright as it had been.

Something moved in the trees. I would have thought nothing of it, but more movement appeared. Unhealthy looking… things ducked behind bushes and clumsily kept to cover.

I moved closer to Seth, pointing at one zombie-like creature stumbling from behind a trunk. “Those strange figures… What… what are they?” I asked, appalled. “Are they… human?”

“I’ve never seen anything like them,” Seth responded warily, his hand on his sword hilt. “What could they be?”

I had no answer for him. Seth called the rest of the group and told them to keep their weapons handy.

A young man with orangish brown curly hair ran up to us on the path. He wore white and aqua monk robes unsuited for hurrying, and he was very out of breath. “Travelers, you must listen to me! The ancient forest of Za’ha is dangerous. Head south and pass through this place before the fiends surround you!”

“Who are you?” I asked cautiously.

“My name is Artur. The temple has assigned me the task of cleansing the forest of these… things.” I saw on his face what he was thinking: There are too many for me to handle alone. “So if you would, please flee now while you have the chance.”

“I’m not scared,” Ross shouted from somewhere in the back of the group. “I’m the son of the great Garcia! Monsters, taste my axe!”

A word Artur had mentioned earlier clicked in my head. “Fiends? You’re not talking about the same fiends that served the ancient Demon King?” My eyes widened. “That can’t be right… They’re nothing but legends and fairy tales…”

Artur nodded sympathetically. “Yes, I felt the same when I heard. And yet -” he gestured “-here they are. This place is filled with them.” He shivered. “I wonder how far they’ve spread… Surely they’re not in Renais alone.”

“But… why are they here? How?”

“Beware, Your Highness!” Seth warned me, shielding me from an attack. I gasped. A huge, hovering eyeball was propelling itself towards us with tentacles.

“Please allow me to deal with this,” Artur said, bowing. The monk turned to the monster. “Evil shade! May the blessed light drive you from this land!” Brandishing a book of light magic, he blasted the eyeball.

“We ought to help,” Seth urged me. “He can’t fight them all alone. What are your orders?”

“One of my companions is in the village to the south,” Artur added. “If any of you can get there swiftly, I pray that you watch over her.”

I nodded. I had a vague map of Za’ha. Two rivers met to the south, and to the northeast, there was a high cliff, at the top of which there was a plateau. I split my group into roughly two forces. The zombies – revenants, I learnt to call them – found they were discovered and moved to attack. Their claws were sharp, but they had two vast disadvantages. One was that their claws served nothing against the heavily armoured knights such as Gilliam and Seth, and the second was that we were all too quick for them.

Several more appeared behind us, giving me the impression of a very weak and flimsy trap. I directed Vanessa to the southern village, and she brought back on her pegasus a violet-haired girl with a dark green velvet dress named Lute. She seemed… very confident – which is to say, she bragged openly of her magic power. After I saw her cast a fire spell on a zombie, however, I decided that the ego was natural and even permissable. I decided to say nothing.

All was going well. I felt sick as I saw horrid, stinking corpses staggering around, swiping at us with their claws. The most damage they did, however, was a few chips of paint off of Gilliam’s substantial armour. The worst creatures were probably the eyeballs, which popped when I stabbed them and splattered me in… goop. I wasn’t sure how well that would clean off. The eyeballs were also more accurate, and hit me with some sort of dark magic spell like invisible knives. All it really did was hurt – the skin was not broken.

Still, the bonewalkers and the sick entombed – skeletons and chief zombie – were more than enough to turn my stomach. I screamed twice during the battle. I think I cannot be blamed.

On the name entombed, I often wondered afterwards, when fighting others, whether it would not have been wiser to name them the untombed.

“We’ve killed all the monsters,” Seth informed me a while later. “Still, we’d best burn the bones to ash to be sure they don’t return.”

“I still can’t believe what we’ve been fighting here,” I said, knowing my face was deathly pale with horror. “I’d thought those fiends nothing more than myth and legend.”

“Those revenants are said to be the least of the dark creatures,” Seth said, his hand hovering unobtrusively near my elbow in case I took it into my head to faint. I wasn’t planning to, but it was a distinct possibility. “So we cannot take this enemy lightly.”

“Then we’ll just have to be better than they are,” Franz mumbled to himself, thinking no one could hear him.

“Oh, yes, there are much worse than those revenants and the entombed…” Lute explained cheerfully. “Let’s see, there’s the bonewalkers, mauthe doogs, gargoyles, baels…” She shivered in relish, the rest of us in horror and amazement. “Why, I’ll bet you just about any creature of lore could be walking again. Yes, we’re in for some trouble. Even my fabulous power may not be enough.”

“O divine light, show me… Is this a sign of dark days to come?” Artur muttured uncomfortably.

I stepped away from the group, shuddering. “By all that’s holy, what is happening?” I cried. “Is it not enough that my brother faces death at the hands of humans that all humans must face death at the claws of these fiends?” I continued in a whisper.

“Princess Eirika, perhaps it would be wise to return to Frelia and regroup,” Seth said softly behind me. “Pressing forward seems foolish in light of recent events. We cannot face both Grado’s forces and more of these terrible things.”

“Seth, I see what you mean, and nothing would please me more than running for safety.” I wanted nothing more than a good hug, but I wasn’t allowed to hug Seth, so I wrapped my arms around a tree. “But my brother… He and his men are surely trapped in the same situation we are.” I looked at him sorrowfully. “I know full well that I may be leading us into even greater danger, but… Please understand.”

My loyal general bowed. “I do, my princess, and I vow to see you through this safely.”

A troubadour – a horse-mounted woman wielding a staff – came galloping through the forest at an oblique angle to the path. It seemed she was aiming for the spot where we were. I wondered why.

“Aha! Foul creatures, beware!” she cried theatrically. She had honey blonde hair, and her eyes were the same golden brown colour. “I, L’Arachel, bestow upon you the honour of banishment at my blessed hands!”

I looked at the ‘dead’ zombies and skeletons littering the ground. “Oh…” said the troubadour, seeming to notice for the first time that nothing moved but us. “Where are the monsters?”

“Well, we just finished…” I said, gesturing.

“Ah, glad tidings indeed!” squealed L’Arachel, a bit crestfallen. “The heavens must be rejoicing! I am… a tad disappointed, however. After all, I did rush all the way here to show you the splendour of my might.”

A knight in red armour with her, a huge-chested short man with a thick bushy green beard and moustache, laughed uproariously. “Yes, it’s a real shame, innit, Lady L’Arachel!”

A slim man with a purple tunic, brown hair, a sharp face, and quick flashing eyes joined in. “What’s shameful is the way you drag us around the countryside.”

“Pardon me, but what is your name?” I asked curiously.

“Me?” answered the lady. “Since you ask, please allow me to introduce myself.” I fought the urge to roll my eyes. “It is I, the true light and glory of the sacred realm of Rausten…”

“Stop!” interrupted the red-clad knight. “Lady L’Arachel, you mustn’t reveal yourself!”

L’Arachel shrugged, disappointed again, but then brightened. “Yes, you’re right. Oh, I do get so careless sometimes! Now, I must ride off in anonymity. Oh, how beautifully romantic!” She clasped her hands to her heart and swooned a bit.

“Uh… Right,” I said, unable to think of anything else. Romantics were fine with me, mostly, seeing as I was a bit of one myself. Only, when my brother said…

“Fare thee well, strangers,” the lady called, breaking in on my thoughts. She waved and turned her horse about. “Perhaps our paths will cross again. Come, Dozla! Rennac! We ride!”

The knight, Dozla, guffawed again. “Let’s go, Rennac!”

The other man sighed and grinned wearily at me. “All right, all right.” He stumped off after the other two, muttering something about “You want us to ride and you buy me a horse, lady…”

I stared at them. “What was that about?” I turned back to my company and found them frozen in astonishment. “Huh?”

 

Chapter 3: The Bandits of Borgo     Chapter 5: The Empire’s Reach