COP S2.12 Cursed (Part 1)

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Previously on…

Tass’s wyrcome became a refuge for many who escaped Yiat. The trauma of it all lingered, leading to tense conversations between Lyn, Tass, and Nia. Tass took time to heal a child while Lyn prepared to leave on their excursion to the Daunger ruins.

Previously on…

Tass’s wyrcome became a refuge for many who escaped Yiat. The trauma of it all lingered, leading to tense conversations between Lyn, Tass, and Nia. Tass took time to heal a child while Lyn prepared to leave on their excursion to the Daunger ruins.

Clouds rolled in as dusk arrived. Unlike the previous nights, the air was warm, still, and heavy.

Perhaps the events in Yiat had bled out onto the land beyond. Or perhaps we were getting closer to the origins of whatever curse had been carried into the city. Both seemed likely. Small distortions appeared in the patterns I saw as we neared our meeting place. Shifting patterns weren’t unexpected. It was how they came in and out of focus that made them feel more ominous.

The dimming light gave way to darkness while we waited near the forest’s edge. Tass said Mise’s contact would find us. I hated waiting. An unfamiliar, nervous horse didn’t help. I had to keep reminding myself that every little start or whinny wasn’t a sign that something was off. Still, I was glad to give Spiri a rest. When we’d left the wyrcome, Jor had her out in the orchard, snacking on the obuoo and running free. There’s no better healer than freedom.

Through occasional breaks in the clouds, light from Beobar and Mihkh cascaded over the plain in front of us. The forest, however, remained dark, the canopy so thick the filtered brightness of both full moons couldn’t penetrate it.

Tass shifted on his horse.

I craned to hear what must have drawn his attention.

Nothing. No change in the already shifting patterns.

“What is it?” I whispered.

“They’re almost here.”

“They?”

“Yes. There’s two. Plus Mise.”

“But—”

“Yiat changed his mind.”

Mise had been so adamant he couldn’t fight. Would having him with us be a help, or would he be in the way?

“On our right.”

I followed his words and saw dark figures on horses following the treeline. How did he know? Either he was reading them from a distance, which he said he wouldn’t, or he had some other form of communication with them. That made me unsettled. Tass was withholding too much information, but I had no choice but to trust him. The fryn did, after all. But I didn’t have to like it.

“Hololo,” Mise’s voice called out.

“Hololo,” Tass responded.

They came within a few feet, and I still could only make out a rough sense of them. I knew which one was Mise since he’d talked. He was bulky, seemingly much larger than his already large frame. He’d come ready to fight, armored from head to toe. His companions appeared to be similarly outfitted, though one gave the impression of being female despite the bulk.

“Tass, Lyn, this is Bryn and Tangwen. I trust them with my life, and yours.”

“It might come to that, if what happened in Yiat started in the ruins,” Tass said. “Thank you for coming.”

“Not like Mise gave us much choice!” said the figure on the left.

“Your sword has been still fer too long, Bryn. Any excuse fer you to whip it out again!” said the other in a distinctively female voice.

Bryn chuckled. “That’d be true too.”

There was an easiness between them I could sense without needing to read them. They were lovers and warrior companions. It made me believe they would give their lives for one another, but would they really do that for me or Tass? I wanted to see their faces and considered putting up an orb. There was something else lingering in the darkness though, a shift in the pattern that left me feeling as if it were waiting for the light too.

“I have no doubt we’ll need it after what we saw in Yiat. Something has been at work here. To no good end. Mise told you why we need you?”

“Non-magic warriors to fight cursed creatures? Yee, he did. If Mise weren’t the one asking, we’d not be here.”

“If he weren’t here, we’d not be,” Tangwen added.

So, the truth of Mise’s change of heart was clear. I doubted he had told them everything, but enough to know they thought they couldn’t trust Tass or I. I’d have scoffed at them for doubting me, except I had reason to doubt myself now, even with the Demeid pushed back. I’d almost drank from the well at the ruins, and that was before it fed me visions of how to release it. Tass too, with those occasional looks of the darkness within. Could we really hold it off when we were about to enter its territory? Or was the Daunger curse separate, an ancient evil magic unrelated to the Demeid?

It was easy to get lost in my thoughts as the silence grew after Tangwen’s comment. Getting stuck in my head with worry wasn’t going to help us. Getting it done was the only thing that would make the uneasiness go away.

“What’s our plan?” I directed the question at Tass, still uncomfortable not being the one with all the answers.

“We make our way to Hofton. I doubt anyone will talk to us. The people there are suspicious of everything. But maybe there will be some trace we can find. After that we head to the ruins, but no one goes through the arch. No matter what.”

“Haven’t been this way much, but always gave them ruins a wide berth. Don’t need to be a kerrt to know it’s a bad place,” Bryn said.

His words stung. Not many people called us kerrts anymore, not since the purges ended. Most considered it impolite, even non-magic users. I found it downright insulting. It wasn’t the word itself that got to me, though. Why hadn’t I sensed the badness of the place earlier? We were almost inside, and it was Spiri who sensed it first. I didn’t like doubting myself. I couldn’t afford to doubt myself. And we didn’t have time for me to have a sit, and a drink, to think about it.

“You’re right about that,” Mise said. “From what Tass described, we should find some trace outside. The people clearing the trail and stealing the signs must come from, and go, somewhere.”

“We aren’t goin’t find anythin’ sitt’n here. Night’s old enough as is.”

We all mumbled agreement and set off toward Hofton. Out on the road, the night turned darker. No more filtered moonlight, just thick clouds that seemed to roil above us. Tass and I were leading the way based on the patterns of the land. I never understood how I could see them even in the dark, but I did. Sienten had once described it as vision beyond vision. Most of the time I was grateful for it.

“Is it shifting in and out of focus for you?” I asked Tass as quietly as I could.

“Yes. And I get the sense it’s trying to lead us the wrong way. Our friends though, are helping.”

Of course the fryn were helping. “They keep bringing it back you think?”

“Must be.”

“Somethin’ wrong?” Tangwen asked.

“No.” Tass answered. “We’re almost there.”

A bead of sweat rolled down my cheek. “I don’t like this.”

“Neither do I.” He stopped. A red orb appeared above us, casting his face with harsh shadows.

Mise came alongside him. “What is it?”

The red light grew in strength until it illuminated a large circle.

“Somethin’ is wrong after all. Where’s the road?” Tangwen circled us. “How do a couple o’ kerrts with pattern sense get us lost?”

“Tang—“ Mise started.

“Look! Here’s the road. Didn’t take us too far off,” Bryn called from just outside the light. “Your sense o’ direction must be tainted. That’s not a good sign.” He came close to Mise. “Should we go on? Seems might be more serious than lookin’ for tracks.”

There was a flicker in Mise’s eyes. It might have been the reflection of the red orb, but to me it looked like fear.

“Tass, maybe we should wait for dawn.”

Both Tangwen and Bryn nodded at Mise’s words. Part of me agreed too. Another part told me we shouldn’t wait.

“You don’t have to come uncle. But we need to go on.”

I assumed I was included in his use of the word we. He was right, of course. Whatever messed with our senn was trying to keep us away. I needed to know why. It couldn’t just be cursed ruins. Deep inside something shifted, like a snake slipping its coil.

“No. You’re right.” He pulled in a long breath through his teeth. “It knows we’re coming. There’s no need to sneak anymore.”

I launched my own orbs to go with Tass’. They spread out, hovering above us in such a way as to illuminate all directions.

After surveying how I’d arranged the light, he sent off three more ahead of us. Though the red light helped save our night vision, such as it was, it made me shiver. It was better than the shifting patterns, but still ominous.

A few minutes later, we came across the first sign that ominous wasn’t a strong enough word. The outstretched body of a man lay in the road. It was as if he had leapt and fell, dead. His skin was mottled with shades of purple. Not like bruises. Like the purple left on Steffan’s lips. The ground beneath him was darker, cracked, and dry.

“We’d best go round wide.” Tangwen said.

I caught her eye and found it filled with suspicion. “The Daunger curse needs contact. As long as we don’t touch anything cursed we should be fine.”

The others exchanged glances before securing their helmets. They were faceless, almost like a ball placed over their heads. I couldn’t see any holes for eyes or mouth, but the surface was similarly styled to the rest of their armor.

“But knowin’ what not to touch is the trick.” Her voice was clear despite the helmet. “The ground there, your sensin’ must show you it’s cursed too.”

Her suggestion that I should read the ground distracted me from the disconcerting look of the helmets. I hadn’t tried to read the body or the ground. Being misled off the path by my ability terrified me. What would I see, and would it be real?

“Avoid the darker ground,” Tass said. “That’s where it ends.”

He sounded so sure. I wished I could be.

We led our horses past the body and back onto the road. Dark shadows loomed at the edge of the light, slowly resolving into the collection of houses that made up Hofton. The doors hung open. No candles, fires, or sounds. No sign of life, just a silence that pounded on my mind.

“On Dracinn’s wing,” Bryn said. “Look ahead.”

I squinted and made out a mound in the middle of the road. A dark stain stretched out from it and shone in the light. Blood. Enough to form a stream and collect like rainwater in a puddle. Beyond it, more purple stained the ground.

“How many?” Tangwen asked.

“Can’t tell. Just bits left. Be wary.” He unsheathed a sword.

The mound resolved into a mash of interconnected limbs, circles of hair, eyes staring out from bodiless heads, fingers dipped into the pool of thick liquid.

I pulled back the reins. Closed my eyes. I couldn’t escape. The pile of what used to be people was the same as the one from my vision of freeing the Demeid. Smaller, but still as horrifying. I was about to turn my horse around when I felt something on my thigh.

Mise was next to me, his gauntleted hand pressing down.

“Look at me.” His voice was soft, but firm.

I didn’t want to. I really didn’t want to.

He pressed harder.

Fighting the nausea swelling inside me, I met his gaze.

“Don’t think. Just follow me. Can you do that?”

I didn’t know if I could, but I nodded. Mise led the way while the others talked in quiet tones. Their words passed by as if they were wind.

A couple of my red orbs followed us as he navigated around the atrocity. When we stopped, he ordered me to look at him again.

“You’ve never been to battle. It was a mistake to bring you. It was probably a mistake for us to come at all. But this…this needs to be contained. We can’t let it spread again. Are you with us?”

The word ‘again’ snapped me out of the numbness taking over my mind. “What do you mean again?”

“We’ve fought the cursed before…in the Blistering Peaks. It will spread if we don’t get it in time. Can you find the strength within you to face it? If not, you must turn back.”

Turn back. Run. My instincts screamed at me to run. I’d seen death. I’d seen violence. Nothing compared to the depravity of what was done to the townspeople. And if I couldn’t trust my magic, what chance did I have?

“My senn, the patterns. It’s, it’s wrong…shifting, searching…I don’t know. If I can’t trust it, how can I do anything?” I silently begged the fryn to help, to push the growing darkness in my mind, the uncertainty, away. If they heard me, they refused to help.

“You have other magic. Other abilities. And I assume you can protect yourself with that staff. Stoikenn can be a powerful ally, too. I’ve been told it’s hard to corrupt.”

Fire had been the first stoikenn, non-senn magic, I’d mastered. Since then I’d dabbled in the others. Except water. I stayed away from that for…reasons. “I’m good with fire.” I shook my head. “But I’ve never used it like this, for fighting. Just for show. Mostly.” Minor skirmishes or scaring off the occasional beast didn’t compare to what we were headed towards.

His shoulders fell. The hardness I’d interpreted as an attempt to give me strength was replaced by a sadness. “I would have it so that no one ever needed to battle.” He pulled himself up straighter. “But we often aren’t given a choice. You have one. Go back and wait for us at the wyrcome. Or use your abilities to help us. I believe you can, but not if you’ve lost faith in yourself.”

Tass came up along my other side. “Are you ready to go on?”

I looked away, unable to show any weakness to him. There was a push, gentle like a caress, and I knew he was reading me. “Don’t,” I said louder and firmer than I intended.

“I’m trying to help.”

“How can that help? How can you even trust what you see after…after. What if you’re only seeing what it wants you to see?”

“I see you as you were when you first tried to read me, only less diminished.”

I assumed he meant less of the Demeid. My pattern had been reset just hours before we’d left for Yiat.

“Read me now, and you’ll understand. Nothing has changed or weakened our senn. The land pattern is corrupted, not our ability to see.” He reached out and took my hand. “Read me.”

I did. Only long enough to see his pattern didn’t flow in and out like the land had. I hadn’t seen much before, but it matched what I remembered.

He squeezed my hand and let go. “See? We can still do this. We have to do this. It’s the only way to save more people from getting infected. And the first step toward finishing what we’ve started. To save ourselves.”

I swallowed down the sickness still rising in my throat. If I turned back now, I might as well give up on the whole idea of ever being free. “Let’s go.”

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