Chapter 4: Outbursts

I looked towards lai Austere. She seemed equally dismayed at the scene that was unfolding in front of our eyes. The wraith that was once the great scientist konsan Demiarch was lying in a heap, cowering in front of us, as if in fear of either the presence of human beings other than himself or the sudden bright light that penetrated the darkness of his home.

Lai Austere broke the silence.

“Fen Demiarch?… ”

The wraith just stared at us unbelievingly with hazy mist green eyes. How long must it have been since he last heard another speak, I wondered.

“Old man, are you fen Demiarch?” she repeated.

Like fog fleeing from the light of day, the haze was lifted from his eyes as he seemed to remember what was being asked of him. He nodded slightly. He crawled away from us, to a chest. I hadn't noticed it in the gloom, and he started hurriedly rummaging in the container. We looked over his shoulder, wondering what this old man could be looking for. His movements got slower, and suddenly, he turned around, and walked towards a table across the room as if he'd forgotten that he was looking for something.

“Fen Demiarch, do you know anything about your son, lensan Xero?” she inquired the man who now seemed completely unaware of our presence. Yet he stopped his busy activity on the table as if in thought.

"Xero?" he whispered, with a voice like wind blowing through cattails. He hasn't used his voice for a long time. A pity, since he was the only known living song magic user. That was a long time ago however, and by now he probably forgot how to use the power.

------~~~------

After a while of lai Austere’s monologue, the old man finally seemed to remember. His dim eyes started to shine and as his gaze wandered over to me. For a moment I doubted his insanity, yet the haze that had covered his vision returned as he spoke again: “They took it,” he said frantically. “they have Donivetu. They took it… ”
"What about Xero?" Austere intervened.
"No. Not Xero. Donivetu. They took Donivetu from me," The old man insisted.
"Did Xero have something to do with it?"
Then in a deep, confident voice worthy of a high priest he replied: "first bring me Donivetu."
I had thoughts of maybe instead torturing this seemingly sane man, who is just playing with us. Testing our patience.
Then,

baffled at the sudden change lai Austere asked: "Then you'll tell us about Xero?"
The old man reverted back to his old crazy wraith-like state, leaving us completely puzzled about the state of his insanity, and dismissing any thoughts of forceful persuasion we had. He simply continued his mumbling as before, with that soft wheezy voice and the haze covering his eyes. "They stole it. They took it with them. They took it away. Liars. Thieves. They took it."
Finally annoyed with the whole venture I interfered:

"What did they take?"
"DONNIVETU! They took Donivetu!"
"What is Donivetu?"
"They took it with them. They stole it. Its MINE!"
"Yes, yes. But what is it?"
"They took it away, yes they did. They stole it, the thieves. They stole it."
“Fine then, Who took it?”

“Them, they took it back with them.”
"Who are "they"?"
"The thieves. The liars. They took it from me. They want it for themselves. Thieves. Filth. They took it with them."
“Ok. Fine. They took it. Where did they take it?”
“Out there, they took it out”
He pointed towards the left wall.
“Is that where they went fen Demiarch?”
He nodded.
“They took Donivetu there”
“What is Donivetu again?”
“They took it.”
“No. We want to know what it is fen Demiarch.”
“They took it. They came and took it away from me. I cant go out. They took it. They stole it. They took it. Then they left. I can’t get to it. They to-”
“Alright, alright already!” lai Austere interrupted. “We’ll go and get it back for you. Lai Isäya, let’s go.”
I nodded silently leaving the old mumbling man and the hut behind.

Was this man crazy? Or was he not? Some of the things he did, made me doubt his insanity. like that strange change of voice. What was up with that? This old man is a mystery alright. If he is indeed as crazy as he seems to be then maybe these people were robbers of some sort. That would mean that we might need o fight them for that Donivetu thing. On the other hand, if this man is just acting the part, which i wouldn't put past him, that would mean were going into a trap. Either we return his trinket to him and kill of that pest called "they", or "they" will be appeased knowing that the old man sent them two young girls.

"I think it might have something to do with Xero," lai Austere stated simply.
"Oh really?"
"He is his son afterall."
"Yes, it is a possibility. However, considering the proximity to the main templeand the distance to the Karpat mountains, it isn't very large."
“True. It could also have been years ago as far as we know. So there probably isn't much use"
"Yeah, but does it look like we have another option? That old man isn't going to tell us anything until we bring back that thing, is he?"
"no, he isn't. So which way was it again?” lai Austere asked.
“He pointed towards the southwest, but I don’t know how reliable that is. On the other hand he probably remembers well where they took his trinket no mater whether he is sane or not,” I replied. “Can you sense any human presence in that general area?”
“Lets see.”

She stood perfectly motionless, unblinking with her blue gray eyes staring off into the distance. Minutes passed in this manner. The only thing to be heard were the worms digging their tunnels underground, and the soft breeze playing with the grass. I was amazed at this ability of her's. Using the vague area of darkness to explore the area. A mysterious element, darkness that is. No one really knows all the things it encompasses, as it is far too rare.

“Yes,” she said, breaking the silence like the crack of a whip. “there are somewhere around half a dozen people over there, they are about a crow away in the exact same direction he pointed.”
“well, that shouldn’t take more than an hour or two.”
And so we continued on our way towards whoever took that thing called Donivetu from the old man.

An hour by the raven's wing.. crow's so much easier to say.. Either way better than whatever people of the ancient times used. K... Kilo.. meters. That's right, kilometers. They're like 40 times smaller than a crow? Hah, those people sure are a mystery. The little knowledge left in our great library is all to prevent us from making their mistakes. Which helps only so much as to show us how little we know. The world is tens of times bigger according to them. Apparently we are living in a small area called Europa or something of the sort... Oh and thee was that other big chunk across the desert... Asia and... Africa... yes, that's what it was. And another one across the sea... Amriga... No. Amo.. Ami... Ame... Ah, America. Right. Anyways they sure had knack for names ending in A, its weird. And the way the lived there too.. : some people were starving while others died of eating too much. It was a strange world. Maybe it was for the better that Niidon happened, like a fresh start into a new future. Its true that man-

My train of thought was interrupted by lai Austere’s stare. She was staring quite intently, is something bothering her? Ugh... Finally she looked away. Hm, the landscape around here sure is nice...

------~~~------

We could hear them now. We were very close to their camp.
“You remember the plan well lai Isäya?”
“Of course.”
She gave me a doubting look and said, "alright..Keep in mind: dead men don't talk"
We could already see the light and shadows created by the fire playing in the tree crowns. They must be having a feast of some sort. We emerged from a bush close to the feast, and so the spectacle began…

------~~~------

They were always noisy when they got drunk. It was annoying Zak. The Captain Rógh seemed to be enjoying himself, sitting around the cooking fire turned bonfire with his underlings. Drinking bad rum and singing songs about wealth and women; completely oblivious to anything going on outside of their little feast; everything seemed to be in best order.

When no one was looking, Zak slowly crept towards the captain’s pack. In the frenzy of the celebration no one saw Zak moving away with a mysterious object.
There was a sudden noise, as if someone fell, and a girl’s scream. Looking towards the apparent source of the commotion, they saw a slender girl, not over the age of twenty emerge from the bushes, and a dark hooded figure behind her, helping her up, and whispering in her ear. All five men thought the same thing: “What luck to have such a cute girl stumble right into our lap.” Not once did the rum clear to allow thoughts about why there is a girl in the middle of the woods, and that she willingly came to them. The sixth companion was only thought only about how detrimental to his amusement it would be if this sudden distraction revealed his deed as he opened a heavy metal fan to examine the source of many rumors


"Oh.. " the girl examined the rowdy crowd with the eyes of a small animal low on the food chain. "Excuse me!" she continued in a small voice "My companion and I were on our way to Villion but somehow got sidetracked and hopelessly lost... I'm scared. It's dark and we can't see where we're going... And I heard strange noises"
Of course, pretty lady. Don't worry! Have a drink with us.

Stay the night. We'll go to town tomorrow.
“Oh, thank you! Thanks so much!” she said in the sweetest voice, as she and her companion joined their midst.
What may be your names pretty ladies?
“I’m called Ayu, and this here is Isa.”
What pretty names, fitting for such pretty ladies. Why don’t you come and sit closer? Why don’t you take your hood off? Here, we'll help you. Here, take some rum. Let me hold you. I'll protect you. You can can trust us. We won't do anything bad. Have some rum. You can eat some meat too, if you'd like
“Why thank you, kind sirs. You are too good to us wanderers.”
Don’t mention it. We are pleased to be able to help out such pretty young ladies Ayu. Your friend is a bit quiet. Is she a shy one?
“Yes, she doesn’t speak much. Isa, at least take your hood off for these gentlemen.”
Oh, what a pretty face you have. You shouldn’t hide it with that hood. Let us put our arms around you. We will protect you from bad men.
“Don't touch me,” she said quietly, and a chill ran down their spines.

------~~~------


Enough. These men are annoying. They didn’t realize that we are priestesses of the Jiemti, and they fail to grasp the gap in power between us and them. Pathetic fools.
She’s had enough time to talk, they seem to trust her. I wonder how their faces will look when I cut them down…


------~~~------

Draw. To the right. Slash. Blood spilt. A bloody throat. Done.

Next. Behind. Left. Stab him. A scream. Done.

Pause. I feel her. Unlock mechanism. Throw the needle. She caught it? No time. A scream. Success?

Next one coming. Forward. Left. Second needle. Throw it. It hit. Bleeding forehead. Done.

One more. Running. Fast. Left. Dagger. Throw. Hit. Done.

Five
______soft
____________consecutive
__________________thumps.

------~~~------

Five bodes breathing their last breath, saying one last word, falling to the ground. Two priestesses content with the day’s kill standing and smiling at each other. One sad boy hiding in the shadows, terrified of the scene that unfolded in front of his eyes.

------~~~------

What are these people? Are they even human? Shit. They killed everyone. What should I do now? What if they find me? Shit! Man, how can you move that fast? She stabbed three guys in an instant. And what was up with those needles, she even threw one at her own companion! Not even looking in that direction! Crap! It looks like they can fight. Or at least the tall one can. What should I do? Ok. Stay calm. If I don’t move, then they won’t notice me, right? Right! Breathe. Calm down. Ah, they are talking. I don’t think they know I’m here. What are they saying? I can’t hear. I’ll should wait for them to leave first. before I go try anything. But what if they find me. Shit, what have I gotten myself into again. I hope they won’t stay here for the night. They're talking. Do they know I'm here?

“What was up with you Isäya?” said the lively one.
“They were annoying” replied the solemn one.
“That’s no excuse! We didn’t find out anything no thanks to your outburst! And clearly you believe that annoying men don't talk as much as dead ones.”
“We’ll be fine. One escaped when we came here. I felt six presences when we were hiding in the bushes, but there are only five bodies here. If the guy was watching, then we should have no problem getting information out of him. He will come find us to avenge the deaths of his comrades and he will fail. Then you’ll get your answers.”
"You don't know the guy personally, you can't say he's the avenging type. You don't even know if it's a guy. And where's the guarantee that your senses were not wrong?"
"I am the guarantee"