Bound Evil

Countless sources of buzzing droned through the trees, all culminating in one earthshaking crescendo that filled the air with an oppressive, vibrating hum. Just below that, the voices of men, shouting could be heard over the wash of noise.

Near the front of the collum, people rushed to and fro as they tried to rebuff the tide of Blightstingers

Emily dodged back so that she wasn’t coated in a fresh layer of insect blood and bile. The first one she’d dropped from on high had splattered so far that she was certain she’d be picking flakes of carapace out of her hair for days. Alex had moved Mist up into the center of their formation, so Emily could see when he unleashed that same ball of fire from the day prior.

Alex had not said anything but she was fairly certain those attacks were taxing on him and he had already released half a dozen. Though to be fair, every bolt had hit and killed its target.

With the insect so close, Emily now understood Kaels orders to his team. The Blightstingers were nasty creatures. Their main form of attack was to abduct prey and pull them into the air. If they could, they would sting their prey, injecting lethal doses of venom before others of its kind would fly in and rip their victim to pieces. Emily saw it almost happen to a man from team three, but Kael had separated from the group and dove into the air. He cut the thing's wings off before it could deposit its toxic payload. When the others closed in he pushed the now-falling Blightstinger and escaped the insect's encirclement.

Emily knew right away how effective her newest spell was and couldn't help the excitement that bubbled up from her chest.

The only downside was that she had to be extra careful not to use it when their allies were directly below the insects. Emily started by focusing on the more distant ones and at first, she thought that as long as she could see them, the ‘Focus’ rune could target them. But Emily then noticed that the further out her target was, the more energy the rune ate. This meant that there wasn’t as much source for the ‘Lift’ rune to do this job and the furthest Blightstingers only fell a bit before recovering in mid-air. Moving back to the middle of the pack Emily had already taken out five of her own. She was about to go for another when Ashe screamed from beside her.

“Emily slow down! You’re using too much energy!”

Hearing this Emily glanced over at the woman and nodded. She felt fine but it was better to go with the woman's advice, switching over to blood blots Emily was happy to see that they too detonated the creature's carapace with ease. As it turned out the Blightstingers were not all that hardy to begin with, only their numbers and flight made them a threat.

When the second wave hit, it was easily over thirty fresh Blightstingers.

They landed on the outer teams, but once they did it became hard for them to leave the ground. The Wandering fangs aimed at their delicate wings and grounded them forever. Or at least until the creatures could be killed.

With the Bruins, it had been hard for Emily to tell because of the danger they posed, but now that she could see everyone working together, she could only define it as a well-oiled machine. Team four took care of the wings while teams two and three killed the downed insects. Kael and his team led by Selia acted as a response team filling the gaps like a shifting kill squad or rescue team if need be.

When everything was said and done and the final Blightstinger fell from the skies, not a single man or woman had died. Granted, many were injured and some were even maimed but no one complained.

Kael called for the injured to be treated and soon enough they were on the move again. Emily was delighted with her own contribution because she had gotten a good amount of the Life force for all those deaths. They weren’t all in range, but a good many of them were.

They were only worth a single blood bolt, and because she got the energy with her title it was only about half that, but at the end of the day, she added nineteen lives to her pool. The power in Emily's blood was rapidly growing out of its adolescent stage.

When the collum reached the top of the incline they had been climbing, Emily noticed the land seemed to flatten out for some time. Culminating into a large flat plain of sorts. Trees were scarcer here and yet less snow littered the ground.

If it was warmer, it was only by a few degrees, but it made all the difference to the surrounding vegetation. Life all around them wrestled with the weakening hold of winter. Trees had begun to send out shoots that would soon bloom into leaves. Tufts of vibrant green pushed up through the melting snow, making way for the buds and flowers to reach the afternoon sun.

They only travel another hour or two, but the sound of droning wings had become an almost everpresent choir. Almost as though to usher in the warmth of spring.

They were lucky in that they didn’t encounter any more large groups of Blightstingers, but they did have to deal with the odd one here and there.

It was not long after they entered the plains that they spotted the settlement. This one was more in line with what Emily had expected when they first arrived at the keep—a sleepy little village with thick thatch roofs and smoke wafting from redbrick chimneys. Small, barren gardens were connected by simple brick roads, leading deeper into the maze of buildings. Emily guessed that only a couple of hundred people lived here. What caught her eye next were the thick black towers standing like ten-meter posts near the village’s edge. They surrounded the settlement at regular intervals, taking the place of a traditional wall.

It took another twenty minutes from where they were to reach the village and by that time a small welcoming party had gathered. Leading them was an older man in his late seventies, he leaned heavily on a cane and yet his eyes carried a sharp light.

“Welcome travelers to the village of Frosthaven. I am it’s Elder. To what do we owe the pleasure of your company”

Kael stepped forward wearing his best business smile.

Good afternoon Elder, I am the head of the Wandering Fangs company and I would ask for entry into your village. Allow us to recover our wounds, spend some coin, and enjoy the hospitality your village has to offer. In exchange, I can guarantee no funny business and while we are here we will lend aid should any disaster befall your home.”

The whole thing looked far too rehearsed to Emily but then she realized It probably was. Truth-telling skills seemed to crop up when a title would need it most. For example, a prisoner lying to their Jailer or a group of suspicious individuals trying to enter a village under the watchful eye of an Elder. A title would need the ability to cut through lies when it pertained to their path.

Perhaps Kael already knew this and offered up these terms so that there could be no misinterpretation or doubt.

The Elder nodded slowly and spoke again.

“That is acceptable, but I wonder would you be willing to lend your ear for a time tonight?”

Kael's face didn’t change but he nobbed subtly.

“Wonderful, then I welcome you all to Frosthaven” As he said this the man tapped his cane on the ground and there was a low hum from the nearest two towers as they powered down.

As Kael stepped forward so did the rest of the collum and when Emily took that first step between the black posts she felt a static pass over her body. It wasn’t overly unpleasant but she could imagine when this thing was powered up it probably packed one hell of a punch. When they got to the other side she could feel that the air in here was slightly warmer than outside.

Emily saw Alex staring at the towers as they passed through them so she asked Lock to get closer to him.

“What you see?” Emily asked, she had a hunch he knew something by that thoughtful face he was making.

“Village wards. Powerful ones at that. But from what I can see they’re incredibly worn down”

Loch looked surprised to hear this as both he and Emily looked back at the towers. Now that she was closer, she could make out thousands of tiny runes inscribed into the massive towers. The task of carving all those runes would have taken months to produce a single tower, and near the edges, she could see wear and tear building up, causing the runes to deform. It didn’t take an expert to realize that the moment the runes wore too thin, they would fail—and when that happened, the village would be consumed by the wilds.

The Elder lead them to a large open piece of land with a red brick well on it. The river running through the village would still be frozen for another month but the well was usable. Kael thanked the Elder and they got to work setting up camp. When they were done everyone was free to relax how they saw fit. Those who wanted to stay in the nearby inn were welcome, but it was on their coin.

Emily happily packed up her things and headed for the nearest cozy-looking building for a bath, excited to have some time to unwind. Entering the front door of the inn Emily noticed people from the company were already throwing back mugs of ale and meed.

The innkeeper was a mousey-looking man who received Emily with a relaxed grin.

Luckily she got there early because they only had a few remaining rooms. The settlement had another inn but it was on the opposite end of the village.

Emily only had to pay five rounds for the room and a meal. Thanking small village prices she dropped off her things, Emily bathed and then headed back down to the tavern to relax. By now things were in full swing and Emily even saw Alex playing some kind of a dice game with Vivan and a couple of others from team four. Emily didn’t see any of the leaders here as they had duties to perform for Kael. Taking her time she moved through the room getting to know the men and women she’d only seen in passing. There were a good many curious locals who visited the tavern to be regaled with stories of the wandering fang's heroics. Emily found Ashe and Seclia chatting merrily with Svent the Armamentsmith. Joining their conversation, Emily sat down with a mug of dark berry brew, heavily preferring its sweet tones. At some point, music started playing as a woman stepped up on stage. Emily was enjoying herself a this point finally managing to relax in the sweltering heat of the room.

Hours later Emily felt a sudden icy draught that swept from the front door of the inn, she only noticed it because their table was nearby, but she spotted Atticus entering and making a motion at Alex.

Emily blinked away the haze of alcohol when she saw him get up and follow the man outside. Getting up Emily extracted herself from the conversation and stepped out too.

When Atticus spotted her he did not comment as he stepped into an ally and pulled out a map.

“Alexander, where exactly did you say this lay line was? Because from the looks of it, there is a Blightstinger nest nearby. The Elder wants us to accept a commission to kill this nest and Kael wants to see if we can fit it in.”

Alex scratched his chin as he thought.

“Take the commission. The likelihood that the nest will be right on top of the Lay line is high. Seeing as the abundant source would probably attract them.”

Atticus nodded and folded up the map.

“Well, it looks like things are going to be interesting tomorrow.”

Blood points: 57