by Simon Archer
“I’m glad you’re safe, William,” Libritas whispered into my head, “Please don’t scare us like that again.”
“Trust me, I’m avoiding owlbear feet from now on.”
“Whoa, whoa,” an older voice said, higher-pitched than average but distinctly male, “You need to take it easy. In fact, you shouldn’t even be up yet.”
As my vision cleared, I could make out who was arching over my bed, seemingly a leather hammock of sorts, and checking on my wounds. Most of his form was covered by a patchwork cloak, but you could tell by the stitching whoever put it together was a medic rather than a tailor. The same design came down his robe, but with small patches of a glittering material that you’d barely notice if you weren’t looking. Even his hood hid most of his face, save for a small bit of his chin that was an odd dandelion yellow. It was just me, him, and Libritas inside this tiny makeshift tent.
“Where am I?” I said, ignoring his hands trying to push me down, “Where are my friends?” I wasn’t going to rest well until I knew they were unharmed.
“Alright, hold your karushes,” the man said, in a tone so calming it was almost unsettling. “You’re all safe here. You, the plant lady, the dragon girl, that mustached fellow, the big cat woman, that miniature dragon, all safe.”
Well, that was the checklist. “Wait, what about those two who were being attacked by the owlbear? Where are they?”
“Wow, you really are a hero,” the hooded man said. “T-t…” He seemed frustrated by his stuttering speech. “To-t-t… K-k-k…” He grabbed his head and shook it as if he was trying to jiggle something loose. After a moment, he sighed heavily. “Those two are safe, too, so stop your worrying. The thing you need most now is rest.”
Was he trying to remember their names?
“I’ll rest after I see them myself.” I pushed myself onto my feet, despite the hooded man’s constant efforts to stop me. I had half a mind to whack him over the head with Libritas. Just a love tap, so he would leave me alone.
“I can vouch for the safety of the others,” Libritas assured me. “They have been taking turns watching over you while you slept. They have been thinking about our next move. This man has been healing you in that whole time.”
“How long have I been out?” I asked, meaning it to be a mental message for Libritas, but it slipped out my mouth as well in my pained state.
“About a day,” the man answered. “Which is weird, considering.”
“Considering what?” I was not in the mood for him to be vague.
“Oh, considering your injury!” he finished. “Your shoulder was more like a ripped bag of bones than anything else. Even with my magic, you should have been out for at least half a week.” He paused a moment as if expecting an explanation, but since I didn’t have one, I just shrugged. “Fine, fine. Let me see your shoulder.”
I didn’t even shift my shoulder forward before he was groping all over it. “I feel fine. Maybe a little sore, but that’s it.”
Even as a kid, I hadn’t broken many bones, even though I was pretty active. Maybe a few cracked ribs from training, but those things heal up in a day, too, right?
“I think you’ll find most bones take much more time to heal,” Libritas answered my question, “but you are special. Even the fittest Uplanders I have worked with were never so robust.”
Huh. That’s good to know.
“Is this just an Uplander thing?” the man asked, still feeling up my shoulder.
“Maybe not.” Now, they had me thinking about my parents. My dad may have been the previous wielder of the Brand of Freedom, but it took him about a solid week to get over a rolled ankle. Maybe… maybe my accelerated healing ability came from my mother?
But that was a thread I didn’t need to pull this second. I needed to find my circle, just to be sure that they were okay. After the healer was satisfied that my shoulder was, in fact, healed, I headed through the tent entrance and was greeted by a very aggressive group hug. Petra tackled the hurt shoulder, Shikun the healthy one, and Amalthea picked us all up in a lion hug that almost crushed my ribs. Between all the nuzzling, the crying, the squeezing, Silver licking my head from on top of Amalthea’s back, and the heat of all their bodies pressed up against me, I’d never felt so loved. Eventually, Amalthea put us down, and Petra let go, shortly followed by Shikun.
“Do you know what’s going on with the hooded guy?” I asked them.
“We don’t know,” Petra answered, “He won’t even tell us his name.”
That’s when I got a good look at this tent town we had found ourselves in. The place was a mess. Each tent ranged from barely functional to barely standing, just a hobble of sticks and cloth made to look like shelter. The people in the town were tiny and lizard-like, walking around in an almost cartoonishly caveman-like manner. Maybe even a little aimlessly.
“What’s the deal with these guys?” I generally asked the circle.
“They’re kobolds,” Amalthea answered. “A fairly distant cousin to draconians, usually surviving by sheer numbers rather than physical strength or ability.”
A pair of kobolds came running up to us, Reggie following closely behind, and I instantly recognized them as the two who we had saved from that owlbear.
“Thank you!” one of them, slightly larger than the other, cried out. “Toda is very grateful for the rescuing.”
“Kai, too!” the other said in a higher tone. “Very thankful for rescue!”
“Not the best talkers, are they?” I said.
“Actually,” Amalthea answered, “the Record has no consistent instances of kobolds possessing low intelligence. Granted, they are never among the most prominent minds, but still, this is an oddity.”
“I can confirm that,” Libritas said to me. “The kobolds I have known have not been this inept at speech. Something is very wrong.”
“It’s the blasted thing!” Reggie butted in, “I’ve not been able to get a cocksure answer out of a single one of these kobolds.”
“The good knight hasn’t been the most patient with their lack of vocabulary,” Petra giggled as Reggie’s cheeks flushed red.
“I don’t think he’s used to not talking like a knight,” Shikun added. “Seems he can’t adjust to their limited words.”
Reggie went from rosy cheeks to tomato face in a flash. “That is not fair, ladies.” He tried to keep a calm demeanor. “I am simply not accustomed to the… culture here.”
“That’s just it,” I said. “I don’t think this is the culture here. Libritas, do you feel anything?”
“Yes.” She warmed up in my hand. “I sense a similar pall of corruption like being near one of my fallen brothers. But unless the Brand is around those bushes up there, this shouldn’t be possible.”
“If Libritas can detect a foul aura this far away,” I conjectured, “and she most definitely is, then this Brand has to have been accumulating power for a while.”
“But can a Brand affect anyone who doesn’t have a Black Rune?” Shikun said, quivering in her voice. It was plain as the scales on her face that she was worried about being under a dark Brand’s influence again.
“We have nothing to worry about,” I assured her, grabbing her by the waist, “Even if one of their Brands had that much influence, so does Libritas. There’s nothing these Black Runes can dish out that we can’t handle, vague evil vibe or not.”
I may not have been entirely sure about that, but it seemed to calm her down as she rested her head upon my sore shoulder. It was a good kind of pain. Petra came to rub Shikun’s back as she let out a calm sigh.
That’s when the hooded man came out from his tent and grabbed his head again. “I heard what you guys are saying, and I think I know what’s happening.” He rubbed his hands against his head violently. “But I can’t… I can’t seem to make it into words.”
“Do you think you could say it in simple terms?” Petra said, trying to calm him with a touch to the shoulder.
“Don’t worry,” Shikun said. “Take all the time
you need.”
“Something is… wrong,” the hooded man stumbled out, “Something is wrong with everyone. There’s a… a thing stopping us from… It’s stopping us from… It’s messing with our heads.”
“It doesn’t seem like they’re being controlled or compelled towards evil,” Petra added. “It’s almost like they’re just becoming…”
“Uncivilized.” Amalthea sat on her hind legs and opened her wings. The mystic sigils and runes of the Khalati Record swelled in their span, whirling and spinning like the gears in Amalthea’s mind. “I suspected as much. The Brand of Civilization has been corrupted. There are clear records of the widespread influence that a Brand can project when it goes against its virtue.”
“Of course,” Libritas hummed within me. “The Brand of Civilization must be devolving into the Brand of Savagery. When a Brand overindulges in its virtue, like with the Brand of Discipline, it can corrupt into a malicious version of itself, retaining most of its senses and old personality. But when a Brand rejects its virtue, that corruption leads to a dangerous and powerful madness. Such a Brand may prove unpredictable.”
“So, we’ve got a new Brand to take down,” I said, pumping out bravery to mask my worry. “Nothing we haven’t handled before.”
“It won’t be so easy this time, lad,” Reggie countered. “Without their right heads, none of the people in the Marches will make a good army to rally against the barony. We’ll need to find a way to at least weaken this spell over the land if we are to have any chance.”
“From what I know from my battle tactics training,” Shikun added, “any fighting force needs organization and clear communication to be effective. These people have neither of those.”
“That’s well and good,” Petra said, “but how would we even begin to break this spell without destroying the Brand?”
“We’ll figure something out,” I said, trying to keep morale up, “We just have to keep moving forward.”
They raised a good point, though. Without a clear starting point, we could be aimlessly wandering the Marches until Khaba decided to rally his remaining forces against us. We didn’t have a lot in the way of time.
“Solannus!” the hooded man cried as he threw off his hood and showed his face, “My name is Solannus.” His face was yellow as a flower and slightly gaunt. His jet-black hair was speckled with bits of yellow and had a bit of a fuzzy quality to it. Hiding behind his bangs were a pair of eyes like the darkest obsidian. In all honesty, he kind of reminded me of a bumblebee. Probably one of those anthophilans Amalthea mentioned.
“Finally able to speak up, old bean?” Reggie said, clearly impressed, “How did you manage that--?”
“You’re an anthophilan!” Petra exclaimed before the healer could respond. “That means you should know something about what happened to the Marches. Can you confirm that the Brand is corrupted?”
“I-I don’t really know,” Solannus stammered a bit. “My head still feels fuzzy. That name only just now came to me.”
“Wait, you couldn’t remember how to say the names of those kobolds,” I remembered as I recalled what had happened in his tent, “and you didn’t tell them your name. You really couldn’t before, could you?”
“No, I couldn’t,” Solannus said, “but something is making my head clearer. I am not as consumed by a need to just eat, sleep, and take a dump. By the moment, I can remember more.”
It doesn’t take a genius to link matching coincidences together. We came by carrying the Brand of Freedom, and all of a sudden, the people could think again? Obviously, the power of the two Brands were fighting against each other.
“Good news!” I said. “I think our lovely Libritas is doing her work. I’m pretty sure her influence is overpowering this… curse of savagery. You’re a lifesaver, my dear.”
“Well, I wouldn’t go that far, William,” Libritas said as the warmth in my hand let me know that she was blushing, “but that may be the case.”
“Brilliant!” Sir Reginald exclaimed. “Now, we must determine the most efficacious task for us to undertake to spread the influence.”
“Like you said, I don’t think we have that kind of time,” I replied with a sigh, “but I get the feeling that if we can weaken the Brand of Savagery’s hold on the land, this brain revitalizing will be much faster.”
“Toda, you mentioned something before we came here,” Amalthea addressed the kobolds quietly listening to the conversation. “Something about a great beast lord named Chimarra?”
“Yes! Chimarra!” Toda screeched, excited to be helpful to us. “Chimarra the
Great Beast Lady of the East! Big owlbear. Very nasty.”
“Branded!” Kai interjected, “Very strong. Strongest beast in the east! No fight alone. No fight at all if smart.”
“It’s never simple, is it?” I joked to the group, “It’s never something like a small turtle of evil that you’d just have to tip over and call it a day. Always gotta be some sort of intimidating super-evil.”
“Always will be, lad,” Reggie responded. “‘Tis an adventurer’s life.” He smiled at me with a glimmer in his eye. He wouldn’t have it any other way.
“You fight beast?” Kai shook her head. “Bad idea.”
“Very bad!” Toda agreed.
“I’m sorry, guys,” I told them, “but it looks like that’s where our journey is headed.”
“Then, before you go,” Solannus said, “you should know about the Great Beast Lord, as well.” The healer paused to clear his throat. “The Great Beast Lord and Lady were the protectors of the realm. With the Brand of Civilization, they had gained a modicum of sentience and patrolled the borders of the Marches to keep bandits and invaders out. But they turned violent one day, and before now, we didn’t know why.”
“So whatever happens to a Brand,” I finished, “will happen to the people that have been branded.” I tried to hide the worry that wanted to crawl onto my face, as well as the weight of responsibility on my shoulders.
“All the more reason to protect you, William.” Petra put her hands on my shoulders, “Not that this wasn’t my primary goal, to begin with.”
“I’ll do everything in my power to keep you safe,” Shikun added, “even if it were to cost me my life.”
“Now, let’s not get hasty,” I told Shikun, “You can’t protect me if you end up dead, and I would never forgive myself if I let anything happen to you. To any of you.”
“We feel the same, my savior,” Amalthea intoned with utter sincerity. “From the bottom of my heart.”
“Now, now, girls,” Reggie said when he saw how uncomfortable I was at the sudden attention. “We’re not nearly far enough in the day to get the waterworks flowing, so that’ll be enough of that.”
I chuckled a bit. I was a lucky son of a bitch to have surrounded myself with these people. What a life I had found here in Etria. I can’t thank you enough, Father.
And that’s when a thought crossed my mind.
“The name Solannus cannot be just a coincidence,” I asked our anthophilan host. “You have some connection to Solanna. Something you haven’t told us yet. Do you think you can remember?”
“Yes,” Solannus said, bowing his head a bit, “I am an anthophilan male royal, born with sentience like a female royal, but without the psychic connection to the mindless drones. In fact, the Baroness of Solanna, of the same name and 47th in her line, is my sister. And it is she that wields the Brand.”
“Wait,” Shikun said, “does that mean…?”
“The Baroness is a Black Rune,” I said. That complicated things. How were we supposed to free the barony if there was no baron or baroness to rule? Maybe Solannus could fit the role, but he hardly seemed equipped to take on such a task.
“Please! You have to save her!” Solannus fell to his knees in a sudden fit of emotion and grabbed at my belt loops, “You have to save her! There’s no way she would willingly do these things. There has to be a way to save her.”
“If there is,
we’ll find it,” I assured the bee man as I lifted him up to his feet. “You have our word that we will protect as many as we can.”
“With the increased power of this Brand,” Libritas interjected, “it’s quite possible that the Brand of Savagery has a similar influence over the Baroness as well.”
“Can Brands do that?” I asked her. “Can they just take over their wielder’s personality like that? Can you do that?”
A somber coldness flowed through Libritas’ handle. “By all technicalities, yes. But you see, it’s against my very nature to control others like that. I would never--”
“Relax.” I stopped her in her tracks. “I know you wouldn’t. And this is good news. It means there’s hope for the Baroness.”
“I hope you’re right, William,” Libritas said to me. “I will trust your judgment, as always.”
“You were saying about a second Great Beast?” Amalthea asked with the curiosity of both a cat and an academic. “What are we to expect from this one?”
“Both the Beast Lord and Lady have control over the animals in their domain,” Solannus explained as he calmed himself. “Chimarra the ironfeather owlbear has the giant owls and the bears, while Atroclus the ppus has the latopi and the crocasaurs. They will more than likely be surrounded by their subjects when you find them.”
“Um, just a brief overview of latous and crocasaur, por favor?” I whispered to Amalthea.
She leaned down towards me to whisper back. “Latopi are a terrestrial form of the octopus but larger as well, with tendril spikes on their legs. crocasaurs are lizard creatures that dwell in shallow waters and crush their victims with their jaws.”
“Much like the crocodiles in your Upland,” Libritas said to me. “Only bigger, with longer legs and much more mobility on land and water.”
“How do you know about crocodiles?” I sent back to her, but then mentally slapped my own forehead. She was in my mind. Of course, she knew what I knew, but that didn’t help my fear of all these monsters we’d have to face up against just to reach the capital, let alone what we do once we’re inside.
“Remember, you’re not facing these creatures alone,” Libritas reminded me.