by Nefarious
There were three carriages: a smaller but cosier one at the front, followed by a larger one, and a wagon. They sat on the first carriage, used by Zerabeil to rest his throbbing feet and parch his tongue. He held his wares in the second one, locked for safety, although still not safe from bandits. That risk was countered by the band of ten mercenaries, four in the wagon and six on foot.
“Hey, you know I never said this but twinsies,” Kora said cheerfully, pointing at her maroon cloak and at Orion’s maroon bag.
Orion dug his face into his hands and hid from her. He didn’t know where she got the surplus of energy to annoy him in every waking hour, but he very much wished it death and destruction.
“Where’d did you buy it?” she asked, looking past the fact he had turtled in.
“Where d’you get yours?” Orion said, his voice muffled and unclear.
“Well, since you insist, I’ll tell you,”
She went on to tell him her journey from her village to Visgamar, fitted with three bears, a lone prince, and a fearsome dragon. Everyone had different takes to boredom, but Orion did not like Kora’s take one bit as it meant he was constantly wondering what was true about her and what was bullshit.
He wanted to tear hair out of his scalp when he realised she knew what he wanted and so was purposely making lies.
The first day on the road passed like this, his torture only ending when night washed over.
On the second day, she named him many of the plants and animals in the forest, much to his surprise. She seemed to care little of her claimed alias as she pointed out plants with names no outward villager would know. Of course, Orion knew most of what she talked about, but he didn’t reveal that, instead trying to reinforce her image of him.
On the third day, Orion hung out with the mercenaries. Kora followed. Minutes later, she dominated the conversations. They liked her, and their laughter grew irksome to Orion, who still tried to understand the two-faced monster he had grouped with. On the other hand, he was happy as Kora’s new companionship meant he could sit in peace and quiet.
On the fourth day, Kora’s true self leaked out to the mercenaries. They left to scout whenever she started talking and the unlucky who drew the short straws stayed with the carriage-train. Even then, they blankly nodded and smiled to Kora, insidiously asking questions about Orion, reigniting her interest.
On the fifth day, she was back and he internally wept. A little externally as well. It wasn’t so much that she talked without stop, rather the fact she saw conversations as battles she had to win. Moreover, it was impossible to beat her once she started ignoring the rules. She baited him with tidbits about Korshis before smacking him in the face with thoughts on Gods, berry colours, and the obesity of the merchant Zerabeil. Orion found the last topic funny, which he hated himself for, as it gave her more ground to play in.
On the sixth day, a few hours from Lesan, disaster struck.
A mercenary hurtled through shrubbery, hit the first carriage and stumbled down.
“Hunt, what’s it?” another mercenary asked, rushing to help him up.
“Ollie, he’s dead. Struck in the head. They’re coming, bandits,” he said while wiping wet hair from his forehead, his voice quivering.
The heavy downpour couldn’t wash away the fear and trepidation that spread from carriage to carriage. Zerabeil’s jowls jiggled as his eyes darted from mercenary to Seeker. The mercenaries armed themselves and spread - the bandit group was apparently of similar size so there was no way they’d let Ollie’s death go unpaid.
In the distance, Orion could hear neighing. He was unsheathing his shortsword when a hand caught his wrist. Kora looked at him, then at Zerabeil’s horses - the intention was clear. Bitterness grew in his mouth and he spat, thick phlegm lost in the rain. He shook his head.
“Fine, but you owe me,” she said.
He had no idea why he owed her, but he ignored it and ran, catching the cliffside with one hand and pulling himself up. The carriages were in a short valley so he was certain the bandits would take the high-ground, before needling them with clear shots. So, he would surprise them before they got that chance. He heard sounds to his left and turned, only to see Kora climbing with similar ease. While he hadn’t been a great fighter compared to other Zakari, he had been good at parkour and agile on his feet. Moreover, the rock-holds were now wet and hard to scale. But despite all of this, Kora reached the clifftop alongside him.
Wiping his dirty hands, he gripped his sword and scampered to a nearby bush. His heart thundered in his ears as he crouched – he was going to kill someone. He had hurt people before, but never ended lives.
Shouts sounded from the valley, raucous roars from men who had spent too long in the wild. Then, the clangs of swords echoed. He could almost see the sparks, blood, and fear from below.
Someone ran past Orion, in fact, three people. They brought out crude bows and aimed into the gloom below.
He breathed in and steeled himself: this was it. He shot through the distance, the wet slaps of his feet announcing him. He grasped his sword high, then cleaved down, biting flesh from an archer’s back.
The archer gasped and fell forward, diving through the valley.
Orion then twisted and lifted his sword to block another bandit’s blow, only to see something different. The sword in the bandit’s hand fell slack, his eyes wide and mouth gaping, a glint rupturing through his stomach. Orion’s eyes met Kora’s from behind the bandit, another corpse leaking blood into water beside her.
He thought he had been on his adrenaline rush but now he knew better. His vision cleared and everything grew brighter, the scene burning itself into his memory, Kora’s abyssal eyes syphoning his soul. He gulped and looked away, before coming back to reality and climbing down.
Half-way down the cliffside, he jumped, curled his knees and landed on the balls of his feet. He used the momentum to lunge forward, using his blade to slash a shocked bandit before breaking his combat roll and wobbling to the side. The bandit clutched his cut and glared daggers at Orion, taking time he didn’t have as Orion pierced his eye.
Orion glanced around and saw four bandits left, two mercenaries, and no merchants. The number dwindled to three bandits as Kora popped a head. Another bandit staggered in fear of the maroon-cloaked demoness and felt a sudden blaze in his ribs. The mercenary that cut him booted his balls and finished the job.
The two remaining bandits tripped their mercenary to the side and rushed Orion, hoping to catch him off guard - they failed. Orion pulled his sword up and caught the first bandit’s blow mid-air. He stepped back and let the bandit swing down, in which time he flourished his sword as if to attack, sidestepped, then stabbed the second bandit.
The first bandit recovered and clashed with Orion, once, twice. He was too slow on his third defence and got nicked, then angled his swing wrong. His head rolled off.
Thud.
12. Lesan
* * *
Orion and Kora saw Lesan in the distance, past the gold-hued haze. They trotted along a trailing river, their thighs weary from hours of riding. The ambush had left two mercenaries and two Seekers breathing. Zerabeil had been one of the first to fall, his defenceless bulky body an easy target. On the other hand, the mercenaries had been overcome by the bandits’ numbers, at least before Orion and Kora had ended the battle.
Following this, Kora had tended to the living’s injuries, then the two Seekers had raided Zerabeil’s merchandise, taking dry rations, a few bottles of fancy wine, and five gold coins each. He had been a merchant in fine wines and grains meaning they couldn’t take most of his wares without burdening their bags. Then, they had mounted two of his three horses and left the mercenaries. While Orion had wanted to walk with them, they had assured him they would be a-ok, most likely to loot the rest of Zerabeil’s stock, and Kora had pressured him to shut up and follow her.
The remaining passage to Lesan had been cold and dull. Kora had piped down, leaving Orion with souvenirs of the
fight: haunting memories and frightful thoughts. He had killed, she had killed, she had scared, he had bested and murdered foes, wretched men, humans.
His shortsword had been light, as always, but the price of his swings had been heavy - crushed memories and dreams. Fates. It reminded him of his mother in the tunnel, but more of her slayers: he was now of a similar breed to them.
Kora saw his grief-stricken state but didn’t offer any words to comfort. Perhaps she knew the power of time because as hours passed, despite his thoughts being the same, their bites numbed and fractured.
Now, he stared at Lesan empty of feeling. The river beside them joined the sea a bit ahead before circling the city like a moat. Sturdy stone-laden bridges connected the lands, making Lesan look like a docked ship, ready to sail any moment.
They arrived at a bridge and dismounted, urging the horses towards the waiting guards.
“Hea, stand heyre,” a brunet guard said while inspecting the two. “A gold for yous toll fee,”
“You can have these horses,” Kora said. While the horses weren’t textbook pictures of health or strength, they were still worth the amount.
“Sures, I’ll take ‘em. But, also the gold. We need to eat,” the guard replied. He wore a dented cuirass, cloth trousers and underclothes, and gripped a halberd. His fellow guards wore mismatched clothing, their image between that of guards and gangsters.
“We’re Seekers,” she said.
Orion stared past the men, his passions drained.
“Oh, are yous? Well, where’s the proof?” the guard said. His mates closed in on Kora.
Her hand flickered out of sight and viscously backhanded the brunet guard, throwing him off balance and onto his arse. His halberd clattered beside him.
He wiped blood off his cheek and stood, his fists clenched. “The gall to strike Lesan’s guards. Yous done for,” he roared while shooting spittle.
His friends ambiguously stood back, giving him space for a bloody beatdown but also getting out of Kora’s range.
“And the audacity you have to charge such a toll,” she replied, unsheathing her sword. “My patience has worn out,”
The guard took a double take, then stepped back after seeing Kora rise above his intimidation. She was clearly a Seeker, or at the very least someone he couldn’t handle.
“F-fine. I’ll allow the horses this once,” he said, his shame hidden under his sunburned skin.
Unamused, Kora frowned and walked past, Orion following. They passed the city’s gate with little trouble and soon hopped on a boat. For a few coppers, they were punted to the Seeker’s building.
The water was sky-blue with splotches of lime-green. Sunlight glared off it and lit up the muck plastered across the canals. The buildings above were brightly painted, and trees of all types peppered the gaps. Constantly swapping, the smells of the water altered from pleasant to foul as they passed by sewer gates – while the sewage travelled through tunnels under the city, the frequent openings liberated the odour and tormented the locals. By the time they arrived, Orion had woken from his daze due to the spices thrown at his senses. They paid their fare and headed towards an unassuming building. After knocking, a portly man with a curled ginger moustache opened the door, before scrutinising them.
“Seekers or wannabes?” he asked, his open mouth releasing swamp-breath.
Kora squeezed her nose and leaned back. “We’re here to investigate the mysterious spree of murders,”
The man’s eyes lit up. He stepped aside and beckoned them in.
Stained sheets filled the squat room, the sides lined with books. They looked around the room while the man went to the kitchen, eventually coming back with two cups of sewage water, curiously accompanied by the aroma of roasted beans.
“Coffee for you two. An import from the south, gives you energy,” the man said. “By the way, my names Aaron,”
“Kora, and Jax,” Kora said, before picking up the coffee and sipping at it. She smiled and nodded.
Apeing her actions, Orion drank the coffee, before spitting it out onto the table. It was horribly bitter, and the heat scalded his tongue. He was now fully awake and stared at the other two with scrunched up eyebrows, eyeing them with disgust and shock.
“Keep drinking it, lad. It’s an acquired taste,” Aaron said while handing Orion a towel. He glanced around and continued. “I know what you two are thinking - why the hells a Seeker’s building so small?”
Kora nodded, taking down her cloak’s cowl, while Orion progressed to round two with his coffee, before swiftly being knocked out again.
“Well, it’s what happens when a new place emerges with poor idiots as the people. Whenever they got a monster problem, they hire the gangs to sort it out, always leading to unnecessary deaths, though maybe for the good. It means I rarely get contracts. The ones I do get, like your one, are issued by the council once they realise they’re hopeless at this business,” Aaron said.
“But that’s off the topic. I’m sure you wanna know more of your contract,” he continued. “Well, they gave me a list of nasty deaths they couldn’t solve. I connected the ones you know of, although there may be more, and it’s gotta be a Korshi. I recommend you start at the first scene, like the two before you did,”
Kora questioned Aaron about the details surrounding the case while Orion built his army and waged campaigns against the coffee, whittling it down until he bested it on the field. By this point, his body was filled with energy and his tongue was seared beyond use. They left Aaron and used another taxi to get to the first scene, where a woman had been found without her stomach and organs but with a shattered ribcage. It was a dingy alleyway with stairs into the murky canal. There was rubbish packed around and any blood she had shed was now mixed with the city’s filth.
Kora knelt and inspected the area while Orion stood behind, confused at what he could do.
“Hey,” came a shout from in front. Two figures walked around the corner, both armed to the teeth.
13. Split up and Look for Clues
* * *
Seeing his chance to be useful, Orion straightened his back and stepped forward.
“Hey,” he shouted, “What do you want?”
He now saw the two figures clearly; one was a messy-haired blond with a patchy beard and an easy smile, while the other man had clear-cut scars and wore a metal cap.
“What are you doing here? This is a crime scene we’re investigating,” the blond said.
“Seekers?” Orion replied.
The blond man frowned before realisation hit him.
“You guys as well? On our contract?”
Contrary to Orion’s expectations, his tone wasn’t bitter but instead… relieved?
“Yeah, hope you don’t mind the split pay,” Orion said, trying to milk information.
“Na na, not a worry, man. And lady. You guys are 3-stars, right?”
Kora nodded before Orion corrected him.
“Great. Truth be told, me and Rover went out of our le—” the blond said, only to be jabbed by Rover.
“This is a dangerous mission, and we’d appreciate your support,” Rover said.
Orion caught on but ultimately appreciated the social rules and overlooked it. Kora didn’t.
One side of her lips curled into a bent smile. “Our support? Then, I’m guessing you guys can do this alone? Aaron showed us other contracts we could do,”
Rover clenched his fists, but his friend gripped his shoulder and looked him in the eye. The blond whispered something, then righted his stern face.
“Na, sorry, boss-lady; we’re 2-stars risking it on this. But the more we’ve found, the more it seems the reward ain’t worth the price we’d pay.” He paused and appealed to Orion. “So, we’d like it if we could group up with you,”
Orion had watched Kora long enough to know her response.
“Yeah, sure. Support is always appreciated,” he said.
She scowled at him. “You owe me twice now,” she whispered.
“Great. I’m Wes, and this is Rover,” the blond said.
“Jax, and Kora,”
“I’m guessing you guys just got here? We’ve checked all the scenes but not sure what to do now,” Wes said.
Kora snorted and kneeled, surveying the surrounding filth. “I’m seventy percent sure it’s a Korshi, but the only way to be certain is by finding its lair. The last death Aaron attributed to this contract was almost a month ago, so the monster should be there and not punting the canals as a ferryman.”
She stood. “Take us to the latest scene. You’ve been there, right?”
Wes nodded and led the three Seekers onto a taxi. He started small talk with Orion but soon found his focus transferred to Kora as she firmly grasped the conversation. Rover stared into the sky and only gave short answers when asked. A few minutes later, the Seekers got off and crossed a bridge through which they entered a wealthier region. The houses were larger and made from bricks with tufts of grass at their fronts – it was where the emerging middle-classed lived.
Taking a moment to ponder the route, Wes led them in circles before eventually retracing his steps and arriving at the scene. Coincidently, or not, they were right next to the canals with stairs leading to the lower passage. When the water was low, you could walk along the lower passage, but today was not one of those times.
“Are all the sites besides a canal?” Kora asked.
“Yeah, we think the monster moved through the water or across the lower passage. We know it’s here somewhere since the sites are a few minutes to an hour walking distance of each other, but we didn’t find a lead,” Rover answered.
“Do you know anyone related to the man who died here?” she asked.
“That house,” Wes said, pointing a few metres away, “was where he lived with his wife. I dunno about the kids though. We talked to her, but she was too troubled to give us any helpful details,”
The house was well-maintained, and there were small daisies strewn across the lawn. However, the dirt was clotted with footsteps, most likely from the council following up on this death – the only reason this case had received attention was due to the victim’s status and not because of the severity or implications.