As the hunter swung gently in the breeze, he noticed three golden eyes, reflecting the firelight, blinking erratically. The eyes moved rapidly from tree to tree, before disappearing behind the trunk of the tree from which the hunter hung.
A small creature, about the size of a small child and entirely hairless, stealthily crept around the side of the tree. Its jet–black skin reflected the firelight off its small yet muscular body. It had two eyes locked on the monster collecting firewood, and a third eye locked on the hunter.
The creature had two long arms with hands at the end, with elongated fingers. A long prehensile tail with a blade-like bone protrusion flittered behind it.
The creature raised its bladed tail and began to frantically cut through the bonds that were holding the hunter’s hands together. It ducked back behind the trunk of the tree as the red monster turned and ran towards the hunter, its footsteps sending tremors through the ground and up the tree.
It stopped right in front of the hunter and began sniffing him again. “There it is! The fear, I can smell it, finally. Congratulations – you have just upgraded from average meal, to delicious. All that fear will be building up in your liver and organs – keep it up,” said the monster, poking the hunter in the abdomen with a finger. Then it stood again and casually walked back to its pile of wood – singing a frighteningly childlike ditty.
The hunter looked once again to the little creature as it appeared from behind the tree. It gave a coy smile, revealing a mouth full of innumerable golden pinpoint teeth. In its hands, it had a small backpack, which it opened, revealing the hunter’s personal steel hunting dagger.
The creature’s tail reached up and continued to cut through the bonds. As the bonds fell to the ground, the creature raised the backpack to the hunter. He reached down and grabbed the dagger from the bag, then raised his arms again, holding the blade behind his back.
The little creature picked up the remnants of the bonds and placed them inside its backpack. The hunter looked at the creature and thankfully nodded. The creature smiled back at him and opened its mouth.
“Where do you think they are taking us?” asked the creature in a familiar voice, as it placed its backpack over its shoulders and stared fearfully at the monster, which was now busy preparing a roasting fire.
“Pious…” said a muffled voice. Pious felt a slight kick on his shin and awoke suddenly with a shout. He tried to stab at the air repeatedly with an invisible blade, but his arms were bound. In a disoriented stupor, he looked around at the insides of a cramped Confinement Carriage.
“Damn – they must have hit your head really hard,” said Tyr, in response to Pious’s violent awakening.
“Hey! Shut up in there!” said a guard, stamping on the roof of the carriage.
“Where do you think they are taking us?” asked Sincerus quietly, trying not to attract any further attention from the guards.
Pious closed his eyes and tried to calm down. “It sounds like loose gravel under the wheels, which makes me think we are heading north. The other roads are paved, covered in sand or compacted soil,”
“You should be trying to get as much rest as possible, for whatever may await us,” said Pious as he let out a long and deep yawn. “How long has it been?”
“I’d say around 6 to 7 tolls since we got shafted,” said Tyr, as his stomach grumbled. “By the Nine’s I’m hungry”.
“You’re always hungry” replied Sincerus with a tone and head shake of derision.
The inside of the carriage was filled with the sound of the hooves of the four Dray Faun pulling the wagon, and the sound of the wagon wheels riding across the rough road.
One of the wheels must have hit a large rock. It shook the carriage, causing Tyr to hit the back of his head against the side of the wagon.
“This is Faunshit,” said Tyr. “I should be making love to that weaver; she’s had her eye on me, you know.”
“I’m sorry, Tyr,” replied Pious.
“Pah! Don’t you be sorry, Pious,” said Tyr. “It will be these sons of Rapax that will be sorry!” he shouted to the guards above.
“The weaver? Ha! She only has her eye on you, because you look like almost as much of a deviant as she does,” joked Sincerus, kicking Tyr in the shin.
“You little shit!” shouted Tyr. He tried to kick Sincerus, who picked his leg up; causing Tyr to kick the bench Sincerus was sitting on. Tyr muttered a few profanities under his breath.
“You must have really upset someone, Pious,” said Valerus, jokingly. The four started laughing, and then stopped abruptly as the carriage began to slow down. The carriage started to turn about before coming to a halt. The guards above began alighting, their feet stamping atop the carriage roof as they climbed down the side rail.
“Open the gates!” shouted a guard from the top of the carriage.
The men inside the carriage heard the gate lock being released, followed by the sound of the three lock bars being pulled to the side.
“Was it really that necessary to travel this far out, just to do them in?” said a voice outside the carriage gate.
The gate doors opened, and the lamplight of the escort guards filled the inside of the carriage. The ropes fixing the prisoners' arms to the sides of the carriage were loosened as the rope was pulled through the holes in the side of the carriage where the ends were tied.
“Out!” shouted one of the guards, as another of the guards started pulling on the ropes that were fixed to their legs. Pious started walking towards the edge of the wagon.
“All right! Stop pulling on the rope, you fool!” shouted Pious. He stood up as far as he could, into a crouch. Valerus, across from him, noticed that their legs were bound together and stood as well.
The guard holding the rope frantically kept scanning the edge of the forest. He turned to one of his fellow guardsman. “This is a big fucking risk we are taking. It’s fucking Tenebrae, for fucks sake!”
“Yeah well, relax precious – a years’ worth of liquor and an F-Block of Medallia is due for this ride. So, settle down, for all our sakes. Now, can you get him out of there?” said a guard holding a lantern at arm’s length.
As soon as he reached the edge, a guard pulled on the rope, causing him to lose his balance and fall to the ground. He landed on his side, taking his weight with his shoulder. Valerus also fell, trying as much as he could to miss Pious, and landing near his feet.
Meanwhile, Tyr and Sincerus had stood up, and were on their way out of the carriage. Tyr managed to jump down, landing on his feet, followed by Sincerus, who also managed to barely land on his feet after recovering his balance.
Sincerus went over to Valerus and Tyr, who stood next to Pious. Sincerus and Tyr both knelt over and put out their bound hands as aids to help Valerus and Pious to their feet.
Pious reached out and began to pull himself up from the ground, before using his leg strength to stand upright. Valerus did the same. Outside the light of the lamps – both those fixed to the carriage and those carried by the guards – was darkness, as Tenebrae had plunged Elysia into further darkness and cold.
Sincerus leaned to the side, closer to Pious. “Any idea where we are?” he whispered. Pious gestured with his head, towards a tremendous rock formation, of which brief glimpses could be had between the gusts of fog and lamplight.
“That’s the Prevention. We are on the North–Way,” said Pious. The four inadequately–clothed Vigilants stood shivering, trying to warm up. Their bare feet were freezing on the cold stones.
“Shut your mouths!” shouted one the guards as they began to close the back of the carriage.
A guard walked over to the four, with his sword in hand and a grin of sociopathic pleasure on his face. “Should we make it messy? Make it slow?” the guard asked the captives, tapping his sword in his hand.
“Leave them,” ordered the captain of the guards walking towards the detainees.
“What?” replied the guard. He dropped his sword to his side and looked at the
captain in confusion.
“You heard me,” replied the captain sternly.
“But the order was -” continued the guard.
“Who do you take orders from?” asked the captain. The guard’s look of confusion changed to one of sudden clarity.
“Then shut up and get back on board!” ordered the captain. He walked alongside Pious whilst the guard returned to the carriage.
“I’m sorry, Prefect; this is the best I can do without my entire family ending up in the Example,” said the captain in a tone of shame and disappointment, shaking his head. He stopped and looked up at Pious.
“I have dropped something at your feet. The parchment has Phosphortext – read it once we leave,” he whispered, before returning to the carriage and climbing the small ladder that led inside the guards’ quarter. “Forward!” he yelled to the reinsman, as all the guards mounted the carriage.
“Untie us, you wretches!” shouted Tyr.
“Enjoy your stay!” shouted one of the guards from the carriage door, as the vehicle began to slowly move onward.
“And don’t scream – the Rapax will only take longer to eat you!” shouted another from atop the carriage.
The lamplight from the carriage sped off into the distance, leaving the four banished men in the plaguing darkness of Tenebrae.
The Prevention
“He told me, he had never seen anything like it – and still I believe my ears deceived me. He said he looked to the ground, slit his hand with a dagger and dripped his blood to the earth. He uttered some dark and profane words accustomed to a Blood-Letter, and then picked up the bloodied soil. With one final shout, he punched at the sky – and the ground shook violently with rage. In an instant, the ground erupted, and rock and stone ascended to the sky as his fist rose.”
A regularly repeated account of the Prevention’s creation,
Temple of the Spirits Drink-King,
Unknown date of record.
Sincerus started laughing to himself.
“What are you laughing about?” asked Valerus, apparently annoyed and frustrated at Sincerus’s ill-placed humour.
“Relax, Sterny. What do we do now?” asked Sincerus.
Pious crouched to the ground and rubbed his hand atop the surface. He could barely see in front of him; the dullest of grey light provided minimal levels of visibility, further hampered by the thick Tenebraen fog.
His hand met a small, rectangular package. He stood to his feet and brought the package closer to his face. It was a piece of parchment wrapped around a solid object, tied together with some twine.
He hastily pulled the twine to the side and unfolded the parchment, revealing a switchblade. A smile crossed his face, as he casually placed it to Valerus’s chest. “Get cutting,” said Pious, as Valerus took the blade from his hand.
“How did you manage to get this?” asked Valerus with surprise, as the snapping-click of the opening blade clicked through the air.
“The captain of the guard, who just saved our skins.”
Pious folded open the parchment and inspected both sides – both sides proving bare. “Phosphortext,” Pious said in recollection, as he placed the parchment between his hands and began to breathe warm breath between them. With each breath, a slight luminance increased in his hands.
“Well well well, a switchblade!” said Tyr in a jovial tone of surprise.
“He must have been an Advocate – I don’t know of anyone else who uses Phosphortext,” exclaimed Pious, as he started reading the note.
“I warned you – the means of securing your freedom would be harsh if you didn't heed my words. Head east – to the Engulfing Forest. Sooner or later – my contact will find you. You will be safe there until we can figure out what to do with you and the others.”
“It must have been Leon who helped us out,” said Pious.
“Helped us out? We’re branded and stranded during Tenebrae!” shouted Sincerus into the mists above.
“You could be burning on a fucking pyre right now! I think this is a sight more preferential than the alternative,” snapped Tyr in frustration, shoving Sincerus in the back, who began to lose his balance.
“Stop shouting will you. We’ll have Shadefiends to deal with soon if you don’t keep your voice down,” said Pious, as he reached out and grabbed Sincerus by the arm, crushing the note against him.
Sincerus regained his balance. “Why is the fog so damned thick?” asked Sincerus rhetorically, “I’ve never seen it so thick before.”
“Here,” said Valerus, as he grabbed the hand bindings of Pious. Valerus placed the blade against the rope bindings around his wrists. He moved the blade back and forth along the rope, breaking more of the fibres with each pass. Eventually, he cut through the bindings, and the ropes fell to the ground, as Pious’s hands become free. Valerus turned the blade and put the handle in Pious’s hands. “We’re done,” said Valerus, as he also took a quiet seat on the ground. Pious closed the blade and tied it to the front of his pants using the drawstrings.
Pious sat on the loose stones, trying in vain to collect his thoughts, as he cut through his leg bindings.
“It is going to be some time before the end of Tenebrae, and Umbra Orbis is long yet to occur. We are going to need light and warmth if we are to remain sane and alive. Shadefiends will have made their way into the forest so we will need light to keep them at a distance,” said Pious.
“And how are we going to do that, Pious?” asked Tyr.
“We are going to head towards the Southern Stream. It will provide enough light to guide us northeast,” explained Pious.
“Why northeast? Shouldn’t we at least head to Timberslane?” asked Sincerus.
“Timberslane? Four banished Praetorians walk into Timberslane… it sounds like the beginning of a really, really, bad joke. No, mate, they would string us up and eat us alive,” said Tyr. Pious and Valerus laughed at Tyr’s response.
Pious stood upright and began brushing the dirt off his pants.
“Trust me on this, we head east. The scroll said head to the Engulfing Forest. There is more food and cover in the forest, and if we get far enough east to the Engulfing Forest, we will be warm at least.” He paused to help Sincerus to his feet and then continued.
“We will follow a path of small glowing pebbles through the forest. It marks the path used by the arboreal clerics to guide them home if they become stranded during Tenebrae.”
“Sounds easy enough,” said Sincerus, brushing the dirt from his hands.
“And whatever you do, or whatever happens, do not speak in any more than a whisper until we reach light,” Pious insisted. “I will lead.”
He pointed to Sincerus's feet. “Don’t lift your feet too high, and don’t drag them too low, either.”
“How do you know where you are going, Pious?” asked Sincerus.
“I was here not that long ago, Sincerus. Except last time I was on a Qulin,” Pious informed him.
“Ah, What I wouldn’t give for a Qulin right now,” said Tyr, shaking his head in self-consolation. The other three gave the same defeated sigh.
“All right – let's go. Silence from here on in,” said Pious. He started walking east towards the forest, taking steady steps forward, keeping his balance and maintaining a steady footing, with the group in tow.
The sandy rock and gravel path soon gave way to the soft mulch of the forest floor, providing instant relief to their bare, sore feet. The further they ventured into the forest, the less dense the fog became, revealing the more ominously darkened forest, their path illuminated by the tiny glowing stones.
The group marched silently for some time. The quiet of the forest was regularly shattered by the cries and screams of forest creatures being attacked by Shadefiends – equally matched by the Shadefiends' victorious howls and roars. Pious could make out four separate and distinct Shadefiend cries, three he knew and one made him anxious. Rapax, Shriekers and Vorgun. The fourth he felt as if he had heard before, but he could make
sense of it.
“Stop,” whispered Valerus, who had halted in his tracks. “Can you hear that?”
“Yes. It sounds like the river. We must not be far now,” said Pious quietly, as he began guiding the team forward.
After they had spent some time moving forward. Tyr ran from the group. “I can see it,” he announced in a whisper.
The four men approached the luminescent river, which glowed with a haunting blue light that shimmered with each ripple and wave. The light of the Shimmering Creek and the gentle sound of flowing water filled their ears like a beautiful choir, bringing them much joy.
Sincerus ran towards the water, knelt next to it, and began to drink. Valerus slumped to the ground, lying on the moss underneath an Astram Willow, its branches drooping over the luminescent waters.
Pious stood next to Sincerus and surveyed the scene around him. “This is the central stream that flows directly south to Sanctuary,” he said. He sat down on the edge of the river. “We will want to cross the river further north at the next tributary and travel east from there. We should find plenty of food and fresh water in that area while we figure out our next move.”
Pious stood still for a moment, staring blankly as if trying vainly to recollect some important fact.
“Damn… my treatment!” Pious broke into his own speech, as he rubbed his head in frustration.
Valerus curiously cocked an eyebrow and looked at Pious. “Treatment – the pill that you and the others take?”
“Yeah, the pill we take for the effects of that Mind-Shot blast – stops the vertigo, nightmares and hallucinations. It lasts for a Step – and the step is almost over, and I don't know how I can get anymore,” he explained, feeling a bit stupid. He had chosen to not take his last tablet in defiance – a defiance which he felt was revealing its consequences. He didn't like the pill’s side effects of lethargy and mental fog, but at least the nightmares had become less frequent. His only hope now was to somehow get more from Lothar or Tana – or for Zosim to find an alternative.
“What happens if you stop taking it?” asked Valerus.
Exhumation: An Epic of Existentia (Acts of the Sojourner Book 1) Page 16