Warden's Path

by Heath Pfaff

  I raised an eyebrow at him. “You are really going to give all of this over to coincidence? You don’t think the people here would have noticed if their drinking water was suddenly just this black mess?”

  Arthos made a face that clearly showcased distaste at the thought, and then his eyes went wide. “What if they were drinking this. Maybe it didn’t happen all at once. It might have just started seeping into their water, and then they drank it and . . . “ He paused. I was hanging on his words, waiting for the unraveling of some grand scheme that would take us from a pool of black murk to whatever madness had happened here. “Then this.” He gestured at the bloody mess around us.

  “That’s not really a theory.” I said somewhat disappointed that there wasn’t more to his thoughts on the matter. “I mean, what you said about the water might be true, but I was hoping you knew what it had done to cause this. Did it drive the people mad? Did it take control of the people? Were they aware that it was here? Did someone spread it from house to house? Where did the bodies go?” I had a great many questions, and all of the answers I could think of were unnerving to say the least.

  Arthos was looking around again. “I just don’t know. I’ve never seen anything like this before. There aren’t any signs to follow. The only footprints here are the ones we made on approach. That means to get this kind of coverage, they would have had to intentionally cover their tracks in blood. Who would do that? If they were just maddened I would expect to see some kind of evidence of that, right? This kind of a mess is systematic.”

  “What do we do now?” I asked, uncertain how this was to proceed. For all my chastising Arthos on him not having a better theory, I really didn't have much to offer either. Of course I had much less experience than he did, and I was willing to fall back on that excuse.

  “We need to send word back to the city. They’ll have to send someone out to investigate, but this isn’t our task alone. Clearly we’re not equipped to figure out what has happened here. We’ll do another pass, and then I’ll use a Will stone to push a message back to the city.” He explained, seemingly making the decision on the spot with no real protocol to fall back on.

  “Will stone?” I asked a bit confused on that point. I’d never heard of something like that before.

  “Ah, yes, Will stone.” He seemed happy to be back on more familiar footing. “That would have been explained in your training before leaving the city if you’d gotten any.” I let this pass without comment, though it rankled me. “It’s a stone that is imbued with a force of Will and then cloven in two. The two halves resonate together, and when affected with Will each one will echo the signal to its counterpart. You can impart a message into one, and it will resonate into the other. We have a code of long and short vibration patterns we use to speak over long distances. That is something else you would have learned, but I can teach you on the road. The city checks the other half of the stone multiple times a day, and once a message has been entered it will continue to repeat until a Will user at the other end either replies, or Wills it to stop. It’s very useful.”

  “I can imagine.” I said, looking back at the well again. I really wasn’t that interested in the stone, even if it was a very useful object. “How long will it take them to reply, and what do we do while we wait?”

  “They will probably reply quickly, but it might take a while if they need to call together a meeting to make a decision. It’s likely we’ll be told just to move on and let them deal with it. They’ll want to bring in Wardens who specialize in investigations, and probably those who know the most about the black mess at the bottom of the well. This is your training session. We generally don’t expect our newest members to deal with situations like this so soon.” He frowned. “Not that this is anything we’ve encountered before.”

  Arthos reached into a small pouch on his belt and pulled out a green stone that was clearly one half of what had been an oval, neatly broken along one side. He clenched it in his hand and I felt him excerpt his Will. I didn’t understand exactly what he was doing, but I could feel the pulses of effort from him, a steady and uniform rhythm. Once he was finished he tucked the stone back into his belt and nodded to himself. The whole thing had only taken a couple of minutes.

  “Now we wait for a reply. We can finish investigating the area for now. We should check the houses a bit, see if anyone is around, hiding maybe. I can’t believe the entire village is just empty. There is always a survivor. Someone always escapes.” He nodded to himself, clearly wanting to believe what he’d said.

  I wasn’t so certain. This place felt dead, and worse, it felt like the pall of whatever had happened was still hanging heavily over the entire area. I’d never really believed in the foolishness of curses, but this place felt “cursed” for lack of a better word. It was twisted, and vile, and staying close was dangerous, or that was what my instinct for self preservation was telling me. Yet, for all that I felt a need to get as far from this place as I could, I also didn't want to leave. The mystery called to me. I felt driven to find answers, even if I didn’t even know the questions that needed them. If we were commanded to leave, this village would likely haunt me for a good long while. Whether we were sent away or not, I knew I had at least some small amount of time left to explore. We had until a message was returned to us, and I intended to make the most of that.

  We started scouring the village. It didn’t seem wise to split up, so we stayed close together, moving amidst the homes carefully and quietly, as though something might be lurking around each corner, and I couldn't fault Arthos’ suggestion of caution. It felt like something was lurking around each corner. Inside the homes things got even more eerie. Everything was set as though it had been in use when it was left. Clothes were partially hung to dry over bath basins, supper was left out, moldy and rotting now. Children’s toys were left unattended. It wasn’t uncommon to see toys not taken care of, but these were different. It was like the shadow of the game that had been in play was painted on the scene.

  We lit torches and lanterns at every home, leaving a trail of light behind us, some way to tell where we had been. It almost made things look more natural to see a burning torch ensconced on a wall. Almost. The trail we left was also somehow ominous, as though each torch was an island of light in a sea darkened by an unknown horror, or a sign that something we’d just passed was otherworldly and wrong.

  “Is anyone in here?” Arthos would call as we moved from house to house. At first we’d been silent, but I could feel a type desperation in him. He had to find someone. There was always a survivor, he told me twice more as we moved from home to home. He needed to know that not everyone was gone, or maybe he needed an answer to this puzzle as badly as I did.

  We searched all of the houses in the main section of the village to no avail, and as it was getting darker we started to move out towards the edge of the village. “There are a great many more homes to check, some barns and things too, but we’re losing the light. I’m not sure it’s safe to stay here for the night.”

  I didn’t disagree with him. “Nothing from the Will stone?” I asked.

  He frowned, looking unhappy as he shook his head. “Nothing. Not even an acknowledgment. Usually they send an acknowledgement.” He said this part softly, almost under his breath. “We can’t move on until we know they don’t want us here, but we can’t stay here either, not in this village. I think we should return to the kea and ride to the top of the hill again. We can keep a watch from there. What do you think?”

  I was quite surprised to be asked. “You want my opinion?”

  “This is training, and that means I need to know how you’re handling things, what you think is the best course of action. I probably should have asked you before giving you my opinion, but feel free to speak your mind. What do you think we should do?” He asked again.

  I considered this for a moment. I didn’t really want to leave the village. It seemed that if anything was going to reveal itself to us, it would be down within the
village itself. However, these people were just gone. We had a lot of blood, and that vile black substance was at the center of it. There was no real sign of struggle. Whatever had happened to them, it had happened quickly. It had also happened near the evening. These people had been about their nightly business when things went wrong. They’d been making supper, finishing chores, getting ready to retire for the day. It had to be near the same time that our day was fast approaching.

  “Alright, we should head back to the top of the hill. We’ll set up a camp, no fire, eat rations for the evening, keep our heads low and take a staggered sleep pattern so one of us is always awake. But we should keep in mind that whatever happened to them, it got to all of them without leaving anyone behind. They were likely awake when it happened. That is troubling.” I said, deciding that I would have to be patient if I wanted to stay alive.

  Arthos nodded. “Good idea. I was going to suggest the staggered sleep myself. Very good, Lillin. Let’s go.” He paused a moment and then added, “But we don’t yet know that there are no survivors. It’s likely someone who survived might have gone to hide outside of the main town.”

  I didn’t respond, but I found it strange that he clung to that hope so firmly. I wished it were true as well, but the town felt hollow. If anything remained, I didn’t think it was human.

  With that we departed the eerie town and headed back to our mounts. When we got back to where we’d left them I didn’t see either of the Kea at first, but just as I was becoming worried, Zara slipped from the woods silently and approached. She came right up to me and pressed her head against my shoulder. Arthos’ mount appeared as well, though he simply came to a stop a few feet into the clearing.

  Arthos gave a dry laugh. “Well, we know which of us was missed, that’s for sure.”

  “Maybe you smell bad.” I offered with a small grin as I mounted up and turned Zara towards the top of the hill. It felt good to at least attempt humor.

  “That or my charming personality is wearing on his nerves.” Arthos commented as he approached his mount and hopped into place before starting up the hill with me.

  We crested the top just as the last red and angry light from the sun fell beneath the horizon, and the forest took on a menacing look instead of the peaceful one that it wore in the full light of day. We dismounted again and set out our bedrolls for the night, pulling out food as well. The road rations weren’t great, especially when nothing could be heated because we weren’t setting a fire. Still, it was good to put something in my stomach. I hadn’t realized just how hungry I was until I began to eat the dried meat and rock hard bread.

  I looked down over the village below, at the tiny points of light from all the torches and lanterns we’d lit. They looked almost like stars that had fallen down amidst the trees and houses of the village.

  “Would you like first or second watch?” Arthos asked, almost startling me so lost in thoughts was I.

  “Second.” I decided. I felt tired, and I wanted to close my mind to the village below for a while, forget about things for a few hours while I slept. I thought the rest might help me see things more clearly.

  Arthos nodded. “Yeah, me too.” He said with a groan. “Alright, I offered, so I’ll take first. Get some rest. I’ll wake you in a few hours.”

  I gave him a thankful smile and then laid down to sleep. Surprisingly, it came quickly.

  It fled even more quickly.

  “Lillin.” Arthos’ harsh whisper woke me and I leapt to attention, hands on my weapon, but my eyes caught Arthos and he had a finger over his lips. He grabbed me and pulled me towards the edge of camp where we could best see down to the village. He pointed, and I looked after his finger, at first seeing nothing at all. I was about to protest having been woken up so harshly to look after some lights, but that’s when I noticed what was wrong.

  Some of the lights were out. Torches did burn out on their own, lanterns too. Even slow wick would only burn for twelve hours or so, but the pattern before me was evident. The lights were out in the center of the village, around the well. We had started our search of the village from the center, but we hadn’t worked outward in an even pattern. I squinted and tried to see more clearly. As I was watching two more lights vanished, expelled as though doused in a bucket. We were too high and far away to see what had done it, but they hadn’t seemed to move at all. They just went out.

  A few more lights went out, four this time. They just snapped out, all at once. The timing of it was just too much. They weren’t even that close together. How could lights go out like that? It would have taken four different people, and they would have all had to time things perfectly, no room for mistakes. It happened again a few seconds later, five this time. Then again, then once more, but this time a dozen went out. There was only a narrow strip of lights towards the outer edge of the village now. The last torches we’d lit. I watched, straining my eyes to try and see something.

  The last of the lights went out. The village was dark.

  I shook my head, wanting to say something, but afraid to talk. What had I just seen? “There is something down there.” I stated the obvious, a little too stunned to say anything a bit more intelligent.

  Arthos raised an eyebrow. “Clearly, but what was it, and how did it move like that? That wasn’t just a coordinated effort. It might be an exercise of Will, but we’re the only two here that can use Will, and I’m fairly certain it wasn’t one of us. We’re too far away, and I don’t think this qualifies as amusing in any way.”

  I thought about it for a moment. I’d been surprised and hadn’t really thought to listen for an echo of Will, but I was fairly certain I hadn’t felt anything. “No, it wasn’t Will.” I said with a certainty that seemed to give Arthos pause.

  He gave a shrug. “So if it’s not Will, that leaves us with no good explanation for what we’ve just seen. I might think myself dreaming, but I’m fairly certain I actually woke you and we’re both seeing this.”

  “Should we go down there?” I asked, looking down into the darkness below. The valley was arranged in such a way that almost no moon light crept into it at this point in the night. It was unnaturally dark below us, especially now that the torches were out.

  Arthos sighed. “If you knew more about how to bring your Will to bare we might go, but I don’t know if you’re prepared to handle the situation. You might need defenses, and I don’t think you have the focus to call them. I guess we need to start focusing on your Will training. It’s too late for that now, though. For tonight we’ll just have to stay here, keep watch. We’ll go back when there is light enough for us to see what is coming before it is upon us.”

  I had mixed feelings about that decision. I didn’t like that I was holding us back, but I also understood why he chose not to risk things when he couldn't be certain that I could do much to help. Still, my curiosity bristled.

  “Nothing on the stone yet?” I asked, since I was up anyway.

  “Nothing.” He said, looking just a bit anxious. “I’ll send another message in the morning, though generally it is advised not to send a second message because it will overwrite the first. I think this situation warrants it. Besides, we should update them with this event. This is unusual enough to need a report of its own.”

  “So then we’re stuck waiting until morning?” I asked, though it was more an acknowledgment of reality than a question. “Whatever it was, it was clearly coming from the center of town, from the well. That means it originated from that black mess.” I pointed out, deciding to bring things back to what I felt was an obvious point.

  “Unless the ‘black mess,’ as you call it, is just a byproduct of whatever is doing this and not the source. There are still a great many questions to be asked and answered, Lillin. Don’t make assumptions on things that are unknowable. Assumptions can get you killed. This certainly seems like one of those situations.” Arthos’ voice was calm, that of a teacher making what he felt was an obvious point, but I was fairly certain that the black liquid w
as at the heart of this.

  An unsettling thought occurred to me. “Do you think it stopped at the edge of the town?” I asked, changing the subject as I gazed back at the dark below. “We saw it spiral out from the center of town because of the lights, but did it just stop, or is it still creeping through the woods towards us.” Giving word to this fear sent a chill through me. There was no physical boundary down there to stop whatever had put out those lights. We were only a six or seven minute ride away from being down in the village again.

  “That isn’t a very comfortable question to answer.” Arthos’ reply wasn’t as reassuring as I’d hoped it would be. “It’s safe to say it is moving this way, but what sort of range does it have? We don’t have any idea what it is at all. The most we can do is keep watch. Your time was about up for rest, and I’m not quite ready to lay down yet, but I will have to eventually. That means you’ll have to keep watch on your own.” He gave me a serious look. “Can you handle that? If you fall asleep . . . “

  I cut him off. “I’m not falling asleep again tonight.” I was tired, but I was also afraid. Training had taught me to function on little rest and this wouldn’t be any different. I could manage. “I’m ready to watch when you bed down.”