“Are you sure…? You would let us in…? Under his nose…?!” said Hertica.
“I meant what I said. Take me to them. I’ll guide you all to the back door.” said the soldier.
A part of her mind thought that it was a trap, but she couldn’t think of a good reason for him, a soldier of the city, to trap less than half of the civilians of Strail into whatever it was. Regardless, she sighed and said, “Oh, thank you so much… I’ll guide you there…”
At the same time, she asked Yosel, What do you think? Think we can trust him…?
They walked a few steps back into the forest, before Yosel, apparently recovered from his shock, spoke out loud to the soldier, “I’d like to have a talk with her, in private. Would you mind waiting here? Just for a moment?”
He didn’t directly answer. He looked a bit surprised, before he added, “Very well. Don’t take it too long, though.”
“Thank you.” replied Yosel, before looking at Hertica, “Come on.” He waved his hand, telling her to come, as another light ball popped out of nothing to illuminate the both of them. His expression was hard to tell. He looked calm on the surface, but he also looked like he couldn’t wait to say something to Hertica. Considering that he didn’t respond to her question through their telepathy network, she had a somewhat bad feeling about it.
They walked not too far; she could still see the soldier in her sight. Yosel waved his hand, from below, arching as wide as he could, to his back, and back to below again. It took her a while that he was casting a spell to keep any sound travelling out of the dome he just made.
Because he immediately shouted.
“WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT!?”
Now she was the one who was shocked, she stumbled and fell down onto the bushes with her buttocks.
“YOU CAN’T BE KIDDING ME! KILLING THE MAYOR, JUST BECAUSE THEY DON’T WANT TO ACCEPT US!? ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?!”
“WHAT DO YOU EXPECT, THEN?! JUST LET HIM DO WHAT HE WANTS AND LEAVE US OUT HERE IN THE FOREST!?”
“THAT SOLDIER IS GOING TO LET US IN, ANYWAY…!”
“THAT’S WHAT HE SAID, FOR NO FUCKING REASON! HE COULD HAVE LED US TO TRAP, ANYWAY!”
“WE COULD HAVE HANDLED THAT! ANYTHING WOULD HAVE BEEN BETTER THAN YOU BUTCHERING THE MAYOR!”
“YOU MEAN STANDING IN SHOCK, HAVING YOUR MOUTH OPEN AND CLOSE, AND DOING NOTHING, LIKE WHAT YOU DID?!”
Without any further words, Yosel pulled his sword out, about to swing it against Hertica. She, on the other hand, was ready to intercept, she rose and blocked the swing just in time. She then pushed him backwards with the parry, as capable as her enhanced strength allowed. As a result, he was pushed just about a metre, but it didn’t stop him. He dashed straight forward Hertica, making a thrust move, with his right arm behind him. She then flipped her grip on the sword, about to intercept the attack, wherever it might hit. Even though she didn’t like it, she found that she had no hesitance within her mind and heart. If it came to the worst…
She was pushed backwards, and by something fast and powerful, to a point where she actually lied down. It took her a while to realise it, when she was about to swing her arm to parry the thrust, now she couldn’t lift her right arm. There was something that held her, both in the chest, neck, and her right arm. It seemed to be something relatively small, but strong and fast enough. Thanks to the light ball Yosel summoned, she could take a look at what was pressing on her.
Thanks to the light ball, she could see that it was made of clay. However, it was in the shape and size of a hand, literally, she nearly screamed.
Hands of clay took a strong hold on her neck, her chest, and her right arm. It looked like a human’s hand, from the finger, but only to the wrist; she thought that they were all floating by someone’s control, and at such a skilled level. Even though she tried to resist, even with enhanced strength, it was no avail, although she was currently too tired to enhance herself as optimally as usual. She realised that there were more clay hands, holding on her legs, left arm, stomach, knees, and elbows. It didn’t feel like the hands were weak at all, even though they were all made of clay. It didn’t look like the hand on her neck was choking her, but it still didn’t feel pleasant to her. She turned to see what of Yosel, only to find that he was also pinned down by the same clay hands. The difference was, she was held facing up, while he was held facing down. It appeared that he was held facing down, to keep his right arm, holding his sword, away from her, the same way she was held facing up, to keep her right arm away from him.
One question was asked in her mind. Who did this…?
He saw the soldier, of Therset, running toward them. He stopped for a while, as if there was a bug obscuring his sight, before he waved with his hand. She realised that he noticed the spell of silence Yosel cast, and disabled it with ease. He then continued running toward them, and shouted, “What the fuck are you two doing?!”
She could only look at Yosel, who apparently turned his head to look back at her as well. She herself couldn’t say anything, because she didn’t know what she was doing herself either.
Yosel himself simply answered, “Personal business. It’s not a big deal anymore…”
“Bullshit! You were both trying to kill each other!” cut the soldier.
“It’s bygones, already. Isn’t that right, Hertica?” asked Yosel.
He said nothing to her through their telepathy network. She was annoyed by his rash decision to just call it “bygones,” but knowing that there was no need to bring it up again, she said, “Y-Yeah. It’s not a big deal, that’s why…”
“So you can now let us go. We don’t have a lot of time, anyway.” added Yosel.
He didn’t directly answer, before he eventually let go of the hold and lifted both of them with his clay hands, pulling and pushing them up. She initially thought that it was telekinesis over all the clay hands, but seeing how smooth the movement was and how life-like the fingers moved, she thought that it was more than simply telekinesis and earth manipulation combined. After that, all the hands flew into the cloak of the soldier, out of their sight.
The soldier spoke, “Alright… take me to see them. And in the meantime, tell me about this smoke…”
From the looks of it, nothing had appeared to change. Most of them sat on the ground, resting from the long travel, while some of them actually laid down on the ground, either having a total rest or actually sleeping; only a few stood by and watched around for any indication of a beast. They all didn’t gather around into a huge circular gathering, but rather formed into a long trail of the crowd, like a train of carriages; he couldn’t see the end of the trail himself, because it trailed past his sight. They all looked tired, and somewhat halfway to despair, which was understandable, but it changed into curiosity with a taint of hope, the moment they see Yosel and Hertica returned, with the soldier.
“Miss Hertica…?” one of the survivors called her.
Another one, who seemed to recognize her, called, “Hertica! Is it…?”
He knew he was about to say, “Is it a success?” She interrupted him by saying, “Well… it’s a bit complicated. Wait a moment, please…”
They said nothing, because they were rather confused with what she meant. Regardless, Yosel intercepted, “As you can see, there are lots of people… about two hundred, I think — not even more than two hundred, from Strail, in fact…”
“And it’s because of a mysterious purple smoke…?” said the soldier. There was a slight frown on his face. “I’ve never heard of this purple smoke before, whatever it is.”
“Neither are we. But I’m telling you, it’s real…”
“He’s telling the truth, sir soldier.” a person came from beside them and joined in the conversation. As far as he remembered, he was one of the people who sided with the rebels, and one of those who were quite close to Hertica. “You can ask everyone here, and they all can give witness to that for you.”
He then looked Hertica in the eyes. Soon enough, she frowned, expressing displeasure. It took him less than a second to realise that they were communicating with each other through their own telepathy network. What he didn’t expect to happen, was a wrinkle on her forehead, an expression of displeasure from her face.
What is it…? Yosel asked Hertica through their telepathy network. Considering that they had to talk through telepathy networks, he thought that it wasn’t a good thing to be said out loud.
The smoke is spreading further. And it’s heading here. Responded Hertica grimly.
Oh, fuck… how far is it?
We should be able to bring them all to shelter in time — it’s not like it’s moving incredibly fast. The thing is, how would Therset deal with the smoke thing…? That’s if they even believe the smoke…
We can show him the smoke itself, and whoever that was infected — speaking of which, what of the infected people? Are they heading here as well? Because in technicality, they’re more dangerous than the smoke itself.
As far as they can see… no. There’s no sight of them. But we can’t be sure, either…
Yosel took a deep breath. He was still annoyed by her previous decision, even though it didn’t come to fruition, and he understood her reason to an extent. However, added with the fact that there was no telling if the infected people approached the city or not, he had to calm himself down, lest he would lose himself in rage and frustration.
“What is it?” the soldier asked, a bit confused looking at the gloomy expressions on their faces.
Let’s do what we can do right now. They agree to take them all into shelter. “You say that you can’t believe the smoke thing, don’t you? How about I show you? Because the smoke is coming to this town.”
As he predicted, the people, at least those who were nearby enough to catch his words, murmured in concern and panic. Hertica immediately interrupted. “Don’t worry, everyone. They’re willing to take us in refuge. We made it — we’ll all be finally safe.”
Panic and worry on their faces turned to delight and relief, again, but not fully. One of them said, “But… what did you mean, when you said, ‘it’s a bit complicated…’?”
Their attention turned to Hertica. It was apparent that they became curious and slightly confused with what she previously said. She herself ended up replying nervously, as she turned to the soldier, almost throwing the burden to the soldier and expecting him to explain. “Well, that’s…”
What should I say to them…?
So Yosel took charge, “It’s just that this soldier of Therset wants to see the smoke itself, and the survivors from Strail. Nothing too serious, don’t worry.”
It didn’t fully calm them down, as there were still mumbles around, but it did well enough to quench their panic and worry.
Thank you… said Hertica.
Don’t mention it. Replied Yosel. Seeing the soldier said nothing, Yosel assumed that he didn’t mind it, so he added, speaking to the soldier, “Well, now you’ve seen them. They’re all exhausted and wounded, they need shelter and proper rest. You take them to refuge, and I’ll show you this smoke thing. What do you say?”
He paused for a while, saying nothing. Yosel suddenly had a thought that he was possibly conversing with his fellow soldiers before he decided. What could they be conversing about…? Yosel started to wonder to himself.
Eventually, he said, with a loud voice for everyone to hear, “Very well… just go straight to the city. They will guide you there. And, my request, please…” he then turned up his voice and added emphasis on the next words, “please be quiet and don’t cause a loud commotion.”
“Why…?”
“We don’t want to attract unwanted attention.” said the soldier, still as loud, “particularly of the beasts around the city. That’s why I ask that you be quiet when you get to the city, please.”
The people looked at each other, looking somewhat nervous and curious. Seems like he doesn’t do well enough to convince them all… he told Hertica.
Hang on… give it some time… replied Hertica instead.
What? You think that they’ll change their mind or something if we just let them be…?
“Alright, then… quiet, it is…”
It was the person in front of the soldier, as he gathered his belongings into his bag and stood up. Soon enough, the rest mumbled in agreement and nodded, getting ready to rise from their short break and continue their walk, just a little further. Yosel himself looked surprised, if just a bit.
The soldier himself sighed in relief, and said, now with normal volume, “Thank you for the understanding…”
They just need to be certain for a few more seconds, that’s all. Said Hertica. It’s not like they have any other choice…
I see… sighed Yosel. And… you agree to take shelter into th — no, never mind, I’ll rephrase that — do you have any backup plan, in case things go wrong in the city…?
She already walked ahead, leading the people toward the city. The soldier, on the other hand, stayed still and said to Yosel, “Alright. Lead the way.”
We’re talking about that, to be honest. It won’t be pretty, but we’ll be ready if we need to bail out. I’ll take them to the city. You can take the soldier to see the smoke. Maybe take some of your fellows along, just in case.
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