"This is our fault." Thalia looked over the village, illuminated with the glowing nyndis fungus that'd been scattered on the sides of the road and against walls and windowsills. The sight that was once familiar now had an eerie air. There was no laughter, no music, nothing.
"It's the human's fault," Fen said quietly. "All souls have their right to choose, and those choices cannot be pinned on someone else."
Rea sniffled. "Men like them don't have souls, Fen."
"Everybody has a soul," Fen argued.
If Thalia squinted, she could see the bright light that could only come from a campfire, at the center of the village.
"I agree with Rea," she said, clenching her fists. The three of them stood on an oprus tree, the bark was pale white, like bone, and the leaves had a lavender color. More importantly, the branches were wide and sturdy, and they could hold their combined weights with ease.
"Those men are corrupted, not soulless."
"Whatever you say," Rea grunted. "You believe in the Elements too much."
Fen frowned, and his voice grew solemn. "It is the way of our people, Rea, you will not make me ashamed for believing."
"Not saying you should be ashamed, just that you shouldn't apply it to those humans."
"They-"
"Enough," Thalia said, placing a hand on Fen's shoulder. "This is not the time for that. Look, Trevith is back."
Fen and Rea both looked at each other as if they wanted to say something else, but they held their tongues and stared ahead. Trevith moved silently on the dark forest, stepping lightly on his hooves, once he reached the bottom of the tree he looked up, and Thalia could see the doubts on his expression.
"Well?" she asked, crouching on the pale branch.
"They have wards up, just like you thought," Trevith said, not having to raise his voice to be heard from below. "And they do seem more alert than they were before. The villagers-well, I couldn't see them, I think they put them in one of the houses."
Thalia pursed her lips.
"That, or they're dead," Rea said, speaking exactly what was on Thalia's mind.
Trevith shuddered. "I don't think they're dead, we would've noticed, right?"
"Perhaps," Thalia said. "Hey, Burek, what do you think?"
Burek sat with his back against the oprus's bark, a massive silhouette of bone and carapace armor. Thalia saw him shrug. "Either way, we will kill them, no?"
"Our priority is to rescue everyone."
He nodded, looking thoughtful. Burek often avoided thinking things through unless they were explicitly brought out to him. "Nightshade poison, then."
"Won't work," Trevith said. brushing hair out of his face and revealing one of the curved horns that sprouted from his forehead. "They're extra careful with their food now, and their wine."
"So no poison," Rea said, sitting on the branch next to Thalia, legs dangling, "and no faun lullabies. Great. Where does that leave us?"
Fen hadn't moved, his eyes were lost on the village ahead, though from their position they could see little more than the empty entrance and a few houses.
"We call the pixies?" Trevith asked from below. "They've helped us with humans before."
"Will take too long to reach," Burek said. "And we should not bother them on a Moon Night."
"And most pixies are sick," Rea said. "I spoke with Aritza recently, it doesn't look good for them."
"It doesn't look good for anyone," said Trevith. "Dryads, spriggans, high feerics, pixies and specially-" He trailed off, looking at Thalia, and she knew what he was going to say next.
Nymphs.
"Yeah," Rea said, voice lowering. Her family was infected as well, and they were too weak to leave their dwelling. Rea and Fen were of the few still unaffected. "Humans are going to be the least of our problems if we don't do something about that. Hey, viper, how's your family? Alyan's potion worked?"
"I don't know," Thalia admitted, looking up to the night sky. The forest felt lonely tonight, disturbed, it made her skin bristle. "I haven't been back to the glade."
Trevith's eyes widened. "What? Why not?"
Thalia closed her eyes as a faint breeze rustled the leaves around her. It was the beginning of spring, yet the air felt too cold, too wrong. It carried the smell of dead things and fell magic. It brought back images of a dead demon laying among withered grass.
"Haven't had the time," she said quietly.
"How are you holding up?" Rea asked softly. "Did you talk to Falwyn about-?"
The demon. Thalia sighed. "No, he would've brought too much trouble to it. I spoke to Lalveth, she'll take care of it."
She smiled. "You preferred talking to someone all the way to Ghlainne Cawyr? I know you two are close but-"
"We shouldn't speak of this right now," Thalia said. "Make fun of me and Lalveth after we deal with Spirre and his mercenaries."
"Agree," Burek said.
"Well, but we still have no idea how to deal with them." Trevith crossed his arms, turning around to stare at the little houses. "We could trick them somehow, they have sound wards but that's about it, if they were to see or smell something that would alarm them-"
Rea perked up. "Ah, deathflowers, yes, we put them in water and then-"
"I think," Thalia said, "that it's time to forget stealth and quietness." They all turned to her, even Fen. "There were a dozen of them, Rea killed one, Burek probably killed another, two wounded including their captain. Eight of them if we don't count Spirre, and there are five of us."
"Pardon me," Trevith said, raising a hand. "Five of us? You know I won't fight if it comes to that, unless you're counting Burek as two fighters, which wouldn't be too inaccurate."
Burek smiled, clapping a hand against his own armor.
"You'll go with us," Thalia said. "You'll go with us," she said through her teeth, stopping Trevith's protests, "and you'll get yourself inside the hearing wards, then you'll play your music-but don't make them sleep again, make them terrified."
"We'll protect you, little faun," Rea said idly. She was always the first to agree with Thalia's plans, especially if violence was involved. "And you won't have to hurt anyone directly."
Trevith shook his head. "This is madness! The mercenaries have mages in their ranks, surely you wouldn't-"
"A few," Fen said quietly, almost a whisper. "And not trained on the Councillium. The captain was the only one that would've given us trouble, the rest are not well-trained sorcerers."
Rea made an appreciative sound under her breath. "Well, Fen, how do you know?"
"Because I watched them the other night. Their wards dropped too quickly, and only the captain used magic against Thalia. I could not see silver rings on them, and I would like to believe mages of the Councillium wouldn't do something like this, especially if they studied under the current High Sorcerer."
"All the more reason to go, then." Rea smiled, and she was looking down at Trevith with those dangerous eyes of her. "You can't refuse, little faun."
"I can most certainly refuse!" Trevith stomped one of his hooves on the ground, but then he took a deep breath. "But I won't. What those people are doing-I can't stand for it, spirits take me, I will fight however I can."
Thalia smiled, and she jumped from the tree, landing lightly beside Trevith, her feet not making a single sound. "Direct assault then, I know it's not what we're used to, but any other plan will take too long, and we've already made the villagers suffer."
Burek stood, looming over Thalia and Trevith. He wore an ogre's armor, breastplate and helm made of stoneshell carapace, a brown so dark it looked almost like charcoal, with red streaks like paint swirling on the surface. His axe hung from his back, blades down, and his white tusks seemed to reflect off the moonlight. Sometimes Thalia could see why the humans were so terrified of him.
Rea also jumped down, dressed much less impressively with a loose shirt and trousers, barefoot as all dryads, her pale hair trailing behind her as she landed, leaves and flowers rustling with the wind. Fen followed, somber and with his eyes downcast, yet he was already gripping one of his many daggers.
Thalia stared at the four of them, eyes narrowing. Fen and Burek stood with their backs straight, Rea stretched her arms over her head and yawned, Trevith shifted uncomfortably on his hooves.
They were perhaps the most un-soldier like group Thalia would ever find, and yet she found herself smiling.
The Wheel spun oddly, sometimes, but it was always right.
"I'll go first," she said. "Follow closely, but don't attack until I do."
"Sure, viper," Rea said, shrugging. "Not our first time killing some humans."
"Rea." Fen scowled. "Don't make light of killing, it is unseemly."
"Oh spirits," she huffed. "You know what's unseemly, Fen? Marching up to a village, dragging people from their homes and tying them up for spirits-know what reason."
"We must be better than them."
"We are already better than them, don't you see?"
"Quiet," Thalia said, rising a hand. "Discuss this later, we have to concentrate. No one says another word until Tylar Spirre and his men are dealt with, understand?"
Rea opened her mouth to protest, but shut it and rolled her eyes. Fen nodded curtly.
Then Thalia turned on her heels and started walking towards the entrance of the village, hidden by the darkness of the forest.
* * *
There was a man standing guard. Young, tall, with black hair and dark eyes. He wore leather and chainmail, and had one hand wrapped around the hilt of his sword, the other held a torch forward, he was squinting, examining the night, trying to discern where the rustling sounds were coming from.
But this was Ariwa, and it was well past sunset, he wasn't going to see a thing.
Thalia stood just outside of the light of the torch, trying her best not to stare at the flames, not breathing lest she inhaled wisps of smoke. The man kept squinting, unaware.
She could hear Rea and Fen not too far away, hiding on the bushes that grew around the village's entrance. The village didn't have walls or fences surrounding it, but rather thick strawberry bushes that grew around it.
With a nod of her head, Fen and Rea started shaking the bushes. The mercenary looked around, swinging his torch with wide eyes and a trembling hand. Thalia took a step backwards to make sure the light didn't reveal her.
In any other situation the man probably wouldn't be this afraid, but after what happened to his comrades a few nights ago he had a right to be scared. Ariwa was a dangerous place, more dangerous than most; humans had plenty of superstitions and misconceptions about it, and about the feerics they claimed were so simple of mind.
The human turned his head around to shout a warning, but he never could. The knife flew from Thalia's hand faster than her eyes could follow, and the blade hit the man in the eye. He fell without a word.
"Let's move," she told Rea and Fen, passing over the dead human and getting her knife back, the blade slick with blood and bits of flesh. The man's lifeless eye stared up at her, unblinking, but Thalia ignored it, stomping over the fallen torch and shivering as the flames died under her feet.
As soon as they stepped past the posts on the village's entrance, sound invaded Thalia's ears. Talking, whispering, fire, moving. They entered the hearing ward.
"I thought this was a direct assault," Rea said as they moved, keeping themselves pressed to the little houses, trying to stay away from the nyndis fungus. "Huh? What was that you said, no more stealth and quietness?" Despite everything, she sounded slightly amused, but that didn't surprise Thalia.
"Direct doesn't mean reckless, and I also said no more talking until the humans were dealt with."
"Fair enough."
Fen muttered a prayer under his breath.
The humans had arranged themselves close to the center of the village, they put up their tents again, the ample spaces between houses giving them plenty room, and the mercenaries sat around a campfire with their eyes towards the main roads. Tylar Spirre stood a few paces away from the group on his fine, stained clothes. They were having a stew.
Rea chuckled, too low for the humans to hear. "Well look at that, isn't it ironic we always end up attacking during their meals?"
The mercenaries were tense, and spoons were slow to reach their mouths, as if their food as an enemy. Tylar himself wasn't even eating. Thalia closed her eyes, focusing on the sounds, picking through the noise of the eating humans and the crackling fire, searching for something else.
There.
Whimpers and hushed murmurs of panic, the rustling of ropes and the whispers of bodies pressed together.
Thalia opened her eyes and pointed to the house closest to the human camp. The door was closed, and someone had scrubbed the fungus away from the windowsills, leaving the house in total darkness both inside and out. Guards weren't posted by the entrance, but the mercenaries kept casting furtive glances towards it.
"I found the villagers," Thalia said, pointing with her chin towards the house. It was bigger than the others because it wasn't a house at all, it was a gathering place where feerics ate and danced together on lively nights. "I don't smell blood. Do you?"
Rea sniffed about, shaking her head. The dryad's sense of smell would be better than Thalia's, but she had to force it. "No blood, no dead bodies either. But there's something-" she trailed off, frowning. "Sharp herbs, medicine, and there is blood ahead, human blood. There." She pointed to one of the tents near the back of the camp.
"It's where they brought their wounded," Fen said. "Their healers already tended to them."
"This ragtag group of mercenaries has healers?" Thalia frowned. "That's odd."
"Burek and Trevith are ready," Rea said, pointing towards the darkness, but Thalia could see clear as day. The two of them had entered the village from behind and were positioned at the back of the human camp, outside the light of the campfire.
Humans claimed that Ariwa seemed to close in on itself at night, swallowing all light even in open spaces, that the forest casted an unnatural darkness. Thalia had never seen it, but she believed them, just the forest's way to protect itself.
Thalia raised her hand, and Trevith began strumming his lute. She could hear the sounds from where she was standing, a sorrowful melody, and she had to take a deep breath to push it out of her head. Though it wouldn't affect her too much, Trevith's songs could only boost the emotions that were already there, and this one in particular preyed on fear and uncertainty.
"They don't know how to defend themselves in Ariwa," Fen said. "Sound wards are pointless if they're gonna span so much terrain, and what is the reason to have only one guard?" He shook his head, as if disappointed. "They really are fools."
Rea snorted. "You're seeing that just now?"
"Who's there!?" asked one of the mercenaries, suddenly standing up and dropping his bowl of food. "Bloody hells! Can't you hear that?"
All the humans suddenly stood, some of them already unsheathing their swords, shouting, pressing themselves together in the dark.
"I thought you placed wards," Tylar Spirre snarled, getting behind the mercenaries, unaware that behind them was a massive ogre crouching in the darkness.
"We did, sir!"
"Well place more!"
Trevith's song picked up the rhythm, growing faster, more urgent, leaving behind the sadness and instead taking more aggressive notes, as if the music itself was anxious.
Thalia raised her knife and twirled it, then threw it. She'd already pulled out another one when it hit a man on the leg, provoking a scream. Then, she ran towards them, Rea and Fen closely behind, just as Burek let out his war cry and burst into the small camp of terrified humans.
* * *
Lyra nearly dropped her glass sphere as she jolted. Screams came out from outside the tent, she didn't know how long she'd spent there, sitting on the dirt with her hands and feet bound, but night had fallen and the candles burning on the tent had sniffled out long ago.
She could hear music, a rapid song that made her heart beat nervously with the rhythm, coming from everywhere at once, as if strung by a dozen musicians all around the forest.
She clutched the sphere against her chest, trembling, sweating. What was happening to her? She'd endured hours of undisturbed silence without feeling much of anything, but now she felt a strong urge to curve into a ball and hide.
I'm-afraid? Of Tylar Spirre? What is wrong with me?
Her hands trembled, they were numb from all the time she'd spent with the shackles on, she couldn't even feel the bite of metal on her fingers.
Calm yourself, she thought, taking a deep breath. This was probably nothing, her imagination playing tricks thanks to the exhaustion.
Tylar Spirre would come into her tent soon, and she had to be prepared for when that happened.
Lyra, however, wasn't prepared to hear the sudden yells.
* * *
Burek swung his axe and sheared a man's feet from underneath, then he brought it down again, slicing the human's head before he could even scream.
But there were plenty other humans screaming.
Thalia spun away from a sword and kicked the man on the wrist, sending the blade flying, then she spun again and kicked the back of his leg, the man stumbled down, and Thalia sliced his throat from behind. She turned, rising her dagger, and it collided with another sword, she reached for another one strapped to her thigh and stabbed the mercenary's hand.
He yelled, sword falling to the dirt, and Thalia stabbed him on the side of his neck.
She moved fluidly, like the wind, never stopping to catch her breath. She didn't need to, the forest provided for her, moved her forward, made her faster and more agile, it sang to her much like Trevith's song sang to the humans, but it didn't stroke her emotions, it stroked her blood, boosting her natural reflexes.
Behind her, Rea jumped on the back of a man and they collapsed to the ground in a mess of grunts and limbs and flashing edges. The man struggled, but couldn't shake off Rea's weight, and eventually she stabbed him, her knife slicing through chainmail.
Thalia looked around, Fen had put out the fire-the first thing he did-with some dirt, and now they fought in darkness. Well, the humans fought in darkness, Thalia's group could see as clear as day.
They were so messy. They didn't stay together, and they scrambled about in a magic-enhanced panic, probably believing they were fighting an army and not just four people.
In their disorder, Thalia spotted Spirre, legs trembling as he tried to get away from the fight. She heard Burek shouting out a war cry again and then followed after the man. Calm, she was so calm, her mind was almost cold as she ran behind Spirre.
Two nights ago Thalia had been so angry at him, and that anger had been so bright and blinding, so driving and raw. Now she was still angry, but her mind was clear, her body was cold and her movements calculated.
Spirre stumbled inside one of the tents, Thalia smelled herbs and medicine. The tent of the wounded. Did he believe he could hide? Did he believe they would spare the wounded and not bring the fight to them?
Well, he was wrong.
"Captain! They're here! The demons!"
Thalia grabbed the tent flap, strolling inside slowly. Fortunately for her there were no candles, but the men could still see her. One of them-with a bloody bandage around his shoulder-recoiled on his bed, eyes wide. The one lying on the next cot shivered, growing pale. Spirre knelt next to one of the cots and whimpered as his eyes fell on Thalia.
Trevith's song continued, and it reached all the way there.
They believe us demons, Thalia thought idly. They hadn't seen what she had seen.
As she let the tent flap drop from her hand she smelled something strange. Sharp and bitter, like parchment burning.
She was too distracted to react in time, and a gauntleted fist slammed into her face.
Blinding light flashed in Thalia's eyes, and blood filled her mouth. Her own blood.
She cried out and was thrown backwards, hitting the ground and rolling to a stop, muscles screaming, pain spreading across her shoulders and back as if someone had stabbed her with a hundred daggers. So much pain.
Get up.
She stumbled to her feet, vision spinning, and gritted her teeth. She had to blink, shake her head, try to regain her eyesight. Everything was so dark. Where had that blow thrown her? Blood streamed from the side of her face. Warm. Hers.
More burning, a sharp scent. Thalia reacted by instinct, hurting all over, and threw herself to the side, hitting the ground once more. She saw him. Cleft, the mercenary captain, wielding his double blades; not daggers, but not swords either. He was limping, one of his legs dangling uselessly on a splint, the leg Thalia had broken a few nights ago.
And he was glowing.
Thalia blinked again. Cleft was bare-chested, and strange markings were inscribed on his torso, markings that shone with white light. He attacked again, roaring a curse, and Thalia stumbled out of the way.
She pulled out another knife, gripping it too tightly. But she wouldn't kill this man, she couldn't, he was too fast, too strong. Cleft wasn't affected by the faun's song, he wasn't scared of her.
Thalia moved backwards, avoiding another blow, Cleft attacked relentlessly with his blades, one after the other, Thalia could barely keep up. She stumbled, and she reached a hand behind her out of pure instinct. She touched something. Soft fabric. A tent.
Ducking underneath the entrance, Thalia dodged another strike, and Cleft cursed as he ripped through the tent's cloth. She moved to the side, hitting a desk with her back, and he stormed through the tent, blades ready.
Then, there was an explosion of sound and light.
It was as if Thalia had been struck by lightning; the burning smell, the electricity rippling through her skin, the taste of blood and metal, the sound of thunder, the burst of light. Thalia reached out blindly in front of her, thrusting her knife out of instinct as the light consumed her, it hit something solid and the blade sunk to the hilt.
Thalia let go of it as if it burned, the jolt of the strike running from her fingertips all the way to her arm and shoulder. She fell to her knees. There were pebbles on the dirt, and she felt them like shards of glass piercing her flesh and bones. She couldn't see. Or rather, she could see too much. Everything was white. The burning smell consumed her, hitting the back of her head, dizzying.
"Make it stop," she cried out, and the strength of her own voice hurt her ears.
Everything was so much.
What had he done to her? Was this death? This incredible, overwhelming rush of feelings?
But as quickly as they came, they vanished.
The lightning left her in a rush, and Thalia found herself gasping for air, reaching for her throat instinctively.
She could breathe. The sounds were gone, the smells were gone and she couldn't feel the pebbles on the ground anymore. And the light was gone. All was gone.
Thalia dared look up, blinking, tears on her eyes. Cleft had fallen in front of her, knife sticking out from his chest. He was still alive, but too stunned to move, his eyes were unfocused as he blinked rapidly, he too was crying.
There was a rustling sound next to Thalia. She could hear normally now. She turned her head sharply, a girl was on the ground writhing away from her, her feet were tied and her hands were locked with strange, metal shackles that bound even her fingers.
Sorcerer.
Not human.
"Who are you?" The girl asked, her voice had just the speckles of an old, elven accent. Despite her restraints there was a dangerous glint burning on her eyes. She had brown hair, curly and dirty and messy, and brown skin, tainted with blood.
How long had Thalia been affected by Cleft's magic? The man was still on the ground, unmoving, bleeding. Thalia took a deep breath and reached for one of her knives, only to realize that she didn't have any of them left.
She managed to crawl to her feet and picked up one of the blades Cleft had been using, it was slightly curved, made of thin and light metal. Thalia recognized the blades now, they were izun frah'lis, and they were as deadly as they were expensive. She raised one of them.
"Wait-" The girl choked out. "Don't-"
Thalia sunk it down on the human's heart.