Curselock

Chapter 43: Cracks

“Poppy was not forthcoming with her information nor did she give up her source. So, she might have been throwing us for a loop.” Boor said.

Lady Onryo nodded. “She’s a smuggler. We wouldn’t take her words as gospel anyway.”

“With that said, Poppy didn’t know who smuggled the Sightless King ‘parts’ into Shoutwell. She suspected the cult lied about what they wanted smuggled. They have a code, see. Cults are outside their bounds.”

Leland scoffed. “But cursed jewelry with human parts is within their lines?”

Boor nodded slowly, eyeing the Legacy of Curses. “Yes. Similarly, weapons of mass destruction are not something any smuggler would agree to move. Not unless there was an immediate coup d’état and the weapons were procured by the leading power’s enemies.”

Leland didn’t respond.

“Poppy didn’t have a name. And even if she did, it wouldn’t matter. What she did have was a location. How the ‘parts’ got brought into the city.”

Lady Onryo sighed. “That’s it? The cult could be anywhere by now.”

Boor shook his head. “The entrance location was a pipe leading directly into the sewers.”

Leland frowned at that. “Why was there a sigil in the market then? Seems unneeded.”

Mavi spoke up as well. “It doesn’t even matter, does it? We can’t exactly waltz back into the city. Not after the Sightless came to our home. They would be on the lookout.”

Leland and Jude stared at her.

“No offense,” she quickly added.

“’No offense?’” Jude echoed, a scoff in his breath. “That’s all—”

“We will walk into the city,” Leland interrupted. “Glenny comes first. Over all of you. Simple as that. If we can’t come up with a plan now, Jude and I leave and get him back ourselves. Frankly you four are lu—”

Jude cut his friend off, “Glenny is priority right now. Take it or leave it.”

Boor and Lady Onryo shared a look while Mavi lowered her head. Alkin was the first to speak up. “I agree. He saved me, it's only natural I’d have his back as well.”

That pulled some glances. His mother gave him a poignant look. “You speak for all of us now?”

“I speak for myself.”

“Oho, and how exactly would you help two suicidal teens? Throw yourself at the cultists and hope Leland and Jude can kill them fast enough?”

Alkin bit his lip. “I protected you and Mavi before Boor arrived, didn’t I?”

“That was the candle—”

“Shut up.”

Everyone turned to Jude.

“What is wrong with you all? Already throwing in the towel, Lady Onryo? Afraid to assist the city, Lady Mavi? Afraid of a kid, butler Boor? Why is Alkin the only one wishing to protect Shoutwell and the people in it?” he spit.

“That’s hardly—”

“Why was Alkin the only one looking for assistance for your family’s situation? It seems he thinks the House Onryo name is worth fighting for. What have you three been doing? Expecting me, Glenny, and Leals to do everything for you? And here I was in favor of helping in the first place. Boy was I wrong.”

With that, Jude left the stunned room. Leland stuck around for a few minutes longer but when the conversation failed to move in a productive way, he left as well. Not before giving Alkin a pat on the back.

“Let me know what you decide,” Leland said to Boor then followed Jude’s trail.

The village they were in was small, very small. A few sporadic buildings, a single inn, and plenty of livestock. Residents were out and about, each working on their daily tasks while glancing suspiciously at Leland as he passed.

The small community reminded him of home, of just weeks ago. Leland paused at that, realizing it had only been a few weeks. So much had happened, so many fights, near death experiences, and fun. Adventuring was his dream, it had been his dream since first hearing his parents’ stories. Sure, his Legacy was not what he originally envisioned but it was working out. Quite amazingly if he was being honest.

But why was he not happy?

Glenny was the simple answer. Having a friend go missing was something that always played in the back of his mind. It came with the job, adventurers died, disappeared, or were horribly maimed all the time. He had thought he prepared for it, but evidently not.

Still, even when Leland disregarded Glenny for a moment, he was still unhappy. Jude’s berserker problem was an issue, yes, but one he had confidence Jude would figure out. Glenny’s grieving didn’t help the situation either, but if Leland was being honest, he saw Glenny’s attitude as something to strive toward.

He wanted to help Alkin, he wanted to help House Onryo. Despite his own pain, Glenny wanted to help people.

And Leland admired his friend for that.

Was that it? Leland asked himself. Am I unhappy because I wanted to run? Because I was right?

It was a sick thought, one that made him rethink his childhood dreams of becoming an adventurer. He was a coward, and now Glenny was paying the price.

Jude suddenly appeared next to him. “We’ll get him back.”

Leland straightened. “Yes we will. And then we will dismantle the Sightless Cult.”

Smiling, Jude said, “There he is.”

“W-what?”

“You’ve been in your own head for a while now. I’m glad to see your confidence again.”

Leland smiled somberly, wondering what sort of hell Glenny was in right now.

“We need to get stronger,” Jude said.

“Yeah.”

“Yeah.”

They found themselves at a fenced field, cows and the like grazing around. The weather was getting colder, but the cloudless sky made it the perfect weather for animals. They practically frolicked around, eating grass or the occasional budding flower.

“What are we going to do?” Leland asked, his face finding his hands. He leaned into the fence, rocking on the balls of his feet.

“Simple answer is kill all the cultists. I’m not sure if we will be able to rely on Lady Onryo. Maybe Boor, but not the actual Housemembers.”

“We could try to sneak into their hideout and reclaim Glenny.”

Jude sighed. “We still don’t know where in the sewers they are located. And they could be holding Glenny in a different spot.”

Leland agreed with that. “Then we need to scout and find them. Sigils – we can follow the sigils. The more sigils in an area, the closer we probably are to their base.”

“That’s dangerous though. We both saw what happened to Glenny. We both saw what the Sightless King was like.”

“Yeah…” Leland trailed off. “Then we need help. Neither of us are the sneaky type. Boor is, at least somewhat, but I’m not sure if I trust him to help Glenny over his masters.”

“Maybe we can hire some adventurers? The guard?”

“Both seem unlikely. Not many adventurers in the city and the guard is the guard. They are going to follow what their Captains say.”

Jude snapped. “What about the underbelly? Boor said mercenaries sell their services down there.”

“That’s a good idea. But how much gold are they going to ask for to fight against the Sightless? We have a small fortune, but not enough to buy an army.”

“What we really need is the Inquisitors.”

“Our parents could get here quicker than whichever team was on route to Shoutwell but we’d have to write a letter and that would take a while.”

Both boys fell silent, content with watching the farm animals for the moment. Leland always liked the less-combat oriented Legacies. Some were gruff around those with the prominent combat tattoos like the Lord of Magic’s but Leland himself had never had that experience. Those of his home town always greeted him or checked in on him, he was left alone for most of his childhood, after all.

“Why… why were the cultists mainly noncombatants?” he asked aloud.

Jude cracked an eyebrow. “I was thinking the same thing, specifically that moonless tattoo. The woman in white had the same one.”

“Really? That’s bizarre. Two people with the same Legacy, both turned cultist. Born into it, you think?”

Jude didn’t answer straight away, instead he asked, “What even is the Sightless Cult? Who were their members before their ‘Lord’ took hold of them?”

Leland shrugged. “I only know what our parents told us. They formed a few continents away and held crusades against their homeland. Eventually they were eradicated and scattered to the corners of the world. Here being one of those.”

“The moonless tattoo is bothering me.”

“Agreed…” Leland cursed himself for having the idea. “I could always ask the Moonless Lord or whatever their title is.”

“Could you? We aren’t even sure if they exist.”

“Worth a shot, yeah.”

“What could you get out of this Lord?”

Leland shrugged. “Not much, I don’t think. Information mostly. I can’t imagine a Lord is happy about their Legacies turning coat and following some other being.”

Jude frowned at that. “Or they could be very happy about that and send someone to kill you for asking.”

They conversed for a few hours longer and eventually Alkin found them. “My mother is prepared to forgo helping Glenny and wait for the Royal Cavalry to retake the city once the Sightless have.”

Leland and Jude’s mouths fell.

Alkin held up a hand. “She allowed Boor to choose if he would help you two or not. He chose to help.”

Leland smiled at that. “Alright. We leave in the morning. In the meantime, we have to figure out just what Lord that tattoo belonged to.”

Jude slapped a meaty hand on his friend’s back. “Let’s get to it then.”