Curselock

Chapter 54: Warcry

Stalking through Shoutwell’s defogged streets was something the boys thought they’d never do. Practically the entire time they had been in the city, it had been covered with thick white mist. Seeing to the opposite side of the street added a surrealness to the situation that was simply lacking beforehand. Now, the city actually felt like a city. One that seriously needed protection.

Without the fog, the boys also noticed a plethora of curious eyes. They looked out of windows and peeked behind curtains, all wondering if it was safe to leave their homes. The red sky kept them indoors, however.

As the group walked, Glenny kept twitching at alleys and narrow streets. He muttered about a buzzing in his ears, but otherwise stated he was fine.

“It's like we are walking toward a bee nest,” he said once they entered the gated walls.

Taking his words at face value was difficult for Leland and Jude, yet they somehow found themselves believing Glenny more than the Huntress did. Glenny had shared his story of the mountains, his training, and even how he managed to kill a basilisk.

They trusted him, and he trusted them. If Glenny said he could handle a buzzing in his ears, they believed him.

The Huntress, however, kept her eye on the young man.

Moving toward the legislative district was a short journey but quite painful. Without a plan, the boys haphazardly followed their Royal Inquisitor leader. “It’ll be fine,” she said multiple times, to the point that Leland almost thought she didn’t even believe her own words.

The Huntress would march to her own death, right? each of the boys asked themselves independently of the others.

Thankful for a distraction, Glenny answered, “Great! I should have put it on when you two first suggested I take it. The energy reserves alone are a massive boon to my abilities. Not to mention it’s pretty cool looking.”

Leland had to agree with the latter statement. The starry night cloak and Glenny’s sparkling red eyes rounded out a certain look. The boys didn’t have a name for the look, but there was a certain level of professionalism the right garb gave adventurers. Whether it was intricate wizard robes for mages, battle laden armor for warriors, or rugged scrappiness for rogues, the cloak paired with the rest of Glenny’s attire pushed him one step closer to the boys’ collective dream.

In a way, Leland guessed that protecting a city from a dire threat also pushed them toward their dream as well. But now that they were actually doing that, it simply felt like just another thing that needed to be done. Being famous adventurers, in this moment, didn’t matter to the boys. Gaining personal renown didn’t matter. Stories and songs written about their duties didn’t matter.

When it came down to it, saving lives mattered. Protecting the city mattered. Helping those who needed it most mattered. Not anything else, not anything more.

Leland didn’t notice, but the tattoo on his hand flapped its wings as he came to the conclusion.

A few streets from their target, movement stirred in front and behind the group. From the shadows, rooftops, and/or behind cover, people stepped out into the streets, stopping the group’s movement and entrapping them. They brandished weapons and were unafraid of showing the “W” mark across their faces.

The Huntress instantly spit, a deep snarl residing on her stone cold face.

“Any of you four cultists?” one of the seven men asked.

Seeing that the Inquisitor wasn’t going to answer, Leland said, “No. You guys out looking for more bounties?”

The man cocked an eyebrow at the question. “Aye we are… I take it you four are as well? Don’t look like the underground types to me.”

Leland shrugged. “Not in it for the gold, no. Just to help the city.”

A short snicker made its rounds through the group of Witches. The man spoke up again, “See, we don’t like that. Cultist heads are becoming sparser and sparser. You four taking the heads from us seven and not even wanting the gold? Now that’s a bit of a problem, don’t you think?”

The boys looked to the Huntress, who was slowly licking the back of her teeth with her jaw slack. She watched the man, her eyes twitching back and forth between the others surrounding them.

“Normally,” she whispered. “I’d force you three to fight them off as training. But we are in a bit of a time crunch, so I must force my hand.” She turned to Leland. “Provoke them into attacking.”

“W-what?” he sputtered.

“I’m not allowed to kill Witches unless they attack me or someone else first. We don’t really have the time for capture. Do I need to spell it out for you more than that?”

With a bit of hesitation, Leland looked back to the man. “Uh. I guess we need to fight this out then?”

Many sets of eyes bore into Leland, even those of his friends and the Inquisitor standing beside him. “Really? That’s the best you could do?” she whisper yelled at him.

The man looked taken back. “Yeah, I guess we do.”

Jude stepped forward, drawing his battle axe and pointing it at the man. “I’d like to see you try,” he bellowed. “I’ll take all of you on! One versus seven! Come at me!”

That got another round of laughs, but it worked well enough. The Witches each took a single step forward and postured their weapons threateningly. Before their second step, seven arrows found the center of their foreheads. Each Witch fell over, dead.

“W-what—”

“Epic.”

“About right.”

The Huntress ignored the boys’ words and stepped past the corpses blocking their path. “Come on,” she yelled back.

A few minutes later the group was peering around the street corner that led to city hall. A wide field and concrete pathways crisscrossed around the area, all leading around a flattened fountain and to the buildings that dotted the perimeter. From their vantage point, they could see the outer rings of iron filings - the kind used for ritual circles.

In the very center were two forms. The first, and most recognizable, was the woman in white. She stood with confidence, her posture alluding to a certain type of smugness. She thought she had won, the being next to her all but confirming that.

What the group could only identify as the Sightless King crouched beside her. He towered over his kneecaps, hunching over like he was inspecting a pile of ants. Eventually he shifted, revealing a terrible lengthy husk. Eyes littered his disproportionate body, each swirling and looking for hidden threats.

Almost on cue, a single eye found the group hiding on the street corner. The Huntress cursed, stepping into the open while motioning for the boys to sit still. She took only a single step before a faded red wall appeared before her. She tilted her head, briefly glancing at the boundary and then back to the Sightless King.

The woman in white was now standing, her eyeless hollow sockets shedding a silent bloody tear. She looked from her king to the usurper and back. She whispered something to the fake Lord, receiving a single swilled eye for her piety. The eye blinked, giving the woman enough of an answer. She stepped forward.

The Huntress spoke, moving her mouth as little as possible, “Wait for my initiation. Throw everything you have into the cultist. End her before she knows what hit—”

A red circle suddenly bloomed to life below the Royal Inquisitor, as hundreds of sigil glyphs blazed to life. She instantly dove out of the way, summoning her gold glowing bow and firing a single bolt of pure gold light. The cobblestone sundered from the sudden explosion, breaking apart the sigil.

Then six more circles lit up.

The Huntress cursed at the same time Leland did. “Close your eyes!” they both shouted at the same time.

A deep purple and black grimoire suddenly appeared in Leland’s hands, already open to the necessary page. He slammed his palm into the page, enacting a contract with the Lord of the Moonless. Violet wisps of smoke poured from the page, filtering into the air before swirling above Leland’s head and solidifying into a halo.

He instantly covered his eyes, the bright moon light from dozens of sigils too shocking. Slowly his eyes adjusted and he began yelling to the Huntress.

“Sigils! There, there, and there!” He pointed to each, a gesture the Royal Inquisitor was easily able to follow. “Three more across that wall! One plastered against that roof!”

Suddenly Jude was yelling as well. Both Leland and the Huntress looked, finding the woman in white near the red boundary. She took a single step, passing through the wall of resonating power.

Leland glanced at Glenny, finding the rogue gone. He cursed to himself, instantly thinking the worse. How could we lose him already—

His internal loathing ended abruptly as a red spike of raw power suddenly appeared from beside the woman. Through a gentle, mostly transparent outline, Glenny shoved both hands forward, each thrusting with the stolen power of the Sightless King.

The woman stumbled back into the red wall, finding it solid. She grimaced as a thin line of blood trickled across her forehead. She chanced a curious glance at the wall, frowning at how it stopped her.

Glenny attacked during the opening and was quickly followed by Jude.

As more sigils were broken, as Glenny used more of his adapted power, as the woman in white fought back, the Sightless King never stopped watching.