Untreasured

[Remedy]

“You Ixians….” trailed off Remedy as she looked up into the smiling face of Rehtul.

He was so casual about the whole thing. He killed everything without a second thought. If he could do that to the creatures of the red forest, what could he do to defenseless peasants?

I tried to maintain my anger, tried to use it to push away the fear that was dripping into the back of my skull. I had watched the waves of bugs fall beneath the torrent of ice. Their corpses were piled high, twisted and mangled carapaces oozing foul liquids. Dammit all! The boy barely seemed old enough to join the militia, and yet he was able to perform such events.

There was little I could do as our savior went about healing Illara. I stood at the edge of the light of the camp fire. The air had started to cool as the sun approached the horizon. The cool air was nice against my skin, nice enough that I felt somewhat comfortable since we had set out. I hugged my arms close to my chest, watching out from the fire towards the forest. Whether it was luck, or some return of fate, nothing came to investigate the commotion we had caused. Perhaps it was the stink of the bugs themselves, foul as it was it’d have driven me away.

For now we’d have to wait for nightfall; and the new day to guide us.

[The Mongrel]

Blessed silence fell when the last insect either died or retreated. Of course, my head still felt like I was standing in a great cathedral bell tower just before morning services, but at least the worst was over. Remedy pulled me over hard, flat ground and guided me to sit on a rock beside the smoky fire. I nearly fell over when she let me go. The assault had stripped me of all coordination and balance - on my own, I would have been a dead elf. I couldn't even see straight, much less pick myself up and crawl anywhere.

Of course, on my own, I wouldn't have been in one place long enough for those Stars-damned insects to target me. I would have been nearly back to Pode's deepest grove by the time night fell. Why had I sent out a request for volunteers to come with me? Why the delay?

Because if I had the choice between setting foot in the Red Forest alone and killing myself, I'd choose killing myself if I was going in for anyone but Mutt.

I flinched when a pair of glowing hands rushed suddenly for my face. When I recognized them as Orlouge hands - Ixian hands - I nearly slapped them away. I only relented because he was either going to kill me immediately and put me out of my misery or he had a healing power he intended to use on me. The pain died down immediately, only to be replaced by the same, strange sensation as a limb falling asleep... in my ears.

After a minute, the sensation subsided. I could hear both humans breathing, I could hear the rustle of wind in the foul trees, I could hear the crackle of logs in the fire. It still felt like someone had taken the hatchet to my head instead of the trees, but it was an improvement.

"Thank you both." The words tasted like ash in my mouth, but they needed to be said. "Neither of you have been here before, have you? That was your first taste of the Lindequalme. And those bugs... are probably the least dangerous things we'll face in there." Two incredulous faces looked into mine. They'd seen me nearly get killed by those insects, felled by an attack their limited senses couldn't detect. And I was saying there was worse?

"There are things in there that prey on avarice, on vanity, on ego... or on anything that has warm blood and a beating heart. I could tell you stories for days about the things I've seen in there, but we don't have the time." I rubbed my neck, where an angry red scar showed the world where Pode had wrapped her hands around my throat to end me. "Long story short... you step into that forest, you give up who you are. Or you will not survive."

"And in Tradespeak that would translate to...?" The words slipped from Rehtul's mouth, probably before he knew he'd thought them, but my eyes narrowed at him all the same.

"It means that if you hang on to your weaknesses, the Lindequalme will murder you hard enough to make the Ixian violence upon Corone's common rabble look merciful." There it was; the venom I'd tried so hard to bite down. I thought I did a good job, considering what stood before me. Just because one of their members had agreed to walk into mortal peril with me didn't make me despise his kind any less.

I wiped the blood from my ears and stood, dropping the found weapons while taking up the cups and string. "I'm going to make an alarm around the camp. Anything sets it off, you wake me. You see anything coming, you wake me. When the moon sits exactly between the horizon and the forest, your watch is over and my watch begins. Wake me if I'm not already up. Orlouge, you have the first watch."

With that, I started setting up the alarm. After that... merciful sleep. Maybe it would ameliorate the agony in my skull.