PreCursive
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Chapter 211 - What Remains
🕑 Added 2024-07-26 17:00:08 +0000 UTCI accepted the glass of water from Renauld from my place sitting back on the cot. Said Gnoll sat next to me on it, flopping onto the thin sheets with a sigh. We sat in silence for a moment, and after I had finished guzzling the liquid, I broke it. “So, how did you make it?”
Renauld cut his eyes my way, deep bags visible underneath them even through his fur. “Mainly due to the Band,” He said, referencing his merc company that was seeming less and less like a cover. “When that that crazy thing demolished Fort Duality and the Revenants started popping up, we commandeered a local Guard house. We…tried to shelter as many civilians as we could through the slaughter, but…” He shuddered. “It was a bloodbath out there, Nate. I don’t know if you were in Elderwyck at the time, but I think at least a quarter of the population here got eaten. Probably more.”
I nodded quietly at his statement. I…remember thinking that it must be pretty damn bad in Elderwyck, while we were skulking through Tlatec. I wasn’t very happy to have been proven right.
“So, we’re in Elderwyck then,” I said, trying to take his mind off of whatever had happened to him. “How did I get here? Last thing I remember I was…blacking out after a fall at the Fort.” I paused for a moment, examining myself. “How long was I even out for? I wasn’t in great shape when I was knocked out, and I’m fine now.”
Maybe he had healed me? There was no way I had been out for long enough for my Status to take care of my injuries.
“Oh, so you don’t remember then,” Renauld said, nodding to himself. “It was actually Honoka that rescued you.”
I jerked in place at that, my eyes widening. Honoka was here? I almost instinctually looked around for her, but there was no point to that. I have no doubt the older woman would have made herself known by now if she had been. “Where is she?” I said in shock. “How did she even get here so quickly? Is…Grey here too?” I said, hope in my voice. I stood up quickly, the thought of both of them reminding me of someone just as important to me that needed help.
Renauld stood up as well. “Uh, well,” He stuttered a little, taken aback by my sudden energy. “The Army and the Headmaster aren’t here, no. It’s just Honoka. According to her, the Headmaster knew they wouldn’t get here quick enough to help with the Calamity, so he sent her on ahead. She apparently flew the entire way here.”
I cursed, my hopes dashed. Still, if I knew Honoka at all, she was probably frantically looking for someone we both cared about. I was a little startled she hadn’t been there at my bedside to demand if I knew where she was. “Where is she?” I asked him urgently, before another thought occurred to me. “Have you seen another Gnoll too?! A female, with white fur!” For a dread inducing moment, I was terrified at the possibility that Liora had been killed in the brief period between when I had left her, and when Rhazal had been slain. What if a new Revenant had been spawned, and it had found her helpless, unconscious body?
Thankfully, those fears were put to rest.
“Calm down,” A quiet female voice said from behind me. “I’m right here, Hart.”
A feeling of relief so intense that I nearly passed out again swept over me, because I recognized that voice. I steadied myself and turned around, to see a very welcome sight, standing in the doorway of the makeshift clinic.
Liora.
She looked to have cleaned a little, as the last time I had seen her, she had been in torn and battle-dirtied Loyalist armor like I’d had. In fact, she wasn’t wearing armor at all. The Gnoll woman was in civvies, stained with what looked like dust and blood and looking more than a bit tired.
I couldn’t help myself. I rapidly approached her, and swept her up in a hug like I had Renauld. She stiffened awkwardly, but didn’t get the chance to return the embrace before I pulled back and looked her in the eye, my hands clutching her shoulders desperately. “Liora, we need to go get-” I tried to get out urgently, before Liora interrupted me.
“Whi-Sylvia,” She corrected herself. “Has already been retrieved from the Lich’s tomb, along with the girl. Lady Honoka is seeing to Sylvia at another location, while Isolde has been placed in protective custody.”
I slumped in relief, letting out a long sigh. Suddenly aware of the grip I had on the Gnoll, I gingerly let go of her with a rough apology and stepped back. “That’s…good,” I breathed. “Maybe Honoka can get her up again.”
Unfortunately, Liora immediately dashed my hopes by shaking her head. “I’m afraid not,” She said, slight regret in her voice. “According to the Lady, the Lich was correct in his assessment. Whatever is keeping Sylvia asleep, it will require Grecyton’s expertise to solve. She does not have the ability to diagnose her.”
I nodded slowly, disappointed but unsurprised. “As long as she’s fine until then, I…suppose I’ll just wait,” I said lowly. We stood around in silence for a moment, before Liora broke it.
“You were able to do it, then.” She said, in more of a statement, then a question. “There are still questions among the citizenry about how the Calamity was slain, and by who.”
“After a fashion…yes,” I answered her, aware that it was way more complicated than me just out and out killing Rhazal. “I did deal the final blow.”
We were all startled, then, when the sound of a crash and then a slamming door echoed from the front door of the clinic. I hadn’t been paying attention to anything over Liora’s shoulder, so I hadn’t caught it in time.
But it looked like there had been an eavesdropper hanging around the front of the building, spying on my reunion with Liora. I only caught a brief glimpse of some random teenager scrambling as he took off down the street. For a moment, I was tempted to sprint out of the clinic and try and catch the little shit and ask what he was up to, but I…frankly I didn’t have the strength to do so. I still felt too rung out from everything that had happened, with a queasiness in my stomach that hadn’t disappeared since I’d woken.
Liora, Renauld, and a handful of the other nurses in here had seen the commotion as well. I cut my eyes over to my fellow ex-Agent. “How much do you think he heard?”
Liora sighed. “Enough, most likely,” She said tiredly. “You can expect rumors of the man who slew the Calamity to start circulating on the streets before days end. You do have a distinctive apppeanance, after all,” She nodded at my exposed, Primordium prosthetic. As if in response to her attention, a brief cascade of reds and blues flowed over its surface. Shaking her head, she slapped a long black leather glove onto my chest. “Here, cover that up. Perhaps it will help.”
I murmured my thanks and slipped the glove over my prosthetic, thankful she had thought of something like that. I chalked it up to her greater experience in her…now defunct position. While I was doing that, she had sidled up to Renauld in order to have a brief whispered conversation with the other Gnoll. When she was done, she turned around and nodded at me. “Let’s go. I’ve filled Lady Honoka in all that I could, but she still wished to speak with you. Understandably…I’m not aware of everything that happened.”
I nodded to show my own understanding, and after exchanging my goodbyes with Renauld, we left the clinic behind.
I braced myself as I stepped out into Elderwyck. Which was…a good idea.
I had never seen a more war-torn place in my life. And I’d seen my fair share of battlefields, by this point.
The streets of Elderwyck were beyond ghastly. Bodies and gore were everywhere, and more than a few buildings had simply collapsed under the assault of the Revenants, spilling rubble into the streets of the city. Everywhere I looked, I only saw two kinds of living people. Either they were completely shell-shocked and traumatized from the experience of running and hiding from Rhazal’s creations. These people were either wandering in a daze, barely responding to the words of those around them. Or they were sitting wherever they could, sometimes in the middle of the shattered streets, and weeping to themselves.
Either quietly, or very, very loudly.
The second group was what gave me more hope, though. These people were doing what they could to help others. Everywhere I looked, people were stepping up to either tend to the stricken, or clean the streets. Grim faced survivors searched through rubble, pulling bodies from broken buildings to be loaded onto carts. Kind caregivers urged the near comatose out of the roads to quiet places where they could recover. Impromptu food lines had sprung up from the storefronts of restaurants and bistros, doling out soup to the hungry. In a way, the people of Elderwyck were pulling together in the wake of tragedy.
I only hoped Herztal could do the same.
Liora noticed the way my gaze lingered on the aid workers, as she led me through the streets to wherever Honoka and Sylvia were set up. “I’ve been doing the same, since Rhazal was slain,” She said quietly. “It’s been perhaps five hours since then, and the degree to which the people have rallied is…remarkable.”
I glanced at her, since her words had reminded me of something. I was almost afraid to broach the subject, but maybe…
“Have you went and looked for any hint of…” I trailed off, but Liora understood me. There was only one person that she would have gone looking for. Someone that…maybe could have survived their last charge. He had been strong enough, after all.
Liora glanced at me for a moment, and gave me a slight nod. Without speaking, she reached behind her to withdraw a familiar pair of daggers from a pouch.
Hooked ones.
I took a deep breath, and looked away.
Guess that answered that question.
“I…moved what remained to Lady Honoka’s current residence,” Liora said quietly, a resigned sadness in her voice. I think it had been a faint hope that our leader would have survived his sacrifice, but it had been a hope nonetheless. I couldn’t imagine how she was feeling.
I didn’t know what to say to a loss like that, despite my own familiarity with it. So I said nothing.
I think Liora appreciated that, at the very least.
We walked the rest of the way through the ruined streets of Elderwyck in silence.
………………………………..
Liora led me to a large, nearly palatial estate farther into the city. I had never been here, but I knew what it was, just from briefings.
The old Ducal mansion, that had been donated to the Elderwyckian guard.
I barely gave it more than a disinterested glance, as Liora led me up to the large, ostentatious wooden doors. The few guards that were watching their headquarters had barely given us more than a passing glance before waving us inside, apparently familiar with the sight of Liora.
I was a bit surprised by this. Liora had an explanation, though.
“The war is a distant concern now,” She said, as we plodded along the path up to the manse. All around us in the garden were relief stations set up by both guards and volunteers. They looked to be more than busy with their work, so we didn’t bother them. “After the massacre up at the palace, none of them are interested in holding firm to an oath to a dead man. Come, the Lady is just inside.” She said, reaching for the handle of the double doors.
However, the both of us had to hastily step aside when they were blown open by a surprising group.
Orcs.
A group of five very rich and important looking Orcs stalked out of the manse, either snarling in outrage or simply scowling. None of them gave us a second glance as they stalked back down the path we had just walked down. They practically shoved the wrought iron gate off of it’s hinges at they left the guard headquarters behind.
I blinked after them. “Wonder what that’s about?”
“Nothing good,” Liora said, unexpectedly grim. I looked at her in surprise, to see her shaking her head. “From what I understand, Tlatec is furious about the losses they suffered from the Revenants. Their regional Governor is said to have lost his life in the fighting, and to make matters worse, they can’t establish contact with the greater Empire. The Portal Stone is apparently malfunctioning, and they can’t get through to Indiqua for instructions. And…they’re blaming us.”
I tilted my head in thought. “Honestly?” I said aloud, before nodding. “That’s…fair. Nerexxa was impersonating a human noble, and…she’s pretty much at fault for everything.”
Liora just sighed, but didn’t contest my words. Instead, she led me inside of the manse and up from the large double stairs at the far end of the entry hall. Eventually, the Gnoll woman stopped at a door near the top of the building.
It was pretty obvious that Honoka was inside.
Because I could feel a furious, powerful presence radiating from the other side of it. It was like I was standing with my back to a bonfire, and I was being cooked slowly from it. I wasn’t, but the sensation was extremely uncomfortable.
God, this wasn’t helping my roiling stomach.
“This is where I leave you,” Liora said, doing her best to ignore the presence. I shot her a betrayed look, causing her to just shrug. “I can still give more in the relief efforts. I cannot give more, by being shouted at. I’ll…see you later, Hart.” At that, the Gnoll woman gave me a nod and turned back the way we came.
“Bye…” I trailed off lamely, to Liora’s retreating back. I shook my head at my own silliness. I mean, it’s not like Honoka was going to hurt me or something. I had no reason to be afraid of her. I firmed my will and reached out for the doorknob.
I yelped and yanked it back when the flesh of my exposed hand sizzled slightly from the head of the metal.
Okay, maybe she would. What the hell had her riled up so much? It’s not like Sylvia was dead, after all. Just…comatose.
Whatever, I’d just ask her.
I reached out with my gloved hand, and gingerly opened the door.
On the other side of it thee room was a heat haze that filled the air. I only had a moment to be relieved by the sight of a seemingly sleeping Sylvia resting on a bed along the far wall, before my attention was stolen by Honoka.
The older woman was sitting on a chair facing the door I had just open, hunched over and cradling something. At my entrance, her head snapped up with startling speed.
I was shocked by the sight of tears in her vermillion eyes.
With a snarl, she stood up, knocking her chair backward and holding out something that caused my stomach to drop. “Where did you get this?!” Honoka hissed at me.
She was holding the staff that I had borrowed from Tlazo.
The staff of the Lich that was supposed to have been, once upon a time, a companion of Grey.
And hers.
Oh.
Shit.
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Comments
Nomad
Noo! I really need to know what happens next.
Reid Thompson
Curse the weekend!
