JOURNEY & ARRIVAL

Marcus ground his teeth so hard it felt they would crack from listening to Taruk. The half-orc had just finished narrating their journey to Yshta and had moved on to Laz's assault.

"The bones in his limbs were broken, countless ribs fractured and he suffered from internal bleeding," He was informed. Taruk's tone carried a modicum of accusation as he continued. "His injuries were so grievous even Hvar couldn't treat him. We had to fork over a shitload of gold to the Sheans so they could heal him."

"I feel for you," Marcus said, trying very hard to maintain a calm appearance.

That fucking undead bitch! He screamed internally. And that stupid fucking idiot! Why the hell did she join up with the undead… IN FRONT OF WITNESSES?

Listening to the half-orc talk about the two of them gave him a massive migraine.

"You really don't know Sage?" Taruk queried him for the umpteenth time.

"Never heard of her until I got here," he responded smoothly. Now that he had a grasp of the extent of Sage's misdeeds he was even more adamant in his denial of ever having met her.

"That's too bad," Taruk said to him. "With the amount offered for any knowledge of her, everyone who's met her has already reported everything they know about her. Even Delsarte paid a visit to the guild earlier to tell them what he knows. You're missing out."

Marcus shrugged at this, which Taruk took as an opportunity to continue.

"There's something weird in all this though."

"What?" he leaned in to listen.

"When we reported what we knew about that woman we also added that the half-elf with her might be Kaylee, we gave a description and all. But even so her name and description have been excluded from the sheets. What's up with that?"

"Not a clue," Marcus responded; a little unhappy to hear Taruk so blatantly state that he had sold Kaylee out, but he was sincere in his response. The ordeal was strange.

"There's somewhere I should be going," he said after a while, getting up from his seat. He had to find Kaylee before she landed them all in trouble.

"Good luck with that," Taruk said him, before raising his hand to order a drink.

Marcus' stoic expression fell apart almost immediately after leaving the building. A deep frown creased his brow as he cursed the current situation, and those responsible for it.

Kaylee that dumb bitch, and that fucking undead whore! How did the two of them create such a clusterfuck of a situation?

I must find and separate them before they are found, he thought with determination.

Unfortunately, even though he was fired up and ready to go, he had not a clue where to start.

Where had the two of them run off to? Where they even still in the city?

He had just taken a few steps from Guild entrance when two people stepped into his path. It was a pair of twins, a man and a woman who looked to be in their mid-twenties. They both had jet black hair with appealing features that were accentuated by their expensive wear. At first glance he could tell that these two were individuals of importance.

"Is there something I can help you with sir, madam?" he asked, puzzled.

Why had they stepped in his way? From the way they eyed him it appeared they knew him, but he could swear this was his first time meeting them. What did they want to him?

"Marcus right?" the boy said with a smile that could be called condescending. To his side his sister mirrored his expression.

One look at the two of them and Marcus decided he did not like them. However, since they were clearly of the nobility he did not make his dislike apparent. Forcing a smile to his lips, he mustered a reply.

"That is my name. Is there something I can do for you?"

This time it was the sister who replied. "This is about your companion Kaylee. We need you to come with us."

***

Sage was not talking to her.

Whenever she tried to strike up a conversation the undead would sneer at her before looking away. After a couple of failed attempts Kaylee gave up and set her attentions elsewhere.

Why are you blaming me for the fact that you've become a wanted fugitive? She thought begrudging as she scrutinised the model for the spell [Flight]. You're the one who killed a Duke's heir.

When they had begun their journey three days ago the undead handed her a bunch of spells models and told her to start with this spell as it was the best for her wind affinity. Although she appreciated the gesture- sort of- she did not appreciate the way the bitch flung the sheets at her before going back to her own magic models and saying not to bother her.

What is she even studying this time? She wondered.

The previous day Sage had been looking over a 7th Order fire element spell that allowed her to summon black flames in a wide setting. Kaylee had never seen anything like it in her entire life. The flames had a sinister air to them as they spread across the empty plain. Even when the undead cast [Ice Storm] the flames would not go out. In the end Sage had clear the area around the black fire to deny the flames a place to manoeuvre, causing them to die out after exhausting their source.

What will travellers think when they encounter that charred field? She wondered as she looked around.

The minutes passed and the twilight faded, giving way to darkness which she was unable to read in. With a heavy sigh she put the spell sheets away and took out her catch of them day, a rabbit. Having already gutted and skinned it earlier, the only thing left to do was start a fire and roast it. Unfortunately, she had no condiments on her so the taste was bland.

If there was one advantage to travelling with the undead it was that she did not require food. Since they did not have even a basic ingredient like salt Sage had opted from dinner. Or maybe it was because she was expecting Kaylee to try and poison her, though that would be stupid considering her kind were immune to poison.

Another benefit to travelling with Sage was that Kaylee did not need to be a look out. She could let her guard down and sleep to her hearts content while the sleepless bitch played watch-out all night long. This was how they had spent the last several nights and was definitely how this night would be spent.

By the time morning came she was well rested; a bit swore and itchy in all parts from using the hard ground as a bed and from lack of protection from mosquitoes, but she had had worse nights.

Upon waking up she cast [Create Water] to wash her face, used the spell once more to quench her thirst and took a bite of her leftover rabbit. After she was done she turned her attention to the undead.

Different from the previous days Sage was not peering into a book, but was busying herself with three captured rats the size of her head. The rodent's limbs were twisted at impossible angles, causing them utter weak painful squeaks as they were unable to escape. Kaylee attributed it to the annoying cat a distance away from the undead.

How she hated the creature; the way it always sneered at her and spoke to her as if she were a bug. On more than a few occasions she had been tempted to pick up her bow and lodge an arrow between its eyes.

Turning her attention from the Familiar, she saw the undead pick up one of three vials in front of her. Two of these vials contained a clear liquid while the last one held a very dark fluid. The vial in Sage's hand was one of the transparent ones. With her other hand she picked up one of the rats and forced the contents of the vial down its throat. Then she waited for a minute, but nothing happened.

Without so much as a change in her expression Sage strangled the rat and cast it aside. Then she moved to the next rodent and picked up the second vial of clear liquid. Her previous actions were repeated with the same results, after which this rat was put out of its misery and tossed aside as well.

Kaylee watched silently as the undead picked up the last rat and fed it the dark contents of the last vial.

This time there was a reaction, a very violent one.

The moment the dark liquid touched its tongue the little critter began to squeak and thrash violently. If not for the fact that its limbs were broken it would have no doubt scratched the undead.

Although the squeaks were not particularly loud, Kaylee found them unbearable. They were reminiscent of the death throes of a strangled beast, full of pain and anguish. She saw the blood vessels in the creature's eyes darken as its cries became louder. Then it gave one last squeaky shriek and the light left its eyes.

"What was that?" she asked, practically demanded, as she watched the undead toss this rat aside too.

The undead shot her a glare but she nonetheless decided to respond.

"I was trying to confirm something about my body fluids. A while back some bastard spilled my blood, got it onto himself and had an adverse reaction to it. For a while now I've wanted to see if that really was the case. I was also trying to figure out if it was only my blood that was poison or also my other fluids, like my saliva and vaginal fluids."

"Oh," Kaylee responded.

Suddenly, the story of Isaac being poisoned made a lot of sense. After all, no matter how strong the undead appeared to be there was just no way she could picture her besting such an individual. She had seen the man in action before and it was no exaggeration to say he was one of the strongest she had ever seen. Even magicians of the 9th Order would have trouble dealing with him.

Still though, she scrutinised the undead.

"Vaginal fluids?" She did not want to think about how she produced a vial of the substance. "Couldn't you have checked something easier like sweat or tears? Hell, even piss would be a more viable option in this case."

The sneer she got in response to her question was one of the most condescending she had ever received after becoming a mercenary.

"I don't sweat," the undead grunted. "I can't shed tears without a strong incentive and I don't piss either. As an undead most of my internal systems don't work, except my nervous system it seems. That is one difference I have compared to most undead."

"Nervous system?" Kaylee asked, puzzled.

Instead of providing an answer, Sage shot her off. "Go read a book on human anatomy if you want to know."

And that was the end of the conversation.

The two of them packed up and walked until midday, when Kaylee felt she could no longer go on and had to rest and eat. She took this time to check the model for [Flight]. After several days of glaring at that damned sheet she finally managed to cast the fucking spell!

"Fuck yeah!" she rejoiced as she hovered a couple of metres above the ground.

She had managed to cast a 3rd Order spell, something she had been told she would never be able to do by her arsehole family! How could she not rejoice at this moment? It was like a kick in the balls for those pieces of shit!

Unfortunately her joy was short-lived as the transformation of her mana was accompanied by a pain that almost made her lose control and fall to the ground. When it was done she saw that Sage looking at her with what appeared to be the first makings of a smile since they left Yshta. Kaylee descended and showed her the middle finger, causing the undead to snarl and cast her attention elsewhere.

Since she had learned [Flight] the two of them decided to continue the rest of the journey via air with her having to take several breaks along the road.

A strange occurrence that greeted them on their journey to the Nervahn was a caravan of people and wagons travelling from the place. If she gave a rough estimation, the migrating bunch numbered around four to five hundred.

"Somethings up," she said while looking down on the people from sky.

Sage shot her an annoyed look that said why state the obvious, causing her to shut her mouth and focus on flying.

By the time they got to the town at sunset they learned why there were so many people on the road to Yshta. There was news of a necromancer appearing in a nearby village.

"Oh fuck me," she muttered when she learned of it.