52: Hunter and Hunted

Kurtis was still standing there, gazing at the embers of his farm when the rest of us were setting off to follow the tracks deep into the forest. I was determined to follow this up. These were agents of the fly lord. From what I have gleaned, from the library at the temple in Altdorf, they are followers of the dark god that is called N_____. It is fundamental to all Shallyan teaching that the fly lord be opposed and destroyed. Despite our good will, despite our reason, and despite our pacifism.

Ursula agreed with me immediately. We were allies for the first time. Sigmarite hate for the dark gods matched Shallya’s loathing for the lord of the flies. Erhardt was with us too. I’m not sure if it was out of a sense of camaraderie for us, or a duty to his college, or some sort of magical secret that he shared with these creatures. Solvej followed us, too. Perhaps she saw how important it was that we do this. Or perhaps she just didn’t want to be left behind.

Otto sympathised with Kurtis. He told him that maybe one farm would be just as good as two, especially if you could get it to work twice as hard. Kurtis said that’s not how it worked, but then Otto told him that he had only just got the farm, anyway, because someone fell from a balcony, so he was still up on the deal. And Kurtis told him never to mention that again. So, Kurtis joined us, too. He seemed to think we were all out for revenge for the destruction of his farm. I didn’t bother putting him right, but we all knew that this was much bigger than anything to do with that.

We followed the tracks into the forest. Solvej could tell that there were about ten people in the group, and that one was larger than the rest, and had a peg leg, or something like that. Then we came across another set of tracks that looked like they merged with the first, like the two bands had joined together. We wondered whether they might have come from other farms similar to Kurtis’ and whether we should perhaps check out those, but we decided that we needed to keep our pursuit while we could, and before their numbers swelled too much. We were already beginning to wonder whether there might be too many of them, for us to deal with.

We followed the trail all day. When it began to get dark, Kurtis wanted to keep on going, through the night, but Solvej insisted that we all needed rest, and food. I hadn’t noticed it getting dark and was wondering whether this thing I had with my eyes could be considered a permanent mutation. In any case I made a show of stumbling over something in the darkness in front of Ursula in an effort to pretend I didn’t have this thing she had no idea I had, anyway. I told myself to play it cooler in future.

Solvej managed to get us a couple of rabbits to eat between us before sleep. It wasn’t much but it was enough. Our full Reikland breakfast felt like days ago, by now. Ursula made a bivouac, but it was crap, and fell down.

I was soon asleep but disturbed by strange dreams again. These dreams were about the Bergman farm, though. I could see the bodies hanging there, again, and the runes etched upon the bodies seemed to move and writhe and glow. And all around them was the billowing murky green magic, and then I saw the magic was moving along the route we were taking.

Fortunately, I was woken up to go on watch. I was on watch with Erhardt, again, which wasn’t much fun but better than going on watch with any of the others. We talked about the magical winds again, but I still don’t really understand them. We argued about whether the dark, green wind we had been dreaming about was closer to miracles that Shallya sends me or the magic that Erhardt makes for himself. He said something about ritual killings being used to produce magical energies that can supply powerful spells. That might be what was going on here. If it was, then that was another reason we needed to stop it.

When I woke Kurtis up for the next watch I asked if I could borrow his dagger, which he handed over. He looked like he’d just had a nightmare, too. In the morning we all looked a bit haggard, but Solvej was the worst. She looked like she’d been crying and she was definitely on edge again. I’ve learned that when Solvej gets on edge, she can get very unpredictable and even dangerous.

We went to find food for breakfast but couldn’t find a thing. It was as if this trail that we were following had fouled the food around it. Or we were just unlucky. So, we were all hungry setting off. Except, I think I may have noticed Solvej chewing something when she thought we weren’t looking.

Solvej picked up the trail again and we followed it. It soon joined another track. And in the mud Solvej decided that the company had been joined by a couple of large horses, as well as some more on foot. And that was when she lost it. She got hysterical and threatened to leave us all, saying we were all going to die and that she was being followed in her dreams. Otto tried to console her by pointing out we might get to see Gulgad again, but that didn’t help.

Then Kurtis got angry with Solvej, sacking her from her job as farm manager and evicting her from his house. He was taking it personally because he was thinking this was all about his farm. Kurtis ranted at Solvej, then Solvej ranted at all of us telling us how useless we all were. I didn’t take it personally because I could see how frightened she was. In the end I led everyone in a prayer and that definitely helped to calm us all down. I like to think I dissipated some of the angst from the bad dreams and we set off again with renewed optimism. Solvej said that if we wanted to die, then she would lead us to our deaths.

On the way, Otto asked me why I had a dagger, and whether everything I‘d told him was a lie. The dagger thing was just supposed to be between me and Kurtis, but suddenly everyone knew. And Otto was lecturing me about lying to him about peace and love. I explained that this was different. I told him that all the stuff about doing no harm was true as far as it went, but when it comes to minions of the fly lord then the rules go out the window. I told him it was complicated, like a rat. It might be soft and fluffy on the outside, but under the surface it was more complicated than that. Then Solvej gave me her crossbow and Kurtis gave me his shield, like they wanted me to kill something. I think Kurtis thought I was doing all this just to get revenge for his farm, which pleased him. Not sure there’s any point telling him the truth.

I don’t recall how long we followed the trail but we were starting to get very hungry. We tried looking for food again but failed miserably. And again, I think I spotted Solvej eating something. Otto lamented not having Kurtis’ magic bell to ring to make servant Clara turn up with some croissants, and then I had to explain to him the Parable of the Stone Soup again. But he still didn’t get it.

Then I think Solvej and Erhardt heard something, and we all fell silent. Erhardt snuck off into the forest to see what it was, and the wait for him to return was quite tense. He explained that there was a large group of heavily armoured cultists of the fly lord, or some such, not far ahead, and they were being flanked by a couple of knights on horseback. The knights were circling the group, to protect them, or to scout.

These seemed to be too powerful and too well armoured for us to deal with, but we needed to press on, and Erhardt said that if we split them up and attacked them piecemeal, we might have a chance. And I agreed, not that I know the first thing about fighting.

He reckoned we had about ten minutes before the riders came round again so we prepared an ambush. I think we were all a bit worried that these creatures might be too strong for us, and Otto suggested Erhardt contact his college to get help. Erhardt said he wasn’t able to, but Otto seemed to think he could send a messenger bird, or something. Erhardt didn’t have any birds on him, so with some trepidation Otto offered to lend Erhardt Schnitzel as a sort of flying messenger dog. To Otto’s relief, however, Erhardt declined the offer. It was very generous of Otto, I suppose, but it does make you wonder how he looks at life.

We had heard of single travellers going missing in the forest, so I chose to be a single traveller and act as bait. Meanwhile Kurtis and Otto used a log as a barricade between two trees that they would raise as the riders approached. Ursula hid in the undergrowth nearby with Solvej’s crossbow (I didn’t know how to use it, anyway). Solvej climbed a tree to get a good view of the fight, and nocked her arrow, and Erhardt hid in the trees behind me where he could get a decent view of the riders.

And, as Erhardt predicted, the two riders emerged through the trees. As they saw me they spurred their mounts on and charged. I said a quick prayer to prick their conscience, but I don’t think they had much of a conscience. One chose the direct route which would take them past Kurtis and Otto, and the other a longer route. As they approached, Solvej loosed an arrow and hit her target perfectly through a gap in its armour. She had come a long way since Ubersreik. But the rider continued. It was a blow, I thought, that would have taken down a mere human. Then she hit it again, just as well, but it kept coming. The riders did seem strangely inhuman, they had heavy armour with strange sigils etched into it, and under the armour I imagined they were contorted and deformed. And I suspected, if I were Erhardt, I would be able to sense clouds of that murky green magic around them, too.

As the second rider charged towards me, Kurtis and Otto raised their log, and the steed smashed into it, stopping it dead, but the rider managed to stay on its mount. Then it swung at Otto but he managed to fend off the blow. Ursula shot her crossbow, but it missed by miles.

So, I was left, alone, to face the charge of one of the dark knights. I had seen Solvej grow from someone who couldn’t seem to hit a thing, to someone now, despite her fears, jumping around in the trees hitting everything. And Otto who couldn’t win a fight with his own wife now standing up to these benighted knights. And Erhardt who couldn’t do the three-card trick, now blasting things with powerful magic (to be fair, he still can’t do the three-card trick). And Kurtis who had been more interested in hitting the right note, defeating enemies in judicial combat. And Ursula.

So, on that evidence, I simply thought that I could do something like that, too. I thought if I stood there resolutely in the face of the dark knight then I would be able to oppose it, and perhaps even smite it. Instead, with a mere swing of its sword, it swept me aside, hitting me squarely on the arm, and I dropped Kurtis’ dagger and fell to the ground, badly bruised and barely conscious.

I didn’t see much of the rest of the fight, as I was lying on the ground screaming in pain. I felt Kurtis dive beside me, holding his shield up to deflect the blows of the dark steed that was trying to trample me. I heard that Solvej was a machine, shooting her arrows at the knights, hitting with every one, finding gaps in their armour, until they were done. Erhardt, fired his spells at them, as you might expect. Even Otto stood up to a knight, matching it blow for blow while Erhardt’s spells whittled it down.

Apparently, Ursula spent the whole fight hiding in the bushes trying to reload the crossbow, but apart from that everyone did heroically. Both knights were killed and both horses brought down so they could not give us away. I managed to put my pain behind me and got to my feet, but by then the contest was over. I had had the idea that I would be a warrior against the servants of the fly lord and fight against them toe to toe, or something. But that never happened. But they were defeated, nonetheless.

They were defeated by my comrades, those who I had travelled with for the last six months not really knowing why. I have felt like I didn’t know why I was sticking with them, and I had been tempted to leave them any number of times. I had prayed to Shallya for some sort of sign that I was doing the right thing. And things had been unclear. But now I had my sign. This was what Shallya had had in mind for us all along. As I surveyed the detritus of battle, the two destroyed servants of the fly lord, alongside their foul mounts, and with more of his diseased minions ahead of us, it was very clear, now.