The Eternal Blade Saga Book 2, Chapter 17: On The Hunt

We stepped out of Rugnar’s steading and were immediately met with a flurry of activity. Steaders hustled back and forth, chasing after frightened animals who had escaped from their pens, comforting frightened children, and clearing debris from damaged structures. I surveyed the scene, and aside from some minor damage and a few sustained injuries, Cragstead would be okay. At least for now.

“What in the gods’ name was that?” Lord Aedan Byrne demanded as he stormed through the doorway. His entire face was scrunched in irritation as he buttoned his long overcoat up to his neck. Lady Eira followed right behind him, clutching her dress’ skirt as she struggled to keep up with her husband’s long stride. Her perfect golden curls cascaded over her shoulders and fluttered effortlessly with every movement, making me self-conscious of my own slightly disheveled appearance.

“Is the town under attack?” she asked, fliting her nervous gaze back and forth between us. “Do we need to evacuate?”

“We can’t say for certain yet, but you should both stay here and keep safe just in case,” Quint said.

Lady Eira scoffed. “Stay here? While there’s an unidentified creature terrorizing this place? I think not.” She turned to her husband and patted his fur collar. “I think it’s time to call our little adventure over, darling. Let’s get our things and leave.”

Lord Aedan begrudgingly nodded, his lips pursed as he turned on his heels and stormed back into the steading. He elicited a rough grumble from Rugnar as he pushed past him. I winced, expecting the norn to retaliate, but he showed great restraint despite the Lord’s behavior. Lady Eira quickly followed, offering a polite nod as she passed Rugnar and then disappeared into the steading.

“What’s with those two? They were fighting a moment ago and now they’re as amiable as two kittens at naptime,” I uttered quietly as I turned towards Quint, but he flashed me an odd look. “What?”

“Sorry, I’m still getting used to the real you talking,” he whispered.

I felt my brows knit as I tried to come up with a witty retort, but despite the quick shot of adrenaline from the tremors, I was exhausted and still feeling some effects from drinking last night, so I kept my half-formed comments to myself.

“But I see what you mean,” Quint added. “It does seem unusual for them to put their argument aside so suddenly. However, we did just have an earth-shaking event that could be indicative of something terrible. Puts things into perspective and often diminishes the importance of arguments.”

“Are you talking about those two?” Alena interrupted as she stuck a thumb behind her. “Kind of strange, huh?”

Clarkus huffed and wrinkled his snout.

I nodded. “Worth looking into?” I asked, looking over at Quint.

He shrugged. “Maybe, if I was still your adviser.”

“What about a favor for a friend?” I asked with a smirk.

He offered me a little smile and that was enough to tell me “yes”.

“I’m sure I can fix this,” Rugnar said as he bent down to pick up a piece of framing from the steading’s doorway and slung the large beam onto his broad shoulder. Looking at his dwelling lovingly, he gave the broken doorway a gentle pat. “But I don’t want to keep having to, so the Vigil needs to go do their job.”

Clarkus huffed and looked down at Alena. “That’s our cue. We better find this thing before it does any more damage.”

“Should go faster with the com–I mean Nienna’s help,” the asura pointed out.

Clarkus’ shoulders stiffened as he looked me over. Despite his outward stoic appearance, there was still a sadness seeping through his eyes. The charr had been wandering on his own when Tuborg had first met him. He had lost his warband during a mission against the Blood Legion and instead of trying to form new bonds with a new one, he chose to register as a gladium. Wandering the Gendarran fields looking for work, he tried to find any job he could. Tuborg was taken by the large charr’s determination to be useful and brought him home to us. Shortly after, Alena came to us through a serious of strange events involving a rather intimidating soap merchant and a moa in Lion’s Arch. The two became fast friends. They were an odd pairing in almost every aspect, but by the way Clarkus kept a protective eye on Alena, I often wondered if she filled the space his old warband left behind.

“Sticking around to help, commander?” he asked.

I nodded and folded my hands together in front of me. “Yes, if that’s alright. If we can help you take care of this problem, will you come back with us? I want the opportunity to apologize and to explain.”

He looked down at Alena, and the two engaged in a non-verbal exchange before he looked back up at me. Narrowing his green eyes down his snout, he snorted and slightly bared his teeth just enough that I could see their pointed tips, but then his features suddenly softened. “Are you going to make us leave again?” he asked so quietly it took me by surprise. Despite his large and intimidating appearance, I had forgotten how sensitive Clarkus really was. I supposed he never made it obvious because charr culture did not value sensitivity, and in fact saw it as a weakness.

My heart sunk as I began to understand.

It wasn’t just Alena who had filled the empty spot that his warband left behind. We all had become his warband, and now I was facing the very real damage I had caused by disbanding the guild. When I broke the guild apart, I broke him too.

Forcing a warm smile through my guilt, I shook my head and said, “no, I’m not going to make you leave again.”

The charr chuffed and he brightened a little. “Okay then,” he said, “we need to find this creature first.”

“What about Lord and Lady Oddball back there,” Alena asked.

“Let ‘em be,” Clarkus said. “With them out of the way, they’ll be fine and so will we.”

Crossing his arms over his chest, Quint asked, “and if whatever is out there comes for the steading?”

The charr scratched a spot behind one of his large horns. “Then we’ll at least have some bait,” he replied with a throaty chuckle.

***

We grabbed our gear and began our search along the southern outskirts of Cragstead for the mysterious cause of its problems. Thankfully, the tremors had stopped, giving the inhabitants some peace while they worked and allowing our search to go a little smoother. Clarkus and Alena led me and Quint around Cragstead’s perimeter, telling us about the ice tunnels, the tremors, and the attacked supply lines. I followed in silence, letting the information sink in as I tried to make informed connections, but it all seemed so strange.

“Has anyone else been attacked, besides the supply lines?” I asked.

“A couple adventurers, but that’s it. They got away and we questioned them, but it was night they didn’t see anything,” Alena explained. “No one has been able to get a good look at what’s causing all this mess. Would be nice if someone had come face-to-face with this thing though, so we could at least have more information–or a detailed drawing.”

“Even at their expense?” I asked, raising my eyebrow.

The asura made a non-committal sound and shrugged. I was beginning to wonder just how brutal science was. Or Alena was. Either way, I was starting to see the asura in a new light. Whether that was good or not, I hadn’t quite decided.

I made a quiet thoughtful noise to myself as I mulled over the details. We made our way to the northern end of town, into the rocky hillside as we continued our search. Snow piled up high against the ragged rocks jutting out from the hilltop. The wind whipped around us, shaking the bare branches of the few trees that dared to grow here. Being up on this hillside reminded me of my rough lesson with Alena. It would likely be the first of many and would hopefully end with an explanation of what’s wrong with me.

The wind howled through again, but with it, I swore I could hear a voice calling for help.

“Hey,” I called to the others as I waved to them to stop. “Did you hear that?”

“Hear what?” Alena asked as she planted her staff in the snow. Her long ears pricked up and twitched.

“Voices,” I replied, “calling for help. Don’t you hear that?” I looked around us for a visual confirmation, but I didn’t see anything other than snow and rocks. Placing my hands on my hips, I wondered if maybe I was going crazy from lack of a good night’s sleep or the drinking, or maybe from being knocked around by Alena’s minions.

With his head cocked slightly to the side, Clarkus’ ears twitched. “I think I hear something. A couple of humans I think.” His ears twitched again. “It sounds like they’re in distress.”

“Oh good, I’m not crazy,” I sighed in relief. “Can you tell where it’s coming from, Clarkus?”

He looked around, moving slowly as he followed the sound and tried to pinpoint where they were coming from. After a moment, he stopped and pointed. “There, down the hillside.”

Quint stepped closer to the edge and peered over. “It’s not too steep. We should be able to make it down without much issue.” He then backed up and turned to us. “Shall we?”