Surviving the Guilt - Chapter 5 and 6

Chapter 5 - An Encounter with Death Itself 

They walked along a small road. There were mosquitoes everywhere. Milton tried to breathe as little as possible and still felt like he swallowed at least a dozen insects.

The rocks seemed to slowly give way to the swamp on their left. It smelled like moldy bread and the fighting fields of Nebo Terrace combined. 

Milton was uneasy walking along the road, he constantly felt watched. His eyes jumped from left to right, trying to make something out, but the slow-moving trees, bushes, ivy, and grass the size of him made it difficult to see anything else than a greenish-brown amalgamation of plants. He tried to focus harder. Was that a face between the grass? 

Whatever it was, if it even was something, it was gone. Milton didn't say anything and walked to the right side of the road. Trying to gain as much distance from the swamp as he could. Marrek noticed his scared face.

"Take your weapons out of their sheath," he said. 

Marrek and Peyton pulled out their swords. Siany searched and found a long staff that was crammed between the belts of the first dolyak. It looked heavy. 

She signaled Milton to walk behind her. The atmosphere felt tense. No one made a sound, they just listened to the swamp while slowly following the dolyaks.

There was a muddy, wet, paddling sound that came out of the dense fauna. Marrek took in a fighting position.

A few drakes, enormous lizards, paddled out of the bushes. Marrek eased. 

But the drakes didn’t stop. They scattered around like scared rabbits.

They seemed to flee from the things that came after them. A few sick men, walking like cripples. Some had rusty weapons in their hands, others had no hands at all. Peyton charged forward with a battle cry. That's when Marrek noticed something big, lurking behind the group of rotten men, still hidden in the darkness of the swamp.

Marrek screamed, “PEYTON! STOP! This is no fight we can win!” 

He gave one dolyak a strong clap on the back. It started to charge as fast as it could. Unfortunately, due to the heavy load, that wasn't very fast.

“Everyone, run! Siany, we need a wall like last time!”

Siany took Milton's hand and made him grab onto the dolyak’s holster.

"Do not let go and keep running!" she said before letting the dolyaks, Peyton, and Marrek pass her. 

She stood still and raised her staff. The rotten men came closer and closer. The one at the front had a dagger he swung wildly as if he couldn’t figure out the distance between him and Siany. Marrek noticed the rotten men were already closer to Siany than he expected and ran back to her.

Marrek pushed himself in front of Siany. He kicked the rotten man back and beheaded him. The man stood still but only fell when Marrek pushed him with his sword. The head fell left to Siany, grey fluids seeped out. But she wasn't bothered, she didn't even notice. 

More of these things came closer, Marrek was ready to fight more. Always one eye on the big shadow lurking somewhere behind the bushes. 

Siany came to herself and let out a scream. A wall of fire emerged just along the road to the swamp. 

A few rotten men were caught in the fire and died screaming. 

The big shadow went further back into the swamp, the surviving rotten men followed it.

Marrek and Siany caught back up to the rest of the party and gave the dolyaks some pets, making them ease their tempo. Marrek must've picked up the rusty dagger that was meant to kill Siany. He placed it into a saddlebag on one of the dolyaks and whispered, “Welcome Priory. Let the bidding start at 10 gold!” 

The two dolyaks were panting and sweating. Foam was building up and running down their long-haired legs.

The wall of fire got smaller. It vanished right where the swamp ended.

Peyton turned to Marrek, “They need some rest. They’re not made for such heavy work.”

“I know,” he answered, “but we need to get to Black Haven first.”

“What do these feathered bastards even want with rocks on dolyaks?” Peyton grunted.

“They don’t want rocks on dolyaks. They want rocks AND dolyaks. But efficiency is the Consortiums strong suit. Even if it means that the working conditions come second,” Marrek explained.

Peyton shook his head and said, “You warned me and yet, here I am.”

Milton was still holding onto the holster. He didn't want to say anything. The less he said, the less these people could be annoyed by him. But he couldn't help it. It exploded out of him, he almost shouted, “WHAT was that?!”

Marrek just now remembered that they had an additional guest.

“You’re too young, boy,” Marrek answered. 

Siany turned around with an angry look on her face and said, “We were, no, we are young too, Marrek. We still deserve the truth!”

He exhaled loudly, then answered, “Those were the Risen. They are undead from Orr but have expanded their territory before their leader was killed. There are only some stray ones left. You don’t have to worry.”

But Milton was worried. He never heard the term “undead” before, but he clearly saw that those things were alive dead people. And they expanded their territory and were defeated without him ever knowing about it? Suddenly he felt like he never knew anything.

Chapter 6 - Black Haven

They arrived at Black Haven and asked around for some help, to get the rocks off the dolyaks. Milton was tasked with standing somewhere he wouldn’t bother anyone. He chose to stay close and watch them unload.

After they were done, they all went to sleep inside the haven. Other travelers and merchants slept there as well, on hard straw mattresses. Surprisingly, it wasn’t any more comfortable as the bench he slept on the night before. But at least he felt like part of the team.

The next morning, Peyton told Milton to join them for a talk next to the grazing dolyaks. They were all standing around a map and whispering.

“We can’t outrun anything with these dolyaks, so I’ve decided we will get off the road and go west around Earthworks Bluff,” Marrek whispered. 

Siany intervened before he could continue and looked to Milton, “The roads are constantly preyed on by bandits. Continue Marrek.”

He looked at her annoyed. “Yes. We are an easy target for bandits. So we will go over the fields here. Problem with the fields is, that these are usually crowded with centaurs... This is where you come into play, Milton.”

All eyes turned to the boy. Marrek continued, “The centaurs have a treaty with Lion's Arch. Even though the Consortium headquarters reside in Lion's Arch, the centaurs know that taking out a caravan from the Consortium won’t get them the same consequences as a merchant protected by the Lionguard. If anyone survives to report it. So, we need you to sneak into that office and take some badges from the Lionguard. They will never suspect a human child.”

Milton wanted to protest but Marrek already pushed him into the main office of this Lionguard Outpost. A man was sitting at the desk. It looked exactly like the room he slept in the night before.

“Sir, would you be so kind as to help us with a few belts and knots outside?” Marrek asked the man.

“I really have some work to do here myself”, he answered grumpily.

“I am truly sorry, Sir. But you know, we working for the Consortium don’t get the same training as the Lionguard.”

"That’s true. And you’re a sylvari. No father that could teach you the lessons of life”, the man nodded, “Let me show you how it’s done. After all, the Lionguard does help the less fortunate.” He stood up and walked out. Marrek gave Milton a glance and then nodded his head towards a locker behind the desk. He followed the Lionguard outside and Milton was alone in the office. 

Milton shivered. He was still upset about learning that other people made a treaty with the centaurs even though his village was constantly attacked by them, and now he was supposed to do what exactly?

He had to open that locker. It was made out of lumber and had several shelves. Each with its own separate lock. The coating was splintered off, both from the wood and the metal parts. Thousands of scratches showed the decades this piece of furniture was sitting there.

Which drawer contained badges? He tried to rattle each one open. They were shaking much more than a good locker should, but all stayed locked, by the mechanism he could see through the worn-out edges.

He heard the Lionguard saying farewell. Milton panicked. Thankfully Marrek found another question to ask the man.

Milton focused back onto his task. Between all those scratches were small metal plates revealing the content of each drawer. There, the second drawer from the bottom should contain "Badges for melting."

Now, how should he open it? 

He quickly skimmed the room but couldn’t find any keys. He started to breathe loudly. There was a thin paper-knife. He took it, slid it into the upper crack of the drawer and tried to leverage it open with brute force. But it wouldn’t open. He was shivering even more now. He pushed the blade in again. He moved it around as best as he could, slowly carving out the wood around the locking mechanism. 

He rattled some more and the drawer actually opened. He exhaled loudly. Dozens of old, weathered badges of the Lionguard lay in front of him. He shoved as many as he could into his pants.

The voice of the Lion Guard outside shifted to a grumpy tone again. He had enough of Marrek’s questions and was coming back. Milton tried pushing the drawer back in again. But it wouldn’t close, the locking mechanism prohibited it from closing fully. He didn’t have any more time. He closed it as much as he could and stood up straight just as the Lion Guard entered the room, followed by Marrek.

“Boy, what are you still doing here? Are you stealing my paper-knife?!” he exclaimed.

“No… No,” Milton stuttered, “I thought it was your dagger and wanted to know what it feels like to be a real Lionguard.” Milton felt and looked like a liar, but the Lionguard smiled.

“Well, this Lionguard right here fights his battles with letters and signatures. But I’m sure you’ll make a great guard one day,” he said and laid his hand on Milton’s head.

Marrek nodded to Milton and said, “Thank you again, Sir.”

They went outside to the dolyaks. Milton nodded towards Marrek. Both smiled. 

“How did you know he would come with you?” Milton whispered.

”Nobody will decline the possibility to feel superior,” Marrek answered with a big grin.