Chapter 10

Just as Taliarrah had said, the journey to the village of Lanche was a difficult and tiring one. He now understood why they went by foot: two and a half days of trudging uphill through narrow and winding mountain passes. No horse could have managed through these rocky trails. Truthfully, he wasn't sure how they had managed themselves.

Lanche was small, even more so than Valenfort, and looked to have seen better days. Several small, rundown houses huddled around a larger building in the center. The trail into the village continued all the way through and continued out into the hills. At the edge furthest from the village, down a small slope, was a simple rock wall that enclosed another cluster of stones: the lone remarkable thing he could find.

When they arrived, the three elves had been shown to the large building in the center of the village. Inside, they were met by an older man gesturing to the chairs that had been set up in the middle of the room. Krarshe took the opportunity to sit and massage his feet. Walking long distances was nothing new, but the terrain was harsher than he was used to. Lycia, on the other hand, seemed fine, taking this time to take note of what supplies she had left in her pack.

As usual, Taliarrah wasted no time getting to business. "I was told you are this village's headman. Is that correct?"

He nodded. "That's right, I'm this village's chief. Could I get a warm drink for you?"

Krarshe and Lycia both looked up at the offer, but Taliarrah turned it down quickly. "No, thank you. We'd like to get to work."

The two dejectedly went back to what they'd been doing, being sure to listen attentively while they did so. They knew well the scolding they'd get if they weren't paying attention, but knew equally well that this was the only opportunity to rest before returning to the task at hand.

"Oh, very well then." He waved dismissively to an older woman in the doorway carrying a tray of steaming mugs.

"Ah..." The utterance quietly escaped Lycia's lips as she watched the woman, and the tray of drinks, leave the room. Krarshe felt his heart sink as well.

"What can you tell me about this request?"

"First, I want to thank you for coming so quickly. I know it's hard to get here, especially this time of year, and for that small of a payment."

"Pleasantries won't get this resolved. If it's as dire as was reported in the request, we should get right to it."

Krarshe and Lycia both stopped. They still hadn't been told the details of the quest, just where it was located. Their attention shifted completely to the village chief.

He nodded. The creases in his face deepened and expression grew dour. "Yes, well. As detailed in the report, over the past cycle, several people have gone missing."

"How many?"

"Eight. No, nine, as of yesterday."

Krarshe and Lycia exchanged worried glances. "Just what kind of quest did your mother pick?"

"So it's ongoing. Any commonalities between them?"

"None. That I'm aware of." The chief paused. "Well, no, that's not right. All of them went missing after heading into the hills."

"Into the mountains?"

He nodded. "Collecting wild roots or other plants that grow this time of year, or collecting firewood. Nothing out of the ordinary."

"Is it possible they just met with an accident?"

"I don't think so, no. That's what I thought too initially, but we could never find any clues. No body, no clothing, nothing left behind at all."

"Hmm. Is that all the information you have?"

"Regarding their disappearances, yes."

Taliarrah started chewing her thumbnail and looked out the window. Then she stopped. "What's going on over there?"

"Over where?" The chief got up to see where she was pointing outside. "Oh, that's the village cemetery."

Krarshe got up and looked. Following her pointing led to the gathering of stones he'd noticed when they'd arrived. Seeing it closer, he realized he'd seen such places before. Never thought much of them. So that's called a 'cemetery', huh? Wonder why they need to fence in those rocks. Are they special rocks?

"Why all the dirt piles?" Lycia asked. "Did something... happen?"

"Oh, no. Those are all from old graves."

Taliarrah and Lycia both turned to the chief. "Care to explain?" Taliarrah asked.

"Just some wild animals snuck in and dug them up not long ago. We're still investigating how they got in."

"What about the corpses?"

"Corpses?!" Krarshe shouted, startling everyone. "You put dead bodies out there?!"

"U-umm... Yes... That's... where we bury our dead," the chief answered, still reeling from Krarshe's outburst. "They're... all missing..."

"Why didn't you inform me of this before?" Taliarrah asked sternly.

"I'm sorry, I didn't think it was relevant. Should I have?"

"When did this happen?" she asked.

"Maybe a cycle and a half ago?" He stopped and thought for a moment. "You don't think... this is related, do you?"

She let out an exasperated sigh. "I don't know yet, but I intend to find out. Now, any OTHER occurrences or happenings out of the ordinary? Anything at all."

"N-no. Nothing else. I'm sure this time."

Taliarrah pursed her lips. "Well, if you remember anything else later, let me know immediately." She turned to Lycia and Krarshe. "Let's get going. I'm going to go take a closer look at that cemetery. You can also ask one of these two to contact me if you can't find me. They'll be talking to the other people in the village."

Krarshe was taken aback. "Huh?"

"I don't fully trust the chief's words, Krarshe. I don't know whether he's hiding something or if he's just absentminded, but I want the two of you to prod the other villagers for information about the missing persons."

"Understood, master," Lycia and Krarshe responded simultaneously.

With a brief bow to the chief, they headed back out into the village to conduct their investigations.

* * *

"Did you find anything, Ka-Krarshe?"

Krarshe shook his head and sat down on the ground against one of the buildings. "Nothing. They all said the same thing."

"'They just went out into the mountains and never came home,' right?"

"Almost their exact words."

Lycia sighed. She crossed her arms and slumped against the wall next to Krarshe. "Hmm... What now?" she said, lightly chewing on her bottom lip.

Krarshe looked up at her and watched as she chewed it, thinking about the times he saw Taliarrah chew her thumbnail. Her lip glistened a bit in the late-day sun as it bounced back into position with each bite. No! No. Focus. "Do we just go find your mother?"

"Honestly, I don't know. I guess so, given how late it's getting." She glanced up toward the sky. After a minute, she pushed herself off the wall. "Let's get going then. I wasn't able to reach her with yaraada."

"That spell is tricky," Krarshe said, getting up and following her.

"Mmm." She stopped abruptly, causing Krarshe to almost bump into her. "What's going on over there?"

"Huh?" Krarshe looked where she was looking.

Three women were huddled together and talking. At first, it didn't seem like anything out of the ordinary, but the more he watched, the more he agreed with Lycia. The short glimpses of their faces he got seemed to indicate something was wrong, something had them unsettled.

"I don't know. Do you want to talk to them? Or should I?" he asked.

"You can. I'm not really comfortable talking to people I don't know well..."

As if I'm sociable? Ugh. "Okay, I'll go ask." He walked over, trying to remember which muscles to use for his old merchant's smile. "Greetings! If you don't mind my asking, is everything okay?"

The three women shot him a look. They were clearly suspicious of him. Why wouldn't they be?

"Oh, sorry. You see, I'm actually an adventurer. Me and my partner over there were asked by the village chief to investigate the recent... incidents." He leaned in and whispered, "Something about people going missing?"

The three looked at each other again. "Oh, of course. I'd heard that he'd put up a request."

"We should tell them, no?" said another.

"Yes, yes! What perfect timing!" said the third.

"Tell us what?" Lycia said, joining the conversation, now that Krarshe had taken care of the hard part.

"You see," she leaned in close and lowered her voice, "a gentleman I know went out to gather some firewood this morning. Said he'd give me some in exchange for the pickled fruit I gave him the other day."

"What's so unusual about that?" Krarshe asked.

One of the other ladies spoke up. "Gathering wood doesn't take that long..."

"So you think he's missing?"

The three women looked at each other and nodded. "That's what we fear, yes."

Lycia glanced at Krarshe. "We should tell my mother."

"I don't think we have time to. If he's been gone since morning, he might be in trouble as we speak."

"Yes... but-"

"Don't worry, we can handle this. We just need to look for a bit. If it gets dark before we find him, we come back."

"I don't know... Something doesn't feel right."

"... So, will you help?" one of the ladies asked.

Krarshe realized he and Lycia had been silent for a while. "Oh, yes, we'll go take a look for him. Don't worry."

"KRARSHE!" Lycia glared daggers at him.

"Thank the gods. Thank you two."

"Of course. Do you know which direction he went? And could you tell me more about his appearance?" Krarshe asked, doing his best to not be bothered by Lycia.

While the women explained, Krarshe could feel Lycia's gaze somehow intensifying. Oh wisdom, see me through this. I need to show her that it'll be fine. That I'm capable of handling this.

"Don't worry, we'll find him," Krarshe said confidently.

"Just... If you could explain to my mo- To the other woman who was with us. I think she's in the cemetery right now."

"Oh, of course, dear. And thank you both again. It's been awful lately, all the worry. We don't even feel safe going outside our village for everyday things."

"It's okay, ma'am. We'll... take care of it," Lycia said, again glowering at Krarshe as she finished her sentence.

"Gods keep you two safe!" one of the women called out as she left.

Lycia didn't utter a word as they made their way out of the village and into the mountains. It wasn't until the village was a ways off that she finally released the flood.

"I can't believe you, Ka- Krarshe."

"What?"

"It's almost dark. There's some unknown thing causing people to go missing. We're going alone into a cold and unfamiliar wilderness."

"It'll be fine."

"No! Krarshe, THIS is what my mom keeps talking about! You keep this arrogant, 'I can do anything' act going all the time! Ever since you got a handle on your magic, you act like you can do anything!"

"I..." He stopped. Saying that he was confident in his magic would probably only make it worse. "... Why didn't you refuse them then?"

"HOW COULD I?!" She stopped walking and turned to him. He could see now how much anger she had in her eyes. "You promised them we'd find this missing person! You expect me to say 'Sorry, we just need to leave him lost'?!"

"I... I'm... sorry... I just-"

Lycia stopped him with a hand and sighed. "Look, I get it. And, part of me thinks... it was probably the right move."

Krarshe was taken aback. It must have shown on his face because she proceeded to explain.

"Time is likely of the essence here. He might not even be alive at this point, but there's still a chance. If we waited to find my mother, it could have been too late."

"Y-yeah."

"And it would have been even more dangerous if only one of us had gone." She looked up the mountain trail. "We just need to be extra careful. Especially as it gets darker."

That's when the reality of their precarious situation set in for Krarshe. He wasn't thinking about how long it would take to find this man. Even if they did, traversing the winding mountain passes in the dark would be difficult, and using light magic might alert whatever dangers lurked in the crags to their presence.

He took a deep breath. "Whatever we encounter, I swear to protect you."

Lycia stopped in her tracks. "You know," she said as she turned back to him, "that line might work if I wasn't so upset with you right now." She continued on without another word.

I meant it though. I won't let any harm come to you, Krarshe thought.

They trekked further into the desolate mountains, the village now out of sight. Further and deeper into the labyrinthine cliffs they went, noting the rare shrub or twisted tree so they could hopefully find their way back from this desolate region. The cold wind of late Zael whipped down the mountains, stinging any skin exposed outside their cloaks, howling through the boulders and steep stone ledges. A thought crept into Krarshe's mind, one he wouldn't have thought of before recently. Hope he didn't freeze to death.

"Wait! Quiet!" Lycia projected into Krarshe's mind.

"What?"

"Up ahead. I think I see someone."

"Does it look like him?"

Lycia shrugged. "It's hard to tell from here. Let's move up carefully."

The two shuffled forward, moving from rock to rock as quietly as they could in the loose pebbles and dirt.

A man was huddled behind a rocky outcropping, crouched down, bundled in a heavy fur coat. He seemed to be shaking.

"That looks like who they described! What's he doing there?" Krarshe asked.

"I don't know. It seems like he's cold, but why would he be staying there?"

"I don't know either." Krarshe stood up and hailed the man. "You okay over there, sir?"

The man looked up at him, startled. He started waving his arms wildly.

"What's he doing?" Krarshe whispered to Lycia.

"I don't know, but he looks okay. Let's go check on him."

They both approached him. Suddenly, he ran out and grabbed them both, pulling them behind a nearby boulder. "What are you two doing?!" he whispered. "I said get down!"

"What?" Lycia and Krarshe asked in unison.

"Keep your voices down!" he whispered harshly. "It's coming."

They both looked at him, confused.

All he did was put a finger to his lips and tipped his head further down the trail as he shrunk as low as he could behind the boulder.

Lycia quietly peeked behind the boulder. Krarshe heard a sharp gasp from her as she, too, sunk low and held a hand over her mouth and nose, her eyes wide with fear.

What in the world are they so frightened by? he thought.

Just as Lycia had done, he snuck around the edge of the stone barrier. His eyes grew wide at the sight, one he'd never seen before. Not even in his do'mro's stories.

It stood no taller than a man, gripping a rusty metal blade in one hand. It clattered with each shuffling, jerky, unnatural step. It turned back and forth as it searched the area with hollowed eye sockets.

Krarshe quickly followed the other two's example, hidden behind the rock, being careful not to make any sound. Taking curious peeks around the rock while trying not to reveal himself, he observed it. He knew not why this thing was here, nor how it moved without its muscle.

One thing was clear, however. This infernal assemblage of animated bones was dangerous.