Chapter 28:

Chapter 27 - A Temporary Team-up

The Otherworldly Patron of Blood


Laura threw the last remaining cultist across the room and into a pedestal.

As it turned out, the hardest part of their Dryhunter quest was just trying to find them. Despite being big enough to become a threat to the kingdom, most Arkaloan citizens didn't know head or tails about where to find them. Not even Eric's Outworlder charms could convince people to give up information they didn't have.

But then, luck struck them. As they traveled from one city to another, they sighted a Dryhunter cultist, panicking as they ran from tree to tree. They followed him all the way back to a cave and, after confirming it indeed was the Dryhunter's main base of operations, they charged in. Eric pulled most of the weight; lightning attacks in tight spaces worked frighteningly well. Antoni and Laura played support, the former healing his wounds while Laura protected his flank. Needless to say, the Dryhunters were no match for the trio. They never trained much in the way of close quarters combat, relying entirely on their now-absent leader to pull all the weight.

When all was said and done, all the cultists inside were either knocked-out or writhing on the floor. Laura grabbed one of the conscious cultists and shook him. "Where's Taykaw?" She shouted.

"I don't know!"

"You wanna get a knuckle sandwich?"

"Seriously, I don't know! He just disappeared a few days back! He's had his disappearances before, but he always comes back the next day! It's never to this extent!"

Antoni studied what laid on the main stage of the cave. "A white circle, encircled with gems... Looks like we weren't ever going to find him here."

"Why not?"

"He's been using Projection to appear here. He never was here in the first place!"

She turned to the cultist. "Is this true?"

The cultist nodded. "Nobody here really knows where he is. Even a careless mistake could expose him! That's why he had us draw these magic circles, so we could still converse with him!"

Laura sighed, agitated by the revelation. She dropped the cultist onto the floor, leaving him to groan in pain. "You're telling me we went through all this trouble for nothing?"

Eric shrugged. "I'm not surprised. He's one of the most wanted men in Deusterra. Guess we just gotta keep looking."

Laura sat down on the floor, thinking. A cultist on the ground tried crawling up to her with a knife; she simply slapped it out of their hands. "Where else do we go though? It's not like we can scour the entirety of Arkalos to find Taykaw."

Antoni frowned. "It's Arkalo, Laura."

"Whatever! You know what I mean."

Having come up with nothing, the trio left the cave, unsure of what to do next.

. . .

Eric looked at his map of Arkalo with Antoni as Laura wrestled with a skullhead panther.

"We've still got half the kingdom to explore. Maybe we'll find him there?" He muttered to himself.

Antoni rubbed his chin. "It's possible, but impractical. By the time we look, he might've already left to a place we've already checked. It's weird, though. Why was he absent for our raid? He's the type to stand there, wait for us to attack him, and laugh in our face as our weapons moved past him. He wouldn't miss a chance to taunt us. So where has he gone?"

He shrugged. "I wouldn't know."

"I know."

Just as Laura suplexed the skullhead panther into oblivion, three people walked in on them. The trio consisted of one man and two women. Eric immediately noticed something quite odd with the man, who sported long black hair and brown eyes. The man seemed to have the same feeling too, as they approached each other at the same time.

"You're not from here, are you?" The man asked.

"Well, I came from Phegolan, not Arkalo, if that's what you're asking."

"Not what I meant. You're not from Deusterra, right?"

He raised an eyebrow. "How do you know this? I don't think Arkalo had anything on me when I was checking the cities."

"I just feel it, you know? You probably feel the same way too."

"I do. But how do you know this? And where did you come from? I haven't seen you on any registry of Outworlders."

He shrugged. "I have my secrets. But if you're from Phegolan, you're probably Eric, right?"

He nodded. "That's me."

One of the man's crew, a woman with short blonde hair and a glaive, immediately ducked behind the other woman, one with long black hair and a gun slung over her shoulder, upon hearing that.

Eric pointed to her. "What's with her?"

"It's a long story."

Eric stared at the woman. "Hey, she looks familiar."

The man slowly backed away. "You're probably imagining things."

He took out the picture the old man gave him. The woman looked much rougher, but all her features matched up, aside from the hair and ears. "Uhh, you wouldn't happen to be a woman named Eliza, right?"

The woman froze.

Before Eric could speak, Antoni held his hand up, gesturing him to stop. "Nope. We're not bringing her back, Eric."

Laura crossed her arms. "Why not?"

"Applecot Mansion's bad news. Its owner, a Mr. Barford Porterson, was the most prolific slave owner in Phegolan before it was outlawed. Now, he only has two indentured servants, one of which disappeared five years ago. The strangest thing is, the remaining servant has been working there for twenty five years. Most indentured service lasts around ten, even for the worst crime possible. So how are they still working off their debt? Something's fishy about it, I know it is."

Eric shot a confused look at him. "Where'd you learn all of this?"

"When you mentioned Applecot Mansion, something didn't feel right. I had to do some research as a precaution."

Eric scratched the back of his head, deep in thought. "Well, the guy didn't seem half-bad... but I'll take your word for it. No mansion for you, miss."

Cautiously, the woman came out, still gripping her glaive tightly. He held his arms up, attempting to show his non-aggression.

"Well, since we're not taking her back... Do you happen to have any clue where Taykaw is? We're trying to track him down, but we've come up short. He's not even in the Dryhunter bases. It seems unlikely, but if you've got anything, it'll be much appreciated."

The man looked at the blonde woman. After a couple of seconds, she nodded. He turned back to Eric. "Taykaw's dead."

Antoni's eyes widened. "Dead? How?"

"We killed him."

Antoni stood still, frozen with shock. "Killed him already? Where was he?"

"He was in a cabin in the Tarlands."

"The Tarlands... damn it! Of course he'd be there. He'd have enough range to use his projection while being surrounded by nothing. Why didn't I think of this?"

Eric raised an eyebrow. "Hold on. How do we know you're not lying to us?"

"We have the amulet. Do you want to show them?"

The blonde woman sighed and took out a peculiar looking item: an obsidian stone with an eye on it. Antoni glanced at it for only a second before nodding.

"They're telling the truth. That's Taykaw's amulet for sure. I'm assuming you'll use it to pay off your debt?"

The woman put the item away. "Yes. How did you know?"

"Just some research I did looking into you." He turned to Eric. "We should accompany them to the Building of Debt."

"Should we? I thought we weren't bringing her back."

He shook his head. "We're not bringing her back. Phegolan has a system where indentured servants can sell them items in exchange for paying off their debt, as long as said items don't come from the owner. But I doubt the tellers there will accept that these three killed Taykaw. If we came in with them, though, they'd fully accept. After all, if anyone could kill Taykaw, it would be you, Knight of the Divine Lightning."

Eric winced at that name. "I can never get used to that. Sounds corny as hell."

"But you getting my point, right?"

"Yeah, I am. What do you guys think?"

The woman stared at him for thirty seconds before responding. "That's a sound plan. Let's do it."

"Alright then. I'll lead the way, make sure nobody tries getting in our way."

The group of six began walking together, on their way to the Phegolan capital city. Along the way, Eric asked the man a simple question.

"Hey, dude, what's your name?"

"Peter."

"Nice to meet you, Peter. I thought I'd never meet another person like Erika."

"Who's that?"

"The other person who teleported in with me."

"Oh, right."

And thus, their trip back to Phegolan seemed much safer than before.