Search and rescue

A figure was nervously pacing around the entrance of the unnamed town.

I could spot the smoke easily now, coming from one of the buildings a bit further in, accompanied by the smell of roasting meat. Danyar and I exchanged a glance, agreeing that the local tavern was going to be our first stop.

Evening was slowly starting to set as well, and I was about to suggest we spend the night here, for a change of scenery if nothing else.

“Wait! You two!” The woman pacing at the village’s entrance called out to us.

She was wearing a thin, fitted red shirt and a layered skirt that stopped a few centimeters above her ankles, revealing simple leather sandals. A pair of thick leather gloves was tucked into her belt.

“Yes?”

“You’re adventurers, right? You look like adventurers. Listen,” She jogged towards us, and pulled out a few green coins from a pouch on her belt. “There’s … I need … This is all the money I have to spare, but-”

She glanced at Danyar, then at me, then into the desert behind us. It seemed Danyar’s presence was contributing to her nervousness.

“Ma'am, what is it? Did something happen?” I asked in a calm tone, hoping to reassure her.

“Yes, this sister, umm,” The woman tried to shove the coins into my hand. I politely took a small step back. “She went out yesterday, and she still hasn’t returned. Natan says he’ll throw her stuff out - I mean, he’ll keep it for two more days, but I think something happened. Here, this is all I have,” She tried to give me the money again.

Danyar gave me a stare and nodded. But I wasn’t going to take money from her, not while she was in this state at least.

“You’re saying your daughter went missing?” I asked, politely folding my hand over the woman’s and pushing it back.

“No, no, a sister who passed through.” The woman shook her head. She took a deep breath and finally collected her thoughts. “She came through two days ago and paid for storage at my inn. Natan, my husband, and I thought she was just the sweetest, travelling to see her brother, and after the calamity, we couldn’t just let her sleep outside.”

There was something strange in the woman’s tone, and I was almost getting a rather strong disingenuous feeling from her, which was only confirmed when Danyar tapped my leg with his tail. He had his arms crossed over his chest, and he unfolded four fingers from the hand facing me.

I really ought to ask him what all these gestures mean…

The innkeeper didn’t seem to notice, though.

“She left before dawn yesterday, and I haven’t … no one has - seen her since. She said at breakfast that she would explore south and return before sundown. Yes, before sundown. Could you … umm, since you are an adventurer, go look for the sister? Please? I will pay.” The woman nodded, but didn’t offer the money again.

Danyar tapped my leg again.

“You said southwards, right? What did she look like? Did she take any supplies with her?”

The woman breathed out a sigh of relief.

“Yes, yes, that direction,” she said. She gestured to the right. “She was this much taller than you, with beet-red hair; you can’t miss her. She took two of her satchels with her, but I think those were just filled with books. Please, sister, bring her back.”

Danyar clicked his tongue.

“What class was she? Did she go by foot, and how many flares did she bring with her?”

The innkeeper startled and almost jumped away when she heard Danayr speak.

“I don’t - I don’t know!” She took a step back. “Yes, she walked, and I already said what I think she had on her. Will you look for her, sister?”

She turned towards me.

“We will,” I cautiously nodded. “Will we be able to find you at the inn later then?”

The woman’s face lit up as she nodded again.

“Yes, I’ll be there. You can tell Nathan that Janne sent you if you don’t see me. Thank you so much, sister!”

“Of course…”

Janne led us through the town, towards the path the girl, whose name Janne seemed to have spontaneously forgotten, would have taken. She didn’t rush us per se, but I got the feeling she wouldn’t be too happy with us stopping for food, or to resupply.

She wished us the best of luck, and I summoned my train the second we got two dunes away from the town.

“What are you thinking?” Danyar asked, trying not to sound accusatory.

“Well, I think someone really did go missing. And my logic is, sorry, this will sound so cold,” I ran my hand through my hair, embarrassed by the wound of what I was about to say, “But if it’s a trap, or a scam, or something weird, I think the two of us - even just the train - will get us out of it very easily.”

Danyar nodded.

“I figured your logic was something this straightforward. What I’m concerned about is what that woman was hiding. I doubt anyone unprepared would survive over a day in the desert, assuming the innkeeper didn’t lie about that woman being unprepared. So, why would she send us to retrieve a body?”

“The desert is dangerous; maybe she is scared of those scorpions.”

“Or maybe there is no body, and only a disgruntled adventurer, or worse yet, her daughter who tried to run away from home.”

“It could be many things, but I don’t see much use in speculating,” I shrugged.

Danayr chuckled.

“Well - wait, slow down.”

The train was already moving at a speed just above walking pace, so I brought it to a full stop to avoid accidentally running over the potentially wounded girl. Danyar leapt out of the cab, landing in the sand. He jogged a few meters back and picked up something from the sand.

“Flair!” He yelled.

When he ran back and got into the cab, he showed me greenish ashes mixed in with coarse sand.

“That’s how they knew where she went. She fired a flare.”

“It would have washed off if it’d been here from before the rain,” I realised.

And it could be from someone else, but for now, let’s follow this lead.

“Most flare devices come with three charges, unless it was a very cheap one. I’ll be on the lookout for more.”

Danyar left the cab and climbed on its roof, as I put the train in motion again.

We spotted signs of a fight before we found any more fare fragments. Dunes were disturbed and leveled out, as if something very large had run over them.

I don’t like this. Could this be a centipede?

There was no person in sight, but after exploring the battle area, we found a set of foot tracks.

We walked for about half an hour. Then, realising that the footracks continued for much longer, I re-summoned my train. We rode slowly to the spot of a second battlefield. Here too, dunes had been flattened and partially overturned.

Among the sand, several long insect legs stuck out at varying angles.

“The centipedes.”

“A mille-pattes.”

Danyar and I exchanged a look. He didn’t say anything, but it seemed he had some thoughts on my not naming the creatures correctly.

We rode further. Following the footprints was getting harder and harder as the sun was starting to set.

Suddenly, something hit the locomotive from the front.

It happened so fast I didn’t fully register it, but I heard Danayr swear somewhere to the left as he landed heavily in the sand. I jumped outside, gauntlets on, as I braced myself for a centipede coming at us from any direction.

“Oh no, oh no, are you okay? I’m so sorry!” A voice came from ahead of the train instead.

A torch was lit about twenty meters ahead. A girl with dark red hair was sitting in a tent, waving at us with her free hand. The tent was sand-coloured and partially buried in the side of a dune.

“Are you alright? I thought you were a mille pattes!” The girl called out again.

Danyar limped to my side.

“Looks like we found her.”

“You can come out, a woman from the nearby town sent us to get you!” I yelled back to her.

“No, I can’t, wait …” She dove back into the tent.

I handed Danyar a health potion, and he waved it off before limping towards the tent. At least, it seemed he hadn’t gotten hurt too badly.

“Wait, just a minute,” the girl said as she heard us approach.

The entrance to the tent was less than a meter tall, and when we knelt down, we saw a circular space, two or so meters wide, inside. It was very messy for a space that was supposedly only erected a few hours to a day ago, with clothes, a sleeping bag, and notes scattered around.

“I just need to gather my things, I’ll come in just a minute,” The girl said as she crawled on all fours, more so moving the mess from one corner to the next rather than gathering it.

“What happened to your leg?” Danyar asked.

He bent down and made an attempt to get into the tent before realising that he would more likely than not take up all the remaining space in it.

“Oh, it will heal, no big deal,” The girl spun around to finally face us.

She had bright blue eyes and thick, wavy red hair tied up in two messy buns. An old burn scar textured over her right cheek. She was wearing a thick tunic with ornate ribbon embroidery on the sleeves and a long skirt made from a similar thick material. The outer layer of the skirt had been partially torn, though, to hold down two trolled-up stacks of paper around her right leg.

“This won’t heal, though, a cocatrix got me when I was 5,” She grinned, gesturing at her cheek. “You two should come in; the mille-pattes is still out there. We can leave in the morning. Oh, have you seen this man by any chance?” She pulled out a sketch from inside her sleeve and handed it to me.

“Have this,” I gave her a healing potion.

She looked at the vial, then at Danyar, then back at me.

“Are you sure? I have no money, and I don’t do ‘I owe you’s.”

“Just have it,” I nodded. I was in no short supply of those. “What’s your name? Oh, and what did you do to my train?”

The girl downed the potion. She sat still for a second before breathing out a sigh of relief. Although she hadn’t been showing it, the pain in her leg must have been quite bad.

“I’m Giselle,” She extended a hand. “Of the Aller family, this,” she tapped the sketch she’d just given me, “Is my brother. I’m looking for him, you see.”

I finally looked at the picture. With only grey lines, it was hard to tell if I’d seen anyone similar. I didn’t think I had, not in this world at least.

I handed the picture to Danyar, who studied it before shaking his head and handing it back to Giselle.

“About your... train? Sorry if I broke something, I will pay for it once I get to Erfurt.” She returned to moving her things around at the back of the tent, this time with more vigour. “I have shares in the bank there.”

“No, it’s alright, my train is fine,” I crawled in, deciding that we’d be much better off if we weren’t waiting at the bottom of a dune at night. I picked up a stack of clothes and folded them into a neat pile. “What I meant by that question is: what kind of attack did you use?”

“Oh,” Giselled paused mid-movement. She turned towards me and grinned proudly. “Was it not obvious? I’m a little glad.” She moved several bangs from her chest to over her shoulder to reveal an enamelled silver and blue badge vaguely resembling a bird taking flight. “I am a wind mage. Oh, wait,” She started undoing the ribbon that served as a cuff for her shirt.

“I believe you, I do,” I tried to stop her. Danyar rubbed the bridge of his nose, still stranded at the entrance of the tent. “We really should get going soon, though, it’s getting dark and -”

As if answering a call, the ground under us rumbled.

“The mille-pattes-”

“The centipede!”

Both of us rushed outside, and Danyar was already halfway to the train, where he’d left his weapon.

The giant insect burst through the dune opposite us and rammed into the train, overturning it.

“They always go for the train …” I muttered.

“Stay behind me!” Giselle was already running towards Danyar, who’d taken out his dagger, ready to defend her.

The centipede rammed into the train again, arching its body to the side, before hitting the train one more time. Then, it rushed towards the duo.

I ran faster than I thought myself capable of running.

I leapt up, landing on the side of the locomotive. An almost tangible gust of wind rushed past me, hitting the centipede head-on and pushing it backwards.

I didn’t look back, but I could figure from the shouts that Danayr had picked Giselle up and was running backwards.

I took a second to gather my thoughts, clenching and unclenching my gauntlets, before leaping onto the carapace of the centipede who’d already resumed monument.

I grabbed the edge of one of the scales and just like last time, punched through.

“What-”

Flames formed around my fist and flickered around the edges of the gaping hole the hit left behind.

The centipede twitched and rolled to its side, still somehow alive. I jumped off just in time to avoid getting squashed.

<Creature slain: damoiseau mille-pattes.>

<EXP +3000.>

<Share EXP?>

Danyar finished it off. He emerged from inside its mouth just as I reached the front of the animal.

“That can’t be a viable strategy. You’ve done it twice now.” I smirked, rather impressed with that feat.

He raised an eyebrow before recognition flashed over his face as he remembered what other time I was referring to.

“Two times that you know about,” he smirked.

“Whoa, you guys killed it, just like that?” Giselled ran up to us again. “You are amazing,” She tried to reach for my hands to shake them, but didn’t quite finish the motion when she realised I was still wearing my heavy and rather pointy gauntlets.

She turned towards Danyar, whose hands were covered in dark centipede blood. She awkwardly clenched and unclenched her fist instead, before clicking her fingers.

“Should we -”

I unsummoned and re-summoned my train, this time in the right orientation.

“We can reach that town where you left your things in an hour, if you’d like to,” I gestured to the locomotive.

“Wait, you’re a mage too? That thing can move?” Giselled raised her torch forth, trying to see as much detail as she could in the dim light.

I nodded.

“That sounds amazing! I’ll go grab my things, thank you so much, you guys, for finding me and fighting that thing,” She yelled as she was already halfway to her tent. “What are your names?” She yelled from inside.