Nostrum: Tales of Valor

Book Three: Moon Children

Flames burst from the nozzle of a thrower, scorching the land underfoot. With each pass it makes, sprouts of Dabria wither away with cries that almost go unheard beneath the sound of the fuel that burns them. As the stream of fire passes, another is ignited. Then another, and another. Footmen walk along Maciofim's outskirts as they incinerate all that they can, but the efforts remain futile. No matter the work they get done on this night, the next will be more of the same. Within the city, tired eyes and hushed whispers fill the streets as homes remain in disrepair and food becomes more scarce with every passing moment. However, faith serves as a guide and The Bethel's lower floors remain full of life. With the rebels and Craws all but forgotten, peace- though felt only in spurts- befalls the hallowed walls.

Beyond the brick and mortar, cast aside by the city, a small fire burns bright. Its flames lick at poisonous air and whisk away what infection approaches, but it does nothing of the sort for those around it. Four disheveled faces watch its fanning, red-hot blades cut through the darkness of night. Each wishing that things could be different. Knowing that- if not for their choices- things likely would be different. They sit in silence for most of their time, not knowing what to say, nor when to say it. Still, something must be said, and something grand must be done.

"D-do you think... that all of this is truly... our doing?" Marne questions to any who will answer, but an answer never comes.

"I think that we are greatly in over our heads. That we should have turned back long ago." Lee chugs at a flask full of water, wishing it to be something other.

"What we did is what we had to do." Hael spits, rubbing at her shoulders and looking off towards their parked wagon.

"How will we get anywhere without a horse?" Yuler asks, being reminded that their only means of travel has succumbed to the spreading ilk, and now lies limp at the head of the wagon.

"The old-fashioned way." Suggests Marne. "We walk."

"To where?"

"Home." Says Lee.

"The source." Hael mutters.

"Anywhere but here." Marne recommends.

The unison of their voices leaves Yuler feeling even more hopeless than she has already been, but she does nothing more than shake her head and cross her arms.

"You wish to continue with this death sentence?" Lee snaps, now shooting daggers in Hael's direction.

"What else is there for us to do? We can't go home- as you so wish- when our home has or will surely fall to Dabria. There is nothing more or less that we can do."

"I must agree with Hael on this." Comes Marne's defeated tone of voice. "We truly cannot return home when we can't even be sure if we are at fault, and we can't simply wander about when there are so many places that no longer welcome us."

"Maciofim is foolish for blaming us!" Insists Lee with gritted teeth. "We overturned that rebellion. Without us the city would have fallen into your father's hands like milk in a rancher's!"

"Lee, we must do something." Hael insists with pity in her voice. "Look around us." She motions with her arms as she speaks, showing the walls of a cave surrounding them. "This is the only place we have found refuge and the only place we can be sure we are welcome."

"We're only welcome here because we've purged it of the beasts that once roamed it."

"Precisely!" She shouts, now feeling validated. "It is what we do. What we always have. We can't allow our home to fall to the very thing we have sworn for so long to rid this world of!"

Lee falls silent for a moment, allowing his jaw to slide from side to side as he thinks over her words and the others sit in silence.

"Damnit!" He shouts back, throwing his flask across the cave and out through the opening leading to their wagon.

"We have to try." She continues to insist.

"What is it we must do then? Hm?" He questions, angrily awaiting another set of orders to blindly follow.

"We have to reach the Decwicks." Suggests Yuler, who now stands to her feet and faces the innards of the caves, away from the others. "Their land is where Dabria touched down, so we must be sure that they are alright and figure out how to-"

"How to what? Smother Impar's light?"

"If that's what it takes." Yuler turns back and glares at Lee, now becoming frustrated with his attitude.

"Yuler is right." Marne states, standing upright and taking her side. "The Decwicks could be in danger... if they're even still alive. We may not have left on a good note-"

"As we seem to now have a trend of doing." Interjects Lee once again.

"The past matters not when the future is what we seek to preserve." Marne exclaims, huffing as he does so. "They are people too and we must assure ourselves of their safety, or discover their demise. Either way, we have to travel towards the source if we intend to get answers."

"I agree." Hael now stands too, allowing her arms to fall to her sides as she does so. "After all, the Decwicks seemed to have a great interest in Impar, if I do remember correctly. So, perhaps they have some idea what all this is."

"If we're truly lucky, they may even have answers on how to stop it. Revert things back to the way they were." Offers Marne.

"Even if that means those lousy beasts still roam." Lee mutters, spitting at the ground as he joins the others. "I'll assist in this one last quest. If and when we find the answers that we seek, and if we manage to restore the entire world- as impossible as that sounds- I am returning to the cottage. With or without the lot of you."

The others do not speak on this. Only Hael offers any sort of response, but lets it be nothing more than a subtle nod as she turns towards the cave mouth.

As the party travels outdoors, each of them- excluding Hael- raises their mask, ensuring that they fully cover their mouths and nostrils in the process. Once they are comfortable with how their coverings are fitted, they march out to the wagon and begin collecting their weapons and garbs.

"How will we reach the Decwicks without alerting the city of our presence?" Marne wonders as he fastens his sword to his side and slips a belt over his left shoulder. "Surely they will know we are near."

"Not if we keep a low profile." Exclaims Hael. "I'll be able to sniff them out like the rats that they are, so if any approach, I will alert the rest of you and we will extinguish torches and tuck away."

"What of the scorched lands and the footmen? Won't we stand out? There isn't much foliage left in those parts to 'tuck away' into."

"Never mind the footmen. As I said, I will smell them long before you see them. As for the scorched lands, we will simply pass through as swiftly as we can, and if we are spotted or fear that we may be, we will bury ourselves in the ash."

"Do you think it's possible that the Decwicks are still alive?" Yuler now questions, pulling her tricorn over her head. "If the city is suffering so badly with what Dabria has already spread to it, is it even possible that they could survive out there?"

"I truly do not know." Hael offers with a shrug. "What I do know though, is that we'll never find out if we don't go instead of standing around here asking questions. Come, we must be on our way."

As the party sets off, leaving behind their wagon and what foods and other goods still remain in it, they are almost immediately greeted by small glowing particles littering the air around them. As the particles grow nearer, they each light a torch and raise them above their heads. As they do so, the particles let out small squeals, now louder than the flapping of a bee's wings, and begin dispersing. Never getting within the glow of the torchlight. The strange particles act with intelligence in the way that they move, preserving their own existence over blinding traveling into the flames.

"Curious, aren't they?" Asks Yuler, directing her question at Marne.

"What, the seeds?"

"Mhm."

"Well of course, but... not in a way that I would consider to be good."

"No, not good, but there is a beauty to them."

Marne watches the particles for a few moments, acknowledging how much they look like a flowing starry night with their strange red glows.

"I suppose so, but that is simply what they want from you. Dabria seems to love toying with the minds of mankind."

"I don't feel that it's toying with us at all."

"What do you mean?" Marne furrows his brow as he asks this, now looking in Yuler's direction, who continues to examine the floating lights as they walk.

"I believe that Dabria believes that it truly is doing the right thing. That without its presence, all things would remain impure and that there is nothing we could do to fix it. A being that is unerring, is what it thinks itself to be."

"Do you think that to be true?"

Yuler looks to Marne and smiles, which he can see as her cheeks press against the sides of her mask.

"Of course not. Being infected is one thing, but it would take a true maniac to believe such a thing."

"Good. Just being sure that you haven't breathed in too much of it recently."

Yuler laughs quietly as she looks to her feet, ensuring that she doesn't trip over anything.

"No... no, but don't you find it strange that we haven't shown any signs of infection, given how much of Dabria we took in before Hael destroyed it?"

"Well... I believe that the source was cut off, and with that, so was the infection."

"Would that have not cleansed all who were infected by Dabria then?"

Marne doesn't answer, finding himself to be stuck with a theory that no longer makes sense, even to him.

"Never mind it." Yuler says, stepping over a torched log. "We're too close to the city now to be distracting ourselves.

"I couldn't agree more." Comes the voice of Hael, who has begun crouching as they enter a clearing. "Everyone stay close. We're crossing into the scorched lands now and we mustn't get too far from one another." Hael looks off into the distance, acknowledging that- at least for now- they are alone. "Follow." She plain states before walking off in a hasty manner.

"Ye heard her. Come!" Lee demands in a hushed tone before following Hael out into the open.

Marne shrugs and sighs before doing that same.

"It never changes with these two."

As the party travels across mounds of ash, they keep certain that they do not tread over what sprouts survived the most recent purge of flames. Not wanting to get any stuck to the bottoms of their shoes and not wanting to dislodge any seeds that could add to those already floating about. Once they have found themselves to be back into the thicket, they allow their torches to hover overhead once more and seek a route towards the Decwicks that will allow them to avoid the city.

"Perhaps we could have taken the dungeons instead." Marne offers, many miles too late. "I'm sure they drain out somewhere. The Decwicks surely have a draining system, don't they?"

"None of that matters now." Snaps Lee, who shakes his head and looks back at Marne and Yuler. "Just stay close and keep an ear out. You never know what could be lingering about in these parts."

"You never know what could be lingering anywhere in this world." He mutters back, only being audible to Yuler over the crackling of their torches, and Hael, who remains at the front.

"Quiet, we're here." Hael whispers back to the rest of the party as she comes face to face with a large stone wall.

"Where exactly is here?" Asks Yuler.

"This is the rear side of the walls that they used to trap in those creatures, remember? All we have to do now is follow it around to the front."

"Which way should we follow though?" Yuler continues to question. "If we go left we will approach the front of the house, which could lead us to guards or others from the city seeking answers."

"Then we go right and approach from the back of the house. If the Decwicks are still in, I'm sure they will notice us."

"I'm sure they haven't forgotten us." Lee shakes his head and mutters under his breath. "Can't believe he let his father's legacy come to this. A coward who wishes for beasts to be left alone."

"No time to reminisce," Hael states, "come now. We must be on our way."