Wild Wastes 5 -Ch9- (Patreon)

“Maybe… we shouldn’t be going in there,” Vince muttered under his breath as they looked out onto the village. They were holed up in a small number of trees and bushes off to one side.

More than likely near where citizens threw out their chamber pots given the smell of the area.

“Definitely feels like there’s way more going on than we thought,” agreed Leila. “Petra told you that everyone was moving south that could be, to be ready for Yosemite, right?”

“Yeah. She did,” agreed Sam with a small shake of her head. “This is ah… not what I think she meant, though.”

The issue with the location they’d decided to look into had nothing to do with what they saw.

But everything to do with what they didn’t see once they’d laid eyes on it.

There was no-one as far as the eye could see.

Nor was there any sound coming from the buildings or surrounding areas.

Everything looked still and completely calm. As if the inhabitants had been taken away all at the same time and without any warning.

“Red can’t imagine they all left to go… fight us,” Red stated with a shake of her head. “This is something else. Something else wrong. A plague, maybe? Sickness?”

Zathira looked thoughtful at that.

“I’ll go take a look. I’m a Necromancer. Only beheading me or pulling my heart out can kill me,” stated the Lamia before moving forward out of their hiding spot. She calmly slithered through the grass to the number of buildings all clumped together.

Sighing, Vince got up and then followed along behind her.

Everyone in his party likely wouldn’t be affected by a plague.

They were all rather abnormal when compared to the normal flavor of mortal that lived around these parts. Extreme magic or violence would be the only possibility in many ways.

A moment after he’d exited their hiding spot, he heard everyone else follow along as well.

“Is this maybe why the checkpoints were empty?” Sam asked, flying away from Vince to land on Zathira’s coils. She was riding the Lamia backward, looking to everyone else. “Whatever happened here, happened there as well? It’s a possibility, right?”

“I mean, yeah, it is,” agreed Vince, noticing an overturned bucket as he passed by a wooden fence. Everything he could see made this look like a very quiet village filled with people who likely worked in Paris. Shopkeep assistants or middle class jobs that’d let them own a home of their own.

Leaning over he peered into the bucket to see that there was curdled milk in it. There looked to also be some points where it’d dried into a solid and the whole thing smelled of spoiled milk.

Okay… so… on the run. Not too long ago, but also not too recent.

Maybe… maybe in line with… what we did to the Tribunal? Is that it?

Just after that?

Letting his mind chew at those thoughts he wandered further into the community. There were no signs of distress, no violence, nor that anyone even knew something was about to happen.

Doors were closed, windows open as if to let in a breeze, fences closed and shut.

There were a number of small things in between on the road that connected many of the buildings as well. Toys, packages, purses, and bags. Left where they fell.

“Red doesn’t think this was… a fight. This is more like a hunt that happened. Caught them while they drank,” articulated Red with a click of her tongue. “All of them. At the same time.

“Some tracks. Here. There. They just stop in place and go no further.”

“There’s no signs of death. No lingering life energy you get with a death,” Zathira remarked as she moved from home to home. She never went inside, but instead went up to the door of each. Pausing there she waited for a few moments before moving on. Only to eventually move to the center point of the street where Vince stood. “There was nothing that occurred here recently to take the lives of everyone. I can’t detect anything that’d make me think anyone died here.”

“There’s signs of magic, though,” Leila whispered. She was hunched over with her face near the ground. To the point that the tip of her nose was in the grass in a nearby lawn. “Heavy magic. It feels similar to what chased us off but… not quite. In a similar vein?”

“It’d explain some things. You said one of them was being chased by Nullifiers. We know they’re big in Francia,” Sam said, holding her hands up in front of herself. “Maybe that’s why they’re big? Those whatever clouds like to take people away for… something?”

“Hm. That’s… hm. It’s possible that’s it,” Leila murmured and stood up, slowly walking around the road and an odd path. “Especially if they were set back considerably from the attack on the Tribunal. There were only so many in Spain that were trained or on loan from Francia. Likely due to a lack of numbers.”

“I’d like to see if we can’t run down a Nullifier, kill them, let Vince eat their heart with Red, then ask their soul some pointed questions,” Zathira summarized, one arm folded across her center with the elbow of her other hand resting against her wrist. “Then we’d all get something we wanted out of it.”

“Red wants to be fed again,” threw out the feral and beautiful monster, trying a doorhandle. “Sam should cook Red another meal. It was delicious last time.”

Drawing back she used her claws and carved the doorknob from the wood, then pushed the door open as the lock clattered apart. Entering the home she said no more.

“I mean, I wouldn’t mind,” Sam admitted with a shrug of her shoulders. “It was rather enjoyable for me. Especially since I don’t have to wander about with a bunch of spunk dripping down my thighs.

“If anything I’d prefer you not dirty me up in there. I’m not even sure what’d happen, actually. I think I have working parts.”

Sam had looked down at her stomach and put her hands atop it.

Fae shouldn’t even have a sex drive, let alone kids.

Very uncharted territory.

“Let’s get supplies while we’re here. They won’t be able to prove anything is missing since the people themselves are,” offered Vince, moving to the nearest house.

Trying the door he found it opened easily.

It hadn’t been locked.

Stepping through the threshold Vince let his eyes move around the interior of the room. It was a study without anything that’d interest him.

He wasn’t here to rob the owners of their prized possessions

Realistically, Vince just wanted food, potable water, and any loose coin that he could find.

Moving from the study he went straight into what was a kitchen. Rumaging around in it he came up with a number of things he could put in a bag and not worry about them expiring.

From several bags of beans, ground flour, and even some potatoes. All of that went into his own bag and would be needed. Their supplies were incredibly low considering that they’d only been able to go with whatever they found while moving.

Which really came down to whatever Red brought back for them so far.

Grabbing utensils and a long wooden laddle Vince pushed them into his bag as well.

Glancing into it he found he had only a small amount of room left to store anything else, but he also didn’t really care. Everything he’d just added were things they really did need.

Moving around the kitchen he checked the doors and corners. Looking for a pantry or something that’d lead into the cellar. Anywhere that they could have put extra supplies that Vince could help himself to.

“Someone’s coming!” Leila called out.

Clicking his tongue, Vince abandoned his search and left the house. He made sure to pull the door shut behind himself on exiting.

Moving to the street he walked up to Leila who was next to Zathira now.

The two of them had likely been discussing the situation and what they felt was going on.

They tended to get deep into magical talk if there wasn’t anything else to do. They didn’t seem to be the type to stand around, let their thoughts roll around, and stare into nothing.

You’re just a little weird, Vince. That’s all.

Nothing out of the ordinary there.

Taking a spot near the other two, Vince followed Leila’s line of sight.

She’d put her hands behind her back and was looking down the road. Toward what he assumed was the normal entry point for the village that led back to the path toward Paris.

“I can feel the residual traces of magic on them. Nothing good, though,” Leila murmured. “Almost like he’s been cursed, had spells thrown at him that left a mark, or he’s wandered through a magical warzone. Not sure but… any of those would fit with what I’m getting from them.”

“Agreed,” Zathira whispered with a small nod of her head. “Many curses it feels like. As well as a great deal of… of… what feels like he’s been stripped of color. It’s very strange.”

Vince took that as a sign to look the part of a human man-servant. Here to assist with a Necromancer and a Warlock in whatever it is they were doing.

Because this felt an awful like a servant of a Nullifier, or someone who had faced the “war front” in the east with Prussany. Either of which was far more dangerous than a casual citizen of Francia.

Far more dangerous and more likely to realize how out of place Vince and company were here.

Sam got off of Zathira, fluttered in place for a moment, then zipped off into the home Red had gone into and shut the door closed. Getting out of sight and out of view.

A man on a horse came into view just under a minute later. He was dressed in modest clothing that was made for travel. He wasn’t inordinately garbed, his saddle looked well broken in and used, and his boots had the look of long use and maintenance.

This wasn’t a fop or a box-checker sent out for no reason.

From what Vince could tell, this was someone who spent time on the road, understood it, and had grown to live in it. While Vince really didn’t like not wearing his side-arm, or his armor, he was glad in this moment that it was all packed away in the backpack.

There was no way this man wouldn’t mark the armor as anything other than being extremely out of place.

“Ho there,” the man said, coming to a full stop a good twenty-feet out. From here Vince could see the man had blue eyes and brown hair while also somewhere in his late twenties. “What’re you about?”

“Investigating,” Leila answered with a nod of her head. “We were passing through and found the place… deserted.”

“No sign of anything. As if they were simply pulled into the sky,” Zathira added.

On the face of the man was a lack of surprise, interest, or even concern. What was stated was within expectation for him.

Which meant this situation wasn’t unique or a stand-alone situation.

“This isn’t a fraudulent event either. There’s no signs of death, combat, or violence,” Leila continued with a sigh. She’d clearly also come to the same thought that Vince had. “It’s just like the rest. I’d rather it’d been a fake, honestly.”

Staring at them for a few more seconds the man then let out a long sigh with a shake of his head.

“Blessings to the Null One and his hands,” remarked the man and then made an odd sign with his hand. As if he were sweeping things away from himself. “I didn’t quite believe the reports that there’d been so many sightings but it was true. All of it.”

“Several empty checkpoints along the rout to Paris, as well,” Zathira added with a shake of her head. “We weren’t sure if they were deployed elsewhere or… well…”

Having let it hang opened it up to a question the man would hopefully answer.

“Ahhh… well… you didn’t hear it from my, dear ladies,” the man said with a wide smile, looking from Leila to Zathira and back. “But I wouldn’t worry about anything like that. There’s a great number of the blessed coming up from the border in the south.

“They were dispatched to deal with that city of heathens but they’re being pulled back to help with this situation. No one thought that the slothlike slumbering bastard would send out his minions but now that it’s obivous he is, they’re pulling back some.

“That and I hear everything in the south is far overblown. The Great Nullified were just looking to crush the nobles south of the Portal-Storm. Now we’ve been properly chastised for losing our way and they’re coming back north.”

In other words… lots of Nullifier’s heading this way.

We’ll need to get out of their way. Make sure we’re not anywhere near where they’ll be.

While I’m sure we can pull off a reasonable guise for soldiers and the like, I’m not sure we can do that with a Nullifier. Fairly certain I’d come up as something all together different for them now.

Felt like they could sense what people were just by being in their proximity.

“They’ll be crossing over the Portal-Storm tomorrow, last I heard,” promised the man, once again looking between the two women. Apparently here in Francia, non-human races were certainly treated with dignity. Or so Vince assumed given he was looking at them in a very sexually interested way. “Now… I’m going to go do a quick count of homes and make sure we really did lose everyone here. Then I’ll be heading north to check another town. I’ll likely set up camp around there.

“You’re… welcome to join me there. If you happened to be in that vicinity.”

“I have no idea where we’ll be, but if we’re up that way… we could… drop in,” Leila confided then gave the man a smile. “We wouldn’t be intruding?”

“Not at all. Not at all! Now… I’ll be heading along,” said the man who bent somewhat in his saddle toward Leila and Zathira. Then he set off quickly.

As the man passed by Vince he wanted only to glean a few things from the man’s thoughts.

Really only one thing, to be precise.

What was the Portal-Storm, where was it, and could they use it to cross into the south, in the way that the Nullifier’s could move to the north.

What Vince got back out of the man’s memories, was beyond imagination.

***

“How is this… even possible?” Sam murmured, staring out at the massive gash in the world.

It ran further than Vince could see in either direction. Simply going beyond his ability to see into the distance to the east or west.

“How do they even cross it?” Leila asked instead. “It’d have to be done with some sort of magic, wouldn’t it? It’s too wide otherwise and… let’s not even discuss how deep it is.”

“I… how… what… what the hell is this exactly?” demanded Sam, throwing a hand out at the massive and deep canyon before them.

This wasn’t something one could just cross without time and resources. There was no way to get anything set up with what they had on them, nor was there any possibility of them getting resources from the area.

This was once again, a flat plain with not much more than a few lone trees dotted about.

Even if we had someone on the other side and we could get a rope to them, it’d still take time to get things anchored and moving. Not impossible but… clearly there’s something else going on here.

Otherwise there’d be a number of crossings without much of a concern.

Looking down to the left, then the right, Vince didn’t see anything that’d give him a pause for concern. It was eerily quiet, in fact.

To the point that if anything that was the reason he was nervous.

Because as they’d approached it there’d been a crackling noise that sounded off repeatedly. Loud enough that it rivaled thunder storms and cannons going off.

Echoing back and forth across the area as if it were moving.

Only for the whole thing to go silent five minutes or so and remain absolutely quiet.

“Red doesn’t understand why people aren’t trying to get across. It isn’t that wide,” complained Red. “Red has seen bridges that went further. Even old bridges.”

There was a sudden and immediate boom followed by a series of crackling noises as purple, pink, blue, and red ovals appeared in the canyon. They exploded and crackled as they opened, shut, opened again, overlapped one another, and randomly appeared.

A great deal of material was being flung from portal to portal as it went. Being shot one way, only to vanish, then be blasted out in another.

Only for a mass of whatever it was to be ejected down into the canyon below.

Except clearly the portals must have gone down deep into the canyon as there was always more material appearing. As portals tore each other apart they remained.

After what was likely a whole minute they simply went away.

Vince could distantly hear what sounded like the portals tearing across the great canyon they stood before, though much more to the east.

As suddenly as it came, it was now crackling and booming to the west.

A sudden silence fell over everything and left Vince standing there in awe.

“Well, I can see why people don’t try to build anything to get across that. Even with it only being fifty feet from here to the other side, that’s a death sentence,” Vince said flatly. “What about magic? Wanna try to float a disc over? You have a means of getting us quickly over so… I don’t see a reason we don’t at least test it? Give it a shot?”

Leila made a small shrug of her shoulders and then made a gesture with her hands.

“Like you said, no reason not to. I can feel those magic clouds in the distance… but we can risk a disc for a quick test,” admitted Leila as a disc appeared from nowhere and started to move over the canyon. Even as it picked up speed Vince had an odd feeling. As if something was looking his way and focusing on him.

Several portals formed in mid-air to intersect the disc. Ripping it apart and detonating faster and faster until the magical construct was turned to nothing at all.

Portals continued to open and close on top of where the disc had been for a short while. Only to slowly fade away with a lessening amount of portals.

“I uh… I bet I know how the Nullifier’s can cross,” offered Sam. “Negate the magic and void the space, while having magic cast elsewhere. Like… baiting an animal.”

“I get the feeling it continues much further up then we think as well,” Leila muttered, looking up into the sky. “Trying to fly over it would only risk it reaching up to get us. That or calling over one of those clouds. They seem very attuned to magic. They were moving this way till the Portal-storm went off. Then they turned around.”

“Red agrees with Leila,” mumbled Red with a nod of her head. “That means this isn’t passable for us. We should move on. East or west?”

“Yeah. Can’t get across here,” Vince concurred. “From what I got from the memories of that man, this goes all the way to the east and into Prussany. A considerable distance to be sure just for that length alone.

“Incredibly though. It also moves a great way into the west. Continuing on for a great ways though not all the way to the sea. There’s a number of defensive lines and the like at that point to separate Francia north and south. Tariffs and taxes and what not. Elysia would love to go through that I bet just to see how her own tax system compares.”

“So… to the west we go,” Zathira murmured and looked that way. “I’d very much like to be done with this place.”

“West,” agreed Vince. “Hopefully to somewhere we can make a cross down to the south. I’m tired of this place and that we can’t just go on a shooting spree.

“Though it’s been rather interesting to wander across a land that isn’t very wild or full of wastes. This feel like what people wrote about before everything that happened.”

“Not so wild wastes,” Leila murmured as they all turned to begin walking along the very obvious and well trod path that ran along the portal storm.

I wonder if they tax it.

Or if there’s an inn along it.

I’d put up an in.

Call it Inn-to-the-Portal.

It’s so lame of a name, it’d work perfectly.