Wild Wastes 5 -CH10- (Patreon)

“That-what’s going on?” asked Leila, looking back the way they’d come.

Distantly the sound of the Portal-storm was growing louder.

Raising in intensity and volume in a way that was far outside what they’d been hearing over the last several hours. There was even an echo and rumble to the sound that felt odd.

“They’re crossing, aren’t they?” Leila asked to herself. “That’s what that is. They’re getting the portals to act up elsewhere so that they can cross. They’re doing it earlier than that man suggested.”

Without waiting for anyone to respond, Leila called up another Disc. She sent it straight away across the canyon.

This time, Vince didn’t feel a hair-raising response over his body.

There was no response at all, in fact.

The disc leisurely sailed across the other side and made it without a fuss.

Leila dismissed it, called three more into life, then stepped onto one.

“Quick. Quickly now. Everyone on,” demanded Leila jumping onto a disc and pulling at Red’s hand.

The Undead got on with her as Sam took to the air and sped off to the other side.

Vince got on the disc that’d been called forth for him as Zathira did the same.

All three discs started to cross to the other side of the Portal-storm canyon. Vince could feel something strange come over him as they moved across.

It wasn’t as strong or as focused as it had been previously, however.

“I-I can’t get us there,” hissed Leila as all three discs kept moving. Two of them started to sink downward before they’d even made it halfway. “Its draining me for some reason. There’s more here than just the portals. Damnit!”

Glancing to the canyon below Vince felt reasonably sure he’d survive the fall. Especially if he could get to the wall and use it to slow the descent.

Leila, Red, and Zathira wouldn’t be able to take such a drop.

My luck in the air doesn’t seem to be doing as well lately.

Red grabbed Leila around the waist, got down low, then leapt toward the far side of the canyon. Her body elongated as she did it, her right arm and legs pushed out and practically putting her in a line like shape.

Slamming into the edge Red dug her clawed hand into the earth as her unbooted feet slammed home into the cliff-side. Almost without effort she tossed Leila up and over to safety.

The disc Leila and Red had been on winked out of existence even as the Gnome was pulled clear of it. The one Vince was on suddenly felt a lot more stable.

It was moving faster, too.

Getting to her knees, Leila held her hands out in front of herself. There was a pink glow that surrounded her and was crackling between her upturned hands.

“Damnit, they’re here,” growled Zathira who was now on Vince’s left.

Turning his head, Vince looked and of course saw nothing. Which meant the clouds of malevolence that’d caused this whole issue were coming this way.

Likely drawn here from Leila’s magic he imagined.

“Think you can steal this disc and use it for yourself?” Vince asked, looking to Zathira.

“What? I… yes, I suppose I could. She uses simple magical— ”

“Great,” Vince said and stepped off his own disc and onto Zathira’s. He ended up stepping into her coils and was now up against her front. “Then take control of this one and get us moving. Fast. Because as soon as those clouds of whatever get near the portals, they’re going to go nuts, aren’t they?”

Zathira looked at him with shock and then nodded her head quickly. Her eyes became a dark abyssal black and the disc did as well. They jerked to the side for a second, then began moving with speed toward the other side.

Leila was still channeling what she could into the disc as well from what Vince could discern. Or so he believed given her hands were still a bright glowing neon pink with tiny flames erupting from her fingers.

Looking past Zathira’s shoulder he still couldn’t see anything, but he knew it was there. There was no mistaking it’s presence now.

Given that the Portal-storm had grown somewhat quiet and that he could feel the attention of whatever was here, rising by the milisecond. They were lucky to have gotten the break that they did, but they needed to finish the crossing immediately.

A portal opened not far away but it was quite small.

Little more than a hoola-hoop in size. Opening out into what looked a lot like another world entirely. Vince wasn’t quite sure where it went but it looked rather nice on the other side.

In fact it looked a lot like a rather tranquil and lovely looking meadow, of all things.

It closed in on itself after being open for a few seconds. Zathira and Vince made it to the other side and landed on the ground. The disc melted away into nothing but black ooze that then seeped into the bare earth.

“Whew,” Leila said and then looked to the two of them. “That felt… close.”

“It did indeed feel that way. Though it’s going to get worse if that evil cloud decides it wants to try and cross,” Zathira warned, looking back the way they’d come. As if she could see it hovering on the other side. Vince of course, saw nothing. “I wonder why the portals started coming back this way though. Was the crossing done that fast?”

“Possibly. It’s a little odd but—”

Leila’s words were simply cut off as a giant red portal expanded out across the way and took a massive gouge out of the earth on the other side. As if it were reaching out to catch the cloud Zathira had just mentioned.

The other side of it snatched out a massive boulder that’d been between Vince and Leila, taking everything with it.

“Get back,” Vince warned and hustled out of the way with Zathira next to him. Sam looked up from where she was encouraging Red to get back up after clawing her way over the edge.

Sam, Red, and Leila got a move on, quickly distancing themselves from the edge.

Everyone getting much further away and beyond the reach of the newest portal.

A purple portal yawned open rapidly and swung in an odd way. Lashing out to a similar area to the first but a bit more off this time. More than likely going after another magical cloud.

This one tore through the earth with ease.

As well as swallowed up Sam, Leila, and Red, the three of them passing through it and onto the other side as the magical gateway wobbled wildly around.

Vince had seen it all happen and had nothing he could do for the situation. There wasn’t a single action available to him.

They were there one moment, then gone the next.

Then the Portal-storm really went wild and started exploding in every direction. Tearing open new gaps and fissures in the earth as they shot about in all directions instead of the previous ones.

They multiplied, spread, and moved throughout the canyon. Opening, closing, destroying each other, as more and more of them grew.

In only a minute time, even as he continued to run away, Vince saw the canyon was now filled with portals. The explosive and nerve-wracking noise growing constantly in volume.

Zathira and Vince ran on.

He didn’t miss the look of horror and anger on her face. As if the normally quiet and cool Lamia couldn’t control herself at the sudden and abrupt loss.

Vince had done his best to freeze his heart over as soon as it happened. To lock his grief into place in a sea of ice and work at it another time.

Right now, he had a mission he needed to complete. Even if half of his companions were lost.

He needed to get back to Petra and continue in this journey.

Though… it’s not like they’re dead.

Clearly the other side of these portals are able to lead somewhere that’s inhabitable. It’s quite likely that they’re somewhere here on this planet, too.

Not to mention, Leila is a master when it comes to magic.

She can probably figure out how to open a portal herself.

If that doesn’t work, I can get the Whites and Felicia to build a portal. Likely as well as a device to figure out where Leila went.

No, this… no. This isn’t an issue.

A momentary setback that’ll be problematic for them and me, but not a loss.

South we go.

Just… just as they’re trying to get back to me.

***

“Bordeaux,” Vince muttered as they walked past the sign.

“It’s not ideal but-but it’s better than what looks to be rough terrain,” offered Zathira, her head turning to look to the east.

Vince had decided long before they’d started moving south that he didn’t want to go that way. The terrain didn’t look just rough to him, but cold. Cold, rough, and likely filled with Waste creatures that weren’t civil or hospitable. The type of monsters that would rather eat you than talk to you.

“I… I know that there’s always the possibility of losing people, but it was so sudden,” mumbled Zathira as they moved on. “They didn’t die… I didn’t feel any violence or harm in what happened but… but it almost feels worse than that. We don’t even know what happened to them at all.

“They.. They just… just… they weren’t there. Just… nothing.”

I’m betting… death is easier for her than dismemberment or someone going missing.

The unknown for her, isn’t death. Death is very known.

Blaise, as it were.

“If they can return to us, they will. If they can’t… we’ll have to figure out if we can call them back somehow. There’s no other option,” summed up Vince with a sigh edged with a growl. “I’m going to grieve for them. I’m going to miss them.

“And if they don’t show up in a reasonable time… I’ll… feel that they’re dead and gone. Then I’ll mourn for them as if they’d passed.

“Till any of that happens though, we press on. We don’t have any other real option here that’s useful or available to us.”

“Okay… yeah. We press on,” Zathira said with a slow nod of her head. “What ah, what do we do? How do we press on?”

“Move through the outskirts. Steal some supplies if we can,” Vince said as they kept walking. “See if we can’t make contact with someone or a group that could or would be willing to help us.

“Though realistically if that doesn’t pan out we’ll have to head into this… Bordeaux, in the end. See if we can’t get some information. Either through you finding a recently made dead person, me getting the thoughts out of someone’s head, or us simply finding someone willing to talk to us.”

“We can’t just keep moving south?” Zathira asked.

“We could, but there’s no telling what we’ll run into. We could end up walking into something we can’t just… turn around and walk away from. Having even just a little information would be better than no information.”

“Oh, yes. That’ll work quite well. Ah… Leila mentioned that we might need cover stories at one point. Should we have those?” asked Zathira, turning to look at him more directly.

Apparently him having even just an outline of a plan was growing confidence in her.

It left Vince with the feeling that he needed to invest in Zathira right here and now. If he didn’t, she was going to have some issues coping with this in the near future.

“Husband and wife. You’re the breadwinner, I’m there to use a sword and provide muscle as needed,” Vince spit out without thinking about it. “It’s simple, close to what people would expect of us, and blends into the background of everyone else.

“It’s not the type of story to stand out much beyond what it is. That it’d just be ‘one of many’ if people asked for stories and fade from memory.

“Good thing my sword looks rather nondescript in it’s sheathe. If I pull it out, it’s a different story all together.”

Zathira nodded her head slowly to that, then had the barest ghost of a smile at the corner of her mouth.

“It’s different when you pull out your sssssword?” asked the Lamia, hitting the S rough and more than likely on purpose.

Vince smirked, nodded his head in return, and then huffed.

“Yeah. You should see me sheathe it unexpectedly. Makes people’s eyes go wide,” he returned, realizing that this was her trying to change the subject to something else, but only ending up in an awkward territory.

“I can imagine. I can… I can certainly imagine,” Zathira said and then fell silent. Moving quietly back and forth as she slithered along next to him.

There wasn’t much to say further and so they kept moving in semi-awkward, semi-compaionable, silence.

That atmosphere remained as they made it to Bordeaux. Vince didn’t need to ask if there was an outskirts of the city that they could get to, as it was included in the city.

A wooden palisade wall was the first line of defense that was quite far out from the stone walls of the city-proper. Between those two walls were a great many huts, houses, and thrown together buildings.

The palisade wall was manned and guarded by peasantry with spears and cheap looking bows. They had armor that at best made it to leather banded with metal plates.

There were no guards at the gate to question newcomers and no one seemed to care about them one way or the other. Vince and Zathira passed inside without challenge or question.

It was rather surprising on many levels, but he’d begun to suspect that Francia was similar to Yosemite. At least in some ways.

When it came to non-humans, they were fairly lenient and okay with them.

So long as they didn’t practica magic, at least.

Looking ahead as they moved along the maintained, though only compacted dirt, road he could see there were guards at the gates to the inner-city. Which would be where the merchant, middle and upper class all lived.

Out here would be where all the lower-end jobs were filled from in the inner-city. A cashier’s position that couldn’t be filled by someone up there, could be filled by an attractive or intelligent individual from the outskirts.

The same story in a different way he’d seen more than a few times back home. When he’d been a ranger and traveling the width and breadth of the country.

What would have been a large problem for him had been mitigated by Sam and her fortunate arrival. Without those French language books, they’d have been at a complete loss here. Without even the most basic ability to communicate their needs.

On top of that… I bet speaking English here, or Spanish even, is asking for unwanted attention.

Damn… I’ll need to pick up whatever other languages are possible when we get back. It’s not like it costs me anything to learn a language.

Off to the side of the main road Vince saw a muddy, murky, bit of path that had a look similar to that of the southern part of the country back home. Where every type of mud had it’s own name.

This looked to be a firm mud that was fairly comparable to dirt. More of a muck, really.

What was so interesting to Vince about it though, was a set of tracks that was quite visible in it. One he’d never forget as he’d actively been looking for them since landing in Spain.

Ratkin!

Grinning Vince turned away from the street and began moving down the very dirty and quite likely disgusting for what it’s contents were muddy path. Zathira followed along behind him without a complaint despite the fact that she’d literally be crawling through it in a way.

Looking at the tracks he could see the heavy and close together prints that the Ratkin tended to have in city areas. Where they’d walk on two-legs to not be confused with the extremely less-intelligent and not related in any way common rodent.

No sooner than the tracks moved deeper into the alley the Ratkin had dropped to all four paws and moved much more quickly. More assuredly, as they dipped into the areas of the city that were far more comfortable to them.

If only because they weren’t given the proper respect they deserved.

Vince was quite the fan of Ratkin.

They’d helped him making Yosemite become an incredibly clean and efficient city. Where most buildings vied to have even a small family of Ratkin maintain and patrol it.

“What-what’re we doing? Where’re we going?” Zathira asked from behind him.

“Oh… just running something down I need. Need it bad. More so than I need a month long vacation retreat for Meliae, Mouth, and Blue, and I’ll be honest, I need that a lot. Those three have put in more work than I’m ever actually willing to admit to them,” Vince confessed as they took several turns. Going deeper and further into the warrens of the outskirts. Till even the sunlight had difficulty reaching him.

He knew they were most definitely on the right trail. A number of other Ratkin tracks had shown up.

Even a number of prints that looked a lot like similar races to Ratkin that were a bigger as well. Which could very well be a similar species to the Ratkin that he’d only heard of.

A possum like species.

What’d been a fairly narrow walk had in a flash become an open and enclosed plaza like area. Where shades and fabrics had been pulled over the center to block out most of the sun.

All around were homes, burrows, cast-off bits of furniture, and a large number of Ratkin.

Peering at him from holes, homes, and around corners.

Oh, yes.

Yes, yes, yes.

Jackpot.

Grinning from ear to ear, Vince stood up and looked to all the Ratkin around him. Slowly turning his head one way, then the other. There was so many of them that he couldn’t hide his excitement.

“My name is Vincent Campbell. May I request to speak with your warren master?” he requested with a polite tip of his head, then came down to one knee, cutting a great deal of his height out of the question. He didn’t care at all that his only pair of pants would have a very mudstained spot on the knee. “I’d like to make an arrangement with them that I don’t think any of you wouldn’t benefit from.”