Chapter 104: Rising Fear (Patreon)

“Fantastic. Just great. So much extra shit to do now,” Ruel muttered, walking past the now-mellow squad. “Now I have to contact the employer. Now I have to set up everything. Now I have to be the people-person. I just wanted a little…” 

He got too far away for me to be able to hear his mutterings. I walked back up to the rest of the squad, and said, “Things seem to be going swimmingly.”

“These bones… I have some knowledge of the dead, and I can say for certain that this… it’s a woman, I believe… this woman had a struggle before she died.” Vast held two bones in each hand, and was looking at them closely. “The broken bones are consistent with that of a physical altercation. And besides, one’s skeleton couldn’t be so badly damaged from degradation alone. This person was killed.”

“Who’d go against the Archduchy on purpose?” Grendel scratched his pockmarked cheek. “I mean, the target of the mission surely couldn’t have found out ahead of time, right?”

“And we have to sleep here?” Leedie stepped out away from the others and looked around the room.

“You can sleep with me if you’re scared,” said one of the khorts with a laugh.

Leedie didn’t skip a beat before retorting, “You’ll sleep alone for the rest of your life, milk-fed gimp.”

I had to restrain my laughter, because Vast had said she needed to change her behavior. Even if it was funny, it wouldn’t do to reinforce it. I put my hand to my mouth and managed to turn a laugh into a yawn. 

“Even still, where the hell is a place to restock? That town looked like naught but factories for miles and miles.” Rubio walked around with his stubby legs to one of the beds, testing it with his small hands. 

“Ruel said this is just an outpost. The base, it’s in space. Heh. We stop by there after the mission’s done.” Day scratched at the floor, a sound which made me cringe. 

“I’m only worried that we might be here longer than was originally intended,” Vast said, losing interest in the bones of the person and setting them aside. “If there’s an attacker that isn’t the client, I can’t imagine the Archduchy is going to allow this to stand. There’ll be retribution.”

“It might not be by us, though. If the Archduchy deems it beyond our level, they might send us away early,” I said positively. 

“True.” Vast nodded. “Still, the people stationed here probably weren’t here for a very good reason. If they were good fighters, they wouldn’t be on this black ball of misery; they’d be in a squad like the rest of us.”

I looked over at what Ruel was doing. He was manipulating a machine on the wall, and speaking in hushed tones. I looked over at Day, and he was focused intently. Ruel must be contacting some people. I’ll ask Day what they said later. 

“FUCK!”

Ruel’s voice echoed throughout the hall, diverting everyone’s attention. Maybe I won’t ask Day later. Does this guy really have any experience leading a squad? If your Captain is yelling out expletives in a panic, that’s probably not going to make everyone feel at ease. 

Our ‘Captain’ walked away from the machine, weaving through the rows and rows of beds that lined the room. “I have to wait for a call. The head honchos back on the base are reviewing the security footage, and they’re going to give me a call. They wouldn’t even let me look at the footage. I’m starting to be reminded of the time I negotiated with the Richt Empire recently. So bogged down in bureaucracy that they can’t spare a moment for the people actually on the field.”

“So, what do we do then?” I asked, one hand held to my side. 

“We wait. We wait for a god-damned call.” Ruel ran his hand through his hair. “That’s why I’m pissed. It’ll probably only be a day, but that’s a day where I don’t have anything to do.”

“Didn’t you say we’d have to wait for a couple days before the designated mansion assault time?” Zinuetet’s quiet voice echoed in the room. 

Ruel stopped. “Oh. I suppose you’re right. Would’ve been waiting either way.” He burst out laughing.

#####

“Hmm…”

I stared at my bag atop the bed. So many ingredients for poison. Not enough bottles. Such a stupid oversight. All of the ingredients were in small pouches. Alone, inactivated, they weren’t a threat to anyone. I’d have to brew them for any effect to happen. 

Poison is quite a deadly thing. I’m certainly not the first, nor will I be the last, to use it. It’s something that I’ll be dealing with for the rest of my life. It’s like I’m a zookeeper who handles dangerous snakes. They’re constantly getting bit, even when they take the utmost care. It’s inevitable. But, how did they…?

I reached forward and pulled the case out of my bag that was full of potions and poisons. I cracked it open, and pulled out a bottle filled with white dust that was tightly shut. Vast, sitting on another bed elsewhere speaking to Giir, watched me. 

I started laughing. 

God, you’re fucking stupid. 

I opened the bottle, poured a very small amount on my leg… and licked it clean. 

It was something that I recalled, thinking of snakes and their handlers. People that dealt with snakes were constantly bitten. Reptiles were not as smart as mammals, and they often don’t possess the same emotions mammals do. They have poor memories. They don’t understand a relationship like a dog or a cat can—indeed, the lesser reptiles may have trouble remembering people, or even distinguishing them from one another.

Consequentially, people that handle venomous snakes are constantly bitten. Or squirted at, in the case of some of the more unique snakes that used their venom as a projectile. Or would it be poison at that point? Who knows. Hmm… maybe it’s bad to start eating poison if you know so little about it. 

People that are constantly poisoned develop a resistance to it. 

If poisons were going to be an issue for the rest of my life, then I’d just take them in small doses until they no longer became an issue. It wouldn’t totally remove the effect, of course, but even diminishing it would be incredibly helpful. Moreover, experiencing the poison first hand better allows me to both use it, and cure it, in the event that I ever find myself on the receiving end. 

Besides, I needed something to do for a day. Ruel wasn’t letting anybody go outside until he got the call. 

Vast immediately stood and walked over to me. “What the hell are you doing?” he asked, though quietly. The people he’d been talking to looked perplexed. 

“Whatever do you mean?” I responded.

He pointed a finger at the bottle I was busy closing. “That’s Whiterot Dust. You know that, right?”

I put the bottle back in the case and leaned back onto the bed. I wasn’t especially fond of alcohol, but maybe this feeling was what a ‘buzz’ was like. “Of course I know what it is. I made it. But why do you know that, hmm?”

Vast paused. “I… what the hell are you d—Did you do all that to reveal…?”

Reveal the fact that he knows about some poisons? A happy accident. Maybe I was right to start building immunity now. Seems I might need it if this one’s around. “Just something to pass the time…” I waved Vast away. “Now, go. I’m starting to feel a weird feeling in my teeth.”