Chapter 9: Of Lunaris and Infestations

    After a few more days of travelling through the dense undergrowth of the woods, the trees at last cleared. Sunlight beamed down from the sky, striking Addy's face in an almost gentle caress. She wondered if, despite all that she had done, Diamara, the goddess of light, was watching over her now.

As they moved forward, Addy noticed that the dirt path, at last, seemed clearly defined, no longer covered in plants and holes. It expanded, as well, as it reached up a hill and past stone walls. It appeared as if they were near a town!
    "It'll be nice to sleep in a bed again," said Lillian, who had reached the same conclusion as Addy.

Addy smiled. "I agree. Though I'm not sure if I have enough money to afford a room at an inn."

"Don't worry - I'll hide you in my closet."

Addy snorted at that, and the two girls lapsed into a comfortable silence, occasionally nudging the half-asleep Hayden to keep him from falling off his horse.

As they approached the settlement, a sharp, high-pitched sound rang through the air. Addy's hands shot up to cover her ears on instinct. She breathed a sigh of relief when she realized that her sword was strapped to her belt - the last thing she needed was it falling to the ground and impaling poor Apple.

Her horse had been with her since the early days of her travels. If the fact that an animal had been her only constant companion over the past few years was depressing, then it fit in with the way the rest of her life had been going.

Though it wasn't as if she didn't deserve it. Loneliness was a small price to pay for what her actions had cost her family. She would uphold the oath she made on her father's deathbed, even if the cost was her own life.

Especially then.

"What is that?" Hayden brought his hands down from his ears as the noise stopped.

"Wait." Lillian brought her horse to a grinding halt. "I've been here before. This is Lunaris. They're known for their state of the art..." her face paled. "Distress signals."

Had the Watch gotten here too? Addy had no idea, but she knew that their group could only get lucky and escape unscathed so many times.

"We have to help them," Addy said.

She brought Apple into a trot as they neared the great stone walls. With every step closer, the screams of the townspeople inside became more and more apparent. The part of Addy with some sense of self-preservation wanted to turn tail and run. However, she knew that she could rely on her allies now, and besides, they had faced Mordan's Watch twice and remained unscathed.

It was with this newfound determination that Addy marched up to the gates, companions behind her. As soon as they reached them, a seemingly invisible force yanked the metal doors wide open. Addy winced at the harsh sound the metal made. It was like the universe was conspiring to make her ears bleed.

"Let's hope this visit goes better than the last time," Lillian said.

As they entered the town, Addy thought that she'd prepared herself for a variety of situations, from the bad to the truly terrible. She had been expecting to see the Watch, or perhaps the Watch's infernal benefactors. But she never would have expected this.

People were shrieking and running, and houses and fields of crops were aflame. It was utter pandemonium. Addy glimpsed an old man in priest robes, who descended the steps of the temple in the middle of the town, swinging a stick wildly in the air.  And the cause of this chaos was... rats?

"Are you two seeing what I think I'm seeing?" Hayden said, echoing the disbelief that Addy felt.

They made their way up the stone path through the town, watching as one of the rat's ran across the path a bit ahead. It was a pale white thing, with beady eyes and a plump stomach. Addy suppressed a shiver. As harmless as the thing looked, it was obvious it was demonic in nature.

"Look, it's so cute!" Lillian exclaimed, in an uncharacteristic show of enthusiasm.

The rat glanced at her, giving her an almost disdainful look - well, as disdainful as a rat could be - before turning directly to one of the wheat fields. It took a deep breath, then exhaled, expelling fire in a manner similar to a dragon.

"So, not cute then," Lillian said. "Sue me for having faith in animals over people."

Hayden closed his eyes and reached out one of his hands, as the other uncorked his waterskin. He lifted the water with a flick of his wrist, and it rushed through the air, quenching the fire instantly.

Addy stared at the scene in more than a little wonderment - it had been such a long time since she had seen someone use magic in such a manner. Like so many things, she had thought it was only a relic of her childhood.

If she was so absorbed in watching Hayden work that she couldn't see the resentment building on Lillian's face at the sight of magic, then she could blame it on everything that had happened since she had left Moonlight City: the loss of her family, her home, even her name.

They rode into town in a timely manner. As they made their way towards what they presumed to be the main street, Hayden doused as many of the fires that he could, but more were appearing in their wake. He was running out of water, and fast.

When they neared the main street, the old man standing on the temple steps ran up to them. His broom - which he had previously been using to fend off the fire-breathing rats - had caught fire, but he didn't appear to notice, his attention caught by their arrival.

"Thank Alo that you all are here!" The man proclaimed. Up close, Addy could see that his robes were similar to Lillian's, though with more adornments, a blue colour, and a lack of battle armour underneath.

He must have been a priest of some sort, Addy reasoned. They were near the heart of Perrnath, and the people of the nation worshiped Alo, the god of temperance and the seas. She had seen Uncle Leon pray while clutching a wave-shaped amulet too many times to ever forget.

"It is an honour to meet you, priest," Addy said, bowing her head in a show of respect.

In a way, being so close to a temple made her feel close to home. The god Alo was a brother of Delos and Diamara, the gods she had worshiped back home. They had two other siblings: Galina, the last of the great council, and Lilith, goddess of darkness. Even thinking the name caused her to shiver.

"And it is a pleasure to meet all of you," the elderly man said. "I am High Priest Roland of the great Lunaris temple." He gestured behind him.

Noticing the multiple fires, Roland winced. "We've seen better days."

"I can imagine," Hayden said, his tone a strange blend of sympathetic and horrified. As a lord of Perrnath, it must have horrified him to see one of its cities in such disarray. "I am Lord Hayden Lochan, of Galys. My friends and I are here to help."

Addy wondered if she and Hayden were truly friends, but a part of her heart couldn't help but warm at the sentiment. It was nice to have people watching her back, even if she knew it couldn't last forever.

High Priest Roland turned towards Lillian, taking note of her similar attire. "And who might you be?"

Lillian smiled, but it looked a little bitter. "My name is Lillian Garland. I was a priestess-in-training in the service of Galina, before - everything."

The priest had already looked fairly old, but the apparent devastation on his face aged him a decade in a matter of seconds. "I am sorry for your loss, of the destruction of many great institutions similar to my own. You have a place here, should you wish it."

"What would you have us do?" Addy asked. She felt a burning itch to grab her sword and chase after the tiny beasts, but blind anger had never helped anyone. Besides, she didn't have a full scope of the situation. Roland would likely be on the town's council, and would know what they should do to help.

"The homes and livelihoods of our people are burning in a rapid manner, so that needs fixing. We also need to figure out a way to rid ourselves of the foul little beasts. Whether you kill them in one fell swoop or banish them from the town, I don't particularly care, so long as they are gone."

Addy was more than a little bit surprised at the sheer venom in the priest's voice. Clearly, he had a deep, personal grudge against the rats. Then again, they were destroying a large portion of his town. She supposed his grievance was warranted.

"Oh, come on!"

She nearly jumped at the sound of a shriek from a nearby villager - a small girl being chased by one of the blasted beasts - while frantically trying to stamp out flames on her arm.

Her companions seemed at a loss for how to begin solving the problem, and she couldn't blame them. Though they had fought Mordan's Watch, twice, and emerged victorious, this was a very bizarre sort of battle.

Addy sighed, inwardly. She supposed it was time for her to take charge. She just hoped that Hayden took her orders. As much as she was undeserving to be in a position of authority.

"Alright. Hayden, with your water powers, you need to get to the town well, get as much water as you can, and start putting out the fires. Lillian, I'm going to need your help to get these rats out of the city. And we should leave our horses here. It's safer."

"So she's giving orders now," Hayden muttered, though his tone lacked any bite.

"Let's go," Lillian hissed.

Addy and Lillian rushed down the temple steps. Addy saw the girl from earlier, who was still being chased by the particularly adamant rat. As Addy approached the beast, she heard an almost hissing sound, dark and crackling, and nothing from this realm.

"I serve King Theodore with pride," was the closest approximation for what the thing was saying.

"Do you hear that?" Addy, asked, more than a little unnerved. She knew, somehow, that this thing was infernal. That it came from Lilith's dimension of darkness. 

"Hear what?" Lillian asked.

Addy felt her chest tighten. According to all the books her brother had read as a child, hearing voices that no one else could was never a good sign.

As Lillian helped the poor girl put out the fire and tended to her wounds, Addy raised her sword over the rat, preparing to chop it's head off. She felt no sympathy for the creature, who had terrorized a town and a little girl.

"I wouldn't do that, if I were you, little lightbringer," the thing hissed. "If you kill me, then all my brethren will take the utmost care to avenge me."

Addy couldn't help but grin, as she had a realization. The rat had just given her the perfect way to distract the fleet from destroying Lunaris. "Hey Lillian, I think I have an idea," she said, while slicing the rat's head clean off.

The effect was instantaneous. The beady, red eyes of the dozen of creatures spread out around her turned toward her in an instant. There was a moment of silence as they stood, unmoving and unblinking. Addy gulped.

After another second, they ran towards her, fire coming out of them in harsh, angry puffs. Addy took off running, Lillian hot on her tails. She thanked the gods for leather armour - if she was in chain mail, they'd have caught up to her in seconds.

"This was your plan?" Lillian got out between gasping breaths.

"Not my best one, I'd admit," Addy said.

The rats had forgotten the village entirely in their single-minded pursuit of the girls. In the brief glance that Addy took back at the village, she noticed that Hayden had gotten rid of all of the fires. Well, at least the village was saved. Even if she died a horrible death, she was going to count this as a win in her book.

She led the rats outside of the town's stone walls, through the forest, and near a stream that they had passed earlier, all running at breakneck speed. She was completely and utterly exhausted, and wanted nothing more than to lie down and never see another rat ever again. Still, Addy pressed on, trailing after Lillian - who had long surpassed her.

Wait. She had an idea. Maybe it was because she only had a half-functional brain, but what was it that Drusilla had always said about infernal spirits? They vanished when they touched blessed water, she was fairly certain that was it.

"We just need to cross the stream!" She called ahead to Lillian, who leaped over it in one fluid motion that Addy more than envied.

Addy assumed that a priest from the nearby temple had blessed the stream at one time or another. She wasn't quite sure enough to bet her life on it, but she guessed she had no other choice.

Taking a deep breath, she rushed across the water, smiling as the cool feeling seeping through her boots negated the burning of her face. Addy turned around and watched as the fire-breathing rats followed her into the stream with a single-minded hunger evident in their beady eyes.

They vanished one by one, leaving only ash - which was quickly swept away by the current - and the feeling that from their haunting red eyes, something else had been watching her. Addy suppressed the urge to shiver.

Lillian snorted, collapsing on the ground near the stream. "Well, that was strange."

Addy couldn't agree more.

~~

Next chapter will be a change of pace, and one I really hope you enjoy. We're halfway through arc one, and soon we'll be meeting the final two members of the party. Here's a hint: they're mentioned in the arc summary.

Sorry for the late update - I was finishing up some summer school courses I was taking so the exams kept me busy.

Anyways, the next chapter will have a shift in perspective, to a character only mentioned in flashbacks previously - Luna Valadon. It's called Of Sisters and Sinister Plots, and I think it's a fitting full introduction. We'll learn more about the "incident".

Thank you all so much for reading, and I hope you liked it!