“... that will do nicely.” Erika said smiling like a shark and sweeping the offered gemstones into one of her belt pouches, the chiming sound they made as they moved was entracing, valuable things always sounded good.
Pamphilus nodded and said another circling sentence before marching loudly away into the darkness behind him, Erika raised an eyebrow at Hakon who just waved the look away and shrugged helplessly.
Erika sighed and followed the soldier safe and secure in the knowledge that Sigurn was guarding her, she could hear her footsteps directly behind her keeping pace, if the Vracians did have any sort of unsavory intent they would quickly regret it.
Heading back into the shadowed area of Hakons camp Erika realised that the otherwise circular room had a strange bulge in it, a half-moon like protrusion, which had been sectioned off from the rest.
Where Hakons main camp was filled with randomly placed tents, Lean-to’s and even small houses made from carts or stacked detritus taken from the tower crumbling walls, all of which made it seem homely and chaotic, this section was cold and sterile, dim and silent, a dozen identical tents lined up into three perfect rows secured by metal pegs stabbed deeply into the stone of the tower, no braziers or hearths blazed instead from within each and every tent a faint blue glow shone, just barely visible through gaps in the canvas doors.
It was utterly quiet, eerie and it smelt strangely, like burnt herbs but ancient ones, burned decades ago at least with a faint aftertaste of something sickly sweet, cloying and deeply unpleasant. Half turning her head to make sure Sigurn was still there Erika kept following Pamphilus but she was beginning to understand where Hakon was coming from, especially since in the gloom of their camp the Vracian full body armour was practically invisible turning Pamphilus from a fully armoured soldier into a near invisible wraith flitting ahead of them like a ghost.
This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
“Tehra netoo fent netoo tehra.” Military Chieftain Pamphilus said before over his shoulder, a moment passed and he seemed to realise that Hakon had stayed behind, he muttered something that Erika could tell was a curse even across the language barrier, after a moment he coughed and seemed to be loosening his jaw for a moment.
“Herein lieth… thou…. patient.” He managed all the smoothness gone from his voice as he stumbled and slurred over the words, indicating the tent next to him, apart from its open door it was otherwise identical to every other one, Erika wondered how he even found it.
Sigurn seemed amused and interested by the Vracians accent but followed silently behind Erika when she entered the tent, which was just as dull inside as outside, Erika had hoped it would be a little homely within but no not at all, a single wood and canvas frame bed in one corner, a pack in the other and a shield and spear in the third, simultaneously empty and full and without a single sign of life.
Apart from the Vracian soldier of course, lying down on the unfolded bed, still in full armour apart from a single forearm which revealed dusky skin covered in scars which wept colourless fluid into a earthenware bowl on the ground.
Erika knew what to do by now, it was hardly a puzzle, she called upon her galdr and touched the skin and…
Oooookay this wasn't the poison.
This wasn't divine.
She honestly had no idea what this was, was that fungus in the soldiers blood?
Oh and two hearts, can't forget that, although that didn't surprise Erika as much, any good life shaper could give someone a second heart although the younger of these two hearts seemed smaller and weaker than life shaping magic would have grown, presumably the famous Vracian alchemy at work, still inferior to galdr of course but what can you expect.
But back to the matter at hand, fungus, fungi, fungee? Whatever it was, it was in her blood, all of it, down to a deep layer like she’d been born infected by it.
