บท 59: A Pull
"Does it matter which one we fight first?" Morne asked.
"I don't know," Geleb said honestly. "But to be safe, we should do it in the order the statues listed. Vampire, then Boknul."
Morne nodded. That made sense. "Then let's get to it."
The two approached the leftmost cloud figure, passing through it as if it wasn't there pushing the door behind it open.
The moment they crossed into the white void behind the door, everything went dark.
Then, in a blink, they were in a forest, facing the mouth of a cave. The sun shone above them, its rays partially blocked by the canopy of the trees around them.
A team of four Nasnami men stood nearby, clad in metal armor that didn't restrict their mobility and armed with various weapons. They squinted into the cave, but no matter how hard they tried, they could not breach whatever magic shielded the cave's interior from view.
One of them blinked, only now noticing the two humans, and snarled in that familiar yet still indecipherable language.
Geleb answered the Nasnami with halting words, not as used to speaking the language as he was reading or hearing it, and that seemed to alleviate the Nasnami's anger.
"What are they saying?" Morne asked.
"They're wondering why we're late," Geleb replied, keeping his eyes trained on the Nasnami that had spoken.
Late? Late for what?
Another Nasnami laughed and slapped the first one's shoulder, saying some words in a joking tone.
The first barked at the second, sparking a short argument before the first conceded with a grunt.
"Apologies for this one, human," the second one said with a grin, patting his companion's shoulder. "He has a distaste for your kind."
"They're just so… barbaric," the first one said.
"That's no reason to call them hairless monkeys, is it?" chided the second.
"We're here to kill vampires, not make friends," growled the first.
"And would this human trust you to protect him when you act like that? Would you trust him, Eccren?"
"No…"
Morne blinked as the two devolved into another argument. He could understand them now?
He wasn't about to question it. He had experienced so many weird things in the last few hours that this barely even fazed him.
"How many are we expecting?" Geleb asked, cutting the argument short. The stilted manner he spoke in before was nowhere to be heard now.
"You improve fast, human," a third Nasnami said surprisedly.
"Yes, you already sound like you've been speaking our wonderful language since birth," the second chimed.
"Good," said Eccren. "He's more reliable this way. But what about the other one?"
"I can understand you just fine," Morne said simply, the words flowing out of his mouth with ease.
Eccren nodded. "According to the reports, there's just one vampire. Practitioner rank, but crafty. It's killed a few Adepts over the years – "
"Individually, of course, but that's still a feat to be wary of," interrupted the second Nasnami.
"I was getting to that, Teck," snapped Eccren.
"The point is, we have to be careful," the final Nasnami said, drawing his sword from its sheath. "Nothing different from all the other hunts we've been on."
"Well said," the third replied, drawing his own sword. "The monster should be asleep now, so now is the best time to strike."
The two strode toward the cave fearlessly, swords at the ready.
Teck sighed, pulling the crossbow off his hip and following. "I swear, those two never learn."
"Come on, humans," Eccren said, grabbing his mace. "Ready your weapons. It's time to kill a vampire." And with that, he entered the cave.
Weapons? But they didn't have –
A glint caught Morne's eye, and he turned to Geleb, surprised to find a short sword in the latter's hand. Reaching at his hip, Morne found a sword there as well and promptly pulled it out of its sheath.
They didn't have armor, but a weapon was better than nothing.
The two men shared a nod and followed after the Nasnami, plunging into total darkness.
"I can't see anything," Geleb said quietly, knowing that the Nasnami could and had likely forgotten about their human allies.
A red light sprang out of a wand in the offhand of one of the yet-to-be-named Nasnami, washing the cave in warm crimson. Thanks to the color, the sudden light didn't disorient the humans, allowing Geleb to see the Nasnami offering the wand to him.
He took it without a word, holding it forward in his left hand to light the way.
The cave entrance turned once and then they were in a cavern big enough to fit Geleb's estate in.
The floor was entirely covered by red carpet, and the gray walls were as smooth as marble. A long table fit for a feast sat in the center of the room, bloodstained and with many goblets and plates sitting upon it, and stairs carved into the rock to their left led up to a mezzanine with stone railings.
This mezzanine had rows of bookshelves along the back wall, and an opulent black canopy bed hiding its contents with thick velvet curtains at the end.
A cage sat to their left, housing a handful of haggard, dead-eyed Nasnami that didn't react to the newcomers, and the wall to their right was painted with half-finished arcane patterns.
Eccren stopped the others with a raised hand, pointing to the bed above.
Slowly, they made their way to the stairs, stepping up them at a snail's pace to avoid making a sound.
They didn't want to spoil the surprise.
The group crested the top of the stairs without issue and advanced silently toward the bed. Just as they raised their weapons, ready to put this monster down, they heard the sound of flowing liquid.
Morne and the others turned around to the wall behind them, and the eyes of the Nasnami hunters widened when they saw what was making that sound.
A half-circle of blood, a complete version of what they had seen downstairs, formed under their startled gazes, its edges branching off into disturbing sigils and Marks that made their blood run cold.
Then, they started to feel a pull.
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