Chapter 2: Across the Plains

It was the middle of the day, and the tavern was lively, with men and women alike indulging in spirits. Tails of all different kinds hung out of the backs of chairs and stools, whether furry, scaly, or feathered. Most of the light came from the front windows, but candles still burned in dark corners. Friends and coworkers talked amongst themselves, sharing complaints and jokes, but most of it was the former, all directed at Uther. Whether it was the taxes or the guards patrolling the streets, Uther’s authority was grudgingly endured, but murmurings were going on. Whispered in fear and anger, talks of rebellion passed between bowed heads and over empty mugs.

Yet despite the patrons’ heightened senses of sight, hearing, and smell, no one knew of the intruder sitting among them. Wrapped in a veil of mana, Noah listened in to the numerous conversations, noting any details relating to the Pack and the Profane. He also paid attention to dialects, accents, and slang, learning how to speak as an ordinary citizen of Welindar. He had spent several days perusing the local taverns and other meeting places and roaming the back alleys, picking out anyone looking or acting suspicious and tailing them for info.

While Noah was doing undercover work, Shannon assisted Valia in the streets, chasing leads and taking down the fiends.

“Thank you again for letting me come with you,” she said as the two walked down a crowded street. “I’m glad to help Lord Noah with his work, but some of the things he does in there, the things he does to the people you capture, the way he experiments on them ... I couldn’t stop imagining those things being done to my kin.”

“Considering what I walked in on, I’m surprised you lasted so long. Noah lives in a very different world from you and I. I sometimes get glimpses of it from his stories, and they often leave me awed, horrified, and heartbroken. Other times, he’ll tell me a story that makes me fall in love with him all over again. Anyway, it’s nice to have you out here. Honestly, I thought you had a grudge against me.”

Shannon gave a mournful sigh. “I was never mad at you. It just hurt to be reminded of that night. But I know you did everything you could to save my father, I know that you wanted to make everything right. What happened wasn’t your fault, it was theirs; the Profane, and if not for you, I wouldn’t be here. I don’t simply want to help my people; I want to return the favor.”

“Well I’m happy to have you. Just be ready, these streets are crawling with danger.”

“Yes, My Lady.”

Off in the distance, they heard several roars and the sounds of battle. “Looks like you’re going to get your chance. Let’s go!”

They set off towards the commotion, Valia sprinting and Shannon galloping in her centaur form. They crossed three streets and arrived at the scene, where a squad of soldiers were battling against a fiend. The hairy behemoth swung a log as a club, knocking the men through the air. Shannon drew her grandfather’s bow and an arrow as soon as she saw him. The tip had been lathered in the poison she helped Noah create, the fruit of her labor, and with perfect aim, it struck the fiend in the center of the chest. Such a wound wasn’t even a hindrance to the beast, but as the toxins entered his bloodstream, the mighty warrior began to seize up, and with equal ease and elegance, Valia finished him off. They continued on like that through the city, with every victory raising Shannon’s confidence and each arrow easier to shoot than the one before.

Back at the bar, Noah had just spotted one man talking to another in a corner and flashed him the mark of the Pack. They both left the bar, and Noah followed them. When they split up, Noah chose the one who revealed his tattoo. Once he stepped into an alley, Noah made his move, first filling the air with his mana to smother all noise. He then snuck up on the man, wrapped a rope around his neck, and kicked the back of his leg to bring him down to his knees. Noah pulled hard on the rope, making the man fight for every breath, but gave him just enough leeway to dig his fingers underneath and open up enough room to answer questions.

“You try to transform, you try anything I don’t like, and I’ll make this infinitely more painful for you. Who was that man you were talking to the bar?”

“Argh! Eat shit!” the man growled, struggling for air.

Noah responded by boxing his ear, rupturing his eardrum, and making him shout in pain.

“If you had a parasite, that wouldn’t have hurt as much. Tell me who he was.”

“Fuck you!”

This time, Noah robbed him of one of his eyes. “No one is going to save you. No one is going to end this but me. The only freedom you have right now is to decide how much pain I will inflict on you.” Noah forced him onto his stomach and smashed his face against the ground until a puddle of blood formed. “Tell me who he was!”

“Tolk! His name is Tolk!”

“Is he above you or below you in the Pack?” The man didn’t immediately respond, so Noah jerked hard on the rope.

“Below! He doesn’t even have his mark yet!”

“And who is above you?”

The man used what little breath he had to try and scream for help, hoping someone would hear and save him. He was aptly punished.

“Brusin, he recruited me. He manages a dozen other men!”

“And where do I find him?”

“He runs a tannery to the west of here! There is a squirrel on the sign!”

“Does he have a parasite?”

“No!”

“And who is above him?”

“I don’t know! I can’t use a parasite, so they don’t tell me much!”

“Then you’re no longer useful to me.”

“Please, no! I have a son! He’s only—”

Noah ended the man’s life and disposed of the body. He moved on to the tannery and found Brusin, a balding, heavyset man. Noah spent the next two days spying on Brusin, listening in on his conversations with other members of the Pack, following him on his errands, and collecting evidence and photographs with his phone. The man had no idea how much information he was leaking to Noah, which he brought back to the prince.

“This is incredible,” said Lupin, looking through lists of names, dates, and locations. “Between you and Lady Zodiac, the tide is finally beginning to turn here in Welindar. We may be able to eliminate the Profane before long.”

“How are things beyond the city?” Noah asked, speaking with the prince in the throne room.

“We’ve been going after the farms growing those plants, as you suggested, but they are well-guarded and hidden. Still, your arrows have made the fiends much less of a threat than they were before.”

“Excellent. From what I’ve learned, several mid-level members of the pack in Welindar will be having a meeting the day after tomorrow. If we can capture them, not only will it be a significant blow to their operation, but they’ll be an excellent source of information. I don’t know exactly where the meeting will be held, only that it’s somewhere in the eastern district. However, while I’ve been out and about, I’ve also been paying attention to your management of the city. You’re doing an excellent job, especially with the war orphanages, and I heard you’ve lowered taxes on the poor while raising them for the rich. Well done.”

“You might call it a stroke of luck, but the former king was not well-liked. Though he was able to hold Uther’s forces back for a number of years, his domestic and foreign policies left a lot to be desired by the people. I’ve made great strides with public relations by undoing a lot of his mistakes. Besides, the people of this city may not like it, but they are now citizens of Uther, and that means it is my job to ensure their wellbeing.

Every day, I spend hours with city delegates and former advisors to the last king, trying to address and fix every problem. The people’s needs come before all else, and I want to make them happy. Years of war have been hard on everyone, and I just wish I didn’t have to destroy so much before I can begin rebuilding. Have you ever felt such burdens before?”

“Indeed I have. I’ve worn many crowns, from taking on the responsibility for a tribe wandering a scorched hellscape, to leading a town through a recession, to ruling one world with an iron fist, and everything in between.”

“You were once the ruler of the world?” Lupin asked in shock.

“Well, not this world. It took decades of work and planning, but I managed to corral all the nations of another planet into my sphere of influence. The problem is that once you reach the top, it doesn’t get any better, and you have to keep expending effort just to maintain the status quo. What kind of leader do you hope to be once you take the throne?”

“With my conquering of Welindar and the surrounding territories, I’ve proved myself as a warrior and military leader, and once I am king, I wish to reestablish my affinity for diplomacy. These lands have been steeped in war for too long, and I want to give the people peace and prosperity. I want to focus my attention to strengthening the country rather than expanding it, and improving relations with the other nations. Sir Noah—no, I suppose I should address you as Lord like the elves—would you consider serving under me once I become king as one of my advisors? With your knowledge and expertise, there is no limit to what our nation can accomplish.”

“You honor me, but I’m afraid that I must decline. Valia and I still have to find her brother, who I believe can help me break my curse. That takes priority over everything and everyone. After that, I have a home waiting for me in Sylphtoria, where I plan to live out the rest of my days. However, that doesn’t mean I’ll be out of reach. The elves speak very highly of you, and are ready to fight alongside Uther should the Profane rise to power once more. If you ever need my counsel, you need merely ask.”

“That is a shame, but I thank you for any help you can provide in the future, and I’m glad that Queen Elisandra will honor the old alliances. I just hope it never comes to that.”

Two days later, preparations were being arranged to raid the Pack meeting. Soldiers and knights were dressed as commoners with hidden weapons and formed a loose, scattered perimeter around the eastern district where the meeting would occur. The beastmen were known for their excellent senses, so ambushes were difficult. They had to stay far away and wait for all of the major players to be at the scene, and then Noah would signal the location. Until then, they pretended to be average citizens walking the evening streets, waiting for the order to tighten the noose.

The problem came when Noah snuck into Brusin’s tannery, getting ready to tail him to the meeting place. Brusin didn’t know the location, but someone was supposed to arrive and escort him there. As Noah climbed the stairs to the upper level, shrouded and silent, he heard an anguished groan and a body hitting the floor. Noah rushed to Brusin’s room to find him laid out, releasing his final breath.

Intracranial hemorrhage, arrhythmia, whatever it was, it struck fast, and despite Noah performing CPR and even administering a health potion, there was no bringing him back. Now Noah was stuck with a dead lead, and even worse, he heard someone knocking on the front door. If the escort arrived and found Brusin dead, the meeting might be called off, leaving Noah only one option.

He placed his hand on the corpse and activated his cloning magic, taking on Brusin’s appearance. He had discovered this ability when he first arrived in Colbrand, unintentionally mimicking a Harajin he killed, but rarely used it. His voice, smell, and even his clothes became an exact replica of Brusin, but as he stood up, he realized a problem: Brusin was shorter than he was. Whenever Noah used magic to change his appearance, whatever form he took was stretched over his natural build, like wearing a costume. Fortunately, Brusin wore loose-fitting clothes, so Noah remedied it with some crouching. Noah walked downstairs, hurried by the impatient banging on the door.

“Kurd,” he said, priming the man outside to answer with the password.

“Bollat.”

Noah opened the door, finding an anxious-looking man, whom Noah had seen at the tannery before, Jensen. “Brusin, ya ready or not? We’re gonna be late.”

“S’ready s’I’ll ever be,” Noah replied, donning Brusin’s speech patterns.

The two men started walking down the street, heading east.

“Ya think everywona show?” Noah asked.

“They should. Hopefully they have some good news. Ya hear about those arrows those Uths been usin’? Tuttle had to have his arm chopped because it swelled up so bad.”

“Sometimes I think those black worms are more trouble than they worth.”

“I don’t know, they’re a lot better than they used to be. I used to want to throw up when I saw someone transform, but now? They look pretty damn impressive. Maybe you should think about getting one.”

“Can ya imagine what my fat ass would look like if I used one of those things?”

“Maybe it would help you lose some weight. The guys who have them do look skinnier.”

“That’s ‘cause they’re getting sucked dry like a noble at a whorehouse.”

“Well that’s the cost of freedom. Collin, you know Collin, right? He said something interesting the other day. ‘It is the duty of life forms to seek ultimate power and strive for perfection and supremacy, regardless of the evil required’, or something like that.”

“Makes a good point. What is the fight for life other than pursuing growth? You either keep getting better or you die; even bugs know that.”

“Apparently he heard it from the boss.”

The meeting was taking place above a butcher shop, and once Jensen led Noah there, they went their separate ways. After giving the password to the man at the door, Noah headed upstairs to a candle-lit room, where almost a dozen men were seated at a large table, all of them mid-level members of the Pack. Most were former military, not ready to accept they had lost the war, while others were citizens who had proven their dedication to the cause. More than half showed signs of parasite attachment.

In the distance, Prince Lupin, his attendants, and Valia and Shannon waited for the signal, some more impatiently than others.

“This is ridiculous. Why are we putting so much faith in a stranger?” Paulman growled.

“Lord Noah has proven that he can get results. We’ve been waiting for an opportunity like this for ages, and he’s given it to us,” Lupin replied.

“Without telling us how. For all we know, he could be working for the enemy, and everything he told us could have been a ruse to earn our trust.”

“Don’t talk about Lord Noah like that!” Shannon blurted out, shocking everyone. “You speak of things you know nothing about.”

“Your Highness, this is too good to be true, and you know it,” Paulman argued. “We don’t even know what he’s doing over there. How can we trust any information he gives us when he won’t reveal how he got it? He’s probably in that meeting with them, spreading our secrets and laughing at us for believing him.”

“Noah has developed tools that let him see and hear from great distances, and has ages of experience in going unnoticed among others,” Valia interjected, preventing another burst from Shannon. “Just let him work, and as you’ve seen, the results speak for themselves.” She then turned to the centaur. “I’m glad to see you in high spirits.”

“Forgive me, My Lady, I’m really grateful for everything you and Lord Noah have done, and I don’t like hearing others ridicule you. But it’s not just that, this whole thing is making me tense. Lying in wait, surrounding them from all sides; is this what it felt like for the monsters that attacked my village? This weight of imminence?”

“Combat is the same no matter which side you take. If you want to live, if you want to win, you have to fight as effectively as possible.”

“I know, it just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I don’t understand how these men, who claim to fight for freedom for beastmen, would sell their souls to the Profane and enslave the very people they sought to liberate.”

Back at the meeting, Noah listened in to the conversation and even used his phone to record everything that was going on under the table.

“The Liege’s last dilthim delivery was a day late. Any later and a few of my men would have degenerated,” said one man. Dilthim was the seaweed used to make the stabilizing agent, drawing Noah’s interest.

“I told one of those pale fuckers that we can’t afford such lapses, and he nearly took my eye for speaking up. The Profane have wrenched this organization from our hands and made it their own,” said a second.

“Spoken as someone too afraid to make a real commitment. You don’t even have a parasite,” a third mocked.

The second man got to his feet. “I fight for Welindar and my people, not those sun-fearing cannibals! With that leech on your back, you’re nothing more than a puppet!”

“Enough,” said a fourth man, raising his hand. “We cannot hope to defeat Prince Lupin and Uther by fighting amongst ourselves. The Profane have shared their power with us, and the Liege has backed us since the very beginning. We wouldn’t be here without his material and financial support. A day’s delay is worth all the help he’s given us.”

“But at least the Profane are here with us. The Liege hides in Uther. I can’t trust someone until I’ve seen their face. Has anyone upstairs even met this person, or are they just as blind as we are?”

“It doesn’t matter. Our job, our calling, is to fight for these lands using whatever means we have at our disposal. That is what Kaisen wants us to do.”

“Any idea of when he’ll come back?”

“I heard he’s still gathering allies from the northern tribes, but should return soon, and with reinforcements. Until then, we have to keep this organization alive.”

As the meeting continued, Noah conjured a metal canister from his ring under the table and began venting gas. Odorless and colorless, it was designed to incapacitate anyone who breathed it in. The moment he felt the slightest effect, he pulled out a handkerchief and covered his nose.

“Brusin, what’s wrong?” one of the Pack members asked.

“My nose just started bleeding, don’t worry, continue.”

His original plan was to observe this meeting invisibly and be protected with a gas mask, but he had to improvise. As the gas filled the room, Noah slowed his breathing as much as he could and used the handkerchief to try and filter the air. Soon enough, the Pack members began feeling the effects, but it was too late. One by one, they all fell unconscious. Once they were out, Noah released his illusory guise and donned the prepared gas mask.

There was no telling if the gas affected the parasites, so he didn’t waste any time. He bound all the men, not with chains and shackles, but with wire, alchemically crafted to be as strong and sharp as possible. If they tried to transform, the wire would dig into their flesh. He also injected them with sedatives to ensure they wouldn’t wake up anytime soon.

Once all the men were incapacitated, Noah climbed onto the roof and used his grimoire to summon an illusory crow. He had it fly over to the nearest tall building and began cawing shrilly and continuously. That was the first signal to the Uther forces, letting them know the precise area of the meeting. As they started to close in, Noah heard a whistle in the distance from Valia. They were in position.

Noah shot a flashbang into the sky, signaling the Uther forces to advance. Many of the Pack members’ bodyguards were waiting outside the building, and when they saw and heard the flashbang and the charging knights, they realized they had been set up. They all transformed, taking on monstrous appearances, and roared in challenge. However, they were beset with arrows before they could draw Utheric blood. Among the archers was Shannon, and her speed and accuracy, honed on the plains, overshadowed the efforts of the knights and soldiers.

The fiends’ armor protected them for the most part, but all it took was one injury to have an effect. The result was instantaneous, tearing clothes and snapping straps as the monsters’ flesh inflated like a balloon. Anaphylactic shock was setting in, courtesy of the specially-crafted poison. The fiends who received injuries to their heads struggled to see as their eyelids swelled shut, and they coughed painfully as their throats threatened to close. It wasn’t enough to kill the abominations, but it made them vulnerable.

Prince Lupin jumped off his horse as he approached and drew his chain whip, swinging it around him to build up an aura of mana. “Steel Stinger!” He twisted his body and jerked his arm, sending the whip shooting forward like a tethered harpoon. It struck one of the fiends in the forehead and blew off the top of his skull, along with a decent amount of brain matter.

Lupin pulled the chain back and turned around, then swung it at a fiend as though he was bringing down a hammer. “Concussive Crack!” The whip struck the fiend’s shoulder with brutal force, crushing the bone into splinters. The fiends could heal flesh wounds quickly enough, but bone took more time and energy to mend. The knights finished what he started, hacking and stabbing the monster to death.

The prince and Valia, working together, broke through the enemy defenses, only to find a new foe smashing through their front line. At first glance, he appeared to be a towering warrior garbed in white armor. However, he was not wrapped in steel, but bone. Even the warrior’s face was hidden within a calcified helmet. It was an exoskeleton, appearing cancerous and deformed, yet able to easily repel blades and arrows. Knights and soldiers attacked from all sides with magic and weapons, only for their lives to be snuffed out instantly. Every swing of the juggernaut’s mighty arms obliterated skulls, pulverized torsos, and snapped limbs and swords alike.

“What kind of animal could he be?” Lupin hissed.

“I don’t think he’s a fiend. I think he’s another ghoul-type host,” Valia replied before raising her sword. “Zodiac: Teez! Baol!”

Valia activated her magic and sprinted towards the warrior, leaping into the air and bringing down her enchanted blade towards his head. He blocked her attack with his arm, and finally, his defenses were broken. Her sword cut through the layer of bone and deep into the muscle, but went no further, and with a snarl, the warrior flung her aside. The wound had sealed shut in seconds, and the armor was mending itself.

Turning his head, the ghoul spotted Lupin and charged with every footfall shaking the ground. “Protect the prince!” Paulman shouted. Soldiers and knights got in between Lupin and the charging warrior, and all attacked as one with steel and magic. Fire, water, and lightning splashed off the bone armor, while arrows, swords, and other weapons struggled to crack the white plating. On the other hand, the warrior had no issue slaughtering the seasoned fighters, crushing and tearing through their metal armor like they were aluminum cans. Blood sprayed freely with every blow he delivered, shredding flesh and turning bones into splinters.

Lupin began spinning his whip, building up a charge and then sent it hurtling towards the warrior. “Steel Stinger!” It struck the ghoul in the collarbone and left a fist-sized crater, making him momentarily falter, but he regained his momentum and closed the distance.

Lupin rolled to the side at the last moment, narrowly dodging a killing blow from the warrior’s spiked arm, and swung his whip and wrapped it around the ghoul’s ankle, trying to trip him up. Instead, it yanked the prince to the ground, barely hanging on to his weapon. The ghoul stopped, grabbed the whip, pulled it from Lupin’s hand, then turned and approached the prince.

Before he could get close, an arrow struck him in the face. Rather than a normal arrow, it was tipped with a glass sphere filled with acid. The acid smoked as it dissolved bone and leaked through the gaps in the faceplate into the ghoul’s eyes and mouth, causing him to gag and growl in pain. With one good eye, he spotted Shannon, already nocking another arrow. He ducked down to dodge the second but could not avoid the third, hitting him in the knee and eating away at the exposed joint. The wound would take time to heal, and there were plenty more arrows where that came from.

The ghoul charged towards her, trying to dodge her arrows as best as he could, but she was no amateur and shot him numerous times. Billowing smoke and dripping with melted bone, he leaped towards her for a killing blow. Before he could reach Shannon, Valia attacked from the side, kicking him in the head with enough strength to knock him through the air and send him crashing into a building.

“Zodiac: Rakshon!”

Valia sheathed her sword and approached the ghoul, slowly getting to his feet. His neck had been broken, and his head twisted, but he worked it back into place just in time to receive Valia’s super-powered punch to the chin. He got to his feet and countered with a punch to her stomach. From there, the two exchanged blows with all their strength and might, Valia’s steel body vs. the ghoul’s bone armor, her enhanced strength vs. his Profane might. Each punch and kick landed with the force of a cannon ball, and the two fighters were doing everything they could to not get tossed through the air.

“Valia, move back!”

Hearing Noah’s voice, Valia stepped out of the way, and a bundle of acid bombs flew past her, bombarding the ghoul. With his armor broken and the tissue underneath exposed, the acid went to work, eating away his muscles and causing shards of bone to fall away like eggshells. Noah approached, hurling more and more glass spheres, each breaking and releasing their payload, wreathing the ghoul in smoke.

“Now, with me! Go for the arms!”

Noah and Valia drew their blades and slashed the ghoul simultaneously. The armor that had stopped Valia’s last attack was no longer an issue, and the warrior’s arms were removed. Before the ghoul could react, Lupin cracked his whip and wrapped it around the monster’s leg, succeeding in bringing him down.

“Shannon, crush him!” Noah shouted.

She hesitated, unsure of what he meant, then quickly assumed her centaur form. She galloped over, leaped into the air, and landed square on the ghoul’s chest with all her weight. All four of her hooves were like blows with a war hammer, pulverizing his ribcage and organs. He vomited a fountain of blood and passed out.

As Noah approached, Lupin looked around, seeing all the other fiends being brought down by his knights and soldiers. “Lord Noah, were you able to secure the middle echelon members?”

“All unconscious and accounted for, just waiting to be hauled away.”

“Then we have victory.” He raised his fist. “Men, we have just struck a decisive blow against the Profane! The night is ours!” All the knights and soldiers raised their weapons and cheered, and their voices were heard throughout Welindar.

As the captured Pack members were hauled away, Noah quickly collected the vanquished ghoul. Tenacious as he was, his wounds were extensive and healing slowly, and Noah didn’t want to lose such a valuable research subject. From previous experiments, he found that the Profane didn’t react to healing potions, but gained power by consuming others. He was too injured to willingly eat, but that wasn’t a problem. Noah retrieved one of the ghoul’s severed arms and forced it into his mouth, guiding the lower fangs into an artery. Immediately, the muscles in the throat began to quiver as they started sucking in the blood, turning the arm into a shriveled husk and restoring some vitality to the splattered ghoul.

Once the captured Pack members were brought back to the castle, those with parasites were separated from those without. Even if they couldn’t transform, the hosts received the benefits of their parasites, and Noah was still searching for a way to safely remove them, so regular interrogation methods wouldn’t work. He had a couple ideas of what to do with them, but in the meantime, he turned his attention to those with unblocked pain receptors.

The men without parasites woke up in a dungeon chamber, all of them chained to the walls, unable to move. A few candles lit the chamber, and fresh air wafted through the steel grates of the small windows overhead. Of course, this dungeon was built by beastmen, for beastmen, so whether the prisoners could transform into snakes or mice, there was no squeezing out. Though facing each other, the gags in their mouths wouldn’t let them talk. They could only grunt and groan to express their confusion. What happened? How did they end up here?

The door opened, and a man stepped inside, carrying a brazier filled with wood. He was older, with icy eyes and a pale face covered in scars. Was he the jailer? The interrogator? He looked like he had plenty of dark experience, but it didn’t matter what he tried because they wouldn’t talk. They attempted to curse him and spit despite their gags, but he ignored them and set the brazier down in the middle of the room.

“I know what it feels like to be in your position, chained up and awaiting torment, trying to brace yourself against the pain you know is coming,” the man said, speaking with a dry, deep voice that forced the Pack members to listen. “Your throat is as parched as the sand under your feet, and your hands tremble in your shackles. You try to leave your body, to separate yourself from your senses, but every twinge of discomfort, every minor ache or annoyance, drags you back to reality and makes you wonder how much worse it’s going to get.”