Fate - First Reply Spindly Limbs

[Amelia]

The beast stared down at the girl with a ravenous glare, it’s sharp yet crooked teeth bared like a warning of her inevitable demise. By the looks of the creature it seemed emaciated yet from the bodies left on the ground it seemed to have little interest in consuming its victims. Standing on it’s dog-like hind legs it towered above its prey like little more than a sickly overgrown elf, it’s silhouette being little more than one spindly limb connected to the other as it staggered and stumbled across the field from one victim to the next. Everyone in the caravan had fallen to the abomination already, its final victim slowly backing away from it as it slowly lumbered its way towards her.

With one foot before the other Amelia held her dagger pointed towards the beast and it slowly began to approach her. The creature had terrified her when she had first seen it and by all means she was still scared out of her mind, but either through sheer stupidity or adrenaline the fear had turned into resolve. Fighting was not in her blood, she was a doctor by trade, but no sane parent would send an entirely unprepared child out to run errands for them. While the self-defense classes might not have prepared Amelia for a chance encounter with a wraiths, it would by all means prove to be a valuable lesson nonetheless.

The beast raised its claw above its head to swipe for the girl. She ducked and hit her back against the wagon. Knocked prone she began to push herself away from the beast with a long row of ungraceful kicks until she reached the other side of the cart.

Coming out on the other end she was then greeted by the beast who had already perched on top of the cart’s side railing. Standing on all fours it tilted its head at her as it merely seemed to watch what the girl was doing with an unexpected sense of curiosity. The terrified half-elven girl kept on crawling away from it in panic and didn't stop until she came close to a nearby fallen guard. He was dead, he had a weapon, and right now that was exactly what she needed. With a weapon in hand she had a very slim chance of surviving this. It was an almost miniscule chance, but a chance was still a chance.

However, beyond the now desolate grove the sounds of struggle would have called out far and wide into the midday sun. Sounds of men and women shrieking in horror and subsequent death was hard to mistake for anything other than what they truly were. Little would Amelia know that fate had decided to throw not just the one chance encounter in her direction, but a second one as well. A single person approached the field, drawn in by the sounds of the struggle.

Who that person was however, well…

 

[Knox]

The old man was travelling once more, having spent some time helping the villagers from the last few towns with minor aches and ills that, while they accpounted as plauging them, he had attributed to poor diet and close proximity. Pulling the thin cloak over himself, he quietly cursed the sun over head.

He loathed travelling in the glaring light of day. Given his vampiric nature, even in his relatively human form it irritated his skin, making him seem all the more a grumpy old man as he enjoyed portraying. Not that he was ever actually truly angry or even slightly aggitated by those around him enough to warrant the small snap and snarling grumbles that he so readily tossed to other travellers.

But one whose character was built upon a show must always remain in character lest those around begin to suspect falsehoods.

The sleeveless jupon swished beneath the mud dabbled grey cloak, his satchel of herbs and remedies on his hip bobbing back and forth as he trugded onward to the next place of business. At least as much business as an undertaker or physician could garber whilst traversing the wilds.

He smell of blood and death touched his nose, a small hiss of displeasure coming to his lips before he realized and stifled the action.

"Oh bugger. Brigands or some such no doubt." He sighed, pulling the leather strap of the satchel from his shoulder and carrying it as a hand bag. The small tool bag beneath the cloak was grasped in the other hand, the small steel shovel and pickaxe clinking as he moved behind a tree and deposited them there.

"Surely no one would mind if I picked the loathesome swine from the road. Safer travels and more business I suppose." Knox whistled as he moved forward, still wrapped in the cloak and emerging from the treeline to find a strange sight before him.

Creatures had assailed a caravan it seemed. A woman currently fending for her life as he stepped out and blinked at the sight.

"Well bugger. Not brigands." He spat with a frown. He shook his head, not entirely sure how much he could get away with in the daylight, amd with a surviving person against the beasts before him.

"May as well get stuck in. Not like I've a thing better to do yet." He shrugged before taking a jogging run towards the woman. His hands flexed, claws emerging quickly as his pace quickened to a flash of a run toward the single limbed creature.

A grinning smile appearing as a single swipe of four claws took out the singular limb before punting it with his foot towards the treeline as it fell. An alarming feat for what looked to be an old man.

"Off with you, brutish thing!" He called after it, turning to the thing on the wagon and calling to it. "Either come down or take leave." His face was still in the human mask, but his hands and skin were hidden behind the folds of the cloak as he watched it make its move.

 

[Amelia]

With a panicked pat at the guard’s body she began to reach for whatever she could find but was left without much of anything. The creature jumped off the wagon and slowly began to approach her. With its claws raised above its head it prepared to finish what it had started. Amelia felt a slow sense of dread spread throughout her body as she prepared to meet her end. It had been good, she had helped a great many people with their problems and if this was how she was to die then perhaps there were worse ways. As she let in one final breath before the creature attacked she closed her eyes.

Yet death would not come. The creature shrieked in pain as it stumbled over and away from its prey. Blood as black as the night began to drip from its shoulder as the arm that had once been connected to it fell and hit Amelia in her stomach. The creature not taking all too kindly at the interruption turned at the spot to let out a shriek at the clawed old man. High-pitched as the noise was it could have made a coward out of any other lesser man.

But this was by far not a lesser man. Amelia threw the disembodied arm off of herself and pushed against the ground until she was back on her feet. Her eyes set not on the old man’s claw but the creature that had tried to attack her. The arm that had fallen on her chest began to melt like a candle in the desert sun as from the socket where it had once been a small stump began to emerge. She let out a panicked exhale and reached for one of the dropped axe that had once belonged to the nearby dead guardsman.

Axe in hand she raised it before her and readied herself for whatever would come next. The creature went low and pounced at the old man. Amelia swung her axe over her head to strike at the beast, but without any real experience with such a weapon she found that the beast merely shrugged the strike off.

Not content with the challenge the girl provided the beast threw her away with a wide sweep to the stomach meant to get her away more than it was meant to hurt her. At least for now. There was a struggle of power to be had, and this abomination would not be content to share the spoils of its victory with anyone else. Lunging one more time it tried to get straight at the vampire’s throat to tear his head clean off if it could.

 

[Knox]

The one he had struck made to grab his throat and he scoffed at the manuever.

"If you insist."

One clawed hand shot up at inhuman speed as the girl was flung away, piercing the things hand as he ducked and raked forwards. His other hand darted to his hip and producing a stake of hedgewood.

It was as easy as drawing a hot knife through butter for the elder vampire, claws flaying what was flesh amd bone into ribbons hanging from bone and sinew as he closed the distance and shoved himself against the torso of the creature.

A solid thunk resounded as the stake found its spine, burrowing itself there before he withdrew his clawed hands and gave it another shove backwards.

"Igni foroque!" He called as he stepped away. The hedge stake igniting with hot fire in its core.

"I am livid to have to waste that on you." He spat, preparing himself for continued fighting as he hid his skin in the cloak once more.

 

[Amelia]

Breathing got difficult as Amelia tried to roll over and push herself back on her feet again. She gasped and begged for air to come her way but it was as if something pressed at her chest and stomach to keep her lungs from filling up properly. Reality became a blur of colors and lights as she reached out towards Knox with a shaky hand, unable to utter a single word. Though the struggle was in vain and the hand fell limp against the dry ground with a thud. Amelia was out cold, unconscious, but the fight still raged on.

The creature did not understand spoken language, or if it did it refused to listen. It lunged but the old man was smarter, a creature that didn’t rely on base instinct to smite its prey. As it lept it foun it’s forearm torn away to leave it defanged by all means. Growling it gnashed its teeth towards the man and lept once more into the embrace of the old man. It seemed little of an inconvenience at first like a splinter in a lump of fat, but as the first ember of a fire crackled within the spoke’s wooden body the wraith would freeze for a second before its entire form turned into a roaring inferno.

With no arms to latch on to the old man with the creature would settle for the only limbs it had left at its disposal. It stepped back and the creature's mouth cracked wide open before it lunged for Knox to try and wrap its fanged feet in his stomach to pry it open and once more attempt to bite at his throat.

In the fire that now engulfed the entirety of the creature a voice would hiss with a nearly demonic whisper.

“Hunger. Consume. Destroy.” It would sway from side to side, ear to ear with an increasingly desperate undertone. The voice was neither male nor female. It was guttural yet oddly soothing. “Master. Death. Serve.”

With its pleas unheard the creature would explode and erupt into an inferno that would grow bigger and bigger before it swiftly imploded upon itself and disappeared, leaving behind only the one final word:

“Weak.”

With its essence destroyed the shadow of the creature was gone, leaving behind only a small grove set ablaze by the creature's unexpected end.

 

[Knox]

It lunged and gnashed its teeth at him, making him grimace and step away further as the fire took hold. It became an inferno, and the glint of malicious joy was plain upon his features. When it fully devoted itself to attempting once more latching onto him, he had taken a brief glance toward the woman on the ground.

He felt the teeth and fire upon his skin as his hands shot out and pierced the feet coming towards him, pulling his neck back with arms extended. He twirled and threw the thing away from him, the cloak tearing in a place as its teeth grabbed hold of the hood and loosed it from his body.

He snarled as the sun kissed his skin, the claws and abilities being forsaken quickly to avoid any immediate ramifications as his hands burned intensely for a moment before whispy smoke rose instead of small licks of fire.

It stood but swayed, speaking finally but broken in any sensible manner. The first set of words were not surprising in the least given the damage he could see about the clearing. The next set of uttered words made him arch a brow at a suggested master.

Which answered one part of a question that had formed upon seeing all of this carnage. The intensity of which it burned grew, and the concern for his own well being was at the forefront of his thoughts as he moved well clear of the beast.

He glanced around once more, doing a double take as he remembered the woman and grabbed her by the collar and dragging her behind a tree and casting his gaze across the fields.

The explosive demise of the creature gave clear sign to the finale of their exchange. To which he was thankful for.

"Weak? I do so certainly hope you spoke solely of oneself." He huffed, standing aside the tree and taking stock of the scene before him.

It seemed a waste, all of this loss of life. And for what? He turned back to the woman, examining her for a time before shaking his head. He wouldn't get answers while she was out of sorts, so he about making himself both comfortable and useful.

He searched the cart for a time, finding a suitable replacement for his now burnt cloak, keeping it close as he slowly worked.

He drug the fallen to the edge of the grove, several yards away from the woman but close enough to not have a long ways to walk for examimation.

One of the fellows had been gutted, and he pondered for a breaths time on extracting the mans liver before remembering a detail that made him wary of such endeavors. The supplies he had seen inside the wagon. He could not be sure that the one to survive wasn't the healer, and he was not about to risk exposure for a tatsy morsel.

He sated himself however on a small donation of blood from each corpse as early payment for his burial services later. Wiping his mouth on a scrap of cloth, he burnt it before pondering what to do about the bodies now neatly arranged within eyesight of the woman.

His back was to her, a cloak from her cart now about him as he scratched his chin and looked back to the cart.

"I'll need to fetch my bags as well, else some fortunate soul finds it later. Horsefeathers this was an unpleasant surprise." He frowned, casting about for his next course of action. He had spent almost an hour finding a cloak and moving bodies. And if animals caught wind of the other creature being gone, they could come challenge him for what remained.

"May yet have to burn the bodies rather than bury them proper. Avoid carrion birds and scavengers. Then again they would simply be feeding the cycle rather than interfering outright." He spoke aloud his thoughts, working through ideas of how best to deal with all of this.

 

[Amelia]

It was a slow but subtle stir at first as the girl slowly came to it. A sense of curiosity blended with confusion as the blur of reality made itself felt. A sharp pain spread across her head and threatened to pierce her skull. Everything in her body hurt, and almost twice so as she began to move about. A soft and slender hand reached up to brush a set of brown locks out of her face and tuck it back behind one of her knife-shaped ears.

The world remained a blur, but from her seated position she could have sworn she made out the shape of a person, though they wore a cloak that made their silhouette hard to discern. From his voice Amelia would assume it was a man. He spoke to himself, talked about what to do and she would slowly raise her hand towards him.

She couldn’t speak. Each attempt ended up as little more than a hiss. So, instead of having the ability to talk she would try for the ability to walk. With a pained groan she pushed herself off the ground to stand on her legs. Each gust of wind caused her entire body sway but she remained standing. With one arm holding onto her other she hunched forward. The bruise on her stomach was evident under her ripped tunic as a small bead of blood trekked down her cheek, reinvigorated by the pressure of simply standing up. A thin layer of dust covered her olive skin, sparing seemingly no piece of fabric or skin from dirt.

“Thank you.” She just barely managed to hiss as she staggered towards the man. “I was-”

A cough stopped her halfway through. She glanced into her hand to assess any sort of internal damage. Clear, not a trace of blood. Good.

“I was dead, for sure.” Her lungs just barely permitted before she had to let in a new breath. “What-”

“What is your name, stranger?”

 

[Knox]

He had looked about a few times, his words still chasing the thoughts and ideas around as he heard the woman stir behind him. Not faltering with his idle chatter, he continued to ignore her for the time being, his acute senses likely to give away what he truly was if she had seen any of what he had already shown by engaging in an altercation with the wretched thing earlier.

The slight hiss of breath leaving her mouth made him wonder if she was alright, but until she drew obvious attention to herself he kept himself facing away from her and examining the bodies before him. He drew a hand to his chin, cupping his elbow with the other as he waited for a bit longer.

She managed to hiss out a thank you, finally twisting around to look at her and wondering how much pain she was currently in given the blow that she had taken early.

A brow went up at her assessment of her imminent demise without his involvement, and that would have likely been a true statement had the sounds of battle not caught his attention.

"You are certainly welcome child. You may call me Knox, Knox Galvanus. Wandering physician and undertaker. What might your name be, my dear?" He gave a small bow alongside his introduction, the cloak fluttering a bit and revealing handsome though plainly aged features.

"Are you experiencing any lingering effects or unseen injuries from the swipe that you received earlier?" He asked sweetly and closing the distance between them with swift and graceful steps.

His smile was almost too pleasant, but his eyes looked her over, taking note of the small cuts on her features. Hands snaked their way into hers, a gentle strength behind the steadying grasp he had on her.

"If so, I will have to have you wait for a brief moment until I retrieve my medical bag. I had no idea what to expect upon entering the clearing. Bandits and that manner of ilk were certainly higher upon my list than stumbling across some sort of summoned creature so readily efficient with dispatching it's opponents." He huffed with a small shrug.

"But alas, I am no oracle and nor have I made the acquaintance of one in order to affirm their abilities."

 

[Amelia]

The way he talked reminded Amelia of her mother, always calling her a child, always lacing everything with enough sugar to make you wonder if you had just been spoken with or spoken to. He even introduced himself as a doctor which quite frankly made her wonder if it was just her mother in disguise or if it was something that all doctors did. More importantly she began to wonder if it was something that she did as well. The man asked her a question and she would let on a small smile despite the pain.

“Amelia Eastwater,” She said with a small curtsy that her body immediately punished her for. A small grunt parted her lips and bared her teeth before she stood up again to look at the man. “Also a wandering physician, of sorts.”

The man asked if she was okay and Amelia would slowly shake her head. Between throwing herself around the field like a mad woman to avoid attacks and getting hit in the stomach she felt pretty out of it.

“I am fine, all things considered.” She said with less of a hiss, her soft voice finally finding the air to speak. “I have my satchel on the wagon. Should have the basics covered with those.”

As well as a few medical books, in case Knox would have gone through it in his search for something to cover his skin with. The girl took an uneasy step, her hand clinging to her side as she began to push towards the wagon behind Knox.

“I’ve dealt with plenty of bruises and cuts before.” She chimed with a small chuckle that quickly turned into a pained grunt. “They’re just usually on someone else.”

Her eyes rested on the man for a moment as she considered what to say. She was thankful, but they were also out in parts that few ever had reason to venture to unless they were going somewhere else. By all means that most likely included those that had decided to make these drylands their home.

“How did you find us?” She said and looked back at the pile of dead bodies. The urge to correct herself spread through her body like the frown upon her lips. “Or, me.” She said and let on a long sigh. “I guess it’s just me.”

 

[Knox]

"Amelia Eastwater," he smiled as she curtsied, hands hovering around her as she grunted in pain and struggled to stand once more. Seemed there were underlying injuries, though nothing major if she wasn't hacking up blood or doing more than grunting with effort of standing.

"All right then, I'll get you back to your cart and fetch my bags quickly after, more medicine to be had at the least." Remaining close, he offered help as she walked, but nothing more than what was required to avoid any undue curiosity. And seeming like a lecher.

Her question caught him off guard for a brief moment, a small smile forming as he settled her on the wagon.

"As I said, travelling physician, and undertaker. I do not just mind the living my dear, but also put the dead to rest. I was finished in the town south of here and making my way along this path when I heard this all going on." Her sigh made him shake his head.

"Even if only you survived, you must not dawdle on such thoughts as guilt. They were hired to protect you, correct? Then they have served their duty to the fullest. What would you like done with the bodies? I don't imagine they are from around here are they?" He finally asked, not wanting to make a decision as that without the person that it would affect in the long run.

 

[Amelia]

A grunt parted her lips in full again as she sat down on the wagon. In the distance she could see the piled bodies, the warm winds carrying the smell of their struggle across the field. The smell of blood and dirt clouded the senses for a moment as Amelia slowly began to nod her head at what the man was saying. She didn’t feel guilty, at least not to any greater extent. She simply knew that her trip home from this point on would be a lot more complicated.

“We are from Alliria.” Amelia said and let her head shake for a moment. “And they weren’t hired to me as much as I bought into their caravan looking for a group to travel with.”

It was fair to assume that she didn’t know them very well. Travelers such as herself hiring on with caravans to provide a basic service on a particular stretch of the road was fairly common. Given that they had been traveling for about three days Amelia would say that they were roughly a fifth of a portion through on their trip. This road wasn’t one of the usual ones. Taking a detour such as this one was always a gamble but one that Amelia had found to be less likely to interrupt their trip home. The only issue now being what to do with the goods in the wagon.

Amelia gave the wagon behind her a good look before she looked back at the corpses in the distance. A waft of darkness not too unlike the one that had wafted off of the wraith had begun to amass atop one of the bodies. Amelia gasped and quickly rose to her feet against her better judgment. A hand raised towards the corpses. She pointed towards the only other elf in the group.

“Look!” She exclaimed and grabbed her axe once more. Amelia began to shamble over towards the bodies with all due haste. While it was hard to look, this needed to be done. She raised the axe above her head and let in a deep breath that she held in her lungs as she swung for the elf’s throat.

Once more her inexperience with the weapon became evident as it hit the ground by its side. She raised the axe once more to hack the danger away. This time it struck true, the elf’s neck was cut in two but it was not enough. The waves of shadows that had rolled off the head stopped as it was separated from its previous owner, yet the shadows that wafted off it’s body did not. Amelia began to back away in horror.

At this point the shadows had begun to spread to the other corpses nearby, the skin of the elf before her turning into a shade of black all too reminiscent of the creature that had almost taken her life a mere hour ago.

“Burn them!” Amelia shouted over at Knox. “Burn them all!”

 

[Knox]

She spoke after a short time, seeming to gather her wits after what was likely a harrowing fight for her life. He could recall such events of his own, struggles and adrenaline inducing stupors of shock and numbed vision of the world before one's eyes.

It had been some time ago for him granted, being that he now had a regular habit of existing and then secluding himself for a time for a generation or so to avoid questions of age. But familiarity with the subject was not entirely lost upon the old being.

Explaining that she had hired on however explained her own involvment, and her earlier statement confirmed his own suspicion of what he had suspected about her profession.

"Then their loss is not of major signifigance to you. At the least then I should-" He began to explain his intent before she raised a hand and pointed to the corpses behind them. He watched in silence, a curious rise in his brow as he saw the dark waft of energy implant itself in the pile, and annoyed huff coming from him as he peeled off the front panel of the foot board to the wagon. It snapped away, and he followed behind her quickly.

Her second swing connected, but it was plainly evident she was of the life saving variety rather than one of those accustomed to combat.

The board overhead, he rolled the bodies together and laid the plank atop them before speaking his incatation.

"Exuret terram splendor ignis et aestus!" The board burst with blue fire, molten chunks breaking away as his hands aged a brief moment and his strength was sapped to feed the flames. A huff of effort coming from him as he watched the sticky mass of flames spread.

"Twisted bugger, whomsoever is doing this. The last beasty spoke of a master. And one can assume they are either close or have an item in the wagon doing this." He scoffed.

 

[Amelia]

The shadows took to the fire with the same kind of reaction as it had before. The fire grew far larger than it should have, engulfing the entire pile-up of people before it swiftly imploded upon itself with another hiss that had yet to be able to form any words.

In the aftermath Amelia began to let in one rapid breath after another. Despite the pain in her stomach and chest the panic was real. Pushing even further against the pain she had her fingers and hands prod against her slender form to check the wounds she had acquired. The bruises on her chest and stomach did not agree with the method, but Amelia needed to make sure.

No, this would not do. She grabbed at the bottom of her shirt and pulled it off as she approached the cart. Sensation was good, vision was better. The shape of her body spoke of someone that held very little exercise in her life, yet traveled enough to keep it slender from the road. The big bruise on her stomach was disconcerting but something she could live with.

Amelia threw Knox a quick glance before she went back to her injuries again. He was a doctor and an undertaker, he had seen the bodies of people who had injuries far worse than hers. She shook her head and let her hands continue wander up towards her head to check the cut on her cheek. For a moment she froze as she threw her glance towards the spot where she had fallen over in her earlier escape from the creature.

This cut was nothing, a bad landing and nothing else. The claws had not sunk into her skin that she could remember or see, and for that she was thankful. “Thank the gods.” She whispered under her breath as she placed her hand against the wagon and allowed herself a moment of relief. “Nothing.”

“You might be right.” She said with a huff and slowly knelt down to pick up her shirt again and throw it over her shoulders again. Yet if Knox checked the vials of blood he had collected from the dead he would have found that they had since then turned into a thick tar-like bile. Amelia began to button up the shirt again and threw the doctor a look. “What would something… Magical look like?” She asked the man who at the very least had experience in the field. “I don’t— I am not familiar with these sort of things.”

 

[Knox]

The pile caught fire as readily as the singular being had much to his relief. Another curious part of coming across this wagon under assault. He quietly watched the show from a safe distance, ensuring that none of the bodies animated enough to escape the crescendo of the fire and self contained explosion.

Shortly after, the woman wandered back to the wagon and began a self examination. Choosing to give her a modicum of propriety by remaining where he was and keeping his gaze on the spot where the bodies had been only a short time before. A small sigh escaped his lips as he produced the vials from earlier, noting the change and being thankful for the woman's presence to deter him from partaking of the fallen caravan earlier.

It would have been a rather foul thing most likely to have had that turn to, well, whatever it was contained within the glass in hand in his stomach.

A quick perplexed rise and fall of his brows gave him enough time to allow the woman to finish her exam, stealing a quick glance at her back before the shirt went on for his own check.

A nasty bruise to be certain, and most likely a sprain or heavily stressed muscle to be sure given that she, at least what he could still yet discern from his observations, did indeed not have as terrifically active a lifestyle as the others.

Her question got him looking to the wagon behind her and giving it a thoughtful stare. Magical items were not instrinsically easy to locate without prior knowledge of what their purpose was.

Some could seem as benign or as malevolent in design and practice as the user intended.

"Would be hard to say for certain as the item in question may be hidden inside a wagon of goods. And burning the wagon would be an impractical solution given that the fire would likely not burn hot enough to do little more than reveal all of the jewelry and other metals."

"But the waste of time and material to wherever the intended destination was is also a significant factor in this also. Without being certain-" he rambled for a moment, pocketing the vials once more and turning to face her.

"I would be willing to wager it is either a trinket, a ring or locket of some sort. Or an item be it a book, dagger, or some other utilitarian device readily able to be hidden or stashed." He chewed on his lip a moment, crossing his arms and rubbing his chin as he looked over the wagon once more.

"Was this group of individuals rather cheerful and easy going or somewhat brooding and standoffish? Would give me a touch better insight into the theoretical design of the wagon either way."

"Honest folk tend to make hidden compartments readily accessible, while those of questionable intent stick their hidey hole compartments in rather tedious and effort inducing places. Or at least that is what I have read anyway." He joked, giving a shoulder shrug as he stared past her. Always a question with people, just how truthful they were. One could dine, live beside, and work beside another and never truly know them until a bear was running you down.

Or a vampire in Knox's case.

 

[Amelia]

A sigh blew past her lips as she too looked over the wagon. If they wanted to find a potential source of this corruption it seemed as if they needed to do more than simply burn it. Amelia looked over at the now burnt corpses as Knox asked whether or not it had been a jovial trip. From what she could remember everything had seemed just about normal. Some of the guards were less excited about the long detour they took, but the leader of the crew was happy to meet just about everyone. The rest of the people in the group were somewhere in between.

“It was a bunch of people happy enough to make a living on the road.” Amelia said, her lips curling into a frown as she thought about the rest of the road ahead of her. “So, yes, they were jovial enough. Though the guards were not particularly thrilled about the long trip.”

Not wasting time getting to work Amelia went about searching the wagon for clues. Her hands went rifling through a small burlap sack to try and see if that was where the item could have been. She patted against small balls of yarn that were warm to the touch. She pulled the item out and gave it a look. White with a pearlescent orange shimmer. Veinsbrough cotton yarn, Amelia realized. It was not something she saw this far from the Capital of the World, Alliria.

She put the yarn down in the sack again and looked over at Knox to see what he was doing.

“Could it be under the wagon?” She asked rather absent-mindedly, thinking nothing of it. “If they were shifty, you said they tried to hide it somewhere less obvious.”

 

[Knox]

She informed him that it had been a jovial trip, and that all had seemed above board for the most part given the guards aggitation toward a a detour.

He frowned as he thought. Any could hide their intentions readily, but few sacrificed themselves to create a one off chance of stealing what he guessed to be fairly common goods.

Another interloper perhaps then. Granted he had yet to see any come forward, but if there had been a mental connection between hand and master, they likely would not attempt another assault without some chance of success.

So either an item still, or perhaps someone biding time.

He came forward, still cloaked while circling the wagon as Amelia searched inside. A simply constructed thing, likely well used and cared for. But human hands told secrets that many idly ignored. Wood also gave secrets when one knew where to look.

The pair combined along with time and constancy could tell a story of how something was used.

Looking at the sideboards, his eyes scrutinized the grain. Oils leftover from working hands and bodies leaning over the edge stained the sides in places the lacquer was either worn off completely, or worn thin over time.

His gaze followed the stains, circling to the other side to see what it told compared to the other.

Amelia spoke, and he politely gave his undivided attention before speaking.

"Likely. Oil stains from hands or worn down places that shoukd not be are something to keep an eye out for. Much like hunting down an arrowhead in a thigh, or the point of a dagger in the adbomen." He explained, trying to convey the level of scrutiny that might have been required for the task.

Then again he could very well be wrong about how well hidden something was. The hidden cache could very well have been plainly strapped to what the wagon owner saw as a genuinely good hiding spot that a glance would not reveal.

"No luck with the goods then? Bugger. Likely something they purchased and meant to sell elsewhere, or even perhaps keep for themselves depending on how it was presented to them." He idly chattered as he examined the other hand rail.

Hucksters often sold random odds and ends as fantastic items of renown or power to either naive or gullible buyers. If this had been the case, he was loathe to think of what else that huckster might have had on them.

 

[Amelia]

It took some time to dig through the rest of the items on the back of the wagon. Piles of yarn and other fabrics had been laid out before her along with fruits and vegetables, but little that she would think to be anything of real value. With her inexperience in the field Amelia had focused rather heavily on jewelry.

Amongst the caravan owner’s belongings she had found a few sets of coin purses, but as she had gone through those none seemed to be trinkets. There were coins, but no rings or necklaces to speak of. At one point she had been tempted to pocket the money but refused out of principle. It wouldn’t feel right, and she knew that.

“Nothing, no.” She said and sighed in defeat as she stepped down from the wagon. Before her laid the bodies of the crew. A smell of burnt flesh and wood had spread across the area along with a vague hint of something Amelia couldn’t quite put a name to. She wrote it off as whatever corruption had taken root in the fallen, and yet in that moment…

Her eyes lingered on the bodies in horror.

“... What if one of them was wearing this trinket?” She asked Knox and turned around to look at him. “I don’t want that to be true, but chances are...”

 

[Knox]

He hadn't found anything unusual with his own search, a faint hand sized oil stain around the sideboards towards the axles suggesting the owner was diligent about checking his rig, but nothing beyond that.

He scrutinized the wagon, listening to her search as he continued with his own.

"Strange to run afoul of, well, whatever that thing was. I would take a guess that either someone purposefully created thay being, or someone found something they most certainly should not have." He filled the air with words, the silence of the woods around them a touch troubling to him.

Amelia spoke once more, suggesting it may be on the bodies. A thoughtful look appeared, his focus now shifting to the burnt corpses.

"May very well be. Then again, much like the wagon it could simply be a false lead. Certainly worth checking though. At the very least pull some rings off for mementos of those they left behind. Have you any idea who they were or where they hailed from? If not, I do say that identifying them might be a touch troublesome at this point." He added with a small chuckle.

"Then again it may very well be a blessing their loved ones had not seen them in such a deplorable state. Even if we are unlucky enough to not find anything, I would very much like to bury them proper to avoid scavengers." Continuing on as he stepped over to the bodies and began meticulously peeling apart the shirt and other garments on one. He checked chest and fingers, pulling off a ring and rubbing it on the jupon before setting it on a piece of barren earth that had been scorched away.

"If you do happen to stumble upon something that you are loathe to touch, please alert me. I have tools near that would allow me to remove it without directly touching rings or pendants." He added, his hand running across the persons eyelids and closing them before laying their hands over the chest in a crossed manner.

If they hadn't been charred, it would have simply looked as though they were sleeping.

"Always a sad thing having to lay someone low. Granted that eternal slumber is a likely far better prospect than being a puppet for what remained of their life I suppose." He once more filled the air, not expecting an answer as he moved to the next one.

 

[Amelia]

The thought of going over the dead bodies was not all too appealing to Amelia. She wasn’t an undertaker, and for her to go over corpses was more often than not a sign that she had messed up. She was a doctor, she kept people alive. Everything about the events that had transpired today had pushed her to the limit of her comfort zone, but she kept on pushing. She got that from her father. Never a quitter, always a fighter. This situation might have been a metaphorical battle, but much like any other battle it was only over when you allowed it to be.

“There is the chance that we also happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, too.” Amelia said and looked at the pile of corpses with an increasingly distant stare. “I didn’t know them all that well, though the caravan leader kept claiming to be from Alliria just like me.”

She didn’t laugh at his joke about identifying them, the comment mostly passing her by as she tried to remember where the leader said he had come from specifically. Somewhere by the docks was all she could remember.

“Death is in many ways as big part of life as life itself.” Amelia finally said and snapped out of her stare. “As doctors we do our best to prevent it but we need to accept that it is an inevitability nonetheless.” Her lips curled into a grin as she looked over at Knox. “Unless you’re a vampire, of course. Though I’ve never met one myself.”

That she was aware of anyway.

“Would you need help laying these folks to rest? Would we dig one big hole or a grave for each of them?”

 

[Knox]

Her comment of being in the wrong place at the wrong time was a thought that he himself had already had. It was a possibility entirely to be sure. Though the creatures speaking of a master made him wonder.

"Also very possible. Before it imploded though, that nasty blighter spoke of a master. So the question also becomes that of coincidence, or perhaps purely bad luck for running afoul of someone. Either that or encountering the beginnings of a larger problem. Locals ought to be warned of the area at the very least." He added to her thought.

Her musing about death being part of life made him smile, but her passing comment of vampires avoiding the finality of death had him grinning wider.

"Ah, but what a great, yet terrible existance that would be. Living for what seems forever, gaining knowledge but forsaking company. No doubt one would go absolutely mad with the solitude. Then again, of what I have heard in the circles I frequent, some actually aren't so terrible to get along with." Knox put a light tone to his words, even if they was a touch of truth behind them.

"Death however, is a certain necessity in the grand scheme of life. If something exists for too long, stagnation and the stifling of new and wondrous ideas occurs. To quickly however and nothing can take hold, nothing can change or grow, or even learn. A balance of life and death, new and old. All delicately interwoven into a great cycle that keeps us going." He rambled, hands working all the while.

Time was a fickle thing for a vampire after all. Coexist with mortal men for a half generation at longest, go into hiding for at least one only to emerge once more into a slightly different society with all the trappings of the one left behind.

It was a trying thing at times to acclimate oneself with the current times. Though the time away certainly lent itself to his other pass time of penning medical journals.

"You may certainly assist. I would bury them separately. Though they died together, in death they shall rest alone in peace. I will do what I can to mark the graves. Not that it would likely to much good other than alert graverobbers." He scoffed at the last few words. "Terrible people really that lot. Dead and gone should be left to rest. Whatever they have about their body was put there for a reason."

 

[Amelia]

“Some say my mother is a vampire because of her pale skin and cold demeanor.” Amelia said and chuckled along with Knox. The morbidness of it was not lost on her. “But from what I am aware of, I am not a vampire. Blood is a bit too… Copper-y for my tastes.”

The look on the dead was unnerving. The horror and fear that had lingered on them at their moment of death had been replaced with an unmoving peace that made it seem like they were asleep. Some were charred and burned to prevent the spread of whatever the wraith had tried to turn them into, but otherwise the dead seemed to radiate an oddly relieving sense of rest.

Amelia would never in her life want to touch these dead bodies. The way in which they died was too much of a reminder of the fact that had things been different she could have been one of them. She had survived by dumb luck and would have been dead had Knox not come to her aid.

“I can get started on one of the graves.” She said and went back to the wagon to grab a shovel off its side. Tool in hand she thrust the tip into the ground and took the first bite out of the dirt.

“I think you’re right though.” She said between grunts as she continued on the grave. “The other towns need to be made aware.”


A few more moments passed as Amelia fell into a ponder. In reality there was just the one question on her mind, the one that had an answer before this had happened. By all accounts, the only question she really cared about at this point.

“I guess I’ll need to find another way home.” She said out loud to whoever was listening. The kid afforded herself a breather and stared back at the wagon and the gold pouches she had placed in the driver’s seat. “Alliria is a long way from where we are.”

 

[Knox]

Her informing him that others thought her mother was a vampire because of two rather trivial reasons, though not uncommon accusations. He laughed a little at the information, shaking his head as he looked at her.

"To be fair, all of us pale complected folk have run afoul of such accusations. I have found that I have rather sensitive skin to the sun and plan on never having as severe a burn as I did as a child." He favored a childhood story about his photo sensitivity. Typically garnered a more favorable reaction than trying to say something more recent.

"Even if she had you as a vampire, from what I understand, vampires can not copulate and reproduce, so you are most definitely safe from being a vampire with a mother." He chuckled a touch more as he moved to the next one. Following much the same pattern of looking for anything and closing their eyes and crossing their hands.

She started on the graves, and he gave an affirming nod to her statement of informing the towns around here.

"Even if were are unable to find anything, the other towns can keep and eye out." Knox shrugged, closing the eyes of another person. Her sudden admission of needing to find a way home made him turn to her with a small huff.

"Ah, to Alliria. Quite a ways yes. Likely have to travel some ways on foot to make it past this area. Avoid any further incidents with creepy beings assailing the caravan's." He didn't shy away from the subject. "Backtrack to Elbion and taking a small skiff to Alliria might be a touch easier." He added, nodding to the wagon with a knowing look.

The dead were dead, and without anyone to claim the goods, nor the time to return and inform guards, it was very likely that bandits or ill intended folk would stumble across this and make off with it on their own.

 

[Amelia]

“I wondered about that.” Amelia said with a gentle nod as she looked over at Knox. “Just never mean to ask. Many people with albinism don’t take too kindly to having it pointed out.”

Then again, there could have been more to it. The man was knowledgeable of vampires, and it didn’t take a genius to draw the potential connection between Dot A and B. At this point it was more a matter of respect. Knox had stepped out of his way to help Amelia and she would repay the kindness by not asking too many questions.

Besides that he if he was a vampire he could have eaten her whole already, and that was if he was a vampire at all. She had been unconscious in his presence for some time, yet she lived. That was good enough in her book.

He suggested she take a boat back and it made Amelia stop herself for a moment.

“You know, I never thought about that.” She said and shook her head as she went back to digging the first grave. “Always gone by land since it’s a more direct route. But at least by sea the traveling would continue even as I was asleep. If anything, it’s an experience.”

She finished up the first grave and immediately got started on the next one a few feet away from it.

“What about you?” She asked and grunted as the bruise made itself felt again. “Where are you going? Where did you come from?”

“... If you don’t mind me asking, that is.”

 

[Knox]

The old vampire nodded to her affirmation of albinism. It wasnt an uncommon fabrication for him to use, and being a person of medicine herself, seemed the best fit for covering his true nature.

"No harm in asking me. While most with the condition are quite annoyed or even upset by the pointed attention, I find educating people that do not understand to be a soothing divergence from the norm." It also helped assuage some suspicions directed his way when people did not completely understand the medical terms and more elusive phrasings he used to describe his condition.

"I myself find that boat rides do not suit me. The whole trip is typically miserable as I am prone to motion sickness. I have tried several times in the past, but keeping food down does not make for the best experience." he admitted. Which was a complete lie, but one that he had told well when visiting port cities.

It was to damned hard to stay below deck or hidden in a cabin for a whole trip and sailors weren't as keen to believe spun out stories as those who lived on land.

Her question made him smile. A small laugh coming from him as he didn't have to lie at all about this portion.

"I make my trade visiting smaller settlements and villages that do not have a doctor or undertaker readily available to them." He spoke with a happy smile.

"I find pleasure in taking care of those typically overlooked by the larger cities. And the dead deserve to be put to rest properly. Most don't think to badly of me since I tend the living and the dead, but a few still hold onto the misgivings that being an undertaker bring with the trade." He explained. He thought quietly for a second as he thought how to explain the next part.

"Honestly, the road is my home. I find it quite peaceful compared to any form of settled practice that most have. It certainly helps that I find most of my ingredients while travelling and am able to reduce the cost of my services merely to time rather than also ingredients." He spoke readily, closing the eyes of another body.

"Also helps the wise women of the village when the herbs and remedies are quite simple and available to them from the woods nearby." he added.

"As for where I am from. Started off outside of Alliria in my youth years ago. Moved to Elbion as it was the center of learning as you most likely know. Learned my trade from a fellow in there that passed some time ago. And while I enjoyed the excess of work that brought with it, I did not enjoy the people that it brought." He explained quietly.

"Typical clients were snobby, their eyes plainly showing disdain and the like for people lesser than themselves. I find helping the common folk who make up the backbone of those larger cities more soothing to the soul." He finished.

The man that had taught him had also been the one to transform him into a vampire, not something he was about to divulge. Not when she was most likely so close to the truth as it was. It was a dangerous line telling someone in the medical field your background, especially tied together with the fact of his "conditions".

Professionals in their fields typically had knowledge of one another, even if only in passing, and he was pushing the envelope as it was.

 

[Amelia]

There was a grimace to Amelia’s face as the man mentioned sea sickness. She had certainly not considered it, and now that she did the appeal of going by boat was lost. At least the plan to backtrack towards Elbion was a good one. The girl threw the doctor a glance as he made mention of having been born in Alliria and moving to Elbion. A smile spread from one of Amelia’s cheeks to the other as she looked at the man.

“I was born in Elbion but my mother moved when I was very young.” She said and raised a brow at the man. “Our clients are typically the snobby ones, with their eyes showing clear disdain at their lessers.”

A ‘tsk’ parted her lips into a grin as she shook her head and went back to digging the grave.

“Mother has inserted herself as a court physician amongst some of the lesser nobility. It pays well.” She said and wiped the sweat off her brow. “In reality it’s my father who supported me in this whole ‘get out and travel’ business. Mother despises it, but father insists that it brings characters. Destroys the ego and preconceptions, to some extent.”

Her hand gave her stomach bruise a gentle pat.

“I guess it does.” Withdrawing the shovel she took three wide steps to the side to dig another grave. “My friends jokingly claim my father is the only reason they’d come by. Mother is too… Elven.”

Which was to say rigid.

“Father… Human, through and through.”