Chapter 776: The Bard & The Shield Part 1

The flickering orange light of Evander’s torch was all that illuminated what lay ahead of the tunnel. It was darkness. Endless darkness and walls of smooth stone carved out by millennia of a long-gone river that had once flowed through the tunnel. The glittering sheen of the stone, while once pretty, now served as almost a hypnotic spell that lured one into oblivion, or at least that’s how Tauri felt.

The path all looked the same to Tauri and if it wasn’t for the fact that they had temporarily left the cave and stopped at a village for supplies, she would have wagered her life that they were going in circles. It felt like they were.

The three of them had been traveling through the Serpent Paths for almost a week now. While it was nice to not worry about the scorching sun, bandits, and monsters that lurked on the surface of the Golden Desert, Tauri was beginning to lose her mind at the utter, sheer darkness of the underground tunnels.

Gale, on the other hand, had no problem with the darkness. Vampires could see in the dark so long as they had even the slightest amount of light. A torch may as well have been the sun. Tauri considered conjuring a ball of flame in her hand, but what would be the point? There would be nothing but stone walls and darkness ahead and behind her. She would only be wasting energy.

As the endless hours of walking passed by, Tauri wondered why Gale, who had been quite vocal about not trusting Evander, had allowed him to stay. The Aurian man always asked questions about the Ebon Realm and why they were here. Neither woman gave him much of an answer. Still, he asked, his curiosity seemingly never satiated.

Tauri found it annoying, but she let it be. As for Gale, she was as cold to Evander as ever. The vampiress clearly disliked his mere presence. Every time he smiled at her, she would give him a death glare, prompting him to quickly look away. It was a miracle Gale hadn’t already cut off his head for talking too much. Stryg certainly would have.

Not for the first time, she wished her husband were here. He would have conjured illusions for her to pass the time as he had often done on their travels. Stryg would make all sorts of illusions, from people to animals, even inanimate objects. She would give him a description and he would try his best to recreate the image. He could have simply cast a purple spell to read her mind and pluck the idea straight from her imagination, but he never did. The whole thing was a game just for her and he refused to spoil the fun, even when half the time he got the illusion wrong. It always amazed her at how differently his mind worked. Tauri missed him more than she thought she ever could. She hoped he was safe, wherever he was.

As they turned a corner, they came across a fork in the path. A drawing etched into the wall sat between both tunnels. The drawing was nonsensical, a bunch of lines strewn about in a chaotic mess. Without looking back, Evander handed his torch to Gale, who stared at it as if it was a dead rat, then back at Evander for having the gall to hand it to her like some sort of servant instead of the noble lady that she was—but he wasn’t looking. Evander crouched down and ran his hands across the etched lines with a gentle touch.

“What is it?” Tauri asked.

“A map of the Serpent Path, if you know how to read it,” Evander said.

“These are tunnels?” Gale asked, staring at the wall with renewed interest.

“No, that would be stupid,” he chuckled. Gale sent him a glare that made him shut up. “I-I mean, no. The Rulus people didn’t want outsiders to have any access to the Serpent Paths, but the Rulus still needed a way to navigate the Paths in case they became lost. So they devised a cipher of sorts.” He tapped the carving, “They are not ‘lines’ per se. Rather, symbols. If you know how to read them, you can figure out where you are in the Path and where you want to go, which is right—here.”

Evander pointed to a seemingly arbitrary line in the collage of scratches on the wall. “If we head down a little further this way and then take the right on this fork, we should come out only ten leagues or so from Olduun.”

“Ten leagues?” Tauri wanted to groan.

“If the Serpent Paths were any closer, anyone from Olduun would have found them by now,” Evander said.

“I’m honestly surprised no peasant has stumbled across this place yet,” Gale said.

“The entrance to the Paths is well hidden. Even if someone did stumble into a Path, the network of tunnels is so vast they would quickly be lost forever,” Evander said.

“So, what now? We just keep going that way?” Tauri gestured to the darkness ahead.

“No,” Evander said. “We’ve been walking all day. The march to Olduun will be long. If we leave now, the sun will sap our strength long before we make it to the city. Best to rest now and start fresh tomorrow. We can reach the mouth of the Serpent by sunset and we’ll have all night to make the journey to Olduun.”

The plan was sound, but Tauri still looked at Gale for confirmation.

“Very well,” Gale crossed her arms and nodded. “We’ll set up camp here for the night.”

“Sounds great.” Tauri plopped on the ground and sighed with relief, her legs were like boiled reeds.

Dinner was a small and simple affair. Evander set up a couple of thin steel rods he had bought from the village they had stopped by. Tauri conjured a fire beneath the pot and channeled a steady stream of orange mana through it. Without wood to burn, the fire consumed her mana to stay alive.

Evander used the steel rods to hang a pan over the fire. Then he poured in some oil from a small ceramic bottle along with a few herbs and spices. He let the aromatics cook for a while, the savory scents filling the air, before he threw in some dried meat and loaves of bread as tough as rocks. The bread would soak in the oil and soften up. The dried meat not so much, but it would still taste good, or at least better than any rations Tauri and Gale had been surviving off for the last several weeks.

“I miss blood-wine,” Gale muttered to herself.

“What’s that?” Evander asked. “Is it some kind of rare wine from the Ebon Realm? Made from blood-red grapes?”

All in all, Tauri had to admire his tenacious curiosity. He would have made a great student at the academy if he had been gifted with magic. Gale, on the other hand, did not share her admiration. The vampiress glared at Evander until he looked away and went back to cooking.

Tauri felt somewhat bad for him. He had, after all, held up his end of the bargain and guided them safely across the desert. “It’s not rare in the Ebon Realm and it doesn’t come from any specific kind of grape. It’s called blood-wine because it’s mixed in with actual blood.”

“Wait, you two drink blood?” Evander made a face like he was about to be sick.

“I don’t,” Tauri pointed at herself. “It’s more of a vampire thing. Blood is a necessary part of their diet.”

Evander looked at Gale and not for the first time Tauri had noticed, he studied her face, as if committing it to memory. “You’re a vampire?” he asked with a quiet air of curiosity.

“I am many things. One of which is annoyed.” Gale gave Tauri the side-eye, as if blaming her for having answered one of Evander’s questions.

Gale’s look only made Tauri want to annoy her more. “Yes, she is a vampire. She hasn’t drunk any blood in over a week now, that’s why she’s so irritable.”

“Oh.” Evander swallowed whatever disgust he felt for the act of drinking blood and held up a knife to his palm. “Do you need some blood?”

“I’d rather drink sand before tasting your blood.” Gale scowled.

Evander pretended to wipe sweat from his brow. “Good to know. Honestly, I’m a bit squeamish when it comes to blood and all that gory stuff.” He had always felt uncomfortable around the dead and bloody wounds that were all too common in the slums, but after the execution at Red Pond, his aversion to carnage had deepened significantly.

“And my blood is reserved for my husband, so Gale gets none,” Tauri smirked.

“I’d rather die than let your blood touch my lips,” Gale shivered dramatically.

“Funny,” Tauri frowned.

“You’re married to a vampire? Or do others drink blood in the Ebon Realm too?” Evander asked.

“No, just vampires, actually,” Tauri put a finger to her lips, “I suppose there is a tribe of goblins that drink blood too, but that’s a different story.”

“Could you tell me about it someday?” Evander asked.

“Maybe,” Tauri said.

“How about instead of asking so many questions, you sing a song ‘Mister Bard’ or, better yet, eat your food and shut up, hm?” Gale said with a growl.

“Beleive me, I would love to sing, but I lost my lute when my friends and I were captured in Red Pond,” Evander said without missing a beat.

“You mean arrested. For being a thief,” Gale said.

Evander shrugged. “I promise I’ll sing you a song when I get a new lute.”

“No thanks,” Gale said. “I suspect you’re not much of a singer anyway.”

“On that, we disagree. I’ll have you know I am an excellent singer,” Evander winked.

Gale rolled her eyes in disbelief and kept eating.

The rest of the meal went by in quiet silence. Evander began to clean up, while Tauri unpacked her bedroll and went to sleep.

“Don’t wake me up unless it’s important,” Tauri said before turning her back to the others.

Like every night, Gale trained with her sword before going to sleep. She shifted with quiet footsteps and swung her blade silently at invisible enemies. Evander watched her from the corner of his eye as he cleaned. Gale noticed him, of course, and though his gaze was annoying, she said nothing, for in battle there were many distractions and it was a warrior’s job to push them all out of the way and focus on the opponent in front of her. As far as Gale was concerned, the thief’s gaze was just another form of training.

“Where did you learn to fight like that?” Evander asked.

Gale paused mid-swing and closed her eyes with a twinge of a frown. Every night, he asked her the same question. And every night she would ignore him.

“Sorry,” he apologized and went back to cleaning, much to her surprise.

He usually kept pestering Tauri and her with questions, never apologetic about his endless curiosity. Until now. A pang of guilt struck Gale. Despite his nature as a criminal, she had seen no ill intentions in his actions towards them.

“...If I tell you, will you shut up and let me train in silence?” Gale said.

“Deal.” He beamed.

“I was taught the way of the sword by several masters of the Gale Style, the greatest of whom is—” she began begrudgingly.

“Wait, your sword style is called the Gale Style?”

She sent him another glare. “Yes. It is named after the founder of my house, Lady Gale. She was a warrior of great renown and a hero in the legends of my realm.”

“Wow, that’s a lot to live up to.”

She paused, surprised at his words yet again. “...Yes, I suppose. As I was saying, I was trained by several great sword masters of my family, the greatest of whom is my great uncle, Gian Gale, the Sword Para—”

“Gian Gale? So, he’s also named after your family’s founder?”

“No. Gale is his surname. The name of my house.”

Evander furrowed his brow. “So you’re a lady from House Gale?”

“Yes.”

“So your name is Gale Gale?”

“...Gale VIII of the Great House of Gale,” she said curtly. “The houses in my realm are often named after their founder. It is a great honor to be named after one’s founding ancestor.”

Though she said it was a great honor, the way she said it made Evander think she had often been made fun of for her name. Though he had trouble imagining anyone would dare insult a warrior as deadly as her. At least, never twice.

“I think it’s pretty cool, your name, I mean,” Evander said.

Gale gave him a skeptical look. “Do you now?”