Bacorium Legacy (61 page)

He then looked over to the others. The vampire was still fighting off the others, and three arachne had since appeared to help him, two of which were bloody corpses. Jared was fighting the third with Ash, while Brand and Selphie were fighting the vampire. Wiosna was still in a trance.

Emila was nowhere to be seen.

“Emila...” Luca gasped, finding it difficult to speak. He could feel the arachne's venom in his veins. He had killed it before it could deliver the full dose, but it was still making his limbs feel like lead, and his head light. “I have to - find her...”

Luca stumbled off into the woods alone, and the others were too busy with their own enemies to see him.

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Luca finally found Emila.

She was lying against a tree in a clearing. It was a place unlike anything else in the forest. A small stream ran around the area in a perfect circle. The moonlight shined through, illuminating the scene perfectly. The tree was alive in a way that nothing else in the forest was,  its leaves a perfect gold like those of autumn.

Emila wasn't alone.

Her head was lying in the arms of a vampire. A female vampire, who was unearthly beautiful. Her hair was black as deepest midnight, and flowed down past her waist. Her eyes and lips, red as a rose in bloom, her skin a milky alabaster.

Luca could not keep the breath from catching in his throat, or his heart from racing like it was aflame. He had never seen such beauty in any being before.

But even through this dream he was able to remember why he had come. He saw Emila, and knew what was happening. Emila's eyes were heavy-lidded and hazy, her expression peaceful, and her breathing slow.

“L-let her go...” he managed to say. His hand tightened on his sword, which felt so heavy to his poisoned body. He knew he couldn't possibly fight this vampire, not after he'd been bit by the arachne. It was all he could do just to keep on his feet.

The beautiful vampire lowered her head and whispered something in Emila's ear. Emila's eyes closed, her lips curled into a peaceful smile. The vampire then rose, and looked up at Luca.

“It's okay,” she said to him. Her voice was just as beautiful as she was. It flowed like clear water in a stream. “I won't hurt you.”

Luca's gaze was drawn to her eyes. Though red as blood, they seemed clearer and deeper than the eyes of anyone else he had ever seen. He found himself unable to look away.

“You have nothing to fear from me,” she said softly. “I'm not like the others. Please, let go of your sword. It frightens me.”

The thought of doing something that frightened her seemed awful to him. She was such a delicate, fragile thing... Though he really wanted to throw his sword away, he knew that he needed it to protect himself.

But from what? There were no enemies there. There was only himself, the peacefully-sleeping Emila, and the beautiful girl before him. Faintly, he heard the sound of his sword hitting the ground.

The girl smiled sweetly and moved close to him. He could feel his heart beating so hard he thought it would burst from his chest. She placed her hand on his arm, caressing it gently and moving up to his shoulder. The very touch of her hand sent electric waves tingling through him. She moved a little closer, and he could smell her now. She carried the scent of flowers. It was intoxicating, and made his head spin.

“It's okay, just look at me,” she said to him. “Just look into my eyes.”

He did so, and found it so easy to just get lost in those eyes. She was so close to him now, he could feel her gentle breathing tickle his chest. Her arms were around his neck. She drew closer, and Luca's heart was pounding like a drum as he knew what was about to happen.

Her lips touched his, and he shuddered with pleasure. His knees gave out, and it was up to her to keep him standing, which she did with surprising strength. Gently she lowered him down until he was lying on the ground, and she softly caressed his head, lulling him into a state of relaxation. He felt her lips beside his ear, and he heard her say a single word before everything went black.

“Sleep.”

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Luca slowly returned to consciousness, realising that someone was shaking him insistently. As he looked up, his hazy eyes made out the shape of Brand, whose expression of concern shifted to relief at the sign of life.

Like waking after a long night of drinking, it took a while for Luca to sit up and gather himself. Gradually, his vision focused and his head stopped spinning. He saw Emila undergoing a similar process underneath her tree, with Selphie helping her.

“What happened?” Brand asked him.

“There was - another vampire,” Luca muttered. He remembered coming across Emila and the other vampire, but after that his memories became foggy.

“The other vampire hypnotised you both?” Brand asked.

“No...” Luca said. “I was bit by an arachne earlier.” Luca pulled up his sleeve and showed Brand the swollen bite mark on his shoulder. “I, uh... I must have fought the vampire off and then passed out from the venom.”

Luca looked up and saw Wiosna leaning against a tree, looking tired but otherwise alright. “Is she alright?” he asked.

“Yeah, she's fine,” Brand said. “After we killed the vampire, we tended to her. She was a little confused and disoriented, but there doesn't appear to be any permanent effects.”

Indeed - that was the true worry when one was dealing with vampires. Like those two travellers whose strange behaviour now made so much more sense. If one was hypnotised by a vampire long enough, they could have permanent triggers left behind in their mind that changed who they were. Thankfully, neither Wiosna nor Emila had been under long enough for that.

Not a lot was known about vampire hypnosis, or vampires in general. Finding subjects to study wasn't exactly an easy task.

“Those travellers from before were that vampire's thralls,” Luca said. “That guy warned us about vampires in the area...”

“An odd thing to do if he was working for one,” Brand said.

“I think - he really was trying to save us. But he couldn't, because his mind had been hypnotised so much it was fried. He tried to warn us through a loophole.”

Luca looked over to Emila, who was groggily trying to stand, and blessed the gods he did not believe in that such a fate had not befallen her. For now it was twice that he had saved her from a vampire.

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By the time they were all recovered, it was well into the night. They went back to the camp and immediately retired for the night. Jared took the first watch, as he always did.

In the tent he shared with Emila, Luca lied on his back, and looked over at her. She was sitting quietly, staring at the ground.

“Luca...” she said softly. “How did you really find out about the lute?”

He sat up. “What?”

“It's impossible that you could have seen it by chance, because I keep it wrapped in paper. I haven't unwrapped it since before I met you. So how did you really find out about it? Did you go through my things?”

She looked over at him, anger in her eyes.

“I didn't,” Luca said. “I wouldn't do that. I...” he sighed, and said, “Trent told me about the elderly couple you came to T'Saw with. He told me about what happened to them.”

Emila looked surprised for a moment, then her expression softened. She bit her lip and looked away and sighed. “I'm sorry,” she said.

“Why are you apologising?”

“Because you should have heard that story from me,” she said, her voice tinged with regret. “I - I shouldn't keep so many things from you.”

Luca smiled and took her hand in his. “It's okay. Like I told you back in Allma Temple, you don't need to feel pressured to tell me these things. Not until you're ready.”

She returned her gaze to him ever so slowly, and in that moment, Luca knew there was something very important she was considering to tell him. A few times, her lips moved as though she were about to speak, but she trembled and could not bring herself to do it. Eventually, she pulled her hand from his and cast her gaze away yet again, the confession unsaid.

“When you're ready,” Luca reaffirmed.

He leaned over and kissed her neck tenderly, and then he returned to his roll and lay down to sleep. A moment or so later, Emila did the same.

Though they were right next to one another, and their very souls were connected, Luca couldn't help but feel like they had never been further apart.

Chapter XX

The Sword in the Stone

The remainder of the trip was quiet and uneventful, with no vampires or Acarians encountered. Selphie remained distant the entire time, and said little, especially to Luca. Emila was also rather withdrawn on the day just after the vampire incident, but she was back to her usual self the next morning. Luca wondered what it was that bothered her - the vampires, or the lute? Everyone was so quiet and withdrawn that Luca sometimes felt as he walked at the head of the group that he was travelling alone. It was a strange feeling, because Luca had never actually travelled alone before  - he had always had a companion.

About two weeks after the encounter with the vampires they reached the town of Eccador. The town was small and quiet - certainly not the kind of place one would expect to find a legendary blade. There was a wooden gate bordering the town, to keep monsters out as most settlements did. As they neared the entrance, a group of three hunters were there, busy skinning half a dozen goblin corpses. One looked up, a heavy old man with a grizzled beard and a thick scar on his face, and gave them a suspicious look.

“Seven more,” the old hunter said to the others.

The other two hunters looked up from their work. They were both younger men, and they had faces that resembled the elder's. They were likely his sons, Luca figured.

“Here to see the new tourist attraction?” the old hunter asked.

“I take it you're referring to the Rixeor Fragment?” Luca asked him. “We've heard rumours...”

“Aye, everyone's heard the rumours,” the old hunter interrupted. “You all are the tenth or so to show up this week. More will likely follow. Soon, it's all anyone will come here for. That old fool should have just kept his mouth shut about the damn thing.”

“You seem angry about this,” Brand said to him. “Is this not a good thing? Your village will make a lot of money this way.”

The hunter's mouth tightened. He looked away from them, turning his attention back to the dead goblin in his lap. He grabbed a handful of skin in his calloused hands and ripped it from the goblin's back, exposing the muscle underneath. The smell of dead meat filled the air. “It's nothing special. It's just a damn sword. Nobody can use it. They all just leave with burnt hands and sore asses.”

He was wearing gloves, Luca noticed.

Muffled sounds of argument carried from the direction of the town. Luca glanced inside, but he couldn't see what was going on.

“Father,” one of the younger hunters spoke quietly, “perhaps we should do something...”

“It's not our business. We're hunters, not soldiers. If the old man wants to bring every fool from the four corners of Bacoria here to waste their time, then he can deal with the consequences of that. Not us.” The father's tone was strict and direct - the tone of a parent who wanted an end to a discussion. It worked - the son looked down at his own goblin the same way his father was.

Luca was feeling more and more like a spectator. “We can enter, then?”

The old hunter made a sound halfway between a laugh and a grunt. “We're not gatekeepers. Just don't want to be around the damn lizards. Go right on in.”

Brand frowned, and stared at the hunter like he wanted to say something, but he did not. He stepped past the others and went right inside. After a moment, the others followed one by one. Luca and Emila were the last, and Emila wrinkled her nose at the smell of the skinned goblins. “I never got used to that,” she muttered.

“The goblins?” he asked.

“That's not what disgusts me,” she answered in a low voice.

As they passed through the walls and entered Eccador, Luca saw what the argument was. It was as he'd suspected. Three figures stood outside the humble inn at the entrance of town, being harassed by several villagers. The villagers were unmistakably human - the travellers were not. They each stood a good hand or two above the villagers, with thin frames. They had no hair on their heads, flat noses that were almost a pair of slits, and mouths with no lips. There skin tone was a sickly green, and where the light caught it one could see the shimmer of their scales. Their eyes were large and their eyelids blinked vertically. The most noticeable feature, however, were the large tails that hung between their legs, stopping just a few millimetres from the ground.

Luca and Emila joined the others. They drew up behind Wiosna, finding themselves part of a quickly growing audience to the argument.

“Sendorai...” Wiosna muttered. “You don't see them in these parts.”

Luca had spent four years of his life passing through various small towns in Sendora with his father. Out of all the lands he and Lodin had gone through, those years in Sendora were undoubtedly the worst. The lizardmen had been distrustful of them, as they usually were of humans, and treated them coldly and dismissively. When they had finally boarded a boat and sailed for the Arimos region, Luca had been overjoyed to get out of Sendora - until he came to know just how cold and dead the Arimos was.

Two of the Sendorai before them wore leather armour and carried curved blades at their sides. Standing between them was a Sendorai who carried no weapon, and wore robes. He was older, which could be seen by his paler skin, slouched posture, and the greyness in his eyes.

“What are they fighting about?” Luca asked.

“I'm not sure, but I think the locals don't want them here,” Wiosna replied, not taking her eyes off the Sendorai. “I don't think they trust them.”

One of the villagers - a blacksmith it seemed, from his heavy build - stepped in front of the robed Sendorai and shouted something to him. The blacksmith poked the Sendorai hard in the chest, and not a second later he was pushed back and onto the ground by the two armed Sendorai, who had their hands on their swords.