Chapter 105

I dropped the [Zone of Silence] around us, bringing us back to the noise of the world. It's always a bit uncanny not hearing anything for a while, it's a rather strange feeling. Maybe only a stone's throw from something like a sensory deprivation chamber.

I squeezed Morrigan's hand again before turning to peek at Bella. She was still comfortably asleep, leaning into me. I gently stroked her head.

"That girl can really sleep, can't she?" Morrigan said with a chuckle.

"She healed Nikka... The uuna I've been riding after she took an arrow in the shoulder. I don't know how much that fatigued her though. She did a good job healing Nikka, removing the arrow wasn't pretty."

Morrigan nodded. "Mana can sap a lot of energy out of you. I'm sure you haven't hit this point yet but if you drain too much of your mana pool it can do things like make you lightheaded, nauseous, sleepy, or even make you black out if you go too far."

"Any long-term issues?"

"Not really, though if you do it too much it'll mess with your ability to eat and sleep of course. Being passed out also isn't as efficient in recovering mana as sleeping properly is. If you push yourself too much for too long, things start adding up, same as your regular stamina."

A signal from the front interrupted our conversation, it looked like we were stopping already. I looked towards the horizon, the sun wasn't quite going down yet but it was getting close. The caravan was led off the road and into the bumpy grass where our caravan was pulled into a tight circle once again. Looks like we were camping here for the night.

Once we got off the coach I noticed Tarklin directing people off in the distance. When I approached he looked a bit nervous, probably still worried about what happened this morning.

"Tarklin, we're stopping for the night already?" I asked.

"Yes. We're getting close to Goldenhearth, the city where the baron lives. Under the circumstances, I thought it would be better if we avoided the city while it's as unstable as it sounds to be. All of the refugees traveling the roads is a sign that the city may not be safe at the moment."

"Right... Er, Tarklin. I'm sorry about this morning, I shouldn't have overreacted the way I did. You've been nothing but kind to me, a friend. I hope what happened didn't sour that."

Tarklin smiled and looked somewhat relieved. "No harm done Lilith. I suppose it may have looked like I had taken you aside to trap you rather than have a private conversation but that wasn't my intention. I do hope we can continue to be friends."

"Great," I said with a smile. "I'll go help everyone set up then."

"Sounds good. Silva, Torien, and Bella are on watch tonight. You should get some more sleep."

I kind of wanted to argue but I had already taken watch last night. "Alright then, I'll go tell them."

He nodded and I walked away to join my friends.

"Are we good still Lilith?" Silva asked.

I nodded. "Yeah, no problems. I apologize for this morning, I got a little freaked out when it probably wasn't necessary. By the way, you, Morrigan, and Bella are on watch tonight."

"Got it." She nodded.

The night went rather quickly after that. I didn't really feel like talking about what happened this morning so I just changed the subject away from it when it was brought up again at dinner. Since I wasn't on watch tonight I slipped into my bedroll and crashed pretty early. A bit unlike me but today was rather exhausting and stressful so I was still drained, even despite my nap.

***

I was feeling quite refreshed when I woke up the next morning. Like the previous night, the wagons were surrounded by corpses of monsters. If I've learned anything from this trip, it's that camping at night is scary. It's absolutely no wonder there are forts about a day's travel apart all the way to Traehall if traveling like this is so dangerous at night. It is a bit weird how much more often we're attacked when out in the open like this compared to when we're in one of the forts. Something made the monsters more wary of the fort than the ring of adventurers that killed hordes of monsters each night.

After a quick light breakfast, we were back on the road again. I noticed that our stock of supplies was looking a bit low now. We were planning on restocking along the way but we haven't had the opportunity with everything that's been happening. We're going to reach the city today but who knows if we'll be able to restock properly in Goldenhearth. I suppose that's a problem for Tarklin and the merchants we're escorting to worry about.

Tarklin didn't want me on the uunas today and he had Silva hide in the wagon with Fae again. I'm not really sure what it was but Fae looked a lot less stressed around her already. That was reassuring because after our attack it was better for everyone if those two stayed out of sight. Silva was much more likely to be recognized here, it felt a little crazy to be bringing them back into the lion's den but we needed to travel through. Today I was sitting with Torien, the only one I hadn't sat with on this trip so far.

When we first approached the city I didn't understand the scale of what I was looking at. All I could really see was a wall. What I didn't realize was that wall was much farther away than I thought, I stared at it for a good two bells before we were finally in line to approach it. The wall was downright huge, something like a ten-story building. I suppose it isn't as impressive as something like a skyscraper in height but it was certainly getting there.

The good news is that there still are guards, it seems that the Baron being killed didn't destabilize things so much that the entire town was on fire. The bad news was that the lines for the city were crazy. They were doing pretty thorough checks both inside and outside of all of the wagons and carriages that were coming both in and out of the city right now. We waited in line for another bell before one of the guards on horseback approached us instead.

"Halt. Your caravan will not be permitted entry. Vacate the line and either take that road around the city or turn around." The guard's voice carried all the way back here, perhaps amplified using magic.

I could see Tarklin get off the wagon and try talking to the guard but the guard didn't look like he was going to budge at all. I wasn't sure what Tarklin's appeal was but the guard didn't really look convinced. After a bit of back and forth, the guard nodded and headed back but we also didn't leave the line like the guard had initially instructed.

After a while, a few more guards came and talked to him again. This time they nodded at each other and Tarklin's mood had greatly improved. He was already laughing and joking with them, though the guards barely reciprocated. They looked like they were beaten all to hell, whatever was happening did not treat them lightly.

Tarklin spoke to one of the uuna riders and got back on the coach seat, just in time for us to move forward in the line. The uuna rider spoke to each group before finally getting to mine.

"Lilith, apparently on Tarklin's last mission he gained the [Demon Hunter] title and they were concerned about the traces of miasma on our caravan. He convinced them that he had the title and wasn't a demon himself, going as far as to say he would tell them the story in a [Zone of Truth]. We'll probably be held up at the gate when we get there but assuming all goes well we'll be let inside." She gestured towards the giant wall that we were slowly wagon by wagon getting closer to.

When she walked away the coachman who was with the merchants looked rather upset and was grumbling under his breath. Despite my good hearing, I couldn't really make out what he was mad about but I figured it probably wasn't any of my business. I was way more excited to get into the city and see what it was like. If they were able to make a giant wall like this what would the inside look like?

Once we reached the gate our Caravan was pulled a bit off the road so we wouldn't block traffic and the guards began an inspection of the caravan's goods. One of the guards came up to me, looked down at his list for a moment before looking back up.

"Are you Lilith and Torien?" I nodded, unsure where this was going. "Tarklin Silvergrove named you two and a few others as having a [Demon Hunter] title so we need to pull you aside for confirmation. Please follow me."

I glanced at Torien who nodded back at me before we climbed down from the wagon's coach seat. The guard led us into the wall and into a decently large room. There were six guards in total, including the ones that led us here, and a short man in flashy-looking purple robes with teal trim. Unsurprisingly my party was all here save for Silva, the other people Tarklin knew had the [Demon Hunter] title. The man who was to cast the [Zone of Truth] for us looked quite nervous. It was pretty obvious that they weren't expecting five people with the [Demon Hunter] title to come confirm.

The man cleared his throat. "I am a priest of Morkinnen the god of love and I have the ability to confirm your words in a [Zone of Truth]. Please don't be alarmed as I cast the spell." A few of the guards in the room shifted in place but all was quiet as he cast his spell. The spell slowly grew out from the center of the room until all of us were within the unfortunately familiar [Zone of Truth] spell. It took quite a bit longer than when Priestess Corrine cast it, was this priest less skilled than her?

The priest dried his wet brow before clearing his throat again. "First. Are any of you Demons? Please answer one by one."

Each of us took turns saying no, feeling the pulse of truth fill the room with each one. I was the last to answer and with my truthful denial, the guards all visibly relaxed a bit.

"Next question. Are any of you working for a demon or anyone who would summon a demon?"

Again all of us took turns saying 'no' and got the confirming pulse after.

"Next question. Do you have the [Demon Hunter] title and if you do, is there anyone that could confirm your statement?"

I was a little confused why extra confirmation might have been required since I thought that was the point of this whole exercise. Now wasn't really the time to argue though, there must have been a reason for that kind of question.

Tarklin was the first to speak. "I have the [Demon Hunter] title and it can be confirmed by the Tamin church."

There was a lot of surprise at the response and the priest quickly had a follow-up question. "Are you affiliated with the Tamin church?"

Tarklin smiled. "No, and I am a follower of Morkinnen." A pulse of truth flowed through the room once again.

The rest of us repeated that we had the [Demon Hunter] title, could be verified by the Tamin church, and were not otherwise affiliated with them.

"Final question. Do you know anything about the murder of Baron Norrin Morrister?"

Tarklin frowned. "I do. They intended to kill his daughter as well but she escaped with a bodyguard slave."

The guards all instantly drew their weapons at the statement but they didn't look like they intended to attack quite yet.

"Do you know where the Baron's daughter is?"

"Do you intend to harm her?" Tarklin asked.

The priest scowled at the return question. "No, my intention is to protect her." A pulse of truth flowed through the room.

Tarklin nodded but looked around the room. "Do any of you?"

There was a moment of silence before the priest eventually spoke. "Guards, do any of you intend to harm or reveal the location of the Baron's daughter to any of her potential enemies?" The question came off as rather intentionally worded.

Each guard said no and the [Zone of Truth] pulsed in agreement each time.

Tarklin nodded. "Thank you, The Baron's daughter is hidden in one of our carriages. I plan to take her to the Northern Greens as she now seeks asylum with the Queen of the Elves and is entitled to it through a previous pact."

The priest of Morkinnen shared a concerned look with one of his guards.