Chapter 214: An Early Meeting

“I already told you to go away, outsiders!” Alruna’s companion was not nearly as friendly as she seemed.

“Tarnu, please, listen to reason,” Alruna argued in her strangely husky voice. “They aided us in our time of need. They do not seem openly hostile.”

Tarnu growled and snapped at Alruna with his mandibles. Ann was a little surprised the woman didn’t react at all.

“None of that. I know you are nervous, but biting at me will not do anything.”

Hurried footfalls crunched in the snow as someone approached. A twisted being stepped forward. Ann couldn’t tell if they were male or female. A single twisted antler sprouted from their forehead above an eyeless face. The creature’s mouth opened to rows of jagged teeth behind long, split lips. It had a long neck that joined to its trunk-like body. Its skin at that point changed from some sort of human to bark, making it look like the literal trunk of a tree. Limbs spread across several areas that it used as arms and legs.

Kat moved between it and the rest.

Lucia raised her rifle.

Ann tensed, ready to fight.

“No!” Alruna cried, holding up her hands and running between the two groups. “The One of Bark means you no harm! Friend, what is it?”

A creaking voice scratched out from the Warped’s throat like a tree about to fall. “One with Eyes hurt. Regeneration not working. Must return to Eldest of All. They can fix him.”

Rosalyn was the first to snap out of readiness. “Wait, you can speak? You can communicate? But you’re so far gone! How’s your mind…”

Alruna held up a hand. “Questions will be answered in time. Healer, I do not suppose you have means of restoring one of our kind?”

Bren stepped forward, and The One of Bark’s limbs flinched towards him. Kat was between them again in the next instant.

“Please, make no sudden moves. Some of us are in worse states than the rest,” Alruna warned.

“I have never tried to heal a Warped, but I suppose I could try in exchange for information,” Bren offered. “We are seeking a town not far from here. It should only be a day further to the north, or at least nearby that point. Do you know of such?”

“He knows,” Tarnu growled.

“Cannot be trusted. We must take them,” The One of Bark creaked.

“No one’s takin’ us anywhere we don’t wanna go,” Kat said, her voice cold. “Explain what ye mean.”

Alruna sighed. “The town you speak of is our home. We have taken great pains to ensure its secrecy, and if outsiders are aware, that endangers us all. The One of Bark is right, you must come with us. I promise you will not be harmed until a decision is made.”

“And if that decision is to kill us?” Ann asked, still tense.

“I do not think it will come to that. There are other ways to make sure we remain unknown. Now, is this going to be a fight, or will you come calmly and strive for a better outcome?” As Alruna spoke, she rested a hand on the hilt of her massive hammer. Something inside her wide sleeves writhed, pushing the black fabric around. She made no moves, but kept her veiled face fixed on the party.

“Ann, this is yer call. They what we’re after?” Kat asked.

Ann took a second to relax and think. Orenous had said the Gods didn’t easily see the town they were after. Not much else, besides the location. Still, if there was anything that was a blind spot to the Gods, it would be the Warped. It felt right, and her gut agreed.

What do you think? she asked Waheela.

The one before you speaks her truth. Be careful, whatever you choose. Danger is ahead.

“Alruna, my name’s Annita Kronforst. Good to meet you,” Ann said, reaching out with a gauntleted hand.

Alruna looked up at her, then clasped her hand back. Even through the gauntlet, Ann could feel that this woman was far stronger than she appeared. Probably stronger than Kat.

“I have no other name, so Alruna I am.”

“Gotcha. Well, I think we’re supposed to be here. If you’ll let Bren help, he can try to patch up your friend, and we can figure out how we need to handle the future. Sound good?”

“Acceptable. I would prefer not to fight. Bren?” Alruna asked, turning her gaze to the healer. “Let us return to The One with Eyes.”

It was only a short walk. Both groups kept their distance from the other, with Tarnu and The One of Bark keeping further away, and Alruna mingling.

“Here,” Alruna said, handing Bren a glass bottle. “The One with Eyes is not usually hostile to normal people, but the rage can take any of us. Should they become aggressive, uncork this and splash them with it. It will calm them.”

“Interesting. What type of sedatives go into it?” Bren asked, holding up the yellowy tincture and inspecting the bits of floating herbs inside.

“A few local herbs gathered before the worst of the snows, a few pieces of a predatory rabbit native to this area, and venom taken from one of our own. It is a potent concoction, and I would advise you not get any on yourself. It might be lethal.”

“Might? Do you not know?”

“We do not get many visitors,” Alruna shrugged. “Not many that are not of our kind, at least.”

“And your kind would be?” Ann asked.

“Warped. Well, that term may not be entirely correct,” Alruna said, taking a moment to think. “We are Warped. There is no hiding it. The One with Bark is a pretty obvious example.”

“Hey!”

“You are half tree, friend,” Alruna laughed. “Still, for some reason that none of us has discovered, our mental degeneration did not progress to full madness. Not only that, but we do not have the strange behaviour we’ve heard the other sentient Warped do. We are still varying levels of ourselves.”

“So you’re Warped but not? That’s really weird. Like, how far does that go? Do your folk have a culture? What happens if someone goes crazy? What does crazy even mean? You said varying levels, so that means some are less themselves? How does that work?”

Alruna laughed. Like her voice, it was a bit scratchy but joyous. “So many questions! I can not answer them all. Most will need to wait until we speak to The Eldest of All. They will determine whether we are to be friend or foe. For now, yes, we have a tribal culture. The Eldest of All is close to what you would call our chief. They make laws and decrees.”

“Then what were ye doin’ out ‘ere?” Kat asked. She still had her sword and shield drawn, but was making an effort to look less aggressive. “If it’s a day out, ye’ve gotta be after somethin’.”

“A supply run, actually.”

“A supply run looking like that?” Ann asked, gesturing to Tarnu and The One of Bark.

“Believe it or not, I still cannot travel alone. The other three help, while I enter the town,” Alruna explained. “I can pass for a Vulhardrin, so I go.”

“Thank the Makers,” a gurgling voice called out. “Alruna, it hurts. Got anything for me?”

“I have a potion for the pain, but this man has healing skills. Please let him try.”

The One with Eyes lived up to their name. She had a vaguely female form, but with a deer’s head. That head was covered in eyes. So many eyes that it made Ann a little queasy. All of them were different colours and moved back and forth as if watching from every angle at once. Flesh between the orbs was red and irritated, like the orbs had just grown in. Her body was rubbery and elongated, with a simple shirt that only stretched down past her breasts and a long skirt that appeared to have been a rug at one point. With her face completely covered in eyes, her mouth had moved to a vertical slit on her neck, with human teeth and tongue.

“Don’t give me that look,” she grumbled. “Yeah, you with way more wolf in you than a Vulhardrin should have. You’re closer to one of us than the rest of them. Well, looks like the short one’s on her way, too. Think it’s easy having to look like this?”

“I wouldn’t…” Ann said.

“Because it’s not!” The One with Eyes interrupted. “I see everything, all the time. Not to mention how annoying it is to sleep. Had to get Mulder to make me a special brace for my head. Makes my neck super stiff in the mornings, but at least I can sleep.”

Bren approached the woman, and her hand shot out. Spines extended from her forearms in a deadly arc toward the healer. The arm stopped just short of his face.

“Sorry! Sorry! Can’t help it. I hate this,” The One with Eyes cried. “Anything can set it off. Sorry again.” The woman struggled and pulled her arm back. “Ok. You should be fine, but you could also use that yellow gunk. Knocks me out, though, so someone would have to carry me.”

“Not the first time I have been attacked while healing,” Bren said calmly. “Now, is it just the bite in your side?”

“Broken leg, too. Not sure why I’m not growing it back. Might just be low on juice. Need to eat again soon.”

“How long has it been since you have eaten?” Bren asked, inspecting the wounds but touching nothing.

“A week or two. Not sure,” The One with Eyes shrugged.

“Is that normal?”

“Yeah? Don’t need much to keep me going, just to heal. Should have eaten the Moss Elk Knives offered before we left.”

“It was delicious. I still don’t know why you turned it down,” Alruna said, kneeling beside her companion and tipping a green potion into their neck-mouth.

“Dunno. Made me feel gross looking at it. You know how Itches can’t stomach normal meat most of the time.”

“Ah. Well, at least we ran into help,” Alruna chuckled.

“Man, it feels good, too. That’s some good magic, man.”

“Bren,” Bren introduced himself. “The bite should be fully healed, and the broken limb mostly repaired. The last of it will need to be handled by your body. Keep your full weight off of it for a few days.”

“Sure thing, doc!” The One with Eyes said, then pulled herself up to standing. She towered over everyone else. She was easily ten or more feet before slouching her lanky body down to around seven.

“Damn,” Kat whistled. “Didn’t know I’d meet a woman that tall outside the Mulsfar.”

“You do like them tall,” Ann teased.

“So do I!” Rosalyn giggled.

The One with Eyes scratched at the side of her neck in a very human expression of embarrassment. “Yeah. People get scared when I stand up straight. At least slouching is comfortable. Gills, though, not too great.”

Ann stared at everything with a sense of muted shock. Warped were outside of Seeds, acting normal, and intentionally holding back hints of the urges she saw in Aranaea or the others in the previous Seed. Even ones like The One with Eyes seemed friendly despite almost stabbing Bren, and Alruna was downright pleasant.

“So, and we’ll have you repeat this later, what brings you so far north? We are not along any roads or places with resources. Not in this frozen hellscape,” Alruna asked.

“Actually, we came here looking for you all, I guess,” Ann answered.

The four Warped froze, and a multitude of eyes and faces lacking them snapped to her.

“You what?” Tarnu snarled.

“Speak quickly or lose your head,” Alruna warned, hefting her hammer.

“No! Not like that!” Ann said hurriedly, warding them off with upraised hands. Hands that still had her gauntlets on. That didn’t look great. “How much do you know about recent events?”

None of them lowered their guard. “Some, here and there from Alruna,” The One of Bark answered.

“Have you heard about the Chosen of Orenous?”

“No such thing. The Gods don’t choose mortals. At least, well, they don’t go around singling them out like that. Priestesses and all that, sure, but not like ‘Champion of Illdall’ or some such nonsense,” The One of Bark scoffed.

“Well, that’s changed, apparently. Cause I’m her. Also, Orenous sent me to come meet you all, I’m pretty sure. She didn’t really know what was up here, just that she couldn’t see it, which meant it was Warped in some way, and now we’re here, and please don’t smack me with that, it looks heavy!” Ann blurted as Alruna raised the hammer, the further she got into her explanation.

“Orenous? Care for us? The Lady of Love does not look upon us any longer,” Alruna said, her tone flat and threatening. “I demand proof of your words, Annita.”

The implication of what would happen if she didn’t was clear. Ann stood there, trying to figure out what the hell she had to show she was actually what she just claimed. She didn’t have any brand or marking that showed it off. Documentation, if she had it, might not even do the trick. Her spells could just be purple, so that was out the window.

An elbow dug into her side. “Show ‘er.”

“Huh?”

“Dumbass, yer sheet. Like ye did fer me,” Kat rolled her eyes.

“Ooh, right! Yeah, Alruna, you mind coming here? I can show you my sheet. That’ll prove it!”

Alruna faltered, her lips twisting into a confused sneer. “You… you want me to what?”

“See my sheet! You know, with the hand thing, where I can just show you? Don’t need the fancy enchanted rock.”

“That is very private information…” Alruna said, nerves now colouring her tone. She looked back at her companions, who just shrugged. All of them except The One with Eyes. She gave Alruna an enthusiastic thumbs-up. Claws up? She raised whatever could be considered her thumbs encouragingly.

Alruna sighed. Her hammer fell to the ground with a heavy thump. It was so heavy that Ann felt it hit the ground from where she stood. Taking a few steps forward, Alruna pulled off her glove and held up her hand. “How, um… how do you want to do this?”

Oh, right, this was supposed to be a relationship thing, Ann’s brain finally remembered. Super intimate and usually for married couples or very serious lovers. Her cheeks flushed as she bent down to get face level with Alruna. “Just on the cheek?”

“Alright,” the woman said. She’d been confident and apparently a good fighter, but now she looked like she’d dropped her keys and accidentally flashed everyone in a too-short skirt.

Ann shook her brain out of the gutter. She stared into the black veil, but still couldn’t make out what was behind it. Her curiosity was on fire, but she’d respect the woman. She was rather pretty from the little bit Ann could make out.

A pale hand touched her cheek. They were warm and gentle, tentative at first, but quickly gaining composure as they spread across Ann’s face to cup her jaw gently with a firmness Kat usually possessed.

“Show me,” Alruna’s husky voice commanded.

Ann let her in. The world flashed bright white. Ann staggered back, blinking rapidly. “The fuck! It didn’t do that last time!”

“What, ye get flashed again?”

“Yeah!”

Kat didn’t do a good job of hiding a fit of laughter. Neither did Rosalyn. “We’ll flash ye later!”

“Sorry about her, them, ugh,” Ann chuckled, trying not to blush too hard.

Alruna cocked her head to the side, studying whatever she saw. “By the Makers, it is true.”

“No way, I want to see!” The One with Eyes gasped, moving forward. The moment she got in arm’s length, one hand shot out, blade extended.

Ann staggered back, avoiding the strike, but only barely.

“Agh! Sorry! Sorry!” The One with Eyes stammered. “Ugh! Can you try going slow? Maybe it’ll be less of a problem?”

“Eyes, this is rude,” Alruna chided. “Do not ask something so personal so flippantly.”

“But if she is, then she’d be the first, right? Don’t want to say I got to meet someone so important and not see for myself.”

Tarnu barked at The One with Eyes, and she backed off. The One of Bark made a creaking sound that might have been laughter.

“Let’s do this later,” Ann suggested. “It’s a full day back to your village, right?”

“Yes,” Alruna nodded. “If we make good time, it will be the middle of the night when we arrive. Hm, you all need more sleep than we do, I suppose. We will travel with you until the sun sets. Once it does, we will continue onward, and I will return in the morning to collect you.”

“Still don’t totally trust ye,” Kat warned. “All o’ this could be a trap.”

“Same,” Lucia grunted. “Too easy.”

Bren and Rosalyn nodded their agreement.

“Very well, I will leave my weapon with you, as collateral and a promise that we will not harm you in the night. Does that calm your worries?”

“Ye wouldn’t need that tae kill us.”

“No, but it is the best I can do for now. I would rather be the one to tell The Eldest of All what has happened. It is less likely to go, hm, poorly,” Alruna shrugged.

“Kat, let’s just let her do it. We need to figure out why Orenous sent us here,” Ann pleaded, bracing herself against her stubborn lover. “We can set up a watch if you don’t feel comfortable.”

“Still, if they come back wit’ friends, we’re fecked.”

“If they wanted to, we’d already be in a fight,” Ann pointed out. “My gut’s telling me to trust them. Be careful, but try to trust.”

“Fine. We keep yer maul wit’ us until ye get back. Ye call fer us when ye do, an’ don’t approach until we tell ye. Deal?”

“An understandable compromise,” Alruna nodded. “Now, let’s be off. The light is short in these lands.”

Ann grabbed Kat’s tense hand and pulled her forward, Rosalyn scampering to catch up.

“I’m gonna have so much to document! Oh my Gods! Alruna, what is your Warping? The others are really obvious, but you’re all covered up? Do you not have skin? That’d be so interesting to see. Is it all muscle and bone?”

“I have skin,” Alruna laughed, wiggling her fingers in front of Rosalyn. “All of it. No, I will not share that with you yet. Once you have earned our trust, then we can discuss that.”

“Fiiine,” Rosalyn grumbled. “Hey Eyes!” The excitable druid turned to The One with Eyes and started barraging her with questions that the monstrously tall deer woman seemed all too happy to answer.

“She’s gonna be a feckin’ nightmare ‘ere.”

“Wonder if sex will even distract her from people like this,” Ann whispered.

“It will!” Rosalyn shouted, then turned to Eyes. “Now, how do your gills work?”

“That’s our girl,” Ann said, sharing a giggle with Kat.

Keeping the two groups mostly separate, they continued their trek north.