Investigating the bodies, the party found a couple of copper coins, a bit of black wax and a letter.

  “It says; Destroy this letter when you receive it. (guess they didn’t do that) The marriage goes as planned. The wedding will be bigger than anticipated. Bring all the forces. May the rot consume.” Kilek read the letter. The party was silent. Shifting around as they looked about the darkness.

  The cavern was mostly shadows as the bonfire in the middle smoldered. The mention of ‘all the forces’ had the party on edge. Every inch of the cavern seemed like more possessed ick beasts waiting to pounce.

  “May I suggest we leave?” Jiit asked, not waiting for a reply but not needing one. Together the party made a hasty retreat back to the larder. Once there, they piled everything they could lift onto the trapdoor. Doing the same in the pantry. As well as to the kitchen door.

  “That should hold,” Kilek said.

  “Unless there’s other secret passages.” Thunder said.

  “Let’s return to our camp area, that’ll- hey.” Jiit said, looking around. “Does it seem… emptier to you?”

  “Yeah,” Mayhem said. “But why?” They kept close together as they moved back to the living room.

  “There’s no ghosts.” Shaynen said suddenly. “They’re gone.” The halls were empty, with not a soul that wasn’t the party wandering inside. The only other sound was the old house creaking and settling. The whole place seemed to slouch as if exhausted.

  Shaynen broke through the party, heading for the front door.

  “Hey, where do you think you’re going?” Kilek asked.

  “I’m going to tell the mayor.” Shaynen said, incredulously. “What are you guys doing?”

  “If we leave we forfeit the reward.” Thunder said, “We have to stay until morning.”

  “But if we stay until morning the town could be destroyed.” Shaynen said. “If there’s more dead possessed… things out there then it’s only a matter of time before they find out and attack and possibly wipe out the town. Isn’t that more important than some stupid coins?” The rest of the party shifted and looked at each other slowly, frustrating Shaynen more.

  “Well it is to me.” Shaynen said and ran to the door. He first tried to open the door but quickly remembered it was locked tight from the outside. So he began banging on the door and yelling. Demanding to be let out.

  “I hear ya, I hear ya. Hang on.” A voice yelled from outside. Shaynen stepped back and waited, half prepared to attack if it was another abomination behind the door. The door opened and the caretaker in his night clothes stood there with a lantern. He saw Shaynen and grinned.

  “I knew you’d break, and it’s five ‘til midnight. That scribe owes me twelve copper.” The caretaker grinned. Shaynen kept trying to pass but the caretaker’s slow laughter kept getting in his way. In a flash of amber light and a flurry of autumn leaves, Shaynen vanished. Appearing again in an equal light and leaf on the other side of the manor’s fence.

  “Where’s he off to in such a hurry?” The caretaker huffed.

  “We should follow,” Jiit said, “He’s going to the mayor, it’s an emergency.”

  Shaynen broke through the town hall’s doors at full speed. The doors crashed against the walls and shook the whole building. Shaynen reached the front of the hall and nearly to the mayor’s door when the mayor burst through the door with a gilded greatsword.

  “What’s the meaning of this!” He roared.

  “Cult. Manor. Ghosts. Possessed. Army.” Shaynen panted. Doubling over as he gasped for breath.

  Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

  “There’s a cult in the manor, ghosts have possessed an army?” The mayor said, slightly alarmed but in disbelief. Shaynen shook his head and swallowed to unstick his throat.

  “There’s a cult in the manor, they’ve been taking people and their ghosts roam the halls.” Shaynen said. “They summon a black ick that possesses people, town could be surrounded.” The mayor’s look of alarm but disbelief stayed.

  “You’re sure? You aren’t just trying to abandon the manor before daylight?” He asked. Shaynen shook his head.

  “He’s telling the truth.” Thunder said as she appeared in the doorway. “We investigated the manor and got surrounded by the cult. Even though we defeated the cultists they still managed to summon a demon. One that we dispatched but not before it bit Shaynen.” The rest of the party entered the town hall and surrounded Shaynen. Their injuries adding evidence to the story. Shaynen paused to look at the bloody mess that was his shoulder, still seeing oozing beads of coagulated blood in the puncture marks. It wasn’t dripping down his arm anymore, just drying into a sticky mess.

  “You’re all telling me the truth?” The mayor asked, the alarm behind his eyes rising.

  “Yes, sir.” Jiit said. “It was a little girl with ringlets that showed us where to look.” The mayor stiffened.

  “I see. Clean yourselves up.” The mayor said and vanished into the private office. Slamming the door behind him.

  “Just like him,” the caretaker sighed. “I’ll grab you some bandages and rags.” The caretaker went into another unseen room but with the sound of water it seemed to be a washroom. He came back with a bowl of water and paused by a cabinet where he pulled out a bundle of cloth and brought it to the party.

  “Let me see your shoulder, son.” Kilek said. He grabbed a rag and sat Shaynen down. “Shame about the cloth. It looks like handspun cotton.”

  “It is,” Shaynen said. Pulling up the off-white cloth he wore wrapped around his torso. “At the monastery we all care for, harvest and spin the cotton into a giant cloth that we all wear a piece of.”

  “So you all dress the same?” Mayhem said. Grabbing a rag and soaking it before mopping at her own injuries.

  “No, you wear the cloth however you want. Some tie it around the waist or their chest.” Shaynen said and winced as Kilek put the wet rag to the bite wound.

  “Pretty standard for a religious sect.” Jiit said. He took a second to inspect his bolts, sitting down to work on some runes engraved in them.

  “Still weird and suspicious.” Mayhem said. “I don’t like nothing that tells me what to do or how to be.”

  “That could be a religious sect in and of itself.” Kilek chuckled.

  “Probably is,” Thunder agreed. Taking the bandages the caretaker brought a moment later and helped wrap Mayhem’s wounds.

  “The bite doesn’t look too bad.” Kilek said. “I’m more worried about what could be lying dormant.”

  “You think I still could be possessed?” Shaynen asked. He washed off the drying blood while Kilek continued to clean the wound.

  “It could be waiting for a moment of weakness. We should consult a healer, or a shaman.” Kilek said.

  “We don’t have any of those in this town.” The caretaker said. “You’ll have to go to the city nearby. I think there’s one in the university.”

  “Professor Xuliaga, I’m familiar.” Kilek nodded. “We go way back.” He wrapped up Shaynen’s shoulder.

  “Good, then it should be no problem to sort the boy out.” The caretaker said, Shaynen kept a hard frown at being treated like a child.

  After recovering and being bandaged up, the party curled up in any corner they could get comfortable in. Laying down to actually get some sleep for the night. After such an exhausting night, it barely took a second for them to fall asleep.

  “Get up!” The mayor yelled, scaring the party awake and to their feet. “There will be no sleeping while my town is under attack!” The mayor was dressed in glittering, if dented and old, armor. With a sword that seemed to glow.

  “What? What are you doing?” Mayhem stumbled and tried to force her eyes open. “Where’d you get that getup?”

  “I built this city with my own bare hands for my wife, and I’ll not let it be destroyed.” He said. “Now get up.” The party shook the sleep off and gathered around the mayor.

  “I haven’t seen your old armor in a while. Almost looks like it shrunk.” The caretaker said. “Does it bring back memories?”

  “No.” The mayor said. “Let’s go.” The mayor left the town hall and the party followed, keeping a few steps behind the mountain of a man.

  The streets were empty, with not a single soul in it. An eerie wind blew through the trees and buildings. There wasn’t a single sound in the night, as if all the birds and crickets left for better fields.

  “Wait,” Thunder said and moved to the front of the group to stop them. “The door’s open.”

  “Did we leave the door open?” Jiit asked.

  “No, I shut it behind us.” Kilek said.

  “I left it unlocked.” The caretaker said. The party shifted, feeling their stomachs drop.