“Follow the trail and don’t let the blood from your scalp tarnish your eyesight, they all have fallen and now you must reach the union. Walk if you cannot run, crawl if you cannot walk, call to the golden gate of the center. Outside, it shall wait”

  A strong smell of herbs greeted me in the morning; a faint cloud of smoke was entering through the underside of the door, it seemed the maids were perfuming the halls with somekind of incense. I stretched my arms and legs, took my sword from the door handle, and woke up Colt. “Hey, get up and wash yourself, I’ll get my stuff and go see where Boris is”. Colt went to get his new clothes but I stopped him so I could make a cut on his pants, “Wait a sec… there, now your tail won’t come out looking like a third leg. Take the cape too, cover yourself with it”. Once we got ready, I opened the door and a maid was already waiting outside, she bowed and greeted us, “Good Morning. Please, follow me”. We complied and followed her to, what I guess was the living room; a big room with a nice view of the outside, many paintings and a single chair in the middle where Boris was sitting, while sipping from a fine porcelain cup and making slurping noises that reverberated against the walls.

  When he saw us, Boris gave the cup to one of his servants and stood up, “Greetings! Hope you found the accommodations of your liking”, he said and approached us, patting my shoulders the same way as he did yesterday, “You know, you saved my daughter, dined with me and even stayed in my home but… I didn’t catch your name”. Shit… I really didn’t want to give my name to this guy and also, I’m bad with names… “I’m Colt”, I replied, that was the first thing that came to mind, I could feel Colt’s judging gaze on me. “Ah! Nice to meet you Colt. I will have your provisions be prepared for you, even better, I’ll personally tour you around town and to the market, let’s go!”, Boris said and led us outside. Parked in front of the mansion there was a carriage already waiting for us, I turned to make sure Colt was close to me so he wouldn’t be snatched away or something, I got him to enter first and sat him next to me in the carriage, Boris sat in front and glared at Colt, “Funny little animals, aren’t they? You are the first one I allowed in this town with such a beast, Colt. Kobolds can be such a plague even if you let only one to roam free”, he said, an opinion I’m not keen on debating and I wanted to shift his attention away from Colt, “Boris, how is Aisha? Is she okay?”, I asked because I haven’t seen her since last night. Boris smiled and chuckled a bit, “Hahaha, don’t worry about her. She is more than fine, actually, she might be in the town, you’ll see her soon enough”.

  The carriage went down hill and into the streets where the few people that were walking all stopped to bow to the passing carriage. Boris waved at them and made comments about some of those people and also spoke about some of the servants that were walking along with those people, Boris would point out that he knew some of them and how they used to mistreat him and how Delia has put the in their place, a bunch of nonsense I tried to ignore. He stopped the carriage just shy of the main street of the town, “Here Colt, half of this street works as the main market, we’ll find your provisions in no time, after you”, he urged us out and led the way. The main market was the only place that made the town seem normal and probably most of the town was there, servants and non servants, all buying, selling or exchanging, but all of them turned to face Boris and gave every type of greet you could think of, servants were forced by their owners to kneel and kiss the cobblestone he walked, Boris gave blessings to his fellow believers and stopped to make small talk, sometimes introducing me. When Boris was distracted, talking to some people, Colt came to me, “S-sir… these people… they are stepping on my tail, o-one man kicked me in my knee… and they… they are constantly spitting on me”, he said with wet eyes, I hated seeing how he was getting mistreated but there was nothing I could do, it was either getting spit on or getting impaled, “I’m sorry Colt, but you’ll have to endure for a bit longer, okay?”, I whispered and he nodded with a sad expression, it pained me to expose him to the abuse but we needed to go without provoking any of them.

  After an hour of Boris talking to other followers of the cult, who continuously praised and complimented him from his attire to the smell of his breath, he finally reached a store that seemed like a general food store; with bread, meat, wine, vegetables, fruits, etc. There was a girl working in the counter but she was a servant and was immediately displaced by the owner of the store, an older woman that introduced herself as an old friend of Boris who, like the others, practically worshiped him, and talked about how nice he was to everyone and how he provided her with this store thanks to her devotion… more nonsense that was getting on my nerves. Thankfully, Boris told her what I needed and some servants of hers put together two large bags full of goods. I was relieved to see Boris was fulfilling his promise and when I went to get the bags he made a remark, “Please Colt, are you going to carry those? Get your kobold to do that, unless is that useless”, well shit, I had to make Colt carry the bags, if I didn’t then he might catch on the fact Colt wasn’t my servant, I turned to Colt who looked at me in fear, don’t know if he thought the same as me or because he knew he could hardly carry the bags, “Uh, you’re right. Get the bags… kobold”, I said to Colt, even if I was just mimicking a slaver, it hurt having to say that. Colt complied, he walked towards the bag and tried to lift them and is not like a kobold couldn’t carry those bags, is that Colt isn’t one of those type of kobolds and he was struggling a lot. Boris began to laugh at Colt trying his best, “Ahahahaha, it cannot even lift a bag! What a waste of air”, then he turned to me, “Colt, if you want, I can take care of that thing and provide you with an excellent ‘human’ servant, or more, remember what Delia gives”. Colt was getting teary either by the effort or the embarrassment, and I was getting angrier just by listening to the stupid nonsense spewing from Boris mouth. Then, one of the servants of the store came with some rope and helped Colt by tying the bags to his back, I could see sympathy from the servant to Colt, it calmed me and now Colt could at least carry the bags even if it weighed on his tiny body. I went to Colt and took the moment to whisper a ‘thank you’ to the servant, she only blinked at me but I knew it was her way of welcoming the gratitude.

  With that done, I asked Boris to led me to where my horse was but he stalled and instead urged me to accompany him, ‘to see the town to its fullest’, I didn’t want to but I needed to get to my horse first and I didn’t know where it was, I had to agree. Boris took me through almost every street in the town, explaining different things like how he came up with the name for the town, because all the towns under Delia needed a new name, how the great army of Delia was preparing for a final assault, how he was promise a big cut of the Princedom, and things I didn’t care for, what worried me was Colt who walked slower and slower, the bags on his back were becoming too much for him. It was noon and Boris had parade me around the town then made the way back to the plaza which was pretty congested this time, he pushed through the crowd to where the pole stood and spoke to two cultist dressed completely in black, “So, how was it? Did she behave ‘till the end?”, Boris asked to one of the cultist, I was wondering what he was referring to, “She did, your sanctity. She was happy to be able to give something back to Delia, just as expected from the daughter of the Word”, the cultist replied and his words urged me to go around the pole, raising my gaze upward to the top of the pole, there she was; the flayed body of Aisha in display for all of the town to see.

  Colt couldn’t help but tear up at the sight, he did cover his mouth with both hands but I could hear him whimpering her name. I didn’t understand, I mean, I got that these were fucking fanatics but the most powerful person in town just sacrificed her daughter, why? Why was gained with doing these disgusting things? And what about all these praying pricks, they just accept an innocent girl getting flayed and nailed to a pole?… Boris must have seen my expression, he came to me and looked up towards the body of Aisha, “It pains me to no end. I know what you might be thinking but, this was something I couldn’t stop”, was that an excuse?, “What do you mean? Aren’t you the Word of God in this town? W-why is she on that pole?”, I asked without much containment on my part and, in hindsight, this was the worst place to confront him, his followers were all around us. “She’s on that pole because she was tainted. See, as my daughter, she had one mandate given by Delia, she must bear the children of the high priest of God. This is something all ‘Words’ must comply with. And, as you know, the brawen defiled her, her purity vanished by the hands of beasts, I had to let her body be examined by others as I couldn’t bare to look at what once was my daughter now a used carcass for the pleasure of animals”, Boris explained? Say?… it was one of the most revolting things I have ever heard, “What do you mean? She was alive, she was safe and you- you are his father”, I asked back, an out loud thought that escaped my mouth as I couldn’t believe his words, “No. My daughter died in that cabin. What returned was a remnant that had to be given to Delia for payment, payment for my mistake… I have to go the church next, but I guess you’d prefer to leave, follow that street to the end, there you’ll find the stables, you’re free to leave, as I promised”, he replied, turned and promptly left, leaving me alone with my thoughts.

  I held Colt by the arm as we made way through the crowd, I could hear that their prayers were all directed to Aisha, it seemed the daughter of the Word as a sacrifice meant a lot to them and, thankfully, they didn’t pay much attention to me or to Colt. Following the street Boris pointed to, which was deserted thanks to the display in the plaza, I made sure no one was looking and got the bags off Colt’s back, “T-thanks, I couldn’t feel my back…”, he thanked me and then turned his head towards the plaza, “I can’t believe what he did, a-and those people were praying and cheering… T-Tak, Sir, did you felt like… felt like killing him?”, he made an unexpected question and I wanted to know where it was coming from, “Why? Should I had kill him back there?”, I replied with a question and he pondered for a few seconds, “N-no… I think- Is just that… I don’t think he deserves to live- Sorry! I shouldn’t think of things like that”, he quickly covered his mouth and tried to continue walking but I was intrigued so I pried further, “Strong words coming from you but, I agree, I don’t think he deserves to live. Let’s say I did kill him back there, in front of all those people, what do you think would happen?”, I asked and he gazed down, embarrassed, “I.. uh… I think it… would’ve been… bad?”, he replied and I laughed out loud, “Hahaha, bad? We would been followed by all of them, they were like two- three hundred of them, think you’ll be able to escape? Or fight?”, I explained and grabbed his arm, squeezing it a bit, “With this tiny arms and hands?… Unfortunately, we have to think before making a haste decision. Since we entered this town we’ve been in danger, maybe if I had realize sooner, before returning Aisha… but we are pass that. I would love to slit Boris throat, nail his fat and ugly body on the pole, the problem is what to do after, if we escape we’re going to be followed for a long, long distance. I wouldn’t mind it, but I have to keep you alive”, my reasoning seemed to make Colt understand and drop the subject.

  Just like Boris said, at the end of the street sat the stables of the town. I saw my horse in there and went to get it and there was one man standing next to the gate, “You’re the guest of the Word, right?”, the man asked and extended his hand, “I’m Norton, I run this stable”. I could see the mark on his wrists which estranged me, faithfuls wouldn’t shake hands with infidels, but I shook his hand anyway, “I’m Colt… you know I’m not part of the cul- I mean religion, right?”, I said to Norton who smiled and nodded, “It’s okay. I was told you weren’t from the cult and…”, he looked down at my wrists, “I’m glad you didn’t convert. Follow me, let’s get those bags on the horse”. This man was speaking so freely, even referred to the cult as what it is, he led us to where my horse was and a young boy was tending to it, the boy was wearing a green choker, “That’s Jon. He’s my helper”, Norton said and playfully messed with the his hair, “Thanks for tending to the horse, now go back to the house”, he dismissed Jon and took the bags from my hands, tying them to my horse’s side. “Helper, huh? Not your servant?”, I murmured and Norton smirked, “That’s right. I’m not like them, a’ight? Jon’s father was a good friend of mine, he was of the faith and refused to convert when the cult took over, him and his wife were murdered on the spot and I managed to get the boy to live, only as a ‘servant’ they said, so I took him as my ‘servant’. It’s nothing short of atrocious what they do to infidels, even children… and Boris… I knew he was a fucking fanatic but, offer his own daughter as a sacrifice? Didn’t expect that”. His last remark made raise an eyebrow so I asked, “One of his daughters? That guy has more?”, and Norton looked down at the mark on his left wrist, caressing it with one finger, “He has fourteen I think, ten daughters and four sons, he has them spread in different places, like all the different Words of God, a Word can keep only one child with him, in this case it was his firstborn. He discarded her like nothing though, now he’ll have another daughter send this way”, then he finished tying the bags and turned to me, “He told you that you’ll be able to leave, right? If he did then be sure you will. A promise made by the Word has to be kept, part of the religion and all”.

  This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  He might’ve been trying to deceive me, I thought, but his words sounded truthful to me. I thanked Norton, got up on my horse and yoinked Colt up with me. Norton advise us to take another street more secluded and leave town immediately, he let it slide that there was something about to happen and Boris term might be coming to an end soon, or at least I hope that was what he meant. We rode through the street and the market uninterrupted and, as we were heading to the main gate, I wondered if we would actually be able to leave without problem but, just shy of passing through the entrance gate of the town, we were stopped. There were two guards on the gate, “Hold it right there!”, one of them exclaimed and approached us, he got close and held the reins of my horse, “You are heading to Prime Bay, no?”, he asked, didn’t know what to expect or what to answer, then he produced a fold paper from his pocket and shoved it inside my bag, “Please, once you arrive, seek Frankie, he’s the guild master, tell him that I’m alive and waiting”, he whispered and went back to his post, letting us leave.

  Didn’t fully understand what he meant, or what was happening, just that I was free to leave the town full of fanatics, and I did just that. We hastily made all the way back to the road next to the cabin where I found Aisha, then we finally took the road that led to the capital. “What did he meant by that?… oh! Maybe he was like an informant?”, Colt wondered, an actual good guess from his part, “Could be. We’ll find out in Prime Bay. For now, we should avoid stopping and make haste”, I said. It took us until the afternoon to reach new terrain, one that became more mountainous and dangerous, we went uphill for almost an hour and when reaching the top we could see what awaited, “Sir! We are in Cedar’s Pass”, Colt excitedly pointed out, I already knew that but whatever, he must be happy seeing this for the first time. Cedar’s Pass was the only ‘road’ that connected the northwest side of the Princedom with the capital, most cities, at least the important ones, sat on the coast of the Bay of Lorientes, the most important being Prime Bay, and all of these cities lay beyond the Central Mountain Range; which mountains varied tremendously and range from difficult to almost impossible to pass. In hindsight, probably it was thanks to the mountains that the Cult of Delia was unable to take the whole Princedom, crossing these parts with an army is unthinkable, that’s why you either cross with small groups, something that would make a campaign last forever, or do what everyone does and just go by ship across the sea.

  Despite being already in altitude, we had to go higher, “Colt, put something more on, like the cloth from yesterday. Things are about to get colder”, I said. The terrain was too steep and we struggled for a while at some points, in the end, as the afternoon turned into dusk, we were able to get to the flat portion of the trail. The approaching darkness prompted us to look for a cave or a stone formation that could shelter us. We still hadn’t reach the snowy part of the mountain, a part we had to pass before going down, but the cold and the wind were becoming a problem, a cool wind that could put off a fire with ease. “The wind is ramping up. If you see a place we can stop then- argh!”, I couldn’t finish my sentence as a sharp pain coming from my left side manifested, “Are you okay, Tak?”, Colt instantly asked and I patted my side and my chest, the touch shooting pain through my body, it hurt like if I had torn various muscles, “I-I’m fine. Let’s move”, I replied while trying to ignore the pain. After ten minutes of just following the trail, I could feel part of my body going numb, I had to stop, at least for a while, just by the side of the trail there was a stone formation that served as shield from the wind, not the best but good enough. “Here, let’s take a break”, I got off the horse like I always did but this time I tripped and fell to my knees, “Fuck…”, I had to slowly get up and lean against the stone wall, at least the wind wasn’t hitting my face anymore.

  This wasn’t the place for us to spent the night in though, I just needed a break to be able to continue further, after dismissing more of Colt’s worried questioning, he turned to watch the trail, “Sir… do you think they are following us? They allowed us to go too easily”, he reflected, then came to sit next to me, “I’m still learning about religion. That cult wasn’t in any book I’ve read before, s-such fanaticism, such cruelty… I can understand believing in something greater but… going to the length of killing… f-flaying…? I cannot believe any god would allow that… that is if there’s actually a god, ha-”, Colt finished with a laugh but stopped himself as his gaze met mine, “S-sorry! I didn’t mean it like that!, see… I respect your belief, I respect all believes and… and”. Myself from a few years ago might had, at least, cut his tail from spewing blasphemy, but I actually laughed at his reaction, “It’s fine. You don’t offend me, I get you might be curious about what’s higher than us. Everynight, everytime I pray I wonder myself, ‘is there anything actually hearing me besides my own mind?’, truth is, I sometimes doubt myself”, I said as I took my chestplate off, holding the Langedar on my hand, “See this? This is the Langedar, a symbol as old as the world itself, its made of two bending lines that almost touch, they symbolize earth and heaven, and the line that cuts through both of them symbolizes…”, I let it hanging and Colt pondered before answering, “It symbolizes… divinity!, no, god!, no- gods! That… uh, bridge the gap between heaven and earth, right?”. All of this was bringing memories from my time in the orphanage, I was doing the same thing Father Bardion did, explaining the Langedar the same way, “You are partly right. The line in the middle is suppose to be the one converging heaven and earth, working as the link, but, we don’t actually know what it means, it’s left to speculation more than anything”.

  As we converse I peeked under my chainmail and tunic, the skin on my left side was partly purple with bruising, just lightly poking it produced a lot of pain, I tried to ignore it, the power of the sword should health it or at least make it less painful in a second. Colt seemed excited to talk more, while wagging his tail, he went towards the horse to search for something, but found nothing inside the bags, “Dang it! It must had fallen somewhere…”, he muttered but turned to me, “I wanted to show you the book I was reading about your religion but it appears I lost it, probably when I… ran away last time… b-but, please tell me more about uh… the faith?, it has another name?”, he asked and sat in front of me, his eyes expectantly waiting for my answer, my explanation, he sported the same look as yesterday when I explained the Calamity and my quest… I knew I couldn’t relax too much, the pain was spreading but might as well entertain him a bit. “It’s the faith, there isn’t another name. Might seem arrogant to gatekeep the word but it remains as the first and most important religion. There are some variations of the practice of the faith, some more strict than others, but the principle remains the same, the worship of the five gods; Mondis, Kanzi, Iris, Qonecsus and Ilanda, as described in the holy scriptures. A kobold wouldn’t be allowed into the faith for the sole reason that the world was ‘made for humans’, that’s what the scriptures say, and it describes various methods of dealing with the other… beings, some being more severe, more fanatical”, I explained while putting my chestplate back on again, then standing and doing some stretches to get the blood flowing and alleviate the numbness. “B-but, the faith- the human settlements, kingdoms and cities that are of the faith, aren’t as fanatical as the Cult of Delia, right? I read they were more tolerant… or less severe”, Colt retorted and I let a small chuckle out before answering, “Clearly you don’t know all of the kingdoms of the faith. The Cult of Delia aren’t the most fanatical I’ve heard of… or even met. South of the West Kingdom lays the small nation of The Divine Exaltation; all of them, from the eldest to the youngest, are completely devout. It is said that the ground that makes up that small nation, every meter, was irrigated with the blood of Saint Dorian, and that the plants and the air are blessed and corrupting it with an ‘undesired presence’ is frown upon and punished immediately… There are no kobolds in that place, not even remains, they won’t bury them, if you were to have such bad luck as to set foot in there, the people there would; first, lament the sight of such an undesired beast, second, put gloves on before breaking your bones and carrying you outside their country and third, once outside their borders, they would apply the Mondis Mandate on you”. Colt did what he always did when afraid, becoming smaller and avoiding my gaze, “M-M-Mondis… Mandate?”, he asked with a shaky voice but I wasn’t going to entertain this anymore, the pain in my body wasn’t subsiding, “You can buy a book in Prime Bay about that. Let’s move and find a better place to stay”, I said and did my best to get on the horse without showing the discomfort.

  “Help me look for a cave, we can’t remain outdoors for long”, I said to Colt and went back to the trail. I made the horse go faster this time, hoping we might see someplace good enough to stay. The terrain didn’t help at all though, everytime the horse jumped a bump or slightly fell from a slope I felt pain on my whole body… the pain was bad but I ignored it the best I could, what didn’t help was Colt holding onto my sides when the horse went faster. With the last light of dusk out and only the moon to illuminate the path, I had to slow down the pace and pay attention to the trail as we might end up falling in a landslide. “Agh! Fuck…”, I groaned trough my teeth, part pain part complain from not being able to find shelter, and turned to Colt, “Colt, you see something ahead?”, I asked, knowing kobolds can see farther in the dark, but he shook his head.

  From one of the bags, I pulled the other cloth I had and covered my head, mouth, ears and nose as the cool wind became unbearable, something that affected Colt more than me, he was holding onto me tightly, probably out of fear of falling but most surely because the cold affects kobolds worse than humans, their blood runs colder and it was a serious risk for him. We rode for thirty more minutes, the pain I had was being replaced by numbness on my hands, arms and legs, which got worse thanks to the slow pace I was forced into. I tried to wrap my head around on how anyone could go through this pass but, at the same time, the answer was clear, everyone that went through this pass must surely be prepared beforehand, unlike us who were more concerned on the fanatics of Delia and… even if hard to admit, my eagerness to get Colt back to Delilah, to get a hard task out of my shoulders, protecting a life is the hardest job after all, would never take one of those in any guild. He also had seen enough dead and perversion, is tragic how he’s only eleven months old, had never seen the outside world and already almost got killed by fanatics, was close to die by an allergy and got traumatized this young, he probably already hates the world and the humans that live on it, something I wouldn’t blame him for.

  The trail ahead seems all the same, nothing changing and I can feel my body more unresponsive every passing second… I have to find somewhere first, if I collapse here we’ll both die. I made fifty more meters when the trail abruptly went down, it took me and the horse by surprise, I held the reins tight as the horse fought to not fall onto its back, by mere luck we made it to the bottom without lesions, I tried to talk to Colt, who was hardly responding thanks to the cold. I couldn’t feel my face so I bit my tongue as hard as I could to gain some sense back to my mouth, and prompted the horse to keep going, “Colt… if you see a cave, scream”, I managed to say, even if I think he didn’t heard me, and rested more of my body on the horse’s mane. There was something that wasn’t working with the sword’s power; my wounds wouldn’t heal, few times I experimented this before as only severe wounds are able to hinder the sword’s healing power, but then it came to me, these wounds were from the tower, the one that the sage blow up, the time where I went flying and ended up fifty meters away, a normal human would’ve gotten mangled but I remained intact besides some pain, a pain relived the next day… but the wounds looked to be correlated to that fall, could be that I’m pushing my body too much? After that I immediately entered the princedom and meet Delilah, didn’t stop a single day. Fuck, why something so mundane… may be the reason I’ll be dying in this trail.

  “T-Tak! Look!”, Colt exclaimed and startled me back to my senses, “W-what?!”, I asked and he pointed forwards, “There! A cave!”, he said and, even if I couldn’t see it, I trusted his kobold eyes. Sure enough, once we approached I could see the opening, Colt got off the horse and went into the darkness of the cave, I wanted to follow him inside, there might be danger there but, as I moved my arm away from the horse’s rein, I knew just by how I was unable to feel my entire body that I was moving by sheer reflex… I wondered why, and then I saw Colt coming out of the darkness, “Is it good?”, I asked and he nodded with a big smile, “Good…”, I managed to let out, then my whole body seemed to shut down, for one second I saw Colt happy expression and next I saw the ground.