“The Republic of Verona, though nominally a polity comprising the main island of Verona. In reality, aside from the main island, the Republic is constituted of about a dozen smaller islands that act as the ‘districts’ or ‘regions’ that make up other nations such as Carrador or Traxia. Thus, while the folk of the central isles act as the agrarian and industrial core of the Republic’s, it is actually the merchant folk of Dumah-Sa that most Cyndralians have the most experience with. A source of confusion and amusement for many a visitor to the Republic proper.”

  - Lord Helix Windeye, A Traveller’s Travel Guide, “Exploring The Golden Isles”

  “Non negotiable.” Inquisitor Janos declared, his arms crossed as he stared down Sophie and her party.

  In the half hour following Theo’s knightly contingent arriving at the gatehouse, the expedition had rallied and begun hatching a new plan with the information they recovered. During that time, the exhausted but still standing red hawks and Sir Taurox had rejoined the main force as well. Although their return brought some much needed good news for the group. Their own reports of the increasingly dire situation within the city itself however, tempered much of the good spirit that had been engendered by their presence.

  Still, with everyone in the advance party present, she was at least confident in the ability for the gatehouse to hold for extended durations whatever the situation might be. That was, until they all came together to discuss a new course of action. Where the inquisitorial representatives, curious as they might also be about the current state of the dead city, had set forth a staunch deadline for Sophie’s team.

  Evidently Sir Janos and Mila alongside the templars have come to the collective assessment that even the potential presence of plague was too much of a risk to be around. That the expedition had already gathered enough material and evidence for the church to be willing to back Sophie’s position in Carrador. Thus, it was imperative that they prepare to depart the city before the day’s end, much to Sophie’s consternation. They still needed to investigate the director’s manor and the castle, both of which might hold crucial clues in unraveling the web that Arantos’s cult held over the city.

  Sir Janos agreed, in a way. Only that the expedition would leave the city by day’s end, whatever the case.

  “Listen, Lady Kastiane. I understand. I, too, wish for more clarity regarding matters here. But the risk is too great. The blooms here are evidently inert, but we have no idea if the sudden influx of activity might provoke a more hostile reaction from the city.” He furrowed his brow, “That’s the time frame. The rest is yours to figure out. But as the sun starts to set, we leave. I mean it when I say non-negotiable. I believe my colleague Lyudmila would also affirm this course of action. Understood?”

  Sophie grunted her assent.

  “Good. Whatever you need to do, get it done. Just get it done fast.” He huffed, a hint of approval flash across his face before he turned to face the others, “Alright then, Lord and Lady Rosengart, you know your assignments. We need to make sure the way back is clear. Let’s get moving.”

  With a clap of his hand, the meeting was adjourned as the respective groups filtered away for their own preparations. Eva and the templars would maintain the gatehouse, though they would ready themselves for rapid relocation. Theodore’s role then evolved into one of a vanguard of sorts, to clear the way back to the farmstead outpost through the main city district. Sir Taurox and the red hawks were once more assigned to aid Sophie.

  The time limit however, was her bigger headache. Given the recent resurgence of the undead within the city and the potential foes still lurking in the shadows, they would not be able to advance as quickly as they had done so far. The unfortunate reality of only being able to reach one of her destinations loomed overhead. Though depending on the dead, maybe even not that.

  In light of her conversation with Elaria, the castle now drew her attention more so as a place to investigate. At least in that regard, she did have an idea to help them along. One that she had yet to share though seemed ever more like the only way forward for them.

  For along the old sections of Eichafen stood a small sloped district that ran along just outside of the inner wall. Hugging it and offering a modest view of the city’s main districts. She had seen the maps that the inquisitors had brought out days earlier. A small side entrance that was deemed a bit too inconvenient to use given how out of the way it was and how uncertain they were of the area’s security. Of course, everything came with a hitch, for it would be the route that took them past Maud’s tavern. The place where she had first settled a little with Riza before all hells broke loose. She supposed that a part of her always wondered what had happened to its inhabitants. Though with the state of the city now, she could only brace herself for the disappointment to come.

  Still, I owe it to their kindness to… check, at least.

  “Mila, bring a map over here.” Sophie beckoned to her friend.

  The girl exchanged a few last words with the templars and Inquisitor Janos before grabbing the church’s map and jogging over to her.

  “I hope you have something in mind, Sophie. Because the city’s looking like a worse and worse option by the minute.” Mila scowled as she unfurled the map onto a crate next to them.

  Sophie just nodded as she motioned for the others to come over, Sophia shooting her an irritating half smirk. If there was one downside to her counterpart being far more adept at accessing her thoughts than she was at walling them off. It was that she could never predict what Sophia had bothered paying attention to or ignoring, nor could she guess what her sister’s reactions would be to ‘new’ information. Although most of the time, it was usually just a bit of unearned cheekiness.

  “I do… look…” Sophie mumbled as she quickly searched the map before defiantly pointing a finger down near the western center of Eichafen, “... here. Here.” She declared more assertively.

  Mila, Elaria and Raylani leaned in a little, peering down at where she was pointing at.

  “Side path, usually overlooked but gets us to a smaller gatehouse towards the royal quarter.” She presented her plan.

  “Huh. Didn’t we rule it out for being too out of the way?” Mila hummed.

  “Yes. But less chance for plague, since we’ve only seen it in the Golden Quarter. Undead too, so far.”

  “So far.”

  Mila repeated the statement with a curt grunt.

  “Look. The path isn’t the widest. We’ll be able to funnel trouble if it comes to us.” Sophie added.

  “Or we get drawn into an inescapable ambush.” Mila growled.

  “There are still those unexplained humanoids we have to worry about, though now that the city’s coming alive, err, unalive, we haven’t seen any sign of them yet.” Sophia chimed in.

  “There is that.” Mila agreed.

  “But what can we do? We just keep an eye out. Mila, I know the church is worried about the threat of the plague and the saints, but this way, we can skirt around the center of the golden quarter and avoid where the plague blooms could be.” Sophie argued.

  Mila scowled, though neither hostile nor friendly.

  “Doubling back to the main streets before advancing here would strain the already limited time we have.” Raylani stated the obvious.

  “We’d have to-”

  “I know. If all we can do is survey into the castle, then that’s all I can ask.” Sophie interrupted before Mila could put up another argument.

  She looked at the others. Sophia had already understood her train of thought. Elaria meanwhile, just wore a thin smirk, her sister having been the one to direct her attention in the first place. The dark elf of course, showed little shifts in emotion, deferring that line of decision making to Elaria. Only Mila seemed a little put off by the plan. Though judging by how she didn’t vocalize her disagreement, she wasn’t as actively against it anymore.

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  “Mila, if something dangerous stands against us, we retreat okay? I just think that we can find just a few more clues if we make it.” She tried to reassure the girl.

  The inquisitor crossed her arms before massaging the sides of her temples and sighed.

  “But with the state of the Golden Quarter, are you really expecting Castle Eichafen to be any different?” Mila asked.

  Sophie held her tongue and shook her head. There was no point in trying to deny the truth.

  “Then what’s the point?”

  “We’ll figure it out when we get there.” Sophia snorted, “It’s how it always works with her, isn’t it?”

  Sophie shot her an exasperated look, caught off guard by the half barbed statement.

  “And you don’t see the problem with that?” Mila gawked.

  Sophia shrugged, “We’re already in the city.”

  “We could aim to rendezvous back at the farmstead. Instead of here, that is, after the exploration.” Elaria half heartedly chimed in, “What? No need to look at me like that. I mean, the main issue is that the time limit is for Eva’s contingent and the templars to evacuate before day’s end. Right? Just bypass it. Tell them to go back. Then we punch through or run away. About as simple as it gets.”

  Hearing this, Mila rolled her eyes and finally let her shoulders drop.

  “I’ll inform Sir Janos of this suggestion. Just be ready to move. Undoubtedly the knights are also dumb enough to see their mandate of shadowing you to come along, so take that into account, alright?”

  Sophie nodded.

  “Good. We’re running low on time as it is. Now rest up, get ready.” Mila scowled.

  Watching the Inquisitor walk away, Sophie felt no sense of relief at all. In some way, she had hoped the girl would have convinced her to give up on the endeavor altogether. After all, it would still be dangerous nonetheless.

  Sophie felt a hand pat her shoulder and found Elaria grinning.

  “You heard her, Sophie. Best get ready to move. No time for moping.” The bard chuckled.

  With their second battle plan decided. Sir Taurox and the red hawks chose to accompany the Lily Knights as Inquisitor Janos and the church contingents alongside Eva’s would slowly make their way back to the breach in the city walls. Theodore and his riders would perform one last sweep of the path before regrouping at the farmstead outside.

  Their rest was as brief as their encounter with the undead. With more likely rising from their long slumber in the dead city, it was decided that both groups would move with alacrity towards their respective objectives in order to best avoid any other outright confrontations.

  A few shamblers did slumber forward to harass their retreat from the gatehouse. But with a few well placed attacks and barricades, they drove off the undead and crafted a blockade to delay the undead’s advance, should they start to expand out of the quarters. Still, with the groans of the dead only just behind them, it would appear that the city wouldn't be slumbering restfully anymore.

  Sophie’s group broke off from the main party halfway to Grand Platz, taking a detour that led up the city towards where she had once traversed with Riza. Sophie could slowly start to feel the day’s fatigue starting to set in. The switch up from going downhill to up tiring her out faster than expected. Their brief and tense little rest offered little physical respite for her increasingly weary body. Yet she turned her gaze ever onwards, forwards and one step closer to where everything had first come together.

  The Last Hunter. A terribly ironic name now, given the situation.

  Hiking up the trail, she spent a moment just to gaze down at the town below. A messy cramped wasteland of stone and timber houses. Some roofs caved in by the siege, others still standing tall in spite of it all. But none had been spared, all having been shrouded from the sun’s gentle glow and covered by a blanket of muted ash and death. Broken statues, monuments and even cracked wayshrines of the twin goddesses of the forest littered the side of the path. She shuddered at just how much had changed since she had last been here now that she could see the city from above.

  No longer were Grand Duke Walden’s heraldry lining the military buildings or even the streets. Not even the flag poles remained, likely fashioned into crude pikes or defensives as morale continued to dwindle. Fences that once lined the pathway up had also been shattered or repurposed into stakes. And all the flowers and hedges that once offered weary travellers some serenity on the way up had been reduced to nothing but empty flowerbeds and ashes where even nature avoided.

  Below, she could see it more clearly. In the city's main square, there stood the cathedral and its caved in roof, the one area Sophie and the others hadn't been able to explore but that the saints have. Beyond that, the somber remains of the Adventurers Guild and supporting structures. Once proud bastions of authority that no longer looked any different from the ruins around it. It felt even more hollowed out than when they had approached it from ground level. A reminder of the once lively past that existed here.

  Her mood deflated even further as more memories of the past flooded into her mind. Of the people that had saved her, brought her here and welcomed her. Of the errant guildmaster of the guild here, a man who had come from Melton. What an unfortunate transfer, though I doubt Melton was any better during their civil war.

  Sophie felt her ears droop a little. An almost terrifyingly melancholic thought crossed her mind. I barely even remember their names anymore.

  They finally reached the curve on the path where the few ramshackle houses in the area gave way to a ‘park’. Like when she had first arrived, it was a small plot of dirt that separated a squat four story building from the rest of the houses. From that building, a few wings jutted out, though where the main structure seemed relatively untouched by the battles fought here, more than a few extensions seemed to have been forcefully breached. The gaps exposing a brief glimpse inside the building if not just having collapsed into a messy heap otherwise.

  There, on a rotted sign that had already half detached were the words that brought her a small amount of dread. The Last Hunter.

  “This is it then?” Sophia broke the group’s silence.

  Sophie turned towards her, her sister’s words having been completely drowned out by her own thoughts.

  “This is where you stayed when you first got here?” Sophia expanded it.

  At this, Sophie nodded, though stayed silent. Worried that her very voice would only bring back unnecessary memories of warmth and kindness. Only to have to contrast that with the cold, sterile, and cruel nature of the current reality before her.

  Where there had been a flowerbed in the making, half scuffed by her and Riza. There was now a poorly formed series of spikes protruding from the ground. Behind them, The Last Hunter remained as it ever was. An imposing but gentle watcher of the city, willing to lend its tables to mercenaries and adventurers alike. By the doorway, she could feel her breathing still.

  Surrounded by now deflated bags that once held sand or grains to form a wall. A rather large skeleton rested against a pillar at the entrance to the tavern. So… Wilfred held until the end. As expected. The giant of a man had shown a great kindness to both her and Riza. An act that could no longer be repaid.

  Only a little ways away, propped up by half a fallen door was another skeleton. Flesh long since rotted and torn away by the undead or time. Yet just by posture alone, Sophie reasoned that it was as if someone had just given up. Simply sat down and allowed themselves to be torn apart. And based on its proximity to Wilfred, she concluded that it must have been the proprietress, Maud. Though whatever hope in her heart that either of the two could’ve escaped the city had now been quashed. There was still a quiet comfort in knowing that by the end, they still managed to reunite.

  Peering past the skeleton and into the ruins of the interior, she could vaguely make out a few shapes. Curious, she stepped out of formation before anyone could stop her and wandered just at the threshold of the doorway. Inside, the state of devastation was the same as it was everywhere else. The fallen furniture, last minute barricades, and even another complement of skeletal remains, though far more jumbled than the remains outside. Swords of the Damned, I remember now. Heh, I suppose they fulfilled their namesake. Though perhaps differently than they had envisioned it.

  She felt her body tense up as her eyes landed on the bar counter. Even if it looked similar to the other counters within the various inns and taverns that she had visited. She could feel its grip around her tightening, squeezing at her very soul as if trying to wring it dry. Because she still remembered the silent promise that she had made. The very first blade of her own that she had been given, a true sword, or rather, sabre of the damned. And the promise that came with it. One that she had failed utterly at.

  “I’m sorry.” She whispered under her breath.

  I couldn’t keep anyone safe. Not Anna or the others. Not myself. And not Riza either. I’m sorry.

  She stared for a few more moments. Only vaguely aware of the few voices that had now come up behind her. Her fingers coiled around the hilt of her blade, each tapping out a new pledge of their own. A vow of vengeance and to make things right again.

  “Sophie, you okay?” Mila’s voice finally reached her. Her voice far more gentle than it usually was.

  Startled, Sophie quickly reoriented her mind before quickly nodding.

  “Yeah, yeah. I’m fine. Just some memories. Let’s keep moving.” She muttered the declaration.

  Without another word, she simply backed away and strode forward. Her heart encased itself once more as she set her sights back on the path and the castle. Ever onwards. She tried to convince herself, have to keep going ever onwards.