Nido's scuffle with Dancer made the tension between the two groups even thicker than it had been before. Especially the two men, now tasked with assisting the battered Dancer through the day, cast very accusatory looks Nido's way. But Morek seemed to do his hardest to quench the hatred. After explaining the intensity of the racist remark, where he himself emphasized the severity, most of the group actually came to Nido and apologized on the Dancer's behalf.

  Of course such a thing was only surface level. From Deatt's experience, most did not care about such things. Maybe the fact that their captain himself was offended by the use helped them decide to be sorry for it.

  On the other hand, Evelynn now joined Deatt and Nido for a little while whenever they encamped. Her presence bringing a sort of comfort to their late discussions. But Deatt noticed the men glancing at them throughout the night.

  They were getting antsy as well. The night became much quieter and not for a lack of booze. The men knew that their expedition was reaching the outskirts of the city, though many villages were still in their way. The turned also increased in number, now demanding that both Deatt and Nido join the group as added muscle. There was no incident as of yet, but Deatt started to worry about the numbers of their group.

  Walking through the ruins of yet another abandoned village, Nido and Evelynn were locked in a fierce battle of opinion.

  "I am just saying. If you cook your meat instead of grilling it. You will go to hell." Nido stood on his point.

  "But cooking is so much better! You can cook it with vegetables, add garlic, even onion! Compared to simple grilling, it's a completely new level." she replied.

  Their heated exchange began at the entrance of the village, where numerous furs hung from houses all around them. It started with Nido's love of a good hunt, eventually turning to the right ways to prepare meat.

  Deatt smiled as he listened to the pair bickering, while looking through the numerous empty windows of the village. It was completely quiet. The last few they had gone through had at least a few groups of turned, mostly feeding on rotting flesh.

  Even though this one was much smaller, it seemed a bit weird to Deatt.

  "Fish? Don't even get me started on fish." Evelynn said. Nido puffed and looked away, clearly in disagreement.

  Deatt was getting a little hungry listening to the culinary exchange of heightened opinions behind him, so he focused on the road more.

  The group before them traveled as they always did. A number of the bigger men, along with Morek, led the way, while the mage stayed inside the group, protected from all sides.

  Deatt had yet to see what the role of the mage really was. For now, he almost seemed like a tourist, trying to see and enjoy the horrifying ruins they walked through. But Vael would not send just someone here. Hopefully.

  Suddenly Deatt felt his heel getting itchy. It was the aggressive kind, making him stop and pull his foot out of his boot, as to scratch it. The wound healed for the most part, although it left an ugly dark scar. The itching only intensified with his scratching, becoming annoyingly unbearable.

  "Everything alright?" Evelynn asked, watching him furiously scratch his heel.

  "I don't know. It just itches." Deatt realized that scratching would not help, so he put the foot back into the boot, trying to ignore the growing discomfort instead.

  "It feels like ants are biting directly into the scar." he further explained.

  "Sounds nasty. Got a rash like that once. Ate something bad." Nido added.

  "Well I ate the same things you did, didn't I?" Deatt balled his fists and breathed through the itching.

  "Everything alright back there?" asked one of the men, the group stopping a dozen meters before them.

  "Yeah, it's just my-" Deatt did not finish the sentence.

  A sharp yell sounded from somewhere behind them. There, in the middle of the road, stood a single turned. He looked straight at the travelling group, but he did not move. He only watched with his crazed wide eyes.

  "What the fuck?" asked one of the men as he moved around Deatt. He walked slowly to the turned, alone.

  Deatt was at a loss for words. He had seen many strange behaviors from the turned, but none that would not try to consume, to eat. For a little moment, he questioned whether the person before them was really a turned, but the expression and the bloody clothes made him decide that asking such questions was too dangerous. Better treat anybody like that as if they were the turned.

  But then, why was it simply standing in the middle of the road?

  "Identify yourself!" The man moved closer.

  The itching reached a completely new level of unbearable. Raising his leg and pulling it back down, Deatt desperately tried to move his leg in a position where he would lessen the intense feeling. He cursed under his breath, brushing his face with his hands.

  Meanwhile the man stopped about six meters from the turned. He looked around, then closed the distance in but a moment, driving his spear straight through the head of the turned.

  Then, the itching subsided. Deatt, finally feeling relieved, focused on the man behind them.

  "That was one weird fucker. He didn't even try to-" the men did not finish his sentence.

  An arrow flew from the forest, nestling itself into the man's temple. He fell to the ground, dead.

  "Against the walls!" Deatt yelled at Nido and Evelynn.

  "Fuck! Men! Shields up!" Morek yelled as he brandished his longsword.

  The trio quickly dashed to the closest house, as Nido managed to hide behind the walls, another arrow arrived right at the place where they stood just moments before.

  Another bout of yelling resounded, this time from the forest, and this time there were many.

  Deatt slowly moved his head from under the cover, peeking into the forest.

  He could not see well into the shade of the trees, but what he had seen outside of them sent a chill down his spine.

  There were about fifteen turned as far as he could see and all of them wore collars, their leashes reaching into the dark woods.

  He quickly ducked back into the safety of the walls, as another arrow swished through the air.

  He turned to Nido and Evelynn, unable to express what he had just seen. Then he glanced at the group.

  The other men still stood in the empty road, hiding behind the shield wall they managed to create.

  "Hang on! Once Raf gets the spell going, we will break out and attack!"

  The arrows kept coming, embedding themselves firmly into the iron shields, but the wall held.

  Deatt turned to the arrow that was meant for him when he took a look into the forest. It stuck to the ground, only the shaft sticking from the ground.

  Deatt quickly reached for the arrow and ripped it out of the ground, before another flew by.

  It seemed like a normal hunting arrow, though the tip was covered in something. It was red and oily, but it only took a moment to discern. It was blood.

  Right then, he turned to where the man from the group had been shot.

  The body was not there anymore.

  A chill ran down his spine, as he searched for it in a panic. But it was nowhere where the man had fallen, nor was there the body of the other turned.

  "We can't get hit by the arrows." Deatt told Nido and Evelynn. Then he turned to yell to the group.

  But he hadn't needed to.

  The arrows seemed to ricochet from the men. Even the shield wall was gone, instead the men bore arms. Running upward the steep hill.

  Then, the leashes of the turned suddenly gave way and the collared ones quickly ran toward the incoming group.

  Deatt watched as the wave was cut down with surprising ease. He had seen the men fight before and knew they were good at it, but they never performed this well. They seemed almost untouchable. They decided to forgo any sorts of defense and only swung their weapons around blindly. But none had even a scratch on them by the time the collared turned all lay motionless on the ground. It was as if something fueled them in the fight, maybe even protected them.

  The arrows long stopped flying at them by that point. Their source disappearing somewhere in the deep forest.

  Suddenly it was calm again, almost as quick as the chaos began, it had been extinguished.

  The collars were made of straps of crudely cured leather, but they seemed sturdy nonetheless. Whoever put them on the turned knew what he was doing, though it looked like they were in a rush. The whole thing gave Deatt a completely new terrifying realization.

  Someone was capable of leashing the wild beasts. Not only that, they had a way to 'calm' them.

  The single turned at the start, along with the leashed ones, acted as if their brutish inhibitions were suppressed, waiting for a signal to run wild. The yelling probably.

  Suddenly, the tension between the groups disappeared, as they united in a shared fear.

  They were against something none of them understood.

  The group sat around the campfire together, for the first time since the expedition. Morek handed out liquor, sharing small words of encouragement with the rest of his troop.

  The dead man was named Mark, from the little that the group shared with Deatt, he knew that he had a wife and two children waiting for him back in Zenwall. Today's events would unfortunately make them wait forever.

  Probably. Since the body was gone, maybe the man had been turned as well. But either way, the Mark they knew would never be coming back.

  Accepting a waterskin filled with cheap wine, Deatt took a swig and recoiled from the taste. Even then, he opted to take another two gulps. Even though he never got into the fight, the chaos around still left him tired. There was only so much a single man could take.

  There was also the thing with the itching. It was way too big of a coincidence that it began right before the ambush and stopped the moment the turned were unleashed. It had to be connected. How? Deatt had no idea and that scared him the most.

  He turned to his right, where Evelynn was calmly watching the dancing flames, and handed her the waterskin.

  She accepted it, though she seemed unsure. After sniffing the contents her face cringed and she looked at Deatt utterly horrified.

  "Never drank wine-piss?" he smiled.

  "Never had alcohol at all." she eyed the waterskin with suspicion.

  "Try it. Might help."

  "I am not-"

  "Just try. Or pass it." Deatt watched her, betting whether she would actually drink. It would be a heavy hit to try something of this...quality, as the first drink ever. Maybe it would even help her avoid any drinks in the future.

  She looked at the wine, then at Deatt, then at the wine again. Shrugging her shoulders, she quickly took a swig...only to start coughing the moment the liquid went down her throat.

  Deatt tried to hide his laugh, but when she continued coughing and throwing accusatory glances at him, he could not help but start giggling.

  She quickly passed the wine to Nido and reached for her water, drinking the foul taste away.

  "That was awful." she said in a whisper.

  "It really is."

  "Why didn't you warn me?"

  "I thought that 'wine-piss' would do the trick."

  "I thought it was just your nihilism speaking again." she said, her face still cringing.

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  "You don't know him enough. When he gets into his views on the world, Deatt always gazes into the distance. As if he is expecting other's to watch him." Nido said before taking a swig himself. He happily groaned as the hot liquid went down his throat.

  "I do not! I am not some pretend philosopher!"

  Evelynn squinted her eyes at Deatt, nodding slightly.

  "I see it. You could definitely be a bard."

  "And you don't even know that he knows to play the lute."

  "Excuse me?" Deatt could not believe what he was hearing. "Do I seem like a joke to you?"

  "Do you want us to answer that? Or will you stab me again?"

  "Depending on the answer."

  The trio laughed, forgetting the events of the day with the help of the terrible wine.

  It brought back memories to Deatt.

  There used to be a time when he would sit like this, with Nido and Carmilla, simply wasting time and drinking and bickering. Those times were the best of his life. Times he wanted to stretch on forever.

  The bad side of these moments was - they never did.

  Without any warning, an arrow cut through the air around the campfire, landing itself firmly in one of the man's chest. The man fell onto the ground.

  Everyone quickly stood up, turning to the direction the arrow flew from. Exactly behind Deatt.

  Then another arrow flew, this time hitting the ground.

  The group quickly raised their shields, running to form the shield wall against the attackers, while the mage quickly started chanting something.

  Suddenly, a volley of arrows flew from the forest, about eight in number. Most hit the shields, but one managed to squeeze through the narrow slit between them, hitting one of the shield bearers.

  Deatt, hidden behind the shields with his companions, watched as the man who got struck first started convulsing on the ground.

  He was turning.

  Without waiting for the transformation ti complete, Deatt jumped forward at the man, slitting his throat and stabbing the dagger deep through the eye socket.

  The convulsing stopped and Deatt could focus on the battle behind him.

  He turned to the battle the moment Evelynn screamed. Just as a flash of great light blinded him for just a moment.

  As his eyes slowly adjusted, he saw a ball of fire flying to the direction of the forest.

  As it flew at the forest at incredibly speed, it lighted up three silhouettes in the dark. Then it exploded

  Smell of burnt entrails and flesh attacked Deatt's nostrils, as few charred human limbs flew through the air.

  Evelynn fell onto the ground, panting.

  Almost at that exact moment, the shieldwall fell. One of the man started bashing the others with his shield, trying to grab them with his free hand.

  He managed to grab one of his fellows, biting into his shoulder just as the man's blade entered his stomach.

  The mage shouted loudly, as a much smaller ring of light flashed around him.

  Deatt felt something move over his body. Like a stream of water, it flowed about him and down his legs.

  Lost in the sudden feeling, he did not realize when an arrow flew at him. He did not manage to dodge out of its way.

  The arrow had stricken him in the shoulder...but instead of digging into him, it fell onto the ground.

  The bitten man and the one with a blade through his gut broke the shield wall and ushered the group in utter chaos. Swords and axes swang at them, biting into their flesh and taking pits and pieces out, while their own attacks seemed to harmlessly rebound from the sane men.

  But the proximity to eachother made it hard for anyone to strike a clear swing.

  "To the side!" Nido yelled as he moved his two-handed axe overhead. The man before him managed to dodge out of the strike at a last second, leaving only the turned in it's way. The decisive strike landed, cutting the head of the turned into two pieces.

  At that moment, Deatt felt his heel itch, and noticed another turned running towards them from the dark. It was Mark. The arrow still sticking through his head.

  He ran to Evelynn, holding his spear before him, aiming to strike.

  Deatt quickly ran to Evelynn, hoping to reach her before the spear tip did.

  He swung with his dagger, hoping that he would move the spear out of the way.

  Instead, the turned turned the charge into a feint, moving the spear in a way to dodge the block, and stab into Deatt's gut.

  The force of the stab threw Deatt onto the ground, though it again moved harmlessly around his body, tearing into his clothes, leaving them stained by the blood it was coated in.

  Then, it reached Evelynn and planted itself in her arm.

  Deatt's world froze again, his mind swirling with fear for what was about to happen.

  He watched the wound on her arm start dripping with blood. The turned moving back to prepare for another strike, abusing his spear's reach. He saw the fear in Evelynn's eyes.

  But even more than any of that. He felt wrath. Hate for what the mongrel did.

  Without thinking, he rolled forward on the ground, taking the shaft of the spear in his free hand. Then he pulled, taking the turned towards him. Without giving him a chance to resist, he drove his dagger from under the man's jaw.

  The turned's shoulders dropped and he fell onto the ground. Lifeless.

  But the heat in Deatt's body did not subside, instead it turned even more fierce.

  Without thinking, he ran to the dark forest with an angry yell, that came right out of his soul. Bloodlust the only thing on his mind.

  Nido was covered in blood that was not his. Prying the axe out of the man's skull, he twisted the movement and instantly embedded it into the shoulder of the next, cleaving his arm right off.

  He was not careful anymore, he noticed the arrows slid around his body harmlessly, so he let himself get invested in the battle at hand.

  He left the others to finish the turned in their midst, and looked towards the direction the arrows kept coming from. About five turned ran towards the mayhem.

  Nido ran at them, his axe overhead, ready to strike.

  At the moment he came close enough, he swung, cleanly separating a head from one of the turned, while throwing another one to the side.

  Then the rest plunged at him.

  He could feel their fingers trying to scratch at his side, the teeth struggling to tear his skin apart.

  He knew the feeling of magic instinctively, thanks to his heritage. It was the reason he fought so mindlessly right now. He was under an enchantment.

  His axe was too big to cause damage, so instead, he dropped it and used his fists.

  He grabbed one of the wild leeches by the head and focused his muscles. He sent a punch right at the turned's skull, crashing through the frontal bone and mushing it's insides.

  Then he prepared to go for another.

  Right when Morek jumped next to him, his longsword flashing in a swift motion, stabbing through both the turned's skulls.

  Right when he wanted to finish the one he sent flying earlier, Nido heard a scream from behind him.

  The scream was filled with rage, rough and unrelenting. As Nido looked behind him, he saw Deatt running to the dark forest. Who used to be Mark lying finally dead on the ground, gripping a spear. And Evelynn, holding her shoulder, blood running through her fingers.

  He let Morek finish the remaining turned and ran towards Evelynn.

  She was gripping her wound tightly, watching it with wide eyes, struggling to breath in her panic.

  Nido took the bandages and the locket out of their bag, then he fell on his knees in front of her.

  He put the locket over her head.

  "Let me see it." He tried to say calmly, though it came out aggressive in his hurry.

  She did not respond, she did not even seem aware that Nido knelt in front of her. All her attention was aimed at her wound and probably at what she might turned to.

  But Nido believed that she wouldn't, and would do anything to stop her from bleeding out.

  He pried her fingers off the wound and started roughly and quickly bandaging the wound.

  After he was done, he waited, embracing her. He held her as she gently wept, telling her reassuring thoughts.

  The time dragged on incredibly slow, but nothing happened. Nido trusted now that she would not turn. She was still crying and shaking, but there were no signs of her getting the curse.

  But how could she get stabbed? The enchantment was to prevent that.

  A little more calm now, Nido noticed that he felt no such spell on her. No enchantment. No protection. She was not included in the spell.

  Anger started rising in him, but it was quickly interrupted.

  "Where the fuck is Raf!" Yelled a familiar voice from the forest.

  Deatt emerged from the dark brushed, hauling a corpse behind him. He threw the dead turned in front of them. The men fell silent, watching Deatt, some stepping back instinctively.

  The turned wore a quiver. His dead hand still held a bow. There were leashes tangled up around his body.

  Nido did not even realize that the arrows stopped coming.

  But even Nido being Nido, even though he knew Deatt better than Deatt himself, he felt fear.

  He saw Deatt approaching the group. His eyes flamed with yellow, he was covered in blood and grime from head to toe and he held his dagger, his other hand clenched in a fist.

  "I said, where the fuck is Raf!" He yelled.

  "Calm down." Morek took a step before him.

  "I will, once I make the bastard bleed."

  Morek gripped his longsword tightly and made another step towards Deatt.

  "Are you threatening one of my men? For what reason?"

  "He didn't include Evelynn in the spell!" Nido yelled when he noticed Deatt was bot interested in answering.

  Morek took a glance at Evelynn, noticing her wound. Then he sped towards their Mage, an angry expression on his face.

  "How can you fuck up so crudely?" He asked, showing his small tusks in anger.

  "But...you said..."

  Morek hit him with the flat of his blade, sending him rolling to the ground. The hitting continued, but Nido paid no attention to the thrashing. Instead, he watched Deatt with baited breath.

  His friend slowly approached him and Evelynn, looking at her crying in Nido's embrace.

  "She didn't turn." Nido said quietly, noticing the questions in Deatt's eyes.

  Slowly his posture returned to normal. His eyes turned hazel again. Then his dagger fell onto the ground, followed by Deatt himself.