There may not have been the stench of blood in the house, but there was the smell of mold.
Mathew wondered if the only reason there were no signs of death there was because no one was living there even before the Nightspawn ravaged everything.
Pandarus adjusted the lamp he'd set on the wooden table in the middle of the room, turning it around mindlessly with one hand, and scratching his bandaged face with the other.
Argus was outside with the horse, standing guard and keeping the animal company. Ophelia was upstairs in a private room, claiming she wanted to be left alone.
Beyah had asked her for a single favor before she had shut herself in, though: She wanted to use the Cleansing Font in order to clean the doll. The water itself had special properties that allowed it to remove dirt and grime from any surface washed with it. It tasted like water, but had the properties of heavy-duty dish soap.
Ophelia had relented, though she had had an annoyed expression on her face.
Siyah had placed their bedrolls near the wall, and had laid the young girl across them.
"She's breathing so lightly…" Siyah said, concern bleeding into her tone.
"I can't tell what condition she's in," Mathew admitted. "I'm not a doctor. I don't know if she's hurt, or if she just sleeps quietly."
Siyah pursed her lips.
Mathew had learned some things about the contract with Ophelia. If he tried hard enough, he could get around the order depending on the words used, much like finding a loophole. In addition, the orders had a time limit and eventually wore off. The more time that had passed since the order was given, the easier it was to circumvent.
Her order that shut him up was not only fading, but as long as he spoke softly, he was technically obeying.
"Maybe you shouldn't hover over her," Beyah said. "Especially you, Dread. What if she wakes up, sees your scary face, and then dies for real?"
"You are so funny," Mathew said, but he complied anyway, scooting backward a good meter.
"I wonder why she was there under the rubble," Siyah said, "and why she was the only one who survived…"
"Maybe the rubble hid her?"
"No, the girl is right." Said Pandarus from his chair. "If the creatures of darkness started to kill, they wouldn't have stopped killing until everything was dead. They don't care to eat until they are full because they don't need food to survive. They are drawn to kill anything that is not a creature like themselves. It's their nature."
"So how do you explain it?" Mathew asked
"I can't, and that's the problem. Honestly, the fact the beasties were able to enter the town at all is strange. Towns like these are always protected, else this many people wouldn't brave the Forest of Terror."
"I heard you say that before… That the town should have been protected. What did you mean?" Pandarus opened his mouth to respond, but Siyah interrupted him.
"She's waking up!" She said in an excited whisper. The girl was stirring.
She opened her dark eyes, which appeared black in the lamplight, reflecting it like mirrors.
"Hello," Siyah said to her. "My name is Siyah, and this is my sister Beyah. How are you feeling?" The girl regarded her with those unnerving eyes. They looked almost soulless.
"My head hurts." She said. Her voice was higher pitched, but soft, almost musical.
"That makes sense," Beyah said. "A whole wall fell on you after all." Siyah shot her sister a look, and Beyah avoided her gaze.
"Do you remember what happened to you?" Siyah asked.
"I think… The monsters came into the town. They aren't supposed to be able to come into town. I remember… That my mother was frightened. She told me to run and she… It got her." Her expression didn't change at all during her recounting of the story, nor did her tone, and it chilled Mathew to the bone.
Maybe she was in shock.
"And then what happened?" Siyah urged, trying to get her to move past the thought of her mother's fate.
"I ran into an alley to get away… And then the wall broke and I… That's all I remember."
"We found you trapped underneath some rubble. It must have knocked you unconscious. We are so happy that you're alive."
"Just me?" the girl said. "Did everyone else… Is everyone else gone?" There was no desperation in her voice. Just the same calm emptiness.
"We are sorry," Siyah said, bowing her head, clearly not knowing what else to say.
"Here," Beyah said. "If you hug this tight, maybe it will help." She handed the doll to the girl. She had wrung out the water and left it to dry for a few hours.
As the girl took the doll, the first spark of emotion appeared in the girl's eyes.
"This is my doll… my mother was holding it… Where did you find it?"
"It was floating in the basin in the center of town," Mathew said. The girl noticed him for the first time.
"Who is that?" She asked.
"Don't be frightened of him; he's not as scary as he looks." Said Siyah, which was a welcome assist.
"Yeah, he's actually quite stupid." Added Beyah, which was her less welcome version of an assist.
Despite their attempts, the girl didn't seem scared in the slightest, only curious.
"My name is Mathias." He said. "But you can call me Dread."
"Wait… You have a real name?" Beyah asked in shock.
"Yes." He said.
"But it sounds so normal…"
"Uh-huh. Thanks."
"Oh, right. We're being so rude." Siyah cut in. "We never asked what your name is."
"Era Belle." The girl replied.
"That's such a pretty name," Siyah said, smiling. She was emitting as much warmth as she could, but Era Belle seemed devoid of emotion, even though she was responding to the questions.
She was clutching the doll tightly in her hands as she answered each one.
"May I ask a question of my own?" Said Pandarus as he stood and walked up to the group. Era Belle looked at him, and as with Mathew, she didn't seem the least bit nervous at his appearance.
"Don't overwhelm her; she just woke up." Chastised Siyah.
"It's alright." Said Era Belle.
"Are you sure?" the girl nodded.
"Now that that's settled," Said Pandarus, "I was just wondering: What happened to the Nightwitch of this town?" Everyone looked at him with confused expressions. Or tried, in Mathew's case.
"Nightwitch?" Era Belle asked.
"Should have been at least one living here. They would be pretty famous, like a celebrity or priest of sorts. They'd have been responsible for keeping all the beasties away from this town with their magic."
"What are you talking about?" Mathew said.
"Every town in this forest has at least one Nightwitch." Pandarus explained, "They are people born with the natural ability to communicate with Nightspawn and give them simple commands. Kind of like my bond with Dokkebi, but without a contract, and on a massive scale. A single Nightwitch could repel hundreds of creatures at once, making it their job to keep the town Nightspawn-free year-round."
"So, when you said the town should have had protection, that's what you were talking about." Pandarus nodded.
"You must mean the Nightkeeper." Era Belle said. Mathew held his head in exasperation. Why were there so many names that started with "night"? He didn't want to keep track of them all.
"Never heard that term before, but it's most likely the same thing. Did this 'Nightkeeper' keep the besties away?"
"Yes… But they didn't this time. I don't know why." Era Belle said.
"Gotcha. They must have been really incompetent then, if they allowed all this to happen. Either that or…" He trailed off.
"Huh?" Mathew said. Pandarus shook his head in response.
"It's late… Let's just get to sleep."
"If you say so." Said Mathew, and he stood up.
"Do you think you could sleep?" Siyah asked Era Belle.
"Yeah. I feel really tired, even though I just woke up." She said.
"Want to lie down with me?" Siyah asked. "We don't have a spare bedroll." Era Belle nodded. Siyah patted her bedroll, and they lay next to each other.
Siyah then shivered violently and exclaimed: "Your skin is icy to the touch! Are you not cold?"
"I don't know." Era Belle said, "I don't feel very cold."
"That's alright. If we stay close like this, you should warm up in no time." Mathew wondered if, much like her frigid demeanor, her body temperature would also fail to be changed by Siyah's warmth. He found something about Era Belle unnerving.
"Dread, or Mathias, or idiot, or whatever you are called." Said Beyah, pointing to the opposite side of the room. "Move your bedroll over there."
"Oh, right," Mathew said. He had already been planning to do so; he'd just gotten distracted by his thoughts. They still plagued him even as he lay on his own bedroll
It was hours later before sleep finally took him.
…..
Ophelia woke them early the next morning, or at least Mathew assumed it was morning.
"It is time to leave," She said. "Everyone, gather your things quickly."
"It will still be a few weeks before we reach the exit to the forest." Said Pandarus after a yawn. "We should probably grab any leftover food we can carry from this house and any others. Otherwise we'd have to scavenge for fruit and such."
"There's fruit in the Forest of Terror?" Mathew asked.
"Because the beasties kill everything that moves, nothing is around to eat the plants. That's why the forest is so overgrown. There is plenty of edible stuff here, most nonpoisonous."
"If you are to gather food, gather it quickly," Ophelia said. "I have a destination in mind."
"A destination?" Pandarus said, "Other than Attica?"
"Yes. Somewhere around this town, there should be a temple of ancient origin. That is where I wish to travel first." Argus had entered the room to hear her words.
"My lady…" He said, "You seem to be confident of such a place… Was this your plan all this time? Is that why you chose to come to this town?"
Ophelia did not answer him, merely looking into his eyes. Mathew gripped his jaw in realization.
It was probably just like the temple of Dread.
It must have been some ancient place that held a powerful blessing like the Rod of Submission; Something she had been told to retrieve by the goddess of order.
"Do you know where exactly this temple is?" Pandarus asked.
"No, but it is near. You can find it with that monstrous pet of yours, can you not?"
"I suppose I could do that."
"But… Ophelia," Mathew said, "What if there are people there, like there was at my temple?"
She didn't even look at him as she replied:
"Then I will do what has to be done." Mathew balled his hands into fists, frustration swelling up within him.
"The temple is completely abandoned. No one lives there anymore." All eyes turned to look at the one who had spoken: Era Belle.
She was sitting on Siyah's lap, holding her doll.
"What do you mean?" Ophelia said, her expression growing fierce. "Have you been there before? Do you know where it is?"
Era Belle nodded.
"I can lead you there."