The Ghost of Vermil-Chapter 26: Marco XVII

"TRUMPET CALL!" Quain cried, "I summon the CRAB!"

A massive door formed into existence right at the water's edge, its bluish green glimmer reflecting on the river as it slammed open with the sonorous blare of trumpets. As it did, a green crab with cerulean stains crawled out, legs first, splashing in the water.

"Defend us," Quain commanded it.

Squeaks and the scuttling of a hundred tiny feet approached from the far end of the forest, upriver.

Marco called to his members, "Stand close." The Crab stood over them, casting them in its shadow. It enveloped them with its pincers, bracing for the black crawling mass of a horde that emerged from beneath the trees, a hundred eyes glinting with a sinister red, their tiny feet dredging up the silt.

"Holy Angel! That's one inspiration for a nightmare tonight," Ferd quipped fearfully, casting another defensive enchantment for good measure.

"Only if we make it," Ingryd chuckled.

"Of course, we'll make it," Marco uttered. The horde of rats was the least of his worries now. Catherine had engaged in combat. The first bolt of lightning served a signal for help, the second to mean she cannot resolve it with words. The third is her swan song. She could only generate three at most, before it would discombobulate her and render her stupid. She already used two. I need to hurry.

Marco gathered a ball of holy energy and shot it towards the sky, revealing their position to the rest of the searchers. Yet it would take time before they arrived.

Ingryd shot out a breath of fire, producing a tall wall of flame that deterred the cursed beings only until they braved to cross the wall, some of them burning in squeals of pain before the rest trampled over their corpses.

The green Crab groaned as a swarm of rats slammed and climbed over it, squeaking in chaos, their feet pitter-pattering on its domed shell. The vermin bit and clawed but all their frenzied attacks were in vain. The Crab's exoskeleton could withstand a knight's blow.

A moment passed with them huddled close together as they listened to endless screeching that drowned the sounds of their laboured panting. The rats seemed relentless. Should I use the Star of Providence to drive them away? But then they will scatter.

Apple suddenly doubled over and retched dryly. Swallowing, she spoke, "I sense a stronger one. It's masked by the horde but I can tell. A cursed being much more powerful than these rats is making for an escape in the direction of the city."

The rats are not the real enemy!

Golden light washed the dark from underneath the Crab as Marco released a profuse layer of holy energy. All of it swirled into an orb that shone a bright yellow. STAR OF PROVIDENCE! The star that guided the lost and shunned the darkness. Every cursed creature touched by the light scurried away, back into the shadow of the forest where they crawled from.

"Lead the way, Apple!" Marco said, raising the STAR way above them, casting the river and sand and the edge of the willows and ash trees in its sacred glow.

"This way!" She shouted, sprinting off without hesitation, black hair all tousled, cloak billowing in the wind.

Ingryd chanted, "SONG OF CREATION!" She left a trail of fire as she released flaming arrows to fry any rats that dared jump at them.

From within the woods, shrieks permeated the night as rats died in numbers. A brilliant centaur with a virescent mane and hair bolted out from the trees. On its back rode a Demach scholar who strikingly resembled Quain.

"Brother!" Quain yelled. "You take care of the rats here!"

They darted past him. The older Foilsebay gazed down at Marco curiously. "Where are you running away to?"

Darkness reconquered the space that the STAR had abandoned, with it the horde of rats that doggedly pursued them.

Payne Foilsebay on his centaur boomed, "ARCHER! Let loose." The centaur pulled three arrows from the air, nocked them on its bow, drew the bowstring in one graceful arc of motion, and with an elastic ringing, fired them at the approaching swarm. Three arrows burned three clean lines that stretched to the tail of the rat horde. Yet it was not enough to put an end to them. The rats advanced as the STAR's light receded.

"TRUMPET CALL! I summon the WATER BEARER!" He chanted with resolve.

His own party will join him soon, Marco thought.

He turned his attention back to the passage that Apple paved. They stopped following the river and entered the mob of willows and ash trees. Sodden, the ground yielded with each footfall while roots protruded to trip the unwary. As a result, their strides became heavier and slower. They could not make chase as fast as they should.

"It's getting away!" Apple cried.

"If only the Archer would listen to me," Quain said regretfully, "I could have caught up to it."

"Then we should have asked your brother for a ride!" Ingryd shouted.

"It's a prideful summon, mind you."

Marco consoled Apple who seemed dejected that she was beginning to lose their mark. "It's alright. We know where it's heading. We just have to make for Gallenport." That's also the direction where Catherine used her lightning bolt.

As the night deepened, they wound their way through the undergrowth under the light of the STAR OF PROVIDENCE.

Fred fell to his knees. Catching his breath, he said, "I'm sorry Marco, I tried. But my legs are numb." He leaned on an elm's trunk for support.

Quain also slowed. "I'm also nearly dry. I've made two summons in a row. I won't be much help anymore."

The rest of the party halted.

"I can't believe you don't look exhausted at all," Quain regarded Apple with wonder. "What do they feed you in the East? I want some too."

Marco said to them, "I understand. Recover your strength and energy here. But Ingryd, can you stay?"

The nomad nodded, wiping her brows. "I'll protect the girls."

"Apple and I will tail the cursed being. It might wreak havoc in the camp of refugees."

Fred sighed, "I would love to tell you not to engage it in a fight, but knowing you, it's a waste of my breath."

"We couldn't have made it this far if it weren't the five of us. Thank you, my lords and ladies." He bowed to them. He squinted at the STAR above them, shielding his eyes with an arm. "Keep it. It shall see you safe out of the Delta."

Producing a simple orb to light the tree-ridden path, Marco continued on his way with Apple just always one step behind him, brushing past elms and poplars and white willows that thrived farther from the river. The ground turned more compact, allowing him to improve his pace. "Apple, can you keep up?"

"Don't worry. You won't lose me," she replied confidently. It was impressive how she did not seem to tire, while Ferd and Quain had reached their limit. Like Ingryd who was born with the endurance of a Pilthern nomad, Apple seemed out of the ordinary too. There is more to her than she let on. Her innate blessing to sense demonic signatures better than I. That Gabrielic exorcist. I cannot let my guard down around her.

"Beware of the roots and low-hanging branches," he warned her before bursting with speed.

Gallenport was almost within their reach. The iridescent spires of the Araian castle could be glimpsed from within the canopy.

A third burst of lightning illuminated the sky, now just a few yards from them. RUMBLE! The thunderclap stirred the leaves. Catherine's swan song.

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He halted in his tracks. "Apple, where is the cursed being now?"

Stopping next to him, she sniffed the air and nearly threw up. Grabbing her stomach, she thrust her arm in the direction far off from Catherine's position.

"That was my friend's lightning, Apple. Something must have happened to her. Would you think badly of me if I run to her to help?"

She wrung her head wordlessly.

He said, "I can't let you pursue it alone. Come with me."

Arriving at the scene, they lightened their steps and approached carefully. Marco extinguished his guiding orb.

They heard familiar voices from within the trees.

"Where is he? Where did you hide him?"

"Who's he? You see, I happen to know a number of men," Catherine! He recognized her voice. Yet, she sounded lulled. The toll from her blasts of lightning had caught up to her. Her destructive talent drained her energy generously.

"Do not play stupid with me, Lady Ashwood. We'll scour the forest if we have to."

"Who... are you calling stooopeeed?" She drolled. "You're stoopeed. Following me like this, ha ha ha. I stashed him somewhere you won't even imagine looking."

"Where is the Ghost of Vermil?"

When Marco drew closer, he recognized the stern face of Diana Rupert. Her guards had surrounded Catherine, swords unsheathed.

Diana asked again, furiously, "Tell me where he is!"

"Tell me where he is!" Catherine mocked her, cackling. "He's in my pocket, that's where he is."

"She's a drooling mess. Just bind her." She seemed reluctant to hurt her, wary of inciting war. And it appeared that Catherin had not hurt them seriously as well.

Marco was not like Catherine.

As the Rupert soldiers closed in on his addled friend, Marco touched a nearby white willow, whispering, "INVIOLABLE EDICT!"

The willow lurched as it accepted his authority. Cracking and rustling, its gorgeous drooping branches rose and whipped violently with a clap, catching the soldiers off guard, sending them rolling in the dirt. Its swooping branches strangled them by the neck and chest, constricting around them like a python wrestling with its prey. Meanwhile, Diana stood untouched. He spared her lest he unnecessarily give the Ruperts a cause for war.

"It's Lord Vermilon!" Ser Kallan yelled, freeing himself. He hurriedly hacked at the willow's branches that had ensnared his accomplices.

"You dare hurt my friend!" Marco reproved them, tone filled with rage. They were after all subjects of the Earl of Gallagher — a title he would soon inherit.

The lone knight chanted a defensive spell. The willow branch that struck him shattered into pieces.

Marco conjured more glowing tendrils of holy power. INVIOLABLE EDICT! Everything it touched submitted to his will. Black poplars, elms, shrubs and blades of grass jolted alive. They uprooted themselves from the soil and encircled the Ruperts.

Catherine shrilled, "Love of my life!" She ran and threw herself into his arms. "You're so late, you son of a bitch." She beat him groggily on his chest.

Pushing her by the forehead, he pried her away from him and kept her at arm's length. "What happened? Where's Lucas? Where did you leave him?"

She began to snore while still on her feet, "Ahhh... Was it by some strange looking tree? Was it an oak? I put him inside a bush... I forgot. I'll remember if I get some sleep, aaah."

"But why did you even have to hide him? Is he hurt?"

She suddenly jerked upright. "Ooh, yes terribly." Her shoulders sagged again. "My eyes are heavy, Marco. Bring me home."

"Yes, yes, I will. Close your eyes now." He let her fall back into his arms.

"What happened to her?" Apple asked, confused at the whole situation.

"Her brain stops working every time she overdid it."

Leaves and branches scattered. The top of tree trunks dropped to the ground as Diana brandished a sword shrouded in holy power. She screamed, stepping out from the encirclement, "I am simply exacting justice from the Ghost of Vermil, Lord Vermilon. You have no right to deny it from me." She sounded as though she was about to break into tears.

"And I am simply protecting my brother," he said, emitting more holy energy. He would overwhelm her with his blessing so that she would not think of going after Lucas again.

Apple made an audible gasp. "Lucas of Vermil is your brother?"