The Lost Ruins, Chapter 3

“You’re going to do what?” The innkeeper’s wife stared at Elena with an expression that would have been just as appropriate if her head had been suddenly replaced with a deformed talking potato.   “We’re going to the Waldemar Estate,” Elena said, switching to Old Théan instead of Eisen, just in case her sometimes tenuous grasp of the native language had garbled the original message.   “That’s what I thought you said.” Romilde shook her head in utter disbelief. “You’re not just arrogant, you’re outright insane.”   Elena gritted her teeth at what was probably not intended to be as great an insult as it sounded. “Yes, well, I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t been accused of that before.” She reached for her mug, thought better of it, and instead drummed her fingers on the tabletop. “I asked you if you have any advice for us. Do you?”   “Yes. Don’t go. The Walder is bad enough even if you aren’t actively looking for the blood drinkers.”   “The blood drinkers are not our goal,” Marcus chimed in. “We’re going after the Syrneth ruins beside the Estate.”   “The Estate is part of the ruins, sir,” the innkeeper’s wife explained with the same tone she would have used with a slow child. “You cannot separate one from the other.”   “Regardless, we came prepared for danger,” Elena said.   Romilde shook her head again. “You can never be prepared for that.” She turned and walked away without giving anyone else at the table a chance to say anything.   “Unhelpful sod,” Elena muttered.   “You know, I’m starting to wonder if she may have a point, though.” Marcus picked up his tankard and swirled it broodingly. “Quite a few people have been trying to dissuade us since we got here.”   “With good reason.” Nic took a large swallow of his drink and set his tankard down hard enough to make a thump that could be heard even over the din of the rest of the Rosswind Inn’s crowded main room. It was the largest inn in Kummerholt, and was the only one that had enough space for the entire expedition. “Eisen is no place for a vacation even at its nicest, and where we’re going is very far from the nicest place in Eisen.”   “Then why are you going?” Elena asked him. “You have not only failed to try and convince us that we’re mad, but have also agreed to go along with us despite the dangers. Why?”   “My reasons are my own.”   “That’s not an answer.”   Nic leaned forward, fixing his gaze firmly on Elena. “If I told you why I am willing to go to a place full of many potential dangers, and the certain danger of the blood drinkers, would it make any difference to you and your goal?”   Elena forced herself to hold his gaze. “Only if you’re planning to rob us and leave us to die.”   “There are far less risky ways to rob a group of foreigners.” He fell silent, continuing to stare.   The silence stretched on between them. Finally, Elena shook her head slightly. “No, I don’t suppose it would make any difference. That, and it would be stupid for you to try and rob us when we haven’t actually paid you yet.”   Her quip broke the tension like a whip. Nic let out a bark of a laugh, and his hollow blue eyes sparkled with life for a brief moment. “True enough!” he chuckled and raised his tankard towards her.   “Cheers.” Elena picked up her drink and brought it solidly into contact with his. She took a deep swig as he did the same. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Marcus hide a sigh of relief as he took his own drink. Elena wiped at her lips with her sleeve and set her drink back down. “Now, do you have any practical solutions for us? Anything that we should know that will increase our chances of making it through this death trap?”   Nic leaned back in his chair, looking contemplative rather than dismissive for the first time since the expedition had started. Elena could see the tip of his knuckle moving past the edge of the table as he drummed his fingers on the hilt of one of his daggers. “I don’t know of every danger that we will come across,” he said at length. “I’ve heard stories of many of them. Besides the vampirs in the Estate, the biggest danger of the Walder is probably the Schattenmann.”   “The Schatten– what?”   “Schattenmann. No one is quite sure what exactly it is. Best that I know, some kind of being who stalks the Walder and cuts up travelers he finds. We shouldn’t have to worry about that unless we stray too close to the center of the forest, though. The stories say it tends to stick to the center of the Walder.”   “You speak of this Schattenmann as though he isn’t human,” Marcus said with a trace of mirth in his voice.   “He’s not.” Nic turned his steely eyes on the table’s other occupant. “You are aware of the Horrors, right? They’re not just stories.”   Marcus blinked. “I– oh. I see.” He busied himself with his drink again.   “Nic, what are the Horrors?” Elena asked. “I’ve been warned about them over and over again, but no one has ever given me any sort of specifics. What are they?”   Nic returned his attention to her. “They are what the stories say they are. Inhuman monsters. Creatures from the unholy times that shaped this land. They are as different from each other as they are from you and me.” He idly scratched at the stubble on his face. “I’ve made my living hunting them down so that they cannot harm the people of Eisen, but there are too many to fully stop. Some organizations will not stop until they are wiped out.” He allowed himself to trail off, then frowned. “But these are not the specifics that you asked for. I cannot tell you everything I know; we simply do not have enough time for that.”   “Then just tell me how we can prepare for them. If you regularly kill them, they must have weaknesses, things that you can use to defeat them.”   “Yes. The greatest tool that exists to use against the Horrors is Hexenwerk.”   “I’ve heard the name before. Isn’t that the form that sorcery takes in Eisen?”   Nic nodded. “It is. By using Hexenwerk, we can gain a supernatural edge against the Horrors. Unfortunately, not every Unguent is used for good. Many are used to create the very Horrors that we fight. I stay away from those.” Nic withdrew a small vial from one of his pockets and laid it on the table. “As an example of one of the Unguents that I use regularly, this is a Spectral Prison.”   Elena leaned forward to look, but did not actually touch the bottle. “What does it do?”   “When applied to a closed area, it creates a barrier that any supernatural creature cannot cross. Trap a Horror in one of these, and they cannot get out unless someone or something breaks the ring drawn by the liquid in this vial.”   Elena nodded. “I see. What else can these unguents do?”   Nic tapped one of his knives. “This knife and one of my swords are coated in Revenant Venom.”   “I don’t remember the stories of revenants saying anything about venom,” Marcus said.   “As far as I know, they’re not venomous. It’s just what the Unguent is called. Once you draw a weapon coated in Revenant Venom, it becomes particularly harmful to undead monsters for a short time.” He pulled another vial out of his pocket, this one a translucent blue. “This vial of Reaper’s Poison does something similar.”   “All that power in something so simple?” Elena asked, unable to keep a trace of awe out of her voice.   Nic laughed again. “Simple? You really don’t know much about Hexenwerk, do you? It’s very difficult to brew any Unguent. The components are… let’s say unpleasant. Once you’ve brewed up an Unguent, they can be difficult to store properly too. My friend Felix brews most of my Unguents for me. He’s been doing it for years, and even he has a hard time with most of them.”   “Is that all you have? Just those two coated blades and a handful of vials?”   “No. I have others, and I was planning on finding more here. I am actually waiting on a few of my contacts now, and I was going to stock up on as many Unguents as I can carry. We will likely need them.”   “Why doesn’t Felix just make you more?” Elena asked.   “He’s away for now. I believe he went back to Castille, but I don’t know for sure. Regardless, having more Unguents will be to our benefit.”   Elena nodded, thinking about Nic’s words. He seemed utterly serious about Hexenwerk. It occurred to her that the sorcery had likely saved his life more than once. She reached into her digger’s coat and pulled out a small pouch full of gold coins. The knee-length leather garment had many pockets of all sizes, so she wore it as often as she could for the convenience it provided. She laid the bag of coins on the table and slid it towards Nic. “Here. Use this to buy more. I don’t know how many that will buy you, but it should at least help.”   Nic scooped up the bag and opened it. After eying the contents for a moment or two, he pulled on the drawstring and slipped the pouch into his pocket. “It will buy more than a few. Thank you.” His eyes traveled over the room behind Elena and narrowed in recognition. “My contact is here. If you’ll excuse me, I need to go make a deal. We will set out early tomorrow.”   Elena nodded. “Excellent. Godspeed, by the way.” Nic nodded once, then rose and left the table. He had only been gone a few moments when a large Eisen man dressed in a slightly grimy tunic and apron approached. His light-colored beard was neat and well-kept, despite the grubbiness of his attire. He came to a halt beside the table. Elena assumed him to be the innkeeper, Rolf Barkhaus.   “I hear that you are planning on going through the Walder tomorrow,” he said conversationally.   “We are indeed,” Elena told him, taking another sip from her drink.   “And you are planning on going to the Waldemar Estate?”   “We are.”   Barkhaus shook his head. “You are fools. No one goes anywhere near the Estate and comes back.”   “There’s a first time for everything, you know,” Elena said mildly.   The innkeeper regarded her for a moment, then nodded in weary resignation. “I suppose that if talking with my wife and everyone else, including Mister Raeder over there, didn’t dissuade you, then nothing that I say will either. If you make it back this way after your journey is through, you can have a round on the house.”   “That’s very kind of you,” Elena said, genuinely surprised at the sudden hospitality.   “Standing offer for anyone who survives their first trip through the forest.” Barkhaus turned to go. “Though, if I’m being honest, this feels like an empty promise from me.”   He walked away without saying another word, leaving Elena and Marcus to look uneasily at each other in the silence that fell in his wake.