Twin Spear; Twin Sword

XV

"This is Helm's Hold?" Duna muttered, peering from a neighboring hill at the desolate wasteland of a town before her, surrounded by a monstrous, crumbling wall. "What a dump. Looks like it got hit by a meteor."

Duna approached the gates of the once great city, stopped by two soldiers in blue armor that seemed much like Knox's. Their skin was split, the rifts in their flesh glowing blue in color. Covered in strange bubble-like mutations, the soldiers cast their gaze at her.

"'Ello, gorgeous." one of them said kindly.

"Oh, I.. goodness, I wish I could say the same." Duna said, turning up her lip at the hideous mutants.

"That's alrigh' lil lady." he replied with a chuckle, "Just a bit o' Spellplague, you know."

"Sorry, no, I have no idea what a Spellplague is. I'm here on guild business, actually- a bounty." Duna informed the guards. She held the poster open for them to see.

"Ha!" They laughed, "Ol' Crixie's not been seen for a few days. Ol' bitch finally got frightened off by the last adventurer."

"Only frightened off? So they weren't successful?" Duna asked, eyeing the darkening sky. The wind had increased faintly, and she could smell the rain coming.

"Took a chunk out of her right arm, I 'eard." The other soldier said, nodding vigorously as though it would make his sentence more true. "But nay, 'e wasn't successful. She still managed to kill the little whelp somehow. Well, big whelp, really, but-"

"I got it." Duna interrupted, raising a hand. "Any info on the witch would be appreciated."

"Well, let's see.. she's got a real nasty taste for blood, she does." A soldier told her. "That's right."

"Uses it for 'er magic, we reckon. Real dark stuff." the other added, pointing his index into his palm. "Best be careful if you're goin' after that woman. If you's was me and I's was you, I'd be leaving now an' pickin' out a new sheet o' paper, yes ma'am."

"Uh huh. And this Spellplague?" Duna asked, trying not to stare too long at the mangled soldiers.

"Oh, that.." they muttered. "For the most part, it was contained after the Chasm exploded.. but there's a few active pockets about. It's a kind of rogue magic that mutates victims over time. Real contagious if you touch it. So.. don't! Or you'll look like us. Reckon there won't be much of it between here and where Crixie was last, so you need not worry too much, I think. It doesn't get too nasty til you're real deep in the Chasm."

"Right.." Duna said, no less confused. "I'll.. keep that in mind.. anyways, you wouldn't happen to have a prison hold, would you? For any of the real awful types?"

The soldiers squinted at her. "We might. Why?"

X-X-X-X

Duna dragged the limp body of a convict alongside her, his shackles tight in her grip. The soldiers had given her a roundabout location for Crixie, and dared not venture along with her. Getting them to fork over the delinquent was easy enough; the town was already starving, and it was one less mouth to feed.

In the empty street, Duna peered through broken and boarded windows of the abandoned homes, her eyes peeled for any movement. The homes here were much like those of the inner city of the Enclave, noting that this had likely been a colonial town once. After half an hour, Duna's frustration grew firmer, and she cast the convict ahead of her, face up.

With her spear, she slashed the man's left hand wide open, not rousing him from the near coma her shield had put him in.

His blood filled the air with a thick stench like copper, leaching into the area around her like sludge. The coming rain's wind carried the scent far, and Duna waited with a second burst of patience for the witch to make a move. After a few minutes, a few houses away, a board creaked, and a glass pane shattered.