UMBRIEL

6. A Familiar Face

Umbriel sat relaxed next to a small fire, stoking it with a broken tree branch. The wind whistled through the dense forest around him, calming his nerves. Two days ago, he and Valerie Silverhand had raided the guild hall of The Gilded Steeds and stole the mercenary band's contract ledger.

Umbriel tore a page from the ledger and tossed it into the fire.

"You know, we could probably use those records." Val's voice came from within the dense trees.

"I doubt it." He replied, placing the book on the ground next to him.

"I don't know, there's gotta be something we could do with it." She laughed, emerging from the brush and tightening her waistband.

"You didn't go too close to the camp, did you? I don't wanna fall asleep to the smell of piss."

"Of course not, I'm not that stupid." Valerie sat down next to Umbriel and began flipping through the ledger.

"Now tell me, why was your name on that writ?" Umbriel inquired, impatient.

"Don't worry about it, that can wait til later." She folded the book shut, "Have I ever told you how my tattoos work?"

"Don't change the subject, you swore you'd tell me after we set up camp." Umbriel stared solemnly into her eyes. "I've put up with your stalling for long enough, Valerie, so cut the crap and just tell me why your name was on it." His voice held a bitter tone, he was becoming fed up with Val's evasive responses.

"Tell me!" He demanded. "Unless you want to spend the night hung upside down from a tree, you're going to tell me why your goddamn name was on that fucking writ-"

"It's my sister's!" She shouted, throwing her arms out before standing up, "After our parents died, she abandoned me, and I've been trying to find her ever since."

"There, was that so hard?" He sighed, pausing for a moment. "Why didn't you just tell me that earlier?"

"I don't know!" A tear rolled down Val's cheek, "I didn't tell you earlier because I knew that you'd want to kill her, and she's the only family I have left! I can't lose her too!" She furiously wiped the tear away before storming off away from camp.

Umbriel ran after her and caught her by the arm. "Whoa, hold on-"

"No," She jerked her arm from his grasp, "just leave me alone."

As she stormed off into the forest, Umbriel felt a sense of empathy. They had both lost family and were both seeking to mend that wound. He made his way back to the fire and sat back down. "I'm such a fucking idiot." He muttered to himself. Valerie, his last friend, and companion, who wanted nothing but to help, was gone.

"Fucking Umbriel," Val groaned, trudging through the dense shrubbery, "thinks he can just act like an asshole and treat me like shit. I could kick his ass if I really wanted to." She picked up a small tree branch off the ground and whacked a tree with it.

As she gained more and more distance from the camp, it became glaringly apparent that something wasn't right. Shadows darkened, growing more abundant as the trees and bushes around her morphed and contorted into unnatural shapes. "What the hell?" She murmured. Her focus was drawn to a wretched knot twisting deep into a tree.

A tiny hole opened up in the center, letting out a bone-chilling crackle. All of the flora around her wilted and died as the gap opened up wider. It stretched slowly to the size of a human head, and then everything stopped. All of the plants froze in place, brown and crumbling, reeking of rot. It was as if the world paused with Valerie being the only being left untouched. She gingerly reached out towards the tree, hesitant to investigate the hole.

Before she could make contact with the knot, it expelled a torrent of thick red fluid. The mess spilled out all over her legs and feet, and she let out a small scream and backed away, horrified. Her foot caught on a root protruding from the soil, and she fell to the ground.

The gooey liquid set firmly into a puddle, and a face began to form.

"Valerie, are you there?" A woman's voice came through. "It's me, Marina."

"Marina?" Val whispered. She couldn't believe it. After all the years of silence, her sister finally decided to show her face.

"What the fuck are you doing in a pool of blood?!" She crawled on her hands and knees over to the malformed visage.

Her sister chuckled. "It's a long story, munchkin."

"Wow, you've changed a lot, haven't you?" Her sister's features were very sharp and serious. Her cheeks were seemingly gaunt, and her eyes appeared small. "And you don't get to call me munchkin! You lost that right when you left!"

Marina ignored the comment. "Valerie, I need to speak with you and your new companion. I'm not who he thinks I am."

"Who cares what he thinks? He's just some stupid lizard guy. Besides, we saw your name on that writ, there's not really any way you could convince anyone that it wasn't you."

"Trust me, Valerie, it isn't what you think-"

"I don't care though, it doesn't matter to me if it was you, you're my sister, and I love you! I know that you may have done some things that you aren't proud of, but I still accept you!"

Marina's face rippled and shook. "I have to go now, I can't keep this up for long."

"Marina wait-"

She cut Val off, "Find Divessa, find out where she hid the rest of our father's notes. After that, go to the old ruins of the School of Blood, I'll meet you there."

"How will you know when I'm there? Where's Divessa?" The mound of blood lost form and soaked into the dirt. "Marina?!" Valerie screamed, sifting through the remaining fluid. If anyone saw this site, they would have surely sent Valerie to a mental institution for yelling at a pool of blood. She didn't care at the moment if she did look crazy, she needed to talk to her sister.

Footsteps could be heard to her left. It was Umbriel "Hey, are you okay?" He asked, out of breath, stumbling through the thick overbrush, "I heard you screaming."

"Yeah, I'm fine." Valerie turned away from him and wiped away some leftover tears, not noticing the blood she just smeared over her face. He took her hand and helped her to her feet. Val straightened her clothing, grimacing at the blood covering her legs.

"I know how to find my sister," Val told him, "but first we need to find my stepmother."

Umbriel stood in shock, unable to believe what he was hearing. "Really? And how do you know?"

"I just do, okay?" She walked off towards the camp, with Umbriel at her heels.

"Fine, that's fine, I don't really care how you learned all this, just as long as we find her."

"We?" She scoffed. "I don't know about that." Valerie thought back to her conversation with Marina. Her sister said that she needed to speak to Umbriel. "Actually," Val paused, "sure, why not? I could always use the extra help."

"Good. I'll do anything I can."

They arrived back at the little campfire, which had begun to dwindle. "So, Val, where do we start?"

She sat down next to a bed of leaves, using them to wipe off the blood. "Well first, we need to find my bitch of a stepmom, Divessa Gwynn."