Hell's Bane (COMPLETED)

Chapter Fourteen: The Road Goes Downward

Sighing, Hugo looked one last time at the bodies scattered down the mountain, many of them which he recognized. How many people died for them to reach their prize, and yet, for all of their souls to be wasted as Kazim's Blade was snatched before they could even understand all that was going on?

The explorer looked away. None of the others seemed to be in the mood for talking, either. All of them were digesting what had just happened – and many of them looking to the future, too. Oswin's Chest was their last hope, and with that gone, they had lost once and for all.

Half-delirious, Davis managed to sputter out: "You were right, Hugo. Magic flows through my veins, just as it'd flown through my ancestor's. I can use the Devil's Crown – I can even feel it, even, in a way. But I'm dangerous, Hugo. I'm a danger to everybody, and look what I did." The leader gestured to the mountain peaks behind them, the once-grand rocky towers now slowly crumbling to pieces.

"Will they be looking for you now?" Hugo asked. "The Blind Wanderers, I mean. The Gaulinslott. The Living Council. If they hear that you can use magic, they'll take you, won't they? And you know far more than the rest of us. Without you..."

Davis nodded. "I don't even understand how I did it, Joss. It's just... on the spur of the moment, it somehow happened." The leader shivered. "In good time too, I suppose."

"You should've seen yourself," Joss remarked, imitating what Davis did. "A flick of your hand and the bullets explode. A twist of your body, and suddenly the mountain starts to fall down. Outstretching your arm, and suddenly people pop into pools of blood. And don't even get me started with how you began floating."

"I was floating?" The leader shook his head. "Of course I was." With a long, drawn-out silence, Davis added: "I'm the one to blame for all of this. If I had been more careful... maybe the Blind Wanderer's wouldn't have died... maybe we would've gotten the Blade... but no, I was too consumed by my thirst for revenge. To stop my brother." Davis clenched his fists. "I'm sorry."

Hugo looked at his leader with an expression that read It's all the past now. "You saved us, Davis. Face it – it was inevitable. You were trying, at least."

"But that's not who I am. What am I turning into, Hugo? For years, I have prepared for the very day when I would march to war against the Scavenger. For years, I have forseen endless possibilities and outcomes of every move I would have made, and yet, in the spur of the moment... it's one thing to prepare for the future, and another to face the present."

Hugo began to frown. "You got us out, at least. Think about all the worse things that could've happened." Forcing himself a smile, Hugo continued: "Enough of that, now. Your brother has the Blade, but now what do we do?"

Davis faintly returned the smile back. "We happen to have a head start right now. My brother with certainly be going to Gladwyn Castle, his castle, right now to secure the Blade, which means we won't be seeing him in quite a while. And even then, I'll be laying siege on Gladwyn the moment I go back to the Claimant and gather the troops. They won't be getting out of that place for a long time, I assure you of that."

Hugo nodded. "Thank goodness. Hopefully, that'll be enough of a lead."

They continued walking, and only began to set up their tents once the Mountains were out of view, in fear that, in the middle of the night, a rogue boulder would crush them.

Before they doused the campfire, something once more came to Hugo's mind, and he asked: "Davis, if your brother's Kazim and he owns Kazim's Blade, shouldn't your name be Oswin if you're one of the leaders of the Brimstone Faction and you own Oswin's Chest?"

Davis sighed. "Please don't call me that, but yes, I am Oswin Linwood, though I used the alias of Davis when I first went into hiding."

Hugo nodded. "Understood, Davis." And then they rested for the night.

* * *

The explorers woke up the next day still fatigued.

Davis was still barraged continuously with questions, which he appeared to be glad to answer. All of them were now roped into the battle for the fate of the world, and they deserved to know what they were getting into.

"How do you think the Scavenger has all those resources?" Hugo asked, and Drea added on:

"Right, because they have guns and whatnot while we're stuck with swords, spears, and bows."

Davis seemed to mull over something. "When the Brimstone Faction split apart, Kazim managed to swindle pretty much all the money in the treasuries, which is, to say, millions of millions."

Hugo frowned. "Shame. Pity."

Davis was unfazed. "A greedy, power-hungry pig, like I said."

The explorer switched to a different question. "What do we do now? While you go back to the Claimant, do we follow you, or do we go finding Osw- er, the Chest?"

"Call it Oswin's Chest," Davis said, waving off the correction. "The Claimant was positioned to be closer to the Chest, but it appears that we went to find the Blade first anyway. Both are actually quite close – funny if you think about it... the Brimstone Faction tried to hide them in the most random spots, but they aren't even past another sea, though few know what lies beyond that watery divide."

"Mm-hm," Hugo said, waiting for Davis to bring the conversation back on track.

"...Now that we're here, though, I think it would be quicker to go all the way to where the Chest is located, rather than stopping at the Claimant first. Believe me, searching for the Chest will be much more complicated than its brother artifact, but I think... hopefully, we'll manage to take this one from Kazim. After all, not only do we have a lead, but this time, it's in our playing field."

Hugo nodded. "Well, may luck be with your siege. Are you bringing everyone?"

"Everyone we can find. Even those who don't join the Claimant. We'll have a bit of a strategic campaign, and once we have enough numbers, we'll storm the castle and take back the Blade."

"It's never that easy," Susan muttered. "Never."

As the explorers continued asking Davis about the details of what would happen in their very distant future, the sun slowly rose to the top of the sky... and then set, as Hugo, Drea, Davis, and Susan made it out of the Siorthurn and found a city named Jarek, staying in the pub for the night.

Davis stayed awake all through the evening, and as all the others slowly fell asleep, he stole a horse from the stables and galloped towards the direction of the Claimant, which he knew by heart. By sunrise, nobody would've known where he went, and Hugo, Susan, Drea, and Joss would wake up to find themselves in a new morning – and another chance for redemption.