Somehow, the silence had grown louder. Neither of the three had said a word, their eyes fixed on the cloud layer that just covered the old man's corpse. Both Yun and Miri must have had the same thought, but they didn't even spare each other a glance.
Okay, now I'm lost.
In his mind, Yun had registered Smoky as the primary antagonist of this Vision. Everything else was either a complication or some kind of hindrance. He was the bear trap — or rather, the rat trap — lying in wait for an unsuspecting victim to get caught up. Yun had his guard up against him ever since he emerged from below the deck untouched by the Plague.
Scruffy survived as well, but everyone just assumed that he was some confused dolt being pulled along. Yun was no exception.
Was it Scruffy… or is there something else we should worry about on this mountain?
The possibility of running into Scruffy's corpse was still very high, or worse, running into the thing that eviscerated the old man alive. For all they knew, the creature was stalking them at that very moment from behind the jade clouds.
Miri turned to Mortin. "Mortin, unsheathe your blade. Hand over the boy's reins and walk behind us."
Mortin had her eyes closed, they seemed to be twitching slightly with her mouth hung slightly open.
She was unresponsive.
Miri walked up to her, and gently shook her shoulders.
Nothing.
At that point, the reason for her silence was obvious.
"For Court's sake! The mountain has taken her."
Miri placed both hands on Mortin's shoulders and shook harder. Still nothing.
She stepped back, drew a measured breath, and pressed her palm flat against Mortin's sternum. Red essence bloomed outward in a slow pulse, like a heartbeat imposed from outside. Mortin's eyelids fluttered, then snapped open.
She sucked in a sharp breath and stumbled sideways, catching herself against the mountain face. Her eyes darted between Miri and Yun, wide and disoriented, like a woman who had briefly ceased to exist.
She stared at Miri, unsure whether to be thankful or embarrassed. Miri turned away, uninterested in any response Mortin might have had.
"I told you," she said quietly, retrieving Yun's rope from her grasp.
Mortin said nothing. She straightened, retrieved her blade from where it had nearly slipped from her loosened grip, and fell back into the rear guard without a word. Her jaw was tight.
***
Miri and Mortin moved with their blades drawn, a silver broadsword in Miri's grasp and a cutlass in Mortin's.
The Maliki clan's new leader watched the front, while the only surviving clan member guarded the rear. In the middle was their captive, the last scion of the Itheon's Cloud Servants, name unknown. In his body, placed there by Severin's Curse, was a Tainted Descendant undergoing the First Vision. The Descendant's name was Yun Morrigan.
They walked until the sun went down. The clouds had thinned into meandering snowfall, allowing the heights to be bathed in the ghostly moonlight.
Yun trudged along, supporting himself on the mountain face. The air had thinned so much he could barely breathe. Blisters had formed at the soles of his feet, punishing every step he took with sharp pain.
How… much… more… walking
Soon, they came upon a cliff. The path widened to the right and opened into a vast, flat clearing. It was enclosed on either side by steep slopes that shot up behind a lush woodland. The green of the leaves lined the massive plateau like evergreen streetlights.
Yun stumbled behind Miri, and they both came to an abrupt stop.
At the far end of the plateau, sat a massive gate that was closed shut. On its sides rose two stone columns that stood at a hundred meters each, with an arch between them. Beyond the gate, the path continued until it curved upward, disappearing into the jade clouds.
Mortin shuffled up beside them as they advanced towards the gate. "How many mortals can say they've gazed upon such?"
Rocks and stones lay scattered across the clearing — or so Yun thought. He caught his foot on one and lurched forward, and when he looked down, the stone looked back.
It was a skull. Its jaw was parted, eye sockets dark with shadow.
He looked again at the field around him. What he had taken for rocks were ribcages arched against the sky and gauntlets gripping shattered hilts; the skeletal remains of fighters frozen in the postures of a myriad deaths. Their armour and weapon's colours had long since bled into rust and earth.
"Quite a bit, I'd say," replied Miri.
The further they walked, the worse it became. As though drawn by some terrible gravity, the dead bodies of a hundred battles piled highest where the ancient stone loomed largest. Every last skeleton faced it as if they had all turned towards it in their final moments.
Whether it was out of desperation or quiet acceptance, Yun did not know.
The gate was much more imposing up close than it was from across the clearing. Its stone columns were dressed with precious stones and ornate carvings. The arch between them was dense with script that traced the edges and fell into a circle at the bottom of the gate.
They weren't too different from the symbols Dion drew on the mildewed wall before Yun entered the Vision.
Miri, still clutching the rope binding Yun's wrists, stepped forward and crouched, tracing the outer edge of the circle with her eyes.
"It's a script circle," she said. "A seal."
"How do we open it?" asked Yun.
She didn't answer immediately. She took some time to study the scrpit with the same blank, concentrated face that gave Yun flashes of his sister.
Pressing her palm to the circle's edge, Miri whispered inaudibly.
Red vital essence bloomed from her hand and crept toward the outer ring. The script glowed a crimson hue then fell silent. After a sharp burst of sound, like a short circuit, Miri withdrew her hand.
She stood upright. "It won't accept my essence."
As if it was rehearsed, both her and Mortin turned to Yun.
So it's mine then.
"I figured," said Yun.
He approached and crouched before the circle. Even at a glance he could see it was densely layered — rings within rings, each feeding into the next in a chain. His eyes fed him the geometry of it all: the proportions of each character, the precise depth of each groove, the exact diameter of each ring.
Yun placed his palm on the circle and waited.
The weight of the two women's stares on his back began bearing down on him.
Uh… what now?
Mortin snickered. "We know your core is dormant, so you can't even manipulate vital essence. Don't act like you're anything else but the captain's burden."
Sensing danger, Yun leapt to his feet and hid behind Miri. A second later, a stone flew past where his head had been, exploding against the gate into many pieces.
That would've killed me!
"Mortin! Stand down."
"I told you this harlot's child was lying, Captain! Let's just get rid of the burden. Other half my ass!"
"We can't just kill him. Not yet, at least. Did you forget that we're still trapped in the Lost Sea? Have you forgotten that we're still within the Itheon's domain? He may be our only hope out."
"If I may be rude, Captain. You don't really believe that drivel, do you? Your brother would have decapitated him by now."
"And that's why I'm still here leading a stubborn crewmate, while he could appear any minute now and kill us all! You know why? Because only one of us was smart enough to avoid direct contact with the Plague."
Mortin had her mouth open, ready to rebut Miri on instinct, but no words came out. After a minute of awkward staring, Mortin turned to Yun with squinted eyes.
Please, please. Don't involve me in your shit.
"You know, everything started to go wrong when they brought you on-board."
Dammit!
"We weren't supposed to have an encounter with the Plague on the Lost Sea. You see, its waters are famously devoid of life, nothing for the Plague to spread to."
As Mortin spoke, something clicked in Yun. He recalled the description of one of his Traits, [Court of Divinity]: "You inherited the last embers of the Heavenly Court's celestial flame. All creatures with an affinity for the divine will recognize you as such, attracting lost souls and enemies alike."
The Dragon tracked the scent of this "celestial flame" and followed the Blood Maiden into the Lost Sea.
So… Mortin was right.
But she doesn't have to know that.
Miri drew in a deep breath and looked over her shoulder at Yun. Her eyes were calm like a blue sea, but Yun could sense a wave stirring deep within. But then, Yun looked past her, towards the scarred woman glaring daggers at him. Having noticed, Miri followed his gaze.
Mortin's hand went to her face. "What are you both—?"
She looked at her fingers. Black liquid glistened on her fingertips. Her eyes darted to Miri.
Yun took a step back. Miri's face betrayed no emotion, but she knew. They all knew.
Mortin was Plagued.
"It's nothing," Mortin said. "It's the mountain… or the cold… my eyes have been dry from the wind—"
"Mortin."
"I'm fine." She wiped her face with her sleeve. The black soaked into the fabric. "I feel fine. I feel completely—"
"Mortin."
"Don't look at me like that." Her voice shifted into an emotion Yun hadn't heard from her before. "I just need a moment. I've been walking all night… same as you, I just need…"
Miri said nothing. She just strengthened the grip on her broadsword.
"Stop it." Mortin raised her cutlass. "Stop looking at me like I'm already dead. I am standing right in front of you. I am right here."
"I know. I see you."
Mortin's eyes darted between Yun and Miri's broadsword. The silence became hard to bear, there wasn't even any wind. But soon, a quiet cackle echoed on the steep, rocky slopes rising on both sides of the mountain pass.
"You fucking brat."
Mortin's voice dropped into a flat and cold tone. "You and this mutt both. I've given everything to this clan. Everything. And you're going to stand there and look at me like I'm some thing to be put down… "
Mortin paused, like she had come to a realization.
"This is what you wanted, isn't it? You've got rid of your brother. The clan's all but wiped out. And I'm the only loose end keeping from your dreams of whoredom. Remember that Euphrates boy you were distracting yourself with? Remember how Captain, the real one, had to put him down? I remember. Now you and this mutt can prance about—"
Miri released the rope.
Mortin never got the chance to finish her sentence.
Her head hit the stone, and her body followed a moment later, her cutlass clattering across the rock and coming to rest against a skeletal corpse.
Mortin's lifeless body joined those that had been there for centuries.
She was dead.