We turned to see two figures at the side of our camp. Two ginger felines to be precise. Both appeared physically fit, one more so than the other… but only slightly. One wore leather armour and the other a beige robe. They looked incredibly surprised by what they saw. Nomius darted across to Kiyui, grabbed his hand and they both vanished.

  Kiyui: “Thank you, Nomius… but I think it’s a bit late for that now.”

  They both reappeared. Only now Nomius was holding his battleaxe in a threatening way towards the two strangers who had appeared in our camp.

  Kiyui wiped the tears from his face then slowly walked forward and lowered Nomius’ axe, but without taking his eyes of the strangers. He then proceeded to speak incredibly calmly. I have no idea how… he was crying his eyes out moments ago… and this is the exact thing that he was terrified of happening. It’s like he has just completely given up and accepted whatever awful thing is going to happen.

  Kiyui: “They won’t harm you. I will speak with you two in a moment. I just need to check on the child.”

  Kiyui turned and walked towards Tadwick. He bent down and cradled Tadwick’s head.

  Kiyui: “Are you sure you aren’t in pain?”

  Tadwick: “Yup, I feel totally fine.”

  Kiyui: “Thank you, Flora. Please take care of him.”

  Flora: “Child fine… provided… not move.”

  Kiyui: “You heard her, Tadpole. Stay still, ok?”

  Tadwick: “Ok.”

  Kiyui: “I need to go now. You be strong while I’m gone.”

  Tadwick: “Be back soon.”

  Kiyui started to cry again as he stood up. This is bad… that sounded like a goodbye… please no… he can’t leave… I can’t lose him… shit… I need to do something… shit… think… fuck it, just say something.

  Dwynfel: “Are you two here to hunt the vampyres?”

  Stranger 1: “Yeah, heard reports they were in this part of the woods.”

  Stranger 2: “Seems you guys beat us to it.”

  Stranger 1: “Certainly didn’t expect to see you here, Kiyui. Fuck… how long have you been gone? Like six years or something?”

  Kiyui: “Almost seven.”

  Stranger 1: “You could have at least said bye.”

  The second stranger nudged the first and made a disapproving face.

  Stranger 1: “Sorry. I know you were going through some shit.”

  Well fuck… that’s putting it mildly.

  Kiyui: “What exactly did my father tell you?”

  Stranger 2: “That you guys were attacked by a demon. That it killed your mother and that you had run away after witnessing it.”

  Stranger 1: “Well… lots of people thought…”

  The second one elbowed the first… very hard this time.

  Kiyui: “Tell me.”

  Stranger 2: “Honestly, it was just idiotic rumours.”

  Kiyui: “Shu, Shai… please. I need to know.”

  Shai: “Well, lots of people thought your dad had finally snapped, killed your mum, and chased you off.”

  Shu: “It was a nasty rumour. We never believed it.”

  Shai: “Well, Shu didn’t. We all know how uptight your dad is. He always looked like his sanity was holding on by a thread.”

  Shu: “Shai, shut up!”

  Well, this isn’t going as I thought it would. Kiyui looks very confused too. Not to be weird or anything… but I think this is good… Kiyui clearly thought he was going to get lynched if he ever came back here. Nobody is trying to kill anybody… if anything they just think Kiyui was the innocent victim. I think we can get through this without any major damage.

  Kiyui: “Is my father still at the house?”

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  Shu: “Yes. He doesn’t really leave it anymore. He just tends his garden. He only leaves to get water from the well.”

  Kiyui: “Can you take me to him?”

  Shai: “We’ve got to make sure these Vampyres are dead before we go anywhere.”

  Shu: “How many did you kill?”

  Flora is currently looming over Damecus putting those healing vines over his neck wound.

  Damecus: “Three for definite. We set fire to another, but it escaped, we have been unable to confirm its demise.”

  Shu: “We believe there to be five. So, if we can confirm the one that was set on fire to be dead, there should only be one left.”

  Kiyui: “How long have there been Vampyres here?”

  Shai: “Fuckin’ ages.”

  Shu: “I would hazard a guess at around a month. That was when the initial animal mutilations started happening. Then people from Purresia started going missing. We first thought that the Anubis Empire was doing another slave raid, but then the missing people started showing up in town and biting people. That was when we knew for sure.”

  Shai: “We managed to kill them before they changed anybody else.”

  That sounds awful. I can’t imagine anything worse than having to kill people that I know and care about because they have been infected by some horrid disease.

  Shu: “But there were several casualties. Shai and I have been trying to track them down ever since. We have seen five different ones so far. I’m hoping that’s all of them… more than five would have killed way more people by now.”

  Kiyui: “Where did they come from? These woods used to be safe.”

  Shai: “Fuck knows, we just need ‘em gone!”

  Damecus stood up… he looks kind of silly with that big flower attached to his neck. But I’d never say that to him… he’d probably punch me.

  Damecus: “One of you take Kiyui to see his father. I will help the other kill the remaining vampyre.”

  Shu: “Are you sure?”

  Dwynfel: “He smashed that one’s head in with his club after it bit him. Trust me… he’ll be fine.”

  Shai: “Deal. Shu, you take Kiyui. With this guy with me this should be a doddle. He looks way stronger than you.”

  Shu: “He looks way stronger than you too. He’s a lizardman, he’s like twice our size. And don’t forget whose been keeping your arse alive with healing magic these past few years.”

  Shai: “Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever. You ready, big guy?”

  Damecus: “My name is Damecus.”

  Shai: “Whatever, let’s go.”

  Damecus led Shai off in the direction that the flaming vampyre had run off in.

  Kiyui: “I have a request.”

  Shu: “What is it?”

  Kiyui walked over to me and grabbed my hand. He gripped it incredibly tightly… harder than I have ever been gripped before. He is normally so delicate. He is clearly still very uncomfortable with what is going on.

  Kiyui: “He comes with me.”

  Shu: “I don’t think that will be a good idea, Kiyui. People in the village were always awkward with you for being a half-breed. They don’t even allow humans in the village… never mind a goblin. Incidentally, why does your party contain a goblin, two lizardmen and…

  Shu pointed with a look of confusion at Flora.

  Shu: “…whatever the hell that is. No offence.”

  Flora: “struggling to concentrate… is what I am…”

  Shu: “Sorry.”

  Kiyui: “It is a long story. I’ll fill you in as we walk.”

  Shu: “Again, we can’t just walk into town with a goblin.”

  Kiyui: “Nomius.”

  Nomius placed his hand on my back and we both disappeared.

  Shu: “Fair enough, that makes things simpler. Will that not leave your camp in danger.”

  Phoenix: “We will be fine.”

  Tadwick: “But I wanna go!”

  Tadwick started struggling to get his shoulders out of the flower. Flora slapped him across the back of the head.

  Flora: “Not move.”

  Tadwick: “Ok, ok.”

  Kiyui: “Sorry, honey. Your gonna have to miss this one.”

  Tadwick: “Tell me all about it when you get back!”

  Kiyui: “Sure, Tadpole.”

  Shu: “I guess we should get going then.”

  Feiffer, who had previously been sat lovingly at Tadwick’s feet bounded over and walked attentively by Kiyui’s side.

  Kiyui: “Lead on.”