Round a fire, the Embers Three rested with a hand from William.
A strong lad, despite such a small frame, the warmth of the Eight Lords in his palm.
It was as Nathan had seen during mass many times before, the elder Father Willbress aid townsfolk regardless of creed or status.
One touch from the young father took away his chills, erased his fears, and brought about strength. However, it didn't ease one thing on his mind, his heart still heavy since leaving the fireborne camp.
"You serve the Lord of Light and Combat well," William said, hands on his shoulders. "As well as love. Were you and…Lady Larosa sw-."
"That's enough father, thanks," Nathan muttered.
A bit mouthy the little rascal was, but as good a priest as any.
Darkness didn't seem as harrowing on the return ride, the Embers with a certain charm about them.
Allison eyes were sharp, capable of leading the way in total darkness without a sliver of moon in the sky. Arthur prayed as often as William did, though Nathan was unsure what lord the spearmen worshipped. He rarely heard what was said, though it seemed to be more of a meditation than an honest request of the gods.
Danielle was all but a rock, silent, rarely making any movement. She reminded Nathan of his lordship, if said lord were meek without a lust for blood. Her armor was thick, good iron for someone with such a small frame. Her sword was good steel, almost like that of the blade Turis lifted off a corpse for him.
"That's a good sword," he complimented her as the party slowed their pace for the tiring horses. "You must have some skill with a blade."
One would've thought he asked her to a midnight ball, her face red as wine.
"Is, he as terrifying as they say?" She asked, oblivious to the remark about her sword.
"Aye," Nathan said, toying with the odd lass. "Every night he devours the flesh of his enemies, more so now with his curse of blood thirst. He strangles man and woman, lad and lass with their entrails!"
Mouth hung open, Dany shuddered.
Nathan laughed, giving her a light jab.
"Just having a little fun lassie! Truth is, he's as great an oaf as he is a warrior. Otherwise, I'd not have traveled from one black hell to another to save his cursed skin."
She grew a small grin, then went back to being silent.
'Strange girl. Especially for a soulless.'
Alongside the abyss after noon they didn't falter.
Wings may as well have been on either side them, their horses galloping without a loss in their step. Though Yuri had not the experience of treading a dark hell, William's light, every so often it shined, gave a much-needed boost.
"Unbelievable," William said, eyes brightening.
"What's down there?" Nathan asked.
"I-I can't tell. Even with the light lord's help, I can't see the bottom. No one can."
They arrived at what was left of the bridge, just minutes after what would be sunset.
Nathan led the way towards the village, where scornful folk scowled them upon arrival.
"The brute's squire!" A villager hissed. "Bastard! The Brander's blood is on your hands!"
"What blood?" Nathan demanded, though he needed not go further.
Within the villages center laid a headless corpse, brain flesh and an eyeball among a rotted neck stump.
He dismounted Yuri to get a better look.
Flies rested in the crone's sockets, maggots filled his armpits, stones, and any other orifice. For all the villager's disdain, none seemed to be in a rush to help him, believing the brute to have cursed the corpse and anyone to touch it. Nathan gave the stiff purple body a kick, then spat on it.
It was a good look for The Brander, who's cross laid beside the eyeball.
Nathan picked up the blood soaked cross before tossing it into the hole nearby.
Villagers spit, hollering at him and the Embers, and even a hand from William was refused. Allison recommended they leave, though he put a hand on his half sword's hilt hidden within its scabbard.
"Where is my master?" He growled, unsheathing the fine steel longsword. "Tell me! Or I'll start fillin' that hole with you shit faced lot!"
Red tight faces became wide eyed pale stares.
None dared a word to him, and some hurried into the church. Only the town smith approached him, a hammer in hand with a soot covered face.
"Damn shame ya' returned," the smith said, wiping away brow sweat. "Your lord squashed Brand's head like a tomato. Can't say it was pretty, but least no more folk'll be offered to those blood starved scouts."
"Where is he?" Nathan demanded.
The smith sighed, "Off into the woods. May have lost his mind, ye' who are soulless. Seen a handful come and go, but that one…"
Before the fat bastard could finish, Nathan mounted Yuri, and turned the steed south.
He knew exactly where he was, the stubborn giant.
"Slow down!" Allison warned. "Let William concentrate!"
Yuri slowed to a trot.
Nathan scanned the woods, a boasted confidence with the white knight's blade.
Iron rot filled the air, it was murky, and shadows thickened. Against William's light, darkness appeared to move, slight shifts, waves like a black current, and rise like smoke.
"There!" William shouted, pointing ahead.
Dim red lights appeared.
Hisses, growls, and whispers of the long-forgotten tongue, all spoken amongst the demons of darkness.
They were eyes, unlike the spirits of the woods Nathan had seen and slain before, with desperation more than hatred. Not the eyes of a revenant, but a starving animal.
William made a sign of the cross, and the lad's cross-star beneath his collar flickered.
Nathan stayed behind Allison, pointing his sword from one direction to another, who rode hard with an arrow nocked. Arthur's spear tip brightened, and Dany's longsword glowed. Beneath Micheal's breath, the young father whispered, and Nathan felt his longsword to be warmer.
He examined its steel edges, vibrating with silver light.
Beyond a rusty gate, the party rode on.
Allison loosed, striking a hooded vampyre behind the head.
Another arrow landed within a belly, and the vampyre slipped into the shadows. Others turned their way, her arrows loosing with mere blinks to spare. Bright tipped, they plunged between the eyes or stuck within pale bony chests.
One such vampyre, its jaws locked onto the lord of war, the brute he was known as, didn't notice them. Not until Arthur drove his spear through her did she yelp.
"I'll bleed you all!" Saraiza wailed, Arthur twisting his spear. "Curse you! Curse you bastard soulless cunts!"
She wheezed, turning to a black wiry dusty corpse.
Arthur kept twisting, Saraiza reaching out to him. Yet her hands burst into bright flames, and she whimpered, collapsing into the dirt.
A pair of vampyres charged the spearman.
Dany took to his back, while he kept staking Saraiza, and she thrusted hard herself. Blood spewed out the vampyres chest, and the other roared, fangs aiming for her throat.
A bright arrow from Allsion landed within its mouth, inches from Dany's vein pulsing neck.
Arrows loosed, vampyres bled out with white smoke, and the mine field shook.
Within the mines cave whined a beast.
It stomped forward for a few paces, then a bright hand from William stunned it in place. Nathan could only see so much of it, a one horned creature, twice as large as bull, though it shrouded itself in darkness upon stepping back.
Roars shook the field again, and the beast rose on its hind legs. It howled, a screeching blood curl like a gargoyle. Nathan felt his chest to be caving in, and none of the Embers believed they could face such a monster.
Yet Al loosed anyway, trying to force it back into the caves.
"Fall back!" She shouted. "Get them and William out of here!"
Arhtur took one side of his lordship, Dany took the other, and they laid him behind Yuri.
Shadows rose to the sky.
"Hurry!" Allison demanded. "Back to the village!"
"Stay with us," Nathan said to his lordship. "We're almost there!"
He reached down, to his lordship's flail standing upright lodged within dirt.
It was too heavy, and after kicking Yuri's sides, the loyal steed hoisted up the flail like it were a child's toy.
His lordship muttered something, though Nathan couldn't understand.
William's light shined.
Smoke leaked from the beast's jaws, fire brewing in its belly. Nathan saw it, some kind of demonic animal, almost a dog of some sort. Its power was linked with the darkness and as shadows withered, it started whimpering.
The young father's voice was like thunder, yet smooth.
"Begone! Return from whence you came, foul dog of Cerebus!'
Scurrying back into the mines, the beast whined all the way into the darkness. Nathan could've sworn it were saying something, but it mattered not.
William kept reciting commands, light favored prayers, all the way from the mines until they were clear of fuming black smoke.
Nothing pursued them, though the blood starved cries lasted all night...