Chapter 12: The Road of Silent Feet
Dawn over Valthorin came pale and tense.
Usually the eastern gate bustled with traders, farmers, and sleepy guards pretending to be alert. Today the mood was different.
Armor was polished.
Weapons were checked twice.
Voices stayed lower.
Rumors moved faster than carts.
Kyūsei stood beside Kazuto near the gate arch, adjusting the borrowed leather bracers Lena had thrown at him earlier.
"They smell weird."
"They're used," Kazuto said.
"By what?"
"People who lost."
Kyūsei slowly removed them.
Kazuto laughed.
"Relax. Probably sweat."
"That was not the comforting option."
Kazuto tightened the strap himself with practiced hands.
"You'll need them."
Kyūsei looked at him.
"You act calm."
"I am calm."
"You sharpened your sword three times before sunrise."
"It enjoys attention."
Liar.
Their expedition party was smaller than Kyūsei expected.
Lena stood at the front in fitted guild armor, silver hair tied back, expression sharp enough to cut rope.
Beside her was a broad-shouldered man carrying a tower shield nearly as tall as Kyūsei.
"This is Garron," Kazuto said quietly.
Garron nodded once.
He had a beard like a fortress wall.
"Talk less. Hit hard," Garron rumbled.
"I like him," Kyūsei whispered.
"You'll like him less when he snores."
On Lena's other side stood a woman in dark green robes with twin daggers at her hips.
Short black hair. Narrow eyes. Movements too quiet to trust.
"Mira," Lena said. "Scout."
Mira looked Kyūsei up and down.
"He's the mystery child?"
"I'm right here."
"Unfortunate."
Kyūsei frowned.
Kazuto patted his shoulder.
"She's being warm."
A final member arrived late, jogging while carrying too many bags.
Young, blond, cheerful, and already apologizing.
"Sorry! Sorry! I overslept!"
Lena pinched the bridge of her nose.
"Rufus."
"Healer and support!" he said proudly. "Emotionally available."
"No one asked," Mira said.
Kyūsei blinked.
"This team is weird."
Kazuto grinned.
"Now you fit in."
They departed through the east gate as bells rang the sixth hour.
The road wound through rolling hills striped with wet grass. Morning mist clung low over fields. In the distance, forests spread dark and silent beneath cloud-shadow.
Kyūsei walked near the center.
Kazuto insisted.
"Front gets hit first. Rear gets ambushed first. Middle gets insulted only."
"That seems suspiciously specific."
"It's experience."
They moved at a steady pace.
Garron led when roads narrowed.
Mira vanished often into brush or trees, reappearing later without sound.
Rufus talked to everyone equally and was ignored by most.
Lena checked maps constantly.
Kyūsei mostly tried not to look inexperienced.
He failed whenever terrain became difficult.
At one muddy slope he slipped and grabbed Kazuto's cloak.
Kazuto fell backward dramatically.
"My betrayal."
"You pulled me!"
"History will decide."
By midday they stopped near a stream.
Rufus passed around dried fruit and water.
Kyūsei sat on a stone, studying the others.
This was a real adventuring party.
Not training.
Not dungeons with one guide.
People who trusted one another with death nearby.
He suddenly felt younger than ever.
Mira appeared beside him so suddenly he nearly fell into the stream.
"Your fear face is loud."
"Can everyone here appear normally?"
"No."
She crouched and cleaned one dagger with a cloth.
"You're thinking you don't belong."
Kyūsei stiffened.
"…Maybe."
She shrugged.
"Good."
"What?"
"Only fools feel ready."
Then she stood and walked away.
That was somehow encouraging and insulting at once.
Kazuto approached carrying bread.
"Mira mentoring you? Grim times."
"What was she like when you met?"
He handed over the bread.
"Stabbed me."
Kyūsei paused.
"Seriously?"
"Misunderstanding."
"What misunderstanding?"
"She misunderstood how annoying I was."
Kyūsei laughed despite nerves.
They reached the first village near sunset.
Or what had been a village.
The wooden gate hung open.
No smoke rose from chimneys.
No livestock wandered.
No voices.
Only wind moving prayer ribbons tied between houses.
Kyūsei's skin crawled.
Lena raised a hand.
Formation changed instantly.
Garron forward.
Mira left flank.
Kazuto right.
Rufus center.
Kyūsei near Lena.
"No one moves alone," Lena said.
They entered.
Doors stood open.
Bowls remained on tables.
Laundry hung stiff in the breeze.
A child's toy cart lay overturned in the road.
No blood.
No struggle.
Just absence.
Kyūsei whispered, "Where did they go?"
No one answered.
Garron knelt near footprints in the dust.
"Many passed east."
Mira checked rooftops.
"No drag marks. They walked."
Rufus swallowed audibly.
"I dislike that."
"Shared sentiment," Lena said.
They searched house by house.
Nothing.
Until the chapel.
At the village center stood a small stone shrine dedicated to harvest spirits. Its wooden doors were shut.
Kazuto touched the handle.
Cold mist leaked through the cracks.
He looked at Lena.
"Inside."
Garron moved first, shield raised.
The doors groaned open.
The smell hit them immediately.
Not rot.
Wet earth.
And something metallic beneath it.
Inside, candles still burned.
Every villager knelt in neat rows facing the altar.
Dozens of them.
Motionless.
Heads bowed.
Kyūsei's breath caught.
"They're alive?"
Then all of them lifted their heads at once.
Eyes black.
Smiles identical.
"No," said Kazuto quietly. "They're occupied."
The nearest villager stood.
Then another.
Then all of them.
Benches scraped back in perfect unison.
Lena cursed.
"Fall back!"
Too late.
The doors slammed shut behind them.
The chapel windows darkened as black vines burst through the stone from outside.
The villagers began walking forward.
Slowly.
Together.
Kyūsei reached for fire.
Hands shaking.
One old woman in the front row spoke in layered voices:
"Return what was stolen."
The room temperature dropped.
Kazuto drew his blade.
"No one steals from things like you."
The woman's smile widened unnaturally.
"You did."
All black eyes turned to Kazuto.
Even Lena looked at him sharply.
Kyūsei stared.
"Kazuto…"
But there was no time.
The villagers charged.