Chapter 16: Chapter 14: Wistgardia At Last

The group woke up earlier than they had expected, but while Bike was out gathering materials, the others decided it was best to stay awake in case he came back early to help him. They made 3 small stamina, health, and mana potions, giving them to everyone but Bike, with him being able to heal himself if need be.

“That should be about it,” Cardinal said as he dusted himself off and placed his dagger back in his pocket. He had just finished cleaning all the troll blood off of it.

“That looked disgusting,” Veronica said.

Cardinal laughed and nodded, “Almost as disgusting as the way you smelled a few days ago,”

Veronica cringed. She remembered, too fondly, that she had to wear perfume to mask her undead scent because of how it would attract unwanted attention, or worse, get the Holy Knights of The Cathedral eyes on her. She hadn’t even noticed that she no longer had a strong stench.

“Very funny,” Veronica said.

“All the potions should be effective!” Bike said as he closed his satchel, followed by Griffa who had already closed hers and was ready to go.

“Wistgardia it is, right?” she asked.

“Yeah,” Veronica said.

“I just hope we don’t encounter anything as bad as that insane troll again,” Cardinal said, shivering at the thought of it.

"That makes two of us,” Veronica said.

The group giggled before boarding the carriage in their previous spots, with Veronica waiting outside to use her skill.

“Summon Skeletal Horse!” She summoned the horses and then boarded the carriage. “Straight forward, right?" she asked Cardinal. He nodded and she began to go forward.

The horses were not as expressive as the living horses that had accompanied them before, the galloping was less random and more coordinated and organized. Like they were being ordered to walk in the exact way that they were doing. Their cold blank eye holes left nothing to be wondered about them. They were undead creatures doing their masters bidding.

The horses traveled at a faster pace than the living ones, due to them not tiring for obvious reasons. After 23 minutes of traveling, the summon wore off and Veronica and crew took a rest stop. They rested up, got back on board, and continued.

“I hope we don’t have to do this too frequently,” Cardinal said as he had his cheek in his palm. He was becoming more and more noticeably frustrated with the constant need to stop for the skill.

“I agree,” Bike said.

Griffa didn’t comment.

After 12 minutes had passed, the terrain started to shift. The green foliage started slowly to be replaced by other foliage of a darker and grimier color, like a twisted version of those transitional spots of the normal forests, in contrast with the Fae Forests.

“Well, these look lively,” Cardinal said.

“You’re right! Most of them just bloomed actually,” Bike said, not getting the irony in the statement Cardinal had made.

“Sure bud,” Cardinal sighed before leaning back.

The sound of the skeletal galloping had grown more and more mute, as if they were in their place of being. Soon enough, there was a stop on the road. Veronica looked, in the first glance it seemed like a normal… squirrel. But upon further inspection, it was completely skeletal, as were the owls that flew. “They took the owls being silent thing to an entirely different level,” thought Veronica.

After the grass had fully transitioned from the green and into blackish grey, a path became clear. It was clearly a path to Wistgardia, and the group thought no different.

The skeletal steeds continued forward, their hooves pressing into the ground and leaving a trail of prints. The further down the group got, the more clear it became that this really was Wistgardia, the Kingdom of Vampires. The sound of bats became louder and louder until the bats themselves were visible. There were thousands of them, multiple groups, and they were spread far out in the sky.

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“Woah,” Cardinal said, looking up to see them. Their small black bodies complimented the red sky, an unnaturally red sky none of which they had seen. “This place is spooky as hell,” he said.

“Yes, very… scary,” Bike said as he looked up too.

“It seems in line with a nation of Vampires,” Griffa said.

“Yeah,” Veronica said as she manned the steeds more intently.

After less than 4 more minutes of going straight forward, Veronica brought the carriage to a halt. “Why are we,” Cardinal began to question.

“Early recharge time,” Veronica said. She wanted her skill to be ready for full use if needed, there was a good chance they might be attacked. They stopped, brought the carriage off the path, and waited a few minutes, all of them on guard with their weapons in easy range if need be. After Veronica’s mana recovered, she alerted the others and they all boarded the carriage again.

“Alright, let’s get back to the path,” She said as she readied her hands and then summoned the skeletal horses back.

Once on they got back on the path and further traveled straight ahead. Almost 1 minute onto the trek, Cardinal’s nose started moving, while also being in unison with the movement of his ears.

“What is it?” Veronica asked as she slowed down and turned to Cardinal.

He smelt a bit more, “I smell, I smell burning,” He said as he turned to the group. Soon after that statement, all that could be heard were screams- A multitude of screams. There were screams of pain, screams of pursuit, and screams of hunting.

Veronica focused her eyes forward and manned the carriage at full throttle in her own way.

“Galop! Galop! Galop!” The skeletal steeds had started moving at their fastest speeds, not leaving anything up to thought. Veronica had thought whatever was happening, she had to get there as soon as possible.

Within seconds of dashing toward the sound of screams and smell of fire, the view became prevalent to everyone in the carriage- Holy Knights of The Cathedral were attacking.

“Help me!” Yelled a woman, a Vampire who wore villagers clothes. The area appeared to be the outskirts of a Wistgardian village. As the woman ran she stopped and let out a sound, “Augh!” She fell over and laid limp. She disintegrated as if she was standing in sunlight, leaving all that was left an arrow that had gotten her from the front.

“No!” Veronica yelled, summoning skeletons while trying to maintain focus. She came face to face with a Holy Knight, an older looking man in their standard armor.

“What the real-” before the man could finish, Veronica ran him over with the horses, leaving him gasping for air out of shock.

“Help!” he screamed, to no avail as his allies were occupied with the villagers, leaving him to be torn to shreds by the viscous skeletons.

“Holy shit!” Cardinal said at the site of the brutality.

Griffa equipped her bow and kept her eye out for targets or threats, “We should keep going forward!” she suggested.

Veronica nodded, “Yeah, that’s the plan!” She continued forward, the steeds were probably going to disperse in her mind, so she should push them to their limit. She sped up a little faster, running straight into an inhabited village area. In it were Wistgardian knights fighting back against the Holy Knights.

“Die, undead scum!” Yelled a knight as it sliced at a man and what appeared to be his daughter. Before he could get another try in, a vine grabbed him by the leg and he was thrown into a building, followed by a mana blast to the face from Veronica.

“Say, we are getting pretty good at this thing,” Cardinal said with a smile.

“I think so too!” Bike said.

“Focus!” Griffa yelled as the dispersion of the steeds began, sending them straight into the center of the occupied village area and causing a ruckus.

“Thank you! You’re our saviors!” the man yelled.

Bike ran to the child, “Are you hurt?” he asked her.

She nodded slowly and showed him her arm. A small look grew on his face, and he stretched his hand out to heal it, but it didn’t work.

“Use this,” Griffa said, throwing a spare small health potion to the man, who fed it to his daughter. Her wounds healed fast, leaving only a little bruising and discomfort on her face.

“I should have remembered,” Bike said. “Undead can’t be healed by light magic or things of light sources, If only I knew some sort of concoction skill,”

“We can worry about that later,” Veronica said with urgency. As she finished, there were 4 more Holy Knights approaching them, but they were taken out swiftly by a mix of attacks from Bike, Cardinal, and Griffa.

“Are they sending rookies?” Cardinal asked after flicking the blood off of his bone dagger.

“Doesn’t matter, let’s round up as many people as we can!” Veronica yelled as she summoned steeds and started manning the carriage, allowing the man and his daughter to get inside. “Where is the kingdom?” She questioned loudly.

“Just keep going forward, everything is straight because the other paths have been destroyed in battle,” the man said.

Veronica turned and said, “Thank you,” seeing the man cradling his child in his arms to comfort her.

“Almost there! I see it!” Griffa yelled from atop the carriage.

“Me too!” exclaimed Bike and Cardinal

“Jinx!” Cardinal said, confusing Bike. “Never mind, don’t ask,” he said, realizing it would have gone over Bike’s head.

With maximum speed, the steeds galloped straight into an area, on it was a bridge surrounded by a moat. Past the bridge, there was a man yelling to be let inside the kingdom gates, being manhandled by two Wistgardian knights.

“We have your people in need!” Veronica yelled, stopping the horse after crossing the gates. The archers lowered their bows after seeing the evidence of the two vampires that accompanied them.

“Slow down and halt!” yelled one of the guards.

Veronica complied and halted. The guards retrieved the man and his daughter, slightly opening the gate to the kingdom and allowing them in, but closing it almost the instant they were no longer visible.

“What is your business here?” asked the guard.

“I am here to seek aid and turn the tide of the Holy War!” Veronica said passionately.

The guards laughed, “And what do you mean by that?” one said.

Veronica cleared her throat, ‘I have a strategy to take care of the Holy Cathedral, but more importantly, I know how to kill Saint Excella!”

With those words, the guard's eyes widened. It was clear the name Excella put fear into that no other undead could. “What should we do captain?” questioned them. Before his advisor could answer-

“Let them in,” spoke a woman's voice. “P-Princess Meryl?” asked the guard.

“I said to let them in!” the woman’s voice spoke, more sternly in tone and pronunciation.

“Yes, Princess!” said the guard, opening the gates and letting them in.

“What about me!” yelled the man, a knight in brass armor with red hair.

“What about him?” asked the man.

The woman, now revealed to be of short stature, with piercing purple-black eyes and black-grey hair, spoke. “Haha, oh, he can come too, I don’t care.”

With that order, the guards didn’t hesitate to push him inside of the gates, nearly breaking his balance, and then closing them shut tight.

“Welcome to Wistgardia!” said the Princess, Princess Meryl as she twirled around. Her black and purple dress showcased every frill up to where it ended, right above her knees.

The group had finally made it to Wistgardia.