Page 100 of Guiding Reason
It was the minutes of channeling that followed that calmed Hyran, that, and knowing Taros was probably more than a little helpful in a fight, going by how he was blades all over already.
The townspeople of Lowvalley had built humble roads that led to and from their little settlement, but the paths they used to get to their fields were no more than packed dirt. To the sides, they had marked stones, similar to how Hounds would mark out their seasonal paths and all the other paths they traveled.
One of the markers pointed out the lake you’d find if you took a left turn into the tree line. Colorful mosses had crept up the side of that marker, making it both beautiful and difficult to read. On a tree trunk further back, Hyran spotted the long legs of a yellow and black nitta bug. So normal. So quiet.
“I can see something ahead,” Taros whispered.
“I’m going to let go of your hand, Hyran.” Col gripped his gun with both hands, his movements sure, his posture stable.
He’s not going to run and hide. I don’t know if I like that or not. “That’s it. The town.”
They spread out as the path widened. Hyran had been afraid he’d find worse here, bodies mangled, faces forever lost, but there was nothing of the kind. He looked around, not quite yet daring to speed through the village and check.
“There’s blood on that window in the house on the left,” Col said, voice even.
“On the roof there, that solar panel is smashed. Could’ve been some weather event though.” Taros narrowed his eyes at the panel.
Hyran shook his head. “No. They take care of their tech. And—”
A rustling, clop-clopping from ahead made them all freeze. Col lifted his gun. Taros and Hyran both flanked him. An outsider dashed around one of the houses ahead, arms tinted brown and red with blood darkest at her hands. She froze.
“Stop there. Who are you?” Col shouted at her.
Hyran hissed and put a hand on his Conduit’s shoulder. “Don’t shoot. That’s Likkan. Li! It’s me. What happened?”
Li’s eyes were too wide, no sleep, shock, and she was trembling. Col lowered his gun, though he didn’t holster it.
“H-Hyran, ma? What is this, ma?” She shook her head. “I have to…I need bandages.”
She resumed her run, though it was more of a jog now, adrenaline having burned out of her. When she opened the door to Oolan’s house, the one on the left with blood on the window, Hyran headed after her, Col and Taros following.
“Li? What’s going on here, ma? What happened? Tomo—”
She was inside, digging through one of Oolan’s cabinets. Apart from being the mycologist, Oolan was their physician.
“I don’t know where Tomo is. We’ll go look. But probably dead.” She looked over her shoulder, turned back, grabbed more things from the cabinet. “Why do you bring these people, ma?”
“They’re friends. We—Li, what do you need? What do you need, ma?”
She froze. Just a second. Took another pack of bandages, turned on her heel.
“Time turned back and my father alive. That I need.”
She walked past Hyran, giving Taros and Col glances that were scared more than anything else.
She would have left them there, but after looking at Col and seeing him nod, they followed her.
“What the fuck happened here?” Col asked.
Deeper into the town, and small though it was, it became more obvious there had been a fight. The houses here were mostly wooden, and curling black marks along their walls indicated that a pyromancer had been here. Discolored earth, wet in some places, cracked in others, said he hadn’t been alone.
Here they saw blood on the stone paths, broken storage crates, scattered screws and tools as if from the mechanic’s work bag.
“They came. And they killed. We are not with them, the woman said, so why let us live, ma? Wasting space and notcontributing. She said we were weak since we didn’t breed Guardians or Conduits here.” Li went past the well close to the center of the town, then turned left.
The building there, the Old House, was a gathering place of sorts, not really a restaurant or bar like Hyran would have understood it, the town was too small for anything like that, but it was the place where he had always been greeted and given a welcome, where they had shared food, drink, and news. It was where he had handed the shoes to Tomo, those shoes he had wanted so much, where the boy had smiled like a Guardian mastering his power.
Now, as soon as they went inside, Hyran could smell the blood and worse. So much worse, though he couldn’t put a name to the stench.
