The Demon Lord And His Hero

"What did you find out?" Syryn asked the priestess who was strolling over to their cabin home just as the sun began its noon arc.

"Nothing that ties them together. The hunter and the florist have nothing in common. They're barely acquaintances."

"No special event like an animal bite or eating the same fruit that shouldn't be eaten?"

Dinah shook her head with disappointment.

"Let's go to the forest," Syryn suggested. "I want to see for myself what is so special about that place."

---

Syryn and Dinah set a quick pace towards the forest line where the incidents had taken place. The smell of sickeningly sweet blossoms had the alchemist wrinkling his nose again. The sooner that Lucien got better, the faster he was leaving the village.

"Here, this is where his body was found," Dinah told Syryn. She had led him to a part of the forest that wasnt too far off from where the treeline broke into human settlement.

"If he was already inside the forest, hunting, as his widow has led us to believe, then it means he came to this area from somewhere deeper inside the forest." Syryn looked around the place wondering why the sick people were attracted to that particular area. "What's so special about this patch of the forest, Dinah?"

The priestess was just as flummoxed as the alchemist. She felt no spiritual fluctuations of negative energy where they were stood.

"I wish I had an answer. I feel like I've failed the people who invited me here for a reason." The priestess closed her eyes and took in the sounds of the forest. It was alive with the chirps of songbirds.

The duo headed back out after that and on their way, Syryn noticed a few dead insects near the roots of a tree. It was an unusual sight. He stopped to examine the opal shaped winged insects that had orange markings on their yellow chitin.

"Don't touch it," he warned the priestess.

"You think it has something to do what's killing people?"

"No, but I'd err on the side of caution if I were you," Syryn answered.

"You touched Cami's cheek."

"I had to."

"And you weren't afraid of getting infected?"

"I'm more resistant to sickness than the ordinary person. It's a perk I got from my father." Syryn's eyes found more dead insects as he looked around. Easy to miss because they were hidden within the thick grass. Now that he knew what to look for, it was noticeable.

"That's a lot of dead bugs," Dinah exclaimed. "I came here twice but I never noticed them."

"It's very unusual, isn't it?"

"Very, unless this is a regular occurrence in the village. We have to ask someone about it."

Syryn combed the grass and followed the trail that led everywhere. The entire place was a graveyard of dead insects. All the tiny yellow bugs had burrowed beneath the grass to die there, in touch with the brown earth that absorbed their bodies.

"Look, these seem older than the other dead ones. There's something growing on it," Syryn pointed to a greyish mold that grew like fuzz over the exoskeleton of the dried up insect.

"Looks like the bread I left in my pantry for a month," Dinah contributed.

Syryn stood up and placed his hands on his hips as he glanced at Dinah contemplatively. "We have two things to do now. Confirm with the villagers that this is a freak occurrence," he pointed to the insects. "And then confirm that it has a link to the dead people who specifically came to this place to die at."

"And how do we accomplish the second objective?" Dinah asked though she knew the answer.

"An autopsy. A clandestine late-night gravedigging if that's what it takes. Or we can let the villagers know what the cause for the deaths might be and they can help us dig out the hunter."

"Which villager should we ask about this?"

Syryn knew just the right person. "Let's go back to the cabin and grab someone first. I think we're onto something Dinah."

---

"Syryn, welcome back. There's been another death," Rei cheerlessly informed the alchemist. The avian also nodded to the priestess who returned his greeting.

"The builder?"

"The builder."

"The time for incubation has reduced again," Syryn said to the healer.

"Or it could be something else that killed him," Rei replied. "I heard he died of asphyxiation. Hardly anything like the other two."

"Who told you this?" Syryn asked.

Rei pointed to a basket of button shrooms outside the doorway of the kitchen cabin. "Suni brought those over along with an assortment of fresh vegetables. She also told me about the builder's death because she thought you might want to know about it."

"What a sweet little girl," Syryn remarked. "Akida, can you make meat and mushroom skewers for dinner? I have some spices that you could use."

The avian guard sent an annoyed look his way but it failed to dissuade Syryn. He removed a few jars of spices that he'd collected from their kitchen before leaving. Placing them at the cooking station, Syryn walked out to stand before the surly Akida.

"What?"

"Come with me. Guard duty."

Akida stood up wordlessly and followed the alchemist.

Dinah asked the villagers for directions to the healer's house. It was situated in a grove of trees under which several types of herbs were growing. Syryn was tempted to get his clippers out and harvest some of the fully grown plants that drenched the area with the rich smell of aromatics, vegetal scents and fresh citrus perfume.

The humble cottage that served as the healer's home was locked up. They were out of luck.

"Why him?" Dinah asked. "We can just ask any of the other villagers."

"Because he's a suspicious person. Akida and I were being followed by him just a day after he received a cut on his back that he allegedly received from an animal attack." Syryn caressed the light pink-tipped buds on a planter that was crowded with the cute flowers.

"All the more reason not to ask him then," Dinah replied.

"No, I want to. My intuition tells me that he knows something."

Akida silently listened to the two exchange conversations. He could see the healer walking towards them while carrying a long basket on his back.

"Were you waiting for me?" The healer asked with some wariness. It wasn't a good thing when the weird strangers in the village were all gathered in front of his home. That too without an injury in sight.

"Mister healer, tell me about the insects that are lying dead where the bodies had been found," Syryn jumped straight to the meat of the matter. For someone who spent so much time exploring the forest, he would have noticed. Syryn was sure of it.

"What insects?" The healer's eyes nervously darted between Syryn and Dinah.

Syryn's gaze flickered over to the tall guard who was looming behind the healer. An unfriendly arm went around the shorter man's shoulder and Akida used the thumb of his other hand to smoothly flick one of his swords out with a satisfying 'shwing' sound. Syryn had seen the avian practise with his sword that morning but his draw had been silent.

Sweat began beading the healer's forehead. "Please dont hurt me.."

"The yellow insects. Tell me what you know." Syryn and Akida made eye contact and the guard put more weight into his lean against the healer. The avian was very good at reading Syryn's intentions.

"Okay! Okay.. but please tell him to get off me!"

Akida withdrew just as the alchemist nodded at him. "You should have just cooperated from the beginning. Let's stop wasting each other's time now. Spill everything you know, healer." The alchemist understood the satisfaction of addressing someone by their title of profession.

"Come inside then. Someone might see us all standing here and think we're friends." The healer got his key out and snapped open the lock to his door.

After some shuffling around, the three guests were sitting on wooden stools while the village healer boiled some tea leaves.

"Those yellow insects are called bag borers. This Valley has never been a natural habitat for it so I was surprised when I saw some of them in the forest. They were migrating from somewhere for reasons only they know of."

The healer placed three clay cups on the table and poured out the freshly boiled tea.

"Haven't the other villagers noticed them yet?" Syryn asked after taking a delicate sniff of the tea.

"They've taken note of it but since the insects aren't attacking their flowers, they've stopped caring. I warned the village headman about possible effects on the ecosystem that we might not be aware of but he's not too concerned."

"But you are. Why?" Syryn asked while watching over the rim of his raised cup. He took a sip and placed it back on the table. He was half-demon but his tongue wasn't made out of rock. The healer had served them newt thistle tea, good for health but an acquired taste he had no intention of acquiring.

"What the fuck is this tea?" Akida grumbled in a low voice.

"Is it not to your liking?" The healer asked. "The tea is good for your kidneys."

"Some of us have taste buds," Akida replied and pushed the teacup away like the mere presence of it was hurting him.

"As I was saying, you were concerned by the insect activity. What did you do after complaining to the head man?"