2.The Grey Towers of Endoval

The caravan of survivors walked in silence. Only the occasional sniffle, groan, or hushed conversation broke the rhythm of their passing. From their homes, they’d been able to salvage scraps of clothing, a few cyphers, a couple of wrecked servitors and four days food. The groaning from the Crawls Passage chased them into the Endoval Forest under the tall canopies of the ancient trees. Ahead, The Endoval towers loomed over the tree-tops, guiding the way. With no better destination in mind, no one questioned the wisdom of heading into the dreaded Endoval Forest.
 
Marius Sendak and his Dritmen made up the bulk of the caravan with five members. Then came the Oslo family and Jaden, caravaners and travellers of old. The remaining were various town folks. Hulik Crovan, an injured member of the town militia, struggled to keep up with the caravan, leaned heavily on his staff tipped with a black Margr horn. The giant woman who worked up on the Spectral Plateau silently plodded along, occasionally picking up a herb, grass or leaf and eating it without interest. As the group entered the forest, she had pulled down a low branch from a tree and even now casually pulled leaves off and ate them as she walked.
 
That left Temila and Nox walking together through the caravan. Temila was five years older than Nox, having taken up an apprenticeship with the Apothecary several years before. Though they’d known each other all their lives, they had little but a shared interest in plants in common. Temila from a medicinal standpoint. Nox from a more personal one.
 
Nox searched for Jaden walking with the Oslo’s ahead, deep in conversation. She glanced across to the oddly gallant Marius rallying the Dritmen and encouraging Yitti to sing a marching song to boost morale.
 
“Oh, I’m sorry I hadn’t noticed,” Nox heard Temila say. Turning, Nox saw the strange woman with the six eyes poking at a wound on her arm, ”Um, please, I have medicine that can help with that.”
 
Temila stepped up towards the woman, who instantly brought the stick around between them.
 
She wants to help, Nox created a link to the woman’s mind bringing up an image of Temila treating the wound, She has good medicine.
The large woman turned to Nox, making her shrink away behind Temila. The woman looked at the wound on her arm, a nasty gash, and shrugged. She didn’t seem to think it was such a problem.
“Please, “ Temila held up a small pot of ointment, an antibacterial herbal mix the apothecary had been renowned for.
The woman shrugged and crouched so Temila could reach the wound.
“Now, this may sting,” Temila said, not seeming intimidated by the woman’s strength and ferocity.
 
As she worked, Nox got up the courage to ask Temila what had been worrying her for the last few hours, “Temila, is Erinai angry with us?”
“Why would Erinai be angry with us?” Temila replied absentmindedly, applying the ointment. The big woman tensed but did not lash out.
“Erinai protects the machines. They inspire their creation. Maybe they are angry at us and sent the servitors to…punish us.”
 
Temila thought on Nox’s words a moment as the woman tasted a little of the ointment and stood, bowing to Temila in thanks. It was a fact that the Devotees of Erinai were the local religion of Cerelon, its members making up the elite of Cerelon society. It was also true nearly everything about the creation of servitors was a jealously guarded secret of the Devotees. Eventually, she shook her head.
 
“I saw the servitors attacking the temple as well as other buildings in Highside Redoubt. They didn’t seem to know or care that it was Erinai’s sacred place.”
“You were in Highside during the attack?” A man’s voice interrupted the conversation. Marius lithely moved across to the two girls. Noxslunk around behind Temila.
“Yes, Temila turned to address the Dritmen leader, ” I was delivering medicine.”
“What happened in there?”
“I don’t know. I keep thinking it over, wondering if I missed something. It just seemed like an ordinary day...until it wasn’t.”
“Was anyone in there fighting the servitor?”
“Some fought. Some ran,” Temila stopped in her tracks as the memories of just a few hours ago washed over her again, “There were so many servitors. I never knew there were so many…”
“What if we asked a Huln? Or maybe Aunty Ivasha?” Nox asked from behind Temila, referring to senior members of Cerelon and the Devotees, Ivasha being her Father’s sister and the family’s bright hope.
“But, how could we contact them, Nox?” Temila turned to her, and Nox slunk away, admitting that she had no connection with her aunty and certainly none with the illustrious Huln’s.
“Don’t worry about it, kid,” Marius addressed Nox, reaching out to tousle her hair as if she were a kid. She shrank away from his hand, “The servitors were remotely controlled. Someone’s done a number on our town.”
“The whole town?” Nox whispered in awe of what Marius was saying. Who would hate Cerelon and all its citizens enough to send the servitors against them? It was like wondering who would want to destroy the world?
 
Something rustled in the bushes nearby, and the group stopped to stare. The big woman was on guard again, ready for a sudden attack. Nox slipped around behind everyone and came up behind the bush, peering in to see what was hiding there. Huge bat-like ears flicked towards Nox. Dog-sized and covered in colourful spikes like an exotic reptile, the seskie responded to her appearance. Two large eyes turned to regard Nox with suspicion.
Nudj? Nox sent to the nervous creature, and it cocked its head in surprise at sensing its name.
“It’s Nudj,” She confirmed out loud to the gathering group, reassuring the big woman that the creature was known and not to be harmed. Fureva shrugged and stood down as Hulik hobbled over on hearing his pet’s name. The seskie ran for its master, and the two were once more reunited. Hope renewed that more survivors had made it so far, and the caravan continued towards the towers.
 
Again, the discussion petered out, and Marius went back to walking with the Dritmen. Temila started moving through the caravan, looking for the injured, and Nox followed like a lost thing. Slowly, her eye caught the path the group were making through the forest, breaking branches, disturbing the leaf litter to expose the rich earth below. Her curious mind started looking for evidence that others had also passed that way. As she bent down to examine a scuff mark on a tree, a movement in the corner of her eye caught her attention. Standing, she saw a figure, ghostly blue with lines of energy running through them. As soon as she caught sight of the being, it rushed across the intervening distance and preternatural speed. Nox instinctually shied like a wild thing, leaping up and disappearing behind a bush as the ghostly being reached the spot she had just been standing and disappeared. From under her clothing, Nox heard a tiny ping. She pulled at her neckline and reached for a leather cord, tugging it out from under layers of clothing. At the end of the cord was a small black glass ball about the size of a small coin.
 
It was the only thing, besides memories, that she had from her mother. She had looked at it many times, scanning past its dark translucent surface to wonder at the unknowable interior. She did it now, reaching out with her mind to understand and found it the same as it had always been. Dark and mysterious. She was sure it had made a noise when that spirit disappeared. At least she had been.
 
Suddenly she was aware the caravan was leaving her behind. Stuffing the pendant back under her clothes and careful not to step where the ghost had been, she raced back to find Temila in the caravan.
 
 
Jaden was feeling sick and tired. It had been more than thirty years since she’d travelled with the caravans, and her old body protested the abuse. On top of that, her hands throb from the burns she’d sustained during the fight. Every action with them was an exercise in mental distraction. To keep her mind off the constant bodily complaints, she focused on remembering her survival training from long years ago. They had four days of food and water. If they could hunt and find a water supply here in the forest, that could stretch it out to maybe a week. The problem was, very few knew anything about the Endoval Forest. Where to find water, food or shelter, as well as what its dangers were. When she considered the caravan’s future, she shivered.
 
“Excuse, Jaden,” It was Temila shadowed by a more than usually spooked Nox, “You’re hurt. I have a little medicine.” Temila held up her jar of ointment and gestured to Jadens’ hands.
“The gods love you, Temila! I haven’t given my hands a moment’s thought myself. Now Jaden looked down at her hands. Where the receiver had exploded, the skin was scorched and blistered. The injuries were not so severe as to damage her clever hands permanently, but just the sight of them made her light-headed. She gladly subjected herself to Temila gentle touch and contemplated Nox’s current state. Through their unusual connection, Jaden could feel the fear and confusion from Nox but not understand its context. Everything was new to the girl, who generally had problems dealing with the simplest of conflict. It was not unreasonable to think she would be upset at losing everything she’d known.
 
For Jaden, it was a bittersweet ending to her life in Cerelon. Life there hadn’t always been fair, but it had been mostly good, and she’d built herself a comfortable home. But, she’d been planning to leave with the Oslo family next trip around, or maybe the one after that. She had a travelling machine plan ready to go and started asking for interest in buying the business. Now, she wished her plans had been a little further along, her travelling machine built and available for this trip out into the unknown.
 
Ahead, the trees thinned and revealed a large clearing where the grey panelled towers of Endoval stood. Made not of stone or wood, the tower was built of a manufactured sheeting, the same uniform grey. Pipping ran up the sides of the tower and added features to a featureless monolith. Further along in what looked to be the remains of another building, a three-metre tall black crystal hovered above the ground. The remains of the building gave the impression that an explosion starting at the crystal had blown the building apart. Beyond, a black pit yawned darkly, surrounded by the remains of walkways and ladders that seemed to head down into the depths. As intriguing as all these things were, they were all forgotten for four individuals.
 
Besides the broken crystal building, two Cerelon survivors grimly fought two servitors for their lives.
“Come on all!” Marius shouted, and all five of the Dritmen ran into battle. Marius aided the woman with what looked like a beauty servitor, wickedly sharp scissors snapping. Orv reached the lifting servitor attacking the man by throwing a rock into its gears before moving into melee. From his experience in the bar, he came in sweeping the machine’s feet out from under it, sending the robot sprawling on the ground. Jaden watched the fight and noticed the lifter’s tracks were already damaged on one side, making it unstable on that side.
 
Fureva and Nox ran up, grabbing loose stones and loosening chains. Nox tried throwing the rocks at the lifter’s visual sensors but failed to hit. Fureva unslung her chain and swinging it sideways sent the robot falling to the ground. It righted itself, but the action allowed Jaden time to pull the man out of combat.
 
With the beauty servitor prone, Marius was determined to keep it there. His salvager mind quickly disconnected its legs from the rest of the body before turning to help with the lifter. Orv swung a stick at the lifter, which clangs off the robot’s metal hide harmlessly as it turned to face its toughest enemy. Forklift tines struck out at Fureva, catching her in the ribs. The blunt blades ground against her skin and bone, and Fureva bared her teeth robot’s sensors swinging the chain at its head. This time the robot was ready, and the chain wrapped harmless around an upraised tine.
 
Nox snuck around the fight, keeping well clear of Fureva’s swinging chain or the robot’s heavy tines. Coming up on its right side as Jaden had instructed, she reached in with her blade and started cutting tubes and wiring. The hydraulics to the right side track finally gave up, and the servitor was stuck in place, face to face with Fureva.
 
“There has to be a way to turn these things off,” Jaden mumbled to herself, searching the creature until she found it, a bloody handprint marked where it was on the robot’s back. Whatever was controlling these machines was also overriding basic shutdown systems. The servitor’s rampage was no accident. This had been a genocide.
 
With a piece of the broken building, Orv charged into the fight. He jammed the timber into the left-hand track, totally disabling the robot as the lift went to make good its advantage on the warrior woman. Pressing down the tine caught in Fureva side, it made to skewer her, but with neither of its tracks working, it could not bring its massive weight to bear. With one last mighty swing, Fureva brought the heavy chain around. The lifter servitor folded around the chain as it struck, propelling it back into the pit. No sound of impact was heard.
 
Curious, Marius walked to the edge of the pit and looked down, but there was only darkness that late in the afternoon. He found a stick to make a simple torch but had to stop to find his flint and steel. When Nox realised what he wanted, she brought the Numenera together in a little hedge magic. The green leaves of the branch started to smoulder.
“Did you do that?” Marius looked up at Nox, who quickly looked away, sure it had been the wrong thing to do.
“Thanks,” He smiled and threw the stick down the hole.
 
There wasn’t much to see. The catwalks led to a lower level just below the darkness that had rotted away years ago. The flaming stick sailed through a gaping hole and disappeared into the darkness.
 
Back at the site of the fight, Fureva put one of her huge meaty hands on the man’s head, Kadris Greyth, and he smiled his thanks, looking up at the huge woman.
“I am very pleased to see you, old friend,” He said, and Fureva extended a hand. He took it, and when back on his feet, hugged Fureva. Slowly the menacing warrior woman seemed to shrink a little, her body relaxed, and her expression softened as she returned the hug.
 
“We would be dead without you,” Said the woman who had been fighting off the beauty servitor. Her name was Wilara Taven, and she was a farmer up on the Tilled Mesa high above Cerelon.
“What I don’t understand is how these two were receiving a signal out here,” Jaden mused, looking at the still struggling beauty servitor unable to escape.
“Nox, come and help me find where this thing keeps its brains,” She said, moving out of scissor stabbing distance from the robot. Eager to help with such an important task, Nox followed and tried to scan the machine for the Numenera’s life spark.
 
The empty visual receptors of the robot turned to Nox.
“Look out!” Marius yelled, sensing something wrong as the robot exploded, sending metal and synth shards in all directions. Maybe because of his timely warning, maybe because of her skittish nature, Nox threw herself to the ground and missed the shrapnel. Jaden was not so fast or lucky.
 
“I’m sorry, Jaden, I don’t know what I did wrong,” Nox wailed as she scrambled to Jaden’s side. Burnt and blasted with shards of hot metal, Jaden put her hand comfortingly on the girl’s shoulder.
“It wasn’t your fault, Nox. I don’t think anyone could have known it would self-destruct.”
“I did,” Marius said, quietly to himself, before turning to the group.
“Okay, it’s dark now. Let’s make camp and get some food cooking,” He turned to his Dritmen, “Let’s walk the perimeter of this place and check it out.” The Dritmen nodded and fell in with their leader, walking out into the ever-encroaching darkness.
 
As the caravan unpacked their few supplies and made what meals they could, the Dritmen walked the edge of the clearing, checking for signs of other refugees or wild creatures that used the area. Things were quiet. It didn’t look like any animals ventured into the clearing, and Marius was about to split the group and double their efforts when he heard a click under his foot and his senses tingled. His danger sense had saved him so often in the past that he no longer questioned how he knew there was a mine under his foot. Without shifting weight, Marius turned to Orv.
“I’ve just triggered a land mine.”
“Ur…” Orv was a dependable fellow, but not the fastest, “I’ll go get help,” And he ran off back to the growing ring of campfires in the centre of the clearing.
 
Marius stood and still as he could as the minutes ticked by.
“Well, boys, I really put my foot in it this time,” He joked with his fellow dritmen who had sensibly stepped back a few metres, “No, no. No need to go off about it.” The jokes filled the time and kept Marius mind from the thought of a future without out a lower limb. Soon, Orv was back with a limping Hulik and the sharp-eyed Jaden.
 
“Ah, yes. Sorry, I forgot to mention that the militia plant mines against the margr,” Hulik said, as he slowly knelt and brushed the soil away from around the device, “One more dead margr out here is one less attacking town...yeah, this is one of ours.”
“That would have been helpful to know before we set out.” Marius kept his cool as Hulik discussed with Jaden how best to proceed. She pulled out a coil of wire from her pocket that she twisted into a circle with two handles. Using the tool, they were able to press down on the mine, thus getting Marius free. Once Marius was out of the way, Hulik could reach the disarm switch.
“Let me teach you, boys, what to look for. We always leave markers, “ And he pointed to a nearby tree where a seeming scuff mark in the bark was an arrow pointing down.
 
With this new knowledge, the dritmen continued their check of the clearing as Jaden escorted Hulik back to camp. The three-metre tall crystal drew her attention. Excusing herself, she walked over to the crystal to take a closer look.
 
Three-sided, the crystal seemed to hover just above the ground. Made of some black substance, Jaden couldn’t imagine what it was made of or what it could be used for. Jaden spied Nox nearby, collecting fallen wood for the fire and ushered her over.
“What does this look like to you?” She asked the girl, who stopped in her tracks as if asked to commit a crime.
I don’t know, Jaden. An image of the beauty servitor flashed in Jaden’s mind.
“Well, I do, I want to know what’s in it, and you’re the young lady for the job.”
 
Encouraged by Jaden’s enthusiasm and curiosity, Nox put down her bundle of sticks and came over the to crystal. Closing her eyes, her hand reached out and almost, but not quite, touched the crystal surface.
I see, a dense outer layer...very dense...its...I… Nox strained but could not seem to see past that first strong layer. Suddenly, Jaden’s mind was filled with an all too familiar voice, Once again, idiot child. What good are you? Nox’s father, Livaanar Ferrul. Even miles away from what Jaden hoped was his cold dead body, Livaanar still troubled his daughter. Jaden reached out her hand to comfort the girl, but the shoulder moved from her grasp.
“I’m such an idiot, I can’t do anything right,” Nox crumpled to the ground in front of the crystal.
“Now, Nox. This has been here for millennia, and no one has identified it all that time,” Jaden said bruskly but not unkindly.
 
Furevea, who was nearby tasting random pieces of coloured synth and tasty iotum, was drawn to the crystal by Nox’s despondency. Nox silenced as the big woman stepped up, and the crystal responded. Symbols in white glowed on all three faces of the crystal, symbols that matched the ones tattooed onto Fureva’s arm. Instinctually, she reached out to touch the crystal.
 
A white light flashed out from the crystal, blinding everyone. When their eyes adjusted back to the evening darkness, the crystal was black again, and Fureva was flat on her back, out cold. Nox tried immediately to make a telepathic link, but there was nothing to link to. Jaden tried rousing the prostrate warrior, but she did not even stir. Temila was sought, found and brought to Fureva’s side. A small vial of strong-smelling oil was wafted under the woman’s nose, and her eyelids flickered.
 
I smell….something delicious! Thought the woman in a voice, not like her own, Hmmm, I didn’t expect that.
Hello, big Lady? Nox asked timidly and felt the weight of a more complex mind than she was used to from the warrior.
Hello, child. I’m Fureva.
I like your name...I’m Nox.
Where am I?
The Endoval towers, in the forest outside Cerelon, Then Nox replied confused as she put two and two together, You weren’t in town, were you? That was the other one.
Yes, Yung. Fureva-Yung.
But not, just Fureva.
No, The intellect, not the warrior woman, thought a moment, I won’t be here for long. I can’t stay.
Can’t stay? But...what do I tell the others? Nox asked as the big woman started to sit up and look around at the concerned crowd.
Whatever you like? Fureva seemed to laugh and Nox’s agitation.
Nox looked into the far too intelligent eyes and nodded, I’ll just keep it between us then.
That’s probably wise, Said Fureva as the knowing look gave way to a dull stare, see with little comprehension. The body of Fureva-Yung slumped as the slower intellect tried to make sense of what was going on. Not used to everyone making a fuss over them, Fureva-Yung quickly stood and made it clear they were fine.
 
Nox stared with fascination as the being called Fureva-Yung turned back to study the crystal. Nothing. It was black and empty once more. She looked at her tattoo and tried pressing that to the crystal. Still nothing. She punched it and succeeded in hurting her hand.
 
“What happened?” Marius’ voice came up behind. Having seen the flash across the clearing and the collected group around the stricken, he’d come to see what had happened.
“Our defender here came up to the crystal, and it glowed with symbols in her tattoo,” Jaden explained, “When she touched it, the crystal discharged and seemed to knock out our warrior cold.”
“Fureva-Yung,” Nox interrupted, very unlike her, “Her name is Fureva-Yung.”
“Good to know,” Marius turned back to Jaden as the crowd dispersed, the excitement over, “Everything good here?”
“Actually,” Jaden replied now she had the Dritman leader’s attention, “I can create a few tools and items for the community can use, but I need iotum. When can I get you dritmen together to pull apart those two servitors we’ve been dragging around.”
Marius sighed, “I was hoping after the perimeter check we could have a meal and sleep. It’s been a long day.”
“Well, I can’t make anything useful until someone breaks up that tech. I don’t have the skill to make the best of the job. Nox can find the Numenera in what there is, but has no experience at teasing it out of the junk.”
 
Marius looked from Jaden to the kid, looking curiously at the Fureva woman. She was now pulling out large panels from the destroyed building and making a pile of building supplies.
“Okay, after tea, we’ll get onto it.”
“Good, in the meantime, it looks like Fureva-Yung has her own construction in mind.”
“Yes, it does,” Marius turned to where the rest of the dritmen were waiting for him, “Hey, let’s give Furry a hand.” He pointed to Fureva’s attempts at building a wall.
 
With Jaden guiding construction, Furevea-Yung, the dritmen, and Kadris Greyth started building a simple wall around the camping area. Marius got to work breaking apart the servitors and noted that the servitors did not have special receivers to pick up a signal this deep in the forest. What had sent the servitors mad was still a mystery.
 
Pieces of the servitor were used in the wall’s construction, that is, except for a small piece of responsive synth that Fureva-Yung tried eating. Its chewy texture amused Fureva.
Wriggles! She said in her mind, and Nox assumed it concerned the inedible iotum.
 
Perimeter check done, the wall up, and everyone fed, people started looking for places to rest for the night. With Hulik warning of Margr hunting parties, it was decided to keep a regular watch through the night. Marius and one of his men took first while Jaden and another dritman took second. Late in the second watch, the forest was full of small sounds, movement, the huff of someone smelling the air, the scuff of a heavy hoof.
 
“Margr!” Jaden called from the wall as shadowy figures broke from the forest and started across the clearing. A bright white light followed by a heavy explosion shook the clearing. In the light of the landmine, five horned figures, one flying brokenly through the air, were clearly outlined.
 
Jaden rummaged through her deep pockets and pulled out one of the cyphers gathered from the exodus from Cerelon. She threw a photonic fabricator out into the darkness towards the lead margr. It glowed with a white-hot light, elongating as it flew until it was a bright spear of light in the darkness. The margr, at full run, did not have a chance to swerve aside. It pierced him through the lower torso and fixed in place. The wound and the stuck weapon slowed down the margr but didn’t stop it. Instead, it angled its attack towards the section of the wall that Jaden stood. Marius, awoken by Jaden's call, rushed out the narrow gate formed in the wall and took a margr head-on. His sudden attack surprised the margr,
“What? Caught you sleeping? Feeling a little sheepish, now?” Marius puned for the sheer fun of it. It became infectious.
“Poor baby ran into a spear,” Jaden called to the one now trying to climb the wall, “Why don’t you tell your, maa-maa!”
 
The bravado seemed to infuriate the margr. One tried to bite Marius, but he stepped aside, and it missed, another tried to attack with a clawed hand. He ducked and rolled away. A third tried their luck with an empty piece of wall as the fourth ran straight past Marius and into the camp. That was when Fureva-Yung unwound her chain.
“That took a lot of guts!” Marius punned as pieces of margr flew everywhere. Fureva-Yung ignored Marius and moved towards the wall with Orv and Jaden. Upon the wall, Orv threw a plank at the uninjured margr as Jaden took a piece of broken masonry and crushed the speared one’s fingers. It fell back to the earth heavily, falling forward onto the spear. The bright white spear point pierced through and lit the corpse from above, marking the kill. Marius lashed out with blades slicing through leather skins and leathery hides, exposing margr flesh and bone. The last, fighting Orv, was picked up from behind by Fureva-Yung. Carrying the squirming margr above her head, she walked casually over to the pit and threw the invader in.
“Furry, our resident ‘Goat-be-gone’!” Marius cheered as Fureva-Yung returned for the pit, a look of grim satisfaction in her expression.
 
The enemy were defeated but it had extracted a price from the refugees defenders. Orv and Fureva-Yung both took a beating Marius saw as she ran over to check. Though Temila was every ready with her first aid, it did little more than soothe the injured.
"Great job Orv and you too Furry!" He said, as a wave of healing energy flowed through them both. Orv and Fureva-yung both examined their wounds with surprise. Orv's looked days old and well on the road to recover, Fureva-Yung had only a puckered scar to show for all her scrapes.
 
Nox looked around. These few people had dispatched four of the creatures that had terrorised Cerelon almost since its inception. She cooly, scanned the eviscerated margr Fureva -Yung had left and wondered what was the difference now? Numbers? Maybe these weren’t strong ones. She watched the heroes help clean the bodies out of camp before they turned for well-earned rests. She sat up the rest of the night watching the forest, thinking.
 
23/06/152 CF
 
Temila had mentioned needing more herbs to replace the ones she’d used, so while the dew was still on the grass the next morning, she and Nox left the campsite in search of medicinal herbs. Nox was good a spotting herbs. She’d spent some time with Temila going through catalogues and dried samples looking for her mother’s flower to no avail. As a result, she had a better than passing knowledge of plants and their uses. Added to that, her sharp eyes, she’d often spot something Temila overlooked. That morning, however, was not going well. Nox was aware she had failed to show she could be useful yet again and was desperate to have Temila think her worthwhile. So, down into tall grasses, around through bushes, she searched for the required herbs. She had just stood from an exceptionally tall stand of grass to ask how Temila was doing when she saw an expression of absolute horror pass across Temila’s face.
Almost speechless, Temila pointed, “Behind….you…”
 
Now frozen to the spot, Nox scanned the space directly behind her. The fluttering life force of a creature revealed itself to her, sitting attached to her neck. Tears sparked from her eyes in sudden horror as she realised it had been there a while. On entering the tall grass, she’d felt the sting and thought nothing of it. Now she could feel the heaviness in her limbs. The something on her neck was sucking the life out of her.
 
There had been times where Nox had been chased out of Jaden’s workshop by a rat, or a nest of wasps meant she couldn’t enter her home via the door no matter how much her Father yelled. She often lost her nerve at the slightest provocation throughout her life. Today, instead of panicking or dissolving into a flood of tears, she slowly pulled out her knife with a shaking hand and raised it to the base of her neck.
It’s just like a beesting, right? She said telepathically over and over to Temila, Just scrape, and the sting comes free?
 
Marius and Fureva-Yung were also up walking the walls of the enclosure after the night’s attack. They saw Nox now taking her sharp little knife to a tick the size of her head on the back of her slender neck. She’d either remove the tick or remove her head.
 
“Ah, let me do that, Nox!” Marius ran over just as the blade started cutting away the hairs at the base of her neck, “I’m very good at removing parasites.”
Nox’s green eyes swivelled around to lock onto his, the first time she’s allowed herself to make eye contact. The eyes were pleading, but she said not a word out loud or telepathically.
“I really am, I promise,” He repeated, slowly coming up beside her, his hand palm up for the knife. Slowing, the knife came away from the neck and was handed hilt first into Marius callous ones. With one swift movement, he flicked the knife under the giant parasite and off Nox’s neck. It flew up and over, landing in front of the pair where it was stomped flat under Marius’ hobnailed boots.
 
At the sight of the beast and her current state from blood loss, Nox’s vision greyed and closed in. She slumped and would have fallen to the leaf litter if Marius hadn’t been there to catch her. He held her tight until she stirred again and kept hold until it seemed she was able to stand once more on her own. Even then, her hand clasped his muscled arms for support.
 
Marius heard a faint titter and looked up to see Temila hide a smile. He tried to confirm what he saw with Fureva-Yung, but she was eating one of the crunchy legs of the giant parasite and was going for seconds.
 
“You’ll be fine now,” He said more briskly than he meant, quickly letting go of the girl and jumping back out of arms reach.
“Thank you,” Nox whispered, swaying on the spot, and Temila wrapped her arms around the girl and walked her back to camp while Marius looked on, confused and a little scared.