The Deceiver's Path - Chapter 119 - In the Valley of Death (Patreon)

Piper awoke the next morning to the crowing of roosters and waited for the inevitable poking from her friend. But after a few minutes, when nothing had happened, she kicked off her blankets. Scanning the room through the strands of silver hair hanging over her eyes, she realized her friend’s bed was empty.

Panic flooded through her veins as she surged to her feet, the covers dropping to the ground. Almost immediately, her brain began to bombard her with worst-case scenarios. Had the crazy nuns somehow found them again and kidnapped Ophelia? Had her friend gone off to fight some monsters on her own to prove herself to Lysander?

Hopping on one foot, she tugged on her leather boot. Then she slipped her foot into the other boot, which made the back of the collar collapse. She grimaced as she took an agonizingly long moment to fix her footwear.

Rushing toward the door, she pulled her dress over her head. She had already reached for the latch when she remembered her spells. Without slowing, she cast [Truth Shroud] to change her class before using [False Face] to hide her demonic appearance.

Piper took a deep breath and flung open the door. Across the hallway, Zenos, who was emerging from his own room, flinched back in surprise. As always, he carried his war hammer slung over his shoulder.

“Have you seen Ophelia?” she blurted out. “She’s not in her bed.”

The dark-haired man scratched his head. “Isn’t she with you?”

“No!” Chewing her lip, she glanced down the nearby stairs. “Maybe she went down for breakfast early.” But knowing Ophelia, the young woman wasn’t waiting for her downstairs. She’d probably run off to fight a dragon somewhere.

Without giving Zenos a chance to reply, she darted down the hallway. She nearly collided with a woman emerging from her room and ignored the curses that followed. She took the stairs two at a time and arrived at the main floor of the inn.

Piper swept her gaze across the room and exhaled with relief when she spotted Ophelia sitting at a table. As usual, she had her wooden sword on the tabletop, even though she had a real one sheathed on her hip.

“There you are,” Piper called out. “You almost gave me a heart attack.”

“Oh, so you don’t like people running off on their own?”

Piper rolled her eyes. “I already told you I was sorry about that. I swear that you’ll be able to fight on our next quest.”

“Fine,” Ophelia said, looking up sweetly with her arctic-blue eyes. “Take me with you on the quest you’re doing today.”

“Who said I’m going on a quest?” she asked, feigning ignorance. “I simply have a lot of things to do around town.”

“Do you think I’m stupid? I know you’re going to go help that girl we met.”

Piper frowned as she tried to decide what she should tell Ophelia. Finally, she settled on the truth. If she were caught in a lie, it would only make the situation between them worse. Though she had to admit she could get used to not being prodded awake in the morning.

“You’re right,” Piper said with a sigh. “I’m going to help the girl. But Lysander explicitly stated that I can’t take either of you on the quest.”

“What quest?” Zenos asked, arriving at their table. “I wouldn’t mind gaining a few more levels today. The faster we level, the faster we can kill that infernal caster.”

Piper didn’t know how to respond to that, so she simply repeated, “I can’t bring either of you.”

“I know,” Ophelia said, the corner of her lips twitching up into a smile. “But you can’t stop us from taking a walk in the same direction as you. Do you want to go on a walk with me, Zenos?”

Zenos grinned. “It looks like a lovely day for a walk.”

Piper facepalmed as she tried to figure out how to handle the situation. She didn’t want to get kicked out of the guild for bringing her group members along on an unsanctioned quest. However, she also didn’t want to make them even angrier at her if she slipped off in stealth.

After debating the options in her mind, she deflated slightly. “Fine. Both of you can come, but you can’t tell anyone! And you have to stay safe. Lysander said he’d kick me out of the guild if anything happened to you.”

“Promise to let me fight this time?” Ophelia asked, sounding almost painfully hopeful.

Piper looked at the faded burn scar on Ophelia’s face, remembering their desperate battle against the ooze back on the farm. After a long pause, she finally nodded. No matter how hard she tried, she wouldn’t be able to keep her friend safe forever.

“Pinky swear?”

Rolling her eyes again, Piper extended her pinky finger. Her friend gripped it tightly with her own, while Zenos looked on with a shadow of confusion on his face.

“Pinky swear?” he asked. “Is that an ancient ritual of some sort?”

“It’s just something we do where we come from,” she explained. “It’s an unbreakable oath.”

“And that’s in the Bloodveil Empire?”

“Something like that.”

‘I’ve heard that place is pretty awful,” he commented. “What with the vampires always drinking your blood and whatnot.”

“It’s really not as bad as you think,” Piper said. “At least they keep the people safe.”

“I think you mean their cattle,” Zenos countered. “Humans are little more than a food source for the vampires.”

Piper shrugged. “It’s not like things are much better here. I’ve seen a lot more people die pointless deaths in the Arissian Empire than back home.” She paused as she said the last part. It was weird to think of the farm as home and not Earth.

“I disagree,” Zenos said, grinning. “However, you’re entitled to your opinion. No matter how wrong you are.”

The conversation stopped as the innkeeper appeared. The man was nearly as wide as he was tall, with a barrel chest and a shining bald head. He dropped the platters of food in front of them without uttering a word before retreating to the kitchen.

Piper tucked into her food, quickly devouring the sausages and mashed potatoes. Once she’d taken the edge off her hunger, she began to spoon in mouthfuls of pottage. It seemed like wherever she went, pottage was always one of the staples. Which suited her just fine, since she loved the taste of the dish.

They finished eating with no sign of Lysander appearing. Since it was their day off, he seemed to have taken the day off as well. Without having to think up a lie to tell him, they headed directly to the adventurer’s guild.

Piper’s group arrived at the nondescript building a short time later and stopped in front of it.

“Lysander said we shouldn’t take any credit for the quest,” Piper explained. “He warned me that the guild occasionally checks the logbooks. We’re just here to help Vespera complete her zombie quest to get some coin for her family.”

Ophelia lifted her silver badge to stare at the single tally on the surface. “No credit? I’m never going to become a wayfarer at this point.”

“We’re not doing this for us,” Piper explained. “Like I said, we’re helping out Vespera.”

Zenos placed the head of his war hammer against the dusty street and leaned on the handle. “Any advice on fighting zombies? I assume you’ve fought them before based on your sister’s comments? Either that, or you bathed in their juices for some insane reason.”

“No, I didn’t bathe in their juices.” Piper snapped. “Why would anyone do that?”

Zenos shrugged. “How should I know? After all, you come from an empire ruled by the undead. They may do all sorts of crazy things there.”

Piper sighed and continued, “As for advice, aim for the head, I guess?”

“Great advice,” he muttered. “I meant will my spells be effective? It felt like I was throwing rolled-up balls of wool at the elementals yesterday.”

Ophelia nodded excitedly. “You’ll splatter them no problem.”

Piper’s mouth dropped open. “Please tell me you’re not going to start saying that as well.”

“What?” her friend said defensively. “It’s accurate.”

As they were speaking, Vespera emerged from the building, and her eyes widened at the sight of them. “Oh, wow, you actually came.”

Piper frowned at the young woman’s words. “Why wouldn’t we come back?”

“Well….” Vespera wrung her hands in front of her. “A lot of people have offered to help in the past and never did. I thought you were just trying to make me feel better yesterday.”

“I was serious when I said I wanted to help you.” She glared at her other group members. “I just happened to have some group members who felt the need to tag along.”

“I’m Zenos,” the air mage said, striding forward. “My classes are Gale Warden and Sonic Mage. What that means is that I can cast wind barriers and throw around some nasty sounds.”

“That’s amazing,” Vespera said, her eyes growing large. “Do all of you have equally impressive classes?”

“Not really,” Piper said. “I’m just a hunter, but I recently received an illusionist class.”

“That’s still pretty amazing.” Vespera pointed at Ophelia. “What class do you have?”

“I’m a berserker,” her friend said with a big smile. “I clobber stuff.”

“I see…” the red-haired woman clasped her hands and looked nervous. “To be honest, I’m not sure if I belong in such a powerful group. Why are you helping me?

“Everyone deserves to be a member of a strong group,” Piper said fiercely. “The empire should focus on protecting people like you who are willing to defend it. In the future, I’m sure you’ll receive an amazing combat class.”

Vespera didn’t look convinced. “Are you all friends?”

“We’re members of the Silver Hippogriffs!” Ophelia said excitedly. “This is supposed to be our day off, but we snuck out to do a quest.”

For the second time this morning, Piper facepalmed at her friends’ words. Ophelia wasn’t exactly a great conspirator when doing something that they shouldn’t. In the future, her friend really needed to learn to keep quiet about things if she didn’t want to get them all in trouble.

“Well, my lips are sealed,” Vespera replied with a gentle smile. “I would hate for such wonderful people to get into trouble on my account.”

Ophelia giggled slightly but didn’t respond.

“Should we get going?” Vespera asked. “We have quite a hike ahead of us. The quest says the zombies were last sighted in a valley a couple of hours' walk from town.”

After everyone had nodded their assent, the woman set out at a steady pace through the town. The conversation died down as they left the city and entered the surrounding foothills. Below them, the plains and rivers spread out as far as the eye could see. In the far distance, the greenery ended abruptly at a dark line marking the front of the war against the Pale Crusade.

Tearing her eyes away from the rot spreading across the land, Piper returned her focus to the narrow path. She slowed her pace as she reached a copse of trees crowning a hill. “I need a minute.”

Ophelia turned around and squinted back at Piper. “Do you need to pee?”

“No, I don’t need to pee!” she said, her face flushing red. “I just need a minute.”

“Oh,” Ophelia nodded knowingly. “You need to poop. I can find you some moss if you want.”

“I don’t need to… you know,” she exclaimed. The others had turned in her direction and were trying to hide their laughter. She immediately realized that this was Ophelia’s revenge for getting her with the spider yesterday.

Her friend was a cruel woman.

Without another word, she fled into the stand of trees. Her face burned with embarrassment as she hurriedly cast several spells, along with using her skills. After her experiences fighting the undead in Kalmyros, she didn’t want to walk into a quest unprepared ever again.

More often than not, any quests involving the Death Realm proved to be far more difficult than they first appeared. With her luck, there was probably a Bone Monarch lying in wait for any aspirants unlucky enough to take the quest.

Her spells completed, she rushed to catch up with the others. She refused to meet their gazes as she neared them, her face turning completely red. Without another word, she continued down the foothills.

It took hours of hiking through rough terrain before they arrived at the entrance to a valley. Inside, a spectacular waterfall cascaded into a mirror-like pond, and a short distance away stood ancient stone ruins.

The derelict structure must have been impressive once, but the roof had long ago caved in, and all but one of the white marble walls had toppled over. Most of the structure had been reclaimed by nature, and the original shape was only barely visible.

Zenos stepped forward. “This is apparently where the zombies were sighted. But I see neither hide nor hair of them. I wonder if they wandered off somewhere?”

“I doubt it,” Piper replied, scanning the valley. There were numerous places where an undead horde could conceal itself. Rockfalls with massive boulders littered the gorge, and stands of stunted trees dotted the landscape.

Ophelia drew her sword and crept forward. “Watch my back.”

The rest of the group fell in behind the young woman and slowly entered the valley. But they reached the entrance to the ruins without spotting a single zombie. Maybe Zenos was right, and the creatures had shambled off somewhere else. With a little luck, they’d mistaken a field of cauliflower for brains and were busy munching on it.

Lowering her guard slightly, Piper took a moment to examine the ruins. In the past, the building must have been magnificent; broken sculptures littered the ground, and patches of white marble still gleamed in the sunshine.

A moan wafting across the valley made her freeze.

“Where is that coming from?” Zenos asked, lifting his war hammer. “On my honor, I swear it came from right beside me.”

Piper frowned and furrowed her brow. Once again, she swept her gaze across the valley. But this time, the surrounding air shimmered slightly. She stumbled to a stop and grabbed Ophelia’s wrist, eliciting a cry of surprise from the young woman. “They’re all around us!” she called out in alarm. “There are illusions all over the place.”

“How do you know?” Zenos demanded. “I don’t see a damned thing.”

“I can see through the illusions with my high Perception. But don’t worry, I’ve faced them in the past. If we all stick together, we’ll come out of this alright.” She looked meaningfully at Ophelia. “That means you too.”

“Fine,” her friend grumbled. “I guess someone needs to keep you safe.”

Piper began to doubt her own reassurances as walls of illusions fell away one by one, exposing endless ranks of zombies. They were facing a shocking amount of undead, along with what must be an incredibly powerful illusionist.

They had been lured into this valley by someone who most likely planned to kill them before raising them as undead. But Piper was about to show them that they’d chosen the wrong aspirants to target.