Dhanurana

Chapter 29: The Decision

***

The trio stood silently for a long while before Dhanur broke it.

"What the Dark? What in the Light lost Darkness what?" She raked her fingers through her hair roughly and could meet neither Janurana nor Brachen's eyes.

"We need to leave. If the others were no tell," Brachen piped up, his voice sounding small.

But Dhanur didn't move. Her mind swirled trying to comprehend what happened. It was too much of a wonderful coincidence, exactly what she wanted to hear.

'But from a man—a thing like that...' she thought.

'Get away from him!' her inner voice screamed.

Brachen shook Dhanur. "Zirisa!"

Dhanur smacked her head, unable to think straight.

Then, the innkeeper, burst from their room shaky and ashy instead of curt and angry. He dropped Brachen's robe in front of them before backing away.

"Get out of here! I knew I shouldn't have let you all in here." He held up his shaking hands. "Go join your other brothers and sisters in the south or find Muqtablu or whatever!"

"Who?" Dhanur finally blinked, she didn't understand what he said, except for the name.

The innkeeper knew enough Daksinian to know what she said. "Muqtablu traveled through here years ago! After the war ended! Please, don't strike a brother, sister. I thought since you knew these southerners you'd know her!"

"We need to go. Now, I think." Janurana stepped forward.

"We were well on our way. Pay the man," Brachen said. Dhanur looked dour and her jaw twitched from left to right. "Thank you so much for your kindness. I hope this will dull the fear we've brought to your inn," he said and reached into Dhanur's purse.

But she growled and spun around. "Light leave it, of course! Running out!"

Brachen was able to drop a tiny handful of cowries to scatter at the innkeeper's feet and stormed out, leaving his robe on the ground. Brachen left it aside, rushing to tend to his daughter, so Janurana scooped it up. As she did, she bowed quickly at the innkeeper in as best a southern style as she could with a robe under her arm.

"Please, have a good day. I'm so sorry for our disturbance. Thank you again," she said.

The bright white of the mid-morning sun was beating down on the empty main road of Vatram. Dhanur stuck her head out of the inn's door and saw no one walking to the market further down or any patrols rush at them to see what had caused the commotion. She could see the market milling about as usual further down the main way, but in the opposite direction, she saw the gate was flooded with troops, although she could not hear it.

The aura of Deiweb's presence had created a physical and invisible shield that no one was able to pass, not unlike the wall surrounding Brachen's temple on the spirit plane. It extended in a circle around the inn, visible only to the spirits on their plane, blocking the main way and a few of the closest side streets. The main force from Vatram's gate had descended to inspect it while others on the rest of the wall looked on curiously. The warriors tried to control the citizens fleeing the commotion, passing out of the barrier without issue but unable to enter themselves. They ushered people from the area and kept back any onlookers while the spirits investigated. Some spirits slipped to and from the spirit plane, but had no luck penetrating it there either. Rather than an invisible wall, to the spirits it was both as bright as a bonfire, but as confusingly dark as an omnipresent miasma of black smoke. The spirits that looked like a normal Human tried to hack away at it with their weapons and animal headed Clan Spirits couldn't break through with their claws or horns either. Unlike Janelsa with the temple barrier, Deiweb's didn't bow inward at all and stayed resolute. One Clan Rat spirit leapt up but had no luck getting through the top as Clan Macaque spirit Kunya did trying to dig underneath.