Chương 969: Day Nine Hundred And Sixty-Seven

Dear Diary, Some days I'm more of a dumbass than others. Sometimes those days come consecutively. I just kinda wish that I had some way of ensuring those streaks of stupid days happened when my stupidity wasn't likely to hurt anybody who didn't deserve it. Or fuck up something that needs to get done. For instance, tracking down a bunch of murderous, corpse desecrating rapists. Yeah, yesterday around noon we came across another burned out building.

This time it wasn't a single family, single room, nor was it a shack like the second place we found. Instead, a modest fieldstone house stood in a clearing barely bigger than it was. When we passed the stream at the bottom of this valley, we'd seen a few pools with improved embankments, things Loki whispered to me were for fishing. I think my brain tried to focus on that to keep the rage at bay when we came to the house. The house had decent sized double doors facing the distant pool.

One big window to one side, shutters closed over it. Another shuttered window up under the roof, probably on the second story. Both windows and both doors had naked bodies dangling upside down from nails driven through their feet. Three adults on the big window, skin and meat flayed from them until I couldn't tell whether any given one had been a man or woman.

Four smaller bodies hanging from the double doors, each of them showing clear signs of assault and torture, eyes missing, toothless mouths hanging open, blood and other fluids frozen in the act of dripping from every opening. I think two had been boys. I couldn't be sure because they'd been mutilated so badly. A single tiny body hung from the shutters of the upstairs window. I flinched when a growling Marie laid her claw on my arm. Closer and Panther stood frozen, Panther weeping openly.

Silk leaned against a tree, vomiting. Well, retching, really, it had been a while since we ate. Lemmy looked like he was glad about the whole Deific lack of normal digestion. The Heroes moved to take the bodies down, starting with the kids on the door.

"Stop!" The three ladies froze, and everyone but Silk turned to face me. A weird hissing noise came from the ground near my feet, but a glance down just showed blackened, shriveled up grass.

"They booby trapped the bodies at the last bivouac. Everyone back up. You too, Silk." He kept retching, but nodded and backed away, guided by Closer. The rest all followed, except Marie, who stood with her claw on my arm. I opened my mouth to say something, but she just growled out, "Staying."

"How can they do things like this? What kind of sick fucks get off on things like this?" She winced.

"Don't." I blinked, having trouble parsing whether she was talking about the Spartans not liking what they did, or telling me not to speculate on it. Then she explained in a way that made fire and ice run through my veins.

"Calculated Atrocity." I suddenly remembered where Marie lived before she was a Maenad. Where she'd been born.

"They've been doing this kind of shit since you lived there, haven't they?" She nodded. Shrugged. When I asked the question with my eyes, she sighed.

"Progress." I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath. Have you seen, Kitten? I have. We will find them, love. Yeah. I couldn't force anything else out, even inside my head. I know, love, but know that your reaction is part of why they've done this. The fuck? I felt her sigh. They want you angry and scared. They want you to make mistakes. I'm too angry to be scared right now. Not that 'scared' is a big thing for me anyhow.

I sighed, trying to force the images from where they'd seared themselves into the insides of my eyes. At least this time we've got the bodies to Revive them. Do not! I winced at the commanding, no, urgent tone in her voice. Anyone else would have been terrified with that tone, but I knew my Kitten. Why? The remains you found before could not be Revived, and I'm uncertain why. But they may have done something to these. Do not Shape anything on them. Nothing at all.

If you and your trackers could make sure there are no mundane traps, Karen will bring in researchers from the Universities and Temples to ascertain whether anything similar has been done to these, and if so see if there is a way to restore them. I took a deep breath. Mistake, the faintest smell of pork, decay, and blood tickled my nose. Fuck. Okay. I'm laying them out, though. Of course. I took Marie's claw in one of mine, then reached out with a tentacle to lift the biggest of the bodies from the window.

My tentacle burned where it touched the frozen body, but I persevered, lifting it away, laying it down a few dozen feet from the house itself. Nothing exploded, so one body at a time I lifted the rest free and laid them side by side in the snow. Somehow I couldn't just leave them there like that, so I pulled a thin blanket of snow over each of them. Even the littlest one. The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

"Check the house. No Shaping, there might be booby traps for that. Senses and Skills only. In fact..." I avoided facepalming as I realized what an idiot I'd been, then poured some Mana into Boons for my trackers. Thick Skin. Dragon Scales. Even Spawn Carapace. Each of them looked like they'd been goosed. Even Lemmy, who said, "why... How? No, why?"

"Because you're gonna be on point for opening doors and shit, once they," I nodded to the trackers, "check to make sure there aren't any traps they can find." He frowned at me.

"So I am expendable?" I shrugged.

"I've got enough Mana shit might go boom just being near me. You're the next most durable, being a Demigod and all." He looked at Marie.

"One, she's a better tracker than you. Two, I like her more." When he looked like he might object, I shook my head and said, "c'mon, opening doors that might go boom is the job for the adventurous, heroic sorts, the ones who get all the Heroic rewards, right?" His look soured.

"You think me that easily manipulated?" I smirked at him.

"I mean, I am. But like I said, boom." He shook his head, but a wry smile replaced his smirk as he looked to the Heroic trackers, waved to the house, and said, "let me know when you're done checking the door, ladies." They actually had him wait until both they and the hunters had checked every window and door on the first floor. The back wall of the little house had another door, another, smaller, first floor window, and another window up under the eaves.

A single flayed, headless body hung from the door, the skin draped over the shuttered window, the head nailed to the shutters of the upstairs window. Again I had everyone pull back, then carefully pulled the decrepit, desecrated form away from the house and laid it next to the rest. While they continued checking, I closed my eyes and tried to find some kind of calm. When I found the fuckers, I would rip their assholes out through their ears, but right now I had to keep my shit together.

I think having my eyes closed is why I smelled the smoke. Without thinking I grabbed my team, yoinking them away from the house, dropping them into snow well away from both the house and the bodies. A single curl of smoke rose from the roof of the house. I reached out, Mana Blades extending from half of my tentacles, lopping down any trees close to the house, pushing them away. I wasn't sure if we could stop whatever they'd trapped the house with, and we did not need a fucking forest fire on top of everything else.

The trees cleared, I wove a massive Create Water above the house, a deluge that collapsed the roof and, a few moments later, popped the shutters and doors open. Little pools of liquid fire floated atop the puddles. Moments later my Heroes returned, each of them pulling out an entrenching tool and shoveling dirt over the flames until they died.

"Since when have you guys had those?" Ryan shrugged.

"This whole time, just in case we had to make camp."

"I can always step us back." She smirked.

"Champion, you are famous for performing Heroic, nay Deific feats of strength, yet also famous for sleeping for days after your efforts." I waved a hand at Marie, but Ryan just shook her head, chuckling.

"While she would of course return to us with the dawn, I suspect some mischief befalling her would be exactly why you would perform such a feat." I sighed, closing my eyes as the hunters pitched in, using broad bladed knives to help cover over whatever flaming bullshit the Spartans had left. Once the fires were out, I nodded.

"Okay. I need you guys to clear the house. Just make sure there aren't any clues as to where the Spartans are headed, and make sure there aren't any more traps set. Once we're out of here the Imperator is gonna send in some researchers to figure out whether these bodies can be Revived." Reminded of the bodies, they all got quiet, but nodded and moved in to the house, Lemmy leading the way. While they did, I stood there kinda kicking myself for using my tentacles on the bodies.

Seriously, if me being chock full of Mana would set shit off, my other tentacles are even more Mana heavy than me. I'm at least fuckin' Blended. Water under the bridge. Spilled milk. Not gonna beat myself up, because if I start I won't stop, and we have to catch these fuckers. Catch them and end them. The sun was nearing the horizon when they finished checking the house.

They found more booby traps, containers of 'Greek Fire' hanging from the ceiling, although I'm not sure what was supposed to set them off, what with everything drenched and disturbed. Unfortunately, nothing pointing at their target. While they'd searched, I'd Co-Located to M-Space and shot upward until I could get a vague idea where we were. Very vague, really.

We'd traveled west to the point where the first recognizable landmark I saw was the divided skyline of Newark and New Amsterdam against the bay to the south and east of them. Because we were west of them. Pretty far west, even. Closer to Newark than Erie, though. If we weren't so far north, we'd be halfway from Newark to the Homestead. My blood ran cold. Kitten? A few moments later, she quietly thought, I see. I don't want them getting close, or I'd jump back to you. Best you don't.

We can hold out here for a time, and your Clergy will bring Heroes if they show here. If they show there, I will tear them into tiny pieces and feed them to Bear, I growled. I thought you liked Bear. Okay. Fine. I'll feed them to the new Dragon. Really? He bit me while I was bringing him home. Quietly, she thought, be careful, love. I heard what Marie said. They're trying to anger you. Trying to get you to act rashly, to give them an opening. Or to make you hurt yourself. Yeah. Well. I'll heal.

When she didn't respond, I thought. I'm not gonna be home tonight. We need to catch these assholes. I know. I love you. Be careful, love. Never am. Love you too. With that I collapsed back to myself and looked around at my trackers.

"I'm not going to force any of you, but we need to catch these guys. I'm not stopping tonight. Are you with me?"

"We'll get sloppy when we're tired." Closer's words could have been an argument, but they came across as a simple statement of fact. I reached out with tentacles, one per tracker, including Marie and Lemmy. I granted them the Boons of my wireframe sight, of my Jotnar cold immunity, and finally wrapped my Blend around all of them. Then I poured Mana into them until their eyes all flickered faintly.

"You were saying?" I think my Mana may have carried some of my simmering anger. Or they'd all been hiding theirs. Lemmy answered for the group, but all of them nodded when he said, "let us run these villains down and end them." Panther told me the Spartans had left the house less than five days ago. We ran through the night. Ran, jogged, walked.

Mostly ran, though, because with all the Boons I'd granted them wrapped around them like EOD suits, setting off booby traps wound up being nothing more than proof we were on the right trail. Even Silk wound up pulling his feet right out of the ankle traps he stepped in. We ran through the day, never stopping, rarely slowing. I poured Mana into them any time they flagged. None of them complained. When the sun neared the horizon, Panther let me know we were only three days behind our quarry.