Chương 35: Cursed

Looking around the mineshaft, we found the place where the minotaur had slept. A little den of sorts. It was there that we found all manner of things. Copper coins. A few silver. A painted vase. All manner of weaponry, most rusted and broken down. The place smelled of old blood and animal musk. Bones lay scattered in the corners, some cracked open, others gnawed clean. We took the things we could and left the rest. Vaelith was practically beaming.

She had taken the minotaur's axe and had abandoned her simple farmer's axe.

"Finally, a proper weapon," she had said, and that was that. Marnie had carried the head of the minotaur. Said it was her burden to bear. Vaelith had happily separated it from the body with a single swing of her new two-handed axe. Sable, however, had been quiet. Deathly quiet. She'd not said a word the entire way back to our cart. Not even Moolisa, who licked her face with a wet slap of her tongue, had broken that frown.

"Where to?" Vaelith asked.

"Redwillow," Marnie said.

"There, we'll be able to give you lot a… finder's fee of sorts."

"Do you really think the Lord will give you a manor?" Marnie shrugged.

"I guess we'll see. Maybe you lot will need to address me as Lord soon, eh?" Sable threw her pack into the cart and stormed off. She walked over to a nearby rock and punched it. She screamed a curse, which was the first thing I'd heard her say in some time, before leaning on it and sliding to the ground, holding her head, her hand bloody. Vaelith pushed me forward.

"Go talk to her."

"Me?" I asked incredulously.

"Why me? Aren't you the sovereign? A leader of sorts?" Vaelith blew a raspberry.

"I'm not good at talking to people about their issues. It's not in my nature."

"Don't look at me," Marnie said, packing her own stuff and making the cart and items inside secure. She set the sack carrying the minotaur's head down last.

"Fine," I muttered.

"Darwin talk," my companion said.

"Darwin always know what say."

"Eh… maybe let me try first." Darwin nodded. At least my companion was agreeable. I walked over and leaned on the rock near Sable. She glanced up at me, and then back at the ground. Dust clung to her boots and the edge of her coat. Her lyre rested nearby, silent, its dark wooden frame appearing to eat the early morning light.

"Here," I said, handing her one of the Scarab Lord rinds.

"It'll take the sting out of your hand." Sable didn't reach for it. She didn't do anything at all.

"You know… talking helps. I thought a bard, of all people, would know that."

"It won't help this," she whispered.

"Nothing can." This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. I kneeled.

"Does it have to do with your music?" Sable met my eyes.

"I mean… every time you try to play something upbeat, it changes. It goes low and dark. Melancholy. Haunting. And you… you don't seem to enjoy what you play." Sable snorted.

"Noticed that, eh? You aren't as dumb as you look—no offense. I thought I'd played it off well." She seemed to loosen in both tongue and body. But before she could speak, she glanced around.

"I think everybody should hear this." I nodded, and we walked back toward the group. The packing had been done, and Vaelith was hitching the cart onto Moolisa.

"Everyone…" Sable said, "I'm sorry." There was a collective silence.

"Ah, shit, sorry. I should explain first. What's the best way to put this…"

"Just tear it off… like a scab," Vaelith suggested.

"I'm pretty sure you aren't supposed to do that," I replied.

"Shut it, the two of you," Marnie cut in.

"Now then… continue." Sable cleared her throat.

"Alright then… like a scab. I am cursed by a witch. I am not twenty years old, as I appear, but closer to eighty. I've lost count, truth be told. I cannot play any songs which buff my party or friends… I can only curse them. My system is frozen… I cannot gain skills nor level, but I also cannot degrade. I've spent most of my life searching for the witch who put this curse on me in the hopes that I can end it. The minotaur didn't kill me because it was under the witch's control.

She was using it to guard the mineshaft, likely because it's a font of power—it's a witch thing. What else… Ah, the witch and I used to be lovers, so you can consider this a lovers' spat… so to speak. She asked me to choose her over my calling, and I… didn't." She gestured to herself.

"Thus the curse." A silence hung in the air. Even Moolisa stopped grazing to give Sable a sidelong glance.

"Well, come on then," Sable said.

"Someone say something." Vaelith smirked and patted her on the shoulder as she walked on by. Marnie muttered a curse under her breath. Darwin breathed a sigh of relief.

"What's going on?" Sable asked.

"So you're a cursed bard on a quest to kill a witch… big deal. Vaelith is a demon princess, fifth in line for the throne. I kill and eat monsters. Darwin is… Darwin. And Marnie… well, granted, Marnie is the only normal one among us. You're in good company." Sable took in my words, processed them, and then smiled.

"I guess I am," she said.

"I really am."

Marnie said it would take three days to reach town… and it had been four already. We were moving at a glacial pace. Marnie wanted to stop at every field of flowers and pocket of herbs to collect them. She said she needed an abundance, as her alchemy required a lot of experimentation. I suddenly felt very lucky to have specific recipes. The road had changed since leaving Millstone.

The broken stones and mine dust gave way to sloping grass, scattered trees, and stretches of wildflowers that Marnie treated like treasure. Every few miles, she would call for us to stop, then vanish into the weeds with jars and a pair of shears. It was nice seeing the woman in her natural habitat. Once, when Marnie was out collecting plants and Sable was watching the cart, I found myself with Vaelith and Darwin next to a river in the middle of the day, fishing.

Marnie had, luckily, brought a variety of items for the trip—a pair of fishing rods among them. I hung out on shore, and the demon princess stepped into the middle of the river, casting her line out over and over. The river ran cold and clear over smooth stones, flashing silver whenever the sun struck. Dragonflies skimmed the surface, and reeds whispered along the bank in a sort of jig-like melody.

"We call that fly-fishing," I said. Vaelith looked at me curiously.

"Sky-fishing? What are we fishing for, birds?"

"No, fly-fish—you know what, nevermind." Darwin suddenly snapped a fish out of the water, eating it whole.

"Darwin good fisher," he said.

"Good eater too," I replied.

"You're supposed to fish for everyone, not eat everything you catch." Darwin bounced happily back and forth. Talking to him about conserving food was a useless battle. May as well ask a fish not to swim. In the end, we had caught a dozen or so fish. Marnie had some potion that preserved the fish, so we didn't need to worry about spoilage. Quite handy. Before we left, I noticed something strange out in the woods. Behind a tree, there was something moving. It was not a person, a creature, or a monster…

It looked like a mushroom— A mushroom with a red cap.