Chapter 13- The ruined village of Rafar III

Two screams were heard before Eliana rushed out of the church, Kayzel not far behind her. The old men were understandably hiding behind the altar. If something dangerous was happening, it was up to the mercenaries to deal with it. What she saw outside she wasn’t quite ready for. A creature from mythology, one thought long extinct. Well, she knew better of course, being who she was, but even Eliana was shocked to see an arachnaya on the surface. An arachnaya was an eight-legged creature that primarily lived in deep caves. They had a diet of primarily mushrooms and other plants that grew deep within the dark tunnels, but they were known to wander out of their caves at times. Just like most other humanoid “monsters” as they were often referred to, these arachnaya were quite intelligent and far from monsters or beasts. The researchers were probably aware of that but the mercenaries.
Eliana’s worry was confirmed the moment she looked behind the arachnaya to see the leader of the mercenaries, a serious looking man named Gale, bleeding heavily from a wound in his side. Two of the other hired folks were thrown aside as well and another was currently squaring off with the creature. Eliana quickly took a few paces forward but was stopped by Kayzel who held her arm. “What are you doing?” He asked. “We’re paying them to take care of this, not you.”
“They’re just going to fight with him, let me talk to him, I can maybe fix this.” She cut loose from Kayzel and stepped past the remaining mercenary. “Good morning, are you the one who has been taking care of this place?” She asked.
The arachnaya stayed on guard but his interest was caught. “So now you speak to me. First you defile my village, then you attack me on sight and only after I deal with your companions does it suit you to speak.”
Eliana looked around her to make sure she had a good view of the situation. The leader of the mercenaries looked bad, but with quick aid he would probably make it. The rest of the mercenaries looked fine, relatively speaking.
“With all due respect, I doubt any of these folks know what you are, so it’s no wonder they were defensive from the very start. They are nothing more than hired muscle after all. I can only apologize for their actions.” She tried changing the subject. “So you’re the one who has been taking care of this place then, if it’s your village?”
“Who’s asking?”
“My name is Eliana Tidesinger, I’m a captain in these waters.”
“Never heard of you, why are you here?”
The arachnaya was clearly not happy they were here, but she at least managed to turn the violent encounter into a more diplomatic one. For now. “I was hired to sail some researchers to this archipelago. I’ve got a bunch of old men inside that are trying to learn from this place.”
“So you’re not here to steal things?” He asked, seemingly relaxing at least a little bit.
Akane shrugged. “I don’t think they were planning to steal things and I’m sure if we talk it out we can agree to not take anything.”
The arachnaya paused, still not fully trusting. After a quiet moment he spoke again. “My name is Larach. I’m a student of Owlana and I’m in charge of keeping this ancient place of worship from falling to the elements.”
“A pleasure to meet you, Larach. It’s been many years since I last met one of your kind.”
“You’re met arachnaya before?” Larach exclaimed with surprise.
“Twice before,” Eliana said.
“Where did you meet them, who were they?” The threat of violence seemed completely gone now. “Kayzel, go get the old men out here,” she said to the young man, who quickly retreated back into the building. Turning her attention back to Larach she said, “I once met a young arachnaya girl when I was sailing far north from here. She lived in a cavern that you couldn’t really see from land, but only from the sea. We happened to spot her caves when we sailed past and found her very ill when we went exploring. Luckily we had a capable doctor on our ship that managed to help her become healthy again. The second time was when we were somewhere near the center of the continent. It didn’t end as well, we were on opposite sides of a conflict. I don’t know what happened to either of them after that, to be honest.”
Larach listened intently, seemingly excited to hear any news about others from his kind. “I’ve been on this island for a few decades now.”
Distracted by Larach’s arachnid features, she only now noticed that the upper half of the man looked like a man in his early seventies. His gray hair looked well kept and swept to one side but it was definitely graying and thinning a bit. His arms and upper body were well defined, those of a man who took his training very serious. It was much harder for Eliana to see any age in his spider half, which didn’t really show aging the same way. “Well, I suppose I’ll hear you all out,” Larach said, clearly a bit more relaxed now.
The remaining mercenaries dragged their leader away into the building, where they would bandage him up and make sure he was okay. The researchers, Eliana and Larach, were all sitting in a circle in a nearby house. It seemed like besides the actual church, there was another building that Larach had taken care of. It wasn’t his home, but he would stay there sometimes. It didn’t have a proper roof and he told them there was no need to show them where he really lived. The researchers soon bombarded the arachnaya with questions about who he was, where he came from, what he was doing here and what the church was for. Larach didn’t seem to mind, he probably enjoyed the chance to talk to people for a change and after he felt safe that they weren’t there to hurt him or steal anything from his village. He explained to the researchers that he was a protector of Owlana’s place of worship and they quickly assured him that they would treat everything here with the utmost respect. They were purely here to gain knowledge, not to steal or gain anything from this place.
Eliana was a little bit disappointed by the lack of treasures they found here, but there was nothing she could do about it. The researchers still seemed overjoyed with everything they were learning and at the end of the day she was primarily here to get paid for the trip back and forth. Kayzel was also fully engaged by the things that Larach was telling them. After spending a few days on the island looking the church up and down, they eventually said goodbye to the arachnaya and made their way back onto the ship. As they were sailing away, Kayzel came up to Eliana after she had finished giving orders to her men and women. “One thing we didn’t get an answer about was why that statue of the siren was there.” He said, not really posing it as a question but more as an observation.
“I guess we don’t always get the answer to every question we have,” Eliana replied.
“After that we went our separate ways,” Kayzel said, “and for the longest I assumed the captain here would be shipwrecked somewhere far away.”
“You’ve grown awfully cheeky after all those years, not at all the timid young man you once were.” Eliana shot back.
Cobal and Mana were both leaning back in their chairs, several drinks in. The story was an interesting one.
“But an arachnid person and a siren,” Mana said. “None of those existed in my world.”
“Perhaps they were just better at hiding.” Kayzel suggested.
“Perhaps.” She looked at Eliana. “That siren, would she be the same as the people I met off the coast of Ravadier, that I told you about a while ago?”
Eliana shook her head. “Those are different people. They might have a similar origin somewhere far in the past, but sirens tend to live long lives, many centuries at least, whereas the merfolk you encountered probably live a little longer than your average human. They also possess far less magical capabilities. Sirens can captivate sailors with their song, command the wind and rain and do incredible feats of power. Imagining an entire city full of them is horrifying.”
“Did you ever go back to the church?” Eliana asked Kayzel.
Kayzel shook his head. “After returning to shore we finished up our report to the king and then all went our separate ways. The old men went back to their homes to study and Ada kept working for the noble that hired us in the first place. Not long after that trip I decided it was time for me to travel the country before I eventually ended up here.” He smiled. “It’s good to see you again.”
“We weren’t that close,” Eliana said.
“Don’t be like that, we went through a lot together,” Kayzel replied, his feelings definitely hurt.
“You’re right, you’re right. Either way, we should go back sometime and see how Larach is doing. He was a nice guy after all.”
“That he was, although I did have to get over the fact that he had that many legs.”
“We all have our charms.” Eliana got up. “I’ve got to take a piss,” she proclaimed, before walking away.
“So Kayzel, was she always like this, or has she changed?”
“She seems to have mellowed out a bit.”
“If this is here when she’s mellowed out I’m happy I didn’t meet her when she was younger.”
“So how long will you be in town for, you think?” Kayzel asked.
Cobal thought for a bit. “It honestly depends on how efficient our research ends up being. There are quite a few things we want to accomplish here but we want to get them done fast. If things go well we’ll be gone in two or three weeks, but if we struggle I can see us staying here for a month or two. It really depends.”
“Well, I know of a few more good spots to eat so if you need some recommendations let me know. Of course I can also help you out in the library, although my expertise might not match with what you’re looking for.”
“We appreciate that,” Mana said. “I’ll definitely take you up on that.”
After talking until the sun had long gone under and most of the other patrons had left the building, the four of them made their way back as well. Kayzel had a nice home a little ways away from the center of town so he said his goodbyes and headed off alone while the three of them went back to their inn. “I’ll check in with Grac in the morning, I think it’s time for us to start investigating the surrounding area a bit and see if anything strange is really going on nearby. That manor we heard about has piqued my interest, I’m hoping to figure something out instead of sitting still and twiddling my thumbs,” Eliana said.
Cobal nodded. “Mana and I will go back to the library tomorrow, I’m meeting with a scribe that is an expert on herbalism and could possibly figure out how to undo the petrification that we encountered.”
Having a plan thought out for the following days and their bellies full of drink and food, they each went to sleep feeling good.