Thea’s hoof clicked loudly on the first wooden stair leading up to the doors. Everyone flinched at the unexpected noise.

  “Sorry.”

  She renewed [Mosshoof], and the trio proceeded silently up to the doorway. If Veil had reported accurately, their earlier tactics of rushing in would be counterproductive. Raith carefully pulled one of the doors open, prepared to slam it back shut on any unwelcome surprises.

  Sunlight illuminated motes of dust hanging in the air throughout the large, open room. A musty smell accompanied an underlying rankness that was both familiar and not, but made everyone’s stomach turn in protest.

  Nyhm pulled open the other door to let in more light, and they could see that the room was a communal gathering area. Two long rough-hewn tables were pushed end to end and lined with benches for the conclave to gather and share a meal or conduct community business. A dias stood in the far right corner, with an altar similar to the one they had seen under the Great Oak.

  Even with the doors open, the left corner was the darkest part of the room. Their view was partially concealed by the table, but they seemed to be a large pile of something covered in cobwebs tucked all the way in the corner.

  With a look to each other for support, the team began to creep forwards. As they made their way around the table, Raith saw that it wasn’t cobwebs covering the pile, but some sort of white fuzz like one of the dandelions a kid would blow on to scatter its seeds to the wind.

  “It’s mold.” Thea whispered, holding up a hand for them to stop. “Don’t get any closer.”

  Raith activated [Staccato] and looked more closely at the pile, trying to make sense of what he was seeing beneath the haze of mold covering everything. He soon sorted out that it was a pile of bodies, cocooned in some disgusting protective film. There was no way anyone was alive and uninfected in there. He let go of his [Skill] and whispered to the other two.

  “There’s no one here to save. Let’s back out and burn this whole place down.”

  The good news was that the rush of weft from Thea’s completed [Quest] assured that his assessment of the situation was correct. The bad new was that his voice must have been just a hair louder than Thea’s. Or maybe something about his tone called more attention. They’d never know for sure, but the moment he spoke, a body sat upright with a sudden lurch and stared directly at them.

  It was a woman with long dark hair that was dusted white with mold. Raith finally saw why they called it the Grins. She had chewed off her entire upper and lower lips, leaving her teeth bared in a demented mockery of a smile. Her lower lip hadn’t been chewed off entirely, and the gruesome hunk of flesh hung from a small flap of skin at the corner of her mouth.

  The woman’s mouth began to salivate upon seeing them, forming ropes of spit and blood that oozed from a lipless mouth. She shook her head violently back and forth like a dog, spraying the vile fluid forwards in an arc, but they were too far away to be hit.

  “Don’t let her get it on you,” Thea yelled, and they all turned to sprint for the door.

  Raith bounded over the table, but Nyhm and Thea took the long way around. He wasn’t sure why he expected the infected to be slow and lumbering things. Perhaps some hope that the possessing fungus couldn’t pilot the body quite as well. Unfortunately for them, the things were fast. With a surge, the entire pile of bodies exploded into motion. The mass lunging forward at full speed almost instantly.

  Nyhm rounded the table, but Thea was slower and one of the creatures managed to grab at her arm. She whirled her shield behind her, getting a solid head strike and knocking the thing away, but more grasping hands immediately took its place.

  Raith reversed direction and leapt towards his friend, casting his dart with one hand and a pouch of pepper powder with the other. The dart hit true, piercing the eye of one and causing it to let go of Thea. The rest were entirely unaffected by the red powder, and Raith followed it into the crowd with a flying kick that knocked another away.

  Two reached out for him, one clacking its teeth loudly in a frenetic attempt to bite him and the other shaking its head to whip off cords of blood and spit. Thea fired off [Friendly Intervention], getting her shield in the way of the fluids heading at Raith.

  He shouted for them to execute a maneuver they had learned only yesterday.

  “Vinedance!”

  Thea threw a grasping seedvine at her feet while Raith leapt onto the table. Nyhm moved forwards, unaffected by the vines, and delivered a [Sprawling Slap] to the closest creatures, knocking them to the ground where they were temporarily held fast by vines. Thea used the space to back away and flee back towards the door, flinging another grasping seedvine into the mass of creatures that had been missed by the first one.

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  They made it out the door, and Thea threw a vinewall up across the entrance before they slammed the doors shut. They all took a moment, panting in fear and taking a moment to recover. Tolliver came swooping down and transformed with a look of profound concern.

  “What happened? Are you all alright?”

  Raith looked at the other two.

  “That’s a good question. Were either of you exposed or bit?”

  Thea was bent forward with her hands on her thighs and shook her head ‘no’ without looking up while she continued to catch her breath. He looked over at Nyhm, who was staring at him with a look of horror.

  “What? Are you ok?”

  Nyhm shook his head.

  “Your face.”

  Raith wiped a hand at his face, and his stomach lurched as he felt the phlegm-like substance smear onto this hand. He stared in numb shock for a moment at the reddish clear snot on his palm, wondering when that had happened. Now that he’d touched it, he could feel it coating the side of his face and at the corner of his eye.

  Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

  “Tolliver, cast Sonic Cleanse on all three of us. Right now.”

  For once, the [Mage] just did as he asked without complaining, and Raith felt a small bit of relief as the vile substance vibrated off of him and fell to the ground. Thea and Nyhm both looked at him with something bordering on panic.

  “We don’t have time to freak out right now. Nyhm, gather up the torches by all of these walkways. We’re burning this place to the ground. Thea, set up more vinewalls around every way out of this place. Tolliver, you fly overhead and at let us know if it looks like anything is escaping from this building”

  Everyone scattered to follow orders, and Raith used the moment alone to panic a little. He didn’t feel any different, but Thea had said it was a half hour before you started showing symptoms. Maybe he should have asked Tolliver to cast that spell twice.

  This fucking sucks. I don’t want to die. Especially not like that.

  He closed his eyes and activated [Staccato], giving himself time to get his shit together. Nyhm and Thea were scared enough on his behalf, and seeing him lose it would only make it worse for them. It was a while before he felt calm enough to end the [Skill], but when he did, it was with a muddle of desperate hope and resignation.

  Nyhm was back quickly, and the three of them began getting the torches lit and throwing them on top of the thatched roof. It didn’t get going immediately, and Raith opted to place the remaining torches underneath the structure instead of on top, and that seemed to get the blaze going much more quickly.

  They each picked a corner, positioning themselves well back from the building to watch for anything that might escape the inferno. He had expected to hear screams or yelling, but not a single noise emanated from the lodge as it was engulfed in bright flames.

  As the fire intensified, the team had to push further back, but Raith was certain nothing inside could possibly survive that heat. He should have expected it, but was still surprised when sparks leapt to the adjacent buildings and they soon became engulfed as well.

  After a few minutes, he was satisfied the creatures in the lodge were destroyed. The spreading fires were making it too hot and dangerous to remain in the village, so the team gathered outside at a safe distance. Tolliver rejoined the team, and they gave him a summary of what they had found in the grove.

  “That is quite possibly the most awful thing I’ve ever heard.” The noble looked at Raith with a dubious frown and took a step away. “Are you certain you’re not infected?”

  Raith shook his head and gave a pained expression.

  “No, actually.” He guessed it had been about fifteen or twenty minutes since they escaped the lodge. “But we should know pretty soon if I was. I think we should just sit tight for a little bit until we know for sure.”

  Tolliver volunteered to cast Sonic Cleanse on everyone again. They gladly accepted, even though they were soon covered in falling ash. The team drank heavily from their canteens, but no one had much of an appetite for food at the moment. After a few minutes, they had to change spots because the wind shifted and began blowing huge billows of smoke in their direction.

  It was an arduous fifteen minutes for Raith. Every itch and ache was a sure sign he was about to succumb to the spore and chew off his own lips. He found himself constantly wiping at his face with his sleeve, even though he knew there was nothing there. He managed to stop himself from doing that and began obsessively wiping his palms on his pants instead.

  Nyhm and Thea weren’t doing much better. They constantly threw him worried glances when they thought he wasn’t looking. The fact that they were so concerned only made him feel worse, and he made an effort to control his own face and stop fidgeting so much.

  Tolliver was somewhat less circumspect with his anxiety about the situation, but managed to avoid saying anything offensive. The [Mage] just sat as far from Raith as he could politely manage and looked at him intently from time to time for any signs of change.

  Raith thought about checking his pocket watch, but realized he had no idea when to measure the starting time from and decided not to bother. He hadn’t known what time it was for weeks and saw no reason to start now.

  After a while, it felt like it had been long enough, but he waited just a little longer than that to be sure. He put his hands on his knees and stood up. Thea did the same, but was looking with wide eyes towards the grove. She gasped and pointed.

  “The Great Oak.”

  Everyone stood to see the magnificent tree drooping its branches towards the inferno that now encircled it. At first, Raith assumed the movement was only wind from the heat and flames, but it soon became obvious the Great Oak was deliberately dipping its limbs into the raging fire.

  Tears formed in Thea’s eyes and ran freely down her face as she witnessed grief drive this revered being to such a desperate act. Raith wanted to run up and help the ancient tree, but there was nothing any of them could do to stop either its actions or the burning buildings.

  As they helplessly watched, the entire tree became consumed. A sharp pain lance through Raith’s temple and he clutched his head. It was quickly gone, but a moment later the same sharp pain exploded in both temples, driving him to his knees in agony. Again, it subsided after only a moment, but the others had noticed and rushed to him with alarm.

  He looked up at his companions with a sad smile of resignation.

  “Well. Shit.”

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