Clown Wyrm - 21. Chapter 21 - Burned Village

Nothing was left of Morlington but cinders and ash. Like the bones of a huge, blackened skeleton, the charred remains of beams that were once part of buildings protruded up toward the sky. Much of it still smoked and smoldered. The area was deathly quiet.

“Nobody told us the whole town burned down,” Mercury stated weakly.

Some of the surrounding forest had burned as well, but all the fires seemed to be extinguished.

“M-maybe Violatia already made it back to the capital,” Mercury added.

The others remained silent.

“Should… should we explore the ruins?” Mercury suggested.

No one moved.

Mercury looked back over her shoulder at the King’s Road stretching behind them. “I hope Violatia’s in the capital.” She turned to the burned village, placed a comforting hand on the outside of Norjia’s arm, and Mercury walked forward alone into the destruction.

There were no signs of any people.

Mercury made her way between the husks of the structures. Several stone towers that had once been chimneys loomed above her.

“Be careful!” Periwinkle called out, and he followed, leaving the wives at the edge of the former village.

Norjia’s fingers were gripping the handles of the crutches, and the Mechanic put her hand over her wife’s knuckles. “I’m so sorry, my love. I hope your sister is somewhere safe.”

Mercury turned back and saw Periwinkle cautiously coming toward her through the debris, but she did not wait for him and continued forward. Quite a few walls of stone still stood, collapsed in parts, but hinting at the bustling life that recently thrived in Morlington. After about ten minutes of searching, Mercury found herself approaching the opposite side of the scorched ruins, and she spotted movement through the trees. She spun around and shouted, “There are people!”

“What?!” Periwinkle hollered back.

“There are people!” Mercury pushed ahead and came to where the trees still grew at the end of the burned patch.

A few of the folks who were there noticed her as well. Several waved, and one of them approached.

“Hi,” Mercury squeaked, and she was overjoyed to see the person was either a transgender woman or a drag queen. She was a bit older, with some grey streaking her disheveled hair. “Is Violatia here?!”

“Hello, hunny,” the woman replied. “No, sorry, Violatia’s not here.”

Before she could say anything else, Mercury quickly asked, “Is she… dead?”

“Oh, no, hunny,” the woman said with a smile. “Violatia isn’t dead. The two of us worked at the dhalthin center here in town, and she breathed in a lot of smoke saving some kids who were trapped inside. She was taken to the capital for treatment, but she’s okay.”

Mercury was thrilled by the news. “Oh my Godzilla, what a relief! I came here with her sister to look for her.”

“Norjia’s here?”

“Yes, indeed!” Mercury nodded and pointed back. She turned as Periwinkle came around a partial wall, and he was very excited to see her talking with someone. “Come on over!” Mercury called to him, and she looked at the local woman again. “What’s your name?”

“I’m Eona.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Eona. I’m Mercury, and this is Periwinkle.”

He stepped up and shook her hand.

“Charmed,” Eona replied, “we’ve got plenty of supplies, food, and tents. Now, where’s Norjia?”

“Her leg got messed up,” Mercury explained, “so she’s back at the other side of the…” she paused and glanced over the wreckage, “the village.”

“Oh no, what happened?”

Mercury shook her head. “It was bad. She got stabbed in the thigh.”

Eona was clearly worried. “She wasn’t wearing her armor?”

“No, she wasn’t. It’s been…” Mercury paused and looked at Periwinkle. “How long ago was it?”

“I’m not sure. Let’s count backward.” He held up his fingers to keep track. “Three days here from the capital, two days from the campsite where the women gave us supplies, and I think Norjia got stabbed the day before that… so, six days ago,” he stated with no certainty whatsoever.

“Wait,” Mercury interjected, “you’re forgetting the two days it took to get to that township place, and we stayed the night there.”

“Oh, right, so maybe eight or even nine days have passed since she was injured,” Periwinkle ventured. “I think tonight will be the ninth night. She’s healing.”

Eona smiled. “Glad to hear it, and I’m sorry Violatia isn’t here and you came all this way.”

“That’s alright. It’ll give Norjia peace of mind to know Violatia is okay.”

Periwinkle turned to Mercury. “I’ll run back and let them know.”

“Sounds good.” Mercury looked at Eona, and then beyond her at the other people. “What are you all still doing out here?”

“Some folks from Morlington had nowhere to go,” Eona explained. “Our local dhalthin helps those in need, so when this entire village was suddenly in need, we set up camp in the forest and just kept taking care of folks who stuck around, even though everything had been burned to the ground.”

“It’s so sad,” Mercury replied.

“It is, but we’ll rebuild. Morlington will eventually live on.”

At the far edge of the decimated village, the Mechanic was helping her wife slowly make her way through the ruins, when Periwinkle reappeared.

“Violatia’s alive!” he declared.

Norjia’s face washed with relief, and her shoulders sagged. “Thank goodness. She’s here?”

“No,” Periwinkle replied as he came up to the pair, “she was taken to the capital for treatment after breathing in a bunch of smoke helping people during the initial fires, but she’s fine. There are people on the other side of these ruins. They’ve got a campsite and supplies.”

“Good,” the Mechanic replied, “we could all use a rest.”

It took Norjia a while to make her way through the rubble on her crutches, but soon she, her wife, and Periwinkle were with the survivors of Morlington. Norjia smiled when she saw Eona.

“Hello, dear friend,” Eona said, stepping up and wrapping her arms around Norjia.

“Good to see you again after all these years, Eona. I’m so sorry for all that you and the people of Morlington have lost.”

Eona nodded. “It was terrible, but most people were able to evacuate. Only seven Morlingtonians died. Quite a few folks suffered some degree of injury or smoke inhalation, like your sister, and they were sent to Armonia City for healing.”

“I’m so happy to hear she’s okay,” the Mechanic added.

Norjia turned to Mercury and Periwinkle. “Eona used to run the dhalthin center back in Lithia, where Dizriolith and I live. She trained Violatia, and when the center in Morlington opened a few years ago, Eona came down here to help out.”

“I’m originally from Morlington,” Eona added, “and I was thrilled when we finally got a dhalthin of our own.”

Norjia leaned toward Mercury and added quietly, “Eona will be sympathetic to our cause.”

Mercury became excited, and she took a step closer to Eona. “Are you a rebel?” she whispered.

Eona chuckled. “In my younger days, I used to participate in missions to steal shipments of food that were bound for the palace.”

“Nice!” Mercury replied. She leaned in even closer and added, “I’m going to kill R’Kathlug.”

Eona was startled by her words. “You’re gonna what?”

Mercury gave her a proud grin. “I haven’t figured out how to get into the volcano yet, but I’m going to slay the dragon.”

Eona perked up, “Oh, I might be able to help with that.”

“What do you mean?”

“There are secret tours into the volcano.”

Mercury was surprised. “I didn’t think anyone had access to it except the king. Tell me more!”

Eona smiled. “The old mountain has countless passageways that lead into the chasm where the dragon lies, but most of them are far too small for a person to get through. However, there are several groups that make trips into a few of the wider tunnels, even though doing so is forbidden.”

“I didn’t even consider that there might be tunnels,” Mercury stated. “What created them?”

“I think they’re the old pathways where the magma flowed.”

“And some of them are big enough for a person to get through?”

Eona shrugged. “I’ve never taken one of the tours myself, but I’ve heard people talking about it in the glee district.”

Mercury turned to Norjia. “What’s the glee district?”

“That’s where the brothels and pleasure houses are,” she replied. “You can often find unregulated or unrestricted opportunities in the glee districts.”

“There’s a seedy little tavern in Armonia City on Eighth Avenue,” Eona stated. “It’s called Pucker’s. It’s great, and it’d probably be a good place to start.”

Norjia then focused on Eona. “Violatia was in Lithia with me for a celebration like a week and a half or maybe two weeks ago now, so she must have only been back in town here briefly before the fire started.”

Eona nodded. “We had coffee the day after she got back, and that was the first time I’d seen her since she visited you in Lithia. It was the day before the fire started.”

“Glad she’s okay,” Norjia concluded.

“Let’s get you folks settled,” Eona said as she led them into the trees toward the campsite, “and I’ll bring you some food. How long do you think you’ll stay with us?”

“Just the night,” Norjia replied, “and thank you.”

After dinner, Periwinkle was clearly upset about something, and Mercury pulled him aside.

“What is it?” she asked.

He blurted out in a harsh but quiet voice, “I can’t stop thinking about all the ways we might die!”

“Die?” Mercury repeated.

Periwinkle nodded. “What if the dragon breathes fire? I don’t want to be burned alive, or I should say, burned to death. What if it’s got crazy claws, or razor-sharp teeth? What if it’s huge, and it steps on us? What if it eats us? What if it crushes us? What if it burns us? Mercury, I don’t want to die!”