Chapter 21

Medina, the female water buffalo closed her eyes and took a deep breath, as if doing so will make her memories clearer.

The prince and Captain Meralco decided to take the woman to the officer’s strategy quarters where many of the other crewmen and passengers could listen to her. Gaius and Beryl both decided that it would be best for all of them to know the truth about Karlaca before going back to face it. They needed to know what they were going up against and just what dangers and horrors they could expect.

“The troubles began about twenty years ago,” Medina the water buffalo said. “The mist which at first only stayed within the territories of the Belford estate eventually moved to the surrounding forest. From there, the mist began to encroach on the edges of our town. Lit torches usually deter the mist but there were places in town that there were places in town where there were no torches.

“That was when the first disappearances began. There were people who walked into the mist and simply disappeared. Of course, it didn’t always happen. Sometimes, a person could go into the mist and return without incident. Still though, those that returned reported something “off” about the mist, as if something terrible was inside it, watching the unfortunate people that wandered into it. Sometimes people caught glimpses of bizarre and disturbing images in the mist, others reported furtive and unsettling whispers and sounds and there were quite a few who commented on the rancid stench of rot that came with the mist.

“It was those homes beyond the torches that the mist visited. At first it began with children falling ill for unknown reasons. We had a town doctor back then, Dr. Rinaldo the weasel, and a priest, just like your own, Fr. Lanella the sparrow. I served as an assistant to Fr. Lanella on many occasions as my husband was once a sexton there until the day he died.

“Both the doctor and the priest wondered if there was something in the mist that caused the strange illnesses in the children. That there was a ‘chemical’ in the mist that caused the sickness in them. Count Belford was also well-known for his forays into alchemy after all, so it stood to reason that what was happening to the children was a product of his alchemy. They did all they could to save these children, but in the end, it was almost never enough.

“When they asked the children how they felt, they always replied that there felt very afraid of the ‘other people’ who came when the mist came. We asked them who these ‘other people’ were but their reply was almost always vague and unsettling. It wouldn’t be until later that we learned about the true nature of the mist.

“The mist served as a kind of conduit for the necromantic energies that came from Count Belford’s house. It was what animated the corpses there and it was what trapped the souls of the dead. Wherever the mist went, the unquiet dead went with it, causing untold harm to the living.

“The children who gradually lost their health and energy to the mist was the result of wraiths coming to feed on their vitality. They were hard to see as they were often like smoke but just being near them can sap one’s strength. But there was often more than one of them visiting one child at a time and they visited children often enough to eventually completely drain them of their life-force. In the end, while I hate to admit it, many of these children became wraiths themselves, visiting sickness and death upon other children that had once been their friends in life.

“Disappearances too became more frequent, with dozens of people disappearing at a time. Later, we discovered that these people became zombies in the mist. It was the answer we’d been looking for. Corpses that the mist touched eventually became zombies themselves. Wherever the mist went, the zombies went too, enshrouded and obscured.

“Of course, we would only learn about all this later, when they tried to take Laban,” Medina looked at Reuben the monkey. “Isn’t that right Reuben?”

The old monkey only looked at her and then at the crowd gathered around him and sighed heavily.

“It was not long after my grandfather died that things started taking a toll for the worst in Karlaca,” Reuben the monkey said. “At first it was just kids getting sick and then dying and the occasional disappearance in the mist. But there was one night we wouldn’t forget when the zombies themselves attacked our home.”

Vic noted how the monkey’s eyes dropped to the ground.

“I believe my daughter had forgotten to light some of the torches around our house that night. The thing was, she never really believed the rumors. She’d always been a skeptic and while she believed that Count Belford was probably a dangerous man, she never really believed in the black magic he practiced.

“Anyway, my daughter had left a gap in the ring of torches around the house unlit. While nothing seemed to happen during the early evening, the mist entered through the gap near midnight and creeped into the house. I was asleep then and had no idea of what was happening but the wraiths, being able to bypass walls and obstacles, came in first. You see, the zombies simply couldn’t come into the house like they wanted to. So the wraiths somehow convinced or possessed Laban so that he would open the door outside.

“My son in law, Redeemer keep his soul, was the first to wake up and tried his best to repel the zombies,” Reuben said. “But what could one man do against so many?

“As my son in law fought alongside me to get Laban back, I got my daughter to run to town for help. Sheriff Laurio, Dr. Rinaldo, Fr. Lanella and about ten other townsfolk came over to help. The sheriff’s son was there too, it was something I would never forget.”

Reuben looked at Mayor Laurio who only smiled back.

“Anyway, when they arrived, it was too late. The undead bastards had done for my poor son in law and they had beaten me to the point of unconsciousness. They’re the ones who ruined my leg. They had taken Laban and were probably going to turn him into one of their own.”

“How did you get him back?” Beryl asked.

The monkey looked at the lemming mayor.

“Finish the story,” Reuben smiled. “Then tell them what we want from them.”

“The men and I went after the zombies along with Reuben’s daughter,” Mayor Laurio said. “We chased them across the forest. Dr. Rinaldo and Fr. Lanella did their part, protecting us with both guns and white magic. We rescued the boy, but not without cost. The boy’s mother fought as hard as she could to get her son back but the foul abominations fatally wounded her before she could carry her son back. Dr. Rinaldo and Fr. Lanella also fought with all their strength and even killed many of the undead by themselves but were also swarmed and slain. There was only so much we could do with what we had.

“For many years we let Belford Mansion stand, thinking that all we could do was do our best to defend ourselves from it. None of us ever wanted to go to that place after everything had happened. Even as the mist claimed more of us and our children, we have only sat back as we were too afraid to act.

“But when we saw you fighting them last night, we had an idea. We decided that maybe, just maybe, we can vanquish the evils of Belford Mansion. Perhaps if we had done so long ago, things would be very different today.

“So here’s my offer to you,” the lemming looked at both Prince Gaius and Captain Meralco. “Help us. End the curse of Belford Mansion on Karlaca. Help us free our island from the evil influence of Count Belford and we will give you all the help that we can spare. As a reward, we cannot offer you much but if you find anything useful inside Belford Mansion, it is all yours.”