Macha's Journey

As they walked through the jungle towards the bridge, Tyr continued to explain the history of the famous landmark to Macha. "So to mourn her stillborn child, the old Queen Bistrat had this bridge constructed." He remembered reading about it in the school"s history books while he was in his fifties.

He saw that the dark past distressed Macha, so he added, "The sad tale created a tradition for women in Toowoomba. Now, many mothers of stillborn children visit the bridge and throw a flower into the river as a way to mourn their own child."

Listening to the legend made her realize that people in this world lived, pretty much forever, but the population did not seem out of control. Back in her world, they faced a population problem because of medicine and advanced farming techniques. This made her ask, "I don"t understand why countries like Ma.r.s.eille and Kochi aren"t bigger if people live so long?"

This question caused a grave expression to settled on his face. "Well, there are a few reasons. The simplest one is that many pregnancies result in miscarriages or stillborn children. They believe it"s because of the Longum Auris virus."

The other explanation was not something he could feel proud of. His green eyes darted in Aila"s direction then he continued. "Another reason is…" his voice trailed off. This had been a topic he avoided talking about with Aila. Their pasts were completely different. She was an ex-slave, while he came from a highly esteemed n.o.ble family.

He could not make the situation sound better, "I don"t know if you noticed, but many of the n.o.bles lived for a long time. Unfortunately, the poorer people rarely live past two-hundred years or so. It"s a combination of accidents, wars, and sickness. The poor cannot afford good medicine and often times ignore their symptoms."

"So health care isn"t free?" This was not something she thought of. Their healthcare had always been free because she was in the guild, so she never concerned herself with what other people did.

Aila interrupted the conversation because she knew Tyr would not understand the situation well. Since she spent a lot of her time freeing slaves and helping them to start a new life, so she understood the problems that the poor face.

She quickened her pace, so she fell into step with Macha. "In the past fifty years, King Freyr made basic healthcare free. It was to make sure plagues and diseases didn"t spread in the city. It"s good but doesn"t cover enough. The funding just isn"t behind it and the n.o.bles don"t support it."

A thread of annoyance at the selfish interests of the n.o.bles, caused a line to form between her brows. "Without adequate funding, people wait in a whole day just to be seen. There aren"t a sufficient amount of stations to accommodate the demand." A stray lock of blonde hair fell into her eyes and she tucked the golden strand behind her ear. She hated how long her hair had grown since starting the war.

Macha nodded her head in understanding. It was an unfortunate situation, and this explained why many poor chose to join their guild. The Obsidian Dragons offered free housing, medical, and food. The biggest downside of being in the guild was the danger of the Outer-Reaches. Even this could be lessened if you planned your a.s.signments well. Not all areas of the Outer-Reaches were the same and if you continually worked small easy missions, you could easily make the guild"s yearly quota to stay in.

This conversation caused her to realize why Tyr made it so the hourly paid positions that the guild offered between expeditions did not calculate toward their yearly quota. If he let it count towards the quota, then people would not adventure. They would choose to linger behind the safety of desk jobs all year long.

When they were a half-day away from the Gjallarbrú Bridge, Tyr stopped the party. Alcinous"s group came prepared to fight spirits because they knew about the extraction ahead of time, but his group was not.

He looked over his shoulder at Donna, "Do you possess any spells to enchant weapons so they can cut spirits?" Usually, if they planned to fight against spirits, his team would bring special weapons that were forged for that purpose.

"I can," Donna responded, giving a nod of confirmation. Her usually short orange hair now grazed her shoulders. She and Aila did not bother getting a haircut since the war started. They heard stories of head lice going around camp because of the haircuts. They preferred to deal with longer hair than risk contaminating their whole team.

She held out her palm to receive the Captain"s lances. Her specialty lay in enchantments and supportive spells. While they rarely used this spell, the schools still taught it as a medium level enchantment.

Tyr did not hand over his lances at first. Instead, he took Macha"s daggers so Donna could enchant them before his. He wanted to make sure she would be safe.

Donna cast the enchanted everyone"s weapons as they traveled. It was not a difficult spell to weave, but it was very important. Without specific enchants or weapons that were made to fight incorporeal beings, their attacks would do nothing.

Night fell and the closer they got to the bridge, the cooler the air became. She knew they would come across the spirits soon. Since she was not an excellent combat fighter, she stayed towards the middle of the group with Luna and some of the others.

The waxing crescent moons gave a soft light that blanketed the clearing that they chose to cross. Alcinous and Tyr decided to go through the clearing because it would be easier to see the spirits. Although it left them visible to the Toowoomba soldiers, they doubted there would be many if any around this area at night.

In a low voice, Tyr reminded Macha, "Don"t let them touch you. They want to sap away your life force and their touch will feel cold and leave you despondent."

Hating herself for not understanding, she squeezed her eyes shut and asked, "What does despondent mean?" It was not a word she remembered hearing or reading. Usually, she would ask what words meant in private, but since this dealt with life and death, she wanted to have it clarified for her.

Krystof"s laughter broke the tension that had been building up. "Oh man! It means hopeless. Ouch!" his amus.e.m.e.nt stopped after Luna elbowed him sharply in the ribs.

His blue-green eyes became wide when he looked at the love of his life. She gave him a dirty look that he had not seen since before they went out. Her jab had not been gentle at all and still hurt.

He did not mean to burst out, but he had forgotten how Macha asked about words from time to time. It took him by surprise and he could not help himself. "I"m sorry. That was callous of me. I forgot this is your second language."

Alcinous raised an eyebrow. It had been obvious that she spoke with an accent, but now he wondered where she originated from. Rumors circulated that she came from another world, but those were just stories. In his line of duty, he never put any stock in anything but facts.

What he did know was that her appearance was unlike anyone he had ever seen before. While her height seemed similar to a dwarf, her small-frame ruled that possibility out. She also had distinctly different eyes compared to normal people.

After some thought, he realized it was something he should have his household look into since the King liked her. Freyr once told him that she was a Valois family friend and Tyr"s secretary, so he never worried about the details. Many other individuals needed to be investigated before Macha.

Now he wondered what she was. The mystery left him annoyed at his own ignorance.

An unearthly exhalation of breath sounded around them. The light mood from Krystof"s laughter disappeared.

Macha froze when she watched k.n.o.bby incorporeal hands rise out of the ground. Their long fingers clawed at the earth, dragging their decaying bodies out from the soil. Great wisps of bluish-white plasma dripped from their limbs and a cold mist began to obscure her vision.