Chapter Text
The stiff, icy breeze froze me dead in my tracks. A puddle of what looked like black tar was trailing off further into the forest, standing out against the pale white snow. I took a knee and retrieved a handkerchief from my bag to examine the tar-like substance. Carefully, I scooped up a sample into the cloth and brought it to my nose. The smell of iron filled my nostrils, and I realized it had to be blood ... but whose? Surely it couldn't be Keres, who had run off this way shortly before a loud cry shook even the woodland critters to their core. No, blood was supposed to be red...at least mortal blood. Black blood was the mark of the demons. Suddenly, I remembered Keres's weird black markings and the horns she refused to talk about. Could Keres not be as mortal as she's claimed this whole time?
Then I noticed a talisman lying nearby in the snow. I uncovered it and inspected the engraving in the metallic gold metal. The head of a Fox with a third eye on its forehead. I recognized it as the Vulpin Village insignia almost immediately. Vulpin Village was a small settlement of mainly fox beastfolk near Springcott Crossing, where we had just been. Pocketing the talisman, I decide to follow the trail of demon blood deeper into the forest.
On the way, I tried to deduce why Vulpin Village folk would be out here in the dead of winter. Thanks to their strict religious ideology, they rarely venture outside their settlement. They weren't fond of outsiders or anybody who wasn't a fox beastfolk. I thought they might have taken Keres by force, but that wouldn't make sense. Keres is a fennec fox beastfolk, and she's even claimed that she's originally from Vulpin Village. Why would Vulpin Village forcibly take and possibly injure one of their own? Then it dawned on me that Keres was, in fact, a rogue and notorious thief.
I was briskly walking along the trail of blood that had begun to thin out slightly when my foot hit something buried in the snow. I saw the handle of a rapier sword peeking out of the snow. It was Keres's sword; she must have fought with the village folk who were after her. I couldn't discern if she had been triumphant as the trail of blood ended rather abruptly. I picked up the sword and tucked the skinny blade into my wand's sheath before continuing in the same direction. My chest felt heavy, and my hands were clammy. Could I really be concerned for someone as unpleasant as Keres? Then again, I have empathy. As a tiefling, I know what it's like to be shunned for your looks. I probably would've even ended up bitter and spiteful like Keres if I hadn't found community those years ago. It's crazy that Keres could be that way so young; after all, her frontal lobe hasn't even fully developed.
Thoughts of what those religious fanatics could do to her swirled in my mind. They could try to exorcise her, lock her away in a dungeon, or worst of all, torture and execute her. Keres wasn't innocent, sure, but she didn't deserve to die. Maybe back when she first hired me to help he,r I thought she deserved anything bad coming to her—but now that I know her, now that I've seen the unbridled fear in her eyes when confronted about her anatomical anomalies, I know she never wanted to be this way. She was dealt a bad hand in life and tried her best to survive.
A little while later, I spotted small houses in the distance. It had to be Vulpin Village, after all,l I'd been heading in that exact direction on purpose. Arriving at the edge of the town, I saw a cluster of fox beastfolk dressed in prim and proper garb, the ladies all donning white bonnets, headed in the same direction. I put up my hood and tried to blend in as best I could and followed them. Eventually, they joined a bigger crowd at the center of town. I could hear whispers amongst the townsfolk. "They finally captured it?" "Good riddance, anything that looks like that must be evil." Immediately, I knew they had to be talking about Keres. I began to make my way through the crowd until I could see a large wooden stage. A tall wooden stake had been driven into it, and mountains of straw had been placed below. Tied to that stake was a short, fennec fox beastfolk, with patterns covering their limbs and a pair of small black horns sprouting from their head. "Keres..." I sucked in a breath as my heart dropped. No doubt with the setup, they were planning to burn her at the stake. Frantic, I looked over to the two other figures on the stage. A red fox beastfolk dressed in priest robes stood there, emotionless as if he weren't about to burn an innocent person at the stake. Next to him, I noticed something peculiar. What looked to be a high elf with pale skin and long platinum hair stood, clutching a staff. The staff that Keres had hired me to find all that time ago, in the first place. The staff that had belonged to Keres's late mother...
"Citizens of Vulpin Village!" The priest's voice rang out. "Today, we finally take out the evil which has leaked into our world and threatens to corrupt helpless minds!" The crowd around me all clapped and cheered. "Gaze upon the beast with its hideous horns and demonic markings. Gaze upon it as the cinders consume it and send it back to the fiery pits from whence it came!" I saw Keres wince slightly at every remark. Her head stayed tilted down, though, as if she were ashamed. The high elf then began to walk toward Keres, readying their wand slowly. I knew I had to think of some way to stop the fire spell from being cast, and quickly. Coming up with an idea, I pushed through the crowd to get right in front of the stage and cast an antimagic field to temporarily stop the High elf from lighting the straw.
The recoil of the spell blew my hood off my head, revealing my crimson, curved horns and red-violet skin. The crowd gasped and devolved into confused murmurs. My gaze met Keres's wide, bewildered eyes, and briefly I saw her mouth part to form my name "Freya..." "You! How dare you interrupt the ritual!" The priest barked. "What? You think I would stand by and let you take an innocent life?" I spat, narrowing my eyes in disdain. "Blasphemy! This wretched thing is anything but innocent! What would a tiefling like you know?" The priest snarled. At this point, I pushed through the crowd and made my way onto the stage. The priest began to point and shout. "Get her! She's obviously an accomplice!" I noticed the high elf trying to sneak away amidst the arguing. "Drop," I cast a command spell, and Keres's mother's staff clatters to the ground almost instantaneously. Evading the white and gold-cloaked Foxes after me, I swiftly made my way over to Keres, freeing her with her rapier that I picked up earlier. "Get the staff, I've got them!" I yelled before preparing my last spell. This would surely drain my remaining mana, so it had to work. I cast fire storm, and cubes of flames began to rain, which distracted them enough for me to make my getaway. "Let's go!" I ran toward Keres, and we made a break for it into the woods. Keres was slightly slower, limping with an injured leg. I could see dried black blood around the wound. It was her blood out there after all...
We stop in a clearing after running for a while. Keres leans on a nearby tree, panting heavily. "We need to get that wound disinfected and wrapped up..." I commented. "They probably took your bag, didn't they?" Keres cursed, just now realising she no longer had all her supplies. I slid my bag off my back and pulled out a roll of bandages, gauze, and disinfectant. "Can't you cast a spell?" Keres said in a breath. "I'm not a healer," I stated before kneeling to tend to Keres's wound. "Well? Aren't you going to ask?" Keres said, alluding to the color of her blood. "You've been through enough today, Keres, probably even enough in your entire life..." I answered. Keres looked touched for once. I didn't think I'd ever seen her this vulnerable. Quickly, though, she looked away and feigned a tough act. "You realise you ain't getting paid for a while, right?" She looked at me. I smiled, "Keres, I think you're more than my employer at this point."