Chapter 60: Betrayal?
The still water of the crescent-shaped pond mirrored the darkened sky, its eerie yet tranquil contrast standing stark against the chaos we had barely escaped.
Our bodies ached, our lungs still burned from the relentless sprint, and our clothes clung to us, soaked in sweat and tainted with the foul residue of the infected townspeople. Even as exhaustion threatened to drag us to the ground, none of us dared to collapse—not yet. We had bigger problems.
Ben was the first to break the silence, still catching his breath as he tightened his grip on his spear. The once-shining weapon was now marred with blackened pus, a sickly reminder of what we had just fought. He exhaled sharply, his expression grim.
"So... what the hell was that?" His voice was rough, laced with frustration. "That enchantment—whatever it was—made those knights damn near invincible."
Mael, perched on a nearby rock, ran a hand through his damp, sweat-drenched hair. He still held his sword, though he now dipped its bloodied blade into the pond’s crystal-clear water, watching the murky filth dissolve into nothingness. His expression darkened as he spoke.
"Yeah, no kidding. I’ve never seen anything like it. And that name the old bastard mentioned—’Lord Skin’... Anyone heard of him?"
We exchanged looks, but no one had an answer. The name meant nothing to us, yet it carried an undeniable weight of authority and malice.
I exhaled sharply. "Doesn’t matter who he is. What matters is that he’s behind all this. If the knights answer to him, that means he’s in charge. And if he’s in charge, his castle has to be somewhere inside that black veil." I gestured toward the ominous, suffocating wall of darkness looming in the distance, pulsing with an unnatural presence.
Priscilla, who had remained unnervingly silent up to this point, shifted nervously beside me. She looked pale, her fingers clutching the hem of her tattered cloak, her nerves clear in her trembling voice.
"But... how do we get in?" she asked, her eyes flickering between us. "And more importantly, how do we survive if those knights are hunting us?"
Good question.