Well… fuck… no wonder they want to kill the guy. But… umm… shit… what do I say to that? I told him that he could talk to me the last time we sailed together… he’s finally opened up… and I have no idea what to say… umm… he’s just said something big and emotional… maybe I should say something light… to try and calm him a bit?

  Dwynfel: “So… umm… what’s with the names?”

  Damecus: “What?”

  Fuck… that was stupid… why did I say that… shit…

  Dwynfel: “Umm… I just… umm… I noticed that all of the white lizardmen… their names all start with an A. Is there a reason for that?”

  Damecus: “It is our way. Has been since before I was born. All white lizardmen have names that begin with an A but no other lizardman’s name may do so. All male lizardmen have names that end with US. No female lizardmen have names that end as such.”

  That’s a bit weird. But I suppose every culture has its naming traditions.

  Dwynfel: “Is there a reason for that?”

  Damecus: “I am unsure. The Shadow clan do not follow these rules. There is only one member of the Sawtooth clan that was formerly a member of the Shadow clan. I asked him why, and he does not know either. Perhaps that is a tradition that will die out in our clan with time. Especially since we now have a prior Shadow-clan in our midst.

  Dwynfel: “Why didn’t you have any shadow clan members before?”

  Damecus: “Our clan was originally just prior Viridescent and Blood Dragon clan members. It has expanded over time, as more have heard of our beliefs. Slowly members from other clans have abandoned their clans to join ours. It was just a matter of time before a Shadow clan member joined. He fell in love with a Thalassic girl and they both eloped to Sawtooth Village to be together.”

  That actually sounds kind of romantic.

  Damecus: “It has taken them some time to adjust. But that is always the way with the new. When you are raised to hate everyone who is different from you, it can take a while to realise that everyone is not your enemy. The male nearly voided his bowels upon seeing one of the white lizardmen in our village. His name is Oakes. I wonder if he will follow our naming traditions when he has children? If he does not then the more his family line spreads through the town the more diluted our tradition will become. In time, it may well die out entirely. That is the way with many traditions… time destroys all things.”

  He certainly has a point about traditions. Cultures adapt and change over time, slowly dropping things that people feel are unimportant. This subdued topic seems to have calmed his mood a bit… maybe now I should say something a bit deeper…

  Dwynfel: “Umm… sorry to have changed the subject so drastically. About what you said before… about Nomius… well… umm… you said that he loved precisely three people in his life… well… I don’t think that’s true…”

  Damecus looked at me with a look of irritation.

  Dwynfel: “Sorry… no… I’m not calling you a liar or anything… I just… I just think you missed something…”

  Damecus stopped leaning on the side of the boat and stood up tall in front of me… towering over me… to be honest… he’s rather scary and more than a little imposing when he does this.

  Damecus: “And what would that be, exactly?”

  Dwynfel: “Well… umm… it’s you… Damecus… when your family took him in… you said that he acted like a brother to you because he lost his sister. And yeah… I’m sure losing his sister has definitely been the reason for a lot of the things he has done… but… he looked after you… looked out for you… he put on that happy face for your benefit… he didn’t want you to know the pain that he felt… he wanted to protect you from that… so he kept it inside… and tried to make sure that you had a happy childhood.”

  He’s just staring at me… it feels like his eyes are burning me.

  Dwynfel: “Then… when everything eventually got to him… when he couldn’t cope anymore… you responded in the same way… you did all the things that you had seen him do for others… the things he did for you. You may think he lost everything when Auraelius was killed… but he didn’t. He still has you… and I can tell that he’s grateful for that.”

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  Gods, I feel awkward saying this… I’m rambling… I need to be more concise…

  Dwynfel: “When we first met you… you sent a note to him in the village… and he dropped everything to get the supplies that you requested and come and help you. He didn’t know us… I know he’s bonded with Tadwick over the last few months… but that day… he didn’t come because Tadwick asked him to… he came for you… because you asked for his help. You referred to him as your brother… well, I’m sure he feels the same way… I’m sure that he loves you too. So please… don’t just lash out the second you see Alterius. Think it through… plan it… don’t do something impulsive that will get you killed… because… well… then Nomius will have lost a brother as well.”

  Was that concise? I don’t think I’m good at concise. Damecus isn’t saying anything… he’s just standing there… staring down at me.

  Dwynfel: “Umm… I’m going to go and help the others with the sails… so… umm… I’ll leave you… to… you know… think… about… umm… stuff. And… don’t worry… we’ll get him… so… umm… yeah… I’m going to just…”

  I slowly walked away and Damecus turned to face the sea once more. I’m glad he told me that… but fuck… this could really complicate things… if he attacks somebody that the king regards as important then it could really put us on rocky ground… even if we did save the prince the last time we were here. That’s assuming any of them are still alive.

  When we arrived at the docks, I got a chill down my spine. Seeing this place so deserted is highly disturbing. When we were last here you could barely move for all of the people loading and unloading from the ships… now there is nobody… just the remnants of chaos and panic.

  Vance left us on the dock, saying she would be back at dawn tomorrow… and that if we weren’t here, then she wouldn’t be waiting. So we advanced into the city with haste. This is odd… the stench of death is everywhere… but I cannot see a single corpse… all I can see are flowers… vines… bushes… trees… all sprouting out of the paths… clinging to the sides of the buildings… growing where they have no business growing… it is incredibly beautiful… but…

  Dwynfel: “Damecus…”

  Damecus: “I know. It is definitely them.”

  Boff: “Definitely who?”

  Damecus: “The spiders from the forest.”

  Alexander: “Spiders? Shouldn’t we be seeing webs or something? Rather than this bizarre overgrowth? This looks more like the work of some deranged wood nymphs.”

  Phoenix: “Florachnids.”

  Alexander: “What on earth is a florachnid?”

  Fair question. I had absolutely no idea that they were a thing until Flora showed up. They aren’t exactly well known.

  Dwynfel: “Our friend Flora… the one who held the incubus in place… she was a florachnid. She had a way with plants… she could make them grow… like… anywhere.”

  I gestured towards all of the abnormal plant growth around us.

  Alexander: “And you think this is the work of your friend’s people?”

  Damecus: “I do not believe so. She claimed to be the last of her kind.”

  Alexander: “Well, now you have me confused.”

  Dwynfel: “In order to protect the plants of the forest, she spawned these creepy giant spiders. They did her bidding. Maybe they also have the ability to enhance plant life… and if they do… maybe without Flora they had nobody to keep them in check… and after their home was destroyed, they may have sought out the nearest food source… which would be the people here.”

  Alexander: “That is a pretty large maybe, Dwynfel.”

  Damecus: “Do you have a better theory?”

  Alexander: “No, no… just saying. If it is these spiders, as you say. What do we do exactly?”

  Dwynfel: “We head for the castle… if Svampe is alive… he should be there.”

  Flynn: “I believe he may have been meaning, what do we do about the spiders?”

  Good question. What do we do about the spiders? Last time they only harmed us when Alastaire damaged the vines. But that was when Flora was controlling them. If we’re correct and they’ve gone rogue without her, then they may attack us simply for food.

  But if they aren’t hostile towards us unless we attack first, then we may be able to get into the castle and rescue any survivors with little incident… but if they are hostile, then we could just be walking right into their hive… do spiders have hives? Or is that wasps? Do they have nests? Fuck, I don’t know… whatever they have, we could be walking right into it.

  Damecus: “Assume they are not hostile for now, but be on your guard. Do not let them ambush us, and whatever you do… do not harm the plants.”