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Jaiel and I exchanged nervous glances.
"Perhaps Frexin's team is out exploring," I whispered, heart in my throat. "Or hunting?"
Jaiel's black brows knitted in concern, shadowy wisps dancing at the edges of his eyes. "Do you smell that?"
I sniffed a few times and winced at the putrid note in the air. I knew that smell, and it certainly wasn't the salty scent of a coastal port …
Muscles tight, we passed a dilapidated building and emerged onto the shore and docks.
My stomach lurched.
Bodies were strewn across the weathered docks, dismembered to the point they looked like mush, and a strange black ooze covered it all. Amidst the bodies were heaps of twisted metal and shattered tubes … the mechs.
This was our support team.
My gaze caught on an enormous pile of driftwood on the rocky shore, cold and unlit.
So this was why we hadn't seen a smoke signal …
The wind direction changed, and the overwhelming stench of rotting flesh hit me. "Fuck." I forced air through my mouth instead of my nose as I tried not to vomit. "They must have been attacked just before we were due to arrive."
Jaiel nodded, staring at a dismembered mech, then at our surroundings. A shudder ran down my spine. Those mechs were supposed to be strong enough to fight off a vrytra. And whatever had attacked was able to destroy them with ease.
"I'm going to remove my ring," I whispered. "We need to make sure there isn't anything dangerous still around."
Jaiel let out a grunt, then lifted his sword. I did the same, then slipped my ring off. My unshielded magic might draw nearby wraiths, but it was worth the risk. The last thing we needed was to be surprised by whatever had killed these people.
Exhaling slowly, I felt around. There were no korras here. Not even scavengers … likely driven off by the same wrongness that made me want to get away from this place.
Reaching my senses beyond the docks, I felt dozens of korras for plants and a few trees peppering the land around the village … but little else remained.
We were essentially alone.
"I think we're good. No wraiths nearby, but that black goo — it's definitely from something twisted."
"Right." Jaiel's voice was tight. "Let's secure the area to be safe, then we can take an inventory of the situation."
Nodding, we quickly worked our way through the dock area and then the village, stopping every few minutes for me to check again. From the looks of it, the village had sat abandoned for years, but two of the larger homes showed signs of the recent activity. They held our support team's half-eaten meals and empty sleep sacks … but no survivors.
With the area secured, we returned to the docks, and once more, my stomach revolted at the overwhelming stench.
"Do you think anyone made it out alive?" I asked, resisting the urge to vomit.
Jaiel shook his head. "From the looks of this, they didn't even have time to get out their weapons. I'd guess they were dead in moments." He scowled. "But it would be nice to at least have badges to return to the families."
I nodded, suppressing a shudder.
Bracing myself, I led the way, quickly picking my way through the bodies as I tried not to process too closely what we were seeing.
The carnage. The smell. The beaming sun … they all tugged at my memories of Karemi. I quickly pushed them away, though, reminding myself this was different.
No relic did this.
After a half-hour of silent searching, we'd found about a dozen small, metal badges like the one I carried in my pocket. Each listed the agent's name and role within the Science Division.
"I think that's all of them," I said, walking to Jaiel's side. "Do you think they were killed by a pack of wraiths?"
"This definitely wasn't the work of a wraith pack." His jaw tensed. "It had to have been one of those mountain wraiths." He turned, looking to the mountains. "Poor souls didn't expect such a creature this far from the mountain peaks. What's going on up there to drive them all the way to the coast?"
