As the four made their way to the town walls, Bill found it odd that they never encountered another living soul. The sun had only just began to lighten the sky, but he expected to see an early riser, or a horse, or hear a rooster crow. Aside from the clinking and clacking of his and Castle’s armor, there was not a sound to be heard. The pains in his stomach had begun to subside, and he was walking without difficulty by the time they reached a gate. Mim stepped away at one point, though Castle and Ruckus seemed to pay her departure little mind. There were no guards at the gate.

“So, uh, I’ve never been to this town before, but I didn’t think it’d be so…empty. What’d you two do?” Bill said. Ruckus chuckled.

“We a been marchin’ a long time with’em dead boys, so ah needed bit’o somethin’ ta keepa goin’,” he said. He held up his forearm bearing the black gauntlet. “Justa lil’ somethin’ for tha’ road.”

“I can’t really understand anything you say,” Bill said.

“What our scrappy ally means to imply is simply that we have been separated from means of sustenance for our ever-hungry dark cohorts and needed to renew them lest their sway over our better judgment prove to be overpowering,” Castle said.

“Oh, the weapons. So it makes you go out of your way to kill for it?” Bill said.

“Yes Kuru is a fickle beast with no limits to its needs though it can be said that it at least offers some benefits or rather gifts as a reward for one’s loyalty.”

“You call it Kuru also? I thought that was just the name mine had.”

“It is the name they all give as they are treacherous beasts that you should never truly trust and though you are new to this bond the first thing you must learn is to avoid letting it control you at all costs as there is no knowing what it may do once freed.”

“I’ll try to remember that,” Bill said, looking down. Mim caught up to the group carrying a large, wide backpack with several wooden tubes bundled at its top. “What’s all that?” Bill asked.

“Mine,” Mim said.