Chapter 98: The Feast
They began walking toward the settlement’s center.
Where the residents were already preparing something.
Nathan and Liaraen arrived at the settlement’s center approximately at the indicated time.
The central plaza had been prepared with care. A long wooden table extended across nearly the entire width of the clearing. Benches on both sides. Oil lamps hung from ropes stretched between nearby trees, producing an amber light that fell over everything with the warmth of a small village celebration.
The residents were already there. Approximately twenty people. All dressed in slightly more formal clothes than the day before. All with soft smiles. All moving around the table with the natural activity of a community preparing something important.
None of the afternoon’s expressionlessness.
None of the strange synchronization.
Just a village feast.
Nathan noticed and didn’t let himself be fooled.
With passive Soul Sense active. With his eyes scanning every face. With a smile but with his left hand near his belt where he could activate skills without gesturing. The sword at his belt in the discreet sheath Lord Erenn had prepared for use in the human kingdom. His right hand hanging casually but near the hilt.
Yorel saw them enter and approached.
With his host’s broad smile.
"Hunter Voss. Lady Liaraen. We were waiting for you. Come. The honor seats are at the table’s center."
"I appreciate the invitation," Nathan replied.
They approached the seats.
All the residents moved to their places.
They sat down.
Yorel stood at the table’s head. He raised his hands upward. And with a clear voice:
"Friends. Today we have guests who brought us two gifts. The first, the elimination of the Drakain that were stalking the burned area. The second, meat from the meat tree for our table. We’re going to eat together and give thanks."
The residents nodded.
All at the same time.
Nathan noticed.
*Synchronization again.*
*Good.*
Yorel sat down.
And the dishes began to be distributed.
---
The food on the table was different from what Nathan had expected.
Not just tree meat. There was soup. Stews. Cooked vegetables with herbs. Breads. And a large pitcher of local wine that a resident began pouring into everyone’s cups.
Nathan looked at his plate.
Thick soup. With vegetables cut into small cubes. With a dense broth that had the aroma of nearby forest herbs. Beside it, the tree meat roasted with spices.
Yorel tasted his soup first.
The other residents also began to eat.
Normally.
With hunger.
With the soft laughter expected from a typical rural feast.
Nathan waited a minute.
Then he tasted a small portion of the meat.
It tasted good. Firm texture. Flavor between venison and chicken with a sweet undertone.
He raised his spoon to taste the soup.
Soul Sense reacted.
With the small but clear signature he’d learned to recognize over the past few months. The specific signature he’d detected in the dungeon.
Poison.
Nathan lowered the spoon.
Without changing his expression.
Without visibly turning to Liaraen.
With his voice calibrated to normal conversation volume.
"Sprout. The moon tonight is clear."
Liaraen stopped with the bread halfway to her mouth.
Her posture didn’t change.
Her face didn’t change.
Only her pale green eyes moved quickly toward Nathan and back to her plate.
And with her equally calibrated voice:
"It’s clear. Yes."
Yorel, at the table’s head, looked at both of them.
A minimal tension that Nathan recognized as that of someone who’d been waiting to see if the guest was going to eat or not going to eat.
Nathan smiled with his cynical smile.
He looked at the soup.
Then at Yorel.
"Yorel."
"Yes, Hunter Voss."
"The soup has an unusual aroma."
"Unusual?"
"Yes. Aromas I don’t recognize. What herbs did you use?"
Yorel stopped for half a second.
Then he spoke with his recovered voice.
"Local herbs. From those that grow near the tree. Particular aromas."
"I see."
Nathan moved the spoon around the soup. Without bringing it to his mouth. Simulating the curious examination of an interested guest.
And at that exact moment, without warning, all the residents at the table stopped eating at the same time.
The forks.
The spoons.
The cups.
Everything stopped.
And all heads turned toward Nathan.
With perfect synchronization.
With total expressionlessness.
With their eyes fixed on him.
---
Nathan put the spoon on the table.
Very slowly.
And with a calm voice.
"Yorel."
"Yes."
"What did you put in the soup?"
Yorel stood still.
With the only completely human expression on the entire table.
He looked at the surrounding residents.
The residents didn’t move. Not their heads, not their eyes. All remained fixed on Nathan.
Yorel turned to Nathan with visible pallor on his face.
"Hunter Voss. I don’t know."
"You don’t know?"
"No. The soup was prepared by the others. I didn’t participate."
"Yorel."
"I didn’t participate. I swear it."
Nathan quickly assessed him with Soul Sense.
And noticed what he’d been overlooking all afternoon.
*Yorel is different.*
*His signature is clean.*
*All the other residents have something. A strange signature. A layer over the normal human signature. Almost like a second presence within them.*
*And that second presence matches.*
*It’s the same in all of them.*
*It’s a single thing.*
*Distributed among the residents.*
*As if.*
Nathan processed it.
*As if something is inside them, controlling them.*
Liaraen had already stood up.
With the green sword halfway out of its sheath. With her combat posture. And with her pale green eyes evaluating the entire scene.
"Nathan."
"Yes."
"It’s a parasite."
"What?"
"A parasite. In all of them. The extra signature you probably detected with Soul Sense."
"I detected it."
— It is a greater parasite. One of those from the ancient cycle. Elven treatises document them as deep-forest species that take up residence in organisms with regenerative properties, using their bodies as hosts and sources of energy.
The residents didn’t respond.
They simply continued with their eyes fixed on Nathan. With the stillness of waiting.
And then another resident spoke. With a different voice. But with the same cadence. With the same neutral tone.