I’d drunk just enough yesterday evening that I had a disturbed night’s sleep. When I first awoke, it was the dead of night, not even a hint of light in the sky outside the cramped room’s window. The room was so dark that I couldn’t even see Lore on the other cot, and strangely there was none of his usual snoring. I tried to ignore a full bladder and get back to sleep, but it was uncomfortable enough that I eventually realised it was a futile effort. I rose, stumbled down the hallway to the shared bathroom, trying my best not to creak the floorboards and wake anyone else up.

  I couldn’t resist a sigh of relief as I emptied my bladder, though I immediately regretted making noise. From the sounds of movement down the hallway, towards the rooms where the others were sleeping, I’d probably already disturbed some of them. I was quiet as I went back to my room, Lore’s snoring still absent—maybe he was sleeping lightly too—and after another half an hour or so, I drifted back to sleep.

  * * *

  The second time I awoke, I saw the faint silhouette of a woman standing over me.

  Groggily, I snapped my hand to the dagger I kept under my pillow, and whipped it towards them. But the woman’s own hand snapped down to block me.

  ‘It’s me,’ the figure said.

  ‘Val?’

  There was a pause. ‘Raelas.’

  ‘Oh,’ I whispered, putting the dagger down and wiping the sleep from my eyes. ‘Sorry.’

  Raelas remained quiet, then took a seat on the end of my bed. ‘Lore here?’ she finally asked.

  I squinted through the darkness at his bed, and where he should have been. I hadn’t considered this as a possibility. ‘Not sure. Maybe not. Why? And… why are you here?’

  ‘I… thought I heard something.’

  It was my turn to pause. ‘OK? What kind of thing?’

  ‘Something… I don’t know, wrong?’

  ‘So you came to me for reassurance?’ I retorted. ‘It’s probably just some stranger in another room. People have weird snores.’ I glanced over at Lore, or where he should have been. ‘Trust me.’

  ‘Reassurance? Sure, if you’re offering. It is just me in my room if you want to—’

  ‘No,’ I answered, quickly, but maybe not as quickly as I should have done.

  At least there wasn’t any time for Raelas to read into that moment of hesitation, because suddenly there was a noise coming from down the hallway. A noise that was animalistic, almost. A noise that was human, but not. A noise that I could only describe as… wrong.

  ‘That noise,’ Raelas said.

  We rose from the bed and stuck our heads out the door, looking down the hallway towards the source of the noise. Towards, I realised, Carle and Ama’s room. Down the hallway, between us and the noise, two more doors opened. Corminar stuck his head out of one, and Val and Arzak the other. Both of the women seemed immediately more interested in Raelas being stood next to me than they were in the strange noises coming from Ama’s room. This was going to be A Thing, but there was no time to deal with it now.

  ‘Ama…’ Raelas breathed.

  I took a step out the door, towards Ama and Carle’s room, when suddenly their door creaked open. It took me a moment for my eyes to adjust enough to the low light to see who it was, but then again the large frame should have been enough of an indication.

  ‘Carle?’ Raelas asked. ‘What’s…’

  The warrior took a step forward without speaking, then gently closed the door behind him, turning a key in the lock. His voice was calm and measured when he finally did speak, but it was artificially so. ‘It’s Ama,’ he said.

  I felt Raelas tense at my side. ‘What’s happened? Do we need Alenna?’

  ‘I think…’ Carle started, then drew in a deep breath. ‘I think it’s too late for that.’

  A chill ran down my spine.

  ‘What do you mean, too late? What do you—’ Raelas started, but abrupt cut off when someone—something—pounded the door behind Carle.

  ‘She’s turned, Rae. The doctor failed.’

  ‘What do you mean?’ the tiefling replied, shaking her head. ‘I saw her last night. She was fine. She was on the mend.’

  Carle took another step back when Ama pounded on the door once more, and only now did I realise he’d brought his sword out the room with him. ‘Alenna used magicks to heal her,’ the warrior said. ‘I saw those magicks fade. A blue glow. A ward, if I’m not mistaken. And when those magicks did fade, then…’

  Ama pounded on the door once more, harder this time, shaking the wood hard enough that I thought the hinges were about to give way.

  Raelas gulped, and croaked, ‘You’re saying we have to kill her.’

  ‘No. I’m saying she’s already dead.’

  The door shook once more. And again. And again. Each time, the door seemed like it was going to come crashing down. It held, but I could see that it was splintering even in this low light. Other doors started opening at this racket, the noise waking people from their slumbers. They poked their heads out of the doors, looking angrily on.

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  ‘Just what is the—’ one of them started.

  ‘Get out,’ I said. When they hesitated, I raise my voice, bellowing. ‘Get out!’

  Carle and Ama’s door shook once more, and this time, it fell.

  We saw Ama’s silhouette standing in the doorway, and even in the shadows I could see that something was very, very wrong. I could see the beginnings of ooze dripping from her fingertips. I could see her jaw hanging open. When she took her first step out the room, I could see that the movement was clumsy, as though she was learning to walk all over again.

  Corminar reacted first.

  He raised his bow, firing an arrow into the creature that was once Ama. It caused her to stagger backwards, but of course it wasn’t enough—we needed fire to defeat corruption like this. It bought us only a few seconds.

  ‘Val,’ I said, whipping my head to her. ‘Get everyone out.’

  She seemed surprised. ‘Me?’

  ‘Yes, you.’ Maybe it was a selfish order. Maybe I wanted her out of harm’s way. This cramped hallway was no place to fight a monster like this; chances were someone was going to get hurt. But maybe we didn’t need to fight here. I called after Val, ‘Get them far away, alright? I’m going to take this fight outside.’

  The witch nodded, then began ushering the onlookers out of the inn, shouting at them where necessary.

  Arzak, ever fearless, charged the figure we’d once called Ama. I hoped I didn’t have to remind her that she couldn’t let Ama touch her—it was the usual malae rule. As Arzak approach, Carle jumped to one side, pressing himself against the wall and giving the orc ample space to get past. Too much space, really, so I wasn’t sure what that meant he thought about her.

  The orc brought her twos arcing down in front of her, and the enemy made no effort to block them. The blades wedged themselves in a shoulder each, and Ama looked down at one of them before flicking her hand. At this flick, Arzak’s two swords shot backwards down the hallway, almost catching Corminar as he raised his bow.

  ‘We’re taking this out of here,’ I told Raelas, but she’d frozen, paling at my side. I turned and grabbed her by the shoulders, looking into her eyes. ‘Your friend is gone. I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry, but there isn’t time for grieving now. You understand?’

  Raelas blinked up at me. ‘She… took blades to the shoulders.’

  ‘She did, yes. Now, move.’

  ‘She’s not that strong,’ the tiefling breathed. It was as though she preferred to linger on this impossibility than face the truth—that Ama was dead.

  ‘She is now,’ I said, turning away. Raelas was too stunned; I was going to need to do this myself.

  Ama staggered out of her room, enraged by Arzak’s attack. The orc stumbled backwards, then reached towards me. ‘Swords!’ she shouted. ‘Get swords to me!’

  She meant for me to portal them over to her, but I wasn’t going to do that. Ama had touched those blades, which meant that the corruption could still be lingering on them; we’d need to engulf them in fire before the orc used them again.

  So instead Arzak turned and ran, and the monster charged after her, notably ignoring Carle, who was still pressed up against the wall.

  I pressed one hand forward and opened a portal just in front of Ama, dumping her into the sky thirty yards above the inn. At the same time, I opened a portal behind me, which I stepped through to come out onto the empty street. The faintest glow of twilight’s arrival silhouetted the falling monster, and I opened another portal beneath Ama to launch her back into the air once more, giving my tends enough time to step out the portal at my side.

  But this particular corruption knew something of portals. Perhaps it retained some of Ama’s memories, and remembered my magicks from before. Whatever the reason, it meant that Ama flicked her wrist and tore a metal drainpipe from the tavern, launching it towards herself and knocking her out of the way of the portal. She landed hard on the cobbled streets, but rose to her feet near-instantly, the landing having done little damage.

  This corruption really was strong. Stronger than the man in the courtyard, even.

  I steeled myself for a tougher fight than before as my friends stepped out the portal.

  In the same moment, Ama flicked her wrist once more. She raised the metal drainpipe from the ground, and she brought it within arm’s reach. At her touch, she imbued it with the corruption of the malae.

  Then she launched it.