The girl’s grey pelt had been cut like a legless, sleeveless jumpsuit, with the bottom half of the creature’s jaw covering the lower half of her face, while the upper half had been pulled back like a hood, exposing the top of her head. Her dark brown hair had been hacked short with reckless abandon, leaving a choppy mess that stuck out all over the place in inconsistent lengths. Her arms and legs were deeply tanned, corded with lean muscle, and covered in tattoo-like red triangles in neat, uniform rows, all pointing ‘out’ towards her hands and feet. On her face, only three long, narrow triangles were visible, one larger one in the centre of her forehead pointing down, with two smaller ones on either side of it pointing up.

Her deep amber eyes took them in one by one before falling on the fallen alber, which she strode towards without any sign of fear of the three strangers. Her footsteps made no sound, despite rolling over dry twigs and leaves with some haste.

Most intriguing about her, naturally, was the longbow that had to be taller than she was slung over her shoulder. It seemed to be made up of two wide black limbs tied together by a smaller handle at the centre, and its string was the same twinkling diamond thread as Rena’s shortbow. There was no sign of any arrows on her person.

“Greetings, Bowmaiden,” Valerie said, watching the girl passively. “Are you alone out here?”

The girl glanced at her, eyes narrowed. “Yeah,” she said. Her voice was surprisingly smooth and clear. Lucas had been half expecting her to be some kind of feral child who hadn’t spoken a word in her life, which was maybe a bit rude of him.

“I see. Is there a settlement in this forest or somewhere nearby?”

“No,” the girl said. She grabbed the alber that had to be twice her size by its four leggs and heaved it over her shoulders as if it weighed no more than a pillow.

“We’ve been tracking that creature all day,” Valerie said.

The girl gave her a disdainful glance and started walking away, heading for the treeline on the other side of the clearing.

Wick chose that moment to move forward, and Lucas followed him. They ended up in a line, watching the girl walk off with the meat they’d been looking forward to for hours.

“Are we actually going to let her just steal our kill?” Lucas asked.

“She isn’t stealing anything,” Wick said. “She was the one who took the creature down. And we didn’t claim it.”

“Still seems a bit rude,” Lucas said.

“I dislike leaving a child alone in such a remote location,” Valerie said. “I had hoped there was some village nearby that hadn’t been marked on the map. It’s a common enough occurrence. But if it’s as she says, the nearest known settlement is over a week’s journey from here.”

“These solitary types are not uncommon in the countryside,” Wick said with a frown.

“And they do not survive long,” Valerie said. “Living alone in the forest is a compelling story but it should have gone out of fashion a hundred years ago. Beasts have made it too dangerous for even those who can live off the land perfectly well.”

“What do we do, then?” Lucas said.

“Follow,” Valerie said.

“And if she attacks?” Wick said.

“I will subdue her,” Valerie said.

“Don’t kill her,” Lucas said quickly.

Valerie looked at him with a cool expression. “I see I haven’t made a good impression on you with some of my previous actions,” she said after an uncomfortable moment. “But allow me to assure you I would not kill a teenage girl because I was concerned about her living alone in a forest.”

Lucas winced. “Right. Sorry. So, after her?”

Valerie nodded.

Easier said than done. The girl left no sign of her passing, and her silent movement made her impossible to pinpoint even when relying on Jamie’s senses. There was little whatever skills she deployed could do about Lucas’ pyromantic sense, though, and he was able to pick up the remnants of body heat that lingered in her wake—the heat signatures did fade remarkably quickly, but not quick enough.

They caught sight of her again a few minutes later as she ghosted through the forest, clearly familiar with the area. She noticed them immediately, stopping to turn and glare at them. However, she made no particular effort to throw them off her trail. She kept moving at the same pace, walking mostly in a straight line, only diverting to pick her way around obstacles like bushes and large tree roots.

Before long, she arrived at her destination: hidden among the roots of a giant oak was a small shack constructed from wooden poles, walled with mud, and thatched with fronds. Judging by the verdure of the fronds, Lucas thought it couldn’t have been constructed too long ago. A fire pit rested a few metres away from the shack, and she dropped the alber on a wide, flat stone beside it before disappearing into the shack. There was a roofed rack to one side, with improvised tools hanging up. Another roofed area was full to the brim with firewood.

Lucas and Wick exchanged looks, while Valerie inspected the campsite with thin lips.

“Can we take this as confirmation she’s out here alone, or?” Lucas asked.

“There’s no sign of other mana signatures,” Valerie said. “And this… camp isn’t big enough to serve more than one person. Yes, she’s alone.”

“Yeah,” Lucas said. “So what’s the plan here, exactly? Convince her to leave? I get the impression she probably has an independent streak.”

Before Valerie could reply, the girl reemerged from her shack and stomped up to them. She stopped a metre away, staring at Lucas with an intimidatingly intense level of scrutiny, but said nothing.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“Uh, hello?” Lucas said, giving her a little wave.

“You speak Raeli and they speak Mornish, but they understand you,” she said, eyes narrowing. Valerie and Wick snapped their gazes to him.

Lucas’ heart dropped. He’d already buggered up the whole "don't reveal the translation magic” thing after meeting just one person. “Magic,” he said with an awkward smile, resolving to never talk again in his life.

The girl nodded, accepting that. Thankfully. “You do not look like a Raelar. I was confused. I did not know magic could do this, but I do not know much about magic.”

“I’m hardly an expert either,” Lucas said.

The girl’s eyes flicked downwards. “Your hand is on fire,” she said dully.

“It is,” Lucas admitted.

“Doesn’t it hurt?”

“Barely notice it at this point, to be honest. Tickles a little.”

She squinted at him. “How do you use a bow with your hand on fire?”

“Not very well.” At her unimpressed expression, he hastened to add, “The bow’s string is special. It doesn’t burn.”

The girl nodded sagely.

Wick and Valerie had been watching their conversation blankly, so Lucas asked, “You speak Mornish, right?”

“I speak Mornish,” the girl confirmed. Valerie’s attention sharpened, leading Lucas to assume the girl had indeed switched language. It all sounded like English to him.

“May we ask your name, Bowmaiden?” Valerie asked, and Lucas inwardly cursed himself for not thinking of that. Had his social skills atrophied that much?

“Aly,” she said.

“Well met, Aly,” Wick rumbled. “I am Shieldmaster Wick, and this is Star James and Swordmaiden Valerie.”

Lucas shot the shieldmaster a glare. Did he think he was funny?

Aly grunted, squinting at Wick briefly before turning her attention to Valerie.

“Well met,” Valerie agreed. “Do you know this area well, Aly?”

“I have lived around here a long time,” Aly said neutrally.

“And you know the way to local towns?”

“Yes.”

“Would you be interested in taking on a commission? We’re not lost, per se, but it would help us immensely if you could show us the fastest route to the nearest settlement.”

“I know things. People in white armour and blue cloaks are said to be good.” She scowled. “Why is yours dark?”

“There is magic woven into the threads of our cloaks,” Valerie said. “We’re supposed to recharge it with our own mana after we make use of that magic, but I am unfortunately incapable.”

“Why?”

Valerie smiled grimly. “A personal failing on my part.”

Aly nodded at that. She pulled the ‘hood’ of her pelt up so it covered the top of her head. Only her eyes were left visible, twinkling pools of amber peeking out from between the fanged jaws of some bear-like creature. “I know failing,” she said, oddly solemn. “Why do you come from the north? The animals are afraid of things that way.”

“We’re returning from a quest,” Valerie said. “There was a large pack of beasts marauding around in the countryside having gotten past the frontlines, and we went to deal with them.”

The lie was so smooth Lucas almost believed it himself for a moment.

“Hm. There are many beasts around here, too.” She eyed their group. “You lost your Wand and Bow?”

Wick stiffened, his jaw clenching.

“The north is dangerous,” Valerie said with a sorrowful nod.

Wick’s eyes burned with indignation, but thankfully he said nothing.

“I am sorry,” Aly said. “Losing friends is sad.”

“Yes,” Wick said stiffly.

Aly watched them for a moment, then turned on her heel and strode over to her tool shack. Withdrawing a knife, she approached the alber and crouched beside it. “What do you offer?” she asked, brandishing her knife.

Lucas forced himself to watch as she stuck her knife into the alber’s torso and sawed it down all the way to the carcass’ crotch. Blood gushed out, staining her hands. She barely seemed to notice, going about the grim task with practised efficiency. In moments, she had the alber’s skin halfway peeled back from its torso, and began working on the legs.

It was unpleasant, bloody business, but Lucas knew he’d have to get used to sights like this. To blood and gore in general. He told himself that he’d been living off the product of acts like this his entire life, and it would be pathetic to baulk at it only when the reality was in his face. Still, he decided to give himself a little leeway; this was literally the first time he’d seen a dead animal.

Images of Jyn’s final moments flashed into his mind, and he pushed them away with every ounce of determination he had. Thinking about that would do him no good.

Valerie had been talking while he was zoned out. He was vaguely aware the girl had gruffly rejected coin in favour of material goods, and Valerie was now trying to impress on her that coin could buy whatever material goods she wanted.

“No,” Aly said with a shake of her head. “People give me different prices. I know this. Only the farmer treats me like I’m not a fool, but he doesn’t have much I need.”

In fairness, Lucas thought she had a good point, if it was true. And he had no reason to think she was lying; if anything, he was inclined to believe it out of hand. He was no cynic, but he was aware there were plenty of people out there who’d take advantage of someone they saw as dim-witted, and there were few people more looked down on than wild types like Aly.

Hell, he’d even done it, getting all surprised when he heard her speak clearly. Asshole that he was.

“So you wish us to buy you goods equal to the value of the coin we’d pay you?” Valerie asked.

Aly nodded.

“So be it,” Valerie said, her face studiously blank. “Will two pieces of silver be acceptable?”

Lucas eyed her. Valerie had explained to him that the monetary system worked in multiples of ten. Ten bronze coins to one silver, and ten silver coins to one gold. (It had apparently been ye olde Britain level of confusing before Claire bullied the economy into being more practical.) Valerie had apparently offered eight silver to accompany her to Pentaburgh. Two silver to show them to the nearest town seemed excessive.

So it was all the more surprising when Aly shook her head absently, focused on peeling away the alber’s skin off its legs. “My current task pays well, and it is important. I need more than that to delay it.”

“Your current task?” Valerie prompted. Evidently, this hadn’t been mentioned thus far.

“I scout,” Aly said with a grunt as she managed to pull the alber’s skin on its rump away from a tough bit of connective tissue. “People say there is unusual beast activity nearby, so they pay me to find it.”

“You’re hunting beasts on your own?” Wick spoke up, alarm in his voice.

Aly paused to squint at him. “I do not fight beasts, just find them and tell people about them.”

“Unusual beast activity?” Valerie prompted, frowning.

Aly shrugged. “More of them than usual. More attacks, more missing people. Townsfolk want to know the numbers so they know what to do about it. They pay me to find out.”

Valerie’s frown deepened. “Tell me all you know, Bowmaiden.”