“Have you heard any more news from Lati?” Elyza spoke, biting into the salted meat strip she held, the touch of her saliva unlocking the explosion of spices forced within it. She looked at her partner, sitting opposite to her, his cloak cushioning the rough movement of the carriage, resting his eyes.
His hand delved into his shadow, his brow falling to meet his nose, putting his full focus on the task, before yelping, cutting off the sound with a rageful yell, “NO CAKE ON YOUR BIRTHDAY, YOU DAMNED, SCALY TROGLODYTE.” The words would have been more impactful if Alex hadn’t started smiling halfway through them, his hand gripping onto a neatly folded paper, a small bite mark on his index finger.
As he unfurled the paper with a snap of his wrist, he carefully read it whole before speaking. “The beastmen have reached the capital… around three days after we left, which is pretty fucking fast, even with a martial escort,” He recapped, taking another look at the paper before continuing, “Most of what they told us on the day seems to collaborate with what they’re telling the Guild, and Lati’s taking point of getting the families situated in the neighbouring farms, with an unknown, and extremely philanthropic financier. For some reason, I also picture him as unconventionally attractive.”
Even without him grinning through the last sentence, there was no doubt in Elyza’s mind who he was talking about, her entire body sighing impulsively as her partner added, “The orphans fall under the patronship of Artemis, but I have enough leeway with both Lady Diana and the organisation to get them settled in my own place of upbringing. Hopefully, the sea air will give them some peace, and Lady Callisto won’t be too disappointed that I didn’t visit with them.”
“Let us pray that none of them turn out as you did, especially Nadia,” She remarked, a smile playing on her lips as she took another bite of the jerky.
“Technically,” Alex retorted without any hesitation, “I’m not the worst person they can become, since Red was at the orphanage for way longer than I was.”
“Have they found any connection to the Temple?”
“Mmm,” He raised his finger, clarifying, “We can’t say that there exists one, yet. As far as we know, the priest was acting on his own volition, but I can’t be too sure, and I don’t trust anyone else to do it properly. We’ll have to conduct our own independent investigation when we get back to the capital, which is saying something, since around… half of Luminae worships, or at least works under someone associated with Hera.”
Alex held out an open hand towards her, stopping her from devouring the last morsel of her snack, and instead sighing as she tossed it towards her partner. He caught it with ease, the meat falling directly into his mouth. His spine slammed into the carriage’s wall as he settled into his seat again, a grin spread across his face as he chewed, floating a wink across the wagon.
Elyza sighed at his flourish, her partner asking as he cracked his fingers, “Anything else you're curious about?”
Her mouth had barely opened when her ears picked up the flutter of wings, her eyes jumping to the back of the carriage to see a crow peering at them. Its talons etched claws into the wooden plank as it plopped into a roost, a deep caw escaping its black beak as its beady eyes locked onto her, its head tilting to a side. It was big for a crow, its inky feathers reflecting a vivid combination of purples, blues, and dark greens, as if oil had spilled over them.
“Alex,” She began, her head tilting towards him as she whispered, “You see that giant crow too, correct?”
“I believe that may be a raven,” Her partner replied, his hand delving into his pouch and returning with some more jerky wrapped in grease paper, tossing a strand of meat towards her and the bird.
As it snapped up the treat, its wings unfurled to let her glance at the pointed tips, and a sigh escaped her lips as she agreed with her partner, “I can not believe I missed that.”
“Well, we’re in the middle of a forest, so a crow would be a rarity, that, and…” Before Alex could continue, the raven left their company, the flutter of its wings booming as it fell backwards and flew above the carriage. “I think I’ve met that one before.”
“You remember individual birds…” Elyza remarked, the words almost sounding normal considering who she was talking to.
“Of course not, I’m not that deranged,” A smile sprawling across his face to match the slight one on hers, adding, “I just… my gut seems to be saying that I’ve seen that one before, and it has mixed feelings about what comes next.”
“What comes next?” She asked, concern lacing her voice, the memories of his vague words haunting her still.
“Don’t worry about it,” Made it worse, and as she prayed he didn’t say the next thing, her partner remarked, “It’s probably nothing, but my mind making up negative possibilities of the future, based on easily recurring patterns.”
A groan escaped her, Elyza wincing at his theatrics, “You know fully what this is going to lead to, do you not?”
Alex let out a chuckle like when someone finally catches their grandpa’s lie, “Eighty percent of me says yes, the rest is currently preparing to be captured by a coven of witches again.”
“Does that happen often enough for you to have a plan ready?” She asked, her mind temporarily distracted by kernels of his past.
“If words flow from your mouth like coins from a fool’s coffer, then the answer is – More than it has any right to,” He answered, for once shame apparent in his words.
Shaking her head, her question was cut by bangs echoing within the wagon, the farmer whose generosity they were relying upon for the day shouting back at them, “This is the farthest I can take you! Just follow the other road to the town.”
As their feet settled against the clay floor, the carriage had already started its journey again, leaving the two to stare at the path before them. Roots of the canopies flanking them tried in earnest to invade the road, the light brown bark making only a quarter of the way inwards, completely covered by the shade of the branches that blanketed the sky. Bright ivy green stood against the light teal, patches of milky white scattered between the maple leaves, barely any bark obscuring them, the windows allowing her to gaze at the sky.
“Do you know how long we need to walk?” She asked her partner, stretching her back to let her spine unwind, the soft cracks disturbing a tit from its slumber from a nearby nest.
Alex closed his eyes, causing his face to scrunch up as he acted as if in deep thought, his head turning to one side then the other as he tried to align his mental map with their surroundings. Starting to move before revealing what he had learned, the leaves drying on the road made no crunch as he walked over them. A warmth flowing over her just as his mouth opened, “Should be around five minutes, especially with no threats around… for once.”
And so she followed, walking with him on the side of the road, the rhythm of her steps unconsciously matching his. They stopped twice, once for her to pick up some fruit of a peach tree growing behind the line of maples, and another to let her partner pick up a bunch of flowers for his pellets of motion sickness, rolling them into a cylinder before stuffing them in his pouch. Even with the interruptions, her own count returned with four minutes in her mind, as the two stood in front of the town’s entrance. They had to quickly shift to the side to let a carriage past them, their poses thankfully unnoticed by the villagers, allowing Elyza a moment to read the sign hanging above.
Moving over the words, the image in her eyes came up with one question, “Were we not supposed to go to Cornith?” She asked as her hand pointed up towards the words ‘Nicaea’ proudly carved into the wood and highlighted with yellow paint.
For a moment, her partner had a look of confusion over his face, but it was quickly covered up as his mind came up with an explanation. “Interesting,” He began, a hand stroking his chin, “Seems to me that since both my map and the Guild’s were created around half a decade ago, we missed knowing the town finally decided to change its name from Cornith to something more fitting after the whole revolution ordeal. It’s pretty out of the way, so it makes sense they’re waiting till the next census to deal with the bureaucracy.”
She would have been satisfied with the answer, but her partner kept talking, “But, there is a chance I read the map upside down, again.” Before she could roll her eyes, Alex nodded towards a building close by, people not loitering around the front this early in the day, “We should probably ask the tavern over there to confirm then.”
Her eyes were immediately pulled to the large crow nesting on the sign with a keg of ale painted upon it, and it took her a moment to recognise it, the moment collapsing as soon as its beady eyes stared into hers with curiosity. “Alex… is that the same raven.”
“Yup.”
“I do believe you will not tell me the implication of this coincidence.”
“You’d be proven right, because the situation has become slightly more complicated.”
Elyza sighed, her partner’s grin turning wider as she calmly remarked, “Nothing is ever not complicated when it concerns you.”
Walking towards the tavern’s door, the two were watched by the bird, and as Elyza reached for the handle, Alex grabbed her arm. He said nothing, his eyes more interested in the raven, squinting at it as it did the same at him. The bird spit out a cry, the sound echoing even through the busy street, but the act just made her partner squint harder at the raven, still looking for something more. As it cawed once more, he let go of her, sighing in response to the animal.
“Ears,” He began, stretching his arm, “Try to stay out of the way, unless you think I need help, of course.”
“Just… tell me about things that may endanger our lives next time,” She remarked, a thought to her hand releasing her halberd from its form and into her hand.
“Trust me, she won’t be any threat to you, unless you get the eye.” Reaching towards the handle, he hesitated for a moment, her fingers twitching in the air, sparks jumping in between the two.
He turned his right ear towards the door, the electric surge on his fingertips dissipating, his instruction clear as he whispered to her, “Step away from the door.”
Elyza did as he asked, glancing up at the raven to see if it was willing to reveal what it knew, only to find it gone. Her partner’s breath rattled against her ears, only the wind unafraid of what was to come, its whispers standing out against the quickly emptying street.
The words Alex muttered under his breath worried her, “Here we go again…” but as the crack of wood flooded her mind, before she could turn to see what he had done, she saw a hammer head whose face was as big as his facing her. Surprise adorned her partner’s face, yet he had already jumped far enough, his soles dragging dust upwards as he landed. His xiphos poked out from his cloak, and as he unsheathed his dagger, the sword fell into his grip, both blades raised in a defensive stance, the shorter perpendicular to the longer, aiming to guard his midsection.
“Hello again, you rat,” Her partner remarked with a smile, lightning jumping from his arms to his weapons, enveloping the two in a veil of glowing purple.
His words were directed at the armour clad figure who had burst through the door of the tavern, the inky black plates that protected them, shining purple under the blue sky. They looked like a knight in shining armour, without the horse, their helm covering their face so that only the eyes could be seen. The neck of the armlet had been made to look similar to a tiger’s mane, painted red to stand out against the metallic ink that surrounded it. As they lifted something hidden beneath their chestplate, Elyza saw a lotus and a chakra threaded by a copper string, bringing the bendant up to their head to pray.
Alex seemed to give the paladin the benefit of doubt, not immediately rushing forward to capitalise on the distraction. Through the metal helm, echoed a voice that dripped with command and richness as it spoke, “Greetings, you bastard.”
“We have the same deal?” Her partner asked, and as he did, the paladin rushed him. Rising in the air, the black metal of the hammer gleamed in the sun, the staff which it sat on extending to hit its mark. The weapon shattered the ground where it struck, shards of earth snapping upwards, forcing Alex to go defensive.
As he deflected some fragments with his dagger, the paladin instantly flicked the hammer into his chest, the head finding itself stopped by his sword, the impact still sending her partner flying into the building behind. “I believe this might be the day it ends,” The paladin remarked, her hand turning to the broken road, and the splinters of rock floated towards her, jutting together to forge spears that hovered in a circle around her.
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Dust plumed from the point of impact, somehow the building not crumbling under the mass that had been lodged within it, but the wind of the street seemed not to falter the cloud. Instead, it creeped further, its volume increasing till the smoke smothered everything in a five-metre radius. It was Alex’s doing, that much she could guess, and it was confirmed in the next second, the crackle of lightning burst through the area. It was coalescing in the centre of the dust, a purple glow swirling within it, its ferocity calming till it hummed with charge.
“Doesn’t seem characteristic of you to be this overconfident, Bee” His voice rang out, before the lightning streaked forward with targeted intent, even her eyes that she had trained to keep up with the spell struggling to spot him.
Yet, it was able to trace its path, and he didn’t seem to be focusing on the paladin. His feet slid on the dirt, friction failing him, but he turned on a dime, appearing suddenly next to the lady. He struck with his xiphos, aiming at the few slots there were in the armour. But even with his speed, the paladin was able to parry the strike with the shaft of her hammer, yanking the rod down to catch the blade.
She did, but shadows jumped from beneath them to grab the xiphos, as their master was pushed backwards by the accompanying tentacles. “You thought that would work again?” The paladin’s voice was playful this time, unfitting for one who had fought with Nemo before.
“The last time I used that was half a decade ago,” Alex rebutted, his xiphos returning to his hand, and immediately being rested on his shoulder.
“Yield.” The paladin commanded, all the spears surrounding her transferring their focus on her partner, and he just smirked.
“If the old ways won’t work…” Her partner remarked, flames rising around him, emanating from his right hand, covering his arm in fire. An inferno blazed up around him, forming a sphere, and it seemed to alarm the paladin, as the spears instantly shot forward towards him. It was a spell Elyza had never seen from him before, but it was a spell she knew was impossible. The grasp Alex held over his fire could never extend from his body, meaning this was an illusion.
The sphere seemed to deflect the rocks hurtling towards him, the spears disintegrating into pebbles under the flames, but she could see his blades swatting them aside. Her eyes were already working to deconstruct everything they could see, letting her spot the inconsistencies in vision that came from a lapse in focus, and immediately something stood out. His shadow was still there, even under the onslaught of illuminance from the flame.
It was too obvious, it had to be a red herring, and she could see the paladin notice it too, shifting her grip around the warhammer in preparation of a sneak attack. She was right, another Alex appeared from behind her, springing up from her shadow, his dagger raised to embed itself into the paladin’s neck. The lady shifted her weight to twirl, extending her hammer to plough into his body, increasing her speed so that it was nigh impossible to dodge. “Got you,” the paladin muttered out, knowing her weapon would hit.
The head went straight through his body, which dissolved into the air, and she could envision the grin on her partner’s face instantly. Both hers, and the paladin’s attention shifted back towards the sphere of fire, which had dropped to allow Alex to stare her down with an arrow pointed right at her. She was proven right, a grin adorning his face, as the two realised there was no way to stop what was coming. “Did you?”
His finger’s unleashed the string, and the arrow did not leap forward, it zapped, the projectile shrouded in purple lightning as it slammed into the paladin’s chest. The girl was thrown into the same spot he had been moments earlier, and this time her partner did not let the opportunity pass by, his body turned into a bolt of lightning. Materialising back into a physical form, he crouched over the paladin, his voice flaunting his smugness as he spoke, “This makes it… what? Ten years of fighting, and still only one win over me?”
Before she could take a step towards them, shadows erupted around her, dragging her through the ground till she stood next to her partner. “You fucking, tricky, rat bastard,” The paladin swore, removing her helmet to allow the duo to gaze upon her face, and in turn, two orbs of purple and hazel bored into hers.
“I can control illusions, Bee, you shouldn’t be this salty over something that is very easy to predict,” he retorted, offering the paladin a hand. “Want some food, so I can introduce my new partner?” He gestured towards Elyza.
“Sure,” Bee responded, adding, “Then you can tell me how slimes grow wings now.”
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As the paladin rested her helm onto the table, her amber hair fell immediately downwards, but strands of it stuck to the joints, causing some to tumble over her face. With a hand she swiped them back, allowing Elyza to fully gaze upon her heterochromic eyes, the right one revealing a circle with a blazing purple glow, and the left an ordinary hazel. Her hair settled into one intricate braid settling upon a bed of similar threads, and two miniature ones fell beside it as her hand patted them down. As a waitress appeared with their food, still having to navigate the sea of patrons, the paladin removed the chakra from her pendant, tying the loose strands into a bun.
“So, are you sure he isn’t brainwashing you?” She suddenly proclaimed, slamming her hands on the table, her expression serious as one could be. Her purple eye seemed to flare up in its vibrancy, almost radiating, a magic circle appearing within the pool of violet, and Elyza could feel it peer into her soul.
Alex shoved his hand in between the two’s gaze, his voice devoid of any charm as it proclaimed, “I thought we’d discussed this before, or should I reminisce of the things better left in your past…”
The paladin’s eye returned to normal, glancing at her partner, and she could sense the decision within whether it was worth continuing. “I apologise,” she relented, “I can’t help when it comes out after a stressful event, even more so whenever you’re the one who introduces them to me.”
“When have I ever introduced you to anyone at the ire of your goddess, unless she literally tells you to ask me to,” Her partner shot back, a grin on his face returning with his normal voice.
“To answer your question, which I personally ask myself every day; No, I do not believe myself to be under the influence of any spell,” Elyza remarked, to the amusement of the lady sitting opposite her.
Following a swell of chuckles, the paladin gave a much softer smile than her partner, “An answer I’ve never heard before, I’m impressed.”
“Introduce yourselves, or I’m not paying,” Alex commanded, receiving the food for the table from the waitress, pushing their ale jugs aside to place the plates in front of them.
She took in a deep breath, her eyes focused on the paladin to judge how much she should reveal, and decided, “Elyza.”
“Just as untrusting as when this bastard first met me,” The paladin replied, the smile on her face “I am Sarah Banarjee, a paladin serving under Mother Durga, a patron of Justice, and by her word, I am tasked to track the lowest of lows that live, determine if the penalty waiting to be enforced on them is warranted, capture them if it is, and, in rare cases, execute the act of an executioner.”
“I see,” Elyza mumbled out without thinking, her mind coming naturally to the only conclusion possible, “You were told to bring Alex to justice, were you not?”
The paladin’s eyes gleamed as she continued, “Close… By chance, I had picked up a bounty to aid my travels in this nation, mandirs of the Mother Durga are a rarity as is, and she is forbidden from providing any significant aid due to the rule of Olympus.”
“She wanted to pick the one with the most reward, but she was enamoured by one that asked to track down and imprison an unknown assassin suspected of the violent death of a priest,” Alex interjected, his voice going higher than normal as he tended to do when talking about his own past, a mix of embarrassment, regret, and bravado.
“Firstly, I figured out quite early that the person spotted at the scene was the one who caused it,” The paladin ignored his behaviour, but she was still adding to his words, “Secondly, while it was indeed tedious, I was able to predict the next place the assassin would strike, and lastly, I pressured him to fight me instead of focusing on his target.”
From the corner of her eye, Elyza could see her partner’s jaws tense up immensely, which meant what was to come was of great embarrassment, but as his eyes turned towards Sarah, they begged to be let loose. “You lost,” she concluded.
“Horribly… with so much efficiency that it lit a flame in me to track the assassin down, and bring him to his knees,” The paladin admitted, taking a gulp of her ale, “So, I spent two years finding the pattern of the Blot, a name created by a conspiracy theorist, till I found someone in the guild named Nemo…”
Alex’s face lit up instantly at the mention of the name, his eyes sparkling as they smugly stared at her, and Sarah completely ignored him. “The name had no origin or connection, only the bare details available to even the highest members within the organisation, but the rumours around the name were more akin to a monstrous grim reaper than a lowly assassin, and the rumours all seemed to have the same message…”
“Look for me, and despair will follow,” he remarked, not a hint of theatrics in the words.
“Then how did you find him?” Elyza asked instinctively, her arms resting on the table, her entire mind interested in the story of her partner’s past.
“I accidentally… apologised after bumping into her,” Her partner muttered out, slapping his forehead with his fingers, the action being met with immediate hearty laughs from Sarah.
“I didn’t always play a suave character when I was Nemo,” Alex clarified, sighing with his entire body, “Things tended to be a lot more direct from my side, and it was still a time when privacy didn’t hold that much importance to me. It was not hard to imagine myself as untouchable, and I made sure to never do that after our second interaction.”
“The bastard didn’t even remember me,” Sarah interjected, slamming her mug onto the table.
“Well, I’d only seen you once before, and that while you were wearing a helmet that covered your entire face. How the fuck was I supposed to know that the gorgeous stammering woman I bumped into was a paladin hunting me?”
The words had no effect on her, Sarah continuing, “And another duel later, determination only grew within me to bring him to justice. You see–”
“Wait,” Elyza interrupted, turning to her partner who was helping himself to the food, “She knew your identity, why did you not ensure her silence?”
The paladin hid her smile behind her glass, her eyes growing heavy, “A question I’ve asked myself multiple times throughout my relationship with him. All because of the frustrating code he keeps living up to…”
Alex just grinned through a mouthful of fried mushroom, “Think of my mercy as more of a contingency. Both our fights were pretty fun and close. She had several chances to send me to an early grave, and was the first to figure out my identity. Why shouldn’t she deserve to chase after me for the rest of her career?”
“Things became much more complicated when I was asked by Mother Durga to seek him out for aid, and after another battle, this time due to miscommunication, we both agreed on some rules of engagement,” Sarah explained, resting the mug on the table.
“We don’t interfere with each other's work, unless absolutely necessary,” Her partner began, “She’s allowed to try to capture me when we first meet, and I’m allowed to protect myself. Finally, if we both are at a location for separate jobs, we should probably work together, because if an assassin and a paladin arrive at the same place, things are about to become very weird and chaotic.”
“That’s all that one needs to know about our relationship.”
“I like to think of it more as a friendship if anything,” Alex said with a grin.
“A rivalry would be a more suitable title for our situation,” the paladin retorted, snatching a skewer from his hands.
Her partner simply smiled at her, “That wasn’t her opinion around… four or so years ago, if I remember correctly?”
“Neither of us can remember that night, so stop giving your new partner any wrong ideas. Anyway,” Sadie scowled, changing the topic, addressing Elyza, “How come someone like you gets stuck with this bag of hot air?”
“How come you’re already hitting on her?” He retorted instantly, sliding over a plate that held a portion of each dish towards her.
Elyza stifled a chuckle as she received the plate, remarking, “The story of our meeting is slightly less complicated than yours; I wanted to get revenge, I met this tool on the way, and for some reason he decided to help me.”
The paladin simply nodded, a smile playing on her lips as she stated, “Do you ever get the feeling that every choice he makes is decided by rolling a die and then consulting a mouse palm reader?”
She was unable to stop the laughs that came from being hit by that sentence, and Alex made it worse by adding, “For some reason I feel myself being ganged up on right now, and I strongly suspect I’ve had a dream like this…”
“I remember you growing up in the past,” Sarah shot back.
Her partner did not hesitate for even a microsecond, “Please direct all complaints to the demon residing in my head.”
There was a brief air of peace as they both grinned at each other, Elyza stuffing herself with as much meat as she could, before the atmosphere suddenly dropped. The paladin setting down her mug as she spoke, her voice losing its joy, “The Guild sent you here because of a cult, I believe.”
“Close,” Alex corrected, pointing at his partner, “The Guild sent her to infiltrate the cult.”
“Then I have a proposition for you,” Sarah’s eyes shifted to Elyza, “I’m here to capture a man accused of the collapse of an entire noble line, and has committed countless murders in the process. I have it under good and trustworthy authority that the same cult may be shielding him from people under my line of work.”
She thought for a moment, glancing at her partner for his, only to be met with a shrug. “It seems that our goals align,” Three sets of hands should lead to a faster conclusion, and she wanted to return to the Capital as soon as she could, her mind still plagued by the need to solve the connection between Juno and the slave trade.
“Didn’t even want to hear the full terms,” The paladin replied, downing the rest of the ale in a single go, “I’ve already sniffed out where they’ve set themselves up, let’s finish up here and then I’ll guide you there.”
“I appreciate the help.”
“A friend of Alex is a dubious friend of mine, and you’re the most likeable one out of the bunch. Besides, we dwarves are a rare bunch this side of the mountains.”
The first words that came out of Sarah’s mouth seemed similar to a line her partner would say to woo someone, so her mind almost blocked it subconsciously, and then it hit her, “WHAT?!”