Chapter 586: Lost In The Woods

  The screeching call of the dire vultures echoed through the scarlet canopy. Stryga winced at the incessant noise. The damn birds had kept her up all night. She had tried hunting them down but they seemed to sense her approach and flew away whenever she got too close.

  Then the screeching would start all over again as if taunting her. It was her armour, it had to be. The blue plates shifted and creaked with her every step.

  “When we get back I’m going to have the blacksmith adjust the enchants on my damn suit of armour,” Stryga growled.

  Gwyn nodded in agreement. “I’m going to find the best brown mage in the city and have them enchant my boots to be extra padded. I swear I’m getting blisters on my feet.”

  “We should take a break.”

  “My lady, I can go on.”

  “I insist.” Stryga sat down on a large root protruding from the ground and patted the spot next to her.

  With a reluctant twist of her mouth, Gwyn sat down, but kept her eyes peeled for any threats.

  “We’ve been walking for days—”

  “Lost for days,” Gwyn corrected.

  “We’ve barely slept between hunting for food, searching for Evenfall, and those fucking vultures at night. The least we can do is sit down and relax for a bit.”

  “If the lady needs rest, I shall accompany her.”

  Stryga gave her a side-eye. “You sure you don’t need any rest yourself?”

  “Positive.”

  “Uh-huh.” Stryga groaned and stretched her arms. She turned her neck to each side and it cracked with a satisfying pop. “Gods, what I’d give to have white magic right about now.”

  Gwyn snorted, but said nothing.

  Stryga cocked an eyebrow. “What? What is it?”

  “Nothing, my lady.”

  “Come on, tell me. I swear I won’t get angry. ~Please~”

  “...Very well. Sometimes my lady can be quite spoiled.”

  “Spoiled? How am I spoiled? All I’ve done my entire life is work and train to be the heir my mother wanted.”

  “And there it is. You see your life as some kind of burden. Do you have any idea how many people would kill to be in your position? To be trained and tutored by some of the greatest scholars, warriors, and mages in the entire world? You have never wanted for anything, not food, shelter, wealth, power, prestige, shall I go on?”

  “Not everything is as grand as you make it out to be. A gilded cage is still a cage. I was never given a choice of who I wanted to be. I was always the daughter of Lady Veres, I could never be anyone else.”

  “Is that so bad?”

  “Well, maybe not to a Gale. Your family’s devotion to mine is somewhat extreme,” Stryga quickly raised her arms just as Gale opened her mouth to object, “Not that I’m complaining. I will forever be grateful for your loyalty.”

  And that, at least, seemed to pacify the swordswoman.

  Gwyn crossed her arms, “You're still spoiled.”

  Stryga laughed. “Really?”

  “You were blessed with nine chromatic colors, nine, and still you lament not having a tenth. Being Lady Veres is not enough for you, now you must be an Ebon Lady as well?” Gwyn clicked her tongue, “Spoiled.”

  Stryga smiled wryly. “That’s not what I meant. I’m just saying, it’d be nice to heal our sore muscles and blisters, wouldn’t you agree?”

  “And have you be a chromatic white? Never.”

  “Come on, white magic is not that bad. We have healers back home.”

  “Servants who are healers. And they’d never dare cast White’s other aspect in front of us.” Gwyn made a face of disgust, “Bright magic. Ugh. Can you imagine? A Veres tossing out orbs of light like some damn Ivory elf? Blinding all their fellow vampire nobles by accident. The scandal alone… I don’t even want to think about it.”

  “Okay, but you have to admit, that would be kind of funny.” Stryga imagined shooting a beam of light across one of her family’s balls and seeing all the guests scrambling to cover their eyes.

  Vampires were always sensitive to light, though it had never bothered her. Stryga smirked to herself, being a hybrid had its perks.

  “It’s not funny, my lady. A Veres’ magic has always lied in our home Realm’s color, always. Several of your prominent ancestors were even true black mages.”

  “Yeah, well, I’d rather be a true chromatic Red right about now. We could use synchrony magic to find a way out of this damn forest.”

  “You could always just fly us out of here with a wind spell.”

  “And have whatever gods that wiped out the Lunisian and Shade armies spot us?” Stryga shook her head. “We need to find the Lunisian leaders first and talk to them. The Mother Elect and Silver Mother might have a chance to calm down the gods before we speak to them.”

  “If the Lunisian leaders even survived the fall of their city,” Gwyn muttered.

  The conversation had suddenly fallen back to the topic Stryga had been trying to not think about the last few days. Memories of her friends lying broken on the ground flooded back into her mind. The thought of her mother sharing the same fate crushed her heart. Stryga clenched her eyes shut and tried to bury the thoughts.

  A familiar noise caught her attention. She stopped and jumped to her feet. “Hey, do you hear that?”

  Gwyn drew her blade. “I do not. My ears are not as sharp as yours, my lady. No one’s are.”

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  “...Running water. There’s a river nearby. Come on, let’s go. I could use a bath.”

  “Aye, you could.”

  “This is why you never became a Shadow.”

~~~

  Drale heard the goblin before he saw him. Sev hummed a common marching tune as he carried a small sack across his shoulder. Drale stopped walking and turned at his approach.

  Drale saluted. “Ah, sir mage, to what do I owe the pleasure?”

  He raised the sack, “I brought you lunch.”

  “The captain’s got you delivering food?”

  “Believe me, I’d rather be out with one of the hunting parties, but Nalindor doesn’t dare risk my safety.” He sighed dramatically, “I almost got killed once by a giant bear and now everyone thinks I’m made of glass.”

  “Thank you.” Drale took the sack of food. “Believe me, I’d love to be out there hunting as well, instead of patrolling the stream, but we all have our place. If someone gets hurt, there is no one else who can heal our injuries except you.”

  “I’m aware, but there is no one to heal for today,” Sev wrinkled his nose, “At least for now. The hunting parties have yet to return.”

  “So the captain made you deliver food to the patrols?”

  “Well, more like I begged him to. It’s the farthest he’ll let me leave the camp. I don’t even know why he bothers,” Sev kicked a pebble into the stream as they walked. “Last I checked there are no animals, let alone predators anywhere near the encampment.”

  “It is odd, isn’t it? The hunting parties have to keep ranging farther and farther every day just to search for any game. Not that I’m complaining, I’d rather not come across a dire bear.”

  “It was just a normal bear, at least normal for this forest.”

  “Are there dire bears in Vulture Woods?”

  “Oh, definitely.”

  “Then my point still stands.”

  Sev chuckled. “You know, Lenore thinks it’s an act of providence. The lack of monsters nearby.”

  “Maybe the priestess is right. I mean, what are the chances that we found a spot in the entire forest that isn’t teeming with beasts wanting to eat us?”

  “You forget, there aren’t any deer or rabbits around here either. No animals of prey at all. I’m not sure that’s really a blessing.”

  Drale shrugged, “At least we can sleep comfortably at night.”

  “Fair enough.” Sev stopped in his steps and sat down cross-legged atop a particularly large, flat rock right on the river bank. “Hey, why don’t you head back and have your lunch with the others. I’ll take care of the rest of today’s patrol.”

  “Sev, the captain said—”

  “Who cares what Nalindor said? I’m still in the ‘safe area’ am I not? Come on, I just want to be free for a little bit, away from it all, just for a day. …I need some time to myself.”

  “I understand, I do, but there are rules. We are still part of the Lunisian army. The captain’s orders are absolute.”

  “Drale, I admire your loyalty to Nalindor and the Lunisian hierarchy, I really do. But we’ve all potentially lost everyone we’ve ever known back in Lunis. So, I think I’d rather have some time alone to mourn them, if it’s all the same to you.”

  “I’m sorry, but—”

  “Drale, I swear to Lunae, if you don’t leave me be I will never heal another one of your injuries again. No matter what Captain Nalindor says, do you understand me?”

  He swallowed and nodded, “Understood, sir mage. If you’ll excuse me.” He bowed and walked off.

  Sev waited until Drale was out of sight before speaking up. “You can come out now. He’s gone.”

  A long moment passed, the stream’s sounds his only companion. He sighed and stared at the stream, “Look, I know you’re in the river. I can sense the illusion wrapped around you.”

  A blade suddenly pressed against his neck. “Do you sense my cold steel on your throat?” a threatening voice whispered from behind.

  Sev swallowed, “Um, now I do.” He wanted to turn around, but the blade’s point wasn’t budging.

  Slowly, the water in front of him shifted and a head of wet hair emerged. The Blue Rose stared at him with a wary gaze.

  “It’s you…!” Sev muttered, eyes wide. He had expected a fellow goblin mage, not the woman responsible for attacking Lunis.

  “Have we met?” Stryga asked cautiously.

  “Y-Yeah. A few days ago. You killed a bear.”

  “Oh, you were the healer.”

  “The white mage,” the woman behind Sev said in disgust.

  “Gwyn, let him go.”

  “Very well, my lady.”

  Sev breathed a sigh of relief as the sword withdrew from his neck. He turned around and almost stumbled back as he came face to face with a pair of sharp fangs and a deadly glare.

  “If you try anything, I will sever your head before you can blink,” Gwyn hissed.

  “R-Right…” Sev nodded stiffly. He glanced at Stryga, who was still submerged from the neck down. “So, care to tell me why you’re naked in the water or…?”

  “Fucking Lunisians,” Gwyn muttered under her breath.

  “Sorry, I talk a lot when I’m nervous. Or when I’m about to die. Or a vampire is breathing down my neck. Or— You know what, I’ll shut up now,” Sev hastily added.

  “...I was taking a bath while my companion kept watch,” Stryga admitted. “I didn’t realize there was anyone nearby.”

  “I’d have killed you and your goblin friend before you even realized it, if it wasn’t for my lady advocating against it,” Gwyn growled.

  “We’re not here to kill goblins,” Stryga said to Sev, though it sounded more like she was trying to remind the vampiress instead.

  The enemy’s War Master wasn’t here to kill them? That sounded odd, but Sev wasn’t about to dispute it. “So you’re not following us, then?”

  “Why would we be following you?” Stryga asked.

  “Well, you let me live. I thought you might have changed your mind and come to kill me and my comrades.”

  Stryga’s lips curled slightly. “Funny, here I thought you had come searching to kill me and my companion.”

  “You would have failed,” added Gwyn.

  “They don’t even know you’re in Vulture Woods. Actually, why are you here? Not every day you see a War Master without her army,” said Sev.

  “That’s none of your business, goblin,” Gwyn snapped.

  “Right, of course,” he nodded hastily.

  “How did you sense my illusion?” asked Stryga.

  “I’m more sensitive to magic than others. Always have been.”

  “Hmm. Turn around.”

  “You heard my lady, turn around.”

  Sev did as he was told. He heard Stryga emerge from the water. A part of him wanted to peek at the blue beauty but he clamped the suicidal urge down.

  “You can turn back now,” said Stryga.

  He turned slowly, very much aware of the deadly vampire standing next to him, and then he forgot all about her, lost at the sight of the Blue Rose. She wore a tight-fitting pair of black pants and a loose black tunic that showed ample cleavage. Her wet pale hair was tied in a simple ponytail. A sword with a white sheathe hung from her belt.

  As he gazed at her in mute surprise, Stryga looked him up and down in turn, appraising him with her dark purple eyes. “You’re different.”

  “What?”

  “When I last saw you, you didn’t care if I was going to kill you or not. You were fearless. But now… something’s off.”

  Sev stared at his hands, he could almost feel the blood coating his fingers from that day. “...I wasn’t fearless. I just knew it didn’t matter. Myn was dying. And I… I couldn’t let one more person die.”

  “To face death is a mark of true bravery,” now Stryga.

  “Are you going to kill me?”

  “I’d rather avoid any more bloodshed.”

  “Oh,” he muttered.

  Stryga cocked her head to the side. “You don’t seem particularly happy. Do you not want to live?”

  Sev thought of the orphanage back in Lunis. He thought of his friends who were probably still drinking at their local tavern when the Ebon Lords and their armies attacked. He thought of Esme, he remembered holding her as she coughed up blood, an arrow protruding from her chest. She had looked him in the eyes, fear-stricken.

  “I honestly don’t know,” he answered. “Maybe dying isn’t the worst thing, if it means seeing the people you love again.”

  Gwyn’s anger faltered at his words and she lowered her sword slightly.

  “Maybe you are right,” said Stryga slowly.

  “You’re not what I expected,” replied Sev.

  “What did you expect?”

  Sev met her gaze, her eyes were tired, but there was a strength, a determination behind them. It angered him. What did it matter if she wanted to spare his life, if she had condemned tens of thousands of his people to death? “Did you really attack Lunis?”