The group rode along the river until the morning came to be sure they would be the furthest from Yellowseed. Once the sun was the highest they stopped for some food in a small pit next to the river. They all sat around, letting the horses rest, and ate the loaf of bread Vagraad had in their satchel.

“Did you have a good time?” asked Vagraad.

“No, I was far away from your loving hands my Liege,” Jesse teased as he watched Vagraad rolled his eyes back. “Otherwise, there was that handsome ttac, Kaede. He was really tall and very muscular and his back was absolutely perfect but his ass was-”

Leo put her hand on Jesse’s mouth. she was looking at the ground, focusing on her hearing more than anything. Her hands were shaking and her heart was beating even faster. From behind the bushes, they heard grunts and the sound of a sword hitting something that made a dull sound.

“Calm down Boris, save your strength for that demon.”

They heard another grunt accompanied by a last dull hit.

“That scum will pay for what he did to Rupen. Killing him from the back like that, it’s disgusting."

The group heard the man spit.

“He’s not a man Boris, he’s less than that.”

Darya’s eyes got wider, horror on her face, frozen by the shock.

“Let’s go, we have to find that son of a bitch before he gets to Ravenwood.”

They heard horse’s hooves trampling the ground, the clinking of swords and armors, and the sound of at least five men galloping away. Once they couldn’t hear them anymore, the group relaxed, finally taking a breath in.

“I was sure he fell in a weird way,” Vagraad’s voice cut the thick silence in half.

“You were vomiting behind a tree, how could you know?” replied Leo.

“For your information I-“

“Guys, shut up.” interrupted Jesse.

Darya was extremely silent, knees up to her chest and gloved hands gripping her legs. She fixed her eyes on the nothingness in front of her and her face contorted slowly into a worried and disgusted face. As much as Jesse didn’t like her, he couldn’t leave her like this. He sat up and squatted down in front of her, gently taking her hands and slowly rubbing the top of them with his thumbs, trying to forget how the leather felt.

“Hey,” he called out to her with a soft voice, “Darya?”

She looked like he had taken her out of her thoughts by saying her name. She looked in his eyes as if it was the only thing she could hang on to, like rocks in the middle of the ocean of her violent thoughts.

“I-I broke my vow, I’ll turn into a dark witch like Ma and I’ll be cursing everything I touch and wilting every plant I work with and kill everyone I heal,” her voice was shaking.

“If it was true, then your hands would’ve turned black yesterday, right?”

Darya nodded.

“What color are they?” he gently took her gloves off, glad to find them as green as the day they had first met.

“Green.” she let out in a shaky breath

“Good.” Jesse squeezed her hands and locked his eyes with hers. The look she had broke him a little, he knew it all too well. “If you were the bad person you think you are right now, you wouldn’t feel like this. You saved me and I’ll forever be thankful.” Darya nodded, lowering her eyes. “Would you feel better if I gave you a hug?” he asked.

Darya nodded, worried that it could go past his boundaries. Jesse hugged her as Vagraad rolled their eyes and Leo stood there, observing them.

“Come on you two, give her a hug too.” said Jesse.

“What? But we barely know her-”

Jesse’s look cut them off, it looked too much like Cecilia’s to them. They slowly walked toward Darya and Jesse and quickly put their arms around both of them, begrudgingly. Jesse looked at Leo, motioning towards Darya with his head. Leo’s eyes lowered as she slowly walked and awkwardly placed her arms around the three of them. They stayed like this until Darya’s tears stopped running down her face, letting the silence fill in for them.

“Your breath does smell like fish.” commented Jesse.

“If you’re not happy, you can fuck off.” replied Vagraad as they broke from the group hug.

“No! Come back, my sweet lover!” teased Jesse.

“Ew, stop calling me like that!”

“But it’s true, my heart burns for you!”

“Then smother it!”

“The flame keeps coming back when I see you!”

“Then take your eyes out!”

Jesse was chasing Vagraad as they ran away from another hug and the threat of sluggish kisses on their cheeks. Darya chuckled at the sight of it, drying her tears.

“I know what it feels like,” said Leo.

Darya turned her head towards her. The young woman had her hood up, like most of the time. Only a few colored ribbons flew out of it and waved in the wind. Her head hung low as she focused her attention on her own hands.

“To find out you killed someone, I mean.”

“Do you want to talk about it?” Darya sniffled.

“No, I just didn’t want you to feel alone with that on your mind, that’s all.”

Darya nodded. Leo stood up, shouting at the boys that they should go before the afternoon went by, stopping them in the middle of Vagraad trying to keep Jesse’s face away from theirs as Jesse mimicked the sound of a kiss. They all cleaned up their traces before mounting the horses and continuing westward. After riding for the rest of the day, the group elected to continue anyway, preferring not to lose any more time. A few hours into the night, the group found a large building. It had large visible beams to hold the wall, and a thatched roof with some weeds growing on the top. The windows seemed small and quite misshapen, and the stables attached to the building seemed pretty small. A large wooden sign hung lazily on the front, reading ‘Snowball Tavern’ with a hare painted on the side.

“We should stop here for today.” advised Jesse.

“A bed! Finally!” exclaimed Vagraad.

“It’s dangerous, the soldiers-.”

“If they are really here, they should have left their horses in the stable, so let’s check it out,” Jesse cut Leo off, eager to have a warm bed for the night.

He dismounted his horse, made sure his hood was on correctly, walked up to the dark and dimly lit stable. He searched for horses with the royal magpie on their saddles and blankets, but couldn’t find any. As Jesse walked back to his group, he shook his head to signal the absence of soldiers of Dobrin. They all dismounted their horses, put them in the stable, and then walked inside. The Snowball Tavern looked like any other tavern, lit with a lot of candles, mainly had empty barrels instead of chairs or tables, and drunk people yelling and fighting or even flaunting their newly purchased weapons or armor. As they walked in, the crowd became silent. Every soul, human or non-human, was looking at them.

“Welcome to the Snowball Tavern, weary travelers!” said a woman behind the bar.

She had short black hair cut in a pixie cut, from which her pointy elf ears came out of. Her eyes were almond-shaped and her irises were of a deep brown that took gold accents with the lights of the surrounding candles. Thick golden necklaces imitating snakes adorned her neck and large bracelets that made a beautiful noise whenever she moved adorned her wrists. She was wearing a dark pair of overalls over a loose off-white blouse, of which she had rolled the sleeves up to her elbows. The crowd went back to their rambling and mumbling as the group walked up to her.

“You don’t look like the typical customers. I guess you would like to spend the night here?”

“Yes.” simply said Vagraad.

“Go sit down. I’ll bring ale to all of you in a bit,” she smiled.

The group sat down at a table, feeling too anxious to say anything or even move. Jesse found this whole situation ridiculous; Leo hung her head low, her hood on and tried to observe silently the other customers, Darya sat still, too still for anyone that was not actively searched by soldiers, Vagraad tried to act like an adult, but it was as accurate as a 16-year-old can do it, which is not at all. Finally, Jesse himself had his hood up, hiding most of his face and keeping his hands under the table to not be killed on sight. He knew they all looked odd, even odder than the gruffy and scarred guys around them.

“There you go!” four pints of ale clinked on the table. “What happened to you?” the elf said to Jesse while they all took each a pint.

“An eastern black witch cursed him,” started Vagraad. “Lay an eye on his face and you’ll die.”

Darya rolled her eyes, she hated those stereotypes; eastern black witches rarely cursed people because they wanted to, most of them were forced to and none had done it willingly in years. The innkeeper formed an ‘oh’ with her mouth, barely hiding that she wasn’t buying it.

“My name is Tao Shi, I’m the master of the house.” she said, “If you need anything, call me or my partner right there.”

Tao pointed at a woman on the other side of the bar that was pouring fresh ale into the glasses of the other customers. She had a copper-like skin tone, almond-shaped brown eyes, and beautiful long brown curly hair that was tied in a half bun, adorned with flowers of all sorts. She looked to be much nicer and much more patient than Tao, wearing a long olive-green skirt, a white apron, and a beige blouse that was slightly larger than her plump frame.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

“Her name is Kekoa Keawe.” she turned back towards the group, “Touch her and you’ll regret it forever.” she warned, smiling at them.

Vagraad gulped down loudly before Tao walked away and left them alone.

“If only I could have a partner like that,” dreamed Jesse out loud.

“Focus on being able to stay with one person more than a night and after that, we can talk about partners.” replied Vagraad as they took their pint to drink.

“What a small life you must have to believe the only type of love worth living for is the one only shared between two people,” Jesse said as he grabbed Vagraads pint.

“Hey! It’s mine!”

“Nope. You’re still a baby, remember?”

“I’m not that young!”

“You are to me.”

“You-”

“Guys.” called out Leo softly, “We should go.”

The two stopped talking. The tavern seemed awfully calm compared to what it was a few seconds ago. It was at this moment that Jesse finally understood that the men in this tavern weren’t just travelers, they were bounty hunters, and they were looking at them like they were a big and very shiny pile of gold each. One of them stood up, he had long dirty and tangled light brown hair, a short scruffy beard, and multiple scars on his face. A thick leather coat lined with fur that seemed like it came from a race of giant wolves covered his bulky body.

“That’s one shiny group you got there, Tao.”

“Yep.” she agreed.

Tao signaled the group to stay where they were, which they did, hearts beating louder than they ever thought they could. She took a small cylinder of metal she had hidden behind the counter before jumping over it and bladed her body, ready to defend herself.

“If you want to take them, you’ll have to go through us.”

“You think you two fragile girls will stop all of us?”

They heard a deafening shot. Blood flowed down the man’s ear and neck, staining the fur on his coat. Kekoa was standing behind him on the other side of the bar, the barrel of her wheel-lock gun still smoking in her right hand, her skirt lifted to reveal a holster and a pouch full of magazines and powder.

“Next one is for your brain, smartass.”

“If you don’t let us have them or don’t kill all of us, soldiers will get there, tear down your inn, and arrest both of you for harboring her accomplices. You know that, right?” reminded the man, his hands lifted above his shoulders, a mocking smile on his face.

“Or you just go and I won’t sell all of your dirty secrets to them. Who do you think they’ll trust? An innkeeper that looks as sweet as me or a bunch of bounty hunters that have hundreds of gold pieces on their names already?” replied Kekoa.

The man’s smile faded away.

“Get the fuck out.” ordered Tao.

No one moved.

“Everyone out!” yelled Kekoa as she refilled her gun the fastest these people had ever seen and shot toward the ceiling, sending everyone to scramble for their stuff and then run towards the door.

Once everyone was out, Tao walked up to the door and blocked it with a thick plank of wood.

“Honey, you need to stop shooting at the ceiling like that, it fucks up the floor upstairs.”

“I know, I’m sorry my love,” said Kekoa as she put her gun back in its holster and untucked her skirt, letting it fall to its original length.

The both of them walked back behind the bar, one preparing a kettle and the other the cups. At their little table, the group was speechless. They didn’t know who these two women were, why they were helping them, or even if they wanted to help them instead of selling them to the soldiers.

Leo was visibly more and more nervous, her hand clutching the blade on her hip, ready for any situation. Darya’s breathing was hard and erratic while Jesse’s was calm, but too much to be natural, as if he was waiting for one of them to jump on him. Suddenly, Vagraad’s head fell hard on the table, making the pint glasses jump and Darya screamed in fear of it being another gunshot. Kekoa scrambled to come and help Vagraad, but Jesse stopped her.

“Wait,” he said.

Kekoa stood there, waiting for the young hlêg to move. After a few seconds, they lifted their head and scratched their reddish forehead with a painful expression on their face. They looked around the room, seeing everyone in varying degrees of worry towards them.

“I fainted, didn’t I?”

“First time you don’t throw up, that’s a win for my nose.” celebrated Jesse.

“Well, not for my head, you child.”

Jesse smiled with relief, if Vagraad could call him a child, they were fine. The sound of a chair distracted the group being dragged to the ground and a kettle being put on the table.

“You can take off your hood, noodle guy.” said Tao.

Jesse took off his hood as she served all of them a cup of tea, while Kekoa was already sipping on hers.

“I take you’re here to bust out Cecilia, right?”

The group froze.

“How do you know about that?” asked Leo, squinting at Tao.

“Everyone has heard of her arrest around here, and if anyone is trying to save her, it would be a bunch of sheltered-looking kids.” she plainly explained. “Also, you have the same hairstyle she used to make me.” she pointed at Leo.

“You knew Cecilia?” asked Vagraad.

“I used to live with her, a long time ago that is.”

“So,” started Darya, “You will not sell us to the soldiers?”

“Don’t worry dear, we won’t do anything like that. These bounty hunters bring us much more money by drinking here than we ever would by selling you to soldiers,” reassured Kekoa.

The group looked at her, unsure of whether they wanted to trust her or not.

“So,” wondered Tao, “What’s your plan?”

Vagraad choked on their tea when they heard the word ‘plan’.

“You have a plan, right?” asked Tao once again.

“If dying is one yes, we have a plan.” answered Leo.

“Excuse me Leo, but I laid out my plan clearly last time.” said Jesse, slightly offended.

“An orgy with the guards isn’t a plan, Jesse,” said Vagraad.

“It’s not originally supposed to be an orgy, but if you want it to turn that way…”

“Ew… never,”

“So, a suicide mission.” noted Kekoa, sipping her tea.

“Will you help us?” asked Darya after a slight moment of reflection.

“We’ll see.” she sighed, “Ravenwood is only three days by horse from here and then one night by boat. We can get you the name of a boat and a roof for a few days if you want to.” explained Tao.

“But the soldiers, if they find out-“ started Darya

“Soldiers are the least of our problems right now. We don’t even have a plan.” Leo said.

Jesse couldn’t help but look at Leo. Even though she looked emotionless and stoic as ever, guilt and fear were still sleeping through the cracks. Her hold on her blade seemed to have loosened up but not stopped.

“We’ll take your hospitality,” said Jesse.

“Great!” said Kekoa as she put her cup down. “I’ll show you your rooms, let you put your stuff down, and then come back down for dinner, alright?”

The woman stood up and motioned the group to follow her. They all sat up and walked behind her. The stairs were made of wood and pretty shallow, the planks were creaking and deformed by the sheer amount of times people had stepped on them. The upstairs had a low ceiling under which Jesse felt like a giant, as he could feel his curly hair graze it, the walls were made of mud and straw and beams that made them support the weight of the roof. The doors were the height on the ceiling and rather crooked as were the windows. There were four crooked doors presented in front of them.

“The one on the right is yours, it has two beds but I’m sure you’ll make it work. The one on the left is ours, and the two in the middle are for private use for our customers,” explained Kekoa, “or any of you if you want to.”

The wink she gave to the group made everyone blush except Jesse, who just nodded.

“I’m gonna go to bed. That table was pretty hard.” Vagraad grumbled as they walked to the door and entered it, their hand rubbing on their now bruised forehead. Leo and Darya followed them without a word, still suspicious of the two women. Jesse was about to do the same until Tao spoke out.

“Noodle guy,” she called out, “I need to talk to you about something.”

Jesse turned around, suspicious yet willing to hear what she had to say. Tao led him downstairs while Kekoa took a broom and cleaned up the floor of the bar. Tao made him sit on a barstool while she took the one next to him.

“Your friend, the blond one. She’s an eastern witch, right?”

“Yep” answered Jesse.

“You need to be careful with those, they’re not to be trusted.”

Jesse lightly rolled his eyes.

“Especially for you.” she stressed before Jesse could reply.

“Everyone keeps telling me that, but as much as I don’t like her intentions with me, she’s just a sweet and honest woman. I wouldn’t have slept with her otherwise.” he sighed.

Kekoa’s broom fell to the floor.

“What?” asked Jesse.

“You slept with her?!” shouted Tao. “Do you have any idea-!”

Kekoa shushed her and pointed to the ceiling. The house was robust and the walls thick, but the ceiling and floor of the first story were not. Tao recollected herself with a deep breath.

“Do you have any idea what they enrolled eastern witches for in the Demon Uprising?” she said gravely.

Jesse shook his head, feeling like Cecilia had just yelled at him. It took Tao a few seconds to fully take in that a demon wouldn’t know the first thing about how their own species almost went extinct, but she resolved to fix it.

“The Old Emperor forcefully enrolled them, although some did willingly. He used them as a special group to kill them and fight them if any demon went in their bestial forms. They forced most of them to break their vows to do so.”

“Doesn’t breaking their vow make their powers turn against them?”

“Not just their powers, Jesse,” said Kekoa, “the God they had vowed to work with their entire lives. And trust me, the Gods aren’t creatures you want to have against you, especially one you were so akin with.”

Jesse’s eyes fell down, thinking about Darya. Until now, he hadn’t fully grasped why she had been so terrified earlier. Losing something so important that you vowed your life to follow would be devastating. Tao sighed heavily.

“Before the Uprising, your two races were the most attuned I’d ever seen. But with an entire generation or two being led to hate your entire race, I wouldn’t trust her.”

Jesse thought for a moment and then looked back up at Tao.

“I trust her. She has a good heart, I’ve seen it.”

Jesse’s gaze was full of confidence, almost scaring Tao as she sat there, unable to talk back. It was as if his look had stunned her. The young demon sat up and walked back towards the bedrooms upstairs. When he reached the top of the stairs, he could hear a few voices coming from the bedroom the couple had given them. One seemed apologetic and soft, another seemed monotonous and annoyed, and the last one was almost shouting. Jesse furrowed his brows in perplexity and he opened the door. As he had guessed, Vagraad had a suspicious look on their face. Leo stood in between both Vagraad and Darya, and Darya had her shoulders up and her eyes fleeting.

“Jesse, tell her she can’t sleep in the same bed as me. You can take her, you already did it twice!”

The demon took a few seconds to look at the situation, a neutral look on his face.

“Or Leo and I can take the sleeping bags and sleep on the floor so that you two princesses can have the beds.”

“I’m not a princess!” replied Vagraad, ready to confront Jesse.

If Darya hadn’t had that look on her face, Jesse might have teased Vagraad further, but the expression of pure shame she had cut it completely.

“Don’t worry, I don’t mind sleeping on the floor.” reassured Jesse, taking a softer voice.

“Me neither.” added Leo.

Jesse silently agreed and unpacked the sheets filled with a thin layer of hay, and placed them on the floor not far away from the beds. Vagraad watched them as they prepared for bed, a slight blush of shame on their face as they replayed in their head the kindness Leo and Jesse had just shown Darya by choosing for her and giving her the space she needed.

That night, muffled pleading and sobs interrupted the little restless sleep Darya was having. She slowly forced her eyes open, sleep still yellow in the corner of her eye, and sat up in her bed. It did not surprise her to find someone thrashing around in their sleep at the foot of her bed, she was pained at the sight of it. The young witch slowly dangled her green feet off of the bed and stood up. She softly walked up to the purple form and kneeled next to it.

“Jesse?” she whispered while gently shaking him. “Jesse, I’m here, it’s okay.”

Darya shook him a little harsher, and the young demon woke up in a gasp. At first, he couldn’t make out Darya’s face, still believing to be asleep, but once he knew who was attached to these round and gentle green eyes, his body relaxed and tears started to fully run down his pale purple cheeks.

“It’s okay, I’m here, everything is going to be alright.” she whispered softly as she helped him up and cradled him.

Jesse felt embarrassingly vulnerable, but let himself be calmed down by Darya. Her skin didn’t feel like it had felt the night they had slept together. Back then, it had felt like any other he had touched, one he was using to drown the constant feeling of phantom touch that appeared with the stars. This time it felt like it was replacing them, not completely, but enough for him to forget almost completely about it for a moment. The back and forth melted away the laughs, the awful pet names, and the pain. His brain, for the first time in what felt like forever, was silent. His tears slowly ran down his cheeks. The thoughts of potential harm were now far away, and the prospect of a peaceful sleep was nearer than ever before.

At that moment, Darya thought of the man that had picked her up during her herb hunt with a flirty smile, the one that had shown her a respite from the outside world for a night, the one that had braved the royal soldiers so nonchalantly now looked like a child, silently weeping in her arms. She remembered the first night she had ever spent with him and the way he had coldly sent her out of his room, being adamant on the fact that they would never see each other again and therefore didn’t need her compassion. Suddenly, her heart filled with a heavy guilt. She looked at the palm of her right hand, the faint borders of an unused sigil, barely darker than the green tint of her skin, like the ghost of a promise, hanging, waiting for the words to activate it. The memory of the soldier outside of Yellowseed came back to her, her anguish at the news of his death, and the way Jesse’s compassion had felt at that moment made her heart heavier by the second. She closed her hand in a firm fist and hugged Jesse’s sobbing form tighter, her tears falling on the top of his curly purple hair.