The following two days were, thankfully, uneventful. They ended up walking through the woods for an entire extra day before Alice made the call that they were far enough out that on the off chance they saw soldiers, they could deal with whatever was asked about Ingrid. Neither Ingrid nor Malori were quite sure what she meant by that, but Ingrid decided not to pry. The priority was keeping the peace. Whatever time they made up for by Ingrid shaping the land was lost waiting for Malori to keep up.

They didn’t say anything as to not upset the already anxious girl, but Ingrid began to notice larger gaps between Alice bantering with their new friend. She hoped that it would be resolved once they had gotten a cart. While Ingrid didn’t have much in the way of ‘street smarts’ as Alice put it, she at least had physical conditioning and stamina from five years of training. Malori on the other hand, had neither. This led to her lagging behind, and the trio needing to take frequent breaks so that she wouldn’t pass out.

On the fourth night of the journey, Malori had fallen asleep before both Ingrid and Alice, and getting under the covers, something that was quickly becoming the new norm. Ingrid gave a small, charmed huff as she picked the tiny esper up and eased her into her bed roll. She was careful out of respect, but had come to learn that Malori slept like the dead. Once she was out, there was absolutely no chance of waking her up before at least sunrise. As she exited the tent, she found Alice bouncing her leg, still sitting by the fire.

“Ingrid, Princess, mind if we chat for a bit?” she seemed to be trying to keep her playful tone, but Ingrid had known her long enough that she could sense the faint irritation under the words.

“Of course, is something wrong?” she asked, sitting next to Alice. She leaned against her friend, the exhaustion from the day’s journey catching up to her. Alice tensed ever so slightly, but eased.

“Well, depends on how you wanna look at it,” she sighed, poking the fire with a stick, “We’re behind what I initially expected. I’m gonna be real, and I get it,” she started, motioning with her free hand the way someone about to give a speech did. “She’s a new friend, you don’t have many of those. Your brother is gone, and you wanted help going to find him. It’s all very, I get it, you know?”

Ingrid blinked, staring up at Alice as she rested her chin on her shoulder. “What’s that thing you always accuse me of doing? Something about refusing to say what I want to say until I’m forced to?” she deadpanned.

Alice rolled her eyes. “Don’t use my own advice against me,” she tossed the stick into the fire. “I’m gonna be real-”

“You already said that.”

“Would you stop interrupting me?” she huffed, flicking Ingrid on the forehead. “She’s slow, she’s booksmart but doesn’t know the real world, she doesn’t help with cooking,” she listed off, counting on her fingers. “She’s becoming dead weight. Not to mention, this is dangerous, and forcing her through this is kind of cruel.”

They stayed quiet for a bit, listening to the crackling of the fire. Ingrid turned her gaze towards it. It was weirdly mesmerizing, the way the flames licked at the kindling. She remained looking at it when she spoke up again.

“I’m not forcing her. It’s the same as you,” she explained, “You asked to come, and wouldn’t take no for an answer.”

“Okay, but it’s not the same as me,” Alice retorted, getting slightly irritated. “I know what it’s like out here. I can fight. I got you out of the city. Hell I even know a route through the mountains to get us into Amalthea! Not to mention I switch off with you every night cooking,” she explained, “I’m bringing something to the table. What has she done?”

Ingrid clicked her tongue. As much as she wanted to refute her, it was true. Alice proved her own worth half a dozen times every day of the journey. Malori on the other hand…

She looked to the tent where Malori was fast asleep. If she listened closely, she could even hear her gentle snoring. “Look, I understand that you’re concerned, but it’s only been a few days,” she reassured her. “We haven’t even fought anything, so that's not relavent yet. Besides, she’s a cleric, and very skilled from what I saw. If one of us is seriously hurt, won’t that be proof enough of why she should be here?”

If the silence was anything to judge by, the gears were definitely turning in Alice's head. Ingrid found herself looking into her eyes. That piercing yellow color was always fascinating to her. She had met humans, elves, gnomes, and plenty of other races in the city, but the only people to have that vibrant yellow in their irises were dark elves. She didn’t know how long she was staring before Alice spoke up again.

“After we get to town, we’ll see how she’s doing. If we can get a cart at least she won’t slow us down,” she relented, leaning back on the log she sat on. “Believe it or not, I don’t want an innocent girl getting hurt.”

“Are you sure it’s not just because she’s cute?” Ingrid teased, earning her another flick on the forehead.

“Come on, I don’t flirt with every cute girl I come across,” she grinned, before starting to get up from the log, “And didn’t you get all pissy at me making the same comment?”

“Call it karma,” she giggled, getting up and heading over to her tent. “In all seriousness though, goodnight. Sleep well, Alice.”

Alice breathed a deep sigh and entered her tent. “Yeah. You too, Princess.”

Ingrid struggled tosleep that night. She found herself tossing and turning, thinking about what Alice had said. Was she really being cruel to Malori by having her here? This was what Malori wanted, wasn’t it? All of it made her head hurt.

Her thoughts ended up drifting to what her sister had said the night before they left. She felt her heart clench as she did. Surely she hadn’t always been like that. There were the times before, when she had just met Ealadha, and when Binne was born. She was always so kind. They could go back to that eventually, right?

Ingrid wished she had the courage to go to Alice’s tent and ask her to hold her, to tell her that it was going to be alright. A part of her scoffed and chalked the intrusive thoughts up to yet another factor that she had failed to take into account when committing to this journey. She didn’t have a garden she could run off to here. Alice was here, but there was a strange distance she felt even though she was asleep just a few feet away. Was it the new confusion about who she was now that she had shown all of these sides of herself? Ingrid honestly couldn’t tell. All she knew was that there were so many questions she had about everything around her that she thought she was going to go insane.

The journey on the following day was made in uncomfortable silence. It was hard to tell if Malori was aware of it, given how quiet she was normally. Admittedly, she was also socially inept. To Ingrid, it was unbearable. She didn't think the extra dozen feet away from the trees would have made as much of a difference as it did for her anxiety.

She looked down at Malori, who, after only a few hours of marching, was already starting to seem winded. She hoped they were close to the town. Alice slowed her pace without even turning around, like she could already tell that Malori was struggling. It was hard to shake the air of confidence that she did it with too. Like she was telling Ingrid she knew she was right.

Even so, it was impressive that Malori managed to never complain once. Impressive and worrying, as if it weren’t for Alice being able to tell, the poor girl would likely keep walking until she passed out from exhaustion. Ingrid wondered if it was tiring to be so scared of confrontation that she would do that to herself, another pang of pity sticking her heart.

It was getting close to when they normally stopped for lunch when Alice stopped short, holding a hand up. The other two stopped, Malori frantically looking around for a reason why. Ingrid kept looking at Alice, waiting for her to say something.

“Alice, what’s wrong?” she asked, keeping her voice low in case it was something close.

“Smell that?” she muttered, sniffing the air.

Ingrid stopped, trying to smell what it was around them. As the ever so slight stench began to waft into her nose, Alice voiced her thoughts for her.

“Smoke…”

Malori froze, looking back and forth between them. Ingrid’s eyes went wide. “Alice, how close was the town supposed to be?” she asked.

Alice gave her a worried look. “Just up ahead. You don’t think…”

Ingrid didn’t answer. Before she could even process what she was doing, she was sprinting down the road, the soreness in her legs the furthest thing from her mind. She could feel Alice baring down on her, already able to tell what she was doing. Ignoring the part of her brain wondering why she couldn’t actually hear Alice at a full sprint, she heard Malori call out from behind them.

“W-Wait!” she gasped, already sounding a fair distance away. “I-I can’t run th-that fast!”

“Just catch up!” Ingrid shouted back, continuing forward. Sparing a brief glance to her side, Alice was right next to her, not at all phased by the sudden sprint. Her scarf was pulled up over her face like a mask, her arms straight behind her. Ingrid didn’t question it and kept running.

The smell of smoke was getting closer, almost suffocating. Even without actively using her magic, Ingrid could feel the growing anxiety of the plants and animals around her as they tried to get away from the source. It was a suffocating feeling, like her lungs were being squeezed in her chest as the stationary plants desperately screamed for help. Next she began to hear it. The crackling of the fire, and the sounds of screaming people mixed with metal clashing. She forced her legs to carry her faster.

The screams of agony and crackling of the inferno got louder and louder until they were practically right in front of it. The two turned a corner to see at least a quarter of the town in flames. At the demolished gates before them, corpses lined the road, seven of them in total. There was one guard left, wearing a dented breastplate, and with a nasty scar above her right eye that leaked blood down into it. She was crawling desperately away from a cloaked figure that stalked her, shortsword in hand.

Before Ingrid could call out, she felt something wizz past her head, and the cloaked figure let out a scream of pain, clutching the back of his leg. The scream was quickly cut off as Alice seemingly appeared out of thin air and covered his mouth. She ripped the knife she had thrown from his hamstring before delivered three quick stabs in the blink of an eye and resting his body down against the wall.

As the corpse turned towards her, Ingrid felt her stomach lurch. Puncture wounds in his throat, heart, and lungs. She got a good look at the man’s face as well. A dark elf, with now dim red eyes, blood trickling from his mouth.

Alice, the friend she had had as a confidant for the past seven years, that had known her better than anyone else, just killed a man in three different ways within a fraction of a second. She didn’t know how long she was standing there staring, but she was roused back to the present when the guard let out a battle cry and thrust her spear at Alice. Before Ingrid could call to watch out, Alice sidestepped the point of the spear, grabbed the shaft, then the guard’s head, and slammed it into the wooden wall that surrounded the village. She promptly slumped to the ground, not moving.

Alice reached up and pulled down the scarf, as if she could sense Ingrid’s worry. “She’s not dead, don’t worry. We need to go deeper in. There are definitely more people in danger,” she said plainly. As Ingrid took a shaky step forward, Alice walked over to her and put her hands on her shoulders. “Come on. I know, this is scary, it’s stressful. You were training for situations like these. Come on Princess, process after. We’ve got people to save.”

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

She was right. Ingrid took a deep breath, remembering what Labhras told her about battle. It’s going to be utterly terrifying. There are going to be plenty of questions you have. The most important thing to do is think of it like cooking. You cover it up, but only temporarily. Once everything is said and done, that’s when you process things. If you can’t do that, a lot of people are going to get hurt.

This was her first real battle. Lives were on the line. If she couldn’t handle this, how was she going to handle saving her brother? She nodded, trying to look confident, but there was nothing that could hide the fear on her face. Alice gave her a quick pat on the cheek.

“Good girl. Let’s go,” she said quickly. She pulled the scarf back up and sprinted into the gates. Ingrid was only a moment’s hesitation behind.

She did her best to focus on Alice and not think about any of the grisly sights she passed. They were only visible in her periphery, but it was enough to shake her. Again she found herself putting her faith in Alice, hoping she knew what she was doing. They came across another of the dark elf attackers engaged with a guard. Alice slid between the attackers legs, slicing at their groin with her dagger. As they fell, she brought the blade up and into their throat, shoving the corpse back.

The guard was in shock, longsword still raised. Their gaze flicked between Alice and Ingrid, the terror apparent in their eyes. Ingrid gulped, steeling herself and speaking before Alice. “Where are things the worst? I’m a Druidkeeper in training, this is my compatriot. We’re here to help,” she said in a much firmer voice than she was expecting.

The guard looked at Alice apprehensively. “A-A dark elf with a Druidkeeper,” they murmured.

“We don’t have time for that! People are in danger!” she insisted.

They seemed to snap back into reality, shaking their head. “R-Right! This way ma’am!” they pointed in a direction deeper into the town, running down. Alice turned to Ingrid, giving her a silent nod of approval, then followed the guard. Ingrid ran after them.

“The raid came out of nowhere! We’re not sure what they want, but they’ve been setting as many houses on fire as possible,” they explained, “We’ve managed to halt their progress at a square, and I was just with a group trying to prevent them from spreading out to the edges. With your help, I think we can fight them off!”

Ingrid nodded, giving a quick grunt of acknowledgement. She noted down the information, but again tried to focus purely on Alice. The way the scarf fluttered behind her, the strange way she had her arms pointed backwards, any detail was something to acknowledge other than the corpses and inferno around her.

After turning down a few streets, they emerged in a small square. Ingrid immediately felt dizzy. It was an all out melee. The ringing of steel was almost as deafening as the moans and screams of the wounded and dying. Another sensation became present. Alice reached back and took Ingrid’s hand in hers, giving it a squeeze. The sentiment was clear.

The guard they were with had vanished, presumably diving in to help their comrades. With a quick glance back, Alice nodded and ran forward herself, running behind one of the raiders and slitting their throat before moving on to the next.

Ingrid looked down at her shaking hands, then gripped her staff. The second she stepped forward, she heard a yell from her right as an attacker sprinted at her, sword raised. She instinctively brought up her staff, blocking the strike. The attacker was confused, not expecting a wooden staff to be able to block a sword. Ingrid used the chance to shove the blade back, then used the moment she bought herself to swing the staff around and slam it into the side of their head with a sickening crunch. She felt far too much give for a skull that was supposed to be rigid before they slumped to the ground, completely limp.

Process after process after process after, she repeated to herself, rushing to the middle of the fray. She shouted out at the top of her lungs. “Alice! Wherever you are! I'm going to try something!”

She took the attacker sprinting at her suddenly falling with a knife in side of her head as a sign that her friend had heard her. She focused on any of the plant life she could feel around her, quickly feeling the roots growing underneath the dirt square. Opening up her mind, she let her emotions cry out to the roots, begging them for their help. Alice dove across her path, rolling over a falling guard and giving one of the raiders a swift stab to the heart and throat. The plants agreed to help, sending thoughts to Ingrid, giving her permission to call upon them. Ingrid jabbed her staff into the gut of an attacker after narrowly dodging a swing from a sword meant for her head, instead raking painfully down her left arm.

Finally, she reached the fountain, the water already tinted red with blood. She took a moment to look out at the carnage. Every house connected to the square had long since collapsed, now just flaming heaps of wood. The square was filled with people. She couldn’t even see Alice in the chaos. She raised her staff, letting the magic flow from the world around her and into her and into her staff. With a cry of exertion, she slammed it down.

The sound of metal clashing was quickly drowned out by the sound of the earth below her rumbling. She closed her eyes. Trying to use them would have been a nuisance. When it came to controlling plants, her instincts and feeling them around her was far more trustworthy. The earth below the fighting split in dozens of places. Cracking earth mixed with screams of confusion as she forced the roots forward, channeling magic into them to grow and manipulate them at an impossible rate. She felt the roots wrap around the attackers, binding them in place as they swirled into the sky.

She could feel the light from the fire darken as it was blocked out by the structure she erected around her. The sound of the shifting roots no longer drowned out the sounds of battle. It was the only sound aside from the fire. Both sides looked on in shock and confusion.

Ingrid opened her eyes. She was standing in the center of a tall, hollow, tree-like structure made of the plants she had summoned. The roots were braided over each other, creating a rough exterior that thinned as it rose until it came to an open hole in the top. All throughout the newly created ‘tree’ were the dead and struggling forms of the attackers, suddenly locked in place and prevented from moving. There was a moment of awe from the onlookers at the impossible sight before them. One guard, who wore slightly fancier armor than the rest, clearly some sort of captain, raised her sword and let out a battle cry. The other guards quickly followed suit, using the sudden and massive shift in momentum to surge forward and turn the tide. Those locked in the tree were quickly dispatched as the attackers fell into a full retreat.

Stumbling out of the tree, Ingrid felt her eyelids flutter. Magic that powerful was exhausting, especially when she wasn’t used to using it for something like that. As she was about to fall, something caught her. Looking up, she saw Alice. While she couldn't see her mouth, her eyes told her that she was smiling. Ingrid smiled back, resting her head against her friend.

“That’s good enough, Princess,” Alice said softly as she pulled down the scarf, the sounds of battle getting further away. “Take a break. You did great.”

Ingrid nodded, letting Alice help her walk over to a stone staircase that previously led to a now destroyed, but no longer burning house. As she was set down to a sitting position by Alice, she heard a gruff voice call out.

“Get away from the Druid, or we’ll break your legs and toss you into one of the fires!”

Opening her eyes, Ingrid saw Alice, this time in a stance that said she was ready to fight. Her dagger was drawn, and her right hand was reaching into a pouch at her side. In front of them was a group of six guards that had Alice and Ingrid surrounded.

Before she had a moment to think about what she was doing, Ingrid struggled to her feet and stepped in front of Alice, putting a hand in front of her. In her peripheral vision she saw Alice give her a worried look, the scarf pulled back up as a mask, but Ingrid refused to back down.

“What do you think you’re doing?” she panted at the guards.

Two of them lowered their spears, looks of confusion on their faces. The one who had spoken before narrowed his eyes. “I could ask you the same question. Why are you defending one of the attackers! You know how many they just killed?”

“What are you talking about? She’s my friend!” she shouted. “I watched her save the lives of three guards! She personally killed eight of the attackers, and those were just the ones I saw!”

Her heart was racing. She had no idea what these people were going to do. Why were they pointing swords and spears at Alice? Didn’t they see her fighting? Why wouldn’t they believe her? More than anything she felt surprised. Nothing so far had been conscious, just instinct. Since when had she had this inside her? She stepped to the side, fully interposing herself between them and Alice.

“She’s a dark elf!” another of the guards shouted back. “She’s one of them!”

Ingrid gritted her teeth. “She is most certainly not!” she spat. “The way I see it, you cowards decided to abandon your comrades finishing a rout so you could threaten my friend! Lower your weapons, or you’ll have to fight me first!”

She could see the surprised look on Alice’s face from the corner of her eye. Three of the guards hesitantly lowered their weapons. Two more, seeing the other three, lowered theirs as well. They turned to the gruff human man that seemed to be the leader. A bead of sweat ran down his forehead before lowering his sword, grumbling something that Ingrid couldn’t make out. The gang kept their distance, checking the bodies littering the square, but kept a close eye on Ingrid and Alice.

Alice had a look of surprise on her face as Ingrid turned to her. In her eyes at least, below that was covered. She reached up and lowered the scarf, confirming it. Her gaze flicked to the gash along Ingrid’s arm and instantly turned to a look of worry, “Shit, that doesn’t look good,” she said quickly, examining the wound.

As if the comment reminded her of its existence, Ingrid found herself on her knees again, clutching the wound. The pain was dizzying on its own, but the blood loss added another layer of issues to it. Alice pulled out her knife and carefully started to cut away the sleeve.

“Damn it, sorry,” Alice spat in annoyance as Ingrid gasped in pain and flinched. The annoyance was very clearly directed at herself for hurting her. She went slower, but continued to cut away. “Come on Princess, deep breaths. Count to five, 'kay?”

Ingrid did as she was told, but the pain was hard to ignore. As Alice got the sleeve off, she immediately pulled out a waterskin and poured it over the wound. Some of the fresh blood cleared away, giving a view of the damage. Ingrid didn’t look at it straight on, but caught a glimpse of something that almost made her vomit. The veins along the gash were starting to turn black. She had learned enough about dark elf tactics to know what that meant. Poison.

Alice must have realized it at the same time, given the string of curses that shot out of her mouth. Ingrid felt herself helped to her feet, before her good arm was slung over Alice’s shoulder. Her friend held her by the waist, trying to help her limp along.

“Malori's a healer, right? Come on, gotta get back to the gate,” Alice explained, grunting as she carried Ingrid forward. Ingrid felt almost disassociated, like none of this was really happening. Her head lolled around with every step, feeling light as a feather. She vaguely made out a guard shouting at them, and Alice spitting back something about getting her to a healer.

Alice turned to her again, speaking directly to her this time. “Dark elves use two kinds of poison. One’ll just knock you out real good, the other kills you. Pretty sure this is the latter,” she said. She wasn’t even trying to hide the fear in her voice. “You said Malori was a savant right? Town like this probably doesn’t have a healer that could help with this, and I can’t make an antidote without an actual lab or materials.”

The sentence didn’t need to be finished. Ingrid got the idea. Either Malori could neutralize the poison, or this little escapade would be over before it even really started. Even in her dizzy, barely-present state, she could make out one thing in Alice’s voice easily. This was the most terrified she had ever sounded.

“Oh hell no, come on!” Alice sounded more urgent, shaking Ingrid. Ingrid tried to respond, but it just came out as a weak groan of pain. She looked up at Alice. She looked so scared. It didn’t suit her face. Ingrid wanted to tell her that she should smile, it would look much better. Her dark elven friend pulled her over to a wall that wasn’t burning and laid her against it. Ingrid looked groggily up at her. Had the guard always been following them?

“I’m getting her help, watch her,” Alice commanded, practically growling at the guard.

“And why should I let you go? How do I know this isn’t a cover just to escape!” he shot back, putting a hand on the hilt of his sword.

The look on Alice’s face told Ingrid that something snapped. “Alright, let’s go with your stupid fuckin' idea that she already said wasn’t the case!” she yelled, getting into the taller man’s face. “You fight me and keep me from getting away, and you let her die! Wanna explain to your captain that you ignored the dying druid for a single dark elf?”

He faltered slightly, but kept his gaze stern. He used his height to loom over Alice, trying to look intimidating. “Fine then! Give me collateral so I know you’ll be back!”

Alice had had enough. She slapped him, “By the gods you have a brain don’t you? Use it!” She screamed. Ingrid groaned. Did they have to be so loud? “That’s my friend and I’m trying to save her life! I’d be bringing her with me but if I try to move her, it’s just gonna kill her faster!”

The guard rubbed his cheek, looking furious. Still, he seemed to relent slightly, “Alright, I’ll watch her,” he growled. He let out a noise not unlike a yelp as Alice grabbed him by the collar and yanked him to eye level with her.

“I know your face. If she isn’t here when I get back, I will find you and I will gut you like a fucking fish,” she said in an almost too quiet voice. Ingrid couldn’t quite see her face, but she did manage to note that all of the anger on the guard’s face had melted away into a look of legitimate fear.

Alice released him and turned back to Ingrid, getting to her knees. Her voice switched to the comforting tone she used when Ingrid was having a bad night. “I need you to hang on for just a second. Can you do that for me Princess?”

Ingrid couldn’t say anything, but she managed to give a small nod.

“Good girl,” Alice said with a worried smile. She put a hand on the back of Ingrid’s head and gave her a kiss on the forehead before gently letting her rest back on the wall. Giving one last stern glare at the guard, she sprinted off.

Ingrid felt her cheeks get hot. Had Alice ever done something like that before? Sure they had kissed during sex, but that was different. It felt kind of embarrassing. Thinking about it made her tired. Maybe she should just rest for a bit.

Gods, this guard was starting to annoy her. Why was he shaking her and yelling? Now that she thought about it, she couldn’t really tell what he was saying either. It just felt loud. She thought she’d have trouble going to sleep, but it felt really easy as she closed her eyes. Just a few minutes, a quick nap before Alice came back.

Why had she run off again? It wasn’t important. She could just ask her when she got back after all. For now, she just wanted to rest.