Getting back out there took no time at all. Lillian made a quiet pit stop to go drop off her key but she was back out and on the roads once more. Lorne and Calisto dutifully following behind. Sure they probably didn’t need to be out here, the region was mostly safe by now, it wouldn’t be that hard for the locals to just get up and go. Their problem was all logistics in the end, adventurers could stave off monster attacks but they couldn’t feed a whole town on the march. Either way, it wasn’t their problem nor their area. The trio knew how to just barely feed themselves and even then they were dying for a hot meal at the nearest inn or tavern even if it was the sketchiest greasy spoon on the whole county. But it wasn’t like being out in the wilds didn’t come with its own advantages. The fact that there was no one around to give a fuck about the way that they decided to conduct themselves was a pretty major one. However like all things, there was always a negative to every positive. No one there to care about the way you acted also meant there was no one there to save you when everything went to shit.

That was, however, exactly what they signed up for. Freedom was such a double edged sword, but she happily grasped it every step of the way. There was nothing in this world that would truly hold Lillian back when she left the confines of society. She took a deep breath, the flames that had been stoked over the past day was getting harder and harder for her to ignore. She felt the fires burning hotter and brighter in her chest but no matter how much she tried she couldn’t just tamp it down. She couldn’t choke it out and let it fall to a quiet smolder once more. These people shouldn’t matter this much to her, she was from a bumblefuck village just like it. Yet she couldn’t find it in here at all to just let it go. She let everything get to her, she let the weird praise that made her armor chafe sit in her chest. She let the hateful comments that was loosed towards her team, and now towards Pyra, stoke her pyre. Lillian clentched her fists, shaking in a quiet rage. Taking a deep lungful of air she let out a sky shattering scream, robbing all of a quiet night. Just as the shards of silence began to fall around the group she tore off in a sprint drawing her sword.

She didn’t care anymore. She didn’t care if she got hurt. She just wanted to make something else hurt, she wanted to make someone hurt. But even now, Lillian knew that it wouldn’t work like that. That she could never get something like that to come without a scarlet necklace around her throat.

So instead she will settle for the creatures that lie in the woods. Their home that she now invaded to protect men that likely never lived in harmony with them regardless. Her blade flashed as she saw sign of her first target, rage coloring her vision as steel met flesh. She grinned wickedly hearing the song of combat starting, the rending of flesh harmonizing with its screams of pain. It brought its claws down onto her as it tried desperately to make eye contact with her. Lillian’s shield was there in a heartbeat, its claws scraping off the metal with a high pitched screech. She laughed manically, holding it in front of her to try to keep its line of sight broken. Oh how she wanted a mirror shield, it would of been so damn useful in this battle. The beast roared challengingly at her, if it couldn’t get her to accidentally look at it then it would simply force the matter, charging into her with reckless abandon.

Lillian knew something was happening the heavy stomps of its feet and the shaking of the ground told her that much, but all she could do was guess. She held her sword out next to her shield and tried to angle it in such a way that it would impale itself upon her blade.

Right about when she saw the stars moving slowly past through the tree tops, and suddenly coming to the realization that it was awful hard to breathe, Lillian had the thought that this wasn’t working. She hit the ground with a heavy thud her armor clattering loudly as she landed gaping like a fish. Her heart was already racing, but the footsteps of the basilisk wasn’t stopping. Nor had they lost any of their speed from when it had rammed her. She was going to die out here. She wasn’t going to die like this. Not here not yet. She struggled upright her vision blurry trying not to look at her quarry.

There was an explosion of heat nearly stealing the breath from her once more. Lorne danced past with his staff in hand and a blindfold over his eyes. She could hear him yelling but the meaning of his words slipped past her entirely. No matter how much air she tried to pull into her lungs it wasn’t enough, but it was no bother to her mage friend. The runes scarred across his skin glowed as he threw spell after spell. The creature screeched trying to resist its onslaught. She heard him yelling, every time that it turned its horrid gaze back upon her. Just as loud as she, just as horrible, refusing to let its own roars have the space to be heard. Lillian struggled to get up. She couldn’t let Lorne fight alone, there was no possible way that she was going to let the mage of all people be the front-line fighter. He was a back-line spell-caster that’s how these things worked, right? But even as she stood and her breath returned what Lillian saw was a man who was no stranger to danger. With a swift gesture he brought his hand back, ice forming in his hand into the form of a knife and buried it deep into the basilisk’s eye. She paused, watching as it slowly lost all the power in its eyes. The life draining from its eyes as the blood flowed freely.

Lorne looked over at her, taking off his blindfold as he did so, and all of a sudden she realized how foolish that she had been. She could of died, been turned to stone by one of the most common monsters in the region. She held his gaze for only a moment before looking away.

“Don’t.” She said softly. “I know what you’re going to say.” Her voice wasn’t broken, not yet, but she had been humbled. By a lizard no less.

“I suppose you do.” His boots crunched along the ground, the dirt turned up by their fight. “You’re not gonna split the party again are you?”

“No.” She couldn’t help that this very conversation was once more stoking the flames in her breast. That Lorne’s genuine concern and his help was something that she needed but it was something that she found that she was resenting. She wasn’t a child, she was a grown adult. But he was so much older than her, older than she would ever live to be. It was all she could do to not spurn the proffered hand.

“I know this is your first real adventure,” He spoke softly, gently placing his hand over hers. “But thing’s ain’t the same out here, they ain’t got no one like us out here. No one to come check.”

No one to miss us. That’s what he really meant, that if they died out here, the town wouldn’t miss them. Oh they would miss the team’s coin that’s for sure, they were racking up quite the tab at the inn every night on the Council’s dime. Largely only tolerated with how they’ve made good on their promise to kill anything that wasn’t supposed to be there. Lillian took a deep breath, finally looking Lorne in the eyes. She didn’t say anything, not yet, but she did offer him a small smile. An understanding. She wasn’t a child but to him she hadn’t even been let out of her parents arms yet. This wasn’t his first taste of freedom, it was hers. Unfettered by reputation and childhood she was seen so differently here. A stranger in black armor with shining steel and a shield to match.

“Is Calisto hiding somewhere?” When Lillian looked the elven man was already cutting away at the creature’s hide. The one good eye that was left was already in a jar. “Gods man you work fast.”

He looked up, skinning knife in hand. “Eh? Cher the body is only good for so long yea?” He gestured vaguely at its still cooling form. “We’ll make good money off of this kill.”

Lillian couldn’t help but smile at him, Calisto cutting and working the body for them. Sure, she or Lorne could step in, but the man was so anal about the way that it all had to be done that it was easier and faster to just make sure that he had the space and time to get any of it done in the first place. So guard duty it was. All of a sudden her scream seemed a little more than foolish. The basilisk had definitely heard her, who knows what else had. Calisto had already fallen back into his rhythm, humming along softly as he sliced the skin from the muscle. Lillian didn’t particularly feel like watching, seen one cleaning seen them all. It wasn’t something that uniquely gross, well maybe cleaning the guts out is. There’s no real prettying up the poop chute. At least he was going to make something good out of whatever he was going to let the team have.

“Calisto, think we can have some of the loin?” She called out, glancing over her shoulder only for the briefest of moments.

“The Loin Loin or the Oysters?” He didn’t even look up from the basilisk.

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

“The Loin Loin you fucker!” She threw a rock at him, sticking her tongue out at him when it went wide. “Its a lizard it wouldn’t got any oysters.”

“Ahhh you never know,” Calisto waved the knife at Lillian. “Some of these lizards have something close.”

“Calli you eatin’ the egg sack out of a merkin ain’t the same thing as findin’ oysters on a basilisk.” Lorne rolled his eyes at the two.

It was like that. Easy, simple. Laughter in the quiet night while they collected the remains. The beast was huge, they wouldn’t even have time to turn the meat into something that would travel well. It was a shame really, meant that one of them would have to go back to town to bring it back. Lillian knew who was going to be asked to do it. It was going to be her. Almost certainly. They might be loose and lenient with her antics, but she’s already shenaned once and all three of them know that she will eventually shenanigan. Sending her back to town like a child who’s broken mom’s prized bow after nearly getting herself killed well, it was better than what she was expecting but to be perfectly honest it was all she really hoped for. When she had looked again Calisto had finished fighting with the skin and had made the world’s grosses butcher bag and started to heft it up.

“Ugh, Calli lemme help you with that.” She said as she went over to his side wiggling her shield under it to try to keep it from dragging on the ground. When she glanced over at Lorne he had the most baffled look on his face.

“You both are doing it weird an’ stupid.” Lorne shook his head at them both, as his team gave him both offended and incredulous looks he gathered aether at the end of his staff, a small platform of pure geometry appeared under the gross bag of meat and gore. “There, now iffen you two give me a moment I can properly deal with it.”

Both Lillian and Calisto turned to look at each other and shrugged. No sense in getting in the mage’s way and especially not over magic. After making sure that the Meat Sack wasn’t going to somehow slide off and was in fact contained on the platform both of them stepped away. Lorne cleared his throat as he steadied himself again. This time instead of gathering the aether in his staff the aether in the spell already seemed to warp. Twisting and warping around the back as it bent and shaped itself. Lillian could feel a slight pull as he worked, glancing over at the dwarf while he did so. The sheer concentration on his face, was it really difficult or was it just convoluted? When she did magic it came to her as easily as breathing. Air go in, fire come out. But on the other hand she wasn’t changing the very weave of reality, sparking a flame was easy but what Lorne was doing? What he was doing seemed to require surgical precision. It was all he could do to keep the spell contained, no aether leaks nothing. While she watched him trying to figure out what it was that he was actually doing, Lillian began to noticed that the pile of basilisk remains was actually growing smaller. The magical energies kept flowing in and out much like a tide, and something within that mess kept pulling at her. Not strong enough to actually risk pulling her down again or even towards it. Nonetheless she could still feel its gravitational draw, it was then she realized that he was literally making the pile smaller. Lillian grinned. It wouldn’t rot in there, it wouldn’t be a problem. Oh it would still weigh the same. But its easier to carry a marble that weighs about that creature did than it was to carry all of what they were going to try to take from it. Especially since they weren’t trying to waste any of the meat, if they actually brought every last scrap of this back like it looked like Lorne was about to let them, they could actually feed the entire town with it.

The weave of magic stretched and stretched until it fully encased the remains they’d originally placed on the platform. Lorne’s movements then went from grand sweeping gestures to small delicate twitches of his fingers. It was easy to harken it to him plucking the strings of a harp, with each guiding gesture he pulled the weave taught. Folding and wrapping in on itself until it was the size of a marble. He plucked it from where it hung in the air like a ripe berry.

“‘Ere you to Calli, much easier to carry.” And tossed it towards Calisto. Who grunted as he caught it.

“You could of done that before I got started.” The hunter grumbled, finding a good place to put the magically dense marble.

“Eyup I coulda,” Lorne nodded, kicking some dirt up. “But then you woulda bitched that I didn’t let you do the thing.” He gestured at all the blood that was soaking into the earth.

This only earned more grumbling from Calisto and giggling from Lillian. Their kill settled and now Calisto’s rites observed they moved on. Deeper yet into the forest, especially now that Lillian’s outburst has had its chance to echo throughout everywhere. They had the chance now to maybe clear out more of the creatures and maybe pry more coin out of the town’s hands. It wasn’t like they were going to need it any time soon.

The team walked through the woods, a steady silence falling over them. Lillian’s heavy footfalls covering up Lorne’s brutish thumping of his own feet, though Calisto seemed to be the only one of the three that knew how to walk through the wilds without finding every stick, stone, and critter hiding in the underbrush. It was comforting in a sense, it would be nice to talk but none of them felt the need to fill the air with their voices in that moment. They knew the cause for the unnatural silence in the woods, Lillian could occasionally feel their eyes on her back for it, but the self-same silence also meant that anything that wasn’t scared off by her was probably problem enough to deal with and plenty for an iron rank team to handle.

Though as they continued to walk Lillian’s brow furrowed, a feeling settled into her stomach, the air slowly started to have a bitter taste to it. It wasn’t enough for her or her team to suddenly turn back, but it was enough to make them tense. Their bodies coiled tightly like a spring with each step. Lillian placed her hand on her sword, eventually drawing it. Something was wrong and the not-knowing sucked all the warmth from her body. A little ways down the game trail they found themselves walking the smell clicked into place. They had spent so long among people as of late that it entirely slipped their mind, the smell of smoke and ash, wood fires and charred flesh.

Lillian looked at the others, the fear in her eyes nearly a physical thing taking up space with her iris. Is it the wildfire? She turned back towards the smell of disaster, she needed to know. If it was just the fires then they could sound the alarm and force the evacuation. It’ll be under-prepared and a mess every step of the way but she couldn’t chance it. This time she didn’t run, she did her best to soften the noise that her armor made as she walked. Creeping closer and closer. Pushing aside some of the brush Lillian’s heart ran cold. In the clearing she could see the beginnings of fires, but not the uncontrolled wrath that accompanied a wildfire. It was a camp. The ground around it was scorched, the harsh heat around the area visible as flame casters worked to keep the fire in place.

None of them dared to say a word, they couldn’t risk even the idea of one of the demons figuring out that they weren’t as alone as they thought they were. Every bone in her body screamed for her to run, to tear off back down the path and never stop. Calisto must of seen it as he put a hand on her shoulder causing Lillian to look over at him. He said nothing, but he didn’t need to. She saw all she needed to in his eyes. Stay quiet, stay still, we move as one. With her heart in her mouth she nodded slowly. He and Lorne were lucky. Light armored the both of them, hell Lorne even sprung for a gambeson. The two of them could sneak away in near silence, especially when compared to the rattling thrashing garbage can that was her entire set of plate armor.

When she dare move it was only at Calisto’s behest, in order to have at least a snowballs chance in hell at any amount of maneuvering quietly Lillian sheathed her sword and adjusted her shield so that it rested on her back, rather than around her arm. Each click and shift of the plate made her heart thrash against her chest. Clawing at the walls of her rib cage demanding that she go faster, but each time she had to take a breath. Calisto knew what he was doing. Calisto wouldn’t lead her astray not on purpose. She simply had to trust him. Her legs were on fire while they crouched low to the ground walking along the forest floor, she wasn’t built to walk like this for long. It felt like it would take years to get to safety. If they could just get to the clearing where they’d fought the basilisk…

Something snapped behind the group and her heart stopped. Rustling rose as she turned around to see what had found them. Hell hounds. The beasts were hounds in all of the traditional sense. If she had to guess maybe their mortal counterparts shared something with foxhounds. These hounds? These hounds only knew to hunt the races of man. Their charred and scorched fur still smoldering in the moonlight as they snarled at the team. There was only three, and they would never outrun them, they could take them Lillian thought. They would have to. Aeson depended on them.

Grabbing her sword Lillian thrust at the nearest hound, the steel biting into its flesh as it let out a horrid yelp. The other two wasted no time, one rushed at her and on instinct she tried to block it with her shield and realized only too late that it was still affixed to her back. The hound lept and latched onto her outstretched arm. She cried out as the metal began to grow hot, the hellhound’s bite super heating the metal. Lorne cried out but she couldn’t make out what it was that he was saying. Even as she heard the cry of the other hound. She tried to throw the one currently latched onto her arm off but all she managed to do was throw her balance off and drug her to the ground. It savaged her armor, its fangs doing all it could to try to pierce the metal. The heavy dents already burning into her flesh, pulling a scream fresh from her throat.

Arrows sprouted from the hound’s side. It didn’t seem to do much other than force it to let go of Lillian when it howled in pain, but Calisto gave her her opening. With the weight of the world behind her she brought her sword down onto the hell hound’s neck. Again and again she slammed the sword down, to hell with forms. This damned thing needed to die. As she beat the blade into the hound’s corpse Lorne grabbed her arm.

“We need to go. Now.” His voice brooked no argument, and she wasn’t about to fight him on it. A glance showed that the other two were dead. But they had been loud. So so loud. And the bodies were already starting to set fire to the brush at their feet.

“We have to warn them.” Lillian said, panic creeping into her voice as she began to run. There was no time for stealth and they’d been caught already anyway, it wouldn’t matter. If they were this close to Aeson then the warpath was off course, the army never comes this way they shouldn’t come this way. They should have had weeks to evacuate, but now they had barely hours.

Each footfall was followed by the crackling of fire, all three of them racing not only for their lives but for the lives of hundreds who yet rested at home. A race they could not possibly win but they had to. Lillian couldn’t fail them she couldn’t break her promise to them. She couldn’t let Pyra die here, not after all that she’s faced here, not after what Lillian had done.