Darkness was all around me, but a light was burning before me. Behind that light sat Cellestra. It was sometime during the night, and the elf was still sitting between my chelicerae in front of me, fully clothed again. Her illumination spell lit up the surroundings, which were otherwise… not as dark as I’d expected. The full moon was bright tonight.

It seemed my spider half was the first to awaken. I felt completely revitalized and my headache had disappeared. I moved my legs to wake up my still sleeping elven half when I saw Cellestra stir.

“Morning, or I guess I should say night, Kealyna. How are you feeling?”

I couldn’t immediately answer the question as I had yet to have sensations return to the part that could actually speak, but soon enough I’d managed to do so and was able to reply.

“I feel good, great even. It seemed that was just what I needed.”

“Good to hear.”

“Things have been quiet, I assume?”

Cellestra nodded. “Other than your snoring, it has been quiet, yes.”

“That’s a load of crap. I don’t snore. And I do know, because I have heard myself sleep.”

“Well, damn,” Cellestra let out playfully.

I grinned at her joke as I raised myself to look down at the elf’s head. As I did so, she looked up and met my eyes. I couldn’t help but stare into hers while looking for my words.

“You want to get some sleep yourself, now?” I asked after an awkward silence.

“Yeah. If you’re ready to keep watch again, I should go to sleep.”

“I’ll be fine,” I assured the elf. “Actually…”

“What is it?”

“I was thinking we could set out again already. I think you should be able to sleep on my back, yes?”

“By the goddess,” Cellestra said, shaking her head. I could see there was a bit of a smile still on her face. “You’re something else, you know that?”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Nevermind. If you’re so eager to get going, I think we should be able to do that without too many issues.”

Cellestra stood up and picked up her backpack. She was about to put it on her back when I suggested that I strap it on top of my spider head instead, so she would be able to sleep more comfortably.

“I’d like to see how you arranged all this in that head of yours,” The elf said.

“I didn’t. I’m making this up on the fly.”

“Well then. You tell me how you want me to sleep.”

“Uhm,” I started as I tried to find a way out. “I was thinking I could stack everything behind me, make sure it’s fastened, and then you could maybe use my back as a pillow?”

Cellestra covered her face with her palm. “The ideas you come up with...”

Cellestra sighed but smiled slightly as she rummaged through her backpack and partially pulled out the shirt I’d made and looked at it while reaching for her canteen before putting the shirt back. “You know…” She said softly. “I’m looking forward to seeing you make more of these.”

“I’ll work on another one once it’s light out. For now, let’s get this stuff ready for transport.”

Cellestra nodded, took some sips of water, and went to work. We placed everything we had on my head behind my elven torso and I made sure to secure it with threads. Then the elf stepped on and laid her stomach flat on my back, her head just touching where my spider head started.

“Maybe this isn’t so bad,” She said as she used her hands to rearrange my hair so she’d be comfortable in it.

“Wasn’t it you who said I was the best pillow?” I asked slyly.

“True...” Cellestra said softly. “You better make sure I don’t fall off.”

“Don’t worry. I’m keeping a close eye on you.” I grinned softly after my statement as Cellestra looked into one of my spider eyes at the back of my head.

“I suppose that’s true,” She said. “Good night, and be careful.”

“Good night, and will do.”

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It didn’t take long for the elf to start sleeping soundly. I imagined she was more tired than she had appeared to be. Either way, she got the rest she needed and we still made good headway with regards to getting to our destination.

I did think it would be a smart idea for my elven half to relax as much as possible if I was going to be traveling for more than usual. I had no doubt I would be okay after getting a night of good, full sleep, but I also didn’t want to have to repeat that within a day because I was getting ahead of myself.

Unfortunately, because of the items behind me, I wouldn’t be able to lay myself down and try to sleep, so I opted into leaning over forward where I supported my frame with my pedipalps while trying to focus purely on my lower half.

It was awkward to do, and see, but after walking and relaxing for a while, I felt sensation leave my upper body as it slowly fell back asleep. The fact that I was even able to, was surprising in itself, but I wouldn’t question it.

I was expecting the night to be boring as usual, but after a few hours of traveling in semi-darkness, I saw light on the horizon, right where I was headed. What was odd was that it couldn’t be the sun, as we were clearly still headed north.

I picked up the pace slightly and within the next few minutes, I confirmed the vague suspicion I'd had from the moment I saw the light. I was confident I was looking at fire in the distance. My eyes registered the colors flickering all the way from here.

I was drawn towards it by an unnatural force, or maybe it was my drive as a knight. Where there was fire, there could be people in danger. There was no reason for me to change course as I had to go in the same direction anyway. I might as well find out what was going on here and what had caused all this.

Hopefully, it was merely a forest fire, but I saw no reason for a random forest fire to happen at night unless we were looking at arson. I decided I would give Cellestra some more time before I would wake her.

My current goal was far out, but as time passed, I was growing more confident that I had made the correct judgment. I could now make out a bright orange glow around my target. I could also see that there was no forest in sight. If that was the case, it could only mean that a building, probably a large one, perhaps more than one, was set ablaze.

I picked up the speed as fast as I could while carefully poking the elf awake with one of my legs. At the same time, I made sure to wake myself up as well.

Cellestra groaned as she was pulled out of her slumber. “It’s still dark. What’s going on?” She said.

“Look ahead.”

“Ugh,” She let out as she rubbed her eyes while I simply kept running. Once she was somewhat awake, she leaned to the right to see what was going on before me.

“Is that,” She started before she rubbed her eyes again to look better. “Fire?”

“Looks like it. I’m heading there now.”

“Not surprised. How big is the detour? Will you still know what way to go after?”

“There’s no detour,” I said. “It’s literally in our path.”

In the meantime, I got a clearer idea of what was going on. Thanks to the moonlight, I could make out stone walls beyond what was on fire. If I were to guess, it was the storage building of a farm that was currently burning. It would certainly fit with the size of the inferno.

When I got closer, I could see figures on horseback occupying the grass around the building. They held torches in their hands, which gave me the idea that they weren’t here to help.

I sighed as I knew what this meant. “Looks like arson to me.”

I looked around to see some figures standing near the gate to this settlement. It was clear that they wanted to come closer, but they didn’t seem to be able to for whatever reason. If anything, it added to my suspicion.

I ran towards the presumed bandits and when I was close enough to make my voice heard, I shouted.

“This your work?” I asked loudly. I decided to try asking in the human language first as the most recent settlement we’d passed was a human town.

One of them turned to me and spoke with words that made him seem either really foolish or brave. That, or maybe he couldn’t see what I was.

“Whatcha gonna do about it?” An arrogant voice, that evoked a deep hatred within me, spoke out.

I balled a fist as I took a small moment to phrase my anger as best I could with this far too soft of a voice.

I cast my barrier spell before speaking. “I think I’ll start by killing you all.”