Didymus heard a noise behind him, and he turned around. All thoughts left his mind when he laid eyes on the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Her long dark hair and pale skin, like an eclipse in human form. Her brown eyes, almost black, seemed to penetrate his very soul. A small smile flashed across her ruby lips.
"You missed one."
Only then did he see the dead hellhound at her feet, and the bloody knife she held in her hand. "Oh, thank you! Thank you Miss..." he managed to stammer out before realizing that he did not know this goddess' name.
Her eyes wandered over his form and he felt naked and exposed under her all seeing gaze. He suppressed a shudder as she responded, "You can call me Lilith."
"Thank you Miss Lilith. You can call me Leroy."
She nodded and began to walk away. His heart began to pound and his vision narrowed. He couldn't let her leave his life as casually as she had entered it. Like it or not she had taken his heart and he was not going to give up easily. "Wait! It's dangerous out here. Don't you think it would be better if we traveled together?"
She turned around and let out a small chuckle. "I think I can handle myself, unless you were talking about yourself." She stepped closer and he felt time slow to a crawl. "If you can make it worth my while, I might be convinced to be your bodyguard."
He swallowed nervously, "I would like that very much. Would this be enough?" He asked while pulling a large ruby out of his belt pouch. It was about as big around as his thumb.
She grabbed it from his hands. "That will get you two weeks. That's as long as I can promise."
"Y-y-yes, that's g-good." He wasn't really paying attention. Their hands had touched. He couldn't remember the last time he had been so distracted by a woman before. He usually prided himself on his superhuman mental control. Somehow Lilith had broken through all of that in an instant. He needed to know how she had done that. He told himself that he was merely curious. He only wanted to find out what she had done so he could defend against it in the future. A small part of him knew that was an excuse. He was smitten, plain and simple.
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Bilhah wasn't sure she had made the right choice. She wanted to leave Leroy behind. He was annoying to have around and would probably be a liability in a fight, but he could be profitable. His whole demeanor just screamed "Swindle Me!" And she intended to do that before anyone more violently inclined could beat her to it.
They walked along the forest path at a comfortable pace. They were heading west towards Femur Junction, where they could restock their supplies before continuing. Leroy said he was trying to get to the Horsehead outpost on the western border near the Firewood Forest. If he was going alone he would almost certainly run into several more monsters on the way. Together, most of the weaker wildlife would avoid them.
As the sun dipped low in the sky, Femur Junction slithered into view. It was a loose and winding street with a ramshackle smattering of shops and dwellings, seemingly dumped in the forest with little regard to aesthetics or function. More a product of convenience than anything. They entered a shop that advertised travel rations. Jerky and dried fruit stocked the uneven and mismatched shelves behind the counter. Various spices hung from the rafters, and a basket boasted a pile of salt. Bottles lined the top shelf labeled with their respective contents. WInes, oils, and vinegars, flaunting themselves like winter peacocks. An old wrinkled man sat on a stool behind the counter, wearing a wide smile that showed off all of his teeth. All three of them.
"Welcome to Jethro's travel ration emporium! We've got all your on-the-go victual needs! What can I help you young fellows with today?"
Leroy stepped forward and surveyed the shelves, "We'll take twenty-five pounds of jerky and forty pounds of that mixed fruit," he said while pointing to the shelves. "How much are you asking for it?"
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Bilhah's attention wandered as the two began haggling. This town seemed awfully quiet, even considering how far off the beaten path it was. She certainly could poke around and find out, but she knew that sometimes you find out things that you would rather not know. And anyways, she was guarding this rich kid. It certainly wouldn't be good to put him in danger.
"I'm sorry kid, I can't do anything less than twenty silver crowns." The old man's words suddenly caught her attention. "The recent surge in monster attacks has made it near impossible to import anything. I can't afford to live on anything less." At this the Leroy leaned forward eagerly, almost hungrily, "Monster attacks, where?"
The old man scoffed, "Where? Everywhere. They're coming from the north country through Skinsplitter pass. All of them are funneled right to us." His tone dropped to a conspiratorial whisper, "People are saying it's the lich kings. Nothin' official, mind you, but word is that they've lost control of their monster armies and they're running wild. You two, make sure to stay alert, you don't want to run into nothin' out there." Leroy nodded along but his eyes betrayed his feelings. "You're thinking about going to fight the monsters, aren't you, son?" Leroy looked sheepish, a look that Bilhah found to be not entirely unpleasant on him. Old Jethro laughed and shook his head. "You're one of those adventurous kids aren't ya? Oh don't worry I was like that too when I was young, before I lost my leg. Let me go get something, I think you might like it." With that he hopped off the stool and hobbled to a door in the back of the store.
"I hope you aren't expecting me to save you every time you get in a fight with some monsters," she said. He laughed at that and responded, "Not every time. I want to be able to save you once or twice as well. You can't have all the fun."
At that Jethro returned from the back carrying what looked to be a sword, wrapped in cloth. "This was my old adventuring sword, his name is Ronald" he said while unwrapping it. His eyes seemed to sparkle as he held up a shortsword in a leather sheath. "Do you want to buy it?"
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Lady Serienmorder put down the piece of parchment she was reading and whispered softly to herself, "They've made it to Femur Junction, but who would have thought that they would meet Jethro out there." She sighed. "I hope that old fool is alright. He's only had his sword for company for so long." She picked up her quill and began writing her response. The letter was short and in a few minutes she had finished. She rolled up the small piece of parchment and tied it to the leg of the pigeon that sat in her windowsill. The bird flew off and the Lady relaxed in her chair. The break didn't last long though, as she had other things to do.
She walked out a door onto a balcony overlooking the estate. On a table sat a bowl of small lead weights, each one etched with strange runes. She grabbed one and brought it to her mouth. She whispered to it in a strange tongue. It was an old language that few people in the world knew, and if any of them had been there to hear it, they would have been very confused as to how this minor backwater noble lady could speak it.
She walked to the edge of the balcony and threw the weight into the air. As soon as it left her hand it flew with an unnatural speed, and it was still going upwards as it flew out of sight to the northwest. Content that her work here was done, she walked back inside to finish the wedding preparations. Even if the groom wasn't here now, she was confident that he would return within the two weeks. She had no reason to doubt, after all, Lady Sashikizu's prophecies had never been wrong before.
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Ronald Topor was not having a good day. He was livid. "What does that idiot Jethro think he's doing," he complained to everyone who could hear him, which happened to be no one at the moment. He wasn't particularly upset about leaving Jethro, the old man was never particularly fun to be around, and he had only gotten worse as he got older. No, what really bothered him was the ridiculously small price Jethro was asking for him. He was an ego sword, dang it, and to part with him for the paltry sum of only five gold crowns. His mental math put his value at just over a month of food for these two human larvae. This was beyond insulting. This was a travesty. This twerp should be on the ground begging for the opportunity to pay more for the privilege to work with the great Ronald Topor.
Despite his silent complaints the transaction continued. He prepared a hideous shriek for the moment that the boy, he didn't know his name, touched his handle. The moment Topor's skin touched the boy's he would be able to hear him, and he would make him regret paying so little for this work of art. He would obviously understand, the moment he held him, that he had grossly underpaid.
The boy did not touch his handle. He picked him up by the sheath and stuck him in a bag. It was a nice bag at least. One of those enchanted ones that were bigger on the inside. It meant that he didn't have to lay on top of the pile of dried fruit and meat. Rather he sort of just floated in a sort of foggy, misty, in-between space, and waited.
He was still ready to scream.