The duo was able to pinpoint the mysterious splashing, and although Hord'anne wasn't built for stealth, there were enough rocks bordering the small pool of water to hide his purple skin. They would just have to hope that whatever was splashing around was deaf enough not to hear the thud of his weighty steps. Cody squeezed himself into a dry crevice behind the small waterfall feeding the pond, laying his spellbook wide as Hord'anne took shelter behind a thick, pruned hedge of a bush next to him.

He still wasn't used to his surroundings. The forest looked more like the back courtyard of a castle, brimming with flowers and decorative trees. The air was sweet wherever he walked, and not a single bug had buzzed or crawled by. Fairies were like fish in the ocean. You never knew what you were going to get, but most of them made their domains quite clear. The entire place was weighed with a blanket of natural magic, settled on every surface like a glittering layer of pollen that only the trained eye could see.

He flipped to his desired page, waiting for another splash. "What do you suppose it is?" Cody whispered.

Hord'anne grunted, poking at a flower before squishing its smiling yellow form under his sausage finger.

"I'll check it out." Cody moved to get up, freezing as Hord'anne moved as well. He kept his voice down to a harsh whisper as he stuck his finger up at the beast. "No! You stay! Just in case."

Hord'anne grunted.

"I know you're stronger than me, but we don't know what it is."

He grunted again.

"I know we're villains! But we're not stupid villains!" He retorted. "We're in a fairy domain, what if that's one of them taking a bath? We don't want to piss them off."

Hord'anne sighed, letting out a gurgling huff of air.

Cody sighed as Hord'anne settled down, turning around only to barely duck the pecking beak of a black bird. It let out a loud squawk to mock his yelp, stomping its feet gleefully on the cropping of stone it had chosen as a perch. Cody paced his racing heart, shushing the loud bird. He didn't hear flapping wings in his journey, which meant the creature had been there all along, and had intentionally waddled up to scare the daylights out of him.

He pondered its antics. Crows were smart, but playing pranks was a level above. Was it a fairy?

He eyed the bird cautiously, backing away as the green feathers peppering its chest puffed and it tried for another peck. There was definitely magic coating its feathers, a mix of the substance throughout the forest and something else that crept deeper inside of it, stemming from a bright green glow that emanated from its chest. The spot was exactly where its heart would have been.

It wasn't a living beast. It had been conjured. Whoever made the beast likely felt numbed sensations from it, but were connected enough to torment him. He waited for another splash. Was this the familiar of whoever was in the pond?

"Who are you?" Cody whispered, gaining an inquisitive head tilt from the bird.

"Shushed!" The crow squawked, earning another flinch from Cody. "Rude! Rude! Rude!"

He flared up some magic in his palm, the flames shooting high enough to startle the bird back into the sky. It was quick to escape his sights, its squawks growing ever distant.

Despite the commotion he had caused, the splashing continued, almost without a care in the world.

He calmed himself once more, waltzing into the open with his book stretched wide and pretending to read. Still, the splashing continued. Whatever it was could see him now, and to not react was almost assuring. It was likely a fish that had jumped too far from the pond, struggling to make its way back to safety. So he looked up, locking gazes with not a fish, but a black-haired woman, who, despite her clear lack of anything, greeted him with a smile and wave.

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He froze, slowly pocketing his book as the awkward staring contest ensued, every fiber of his being seizing with burning disgust as he mustered up just enough strength to shakily turn around. He clutched his necklace, hurriedly scuttling back to his hiding spot. He stared at the dim crystal, trying to mask the shake in his whisper. "Alina have mercy, we avoided the town as you asked."

The woman wasn't a fairy. At least not a fairy he had ever seen. Which meant she was likely an adventurer who found herself in that exact spot.

At that exact moment.

Cody cursed as the gem did not respond. "Cliches. Not a good sign." He looked to Hord'anne pleadingly. "We need to get out of here, and quietly."

Hord'anne tilted his head, slowly moving to peek at the pond, until Cody stopped him.

"No! We can't catch that thing's attention!" He wiped the sweat off his forehead, looking around with ever-growing panic. "We have to sneak away... Just pretend this never happened!"

Hord'anne didn't follow as he slowly crawled away, grunting in disapproval.

Cody hesitated, cocking his head over his shoulder at the beast. "Eat her?"

Hord'anne nodded.

"Well, perhaps that could work..." He flashed his necklace to Hord'anne, accusingly pointing at the ever-silent crystal. "Just don't look at her or we may be cursed to like it."

Hord'anne grunted.

Cody frowned. "Don't say that about yourself, you're lovel-"

"Evenin! You two waiting for your turn?"

The man let out a girlish shriek as he saw the woman peeking around the rock, draped in a dirty brown sack for a shirt with her black curls soaked in clumps at her shoulders. He covered his eyes with one arm, reaching for his spell book with the other. Hord'anne on the other hand, was in a state of complete bewilderment at her lack of screaming. She was a human. Humans ran screaming whenever they saw him.

He froze up, slowly looking to Cody for help. Small things that didn't run were scary.

The woman stepped closer as the two scuttled back. "Name's Sariel, didn't think I'd see anybody up he-"

"Not another step foul love slave!" Cody finally burst, stopping Sariel mid-step as she watched him with wide eyes. He had lowered his sleeve, but still kept his head jerked far away from her. "I have questions."

"Right, sir, this is actually my free day, I'm done my bath so feel free to go." She adjusted her tattered clothes, wringing her hair out and tying its matted tendrils into a death knot. "You two live up here?"

Hord'anne grunted.

"No! We don't. I'm not following you anywhere! Now answer my questions!" Cody continued, slowly pulling his spell book out. "And don't try anything funny."

"Right, sir. If yer lost I don't know directions too good, but I got a map." She tapped a roll of parchment sticking out of her stitched bag. She eyed his flickering hair, a strange inspiration striking. "You know how to make a fire by any chance?"

"No." Cody lied, grabbing Hord'anne's hand and trying to pull it down before the beast could answer. But as Hord'anne was easily seven times his size and twenty times his weight, it didn't work.

"You do?" Sariel's eyes lit up. "Could ya help me, sir? I need to cook up my food."

The word 'food' was like asking a dog if it wanted to go for a walk. Hord'anne, the fat and festering purple demon, was sold on the damsel come to save his growling stomach. Cody however, was shaking. He latched onto Hord'anne's arm to try and stop him from following the cursed woman into whatever tale Alina had planned. But his friend simply dragged him along.

His tactics weren't working.

He let go, grounding his feet. Hord'anne was like a scared child when he couldn't see him. He wouldn't make it thirty feet without crumbling and running back to him. His relief was short-lived when Hord'anne discovered his plan, the beast grabbing a handful of his cloak and lifting his flailing body to carry him like a sack of potatoes. He struggled under Hord'anne's hold to no avail, holding back the long list of spells he could spit out to escape the hold.

It wasn't right to attack his friend over something so petulant. But at the same time...

He painfully twisted his head to look at the woman's back.

The consequences could be substantial.

He squeezed the necklace tight enough for it to sting, continuing his quiet plea. "Oh great goddess, please stop this torment! I tested your powers to pursue a tale I had no part in, and I see the err in my way!"

His heart fluttered as the gem gained a faint glow. Slowly intensifying, but not yet speaking. He could feel her presence, her attention. She had finally heard him.

Something wasn't right about this whole situation. She always spoke immediately, and never lingered long enough for Cody to pick up anything in her thoughts aside from her words. But she had lagged for so long he couldn't help but share in her vast consciousness. She was curious, maybe even confused by his call. Finally, after some thought, she spoke. "Look."

Cody obeyed the command and looked at Sariel's turned back, the goddess' curiosity that had flooded his mind reeling back within a split second and leaving an empty chill.

Her voice returned, stern and echoing with power. "Follow it."