29 28. Roughing It

It's been 2 days since they had escaped and found the cave they were currently resting in, Mizu had gladly taken the chance to snuggle with Marlet to retain body heat and her fluffy tail in-between the two only made it that much better. Tony claimed to not have been bothered by the cold of the evenings, saying it was a dwarf thing to have thick skin if they want to forge well.

"So when do ye plan on sharing your little gifts with us?" Tony asked in mild annoyance, because of her lack of preparation the three of them had to run far longer than they should have had to. The only reason that they weren't caught again was Marlet leading them to a different path and shouting "WULD" to either make a speedy getaway or catch up with the other two and thus confusing the trackers with her erratic movements.

"Nope" she had popped the 'p' at the end for dramatic effect and she could swear she saw a vein almost pop on the dwarf's forehead. "I may have saved you and Mizu from slavery but you're still the bastard that put the weights through my wings" Marlet frowned at that, she half expected them to outright remove her wings. "They wanted to do more than that" a soft reply could be heard from Mizu and Marlet snapped her head at the dwarf with an indignant look and she almost conjured her weapons to attack the man.

Mizu actually had to hold on tight to Marlet to not have her assult the only person who might know where they are and what they needed to survive, "Wait! I know you're mad. I was too." she tried to placate the rising fury growing in possibly their only chance at survival, "Look, they did something similar to my tail. I was angry too but you have to understand that he is as much a slave as we are... were." Mizu finished her sentance quietly. Marlet could see the beautifully detailed metalwork seared onto her tail-skin making it imposible to remove without causing excrutiating pain to Mizu. "Girly, they wanted to remove yer wings entirly to prove some sick point" Tony spoke in a no nonsense manner, "don't know what yer made of but ere'time my blade made it halfway it coldn't go no further." Tony narrowed his eyes at the girl in question, not worried that she was giving him a 'I'll murder you in your sleep' look.

Mizu suddenly bacme the glue that kept this impromptue group together, she and Tony stayed close to Marlet because neither of them had had a blessing bestowed upon them by a god or goddess which made Marlet the de facto strongest member of their party. Tony was the most knowledgeable about the different villages and towns around the continent and thus would become the navigator and spoke to whomever should they encounter currently not looking for them. Marlet had become the brawn of the group, taking care of the stronger monsters the other two had trouble with. Having wings she was able to scout the area efficiently and quickly, she sometimes flew so high that the other two wondered if she would ever return. She always did.

After a little back and forth, a few insults given at impromptu maps drawn in sand by both Marlet and Tony they finally figured where they were. According to Tony, they wern't in the worst place but deffinitly not the best place either, they found themselves north of the Dedine battlefield. Now some might be wondering why it was such a good thing being close to a battlefield and Tony explained it very bluntly, "who's gonna worry about strangers away from your fight if someone wants to stab a sword through yer gut" and the other two could only agree with his reasoning but still cautioned to remain away from the fighting and out of sight.

The three of them moved slowly and cautiously. From avoiding major conflicts that would take place or any scouts they found lurking close-by, there were instances where they had to eliminate any indiviual that got too close and found them but between Mizu's keen senses and Marlet scouting from the air they made good progress. Marlet was able to have nature favor them wherever they would set up camp and Tony was capable of hunting a few small animals in the surroundings with Mizu establishing the sleeping area away from prying eyes.

An awkward respect began developing between the three as they didn't pry into the other's abilities and skills and if the other did something unexpected all they would receive was a frown, most times Marlet was on the receiving end of those.

Sitting on an outcropping and looking out over the walled city before them Marlet couldnt help but compare it to Orario. This was a much more militaristic place than anywhere else she had seen, and strangely enough all the defenses were either facing north or west.

The west made sense to her given that Rakia was at their backs but what could be north that warrented a similar level of danger if not slightly worse if the balistae mounted to towers were of any indication.

"Never understood them folks going and building their houses in the open and then crying when its destroyed" Tony gruffly said sitting down next to Marlet, "take a lesson from us more intelligent and go down. Nothing to destroy if they cant find it ey?"

Marlet could only scoff at the dwarf's words, "I think the elves would have a different opinion on your race's inteligence." She teased back not expecting the stout man's response, "aye lass" he humoured her with silence to build suspence, "but then again those flower sniffers can always climb up another tree if they lost ther houses!" He barked out laughing as though he had told the funniest joke all month.

Just south of the Dragon Valley the city of Zolingham was located. The outpost city built to be a first warning should there be any dragons deciding to explore outside of the area left for them. The city was truly magnificent in a militaristic way and one would think it impenetrable if one forgot who they were supposedly defending against.

Dragons

They came in all shapes and sizes, elements and temperaments. One day a dragon could decide to simply see what was happening in the fields surrounding their many hills and another be in the mood for destruction. This rarely happened but that didn't stop the fear from growing in the mortal's hearts of what might become of them.

The trio were looking on the city with apprehension, not knowing who ruled and how they would respond to their statuses as 'run-away' slaves they decided to wait outside the massive walls for the time being and have Marlet scout out the general attitude within its walls.

Before Marlet could take off into the air for her scouting trip Mizu's voice was heard from behind. "I'm sorry", she sounded on the verge of tears and very regretful making her two companions very confused about the reason until they turned around.

Mizu was standing there ramrod straight and locked eyes with Marlet, what they did not expect was a blade pressed to her throat and a person wearing ranger garb standing behind her, dagger in hand with the tip already piercing skin and leaving a trickle of blood behind.

The person's face was not visible nor any distinguishing features that could allow them to recognise who the assailant could be, the one silver lining was that Marlet was almost certain that it wasn't an Amazon for obvious reasons.

"Let her go." Marlet spoke with finality and conviction. "Don't think so, you three have been scouting the city for a few days now and I'd be very interested to know why." Tony moved behind Marlet knowing that in any fight he would be a burden thus he moved to not be a distraction should a fight break out.

"Our business has nothing to do with you, stranger." Tony piped up behind his meat-shield. This earned a scoff from both the stranger and Marlet and Tony just lowered his head. "I'll ask again, what's your business here and I will not be asking again" there was a finality to the stranger's voice conveying that they could not stretch out this conversation any longer, they either answer or loose a companion. Still ready to conjure a bound dagger in one hand and the 'Sparks' spell ready to launch, "we're seeking asylum from the west"

That definitely caught their interrogator's attention and had they not been wearing a mask for the three would have seen an eyebrow raise at that statement. Looking at the Dwarf, Renard and Bird-person (?) before them it didn't take long to link up the words with a most likely scenario as to why they would be here and withdraw their blade from Mizu's neck.

The moment the blade left her neck Mizu heard a loud "WULD" that she is oh so familiar with and instantly dived out of the way just in time to hear a loud thump behind her.

The masked person was in complete disarray not knowing what happened. One moment they were removing their blade from one of the refugee's neck and the next they were on the ground with something sharp on their neck and the other girl's face directly in front of her. She also felt her other hand rest in the centre of her chest but paid it no mind thinking it was meant only to keep her down. Now they may have been caught unawares by the whole ordeal but they had survived countless life and death situations and developed certain habits, one of which included where if they had lost their equilibrium in any direction unawares they automatically drew one of the daggers that hung at their waistband ready to land a blow at the cause of their loss of balance.

"Now to the main question" Marlet had a scowl on her face as she ignored the dagger tip digging into her stomach and looked directly into the eyes of the person she has at dagger point, "why do you care and who are you?"

"Careful there missy, you might have me on the pointy end of yours but I got the same for you" the stranger voiced out calmly as though not worried about their situation at the least and to further emphasise their point they pushed their dagger a little further into Marlet's stomach. This action only caused Marlet to narrow her eyes and also dig the tip of her dagger further into the person before here's neck to also make a point, this caused the pain in her stomach to lesson causing her to do the same.

"So what now feathers? We have a stalemate and I doubt you would survive if I gut you before you finished me off?" Marlet was silent for a moment contemplating what she should first ask of the person she has pinned down.

"Remove your mask", a simple instruction that could be completed instantly and also allow the three of them to see who it was that took them by surprise. Those three words however made the stranger hesitate for a few moments, 'what will they do when they see my face? Is this really how I die, a little girl killing me after everything I've been through.' The stranger's thoughts made them hesitate to even respond, an action Marlet took notice of and irritated her to no end. "Fine, if you won't do it I will."

She then proceeded to remove the mask off the person she has pinned down and in one swift movement the mask was gone revealing an attractive Elf woman with green eyes and beachwood white hair done up in a Viking style braid to keep it out of her eyes no doubt. What really caught Marlet's attention though was the burnt mark of a war axe embedded into a skull surrounded by fern leaves.

Mizu gasped and Tony muttered something under his breath but clearly audible.

"A Forsaken"

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{A/N}

Hello lovely readers, I would firstly like to apologise for not updating in a while. Things got really busy on my end in all parts in life; socially, familial, professional and studiously and it just left me drained when I finished everything that was set for the day. That said, I'm not saying everything is 100% now and updates will be a little slow. I have said before that I want to focus on quality over quantity and that's caused this chapter to have split me in two minds.

On one hand this is continuing with the plan I had when I was posting regularly and will lead to where I want to go but on the other hand I was trying to write in any breaks I had and this caused the chapter to become patchy.

I have reread what I wrote down and believe it's okay for now but let me know how you feel it was in the comments, always did love reading them.

I am not dropping the book and appreciate everyone that still has the book in their library, you guys are amazing.

Expect irregular updates but they will come nonetheless. I do aim for each chapter to have +/- 2K words.

Have a lovely weekend and look out for the next chapter.