Three’s a Crowd

Casper sat at the bottom of the hillside with the flickering firelight of the camp no more than a candle in the distance behind him. The sun was already well beyond the horizon, but Casper's superior vision allowed him to still see the faint distinction in the gradient of the night. 

Letting out a steady breath, Casper let the warm wind batter his hair against his face, and let the tall grass tickle his arms as he sat tugging small tufts out in an idle fidget. 

Occasionally distant bursts of laughter would rise up, inaudible except for the general tone of drunk playfulness. 

Nephinae's first question still ran in the back of his mind. 

He did talk about the village and his father alot, because that was most if not all of his life. It was hard to talk about anything else because it felt to him that everything after that was… well it wasn't the best to think of. So why did her words still bother him so much? 

""You talk of your fathers teachings but not of the things you have learned on your own.""

Casper repeats Nephinae's words out loud, listening to his own voice carry on the wind as he speaks them. 

What the hell had he learned on his own? What had he done on his own that wasn't in pursuit of something related to the village? I didn't think he was wrong for making revenge his goal, but it still nagged at him, ate away at him. Something about those words burrowed deep into his head and latched on with no intent of letting go and the only thing more frustrating than that, was the fact the he couldn't figure out how to fucking figure it out. 

Casper brought his hands up to his head to brush his hair from his face, letting them linger there as he looked down at the small hole he had dug in the grass. 

Who the hell was he anyway? His fathers son? That was nothing to be ashamed of but his father made it clear he wanted Casper to be his own man… but what did that mean? 

He was marked. But he didn't want that and only that to define him. It was a part of him absolutely but it wasn't him. 

He was a fighter, a hunter, a traveler, but those are all the things his father made him… 

Who was he? 

Casper let out another long breath, letting it drift away in the breeze. 

Why did he care so fucking much any way? He thought, a chuckle rising up in time with a feeling that maybe he was just being stupid about all this. 

He could figure out "who he was" after all this was over. He had all the time in the world for self actualization after he killed everyone involved with the death of his family and friends. He didn't need to be anything other than a tool to enact the justice that was due… 

"Need some company?" A voice reaches Casper's ear's from a short distance away. 

Lifting his head, Casper watches as Rathiel approaches and takes a seat next to him at the bottom of the hill. 

"I was going to say no." Casper teases the man. 

"I figured, that's why I sat before you could answer." Rathiel gives a half-cocked smile and wink, settling in only a foot away to Casper's right. 

"I know I am the one who intruded on you and your camp, and intruded on you just now, but Id like to ask a personal favor, if you don't mind." Rathiel starts. 

"What is it?" 

"I'd ask that you please not punish your slave for her question tonight. She was only playing the game in accordance with our rules and I'm sure she didn't mean for-" 

Casper raises a hand to cut the man off, chuckling as he does so. "I won't, I wouldn't. Trust me. I'm not like that. None of us are… honestly? I hate the fucking practice." Casper admits openly. He got the impression Rathiel sympathized and figured it was fine to admit at least that much. 

Rathiel sighs with audible relief, smiling to Casper as he searches his expression. "Thank you… and I'm glad to hear that, truly. Though, if I might ask, why keep her then?" 

Casper lifted his head up to turn and look at Rathiel as they spoke. 

The man was handsome, young, maybe the same age as Casper though its impossible to tell with the higher races, especially Celestials. They always appeared particularly young regardless. 

He seemed like a good man, he really did, but that didn't mean it was safe to spill everything. Casper needed to maintain the disguise, for everyone's sake. 

"My father insisted. And if I didn't take her she would have gone to someone else, someone who wouldn't treat her the same. If I left her at home then who knows what would happen. You've seen her, she is beautiful. I don't trust anyone honestly, especially not other noblemen." He lies. 

"I see." Rathiel's eyes soften, "And I understand. Szostes was a slave when we found her, but we freed her. There are certain magics that can break slave collars, or mages who can dispel them for a price. If you would like, I'm happy to give you the money in order to set her free. I'm sure she would still choose to remain by your side, but without the collar it might be more… preferable?" 

Casper couldn't help but laugh. He honestly liked this man, and wished he could tell him everything outright. The fact that he would have to defend slavery at all made him sick a little, but he had to do what he had to do. 

"I wish I could, truly. However I'm sure you are aware of the potential risk of an uncollared full elf wandering around in our party. Someone would try something, be it to take her, or fight us, or believe she is the one in charge or any number of other possibilities. It's much easier to keep her in ownership, to ensure no extra trouble comes our way. 

Rathiel sighs, and nods his understanding. "I will drop the matter then, though I thank you for indulging me." 

"It's no trouble. Though I need to say, you are very ready to request and ask when you could easily take. Power aside you're famous, you're well known, you have the backing of a god and nobility and alot more I'm sure. What's stopping you from just doing what you want?" Casper asks genuinely. "There are so many people who do after all." 

Rathiel turns his attention backwards to the direction of the fire for a moment, letting the laughter that comes from its direction die down a little before he responds. 

"Because it's wrong," he says plainly. "I believe… that everyone should be given a chance to do the right thing. I'm not nearly as virtuous as you seem to think I am, I'm only mortal after all." he chuckles slightly. "Slavery for example, I hate it, honestly. If I could I would tear apart the very foundation of it. Root out all the slave traders, execute them and send the message to the world that it wouldn't be allowed so long as I lived."

"But?" 

"But, that just isn't realistic. Slavery exists because there is a market for people, yes? The only reason slaves are sold is because they are bought. You can't go around and kill everyone who wants to buy slaves." 

Sure you could, Casper thought, but decided it was best not to speak that part out loud. 

"It needs to be a greater change, a change in the morality of the people of this world. Slavery can't just be outlawed, or driven underground out of fear, slavery needs to be systemically phased out, made taboo, made unsavory. I am using my power to do what I want, but I'm doing it slowly. The bigger my parties and my name gets the more influence we have. The more work we do the more sway we achieve over not just the nobility but the populace. So, it's not that I'm not enacting my own justice, or not doing whatever I want, I'm just being realistic about those goals." Rathiel shrugs. 

"You're a noble man, a good man, few of those around these days I've found out." Casper admits, nodding his head slowly. 

"You aren't taken back by my grand plan?" Rathiel laughs. "The last few people I told laughed in my face and decided they wanted nothing to do with me, even those more in line with your positions on the matter." Rathiel admits with no small amount of surprise. 

"I might be a noble, and my family might be a part of the system you are trying to get rid of but I can't say I don't respect it." Casper half lies. The need to maintain the disguise gets only more and more bothersome but still it must be maintained. "I think I hold a very similar sentiment, though I can't say I'm as patient as you are," Casper laughs. "But someone is doing something and that's commendable. Genuinely Rathiel, I wish you luck." Casper says honestly, making sure that the young man can see the truth in his eyes. 

"I… you have no idea how glad I am to hear you-" Rathiel starts, but just as he is about to finish his sentence, a scream rises up from the distance, carried on the wind from the direction of the campfire. 

Faster than Casper can perceive, even with the passive effects of the mark, Rathiel launches himself from his space on the hillside, sending up a massive concussive blast along with dirt and grass. 

He is a streak of pure gold against the night as he closes the distance to the camp as the screams and shouts rise higher and higher. 

Casper has to shield his eyes as the dirt rains down around him, his ears ring from the boom, and anger rises in his chest as he realizes he can't use the mark without giving himself away. 

Charging up the hill at the pitiful speed of a normal human, Casper's heart slows to a crawl as he wills his body to enhance the other parts of him. Heat radiates from his skin, as he heightens his senses, strengthens his skin, increases his endurance, everything but the strength and speed he is used to. 

The shouts rise higher, and higher, the sound of something else, primal and animalistic, vibrates the air in a horrific half growl, half human scream. 

A mass of black ichor rises into view. Powerful muscles work under sleek inky flesh as the body of a hunter towers over the gathered wagons and people. 

Annabelle bleeds from her arms as she raises her greatsword, standing over Elisayra who is scrambling away in the grass to escape the monster. 

Nephinae girl is being held by Thodhan, running away with her to get her to safety. 

Szostes speaks in a serpentine tongue, manna pooling from her body and into a massive orb that shimmers around the nameless girl, Laihal, and a very drunk Janus. 

"Get back! This thing will kill you in an instant!" Dorain shouts as Casper makes his presence known back in the camp. 

"We have it handled, protect yourself!" Rathiel commands, closing his fist tightly around a sword of pure golden energy. 

Casper's opinion of Rathiel and his party shot up even further, now he supposed all he needed to see was just how strong they actually were.

This hunter was the largest he had ever seen. Easily twice the size of the one he encountered with Annabelle and Alex on the road, it stood at a stagger forty or fifty feet tall on all six of its legs. 

Like a strange dog with a too long neck and too long snout, it opens its mouth in a roar. 

The maw of the monster stretches down to nearly the base of its throat, where rows of jagged and crooked black teeth vibrate inside. The spines along the length of its back vibrate in time, and in an instant Casper's vision begins to fail him. 

The air around the hunter shimmers, until it blends into the backdrop of the night in perfect camouflage. 

"Oh come now, don't be shy!" Dorain shouts with a wicked smile. 

Casper watches as the woman summons forth a staff of similar golden light, though hers is more solid, it still radiates with the brightness of pure daylight. 

She slams the staff into the ground and with a harmonic hum the hunter becomes visible once more, outlined in pure gold. 

The hunter digs its 6 legs into the ground, and launches itself at Dorain, kicking up huge chunks of earth, the force of its movement topples two of the wagons of their camp, sending them tumbling towards Annabelle who braces herself for the impending impact, only to find a shimmering barrier blocking the mass of canvas and wood's path. 

The hunters wide open mouth lurches for Dorain, but Rathiel is there in an instant, leaving a permanent streak of gold in the space he used to be. 

The celestial swipes up with his sword, and takes off the hunter's lower jaw as if it were a hot knife through butter. 

The momentum of the monster still carries, and Rathiel smashes the hilt of his weapon into the side of the hunters head, sending him tumbling away from them. 

Rathiel turns to face the monster, but the hunter is just as quick, its long barbed tail flicks out at Rathiel and Dorain as the rest of it passes. 

The crack of the hunters tail deafens Casper, and puts out the campfire in a fraction of a second, sending the remaining wagons and tents tumbling through the air, only to be stopped by Szostes as she continues to speak her spells into the night. 

The tail itself makes contact with Rathiel, though it doesn't even move the man an inch, instead. He catches the tail firmly in one hand, and pulls the hunter towards him. 

Dorain spins her staff in a flourish as the hunter is pulled back towards the party at incredible speed. Its clawed legs flail and try desperately to swipe at anything, only to snap and break apart as they make contact with Szostes's barriers. Each barrier it collides with in its path shatters a limb, which Dorain unceremoniously removes as it passes harmlessly by her. 

One, two, three, four, five, six quick merciless strike in the span of a half second and the hunter is reduced to the form of a snake as it writhes on the ground. 

Rathiel launches himself from his position on the ground, and with a single arcing slash of his weapon the head of the Hunter is thrown into the air, as the force of his strike craters the earth where the neck is. 

The hunters head tumbles up and up and up, before finally descending back down, bounding off the barrier protecting Nephinae, Laihal, and Janus to come to a halt in the center of where the camp used to be. 

Casper had never seen a god, neither in person obviously nor in any depiction. He had seen celestials but only recently, and this was very much different. 

Casper had never seen a god, but as Rathiel stood framed by his wings, bathed in golden light he figured he was likely the closest thing to a god made manifest. 

He had fought a hunter, and their presence alone sucked his energy. Even with the use of the mark it would have been a struggle, and a hard one at that. Rathiel and his party had taken down the monster with such ruthless efficiency it honestly scared him. 

Thodhan might have gone off…somewhere, and Janus might have been too drunk to fight, but Szostes so effortlessly casing several incredibly potent barrier spells, Dorain using that staff to reveal a hunters physical location, the thought of what they could be capable of if they were all fighting, and sober..

These were incredibly powerful people… 

The barriers surrounding the hillside drop, as Szostes stops speaking the words to her spell.

Dorain takes a seat on the corpse of the hunter as its body begins to disappear slowly into black smoke. 

Heavy breathing is all that can be heard from the others, as the adrenaline wears itself off slowly. 

The camp is still bathed in daylight, as Rathiel's pure white wings are wreathed in the same golden energy that flows from his weapon and halo. 

"Here, I…should have done this much sooner, I'm sorry." Rathiel apologies with a deep bow. 

The celestial closes his hand into a fist, the sword disperses into golden energy that in turn lands around each and every person gathered at the top of the hill. 

The superficial wounds and bruises, scrapes and cuts begin to slowly mend themselves, putting an end to any bleeding. 

"If only it could cure my eye." Annabelle groans, working her shoulders and arms in a circle until a soft click indicates that everything is where it should be. 

"I'm sorry, but my powers do not extend into that realm of healing…" Rathiel apologizes again. 

"I feel like you of all people shouldn't be apologizing." Casper says with a whistle. "You saved our asses, we should be thanking you." He admits. 

"No, I apologize for not dealing with the threat sooner. I should have been more aware, but the alcohol in my body had numbed me to it… this is my fault." 

"Nonsense" Alex quickly dismisses, "you and your party saved our lives. I would say we owe you a life debt but I'm not certain you would accept." She teases slightly, making sure to catch Casper's attention with the statement. 

Alex suppressed a giggle at Casper's eye roll. 

"You're right, I wouldn't accept it." Rathiel confirms with a smile. "Instead, how about we all try and find our tents?" 

Casper turns his attention to the bottom of the hill, where tents and pieces of wagon flutter in the wind quite a distance away. 

"A shame the beast put an end to our fun." Laihal pouts, her tone heavy with sass. "I was enjoying the game and drinking." 

"Well, you know what they say." A drunk Janus slurs from his position laying back down on the grass. 

"Two's company, three's a crowd. The hunter must not have gotten the memo." 

A few laughs rise as the tension falls, each person starting to make their way down the hill to gather up the strewn about supplies. 

"Where did Thodhan and Nephinae go?" Dorain asks casually as they pick up bed rolls and camp packs from the grass. 

"I think I see them over there?" Rathiel asks, pointing into the far distance, where what appears to be a fort has been constructed of stone and wood. Four walls with heavy tree trunks arraigned as "spikes." Facing outward. 

"He built all that, that quickly?" Annabelle asks in disbelief. 

"The fool man is a half giant, half dwarf if you can believe it." Szostes hisses as she brushes dirt from an incense holder.

"I feel like that asks alot of questions, '' Elisayra states from beside Annabelle. 

"His mother was a giant and his father was very brave." Dorain laughs. 

Casper watches in total awe, as Thodhan emerges from the earth as if he were a tunnel mole, erupting from under ground as he moves huge section of earth and dirt and stone to make a mote, a second mud and stone story to the constructed fortress, as well as tower section for which he seems to have placed the nameless girl. 

"Thod! Cease with this! The threat is gone!" 

"I know! I just knew you wouldn't let me build a fortress while we had the camp up. So I waited until the camp was destroyed to make it." 

Nephinae pokes her head from the hastily constricted tower. "He asked if I wanted to see something exciting." she calls back, looking over the makeshift building. "I have to admit… this is rather exciting." 

More laughs rise from the two parties, and they eventually finish gathering their lost supplies, and remake some version of camp back at the top of the hill. By the time they were done, the hunters' remains had totally vanished from the hillside. The only evidence of its existence being the churned and ruined earth from its movements and the fight. 

"I'm terribly sorry about your tents, say, when we reach the city I will happily buy you new ones. Gods know we need new wagons now." Rathiel says, looking over at the one recoverable wagon. 

"I can assist in repairs in the meantime." Nephinae offers, approaching the wagon and using her magic to mend what broken pieces she can. 

"Thank you." Dorain smiles to the elf. 

"No no, really you don't need to do that. Saving us was more than enough, and we have the money to buy new supplies. Honestly, the tents we had were a bit tired and worn, we needed an excuse to get new ones." Casper explains. 

"Well, if that's the case, the first round of drinks are on me." Rathiel offers instead. 

"We will take it!" Annabelle shouts, eyeing Casper who was very much ready to deny the gesture as well. 

"Good! I'm glad to hear it. Well, with that settled it's a long day of travel ahead in the morning, should you still allow us to accompany you?" 

"Of course you're welcome. It would be our pleasure." 

"Excellent." Rathiel smiles. "Until tomorrow then, sweet dreams."