Chapter 28

Lavinia never thought much of the swamp beyond Corym's walls. When she first encountered it with Seraph as prisoner, she was more concerned with keeping her leverage and avoiding the gases the fat, purple-bulb plants spewed. Now things are different, Lavinia sees the swamp for its beauty, in the fresh ripples of beasts swimming underneath, the soft ground and sand; perfect for tracking down runaway prey.

The swamp smells magnificent and the croaking echoes are the songs regaling its wealth of potential. Lavinia's excitement at the swamp outshone her disappointments and they were many things that irked her in the past hours.

From Ulx denying her the GroveStaff to Seraph refusing to order the gates open till she put on the new shawl Deran provided. The shawl is heavy, rough and tickles. It weighs down Lavinia quite a bit and sends static through her hair, gradually turning it into a huge blowout of individual strands standing upright on their pores.

It would make for a devastating disadvantage in a hunt and Lavinia expects a hunt on this excursion, perhaps even to reach Crimson as well. To compromise, Lavinia allows Seraph to trim some of her hair and tie it into long, bundled braids. The shawl still pours its magic up her hair but tied up in braids only a few strands fall into its pull.

Along with the shawl, Deran provided boots for Lavinia while Seraph and Jonn got away with tight-fitting leggings that made their slender legs look even more like sticks. Although Lavinia's first instinct is to refuse the boots, once she has a whiff of them as well as a proper look, she's certain they are made of the same waterborne reptile she hunted for Lucy. She'd only had a bite when it was still fresh before Lucy had her hand it over to cook. She never did finish cooking it.

"Seraph!" Lavinia yells, sick of staring at her boots and thinking of food she could be hunting. Behind her Seraph and Jonn wrap up the details of their Squad's excursion outside with a particularly large goblin and another Tririax Lavinia's only seen supervising the wall's construction.

It's not much longer before Jonn and Seraph meet up with her at the gate entrance— a heavy metal door welded into the rest of the metal-concrete mix that makes up the wall. Jonn heaves most of the squad's materials in a tight packed cylindrical bag. Excluding some emergency supplies should they get lost or stranded on their mission, most of the packs contents were full of charting materials of which only Seraph and Jonn know how to work.

Seraph steps out in front of Lavinia, her leggings draw over her body, covering everything beneath the shawl and leaving her single eye and the glinting ring Ulx rewarded her with standing out.

"Alright, one last time, Lavinia." She starts, pulling on the tight fitting sleeves of her full body darksuit and beckoning Lavinia's practiced response.

Suppressing a growl, Lavinia searches her memory for the words she'd all but forgotten the moment she stepped out, "No hunting friendlies. No running off one my own. No getting distracted and no bullying."

Seraph nods in satisfaction as she sets the grip on her shin and forearm guards, another gift from Deran, "Good! Oh, and friendlies are?"

"Grrr. Anything Seraph talks to." Lavinia drawls.

"Anything Seraph and Jonn speak to." Jonn stresses, and not for the first time. He hefts the backpack and sighs, "Couldn't Lavinia carry this until we actually get into a fight? Ulx said we should avoid fights to begin with."

With a wave back at the Trirax and goblin. Seraph starts walking and they shut the gate behind them. A sound as sweet as the smell of the swamp to Lavinia, the sound of certainty— nothing is stopping this mission now. She falls behind Seraph, eyes scanning around the swamp in search of the closest creature she can turn into prey.

Seraph sets her hand out as they stroll around Corym and Jonn deposits an object in her waiting hand, "Don't ask me that again or you're going to get me mad, Jonn." Seraph says in a singsong tune while poking at the round object Jonn handed her, "Lavinia has to be able to move freely, we'd be sitting ducks if she's slowed down by luggage in a fight."

Lavinia's ears twitch through her braids at her name, but her eyes remain glued to the ground; the Stelc's massive footprints track alongside the city's wall and Lavinia counts several paces before the end of each under her breath, marvelling at the demon's colossal size. Since they'd taken the southern gate out of the city, the squad treks all the way across to northern side and the true start of their destination.

Lavinia's follows the prints. Some of them are reduced to ponds of swampy water, breeding a variety of frogs and smaller reptiles like her boot is made of, while others are dry dumps of obsidian and other crystals jutting every which way. They look like they've fallen off the Stelc but at the same time Lavinia's eyes couldn't mistake the reptiles and plants trapped within the dark, smooth crystals for anything else.

"Are you expecting a fight?" Jonn presses, pushing more effort into his step to keep up with Seraph and Lavinia.

Seraph spares him a dry chuckle, most of her attention trained on the round object in her hand, "No, but this is Ruishia and we're headed to uncharted grounds. Corym's effect on demons won't be as strong that far out. So, it's a good idea to expect the worst of a forest full of unhindered demons, don't you think, Jonn?"

Jonn doesn't put up a rebuttal and trails behind in silence until the squad arrives at Corym's northern gate; the Caldri held gate. Seraph, in a bit of solidarity, smacked her fist against her head in a rigid right-angled salute. The Caldri are tall, broad and pale demons that share little else save the lack of ample flesh and muscle with the Trirax. The guard's faces are a copy of each other; skeletal and drawn with tiredness from a long watch at their gate.

They salute back after some delay chatting between themselves. Seraph doesn't mind though and her focus is once again on the round object in her hand. Lavinia peers over her shoulder for a look at it and finds nothing but glass and a turbulent needle swinging from one side to all sides.

"Get off of me, I can't concentrate with your drool pouring over my shoulder." Seraph shakes off Lavinia and continues to head their journey with the object held close.

The northern gate of Corym overlooks less of the swamp and more of the forest. The swamps dark green of flies, croaking and swimming creatures quickly gives way for the forests rich vibrancy that only serves to further Lavinia's excitement even as Seraph and Jonn trail sluggishly after her.

"We've already got this area charted, or at least the Caldri do. This is their map." Jonn says having unfurled one map from the rest of the bundle he pressed under his armpit. "We can pick up the pace a bit and make camp before it gets any darker. Tomorrow we'll have more light and make start connecting the two maps together. How much of the Northwest are we charting anyway?"

Seraph doesn't answer immediately, cutting across the thickening bushes and obstructing vines with one hand and studying that object with another, "Enough with the vague, searching questions already, Jonn. Corym is behind us now, if you want to know, ask." She shoots him a smile with a crinkle of her eye, though as she comes close to shutting it Lavinia appreciates the full darksuit she has on as it almost disguises her with the charred black trees of the forest.

As of yet, nothing in the forest has summoned the scent of blood to Lavinia's nostrils, a growing annoyance if it keeps up but she reassures herself there'll be blood spilt somewhere the deeper they go in the forest. In the meantime, she resists the urge to sprint past Seraph and spill that blood herself— already she's spotted three creatures ripe for a hunt, yet the quickened pace the squad's fallen into either alerts the would-be prey or puts her far away from the two Trirax she serves as a guard to.

"At least you're admitting it. What did he say? Tell me already, also how was it?" Jonn demands.

Chuckling Seraph brushes aside another vine as the forest brings the squad to a river running through it, "How was what? Telepathy?" Jonn nods vigorously and Seraph can barely hide the pride in her voice, "Oh, it was like any other voice giving you orders to save and preserve the Trirax of Corym. Awesome!"

The two bellow into a shriek of laughter that has Lavinia sneering in disgust for their utter disregard for the forests quiet and her hunt— how will she get anything done if they're this loud?

"He didn't say that but it that's what the message felt like it was actually saying." She says with a shrug.

"What was the message?"

"Well, we're actually here to continue the investigation into the attack. He's sure those demons have some kind of camp here, somewhere close enough to Corym to attack and retreat but not close enough to track back so easily."

"Oh, that's why he insisted we go North. Wait, how does he know they're up North? They attacked from the south, at our southern gate." Jonn argues.

Seraph only has enough time to make a sound before Lavinia leaps out before her, dagger in hand and Essence roaring to life as she stabs at a galloping, horned beast. Blood spills over her hands and Seraph yells, "Lavinia! What did I say?"

Lavinia's rebuttal comes quick, "This isn't a friendly." She tears into the bleating creatures hide, ripping its gut open before snapping its trembling neck.

"Ugh, right to the blood and guts as always." Jonn groans at the sight but neither of their objections reach her ears or stop her hands from working into the blood pouring out of the animal.

It wasn't a demon and the hunt didn't last more than the second Lavinia laid eyes on it and sprinted out to stab it, but it was a start she hoped would improve as they travelled further into the forest and it was strategic as well. Smearing the blood over her hands and even into her hair, Lavinia stuffs her mouth with as much of her hunt as Seraph and Jonn are patient enough to watch her go through.

When they started moving again Lavinia has made sure just about every bit of her has some stain of the animal's blood— it would have been better to kill it and wait but soaking its blood in her braids and hands would be good enough to lure what other greedy demons were out here and Lavinia was certain there were many.

If only these two would shut up.