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“How far off are we?” asked Giri.

The carriage rolled slowly down the desolated path of a withered forest. Uriver sat before the reins while Billy and Giri sat in the back with their captive in tow. Only a single horse was dragging the carriage and the horse wasn’t even whole. It was missing flesh and skin with bones exposed to the elements. It was an undead horse.

“This is the fourth time you have asked in the last hour,” Billy retorted.

With her chin hoisted on her fist, staring out into the wilderness with a bored expression, she groaned and poked repeatedly at her captive. “I was promised a fun time but what do I get? A dull ride with nothing to do and nothing to spectate. Only this… thing here that I can’t even tease.”

Billy rolled his eyes. “You’re teasing him enough as it is.”

“Oh, this?” Giri scoffed. “This isn’t teasing.” She brought out her knife and gently traced the sharp edge across the captive’s cheek, gentle enough to not draw any blood. “This is teasing, but you don’t let me.”

“Careful now, Giri. One wrong move and this will be all for nothing.”

“He’s paralysed, no? Or do you have so little faith in your concoction?”

“I have the utmost faith in my concoction but this person here is a True Dragon. An Apostle but not just any apostle. He is the heir to the Dragon God's throne.”

Giri snorted, staring at Aedan in laughable contempt. “What kind of god would he be if he’s so easily put in this position?” Giri leaned closer to his face, looking for any hint of expression, but there was none. The venom had taken full effect. He was completely paralysed. He could only breathe and move his eyes.

“Have you not been listening? His true powers are sealed.”

“Is it the same seal that we have to undo in order to beckon the dark tide?”

Billy groaned and sighed. “Yes. the very same seal. The same thing.”

“Huh… Isn’t that…bad for us? The moment we undo the seal, we are dead.”

A chortle came from the front. “Speak for yourself. I am not so easy to be slain.”

Giri tutted. Truth to be told, she was the lowest level among her peers. Uriver was the highest and she had never seen anyone with a level higher than him. She was well aware of her own blood thirsty nature but even Uriver frightened her. Of course, she didn’t let it show.

“Should we be going so slow?” Billy asked, looking into the distance behind them. The town was now but only a dot in his view. “His lover, the Fae, is not one to dawdle and plan.”

“If she and her party come, we can deal with them easily. Hell, I alone am enough for them.”

“They have three Apostles on their side.”

“We have much more.”

“Two of them are Nyx’s Apostles.”

“We also have an Apostle of Nyx on our side, don’t we?”

“And that should be reassuring? If anything, that should be alarming. In fact, why did we even let him come with us?”

“Billy, you don’t know this, so I will tell you this now. The Apostles of Nyx don’t get along like other faiths do. Even the most dysfunctional faith had their followers, acolytes and apostles band together when their very own faith is under threat. And do you know, they only have seven Apostles, never more, never less.”

“Why is that?” Giri asked. Her interest was piqued.

Uriver shrugged. “That I do not know, but it is how it has always been.”

“Do I have to worry about a knife in the back when his fellow Apostles come?”

“No. Not at all.”

“If you say so,” Billy accepted begrudgingly. “Still, we shouldn’t be stalling. The Greymoons are on high alert because of the other Faiths. If we get seen, things would get complicated.”

“The kingdom’s dogs are nothing to us,” Giri scoffed.

“There are the Children of Aerys too. Don’t forget about them. Last I have heard, they sent an Undead Dragon to assault a Greymoon camp.”

Giri tittered. “If they send that Undead Dragon unto us, we will have another ally. Death is our specialty.”

“You need to calm down, Billy,” said Uriver. “We are almost there and nothing can stop us now.”

“Not even the Ruvans?”

“Unless the Scarlet Blade makes an appearance, they will give us no trouble.”

“You better hope you’re right,” Billy grunted. “I have waited for this long enough.”

“And we will wait no longer from today onwards.”

The dead trees became more and more sparse until it was only a patch of wasteland with ashes and withered floral in sight. A lonely and ruined cathedral stood ominously and brazenly atop a hill that was only a few miles away.

Once they reached the foot of the hill, a plainly dressed man descended to meet them. Nothing about the man was interesting of note, except for the fact that he was all too plain. He would fit right in amongst a group of peasants.

The carriage came to a halt. Uriver disembarked first, followed by Billy and Giri, who carried Aedan down with her.

“Marc, what brings you down here?” Uriver greeted with a smile but the lack of warmth in his tone and smile was evident.

“You are late,” said the plain man. “We agreed at dawn but it’s noon now. I was about to go look for you all.”

“We’re here now, that’s all that matters.”

If the plain man was annoyed, he did not show it. He gazed over Uriver’s shoulder at the carriage. “Is he unharmed?”

“The seal has not been tampered with, if that’s your concern.”

“It should be yours too. And I trust that you have used the blocker?”

“Dull name but very effective,” Uriver said, bringing out a wooden cylinder with intricate runes carved on it. “I can barely sense our own presence. Although, I doubt this would prevent us from being found. We did have a loose end back in the town.”

“No matter. We would be found eventually but this will hinder them long enough.”

“Is everything prepared?”

“Long before dawn came. Again, you are late. Everyone has been waiting.”

“Even you, Marc?”

“Even I. If I wasn’t, why would I even join you lot?”

“Who knows? Perhaps you seek to destroy us from the inside?”

“You people will destroy yourselves soon enough. I am not needed for that,” Marc said and walked back up the hill.

Uriver chuckled. “So you say… but time will tell.”

“Time surely will,” said an unfamiliar voice.

Uriver, Billy, and Giri turned around in an instant at the voice and saw a bunch of unfamiliar faces, emerging from seemingly nowhere.

“Well, this is unexpected,” Uriver muttered.

Billy gritted his teeth. “Mordius’ hounds… just what we need.”

“Just what I’m looking for,” Giri chimed in, looking all too excited about the unexpected situation. “A good fight, finally.”

****

“Are you sure they went this way?” Amyra asked as she sped through the air. She was not flying but leaping. A single kick of the ground sent her flying for half a mile. It was faster than a horse or any land mount since time was of the essence.

“These woods are dead but there are Spirits present, which can only mean one thing. Someone with high Spirit affinity had just passed through here quite recently,” Nivia explained as she too was speeding through the air using her Wind Magic.

These two were not the only ones travelling in an unconventional hasty manner. The others were following suit too, spurred by Aera. She was ahead of all of them. Fueled by her rage, she manifested an ability that allowed her to travel as fast as an arrow while flames blazing all around her body.

Erin was just behind Aera. She was using her lightning spells to boost her speed, further enhanced by her Lust.

Siv, Lyra, and Lilian stayed behind. They had no means to travel in such a manner, so they had to resort to the most sensible and natural way, on horseback.

“We better pick up our pace,” Nivia said. “We’re going to lose them at this rate.”

“Any faster and we will exhaust ourselves by the time we reach Aedan. We must conserve our strength.”

“What we’re doing is anything but conserving our strength.”

“You can stay and wait for the rest to catch up if you don’t think you’re up for this.”

“As if I would let you three go on by yourselves. We are heading into a den of manics.”

Amyra chuckled dryly. “That, we are. This is stupid.”

“But you’re not stopping.”

“His Grace is in danger and m’lady isn’t sound of mind at present. I can’t just leave them be.”

Nivia was about to retort when the sudden dispersal of the remaining Spirits caught her attention. She gave Amyra a signal and the two came to a halt at once.

Amyra tutted. “Looks like we won’t be able to help them after all.”

Erin and Aera continued in their pursuit without stopping or even glancing behind them.

“To make sure no one gets the drop on them from the back. That’s the least we can do,” Nivia said.

“Come out,” Amyra bellowed. It was no shout but her words rang louder than one.

Donned in leather amour. Black of hair that reached only around the neck. The woman showed herself, brandishing a polearm with the blade encompassing a third of the weapon’s length.

“Looks like I missed your leader,” the woman said, smirking.

“More like you intentionally let her pass because you knew you’re not her match,” Nivia retorted.

The woman chuckled. “You got me. I was going to ambush her but… she’s different from the last time we met. Way different.”

“You confronted her once and you lived?” Nivia questioned. “You must be good or you’re just a very cautious coward.”

“I’m no coward,” the woman said and stepped to the side. A flaming blade crashed down into the ground where she had been standing.

“Good instincts,” Amyra said, reeling in her fiery sword.

“It’s not instinct,” the woman replied with a smile.

“Who are you?”

“Eliza, but you can call me Liza. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Amyra.”

“Oh, you know me?”

“I am an adventurer too, you see.”

“An Apostle too, apparently. What do you want?”

“Same as a lot of people out there. The bounty on your lady’s head.” Eliza dodged low immediately after finishing her sentence and Nivia’s sword swooped harmlessly over past her. “Do you two have a habit of interrupting people?”

“Only if they are an enemy,” Nivia retorted and unleashed a flurry of attacks.

Eliza twirled her polearm and parried each and single one of Nivia’s strikes. She even had the opportunity to counterattack.

Nivia barely deflected the blow that would have otherwise taken her head. She quickly regained her stance and struck back.

Eliza easily dodged the Elf’s stab and moved into her blindside. But before she could strike, Amyra came and fended her off with a swing of her gigantic sword.

“Two against one. This won’t be easy,” Eliza muttered.

“Nivia, let me handle this witch,” said Amyra.

“No. We will fight her together.”

“You’re tired. That is plain to see. You can’t even use your spells in your current state.”

“I’m just conserving my strength as you said.”

“This opponent is not one where we can fight without giving our all.”

Eliza chortled. “The Augur is right… and wrong too. Even if you two come at me with everything you got, your victory is still not certain.”

Amyra grinned. “Aye, it ain’t certain with only the two of us.”

Eliza frowned. “And you’re somehow happy about that odds of yours?”

“Because it’s not just the two of us.”

Eliza’s eyes widened. She spun around right that instant, just in time to see an arrow flying towards her. At the same time, Amyra lunged at her wide-open back.

“How about the odds now?” Amyra said and brought her infernal sword down on Eliza.