Bound Evil

After the assassination attempt, Vivan was the one who found Emily and Alex. At first, they’d wanted to hide it, but with Emily's torn and bloodied clothes, it was clear they had just been in a life-and-death battle.

After Kael was notified, he had the wandering fangs sweep the area in case there were any more threats nearby. They didn’t manage to find much, they were Assassins after all, but what they did find was three speedy mounts tethered nearby. Supposedly they had run the beasts to near death to make up the distance the Rime wolves traveled. Atticus theorized they had to make the attack because their beast would not have made another day's journey at their current pace. George made sure Loch released the beasts into the wild, while Emily got treated by a grumbling Yishmal. They had traveled for the rest of the day but when night fell they found themselves in Kael’s tent with all the leaders present.

“What in the world have I gotten myself into?” Kael said with an unamused sigh.

Alex glanced at Emily before clearing his throat.

“The assassins coming after us was unfortunate, but ultimately our problem. I do, however, have some useful information.” as he said this he took out the opened letter and handed it to Kael

The room was silent save for Marth who scowled at Alex.

“You have to be kidding, we should cut you off and leave you for dead for hiding this from us.”

Alex glanced at Marth with dead eyes but turned to look at Kael who was leafing through the documents.

“With those we should be able to plot a course through the worst of the fighting.”

Emily stared at Alex from her periphery. He’d been acting strange since they opened the letter, more on edge. Over time Alex’s uptight nature had been slowly relaxing in her presence and Emily thought they were making progress, but right now he looked as wound up as when she’d first met him.

Kael hummed as he looked over the documents.

“If the map is accurate it’ll take us at least another three days to get to the nearest settlement, and from there we still have to find this lay line. That's not taking into account the weeks it’ll take to traverse the Shatterspine Peaks. Who's to say these sightings will be of any use?

Alex held Kael's gaze and without hesitation he answered.

“They will, I guarantee it. I can predict their movements with these”

Marth snorted “What are you? A Diviner?!”

“No… but I do have Tactician.”

Kaels eyes narrowed at Alex and even Marth looked taken aback.

Though Atticus was the one to speak first.

“... I was under the impression you needed to have decades of experience leading armies into battle to acquire a title like that.”

Alex shook his head.

“You don’t” Not offering up a single detail more.

Kael used one of his lanky arms to brush against his stubble as though in deep thought. Marth received and frowned at Kael.

“Boss you can’t be seriously contemplating this. If there are people that want their heads then we’re putting ourselves in the line of fire for-”

Kael looked up with a sharp light in his eyes.

“And when has that ever bothered you? You’re complaining more than usual Marth, tone it back. We have a contract in place and we’ll fulfill it to the letter.”

Marth took an instinctual step back as the room shifted, becoming suffocating.

“And you two… While my man is overzealous he’s not entirely wrong. Had you warned me of the circumstance we could have better prepared for it.”

Sweat began to coat Emily's back as she searched for Kaels spear but saw it nowhere in sight.

“...Fine we’ll do it like this. Alex you’re upfront with Atticus and Emily will move to the center point with Selia. Before we move on, are there any more surprises you want to get off your chests?”

When neither of them offered up anything Kael waved his hand to all of them.

“Then get out, I have things to do.”

Marth stormed out of the tent but not before shooting Alex and Emily sickened glares.

Gerade walked up beside Emily and snorted.

“You have no favor there girl, what did you do to piss him off.”

Emily shrugged but she had a feeling the truth would come out soon enough.

“Well, either way, you should come with me tonight. Your wolf needs a little more time for her wound to heal, until then you can ride with Loch as he doesn’t have a secondary.”

Emily nodded. Things had worked out perfectly, Alex would need to be scouting with Atticus, but Emily got to remain near the font where a good deal of the fighting was happening. Even if she couldn’t kill shit directly she would be able to collect a good amount of life force.

After that, they went to meet with Lock and Emily got to meet his partner, Buzzer.

She had met the man a few times and he seemed pretty calm unless someone mentioned his favorite subject, wolves. At which point he turned into a total fanboy, rattling off statistics and questions that Emily could barely keep up with.

“Miss Emily, when you formed a bond with your partner was there anything special involved? Taming a wild beast is the domain of a Green Warden and even that bond doesn’t last as long as this one has.”

Emily tried to explain, that other than the blood she had no more idea than he did, but it was like talking to the wall. When Gerade hurried him along, Lock suddenly got serious though, his face a mask of determination.

“Alright once I’m mounted you follow me up.”

Emily pursed her lips but climbed onto Buzzer with care. The moment the beast sensed her settle in the saddle it began to jostle uncomfortably. Cupcake watched from the side, amusement bleeding through their link.

Then, just like Mist, Buzzer began to spin, but luckily Emily was prepared this time. The experiences went on for longer than she remembered, but Emily held on throughout all of it. When the wolf finally seemed to have exhausted itself, it settled down and let Emily ride it. Once the bond was cemented Emily moved to help Gerade and Loch finish the last of the work on the other wolves, but before she could get stuck in a man she recognized entered the clearing.

“Yo! Gerade, you got any free hands you can lend me tonight?”

Gerade looked up, and for the first time –other than when he was with his animals– the man chuckled.

“Now that you mention it. I might have just the lass for you Fox.”

Emily's first impression of the Chef had been one of pompous arrogance, the kind that dripped from every gesture and self-assured smirk. Yet the proof was hard to ignore. Emily had eaten his meals now, and both last night's supper and this morning's breakfast had been insanely good. That wasn’t taking into account that he had to work with limited tools and whatever they managed to catch during the day. Unfortunately, Emily had a sneaking suspicion she was the ‘lass’ Gerade was talking about.

“Just putting this out there, I’m a terrible Cook, like ‘burning cereal bad’,” Emily said as she unbuckled the last harness holding the wolf’s saddle in place.

Fox snorted as his belly heaved.

“Please! I could teach an elf to cook, come along.”

Emily dusted off her hands and followed after the man, following his bald head as it shined in the moonlight.

Minutes later he had Emily stirring heavy pots of something aromatic and spicy, possibly curry. However, when she let one of the pots catch at the bottom he swapped her over to sorting through all the berries, nuts, bark, and mushrooms collected on the trail. When she messed that up too by sorting certain mushrooms into the bark containers, Fox almost lost it. Letting out a string of curses that would have made Yishmal proud.

Eventually, he put her to work cutting meat and vegetables, which Emily took to like a fish to water.

Tugging at his beard Fox nodded.

“Finally something you can do, of course, it’s slicing things apart. I’ll make a Cook out of you yet.” Still somehow managing to look proud of himself.

When Emily went to join Ashe and Selia in their tent she just about collapsed on the bed roll. Fortunately, Emily always had the energy to practice magic. Though Ashe only had her perfecting the two runes she’d taught her the night before.

“If you are going to use it in combat then you need to perfect the process.”

Alex still seemed on edge but as time progressed Emily felt her familiarity with the runes becoming deeper.

The next two days of travel were suspiciously quiet. So much so that Emily only managed to gain a small amount of life force. It was on the third day when they were supposed to be approaching the settlement that they encountered something new.

Emily was riding with Loch as they ascended a steep incline. Gerade, Kael, and Marth were up ahead. While Emily had been chatting with Ashe who rode on the back of Selia’s wolf, Nightfall. She had pointed out the increase in temperature as they headed away from the northernmost points and Emily was just about to respond when she began to hear the faintest droning sound up ahead. It wasn’t loud but Explorer noted the change in her environment.

Emily still hand managed to pinpoint the sound when Alex burst through the trees with Atticus hot on his heels.

“Blightstingers!” Alex shouted at the top of his lungs, moving to rejoin the main group.

Kael was the first to respond.

“Form up and protect your neighbour! If they get you in the air, you’re as good as dead!”

Emily drew her dagger and created a large blood shield.

Loch took out a set of chains and then used the leather straps of Buzzer’s staddle to tie them into the saddle.

Emily didn’t know exactly what to expect but with names like that, she had a vague idea. By this point, the odd droning had become an ever-present vibration of fluttering wings. The air filled with static and Emily could feel a bass tone buzzing through her chest.

The first movement came as shadows flitted through the treetops as their collum was spotted.

Emily gazed up to see large hornets descending from the skies onto their collum. Bright yellows and browns streaked with black coated their abdomens. The insectoids were easily the size of a grown man with a stinger as large as Emily's dagger and probably filled with venom. But what made them a real threat was not their size or their air superiority. It was their numbers. Emily easily spotted twenty Blightstingers nearing their people and more on the way. If the next wave were anything like this one then it could mean that every man would have to kill at least one just to keep things even.

“All range, fire!.” Kael's voice echoed out with decisiveness.

Arrows and crossbow bolts went up followed by Noz’s wind projectiles and Ash's coins launched at deadly speed. It was something to behold, as these shots were not fired by untrained brigands. Almost every single shot hit its mark, and while some tore through wings, causing the Blightstingers to have to decent. Others lodged themselves into the compound eyes of the insects, resulting in them twitching as they fell out of the sky.

Emily was about to add her blood bolts to the mix when she had an idea.

Pulling the surrounding grey source in through her bridge, Emily shaped the runes and targeted an approaching Blightstinger just before it got to their collum.

As the wave reached her hand she let the spell go, but instead of directing the force upwards like she was used to, Emily moved her two fingers to point to the ground.

Instantly, the buzzing coming from the nearest insect was cut short as gravity suddenly pulled it toward the ground. Unable to break free, the Blightstinger crashed to the ground, its body shattering against the uneven ground, splatting like a bug on a windshield. Its green blood splattered their surroundings.