This ti, Tristessa didn't have to step over the ruins of a wall and between two sleeping, red-furred demons.
Reiden led them through the main south gate. The tal portcullis-style door had lost its counterweights, and the structure had deteriorated so much that it had fallen inside the outpost years ago, due to the amount of soil and vegetation that had grown over it from below.
Truly, it was a guilty indulgence for Tristessa to see that group of people gathered around the freshly made campfire, ters from the periter of the large watchtower in the center of the place.
Live, breathing people. People that had been so easily massacred by the Dullahan, due to her own ignorance and stupidity...
“It won't be the sa today,” she thought, still feeling the last rays of sunlight on her skin and the stares of everyone present. “No one will die today.”
“Look at them newcors. Who's that smiling young lady?” asked the woman with a kettle-shaped helt, nad Lufreya, the first to speak. “She reeks of Discord, but I’m willing to ignore it since we need so of that optimism in this group full of grumpy geezers.”
“Yes, whatever you say, Lu. Afterwards, it's Bran's fault you have to walk half an Imperial vista to fetch water,” replied a man with curly black hair who was partially focused on carefully summoning elental fire glyphs around the campfire.
That serene, peaceful smile he owned made Tristessa shudder, unable to stop rembering how that sa man had chased her through the northern woods to kill her, and then been devoured alive by a swarm of palkuriae.
“lian...” she thought of his na, forced to squeeze her eyes shut for a mont.
“What's wrong, girl? Your head hurt?” asked the bald, burly rcenary, Dom. He was sitting on one of the piles of burnt cobblestone that had clearly been part of the tower, and using the tip of his flamberge's hilt to support his arms. “Weakling.”
“Co on, don't be like that, man. Be nice to the guests,” they heard the blond rcenary say, carrying a small chest over his shoulder. Bran, his great axe held across his back by two leather belts. “Where do I put it, Mada Luchie?”
“Back of the carriage, Bran dear. You're quite the gentleman.”
“Aye!”
Bran smiled briefly, his mouth missing so teeth, and obeyed the old woman's directive. She was standing in front of one of the carriages, writing on a pocket slate. Resting on top of a wooden barrel was an abacus being manipulated by—to Tristessa's surprise—the end of a furry feline tail erging from none other than the open folds of the woman's violet silk dress.
“I'll be with you in a mont!” she warned, without turning around. “It's hard to have a conversation and sum stock at the sa ti, you know?”
“You heard her… Hey, all of you, don't get distracted!”
The rcenaries continued with their tasks, admonished by Reiden. He was the only one who didn't leave the family’s side.
The rcer-Archeos were standing still -with the exception of Gaal who was sniffing around- and not saying a word, or at least that was the case until Lucahn tugged a little at Tiara's skirt.
“Mommy, mommy... That lady has a tail. Is she from [Crywolf]?”
“Be quiet, Lucahn.”
Tristessa smiled, staring at the pouting boy with a strong desire to squeeze his cheeks. Blessed be his curiosity, since she herself hadn't noticed the old woman's tail before, probably because she had kept it hidden inside her skirt all that ti.
“Crywolf...” she repeated that word in her mind, catalyzing the mory of that sa gray-haired old woman, small and bent with age, turning into a beast.
That sa old woman who finished her activity and turned around, a harmonious smile on her wrinkled face dedicated to them.
“Now then, excuse for being late. Hasn't anyone...? Oh, thank you, dear lian!”
With elental gravity thaumaturgy, lian had conjured glyphs that he moved at will, levitating large pieces of rubble. He placed them firmly on the ground, crushing the earth and creating makeshift seats for the new guests.
The three family mbers sat down, close together, with Tristessa closer to the rcenary leader. Instantly, the warmth of the fire embraced them, along with the sll of the stew they had begun to cook in a cauldron filled with iron patches, signs of years of service.
“My na is Karla Luchie, and these are my group of rcenaries, belonging to the Fireclaw Company.” The old woman placed her bony, ringed right hand on her chest and gave a brief, cordial nod. “And yes, little man, I am a forr resident of Crywolf. Don’t make eat you, yes? You look very appetizing.”
The joke made Lucahn hide between his parents, who were still cautious as if they were in enemy territory. They still had no reason to let their guard down, only to trust the plan Tristessa had in mind.
“These are the rcer-Archeos, Mada Luchie,” Reiden introduced them, and thus creating a very uncomfortable atmosphere. Everyone fell silent, even the old woman, perhaps believing they had heard wrong.
“What did you say?” Lufreya asked, her eyes wide open and visible even behind the shadow cast by her helt. “Did you really…?”
“Yes… He said rcer-Archeos,” lian muttered, standing behind her, in disbelief.
“Are you serious?”
“Give the order and I’ll rip them heads off…”
“Silence!” Reiden’s bellow did its job, casting a veil of stillness over the Outpost. Even the two red Vilecrosses and the pack of aracrosses looked at the stern man with so discrete distress. “Mada.”
Karla Luchie was thoughtful, moving her fingers like she was making thaumaturgical gestures and shifting her owlish gaze from a restless Jin to a perpetually angry Tiara.
“If you decided to go for a walk, let tell you, you took the wrong turn,” the caravan leader finally said. “Jin rcer and Tiara Archeos, right? A son, a pet… And who’s the girl? She’s not the eldest daughter, is she?”
That re ntion made Tristessa explode, leaping out of her seat in a rage.
“I’m not that damn lunatic!” she yelled, fuming and obviously gaining everyone's unquestioned attention.
Almost every rcenary threatened and stood up, glaring at her. But it was a firm hand placed on her left shoulder that sent shivers down her spine, its fingers digging around her collarbone. The grip was light, but it hurt like hell, so much so that for a mont she thought she was going to lose her arm.
“Don't raise your voice, please,” Reiden warned, a dark whisper against her ear, so serious that his threat seed about to beco a real fact in the form of an extrely painful fracture.
“Calm down, calm down. It was rude of to insinuate sothing like that.” Laughing, Mada Luchie lowered their temper, asking the rcenaries to sit down by waggling her thin arms where golden bracelets hung. “I doubt a Priestess of the Black Eye would be walking so freely among us and not wanting to kill us all. But…”
Her sharp, inquisitive gaze focused on the gray-eyed girl, analyzing her every reaction.
“What is your relationship to this family, I wonder?”
Fortunately and after ticulous planification, Tristessa was more than prepared.
“I work for the thaumaturge Severus Malak Drakan, a close friend of the rcer-Archeos,” she lied, so sure about her words that it sounded perfectly convincing. “I went to the Sea of Trees in search of a rcenary he hired, Viktor Enma. Does that ring a bell?”
“Oh yes, Viktor of the Viper Dagger!” Bran exclaid. “What happened to him?”
“The witches of the Coven found him first….” Without further details, Tristessa relayed the ominous ssage to those present. Bran was the most shocked, his shoulders drooping and his gaze drooping at the re thought of Viktor’s terrible fate. “Reiden can confirm that my Divinity allows certain liberties with those who are dead. It is through that ans that I discovered that a faction of the Coven, led by Daiana rcer-Archeos, was going to attack their family in the coming days.”
“And that's why you're escorting them to Entrana?” Reiden asked, incredulous. “Miss, I don't want to shatter your illusions, but you're taking them from one execution ground to another.”
“That's the sa thing we told her. But she thinks she can negotiate with Aurelia Eramisaptor.” Tiara joined the conversation, as cold as ever, but with the fear of losing her loved ones clearly in the actions of her arms, hugging Lucahn and with a hand on her stomach. “Besides… I don't want that monster touching my children.”
Thinking of the Priestess of the Black Eye invited a dark aura of unease and fear to cover everything, even with the last rays of the sun above. It wasn't a pleasant topic of conversation, much less now that everyone knew she was seeking the destruction of that family. Her own blood.
The Evil that plagued Nekrom day and night, from every front, whose hands reached so far... Daiana was only a tiny part that, unfortunately, contributed to causing misery and despair for all the inhabitants of that world.
“I understand the desperate situation you're in... But before being a holy woman, I'm a rchant. And you were condemned to exile by law. I have many acquaintances who would pay to know that you're so close to Entrana...” Mada Luchie was testing them, there was no doubt about it. Jin and Tiara had never dealt with her and had reason to be nervous. Not so with Tristessa, with a ti loop of experience behind her. “If you wish to seek refuge here and rely on my discretion, I believe it would be best to have the blessing of the Saint I worship, Valdrek. Isn't that right, boys?”
“Whatever you wish, Mada. We will not object,” Reiden dictated, receiving silent nods from his subjects.
“Perfect! So… What can you offer ?”
Looking at them with that wicked witch's smile, Karla waited for a response from any of them. From Jin, from Tiara, from whoever. That was her ga.
Tristessa waited in silence, her countenance fixed on Mada Luchie. This ti she didn't have a soul jewel vomited up by a farross, so she had to let Jin begin by getting up from that piece of tower rubble he was using as a seat.
“No, boy, no treat for you for now,” Jin said to Gaal, who approached to sniff the content of the two bags his owner started to rummage. “Here it is…”
The great dog whimpered and lay down on the floor. At first glance, he looked tired... But Tristessa knew the future that awaited her very soon.
“First of all, Mada, food and weapons. Nothing new or extravagant for you, is that correct?”
“Indeed. You won't surprise that way.”
“I know… I worship Nahalith, Saint of the Hunt. I know what I would like as an offering in her na,” he explained, taking several tentative steps in her direction. Seeing the rcenaries' inaction, he slowly pulled a burgundy cloth pouch from his pocket and approached the old woman, skirting the campfire, followed by lian and Lufreya. “As soone who worships the Saint of Fortune, I believe this is more than acceptable.”
He opened the pouch and showed her the contents, so she could see that it wasn't dangerous at all. Quite the opposite, in fact.
“…three great soul-jewels?” Mada Luchie took the three jewels and examined them, finding nothing unusual about them. “I don't see anything out of the ordinary.”
“Their value is known, yes. What you don't know is that it's the only fortune we have left, and that we're saving it so that one day we can pass it on to our children. So they can seek their own fortune far from here. Without our hated surnas…” Saying it out loud caused Jin great pain, but it was the honesty of a father who wanted the best for his children. “A fresh start from zero. That's how so great stories begin, isn't it? It only takes a little Fortune, and I think that's where Valdrek's blessing is most welcod.”
Tristessa sighed, from the depths of her heart.
Of course, she couldn’t say anything about the help Jin gave her in the previous tiline with those very sa jewels, and the aning behind them. That was what Jin had considered for her, and without any explanation at all… Just a push of good luck to soone who needed it.
“You surrendered your wishes for my wellbeing… Dammit, Jin, if only I could thank you,” she thought, staring at that man.
The intention had always been to take advantage of the rchant’s extre faith in luck and fortune. She didn't quite understand the actual context, but there was no doubt that Mada Luchie being an inhabitant of Crywolf greatly influenced that mont too. Jin had told her about that nation, at war eternal with the forces of one of the Shadow Queen's Greater Evils. A war Karla Luchie escaped to start a new life, from zero.
“…”
That gaze on the old woman, lost in the mories brought to light by the brilliance of those beautiful jewels, touched a very intimate and deep corner of her heart.
Painful but sweet mories, of loved ones she had to abandon. mories of incalculable value that went beyond the great soul-jewels.
“…you are a demon, Jin rcer. To touch the heart of a hag like without any previous warning.” She returned the jewels to him and wiped away a stray tear with a beautiful handkerchief embroidered with garlands of various patterns. “Yes, obviously you can stay here. We won't do anything, but after you leave the Outpost, what happens to you is your responsibility. I don't want burdens of guilt.”
“Of course, Mada… Thank you very much.”
The hunter bowed and alongside his tired dog returned to his family, smiling from ear to ear. Tristessa was left out of the small, intimate celebration, but it didn't bother her.
She had other priorities.
The closest one, about nightfall. And her Baptism in Ruins, which with great discretion began to breathe that cold foreshadowing of Death into her, through those dark veins that were slowly beginning to expand again.
Her pursuer was coming…
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