I woke up to a hollow, knocking sound. It took me a moment to realize it was coming from my abdomen… and I also felt it.

“Kealyna, you awake?” I heard Cellestra’s voice behind me.

I swayed my rear from left to right slightly to let her know I was awake. I then gave her a moment to step away from the entrance to my nest to walk out backward.

It was still completely dark outside, but there was at least some light near Cellestra’s house from the still-burning campfire. The elf stood next to me and looked down into my eyes. I started to doubt whether she’d slept at all. When I looked at her face, I could see that she was tired. Nevertheless, she seemed filled with energy, at least that’s the impression I got from the tone of her voice.

“It’s time to head out,” Cellestra continued. “I hope you slept well.”

I most definitely had. Now that I was awake, however, ideas started playing around in my head almost immediately.

“Are you okay with carrying the both of us again?” The elf asked.

I nodded with my pedipalps. It truly made no difference for me.

“Great. Although, I do fear we need to carry Tavion much in the same manner as before. I’ve already talked to him about it, and surprisingly he’s fine with it. We’ve already eaten too, and are ready to move.”

Surprisingly, indeed.

Cellestra walked over to the human, and I followed. When I reached him, I made sure to snap the threads that bound him with my powerful legs. I noticed the look in his eyes as he stood up. I could tell he was fearful, but not because of me or the elf. Rather, I was convinced it was because of what was to come soon.

“If you don’t mind, I need to be excused for a second…” He said.

Cellestra grinned and nodded, earning a sigh from the human who exited the clearing and disappeared behind a tree. I had to give credit where credit was due. I knew he was scared but he still carried on with this. Maybe there was some redemption for at least some humans, after all.

In the meantime, I was left in silence with Cellestra. She was facing south and obviously thinking about many of the same things that I’d thought about. The weird thing was that we didn’t even know when this attack was supposed to happen. We more or less did, but we could still be off by a day. If it was up to me, I’d rather get this over with sooner than later.

I thought about things a bit more deeply. Our greatest advantage was going to be the element of surprise. I could sow proper chaos by striking quickly, and firing off a multitude of spells in a very short duration as I joined the battle. I didn’t know about this specific band of bandits, but most of them were likely to lack the discipline, or even morale, that the trained soldier would possess.

Sure, they made up for that by having numbers, but if those numbers were thinned out quickly, they were bound to break and make a run for it. Cutting off their slaves would make a huge dent in their numbers as it was. Even if they might only be used as fodder, and not so much as a fighting force, they were still technically on their side.

The only problem with this was that if they made a run for it, I would probably be quite occupied chasing them down. If they split up, I’d be busy for a while. Then again, it would be worth it if this was the ‘proper’ way to do it.

“You’re thinking about the battle, aren’t you?” Cellestra asked, without turning her head to face me.

I nodded once more.

“As expected. Remember that you cannot always make the right choices. We can only do as much as we can. I’m certain you have blamed yourself more than once for what happened to you, you know… before coming here. It wasn’t your fault.”

She was absolutely right. As much as I had ideals about all this, sometimes, they couldn’t all be attained. I found comfort in her words. Even when I did everything I could, it sometimes wasn’t enough. Though, I guessed in my case, I had succeeded in saving others.

I tapped her back lightly with one of my legs as if to thank her. A small smile appeared on the elf’s worried face, confirming she knew what the gesture meant.

“I hope that Elysa is watching you,” Cellestra continued, “I’m sure that if she does, she’s proud.”

I took in her words and imagined what the goddess would think of me. If she truly was the person that I was told she was, and if the kindness she’d shown me at the beginning of my meeting her was genuine, I imagined she had something to be proud of.

I couldn’t get ahead of myself. Elysa couldn’t help me directly. I would still have to do everything myself. I needed no such distractions when lives, innocent lives, were on the line.

I had never actually confirmed if Tavion was innocent, but he didn’t seem the kind of person to give in to greed. He was willing to help us out to set his apparent comrades free. I imagined he probably held some of the other captives dear.

Tavion returned and I lowered myself. I could see the human nod at me as he placed himself on my huge abdomen. Instead of fully binding him to it, I made sure that only his legs were fastened to my body. This way, he could move his torso up and down and lead us where we needed to go. It would probably be a lot more comfortable too.

When he was secured, Cellestra stepped on my back and placed her hands in my long hair. The elf then blew out the campfire with a gust of wind, signaling our departure.

I started our journey by going in the direction of the place I had killed the three bandits that Tavion had been with. According to him, our best course of action would be to follow their patrol path back to the bandit camp in order to avoid running into other patrols.

I kept up the pace, as I wanted to get there as soon as possible. Cellestra and Tavion remained quiet as they knew exactly where I was going. There was no need to adjust my route, for now.

About two hours later, still in the dead of night, we arrived at the scene. The two bandits still lay dead in the exact same position that we’d left them the day before. Nobody had found them yet. From that point, Tavion guided me onward. He’d assured me the patrol paths were far enough from each other that there was no risk of us being spotted. He also told me that it was likely that everyone was already back at the main camp.

I wondered if the three men would be missed. If bears walked around in this forest, I didn’t think anyone would be surprised if a few men and a slave suddenly went missing. It was part of the job in a way.

The trees became denser as we advanced. Eventually, Tavion warned us that we were at the end of their patrol path and that their main camp was a bit further from here. The road that the elves would pass through was further to the south, while the camp was to the west.

Ideally, we’d find the camp to observe their activity, but Tavion brought that up and advised against it. There were too many patrols assigned to protect the camp.

“Should we continue to the road, cross it, and wait there?” Cellestra suggested.

There was still no sight of dawn appearing. If we wanted to make a move like that, now would be the only time we had. Moving in the cover of night, so close to enemies, made me feel awkward. It wasn’t something I was used to.

“That is a possibility,” Tavion answered. “However, I am unsure if everyone is already back. If that’s not the case, we could run into patrols.”

“Is that a problem, Kealyna?” Cellestra asked. “You can see well in the dark, right? Do you think we can avoid them?”

I wanted to ask how dense the vegetation coming up was. If there was nothing but dirt between trees, I would have no issue spotting humans due to my thermal vision. If there were plants blocking the way, however…

I looked around and didn’t see much of that in this area. The only plants that grew here barely reached above Cellestra’s knees. I doubted the area further ahead would be much different.

I nodded with my pedipalps in response to her question. I would have liked to be able to confirm, but this was the best we could work with for now.

“Alright,” Cellestra said. “We’ll try that. Lead the way, Tavion.”