The hyena had bitten deep into Orion’s forearm. The wound oozed the incredibly dark red blood that is rarely seen. Luckily, there was no pressure behind the blood. It simply oozed out slowly, dripping from the forearm, and refusing to clot.

Ril gently pulled Orion’s arm into his lap and washed the wound. Orion winced slightly but remained silent. The only real indication of her pain was the anxious way she was biting her lip. Ril was impressed by her pain tolerance, although she may just have the ability which in that case it wasn’t nearly as impressive.

“We did it,” Ril said with a smile, mostly just to fill the silence, but also because he was uncomfortable being so close to Orion. It didn't help that she was just looking at him the entire time he worked.

“We did, didn’t we.” Orion replied quietly.

“Have you fought Horror Hyenas in the past?”

“Yes, although we were better prepared then.” she replied, gesturing notably to her chest.

Ril glanced up and noticed for the first time that she was still wearing her sleeping wear. A sleeveless tank top and loose fitting checkered pants. She had managed to slip on a leather vest, vambraces and dagger belt before the fight but otherwise had no armor on.

The outfit made her waist look very narrow while simultaneously imparting a near gravitational attraction to her hips.

Ril gulped and ripped his gaze forcefully away only to notice that the others were also in similar states of undress. Gael stood shirtless, with a leather vest haphazardly thrown over his hair shoulders. Several of the straps had come undone during the fighting and the vestment was close to falling off of his broad shoulders. Delilah was in a white shift, a pair of fluffy white slippers protected her delicate feet from the snow, and Zed was at her side being the only one fully armed and armored since he was keeping watch before the attack.

Liam on the other hand was laughing drunkenly in the snow completely...naked.

Ril blushed even harder, trying to avoid looking at the man’s dangling bits as he focussed on Orion’s wound.

“We could try practicing the wake up and put on armor thing. Might make future fights like this easier.” Ril pursed his lips, annoyed at himself and the situation in general. He pulled the ruined vambrace off of Orion’s arm gently and carefully dug out any stray fragments of leather that had been forced into her arm. After that he once again washed her arm with a stream of lukewarm water.

Orion winced slightly, but then smiled gently, “We could, but I doubt the others would appreciate it.” She adopted a heavy accent that vaguely resembled Liam’s voice, “We ain’t soldiers, practice is fer nerds.”

Ril laughed along with her. They descended into silence as Ril applied a salve to the arm and began to wrap it up in gauze.

“What is your Intelligence stat?” Orion asked suddenly. She was looking off into the distance, not meeting his eyes.

Ril hesitated, “is this relevant for the mission?”

“I think so,” she replied, still staring off into the distance. Ril followed her gaze and noticed she was looking at his dead clone. The one that had been disemboweled by the hyena earlier.

Ril distracted himself by tying up the gauze but then came to a decision. “Eighteen.” he answered honestly, not really seeing a need for deception.

“Raw or...” Orion trailed off, finally turning to look him in the eye with a raised eyebrow. Ril immediately dropped her gaze and focussed on the wound.

Ril blinked twice, she must also have some ability that shows the true stats. Or else she knows about it in some other way, “Raw,” he responded instead.

Orion let loose a long low whistle.

“Done,” Ril said as he finished up. “The good news is that you should be fine in a week or so. The bad news is that it will take a week or so.”

Orion nodded seriously, pulling her arm tight against her stomach. Then she reached into one of the small bags on her belt and pulled out a thin chain and held it up. At the end of the chain there was a rose artfully cast in black glass. It shimmered in the predawn light, shining reflections granting the ornament a mystical appearance.

“Delilah’s magic doesn’t care all that much if you actually love her or not. As long as you show some appreciation for her, her aegis will protect you. Here,” Orion handed him the piece of jewelry. “I was planning on giving this to her sometime soon, but you probably need it more than I do.”

Ril didn’t reach over to accept the gift. “Thanks, but I’m sure I can find something. You don’t have to give this to me.”

Orion smirked, “Think of it as my contribution to the mission.”

Ril hesitantly accepted the black rose, “Why not give it to Zed, I have Sin here to protect me in the meantime.”

Orion raised an eyebrow to the black cat eyeing her on his shoulder. Sin’s tail flicked once but otherwise showed no reaction to being mentioned in conversation.

“I saw that. It was pretty impressive.” A hint of contempt creeped into her tone as she looked at Zed who was still chatting with Delilah. “Zed is...actually in love with her. He won’t need a gift to enter her aegis in the same way Liam won’t ever need one. Sure I could give it to him, and it would only make Delilah’s buff on him stronger, but you would benefit from it most. Besides, I want to give this to you.”

“Anyway,” Orion got up and flexed her injured forearm carefully, then she gave him a lopsided grin and walked back to the tent.

[Lies.] Sin hissed into Ril’s mind.

Ril flinched. Even after all this time, he wasn’t completely used to the felines invasive method of communication.

“What is?”

[Fake love. Fake gifts. Fake power.]

Ril slowly dropped the rose to his lap, and let out a sigh. “I see.”

[Power gained through lies is no power at all. It is no more permanent than the lies it is built upon. A house built on shifting sand is bound to fall.]

“Right,” Ril said slowly, playing with the pendant thoughtfully in his lap.

Truthfully, he didn’t actually want to give Delilah the rose. Her power felt gross to him, and internally he agreed with Sin, even if he probably wouldn’t admit it to the conceited feline. It felt wrong to go through the motions of something so intimate just for a material gain. Then again, it was a rather significant form of protection that Delilah handed out.

So much power. And so cheap.

Ril shook his head in frustration. It was annoying, but honestly he would rather stay in Sin’s good graces and receive the ambiguous help that the cat provided than step under Delilah’s aegis. Besides, Sin would stay with him forever presumably. He and Zed would be separating from Delilah and the rest of the Fellowship once the mission was complete.

Having made his decision, Ril stood up and made his way over to Delilah and Zed, purposefully avoiding the stark naked barbarian making snow angels.

When he reached them, he patted Zed on the shoulder and gave Delilah a firm nod, then stepped aside and slipped into the tent.

Zed smiled at Ril, then curiously peaked at the object that the other man had slipped into his hand. A beautiful glass rose on a golden chain lay demurely in his palm.

* * *

The group reconvened soon after. Everyone had gotten dressed and had brought their packs out of the tent, and were standing beside the cart. Everyone except for Liam that is.

“Run!” Liam bull rushed out of the tent’s main entrance. A glowing green gem pulsed dangerously in his right hand as he stumbled into the snow. At the very last moment he caught himself and leapt, landing face first into the wet snow.

Behind him the tent shuddered. Every piece of fabric and length of rope that composed the spatial structure trembled as if it was absorbing the cataclysmic tremors of a mighty earthquake.

Suddenly, the steel spikes that tensioned the tent ripped out of the ground in unison. Plumes of shredded dirt and snow erupted from the sites. The stakes flew wildly through the air before impaling the heavy fabric of the tent. Instead of piercing, the heavy fabric deflated, pulling inwards at an unnatural rate. The tent creaked mightily, as it was shoved into a box far smaller than the size of its constituent parts.

Several seconds later the chaos calmed down, and where the tent had once stood proudly, now sat an unassuming cloth wrapped oblong box.

“Looks like it’s only dangerous if you are within two meters or so.” Gael remarked dryly as Liam poked his head out of the snow.

“Well you don’t know until you know and now we know.” Liam said happily. The larger man got up and brushed himself off, wads of wet snow plopping wetly onto the ground. He stepped over to the tent case and casually picked it up and strapped it to his back.

They began to walk behind the cart and its icy wheels, continuing the journey that they had put on pause the day before.

“Do you people want to talk about the hyena fight?” Ril broke the comfortable silence.

“What d’you like to talk about?” Liam replied cheerfully. “How we bashed them to pieces? Or maybe how they tried to run screaming once we had them dead to rights? I am more than willing to talk about any of those things.”

Ril frowned, “I was more thinking of discussing what we could do better as a team so that there are less injuries next time.” He gestured to Orion’s bandaged arm and Liam’s scratched up torso.

“Killjoy,” Liam muttered quietly.

“I think it went rather well.” Gael offered his opinion, as he turned from his perch on the cart.

“Sure, but now that we have seen you people fight, it would be nice if Zed and I had defined roles in the fights. It would make it so that we can help more quickly should something unexpected happen.” Ril replied.

“Right, well. What do you suggest then?” Gael said.

“I was thinking that Zed could be permanently on Delilah protection duty, since I noticed that, Gael, you try and keep her safe until you...What?” Ril trailed off as Liam began snickering loudly.

“You said duty,” Liam’s face turned red as he suppressed a full blown laugh.

Ril snorted in amusement, “as I was saying, I understand your strategy, but I think that while we are here it would be better for Zed to make sure Delilah is safe, while Gael focuses on dealing as much damage as possible.”

“I don’t know...” Gael said slowly.

“I think it's a good idea.” Orion interjected. “What would you do?”

Ril shrugged, “I feel like I should be a reserve. My clone and I will run around the outskirts of the fight and work to control the battlefield. Depending on what happens I could step in to try and save one of you, or just make sure the monsters are confused and disorganized.”

Gael glanced at Orion quickly, “Well, alright, that does sound...fine. I will still make sure Delilah is safe though, if that is alright.”

Ril frowned internally but externally nodded happily at the paranoid man, “I mean, you do what you have to do. But in general know that Zed will make sure she gets through the fights so you can focus on what you do best. Zed and I will have trouble hurting tougher powder beasts with our attacks, so it is important that you spend as much time as possible on the offensive as possible.”

“Awesome!” Orion smiled turning towards Ril and Zed, “with that settled I have a much more pressing question to ask you two.”

“What is it?” Ril replied, turning his full attention to her.

“Why did you shave off your hair?” Orion smiled innocently.

Zed and Ril looked at each other for a moment.

“I feel freer this way.” Ril replied with a shrug.

Zed nodded, “My hair always got itchy, and I would get rashes.”

Orion pursed her lip, “You should try growing it out. I think you would look better that way. Just my two cents.”

“Okay,” Ril said slowly, looking at Zed confused.

“Also!” Orion smiled crookedly, turning to Ril, “I’ve been meaning to ask you this for a bit now. Which one of you do I talk to?”

She pointed towards Ril and his clone who was walking behind him silently.

“Whichever one you want, it doesn’t really matter since I can hear you through both.” Ril said. Orion gave Liam a pointed glance as he continued. “If it really bothers you then you could talk to the clone with the cat on his back.”

“Your cat, Sin right?”

Ril nodded, “You can talk to him directly, he’ll understand you.”

Orion brightened up, “Oh, well hello then Sin, It is nice to formally meet you.”

Sin opened his eyes to look at her. After a couple of tense seconds he raised his head and nodded it deeply towards her. Then with feline grace he rested his head back on his front paws and closed his eyes.

Orion nodded deeply back towards the stygian cat, a crooked half smile brightening her angular features.

“Cool.”

* * *

The group continued for several hours. They travelled over snow the entire time, periodically switching out who sat in the cart while the rest followed the icy trail that the cart’s wheels left behind. As the day progressed, the snow around them began to melt slightly, and nature was suffused with the steady patter of falling water.

It was still cold, but the harsh bite of winter was missing. Spring’s gentle touch could be felt in the warming wind's caress.

The sound of dripping water accentuated their travel until it suddenly grew louder. In the distance Ril spotted a placid river bisecting the horizon.

They had reached the Nahal river.

The Nahal was wide and slow, meandering through the countryside, and carrying the random debris that fell into it gently downriver.

Upon reaching it, the group turned right and eastward as they began to follow the river upstream.

Soon the land began to get rocky, sloping steadily upwards as mountains became visible in the distance. Paradoxically the sparse forest that had grown in clusters previously grew denser. The type of trees also changed, becoming hardier with more needles.

Strangely enough, the Nahal didn’t bother to follow the lay of the land, instead carving a deep canyon into the hard grey stone that composed the mountain. This left a sheer cliff flanked by a short space devoid of greenery that descended until the tranquil waters of the Nahal could be seen moving unflappably westward.

It provided a rather interesting sensation. Dense forest on the right, with a sheer cliff on the left, only for the forest to resume once more on the other side of the wide ravine. Ril amused himself by peeking over the edge and guessing how far down the water below was.

Around the time he thought the river was two dozen meters or so below him the group reached a small waystation. It was small, consisting of only four buildings and was clearly deserted. Snow piled up high around the homes, and neither one of the two streets was cleared, nor did they contain any tracks that would implicate human habitation.

The first road travelled up the near mountain, wrapping around itself over numerous switchbacks before it terminated at what looked like a grey pointed castle, although from this far away it was difficult to discern given the distance and the rather suboptimal weather conditions.

The other road circumvented the mountain, passing underneath its great bulk and disappearing through what Ril presumed was a pass that allowed people to travel to Menteridge.

Ril turned his attention to closer targets. A quick peek into the first building revealed a thick layer of dust liberally covering what remained of a stripped and looted home. The cabinets of the kitchen were visible and closed, but the empty appearance of the living room and dining room made Ril think that he would find little of value by searching the home. The only things that remained in the home, were the pieces of furniture that were likely too heavy to cart elsewhere.

Ril paused his inspection and continued on, catching up to the rest of the party. They had stopped in front of the largest building in the waystation.

The building was much larger than the others. It consisted of two stories with a jutting element on the east side that could presumably house a single third story room. Or a storage room, really without entering it was impossible to know. A broken off wooden sign with rusted chains still hanging from the top two corners lay half buried in the snow. The sign itself had a deep tankard being drained over a field of plants. Perhaps clovers. It made Ril think of the various inns that he had seen through his travels.

The inn itself was clearly well made, if a little worn from the passage of time. Dark stains marred the siding, and none of the flower pots hanging off of the eaves contained any of their namesakes, but underneath the dust and grime stood a good foundation.

Solid pressure treated wood stood a meter above a solid stone foundation, to prevent water damage that may occur. The roof was fully shingled even after all the years, and there were plenty of deep gutters that could draw any water away from the building. At the two visible corners of the inn, there were massive pillars made of whole trees that were at least two meters in diameter.

Barring a nightmare storm or some other natural disaster, Ril doubted that this building would crumble for another decade or even two.

Gael hopped off of the cart and stomped onto the wide porch of the multitiered inn. He leaned down and scratched the thick timbers that made up the porch.

“No rot yet. Seems like we will be spending some time here.” Gael called out to the others.

He hopped down the steps and led the party to the east side of the inn. On that side a barred off barn door greeted them. The door was clearly newer, unpainted and constructed from rough, untreated logs, it stood out against the dirty but well made inn, in its cheap utilitarianism.

The door itself was made of wood, but was reinforced almost comically with thick bands of dark iron. Giving the stable the look of a bunker.

Gael dropped the reins and gestured to Liam for some help. Together they dragged the heavy door open to reveal a surprisingly well lit stable, with unreasonably thick walls, further reinforcing the bunker look. The floor was thankfully clear of snow and other than the surprisingly spacious stalls it looked like a typical stable.

Upon entering, Ril noticed that the light was coming from a large skylight that covered most of the roof. It was made of an incredibly thick glass that fit smoothly in the overly thick roof. Little glitters of reflective stars dotted the glass and gave it a dense, powerful look. It looked almost mystical. Like what he dreamed star iron would look like.

Ril didn’t dwell too long on the unfamiliar glass as his attention was immediately drawn to the complex mechanical mechanism that covered the section of the roof that wasn’t under the skylight. Gears, ropes, and pulleys intermeshed smoothly with each other to form some contraption of indeterminate function. A heavy counterweight stood motionless on the ground next to the door.

Ril pointed silently at it and raised an eyebrow to Gael.

“Right, well. Yeah, welcome to the Clover Inn. Old Milly’s not here to greet you since...well you know. Anyway, some while ago, a bunch of industrious lads decided that it was a good idea to have a waypoint here if anyone wanted to head over the mountains to Menteridge, so they retrofitted this place with an automated stable.”

“That’s what you are seeing overhead. Nifty little piece of technology it is. Uses some kind of mechanical wizardry to feed and water the horse while we are gone. Don’t bother asking me how it works, I told you it is wizardry. Right, and there is that skylight which should keep the mare from going cave mad in here.”

“That’s about it, I think...oh yeah. Since it is just after midday, I figure that Ril and Zed could hike up to the observatory and get a lay of the land before we set out. Figure out how we are going to cross the mountains during this time of year.”

“The observatory?” Ril asked.

“Right, well the observatory is this big tower on top of that mountain.” Gael pointed generally eastwards, but since they were indoors it didn’t really clarify much. “You could probably see it from here if we step outside. Right, while you two head out, the rest of us will rest up in the inn, and get the tent set up. Maybe hunt for some meat if possible, and otherwise get dinner ready. Does that sound good?”

“Could I sleep on one of the beds they have here?” Liam asked. He seemed distracted, looking around curiously and even going as far as stepping out of the stable to get a feel for the area.

“If you want to sleep on several inches of dust, be my guest. I plan on sleeping well in my nice cozy mattress inside the tent. I paid full price for that beauty and I am going to get my money's worth out of it.” Gael replied firmly.

“Are you alright, Liam?” Zed asked, picking up on Liam’s reticence.

“Hmm, oh, it's just been a while.” Liam replied sadly, looking around at the abandoned buildings like they once contained his family.

Ril pursed his lips. Everyone had lost something during the calamity, and it was always sad when they were reminded of that loss.

“I bet you have some cool stories you could share with us about this place.” Ril said. It was always a gamble to ask people to talk about it, but Ril had a feeling that Liam would appreciate it rather than close off, or become offended.

Luckily his hunch was correct. Liam immediately acquired a wistful expression as he remembered. “Oh yeah, you wouldn’t believe some of the stuff we did,” he chuckled, “there was this one time...”

“Hold up.” Gael interrupted. “Daylight's fading, maybe you could tell them the story tomorrow when we are climbing the mountain. We’ll have plenty of time then.” Gael scratched the back of his head awkwardly. “Sorry.”

“Sure, no problem,” Liam grinned rubbing his hands in anticipation, “It only builds on the anticipation.”

“Cool,” Ril said, “then we will head out. Hopefully be back by dusk.”

“Light a fire if you are in trouble of any kind. We will keep watch and run to you if we see it.” Gael replied seriously.

“Good luck, and stay safe.” Orion nodded to Ril.

“Right, yeah, stay safe and come back. Would suck if we had to turn back here.” Gael grinned.

The rest said their goodbyes and Ril and Zed set out heading east towards a faint stone tower standing proudly at the top of the mountain partially shrouded by clouds.