Lillianna

After leaving the caravan of traders behind we found an area further down the road to rest. The sun was already up and with no clouds in the sky to speak of we did not have to worry about rain. I instructed Erick to make camp off by the road side, away from prying eyes. The camp site was simple, two bed sheets lane out on the ground with thin blankets, while the horses were tied to nearby trees.

“I’ll go get some firewood” Erick said.

“No. Don’t start any fires I don’t want to give our position away due to the smoke”

“What about cooking food?”

“You didn’t bring any food that doesn’t require cooking?”

“Only a bit, I didn’t think you wouldn’t want any cooking fires”

“Oh well. We’ll have to make do with what we have. It my fault for not telling you in advance. But first let me heal my wounds”

With the camp site setup I sat down on my bed roll, legs crossed, and focused my will into Nin. I could feel her power flowing through me and towards my injuries. The sensation was like dipping your hand into a warm bath, soothing and comforting. Focusing further I feel the cuts closing and my muscles stitching themselves back together. The aching in my left leg and shoulder blade ceased and they felt normal again. I roll my left shoulder to confirm everything was as it should be and stood up to remove the bandages.

~You can repair the damage now Enenra~

~Thank you Master~

The tear in my cloak that had been left by the bandit leader closed shut and returned to its normal appearance.

“Did you just heal yourself?” Erick asks.

“Uh huh, now let’s eat” I answered as I stretched my arms and legs.

I take out the bunyip roots from my bag and once again sit down to start eating. Erick follows suit, sitting down opposite to me and begins to eat some dry meat he had taken out of his saddle bag.

“Where’s Nat?” Erick questioned.

“He’s keeping a look out. You can relax, he’ll let me know if there is any danger” I say while I continue eating.

“Since we have time now, are you going to explain what Nat is? You said he wasn’t a bird”

“I suppose I’ll have to explain since you’ll just keep nagging me otherwise” I say while letting out a sigh.

“So what is he?” Erick continues in an inquisitive tone.

“Nat is a wind spirit”

“Like a ghost?”

“Don’t be stupid, ghosts don’t exist. He is a spirit as I just said, you must know what a spirit is”

“So like a water sprite?”

“Not quite. Sprites are little shits who go around harassing people, spirits are different. They are the embodiment of the different aspects of nature and to a lesser extent people, while sprites are magically attuned creatures”

“Why does he look like a bird?”

“Because I bound him that way”

“Bound him?”

“You sure do ask a lot of questions. Are you this persistent with every woman you come across?”

Erick looks shyly at the ground trying not make eye contact but continues his questioning.

“It’s just that I’ve never heard of a mage who can command spirits or anything like that”

“I am a spiritmancer or spirit mage if you prefer. I can bind spirits to my will, similar to the way a fire mage can bend fire to their will”

“I see… and Nat is a wind spirit you bound?”

“Yes and that’s enough questions, we need to rest. We lost time due to the bandits and need to make up for it. Get some sleep, I plan to reach the next town before sunset”

I can see that Erick has more questions but keeps quiet and soon finishes his food and readies for sleep. Waking up first just after noon, I wake up Erick and we make ready to leave. As we are getting ready I notice that Erick keeps glancing over to me but says nothing.

“What is it? You keep doing that. You did it while we were riding yesterday as well, if you have something to say just say it”

“Ahhh… it’s just that I’ve been thinking about you”

“Have you now?” I reply with a mischievous smile.

“WAIT! I didn’t mean it like that. I meant I’ve been thinking about how you act. One moment you are deadly serious and then the next moment you are joking around. I don’t understand you one bit”

“Different faces for different places” I answer back nonchalantly.

“What?” Erick replies in a confused manner.

“It’s a saying I picked up somewhere. It means people act differently in different situations. Do you talk the same way to a child as you do an adult?”

“Of course not, children don’t understand the same things adults do”

“It’s something like that for me. Sometimes the people I’m talking to don’t know the things I know, so I have to make them understand, usually with threats. While at other times a more… how should I put this… friendly approach is required”

“I think I kind of understand what you mean. Does that mean you’re only friendly towards me because you think I'm a child?”

“I am friendly towards you because I need your help. Also isn’t it normal for people to be friendly to each other? I am only threatening to people who annoy me or cause me trouble like the Elders of your village. If they hadn’t been stupid enough to ignore the Count I wouldn’t have had to intervene, though I have turned the situation in my favour, so it isn’t all bad”

“I see…” Erick replies appearing to be deep in thought.

“Now that you’ve said what you wanted, let us be on our way”

We mount our horses and head back to the road and towards the nearest town.

Erick

It was a few hours before sunset and we were almost at the town of Springhill, which was a large farming community further south than Riverbrook. Since continuing on our journey just after noon I had been pondering over what I had learned from our previous conversation. I had got a glimpse of who Lillianna really was and it had set my mind at easy for the time being. When I had first agreed to go with her to Fornall I expected her to be more cold and bitter towards me, but the last day of travel had proved otherwise.

I had assumed she was only being friendly towards me when we had our first real conversation at the inn because she wanted information. But it appeared that, that was her usual demeanour unless you had angered her. Remembering the mutilated body I saw at the caravan site and how she had killed the soldiers on the road when she freed me, quickly brought to mind my original opinion of her. That opinion being that I should never make her angry or give her an excuse to harm me.

But her words had sounded genuine and I had no reason to doubt her sincerity. What she said about the Elders and the village was true as well. If she hadn’t intervened, Riverbrook would be in ruins right now. Letting her basically take over the town was a small price to pay for our continued survival as a community. I was starting to paint a different picture of her in my mind.

*I hope I’m not wrong about her*

Lillianna

Upon arriving at Springhill we had made our way to the centre of town, dismounted and tied our horses outside of a clothing store.

“We’re going to need some cloths to blend in when we get Fornall. Let me do the talking and play along, I don’t want to them to ask too many questions”

Erick nods in agreement and we make our way into the shop. The shop had a few dresses and suits on display, nothing extravagant but they would meet our needs for now. I link arms with Erick, which causes him to flinch, before making our way to the counter of the shop. The attendant was a plump middle age main with neatly combed back brown hair wearing formal attire.

“Hello, my husband and I would like some evening wear, nothing too formal” I say in a casual tone.

“I’d be happy to help a fine couple such as yourselves” the plump man replies happily.

The man brings out some clothes for us to try out and after looking through his wares we each pick out the ones we want. I chose a black form fitting one piece sleeveless dress, it had a simple but elegant design and showed of my features well. Erick chose a matching three piece black suit consisting of a coat, vest and formal pants. Afterwards we picked out some appropriate foot wear to go with our choice of clothing and departed the store.

“They had a better selection of clothing than I thought but that’s enough fun for now, we need to get going”

“We are not staying here for the night?” Erick asks.

“No, we need to keep going, we ride through the night and rest at dawn like before”

Erick lets out a moan but does not complain further. We put our new clothes into our saddle bags and depart town shortly after. We ride throughout the night at a fast trot, trying to make up lost time due to the bandits. During our travel Erick remains silent and does not appear to have any more questions for me, although he would sometimes glance upwards towards Nat.

*He’s probably still interested in Nat*

At dawn we camp by the side of the road again and rested for the day. The conversation this time was more mundane and Erick did not pester me with questions. We talked about Riverbrook and a bit about the area around it. I did not discover anything interesting from our talk but it had the added benefit of making Erick feel more comfortable around me. I would need his help when we got to Fornall and didn’t want any awkwardness between us, like he had been showing earlier. There was also the issue of trust between us, if he tried to betray me or felt that I would do the same to him, it could cause trouble later on and that was something I wanted to avoid.

*He seems to be warming up to me. Let’s hope he doesn’t do anything stupid*

The rest of our journey to Fornall was uneventful. We had come across a few other travellers but there was nothing that caused us to waste time or presented us with danger. We arrived at the outskirts of Fornall just after sunset on the third day of our trip as I had planned and left our horses to be tended in a stable. After removing our bags from the horses we make our way along the city’s wall until we find an area where there are no city guards.

Lillianna

The city had a two storey cobblestone wall surrounding the majority of it, with guard outposts scattered along it. The security around the wall was lax and it was not hard to find an area devoid of guards. The area surrounding the wall was also poorly lit and concealing ourselves was not a hard task.

“Get ready I’m going to have Cormon throw us onto the wall” I whisper to Erick.

“Who? I don’t see anyone” he whispers back.

“He’s one of my spirits, don’t worry it won’t hurt, just don’t make too much noise when you land”

“Wait, I don’t see anyone”

“He’s bound to me, so you can’t see his form. Just get ready”

Erick nods in understanding and braces himself by clutching his backpack to his chest and crouching slightly, he then nods again to signal that he is ready.

~Cormon, throw him up first then me~

~Yes Master~

With a quiet yelp Erick is flung up and onto the wall, shortly after landing I follow him but without the surprised yelp. Upon reaching the top of the wall I look around to make sure we weren’t seen and once satisfied we make our way to the inner side of the wall. Peering down I see dimly lit cobble streets and directly below us a dark alleyway.

“I’m going to jump down, once I land I want you to follow. I’ll catch you so don’t hesitate” I inform Erick as I pass him my backpack.

“You’re going to catch me? I don’t think that’s a good idea”

“I meant that Cormon will catch you, now let’s go”

Without waiting for a reply I jump off the wall and into the alley, upon landing I roll forwards to break my fall. I signal for Erick to jump but can see him hesitate for a moment before he leaps down. Just before he hits the ground Cormon catches him and gently places him down on his feet.

“Now let’s get changed and find a place to stay for the night”

Erick passes my bag back to me and we proceed to change into the clothes we had purchased at Springhill. He is a bit reluctant to change in my presence but begins to strip without voicing complaint. I strip down to my underwear that only consists of a pair of loose shorts similar to bloomers while my chest is exposed. Erick hurriedly turns he gaze trying not to look at my breast as he puts on his new attire.

“You’ve already seen them before. Let’s hurry up and get going” I say in an amused manner.

After changing and placing our previous clothes, including my cloak, into our bags we head out of the alley. Upon reaching the main road I pass my bag to Erick.

“It’s not proper for a lady to carry her own bag when with her husband”

Erick takes the bag from me and I link arms with him as we make our way down the street.

“Since you are familiar with Fornall take us to a respectable inn for the night. Someplace safe for a couple like us, I don’t want any trouble while we are here”

“Are we going to act as a couple the whole time we are here?”

“Yes. It would raise less suspicion for a man and woman to be together if they were married wouldn’t it?”

“I guess it would”

“Good. But don’t get your hopes up, you’re not my type”

“I remember” Erick replies slightly disappointed.

“Also when we get to the inn, do some of the talking. It would be odd for only me to speak but try not to say anything unnecessary”

Erick nods in understanding and we continue down the street with him leading the way. We arrive at a fine looking three storey stone building.

“This is the best inn I know” Erick informs me.

“It should be fine. Book us lodging for a week on the top floor and make sure it has a window, use the coin I gave you earlier”

Erick leads the way to the counter and books us a room as I instructed and he also requests some food to be brought to us in our room. As I enter the room, I look for a window and proceed to open it. Nat lands on the now open windowsill and awaits my command.

“Stay outside for now and keep an eye out for any danger. I don’t expect any trouble but I rather not take the chance” I say to Nat.

Nat flies off and we begin to unpack our things. Once settling into our new lodging the food arrives at our door and we sit down at the dining table in the room to eat.

“What now?” Erick asks as he eats.

“I need to gather some information on the Count. I wasn’t planning on staying in Fornall before meeting you, so I don’t know much about him”

“And what do you want me to do?”

“Tomorrow I want you to show me around the city. I need to get better acquainted with the layout of the streets. Also show me around the market area, I want to know more about the traders and merchants of the city”

“I can do that for you but why do you want to know about the merchants?”

“If I am to control the trade in Riverbrook I obviously need to setup partnerships with merchants in Fornall”

“Of course, sorry for asking a stupid question”

“It’s fine. Let’s finish our food and go to sleep we don’t have much time before the Count realises his men are missing”

“Ah yes, I almost forgot about him. What do you plan to do?”

“Don’t worry about it, I have something in mind”

We finish our food and prepare to go to sleep. The room we are in is quite large, with enough space for a dining table and a large double bed in the same area, with a bathroom off to the side in another room. Erick was not comfortable with sleeping in the same bed as me and instead laid some sheets on the ground next to the bed and slept there for the night.