Iztris seemed to know the way there fairly well; the city itself wasn’t even on any maps anymore, and as such it was rare for Relan’s leaders to know if it, to Iztris’s oft-mentioned annoyance. Seeing how they didn’t know that much, Iztris even gave some background while they were walking—it was a bit surprising, but Alyson would give in too if Jacob kept on asking after something like he did for Iztris.

“…It is a bit of a shame that no one seems to come into the area often,” Iztris mused.

“Did you ever come here as a mortal?” Jacob asked curiously.

Iztris looked at him quizzically, if not annoyed. “I was a Letrelan hunter hundreds of years ago,” he said bluntly. “People from Cheryn and Relan give me odd glares now and it’s been decades since Letrela has tried to attack other nations. I would have been killed on sight.”

“It was just an innocent question!” Jacob replied, as apologetic as he could be. After a second’s pause, he asked, “But if you didn’t come here as a mortal, were you ever brought here as a servant god?”

“Plenty of times,” Iztris said simply, looking ahead again, “And that’s all I will say about that for now. Just be cautious—you have weapons, so keep them at hand. Elsyn may be in the area; at the very least, defense is required.”

Alyson and Jacob both nodded; the former, at least, rarely kept her hand off of the hilt of her sword to begin with. She was taught to be prepared for times when fighting was required, even if she didn’t like fighting at all. They had avoided conflict before; Alyson wore a few items that showed she had some standing within the knights of Cheryn, and most thieves were wise enough to turn away when she drew her sword.

The path had a distinguished separation—it branched off in a few directions, some more traveled than others. Iztris frowned, but still went down one in particular. They were greeted, within a short while of walking, with the sight of bricks barely making the outline of what must’ve been a building at some point. There were small pieces of clay and stone everywhere; there was grass, but little to no other vegetation.

The place itself gave off an empty, unnerving feeling—or maybe she was just starting to get anxious. When they stopped in the destroyed courtyard, Iztris mainly looked around without asking for much assistance, and without any guidance Alyson and Jacob couldn’t do much more than stand there and wait for him. Given the amount of empty space, however, it didn’t take long for Iztris to look back at the other two.

“There’s nothing and no one here, so we have no reason to linger here,” Iztris said. “I can attempt to speak with the gods, but otherwise it may be best to return to Cheryn for now.”

Alyson and Jacob nodded, and they all started to leave. Iztris paused after a few moments, however; it took Alyson another second to understand why. There was a group of people coming towards them—poorly armed, but armed nonetheless. Five people entered what used to be the area’s courtyard. One stepped closer to the other group.

“Do you have a reason to be here?” The woman asked.

Iztris spoke before Alyson could. “It isn’t a concern for you; we were about to leave regardless. Nothing is any more or less damaged than it was before.”

“This is a noble’s private property,” the woman pointed out.

“I am aware,” Iztris replied. “Considering that I don’t see said noble, we’ll be off.”

He took a single step forward and the woman in front drew a sword; Alyson waited until more men followed before she took out her own blade. Iztris moved behind Jacob, farthest away from the enemies; he once mentioned that being a servant prevented him from actually fighting well.

Initially, it was just them taking defensive stances—each side wordlessly stating that they had the means to fight back. It turned into something of a skirmish as soon as the woman who spoke with them made another step forward. Alyson was forced to take up the front defense; Jacob only had a bow and a knife, whereas Iztris didn’t have a weapon at all. Fortunately, not all of the other group attacked them—only two of the five. Then again, the smaller group was already outnumbered.

Alyson protected the other two as best as she could. Iztris was constantly moving back, forcing the other two to follow him; Alyson understood why, but it was hard to make sure he didn’t get stabbed. She didn’t want to know what would happen if Iztris was harmed, if the gods cared at all. That being said, though, she was directly defending Jacob more often than not.

One of the people stepped back towards the others after Alyson was able to land a hit—it wasn’t fatal by any means, but it would still hurt. The woman who spoke, on the other hand, followed them for a bit longer until they reached some unspoken boundary, after which she stopped. Iztris kept backing away and the other two followed until he stopped.

“I couldn’t see any long-ranged weapons with them,” Iztris said, “So you two can put away your weapons for now.”

Both nodded, but Alyson kept her sword out. “I take it those people were the servant’s workers?”

“Most likely,” Iztris replied. He kept on walking, and Alyson took the lead after a moment, heading away from the other place. “That house—or the ruins of that house, I suppose—was once Elsyn’s home. Judging by its condition, they are still the only person to frequent it; anyone else who comes is likely to be associated with them.”

“We were kind of asking for it,” Jacob noted with a small chuckle. He walked a bit quicker so he could look at Alyson. “I’m not hurt aside from a little scratch or two, and Alyson looks mostly fine.”

“I’m not mortally wounded, at least,” Alyson replied.

Iztris looked at the cut himself; honestly, Alyson was surprised that she did fairly well at dodging. “This should be cleaned up,” Iztris noted. “I can tend to it; there’s a small village a little ways away where we can look at it a bit closer.”

Alyson nodded her thanks, and Iztris quickly cleaned up the wound and bandaged it with the makeshift materials they had. As Iztris said, they came across a village after about an hour of walking. Alyson and Jacob ate some of what the people could spare, and afterwards Iztris helped Alyson dress the cut. When they left, she was still cautious—her mind would wander if she let it, and fighting always gave her imagination the worst kind of inspiration.