Who was the mysterious girl with caramel lips, citrine eyes, and long brown hair? Who was the radiant girl making an innocent maiden in the night, with her admiring gaze and long pearl dress? She stood a couple of inches taller than Kiara, but despite the height, there was a smallness that made Kiara want to protect her. Her heart skipped a beat as she thought of the kiss, and the girl’s bronze skin flushed. She thought of Tristan and had to mute the pain swelling in her chest. It almost changed the look on her face, but she stopped it before the final stone set. The girl did not question the lapse, however, her eyes focused on something unseen.

She turned to Diana and bowed. “My name is Pialla.” She said. “I thank you both for saving my life.” She bowed to Kiara, too. The scarlet-eyed girl shook her head.

“We couldn’t just leave you while you were calling for help.” She smiled. Pialla’s eyes widened.

“You two heard that?” She stepped back. She smiled, beaming. “Then I think it is very good that we met!” She said it with such an honest truth, that they could not help but feel their pride bloom.

“I think it was bound to happen.” Danson said as he stepped onto the roof. Keigo followed suit. Both boys seemed groggy as they shambled forward, but the alertness in their eyes said that they would not miss out on this discussion. “Pialla, was it? Can you tell us why you were being pursued?” Danson said. Kiara’s eyes widened.

“I told them everything after I dispatched those other puppets. I figured Danson could just track our auras to find us.” Diana said. Kiara flushed at her obvious surprise.

“Wait!” Keigo held out his hand. “Let’s get to an inn first. I don’t feel like having a talk on someone’s roof.” He grumbled, and the others mumbled in agreement.

A few minutes later, they found themselves in the lavish conjoined rooms of an inn. The boys set up their room; Keigo dragged a chair into the connecting doorway. He sat with his legs drawn up. Diana and Kiara sat on a bed, watching Pialla as she silently worked pieces of her story together. Danson yawned at a dining table, slouching forward, trying to stay up. The yawn rushed Pialla to a decision, and the change in her demeanor from shy to determined was enough to give them a second wind.

Her story began a few nights ago when aman came to town. He came in dead silence, lit by the poor lighting at the gate, casting a shadow to shroud the road behind him. In dark clothes of little detail, and a wooden mask with intricate carvings he seemed like a nightmare, fresh from a victim’s mind. No words followed his arrival, but there came the whisper of steel, putting lounging guards on alert. A dead man walked to the gate, until he passed it by, leaving corpses in his wake. Bells tolled, and guards moved to action, but in his shadow lurked other men cutting down any that dared to draw near. He cut a path through the town, waking it with screams, drawing the people to the square where the last guard fell. The man and his army took the stage and made a decree.

“I have come for one thing. If you hand it over, I will take no other life.” His blade glistened; his dark clothes were stained red. “Bring me the girl known as Pialla. I will await the delivery in the manor on the hill.” For too long, that empty estate had been ominous, and now it truly seemed like it was an omen. “I will give you a few nights to decide how this will go.” And in a couple, since Pialla decided the town didn’t deserve the curse of choice.

“Why didn’t you just go to the Enforcers?” Keigo asked. Pialla hung her head.

“My mother and father do not believe it will be best. If they did, we’d have to tell them why this man attacked us, and they don’t want the Enforcers to take me away.”

“Not like it would have worked.” Danson said. “A lot of enforcers got pulled into the skirmish. They’ll probably be busy until they’re sure they root the rebels out.”

Keigo nodded, turning back to Pialla. “You ran away so your town didn’t have to choose, but I’m guessing the dead man already had a plan for that?”

“Yes, he had some retrievers prepared. They caught up to me within a day.”

“If he came to your town with an army, could those people be rebels?” Kiara asked. Pialla shook her head.

“We believe that they’re mercenaries. We don’t know why they were in the Calm Lands, but we know that they’re loyal to the masked man.”

“How do you know this, and why are you so sure?” Diana asked.

“For the same reason, honestly. My father is an Oracle, and he saw exactly who the stranger is…” The room itself seemed to hold its breath. “Bernard Cucumber.” Her voice quivered, and the room gasped.

“That… can’t be right…” Diana brought a hand to her chest.

“Bernard Cucumber… As in the Hero of the Tribes? That Cucumber?” Keigo cocked an eyebrow.

“The Cucumber so fierce, even our Elven schools teach about him?” Danson shook his head.

“Who is this guy?” Kiara raised her hand, and the boys turned their gaze on Diana.

“They call him the Hero of the Tribes. Northeast of the Calm Lands where we are now, you have the Green Lands, composed of Nithellan and the Expanse. The Expanse is a pretty untamed place, home to hundreds of different tribes. It’s not uncommon for Affluent Nithellanites to seek land in the Expanse, but there was a time when that was the way of the era. The Expanse was always under attack. Entire tribes would disappear to massacre or slavery. Bernard Cucumber was one of those slaves. He was taken when he was small and later bought by a Nithellan commander who didn’t have an heir. He was so confident in his skills that he thought any student could inherit his name, and sure enough, he was right. Bernard climbed through the ranks of the army and eventually found himself on a campaign. When he encountered a warrior tribe, he found out where he came from and why so many of his allies hated him. He defected, acting with this tribe to protect others.”

“He sounds amazing.” Kiara said—mind painting the portrait of this figure.

“He was…” Diana nodded. “Cucumber changed how Nithellan interacted with the Expanse and vice versa. With the warrior tribe, he moved all over the land, always a threat to any desperate and greedy noble. It inspired other tribes to raise warriors too, eventually sending them to stand by Cucumber’s side. They became known as the Faceless Tribe, one that would welcome anyone who’d fight for the homes of others. For a group without faces, The Hero of the Tribes became the only one they needed. They still fight to this day, forever following Cucumber’s philosophy.”

“So he’s dead then…?”

“For forty years now. Except…” Diana turned to Pialla.

“Not anymore.” The girl sighed. “My father is a skilled Oracle, too. It would be very difficult for him to make an error of this magnitude.”

Kiara asked, “How bad is Cucumber exactly?”

“The short answer is bad enough that we’re alarmed by the name Cucumber.” Diana replied.

“The long answer, or at least a part of it, is that Cucumber is a cautionary tale to young elves. Instructors use him as proof that some people are dangerous even without magic.” Danson said.

“My brother used to talk about him,” Keigo added. “Cucumber was a legend in the Battler’s Mountains. One of the Green Land noble houses hired some of the strongest fighters to work for them, and not one came home the victor. And that’s assuming they came at all.”

Nodding, Danson met Pialla’s eyes. “It really raises the question. Who did you cross to get Cucumber revived and sent after you?” The girl hung her head again. Kiara shook her own.

“We really are talking about a dead man right now…” She stared blankly ahead.

“If it’s any consolation, it is strange, Kiara. Bringing someone back from the dead isn’t easy magic, nor magic you can just get your hands on. I hear there used to be a school for it in the Dark Lands, but even then it wasn’t commonplace.” Diana patted her shoulder.

Pialla squirmed, but took a breath and spoke. “I’m sorry. My parents don’t want me to just say outright. However, if you help me, they’ll tell you and even compensate!”

Danson smirked. “Bernard Cucumber has brought back from the dead and turned against a girl with a secret enemy. By her Oracle father’s words, she runs off to Red Allure and happens upon…” He looked over the group. “A mixmatch band of travelers.” The word fit well. “Haven’t had an encounter this exciting since I first met Diana. Now I have to decide if I should blame her for this, or Kiara.”

“Have you ever met a new person and not had an exciting encounter?” Keigo cocked an eyebrow.

Danson shook his head, “You’re probably the one who broke that streak.”

“I don’t believe that and I know you don’t either.” The boys laughed together, and Diana moved close to Kiara’s ear.

“See what I mean? This is what we’re in for.” She whispered and smirked.

Kiara was wide-eyed, but the ease with which they swallowed the story made her a little confident. Maybe Pialla was the piece of a trap, carefully laid to snare the three. If she was, they didn’t care; there was certainty they’d make it out of the situation alive. Who should Danson blame for this? She thought it might be her, but it didn’t seem she had much fault to bear.

Danson thought deeply, and Kiara thought about the circumstances. She supposed they didn’t have the option to turn Pialla down. If saying no was as catastrophic as Morduunal suggested, who knew how the world would change on the other end. Pialla had given them a bit of information but seemed to hold back a part of herself. As Kiara looked at her, she saw a scared girl, trying her best to stand tall to prepare for rejection. She wouldn’t know what to do after this, but Kiara could imagine her trying to find a way. Cucumber was a threat despite his name; she couldn’t imagine him letting the girl go. Kiara couldn’t quite measure the legend, but it was clear Pialla would face titans if she must.

“What do you all say?” Danson looked at them. Kiara nodded, and Diana shrugged.

“Well, I’m not gonna send her off with a plea to the stars.”

Keigo smiled. “This will be a good chance for us to test our mettle.”

The elf nodded with a smile of his own. “We’ll help.” He said, and though she still stood poised, they could feel Pialla relax.

“And regardless of how Cucumber came back from the dead, we’ll just slice him up and scatter his pieces all over.” Keigo grinned. The girl chuckled, wiping the start of tears from her eyes.

“Then let’s go get some food. No point in playing bodyguard on an empty stomach.” Diana headed for the door, and the boys tailed her.

Kiara stood to follow too, when Pialla took her hand, holding her back. It surprised her how much strength the girl had, and when she showed that and her confusion, Pialla fought a battle of embarrassment with determination.

“Before you go… can I ask a question?” Though her kiss was caramel, her touch was something else. “Are you afraid of your own magic?” She asked, and Kiara felt the touch on the fabric of her soul.

She thought to say no, but the touch made her feel like the truth would be all right. Pialla radiated kindness, and in her soft gaze, Kiara could not even find a seed of judgment. She saw curiosity, concern, and perhaps a plan for hope. She saw a request to only speak the truth. Most of all, she saw herself running away from the past. It was how she got to Magdalea in the first place. Pialla needed her help but wanted to help her first. Kiara turned completely to the girl, staring that version of herself down. Both she and it were still afraid, but now was the time to meet the monster on her heels…

[Chapter 12 ends…]