Morning came too soon. Mina groaned and covered her face with her arm. Too early. She just wanted to sleep more. Her chest throbbed and ached. It didn’t seem like going back to sleep was an option though. People were already up and about. Fucking early risers.

She dropped her arm from her face and sat up with a scowl. She brushed her hair out of her face and looked around blearily.

“Good morning, Mina,” Ada called. She held a mug with dark liquid inside. The steam from the cup obscured her face as she brought it to her lips and took a long sip.

The howling of the wind outside had died down during the night. It was still cold, but not quite as bad as it had been previously. 

“Good morning, Ada.” Mina rubbed the sleep from her eyes as she stood. “What is that? It smells good.”

The liquid had a rich, earthy smell with the slightest hint of nut. Both Ada and Boris had a mug of it in their hands and Boris looked as though he was ascending to Veneah whenever he took a sip.

“It’s called kyfe. It’s pretty good with sugar and milk. The crazy man over here drinks it straight.” Ada grimaced. “It’s way too bitter like that.”

She gestured at her mug, which was lighter than the black liquid inside of Boris’s. “You can try it if you’d like.”

She inclined her head at a metal pot that was sitting on the table and three more mugs sat next to it. A bowl of sugar and a carafe of milk sat on either side. 

“Sure, I think I will try it with sugar as well. I don’t really like bitter things.”

“No, no. You have to try good kyfe first, then ruin it like Ada.” Boris poured some of the liquid into an empty mug. He handed it to her without adding anything to it.

Mina took it and held it up to her nose, taking a long smell. “It smells really good,” she muttered. She took a small sip and cringed. 

“Oh, it’s so gross.” It took everything in her to not spit it out. 

“See, I told you.” Ada took Mina’s mug and added milk and sugar to it. “There much better.” 

Mina took the mug back and brought it up to her lips cautiously. She blinked at the sweet, smooth taste that it held now. “This is a lot better.”

Renault walked in from outside, dusting snow off of his shoulders. He headed straight for the kyfe and poured himself some. He pulled a container from the large sleeves of his tunic and poured it into his drink.

“Whiskey makes everything better,” He explained with a sly grin and took a sip.

“Nyet, vodka make everything better,” Boris said with a grin. Mina finally noticed the clear bottle behind the silver machine. 

William didn’t have a mug in his hand. “You’re not going to have any?” she asked.

The big man shook his head. “I tried it already, didn’t like it. Not even with the milk and sugar.”

“Ah, alright.” She shrugged and downed the rest of her kyfe and set the mug on the table. “We should probably leave soon. I’m feeling better,” She wasn’t. “And the blizzard is over.” 

Ada narrowed her eyes, “You’re feeling better? You feel no pain at all in your chest?”

“None,” Mina lied.

The dark-skinned woman pursed lips and shook her head, “Fine. If you say so.” 

“We don’t have any leads though,” Mina twisted her mouth to the side and tapped a finger on the side of her face.

“I could help with that,” Boris piped up, finishing off his kyfe and setting the mug on the table. 

“How?” Mina asked.

“Remember ‘findanator’? I come with you and use it to find orcs. It also let me keep eye on cheater and get money back.”

“Mistaken identity,” Renault said automatically, an edge to his voice.

“Da, da, you keep saying that. No one believes you.” Boris waved a hand dismissively.

Mina studied the blonde man for a moment. His small, round, grey ears were perked forward and his striped tail swayed side to side slowly. The area around his eyes were darker than the rest of his skin, almost black. Could she trust a man that was part raccoon? If he could help, did it matter?

“If they’re fine with it, I have no issues.” She shrugged.

“I’m okay with it.” William said as he packed his things into his bag. 

“Absolutely not. We don’t need more people.” Renault shook his head. 

“You don’t get choice. You don’t want me getting money back.” Boris said, his eyes never leaving Renault.

“Aye, I don’t want you coming along because you think I owe you money when I don’t.” 

“At this point, it’s one against two,” Mina said with a shrug. Renault scowled and shook his head.

“Fine, but I ain’t saving his ass too. He can damn well do it himself,” Renault growsed. 

“I don’t need protection,” Boris retorted as he packed up the contraption he’d brought with him. What had he called it? A ‘findanator’? Weird fucking name.

“Good, because you won’t be getting it.” Renault stalked over to the wall and leaned against it, grumbling under his breath the entire time.

Mina sighed and glanced at William. This was going to be a long journey if the two of them continued to bicker like that. Why did she keep agreeing to others joining her?

Originally she’d only wanted one person to accompany, and now she had three? They each had their uses, that was for sure, but still. No more people. She would not accept any more people. Three was the limit.

As she expected, the last week had been nothing but bickering between Renault and Boris. Another such argument was going on at the moment behind her. She was becoming pretty adept at tuning them out.

“Oh, da, da. You’re so good at fighting. Final authority on it.” Boris rolled his eyes and stopped, pulling his ‘findanator’ out and putting it together. 

It came to life with a low sound that sounded dangerously close to a growl. A soft tone emanated from it and th en several more of different pitches and tones. A light on it flashed red. 

“No orcs.” Boris shook his head and began to pack it back into its box. 

“Are you sure that thing even works? It hasn’t done a damned thing since you joined us. Just beeps and flashes and you go ‘no orcs’. I think that thing is about as useless as teats on a bull.” 

Boris scowled and glared at Renault. He stood and turned towards the swordsman. “There are no orcs here. Not my fault.” He crossed his arms. 

They had ended up headed to the north-east. They would be passing by the Deas Fissure and then Byrming would be between them and the Verdant Mountains. Mina’s lips thinned at the thought of going back to those mountains. It had been two years since she’d set foot there. 

“Are you sure the mountains are the best place to go?” She asked. She didn’t care if that’s where they went. She wasn’t scared of the mountains or anything. She just wasn’t entirely sure if there would be orcs there anymore. She’d burned that one to the ground and she hadn’t seen any others on her way out. Surely they wouldn’t have set back up there. 

“Da. There are several outposts between us and them, we could stop and and ask for sighting or lead. They are sure to have seen or heard something,” Boris responded. 

“I guess that makes sense,” she scrunched her nose up.

“Mina…”

She drew up short and her eyes darted around. “What was that?” 

Was it her Spirit trying to get her attention? She didn’t just randomly hear voices, she wasn’t going insane. It sounded like the voice from the last time. A sultry, smooth, feminine voice. It wasn’t really what Mina would have imagined her Spirit to sound like, but who was she to judge?

“Help…Help me…please.”

Mina closed her eyes. “Help you with what?”

“Pain…so much…it hurts…”

“Pain? Are you in pain? Why?”

She didn’t get a response back and she opened her eyes. Boris, Renault, and William had all stopped walking and were watching her.

“Are you okay Miss Mina?” William asked.

“I..I don’t know.” She shook her head. “I’m fine. It’s nothing.” It was something she needed to figure out by herself. She didn’t need their help. 

“You were asking someone if they’re in pain. Did your Spirit contact you?” William pushed further.

“No, that wasn’t it at all. Don’t worry about it. I’ll figure it out myself.” She shook her head and strode forward, brushing past all three of them. 

The rest of the day passed without any of them talking. There wasn’t even any bickering from Renault and Boris. Mina was thinking of setting up camp when she noticed the large, wooden fence in the distance. Dark smoke wafted behind it. 

“That can’t be good,” she muttered.

William didn’t answer her but picked up his pace, forcing everyone else to jog to keep up with him.

The scene the approached was more than alarming. The wooden wall was destroyed in several places, scorch marks shooting across it. The gate was gone, bits of it blown off and inside of the outpost. 

William never even paused and rushed inside.

“Wait! Dammit!” Mina swore and ran after him.

The inside of the outpost was even worse than the outside. Bodies were strewn about, several burned to a crisp. The buildings destroyed; husks of their former selves.

William stood frozen in the middle of the destruction, looking around. It was difficult to tell, but Mina was almost positive his shoulders were tensed. 

She walked up to him and scanned the carnage, her face grim. “Do you think it was orcs?”

“It’s not always orcs,” William snapped. “Orcs don’t have this much firepower. It had to have been something else.”

“There’s someone alive over here,” Boris called out from the left. William’s head swivelled towards him and he sprinted over. 

Mina followed, as did Renault as he made his way over the debris. 

The man was covered in burns. His eyes glazed and breathing shallow. William dropped to his knees next to him. 

“What happened?” he asked. His hands hovered above the burned body.

The man’s eyes moved to William, but never lost their glaze. “So many…they came so fast. So much…so much fire.” He shuddered.

“What did? What were they?” William urged.

“Fiends…there were…so many. Fire. So much fire. Organized attack. Never seen…anything like it.” He started to cough, blood spraying from his mouth. He gave one last, shuddering breath and his body went limp. 

The four of them moved away from him, Mina tried not to gag. The man had shit himself with his last breath. 

Fiends. It would make sense considering the burned bodies and scorch marks everywhere. She could have sworn she’d heard they were loners though, that they didn’t move in groups.

“Strange,” Boris muttered. “Fiends don’t travel in groups. They don’t organize attacks. They’re supposed to be too arrogant for that.” He started to mutter in his language.

It didn’t matter though. They weren’t orcs. While yes, this was an absolute tragedy that this happened, it couldn’t distract them from what they were doing. She said as much.

William straightened and whirled around. He didn’t say anything to Mina. He strode past her and picked up the man that had just died. He carried him to the middle of the outpost and set him gently down. 

“William…” Mina walked towards him, brows furrowed with concern.

“I need to bury them,” he said. He didn’t look at her. William began to do as he had in the last village they’d found. 

The sun had long since set by the time he was done burying them, even when everyone else began helping them. Boris and Renault had started immediately, but it had taken Mina a moment to do so. 

She was antsy. There could be orcs around. Did orcs stay in an area if fiends were there? She had no clue, but there was a possibility, especially with how strange things had been acting as of late. 

Mina leaned back on her hands, panting slight. She stared up at the starry sky and frowned when she saw the multi-colored streak racing across the sky. She glanced down at the three men and scowled. All four of them were exhausted. They weren’t going anywhere that night. 

“Who wants to take first watch?” she asked.

“I will.” William stood. “The three of you set up camp. I will secure the perimeter.” He strode away without waiting for a response.