With the perimeter secured, and with no sign of any reinforcements, the group take a rest. Not for terribly long, but long enough to let everyone recuperate somewhat, and have the strength to keep going. None of them look good. Everyone, apart from Trizzi, took damage in the fight, Naliah looking the worst out of everyone with blood soaking her dress. But they’re alive, that’s all that matters, and for that Elyza is happy. 

 

With what little energy they have left, they begin to have a proper search of the bandits hideout. Disappointedly, there isn’t much to find. Cariston, although severely injured, seems to be taking it the most seriously. Elyza on the other hand, really couldn’t care less and just wants to get back to town so they can continue travelling. She’s not sure if the rest of them realise it, but they all could have died. In fact, if Trizzi wasn’t here with them, she’s sure they would have. 

 

She sighs, shaking the thoughts from her head as she inspects the ground outside of the cave half heartedly. Cariston comes to stand beside her, looking at the ground intensely. She looks at where he’s looking, not really seeing what he’s so concerned about. He obviously expects her to notice whatever it is when he looks at her as if asking for her input.

 

“Elyza, you’re supposed to be good at finding stuff right?” Cheese asks, looking at her pointedly. “There’s got to be tracks or something here.”

 

“Well, uh.” Elyza says, looking back to the ground as if something is suddenly going to just appear there. 

 

“Well there looks to be tracks here, but they’re a few days old-” Cariston says, looking to Cheese, and then back to Elyza. “-That’s what you found, right Elyza?” 

 

She looks at him, nodding a bit dumbly, but feeling relieved he saved her from looking like an idiot in front of the rest of them. “Yeah, of course. But as Cariston says, they’re a few days old so these guys most likely were the ones left behind while the bulk moved forward.” Elyza says, just sharing her thoughts out loud rather than deducing anything from the tracks. 

 

“Do you think they’re working with Kalira in Dulsaid?” Cheese asks. Cariston seems to think on it for a moment, before saying they might be, but either way the area should be safer with these bandits gone at least.

 

With one last look over the place, they start to clear out. Cariston takes the lead with Cheese, giving Elyza a polite smile which is just his very nice way of telling her not to fall into another pitfall trap. She doesn’t take it personally, instead she backs off and stays near the back of the group. Well, she tries to as they begin moving back to the main road, however Cornelia is deliberately trailing behind and trying to keep some distance between them. Elyza notices this, choosing to ignore it at first, but the longer it goes on, the more and more agitated she finds herself getting.

 

She slows, deliberately falling back to walk beside Cornelia. The rest of the group are out of ear shot as they walk together silently. Cornelia glances at her once, twice, obviously trying to figure out what she’s supposed to do or say. She goes to open her mouth to say something, but Elyza beats her to it.

 

“Cornelia, what the hell happened back there?”

 

“I had to find cover.” Cornelia says simply, her stubborn tone still there as it always is. “You’re not the only one useful at range.”

 

“Really?” Elyza asks, rolling her eyes as Cornelia nods with her head held high like she’s in the right. “Because that’s not what I saw.”

 

Something flashes across Cornelia's face, too quickly for Elyza to read before Cornelia continues. “Whatever you thought you saw-”

 

“-No.” Elyza cuts her off. “I know what I saw. You ran away.”

 

“No- I. That isn’t what happened.” Cornelia says, suddenly very flustered as all previous composure leaves her. Elyza just looks at her, her stare hard as she meets Cornelia’s eyes.

 

“You were scared, it got ugly, I get it.” Cornelia looks relieved, but then Elyza continues. “But you can’t just run away. We could have died, you would have just abandoned us like that?”

 

“I- No. I wasn’t running- I was-” She flounders, looking more distressed than Elyza has ever seen her. Maybe that should have made her feel bad, but Elyza is suddenly so fucking pissed off at her. She cuts her off, all but glaring at Cornelia.

 

“If I can’t trust you to have my back, what are you even good for?”

 

She doesn‘t wait for the reaction, she picks up her pace and joins the rest of the group, leaving Cornelia to trail behind them all the way back to Craydon. 

 

Elyza expects Cornelia to say something to her when they get back to town, but she doesn't. In fact, she doesn’t say much to anyone. When they set off with their cart to continue their travel to Strasa, she still isn’t joining in their conversation like she usually does. She’s quiet, reserved, the very opposite of how she’s been in all their time spent together so far. 

 

Elyza wonders if she went too far, but decides no, it’s what Cornelia deserves for fucking up this badly.

 

_________________________________________________________________________

 

The two days travel from Craydon to Strasa pass quickly. There’s no trouble on the road, no bandits or anyone else to cause problems. It looks like taking out those bandits really has helped, and hopefully there are no stragglers left to cause anymore issues. On the approach to Strasa there isn’t much to see, just open plains for miles with farmhouses and windmills scattered around. 

 

When the city comes into view, Trizzi seems visibly excited, a smile taking over her features as she looks out at the city. Elyza doesn’t say anything, just watches Trizzi, instead of looking out to the city like everyone else seems to be. Cariston says something about the city looking beautiful, but Elyza can’t help thinking that she’s looking at something else much more beautiful. 

 

“Did you know, Strasa is the smallest of the five main cities in the Empire.” Trizzi says, everyone's attention back on her as she speaks. Elyza comes back to her senses at that, tearing her eyes away from Trizzi and finally looking to the city with a small blush on her cheeks. She half listens to Trizzi go on to tell them about the history of the city and what its like, but she isn’t taking it in. She doesn’t even look at Trizzi, just keeps her face away from them all as she tries to calm herself down. 

 

What in the hells is she even doing?

 

The cart comes to a stop outside of a tavern named The Laughing Otter, where Trizzi explains that’s where they’ll be staying for their stay in the city. She won’t be staying with them this time, but she’ll make sure everything is sorted then they’ll need to report to Talons Peak together. They unload their belongings from the cart, this time a lot quicker now Cheese doesn’t feel the need to introduce his family to everyone like last time. 

 

They’ve been given three rooms to stay in, which Cornelia very quickly tries to claim the single room for herself. It’s the most she’s heard Cornelia say since their conversation two days ago. Naliah yet again also wants the room, but relents and offers to let Cornelia have it every other night. Elyza expects a fight, for some fire and other ridiculous spells to be thrown at each other to settle their disagreement. To her immense surprise, Cornelia just nods, trying her best to not catch Elyza’s eyes as she takes her belongings upstairs.

 

Cariston seems to catch on that something is wrong then too, looking around the group. He doesn't say anything, but Elyza understands he wants some sort of explanation. For some reason, that makes her not want to tell him at all what happened. It’s childish, she knows it is, but she also knows Cornelia will probably be done sulking soon and she’ll be back to herself in a few days. So instead of saying anything, she just shrugs, shouldering her bags and heading upstairs. 

 

Half an hour later they’ve all gathered downstairs with Trizzi once again. As she leads them through the city towards the keep, Elyza finds herself walking next to her. The rest of the group seem distracted with the sounds and sights of the city, Cheese and Cariston uncharastically quiet as they both look a little wide eyed. It’s too quiet for her liking, and she isn’t going to miss an opportunity to talk to Trizzi while her friends are too distracted to tease her about it.

 

“So Trizzi, you grew up here, right?” 

 

“Oh, erm, yes!” She answers quickly, turning towards Elyza so quickly she stumbles a little. 

 

“What was it like, got any recommendations on places to check out?”

 

“There are, ooh, a lot of interesting places in the city you can see, it depends what you’re interested in.” She smiles softly, looking ahead again as she continues. “Growing up here was, um, good! Well, I mean being nobility I was always expected to act a certain way and dress a certain way…”

 

Elyza nods as Trizzi trails off, urging her to continue. Trizzi looks as if she’s going to, but seems to get lost in a memory. The smile doesn’t drop from her face but it softens, something else obviously coming to mind. 

 

“But, erm, anyway. I don’t know how much free time you’ll have in the city, but there are some exciting little shops, and oh! the gardens are pretty at this time of year!”

 

Elyza listens to her list all these places, but she isn’t really listening. She just watches, taking time to notice more little things about Trizzi she hasn’t noticed from afar. She doesn’t get to think about it for too long though as Trizzi saying her name breaks her out of her thoughts. 

 

“So what are you going to do now, Elyza?”

 

“What?” She answers dumbly, looking around as if Trizzi isn’t actually talking to her.

 

Trizzi notices this and smiles this big silly smile. “Your contract was to escort us to Strasa. So, erm, from this moment onwards you're absolved of your duty.”

 

Elyza just stares at her, the words taking a moment to sink in. “I- uh, Yeah. I  guess I am.”

 

“You don’t need to stay here, you’re uh, welcome to leave any time you like. You don’t even need to meet my father, if you don’t want to.”

 

“No, I want to.” She says quickly, surprising herself with her eagerness. The first thought that comes to mind is that she has nowhere else to go, being a mercenary is all she’s known for the last couple of years. But really, she knows there’s another reason. All she ever wanted was her freedom, and now she’s being given it, she’s not sure what she wants.

 

Trizzi is giving her a strange look, and very gently places a hand on Elyza’s arm. Elyza meets Trizzi’s eyes, and their golden colour has somehow become even more breathtaking than before. There’s deep, raw concern in them as she speaks. “You don’t have to go, it’s okay to want to stay.”

 

Elyza doesn’t know what to say, opening her mouth and then closing it again as she tries to figure out just how easily Trizzi has gotten into her head. She used to be so hard to read, could hide any secret, yet is it really that obvious now that she not only likes these people but actively trusts them and wants to stay? The idea of it immediately makes her feel uneasy, a worry at the back of her head that she’s just putting them in danger. But that’s soothed as she looks around at them chatting excitedly among themselves as they walk through the city. 

 

“Thanks Trizzi.” She says with a smile, giving Trizzi’s hand a quick squeeze. Trizzi seems to understand what she means, smiling as though there’s a thousand unspoken words between them at that moment. “I wouldn’t want to miss your birthday after all.” Elyza adds quickly, trying to push away that vulnerable feeling of Trizzi seeing her like this. 

 

Trizzi grins at that, going on to talk about the festival and what it entails. She continues to point out odd things, now gaining the attention of Cariston at least who happily talks about the history of Strasa with her. He says he recently read a book that had a small section on the history and how the bigger cities of the empire were formed and run, and that he’d love to learn more if she can find any materials on it. Luckily, their incredibly dull conversation doesn’t last long as they arrive at the keep. 

 

As they enter, they’re greeted by a half elven man who immediately recognises Trizzi and gives her a small bow. “My lady, it’s good to see you again.”

 

“Aventus! It’s been too long. Is my father ready to see us?” she asks with a grin.

 

“I’ll tell him of your arrival, please wait here.” Aventus says very professionally, but Trizzi’s grin is contagious and Elyza spots that although he’s trying to keep his face neutral, there's a small smile on his lips as he turns away and leaves the room. 

 

They chat quietly among themselves as they wait. Trizzi keeps quiet, but the smile doesn't falter as she looks around the room. Elyza does the same, checking her surroundings out of habit, but nothing looks out of place, and to say this is such an important place it isn’t half as gaudy as she thought it would be. She catches Trizzi’s eye, and that beautiful smile widens for her. She feels a very small blush rise to her cheeks but manages to calm herself. When did being around Trizzi make her this flustered?

 

It only takes about 10 minutes before Aventus returns with a much taller man behind him. Looking at him, Elyza can immediately see the resemblance to Trizzi. He stands well over 6 feet tall, his red skin and two large horns similar to Trizzi’s that curl back. His hair is a shiny dark black-ish blue, wavy and shoulder length with a few grey streaks betraying his youthful appearance. He grins as he sets eyes on them all, a moustache and goatee beard adorned on his face.

 

“Greetings adventurers!” He bellows, his voice loud but jovial. “You have finally arrived!”

 

A moment passes where no one speaks, not even Trizzi, who when Elyza sneaks a quick peek at her is just matching his happy smile. The lack of reaction doesn’t seem to stop him.

 

 “I am Merris, the great Storm Lord, Lord of Strasa.”

 

Cheese is the first to speak. “You’re the lord of the city?”

 

He laughs a loud hearty laugh. “Yes young one, I just said that! Anyway come this way, we have much to discuss.”

 

They move to a side chamber away from the few citizens in the hall who seem to be watching their exchange with some interest. Elyza wonders for a second if she should be worried about them, but pushes that anxiety aside. Most people are interested when there's someone with power in the room, it doesn’t mean they’re secretly assassins. The room they move into is empty, and when the door is closed Merris turns towards his daughter and gives her a big hug.

 

“It’s so good to see you, Trizzi.” He says, them sharing a look which says a lot more than words ever could. They hold each other's gaze for a moment before Merris turns and addresses the rest of the group. “And you’ve brought us a fine new group of adventurers from the academy!”

 

“Ah, yes! They’ve proven themselves very capable on the journey here.”

 

 “Very good, I suspect they will continue to impress us then!” He says with a grin, looking from his daughter then back to the group. “Friends, I must ask you a favour for your first task.”

 

Merris explains that he wants them to check up on an enchanter that he hired to help come up with creative solutions to help the city. Mostly something to help with the crime rate and keep people safe without hiring more guards. Bardain, this enchanter, is supposed to check in every few days with a report of how he’s doing, but there’s been no word from him in over a week. Merris is concerned he’s gotten too into his work, or something may have happened to him.

 

So that’s how Elyza finds herself outside this Bardain’s house, with Cheese asking loudly if it's a criminal offence to knock the door off its hinges.

 

“Well, Cheese.” Cariston says, moving to the door. “We should at least knock first, he might answer-”

 

“-It isn’t a crime if you don’t get caught.” Cornelia says, talking over Cariston in reply to Cheese after taking a moment to think on his question

 

Elyza just looks at them all, gripping the key in her pocket that Merris had given them. She’ll remind them that they have a key in a minute, this is more amusing. 

 

“But how would we not get caught? There’s so many people watching…” Naliah says under her breath, looking around at the few people walking through the street. Elyza just shakes her head, a small smile pulling at her lips as she steps forward, stopping the idiotic conversation Cheese is currently having with Cariston about using a spell to burrow under the door instead. She places the key in the lock and turns the key until- click. She looks back at them all, not being able to keep the smirk off her face as she pushes the door and it swings open.

 

“Well, that’s boring.” Cornelia says with a shrug, walking into the room as the rest follow behind. There doesn’t seem to be anything immediately wrong, no sign of struggle, no monsters hiding in the shadows. It just looks like a normal house, which is why there has to be something hidden.

 

As if it’s some well rehearsed thing, they split up and begin looking around the room. It’s a very small house with everything needed to live happily in one room. Naliah summons her sword and starts poking at the bed sheets as if she expects them to come alive. She seems to scowl even deeper as nothing happens, before finally shrugging and moving on. 

 

“He’s an enchanter, he should have a whole workshop.” Cariston says quietly, mostly to himself but Elyza is close enough to hear him.

 

“Well unless every lock in Strasa is the same, it's definitely the right house.” She answers, scanning over the room looking for anything out of place.

 

“What if he has a super secret basement?” Cheese asks, which Elyza thinks he’s clearly joking about, until she actually thinks about it.

 

“Secret basements are always hidden by rugs on the floor.” Cornelia says, moving over to the right side of the room and grabbing a large red rug by its corners. “I should know, my father has many secret-”

 

She doesn’t get to finish her sentence as suddenly the rug in her hands lifts into the air and wraps itself around her. For a second no one reacts, just staring in awe as this 6 foot tall rug wraps around her. It isn’t until Cornelia’s muffled words, possibly a few insults, grace the air that anyone moves.

 

Naliah runs at it with her sword, seeming to not think about the fact Cornelia is inside of the thing until after she’s stabbed it and there’s another scream from Cornelia.

 

“Cornelia, don't set it on fire!” Cheese shouts as he banishes the flame that was already forming in his hand. For once he’s had a smart thought. There’s something that sounds very much like Cornelia saying she’ll set it on fire if she so wishes, but her words are too muffled by the rug to be sure. 

 

Elyza knocks an arrow, ready to kill whatever the fuck this thing is, but then stops to access where the hell can she actually shoot it? She takes a moment to think, aiming for about an inch above where Cornelia’s shoulder should be. The arrow flies straight into the spot she’d intended and by the looks of it, and the fact Cornelia isn’t screaming, she’s hit the right spot.

 

It takes a few more shots from everyone before the rug quivers unnaturally and drops to the ground to reveal an extremely pissed off Cornelia. She steps away from the now ruined rug and looks towards the group with a face full of thunder. “What the fuck were you all doing!? I could have died!”

 

“But you didn’t, we saved you.” Naliah says, very unlike herself as she rolls her eyes. Elyza watches the exchange between the two, catching Cariston’s eye as he obviously gets ready to jump in and diffuse the situation. However, he doesn’t need to. A strange look crosses Cornelia’s face before she turns away and looks intensely at the floor. Elyza thinks she’s sulking for a moment, before she takes a step closer and see’s the decently well camouflaged hatch that must lead down to a basement.

 

“There’s a hatch. Cariston, deal with it.” is all Cornelia says, letting him stand next to it as she moves off to the side. Elyza gives her one last glance before she moves up beside Cariston as he inspects the door.

 

“It’s not trapped, I don’t think.” he says, running his fingers around the tight seal in the wood. “It’s just- yeah, just locked.”

 

“Can you open it bro?” Cheese asks, scampering over and practically climbing on Elyza’s back to see over her shoulders from where she’s crouched. She’s about to tell him to get off and walk around the side like a normal person, when he speaks up again. “Elyza, you can help him, right? You were a criminal after all.”

 

“I’m not- it wasn’t like-” She starts to say, trying to figure out how to even explain what she used to do. She sighs, shrugging Cheese off of her and turning to look at him. “I did some stuff I’m not proud of, I fucked up. I still fuck up all the time, but that doesn’t mean I know how to pick locks Cheese.”

 

“But all good burglars know how to-”

 

“-Cheese.” Cariston says, clear by his tone that he’s trying to get him to shut up. “I know how to do this stuff because of how I grew up, Elyza knows how to do different things because of her past…now if you want to help all you have to do is ask.”

 

Cheese actually looks a bit bashful, flashing Elyza a little smile which she somehow knows is him saying sorry. “What can I do to help Cariston?”

 

“Hold this light for me.” Cariston says, his shield illuminated by a light spell as he hands it to Cheese. Cheese holds it like it’s the most important item in the world. “It doesn’t look to be a particularly hard lock. Just a few more-” There’s a small clunk sound as the pressure on the door releases, and Cariston easily lifts it open.

 

Wordlessly they file into the hatch and down the ladder which does indeed lead them to a basement. At the bottom of the ladder, there’s a corridor with some suits of armour lining the right hand side of the wall. There are two doors, one at the end of the hallway, and one on the left hand side about half way down. Cheese suggests splitting them up to search both the rooms at the same time, but Naliah stops that idea by saying something about how in every book she’s ever read, splitting the party never goes well.

 

They check the first door on the left, it’s unlocked. Cariston pushes the door open, and they all seem to let out a breath of relief as no elaborate trap triggers. That is until they see two rugs on the floor.

 

“Fuck no, not again.” Cornelia says, somehow managing to hide behind Elyza although she’s a good six or so inches taller than her. 

 

“Wait, I’ve got this!” Cheese says suddenly, pushing in front of Cariston pulling his backpack off of his back. Elyza expects him to cast some sort of spell, instead he…sits on the ground and closes his eyes. Cornelia is equally as confused, as she comes out of hiding to push forward and get a better look at what the hell Cheese is doing.

 

“Cheese, there’s potentially another monster, and you want to take a nap?!” She asks, sounding a lot more like her old self than the quiet reserved girl they’ve seen her as for the last few days.

 

“Shh, I'm concentrating.” Is all cheese says, barely moving his mouth to say the words. Cornelia looks like she’s about to kick him when Cariston speaks up.

 

“He’s casting a spell, it’ll take ten minutes.”

 

Elyza doesn’t think she’s ever experienced such a slow amount of time in her entire life. The minutes drag on and on and on, and when Cheese finally jumps up everyone reels back from him. There’s a slight glow to his eyes as he winces slightly when he looks at the party. Elyza has no idea what he’s doing, but it’s got to have something to do with the rugs…right?

 

He looks to the rest of the room, taking a step towards the first rug. No one stops him, but Elyza hears Cornelia’s breath hitch in her throat from where she is beside her. 

 

“This one is a normal rug, that one’s magical.” Cheese says casually, pointing the furthest away rug as the magical one. Naliah surprisingly is the first one to move, stepping over the first rug confidently and giving the magical one a swift kick. There’s no magical flash, no screams of pain as Naliah is ripped in two…nothing.

 

“I think you got it wrong, Cheese.” Naliah says, nudging it with her foot again as nothing happens.

 

“No I’m right!” Cheese says with a bit of a whine to his voice. “I can see it now glowing with a magical aura!”

 

“Well maybe it’s magical in a different way.” Cariston replies, taking a few steps forward as if just looking at it will somehow reveal its secrets.

 

“Well it’s not like it’s a flying carpet.” Elyza says flippantly, seeing if she can get a reaction from Cornelia who seems to have a permanent scowl on her face. As soon as the words leave her mouth, Cheese and Cariston look at each other. 

 

“It’s a flying carpet, of course it is!” Cheese exclaims giddlidly, moving to the carpet and trying to roll it up. He fails miserably, but with the help of Cariston and Naliah they manage to roll the thing up and carry it out of the room. Elyza just watches them in amazement, wondering if she either managed to trick them, or that she somehow guessed completely correctly that it is a damn flying carpet. She’s never heard of a magical flying carpet apart from in a story her father told her when she was only a girl, but she thought he’d made that up. If he was telling the truth, well that's the first time in his life he ever has.

 

With the mystery of the magical rug solved, they make their way to the last room of the basement. Upon entering this room, it is very apparent something is wrong, long before Cheese gasps dramatically. There, in the middle of the room, are more of those suits of armour. However, these ones are…posed. They're standing in a circle, weapons drawn, as they stand over something. Elyza takes a step closer, trying to figure out what's on the floor, when she sees the blood. 

 

The blood has pooled and dried underneath what looks to be- most likely Bardain, if the slumped dwarven form is anything to go by. Although, with the amount of blood and gore, she doubts many people would be able to recognise him. 

 

“Watch out, they’re magical.” Cheese says cautiously, looking around the room obviously trying to see if anything else is magical. Cariston suddenly looks back to the corridor, where a suit of armour can just be seen through the gap of the doorway.

 

“I have a bad feeling about this.” Elyza mumbles, moving her bow to her hands in case she needs to shoot one of these stupid things. She fucking hates magic. 

 

There’s a very obvious shift in the atmosphere as they look around the room, however Naliah seems totally oblivious to it as usual. She walks towards the centre of the room, ignoring Cheese’s warning as he tries to stop her. She has that same determined look in her eyes, sword out as she stalks forwards towards the biggest suit of armour. Then she stops, just looking it over, and glancing at the dwarven body which has definitely been dead at least a few days. She seems to think for a moment, before raising her sword to slash at the armour.

 

There's an almighty clang as her weapon clashes with the long sword held by the suit of armour. Slowly, the three suits of armour move, their movements almost mechanical, but also so human-like at the same time. 

 

Naliah doesn’t even have a moment before another of the suits rushes her, its speed unnaturally fast. Elyza doesnt even realise she’s grabbed Cheese by the arm and dragged him back to the doorway until she hears him squeal and manage to shake himself free. She can’t take her eyes off the suits, her breath hitching in her throat as another lunges at Naliah and its blade slices her back. Naliah grunts, swirling around to slash at it with her own sword, but leaves herself open to the one at her side. She’s surrounded, and if they don’t do something soon, they’re going to kill her.

 

Cariston backs up towards the group, casting some sort of spell but it seems to have no effect. He curses under his breath, holding his shield up protectively in front of Cheese as he obviously figures out what he should do. Cheese uses his usual trick with the puddle of grease, however this time Naliah doesn’t keep her footing and falls to the floor with a thud. This only spurs them on further and Naliah barely dodges a sword that would have stabbed right through her middle.

 

Cornelia pushes in front from where she was standing in the doorway, coming to stand by Cheese but still giving Elyza enough room to fire off a few shots as she looks around panicked now. This is going to end badly if they don’t do something big and quickly. Cornelia raises her arm, the flames licking at her fingertips as she stares ahead. Elyza see’s Cheese’s eyes widen as he hears the words Cornelia’s muttering under her breath and quickly throws his hand up as there's a small arcane flash. It’s no more than half a second, but when Elyza looks at Cornelia’s hand again the flames are gone and she’s looking at Cheese with a look Elyza has only seen on her face once before. That same look she had on her face after their talk outside of Craydon.

 

Naliah holds her own, fighting with Cariston back to back as he runs in to help her. Cornelia moves away from Cheese, refusing to meet his or Elyza’s eyes as she focuses forward. Things seem to be turning in their favour, even when some flying swords detach from the wall and try to stab at them. Elyza doesn’t really understand what Cheese did, but either way it hasn’t stopped Cornelia raising hell. Whatever is going on with her has spurred her on to fight even more aggressively than usual. She even ends up too close to the action and nearly gets sliced by the back swing of a sword. She of course backs off after that, looking even more pissed off as she manages to burn one of the suits of armour from the inside. It falls to the floor dismantled, Which is a big enough distraction that Naliah manages to shove her sword through a gap in the largest one's armour. She grins as it quivers and falls to the floor.

 

Elyza feels a little useless, and so fucking frustrated as her hits seem to be doing very little. But she serves her purpose, she protects Cheese as he fires off spells from beside her, and she fires arrow after arrow until finally the room is still. 

 

Cariston is healing Naliah as soon as the last sword falls to the ground unmoving. Cheese and Elyza are the first to move to join them, Elyza averting her eyes from Cariston as she tries to calm her very frayed nerves. She’s getting better at the whole being around healing magic thing, but sometimes it still instils that raw panic that makes her chest hurt. Cornelia comes over to join them, still not meeting anyone’s eye, instead studying the body of Bardain which has been even more messed up by all the spell effects thrown about the room.

 

“Do you think he was enchanting them?” Naliah asks as Cariston seals up a particularly nasty gash on her upper arm. Her dress is splattered with blood from it, but she doesn’t seem to mind.

 

“He must have been. It would have been a good idea, animated suits of armour to protect the city, if they hadn’t turned against him.” Cariston replies, looking down in pity at the dead man at his feet.

 

“I wonder why they did it? I would never turn against Professor Reginald like that.” Cheese says, coming to stand beside Cariston.

 

“There’s always a risk with magic, and especially the knowledge behind that power.” Cariston says almost under his breath, as if he doesn’t want Cheese to hear it. 

 

If Cheese does hear it, he doesn’t react, moving over from the body to the now unanimated armour which definitely has a few scuffs on it. “What do you think we should do with all of this?”

 

“Well, we dealt with them, so we could take them. They’d sell for a decent amount. There is an iron shortage afterall.” Cariston says as he picks up an arm and tests its weight.

 

“Enough to buy more cool magic items from The Arcane Anvil?” Cheese asks, his eyes lighting up at the idea. 

 

And that’s how somehow Cariston convinces everyone to carry as much armour as they can back to the tavern. Elyza just stands and watches, not wanting anything to do with this. There’s a nagging feeling at the back of her skull that this isn’t right and she should talk them out of it, but she knows she can’t. What good would it do anyway? if they want to take some armour then let them. She just has no desire to be part of it. For a moment she feels like a pompous idiot sitting atop a hill she doesn’t belong on. She’s stooped to their level, she’s stooped a lot lower, but that isn’t who she is anymore.

 

To distract herself she ends up in the study, or the library, as there are a lot of books. On the desk there's a leather bound book which looks to be possibly some notes, all written in dwarvish. Elyza pockets the book, figuring if it has anything useful in it she’ll pick it out. She knows a little of the language, not enough to be fluent but she’s sure she can pick it up. With three languages under her belt, surely a fourth can’t be that hard.

 

They somehow manage to all make it out and back to the tavern without being attacked or arrested, which is a bonus. Cariston decides they should keep all the armour in one place so they can keep inventory easier, which no one has any complaints about. So that’s how he ends up with a pile of scuffed up armour in his and Cheese’s room. 

 

They’re not due to see Merris with their report until tomorrow, so they spend the rest of the afternoon and evening unwinding with drinks and food. Naliah has her usual ‘spiciest drink they have’ and basically just a plate of meat. Cariston gets ale, Cheese has his usual glass of dubious milk. Elyza has gotten used to splitting a bottle of wine with Cornelia, but Cornelia doesn’t seem to be drinking today. In fact, she’s been very quiet and reserved since their fight earlier that day. Elyza had tried to engage her in conversation and she just shrugged off her questions, going back to picking at her meal.

 

By the time they head to bed for the night, Cornelia seems even more withdrawn. Elyza shrugs it off, trying not to think too much into it. She falls asleep that night uneasily, the last thing she hears in her half asleep haze is the door to her and Cornelia’s room closing. 

 

That night she dreams. She doesn’t often dream, but hates when she does. Maybe that’s because of the night terrors, or the fact the last time she dreamt it was something brought on by whatever that weirdo Marron did. 

 

Her dream that night is different. She dreams of her childhood, of being a young girl running carefree through the fields of her hometown. Of her mother and her kind caring smile. Of her father and the way he would let her ride on his shoulders when they went to the market. Of when she’d picked flowers and her mother had helped her make them into a flower crown. Her father had called her a pretty princess, and they’d spent a whole day playing pretend. 

 

Then things change. The happy atmosphere shifts, the shining sun is covered by rolling clouds. The day is dark, miserable, and there’s something wrong. Her mother is cooking in the kitchen quietly, there’s no singing, no happily chatting as she usually did. The door opens and her father walks in with two other men in tow. Her mother is immediately in front of her, shielding her with her own body as she tells him he’s gone too far. He doesn’t speak, the men behind him just act.

 

She’s dragged away from her mother while she cries. Her mother grabs a knife and tries to defend herself, but it's no use. Elyza has seen this play out time and time again, wishing she could do something, to change anything, but she can’t.

 

She awakes with a start, sitting up in bed with her face wet with tears. She realises quickly that a loud noise woke her, and she scans the room for danger. There’s nothing, no one else is in the room, not even Cornelia. She sits there, trying to even out her breathing as she stays very still and just listens. A drunken couple making their way to their room is what woke her, them laughing loudly as they pass by the door. Elyza sighs, lying back in bed as she wipes her face. No one is out to get her, no one is ever going to hurt her like that ever again.

 

She looks over to Cornelia’s bed, noticing how the blanket is still neatly folded at the end of it, like Cornelia hasn’t even slept in it. That’s when the deep ache of panic blooms in Elyza’s chest. Cornelia was in bed when she fell asleep, it can’t have been more than a few hours ago. 

 

As Elyza tries to figure out what she should do, she hears footsteps making their way up the stairs. The door to their room creeks open very slowly, and Elyza has never been so sure in her whole life that they’ve finally found her. She lets out the breath she’s holding as she see’s Cornelia enter the room and carefully close the door behind her. Her face falls as she sees Elyza awake.

 

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you.” She says softly, crossing to her side of the room sounding very unlike Cornelia. Cornelia is normally so full of herself, she wouldn’t apologise even if you forced her too. There’s something very wrong with her.

 

“Are you…okay?” Elyza asks unsurely, pushing aside her own blanket and sitting on the edge of the bed to face Cornelia. 

 

Cornelia tenses at her words, her fingers freezing as she undoes the laces on her boots. “Yes, of course. I was just out.”

 

“Out where? It’s the middle of the night Cornelia.” Elyza says, trying to catch Cornelia’s eye but she has her eyes on the ground, refusing to look up.

 

“I…I don’t want to be a coward anymore.”

 

Elyza’s taken aback by her reply, she expected her to get mad, to threaten to set her on fire as she usually does. But now, Cornelia looks so vulnerable, so visibly upset. That’s when Elyza realises she’s the one who’s fucked up with being so harsh with her.

 

“Cornelia, look-”

 

“-I don’t need your pity” She suddenly says, her eyes finally meeting Elyza’s. “I don’t need or want it. You and the others have made it very clear you can’t trust me. So I have to do better, I have to do something.”

 

“I need you to have my back in a fight, not get yourself killed by sneaking off at night.” Elyza says with the irritation evident in her voice. “What were you even doing?”

 

“It doesn’t matter.” Cornelia answers, lying down in bed and turning away from her. Elyza thinks that’s it, that she’s still acting like some spoiled brat who’s refusing to admit she's done anything wrong. She’s pissed off, but there's also a gnawing feeling of guilt that she caused this. 

 

“Go to sleep Elyza, forget this ever happened.” Cornelia says, her words muffled by the blanket she’s now pulled up around herself.

 

Elyza desperately wants to say something more, to try to force the truth out of her, and find out where she went. Even just to say she’s sorry, even though she really doesn’t want to do that one. But she knows it’s a lost cause, whatever this was, Cornelia wants her to drop it, so she will.

 

Elyza lies awake for a long time, only letting her guard down when she hears Cornelia’s breath even out, signalling that she’s asleep. She doesn’t need to worry about them, if she wanted to, she could leave tomorrow. But she doesn’t want that, this group is the closest thing she’s had to a family in a long time, even if she will never admit that to them. 

 

She falls asleep worrying about Cornelia, and what she’s supposed to do to fix this.