The next morning I woke up from daylight in our room and from the birds chirping outside. I sat up and looked around. Everyone still seemed to sleep. I could still feel the cuts from our fight with the goblins yesterday.

“Morning Lilly.” Milly propped her head on her elbow.

She looked like she didn’t sleep well, which wasn’t surprising as it was the first time she killed a sentient being.

“Morning Milly.” I got up and walked over to her bed.

“How are your wounds doing?” She rolled a bit to the side lifting her her blanket invitingly.

“Still twitching. And yours?” I laid down facing her.

“Not that bad. I had bad dreams tonight.”

“It was bad, but there wasn’t really a choice. It was self-defense.” I pulled her into a hug.

“Was it really necessary to kill them?” She hugged me back, a few tears rolling down her cheeks.

“Maybe we could have spared the last of them, but they were the leaders of that ambush. At the beginning they were too many to show mercy. The one who got up again nearly killed me while I was busy with the other one.”

“There a stories about people captured by goblins. They are cruel and ruthless, especially to women.” Caroline sat up on her bed.

“It was a hard fight for us and they were a danger for normal travelers.” I looked in her teary eyes.

“What else would you have done with them?” Caroline came over, kneeling behind Milly hugging her.

“Taking them to the guards?” Milly buried her head on my shoulder.

“They would have killed them without thought. Maybe chiding you taking the risk bringing them alive.” Caroline pointed out.

“It still feels wrong as they were intelligent.” Tilly sat down beside my head.

“They wanted to kill us or capture us for rape. They’re known for doing this.” Caroline looked confused.

“Keep in mind that someone attacking you with a weapon has a killing intent.” I looked up at Tilly.

“That’s true. It still bothers me to end someones life.” Tilly tried to hold back her tears.

“Let them out, Tilly” I put an arm on her shoulder, looking in her eyes.

Caroline looked a bit confused. She sat down on the next bed, looking at us.

I pulled down Tilly into a hug for a while, my shoulder feeling wet after a few moments.

After a while we got up sat down of the bed. I kept hugging Milly and Tilly.

“The fight itself went mostly well.” I looked at Caroline.

“I was useless.” she looked down and hung her head.

“You kept a few goblins busy, giving us time enough to fight the rest. They chose you as target with the net, because you are taller and stronger.” I tilted my head, smiling back at her.

“The whole fight I was busy cutting this dreaded net!” Caroline started to weep.

“Consider it luck. They had swords and you’re wearing normal clothes. Would they have captured one of us you would have been hurt much more, since we have magical clothes which prevented many nasty cuts. Keeping two of them busy for a while was essential at that time. And looking out for reinforcements isn’t useless by the way.” I gave her a solemn look.

“You did well.” Milly wiped the tears out of her face.

“Don’t feel bad. At least you didn’t have to kill someone.” Tilly got up and went to hug Caroline.

“I wanted to protect you, and failed!” She looked down at the floor.

“We protect each other. You know we are quite capable defending ourselves. The most important thing is we are all alive and save now. Fights never go as planned. Keeping enemies you can’t defeat occupied isn’t useless at all if you’re not alone.” I got up and gave her a hug as well.

Milly came over as well.

“Hello? Are you awake?” Loraline knocked at the door.

“We are!” Milly looked at the door.

The door opened and Loraline came in. She had a stack of clothes which she put on the next bed.

“They should fit you until yours are presentable again. There are some leftovers from the breakfast.” She smiled at us.

“We come down when we’re dressed.” Milly went to hug Loraline.

“I’m in the kitchen.” Loraline waved and left the room.

We dressed quickly and left for breakfast.

Spring went by with spending much time in the kitchen with Miss Jheenna, learning much about the local kitchen. We spent some more time with Loraline finding herbs and exploring the forest around the lodge, after the hunters confirmed that there were no more goblins in the vicinity.

Tilly spent many afternoon in our room reading the the books we brought. We decided to keep training daily, but not as long and hard as in the last months. It was a mix of combat training, stamina and power training.

Loraline joined us after a while. She owned a bow which she brought and we added some target practice to the mix. Tilly had some experience with bows already, but we all had fun and improved our skills with the bow considerably. Loraline was an uncanny shooter, having trained since she was able to hold a bow.

There were many other things to do as well in the lodge, like splitting wood, getting water from the well and we all had to learn how to gut the various game the men brought home. It took some time to get used to do it, but Miss Jheenna left no one a choice. I think we were going to need it as soon as we would be forced to leave civilization for a while.

The occasional hunts were busy days. Usually it was Erlaucht with some noble guests. They spent two or three days and then it was quiet again for a while.

We spent some relaxing hours in the hot spring as well. Loraline spent a lot time with us, especially with Caroline. They were the same age and shared many interests.

“I found something interesting in the books.” Tilly had dragged us to the far side of the pool.

“What did you find?” Milly glided next to Tilly floating in the water.

“Something about dragons.” I went for Tilly’s other side.

“I didn’t want some ear in the wall listening.” Tilly whispered glaring at me..

“Shoot.” Milly whispered back.

“There was a dragon named Ziual, which was the last and most powerful of them. They spent decades hunting this dragon while a number of cities were burned to the ground.” Tilly whispered back.

“Since we were told dragons are extinct, she finally died.” I frowned.

“Any hints there a connections with the Ziual we met in our dream?” Milly looked at Tilly with wide eyes.

“Nothing but the name, but there is plenty of book left. I’m at the beginning of third book.” Tilly gave us a smug smile.

“Then we should wait what the rest of the book discloses. Well done.” I smiled at Tilly.

“Any progress with that magic book?” Milly looked at Tilly

She shook her head.

We told Loraline more about our general situation in the end on another day at the hot pool.

“You’ll need provisions if you want to travel fast. Hunting and gathering takes too much time.” Loraline looked concerned.

“I still want to come with you when you go.” Caroline looked in my eyes.

“As long as you want it. Just don’t feel you have to.” I looked back.

“I look forward to be in charge of my own life again. At least for a while.” Milly clenched her fists.

“I can at least lead you towards the mountains. I know the area from various hunting trips with my brothers.” Loraline looked at Milly.

“This may be dangerous.” Milly looked back.

“I can even put aside some things you’re going to need, over time. I know a place to stash things.” Loraline smiled ignoring Milly’s objection.

“Being prepared will help.” I nodded at Loraline.

“I see what I can do. Just don’t leave without notice. The mountains are dangerous, but a good place to get rid of pursuers as well.” Loraline grinned eagerly.

“We may be in a hurry when it happens. We stop by when we go for the mountains. A bit extra speed at the start will be useful.” I nodded at Loraline.

“Then it’s settled. I’m going to prepare equipment and as much preserved provisions as possible.” Loraline smiled nodding.

“We have probably a lot of time. We will inform you in the case we have some warning.” Milly nodded.

“Can you read and write?” Tilly looked a Loraline tilting her head.

“Enough, but I don’t use it much.” Loraline shrugged.

“We could ask Oren for delivering letters.” Tilly grinned.

“We need to get to town for that.” Milly objected.

“I’m allowed to go to town.” Caroline interjected.

“Let’s ask Oren then and exchange letters on a regular basis.” Milly looked at Loraline.

“I’ll manage.” Loraline nodded at Milly.

Oren agreed to carry our letters as it wasn’t additional work for him as we asked at his next visit.

A few weeks later we left for the castle again. We had learned much about cooking in the last months. We drove back with Oren again. This time we just arrived without a problem and since it was only a few days to the High Suns public holiday it was warm and the trip was actually comfortable as we found a bunch of blankets to lounge upon and there was much more free space on the way back.

“Let’s spend some time studying landmarks.” I looked at the others.

“It may not be possible to use the main road.” Tilly nodded.

“Why?” Milly looked at Tilly.

“There may be people observing or even guarding them if our pursuers are well prepared.” I made myself comfortable.

A few days later was the High Suns. Another day without work. We explored the the secret passage at that day. There was nothing remarkable but darkness and stone. It ended in a small cave somewhere in the forest. The entrance was covered by a rock which could be pushed away with some effort. It was locked from within, the mechanism still working because there was magic on the parts that would corrode over time. We refrained from exploring the surroundings since it took much time to get there and we wanted to be back without someone noticing it. The forests near the town were all small, nothing to worry about. We had an usable backdoor for emergencies now.

We started to exchange letters with Loraline every two weeks, as this was the normal time between Oren’s deliveries. Milly wrote most of them. It was idle chattering about the latest rumors. Loraline sent back similar letters.

Miss Tessa’s training continued after a debrief of the attack of the goblins. The rest of the time we were busy cleaning and washing.

Tilly finished the book on the dragons war after a while, we didn’t have as much free time as in the lodge.

We met in the secret room to discuss the information.

“The dragon was killed at the beginning of age of the second sun. The second sun appeared a few days after the dragons death.” Tilly had laid her hand on the third book.

“There is no information on the gender of the dragon. The Dragonbane Order used it’s heart to create this dungeon in the east of the claws.” Tilly looked at me.

“Then we should visit that dungeon sooner or later to find out more.” I crossed my arms under my growing chest.

“It’s the best hint we have.” Tilly nodded.

“And we can hide there from our pursuers for a while.” Milly leaned against the wall.

“Then we go for the dungeon as long as we don’t find something better.” I concluded.

Time passed by without anything noteworthy happening, only long days with much work to do.

We grew quite a bit to the point of being only slightly shorter than most of the women in the castle. Well. Becoming a woman got more and more obvious. I took a look in a mirror in the room I cleaned from time to time. Looking at Milly and Tilly wasn’t much of a difference though. I still wasn’t comfortable about spending much time with men. There were some who showed interest more or less obvious. I didn’t want to cross that bridge anytime soon.