ThabianGD

Small Warning, Violence and bad language ahead - I have also updated the tags and warnings on the front page. Please enjoy.

Milly‘s armor had blood splattered all over it, not hers, but blood all the same. Days like this took her back, years back into her past. She felt so tired sometimes. She felt like she had lived more lives than should have been allowed by her goddess, but her goddess wanted her here, wanted her still alive. She was, after all, still breathing.

She had just finished a morning run through the dungeon. She had put her spine against a tree that was in the little park near the dungeon entrance. Her left arm ached again. The old wounds and cracks still hurt like new some days. Her memories of that time were like quicksand sucking her down as she slipped herself down the trunk of the tree to sit in the dappled shade it had spread out around itself.

Milly looked at the waterskin that was in her hand. Then almost wished it was wine or a bottle of that damned dwarven firewater. That always took the aches away. Perhaps she had been more tired than she thought. All it took was her to blink, and she felt herself slip down into a dream, or as most would call it, a nightmare.

One that has haunted her, and inspired her, and scared her so many times over the years. When she wakes from it, Milly would remember what set the dream off. A blade that was turned away instead of biting into her flesh. An attack connecting with an armor plate and sparking, clattering, and ringing with the sound of metal on metal. Instead of slamming into her shield. A magical spell just not connecting and searing across the wall. A look on her enemy’s face as her ax sliced through their shoulder. A scream in just the right pitch. Something. Although so many things could happen in combat, whenever it got bloody, after it was over, each time the dream came.

It had taken everything she had to make it up the basement stairs. Every step had felt like she had been walking waist-deep in a swamp. Her whole body ached, and her wounds were barely closed. She had been the last of her friends still alive. Thrown with them down into the basement to die.

She pushed the door open and stepped into the taproom of the tavern. The rage that burned inside her fueled her every breath. Fire she had never felt before, and she would swear she had never experienced again, running through her body. It gave her the strength to move into enemy territory.

She had Boldar's ax in her hand, Sharan's round shield strapped to her shattered left arm. The bandages and leather straps hold the bones in place against the small wooden targe. She had Tulia’s chainmail draped over her chest, her priestly robes under it. Blood was dripping down her forehead, over the now blind eye, her healing magics used up on her now dead friends.

Their bodies were broken and dead in the basement under the little tavern. Milly had burnt through everything she had, trying to keep one of them alive. Not wanting to lose any of them. Friends she had traveled with for years. They had been through thick and thin. Now they had moved on, she made sure they would not return as wraiths or undead.

Milly looked around the room at the bastards that killed her friends. The bandits in the tavern taproom were pulling out their weapons. A large man, a half-giant she swore, who was sitting on a throne of shattered beds and the dead serving wenches of this little inn, spoke up.

"Look, the priestess is still alive and looking feisty."

Milly's voice is soft and hurting. But she managed to spit out two words, words that were barely a whisper. If her remaining eye had been that of a Beholder's, these men would have been nothing but shadows on the wall. Her soul blazed out at them from her battered form.

The bandit leader chuckled as he asked, "What was that?”

Milly gritted her teeth as she took a deep breath before she yelled at the top of her lungs, "SHUT IT!"

She lifted her ax and pointed it at the half-giant, taking a breath while the room had been stunned, "I swear by the will of my goddess, I will end you here, or die trying. You feted camel fondling poor excuse for a midget tossing cum guzzling whore. I will jam this ax into your groin so hard that you'll be singing soprano just before I remove that overgrown thick brainless shit you call a head from your fat putrid corpse. I'm going to cut off every fucking cock in this room and nail it to the palisades of the town. So, the next bandit group knows what happens to the dogs that think ambushing their betters is the only way to win. You goblin anal probing, orc cock sucking, kobold shit-eating rejects are all going to die! Today! I bet my life on it!"

She remembered the last six words. The hum of power she felt when the words left her mouth, the way the shield felt like it sat better, the way the haft of the ax felt like it sucked in against the skin of her hand, how the chainmail became lighter. "I swear by my goddess." The hum hit her again, and she breathed in as she felt a strange calm hit her. She would avenge her fallen comrades, or she would meet them soon in the embrace of her goddess.

The men stood there stunned for long seconds. Some of their faces turned red as they heard only insults. Others started laughing at the sight of her. The laughter spread out until all the bandits were laughing at the priestess that was barely standing up straight. Their laughter could have crushed her resolve, taking the last of her will, and pushed her down, let the wounds take their toll.

The man near Milly had moved in close to her and tried to take her weapon. To get her back down the stairs. Instead, her arm moved with what seemed to be an almost casual strength. The bandit was stopped as his head was removed. It arced over the nearby table of bandits, splattering the men with blood as it passed over them. Before it landed on the ground near them, and it rolled to a stop against the wall.

The laughter stopped as the bandit's body toppled and fell at her feet. Blood splashed over her feet from the stump of his neck as Milly took a step over the fallen body. "The dice are rolling, you bastards. Better hope my goddess is not smiling at me. I just made a bet, and I never!" She slammed her shield into the face of another man that was in a chair near her. He had been starting to turn towards her, ill intent in his motions.

Milly smashed his nose up into his skull. A 'lucky' hit that instantly killed him. "Ever!" She yelled while her ax whirled again. She slashed it through the elbow of another bandit that had started moving towards her. He had been holding a dirk in each hand. It left him stumbling back, dropping his weapon, and clutched at the stump of his elbow. The blood gushed past his fingers as he tried to staunch the wound, "Go back on a bet!"

She struck the side of the ax against the shield, letting the metal ring out, "So come on, you useless limp dick fucks. Let's get this started. I'm getting bored already." The room then exploded in action, and from that point on, all Milly remembered was blood and pain.

Their blood.

Her pain.

Milly was startled as she felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked up at the face of one of her new local friends. A young adventurer that she had joined in the dungeon, his little team of four, had welcomed her as an experienced defender. It brought a smile to her face, "Just resting my eyes, where are you off to now?"

She hopped up, taking a little moment to rub at her left arm through the old chainmail she was wearing under the new plate she had on, the extra weight little more than an afterthought these days.

"Somewhere fun, I hope?" Milly grinned at the young adventurers, the scar on her eye wrinkling, and her eyes sparkled as she thought a simple thought, 'So many more things to see. I want more stories to tell them when we meet again.'

After Milly had bid the young adventurers a good day and promised to have another trip into the dungeon with them. She gathered herself up and returned to the little church she had been sent to look after. She hoped Doxan would get here soon. He was running late, but then again when wasn’t he running late? At least Stavic was with him, so he shouldn’t get lost like the last time. It had taken Stavic and herself a week to find him in that little dungeon.

How the old dwarf had gotten that completely lost still made her shake her head in confusion, even to this day. At least they had been able to get out of there without anyone getting hurt. That had been an adventure and a half.

Milly chuckled to herself as she walked along the road that led back to the church. Taking her time as she did so. Letting her mind use the time to chew on the information Milly had been picking up from the locals.

While she had been lost in thought. Milly stepped around the bend in the road and spied a wagon pulled up in front of the church. Milly’s eyes went over the wagon, taking in the details. She then let out a laugh as she spotted one of her old friends and bellowed, “Stavic! Did you two get lost again?!”

Stavic startled from where he had been tending to the horses, then he grabbed their reins to keep the beasts from being alarmed at the yell of his friend, “Milly! No, we didn’t get lost. Doxan picked up a stray along the road. They slowed us down a little.”

Milly walked towards him as Stavic stepped out to meet her halfway. He held out a hand to shake hers in a traditional greeting. Milly stepped past his hand and scooped him into a hug.

Stavic made a noise of disgust, “Milly! You’re still covered in monster blood!” He began flapping his arms to try and get his friend to let go.

Milly grinned as she squeezed him in a bear hug before letting him loose, “I know! It’s why I hugged you!”

Stavic shook his head and looked down at his now messed up shirt, “If this doesn’t come out in the wash, you owe me a new shirt!” he frowned at her, “Why couldn’t you do that to Doxan?”

Milly let out another loud laugh and shook her head, “He’s too old for stuff like this.” She winked at Stavic, “Plus, I owed you for that shot you took at me before I came up here. Never make a joke about a woman’s age. Like I’d ever need a minder.”

The roguish man groaned before he spoke, “I’d hoped you had forgotten that.” He then motioned over to the church, “Doxan and Iris are inside. You might want to head in there. They found a stray Fae dragon. It looked pretty beat up. I’ll get these horses into the stables after I get the wagon out the back. Is there enough space in the courtyard to fit the wagon, right?”

Milly nodded to him, “Yes, there should be no problem fitting your wagon out the back as well.” she smiled as she turned away, “See you inside.” she said as she walked towards the church doors. Milly also made a mental note as she moved towards the church. Her friend Stavic rarely, if ever, tried to remember anyone's name. Unless he thought the person was dangerous or helpful. Milly wondered which this Iris would be.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Iris was seated on one of the pews near the center of the large room. The light from the stained-glass windows filled the little church with the colors of rainbows around her. In her lap, the Fae dragon was still curled up. At least it was not shivering anymore.

Iris enjoyed admiring the view of the masterfully created stained glass images. Each stained-glass picture displayed in the many windows of the church was a little piece of art. Although she was enjoying the view, she had also been watching the little dragon in her lap.

She would watch as the dragon’s head would pop out from under its wing and look around at the surroundings. It would quickly pull its head back into the little ball it had made of itself at the smallest sound or movement. Iris would stroke her finger down its back when it curled into a ball as she hoped that the action would help calm the little creature.

Iris took the time to admire the serenity of this place while she sat there. It had been a while since she had been able to. To simply sit and enjoy the quiet and peaceful atmosphere of a place like this. While she had been enjoying the company of Doxan and Stavic. Her social batteries really had been running on empty.

She hoped she would have some space to herself soon, or her social burnout would be spectacularly annoying. Although, the time alone in the church was really helping her recharge.

Just as she was felt the charge bar pip up in her mental space, the front doors to the church swung open. Revealing an armored woman, standing only a little taller than Iris herself.

Iris saw that she had steel grey hair, pulled back into a functional ponytail that was tied back with the simple expedience of using a thin strip of leather.

Iris stayed sitting on the pew as the woman approached and stopped in front of her. The woman's voice was kind sounding, "I'm guessing your name is Iris?"

When Iris nodded in the affirmative, the woman laughed, "My name is Milly. You came here with Doxan didn't you? Did he leave you here alone?"

Iris looked a little embarrassed, "Sorry, I sat down in here, then he grumbled something and ran off through the doorway at the back over there." She lifted her hand and pointed to the back of the church and a doorway that led deeper into the church grounds.

Milly made a quiet prayer as she shook her head, "I should probably go and save those poor people. Doxan probably heard something, right? He isn't the one to leave something alone."

Iris nodded to Milly, "We helped a teenaged mercenary girl, and she was frightened that he'd charge her for healing a wound she got."

The older woman groaned as she ran a hand over her face, "Yeah, that'd set him right off that would." she nodded, "I'll go save them." She looked at the Fae dragon in her lap, "It looks good enough for now, I'll have a closer look at your little friend there when I've got Doxan to stop frothing at the mouth." She motioned to the front entrance of the church, “Stavic told me that your little pet there was injured.”

Iris made a little ah of understanding before she smiled again, “I’ll just wait here for you to return with Doxan.” She motioned around in a small circle, as to motion at the atmosphere around them, “It is really very nice in here.”

Milly nodded in reply, “I’ll be back soon. We can talk more then.” With that, Milly continued her path through the church and out through the door Iris had motioned to.

Iris simply watched her go, then looked down at the Fae dragon ball in her lap, “Well at least you didn’t react like the cat I had that was just as much of a fraidy-cat as you are. He used my lap as a runway, and I was left bleeding.”

In reply, she got a green dragon’s eye peeking out from behind the splayed wing that it had been using to cover its body.

Iris smiled and asked, “Hey, do you mind if I take a nap while we wait here?”

The little green eye simply shut, and the Fae dragon wiggled a bit. To Iris, it felt like it had settled itself in for a nap itself.

Iris pushed her feet out and put them on the back of the pew in front of her, as she then leaned back and let her eyes close. Then for a short while, Iris was able to enjoy the peace and quiet, her mind slipping down into the fugue of sleep as she relaxed.

That is until only a few short minutes later, her eyes shot back open, and she said excitedly, “Oh wait! I still have a loot box to open!”