Terra

I was told to sit on a pile of blankets while Layla paced back and forth in front of me while Ophelia tied me up some more. It was a bit tight, and I could feel the various ropes and ribbons digging into my skin. I yawned scooting my ass to stare more directly at the sisters.

"Layla. What exactly are we doing with this girl?"

"Excellent question. Holding her."

"I think that's a war crime. To hold someone without reason for longer than a day."

"The reason is she attacked us."

"Technically her friend attacked us, and really they just burned the forest down."

"That still could have harmed us, girl."

"Fair. But what are we doing with her at this current moment?"

"Well... a human in this territory is suspect, so I need her interrogated just in case she is a spy.'

"Aren't we also suspect?"

"Yes, I am aware."

"Why aren't you doing the interrogation? You are trained in it."

"I am not trained in such barbary, girl. And I do not wish to speak to someone who pretended to not know of me when clearly she did."

"Or rather, you wish to sleep."

"You know me well in that regard, Ophelia. Do what you must." Layla left the tent, leaving the two of us alone. 

Ophelia picked up a bottle and uncorked it, pouring its dark red contents into a mug. She sniffed it and produced a bag from her cloak, sprinkling some powder into it and mixing it with one of her slender fingers with a sharped nail with black nail polish. She sniffed it once more and apparently satisfied took a sip, a smile sliding up from the corners of her mouth as she did so. "Ah. Perfect. Such a good vintage." She walked over to me and made a few clicks with her tongue. "Well, well. It is good to see you well, Terra."

"Huh?"

"Oh? Surely you figured that Olli was not one to let her pieces be removed from the board. And I am one of them. Now before you react- I do not care about you. In general, you free or captured, the result is the same. I do however care about... the other you. The you that was and will be. That which you portend."

"That which I portend?"

"Yes. The world we all deserve. Those fragments which were meant to be pruned but ended up defying the rules of reality, bond together to create a future for those who deserve to rule."

"Did all of you on the Human side forget how to explain things?"

"No, we just know what we desire and care not if your kind understands."

"My kind? We're both humans."

"I meant those who are blind to the truth. But, to call yourself human is... well, I suppose those siblings of yours agree, right? Right. Ah... bored. And I without a way to entertain myself. I wonder, if I tell my sister who you are, if you go to the capital, how will you fair?"

"You assume I'm staying."

"Caela, right? Oh, I do not sleep, so any escape is one allowed by me. So... what do you have to offer me?"

"What?"

"I'm not really attached to letting you stay here- I lied a bit about it not mattering if you were captured or not. Olli doesn't want you captured. She doesn't want you around anything important, and Bianca would be that anything important."

"What does she think I would even do?"

"I do not question her. It is not my place. Now, which liquid?"

"Excuse me?"

"Blood, spit, sweat, tears, piss, semen?"

"Okay, definitely not those last two."

"Then blood?"

"No! Why would you need my blood?"

"To bottle and age, of course." She replied taking another sip from her mug. A dark red drop trickled down her chin and landed on her dress, turning the black even darker. I hate to admit it but the idea she was a vampire or vampiric did make her slightly more attractive. (I... sadly have to agree with her. I mean Ophelia was already attractive to me in the way all pale small women are to me, but I guess any sense of danger from a woman activates Terra. - Hayli.) (I'm not pale or small...) (Ophelia's type is like fourth in my list of types. - Hayli) (Where do I place on that list?) (Where do you think? Don't answer that, I know your pessimistic and dense, it's easily top. The only top you'll ever be able to be called. - Hayli)

"Gross." 

"Hmm. Well. Good luck then. I wonder if you can beat us both to escape."

"Beat you? That's easy." I lied, somewhat. It would be easy with that little interaction between Dark Surface and the mark from Olli... just not well... feasible with Caela around to have it be easy. Also bad for my mental or physical health. And without that... ugh. Maybe with Caela, we could beat them? 

She gave me a look of pure confusion, "Clearly not."

I sighed, better make this confidence convincing, "Oh? Olli didn't warn you. I mean, I thought she would. After all, she knows quite well what she did?"

"Please, to defeat us you'd need to be willing to kill and clearly you aren't."

"Usually, yes." I replied, hoping those racist guards who I had totally not killed in Chapter 1-7 were totally still alive. "But well, I have killed. You are aware of what happened to my hometown, right?"

"I have heard, yes. Quaza's doing. Odd you serve her?"

"Honestly, those demons didn't kill as many humans as I did." I replied trying to keep calm, from crying, as memories begin to trickle into the edges of my mind. "You know that I killed my parents? Not directly, but well when Olli's gift reacts wrong, I don't really know what happens, but things get destroyed and people die."

"If that was true, why would you be saying it so nonchalantly? You are not that callous a woman."

"Am I? What do you know about me?"

"What information Olli gave, and what I observed on the island."

"So, nothing? Tell me, why wouldn't I just use Olli's gift?"

"Doubt. I can see your eyes filled with doubt. You aren't willing to let yourself do whatever you need to do, despite what may occur to those around you. That is why I can talk to you without worry."

I glanced downward, just enough to give her an answer.

"Now. If you have time to go and do community services like clearing roads, you must either be confident that our plan can be stopped, or you have yet to even begin to understand it. I'm guessing the latter giving your lack of... well a regiment of knights to support you."

"Plan? Of course, I know your plan, and how it works. Would you mind telling me, so I know you know what you are doing?"

"Wow. Did you think that was going to work or something? To think any of the architects are worried about any of you interfering. Will you even be there to see us succeed? Well, I suppose the augurs must be, but we can just kidnap you for that."

"So, this world you deserve. What is it?"

"Best to see when we build it no?" 

Layla peaked her head back into the tent. "Supper is ready, girl."

"Coming, my lady. Be a good prisoner." Ophelia drug her fingernail across my forehead drawing a red line that was so close to bleeding but refused to drip before tying a gag around my mouth.

I sat there a bit annoyed. I really wanted to leave. I was talking to a wall and also the tent smelled. Please impress me Caela, by not getting yourself caught as well. 

 

Caela

(Please stop saying my handwriting is bad, Terra, you don't have room to talk.) (Terra is legible, not her fault you can't read Human Tongue Cursive- Hayli.) (Caela, just write. You wanted to write your... well, the readers shall see. - Terra.) (Fine.)

As I, Caela, virtual goddess of a woman was still resting after running away from a fight I could have easily won spurred on by the heroic sacrifice of my be- cr- FRIEND, I was struck with a thought that quite perturbed me and made me anxious. Here I was, tasked with a quick and easy task of freeing Terra from her temporary captivity, and yet I found myself quite unable to even begin to move forward with a plan on that front. And this doubt in my mind made it wander further to the reaction Hayli would have if Terra remained captive and I didn't even try to free her. I would be mincemeat, cut and drowned until even the starving beasts of the forest would find my body lacking in flavor and leave me to rot.

So, I should make my feet move forward and be confident that my abilities would win over the number disadvantage, the lack of any knowledge of my opponents' skills and their clear stamina advantage. I might be perfect, but I wasn't trained like those two apparently were. Whatever proper and official Hero and Shield training was exactly, clearly it was beyond my grandfather's teachings. I wondered if maybe Terra could just escape on her own. She seemed capable. I mean she had that cool magic, and she was really good at annoying people in a way that made her adorable? No, that's not right. I mean it's not the word I need. Fuck me, what's the word? Adearing? That's not a word- Endearing, it made her endearing. I fully believed given the time she'd somehow find a way out, but since she entrusted me with her safety, it would be rude to leave her to her own devices. So, I guess I should try. Try and sneak into a camp, where taking shifts to guard her was as easy as can be. I wasn't sure if the lady knight or the creepy woman would be better for me as the guard. In fact, I wasn't sure if I could sneak at all. I may be perfect and smart and pretty, but I am very bad at sneaking around outside. Situational awareness in the elements is not my strong suit. I wished any other person had drawn Terra's partnership but me. All of them were fit for this, save Nana but she had that weird arm and- never mind. I am here, stop being down on yourself. Just grab Terra and haul ass. You can see the tent, Caela. Just start those legs moving.

I crouched down low to the ground. carefully making my way down towards the back of the tent where I was sure Terra was being kept. Intuition, I guess. I strafed around the back and side of the tent, until I found an opening. Okay, another tent was behind me, a very poorly put out fire pit was still glowing with embers between us. There was at least one person in the other tent if the sound of snoring was any indication. I pressed against the tent enough to try and hear if anyone was moving around, not enough to make it move but still enough to make me nervous a spear would shoot out from behind the canvas and impale me like a fish. I could hear nothing. Good or bad, good or bad. Well, either way, I had a duty to perform.

I steeled my nerves and crawled under the flap on my stomach. I could see the back of the pale girl from earlier and a tied-up Terra in front of her. Neither seemed aware I was there, so I crawled forward to some boxes and crouched behind them. I could hear the Shield talking, taunting Terra about her predicament. I breathed slowly so I could focus. No need to let myself be caught up in the emotions. Just smash her head in and princess carry Terra out of here. Simple. Okay. One. I placed one hand on my sword, taking the hilt off my belt. Two. I started to tiptoe my way behind the pale one. Three. I raised the sheathed blade and swung it down hard. The woman stepped to the side, and I stumbled forward.

"I guess I lost that wager. She did show up. She really does like you." The Shield said as I stood up. 

"We can make this bloody or bloodless."

"How? You can't even hit a girl with her back turned to you. What are you going to do when I am aware, and my guest is so easily taken advantage of?"

"You won't even land a breath on Terra; you do not understand how much more Hayli scares me than anything you could do."

"Yes, the Demon Lord's spawn would be quite a terror if her mate were to be harmed. For you. For me, she would be a duty- nay a requirement to my desires and goals."

I took another swing at her, this time unsheathed. The Shield grabbed it in her bare hand, nails squealing against it like metal on metal. She smiled at me. "No chance, no chance. You and Terra would be a great team, you both don't listen."

"Let- go- of- my- blade."

"Why? So, you can swing it at me a third time? Please. No chance. Now. Surrender."

"Did you forget, I have more than my blade." I tossed a ball of flame at her which she flicked away with her other hand. 

"Please, countering Fire Magic is the easiest thing in the world. Dip my hand in some potion and well, you see. Now, as I said. Give up."

Well, there goes my way of making chase harder. But clearly whatever they knew about us, she didn't know I was trained in wind magic, or had it slip her mind. Best to not look a gift horse in the mouth. I put my hands up, baiting her towards me. She took it and with as much wind as I could gather without preparing it beforehand and blasted her and the top of the tent up and forward.

No time to think, Caela. I grabbed Terra who was gagged and glaring at me impatiently. I pumped my legs as hard as I could zigzagging through the forest trying to prevent any chase. I kept going and going, long past what was a reasonable distance until I stumbled into a town. A few people looked at us oddly, I mean I was carrying a bound and gagged human, I couldn't blame them really. I found the local inn, tossed a few coins at the owner for a room, grabbed the key and tossed Terra onto the bed while locking the door behind me. Terra made more grunts as I took a second to breath, fully aware of the marathon I had just ran. Right. Gagged and bound. I rushed over and freed Terra from her restraints. She sat up on the bed and smiled at me.

"Well, you came through in the end."

I rubbed my brow dry, "Thanks, I think?"

"You have a leaf on your chin by the way."

"Oh. Right." I replied picking it off.

"Cute. So, what took you so long?"

"I was waiting for the right moment."

"There was a moment where the sisters were having lunch in their tent."

"I wasn't there yet?"

"Sure. Fine." She leaned back on the bed. "So, exactly what do we do now?"

"What do you mean?"

"A Hero and Shield are in Demon Territory. It can be assumed the other pairs are mobilized as well."

"Shit. Right. And we have no idea what they want."

"So, I guess we should probably get my girlfriend's dad to spill his guts."

"Every time you asked him, he just asked for us to learn on our own."

"Well, maybe if I stab him to death he'll talk."

"Why do you hate him so much?"

"I don't hate him, it's just eye for an eye."

"I see." I sat down next to Terra.

Terra smiled at me, "I suppose you deserve some reward." 

"Reward? I couldn't take your money-" I began as Terra kissed my cheek. I grew red and very uncharacteristically was unable to form a word.

Terra stuck her tongue out and winked at me, "Princess carry, princess reward."

"At least warn me!" I managed to get out.

"It was a kiss on the cheek, Caela. Your acting like I made out with you."

"Terra, I am so fucking gay why would you think that any form of kiss wouldn't make me lose it."

"Hayli's right, you are never getting a date on your own."

"Hey! I can get a date. As long as they don't kiss me. Or my cheek. Or my hand. Or look pretty." 

Terra laughed. "Enough, Caela. We should rest." She laid flat on the bed. 

I joined suit, wrapping myself in the blankets.

"Terra. Do you think you'll be able to face your brother and friends?"

"Can you face yours?"

"I must. We must."

"Well, regardless." She replied before closing her eyes. 

I stared up at the ceiling for a while, really hoping that we were the only ones having this much fun and excitement on the missions. Actually no, I really hoped the auction crew was somehow having fun, they most likelt needed it.