Chapter 56 – Leads

Syrus entered the woman's house and closed the door behind her.

“I should introduce myself; my name is Syrus.”

“Yes… mine’s Bree.” Bree was extremely nervous. The trio had a feeling why she could be feeling this way.

[She knows.] (Luna)

[Yes, she made the obvious with her first reaction. She was way too nervous about us asking Elly.] (Syrus)

[It might not be about the incident, she could have some trouble, even a debt with Elly that she is nervous about.] (Eva)

[True, which is why we will ask.] (Syrus)

“I don’t know what Elly has said before, but I need you to be honest with me. When was the last time you communicated with Elly?”

Bree twiddled her thumbs and said, “A while ago.”

“I need you to be specific, specifically in the last seventy-two hours.”

She reaffirmed, “I haven’t recently.”

Syrus tried a more direct approach, "Okay, look. I’m trying to find my friend. No one hostile knows she is alive; no one even knows she was there in the village that night anymore.” She moved closer, “I need to know if they managed to survive, please.”

“Uah… uhh… Yes…” Bree relented. “Are you really trustworthy?”

Syrus crossed her arms and said, “You shouldn’t say that after answering, but yes.” 

“...” Bree fell back into a chair, her hand flopping onto her face, and mumbled to herself. “Please god, tell me I didn’t just fuck over my friend.”

“No, you haven’t.” Syrus grabbed a seat and sat down, “But don’t answer anyone else. There is no one else alive who should be directly asking about Elly. If they do, just say you don’t know. If she contacts you later with new instructions, then you can follow them, but for the time being, do not answer anyone else.”

[You are good at this.] (Luna)

[Hmhmm.] Eva hummed in agreement.

[I have had a lot of experience.] (Syrus)

Syrus grabbed a dull red apple from the bag and took a bite. With her mouth slightly full, she asked, “Want a fruit?” 

Bree shook her head. "No, thank you.”

Syrus quickly consumed the apple. Their diet had been just edible grass recently, so an actual piece of food did wonders. 

Then it was time to ask the next important question. “Do you know where she was headed?”

Bree sighed. She realised she had already dug herself a hole. If these people were trying to help Elly, then misleading them now would only hurt her friend, but if they lied and they were the people who tried to hurt her… well, she figured she would be dead either way. “She said she was going further south, to Greenvale. She took a horse and cart in the middle of the night. I never expected her to steal something, but I also never saw her so scared before.”

Bree made the mental note to never be involved in a situation like this ever again.

[Greenvale, that’s a large city.] (Eva)

[Near the capital as well.] (Luna)

[Why would she be going there? If Elly took a cart, she probably brought all the kids with her as well.] (Syrus)

[To be safe?] Luna wondered, [But she could’ve gone anywher–wait, I guess we should think how much she was informed of.]

[Pardon?] (Syrus)

[Well, the plan to keep the kids in her house that contained the hatch was due to a safety concern.] (Luna)

[Oh, I get it. If… Mum and Dad… told her the speculation about someone targeting the village, she wouldn’t want to advertise herself as being a survivor from it.] (Eva)

[...I understand.] (Syrus)

“Thanks for the information.” Syrus stood up. “It’s time to make sure they made it.”

“You are going already?!” Bree was shocked.

Syrus nodded. “I need to make sure they are alive and safe… they have been through too much.” 

She reached for the door handle. “Thank you for everything today.” And left before Bree said anything else.

They walked into the main street and planned their next move.

[Do we want to grab a cart?] (Luna)

[Yes, the body can rest while we ride.] (Syrus)

Syrus still didn’t want the body to be under any unnecessary stress. The major stress damage caused by the growth spurt and abilities used that night still hadn’t healed. They were healing, but they were far off from being back to normal condition.

They walked around town to check merchant cart schedules, and eventually, they found one that would head towards Greenvale. It wasn’t direct and it would take over a day of travel, but it was the best they were going to get. 

[Sorry, I should’ve at least suggested testing if we would change when sleeping.] (Eva)

[Don’t, we were far too mentally busy anyway.] (Syrus)

Syrus would travel with the merchant part of the way, then hop off before reaching Foresthill–a small town near Greenvale. They would spend the night somewhere hidden, just in case Syrus's body changed back to Anna during their sleep.

Two hours passed and the trio finally left Ihere on the search for Elly and the kids. This was their mission, their duty, to make sure they were able to make it out safely.

While this was their immediate goal, it was painful to admit that, while it was an extremely important task for them, it was also a distraction for another problem. 

[...] (Luna)

[...] (Eva)

[...] (Syrus)

They were silent as their own emotions stirred.

Syrus was the first one to speak after an hour of travel. [What are we going to do afterwards?]

[Become rich.] Eva provided a non-specific answer to dodge the question.

[That would be nice… but we need something specific.] (Syrus)

They didn’t need to say the answer. Anna wanted revenge, they were not sure when, or how, but they wanted retribution.

[I… don’t think we should stay with Elly and the children.] (Luna)

[...] (Eva)

[Yeah… that is probably for the best.] (Syrus)

If they went down the path of revenge, being close to them would only get them caught in the crossfire of a plot that didn’t involve them. And they couldn’t allow that to happen a second time.

[As a person with a long history of being on the move, I think we should find a place to work, and gather our strength. Somewhere not in Cancole or Nevald Kingdom to be out of the church’s radar.] (Syrus)

[Where we would even choose…] (Luna)

[I got an idea…] Said Eva, [But can we finish this after we see the children.]

[...] Luna didn’t want to. She was scared she wouldn’t be able to separate from them again.

[I understand. We will do that.] Syrus though, had no concerns about that decision. They would leave those kids behind, as long as they were in a safe place.

Many hours later, they said goodbye to the merchant, whom they did have to pay for the trip, with their limited funds for the ride.

The sky darkened as the girl walked along the lonely road. It would be too long before they reached the forest, where they could lie low for the night. The forests more central to the capital were far safer than the ones near the borders, especially the monster territory borders–like where their village was located.

On the way to the forest near Greenvale on foot, Eva had an important question to ask.

[Syrus.] A nervous ball was lodged in Eva’s throat.

[Yes, Eva?] (Syrus)

[I…] Eva paused, finding it hard to manage the words. A deep fear was eating at her.

[Everything okay?] (Syrus)

Screaming her soul out, Eva yelled, [CAN YOU TEACH ME HOW TO FIGHT!] 

[I… can’t let this happen again.] Eva was in despair. She couldn’t forget a single moment of what happened that night. The memory clawed its way at all her happy memories with her family.

She had never been a fighter, and Eva had never ever gotten into a physical scuffle in her last life. And as Anna, Syrus and Luna did all the fighting.

“I…” Syrus never expected that the decision to agree or disagree about teaching someone how to fight would be the hardest decision she would have to make in a long time.