The Far Wilds

Part 4

The next morning, Flame woke with the sun, and walked outside, closing her eyes as she felt the new light warm her skin. A long moment passed, then she glanced down at her bracelets ruefully.

They had come from up north, near the Forests of Kalier, during her "random wandering" stage. They were actually part of a set, one that included a belt and a necklace, also made of gold, also panic-attack inducing.

As she stood there contemplating this, she heard the sound of stone cracking inside, then an indignant, "wait, wait!" She rushed inside, went down a ladder to where the sound was coming- then she saw what was going on and quickly faded into the background, fighting back a smile as she watched Candy start to demolish the wall separating hers and War's room.

"No- Candy. Personal space, okay?" She nodded and jumped up on his bed.

Flame heard a small noise behind her, turned, and saw Smevy standing there. He must have gotten up to go the bathroom or something and was coming back.

Swevy started to descend down the ladder that led to Wars' room to get a better view, took one look at the absurd scene, and laughed loudly. War gave him a look that could freeze a volcano. Swevy took the hint and ran off.

"Thank you." War turned to his stubborn roommate, who was still unmoving. "That's not-" He groaned and turned to the former hermit. "Flame?"

Her eyes smiled, but she kept her voice serious. "Candy, he's right."

Candy seemed to consider it for a moment, her eyes flicking between Flame and War. Then she stepped off, trotted to what had been her room, and rebuilt the wall dividing them.

"Finally, some privacy." Flame turned to leave, but an exasperated "No!" From War stopped her.

Candy had put the wall back. But now there was a door between their rooms, and she was standing in front of it with a mischievous look on her face.

He laughed in spite of himself. "That's not what I meant and you know it!" Candy gazed at Flame imploringly, but she was laughing too hard to notice. "Okay fine," conceded War, getting a hold of himself. "Just leave me alone for now, okay?" Candy gave an exaggerated nod, opened the door, and strutted back to her room.

Flame smiled, relieved beyond words that this encounter with War had not ended in bloodshed, and gave her roommate some space.

Everything was calm until about noon a few days later. Flame was out weeding, and an armored figure appeared on the horizon. She stood up. Armor didn't mean the newcomer was hostile- Smevy and War wore armor all the time. All the same, it didn't hurt to be safe. Flame ran inside to get a weapon and returned with an enchanted stone axe Wolf had given her the day before. It felt heavy in her hand, ugly and cruel.

The figure was a lot more defined now, enough for Flame to see that his armor was a hodgepodge of items- mostly iron, with a few bits of diamond holding various pieces together and giving the whole arrangement a somewhat forbidding sparkle.

Once he was within hearing distance, Flame said, "hello." Her voice was friendly, but the glistening axe she held at her side wasn't doing that facade any favors.

"Hello," said the newcomer. "I'm Legionary. You?"

"Flame."

"Alright. This is a nice place you have- is it just you?"

She would have responded the same either way, but at least now she could be honest. "No, I have some roommates inside. Would you like to meet them?"

"No, that's fine- I'll be on my way soon. Did you build this house?"

A small balloon of pride bloomed inside of her. "Yes, I did. My roommate all came after it was finished. Or, kind of- I'm still working on some parts."

"Really? What do you need?"

"I would really like some rugs. There's a village about two miles that way-" she pointed north -"but they didn't have anything."

"I'll keep my eye out for one. Mind if I come see how big the house is so I know what to look for?"

"Not at all," said Flame, thinking that, worst case scenario, there would be people to intervene. "Follow me."

He did, and, as they walked inside, his eyes bugged. Candy was standing in the middle of the room, talking to Smevy, a handsome diamond helmet perched on her head. Flame realized what was about to happen half a second before it did. She cried out, "Candy-," but it was too late. Legionary jumped forward and whacked her over the head with his heavy glove, felling her with one horrible crack. Smevy snarled and drew his sword, but it took that long for Legionary to grab Candy's helmet and run, pushing past the shocked Flame on the way out.