Northbound Pilgrimage II

Chapter CXI - Monsters

"I am done!"

Saadia sighed as she threw her cards back on the table again.

"It's just not fun to keep losing when I'm not even losing my clothes," she smirked. Lydia had been winning all night. Sometimes Bishop or Saadia managed to win one, but it wasn't often. It was really weird how good Lydia was, but they kept mocking her that it was just beginner's luck.

"Fine, fine," Lydia chuckled at her before she took another swig from her tankard. They've been playing for a long time anyway. Aeyrin had been gone for more than an hour – already well into her ceremonies and celebrations without a doubt.

It was getting a bit late though and Saadia and Lydia seemed to be getting tired. Saadia had said that she worked the night yesterday so she probably didn't get much sleep.

"It's fine if you wanna go to sleep, I don't care," Bishop smirked at Saadia's unsubtle attempt to hide a yawn. "She's probably still gonna be there for a while, celebrating."

"Maybe we should," Lydia nodded while she ran her hand over Saadia's shoulder briefly, as if in quiet understanding of her state. "We can go camping somewhere again next time again so that you don't have to risk... what happened."

"Or maybe you'll be inviting us to a housewarming next?" Saadia winked at him conspiratorially.

"Hardly," Bishop smirked. "That won't be for a while yet, I think." He didn't want to tell Aeyrin about the cottage just yet. Not when so much was still going on. Not when it could just turn into a target for the Brotherhood – a place where they could always wait for them and find them. It was supposed to be a safe space for them, not a trap.

"Well, whenever that is, we will definitely..." Lydia started to talk again with a warm smile on her face, but a loud crash coming from outside interrupted her.

They all looked at the door and even Karnwyr perked up in his spot by the fireplace, but nothing else followed for a while.

But suddenly, Karnwyr started to whine. He was letting out low whimpers before he actually started to growl, eyes fastened on the door.

"What's wrong?" Bishop scowled at him. Was there an intruder? Someone trying to get inside? He didn't hear anything, but Karnwyr maybe did. Bishop wasn't sure if he should hide though or do something else. What that 'something' should be, he had no idea.

There were a few strange very muffled grunts heard from the outside, but that was it. But just then, Karnwyr began barking angrily at the door.

He was loud.

Bishop had no idea what could be on the other side, but he couldn't let Karnwyr get so riled up here. If someone heard barks and growls from inside, they might figure out that Bishop was here. They probably all knew that Lydia and Saadia didn't have a dog and neither did Aeyrin come in with one.

He got up from his seat and approached the wolf tentatively. It was not a good idea to startle him when he was riled up like this, so Bishop spoke first before he got anywhere actually near.

"Hey, what's going on? Calm down." He knelt by Karnwyr and started to slowly rub him behind his ear to calm him down. The wolf barked again though and Bishop had no idea how else to calm him. This was too risky. He grabbed Karnwyr around the torso and dragged him back, into the adjacent room. The wolf was reluctant, always growling angrily at the door, but he didn't really put up a fight either and let Bishop get him further away. Funny, Bishop could have sworn that the wolf even looked... scared.

Karnwyr allowed himself to be pushed into the other room and he only let out a low whine at Bishop in response to his actions. He was much calmer now though.