Those Who Fight!

14. Loyalty For Hire

Despite their previous lack o' communication, Ella Rin was becoming quite adept at making her messages clear to Violetta. They'd never really had a full conversation 'cos, well, they couldn't, but it didn't seem to bother the woman all that much. She'd sign slower so Letta could string it all together, n' she was fine with the girl responding aloud. To put it simply, their working relationship was a sight to behold.

As they quested through the forest on light feet, Letta recalled her last trek through here. It was only a couple o' weeks prior, but it felt as if she'd lived an entire lifetime since then. She'd been cold, tired, n' filthier than she ever cared to be.

There's a temple at the top of the mountain, the people in that last village'd told her. But who knows what's out there. It was fine by them if she disappeared as long as they didn't hafta look at her. Get out, filthy girl. We don't want to see what we've done to you.

But the threat o' whatever lurked on those stone steps was worth it to her. Her overactive imaginings o' various wild monsters were not even half as interesting as what she actually found.

The crunching o' leaves under Ella Rin's feet ended abruptly. Violetta stopped n' turned back.

"What's wrong?" she asked in broken sign language.

The woman jabbed her finger at something in the air behind them. Letta turned to see a trail o' smoke dancing 'tween the treetops. Lighting a fire in the thick o' the trees? Not their smartest decision.

Ella Rin pressed a finger to her lips n' dropped into a crouch. With Letta in tow, she crept closer to the strange smokestack, close enough that the girl could hear Allysiana's familiar nasal voice ranting.

"She should've never... their doing... Lady Diadem only wanted..."

Violetta pressed herself 'tween two trees that'd grown so close together that their roots intertwined. She leaned out as far as she dared, pushing a lock o' lavender hair behind her ear, acutely aware o' how much it failed to blend in to the early spring foliage.

From her perch, she saw a tiny campfire occupied by Allysiana, a sloppily bandaged Perditia, n'... someone she'd never seen before. Why was it that everytime Letta encountered these people, they'd gained a new disciple?

He stood in the warmth o' the firelight with his arms crossed, clad with a crimson blindfold over his eyes n' a scowl that said he was not there by reason o' moral obligation. He was yet to say a word other than the occasional 'mmhmm' in response to Allysiana, but Letta didn't think that counted.

"Know that they are not to be trusted under any circumstances, and the price o' deception is death," said Allysiana. Why wasn't Lady Diadem paying said price, then?

But, Letta could tell by smirk on his lips that Deception was an old friend o' his.

"Noted," said the man. "The little girl... you said she had an ability?"

The fanatic's gaze dropped to the flames at her feet. 

"...yes. It's strange, to say the least-—and very difficult to explain."

"I specialize in the strange," he replied. Allysiana ignored that.

"It's like she can drain the strength right out of you, and she can take any spell you cast for herself." She wiggled her fingers n' extracted a tiny flame from the campfire, swirling it into a ball. It made Letta's palms tingle.

The blind man frowned. "Hm. I must admit I've never heard of such a thing. Strange indeed."

"And unpredictable." She extinguished the fireball in her fist. "It's like a chess match where you can't see all the pawns— guesswork."

"Damn right," rasped Perditia from her seat on a log. Her injured foot was propped up on a rock. "I don't even have magic n' the lil' slut got me with it."

"Well, I can't see much of said pawns anyway" — he adjusted his blindfold— "so she couldn't be that much of a challenge."

'Fore either o' the two young women could get out another comment, the man turned on his heel n' went to sit a short distance away from them.

"Why'd she hire him?" whispered the younger disciple. Allysiana sighed n' nudged Perditia to make room for her on the log. The green-haired girl hissed n' clutched her ribcage as she scooted.

"Oh, get over yourself," said Allysiana. Then, "We need someone who can watch our backs in a fight."

"N' Lady Diadem thinks he's the one who'll do that?"

"Are you questioning the judgement of our goddess?"

"'Course not."

"Then what is the problem, Perditia? He's loyalty for hire, and perhaps, if we're persuasive enough, he could be something more."

Perditia eyed her. "Whaddya mean?"

"What do you think I mean? He'll be on our side, Perditia. And not just because we're paying him."

"Oh."

Somewhere close behind them, a twig snapped in two, snapping Violetta's concentration along with it. She whipped 'round to see Lady Diadem emerge from somewhere deeper in the forest. Their eyes met; the other's flickered from her to Ella Rin n' back again— n' she smiled.

"THEY'RE HERE!"