Well! Posting while trying to beat cheesecake batter (by hand, no mixer) is hard.

This chapter… huhhhhh… I hated writing the demon battle. Battles are hard for me. Everyone’s doing interesting things at once, except that the English language doesn’t have THAT many words to describe the sorts of repetitive actions I want to put down.

Also Illinia is a whiny emo brat. There, I said it. But yes, she does get a little OOC this chapter… I think I found a reason for it, but she’s… a bit odd in this one.

Back to slow character-driven psychological emotional descriptive stuff next chapter.

Hope the cheesecakes turn out. It was still a little lumpy when I put it in.

EDIT: The fight at the beginning is a bit better. Also added a line to the one at the end and a couple words here and there.

(Chapter 7)

Chapter 8

Kellan barked a laugh. “You have to be joking. Us, surrender to you?”
“Well, we do have you outnumbered three to four,” the guard quipped back. “You have three seconds.”
“I don’t think it’ll take that long,” Torrigan said. “Charge!”
The charge did not take their enemies by surprise, but with their momentum, they had the advantage for a few moments.
“Hey, Torrigan!” Mira called. “Are we planning to capture these ones?”
“Might as well,” Torrigan said. “They can tell us things.”
“I don’t want to kill them,” Illinia said softly, even as she had to draw her sword to defend herself from the tallest. “Please, let’s not.”
“We can totally hear you, you know,” the one she was facing said. “And you won’t take us alive. But we’re not worried for ourselves.” He feinted and stabbed, and Illinia, unused to fighting against halberds, flinched as she took a slice on her shin.
Kellan, working behind the shield of Torrigan and Mira, had improvised a bola, and was now attempting to catch one of the others with it. That one caught it on his halberd and ripped it out of Kellan’s hands. Kellan’s eyes widened, as he realized these enemies were actually very strong and clever, and then he ducked and left his broad-brimmed hat hanging on the end of the halberd as it was stabbed towards him. He came up with blood running from a scratch on his scalp, and drew his rapier, pulling back as Mira came to help him.
Illinia drew away slightly from the whirling blades that marked Torrigan’s fight with his opponent, and the one she was facing took advantage of her momentary distraction until he was forced to duck by her hawk dive-bombing him. He swatted at the hawk, but she dodged, only losing a single feather, and shot out of sight behind a building.
Torrigan’s opponent turned to take advantage of a bollard in the street for cover, but as he did so, Torrigan bulled into him with his shield. The bollard splintered, and the guard fell and cracked his head on the ground.
“One down!” Mira cried, redoubling her efforts on the other. This one did not try to hide behind bollards, but looking around and not liking the odds, turned to run. Mira, faster than Torrigan, sprinted after him and tackled him to the ground. He thrashed, but she slammed the pommel of her sword into his skull and he fell unconscious.
Kellan turned to Illinia’s opponent with his regained bola. Their enemy gritted his teeth.
“You’re better than I thought. But you think you can take me with that toy?” He pounced on Illinia, avoiding her sword, and pinning her to the ground with his blade at her throat. “Let me go, and-“
Illinia’s hawk dive-bombed his head again, and he reeled back in pain, shielding his eyes. Kellan’s work was made much easier.
They dragged their three prisoners back to the guardhouse.
The leader was still conscious. He was glaring around at them all.
“What are you doing here?” Torrigan demanded. “Who are you people?”
“Why should I tell you that?”
“Because we’ll let him loose on you if you don’t say,” Mira said, gesturing to Kellan, who decided to trim his nails with his knife at that moment.
The leader rolled his eyes. “That’s not much of a threat. You guys fight like goody-two-shoes. Even him.”
“You’ll tell us, or I’ll kill you right now,” Mira said. “I’m only a cleric. I can kill prisoners if I want to.”
Illinia knelt in front of him to be on his own level. “Please, won’t you even tell us your name?”
“You attack me and my companions, and now you’re playing all polite and saccharine? Or is this your good-cop, bad-cop routine?” He paused, and she looked ever more earnestly into his eyes. He looked away from their intensity. “…My name is… Michael.”
“Careful, Illinia,” Mira said. “Shapeshifters never give their real name.”
“Really?” Illinia said, turning to her. “But at least we can call him by a name, now. That will help a lot.” She looked back to the man. “What were you doing here?”
“Patrolled… pretended to be guards… fool all the stupid people living on the other side of the wall.”
“Did you hurt anyone doing so?”
His eyes shifted. “What kind of stupid question is that?”
“What happened to the nobles, the humans who lived here? Please tell us.”
“Heh, well, you can’t save them now.” He shuddered. “They’ll be fed to the demon sooner or later.”
“Demon?” Torrigan cried.
Illinia gave the prisoner her best anxious look. “Is it a strong demon?”
“Very strong.” He grimaced, and she could see genuine fear behind his eyes. “You’ll never defeat it.”
“Are you working for it?”
“Yes.”
“Well, if you tell us how to defeat it, then you’ll be free of it too, won’t you?”
He frowned. “What? What kind of silly argument is that?”
She pressed her hands together. “You’re afraid of it. Your life under its command is not safe; you’re expendable. If Torrigan and Mira changed their minds and killed you – which they wouldn’t do! – but you wouldn’t be missed.” Her eyes became mournful. “That’s sad. No one should live like that.”
“In case you didn’t notice, miss elf, we are rather on opposite sides here. I’m not just going to ship along with a bunch of prissy humans and you.”
“Michael,” she said anxiously, “if you help us, we can help you. I know it.”
“Hey, Illinia, he’s right,” Mira said. “You come here for a minute.”
“You’re so naive,” the shapeshifter said. “It’s sickening.”
“Okay, so look,” Mira whispered to Illinia, draping an arm over her shoulders. “Shapeshifters are evil. They’re totally self-centred. No one trusts them. They’re usually assassins and stuff. These ones must be particularly young or pathetic, because they’re just acting as guards to keep the rest of the city from being suspicious. But you know, you can’t just make deals with them! Their words are about as secure as the wind. What are you trying to do here?”
“Well, maybe they’re just misunderstood!” Illinia argued back. “I can see he’s afraid. Maybe he would be an ally if only we mistrusted them less!”
“Yeah, and maybe there would be a lot more knives in people’s backs,” Mira snorted. “And isn’t he just afraid of us?”
“I don’t think so,” Illinia said. “Please, just trust me. I think I can get him to help us.”
“Well, I don’t trust him,” Mira said. “And there’s your problem.”
Illinia turned away, back to the shapeshifter. “Michael, please tell us how to kill the demon.”
“You’ll need a cleric. A light-wielding cleric.”
“Dang,” Mira said. “I’m an elf-oriented cleric.”
Michael grinned tightly, mirthlessly. “And the demon ate all the clerics in the town. That was his first target.”
Illinia shuddered, her stomach turning. Michael noted her discomfort and made sloppy chewing noises. She covered her mouth with her hand. “Please don’t. That’s so horrifying.”
“Silly little girl. How old are you, anyway? Fifty?”
“Er… a lot older than that.” She wasn’t going to tell him she was not far from her second millennium. Elves here didn’t seem to live indefinitely.
“You act like an infant. Grow up.”
“Hey, leave her alone,” Torrigan said.
“All right, I told you how to defeat the demon. Will you let me go at some point?”
“I will try my best to arrange that,” Illinia said, ignoring the others’ disapproving frown. “After we defeat the demon, perhaps?”
Michael licked his lips nervously. “I don’t know what else to tell you. I really do want to be let go. I hate you, but if that’s your bargain, I can’t tell you lies. The demon’s in the castle. It’s not very magic strong. Like I said, light magic would work best, but any magic would help.”
Mira brightened again. “That’s super! If it’s true.”
“I’m not lying to you,” Michael said earnestly.
“Right now,” Kellan said, eyeing him suspiciously.
“Right now,” Michael agreed, with a bit of an inhuman leer. “But your elf made an offer, and I’m doing my best to help you out. You have the upper hand, after all.”
“That we do,” Torrigan said. “All right. When we return, we will decide. For now, we must stop that demon from eating any more townspeople. Come!”
Illinia sighed anxiously, but got up and followed the others.
They met no more guards in the streets, and the castle was not far. It was protected by a wall and gate, but no moat.
“I’ll just do the same thing as last time,” Kellan said, rubbing his hands together. He began to scale the wall nimbly.
“Man, I get so wierded out by Kellan,” Mira said to Illinia. “He’s not exactly on the straight and narrow, if you know what I mean.”
Illinia nodded. “He says he’s a circus performer, but he’d be a good burglar if he set his mind to it.” When Mira looked at her with alarm and confirmation, Illinia hastily amended her answer. “One of our heroes is a burglar. He’s a halfling from a far-away land, and he helped kill a dragon. They aren’t evil! Necessarily. Perhaps some are. But not all.”
“Oh,” Mira said, appeased.
There was a crash from behind the wall, and a yelp from Kellan. “Ah!” A pause. “I’m all right! The gate wheel was rigged to explode!”
“That doesn’t sound good,” Torrigan muttered. But the gate swung open, and there was Kellan, more or less unscathed.
“Shall we?” he said breezily. “Now, before we go into the main castle, I think I should check for other traps. You never know how front doors are going to respond.”
“We don’t really have time to check very much, do we?” Illinia began.
“Oh, if you say so,” Kellan said, throwing open the front door of the castle.
“Wait! I didn’t mean-“ poor Illinia tried to stop him, but she was too late. Kellan froze in place, a living statue in the doorway.
“Oh, a holding spell,” Mira said in disgust. “Triggered by those who step on the threshold. Jump over it!”
They did so, and found the front hall empty. But statues glittered around them.
Then the statues moved, and they found themselves surrounded by kobolds, big vicious ones. One of them, however, stepped on the threshold and was caught as fast as Kellan was.
The fight was short and tense. Illinia resorted to her sword in the close quarters. Halfway through, Kellan began to move again, slowly at first. They tried to protect him as much as they could.
The room cleared, Kellan began to look around. “So, I’ll just check for more traps now.”
“I really didn’t mean not to check at all!” Illinia said, blushing from ear to ear. “I just meant not to take too much time about it?”
“Whatever. I’m not dead!” He found no more traps of any kind in the hall, though, and they moved onward.
The corridor to the throne room was long, straight, and fairly narrow. It stank.
“All right, we need some kind of strategy,” Torrigan said. “Do we believe that villain that magic will harm the creature, particularly light magic?”
“Light magic is known to deal damage to demons,” Mira said. “It’s totally true. Aren’t you a paladin?”
Torrigan nodded. “That’s true. I can request Pelor’s assistance in this fight. That will make it easier.”
“I have some caltrops,” Kellan offered. “And some acid bombs.”
“What good would caltrops be?” Mira asked. “They’re little spiky things. A demon won’t even feel that.”
“Well, look who’s a demon-fighting expert,” Kellan snorted. “Fine. But I’m still using the acid bombs.”
“Where did you get those?” Mira asked.
“Circus,” Kellan said, but Illinia thought she could detect a slight hesitation before he said it.
“Why would a circus need acid bombs?” she asked.
Kellan rolled his eyes at her. “The same reason we might now. Fend off super-tough monsters.”
“And you didn’t mention this before now because?” Mira demanded.
“We can discuss that later,” Torrigan said. “Focus. We can use them now, and there is no need to pry into Kellan’s privacy, not even his tools, even if they are useful. I suggest that Illinia, you shoot from the door. I believe your silver arrows may help slightly. Mira and I shall charge; I shall call upon Pelor, and you can use your lightening sword. Kellan, try to flank it, depending on how large it is, and use your acid – but cautiously, because we don’t want to be hit.”
“I’m not stupid,” Kellan answered. “I’ll do it right.”
“Let’s do this!” Mira said, pumping the air with her fist.
“Go!” Torrigan shouted, and slammed his shoulder into the door of the throne room.
The creature there was unrecognizable as a living thing; it was a pulsing sack of flesh-coloured membranes, with long flailing arms and a large mouth with sharp teeth. It writhed in anticipation as Torrigan charged it, his sword glowing with white fire. A long arm darted out towards him and jerked back, stung by Illinia’s arrow.
Kellan tumbled acrobatically around the outside of the room, small vials in his hands. He flung one down towards the other end of the creature, and it smashed on the stone floor, creating a small fuming puddle of clear acid that began to nibble at the creature.
Mira planted her feet firmly on the floor and chopped at an arm that came swinging her way with her sword. There was a crack and a hiss, and the arm came away shorter.
Torrigan charged up to the hideous mouth fearlessly, his whole body seeming to glow in white light now. He slashed with his sword at it, always guarding his off side with his great shield. It seemed to cringe away from him, but then gathered itself and seemed to grow larger, looming over them all. More arms sprouted out of it, darting every way, seeking them out. There were too many to dodge, too many to attack. Kellan flung another vial, and it caught it and hurled it back; he dodged out of the way just in time. A rusting suit of armour against the wall turned into slag from the direct hit.
Mira was caught by an arm; her blazing sword was too slow to counter them all. She screamed as she was slowly dragged towards it, and swung her sword, jetting a yellow bolt of lightening at its body. It quivered from the blow, and smoked from the wound. But she screamed again; the power from her attack was channelled back down to the arms grabbing at her, and she was as injured as it was.
Illinia, too, gasped as she was attacked. She had to put her bow away and draw her sword, all too slowly, she felt, and it sensed she was easier prey. She gritted her teeth and called on the magic of nature – but very little responded. This room had been under the sway of the evil thing for too long. She was weak and light and helpless; her sword arm pinned to her side.
Her hawk saved her for a while; its talons were sharp, and it tore at the arms holding her. She managed to free her arm just as her hawk was batted casually across the room. It struck a rotting tapestry and fell to the floor with a tiny thump. She swung her sword desperately, without coordination or force, and it was torn from her hand and cast to the ground by the monster.
Kellan was not doing any better; forced to flee from point to point, he could not attack, and his silver rapier did not do much damage. His last vial of acid was well placed, however, and the monster’s skin began to hiss as it burnt away.
Torrigan ducked flailing arms, too solid to drag. The needle-like teeth snapped at him, but he was too far away to be eaten. He stood his ground, fending off attacks from all directions.
Kellan was tiring; he couldn’t dodge forever. Even as he cartwheeled across the floor, a limb reached out to trip him, and the seized him by the ankle, hauling him bodily across the room and closer to the chomping teeth.
Mira was reeling where she stood, the heaviness of her armour the only thing protecting her from getting pulled in as easily as Kellan and Illinia. Illinia called to her with her knife in hand, and Mira started a bit, as if waking up, and then gathered light energy around her and released it in a healing spell that lit up the room.
That helped the humans and the elf, but the monster seemed to quiver.
Torrigan saw what Illinia did not, and lunged forward and stabbed it up to the hilt of his burning white blade, almost in the teeth of the thing, and it screeched – the first real sound it had made – and melted into nothingness, as if it was being pulled backwards through an invisible hose.
They looked at each other, gooky and dazed and victorious, and relaxed.
“Let’s free the prisoners!” Mira cried, seemingly not short on energy at all anymore even after the power she had just spent. “To the dungeons! And anywhere else you might find prisoners!”
All the citizens of the north end of the city were there, less the clerics and some unfortunate few. They were grateful to be released, and promised the travellers great riches. Only Kellan accepted outright, however.
They were escorted in a great procession out of the castle. Outside, they made the slip from the crowd and gathered in a back alley.
“Well,” Torrigan said. “That went better than we could have expected!”
“You mean how no one’s dead, despite all that?” Mira asked.
“Exactly. Now, what are we going to do about those three shapeshifters? I think we should turn them over to the city guard and let them deal with them.”
Illinia looked up, worried. “Will they get a fair trial?”
“I don’t know,” Torrigan said honestly. “Shapeshifters are evil. It’s quite likely that they will simply be given a quick death.”
She frowned unhappily. “But…”
“It’s normal, Illinia,” Mira said comfortingly. “I don’t see why you care so much.”
“But he helped us…”
“Not that much,” Kellan said.
“Still! I feel… so bad about them.”
“Don’t even think about them,” Torrigan said.
“Can’t we just let them go and tell them not to hurt people, or else we’ll really kill them next time?”
Torrigan frowned. “As a paladin, I cannot let the forces of evil simply walk away.”
Illinia sighed. “I guess not. I’m sorry.”
He patted her head. “I’m trying to understand. But you don’t know these creatures.”
She didn’t answer. What if they didn’t know these people either? What if they really could be redeemed? If someone was distrusted and hated all their life for an ability they couldn’t get rid of, of course they would do wicked things! It would still be their responsibility, their choices, but if they never got any help from anyone else, she wondered if she wouldn’t end up the same way.
“So, let’s go get David,” Torrigan was saying. Illinia got up and walked the wrong way.
“Where’re you going?” Mira asked in concern. “City centre is this way.”
“I know… I have to go do something…”
“She’s probably going to meditate,” Torrigan said. “It can’t be easy to disagree with your friends.”
That struck her heart, although they were walking away and didn’t see it. They were friends. And she did disagree.
And for once in her life, she was going to walk her talk. Lives hung on it. Perhaps they weren’t lives she should be worrying about. But they were lives, and having lost her own once already, she was coming to see that it was even more precious than she had thought before. She couldn’t let these people be executed without what she felt to be just cause. And even then…
But she was going to… she couldn’t say the word, not even to herself.
As she walked softly towards the guardhouse, she didn’t notice Kellan following her.
As she came into the guardhouse, the three shapeshifters were all awake.
“You came back,” Michael said, surprised. “Are the others dead or something?”
“No,” Illinia said. “We killed the demon. The others want to turn you over to the city guard.” Her voice came out in a pathetic cry. “But that isn’t right! So I’m going to let you go.”
He looked at her with grudging respect. “You’re going to betray your friends for us, who would as soon kill you?”
She flinched miserably at the word, kneeling to untie the bonds of the other two. “You helped us.”
“Not that much. …I’m not trying to stop you! Just to understand.”
“I know. No, you helped us, and you shouldn’t die for that. I don’t think they understand you.”
“And you do?”
She sat back on her heels and looked at him. The two untied shapeshifters rubbed their sore wrists, but made no move to attack her yet, though they looked at her with hungry eyes. She looked back, too emotionally drained to be afraid.
“Yeah, Illinia, what are you doing?” Kellan said from behind her. “You stop this foolishness.” With a swift move, he knocked Michael out where he sat.
“Kellan!” she cried. “Stay out of this. I have to do this.”
“What binds you to these worthless people?” Kellan pressed, looming over her. “I don’t care for the paladin’s prissiness myself, but he’s a thousand times better than this scum.”
“Kellan!”
“Maybe you’ve just been working with them all along, waiting until we trusted you good and proper-!” He tried to grab her wrist and she almost slapped him, but they both missed each other.
“Kellan! No! I just don’t think it’s right-“
“What do these things know of right?” Kellan growled. “They know less than you, I know that.”
Taking advantage of the distraction, the two free shapeshifters bolted from the chamber.
Kellan gave a shout and chased after them. “You stay there, Illinia! You and your pet shapeshifter! We’ll be back!”
Illinia sat stunned for a brief second, her plan crashing down around her ears.
Then she picked herself up. She still had to go through with what she could, or she would always reproach herself. She dragged the unconscious Michael away. She was stronger than her build suggested, and it did not take her long to get him outside the outer wall of the city; the gate was completely abandoned.
She untied him, and left a note: “Dear Michael – please take this chance I have given you and use it wisely. I hope you will not harm innocents, or else I will be forced to hunt you down myself. Live in peace, and good fortune be with you as long as you honour my request. Illinia.”
Then she went back to town to await judgement.
Kellan had captured the two shapeshifters in the nearest church. Mira had been furious at first when she thought she caught him mistreating an old man and a young boy, but then when he pointed out that they were the shapeshifters, she became confused. David took the two into custody anyway.
Then Illinia came back, looking resigned and sorrowful.
Even Torrigan couldn’t be as stern as he wanted to be with her. But to her, that was stern enough. “Illinia, how could you do this? We trusted you. You kept saying “trust me, trust me”. Now you’ve let dangerous criminals loose!”
“I-I…”
“I’m sorry if you felt your views were not being reflected, but it’s not right to just let people go.”
“I couldn’t let them be killed…”
“Well, you only saved one of three, so that’s something,” Kellan said.
Her mouth twitched. But she had saved the one who had helped the most.
Torrigan sighed. “Illinia, I hate to do this, but we can’t trust you anymore, not even as much as we trust Kellan.”
“Hey!”
“Kellan, you’re practically a professional thief,” Mira said, and he glowered and rolled his eyes.
“So, I am going to have to say you can’t be on your own anymore. You won’t be on watch, and one of us will always be with you, until you prove that you can be trusted again.”
“Hey, if I’m bad, will I get out of keeping watch?” Kellan asked. Mira shushed him.
“I understand,” Illinia said, desperately calm. “I take responsibility for my actions. I will do as you say.”
“I’m sorry, Illinia,” Mira said. “I don’t get it, but I’m glad you’re not going to fight us on this.”
Illinia looked at the ground. “I knew you would be angry…”
After an awkward silence, Torrigan cleared his throat. “Well, the town wants to celebrate again, but I think we just need to go to bed.”
Mira nodded. “Yep, too much excitement for one day. Hey, where did you leave that other guy?”
“Probably took him out of town,” Kellan said. “I already told David. He’ll check it out.”
“He won’t find anything,” Torrigan said. “Even if you knocked him out. He’ll be long gone by now.”

They went back to the inn and waited long enough for David, his face full of concern, to come and tell them they had found no trace of anyone outside the north side of the city. He looked confused when he looked at Illinia. Probably wondering how someone could be so naive, or stupid, or deceitful.
Illinia was glad to escape into memories that night.
Memories within memories; there were the long months of waiting during the War, the long year of separation, waiting in her house in the tree, listening to the rain patter down outside. When her husband had gone to fight, she had clung to him desperately on the road, his horse waiting patiently nearby. The parting wrenched her heart; even more so as, while he rode out of sight, he blew a final kiss to her. The very sky felt heavy to her that day, though the sun shone; his golden hair and her crimson dress shone.
And then, all the time spent in her house – their house – did nothing but remind her of him. The double bed, the table set for two, the portrait on the wall; she did not want to let go of a single thing that would bring him back to her, no matter how nebulously, no matter how much she ached with worry for him.
But the rain did not fall all the time. And she would climb up to the top of her tree and sing, looking at the stars and wondering if he looked at them too and thought of her.
Then there were the desperate, painful memories of her journey south along Anduin… the rather inadvertent journey, as it turned out. And when she reached Minas Tirith, a few days after the lands had breathed a collective sigh of relief, they took her in and kept her there, until her husband came.
But that was the best moment of that year. She had been living in suspense, wondering if he still lived, but the joy and wonder in the city newly free from fear tugged at her, lifting her up almost in spite of herself, and she would sit in the window and sing, out of sight of the curious humans.
And then, one day, singing to the blue blue sky, the door was flung open behind her, and with a rush and a whirl she was swept into strong arms and held so tightly she could hardly breathe, tender blue eyes looking down into her startled brown ones.
He spoke no word of reproach, gave no hint that he had been worried, only praised her for being brave enough to venture out to find him. But the way he held her told her – he had been sick with worry. And he knew she knew it. That was why he didn’t say anything.
But he kissed her, and crushed her against him as if he would never let her go, and her arms were flung around his neck, never wanting to let go either.

The party set off the next day, with accolades and praise and as much as they wanted or could carry in the way of reward. They smiled, though Torrigan’s smile was a little graver than usual, and Illinia’s was tremulous. Mira smiled widely enough for two, though, and as for Kellan, the money that was his reward was more than enough to cheer him up.
They travelled west that day, having no plan more certain than that perhaps they should find some elves and ask about Illinia’s vision.
When night fell, Mira was on watch second. It had been fairly uneventful. Kellan had joked that perhaps they’d killed all the trolls in the area and had no need to set a watch. But that would have been foolish.
But partway through her watch, Mira began to hear something odd.
“Illinia… Illinia, are you crying?”
“What? No…” But she knew it as she said it – it was impossible for her to lie. She gave herself away every time. And her hawk was pacing in distress, instead of sleeping. It didn’t help.
“Awww, don’t cry. It’ll only be for a short while. You’ll be a full member of our group again real soon.” Mira smiled at her. “You still have to teach me more about being an elf, you know! Did you know, even though I was raised by elves, they didn’t act like you. They didn’t teach me a whole lot… probably thought I was too dumb, as a human, to really learn. But you’re trying, you know? Even though it looks now like I’m a dumb human and can’t actually learn. I guess they knew what they were doing. But you don’t give up! You’re so patient. I still think I could be like an elf… thanks to you!”
“Mira…” Illinia interrupted her friend’s cheerful chatter miserably. “Thank you for your kind words, but it isn’t really helping. I-I’m so sorry for the whole mess…”
“Well, you said you needed to back up your convictions. I don’t get why you did it in this case, but it’s good that you’re strong enough to do that! Just… you should really do it on a more convenient topic, one that we’ll agree on.”
“I was thinking,” the elf-maiden ploughed recklessly onward, “that maybe I should go. I know it will look like I’m running away, that I can’t take responsibility for my own actions like I said I would… Maybe that’s true. I can’t bear it how everything’s different now… And it’s all my fault – I can’t possibly blame you for anything you’ve done! So I should go… I’ll just look for my husband on my own… that’s all I wanted to do…”
“Whaaaaat!?” Mira cried, waking the others. “You never told me that!”
“I-I didn’t want to bother you until I didn’t feel like a burden…”
“Illinia,” Torrigan said, sitting up and shuffling closer to her. “Illinia, you were never a burden. You should have told us! We’re happy to help.”
“I know,” she said miserably, tears coming up again. “I’m so sorry. I’m so stupid…”
“You sure are,” Kellan muttered, rolling over to go back to sleep again.
“Never mind him, he’s just grouchy,” Mira said, kicking the tall prone man. “You’re not stupid, Illinia, just naive and not used to people. Right?”
“That’s no excuse.”
“It’s plenty of excuse! I used to be the same way.”
“Really?” Illinia looked curiously at her outgoing friend.
“Yep! And now look at me – flirting with handsome half-elf captains in random cities! I still think he likes me. I hope I can visit again soon, maybe get him to court me or something. I wonder how he fights?”
The lump that was Kellan groaned.
“Go to sleep,” Torrigan told the lump firmly.
“I would if you didn’t make so much racket. Can’t you have your soul-searching discussions tomorrow?”
“No, this needs to be taken care of now,” Torrigan said. “We can’t let poor Illinia weep at all hours.”
“I’m not poor,” she said, getting up and gathering her things. “Just… out of place. I shouldn’t have joined you at all… But I thought I could help, and you’re all so kind…”
“Wait!” Mira said. “Where are you going? You can’t just leave now?”
“I really should… You will get along better without me.”
“But who will be around to keep Kellan entertained? It’ll just be him and us two straight-laced types!”
Illinia paused for a second. “He doesn’t really like me anyway…”
“That’s not true,” Torrigan said, clasping her hand. His hand dwarfed hers.
Kellan made no answer; whether he was asleep or just pretending, Illinia couldn’t tell and didn’t care.
“At least tell us what your husband looks like!” Mira cried. “Then we can tell him we saw you!”
“Oh…” Illinia paused and stood up straight, looking up at the stars. “He is tall… almost as tall as Torrigan… with long, golden hair, and a sculpted, handsome face… his brows are dark, but his eyes are light blue… very keen and beautiful. He is an archer, but much better than me. He goes- His name is Mith’las.”
“What’s he doing out here?”
“I don’t even know if he’s here. I met one person on this continent who had seen him, so I know he’s in this world, and I’ve always known he’s alive. The last thing I heard… he was fleeing from some people. That’s why he didn’t come back for me… So I must follow him, so I can protect him.”
“But we can protect you, until you meet him,” Torrigan said, still holding her hand. “Please stay. I can’t go back on my word as a paladin, meaning I have to wait until you prove yourself trustworthy…”
“Well, she did just confide her reason for being here,” Mira said. “She’s putting her trust in us by telling us that. Wait, did you say in this world? How would he be in another world? Do you mean, like, the spiritual world? Another plane of existance?”
Illinia hesitated, and then blurted out. “No, he and I are from another world, the world of Middle Earth.”
And while they started back, dumbstruck, she snatched up the rest of her things and fled into the dark night. Mira called her name, but she didn’t stop.

Chapter 9