~Chapter 4
~Eliza
The midday sun blazed in the clear afternoon sky as Eliza strode down a muddy hill, Lisa in tow and the town of Hamel-shire an hour behind them. It had taken nearly an hour and a half for them to get their belongings in order with the bar maiden breaking down at least twice more during the entire affair.
Thankfully, she hadn't gone into another crying fit when they left what remained of her home.
No small part in thanks to Eliza's quick thinking or at least that's what she told herself as they meandered their way down the hill. What she was going to do with nearly 400 fully formed skeletons stored in her familiar's inventory was another problem entirely, however it was one for another time. Maybe, she could...
"We should bury them," Lisa chimed in, her voice still horse and timid, and her eyes red and puffy.
Eliza quirked an eyebrow.
"The people I mean," the bar maiden amended, clutching at the crude pack slung over her shoulders," I mean... they were..."
Eliza nodded. It was a better idea than the nothing she had bouncing about in her head. How the girl expected a grave big enough for her people though...
"We should tell someone about what happened," the girl added," there are more goblins in the forest," she continued," I don't know how or what that," she shuddered," but they have to pay."
Eliza cringed internally as her eyes darted quickly to her passively floating familiar.
"All... my fa..." Another shudder," every... Jeremy," tears started to well in her eyes," all because of..."
Eliza gulped. Maybe it would be a good idea to just leave the girl in the next hamlet they came too, or...
She shook her head at that particular thought and said," it's going to be alright."
Another shudder ran through the bar maiden as she sniffled before exhaling a quivering breath," thanks..."
Eliza nodded. This was becoming more complicated than she ever wanted. She should just tell the girl, that she'd pretty much wiped out her family and friends in a blink of an eye. Cocking her head back, she saw Lisa give her a small smile as she wiped away the tears from her eyes.
Eliza sighed, turning back around.
"Maybe later..."
~Gertrude
Pain, agony, screams, and the flash of silvered steel. Blood sprayed, bodies fell, orbs of light brought hell with them, and in the middle of it all was a woman. Tall, slender, silver-haired, and golden-eyed.
The woman turned, her eyes flashed, she swung, and Gertrude woke screaming.
Her heart thundered, sweat beaded her brow, and her breaths came in shallow wheezes. The taste of bile tinged her tongue and the smell of urine tickled her nose.
She inhaled, letting the cool air of her room fill her scalding lungs.
"It was just a dream," she muttered to herself," just a dream, just a dream."
A shudder followed by a deep exhalation as she slumped into her bed. It had been years since she'd had the pleasure of her nightmares, but like a wart, they'd reared their ugly head once again in the past two days.
It wasn't enough that her body was a mess of still healing burns and that she'd miscarried, but...
She gritted her teeth, fisted her hands, feeling her blackened nails dig into the tender skin of her palm before letting out her frustrations in another breath. There was a job to do and there would be time enough for ruminations later.
With, an annoyed breath she slid out of bed.
The ground felt cold, prickly, and unwelcoming as she plodded through the cavernous hallways of the keep. Her entire body ached from the still peeling surface of her skin to the beds of her bones. Her entire body was a mess, but she'd heal in time. It wouldn't be pretty, but beauty meant nothing in the face of power, and she would have her power. She'd lost and paid too much for it to just move on.
It would take time, but she would make it work.
Hobbling into the dank confines of her personal kitchen she inhaled, filling her lungs with the salty musk of the row upon row of salted meats hanging on the room's ceiling. It stung the raw nerves of her nostrils, but it smelled excellent and she was hungry.
Slumping into the tattered ruins of her plush dining chair she flicked a ringed finger, triggering one of the few spells she'd ever mastered, severing one of the hanging meats off their strings.
With a hefty thunk it landed before her.
A grumble and her mouth salivated as she looked upon the preserved hunk of a cow's thigh.
Another grumble ran through her body, she licked her lips, and dove in.
Food first, there was much work to be done.