As soon as the allied soldiers were too far away from third tower for the Juggernaut to feel safe, he decided to go to the middle road, check on Alleria. "You want to stay or come with me?"
The Lord of Avernus, what a surprise, didn't answer but simply turned his horse and followed Yurnero. He snarled silently as he ran underneath the trees. Since he knew that the Lord was able to speak, his not doing so, not even to answer an actual question, aggravated the Juggernaut to no end. So much so, that he almost oversaw an enemy, who was standing hidden in the shadows of a cliff. The creature was obviously waiting for a chance to surprise Alleria on the middle road and kill her.
Before the enemy could properly realize that he had been detected and that he was the one who had been surprised, the Juggernaut attacked, using every ability he had. The enemy tried to run away but it was no use. One against one, the Juggernaut was more than strong enough and as the body of the enemy lay on the ground by his feet, he took a relieved breath. Since he had died for the first time in this war, he hadn't been sure if they could make it. Especially with the Lord of Avernus being by his side. But now, with his first real kill and with him knowing the boundaries of the Lord's abilities, he felt marginally better. Smiling faintly underneath his mask, he continued to the middle road, which was just in front of them, down a hill.
Behind him, the Lord of Avernus followed. He had stayed back when it had been clear that the Juggernaut didn't need his help to kill the enemy (at least he knew what a support was supposed to do) but had stayed close enough to help, should it be necessary. The hooves of his mount made no sound on the ground, the movements of horse and rider eerily silent as they trotted down the hill.
Yurnero wondered suddenly what kind of creature the Lord of Avernus was. He kept his face well-hidden underneath a hood and everything else of his body was covered by clothes and armour. Gloves. Boots. Even a cape. He was relatively tall but many creatures were tall. The way his eyes glowed… Maybe an elf? But his mount, it was no normal horse. And elves didn't ride horses anyway. Neither normal ones, nor abnormal ones. Maybe a worg? Would make sense that he hid his face all the time, then. But did their eyes glow like that?
"Hey Yurnero!" Alleria's call snapped him out of his thoughts. He frowned in annoyance, not at her but at the way his thoughts had drifted. There wasn't much that was more unimportant while being in a town war than the race of his allies. Even if someone was from a race he, the Juggernaut, would normally hate with all his being, he'd still be allied with them. And they'd still have to fight side by side. So there was simply no point in dwelling on stuff like that.
Yet he had been so occupied with the question that he had been uncommonly absent-minded.
The woman ran to his side. "Everything okay?"
"I found one up the hill." Yurnero nodded in the direction where he had just killed the waiting enemy. "And they were at my road three times now to gank me. Thought I should make it a bit harder for them. How's it here?"
"Everything's fine. Hallo Lord of Avernus!" She greeted the male with a smile. "I'm currently alone, so I suppose they tried to gank you again. If they are doing it all the time, we should get together, too. Gondar was here a few times. Didn't he show up at your road?"
"He didn't." Which didn't surprise Yurnero at all. He had insulted the Bounty Hunter when they had first met so it was no wonder he wasn't so fond of him. He hadn't really meant what he had said, then, had meant it as a joke, but an insult was an insult. And even the Juggernaut knew that it didn't matter what someone said but what their opponent understood.
"Okay. Well, how about we go to Davion and Gondar? See what we can do there?"
And so they ran through the forest together. Alleria talked about this and that and Yurnero relaxed. He loved to have her by his side. She was his best friend and he had missed her the last weeks. She had wanted to spend some time with Davion alone and of course it was okay. But he only had her, now that Rylai was living with her girlfriend. Or better the girlfriend with her. And sometimes he was lonely. He didn't trust easily and so it was hard for him to find a friend. Let alone have a relationship.
As soon as the road came into view, they slowed their steps. They watched while still standing in the shadows and saw two enemies while Davion, the Dragon Knight, stood near the tower. He was injured but not too badly.
Alleria walked underneath the trees parallel to the road, farther away from the tower. She'd go in from behind while the lord of Avernus and the Juggernaut would come from the side. With a nod she indicated that she was ready and they charged in, no further coordination needed. As soon as Davion saw them, he attacked, too.
It was almost too easy. Alleria was the best archer Yurnero had ever seen, her shots so precise that even he didn't think he'd have a chance against her one on one.
With them being four against two, it was a matter of seconds before the enemies were dead.
"Where's Gondar?" Alleria looked at Davion, taking in his wounds, probably estimating if he should get back into town to regenerate. But the Knight was unfazed and since the woman didn't comment on his injuries they probably weren't that bad.
"He wanted to check on you. Then go to the Juggernaut, then come back. He…" Whatever he had wanted to say, he was interrupted by the Bounty Hunter.
"The other three are on their way. Only moments behind me." Without waiting for a response, the small hunter vanished, going invisible and circling into the woods he had just emerged from. The others reacted instantly.
The Dragon Knight turned into his dragon form and flew in the direction Gondar had come from without hesitation. Alleria ran after Gondar into the forest and the Lord of Avernus followed the Knight. It seemed they wouldn't wait for the enemy to come to them, but charge them instead.
Yurnero sighed. He hated this back and forth. He liked to stay on one road. Maybe go into the forest and kill all the beasts that lived there. Switching roads all the time made him crazy. But he wouldn't leave his allies alone.
Which wouldn't have been a problem, at least this time. They had killed one more enemy and the other two had escaped. He could as well have stayed on the road. Since he didn't want to run all the way up to his road again, Yurnero just stayed in the forest. And killed the creature there. He got money by killing them, too, as he did by killing enemy soldiers. So it was as good to go through here. He would move in the direction of his road but on the way he could as well do something useful.
Alleria, the Dragon Knight and the Bounty Hunter left. The Lord of Avernus hesitated. At least Yurnero thought it was hesitation but when he looked up to the creature, he couldn't see anything in his eyes. They were always the same and they didn't change one bit. They didn't give away any feelings the Lord of Avernus might have. But he hadn't moved away as the others had.
He didn't look at the Juggernaut, though, so he ignored his presence and continued to kill the beasts in front of him. If the Lord wanted something, he'd say so. If not, he'd go away sooner or later.
When he finally spoke, it startled Yurnero. And he missed a hit. Which ended in the golem in front of him hitting him square in the face. The Juggernaut stumbled backwards, needing a moment to regain his balance before he was able to kill the thing. He shook his head and turned to the Lord of Avernus. After the hit from the golem he hadn't listened anymore. "What did you say?"
For a second Yurnero thought he heard a deep laugh but then the horse snorted loudly and he wasn't sure anymore. Had the Lord of Avernus just laughed about him? He looked as always, nothing about him had changed, not his posture, not his eyes. Unlikely. He probably didn't know how to laugh. The snort from the mount must've made him think the Lord had made a sound.
"I asked if you want me to stay near you, to support you in case the enemy comes looking for you here, or if you want me to leave." His voice, did it hold a hint of amusement?
The Juggernaut shook his head. Both to chase this stupid thought away (the Lord of Avernus didn't look as if he was capable of laughing about anything) and to answer the question. He didn't need a babysitter while he was in the woods. Especially since he didn't intend to stay here but go back to his road and just kill the beasts here on his way there.
Without another word, or glance or anything at all, the Lord left. For a moment, Yurnero stared after him, so very unsure what to make of this strange creature. With a snarl, he turned away. He had met way stranger creatures in this town wars throughout his life and he didn't understand why the strangeness of the Lord of Avernus held his attention more than any other ever had. He was in his thoughts, though there should be nothing except the focus on the task at hand: winning the town war and everything that was connected to that goal.
Alleria waved at him as he crossed the road she was on. She was fine and so he continued on without lingering there. "Hey Jug, I'll come with you!"
Not bothering with waiting, since Alleria was way faster than him anyway, Yurnero continued. He smiled underneath his mask, glad that he had some company. He ignored the sudden thought that the Lord of Avernus would've kept him company, too. It wouldn't have been the same anyway.
"How's it going? You seem tenser in this town war than usual. Is it okay with the Lord of Avernus? It was Davion's idea to take him with us, I never really had anything to do with him." The Windrunner always pestered him with questions, in and out of town wars. She had been like that from the beginning, when they had met for the first time. It hadn't mattered that he had been reserved. She had simply continued to talk to him. Until he had caved in, had called her his friend and had answered her questions. He hadn't really minded it all. He had liked her, had been nice to her even though they had been enemies in the town war they had met in.
It had been an unusual town war and Yurnero had been disturbed enough by all that had happened during it. And when it had been over, Alleria had smiled at him and had invited him for a drink. He supposed him taking the invitation had been the sign that he was willing to be her friend. It had taken some time for him to get used to having someone so close after he had been alone for such a long time but now he liked having her around.
They had fought side by side in countless town wars since then, almost inseparable. Until she had met the Dragon Knight. Yurnero hated him for taking his friend away, though he had to admit that she never left him for long. And their bond was still different than what she had with the Knight. Besides, he loved how jealous the stupid warrior was whenever Yurnero and Alleria spent time with each other. And it was better since he had met Rylai. The female had been even more cheerful and talkative than Alleria. Normally Yurnero wasn't twisted around one's little finger so easily but something about Rylai was different. Had made him feel protective of her.
It hadn't been the same as with Alleria, though. They were like equals walking side by side, while with Rylai it was more a case of caring for each other. It was nice, too, but different.
"Yurnero!" Alleria stretched the syllables, almost singing his name.
"Yeah, it's fine. Starting problems, I guess. And I already died twice, makes me feel like I'm lagging behind our enemies and that I might not be strong enough against them in the next fight." He was strong but with every time the enemy killed him, they got stronger while he stagnated. It always made him nervous. And tense.
"Don't worry. I'm strong enough to kill them all."
The Juggernaut rolled his eyes at her grin and her cockiness. The problem was: she was probably right.
They left the cover of the trees at third tower. The Lord of Avernus was there, slightly injured but mostly fine. He didn't acknowledge their arrival with a look or a word or anything but Yurnero thought he saw how his posture change, only the tiniest bit. A slight lessening of tautness around his shoulders and back. It was almost undetectable but it was the first time the Juggernaut saw anything at all. He would have a watchful eye on this sign, as small as it was, see if he would spot it again. Because maybe, just maybe, the Lord of Avernus reacted solely with tiny gestures and the Juggernaut had to learn to see them. If that was the case, then he'd learn. It was important for him that he could read his allies and especially his support, at least a little, to be able to predict their actions. That was the only reason, and definitely not that he was curious about the hooded male.
"Heyo, we come to help up here." There was no reaction from the Lord of Avernus to Alleria's words and she huffed in obvious irritation. Muttering something not very nice under her breath, she stalked past him. Yurnero followed with a smile, glad that his face was hidden by the mask.
The horse snorted, the only sound the Lord of Avernus and his mount made as they moved forward.
Alleria used the trees on their right as cover. Being extremely watchful, the Juggernaut started to kill the enemy soldiers that were fighting about halfway between their and the enemy tower. He couldn't see Alleria anymore and was wondering where the enemy was. He hoped she'd call if she was in trouble. The Lord of Avernus was on his right side, too, moving underneath the trees but not as far away as the Windrunner.
The enemy appeared from the other side. There were three of them and they concentrated all their attacks on Yurnero. Lucky for him, he was hit by a stun first (and when had he ever called it luck to be stunned). Since he was immobilized, he couldn't use his ability to spin because he would've done so intuitively without thinking. Now the Lord of Avernus could use his abilities to shield him, to heal him. And as he entered the fray, without a shield for himself, the Juggernaut was injured but up to the fight the enemy had initiated.
As soon as he was able to move again, he took a deep breath and a split second to focus. It was more than enough. He raised his weapons and in a fury of blades he jumped, cutting through the enemies with precision and power in every hit. It was like, a special attack he had learned. Once, a long time ago. The enemy couldn't see him, couldn't hit him, couldn't do anything while he attacked in this way. Sadly he couldn't do it for long because it was rather straining. Even in a town war.
And when he stepped out of the fury of blades Alleria was there and she was glorious. Yurnero thought the Lord of Avernus was close to dying, wanted to yell at him to back away, to let him take the hits while the male got back to safety, but then he saw what the Lord was capable of doing and it was amazing. A green glow formed around his body, like flames that didn't burn, and they healed him. For every hit the enemy landed on his body while the fire flared, his wounds healed a little. The fire reversed the taken damage into healing power. For a moment, Yurnero stared at the hooded creature engulfed by green flames.
The flames stopped abruptly, leaving the Lord of Avernus still slightly injured but way better than before. And the Juggernaut realized he should, maybe, join the battle again. The outcome of the fight was two dead enemy heroes, while one got away. They refrained from chasing the one because the Lord of Avernus was rather drained, as was the Juggernaut and the enemy was probably faster anyway. Alleria laughed at them and headed back to her road. She was, by all means, fine.
Using the time the enemies needed to resurrect and get back onto the road, Yurnero killed the enemy soldiers as fast as he could. The Lord of Avernus moved a little into the forest, to scout probably. The Juggernaut felt much better with him by his side now than at the beginning of the town war. He had been a great help in this fight and had even sacrificed his own protection for the Juggernaut. Not that he had needed it that much, after how he could heal himself. But the hits hurt nonetheless, no matter if one could heal them.
Yurnero new that since he could summon a healing ward himself. It did heal him but it didn't erase the memory of the pain taking the wounds had evoked. The way of the Lord of Avernus could be even more painful since he turned the damage from the hits he took and morphed them into healing. Maybe those hits still hurt, maybe they hurt more, Yurnero couldn't know that. And considering how much the Lord talked, he wasn't about to ask him.
It seemed since the Lord of Avernus had told him that the spinning prevented him from putting the shield around Yurnero's body, they interacted better with each other during the fights. Of course it wasn't always perfect but it was good enough to make the Juggernaut relax and trust in his support to support him. To help him and to have his back. It was a slow progress but from one fight to the other, his trust grew.
He liked that he didn't have to worry about him like he had to do with other supports. They were often physically weak since they used mostly magic, relying on it so much that they didn't know how to fight without it. When an enemy was immune to magic or just strong enough to endure it, they were fucked.
The Juggernaut hated that. He didn't want to always have to look after his support, see if they were alright, see if they needed help. With the Lord of Avernus, he didn't have to. Even if the male used all his abilities on Yurnero, he was still fully capable to defend himself, even charged into the middle of the fights often enough.
No matter what happened, the male always stayed calm and focused. It was extremely fascinating. Nothing could get to him as he guided his mount through battle, his posture never changing, no matter how injured he was, no matter how many enemies surrounded him.
This calm, it probably was what made the Juggernaut trust him to have him fighting by his side. He had had so many allies who had been hectic or fluttering. Who had stopped thinking during big fights and who had thrown magic around them in panic. Of course such spells often missed or were useless in the end.
When the Lord of Avernus was in a fight, there was nothing hectic. Even his horse stayed always calm.
Their fights went well, the town war went well. They only ran around together as five now so the enemy couldn't eliminate them one after the other. The Bounty Hunter used his invisibility to scout. The Dragon Knight used his dragon form to be even stronger. Alleria shot her arrows so fast they almost built a continuous line in the air. And no matter what the enemy did, if they came from two sides, if they hid to launch a surprise attack, if they tried to trick them, to lay a trap, came from behind, took the Bounty Hunter out because they were able to make him visible and he was an easy target then, the Lord of Avernus was always there and he seemed to never be surprised. He countered every attack as a matter of course without faltering once.
To say the least, the Juggernaut was impressed. Especially since he had been reluctant to rely on him at the beginning of the war. He found he rather liked to have the Lord around. Yurnero felt better as long as the male was near and they didn't separate once during the remaining war. He thought, and it was a strange idea, that he might actually like the Lord of Avernus.
After another fight, where the Lord had taken most of the hits, had been the first one to engage the enemies, Yurnero stopped next to him. The Lord was still heavily injured, or maybe better: he was heavily injured again, after he had been fully healed once during the fight. Since the Juggernaut could heal, too, he summoned his healing ward and stayed close to the male on his horse.
And there, just the tiniest bit, he could see how the Lord of Avernus got less tense with every healed injury. This time he was absolutely sure he was right. The rigidness of his shoulders got lesser and he thought he could hear a soft sigh. A snort from the horse overlaid it.
Yurnero didn't have to turn his head to look at the Lord of Avernus and his horse from the corner of his eyes. Had the horse snorted to hide reactions from his rider? What kind of mount did that? Had it done that before? Did it always do that? Had it just been a coincidence?
"This is almost too easy." Alleria grinned smugly at them all. Davion sauntered over and kissed her fully on the mouth. He said something, too low for Yurnero to understand the words from where he was standing. The woman laughed and leaned over to nip at the Knight's lip before she moved forward on the road.
"You coming?" Davion called back at the Juggernaut and the Lord of Avernus. The Bounty Hunter appeared by his side and the Knight smiled at him. They were so very different that it was almost unbelievable they were in a relationship.
But as the Knight lowered his head to kiss the Hunter on the temple, even Yurnero could see how much he cared for the smaller creature.
The Dragon Knight then followed the Windrunner while the Bounty Hunter stared after him for a moment. Maybe he was smiling but he had a half mask covering his mouth so Yurnero couldn't be sure. He went invisible and vanished into the forest to their right to scout. He'd go forward together with them, but parallel to the road.
The Juggernaut and the Lord of Avernus continued along with the others. The horse next to him snorted and Yurnero looked at the Lord without turning his head. With his mask, no one could ever tell where he was really looking. And he used it to his full advantage. The Lord appeared to be as always, nothing different about him. Why had the horse snorted? Had the Lord made a sound Yurnero hadn't heard? Did it cover something the male did, again?
It was extremely difficult to find a reaction from the Lord of Avernus to anything. But since the Juggernaut was almost sure he had heard the male laugh before, this one time in the woods, when the snort from the mount had covered the sound up, as well as his sigh earlier, when he had helped him heal, he'd find other things
And he was nothing if not determined. He'd totally use the fact that his mask covered his whole face and the Lord of Avernus couldn't see where he was looking. Whenever he could, he kept an eye on him.
During the battles, there was nothing to see. There was precision and focus in every move the Lord made but nothing else. And Yurnero didn't have that much time while fighting. He had to concentrate on what he was doing. It wasn't that important to find out if the Lord of Avernus actually reacted to things, if he had feelings like other creatures had. Though it was strange that he cared about it at all.
It didn't take them much longer to end the town war. They destroyed the heart of the enemy town with ease. The Juggernaut stared at the crumpled remains, letting his blade droop. It had been way to short a war. He would've liked to spend more time with Alleria, especially since he hadn't seen her that much during it. And now he'd be alone again.
"Hey Jug!" The Windrunner slung one arm around his shoulders. "That was nice, wasn't it? Easy war. You were good."
Swallowing his sadness since there was no use in wallowing in it, especially not as long as Alleria was there, he smiled. Not that she could see it but he was sure she'd be able to hear it in his voice. "Of course I was good, I'm always good. But you, you were awesome."
She laughed and hugged him from the side. "Thanks!"
They returned to the platform from which they had started to the town war (they were teleported back to it). The platform was surrounded by a wide plane, the knee-high grass waving in the soft wind. Alleria, the Dragon Knight and the Bounty Hunter immediately started one way. Yurnero knew that a few houses with shops and an inn were in that direction. He supposed they'd stay there for at least the night. And eat a lot.
Time was strange when one was in a town war. And the body coped differently with this phenomenon. Some were extremely tired as soon as they were back, some were very hungry. Some weren't affected at all, as was the case with the Juggernaut. The only thing he had to struggle with when he was back was the way his blade felt in his hands, how he got tired when he had to fight long stretches of time and how his body felt exhaustion again. How his sword was heavy here while it was almost weightless in the town wars. It always took him a few days to adjust to it, a few days of training to get his muscles used to everything again.
He was lucky, Alleria got her two boyfriends to stay in the inn with him for that time so she could train with him.
The Lord of Avernus stayed two days, too, but then he left. He didn't announce it any. One morning, they were all sitting at breakfast in the inn, the Lord came down from his room, a backpack over his shoulders. He held his hand out to the Dragon Knight first. He didn't say a word, in fact he hadn't spoken anything while they had been staying at the inn. He simply waited until the Knight shook his hand, then he held it out to one after the other. The Juggernaut was last and he thought the Lord lingered for a moment here, their hands clasped.
But then he turned around and left. Just like that he was gone.
It didn't matter, Yurnero thought. He hadn't talked with them anyway. While he and Alleria had practiced he had only stood there and watched. Or he had been in his room alone. Or riding around without any purpose (at least no visible purpose for the Juggernaut). He had bought stuff in the shops near the inn but had done so alone, too.
He was wrong, though. Somehow the Juggernaut had gotten used to the silent presence by his side. He had always known where the Lord of Avernus had been, if he was around or not. And he felt how he was gone now.
With a frown, he continued eating. Why should he care about some strange creature? A creature he barely knew, whom he had exchanged maybe ten words with the whole time they had been together. It made no sense.
And yet, he already felt lonely. Maybe it was simply because it reminded him of the fact that Alleria would be gone soon, too.
Yes, that had to be it.
"We'll leave tomorrow." Her announcement confirmed that train of thought. He only nodded. Because what was there to say?