Ferris didn't feel like herself.
She knew it was her body, but it was taller, fuller. The weapon in her hand wasn't her worn dagger, but an elegantly-crafted staff. Her ears rang and something slick dripped down her forehead. She didn't recognize where she was, the barren landscape around her clouded by a billowing haze of dust.
There were only two, conflicting indicators at her feet: A ruined flag with the emblem of the Kingdom of Humans and a discarded shield with the emblem of the Kingdom of Monsters. Beyond them, a lone figure stood with his back to her. She stared at him blankly.
She couldn't move, not even as the figure's brilliant, white eyes flickered in her direction and a mass of spike-like shapes drove toward her from the earth. In seconds, she felt them pierce straight through her torso. Gravity impaled her further as she was lifted off her feet, a dark fluid choking her from the inside as her damaged lungs screamed in agony.
Her attacked stared at her writhing form a moment longer before summoning another spell. A single, magic bullet shot straight at her head.
"Get up."
A piece of bread was thrown at her face, waking her up from the grim dream. Sputtering crumbs as she rose to lean against a nearby tree, Ferris already knew who gave her the rude awakening. Castellar had his back to her as he knelt in front of a tiny, smokeless campfire just big enough to heat up a small pot of broth leftover from the previous night. He passed a cup of the mixture her way to dunk the bread in.
It wasn't much of a breakfast, but they planned on getting more food very soon. After three days of travelling, they were close to a settlement stationed along the Two Kingdoms' borders. Although it was more of a checkpoint than a village, plenty of merchants passed through there. They could get anything they possibly needed before crossing into the Monster Kingdom.
Ciara was already contently eating beside her, practically lapping the broth between bites. Seeing her like that, the older sister's irritation somewhat ebbed. If there was anything that put the two of them in a better mood, it was something tasty. That, and the warm cup felt good to her hands in the crisp morning air.
Castellar twisted himself around as he settled down with his own meal, going over their agenda for the day for the second time, "We won't need to get too many supplies, so we should be in-and-out quickly. Also, remember to keep your head down. Just because we're on the border doesn't mean it's perfectly safe: Some Monsters could try to attack you just as much as some Humans could try attacking me. It'll be even more important for you two to stick close when we cross over."
So far, he seemed to have everything all figured out. He'd found her without a problem and had planned their exact route in-advance. Whether they liked it or not, he hurried them along to keep them on a tight schedule. The only reason why they had to pause their journey now was because he only packed enough supplies for two people instead of three. Even with their added share of loot from the mage hunters, it wouldn't last long enough to get them to the other side of Ebott.
Ferris took a deep swing of the broth before speaking, "You know, we could move out a lot faster if you just let us handle part of the shopping."
"And give you a chance to run off? I don't think so."
Can't blame a girl for trying… To be honest, she would've settled for taking half his money. As things were now, she and Ciara were stuck depending on him overall. Shaking him off would be difficult if they couldn't support themselves.
Well, there'd be plenty of suckers in the future.
"Then tell me about the Monster Kingdom. Or the guild some more. I want to know exactly what we're getting into."
"Eat now, talk later. You can ask all the questions you want while we're moving."
She frowned. It wasn't that Castellar was good for conversation—the two of them fought for more of the trip so far—but anything beat pure silence. She didn't exactly want to rush onward after having such a bad night either… Still, following the example of her travelling companions, Ferris shoveled down her breakfast as quickly as possible.
Ugh! Now that she thought of it, the skeleton was more than just a travelling companion. If they followed him all the way to Arnaud's Guild, they'd probably end up working together too. Considering how she could barely stand him for the few days since they'd met, she could barely imagine putting up with him for the entire span of a lifelong career.
"Can you at least tell me if we'll be meeting any other mages from Arnaud's before we get there?" she sighed. Maybe they would tell her something he wouldn't. The sooner she had enough information, the sooner she could decide if it was best to turn tail or not.
"They only sent me," came the reply, "You'll have to wait to meet anyone else."
I think they sent the wrong person. A young Monster travelling by himself through Human territory couldn't have been their first pick. If anything, Ferris thought they should've sent another crimson mage. Then again, Castellar had already proven to be more than capable of protecting himself. Maybe they just sent him based on who they thought could keep her in-check.
In a span of about fifteen minutes, they cleared their camp and headed on their way. In about two hours, they reached a hill overlooking the settlement. From that distance, they could see guards from either Kingdom patrolling the border and a caravan pull in toward the small cluster of buildings that made up the checkpoint. They made their way down at a casual pace.
To onlookers, the three youths were a curious bunch of travelers, but not overly suspicious—too young and too worn-out to do any harm. As such, the trio had no problem entering the settlement and no one bothered to press them on why they were there.
The closer Castellar and the two sisters drew to the heart of the settlement, the narrower and more cramped their path became. It seemed that there were almost as many caravans as there were people, all parked to rest or cater to other travelers. They sold every kind of wares a person could think of: Fabrics, raw minerals, regular and magic-based foods, luxury items from outside the Two Kingdoms…
The first stop the skeleton made was at a clothing vendor, selecting the first pair of cloaks he could get his hands on. He also bought two masks—the kind Ferris had heard that people wore during carnivals. He shoved one of each of the two items into the girls' arms, "Pull up your hoods after you put these on. And keep your hands hidden. So long as no one thinks to check you, people should assume you're both jester-type Monsters."
Given how many of the masks were for sale, it must've been a fairly regular practice. Ferris helped Ciara don on the costume before her own. As they left to visit the next vendor, she made sure to keep her little sibling close-by to avoid losing her in the crowd.
Across the street, near the settlement's lone tavern, were a group of mages: She could tell that much by the way they dressed and since at least one of them carried a staff tipped with silver. It was a coveted metal among magic users, known for its relation to the SOUL. Anything from guild insignias, to shackles, to weapons could be made from it, as it could help regulate a mage's powers.
At this distance, she couldn't tell what guild or noble the mages served though. Since her sister was distracted, looking over baskets of fruit, Ferris leaned closer to Castellar to mutter in secret, "I've always thought that my magic must be pretty valuable. I've really been thinking on it a lot since you said so many other mages could be after me."
"If you knew what to do with your magic, you'd already be employed," he countered, then glanced over his shoulder to see why she was bringing that up now. He gave the mages an unimpressed look, "I don't know who they are."
"But they might be interested in gaining a seer, right?"
"If you want to cause a scene and get them killed, be my guest," he frowned at her. He then leaned toward her, seemingly with the intention of handing her an arm-load of fruit to watchful eyes. In reality, it was just to tell her in a softer voice, "Do you know what dangerous people would do to someone with your power? They can't afford to kill you, since it'll just be harder to catch you a second time. So instead, they'd tie you up, torture you, and leave you to rot in a cage until your will completely shattered. So, keep being glad that few others know about your ability."
She didn't react to Castellar's warning. She was angry at him, more than anything, for shooting her down like that. Taking him up on his offer would've been tempting, if just to annoy him, except he was right about the consequences. As small and isolated a place as this was, she and Ciara wouldn't get very far after the crossfire. There was no real point in drawing attention to herself here.
Unwilling to let the argument go, Ferris turned her attention to the bundle in her arms and began placing most of the fruit back. "You picked them all too ripe," she grumbled at him as she traded the pieces for better ones, "They'll spoil before we can eat them."
After that task was done, she pointed to the dried goods he stopped in front of next.
"And we're better off getting roselips than grape bulbs. They recover more HP."
Castellar blinked at her before shooting her another glare, then turned his face anyway, "Most of what we grow in the Monster Kingdom doesn't spoil. I don't know these crops."
"Clearly." A part of her pinned his lack of knowledge more on his status than his species though. She also noticed he didn't bring up that she knew magic-based plants.
Ciara skipped over to her, plucking one of the roselips between her fingers, "These are sweeter than rosehips, right?"
"That's right!"
It was almost a matter of pride to the girls. While both of their parents developed a bit of magic, for better or worse, they'd never been talented enough to become mages. Their village had only known them as unofficial, but highly effective apothecaries, and their knowledge on plants and herbs was passed on to their two daughters. It was a skill that had helped the girls survive on their own, and it gave them a hope of finding solid work in the future, magic or no.
Right then, it was also something to hold over the skeleton's head. Ferris couldn't keep a smug grin off her face as Castellar begrudgingly followed her advice.
The trio's shopping continued in relative peace. Ferris and Castellar kept their bickering to a minimum. The latter had plenty of funds, so he didn't try haggling with anyone even when he probably should have. Their only other interruption was that, when walking by man with a particularly loose purse, Ferris feigned bumping into him in order to snatch it. In turn, after they were several meters away from her victim, Castellar yanked the purse out of her hands and threw it onto a nearby rooftop.
Ferris was learning to hate him a little more every day.
The trio finished their errand in nearly an hour and made their way straight for the Monster Kingdom from there. Along the way, Ferris noticed that they were being followed by one lapine Monster and another that looked like it was fashioned from stained-glass. Castellar slowed down a little in order to whisper, "I see them. Keep going."
They marched on. It took hardly any time to reach the other side, but before they could step out onto empty road, a figure shuffled in front of them from a guard-post. It was an absolutely gorgeous female Monster: While Human overall in shape, her body was deathly pale and her abnormally long hair was a brilliant white. A mass that looked like a giant snowflake grew out of her head, fitting her like a crown or halo that the girls had seen in church paintings. Light blue robes draped delicately only her tall, slim form.
"Avalbanshee," the skeleton greeted, his mouth a firm line, "It's strange to see you up and about on a hot day. You hate summer."
The woman nodded, keeping a cool smile. "I do, but Valda needed something picked up in the area and I happened to be close-by," her gaze shifted to the two girls, "How lovely! You don't usually keep friends."
Ciara hugged her sister from behind, "Ferris…"
She gritted her teeth. She felt it too, the inspecting pressure of another being's magic on her SOUL. Avalbanshee flashed her teeth at them.
"Can we talk?" she asked, "It has been a while."
The lapine and stained-glass Monsters inched closed to the trio from behind. Ferris nudged Ciara between herself and Castellar for protection.
"We're in a bit of a hurry," he answered, his voice dipping threateningly.
"I see… Then why don't you hurry along and I can speak with your friends instead?"
Something began to take form in her hands, hidden by her long sleeves. It matched the design of the snowflake on her head, but was smaller. Ferris had only heard about them in stories, but it looked like the kind of throwing stars Easterners might wield.
"Please do the right thing, Castellar. I've always had so much respect for you as a mage."
His only response came in a wild rush of bone-shaped spikes that charged at her after manifesting from the ground. She leapt back to dodge them, letting her own weapon fly. In one move, Castellar shoved Ferris and Ciara out of the way with one hand and raised the other to send the anthropomorphic rabbit lying into the other Monster before they too could strike.
The entire area erupted into chaos. Horses and people alike flew into a panic. Wares tipped over and civilians went into a stampede. Large, dirt clouds were kicked up along the main path.
Castellar pushed the sisters toward one of the caravans, "Get on!"
The driver, a dark-skinned Human, was already scrambling with the reins. As Avalbanshee fired off even more attacks and her allies recovered, he had no time to argue when Ferris, Castellar, and Ciara suddenly jumped onboard. He could only take off so all four of them could escape, their attackers in ready pursuit.