Lily and Malroth had set out early that morning after getting cleaned up, which Lily personally thought as a waste of time since they would just get banged up by monsters and sweat from all the walking. But it never hurt to start all over and get a new layer of work on her skin. She dragged her feet behind Malroth who seemed to be in a much more chipper mood after his wash. Though, they both knew that he would get to smash monster heads on the adventure. "Mal… it's so hot out!"
Malroth gave her a glance over his shoulder, smirking at her. "I can still see the farm, c'mon!"
"What's that got to do with anything?!"
"It means we haven't walked far enough for you to be complaining yet." Malroth teased her as he led the way through the small pass. "I didn't think you were this whiney, Lily."
"Whiney is my middle name."
"You wouldn't be complaining about the heat if you were building."
Lily gave him a pouty lip when he finally stopped moving. "That's beside the point."
"Is it though? You can't really build anything more until we get the ground cleaned up." Malroth gave her a shrug before taking her hammer off her back and putting it on his own. "C'mon, when we get this worm, we can clean up the ground and then make roasted cabbage."
"You mean it?" Lily's eyes sparkled as she straightened up, glad to have the heavy weight of the hammer off her back. She made sure to stick close to Malroth as they walked up the hill, smiling at the back of his head.
"What kinds of things do you want to build when we get back, Lily?" Malroth asked after some time of walking, his hands crossed behind his head.
Lily stretched a little, rolling her shoulders to loosen her joints back out. "I'm not really sure, I think I want to build a better kitchen for everyone to sit in and eat. Maybe a bathhouse closer to the farm so we aren't walking all the way to the ocean."
"Squeak! I wouldn't go that way!" A fat rat scurried passed them, its dark gray fur bristled around its scruff. "Hargon's minions are that way!"
Malroth and Lily looked at each other, nodded and took off in the direction that the fat rat came from. Malroth was first to slide his own into the cavern. He caught himself and glanced back at Lily, holding a hand out to catch her on her way down.
Lily tried to slow her descent by leaning back into the hill she was sliding down. She felt Malroth's hand barely grab her arm, only for her to slip from his grasp and all the way down into the cavern. She let out a sharp noise, lifting her head to see if the monsters ahead of her had heard her small commotion.
Malroth watched from his higher ground as the monsters slowly turned towards Lily. "Psst… Lily, if you don't move… they're too stupid to see you."
"Hey! I heard that! That'th not very nithe of you, human!" The little purple devil growled from the middle of the cluster of monsters. "Anywayth, thith ithn't the plathe for humanth! Unleth you plan on helping uth purge thith wrigley!"
"Oh, criminy… you 'ave to 'elp me, 'umans! Please!" The worm cried out from the other side of the monsters that had come to purge him.
Malroth quickly slid down to Lily, helping her up by grabbing the back of her dress and yanking her up. "Looks like we've got to pick a side, Lil… what do you think? Should we side with the monsters or the… monster?"
The skeleton gasped, jumping at Malroth's words. "That you even have to think about it is proof enough that you haven't a faithful bone in your body! The Children of Hargon do not tolerate such fair-weather followers!"
"Prethithely! You shall meet the thame, grithly fate ath thith long, limbleth thinner! Come on guyth, let'th get them!" The purple devil growled and charged towards the two friends.
Malroth lunged, his club in his hand and already swinging. The hard wood hit the purple devil hard in the head, sending the small monster flying across the room. He shifted on his toes, squaring up with the skeleton. "What's wrong, ya big ugly?!"
Lily traded blows with one of the baboons, easily ducking beneath his swipes. She jammed her cypress stick into his belly, watching him stagger back and grip his stomach. She lashed out, hitting the monster several times in a row before it swung at her again. When it did though, Malroth was at her side, taking the hit for her.
Lily gasped when the monster faded into a small dark cloud. She whirled around, seeing only Malroth, the wriggly and herself in the cave. She turned to Malroth; her eyes wide as she stared at his back. "Mal… how did you…"
Malroth slowly turned to her, a feral hunger in his eyes that caused her to stand as still as she could. "You can always leave the fighting to me, you know I'll protect you, Lily."
"Geddon! 'Ee certainly made short work of them 'orrid beasts what was 'arassin' me. Thank 'ee kindly!" The wriggly came up next to Lily. "But 'oo are 'ee, anyway. And what're 'ee doin' all the way out 'ere?"
"I'm Lily! I'm a builder that's helping Furrowfield Farm rebuild! This is Malroth, he's the muscles of the operation! We have a Deitree and some crops, but we need clean soil!" Lily put her hands on her hips, giving the worm a big smile.
"…A builder, 'ee say? And 'ee need clean soil?" The worm wiggled some as if it were thinking, the straw hat on his head almost seemed to be apart of him as he wiggled through the hard ground like it was water. "I sensed that big old tree was back, so I did. I bin wrigglin' all over the place lookin' for it, only to 'ave me life saved by the very maid as planted it? It must be fate! I'm a wiggly, 'ee see. We're an ancient tribe with the power to purify the earth… or at least, we was. I'm the only one of us left now."
"Ha, ha! This gross, slimy thing is going to clean up our soil? I can't wait to see everyone's faces when we get back with a giant worm in tow!" Malroth laughed, tossing his head back with the force of his laughter. Until he got a fist to the gut. He curled around the fist, coughing lightly. "D-Damn, Lily… I was kidding."
Lily made a 'hmph' noise before turning to the worm, a goofy grin on her face. "Mr. Worm, would you please come back to Furrowfield Farm and help us rebuild?"
"The name's Wrigley, ain't no need to go callin' me Mr. Worm, Miss Builder. And it would be luverly if we could get back to 'ee farm before more of them Children o' 'Argon showed up." Wrigley gave them a toothy grin.
The sun was setting on the farm as Rosie grinned down at the large cabbage in her arms. She turned away from the field, mid-prancing step when a large pink worm popped up from the ground in front of her. "AIYEEEE! M-MONSTER!"
Bonanzo and Britney came running over, swords drawn at the sound of Rosie's wailing. Britney grabbed Bonanzo's hand, stopping him in his tracks. "Wait! That's a wriggly worm!"
"A what?!" Bonanzo turned to Britney, his eyes wide.
"Wrigley! I told you not to get too far ahead!" Lily laughed as she ran up with Malroth next to her. "Sorry, guys! This is Wrigley, he's agreed to help us clean up the soil!"
The priest slowly came over, looking the worm up and down. "Unless I am mistaken, this wiggly is a descendant of the tribe that kept the soil of Furrowfield clean and healthy for generations. Hear me, wiggly. From this day forth, you are to aid us in building new fields! Fail to do so, and we will have no further need to ke-" The priest glanced behind the worm, the very blood in his veins running cold with one look at Lily.
There was a dark gleam in her eyes and her pigtails twitched as magic gathered in her very being. "He has already agreed to help us, Priest. No need to threaten him."
The priest lowered his staff with a slow nod. "R-Right… then…" He glanced to Malroth, the beast of a man had his hands shoved in his pockets and was calmly rocking on the balls of his feet, not concerned about the amount of hate Lily gave off.
"Don't worry about this sack of annoyance, Wrigley. If he tries anything, I'll beat him to a pulp."
The priest returned his attention to Malroth, his eye wide. "Excuse… me?"
"Thank 'ee kindly, Mr. Malroth. There ain't nothin' I'd rater do than ta stick 'round and 'elp 'ee with your farm and the Deitree!" Wrigley dipped back into the ground, only to pop up next to Perry who was nervously biting into a cabbage. The poor red head let out a screech and fell back onto his ass. "Oh, sorry 'bout that. Are 'ee scared o' monsters?"
The others let out bouts of laughter as Perry fought back tears of fright. Lily looked to Malroth who was mid yawn. She bit her lip, but the urge took over. Malroth gasped when his teeth clamped down on a finger that wasn't his own. He stared at the shorter female in front of him, blinking dumbly at the goofy grin on her face. "What the hell, Lil?"
"Just asserting my dominance." Lily laughed and skipped to their little hut to go lay down.
The next morning came quickly, but Lily did her best to not rise with the sun. She curled up tighter against the warmth next to her, she scrunched her legs up and awkwardly pressed her cold toes against a limb. A muffled cry had her jumping out of her straw bed, staring at the black-haired male she had been curled up against. "What in the seven hells, Lily!? Your toes are icicles!"
Lily covered her mouth as she tried her best to not giggle at Malroth who was rubbing his calf, trying to warm himself back up. "Sorry, my toes are always cold."
"By the Goddess, I can tell." Malroth hissed, giving her a glare. When she shied away more, he lashed out, a hand tight on her ankle and pulling her back to him. He grabbed her feet, squeezing her toes between his hands. "You should make blankets, or at least keep your socks on when you sleep."
"I went to sleep with them on…" Lily felt her face heat up at how he did his best to warm her up. "Y-You don't have to do that; I'll find my socks and get dressed so we can get some things done around the farm…"
"Would you two love bugsss shut up. Wrigley kept me up all night with hisss chitchat and I'm sssoooo tired." Tiny hissed from his spot on Lily's bed.
"What'd you call me?" Malroth turned his angry eyes on the small dracky.
Tiny slowly opened one eye, clearly not phased by Malroth. "I sssaid-"
"Where have you been, Tiny?" Lily turned, glaring at Tiny now.
Tiny flinched at the glare he got from Lily, his little wings wrapping tighter around himself. "Uh… In the ssstorage room…"
"Eating all of the cabbage?"
"Maybe…"
"If you eat it, you have to replace it."
"Perry replasssed it for me."
"Did you scare him into doing that?"
"No…" Tiny pointedly looked away form Lily, little beads of sweat dripping around his face. "Maybe…"
"You'll apologize to Perry this morning and then you'll help Malroth and I harvest any cabbage left in the field. Understood?"
"Yeah…" Tiny waddled across the room, patiently waiting at the door for one of them to open it.
Lily got up, tossing her dress over her head and yanking her boots on before letting Tiny out. "I'll see you out there, Mal."
Malroth leaned back against the wall behind him, a brow raised at the builders back as she left him alone. He smirked, she might be small, but she could make any monster cower. "And they say you're a weakling."
Rosie was crumpled on her knees in the field, sobbing loudly when Lily came outside. "Th-Thank you, Wrigley… I'm so… so happy…! I've never seen so much l-lovely, soft… soil in my life!" She tried her best to wipe away the tears that streamlined down her cheeks.
"O-Oh… uhm… it's me pleasure, Miss Rosie… Ain't nothin' to it." Wrigley awkwardly shifted in the dirt as Rosie cried in front of him.
"What's wrong with you? Crying over a bit of dirt." Malroth scoffed as he came out of the hut. He caught the fist aimed for his gut and yanked Lily against him, holding her against his bare chest as she struggled to free herself.
"We've spent so long scrapin' together a few small patches of arable earth, and now we've got more than we know what to do with. I'm as 'appy now as I've ever min, Malroth!" Perry sobbed as he walked over and reached down, touching the soft soil with his bare hand.
"This is wonderful work! It just so happens I have a few seeds squirrelled away for just such an auspicious occasion! And now we have a place to plant them!" Bonanzo laughed that deep belly laugh of his as he walked over, scratching his beard for a few seeds to fall into his free hand.
"Y-You had them hidden… in your beard…?" Lily muttered from her spot against Malroth, her heart in her throat from the feeling of the hard muscles of his chest pressed against her soft cheek. "That's a little weird, Bonanzo."
"Lily, Malroth…" Rosie turned to them, her dark eyes wide as she silently pleaded with the duo. "There's an old farm north-west of here… we might have the ability to make all these fields, but they won't do us any good if we don't have anything to plant-"
"You want us to go check it out, huh?" Malroth kept Lily against him despite her squirming for freedom. His red eyes narrowed some as he took everyone in with a single swiping glance. "I want you all to apologize to Lily first. We came here for help, but it turns out that you all needed the help. But you treated her worse than you treat some of these monsters."
Lily stilled in Malroth's grasp, her eyes burning as tears threatened to spill over. She hadn't let it bother her that no one apologized for how they acted the first time they met her. She wouldn't let it bother her. But it bothered Malroth. She carefully looked up at him, trembling a little as she fought for control of her emotions. She gave him her signature grin when he looked down at her, her breath was shaky as she continued to grin. "Mal, it's alright, really." She pushed off him and turned away, shouting over her shoulder as she grabbed her hammer. "Tiny! You're coming with us!"
Malroth watched as Lily walked away from the group clustered around the field, not letting the others see how close she was to the edge. He turned to the group, watching the lot flinch when he growled at them. "You lot better have an apology ready for her when we get back." He hissed as he grabbed his club and followed Lily.
