Lily jolted awake; eyes wide as she looked around for whatever had woken her up. She looked over, seeing Malroth was still sprawled out on his side of the bed as the sky outside her window caught her attention. "Mal…?" She gave him a shake, but he snored away. She slid from the bed and went to the little bed she made for Tiny, even he didn't stir. She let out a huff and grabbed her hammer; fingers numb as she pushed the door open. The sky was almost purple, not like back in Furrowfield, but close enough that Lily was starting to feel sick to her stomach.
She looked down at where Goldi usually slept, and even he was sound asleep. She made quick work of the steps as she ran over to the golem, giving him a shake as hard as she could. "Goldi? Goldi! Wake up!" But the golem was still, his usually glowing eyes were dull as he slept.
A dark energy made her skin tingle as she turned, looking towards the desert that loomed just past the town. Lily slowly made her way past the smithy and the dormitory, eyes narrowing when she saw a Shaman of Hargon watching her. "Who are you?! What have you done to my friends?!"
The shaman let out a laugh and shook their head, the green orb in the center of their face was gleaming as they spread their arms. "I am stronger than the priest on Furrowfield was, how weak of a priest he was. To let a child convert him, such a shame. I came bearing a warning from the Underseer, child; If you continue with these sins, all of Khrumbul-Dun will suffer. As will you."
"I… am not… a CHILD!"
The shaman took a step back, the orb trembled for a moment as an angry and cold magic washed over them. "Wh-What is this?"
"Give the Underseer a warning from me; they come near this town, and Malroth and I will do to her what we did to the Brainy Badboon!" Lily didn't seem to notice how the sand stirred as magic rushed around her.
The shaman looked behind Lily, seeing that the golem was starting to stir; then they felt an even darker aura than their own burst from the room above the dormitory. "You are more trouble than the Underseer foresaw." The orb narrowed as the shaman disappeared, a horde of monsters quickly taking their place.
Lily wielded her hammer in front of her as Goldi ran up next to her and Malroth landed in front of her. "If you broke the window, Mal-"
"Lily! Too many monsters for you to lecture me right now!" Malroth snarled as he started slashing, barely giving the others time to join in.
Babs and Magrog, along with a few miners, joined in; swords slashing away as they clashed with the monsters. Lily and Babs linked arms, twirling around each other in a dance as they evaded blows from moles and skeletons alike. Lily glanced over, seeing rage burn in Malroth as he took his enemies down in one swing of his axe.
"BABS! LILY! WATCH OUT!" Goldi roared as he jumped into the air, his fists coming down on a skeleton that came around the corner from the pass into the desert. He grabbed the large skeleton by the face, his copper fingers digging into the hard bone before breaking through as he ripped the head clean off.
Lily and Babs gawked, unable to look away as the golem smashed the skull into the hard-stone walls. "Goldi!" Babs ran up to the golem, yanking away from Lily when the builder tried to stop her. "Goldirox!" She touched his leg, seeing how he almost instantaneously calmed down at her touch. "You beat 'im. Thank you fer protectin' me."
"I ALWAYS… PROTECT BABS… ALWAYS." Goldi scooped Babs up, placing her on his shoulder as he walked back to the group.
Malroth threw his axe down as he stormed over to Lily, eyes blazing with the need for more. He ignored the gasp from his builder as he grabbed her, yanking her against him. He squeezed her, hearing her back pop and a pathetic noise leave her as he held her; forcing himself to come back to reality. "Why didn't you wake me?"
His voice was a harsh whisper, Lily could barely understand him through the growls; but she pressed her ear harder against his chest, listening to the frantic pounding of his heart. "I tried to, but you didn't wake up. Neither did Tiny or Goldi. The shaman, they had a spell on everyone, I guess."
Malroth let out a few deep breaths, his nose buried against the soft blonde strands of Lily's hair. She was safe. She was here and she was talking and breathing and fighting monsters with him. He pulled back, giving her his signature devilish grin.
Lily gave him a slight frown. "You have an idea for something."
"I sure do! Mashing all these monsters is making us tougher and tougher. Don't you think we should come up with some kind of super attack? Could really show these monsters who's boss!" He pulled away completely, leaving Lily feeling cold as he crossed his arms, thinking for a few moments. "Let's see…" He looked up, seeing a bunicorn innocently hopping just inside the canyon.
Lily let out a small shriek when power exploded from Malroth and he grabbed her, tossing her into the air. She started to tense and squeeze her eyes shut when she realized what he was doing. She relaxed, rolling her eyes as she pulled her hammer back behind her, swinging it down as she closed in on the bunicorn. A new weight quickened her descent and forced her hammer to hit harder as Malroth landed with ease on the top of it. When he turned back to her, she wasn't quite prepared for the reaction she got.
He grabbed her around the waist, a heated kiss turning her knees to jelly as he tipped her back. His fingers dug into her hip as the other hand tangled into her hair. He pulled back after a moment, licking his lips as he panted, hungry eyes devouring the builder in his arms. "That… was brilliant. I'll call out to you when we're in battle and get really fired up so we can unleash it on unsuspecting monsters." His voice was a thick purr that had Lily's heart racing and her cheeks flushed. "Now… just to give that move a name. Every move that great deserves a name."
"U-Uhm…" Lily was too flustered, too… excited in ways she hadn't ever experienced before to think straight. "What… uhm… I can't think straight right now! W-what about… uhm… Lily and Malroth's effortlessly graceful and decidedly deadly co-operative attack?"
Malroth could see she was flustered as he raised a brow at her. "You can't think straight… but you come up with a name like that?" He shrugged, laughing some. "I like it!" He gave her a high-five, but his fingers laced with hers, pulling her back against him as he nipped at her cheekbone. "I feel like I haven't slept a wink, think we could take a day to be lazy?"
Lily couldn't stop her goofy grin as she nuzzled against him. "I'll happily have a lazy day." She looked over, seeing the curious and mischievous gazes from all the townspeople. Her face quickly exploded in every shade of red as she clung to Malroth. "What are you all looking at?!"
Malroth turned his attention to the others, tilting his head at them. "Don't you have a mine to go into? And a pub to work at?" In response, the others slowly left the two alone, Babs giggling as she sat on Goldi's shoulders. Den and Magrog elbowed each other as they walked away, whispering something about a bet.
Malroth picked Lily up with ease, carrying her back to their room; but as he hit the first step up, two miners came running up. "Oi! Lily! Malroff!" The two looked over at the miners, seeing Dougie running up with them. "You two are never gonna believe this! Listen to these miners!"
The first one, a beefy man with scars up and down his arms slammed a hand against his chest. "Me an' a couple o' the lads was diggin' away down this tunnel yes'erday when we 'it some kinda metal none of us've ever seen before!"
Magrog, who was still within earshot, ran over, staring at the miner. "Did you bring some back?"
"We sure did!" The smaller man beamed, tossing the gray rock over to Magrog.
"Why… that there's a lump of pure silver!" Magrog's eyes sparkled as he reached over, handing it to Lily. "They struck silver!"
"YOU SAY SILVER?!" Babs let out a short shriek when Goldi suddenly changed directions on her, eyeing Lily and Malroth.
Malroth rolled his eyes and grave a growl as he looked to Lily who was giving her doofy grin in his arms. "So much for a fucking day off."
Lily wiggled from his arms, keeping herself against him as she examined the silver. "We can go down and help them get started, and then… we can enjoy the rest of the day to ourselves."
"Ten hours in the mine doesn't sound like we'll have much time to relax afterwards."
"Who said it was going to be ten hours?" Lily looked up at him, bursting out in laughter at the look on his face.
Malroth had his lips pursed and eyes trained on her. "I know how you work." He lunged at her, smiling when she squealed and took off and away from him. He licked his lips when she looked back at him, mischief in her eyes; daring him to chase her. He fell for the bait and sprinted after her, easily catching her before she could make it to the minecart. "You need to wear something more than this, I'm not listening to you whine about being cold in the mines."
"Three thousand lumps!?" Malroth roared as he and the miners walked behind Goldirox who had Lily on his shoulders as they made their way along the tracks, his eyes narrowed. "You… want three thousand lumps! We're going to be here forever! And Babs wants a new pub?! What kind of nonsense is that!? And she wants it made from silver! Next thing you know they'll want a gold bar! To match Goldi when he's a Gold Golem!"
Lily gave a shrug as she let Malroth vent, a smile on her lips, she liked being tested like this. But Malroth was already annoyed that she had even agreed to build the new bar, that alone would take weeks, and getting Goldi three thousand lumps would take that and longer. "We could send Brownbeard back to the Isle to make sure the others knew that we're alright. It's already been a few weeks-"
"A month and a half. Lulu might out right strangle us if we take too long here at Khrumbul-Dun. I don't want to listen to her bitch and moan!" Malroth let out a groan, slumping as they walked. "So annoying!"
Lily shook her head laughing at him some. "It'll be fine, Mal. Once we get back up top I'll go ask Brownbeard to set sail for the Isle and let Lulu know that things are running smoothly here but it's going to take a while for us to come back."
"SOONER WE GET SILVER. SOONER WE SEE ISLE. SOONER I MARRY BABS." Goldi growled, eyes narrowed as he led the way, head turning either which way as he sensed for the silver.
"'Ere's where I found the silver!" The miner ran up to the large wall of dark stone, jabbing a finger at it. "If there's any more in these mines, I'll bet me nan it's be'ind that wall!"
Lily clung to Goldi as he slammed his fists into the wall, easily destroying the hard rock. "ME STILL WEAK. BUT MORE WALLS BEYOND." He followed the tunnels, the miners close behind as he came up to another wall, easily breaking this one down.
Lily frowned at the tunnels around them, seeing how decayed and destroyed they were. She'd need to come back through and put in new support beams, so it was safer for the miners. She frowned as Goldi punched the wall they were at once, twice… four times, six times, eight times. The sight in front of them had the miners and Lily gasping.
But the sudden drop had Lily screaming, she hadn't expected Goldi to go down. "COPPER… BODY… TOO WEAK… CANNOT… MOVE…"
Malroth jumped over Goldi's curled up body, catching Lily and landing gracefully on the other side of the golem. "Take all the time you need, Goldirox. Now that you've knocked through the walls, you can rest up for a moment and head back up top. We're good from here."
Lily stared at Malroth with awe in her eyes. She'd seen him doing standing long jumps before, but she hadn't seen him jump that high before. That power was coming in handy, and his body was adjusting well to it. She clung to his side as he set her down, taking in the area ahead of them. "Woah…"
She pulled away from Malroth, their fingers laced for just a moment before their hands dropped as she walked out onto the wooden deck. "I don't think the Underseer touched this place… it's in a lot better condition than the first area of the mines." She walked to the edge, fingers pressed against the log railings, eyes sparkling as she looked down at all the glowdrops that were scattered around.
"Lily, we might be able to climb down those chains-"
Dougie let out a meek cry, covering is head. "This pit is the deepest place anyone – us miners included, has ever been! I'm afraid of what's waitin' for us!" He frowned as the other two rolled their eyes and jumped onto the chains, slowly picking their way down. He let out a shaky sigh and slowly followed them. When he touched down, he looked over; his eyes grew wide behind that yellow helmet. "Look!"
"Hey! Don't go running off, Dougie!" Malroth snapped, shaking his head when the miner too off deeper into the mind. Lily laughed and ran after Dougie, Malroth hard on her heels.
"Me abs are goin' absolutely 'aywire! There's gotta be some silver up ahead! If it weren't so dark an' scary, I'd be down that tunnel like a shot!" Dougie whimpered, ducking behind Lily.
Lily laughed even more as she pulled out a few torches, handing on to Dougie and one to Malroth. "Here, just breathe, we have Malroth; if there are any monsters, they won't have the chance to get near you. I see some scones; we can just light them on the way."
Lily let Malroth lead the way, taking out a few mushroom monsters as she lit the first scone. She turned, seeing Dougie slowly bringing up the rear. "C'mon, Dougie! The sooner we light them, the sooner we find some silver!"
Malroth slashed a few more mushroom monsters, watching Lily closely as she trotted along the tunnel. She got to a scone that was higher up and no matter how far she stretched, she just couldn't reach the other torch with her own flame. "Maaa-l!" She let out a surprised noise when he was suddenly under her, his head between her thighs and pushing her up with his shoulders. "Mal!" She nearly dropped her torch, as her free hand dug into Malroth's hair, a death grip on the dark strands.
"Oi, watch it! You're about to rip my hair out of my scalp, Lil!" Malroth laughed as she lit the scone and he set her down. He reached up, rubbing his head where she pulled. He tipped his head when she reached up, rubbing his head, an apology on her lips. "I'm teasing you." He laughed, kissing her forehead before taking the lead deeper into the tunnel.
Two more scones and no signs of monsters had Lily trotting deeper in, though she knew to keep herself where Malroth could see her. She turned to look down the tunnel as it turned, tilting her head so an ear was facing that way, but she didn't hear anything. Though, she should be letting Malroth listen for things seeing as he could hear much better than she could. When she was satisfied she bounced over to the wall, climbing up and swiping her lit torch at the unlit scone.
"LILY!"
She turned when she heard Malroth's voice explode in panic, but she didn't see him, all she saw was a being, a green hood pulled over its' head with the symbol of Hargon's armies in the middle. She felt the scream building up in her throat, but it didn't come out. Something struck her, and she was falling. She hit the ground beneath the scone, hard. She felt something in her back pop and her fingers started to go numb.
A roar that caused a ringing in her ears hard her trying to turn her head, but it wouldn't move. She could see Dougie in the corner of her eye, she could hear his voice; but not what he was saying. The world went dark for a moment, and then it faded back in. Right, she blinked… Dougie's attention was on her, not on the two monsters fighting. No. That wasn't right. There was only one monster. She squinted, trying to decipher the shadows on the far wall, she could just barely make out the swollen muscled monster that attacked her. But there was another one. She could faintly hear Malroth above the ringing in her ears, but she couldn't make out his shadow. She only saw a beast, wings unfolded and fluttering as the beast danced with the monster. Horns large protruded from the top of its' head as its' shadow dwarfed the monsters.
Dougie patted her cheek, making her look at him. His lips were moving, he had taken off his own mask, fear in those dark slate gray eyes. She blinked again, focusing on the shadows again, where there had been wings and horns, was now Malroth's shadow that she had seen a thousand times. The monster was gone and soon a very bloodied Malroth was in her view. His eyes were frantic, his lips were moving but she didn't hear him either.
She was cold, so cold. The world faded again, when it came back, Malroth was holding her, his anger pointed to someone else. Dougie. It had to be Dougie. She'd get on to him for yelling at Dougie. She felt something tugging at her hip, then a light surrounded them. They'd been reaching for her map, right… Pastor Al had enchanted it for her, she had forgotten that it had changed from Furrowfield to Khrumbul-Dun. Had Malroth known?
"BAAAABS!" Malroth roared as the trio landed in the center of town, his arms tight on Lily who was bleeding from a deep wound that extended from her shoulder to her belly. "BAAAABS!"
"Malroth!" Babs burst from the pub, eyes wide as she took in the scene between her and Goldirox who was staring down from the Declaration Post, eyes trained on the enraged Malroth. "What in the 'ell 'appened!?" She gritted her teeth and ran back inside, shoving everything off the bar. "Bring 'er 'ere!"
She turned, seeing Malroth rush inside, gently setting Lily down on the bar top. "A monster, he attacked her. I wasn't close enough. Babs. I wasn't… I couldn't protect her!"
Babs looked to Malroth, frozen at the sheer amount of rage that burned in those red pools, but really got her was the tears. He was clinging to the edge of the bar, nails biting into the wood as he hung onto the last threat of sanity he had. "I's alright, Mal. My da used to stitch the boys up. I'm sure 'e can 'elp Lily."
Babs sat outside the bar, watching as Malroth paced back and forth in front of it. Magrog and Den were inside, doing what they could to help Lily, but Den had told Babs about his worries, there was a lot of blood. She glanced up to Goldi who was still staring down at Malroth, watching his every move. "Why are you watchin' Malroth like that, Goldi?"
"WORRIES ME. MALROTH ANGRY." Goldi glanced to Babs, a huff leaving him. "HE CAN'T CONTROL… ENERGY. FLUXUATING."
Malroth was growling, gnashing his teeth as he listened to Babs and Goldi talk about him as he paced in front of them. He dug his nails into his arms, tried to steady his breathing. But nothing was working. Every time he closed his eyes, he just saw Lily falling. He had heard the snap when she hit the ground. He straightened up, breathing in deep just in time to see Den walk out. The barkeep was scratching his cheek, confusion knitting his brows together. "Well… I… I don't know 'ow's to explain it… but… that wound is 'ealin' and we got 'er to wiggle 'er nose."
A sigh left Malroth, he didn't care the how or the why, he just cared that those were the words he was hearing. He flinched when something landed on his head. "Perhapsss it'sss jussst the builder magic." Malroth straightened when he heard Tiny above him, the dracky was holding back. He knew something. It wasn't builder magic that saved her. "Perhapsss you'd like to take her up to your room and let her ressst for the remainder of the day. I'm sure she'll be happy and ssspunky come morning."
Babs watched as Malroth slipped into the pub, Tiny perched on his head. When he reemerged, Tiny was staring at them all, a grin on his little round face. "Let'sss not tell Lily of her almossst death, shall we?"
Babs raised a brow, as the dracky let Malroth carry him up the stairs and to their bedroom, away from the others. "That little dracky is odd. I'll 'ave to ask Lily 'ow she met 'im."
