"Drink up."
Cold liquid dripped onto her lips; the sensation caused her to lick them clean. When her lips parted, more liquid trickled in, it was cold in her mouth, but it burned down her throat. The sensation of magic made her toes curl and her ears and nose tingle.
"No, stay asleep."
She couldn't recognize the voice, but they were right, it was late, she should just sleep.
"Drink a little more, hm?"
Should she sleep? But they had asked her to drink, so she did. More cold liquid that burned her throat with magic.
"In the morning… you won't remember this."
What wouldn't she remember?
Malroth looked up at the moon in the sky, frowning as the cold tried to bite at him as it was Zara. He looked to the girl and then back towards the castle. "Why don't you head back? It's cold and it's almost time to switch patrols anyways."
"We're supposed to stick together." Zara was trembling as she rubbed her arms, giving Malroth a pathetic grin. "I'll be fine. Besides, like you said, it's almost time to switch. One more round and then we can go back to the castle, what do you say?"
Malroth let out a soft chuckle but shrugged at her. "Whatever you say, Forgettable."
Zara gave Malroth a playful glare before jogging ahead a few steps, trying to get her blood pumping again. "Do you believe us when we talk about the spy, Malroth?"
"No, honestly, I don't." He put his hands behind his head as he trailed after her, glancing out to the battlefield but not seeing any movement. "I think you're all paranoid and need to relax. You're looking for something that isn't there and eventually that will bite you in the ass."
"There you are. We're here to relieve you!" Two guards ran up behind Malroth and Zara, panting as they slowed down. "We ran into Warwick and he told us that you had something you had to do in the morning!"
Malroth frowned at the soldiers, huffing impatiently. "Yeah, we're going to find the heart of the Hair Force. Guess I should get some sleep." He gave a small wave to Zara before leaving her and heading into the castle. He ducked through the courtyard and made a hard left, slipping into the room he shared with Lily. He shrugged his jacket off and kicked his shoes off, listening to the rhythmic sound of Lily sleeping away the wee midnight hours.
The bed sagged under his weight as he snuggled under the blankets, his fingers grazing Lily's bare side- he froze, eyebrows knitting together as he ran his hand over her skin. In however many weeks they had been here, Lily had taken back up sleeping in nightclothes, it was too cold on Moonbrooke for her, no matter how much Malroth teased her. He raised a brow, grinning some as he leaned in, maybe she had been trying to wait up for him. He went to wake her up with a hot tongue on her cold skin when he breathed in, several things hitting him at once that stirred the anger within him.
He moved until he was hovering over her sleeping form, mouth open as he breathed in again, wanting to be sure he wasn't about to destroy everyone in this castle without reason. He couldn't hold back the snarl that left him as he pressed his face against the side of her neck. "Lily… why…" The words were harder for him to bite out, if he spoke them, then it would make them true. He could do his best to ignore it, but with the way the anger inside of him stirred, he knew that in the end, there was no way he could ignore it. "Why do you smell… like sweat, magic…
…and sex?"
The morning came all too quickly for Lily and Malroth, they had stayed up after Malroth had woken Lily up, drilling her brain with questions. But no matter how many times Malroth asked her, she didn't remember anything from dinner that night to just before he woke her up. Tears burned in her eyes as she hugged her knees to her chest. "Maybe… I…" She tangled her fingers in her hair, pulling roughly as if that would help her remember anything past dinner. "I talked to Anessa… and to Zara… they talked about the spy… again. And then… you came up-"
Malroth jogged over to where Lily was standing with Anessa and Zara, talking about something. Probably dumb girl stuff. He bit into the roll he was carrying, a pleased shiver running through him, Lily had made the rolls for dinner tonight and they were soft and flaky, just how Malroth liked them. He stood behind Lily, seeing the other two girls shy back for a moment when he came up, but then they were talking again. He glanced down at Lily while he munched slowly on his roll, feeling her attention shift from the two girls in front of them to the male behind her.
Malroth couldn't help his grin as he watched Lily, taking half a step forward when she started to lean back some until she was relaxed against his chest. "So, when does the fight start?"
"We were just discussing plans, actually, Malroth." Anessa's eyes were half lidded when she stared at him, disgust in her voice as she spoke to him. She was still blaming him for Moonahan.
"Anessa. Watch yourself. Those soldiers went of their own accord." Lily snarled, suddenly putting her nose to Anessa's. "You weren't there, so you don't know what happened. None of us but Malroth know. He didn't just let them die."
Malroth reached up, his fingers brushing the back of Lily's ear. He gave her a playful grin when she turned angry eyes towards him. "Calm down, little pup, I can defend myself." He looked to Zara; brows raised. "So, according to the list in the kitchen, you're my partner for rounds tonight?"
Zara straightened up quickly, a hand to her chest. "Yes! I look forward to getting to know you better, Malroth."
"Actually, Malroth is pretty quiet on rounds." Warwick laughed as he came up, standing in between Lily and Anessa. "Well, he doesn't talk much to me, I should say."
"We've only had rounds once together." Malroth's voice was monotone as he touched Lily's arm, letting her know with that single touch that he was ready to go lay down before his rounds. Lily grinned and followed Malroth, her hand sliding against his and her fingers lacing with his.
"I just… once we laid down… I don't remember… I don't… when did you get up?"
"You were sound asleep when I got up, which was just before sunset." Malroth frowned from his spot on the bed opposite Lily as she hugged her legs tighter. "Look, let's… just… let's go get breakfast… we'll figure out what happened later." He got up, holding a hand out to her, his head tilting when she got up without taking his hand and kept her head down as if she had done something wrong. He had sniffed something else this morning when he got back, but he wasn't about to overreact and rip someone limb from limb… yet.
The two headed out of their room, Lily sticking close to Malroth as they headed towards the kitchen. Malroth held Lily's arm, his grip getting tight enough that she let out a timid squeak. He yanked her behind him as he sniffed at the air. "Magic…" His eyes narrowed on the kitchen door as Warwick walked out, two glasses in his hands.
"Oh, Malroth! Lily! Good mor-" Before Warwick could finish what he was saying, Malroth's fist connected with his nose, a satisfying 'snap' echoing for a moment before Warwick was sent barreling backwards and into the outside wall of the kitchen.
Rage filled Malroth, he couldn't control it as the water splashed him, the scent of magic – the magic he had scented on Lily – covered him. He launched again, grabbing Warwick by the collar and slamming his fist into the downed man over and over again. "What… did you do to her?!"
Lily watched in awed shock as Malroth pummeled Warwick, she didn't register that the others had all emerged from whatever hiding spot they had been in. The world was quiet around her as soldiers pulled Malroth off of Warwick and Zara rushed up next to her. She couldn't peel her eyes off of Malroth, he was screaming at Warwick but what he was screaming, Lily couldn't hear over the ringing in her ears.
Zara grabbed Lily's shoulders, giving the girl a shake. She was shouting at Lily… her name? Lily closed her eyes, panting as she tried to pull away. Zara said something else, her hand holding the side of Lily's head. When Lily opened her eyes again, Zara was on the ground away from Lily's outstretched hand and Malroth was staring at her with death burning in his eyes. Her body felt so numb and hot.
The builder fell to her knees as her throat tightened, making her hyperventilate as she struggled to breathe. Her stomach churned for a moment before bile forced its' way up where she choked on it as she struggled to breathe right. Her body trembled as she looked up, tears and snot and bile running down her face as she met a smug look on Warwick's face. He wasn't looking at her though, he was looking at Malroth. She tried to lift her arm to point at the soldier, but she could barely keep her head up.
The next time Lily tried to move; the warmth of her bed comforted her. She slowly rolled over, seeing Malroth sitting on the edge of the bed, his fingers tight on her ankle. "Mal?"
"Hey, sleeping brat." He looked up at her, a dark look in those red eyes. "So… do you remember what happened this morning?"
"Uhm…"
"I attacked Warwick and you had a wicked panic attack."
"I… had a panic attack? I remember you hitting Warwick, what was that about?"
"I told myself I wasn't going to overreact… but when I got back here after patrol, you smelled like sweat, magic and sex. You remember that?" He looked at her again, seeing her small nod. "Right… well, I also sniffed Warwick on you, why would you smell like him? Last I checked, you weren't a fan." He rubbed his forehead, groaning. "I shouldn't be so… like this. If you want to be with other people, then I guess that's fine. I just… I thought that-"
"Excuse me? Be with other people? Mal, what are you talkingabout?" Lily forced herself to sit up, glaring at her best friend. "Are you trying to say I slept with Warwick? Me? With… him?" She tried her best to not make a retching noise, but it came out anyways, along with some left-over bile. "I would never-"
"That's not what my nose told me. You had his scent all over you. You reeked of him and sex, Lils." Malroth pulled back when Lily jerked away from him, tucking herself into as tight of a ball as possible.
"I didn't…! I wouldn't… what you're implying… that's suicide, Mal!" Lily gripped her head, feeling her throat tighten once more, panic bringing tears to her eyes. "He wouldn't do that- you'd kill him. And they would… they would kill you-"
"Shhh… shhh, no one is killing anyone… yet." Malroth was wrapped around Lily, cooing softly to her. "Don't destroy our room, too."
Lily stared at the mess with fascinated awe. The hall that led to the Bell Room and the War Room was obliterated, and there was a small crater in the floor where she last remembered collapsing after Malroth attacked Warwick. "I did this. Me? Are you sure?"
"Yup." Malroth was grinning from ear to ear as he watched her. "Not to make light of a… of this situation, Lils, but man, do you know how to destroy."
Lily ignored the purr in Malroth's voice as she looked around. "I need to fix this up…"
"Before you do that," Anessa was standing on the other side of the crater, eyes fixed on Lily. "We need to go check something out. Originally it was going to be War- I'll be going with you instead, I suppose."
"Well, would you look at that." Malroth growled as he and the two girls looked down over the cliff, seeing a large ship docked there. "That must be the Hair Force's ship. I could really do with smashing some shit up."
"Wait." Anessa looked down, clearly looking for something. "I have a man hidden on that ship. He may have valuable intelligence for us. I won't risk exposing him. The last thing we want is a pitched battle. We need to sneak in undetected and meet with him on board." She turned to Lily, making the builder decide between a frontal attack and a break in.
Lily frowned and looked down at the ship again. "Let's try to find your man. If we can't find him, then I'm letting Malroth run hog wild." She saw the annoyance in Malroth's eyes, but then it flashed to hunger at the thought of destroying an entire ship. "Only if we don't find her man, understand? We don't have the weapons to take on this force yet. I know you can probably do it just fine, but I'm not losing you." When he growled to argue back, Lily held up a hand. "You really want me to be on this island by myself?"
Malroth grumbled the whole glide over, ignoring the smug look on Anessa's face as she looked around. "Let's get busy, shall we?" Before they could move far, they heard a howl and then a monster moaning and complaining about something. "What… was that?"
"Stupid troll! He had to go off and get himself killed, didn't he?! And by that stupid builder! Now we've had to sail all the way out here to Moonbrooke to finish what he couldn't." One of the beasts down below snarled, slamming clawed hands down on the railings of the ship just below Lily and her companions. "And we barely made it at that. That stupid storm tore a huge hole in the stern of my poor ship! I should have that stupid little human we found fix it. Too bad they aren't a stupid builder. Stupid storm. Stupid builder."
"Human? There's no way they uncovered my man who snuck aboard… maybe. We have to go and find him." Anessa looked to Lily, pleading with the builder.
The three picked their way down the back of the ship, Lily nearly sat on Malroth's face when he stopped suddenly. He pushed up against her, the top of his head pressed against her rear to keep her from using her energy to sit still. "Monster." He whispered, knowing Lily would hear him. He glanced up, temptation telling him to bite Lily's thigh, but he didn't want the whole ship to know they were there just yet. Once the monster turned, he dropped down as quiet as he could, catching Lily and then Anessa. The three jumped down into the water, trying to quiet their gasps when the ice-cold water swallowed them.
Malroth climbed into the hole, yanking Lily and then Anessa back into the ship. The three froze when they saw a slime staring at them from the other end of the room they had just climbed into. "Goomans…? What are you doing here?!"
"Oh, it's only a slime. Don't worry, I'll wring his little neck and be done with it before he can tell anyone we're here." Malroth grinned, desire to destroy in every step he took towards the slime, knuckles cracking as he moved his fingers.
"Slimes don't have necks, you silly gooze!" The slime hopped away from Malroth as he ran after the slime. The slime stopped in front of Anessa, his little eyes wide. "Anessa?! Long slime no see!" The slime squealed as Malroth caught him, pulling on him. Before Malroth could do any damage though, the two were surrounded by smoke and Malroth was suddenly holding up an old man in green robes.
"Jeremiah?" Anessa watched as Malroth dropped the old man, glaring down at him. "Thank the stars you're alive! I was sure those ghastly beasts had caught you…" She saluted to him, giving him a small smile. "Lily, Malroth, this is Jeremiah. He is under my command, infiltrating the monsters' forces. Alas, his mission has yet to bear fruit…"
"What are you talking about?! I've climbed the ranks faster than any slime in monster history!" The old man beamed, laughing softly. "And the hold is tidier than ever now that I'm in charge of cleaning it!"
"I don't… think that's what you should be bragging about." Malroth had placed himself between Lily and the old man, readying for any attack that might come, not that he really thought the old man was a threat.
"We have no time to waste, Jeremiah. We must find out what the Hair Force's weakness is before we are discovered." Anessa pleaded with the old man.
"I really just think we need fire." Lily shrugged, sighing softly. "I've been working on a tool, but no one had asked me my opinion."
Anessa and Jeremiah were staring at Lily with dropped jaws, their eyes wide. "You can't be serious?"
"I mean… they're covered in fur. Hence 'Hair Force'. I've caught my hair on fire once or twice before… on accident. It only makes sense."
"Maybe we can find a way to ask the monsters-"
"Anessa, none of these monsters are just going… to tell us their weakness." Malroth rolled his eyes, frowning when the old man held a wand out to Lily.
"Here, take this. It has served me very well over the years! Try using it!"
Malroth gasped, hopping around Lily for a moment. "Lily! You're looking a little blue!"
"And you're looking a little slimy." Lily giggled, only to cry out when Malroth encased her in his own slime. "Ewww! Malroth! What are you doing?"
"Sliming you." He laughed as Lily wiggled away from him and his slime. "So… why are we slimes?"
"Simple! This is the power of the mod rod! As you can see, we can ooze – ahem… - use it to disguise ourselves and roam freely through their midst!"
"Wait…! The slime that saved us from those monsters in Moonahan… that was you, wasn't it!" Anessa turned to Jeremiah, tears pooling in her eyes.
"No need to tear up, my dear Anessa. You would have done the same for me!" Jeremiah led the way out of the room they were in currently and over to a bunicorn that was guarding a cell. "Excuse me… but uhm…"
Lily turned to Anessa and Malroth when Jeremiah started whispering to the bunicorn. "Why are you whispering? You want to hop into the cell, have a look around and make sure it's dreary and depressing enough?" The bunicorn laughed and patted Jeremiah on the head with a paw. "That's nothing to be embarrassed about! Go on in. But no funny business, or you'll be stuck in there for good!"
The four hopped slowly into the cell, watching as the bunicorn turned his attention back to the main area. Lily hopped over to the male in the cell, peaking around him. "A-Ahh! M-M-More monsters?! Please… please don't eat me!" The male jumped away from Lily, cowering down to get away from her. "Oh, great and powerful Hargon! Hear my prayer! Save me from this wretched fate!"
Lily used the mod rod to change herself back to normal, frowning at the boy. "Hargon won't save you, you know."
The man slowly looked up, his jaw dropping as he gawked at the girl in front of him. She had an annoyed scowl on her face but that didn't take away from the soft beauty. He could tell that she had a good amount of muscle in her arms and legs, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't pull his gaze away from those piercing blue eyes. "Goodness gracious me… Who in Hargon's name are you? And how did you get in here?" He jumped up, eyes wide as his frown turned into a grin. "Where are my manners? Allow me to introduce myself. I am Haydin – a bard. I snuck onto this ship to look for food-"
"Uh-huh… right. Well, I'm Lily, and the rest isn't important. If you want to live, you'll come with us." She held a hand out to him, barely waiting for him to take her hand before she used the mod rod, cutting off his squeal as she turned them into slimes like the other three in the group. She looked to Jeremiah, waiting for him to take the lead before Malroth went into a rage.
Jeremiah gave a nod and hopped over to a Batmandrill, seeing the annoyed look on the monsters face already. "Excuse me… but one of the bewarewolves has been making our lives hell, would goo tell us how to get back at it?"
"Huh? I guess, those bewarewolves are annoying like that…" The flying monkey hopped in place, laughing out loud. "Eek, eek, eek! I like the cut of your job, newbie! Unfortunately, I can't help you there. Though… that poor powie yowie stuck out on the afterdeck day after day would be more than happy to lend a hand."
Lily took off, hopping away from the batmandrill before he finished speaking. She froze at the top of the stairs though, seeing the horde of monsters lounging around. Fear crept down her spine… well, through her as she slowly hopped away from the monsters that turned to look at her. She led the way quickly through the door and out onto the afterdeck.
The powie yowie turned, seeing the small group of slimes approach him. "Yeth? Ith there thomething I can help you with?" Lily let out a sigh and explained the matter again, similar to how Jeremiah explained it. The powie yowie let out a laugh, holding his big belly. "Lithen, I may look big and nathy, but I'm not the type to north a grudge and theek revenge. Not like that thcarewolf up on the forecathle. Perhapth you should athk him. He'th the biggetht, reddetht, thcarietht chap on the whole ship."
Lily stared at the powie yowie dumbfoundedly, slowly processing the words that he spoke. "Right… thanks." She looked to the others before carefully leading the way back to the horde of monsters. She looked around, trying to figure out which one was the one she needed to approach when she saw the largest scarewolf she had ever seen, he towered over the others, laughing as he threw his head back in a howl. "Of course, it would be him…"
"You're new to the Hair Force, aren't you?" The scarewolf looked down when the little group of slimes approached him. "I hope you're ready to destroy that puny town of Moonbrooke. I can't wait to rip that builder limb from limb!"
"Watch it, furbrain! Tell us the Hair Force's weakness and you'll walk away with both your kneecaps!" Malroth bounced, glaring up at the scarewolf.
"Grah-hah-hah! You've got some spirit, newbie! I like you – so, I'll let you in on a little secret that those humans will never guess. Our fur is both our best defense and our weakest link. It keeps us safe in the storm – whether that's one of snow, or of swords. But, get a candle too close and we go up like a sack of kindling!" He pointed to a fire nearby. "Speaking of which, go put that out!"
Lily looked to Anessa, frowning at the girl. "I told you."
