"Awoooo"

Lily's head snapped up from what she was working on, she looked over, seeing Malroth idly cleaning his axe. "Mal, did you hear that?"

"Hear what?" He looked up and around, suddenly straining to listen for what Lily had heard.

Lily stood still for a moment, but the sound didn't repeat. She shook her head, laughing at herself. "I'm going crazy now. It must have been the wind." She went back to working on the blade she had been sharpening. "You know, you could go do your patrols, I'll be fine."

"I'm good right here." Malroth looked up, meeting those brilliant blue eyes. "I'm not leaving your side if I can help it."

"And what about when it's your turn to patrol?"

"Then I'll have Zara or Anessa or that priestess sleep in our room with you."

"And what are they going to do if something happens?"

"Be a witness to that piece of shit coming into our room when he was told to stay away."

"Actually, you were told to stay away from him, Mal. The others aren't going to believe something like that, especially if I don't remember it." She lifted the blade up, swinging it gently through the air, grinning when flames slowly followed the blade. "Perfect."

Malroth sat up, his eyes wide as he stared at the red blade. "Woah… what do I have to do to get my hands on one of those?"

Lily grinned and pulled a giant club out from her pouch. "How about I one up you instead? I enchanted it so it does extreme destruction."

"Oh yeah?" Malroth purred as he took it from her, slipping out into the large corridor and swinging it around. "I wanna go test this baby out."

Lily had her arms crossed and was grinning at him. "I don't think we'll have to worry about that, Anessa told me this morning that a few of the hair forces were starting to march this way." She looked up, seeing Warwick standing in the hall that led to the War Room. She frowned, feeling her stomach knot up as he crossed his arms. "I-"

Malroth turned, feeling eyes on his back. His lip lifted in a loud snarl as he put himself between Lily and Warwick. "What do you want?"

"Nothing from you, brute. I wanted to voice an honest concern to Lily, about something near and dear to my heart."

"Like you have one of those."

"Mine is about the same size as yours."

"Stop. Both of you." Lily snapped at both of them as she came up next to Malroth, forcing her arms down to her sides. "What do you want, Warwick?"

"I'm worried about Anessa. Something has been off, she seems angrier since… well, since Moonahan. With this blueprint finished," he was talking about how everyone had finished the traps that had been laid out for the Hair Force earlier this morning. "we'll have no trouble defeating the Hair Force, but… she is determined to stick to the teachings of Hargon. I cannot help but worry about her… but you needn't. I just… wanted to ask that you don't hold her obstinacy against her."

Lily stared at Warwick as he turned to leave, her eyes narrowed. What was he trying to say? "That didn't make a lick of sense."

"Has he ever?"

"No, no he hasn't."

Gerome gave Warwick a nod as he passed the younger soldier, peaking into rooms as walked by them. He looked up, seeing Lily and Malroth watching him with a brow raised. "My dear builder. Have you seen Carl, Walter or Joe?"

"I'm sorry… who?" Lily crossed her arms finally as she focused on evening out her breathing. "You'll have to forgive me, Gerome, but I have no idea who you're talking about."

"Well… they are three newer soldiers that joined with the last batch, I haven't seen them since yesterday. They may simply have deserted… but with all this talk of spies hiding among us, I fear a more sinister fate may have befallen them." Gerome frowned at the two friends when they rolled their eyes at him. "I am not looking for attention, builder, my gut is telling me something happened. And my gut is not wrong very often."

"Right… well then." Lily let out a grumpy sigh as she turned to leave Gerome. A loud squeal left her when Malroth suddenly grabbed the back of her dress. "H-Hey! Mal?!"

"You were right about me not having to worry about testing this puppy out." Malroth snarled as he looked to the main gates, his red eyes ablaze with hunger. "Here they come."


Lily and Malroth stood at the top of the gates, watching as the hairy monsters slowly marched towards their fiery traps. "Everyone has been told to wait at the pyres until the monsters have taken damage from the traps, correct?" Lily looked over her shoulder to Gerome, Anessa and Warwick. When the three nodded, Malroth dropped down, slamming his club on the ground.

Before Lily could drop down as well, the King ran up, huffing and puffing. "Lily! Take this, may it help you in this fight." He handed her a small vial of clear liquid. Lily gave him a nod as she tucked it into her pouch, she jumped down and into Malroth's waiting arms. "No rushing in, Mal. Please."

"I know the rules." Malroth grinned when she kissed his jaw. "I bet this is going to be easier than they think." He teased as he watched a few smaller monsters rush headfirst into the traps only to be annihilated.

Then the real fight started, Anessa with Zara at her back, rushed into the area with the traps, easily taking down a few monsters. Lily and Malroth worked together to fight off a scarewolf who had made it past the traps. Malroth jumped over Lily, blocking an attack to her back. When Lily looked around Malroth, she saw Anessa struggling to move her blade forward against Malroth's club. "Anessa?"

Lily threw her sword up just in time to dodge an attack from Zara. "Hey! Snap out of it!" Lily snapped, seeing how Zara's eyes were dull with some form of magic. "Everyone! Stay away from the claws of the scarewolves if you can help it! They'll turn you against your friends!" She slipped out from under Zara's blade, slamming the butt of her own into the girls' temple and watching her go down. "Dammit. We need to get them out of here."

"No telling if they'll wake up in that stupor or not." Malroth growled as he handed his club to Lily and picked the two girls up, running back to an area that should be safe from the fighting. He ran back to Lily, taking his club before jumping in between two scarewolves.

"Malroth! Don't get hit…" Lily found herself stuck where she was, watching him fight off the two wolves. She knew deep down she didn't need to worry; this was Malroth. But at the same time… he had a lot on his mind at the moment.


Anessa sat up with a whimper a little while later, rubbing her temple. "Dammit…" She looked over, seeing Zara starting to stir now. "Zara, are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I think I tried to attack Lily though…" Zara pushed herself up onto her hands and knees, looking over to the fight and seeing the batmandrill jumping around. "I don't think I'll be able to get up…"

"Rest here… the others will understand." Anessa slowly got up and walked over to the fray. "Lily… Malroth… I apologize for-"

"You were under a spell." Lily grinned back at Anessa, giving her a wink. "Hurry up and jump in before Malroth and I take all the spoils."

Anessa relaxed, a soft smile spreading on her lips as she watched Lily run towards Malroth who was ready to throw her in the air. "You two deserve to have all the spoils, dear builder." She sheathed her sword, listening to the destructive blows that came from the power move. "I had a feeling I wouldn't get many hits in this fight."

Malroth stood over the dying batmandrill, club dripping blood behind him. "You may… have won the battle, boy… but you won't win this war… Hargon's Heroes… will be… victorious-" Malroth slammed the club down on the monsters' head before he could finish his words. "High time you shut the fuck up." He turned to Lily, a grin spreading across his lips. "I'd say that's a victory for us!"

"Those traps really worked, Lily!" Gerome slapped Lily on the back, laughing out loud.

"Sorry to break it to you, grandad. But the traps aren't the be all and end all. We're the ones who actually put our neck on the line to finish the monsters off." Malroth glared at the old man, wanting nothing more than to tuck Lily against him and protect her from the ones who were so easily swayed by magic.

"That may be, but every little bit helps." Warwick argued, eyes narrowing on Malroth. "The Air Force and the Scare Force are still out there, and we will need every tool at our disposal to lay them low. For now, let's fix up the damage that was done."

Lily followed Malroth who was all but vibrating with the need to kill something else, a worried look in her eyes. "Mal… he really has you worked up…"

"Yeah! He fucking does!" Malroth howled as he held the door open to the depths of the castle, though he stepped in front of Lily, breathing in deep. "Hang on a fucking minute." He grabbed her hand, leading her back to the civilians of Moonbrooke. "Why do I still smell monsters?"

Haydin looked up from the lute he was tuning, a wild scream leaving him. "Hargon preserve us! Look over there!" The group that was inside the gate ran outside, watching in horror as two gargoyles circled over two newer soldiers as they ran back towards the castle, fear in their eyes.

Malroth ran out, his club out and ready to strike the monsters, only to watch helplessly as the monsters swung their blades, some kind of magic striking the two soldiers. Malroth froze, watching the soldiers fall limp to the ground. "What…? How?!"

"Consider this a warning from the Air Force." One of the gargoyles turned, purring at Lily who stood at the front of the group, just behind Malroth. "Puny humans." They turned, facing away from the castle.

"How… how are they here already? We aren't ready for another battle…" Warwick was the first to cry out, stumbling towards the fallen soldiers. Lily jumped in front of Warwick, throwing her shield up as the gargoyles turned and attacked from the air. She glared back at Warwick, snarling at him. "Get up, dammit! This is no time to mourn!" She left him and ran back inside, listening to Malroth bark about not being able to reach them.

Lily ran back inside the gates and climbed the ladder as quick as she could, glaring down at the flying monsters. "Hey! Bird brain! I know I'm what you want!" She reached into her pouch, knowing she had taken some hits in that fight as she tossed back the clear liquid from the vial the King had given her.

The gargoyles turned their attention from toying with Malroth to Lily who was standing at the top of the gates. "Caw, hah, hah! We don't have to come up to you, we just have to stay out of his reach and yours-" The monster gawked when Lily backed away from the edge, only to sprint and launch herself down, sword up and ready. He went to dodge the attack, but Lily's sword landed in a wing. That, with her weight working against him, the gargoyle plummeted to the ground and into Malroth's wrath.

The other gargoyle stared with wide eyes, watching as his fellow monsters was beaten to a pulp beneath that cursed club of Malroth's. "And you call us the monsters…" His attention snapped to Lily, seeing her bash her sword against her shield.

"Come on, bird brain! You couldn't catch me if I was as limp as your friend." Lily threw her sword and shield to the ground, unable to help the rage she felt swelling inside of her. "What would you be rewarded… if you could bring the builder to your leader. Huh? C'mon, I bet you're too chicken shit to even try!"

The gargoyle let out a screech that turned into a howl of his own rage. He flinched when Lily let out a howl of her own, he rubbed his eyes, to make sure he was seeing correctly. When he pulled his hands down from his eyes, he saw it a little more clearly, a soft blue energy was wrapped around the builder.

"Awoooo"

He tilted his head when Lily went still, then spun in a slow circle. The monster dropped down, sitting on the castle wall the group of humans had built. "Just what… are you, little human?" His wings flapped as he went to take off, only to spiral to the ground when an arrow hit his wing. "Wh-What?!"

Esther stood at the top of the gates, a bow in hand as she glared down at the gargoyle. "I vowed I would never take a life… but I can't forgive you for taking the lives of those soldiers."


The group stood outside, watching as Esther spoke a small prayer for the fallen soldiers, tears in her eyes and voice. Warwick walked away some, regret in his voice as he looked up at the cloudy sky. "They're dead… they're never coming back…" He balled his hands into fists, shouting up to the heavens. "I… I don't want to die… we have to win, no matter what!"

As the others left, Lily and Anessa stayed to gather the fallen, pausing when Warwick turned his back to them. "Recent events have served as a stark reminder of the mercilessness of the monsters' forces… and the true horrors of death. I will not give in to this darkness… I will escape this bally fate." He turned to the girls once more, frowning at them.

Anessa let out a soft sigh as she picked up one of the fallen, glancing at Lily. "Warwick lost his whole family to the monsters. His parents… brothers and sisters… all slain, mercilessly. It's little wonder that he's keener than any of us to end this war. He hates death with a passion…"

"Lily… if we hope to survive, let alone defeat them, then we must add to our strength. Will you ring the Builder's Bell one more time?"

Lily stared up at Warwick, something stirring in the back of her head as she looked into the amber eyes. She quickly looked away, moving to pick up the other soldier when her skin suddenly had goosebumps, and not from the cold. She shot up, looking around, her heart in her throat as she waited, listening.

"Lily, what's gotten into you?" Anessa frowned at the builder, looking to Warwick and then back at Lily.

Lily smacked the heel of her hand into her temple a few times. "Nothing. It's nothing. Yeah, I'll ring the bell." She quickly picked up the fallen soldier and disappeared into the castle.


"You know, Lily… I've heard these tales of a spy within our ranks. My mind has just run wild with the thought! What if it were Warwick? He's so noble and upstanding – almost suspiciously so! Or Zara? There's something curiously unassuming about her…" Haydin said in a sing-song tone as Lily worked on a new room for the castle. "And what of Lord Jeremiah? He might be a double agent, turned by the monsters during his time among them!"

"And it could be you." Lily's voice was thick with her boredom of this bards wild tales.

"Wh-what?! It could be me? Don't be ridiculous! I may be a devout disciple of the Children of Hargon, but espionage is not one of my many talents!" He huffed as he trotted out the door.

Lily finished the small armory in peace before moving on and building a training area. Once she was done with that she walked into the Bell Room, frowning up at the bell. She knew she needed to ring it, she could feel her own magic swelling within her to the point that it was starting to hurt her joints. With a stern nod, Lily lifted her hammer, bringing it down on the bell. A noise left her, along with her magic, the sensation left her feeling empty and numb. She leaned against the bell tower only to force herself to straighten up and smile when people came running into the room.


Lily, Malroth and Anessa stood at the edge of the natural tunnel, eyes narrowed on the camp before them. "Air Force, huh?" Lily looked to Malroth and Anessa, shrugging some. "Guess we should change." The other two gave a nod and grabbed Lily's hands as she used the mod rod, they stayed quiet as they looked at each other, slimes again.

Lily led the way, bouncing down the path towards the camp when Anessa came up next to her. "Lily, I have been informed of the… why Malroth attacked Warwick. I've known him for as long as I can remember, that is not something he would do. He-"

Lily suddenly changed back, anger causing tears to pool in her eyes. "Shut up. I don't care. I have no proof of anything besides his" she thrust an arm towards Malroth as she spoke. "nose, and I… I have no idea how to make any of this clear to any of you idiots… but I do not trust you, you all are so quick to turn on your fucking friends! Do you want to know how many people think that you are the spy?! Do you know how many people think Zara is the spy?! And more people think it's your long dead King! News flash, Anessa! I don't fucking care! I want to finish what I've started and go home!" She changed back to a slime and bounced towards the camp, leaving Malroth and Anessa by themselves.

"I-"

"I just want you to understand one thing, Anessa…"

The girl turned, staring at Malroth with widened eyes, he looked so calm… too calm. The sight of him like this sent a shiver of dread through Anessa as he spoke softly.

"If this island breaks her, I'll destroy every living thing on it. At this point, she doesn't care if she has people to help fight Hargon's army or not. She wants as far from this place as possible. And if it just didn't exist anymore…" Malroth finally looked at Anessa, his stare was steady and true before he hopped after Lily.


"Hey, you! What are you thlackerth doing wandering around? If you've got nothing to do, I'll find thomething to keep you buthy!" An orange flying monster rushed up to the three as they entered the camp, his dark eyes narrowed. "Go and gather more flurry featherth! If we don't have enough, a particularly bluthtery breeze ith all it would take to leave uth abtholutely helpleth!" He put a claw to his little chin, thinking for a moment. "It'th funny to think that the thame thing can thtir up the greatetht galeth and although thoothe the thtrongetht thquallth… rethently, the thkieth have been growing darker by the day. If a whirlwind whipped up while we were in the air… it'd be curtainth for uth!"

A dark grin spread on Lily's lips as she nodded to the monster. "Understood, sir! We'll goo get those feathers!" She wandered over to another flying devil, grinning up at him. "We've been sent to goolect your feathers, sir."

"Ith that tho? How do I know you can be truthted? I know! I'll athk you thome quethtionth that only a loyal member of our thquadron could anthwer!" The devil grinned back at Lily. "Firtht quethtion: What'th the name of our thquadron? Ith it the Care Forthe?"

"Pffft. No."

"You think tho, do you? Alright, my thecond quethtion ith about the army that wath defeated by the wretched thtupid builder of Moonbrooke – the Hair Forthe: Wath their commander a powie yowie?"

"Do I look stupid? No."

"An interethting rethponthe… final quethtion, then: including mythelf, are there three pretty purple gremlinth in thith camp – more, no leth?"

"Yes…"

"Well, if you they tho… Now let'th thee how you did… oh! Perfect thcore! Well, that proveth it – you're an upthtanding member of our illuthtriouth order alright. Here you go – the flurry featherth I collected! They're all yourth!"

Lily happily took the feathers before bouncing away, snickering to herself. "Idiots." She bounced to the next purple gremlin, looking up at him. "The gremlin in charge sent ooze to collect your feathers, sir."

"Huh?" The gremlin turned and scratched the back of his head, nervously laughing. "Well… I found mine… but then I lotht them again… I didn't want anyone to thteal them, you thee, tho I hid them in the poithon thwamp… and then completely forgot where I put them…" He looked towards the poison swamp at the back of the camp, nervously laughing. "I remember theeing an old crate floating in the water thomewhere nearby. Perhapth you could find them for me!"

"So… the feathers are in the swamp? The deadly, poisonous one? Well, what are we waiting for – let's dive in!" Malroth laughed and started bouncing towards the swamp.

The three raced to the swamp where Lily changed them back to normal. She pulled out her bottomless pot and set to work quickly clearing away the poisonous water. "There." She quickly opened the chest hiding in the slimy ground, collecting the feathers.

Lily grabbed Anessa and Malroth, using the mod rod to change them, her eyes nearly bugged out of her head though when she was staring at a girl who looked oddly like Malroth… but a girl… in a bunny outfit. "No… way…"

"Holy fucking shit! What the fuck happened to you!?" Malroth jabbed a finger at Lily and Anessa. "You're boys! In bunny outfits!" He let out a roar of laughter, freezing when his voice got much higher in pitch than normal. "W… wait…" He looked down, shock leaving him speechless as he reached up, cupping his breasts. "Oh… hey, these are soft-"

"And you're done!" Lily quickly used the rod again, sighing in relief when they were slimes again. "Goodness… I'll have to talk to Jeremiah about that one."

Malroth was grinning at her, a hunger in those beady little slime eyes of his. "If you ever wanna switch rolls, Lily-"

"Malroth! No, no, no!" She gasped before jumping away, leaving him alone with Anessa again. She felt like she was turning red from embarrassment, luckily though, her little blue slime body was still blue as she approached the last gremlin. "Collecting feathers, sir!"

"Thertainly! I thtored mine thafely in thith thtoreroom." He waved to the small building behind him, but then he paused and looked at Lily who was quickly joined by Malroth and Anessa. "Thaaaay… what are a bunch of wingleth wonderth like you doing in the Air Forthe? You can't even fly! Thith all theemth very thuthpiciouth to me…" He glanced to where the supervisory gremlin was sitting by his warm fire. "…but if the thupervithor thent you, everything mutht be above board! Give me a thecond, I'll unlock the door for you." Lily sat frozen for a moment, still thinking of excuses as to why slimes would be in the Air Force when the gremlin unlocked the door for them. "Alright, there you go – all unlocked. The flurry featherth are in the chetht. Head on in and help yourthelveth!"

Lily had barely gotten the door closed behind them when Anessa let out a gasp and was sitting on a ledge, staring up at a mirror. "Wait! Is this…?"

Lily shielded her eyes as a bright light filled the room, when she lowered her arms, she was staring at a very normal Malroth and a very normal Anessa. "G…guys?"

"What's going on? We're back to normal. Lily, did you change us back?" Malroth looked down, frowning at his builder.

"Just as I thought. That mirror… it's–" Before Anessa could finish her words, the door opened, and the gremlin came in. "What'th going on in there? Did you find the flurry featherth yet or– SKREEE?! Human thpieth?! Oooh, you won't get away with thith! Skreeeee!"

Before the gremlin could say anything more, Malroth was on him. Lily gave Malroth a high five when he ran back over to her. "Now that he's dealt with, why did we change back into humans all of a sudden?" He looked around, as if trying to figure it out.

"Over on that wall… that is Ra's Mirror. The legendary looking glass is said to reveal the true form of all it reflects. I thought it lost forever – I never imagined the monsters had it all along…" Anessa slowly walked up to the mirror, her fingers so close to touching it, but it was almost as if she couldn't bring herself to complete the act.

"Huh. So that's what made us drop our disguises…" Malroth gave a tilt of his head, frowning at it.

Lily walked over to it, making sure she was to the side of it when she approached it. "Lily," she looked to Anessa, trying to ignore the way her heart was in her throat as the other girl spoke. "We cannot leave behind a powerful relic… not with the monsters. We should take it." Lily gave a slow nod and took the mirror off the wall, shoving it quickly into her pouch.

The three grabbed the feathers and changed back, slowly peeking out of the room, but when none of the other monsters noticed the ruckus they had caused, they made a B-line for the bridge that led in and out of the camp. Lily froze when she saw four gargoyles and the supervisor gremlin waiting on the other side. "There you are! You've collected all of the flurry featherth? Exthellent work! And jutht in time, too! I feel a thtorm coming, but with thothe featherth, we can thafely–"

The five flying monsters whirled around, looking up to the skies as a funnel cloud slowly descending upon them. "Thuffering thuckertash! It'th a tornado! Everyone back inthide the bathe! Quick!" The supervisor gremlin rushed inside, leaving the others to fend for themselves.

The trio dove behind some rocks, listening as the tornado ripped through the valley they were in, leaving two of the gargoyles that hadn't been fast enough knocked silly before them. Lily grinned back at the other two as she started bouncing away from the camp. "I have an idea. Let's get back!"