There were only three bedrolls between them, but Kavil volunteered to not use his. And by volunteered, Priscilla meant that once he laid out his cloak on the ground and fluffed his pillow, Kavil was out like a light. Illnyea fell asleep shortly after, curled up in Kavil's bedroll and lightly snoring.

Priscilla really did try to fall asleep, tucking herself into her bedroll and closing her eyes while she tried to count sheep. But with each breath she took, the smell of the fire invaded her psyche, conjuring up images of Frean's broken body before they cremated him. Desperate to banish those images from her brain, Priscilla let her thoughts drift to everything that happened during this very long day, eventually floating back to the magical overload from earlier.

It had been a disorienting and terrifying minute, but Priscilla slowly replayed the events in her mind to make sense of it. She frowned as she recalled that Asha had tried to speak before Priscilla grabbed Illnyea and got her soul yoinked by the god of cowards. The god claimed they could do nothing to help Illnyea, but when Priscilla woke back up, Illnyea had been perfectly fine. The only two people nearby were The Starving One, who would have happily watched Illnyea die, and Asha. Maybe the artifact had channeled some of the excess magical energy, which could explain the new memories, but until Priscilla asked Asha, she could only speculate about what stabilized Illnyea. Priscilla made a mental note to bring it up next time they had a moment alone together.

The god of cowards had been condescending during her meeting with them, but the fact that there was even a meeting meant that they cared about her a lot more than they pretended they did. The supposed mark on Priscilla's soul was something she was too tired to be concerned about. Unless they get onto a cleric's shitlist, it shouldn't ever come up. If somehow they encountered someone like Jeroinin, Priscilla didn't know what she'd say as an explanation.

Yeah, so I've been chatting with a god I call the god of cowards, which is a mouthful, so let's just call them GOC, and they marked my soul because that was the price for stopping my organs from liquefying. Why GOC? Because the bastard won't tell me their name and keeps disappearing. No, I don't know why they saved me. Yes, I'm sure I'm not crazy.

She sighed quietly, telling herself she had given it a good honest try, sitting up to run her fingers through her hair to try and reset her mind.

"What are you doing awake?"

Priscilla flinched at Sulaiman's voice, quiet though it may be.

"What are you doing awake?" Priscilla shot back, glaring down at him. Since Illnyea and Kavil fell asleep so quickly, Priscilla ended up putting down the head of her bedroll next to Illnyea's head, and Sulaiman put his down similarly next to Kavil. Neither spoke about the fact that this put Priscilla and Sulaiman closer to the edge of the camp in case any monsters attacked.

Sulaiman was unimpressed by her rebuttal, rolling his eyes and leaning back onto his arm while flinging the other across his stomach to stare above them. Priscilla followed his gaze and saw the black smoke had cast a hazy smog across the sky, blocking out the stars. The moons were just bright enough to shine through, but muted as they struggled to pierce the veil.

"I can't stand it," Sulaiman said suddenly, breaking the silence. Priscilla startled and blinked at him.

He hadn't looked away from the sky, staring up with an expression that was hard to see completely in the shadows cast from the bonfire behind them.

"The smell from the pyre," Sulaiman continued, the hand on his stomach balling into a fist, "makes me think of the night of the bandit attack on Kavil's village."

Priscilla's fingers twitched at that revelation. Sulaiman had said that everything had gone well when she asked about it but… Priscilla hadn't actually had the chance to grill him about the details because Sulaiman was so focused on knowing what she had done during the fight.

Priscilla had spent a lot of time with villagers on the night she got drunk, and they were more than happy to regale her with tales from the battle. Several had waxed poetry about the way Sulaiman had rushed to their rescue, his sword a fiery blur as he cut them down, inspiring people to launch their counterattack in earnest. Most of the battle was accounted for except…

Slowly, Priscilla asked, "Sulaiman, what happened that night with the archers after I left you?"

Sulaiman's hand twitched and his jaw tightened, but his gaze didn't shift nor did he say anything immediately. Priscilla waited for a long moment to give him time to answer her, long enough that she realized she might not get an answer.

Priscilla held back a sigh and decided to do some sky-gazing of her own, lying back down on her bedroll and crossing her hands over her stomach.

"I can't stop thinking about Frean anytime I smell cooking meat of any kind," Priscilla confessed quietly, "and thinking about Frean makes me think about… about how we found him. I can't go to sleep because I know my dreams are going to be filled with the sight of his body and I'm afraid he'll be asking me why I didn't save him too."

Sulaiman breathed in sharply but Priscilla resisted the urge to see what expression he had. Nightmares had already been a nasty near nightly occurrence and Priscilla knew the smell would be sure to infect her dreams. Maybe even put Illnyea in Frean's place – Priscilla winced and abruptly changed that line of thought. There was no reason to give herself more nightmare fuel than necessary.

Neither of them said anything for a few minutes, but Priscilla found that she didn't feel an urge to fill the silence. She had said her piece – whether or not Sulaiman spoke, Priscilla felt a little lighter now that she acknowledged it aloud. Though the view was shit and the smell was horrid, it was nice to just be in the presence of someone who understood her and just breathe for the first time during this very long day.

"I burned them to death," Sulaiman whispered just as Priscilla had thought she had finally become relaxed enough to attempt sleeping again.

Priscilla went still, her eyes pausing mid-close.

"An unavoidable dagger was coming for my throat and I didn't think, I just reacted, and I burned him to death. Then…" It sounded like Sulaiman swallowed hard. "Then I lost my temper and burned them all until there was nothing but ashes."

She took a slow breath in and out, contemplating how to respond to that, if it even needed a response at all. It felt cheap to say that the men were going to die anyway, or to say they deserved that fate because Priscilla didn't think it was killing them all that Sulaiman cared about.

The crux of the issue was much more likely to be the fact that he wasn't in control while he killed them — and that would be a terrifying thing for someone like Sulaiman, who prided himself with his self-control. Hell, it terrified Priscilla just thinking about using a magic that was so easily affected by her emotions; the freaky silver monster that tried to take over her was still a regular in her nightmares.

"That must have been terrifying to go through," was what Priscilla finally ended up saying.

Sulaiman shifted and breathed in deeply.

"It was," he said slowly, like it pained him to admit, "but… I survived, and that's all that matters."

Another minute of silence passed between them as Priscilla tried and failed to come up with something that could actually comfort Sulaiman.

There was the rustling of fabric and then Sulaiman was sitting up, blocking out the smokey sky as he looked down at Priscilla with his brows furrowed.

She blinked up at him in surprise, saying, "Is something wrong?"

Sulaiman looked frustrated by her words, letting out a sharp breath and looking away.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

"You're not…" Sulaiman struggled with his sentence, his frustration compounding itself visibly as the words refused to cooperate. His shoulders were tense, and his fist was twisting in the bedroll fabric. Priscilla watched him, drawing on her memories from the story and from her own experiences with Sulaiman as she made an educated guess about what he was struggling to say.

"If you're wondering if I'm scared of you," Priscilla said quietly, "I'm not."

Sulaiman's shoulders twitched violently and he refused to look back towards her, telling her she was right on the money.

"You lost control," Priscilla said quietly and Sulaiman's jaw tightened, "but that doesn't mean I'd be scared of you."

"But what if it happens again?" Sulaiman asked, his tone dark and cutting. "What if I burn Illnyea or Kavil next because I–"

Priscilla reached up and covered Sulaiman's mouth with her hand, cutting off his words. Sulaiman finally looked down with wide eyes and furrowed brows, surprise and outrage fighting for dominance on his face.

"Sulaiman," Priscilla began, making sure she had his full attention, "I don't think there's anything you can do that would make me scared of you. Scared for you, sure, but…" Priscilla shook her head, smiling ruefully at him. Sulaiman's gaze was intense as it bored into Priscilla, his black eyes like bottomless pools of ink that sucked in all light. "The fact that you're afraid of this happening again tells me what type of man you are."

"And to be totally clear," Priscilla continued, giving Sulaiman a sharp look, "that's the type of man I trust with my life, so don't you dare go about insulting him – only I'm allowed to do that when he's being a tyrant."

Sulaiman snorted softly, his breath warm against her palm, then looked surprised at himself. Priscilla decided to be gracious and allow him the privilege of speech.

"For someone who accuses me of being a tyrant," Sulaiman said, the corners of his mouth twitching upwards, "you sure like to boss me around."

"You never listen," Priscilla sighed dramatically, "but maybe one day you'll come to your senses and realize I'm full of good ideas about how to live your life."

Sulaiman snorted again, before it morphed into full blown, disbelieving laughter. It wasn't very loud, but it shook Sulaiman's body as a toothy grin spread across his face, quickly hidden by his hand. The fire from the pyre illuminated him from behind, highlighting that his hair wasn't black, it was actually a dark blue like deep water in the ocean. For a moment, Priscilla just stared because this was the first time she had seen him laugh like this, his expression so uncontrolled and free, before she remembered what he was laughing at.

"How dare you laugh at me, you rude bastard," Priscilla said, trying and failing to shove him over. It just made him laugh harder, and Priscilla huffed in offense and tried (and failed) again. The damn man had far too much core strength, he really ought to wobble at least a little to spare her pride.

"You're an idiot," Sulaiman said as his laughter ebbed from him. The tension had drained from his body, his shoulders loose and relaxed as he leaned back on his hands, tilting his head as he stared at Priscilla.

Priscilla rolled her eyes. "You should get some better insults."

"When you stop being an idiot, I will."

Priscilla glared at Sulaiman, opening her mouth as she readied her response, but he said, "I think it's time for both of us to get to sleep now."

She closed her mouth, eyeing Sulaiman suspiciously – that was a conveniently timed excuse to get out of a verbal tongue lashing. Sulaiman just smirked before he laid back down in his bedroll.

Conceding defeat, Priscilla sighed and said, "Goodnight you tyrant."

"Goodnight idiot."

It took every ounce of self-control to not reach out and viciously poke Sulaiman in the ribs. Priscilla comforted herself with thoughts of getting revenge when he least expected it.

Priscilla had a surprisingly decent night of sleep. It wasn't great but it wasn't as plagued with nightmares as she feared it would be. She supposed she had the conversation with Sulaiman to thank for that, as it had redirected her thoughts into worrying about him instead.

Kavil looked extremely well-rested as he very politely forced Priscilla to sit still as he shored up her bruised ribs before he bustled about to check on the other villagers' injuries, dragging Sulaiman with him to act as the muscle for those with broken bones that needed to be rebroken. Illnyea had found a discarded sword from the cultists and had declared it usable and attached it to her belt. Priscilla busied herself with packing up and checking over her own weapons and supplies while snacking on some dried fruit.

Once they reconvened, Kavil decided that he would carry the gold shepherd's hook just as they attached Beowulf's club to Sulaiman's pack.

"I've held staffs like this before," Kavil said, carefully gripping the metal in his hand as he gave it a few practice swings, "and I don't think I can rely on punching if something gets too close."

It wasn't long before everyone was ready to head out, each villager armed and staring at the fens like they were daring it to mess with them. When Tabitha learned they had monster repelling incense, she demanded they light some, no matter how much Priscilla suspected it was a fake. But Tabitha was firm, and Priscilla didn't feel like arguing, so interspersed amongst their number were sticks of incense, covering the whole area with the smell of lemon.

Tabitha led the way with Holly with Sulaiman to clear out the fog. They were going to follow the speckled stones back to the tree and then use the compass to guide them from there. Kavil and Priscilla were on either side of the villagers, and Illnyea pulled up the rear.

Just as they began to head out, something dashed out from the brush and skittered to a halt near the back of their group. Everyone was tense, ready for anything.

But as Priscilla craned her neck, she saw that same damn purple platypus was back again, clacking its beak rapidly. It sat upon Illnyea's boot as it tried and and failed to climb up with its webbed feet. Illnyea, the ever-trusting, laughed and picked up the platypus, placing it on her shoulder, where it immediately made itself comfortable.

Priscilla stared before sighing, wondering what they'd do if Illnyea tried to take the platypus with them.

They'd have to give it a name, get some sort of carrier for it to travel in comfortably, and figure out what it ate and how to feed it, not to mention figuring out how to keep it safe during battles – Priscilla sighed again, banishing that line of thought as they began moving, deciding she'd worry more about that if the situation actually came to that. She tried to placate herself that at least the platypus would be adding in some animal instinct to help Illnyea keep watch in the back.

Their travels were uneventful as with over two dozen pairs of eyes, nothing got the drop on them and most predators were wary of taking them on all at once due to their numbers.

The first time a monster decided to take the risk was when a pack of Firebog Wolves attempted to ambush them from behind just after they began traveling after stopping for lunch.

Priscilla barely had Asha's warning tug to turn around before Illnyea sounded the alarm. Three wolves closed in and Priscilla hissed out, "Fuck," as she pulled out bat, taking two steps forward to give Illnyea back up.

And the strangest fucking thing happened.

The platypus, who had been quiet and unobtrusive despite its noisy entrance, opened up its beak.

A low, reverberating growl erupted, shaking Priscilla so hard it made her teeth chatter just as a flash of light erupted from it. The small furred body that had just been there expanded into something much larger but insubstantial, tendrils of purple light lashing out from it like wrathful tentacles. One slammed into the ground in front of the closet wolf, and it skidded to a halt with a high-pitched whine.

The wolves turned on their tails and the fens around them filled with the sounds of rapidly fleeing wolves.

Maybe I should be worrying a hell of a lot more about Illnyea's animal friend, Priscilla thought as she came to an abrupt halt.

The platypus chirped happily, no evidence of the eldritch creature that had been there just a moment ago and rubbed against Illnyea's cheek like it had never moved.

Priscilla looked around to see if anyone else was freaking out about what just happened.

But everyone just looked either relieved or mildly confused as the wolves began sprinting as fast as their paws could carry them.

"I didn't know that your face was so scary it scared off monsters, Illnyea," Sulaiman called out, relaxing from where he had drawn his sword.

Illnyea spun around, letting out an outraged, "My face is not that ugly!"

Sulaiman let his eyebrows do all the talking, I didn't call you ugly, and Illnyea glared at Sulaiman, her cheeks reddening as her mouth twisted into a pout.

Priscilla didn't join in the banter, trying to figure out if she was just hallucinating.

Her gaze unwillingly settled on the platypus.

It was staring right back at her, its eyes an unfathomable black like the void of space.

A chill went down Priscilla's spine and Asha tightened around her hand but Priscilla didn't know if her artifact was just responding to her emotions or it too had seen the strange occurrence.

Priscilla decided to force a smile onto her face like she hadn't seen anything.

This creature, terrifying and clearly powerful though it may be, clearly favored Illnyea, so Priscilla would let the little beast go unchallenged for now. Priscilla would keep an eye on it and as long as it seemed their wishes were aligned, she'd leave it be. Besides, it seemed like no one else had seen the display and she'd look like a crazy person for calling it out.

"Let's get moving," Tabitha called, and the platypus looked away from Priscilla, deciding to beg Illnyea for more attention.

Pricilla breathed a little easier as she fell back into marching order, and decided that if they were going to get the platypus carrier, they probably should make sure it was the most comfortable carrier in the whole goddamn world.

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