To Fight Against Fate

The first two days of traveling went without any major incident.

Priscilla and her companions all had their own horses, and Perry's travel carrier was attached to Illnyea's saddle. The platypus spent most of his time napping, though occasionally he left the carrier to sit in Illnyea's lap and stare judgementally at his surroundings. Every ounce of his five pounds was concentrated sass. Each time Priscilla caught the platypus looking at her, she raised an eyebrow and the little wretch sniffed disdainfully, turning up his bill. Having one-sided beef with a platypus wasn't something that Priscilla had imagined would happen to her when she first came to this world, but it was certainly the funniest.

Mr. Ordan drove the carriage, looking oddly at home as he held the horses' reigns. Arnold switched between sitting next to the former butler and sitting with the luggage, his probably enchanted goggles pulled down as he tinkered away with something in his hands.

"What're you working on?" Illnyea asked the first evening when they made camp, staring curiously at Arnold when he had set up a temporary table by the fire. He had a small bowl filled with ink in the center of the table. He carefully tapped a few grains of powdered horn into it before he started to stir at a constant pace, occasionally adding a few more grains to the mixture. Priscilla's skin tingled each time he completed another rotation of the spoon, letting her know Arnold was using some sort of magic as he made his concoction.

The enchanter didn't even look up as he flatly said, "I'm making ink."

Illnyea inched closer slowly, like one approached a cat they were afraid to startle.

"Will the horn give it special properties?" she asked, peering at the black liquid sloshing around.

Arnold paused in his stirring, adding another small shower of powder to dissolve in the ink before resuming.

"Depends on what it's paired with," Arnold said, sounding distracted. "It can lend swiftness if you inscribe it onto stones aligned with the wind elements or enhance natural defensive properties of other materials. Now shoo, brat — " Arnold glared briefly at Illnyea, but quickly glanced back down as if he was afraid of ruining the ink, " — I don't have time for your incessant blabbering."

Illnyea retreated to the other side of the campfire where Perry was staring dramatically into the flames, but Priscilla saw how her eyes stayed locked onto Arnold the entire time even as she petted the platypus's head.

Kavil attempted to cook for the first time that evening, balancing a pot of water over the fire with Mr. Ordan's help. It seemed the plan for the evening was to make another variation of the stew he had made a few days ago, but Kavil seemed to be struggling with preparing food in the great outdoors. He had a small table to cut the ingredients on, but his lips were turned down in frustration as another chunk of potato went flying off the cutting board and hit the dirt.

Before Priscilla could stand and offer help, Mr. Ordan stepped in, speaking to Kavil in quiet tones. Kavil said something back, looking annoyed, but Mr. Ordan just responded quietly and Kavil sighed. Mr. Ordan took the reins on dinner preparation, with Kavil acting as his enthusiastic sous chef.

Priscilla and Sulaiman were mostly decorative, though Sulaiman could at least light the fire, so he was slightly more useful. Still, the two of them sat to the side, as Kavil learned from Mr. Ordan and Illnyea hovered near Arnold again, staring as the enchanter had pulled out a mortar to grind the powder into something even finer.

"How should we spend our time while we wait for dinner?" Priscilla asked, leaning her body against Sulaiman's arm as she tilted her head to stare up at him.

Sulaiman raised an arched eyebrow, staring pointedly at the book in his hands he was about to open and back at Priscilla's face like she was dumb as bricks.

"Don't be booooring," Priscilla complained, pouting. "Entertain me!"

"Don't make your inability to sit in silence my problem," Sulaiman said, rolling his eyes. "Go bother someone else."

"But I want to bother you," Priscilla said, leaning more of her weight against him that nearly sent him off balance.

Sulaiman glared at her. "Stop being annoying."

"Make me."

Sulaiman's eyebrow twitched violently. They were locked in a stalemate, neither backing down because they were both stubborn as hell. Priscilla leaned more of her weight, a smile curling across her lips as Sulaiman's eye began to twitch.

She knew she had won when Sulaiman placed his book atop his pack with more force than necessary.

"Go get your sword," Sulaiman said, standing abruptly and sending Priscilla sprawling. He stared at her prone form with a hard glint in his eyes, though his lips twitched into a smirk as he said, "Perhaps we'll test how well you've retained my teachings with a spar."

Okay, maybe provoking him was a mistake, but at least getting beat up was better than doing nothing at all.

Priscilla had her ass handed to her, with Sulaiman sending her or her sword in the dirt every minute or so, and she eventually threw the sword away to tackle Sulaiman to the ground with an angry cry. He cursed, but they rolled in the dirt for a few moments before Priscilla ended up sitting atop Sulaiman, victorious.

"The whole point of this was to test your sword skills," Sulaiman hissed, fingers digging into her wrist where he held it hostage.

Priscilla tossed her hair triumphantly. "That sounds like the excuse of a loser."

Sulaiman growled and she was promptly tossed to the ground and they tussled in a tangle of limbs, each trying to make the other eat dirt and grunting as they elbowed and jostled to get on top.

They only paused when there was a long, resigned sigh, and they looked up, breathing hard. Sulaiman had one of Priscilla's arms pinned above her head, but she captured one of his legs with hers, ready to try and flip them back over to free herself.

Kavil was standing above them, staring at them with an odd expression as he slowly shook his head, and Illnyea was looking between Priscilla and Sulaiman with wide eyes.

"Grass looks good on you," Illnyea said, her earnest tone betrayed by her unabashed grin, gesturing towards Sulaiman's head.

He flushed and shook his head, sending the blades of grass onto Priscilla, who was pinned beneath him.

Priscilla spluttered as grass got in her mouth and Sulaiman hauled himself to his feet. He brushed off his clothes and stood in a dignified and graceful manner, like he hadn't just been rolling around in the dirt.

Kavil sighed again, though he was laughing now too. "Food's done you two, so go wash your hands — and please, don't start a water fight while doing so."

The next morning, Priscilla was still sore, even after putting Kavil's muscle salve on herself, but she didn't regret it.

It was another slow day of travel as they passed by a few other travelers on the road. They nodded their heads in greeting, but their party didn't waste much time on strangers and kept pace, angled off the main road to their first destination.

Priscilla had kept her eye out as they approached the village that was being plagued by the plains lion, Comur's Hamlet, but she hadn't seen any sign of the beast like scat or felled trees which the book said were the most visible ways to track the plains lion.

By that evening, they had made it to Comur's Hamlet, a cozy place on the edge of a lake that was just large enough to fish in. To the right were fields that were double the size of the village, and a herd of cattle and it was all enclosed in a large, spiked fence. Part of it looked caved in, and a group of people that looked like farmers were hauling planks close, glancing up at the sky in worry.

Illnyea greeted the group of villagers fixing the fence with a bright smile.

"Hello!" Illnyea said, waving from atop her horse.

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A man pushed up his large, floppy hat to get a good look as they approached. He had tanned skin that spoke to long years spent under the burning sun and wide set brown eyes, with a large bandage across the left of his face that went all the way down his throat. The bandage was stained pink, suggesting that his wound had not yet stopped bleeding.

"Hullo," the farmer said, his voice raspy. "What brings you to our hamlet?"

"We're adventurers here to deal with the plains lion," Illnyea explained as they nudged their horses closer. Kavil was frowning at the bandage, lips pursed, but allowed Illnyea to take the lead.

The farmer's eyes widened before narrowing, glancing between them and the carriage.

"Just the four of you?"

"Yup!" Illnyea said, her confidence unshakable even in the face of the man's wariness. The farmer exchanged a look with one of the other men fixing the fence.

"Can't hurt to bring them to Rudolf," the other man said, scratching his beard.

The original farmer sighed but turned towards the village proper and unhooked the gate. "Follow me, and I'll lead you to the mayor."

Turned out the farmer's name was Eli and he was the brother of the mayor Rudolf. Rudolf was a stout man, barely five and a half feet tall, but with thick arms and legs that one could only earn from long hours tilling the fields.

Rudolf welcomed them into his home, bidding them all the sit after they introduced themselves, including his brother. Arnold stayed in the carriage, claiming he needed to check over a work in progress and Mr. Ordan joined him with the excuse that Arnold needed supervision. Priscilla suspected the two men just wanted a quiet moment to themselves without the 'young rapscallions who don't know how to shut up.'

"So how long has the lion been bothering you?" Priscilla asked as she accepted a warm mug of tea from Rudolf. It helped to cut through the chill that had settled in her bones during the ride.

The mayor sighed as he took a seat, sitting heavily in his chair.

"Been bothering us 'bout a month and a half now," Rudolf said, rough fingers curling around his own mug. "It started with a goat stolen in the night, and then it started killing the hounds we had around to keep a watch on things. Broke into our coops, before going after some cattle. Then it got really bold, attacking my brother when he spent the night guarding the cattle."

Rudolf glanced at Eli with sympathy, who he had forced to sit down instead of going back outside to fix the fence. Eli winced, hand reaching up in aborted movement to touch his bandages.

"Only reason I survived," Eli said, "is 'cause I hit the bastard in the eye with my torch."

"Would you allow me to take a look at your wounds?" Kavil asked with a serious expression.

Eli glanced at Kavil with mixed expression. "I've already gotten it cleaned out and a poultice applied to it, so there's no need for you to waste what's already applied to me just to tell me it's going to scar."

Kavil blinked a few times. "I would be healing you with magic."

It was Eli's turn to look surprised, thick brows going high, and Rudolf's eyes widened as well. The brothers exchanged a glance before Rudolf said firmly, "We would be honored by your help, Master McCue."

Bashfulness stole over Kavil's face at the title before he straightened, walking to Eli. He began to peel away the bandage and examined the admittedly ugly wound.

"So the lion only attacks at night?" Priscilla asked, getting the conversation back on track.

Rudolf nodded. "We've made a fence, but I'm sure you see what it thinks of that on your way here."

"Do you know where it dens?"

The mayor shook his head, looking frustrated.

Sulaiman hadn't said anything after Rudolf looked at him with a baffled expression when he introduced himself, like the mayor hadn't expected someone to see Sulaiman amongst adventurers who came to help them. Despite the tension in his shoulders, Sulaiman leaned forward, whispering to Illnyea. For a brief moment, Illnyea looked sad before she straightened.

"We'll set up a night watch," Illnyea said, lacing her fingers together. "Keep everyone inside and we'll deal with the beast."

"And if you have any more injured," Kavil said over his shoulder, "bring them to me and I'll patch them up."

Rudolf looked relieved by their words and thanked them profusely.

They left the mayor's house after Eli was healed and extracted a bit more information from the pair of men, with Kavil peeling off to tend to more patients and Illnyea leaving briefly to inform Arnold and Mr. Ordan where they could spend the night.

When there was no one else in earshot, Priscilla glanced at Sulaiman and said, "There's a chance that the lion doesn't show up tonight after eating last night. A predator like that doesn't need to eat every day."

"There's easy prey here," Sulaiman said, never looking away from the grazing cattle that nervously mooed, "and with its eyesight impaired, it would likely want to gorge itself before winter arrives."

Priscilla hummed, accepting that logic. "Alrighty. Give me the rundown of the plan so I can see if there's any holes that need plugging."

They paired off to keep watch, Priscilla with Illnyea, and Sulaiman with Kavil, with the boys taking the first watch while the sisters squeezed in a brief nap. Though it was cold, they all rested upon bedrolls near the ruined patch of the fence so they were ready for the lion's appearance.

Even with the tempting herd of cattle, Priscilla had thought they needed an even stronger bait to make sure that the lion appeared where they had made their preparations. A chicken carcass was placed on a broken plank about ten feet away from the fence, the blood allowed to run down the wood and the smell drift through the air, carried downwind to their location. It wasn't a pleasant smell to Priscilla as it reminded her vaguely of Frean's body, but to a predator, it was probably delectable.

Illnyea and Priscilla sat in darkness seated on the right side of the ruined gate, behind some boxes that helped to obscure their presence. They stayed still with their weapons in the laps as they let their eyes adjust to the night that was only illuminated by the half-moon.

An hour into their watch, Asha suddenly squeezed Priscilla's hand, tugging towards the west.

"'nyea," Priscilla whispered, tightening her grip on the bat as she nudged Kavil awake. Illnyea followed her gaze, unsheathing her sword as she awoke Sulaiman.

Kavil shook off the sleep as he pushed himself up, hands grasping for the crossbow. They hadn't wanted him to use the shepherd's hook because he wasn't confident with it yet and the plan was that Kavil wouldn't get into close combat with the lion. Across from them, Sulaiman had smoothly rolled to his feet, his sword in his hand and shield in place on his arm.

Priscilla couldn't actually see the lion, but she trusted Asha's instincts, as she picked up her makeshift shield from a wooden slab.

For several tense moments, there was nothing but silence save for the sound of their breathing.

Then, something that wasn't the wind made the brush rustle and the plains lion came into view.

It was a sleek creature, all lean limbs and smooth green-gray fur that allowed it to blend into its surroundings. The lion stalked forward quietly, paws placed carefully against the ground to minimize noise. Its right eye was completely burnt, the skin around it raised and rough, forcing it to be closed.

It paused when it caught sight of the chicken. Its nose twitched as it opened its mouth to take in all the smells in the air, its ears swiveling back and forth.

Priscilla knew that plains lions were more similar to mountain lions than the more classic African lion, solitary creatures that relied on ambush and stealth to take down their prey with a single powerful bite before dragging it away. The lion had a powerful jump, but she hoped with it only having one working eye, that its balance would be off.

Sensing nothing amiss, the lion took another step forward, sniffing at the chicken.

Illnyea swallowed hard as she placed her free hand on the ground, and the rest of them prepared themselves.

The lion stepped forward, tearing the chicken from the plank.

Magic prickled against Priscilla's knees as the ground beneath the lion suddenly crumbled and it fell with a surprised yowl, clawing at empty air. Sulaiman rushed forward, with Priscilla and Kavil on his heels while Illnyea went slightly to the left.

The plan was to lure the lion with the chicken into a modified pit trap, and finish it off from there. Step one was completed, now it was time to pin it in.

Sulaiman had his shield up just in time as the lion tried to lunge out of the pit, its bulk running into the metal. He grunted but held strong as he pushed the beast off balance, the lion's tail thrashing as it fell back into the pit with an angry hiss. Priscilla stepped to the right, bringing up her plank of wood to cut off the angle to force the lion toward where Illnyea was standing ready with her sword. Kavil stood right behind Sulaiman and Priscilla, the crossbow angled down in between the sheilds.

The lion hissed as it started to claw its way up the side of the pit, the five inch long claws digging in deep. Kavil took a shot but the lion lunged to the side, and the bolt thudded into the dirt wall.

A paw reached over the edge, claws digging in deep into the grass as the beast gained ground.

Illnyea was there in an instant, stabbing her sword through it to pin the paw to the ground. The lion yowled in pain, trying to jerk its paw back but it only succeeded in making the wound larger.

Kavil lined up the crossbow and pulled the trigger.

This time, the bolt struck true, sinking deep into the lion's extended forelimb.

The great beast let out a choked roar, and Kavil shot again, the next bolt cutting through the lion's throat and cutting off its cries of pain.

The lion began to convulse, its limbs twitching as the curse of pain spread through its body. Priscilla felt sympathy for the beast, because she knew just how much that hurt, but it wasn't like they could have captured the lion and relocated it. A peaceful solution wasn't in the cards, so the lion had to die.

Illnyea crept towards the edge, and when she saw the lion didn't react to her presence, she nodded towards Sulaiman. He tossed her his sword, and Illnyea held it in both hands as she brought it down, piercing right through the lion's unharmed eye to its brain.

The lion stopped twitching entirely, hanging limply from its trapped paw.

Illnyea sat back, wiping away sweat from her forehead as she let out a sigh of relief. Priscilla let the tension and adrenaline drain from her as she let the slab of wood hit the ground with a thud. Everything had gone to plan, but she had been ready for everything to go to shit.

"Everyone did well," Sulaiman said, bringing down his shield to stare at the body. He looked at Kavil and smiled. "Nice shooting."

Kavil nodded absentmindedly, staring at the lion with a sad expression as he held the crossbow loosely.

"Do we bury it?" Kavil asked, glancing between them.

Priscilla shrugged. "We might want to ask Arnold if he wants any of the body for enchanting, but I don't see why not. Predator meat usually tastes bad, and it's full of parasites, so it's mostly useless to us."

That seemed to lift Kavil's spirit slightly.

Torches began to brighten the night as the townsfolk began to peek out of their homes, having been woken up by the lion's cries.

"Let's let the mayor know the job's over," Illnyea said, rolling to her feet, "and get his stamp of approval for our bounty."

"After we get paid, we can enjoy a nice, night's sleep in a real bed before we're back on the road," Priscilla said, and her friends chuckled as they made sounds of agreement.