Chapter 15: Grawl Invasion

Lilith was glad she had left the catacombs on Paulus' mission, but she was equally glad to return. Here, with nothing but Munne and solitude, she felt like she could think. And it was less frightening. There were no laws down here, which meant there were no slaves at all, including her. There was just her and Munne, and while Munne was happy to assert her effective ownership over Lilith by sucking three meals a day out of her wrist, Munne gave her something in return: Power. And also the armor, which now had a few holes and was a bit mangled, but it wasn't new when she got it anyway.

“I hope you enjoyed your little field trip,” Munne said as Lilith entered the chapel.

“I did, Miss Munne,” Lilith said, her chipper attitude sobering quickly, “although for the record it was not my idea and I didn't leave until I was informed you had given permission.”

“If you're worried that Paulus lied, he didn't,” Munne said, “though it does shed a rather irritating light on your status.”

“You mean, you let him take me because up there, he owns me,” Lilith said.

“Exactly,” Munne said, then thought for a moment and said “no, not quite. I let him take you up there because down here he owns you.”

“You said the law doesn't really exist down here,” Lilith said.

“I am the law down here,” Munne said, “I made an agreement with Paulus that I would train you to be my assistant and, should you survive, replacement, and he agreed only under the condition that he would be able to enlist you in whatever he needed a witch's aid for, without incurring any debt to the catacombs. I didn't expect him to need aid so soon.”

“And you...Said yes?” Lilith asked.

“Of course,” Munne said, “he'd hardly have agreed if I refused his terms.”

“No, I mean...What's in it for you?” Lilith asked, “giving up so much leverage over the Abbey...How can I possibly be worth it? We both know I've cost you more time than I've saved.”

Munne scoffed. “It's an investment. I only give up my leverage over the Abbey while you're still alive. The longer you stay alive, the less time you'll spend in training and the more time you'll spend bringing the catacombs back under our control. Thus, the more the trade costs me, the more it's worth.”

“I understand,” Lilith said, “but what happens when you die and I take over? Paulus can really just demand the only grave watcher in Lakeside County abandon her post whenever he wants?”

“I don't expect Paulus will outlive me,” Munne said, “or certainly not by much. In any case, if you do succeed me, then you are the law down here. You can choose to continue honoring my agreement with Paulus, or you can decide it doesn't apply. Either way, if it's less than half a century from now I'll be disappointed, so there's little point in worrying about it. Do you have any more questions about the distant future?”

“Um, no, Miss Munne,” Lilith said, “I'm sorry if I wasted any of your time.”

“Oh, please,” Munne said, “you know if you did I'd have let you know. Get going. There's still time to honor the spirits of the Temple Corridor, so hurry up.”

The ghosts in the Temple Corridor were only slightly perturbed at having had to wait another six hours for their rites. Lilith could see them clearly now, as individual spirits. She could see how they appeared in life, how they appeared at the moment of their death, and their rotted husks.

There were children buried down here. Had she stopped to think about it, she would have realized that of course children died sometimes, and of course they would be buried with their families, but it had still taken some getting used to, being confronted with the ugly truth every day: Children die. And in death they remain children. They never grew. They never learned. They were helpless and frightened and cold. Forever. And out there in the great maelstrom at the Pit, in the sections of the Labyrinth they did not control, in the Red Corridor where she had fought the nightmare, there were more children, and their terrified anger was all the maelstrom wanted from them.

And friendly ghosts brought her news of what happened in distant parts of the catacombs. On the other side of the Labyrinth were the Old Shrines and the Crusaders' Mausoleum, which lay beneath the Green Hills County and were overseen by Kasha Blackblood. A cult of Grenth worshipers had converted the Mausoleum into their base of operations, and Kasha was too bogged down by a gargoyle infestation in the Shrines to root them out of their hiding places.

On the other end of the Black Corridor lay the Shiverpeak Graveyard beneath Wizard's Folly, where tens of thousands of veterans and explorers who had perished in the frigid mountains to the west were buried. That place was the purview of her former mentor Verata. She still meant to return to him sometime and thank him for teaching her. And ask him why he had chosen to do so. Lilith had often begged Munne to shift their focus to following up on the death of the nightmare and claiming the Black Corridor, but Munne was satisfied with establishing a foothold there as they had in the Labyrinth. Munne told her that Kasha Blackblood was a more experienced grave watcher, and more dedicated, and regardless it was certainly her and not Verata who needed the help. Munne suspected that the Maelstrom shared her opinion of who contributed most to Ascalon's control of the catacombs. The loss of Kasha could result in the loss of the entire catacombs within a few short years if she were not replaced.

It was at the end of a lesson on using remains of the deceased to find who or what had killed them when Munne announced that Lilith was heading to Green Hills County with Paulus. “What does he need done in Green Hills County?” Lilith asked.

“Something about the charr,” Munne said, “I didn't ask for details. What's important is, this is an opportunity.”

“For what?” Lilith asked.

“To give Kasha some much needed aid,” Munne said, “getting through the Labyrinth would be a lot of unnecessary danger anyway. I had decided to send you there myself and decided to inform Paulus that he would not be able to find you down here for several days. He said he could use your help as well.”

“So which comes first, what he needs from me, or what Kasha needs from me?” Lilith asked.

“Nothing comes first, girl,” Munne said, “you do both of them.”

“What if I have to choose?” Lilith asked, “what if there's not enough time?”

“Listen, girl,” Munne said, her voice raised slightly, “Kasha needs some help, and you will have to do. You can't fail her. I made an agreement with Paulus concerning you, and I must honor it. You can't fail him either. You will do whatever it is the both of them ask of you, and do it to their satisfaction. Being a grave watcher is not easy.”

Lilith sighed. It's not as though figuring out ways to complete impossible tasks wasn't practically her specialty at this point, and in any case nothing said their requests would necessarily be contradictory. “Yes, Miss Munne,” she said.

Which is why she and Paulus were plodding along towards Green Hills County with Lilith's minions jogging behind. Lilith wasn't sure whether she was grateful for having horses to carry them there. Certainly they'd make better time, and for all that sitting in a saddle was deceptively tiring, it still wasn't so bad as actually walking. On the other hand, every bump and jostle sent new and exciting jolts of pain through her chest as the armor sat uneasy on the pedant. Every now and again a particularly bad bump would see her hissing with pain. “Are you alright?” Paulus asked finally, when she clutched at her chest from the pain.

“It's nothing,” Lilith said, her voice strained, “I just really hate riding horses.”

“Horse riding doesn't typically put a whole lot of strain on where the chest meets the neck,” Paulus said, “what's wrong? The curse?”

Lilith sighed with exasperation. “Yes, the curse,” she said, “I can deal with it, relax.”

Paulus shook his head and said “alright. Just asking.”

Lilith screwed her eyes shut with frustration, with the pendant and with herself. “Look, just don't talk to me 'till we get off these damn things, alright?”

The border between the two counties was marked by a massive statue to the Mad King Thorn. The two of them dismounted to make camp. The next day they'd press on to Barradin's Estate. Lilith hoped Althea wasn't in. Her mask left little chance she'd be recognized, but the pendant churning beneath her armor left her in no mood to see the duchess. “The grawl have retreated to here,” Paulus said, “they're now blocking the road between Lakeside County and Green Hills County, preventing trade between Ashford and Barradin's Estate.”

“They retreated here?” Lilith asked, “they were on the east side of Ashford, Green Hills County is west. Like, directly west. I'd have thought they'd retreat into Regent Valley.”

“Undoubtedly the grawl would have, fleeing directly away from the army that routed them,” Paulus said, “that they've instead headed up here suggests the charr is still in command of them. And that this was his plan all along.”

“How so?” Lilith asked.

“The grawl pushed through to Lakeside County from Pockmark Flats, which is at the eastern frontier. It wouldn't take much convincing to get the grawl to slip past our frontlines to hit territory that is both wealthier and less prepared,” Paulus said,"what makes less sense is heading to Green Hills County. It's far from the grawl's home territory. It's dealing with its own underpopulation problems, but not nearly so bad as Lakeside. It's not as wealthy as Lakeside, having no major cities like Ascalon to bring in trade."

"But it's a trade route between Rin and Ascalon City," Lilith said, "in fact, since Surmia has to send their goods south through the Frontier Gate now that Piken Square is occupied by the charr..." Suddenly the implications of what she was saying caught up with her. "It's the biggest trade route left in the entire kingdom and the only route from east to west that's still safe. Bad move for the grawl, but it allows the charr to cut the kingdom in half for however long the grawl hold out."

"And we need to make sure the grawl do not hold out for very long at all," Paulus said.

"Okay," Lilith said, "why us? I mean, you said yourself, the Duke keeps his estate well-armed. Can't he clean up the grawl on his own? What does this have to do with the safety of Ashford?"

Paulus hesitated only a moment before answering. "A friend made a request and Lakeside has been quiet since the grawl fled," Paulus said, his voice raising, "Devona has her hands full playing Pop Goes The Weasel with the bandit remnants. You said yourself it'll cripple the kingdom's communications. That's bad for everyone, Lakeside County included. Is that good enough for you?"

"Okay, okay," Lilith said, raising her hands, "I was just asking."

Paulus sighed with frustration. "Sorry. Worn out from the ride," he said.

Lilith shrugged. "I wasn't exactly great company on the way here." She looked to the two horses tethered to a post provided near the statue of Thorn. "And I'm not looking forward to getting back on those things come morning. I'm going to sleep." Lilith grabbed her bedroll and blanket from off the horse and began setting up. “You're taking first watch, right?”

“Yes,” Paulus said. Lilith was throwing the blanket over herself, now, and hadn't bothered removing her armor. “You're keeping the armor? Even the mask?” Paulus asked, “do you ever take that thing off?”

“Yeah,” Lilith said, “in the catacombs sometimes. Plus when I have to eat. When I need to summon a swarm.”

“So, almost never. Doesn't that get uncomfortable?” Paulus asked.

“Compared to the curse? It's pretty manageable,” Lilith said, “never know when I'll need armor between myself and an arrow. Now lemme alone, it takes me forever to get to sleep.”

Lilith stood with head bowed around the training yard, hands clasped, while Edwin de Roblis hacked at a training dummy with a wooden sword. Her skin was covered in goosebumps from the autumn chill. Toby stood beside her. Edwin had ceased his attack on the dummy now, and marched over to the two of them, handing the sword to Toby, who immediately ran to replace it on the rack. “I always knew you'd come back,” Edwin said, “you can't function anywhere else.”

“No,” Lilith said, “I'm supposed to be in the catacombs.”

“Then why did you come back?” Edwin asked.

Lilith sobbed. “I made a mistake,” she said, “I'm a witch!”

“You're a slave,” Edwin said, “that's why you came back.”

“No, please, you have to let me go!” But she knew they wouldn't. They never did. They didn't care about her long history of honor, about her magical aptitude, about the obvious purity of her blood. All they cared about was that they had her, and they would never let her go.

Lilith's eyes shot open, her breath short. The woods stood silent around her, the massive statue of Thorn looming in the distance. “Just a dream,” Lilith whispered to herself, curling her knees up towards herself, “just a stupid dream, I'm a witch and I can have Edwin fucking devoured whenever I want.” She was exhausted, but sleep was suddenly terrifying, so instead pulled herself out from beneath her blanket.

“You're awake?” Paulus asked.

“Can't sleep,” Lilith said, “you go to bed, I'll take the watch.”

“You sure?” Paulus said, “a sleepy watch is a bad idea, especially this close to the grawl.”

“I'm up and watching one way or the other,” Lilith says, “trust me, I won't be sleeping for a while. One of us should be.”

Paulus scrutinized her mask for a moment. Lilith wasn't sure what he was looking for. Its not like the skull's eye sockets helpfully contorted themselves into droopy eyebrows whenever she was tired. “Alright,” Paulus said, “but wake me if you feel yourself getting sleepy.”

By the time Paulus woke to take his watch, Lilith was exhausted. If she had dreams, she did not recall them. By afternoon the next day, they had entered the stretch of the road where the grawl were reported to be moving about in force. They moved slowly, now, Lilith having her minions march in front, which didn't really shield them so much as just their horses, but it was what she had to work with. Lilith herself was focusing on detecting the heartbeats of the creatures nearby. Rabbits and field mice she could feel out now, for how incredibly quick their hearts beat. Deer and wolves, less so. Though reassured that the beat of their hearts was quite distinct from that of humans or grawl, Lilith couldn't tell the difference. And as for the difference between humans and grawl, well, Munne had helpfully informed Lilith when she had asked that it was quite difficult to tell the difference unless you had a lot of experience with the both of them.

But she could feel something distinct, and once again it was their position more than their rhythm that gave them away. “Heartbeats,” Lilith said to Paulus, “in the trees.”

“Grawl?” Paulus asked.

“Or human,” Lilith said, having ruled out deer or wolves.

“Could be allies waiting to ambush the grawl,” Paulus said, “send a minion ahead to check.”

A single minion ran ahead of the others, stood in the midst of the ambushers, and then Lilith had it head to one of the trees and crane its eyeless maw upwards as though trying to get a better look at whoever the owner of the beating heart in the branches was. An arrow slammed into the minion, punching straight through its chest and through to the ground below, the force of the attack sending the minion staggering backwards.

“Black fletching,” Paulus said, readying his sword and shield, “Ascalon uses red. Hit them with whatever you have!”

Lilith dismounted and brought her horse around, using it as a shield while sending her minions ahead. Her heart raced with the familiar fear of battle. She could feel it, threatening to drown out her targets. She could almost hear it. The last thing she wanted was to rip her helmet off, but with a moment to double-check that her head was well and truly concealed behind her horse, she did, and opened her mouth to let the swarm free, crawling out of her every orifice. As she always did, Lilith could feel those locusts that tried to crawl out from beneath her fingernails, groin, or teats writhing about beneath her armor, looking for some way to wriggle free. She'd have to give the armor a thorough scrub when she got back to the chapel.

The swarm crawled form her mouth, her ears, her tear ducts, her nostrils, and flew into an angry, devouring black cloud towards the grawl. Arrows thudded into Paulus' shield. He leapt into the trees, swung a sword at the grawl, sent it tumbling to the ground. Lilith's minions descended upon it, hacking away at the creature as it tried to pull out a dagger to fend them off. More grawl began to fall, losing their balance as they desperately tried to scrape off Lilith's swarm from their hides. One hung by its legs from a branch, swatting at the plague locusts, until Paulus hacked into its leg. It dropped to the ground with a yelp of pain.

An arrow sunk into Lilith's mount and it let out a bestial shriek of pain and staggered to the ground. “Stupid beast,” Lilith said, ducking behind it and pulling her helmet back on, “can't even take a single goddamned arrow before collapsing.” Another arrow whistled above. Grawl leapt from the trees with hammers and began smashing her minions apart. Their numbers were thinning, but so was Lilith's swarm. Wounded grawl limped and staggered away from the battle.

Paulus was attacked by three different grawl at once, now, and Lilith's minions had all been smashed to pieces. Paulus' wooden shield bent and then shattered beneath their hammer blows. Lilith spoiled the blood of one and it stepped backwards, and Lilith leveled her staff with it to finish the creature off, draining its life away until it collapsed. Paulus saw an opening in one of the remaining grawl and took it, cutting its throat open while ducking beneath the hammer swing of another, but then an arrow caught him in the shoulder and he screamed with pain and dropped to one knee. Lilith sucked in a breath and leapt out from behind her horse, sprinting towards him as the grawl circled the wounded monk.

Lilith's eyes darted up towards the tree where the grawl archer took aim, and focused on its heartbeat. With an evil glare, the grawl's heart skipped a beat and it spasmed suddenly, and then its blood began to run black. The nauseated beast dropped from the trees, and then Lilith was slamming into the remaining grawl with the hammer before it could cave Paulus' skull in. She opened her mouth and bit into its neck, but it tore her off, then howled in pain as Lilith's teeth ripped a small piece of its flesh away. The grawl writhed on the ground, desperately trying to prevent the blood from spurting from its neck.

Paulus rose to his feet, limping from a shattered leg. The grawl archer fired an arrow directly towards Lilith, which struck her directly in the chest, not far from the pendant. Her body seized up and she fell backwards to the ground while Paulus closed with the grawl, grunting with agony from his mauled leg. Darkness clouded the edge of Lilith's vision. “No,” she whispered, grasping the shaft with one unsteady hand, “come on.” She pulled. Her insides tore a little as the arrow's barbs dug into her innards. “Come on,” she demanded, and ripped the arrow free with a gasp of shock. Her blood spilled out of the wound in her chest. Something was leaking inside of her.

She looked around in a daze. Dead grawl surrounded her. She reached towards one feebly, grabbed its shoulder, and with great effort pulled herself to it, but her strength ran out halfway there. She stared at the creature, willing more strength into her limbs, willing it to just roll a few feet closer. Paulus appeared above it, and pulled its wrist to her mouth. She bit deep into its wrist and began drinking from it. Whatever had opened up inside of her was stitching itself back together. By the time the grawl was dry, Lilith's head began to clear, but blood still flowed freely from the hole in her chest.

Another grawl was dragged towards her by Paulus. Lilith crawled towards it and sank her teeth into its neck, closing her eyes with relief as the wound in her chest stitched itself shut. She pulled herself away from the corpse, smiling. “It's never easy, is it?” Lilith asked.

“Wouldn't need you if it was,” Paulus said, “the grawl are getting away. We should follow them before they get a headstart.”

“Your foot,” Lilith said, “my horse. Paulus, this is a terrible idea.”

"We'll ride together," Paulus said.

"My swarms is dead, my minions went with it, it'll be hours before they're back," Lilith said, "your shield is splinters, and your leg is about the same, and none of those grawl are undead or otherwise sustained by dark magic, so most of your tricks won't work on them anyway. What exactly is your plan for when we catch them?"

Paulus sighed. "Okay, you're right," he said, "we can't pursue immediately...We need to get to Barradin's Estate. There'll be a healer there, and we can group up with the Duke's men."

"Sounds good to me," Lilith said, pulling herself onto Paulus' horse and gritting her teeth for another agonizing ride, "better than trying to take them all on at once." She looked at the ambush site. "Looks like, what, six or seven dead grawl? Maybe half of them ran away. Fourteen total? That's probably not even half of their total force. If we hit the whole thing, we'd have been dead for sure."

"No sign of the charr that I saw," Paulus said, mounting the horse behind Lilith, "seems like he's probably abandoned the grawl to make trouble here on their own if the grawl are splitting themselves up. Such a small force would be wise to stick together."

"Great," Lilith said, kicking the horse into a canter and immediately hissing with pain as the armor bounced and jostled atop the pendant, "one less thing to worry about."

"Not so," Paulus said, "the charr is still out there somewhere, and if he's no longer with the grawl, he's probably stirring up trouble somewhere else."

It was nearly sunset when they finally reached the estate. An open field nearby the estate showed signs of a large army camped nearby recently, at least a hundred strong, but now there were only the remains of campfires, some litter from careless soldiers the local peasants hadn't yet gotten around to cleaning up, and the vast swaths of trampled grass. “Looks like they moved on without us,” Lilith said, half-jumping and half-falling out of the saddle as soon as she arrived at the bridge that led into the estate proper. A pair of armed guards stood with halberds to block the passage of unauthorized visitors. “Maybe you could just write your friend a letter telling him to send a gift basket for the grawl we killed already, and we can just go home,” Lilith said, helping Paulus down from his mount. Not that she could actually just go home, because she still had business with Kasha up here.

“Not yet,” Paulus said, limping towards the bridge, one leg in a splint, “need to speak with him. It's very important that I speak with him.” The guards stepped forward to confront Paulus. “I'm Paulus the Monk, here to see Captain Thom de Minor,” Paulus said, “has he informed you of my coming?”

“Wait here, sir,” one of the guards said, “I'll go tell the captain you're here to see him.” Paulus nodded, the guard jogged across the bridge onto the estate, while his companion remained behind, his expression stoic. Lilith thought she could see a single archer in the watchtower on the other side of the wall, but other than that the estate appeared to be completely unguarded. Most likely the Duke had taken most of his own men-at-arms with him when he rounded up his army to go fight the grawl. Considering how many of his men he'd sent north to Piken Square to try and dislodge the charr, his estate probably wasn't terribly well-guarded before then. Maybe the charr behind the wall was going to try and summon up another army and go around sacking places like this.

“Right,” the guard said, returning, “Captain Thom says he'll see you.”

“Thank you,” Paulus said, and began hobbling across the bridge and beneath the estate's massive gate, leaning on the horse for support. Lilith led the horse across and into the estate. An impressively fortified keep stood squat and powerful behind the walls of the estate, sixteen feet thick and twenty feet high. This wasn't a city estate like the Roblis' or Magi's owned, where the wall was a three-foot symbolic barrier marking the edge of the family's territory. It was a fortress unto itself. If some enemy of Ascalon were other to storm the Great Northern Wall, this fortress is where the defenders of Green Hills County would rally.

“The captain insists on seeing you immediately and alone,” the guard said, “in fact, said he didn't want to let that witch of yours in at all, but someone else wants to see her, as it happens.”

“Who?” Lilith asked.

“Kasha Blackblood,” the guard says, “or so she's called. Hasn't got a proper last name that I know of.”

“Kasha? The grave watcher? What's she doing up here?” Lilith asked.

“Came to ask a favor of the Duke, only the Duke's been out, so now she's waiting for him to come back from his grawl hunt,” the guard said. “Anyway, Thom's waiting in the gatehouse up them stairs,” he pointed to a staircase built on the inside of the gatehouse, “and Kasha said she'd come out here to meet with you when the monk came inside.”

“Alright,” Lilith said, then glanced to Paulus. “Everything here alright?” she asked.

“It's fine,” Paulus said, “no matter how much someone dislikes me, there's not going to be a fight on our hands in the heart of Ascalonian power in the county.”

“I thought this Thom was a friend?” Lilith asked.

“He is now,” Paulus said, “we'll see how much he likes me after I finish talking.”

Lilith shrugged. “So long as it won't be a fight. Especially with you looking like that. Speaking of, is there any chance you'll be getting us thrown out? You should get yourself patched up first if there is.”

“Grazden lives in the village anyway,” Paulus called over his shoulder as he hobbled towards the gatehouse with the guard's support. Lilith had never heard of Grazden before, but she trusted Paulus knew what he was talking about. Besides his recent plan to hunt down the grawl, he had fairly consistently been right about things.

As Paulus disappeared within the gatehouse, Kasha emerged. She favored heavier armor than Munne, but had no left gauntlet and didn't bother wearing her helmet when in safe territory. The lack of the left gauntlet was doubtless so that she could bleed herself to fuel her blood magic. Kasha's nickname was supposedly due to her having made so many blood pacts with dark creatures that her blood ran permanently black. Considering that's the color of blood that had been spoiled and which the body did its damndest to vomit up, Lilith wasn't sure she believed it.

“So,” Kasha said, swaggering up to Lilith, “you're Munne's new protege. The one who takes reports from the ghosts I send.”

“I am,” Lilith said.

“Lilith de Nemo,” Kasha said.

A chill went down Lilith's spine as she heard the name. De Nemo. Heir to nothing. The universal name of the slaves, the people who belonged nowhere and were only here to be killed for fun. The way Rurik had killed her. She glanced over her shoulder to see if anyone else was within earshot, but the estate courtyard was deserted. “I'm Lilith, yes,” she said.

“I hope you last. The ghosts like you,” Kasha said, “and you're one of the fastest to learn to see them properly.” Kasha turned and began heading for the stairs that led to the top of the wall. “Come,” she said, “follow me.”

Lilith followed. “Is there any particular reason you wished to speak with me?” she asked.

“I wanted to meet the new apprentice,” Kasha said, “we may be colleagues someday, if something untoward should happen to Munne. And even now we are colleagues of a sort. We are both grave watchers, after all.”

“Thank you,” Lilith said, “I take it you weren't told why I came, then?”

“On one of Paulus' errands,” Kasha said, “the arrangement was explained to me through ghost messenger.”

“No,” Lilith said, “well, yes. But there's another reason. I'm here to help you in the catacombs."

"Help me?" Kasha asked. They had reached the top of the wall now and walked alongside the battlements. "Help me how?"

"Well, at last report you were struggling to fend off gargoyles and Grenth cultists in addition to everything that needs to be taken care of normally in the catacombs," Lilith said, "and...I'm here to help. Orders of Munne."

Kasha stopped and considered Lilith, who looked west towards the horizon. "I suppose Paulus wouldn't have brought you to hunt grawl if you weren't any good in a fight," she said.

"I guess I'm alright," Lilith said, "I'm not fully trained."

"What have you fought?" Kasha asked.

"Skale. Devourers. Bandits. Grawl. Other grawl," Lilith said, "untrained, unarmored, and sometimes barely armed. And I still came out of damn near every fight with snapped bones and cuts. I should be some help against the gargoyles, though."

"I think you overestimate the potence of the cultists," Kasha said, "but a realistic assessment of your capabilities is refreshing. Far too many apprentices think they can take on the world."

"How many of them have nearly been killed," Lilith counted it up in her head, glancing up from the middle distance she'd been staring into, "five times?"

"Are you suggesting I attempt to murder my apprentices in the future?" Kasha asked.

"Only if you're unsuccessful five times in a row," Lilith said, "having your knee smashed, being shot in the chest, poisoned, all by rabble that real warriors can hack through small armies of unscathed, it gives you perspective."

"So how is it you're such a help to Paulus?" Kasha asked.

Lilith shrugged. "Most of his tricks only work against things that run on dark magic. All he's got is a sword and a shield." She thought a moment. "And he still has a kill count on par with mine and usually walks away with fewer injuries. And he doesn't even wear armor." Lilith sighed. "I hope I'm at least good for my age."

"You are," Kasha said. A guard with a torch passed by, lighting the torches along the battlements as she went; night had fallen. "What are you looking at?"

Lilith was looking west. Looking to Rin. The place where everyone knew her face. Knew her name. Being only half the kingdom away wasn't far enough. "Nothing," Lilith said.

Wood splintered. Lilith and Kasha turned to the courtyard, where a guard had just been tossed through a door, and Paulus leapt over him, rolling as he hit the ground and groaning with pain as his splint shattered. Paulus whistled. The horse broke into a gallop and Paulus swung himself up atop it. "Great," Lilith muttered, and sprinted along the wall towards the gatehouse. She took the stairs three at a time. The drawbridge would probably be rising if the estate weren't so horribly undermanned. "Okay," Lilith said, Paulus' mount thundering beneath the gatehouse. She climbed atop a merlon, the horse shot out eighteen feet below, and Lilith leapt from the gatehouse.

She hit the ground and at least had the presence of mind to roll to the impact, rising to her feet as Paulus shot ahead of her, and then dived to the side as a pair of guards shot after him. “I thought it wasn't going to end with a fight,” Lilith said, getting to her feet again and dusting herself off.

That's when she was lifted off her feet and onto the back of a horse of pure shadow, eyes burning red. Lilith struggled into her seat behind Kasha. “Do you think I walked here?” Kasha asked over her shoulder while her nightmare steed chewed up the ground beneath them. “What's Paulus got himself into?” Kasha asked.

“No idea,” Lilith asked, “why are you helping?”

“I don't waste my breath answering stupid questions,” Kasha said, “why are you chasing Paulus?”

“To find out what he's gotten himself into,” Lilith said. The mounted guards were not far ahead.

“Why?” Kasha asked.

“What?” was Lilith's only response.

“Why do you care?” Kasha asked, “he was an agreement Munne decided she had to honor, and a sword hanging above your head. He dies, your life is easier. He gets caught, same thing. Why. Do. You. Care?”

Lilith had no answer. “I don't know,” she admitted.

Kasha groaned with frustration. “If this is some romantic entanglement, I might kill him just to keep you focused.” The guards ahead had pulled up their horses and scanned the brush. “Lost him?” Kasha asked.

The two of them looked at one another. “Yeah,” one of them admitted, “he was faster than us.”

“Nothing's faster than shadow,” Kasha said, dismounting. “Whatever your business with this monk is,” Kasha said to Lilith, “you had better be alive and not an enemy of the state at the end of it. The nightmare dissolves at sunrise, meet me at the catacombs tomorrow and we'll see what you can do about the gargoyles.”

“You were with the monk, weren't you?” the guard asked.

“Reluctantly,” Lilith said, “he dragged me into this, said we were hunting grawl, and I still don't have a damn clue what this is actually about. If it's all the same to you, I'd like to get the whole story out of him before you pinch him.”

“Find the monk in the woods,” Kasha said to the nightmare, and it immediately shot off.

“I'll have him at the catacombs tomorrow at noon,” Lilith shouted over her shoulder, “no promises he'll still be alive!”

Lilith was grateful for her mask. She soon left the fields behind, and the branches slapped her face in the dark, but with the leather between her and the stinging wood, she could barely feel it. The nightmare was a perfectly smooth ride, without upsetting her curse at all, and it seemed to know the way. Sure enough, after only a few minutes of hard riding she caught up with Paulus, whose mount was skulking through the thicker parts of the woods. “Paulus,” Lilith said, “did that go as planned?”

“Why are you here?” Paulus asked, teeth clenched.

“To ask if that went as planned,” Lilith said, “to ask what the Hell is going on here. I mean, this wasn't my problem until you threw a guard through a door, now it's my problem.”

“Where did you get that horse?” Paulus hissed.

“Can I ask a question?” Lilith asked.

“You didn't ask enough on the way up?” Paulus asked, “did you tell them? Was this your plan since that first fight with the grawl? Is this where everything about...playing nice came from? All your gratitude?”

“Shut up!” Lilith said, reaching across to grab him by the collar, “I don't care, okay? Adelbern sold me! And...You know what Rurik did to me! Whatever conspiracy you're a part of, whatever you're plotting with the prince or for the prince, I do not give a fuck!”

Paulus opened his mouth to respond, but then cocked his head to the side. Hoofbeats galloping in their direction. “So what's this?” he asked.

“What happens when you argue in the dark with a hunted fugitive,” Lilith said.

Paulus tugged his mount away and tried to kick it into a gallop. It tugged at its reins, tangled in a branch. “Dammit,” he said, “I can't see anything!” He fumbled with the reins, trying to disentangle them.

"Come on," Lilith said, grabbing Paulus by the shoulder and trying to yank him onto the nightmare. He moaned with pain as his broken leg twisted in the stirrups and fell to sprawling to the ground. The guard and his mount came crushing through the brush. Lilith leapt from her mount and tackled the guard, sending both of them to the ground. She wrapped an arm around the guard's neck and dragged the both of them to their knees, putting her knife to his throat and covering his mouth with the other.. "Hey, Paulus," she said, wincing as the guard bit into her palm,"remember what you said about not betraying guardsmen? Does it apply to this guy?"

"Kill him!" Paulus said. Lilith slit his throat, and the bite of his jaws went limp. Paulus sucked in a few deep breaths. "You helped me," Paulus said.

"You helped me," Lilith said, "we're even. What I said to you last week? It was true."

Paulus pulled the splint on his leg straight with another groan of pain. “Alright,” he said, “I believe you.”

“You're welcome,” Lilith said, climbing back onto the nightmare and offering him a hand up.

“Thank you,” Paulus said, taking her hand and carefully climbing onto the mount.

“So, now where do you go?” Lilith asked, “wherever it is it's gotta be close. This thing disappears at sunrise.”

Paulus was silent for a while. “I don't know. Can't go to the Abbey. Don't know anyplace else that's safe.”

“The catacombs are safe,” Lilith said, “the only law down there is the word of the grave watchers. All you have to do is convince Kasha you're more helpful to her alive down there than dead or imprisoned.”

“And as a bonus, if we meet her down there and she kills me, you're saved the trouble of burial,” Paulus said.

“We'll have to get down below in a hurry,” Lilith said, “I told the guards to meet me there and I'd have you, dead or alive.”

“This thing is fast, isn't it?” Paulus asked.

“To the catacomb entrance in the north,” Lilith said to the beast, “we're going home to Kasha.” The nightmare raced across the ground again, hoofbeats silent and chewing up the ground below at twice the speed of a mortal horse.