Blaire

Strange was an understatement for how Blaire felt following Matilde into battle after almost three years apart.

They had been shield-sisters once; she had trusted her with her own life and would have fought to the death for Matilde’s. In one night, with one final row that had awoken even the deepest of sleepers within their band of warriors, they had been split into two parties. Blaire had chosen to follow Eudora, and she had never once regretted her decision. It was clear in Matilde’s expression at the time how hurt she was, but she refused to speak of it as they packed their supplies and left, maybe that had been for the best. She had ridden by Matilde’s side before they picked Dora up in that wee western village; there was none among this band of women she had known longer than the brassy blonde. Perhaps Blaire had been glad she had never been confronted by Matilde for her decision. Perhaps she feared being labelled fickle or disloyal.

Eudora and Dani had struck down two of the trolls with arrows straight through their thick skulls before they had a chance to turn and engage. The other three were instantly alerted to their presence as their pack members crumpled to the damp earth in furry tangles of limbs.

Matilde charged ahead, never content with being anything less than the leader of the pack. Despite the years of separation, Blaire still felt an easy confidence fighting alongside her. She didn’t doubt Matilde was just as capable a warrior as she had been then. Back when she would call out “Fair Blaire” upon spotting her, usually accompanied by a teasing smile. Blaire didn’t mind; she liked the friendly phrase. From what she’d observed though, Matilde hadn’t smiled once since they crossed each other in the imp-ridden fields.

A troll head-butted Blaire’s shield, ripping her back to the present and sending a tremor through her shoulder blade and to her legs as she fought to stay upright. She sliced down her sword in a tight arc to take a chunk of the beast’s shoulder off in a splattering of blood and bristles.

With a long-limbed leap, Kali burst past her with a wild grin, her spear lifted high and her blonde locks flying behind her. They had only travelled together for a day and yet Blaire already found the southerner’s cheerful attitude infectious. It helped that she was rather enjoyable to gaze upon.

But a battle with trolls was not something to be excited about. It was a serious matter.

Lowri slammed her mace down upon the head of the troll attempting to gnaw its way through Blaire’s shield, leaving its skull concave as it fell to the ground. If it wasn’t dead already, it would be soon enough with a brain injury like that. She nodded her thanks and they left the creature behind them to find another to aid. Fortunately, they weren’t needed. Matilde wasn’t the only proficient warrior. Kali had sliced her foe to ribbons before it could so much as graze her, grin still held firm on her slim face.

It unnerved Blaire that their first battle had been ended so easily. She sheathed her sword slowly and slipped her shield onto her back.

“Am I alone in thinking that was worryingly undemanding?” Magali muttered into her ear, standing at her shoulder, a few inches taller. The brush of her breath against Blaire’s ear had her fighting a girlish shiver.

Blaire didn’t look at her, gods forbid she blush at the close quarters, but mumbled her reply in her direction, “I was not aware you had mastered a spell to read minds.”

Her concern was not cracked by Blaire’s teasing comment. There was a tight pause.

Blaire sighed softly at Magali’s unyielding attitude and added, "Remember, we are more in number now. The more even the odds, the quicker the fight." Despite her own feeling of dread, Blaire's first instinct was to comfort.

Magali was not soothed. “Have you not considered that we are being led deeper deliberately?” she breathed, her voice barely audible if it weren’t that they were pressed into each others’ sides now. “That this first pack was intentionally weak?”

“We have to follow every tunnel to the end to complete the contract; there would be nothing to gain from driving us down a route we would be taking regardless,” Blaire offered as gently as she could.

Magali huffed but said no more, pulling the warmth of her hip away and following Eudora to check the cavern for any additional threats.

Blaire would be lying if she claimed that Magali’s words hadn’t unsettled her further. It wasn’t her pathetic crush that guided her to believe in Magali’s intelligence, her wisdom had saved their lives before and it wouldn’t bode well to disregard her concerns. Matilde wouldn’t stand for that though; when she started something, she finished it. No retreats; no surrenders. When she died it would certainly be a result of her own stubbornness, probably atop a hill swinging her sword with her jaw set stiffly and her hazel eyes shining with fury.

And so, Blaire kept her mouth shut for the moment.

After a tentative listen at the entrances of the three tunnels leading from the chamber for trolls waiting in the wings, they regrouped at the foot of the slope leading back to the outside world to devise the next stage of their quest.

“That was too easy,” Magali announced, her folding arms knocking back her cloak to her elbows.

“I agree,” Matilde replied, much to Blaire’s shock - until she continued, “in fact I do not think we need to stay together as a group of seven when there are multiple choices leading out of here.”

Magali gave Blaire a frustrated look, urging her to voice their concerns.

Kali jumped in first. “We would clear more options if we were to split apart,” she added.

With a quick look, Eudora requested Blaire’s input. She did not need to say anything; Blaire was used to being called upon to be a voice of reason. Fair Blaire…

“I don’t know if that is the wisest choice.” She chose her words as carefully as she could with Eudora, Magali and Matilde’s expectant eyes upon her. “We brought Matilde and her girls with us because we knew we needed extra help.”

Matilde was quick to brush her words aside. “There will not be more than a single pack to fight at any one time. They must have each taken their own territory; they have clearly been here for a while,” she said impatiently.

Eudora scrunched her face and tilted her head back and forth as though stretching her neck, the silvers beads and rings strung in her waist-length braids rattled at the movement. “It does seem they have started nesting,” she admitted quietly.

“But again,” Magali said with a sharp expression, the exact one she took when she felt she was speaking to someone with very little flesh resting inside their skulls, “is this not exactly the situation we were looking to avoid?”

“We will regularly rendezvous.” Matilde’s offering was dismissive. It flared Magali’s dark, delicate brows.

“And how do you propose we divide ourselves?” Eudora asked. Her back was straight and her eyes alight, finding a balance between open and yet leading. She could take on the ideas and opinions of others, but she was still the head of this expedition, that was what her stance announced to the room. “There are three entrances to choose from, after all.”

Dribbles of watery mud were running down the incline they had crept down to arrive in the main chamber and were creating puddles by their feet. Dani broke her blank mask of an expression to pull her brows together at the sight, catching Blaire’s attention.

“Something wrong?” Blaire whispered to the short woman stood directly at her side.

Dani schooled her face and shook her head slowly.

The others glanced over as well and as a group they silently shuffled further away from the drooling tunnel and surveyed the three ahead.

“I vote that we divide ourselves by height,” Kali announced. “Matilde and I are the tallest so we should be together. Dani and the youngling are the smallest so they can take the tunnel with the lowest ceiling.”

“I would prefer that Lowri was paired with either myself or Blaire,” Eudora countered. “She is still rather inexperienced.”

“Fine, we divide by hair colour. Matilde and I are both blonde-”

Matilde intercepted her with an expression of exasperation.“My blonde hair grows out of my head, you use that poisonous sludge of yours to-”

If they were lovers (as Blaire suspected) it seemed a fairly one-sided affair. Matilde as stoic and frosty as ever, and Kali shouldering the effort of showing affection. Blaire knew from experience that Matilde could be warm and doting if she truly wanted - she had been quite the lovesick fool for a short while when she and Eudora first became lovers. It seemed her old friend had not deemed the little southerner worthy of her public affection.

The slim woman was unperturbed by Matilde’s interruption and simply continued her announcement over her words, “-and the rest of you have either black or brown hair so you may group as you wish.” She flapped her hand at the group to signal them to finish the job she had begun.

“Dora, you take Lowri.” Blaire knew deep down Eudora would not be able to rid her mind of thoughts of their youngest if they were separated. And Magali and Dani would struggle without a melee fighter,  Blaire was comfortable to be grouped with them. From what she had seen so far Dani was deadly silent at all times and there was no reason she could not be amicable with someone who never spoke. Magali she was always happy to be near, whether that was aiding or hindering her progress in pushing past the attraction that had been building inside of her was yet undetermined… But she was almost certain that Dora was growing aware of her feelings, even if Magali wasn’t. “Magali, Dani and I will take the middle tunnel.”

“Thank you, Blaire,” Eudora said, pulling Lowri close by the crook of her elbow.

Magali walked to Blaire’s side with a nod and Dani stared at them blankly. Blaire understood this to be a lack of rejection, and, therefore, theoretically it was agreement. When her eyes flickered to the entrance to the cavern again Blaire’s stomach filled with an acidic burn. She followed her gaze to where a steady stream of murky water was widening the puddles between them and their exit into small pools.

“Should we be concerned that the water is getting in?” Questioned Kali, apparently voicing Dani’s thoughts on her behalf.

“We cleared this mine in the rain previously,” Eudora reassured them in her dependable, calm manner. “We will be fine.”

“Back to the task at hand,” said Matilde, taking control once again. “How long should each group spend delving into their tunnel before we return together? I’m assuming we are all in agreement that this is the best area to meet back in?”

The women nodded in unison, Lowri slightly less certainly and Eudora with pinched lips.

Matilde took no notice of Eudora’s expression and continued, “‘Sooner rather than later’ has always been a phrase that has served me well. I believe we should return-”

The wet and splintering sound of wood caving to the pressure against it echoed through the cavern.

Lowri blinked her child-like round eyes and began the question upon all of their tongues, “Was that-”

“The door!” Eudora cried.

The thunder of a colossal onslaught of earth and water sliding down the narrow tunnel hit them ahead of the arrival of the brown beast.

“Mud slide!” Matilde roared, although the announcement was rather redundant as the wave of mud broke into the room at a horrifying speed.

They scurried backwards, stumbling in their haste as the mud seemed to chase them, dividing them in its race to fill the room with thick sludge.

Blaire flung her head to the side, searching for her team. Eudora had Lowri by the arm still; she gave Blaire a fearful look before dragging the girl into the passageway behind them, followed closely by Matilde and then by the now waist-high mud.

Magali was gone.

It was almost upon her and yet she could not move, frozen in place with fear. Fear for herself, for her friends… A hand yanked her back by the plaits, very nearly toppling her to her backside with the urgency, and lead her stumbling backwards into the only tunnel that had not yet been clogged.