I was betting on all of us being poisoned by the end of the day but Envy knew most of the poisonous things on this planet having used quite a few of them before. They had been through here before and were telling me some fascinating stories about the area.

Apparently the holdfast was in the valley of the Hadros mountains. Before we graced its cavernous halls, a sorcerer guild used it as an experimental base. The story went that a few of the sorcerers had tried experiments of runeage on animals. Foolish things like giving bears scales using various runes. As all dumb experiments eventually do, they ended up creating some creatures that could not be contained. They were slaughtered by the changed beasts after a sorcerer unleashed a powerful unbinding rune. It had unlocked all the doors including the one’s on the cages. Eventually the beasts left the holdfast and now roam here in the forest. This happened to leave the holdfast vacant for other kinds of beasts.

Whether I believed that or not, he still scared me by jumping behind me as the ape creature. He came very close to losing a staring contest. After reverting back to Shenvy form she made fun of me. I responded with “Look me in the eyes and say that”. To which silence followed. We returned for lunch. Unfortunately, the pig, which smelled heavenly, was not ready yet so we were treated to sad salted meat. You could feel the sadness of the pig in the meat. I also was almost certain that it was inspired by boot leather. I suddenly had a question.

“Envy, how are we going to get money? I mean we all have thick clothing but food and cloaks might be necessary eventually.”

I had done it. I had asked a question of my own choice. To my disappointment, however, Envy didn’t answer immediately.

“I’ll rob people if we need it”.

Lust passed a paper between two of us. It had a single line. “No more killing,” it said. Envy seemed furious. Her hands clenched and unclenched like claws of a hawk. I felt like Lust was the mouse. Envy muttered and gnashed.

“You know why they called him the Red? Cause It’s not his hair. It's because he was the head interrogator for the crown.”

Her hands clenched and relaxed, nails digging in as her fury gained speed.

“ You know what happens. They’d love him and share all their darkest secrets lay their souls bare and he would betray it and kill them. It had to be him, you understand? Once someone becomes entranced they refuse to let anyone else come between them.

She was shouting now, a shaking of sanity that seemed to be slipping faster and faster.

“I’ve seen it. I’ve brought people to his jaws where he chews them up. Even worse is when they don’t die and are thrown out. They become husks pinning outside the holdfast till they die of hunger or thirst.”

It seemed like that tirade was meant more for Lust than for me but the entranced part of me was furious inside. Looks like I had my own prisoner to keep locked away. It followed logic, however much my prisoner argued. The sorcerer from the holdfast had shown the same kind of devotion. Lust hadn’t even hesitated. Those who were useless were thrown out. Like Gluttony. Lust would have been no exception.

At that moment the great chicken himself came plummeting down among us. Shock and awe seemed to be his intent. What he received was a very grumpy Envy. That translated to Envy roaring at Pride.

“Do you want to blow out the fire you oversized pigeon!”

Pride seemed defiant. “I thought you should know that a search party is being organized.”

“How many Sorcerers?”

“At least twelve”

“Any wearing a green robe?”

“Two”

I then heard a string of profanities that would make enraged Wrath blush. I had received an arrow once to the shoulder during a battle. A green-robed sorcerer had helped remove it afterwards. I didn’t like arrows. Nasty slow deaths. Why not use death eyes to just end it peacefully? So much quicker.

Envy began giving orders. The camp was being taken apart. I was told to keep a look out since anyone looking at me would probably stop breathing. The boar was done enough to cut up and put in a sack for later. Luckily, Wrath seemed mad that her hard work was going to waste and was more muscular than usual. Her legs anyways.

I looked at my arms a bit dejectedly. I wasn’t scrawny because of Teacher but I was trained for speed so I didn’t have any hulking muscles. I didn’t really need them before. My weapon was far deadlier than any blade. Still would have helped with the hauling of an entire boar.

I was directed to douse the fire and bury the ashes. Envy was still barking orders. He was now a muscular man with a scar on the back of his head. I grabbed one of the packs and saw Pride taking off. Scouting ahead, I guess, or more likely trying to avoid carrying around bags. Within minutes everything was packed. It helped that all we owned fit into two burlap supply bags. Were we considered honorary snails? I felt like it counted. Envy seemed to agree given how slow he thought we were going. He began giving out marching orders.

“Death and me up front, Lust in the middle and Wrath guarding the rear. Pride will scout the flanks. We assume we’ve been seen. We have at least two mages on our tail. They can kill assassins very easily and we aren’t as fast as assassins.”

During Envy’s pep talk I was looking at the sky for a sign of Bird boy. As annoying as he was, he looked like he belonged in flight. So free … I then saw a large pillar of smoke and a hulking stone sailing high in the sky. I was not planning on being crushed to death by a rock that made Pride’s ego look small. I tapped Envy to notify him about the rock of doom that was approaching.

“Oh shit. Okay everyone, get to the cave. They must have seen Pride and used him as a reference for the distance from our smoke.”

We then huddled into the cave. I knew that catapults were dangerous in sieges but I didn’t know that they launched moons at people. A crash resounded as we assembled at the back of the cave. Looks like they weren’t taking prisoners.

Envy bellowed again, “Alright we gotta run out of the range of the catapults of the holdfast.They aren’t accurate enough to hit us precisely but they can try to pin us”.

We began running into the woods, trying to avoid the mountainsides in case they had familiars. More rocks fell near the camp like acorns from a tree. I’d assume that's how they would fall anyway. It was hard to be poetic when you’ve only lived in a cell for most of your life. I’m pretty sure I beat the priests for time spent alone with my thoughts. We kept running until the sun began sinking. My heart sank with it. There would be no moon tonight again. No rest for the wicked, huh? We were going to set up camp when Pride came down in a blur of wings, air rushing away in a gust.

“See Envy I told you I could totally dive bomb. By the way you guys might want to move under the oak over there. This birch has a top half that's sparsely covered and I could see you pretty easily.”

I couldn’t understand what he had said and I was fairly certain no one else could either. He even spoke like a little bird twittering in high pitched nonsense. A nostalgic image of Teacher saying the same thing forced itself from the recesses of my mind. I brought my mind back to reality. It rarely wanted to stay there. I was not sure if that was my fault or not. Ok this time, we pay attention. It appeared I had been left behind while I was thinking. I heard a chuckle from above. It appeared we were going to be squirrels for the night. I clambered up a nearby tree to find Pride giggling.

“You look like you are having a bit of a hard time.“ he snickered.

“I wonder if the size of your wings would ruin the taste” I retorted.

He fell silent for a while. I sat in the corner of the trunk and a thick branch. I listened to the wind hum and felt the bark. It felt like the wrinkles of an old man. Teacher had let me touch his face once and it felt just like this but softer. The bark even had moss growing on it, which was both soft and spongy. The noises of the forest made the prospect of a sleepless night more palatable. I heard a vague moaning noise from the wind. It was soft, near a whisper and faded from time to time.

I looked at bird boy to see if he was awake. He was curled up in a nook of the tree all tired out from scouting. He was bearable when he was asleep. His wings were tawny and blended into the tree’s bark. He had his wings folded close to his body which was probably super comfy.

How would it feel to fly? Birds always seemed happy when they were flying. I wonder if the chickens felt the same as me. Were chickens unable to sleep at night too? I suddenly had a wave of sympathy for chickens. Their children got eaten too. I wasn’t going to stop eating chicken though. Just eggs. I clambered down from the tree and called out softly if anyone was still awake. I heard someone clamber down the tree. I received a piece of birch bark with “what is it” scrawled over it. I guess it's hard to write in trees.

I was about to respond but was interrupted by another piece of birch bark. This one said “bathroom”.

Lust went into a nearby bush. The decision not to peek took more willpower than I would have liked to admit. I instead fidgeted to the sound of a stream for an eternity. When he came back the noise was louder. Maybe it just felt louder. I pointed it out to him. He listened for a moment and then took out the quill.

He was starting to write when the quill snapped becoming completely useless. It was strange, as his quill didn’t look like it had any ink. Instead, it had some kind of rock? I knew where to find another feather though. I went back to my tree and climbed up until I was right next to a pile of feathers.

Unfortunately they were all attached to his body. I tugged on a few to see if they were loose. I was in luck. One brown feather came out. It was warm which was gross to think about. I repeated the dismount from the tree. I however caught a root which was obviously designed to maim me and fell face-first into the dirt. I was sincerely hoping Lust had not seen that. It was almost dark so maybe… A hand brushed mine offering to help. Shit. I saved face by gracefully getting up and trying not to get dust on Lust.

I handed him the feather that Pride donated. He took my knife off my belt and cut the tip of the feather to make an impromptu quill. He took out a pouch and used some more of that rock into the hole of the quill. He then sharpened the rock with a tiny knife making a little point. He then wrote, “want to go and check it out”. It seemed like a bad idea but hey time alone with Lust, I wasn’t going to complain.

As we went further, dusk settled into place and he used me more and more for reference. I was quite used to moving in the darkness. Teacher had once made me avoid throwing knives blindfolded. He didn’t want me to be helpless once the rag was on.

The moans continued from further on the valley. As we followed along they grew louder and louder. We hurried in case someone needed help. A clearing was up ahead and a large stone with bones around it was producing the noise.

As we got closer the reason became obvious. I had seen Gluttony before but he wasn’t this huge. He was massive. He was moaning, his arms flailing above his head. Sides of his body had animal bites and chunks missing. The bones were from when the creatures below were too slow. Chains bolted his legs to the ground stopping him from even moving. I called out. He screamed and made thrashing swipes, straining against the chains. He fell in a huge thud. He couldn’t get to us which was probably to our benefit.

I made another choice and pulled Lust back towards camp. He resisted for a second then followed me. There was nothing we could do at the moment. Gluttony would have to wait till tomorrow. It was dark by the time we made it back to the trees. I hoisted him up to the tree and leaned against the trunk of my tree. I wouldn’t be sleeping. Gluttony wasn’t dead.

Unease broiled in my stomach. He was a kind person. He didn’t deserve this. When I saw him at last year's presentation he offered to close his eyes so that way I could see his face. He smiled. One of the few smiles I ever saw in the holdfast. Why would the King leave him in the woods? The dark thoughts remained as the stars came out. I took the knife from the belt in which it resided. I refused to sleep. The stars watched in horror as I let blood meet the soil tainting this beautiful place. Tears of penance fell from the mask of my face. Weeping for those who I had left behind. Gluttony and my parents judged me, blaming my curse for their demise. The knife drew another name that night. Their smiling faces glitter among the blood on the blade. Exhausted sleep claims me smothering my eyes in darkness. “Nooo!” calls out from the void. I see his face, the Stranger leering at me, grimacing. I rush to return his gift, anything but this, but he grins and strides away leaving me with fragmented humanity.

Sun chases the darkness from my eyes leaving a warm orange glow. The rest are still asleep judging by the lack of movement. The bandages on my arm were on the ground. I pick them up and use them to wipe the blade of the knife clean. I then bind them around the now fresh cuts. The knife returns to the sheath and I return to my spot against the trunk of the tree. I can feel something watching me. I pull out the knife again and take the shield from my back. Envy proceeded to drop on me from the tree. I crumpled to the ground with a dignity commonly seen in bags of flour. She was grinning and had closed her eyes. She was a scrawny street child with complementary dirt. That would explain why my spine wasn’t broken when she landed on me.

“You did better this time” she giggled.

I dusted myself off and turned away from her before speaking.

“Gluttony is alive and in this valley”.