It was a glorious morning and I felt like I got run over by a horse. I was woken up by a tongue licking me. It appeared to be one of Wrath's pets. Great, they had started walking.

“Don’t get too excited I’m not dead yet.”

I was tired enough to talk to a deer. Uggghhh. Envy didn’t look too good either. I noticed the smell of vomit that wasn’t there last night. I stood up and leaned against the wall for a second. I should never sleep in that position again. My neck had transformed into a log. I flinched and walked over to where Envy had begun his majestic descent. I flicked the balding forehead to at least stop the snoring. He snorted but remained asleep. I guess he deserved some rest. I looked out the window at the morning sun. There were definitely less fewer corpses outside than yesterday. The little Lizeer began nuzzling against my leg. Probably hungry. Good idea, little guy. I grabbed the apple that Envy had handed me last night. I took a few bites and offered the rest to the fawn. It scarfed it up. I kinda assumed it would only drink milk but maybe the lizard bits made it different. Wrath had at this point noticed it was gone and stormed into the hallway. She scooped it up in a rush and deposited it with the other one. She came back surprisingly and joined me in watching the town square. I thought to ask the the little creatures’ names since they seemed like they would be with us for a while. I got a pensive grunt as a response.Then she spoke.

“My brothers' names were Keni and Ius. It was good enough for them, it should be good enough for those two.”

It took almost another hour for the others to stir and meet in the hallway. Even Envy awoke with elegant snort followed by a groan. The famous drunkards regret. I certainly was glad I didn’t partake. I knew too well that particular headache. I went to get some water from the kitchen of the inn. A pitcher would suffice. When I got back, a discussion was furiously raging. I handed the water over to Envy and sat facing the wall. Wrath was speaking for Lust by reading the papers she was handed.

“We should stay here. It’s safe and there’s food here. Plus no one is left here so we could use the land as a farm.”

Envy took offense to that. “Are you denser than a brick? You absolute buffoon. I told you already, we have tracking runes. Did you not notice the fate of the people who stayed here? Look at the creatures Death killed last night. And that’s just a few of the reasons we have to leave”, he argued.

The scribbling of a quill intensified the silence that came afterwards.

“Not everyone is obsessed with revenge. How do you even know we have tracking runes? We could repair the wall and the creatures would leave us alone.”

It was a bit jarring to hear so many points being fought over. I also knew I would probably end up being the tie breaker. That role was not one I fit into easily. I much preferred orders. “Go there.” Done and done. This voting and back and forth seemed like a waste of time. I stood up and looked out the window as the arguing continued. Looks like Luck has given me a way out. A column of knights appeared to be heading into the village. I guess the argument would have to wait.

“I hate to be a bother, but there appears to be a large quantity of knights on the road. I’m assuming that is a concern, right?”

Pandemonium erupted. Envy began shouting orders. Lust and Wrath dashed to the room to pack up supplies. Pride was sent through a window to ascertain numbers and plausibility of escape. I was too tired for this. They couldn’t have come tomorrow? I went downstairs and saw them reach the gate. The green robes appeared to be with them. I grabbed my axe and unslung my shield. We had the advantage indoors with the doorway as a chokepoint. If they didn’t have the bright idea of just lighting the inn on fire. I grabbed a table and flipped it as a makeshift barricade. I was best in open spaces where I could get distance from all of the things that are trying to kill me. An enclosed room was not such a open space. Pride came crashing in through the front window. I caught him before he hit the ground. He was panting. “They have a lot of archers.” Envy called to us from the kitchen. “I found something.” The knights looked like they had dispersed and dismounted and were not surrounding the town square. One of the green robes was pointing. I dashed into the kitchen. A hulking man greeted me. Pride ran into my back.

“I found the wine cellar. It’s connected to some caves. We should be able to leave through there.”

Envy was to watch the caves to see if there was anyone guarding that side. Pride went to go get Lust and Wrath from the upstairs. I was going to be the vanguard. I would like to think I looked imposing to the knights that began entering the inn. A teenager with a shield and an axe probably didn’t intimidate full grown, battle hardened men. With death eyes however… The first three died looking for a surprise attack. They met my gaze instead. Lust and Wrath made it past me. Pride touched my back.

“What now?”

I thought for a second then relayed my plan.

“I’m going to push the table over across the door. You take the oil lantern and smash it against the table. Then I’ll light it on fire and we’ll retreat in the smoke. I’ll lead you.”

The dead knights got an unceremonious boot outside. I had always thought it would be fun to be an innkeeper who threw out ruffians. The door luckily had a lock on the inside. I barred it and pushed the table up against it. Pride did his part and dashed behind me. I grabbed the flint and struck it against the axe’s edge. Sparks caught the oil and it roared in a deluge of smoke. I sprinted with Pride being dragged behind. I could hear sounds of alarm coming from the group outside when they realized that the inn was on fire. We made it to the cellar in a few seconds as the blaze accelerated, dashing towards the cave entrances. Envy was waiting by one.

“Lust and Wrath are up ahead looking for an exit from the cave. Everything alright with you two?”

I coughed up some smoke.“Not the time to talk, time to go.”

Clambering down the stoney walls, we followed the cave passages, largely in the dark. Light poked through every once and awhile. It was hard to tell where the cave ended. Fifteen minutes later, we saw the sweet blue sky. Looks like the cave opened up along the road outside the village. It was easy enough to see the inn burning in the distance. Or, it should have been. Somehow the flames appeared to have extinguished themselves. Probably the green robes. Damn it. We found Lust and Wrath waiting in the tree line. My energy crashed at the prospect of running. Last night was not good preparation for a run. I currently felt like even a light jog would probably kill me. Then I noticed the horses of the knights outside the town wall. I poked Pride.

“Hey, bird boy, can you see any guards on those horses?” He looked for a moment.

“Two glints from the left behind the post means probably one there. There is definitely one on the right in the tree line.”

I got the rest of the sins to come over.

“They still don’t know what cave we took. That gives us time. We could escape faster on horseback. I propose we get a few for us and follow the road to the nearest city. Does everyone know how to ride on horseback?”

Wrath and Lust raised their hands. Seems workable.

“Envy, can you get the one in the treeline? I should be able to get the one near the wall. The rest could get the horses secured.”

Envy’s skin became mottled and green, more like the grass beneath us. We moved quietly towards the road. Envy slithered along the ground towards the tree line. The horses nickered as I moved through them. The knight made the poor decision of doing his job and looking over at the disturbance. There was a satisfying clunk of armor as he met my eyes and the price was paid. A muffled noise in the trees meant that Envy got the other guard. We probably only had a little time. I went to the horses that seemed to be best outfitted. They were two that seemed less like warhorses. Smaller and sleeker their saddles were higher quality. They looked faster too. Envy came back and began giving orders.

“Wrath, Lust, and Pride cut the saddle straps on the horses except for the ones that Death chose.”

I pointed to the two and another one that was near them for convenience. We’d use that one as a supplies /Pride rest point. I took the leads of the selected and walked away from the others. Once the others tried to get close, the horses got skittish. I could not get them to get move closer to the group. The reason became apparent quickly. The horses appeared to have an objection to the Lizeer. I grabbed the boar meat sack which was basically empty. Wrath got the idea and placed her pets into the sack gently. It was touching if not infuriating considering every second passed would greatly increase the chance of death.

I grabbed Lust and forcibly shoved him up on the horse. He seemed worried. I tied the extra horse’s lead to the halter of my horse and put supplies onto the extra. I tied it down with some rope. I was hoping that none of it slipped. The knights seemed to notice our grand escapade. Luckily it's hard to run full plate. 

Pride took off and Envy and Wrath had gotten up. I stepped on the stirrups and swung my leg over. Lust clutched around me. I guess it’s not all bad. I kicked the sides of the horse and it sprung to a trot. The last twenty horses, spooked by our sudden departure began to scatter. Some things just work out. Luck grinned. I had a bad feeling I’d pay for that later. I let Envy take the lead since I actually didn’t know where I was going. 

We eased into a full gallop. It felt beautiful as the landscape rushed by and the wind kissed my hair. Teacher had taught me to ride and I loved it since. This horse was good too with an even pace and a desire to run. After an hour we slowed to a trot to avoid tiring out the horses. Not that my Birch ever would. He was white. The irony hit me of Death riding a pale horse. I was a walking bad omen.

Wrath was trying to keep her pets from escaping the bag. The day soon became less pleasurable as it ground on. Pride flew near us for a while. He couldn’t exactly land on the packhorse. It kept getting spooked when he tried. We stopped for lunch in a clearing as well as to rest the horses. Wrath let the Lizeer out of the bag while I took off the saddles from the horses. I tied their leads to a tree while dodging their view.

 It is very hard to avoid three creatures at the same time. I tried to at least keep them close together. They deserved a rest. I then went to where the others were preparing a scrumptious meal of cold salted meat and stale bread from the inn. The grass that the horses were eating seemed more appealing. At least it wasn’t eggs.

 As it was now routine we all began debating what to do next. I would have liked to call it debating. Pride was annoying me, Envy and Lust were having a debate with Wrath translating the notes. I saw Lust make a gesture that needed no translation. I would have to remember to use that sometime. I saw bird boy trying to imitate it. Nope. He received a quick flick to the back of the head. He understood what that meant. I needed to not deal with this. I was way too tired to deal with this. 

I scarfed down the lunch and laid down by the gnarled roots of the tree I tied the horses to. I closed my eyes and ignored the roots digging in my back and the increasingly angry argument between the two toddlers. The sun felt nice against my face. A breeze carried me off to sleep. I don’t know how long Pride was watching me but waking up to feathers in my face was not a pleasant sensation. He had curled up beside me. I stood with every joint regretting the movement. I carefully disentangled myself from the pigeon. It turns out the sun had set further than it should have. 

We should have left by now. Instead Envy and Lust were sullenly waiting by two trees 10 paces apart. The laziest duel that I ever had seen, coincidentally being the only duel I had ever seen. Wrath was at least having fun playing with her fauns. I decided not to get in between those titans and went to check the horses saddle bags. I was hoping for anything but more stale bread. Maybe they would have some kind of noise blocker or maybe some quick poison to end it while I’m ahead. It really felt like they would have magical tools or an awesome sword or gold coins. Instead in one was large amounts of paper, some ink pots and quills. The other two had horse gear like brushes and a set of keys that looked massive for anything but the largest doors. Like the door to Envy’s cell. I threw the keys away and set the writing supplies aside for Lust. I went back to the tree and shook Pride awake.

“Not now ….”

He did not like being woken up. I didn’t like getting caught by a full contingent of angry knights. Luckily I was going to offer the two squabbling idiots a deal they couldn’t refuse. I began saddling the horses and loading up supplies. If they wanted to act like children then they would get no pony rides. It was a privilege to even get to ride horses. I could almost hear Teacher echo in my ears. “The blisters from the saddle are a gift that few get”. I put the saddle on my horse while giving it one of the apples from a bag. Best if a horse likes you. Not that me and Birch would be together for long. I had a feeling we needed to get into a town to find a sketchy sorcerer and horses would draw questions. Wrath and Pride got what I was doing pretty quickly and began to pack up. I set about grabbing some branches. I trimmed them with my dagger and made little notches in each. I called Wrath over.

“Use these to make a frame for the little beasties bag. It’ll make them more comfortable and maybe get the horses used to them.”

Wrath in her usual eloquence nodded and walked away. The surprise came when she said “thanks.” She is capable of her own conversation besides Lust translation. I was feeling irritable. Luckily that meant that the rest of them understood to leave me alone. Even Envy and Lust got over their spat to start moving. I waved Lust over and pointed at the ink pots. I then pointed to the pack horse.

“You’re going to have to learn how to ride. Especially if you're planning on leaving without us.”

It looked like being tired and angry cured enchantment at least temporarily.