It was bright and early that morning. The sun shone on the travellers, and in those warm rays, Reilyn was exhausted. Not enough sleep. Too much sunlight. The group had recently packed and begun their trek. 

Reilyn walked alongside Garrin, in front of the rest. Garrin looked down at the Eyll, “You talk in your sleep.” 

“You watching me sleep now?” Reilyn raised an eyebrow. 

“Gods no.” Garrin chuckled, “I heard you when I went to wake you up.” 

“What was I saying?” 

“I don’t know Othertongue.” 

“Tey’Fat.” Reilyn corrected. There was a sharpness in his tone.

“What does that mean?” The large man’s face bore an innocent curiosity. 

Reilyn sighed, “That’s the name of the language, genius.” 

“Hmm,” Garrin mused, “Could you teach me some Othe-” He stopped himself, catching Reilyn side-eying him. “Uhh…Teh’Fah?” Garrin tried and failed at the pronunciation. 

“Dihi.” Reilyn grumbled.

“Dee…hee?” Garrin attempted. “What’s that mean?” 

“No.” 

Garrin frowned, “Is that you refusing to tell me, or does it mean ‘no’?”

“Both.” Reilyn crossed his arms.” 

“Dih…hii?” Garrin got closer with each attempt.

—

Hours passed. The prime sun became the sext sun. The group was still walking, Garrin was still attempting Tey’Fat words. Reilyn’s head was pounding, it was mostly the sun, but the redhead mangling his mother tongue wasn’t helping. 

“So…” Garrin squinted, “We call you an Elf, but you call yourself an Eyell?” 

“Eyll.” Reilyn groaned.

“Right. But there are different kinds of…of Eyll.” Garrin spoke carefully. Reilyn raised an eyebrow at the large man’s first correct pronunciation. “So…we would call you a Dark Elf, but you would say?” Garrin motioned his hand towards Reilyn. 

“Eyll’Una.” Reilyn replied. He was still grumpy, but his mood was starting to improve. Garrin saying a Tey’Fat word correctly was somewhat impressive, but more than that, the Human’s persistence was refreshing. 

“Eyll’Unea? So that means ‘Dark Elf’?”

“More accurately,” Reilyn sighed, “-it means ‘Elf of the night’. But. I wouldn’t exactly call Morgaan poetic.” He smirked up at Garrin, who pouted back. 

“Well. That was harsh. You-” 

“Ssh.” Reilyn cut Garrin off. He stopped walking and held his hand out for everyone else to follow suit. Muffled voices audible to only his sensitive ears came from up ahead. “I hear something.” He closed his eyes, listening closely as he could. But, aside from the fact that he could hear both male and female voices, he couldn’t make anything else out. Reilyn took a few steps forward, and turned back to face Garrin, “I can go up ahead, hear what they’re saying, and figure out if it’s who we’re looking for.” 

“I can’t hear anything.” Emyr spoke loudly, walking up from behind Garrin, cupping his hand around his ear. His brown eyes were crossed with a puzzled look. 

Reilyn crossed his arms, “Eyll ears.” 

Nia stepped up front, pushing Emyr aside and putting her hands on her hips, “We can’t trust you with that.” 

“Then come with me, Nia.” Reilyn glared at her. “Watch my back, or stab it if I try to betray you.” He laughed dryly. 

Nia scoffed and turned to Garrin. The large man nodded in response, “Go, both of you. We’ll wait here.” He ordered. Reilyn looked at Garrin, then at Nia. 

“Keep your voice down.” Reilyn gave Nia a sarcastic grin. He then turned and walked in the direction of the muffled voices, not waiting or looking back. Nia huffed and followed him. 

—

The two walked quietly, and slowly. Reilyn gently pushed branches and leaves aside as he trudged forward. “Can you hear what they’re saying yet?” Nia grumbled and swatted at a branch that caught itself in her long black hair.

“Almost.” Reilyn kept walking. “Just a little further.” After a few more steps, Reilyn halted. “Here.” He stood still and quiet. Nia waited behind him with crossed arms and a perturbed frown. 

Reilyn closed his eyes to focus. A young girl was crying. “Is that the whelp from Pembroke, again?” A man’s voice spoke.

A woman replied, “Shut her up, and be done with it.” There was a grunt, the sound of a cage opening, and a loud smack. The crying quieted to a whimper. A slamming sound followed. 

Reilyn gripped the hilt of his sword, his hand aching from the tightness of it. “Get the others,” He opened his eyes and turned to Nia, gritting his teeth. “-this is who we’re hunting.” 

“How can I take your word?” She raised an eyebrow at him. Her arms still crossed. 

“Nia.” Reilyn growled, “Hate me if you must. Try and kill me later. But first, we save that girl.” His tone was hushed and furious, he pointed in the direction of the voices as he spoke. 

Nia took a step back, her eyes wide. A bead of sweat ran down her forehead. “Fine.” She stammered. With haste she walked back towards Garrin and the others. 

Reilyn pulled his talwaar from its sheath, “I’ll wait here.” 

—

Crouching in the trees, Garrin approached Reilyn. “Do you know how many there are?” He asked. 

Reilyn furrowed his brows and clutched his blade, “I heard at least ten voices. But there’s probably more.” 

Garrin nodded, “Sensible assumption.” 

“Then we’re outnumbered.” Jac pushed back some branches as he spoke. 

“W-we’ll get surrounded.” Daffyd ran a shaky hand through his fluffy hair. 

Garrin crossed his arms, all silent except for the chirping of birds and the rustle of wind. “You’re right. There’s probably close to twenty. At least double our numbers.”

“Then let them surround us.” Reilyn met Garrin’s eyes. “Let them think they have us. Then we push them back and take them out.”

“If they don’t cut us down.” Garrin laughed dryly.

Reilyn smirked, “I have a plan, Lu Basset. You may just have to trust me.” 

The party stared at Reilyn, then at Garrin. Garrin sighed, but looking at Reilyn’s crimson eyes he saw the Eylles confidence. “I’ve seen you hold your own against six soldiers.” He said, “I don’t like this. But I trust you.” 

—

Leaves and branches rustled as the group of seven burst from them and into the clearing. The campsite they came upon was filled with fifteen men and women, armed and prepared for surprise attacks. Off to the corner of their camp were two cages, a girl locked in each cage. The men and women readied their weapons, backing to guard the cages. 

In one layed a girl that fit the description of Leah Li Tomos. A short, slim girl in black with pale blonde hair. In the other cage was a young Eyll girl. “They’re probably sellswords.” One from the group of captors called out. 

“Don’t let them get the goods!” A man standing behind the cages ordered. The rest reacted immediately with grunts of agreement, making it clear he was the one in charge. 

The group of seven simultaneously took a step back, knowing how outnumbered they were. Garrin raised his axe, “Guard Nia and Daffyd!” He commanded, taking a stance in front of the archer and apothecary. Reilyn, Emyr, Catrin and Jac followed suit. The four of them rushed to complete the protective circle. 

“Already defending?” The enemy leader laughed and shook his head. He waved his hand out towards the group of seven, “Surround them. Take them out.” 

“Could be bad…” Jac hissed from beside Garrin. The large man grunted in response, keeping his eyes on the advancing opponents. 

“Heh.” Reilyn nudged Garrin, “According to plan. Let them get in close.” The Eyll said. Garrin looked between the rapidly approaching enemies and Reilyn, his body visibly tensing. 

“No stopping that.” Garrin braced, gripping his axe, ready to swing. Reilyn nodded, taking that as permission. 

The Eyll raised his casting hand, “Cawellus re kygnissis!” |Cage of flames!| A towering, circular wall of flames erupted from the ground behind the enemy surrounding them. The girls’ captors were locked between Pembroke’s blades and Reilyn’s flames. For a moment they stopped in their tracks, panicked eyes glancing between the fire and the soldiers they were ordered to attack. 

Garrin looked at Reilyn with a raised eyebrow, “This could make things worse for us.” From behind the two of them, before Reilyn could reply, Nia fired an arrow. The arrow flew past them, burying itself into a man’s shoulder. He cried out, and in shock and pain he fell backwards into the flames. 

“Not bad, Elf.” Nia grinned.

A couple enemies approached Jac and Catrin, on edge from the fire and hesitant. Jac and Catrin gave each other a nod, seizing the upper hand and using their long weapons to knock their opponents into the inferno. “We got this, boss.” Jac laughed and nudged Garrin. Reilyn smirked up at the large man, who shook his head. 

Two more ran towards Garrin. A man and a woman. With one swing of his axe, he knocked the lances from their hands. Turning his axe midair and swinging it back down, he dropped the man onto his rear and sliced clean through the woman’s leather armour. The flesh of her gut was exposed. Blood gurgled from her mouth as she fell to her knees. Garrin kicked the nearly dead child trafficker into Reilyn’s fire. 

Reilyn waited for the man to get to his feet. He then jabbed the tip of his sword into the man’s leather chestplate, “Taepitu.” |Explosion.| He called. The man’s armour and chest exploded, flesh and crimson splattering onto Reilyn. Bloodsoaked, he flew backwards. He whined in agony, crashing into one of his comrades. The both of them tumbled into the flames. 

Six were down. Nine remained. Along with their leader, who was still hiding behind the men and women fighting for him. “We’re still outnumbered,” Garrin grumbled. “So don’t get cocky.” 

“Break their formation!” The enemy leader called.

Two women, one wielding an axe and the other a sword, rushed Jac. The dark skinned man mumbled a curse under his breath, raising his halberd, just barely managing to block the sword from getting in close, slicing her arm with the blade of his halberd. The axe, however, dodged with ease, and landed a blow on Jac’s chest. The slice damaged his chainmail, injuring the flesh beneath it and drawing blood. 

Jac gasped and bit down on his lip, attempting to pull his halberd back towards himself and attack the axe woman. The sword recovered and made another move towards Jac, but was stopped abruptly by an arrow driving itself into her forehead. Wordlessly, she fell to the dirt. 

“Back off!” Catrin shouted, stepping out of position to defend Jac. Her lance flying forward with her, and stabbing through the axe woman’s gut. The enemy gasped, looking down at her ripped open midsection. With combined efforts, Jac and Catrin used their blades to push her into the fire. 

Before Catrin could get back into position, a man with a lance lunged through the opening at Daffyd. Daffyd pulled out his hatchet and managed to block, backing into Nia. The lance was pushing down hard against Daffyd’s weapon. “C-Catrin!” The apothecary stuttered. Emyr leapt from his position and got in between Daffyd and his attacker. 

“Eat this!” Emyr swung a mighty slice at the man’s chest, breaking through the leather plate, leaving a bloody gash. The lance fighter stumbled back with a pained cry. Catrin spun, knocking him into the flames with her own lance. “You ok?” Emyr called back to Daffyd. The short man grunted and nodded, shuffling over to Jac, casting healing magic. 

“Let’s finish these assholes off.” Garrin lifted his axe high. Running from his position, he drove his blade into two enemies, sending them tumbling. Bleeding out. To their fiery deaths. Nia shot another down. Reilyn rushed an axe fighter that came a hair away from striking Garrin’s back. The Eyll knocked the axe wielder to the ground and stabbed through his throat. 

The final lackey, a sword woman, made a run for Nia. “Kygniss!” Reilyn shot a blast of fire at the enemy. The flames hit her, searing her back. She called out in a hoarse scream, a death throe that was cut off by Nia firing a throwing knife at her, tearing her neck open. 

“Where did you learn to fight like that?” Garrin cocked an eyebrow at Reilyn. 

“Surviving.” Reilyn snickered up at the giant man. 

One enemy remained. The leader. He readied his halberd and charged at Reilyn. Reilyn ducked, bringing his talwaar down to the man’s ankles, using it to trip him. The man ran into the blade and fell face first to the ground. A grunt escaped him as he struggled in an attempt to stand. Reilyn hopped up, and kicked the man’s halberd away. He placed his foot on the back of the leader’s head, pressing the man’s face into the bloodsoaked dirt. The Eyll lowered the flames, exposing the burnt and bloodied dead. He glared up at Garrin. 

“Leave this man for me to dispose of personally.”