“What are you gonna do with him?” Garrin placed a hand on his hip and raised an eyebrow as he looked down at the shorter man. Reilyn’s foot was firmly pressed on the leader’s head, digging the man’s nose more and more into the dirt. 

Reilyn raised his casting hand, “Kyortus’ku uet ribedio’eu.” |Rise and obey me.| The Eyll called out, disdain laced his tone. One of the fallen kidnappers stood, body bloody and burnt. The corpse trudged towards Reilyn, each movement looked more painful than the last. “Kyptur pebo kiwvir.” |Restrain this man.| As the undead approached, Reilyn took his foot off the man’s head and kicked him in the side. The corpse grabbed, pulled up and restrained its former leader. The man had no time to react. 

“Unhand me! Fucking rodents!” The enemy leader shouted and struggled. 

Reilyn made eye contact with Garrin, “I’m going to find out who hired this lot.” He acted as if he didn’t notice the furious captive’s bellowing. 

“That’s not what we were hired for.” Garrin sighed, resting his bloodied axe over his shoulder. “That aside, we should take the man prisoner. Let Burgomaster Tomos talk to him.” 

“You said it yourself, you suspect this is something bigger. I won’t stand idly by.” 

“I don’t have time to fight with you.” Garrin shook his head and looked at the locked up girls. “We’ll attend to them. Don’t waste too much time with this lowlife. You still have a job to finish.” Garrin put his axe on his back and crossed his arms. 

“I won’t be long.” Reilyn led the undead out of the clearing, into the trees, dragging the kicking and screaming child trafficker with him. Reilyn stopped when he was sure they were out of hearing range from the group. “Kyptur’illel gwentra pebo wybor.” |Hold him against this tree.| Reilyn pointed to a large tree a few feet in front of himself. 

The charred undead responded with a grunt, and obeyed. It pushed the enemy leader against the tree, holding him up by his armpits. The man cussed and struggled, grimacing as the undead’s sharp, bony fingers dug into his flesh. “Like I’m gonna tell you anything, blue faced bastard!” His brown eyes glared at Reilyn through his shaggy auburn hair. He spat towards the Eyll, missing by a longshot. Reilyn frowned and took a step away from where the man’s saliva landed. 

Reilyn sighed, “I’m not asking.” He raised his casting hand, “Cawellus re kygnissis!” |Cage of flames!| Towering flames encircled Reilyn and his captive. “You won’t have a choice.” 

The man stared at Reilyn, unblinking, defiantly. 

“Emissum’rilles quont hawsus.” |Break his nose.| Reilyn motioned his hand toward the undead, commanding it. The burnt corpse headbutted the captive man’s face, an audible crack echoed in the flames. The man made a muffled cry from the impact. “Who are you working for?” Reilyn crossed his arms, his tone assertive. 

“I’m not talking.” The man sneered, blood ran down his mangled face. “Damn merc.” 

Reilyn shook his head, “I’m no mercenary.” 

The man laughed boisterously, “Oh, so you’re doing this out of the good of your heart? They’re just kids. People fuck and make too many of the whelps as it is.” 

The Eyll bit back a curse. He walked quickly up to the restrained man and pulled his own dagger from its sheath. Before the man could respond, Reilyn grabbed his wrist and brought the blade down upon his pinkie finger. The strike came at such velocity the finger was severed. The short finger dropped to the ground and blood spurted from the stump it left behind. The man cried out in shock and agony. “Tell me.” Reilyn pressed the dagger into the man’s ring finger. “Who the fuck you’re working for.” 

“Fuck you!” The man whimpered. 

The Eyll rolled his eyes and pressed his blade further into the man’s ring finger, slowly and deliberately, severing it. The captive’s anguished cries vexed him, causing his anger to boil violently. “You’re alone. Your comrades are dead because of your pathetic leadership. And-” The ring finger fell to the blood soaked grass, from barely hanging on. Tears began to well in the restrained man’s eyes. “-I’ll sever every fucking finger and every fucking toe if you don’t talk.” 

The man bit down on his quivering lip. Refusing to speak. A couple tears trailed down his bloody face. 

Reilyn sighed and moved on to the middle finger. He pressed the dagger into the base, drawing more crimson to flow from the mutilated hand. “You wouldn’t shut up earlier. Barking orders at your fighters, sending them to their deaths while you hid in the back.” Reilyn drove his blade in further. “You could at least make yourself useful now.” The man’s middle finger fell from his mangled limb.

Before Reilyn touched the edge of the dagger to the man’s index finger, he spoke. “A-alright-” He whimpered through his sobs. Reilyn kept a tight grip on his wrist. “I…his name is Myrddin…Myrddin Lu Griffyid.” 

“And he’s in Narber?” 

“Yes.” The man gritted his teeth as he spoke. Every word, every movement, caused his face to twist more. 

Reilyn dropped the man’s wrist. He shook the blood from his dagger and put it back in its sheath, turning and walking away. 

“W-wait! Don’t leave me he-” 

“Kygniss!” Reilyn twisted around quickly, casting a blast of fire onto the tree the man was held against. The man wailed as the flames caressed his already pained body. Reilyn turned away once more, “I never said I’d let you live.” He waved for his cage of flames to open, walked through, and left the man to burn alive.

Above the cries of a dying man, he heard the screaming of an owl.

—

With the sext sun beating down on him and a deep breath, Reilyn walked back into the clearing. Cursing to himself, realising he forgot to grab the keys for the cages off the man he killed. He paused in his tracks, raising an eyebrow, noticing that both cages were pried open and the girls were pulled out. Both Leah Li Tomos and the Eyll girl were unconscious. Emyr, Nia, Daffyd, Jac and Catrin had surrounded Leah. The group was checking her for injuries and patching up a couple small scrapes and bruises. 

Felix hopped down from the tree he was hiding in and ran up to Reilyn, climbing him. The rodent took his place on the necromancer’s shoulder. Reilyn looked over towards the Eyll girl, noticing that Garrin was standing beside her. The large man watched the soldiers attend to Leah. Reilyn walked over to Garrin, “Is she alright?” 

“She’s breathing. Looks like she hasn’t had a decent meal or change of clothes in weeks though.” Garrin was right. From the girl’s long, tangled, curly dark hair to her ragged clothes to the bruises on her orange skin. It was all too evident. She looked thinner than she ought to be for her height. Even lying down, Reilyn could tell she was a couple inches taller than him. 

Reilyn bit down on his lip, “I’ll take her back with me.” Garrin made wordless eye contact with him. “I’m sure you lot would rather leave her. But I can at least give her a bed and some food.” He crossed his arms, tightening them around himself. 

“That’s uh…that’s what you think of me?” Garrin chuckled, “Wow, I’m offended.” Reilyn raised an eyebrow as Garrin continued to speak, “I figured you’d be more help to her than me, but, I wasn’t gonna leave her here.” 

The Eyll’Una sighed, “Sorry. I guess. I haven’t had the best experiences with Humans. I doubt she has either.” Reilyn motioned to the girl.

“Probably not.” Garrin shook his head, “That’s why I was waiting for you.” Reilyn stayed silent. Garrin glanced at the drying blood on Reilyn’s hands, “I shouldn’t have let you kill him. We should have taken him prisoner.” 

Reilyn glared up at the large man.

“But,” Garrin’s eyes fell, “I won’t pretend I would have acted differently. Did you get anything out of him?” 

The Eyll nodded, his eyes still focused on the girl. “They were working for someone named Myrddin, in Narber.” He looked up at Garrin, “So, your suspicions were correct.” 

A few feet away from the two men, Emyr gently picked Leah up. She looked bruised, unbathed, and her dress was ragged. But she was still in better shape than the Eyll girl. Garrin looked at Reilyn, motioning to the girl on the grass, “I can…carry her.” He spoke awkwardly. Reilyn eyed him. 

“How weak do you think I am?” Reilyn squinted. 

“Not at all.” Garrin grinned, “The girl looks a little taller than you, though, so it’ll be easier for me.” 

Reilyn sighed, “I’m not proud of my…lack of height.” Garrin picked the girl up, a smirk still on his lips. 

“I’m sure being smaller than a child has its advantages.” Garrin’s grin widened. Reilyn groaned.

—

The group set up camp on the road back to Pembroke. During the travel and settling down, the girls didn’t wake. Reilyn sat on the cool grass, facing them while his back was to the camp. He was exhausted, but couldn’t sleep comfortably leaving someone else on watch. He offered his cot for the two young girls to lay on; he wasn’t going to use it that night. Occasionally they shifted, but continued to rest. Felix was curled up on the grass, beside Reilyn. Reilyn stroked the rodent, looking out, up to the starry black sky. 

From behind himself, Reilyn heard footsteps approaching. “Hey, Elf.” Reilyn turned to see Nia. He stood, brushing his leggings off, and faced her. 

“Did you need something?” 

She shook her head, “Just wanted to say that…” Nia sighed, “Thanks to your quick thinking, we were able to save Leah, and do our job.” 

Reilyn crossed his arms, “But it doesn’t bring Harri back.” He paused, “So, for that, I’m sorry.” 

Nia raised an eyebrow, “I…I didn’t think you actually cared about that.” She stuttered. 

“Shockingly, Eyll have hearts too.” Reilyn put his hands on his hips, glaring up at her, “I don’t enjoy fighting. Or killing.” Nia stared at him. Raised brow, frowning lips.

She finally spoke, “We weren’t that close. Just got sent out on the same assignment.” Her eyes went downcast as she paused, “But. I’ve heard so many stories of Dark Elves and…” Nia motioned to the sleeping Eyll girl. “Demons. Doing awful things. Torturing and killing us for sport. So. Seeing you kill Harri…” 

Reilyn scoffed, “Does that little girl look like a demon to you?” He waved his arm towards the girl. Nia slowly shook her head, shame painting her features. “They’re called Eyll’Aras. The ‘Demons’ that you Humans refer to.” Reilyn looked at the girl. Her orange skin was uncharacteristic of an Eyll’Aras, even with the violet horns and tail. She looked closer to an Eyll’Umin, or, a Light Elf, as the Humans called them. “I suspect this girl is…mixed though. Which might explain how one so young ended up here.” 

Both Nia and Reilyn watched the sleeping girls in silence. The cool night air washed over them. “If you’re tired…” Nia spoke up, crossing her arms, “I can stay watch for a while.” Reilyn was lost for a reply. “I’m not gonna pretend I’m some ‘Elf lover’ now.” Nia waved her hands in the air, “But. I shouldn’t have treated you the way I did. Daffyd and I talked, we agreed that we both were…” 

“Ignorant?” Reilyn looked up at her.

“...I was gonna say rude.” 

“I’ll take what I can get.” Reilyn shrugged. He yawned, “I think I’ll take you up on your offer. For a couple hours.” 

Nia nodded, “I’ll make sure nothing happens to us. Or the girls.” She sat down on the grass, facing the sleeping Leah and the Eyll girl.

“Alright.” Reilyn gave her a forced smile, “Thanks.” 

Nia smiled back. It didn’t reach her eyes. And the two quickly looked away from each other. “You can use my cot.” She muttered. 

“Thanks, again.” Reilyn replied and walked over to Nia’s cot. He dropped his satchel beside it and layed down. Felix scampered over to him, snuggling up next to his chest. Using his cloak as a blanket, Reilyn curled up and fell asleep.