“Ew. Why’s everything so gooey there?” Bran said, looking at the braziers dripping with a dark, greenish liquid.
Bran rummaged through his bag and pulled out a torch, then lit it with a lighter. His eyes narrowed as he surveyed the results of the fight.
“You did all that?” His voice was carefully neutral. “Just the two of you?”
His mind raced as he pictured how the fight would have gone with his own team. He estimated the enemies and their strength. Michelle could have burned several of them and been invaluable against the troll. Her brother could have sniped the more troublesome foes. Roland would have had some trouble, judging by the sheer number of arrows on the ground. He concluded his team could have come out on top, with sacrifices and a lot of luck.
“How?”
“Bran. Don’t be a meanie. You’re scaring them,” Michelle admonished him.
Liliene jumped from the back of her felled troll, her boots splashing against the ground, turned to mud with her enemies’ blood.
“Laura!” she called and ran toward her, ignoring the other team. “Are you okay?” Liliene asked, gently rubbing Laura’s back.
Her lover tensed at the first touch of her hand. A recoil, as faint as it was, that Liliene didn’t miss. She removed her hand.
“Laura?” she asked again hesitantly.
“Sorry…” Laura was leaning heavily against the wall, her head low. “It’s just… a lot.” She dared to peek sideways at the aftermath of Liliene’s fight. Her whole body shook once more.
“The troll rampaged. He took care of most of the goblins for us,” Nex finally said to answer Bran. “We got lucky.”
Bran surveyed the battlefield again. Because that’s what it was, a battlefield. The crushed houses and mangled bodies supported the maid’s explanation.
“Damn. Maybe beginner’s luck really is a thing.”
Laura breathed heavily to regain control of her feelings. And stomach. She slowly lifted her head and met Liliene’s gaze. Laura drew a sharp breath, grabbed Liliene’s arm, and dragged her away as everyone stared at them, unsure what had just happened.
“Come with me!” Laura ordered.
Liliene was content to obey, happy to put the flash of fear she felt from Laura behind her. They walked for a while, until Laura was sure they were out of earshot.
“Your necklace is broken, idiot!” she whispered. “You’re lucky nobody noticed.”
Given Nex, Liliene was pretty sure they were lucky nobody had noticed, but something told her not to voice that thought.
“Good thing I carry our spares,” Laura said with a sigh as she rifled through her backpack.
Liliene didn’t move. She pursed her lips to hide the small smile appearing on her face as Laura removed her broken necklace. When Laura’s hands reached behind Liliene’s neck to hook the new one, Liliene leaned in to steal a quick kiss on Laura’s lips.
“Lili,” Laura whispered. She didn’t fight the first kiss, but she pushed weakly against Liliene’s body when the second one came.
“You don’t want to?”
“Lili. You reek, and I just threw up.”
Liliene looked down at her own body, covered in sweat, blood from at least three different sources, and probably some other unsavory substances she had picked up along the way. She chuckled.
“So… We good?”
“We good.” Laura sighed and almost brought her head against Liliene’s shoulder. Almost. The mess still hadn’t disappeared. “I’m just not used to… that level of violence. It’s a lot to take in.”
“I’m not either,” Liliene answered back with a shrug.
“And it doesn’t bother you?”
“Hm…” Liliene hummed to buy time.
She had to think about this. She hadn’t tried, but she was certain she couldn’t feed off goblins. She could barely use their blood. It was like her body found them incompatible on some primordial level, and thus didn’t register them as… people. They weren’t cute like bats or spiders, or rats. Nor were they prey. They were pests. At least, that’s what her instincts were telling her.
“I think it’d probably bother me if they were humans.” Find the original chapter at g.com.
“Probably?” Laura asked, raising an eyebrow.
“It would definitely bother me if they were humans,” she repeated, faking as much conviction as she could in each word. It was the tone she was faking, not the conviction. On that, she honestly didn’t know. But a part of her hoped that yes, it would bother her.
“Come on, then,” Laura said, willing to at least offer her hand. “Let’s find some answers for your mom.”
They came back hand in hand and found the group they had left behind already on the other side of the room. Liliene helped Laura jump over pools of blood with a smile and held her hands to ease the climb over a few corpses blocking the way. When they joined the other group, Michelle grinned at Laura.
“Aren’t you glad? Your girlfriend’s fine.”
Laura could only nod with a weak smile. She was glad, but also conflicted. Not that she had expected her two comrades to negotiate peacefully with the goblins. She knew what was going to happen. But her lover thrived. And worse, she had no idea how to bring that part with her. Some level of violence was expected; Liliene looking happy about it, less so.
“Do you know how to open it?” Liliene asked, curious about how experienced delvers usually proceeded.
Bran shrugged. “There are a few things to try first.”
He walked up to the door and tried pulling on it, then pushing it.
“Sometimes, when you’re lucky, they’re just open.”
Then he put his palm against the same kind of scanner Liliene had always used. It flashed red.
“There’s always a small chance it opens for anyone. No clue why, but it’s worth letting everyone try once.”
Liliene’s eyes narrowed. “You’re not going to take anything inside, right?”
Bran laughed and held his hands in mock surrender.
“Don’t worry, you cleared that village. We won’t steal your spoils. Just…” He looked at Michelle, who was nodding encouragingly. “We’re here now. Might as well give the newbies a tip or two.”
They made a little queue in front of the scanner. They all flashed red. When Liliene, last in line, did it, it flashed green. ‘Administrator access’ was written at the bottom of the screen in small characters.
Bran raised an eyebrow at Liliene. “I’d buy a lottery ticket if I were you, miss.”
He hummed and retreated.
“Well. Enjoy your spoils, Ladies.”
As he walked, he discreetly leaned in to whisper to their archer. “Watch them. Something’s not right with that group.”
Liliene entered the shelter first, one careful step at a time. The interior was pitch-black and smelled… heavy. Not like damp, but more stale.
“Light!” she said confidently.
…
It was worth a try.
“Here, Lili.”
Laura snapped a fireless torch for each of them, and they proceeded slowly inside the room. They walked until Liliene’s boots crunched on something hard. Laura looked down and quickly covered her mouth with a hand.
“That’s…”
“Bones,” Nex answered, having finally joined them after making sure the retreating adventurers were truly retreating. “Most likely humans.”
“Nex. Are you still empty?” Liliene asked. “It’s very dark in here. Maybe you could check for signs of life or something.”
Nex nodded and did a quick check; she couldn't do much more in her exhausted state. The simple spell, an echo through the darkness, brought her to her knees.
“Nothing. Nothing alive, at least.”
“Nex?”
“You’re-you’re forbidden to do anything else, you hear me?” Liliene ordered.
“My Lady, I’m fine.”
Liliene knew very well that Nex wasn’t exactly fine. But ordering her any more felt wrong. It was one thing to give a playful order, and another to truly order Nex. If the distinction made sense.
“Just take it easy, okay?”
The exploration wasn’t a pleasant afternoon stroll. No hint of light came from anywhere except the entrance; the dust was so thick in the air that walking alone could trigger a cough. The ground was littered with old, porous bones breaking at the slightest contact. Some still sat on chairs; in other rooms, they lay on crumbling beds.
In a room Liliene estimated was at the center of the shelter sat a terminal. The same kind her mother used to check, the same kind that sat underneath the city. Just a black screen sitting on a pedestal. Good thing Luna had taught her the basics of operating one. There were drawings, and you tapped your fingers on them. If it didn’t work, you pressed harder. She pressed a button protruding on the bottom right, near the edge, and prayed.
Beep.
Low power. Launching in safe mode.
Liliene could read the words. Not that she knew what they meant.
“It didn’t really look like that at home,” Liliene said, frowning.
She tapped on the screen, trying to navigate the menus like her mother had taught her. But they were all wrong. The icons were bigger and cruder.
“I think I can still find the logs.” She turned to Nex and Laura. “What am I even looking for?”
She opened folders at random, but most were empty. Until she finally found one with dates. Lots of dates. She took a random entry and opened it.
Requesting again to transfer Sergeant Serre Jean to another base. 2 a.m. isn’t proper trumpet practice time.
She nodded sagely at the screen; 2 a.m. was absolutely cuddle time, not that. She scrolled down to find a later entry.
Our weapons cannot pierce the barrier around the Elven town. Requesting deployment of BA003 to burn down the forest around it.
Not her mother. One of her sisters, perhaps? If so, she was drawing closer. Maybe marginally, but closer to a solution, or hints. She kept scrolling down.
Rations down to two weeks. This world is like ours, yet it’s not. It’s familiar in places, yet bountiful and new in others. We’ve lost two men in the last goblin ambush. May God smile upon their souls.
“Lili, can you check the last entry?” Laura asked.
She scrolled down, and down, and down for a very long time.
Slow down to minimum power output. Inhabitants refuse to evacuate and surrender. Shut down the ventilation system per Mother’s order.
“We shouldn’t stay here long,” Nex warned.
“Lili. Do you trust me? I have an idea.”
“Yes?”
“You should gather as many artifacts as you find into a bag. I taught you what the most common ones look like. We’ll sort them out outside.”
Liliene nodded. She had studied for the written exam, even if it had proved mostly useless.
“I’ll note whatever I can.”
“Miss Laura?” Nex awaited orders.
“Just rest, Nex.” But Laura understood what it felt like to be restless, the desire to be useful. “If you really can’t, just pick up small objects. Like watches,” she said with a small smile.
Liliene and Nex scoured the place for anything resembling a box, a watch, anything that looked like an object, really.
Meanwhile, Laura scrolled to the very first logs. Operating the terminal wasn’t that hard. Just watching Liliene had been enough for her to learn the basics: touch the screen. The full list was way too long for her to write down. It probably was too long for her to read in a day, maybe even a week. She would find deployment logs and copy the dates, requests, and arrival timestamps as precisely as possible. Then, if they ever opened more shelters, she might be able to triangulate the models' points of origin. It was a stretch, but also the only idea she had. With some luck, it would point them to some sort of workshop where the models were created, or at least maintained. Still, for a precise estimate, it would require opening two other shelters, minimum, and preferably far from each other.
She’d prefer her plan to work, but giving her girlfriend something to hope for was equally important.