Days spent on the road, having to endure the hard ground and bothersome mosquitoes and then finally getting to lie down on a bed, any bed; there was nothing quite like it.
Kaylee woke up feeling rejuvenated. She yawned as wide as she could while stretching her arms to the limit. Then she placed her feet on the ground and opened her eyes to look around. The morning sun shone brightly through the window, casting light upon the room and reminding her it was not an inn.
I should thank the old man for taking us in last night, she thought while wiping the drowsiness from her eyes. Even if he doesn't want my money I should at least find another way to repay him.
Maybe she could cook for him. But, she knew nothing about cooking beyond the outdoor roasting of game. Perhaps she could help with chores or whatever tasks he needed doing. That idea sounded plausible. So, with that in mind she stood up and put her clothes on. Then she went about picking up her weapons.
What's the undead up to? She wondered after finishing.
After their conversation the previous night where she had put her foot down Sage had not said a single word to her. There was no doubt she was angry at the moment and would probably refuse to talk to her for a while. Kaylee could feel her outside doing Gods-knew-what.
That's fine with me, she thought as she made her way to the room's door. If Sage refused to talk to her because she had refused to let her learn how to create an undead army she could live with it.
Opening the door, she was met with the sight of Hammond, stirring a pot at the fire place. Alerted by the sound, the old man turned to her and flashed her a smile with several missing teeth.
"Morning young lady," he greeted cheerfully. "Did you enjoy your sleep?"
"Yes, thank you very much for your hospitality," she replied in as kind a tone as she could manage. "Do you need help with anything?"
"Not really. But I'm almost done with this so if you could just take a moment to set up the table?"
"No problem," she responded with a nod.
Setting up the table was not much of a task; she was done within a minute. The old man pointed her to a loaf of hard bread before pulling his pot of steaming broth out of the fire and bringing it to the table. As he scooped a bowl for himself his gaze wondered to the window in the undead's direction.
"You should call your friend," he said to her. "She has been up since the wee hours of the morning. The poor thing must be starving right now."
"She's been fasting lately," she replied. "It's a custom of her village where they honour the Goddess by staving off food for a week."
"Is that so," the old man replied. In a softer tone he added, "Must be one of those villages close to the border. Damn foreigners and their kooky ways influencing our people."
Kaylee fixed a smile on her face without responding. The lie had come easily, much more than it used to. Had staying near the undead influenced her in such a way?
The two of them finished their meal silently, after which she once again thanked the old man and tried to pay him. However, just like before the old man was unwavering in his refusal. She was forced to once again retract the offer.
"As you wish," she said with a tone of concession. "But I can't leave you here alone with the current situation. So how about I escort you to the Church?"
"I will not abandon my house for anything," the old man responded, clearly not pleased with the suggestion. "If the necromancer comes and destroys my house he might as well take me down with it. I'll be waiting here!"
Kaylee sighed at the declaration. Although the old man was kind, he was a typical old man; the same kind who bravely proclaimed to they would stay and go down with their house. It never ended well.
"Why not seek shelter with the Church and come back when the problem is resolved?" she asked. "It won't take long."
"That's what they always say!" the old man shouted. "It's only gonna take a while; until ten years pass and the problem hasn't been resolved yet. I'm an old man young lady, I don't have that kind of time!"
Kaylee wanted to say something, but she couldn't find a good counter. What he had said was somewhat true. Often when people claimed they would solve a problem swiftly, they procrastinated and continued to give the same assurances for months, maybe even years. Of course, this particular problem being a necromancer, she had no doubt they would resolve it quickly. Unfortunately, she did not think the stubborn old man would take her word for it.
She was still thinking of what to say when the door to the house opened and Sage let herself in. Again, she had changed her clothes. The leather pants were gone as she had slipped into a dress once more; only this one had frills up to the knees and short sleeves. The long gloves were back on and since this dress had no turtleneck she hid the scars on her throat by wrapping a scarf around it. The only thing she kept from her old outfit was the white patterned mask to contrast with the usual black of her clothes.
As usual, her choice of attire was suspicious and Kaylee was not the only one who thought it.
"Why are you dressed so glumly little lady?" the old man asked in a puzzled tone. "You look like you're about to attend a funeral."
The undead completely ignored him as her gaze was cast upon Kaylee. "We need to talk," she said simply.
She got over it sooner than I thought, Kaylee remarked nonverbally. She had thought the undead would spend at least a few days not talking to her.
"Sure," she responded. "But before that can you say something to convince him to take shelter at the Church?"
The undead's reaction to her request was to groan, then a sigh, before shifting in the old man's direction.
"If you won't seek shelter the Cryptmaker will kill you and turn you into a zombie," she began. "Then he'll have you chase down those who ran away and kill them so he can do the same." Hearing this, the old man's expression lost its stubbornness. However, the undead was not done. "I heard necromancers have a thing for making their minions kill their own families, sometimes making them eat their brains. Please stay here if that's what you wish to do to your grandchildren. I wouldn't judge you if that's the case. After all, they left you here alone and took off."
After the undead let out the last word out Hammond, whose eyes had widened with terror over her speech, suddenly had his eyes role in the back of his head. Then he fell backwards. Before he could impact the ground though Kaylee rushed to catch him in a panicked frenzy. Immediately after securing him she checked his vitals before releasing a relieved sigh. Then she glared at the undead.
"What the fuck is wrong with you?" she yelled. "How can you say something like that?"
"You asked me to help convince him and I did," Sage said apathetically. There was no remorse on the bitch's face; the fucking undead!
"Not like that!" she yelled. "He's an old man! You could have tried a gentler approach!"
"Against such stubbornness a gentle approach won't do," the undead responded unapologetically. "You saw how well he was responding to you."
Looking at Sage's lethargic posture, Kaylee was suddenly struck with the desire to swing a punch in her direction. At the moment, there was nothing she wanted more than shatter that stupid mask and give the undead a couple more facial scars. Unfortunately, her hands were busy gripping the old man so he did not fall to the ground.
Another time, she swore to herself before attempting to calm herself down.
"Okay, fuck it. Let's carry him to the Church."
"You want me to set foot in a chapel of Shea?" Sage asked with a measure of incredulity. "Not a chance. You can go on alone. I'm leaving this place soon."
What? Kaylee cast a scrutinising glare upon her. "What do you mean by that?"
"I mean we are done!" the undead replied, an edge slipping into her tone. "I'm fed up with your bullshit so I'll be leaving… Alone!"
"Oh."
She did not know how else to respond. Before they had left Yshta they had agreed that they would separate when they got to this town, but with the whole Cryptmaker situation it had completely slipped from her mind.
"W-where will you go?" She asked with a stutter. Dammit! She followed up internally.
Why was she stuttering? Ever since that unwanted meeting on the road to Yshta two weeks ago (had it only been two weeks?) there had been nothing more she craved than to put a distance of several towns or even nations between the two of them. Without the undead's presence she could go about making up a good story to explain her increase in affinity when she returned to her friends. So why was she hesitating now that the moment had finally arrived?
It must be because I'm worried she'll cause a catastrophe, she reasoned.
Yes, that made sense. After the undead expressed her desire to learn necromancy the previous night; would it be alright to let her go her merry way? What if she tracked down some other necromancer to teach her and then used that knowledge to spread calamity? Should she let Sage go when such a possibility existed?
"You don't need to know that," the undead replied with a sneer. "Just know that I'll be out of your hair and you'll thankfully be out of mine. If all goes according to plan our bond will be the only thing we have in common because we'll never meet again. I'll continue to walk the face of Aran and you'll keep the extra mana until one of us dies."
"Okay," was the only response she could manage. It was solid reasoning.
"But we both know you dumbarse can't stay out of trouble for long," the undead continued harshly. She went into her dress and came out with leather-bound book. "So here. I've recorded spells up to the 5th Order for you. Learn them so you can defend yourself when you inevitably do something stupid. If you prove incapable of even that then learn the [Contract Summon] spell on the first page. It's a Zero Order spell so it won't take up any slots."
As much as Sage's words made Kaylee want to grab the book and throw it in the scarred bitch's face, the undead had a point. The reason she decided to leave her friends was to strengthen herself. It would be a waste if she did not do that. So, while gnashing her teeth, she grudgingly accepted the tome.
Still though. If this was the last time they would see each other, then a particular topic had to be addressed.
"What about the money you took from-"
"Oh my God!" Sage's exclamation interrupted her. Furiously, she went into her dress once more and came out with a pouch. Then she tossed it at her feet, where the pouch jingled and coughed out several gold coins. "That's thirty gold!" she stated angrily, "way more than I took from you and your fucking friends. Now I owe you nothing. We're done!"
She stomped out of the house and slammed the door so loud it would not be a surprise if it had come off its hinges.
For a while, Kaylee stared at the closed door before picking up the purse and shifting the old man to her back. She would drop him off at the Church first before she made her way to Inalla.
I hope he doesn't take it hard when he wakes up, she thought.
Honestly, it had been uncalled for to say such harsh things to an old man. Hopefully when Hammond regained consciousness all his anger would be directed at the undead.
As for her, she thought while she swung the door to the house open. There was no one outside. Through the bond she felt the undead had already put significant distance between them. Still, she could not help snarl in her direction.
Fucking stitched-up bitch. Who the fuck was the damned undead to suggest she was a troublemaker who could not go a moment without causing an altercation. I'm the second best-behaved member of the Scarlet Quartet! She raged internally.
Thinking about her party though, her lips curled up, causing the flames quickly quell down.
Parting with the undead was surely a good thing. With her gone she did not have to deal with the ups and downs of her thieving sprees and whatever crime she might commit next. In fact, she did not have to concern herself with anything the bitch did! She had been thinking too much lately. If Sage decided to become a mass murderer, why should she care if it did not affect her? All that should matter was that without the undead nearby she could finally concentrate on strengthening herself and going back to her friends. After that all this would be behind her.
Yes, this inevitable separation was a good thing. So-
Good riddance you undead whore!