Lilly and Xomera stayed in the room for three weeks, this was the night of the last day. Xomera was more or less backup to full strength, she still couldn't plane shift, but she could definitely fight if she so chooses.
"These have been the quietest three weeks I've even been able to experience." Xomera mumbled, having grabbed her bag knowing they were heading out soon.
"Gwendolyn left for a while, that's probably why." Lilly said she had spent some of her time while out tracking the Wraiths, Gwendolyn left for two weeks, and came back to resume her search for Lilly and Xomera, but left again, inexplicably several hours ago.
"Yes, and Zathor seems to have been using the power in our rings quite a bit in the last few hours, so I'm wondering if she is trying to just test me, or actually do something she would regret so." Xomera muttered, her voice shifting to a terrifying tone at her claim.
"Then we are not her only Quarry," Lilly said, "Perhaps tomorrow we should shift her attention. Or we could get some drinks, it's up to you."
Xomera gave a small laugh, a smirk pulling to her face as she headed for the door of their room. "Why start tomorrow? She should have chosen her targets more carefully, and with her choice made, she is to face my wrath."
"Oh, I've missed you," Lilly said, "Let's go," Lilly followed up, getting her gear on.
"I've been here all along, dear, sometimes though you need to take a step back, to be able to charge forward." Xomera hummed, pulling the door open.
"Agreed," Lilly, nodded, following Xomera out the door, "I think I might know where the betrayer's main Operations are on this continent, even if he's not here himself."
"Great," Xomera mumbled, her smile only growing with a crazed delight. "Let's blow it up."
Lilly paid the innkeeper the last of what they owed, and they set off, it was a near six hours walk, but they were well rested. Coming upon a fortress that was supposed to be hidden, just not from Lilly, the fortress had a major flaw: it was built in a ravine. A surprisingly low area compared the Betrayer's usual high elevations of preference.
"Looks like he didn't want to be thrown off a tower again." Lilly said.
Xomera laughed slightly at Lilly's comment, a smile resting on her face after being void for so long. It held that crazed side to it as Xomera was ready to be unleashed once again, but for now she had to wait. "I guess you could say that, or, you could say he wanted to be thrown from the top of the ravine into the tower for more of an impact."
"That or he has a fear of heights, speaking of which, there's the subject of our conversation there," Lilly pointed into the Square of the fortress, where the Betrayer appeared to be Organizing troops, "I have an idea on what to do, but I want to hear what you want to do."
Xomera smirked slightly, looking in the window at the man. "Frankly, if I could shift? I would shift right there and push him out the window." Xomera muttered. "What do you have?"
"Well, I was going to say, we stealth kill his archers, but I like your idea more, we may not be able to plane shift, but I think we can pull off a couple teleport strikes." Lilly explained
"We could do that, I say we do kill his archers first, less of a pain to deal with, and then I could surprise him from behind while you keep his attention?"
Lilly scanned the area, "We deal with the archer, then we meet at that bluff, so we know where we are, then I'll stealth around and Teleport strike him from the front while you do the same from the back." Lilly suggested a plan.
"Works for me, either way, me being alive will forever ring shame around his neck." Xomera muttered.
"Hold, up, I'm over complicating it," Lilly said, feeling a little stupid, "I can just snipe the archers from here."
"But then there's no fun in it." Xomera mumbled
"Fair, and it does give them more time to find the dead archers, meet you at the bluff?" Lilly said
"I'll meet you there." Xomera confirmed.
Lilly nodded, and leaned off the cliff, doing the riskiest stunt she had ever performed, she was basically Skydiving she used her Grapple Shot to then repel downwards safely, she was ten feet above the archer from one of the ravine's overhangs. She disengaged the Grapple, and Landed behind the archer, drawing one of her daggers, she silently took the archer down
Lilly was close enough to the betrayer to see that he was arguing with someone, but she couldn't see who, but she didn't investigate yet She moved on to the rest of her half of the archers and moved to the bluff, waiting for Xomera.
Xomera Arrived after Lilly.
"I got a better look at what the betrayer was doing." Lilly said.
"Arguing with someone, though I don't think any of his men are on this continent." Xomera muttered.
"I don't think any of his men would argue with him as Passionately as he was arguing without killing them, so it's someone he values above them, and I doubt it's gwendolyn." Lilly explained
"He's either trying to strike a political deal of a lifetime, which I doubt, or Draxion I'd actually soft for someone." Xomera muttered, fully intent on storming in there and killing them both at this moment.
"Let's find out." Lilly said, and snuck around to the Betrayer's side, where she landed and killed the first archer, Lilly Drew her bow, nocked an arrow, and Teleport Struck him with Chillkiss.
"You're supposed to be dead." The Betrayer said.
"You're supposed to be a crater." Lilly replied.
Moments later Xomera's Katana Pierced through his Plate, twice, Bringing him to the ground, she then used her Eldritch blast, Creating a small crater with his body.
"A lot of things are supposed to be, Draxion, and I will see to it, you will be nothing more than a small crater in the history books. Nothing to dwell on but dust and lost potential." Xomera muttered coldly.
Draxion Rose to his Feet and was about to repeat the incident from three years ago when a cloaked Figure, this time clearly a woman, Stabbed him in the back three times with her dagger.
"You too, then?" Draxion said, and teleported away, revealing who he was arguing with.
"Mara?" Lilly asked, "What in the hells are you doing here?"
Xomera glanced towards Lilly when she spoke up, pissed at the man's retreat, but even more at the mention of Mara being here. She strode towards the woman, grabbing her hood and pulling it down in rage.
"That's a long story," Mara sighed, "You try dating, and you end up with the scourge of existence, I broke up with him months ago. But he kidnapped me."
"And now we have a main issue here, with feelings in his system for you, you'll be a constant problem to worry about. You could be an important piece to him if he's already done this, and with certain others attached to you…" Xomera muttered, referring to Lilly being attached to Mara in this sense. "Well, that means I have to make sure you don't die." The woman muttered, obviously not amused.
"How did you end up with him?" Lilly asked Mara.
"Well, he took a normal form, and nobody Bothered to tell me the name of the Betrayer," Mara gave Lilly a glare.
"You would think a person who's supposed to be the most renowned woman of the shadows would be able to gather some information on who she's in a relationship with." Xomera stated coldly, her stance unchanging and her frustration only growing.
"I did, I was just a little too late. There's a reason I broke up with him. Either way, he's sending his army this direction, because I think he really wants you both dead.
"Okay, why are you so casual about us being alive?" Lilly asked, "You were there when I died. And I told you what I got from the Cudgel."
"Why does that matter at the moment? Questions can be asked when we leave, for now, let's blow this dammed place up." Xomera spoke up, cutting Lilly and Mara's conversation short, and for a good reason at the information Mara provided.
"I know exactly where the blasting powder is, I may not have been able to escape the fort, but I could go where I pleased within it, they rarely, if ever, saw me." Mara began leading them to the Armory.
Lilly fired off her arrows to slow the enemy tide as they made their way there and barred the door once they were inside.
"Woah, no army needs this much blasting powder." Lilly said, looking at the rows and rows of Barrels.
"Just makes for a better firework." Xomera mumbled, seeming unfazed, or just too angry, as she moved forward to set up the barrels.
Lilly helped and Mara came around the corner with two heads of the enemy.
"Escape route's clear." Mara said.
"Again, how were you not able to escape?" Lilly asked while continuing to help Xomera.
"That's another long story." Mara said, as she began helping.
Xomera silently shook her head as the two went back and forth, saying nothing as she just tried to get things done, and done quickly.
After five minutes the Barrels were ready, and they were in the escape route, Lilly had a flaming Arrow ready for wen the enemy walked in.
"Enjoy the show." Lilly said and fired the Arrow, and Shutting the stone door as Quickly as possible, then catching up with Mara and Xomera. The escape route was certainly shaken several times, but it held strong. Once they got to the exit they got to the top of the Ravine and watched the smoldering ruin below.
"I think that was a well-executed plan." Lilly said.
"I think we have more issues than we started with." Xomera muttered.
"Well, we've definitely turned Gwendolyn's gaze." Lilly said, pointing at the green streaks of wraith energy landing in the ruin.
"Right then, get Mara somewhere for the night, and inform me where you two get to. I'll meet up with you." Xomera mumbled, turning her gaze to the wraith's energy.
"Stay safe." Lilly said and took Mara away from there.
"Oh, I'll have plenty of fun." Xomera hummed happily. "Though she will just pull a Draxion when I get the upper hand on her, like the cowards they are."
Lilly nodded, knowing it was no use telling Xomera that it wasn't cowardice, a Military mind, it's usually best to pull the army back at a battle they are losing in most situations. Lilly had to do that plenty of times as a Cannoness Superius.
They only made it about an hour into the nearby forest before Mara needed to rest, this struck Lilly as odd, as Mara usually had more energy than this.
"What's going on?" Lilly asked Mara.
"What do you mean?" Mara asked.
"First off you never run out of energy this quickly, and second, getting in and out of the Imperial Palace to do your off-the-books assassinations for Alexus is what you normally do on a daily basis, so why is it that you couldn't escape an admittedly low security fortress? Xomera and I were able to get around in stealth just fine, and you're better at stealth than both of us combined."
"That's a long story." Mara repeated.
"Just tell me, it's better you tell me now, than one of our Opponents reveal it while you're within Striking distance of Xomera." Lilly hated saying that, but it was true.
"Okay," Mara sighed, "I'm pregnant."
This shocked Lilly.
"Oh." Lilly exerted, "And I assume that's part of why he kidnapped you?"
"Yes." Mara sighed guiltily.
"What are you going to name them?" Lilly asked, her voice sounding disappointed but calm.
"Andrea and Tedran." Mara said.
"Twins?" Lilly asked.
"Yes," Mara said, "Named after the Goddess of truth and spiders, and the 8-foot-tall guy who helped out with the whole archeon situation twenty years ago."
"More like caused the Archeon situation twenty years ago." Lilly sighed, but she paused for a second. Andrea, the Goddess of Spiders, always did look a bit like Mara, and once being a follower of the Goddess of time, Lilly realized something, something very complicated.
"How are you hiding it?" Lilly asked.
"I swiped a hundred of the illusionist's illusion scrolls from his bag last time he was here reporting to his boss." Mara said.
"I knew you were an assassin; I didn't know you were a pickpocket." Lilly said.
"How do you think I survived after my Brother Abandoned me and my mother, and my mother died, and after you ran off to join the sisters elita?" Mara asked.
"Fair enough." Lilly sighed, as if she needed more guilt surrounding her situation with the sisters Elita, "I'm going to tell Xomera where we are, don't mention your children to her, she's really pissed at the moment, in fact, it might be best not to mention it at all."
"Alright." Mara took Lilly's advice, and Lilly telepathically told Xomera where they were.
Xomera confirmed that she got the message but asked why they didn't make it further.
"Mara's more exhausted than she looks." Lilly replied.
"Being exhausted matters not when you're running from something that could alter your life entirely. She needs to be around more protection at the moment, not in the middle of the woodlands,"
"You're probably going to catch up to us before we get the next closest inhabited area," Lilly said, "It's back the way we came."
"Keep a move on if you can, if I can catch up to you, so could things much worse."
"We're leaving now." Lilly reported, then turned to Mara, "Let's go."