Lily marched through the forest, swinging her head from side to side. A red pigeon dangled from her right hand, blood dripping to the ground, "What a beautiful evening."
Aaron sighted her approaching from the distance, and he waved greetings to her, "I didn't know you were out late, Ylil! You went out—" he gawked, "—foraging for meat?"
"Oh, this?" Lily lifted the pigeon to the sky, chuckling drily, "I caught it on my way back from an errand Augustus sent me. Not so lucky this evening, are you? Doing, this."
"Well, I insisted. It's best to keep these things between as few people as possible and it'd not feel right letting Augustus do the dirty work when I can." Aaron explained to her.
"Sucks to be you, then." Lily muttered under her breath. She sighed, running her hand through her hair and walking past Augustus while he handled gathering the dead bodies.
She stepped through the gates, looking from left to right with a coldness in her gaze, a weird feeling wrapping up her ankles and tightening round her heart, 'Who tipped them?'
Lily grabbed her hair, her eyes darting from villager to villager as blood trailed her. As she entered the inner rim, walking to her house in vigilance, Lily paused, "Or was it him?"
The only one who knew of her identity here was Augustus. There was no gain for him in selling her out, or she would have never told him— unless she'd missed something here.
Lily entered the house, slamming the door shut behind her. Her house here was quite average— some furniture here, some cutlery there, and a bed far over there —for a noble.
She walked to the kitchen at the back, shrouded in darkness, and tossed the pigeon to the far corner of the room— her makeshift abattoir. Lily will thank her for the meal soon.
"And Rachael of all people?" Lily slumped in her chair, reaching her hand to rub her head, sighing. Lily clicked her tongue, "She'd rat this out to the others if not dealt with."
"True."
Hearing the voice from behind her, Lily's pupils narrowed to needle point. She turned around at a fast speed, drawing her dagger and aiming it at the intruder, "Return the key."
"Key?" Augustus stepped out of the shadows, patting his clothes and exhaling sharply, shaking his head, "I don't have a key. I have something else for you dear sister, a problem."
Lily softened up hearing her, straightening her stance, "I'd guess you came here to see if I was the culprit or not? Well…" she put away her knife, shaking her head, "I am not."
"That gladdens my heart to no bounds." Augustus helped himself to one of her wooden seats, watching as Lily stared him down with lifted brows, "One less sibling to kill is nice."
"One less? Hahaha! Look at this fool." Lily laughed out loud, grabbing her sides. As she turned to the side, Lily sucked up her laughter, her tone cold, "What are we going to do?"
Augustus frowned, letting out a loud yawn, a light flashing through his violet eyes, "It will be difficult, but first of all we must find their spies, then we can think of killing her."
"Find the snitch? They must from a villager we've encountered in the past few days. A villager who has a way of communicating with the palace." Lily walked behind Augustus.
She grabbed his shoulders, and began to massage them. She continued while Augustus listened, "It must be someone who could have overheard our conversations. Our slip-ups."
"This is my fault. If I'd not blown your cover outright, then maybe—" Augustus sighed as Lily tightened her grasp on his shoulders and he followed up with a groan, "Not funny."
"True." Lily said, clicking her tongue and shaking her head to mimic Augustus.
——
"These areas are riddled with vain contraptions." A man walked the wastelands, a cold gleam in his beady eyes as he hung his head high, "Is that a contradiction I speak, Julian?"
A massive boulder of a man stepped forth, bearing a grand silver lance, his silver hair like a mop on his head. He growled, his voice deep and low, "The flames here disgust me."
Scattered throughout the wastelands were rak traps, fiercely burning flames and ruins as far as their gaze could reach. The smell of rot filled the air and they pinched their nose.
They being the massive siege following behind the scholarly man and his big comrade, armed with wheeled battering rams and onagers. Hundreds of armoured men marched on.
"We'd forged through Oelae, for this?" Another man stepped forth to join the two, his shiny gold armour grabbed the attention of anyone that stared his way, "This is just crap."
"Lady Valentine said we should wait for the main forces to arrive at shore with Lord Julian…" The scholarly man adjusted his monocle, patting dust off his robes, "…Niggler."
The golden armoured man clenched his fists, stepping forward with a deep scowl on his face, "Now listen here, old man. I did not ride all the way down from the north to h—"
The giant lifted his hand, and the duo turned to him with lifted brows. He pointed to the pigeon circling the skies, his gaze icy. The pigeon flew off as soon as it was revealed.
"I say we sneak in and take them unprepared!" The golden armoured man announced, slamming his fist into his palm, his gaze determined, "They'd be massacred in confusion."
"That's a good idea. I guess no one's ever thought of that." The scholar sighed, lifting a finger to the sky and tracing it through the air, "That flight pattern was quite erroneous."
"That's a flame palace spy. Secure the area first, then we can talk about launching an attack." The giant turned to the side, his eyes leaking murder intent, "Cut escape routes."
"Understood." The golden armoured man nodded, turning to his scholarly comrade in the next instant, "You heard him, didn't you? Now let's prepare the game for slaughter!"